When
every one is busy (unless you have really something to say), you may
continue silent; but if you have nothing to do, you must absolutely
speak continually, and this, in my mind, is the most burdensome and
the most dangerous constraint. I will go further, and maintain, that
to render company harmless, as well as agreeable, it is necessary, not
only that they should have something to do; but something that
requires a degree of attention.
Knitting, for instance, is absolutely as bad as doing nothing; you
must take as much pains to amuse a woman whose fingers are thus
employed, as if she sat with her arms across; but let her embroider,
and it is a different matter; she is then so far busied, that a few
intervals of silence may be borne with. What is most disgusting and
ridiculous, during these intermissions of conversation, is to see,
perhaps, a dozen overgrown fellows, get up, sit down again, walk
backwards and forwards, turn on their heels, play with the chimney
ornaments, and rack their brains to maintain an inexhaustible chain of
words: what a charming occupation! Such people, wherever they go, must
be troublesome both to others and themselves. When I was at Motiers, I
used to employ myself in making laces with my neighbors, and were I
again to mix with the world, I would always carry a cup-and-ball in my
pocket; I would sometimes play with it the whole day, that I might not
be constrained to speak when I had nothing to discourse about; and I
am persuaded, that if every one would do the same, mankind would be
less mischievous, their company would become more rational, and, in my
opinion, a vast deal more agreeable: in a word, let wits laugh if they
please, but I maintain, that the only practical lesson of morality
within the reach of the present age, is that of the cup-and-ball.
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