The Husband here in the Fable found no Charm to lay the Devil in a
Petticoat, but the Ratling of a Bladder with _Beans_ in’t; and I my self
have known a _Cat-Pipe_ us’d in the like Case with very good Success.
There’s no Contending with an Impetuous Woman, by Authority or Reason.
The Banging of it out in a Dispute at length, would be a loss both of
Time and of Honour, and to no manner of purpose neither; for what should
a Man do, Reasoning upon a Point where Reason does not so much as enter
into the Question? So that it is the Best of a Brave Man’s Game to make
a Drawn Battel on’t, where there’s no Possibility of a Victory. He in
fine, that contemns a Shrew to the Degree of not Descending to Word it
with her, does worse then Beat her. But we live in an Age, when Women,
we hope, are better Instructed, then to fly in the Face of Religion it
self, Law, and Nature: And these Desperate Encounters can never fall out
betwixt a Man and his Wife, but where the Woman is lost to all sence of
Shame, Prudence, Modesty, and Common Respect.