stand on his own defence. The challenger attacked him. He received him with a blow of acudgel on the head, which laid him sprawling. He recovered, drew, and made an ill-directed pass at the pacific gentleman, who received him on the point of his sword; which ended the quarrel. The gentleman's courage being well known, and the whole affair being public, it was brought in man-slaughter.

SECTION VI.

Of Marriage.

IT is one of the greatest unhappinesses of our times that matrimony is so much discountenanced: That in London, and in other great cities, so many never marry at all, and that the greatest part have got into the unhappy and unnatural way of wasting the best years of their lives, in pursuit of a giddy round of vain amusements and crimi. nal pleasures, (if any thing criminal can be called a pleasure ;) looking upon the married state as the end of all the happiness of life, whereas it is in truth, when entered into with prudence, only the beginning. How do we accordingly see our youth go on to thirty or forty years of age, without ever thinking of settling in life, as becomes christians and members of society, till at last, being sated and cloyed with lawless love, avarice drives them to seek the alliance of a wealthy family, or dotage puts them upon misapplying that sacred institution to the most sordid purposes.

The advantage of early marriage, both to the community and to particulars, and the mischiefs which might thereby be prevented, are not to be expressed. It is therefore my advice to all my young readers, that they enter into the marriage state as soon as they find themselves settled in a likely way of supporting a family. And I can promise them, upon the general experience of all prudent and good-natured men, that, if they make a judicious choice, the only thing they will have occasion to repent of, will be, that they did not enter into that state sooner; and that they will find it as much beyond the happiest single life, as ease and affluence are beyond the narrowest circumstances. Indeed, what can be conceived more perfect in

an imperfect state, than an inseparable union of interests between two persons, who love one another with sincerity and tenderness; who mutually desire to oblige one another; and who can, with the utmost freedom, unbosom to one another all their joys, and all their griefs, whereby the one may be double and the other divided? If friendship has afforded matter for so many commendations, worked up with innumerable figures of rhetoric, what may not be said of that most perfect of all friendships, which subsists between married persons?

I do not deny, that there are women, whose natural tempers are so unhappy, that it is not easy to live with them; nor that the ladies of our times give themselves up, too generally to an idle and expensive manner of life, to the great detriment of economy, and the vexation of prudent masters of families: but it must be owned, at the same time, that the greatest number of unhappy husbands have themselves chiefly to thank for what they suffer. If a man will be so weak, as for the sake of either beauty or fortune, to run the desperate hazard of taking to his bosom a fury, or an idiot; or if he will suffer a woman, who might by gentle and prudent ways, be reclaimed from her follies, to run on to ruin, without having the spirit to warn her of the consequences; or if, instead of endeavouring by the humane methods of remonstrance and persuasion, joined with the endearments of conjugal affection, which a woman must be a monster to resist; I say, if instead of endeavouring, by mild and affectionate methods, to show her the error and bad consequences of her manner of life, a man will resolve to carry things with a high hand, and to use a woman of natural sense, birth, and fortune, every way equal to himself, as a slave, or a fool, it is no wonder that his remonstrances are ineffectual, and that domestic peace is interrupted and economy subverted.

It is not the most exquisite beauty, the most sprightly wit, or the largest fortune, nor all three together, nor an hundred other accomplishments, if such there were, that will make a man happy in a partner for life, who is not endowed with the two principal accomplishments, of good sense and good nature. If a woman has not common sense, she can be in no respect a fit companion for a reasonable man. On the contrary, the whole behaviour of a

fool must be disgusting and tiresome to every one that knows her, especially to a husband, who is obliged to be more in her company than any one else, who must therefore see more of her folly than any one else, and must suffer more from the shame of it, as being more nearly connected with her than any person. If a woman has not some small share of sense, what means can a husband use to set her right in any error of conduct, into many of which she will naturally run? Not reason or argument, for a fool is proof against that. And if she has not a little good nature, to attempt to advise her, will be only arguing with a tempest, or rousing a fury.

If, between the two married persons, there be, upon the whole enough for a comfortable subsistence according to their station and temper of mind, it signifies very little whether it comes by one side, or the other, or both. Nothing is more absurd, than that it should seem of such importance in the judgment of many people, that a gentleman make a match suitable to himself, as they often very improperly call it; by which they mean, that he is in duty bound to find out a lady possessed of a fortune equal to his own, though what he has already, may be more than sufficient for supporting the rank he is born in. The consequences of this mercenary way of proceeding, are only the accumulating more and more materials for luxury, vanity, and ostentation, the perversion of the institution of marriage, which was for the mutual support and comfort of the parties, into a mere affair of bargain and sale; the alie. nating, or cooling the affections of the parties for one another, by showing each of them, that the union was not entered into by the other on account of any personal regards, but from mercenary motives only; and the separation, instead of the union of interests. It is no wonder, that such marriages prove unhappy; and that each should look upon the other as a clog annexed to the fortune, which was the principal object each aimed at, and should therefore mutually wish one another well out of the way.

I do not here mean to insinuate, that every woman of fortune must of course be good for nothing. But, that a man in affluent circumstances is much to blame, who, for the sake of adding to an heap, already too large, enters into an engagement, to which inclination does not lead him,

and deprives himself of an opportunity of gaining and fixing the affections of a virtuous and amiable person, raised by him to a rank above her expectations, and thereby inspired, if she is not wholly void of goodness, with such a sense of gratitude to her benefactor, as must influence all her actions.

On the other hand, nothing is more dreadful than the prospect those people have, who from romantic love, run precipitately into an engagement, that must hold for life, without considering or providing for the consequences. Two young persons, who hurry into marriage, without a reasonable prospect of an income to support them and their family, are in a condition as wretched as any I know of, where a guilty conscience is out of the question. Let a man consider a little, when he views the object of his passion, to whom he longs to be united by a sacred and indissoluble bond, how he will bear to see those eyes, every glance of which makes his heart bound with joy, drowned in tears, at the thought of misery and poverty coming upon her; how he will bear to see that face, whose smile rejoices his soul, grown pale and haggard through anguish of mind; or how he will bear to think that the offspring, she is going to bring forth, is to be born to beggary and misery. If young people consider maturely the fearful consequences of marriage, where there is no prospect of a proper provision, and where the anguish of poverty will be the more intolerable, the more sincere their affections are; they would not run headlong, as we often see them, into misery irretrievable.

It may often happen, that the family and connexions with which a woman is engaged, may alone be of more advantage to a man than a fortune; as on the other hand, it may happen, that a woman of fortune, may be so given to expense, or may bring with her such a tribe of poor relations, as thrice the income of her fortune would not be sufficient to maintain. In either of these cases, a man's prudence is to direct him to make that choice which will be the best upon the whole.

It is a fatal error in the conduct of many young people in the lower ranks of life, to make choice of young women, who have been brought up in indolence and gaiety, and are not possessed of fortunes suitable to the manner of life they have been accustomed to. The probable consequence of such matches, is great and remediless misery.

For such women, having never been practised in the economy of families, are incapable of applying themselves with that attention and assiduity, much less condescension, to the meaner parts of household affairs which is absolutely necessary, where the income is but moderate. If a young trader's gains are but small, and his help-mate neither brings in any thing to the common stock, nor knows how to make the most of a little, and at the same time there is a prospect of a numerous family of children coming on, with the casualties of sickness, a decay of trade, and so forth, the man, who finds himself involved in such a scene of troubles, may justly be looked upon, as among the most wretched of mortals.

Those marriages, in short, are likely to be crowned with all the happiness this state admits of, where a due regard is had to the qualities of the mind, to personal endowments as an agreeable appearance, and a suitable age, and to prudential considerations; and where either the one or the other is neglected, misery is the consequence to be looked for.

There is no care or diligence too much to use, nor any inquiry too curious to be made, before one engages for life. In an unhappy marriage every little occurrence, every trifling circumstance calls to remembrance the wretchedness of the state, and the happiness one has missed by making an injudicious choice; as, on the contrary, in an happy union, no accident is too trifling to pass without furnishing somewhat to give pleasure or entertainment, which must be heightened by being mutual. Let young people, therefore, be advised, above all things, to be careful what choice they make. And, that they may be effectually divested of all prejudices and attachments in favour of any person, whose outward appearance, fortune, birth, or any other circumstance, separate from the endowments of the mind, may be apt to mislead them, let them con. sider the character of the object, abstractly from the glare of beauty, or the lustre of fortune, and then be true to themselves, and act the part which the judicious and impartial approve of.

Let a young gentleman observe, before he allows his affection to fix upon a particular object, what figure and character she bears in the world; whether others admire