Page:The Adventures of David Simple (1904).djvu/335

 should do it or no. And it is not only in things of moment he is thus considerate, but also in the most trifling affairs in life. He will not go even to a party of pleasure till he has confused himself so long, whether it will be discreet or no, that, when he is resolved, he can have no enjoyment in it. "I remember once, while we were at Paris, this knot of gentlemen, my lady, myself in the character of a toad-eater, and some more ladies, proposed spending a week at Versailles; this gentleman could not find out whether it would give him most pleasure or pain to accompany us, and was so long in deliberating, that at last Monsieur Le Vive (which was the name the gentleman who was so whimsically guided by his passions always went by while he was at Paris) swore he would stay no longer; and we drove away, leaving him at the gate in a thoughtful posture, as if he had been endeavouring to find out the most difficult problem in the mathematics. "He pretends to a great affection for Le Vive, but I verily believe he hates him in his heart; for, when he is absent from him, his whole discourse turns on his indiscretions, which indeed he expresses great sorrow for; but, in my opinion, he only affects to pity him for an excuse to fix people's minds on his faults, and to make them see his own imagined superiority. I have known several of these friends, who go about lamenting every wrong thing done by the person they falsely pretend a friendship for; but to me they cannot give a stronger proof that they hate and envy them. "For a man who is really concerned for another's frailties will keep them as much as possible even his own thoughts, as well as endeavour to hide them from the rest of the world. And whenever I hear one of these lamenters cry, 'It is a pity Such-a-one has such failings, for otherwise he would be a charming creature!' and then reckon them all up,