"Two wymen in one howse,
Two cattes and one mowse,
Two dogges and one bone
Maye never accorde in one."
Udall writes that "As the kynde of women is naturally geuen to the vyce of muche bablynge there is nothyng wherein theyr womanlynesse is more honestlie garnyshed than with sylence"; but a Welsh proverb declares that "A woman's strength is in her tongue,"[235:A] and we can scarcely be surprised that she is at times reluctant to forego the use of this weapon.
The Spaniards sarcastically assert that "He who is tired of a quiet life gets him a wife"; and Solomon, we recall, declares that "It is better to dwell in a corner of the house-top than with a brawling woman"; while another proverb bitterly, but truly, declares that "He fasts enough whose wife scolds all dinner-time"; and yet another hath it that "He that can abide a curst wife need not fear any"; so that an old writer breaks out:
"Why then I see to take a shrew
(As seldome other there be few)
Is not the way to thriue:
So hard a thing I spie it is,
The good to chuse, the shrew to mis,
That feareth me to wiue."
This bitter feeling against womankind is seen not only in our proverbs, but very largely also in epitaphs, as for example:
"Here lies my wife, a sad slattern and shrew,
If I said I respected her I should lie too."
"Here lies my wife, and, Heaven knows,
Not less for mine than her repose."
"Here lies my poor wife, much lamented;
She is happy, and I am contented."
"Here rests my spouse; no pair through life
So equal lived as we did;
Alike we shared perpetual strife,
Nor knew I rest till she did."
"Here lies my poor wife,
Without bed or blanket;
But dead as a door nail:
God be thanked."