gate, he galloped the animal at his utmost speed; but when he came to a little shadowy lane, apparently shut out from all, I saw from my window that his pace was slackened, and his head bowed down upon the neck of his steed. They say women are more constant than men: it is the constancy of circumstance; the enterprise, the exertion required of men continually force them out of themselves, and that which was at first necessity soon becomes habit—whereas the constant round of employments in which a woman is engaged, require no fatigue of mind or body; the needle is, generally speaking, both her occupation and amusement, and this kind of work leaves the ideas full play; hence the imagination is left at liberty to dwell upon one subject, and hence habit, which is an advantage on the one side, becomes to her an additional rivet.
For months after Edward's departure I was utterly miserable, listless, apathetic—nothing amused me: but I was at length roused from this state of sentimental indolence by a letter from him: he wrote in the highest spirits; his success had been beyond his utmost expectations; and soon, he said, be might hope and look forward to our joining him in India. I have a great dislike to letter-writing: the phrase "she is an excellent correspondent" is to me synonymous with "she is an excellent gossip." I have seen epistles crossed and recrossed, in which I knew not which most to pity—the industry or idleness of the writer. But every one has an exception to his own rule, and so must I; and from this censure, I except letters
