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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12653	Ester hath hang'd Haman: or An ansvvere to a lewd pamphlet, entituled, The arraignment of women With the arraignment of lewd, idle, froward, and vnconstant men, and husbands. Diuided into two parts. The first proueth the dignity and worthinesse of women, out of diuine testimonies. The second shewing the estimation of the fœminine sexe, in ancient and pagan times; all which is acknowledged by men themselues in their daily actions. VVritten by Ester Sowernam, neither maide, wife nor widdowe, yet really all, and therefore experienced to defend all.	Sowernam, Ester.	1617 (1617)	STC 22974; ESTC S111037	31,313	62

Ester hath hang'd Haman OR AN ANSVVERE TO a lewd Pamphlet entituled The Arraignment of Women With the arraignment of lewd idle froward and vnconstant men and HVSBANDS Diuided into two Parts The first proueth the dignity and worthinesse of Women out of diuine Testimonies The second shewing the estimation of the Foeminine Sexe in ancient and Pagan times all which is acknowledged by men themselues in their daily actions VVritten by Ester Sowernam neither Maide Wife nor Widdowe yet really all and therefore experienced to defend all IOHN 8.7 He that is without sinne among you let him first cast a stone at her Neque enim lex iusticior vlla Quam necis Artificem arte perire sua LONDON Printed for Nicholas Bourne and are to be sold at his shop at the entrance of the Royall Exchange 1617. TO ALL RIGHT HONOVrable Noble and worthy Ladies Gentlewomen and others vertuously disposed of the Foeminine Sexe RIght Honourable and all others of our Sexe vpon my repaire to London this last Michaelmas Terme being at supper amongst friends where the number of each sexe were equall As nothing is more vsuall for table-talke there fell out a discourse concerning women some defending others obiecting against our Sex Vpon which occasion there happened a mention of a Pamphlet entituled The Arraignment of Women which I was desirous to see The next day a Gentleman brought me the Booke which when I had superficially runne ouer I found the discourse as far off from performing what the Title promised as I found it scandalous and blasphemous for where the Authour pretended to write against lewd idle and vnconstant women hee doth most impudently rage and rayle generally against all the whole sexe of women Wherevpon I in defence of our Sexe began an answer to that full Pamphlet In which after I had spent some small time word was brought mee that an Apologie for women was already vndertaken and ready for the Presse by a Ministers daughter Vpon this newes I stayed my pen being as glad to be eased of my entended labour as I did expect some fitting performance of what was vndertaken At last the Maidens Booke was brought me which when I had likewise runne ouer I did obserue that whereas the Maide doth many times excuse her tendernesse of yeares I found it to be true in the slendernesse of her answer for she vndertaking to defend women doth rather charge and condemne women as in the ensuing discourse shall appeare So that wheras I expected to be eased of what I began I do now finde my selfe double charged as well to make reply to the one as to adde supply to the other In this my Apologie Right Honourable Right Worshipfull and all others of our Sexe I doe in the first part of it plainely and resolutely deliuer the worthinesse and worth of women both in respect of their Creation as in the worke of Redemption Next I doe shew in examples out of both the Testaments what blessed and happy choyse hath beene made of women as gratious instruments to deriue Gods blessings and benefits to mankinde In my second part I doe deliuer of what estimate women haue been valued in all ancient and moderne times which I prooue by authorities customes and daily experiences Lastly I doe answer all materiall obiections which haue or can be alledged against our Sexe in which also I doe arraigne such kind of men which correspond the humor and disposition of the Author lewd idle furious and beastly disposed persons This being performed I doubt not but such as heretofore haue beene so forward and lauish against women will hereafter pull in their hornes and haue as little desire and lesse cause so scandalously and slanderously to write against vs then formerly they haue The ends for which I vndertooke this enterprise are these First to set out the glory of Almightie God in so blessed a worke of his Creation Secondly to encourage all Noble Honourable and worthy Women to expresse in their course of life and actions that they are the same Creatures which they were designed to be by their Creator and by their Redeemer And to paralell those women whose vertuous examples are collected briefly out of the Olde and New Testament Lastly I write for the shame and confusion of such as degenerate from woman-hoode and disappoint the ends of Creation and Redemption There can be no greater encouragement to true Nobility then to know and stand vpon the honour of Nobility nor any greater confusion and shame then for Nobility to dismount and abase it selfe to ignoble and degenerate courses You are women in Creation noble in Redemption gracious in vse most blessed be not forgetfull of your selues nor vnthankefull to that Author from whom you receiue all TO ALL VVORTHY AND HOPEfull young youths of Great-Brittaine But respectiuely to the best disposed and worthy Apprentifes of LONDON HOpefull and gallant youths of Great-Brittaine and this so famous a Cit●● There hath been lately published a Pamphlet entituled The Arraignment of lewd idle froward and inconstant Women This patched and mishapen hotch-potch is so directed that if Socrates did laugh but once to see an Asse ●nce Thistles he would surely laugh twice to see an idle franticke direct his mishapen Labours to giddy headed young men he would say as he did when the Asse did eate Th●stles like lips like L●●n●● so a franticks writer doth aptly chuse giddy fauorites The Author of the Arraignment and my selfe in our labours doe altogether disagree he raileth without cause I defend vpon direct proofe He saith women are the worst of all Creatures I prooue them blessed aboue all Creatures He writeth that men should abhorre them for their had conditions I proue that men should honour them for their best dispositions he saith women are the cause● of 〈…〉 I proue if there be any offence in a woman men were the beginners Now in that it is far●e more woman like to maintaine a right then it is man like to offer a wrong I conceiued that I could not erre in my choyse if I did direct a labour well intended to worthy young youths which are well disposed When you haue past your minority or serued your Apprenships vnder the gouernment of others when you begin the world for your selues the chiefest thing you looke for is a good Wife The world is a large field and it is full of brambles bryers and weedes If there be any more tormenting more scratting or more poysonable weede then other the Author hath collected them in his lothsome Pamphlet and doth vtter them to his giddy company Now my selfe presuming vpon your worthy and hanest dispositions I haue entred into the Garden of Paradice and there haue gathered the choysest flowers which that Garden may affoord and those I offer to you If you belieue our aduersury no woman is good howsoeuer she be vsed if you consider what I haue written no woman is had except she be abused If you belieue him that

women are so bad Creatures what a dangerous and miserable life is marriage If you examine my proofes to know directly what women are you shall then finde there is no delight more exceeding then to be ioyned in marriage with a Paraditian Creature Who as shee commeth out of the Garden so shall you finde her a flower of delight answerable to the Countrey from whence she commeth There can be no loue betwixt man and wife but where there is a respectiue estimate the one towards the other How could you loue nay how would you loath such a monster to whom Ioseph Swetnam poynteth Whereas in view of what I haue described how can you but regardfully loue with the vttermost straine of affection so incomparable a Iewell Some will perhaps say I am a woman and therefore write more for women then they doe deserue To whom I answere if they misdoubt of what I speake let them impeach my credit in any one particular In that which I write Eue was a good woman before she met with the Serpent her daughters are good Virgins if they meet with good Tutors You my worthy youths are the hope of Man-hoode the principall poynt of Man-hoode is to defend and what more man-like defence then to defend the iust reputation of a woman I know that you the Apprentises of this Citie are as forward to maintaine the good as you are vehement to put downe the bad That which is worst I leaue to our aduersary but what is excellently best that I commend to you doe you finde the gold I doe here deliuer you the Iewell a rich stocke to begin the world withall if you be good husbands to vse it for your best aduantage Let not the title of this Booke in some poynt distaste you in that men are arraigned for you are quit by Non-age None are here arraigned but such olde fornicators as came with full mouth and open cry to Iesus and brought a woman to him taken in adultery who when our Sauiour stoopt downe and wrote on the ground they all fled away Ioseph Swetnam saith A man may finde Pearles in dust Pag. 47. But if they who sled had seene any Pearles they would rather haue stayed to haue had share then to flye and to leane the woman alone they found some fowle reckoning against themselues in our Sauiours writing as they shall doe who are heare arraigned And if they dare doe like as our Sauiour had the womans accusers He that is without sinne throw the first stone at her so let them raile against women who neuer tempted any woman to be bad Yet this is an hard case If a man raile against a woman and know no lewdnesse by any he shall proue himselfe a compound foole If he rayle at woman who in his owne experienced tryall had made many bad he shall shew himselfe a decompounded K. I doe not meane Knight The best way is he that knoweth none bad let him speake well of all he who hath made more bad then he euer intended to make good let him hold his peace least hee shame himselfe Farewell Ester Sowrenam AN ANSVVERE TO THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE Arraignment of Women CHAP. I. IF the Author of this Arraignment had performed his discourse either answerable to the Title or the Arguments of the Chapters hee had beene so farre off from being answered by me that I should haue commended so good a labour which is imployed to giue vice iust reproofe and vertue honourable report But at the very first entrance of his discourse in the very first page he discouereth himselfe neither to haue truth in his promise nor religious performance If in this answere I doe vse more vehement speeches then may seeme to correspond the naturall disposition of a Woman yet all iudicious Readers shall confesse that I vse more mildnesse then the cause I haue in hand prouoketh me vnto I am not onely prouoked by this Authour to defend women but I am more violently vrged to defend diuine Maiestie in the worke of his Creation In which respect I say with Saint Ierome Epist ad Ciprianum Meam iniuriam patienter sustinui impietatem contra deum ferre non potui For as Saint Chrisostome saith Sup. Math. iniurias Dei dissimulare impium est If either Iulian the Apostata or Lucian the Atheist should vndertake the like worke could the owne deuise to write more blasphemously or the other to scoffe and flout at the diuine Creation of Woman more prophanely then this irreligious Author doth Homer doth report in his Illiads that there was at the siege of Troy a Graecian called Thersites whose wit was so blockish he was not worthy to speake yet his disposition was so precipitate hee could not hold his tongue Ioseph Swetnam in all record of Histories cannot be so likely paraleld as with this Thersites What his composition of body is I know not but for his disposition otherwise in this Pamphlet I know he is as monstrous as the worke is mishapen which shall plainely appeare in the examination of the first page onely The Argument of the first Chapter is to shew to what vse Women were made it also sheweth That most of them degenerate from the vse they were framed vnto c. Now to shew to what vse woman was made hee beginneth thus At the first beginning a Woman was made to bee an helper to Man And so they are indeed for they helpe to consume and spend c. This is all the vse and all the end which the Authour setteth downe in all his discourse for the creation of woman Marke a ridiculous ieast in this Spending and consuming of that which Man painfully getteth is by this Authour the vse for which Women were made And yet saith hee in the Argument most of them degenerate from the vse they were framed vnto Woman was made to spend and consume at the first But women doe degenerate from this vse Ergo Midasse doth contradict himselfe Beside this egregious folly he runneth into horrible blasphemy VVas the end of Gods creation in VVoman to spend and consume Is helper to be taken in that sence to helpe to spend c. Is spending and consuming helping He runneth on and saith They were made of a Rib and that their froward and crooked nature doth declare for a Rib is a crooked thing c. VVoman was made of a crooked rib so she is crooked of conditions Ioseph Swetnam was made as from Adam of clay and dust so he is of a durty and muddy disposition The inferences are both alike in either woman is no more crooked in respect of the one but he is blasphemous in respect of the other Did Woman receiue her soule and disposition from the rib Or as it is said in Genesis God did breath in them the spirit of life Admit that this Authors doctrine bee true that woman receiueth her froward and crooked disposition from the rib Woman may then conclude vpon

Learning hath beene generally with one consent ascribed to the inuention of Iupiters daughters the nine Muses whose Mother was a royall Ladie Mneneosum Carmentis a Ladie first inuented Letters and the vse of them by reading and writing The royall and most delightfull exercise of Hunting was first found out and practised by Diana who thervpon is celebrated for the Goddesse of Hunting The three Graces which adde a decorum and yeeld fauour to Persons Actions and Speaches are three Ladies Aglaia Thalia and Enphrosune The heroicall exercises of Olimpus were first found and put in practise by Palestra a woman The whole world being diuided into three parts in more ancient times euery diuision to this day keepeth the name in honour of a woman The foeminine Sexe is exceedingly honoured by Poets in their writings They haue Gods as well for good things as for bad but they haue no women-Goddesses but in things which are especially good They haue Bacchus for a drunken God but no drunken Goddesse They haue Priapus the lustfull God of Gardens but no garden-Goddesses except of late in the garden-Allies They will obiect here vnto mee Venus she indeed is the Goddesse of Loue but it is her blinde Sonne which is the God of Lust poore Ladie she hath but her ioynture in the Mannor of Loue Cupid is Lord of all the rest hee hath the royalty she may not strike a Deare but she must imploy her Sonne that sawcie Boy For Pride they held it so farre from women that they found out Nemesis or Rhamnusia to punish and reuenge pride but none to infect with pride They haue Pluto the God of Hell but no proper Goddes of hell but Proserpina whom Pluto forcibly tooke from Mount Aetna and carried her away and made her Queene of Hell yet she doth not remaine in Hell but one halfe of the yeare by a decree from Iupiter If I should recite and set downe all the honourable records and Monuments for and of women I might write more Bookes then I haue yet written lines I will leaue and passe ouer the famous testimonies of forreine Kingdomes and Common-wealths in honour of our Sexe and I will onely mention some few examples of our owne Countrey and Kingdome which haue been incomparably benefited and honoured by women Amongst the olde Britaines our first Ancestors the valiant Boadicea that defended the liberty of her Countrey against the strength of the Romans when they were at the greatest and made them feele that a woman could conquer them who had conquered almost all the men of the then known world The deuout Helen who besides that she was the Mother of that religious and great Constantine who first seated Christian Religion in the Emperiall throne in that respect may be stiled the mother of Religion is still more honoured for her singular pietie and charitie towards him and his members who dyed for vs vpon the Crosse then for her care and industry in finding out the wood of that Crosse on which he dyed In the time of the Danes chaste Aemma whose innocency carried her naked feete ouer the fire-hot Plow shares vnfelt with the Saxons Queene Elfgiue the holy widdow and the Kings daughter Edith a Virgin Saint both greater Conquerers then Alexander the great that men so much boast of who could not conquere himselfe Since the Normans the heroicall vertues of Elenor wife to Edward the first who when her Husband in the Holy Land was wounded with a poysoned Arrow of which ther was no hope of recouery from the Chyrurgions she suckt the poyson into her own bodie to free him together curing that mortall wound and making her owne fame immortall so that I thinke this one act of hers may equall all the acts that her great Husband did in those warres besides Philip wife to Edward the third no lesse to be honoured for being the Mother of so many braue children then of so many good deeds which worthily got her the title of good Margaret the wise wife to Henrie the sixt who if her Husbands fortune valour and foresight had beene answerable to hers had left the Crowne of England to their owne Sonne and not to a stranger The other Margaret of Richmond mother to Henrie the seuenth from whose brests he may seeme to haue deriued as well his vertues as his life in respect of her heroicall prudence and pietie whereof besides other Monuments both the Vniuersities are still witnesses Besides this it was by the blessed meanes of Elizabeth wife to Henrie the seuenth that the bloudy wars betwixt the houses of Yorke and Lancaster were ended and the red Rose and the white vnited c. It was by the meanes of the most renowmed Queene the happy Mother of our dread Soueraigne that the two Kingdomes once mortall foes are now so blessedly conioyned And that I may name no more since in one onely were comprized all the qualities and endowments that could make a person eminent Elizabeth our late Soueraigne not onely the glory of our Sexe but a patterne for the best men to imitate of whom I will say no more but that while she liued she was the mirrour of the world so then knowne to be and so still remembred and euer will be Daily experience and the common course of Nature doth tell vs that women were by men in those times highly valued and in worth by men themselues preferred and held better then themselues I will not say that women are better then men but I will say men are not so wise as I would wish them to be to wooe vs in such fashion as they do except they should hold and account of vs as their betters What trauaile what charge what studie Men sue to Women doe not men vndertake to gaine our good-will loue and liking what vehement suits doe they make vnto vs with what solemne vowes and protestations do they solicite vs they write they speake they send to make knowne what entire affection they beare vnto vs that they are so deepely engaged in loue except we doe compassion them with our loue and fauour they are men vtterly cast away One he will starue himselfe another will hang another drowne another stab another will exile himselfe from kinred and country except they may obtaine our loues What will they say that we are baser then themselues then they wrong themselues exeedingly to prefer such vehement suits to creatures inferiour to themselues Sutors doe euer in their suites confesse a more worthinesse in the persons to whom they sue Suint is alwaies preferred to the better These kind of suits are from Nature which cannot deceiue them Nature doth tell them what women are and custom doth approue what nature doth direct Aristotle saith Omnia appetunt bonum euery thing by nature doth seeke after that which is good Nature then doth cary men with violence to seeke and sue after women They will answere and seeke to elude this Maxime with a distinction that bonum

stay And by degrees his Cloake he doth release At length is forc'd both Coate and Cloake to yeeld So giues the Sunne the honour of the field Who by extreames doth seeke to worke his will By raging humors thinking so to gaine May like the Winde augment his tempest still But at the length he findes his furie vaine For all he gets by playing franticke parts He hard neth more the milde and gentle hearts Like as all Plants when at the first they spring Are tender and soft bark'd on euery fide But as they grow continuall stormes doe bring Those are more hard which Northerne blasts abide What 's toward the Southerne tenderer we finde And that more hard which feeles the Northern winde Nautre his course most carefully doth bend From violence to seeke it selfe to arme Where raging blasts the trees would breake and rend There Nature striues to keepe her Plants from harme Where violence is vnto Nature strange Continuall custome there doth Nature change So 't is with women who by Nature milde If they on froward crabbed Husbands light Continuall rage by custome makes them wilde For crooked natures alter gentle quite Men euermore shall this in triall finde Like to her vsage so is womans minde As of themselues let men of others iudge What man will yeeld to be compel'd by rage At crabbednesse and crustnesse hearts doe grudge And to resist themselues they more engage Forbeare the Winde shine with the Sunne a while Though she be angry she will forthwith smile This is the true application of the Morrall As for that crookednesse and frowardnesse with which you charge women looke from whence they haue it for of themselues and their owne disposition it doth not proceede which is prooued directly by your owne testimonie Woman of her ovvne disposition gentle and milde for in your 46. Page Line 15. You say A young woman of tender yeares is flexible obedient and subiect to doe any thing according to the will and pleasure of her Husband How commeth it then that this gentle and milde disposition is afterwards altered your selfe doth giue the true reason for you giue a great charge not to marrie a widdow But why because say you in the same Page A widdow is framed to the conditions of another man Why then if a woman haue froward conditions they be none of her owne she was framed to them Is not our aduersarie ashamed of himselfe to raile against women for those faults which doe all come from men Doth not hee most grieuously charge men to learne their wiues bad and corrupt behauiour Men infect for hee saith plainely Thou must vnlearne a widdow and make her forget and forgoe her former corrupt disordered behaniour Thou must vnlearne her Ergo what fault shee hath shee learned her corruptnes commeth not from her own disposition but from her Husbands destruction Is it not a wonder that your Pamphlets are so dispersed Are they not wise men to cast away time and money vpon a Booke which cutteth their owne throates 'T is pittie but that men should reward you for your writing if it bee but as the Romane Sertorius did the idle Poet hee gaue him a reward but not for his writing but because he should neuer write more as for women they laugh that men haue no more able a champion This author commeth to baite women or as hee foolishly sayth the Beare bayting of Women and he bringeth but a mungrell Curre who doth his kinde to braule and barke but cannot bite The milde and flexible disposition of a woman is in philosophy proued in the composition of her body for it is a Maxime The disposition of the minde doth answere the composition of the body Mores animi sequntur temperaturam corporis The disposition of the minde is answerable to the temper of the body A woman in the temperature of her body is tender soft and beautifull so doth her disposition in minde corresponde accordingly she is milde yeelding and vertuous what disposition accidentally happeneth vnto her is by the contagion of a froward husband as Ioseph Swetnam affirmeth And experience proueth It is a shame for a man to complaine of a froward woman in many respects all concerning himselfe It is a shame he hath no more gouernment ouer the weaker vessell It is a shame he hath hardned her tender sides and gentle heart with his boistrous Northren blasts May men complaine of vvomen vvithout cause It is a shame for a man to publish and proclaime houshold secrets which is a common practise amongst men especially Drunkards Leachers and prodigall spend-thrifts These when they come home drunke or are called in question for their riotous misdemeanours they presently shew themselues the right children of Adam They will excuse themselues by their wiues and say that their vnquitenesse and frowardnesse at home is the cause that they runne abroad An excuse more fitter for a beast then a man If thou wert a man thou wouldest take away the cause which vrgeth a woman to griefe and discontent and not by thy frowardnesse encrease her distemperature forbeare thy drinking thy luxurious riot thy gaming and spending and thou shalt haue thy wife giue thee as little cause at home as thou giuest her great cause of disquiet abroad Men which are men if they chance to be matched with froward wiues either of their own making or others marring they would make a benefit of the discommodity either try his skill to make her milde or exercise his patience to endure her curstnesse for all crosses are inflicted either for punishment of finnes or for exercise of vertues but humorous men will sooner marre a thousand women then out of an hundred make one good And this shall appeare in the imputation which our aduersarie chargeth vpon our sexe Men are the Serpents to be laciuious wanton and lustfull He sayth Women tempt alure and prouoke men How rare a thing is it for women to prostitute and offer themselues how common a practise is it for men to seeke and solicite women to lewdnesse what charge doe they spare what trauell doe they bestow what vowes oathes and protestations doe they spend to make them dishonest They hyer Pandors they write letters they seale them with damnations and execrations to assure them of loue when the end proues but lust They know the flexible disposition of Women and the sooner to ouerreach them some will pretend they are so plunged in loue that except they obtaine their desire they will seeme to drown'd hang stab poyson or banish themselues from friends and countrie What motiues are these to tender dispositions Some will pretend marriage another offer continuall maintenance but when they haue obtained their purpose what shall a woman finde iust that which is her euerlasting shame and griefe shee hath made her selfe the vnhappie subject to a lustfull bodie and the shamefull stall of a lasciuious tongue Men may with foule shame charge women with