Do you wish me to tell you what makes love dangerous?  It is the sublime view that one sometimes takes of it.  But the exact truth is, it is only a blind instinct which one must know how to appreciate:  an appetite which you have for one object in preference to another, without being able to give the reason for your taste.  Considered as a friendly intimacy when reason presides, it is not a passion, it is no longer love, it is, in truth, a warm hearted esteem, but tranquil; incapable of drawing you away from any fixed position.  If, walking in the footsteps of our ancient heroes of romance, you aim at great sentiments, you will see that this pretended heroism makes of love only a sad and sometimes fatal folly.  It is a veritable fanaticism; but if you disengage it from all that opinion makes it, it will soon be your happiness and pleasure.  Believe me, if it were reason or enthusiasm which formed affairs of the heart, love would become insipid, or a frenzy.  The only means of avoiding these two extremes is to follow the path I have indicated.  You need only to be amused, and you will find amusement only among the women I mention to you as capable of it.  Your heart wishes occupation, they are made to fill it.  Try my recipe and you will find it good—­I made you a fair promise, and it seems to me I am keeping my word with you exactly.  Adieu, I have just received a charming letter from M. de Saint-Evremond, and I must answer it.  I wish at the same time to propose to him the ideas which I have communicated to you, and I shall be very much mistaken if he does not approve of them.

To-morrow I shall have the Abbe de Chateauneuf, and perhaps Moliere.  We shall read again the Tartuffe, in which some changes should be made.  Take notice, Marquis, that those who do not conform to all I have just told you, have a little of the qualities of that character.

III

Why Love Grows Cold

In despite of everything I may say to you, you still stick to your first sentiment.  You wish a respectable person for a mistress, and one who can at the same time be your friend.  These sentiments would undoubtedly merit commendation if in reality they could bring you the happiness you expect them to; but experience teaches you that all those great expectations are pure illusions.  Are serious qualities the only question in pastimes of the heart?  I might be tempted to believe that romances have impaired your mental powers.  Poor Marquis!  He has allowed himself to become fascinated by the sublime talk common in conversation.  But, my dear child, what do you mean to do with these chimeras of reason?  I willingly tell you, Marquis:  it is very fine coin, but it is a pity that it can not enter into commercial transactions.