"There is Lepel, for instance," continued Lady Frances," an exceeding good judge, and a very kind good-hearted man, quite the person whose advice one ought to take, because he is intimate with all the young men of the day. Well, he vowed that you would be one of the finest creatures going, if you would only copy a little of my self-possession. Why don't you, my dear Lady Frances, (he spoke quite in a confidential manner to me)- why don't you tell that charming sister of yours not to be always crying at the tragedies and laughing at the comedies, and in such preposterous ecstasies with the Zuchelli and the Rosalinda, just as if she had never been at an opera before in her lifetime, and did not know that people of the world never go into public to be affected by any thing. Really, Lady Emily's beautiful features are quite disfigured sometimes by all those violent commotions. It is very well for the housemaid and one's valet; but, indeed, even they know better now-a-days how to behave themselves. It is only permissible for a lady to suffer the corner of her mouth just to turn, when the irresistible

Mr. Liston is on the stage, and she may hold the corner of her pocket-handkerchief to the eye when Madame Pasta acts Medea. But really those sobbings and showerings-and then the laugh, which may be heard in the next box!' But do not look so ébahi, Emily—a little time will set all these things to rights. If you were not my sister, and that I should be ashamed of you if you went on so, believe me I would not take the trouble of telling you all this-for I hate a long prose; only this once I give you notice, that positively I cannot go out with you into society, if you continue to attract the attention of well-bred persons by your vulgarisms."

"But how can I help it, Frances, dear? When I am diverted I always laugh, when I am touched, I cry."

"But you must not be either the one or the other, my dear, I tell you; and if you feel that invincible rusticity of emotion so strong upon you, the only recipe I can give to counteract its effect, is to turn from the stage altogether."

"And talk to Captain Lepel, I suppose?—

Oh that is enough to make any one grave I grant you; he infects one with his own insipid affectation of indifference."

"I assure you it is much more comme il faut to turn about, and flirt with your cavalier, than to sit square, as you do, with your eyes fastened on the scene.'

"But I have no cavalier, and I do not exactly know how to set about flirting."

"As to having no cavalier, that, you know, must be your own fault; but it is, I am afraid, Emily, because you have one, or rather an imaginary one, that you say you have none. Now I am by no means advising you to have one only; you should at least have half a dozen, and play them all off the one against the other. To one, you might talk of dogs and horses; to another of perfumed gloves; to another of the Flirtations which you see passing around you: for instance of my Lady A, and my Lord B ;to another of the comparative merit of operadancers; and, if the conversation turns on the beauty of other women, never criticise, for men always set that down to envy; but make some allusion which will excite a comparison

2

with your own charms to your own advantage. For instance, if you have a finely formed head, talk of that as being a beauty in some other woman in whom it is quite the reverse; or a finely turned ancle by the same rule. This draws attention, elicits comparison, obtains a compliment, and induces a sort of concealed understanding so that a few glancing looks afterwards are sufficient to carry on the war. Thus you see how easy it is to flirt; and without flirtation you cannot possibly get on in the world. Then, never talk to women when you can help it, only just enough to keep up les bienséances-whatever you do, however, remember never to blesser les bienséances. But during all conversations, recollect to stop yourself short whenever you begin to grow prosy. Utter only short vague sentences, dropped as if they meant nothing; no disquisitions, no harangues upon taste and fashion; above all, no sentiment, or bookish étalage, which every body detests, and no one has time for, even if they had patience. The great secret of conversation is to treat it in the manner the French do their cookery, "Il faut que rien ne domine;" it

should be a sort of touch-and-go, just as a swallow catches a fly, always on the wing; so that you never find your auditor yawning or leaving you in the midst of a sentence, with, ‘I beg you a thousand pardons, but I see Lady de Luce there, just going away, and I have something to say to her of the utmost consequence; good night!' and there you are planté là with your speech half finished."

"But, my dear Frances, where am I to get these half dozen cavaliers that you talk about? I assure you nobody admires me or thinks of speaking to me; and if I had them in attendance, the idea that I must be quite different from what I really am, would strike me dumb. I love dogs and horses, for instance, and can converse about them in my own way by the hour; but then I should not know how to talk of them in the way men talk of them, which very often seems to me very cruel and always very uninteresting; and as to turning my discourse upon the Flirtation, as you call it, of Lady A, and Lord B, why I should die of shame. Then in regard to the merits of the opera-dancers, how can I judge of them who never saw any before ?"