This Woman was not very amiable in her Perſon. Whether ſhe ſat to my Friend Hogarth, or no, I will not determine; but ſhe exactly reſembled the young Woman who is pouring out her Miſtreſs’s Tea in the third Picture of the Harlot’s Progreſs. She was beſides a profeſt Follower of that notable Sect founded by Xantippe of old; by means of which, ſhe became more formidable in the School than her Huſband: for to confeſs the Truth, he was never Maſter there, or any where elſe, in her Preſence.
Tho’ her Countenance did not denote much natural Sweetneſs of Temper, yet this was perhaps ſomewhat ſoured by a Circumſtance which generally poiſons matrimonial Felicity. For Children are rightly called the Pledges of Love; and her Huſband, tho’ they had been married nine Years, had given her no ſuch Pledges; a Default for which he had no Excuſe, either from Age or Health, being not yet thirty Years old, and, what they call a jolly, briſk, young Man.
Hence aroſe another Evil which produced no little Uneaſineſs to the poor Pedagogue,
