A defence of the judgment of the Reformed churches. That a man may lawfully…A defence of the iudgment of the Reformed churches. That a man may lawfullie…

Whereas contrariwise; if by means he cannot live single & ummarried, he be constrained to keep the adulteress still, or after separation to receive her again: she is likely to^g give her own & her husbands goods to her lover, as^h Messalina did to Siluis; or though she take gifts & rewards of him, toⁱ wast all in riot, as the^k whores of Catiline's confederacy did. Moreover a woman that can have ⟨p. 88⟩no sons, but daughters only by her husband, may have sons by another man, as^l Hippocrates showeth. Which if the adulteress have by her lover, the daughters to whom the inheritance should come are defrauded of it, And if she have but daughters or younger sons by him, the bastards; presumed to be lawful children, defraud the lawful children of so much as them selves get. The Cuckoo hatcheth her eggs in other birds nests, & the eggs she findeth of theirs, she devoureth, as^m Aristotle writeth: or, asⁿ Pliny saith, the birds that sitteth abroad upon her own eggs & the Cuckoos, when both their young are bred up, liketh the Cuckoos bird better then her own, & suffereth them to be devoured of him in her own sight. A term in reproach drawn in many languages from the Cuckoos name to note their³ calamity, or (if they suffer it will lingly) dishonesty, who receive other men into their beds & foster up their children, may be a sufficient lesson for a father what comfort & benefit his children are to look for by having such a mother to feed & oversee them. Beside to omit suspicion of bastardy, where by his children also may be discouraged & stained) himself