were ever practised, but
they are suffered, like mere sublunary connexions, to terminate in the
vulgar catastrophe of marriage. That wealth, which lately seemed to be
looked on with ineffable contempt by the lover, now appears to be the
principal attraction in the eyes of the husband; and he, who but a few
short weeks before, in a transport of sentimental generosity, wished her
to have been a village maid, with no portion but her crook and her
beauty, and that they might spend their days in pastoral love and
innocence, has now lost all relish for the Arcadian life, or any other
life in which she must be his companion.

ON the other hand, she who was lately

An angel call'd, and angel-like ador'd,

is shocked to find herself at once stripped of all her celestial
attributes. This late divinity, who scarcely yielded to her sisters of
the sky, now finds herself of less importance in the esteem of the man
she has chosen, than any other mere mortal woman. No longer is she
gratified with the tear of counterfeited passion, the sigh of
dissembled rapture, or the language of premeditated adoration. No
longer is the altar of her vanity loaded with the oblations of
fictitious fondness, the incense of falsehood, or the sacrifice of
flattery.--Her apotheosis is ended!--She feels herself degraded from the
dignities and privileges of a goddess, to all the imperfections,
vanities, and weaknesses of a slighted woman, and a neglected wife.
Her faults, which were so lately overlooked, or mistaken for virtues,
are now, as Cassius says, set in a note-book. The passion, which was
vowed eternal, lasted only a few short weeks; and the indifference,
which was so far from being included in the bargain, that it was not so
much as suspected, follows them through the whole tiresome journey of
their insipid, vacant, joyless existence.

THUS much for the _completion_ of the sentimental history. If we trace
it back to its beginning, we shall find that a damsel of this cast had
her head originally turned by pernicious reading, and her insanity
confirmed by imprudent friendships. She never fails to select a beloved
_confidante_ of her own turn and humour, though, if she can help it, not
quite so handsome as herself. A violent intimacy ensues, or, to speak
the language of sentiment, an intimate union of souls immediately takes
place, which is wrought to the highest pitch by a secret and voluminous
correspondence, though they live in the same stre