sted of all the insipidities which
disfigure it, in a word, fostered by confidence and the effusions of
the heart. But unfortunately, a sentiment so flattering for a woman
without experience, is everything less than that in practice. She is
always disabused when too late.

"I was so good in the beginning as to be scandalized at two
imperfections I perceived in men, their inconstancy and their
untruthfulness. The reflections I made on the first of these defects,
led me to the opinion that they were more unfortunate than guilty.
From the manner in which the human heart is constituted, is it
possible for it to be occupied with only one object? No, but does the
treachery of men deserve the same indulgence? Most men attack a
woman's virtue in cold blood, in the design to use her for their
amusement, to sacrifice her to their vanity, to fill a void in an idle
life, or to acquire a sort of reputation based upon the loss of ours.
There is a large number of men in this class. How to distinguish true
lovers? They all look alike on the surface, and the man who pretends
to be amorous, is often more seductive than one who really is.

"We are, moreover, dupes enough to make love a capital affair. You
men, on the contrary, consider it merely a play; we rarely surrender
to it without an inclination for the person of the lover; you are
coarse enough to yield to it without taste. Constancy with us is a
duty; you give way to the slightest distaste without scruple. You are
scarcely decent in leaving a mistress, the possession of whom, six
months before, was your glory and happiness. She may consider herself
well off if she is not punished by the most cruel indiscretions.

"Hence I regarded things from their tragical side, and said to myself:
'If love draws with it so many misfortunes, a woman who cherishes her
peace of mind and reputation, should never love.' However, everything
tells me that we have a heart, that this heart is made for love, and
that love is involuntary. Why, then, venture to destroy an inclination
that is part of our being? Would it not be wiser to rectify it? Let us
see how it will be possible to succeed in such an enterprise.

"What is a dangerous love? I have observed that kind of love. It is a
love which occupies the whole soul to the exclusion of every other
sentiment, and which impels us to sacrifice everything to the object
loved.

"What characters are susceptible of such a sentiment? They are the
most solid