look into herſelf for comfort, and cultivate her dormant faculties? or, is it not more rational to expect that ſhe will try to pleaſe other men; and, in the emotions raiſed by the expectation of new conqueſts, endeavour to forget the mortification her love or pride has received? When the huſband ceaſes to be a lover—and the time will inevitably come, her deſire of pleaſing will then grow languid, or become a ſpring of bitterneſs; and love, perhaps, the moſt evaneſcent of all paſſions, gives place to jealouſy or vanity.
I now ſpeak of women who are reſtrained by principle or prejudice; ſuch women, though they would ſhrink from an intrigue with real abhorrence, yet, nevertheleſs, wiſh to be convinced by the homage of gallantry that they are cruelly neglected by their huſbands; or, days and weeks are ſpent in dreaming of the happineſs enjoyed by congenial ſouls, till the health is undermined and the ſpirits broken by diſcontent. How then can the great art of pleaſing be ſuch a neceſſary ſtudy; it is only uſeful to a miſtreſs; the chaſte wife, and ſerious mother, ſhould only conſider her power to pleaſe as the poliſh of her virtues, and the affection of her huſband as one of the comforts that render her taſk leſs difficult and her life happier.—But, whether ſhe be loved or neglected, her firſt wiſh ſhould be to make herſelf reſpectable, and not to rely for all her happineſs on a being ſubject to like infirmities with herſelf.
The amiable Dr. Gregory fell into a ſimilar error. I reſpect his heart; but entirely diſapprove of his celebrated Legacy to his Daughters.
