John Trapp on Proverbs 14:1

CHAP. XIV. Verſ. 1. Every wiſe woman buildeth her houſe.]

QUavis pia & perita. Every holy and handy woman buildeth her houſe; not onely by bearing and breeding up children, as Rachel and Leah builded the houſe of Iſrael, Ruth, 4.11. but by a prudent and provident preventing of loſſes and dangers, as Abigail, as alſo by a careful plotting, and putting every thing to the beſt: like as a Carpenter that is to build an houſe, laies the plot and platform of it firſt in his brain, forecaſts in his mind how every thing ſhall be, and then ſo orders his ſtuff, that nothing bee cut to waſte. Lo ſuch is the guiſe of the good houſewife. As the husband is as the head from whom all the ſinews do flow; ſo ſhee is as the hands into which they flow, and enable them to do their office.

But the fooliſh plucketh it down with her hands] With both hands earneſtly: ſhee undoes the family,Sicut ut liguo vermis, ita perdit virum ſuum mulier malefica. Hier. whereof ſhee is the calamity, bee ſhee never ſo witty, if withall ſhee bee not religious and thrifty, heedy and handy. Bee the huſband never ſo frugal, if the wife bee idle, or laviſh, or proud, or given to gadding and goſſipping, &c. hee doth but draw water with a ſieve, or ſeek to pull a loaded cart through a ſandy way without the help of a horſe; it little boots him to beſtir himſelf, for hee puts his gets into a bag with holes, Hag. 1.6. Hee labours in the very fire, Hab. 2.15. as Cowper Biſhop of Lincolne did, whoſe wife burnt all his Notes that hee had been eight years in gathering, leſt hee ſhould kill himſelf with over much ſtudy (for ſhee had much ado to get him to his meals) ſo that hee was forced to fall to work again, Young, his benefit of Afflict. 153. and was eight years in gathering the ſame Notes wherewith hee compoſed his Dictionary, that uſeful book. How much happier in a wife was that learned Gul. Budaeus? Conjux mea, ſaith hee, ſic mihi morem gerit, ut non tractet negligentius libros meos quam liberos, &c. My wife ſeeing mee bookiſh, is no leſs diligent about my Books, than about my Barus, whom ſhee breeds up with ſingular care and tenderneſs. How well might hee have done (having ſuch a learned helper) as a Country man of his did, of whom Thuanus reporteth, quod ſingulis annis ſingulos libros & liberos, Reip. dederit, that hee ſet forth every year a book and a childe,Andreas Tiraquellius. a book and a childe? But this by the way onely.