In the good old _Lady of
Lyons_ the theme was decked in trappings of romantic absurdity, which
somehow harmonized with it. One could hear in it a far-off echo of
revolutionary rodomontade. The social aspect of the matter was
emphasized, and the satire on middle-class snobbery was cruelly
effective. The personal aspect, on the other hand--the unfulfilment of
the nominal marriage--was lightly and discreetly handled, according to
early-Victorian convention. In later days--from the time of M. George
Ohnet's _Maitre de Forges_ onwards--this is the aspect on which
playwrights have preferred to dwell. Usually, the theme shades off into
the almost equally hackneyed _Still Waters Run Deep_ theme; for there is
apt to be an aristocratic lover whom the unpolished but formidable
husband threatens to shoot or horsewhip, and thereby overcomes the last
remnant of repugnance in the breast of his haughty spouse. In _The
Ironmaster_ the lover was called the Duc de Bligny, or, more commonly,
the Dook de Bleeny; but he has appeared under many aliases.
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