"comfort." Is there, then, nothing immoral, nothing criminal, in devoting the deserted object of this injustice, to a life of wretchedness—the more acute, as it admits of no alleviation; and which is heightened by the convenient "morality," which permits the object of her solicitude to seek his own "happiness," by reducing all who will trust his falsehood to the same desperate condition. "When the evils of the connection of the sexes, are greater than its benefits," separation necessarily ensues; but so attractive, so necessary, is woman; such are the endearing and lasting ties which the relations of husband and wife, father, mother, and children, weave around the heart, that it is not in the power of many evils to overbalance the advantages of that connection. While "passions are the elements of life," the discordance of temper, and the strife of opposing wills, amid the varied incidents of life, will agitate the mental and moral atmosphere, as nature is agitated by the winds; but as destructive convulsions are of rare occurrence; so is it almost as rarely that the evils of the matrimonial state are felt to surpass its advantages. Fathers and mothers are often dissatisfied with their children; and frequently with cause; yet it is seldom we hear
Page:Queen Mab (Shelley).djvu/212
This page has been validated.
20
REPLY, &c.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Queen_Mab_%28Shelley%29.djvu/page212-1024px-Queen_Mab_%28Shelley%29.djvu.jpg)