majesty did not know how to tempt Job; instead of making him hear his friends talk to him—though that was bad enough—he should have made him hear them talk of him; and if that did not drive him out of all patience, I know not what would.
"Nothing," at length observed Emily, "strikes me so much as the little appearance of enjoyment there is in any present—our faces, like our summers, want sunshine; my uncle would quote Froissart, who says of our ancestors, 'the English, after their fashion, s'amusent moult tristement.' Look at the quadrille opposite—it boasts not a single smile; I am inclined to ask, with some foreigner, 'Are these people enjoying themselves?'"
"We must first make," replied Edward, "due allowance for climate and constitution—we must make another for fashion: we live in an age of re-action; the style of loud talking, laughing, or what was termed dashing, lies in the tomb of the Duchess of Gordon. We are in the other extreme—and I answer your question by another: Do you mean to affront me, by supposing I could enjoy myself? What pitiable ignorance of pleasure, on my part, does the question insinuate!"
