this imperfect ſtate, muſt ariſe from well regulated affections; and an affection includes a duty. Men are not aware of the miſery they cauſe, and the vicious weakneſs they cheriſh, by only inciting women to render themſelves pleaſing; they do not conſider that they thus make natural and artificial duties claſh, by ſacrificing the comfort and reſpectability of a woman's life to voluptuous notions of beauty, when in nature they all harmonize.
Cold would be the heart of a huſband, were he not rendered unnatural by early debauchery, who did not feel more delight at ſeeing his child ſuckled by its mother, than the moſt artful wanton tricks could ever raiſe; yet this natural way of cementing the matrimonial tie, and twiſting eſteem with fonder recollections, wealth leads women to ſpurn. To preſerve their beauty, and wear the flowery crown of the day, that gives them a kind of right to reign for a ſhort time over the ſex, they neglect to ſtamp impreſſions on their huſbands' hearts, that would be remembered with more tenderneſs when the ſnow on the head began to chill the boſom, than even their virgin charms. The maternal ſolicitude of a reaſonable affectionate woman is very intereſting, and the chaſtened dignity with which a mother returns the careſſes that ſhe and her child receive from a father who has been fulfilling the ſerious duties of his ſtation, is not only a reſpectable, but a beautiful ſight. So ſingular, indeed, are my feelings, and I have endeavoured not to catch factitious ones, that after having been fatigued with the ſight of inſipid grandeur and the ſlaviſh
