17. THE PAIN AND SORROW OF EVIL MARRIAGE.
[_]
[From MS. Bodl. Digby 181, leaves 7 to 8, back.]
1
G]lory vnto God, laude and benysoun
To Iohn, to Petir, & also to Laurence,
Which haue me take vnder proteccioun
From the deluge of mortall pestilence,
And from the tempest of deedly violence,
And me preserved I fell not in the rage
Vnder the yoke and bondis of mariage.
2
I was in purpoce for to take a wiff,
And for to haue wedded with-out auysenesse,
A full faire mayde; with hir to haue ladde my liff,
Whom that I loued of hasty wylfulnesse;
With othir ffolys talyved in distresse.
And some gave councell & ganne me to constreyne
To be partable of ther wofull peyne.
3
They lay vpon me, and hastid me full sore,
Gave me councell with hem to be bounde,
And ganne to preyse eche day more & more
The wofull lyf in which they did habounde,
And besy weren my gladnesse to confounde,
Them-silf reioysyng both at eve & morowe
To haue a ffelowe to lyve with them in sorowe.
4
But of his grace God hath me preserved,
To the wise councell of Aungelis three;
From Hell[e] gates they haue my-silf conserued,
In tyme of Vere when lovers lusty be,
And bright Phebus was ffresshest onto see,
In Gemyne, the lusty gladde seasoun,
Whan I to wedde caught first occasioun.
5
My ioy was sette in especiall
To wedde oon excellyng in fairnesse,
And through here beaute to haue made my-silf thrall,
Vnder the yoke of euerlastyng distresse;
But God all oonly of his grete goodnesse
Hath be an aungill as ye herde me tell,
Stopped my passage from thylke perelis of Hell.
6
Amonge thise aungelis, that were in nombre thre,
There appered oon oute of the South,
Which that spake ffirst of all that trinite,
All of oon sentence, the mater [was] well couth,
And he was called “Iohn with the gildyn mouth,”
Which concludith by sentence full notable,
Wyves of custome be gladly variable.
7
Aftir this Iohn, the story seith also,
In confirmacioun of ther ffragilite,
Howe that Petyr called the Corbelio
Affermyd pleynly, how wyfes gladly be
Dyvers of hert, full of duplicite,
Right mastirfull, hasty and eke proude,
Crabbed of langage when þei lust cry lowde.
8
Who takith a wyf resceyveth a grete charge,
In which he is like to haue a ffall;
With tempest possede as is a sely barge;
Wher he was fre, he makith hym-silf thrall,
Wyves of porte been so imperyall,
Husbondes dare not [theyre lustis] well gayne-say,
But lowly plie, and lowly hem obey.
9[_]
[From MS. Harley 2251, leaf 155.]
[The husbond euer abideth in travaile,
O laboure passed, ther comyth another newe;
And euery day she gynneth a bataile,
With false compleynyng to chaunge chiere and hewe;
Vnder suche falsenes she feyneth hir to be triewe,
She makith hir husbond rude as a dul asse,
Owt of whos daunger impossible is to passe.]
10
Thus wedlok is an endles penaunce,
Husbondes knowe that haue experience,
A martirdome and a contynuaunce
Of sorowe ay lastyng, a deedly violence,
And this of wyves is gladly the sentence;
Vpon here husbondes when hem list be bold,
Howe they allone gouerne the howsold.
11
And if the husbond happe for to thryve,
She saith it is here prudent purviaunce;
If they go bak ageynward and vnthryve,
She sayth it is his mysgouernaunce;
He berith the wite of all suche ordynaunce:
If they be poure and fall in[to] distresse,
She sayth it is his ffoly and his lewdnesse.
12
And if [so be] he be no spere-man good,
Hit may well hap he shall haue an horn,
A large bone to stuff wythall his hood,
A mowe be-hynde, and fayned chere beforn;
And if it ffall, that there good be lorn,
By auenture at even or at morowe,
The sely husbond shall haue all the sorowe.
13
The husbond hath grete cause to care,
For wyff, for childe, for stuff and [for] mayne,
And if ought lacke, she woll swere and stare,
“He is a wastoure, and shall neuer the!”
But Salamon seith, ther be thynges thre,
Shrewed wyfes, rayne, and smokes blake,
Makith husbondes there howses to fforsake.
14
Wyves been bestes very vnstable
In ther desires, which may not chaunged be;
Like a swalowe which is insaciable,
Like perilous Caribdis of the trouble see,
A wawe calme, full of aduersite,
Whoes blandisshyng medled with myschaunce—
Callid Syrenes ay full of variaunce.
15
They hem reioise to see and to be sayne,
And to seke sondry pilgremages;
At grete gaderynges to walken vpon the playne,
And at staracles to sitte on hie stages;
If they be ffaire, to shewe ther visages;
If they be ffowle of look or countenaunce,
They can amend it with plesaunt daliaunce.
16
Of ther nature they gretly hem delite,
With holy fface fayned for the nones,
In seyntuaries ther ffrendes to visite,
More than for relikkes or any seyntis bones,
Though they be closed vnder precious stones;
To gete hem pardoun, like there olde vsages,
To kys no shrynes, but lusty yong images.
17
And to conclude shortly on reasoun,
To speke of wedlok, of ffoles that be blent:
Ther is no more grevous ffell poysoun,
Ne noon so dredfull [peryllous] serpent,
As is a wyfe double in here entent;
Wherfore, yonge men, to eschewe sorowe & care,
Withdrawe your foot, or ye ffall in the snare.
Explicit.
