" Sand may say the same.
All is open, noble; the free descriptions, the sophistry of passion,
are, at least, redeemed by a desire for truth as strong as ever beat
in any heart. To the weak or unthinking, the reading of such books may
not be desirable, for only those who take exercise as men can digest
strong meat. But to any one able to understand the position and
circumstances, we believe this reading cannot fail of bringing good
impulses, valuable suggestions; and it is quite free from that subtle
miasma which taints so large a portion of French literature, not less
since the Revolution than before. This we say to the foreign reader.
To her own country, Sand is a boon precious and prized, both as a
warning and a leader, for which none there can be ungrateful. She has
dared to probe its festering wounds; and if they be not past all
surgery, she is one who, most of any, helps towards a cure.
Would, indeed, the surgeon had come with quite clean hands! A woman of
Sand's genius--as free, as bold, and pure from even the suspicion of
error--might have filled an apostolic station among her people with
what force had come her cry, "If it be false, give it up; but if it be
true, keep to it,-- one or the other!"
But we have read all we wish to say upon this subject lately uttered
just from the quarter we could wish.
Pages:
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280