[17]
]
6.
That it is poſsible to find ſome vertue in ſome Women.
I am not of that ſeard Impudence that I dare defend Women, or pronounce them good; yet we ſee Phyſitians allow ſome vertue in every poyſon. Alas! why ſhould we except Women? ſince certainely, they are good for Phyſicke at leaſt, ſo as ſome wine is good for a feaver. And though they be the Occaſioners of many ſinnes, they are alſo the Puniſhers and Revengers of the ſame ſinnes: For I have ſeldome ſeene one which conſumes his ſubſtance and body upon them, eſcape diſeaſes, or beggery; and this is their Iuſtice. And if ſuum cuiq; dare, bee the fulfilling of all Civill Iuſtice, they are moſt juſt; for they deny that which is theirs to no man.
Tanquam non liceat nulla puella negat.
And who may doubt of great wiſdome in them, that doth but obſerve with how much [18] ]labour and cunning our Iuſticers and other diſpenſers of the Lawes ſtudy to imbrace them: and how zealouſly our Preachers dehort men from them, onely by urging their ſubtilties, and policies, and wiſedome, which are in them? Or who can deny them a good meaſure of Fortitude, if hee conſider how valiant men they have overthrowne, and being themſelves overthrowne, how much and how patiently they beare? And though they bee moſt intemperate, I care not, for I undertooke to furniſh them with ſome vertue, not with all. Neceſſity, which makes even bad things good, prevailes alſo for them, for wee muſt ſay of them, as of ſome ſharpe pinching Lawes; If men were free from infirmities, they were needleſſe. Theſe or none muſt ſerve for reaſons, and it is my great happineſſe that Examples prove not Rules, for to confirme this Opinion, the World yeelds not one Example.