5/31 - If This Were Persuasion...

L1: LW1 would be Lady Elliot, who died at a most inconvenient time for her family, but whose judgment and conduct otherwise had required pardon only in the matter of her becoming Lady Elliot in the first place. Far be it from me to second-guess what LW1 is doing. If she can look on H1 as a sort of Sir Walter, hardly capaable of being left to her own devices, she can more readily understand his conduct in the matter. But clearly she has more pressing matters at hand.

It does not surprise me that the Prudecutor makes so much of the ironic fact that palliative care often leads to longer life than aggressive treatments. It is just the sort of thing in which she would revel. I would content myself with reminding LW1 of the advise a person of some wisdom once gave Tristan Erskine Brown when that young luminary revealed that the reason he never sucked gobstoppers was that they were bad for the teeth. All the best to LW1 for having her own terms.

L2: Now LW2 is being Sir Walter Elliot, making a detailed physical inventory of Mrs Clay, his daughter's friend, and passing his typical patriarchal judgment, as only someone born to a baronetcy can do. The Prudecutor appears to have staked a bit high on this one; surely, if LW2 were enjoying the view to the extent that she claims, he'd hardly be writing in to her about the issue as a sort of complaint. But this does not mean that he is entirely out of the woods.

If FE2's wardrobe is business inappropriate (and it is possible that I Choose My Choice reigns a bit supreme at the company, so that people would be as likely to comment directly to FE2 about her display as anyone at Equity Court would have been to tell Dot Clapton the diamond in her nose was inappropriate), then the thing to do is to demonstrate this in a clear manner. LW2 ought to arrange a conference of sorts, packing the room with men of all ages as well as other executives, male and female, both higher and lower than himself. Then have FE2 enter the room to make some contribution to the meeting. Regard carefully the reactions of the assembled company. This ought at least to clarify, and for the other executives in the company as well, whether the fault lies within LW2 or FE2.

L3: LW3 is being rather like Mary Musgrove, who certainly would have doped herself up with any and all quack nostrums on which she could have laid her hands. Fortunately for Mary, though, she at least lacked the inability to attend to the opinions of others which would have turned her into Isabella Knightley. The situation here is a bit too ridiculous. LW3 has clearly been over-socialized (presumably as a woman) to accept the word of the medical profession. If the next three therapist agree with this one, then there might be something in it.

L4: LW4 is a little like Anne Elliot, whose high regard of the navy completes her release from the value system of her father and older sister. This exemplifies itself most in what LW4 can take as a warning about his not wanting to be open with his family about his change of faith in the matter of Mrs Smith. When Anne, rather to her own regret, joins Sir Walter and Elizabeth in Bath, one of her few consolations is that she can renew the acquaintance with an old school friend who had been kind to her after the death of Lady Elliot. But Mrs Smith, who is both poor and an invalid, is someone Anne knows not to mention to her father or sister. But then comes the Joint Holiday in the form of the arrival of Lady Dalrymple, and her renewal of a severed acquaintance with the Elliots. Anne is forced to decline an invitation to visit her grand relations, being engaged to see Mrs Smith that day. Should LW4 attempt to keep quiet about his faith, he will surely face many such situations.

The Prudecutor is quite wrong, of course. There is no real harm in LW4 consulting CP4 about his conversion, but the person to help him is JR4. If LW4 is to have the best chance of explaining his conversion to Ps4 without upsetting them, the wisdom of an experienced rabbi will be of much more use.

Moral: "Let me ytell you, young Tristan, and you, too, Isolde, if you care to listen; there is no pleasure in life worth sacrificing for the sake of five more years in the Old People's Home in Weston-super-Mare."