her; of seizing the opportunity which will yield you pre-eminence in
her mind without ever crushing her with a sense of your superiority,
or even of her own happiness. If the ignorance in which you have kept
her does not altogether destroy her intellect, you must remain in such
relations with her that each of you will still desire the company of
the other.



MEDITATION XIV.

OF APARTMENTS.

The preceding methods and systems are in a way purely moral; they
share the nobility of the soul, there is nothing repulsive in them;
but now we must proceed to consider precautions _a la Bartholo_. Do
not give way to timidity. There is a marital courage, as there is a
civil and military courage, as there is the courage of the National
Guard.

What is the first course of a young girl after having purchased a
parrot? Is it not to fasten it up in a pretty cage, from which it
cannot get out without permission?

You may learn your duty from this child.

Everything that pertains to the arrangement of your house and of your
apartments should be planned so as not to give your wife any
advantage, in case she has decided to deliver you to the Minotaur;
half of all actual mischances are brought about by the deplorable