Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 17.djvu/168

162 if the true legal foundation of the married state be once sapped, and instead thereof tyrannical maxims introduced, what must follow but elopements instead of secret and peaceable cuckoldom?

From all that has been said, one may clearly perceive the absurdity of the doctrine of this seditious, discontented, hot-headed, ungifted, unedifying preacher, asserting, That the grand security of the matrimonial state, and the pillar upon which it stands, is founded upon the wife's belief of an absolute unconditional fidelity to the husband's bed: by which bold assertion he strikes at the root, digs the foundation, and removes the basis, upon which the happiness of a married state is built. As for his personal reflections, I would gladly know who are those wanton wives he speaks of? who are those ladies of high station, that he so boldly traduces in his sermon? It is pretty plain, whom these aspersions are aimed at, for which he deserves the pillory, or something worse.

In confirmation of this doctrine of the indispensable duty of cuckoldom, I could bring the example of the wisest wives in all ages, who by these means have preserved their husbands' families from ruin and oblivion by want of posterity: but what has been said, is a sufficient ground for punishing this pragmatical parson. CHAP