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.

* * * * *




CHAPTER VII

_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