Mrs. Fitzroy smiled, and said, "Well, at least you are candid enough to throw the principal odium on the male part of creation, and I believe that many women would heartily thank you for the establishment of liberal _pin_ money, which, according to your account, is very _aptly_ named I think, as it is the only arrangement you say, that attaches the parties to each other, and prevents perpetual flying off?" "Yes, madam, in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred, money is at the _bottom_ of domestic strife. Some women are fools and lavish, others are cunning and narrow-minded; but, almost _all_ men are devoted to the _love of power_, and hate to share the dominion over their coffers. It may perhaps surprise you to hear what I am going to say, coming from the lips of a rough mortal like myself, but I will confess that I have never known any thing approaching to happiness or respectability in married life where, if the woman did not manage all the pecuniary concerns of the family, she had not at least an equal share in them. I have a tolerably bad opinion, generally speaking, of _both_ sexes, but of the _two_, I think yours better than my own. Lord Chesterfield, who saw human nature in its true colours, though he abuses men and women without _parsimony_, still allots something of a better character, because a less selfish one to the ladies, when in his division of mankind, he asserts that "the former are compounded of vanity and avarice; the latter of vanity and love.'" "I hate these cynics," said Mrs. Fitzroy; "and as to _you_, Mr. Bentley, I feel certain, that some early disappointment in life might tell its tale, and account for your cross-grained notions of the world. Let me hear what Mr. Otway says on this subject."