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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: his health is perfect. His moralities won't give you shocks that make
you weep; they flow along without tempests, like a limpid stream, and
will send you to sleep. Every evening you can if you like satisfy your
passion for sermons by digesting one with your dinner. English
morality, I do assure you, is as superior to that of Touraine as our
cutlery, our plate, and our horses are to your knives and your turf.
Do me the kindness to listen to my vicar; promise me. I am only a
woman, my dearest; I can love, I can die for you if you will; but I
have never studied at Eton, or at Oxford, or in Edinburgh. I am
neither a doctor of laws nor a reverend; I can't preach morality; in
fact, I am altogether unfit for it, I should be awkward if I tried. I
The Lily of the Valley |
