ith the Misery of Lying alone, prov'd and asserted.

_LONDON_,
Printed for _M. Goodwin_, near _Fleet Street_, 1701.

AN
ANSWER
To the Pleasure of a Single LIFE, &c.

When from Dark nothing Heaven the World did make
And all was Glorious it did undertake;
Then were in _Eden's_ Garden freely plac'd,
Each thing that's pleasant to the Sight and Tast;
'Twas fill'd with Beasts and Birds, Trees hung with Fruite
That might with Man's Cealestal Humour suite.
The World being made, both spacious and compleat,
Then Man was form'd most Nobly and Great;
When Heaven survey'd the Works that it had done,
Saw Male and Female, but found Man alone,
A baren Sex, and Insignificant, }
Then God made Woman to supply the want, }
And to make perfect which before was scant. }
The Word no sooner spoke, but it was done;
'Cause 'twas not fit for Man to be alone;
It was not in his power without a Wife,
To reap the happy Fruites of human Life;
Nay, more than this, Mankind long since had ceas'd,
And now had been surviv'd by senceless Beast,
He'd Slept and Wasted in obscurity,
And Darkly perish'd in his Infancy.
If Heaven, had not sent so blest a Creature,
To be the Treasure house of human Nature;
So the alwise Creator thought it best,
That Man and Wife together might be blest:
Appointed then immortal Bonds to tye,
Two Hearts in one, with equal Amity;
And so he than by his alwise Direction,
Both Souls united with the like affection;
So very sweetly and with such delight,
The swiftest Winged Minutes take their flight,
And thus Gods Love to Mankind did dispence,
The sacred Wedlock, which did then commence:
Not founded as some Criticks say, by chance;
But Heaven it self, did this blest State advance.
Not subject to the various Revolutions,
Of fickle fading human Institutions.
A Married Life was first contriv'd above,
To be an Emblem of Eternal Love;
And after by Divine indulgence sent,
To be the Crown of Man, and Wife's content;
Yet black Mouthed Envy Strives with all its might;
To blast the Credit of that sacred Rite.
The hard Mouth fops, a single Life applau'd,
And hates a Woman, that woun't be a Baw'd:
Nothing he values like a single Life,
For tho he loves a Whore, he hates a Wife,
Calls the poor Husband, Monkey, Ass or Dog,
And Laughs because he wears the Wedlock Clogg,
Yet freely they'l or'e tops of Houses Strolling,
And venture Bones each Night a Caterwouling
Expose himself to Falls, or Guns or Traps,