Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	husband_n	marriage_n	wife_n	3,594	5	7.6210	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70441	A letter to a person of quality, occasioned by a printed libel, entituled, The cause of the difference between Tobias Cage esquire, and Mary his wife stated by the said Mary in a letter to a gentleman, for her own vindication: the design, malice, and falshood whereof is hereby detected with proofs by persons of value, on oath, and otherwise.	Cage, Tobias.	1678 (1678)	Wing L1692B; ESTC R222690	54,273	46

Equity to order one of the six Clerks or some Relation of the Wife to sue in the Trustees name whether he will or no or if the Trustee be weary of his trust he himself may sue to be discharged But that a Person no way concern'd but as a Contriver Promoter and 〈…〉 braided with it one telling me she was seen late at Night sitting between her pretended Friend and his Secretary like Susanna between the two Elders but she did not look so innocently Sir she hath Daughters which I hope may prove better Wives therefore I spare her yet I cannot wholly excuse her from Blemishes And I can with a good Conscience reply that for my Companions she calls lewd I never had a worse than her self That she liv'd with two former Husbands is true with the one eight Months with the other not four yet with neither of them without Contention although but Hony-Moon And for five years she did me that Right to say that I loved her which you will find by the Proofs For that Slander touching my Mother I was dutiful and shall carry the Proof of it to my Grave having parted with at her Command 3500 l. of my own Estate as Mr. Serg. Connieres well knows and that purely out of Love and Duty to her and I do not know that ever I shewed any Irreverence to her in word or deed And besides this every one of my Sisters hath had a better Portion of me than my Wife and all her Sisters had together It is true I have one Sister who through her own Weakness and Inconsiderateness was reduced to Straits her I took into my House and she lived quietly and with respect to my former Wife sixteen years and was beloved by her but after I married this Wife I had no quiet till I turned her out of doors since which I have and do supply her according to her Capacity and that Ability my Wife hath left me and do not know she hath need of the Charity of any Person But my Wife forgets her own savage handling of her own Mothers Ears And as to my first Wife and her Death this is a Hellish Insinuation of her own Contrivance false and malicious but indeed she endeavoured to subborn Mrs. Mary Husbands to Perjury to diffame me in that Read the Deposition of Mrs. Mary Husbands And as to that which she pretends of Courtship with so considerable an Estate certainly a Man of my years and no Children and a competent Employment need not use such Arguments for such a Woman with two Children and of such Circumstances and that I who never have lived above ten Miles from London could so deceive her that had married two Husbands before and had lived most of her time in London too and had known me and my former Wife in my Troubles as appears by Mr. Okeys Deposition is the most incredible thing imaginable Sir she knew me in all the Changes of my Fortune and all my Wives Relations fourteen years before she knew I was in considerable Business and as likely as some other Men to be something in the World and without doubt I had so been had I missed the Unhappiness of marrying her and thereby those Interruptions and Distractions in my Business But that I endeavoured to tempt her with any Arguments touching Estate she knows there is nothing more false But I never pretended to any such Estate after I knew her never promised to settle any thing upon her I did out of Conscience and Honesty without any Request of her or any for her settle her 1500 l. and secure it as fully as the Art of Man could contrive for a Provision for her and her Children and this I declared to Mr. Thomas Dun was my Resolution to do before I married her As touching my former Wife no Woman ever gave greater Testimony of 〈…〉 and for her Satisfaction and Content with me no Woman ever declared more Of which this Wife found a Letter sent to me not two Months before she died with as great Expressions of Love and Unity as ever any Woman expressed This Letter my now Wife observing me to read before I married her and that the Kindness of the Expressions greatly moved me she got it away and will never since produce it But Sir for that I refer you to her own Sisters Mrs. Hannah and Mrs. Rebecca Fowks who live at Mr. Buchanans in Chancery-Lane And for her Death and indeed how we lived together I also refer you to Dr. William Staynes who was her Neighbour and Physician many years who with Doctor Clerk his Kinsman opened and embowel'd her after her Death Sir There are some few things more will be expected I should say something unto viz. That I permitted a Gentleman in Grays-Inn to abuse her before my Face Another is That Mr. Okey being a Citizen of a mild and soft Spirit was hectored by her Husband to neglect his Trust Answer What is alledged concerning the Gentleman in Grays-Inne is utterly false I have known him now above twenty years and never heard any Person but my Wife say any thing ill of him He is near eighty years old she fell upon him and beat him because he condemned her I never saw or heard him carry himself uncivilly towards her by word or deed This also is a Device to take off his Testimony For Mr. Okey if he hath done any wrong in his Trust it hath been to me He hath permitted her both to use and abuse his Name as she and her Counsel pleased against me yet she hath abused his Wife and Children every one of them Certainly a Woman of greater Falshood and Ingratitude never lived her Usage of that Person and Family who were as a Father and Mother to her in her Troubles is enough alone to convince any Person of what Spirit she is I never moved the Trustee to do any thing unfair nor to omit his Duty I never yet made use of any Protection nor did I ever in the greatest of my Troubles obtain any but now when my Wife maliciously endeavoured to have me arrested on the Bond of 5000 l. she entred into before her Marriage to her first Husband nor did I ever nor would I offer to insist on any such Shift against any other Suit She knows I voluntarily waved it As to Bethel her Confidence of whom she will one day be ashamed Jer. 48.13 when that Calf cannot save her Sir You cannot but observe the malicious and venemous Composition of this Libel What is left unsaid that might render me odious Yet Sir you see there is no Proof nor Reference to any Person to justify any thing in it It is only the Wind of my Wives Spleen who like the wild Asse in Jer. is said to snuff up the Wind at her pleasure and in her Occasion who can turn her away You know how Occasion is rendred in this Place if such When she hath filled up the Measure of her

A LETTER to a Person of Quality occasioned by a printed Libel Entituled The Cause of the Difference between Tobias Cage Esquire and Mary his Wife Stated by the said Mary in a Letter to a Gentleman for her own Vindication The Design Malice and Falshood whereof is hereby detected with Proofs by Persons of value on Oath and otherwise SIR I Cannot but acknowledge my obligation to you for acquainting me with this Libel which is as false as Hell it self The design of it was to obstruc● my being discharged of my Bonds for the Peace which my Wife maliciously bound me in whereby she conceives her Friend as she calls him in th● the Libel would be preserved in his Person and the Jury who is to try the Caus● between her Husband and that Friend be possessed with some obliquities in he● Husband and so award the less for damages but principally in pursuance of th● old wicked Design between her and her Friend for a separation from her Husband believing that a Gentleman can never possibly digest such Slanders and Indignitie● from a Wife Sir We are not to judge either of the Integrity or Wickedness of a Man by hi● Affliction or Prosperity in this Life Solomon saith the same event hapneth to th● Just and Vnjust nor yet by what is said on the one side or the other but from th● Mouth of two or three Witnesses You know Job was said to be wicked becaus● he was afflicted St. Paul was said to be a pestilent Fellow and mad when he wa● in Bonds and Sir you know who was accused to be a Wine-bibber and a Frien● of Publicans and Sinners Job also had his Wife and David his Michal and yo● know that Law among the Medes and Persians That every man should bear rule in h● own House was publish'd upon Vashties contempt of her Husband Even Socrat● the patient Philosopher had his Xantippe aswell as others Sir It hath please God to exercise me with Afflictions most of my days yet hath his Providenc● miraculously supported me and that under this trial by such a Wife as Solomo● reckons a continual dropping and as rottenness in the Bones I am not ignorant o● the nature and duties of a married Life and have now twice experienced it I hav● found as Charon of Wisdom calls it the first a Paradise and this last a Hell i● comparison of that sweet society of Life I enjoyed for sixteen Years with my forme● Wife of whom I ever did and must say with an honour to her Memory Ma● Daughters have done vertuously but thou excelled'st them all but what I can say of thi● and that truly I shall forbear in all things not necessary for my defence Sir I shall answer that infamous Libel with all the moderation I can and only shew in a plain familiar and historical way the whole truth and occasion of the unparallell'd differences between me and my Wife or rather as she calls it between her and me some of the Paragraphs of the Libel I recite and answer particularly others as summarily as I can to avoid prolixity and make all good with Proofs Libel 1. It being my own interest as well as my obligation to satisfie you in your request I shall give you a faithful and impartial account of the rise and continuance of the difference between me and my Husband Answer This Sir deserves a Remarque The Person that thus invites a Wife to condemn her Husband he never heard and that in Print merits a character that he may be known by he has taken the designs of his counsels from Achitophel When David and Absalom his son were at difference Achitophel counselled him to go in unto his Fathers Concubines in the sight of all Israel that all Israel might know he was abhorred of his Father adding that then his hands should be strengthened Such is this counsel and given with the same expectation and because this Anarchical Counsellor is nameless I will call him Achitophel who when he reflects upon his own iniquity in this matter especially if the hoped for effects of his counsels fail perhaps may set his House in order and make the same good end Libel 2. Before my intermarriage with Mr. Cage I did by the name of Mary Okey secure all my Estate in the hands of Mr. John Okey as my Trustee for the separate maintenance of my self Elizabeth Blackwel and Mary Okey my two Daughters by my two former Husbands and that by a Deed drawn by Mr. Cage himself so that no surprise in the case could be pretended Note That here she saith She made provision for the maintenance of her self and her Children and pag. 7. that had she known such a condition had been foisted into her Articles viz. of maintaining her self and her Children she would never have been the Wife of Mr. Cage Here observe her justice and affection and how Achitophels cunning ●ailed in suffering her thus to contradict her self but some sort of People have had memories Answ 2. This cannot be answered but by giving account of the whole trans●ction before the Marriage and the several times of every action and therefore ●n the beginning of the Year 1669 I buried my former Wife with whom my ●ow Wife was well acquainted and familiar 14 Years before and had been seve●al times at my House with her And about the latter end of October the same ●ear I and my present Wife met at Mr. Doelittles where she took notice of my Wives death and shortly after came to advise with me as Counsel in her suite ●etween her self and Mr. John Ashburnham and desired one of my Clerks might ●ake care of it which gave frequent opportunities of converse Within a little ●ime she desired me to dispose of 500 l. for her at Interest thereupon sent me the ●00 l. by Mr. Okeys Son without taking any Note for the same which pray ●bserve This I put out to Mr. Neal in the names of Dr. Paget and John Okey ●● the latter end of November of the same Year at which time I had no resolution ●rrying with her But she having carried her self very obliging to me 〈…〉 Friends suspecting some affection in the case endeavoured to divert me some giving one reason some another and proposing considerable Matches but I do acknowledge that her extraordinary carriage towards me made me believe there was affection and that she would make me a very tender and loving Wife especially considering the circumstances she was under of two young Children and the discouragement and manner of her Husband Okeys death which was then used as an argument against my marrying her I then desired them to forbear and declar'd that as the truth was I had never propos'd or mention'd marriage to her but if I knew that she had a real affection for me I would marry her At this time I knew not she was worth a Groat more than the five hundred Pounds I had put out unless the 250 l. in Suite

marry this Cage for I have 800 l. per annum and if you had stayed I had married you Of this Sir in discontent she one day told me I then suspecting this friend had some design of making a breach then begg'd of her to forbear his company and yet notwithstanding my request I had notice that he 〈◊〉 thither in my absence some considerable time after I having 〈…〉 and being informed that she had so cruely beaten Miss Okey for with that appellation I always treated her Children I took notice thereof to her with some little earnestness Shortly after I had complaints of her beating her Daughter Blackwel naked in her Bed with a Hazel Stick until she brake it of which her said Daughter keeps a piece to this day I also reproved her for it After that finding that she had so cruelly abused Miss Okey treading her under her Feet which did so exasperate the Child that she got a great piece of Bread and Cheese in her Coats and ran away and resolved to beg rather than return to her Mother her Mother sent about to find her brought her home and for her entertainment beat her until she was all in a gore of Blood the Child again hid her self sometimes in the Hay-Loft sometimes under Hedges nor ever came into the House to eat a bit of Victuals until I returned home which was three days when I came home missing the Child I enquired for her who at last appeared and her Mother complained of her I enquiring into the matter endeavour'd to reconcile them and when I went to Bed I seriously discoursed my Wife and advised her and shewed her there was no such cause of cruelty and for my pains I was forced to rise out of Bed at midnight and walk in the Garden all night This being Saturday and on Monday morning before I came to Town I reconciled her and her Daughter as I thought I was no sooner gone but she took her Daughter up into the Purple Closet beat her until her Nose bled then lock'd her into the Closet until my Wifes Woman taking pity of the Child look'd in at the Key-hole spied her upon the ground lying in her Blood forced open the door and relieved her who as the Genlewoman told me believed she had perished had not she relieved her Another time my Wifes Brother Captain Rose being at Highgate my Wife took a Broom and with both her hands struck at the head of the Child which her Brother defended using these words to me Brother If you do not interpose my Sister will spoil that Child Next she fell upon her Daughter Blackwel and beat her most cruelly when I came in I found the Daughter in the Chamber lamenting her Mothers cruelty I enquired and she told me the cause which was trivial I must confess I was wounded at my very Soul to see the daily affliction the poor Children were in under the tyrannical spirit of their Mother sometimes one sometimes the other hiding themselves for two or three days until I come home and conceiving that by the marriage of their Mother I was somewhat concerned in them and that it was my duty to interpose I resolved to do it effectually and did thorowly discourse with Arguments from Nature and Scripture and I think covinced her but the effect was lamentable She fell upon me saying What have you to do with my Children You you making hideous grimaces and pronounced it with so il an Accent that I then thought it was my duty to deal more plainly with her which I did with all the moderation I could In short all the return I had from her was You are a Rogue a base Fellow and several other opprobrious words This unexpected language from a Wife I confess made me amazed but without offering the least violence to her Person I departed to my Chamber at Grays-Inn leaving this resolution with her that I would not return again to her until I were justified or condemned by some of her own Friends or Relations And this I ker● too and thereupon Collonel Birch Dr. Paget and Mr. Okey the Trustee 〈…〉 she was any way faulty otherwise than through discontents as she pretended that her Estate was wasted which she had never pretended unto before that instant They refused to intermeddle unless I would submit they should enquire into that and settle the matters of Estate between us which I did so that I might be secured of quietness for the future At the last meeting of these Persons Collonel Birch dictated the heads of an Award touching the Estate which though but just was more for my advantage than I expected The next day Collonel Birch informed her of this Award at which she railed at him at Mr. Okeys House in such a manner that from that time he would no more meddle but at the same time a Person telling her that I desired she would return home to me Dr. Paget as I am credibly informed said no Let him bite of the Bridle either he or some other present said if he will not submit we will choak him with the Judgement meaning the security I had entred into to secure her 1500 l. Estate after my death in case it should fall short by my means From this time she absented her self and had I not then reason to suspect the Doctor who not only encouraged her in this separation but went with her to counsel I confess her stubborn absence greatly afflicted me nevertheless I made all the applications that any Gentleman nay Man reasonably could by Friends of her own Ministers nay by her own Trustee who found her implacable This being about August 1674 I resolved as the best way to bring her to her self to serve her Trustee Okey with a Sub-Poena to answer a Bill in Michaelmas Term following My intent was and so was the Bill to complain of her absence and to have the Marriage-Deed or the Award of Collonel Birch Dr. Paget and Okey decreed Upon this she complains to Mr. Abraham Barrington of London pretending she was willing to do whatsoever he advised her who applied himself to me and offered his friendly Mediation which I thankfully accepted The further account whereof and my Grievances then declared also an account of the several References and Proceedings thereon and in what manner this pretended Friend hath carried himself you will meet with all by and by As to my desiring Betty Blackwel to go with me into France true it is I being in this affliction and she desperately in love with one Mr. Browning a Merchant who failed and her Mother managing that business with great indescretion and cruelty to her Daughter and I my self being resolved to step over into France for divertisement not being able to mind my Imployment I was willing for Betty Blackwels diversion also to carry her over with me but I do not remember or believe that ever I spake or sent to her of any such thing nor would I have

be expected I should say as to the Deed printed at large with design either to insinuate some Indiscretion in giving such a Power or Injustice in not keeping it according to the Letter Therefore Sir I entreat you to consider that Deed with the Circumstances she and her Estate were in and you will not I think conceive me guilty of much Folly or any Fraud at all in the penning of it The Estate was but 1500 l. she had two Children and no Debts or Troubles as she and her Trustee affirmed The Estate was forfeited and all liable to be taken away by his Royal Highness except such Part as could be proved granted to her Now Sir though her Affection to me before I married her was by her Subtilty set out in as taking Colours as the greatest Hypocrisy could paint it her Carriage such as might have prevailed with a wiser Man to put Confidence in her who was to be a Wife especially considering the great Profession she made of Religion Yet I endeavoured to secure my self as well against her Childrens future Clamours and uncertain Expectations as from all Suites to discover or accompt for her Husband Okeys Estate toward which any Lawyer will allow me the pleading this Deed would have gone very far Sir you will find she hath not such a Power as she pretends unto but only the Power of appointing Proportions as well for her Childrens Preferment as her own Maintenance and that must be also according to Equity and Justice so that she cannot give all to her Children and leave no Maintenance for her self and the whole is so limited that she cannot dispose of any part of the Principal but for the Preferment of the Children she then had and might have by me And if the Trustee consents to employ any part of it to any other use he is answerable to me for breach of Trust and must make good the Dammage out of his own Estate And as to the Letter or general Words of the Deed viz. all her Estate Was it not a great Fraud in her and her Trustee too if he had known it to conceal and deny her Debts she owed and several expenceful Suits she knew I must be engaged in not only to defend the 1500 l. made known to me but to recover that which I never knew of nor was ever mentioned before I married her Can it be imagined by any rational Man that I should intend by that Deed either that she should give away the 1500 l. and I maintain her and pay her Debts or that I should sell my 〈…〉 I then knew not of nor she neither that for her her Children I could say much more but 't is not convenient The Deed is before the L. Chancellor for his Judgment at her Suit But this I say I never endeavoured to defeat or avoid the true Intent and Meaning of that Deed but I think now her denying Co-habitation with me hath taken away much of the force of it and altered the Case And as to her Pretences That I would have no End that nothing would satisfy me but the whole Estate you see how false she is proved And yet to give a full Answer and stop the Mouth even of Falshood it self I make her these Offers First Let her produce any Woman in England except the Whore of her own making that will soberly affirm that ever I tempted her to any lascivious act of Dalliance or any Gentleman that was ever in my company at any such time or with any such Person I will release her Estate and all claims to it Secondly If she desires Reconciliation and will submit her self make such acknowledgement and satisfaction as any two Divines I having liberty to except against two only and she the like shall think fit and honourable for me to receive I will not only as to her Estate give her choice of the three Awards already made but if she refuses them I will submit all the matters in difference she pretends unto whatsoever except the pretended Friend to any two or three private Gentlemen or Lawyers that have not been concerned with either side to their final and absolute determination But if she refuse all these Proposals judge you Sir and all the World whether she can be other than as Solomon denotes such a Woman as forsakes her Husband and the Covenant of her God or whether there ever was such a Diabolical combination against the Laws of God Nature and Humanity as is between the pretended Friend and her self Sir I foresee an Objection will be by this Woman What shall I give up a Person that has espoused my Quarrel against my Husband and make an agreement and he not included I cannot in honour do it Answ 'T is my unhappiness she is not better acquainted with true Honour where that is you always find it imprinted in the Mind with indelible Characters The Flatteries or Pretences of such a Friend could never have prevailed with her to forget her Covenant nor any ways to wrong her Husband unto whom 't is her duty to do good and no evil all his days 'T is no dishonour to turn from an evil way 't is no dishonour to leave this Seducer to the Law if he hath done well the Law will justifie him if not the World will justify her Husband Which is most honourable to prefer the peace and comfort of her Husband to which she is bound by a sacred vow or that of such a Stranger whose own folly hath rendred him lyable to question Methinks the four Years distraction and wrong I have suffered may resolve that Doubt in honour I am sure it doth in her own Conscience Sir You now see who it is that separates and the Cause The Libel tells you That she is still at the same Lodging I put her in and never lay a Night out but with my knowledg at the House of a Friend of mine 'T is true I could not but know she lay out all that Whitson-Week but 't was against my Will 'T is now twelve Months since but to this day she will not tell where nor with whom she was nor do I know Her continuing her Lodging is like that of keeping in my Chamber three Terms 〈…〉 a design to provoke me with such Language that nothing could be more intolerable and at the same time set one Sorrel to evesdrop me Sir What I have said is true you see most of it is proved and it is less than she knows I can say If I give you an Account of some Intrigues in Coll. Okeys absence and some relating to my self 't would chill your Blood to read them I tell you not all that I can of the Actions of the Friend and his Complices which are not wrapp'd up in such a Cloud of darkness as they conceive nor do I mention the various Attempts Factions and Threats to effect my Ruine nor yet the Faction set up in the Society where I live But