In order to fulfil the duties of life, and to be able to purſue with vigour the various employments which form the moral character, a maſter and miſtreſs of a family ought not to continue to love each other with paſſion. I mean to ſay, that they ought not to indulge thoſe emotions which diſturb the order of ſociety, and engroſs the thoughts that ſhould be otherwiſe employed. The mind that has never been engroſſed by one object wants vigour—if it can long be ſo, it is weak.
A miſtaken education, a narrow, uncultivated mind, and many ſexual prejudices, tend to make women more conſtant than men; but, for the preſent, I ſhall not touch on this branch of the ſubject. I will go ſtill further, and advance, without dreaming of a paradox, that an unhappy marriage is often very advantageous to a family, and that the neglected wife is, in general, the beſt mother. And this would almoſt always be the conſequence if the female mind was more enlarged: for, it ſeems to be the common diſpenſation of Providence, that what we gain in preſent enjoyment ſhould be deducted from the treaſure of life, experience; and that when we are gathering the flowers of the day and revelling in pleaſure, the ſolid fruit of toil and wiſdom ſhould not be caught at the ſame time. The way lies before us, we muſt turn to the right or left; and he who will paſs life away in bounding from one pleaſure to another, muſt not complain if he neither acquires wiſdom nor reſpectability of character.
