By a
skilful management of these qualities it was shown to be easy to ruin
another's reputation and ensure your own without ever opening your
mouth. To woman, this exquisite treatise said much in few words:
'Listlessness, listlessness, listlessness,' was the edict by which the
most beautiful works of nature were to be regulated, who are only truly
charming when they make us feel and feel themselves. 'Listlessness,
listlessness, listlessness;' for when you choose not to be listless, the
contrast is so striking that the triumph must be complete.
The treatise said much more, which I shall omit. It forgot, however, to
remark that this vaunted nonchalance may be the offspring of the most
contemptible and the most odious of passions: and that while it may be
exceedingly refined to appear uninterested when others are interested,
to witness excellence without emotion, and to listen to genius without
animation, the heart of the Insensible may as often be inflamed by Envy
as inspired by Fashion.
Dissertations 'On leaving cards,' 'On cutting intimate friends,' 'On
cravats,' 'On dinner courses,' 'On poor relations.
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