Page:A Treatise concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed.djvu/189

 Lady.Yes, yes; I shall bring my self off fairly; I say, 'twas no Marriage, 'twas all Force, a Rape upon Innocence and Virtue.

Knight.A Rape! Didn't you go to Church and repeat the Words, and say, I Will?

Lady.Go to Church; No, no; you may say indeed, I was dragged to Church, I did not go; I tell you, 'twas no Matrimony, tho' 'twas a Marriage; I was ravished, and nothing else.

Knight.But who forced you, and who dragged you to Church; I'm sure I went to Church with as ill a Will as you.

Lady.I don't know what you did; but I went like a Bear haul'd to a Stake, I know.

Knight.And I think you have been a Bear ever since; I suppose that made you so.

Lady.Whether I have been a Bear or no, I have been baited like a Bear; that's true enough.

Knight.Well, your Ladyship's even with me there indeed, you give me the Dog for the Bear.

Lady.You must drink as you brew, Sir Thomas; you know that 'twas you began it.

Knight.It is just upon me indeed; I broke my Faith and Honour with the Angel I lov'd; for the curs'd Thirst: of Money: My Father knew not what he did, when he perswaded me to it: But I must marry a Fortune!

Lady.Yes, and I must be tickled with a Feather, and wheedled up with being a Lady.If I had taken the Man I loved, I had had that which few Ladies enjoy; I had had the Man that loved me, and he had had the Woman that loved him, and both been happy; and now, here's the Baronet and the Lady, as wretched as a Foot Soldier and his Trull.