A modest, chaste, and an obedient wife,
Lifts her poor husband to a knightly throne:
What though the livelong day with toils be rife,
The solace of his cares at night's his own.
If she be modest and her words be kind,
Mark not her beauty, or her want of grace;
The fairest woman, if deformed in mind
Will in thy heart's affections find no place:
Dazzling as Eden's beauties to the eye,
In outward form: foul is her face within.
Better in dungeon, bound with chains, to lie,
Than, with at home, a wife of frowning mien.
Better bare feet than pinching shoes. The woes
Of travel are less hard than broils at home.
Contentment's door upon that mansion close,
Whence wrangling women's high-pitched voices come.
--_From Littell's Living Age._
2030
When a man has secured a good wife he can rest on his laurels; the world
has no greater prize to offer him.
2031
When the will is ready, the feet are light.
2032
When the will is prompt, the legs are nimble.
--_Italian._
2033
Where there is a will, there is a way.
2034