" But history, real solemn history, I cannot be interested in. Can you?" " Yes, I am fond of history." " I wish I were too. I read it a little as a duty, but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all -- it is very tiresome. "