done _I am
sure_, said I: "Why no," replied she, "no great _harm_ to be sure:
except wearisome attentions from a man one cares little about: for my
own part," continued she, "I detest the custom, as I happen to love my
husband excessively, and desire nobody's company in the world but his.
We are not _people of fashion_ though you know, nor at all rich; so how
should we set fashions for our betters? They would only say, see how
jealous he is! if _Mr. Such-a-one_ sat much with me at home, or went
with me to the Corso; and I _must_ go with some gentleman you know: and
the men are such ungenerous creatures, and have such ways with them: I
want money often, and this _cavaliere servente_ pays the bills, and so
the connection draws closer--_that's all_." And your husband! said
I--"Oh, why he likes to see me well dressed; he is very good natured,
and very charming; I love him to my heart." And your confessor! cried
I.--"Oh, why he is _used to it_"--in the Milanese dialect--_e assuefaa_.

Well! we will not send people to Milan to study delicacy or very refined
morality to be sure; but were the crust of British affectation lifted
off many a character at home, I know not whether better, that is
_honester_, hearts would be found under it than that of this pretty
girl, God forbid that I should prove an advocate for vice; but let us
remember, that the banishment of all hypocrisy and deceit is a vast
compensation for the want of _one great virtue_.--The certainty that
the worst, whatever that worst may be, meets your immediate inspection,
gives great repose to the mind: you know there is no latent poison
lurking out of sight; no colours to come out stronger by throwing water
suddenly against them, as you do to old fresco paintings: and talking
freely with women in this country, though you may have a chance to light
on ignorance, you are never teized by folly.

The mind of an Italian, whether man or woman, seldom fails, for ought I
see, to make up in _extent_ what is wanted in _cultivation_; and that
they possess the art of pleasing in an eminent degree, the constancy
with which they are mutually beloved by each other is the best proof.

Ladies of distinction bring with them when they marry, besides fortune,
as many clothes as will last them seven years; for fashions do not
change here as often as at London or Paris; yet is pin-money allowed,
and an attention paid to the wife that no Englishwoman can form an idea
of: in every family