prudence to shun thee; it is better that I should be guilty towards myself in remaining thy companion and consolation at the expense of my peace and of my pride."..."Listen,” she added, holding his hand in both of hers with all the strength she possessed, “never draw back this hand from me, and, whatever happens, preserve so much honour and courage as not to forget that before being thy mistress I was thy friend....I ask of thee only, if thou growest weary of my Jove as thou now art of my friendship, to recollect that it was not a moment of delirium that threw me into thy arms, but a sudden impulse of my heart, and a more tender and more lasting feeling than the intoxication of voluptuousness.”

I shall not continue the quotation, the discussion becomes too nauseous.  One cannot help sympathising with Alfred de Musset’s impatient interruption of George Sand’s unctuous lecturing reported in his brother’s book—­“My dear, you speak so often of chastity that it becomes indecent.”  Or this other interruption reported by Louise Colet:—­

When one gives the world what the world calls the scandale of love, one must have at least the courage of one’s passion.  In this respect the women of the eighteenth century are better than you:  they did not subtilise love in metaphysics [elles n’alambiquaient pas l’amour dans la metaphysique].

It is hardly necessary to say that George Sand had much intercourse with men of intellect.  Several litterateurs of some distinction have already been mentioned.  Sainte-Beuve and Balzac were two of the earliest of her literary friends, among whom she numbered also Heine.  With Lamartine and other cultivators of the belles-lettres she was likewise acquainted.  Three of her friends, men of an altogether different type and calibre, have, however, a greater claim on the attention of the student of George Sand’s personality than any of those just named, because their speculations and teachings gave powerful impulses to her mind, determined the direction of her thoughts, and widened the sphere of her intellectual activity.  The influences of these three men—­ the advocate Michel of Bourges, an earnest politician; the philosopher and political economist:  Pierre Leroux, one of the founders of the “Encyclopedie Nouvelle,” and author of “De l’humanite, de son principe et de son avenir”; and the Abbe Lamennais, the author of the “Essai sur l’indifference en matiere de religion,” “Paroles d’un Croyant,” &c.—­are clearly traceable in the “Lettres a Marcie, Spiridion,” “Les sept Cordes de la Lyre,” “Les Compagnons du tour de France,” “Consuelo,” “La Comtesse de Rudolstadt,” “Le Peche de M. Antoine,” “Le Meunier d’Angibault,” &c.  George Sand made the acquaintance of Pierre Leroux and the Abbe Lammenais in 1835.  The latter was introduced to her by her friend Liszt, who knew all the distinguished men of the day, and seems to have often done her similar services.  George Sand’s friendship with Michel of Bourges, the Everard of her “Lettres d’un Voyageur,” dates farther back than 1835.