How many of the plays that divert and misinform the modern theatre-
goer turn on the pivot of a love-affair, not always pure, but
generally simple! And how many of those that are imported from
France proceed upon the theory that the Seventh is the only
Commandment, and that the principal attraction of life lies in the
opportunity of breaking it! The matinee-girl is not likely to have
a very luminous or truthful idea of existence floating around in her
pretty little head.
But, after all, the great plays, those that take the deepest hold
upon the heart, like HAMLET and KING LEAR, MACBETH and OTHELLO, are
not love-plays. And the most charming comedies, like THE WINTER'S
TALE, and THE RIVALS, and RIP VAN WINKLE, are chiefly memorable for
other things than love-scenes.
Even in novels, love shows at its best when it does not absorb the
whole plot. LORNA DOONE is a lovers' story, but there is a blessed
minimum of spooning in it, and always enough of working and fighting
to keep the air clear and fresh. THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN, and
HYPATIA, and ROMOLA, and THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH, and JOHN
INGLESANT, and THE THREE MUSKETEERS, and NOTRE DAME, and PEACE AND
WAR, and QUO VADIS,--these are great novels because they are much
more than tales of romantic love. As for HENRY ESMOND, (which seems
to me the best of all,) certainly "love at first sight" does not
play the finest role in that book.
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