and give them characters is too much to be left to a servant,
however good, and of service however long. Much of the ease and
happiness of the great and rich must depend on the character of those by
whom they are served: they live under the same roof with them; they are
frequently the children of their tenants, or poorer neighbours; the
conduct of their whole lives must be influenced by the examples and
precepts which they here imbibe; and when ladies consider how much more
weight there must be in one word from them than in ten thousand words
from a person who, call her what you like, is still a _fellow-servant_,
it does appear strange that they should forego the performance of this
at once important and pleasing part of their duty. It was from the
mansions of noblemen and gentlemen, and not from boarding-schools, that
farmers and tradesmen formerly took their wives; and though these days
are gone, with little chance of returning, there is still something left
for ladies to do in checking that torrent of immorality which is now
crowding the streets with prostitutes and cramming the jails with
thieves.

116. I am, however, addressing myself, in this work, to persons in the
middle rank of life; and here a _knowledge of domestic affairs_ is so
necessary in every wife, that the lover ought to have it continually in
his eye. Not only a _knowledge_ of these affairs; not only to know how
things _ought to be done_, but how _to do them_; not only to know what
ingredients ought to be put into a pie or a pudding, but to be able _to
make_ the pie or the pudding. Young people, when they come together,
ought not, unless they have fortunes, or are in a great way of business,
to think about _servants_! Servants for what! To help them to eat and
drink and sleep? When children come, there must be some _help_ in a
farmer's or tradesman's house; but until then, what call for a servant
in a house, the master of which has to _earn_ every mouthful that is
consumed?

117. I shall, when I come to address myself to the husband, have much
more to say upon this subject of _keeping servants_; but, what the
lover, if he be not quite blind, has to look to, is, that his intended
wife know _how to do_ the work of a house, unless he have fortune
sufficient to keep her like a lady. 'Eating and drinking,' as I observe
in COTTAGE ECONOMY, came _three times every day_; they must come; and,
however little we may, in the days of our health and vigour, care