Is a person of great complaisance, and very civil to all that have
occasion to make use of his wife. He married a wife as a common proxy
for the service of all those that are willing to come in for their
shares; he engrossed her first by wholesale, and since puts her off by
retail; he professes a form of matrimony, but utterly denies the power
thereof. They that tell tales are very unjust, for, having not put in
their claims before marriage, they are bound for ever after to hold
their tongues. The reason why citizens are commonly wittols is, because
men that drive a trade and are dealers in the world seldom provide
anything for their own uses which they will not very willingly put off
again for considerable profit. He believes it to be but a vulgar error
and no such disparagement as the world commonly imagines to be a
cuckold; for man, being the epitomy and representation of all creatures,
cannot be said to be perfect while he wants that badge and character
which so many several species wear both for their defence and ornament.
He takes the only wise and sure course that his wife should do him no
injury; for, having his own free consent, it is not in her power that
way to do him any wrong at all. His wife is, like Eve in Paradise,
married to all mankind, and yet is unsatisfied that there are no more
worlds, as Alexander the Great was. She is a person of public capacity,
and rather than not serve her country would suffer an army to march over
her, as Sir Rice ap Thomas did. Her husband and she give and take equal
liberty, which preserves a perfect peace and good understanding between
both, while those that are concerned in one another's love and honour
are never quiet, but always caterwauling. He differs from a jealous man
as a valiant man does from a coward, that trembles at a danger which the
other scorns and despises. He is of a true philosophical temper, and
suffers what he knows not how to avoid with a more than stoical
resolution. He is one of those the poet speaks of:--
"Qui ferre incommoda vitæ,
Nec jactare jugum, vita didicere magistra."
He is as much pleased to see many men approve his choice of his wife and
has as great a kindness for them, as opiniasters have for all those whom
they find to agree with themselves in judgment and approve the abilities
of their understandings.