XXII.—PORTRAIT OF A VIRTUOUS AND ACCOMPLISHED WOMAN.FENELON.
FENELON.
1. Antiope is mild, simple, and wise; her hands despise not labor; she foresees things at a distance; she provides against contingencies[196]she knows when it is proper to be silent; she acts regularly and without hurry; she is continually employed, but never embarrassed,[197]because she does every thing in its proper season.
2. The good order of her father’s house is her glory, it adds greater luster[198]to her than beauty. Though the care of all lies upon her, and she is charged with the burden of reproving,[199]refusing, retrenching[200](things which make almost all women hated), yet she has acquired the love of all the household; and this, because they do not find in her either passion, or conceitedness,[201]or levity, or humors as in other women. By a single glance of her eye, they know her meaning, and are afraid to displease her.
3. The orders she gives are precise; she commands nothing but what can be performed; she reproves with kindness, and in reproving encourages. Her father’s heart reposes upon her as a traveler, fainting beneath the sun’s sultry rays, reposes himself upon the tender grass under a shady tree.
4. Antiope is a treasure worth seeking in the most remote corners of the earth. Neither her person nor her mind is set off with vain ornaments; and her imagination, though lively, is restrained by her discretion. She never speaks but through necessity; and when she opens her mouth, soft persuasion and simple graces flow from her lips. When she speaks, every one is silent; and she is heard with such attention, that she blushes, and is almost inclined to suppress[202]what she intended to say; so that she is rarely ever heard to speak at any length.
[196]Con-tinˊ-gen-cies, chances, casual events, possibilities.[197]Em-barˊ-rassed, perplexed, confused.[198]Lusˊ-ter, brightness, splendor, brilliancy.[199]Re-proveˊ, to censure to one’s face, to reprimand.[200]Re-trenchˊ, to lessen, to curtail.[201]Con-ceitˊ-ed-ness, pride, vanity.[202]Sup-pressˊ, to restrain, to conceal.
[196]Con-tinˊ-gen-cies, chances, casual events, possibilities.
[196]Con-tinˊ-gen-cies, chances, casual events, possibilities.
[197]Em-barˊ-rassed, perplexed, confused.
[197]Em-barˊ-rassed, perplexed, confused.
[198]Lusˊ-ter, brightness, splendor, brilliancy.
[198]Lusˊ-ter, brightness, splendor, brilliancy.
[199]Re-proveˊ, to censure to one’s face, to reprimand.
[199]Re-proveˊ, to censure to one’s face, to reprimand.
[200]Re-trenchˊ, to lessen, to curtail.
[200]Re-trenchˊ, to lessen, to curtail.
[201]Con-ceitˊ-ed-ness, pride, vanity.
[201]Con-ceitˊ-ed-ness, pride, vanity.
[202]Sup-pressˊ, to restrain, to conceal.
[202]Sup-pressˊ, to restrain, to conceal.