TWAS a false and ground­less Character which was given by the great Scaliger, of the English Nation, That they were a People Cruel and Inhospitable, perfect Self-Ad­mirers, and Contemners of all the World besides. A Vindicati­on of the En­glish Temper and Kind­ness. For if we consider ei­ther the Nature of our Laws, or the Genius of our Religion, which are founded both of them upon the Rules of Equity and Indul­gence, we must needs conclude the Temper of the English to be a perfect Contradiction to both these, if it is not treatable and human. They may indeed sometimes be fierce, but then 'tis in their own Defence: And if they are inhospitable, 'tis only to such as would make a Prey of their Civility. For how many [Page 2] Strangers quit their Native Soil, to enjoy the Pleasure of a more Indulgent English Clime? And Foreign Merchants crowd our Streets in such Numbers, as if London were the Mistress and universal Patroness of Traff [...]ck through the World. But if men approach them in an hostile way, there is no reason they should meet with Hospitality, or be treated otherwise than with a Martial English Bravery, which is highly necessary for their own Defence and Preservation: For their main Bulwark is their Native Valour; and their Men of War, their only Alps and Pyrenean Hills. And to say that they are Self▪ Admirers, is very weak, since if they should not love themselves, they ought to be hated of all the World besides. I only wish their Conjugal Love were as sincere and genuine, as is their Friendliness to Strangers, and as little liable to Exceptions as their Cru­elty. Then many silent Complaints against Matrimonial Infidelity would cease; then would not those Solemn, Sacred Ties be so wilfully violated and prophan'd, so frequently made an occasion to Lewdness, and sacrific'd so impi­ously to all Immodesty and Lust. For how often is Marriage made only a Cloak to Impu­rity? [Page 3] And that dazzling Beauty which before commanded Respect and Admiration by its In­nocence, is under that Religious Cover expos'd a Prostitute to every wanton Eye. Would but the Modesty of our Women keep pace with the Fortitude of our Men; and the Bashfulness and Purity of Those, equalize the Courage and Hardiness of These, how valuable should we be at Home, as well as formidable Abroad! Then would it be difficult to determine which of these two Qualities would most recom­mend us to the Esteem of the World; whe­ther we should more be fam'd for a Nati­on of Lucretia's, or for a standing Race of Heroes.

But the Women will be apt to say,Obj. That were there no Attacks, there would then be no Victory: Did not the Importunities of the Men provoke the Modesty of the Women, there would be no Surrender of their Chastity: And how is it possible for such a weak Defence as Women are qualified to make, to be able to withstand their repeated Onsets? But yet as weak as it is, without Consent the general Attempts would be very fruitless and unsuccessful, and no more than the storming a Wall of Brass with Tennis-Balls. [Page 4] It is an Observation upon this Island, That no Continent has been oftner, perhaps, conquer'd, than it has been: And yet the Hi­story takes notice, That it had always a Hand in its own Conquests; and by the means of some corrupt Party within, was basely be­tray'd to its own Overthrow. Answ. And let the Wo­men but guard their Honour with inward Re­solutions, and not harbour in their Minds a Treacherous Passion to yield to Amorous Glan­ces and Insinuations, and they may still brave­ly maintain their Ground, and fairly defy all Onsets and Surprizals. But since the Weak Sex have render'd themselves much weaker, by the frequent Conquests that are made over them; and the Malignity of their Effeminacy ripens daily towards an Universal Contagion, it will be very necessary to represent the va­rious Mischiefs of this spreading▪ Evil: That the Piety and Wisdom of the Nation may prescribe such proper Remedies as may retard at least, if not totally prevent all the Danger of it; and that as well in the Men, who are equally guilty, as in the Female Sex.

In India formerly an Elephant was esteem'd and allow'd as a valuable Gift to a Married [Page 5] Woman, to debase her self, and corrupt her Chastity. And Solon is recorded to have been the first in Greece, who by his Laws permitted Women to prostitute themselves for Necessities of Life. 'Twere well that our Women were to be bounded only by these Laws: We might then expect some Abatement of their Impu­rity, either by the Rarity of that Animal, or by confining that Sin to such only as are in Want.

And that we may not by our Silence be any longer accessary, as it were, to this odious Vice, which is now grown so universal, let us consider a-while those various fatal Mischiefs which attend it. And those are,

First, Lust diseases the Body. Such as are the Natural Consequen­ces and Effects of it; some of which have so near an Affinity to Corruption, that they forestall a Natural Dissolution, and prevent the Rotten­ness of the Grave: And render the Person that is distemper'd so very loathsome and offensive, that as they were formerly too familiar with others, so they are scarce able now to converse with themselves: They look as if they were spawn'd from the Dead-Sea, or were a Limb of Sodom and Gomorrah. So long has Reason [Page 6] lain asleep, and Conscience been check'd and aw'd to Silence, that the very Body now is forc'd to serve as a Monitor to the Soul, to sup­ply its place, and take its turn to conduct the Mind to Reformation, and to endure several Corporeal Pangs and Throws, for Neglect of Anguish and Remorse of Spirit. But this nau­seous Evil does not always rest here, but some­times descends to a loathsome Offspring, and corrupts the very Innocence of Childhood: It intails such Sickness and Diseases upon Posterity, as make them wish themselves unborn, or that they had been stifled at the Birth. So de­sirable a Blessing is this which the vicious Pa­rent propagates to the Son.

And certainly if this Lustful Fire be not quench'd, Wantonness emasculates the Age. or else be timely not restrain'd, 't will soon emasculate the Age, consume the Strength, and melt down the Courage of the Nation. 'T will serve instead of a Thousand Enemies to foil and overthrow the Kingdom, when it has brought our Men to be as Lascivious as Satyrs, and as Impotent as Pygmies. A French Army will not be half so Formidable as some Hundreds of English Messalina's, who will top upon the greatest Gallantry, and sink the [Page 7] Braveness of our Spirits more than all their Legions and Battalions. If we design to main­tain our Martial Valour, for which we are now renown'd through the World, we must keep at a Distance from Venus Tents. An Effe­minate Hero resembles a Ball of Wildfire, ex­piring in the Air without any Resistance or Execution: He is truly qualified for Gallant Atchievements; but those tender Indearments he meets with in the Fair Sex exhaust all his Fire and Strength, and render him very insig­nificant and useless.

'Twas a most excellent Observation of Iuvenal, concerning the Ruin and Declination of Ancient Rome,

When the vanquish'd World had nothing left to revenge it self on conquering Rome, its own Luxury became its Overthrow, and was more victorious over it self, than any Foreign Power or Arms. And while Effeminacy tri­umphs among our Men of Arms, England's Lawrels of necessity must wither. The Anci­ent [Page 8] Gauls recommended Continency till a full and vigorous Age to all their Men design'd for War, because they observ'd that Women were apt to abate and divert their Courage. And the Greek History observes to us, That all such as design'd for Victory in the Olympic Games, took care not to converse for some time before with any Women.

But this Vice not only dissolves the Courage and emasculates the Spirits, Children par­take of the unruly Pass [...] ­ons of their Parents. but it entails up­on the Issue generally very wild and extrava­gant Passions. And the Lust and Lascivious­ness of the Parent runs frequently in the Child's Veins; 'tis rooted in the Constitution, and mixt with the very Spirits and Blood. And there­fore 'tis the Wisdom of all Persons in their Conjugal Elections, to see that those they chuse be of a well-descended Nature; that they may be able to pronounce that of themselves, which the Great Alexander did, That his Vir­tues he had by Nature, but his Vices came by Chance.

And since most Men marry with a Design of securing to themselves an Issue, Adulterous Conversation destroys the Offspring. as well as pleasing of themselves, both these good Ends by an inordinate Lust are quite defeated: For [Page 9] this by a Natural Cause prevents Conception, and by consequence must stifle all Hopes of Children in the Womb. The beaten Paths are always barren, and never productive of any Fruit. This common way of living would be apt to put an End to the Noblest Family, though even the House of Austria depended on it. And indeed, whatever springs from an Adulterous Bed is rarely of a long Continu­ance. Of That we may affirm what the Poet does of unjustly-acquir'd Riches, Ex male quae­sitis, &c. Ill-gotten Children, as well as Wealth, seldom continue to the Third Generation, And thus the Two Principal Ends of Matri­mony are utterly baffled and confuted, by fre­quent Matrimonial Lewdness, and Adulterous Conversation, which both confound the Nup­tial Ioys and Satisfaction, and extinguish also Lineal Descents, in putting an invincible Non Ultra upon the Progeny of the Meanest, as well as the most Ancient House.

The next great Evil which attends Conjugal Licentiousness and Impurity, Civil Mis­chiefs of this Sin. is the Plague of Iealousy; a Passion which blows hot and cold at once:It creates Iealousy. 'Tis a kind of Compound of Light and Darkness, of Pain and Pleasure; that con­strains [Page 10] a man to Hate and Abominate That which he mightily inclines to Admire and Love. 'Tis of such an Aguish Disposition, that while it pretends to warm the Spirit with Kind­ness and Affection, it freezes it again with Cold­ness and Neglect. It puts a man into such a tremulous Condition and Suspense, that he can neither freely embrace his Wife, nor yet think of parting with her freely, but it bandies his Mind continually to and fro, in a Sea of Inconstancy and Hesitation. And what is more intolerable, than to be wounded in the most tender part; than for the Delight of the Eyes to be made the Grief of the Heart, and to live confin'd continually to Disquietude and Vexation? And certainly, except that some Restraint could be put upon the too just Cause of this tormenting Passion, it seems better much that several Persons should answer as Thales did his Mother concerning Marriage, who told her, When he was Young, it was too soon to marry; when he was Old, it was too late. Lepidus, we are assur'd, expir'd with Grief, be­cause of the Incontinency of his Wife: I hear­tily wish that he were the only Martyr of this kind of Discontent, and the last that fell a [Page 11] Victim to this sort of Dissatisfaction; which is a Torment so intolerable, that the very Animals are impatient under this Pressure, and enrag'd to be rival'd in their Amours. And there is no­thing certainly that ferments the Mind to a greater pitch of Anger and Resentment, than those vexatious Thoughts inspir'd by Iealousy.

But it is not enough for those that are mar­ried thus,Wastes the Estate. to consume the Eyes, and waste the Souls of such as are injur'd, with Discon­tent; but they likewise quarry very often up­on the Fortune, and maintain their Con­sumptive Lusts at a large Expence. What Care and Frugality had for a long time hoard­ed up, that Prodigality in a very short time makes a shift to lavish away: What was la­boriously collected in the Day-time, is often ei­ther by the one or the other as idly wasted and expended at Night; till the Nests of the Mi­stresses and Gallants are richly feather'd with their Substance. And in this they too nearly moralize the Fable of the Danaides, condemn­ing themselves to put their Money in a Bag with Holes; as those Daughters of Danaus were punish'd in Hell with filling Water in a Tub without a Bottom. Of this we have a [Page 12] late memorable Instance among our Nobility here at Home, besides many more less-Illu­strious Examples which might be produc'd: For within Three Years which happen'd between the late Duke's (Norfolk's) Death, and the part­ing the new Duke and Dutchess, she run him out by Extravagant Expences 30000 l. above his In­come; to pay which, oblig'd him to sell his Life, 2400 l. per Ann. out of his Estate in Suslex and Yorkshire. [See the Duke of Norfolk's Case.] This is one main Reason among the rest, that men in this discreet Age, as they call it, keep at so great a Distance from the Ties of Wedlock, that with the Essenians they will rather chuse to extinguish the Succession of Men, than beget them in a Married State; or if they do, 'tis rather for the Love of Wealth than of the Woman, and so make a Marriage of Bodies without Souls. And when they are tied together thus very loosely, and the Married Pair, as to any Cordial Love and Affection, continue still in a Single State, what tolerable degrees of Indearments and Friend­ship can possibly be expected from them; since they vow'd that with their Mouth which their Mind disown'd, and tied that with the [Page 13] Tongue, which they never consented to with the Heart? Raises Do­mestick Broils and Troubles. From whence proceed those Ru­mours daily of so many Skirmishes and Do­mestick Discords, of such Broils and Dissenti­ons in several Families, which are perfect Epi­tomies of a Civil War, and nothing but Nur­series of Feuds and Discontent; which render a Wilderness more desirable than a Palace, and a Bed of Rushes more easy than a Bed of Down. Inclines men to Celibacy. And while these are the Effects of Matrimonial Engagements, and the wretched Consequence and horrid Result of those Sacred Vows, no wonder that the Poet's Choice should be the general Motto of this loose Age, Gall. Ele. 1.

But that which highly aggravates this Crime, and renders it far more unpardonable in the Married Persons, is, that they are under a most solemn Contract, and indissoluble Obli­gation to the contrary; and yet they venture [Page 14] without Restraint, and resolutely break all those holy Bonds asunder. So that what is remark'd of the happy Situation of our Island, That in respect of Commerce it enjoys this ex­traordinary Advantage of lying open to all the Parts of the World, may with Shame and Con­fusion be pronounc'd of the unhappy Temper of our loose Gallants, who expose themselves so commonly to all Strangers, and drive so general a Traffick with all kind of People: For Confirmation of which, though we can­not justly pronounce it to be true in all Ca­ses, we need but observe the strange Diversity of Children that are often seen in one and the same House, and are thought all to belong to the same Parents. This Child is naturally as Fair as that Lady whom Horace describes to be endow'd with a vultus nimium lubricus aspi­ci: That other is a perfect Dowdy, and as Black as any Spaniard. Here you may see one Plump, and shap'd like a Dutch Skipper: There another Tall, and Slender-wasted, like the Monument. One is Sanguine, another is Pale: Here's a Dwarf, and there's a Giant: This is Surly, and that is nothing but Com­plaisance. They are all as like one another, [Page 15] as a Peasant is a Lord; and as like the Father, as a rough Tartar is a smooth Italian: So that if you consider the Children all distinctly, you would really fancy that half Europe had clubb'd to make up one Family. But herein Charity advises us not to pass our Judgments rashly; because such Diversities may sometimes pro­ceed from Legitimate Congress. And this unlawful Freedom not only corrupts the Strain, and allays the Lineal current Descent with spu­rious Mixture and a base Breed, Conjugal Im­modesty ig­nominious to the Family. but derives likewise a lasting Mark of Infamy upon the Children, stigmatizes their Character, and libels their Repute and Credit in the World. Now if Men are so careful of preserving the Breed of their Beasts pure, especially such as are re­markable for any Excellence, that they will not endure a Mixture from any of a different kind, for fear of altering of the Strength or Shape; or abating of some good and eminent Quali­ty; should not then as tender a Regard be had for Families, for securing them from being adulterated and stain'd with False Amours, and Illegitimate Conceptions, and being made a Medley of contrary Humours, and disagree­able Genius's and Dispositions? And no Parent [Page 16] that had the least Respect either for he Ho­nour of the Family, or the Comfort and Repu­tation of the Children, but would chase rather a thousand times to dye Childless, than have th [...]m brought into the World with such a Train of Miseries attending them.

We may add to this the hainous Injustice which is done to the next Heir, It deprives the next Heir of his Right. of cutting him out of all his Pretensions, and robbing him of all those Privileges and Profits, to which he had an undeniable Claim: Whereby a Noble­man of the best Family may be supplanted by an obscure Person of the meanest, if the Wo­man prove unchaste and false, for want of Issue from the Marriage-Bed. And this I am afraid is none of the least Reasons of the ap­parent Degeneracy of some Ancient Families in the Nation. 'Tis true indeed, the Men in these Cases are no more excusable than the Women, they are equally as guilty of Matrimo­nial Inconstancy as their Wives; but then the Husband cannot bring in an Illegitimate Child into the Family; he cannot by that means strike out the next Lawful Heir, and basely deprive him of his Birthright. This is wholly owing to the unlawful Familiarity of Wives, [Page 17] and is an Evil in them of the first Magnitude, being compounded both of abominable Trea­chery and Injustice. And therefore to preserve the Succession in a right Line, that no base Child may deprive the Lawful Heir of his just Privileges, 'tis an Ancient Custom in se­veral Places of the East, as well as in Africk, That the Heirship of Families runs all along on the Mother▪s side, as being least liable to Sophistry and Imposition. So that if once the Nativity be allow'd, the proper Father is never question'd. In Rome, formerly, Three of Lepidus's Relations were born with a Cartilage upon the Right Eye, as a distinctive Mark of that Family to which they belong'd. And were all the Families in England to be trac'd at the same rate, and every Child in the Nation affix'd to its Genuine Father, what a Nume­rous Brood would be found in some Houses, that are now destitute of Children? And how many Persons that feed and educate Variety of Children, as their own, would then be really left almost Childless?

Besides these odious Civil Consequences,Religious Mischiefs. there are Abundance of Religious Evils which this Conjugal Libertinism produces, which was [Page 18] a Vice so detestable among the Iews, that Death is pronounc'd the infallible Penalty of it,Adultery ca­pital among the Iews. Deut. xx. 10. And the man that committeth adul­tery with another man's wife, even he that com­mits adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adul­terer and adulteress shall surely be put to death. And were this Law in England as frequently executed as it is transgress'd, it would in some measure unpeople us, I am afraid, as much as either the last Plague, or the late War has done, and mightily increase the Accounts of Morta­lity among us. And that this is a Vice of that intoxicating Nature, that men are but rarely drawn off from it, we have Solomon's Testi­mony, Prov. ii. 19. None that go in unto her (the Lewd Woman) return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. Chap. vii. 27. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. No Dungeon is half so dan­gerous and dismal as her Apartments, notwith­standing all their splendid Gaiety. And that Wise King, who smarted so severely under their Enchantments, because he was too fami­liar with their ways, has with as much Free­dom as Severity kindly given Caution against too much Confidence in them, in that Sentence [Page 19] of his, which looks as sharp as any Satyr that was written against them, Eccles. vii. 28. One man among a thousand have I found, but a wo­man among all those have I not found. No, not even among the Seven Hundred Wives that were Princesses, and those Three Hundred Con­cubines which he chose to compleat his Thou­sand. But this can be no just Reflection upon the Innocent Conversation of our Ladies; among whom I question not but there are now several of as rigid Continence and Virtue, as there were in any Age since his Time.

'Twas in the late Reigns that this Abomi­nable Iniquity came to be so Epidemic an Eng­lish Vice. The People of Israel follow'd the Sins of Ieroboam; and Regis ad exemplum, &c. were the Sins of [...]. who made England to sin.Address to the Parlia­ment. And unless the Great Council of the Nation shall think fit to do something as remarkable for the Suppression of that Abomination, as has been done for the Encouragement of it, we must still stand in Fear of its ominous Growth, and justly dread the fatal Consequences of its Increase among us. That it will, if not re­strain'd, produce at length a Storm of very heavy Iudgments upon us, we may verily be­lieve, [Page 20] from that severe Indignation which the Almighty has frequently express'd against this Wickedness; and that not only in threatning with future, It provokes the Iudg­ments of God. but inflicting present Plagues. He stiles himself slow to Anger, and is unapt to show his Resentments on a sudden; but yet at length he strikes home; as the Poet tells us,

And therefore Iob comforts himself with the Remembrance of his Innocence and Inte­grity, and the Assurance he had of not smart­ing for this Sin, which he reckons to be ex­tremely pernicious and destructive: Iob xxxi. 9, 10, 11, 12. If my heart has been deceiv'd by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door; then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her. For this is an hei­nous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punish'd by the judges: For it is a fire that consumeth to de­struction, and would root out all my Increase. He [Page 21] thought it so far from add [...] any thing to his Family, that it would certainly exterminate and extinguish those Blessings whereof he had been already possess'd; and that it would di­minish his Comforts instead of making an In­crease to them. And doubtless whatever Fe­licities any Persons c [...]n pretend to from such filthy unlawful Practices, the Miseries will in all respects far over-balance and outw [...]gh them, and produce a Train of lasting and very grie­vous Evils, for those short and vanishing De­lights. And many Nations besides the Iews have been possess'd with so irreconcilable an Odium and utter Detestation against all Adulte­rous Conversation, that they doom'd the Com­mission of it to as Capital a Punishment as the Iews did, and sentenc'd the Guilty Persons un­to Death.

At Pulo, Condore, and Pegu; at Siam, Co­chinchina, Cambodia, and Guinea, the Natives are so obliging to Strangers, as to offer them the Use of Women, though not of their Wives. And yet what Heathens disavow'd, is very shamefully practis'd by Christians; and what the Husband is utterly averse to, That the Wife chuses, against all the Laws of Matrimo­nial [Page 22] Endearments, the natural Violence of whose Lust breaks too often through all the various and strong Restraints of Fear and Ho­nour, which by a Wise Providence were con­triv'd as Bars to their Chastity, and plac'd as Guardians to their Modesty.

It was Five hundred and twenty Years af­ter Rome was built, before ever that renown'd and flourishing City heard of a Divorce among her People. And when Spurius Carbilius dis­miss'd his Wife upon the account of her Ste­rility, for he had no Argument against her of Matrimonial Impurity, yet he receiv'd a sound Reproof for that Action; and was told, That the Desire of Children ought to give place to Conjugal Obligations: Val. Max. lib. 2. cap. 1. 'Tis not either for the Barrenness of the Wo­men, or the Natural Coldness of the Men, that Divorces are so much requested among us, as for their loose unlawful Behaviour to one ano­ther. Those Natural unavoidable Infirmities do plead for Excuse, and are sometimes par­don'd where the Affections are entire and ar­dent: But this Matrimonial Inconstancy is a Vice of that Malignity, that it poysons the Kind­ness of the most Cordial, and cools the most [Page 23] Sanguine Husband or Wife into Indifference, and oftentimes Aversation.

The Almighty was so averse to unlawful Issues under the Mosaical Dispensation, that he declares, Deut. xxiii. 2. A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the con­gregation of the Lord: That is, as the Hebrew Doctors expound it, Never. And the Rea­son which they give for it, is this, That Per­sons might be deterr'd from such Marriages as would leave an indelible Mark of Infamy upon Posterity. And the Wise Son of Syrac has in few words express'd the several great Evils that attend the Violation of Matrimonial Fidelity, in the Woman particularly, Ecclus. xxiii. 22, &c. Thus shall it go also with the wife that leaves her husband, and brings in an heir by another. For First, She has disobey'd the law of the most High. And Secondly, She has trespass'd against her own husband. And Thirdly, She has play'd the whore in adultery, and brought children by another man. She shall be brought out into the congregation, and inquisition shall be made of her children. Her children shall not take root, and her branches shall bring forth no fruit. She shall leave [Page 24] her memory to be curs'd, and her reproach shall not be blotted out. And they that remain shall know, that there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord, and that there is nothing sweeter than to take heed to the commandments of the Lord.

Now since the Zeal and Conduct of the High Court of Parliament have done such Mi­racles for the Safety of the Nation, have con­quer'd Difficulties that seem'd insuperable in Time of War, and have since appeas'd all the Publick Clamours of Discontent in time of Peace; surely it would not be a Matter un­worthy their Thoughts and Consideration, to re­flect upon the Numerous Mischiefs which this too common Conjugal Inconstancy produces; and prescribe such Antidotes as might timely put a stop to it. What a Glory will this add to all those Mighty Things which they have already done? And how many Thousand Families in England will think themselves obli­ged to call them for ever blessed for it? And blessed they must needs be, who make their Authority a Terror to all Iniquity, and take care that Vice should never trample upon their Power, nor a Wickedness so daring, so mischie­vous, [Page 25] and odious as this, should ever pass any longer without a due Censure, and just Punish­ment. Were this Effeminate Liberty but ef­fectually suppress'd by their Wise Determinati­ons, what a lovely Alteration would it produce throughout the whole Kingdom! And how many Injur'd Persons, whose Tempers are now dejected with private Grief and Discontent, would then have them turn'd immediately in­to a pleasant Chearfulness and Satisfaction? Our Men would then be more Hale and Vigorous, more Active and Hardy than now they are, and not be enervated with Effeminacy, and subdued with sharp Pains and Diseases of Lust; nor yet be rack'd with violent and impetuous Pas­sions deriv'd from the deprav'd Appetite of the Parent. How many Estates might then be sav'd, that now are wasted and consum'd by Prodigal Expensive Lewdness? And how ma­ny Families live like Brethren in Love and Ami­ty, that are now only the Nurseries of Iealou­sy and Discontent?

And were these formidable Difficulties of Marriage but remov'd, and the Wife safe in the Love of her Husband, and He in the Af­fections of his Wife, and the Legitimacy of her [Page 26] Offspring, and not expos'd so desperately to the Falsity of her Love, and the Unlawfulness of her Progeny, the Taxes then that are laid upon Batchelors would sensible decay and va­nish, and those upon Marriage as apparently increase and multiply. Men then would enter­tain the Thoughts of Wedlock with the same Honourable Esteem as that Solemnity gain'd at its first Institution; which would no more be look'd upon as a State of Slavery, but Freedom; as fit for Man even in his State of Innocence and Perfection; and a Blessing de­sign'd to inhance the Pleasure, and multiply all the Comforts and Delights of Life. But such a happy Change as this can never in England be expected, till those Wise Resolutions which inspir'd the August Assembly of the Nation to surmount such Hardships as seem'd unconquera­ble, animate them again to establish such an Act against this dissolute Matrimonial Beha­viour, as may restrain the Married Persons within Bounds of Modesty; which is the only means of promoting that Honourable Estate, which is now so wretchedly neglected; and of reviving its decay'd Felicities and Comforts. For now the Impunity of it has encourag'd its Vio­lation [Page 27] to that degree of Assurance and Boldness, The Impu­dence of Of­fenders. as if the Offenders were really Lawless, and out­brav'd the Force of Civil Constitutions, and the Power of the Legislature to restrain them. For effecting which, it might not be amiss to con­trive such a Method and Law, as might render Divorces less chargeable and difficult than now they are. For since all Divorces, with the Li­berty of Marrying again, proceed from the Authority of Parliament; therefore if either there chance to be no Sessions for some time; or if there be, the Parliament has no Opportu­nity of dispatching such private Concerns; or if the Person injur'd be a Man of no Application, or be destitute either of Money or of Time to go through with such a weighty Affair; in all these Instances he must be forc'd to Silence, and privately to struggle with his inward Bur­then and his Grief, because he is not qualified for a Deliverance from the Difficulties of them. And therefore since our Saviour assures us, and the most Judicious Casuists attest,Divorces lawful upon the account of Fornica­tion. That upon the account of Fornication it is really lawful both to divorce, and to marry again, Matth. 5. 32. why should not some more Easy Me­thod be thought of, than now is practis'd, for [Page 28] relieving the Party injur'd and oppress'd? For sometimes Divorces have taken up the space of Four Years before they were accomplish'd; as that of the Lord Ross, which continued from 66 to 70. and that of the Duke of Norfolk's much longer. And certainly 'twere more de­sirable, that the speedy Dispatch of the Iewish manner of Divorce, Be expelled from me, and free for any body else; upon just Conviction, were allow'd, than such as are so Tedious and Expensive as those now mention'd.

Since therefore the happy Constitution of our Government takes care of all other Properties, Conclusion. it will not, I hope, hereafter suffer this which is most dear and tender, to be so easily invaded and ravish'd from us. Nor will those Laws which are a Defence for an Ox or an Ass, over­look the Security of the most Valuable Enjoy­ment, neglect the Rights and Interests of the Conjugal Bed, and not maintain the Staple Comfort of our Lives in all the Duties and Obli­gations of Matrimonial Constancy and Indear­ments.