er; in a son, we commend the
understanding, and the appearance of innate probity, which we esteem
in his father. It is a pleasure which, according to Moses, the
Almighty himself enjoyed, when he beheld the work of his hands; and
saw that all was good.

SPEAKING of Moses, I cannot forbear observing, that the primitive
plan of felicity infinitely surpasses all others; and I cannot form
an idea Of paradise, more like a paradise, than the state in which
our first parents were placed: That proved of short duration, because
they were unacquainted with the world; and it is for the same reason,
that so few love matches prove happy. Eve was like a silly child,
and Adam was not much enlightened. When such people come together,
their being amorous is to no purpose, for their affections must
necessarily be short-lived. In the transports of their love, they
form supernatural ideas of each other. The man thinks his mistress
an angel, because she is handsome; and she is enraptured with the
merit of her lover, because he adores her. The first decay of her
complexion deprives her of his adoration; and the husband, being no
longer an adorer, becomes hateful to her who had no other foundation
for her love. By degrees, they grow disgustful (sic) to each other;
and, after the example of our first parents, they do not fail to
reproach each other With the crime of their mutual imbecillity (sic).
After indifference, contempt comes apace, and they are convinced,
that they must hate each other, because they are married. Their
smallest defects swell in each other's view, and they grow blind to
those charms, which, in any other object, would affect them. A
commerce founded merely on sensation can be attended with no other
consequences.

A MAN, when he marries the object of his affections, should forget
that she appears to him adorable, and should consider her merely as a
mortal, subject to disorders, caprice, and ill temper; he should arm
himself with fortitude, to bear the loss of her beauty, and should
provide himself with a fund of complaisance, which is requisite to
support a constant intercourse with a person, even of the highest
understanding and the greatest equanimity. The wife, on the other
hand, should not expect a continued course of adulation and
obedience, she should dispose herself to obey in her turn with a good
grace: A science very difficult to attain, and consequently the more
estimable in the opinion of a man who is