a great man, more amorous of her person than reſpectuous of her honour

For just as we seem to be on the brink of a postcinematic era, we are also, as David Bordwell and Noël Carroll tell us, already in the age of Post-Theory.

This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock;

Then, if one bewares of voluntary mistakes, of exaggeration and unfounded assertion, if one builds only upon actual and carefully observed facts, an important and well-grounded discipline must ensue.