Book IIII.

Horat in A U* Poetic.
Why a. woman grows angry fuddcnly.
A [mile from things on fire.t A woman is foou hot 3 foon cold.
why a woman will cry when fhe is angry, what men are morefubjeU to
peep.
Whence do wo¬ men become fu¬ rious.
Old women lefft rntgry.
or bridle her dilturbed affections, or ttand againtt them with force of reafon and judgement , like to Children* and fuch as are weak and feeble for age , that want reafon and diferetion.
Delights to flay with fellows , and tif strange.
Angry, foon f leafedf fill confisls in change.
For a womans mind is not fo ftrong as a mans , nor is fhe fo full of undemanding and reafon and judgement, and upon every fmall occafion fhe calls off the bridle of reafon j and like a mad dogg, forgetting all decency , andherfelfe, without choice, {be fets up’ pon all , be they known or unknown. If any man defires a natu- rall reafon for it, I anfwer him thus, that a womans flefh i* loofc, foft and tender, fo that the choler being kindled , prefently fpreads all the body over, and caufeth a fudden boyling of the blood about the heart. For as fire fooneft takes hold of light ftraw, and makes a great flame, but it is foon at an end, and qui¬ et 5 fo a woman is quickly angry and flaming hot , and rageth ftrangely ; but this rage and crying out, is foon abated, and grows calm in a body that is not fo ftrong and valiant , and that is more moyft; and all her heat and fury is quenched by her {bedding of teares,as if you fhould throw water upon fire to put it out. Which we fee alfo in fome effeminate men, whofe magnanimity and fierceneffe ends aimoft as Childrens do in weeping 5 when the ad¬ versary doth ftrongly oppofe himfelfe againft.themf Ifany man would more neerely have the caufe of this thing explain’d , and defires a more exaCt reafon 5 I can find no ncerer caufe that can be imagined, than the venim and collection of humours, that flhe eve¬ ry month heaps together, and purgeth forth by the courfeofthe Moon 5 For when lbechanceth to be anry,asfhe will prefently be, all that fink of humours being ftirred fumeth , and runs through the body, fothat the Heart and Brain are affe&ed with thefmoky vapours of it, and the Spirits both vitall and animal, that ferve thofe parts are inflamed , and thence it is that women ftirred up , cfpecially the younger women , (for the elder that arepaftchild- ing,are more quiet and calme, becaufe their terms are endedj will bark, and brawle like mad doggs, and clap their hands and be¬ have themfelves very unfeemly in their adions and fpeeches , and reafon being but weak in them , and their judgement feeble , and their mind not well order’d, they are fharply enraged, and cannot rule their paflions. And the bafer any woman is in that fex , the more (be (colds and rails, and is unplacable in her anger, hence the vulgar woman and Whores , ( for Noble women and Gen¬ tle women will ufually obferve a decorum , though oft times they will be filenr, and bend their brows , and fcarfe vouchfafe to give their husbands an anfwer, the Dutch call it Proncken) becaufe their Bodies are commonly polluted with faulty humours , are full of impudence , joyn’d with equall malice , as if the Divdl drove them, and they cannot be perfwaded by counfell, reafon, (hame,
' flattery
C hap. I 3 • Of the Nature of Women.
275
flattery admonition (that will ordinarily make wild beafis quiet) and you cannot hold them from their cruelty | or make them for¬ bear their mad and lowd exclamations.
They fee not right nor good nor ju ff, what may help or hurt them, their luft Doth govern all.
Terent. Beaut. Scc/t, i. Ati, 4»
So forgetting themfelves , they defpife their faith, honour, cha- fticy, fame, honefty, reputation, and hazard all. To which may beapplyed that enquiry of Solomon concerning mans condition , lappljed^my heart to know , andtofearch , andtofeek outwifdome , and the reafon of things, and tc know the nickednefje of folly, and offoolifhnejje, and madnejif: and I find more hitter than death the woman, whofe heart is fnares and nets , and her hands as hands. I have laboured to this hour to find a good and cordiall woman , and could find none : one manamongft a thousand have I found , hut a woman amongfl all thofe have I not found.
And that enquiry, in the Proverbs is not much different from this, tflre”0®™ Who can find a vertuous or good woman? as if he fhould fay, you p™. , .*
fhall not eafily in any Country , no not in cne remoteft parts of the earth, or any corners of it, find an honeft, and well manner’d wo¬ man $ and if by chance you fhould light upon her , fhe may be Solomons ptaa cqual’d with the moft precious Jewells , and no Merchandifebe txPial^ they never fo coftly, can be compared to her. But becaufe I have fall’n upon this argument, and have begun to examine the condition of women , I fhall, by the way, clear the meaning of thofe words of Solomon the wifeft; The iniquity of a man is betrer than a wo- teckp 257 man doing good. I interpret that fentence, thus. That a man, be rbe -wife Hcz he never fofiuggifh, idle, unskillfull and rude in merchandife, will brew hisfen- do his bufinefle better than a headlong and rafh woman, that un- interpret dertakes any thing with a vain pcrfwauon of wifJome,and inconfi* * ‘ derate confidence, and thereupon doth all things more uprightly * than a woman doth. For a man, diftrufting himfclfe, doth by Jeafure,and circumfpe&ly,allhis ad’ions , ufing other mens help that he calls to counfell with him, fo that the fuccefle is more happy than when toe fame things are performed by an arrogant woman that is puffed up with a proud opinion ofher own wifdome, as they commonly are. For fuch a womans endeavours common¬ ly run to the worft, and are unfuccefkfull , which the Dutch com- AVutch monly fignifie by this Proverb. Het quaefle van Een\ mail is better ^2^*2 a danhet heflevan eenvrouwe, that is,If any thing be done and brought woman is not fo to pcrfe&ion by a woman , it defer ves leffe praife than what is but in&nious> yet rude and imperfe&, begun by a man; namely, by reafon of a woman’s want of mind and counlell , her dullneffe andblockifh- nefle, for want of naturall heat, and becaufe their languishing mind is foked into great moyfture, fo that the faculties of their fouls come forth more (lowly , and are not fo fit for action , and to The do noble things. Wherefore the Romans who took great care to Law concerning order and to confirm the Common-wealth, would have women, as vm***
p p 2
27 6
Of the mature of Women.