Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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B08961
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Reflections on Mr. Dunton's leaving his wife. In a letter to himself.
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Dunton, John, 1659-1733.
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1700
(1700)
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Wing D2632B; ESTC R223175
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5,167
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5
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REFLECTIONS on Mr. DVNTON's Leaving his WIFE In a Letter to Himself SIR I Received your Letter with your Printed Case inclos'd I am heartily sorry you should have so sad a Case to impart were it only to your Friends but to be necessitated to make the World your Judges and thereby furnish matter for the Insults of your Enemies is the Excess of Vnhappiness Tho' I dare avouch upon a fair Examination of your Case for your gaining to your side the greatest Party as rashly as the World is apt to Judge They must needs condemn such a Senseless Obstinacy as your Wife shews All her deep Policy in adhering to her Mother against her Husband is but the heighth of Extravagance She values Riches and fears Poverty so much that she Embraces the readiest way to procure what she Fears and never to enjoy what she Prizes she builds her Fortune upon her Husbands Ruin and sees not how heavy it falls upon her self This she may be sensible of when 't is past Remedy which will be the more Deplorable as it might have been so easily prevented But no Woman that had Lov'd her Husband at half the rate she pretends would have ever slipt such an opportunity of kindly obliging a Man of so Grateful a Temper that he Studies to requite the least Courtesie from meer Strangers but would make it the business of his whole Life to requite a Kindness that came kindly from his Wife Your Proposals were so open fair and candid after the Charitable Arts you us'd to change her Carriage hoping to have caught her with Guile 2 Cor. 12. 16. that 't is the greatest Wonder to see a Design so well laid so perversly lost nor had it been possible had you been to deal with People of Common Sense But what Treatment must an Honest Sober Man expect at the hands of a meer Woman that has not Wit enough to distinguish a Husband's Necessities from his Extravagance and thinks it Wisdom to tie the hands of a Husband tho' t is to the Ruin of his Credit and her own The Methods us'd by you were so Wise and Cautious there 's nothing left for Excuse on their parts Mr. Larkin Acted like a Friend-between you both and gave 'em a fair Occasion to see and consider the Mischiefs they were like to be involv'd in and must inevitably fall upon themselves for the sinking of a Husband's Credit seldom brings much Honour to a Wife But be she as indifferent as she Pleases to that Point a little thinking might awaken her Fears least these ways of proceeding may prove the means of forcing you to such Measures for Paying your Debts which in the end may prove of no great Advantage to her with respect to meer Interest seting aside those of preserving Peace and Charity nay the Shame of the World and Speech of People which perhaps she better understands unless with the help of her Mother she thinks to bring the World to her side by those Objections with which they satisfie themselves but 't is plain there 's nothing in 'em t is only a pretence to save their Bags For if there 's no possibility of proving you a Vicious Man what cause is there of saying there will be no end of paying your Debts But if they will not Trust Providence but will have you give over your Trade for for fear of losing by it you offer 'em fair let 'em put you in a way of Living without it and use you like a Friend and you 'll soon take off all Objections they shall bring against you And as you have not spared your self but made the World acquainted with what they pretended to object against you so you do very well to justifie your fair dealing as in your Reflections you make it appear that you gave 'em full satisfaction of the whole Circumstance of your Fortune which obliges them to a Performance of what ever was Promis'd on the other part both in Honour and Conscience if they have either But some Passages in their Conduct make 'em both a little doubtful As to your Wife what Honour is in prefering her Mothers Bags before the Credit and Quiet of her Husband And as little Conscience in Swearing before her Marriage she would never suffer her Husband to take up a Peny upon her Jointure in case of the greatest Necessity quiet opposite to a Vow she was going so Solemnly to make in the presence of God and this by her Mothers Command which shews they are both of a Stamp She might as well have made her Swear to hate her Husband and do him all the Mischief she could it would have been as Lawful and as consistent with her Matrimonial Vow But that which gives the Sanction to this Oath and inspires her with a Zeal to Burn rather than Violate her Vow is that her Mother will not give her a Farthing if she does Thus you see Money is the God they love and honour and deny themselves Credit and Reputation Peace and Quietness and all Earthly Comforts for the sake of this Idol It had been but just and fair to have told you what Religion she was of that you might have chose whether you would have Married an Idolater with which I am certain had you known it you would never have ventured to contaminate your self and Posterity there 's little Honour in deceiving a Husband Therefore both in Conscience and Honour she was bound to have acquainted you with what her Mother made her Swear that so you might have secured your self of some means to be Just pay your Debts But that 's the least of her Care for if she owns that you and she are all one and yet denies her assistance to pay your Debts it plainly shews she would not pay 'em if they were soley hers and none of yours I cann't blame you for not desiring Increase from such a Stock unless you can mend it there 's small Comfort in having Children Nursed up in Rebelion Wickedness were that all But you have another Reason more prevalent with you very much becoming a Just and Honest Man which makes you content to leave neither Heir nor Estate behind you and suffer any thing rather then do the least Injustice or that any one should suffer upon your account This is a Vertue so out of their way they cann't in the least comprehend it nor truly Act any thing else that is at all allyed to Vertue and this is sufficiently seen in their unanimously rejecting such Condescending Proposals as those you made 'em and shews the strength of all Combinations of Wickedness that can prevail to the making a sacrifice of their True Interest and Happyness to their Senseless and Obstinate Passions otherwise the Letter you sent her by Mr. Larkin would have made some impression upon a Wife that had the least Spark of Love to her Husband or Sense of her Duty But she had so far imbib'd her Mother's Principles of holding the