CONVENT AFFAIRS - Chapter XVI
Countess Coronini--A Lover's Pique--Reconciliation--The First
Meeting--A Philosophical Parenthesis
My beautiful nun had not spoken to me, and I was glad of it, for I
was so astonished, so completely under the spell of her beauty, that
I might have given her a very poor opinion of my intelligence by the
rambling answers which I should very likely have given to her
questions. I knew her to be certain that she had not to fear the
humiliation of a refusal from me, but I admired her courage in
running the risk of it in her position. I could hardly understand
her boldness, and I could not conceive how she contrived to enjoy so
much liberty. A casino at Muran! the possibility of going to Venice
to sup with a young man! It was all very surprising, and I decided
in my own mind that she had an acknowledged lover whose pleasure it
was to make her happy by satisfying her caprices. It is true that
such a thought was rather unpleasant to my pride, but there was too
much piquancy in the adventure, the heroine of it was too attractive,
for me to be stopped by any considerations. I saw very well that I
was taking the high road to become unfaithful to my dear C---- C----,
or rather that I was already so in thought and will, but I must
confess that, in spite of all my love for that charming child, I felt
no qualms of conscience. It seemed to me that an infidelity of that
sort, if she ever heard of it, would not displease her, for that
short excursion on strange ground would only keep me alive and in
good condition for her, because it would save me from the weariness
which was surely killing me.
I had been presented to the celebrated Countess Coronini by a nun, a
relative of M. Dandolo. That countess, who had been very handsome
and was very witty, having made up her mind to renounce the political
intrigues which had been the study of her whole life, had sought a
retreat in the Convent of St. Justine, in the hope of finding in that
refuge the calm which she wanted, and which her disgust of society
had rendered necessary to her. As she had enjoyed a very great
reputation, she was still visited at the convent by all the foreign
ambassadors and by the first noblemen of Venice; inside of the walls
of her convent the countess was acquainted with everything that
happened in the city. She always received me very kindly, and,
treating me as a young man, she took pleasure in giving me, every
time I called on her, very agreeable lessons in morals. Being quite
certain to find out from her, with a little manoeuvering, something
concerning M---- M----, I decided on paying her a visit the day after
I had seen the beautiful nun.
The countess gave me her usual welcome, and, after the thousand
nothings which it is the custom to utter in society before anything
worth saying is spoken, I led the conversation up to the convents of
Venice. We spoke of the wit and influence of a nun called Celsi,
who, although ugly, had an immense credit everywhere and in
everything. We mentioned afterwards the young and lovely Sister
Michali, who had taken the veil to prove to her mother that she was
superior to her in intelligence and wit. After speaking of several
other nuns who had the reputation of being addicted to gallantry, I
named M---- M----, remarking that most likely she deserved that
reputation likewise, but that she was an enigma. The countess
answered with a smile that she was not an enigma for everybody,
although she was necessarily so for most people.
"What is incomprehensible," she said, "is the caprice that she took
suddenly to become a nun, being handsome, rich, free, well-educated,
full of wit, and, to my knowledge, a Free-thinker. She took the veil
without any reason, physical or moral; it was a mere caprice."
"Do you believe her to be happy, madam?"
"Yes, unless she has repented her decision, or if she does not repent
it some day. But if ever she does, I think she will be wise enough
never to say so to anyone."
Satisfied by the mysterious air of the countess that M---- M---- had
a lover, I made up my mind not to trouble myself about it, and having
put on my mask I went to Muran in the afternoon. When I reached the
gate of the convent I rang the bell, and with an anxious heart I
asked for M---- M---- in the name of Madame de S----. The small
parlour being closed, the attendant pointed out to me the one in
which I had to go. I went in, took off my mask, and sat down waiting
for my divinity.
My heart was beating furiously; I was waiting with great impatience;
yet that expectation was not without charm, for I dreaded the
beginning of the interview. An hour passed pretty rapidly, but I
began then to find the time rather long, and thinking that, perhaps,
the attendant had not rightly understood me, I rang the bell, and
enquired whether notice of my visit had being given to Sister M----
M----. A voice answered affirmatively. I took my seat again, and a
few minutes afterwards an old, toothless nun came in and informed me
that Sister M---- M---- was engaged for the whole day. Without
giving me time to utter a single word, the woman left the parlour.
This was one of those terrible moments to which the man who worships
at the shrine of the god of love is exposed! They are indeed cruel
moments; they bring fearful sorrow, they may cause death.
Feeling myself disgraced, my first sensation was utter contempt for
myself, an inward despair which was akin to rage; the second was
disdainful indignation against the nun, upon whom I passed the severe
judgment which I thought she deserved, and which was the only way I
had to soothe my grief. Such behaviour proclaimed her to be the most
impudent of women, and entirely wanting in good sense; for the two
letters she had written to me were quite enough to ruin her character
if I had wished to revenge myself, and she evidently could not expect
anything else from me. She must have been mad to set at defiance my
revengeful feelings, and I should certainly have thought that she was
insane if I had not heard her converse with the countess.
Time, they say, brings good counsel; it certainly brings calm, and
cool reflection gives lucidity to the mind. At last I persuaded
myself that what had occurred was after all in no way extraordinary,
and that I would certainly have considered it at first a very common
occurrence if I had not been dazzled by the wonderful beauty of the
nun, and blinded by my own vanity. As a very natural result I felt
that I was at liberty to laugh at my mishap, and that nobody could
possibly guess whether my mirth was genuine or only counterfeit.
Sophism is so officious!
But, in spite of all my fine arguments, I still cherished the thought
of revenge; no debasing element, however, was to form part of it, and
being determined not to leave the person who had been guilty of such
a bad practical joke the slightest cause of triumph, I had the
courage not to shew any vexation. She had sent word to me that she
was engaged; nothing more natural; the part I had to play was to
appear indifferent. "Most likely she will not be engaged another
time," I said to myself, "but I defy her to catch me in the snare
again. I mean to shew her that I only laugh at her uncivil
behaviour." Of course I intended to send back her letters, but not
without the accompaniment of a billet-doux, the gallantry of which
was not , likely to please her.
The worse part of the affair for me was to be compelled to go to her
church; because, supposing her not to be aware of my going there for
C---- C----, she might imagine that the only object of my visits was
to give her the opportunity of apologizing for her conduct and of
appointing a new meeting. I wanted her to entertain no doubt of my
utter contempt for her person, and I felt certain that she had
proposed the other meetings in Venice and at the casino of Muran only
to deceive me more easily.
I went to bed with a great thirst for revenge, I fell asleep thinking
of it, and I awoke with the resolution of quenching it. I began to
write, but, as I wished particularly that my letter should not show
the pique of the disappointed lover, I left it on my table with the
intention of reading it again the next day. It proved a useful
precaution, for when I read it over, twenty-four hours afterwards, I
found it unworthy of me, and tore it to pieces. It contained some
sentences which savoured too much of my weakness, my love, and my
spite, and which, far from humiliating her, would only have given her
occasion to laugh at me.
On the Wednesday after I had written to C---- C---- that very serious
reasons compelled me to give up my visits to the church of her
convent, I wrote another letter to the nun, but on Thursday it had
the same fate as the first, because upon a second perusal I found the
same deficiencies. It seemed to me that I had lost the faculty of
writing. Ten days afterwards I found out that I was too deeply in
love to have the power of expressing myself in any other way than
through the feelings of my heart.
'Sincerium est nisi vas, quodcunque infundis acescit.'
The face of M---- M---- had made too deep an impression on me;
nothing could possibly obliterate it except the all-powerful
influence of time.
In my ridiculous position I was sorely tempted to complain to
Countess S----; but I am happy to say I was prudent enough not to
cross the threshold of her door. At last I bethought myself that the
giddy nun was certainly labouring under constant dread, knowing that
I had in my possession her two letters, with which I could ruin her
reputation and cause the greatest injury to the convent, and I sent
them back to her with the following note, after I had kept them ten
days:
"I can assure you, madam, that it was owing only to forgetfulness
that I did not return your two letters which you will find enclosed.
I have never thought of belying my own nature by taking a cowardly
revenge upon you, and I forgive you most willingly the two giddy acts
of which you have been guilty, whether they were committed
thoughtlessly or because you wanted to enjoy a joke at my expense.
Nevertheless, you will allow me to advise you not to treat any other
man in the same way, for you might meet with one endowed with less
delicacy. I know your name, I know who you are, but you need not be
anxious; it is exactly as if I did not know it. You may, perhaps,
care but little for my discretion, but if it should be so I should
greatly pity you.
"You may be aware that I shall not shew myself again at your church;
but let me assure you that it is not a sacrifice on my part, and that
I can attend mass anywhere else. Yet I must tell you why I shall
abstain from frequenting the church of your convent. It is very
natural for me to suppose that to the two thoughtless acts of which
you have been guilty, you have added another not less serious,
namely, that of having boasted of your exploits with the other nuns,
and I do not want to be the butt of your jokes in cell or parlour.
Do not think me too ridiculous if, in spite of being five or six
years older than you, I have not thrown off all feelings of
self-respect, or trodden under, my feet all reserve and propriety; in
one word, if I have kept some prejudices, there are a few which in my
opinion ought never to be forgotten. Do not disdain, madam, the
lesson which I take the liberty to teach you, as I receive in the
kindest spirit the one which you have given me, most likely only for
the sake of fun, but by which I promise you to profit as long as I
live."
I thought that, considering all circumstances, my letter was a very
genial one; I made up my parcel, put on my mask, and looked out for a
porter who could have no knowledge of me; I gave him half a sequin,
and I promised him as much more when he could assure me that he had
faithfully delivered my letter at the convent of Muran. I gave him
all the necessary instructions, and cautioned him to go away the very
moment he had delivered the letter at the gate of the convent, even
if he were told to wait. I must say here that my messenger was a man
from Forli, and that the Forlanese were then the most trustworthy men
in Venice; for one of them to be guilty of a breach of trust was an
unheard-of thing. Such men were formerly the Savoyards, in Paris;
but everything is getting worse in this world.
I was beginning to forget the adventure, probably because I thought,
rightly or wrongly, that I had put an insurmountable barrier between
the nun and myself, when, ten days after I had sent my letter, as I
was coming out of the opera, I met my messenger, lantern in hand.
I called him, and without taking off my mask I asked him whether he
knew me. He looked at me, eyed me from head to foot, and finally
answered that he did not.
"Did you faithfully carry the message to Muran?"
"Ah, sir! God be praised! I am very happy to see you again, for I
have an important communication to make to you. I took your letter,
delivered it according to your instructions, and I went away as soon
as it was in the hands of the attendant, although she requested me to
wait. When I returned from Muran I did not see you, but that did not
matter. On the following day, one of my companions, who happened to
be at the gate of the convent when I delivered your letter, came
early in the morning to tell me to go to Muran, because the attendant
wanted particularly to speak to me. I went there, and after waiting
for a few minutes I was shewn into the parlour, where I was kept for
more than an hour by a nun as beautiful as the light of day, who
asked me a thousand questions for the purpose of ascertaining, if not
who you are, at least where I should be likely to find you. You know
that I could not give her any satisfactory information. She then
left the parlour, ordering me to wait, and at the end of two hours
she came back with a letter which she entrusted to my hands, telling
me that, if I succeeded in finding you out and in bringing her an
answer, she would give me two sequins. In the mean time I was to
call at the convent every day, shew her the letter, and receive forty
sons every time. Until now I have earned twenty crowns, but I am
afraid the lady will get tired of it, and you can make me earn two
sequins by answering a line."
"Where is the letter?"
"In my room under lock and key, for I am always afraid of losing it."
"Then how can I answer?"
"If you will wait for me here, you shall have the letter in less than
a quarter of an hour."
"I will not wait, because I do not care about the letter. But tell
me how you could flatter the nun with the hope of finding me out?
You are a rogue, for it is not likely that she would have trusted you
with the letter if you had not promised her to find me."
"I am not a rogue, for I have done faithfully what you told me; but
it is true that I gave her a description of your coat, your buckles,
and your figure, and I can assure you that for the last ten days I
have examined all the masks who are about your size, but in vain.
Now I recognize your buckles, but I do not think you have the same
coat. Alas, sir! it will not cost you much to write only one line.
Be kind enough to wait for me in the coffee-house close by."
I could not resist my curiosity any longer, and I made up my mind not
to wait for him but to accompany him as far as his house. I had only
to write, "I have received the letter," and my curiosity was
gratified and the Forlanese earned his two sequins. I could
afterwards change my buckles and my mask, and thus set all enquiries
at defiance.
I therefore followed him to his door; he went in and brought me the
letter. I took him to an inn, where I asked for a room with a good
fire, and I told my man to wait. I broke the seal of the parcel--a
rather large one, and the first papers that I saw were the two
letters which I had sent back to her in order to allay her anxiety as
to the possible consequences of her giddiness.
The sight of these letters caused me such a palpitation of the heart
that I was compelled to sit down: it was a most evident sign of my
defeat. Besides these two letters I found a third one signed "S."
and addressed to M---- M----. I read the following lines:
"The mask who accompanied me back to my house would not, I believe,
have uttered a single word, if I had not told him that the charms of
your witty mind were even more bewitching than those of your person;
and his answer was, 'I have seen the one, and I believe in the
other.' I added that I did not understand why you had not spoken to
him, and he said, with a smile, 'I refused to be presented to her,
and she punished me for it by not appearing to know that I was
present.' These few words were all our dialogue. I intended to send
you this note this morning, but found it impossible. Adieu."
After reading this note, which stated the exact truth, and which
could be considered as proof, my heart began to beat less quickly.
Delighted at seeing myself on the point of being convicted of
injustice, I took courage, and I read the following letter:
"Owing to an excusable weakness, feeling curious to know what you
would say about me to the countess after you had seen me, I took an
opportunity of asking her to let me know all you said to her on the
following day at latest, for I foresaw that you would pay me a visit
in the afternoon. Her letter, which I enclose, and which I beg you
to read, did not reach me till half an hour after you had left the
convent.
"This was the first fatality.
"Not having received that letter when you called, I had not the
courage to see you. This absurd weakness on my part was the second
fatality, but the weakness you will; I hope; forgive. I gave orders
to the lay-sister to tell you that I was ill for the whole day; a
very legitimate excuse; whether true or false, for it was an
officious untruth, the correction of which, was to be found in the
words: for the whole day. You had already left the convent, and I
could not possibly send anyone to run after you, when the old fool
informed me of her having told you that I was engaged.
"This was the third fatality.
"You cannot imagine what I had a mind to do and to say to that
foolish sister; but here one must say or do nothing; one must be
patient and dissemble, thanking God when mistakes are the result of
ignorance and not of wickedness--a very common thing in convents.
I foresaw at once, at least partly; what would happen; and what has
actually, happened; for no reasonable being could, I believe, have
foreseen it all. I guessed that, thinking yourself the victim of a
joke, you would be incensed, and I felt miserable, for I did not see
any way of letting you know the truth before the following Sunday.
My heart longed- ardently for that day. Could I possibly imagine
that you, would take a resolution not to come again to our church!
I tried to be patient until that Sunday; but when I found myself
disappointed in my hope, my misery became unbearable, and it will
cause my death if you refuse to listen to my justification. Your
letter has made me completely unhappy, and I shall not resist my
despair if you persist in the cruel resolve expressed by your
unfeeling letter. You have considered yourself trifled with; that is
all you can say; but will this letter convince you of your error?
And even believing yourself deceived in the most scandalous manner,
you must admit that to write such an awful letter you must have
supposed me an abominable wretch--a monster, such as a woman of noble
birth and of refined education cannot possibly be. I enclose the two
letters you sent back to me, with the idea of allaying my fears which
you cruelly supposed very different to what they are in reality.
I am a better physiognomist than you, and you must be quite certain
that I have not acted thoughtlessly, for I never thought you capable,
I will not say of crime, but even of an indelicate action. You must
have read on my features the signs only of giddy impudence, and that
is not my nature. You may be the cause of my death, you will
certainly make me miserable for the remainder of my life, if you do
not justify yourself; on my side I think the justification is
complete.
"I hope that, even if you feel no interest in my life, you will think
that you are bound in honour to come and speak to me. Come yourself
to recall all you have written; it is your duty, and I deserve it.
If you do not realize the fatal effect produced upon me by your
letter, I must indeed pity you, in spite of my misery, for it proves
that you have not the slightest knowledge of the human heart. But I
feel certain that you will come back, provided the man to whom I
trust this letter contrives to find you. Adieu! I expect life or
death from you."
I did not require to read that letter twice; I was ashamed and in
despair. M---- M---- was right. I called the Forlanese, enquired
from him whether he had spoken to her in the morning, and whether she
looked ill. He answered that he had found her looking more unhappy
every day, and that her eyes were red from weeping.
"Go down again and wait," I said to him.
I began to write, and I had not concluded my long screed before the
dawn of day; here are, word by word, the contents of the letter which
I wrote to the noblest of women, whom in my unreasonable spite I had
judged so wrongly.
"I plead guilty, madam; I cannot possibly justify myself, and I am
perfectly convinced of your innocence. I should be disconsolate if I
did not hope to obtain pardon, and you will not refuse to forgive me
if you are kind enough to recollect the cause of my guilt. I saw
you; I was dazzled, and I could not realize a happiness which seemed
to me a dream; I thought myself the prey of one of those delightful
illusions which vanish when we wake up. The doubt under which I was
labouring could not be cleared up for twenty-four hours, and how
could I express my feverish impatience as I was longing for that
happy moment! It came at last! and my heart, throbbing with desire
and hope, was flying towards you while I was in the parlour counting
the minutes! Yet an hour passed almost rapidly, and not unnaturally,
considering my impatience and the deep impression I felt at the idea
of seeing you. But then, precisely at the very moment when I
believed myself certain that I was going to gaze upon the beloved
features which had been in one interview indelibly engraved upon my
heart, I saw the most disagreeable face appear, and a creature
announced that you were engaged for the whole day, and without giving
me time to utter one word she disappeared! You may imagine my
astonishment and... the rest. The lightning would not have produced
upon me a more rapid, a more terrible effect! If you had sent me a
line by that sister--a line from your hand--I would have gone away,
if not pleased, at least submissive and resigned.
"But that was a fourth fatality which you have forgotten to add to
your delightful and witty justification. Thinking myself scoffed at,
my self-love rebelled, and indignation for the moment silenced love.
Shame overwhelmed me! I thought that everybody could read on my face
all the horror in my heart, and I saw in you, under the outward
appearance of an angel, nothing but a fearful daughter of the Prince
of Darkness. My mind was thoroughly upset, and at the end of eleven
days I lost the small portion of good sense that was left in me--at
least I must suppose so, as it is then that I wrote to you the letter
of which you have so good a right to complain, and which at that time
seemed to me a masterpiece of moderation.
"But I hope it is all over now, and this very day at eleven o'clock
you will see me at your feet--tender, submissive and repentant. You
will forgive me, divine woman, or I will myself avenge you for the
insult I have hurled at you. The only thing which I dare to ask from
you as a great favour is to burn my first letter, and never to
mention it again. I sent it only after I had written four, which I
destroyed one after the other: you may therefore imagine the state of
my heart.
"I have given orders to my messenger to go to your convent at once,
so that my letter can be delivered to you as soon as you wake in the
morning. He would never have discovered me, if my good angel had not
made me go up to him at the door of the opera-house. But I shall not
require his services any more; do not answer me, and receive all the
devotion of a heart which adores you."
When my letter was finished, I called my Forlanese, gave him one
sequin, and I made him promise me to go to Muran immediately, and to
deliver my letter only to the nun herself. As soon as he had gone I
threw myself on my bed, but anxiety and burning impatience would not
allow me to sleep.
I need not tell the reader who knows the state of excitement under
which I was labouring, that I was punctual in presenting myself at
the convent. I was shewn into the small parlour where I had seen her
for the first time, and she almost immediately made her entrance.
As soon as I saw her near the grating I fell on my knees, but she
entreated me to rise at once as I might be seen. Her face was
flushed with excitement, and her looks seemed to me heavenly. She
sat down, and I took a seat opposite to her. We remained several
minutes motionless, gazing at each other without speaking, but I
broke the silence by asking her, in a voice full of love and anxiety,
whether I could hope to obtain my pardon. She gave me her beautiful
hand through the grating, and I covered it with tears and kisses.
"Our acquaintance," she said, "has begun with a violent storm; let us
hope that we shall now enjoy it long in perfect and lasting calm.
This is the first time that we speak to one another, but what has
occurred must be enough to give us a thorough knowledge of each
other. I trust that our intimacy will be as tender as sincere, and
that we shall know how to have a mutual indulgence for our faults."
"Can such an angel as you have any?"
"Ah, my friend! who is without them?"
"When shall I have the happiness of convincing you of my devotion
with complete freedom and in all the joy of my heart?"
"We will take supper together at my casino whenever you please,
provided you give me notice two days beforehand; or I will go and sup
with you in Venice, if it will not disturb your arrangements."
"It would only increase my happiness. I think it right to tell you
that I am in very easy circumstances, and that, far from fearing
expense, I delight in it: all I possess belongs to the woman I love."
"That confidence, my dear friend, is very agreeable to me, the more
so that I have likewise to tell you that I am very rich, and that I
could not refuse anything to my lover."
"But you must have a lover?"
"Yes; it is through him that I am rich, and he is entirely my master.
I never conceal anything from him. The day after to-morrow, when I
am alone with you, I will tell you more."
"But I hope that your lover...."
"Will not be there? Certainly not. Have you a mistress?"
"I had one, but, alas! she has been taken from me by violent means,
and for the last six months I have led a life of complete celibacy."
"Do you love her still?"
"I cannot think of her without loving her. She has almost as great
charms, as great beauty, as you have; but I foresee that you will
make me forget her."
"If your happiness with her was complete, I pity you. She has been
violently taken from you, and you shun society in order to feed your
sorrow. I have guessed right, have I not? But if I happen to take
possession of her place in your heart, no one, my sweet friend, shall
turn me out of it."
"But what will your lover say?"
"He will be delighted to see me happy with such a lover as you. It
is in his nature."
"What an admirable nature! Such heroism is quite beyond me!"
"What sort of a life do you lead in Venice?"
"I live at the theatres, in society, in the casinos, where I fight
against fortune sometimes with good sometimes with bad success."
"Do you visit the foreign ambassadors?"
"No, because I am too much acquainted with the nobility; but I know
them all."
"How can you know them if you do not see them?"
"I have known them abroad. In Parma the Duke de Montalegre, the
Spanish ambassador; in Vienna I knew Count Rosemberg; in Paris, about
two years ago, the French ambassador."
"It is near twelve o'clock, my dear friend; it is time for us to
part. Come at the same hour the day after tomorrow, and I will give
you all the instructions which you will require to enable you to come
and sup with me."
"Alone?"
"Of course."
"May I venture to ask you for a pledge? The happiness which you
promise me is so immense!"
"What pledge do you want?"
"To see you standing before that small window in the grating with
permission for me to occupy the same place as Madame de S----."
She rose at once, and, with the most gracious smile, touched the
spring; after a most expressive kiss, I took leave of her. She
followed me with her eyes as far as the door, and her loving gaze
would have rooted me to the spot if she had not left the room.
I spent the two days of expectation in a whirl of impatient joy,
which prevented me from eating and sleeping; for it seemed to me that
no other love had ever given me such happiness, or rather that I was
going to be happy for the first time.
Irrespective of birth, beauty, and wit, which was the principal merit
of my new conquest, prejudice was there to enhance a hundredfold my
felicity, for she was a vestal: it was forbidden fruit, and who does
not know that, from Eve down to our days, it was that fruit which has
always appeared the most delicious! I was on the point of
encroaching upon the rights of an all-powerful husband; in my eyes
M---- M---- was above all the queens of the earth.
If my reason had not been the slave of passion, I should have known
that my nun could not be a different creature from all the pretty
women whom I had loved for the thirteen years that I had been
labouring in the fields of love. But where is the man in love who
can harbour such a thought? If it presents itself too often to his
mind, he expels it disdainfully! M---- M---- could not by any means
be otherwise than superior to all other women in the wide world.
Animal nature, which chemists call the animal kingdom, obtains
through instinct the three various means necessary for the
perpetuation of its species.
There are three real wants which nature has implanted in all human
creatures. They must feed themselves, and to prevent that task from
being insipid and tedious they have the agreeable sensation of
appetite, which they feel pleasure in satisfying. They must
propagate their respective species; an absolute necessity which
proves the wisdom of the Creator, since without reproduction all
would, be annihilated--by the constant law of degradation, decay and
death. And, whatever St. Augustine may say, human creatures would
not perform the work of generation if they did not find pleasure in
it, and if there was not in that great work an irresistible
attraction for them. In the third place, all creatures have a
determined and invincible propensity to destroy their enemies; and it
is certainly a very wise ordination, for that feeling of self-
preservation makes it a duty for them to do their best for the
destruction of whatever can injure them.
Each species obeys these laws in its own way. The three sensations:
hunger, desire, and hatred--are in animals the satisfaction of
habitual instinct, and cannot be called pleasures, for they can be so
only in proportion to the intelligence of the individual. Man alone
is gifted with the perfect organs which render real pleasure peculiar
to him; because, being, endowed with the sublime faculty of reason,
he foresees enjoyment, looks for it, composes, improves, and
increases it by thought and recollection. I entreat you, dear
reader, not to get weary of following me in my ramblings; for now
that I am but the shadow of the once brilliant Casanova, I love to
chatter; and if you were to give me the slip, you would be neither
polite nor obliging.
Man comes down to the level of beasts whenever he gives himself up to
the three natural propensities without calling reason and judgment to
his assistance; but when the mind gives perfect equilibrium to those
propensities, the sensations derived from them become true enjoyment,
an unaccountable feeling which gives us what is called happiness, and
which we experience without being able to describe it.
The voluptuous man who reasons, disdains greediness, rejects with
contempt lust and lewdness, and spurns the brutal revenge which is
caused by a first movement of anger: but he is dainty, and satisfies
his appetite only in a manner in harmony with his nature and his
tastes; he is amorous, but he enjoys himself with the object of his
love only when he is certain that she will share his enjoyment, which
can never be the case unless their love is mutual; if he is offended,
he does not care for revenge until he has calmly considered the best
means to enjoy it fully. If he is sometimes more cruel than
necessary, he consoles himself with the idea that he has acted under
the empire of reason; and his revenge is sometimes so noble that he
finds it in forgiveness. Those three operations are the work of the
soul which, to procure enjoyment for itself, becomes the agent of our
passions. We sometimes suffer from hunger in order to enjoy better
the food which will allay it; we delay the amorous enjoyment for the
sake of making it more intense, and we put off the moment of our
revenge in order to mike it more certain. It is true, however, that
one may die from indigestion, that we allow ourselves to be often
deceived in love, and that the creature we want to annihilate often
escapes our revenge; but perfection cannot be attained in anything,
and those are risks which we run most willingly.
