r Papers, there are two you have
not taken Notice of, and which are seldom cast into the Account, by
those who write on this Subject. You must have observed, in your
Speculations on Human Nature, that nothing is more gratifying to the
Mind of Man than Power or Dominion; and this I think my self amply
possessed of, as I am the Father of a Family. I am perpetually taken
up in giving out Orders, in prescribing Duties, in hearing Parties, in
administring Justice, and in distributing Rewards and Punishments. To
speak in the Language of the Centurion, _I say unto one, Go, and he
goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my Servant, Do
This, and he doth it_. In short, Sir, I look upon my Family as a
Patriarchal Sovereignty, in which I am my self both King and Priest.
All great Governments are nothing else but Clusters of these little
private Royalties, and therefore I consider the Masters of Families as
small Deputy-Governors presiding over the several little Parcels and
Divisions of their Fellow Subjects. As I take great pleasure in the
Administration of my Government in particular, so I look upon my self
not only as a more useful, but as a much greater and happier Man than
any Batchelor in _England_ of [my [1]] Rank and Condition.

'There is another accidental Advantage in Marriage, which has likewise
fallen to my share, I mean the having a Multitude of Children. These I
cannot but regard as very great Blessings. When I see my little Troop
before me, I rejoice in the Additions which I have made to my Species,
to my Country, and to my Religion, in having produced such a Number of
reasonable Creatures, Citizens, and Christians. I am pleased to see my
self thus perpetuated; and as there is no Production comparable to
that of a human Creature, I am more proud of having been the Occasion
of ten such glorious Productions, than if I had built a hundred
Pyramids at my own Expence, or published as many Volumes of the finest
Wit and Learning. In what a beautiful Light has the Holy Scripture
represented _Abdon_, one of the Judges of _Israel_, who had forty Sons
and thirty Grandsons, that rode on Threescore and Ten Ass-Colts,
according to the Magnificence of the Eastern Countries? How must the
Heart of the old Man rejoice, when he saw such a beautiful Procession
of his own Descendants, such a numerous Cavalcade of his own raising?
For my own part, I can sit in