490. Monday, September 22, 1712. Steele.

'Domus et placens Uxor.'

Hor.

I have very long entertain'd an Ambition to make the Word _Wife_ the
most agreeable and delightful Name in Nature. If it be not so in it
self, all the wiser Part of Mankind from the Beginning of the World to
this Day has consented in an Error: But our Unhappiness in _England_ has
been, that a few loose Men of Genius for Pleasure, have turn'd it all to
the Gratification of ungovern'd Desires, in spite of good Sense, Form
and Order; when, in truth, any Satisfaction beyond the Boundaries of
Reason, is but a Step towards Madness and Folly. But is the Sense of Joy
and Accomplishment of Desire no way to be indulged or attain'd? and have
we Appetites given us not to be at all gratify'd? Yes certainly.
Marriage is an Institution calculated for a constant Scene of as much
Delight as our Being is capable of. Two Persons who have chosen each
other out of all the Species, with design to be each other's mutual
Comfort and Entertainment, have in that Action bound themselves to be
good-humour'd, affable, discreet, forgiving, patient and joyful, with
respect to each other's Frailties and Perfections, to the End of their
Lives. The wiser of the two (and it always happens one of them is such)
will for her or his own sake, keep things from Outrage with the utmost
Sanctity. When this Union is thus preserved (as I have often said) the
most indifferent Circumstance administers Delight. Their Condition is an
endless Source of new Gratifications. The married Man can say, If I am
unacceptable to all the World beside, there is one whom I entirely love,
that will receive me with Joy and Transport, and think herself obliged
to double her Kindness and Caresses of me from the Gloom with which she
sees me overcast. I need not dissemble the Sorrow of my Heart to be
agreeable there, that very Sorrow quickens her Affection.

This Passion towards each other, when once well fixed, enters into the
very Constitution, and the Kindness flows as easily and silently as the
Blood in the Veins. When this Affection is enjoy'd in the most sublime
Degree, unskilful Eyes see nothing of it; but when it is subject to be
chang'd, and has an Allay in it that may make it end in Distaste, it is
apt to break into Rage, or overflow into Fondness, before the rest of
the World.

_Uxander_ and _Viramira_ are amorous and young, and have been married
these two Yea