Hints for Lovers Part 4

When a woman repulses, beware. When a woman beckons, be warier.

Woman are always prepared for emergencies.

With woman, tact and jealousy rarely go hand in hand; tact and spite never.

The only instance in which a woman's tact is apt to be at fault is in detraction of a woman whom she regards as her rival;

The instance in which a woman's tact is seen as its best is in deploying the men who she knows are rivals for her hand. And usually

When a woman has more than one admirer, she not only deploys them, but tries to make them advance en echelon. For

Few things disconcert a woman more than a multiple and simultaneous attack delivered front a front. But

The way in which a woman will maneuver her attackers is marvelous.

They say a woman cannot argue. Hear her explain an indiscretion!

An independent woman is a contradiction in terms. For Woman's chief want is to feel that she is wanted. Therefore it is that

With women, cruelty is more easily borne than coldness. Indeed, It is astonis.h.i.+ng how much downright cruelty a woman will stand from the man she loves or has loved. On the other hand,

Melancholy also attracts women. Naturally,

Women are made to soothe, to pity, to comfort, to delight. Therefore it is that

To see a strong man in a weak woman's arms is a sight which should arouse --not our laughter, but our(1) envy. So it does.

(1) Common Gender

Let not the simpleton think a woman will sympathize with his simplicity:

No woman is a simpleton.

What women admire is a subtle combination of forcefulness and gentleness.

If a woman has to choose between forcefulness and gentleness, always she will sacrifice the latter. And

It is astonis.h.i.+ng to what lengths forcefulness can go without endangering a woman's admiration. If it sweeps her off her feet... well,

In nothing does a woman so clearly exhibit the inherent femininity of her nature as in the delight with which, at the bottom of her heart, she recalls moments when she has been swept off her feet. She may sigh over them; but

Generally, a woman's sighs are by no means those of remorse.

A woman never brings pure reason to bear upon her actions; she acts by sentiment 40 and she judges her acts by sentiment. This is why

Even when a woman has deceived and betrayed, she does not regard herself culpable. Always, she says to herself, she was driven to it, and therefore she is blameless. Accordingly

A penitent woman is rare:

Even when a man, with his so-called superior reason, thinks he has proved her wrong, at the bottom of her heart she knows herself right.

Many have been the discussions as to woman's most powerful weapon. The simple fact is, she is armed cap a pie(2). Indeed, Every woman is a sort of feminine Proteus, not only in the myriad shapes she a.s.sumes, but also in her amenability to nothing but superior force.

Women form, perhaps, where men are concerned, the single exception to the rule that in union there is strength. One woman often enough is irrepressible; two (be the second her own mother) break the charm an a.s.sociation of women is the feeblest of forces.

(2) Cf. Cowper:

They are all women, and they dart Like Porcupines, from every part.

-Anacreontics

All women are rivals. And this they never forget. Consequently

Mistrust a truce between hostile ladies.

Amongst women, modesty is of infinitely more potent influence than is ability. Yet

To a woman's modesty ability is a wonderfully enhancing setting. And

Modesty is the most complex and the most varied of emotions. Perhaps

When modesty and frailty go hand in hand, there is no more delectable combination known to men; and Aphrodite has not the subtle charm of a Cynthia. Perhaps this is why such

A wondrous halo of romance hangs about the name of a Heloise, of a Marguerite, of a Marianna Alcoforado; of a Concetta of Afragola; of a Catalina; of Robert le Diable's Helena, of Isolde; of Lucia of Bologna, the enchantress of Ottaviano; of Francesca; of Guenevere; of the sweet seventeen-year old novice of Andouillets, Margarita, the fille who was "rosy as the morn"; of the Beguine who nursed Captain Shandy; of the fille de chamber who walked along the Quai de Conti with Yorick; of Ameilia Viviani, the inspirer of Sh.e.l.ly's most ecstatic lyric; of Dryden's masque-loving Lucretia. For, after all,

Is the star any the less starry to the rapt star-gazer when he finds it to be a tremulous planet?

Cynthia may have blushed in heaven; bit did the blush make her any less lovely to the Latmian?

Only in the clear and unclouded pool is the star undimmed embosomed.

They say a woman is capricious. But the consistency of woman's capriciousness is only exceeded by the capriciousness of man's consistency.