"Women have, in general, but one object, which is their beauty; upon
which, scarce any flattery is too gross for them to swallow. Nature
has hardly formed a woman ugly enough to be insensible to flattery
upon her person; if her face is so shocking, that she must in some
degree, be conscious of it, her figure and her air, she trusts, make
ample amends for it. If her figure is deformed, her face, she thinks,
counterbalances it. If they are both bad, she comforts herself that
she has graces; a certain manner; a 'je ne sais quoi,' still more
engaging than beauty.
"This truth is evident, from the studied and elaborate dress of the
ugliest women in the world. An undoubted, uncontested, conscious
beauty, is of all women, the least sensible of flattery upon that
head; she knows that it is her due, and is therefore obliged to nobody
for giving it her. She must be flattered upon her understanding;
which, though she may possibly not doubt of herself, yet she suspects
that men may distrust."