Devout old Jeremy Taylor in his Holy Living—a
book which is read by few, but praised by many—thus
counsels the suffering wife[402]: “But
if, after all the fair deportments and innocent chaste
compliances, the husband be morose and ungentle, let
the wife discourse thus: ’If, while I do
my duty, my husband neglects me, what will he do if
I neglect him?’ And if she thinks to be separated
by reason of her husband’s unchaste life, let
her consider that the man will be incurably ruined,
and her rivals could wish nothing more than that they
might possess him alone.” Dr. Samuel Johnson
ably seconded the holy Jeremy’s advice by declaring
that there is a boundless difference between the infidelity
of the man and that of the woman. In the husband’s
case “the man imposes no bastards upon his wife.”
Therefore, “wise married women don’t trouble
themselves about infidelity in their husbands."[403]
Until very recent times not only men but also women
have been unanimous in counselling abject submission
to and humble adoration of the husband. A single
example out of hundreds will serve excellently as a
pattern. In 1821 a “Lady of Distinction”
writes to a “Relation Shortly after Her Marriage”
as follows[404]: “The most perfect and implicit
faith in the superiority of a husband’s judgment,
and the most absolute obedience to his desires, is
not only the conduct that will insure the greatest
success, but will give the most entire satisfaction.
It will take from you a thousand cares, which would
have answered to no purpose; it will relieve you from
a weight of thought that would be very painful, and
in no way profitable.... It has its origin in
reason, in justice, in nature, and in the law of God....
I have told you how you may, and how people who are
married do, get a likeness of countenance; and in that
I have done it. You will understand me, that
by often looking at your husband’s face, by
smiling on the occasions on which he does, by frowning
on those things which make him frown, and by viewing
all things in the light in which you perceive he does,
you will acquire that likeness of countenance which
it is an honour to possess, because it is a testimony
of love.... When your temper and your thoughts
are formed upon those of your husband, according to
the plan which I have laid down, you will perceive
that you have no will, no pleasure, but what is also
his. This is the character the wife of prudence
would be apt to assume; she would make herself the
mirror, to show, unaltered, and without aggravation,
diminution, or distortion, the thoughts, the sentiments,
and the resolutions of her husband. She would
have no particular design, no opinion, no thought,
no passion, no approbation, no dislike, but what should
be conformable to his own judgment ... I would
have her judgment seem the reflecting mirror to his
determination; and her form the shadow of his body,
conforming itself to his several positions, and following
it in all its movements ... I would not have you
silent; nay, when trifles are the subject, talk as
much as any of them; but distinguish when the discourse
turns upon things of importance.”