3-021-014 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Guardian," by A. Elmore, R.A., in the Winter Exhibition at the French Gallery, Pall-Mall, 1865. Engraving of a painting. 'It is the old, old story. Love is stronger than fate. The Incident here depicted is one which dramatist and novelist have often made the pivot, the turning-point for plot or story. Fate had, it would seem, divided this pretty damsel from the lover of her choice. But you might as well set watch and ward to control the laws of gravitation as seek to divide two hearts that have a natural determination towards each other. So, you see, the lady - women being always more fertile in sly ruses, cunning expedients, and wicked tricks than men - contrives that the walk under surveillance shall be a means of communication with her lover and of facilitating ulterior arrangements. Under the very eye of her unsuspecting guardian she shows that she has prepared a billet-doux, written, perhaps, at the "very witching time of night," and only waits a convenient opportunity for transmitting the same'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.