7 She is a perfect woman who, at all times, possesses
herself; can be cheerful without levity, grave
without austerity; knows when to elevate the tongue
of persuasion, and when to impress her lips with the
signet of silence; never converts trifling ceremonies
into intolerable burdens; always dresses becoming to
her rank and age; is modest without prudery, religious
without an alloy of superstition; can hear the one sex
praised without envy, and converse with the other
without permitting the torch of inconstancy to kindle
the unhallowed fire in her breast; considers her husband
as the most accomplished of mortals, and thinks
all the sons of Adam besides unworthy of a transient
glance from the corner of her half-shut eyes.
Such are the requisites of a perfect woman, and how thankful we should
be that we have so many in this highly-favoured land who possess them
all! These maxims are assuredly of Indian origin--no Persian could ever
have conceived such virtues as being attainable by women.
V