Page:A Treatise concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed.djvu/72

 this great Law of Matrimony is founded the utmost Intercourse and familiarity of the Sexes, by which all that Shyness, that modest Reserve and Restraint, all that which is called shamefacedness and blushing, even in the most modest and chast Virgin, is taken away; that is to say, so far only, and no farther, as respects her immediate Intimacy and Conversation with her own Husband; she freely strips off her cloths in the Room with him; and whereas she would not have shew'd him her Foot before, without her Shoe and Stocking on, she now, without the least Breach of Modesty, goes into what we call the naked Bed to him, and with him; lies in his Arms, and in his Bosom, and sleeps safely, and with security to her Virtue with him, all the Night: And this is her Place, her Property, her Privilege, exclusive of all others, for he is her own, and she is his; he is the covering of the Eyes to her, and she is called, in the sacred Text, the Wife of his Bosom; she has the only right to lodge there; it is her Retreat, the Repository of her Cares, as well as of her Delight, and of her Affection.

if it is not thus with both or either of them, nay, if it was not thus before they married, let them flatter themselves as they please with the formal Marriage, or the formality of Matrimony, I insist they have violated the Laws of and Man, in their coming together; violated their solemn Oath and Covenant to one another after coming together; and whatever they are in the Sense of the Law, they are really no Man and Wife at all in the Sense which I am giving of Things: Whether I am in the right or no, I refer to the Judgment of the impartial Part of sober Mankind.