the love of company, for its own sake, does not become a prevailing
passion; for then the habit is no longer hospitality, but dissipation.
Reality and truthfulness in this, as in all other duties of life, are
the points to be studied; for, as Washington Irving well says, "There is
an emanation from the heart in genuine hospitality, which cannot be
described, but is immediately felt, and puts the stranger at once at his
ease." With respect to the continuance of friendships, however, it may
be found necessary, in some cases, for a mistress to relinquish, on
assuming the responsibility of a household, many of those commenced in
the earlier part of her life. This will be the more requisite, if the
number still retained be quite equal to her means and opportunities.