[ 76 ]
most preposterous Piece of Folly, and deserves more Satyr than I have Room to bestow upon it here; I may speak of it again in its Place.
I knew a Couple of married Wits who frequently jelled thus with one another till they quarrelled, and indeed, it generally ended in a Quarrel; when it was come up to its highth, they went to their separate Apartments, and perhaps did not see one another for several Weeks, one living at one End of the House, and the other at t'other End; half a dozen times a Day, or more, they would send Letters to one another, filled with bantering bitter Sarcasms and Satyrs, sometimes in Verse, in Song and in Distichs, other times in Prose, with scandalous Reproaches, filled with immodest Expressions of the vilest Sort, and not fit to be repeated, unless I should break the Rules I have prescribed both to my self and others.
In this manner they would sometimes live for a Month or two together, never sparing to give the utmost Provocation, and to receive it with the extreamest Indignation, till they run one another out of Breath with their ill Usage; and then, as Storms, when they have spent their Strength, and their Fury is abated, it would gradually wear off, the Fire and Brimstone being exhausted, they would begin to cool again, and so come with as little Ceremony to an Accommodation, as they had with little Decency fallen out.
What need is there of abundance of Discretion as well as Affection between a Man and Wife, to preserve the Rules of Decency, and to keep up the Bounds of Modesty in their
