NO, NOT THAT AUSTEN. Katherine Austen ponders the world.

From the notebook of Katherine Austen (1628-1683):

• Angels: were made for the service and assistance of Man.
• Widowhood: Let me consider whether it is not possible to be happy without a second marriage. Apparently it was possible.
• What her son Thomas learned at Oxford: pride and unmannerliness. Sad to say, you now have to send your sons abroad to learn civility and sweetness of deportment.
• Young men: are guided by irregular passions and desires and folly.
• Ignorant men: are worse than beasts. It is the beast’s nature to be ignorant. It is man’s fault if he be so.
• The problem with pleasure: it’s hard to keep it to the height.
• The secret of her grandparents’ longevity:  They didn’t go to the gym. They exercised little, went at a subtle pace…and did no violence to nature by overstirring.

(Source: Pamela Hammons ed., Book M: A London Widow’s Life Writings)