Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

BECOMING AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE
My knowledge of Ludloe, his principles, and reasonings, ought to have precluded
that surprise which I experienced at the conclusion of his discourse. I knew that
he regarded the present institution of marriage as a contract of servitude, and
the terms of it unequal and unjust. When my surprise had subsided, my thoughts
turned upon the nature of his scheme. After a pause of reection, I answered:
Both law and custom have connected obligations with marriage, which, though
heaviest on the female, are not light upon the male. Their weight and extent are not
immutable and uniform; they are modied by various incidents, and especially by
the mental and personal qualities of the lady.
I am not sure that I should willingly accept the property and person of a woman
decrepid with age, and enslaved by perverse habits and evil passions: whereas
youth, beauty, and tenderness would be worth accepting, even for their own sake,
and disconnected with fortune.
As to altar vows, I believe they will not make me swerve from equity. I shall exact
neither service nor aection from my spouse. The value of these, and, indeed, not
only the value, but the very existence, of the latter depends upon its spontaneity. A
promise to love tends rather to loosen than strengthen the tie.
As to myself, the age of illusion is past. I shall not wed, till I nd one whose
moral and physical constitution will make personal delity easy. I shall judge
without mistiness or passion, and habit will come in aid of an enlightened and
deliberate choice.
I shall not be fastidious in my choice. I do not expect, and scarcely desire, much
intellectual similitude between me and my wife. Our opinions and pursuits cannot
be in common. While women are formed by their education, and their education
continues in its present state, tender hearts and misguided understandings are all
that we can hope to meet with.
What are the character, age, and person of the woman to whom you allude?
and what prospect of success would attend my exertions to obtain her favour?
I have told you she is rich. She is a widow, and owes her riches to the liberality
of her husband, who was a trader of great opulence, and who died while on a
mercantile adventure to Spain. He was not unknown to you. Your letters from
Spain often spoke of him. In short, she is the widow of Benington, whom you met at
Barcelona. She is still in the prime of life; is not without many feminine attractions;
has an ardent and credulent temper; and is particularly given to devotion. This
temper it would be easy to regulate according to your pleasure and your interest,
and I now submit to you the expediency of an alliance with her.
I am a kinsman, and regarded by her with uncommon deference; and my
commendations, therefore, will be of great service to you, and shall be given.
I will deal ingenuously with you. It is proper you should be fully acquainted with
the grounds of this proposal. The benets of rank, and property, and independence,
which I have already mentioned as likely to accrue to you from this marriage, are
solid and valuable benets; but these are not the sole advantages, and to benet
you, in these respects, is not my whole view.
Page | 703