Hale: Madame D'Arhlay 



11 



We need not go far to seek the source of this fantastic distortion of the 

 Enghsh speech, for Dr. Burney, Madame D'Arblay's father, wrote 

 in just this way. In one of his letters to her, he says: 



Why, my dear F. B. d'Arblay! what a happy effect has the kindness of 

 your dear, accomplished, and elegant friend, Mrs, Locke, produced! She has 

 poured balm into all your mortal wounds, and healed every sore, which 

 having no leonine tincture of March in it, now only breathes zephyrs, and the 

 comforts of Favonius.^'^ 



On another occasion, he writes thus in regard to a friend's death: 



It has been very well said of mental wounds, that they must digest, like 

 those of the body, before they can be healed. The poultice of necessity can 

 alone, perhaps, in some cases, bring on this digestion; but we should not 

 impede it by caustics or corrosions. Let the wound be open a due time — but 

 not be kept bare with violence." 



Without question, Madame D'Arblay inherited this vagary from her 

 father, and eventually fell a victim to its use thru the influence of 

 his writings. 



Another quality, a highly colored sentimentahty, strongly charac- 

 terizes the later novels. The emotion is raised to the nth power. 

 Nothing is done in a normal way. Every one who moves, moves 

 ''precipitately". 2^ A stern countenance appears as "sl brow of almost 

 petrifying severity" a haughty look becomes either "a, mien of such 

 rigid austerity or a ''heightened air of haughty disdain" a bright 

 future is converted into "sweet balsamic hopes". The heroine 

 agonizes "in deep distress; every ray of hope was chaced away from 

 her prospects", or she was "touched, penetrated, and distressed 

 beyond what she had been in any former time".^^ The hero was 

 "wounded to the heart by the recital", or was "stung to the heart to 

 see who handed her away".^*^ A meeting with the hero has this effect 

 upon the heroine: 



... so livid a paleness overspread her face, and so deadly a cold seemed 

 to chill her blood, that, but for a friendly burst of tears, which ensued, her 

 vital powers appeared to be threatened with immediate suspension. 3 7 



26 Memoirs of Dr. Burney, III, 419. 



27 Ibid, IT, 320. 



28 The Wanderer, IV, 1. 



29 Ibid., IV, 3. 



30 Ibid., IV, 6. 



31 Ibid., IV, 2. 



32 Ibid., IV, 11. 



33 Camilla, II, 350. 



34 Ibid., Ill, 449. 

 ?5 Ibid., II, 352. 



35 Camilla, IV, 368. 



37 The Wanderer, I, 441. 



