nefs out of a bear." Her mellifluous voice and fweet-toned harp ftill retained all their exquifite power of transfufing harmony and delight into her husband's foul, while the early horn or the convivial appointment called him from the fyren in vain. But if he fought to lead his attention to the blooming wildernefs of fweets planted by her hand, or the fcarcely lefs glowing garland created by her pencil, he inftantly recollected fome infurmountable engagement which required every moment of his time. She was equally unfortunate if the attempted to intereft him in the hiftory of her colony, as the termed her neat little white village; or if, opening the fstores of her capacious mind, fhe fought to difcufs fome topic of literary tafte, her arguments might be brilliant, but unlefs they were compreffed within the ftrictest rules of Spartan brevity, her lord lord was either discovering the wit of his spaniel, or had fallen. fast asleep. Yet his heart was juft to her merits, and his tongue fo copious in her praise, that he was fometimes inclined to thrust in the agreeable fubject without proper preparation. He was confidered by all who visited at the caftle to be a moft perfect paragon of connubial merit; and lady Monteith was as univerfally pronounced to be a happy woman; with which opinion I am inclined to coincide, notwithstanding that the power of Gyges' magic ring, invariably poffeffed by all novel writers, has enabled me to peep behind the curtain, and to fee the corroding forrow which a prudent wife will not only conceal from public observation, but even withhold from the knowledge of her bosom friend. My young female readers, whofe notions of nuptial felicity are drawn from the delufive pages of a circulating library, will start at the harsh tenet which feems to affirm, that a great number of married ladies may affign caufes for difcontent of a feverer nature than what fometimes affected the tranquillity of the blooming Geraldine. Fearful left they fhould fuppofe my doctrine ambiguous, or imagine that the happiness of the lady was wholly owing to the amiable conftitution of her own mind, I will very plainly tell them, that, though causes for vexation occafionally occurred, lafting unhappiness in fuch a fituation could only proceed from a difcontented, ill-regulated temper, or a perverted judgment, which, instead of forming an estimate of life as it really. is, erects a fallacious ftandard, by which it decides upon what is due to its own. deferts, and how far others at as they ought. Reverse this laft fentence, and VOL. II. let с let the fair fcrutinizer of her husband's faults contemplate the errors of her own behaviour; let her recollect the duties fhe has heedlessly omitted, and the provocations fhe has undefignedly given; and let her then use the experience the derives from felf-examination in her estimate of the conduct of her partner. After making fome deductions for the stronger temptations to which the other fex are expofed by their more impetuous paffions and blunter feelings, that indulgence of their humours which their manners in early youth permit, and their hereditary notions of fuperiority derived from Adam; I fay, fhe will then, perhaps, justly refer the apparent neglect or cruel unkindness which had juft extorted her tears, to fome. thing of business, which " had puddled his clear temper," and fent him home rather with an expectation of having his humours humours foothed by feminine foftnefs, than of offering at the fhrine of feminine fufceptibility thofe attentions which fit the bridal ftate. The fenfibility of lady Monteith's difpofition prevented her from viewing the defects in her lord with the indif. ference which a mind of common refinement would have experienced. But to the qualities of refinement and fenfibility, fo generally fatal to female peace, Geraldine united a strong attachment to her husband, natural sweetness of temper, and correct notions of the human character, derived from her early intimacy with Mrs. Evans. The precepts of that excellent monitrefs, now ftrengthened by conviction of their propriety, frequently recurred to her mind, prevented her from adopting the language of complaint, opened her eyes. to the agreeable part of her fituation, C 2 and |
