CONNUBIALITIES. 



LOVE is the epitome of our whole duty; and all the endearments 

 of society, so long as they are lawful and honest, are not only con- 

 sistent with, but parts and expressions of it. 



Marriage enlarges the scene of our happiness or misery ; the mar- 

 riage of love is pleasant, the marriage of interest easy, and a marriage 

 where both meet, happy. 



Women go further in love than men, but women outstrip them in 

 friendship. 



As some women lose their reputation rather for want of discretion 

 than for want of virtue, so others preserve theirs by their discretion 

 only. 



Women are pleased with courtship, and the most disdainful cannot 

 but be complaisant to those that tell them of their attraction. 



Some men say that it is hard to determine which is the more 

 troublesome, a maid's reserve or a wife's forwardness. 



Women are generally accessories to their own dishonour ; for did 

 they not flatter themselves, men could not so easily deceive them. 



Valour was assigned to men, and chastity to women, as their prin- 

 cipal virtues, because they are the most difficult to practise. 



A woman that has but one lover thinks herself to be no coquet ; 

 she that has several, concludes herself no more than a coquet. 



Reciprocal love is justice; constant love is fortitude; secret love 

 is prudence. 



It is the hardest thing in love to feign it where it is not, or hide it 

 where it is ; but it is easier counterfeited than concealed. 



Women tell us they would not sin if we did not tempt them. We 

 answer, we should not tempt them if they did not invite us. 



The face of her we love is the fairest of sights, and her voice the 

 sweetest harmony in the world. 



A man is more reserved on his friend's concerns than his own ; a 

 woman, on the contrary, keeps her own secret better than another's. 



A woman will think herself slighted if she is not courted, yet pre- 

 tends to know herself too well to believe your flattery. 



Absence is to love what fasting is to the body ; a little stimulates 

 it, but a long abstinence is fatal. 



The greatest pleasure of life is love ; the greatest treasure, con- 

 tentment ; the greatest possession, health ; the greatest ease, is sleep ; 

 and the greatest medicine, a true friend. 



Alcibiades being astonished at Socrates' patience, asked him how 

 he could endure the perpetual scolding of his wife ? " Why," said he, 

 " as they do who are accustomed to the ordinary noise of wheels to 

 draw water." 



There is an old Italian saying, that women are magpies at the door, 

 syrens in the window, saints in the church, and devils in the house. 



In marriage, prefer the person before wealth, virtue before beauty, 

 and the mind before the body ; then you have a wife, a friend, and a 

 companion. 



