Non-Fiction > Books > London, 1887 - Virginibus Puerisque, and other papers

52 " Virginibus Puerisqtie "
all within the province of a prose essayist to
give a picture of this hyperbolical frame of
mind ; and the thing has been done already,
and that to admiration. In Adelaide^ in
Tennyson's Maud, and in some of Heine's
songs, you get the absolute expression of
this midsummer spirit. Romeo and Juliet
were very much in love ; although they tell
me some German critics are of a different
opinion, probably the same who would have
us think Mercutio a dull fellow. Poor
Antony was in love, and no mistake. That
lay figure Marius, in Les Miserables, is also a
genuine case in his own way, and worth
observation. A good many of George Sand's
people are thoroughly in love ; and so are a
good many of George Meredith's. Altogether,
there is plenty to read on the subject. If
the root of the matter be in him, and if he
has the requisite chords to set in vibration,
a young man may occasionally enter, with
the key of art, into that land of Beulah which
is upon the borders of Heaven and within
sight of the City of Love. There let him