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If there is such a thing as a transgressive device, it is metalepsis. It allows us to cross the “sacred frontier” between the narrator’s world and that of his characters. It is therefore not surprising that the most frequent examples of metalepses are taken from comic, playful, or experimental literature. But if we study the less-known tragic stories and sentimental novels of the early seventeenth century, we will see another side of the device: in what we may call metaleptic apostrophes, the narrator often addresses his characters in order to warn them about their future misadventures. We can make the assumption that at that time the device was not perceived as a real transgression, because the frontiers between the two worlds were less impervious and the various narrative postures more flexible.