the alkahest-第7节
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he is the interpreter; and which needs to be consistent alike in
principle and application。 Both natures are equally simple; but in one
there is vacancy; in the other depth。 This is why clever women are
disposed to take dull men as the small change for great ones。
Balthazar Claes carried his greatness into the lesser things of life。
He delighted in considering conjugal love as a magnificent work; and
like all men of lofty aims who can bear nothing imperfect; he wished
to develop all its beauties。 His powers of mind enlivened the calm of
happiness; his noble nature marked his attentions with the charm of
grace。 Though he shared the philosophical tenets of the eighteenth
century; he installed a chaplain in his home until 1801 (in spite of
the risk he ran from the revolutionary decrees); so that he might not
thwart the Spanish fanaticism which his wife had sucked in with her
mother's milk: later; when public worship was restored in France; he
accompanied her to mass every Sunday。 His passion never ceased to be
that of a lover。 The protecting power; which women like so much; was
never exercised by this husband; lest to that wife it might seem pity。
He treated her with exquisite flattery as an equal; and sometimes
mutinied against her; as men will; as though to brave the supremacy of
a pretty woman。 His lips wore a smile of happiness; his speech was
ever tender; he loved his Josephine for herself and for himself; with
an ardor that crowned with perpetual praise the qualities and the
loveliness of a wife。
Fidelity; often the result of social principle; religious duty; or
self…interest on the part of a husband; was in this case involuntary;
and not without the sweet flatteries of the spring…time of love。 Duty
was the only marriage obligation unknown to these lovers; whose love
was equal; for Balthazar Claes found the complete and lasting
realization of his hopes in Mademoiselle de Temninck; his heart was
satisfied but not wearied; the man within him was ever happy。
Not only did the daughter of Casa…Real derive from her Spanish blood
the intuition of that science which varies pleasure and makes it
infinite; but she possessed the spirit of unbounded self…devotion;
which is the genius of her sex as grace is that of beauty。 Her love
was a blind fanaticism which; at a nod; would have sent her joyously
to her death。 Balthazar's own delicacy had exalted the generous
emotions of his wife; and inspired her with an imperious need of
giving more than she received。 This mutual exchange of happiness which
each lavished upon the other; put the mainspring of her life visibly
outside of her personality; and filled her words; her looks; her
actions; with an ever…growing love。 Gratitude fertilized and varied
the life of each heart; and the certainty of being all in all to one
another excluded the paltry things of existence; while it magnified
the smallest accessories。
The deformed woman whom her husband thinks straight; the lame woman
whom he would not have otherwise; the old woman who seems ever young
are they not the happiest creatures of the feminine world? Can human
passion go beyond it? The glory of a woman is to be adored for a
defect。 To forget that a lame woman does not walk straight may be the
glamour of a moment; but to love her because she is lame is the
deification of her defects。 In the gospel of womanhood it is written:
〃Blessed are the imperfect; for theirs is the kingdom of Love。〃 If
this be so; surely beauty is a misfortune; that fugitive flower counts
for too much in the feeling that a woman inspires; often she is loved
for her beauty as another is married for her money。 But the love
inspired or bestowed by a woman disinherited of the frail advantages
pursued by the sons of Adam; is true love; the mysterious passion; the
ardent embrace of souls; a sentiment for which the day of
disenchantment never comes。 That woman has charms unknown to the
world; from whose jurisdiction she withdraws herself: she is beautiful
with a meaning; her glory lies in making her imperfections forgotten;
and thus she constantly succeeds in doing so。
The celebrated attachments of history were nearly all inspired by
women in whom the vulgar mind would have found defects;Cleopatra;
Jeanne de Naples; Diane de Poitiers; Mademoiselle de la Valliere;
Madame de Pompadour; in fact; the majority of the women whom love has
rendered famous were not without infirmities and imperfections; while
the greater number of those whose beauty is cited as perfect came to
some tragic end of love。
This apparent singularity must have a cause。 It may be that man lives
more by sentiment than by sense; perhaps the physical charm of beauty
is limited; while the moral charm of a woman without beauty is
infinite。 Is not this the moral of the fable on which the Arabian
Nights are based? An ugly wife of Henry VIII。 might have defied the
axe; and subdued to herself the inconstancy of her master。
By a strange chance; not inexplicable; however; in a girl of Spanish
origin; Madame Claes was uneducated。 She knew how to read and write;
but up to the age of twenty; at which time her parents withdrew her
from a convent; she had read none but ascetic books。 On her first
entrance into the world; she was eager for pleasure and learned only
the flimsy art of dress; she was; moreover; so deeply conscious of her
ignorance that she dared not join in conversation; for which reason
she was supposed to have little mind。 Yet; the mystical education of a
convent had one good result; it left her feelings in full force and
her natural powers of mind uninjured。 Stupid and plain as an heiress
in the eyes of the world; she became intellectual and beautiful to her
husband。 During the first years of their married life; Balthazar
endeavored to give her at least the knowledge that she needed to
appear to advantage in good society: but he was doubtless too late;
she had no memory but that of the heart。 Josephine never forgot
anything that Claes told her relating to themselves; she remembered
the most trifling circumstances of their happy life; but of her
evening studies nothing remained to her on the morrow。
This ignorance might have caused much discord between husband and
wife; but Madame Claes's understanding of the passion of love was so
simple and ingenuous; she loved her husband so religiously; so
sacredly; and the thought of preserving her happiness made her so
adroit; that she managed always to seem to understand him; and it was
seldom indeed that her ignorance was evident。 Moreover; when two
persons love one another so well that each day seems for them the
beginning of their passion; phenomena arise out of this teeming
happiness which change all the conditions of life。 It resembles
childhood; careless of all that is not laughter; joy; and merriment。
Then; when life is in full activity; when its hearths glow; man lets
the fire burn without thought or discussion; without considering
either the means or the end。
No daughter of Eve ever more truly understood the calling of a wife
than Madame Claes。 She had all the submission of a Flemish woman; but
her Spanish pride gave it a higher flavor。 Her bearing was imposing;
she knew how to command respect by a look which expressed her sense of
birth and dignity: but she trembled before Claes; she held him so
high; so near to God; carrying to him every act of her life; every
thought of her heart; that her love was not without a certain
respectful fear which made it keener。 She proudly assumed all the
habits of a Flemish bourgeoisie; and put her self…love into making the
home life liberally happy;preserving every detail of the house in
scrupulous cleanliness; possessing nothing that did not serve the
purposes of true comfort; supplying her table with the choicest food;
and putting everything within those walls into harmony with the life
of her heart。
The pair had two sons and two daughters。 The eldest; Marguerite; was
born in 1796。 The last child was a boy; now three years old; named
Jean…Balthazar。 The maternal sentiment in Madame Claes was almost
equal to her love for her husband; and there rose in her soul;
especially during the last days of her life; a terrible struggle
between those nearly balanced feelings; of which the one became; as it
were; an enemy of the other。 The tears and the terror that marked her
face at the moment when this tale of a domestic drama then lowering
over the quiet house begins; were caused by the fear of having
sacrificed her children to her husband。
In 1805; Madame Claes's brother died without children。 The Spanish law
does not allow a sister to succeed to territorial possessions; which
follow the title; but the duke had left her in his will about sixty
thousand ducats; and this sum the heirs of the collateral branch did
not seek to retain。 Though the feeling which united her to Balthazar
Claes was such that no thou