hams, which all put together are not
worth sixpence. I would give them all up to see her make such a tansy
pudding as that which the widow in the Spectator helped Sir Roger to at
dinner; why I don't believe Bell knows whether pie-crust is made with
butter or cheese; or whether a venison pastry should be baked or boiled.
I can tell her, that when her husband, if she ever gets one, comes in
sharp set from hunting, he won't like to be put off with a tune instead
of a dinner. To marry a singing girl, and complain she does not keep you
a good table, is like eating nightingales, and finding fault that they
are not good tasted. They sing, but they are of no further use--to _eat_
them, instead of listening to them, is applying to one sense, the
gratification which belongs to another."

In the course of conversation, Miss Sparkes a little shocked the
delicate feelings of the ladies, of Lucilla especially, by throwing out
some expressions of envy at the superior advantages which men possess
for distinguishing themselves. "Women," she said, "with talents not
inferior were allowed no stage for display, while men had such a reach
for their exertions, such a compass for exercising their genius, such a
range for obtaining distinction that they were at once the objects of
her envy for the means they possessed, and of her pity for turning them
to no better account. There were indeed," she added, "a few men who
redeemed the credit of the rest, and for their sakes she gloried, since
she could not be of their sex, that she was at least of their species."

"I know, madam," said Mr. Stanley, "your admiration of heroic qualities
and manly virtues: courage for instance. But there are still nobler ways
of exercising courage than even in the field of battle. There are more
exalted means of showing spirit than by sending or accepting a
challenge. To sustain a fit of sickness may exhibit as true heroism as
to lead an army. To bear a deep affliction well calls for as high
exertion of soul as to storm a town; and to meet death with Christian
resolution is an act of courage in which many a woman has triumphed, and
many a philosopher, and even some generals, have failed."

I thought I saw in Miss Sparkes's countenance a kind of civil contempt,
as if she would be glad to exchange the patient sickness and heroic
death-bed for the renown of victory and the glory of a battle; and I
suspected that she envied the fame of the challenge, and the spirit of
t