] But James Morland strikes me as your basic, generic brother-type, who is carelessly affectionate, takes his sister for granted but expects to be comforted anyway.

] I wonder if those of us who cut James a bit more slack than others, have a handful of brothers about? We are familiar with the beast and so are more accepting of it.

This sounds reasonable, except that many of those who accept James' behavior and say he's just "being a boy" don't cut Frederick any slack for behavior that's no worse and might even be more excusable than James'. Sorry, but James still shows little to recommend himself to me.