Don _Francisco de Quevedo_, in his general Satires, has set these Vermin in
such a Light, as gives a shrewd Suspicion of their having been mischievous
in his own Family. He dreams that he is got within the Confines of Death,
and, among the other visionary Figures presented, he is encountred by an
old _Governante_. _How's this_! says he, in a great Amazement, _Have ye any
of those Cattle in this Country? Let the Inhabitants pray heartily for
Peace then; and all little enough to keep them quiet_. In short, he makes
the old Gentlewoman acquaint him, that she had been Eight Hundred Years in
Hell, upon a Design to erect an Order of the _Governantes_; but the Right
Worshipful _Satanic_ Commissioners were not as yet come to any Resolution
upon the Point: For, they said, if your _Governantes_ should come once to
settle there, there would be no Occasion for any other Tormentors, and the
Devils themselves would be but so many _Jacks out of Office_. _I have
been_, says she, _too in_ Purgatory _upon the same Project, but there so
soon as ever they set Eyes upon me, all the Souls cried out unanimously_,
Libera nos, Domine. _And as for_ Heaven, _That's no Place for Quarrels,
Slanders, Disquiets, Heart-burnings, and consequently none for_ Me.

These are the _Douegna's_ which the Suspicions of the _Spaniards_ at first
intended as Spies upon the Conduct of their Wives and Daughters. We have a
Species of _Governantes_ among us in _England_, who being admitted into a
Familiarity in Families, by Policy improve it into Friendship: this
Friendship lets them into a Degree of Trust, which they are diligent to
turn into the best Advantage; and having always little servile Ends of
their own to obtain, their surest Step is to sow Dissention, and strengthen
their own Interest, by alienating the Affections of the Wife from her
Husband; whose _Bread_ they are eating at the same Time, that they are
undermining his _Quiet_ in the nearest Concerns of Life.