_Lines on "Woman's Will_."--Many of your readers will have heard quoted
the following stanza, or something like it:--
"The man's a fool who strives by force or skill
To stem the torrent of a woman's will;
For if she will, she will you may depend on't,
And if she won't, she won't, and there's an end on't."
I have heard these lines confidently attributed to Shakspeare, Byron,
&c. by persons unable to verify the quotation, when challenged so to do.
I can point out where the first two lines may be found with some
variation. In _The Adventures of Five Hours_, a comedy translated from
the Spanish of Calderon, by Samuel Tuke, and {248} printed in the 12th
volume of Dodsley's _Old Plays_ (edit. 1827), in the 5th act (p. 113.),
the lines run thus:--
"He is a fool, who thinks by force or skill
To turn the current of a woman's will."
I should be glad if any one could inform me by whom the latter lines
were added, and where they may be found in print.