Front cover image for A treatise concerning the use and abuse of the marriage bed : shewing I. the nature of matrimony, its sacred original, and the true meaning of its institution ; II. the gross abuse of matrimonial chastity, from the wrong notions which have possessed the world, degenerating even to whoredom ; III. the diabolical practice of attempting to prevent child-bearing by physical preparations ; IV. the fatal consequences of clandestine or forced marriages, thro' the persuasion, interest, or influence of parents and relations, to wed the person they have no love for, but oftentimes an aversion to ; V. of unequal matches, as to the disproportion of age, and how such, many ways, occasion a matrimonial whoredom ; VI. how married persons may be guilty of conjugal lewdness, and that a man may, in effect, make a whore of his own wife : also, many other particulars of family concern

A treatise concerning the use and abuse of the marriage bed : shewing I. the nature of matrimony, its sacred original, and the true meaning of its institution ; II. the gross abuse of matrimonial chastity, from the wrong notions which have possessed the world, degenerating even to whoredom ; III. the diabolical practice of attempting to prevent child-bearing by physical preparations ; IV. the fatal consequences of clandestine or forced marriages, thro' the persuasion, interest, or influence of parents and relations, to wed the person they have no love for, but oftentimes an aversion to ; V. of unequal matches, as to the disproportion of age, and how such, many ways, occasion a matrimonial whoredom ; VI. how married persons may be guilty of conjugal lewdness, and that a man may, in effect, make a whore of his own wife : also, many other particulars of family concern

"The essay dealt primarily with contraception, comparing it directly with infanticide. Defoe accomplished this through anecdotes, such as a conversation between two women in which the right-minded chides the other for asking for "recipes" that might prevent pregnancy. In the essay, he further referred to contraception as 'the diabolical practice of attempting to prevent childbearing by physical preparations'"--Wikipedia, viewed May 10, 2023
Print Book, English, 1727
Printed for T. Warner, at the Black Boy in Pater-Noster-Row, London, 1727
Early works
vi, 2 unnumbered pages, 406 pages ; 20 cm
1810170
Signatures: A⁴ B-Cc⁸ Dd⁴ ( -Dd4)
Published anonymously. Attributed to Daniel Defoe. Cf. ESTC
A reissue of 'Conjugal lewdness, or, Matrimonial whoredom,' of the same year, with a cancel title page
Head and tail-pieces; decorated initials
Pages 382-383 misnumbered 362-363