Yes, virtue as well as religion, has been
subjected to the decisions of taste.
It would almost provoke a smile of contempt, if the vain absurdities
of man did not strike us on all sides, to observe, how eager men are
to degrade 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.
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