John Bull in his senses: being the second part of Law is a bottomless-pit. Printed from a manuscript found in the cabinet of the famous Sir Humphry Polesworth.

CHAP. I. Mrs. Bull's Vindication of the indispensable Duty of Cuckol|dom, incumbent upon Wives, in case of the Tyranny, Infidelity, or Insufficiency of Husbands: Being a full Answer to the Doctor's Sermon against Adultery.

JOHN found daily fresh Proofs of the Infidelity and bad Designs of his deceas'd Wife; amongst other Things, one Day looking over his Ca|binet, he found the following Paper.

IT is evident that Matrimony is founded upon an original Contract, whereby the Wife makes over the Right she has by the Law of Nature to the Con|cubitus vagus, in favour of the Husband, by which he acquires the Property of all her Posterity; but then the Obligation is mutual: And where the Con|tract is broken on one side, it ceases to bind on the other; where there is a Right, there must be a Power to maintain it, and to punish the offending Party. This Power I affirm to be that Original Right, or rather that indispensable Duty of Cuckoldom, lodg'd in all Wives, in the Cases above-mention'd. No Wife is bound by any Law to which she her self has not consented: All Oeconomical Government is lodg'd originally in the Husband and Wife, the executive part being in the Husband, both have their Privi|leges secur'd to them by Law and Reason; but will any Man infer from the Husband's being invested with the executive Power, that the Wife is depriv'd

of her Share, and that which is the principal Branch of it, the original Right of Cuckoldom? and that she has no remedy left but Preces & Lacrymae, or an Appeal to a supreme Court of Judicature? No less frivolous are the Arguments that are drawn, from the general Appellations and Terms of Husband and Wife; a Husband denotes several different sorts of Magistra|cy, according to the Usages and Customs of different Climates and Countries; in some Eastern Nations it signifies a Tyrant, with the absolute Power of Life and Death. In Turkey it denotes an Arbitrary Go|vernor, with power of perpetual Imprisonment; in Italy it gives the Husband the power of Poison and Padlocks; in the Countries of England, France and Holland, it has quite a different Meaning, implying a free and equal Government, securing to the Wife, in certain Cases, the liberty of Cuckoldom, and the property of Pin-money and separate Maintenance; so that the Arguments drawn from the terms of Hus|band and Wife are fallacious, and by no means fit to support a tyrannical Doctrine, as that of absolute un|limited Chastity, and conjugal Fidelity.

The general Exhortations to Chastity in Wives, are meant only for Rules in ordinary Cases, but they naturally suppose the three Conditions of Ability, Justice and Fidelity, in the Husband; such an unli|mited, uncondition'd Fidelity in the Wife could ne|ver be supposed by reasonable Men; it seems a re|flexion upon the Ch—ch, to charge her with Doctrines that countenance Oppression.

This Doctrine of the original Right of Cuckoldom is congruous to the Law of Nature, which is superior to all human Laws, and for that I dare appeal to all Wives: It is much to the Honour of our English Wives, that they have never given up that fundamental Point; and that tho' in former Ages they were muffled up in Darkness and Superstition, yet that Notion seem'd engraven on their Minds, and the Impression so strong, that nothing could impair it.

To assert the Illegality of Cuckoldom, upon any Pretence whatsoever, were to cast odious Colours upon the married State, to blacken the necessary Means of perpetuating Families: Such Laws can ne|ver be suppos'd to have been design'd to defeat the very end of Matrimony, the Propagation of Mankind. I call them necessary Means, for in many Cases what other Means are left? Such a Doctrine wounds the Honour of Families, unsettles the Titles to King|doms, Honours and Estates; for if the Actions from which such Settlements spring were illegal, all that is built upon them must be so too; but the last is ab|surd, therefore the first must be so likewise. What is the Cause that Europe groans, at present, under the heavy Load of a cruel and expensive War, but the tyrannical Custom of a certain Nation, and the scrupulous Nicety of a silly Quean, in not exercising this indispensable Duty of Cuckoldom, whereby the Kingdom might have had an Heir, and a controverted Succession might have been avoided? These are the Effects of the narrow Maxims of your Clergy, That one must not do Evil, that Good may come of it.

The Assertors of this indefeasible Right, and Jus Divinum of Matrimony, do all in their Hearts favour Gallants, and the Pretenders to married Women; for if the true legal Foundation of the married State be once sap'd, and instead thereof tyrannical Ma|xims introduc'd, what must follow but Elopements. instead of secret and peaceable Cuckoldom?

From all that has been said, one may clearly per+ceive the Absurdity of the Doctrine of this seditious discontented, hot-headed, ungifted, unedifying Preacher, asserting, That the grand Security of the ma+trimonial State, and the Pillar upon which it stands, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 founded upon the Wife's belief of an absolute uncondition•••• Fidelity to the Husband's Bed: By which bold Asse••+tion he strikes at the Root, digs the Foundation, a•••• removes the Basis upon which the Happiness of ••

married State is built. As for his personal Reflexi|ons, I would gladly know who are those Wanton Wives he speaks of? who are those Ladies of high Stations, that he so boldly traduces in his Sermon? It is pretty plain who these Aspersions are aim'd at, for which he deserves the Pillory, or something worse.

In confirmation of this Doctrine of the indispen|sable Duty of Cuckoldom, I could deduce the Ex|ample of the wisest Wives in all Ages, who by these means have preserv'd their Husband's Families from Ruin and Oblivion, by want of Posterity; but what has been said, is a sufficient Ground for punishing this pragmatical Parson.