gence itself, as it implies a superiority in the person whe bestows it; but there is no idea of pleasure my highest imagination ever could form equal to that of being indulged by the man I love.

The great errour that women fall into about marrying, is the seeking wives instead of husbands. The fear of having it thought they have submission enough to be governed, raises a monstrous disturbance in their breasts. To join the ideas of love and obedience is not in their power. If a woman would marry sensibly, let her choose the man whom she can obey cheerfully. To marry Floria and then to obey him, ever appeared to me as if I was commanded, as Desdemona says upon another occasion,

To do peculiar profit

To my own person:'

It is a command to follow the bent of my inclination; for so far am I from thinking the vow of obedience in the matrimonial service a burthen, that it will be my utmost pleasure. With Floria how joyfully shall I pursue the same studies, partake of all his pleasures, and share, or rather monopo lize, all his griefs? As in my choice of him I am determined by nothing but himself, no outward circumstances, no situations, no opinions besides my own, will have any influence on my mind.

But it would be endless to exhibit the various pictures of delight which my imagination has formed, on the thought of being his wife. Very justly does an ingenious poet say, that to a reflecting mind,

On every thorn delightful wisdom grows,
In every rill a sweet instruction flows.'

And with such a companion as my Floria, every shrub, every bush, every flower of the field, must all become objects of the highest pleasure. With my principal wish thus fully gratified, what an inexpressible lustre must be thrown on every outward object, while I place my delight in my husband's friendship, esteem his understanding, make his will a law of liberty, and spend my whole life in giving him every moment fresh instances of what, in my opinion, only deserves the name of love!

LETTER LX.

From one Friend to Another, advising him to marry. Dear Charles,

I AM sorry to hear that you have absolutely declared against matrimony, and for no other reason, as I can learn, but because you are not acquainted with its sweets. Has not both Providence and religion enjoined this sacred union? Would we be now in existence only for it? But without confining ourselves to general reflections, let us see if you could not live more comfortably with a woman, than in the single state you are at present resolved to make choice of; for my part, I must think that if you find yourself capable of regulating a family, or living upon good terms, with an honest person, and of giving good education to your children, you would find that there is nothing more agreeable than to live with a woman who has made a tender of herself to you, and who is inclined to discharge faithfully all the duties incumbent on that union. If you examine every thing that passes in a family under proper regulations, you will see that a good virtuous wife shares with her husband in all the pleasure or sorrow that may happen-his joy she increases by adding her own, and his afflictions she alleviates by the part she bears in them. Conjugal affection, when it is sincere, seldom decreases; but, supposing the first transports of love to suffer an abatement, still a virtuous woman is the best friend a man can have. They concert together the measures they judge conformable to what they design to undertake and put in execution. They never act but by agreement; their thoughts and sentiments rest on the foundation of mutual confidence, and the good understanding that subsists between them adds unspeakable charms to the union. A husband may leave home and enjoy uninterrupted tranquillity, because he leaves the care of his family concerns to a careful and good house-wife. If he have children -how sweet are the effects of his love, who will be hereafter the support of his old age! Single life in men can no where find the consolation and assistance that are met with in the society of women. Providence has given this help to man as a sort of help-mate, and therefore as the scripture says, "it is not good for man to be alone."

The Romans (as appears in history) expelled from their city those who persisted to live in a state of celibacy, as being useless to the republic. There is something unnatural

in a man desiring to remain a bachelor all the days of his life! it is contradictory to the laws of reason and nature! I hope, then, my friend will change his opinion of a single life, and lay upon himself the injunction of matrimony, which no doubt will be more agreeable than he has hitherto thought it. He will, I hope, take in good part, the advice I here presume to give, and believe that I am,

His sincere friend.

LETTER LXI.

From a Lady, with an extract from the Spectator. Dear Miss,

WHATEVER that rude, unthinking mortal, said against matrimony last night, (and indeed it was not the only discourse from him that I perceived caused blushes to glow in every modest cheek) we have this comfort, that the wisest and best men have always held it to be a most excellent and amiable institution: I send you inclosed the sentiments of the Spectator on this head, as I casually hit upon them in turning over those excellent volumes, my usual custom at breakfast; and if any thing strike me, my husband, who is one of the most kind and obliging of men, adds to my pleasure, by reading them in a manner, that, if possible, gives new graces to the diction. Pray, dear Miss, read them, and see how differently men of sense talk, in this respect, from coxcombs and fools.

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I am, dear Miss, your affectionate friend.

'I HAVE long entertained an ambition to make the wife the most agreeable and delightful name in nature. If it be not so in itself, all the wiser part of mankind, from the 'beginning of the world, has consented in an errour: But our unhappiness in England has been, that a few loose men of 'genius for pleasure, have turned it all to the gratification of ungoverned desires, in spite of good sense, form and 'order; when in truth, any satisfaction beyond the bounda'ries of reason, is but a step towards madness and folly. But is the sense of joy and accomplishment of desire no way to be indulged or attained? and have we appetites 'given us, not to be at all gratified? Yes certainly. Marriage is an institution calculated for a constant scene of as 'much delight as our being is capable of. Two persons who have chosen each other out of all the species, with a design

'to be each other's mutual comfort and entertainment, have in that action, bound themselves to be good-humoured, 'affable, discreet, forgiving, patient and joyful, with respect 'to each other's frailties and perfections, to the end of their lives. The wiser of the two (and it generally happens that 'one of them is such) will, for her or his own sake, keep things from outrage with the utmost sanctity. When this 'union is thus preserved, the most indifferent circumstance 'administers delight. Their condition is an endless source 'of new gratifications. The married man can say, If I am 'unacceptable to all the world beside, there is one whom I entirely love, that will receive me with joy and transport, and think herself obliged to double her kindness and caresses of me from the gloom with which she sees me overcast. I 'need not dissemble the sorrow of my heart to be agreeable there; that very sorrow quickens her affection.

This passion towards each other, when once well fixed, 'enters into the very constitution, and the kindness flows as ' easily and silently as the blood in the veins. When this 'affection is enjoyed in the most sublime degree, unskilful 'eyes see nothing of it; but when it is subject to be changed, 'and has an alloy in it that makes it end in distaste, it is apt 'to break into rage, or overflow into fondness before the rest "of the world.

Uxander and Virimira are amorous and young, and have been married these two years; yet do they so much distin'guish each other in company, that in your conversation with the dear things, you are put to a sort of cross-purposes. Whenever you address yourself in ordinary discourse to Virimira, she turns her head another way, and the answer is made to the dear Uxander; if you tell a merry tale, the 'application is still directed to her dear; and when she 'should commend you, she says to him, as if he had spoke it, That is, my dear, so pretty-This puts me in mind of 'what I have somewhere read in the admired memoirs of the 'famous Cervantes, where, while honest Sancho Pancha is 'putting some necessary humble questions concerning Ro'zinante, his supper, or his lodgings, the knight of the sorrowful countenance is ever improving the harmless lowly 'hints of the Squire to the poetical conceit, rapture and 'flight, in contemplation of the dear Dulcinea of his affec'tions.

On the other side, Dictamus and Maria are for ever 'squabbling, and you may observe them, all the time they L

are in company, in a state of impatience. As Uxander and Virimira wish you all gone that they may be at freedom 'for dalliance; Dictamus and Maria wait your absence that they may speak their harsh interpretations on each other's 'words and actions during the time you were with them.

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It is certain that the greater part of the evils attending this condition of life, arises from fashion. Prejudice in this. 'case is turned the wrong way, and instead of expecting more happiness than we shall meet with in it, we are laughed into a prepossession that we shall be greatly disappointed if we hope for lasting satisfactions.

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With all persons who have made good sense the rule of action, marriage is described as the state capable of the highest human felicity.

Spencer speaks of each kind of love with great justice, and attributes the highest praise to friendship; and indeed there is no disputing that point, but by making that friendship take place between two married persons.

'Hard is the doubt, and difficult to deem,
When all three kinds of love together meet.
And to dispart the heart with power extreme,
Whether shall weight the balance down; to wit,
The dear affection unto kindred sweet,

'Or raging fire of love to womenkind,

Or zeal of friends combin'd by virtues meet; 'But of them all, the band of virtuous mind,

Methinks the gentle heart should most assured bind.

C For natural affection soon doth cease,

And quenched is by Cupid's greater flame;
• But faithful friendship doth them both suppress,
And them with mastering discipline doth tame,
•Through thoughts aspiring to eternal fame.
For as the soul doth rule this earthly mass,
And all the service of the body frame,

So love of soul doth love of body pass,

No less than perfect gold surmounts the meanest brass.'

The married condition is very often unhappy, for want of judgment or temper in a man. The truth is, we generally make love in a style, and with sentiments, very unfit for ordinary life. They are half theatrical and half romantic. By this means we raise our imaginations to what is not to be expected in human life; and because we did not beforehand think of the creature we are enamoured of, as subject to ill-humour, age, sickness, impatience or sullennass, but altogether considered her as the object of joy, hu