--But that man was ever a savage. It may be added that

The defenselessness of woman is a conventional fiction: she can avert an
attack by a look; she can terminate a siege by a taunt.

(4) Though Browning tried. See "Dramatic Idyls", "Pan and Luna"

* * *

Solomon has objurgated the invincibly garrulous woman. The invincibly
taciturn woman is so rare as to have escaped objurgation. Yet she too is
a terror to men.

* * *

Every woman is suspicious and jealous of any woman that opens a man's
eyes; even though she knows that

Never was there a woman who could and would deliberately wholly enlighten
a man.

And, yet, marvelous and curious amongst things curious and marvelous,
will but a woman fling artifice to the winds, and look and act and say as
great Nature prompts,--wildly, willfully, wantonly,--that woman will
captivate as no feminine wiles will ever captivate.

* * *

If the man were worth it, many a woman would dispense with the marriage
ceremony. For