Let the huſband beware of truſting too implicitly to this ſervile obedience; for if his wife can with winning ſweetneſs careſs him when angry, and when ſhe ought to be angry, unleſs contempt had ſtifled a natural efferveſcence, ſhe may do the ſame after parting with a lover. Theſe are all preparations for adultery; or, ſhould the fear of the world, or of hell, reſtrain her deſire of pleaſing other men, when ſhe can no longer pleaſe her huſband, what ſubſtitute can be found by a being who was only formed, by nature and art, to pleaſe man? what can make her amends for this privation, or where is ſhe to ſeek for a freſh employment? where find ſufficient ſtrength of mind to determine to begin the ſearch, when her habits are fixed, and vanity has long ruled her chaotic mind?
But this partial moraliſt recommends cunning ſyſtematically and plauſibly.
'Daughters ſhould be always ſubmiſſive; their mothers, however, ſhould not be inexorable. To make a young perſon tractable, ſhe ought not to be made unhappy; to make her modeſt ſhe ought not to be rendered ſtupid. On the contrary, I ſhould not be diſpleaſed at her being permitted to uſe ſome art, not to elude puniſhment in caſe of diſobedience, but to exempt herſelf from the neceſſity of obeying. It is not neceſſary to make her dependence burdenſome, but only to let her feel it. Subtilty is a talent natural to the ſex; and, as I am perſuaded, all our natural inclinations are right and good in themſelves, I am of opinion this ſhould be cultivated as well as the others: it is requiſite for us only to prevent its abuſe.'
