Why sholde men elles in hir bookes sette
That man shal yelde to his wyf hire dette?
Now wherwith sholde he make his paiement,
If he ne used his sely instrument?
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Speaking about the commercial aspect of the marital sexual relationship, the Wife of Bath asks how would a man pay his wife his conjugal debt to her if he did not use his blessed instrument (penis).