Hale: Madame D' Arhlay 



17 



The Wanderer has no real speech. Most of the book is rant. Page 

 after page reeks with sentimental twaddle. Elinor, whose convulsions 

 never end, utters this apostrophe on emerging from a fit : 



"Do I awake, then, from agony and death — agony, impossible to support! 

 death, willing and welcome I''^^ 



Later, convinced that she is dying, she cries: 



"The struggle is over! — and I shall quaff no more this nauseous draught 

 of hfe."59 



Even when they have no audience, these people will not dispense 

 with this jargon. Harleigh, tho all by himself, chants this dithyramb : 



"Charming, charming creature! what can have cast thee into this forlorn 

 condition! And by what means — and by whom — art thou to be rescued?"*^° 



Not satisfied with this inflated speech, these eloquent personages will 

 speak of themselves or address each other in the third person. Their 

 conversations run interminably, occupying frequently from twenty- 

 five to forty pages. 



IV. Humor 



The humor enlivens the dialogue in the first two novels. Even 

 here, however, it is not of the highest order, but is nearly always 

 abnormal. Madame D'Arblay show^s a keen sense of the ridiculous, 

 but it is somewhat crude. Predominantly farcical and elephantine, 

 her humor consists for the most part of horseplay. It has little of 

 that delicate, charming fancy with which Lamb brightens up the 

 most commonplace subjects, and it has none of the sparkle of De 

 Quincey's more brilliant wit. It is not of Miss Austen's esoteric 

 type: a wayfaring man, tho a fool, cannot miss its point. It lies less 

 in character than situation. It resembles the more exaggerated 

 comedy in Pickwick Papers, and yet it is devoid of Dickens' kindness 

 of heart. Altho it has none of the biting, caustic tone of Swift, it 

 lacks the gentle, childlike spirit that runs thru everything Gold- 

 smith's Vicar says. 



Evelina, beyond a doubt, has more humor than the other novels, 

 and yet a good deal of it cannot rank above horseplay. Captain 

 Mirvan and Madame Duval, who furnish much fun of this kind, on 



The old admiral and Mr. Tedman now and then say something with a genuine 

 flavor (cf. TI, 124, 161, 163; V, 358 ff., 377, 383 ff.). 

 53 The Wanderer, I, 422. 



59 Ibid., IT, 435. 



60 Ibid., I, 278. Cf. Camilla, II, 331. 



61 Cf. The Wanderer, I, 407, 427; V, 364. 



62 Cf. Camilla, II, 222 ff.. 289 ff., 355 ff.; The Wanderer, II, 252 ff. 



