imaginable.  He had an extremely good and graceful Mien, and all the civility of a well bred Great Man.  He had nothing of Barbarity in his Nature, but in all Points addressed himself as if his Education had been in some European Court.

This great and just character of Oroonoko gave me an extreme Curiosity to see him, especially when I knew he spoke French and English, and that I could talk with him.  But though I had heard so much of him, I was as greatly surprised when I saw him, as if I had heard nothing of him; so beyond all Report I found him.  He came into the Room, and addressed himself to me and some other Women with the best Grace in the World.  He was pretty tall, but of a Shape the most exact that can be fancyed:  The most famous Statuary could not form the figure of a Man more admirably turned from Head to Foot.  His face was not of that brown lusty Black which most of that Nation are, but a perfect Ebony or polished Jet.  His Eyes were the most aweful that could be seen, and very piercing; the White of ’em being like Snow, as were his teeth.  His Nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat.  His Mouth the finest Shape that could be seen; far from those great turn’d Lips which are so natural to the rest of the Negroes.  The whole Proportion and Air of his Face was nobly and exactly form’d, that bating his Colour, there would be nothing in Nature more beautiful, agreeable and handsome.  There was no one Grace wanting that bears the Standard of true Beauty.  His Hair came down to his Shoulders, by the aids of Art, which was by pulling it out with a quill, and keeping it comb’d; of which he took particular care.  Nor did the perfections of his Mind come short of those of his Person; for his Discourse was admirable upon almost any Subject; and whoever had heard him speak, would have been convinced of their Errors, that all fine Wit is confined to the white Men, especially to those of Christendom; and would have confessed that Oroonoko was as capable even of reigning well, and of governing as wisely, had as great a Soul, as politick Maxims, and was as sensible of Power, as any Prince civilized in the most refined Schools of Humanity and Learning, or the most illustrious Courts.[89]

“Oroonoko” is the only one of Mrs Behn’s stories which has a didactic aim or a special interest of any kind.  Her other works of fiction are short tales, usually founded on fact, which describe in unrestrained language the passion and adventures of a pair of very ardent lovers.  They show the prevailing inclination in narrative fiction toward characters and scenes taken from actual life.  But they have no interest apart from the slender thread of the story itself.  They contain no studies of character, and no information of importance concerning contemporary manners.  Their heroes and heroines differ from each other only in the intensity or the circumstances of their love.  The best in narrative interest, and the most attractive