In 1894, Ruth Smythers, 'Beloved wife of The Reverend L. D. Smythers', wrote:

'While sex is at best revolting and at worse rather painful, it has to be endured...

One cardinal rule of marriage should never be forgotten: give little, give seldom and, above all, give grudgingly...'

She didn't intend to be amusing, but this brief treatise written for young brides is side splitting today and an eye-opener to how mores have changed in just over a century.