dots-menu
×

Home  »  Familiar Quotations  »  Aaron Hill 1685-1750 John Bartlett

John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Aaron Hill 1685-1750 John Bartlett

 
1
    First, then, a woman will or won’t, depend on ’t;
If she will do ’t, she will; and there ’s an end on ’t.
But if she won’t, since safe and sound your trust is,
Fear is affront, and jealousy injustice. 1
          Zara. Epilogue.
2
    Tender-handed stroke a nettle,
  And it stings you for your pains;
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
  And it soft as silk remains.


’T is the same with common natures:
  Use ’em kindly, they rebel;
But be rough as nutmeg-graters,
  And the rogues obey you well.
          Verses written on a window in Scotland.
 
Note 1.
The following lines are copied from the pillar erected on the mount in the Dane John Field, Canterbury:—

Where is the man who has the power and skill
To stem the torrent of a woman’s will?
For if she will, she will, you may depend on ’t;
And if she won’t, she won’t; so there ’s an end on ’t.
The Examiner, May 31, 1829. [back]