Non-Fiction > Books > London, 1881 - Virginibus Puerisque, and other papers

''Virginibns Ptierisqiic^^ 59
is somehow blessed to others, and everybody is
made happier in their happiness, would serve at
least to keep love generous and great-hearted.
Nor is it quite a baseless superstition after all.
Other lovers are hugely interested. They strike
the nicest balance between pity and approval,
when they see people aping the greatness of
their own sentiments. It is an understood thing
in the play, that while the young gentlefolk are
courting on the terrace, a rough flirtation is
being carried on, and a light, trivial sort of love
is growing up, between the footman and the
singing chambermaid. As people are generally
cast for the leading parts in their own imagina-
tions, the reader can apply the parallel to real
life without much chance of going wrong. In
short, they are quite sure this other love-affair
is not so deep-seated as their own, but they like
dearly to see it going forward. And love, con-
sidered as a spectacle, must have attractions for
many who are not of the confraternity. The