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When God, who knows all things perfectly and does all Things wiſely, thinks fit to recall one Parent, our Laws give Man, who knows nothing perfectly and does many Things unwiſely, the Power to deprive the Child of his Other Parent alſo, by ordering the Child into other Hands, where the Mother's Care and Affection can be of no Service to him.
I confeſs I never heard of but one Man, who went to the full Extent of his Power in that Inſtance. He was a Gentleman of a pretty good Eſtate, and had only one Daughter, to whom he bequeathed his whole Fortune, under this Reſtriction, that ſhe ſhould forfeit it, if upon any Occaſion whatever, ſhe knowingly converſed with, or viſited his Widowe after his Death, who was the young Lady's own Mother: And in Caſe of his Daughter's Diſobedience to his Will in this particular, he left his Fortune to an ill-natured Relation of his own, who always hated his Wife, and had been the Occaſion of his uſing her very ill, and who would therefore be ſore to take the Advantage of the Forfeiture: The unhappy Mother was therefore conſtrained to give up all Intereſt in, and Converſation with her Child for ever; her Jointure being too ſmall to ſupport them both.
I
