o in the present alliance.
Though at the age of forty, she is, I assure you, very far from being
cold and insensible; her fire may be covered with ashes, but it is
not extinguished.--Don't be deceived, my dear, by that prudish and
sanctified air.--Warm devotions is no equivocal mark of warm
passions; besides, I know it is a fact, (of which I have proofs in
hand, which I will tell you by word of mouth) that our learned and
holy prude is exceedingly disposed to use the _means_, supposed in
the primitive command, let what will come of the end. The curate
indeed is very filthy.--Such a red, spungy (sic), warty nose! Such a
squint!--In short, he is ugly beyond expression; and, what ought
naturally to render him peculiarly displeasing to one of Mrs D----'s
constitution and propensities, he is stricken in years. Nor do I
really know how they will live. He has but forty-five pounds
a-year--she but a trifling sum; so that they are likely to feast upon
love and ecclesiastical history which will be very empty food,
without a proper mixture of beef and pudding. I have however,
engaged our friend, who is the curate's landlord, to give them a good
lease; and if Mrs D----, instead of spending whole days in reading
Collier, Hicks, and vile translations of Plato and Epictetus; will
but form the resolution of taking care of her house, and minding her
dairy, things may go tolerably. It is not likely that their _tender
loves_ will give them many _sweet babes_ to provide for.

I MET the lover yesterday, going to the ale-house in his dirty
nightgown, with a book under his arm, to entertain the club; and, as
Mrs D---- was with me at the time, I pointed out to her the charming
creature: she blushed, and looked prim; but quoted a passage out of
Herodotus, in which it is said that the Persians wore long
night-gowns. There is really no more accounting for the taste in
marriage of many of our sex, than there is for the appetite of your
Miss S----y, who makes such waste of chalk and charcoal, when they
fall in her way.

AS marriage produces children, so children produce care and disputes;
and wrangling, as is said (at least by old batchelors (sic) and old
maids) is one of the _sweets_ of the conjugal state. You tell me
that our friend Mrs ---- is, at length, blessed with a son, and that
her husband, who is a great philosopher, (if his own testimony is to
be depended upon) insists on her suckling it herself. You ask my
advice on this ma