When she hath spacious ground to walk upon,

Why on the ridge should the desire to go?
It is no glory to forbear alone

Those things, that may her honour overthrow :
But 'tis thank-worthy, if she will not take
All lawful liberties for honour's fake.
That wife, her hand against her fame doth rear,

That more than to her lord herself will give
A private word to any second ear ;.

And though she may with reputation live,
Yet, though most chaft, she doth her glory blot,
And wounds her honour, though she kills it not.
When to their husbands they themselves do bind,

Do they not wholly give themselves away?
Or give they but their body, not their mind,

Reserving that though best for others, pray ? No sure, their thoughts no more can be their own ; And therefore should to none but one be known. Then she usurps upon another's right,

That seeks to be by publick language grac'd :
And though her thoughts reflect with purest light,

Her mind, if not peculiar, is not chaft.
For in a wife it is no worse to find,
A common body, than a common mind.
And ev'ry mind though free from thought of ill,

That out of glory seeks a worth to sew :
When any's ears but one therewith they fill,
Doth in a fort her pureness overthrow.

Lady Carecu's Marian. Let all young sprightly wives that have Dull foolish coxcombs to their husbands, Learn by me their duties, what to do; Which is, to make them fools, and please them too.

Beaumont and Fletcher's Noble Gentlemen,

I know The sum of all that makes a man, a juít man happy, Consists in the well choosing of his wife ; And there well to discharge it, does require Equality of years, of birth, of fortune; For beauty being poor, and not cry'd up By birth or wealth, can truly mix with neither : And wealth, where there's fuch difference in years, And fair descent, muft make the yoke uneasy.

Mafinger's New Way to pay old Debts. A witty wife, with an imperious will, Being croft, finds means to crofs her husband ftill.

Richard Brome's Mad Couple well matchid, If e'er 1 take a wife, I will have one, Neither for beauty nor for portion, But for her vertues ; and i'll marry'd be Not for my luft, but for posterity: And when i'm wed, i'll never jealous be, But make her learn how to be chaît by me : And be her face what 'twill, i'll think her fair, If she within the house confine her care: If modeft in her words and cloaths she be, Not daub'd with pride, and prodigality: If with her neighbours she maintains ro ftrise, And bears her self to me a faithful wife ; I'd rather unto such a one be wed, Than clasp the choicest Hellen in my

bed : Yet though she were an angel, my affection Should only love, not doat on her perfection.

Randolo), Suspicion, discontent, and strife, Come in for dowry with a wife.

Herrick, Oh servile state of conjugal embrace ! Where seeming honour covers true difgrace. We with reproaches, mistresses defame; But we poor wives endure the greatest Shame : O

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W OM
We to their Naves are humble slaves, whilft they
Command our lords, and rule what we obey :
Their loves each day new kindnesses uphold,
We get but little, and that little cold;
That a poor wife is with her state reproach'd,
And to be marry'd, is to be debauch’d.

Crown's Califler
W O M E N.

It is thought wonderful
Among the seamen, that mugill, of all
Fishes the swifteft, is found in the belly
Of the bret, of all, the flowest : and shall
It not seem monitrous to wise men, that the
Heart of the greatest conqu’ror of the world,
Should be found in the hands of the weakest
Creature of nature of a woman! of
A captive! Ermines have fair skins, but foul
Livers; fepulchers fresh colours, but rotten
Bones; women fair faces, but false hearts.

Lilly's Alexander and Campalpe. Mens due deserts each reader may recite,

For men of men do make a goodly shew, But womens works can never come to light;

No mortal man their famous acts may

No writer will a little time beftow,
The worthy acts of women to repeat ;
Though their renown and due deserts be great.

Mirror for Magiftrates. 1. You're pictures out of doors, Bells in your parlours, wild cats in your kitchens, Saints in your injuries, devils being offended, Players in your housewifry, and housewives in your beds! 2. O, fie upon thee, fanderer! 1. Nay, it is true, or e!fe I am a Turk; You riie to play, and go to bed to work,

Shake pear's Othelle.

know;

if she be black, and thereto have a wit, She'll find a white that shall her blackness fit.

Shakespear's Othello. There's none so foul and foolish thereunto, But does foul pranks, which fair and wife ones do.

Ibid, A woman sometimes scorns what best contents her ; Send her another, never give her o'er; For scorn at first, makes after love the more : If she do frown, 'tis not in hate of you, But rather to beget more love in you : If the do chide, 'tis not to have you gone ; For why, the fools are mad, if left alone : Take no repulse, whatever she doth say; For, get you gone, she doth not mean away: Flatter, and praise, commend, extol their graces ; Tho' ne'er fo.black, say they have angel's faces. That man that hath a tongue, I say is no man, If with his tongue he cannot win a woman.

Shake/pear's Two Gentlemen of Verona One woman reads another's character, Without the tedious trouble of decyphering.

Johnson's New Imu. He that holds religious and sacred thoughts Of a woman ; he that bears fo reverend A respect to her, that he will not touch Her, but with a kifs'd hand and a timerous Heart ; he that adores her like bis goddel, Let him be sure, she'll Thun him like her slave. Alas! good souls, women of themselves are Tractable and tractable enough, and Would return quid for quod ftill, but we are They that spoil them, and we shall ansiver fort Another day; we are they that put a Kind of wancon melancholly into them, That makes them think their noses bigger than Their faces, greater than the sun in brightnels; O. 2

And

1

And whereas nature made them but half fools,
We make them all fools.

Chapman's May Day.
Trust women! ah Myrtillus, rather trust
The fummer's winds, th' ocean's constancy ;
For all their substance is but levity:
Light are their wav'ring veils, light their attires,
Light are their heads, and lighter their desires :
Let them lay on what coverture they will
Upon themselves, of modesty and thame,
They cannot hide the woman with the fame.
Trust women! ah Myrtillus, rather trust
The false devouring crocodile of Nile,
For all they work is but deceit and gaile:
What have they but is feign'd ? their hair is feign'a,
Their beauty feign'd, their stature feign'd, their pace,
Their gesture, motion, and their grace is feign'd:
And if that all be feign'd without, what then
Shall we suppose can be fincere within ?
For if they do but weer, or fing, or smile,
Smites, tears, and tunes, are engines to beguile ;
And all they are, and all they have of grace,
Consists but in the outside of a face.

Daniel's Arcadia.
But how durst he of one the glory raife,

Where two contemn'd would needs the wrong repair?
It spites our sex, to hear another's praise ;
Of which, each one would be thought only fair.

Earl of Sterline's Julius Cæfar.
A woman's hate is ever dipp'd in blood,
And doth exile all councils that be good.

Lord Brooke's Alabam,
Alas, fair princess ! those that are ftrongly formd,
And truly Thap'd, may naked walk; but we,
We things calld women, only made for fhew
And pleasure, created to bear children,
And play at fhuttle-cock; we imperfect mixtures,
Without respective ceremony as'd,

And