by either a husband, or a celibate unattached? This to me seems
beyond doubt. The difference between a husband and a lover is seen
even in the appearance of their toilette. The one is careless, he is
unshaved, and the other never appears excepting in full dress. Sterne
has pleasantly remarked that the account book of the laundress was the
most authentic record he knew, as to the life of Tristram Shandy;
and that it was easy to guess from the number of shirts he wore what
passages of his book had cost him most. Well, with regard to lovers the
account book of their laundresses is the most faithful historic record
as well as the most impartial account of their various amours. And
really a prodigious quantity of tippets, cravats, dresses, which are
absolutely necessary to coquetry, is consumed in the course of an amour.
A wonderful prestige is gained by white stockings, the lustre of a
collar, or a shirt-waist, the artistically arranged folds of a man's
shirt, or the taste of his necktie or his collar. This will explain
the passages in which I said of the honest woman [Meditation II],
"She spends her life in having her dresses starched." I have sought
information on this point from a lady in order to learn accurately at
what sum was to be estimated the tax thus imposed by love, and after
fixing it at one hundred francs per annum for a woman, I recollect what
she said with great good humor: "It depends on the character of the man,
for some are so much more particular than others." Nevertheless, after
a very profound discussion, in which I settled upon the sum for the
celibates, and she for her sex, it was agreed that, one thing with
another, since the two lovers belong to the social sphere which this
work concerns, they ought to spend between them, in the matter referred
to, one hundred and fifty francs more than in time of peace.

By a like treaty, friendly in character and long discussed, we arranged
that there should be a collective difference of four hundred francs
between the expenditure for all parts of the dress on a war footing, and
for that on a peace footing. This provision was considered very paltry
by all the powers, masculine or feminine, whom we consulted. The light
thrown upon these delicate matters by the contributions of certain
persons suggested to us the idea of gathering together certain savants
at a dinner party, and taking their wise counsels for our guidance in
these important investigations. The gathe