Note 55 — WEDDED LIFE.
Reading edition
Nobody has put this better than Pope, in the mouth of Eloisa—
“Not Cæsar’s empress would I deign to prove;—
No! make me mistress to the man I love:
And if there be another name more free,
More fond, than mistress, make me that to thee!”
I think what renders ladies quarrelsome after they are tied, who were so sweet and conciliatory before, is, the natural and inherent spirit of contradiction of which the fair sex are accused. This they are privileged to exercise to its full extent during courtship; and the abrupt transfer of it immediately after the honey-moon might ruffle the temper of an angel!