Since we're on the topic of Udolpho LoLz, I was wondering --- does anybody else love Valancourt as much as I do, for pure comic potential? And what are your fave Valancourt moments?

Me, I'm undecided. I love Valancourt 'fessing up about his transgressions in Paris, I love how he fell victim to the 16th-century-version of the Nigerian Bank Account Scam and gave that rustic peasant woman all his money, but my favourite moment must be when he carved that dratted poem into the stone - in his own handwriting, no less!!

Whenever I feel rather down, I only have to think about the poem stone and I'm laughing again.

For a long time I thought Emily was the original Mary Sue, but I think it's actually Valancourt. He's more Mary Sue than anyone else could ever be.

---

"I want you to know that you matter. I want you to know that your lives matter, that your dreams matter." (Barack Obama, 03 June 2020)