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vourable Passage out of Life, whether in Judgment or in Mercy, God alone knows, I know not what might have been his Fate; for it was such a mortification to him to see himself so universally despis'd upon this scandalous Occasion, and, as he himself said, to deserve it too; whereas he was, on the contrary, so generally beloved before, that it was more than all the Philosophy he was Master of could support.
He was indeed a Memento to his Friends, and a Warning against Matrimonial Whoredom to all that knew him. I say nothing of the Creature he took; she is below our Consideration in the Case, because she had no Character, no Virtue to expose.
All the Argument this unfortunate Person had to excuse himself was, that he was loth to go to a Whore; but he was horribly asham'd to mention it; nor did he speak so but to his very intimate Friends, of whom I was one. But he repented heartily of that Caution, and own'd to us, that he believ'd his Sin was as great, and especially, as he said, the Scandal was greater. Nor did he think himself less guilty of Whoredom for the formality of the Marriage; and I am to acknowledge that it was from this Man, and from his Penitentials, that, as above, I had the very Words which I make the Title of this Work, and which I have on so many Occasions repeated, (viz.) Matrimonial Whoredom.
From this sad History in a Man, whom I esteemed as a Man of Worth, and for that Reason esteemed his Story as considerable, I might proceed to give flagrant Examples of the like scandalous Matches, and from the like unjustifiable Principle, but without the like penitentAcknow-
