Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

ESSAY VI.

Of LovE and MARRIAGE.

KNOW not whence it proceeds, that women are so apt to take amifs every thing which is faid in difparagement of the married ftate; and always confider a fatyr upon matrimony as a fatyr upon themselves. Do they mean, that they are the parties principally concern'd, and that if a backwardness to enter into that state should prevail in the world, they would be the greatest sufferers? Or, are they fenfible, that the misfortunes and miscarriages of the married ftate are owing more to their fex than to ours? I hope they do not intend to confess either of these two particulars, or to give fuch an advantage to their adversaries, the men, as even to allow them to suspect it.

I HAVE often had thoughts of complying with this humour of the fair fex, and of writing a panegyric upon marriage: But, in looking around for materials, they seem'd to be of fo mix'd a nature, that at the conclusion of my reflections, I found that I was as much difpos'd to write a fatyr, which might be plac'd on the oppofite pages of the panegyric: And I am afraid, that as fatyr is, on most occafions,

thought

thought to contain more truth than panegyric, I fhould have done their caufe more harm than good by this expedient. To mifreprefent facts is what, I know, they will not require of me. I must be more a friend to truth, than even to them, where their interefts are oppofite.

I SHALL tell the women what it is our sex complains of most in the married flate; and if they be difpos'd to fatisfy us in this particular, all the other differences will easily be accommodated. If I be not mistaken, 'tis their love of dominion which is the ground of the quarrel; tho' 'tis very likely, that they will think it an unreasonable love of it in us, which makes us infift fo much upon that point. However this may be, no passion seems to have more influence on female minds, than this for power; and there is a remarkable inftance in hiftory of its prevailing above another paffion, which is the only one that can be fuppos'd a proper counter-poise for it. We are told, that all the women in Scythia once confpir'd against the men, and kept the fecret fo well, that they executed their defign before they were fufpected. They furpris'd the men in drink, or afleep; bound them all fast in chains; and having call'd a folemn council of the whole fex, it was debated what expedient should be us'd to improve the present advantage, and prevent their falling again into flavery. To kill all the men did not seem to the relish of any part of the affembly, notwithstanding the injuries formerly received; and they were afterwards pleas'd to make a great merit of this lenity of theirs. It was, therefore

therefore, agreed to put out the eyes of the whele male sex, and thereby refign in all future time the vanity which they could draw from their beauty, in order to fecure their authority. We must no longer pretend to dress and show, fay they; but then we fhall be free from flavery. We fhall hear no more tender fighs; but in return we shall hear no more imperious commands. Love muft for ever leave us; but he will carry fubjection along with him.

'Tis regarded by fome as an unlucky circumftance, fince the women were refolved to maim the men, and deprive them of fome of their fenfes, in order to render them humble and dependent, that the sense of hearing could not ferve their purpose, fince 'tis probable the females would rather have attack'd that than the fight: And I think it is agreed among the learned, that, in a married ftate, 'tis not near fo great an inconvenience to lose the former fenfe as the latter. However this may be, we are told, by modern anecdotes, that fome of the Scythian women did fecretly fpare their husbands eyes; prefuming, I fuppofe, that they could govern them as well by means of that fenfe as without it. But fo incorrigible and intractable were these men, that their wives were all oblig'd, in a few years, as their youth and beauty decay'd, to imitate the example of their fifters; which it was no difficult matter to do in a state where the female fex had once got the fuperiority.

I KNOW not if our Scottish Ladies derive any thing of this hun.our from their Scythian ancestors; VOL. I.

D

but,

but, I must confess, that I have often been furpriz'd to see a woman very well pleas'd to take a fool for her mate, that she might govern with the lefs controul; and could not but think her sentiments, in this respect, ftill more barbarous than those of the Scythian women above mention'd; as much, as the eyes of the understanding are more valuable than those of the body.

BUT to be just, and to lay the blame more equally, I am afraid it is the fault of our fex, if the women be fo fond of rule, and that if we did not abuse our authority, they would never think it worth while to difpute it. Tyrants, we know, produce rebels ; and all history informs us, that rebels, when they prevail, are apt to become tyrants in their turn. For this reason, I could wish there were no pretenfions to authority on either fide; but that every thing was carry'd on with perfect equality, as betwixt two equal members of the fame body. And to induce both parties to embrace those amicable sentiments, I fhall deliver to them Plato's account of the origin of love and marriage.

MANKIND, according to that fanciful philofopher, were not, in their original, divided into male and female, as at prefent; but each individual perfon was a compound of both sexes, and was in himself both husband and wife, melted down into one living creature. This union, no doubt, was very entire, and the parts very well adjusted together, fince there gefulted a perfect harmony betwixt the male and fe.

male,

male, altho' they were oblig'd to be inseparable companions. And fo great was the harmony and happiness flowing from it, that the ANDROGYNES (for fo Plato calls them) or MEN-WOMEN, became infolent upon their profperity, and rebell'd againft the Gods. To punish them for this temerity, Jupiter could contrive no better expedient, than to divorce thé malepart from the female, and make two imperfect beings of the compound, which was before fo perfect. Hence the origin of men and women, as diftin&t creatures. But notwithstanding this divifion, fo lively is our remembrance of the happiness which we enjoy'd in our primæval state, that we are never at reft in this fituation; but each of these halves is continually fearching thro' the whole fpecies to find the other half, which was broken from it: And when they meet, they join again with the greatest fondness and sympathy. But it often happens, that they are mistaken in this particular; that they take for their half what no way corresponds to them; and that the parts do not meet nor join in with each other, as is ufual in fractures. this cafe the union is foon diffolv'd, and each part is fet loose again to hunt for its loft half, joining itself to every one whom it meets, by way of trial, and enjoying no reft, till its perfect sympathy with its partner fhews, that it has at last been fuccefsful in its endeavours.

In

WERE I difpos'd to carry on this fiction of Plato, which accounts for the mutual love betwixt the fexes in fo agreeable a manner, I would do it by the following allegory.

[blocks in formation]
« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »