of a confiding and blind submission, of a silent and ardent
devotion, to suffer his allegiance to be protected by thy
Amazonian strength!

The enthusiasm with which the Poles of her acquaintance spoke of
their countrywomen, and the amorous suavity, fulness of feeling,
and spotless nobleness which she admired in the Polish composer's
inspirations, seem to have made her anticipate, even before
meeting Chopin, that she would find in him her ideal lover, one
whose love takes the form of worship. To quote Liszt's words:
"She believed that there, free from all dependence, secure
against all inferiority, her role would rise to the fairy-like
power of some being at once the superior and the friend of man.
"Were it not unreasonable to regard spontaneous utterances--
expressions of passing moods and fancies, perhaps mere flights of
rhetoric--as well-considered expositions of stable principles,
one might be tempted to ask: Had George Sand found in Chopin the
man who was "bold or vile enough" to accept her "hard and clear"
conditions? [FOOTNOTE: See extract from one of her letters in the
preceding chapter, Vol. I., p. 334.]

While the ordinary position of man and woman was entirely
reversed in this alliance, the qualities which characterised them
can nevertheless hardly ever have been more nearly diametrically
opposed. Chopin was weak and undecided; George Sand strong and
energetic. The former shrank from inquiry and controversy; the
latter threw herself eagerly into them. [FOOTNOTE: George Sand
talks much of the indolence of her temperament: we may admit this
fact, but must not overlook another one--namely, that she was in
possession of an immense fund of energy, and was always ready to