Excerpt from Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, 1916, Vol. 31Duty of M an) the dashing adventuresses of Mrs. Hay wood, are pictures of the gay libertine with all that the libertine would dislike left out, all that he would like to be or to do heightened, exaggerated, as adequately as the rather moderate powers of the authors would permit. It is the language of romance, of the heroic romance of Scudery, and of the heroic tragedy, which these creatures speak when they rise towards the climax of their stories. And romance of a different order has colored the actions which are given them, the sentiments they express, and the view of life which their creators must be supposed to have possessed. The libertine of these novels is as roman tic as his language. The conception of life held by the novelist is romantic. And the comedy of this period, which, in spite of its notable difierences in style and in restraint, handles libertinism in this very fashion, has also a basis of romance.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.