Conjugium Languens: OR, The Natural, Civil, and Religious MISCHIEFS Arising from Conjugal Infidelity AND IMPUNITY.  
By CASTAMORE.  
Tu quoque suscepti curam dimittis amici;  
Officiique pium tam cito ponis onus?  Ou. Trist. 
London: Printed by R. ROBERTS. 1700.   

Conjugium Languens, etc.  
'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 than '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 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 Traffic 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 aught 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. Than many silent Complaints against Matrimonial Infidelity would cease; than would not those Solemn, Sacred Ties be so wilfully violated and profaned, so frequently made an occasion to Lewdness, and sacrificed so impiously to all Immodesty and Lust. For how often is Marriage made only a Cloak to Impurity? And that dazzling Beauty which before commanded Respect and Admiration by its Innocence, is under that Religious Cover exposed 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, equalise the Courage and Hardiness of These, how valuable should we be at Home, as well as formidable Abroad! Than 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 famed 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 not Attacks, there would than 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. It is an Observation upon this Island, That no Continent has been oftener, perhaps, conquered, 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 betrayed 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 Surprisals. But since the Weak Sex have rendered 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 lest, 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 esteemed and allowed as a valuable Gift to a Married Woman, to debase herself, 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 than 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 awhile 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 tender the Person that is distempered 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 spawned from the Dead-Sea, or were a Limb of Sodom and Gomorrah. So long has Reason lain asleep, and Conscience been checked and awed to Silence, that the very Body now is forced 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 quenched, 
Wantonness emasculates the Age.  or else be timely not restrained, it will soon emasculate the Age, consume the Strength, and melt down the Courage of the Nation. IT will serve instead of a Thousand Enemies to foil and overthrew the Kingdom, when it has brought our Men to be as Lascivious as Satyrs, and as Impotent as Pigmies. 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 Braveness of our Spirits more than all their Legions and Battalions. If we design to maintain our Martial Valour, for which we are now renowned 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 Achievements; but those tender Endearments he meets with in the Fair Sex exhausted all his Fire and Strength, and tender him very insignificant and useless.  
'Twas a most excellent Observation of juvenal, concerning the Ruin and Declination of Ancient Rome, 
— Saevior Armis  
Luxuria incubuit, victumque ulciscitur orbem.   
When the vanquished World had nothing left to revenge itself on conquering Rome, it's own Luxury became its Overthrow, and was more victorious over itself, than any Foreign Power or Arms. And while Effeminacy triumphs among our Men of Arms, England's Laurels of necessity must whither. The Ancient Gauls recommended Continency till a full and vigorous Age to all their Men designed for War, because they observed that Women were apt to abate and divert their Courage. And the Greek History observes to us, That all such as designed 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 mixed with the very Spirits and Blood. And therefore 'tis the Wisdom of all Persons in their Conjugal Elections, to see that those they choose 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 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-acquired Richeses, Ex male quaesitis, etc. Ill-gotten Children, as well as Wealth, seldom continued 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 confounded the Nuptial joys 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 jealousy; a Passion which blows hot and cold at once: 
It creates jealousy.  'Tis a kind of Compound of Light and Darkness, of Pain and Pleasure; that constrains 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 from, 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 confined 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 assured, expired with Grief, because of the Incontinency of his Wife: I hearty wish that he were the only Martyr of this kind of Discontent, and the last that fell a Victim to this sort of Dissatisfaction; which is a Torment so intolerable, that the very Animals are impatient under this Pressure, and enraged to be rivalled in their Amours. And there is nothing certainly that ferments the Mind to a greater pitch of Anger and Resentment, than those vexatious Thoughts inspired by jealousy.  
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 injured, with Discontent; but they likewise quarry very often upon the Fortune, and maintain their Consumptive Lusts at a large Expense. 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 Daytime, 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 feathered with their Substance. And in this they too nearly moralise the Fable of the Danaides, condemning themselves to put their Money in a Bag with Holes; as those Daughters of Danaus were punished in Hell with filling Water in a Tub without a Bottom. Of this we have a late memorable Instance among our Nobility here at Home, besides many more less-Illustrious Examples which might be produced: For within Three Years which happened between the late Duke's (Norfolk's) Death, and the parting the new Duke and Duchess, she run him out by Extravagant Expenses 30000 l. above his Income; to pay which, obliged him to cell 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 choose 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, continued still in a Single State, what tolerable degrees of Endearments and Friendship can possibly be expected from them; since they vowed that with their Mouth which their Mind disowned, and tied that with the Tongue, which they never consented to with the Heart? 
Raises Domestic Broils and Troubles.  From whence proceed those Rumours daily of so many Skirmishes and Domestic Discords, of such Broils and Dissensions in several Families, which are perfect Epitomies of a Civil War, and nothing but Nurseries of Feuds and Discontent; which tender 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 lose Age, Gall. Ele. 1. 
Et mihi dulce magis resoluto vivere collo.  
Nothing agrees more with my Mind,  
Than Liberty that's unconfined.   
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 without Restraint, and resolutely break all those holy Bonds asunder. So that what is remarked 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 pronounced of the unhappy Temper of our lose Gallants, who expose themselves so commonly to all Strangers, and drive so general a Traffic 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 endowed 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 shaped 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, 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 clubbed to make up one Family. But herein Charity advises us not to pass our Judgements 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 than as tender a Regard be had for Families, for securing them from being adulterated and stained with False Amours, and Illegitimate Conceptions, and being made a Medley of contrary Humours, and disagreeable Genius's and Dispositions? And no Parent that had the lest 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 heinous 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 Marriagebed. And this I am afraid is none of the lest Reasons of the apparent Degeneracy of some Ancient Families in the Nation. 'Tis true indeed, the Men in these Cases are not more excusable than the Women, they are equally as guilty of Matrimonial Inconstancy as their Wives; but than 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, 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 afric, 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 allowed, the proper Father is never questioned. In Rome, formerly, Three of Lepidus' Relations were born with a Cartilege upon the Right Eye, as a distinctive Mark of that Family to which they belonged. And were all the Families in England to be traced at the same rate, and every Child in the Nation affixed 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 than 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 a Vice so detestable among the jews, that Death is pronounced the infallible Penalty of it, 
Adultery capital among the jews.  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 transgressed, 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 of from it, we have Solomon's Testimony, Prov. two. 19 None that go in unto her (the Lewd Woman) return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. Chap. seven. 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 of his, which looks as sharp as any satire that was written against them, Eccles. seven. 28. One man among a thousand have I found, but a woman among all those have I not found. Not, not even among the Seven Hundred Wives that were Princesses, and those Three Hundred Concubines which he chose to complete 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 followed the Sins of jeroboam; and Regis ad exemplum, etc. 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 restrained, produce at length a Storm of very heavy judgements upon us, we may verily believe, from that severe Indignation which the Almighty has frequently expressed against this Wickedness; and that not only in threatening with future, 
It provokes the judgements of God.  but inflicting present Plagues. He styles 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, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
Mills of the Gods do slowly wind,  
But they at length to Powder grinned.   
And therefore job 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: job xxxi. 9, 10, 11, 12. If my heart has been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door; than let my wife grinned unto another, and let others bow down upon her. For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges: For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all my Increase. He 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 possessed; 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 overbalance and outweigh them, and produce a Train of lasting and very grievous Evils, for those short and vanishing Delights. And many Nations besides the jews have been possessed with so irreconcilable an Odium and utter Detestation against all Adulterous Conversation, that they doomed the Commission of it to as Capital a Punishment as the jews did, and sentenced 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 disavowed, is very shamefully practised by Christians; and what the Husband is utterly averse to, That the Wife chooses, against all the Laws of Matrimonial 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 contrived as Bars to their Chastity, and placed as Guardians to their Modesty.  
It was Five hundred and twenty Years after Rome was built, before ever that renowned and flourishing City heard of a Divorce among her People. And when Spurius Carbilius dismissed his Wife upon the account of her Sterility, for he had no Argument against her of Matrimonial Impurity, yet he received a sound Reproof for that Action; and was told, That the Desire of Children aught 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 lose unlawful Behaviour to one another. Those Natural unavoidable Infirmities do pled for Excuse, and are sometimes pardoned where the Affections are entire and ardent: But this Matrimonial Inconstancy is a Vice of that Malignity, that it poisons the Kindness of the most Cordial, and cools the most 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 deterred from such Marriages as would leave an indelible Mark of Infamy upon Posterity. And the Wise Son of Syrac has in few words expressed the several great Evils that attend the Violation of Matrimonial Fidelity, in the Woman particularly, Ecclus. xxiii. 22, etc. Thus shall it go also with the wife that leaves her husband, and brings in an heir by another. For First, She has disobeyed the law of the most High. And Secondly, She has trespassed against her own husband. And Thirdly, She has played 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 her memory to be cursed, 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 conquered Difficulties that seemed insuperable in Time of War, and have since appeased all the Public 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, and odious as this, should ever pass any longer without a due Censure, and just Punishment. Were this Effeminate Liberty but effectually suppressed by their Wise Determinations, what a lovely Alteration would it produce throughout the whole Kingdom! And how many Injured Persons, whose Tempers are now dejected with private Grief and Discontent, would than have them turned immediately into a pleasant Cheerfulness and Satisfaction? Our Men would than 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 racked with violent and impetuous Passions derived from the depraved Appetite of the Parent. How many Estates might than be saved, that now are wasted and consumed by Prodigal Expensive Lewdness? And how many Families live like Brethrens in Love and Amity, that are now only the Nurseries of jealousy and Discontent?  
And were these formidable Difficulties of Marriage but removed, and the Wife safe in the Love of her Husband, and He in the Affections of his Wife, and the Legitimacy of her Offspring, and not exposed so desperately to the Falsity of her Love, and the Unlawfulness of her Progeny, the Taxes than that are laid upon Bachelors would sensible decay and vanish, and those upon Marriage as apparently increase and multiply. Men than would entertain the Thoughts of Wedlock with the same Honourable Esteem as that Solemnity gained at its first Institution; which would not more be looked upon as a State of Slavery, but Freedom; as fit for Man even in his State of Innocence and Perfection; and a Blessing designed to enhance 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 inspired the August Assembly of the Nation to surmount such Hardships as seemed 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 decayed Felicities and Comforts. For now the Impunity of it has encouraged its Violation to that degree of Assurance and Boldness, 
The Impudence of Offenders.  as if the Offenders were really Lawless, and outbraved 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 tender Divorces lesle 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 injured 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 forced to Silence, and privately to struggle with his inward Burden 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 practised, for relieving the Party injured and oppressed? For sometimes Divorces have taken up the space of Four Years before they were accomplished; 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 jewish manner of Divorce, Be expelled from me, and free for any body else; upon just Conviction, were allowed, than such as are so Tedious and Expensive as those now mentioned.  
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 ravished 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 Endearments.  
FINIS.