on of love, while in any
case it is no more than a recommendation to treat your wife as you would
treat the minister on whose good-will depends your promotion to the post
you covet.

I hear numberless voices crying out that this book is a special advocate
for women and neglects the cause of men;

That the majority of women are unworthy of these delicate attentions and
would abuse them;

That there are women given to licentiousness who would not lend
themselves to very much of what they would call mystification;

That women are nothing but vanity and think of nothing but dress;

That they have notions which are truly unreasonable;

That they are very often annoyed by an attention;

That they are fools, they understand nothing, are worth nothing, etc.

In answer to all these clamors we will write here the following phrases,
which, placed between two spaces, will perhaps have the air of a
thought, to quote an expression of Beaumarchais.

LXIV.
A wife is to her husband just what her husband has made her.

The reasons why the single bed must triumph over the other two methods
of organizing the nuptial couch are as follows: In the single couch we
have a faithful interpreter to translate with profound truthfulness the
sentiments of a woman, to render her a spy over herself, to keep her at
the height of her amorous temperature, never to leave her, to have
the power of hearing her breathe in slumber, and thus to avoid all the
nonsense which is the ruin of so many marriages.

As it is impossible to receive benefits without paying for them, you are
bound to learn how to sleep gracefully, to preserve your dignity under
the silk handkerchief that wraps your head, to be polite, to see that
your slumber is light, not to cough too much, and to imitate those
modern authors who write more prefaces than books.

MEDITATION XVIII. OF MARITAL REVOLUTIONS.

The time always comes in which nations and women even the most stupid
perceive that their innocence is being abused. The cleverest policy
may for a long time proceed in a course of deceit; but it would be very
happy for men if they could carry on their deceit to an infinite period;
a vast amount of bloodshed would then be avoided, both in nations and in
families.

Nevertheless, we hope that the means of defence put forth in the
preceding Meditations will be sufficient to deliver a certain number
of husbands from the clutches o