Note 7 — THE WIFE OF BATH.
Reading edition
The wife of Bath's first lesson in the art of domestic government is a panegyric upon the advantages of sturdy lying, in which Pope has not gone beyond the original:
Ye wise wives that can understand Thus should ye speak, and bear them wrong in hand; For half so boldely can there no man Swere and lie as a woman can.
"To bear them wrong in hand" is to affirm wrongfully or falsely. The phrase "to bear in hand" for "to asseverate," was still frequently used in the reign of Charles II.