AN APOLOGY FOR WOMEN: OR, women's Defence.  
Penned by C.N. late of Alban Hall in Oxon.  SOCRAT. Melius est mulieri non omnino nasci, quàm convitijs lacerar●. 
LONDON, Printed by E. G. for Ri: Whittaker's: and are to be sold at his shop at the King's head in Paul's Churchyard. 1620.   

TO THE RIGHT EXCELLENTLY Virtuous Lady, MARY, Countess of Buckingham, C. N. wisheth event of all felicity.  
MADAM, I need not have a Lantern & a Candle to investigate a virtuous woman, as Diogenes had to find an honest man: they appear like so many Stars, fixed in this terrestrial Globe. Yet no sooner did the Sun of your presence enter into the Horizon of my thoughts, but it overshadowed all the fore-appearers Honour seated in your breast, finds itself adorned as in a rich Pa●ace, making that excellent, which makes it admirable, which caused me to present unto your Ladyship's protection, this my ill-looking Infant, the maden-head (as I may so term it) of my invention, conceived in my brains, by the frothy word of many Hyperbolising selfe-conceitists, who deem it their greatest grace, to be able to disgrace women. If then (exquisite Lady) an over-speedy or weaning desire of repulsing your sex's wrongs, hath caused my brains with Semele, to bring forth this abortive Bacchus, or brood. Be you the jove to nourish it in the lap of your good liking, that being wrapped in the swaddling bands of your favour, the cold of contempt may not so easily freeze it. And if Minerva grant a safe return to my Muse traff●king in her Indies, I shall, I hope, present you with a more richer Prize.  
Your Ladyships unfeignedly devoted in all observant service, CH. NEWSTEAD.   

TO THE READER.  
COurteous Reader, if thy tongue hath not tied thee to a cursed wife, I doubt not, but the general view of my Subject, will win at the least thy ordinary acceptation. But when by perusing, thou wouldst espy how it is treated of, if thou be'st illiterate, and the Curtain of Ignorance be drawn before the eyes of thy judgement, I do not much weigh how thou art opinionated of me: if thou commend me, 
Misere metui mali aliquid in me admiserim. Petrar. de virt. opin.  I shall esteem (as Antisthenes did, when he was praised of an evil one) rather worse then better of myself: for quicquid pene vulgus laudat, vituperio dignum est: Whatsoever ignorance commendeth, most usually deserves to be discommended. I had rather with Lysimachus the Poet have the approbation of one judicious Cato, than the applause of a multitude: the judgements of the judicious, and the vulgar, 
〈…〉 2.  do seldom jump. But if thou be'st such an one as 〈◊〉 lives would have his Auditor, neither ignorant, nor learned; Because (saith he) the one doth understand nothing, and the other more than I do of myself. If thou be'st, I say, lukewarm in knowledge, and that the Aurora of Minerva, the dawning of the day of literature, gins to twilight thy capacity; judge favourably of the faults, that thy Eagle-eyed scrupulosity perceives, they may be errors of ignorance seen to thee: but they are an ignorance of the errors, unseen to me. But if by the Ladder of industry (if any for the subject's sake dare to credit) thou hast ascended the top of Parnassus, I need not tell thee, as the Poet saith of one, Nemo repentè fuit doctissimus, 
〈◊〉.  that perfection comes by degrees. Zeuxis his Helena was not suddenly limned forth with one Pencil: Brains to day are as empty, as Tellus his purse of money, may to morrow, with Midas, be stuffed with the gold of invention.  
Qui non est hodie, cras magis aptus erit. Whatsoever thou art, unless thou be a Brownist, I mean obstinate, I doubt not, but it will perfume thy breath, for ever tainting women with reproaches But thou wilt say, thy evil speeches of them proceeds from mirth: thou mayst as well say thou dost lie with them, as belie them in test. No intentions can make absolute evils good. Again, jests should be fecetosis, not acetosis; pleasing, not piercing, neither continual: therefore they are called sales of the Latins, quasi condimenta; we should use them as Spices, to season our talk, not as the subject of it. But many may say with Philippus the jester, that they have got such an habit in speaking ill of them in jest, that they know not how to speak well of them in earnest. And it is a shrewd sign he never means well, that speaks always ill. But lest thou turn from them, to test on me, for my prolixity, in bidding me (as Diogenes did the Citizens, that had exceeding ample gates, to a little City) shut the gates of my Preface, lest the City of my Book run forth, I will leave thee.  
Thine, as thou usest me. C. N.   

AN APOLOGY FOR WOMEN: OR, women's Defence.  

Of Women in general.  
QVi alium sequitur, 
Sen. Ep●. 33.  nihil sequitur, who makes always examples his Copy, shall many times err from the rules of discretion. Should I tread in the steps of our precisest Methodists, in defining my Subject, I might seem with Didymus, to write that which each one knew, and give a new testimony of that old and highway Adage, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to burn Candle at noon day. For what so ignorant a Licinius, whose dark capacity is not enlightened with this little candle of knowledge, to know what man is (for every one knows man in general, though few in particular themselves) from whom woman differs, only in a material designation, having one and the same specifical essence. Now the golden Ball, which their deserts do challenge, is not honour, nor riches, nor beauty; but virtue. I strive not to make them excel men, as Caesar did Pompey in dignity, or as the Lydeans Dames did their Husbands, in mastery; but as Seneca did his Father, in virtue: Haec ista honesta contentio; this is an honest contention, or contentious honesty.  
It is true, at first, when there was but two actors, upon this Theatre of the world, woman was the Siren, that alured man unto evil: but now each man with Tiresias, is metamorphosed into a woman: pleasures and delights, are the engendering Serpents, that have womanized their affections: Men were the more perfect by nature: but women now then they, by industry, (and it is more difficult to re-obtain virtue, then to keep it.) Eve then tempted Adam, but now Adam tempts Eve: and it is better to be conquered by Nature, then by Art. It is Catulus his saying, 
〈…〉.  that he could in those things, which nature gave to man, suffer patiently himself to be subdued, but not in those that might be asseqwated, and got by our endeavours. 
Liu. Dec. 3.  For to be delinquent or faulty by nature, that is not ours, but nature's fault; but to be ill by corruption, that is not natures, but our fault. What if she were an instrumental cause of our fall, was she not as much the cause of our rising? But we all sooner forget benefits, than injuries: we are Eagle-eyed in espying their faults, but dark sighted Owls, in perceiving their virtues. But not to make them all alike virtuous, 
●i●. Dec. 3.  as Mantuan would have them vicious, there are of women three sorts: The first are those who have both a theoretical and Practical knowledge of virtue by themselves, 
Suct. l. 12:  understanding those things that are good, and willingly desiring to effect them: and these may I condingly entitle, as the Romans did Titus, deliciae humani generis, the delight of mankind: 
Paterc. pag. 125.  each one of these is a Scipio, qui nihil in vita nisi laudandum, aut fecit, aut dixit, who neither speak, nor do any thing, but which is commendable; so apt to all goodness, that they seem with Cato to be borne to all actions they undertake. The second, are those who though not so excellent, yet laudable: for although we marvel at the greatest, yet we praise those that are less: 
Sen. ep. 101.  non statim statim pufillus est, si quis maximo minus est: he is not presently a Pigmy, that is less than a giant. In transcendent things those are great, which are next to the best: those, I say, who with Bicinus have need of one to direct them to goodness; although they know not that which is honest by themselves, yet they obey others rightly admonishing them, and admoneri velle secunda virtus, it is a second virtue, to endure reproving: for it argues a willingness to be good: and pars magna bonitatis est, 
Sen. Epist. 34.  velle fieri bonum: the next degree of goodness, is the desire of goodness: these may I term, 
Diod. de Jamb.  as Plutarch doth Alcibiades, Chameleons, from their facility of manners, whose minds bend like the bones of the jambulans, whither you will force them. Cereus in vitium flecti, 
Horat. de Ar●e Poet.  as the Poet saith of young men, easy to be drawn either to virtue, or vice. But natura suis neruis pulcherrìmum corpus, 
Euph. Sat. Apollo.  as perfect there is no so heavenly a body, in which doth not hang some clouds of corruption. Non datur sincerum aliquod sine mali admixtione: 
Phar. in prada Mar.  there is nothing so sincere that hath not some admixtion of evil. In this Attica and pleasing field of woman, there grow some Thistles among the Violets, and these are the third sort, the dregges and scum (as the Latins said of the Romans) of woman kind: obstinate Hera●litcs, who neither know good themselves, nor condescend to others admonitions: 
Arist. Eth. l. 1. c. 3.  These I exclude (as Aristotle doth them from his Ethics) from under the shield of my defence, although your foul-mouthed Mantuans take occasion to make these the Axletree, on which the wheel of their tongues do continually run: who, because their deserts could never seat them in the favour of any virtuous women, therefore they empty the dregs of their stomaches upon all, with the Romans, for one Tyrannical Tarqvinius, to hate all Kings, like expert Logicians, out of particulars, concluding an universal. Ask them what woman is: and you shall have them speak contradiction ex tempore: they are mala necessaria, necessary evils: as though evil could be necessary: Since whatsoever is needful, appertains either to the esse, or been: Esse of man, and there is nothing necessary either to his essence or perfection that is ill. But lest if I should suffer the Planet of my wit to wander in the whole heaven of woman, and run at random in the ample field of their virtues, it might stray perhaps from the path way of judgement; I will now teather and confine it within the ground-plot of each of their particular qualities.   

Of their religious Piety.  
REligion meritoriously challengeth to act the first part of their praise: 
Osorius lib. de Christi Nobilit.  and Osorius tells me, that whom we would make immortal, we must prove religious. 
Hall.  Our Matilda Sancti Brigit Hildegard, the first accusers of the Romish Religion; the learned sister of Nazianzen, Paula Saluina Celantia, 
Fox lib. de Mar.  Pillars of the Church: Holy Apollonia, whose celestial fire of zeal extinguished the smart of this earthly and culunary fire: Ursula, who with eleven thousand Virgins suffered Martyrdom, seem to object envy unto me, in concealing theirs and innumerable other pieties: but, alas, I want not the will, but the power. The Poet bids me look: 
Horatius.  Quid valeant humeri? And I find the shoulders of my invention too narrow to bear the burden of their due praises for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
Hom. ad Il●. lib. 2.  If I had as many tongues as Briareus had hands, I could not enumerate the praises due to their devotions: and it is better your pieties be concealed, then insufficiently revealed; whiles we praise by halves, we disgrace: an ill Instrument may shame a good work: the unworthiness of the agent many times curses a good enterprise. Caesar his wars had better been inveloped in obscurity then diuulged by botching Labio; Truth is better hid, then wronged by telling.   

Of their Continency and Chastity.  
COntinency is defined by the Prince of Philosophers, 
Aris●o. Ethi. lib. 7. cap. 1. Ausoni. hoc solum fecit nobile quod perut.  when we immoderately desire pleasures, and yet abstain from them. This definition looks like Otho his life, only good in the end: the sweet of it, which makes continency a virtue consists as the honey of the Bee, in the Tail (for Vbicunque desines, si been desines tota est) too immoderately to desire pleasures, that argues weakness: but to be able to cast the cold ashes of restraint, on the burning coals of desires, that the strongest virtue: the object then of continency is pleasures in general; give me leave to restrain them only to Venereal. The first part of this virtue, viz. to immoderately desire, I doubt not but the greatest Mysogunians will grant unto them: for the oracle of our belief doth testify it, terming them the weaker vessels: and weakness always is the most subject to gape after pleasures, and in their bodies (if it may not seem superfluous) to add the Sun of verity the candle light of humane reason. Aire (saith the Philosopher) doth predominate, and where most air is, there is most Humidum radical: being both of one nature, indifferently hot and moist, where there is most Humidudum radical, there is most ability of body, and where the body is most able, there naturally should be most desire.  
Now if any object as a fault, 
Tulli. de O ratore li. 1.  the natural proneness of their bodies, Cicero's answer to the Romans refusing Murena to be consul, because he had lived in Asia, shall be mine, telling them, that was not commendable in Murena, that he had never seen, but that he had lived continently in Asia. What if their bodies be an Asia, full of delights? that is not discommendable: but that their souls, a Murena, should live chaste in the Asia of their bodies, that's laudable (as Seneca saith of Levanus) Hoc multo fortius ebrio ac vomitante populo sobrium esse; by this they are most virtuous, that their minds should be sober, amongst the riotous pleasures of their bodies. It is the chiefest part of Continency, that it can, but will not do ill. Now to prove their voluntary abstinence from those their desires, examples must be my only Medium, which although they be not demonstrable arguments to prove a truth, yet they are probable, for (saith Cicero) ut habet in aetatibus authoritatem senectus, sic in exemplis antiquitas: ancient examples to present times should be as venerable, as old age to youth. 
Sen. Epis. 18.  Optimum ex praeterito consilium praesentis venit, we may best judge of the present by things past. Lucretia, being asked of her husband, when Tarqvinius had offered her violence, how she did? answered, 
Livi. Deca. 12.  Quid salum est multeri amissa pudicitia? What can be safe to a woman, when she is bereft of her chastity? The Roman Lady that never kissed man, but her husband, did therefore deemed all men like unto him, to have obnoxious & noisome breaths. The Theban maid, before Nicanor should be the carver up of her virginity, chose to be her own boisterous Butcher. Our Matilda, 
Speed Chron.  ere she would assent to the unlawful suit of King john, fled to a Monastery, and there suffered death. And what was the reason that the ancients constituted them the mouths of their Oracles, and governors of their Temples, but for their chastity and sanctity? and whosoever shall read histories, or look into these present times, shall find many chaste Orythyas, for one Carneades, many continent Clea's for one Socrates, and on the contrary many a lascivious Caligula, for one Messalina, many an incontinent Tiberius, for one Liuia● but that which gives the most lustre of their continency, is, that men who as I have proved should be naturally most chaste, are assailants, whereas they should be defendants: but now custom hath made it no fault in them, for Multitudo peccantium tollit peccatum, the multitude of offenders takes away the offence, and faults are no longer feared, then that they are rare, but our English so Seneca tells them, 
Halt.  that offences are much greater, as they are more universal. Do they not observe hours, days, and all occasions, to batter the wails of their chastity? And what will not importunity and opportunity effect? which as they aggravate the fault in the agent, so they extenuate, though not excuse it in the patiented. Certainly, if they should use the like means, to obtain men, a Nay would be as seldom as treason in the mouths of most men. Yet so injurious are the censures of these our times, that if a jove vanquish but, or vitiate or in or in vanquishing, viciate a silly Io, a grave Cato, a light or tender Virgin, black infamy shall overcloud, and brand her reputation, not once touching his. 
Jwena. Sat.   
Ille pretium sceleris,  
tulit hic Diade●●a.  
Of he fault poor she  
shall bear the blame,  
When he's crowned with  
a Diadem.  
As sweetly sings a Lady in our English Ouid. 
Drayton Poet.   
To men is granted  
privilege to tempt:  
But in that Charter,  
women be exempt:  
Their fault itself  
serves for the faults excuse,  
And makes it ours,  
though yours be the abuse:  
And howsoever,  
although by force they win,  
Yet on our weakness,  
still returns the sin.  
If women be unchaste, 

Jncontinem semi-malus Arist. Ethi. l. 7.  
Continentia melior Tem. Arist. Ethi. l. 7.   they are but incontinent, and therefore but semi-malae, but half evil: If man be unchaste, he is untemperate, & therefore totaliter malus, wholly evil, if they be both chaste, she is continent, and he but temperant, and therefore more to be praised: 
Seen Epis.  for Quamuis acundem finem uterque pervenerit, tamen maior est laus, idem efficere difficiliore materia: although they both attain the same end, yet it is the more laudable to effect the same in a more difficult matter.   

Of their Fortitude and Magnanimity.  
ALthough continency be the best fortitude, and it is the greatest conquest, when the body is the Chariot, that carries the mind triumphing over its affections: therefore Laelius told his friend, 
Livi. deca.  being ensnared with the beauty of Syphax his wife, that it would be a more noble victory, to conquer his affections to her, then in subduing the husband: Maximum est imperium imperare sibi, and he is most valiant that conquers himself: yet because you shall not deem them inferior to you in warlike fortitude, take Seneca's judgement of them, 
Sen. ca 1●.  Quis dixerit naturam maligne cum mulieribus egisse, par illis mihi crede vigour, etc. who saith, that nature hath given her favours sparingly to woman, they have the same vigour, and can, as well tolerate labours, as men, if they be accustomed to them. To omit the men-conquering Amazons, there is none I know so obscure, to whom the trumpet of fame hath not blown their valours. 
〈…〉  Xerxes (he that was always last in the field, and first out) seeing Artemisia bravely fight amongst his Captains, said (for even the vicious think well of virtue) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: ●s there is in man womanish fear, so there is in woman virile audacity.  
The Romans had no less fight with the women, 
〈…〉  then with their husbands, in conquering the Cimbrians Semiramis receiving ignominious speeches from the King of the Indians, 
Dolorous de antiqui.  renunciated and sent him word, she intended not to fight with words, but with swords. 
Cam. Brit.  The ancient inhabitants of this I'll, the Britons, Vaodicia being their General, shaked off the Roman yoke, and most of their prosperous battles were when women did lead them. 
Ya●●tus Anna. 4.  And was not France wholly overrun by our English, 
Grim. his Fran.  until (as the French brag) that valorous joane gave life to the French, confronted our brave Bedford in the field? And what was the Phoenix of her time, our ever to be renowned Queen, Elizabeth, at whose frown Kings trembled? And that fiery-spirited Blanch, Duchess of Orlean●e, when King Philip had given her disgraceful words, replied, that if (to use my author's words) she had a pair of _____, 
Fren. Hist.  he durst not so have reviled her. But thou wil●●●y, they may have courageous minds, but they want force. Oh! men are stronger than they. So are many beasts stronger than men, 
Senc.  Corpus si magnas habet vires, non aliter quam furiosi validum est: Valour consists in the mind, not in the body; not Megasomity, but Magnanimity, is the virtue: it is the mind that extols dejected things, illustrates base things, dehonestates great things. They yield to men to have winds like Dionysius that strong-sided Trumpeter, 
A●●●us Hist.  who with his breath could puff about Wind-Mils.  
So that they have minds able to blow away all base fears: 
Hom. 〈◊〉. l. 3.  And what more evident sign of their valour, than their love of it? Homer induceth Helena complaining of Hymen, that he had espoused her to one, who durst not defend her against the enemy. The Laconians seeing their husband's fear, lending them wings to fly from the field, asked them if they intended to obscond themselves in their mother's bellies? Tiphane perceiving her beloved Bertrand, 
Fren. hi.  for the sweet of her company, to let his desire of Martial affairs quail within him; told him she should the entirelier love him, if he did still prosecute the honour and reputation of Chivalry. 
Drasm. Rhetor.  Damatria her son complaining of the shortness of his sword, bid him stand nearer his enemy. Venus did more affect bloody Mars, then timorous & fairefaced Apollo. And how many Katherine's chose rather to be courted with conquering Lances, then Courtlike Rapters? I might here a posteriore (as the Logicians term it) from the effects infer their fortitudes, women being the cause of that calor caelestis, the heavenly fire of love, which burns, as it did in Lepidus, all ignoble, and servile fears from men's hearts, the whetstone (as one saith of Anger) that exacuates and sets an edge on men's obtuse and blunt affections: the Lapis Alchimicus, the Philosopher's Stone, that converts Leaden passions, into any golden sweet content: but that many pens have testified the same, and I am loath to be a Broker of other men's wits.   

Of their constancy and true love.  
THere is a greater Sympathy of affections in friendships, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, betwixt man & woman, than man and man. For you shall not read of above four or five couples of men that were linked together in the bands of faithful friendship, when Authors swarm with sexamples betwixt the other. Similitudo morum, 
〈◊〉. 250.  the similitude of affections, as Otho obtained Neros, is the cause of virall friendship: but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, nature itself, is the foundation of conjugal friendship. It is jucunda amicitia, that is the cause of this vera amicitia. It is pleasure, that ties the indissoluble knot of true friendship; delight gins it, honesty confirms it: for where pleasure is, there is desire of society, and that's the key, that locks their thoughts together. She than that is espoused to one whom she doth not affect, if she love another, ca● not be said to be inconstant, but incontinent. For inconstancy is a negation of constancy: they must then first love, ere they be inconstant. If then (courteous Reader) thou dost but balance the scales of thy judgement with impartiality, duly weighing the nature of inconstancy, thou wilt not hereafter so rashly accuse them of instablenes. What if there be one Helena amongst all the Grecians; one Livia amongst all the Romans; one Cleopatra amongst all the Egyptians: wilt thou therefore shoot the arrow of thy fame-wounding judgement against all, the Grecians, Romans and Egyptians? There is no motion, but circular, that is always perfect. All are not Stars, fixed in the Orb of constancy, there must be some straying Planets. 
Just. l. 18.  Elisa Queen of Carthage, her Husband being murdered, and afterward being solicited of many for her love, precipitated herself from a Sky-kissing Turret, 
Just. l. 18.  saying, I come, my Sychaeus, I come. Theogena, wife to Agathocles, refused to departed from him, when all his subjects had relinquished and forsaken him, saying, Se non prosperae tantum, sed omnis fortunaeinisse societatem, she was as well married to him in adversity, as in prosperity. And not to stand particularising, 
Diod.  the Getoi women would not be sent from their husbands besieged: but would participate of the same fortune they did. 
D●od.  It being a custom amongst the Indians, that the women should be buried quick with their husbands, if the thread of their lives were first cut, they so willingly condescended unto it, that many times one man having two wives, they would be at mortal strife, who should be interred with him. Martia, the Daughter of Cato, being demanded when she would surcease from mourning for her deceased husband, Come & vitae inquit: When I cease to live. The wife of Philo, when she was asked why she did not adorn herself with jewels at public solemnisations, answered, It sufficeth me, that I have for my ornament the virtue of my husband. The Wife of Po●●pey slew herself upon his dead corpse, from whom, I think, the Tragedian took his sentence, 
Sen. Trag.  Mors misera non est, commori cum quo velis.  
Pale death to life  
is oft of those preferred,  
Who are with those,  
whom they do love, interred.  
Should I stand to enumerate all the regular Matrons that move within the spear of fidelity; I might seem by a Logical Induction, in reckoning up all particulars, to infer a general. Women, their minds are crystal, which writ on by the Diamond of love, the slubbering fingers of Time can never obliterate or blot forth: Like the state of the world above the Moon, where there is no change. Their minds perhaps, as (Seneca saith) a wise man's, may waver, but never alter.   

Of their contempt, and freeness from Gluttony.  
THere is none, I think, 
Rick. Rhet.  so scrupulously malicious, unless he resemble the Philosopher, who doubted whether he were a man or a woman, and therefore would have it decided by disputation, that will suffer any thought to move within the Zodiac of there imaginations, which doth not in this give Woman the preeminence. Peruse thou all Authors, that have in there writings disgorged and spit forth their venomous rancour against them: and if thou canst find two of them that were addicted to Gastrimorgisme, I will grant thee to infer that they are all dishmongers, when the stream of Autors bears floating on their Pageants, innumerable men's names, who by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have brought both bodies and purses into consumptions. Philoxenus wished his neck were as long as a Cranes, that he might the longer feel the sweetness of his meat: and he (qualis vita, finis ita) having taken a mortal surfeit, by devouring almost a Polypus of the quantity of two els, desired to comfort his empty stomach, that death should separate his lean soul, from his fat body, that he might eat the remainder. 
Aclian. l. 12.  Sminderides, whose eyes were six times as long shut with Gluttony, as Endymion's was with sleep, from beholding the Sun, and then forsooth by Love, being awaked from his sluggishness, he road a wooing, bravely attended with a thousand Cooks, as many Fowlers, and so many Fishers. How many Nero's shall you find banqueting, and swilling, from midday, to midnight, with Vitellius, making (as one saith) their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: and honestum et parum est, cui corpus multum, whose belly is his god, honesty most commonly is his slave.   

Of their dexterical Wits.  
IF the acuteness of wit do follow, and be seen by the pureness of the temperature of the body▪ as without doubt it is: for it here is usually 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the most exact sense of feeling and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a soft temperate flesh, where there is a smirk and quick wit: women (being they are most commonly imbued with those corporal favours) should by a consequent be the best 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, have the most active, and excelling wits: and when Aristotle prefers the more obtuse and melancholy wit, before the dexterical; it is in affairs where there is time for deliberation: otherways the prae-wit excels the post wit, as actions performed in season, do those which are out of season. For many times, when occasion is offered the prae-wit takes it by the forehead, when the other whiles the time away it: doth search the corners of the brains, for the oil of inventions, stays till the door of answering be shut against it: Like the messenger that came to tell Cassius of the victory, 
Paterc. pa. 122.  when he had already slain himself in despair of it: 
Pers●us.  and elleborum frustra ●umiam cutis aegra tumebat.  
In vain we to invention fly,  
When occasion's passed, for to reply.  
Socrates termeth perspicuity of wit, aurum divinum, divine and refined gold, whose Mine is the mind of a woman: And therefore the Muses, the fountain of all wit, were women: The Sibyls, quarum quot verba, tot Oracula, whose words as an Oracle to the Romans, were women. The quintessence, the A per se (as one saith of Poets) of wit: 
Aeneas Syl.  the even flowing Euripus of faculty, learned Sappho, a woman. The daughter of Tully being asked in scurrility, by Metellus who was her Father? replied, It would be hard for thee to answer it, by reason of thy Mother, (for she was esteemed none of the honestest.) It was a pretty extemporary sleight of Semarimus: who, 
A●lia●● 7.  when the Indian King caused her to ascend his Throne, and gave her authority to command the Soldiers, to do what she would; she presently bid them kill the King himself: and so she obtained his Kingdom. And whose eye is not blinded with malignity, may see the flood of their wits still to flow in these our times.  
It is a more than probable sign, that they excel men in the activeness of wit, in that (as I have proved) they are less incident to Gurmandizing: 
Lab. in I●●●.  for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: and as a modern Poet pithily Englisheth: 
Fat paunches make lean pates,  
and grosser bits  
every the ribs,  
but bankrupt quite the wits.    

Of their Wisdom.  
Perspicuity of wit is of the Moralists made the chiefest part of wisdom, 
Mag. in Ar●s. l. 3.  differing solely from it: as pars doth a toto: as the part from the whole. Indeed, wisdom is nothing but a perfected wit, it being only necessary by nature: the other parts got by experience. If then women have activeness of wit, reason will tell you, they most easily attain to prudence, which is (because the knife of occasion, will not suffer me to shred it into all his parts) either Economical, or Political. Concerning the first, the whole multitude cries, as they do to Kings, Regnant, regnant: Let it appertain to the Sex feminine to govern the house, and so their politikes prudence, who knows how to guide a little, will quickly learn how to govern much. Our politic Prudence sprung first, from Economical. And domus (saith Aristotle) est quasi parua quae dam civitas, & civitas quasi magna domus: a house is, as it were a little City, and a City, as it were, a great house. But let one, who with Diogenes could never afford woman a good word, speak for them, saying, that nature had denied unto them strength: for other wise, their courage being corroborated by policy, would be unconquerable. Antipater was accustomed with his Daughter Phila, to consult of his most serious and warlike affairs. 
〈◊〉. D●. 3.  Tannaquill, that politic Roman Dame, obtained by the sleyts of her wits, two Empiredomes. Agrippina, when all the Captains could not assuage the raging of the people, 
〈◊〉. 6  with her sweet and Nectar-flowing words of wit, calmed and pacified them. Heluna, the Mother of Seneca, was expert in all Science: The Armenians expulsed their King, to have a Woman sway the Sceptre of their Monarchy: showing, that there are women both more wise to judge what is to be expected, 
〈◊〉  and more constant to bear it when it is happened. But I may say of their virtues, as one saith of vices; 
〈◊〉 4●.  Multarum latent virtutes, quia imbecilles sunt, the clouds of obscurity, many times overshadow the Sun of their Virtues from shining: and haud distat inertia caelcita virtus. Virtue concealed, is esteemed little better than sluggishness. They may have nature which gins; Art which directs; but they want use, which per●ecteth. Generosos animos Otium corrumpit: want of employment, corrupts the bravest spirits; the fountain of their virtue, corrupts by standing. Want of use, causeth disability; but custom, perfection.   

Of their Beauty.  
ALthough it be a Tenent amongst the Stoics (who would have men impassionate, 
Diad. l. de Ant●q.  & without affections, as Diodorus writes of some Arabians) that there is no external good, adds perfection to a man: Yet the Peripatetics hold them, although not necessary, yet requisite, as one distinguisheth, not absolute: sed respective, they do not concur to perfection, 
〈…〉  as it is perfection, but as it is man's perfection: and of all adventitiall, and extraficall goods, Aristotle gives the principality to pulchritude, which doth not cause virtue, but graceth it. Plutarch accuseth Seneca of inconsiderate judgement, in that he accuseth Virgil of error, in saying that Gratior est pulchro veniens ecorpore virtus.  
Placed with beauty, virtue's like  
Rich Pearl set in a Margarite.  
Non satis est (saith Galatcus) bene quid facere, 
Cal. de Mor.  nisi etiam fiat venustè. It is not sufficient to perform actions so well, 
〈◊〉  unless also decently. Sumus omnes (saith Osorius) natura concin●tatis, appetentes: we all naturally desire neatness, & concinnity. Beauty is called of Plato, a prerogative of nature, accidental to few: Of Theophrastus, silentem fraudem, quod absque verbis persuadebat: a silent fraud, that persuades without words. Of Carneades, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: 
〈…〉  a Kingdom without a guard; because it commands without compulsion. And therefore saith the Philosopher, If there were any amongst the gods, that did excel in external lineaments, the rest would deem it meet that they should govern. 
〈…〉  The Catharri chose them to be liberty free, who were of a comely proportion, the rest they made servile. 
〈…〉  And if I may not come within the reach of iwenal's lash, the primus Motor, the abstract of fairness, entitled (with reverence be it spoken) his Spouse in the Canticles, by the name of fair: Intimating the Adamantine and winning power it hath, with mortals. For being the species of each object, & impressed in the sense, before it be in the understanding, it is a good consequent, that whatsoever is most delightful tooth Organical senses, the Intellectual parts are most willing to receive. I need not set invention on the rack, to prove their Prerogative in corporal feature, as I have in their internal and mental form, since our sensible eyes do more easily see●, than our intelligible understand. I have need of a Sapho's wit, to describe the Rose of their beauty; not an Aristotle's judgement, to prove it. Let each one's senses be the glass, in which they view beauty; and then, I think, there will be none so hypocritical, or false, that will not reflex some shadow of their pulchritude, by which they may see them to surpass men. Quantum len. ta solent inter viburna Cupressi, as much as the lofty Cypress doth overpeere the limber shrub: or, 
Achil. Tac. lib. 8.  as one saith of Ephesius, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as fair not amongst, but above men; as Rhodope, above the Virgins. The Crasis of their bodies, comes nearest to the Physicians temperamentum ad pondus. Although selfe-tormenting envy, which always, ●anquam ignis summapetit, a perpetual companion of virtue, seek to congeal vapours in the sky of beauty, with the noisomeness of its breath, by objecting incontinence unto it, as a Poet sings:  
There is no name  
(if she be false or not,)  
But being fair,  
some envious tongue will blot:  
As if nature were an Hypocrite, to candy over the bitter Pills of the mind, with sugared outsides. No, no, their external feature doth strive (as Paterculus saith of Victinius) with the excellency of their minds; whose virtues being a jewel, enveloped in the silver O●e of their bodies, like Achilles, of whom Maximus Tarrhus saith, Not only to be extolled for her golden looks, but because he was adorned with all virtuous qualities. 
D●●ge. La●r. 〈…〉  The cord of society (as Chrysippus nominates it) or pulchritude, is described to be a proportionable commixtion of the four elements in man's body, & where no one element doth predominate in the body, there no one passion doth captivated the soul: 
〈…〉  for, Cuius in ullo elementi portio praevalebit, inde moris erunt, the mind derives his passions from the prevailing clement in the body: where Frigidity doth predominate, their timorousness; where callidity, there choler: wherefore Plato would have children prohibited, and young men in the hot Meridean of their age, to abstain from Wine, because by califying the body, it inflameth also the mind.  
And whereas we see many with Lepidus, to have fairer bodies than minds, leaden Rapiers, in golden Sheaths, like Diogenes young man, a Momus wit in an Apello's body, like Nereus' Beard in a painted Box, it is not by the instinct of nature, but by the corruption of it: and on the contrary, when we see many golden qualities placed, as Aesop's jewel, in in the dunghill, in Leaden bodies, as in Galba, of whom Cicero said, his wit had an ill lodging; nature doth not imbue them with them, but industry obtains them, as S●ere●●s and our last Cardinal confessed of themselves, The temperature of the body doth but begin and inchoate our affections, custom and use are of most validity, wherefore generally we may judge, as an Epigrammatist doth of a slow paced Lordane: 
Tardus es ingenio,  
ut pedibus, natura etenim dat  
Exterius specimen,  
quod latet interius.  
Thy leaden heels  
no golden wit do show:  
For inbred gifts  
by outward limbs we know.    

Of their comfort to man.  
THere is nothing more oppugnant to man's nature, than solitude: and therefore he is described to be animal sociale, 
Ven. epis. 10  a sociable creature: it is one of the two by which he hath his prerogative of beasts, Societas illi dominum animalium dedit: Company hinders from many offences, when Omnia nobis mala solitudo persuadit, Solitariness persuades to all evil. Crates seeing a young man spaciating by himself, demanded what he did there alone? Mecum (saith he) loquor, 
Seneca.  I talk with myself. Take heed then, replied Crates, lest cum homine malo loqueris, thou conferrest with an evil one. It is better for a man to be with any one, then with himself. Art thou with Metelius in prosperity, and doth Fortune, with a prosperous gale of wind, blow the Ship of thy life towards the Port of riches? thou canst never by thyself, without the cords of friends, cast Anchor in the Haven of contentedness: for Nullius boni sine societate iucunda possessio est: There is no pleasing possession of any thing without a companion. Again, art thou with Rutilius in adversity: & doth the blustering Boreas of misfortune, cast thee on the rock of poverty? yet solamen miseris, the comfort of friends is comfort: it is a sweet thing in adversity to have, who laments with us our miseries; ut serenitas gratior in tempestate advenit, 
Lip. epis. 62.  sic lugenti amico amicus, as serenity to Mariners after tempests; so the Sunshine of a friends presence, is most grateful to his correlative, in the tempest of his adversity: Lacrimis lacrimis miscere iu●at. Helena could tell Hecuba, that her sorrow was light in respect of hers, because she had coopartners in it: for magis exurunt, quos secretae lacerant curae. Care doth most scorch, when we pen it within the narrow compass of our own hearts. Well then, there is no true joy, without a friend, and no friend, in respect of a wife, a woman to a man, who, if thou be'st jocund, adds pleasure to thy mirth, and makes the cup of thy heart overflow with the nectar of delight. Art thou sad, and doth care gnaw thy perplexed mind? why, Est aliquod fatale malum per verba levari, by words thou must ease it: and who so convenient as a wife ●o unclapse the bosom of thy thoughts unto? who either bedewing her cheeks with tears for the, bears half thy burden, or else absterging or wiping with her soft hand tears from thy eyes, as sorrow from thy soul, as ●ocasta did to Oedipus with a consolatory, 
Sen●●●● 〈…〉. nal. 3. & 〈◊〉. pro us, 〈◊〉. Deca.  Quid ur vat, coniux, mala gravare quastu● 
What helps it, Sweet,  
to aggravate  
By sorrow thy  
disastrous fate?   
What a Pathetical Oration makes Messalinus for women, to associate their husbands in the wars in foreign regions? Quod honestius, quam levamentum uxortum revertentibus post laborem, & c? what more convenient, then to have, when we return from our labours, than the comfort of our wives, 
〈…〉  as that one eye of Minerva testifieth of them?  
And thou shalt find  
in women virtues lie:  
Sweote supple minds,  
which soon to virtue bow,  
Where they, by wisdom's rule  
directed are,  
And are not forced  
fond thraldom to allow.  
As we to get are framed,  
so they to spare:  
We made for pain,  
they made, our pains to cherish,  
We care abroad,  
and they at home have care.  
I may say of them, 
Euri. Trag.  as Euripides saith of the just man, They seem non sibi, 
Pet. de reemr. sortu.  sed alijs natae, not to be borne to themselves, but to others. Dulces parents, dulces fillij, dulces fratres, dulces amici, sed dulcissimae uxores. It is a sweet thing to have parents, children, brothers and friends, but it is most amoene, it is most sweet, to have the comfort of a loving woman, when parents prove unnatural, children rebllious, brother's unkind, friends unconstant, wives are only like the Gemelli of Hypocrates, inseparable; the sweet that must relish all those sour potions: a wife is as a good conscience to a man, wheresoever she is, there is true peace and joy: a man is never perfect, until he be married, till than he is defective, he wants a Rib, not uxor fulgit (as the Civilian saith) radijs mariti, sed maritus radijs uxoris: She is as the Sun, and he the Moon, the beams of her presence is the cause of his shining. It may be an Axiom as well as an Adage, Verberat uxorem qui non habet: unmarried men only beat their wives, who discommend them out of ignorance for we cannot judge of sweet, until we taste them: but most malign them, as Appius did Virginia, because they cannot obtain them: and married men dislaude them, because they have them: for Quicquid domi est, vile est: we always esteem the worst of that we enjoy: praesentium taedio futuri desiderio laboramus, we are sick always of the present, and for future things: tardius bona quàm mala sensimus, 
〈…〉.  we are more sensible of ill then good, as Cicero saith of his Terentia, that till he was exiled from her company, he never knew what content it brought unto him; we never know what pleasures are, till we be bereft of them: widowers can only judge of the comfort of a wife.   

That Children are most obliged to their mothers.  
EDucing, education, and affection, are the threefold cords that should tie each child to the love of its mother: first, by educing or inducing to this world; wherein every mother is as a good Landlord to her child, giving it both houseroom and nutriment, when it, like an unruly Tenant, doth grieve and vex her, and, which is against the Lease of equity, many times cuts and crops the flourishing trees of their beauty, and grown too great for their places, as many men's minds are for their estates, they seek for a more ample habitation, neither can they have the Lawyers bene decessit, for many times (Proh dolour) they ruinated in their departure, their continents, and yet women show themselves the truest lovers, they love them that hurt them; & that it is better not to begin a good action at all, then to desist; having begun, they persevere in their benefits, giving them that alter a natura, that other nature, education, nourishing our bodies as the Pelican, though not with the blood, yet with the substance of their breasts, and when they are able instruments to exercise the faculties of the soul, they (and id maximum beneficium, quod animum reddit meliorem; that is the greatest benefit which perfects the soul) suckle our minds with the milk of good manners, training us up, 
〈…〉.  as Tanaquill did her son, in religion and learning. The two Gracchis reaped all the flowers of their Oratory, from the Garden of their mother's virtues. 
Sucto.  Caesar obtained his eloquence by conversing with his mother. And Socrates, that Athenian Eagle, exhausted all his wisdom from the wellspring of Diol●nna's instructions. 
〈…〉.  Lastly, by their affection. Rutilia followed her son Cotta in his exile; and yet when death bereft her of him, her eyes never shown, her heart loved him, in expulso virtutem ostendit, in amisso, prudentiam: in his exile she shown her love, in his death, her wisdom. Two Roman Matrons beholding their sons, 
Petrar. de Mater.  whom they deemed to have been slain in the great battle at Thraceninus, their souls as incapable of so inexpected joy, took leave of their bodies. But I need not induce Instances, since they are oftener with Niobe & Satyrus for overloving, them for not loving them, reprehended. Two reasons may be given, why they do most affect their children. First, because they are certain they are theirs. Wherefore T●l●machus being asked, if it were true that Ulysses was his father? answered, Mater quidē●ta hoc dicit, My mother saith he was. Secondly, for that they have most sorrow by them: for emnis amat beneficia sua, we love that most dear, that costs us dearest. There is one honour (saith Arist●tle) due to the father, another to the mother: we own most honour to our father in a Geometrical proportion, in respect of dignity, but most to our mother in an Arithmetical proportion, in respect of desert. For we have of them principally, 
〈…〉.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, our essence: Secondly, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, our nourishment: thirdly, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, our education: and amor, amoris magnes est, & durus est, qui amorem non rependit: Love is the Loadstone of Love, and he is the most obdure, that doth not repay it. There is no ingratitude comparable to that which is committed against the mother. Every man may say with Seneca, 
〈…〉.  Quicquid praestiti, infra aestimationem materni muneris est. When I have performed all that I can, I can never recompense her. For he is never conquered in benefits, whose benefit it is, that he is conquered. I will wind up the clue of this Tract, with that pathetical saying of Petrarch: 
Petrar. de Mater.  
Cum nihil sit natis  
materno magis amore:  
jam matter studijs  
est veneranda pijs.  
Since Mother's most  
their children's states do tender:  
By obsequious duty,  
we them thankes should render.    

The Castrophe.  
IT is no marvel if the Catharri would rechange three or four men, 
Diode. A●●.  for one woman captivated or taken prisoner: if the Egyptians, & Lycians, would have them rule both in public, and private: If the Lacedæmonians called their wife's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Ladies: 
Tacide M●r. O●r.  If the Germans paid so dear for their Spouses: If Plat● held a woman as necessary in a Family, as a King in a Country; since they do excel in all the principal passions of the mind; having, as Museus saith of Hero, a hundred graces: In continency, Cato's; in fortitude, Scipio's; in constancy, Achates; in pulchritude, as the Poet saith of Amarintha, all beauty; in wit, the Marmalade and sucket of Muses: Cordial Nepenthes of comfort to their husbands: True Pelican's to their children. If Nature, saith Plutarch, would see herself, woman must be her perspective, or Looking-glass? Women? What are they? Nature's pride, Virtue's ornament, Angels on earth, Saints in Heaven; memorable to be registered, worthy to be served. In a word, if the world be a Ring, woman is the Diamond set in this Ring.  
And now my Pen will needs take his leave of its fair Love, the Paper, with blubbering, as you see these ruder tears of Ink. I may say, as Festus saith of himself, 
Festus hist. Rom. init.  Res gestas signaut, non scripsi, I have touched, not handled their virtues. Wherein I have observed half of Aesop's counsel to Solon, 
Lubin in Ju●e  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: that his speech should be either short, or sweet. What I want in suavity, I have endeavoured to supply by brevity: of which, if any one accuse me, let Seneca give a prick to their Toade-swolne galls with his Nu●quam parum est, quod satis est. I know, that more may be said of each quality; but I desired not to say all, but enough.  
FINIS.