hould be
very sorry to see it so diverting as it is. The mortal aversion I
have to writing, makes me tremble at the thoughts of a new
correspondent; and I believe I have disobliged no less than a dozen
of my London acquaintance by refusing to hear from them, though I did
verily think they intended to send me very entertaining letters. But
I had rather lose the pleasure of reading several witty things, than
be forced to write many stuped (sic) ones. Yet, in spite of these
considerations, I am charmed with the proof of your friendship, and
beg a continuation of the same goodness, though I fear the dulness of
this will make you immediately repent of it. It is not from Austria
that one can write with vivacity, and I am already infected with the
phlegm of the country. Even their amours and their quarrels are
carried on with a surprising temper, and they are never lively but
upon points of ceremony. There, I own, they shew all their passions;
and 'tis not long since two coaches, meeting in a narrow street at
night, the ladies in them not being able to adjust the ceremonial of
which should go back, sat there, with equal gallantry till two in the
morning, and were both so fully determined to die upon the spot
rather than yield, in a point of that importance, that the street
would never have been cleared till their deaths, if the emperor had
not sent his guards to part them; and even then they refused to stir,
till the expedient could be found out of taking them both out in
chairs, exactly in the same moment. After the ladies were agreed, it
was with some difficulty that the pass was decided between the two
coachmen, no less tenacious of their rank than the ladies. This
passion is so omnipotent in the breasts of the women, that even their
husbands never die but they are ready to break their hearts, because
that fatal hour puts an end to their rank, no widows having any place
at Vienna. The men are not much less touched with this point of
honour, and they do not only scorn to marry, but even to make love to
any woman of a family not as illustrious as their own; and the
pedigree is much more considered by them, than either the complexion
of features of their mistresses. Happy are the she's (sic) that can
number amongst their ancestors, counts of the empire; they have
neither occasion for beauty, money, nor good conduct to get them
husbands. 'Tis true, as to money, 'tis seldom any advantage to the
man they marry; the law