is no decay
in any feature, which I cannot trace from the very instant it was
occasioned by some anxious concern for my welfare and interests. Thus,
at the same time, methinks, the love I conceived towards her for what
she was, is heightened by my gratitude for what she is. The love of a
wife is as much above the idle passion commonly called by that name,
as the loud laughter of buffoons is inferior to the elegant mirth of
gentlemen. Oh! she is an inestimable jewel. In her examination of her
household affairs she shows a certain fearfulness to find a fault, which
makes her servants obey her like children: and the meanest we have has
an ingenuous shame for an offence, not always to be seen in children
in other families. I speak freely to you, my old friend: ever since
her sickness, things that gave me the quickest joy before turn now to a
certain anxiety. As the children play in the next room, I know the poor
things by their steps, and am considering what they must do, should they
lose their mother in their tender years. The pleasure I used to take
in telling my boy stories of the battles, and asking my girl questions
about the disposal of her baby, and the gossiping of it, is turned into
inward reflection and melancholy."

He would have gone on in this tender way, when the good lady entered,
and, with an inexpressible sweetness in her countenance, told us "she
had been searching her closet for something very good, to treat such an
old friend as I was." Her husband's eyes sparkled with pleasure at the
cheerfulness of her countenance; and I saw all his fears vanish in an
instant. The lady observing something in our looks which showed we had
been more serious than ordinary, and seeing her husband receive her with
great concern under a forced cheerfulness, immediately guessed at what
we had been talking of; and applying herself to me, said, with a smile,
"Mr. Bickerstaff, do not believe a word of what he tells you. I shall
still live to have you for my second, as I have often promised you,
unless he takes more care of himself than he has done since his coming
to town. You must know he tells me that he finds London is a much
more healthy place than the country, for he sees several of his old
acquaintances and school-fellows are here young fellows with fair
full-bottomed periwigs. I could scarce keep him this morning from going
out open-breasted." My friend, who is always extremely delighted with
her agreeable humour, made he