Nor choose a base and uncomely creature altogether for wealth; for it will cause contempt in others, and loathing in thee.
Neither make choice of a dwarf, or a fool; for by the one thou shalt beget a race of pigmies, while the other will be thy continual disgrace, and it will yirke [20irk] thee to hear her talk.

For thou shalt find it to thy great grief, that there is nothing more fulsome [20disgusting] than a she-fool." A man's moral character is, necessarily, powerfully influenced by his wife.

A lower nature will drag him down, as a higher will lift him up.

The former will deaden his sympathies, dissipate his energies, and distort his life; while the latter, by satisfying his affections, will strengthen his moral nature, and by giving him repose, tend to energise his intellect.

Not only so, but a woman of high principles will insensibly elevate the aims and purposes of her husband, as one of low principles will unconsciously degrade them.