Folweth ecco, that holdeth no silence,
But ever answereth at the countretaille:
Beth not bedaffed for your innocence,
But sharply taketh on you the governaille:
Emprenteth wel this lesson in your minde,
For comun profit, sith it may availle.

Ye archewives, stondeth ay at defence,
Sin ye be strong, as is a gret camaille,
Ne suffreth not, that men do you offence.
And sclendre wives, feble as in bataille,
Beth egre as is a tigre yond in Inde;
Ay clappeth as a mill, I you counsaille.

Ne drede hem not, doth hem no reverence, For though thin husbond armed be in maille, The arwes of thy crabbed eloquence Shal perce his brest, and eke his aventaille: In jalousie I rede eke thou him binde, And thou shalt make him couche as doth a quaille,

If thou be faire, ther folk ben in presence Shew thou thy visage, and thin apparaille: If thou be foule, be free of thy dispence, To get thee frendes ay do thy travaille: Be ay of chere as light as lefe on linde, [waille. And let him care, and wepe, and wringe, and

THE MARCHANTES PROLOGUE.

WEPING and wailing, care and other sorwe
I have ynough, on even and on morwe,
Quod the marchant, and so have other mo,
That wedded ben; I trowe that it be so:

For wel I wot it fareth so by me.
I have a wif, the werste that may be,
For though the fend to hire ycoupled were,
She wolde him overmatche I dare wel swere.
What shulde I you reherse in special
Hire high malice? she is a shrew at al.

Ther is a long and a large difference
Betwix Grisildes grete patience,
And of my wif the passing crueltee.
Were I unbounden, all so mote I the,
I wolde never eft comen in the snare.
We wedded men live in sorwe and care,
Assay it who so wol, and he shal finde
That I say soth, by seint Thomas of Inde,
As for the more part, I say not alle;
God shilde that it shulde so befalle.

A, good sire hoste, I have ywedded be
Thise monethes two, and more not parde;
And yet I trowe that he, that all his lif
Wifles hath ben, though that men wolde him rife
Into the herte, ne coude in no manere
Tellen so much sorwe, as I you here
Coud tellen of my wives cursednesse.
Now, quod our hoste, marchant, so God you
[blesse,

Sin ye so mochel knowen of that art,
Ful hertely I pray you tell us part.

Gladly, quod he, but of min owen sore
For sory herte I tellen may no more.

277

THE MARCHANTES TALE.

WHILOM ther was dwelling in Lumbardie
A worthy knight, that born was at Pavie
In which he lived in gret prosperitee;
And sixty yere a wifles man was he,
And folwed ay his bodily delit
On women, ther as was his appetit,
As don thise fooles that ben seculere.
And whan that he was passed sixty yere,
Were it for holinesse or for dotage,
I cannot sain, but swiche a gret corage
Hadde this knight to ben a wedded man,
That day and night he doth all that he can
To espien, wher that he might wedded be;
Praying our lord to granten him, that he
Mighte ones knowen of that blisful lif,
That is betwix an husbond and his wif,
And for to live under that holy bond,
With which God firste man and woman bond.
Non other lif (said he) is worth a bene:
For wedlok is so esy and so clene,
That in this world it is a paradise.
Thus saith this olde knight, that was so wise.
And certainly, as soth as God is king,

To take a wif, it is a glorious thing,
And namely whan a man is old and hore,
Than is a wif the fruit of his tresore;
Than shuld he take a yong wif and a faire,
On which he might engendren him an heire,
And lede his lif in joye and in solas,
Wheras thise bachelers singen alas,

Whan that they finde any adversitee
In love, which n'is but childish vanitee.
And trewely it sit wel to be so,
That bachelers have often peine and wo:
On brotel ground they bilde, and brotelnesse
They finden, whan they wenen sikernesse:
They live but as a bird or as a beste,
In libertee and under non areste,
Ther as a wedded man in his estat
Liveth a lif blisful and ordinat,
Under the yoke of mariage ybound:
Wel may his herte in joye and blisse abound.
For who can be so buxom as a wif?
Who is so trewe and eke so ententif
To kepe him, sike and hole, as is his make?
For wele or wo she she n'ill him not forsake:
She n'is not wery him to love and serve,
Though that he lie bedrede til that he sterve.

And yet som clerkes sain, it is not so,
Of which he Theophrast is on of tho:
What force though Theophrast list for to lie?

Ne take no wif, quod he, for husbondrie, As for to spare in houshold thy dispence: A trewe servant doth more diligence Thy good to kepe, than doth thin owen wif, For she wol claimen half part al hire lif. And if that thou be sike, so God me save, Thy veray frendes or a trewe knave Wol kepe thee bet than she, that waiteth ay After thy good, and hath don many a day. This sentence, and an hundred things werse Writeth this man ther God his bones curse. But take no kepe of al swiche vanitee, Defieth Theophrast, and herkeneth me.

A wif is Goddes yefte veraily;
All other maner yeftes hardely,
As londes, rentes, pasture, or commune,
Or mebles, all ben yeftes of fortune,
That passen as a shadow on the wall:
But drede thou not, if plainly speke I shal,
A wif wol last and in thin hous endure,
Wel lenger than thee list paraventure.

Mariage is a ful gret sacrament;
He which that hath no wif I hold him shent;
He liveth helples, and all desolat:
(I speke of folk in seculer estat)

And herkneth why, I say not this for nought,
That woman is for mannes helpe ywrought.
The highe God, whan he had Adam maked,
And saw him al alone belly naked,
God of his grete goodnesse saide than,
Let us now make an helpe unto this man
Like to himself, and than he made him Eve.

Here may ye see, and hereby may ye preve,
That a wif is mannes helpe and his comfort,
His paradis terrestre and his disport:
So buxom and so vertuous is she,
They mosten nedes live in unitee:
O flesh they ben, and o flesh, as I gesse,
Hath but on herte in wele and in distresse.

A wif? a! seinte Marie, benedicite, How might a man have any adversite That hath a wif? certes I cannot seye. The blisse the which that is betwix hem tweye Ther may no tonge telle or herte thinke. If he be poure she helpeth him to swinke; She kepeth his good, and wasteth never a del; All that hire husbond doth, hire liketh wel;