The Princess of Cleves
The Princess of Cleves
Published by G. Kearly No. 46 Fleet Street Augt. 1, 1777.
A
COLLECTION
OF
NOVELS,
SELECTED AND REVISED BY
Mrs. GRIFFITH.
VOL. II.
SPARSA COEGI.
LONDON:
Printed for G. Kearlsy, at No. 46, in Fleet-Street;
and the other Proprietors.
MDCCLXXVII.
THE
PRINCESS OF CLEVES.
CHARACTER
OF THE
PRINCESS OF CLEVES,
BY THE EDITOR.
THE story of the Princess of Cleves[1], which we now present to our readers, has been long universally allowed to stand foremost in that peculiar species of writing, where historical facts are intermixed with the anecdotes and adventures of private personages. The scene is laid in the court of France, at an era when galantry had risen to its greatest height in that polite nation; though the romantic notions of ancient chivalry had begun to grow obsolete, but were not yet intirely exploded; for we here meet with a tournament, appointed in honour of the princess Elizabeth's marriage with the king of Spain; which, however, was the last that ever was exhibited in France.
From this particular circumstance, the reader may form an idea, that the manners and sentiments of those times differred widely from those of the present; and of course, the delicacy with which, the princess of Cleves and the duke of Nemours conducted themselves, though under the influence of an unjustifiable passion, ought not to be deemed unnatural, though, perhaps, in these more licentious days it may be supposed improbable.
There are some situations in the following Novel, more refined and elegant than any we ever remember to have met with before; particularly, that of our heroine's flying for sanctuary, as it were, from herself, into the bosom of her husband, by revealing to him her passion for another. What a confidant for a modern dame! The line which the princess of Cleves pursues through the whole story, is doubtless worthy of emulation to those who may be so unhappy as to stand in the same predicament; but her conduct, after the death of her husband, will, we fear, rather be considered as a subject for admiration, than imitation.
- ↑ The original of this Novel is in French. The author
has not put any name to the piece, and gives this modest reason for it; "That he would wait 'till he found how it was received by the public, before he would venture to declare himself." The secret has never since transpired.
In this uncertainty, every one is left at liberty to frame a conjecture about the Author; and, in my opinion, this work seems to have been written by some ingenious woman of the age in which it appeared; as the delicacy of sentiment, and peculiar nicety of manners, with which the princess of Cleves conducted herself in the most difficult situations, could only have arisen in the female breast. Men are not apt to imagine such refinements; and even, perhaps, less so to impute them to the sex.
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.
| Original: |
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse |
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| Translation: |
This work was published before January 1, 1929 and is anonymous or pseudonymous due to unknown authorship. It is in the public domain in the United States as well as countries and areas where the copyright terms of anonymous or pseudonymous works are 95 years or less since publication.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse |
