the ſex from whom they pretend to receive the chief pleaſure of life; and I have frequently with full conviction retorted Pope's ſarcaſm on them; or, to ſpeak explicitly, it has appeared to me applicable to the whole human race. A love of pleaſure or ſway ſeems to divide mankind, and the huſband who lords it in his little haram thinks only of his pleaſure or his convenience. To ſuch lengths, indeed, does an intemperate love of pleaſure carry ſome prudent men, or worn out libertines, who marry to have a ſafe bed-fellow, that they ſeduce their own wives.—Hymen baniſhes modeſty, and chaſte love takes its flight.
Love, conſidered as an animal appetite, cannot long feed on itself without expiring. And this extinction, in its own flame, may be termed the violent death of love. But the wife who has thus been rendered licentious, will probably endeavour to fill the void left by the loſs of her huſband's attentions; for ſhe cannot contentedly become merely an upper ſervant after having been treated like a goddeſs. She is ſtill handſome, and, inſtead of transferring her fondneſs to her children, ſhe only dreams of enjoying the ſunſhine of life. Beſides, there are many huſbands ſo devoid of ſenſe and parental affection, that during the firſt efferveſcence of voluptuous fondneſs they refuſe to let their wives ſuckle their children. They are only to dreſs and live to pleaſe them: and love—even innocent love, ſoon ſinks into laſciviouſneſs, when the exerciſe of a duty is ſacrificed to its indulgence.
Perſonal attachment is a very happy foundation for friendſhip; yet, when even two virtuous
young
