Lancaster August 7th. 1755
Sr.,
Since I saw you last, I have ruminated on the important question you put to me, & being mindfull of the promise I made to answer it, I shall now endeavour to collect my thoughts & range my Ideas into a critical Enquiry after the Truth. But before I begin I must, engage yr. Candor first for undertaking in a matter beyond my grasp, by means of which the Truth may Suffer & gainsayers be establish'd in their Error, for it is not every Freind to Truth that is fit to fight her Battles, but not doubting yr. Generosity & trusting that you'll accept this essay rather as a pledge of my Esteem than as any help to the Cause without any farther Ceremony I shall Propose the Question. An Status &c. Whether the State of Matrimony be necessary for the Wellbeing or Benefit of the Common Wealth? I shall not Trouble you with a Logical or Metaphysical dissertation on this Question, which would rather tend to raise more questions & difficultys than to answer the old ones, & besides 'tis well known that Logik & Matrimony are two different things & have no dependence on each other for their Subsistence altho' it must be allowed there is something very Metaphysical in it but then so very irregular & uncertain that it can't be reduced to any form or Argument, so that I fancy An Essay on the matter would be more easy to be reduced to practice & at the same time better Suit wth. the genius of the Subject. But Sr., in Order288to do Justice and render me1 quite impartial I shall according to the best of skill & large Observations represent to you the Arguments that are made use off pro & con by Students in this matter, constituting my self rather as a moderator than a disputant in the cause. (By that means you'll be able to judge the true State of the case from yr. Opinion & Experience of perhaps some Hundreds). Observe then that it is universally laid down in the arguing world as a Maxim that if Matrimony be really necessary for the Benefit or Welfare of a Comunity in genrall its natural tendency then must be to make the private Subjects of it more happy & advance them to pleasure & Joys which they could not Possess out of it. Upon this Single point turns the whole question wch. has been so diversly handled & often times caused the mutual Unhappiness of either party.
My freinds would have me marry says Boileau but I'm determind Never to loose that Freedom I brought into the world with me. In Marriage are two? happy days allow'd &c. Freedom crys the Man of Reason 'tis the Basis of all happiness & the only Support of human Comfort. Tis a principle we Brought into the world in our Natures, & shall we be so absurd as to throw it up in our lives (tis the liberty we have to take or refuse a thing that for the most part renders it agreeable to us.)
Matrimony (crys the Heroe & the Man of Taste & Spirit) twas only made for dull & Stupid Souls that han't Spirit eno to render the world agreable to 'em. But can it ever be thot that I should trot in the Marriage Shakles, tho' I can keep pace with the Beau Monde. Must I quit the gay assemblys, & concertos & forsake the fencing Room & Billiard Table & enter School to learn the Mistery of Rocking a Cradle. Must I forsake a Masquerade where I represented an Eastern Monarch in power & Majesty & go home to learn patience of a Scolding Wife. Must I bid adieu to all the gay Scenes of Gallantry which afford such a variety of fresh recruited pleasure, & content my Self one homespun? Meal continually serv'd up? Those that han't parts to show or Brilliancy to rise in the world are glad to content themselves in Obscurity & live on the homeliest Fare. Nature must deny them a taste for pleasure before they are fit to marry & even deny them their common Eye Sight before they are fit for this perpetual dull Round, for we find that a Horse won't go in a Mill till he is blindfolded. & yet these henpeck't, petticoat ridden formalists would feign perswade us that there is no pleasure in the world equalls that of a Maried Life. But they are like the (moles that always work under ground & deny the Sun to be pleasant because they can't see it, or rather like289the) Ape in Æsop's Fables who having got his Tail cut off by a Trap would perswade all his Species to follow his Example, & if we should allow the Married Life to have some things in it more agreable than any other Circumstances of Life, yet the very thought of being confin'd to 'em would spoil all the happiness. Is a golden cage so agreable to a Bird as the open air. What pleasure can there be in a changing world so durable in its Nature as to bear the reflexion & practice of our whole lives without Any relaxation or variety. Is it possible the aspiring Liberty of a Free born Soul should ever willingly Submit to be embarrassed with the perplexitys & cloggs of this fetter'd State. How is possible that a man of ever so fertile a Genious should make any advances towards the Improvement of Mankind & bring the human Species nearer to that degree of Perfection at wch. we are aspiring if he must be subject to the avocation of a trifling family & more perplexing Yokefellow. Where should we have found yr. Locks & Newtons Boyles & multitudes of others the Ornaments of their Species & the pattern of what we might arrive to if like them we would have to assert or improve our Natural Liberty in Spight of all the Charm of Beauty or the popular hurrangue of the Slaves of Hymen. So that in short those men that would have shone bright in the Firmament of Philosophy do but emit a faint lustre in a Wifes brest knot. Those that might have ransak'd Natures laws & persued her in all her misterious Operations, are now scarce able to tell how many yards of Tick made a Bed, & are as pleased at some new invention to kill mice, or red Pismires as Pythagoras was when he found out his famous Problem. Those who by their improvemts. in Knowledge might have been able to have predicted the Works of Nature & fortold the Eclipses of the heavenly Bodys, are now utterly unable to forsee the Hurricane of a Wife's limper or forebode the thunder Claps of her Tongue, much less can they make Improvemt. therein unless as Socrates did, who learnt patience by these frequent Eruptions, but one might as well live in the fire to learn to bear it, or to go Naked to become hardy as to undertake any Improvemt. Nature never Dictated. How rediculos must it seem for a man who is in full persuit of some Philosophical Knowledge & just arriving at the Chrisis of some difficult & important Truth, to be call'd down to salute his Wifes Gossips or else be esteem'd an Unnatural Husband. & what a figure shall a Man cut who serves his Country by his usefull Arts, to be calld up in the Night to tend a sick child or be esteemd unnatural. O the Sweets of Matrimony. In short the grand design of our Natures was to make all possible Im-290provement and aspire to live up to the dignity of our nobler & better Intellectual parts & whatsoever hinders or clogs up in the prosecution of this must necessarily be improper for us. Now let Any of the Amus'd Subjects of Hymen say if it be not the necessary property of that State to reduce the Soul to the Body, rather than Suffer the Body to aspire to the Soul & both of them to be in persuit of lmprovemt. So that in short that which be our glory becomes our Shame thro' misimprovemt. & instead of refining be continually degenerate & become proficient in those pleasures only which the Beasts enjoy in Common with us & often times out do us in. & besides how irksome Must it be for one who is sensible of his Duty to Improve in the inward powers of his Mind & adorn the faculties of his Soul to be yoakd to a Mate, whose whole thoughts & Drift is to decorate the Body & to improve in those Excellencys which consist only in being seen of the world, while the Man furnishes the inward part of this Head, his Mate is only Studious for the outside. Thus contrary in their Dispositions their happiness can receve no mutual encrease from Communication. When he discourses rationally & discants on the Beauty & Order of Creation, the Faculties of the rational soul & the advances that the carefull make in Knowledge, she backs his Philosophy with an Example & observes to him the vast Improvement lately made by the ingenious Mrs. Such a One in Flounces & Commodes—Why cant the English improve as much as the French—did you see Mrs. Biddy Tucker, 2 the genteelest thing I ever Saw in my life, I don't know that I ever saw that young Lady without some new fashioned thing on, Sure she is wonderfull curious. I can't for my part get a thing till every Body has it & then I would not give a Fig for it. Law there's Miss here her Husband after a String of Examples of near half an hour ventures to interrupt her, reducing her extravagant Fancy to the solid improvement of the Mind, & while he discourses pertinently on the Vanity of Spending so much Time on these trifles, & leads her to reflect on those Improvements which result from Reason thought & Prudence, She sits like a Boy at School & become as dumb as she was talkative before. His close Reasoning & natural conclusions & discriptions affect her not half so much as the Music of Orpheus did the Sticks & Stones. His Words are lost his Reason Wasted & all his Music cant produce one Echo, till after a long thoughtless Silence she break in upon her husbands discourse with an I wonder why my Mantua Maker dont come? One would think the words of the Poet to be really true. I am confirm'd &c., If this be the case then what291Man in his Senses would ever enthraul himself at this entangled Rate. Let those Men that have like trifling dispositions the feathers & the froth of the world be link'd with these glitterish females if they like it & be set aside like useless horses for the Breeder of the world. But let no man that ever expects to the right hand of an Ape ever go near these Shakles which entangle the Soul as much as the Body.
Indeed if matrimony be a Heaven it must require an Atlas to Support it. It would be needless for me to mention the Many Arguments made of by the Religious Romanists, where there are so many 1000 of both Sexes that consecrate their Chastity (as they call it) for the sake of making advancemt. in Religion. Crys a Roman, if I could but set before you the Arguments made use to establish & inexpressible pleasure that arises from the practice of Universal Chastity you would never think of engaging in that state that is so opposite to all happiness both temperal & Spiritual. Let anyone that one that is not too much poisoned with the thoughts of Hymeneal Joys take a cool calm survey of the different pleasures that attend the Religions of Observers of a single Life & the intoxicating Joys of ensnaring Wedlock, that latter are the druges & Slaves of Creation, the Epitome of whose whole life is to be seen in circuit of one day. Veiw them in the morning as soon as the Sun brings on the Day to discover3 their tatter'd Condition like a fleet of Vessells that have wethered a terrible Storm all Night. A squalling Child that has long been wallowing in filth rouses up the Man to take care of his darling Offspring. The Wife being the weaker Vessell is not able to make sail so Soon, but Wallows a while on the Bed as Mountainous as the Seas & full as apt to make one Sick, till at last she arises like a fog from off the face of the Earth without shape form or Beauty. Feign would I describe but the muse relucts to speak of rank Salley &c., &c., &c., dishevell'd hair, wide gaping Jaws, Gleu'd up Eyes, yawning Limbs, pall'd appetite fretfull pevish temper, children Bawling, Stinking, every thing in disorder, shittey, & confusing. See a mis medly of Tea torn? chairs & petticoats. Sure such Joy must be very barren since it wont do without so much dunging. The day comes on. The man to his Duty of earning bread & Clouts. The Woman to the making an inseperable use of both of them, & ill provided dinner gives rise to a Noon tide squall which by frequent use affects them no more than the fire does Salamanders, till at last the glomy angry Countenance is dissipated by the pleasing prospect of more agreable company in the Afternoon. The Man drown his Cares in Bottles & Bowls & alleviates the292irksome Joys of his Life & Purse with far less distracting Games & Hazards. The Wife as it were just begginning her day Supplys by dint of Ornaments the Beauty which Matrimony has taken from her Body, & rushes out into or tarries & recieves a gay fleet of Matrons of the same Kidney & born to the same propitious fate. Volumnes would not contain the Misterious Nonsense of this Assembly, Philosophy despis'd, Fashions describ'd, Characters exposed, Scandal rak'd up & Infamy & detraction the Sweet Meats of the feast. Thus gorg'd in Joy the good Wife forgets the horrid Scenes of Life as Sailors do the Storms at Sea wn. they Arrive at a tipling house. Here let me Stop & conceal even from Batts & owls the horrid scenes of a long made Evning, the various matches of unseemly Diversion, midnight associations & appointments, not to mention the Gallantrys & Intreagues so frequently carried on by either party, till the first Watches of the morning brings home our lingering pair & Morpheus with leaden Slumbers causes them to cease for a while from folly. Can? continues the Romanist, such a life be any ways compatible with the Exercises of Religion unless by way of pennace. It Surprises me that Any but the Vulgar & earthly minded should ever think of the life. More especially that the Weomen whom Nature has made an essential Endgredient of these troubles should engage in a Life so contrary to their Natural Disposition. Veiw but the Nuns whose wiser thoughts has made them choose the improvement of those Joys wch. in their greatest perfection are but begun on Earth. Twould take time as long as their lives if not as durable as Eternity to describe the various true happiness they Enjoy. Every hour comes loaded with some Joyous Employmt. & every thought affords them the most happy reflexion. Their thoughts unincumber'd with Earthly care like the aspiring Eagle rises to meet the Sun & while they persue the pleasures of a rational Soul, they quite forget the Vanity of the World. Their Bodys which drag others to impurity & degeneracy, serves them but as an Engine or a School where they prepare for a better State, unincumber'd with the Cares they have the time to taste the pleasures of Life & join the Bounties of Nature and Reason to make a continual Feast. Who then would ever Marry since the truest happiness is to be enjoy'd out of it. But there are no Arguments or rather Hurrangues that affect the generality of Mankind more than those wch. are made use off & practis'd by that part of mankind wch. call themselves the gay & polite & gentillity of the Land. Tho I admire the Sex, I would cry? such a Man marry any Woman I lov'd for by how much the more293we admire them while courting by so much the more we Despise 'em when married. The desire to possess a thing gives it an additional worth which sinks as soon as the desire is Ours. Confinemt. renders every thing disagreable. Let me therefore live a life of continual desire. Tis not the thing that pleases but the Novelty, the Woman or Man that under the disguise of a polite behaviour may please us wn. constraint & Discretion are laid aside expose to our view a thousand foibles that vex us. Why should we desire to examine the contents of those things which Nature only made for a Superficial View. The Moon at this Distance Shines bright & we rejoice in her Beams, but if we were Oblig'd to live on it we should perhaps find it an Unpleasant Rough Country. No Man that is the least Acquainted with Nature will expect to find any thing intirely compos'd of Sweetness. The Honey Comb has its Wax & Roses have their Prickles. Dont we find that those creatures that persue Nature the most closely never confine themselves to any one Diet or pleasure? Dont the Bees Sip their Honey from a 100 flowers wch. afford them continually recruited Sweets without confining them to taste the Bitter & shall Man who Sways the Empire of Reason be inferiour to the Brutes in taste. Does not all Nature loudly proclaim freedom & unlimited Joy to all its Creatures. Behold the Birds change their mates & by that means keep up a perpetual flow of Joy; indeed there are some creatures wch. Nature has not qualified to suck honey from the flowers & others that have not freedom of Soul sufficient to Solace in Variety, therefore we find the Cattle & horse eating all green things without distinction & the wild ass crops the herbs of the feild & surely let such horses & asses of mankind gorge them selves with a mixture of Tastes Seing they can't distill the Sweets nor Seperate the Bait from the hook. And shall the true relish'd Souls of Mankind take Example from these noble Creatures. If social Happiness consists in being pleasing to each other, then surely those Circumstances must be chosen wch. are the best adapted therefor, & wt. Circumstances can fill us wth. such a continual Source of Joy as to please & be pleasd by all. The mutual Expectation of Still greater pleasures Enchances the happiness & makes one fancy they enjoy wt. we are scarce equall to. The fear of loosing wt. we love heightens the joy but being obligd to love because we have palls all our appetite. Can anyone think that a man can have equall love for one Woman as for the whole Sex? Or can it be ever supposd that a Lady is full as happy in being confind to the threadbare compliments & forc'd affections of one man, as she would be to receive294the adresses of all the Polite, & have a continual Increase of all Encomiums that Wit & fancy could make or collect abroad offer'd at the Shrine of her merits & Beauty. Courtship is in Love what the Spring is in Nature. Behold the luxurious Spring sheds forth 10000 fragrant sweets to court all our Senses. We riot unrestrain'd amid the Blooming world & exult in the most variegated happiness. We dred the approach of Summer wn. Scorching Droughts, Mildews, Blastings & an infinity of Insects Destroy the pleasing Bloom & cause its glory to end in Rotteness & witherd Leaves, & does not Courtship & the first addresses of Love afford us also pleasure that will never bear the sore Drought of Matrimony. While we ramble from one Charmer to another & draw the Innocent Breath of unconfin'd Love wch. becomes fragrant with the Odors of these Lillys & Roses of Beauty we become at once mutally entranced in Joy without Shunning the Evils that attend those that demand from Love wt. it never was given to profess, like the Woman whose Hen laid a golden Egg every day was not content with a natural produce but must ransack the hen for a magizine & so lost all. Love like good Wine must be us'd with moderation & its cheif pleasure consists in a variety, but if we feed on it it intoxicates, & like a JackaLantern leads those that would catch it into Bogg & Quagmires.
Thus Sr. I have endeavourd to collect the Substance of wt. is commonly offered to the Disparagemt. of the Wedded State, but should I pretend to enlarge on them in the manner that the eloquent Stiklers for them do & branch out into the fantastic Encomiums of a Single Life, my Essay wch. by this time is become tedious would then never be read. However seing I have taken Such a Liberty on the one side & so freely vented the Sarcasms on Matrimony I must in Justice to the Cause exert my self to wipe off the Stains I have advanced & repeat a few of the Essential Arguments on the other Side.
Hail fair resplendant Matrimony Queen of Silent Joys thou like the Moon refreshest a benighted World & like the Moon art lookt at by the Snarling Race. Thy Tranquill happiness discovers the Misery of thy Invidious Adverseries as the Moons brightness exposes the Guilt of Dogs & theives. Their Joyned Joys like the shallow Water is often disturb'd & never become permanent till they mingle in the deep Capacious Ocean of Matrimony. The Single Streams of Life tis true for a while Seem gay as they flow through enameld meads & gaded Pebbles, but view the Stream that exults in this purling Beauty & courts the Muses to describe295it & lo! it in a little way further may End in a Swamp & become the habitation of Snakes Toads & all Venimous Creatures. How many of these babling Rivulets wander till they lose themselves in sands or else Stangnate & become putrid, producing Noxious Steems that infect the Air, & breeding Swarms of Musquittos Gnats & other Insects the plagues & pests of the World. Happy those usefull Streams that thro' all obstructions find their way onwards to mingle in the Bosom of Mother Ocean. There the Salubrious Saltness prevents all Corruption. Here they become truly usefull as in them live the Fish of all kinds & by them are born up the Riches of the Merchants. What tho' the furious Storms may cause their Billows to run boisterous, yet it never overflows its Banks or Riles up its Bottom, & tis from hence the prolifick Sun exhale the Vapours wch. descend in fertile Showers on the Earth & produce still others Streams to supply the defect of the former. There are pleasures no doubt suited to every Circumstance of Life but thus all bounteous Nature with a liberal hand Strews her Joys around us to direct us onward to the fountain & Source of Bliss. The Spring renews its pleasures upon & for a while regales our Senses with various prospects. These are but present Cordials & present Supports and lead us on to expect the ripe fruits of Autumn, without the hopes of which the Bloom of spring would no more delight us than the Smell of dainties would Satisfye our Appetite. Tis true the Bees, a testy peevish Nation ransack the flowery Earth for the Honey & unconfin'd Sip the Bloom of the Spring. But do not the constant Kine from confinement produce the Salubrious for the use of men & the Unconstant Bird Salutes each Spring with a Bridal Song, But Surely man has more Wisdom than the Fowls of the Heaven & can dive to the Foundation of happiness while these Silly flutters only Skim the Surface. The Warmth & gayety of Youthfull Blood paints forth to our fancy a thousand Joys that have no Substance. We exult in the Joys of Love as children in the Spring & like them Spoil the hopes of harvest by gathring the Blossoms. They Endeavour to Satiate themselves by their glimrings of happiness as the Apes did to warm themselves by a Glow Worm. They talk of Blasts & Mildews, & the Scorching Droughts of a Married Life & thus deny to preserve those fruits which Advicing4 Years will bring them to want whether they have them or no, (thus deluding themselves like the Man who neglecting to plant in the Spring, least an Untimely Season should destroy his labour, like him he must Want. The Autumn of Riper Understanding brings him to see his folly). They tell us that its the296Expectation of happiness continues our Joy & that the greatest by use palls on our Senses. If so then he that Enjoys least has the most to Expect & consequently the happier is. If their Life exceeds ours as being freest from Evil, then Death exceeds both as being the End of all Trouble. They rack their Eloquence to paint the most deform'd Circumstance of Matrimony but they might as well deny to eat because there is Some bad meat in the World. View but the Single Man asoon as Ripening Years sets him at large in the World. Without a home he wanders uncontrold & disrespected, & with a home he lives like Robin Cruso on his desolate Island. Irregularity renders him Uncapable of Improvemt. unless he be got above the wants of Nature. His Unsettld mind distracts him by day & torments him by Night. His Life having no prospect in futurity, becomes a perfect Casualty & Chance, uncomfortable to him & unprofitable to his Country. For a while he may live the Expectation of his female Acquaintances, but decaying Vigour & a fruitless Life renders him their disdain. His tedious hours hang heavy on his Shoulders & call aloud for the Bowl the Bachinal & the Bed. Stupified in these Enjoymts. & render'd vicious thro' meer necessity of Imploymt. he become the derision of the Wise, the Pity of his Freinds & the abhorence of the Good. His Gayety Gone his Superficial Freinds forsake him. Thus he lingers out his Days in disgrace, & havg. Spent a Useless Life dies An Unlamented death & his Name is less lasting than his Body. Forgive me if I describe not the circumstances of female Celibacy for indeed the natural Composure of the female Mind excuse them from many degeneracys altho Single which the fury of a masculine Soul urge on them, but notwithstanding it might easily appear that their Virtues decay & their Excellencys dayly fade in Celibacy as the Spring blooms not wn. the son is absent. If their be happiness in a Single Life Sure the Nuns must claim it. While Retired from the care of the world they devote themselves to improvemt., but the Diamond is useless while underground & he that remains Unconquerd only by dint of flying is at best but a happy Coward. Methinks I hear a Sedate & an Experienced Naturalist invoking all to attend him while he breifly Recapitulates the Order the Necessity & the Comforts of Matrimony. Alwise as well as all Bountifull Nature that has given us appetites for pleasure has likewise given us a mutual dependence & social desire for each other. There are Evils to be avoided & Joys to be reaped only by the mutual assistency & helps of the Freindly & this dependence is as loudly proclaim'd through all Nature as it is felt in the human Breast.297One climate produces not every thing, nor can everyone Supply his own Wants. The Woman need the Care Protection & Provision of the Man while as much wants the care & tendrness of the Woman. Nature points out the Sympathy of the Sexes by a Complacency they take in each other beyond their own Sex, & from dayly Experience demonstrates that upon their regular Intercourse depends all the Social happiness of Life & the very continuance of the world. So that is this State only that keeps alive many of the noble passions that Nature has implanted in our Bosoms & really gives us the great Opportunity of Improving in those qualifications which renders us the most Usefull in the World & the greatest Ornaments to our Species. 'Tis hence Arise the indeard Relations of Father Son & Brother the comforts of Life & the cements of Society. Tis here we find occasion to exercise that tenderness & compassion, those divine Sentiments which exalt the human Species to its highest Glory. Tis true the Œconomical Life being a Complex State must necessarily be attended with some care & troubles but he that would avoid that must quit Not this State only but his Own Breast & the very World where a thousand Extravagancies perpetually perplex us. To what purpose is it we praise up Patience & extol the Hero Graces of Fortitude, Steadiness & magnanimity, if only the prospect of Trouble puts us to the flight & makes us choose a Wilderness in Indolence rather than the Sweetest Life without Some degree of Care. Such Virtues Shine brightest wn. least wantd & are beneficial to their Patrons by teaching wn. to fly rather than how to resist. As for their Newtons, Boyls &c. that are extold as the patrons of Caelibacy it does not appear that they profess'd that State but were only drawn into it by their Intensness to Sublime Speculations & whoever can demonstrate a Genious like theirs may I believe be excus'd the Cares of common Life. But in vain do they bring that as an Argument. We might as well put out our Eyes to imitate Homer or hump our Shoulders to resemble Pope, tho' we can Aspire to none other of their Qualifications. Who ever purposes to improve must Strive for it in that way which Nature has plann'd out for us. What should we think of a horse that Strove to go on two Legs like a Man. Would it be any Improvement that he was not able to carry his Rider. Or if the Oxen Should all improve to nightingale what would drive the Plow. As Ridiculous is it for the human Species whose Lives have various wants & whose Bodies are endow'd with divers Passions to quit all & strive to become Angelis, so that it is not he that Strives to put on another Nature that make the greatest Improvemt. but298he that behaves best & aspires highest in the course of that Nature he has given him & the performance of those Duties it requires. Hence then appear their folly who while they Aim at Improvement neglect the very Laws of Nature on which it must all be founded. The Married Life no doubt has peculiar Cares attending its Joys, for according to the Old Proverb theres no having Meet without Some Bone & oftentimes cracked ones. But perhaps on an impartial Survey it may appear that the parts may thank themselves for the chief of them. Behold the happy Couple, whose affections were drawn by a regular Unforcd Acquaintance & their Freindship rivetted by mutual Benevolence. These not compell'd by Avaricious Desines, or the baser Motives of Sense, but link'd by the pure Sympathy of their Souls go hand in hand thro' the Joys of Reason, Esteem & tenderness & asswage all the Cares of Life with this Ccelestial Love. The Troubles that perplex & discourage others, does but animate their Resolution, & sensible of their dangers they become the more Steadily agreeable. Wn. the Tyde of Life runs harsh & Adversity in a 1000 forms Surrounds them, they are not indebted to the world for Comfort, having an inexhaustable Treasure of Rational Freindship, which Time shant wast nor Eternity see the End of. The Solace of a Freind a Bosom Freind to share the Load of Fate—Express it who can. But if fortune turns up her fickle Wheels, & deluding prosperity attends our Couple, 'tis they only can taste its Sweets & they only that avoid its Ensnaring Joys. While it renders others Frantic & unstable through a vitiated appetite, these improve in real happiness while they share each others Joys; tis these are the truest common Wealth. Mean while they set an Example of Loyalty & Industry & bring up a hopefull Progeny in the true principle of honor & honesty. Their happiness makes them Freinds to the Community while the miserable unsettled Wretch hopes a change of times to retrive his Shattr'd Life. These are they who learn Benevolence at home & pratice it abroad & from the happiness of their States are induced to seek the good of Mankind. Tis these who wn. they have performd the Business of the day & enjoyd the common Blessing of Mankind can retire to feast on those rational Joys which only Sincerest Freinds can taste, the Night sore torment to the wicked world, shuts out from these the world troublesome Vanitys & by its darkness lights up the brighter Beam of Reason, Freindship from every thought & Love drops from every Word, till the Sweet Slumbers of Innocence waft of their Senses to permit for growing Joys.
Thus Sr. I have Endeavourd to do Justice to both Sides by Settg. Forth299the Arguments made use of on both Sides as they Occurd to my Mind. You may be sensible the Task was difficult to repeat so many arguments without being very prolix, but I thought it best to display them in their Own Language though it cost me more Words & if you have patience to read it I shall not begrucht my time in wrighting it, especially if it affords you the least diversion in yr. Solitary hours for which design it was done. For there are times in wch. Nonsense itself may divert even a wise man. I shall trouble you with no further apology but havg. laid down the premises leave you to draw your own Conclusion not doubting yr. Mind will Suggest many amendments to these my Midnight Contemplations: To Conclude may all the Blessings of Ease & Innocence Surround you be yr. thoughts on the above arguments wt. they will. Mean While, my little Soul & less body urges me on to try the Fate of War. My conscience has long accused me as being an Unprofitable Member of Society, & as I remember that Venus chose out Mars for a Companion before Appollo the god of Wisdom or even Jove himself, so I purpose to obtain a recommendation from that Employmt. before I attempt to Serve my Country in Any more regular Shape. Present my Respects & Compliments to the Family, & havg. forgiven my Impertiences, set me down as yr. Friend & Serv.,
R :T. P.
After I had finished the following sheets, I thout it well deserv'd a Preface. 1st. to desire you to summon yr. Courage & not let the thought of the Task dishearten you. 2d. to read it all at once, least the fatigue of reading half of it should deter you from ever reading the rest, & for that purpose begin immediately after An Early Dinner & if you are very diligent you may get thro by bed time. Ill engage you want no Supper. 3d. cover yr.self warm as is always thought expedient after great fatigues. 4th. open yr. Mind freely to receive the Truth, & dont hearken too much to the voice of Nature or rather Weomen & on the Other Hand dont indulge a Spirit of Stoicism, & dont make one enquiry how I came to Enlarge in this manner for you know we are all Subject to Trans. Accept these as the produce of hours devoted to Sleep, & therefore if it resemble a Dream for inconsistency & Contradiction you must not wonder, especially if the reallity of the thing often proves but little better.