becaufe their Tenderness is not fo oft call'd upon. * Grave Natures, led by Custom, and therefore conftant, are commonly loving Husbands. Chaft Women are often proud and froward, as prefuming upon the Merit of their Chastity. * It is one of the best Bonds, both of Chaftity and Obedience in the Wife, if the think her Husband Wife; which he will never do, if the find him Jealous. *Wives are young Men's Miftreffes for middle-Age; and old Men's Nurfes. Companions *The Joys of Parents are fecret; and fo are their Griefs and Fears: They cannot utter the one, nor will they exprefs the other. Children fweeten Labour, but they make Misfortunes more bitter: They increafe the Cares of Life, but they initigate the Remembrance of Death. They that are the First Raifers of their Families, are most indulgent toward their Children. beholding them as the Continuance, not only of their Kind, but of their Works; and fo both Children and Creatures. He that has Wife and Children, has given Hostages to Fortune; for they are Impediments to great Enterprifes, either of Vertue or Mifchief. The Perpetuity by Generation is com on to Beafts; but Memory, Merit, and Noble Works, are proper to Men: And certainly a Man fhall find the Nobleft Works and Foundations, have always proceeded from Childless Men, which have fought to exprefs the Images of their Minds, where thofe of their Bodies have S 3 fail'd; fail'd; and both in Affection and Means have married and endow'd the Publick: So that the Care of Pofterity is moft in them that have none. * The most ordinary cause of a fingle Life, is Liberty, especially in certain Self-pleafing and Humourous Minds; which are fo fenfible of every Restraint, that they will go near to think their Girdles, and Garters, to be Bonds and Shackles. * Unmarried Men are beft Friends, best Masters, beft Servants, but not always beft Subjects; for they are light to run away; and almost all Fugitives are of that Condition. * Partiality in a Parent is commonly unlucky, if not a little unnatural; for Fondlings are in danger to be made Fools, by the very Error of their Education; and we find it experimentally, that the Children that are leaft Cocker d, make the beft and Wifeft Men. 'Tis well to be Tender, but to fet the Heart too much upon any thing, is what we cannot justify, either in Religion or in Reafon. I was faying, that Partiality was a little unnatural too. I do not mean, a Partiality of Inclination; for we cannot command our Likings, or our Averfions; but I fpeak of a Partiality that fhew's it felf in a diftinguishing Preference of one to the other, for they are both our own Flesh and Blood alike. Children are naturally Jealous, and Envious, and the quenching of their Spirits fo early, hazards the Damping of them for ever. fide, that there's no fuch Fop, in fine, as my Young Mafter, that has the Honour to be a Fool of his Lady Mother's making: She blows him up with a conceit of himself, and there he ftops, without ever advancing one step further. In short, Be the she makes a Man of him at Sixteen; and a Boy all the days of his Life after. * Self Love is fo natural an infirmity, that it makes us partial even to those that come of us, as well as to our felves: And then it is fo nicely divided, betwixt Piety, Pride, and Weakness, that in many cafes 'tis a hard matter to diftinguish the one from the other. 'Tis a frailty for a Man to think better of his Children than they deferve: But then there is an impulfe of Tenderness, and of Duty, that goes along with it, and there must be fome fort of an Esteem in the Cafe too, for the fetting of that true-bred Affection at work. The Difficulty lies in the moderating of the Matter, and the getting the true Medium, betwixt being wanting to our own Flefh and Blood, once removed, and affuming too much to our felves. Let the attachment be what it will,we must not fuffer our Judgments to be either perverted, blinded, or corrupted by any Partiality or Prepoffeffions whatfoever. And the moral here, extends to the Fruits and Productions of the Brain, as well as of the Body: And to deformities in the matter as well of understanding as of fhape. There is a fort of Fathers, who feem to be intent upon nothing elfe all their Life-time, but to furnish their Children with Reafons, for being indifferent at their Death. ན།། ་ས་ ་ fail'd; and both in Affection and Means have married and endow'd the Publick: So that the Care of Pofterity is most in them that have none. *The most ordinary caufe of a fingle Life, is Liberty, especially in certain Self-pleafing and Humourous Minds; which are fo fenfible of every Restraint, that they will go near to think their Girdles, and Garters, to be Bonds and Shackles. * Unmarried Men are beft Friends, beft Masters, best Servants, but not always beft Subjects; for they are light to run away; and almost all Fugitives are of that Condition. * Partiality in a Parent is commonly unlucky, if not a little unnatural; for Fondlings are in danger to be made Fools, by the very Error of their Education; and we find it experimentally, that the Children that are leaft Cocker d, make the beft and Wifest Men. Tis well to be Tender, but to fet the Heart too much upon any thing, is what we cannot justify, either in Religion or in Reason. I was faying, that Partiality was a little unnatural too. I do not mean, a Partiality of Inclination; for we cannot command our Likings, or our Averfions; but I fpeak of a Partiality that fhews it felf in a diftinguishing Preference of one to the other, for they are both our own Flefh and Blood alike. Children are naturally Jealous, and Envious, and the quenching of their Spirits fo early, hazards the Damping of them for ever. Befide, that there's no fuch Fop, in fine, as my Young Mafter, that has the Honour to be a Fool of his Lady Mother's making: She blows him up with a conceit of himself, and there he ftops, without ever advancing one step further. In fhort, the she makes a Man of him at Sixteen; and a Boy all the days of his Life after. *Self Love is fo natural an infirmity, that it makes us partial even to those that come of us, as well as to our felves: And then it is fo nicely divided, betwixt Piety, Pride, and Weakness, that in many cafes 'tis a hard matter to diftinguilh the one from the other. 'Tis a frailty for a Man to think better of his Children than they deferve: But then there is an impulfe of Tenderness, and of Duty, that goes along with it, and there must be fome fort of an Efteem in the Cafe too, for the fetting of that true-bred Affection at work. The Difficulty lies in the moderating of the Matter, and the getting the true Medium, betwixt being wanting to our own Flefh and Blood, once removed, and affuming too much to our felves. Let the attachment be what it will,we must not fuffer our Judgments to be either perverted, blinded, or corrupted by any Partiality or Prepoffeffions whatfoever. And the moral here, extends to the Fruits and Productions of the Brain, as well as of the Body: And to deformities in the matter as well of understanding as of shape. There is a fort of Fathers, who feem to be intent upon nothing elfe all their Life-time, but to furnish their Children with Reafons, for being indifferent at their Death. ༔ ཨཱུ |