* * * * *

No. 176. Friday, September 21, 1711. Steele.

'Parvula, pumilio, [Greek: charit_on mia], lota merum Sal.'

Luc.

There are in the following Letter Matters, which I, a Batchelor, cannot
be supposed to be acquainted with; therefore shall not pretend to
explain upon it till further Consideration, but leave the Author of the
Epistle to express his Condition his own Way.

_Mr_. SPECTATOR.

'I do not deny but you appear in many of your Papers to understand
Human Life pretty well; but there are very many Things which you
cannot possibly have a true Notion of, in a single Life; these are
such as respect the married State; otherwise I cannot account for your
having overlooked a very good Sort of People, which are commonly
called in Scorn the _Henpeckt_. You are to understand that I am one of
those innocent Mortals who suffer Derision under that Word for being
governed by the best of Wives. It would be worth your Consideration to
enter into the Nature of Affection it self, and tell us, according to
your Philosophy, why it is that our Dears shall do what they will with
us, shall be froward, ill-natured, assuming, sometimes whine, at
others rail, then swoon away, then come to Life, have the Use of
Speech to the greatest Fluency imaginable, and then sink away again,
and all because they fear we do not love them enough: that is, the
poor things love us so heartily, that they cannot think it possible we
should be able to love them in so great a Degree, which makes them
take on so. I say, Sir, a true good-natured Man, whom Rakes and
Libertines call _Hen-peckt_, shall fall into all these different Moods
with his dear Life, and at the same time see they are wholly put on;
and yet not be hard-hearted enough to tell the dear good Creature that
she is an Hypocrite. This sort of good Man is very frequent in the
populous and wealthy City of _London_, and is the true _Hen-peckt_
Man; the kind Creature cannot break through his Kindnesses so far as
to come to an Explanation with the tender Soul, and therefore goes on
to comfort her when nothing ails her, to appease her when she is not
angry, and to give her his Cash when he knows she does not want it;
rather than be uneasy for a whole Month, which is computed by
hard-hearted Men the Space of Time which a froward Woman takes to come
to her