Who can recount the misery, which many unfortunate beings, whose
minds and bodies are equally weak, suffer in such situations- unable
to work, and ashamed to beg? The wife, a cold-hearted,
narrow-minded, woman, and this is not an unfair supposition; for the
present mode of education does not tend to enlarge the heart any
more than the understanding, is jealous of the little kindness which
her husband shews to his relations; and her sensibility not rising
to humanity, she is displeased at seeing the property of her
children lavished on an helpless sister.
These are matters of fact, which have come under my eye again and
again. The consequence is obvious, the wife has recourse to cunning to
undermine the habitual affection, which she is afraid openly to
oppose; and neither tears nor caresses are spared till the spy is
worked out of her home, and thrown on the world, unprepared for its
difficulties; or sent, as a great effort of generosity, or from some
regard to propriety, with a small stipend, and an uncultivated mind,
into joyless solitude.
These two women may be much upon a par, with respect to reason and
humanity; and changing situations, might have acted just the same
selfish part; but had they been differently educated, the case would
also have been very different. The wife would not have had that
sensibility, of which self is the centre, and reason might have taught
her not to expect, and not even to be flattered by, the affection of
her husband, if it led him to violate prior duties.
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