Of all the ill consequences that may attend that blind passion, love,
seldom any prove so fatal as that one, of its drawing people into a
sudden and ill-concerted marriage. They commit a rash action in the
midst of a fit of madness, of which, as soon as they come to themselves,
they may find reason to repent as long as they live. Many an unthinking
young fellow has been treated as much like a savage, in this respect, as
the Lion in the fable. He has, perhaps, had nothing valuable belonging
to him but his estate, and the writings which made his title to it; and,
if he is so far captivated as to be persuaded to part with these, his
teeth and his claws are gone, and he lies entirely at the mercy of madam
and her relations. All the favour he is to expect, after this, is from
the accidental goodness of the family he falls into; which, if it happen
to be of a particular strain, will not fail to keep him in a distant
subjection, after they have stripped him of all his power. Nothing but a
true friendship, and a mutual interest, can keep up reciprocal love
between the conjugal pair; and when that is wanting, and nothing but
contempt and aversion remain to supply the place, matrimony becomes a
downright state of enmity and hostility: and what a miserable case he
must be in, who has put himself and his whole power into the hands of
his enemy, let those consider, who, while they are in their sober
senses, abhor the thoughts of being betrayed into their ruin, by
following the impulse of a blind unheeding passion.