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Article ON CONJUGAL INFIDELITY. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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On Conjugal Infidelity.
folly ; for admonition would have had small power , unless with some examples . These will be displeased , perhaps , to be called forth into the world ' s eye , for virtue is naturally reserved in a world of vice ; but the } '' must pardon me the slig ht confusion , and suffer a momentary blush without offence , since it is for the good of thousands . I am afraid debauchery accompanies those arts which they say civilize a lebut if it be so in this instancehowever strange it
peop ; , may sound , we had better yet have remained savage . The extreme parts of our united Scotland , whose people we despise for their frugality ( another -virtue , which good company have made ashamed to shew itself ) , are honest in this article to a wonder ; . and in the Swedes dominions , towards the Pole , there is no name for adultery . They thought it an offence man could not commit against man , and have
no word to express it in their language . The unpolished Lapland peasant , with these thoughts , is , as a human creature , much more respectable than the gay Briton , whose heart is stained with vices , and estranged from natural affection ; and he is happier . The perfect confidence mutually reposed between him and the honest partner of hisbreastentails a satisfaction evenon the lowest poverty ; it gilds
. , , the humble hearth , and lig hts the cabin ; their homely meal is a sacrifice of thanks , and every , breath of smoke rises in incense . If hand be laid upon the hand , it is sure affection ; and if some infant plays about their knees , they look upon him , and on one another , with a delig ht that greatness seldom knows , because it feels distrust ; each sees the other ' s features in the growing face , and the paternal love
strengthens the marriage union . This is their course of life ; and see the difference which it raises iti their conduct ! With us , the husband falls in war ; the widow mourns ten days , and then to cards . With them , if the poor fisher slips out of his boat , the wife cries , heaven will protect my children ., and she follows him . She does not judge amiss ; her family becomes the common care , ancl while the wives of others blame , they also envy
her . This is savage wedlock ; this the behaviour of the poor . Greatness should blush and imitate . Perhaps there has been no time in which a violation of the marriage oath was so common as at present . I arn concerned that I must say the women hold it light ; but to palliate , in some degree , a crime which nothing can excuse , it must be owned the husbands lead the wayand g ive the provocation .
, There is a baseness in abandoning an honourable wife for the common prostitute , which custom cannot at all justify ; and they add insult to the perfidy who do it openly . Can any man suppose a woman of delicacy can receive him to her chaste arms from a common creature ? It poisons conjugal affection . —Or that she can respect him as she didwho treats her with a manifest contempt ? Beside the
, sacred character of virtue , there is something due to the place of a wife ; and this is an indignity , if she has spirit , never to be forgiven ; the breach is , at the best , but covered , not made up ; aud true happiness is afterwards impossible . VOL . IV . F
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Conjugal Infidelity.
folly ; for admonition would have had small power , unless with some examples . These will be displeased , perhaps , to be called forth into the world ' s eye , for virtue is naturally reserved in a world of vice ; but the } '' must pardon me the slig ht confusion , and suffer a momentary blush without offence , since it is for the good of thousands . I am afraid debauchery accompanies those arts which they say civilize a lebut if it be so in this instancehowever strange it
peop ; , may sound , we had better yet have remained savage . The extreme parts of our united Scotland , whose people we despise for their frugality ( another -virtue , which good company have made ashamed to shew itself ) , are honest in this article to a wonder ; . and in the Swedes dominions , towards the Pole , there is no name for adultery . They thought it an offence man could not commit against man , and have
no word to express it in their language . The unpolished Lapland peasant , with these thoughts , is , as a human creature , much more respectable than the gay Briton , whose heart is stained with vices , and estranged from natural affection ; and he is happier . The perfect confidence mutually reposed between him and the honest partner of hisbreastentails a satisfaction evenon the lowest poverty ; it gilds
. , , the humble hearth , and lig hts the cabin ; their homely meal is a sacrifice of thanks , and every , breath of smoke rises in incense . If hand be laid upon the hand , it is sure affection ; and if some infant plays about their knees , they look upon him , and on one another , with a delig ht that greatness seldom knows , because it feels distrust ; each sees the other ' s features in the growing face , and the paternal love
strengthens the marriage union . This is their course of life ; and see the difference which it raises iti their conduct ! With us , the husband falls in war ; the widow mourns ten days , and then to cards . With them , if the poor fisher slips out of his boat , the wife cries , heaven will protect my children ., and she follows him . She does not judge amiss ; her family becomes the common care , ancl while the wives of others blame , they also envy
her . This is savage wedlock ; this the behaviour of the poor . Greatness should blush and imitate . Perhaps there has been no time in which a violation of the marriage oath was so common as at present . I arn concerned that I must say the women hold it light ; but to palliate , in some degree , a crime which nothing can excuse , it must be owned the husbands lead the wayand g ive the provocation .
, There is a baseness in abandoning an honourable wife for the common prostitute , which custom cannot at all justify ; and they add insult to the perfidy who do it openly . Can any man suppose a woman of delicacy can receive him to her chaste arms from a common creature ? It poisons conjugal affection . —Or that she can respect him as she didwho treats her with a manifest contempt ? Beside the
, sacred character of virtue , there is something due to the place of a wife ; and this is an indignity , if she has spirit , never to be forgiven ; the breach is , at the best , but covered , not made up ; aud true happiness is afterwards impossible . VOL . IV . F