ho is of our party, and your
brother Emily; I hope the little fool will be easy now, Lucy; she is
very humble, to be jealous of one, who, though really very pleasing, is
neither so young nor so handsome as herself; and who professes to wish
only for Rivers's friendship.

But I have no right to say a word on this subject, after having been
so extremely hurt at Fitzgerald's attention to such a woman as Madame
La Brosse; an attention too which was so plainly meant to pique me.

We are all, I am afraid, a little absurd in these affairs, and
therefore ought to have some degree of indulgence for others.

Emily and I, however, differ in our ideas of love: it is the
business of her life, the amusement of mine; 'tis the food of her
hours, the seasoning of mine.

Or, in other words, she loves like a foolish woman, I like a
sensible man: for men, you know, compared to women, love in about the
proportion of one to twenty.

'Tis a mighty wrong thing, after all, Lucy, that parents will
educate creatures so differently, who are to live with and for each
other.

Every possible means is used, even from infancy, to soften the minds
of women, and to harden those of men; the contrary endeavor might be of
use, for the men creatures are unfeeling enough by nature, and we are
born too tremblingly alive to love, and indeed to every soft affection.

Your brother is almost the only one of his sex I know, who has the
tenderness of woman with the spirit and firmness of man: a circumstance
which strikes every woman who converses with him, and which contributes
to make him the favorite he is amongst us. Foolish women who cannot
distinguish characters may possibly give the preference to a coxcomb;
but I will venture to say, no woman of sense was ever much acquainted
with Colonel Rivers without feeling for him an affection of some kind
or other.

_A propos_ to women, the estimable part of us are divided into
two classes only, the tender and the lively.

The former, at the head of which I place Emily, are infinitely more
capable of happiness; but, to counterbalance this advantage, they are
also capable of misery in the same degree. We of the other class, who
feel less keenly, are perhaps upon the whole as happy, at least I would
fain think so.

For example, if Emily and I marry our present lovers, she will
certainly be more exquisitely happy than I shall; but if they should
change their minds, or any accident prevent our coming together, I