y alleviates the rigor of her didactic pasages
[Transcriber's note: sic] with lively pictures of domestic jars, such as
the following:

"The happy day which had join'd this pair was scarce six weeks
elapsed, when lo! behold a most terrible reverse;--the hurry of their
fond passion was over;--dalliance was no more,--kisses and embraces
were now succeeded by fighting, scratching, and endeavouring to tear
out each other's eyes;--the lips that before could utter only,--my
dear,--my life,--my soul,--my treasure, now pour'd forth nothing but
invectives;--they took as little care to conceal the proofs of their
animosity as they had done to moderate those of a contrary emotion;--
they were continually quarreling;--their house was a Babel of
confusion;--no servant would stay with them a week;--they were shunn'd
by their most intimate friends, and despis'd by all their
acquaintance; till at last they mutually resolv'd to agree in one
point, which was, to be separated for ever from each other" (p. 16).

So the author discusses a wife's behavior toward a husband when laboring
under disappointment or vexatious accidents; sleeping in different beds;
how a woman should act when finding that her husband harbors unjust
suspicions of her virtue; the great indiscretion of taking too much
notice of the unmeaning or transient gallantries of a husband; the
methods which a wife is justified to take after supporting for a long
time a complication of all manner of ill-usage from a husband; and other
causes or effects of marital infelicity. Though marriage almost
inevitably terminates in a "brulee," the wife should spare no efforts to
ameliorate her husband's faults.

"If addicted to drinking, she must take care to have his cellar well
stor'd with the best and richest wines, and never seem averse to any
company he shall think fit to entertain:--If fond of women, she must
endeavour to convince him that the virtuous part of the sex are
capable of being as agreeable companions as those of the most loose
principles;--and this, not by arguments, for those he will not listen
to;--but by getting often to her house, the most witty, gay, and
spirituous of her acquaintance, who will sing, dance, tell pleasant
stories, and take all the freedoms that innocence allows" (p. 163).

Occasionally the advice to married women is very practical, as the
following deterrent from gluttony shows:

"I dined one day with