SIR, TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY BOYLE, Esq. 463 Janik Aitatores in sumeral, without giving Offence to S the profest Design of this Work is to Entertain any particular Person, it would be difficult to find out so proper a Patron for it as Your self, there being none whose Merit is more universally acknowledged by all Parties, and who has made himself more Friends, and fewer Enemies. Your great Abilities, and unquestioned Integrity, in those High Employments which You have passed through, would not have been able to have raised You this general Approbation, had they not been accompanied with that Moderation in an high Fortune, and that Affability of Manners, which are so conspicu ous through all parts of Your Life. Your Aversion to any Ostentatious Arts of Setting to show those Great Services which You have done the Publick, has not likewise a little contributed to that Universal Acknowledgment which is paid You by Your Country. The Consideration of this Part of Your Character is that which hinders me from enlarging on those Extraordinary Talents, which have given You so great a Figure in the British Senate, as well as on that Elegance and Politeness, which appear in your more retired Conversation. I should be unpardonable, if, after what I have said, I should longer detain You with an Address of this Nature; I cannot, however, conclude it without owning those great Obligations which You have laid THE SPECTATOR. VOL. III No. 170. UPON Friday, September 14, 1711. No. 170. PON looking over the Letters of my female Correspondents, I find several from Women complaining of jealous Husbands, and at the same time protesting their own Innocence; and desiring my Advice on this Occasion. I shall therefore take this Subject into my Consideration, and the more willingly, because I find that the Marquis of Hallifax, who in his Advice to a Daughter has instructed a Wife how to behave her self towards a false, an intemperate, a cholerick, a sullen, a covetous, or a silly Husband, has not spoken one Word of a jealous Husband, Jealousie is that Pain which a Man feels from the Apprehension that he is not equally beloved by the Person whom he entirely loves. Now, because our inward Passions and Inclinations can never make them selves visible, it is impossible for a jealous Man to be throughly cured of his Suspicions. His Thoughts hang at best in a State of Doubtfulness and Uncertainty; and are never capable of receiving anv Satisfaction on the advantageous Side; so that his Enquiries are most successful when they discover nothing: His Pleasure arises from his Disappointments, and his Life is spent in Pursuit of a Secret that destroys his Happiness if he chance to find it. An ardent Love is always a strong Ingredient in this Passion; for the same Affection which stirs up the 3 jealous No. 170. jealous Man's Desires, and gives the Party beloved so Phaedria's Request to his Mistress, upon his leaving Me somnies me exspectes: de me cogites : Meus fac sis postremo animus, quando ego sum tuus, -Ter. Eun. The jealous Man's Disease is of so malignant a nature, that it converts all he takes into its own Nourishment, A cool Behaviour sets him on the Rack, and is interpreted as an Instance of Aversion or Indifference; a fond one raises his Suspicions, and looks too much like Dissimulation and Artifice. If the Person he loves be cheerful, her Thoughts must be employed on another; and if sad, she is certainly thinking on himself. In short, there is no Word or Gesture so insignificant but it gives him new Hints, feeds his Suspicions, and fur nishes him with fresh Matters of Discovery: So that if we consider the Effects of this Passion, one would rather think it proceeded from an inveterate Hatred than an excessive Love; for certainly none can meet with more Disquietude and Uneasiness than a suspected Wife, if we except the jealous Husband, But the great Unhappiness of this Passion is, that it naturally tends to alienate the Affection which it is so sollicitous |