Beside a welle Jesu, God and man,
Spake in reprefe of the Samaritan:

"Thou hast yhadde five husbonds, sayde he;
And thilke man, that now hath wedded thee,
Is not thyn busbond: "thus said he certain;
What that he ment therby, I can not sain,
But that I aske, why that the fifthe man
Was non husbond to the Samaritan?
How many might she have in mariage?
Yet herd I never tellen in min age
Upon this noumbre diffinitioun ;
Men may devine, and glosen up and doun.
"But wel I wot, expresse withouten lie
God bad us for to wex and multiplie ;
That gentil text can I wel understond.
Eke wel I wot, he sayd, that min husbond
Shuld leve fader and moder, and take to me;
But of no noumbre mention made he,
Of bigamie or of octogamie;

Why shuld men than speke of it vilanie ?
"Lo here the wise king dan Salomon,

I trow be hadde wives mo than on,
(As wolde God it leful were to me
To be refreshed half so oft as he)

Which a gift of God had he for alle his wives?
No man hath swiche, that in this world on live is.
God wot, this noble king, as to my witte,
The firste night had many a mery fitte
With eche of hem, so wel was him on live.
Blessed be God that I have wedded five,
Welcome the sixthe whan that ever he shall.
For sith I wol not kepe me chaste in all,
Whan min husbond is fro the world ygon,
Som Cristen man shal wedden me anon.
For than the apostle saith, that I am fre
To wedde, a' Goddes half, wher it liketh me.
He saith that to be wedded is no sinne;
Better is to be wedded than to brinne.
"What rekketh me though folk say vilanie
Of shrewed Lamech, and his bigamie?
I wot wel Abraham was an holy man,
And Jacob eke, as fer as ever I can,
And eche of hem had wives mo than two,
And
many another holy man also.
Wher can ye seen in any maner age
That highe God defended mariage

By expresse word? I pray you telleth me,
Or wher commanded he virginitee?
"I wot as wel as ye, it is no drede,
The apostle, whan he spake of maidenhede,
He said, that precept therof had he non:
Men may conseille a woman to ben on,
But conselling is no commandement;
He put it in our owen jugement.

For hadde God commanded maidenhede, Than had he dampned wedding out of drede; And certes, if ther were no sede ysowe, Virginitee than wherof shuld it growe? "Poule dorste not commanden at the lest A thing, of which his maister yaf non hest. The dart is sette up for virginitee, Catch who so may, who renneth best let see. But this word is not take of every wight, But ther as God wol yeve it of his might.

t wel that the apostle was a maid, But uatheles, though that he wrote and said, He wol that every wight were swiche as he, Alnis but conseil to virginitee. And for to ben a wif he yaf me leve, Of indulgence, so n'is it non repreve

To wedden me, if that my make die,
Withoute exception of bigamie;

All were it good no woman for to touche,
(He ment as in his bed or in his couche)
For peril is both fire and tow to assemble;
Ye know what this ensample may resemble.
"This is all and som, he held virginitee
More prafit than wedding in freeitee:
(Freeltee clepe I, but if that he and she
Wold lede hir lives all in chastitee)

I graunt it wel, I have of non envie,
Who maidenbed preferre to bigamie;
It liketh hem to be cleue in body and gost:
Of min estat I wol not maken bost.

"For wel ye know, a lord in his houshold
Ne hath nat every vessell all of gold:
Som ben of tree; and don hir lord service.
God clepeth folk to him in sondry wise,
And everich hath of God a propre gift,
Som this, som that, as that him liketh shift.
Virginitee is gret perfection,

And continence eke with devotion:
But Crist, that of perfection is welle,
Ne bade not every wight he shulde go selle
All that he had, and yeve it to the poure,
And in swiche wise folow him and his lore:
He spake to hem that wold live parfitly,
And, lordings, (by your leve) that am nat I;
I wol bestow the flour of all myn age
In th' actes and the fruit of mariage.

"Tell me also, to what conclusion
Were membres made of generation,
And of so parfit wise a wight ywrought?
Trusteth me wel, they were nat made for nought.
Glose who so wol, and say bothe up and doun,
That they were made for purgatioun
Of urine, and of other thinges smale,
And eke to know a female from a male:
And for non other cause? sayye no?
The experience wot wel it is not so.
So that the clerkes be not with me wroth,
I say this that they maken ben for both,
This is to sayn, for office, and for ese
Of engendrure, ther we not God displese.
Why shuid men elles in hir bookes sette,
That man shal yeldeu to his wif hire dette?
Now wherwith shuld he make his payement,
If he ne used his sely instrument?
Than were they made upon a creature
To purge urine, and eke for engendrure.

But I say not that every wight is hold,
That hath swiche harneis as I to you told,
To gon and usen hem in engendrure;
Than shuld men take of chastitee no cure.
Crist was a maide, and shapen as a man,
And many a seint, sith that this world began,
Yet lived they ever in parfit chastitee.

I n'ill envie with no virginitee.

Let hem with bred of pured whete be fed,
And let us wives eten barly bred.
And yet with barly bred, Mark tellen can,
Our Lord Jesu refreshed many man.
In swiche estat as God hath cleped us,
I wol persever, I n'am not precious,
In wif hode wol I use min instrument
As frely as my maker hath it sent.
If I be dangerous God yeve me sorwe,
Min husbond shal it have both even and morwe,
Whan that him list come forth and pay his dette.
An husbond wol I have, I wol not lette,

Which shal be both my dettour and my thrall,
And have his tribulation withall
Upon his flesh, while that I am his wif.
I have the power during all my lif
Upon his propre body and nat he;
Right thus the apostle told it unto me,
And bad our husbonds for to love us wel;
All this sentance me liketh every del."

Up stert the pardoner, and that anon;

Ye ben a noble prechour in this cas.

I was about to wed a wif, alas!

What? shuld I bie it on my flesh so dere?
Yet had I lever wed no wif to-yere."

"Abide," quod she, "my tale is not begonne.
Nay, thou shalt drinken of another tonne
Er that I go, shal savour worse than ale.
And whan that I have told thee forth my tale
Of tribulation in mariage,

Of which I am expert in all min age,
(This is to sayn, myself hath ben the whippe)
Than maiest thou chesen wheder thou wolt sippe
Of thilke tonne, that I shal abroche.
Beware of it, er thou to neigh approche.
For I shal tell ensamples mo than ten:
'Who so that n'ill beware by other men
By him shal other men corrected be:'
Thise same wordes writeth Ptholomee,
Rede in his Almageste, and take it there."
"Dame, I wol pray you, if your will it were,"
Sayde this pardoner, "as ye began,

Tell forth your tale, and spareth for no man,
And techeth us yonge men of your practike."
"Gladly," quod she, " sin that it may you like.
But that I pray to all this compagnie,
If that I speke after my fantasie,
As taketh not a greefe of that I say,
For min entente is not but for to play.

"Now sires; than wol I tell you forth my tale. As ever mote I drinken win or ale

I shal say soth, the hosbondes that I had

As three of them were good, and two were bad.
The three were goode men and riche and olde.
Unethes mighten they the statute holde,
In which that they were bounden unto me.
Ye wot wel what I mene of this parde.
As God me helpe, I laugh whan that I thinke,
How pitously a-night I made hem swinke,
But by my fay, I tolde of it no store:
They had me yeven hir lond and hir tresore,
Me neded not do lenger diligence
To win hir love, or don hem reverence.
They loved me so wel by God above,
That I ne tolde no deintee of hir love.
A wise woman wol besie hire ever in on
To geten hir love, ther as she hath non.
But sith I had hem holly in min hond,
And that they hadde yeven me all hir lond,
What shuld I taken kepe hem for to plese,
But it were for my profit, or min ese?
I set hem so a-werke by may fay,
That many a night they songen "Wala wa."
The bacon was not fit for hem, I trow,
That som men have in Essex at Donmow.
I governed hem so wel after my lawe,
That eche of hem ful blisful was and fawe
To bringen me gay thinges fro the feyre.
They were ful glade whan I spake hem fayre.
For God it wot, I chidde hem spitously.
Now herkeneth how I bare me proprely.

"Sire olde kaynard, is this thin aray?
Why is my neigheboures wif so gay?
She is honoured over al wher she goth,
I sit at home, I have no thrifty cloth.
What dost thou at my neighebonres hous?
Is she so faire? art thou so amorous?
What rownest thou with our maide? benedicite,
Sire olde lechour, let thy japes be.

"And if I have a gossib, or a frend, (Withouten gilt) thou chidest as a fend, If that I walke or play unto his hous.

"Thou comest home as dronken as a mous,
And prechest on thy benche, with evil prefe:
Thou sayst to me, it is a gret meschiefe
To wed a poure woman, for costage:
And if that she be riche of high parage,
Than sayst thou, that it is a tourmentrie
To soffre hire pride and hire melancolie.
And if that she be faire, thou veray knave,
Thou sayst that every holour wol hire have.
She may no while in chastitee abide,
That is assailled upon every side.
Thou sayst som folk desire us for richesse,
Som for our shape, and som for our fairnesse,
And som, for she can other sing or dance,
And som for gentillesse and daliance,
Some for hire hondes and hire armes smale:
Thus goth all to the devil by thy tale.
Thou sayst, men may not kepe a castel wa!,
It may so long assailled be over al.
And if that she be foul, thou sayst, that she
Coveteth every man that she may see;
For as a spaniel, she wol on him lepe,
Til she may finden som man hire to chepe.
Ne non so grey goos goth ther in the lake,
(As sayst thou) that wol ben withoute a make.
And sayst, it is an hard thing for to welde

A thing, that no man wol, his thankes, helde.
"Thus sayst thou, lorel, whan thou gost to bed,
And that no wise man nedeth for to wed,

Ne no man that entendeth unto Heven.
With wilde thonder dint and firy leven
Mote thy welked nekke be to-broke.

[smoke,

"Thou sayst, that dropping houses, and eke And chiding wives maken men to flee Out of hir owen hous; a, benedicite, What aileth swiche an old man for to chide? "Thou sayst, we wives wol our vices hide, Til we be fast, and than we wol hem shewe. Wel may that be a proverbe of a shrewe. "Thou sayst, that oxen, asses, hors, and houndes, They ben assaied at diverse stoundes, Basins, lavoures, or that men hem bie, Spones, stooles, and all swiche husbondrie, And so ben pottes, clothes, and aray, But folk of wives maken non assay, Til they ben wedded, olde dotard shrewe! And than, sayst thou, we wol our vices shewe. "Thou sayst also, that it displeseth me, But if that thou wolt preisen my beautee,

And han a swete spiced conscience,
Sith ye so preche of Jobes patience.
Suffreth alway, sin ye so wel can preche,
And but ye do, certain we shal you teche
That it is faire to han a wif in pees.
On of us two moste bowen doutelees:
And, sith a man is more resonable

Than woman is, ye mosten ben suffrable.
What aileth you to grutchen thus and grone?
Is it for ye wold have my queint alone?
Why take it all: lo, have it every del.
Peter, I shrew you but ye love it wel.
For if I wolde sell my belle chose,
I coude walke as freshe as is a rose,
But I wol kepe it for your owen toth.
Ye be to blame, by God, I say you soth.'

"Swiche maner wordes hadden we on hond. Now wol I speken of my fourthe husbond.

"My fourthe husbonde was a revellour,
This is to sayn, he had a paramour,
And I was yonge and ful of ragerie,
Stibborne and strong, and joly as a pie.
Tho coude I dancen to an harpe smale,
And sing ywis as any nightingale,
Whan I had dronke a draught of swete wine.
Metellius, the foule cherle, the swine,
That with a staf beraft his wif hire lif
For she drank wine, though I had ben his wif,
Ne shuld he not have daunted me fro drinke:
And after wine of Venus most I thinke.
For al so siker as cold engendreth hayl,
A likerous mouth most han a likerous tayl.
In woman vinolent is no defence,
This knowen lechours by experience.

"But, Lord Crist, whan that it remembreth me
Upon my youth, and on my jolitee,
It tikleth me about myn herte-rote.
Unto this day it doth myn herte bote,
That I have had my world as in my time.
But age, alas! that all wol envenime,
Hath me beraft my beautee and my pith:
Let go, farewel, the devil go therwith.
The flour is gon, ther n'is no more to tell,
The bren, as I best may, now moste I sell.
But yet to be right mery wol I fond,
Now forth to tellen of my fourthe husbond,
"I say, I had in herte gret despit,
That he of any other had delit;

But he was quit by God and by Seint Joce:
I made him of the same wood a croce,
Not of my body in no foule manere,
But certainly I made folk swiche chere,
That in his owen grese I made him frie
For anger and for veray jalousie.
By God, in earth I was his purgatorie,
For which I hope his soule be in glorie.
For, God it wote, he sate ful oft and songe,
Whan that his sho ful bitterly him wronge.
Ther was no wight, save God and he, that wiste
In many a wise how sore that I him twiste.
He died whan I came fro Jerusalem,
And lith ygrave under the rode-beem:
All is his tombe not so curious
As was the sepulcre of him Darius,
Which that Appelles wrought so sotelly.
It is but wast to bury hem preciously.
Let him farewel, God give his soule rest,
He is now in his grave and in his chest.

"Now of my fifthe husbonde wol I telle: God let his soule never come in Helle.

And yet was he to ine the moste shrew,
That fele I on my ribbes all by rew,
And ever shal, unto min ending day.
But in our bed he was so fresh and gay,
And therwithall he coude so wel me glose,
Whan that he wolde han my belle chose,
That, though he had me bet on every bon,
He coude win agen my love anon.

I trow, I love him the bet, for he
Was of his love so dangerous to me.
We wimmen han, if that I shal not lie,
In this matere a queinte fantasie.
Waite, what thing we may nat lightly have,
Therafter wol we cry all day and crave.
Forbede us thing, and that desiren we;
Prese on us fast, and thanne wol we flee.
With danger uttren we all our chaffare;
Gret prees at market maketh dere ware,
And to gret chepe is holden at litel prise;
This knoweth every woman that is wise.

"My fifthe husbonde, God his soule blesse,
Which that I toke for love and no richesse,
He somtime was a clerk of Oxenforde,
And had left scole, and went at home at borde
With my gossib, dwelling in our toun:
God have hire soule, hire name was Alisoun.
She knew my herte and all my privetee,
Bet than our parish preest, so mote I the.
To hire bewried I my conseil all;
For had my husbond pissed on a wall,
Or don a thing that shuld have cost his lif,
To hire, and to another worthy wif,
And to my nece, which that I loved wel,
I wold have told his conseil every del.
And so I did ful often, God it wote,
That made his face ful often red and hote
For veray shame, and blamed himself, for he
Had told to me so gret o privetee.

"And so befell that oues in a Lent, (So often times I to my gossib went, For ever yet I loved to be gay,

And for to walke in March, April, and May
From hous to hous, to heren sondry tales)
That Jankin clerk, and my gossib dame Ales,
And I myself, into the feldes went.
Myn husbond was at London all that Lent;
I had the better leiser for to pleie,
And for to see, and eke for to be seie
Of lusty folk; what wist I wher my grace
Was shapen for to be, or in what place?
Therfore made I my visitations

To vigilies, and to processions,

To prechings eke, and to thise pilgrimages,
To playes of miracles, and mariages,
And wered upon my gay skarlet gites.
Thise wormes, ne thise mothes, ne thise mites
Upon my paraille frett hem never a del,
And wost thou why? for they were used wel.
"Now wol I tellen forth what happed me:
I say, that in the feldes walked we,
Till trewely we had swiche daliance
This clerk and I, that of my purveance
I spake to him, and said him how that he,
If I were widewe, shulde wedden me.
For certainly, I say for no bobance,
Yet was I never without purveance
Of mariage, ne of other thinges eke:
I hold a mouses wit not worth a leke,
That hath but on hole for to sterten to,
And if that faille, than is all ydo.

"I bare him on hond, he hath enchanted me; (My dame taughte me that subtiltee) And eke I sayd, I mette of him all night, He wold han slain me, as I lay upright, And all my bed was full of veray blood; But yet I hope that ye shuln do me good: For blood betokeneth gold, as me was taught. And al was false, I dremed of him right naught, But as I folwed ay my dames lore, As wel of that as of other thinges more. "But now, sire, let me see, what shall I sain? A ha, by Gol I have my tale again. Whan that my fourthe husbonde was on bere, wept algate and made a sory chere, As wives moten, for it is the usage; And with my coverchefe covered my visage; But, for that I was purveyed of a make, Iwept but smal, and that I undertake. To chirche was myn husbond born a-morwe With neigheboures that for him maden sowre, And Jankin oure clerk was on of tho: As helpe me God, whan that I saw him go After the bere, me thought he had a paire Of legges and of feet, so clene and faire, That all my herte I yave unto his hold. He was, I trow, a twenty winter old, And I was fourty, if I shal say soth, But yet I had alway a coltes toth. Gat-tothed I was,

and that became me wele, had the print of seinte Venus sele. belpe me God, I was a lusty on,

And faire, and riche, and yonge, and wel begon: And trewely, as min husbondes tolden me, had the beste queint that might be.

For certes I am all venerian

Infeling, and my herte is marcian :
Venus me yave my lust and likerousnesse,
And Mars yave me my sturdy hardinesse.
Mia ascendent was Taure, and Mars therinne:
Alas, alas, that ever love was sinne!

folwed

ay min inclination By vertue of my constellation:

That made me that I coude nat withdraw My chambre of Venus from a good felaw.

et have I Martes merke upon my face, And also in another privee place.

God so wisly be my salvation, ved never by no discretion, at ever folwed min appetit,

were he shorte, longe, blake, or white, toke no kepe, so that he liked me,

How poure he was,

ne eke of what degree.

What shuld I saye? but at the monthes ende joy clerk Jankin, that was so hende, ath wedded me with gret solempnitee, d to him yave I all the lond and fee, at ever was me yeven therbefore: t afterward repented me ful sore. 'olde suffre nothing of my list. God be smote me ones with his fist, that I rent out of his book a lefe, Te of the stroke myn ere wex al defe. bora I was, as is a leonesse, And of my tonge a veray jangleresse, And walk I wold, as I had don beforn, Fr hous to hous, although he had it sworn: For which he oftentimes wolde preche, And me of olde Romaine gestes teche. flow he Sulpitius Gallus left his wif, And hire forsoke for terme of all his lif,

VOL. I.

"But all for nought, I sette not an hawe
Of his proverbes, ne of his olde sawe;
Ne I wold not of him corrected be.

I hate hem that my vices tellen me,
And so do mo of us (God wote) than I.
This made him wood with me all utterly;
I n'olde not forbere him in no cas.

"Now wol I say you soth by Seint Thomas,
Why that I rent of his book a lefe,
For which he smote me, so that I was defe.
"He had a book, that gladly night and day
For his disport he wolde it rede alway,
He cleped it Valerie, and Theophrast,
And with that book he lough alway ful fast.
And eke ther was a clerk somtime at Rome,
A cardinal, that highte Seint Jerome,
That made a book against Jovinian,
Which book was ther, and eke Tertullian,
Crisippus, Tortula, and Helowis,
That was abbesse not fer fro Paris;
And eke the paraboles of Salomon,
Ovides art, and bourdes many on ;
And alle thise were bonden in o volume.
And every night and day was his custume
(Whan he had leiser and vacation
From other worldly occupation)

To reden in this book of wikked wives.
He knew of hem mo legendes and mo lives,
Than ben of goode wives in the Bible.

"For trusteth wel, it is an impossible, That any clerk wol spoken good of wives, (But if it be of holy seintes lives)

Ne of non other woman never the mo.
Who peinted the leon, telleth me, who?
By God, if wimmen hadden written stories,
As clerkes han, within hir oratories,

They wold have writ of men more wikkednesse,
Than all the merke of Adam may redresse.
The children of Mercury and of Venus
Ben in hir werking ful contrarious.
Mercury loveth wisdom and science,
And Venus loveth riot and dispence.
And for hir divers disposition,
Eche falleth in others exaltation.
As thus, God wote, Mercury is desolat
In Pisces, wher Venus is exaltat,
And Venus falleth wher Mercury is reised.
Therfore no woman of no clerk is preised.
The clerk whan he is old, and may nought do
Of Venus werkes not worth his old sho,
Than siteth he doun, and writeth in his dotage,
That wimmen cannot kepe hir mariage.
But now to purpos, why I tolde thee,
That I was beten for a book parde.

"Upon a night Jankin, that was our sire, Red on his book, as he sate by the fire,

E