Parting Valentine Thought

I like Lady M[ary] Cooke extreamly. You will be supriz'd at this Sentiment when she is the present Envy of her Sex, in the possession of Youth, Health, Wealth, Wit, Beauty and Liberty. All these seeming Advantages will prove snares to her. She appears to me walking blindfold upon Stilts, amidst precipices. She is at a dangerous time of Life, when the passions are in full vigour, and we are apt to flatter our selves the understanding arriv'd at Maturity. People are never so near playing the Food as when they think themselves wise. They lay aside that distrust which is the surest Guard against Indiscretion and venture on many steps they would have tremble'd at, at fiveteen, and like children are never so much expos'd to falling as when they first leave of leading-strings. I think nothing but a miracle o r the support of a Guardian Angel can protect her.

That's lady Mary Wortley Montagu, writing to her daughter and confidante, Lady Bute on 16 March 1752; Mary Coke was a cousin of Lord Bute, reprinted in Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: Selected Letters 399-400 (1997). Balzac says somewhere (can't put my finger on it) that no woman learns the truth until she is 35, becuause who would want to tell the truth to her before? Mozart (more precisely, Lorenzo da Ponte) reflects the sentiment here, and here:

Afterthought: Hey, I was there! I was on TDY in New York that fall; Mrs, B came to visit and we indulged ourselves with grand circle seats for Cosi at the Met. The rendering of "Soave sia il vento," is a moment I will never forget. Her's a Youtube link.