Ant. I can’t tell what they teach; but I can’t endure a Monk that answers again:  Nor would I have any of my Monks wiser than I am myself.

Mag. You might prevent that well enough, if you did but lay yourself out, to get as much Wisdom as you can.

Ant. I han’t Leisure.

Mag. Why so?

Ant. Because I han’t Time.

Mag. What, not at Leisure to be wise?

Ant. No.

Mag. Pray what hinders you?

Ant. Long Prayers, the Affairs of my Houshold, Hunting, looking after my Horses, attending at Court.

Mag. Well, and do you think these Things are better than Wisdom?

Ant. Custom has made it so.

Mag. Well, but now answer me this one Thing:  Suppose God should grant you this Power, to be able to turn yourself and your Monks into any Sort of Animal that you had a Mind:  Would you turn them into Hogs, and yourself into a Horse?

Ant. No, by no Means.

Mag. By doing so you might prevent any of them from being wiser than yourself?

Ant. It is not much Matter to me what Sort of Animals my Monks are, if I am but a Man myself.

Mag. Well, and do you look upon him to be a Man that neither has Wisdom, nor desires to have it?

Ant. I am wise enough for myself.

Mag. And so are Hogs wise enough for themselves.

Ant. You seem to be a Sophistress, you argue so smartly.

Mag. I won’t tell you what you seem to me to be.  But why does this Houshold-Stuff displease you?

Ant. Because a Spinning-Wheel is a Woman’s Weapon.

Mag. Is it not a Woman’s Business to mind the Affairs of her Family, and to instruct her Children?

Ant. Yes, it is.

Mag. And do you think so weighty an Office can be executed without Wisdom?

Ant. I believe not.

Mag. This Wisdom I learn from Books.

Ant. I have threescore and two Monks in my Cloister, and you will not see one Book in my Chamber.

Mag. The Monks are finely look’d after all this While.

Ant. I could dispense with Books; but I can’t bear Latin Books.

Mag. Why so?

Ant. Because that Tongue is not fit for a Woman.

Mag. I want to know the Reason.

Ant. Because it contributes nothing towards the Defence of their Chastity.

Mag. Why then do French Books that are stuff’d with the most trifling Novels, contribute to Chastity?

Ant. But there is another Reason.

Mag. Let it be what it will, tell me it plainly.

Ant. They are more secure from the Priests, if they don’t understand Latin.