e is here so rapid and so public that it affords no
interesting developments; and to give a true picture of general manners
in this respect, it would be necessary to begin and terminate it in the
first page. Pardon me, Corinne," cried Lord Nelville, observing the pain
that he gave her; "you are an Italian, and that thought ought to disarm
me; but one of the causes of that incomparable grace which distinguishes
you, is the union of all the characteristic charms of different nations.
I know not in what country you have been brought up; but it appears to
me certain, that you have not passed your whole life in Italy--perhaps
in England itself--Ah, Corinne! if that were so, how could you have
quitted that sanctuary of modesty and delicacy, for these regions,
where not only virtue, but love itself, is so badly understood? It is
breathed in the air; but does it penetrate the heart? Your poetry, in
which love performs so principal a part, possesses considerable grace,
and much imagination; it is ornamented with brilliant pictures, whose
colours are lively and voluptuous. But where will you find that tender,
melancholy sentiment, which animates our poetry? What have you that can
be put in comparison with the scene between Belvidera and her husband,
in OTWAY; or with that in SHAKESPEARE, between Romeo and Juliet? But
above all, what have you to compare with those admirable lines of
THOMSON, in his 'Spring,' where he paints in such noble and affecting
traits, the happiness of love, when sanctioned by marriage? Have you any
such marriage in Italy? And can love exist where there is no domestic
felicity? Is it not this happiness which the heart seeks, as possession
is the object of sensual passion? Do not all young and beautiful women
resemble each other, unless the qualities of the mind and soul determine
a preference? And what desire is excited by all these qualities?
Marriage. That is to say, the association of every thought, and of every
sentiment. Illicit love, when unfortunately it exists amongst us, is, if
it may be so expressed, only a reflection of marriage. In such
connections, that happiness is sought for, which the wanderer cannot
find at home; and infidelity itself is more moral in England than
marriage in Italy."

These words were hard: they deeply wounded the sensibility of Corinne;
who, rising immediately, her eyes filled with tears, quitted the room
and returned directly home. Oswald was distracted at having offended