es, from a man beloved, will be
more supportable to a woman of strong passions, than even kindness from a
man she loves not: Shall not parents then, who hope to see their children
happy, avoid compelling them to give their hands to a man who has no
share in their hearts?

But would you allow young ladies to be their own choosers, Sir Charles?
said Mr. Reeves.

Daughters, replied he, who are earnest to choose for themselves, should
be doubly careful that prudence justifies their choice. Every widow who
marries imprudently, (and very many there are who do,) furnishes a strong
argument in favour of a parent's authority over a maiden daughter. A
designing man looks out for a woman who has an independent fortune, and
has no questions to ask. He seems assured of finding indiscretion and
rashness in such a one, to befriend him. But ought not she to think
herself affronted, and resolve to disappoint him?

But how, said Lady G----, shall a young creature be able to judge--

By his application to her, rather than to her natural friends and
relations; by his endeavouring to alienate her affections from them; by
wishing her to favour private and clandestine meetings (conscious that
his pretensions will not stand discussion); by the inequality of his
fortune to hers: and has not our excellent Miss Byron, in the letters to
her Lucy, (bowing to me,) which she has had the goodness to allow us to
read, helped us to a criterion? 'Men in their addresses to young women,'
she very happily observes, 'forget not to set forward the advantages by
which they are distinguished, whether hereditary or acquired; while love,
love, is all the cry of him who has no other to boast of.'

And by that means, said Lady Gertrude, setting the silly creature at
variance with all her friends, he makes her fight his battles for him;
and become herself the cat's paw to help him to the ready roasted
chesnuts.

But, dear brother, said Lady G----, do you think love is such a staid
deliberate passion, as to allow a young creature to take time to ponder
and weigh all the merits of the cause?

Love at first sight, answered Sir Charles, must indicate a mind prepared
for impression, and a sudden gust of passion, and that of the least noble
kind; since there could be no opportunity of knowing the merit of the
object. What woman would have herself supposed capable of such a tindery
fit? In a man, it is an indelicate paroxysm: but in a woman, who expects
protection