Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	husband_n	wife_n	woman_n	4,471	5	7.1539	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26097	Some reflections upon marriage occasion'd by the Duke & Dutchess of Mazarine's case, which is also considered.	Astell, Mary, 1668-1731.	1700 (1700)	Wing A4067; ESTC R32824	41,614	105

Rebellious Subject but knows how to subdue him with ease and will make himself obey'd but Patience and Submission are the only Comforts that are left to a poor People who groan under Tyranny unless they are Strong enough to break the Yoke to Depose and Abdicate which I doubt wou'd not be allow'd of here For whatever may be said against Passive-Obedience in another case I suppose there 's no Man but likes it very well in this how much soever Arbitrary Power may be dislik'd on a Throne Not Milton himself wou'd cry up Liberty to poor Female Slaves or plead for the Lawfulness of Resisting a Private Tyranny If there be a disagreableness of Humours which in my mind is harder to be born than greater faults as being a continual Plague and for the most part incurable other Vices a Man may grow weary of or may be convinced of the evil of them He may forsake them or they him but his Humour and Temper are seldom if ever put off Ill-nature sticks to him from his Youth to his grey Heirs and a Boy ●hat's Humorous and Proud makes a Pee●ish Positive and Insolent Old Man Now ●f this be the case and the Husband be ●ull of himself obstinately bent on his own way with or without Reason if he be ●ne who must be always Admir'd always Humour'd and yet scarce knows what will please him if he has Prosperity e●ough to keep him from considering and to furnish him with a train of Flatterers and obsequious Admirers and Learning and Sense enough to make him a Fop in Perfection for a Man can never be a complete Coxcomb unless he has a considerable share of these to value himself upon what can the poor Woman do the Husband is too wise to be Advis'd too good to be Reform'd she must follow all his Paces and tread in all his unreasonable steps or there is no Peace no Quiet for her she must obey with the greatest exactness 't is in vain to expect any manner of Compliance on his side and the more she complies the more she may his fantastical humours grow with her desire to gratifie them for Age encreases Opiniatry in some as well as it does Experience in others Of such sort of folks as these it was that Solomon spake when he said Seest thou a Man wise in his own conceit there is more hope of a Fool than of him That is the profligate Sinner such a one being always a Fool in Solomon's Language is in a fairer way of being convinc'd of his folly and brought to reason than the Proud Conceited Man That Man indeed can never be good at heart who is full of himself and his own Endowments Not that it is necessary because it is not possible for one to be totally ignorant of his own good Qualities I had almost said he ought to have a Modest sense of 'em otherwise he can't be duly thankful nor make the use of them that is required to the glory of God and the good of Mankind but he views them in a wrong light if he discerns any thing that may exalt him above his Neighbours make him over-look their Merit or treat them with Neglect or Contempt He ought to behold them with fear and trembling as Talents which he has freely receiv'd and for which he is highly Accountable and therefore they shou'd not excite his Pride but his Care and Industry And if Pride and Self-conceit keep a Man who has some good Qualities and is not so bad as the most of his Neighbours from growing better it for certain confirms and hardens the Wicked in his Crimes it sets him up for a Wit that is according to Modern acceptation one who rallies at all that is serious a contemner of the Priests first and then of the Deity himself For Penitence and Self-condemnation are what his Haughtiness cannot bear and since the Crimes he has been guilty of have brought on him the reproaches of his own Mind since he will not take the regular way to be rid of them which is by Humbling himself and making his Peace with Heaven he bids defiance to it and wou'd if he could believe there is no future State no after Retribution because he knows that a heavy lot is in justice due to him If therefore it be a Woman 's hard Fate to meet with a disagreeable Temper and of all others the Haughty Imperious and Self-conceited are the most so she is as unhappy as any thing in the World can make her When a Wife's Temper does not please if she makes her Husband uneasie he can find entertainments abroad he has a hundred ways of relieving himself but neither Prudence nor Duty will allow a Woman to fly out her Business and Entertainment are at home and tho' he make it ever so uneasie to her she must be content and make her best on 't She who Elects a Monarch for Life who gives him an Authority she cannot recall however he misapply it who puts her Fortune and Person entirely in his Power nay even the very desires of her Heart according to some learned Casuists so as that it is not lawful to Will or Desire any thing but what he approves and allows had need be very sure that she does not make a Fool her Head nor a Vicious Man her Guide and Pattern she had best stay till she can meet with one who has the Government of his own Passions and has duly regulated his own Desires since he is to have such an absolute Power over hers But he who doats on a Face he who makes Money his Idol he who is Charm'd with vain and empty Wit gives no such Evidence either of Wisdom or Goodness that a Woman of any tolerable Sense shou'd care to venture her self to his Conduct Indeed your fine Gentleman's Actions are now a days such that did not Custom and the Dignity of his Sex give Weight and Authority to them a Woman that thinks twice might bless her self and say is this the Lord and Master to whom I am to promise Love Honour and Obedience What can be the Object of Love but amiable Qualities the Image of the Deity impress'd upon a generous and god-like Mind a Mind that is above this World to be sure above all the Vices the Tricks and Baseness of it a Mind that is not full of it self not contracted to little private Interests but in imitation of that glorious Pattern it endeavours to Copy after expands and diffuses it self to its utmost capacity in doing Good But this fine Gentleman is quite of another Strain he is the reverse of this in every Instance He is I confess very fond of his own Dear Person he sees very much in it to admire his Air and Mien his Words and Actions every Motion he makes declares it but they must have a Judgment of his size every whit as Shallow and a Partiality as great as his own who can be of his Mind How then can I

doubt in such a View it will not appear over-desirable if she regards only the Present State of Things Hereafter may make amends for what she must be prepar'd to suffer here then will be her Reward this is her time of Tryal the Season of exercising and improving her Vertues A Woman that is not Mistress of her Passions that cannot patiently submit even when Reason suffers with her who does not practice Passive Obedience to the utmost will never be acceptable to such an absolute Sovereign as a Husband Wisdom ought to Govern without Contradiction but Strength however will be obey'd There are but few of those wise Persons who can be content to be made yet wiser by Contradiction the most will have their Will and it is right because it is their's Such is the vanity of Humane Nature that nothing pleases like an intire Subjection what Imperfections won't a Man overlook where this is not wanting Tho' we live like Brutes we wou'd have Incense offer'd us that is only due to Heaven it self wou'd have an absolute and blind Obedience paid us by all over whom we pretend Authority We were not made to Idolize one another yet the whole strain of Courtship is little less than rank Idolatry But does a Man intend to give and not receive his share in this Religious Worship No such Matter Pride and Vanity and Self-love have their Designs and if the Lover is so condescending as to set a Pattern in the time of his Addresses he is so Just as to expect his Wife shou'd strictly Copy after it all the rest of her Life But how can a Woman scruple intire Subjection how can she forbear to admire the worth and excellency of the Superior Sex if she at all considers it Have not all the great Actions that have been perform'd in the World been done by them Have not they founded Empires and over-turn'd them Do not they make Laws and continually repeal and amend them Their vast Minds lay Kingdoms wast no bounds or measures can be prescrib'd to their Desires War and Peace depend on them they form Cabals and have the Wisdom and Courage to get over all these Rubs which may lie in the way of their desired Grandeur What is it they cannot do They make Worlds and ruin them form Systems of universal Nature and dispute eternally about them their Pen gives worth to the most trifling Controversie nor can a fray be inconsiderable if they have drawn their Swords in 't All that the wise Man pronounces is an Oracle and every Word the Witty speaks a Jest It is a Woman's Happiness to hear admire and praise them especially if a little Ill-nature keeps them at any time from bestowing due applauses on each other And if she aspires no further she is thought to be in her proper Sphere of Action she is as wise and as good as can be expected from her She then who Marrys ought to lay it down for an indisputable Maxim that her Husband must govern absolutely and intirely and that she has nothing else to do but to Please and Obey She must not attempt to divide his Authority or so much as dispute it to struggle with her Yoke will only make it gall the more but must believe him Wise and Good and in all respects the best at least he must be so to her She who can't do this is no way fit to be a Wife she may set up for that peculiar Coronet the ancient Fathers talk'd of but is not qualify'd to receive that great reward which attends the eminent exercise of Humility and Self-denial Patience and Resignation the Duties that a Wife is call'd to But some refractory Woman perhaps will say how can this be Is it possible for her to believe him Wise and Good who by a thousand Demonstrations convinces her and all the World of the contrary Did the bare Name of Husband confer Sense on a Man and the mere being in Authority infallibly qualifie him for Government much might be done But since a wise Man and a Husband are not Terms convertible and how loath soever one is to own it Matter of Fact won't allow us to deny that the Head many times stands in need of the Inferior's Brains to manage it she must beg leave to be excus'd from such high thoughts of her Sovereign and if she submits to his Power it is not so much Reason as Necessity that compells her Now of how little force soever this Objection may be in other respects methinks it is strong enough to prove the necessity of a good Education and that Men never mistake their true Interest more than when they endeavour to keep Women in Ignorance Cou'd they indeed deprive them of their Natural good Sense at the same time they deny them the due improvement of it they might compass their End otherwise Natural Sense unassisted may run into a false Track and serve only to punish him justly who wou'd not allow it to be useful to himself or others If Man's Authority be justly establish'd the more Sense a Woman has the more reason she will find to submit to it if according to the Tradition of our Fathers who having had Possession of the Pen thought they had also the best Right to it Women's Understanding is but small and Men's Partiality adds no Weight to the Observation ought not the more care to be taken to improve them How it agrees with the Justice of Men we enquire not but certainly Heaven is abundantly more Equitable than to enjoyn Women the hardest Task and give them the least Strength to perform it And if Men Learned Wise and Discreet as they are who have as is said all the advantages of Nature and without controversie have or may have all the assistance of Art are so far from acquitting themselves as they ought from living according to that reason and excellent Understanding they so much boast of can it be expected that a Woman who is reckon'd silly enough in her self at least comparatively and whom Men take care to make yet more so can it be expected that she shou'd constantly perform so difficult a Duty as intire Subjection to which corrupt Nature is so averse If the Great and Wise Cato a Man a Man of no ordinary firmness and strength of Mind a Man who was esteem'd as an Oracle and by the Philosophers and great Men of his Nation equal'd even to the Gods themselves If he with all his Stoical Principles was not able to bear the sight of a triumphant Conqueror who perhaps wou'd have Insulted and perhaps wou'd not but out of a Cowardly fear of an Insult ran to Death to secure him from it can it be thought that an ignorant weak Woman shou'd have patience to bear a continual outrage and Insolence all the days of her Life Unless you will suppose her a very Ass but then remember what the Italians say to Quote them once more since being very Husbands they may be presum'd