Page:A Treatise concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed.djvu/186

 jury had been at an End; but here she is abused daily, the Crime is renewed, and she is made unhappy to the End of her Life.

marrying without Affection, or contrary to Inclination, has a variety of complicated Mischiefs attending it, and especially considering that, upon the least disagreeableness between the Persons married, former Objects, and former Thoughts, revive in the Mind; they are always comparing their Condition with what it might have been, with what others are, and with what, at least, they fancy others are; ever repining at what is, ever wishing what can never be. Every thing they have is disagreeable and unpleasant; they look on their Life as a Slave at Algier looks upon his Chains, they fancy themselves as Persons only bought and sold, as Persons committed by Warrant, and made Prisoners for Life.

State they are in is imbittered by every Circumstance, and every Circumstance imbittered by the want of Affection, the Thing is bad in it self, and want of Affection makes every Part of it worse.

is it probable that such a Marriage should issue otherwise; I had almost said it is not possible: But the Nature of the thing directs it, and the disagreeableness can hardly fail to happen, because there is not only no Fund of Affection to build upon, but a kind of a pre-ingaged Aversion, which is certain to assist and to render every thing worse, rather than better.

I could give a long History of a Family, within the compass of my own Observation, where both the Man and the Woman were thus stated; that is to say, brought together by the