r race suffered very much about three hundred years ago,
by the marriage of one of our heiresses with an eminent courtier, who
gave us spindle-shanks and cramps in our bones; insomuch, that we did
not recover our health and legs till Sir Walter Bickerstaff married Maud
the milkmaid, of whom the then Garter King-at-Arms, a facetious person,
said pleasantly enough, "that she had spoiled our blood, but mended our
constitutions."

After this account of the effect our prudent choice of matches has had
upon our persons and features, I cannot but observe that there are daily
instances of as great changes made by marriage upon men's minds and
humours. One might wear any passion out of a family by culture, as
skilful gardeners blot a colour out of a tulip that hurts its beauty.
One might produce an affable temper out of a shrew, by grafting the mild
upon the choleric; or raise a jack-pudding from a prude, by inoculating
mirth and melancholy. It is for want of care in the disposing of our
children, with regard to our bodies and minds, that we go into a house
and see such different complexions and humours in the same race and
family. But to me it is as plain as a pikestaff, from what mixture it is
that this daughter silently lours, the other steals a kind look at you,
a third is exactly well behaved, a fourth a splenetic, and a fifth a
coquette.

In this disposal of my sister, I have chosen with an eye to her being a
wit, and provided that the bridegroom be a man of a sound and excellent
judgment, who will seldom mind what she says when she begins to
harangue, for Jenny's only imperfection is an admiration of her parts,
which inclines her to be a little, but very little, sluttish; and you
are ever to remark that we are apt to cultivate most, and bring into
observation what we think most excellent in ourselves, or most capable
of improvement. Thus, my sister, instead of consulting her glass and her
toilet for an hour and a half after her private devotion, sits with her
nose full of snuff and a man's nightcap on her head, reading plays and
romances. Her wit she thinks her distinction, therefore knows nothing
of the skill of dress, or making her person agreeable. It would make you
laugh to see me often, with my spectacles on, lacing her stays, for she
is so very a wit, that she understands no ordinary thing in the world.

For this reason I have disposed of her to a man of business, who will
soon let her see that to be well dressed,