Again, in her posthumous Letter--'Your Choice is fallen upon a sincere, an honest, a virtuous, and what is more than all, a _pious Man_.--A Man who altho' he admires your Person, is still more in love with the Graces of your Mind; and as those Graces are improvable with every added Year of Life, which will impair the transitory ones of Person, what a firm Basis has Mr. _Hickman_ chosen to build his Love upon.'
The same Man cannot be every thing: A _Hickman_ in Heart, to a _Lovelace_ in Vivacity and Address, perhaps, is almost impossible to be met with; Time, Opportunities, and Inclinations are wanting.
Nay, Madam, says Miss _Gibson_, I do not dispute Mr. _Hickman's_ being preferable for a Husband to Mr. _Lovelace_; the Heart is certainly the first thing to be considered in a Man to whose Government a Woman resigns herself; but I should not chuse either _Lovelace_ or _Hickman_. I must confess I should desire Humour and Spirit in a Man. A married Life, tho' it cannot be said to be miserable with an honest Husband; yet it must be very dull, when a Man has not the Power of diversifying his Ideas enough to display trifling Incidents in various Lights; and 'tis impossible where this is wanting, but that a Man and his Wife must often depend on other Company to keep them from sinking into Insipidity. And for my part, I cannot paint to myself any thing more disagreeable, than to sit with a Husband and wish some-body would come in and relieve us from one another's Dulness. Trifles, Madam, become strong Entertainments to sprightly Minds!--
Ah! Miss _Gibson_, replied the Lady, in every Word you speak, you prove how necessary the Author's Moral is to be strongly inculcated; when even _your_ serious and thoughtful Turn of Mind will not suffer you to see through the Glare of what you call Humour and Spirit with that Clearness which would enable you to distinguish how very seldom that Humour and Spirit is bestowed on a Wife. Mr. _Hickman's_ whole Mind being at Home, would enliven him into a chearful Companion with his Wife; whilst a _Lovelace's_ Mind, engaged on foreign Objects, would often make him fall into Peevishness and Ill-humour, instead of this so much dreaded _Insipidity_.