Car, voyez-vous, la femme est, comme on dit, mon maître,
Un certain animal difficile à connoitre,
Et de qui la nature est fort encline au mal.
(A woman, look you, is a certain animal hard to understand and much inclined to mischief.)
Molière (Le Dépit Amoureux).
Here, where sharp the sea-bird shrills his ditty,
Flickering flame-wise through the clear live calm,
Rose triumphal, crowning all a city,