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with hunger. She conſidered long how ſhe ſhould moſt prudently go to work; but could come to no determination.
The pariſh prieſt was the patron and defender of all maltreated wives. Either out of pure goodneſs of heart, or from a natural partiality, he paid due reſpect to the female as to the weaker veſſel, and would not allow huſbands given to fiſty-cuffs to abuſe his daughter confeſſors; and never failed to lay a ſevere penance upon the boiſterous family tyrants whenever complaints were made to him. In the caſe of Stephen, he had never ſpared the magic fiſh-liver of penance, in hopes of ſmoking the evil ſpirit out of the bed-chamber, for the benefit of the poor wife[1]. She therefore
betook
- ↑ And the angel ſaid unto Tobias, touching the heart and the liver, ‘If an evil ſpirit trouble any, we muſt make a ſmoak thereof before the man or woman, and the party ſhall be no more vexed.’ Tobit, vi. 7.—The tranſlator quotes this verſe, not only to explain the author’s alluſion, but to remind an age in which
G 4
the
