ought to steer in all lawful courses, will, like a
faithful companion, share patiently with him in all
adversities, run with cheerfulness through all difficulties
and dangers, though ever so hazardous, to preserve
and assist him, in poverty, sickness, or whatsoever
misfortunes befall him, acting according to her duty
in all things; but a proud, imperious harlot will do
no more than she lists, in the sunshine of prosperity;
and like a horse-leech, ever craving, and never satisfied;
still seeming displeased, if all her extravagant cravings
be not answered; not regarding the ruin and misery
she brings on him by those means, though she seems
to doat upon him, used to confirming her hypocrisy
with crocodile tears, vows and swoonings, when her
cully has to depart awhile, or seems but to deny immediate
desires; yet this lasts no longer than she can gratify
her appetite, and prey upon his fortune.
Now, on the contrary, a loving, chaste and even-tempered
wife, seeks what she may to prevent such dangers,
and in every condition does all she can to make him
easy. And, in a word, as there is no content in
the embraces of a harlot, so there is no greater joy
in the reciprocal affection and endearing embraces
of a loving, obedient, and chaste wife. Nor is
that the principal end for which matrimony was ordained,
but that the man might follow the law of his creation
by increasing his kind and replenishing the earth;
for this was the injunction laid upon him in Paradise,
before his fall. To conclude, a virtuous wife
is a crown and ornament to her husband, and her price
is above all rubies: but the ways of a harlot
are deceitful.
* * * *
*
Of Errors in Marriages;
Why they are, and the Injuries caused by
them.
By errors in marriage, I mean the unfitness of the
persons marrying to enter into this state, and that
both with respect to age and the constitution of their
bodies; and, therefore, those who design to enter
into that condition ought to observe their ability
and not run themselves into inconveniences; for those
that marry too young may be said to marry unseasonably,
not considering their inability, nor examining the
forces of nature; for some, before they are ripe for
the consummation of so weighty a matter, who either
rashly, of their own accord, or by the instigation
of procurers or marriage-brokers, or else forced thereto
by their parents who covet a large dower take upon
them this yoke to their prejudice; by which some,
before the expiration of a year, have been so enfeebled,
that all their vital moisture has been exhausted;
which had not been restored again without great trouble
and the use of medicines. Therefore, my advice
is: that it is not convenient to suffer children,
or such as are not of age, to marry, or get children.
He that proposes to marry, and wishes to enjoy happiness
in that state, should choose a wife descended from
honest and temperate parents, she being chaste, well
bred, and of good manners. For if a woman has
good qualities, she has portion enough. That
of Alcmena, in Plautus, is much to the purpose, where
he brings in a young woman speaking thus:—
