It is the hardest Thing in the World for a Woman to know that a Man is not Mercenary, that he does not act on base and ungenerous Principles, even when he is her Equal, because being absolute Master, she and all the Grants he makes her are in his Power, and there have been but too many Instances of Husbands, that by wheedling, or threatning their Wives, by seeming Kindness, or cruel Usage, have persuaded, or forc’d them out of what has been settled on them. So that the Woman has in Truth no Security but the Man’s Honour and Good-nature, a Security that in this present Age no wise Person would venture much upon. A Man enters into Articles very readily before Marriage, and so he may, for he performs no more of them afterwards than he thinks fit. A Wife must never dispute with her Husband; his Reasons are now, no doubt on’t, better than hers, whatever they were before; he is sure to persuade her out of her Agreement, and bring her, it must be suppos’d, _Willingly_, to give up what she did vainly hope to obtain, and what she thought had been made sure to her. And if she shews any Refractoriness, there are Ways enough to humble her; so that by Right or Wrong the Husband gains his Will. For Covenants between Husband and Wife, like Laws in an Arbitrary Government, are of little Force, the Will of the Sovereign is All in All. Thus it is in Matter of Fact, I will not answer for the Right of it; for if the Woman’s Reasons, upon which those Agreements are grounded, are not just and good, why did he consent to them? Was it because there was no other Way to obtain his Suit, and with an Intention to annul them when it shall be in his Power? Where then is his Sincerity? But if her Reasons are good, where is his Justice in obliging her to quit them? He neither way acts like an equitable or honest Man.