THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

I. 1. The Harmony of Virtue55crude and inartistic barbarity, but in the sweet and delicate soulof woman as a refined and beautiful playfulness and the inseparablecorrelative of a gentle and suave disposition.Wilson: But I am inclined to credit the girl with the purposeof giving a keener relish to the gratified desire by enhancing thedifficulty of attainment, and in that case she will be actuated notby cruelty but always by tenderness.Keshav: You think she is actuated by the principles of PoliticalEconomy? I cannot agree with you.Treneth: And I deny the truth of the principle. A preciousthing easily acquired is treasured for its beauty and worth, but ifacquired with pain and labour, the memory of the effort leavesa bad taste in the mouth which it is difficult to expunge. I readVirgil at school and never read a line of him now but Catullus Iskimmed through in my arm-chair and love and appreciate.Keshav: Your distinction is subtle and suggestive, Treneth,but it never occurred to me in that light before.Treneth: It never occurred to me in that light before.Keshav: Yet I do not think it applies to our lovers, and itdoes not apply always, for the poem I have perfected with labourand thought is surely dearer to me than the light carol thrownoff in the happy inspiration of the moment. Rapid generalitiesseldom cover more than a few cases. So I will take Broome onhis own ground, not because I cannot adduce other instances ofcruelty and tenderness living in wedded felicity, but because Ido not want to fatigue myself by recollecting them. And now,Broome, will you say that a tyrant who desires to give his favouritea keener relish of luxury and strains him on the rack andwashes him with scalding oil and dries him with nettles and flayshim with whips and then only comforts him with the luxury ofdowny pillows and velvet cushions and perfect repose, has notbeen actuated by cruelty but always by tenderness?Wilson: Oh, of course, if you cite extravagant instances!Keshav: And will you say that the girl who wishes to giveher kiss a sweeter savour on the lips of her favourite and strainshim on the rack of suspense and washes him with the scaldingoil of despair and dries him with the nettles of hope and flayshim with the whips of desire and then only comforts him with