Note 38 — Chapter III · MARRIAGE.

Addison, too, must needs have a fling at it, and wrote a whole essay on pin money,[38] and, in a letter therein, gives a doleful case. 'The education of these my Children, who, contrary to my expectation, are born to me every Year, straightens me so much that I have begged their Mother to free me from the Obligation of the above mentioned Pin Money, that it may go towards making a Provision for her family. This Proposal makes her Noble Blood swell in her Veins, insomuch, that finding me a little tardy in her last Quarter's Payment, she threatens every Day to arrest me: and proceeds so far as to tell me, that if I do not do her Justice, I shall die in a Jayl. To this she adds, when her Passion will let her argue calmly, that she has several Play Debts on her Hand, which must be discharged very suddenly, and that she cannot lose her Money as becomes a Woman of her Fashion, if she makes me any Abatements in this Article.'