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    Behold , ye scribes and pharisees , or > rather , ye accursed of the earth- —ye who first planted and have since fostered the principle of making woman a mere instrument of passion- —behold what ye have done for the human racie ! and will yet do > until a purify * ing whirlwind of general execration sweep ye utterly from the earth !

    When we consider how serious a matter marriage is , and has proved itself , it is wonderful to observe the carelessness with which it is contracted . Want of reflection , and the various influences of a state of dependence , operate with women ; and a mental reserva ^ tioiii grounded on their moral , or rather immoral , impunity , operates on men . But both sexes are eminently open to the charge of superficial aims . Dean Swift say 3 that young ladies employ themselves in making nets , not ca ges ; with the good

    Dean ' s permission , I shall say the same of young gentlemen . The aim of all youth is to catch ; but the great art is , keep , if any thing worth keeping be caught * When a law is enact ed ^ people appear to fancy that a something is supplied which may bfc allowed to supersede nature , and thus with some the ceremon y of marriage is enough ; in the farm they forget the spirit of union . Who daft will to love at the command of law ? Who can resist to love at

    the command of nature ? That a woman continue to love het husband , does not depend upon herself , but upon him : that a husband continue to love his wife , does not depend upon himself , but upon her . The party desiring to be loved , must continue instinct with the attraction and worth which first magnetised

    admiration and love , —must continue to draw a spontaneous flow of feeling towards himself , almost independently of the slower action of reason : the latter may produce cold correctness , but it is only feeling that can give a glowing principle of action . It is the absence of all conception of this which so often makes full dress courtships end in suits for separation * or habits of discord .

    The softness , the silence , the bended head and blushing cheek , all which had been so eloquent to Cyril during his brief courtship , were at the marriage festival but scentless flowers . His ardent imagination had supplied to the averted eyes of Caroline language for Which he now looked into them in vain . His heart thirsted to hear her sentiments and opinions , her hopes and expectations , to discover her tastes and to minister to them , —to draw from her

    new inspiration . He had not the fortune of Pygmalion- ^ t he fair statue was not to be warmed or animated . In the course of a little time , Cyril * who had beea accustomed td the intercourse of those whose thoughts , if rough , were yet racy , felt the necessity of mental exhilaration , and again he sought his old companions ; But he Was not what he had been ; his increased claims oti fortune had not made her more propitious , and his

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    Sketches of Domestic Life . 151

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1835, page 151, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2643/page/7/