me
natural sacrament. "This chaste knot of nature is subject neither to
the sovereign power nor to paternal authority," he cried, "but only to
the authority of the common Father." And he pointed his remark by a
bitter allusion to a celebrated case in which a great house had
prevailed on the courts to annul the marriage of an elder son with a
young actress, though her character was excellent, and though she had
befriended him when he was abandoned by everybody else.[67] This was
one of the countless democratic thrusts in the book. In the case of
its heroine, however, the author associated the sanctity of marriage
not only with equality but with religion. We may imagine the spleen
with which the philosophers, with both their hatred of the faith, and
their light esteem of marriage bonds, read Julie's eloquent account of
her emotions at the moment of her union with Wolmar. "I seemed to
behold the organ of Providence and to hear the voice of God, as the
minister gravely pronounced the words of the holy service. The purity,
the dignity, the sanctity of marriage, so vividly set forth in the
words of scripture; its chaste and sublime duties, so important to the
happiness, order, and peace of the human race, so sweet to fulfil even
for their own sake--all this made such an impression on me that I
seemed to feel within my breast a sudden revolution. An unknown power
seemed all at once to arrest the disorder of my affections, and to
restore them to accordance with the law of duty and of nature. The
eternal eye that sees everything, I said to myself, now reads to the
depth of my heart."[68] She has all the well-known fervour of the
proselyte, and never wearies of extolling the peace of the wedded
state. Love is no essential to its perfection. "Worth, virtue, a
certain accord not so much in condition and age as in character and
temper, are enough between husband and wife; and this does not prevent
the growth from such a union of a very tender attachment, which is
none the less sweet for not being exactly love, and is all the more
lasting."[69] Years after, when Saint Preux has returned and is
settled in the household, she even tries to persuade him to imitate
her example, and find contentment in marriage with her cousin. The
earnestness with which she presses the point, the very sensible but
not very delicate references to the hygienic drawbacks of celibacy,
and the fact that the cousin whom she would fain have him marry, had
compla