All that we know of the Duchess is the testimony given by her
worst enemy, her husband; and yet, in attempting to describe her, he
has succeeded in painting only his own narrow and hideous heart.
Slander is often greater in the recoil than in the discharge; when a
man attempts to give an unfavorable portrait of another, he usually
gives us an exact likeness of himself. Pope meant his picture of
Addison to be correct; but although he made the picture with
immortal art, it is no more like Addison than it resembles St.
Francis; it is, however, an absolutely faithful image of Pope himself.
This is one reason why slander is such an exceedingly dangerous
weapon to handle.
The Duke tells the envoy that his late Duchess was flirtatious,
plebeian in her enthusiasm, not sufficiently careful to please her
husband; but the evident truth is that he had a Satanic pride, that
he was yellow with jealousy, that he was methodically cruel. His
jealousy is shown by the fact that he would allow only a monk to
paint her: "I said 'Fra Pandolf' by design," and he required the
monk to do the whole task in one day.
Pages:
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200