Though men would find such mortal feuds, 825
In sharing of their publick goods,
’Twould put them to more charge of lives,
Than they’re supply’d with now by wives;
Until they graze, and wear their clothes,
As beasts do, of their native growths:  830
For simple wearing of their horns
Will not suffice to serve their turns. 
For what can we pretend t’ inherit,
Unless the marriage-deed will bear it? 
Could claim no right, to lands or rents, 835
But for our parents’ settlements;
Had been but younger sons o’ th’ earth,
Debarr’d it all, but for our birth. 
What honours or estates of peers,
Cou’d be preserv’d but by their heirs 840
And what security maintains
Their right and title, but the banes? 
What crowns could be hereditary,
If greatest monarchs did not marry. 
And with their consorts consummate 845
Their weightiest interests of state? 
For all the amours of princes are
But guarantees of peace or war,
Or what but marriage has a charm
The rage of empires to disarm, 850
Make blood and desolation cease,
And fire and sword unite in peace,
When all their fierce contest for forage
Conclude in articles of marriage? 
Nor does the genial bed provide 855
Less for the int’rests of the bride;
Who else had not the least pretence
T’ as much as due benevolence;
Could no more title take upon her
To virtue, quality, and honour. 860
Than ladies-errant, unconfin’d,
And feme-coverts t’ all mankind
All women would be of one piece,
The virtuous matron and the miss;
The nymphs of chaste Diana’s train, 865
The same with those in LEWKNER’s Lane;
But for the difference marriage makes
’Twixt wives and ladies of the lakes;
Besides the joys of place and birth,
The sex’s paradise on earth; 870
A privilege so sacred held,
That none will to their mothers yield;
But rather than not go before,
Abandon Heaven at the door. 
And if th’ indulgent law allows 875
A greater freedom to the spouse,
The reason is, because the wife
Runs greater hazards of her life;
Is trusted with the form and matter
Of all mankind by careful nature; 880
Where man brings nothing but the stuff
She frames the wond’rous fabric of;
Who therefore, in a streight, may freely
Demand the clergy of her belly,
And make it save her the same way 885
It seldom misses to betray;
Unless both parties wisely enter
Into the liturgy indenture,
And though some fits of small contest
Sometimes fall out among the best,