"If you mean personal courage, there is no doubt that he possesses
it,--as completely now, probably, as ever."
"Oh yes;--he could go over to Flanders and let that lord shoot at
him; and he could ride brutes of horses, and not care about breaking
his neck. That's not what I mean. I thought that he could face the
world with dignity;--but now it seems that he breaks down."
"He has been very roughly used, my dear."
"So he has,--and tenderly used too. Nobody has had better friends. I
thought he would have been more manly."
The property of manliness in a man is a great possession, but perhaps
there is none that is less understood,--which is more generally
accorded where it does not exist, or more frequently disallowed where
it prevails. There are not many who ever make up their minds as to
what constitutes manliness, or even inquire within themselves upon
the subject. The woman's error, occasioned by her natural desire for
a master, leads her to look for a certain outward magnificence of
demeanour, a pretended indifference to stings and little torments,
a would-be superiority to the bread-and-butter side of life, an
unreal assumption of personal grandeur.
Pages:
1094
1095
1096
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118