9.  The divine Solomon, in his instructive wisdom, I mean his Proverbs, praises the woman Prov. xxxi. 10. who looks to her household and loves her husband, contrasting her with one who roams abroad, and is uncontrolled and dishonourable, and hunts for precious souls with wanton words and ways, while she manages well at home and bravely sets about her woman’s duties, as her hands hold the distaff, and she prepares two coats for her husband, buying a field in due season, and makes good provision for the food of her servants, and welcomes her friends at a liberal table; with all the other details in which he sings the praises of the modest and industrious woman.  Now, to praise my sister in these points would be to praise a statue for its shadow, or a lion for its claws, without allusion to its greatest perfections.  Who was more deserving of renown, and yet who avoided it so much and made herself inaccessible to the eyes of man?  Who knew better the due proportions of sobriety and cheerfulness, so that her sobriety should not seem inhuman, nor her tenderness immodest, but prudent in one, gentle in the other, her discretion was marked by a combination of sympathy and dignity?  Listen, ye women addicted to ease and display, who despise the veil of shamefastness.  Who ever so kept her eyes under control?  Who so derided laughter, that the ripple of a smile seemed a great thing to her?  Who more steadfastly closed her ears?  And who opened them more to the Divine words, or rather, who installed the mind as ruler of the tongue in uttering the judgments of God?  Who, as she, regulated her lips?