ABSTRACT
I Will take heed … that I sin not with my Tongue; I will keep my Mouth with a Bridle.” Thus Cotton Mather reminded women: feminine virtue meant careful speech. Drawing on a long tradition that linked women's voices with disorder, Mather cautioned the “daughters of Zion” that their “Tongues are frequently not so Governed by the Fear of God, as they ought to be.” To avoid this womanly vice, the pious matron needed to cultivate what Mather called a “silver tongue”: speech rare and pure, free of boastful “dross.” He urged: “Be careful that you don't Speak too soon… And be careful that you don't Speak too much….'tis the Whore, that is Clamorous.” 1
