hath fet you. This counterfeited Jealoufy will bring him a great deal of Pleasure, if he thinks it real; for he knows, experimentally, how much Love goes along with this Paffion, and will, befides, feel fomething like the Satisfaction of a Revenge, in feeing you undergo all his own Tortures. But this, indeed, is an Artifice fo difficult, and at the fame Time fo difingenuous, that it ought never to be put in Practice but by fuch as have Skill enough to cover the Deceit, and Innocence to render it excufable.

The late Marquifs of Hallifax, in his curious Treatise, called, Advice to a Daughter, has made no mention how a Wife is to behave herself to the jealous Husband, but has given prudent Inftructions with regard to other Sort of Men.

Women, faith that noble Writer, are to confider they live in a Time that hath rendered fome kind of Frailties fo habitual, that they lay claim to large Grains of Allowance. The World in this is fomewhat unequal, and the masculine Sex feems to play the Tyrant in diftinguishing partially for themselves, by making that in the utmoft Degree criminal in the Woman, which in a Man paffes under a much gentler Cenfure. The Root and the Excufe of this Injuftice, is the Prefervation of Families from any Mixture which may bring a Blemish to them: And whilft the Point of Honour continues to be fo placed, it feems unavoidable to give the Female Sex the greater Share of the Penalty: But if in this it lies under any Difadvantage, it is more than recompens'd, by having the Honour of Families in their Keeping. The Confideration fo great a Trust must give the Woman, makes full Amends; and this Power the World has lodged in them, can hardly fail to restrain the N°6 Severity

Severity of an ill Husband, and to improve the Kindness and Efteem of a good one. This being fo, they should remember, that next to the Danger of committing the Fault themselves, the greatest is that of feeing it in their Husbands. They fhould not feem to look or hear that Way: If he is a Man of Senfe, he will reclaim himself; the Folly of it, is of itself fufficient to cure him: If he is not fo, he will be provoked, but not reformed. To expoftulate in these Cafes, looks like declaring War, and preparing Reprifals; which to a thinking Husband would be a dangerous Reflection: Befides, it is fo coarfe a Reason, which will be affign'd for a Lady's too great Warmth upon fuch an Occafion, that Modefty, no less than Prudence, ought to restrain her: Since fuch an indecent Complaint makes a Wife much more ridiculous, than the Injury that provoked her to it: But it is yet worfe, and more unskilful, to blaze it in the World, expecting it should rife up Arms to take her Part: Whereas, fhe will find, it can have no other Effect, than that she will be ferved up in all Companies, as the reigning Jeft at that Time, and will continue to be the common Entertainment, 'till fhe is rescued by fome newer Folly that comes upon the Stage, and drives her away from it. The Impertinence of fuch Methods is fo plain, that it does not deferve the Pains of being laid open. In Cafes of this Kind, the Fair Sex fhould be af fured, that Difcretion and Silence will be the most prevailing Reproof. An affected Ignorance, which is feldom a Virtue, is a great one here: And when a Husband fees how unwilling a Woman is to be uneafy, there is no stronger Argument to perfuade him not to be unjust to her: Befides, it will naturally make him more yielding in other Things:

in

Things: And whether it be to cover or redeem his Offence, she will have the good Effects of it while it lafts, and all that while have the most reasonable Ground that can be of prefuming fuch a Behaviour will at laft entirely convert him. There is nothing fo glorious to a Wife, as a Victory so gained: A Man fo reclaimed is for ever after fubjected to her Virtue; and her bearing for a Time is more than rewarded by a Triumph that will continue as long as her Life.

CHAP. XII.

Of a WIFE'S BEHAVIOUR to a DRUNKAKD.

TH

HE next Thing we will fuppofe, is, that the Husband loves Wine more than is convenient. It will be granted, that though there are Vices of a deeper Dye, there are none that have a greater Deformity than this, when it is not restrained: But with all this, the fame Custom, which is the more to be lamented for its being fo general, fhould make it lefs uneafy to every one in particular, who is to fuffer by the Effects of it; fo that in the first Place, it will be no new thing for a Woman to have a Drunkard for her Husband; and there is, by too frequent Examples, Evidence enough that fuch a thing may happen, and yet a Wife may live too without being miferable. Self-Love dictates aggravating Words to every thing we feel; Ruin and Misery are the Terms we apply to whatsoever we

do not like, forgetting the Mixture allotted to us by the Condition of human Life, by which it is not intended we should be quite exempt from Trouble. It is fair, if we can escape fuch a Degree of it as would opprefs us, and enjoy fo much of the pleafant Part as may leffen the ill Taste of fuch Things as are unwelcome to us. Every thing has two Sides, and for our own Eafe we ought to direct our Thoughts to that which may be leaft liable to Exception. To fall upon the worst Side of a Drunkard, gives fo unpleafant a Profpect, that it is not poffible to dwell upon it. Let us pafs then to the more favourable Part, as far as a Wife is concerned in it.

If the Irregularities of the Expreffion could, in Strictness, be juftified, we might fay, That a Wife is to thank God her Husband has Faults. Mark the feeming Paradox, for your own Inftruction, it being intended no farther. A Husband without Faults is a dangerous Obferver; he hath an Eye fo piercing, and fees every thing fo plain, that it is exposed to his full 'Cenfure. And tho' a Woman's Virtue may difappoint the fharpeft Enquiries, yet few can bear to have all they fay or do reprefented in the clear Glafs of an Understanding without Faults. Nothing foftens the Arrogance of our Nature, like a Mixture of fome Frailties. It is by them we are beft told, that we must not strike too hard upon others, becaufe we ourselves do fo often deferve Blows: They pull our Rage by the Sleeve, and whifper Gentleness to us in our Cenfure, even when they are rightly applied. The Faults and Paffions of Husbands bring them down to their Wives, and make them content to live upon lefs unequal Terms, than faultlefs Men would be willing to ftoop to; fo haughty is Mankind till humbled

by

by common Weakness and Defects, which in our corrupt State contribute more towards reconciling us to one another, than all the Precepts of the Philofophers and Divines: So that where the Errors of our Nature make Amends for the Disadvantages of the Women's, it is more their Part to make Ufe of the Benefit, than to quarrel at the Fault.

Thus in Cafe a Drunken Husband falls to a Woman's Lot, if she will be wife and patient, his Wine shall be of her Side; it will throw a Veil over her Mistakes, and will set out and improve every thing fhe does, that he is pleased with. Others will like him lefs, and by that Means he may, perhaps, like his Wife the more. When after having dined too well, he is received at home without a Storm, or fo much as a reproachful Look, the Wine will naturally work out all in Kindness, which a Wife must encourage, let it be wrapped up in never fo much Impertinence. On the other Side, it would boil up into Rage, if the mistaken Wife should treat him roughly, like a certain Thing called, a kind Shrew, than which the World, with all its Plenty, cannot fhew a more fenfeless, ill-bred, forbidding Creature. A Woman should confider, that where the Man will give fuch frequent Intermiffions of the Ufe of his Reafon, the Wife infenfibly gets a Right of governing in the Vacancy, and that raifes her Character and Credit in the Family, to a higher Pitch, than, perhaps, could be done under a fober Husband, who never puts himself into an Incapacity of holding the Reins. If thefe are not entire Confolations, at least they are Remedies to fome Degree. They cannot make Drunkenness a Virtue, nor a Husband given to it a Felicity; but Ladies will do themfelves no ill Office in the endeavouring, by

thefe