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determing amoned thofe airy Criticks, that the Appellation of a Sober Man fhould fignify a Spiritlefs Fellow. And I am apt to think it was about the fame time, that Good-Nature, a Word fo peculiarly elegant in our Language, that fome have affirmed it cannot well be expreffed in any other, came first to be rendered fufpicious, and in danger of being transferred from its original Senfe to fo diflant an Idea as that of Folly.

I must confefs it has been my Ambition, in the courfe of my Writings, to reftore, as well as I was able, the proper Ideas of things. And as I have attempted this already on the Subject of Marriage, in feveral Papers, I fhall here add fome further Obfervations which occur to me on the fame head.

NOTHING feems to be thought, by our fine Gentlemen, fo indifpenfable an Ornament in fashionable Life, as Love. A Knight Errant, fays Don Quixot, without a Miftrefs, is like a Tree without Leaves; and a Man of Mode among us, who has not fome Fair-one to figh for, might as well pretend to appear dreffed, without his Perriwig. We have Lovers in Profe innumerable. All our Pretenders to Rhyme are profeffed Inamo

rato's;

rato's; and there is fcarce a Poet, good or bad, to be heard of, who has not fome real or fuppofed Sachariffa to improve his Vein.

IF Love be any Refinement, Conjugal Love muft be certainly fo in a much higher degree. There is no comparison between the frivolous Affectation of attracting the Eyes of Women with whom you are only captivated by way of amufement, and of whom perhaps you know nothing more than their Features, and a regular and uniform. Endeavour to make your self valuable, both as a Friend and Lover, to one whom you have chofen to be the Companion of your Life. The first is the Spring of a thoufand Fopperies, filly. Artifices, Falfhoods, and perhaps Barbarities; or at beft arifes no higher than to a kind of Dancing-School Breeding, to give the Perfon a more fparkling Air. The latter is the Parent of fubftantial Virtues and agreeable Qualities, and cultivates the Mind while it improves the Behaviour. The Paffion of Love to a Mistress, even where it is moft fincere, resembles too much the Flame of a Fever; that to a Wife is like the vital Heat.

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I have often thought, if the Letters written by Men of Good-nature to their Wives, were to be compared with those written by Men of Gallantry to their Miftreffes, the former, notwithftanding any Inequality of Stile, would. appear to have the Advantage. Friendfhip, Tenderness and Conftancy, dreft in a Simplicity of Expreffion, recommend themselves by a more native Elegance, than paffionate Raptures, extravagant Encomiums, and lavish Adoration. If we were admitted to fearch the Cabinet of the beautiful Narciffa, among Heaps of Epiftles from feveral Admirers, which are there preferved with equal Care, how few thould we find but would make any one fick in the reading, except her who is flattered by them? But in how different a Stile muft the wife Benevolus, who converfes with that good Senfe and good Humour among all his Friends, write to a Wife who is the worthy Object of his utmoft Affection? Benevalus, both in publick and private, on all occafions of Life, appears to have every good Quality and defirable Ornament. Abroad he is reverenced and esteemed; at home beloved and happy. The Satisfaction he enjoys

there,

there, fettles into an habitual Complacency, which fhines in his Countenance, enlivens his Wit, and seasons his Converfation: Even thofe of his Acquaintance, who have never feen him in his Retirement, are Sharers in the Happiness of it; and it is very much owing to his being the best and best beloved of Hufbands, that he is the most stedfast of Friends, and the most agreeable of Companions.

THERE is a fenfible Pleasure in contemplating fuch beautiful Instances of Domeftick Life. The Happiness of the Conjugal State appears heightened to the highest degree it is capable of, when we fee two Perfons of accomplifhed Minds, not only united in the fame Interefts and Affections, but in their Tafte of the fame Improvements, Pleafures and Diverfions. Pliny, one of the finest Gentlemen, and politeft Writers of the Age in which he lived, has left us, in his Letter to Hifpulla, his Wife's Aunt, one of the moft agreeable Family-pieces of this kind I have ever met with. I fhall end this Difcourfe with a Tranflation of it; and I believe the Reader will be of my opinion, that Conjugal Love is drawn in it with a Delica

cy

cy which makes it appear to be, as I have represented it, an Ornament as well as a Virtue.

PLINY to HISPULLA.

SI

AS I remember the great Affection

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which was between you and your excellent Brother, and know you love his Daughter as your own, fo as not only to exprefs the Tenderness of the best of Aunts, but even to supply that of the best of Fathers; I am fure it will be a pleasure to you to hear that 'fhe proves worthy of her Father, worthy of you, and of your and her Anceftors. Her Ingenuity is admirable; her Frugality extraordinary. She loves me, the fureft Pledge of her Virtue and adds to this a wonderful Difpofition to Learning, which fhe has ac•quired from her Affection to me. She

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reads my Writings, ftudies them, and ' even gets them by heart. You'd smile to fee the Concern fhe is in when I have a Caufe to plead, and the Joy fhe fhews when it is over. She finds means to have the firft News, brought her of the Success I meet with in Court, how I am heard, and what Decree is made. If I recite any thing in publick, fhe cannot refrain from placing her self

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