What makes this Generation of Vermin so very prolifick, is the indefatigable Diligence with which they apply themselves to their Business.  A Man does not undergo more Watchings and Fatigues in a Campaign, than in the Course of a vicious Amour.  As it is said of some Men, that they make their Business their Pleasure, these Sons of Darkness may be said to make their Pleasure their Business.  They might conquer their corrupt Inclinations with half the Pains they are at in gratifying them.

Nor is the Invention of these Men less to be admired than their Industry or Vigilance.  There is a Fragment of Apollodorus the Comick Poet (who was Contemporary with Menander) which is full of Humour as follows:  Thou mayest shut up thy Doors, says he, with Bars and Bolts:  It will be impossible for the Blacksmith to make them so fast, but a Cat and a Whoremaster will find a Way through them.  In a word, there is no Head so full of Stratagems as that of a Libidinous Man.

Were I to propose a Punishment for this infamous Race of Propagators, it should be to send them, after the second or third Offence, into our American Colonies, in order to people those Parts of her Majesty’s Dominions where there is a want of Inhabitants, and in the Phrase of Diogenes, to Plant Men.  Some Countries punish this Crime with Death; but I think such a Banishment would be sufficient, and might turn this generative Faculty to the Advantage of the Publick.

In the mean time, till these Gentlemen may be thus disposed of, I would earnestly exhort them to take Care of those unfortunate Creatures whom they have brought into the World by these indirect Methods, and to give their spurious Children such an Education as may render them more virtuous than their Parents.  This is the best Atonement they can make for their own Crimes, and indeed the only Method that is left them to repair their past Mis-carriages.

I would likewise desire them to consider, whether they are not bound in common Humanity, as well as by all the Obligations of Religion and Nature, to make some Provision for those whom they have not only given Life to, but entail’d upon them, [tho very unreasonably, a Degree of] Shame and [Disgrace. [3]] And here I cannot but take notice of those depraved Notions which prevail among us, and which must have taken rise from our natural Inclination to favour a Vice to which we are so very prone, namely, that Bastardy and Cuckoldom should be look’d upon as Reproaches, and that the [Ignominy [4]] which is only due to Lewdness and Falsehood, should fall in so unreasonable a manner upon the Persons who [are [5]] innocent.

I have been insensibly drawn into this Discourse by the following Letter, which is drawn up with such a Spirit of Sincerity, that I question not but the Writer of it has represented his Case in a true and genuine Light.

  Sir,

  I am one of those People who by the general Opinion of the World are
  counted both Infamous and Unhappy.