It is regulate the morality of man opinion, it is education, it is example, and company, working by the disposition; the latent spring of the heart; and such is their power that they triumph over latitude, temperament, and my best efforts. It is true, I must admit, in the hot atmosphere, the effects of corruption are the most rapid and the most dangerous, and so it is in heated minds and family broils. But why should I spend my time by saying fire is friction wrought to a higher degree, when my wife declares "friction is most violent in the madly contending sea, yet without fire." Or why should I trespass upon the labour of your eyes by going back to seck, and bring to view, among others, objects of comparison and contrast, from difference of place, when we find a greater diversity in manners, in opinion, and in temper, between the phlegmatic, the sanguine, the choleric, and the melancholic, than there is between the physiognomy of a Frenchman and a Briton, if not between my wife and her troubled husband. 1 recollect Aristotle says the phlegmatic is cold, timid, suspicious, delibe rate, philosophic. The sanguine on the contrary, as warm, presuming, generous, vehement, pathetic; the choleric as irascible, severe, bold, discerning; and the melancholic, as a composition of them all, refined and heightened by imagination. To proceed in the narrative. I was counted a moralist, and thought I was too well acquainted with human affairs not to perceive that women were the "arbiters of manners." I esteemed it a pleasure to engage them to adorn the sceptre of virtue with their graces, and considered it is in their power to excite courage to overthrow vice, by means of their disdain, to light up in every heart the love of our country, and create the peace and comfort of society. Yea, I had a conviction that men are generally what women make them; but then, what must now be, what should I think, and how should I stand guarded on the brink of fate! For it is "Yet strange to tell the nerveless baby hand Little indeed are they acquainted with the laws of nature, and the value of social intercourse, who in the union of man and wife, look for nothing more than the pleasures of sense. They only cull the wild flowers of life, without once tasting the substantial and cheering fruits. "The fair sex" may be a favorite phrase with the man of pleasure, to whom women are known under no other idea. But is the sex most fair only to persons who have no other faculty except that of eye sight? Or is it not most amiable, and useful to the heart that understands and feels. I had been taught to fix the highest value upon, and treat with the utmost care, the creative sex, which at the peril of life, conceals man in the tenderest months of existence, cherishes and guards him in infancy. It is also my wish to venerate the pious sex, which bears him to the altar of God, while he is yet a child, and teaches him to imbibe with the very dawning of reason, the love of a religion, which the cruel policy of men would injure, and the rude hand of the infidel maliciously extirpate. In my marriage, I cheerfully said, let the pacific sex, which sheds no blood, walk by my side, rest upon my arm, and possess an unrivalled place in my affections and esteem, as the most sympathizing companion, whose touch ministers to the sick, and whose parental kiss has often healed the numerous wounds of my infancy. For contemplation he, and valour form'd, "For softness she, and sweet attractive grace." "Shall I stretch forth my robust arm, to subdue iron and brass; by my side is placed one more dexterous, and who should be more carefully employed in spinning, and adjusting the fleece to my comfort and orna"ment." Shall I boast of my power and strength, let me remember the fostering hand of a tender fémale clothed these once feeble limbs. Must I encounter toils and gloomy cares abroad? The good wife banishes sorrow at home, by her works that praise her in the gate. "The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil," " for she will do him good, and not evil, all the days of her life." "Her husband is known when he sitteth among the Elders of the land," by his cheerful countenance, and decent apparel. "Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her." Her children rise up and call her blessed, and her husband also praiseth her." But my good wife became so restless, and had so many oddities, that I was compelled to think something possessed her soul and body. No medical book that I could find touched upon the symptoms, so that I could define the perplexing foe, or procure a prescriptionto lay him in peace. "My soul felt, a strange commotion, There was a time when I would not marry for fear of expence and poverty, though on a moderate calculation, I found my rabbits, ducks, geese, horse and chaise, (if not a single hunter) cost |