CUTBEARD

It's I, Sir, your Barber. The best, the happiest that ever was, Sir. There has been a mad Gentleman with your Uncle, this morning, (I think this be the Gentleman) that has almost talked him out of his wits, with threatening him from Marriage— And your Uncle, Sir, he thinks 'twas done by your procurement; therefore he will see the party, you wot of, presently: and if he Like her, he says, and that she be so inclining to dumb, as I have told him, he swears, he will marry her, to day, instantly, and not defer it a minute longer. Passed imagination, Sir, omniam sencundam; you could not have prayed, to have had it so well: Saltat senex, as it is i'the Proverb, he do's triumph in his felicity; admires the party! he has given me the Lease of my House too! and, I am now going for a silent Minister to marry them, and a way. Cum privilegio, Sir. And that shall be within this half hour, upon my dexterity, Gentlemen. Contrive what you can, in the mean time, bonis avibus. He says, Praesto, Sir, whensoever your Worship needs him, he can be ready with the Like. He God this cold with sitting up late, & singing Catches with Clothworkers. He cannot change it, Sir Cough again. He will cough out the rest, Sir. Please you, good Master Parson. It must give place to positive Diunitie, Sir. Sir, though unworthy, and the weaker, I will presume. Your question is, for how many causes a man may have divortium legitimum, a lawful Divorce. First, you must understand the nature of the word Divorce, a divertendo — I answer then, the Canon-law affords Divorce but in few cases, and the principal is in the common case, the adulterous case. But there are duodecim impedimenta, twelve impediments (as we call them) all which do not dirimere contractum, but irritum reddere matrimonium, as we say in the Canon-law, not take away the bound, but cause a nullity therein. The first is impedimentum erroris. I, as error personae. Then, error fortunae. Then, error qualitatis. Master Parson says right. Nec post nuptiarum be dictionem. It does indeed but irritam reddere sponsalia, annul the Contract: after Marriage it is of no obstancy. The next is conditio: if you thought her free born, and she prove a bondwoman, there is impediment of e state and condition. By your favour, Master Parson— Well then, the third is votum. If either party have made a vow of Chastity. But that practice, as Master Par son said of the other, is taken away among us, thanks be to discipline. The fourth is cognatio: if the persons be of kin, within the degrees. But, there is a branch of this impediment may, which is cognatio spiritualis. If you were her Godfather, Sir, then the Marriage is incestuous. The sift is crimen adulterii: the known Case. The sixth, cultus disparitas, difference of Religion: have you ever examined her what Religion she is of? The seventh is, vis: if it were upon compulsion, or force. The eighth is, ordo: if ever she have taken holy Order. The ninth is, ligamen: if you were bound, Sir, to a nigh other before. The tenth is, publicam honestas: which is inchoatam quae dam affinitas. The eleventh is, affinitas ex fornication. True, quae oritur ex legitimo matrimonio. I conceive you, Master Parson. Ita per fornicatio nem aeque est verus pater, qui sic generate — The twelfth, and last is, si fort coire nequibis. I conceive you, Sir. But then there will arise a doubt, Master Parson, in our Case, post Matrimonium: that frigiditate praeditus (do you conceive me, Sir?) Who cannot uti vxore pro vxore, may habere cam pro sorore. You shall pardon me, Master Parson, I can prove it. I grant you, but how do they retractare, Master Parson? That's false in Divinity, by your favour. Yes: how if he do conualere? Or, if he do simulare himself frigidum, odio uxoris, or so? I, if he be manifest frigidus, I grant you— And mine too. Yes, causam frigiditatis — I, diuorty libellum she will sure have. Which I would do, Sir— Because you wanc indeed— No, if the man be frigidus, it is de part uxoris, that we grant Libellum diuorty, in the Law. But Gentlemen, you have not known her, since ma trimonium? Why, then I say, for any act before, the matrimo nium is good and perfect: unless, the worshipful Bride groom did precisely, before witness demand, if she were virgo ante nuptias. If he cannot prove that, it is ratum coniugium, not withstanding the premises. And they do no way impedire. And this is my Sentence, this I pronounce. In primo graou.