170 THE lover’s offering, 
by no means brilliant. “Pooh!” said 
Goethe, laughing, “as if love had any 
thing to do with understanding. We love 
a girl for very different things than under¬ 
standing. We love her for her beauty, 
her youth, her mirth, her confidingness, 
her character, with its faults, caprices, and 
God knows what other inexpressible 
charms; but we do not love her under¬ 
standing. Her mind we esteem (if it is 
brilliant) and it may greatly elevate her 
in our opinion; nay more, it may enchain 
us when we already love. But her under¬ 
standing is not that which awakens and 
inflames our passions.” 
It is better for a lady, we say, to possess 
a good understanding in addition to phy¬ 
sical attractions or beauty. 
“ Woman, gentle woman, has a heart 
Fraught with the sweet humanities of life; 
Sway’d by no selfish aim, she bears her part 
In all our joys and woes ; in pain, in strife, 
Fonder and still more faithful! when the smart 
Of care assails the bosom, or the knife 
Of keen endurance cuts us to the soul, 
First to support us, foremost to console. 
