Page:A Treatise concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed.djvu/354

 à more odious Title, where the Woman is the guilty Person, because it is not expected from her so much. But is there any Law that shows us, the Man has more indecent Liberties allowed him than the Woman? Not at all; the Obligation is the same, and the Offence the same.

indecent Matrimony is mutual, and the Crime is mutual, the Scandal affects both; the Woman is as guilty as the Man, and the Man as the Woman. Suppose, for example, a Man having buried his Wife, goes the next Week, or next Month, or next Day (for 'tis much alike) to court another Woman. This is not unlawful, that's true, but 'tis highly indecent; and where lies the Crime? In the Man, says Custom, because he is the Aggressor: But I deny that there is the least Difference in that Part, for the Woman knows it, and she knows 'tis scandalous; Why then does she come into it? The Crime is hers as much as his. Nay, if a Breach of Modesty is greater in the Woman than in the Man, as some pretend, then he is the greatest Offender here too, for the Indecency on her Side is utterly inexcusable.

a Question or two returns upon us here: What is the Indecency that you should bring it into the Rank of Matrimonial Whoredom, or that the Woman should be charged with it? The Indecency is a want of respect to the Memory of the Dead, and pray what is the Woman concerned in that? Perhaps she did not so much as know her, or had ever seen her in her Life; what then is the Memory of her to her that comes after?

next Question is this, Breach of Decency is an invasion of Custom only, and this