oaths may set me off to Advantage.

_Xa._ You guess right, it is one of the prettiest Suits I ever beheld in
all my Life. It is _English_ Cloth, I suppose.

_Eu._ It is indeed of _English_ Wool, but it is a _Venetian_ Dye.

_Xa._ It is as soft as Silk, and 'tis a charming Purple. Who gave you
this fine Present?

_Eu._ My Husband. From whom should a virtuous Wife receive Presents but
from him?

_Xa._ Well, you are a happy Woman, that you are, to have such a good
Husband. For my Part, I wish I had been married to a Mushroom when I was
married to my _Nick_.

_Eu._ Why so, pray? What! is it come to an open Rupture between you
already?

_Xa._ There is no Possibility of agreeing with such a one as I have got.
You see what a ragged Condition I am in; so he lets me go like a Dowdy!
May I never stir, if I an't asham'd to go out of Doors any whither, when
I see how fine other Women are, whose Husbands are nothing nigh so rich
as mine is.

_Eu._ The Ornament of a Matron does not consist in fine Cloaths or other
Deckings of the Body, as the Apostle _Peter_ teaches, for I heard that
lately in a Sermon; but in chaste and modest Behaviour, and the
Ornaments of the Mind. Whores are trick'd up to take the Eyes of many
but we are well enough drest, if we do but please our own Husbands.

_Xa._ But mean while this worthy Tool of mine, that is so sparing toward
his Wife, lavishly squanders away the Portion I brought along with me,
which by the Way was not a mean one.

_Eu._ In what?

_Xa._ Why, as the Maggot bites, sometimes at the Tavern, sometimes upon
his Whores, sometimes a gaming.

_Eu._ O fie, you should never say so of your Husband.

_Xa._ But I'm sure 'tis too true; and then when he comes Home, after I
have been waiting for him till I don't know what Time at Night, as drunk
as _David's_ Sow, he does nothing but lye snoring all Night long by my
Side, and sometimes bespues the Bed too, to say nothing more.

_Eu._ Hold your Tongue: You disgrace yourself in disgracing your
Husband.

_Xa._ Let me dye, if I had not rather lye with a Swine than such a
Husband as I have got.

_Eu._ Don't you scold at him then?

_Xa._ Yes, indeed, I use him as he deserves. He finds I have got a
Tongue in my Head.

_Eu._ Well, and what does he say to you again?

_Xa._ At first he used to hector at me lustily, thinking to fright me
with his big Words.

_Eu._ Well, and did your Words never come to downright Blows?

_Xa._ Once, and b