e applied to great objects. The true economist will
draw in by contracting the outline, by narrowing the bottom, by cutting
off with an unsparing hand costly superfluities, which affect not
comfort, but cherish vanity."

"'Retrench the lazy vermin of thine hall,' was the wise counsel of the
prudent Venetian to his thoughtless son-in-law," said Sir John, "and its
wisdom consisted in its striking at one of the most ruinous and
prevailing domestic evils, an overloaded establishment."

If Miss Sparkes had been so long without speaking, it was evident by her
manner and turn of countenance, that contempt had kept her silent, and
that she thought the topic under discussion as unworthy of the support
of the gentleman as of her own opposition.

"A discreet woman," said Mr. Stanley, "adjusts her expenses to her
revenues. Every thing knows its time, and every person his place. She
will live within her income, be it large or small; if large, she will
not be luxurious; if small, she will not be mean. Proportion and
propriety are among the best secrets of domestic wisdom; and there is no
surer test, both of integrity and judgment, than a well-proportioned
expenditure.

"Now the point to which I would bring all this verbiage," continued he,
"is this--will a lady of a mean understanding, or a vulgar education, be
likely to practice economy on this large scale? And is not such economy
a field in which a woman of the best sense may honorably exercise her
powers?"

Miss Sparkes, who was always a stanch opposer in moral as well as in
political debate, because she said it was the best side for the exertion
of wit and talents, comforted herself that though she felt she was
completely in the minority, yet she always thought that was rather a
proof of being right than the contrary; for if it be true, that the
generality are either weak or wicked, it follows that the inferior
number is most likely to be neither.

"Women," said Mr. Carlton, "in their course of action describe a smaller
circle than men; but the perfection of a circle consists not in its
dimensions but in its correctness. There may be," added he, carefully
turning away his eyes from Miss Sparkes, "here and there a soaring
female, who looks down with disdain on the party affairs of 'this dim
speck called earth;' who despises order and regularity as indications of
a groveling spirit. But a sound mind judges directly contrary. The
larger the capacity, the wider is the sweep of