Still the composition was approved upon the
whole. The few words of censure were very far indeed from amounting to
condemnation. The chief defect insisted upon was the feebleness of the
denouement, and, generally, of the concluding scenes, as compared with
the opening passages. We are not sure, however, that anything like
detailed criticism has been attempted in the case- nor do we propose
now to attempt it. Nevertheless, the work has interest, not only
within itself, but as the first dramatic effort of an author who has
remarkably succeeded in almost every other department of light
literature than that of the drama. It may be as well, therefore, to
speak of it, if not analytically, at least somewhat in detail; and
we cannot, perhaps, more suitably commence than by a quotation,
without comment of some of the finer passages:
"And, though she is a virgin outwardly,
Within she is a sinner, like those panels
Of doors and altar-pieces the old monks
Painted in convents, with the Virgin Mary
On the outside, and on the inside Venus."
"I believe
That woman, in her deepest degradation,
Holds something sacred, something undefiled,
Some pledge and keepsake of her higher nature,
And, like the diamond in the dark, retains
Some quenchless gleam of the celestial light.
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