e used kindly--let them have plenty of good food
and wine."

"Certainly, dearest little niece," said the governor, delighted to find
the most formidable and irresistible of his female assailants so
lukewarm in the cause of the prisoners, "and you shall be their
provider."

"Me, uncle? well, I own I should wish to visit the prison occasionally,
to see that they are comfortable."

"You shall whenever you please," said the Don, rising, and going to
Isabella's writing desk; "there, there is an order, signed by my own
hand, that will admit you whenever you please." So saying, he retired.

CHAPTER XV.

I know that a woman is a dish for the gods, if the devil dress her not.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

A writer, evidently a Frenchman, in the British or some other
Encyclopaedia, under the article "Man," draws a very ingenious contrast
between the two sexes, which is correct enough in its general
principles, but exceedingly erroneous in many very important points.
Speaking of the different behavior of men and women, under the pressure
of grief or calamity, he says, "Woman weeps--man remains silent--woman
is in agony when man weeps--she is in despair when man is in agony."

Mr. Philosopher, you are a goose. It is obvious that you have drawn your
conclusions from your observations of Frenchmen exclusively, who are
theatrical and affected from the cradle to the grave.

"Woman weeps while man remains silent."--True; she gives vent to her
feelings by weeping, and her full heart is tranquillized by her tears,
which seem not only to relieve and refresh the swollen and burning eyes
of the body, but to render those of the mind more clear and
penetrating. What, for instance, was the language and sentiment of Mary
Queen of Scots, when Rizzio was murdered in her presence? "I will dry up
my tears," said the high-spirited descendant of the Stuarts, "and think
of revenge." Man's remaining silent is not always an evidence of
fortitude or resignation; it may be stupidity and want of feeling, or
gloom and sulkiness; a disposition to find fault with Divine Providence
for visiting him with affliction.

"Woman is in agony when man weeps." Absurd! her tears have relieved her
agony. Like the elastic and pliable willow, she has yielded to the storm
of grief, and her buoyant spirit rises comparatively uninjured from the
conflict.

"Woman is in despair when man is in agony." It is said that the