Even ambition seems extinct. The men who seek power,
seek it not for itself, not as the means of doing good to their country,
but as a means of getting money and flatterers.
'It is remarkable,' he continued, 'that women whose influence is
generally greatest under despotisms, have none now. They have lost it,
partly in consequence of the gross vulgarity of our dominant passions,
and partly from their own nullity. They are like London houses, all built
and furnished on exactly the same model, and that a most uninteresting
one. Whether a girl is bred up at home or in a convent, she has the same
masters, gets a smattering of the same accomplishments, reads the same
dull books, and contributes to society the same little contingent of
superficial information.
'When a young lady comes out I know beforehand how her mother and her
aunts will describe her. "Elle a les gouts simples. Elle est pieuse. Elle
aime la campagne. Elle aime la lecture. Elle n'aime pas le bal. Elle
n'aime pas le monde, elle y ira seulement pour plaire a sa mere." I try
sometimes to escape from these generalities, but there is nothing behind
them.'
'And how long,' I asked, 'does this simple, pious, retiring character
last?'
'Till the orange flowers of her wedding chaplet are withered,' he
answered.
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