eally went the right way to
work, to judge of her; 'tis certain the Devil had nothing to do but to
look in her face, and upon a near steady view he might easily see there,
an instrument for his Turn; nor has he fail'd to make her a Tool ever
since, by the very methods which he at first proposed; to which,
perhaps, he has made some additions in the corrupting her composition,
as well as her understanding; qualifying her to be a compleat snare to
the poor _weaker vessel_ MAN; to wheedle him with her _Syren_'s voice,
abuse him with her smiles, delude him with her crocodile tears, and
sometimes cock her crown at him, and terrify him with the thunder of her
TREBLE; making the effeminated _Male Apple-eater_ tremble at the noise
of that very Tongue, which at first commanded him to Sin. For it is yet
a debate which the Learned have not decided, whether she persuaded and
entreated him, or like a true she-tyrant, exercised her authority and
oblig'd him to eat the forbidden fruit.

And therefore a certain author, whose name, _for fear of the Sex's
resentment_ I conceal, brings her in, calling to _Adam_ at a great
distance, in an imperious haughty manner, beckoning to him with her
hand, thus; _Here_, says she, _you cowardly faint-hearted wretch, take
this branch of heavenly fruit, eat and be a stupid fool no longer; eat
and be wise; eat and be a God; and know, to your eternal shame, that
your wife has been made an enlightn'd Goddess before you_.

He tells you _Adam_ hung back a little at first, and trembl'd, _afraid
to trespass_: _What ails the_ SOT, says the new Termagant? _what are you
afraid of? did God forbid you! yes, and why? that we might not be
knowing and wise like himself! What reason can there be that we, who
have capacious souls, able to receive knowledge, should have it
withheld? take it, you Fool, and eat; don't you see how I am exalted in
soul by it, and am quite another Creature? Take it_, I say, _or, if you
don't, I'll go and cut down the Tree, and you shall never eat any of it
at all, and you shall be still a fool, and be governed by your wife for
ever_.

Thus, if this interpretation of the thing be just, she Scolded him into
it; Rated him, and brought him to it by the terror of her voice; a thing
that has retained a dreadful influence over him ever since; nor have the
greatest of _Adam_'s Successors, how light soever some husbands make of
it in this age, been ever able, since that, to conceal their terror, at