her husband truly and
timely represented his case to her, and how far he was or was not able
to maintain the expense of their way of living, would not comply with
her husband's circumstances, and retrench her expenses, rather than go
on for a while, and come to poverty and misery. Let, then, the tradesman
lay it early and seriously before his wife, and with kindness and
plainness tell her his circumstances, or never let him pretend to charge
her with being the cause of his ruin. Let him tell her how great his
annual expense is; for a woman who receives what she wants as she wants
it, that only takes it with one hand, and lays it out with another, does
not, and perhaps cannot, always keep an account, or cast up how much it
comes to by the year. Let her husband, therefore, I say, tell her
honestly how much his expense for her and himself amounts to yearly; and
tell her as honestly, that it is too much for him, that his income in
trade will not answer it; that he goes backward, and the last year his
family expenses amounted to so much, say L400--for that is but an
ordinary sum now for a tradesman to spend, whatever it has been esteemed
formerly--and that his whole trade, though he made no bad debts, and had
no losses, brought him in but L320 the whole year, so that he was L80
that year a worse man than he was before, that this coming year he had
met with a heavy loss already, having had a shopkeeper in the country
broke in his debt L200, and that he offered but eight shillings in the
pound, so that he should lose L120 by him, and that this, added to the
L80 run out last year, came to L200, and that if they went on thus, they
should be soon reduced.

What could the woman say to so reasonable a discourse, if she was a
woman of any sense, but to reply, she would do any thing that lay in her
to assist him, and if her way of living was too great for him to
support, she would lessen it as he should direct, or as much as he
thought was reasonable?--and thus, going hand in hand, she and he
together abating what reason required, they might bring their expenses
within the compass of their gettings, and be able to go on again
comfortably.

But now, when the man, finding his expenses greater than his income, and
yet, when he looks into those expenses, finds that his wife is frugal
too, and industrious, and applies diligently to the managing her family,
and bringing up her children, spends nothing idly, saves every thing
that can be