Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 14 April 1845: '[Charles Bernard] is a very worldly writer, to my mind; & really I like George Sand's wickedness better, -- it is of a higher order. Bernard's most magnificent idea of virtue is what you & I shd. call expediency -- now is'nt it? Though I was delighted with "Un homme Serieux," -- & also with "Le paravent," .. the "Aventure d'un magistrat," for instance, is in the latter, to illustrate my opinion. Did you ever read a more disgusting series of small cheateries? It almost spoilt my pleasure in the power. I had a reaction & grew "moral" [...] the "stink in one's nostrils" [Job 4:10] of all that falsehood & depravity, was so immense.' And not much better in its effect on me, was the story of the "Rose blanche" (though the pretty hoyden captivated me) where no man of honour [italics]could[end italics] have acted as the hero does'.