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."
The cunning of the sex is equal to their obstinacy. "Women know a point more than the devil" (Italian).[23] What wonder, then, if "A bag of fleas is easier to keep guard over than a woman?" (German).[24] The wilfulness of woman is pleasantly hinted at in the Scotch proverb, "'Gie her her will, or she'll burst,' quoth the gudeman when his wife was dinging him."
A woman conceals what she does not know.
Women and bairns lein [conceal] what they kenna.—Scotch.
"To a woman and a magpie tell what you would speak in the market-place" (Spanish).[25] Hotspur says to his wife,—
"Constant you are,
But yet a woman, and for secrecy
No lady closer; for I well believe
Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know,
And so far I will trust thee, gentle Kate."