losing it. Beauty has great power to conciliate af fection, but cannot preserve it without the help of the mind: whatever the perfections of the one may be, the accomplishments of the other will always be the more amiable, and, in the married state especially, will be found, after all, the most solid and lasting basis of domestic comfort. But I am using the privilege of my years, and instead of compli ments, giving lessons to one who does not need them. I shall only add, therefore, my repeated wishes of all the happiness that matrimony can give both to you and Mr. Montagu, to whose worthy character I am no stranger, though I have not the honour to be known to him in person; and that I am, with sincere respect, madam,

Your faithful friend,

And obedient servant,

CONYERS MIDDLETON.

Dr. Conyers Middleton to Mrs. Montagu.-On the same subject.

MADAM,

Hildersham, Oct. 4, 1742.

I SHOULD have paid my thanks much earlier for your obliging and entertaining letter, if business of various kinds had not constantly prevented me, till I was forced to a resolution of being prevented no longer. I now, therefore, beg leave to assure you, that your letter gave me great pleasure on many accounts: but above all, by letting me see that you are not only perfectly at ease, and happy in your late change of condition, but furnished with all the materials proper to secure that happiness for life; since the principles which you lay down for your conduct in it, can not fail to draw every good out of it, which it can possibly yield. Young

ladies who have been admired as beauties, are apt to consider a husband as an acquisition of conquest, and to be shocked at the thought of being reduced by marriage to a state of subjection; and from a resolution to shake off this yoke, often lay the foundation of a contest which begins with matrimony itself, and continues sometimes to the end of it. But this capital point you wisely give up at once, and profess the duty of submission as essential to the character of a good wife: a condescension, that can not betray you into any inconvenience, since a reasonable husband will never require more of it than is due; and a kind one will always be content with less, and, when convinced of the disposition, will generally dispense with the act. As your profession, I dare say, is sincere, I may trust you with a paradox, which you will certainly find to be true, that the more submissive you are the less you will be obliged to submit ; and should it be your ambition even to govern, you will accomplish it with the most ease, by acknowledging yourself a subject.

Between a married couple of sense and affection, for it is with such only that any happiness can be found, there can hardly be any dispute but what must turn upon trifles, or the contrast, perhaps, of some little habits, which, though indifferent in themselves, can not suffer a contradiction without some regret. But as these are common to both sexes, and every person has his foibles in some degree or other, it must be the business of reason to make this matter easy by mutual compliances, or a cartel, as it were, of exchange; where those, however, who happen to yield the most, will, by that conquest over themselves, which of all others is the most beneficial, be sure to be the greatest

gainers in the end. As I have formerly been a musician, a reflection has sometimes occurred to me, from that art, which might, I think, be ap. plied, with good effect, to the married state. From the pains and patience, which are required to put an instrument in tune, before it can afford us any music, I have been induced to wonder why the married pair, who are mutually the instruments of that harmony on which each other's comfort depends, should be generally so regardless of the necessary care of tuning, or reducing each other's temper to its proper tone, by softening it when too sharp, and raising it when too low: for I am persuaded that much less pains, than what we employ, without scruple, upon a harpsichord, would keep both the husband and wife in, what we call, concert pitch. But some perhaps may be apt to raise a different reflection from the same subject; that discords in matrimony, like those in music, are both useful and necessary, to enhance and strengthen the harmony of the close. But the comparison will not hold, for the experiment will always be dangerous in the married state, where they may be compared more justly to those slight indispositions of the body, which, though they do not threaten the ruin of the whole, yet are apt to weaken some part; and whose proper use is to admonish us to guard our health with the greater In short, if two enemies should be forced by any accident to be comrades for life, the necessity of the thing would oblige them to become friends. The same reason then, one would think, should more strongly engage a pair of friends, tied together by choice and affection in a partnership inseparable, to extirpate every seed of discord, that might possibly arise betwixt them,

care.

I have thrown together these few observations from my long experience of the married life, not by way of counsel, which you do not want; but in confirmation of those excellent resolutions which your good sense has suggested to you, and as a testimony of my regard, and of my sincere wishes for your prosperity.

By this time, I suppose, you begin to think of quitting the country, and returning to your winter quarters in town; Cambridge is but a little out of your road, where we should be proud to receive you at our house. We may plead some kind of right to expect this favour from you both, since this University had the honour of Mr. Montagu's education, and claims some share also in yours.

I did not know that your sister was with you, or I should have added our compliments to her, which I desire you to make; and with our wishes of all happiness to Mr. Montagu and yourself, I beg leave to subscribe myself, madam,

Your affectionate friend,

CONYERS MIDDLETON.

LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP.

Dr. Franklin to Mrs. Hewson.

Passy, January 27, 1783. THE departure of my dearest friend, which I learn from your last letter, greatly affects me. To meet with her once more in this life was one of the principal motives of my proposing to visit England again before my return to America. The last year carried off my friends Dr. Pringle and Dr. Fothergill, and Lord Kaimes and Lord Le Despencer: this has begun to take away the rest.

and strikes the hardest. Thus the ties I had to that country, and indeed to the world in general, are loosened one by one, and I shall soon have no attachment left to make me unwilling to follow.

I intended writing when I sent the eleven books, but lost the time in looking for the first. I wrote with that, and hope it came to hand. I therein asked your counsel about my coming to England: on reflection, I think I can, from my knowledge of your prudence, foresee what it will be; viz. not to come too soon, lest it should seem braving and insulting some who ought to be respected, I shall, therefore, omit that journey until I am near going to America, and then just step over to take leave of my friends, and spend a few days with you. purpose bringing Ben with me, and perhaps may leave him under your care.

I

At length we are in peace, God be praised! and long, very long, may it continue! All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones. When will mankind be convinced of this, and agree to settle their differences by arbitration? Were they to do it even by the cast of a die, it would be better than by fighting and destroying

each other,

Spring is coming on, when travelling will be delightful. Can you not, when your children are all at school, make a little party, and take a trip hither? I have now a large house, delightfully situated, in which I could accommodate you and two or three friends, and I am but half an hour's drive from Paris.

In looking forward, twenty-five years seem a long period; but in looking back, how short! Could you imagine that it is now full a quarter of a century since we were first acquainted? It was