heade: to witnesse that in earth man hath no head, (beware Chrysostome
what thou saist, thou shalt be reputed a traytor if Englishe men heare
the[76]: for they must haue my souereine lady and maistresse, and Scotland
hath dronken also the enchantment and venom of Circes, let it be so to
their owne shame and confusion, he procedeth in these wordes) but woman
oght to be couered, to witnesse, that in earth she hath a head, that is
man. Trewe it is (Chrysostome) woman is couered in both the said
realmes[77], but it is not with the signe of subiection, but it is with
the signe of superioritie, to witt, with the royal crowne. To that he
answereth in these wordes: what if man neglect his honor? he his no lesse
to be mocked (saith Chrysostome) then if a king shulde depose himself of
his diademe or crowne and royal estat, and cloth him self in the habit of
a sclaue. What, I pray you, shulde this godlie father haue saide, if he
had sene all the men of a realme or nation fall downe before a woman? If
he had sene the crowne, sceptre, and sworde, whiche are ensignes of the
royall dignitie, geuen to her, and a woman cursed of God, and made
subiecte to man, placed in the throne of iustice, to sit as Goddes
lieutenant? What, I say, in this behalfe, shuld any hart vnfeinedlie
fearing, God haue iudged of suche men? I am assured that not onlie shulde
they haue bene iudged foolishe but also enraged, and sclaues to Satan,
manifestlie fighting against God and his apointed ordre. The more that I
consider the subuersion of Goddes ordre, which he hath placed generallie
in all liuinge thinges, the more I do wondre at the blindnes of man, who
doth not consider him self in this case so degenerate, that the brute
beastes are to be preferred vnto him in this behalfe[78]. For nature hath
in all beastes printed a certein marke of dominion in the male, and a
certeine subiection in the female, whiclie they kepe inuiolate. For no man
euer sawe the lion make obedience, and stoupe before the lionesse, nether
yet can it be proued, that the hinde taketh the conducting of the heard
amongest the hartes. And yet (alas) man, who by the mouth of God hath