Of all the ill consequences that may attend the blind passion of love,
few prove so fatal as that of its drawing people into a sudden and
ill-concerted marriage. In the midst of a fit of madness, they commit
a rash act, of which, as soon as they come to themselves, they find
reason to repent as long as they live. Many an unthinking young man
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 documents which formed 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, who will most likely not fail to keep him in complete
subjection, after they have stripped him of all his power. Nothing but
a true friendship, and a mutual interest, can keep up a reciprocal love
between the conjugal pair, and when these are wanting, contempt and
aversion soon step in to supply their place. Matrimony then becomes a
state of downright 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 reflect upon this (while they are in their sober
senses) who abhor the thoughts of being betrayed into their ruin, by
following the impulse of a blind unheeding passion.
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