tance for myself and
Family, my Wife reserving her own Income for Pin-mony; my Credit very
low, my Days very irksome upon many accounts, and I who had hitherto
appear'd with Assurance in Company, because of my Money-merit, was now
Neglected; for every Tradesman began to smell out my Poverty. I am of
Opinion it would do Posterity no kindness, if I shou'd discover how I
came to be ruin'd by a Prudent Wife, for no Body wou'd Credit me. If I
should advise 'em to trust no Woman living, so as to give her full Scope
upon an Opinion of her Conduct. I took my self to be as wise, upon this
Head, as any Man living. It had been my Study above twenty Years. There
is a secret Devil in every Woman, which is often Conjur'd down by a
Husband's Temper; and though many Men may pass for bad Husbands by their
Morose Carriage, 'tis less prejudicial, than that Indulgence which few
Women have Discretion to make use of. My Wife's first Husband was
represented as not very kind to her, whereas his less obliging Temper
was the Effect of his Judgment, and a touch of Skill he had in managing
a Woman, whom Caresses wou'd have exalted into Impertinence, _&c._

I would not be understood so upon this Subject, as if we lived unhappily
as to our Affections; no, we regarded each other as two inseparable
Companions, not only whose Interest it was not to be at variance, but we
really did affectionately love each other. I cou'd not so much blame her
as my self for if Children, Servants, _&c._ make a loose from their
Duty, who are chiefly to be blam'd, but such gentle and restraining
Methods did not curb 'em, but let 'em feel they had Reins in their
Hands. Thus hamper'd in Wedlock, I had nothing to give me ease but that
three parts of Mankind were in the same, if not in a much worse
Condition. However, to make our Circumstances tollerable for the future,
I perswaded my Consort to abridge her self of some superfluous Charge
which we cou'd not well bear any longer. First we disposed of our Coach,
and then our Acquaintance was reform'd of Course; by Degrees a multitude
of modish Visitors dwindled away into two or three formal Matrons, which
at last ended in a Decent Apartment in a Monastery, where she spent her
Time agreeably enough when I was in the Camp. Hitherto the main matter
which pall'd all my Joys, was the impossibility of a Restoration, which
now was much lessen'd by the concurrence of Domestick Evils, and the
Cares which attend a married State. Yet when