Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1820-04-25

bring individuals together, all the Dig
nifty, and much of the happiness of that
association, rest upon their subsequent
conduct. For there is a Hing
power in the uprightness of an inteIii-
gent man, which penetrates into the Sc
cret motives of action, and wins over by
its example, or subdues by its authority,
every unwholesome caprice, and reduces
to the level of plain and sober judgment
every waywardness of temper. Such is
the influence of name, such the magic of
character, that even those who are
actuated by principle inferior to the
affection of a wife, submit to its dom lnon,
and experience its reforming health !;
how much more powerful is it, when
seconded by the devotion of love, and
that overwhelming sentiment ofdepend-
ence to which woman is destined by the
institutions of society and the degree of
her nature D..
l know nothing more amiable or al
Turing 10 contemplation than the union
of character and feeling exhibited in the
lives of a high minded man and virtuous
wife, than to see him supporting the
honors of his name amidst the conflicts
of the world, standing boldly forward in
the perilous scene, and buffeting with an
outstretcE.d arm the invading troubles
of life, while his virtues are frightened
with the lustre of domestic love, and the
thousand reserved graces of the woman
he adores. | know nothing more pitia-
BILE than the exhibition of an interesting
and sensible female, bound by the dark
cords of fate to man without princi-
pies, who has suffered the counterfeited
passion which once prompted him to
sue, to expire with the attainment ofhis
wish. For man, however he may strug-
gle with the curse Of an unhappy con-
nexion, has still the wide world before
him, fraught with seductions to beguile
every sorrow; but woman, dependent
by nature and by fortune, looks IN vain
for some refuge from the anguish of her
life, and is compelled to yield to the
bitterness of destiny that admits of no
alternative. 1t is then hers to cringe
before the creature that neglects her,
and give up the tattered remnant of her
love, to the monster that cannot value it.
Such has been the fate of my little
friend Placida. When first knew her
she was young and beautiful, with per-
son all grace, and mind all truth.
Fortune had given her elevated rank,
and she received the caresses of the
world as the tribute to her personal
merit-all unconscious of the attractions
of her riches or her beauty, and as little
believing that any part of this homage
was tie obse1uiousness of hypocrites,
who sought their own distinction by the
incense they offered to her vanity
Never did mortal bear with more anna
Bile ease such encompassing perils.-
Among the many who frequented her
presence, was one, who found himself in
the possession of some such specious
qualities as are known ordinarily to beal
with particular force upon female adj
miration. He was what the world called
youth of expectation, by which some
times are merely meant snowy car
risge and respectable connections. His
character, stripped Of its appendages,
was only negative, and sought its sup
port in pretension and policy. On this
occasion, he had the meanness to assume
disguise for the purpose of winning a
woman's heart. He knew she was af-
fectionate in her disposition, and soon
led to love whatever she respected. Her
fault was, that her respect did not al
ways grow out other judgment, but, like.
most ladies', whose observation is too
much fettered to the precincts of family
associations, she permitted her respect
to strengthen rather by the sanction of
society, the unmeaning, the indiscreet,
nay the guilty federation of friends, than
by the calm dictate of her own judg-
ment. She heard her lover praised as
man of sense. He was proud of the
reputation, and supported it by artifce.
She saw him we'll received in company !:
men of sense did not disdain his society,
and she considered their endurance as the
mark of their esteem. She forgot, or
perhaps she did not know, that the mass
of even judicious men seldom direct
their actions by regard for others -
that they consult their own views with
out much caring how their acquiescence
or their silence may affect the ill-judg-
led, and sometimes fatal conclusions of
others. Placida gave her hand and
with it she believed she had given her
heart.-Her husband soon threw off his
mask-heproved selfish, mean, and vul-
gar. 1t is many years since they were
married, and the poor girl still lives