o you not find it in a
friend?--Shall I tell you what is in my mind? It is not our virtues
you need; but our playfulness and our weakness. The love which you
could feel for a woman who would be estimable in every respect, would
become too dangerous for you. Until you can contemplate a contract of
marriage, you should seek only to amuse yourself with those who are
beautiful; a passing taste alone should attach you to one of them: be
careful not to plunge in too deep with her; there can nothing result
but a bad ending. If you did not reflect more profoundly than the
greater part of young people, I should talk to you in an entirely
different tone; but I perceive that you are ready to give to excess, a
contrary meaning to their ridiculous frivolity. It is only necessary,
then, to attach yourself to a woman who, like an agreeable child,
might amuse you with pleasant follies, light caprices, and all those
pretty faults which make the charm of a gallant intercourse.

Do you wish me to tell you what makes love dangerous? It is the
sublime view that one sometimes takes of it. But the exact truth is,
it is only a blind instinct which one must know how to appreciate: an
appetite which you have for one object in preference to another,
without being able to give the reason for your taste. Considered as a
friendly intimacy when reason presides, it is not a passion, it is no
longer love, it is, in truth, a warm hearted esteem, but tranquil;
incapable of drawing you away from any fixed position. If, walking in
the footsteps of our ancient heroes of romance, you aim at great
sentiments, you will see that this pretended heroism makes of love
only a sad and sometimes fatal folly. It is a veritable fanaticism;
but if you disengage it from all that opinion makes it, it will soon
be your happiness and pleasure. Believe me, if it were reason or
enthusiasm which formed affairs of the heart, love would become
insipid, or a frenzy. The only means of avoiding these two extremes is
to follow the path I have indicated. You need only to be amused, and
you will find amusement only among the women I mention to you as
capable of it. Your heart wishes occupation, they are made to fill it.
Try my recipe and you will find it good--I made you a fair promise,
and it seems to me I am keeping my word with you exactly. Adieu, I
have just received a charming letter from M. de Saint-Evremond, and I
must answer it. I wish at the same time to propose to him the id