A Strappado for the Diuell Epigrams and Satyres alluding to the time, with diuers measures of no lesse Delight. By MISOSUKOS[Greek], to his friend PHILOKRATES[Greek] [by Richard Brathwait] |
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 | A Strappado for the Diuell |  |
A Man there was wh' had liu'd a merry life,
Till in the end, he tooke him to a wife,
One that no image was (for she could speake)
And now and then her husbands costrell break.
So fierce she was and furious, as in some
She was an arraut Deuill of her tongue.
This droue the poore man to a discontent,
And oft and many times did he repent
That ere he chang'd his former quiet state,
But las repentance, then did come too late.
No cure he finds to heale this maladie,
But makes a vertue of necessity.
The common cure for care to euery man,
A potte of nappy Ale: where he began
To fortifie his braine 'gainst all should come,
'Mongst which the clamor of his wiues loud tongue.
This habit graffed in him grew so strong,
“That when hee was from Ale, an houre seem' along,
So well he lik'd th' profession: on a Time,
Hauing staid long at pot, (for rule nor line
Limits no drunkard) euen from Morne to Night,
He hasted home apace, by the moone-light:
Where as he went, what phantasies were bred,
I doe not know, in his distempered head.
But a strange Ghost appear'd (and forc'd him stay)
With which perplext, he thus began to say.
Good Spirit, if thou be, I need no charme,
For well I know, thou wilt not doe me harme,
And if the Deuill; sure, me thou shouldst not hurt,
I wed'd thy sister, and am plagued for't.
The spirit well-approuing what he said,
Dissolu'd to ayre, and quickly vanished.
Till in the end, he tooke him to a wife,
One that no image was (for she could speake)
And now and then her husbands costrell break.
So fierce she was and furious, as in some
She was an arraut Deuill of her tongue.
This droue the poore man to a discontent,
And oft and many times did he repent
That ere he chang'd his former quiet state,
But las repentance, then did come too late.
No cure he finds to heale this maladie,
But makes a vertue of necessity.
The common cure for care to euery man,
A potte of nappy Ale: where he began
To fortifie his braine 'gainst all should come,
'Mongst which the clamor of his wiues loud tongue.
This habit graffed in him grew so strong,
“That when hee was from Ale, an houre seem' along,
So well he lik'd th' profession: on a Time,
Hauing staid long at pot, (for rule nor line
Limits no drunkard) euen from Morne to Night,
He hasted home apace, by the moone-light:
Where as he went, what phantasies were bred,
I doe not know, in his distempered head.
96
With which perplext, he thus began to say.
Good Spirit, if thou be, I need no charme,
For well I know, thou wilt not doe me harme,
And if the Deuill; sure, me thou shouldst not hurt,
I wed'd thy sister, and am plagued for't.
The spirit well-approuing what he said,
Dissolu'd to ayre, and quickly vanished.
| A Strappado for the Diuell | |