JOHN 15 URNS.
Lo\\'cr IJrou^hton.
EEMAINS OP THE
popular #oettp of CnglanD ;
COLLECTED AND EDITED,
WITH INTRODUCTIONS AND
BY W. CAEEW HAZLITT,
OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER -AT-LAW.
VOLUME THE FOURTH.
LONDON:
JOHN RUSSELL SMITH,
SOHO SQUARE. 1866.
NOTICE.
SLIGHT delay has occurred in the appear ance of these volumes. It was originally intended to have limited the work to three ; but a discovery was made that the matter would be amply sufficient to admit the addition of a fourth volume.
The Editor is responsible for all the typographical arrangements.
It was the publisher's original plan to have merely reissued in a single volume Mr. Utterson's Select Pieces of Early Popular Poetry, 1817, precisely as they stood. The present Editor has to answer for the extension of the book to its actual proportions.
Kensington, April, 1866.
CONTENTS.
Page OHN BON and Mast Person ... 1
The H?e Way to the Spyttel Hous . . 17
The Payne and Sorowe of Evyll Maryage . 73
The Boke of Mayd Emlyn ...... 81
The Schole-house of Women ...... 97
Proude Wyues Pater noster . . . . . .147
A merry leste of a Shrewde and curste Wyfe lapped in
Morrelles skin ....... 179
A Treatyse shewing and declaring the Pryde and Abuse
of Women Now < Day es ..... 227
A Glasse to Yiewe the Pride of Vaine Glorious Women . 245
A Piece of Friar Bacons Brazen-heads Prophesie . . 263
The King and a poore Northerne Man .... 290 The Birth, Life, Death, Wil, and Epitaph of Jack Puffe
Gentleman ........ 311
The Welch Traveller . . . . . . .321
ADDITIONAL NOTES . . . . . . . 355
FACSIMILES.
Page 3
RIGINAL title-page to John Bon and Mast
Person
Original title-page to the Schole-house of
Women . 103
Original title-page to The Proude Wyues Pater noster . 149
Original title-page to A Treatise shewing and declaring
the Pryde and Abuse of Women Now a Dayes . . 229
Original title-page to Pleasant Quippes for Upstart Gen tlewomen ........ 247
Original title-page to A Piece of Friar Bacons Brazen-heads
Prophesie 265
Original title-page to The King and a Poore Northerne Man 29 1
Original title-page to The Birth, Life, Death, Wil, and
Epitaph of lack Pvffe Gentleman . . . 313
Original title-page to The Welch Traveller . . . 329
3lofm TBon anti
nPHIS is another of the tracts which were written in favour •*• and furtherance of the Reformation. Not more than two or three copies of the original edition have been seen. It was reprinted in facsimile many years ago, and in 1852, Mr. W. H. Black edited it for the Percy Society. The present editor has been unwillingly obliged to take for granted the accuracy of the latter text, as he has not been able to obtain access to a copy of Daye and Seres's edition ; according to Mr. Black, the so-called facsimile is incorrect in several places.
A production of this character would necessarily enjoy great popularity and be eagerly bought up; and the scarcity of copies of the black-letter impression may be as plausibly attributed to the demand for them at the time of publication and the subse quent neglect with which they met, as to the suppression of the piece by authority, which has been conjecturally advanced as the reason.
It is to be observed that many pamphlets, both prose and poetical, of the middle of the 16th century, remain to us only in a single exemplar, and in most cases a plea of authoritative in terference with their circulation would fall to the ground. If John Bon and Mast person was suppressed, it is as likely aa not •0 have been in a different sense — manu et pedibus vulgi. VOL. IV. B
2 JOHN BON AND MAST PERSON.
See Herbert's Ames, fol. 619, where the tract, consisting of four leaves, is described from a copy in Herbert's own possession. A second was sold among Mr. Richard Forster's books in 1807, and was the exemplar from which the facsimile edition was derived.
See Additional Notes.
ana
jflflaat person
fc^* ALASSE, poore fooles ! so sore ye be lade, No marvel it is, thoughe your shoulders ake : For ye beare a great God, which ye yourselfes made. Make of it what ye wyl, it is a wafar cake, And betwen two irons printed it is and bake. And loke, where idolatrye is, Christe wyl not be there ; Wherfore, ley downe your burden, an idole ye do beare. £3" Alasse, t>oore fooles !
AT, John Bon ! good morowe to the !
Nowe good morowe, mast Parson, so mut I thee.
Carson,
What meanest thou, John, to be at worke so sone ?
The zoner I begyne, the zoner shall I have done ; For I tende to warke no longer then none.
Carson.
Mary, John, for that God's blessinge on thy herte ; For surely some therbe wyl go to ploughe an carte, And set not by thys holy Corpus Christi even.
fojtu
They aer the more to blame, I swere by saynt Steven. But tell me, mast Parson, one thinge, and you can ; 10 What saynt is Copsi Cursty, a man or a woman ?
6 JOHN BON AND
Carson.
Why, John, knoweste not that ? I tell the it was a man. It is Christe his own selfe, and to morowe is hys daye: We beare hym in prosession, and thereby knowe it ye maye.
fofm.
I knowe, mast Parson ? and na, by my faye : But me thinke it is a mad thinge that ye saye, That it should be a man ; howe can it come to passe ? Because ye maye hym beare with in so smal a glasse.
Why, neybor John, and art thou nowe there?
No we I maye perceyve ye love thys newe geare. 20
Sotn.
God's forbod, master, I should be of that facion ; I question wy your mashippe in waye of cumlication. A playne man, ye may se, wil speake as cometh to
mind ;
Ye muste hold us ascused, for plowemen be but blynd. I am an elde felowe of fifty wynter and more, And yet, in all my lyfe, I knewe not this before.
parson.
No dyd ? why sayest thou so ? upon thy selfe thou lyest :
MAST PERSON. 7
Thou haste ever knowen the sacramente to be the body of Christ.
fojm*
Ye syr, ye say true ; all that I know in dede ; And yet, as I remember, it is not in my crede. so
But as for Cropsy Cursty to be a man or no, I knewe not tyll thys day, by the waye my soule shal to.
Carson*
Why, folishe felowe, I tel the it is so ;
For it was so determined by the churche longe ago :
It is both the sacramente and very Christ him selfe.
No spleaser, mast Parson ; then make ye Christe an
elfe, And the maddest made man that ever body sawe.
What ? peace, mad man ! thou speakeste lyke a dawe. It is not possible hys manhode for to
fofm.
Why, sir, ye tell me it is even verye he ; 10
And if it be not his manhode, his godhed it must be.
JOHN BON AND
I tell the, none of both ; what raeaneste thou, art thou mad?
fofjn*
No, nother mad nor drunke, but to learne I am glade : But to displease your mashippe I woulde be very loth. Ye graunt me here playnly, that it is none of boeth ; Then it is but a cake, but I pray ye be not wroth.
Wroth, quod ha! by the masse, (thou makest me
swere an othe,)
I hade lever wyth a docter of divinitie to reason, Then with a stubble cur that eateth beanes and peason.
Ifofw*
I crie ye mercye, mast Person ; pacience for a season ! In all thys cumlicacion is nother felony nor treason. 51
No, by the masse, but herest thou ? it is playne heresye.
I am glade it chaunced so, theyr was no witnes by ; And if ther had I cared not, for ye spake as yl as I.
MAST PERSON. 9
I speake but as I harde you saye, I wot not what ye
thought ; Ye sayd it was not God, nor man, and made it worsse
then nought.
I ment not so ; thou tokeste me wronge.
A, sir ! ye singe another songe ;
I dare not reason wyth you longe.
I se well nowe, ye have a knacke so
To saye a thynge and then go backe.
Carson.
No, John ; I was but a littyll over sene. But thou mentest not good fayeth, I wene, In all thys talke that was us betwene.
Sfofw*
I ? no, trowe, it shannot so beene
That John Bon shall an heretike be calde :
Then myght he laye him so fowle befalde.
parson.
But nowe, if thou wylt marke me welle,
From begynnynge to endynge I wyl the tell
Of the godly service that shalbe to morowe ; 70
That, or I have done, no doubte thou wylt sorowe
10 JOHN BON AND
To here that suche thynges shulde be fordone. And yet, in many places, they have begun To take a waye the olde, and set up newe. Beleve me, John, thys tale is true.
Sfofm.
Go to, mast Parson, saye on, and well to thryve ; Ye be the jolest gemman1 that ever sawe in my lyve.
We shal firste have matins : is it not a godly hereynge?
Sfofm*
Fie ! yes ; me thinke 'tis a shamefull gay chearynge ; For often times on my prayers when I take no greate kepe, so
Ye sing so arantly well, ye make me fal a slepe.
Carson*
Then have we prosession, and Christe aboute we beare.
That is a poysone holy thinge, for God himselfe is ther.
parson*
Than comme we in, and redy us dresse, Full solempnely to goo to messe.
1 The abbreviation of gentleman, which is still in use as a vulgarism. In Udall's Ralph Royster JJoyster we find gemman, and also in Doctoitr Doubbk Ale, line 197.
MAST PERSON. 11
Is not here a mischevous thynge ?
The messe is vengaunce holye, for all ther sayeinge?
Carson.
Then saye we Conjiteor and Miseriatur.
Jeze Lorde ! 'tis abbominable matter.
Carson.
And then we stande up to the auter. 90
Thys geere is as good as our Ladies Sawter.
Carson*
And so gose fourth wyth the other dele, Tyll we have rede the Pistell and Gospel!.
fofm.
That is good, mast Person, I knowe ryght well.
parson.
Is that good ? why, what sayste thou to the other ?
12 JOHN BON AND
SMm-
Mary, horrible good, I saye none other.
So is all the messe, I dare avow this,
As good in every poynte as Pistell or Gospel is.
The fowle evyU it is ; whoe woulde thynke so muche ? In fayeth I ever thought that it had bene no suche. 10^
Then have we the Canon, that is holyest.
A spightfuU gay thynge, of all that ever I wyst.
Carson,
Then have we the Memento, even before the sacringe.
Ye are morenly well learned, I se by your recknynge, That ye wyll not forget such an elvyshe thynge.
Carson.
And after that we consecrate very God and man ; And turae the breade to fleshe wyth fyve wordes we can. *
MAST PERSON. 13
The devell ye da ! I trowe. Ther is pestilence busines ! Ye are much bounde to God for suche a spittell holines. A galows gay gifte ! wyth fyve wordes alone no
To make boeth God and man, and yet wese none ! Ye talke so unreasonably well, it maketh my herte
yerne. As elde a felow as yche am, I se well I may learne.
Yea, John ; and then wyth wordes holy and good, Even by and by, we tourne the wyne to bloude.
Lo ! wyll ye see ? Lo ! who would have thought it, That ye could so sone from wine to bloud ha brought it ? And yet, except your mouth be better tasted than myne, I can not fele it other but that it should be wyne. And yet I wote nere a cause ther maye be whye, i2o Perchaunce, ye ha dronke bloude ofter then ever dyd I.
Truely, John, it is bloud, though it be wine in taste ; As soone as the word is spoke, the wyne is gone and past.
Sojjn.
A sessions on it, for me, wy wyttes are me benumme ; For I can not study where the wyne shoulde become.
14 JOHN BON AND
Study, quod ha ! beware, and let suche matter go ; To meddle muche wyth thys, may brynge ye sone to wo.
Yea ; but, mast Parson, thyiike ye it were ryght, That, if I desired you to make my blake oxe whight, And you saye it is done, and styl is blacke in syght, Ye myght me deme a foole for to beleve so lyght? ISL
Parson*
I marvell muche ye wyll reason so farre : I feare if ye use it, it wyll ye mar.
No, no, sir ! I truste of that I wylbe ware.
I pray you wyth your matter agayne fourth to fare.
Carson.
And then we go forth, and Christes body receyve ; Evyn the very same that Mary dyd conceyve.
The devill it is ! ye have a greate grace To eate God and man in so short a space.
Carson.
And so we make an ende, as it lieth in an order. HO
MAST PERSON. 15
But now the blissed messe is hated in every border, And railed on, and reviled, with wordes most blasphemous ; But I trust it wylbe better with the help of Catechismus; For, thoughe it came forth but even that other day, Yet hath it tourned many to ther olde waye ; And where they hated messe, and had it in disdayne, There have they messe and matins in Latyne tongue
agayne.
Ye, even in London selfe, (John) I tel the troeth, They be ful glade and mery to here of thys, God knoweth.
By my trueth, mast Parson, I lyke ful wel your talke : But' masse me no more messinges. The right way wil
I walke. 151
For thoughe I have no learning, yet I know chese from
chalke, And yche can perceive your juggling, as crafty as ye
walke. But leve your devilish masse, and the communion to
you take, And then will Christ be with you, even for his promisse
Carson.
Why, art thou suche a one, and kept it so closse ?
Wei, al is not golde that hath a fayre glosse.
But farewel, John Bon, God bringe the in better mind.
I thanke you, sir, for that you seme verie kynde ;
16 JOHN EON AND MAST PERSON.
But praye not so for me, for I am well inoughe. : Whistill, boy ! drive furth ! God spede us and the
plough !
Ha ! hrowne done ! forth, that horson crabbe ! Reecomomyne, garlde, wyth, haight, blake hab ! Have a gayne, bald before, hayght, ree who ! Cherly, boy, cum of, that whomwarde we may goo.
Imprmtrt at ILontom, fig Sjofm 39age, an* agllgam Sere*, fctoeilmse in Partsje, at tje stgne of tfje mtion, a littel
(Kontiutte.
Otum gratia tt ptibilegio atr imptimentium solum.
Cfce JDpe 2Bap to t&e ©ppttel
HHHE Hye Way to the Spyttel Hous.
[Woodcut of Copland, the Porter, and a beggar.]
If COPLAND AND THE PORTER.
1f Who so hath lust, or wyll leaue his thryft, And wyll fynd no better way nor shyft,
Come this bye way, here to seke some rest, For it is ordeyned for eche vnthrifty gest.
[Colophon] Enprynted at London in the Fletestrete at the rose garland by Robert Copland, n. d. 4to. black letter, 20 leaves.1
The following production, which has been reprinted by Mr. Utterson in his Select Pieces of Early Popular Poetry, 1817, can only lay claim to the title of a poem from being in the metrical form. But it is valuable and curious, nevertheless, as a contri bution to our knowledge of the state of the hospitals and of the
1 In the library of James West, Esq. sold in 1773, there were two copies of this tract.
VOL. IV. C
18 THE EYE WAT TO
poor in the time of Henry VIII,' and as a link in the history of mendicity. Many of its pages might be read side by side with Mayhew's " London Labour and the London Poor ;" but it is to be remarked that the "Hye Way to the Spyttel Hous" has in view rather the exposure of the frauds of beggars and alms- people than the illustration of their pursuits and struggles in search of a livelihood. As a picture, presumed to be faithfully drawn, of the lower forms of human life three hundred years ago, the " Hye Way to the Spyttel Hous" possesses unquestion able interest and importance, though its literary merit may be of an infinitesimal kind, and Ritson may be thought to have gone quite far enough in characterizing it as " a dialogue of some humour and merit." 2
Robert Copland, the " compiler and printer of this boke," as he styles himself in the Prologue, was an apprentice of Wynkyn de Worde, and probably the father or brother of William Cop land,3 a printer of considerable note. Like his contemporary Crowley, who enjoys the meritorious distinction of having been the first to commit to the press the Vision of Piers Ploughman, Robert Copland probably wrote many pieces of a satirical charac ter without putting his name to them which, like the Hye Way to the Spyttel Hous, he also printed.
We may perhaps be allowed to doubt, whether Robert Copland
1 The statute 22 Henry VIII, was renewed and confirmed, with some additions, &c. by 14 and 18 Eliz. But practically, the law in this respect was of very slight force, and the evil against which it sought to pro vide a remedy remained as serious as ever. In his "Treatise against Dicing," &c. 1577, North- brooke bitterly complains of the inoperative character of the acts 14 and 18 Eliz.
8 Bibliographia Poetica, art. Copland. Ritson, however, ap pears, in this case, merely to have followed Herbert who, in his edition of Ames, has given an account of the tract from a copy in his own possession.
8 Weever, in his Ancient Funerall Monuments, 1631, quoting Stow, mentions that " one William Copeland, Churchwarden [of St. Mary Bow] gaue the great Bell which is rung nightly at nine oftheclocke[An. 1515]."
THE SPYTTEL HO US. 19
had an independent press, and whether he was not, in fact, a sort of amateur in the art, employing his brother's press when ever he required it. That this practice was occasionally followed, is shown by the " Esclaircissement de la Langue Francoise," by John Palsgrave, 1530, folio, which was printed by John Hawkins at the press of Richard Pynson. It is to be presumed that the latter permitted Hawkins to use his types on this particular oc casion, or it may be that Hawkins simply superintended the passage of the book through the press. At the same time, seve ral publications with Robert Copland's name as the printer are known : yet in most cases he describes himself as prac tising the profession at the sign of the Rose Garland, which was also William's place of business. Prefixed to Chaucer's Assemble of foules, 1 530, is an address in verse by " Roberte Coplande, boke-prynter to new-fanglers," in four eight-line stanzas; and, at the end, his Enemy, in three more. And annexed to Wynkyn de Worde's edition of The Castell of Pleasure, a poem, by Nevil, Lord Latimer, is the Envoy de Robert Coplande Vymprimeur, seeming to show that he was ac customed to use De Worde's press, somewhat in the same man ner as he subsequently did that of William Copland, with this difference, that whereas he put his own name in the colophon, when he had removed to the Rose Garland, his typographical labours at W. de Worde's office bore the name and device of the latter, Copland merely attaching his name to the Envoy or to the Prologue.
It is evident that this treatise was written after the 22nd Hen. VIII (1530-1), which is referred to by Copland, the writer, in the course of his dialogue, real or fictitious, with the Porter. St. Bartholomew's Hospital l and Priory were founded, according to the well-known tradition, by the famous jester Rahere. Deloney, in his Pleasant History of Thomas of Reading, circa 1597 (ed. Thorns, p. 16) says of him: — "This Reior was the most skilfullest Musicion that liued at that time [reign of
1 Hence the surrounding fields acquired the name of Spital [i.e. Hospital] fields; according to Weever (Funerall Monu ments, 1631, p. 515), they were previously known as Lolesworth Fields.
20 THE HYE WAY TO
Hen. VIII], whose wealth was very great, so that all the In struments whereon his seruants plaid, were richly garnished with studdes of siluer, and some gold ; the bowes belonging to their Violines were all likewise of pure siluer. He was also for his wisedome called to great Office in the City, who also builded (at his owne cost) the Priory and Hospital of S. Bartholomew in Smithfield."
A certain light is thrown on the state of the poor in the time of Henry VIII, by a curious tract entitled " A Supplicacyon for the Beggers [i. e. the Begging or Mendicant Friars]," which ap peared either in 1524 or 1525, and the authorship of which there is ground for ascribing to Simon Fish, a zealot of the period.
Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, 1621, draws a sorry picture of the state of England in his day. "Amongst our towns," he says, " there is only London that bears the face of a city — epitome Britannia, a famous emporium, second to none be yond seas, a noble mart : but sola crescit, decrescentibus aliis ; and yet, in my slender judgment, defective in many things. The rest (some few excepted) are in mean estate, ruinous most part, poor and/M/Z of beggars, by reason of their decayed trades, neg lected or bad policy, idleness of their inhabitants and riot, which had rather beg or loyter, and be ready to starve, than work."
Besides the present piece, he is known to have written or translated : —
Jyl of Breyntfords testament newly compiled. [Col.] Im printed at London by me William Copland. Black letter, 8 leaves, 4to.
Jyl of Braintfords Testament. Newly compiled. [Col.] Im- prented at London in Lothbury ouer agaynst Saint Margarytes church by me Wyllyam Copland. Black letter, 8 leaves, 4to. . ' . A different edition of the preceding.
Kynge Appolyue of Thyre. A romance. [Translated from the French by R. C., who added an original prologue.] W. de Worde, 1510, 4to. See Herbert, fol. 149.
The Knight of the Swanne. Here Beginneth the History of
THE SPYTTEL HO US. 21
the noble Helyas &c. [Col.] Imprinted at London by me
Wyllyam Copland. K d. 4to. black letter.
. • . A translation from the French, made prior to 1521. The Complayrite of them that ben to late maryed. W. de
Worde, n. d. 4to. 8 leaves, black letter.
. * . He was probably the author or rather translator of a second tract of a similar character : " A complaynt of them that be to soone maryed." W. de Worde, 1535, 4to, 13 leaves, black letter, and of the " Payne and Sorowe of Euyll Mary- age," W. de Worde, n. d. 4to. 4 leaves, black letter.
The Passion of Christe, with many deuout contemplacions, examples, and exposicyons of the same. W. de Worde, 1521, 4to; and W. de Worde, 1532, 4to. In verse and prose. With woodcuts. This is said to be a translation from the French by Andrew Chertsey in Lowndes's Manual, but the last leaf con tains the " Inuocation of Roberte Coplande," in three octave stanzas. Perhaps Copland composed the metrical descriptions which precede each of the twenty-four parts, into which the work is divided.
The Life of Ipomydon. Enprynted at London in the Flete- strete at the sygne of the Sonne by Wynkyn de Worde, n. d. 4to. :—
" L'enuoye of Robert C. the prynter.
Go lytell Jest vndepured of speche
Vnto thy reders and alway me excuse
To take thy mater I hertly them beseche,
Though thou rudely no other termes vse.
This is thy copy, thou can it not refuse
Syth that no writer wolde take the to amende
In this my laboure I myght it not entende."
R. Copland translated and printed " The Rutter of the See, with the Hauores, Rodes, Soundynges, Kennynges, Wyndes, Flodes, and Ebbes, Daungers, and Coastes of Dyuers Regyons &c," Lond. 1528, 16mo. which went through several impres sions. Copland affixed a Prologue of his own.
22 THE EYE WAY TO
He also contributed the Petycyon and Envoye to the Myrrour of the Chyrche, 1521 ; and he has verses before the Secrets of Aristotyle, 1528 ; and W. Walter's Litell contrauers dyalogue betwene Loue and Councell Sfc. W. de Worde, n. d. The Spectacle of Lovers, by the latter writer, contains also at the close, " L'Envoy de Robert Coplaude." l
See Graunt's Observations on the Bills of Mortality, ed. 1665, ch. 3.
C Prologue of Eoftert Copland,
IF COPYLEH AND PBYNTEB OF THIS BOKE.
JO dyspyse poore falke is not my appetite, Nor suche as lyue of veray alraes dede, But myn intent is onely for to wryte The mysery of suche as lyue in nede, And all theyr lyfe in ydlenesse dooth lede, Wherby dooth sue2 suche incouenyence,
That they must ende in meschaunt indygence.
f[ Chryst in this worlde ryght pouerte dyd sue, Gyuyng vs example to folowe that degre,
1 See Dibdin's Ames, ii. 278.
THE SPYTTEL HO US. 23
Saying : beati pauperes spiritu ; l 10
Beati mites, beati mundo corde : Blyssed be they, that poore in spyryte be, And ben clene in herte, and meke therwith al For they shall possede the realm celestyall.
|[ They be not poore that haue necessyte, Except therwith they ben ryght well content ; Nor they be not ryche that haue grete plente, If that they thynke that they haue competent, And euer pleased with that God hath them sent, For surely it is our Lordes ordynaunce, 20
That eche sholde be pleased with suffysaunce.
If That man, that hath more than suffycyent, With goodes at wyll, and dayly doth encrease, And euer is bare, hungry and indygent, Scrapynge and snudgynge without ony cease ; Euer coueytynge, the mynde hath no pease But lyueth by rapyne and usury,
And careth not how he cometh therby.
|[ Eke in dystres doynge no benyfyte,
Letyng the poore dye in great mysery, 30
His neyghbour in pryson dooth not vysyte,
Nor yet forgyue small parcel of duety,
Wery traueylers in the stretes let ly,
The deed bodyes without ony buryall ;
His goodes his god a man" may full well call.
1 St. Matt. v. 3, 5, 8.
24 THE HYE WAY TO
C Of suche ryche men recyteth the gospell, Makyng lykenes of impossybylyte ; Saying : that more easyly a great camell May passe and go through a nedyls eye, Than a ryche man in heuen for to be : 40
For who so mys useth that God hath hym sent, With cursed Diues in hell shalbe brent.1
|[ These trewat2 beggers begging fro place to place, Nor yet these nedy of all maner facyon; These apprentyces that do rene from all grace ; These hyred seruaunts that kepe no condycion, Nor all that feyne parfyt deuocyon, Nor many other lyuyng in nede couert,s
Though they lacke good, be not poore of hert.
|[ Se ye not dayly of all maner estate, so
How, in the lawe, they trauers4 and coniect.5 How neyghbours do fall at anger and debate ? Twene man [and] wyfe eke the lyfe imperfect :
1 i. e. burnt. 2 i. e. truant.
3 i. e. in secret want.
4 To travers here signifies to cross in argument in the way practised by the opposite counsel in a legal suit or trial. But the word is used in a variety of meanings. Shakespeare employs it to express a movement in fencing, apparently the crossing of the line of an adversary's weapon, as distinguished from fencing or thrusting. See the Merry Wives of Windsor, act ii. sc. 3. In the Marchandes Tale, Chaucer has travers in the sense of a bed-curtain, i. e. one which might be drawn across the bed.
5 Conjecture, or offer conjectural propositions.
THE SPTTTEL HOUS. 25
The father and chyld from quyetnes abiect, And all for good they make eche other smart, Which is a sygne they be not poore of hart.
|[ If that our prynce do aske a subsedy, From our ennemyes vs to defend, Or yf our credytours demaund theyr duety,1 To confesse pouerte than we do pretend. eo
But yf our neyghbour in ought vs offend, Than we fynd money to play ouerthwart, Which is a token we be not poore at hart.
f[ How many poore that haue lytell in store, Are2 content with their3 small substaunce? But euer they grudge, and wysh for more, To be promoted and haue furtheraunce. The very beggers, for theyr pytaunce, From bag and staffe are lothe for to depart,
Which is a token they be not poore at hart. 70
|[ Of these two estates there be four degrees : A ryche ryche, a poore poore, a ryche poore also, A poore ryche in all necessytees. The two can agre, but the other no, A proud hert, a beggers purs therto, The ryche purs and the poore spyryt May well agre, and be in one parfyt.
1 i. e. debt. 2 Old ed. has is. 3 Old ed. has his.
26 THE HYE WAY TO
C <£:rf)ortacton of tje (ftompglet.
|[ I pray all you, which haue ynough with grace,
For the loue of God to do your charyte,
And fro the poore neuer turne your face, so
For Chryst sayth : what euer that he be
That to the least of myne dooth in the name of me,
Vnto myself I do accept the dede,
And for rewarde my realme they shall possede.
ffiere fieggnnetj tf)e casualgte <&C tje enttaima in to
wryte of Sol in his exaltacyon,
Of his solstyce or declynacyon, Or in what sygne, planet, or degre, As he in course is vsed for to be ; Scorpio, pisces or sagyttary ;
Or whan the moone her way dooth contrary, 90 Or her eclypse, her wayne, or yet her full,
It were but lost for blockysh braynes dull ; But playnly to say, even as the tyme was, About a fourtenyght after Halowmas,1
1 Hallowmass, or All Saints' Day (November 1st), was the beggars' jubilee. On that day it was the ancient custom to go tovling, or going round to beg for money to fast for the souls of
THE SPY T TEL HO US. 27
I chaunced to come by a certayn spyttell,1
Where I thought best to tary a lyttell, And vnder the porche for to take socour,2
To abyde the passyng of a stormy shour ; For it had snowen, and frosen very strong,
With great ysesycles on the eues3 long, 100
The sharp north wynd hurled bytterly,
And with black cloudes darked was the sky. Lyke as, in wenter, some days be naturall
With frost, and rayne, and stormes ouer all. So styll I stode ; as chaunced to be,
The porter of the hous stode also by me, With whome I reasoned of many dyuers thynges
Touchyng the cours of all suche whetherynges : And as we talked ther gathered at the gate
People, as me thought, of very poore estate, no
the donors or their relatives. In the " Two Gentlemen of Verona," Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Speed the ex pression " to speak puling, like a beggar at Hallowmas," and the dramatist had, no doubt, this usage at the moment in his recol lection. What Copland's special reason was for selecting " about a fortnight after Hallowmas " as the point of time when his interview with the porter took place, it is by no means easy to tell.
Scot, in his Discovery of Witchcraft, 1584, ed. 1651, p. 314, alludes to the practice of beggars fasting for the souls of the departed ; and a good account of the matter may be found in Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities, ed. 1853, i. 393-4; but the custom of fasting for souls seems to have been overlooked by Brand and his editors.
1 i. e. hospital. Pepys used this form of the word. See Diary, under date of 9th Feb. 1659-60.
2 Shelter. 3 Eaves.
28 THE EYE WAY TO
With bag and staf, both croked, lame and blynde,
Scabby and scuruy, pocke eaten flesh and rynde,1 Lowsy and scalde, and pylled2 lyke as apes,
With scantly a rag for to couer theyr shapes,3 Brechles, bare foted, all stynkyng with dyrt,
With M. of tatters drabblyng to the skyrt, Boyes, gyrles and luskysh4 strong knaues,
Dydderyng and dadderyng, leaning on their staues, Saying : good mayster, for your moders blessyng,
Gyue vs a halfpeny toward our lodgyng. 120
The porter sayd : what nede you to craue,
That in the spyttell shall your lodgyng haue ? Ye shah" be entreated as ye ought to be :
For I am charged that dayly to se. The systers shall do theyr obseruaunce,
As of the hous is the due ordynaunce.
1 Skin.
2 Pilled is an old form of pealed. It here implies [with the hair] pealed off.
" Whilst snarling gusts nibble the juiceless leaves From the naked shuddering branch, and pills the skin From off the soft and delicate aspects."
Marston's Antonio's Revenge, the Second Part of Antonio and Mellida — The Prologue.
" As pyled as an ape was his skulle, He was a market beter at the fulle."
The Miller of Trumpington (Wright's Anecdota Literaria, 1844, p. 24).
3 L e. forms.
* Lazy. It is the adjective form of lusk, a lazy fellow, a lubber. See Scoggin's Jests, ed. Hazlitt, p. 64 (Old English Jest Books, ii. 5).
THE SPYTTEL HOUS. 29
11 Copland. Porter, sayd I, Gods blyssyng and our lady
Haue ye for spekyng so curteysly To these poore falke, and God his soule pardon J
That for theyr sake made this foundacyon : 130
But syr, I pray you, do ye lodge them all,
That do aske lodgyng in this hospytall ?
IF Porter. ? Forsoth yea, we do all suche folke in take, That do aske lodgyng for our lordes sake ;
And in dede it is our custome and vse
Sometyme to take in, and some to refuse.3
11 Copland. Than is it comyn to euery wyght,
How they lyue all day, to lye here at nyght ? As losels, myghty beggers and vacabonds,
And trewands that walke ouer the londs, HO
Mychers, hedge-crepers,4 fylloks, and luskes,
That all the somer kepe dyches and buskes, Lowtryng, and wandryng fro place to place,
And wyll not worke but the bypaths trace, And lyue with haws, and hunt the blakbery,
And with hedge brekyng make themself mery ;
1 The celebrated Rahere. See the first chapter of Morley's Bartholomew Fair.
2 In the Order of the Hospitalls of K. Henry the VIII. and K. Edward the Vlth, 1557, 12mo, " The Porter" is expressly men tioned as one of the officers of St. Bartholomew's.
3 See the section touching the " admitting of children and the graunting of Penaunces," in the Order of the Hospitalls, 1557.
4 See Dunbar's Poems, ed. Laing, ii. 27 and 405.
30 THE HYE WAY TO
But in wenter they drawe to the towne,
And wyll do nothyng but go vp and down, And all for lodgyng that they haue here by nyght ?
Me thynk that therin ye do no ryght, 150
Nor all suche. places of hospytalyte
To comfort people of suche iniquyte. But, syr, I praye you of your goodnes and fauour,
Tell me which ye leaue, and which ye do socour ? For I haue sene at sondry hospytalles
That many haue lyne dead without the walles, And for lacke of socour haue dyed wretchedly,1
Unto your foundacyon I thynke contrary, Moche people resort here, and haue lodgyng ;
But yet I maruell greatly of one thyng, ieo
That in the nyght so many lodge without :
For in the whatche whan that we go about, Under the stalles, in porches, and in doores,
I wote not whither they be theues or hoores. But surely, euery nyght ther is found
One or other lyeng by the pound, In the shepe cootes, or in the hey loft,
And at Saynt Barthylmews chyrch doore full ofte, And euen here alway by this brycke wall
We do them fynd that do bothe chyde and brail, 170 And lyke as bestes togyder they be throng,
1 If so, it was assuredly contrary to the Order, &c. which prescribed that a certificate of character, &c. should be required, " except in cases of extremity, where losse of liffe and perishing would presently followe, if they be not receved into this said Hospitall ; which is to be considered of by the Thresorer and two of the Almoners of the leaste."
THE SPTTTEL SOUS. 31
Bothe lame, and seke, and hole them among, And in many corners wher that we go,
Wherof I wondre greatly why they do so ; But oftymes whan that they vs se,
They do rene a great deale faster than we.
1T Porter. Stiche folkes be they that we do abiect,
We are not bound to haue to them aspect ; Those be mychers that lyue in trewandyse ;
Hospytalyte dooth them alway despyse. iso
IT Copland. Syr, I pray you, who hath of your relefe .?
51" Porter. Forsoth they that be at suche myschefe,1 That for theyr lyuyng can do no labour,
And haue no frendes to do them socour ; As old people, seke and impotent ;
Poore women in chyldbed haue here easement ; Weyke men sore wounded by great vyolence,
And sore men eaten with pockes and pestylence, And honest folke fallen in great pouerte
By myschaunce or other infyrmyte ; 190
Wayfaryng men and maymed souldyours
Haue thyr relyef in this poore hous of ours ; And all other, which we seme good and playne,
Haue here lodgyng for a nyght or twayne ; Bedred2 folke, and suche as can not craue,
In these places moost relyef they haue ; And yf they hap within our place to dye,
1 In such an unfortunate case. 2 Bedridden.
32 THE HYE WAY TO
Than are they burjed well and honestly ; But not euery vnseke1 stoborne knaue,
For than we shold ouer many haue. 200
H Copland. How say you by these comyn2 beggers- that crye
Dayly on3 the worlde, and in the hye wayes lye At Westmynster and at Saynt Poules,
And in all stretes they syt as desolate soules ? Methynke it4 a very well done dede
With deuocyon suche people to fede.
5T Porter. Where ony gyueth almesse with good entent, The rewarde can not be nowyse mysspent.
^T Copland. Ye, but syr, I wyll not lye, by my soule,
As I walked to the chyrche of Saynt Poule, 210 There sate beggers, on eche syde the way two,
As is seen dayly they be wont to do. Syr, one there was, a myghty stoburne slaue,
That for the other began to beg and craue : " Now, mayster, in the way of your good spede,
To vs all four behold where it is nede ; And make this farthyng worth a halfpeny,
For the fyue ioyes of our blyssed lady ! 5
1 i. e. unsick, whole. 2 Common.
3 On is as often as not used in the sense of in in old books. It frequently occurs in the New Testament.
4 Old ed. has if, it.
5 The Five Joys of the Virgin were five short poems, or rather a poem in five stanzas, celebrating the beatific condition and
THE SPY T TEL HOUS. 33
Now turne agayn for Saynt Erasmus sake !
And on my bare knees here a vowe I make, 220 Ovr ladyes psalter thre tymes euen now
manifold virtues of Our Lady. A specimen is subjoined from a copy printed in Reliquice Antigua „•-
C " Seinte Marie, levedi brijt,
Moder thou art of much el mijt, Queue in hevene of feire ble ; Gabriel to the he lijte, The he brouste al wid rijte
Then holi gost to listen in the. Godes word ful wel thou cnewe ; Ful mildeliche therto thou bewe,
Ant saidest, " So it mote be ! " Thi thonc was studevast ant trewe ; For the joye that to was newe,
Levedi, thou have merci of me !
C Seinte Marie, moder milde, Thi fader bicome to one childe,
Sue joye ne seal never eft be. The stronge fend, that was so wilde, Godes hondiwerc he spilde,
For on appel of the tre. Levedi, mon thou broutest bote, The stronge fend an under fote,
Tho thi sone was boren of the : For the joye that tho was swote, Levedi, yemme grace that I mote
Wid al mine mijte lovien the !
C Seinte Marie, quene in londe, Godes moder ant Godes sonde, That te sculde ben so wo ; Jewes heden thi sone an honde, VOL. IV. D
34 THE HYE WAY TO
To1 turne agayn, as God shall turne to you ! Now, mayster, do that no man dyd this day,
On yone poore wretch, that rotteth in the way, Now, mayster, for hym that dyed on tre,
Lete vs not dye for lacke of charyte ! Thus he prated, as he full well can,
Tyll at last an honest seruyng man Came by the way, and by compassyon
Of his wordes dyd his deuocyon. 230
Whan he was gone a lytell fro thens,
I sawe the begger pull out xi pens, Sayeng to his felawes : Se, what here is ;
Many a knaue haue I called mayster for this. Lete vs go dyne, this is a symple2 day,
Judas soldin hem to honde,
On the rode heo gonnen him slo ;
The thridde dai he ros to live :
Levedi, ofte were thou blive, Ac never so thou were tho.
Levedi, for then ilke sive
That tou were of thi sone blive,
Al mi sunnes thou do me fro !"
1 Old ed. has now.
* Simple is here employed in the sense of poor, or unprofitable. It also formerly stood for humble or lowly. Thus Caxton, in some of his colophons, describes himself as "symple person, William Caxton," and Alexander Scot uses it in a similar way :—
" Send be thy sempill servand SANDERIS SCOTT, Greting grit God to grant thy grace gude f eir." Poem*, ed. 1821, p. 12.
But perhaps the stricter meaning of simple in early compositions was not gentle, i. e. " somebody, not by birth a gentleman," and
THE SPYTTEL HOUS. 35
My mayster therwith shall I scantly pay. — Come these folkes hyther, good mayster porter ?
^[ Porter . No, in sothe ; this hous is of no ! such
supporter ; They haue houses, and kepe full yll gestyng,
And to the resorte all the hole offspryng 240
In the Berbycan and in Turnmyll strete,2
In Houndesdyche and hehynd the Flete ; And in twenty places mo than there,
Where they make reuell and gaudy chere, With fyll the pot fyll, and go fyll me the can,
Here is my peny, and I am a gentylman. And there they byd and fyll as dooth a gull ;
there is a passage in Scot's Poems, already quoted, where the word appears to bear this precise construction : —
" So tho my lyking wer a leddy, And I no lord fit no the less Scho suld my serwyce find als reddy As duke to duches docht him dress ; Ffor as prowd princely luve express Is to haif souerenitie ; So serwice cumis of sympilness, And leilest luve of law degre."
1 i.e. of none such, as we now less correctly say.
2 The whole of this locality seems to have enjoyed at that time an unenviable reputation, and it was in no better odour a century later, as is to be collected from the satirical writings of the reign of James I. At the commencement of the 17th cen tury, Turnbull, or Turnmill, Street, however, was celebrated rather for its houses of ill repute than for its beggars' haunts and thieves' kitchens. Taylor, in his " Flyting with Fenner," says to his opponent : —
36 THE HTE WAT TO
And whan that they haue theyr heades full, Than they fall out, and make reuylyng,
And in this wyse make the dronken rekenyng : 250 Thou beggerly knaue, bag nor staf hast thou none,
But as I am fayne dayly to lend the one ; Thou getest it no more, though it lye and rote,
Nor my long cloke, nor my new patched cote. This rule make they euery day and nyght,
Tyll lyke as swyne they lye slepyng vpryght j1 Some beggerly churles, to whom they resorte,
Be the maynteners of a great sorte 2 Of myghty lubbers, and haue them in seruyce,
Some iourney men, and some to theyr prentyce, 250 And they walke to eche market and fayre,
And to all places where folke do repayre, By day on styltes, or stoupyng on crowches,
" Search well in Turn-bull Street, or in Pickt-watch, Neere Shorditch, or Long Alley, prethee watch, And amongst the trading females chuse out nine To be thy muses, they will fit thee fine."
The begging and stealing fraternity has shifted its quarters pretty often, in obedience to the changes which have taken place in the metropolis. It was from about the reign of Queen Anne that St. Giles's dates its present notoriety; but even in the time of the first, second, and third Georges this and the circumjacent locality retained a little of its old respectability. Yet as early as 1710 a " mendicants' convivial club "seems to have existed in Dyot Street, St. Giles's, to which it had mi grated from the Poultry (see Notes and Queries, I S. i. 229).
' All this description is frequently applicable to the " frater nity of vagabonds" of the present day and their noctumal revels.
8 Assortment.
THE SPYTTEL HO US. 37
And so dyssymule as fals lewtryng flowches, With bloody clowtes all about theyr legge,
And playsters on theyr skyn, whan they go beg ; Some countrefayt lepry, and other some
Put sope in theyr mouth to make it scome, And fall downe as Saynt Cornelys euyll.
These dysceyts they use worse than ony deuyll ; 210 And whan they be in theyr owne company,
They be as hole as eyther you or I : But at the last, when sekenes cometh in dede,
Than to the spyttell hous must they come nede.
1T Copland. Ah, Jesu mercy ! what man coud coniect x
The mysery of suche a wretched sect ? None honest man. But yet I you hertyly pray,
Tell me of other that come thys2 way. Come here ony of these maysterles men,
That euery where do go and ren,3 280
That haue serued the kyng beyond the se,
And now that they out of wages be, They must beg, or els go brybe,4 and steale ?
Methynk it is a great soule-heale5 To help them, tyll they were pouruayd
Into some seruyce ; for yf they were arayd,
1 i. e. conjecture. 2 Old ed. has these. 3 run.
4 Rob. In the Flyting of Dunbar §• Kennedy, the former ivs: —
" Ersche brybour baird, vyle beggar with thy brattis — "
5 i. e. a great salve for the soule.
2
38 THE HYE WAY TO
Some of them were propre men and tall,1 And able to go whyther they shall.
f Porter. That is trouth ; but they vse one yll thyrig,
For they do were souldyers clothyng, And so beggyng deceyue folke ouer all,
1 i. e. brave. Marlowe uses it in the same way :— " So, now they have shew'd themselves to be tall fellows." — The Rich Jew of Malta, 1633.
Q The Porter might be describing London as it is. This dialogue is very graphic and interesting. " Wering souldyers clothyng " was at this time, it appears, a favourite form of im posture, and the case was just the same a century later, when Taylor the Water-Poet wrote his Beggar (1621). Taylor fur nishes a humourous description of the various shifts which the decayed military mendicant of his day adapted for the purpose of extracting money from the public. He is, first of all, sup posed to meet a "Lord, Knight, or Gentleman," whom he addresses as follows : — " Brave man of honour, cast a favorable looke upon the wounded estate of a distressed Gentleman that hath borne armes for his Countrey in the hottest broyles of the Netherlands, with the losse of his members ; Cleveland hath felt my strength ; I haue bickered with the French at Brest and Deipe. I haue passed the straights, the dangerous Gulph ; the Groyne can speake my seruice (Right Honourable)," &c. If his suit is successful, he invokes a blessing on the head of the donor in the manner following : — " Peace be to thy loynes, (Right Honoura ble) and plenty at thy boord : oppression in the Countrey, and extortion in the Citie, embroder thy carkasse, and keepe thy Concubine constant, that Taylers may sue to the for worke, more then for payment," &c. He then goes a little further, and meets (supposes the writer) a Lawyer, for whom he has a speech ready cut and dry. " Humbly sheweth to your good Worship, your poore suppliant hauing aduanced his bill in the late warres," &c ; whereupon the man of law gets rid of him by a small bounty, and the fellow pronounces a suitable benediction : " May the
THE SPYTTEL HO US. 39
For they bo vacabondes moost in generall, And wyll abyde no laborous subiection
With honest persones vnder correction : For whan they be wery, they wyll reste away,
And perchauce cary with them what they may ; And so whan a man wold bryng them to thryft,
termes be everlasting to thee, thou man of tongue, and may contentions grow and multiply," and so forth. A country farmer is the next victim. " You shall doe well to take notice (Countrev- man and frend) that I am a souldier and a Gentleman, who hauing bin made Fortunes tennis-ball, was lately cast vpon these coasts of my Countrey, by the merciles cruelty of the raging and tempestuous seas ; " and he proceeds in a strain of ludicrous hyperbole and rhodomontade, until he has quite over come his dupe, who hands him something, and is blessed accordingly. " Faire be thy haruest, and foule thy winter, that plenty may fill thy Barns, and feare of scarcity raise thy price, may thy land-lord Hue vnmarryed, that thy fine may not be raisde to buy thy new land-lady a French petticoate or a new Blockt Beauer, nor thy rents raisde to keepe her tire in fashion."
The soldiers who figured as beggars and vagabonds in former times were, however, sometimes genuine men of the sword. Some paraded in the streets, and made a commodity of their wounds, real or pretended (see Gascoigne's Steeh Glas, 1576, sig. E 2, verso), while others pilfered and robbed on the high way. It is probable that the well-known ballads, " We be soldiers three," and " We be three poor mariners," both of which are printed by Mr. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time, 77), were supposed to be sung by discharged members of the army and merchant service or nav}', strolling about the country to pick up what they could get.
It appears from Harman's Caveat for Common Cursitors, 1565, ed. 1814, pp. 1, 30, that the counterfeit soldiers and sailors were technically known as Rufflars or Curtesy Men, and Freshe Water Mariners, or Whip Jackes respectively. See also p. 38 of the same work, Awdeley's Fraternity e of Vacabondes, 1573,
40 THE HYE WAY TO
They wyll hym rob, and fro his good hym lyft.1
1T Copland. Though some so do, they do not all so, For some myght chaunce well as many one do. 300
1T Porter. That is true ; but it hath ben seen long agone,
That many haue fared the wors for one ; And of these be two sortes moost comynly.
The one of them lyueth by open beggery, Bagged and lowsy, with bag, dysh and staf,
repr. 1813, pp. 1, 2, and The Song of the Begger in "A Descrip tion of Love, &c." 1620, sm. 8vo, where the military impostor is humourously described.
Moorfields appears to have been notorious in this reign for sham-soldiers, for Nat. Field in his Woman is a Weathercock, 1612, makes one of its characters, Captain Pouts, say: —
" God-a-mercy ! Zoons! methinks I see myself in Moor fields upon a wooden leg, begging threepence."
But, as Mr. Collier has shown in his reprint of the drama, this passage is only copied from a situation given to Brainworm in Jonson's Every Man in his Humour, 1600.
The cheats practised by beggars in early times are referred to in the ballad of Eobin Hood and the Four Beggers, where Little John makes the fellows recover their lost faculties in a mar vellously quick time : —
" John nipped the dumb, and made him to rise,
And the blind he made to see ; And he that a cripple had been seven years,
He made them run faster than he."
In the Liber Vagatorum der Betler Orden, a popular German work, there are some curious particulars of an analogous character to those described by Harman and others in our OAvn literature.
1 i.e. rob him of his goods.
THE SPY T TEL HO US. 41
And euer haunteth among such ryf raf ; One tyme to this spyttell, another to that,
Prolyng1 and pochyng to get somwhat ; At euery doore lumpes of bread or meat :
For yf the staf in his hand ones catche heat sio
Than farwell labour ; and hath suche delyte
That thryffc and honesty fro hym is quyte : And in suche mysery they lyue day by day,
That of very nede they must come this way.
IT Copland. Of the other, now what is theyr estate ?
IT Porter. By my fayth, nyghtyngales of Newgate : These be they that dayly walkes and jettes
In theyr hose trussed rounde to theyr dowblettes, And say : good maysters, of your charyte,
Helpe vs poore men that come from the se ; 320 From Bonauenture we were caste to lande,
God it knowes, as poorly as we stande ! And sotyme they say that they were take in Frauce,
And had ben there vii. yeres in duraunce ; In Muttrell,2 in Brest, in Tourney or Tyrwyn,3
In Morlays, in Cleremount or in Hedyn ; And to theyr countrees they haue ferre to gone,
And amonge them all peny haue they none. Now, good mennes bodyes, wyll they say then,
For Goddes sake helpe to kepe vs true men ! 330 Or elles they say, they haue in pryson be,
i. e. prowling. 2 Montreuil. 3 Terouenne.
42 THE EYE WAY TO
In Newgat, the Kynges Benche or Marchalse, As many true men take1 by suspecyon,
And were quitte2 by proclamacyon. And yf ony axe what countrey men they be,
And lyke3 your maystershyp,4 of the north all thre; Or of Chesshyre, or elles nygh Cornewall,
Or where they lyst, for to gabbe5 and rayle ; And may perchaunce the one is of London, 339
The other of Yorke, and the thyrde of Hampton.6 And thus they lewter in euery way and strete,
In townes and chyrches, where as people mete, In lanes and pathes, and at eche crosse way,
There do they prate, bable, lye and praye. But yf ye be clenly, and haply come alone,
Your puree and clothynge may fortune to be gone : But at no dore for brede, drynke, nor potage,
Nor scoules of meate, nor no suche bagagc, They none desyre to put in bagge nor male ;
But uery whyte threde to sewe good ale. 350
And whan they haue goten what they may,
Than to theyr lodgynge they do take theyr way, Into some aley, lane, or blynde hostry,
1 i.e. taken. 2 i.e. are released.
3 i.e. if it like.
4 We are here reminded of the song in Deuteromelia, 1609, 4to:—
" We be soldiers three ;
Pardona moy, je vous en pree, Lately come forth of the Low Country, With never a penny of money."
5 Gabble. 6 i.e. Southampton.
THE SPYTTEL HOUS. 43
And to some corner, or hous of bawdry, Where as ben folke of theyr affynyte,
Brothelles and other suche as they be ; And there they mete, and make theyr gaudy chere,
And put on theyr clothynge and other gere, Theyr swerdes and boclers, and theyr short daggers,
And there they reuell as vnthryfty braggers, seo With horyble othes swerynge as they were wood,1
Armes,2 nayles, woundes, herte, soule and blood, Deth, fote, masse, flesshe, bones, lyfe, and body,
With all other wordes of blasphemy, Bostynge them all in dedes of theyr myschefe,
And thus passe the tyme wth daunce, hore, pipe, thefe. The hang man shall lode the daunce at the ende,
For none other ways they do not pretende. And whan that they can gete nothyng by beggyng,
To maynteyne suche lyfe they fall to stelyng ; 370 And so this way the come at the last,
Or on the galowes make a tomlyng cast.
IT Copland. More pyte to se our owne nacyon
For to behaue them on suche facyon. Surely there is an act of parlyament,
That yf ony strong vacabond be hent 3
1 Mad. 2 i. e. God's armes, nayles, &c.
3 Copland is here referring to one of the Acts of 22nd Henry VIII. which was printed (with the other acts of the year) by T. Berthelet, folio, and included by Rastell in his " Grete Abbreg- ments," 1534, 8vo. The Act is entitled, ft "An acte concernynge how aged, poore, and impotent persones, compelled to lyue by almes, shalbe ordred : and howe vacaboundes, and mighty stronge beggers shall be punyshed."
44 THE EYE WA Y TO
To be set in a payre of stockes openly,
Certayn days, with bread and water onely, And than to be banysht from town to town,
I thynk that act is not yet put down. 380
If it were execute as to my reason,
Men shold not se, within a lytell season, So many of them, nor ydle slouches,
And myghty beggars wth theyr pokes and crouches ; But they be mayntened by this noughty sect,
That all this land is with them infect ; I meane these bawdy brybrous ] knaues,
That lodgeth them that so powles and shaues. It were almes 2 that they were loked on :
For they be wors than ony thefe or felon. 390
But to our purpose. Cometh not this way
Of these rogers, that dayly syng and pray, With Ave regina, or de profundis,
Quern terra, Ponthus and Stella maris ? At euery doore there they foot and frydge,
And say they come fro Oxford or Cambrydge, And be poore scolers, and haue no inaner thyng,
Nor also frendes to kepe them at lernyng ; And so do lewter3 for crust and crum,
With staffe in hand, and fyst in bosum, 400
Passyng tyme so, bothe day and yere ;
As in theyr legend I purpose shall appere An other tyme, after my fantasy.
1 i. e. bribous, from bribe, to rob, or steal.
* i. e. It were charity. See Mery Tales and Quiche Ansiveres, ed. Hazlitt, p. 146. 3 Old ed. has lewtre.
THE SPTTTEL HOUS. 45
1T Porter. Suche folkes of trouth cometh here dayly, And ought of ryght this hous for to vse
In theyr aege : for they fully do refuse The tyme of vertuous excercyse,
Wherby they shold vnto honour aryse.
IT Copland. Syr, yet there is another company 4io Of the same sect, that lyue more subtylly,
And be in manor as mayster wardayns, To whom these rogers obey as capytayns,
And be named clewners, as I here say.
1T Porter. By my sothe, all fals harlots be they And deceyuers of people oiier all ; 1
In the countree most of them fynd ye shall. They say, that they come fro the vnyuersyte,
And in the scoles have taken degree Of preesthood, but frendes haue they none
To giue them ouy exhybycion ; 420
And how that they forth wold passe
To theyr countree, and syng theyr fyrst masse, And there pray for theyr benefactours,
And serue God all tymes and houres. And so they lewter2 in suche rogacyons
Seuen or eyght yeres, walkyng theyr stacyons, And do but gull, and folow beggery,
Feynyng true doyng by ypocrysy, As another tyme shalbe shewed playne.
Old ed. has ouerall. 2 Old ed. has lewtre.
46 THE HTE WAY TO
But yet there is, of a lyke maner, trayne 430
Of fals brybours, deceytfull and fraudelent,
That among people call themselfs sapyent : These ryde about in many sondry wyse,
And in straunge aray do themself dysguyse ; Somtyme in maner of a physycyan,
And another tyme as a hethen man, Countrefaytyng theyr owne tongue and speche,
And hath a knaue1 that doth hym Englysh teche, With, me non spek Englys by my fayt ;
My seruaunt spek you what me sayt — 440
And maketh a maner of straunge countenaunce,
With admyracyons his falsnes to auaunce ; And whan he cometh there as he wold be,
Than wyll he feyne merueylous grauyte ; And so chaunceth his hostes or his hoost,
To demaund out of what straunge land or coost, Cometh this gentylman : forsothe, hostesse,
This man was borne in hethenesse, Sayth his seruaunt, and is a connyng man,
For all the seuen scyences surely he can ; 450
And is sure in physyk and palmestry,
In augury, sothsayeng and vysenamy ; So that he can ryght soone espy
If ony be dysposed to malady, And therfore can gyue suche a medycyne,
That maketh all accesses to declyne ; But surely yf it were knowen that he
Shold medle with ony infyrmyte
i.e. a servant.
THE SPYTTEL HO US. 47
Of comyn people, he myght gete liym hate,
And lose the fauour of euery great estate ; 460
Howbeit of charyte, yet now and then,
He wyll mynyster his cure on pore men. No money he taketh, but all for Gods loue,
Which by chaunce ye shall se hym proue. Than sayth he : qui speke my hostesse,
Graund malady make a gret excesse ; Dys infant rumpre vng grand postum,1
By got, <7ie ala mort tuk vnder thum. What sayth he? sayth the good wyfe : —
Hostesse, he swereth by his soule and lyfe, 470
That this chyld is vexed with a bag
In his stomacke, as great as he may wag, So that, or2 two or thre days come about,
It wyll choke hym withouten dout ; But than he sayth, except ye haue his read,
Thys chyld therwith wyll sodeynly be dead. Alas ! sayth she, yf she loue it well,
Now, swete mayster, gyue me your counsell. For Gods sake I aske it and our lady,
And here is twenty shyllyngs by and by. 480
Quid est? sayth he, — Forsoth she dooth offre
Viginti solidi pour fournir vostre coffre : To do your help, sayth this fals seruyture.
Non, poynt d'argent, sayth he, pardeu, ie non cure. He wyll no money, hostesse, I you promyt ;3
For Gods sake he dooth it echo whyt.
1 i. e. break a great imposthume. 2 Before.
3 i. e. promise.
48 THE HYE WAT TO
Than calleth he anone for his casket,
That scantly is worth a rotten basket, And taketh out a powdre of experyence,
That a carte lode is not worth two pence, 490
And in a paper he dooth fayre fold it vp,
Fastyng thre days, he byddeth that to sup. Than for a space he taketh lycence,1
God wot as yet he [be] payd for none exspence ; And so departeth. And on the next day,
One of his felawes wyll go the same way, To bolster the matter of his fals bewpere.2
He sytteth down, and maketh good chere, Which, in lykewyse, loketh on the chylde,
Sayeng : that heuenly vyrgyn vndefylde, soo
Our lady Mary, preserue this chyld now !
For it is seke, hostesse, I tell it you ; For or thre days, but our Lorde hym saue,
I ensure you it wylbe in a graue. Good syr, sayth she, alas, and well away !
Here was a gentylman euen yesterday, That tolde the same accesse and dysease.
Hostesse, sayth he, yf that it wold you please. What maner man was it, I pray you tell ?
Good syr, she sayth, in sothe I know not well ; oio But Englysh speche in dede he can none,
And is a Jewe his man told vs eehone. Yea, [he] was, sayth he, I know hym well in dede :
I wolde I had spoke with hym, or he yede ;3
Leave. 2 Accomplice. 3 i. e. before he went.
THE SPYTTEL HO US. 49
But hostesse, in faythe, toke he ony thing ?
By my trouth, sayth she, not one farthyng. I wote, sayth he, but I maruell that he wold ;
But out of charyte in suche a meane houshold Do say so moche, for yf great estates it knewe,
His company than wold they all eschewe. 520
Good syr, sayth she, yet of your gentylnes
Help this poore chylde of this sayd sekenes, And here '.s xx. shyllyngs for your payne,
And your exspence for a weke or twayne." Well, hostesse, sayth he, I wyll do more than that
For you, but I shall tell you what. For my labour I aske nothynge at all,
But for the drogges that occupy1 he shall, The which be dere and very precyous ;
And surely, I wyll neuer out of your hous 530
Tyll he be hole as eyther you or I.
Than gooth his knaue to a town to bye These dragges that be not worth a t — de ;
And there they lye at fourtenyght at horde With these good folkes, and put them to cost ;
Bothe meat and money clerely haue they lost. Yet God wote, what waste they made and reuell :
So at the last departeth this Jauell With the money, and streyght rydeth he,
Where the thefe his felaw and dyuers others be ; 540 And there they prate, and make theyr auaunt
Of theyr deceytes, and drynk adew taunt. As they lyue, I pray God them amend,
VOL. IV.
50 THE HYE WAY TO
Or as they be, to bryng them to an end : For the spyttell is not for theyr estate, Howbeit they come dayly by the gate.
IF Copland. A shrewde sorte, by our lady, and a
comberous !
Jesus kepe them out of euery good mans hous ! But cometh ony pardoners this way ?
1F Porter. Yea, syr, they be our petours ; and fayn
they may ; Chyefly syth theyr fals popery was knowen, 551
And theyr bullysh indulgence ouerthrowen, They be all nought. Keken eche with other,
Subtilte is theyr father, and falshod theyr mother: For by letters they name them as they be ;
P. a Pardoner : Clewner a C : R. a Roger: A. an Aurium : and a Sapyent, S.
Thus they know eche other doubtles. But whan theyr iuggelyng cores do fayle,
They rene ashore and here stryke sayle. 560
IF Copland. By my sothe, I am wery to here of theyr Ijuyng ;
Wherfore I pray you, yf ye be pleasyng, Tell me shortly of all folke in generall,
That come the hye way to the hospytall.
II Porter. It is tedyous ; but for your mynde,
As nye as I can, I wyl shew the kynde Of euery sorte, and which by lykelynes
THE SPYTTEL HOUSE. 51
To the spyttell his way dooth adres. But as for ordre, I promyse none to kepe :
For they do come as they were scattered shepe, 570 Wandryng without reason, rule or guyde,
And for other lodgyng do not prouyde. But to our purpose. There cometh in this vyage
They that toward God haue no courage, And to his worde gyue none advertence ;
Eke to father and mother do not reuerence ; They that despyse folke in aduersyte ;
They that seke stryfe and iniquyte ; They that for themself do kepe nothy ig,
And suche as hate other in theyr well doyng. 580 They may be sure, or euer they dye,
Lest they lacke lodgyng, here for to lye.
Preestes and clerkes, that lyue vycyously,
Not caryng how they shold do theyr duty, Vnruly of mauers, and slacke in lernyng,
Euer at the alehous for to syt bybyng, Neglectyng the obedyence to them dew,
And vnto Chrystes flocke take none anew, But lyke as wolues, that rauysh the folde,
These people do this ryght way holde. 590
Yong heyres that enioy theyr herytage,
Kulyng themself, or they come to aege ; Occupyeng vnthryfte company,
Spendyng vp theyr patrymony Whyles they be yong, and use dyssolute playes,
Of very nede they must come these wayes. All such people as have lytell to spend,
52 THE EYE WAY TO
Wastyng it, tyll it be at an end ; And whan they be seke, and haue nothyng,
Toward the spyttell than they be comyng. They that haue small londes and tenements,
Wearyng dayly costly garments, That at the last they must be fayne
To sell theyr rentes, themself to sustayne, Whiche is a token of veray experyence,
This way for to come by consequence. Bayllyfs, stuardes, caters and renters,
Paymasters, credytours and receyuers, That be neclygent to make rekenyngs,
Delyueryng and trustyng without wrytyngs ; Uncaryng for to rene in arerage ;*
By this way they must nede make passage. Landlordes that do no reparacyons,
But leue theyr landes in desolacyons, Theyr housyng vnkept wynd and water tyght,
Letyng the pryncypals rot doun ryght, And suffreth theyr tenauntes to renne away :
The way to our hous we can them not den ay. They that sew in the court dayly
For lyttell besynesse, and spendeth largely With grete gyftes, and yet theyr labour lost :
This way they come to seke for theyr cost. Fermours2 and other husbandmen, that be
In grete fermes, and dooth not ouer se Theyr housbondry, but leteth theyr corne rote,
1 i e. not minding to run in arrears. 2 Farmers.
THE SPYTTEL HO US. 53
Theyr hey to must, theyr shepe dye in the cote, Theyr land vntyld, vndunged and vnsowen,
Theyr medowes not defenced, and unmowen, Theyr fruyt to perysh, hangyng on the trees,
Theyr oatell scater, and lose theyr houy bees. 630 All yong heyres, borne in a ryche estate,
And wold lyue styll after the same rate, Beyng yong brethren of small possybylyte,1
Not hauyng wherwith to mayntene such degre, But make shyftes, and borow ouer all ;
Suche trace pryson to be theyr hospytall. Self wylled people, that can not be in rest,
But in the lawe do euer wry the and wrest,2 And wyll not fall to ony agrement,
Tyll in theyr neckes3 is layd by jugement 640
The coster and charges, and so are made full bare :
Lodgyng for suche folke we do euer spare. People that alway wyll be at dystaunce,
And on theyr neyghbours euer take vengeaunce, Beyng auengyng on euery small wrong :
From this way they cannot be long. They that wyl medle in euery mans mater,
And of other folkes dedes dooth alway clatter, Mayntenyng theyr own sayeng to be true,
And are4 not beleued : they can not eschue 650
1 Means. 2 Wrestle.
3 = on their backs. Thus, in A C. Mery Talys, p. 33, we have : — " The sexten toke the creple on his nek, and came in to the chyrchyarde again."
4 Old ed. has is.
54 THE EYE WAY TO
But they must nedes come hjtherward:
For by moche medlyng theyr credence is mard. Marchaunts that beyond the see bye dere,
And lend it good chepe, whan they be here, And be neuer payed but by the lawe :
Here haue no beddyng, but lye on the strawe. They that sell good cheap in despyte,
Lettyng all theyr gaynes for to go quyte, Byeng ware deare, and sell for a lytell :
They be uery gestes to lye in our spy tt ell. 660
Craftes men that do worke day and nyght,
Havyng great charge, and theyr gaynes lyght, Wastyng theyr tooles, and can them not renew,
Full well may saye : farwell, good thryft adew ! He that wynneth moche, and whan he hath doone,
With waste and games spendeth it soone, Leavyng not wherwyth agayn to begyn :
In this hye way he hasteth to ryn. He that hath a good occupacyon,
And wyll lyue on the courtly facyon, 670
And to worke or labour is wery,
Wenyng for to lyue more easyly : Somtyme dooth make an vnthryfty chaunge,
With bag and staf in our parke to raunge. Rufflers and masteries men, that cannot werke,
And slepeth by day, and walketh in the derke, And with delycates gladly doth fede,
Swerynge and crakynge, an easy lyfe to lede, With comyn women dayly for to haunt,
Makynge reuell, and drynke a dieu taunt ; eso
Saynge : make we mery as longe as we can,
THE SPYTTEL HOUS. 55
And drynke a pace : the deuill pay the malt man ! l Wyne was not made for euery haskerde,
But here and ale for euery dasterde, And whan theyr money is gone and spent,
Than this way is moost conuenyent. Taverners tyat kepe bawdry and pollyng,
Marryng wyne with brewyng and rollyng ; Inholders that lodge hoores and theues,
Seldon theyr getyng ony way preues, 690
So by reason theyr gaynes be geason,2
This way they rene many a season. Bakers and brewers, that with musty grayne
Serue theyr customers, must take it agayne, And many tymes haue they no vtteraunce :
For theyr weyghts and measure is of no substaunce, And lose bothe theyr credence and good :
[They] come this way by all lykelyhood :
1 i. e. let any one pay him that chooses. A proverbial ex pression is probably here cited. Formerly, very little commi seration was felt for this class of persons, as they were notorious for their fraudulent practices. Dunbar satirizes the maltman of his day in the "Devill's Inquest" (Poems, ed. Laing, i. 47) : —
" The maltman sayis, I God forsaik, And mot the devill of hell me taik,
Gif ony better malt may be And of this kill I haif inlaik: Renunce thy God, and cum to me.
Ane browstar swore the malt wes ill, Baith reid and reikit on the kill, That it will be na aill for me; Ane boll will not sex gallons fill: Renunce thy God, and cum to me."
2 Scanty.
56 THE HYE WAY TO
For they do infect that shold be mans food.
They that wyll be surety for euery det, 700
And wyll pay more than they of ryght be set, For to be named a man lyberall,
And in maner he hath nothynge at all ; Suche folysshe facers whan theyr good is spent,
To the spyttell warde they renne incontynent. Yonge folke that wedde, or they be wyse,
And alway charges on theyr hand dooth ryse, Hous rent and chyldren, and euery other thyng,
And can do nothyng for to gete theyr lyuyng, And haue no frendes them for to sustayne : 710
To com this way at last they must be fayne. They that sell away theyr rentes and landes,
And bestovveth it for to be merchandes, And auentreth, tyll them haue all lost,
And turmoyleth alway fro pyler to post, And euer leseth all that they go about
Cometh this way amonge the other rout. They that in hope to haue theyr frendes dye,
Wyll do nothynge but lyue wantonly, Trustynge to haue the treasowr that is left, 720
But many tymes it is them bereft, And haue nothyng, and nothynge can do :
Suche come this way with other to. They that dooth to other folkes good dede,
And hath themselfe of other folke more nede, And quencheth the fyre of another place,
And leueth his owne, that is in wors cace, Whan it is brent, and woteth not where to lye :
To the spyttell than must he nedes hye.
THE SPYTTEL ffOUS. 57
They that wyll not suffre theyr clothe hole, 730
But iag and cut them with many a hole, And payeth more for makyng than it cost,
Whan it is made, the garment is but lost, Patchyng them with colours lyke a fole,
At last they be ruled after our scole. They that do make to moche of theyr wyues,
Suffryng them to be nought of theyr lyues, Letyng them haue ouermoche of theyr wyll,
Clothyng them better than they can fulfyll, Letyng them go to feestes, daunces and plays, 7-10
To euery brydale, and do nothyng on days,1 And gyueth them all the soueraynte :
Must needes come this way, for they cannot pthe.
*f[ Copland. Come hyther ony of these wofull creatures That be sore wounded, and moche wo endures
With a shrewd wyfe, and is neuer quyet, Bycause that she wold haue all her dyet,
But bralle and chyde, babble, crye and fyght, Euer uncontented bothe day and nyght?2
IT Porter. Come this way, quod a ? Yes, I warraunt you, 750
Of them alway come this way ynow ; We haue chambres purposely for them,
Or els they shold be lodged in Bedlem.
1 working-days, not holidays or Sundays.
2 Such characters as are pourtrayed in the Scole house of Wo men and the Proud Wyues Paternoster.
58 THE HYE WAY TO
IF Copland. Mary, God forbyd, it shold be as ye tell !
IT Porter. By good fayth, the uery deuyll of hell I trowe to my mynd hath not moche more payne.
One were in a maner as good be slayne : Fer there is no joye but euer anguysh ;
On bothe sydes they do always languysh ; For the one gooth hyther, and the other thyder, 760
Bothe they spend, and by nothyng togyder ; So at the last, of very necessyte,
Hyther they come to aske lodgyng of me.
IF Copland. I do knowe it is the ryght facyon ;
A realme stryuyng in itself gooth to desolacyon. God amend all, I haue herd what it is.
Tell of some other ; I am wery of this.
1F Porter. All maysters that lete theyr seruaunts play,
Fedyng them deyntyly euery day, And dooth cloth and pay them as they shold be, 770
Beyng neclygent theyr worke to ouerse, Suffryng them waste, and theyr good spy 11,
In theyr presence to do theyr lewd wyll ; And all those that pay not theyr hyre,'
Vengeaunce of God it dooth desyre, These on bothe partes do eche other wrong :
This way they come with a great throng. All suche servaunts as be neclygent
In theyr seruyce, and wyl not be content To do theyr werk, but slacke theyr besynes, 7so
Brybe and conuey fro mayster and maystres,
THE SPYTTEL NOUS. 59
Chaungyng maysters, and ren fro town to towne,
And are late rysyng, and betyme lye downe, Playeng by nyght, and tryflyng by day :
Of ryghtousnes they do here stay. Suche folke as take on them great rent,
In soyles for them inconuenyent Vnto theyr faculte, and often do remeue,1
Entreprysyng that they cannot acheue ; Doyng curyous labours, and haue small wage : 790
Vnto our hous they come for hostage. They that borow on theyr garments and napry,
And do not fetche them agayn shortly,2 But lete them be worn, and than pay the some :
In to our hye way they be far come. They that borow, and purpose not to pay
Tyll in pryson they spend all away, And do forswere that is theyr dew ;
They that lawe for a debt vntrew, And receyueth money in another mans name, soo
Not beyng content to restore the same ; They that forget that to them is ought ; 3
They that stryue with all folke for nought ; And they that lend, and set no tyme to pay :
1 i. e. remove. So meve is used for move.
a Formerly persons used not only to resort to Long Lane and similar localities, for the purpose of buying and selling their clothes, but with a view of raising money on them. In '• Harry White His Humour " (circa 1640) the writer says: — "It goes to his (Harry's) very heart to heare the man that cryes ' buy a brush :' for it puts him in minde of his holy-day suit that lyes in Long Lane to be brusht."
3 Owed.
GO THE HYE WAY TO
Reason wyll drjue them to come this way. Old folkes that all theyr goodes do gyue,
Kcpyng nothyng wheron to lyue, And put fro theyr hous whan they haue nede :
Toward our hous fast do they spede. They that gyue chyldren money to spend, sio
And causeth them not at theyr byddyng attend, But dooth mayntene them in theyr lewdnes,
And fro syne wyll them not redres ; In ydle wantonnes suffryng them to be,
Nor teache them vertuous faculte ; Are the cause that, whan they be olde, *
They1 take the way toward our houshold. They that euermore haue a delyte
To fede, and make feastes at theyr appetyte With costly dysshes and deynty drynke, 820
Letyng theyr stocke euermore shrynke, Makyng a great porte, and be lytell worth :
To come hyther they come streyght forth. They that takes no hede to theyr houshold,
But lete theyr implements molde, Theyr hangyngs rot, theyr napery vnclene,
Theyr furres and wollen not ouersene> Theyr vessell mar, and theyr goodes decay :
Cannot chuse but nedes come this way. Lechours, fornycatours and advouterers,8 sso
Incestes, harlots, bawdes and bolsterers, Applesquyers, entycers and rauysshers :
These to our place haue dayly herbegers.
1 Old ed. has to. 2 Adulterers.
THE SPYTTEL HO US. 61
1T Copland. No marvell of them, and happy they be,
If they do and in so honest degre : For surely theyr endyng is fayrest,
If that with pouerte they be supprest : For I do fynd wry ten of aduoutry
That these fyue sorowes ensueth therby, Ex istis penis patietur quisquis adidter ,• 840
Aut erit hie pauper, hie aut subito morietur, Aut aliquid mebrum casu vulnere perdet,
Aut erit inf amis per quod sit career e vinctus. Eyther they shall be poore, or dye sodeynly,
Or lese by wound some membre of the body, Or to be sclaundred to suffre sharpe pryson,
Therfore pouerte is fayrest by reason. And yet besyde that they be so beaten,
That with great pockes theyr lymmes be eaten. How say ye by these horryble svverers, 850
These blasphemers and these God terers ? Come there ony this way to haue socour ?
IF Porter. Do they ! yea, I warraunt euery hour, All rotten and torne, armes, heades and legges,
They are the moost sorte that ony where begges, And be the people that moost anoy us.
1F Copland. I beleue well : for I fynd wryten thus, Vir multu iurans replebitur iniquitate, et a
domo eius non recedet plaga.1 A great swerer is full of iniquyte, 860
1 Eccles. xxii. In old ed. this is printed so as to form part of the lint 859, where it is not required.
62 THE HYE WAY TO
And fro his hous the plage shall neuer be. In the commaundements is wryten playn :
Thou shalt not take the name of God in vayn ; For who sow dooth vse it customably,1
The stroke of God can not eschew truly. But come none of these slouthfull folkes hyther
That be so vnlusty, so sluggysh and lyther?2 That care not how the world dooth go,
Neyther halydays, nor workyng days also, But lye in bed, tyll all masses be doone, 870
Lewtryng theyr worke tyll it pas noone ; And so enioye to lynger and to slepe,
And to theyr lyuyng they take no maner kepe.
11 Porter. These folkes come in so great nombre,
That all the ways they do encombre ; And with them dothe come all these folke, that spare
To assay theyr frendes for theyr owne welfare. But folow theyr owne myndes alway,
Nor to theyr frendes in no wyse wyll obay, And of theyr promesses they be no more set by ; sso
But to this way they must them nedes apply.
1 Customarily, habitually.
2 Idle. It is here found in its primitive signification ; but it acquired, long before the composition of the present piece, the general meaning of bad or vicious. Thus Chaucer says, in The Cuckoo and the Nightingale : —
" For he may do al that he woll devise, And lither folk to destroyen vice, And proude hertes he can make agrise."
THE SPYTTEL HO US. 63
IF Copland. And how by1 these people so full of coueytyse
That all the worldes good can them not suffyse, But by vsury, rapyne and extorcyon,
Do poulle the pore folke of theyr porcyon ? And they that invent newes by tyranny
Vpon poore mens landes fraudelently, And lyke as wolues the shepe dooth take and tease,
For theyr owne lucre and to lyue in ease, And day by day in euery maner degre, 890
They do prolonge theyr iniquite.
1T Porter. As for with them we haue to do nothyng :
Ynto the lawe it is all belongyng. How be it, yf they chaunce to be poore,
Then often indede they do come by our doore.
1F Copland. But then I pray you, how say ye by these, That breke this precept non furtum fades,
Theves and murtherers, and these watchers of wayes, That robbe and steale bothe by nyghtes and dayes,
And that delyte in murder and in theft, 900
Whose condycyons in no wyse can be left,
Do not they oft tymes come hyther by you ?
H Porter. Of them there cometh dayly ynow ; But they be led, and comenly fast bounde,
Bycause theyr lodgyng may soner be founde ; And ben conueyed by men of charyte
Where that they haue hospytalyte,
1 Be.
64 THE EYE WAY TO
And ben well kept and wrapped surely,
And whan tyme cometh that they must dye,
They be buryed aloft in the ayre, 9i(
Bycause dogs shall not on theyr graues repayre.
1F Copland. Almyghty Jesu of his mercy defende
Euery good manes chylde from such an ende ! And how say ye by all these grete dronkardes
That suppe all of by pottes and tankardes, Tyll they be so dronke that they cannot staude ?
That is but lytell used in this lande, Except it be among Duche folke, or Flemynges ;
For Englysshe men knowe not of suche rekeingcs.
1T Porter. No[t] do ! yes, yes ! I ensure you hardely,
They can do it as well as ony body ; 921
With dowble beare, be it wyne or ale,
They ceas not, till they can tell no ryght tale, With quyxte quaxte ie brynxte lief brore
An ortkyn, or an half beres, by gots, more. Yea, rather thaw fayle drynke it clene out,
With fyll the jfot ones agayn round about : Gyue us more drynke, for sparyng of bread ;
Tyll theyr cuppes be wyser than theyr head : And so syt they, and spend vp all theyr thryft, 93C
And after come here : they haue no other shyft.
IT Copland. How say ye by these folkes full of yre,
That brene in wrath hoter than fyre, And neuer be quyet, but chyde and brail
THE SPYTTEL HO US. 65
With wrath and anger, fretyng hert and gall ? Wayward, wode, furyous and fell,
For where they be quyetnes cannot dwell ; But alway stryfe, mystrust and great dysease,
And in no wyse none man can them please.
11 Porter. Hyther they come, and I wyll tell you why ;
None can lyue by the well, nor quyetly ; 941
But with eche one they fall out, and make bate,1
Causyng people them for to hate, And wyll suffre them to dwell no where,
But are fayne for to remayne here.
II Copland. It may well be so, for where as2 none agre,
Neyther thryft, nor welfare cannot be : But I trust it be not betwene man and wyfe,
Than it were pyte and eke a sory lyfe. For where is no peas at bed, nor3 at borde, 950
I reken theyr thryft is not worth a t — de. But of these people that ben so stout,
That in welth and wo here it so out, That pryde wyll not suffre them for t6 fall :
Methynke this way they come not all ?
H Porter. 0 yes, yes ! God wote, of them be not fewe, For here all day they assemble in a rewe,
And here they crake, bable, and make grete boste, And amonge all other wolde rule the roste : 959
1 i. e. make mischief. 2 Former ed. has is.
3 Old ed. has not. VOL. IV. F
66 THE HYE WAT TO
With stande backe, you lewd vylayne, beggerly knaue,
I wyll that thou knowe my wyfe and I haue Spent more in a daye with good honeste
Than thou in thy lyfe euer was lyke to be ; For I tell the I haue kept, or now, suche reporte
That all my neyghtbours dyd to me resorte ; And haue, or now, kept a grete housholde,
And had ynough of syluer and of golde. In all our parysshe was none better decked,
And I thynke scorne for to be thus checked Of suche lewde persons, that neuer had good ; 970
And eke I am borne of as good a blood ; As ony in this towne, and a gentylman ;
But yf I had as moche as I wyst whan, I shold make a meyny of these poore carles to know,
What maner thyng a gentylman is, I trowe.
1F Copland. Lo, here one may se that there is none wori
Than is a proude herte and a beggers purs, Grete boost and small roost : this is euydent,
For a proude hert well never be shent. But, good porter, I pray you, be so kynde 98
To tell me of them out of mynde, As for the enuyous I lete them dwell :
For theyr hospytall is the depe pyt of hell.
IF Porter. How say ye by this lewd ipocrysy,
That is used so superstycyously ? I cry God mercy, yf I make ony lye,
Of them that deuout prayers seeme to occupy ;
THE SPTTTEL HO US. 67
As yf God fro the cros by them shold be vndone,
And syt in the chyrche, tyll it be noone, Neuer speakyng in ony folkes presence, 990
But it soundeth to vertue and reuerence ; Yet whan they be moeued to anger and wrath,
I trowe to my mynde that other folke hath Not half the spyte, vengeaunce and rygour,
As they wyll have to theyr poore neyghbour. For some of them, yf they myght be a lorde,
Wold hang another : they be of suche dyscorde. And where they ones take hatred or enmyte,
Duryng theyr lyfe haue neuer charyte : And who that hath no charyte, nor loue, LOGO
Can neuer please the Amyte aboue : And so this way they be fayne to come.
1T Copland. I beleue well : for truely there be some, That neyther haue loue to one, nor other ;
For I wene, yf it were syster or brother, They wold no more pyte them nor rewe
(They be sq fell), than on a thefe or Jewe. For whan ye thynk to haue them moost in reason,
Than be theyr hertes full of deadly poyson ; And in theyr fury they be so vyolent, 1010
That they wyll bryng one to an exegent, And neuer pardon, nor no man forgyue,
Tyll theyr neyghbour hath nothyng on to lyue ; And so they make by theyr own consyence
Betwene God and the deuyll no dyffrence. But hey, alas ! do none this way trace
That do take wyues of small effycace,
68 THE HTE WAT TO
Which cannot yet1 bestow, nor yet saue, And to go gay they wyll spend and crane ;
Makyng men wene that they loue them alone,2 1020 And be full fals unto them echone,
Spendyng theyr goodes without ony care,
Without good gownes, but not of hoodes bare ?
U" Porter. They must come hyther, for they cannot chuse,
For they that wyll themselfe so vse, The one to gete, and the other spend ;
And whan all is brought to an end, Hether they come to haue conforte.
Syr, I beshrew all the hole sorte ; Such genyfenycs kepeth many one lowe, 1030
Theyr busbandes must obey as dog to bowe. Alas ! sely men, ye are yll at ease,
These deynty huswyues for to fede and please : For so they syt and sew half an hour on a clout,
Theyr hole dayes worke is patched out ; And so by theyr tryflyng and lyuyng nought,
With other means they be hyther brought.
IF Copland. Well, good porter, I pray you let them alone,
For happy is he that hath a good one. I pray you shewe me of other gestes, 104C
For agaynst women I loue no iestes.
1 Fomer ed. has get.
8 Here we are strongly reminded of some passages in th< Proud Wyues Paternoster.
THE SPYTTEL HO US.- 69
The showre is almoost dene1 and I haue fer to go ;
Come none of these pedlers this way also, With pak on bak, with their bousy speche,
Jagged and ragged, with broken hose and breche ?
1T Porter. Inow, ynow ; with bousy coue maimed nace
Teare the patryng coue in the darkman cace Docked the dell for a coper meke
His watch shall feng a prounces nobchete Cyarum by salmon and thou shalt pek my jere 1050
In thy gan for my watch it is nace gere For the bene bouse my watch hath a coyn. —
And thus they babble, tyll theyr thryft is thyn, I wote not what with theyr pedlyng frenche,
But out of the spyttle they haue a party stenche, And with them comes gaderers of cony skynnes,
That chop2 with laces, poyntes, nedles and pyns.
1F Copland. Come ony maryners hyther of Cok Lorels bote?3
IT Porter. Euery day they be alway a flote : We must them receyue, and gyne them costes fre,
1 Done. 2 i. e. chap or hawk.
3 Under the title of Cock Lorells Bote, Wynkyn de Worde printed, without date, a brief metrical satire on the times, some what in the style of the Navis Stultifera of Brandt, 1497. A translation of Brandt's book was published by Pynson in 1508. Only one copy of Cock Lorells Bote is known, and that is not perfect. Cock Lorel, from whom it was named, was a noted robber and thief. The tract has been reprinted three times during the present century. See above.
70 THE HYE WAY TO
And also with them the fraternyte 1061
Of vnthryftes, which do our house endewe,
And neuer fayle with brethren alway newe. Also here is kept, and holden in degre
With in our hous the ordres viii. tyme thre Of knaues;1 only we can them not kepe out,
They swarme so thyke as bees in a rout ; And chyef of all that dooth vs encombre,
[Is] the ordre of fooles, that be without nombre : For dayly they make suche preas2 and cry, 1070
That scant our hous can them satysfy.
1 The writer here speaks of four-and-twenty Orders of Knaves, which corresponds with the number described on a leaf attached to the Heber copy of Harman's Caveat for Common Cursitors, 1567, 4to. But it seems that an additional one was subsequently discovered or invented, for, in Awdeley's Fraternitye of Vaca- bondes, printed in 1573, 4to, we hear of twenty-Jive Orders of Knaves. The number was possibly not quite accurately deter mined, and fluctuated according to the fancy of the writer. From an entry in the Registers of the Stationers' Company (Collier's Extracts, i. 42), there is room to infer that the Fra ternitye of Vacabondes, including the twenty -five Orders of Knaves, was in existence as early as 1560-1, although no edition of so early a date is at present known. The author of this production found imitators. In 1562-3, Alexander Lacy paid "ourpence for his licence to print " The xx. Orders of Callettes or Drab- bys" (Collier's Extracts, i. 71), and in 1569-70, Henry Kyrkham obtained, on similar terms, leave to print " a ballett intituled the xx. orders of fooles (Collier's Extracts, i. 224). Whether " xx." in the last article be an error of the clerk for " xxv." it is diffi cult to judge ; but a ballad is extant with the following title : " The xxv. Orders of fooles." Finis, q. T. G. Imprinted at London by Alexander Lacie for Henry Kyrkham. See An Elizabethan Garland, 1856, p. 22.
2 i. e. press, crowd.
THE SPYTTEL HOUS. 71
f Copland. Yet one thyng I wonder that ye do not
tell: Come there no women this way to dwell ?
11 Porter. Of all the sortes that be spoken of a fore,
I warraunt women ynow in store, That we are wery of them ; euery day
They come so thycke, that they stop the way. The systerhod of drabbes, sluttes and callets,
Do here resorte, with theyr bags and wallets, And be parteners of the confrary1 ioso
Of the maynteners of yll husbandry.
11 Copland. A lewd sorte is of them of a surety.
Now, mayster Porter, I thank you hertyly Of your good talkyng ; I must take my leue ;
The shoure is done, and it is toward eue ; Another tyme, and at more leaser,
I wyll for you do as great a pleaser.
^[ Porter. There be a M. mo than I can tell ; But at this tyme I byd you farwell.
C iUnuog of tje &uctout.
Go lytell quayre2 to euery degre, 1090
And on thy mater desyre them to loke,
1 Fraternity.
a i. e. quire [of paper], hence a pamphlet, which usually con sisted only of a quire, or sheet. Writers formerly spoke of their
72 HYE WAT TO SPTTTEL 110 US.
Desyryng them for to pardon me,
That am so bolde to put them in my boke ;
To eschue vyce I the vndertoke,
Dysdeynyng no maner of creature ;
I were to blame, yf I them forsoke ;
None in this world of welth can be sure.
quire, or quayre, as we now do of our sheets. Thus, Lyndsay, at the conclusion of the Complaynt of the Papingo, says : — "And to the quair I geif commandement, Mak na repair, quhare poetis bene present : Because thow bene but rethorik sa rude, Be never sene, besyde nane uther buke."
Upon which passage Mr. Chalmers notes that Chaucer, in the Envoy to the Knightes Tale, has a similar expression : —
" Go, litill quayre "
The expression is, however, not particularly rare. The anony mous author of Colyn Bhwlols Testament employs it in the Envoy to that production : —
" Thow litelle quaver, how darst thow shew thy face,
Or com yn presence of men of honeste ? " See vol. i. p. 109.
Cfje Papne anti ©orotoe of aijarpage.
I^HE Payne and Sorowe of Euyll Maryage. [Beneath this a woodcut of a wedded couple with a priest who joins their hands. Here endeth ye payne and sorowe of euyll maryage. Imprynted at London in fletestrete at the sygne of the Sonne, by me Wynkyn de Worde.
n. d. 4to. four leaves, with Wynkyn de Worde's large tripartite. device on the reverse of the last leaf (No. vi. of Dibdin's List).
The present tract enters into the series of those which have been published with the object of exposing and ridiculing the frailties of the female sex. Three other pieces of the game character proceeded from the press of W. de Worde : " A Complaynte of them that ben to late maryed," "A Complaint of them that be to soone maryed," and Henry Fielding's Fyftene Joyes of Maryage, 1509. One of these has been included by Mr. Collier in his " Illustrations of Early English Literature."
AKE hede and lerne, tliou lytell divide,
and se
That tyme passed wyl not agayne retourne, And in thy youthe unto vertues use the : Lette in thy brest no maner vyce sojourne, That in thyne age thou haue no cause to mourne
74 THE PAYNE AND SOEOWE
For tyme lost, nor for defaute of wytte :
Thynke on this lesson, and in thy mynde it shytte.1
Glory unto god, louynge and benyson
To Peter and Johan and also to Laurence,
Which haue me take2 under proteccyon 10
From the deluge of mortall pestylence,
And from the tempest of deedly vyolence,
And me preserue that I fall not in the rage
Under the bonde and yocke of maryage.
I was in purpose to haue taken a wyfe,
And for to haue wedded without auysednes
A full fayre mayde, with her to lede my lyfe,
Whome that I loued of hasty wylfulnes,
With other fooles to haue lyued in dystresse, 19
As some gaue me counseyle, and began me to constrayne
To haue be partable of theyr wooful payne.
They laye upon me, and hasted me full sore, And gaue me counseyle for to haue be bounde, And began to prayse eche daye more and more The woofull lyfe in whiche they dyd habounde, And were besy my gladnes to confounde, Themselfe rejoysynge, bothe at euen and morowe, To haue a felowe to lyue with them in sorowe.
But of his grace god hath me presented
By the wyse counseyle of these aungelles thre : so
From hell gates they haue my lyfe conserued
In tyme of warre, whan louers lusty,
1 Shut. a Taken.
OF EVTLL MAEYAGE. 75
And bryght Phebus was fresshest unto se In Gemynys, the lusty and glad season, Whan to wedde caught fyrst occasyon.
My joye was sette in especyall
To haue wedded one excellent in fayrncs,
And thrugh her beaute haue made my selfe thrall
Under the yocke of euerlastynge dystresse ;
But god alonely of his high goodnes 40
Hath by an aungell, as ye haue herde me tell,1
Stopped my passage from that peryllous hell.
Amonge these aungelles, that were in nombre thre,
There appered one out of the southe,
Whyche spake fyrst of all the trynyte
All of one sentence, the mater is full couthe ; 2
1 This points to an earlier production by the same writer, of which we have no present information, unless it was, indeed, "A Complaynt of them that be to soone Maryed," already mentioned, printed by W. de Worde, 1535, 4to, 13 leaves. The author of the latter comments, at any rate, with equal severity upon the sex, and uses similarly powerful pleas against entrance into the married state, as may be judged by the fact that after eight days' experience, he puts into the lady's mouth the fol lowing sentiment : —
" Cursed be the houre that I ne was Made a none in some cloyster Neuer there for to passe Or had be made some syster In seruage with a clousterer."
Complaynt of them that be to soone maryed (Dibdin's Ames, ii. 365).
2 Pleasant.
76 THE PAYNE AND SOROWE
And lie was called Johan with the golden mouthe,1 Which concluded by sentence full notable, Wyues of custome ben gladly varyable.
After this Johan, the story sayth also, so
In confyrmacyon of theyr fragylyte,
How that Peter, called acorbylio,
Affermeth playnly, how that wyues be
Dyuerse of herte, full of duplycyte,
Mayterfull, hasty, and eke proude,
Crabbed of langage whan they lyst crye aloude.
Who taketh a wyfe receyueth a great charge,
In whiche he is full lyke to hauc a fall :
With tempest tossed, as is a besy barge ;
There he was fre he maketh hymselfe thrall. 60
Wyues of porte2 ben full imperyall,3
Husbandes dare not theyr lustes gaynsaye,
But lowely4 please and mekely them obaye.
The husbandes euer abydeth in trauavle ;
One labour passed, there cometh an other newe,
And euery daye she begynneth a batayle,
And in complaynynge chaungeth chere and hewe.
Under suche falsnes she fayneth to be true ;
She maketh hym rude as is a dull asse,
Out of whose daunger impossyble is to passe. TJ
1 St. Chryaostom. 2 Deportment. 3 Imperious.
4 Percy Society ed. has lovely.
OF EVYLL MARY AGE. 77
Thus wedlocke is an endlesse penaunce,
Husbandes knowe that haue experyence,
A martyrdom and a contynuaunce
In sorowe euerlastynge, a deedly vyolence ;
And this of wyues is gladly the sentence
Upon theyr husbandes, whan they lyst to be bolde,
How they alone gouerneth the housholde.
And yf her husbande happen for to thryue,
She sayth it is her prudent purueyaunce :
If they go abacke ayenwarde and unthryue, so
She sayth it is his mysgouernaunce.
He bereth the blame of all suche ordynaunce ;
And yf they be poore and fall in dystresse,
She sayth it is his foly and lewdnesse.
And yf so be he be no workman good,
It may well happe he shall haue an home,
A large bone to stuffe with his hood ;
A mowe 1 behynde, and fayned cheere beforne :
And yf it fall -that theyr good be lorne,
By auenture, eyther at euen or morowe, 90
The sely husbande shall haue all the sorowe.
An husbande hath greate cause to care For wyfe, for chylde, for stuffe and meyne, And yf ought lacke she wyll both swere and stare, He is a wastour and shall neuer the :
Mock.
78 THE PAYNE AND SOROWE
And Salomon sayth there be thynges thre, Shrewde wyues, rayne, and smokes blake Make husbandes ofte theyr houses to forsake.
Wyues be beestes very unchaungeable
In theyr desyres, whiche may not staunched be, 100
Lyke a swalowe whiche is insacyable :
Peryllous caryage in the trouble see ;
A wawe calme full of aduersyte,
Whose blandysshynge endeth with myschaunce,
Called Gyrenes, euer full of varyaunce.
They them rejoyce to se and to be sene,
And for to seke sondrye pylgrymages,
At greate gaderynges to walke on the grene,
And on scaffoldes to sytte on hygh stages,
If they be fay re to she we theyr vy sages ; no
And yf they be foule of loke or countenaunce,
They it amende with pleasynge dalyaunce.
And of profyte they take but lytell hede,
But loketh soure whan theyr husbandes ayleth ought :
And of good mete and drynke they wyll not fayle in dede,
What so euer it cost they care ryght nought ;
Nor they care not how dere it be bought,
Eather than they should therof lacke or mysse,
They wolde leeuer laye some pledge ywys.
It is trewe, I tell you yonge men euerychone, 120
Women be varyable and loue many wordes and stryfe : Who can not appease them lyghtly or anone,
OF EVYLL MARYAQE. 79
Shall haue care and sorowe all his lyfe,
That woo the tyme that euer he toke a wyfe ;
And wyll take thought, and often muse
How he myght fynde the maner his wyfe to refuse.
But that maner with trouth can not he founde,
Therfore be wyse or ye come in the snare,
Or er ye take the waye of that bounde ; 129
For and ye come there your joye is tourned unto care,
And remedy is there none, so may I fare,
But to take pacyens and thynke none other way aboute ;
Then shall ye dye a martyr without ony doute.
Therfore, you men that wedded be,
Do nothynge agaynst the pleasure of your wyfe,1
Than shall you lyue the more meryly,
And often cause her to lyue withouten stryfe ;
Without thou art unhappy unto an euyll lyfe,
Than, yf she than wyll be no better, 139
Set her upon a lelande, and bydde the devyll fet her.
Therfore thynke moche and saye nought,
And thanke God of his goodnesse,
And prece not for to knowe all her thought,
1 So counsels Udall in the Song of the Minion Wife, in his Ralph Roister Doister : —
" If she will fare well, yf she wyll go gay,
A good husband ever sty 11, What ever she lust to doe or to say, Must lete hir have hir owne will."
80 PAYNE OF EVYLL NAEYAGE.
For than shalte thou not knowe, as I gesse, Without it be of her own gentylnesse, And that is as moche as a man may put in his eye, For, yf she lyst, of thy wordes she careth not a flye.
And to conclude shortly upon reason,
To speke of wedlocke of fooles that be blente,
There is no greter grefe nor feller poyson, 150
Nor none so dredeful peryllous serpent,
As is a wyfe double of her entent.
Therfore let yonge men to eschew sorowe and care
Withdrawe theyr fete, or they come in the snare.1
C '$!ere entretj) #e pajnte anti sototoe of eugll margage. Imprgnteti at Uontion in fletegttete at tje sggne of tje Sonne, fcg me tie
2 In the Complaynte of them that ben to late maryed, on the contrary, the writer observes : —
" Better it is in youthe a wyfe for to take, And lyue with her to goddes pleasaunce, Than to go in age for goddes sake, In wordely sorowe and perturbaunce For youthes loue and utteraunce, And than to dye at the last ende, And be dampned in hell with the foule fende."
Cfce IBofee of sgjagti
HERE is the boke of mayd Emlyn that had v. husbandes and all kockoldes ; she wold make theyr berdes whether they wold or no, and gyue them to were a praty hodefulle of belles. Imprynted at London without Newegate, in Saynt Pulkers [Sepulkers] Parysshe, by me John Skot, dwellynge in the Olde Bayly.
n. d. [circa 1520], 4to. black letter, with a woodcut on the title (borrowed for the nonce from Barclay's Ship of Fools, 1508), of a man and a woman, the former having his head sur mounted by a pair of bells.
The Boke of Mayd Emlyn was one of five poetical tracts, all from the library of T. Caldecott, Esq. edited by Dr. Rimbault for the Percy Society. From a feeling that it would add to the completeness and interest of the present collection, it is now given precisely as it stands in the Percy Society edition, certain amendments in the pointing excepted.
The lady, of whose career we are presented in this" Boke " of her with a sort of gwasi-biographical sketch, appears to have been a personage of very similar character to the " Widow Edyth," her contemporary, whose Twelve Mery Gestys were published in 1525. ($&Q Old English Jest-Books, iii.) Whether, however, Maid Emlyn was, as Chaucer's Wife of Bath may be presumed to have been, drawn from the life, or was a purely fictitious crea tion, we are unable to determine.
The tract is considerably more entertaining than many of the so-called poetical effusions which appeared during the reign of VOL. IV. G
82 THE BOKE OF MA YD EMLTN.
Henry VIII. and later; and the author, whoever he may have been, was unquestionably a man with a true vein of humour. As a picture of the times, its value need not be insisted upon.
Like the Jests of the Widow Edith, the Book of Maid Emlyn seems to have been the work of an unfriendly pen — unfriendly to the heroine, whose exploits furnish the tale, and to the sex generally.
In the Wyf of Bathes Prologe Chaucer has the following passage, which may have been seen by the present writer : —
"Lo, herken such a scharp word for the nones! Biside a welle Jhesus, God and man, Spak in reproof of the Samaritan ; ' Thou hast y-had fyve housbondes,' quod he ; ' And that ilk man, which that now hath the, Is nought thin housbond — ' "
And then, farther on, the Wife of Bath is made to say, in reference to King Solomon ; —
" God wot, this nobill king, as to my wit, The firste night had many a mery fit With eche of hem, so well was him on lyve. I-blessid be God that I have weddid fyve ! Welcome the sixte whan that ever he schal ! For sothe I nyl not kepe me chast in al."
is tje fcofce of magtj (fcmlgn tfjat jati ,b* ^usimnties antr all fcocfcottres ; s je tooHr mafee tjegr fierta tofjetfjet tjeg tooltr or no, anfc ague tjern to torn a pratg {jootjefull of Mies,
rLL ye here of meruaylles Drawne out of Gospelles
Of mayde Emlynne, That had husbandes fyue, And all dyd neuer thryue ?
She coude so well spynne, Louynge to go gaye, And seldom for to praye,
For she was borne in synne : Oft wolde she seke 10
The tauernes in the weke,
Tyll her wytte was thynne ; Full swetely wolde she kys With galauntesj ywys,
And say it was no synne ; Thus collynge in armes Some men caught harmes,
Full lytell dyd they wynne ; And if her husbande said ought, Loke what she sonest cought, 20
At his heed she wolde it flynge. She wolde saye, lozell thou,
84 THE BOKE OF
I wyll teche the, I trowe,
Of thy language to blynne ; It is pyte that a knaue A prety woman sholde haue,
That knoweth not golde from tynne. I trowe thou j abuse be Bytwene my cosyn and me,
That is called syr Sym ; 1 so
Thoughe I go ofte thyder, We do nought togyder,
But prycked balades synge.2 And I so cunnynge be The more worshyp is to the,
Gyuynge thanke to hym : For he me fyrste taught, So I may cunnynge caught,
Whan I wente a brosshynge. With suche wordes douse 40
Thys lytell prety mouse
The yonge lusty prymme She coude byte and whyne, Whan she saw her tyme,
And with a prety gynne Gyue her husbande an home, To blowe with on the morne :
Beshrowe her whyte skynne.
1 Maid Emlyn had a cousin in the church with whom her husband suspected her of an improper intimacy.
2 This was a very favourite occupation among all classes at that epoch. Henry himself set the example. The King and Sir Peter Carew used to sing ballads together.
MA YD EMLYN. 85
And ofte wolde she sleke
To make smothe her cheke, so
With redde roses therin ; Than wolde she mete, With her lemman swete,
And cutte with hym. Talkynge for theyr pleasure, That cocke with the fether
Is gone an huntjnge ; Hymselfe all alone To the wode he is gone eo
To here the kockowe synge. Thus with her playfere Maketh she mery chere,
The husbande knoweth nothynge ; She gyueth money plente, Bycause newe loue is daynte,
Unto her swetynge. And prayeth ofte to come, To playe there as shyneth no sonne :
So at the nexte metynge, 70
She gyueth her husbande a prycke That made hym double quycke,
So good was the gretynge. Kocke called of the bone, That neuer was mayster at home,
But as an vnderlynge ; His wyfe made hym so wyse, That he wolde tourne a peny twyse,
And then he called it a ferthynge. Nothynge byleued he so
86 THE BOKE OF
But that ho dyd with his eyes se, Full trewe was his meanynge, She cherysshed hym with brede and chesc, That his lyfe ho dyd lose :
Than made sho mournynge. And dranko deuoutly for his soule, The handbell ofte dyd she colic,
Full great sorowo makynge. This sory widowe But a whyle I trowe w
Mournynge dyd make ; Whan he was gone, A yonge lusty one
She dyd than take : Longe wolde she not tary, Lest she dyd myscary,
But full ofte spake To haste the woddynge And all for boddynge,
Some sporte to make ; 100
Her herte to ease And the flesshe to please,
Sorowos to asloke. In it out joyenge That wanton plnyonge,
For the olde husbaudes sake ; Yet by your leue A frere dyd she gyue
Of her loue a flake ;
And savil in hor oucn no
At any manor of season,
MAYD EMLTN. 87
That he sholde bake, There is rome ynowe, For other and for you,
And space to set a cake. The seconde husbande Nycoll, That pore sely soule, Myght not escape : A kockolde to dye It was his destenye, 120
As man vnfortunate. His wyfe vndeuoute Ofte wolde go aboute,
And steppe ouer many a lake ; Makynge bost in her mode, That her husbande can no more good
Than can an vntaught ape. Thus by her scole Made hym a fole,
And called hym dodypate ; 130
So from his thryfte She dyd hym lyfte,
And therof crcste the date ; She made hym sadde, And sayd he was badde,
Croked legged lyke a stake ; She lyked not his face, And sayd he mouthed was
Moost lyke an hawke ; This good man ease, HO
Was lothe to dysplease, But yet thought somwhat,
88 THE BOKE OF
Thynkynge in his mynde, That a man can fynde
A wyfe neuer to late ; For of theyr properte Shrewes all they be,
And style can they prate. All women be suche, Thoughe the man bere the breche, iso
They wyll be euer checkemate. Faced lyke an aungell, Tonged lyke a deuyll of hell,
Great causers of debate ; They loke full smothe, And be false of loue,
Venymous as a snake. Desyrynge to be praysed, A lofte to be raysed,
As an hyghe estate ; ieo
And these wanton dames Ofte chaungeth theyr names,
As An, Jane, Besse and Kate. Thus thynketh he In his mynde pryuely,
And nought dare saye ; For he that is maysterfast, Full ofte is agast,
And dare not ronne and playe. If she be gladde, iio
Than is he sadde,
And fere of a sodayne fraye, For womans pryde
MA YD EMLTN. 89
Is to laughe and chyde,
Euery houre in a daye. Whan she dothe loure, And begynneth to snowre,
Pyteously dothe he saye, What do ye lacke ? Ony thynge, swete herte, iso
That I to you gyue maye ? She answered hym With wordes grotchynge,
Wysshynge her selfe in claye, And sayth that she lackes Many prety knackes,
As bedes and gyrdels gaye ; And the best sporte That sholde me comforte,
Whiche is a swete playe, 190
I can it not haue, For so God me saue,
Thy power is not to paye. There is nought, Nought may be cought,
I can no more saye ; Many men nowe here Can not women chere,
But maketh ofte delay ; 200
The wyfe dothe mone, It is not at home,
And borroweth tyll a daye, What it is I trowe, Well ynoughe ye knowe,
90 THE BOKE OF
It is no nede to saye ; Thus saye the wyues, If theyr hushandes thryues,
That they the causers be ! They gete two wayes, Bothe with worke and playes 210
By theyr huswyuery. With theyr swete lyppes, And lusty hyppes
They worke so plesauntly, Some wyll fall anone, For they be not stronge,
They be weyke in the kne. Be they pore or be they ryche, I beshrewe all suche,
Amen, nowe saye ye ; 220
They thynke it is as great almes, As to saye the seuen psalmes,
And dothe it for charyte. To gete gownes and furs, These nysebeceturs,
Of men sheweth theyr pyte, Somtyme for theyr lust Haue it they must,
Or seke wyll they be ; If it do stycke, And she fele it quycke, 230
Full slyle dothe she Begyn for to grone, And wyssheth she had lyne alone. What ayleth you than ? sayth he,
MAYD EMLTN. 91
She saythe, syr I am with chylde, It is yours, by Mary mylde !
And so he weneth it be. Whan played is the playe, Jacke the husbande must paye, 240
This dayly may ye se. He was gladde ywys, Of that that is not his,
And dothe it vp kepe ; She that dothe mocke hym, Another mannes concubyne,
And hys chylde eke. Lo, thus dothe landes Fall in wronge ayres handes,
The causers may well wepe ; 250
And worse dothe happen truely, The broder the syster dothe mary,
And in bedde togyther slepe. To synne lyghtely wyll the chylde drawe, That is bekoten without lawe,
Wedlocke is veray swete ; But ones for all The daye come shall,
The crye shall be welawaye ; Of all wedlocke brekers 260
Thus saythe greate prechers,
Theyr dettes shall they truely paye. All they that dothe oifende, God graunt them to amende,
And therfore lette vs. praye. But nowe of Emlyne to speke,
92 THE BOKE OF
And more of her to treate,
Truely for to saye,
Whan the seconde husbande was dede, The thyrde husbande dyde she wedde 270
In full goodly araye. But as the deuyll wolde, Or the pyes were colde,
Fell a sodayne fraye ; Moyses had a newe brother, It wolde be none other,
And all came throughe playe. But mayde maydenhode myssynge Knoweth what longeth to kyssynge,
It is no nede to saye. 280
She loued well I trowe, And gaue hym sorowe ynowe,
But ones on the daye, With hym wolde she chyde, He durst not loke asyde,
The bounde must euer obaye. This man was olde And of compleccyon colde,
Nothynge lusty to playe ; She was full ranke, And of condycyons cranke, 290
And redy was alwaye ; In Venus toyes Was all her joyes,
Seldome sayde she naye ; At the laste she thought, That her husbande was nought,
MATD EMLYN. 93
And purposed on a daye To shorten his lyfe, And as a true wyfe, 300
She wolde it not delaye. To fulfyU her lust, In a well she hym thrust,
Without any fraye : And made countenaunce sad As thoughe she be sory had,
Also in good faye. A reed onyon wolde she kepe, To make her eyes wepe,
In her kerchers I saye. 310
She was than stedfast and stronge, And kepte her a wydowe veraye longe,
In faythe almoost two dayes ; Bycause she made greate mone, She wolde not lye longe alone,
For fere of sodayne frayes ; Leste her husbande dede Wolde come to her bedde,
Thus in her mynde she sayes. The fourthe husbande she cought, That was lyke her nexte nought, 320
For he vsed his playes, With maydens, wyues and nonnes, None amysse to hym commes,
Lyke they be of layes ; Hym she lyked yll, She prayed the fende hym kyll,
Bycause he vsed her wayes :
94 TEE BOKE OF
This mannes name was Harry,
He coude full clene cary, 330
He loued prety gayes. So it happened at the last, An halfepeny halter made hym fast,
And therin he swayes. Than she toke great thought, As a woman that careth nought,
So for his soule she prayes. And bycause she was seke, She wedded the same weke,
For very pure pyte and wo. 240
Yet, or she was wedded, Thryse had she bedded,
And great hast made therto. The husbande had sone ynowe, But Emlyn bended her browe, And thought she had not so, But to ease her louer She toke another,
That lustely coude do ; One that yonge was, That coude ofte her basse, 350
Whiche she had fantesy to. He coude well awaye With her lusty playe,
And neuer wolde haue do.
Bycause he coude clepe her,
She called hym a whypper ;
And as they were togyder
They bothe swetely played ;
MAYD EMLYN. 95
A sergeaunt them afrayed, seo
And sayd they were full queuer. They were than full wo, The frere wolde ben a go,
He cursed that he came thyder ; Whether they were leue or lothe, He set them in the stockes bothe,
He wolde none dysceyuer. In myddes of the market Full well was set,
In full fayre wether, 370
For it dyd hayle and thonder ; On them many men dyd wonder,
But Emlyne laughed ever ; She thought it but a jape, To se men at her gape,
Therof she shamed neuer ; And sayd for her sportynge, It is but for japynge,
That we be brought hyder ; It is nother treason nor felony, But a knacke of company, sso
And dye had I leuer Than it forsake, For I wyll mery make,
Whyle youthe hathe fayre wether. Whan her husbande it knewe, Sore dyd he it rewe,
And was so heuy and wo, He toke a surfet with a cup, That made hym tourne his heels vp, 390
96 THE BOKE OF MA YD EMLYN.
And than was he a go. And whan she was at large, Care she dyde dyscharge,
And in her mynde thought tho ; Nowe wyll I haue my luste, With all them that wyll juste,
In spyte of them that say the so, And bycause she loued rydynge, At the stewes was her abydynge, 400
Without wordes mo ; And all that wolde entre, She durst on them ventre,
Veray gentyll she was, lo ! And longe or she were dede, She wente to begge her brede,
Suche fortune had she tho. God dyd bete her surely With the rodde of pouerte,
Or she dyd hens go. Than she dyed, as ye shall, But what of her dyde befall, 410
Naye there do I ho ; But they that rede this erly or late, I praye Jesu theyr soules take,
Amen, saye ye also.
Imptgntrtr at fLoirtron toitfjout Jictoegate, in
$ulfeers ^argissje, fcg me Ifojn Jofcot, fctoellgnge m tje
of
HERE begynneth a lytell boke named the Scole howse, wherein euery man may rede a goodly prayse of the condycyons of women. In seven-line star zas. R. Wyer, n. d. 8vo.
Herbert's Ames, fol. 375; he copies Ames; and Dibdin (iii. 181) copies him.
Here begynneth a lytle boke named the Schnle house of women : wherin euery man may rede a goodly prayse of the condicyons of women. The yeare of our I^orde. MDXLI.
The colophon is —
Explicit.
Prynted at London in Paules Churche yearde, at the sygne of the maydens heed, by Thomas Petyt. MDLXI. 8vo. D 2, in fours.
Here Begynneth the Scole-house of women : wherein every man may reade a goodly prayse of the condicyons of women. Anno Domini MDLX.
This title is in an architectural compartment and the ini tials T. R., possibly those of the artist, are in the centre at the bottom. The colophon is —
Imprinted at London in Paules Churcheyarde at the Sygne of the Swanne by John Kyng. 4to.
Heer beginneth the Schole House of Women, wherin euery man may read a goodly lesson of the condicions of Women, Anno Domini M.D. [sic] 1572. [Col.] Imprinted at London at the long shop, adioyning vnto Saint Mildreds 'Church in the Pultrie by John Allde, 1572. 4to.
VOL. IV. H
98 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
These four editions are all of great scarcity. Of that of 1572 there is a copy among Selden's books in the Bodleian ; and Mr. Utterson reprinted it in his Select Pieces of Early Popular Poetry in 1817. The present text is formed from a collation of the ed. of 1572 with that printed by King twelve years before, which has supplied a few better readings here and there. Warton in his History (iii. 426, ed. 1824), explicitly states that there was an edition of the Schole House of Women from the press of Robert Wyer in 1542, and he quotes the title as it has been given above, substituting, however, prayer for prayse; which seems too circumstantial a description of the volume to allow us to suppose, that he was merely speaking, as he so often does, at random. Warton's "Prayer" is, it is true, an error for " Prayse ;" but it is not unlikely that the book was in the hands of a friend, and that the mistake was committed by the latter, who copied the title too carelessly ; or it is by no means impossible that Warton himself, having been allowed to inspect the production, was guilty of this oversight. Wyer's edition may still be in existence, but it has never been heard of.1
But whoever was the first publisher of the Schole House, it is readily susceptible of proof that the tract was in print, when (after 1541) Edward Gosynhyll put forth his " Prayse of all Women, called Mulierum Pean : " for in the latter, the author says:—
" A wake, they sayde ; slepe not so fast : Consyder our grefe, and how we be blamed ; And all by a boke that lately is past, Whyche by report, by the was fyrst framed, The scale of women, none auctour named : In prynte it is passed, lewdely compyled, All women wherby be sore revyled."
Whoever reported, however, that Gosynhyll had written the Scale of Women, reported what was not true, as we have at tempted to explain elsewhere.
1 Dibdin, in his edition of Herbert, evidently knew no more of the impression by Wyer than he found in Warton.
OF WOMEN. 99
Again, Bansley, in his " Treatyse shewing and declaring the pryde and abuse of Women now a dayes," printed about 1550, or at least, some time in the reign of Edward VI (1547-53), has the following apparent allusion to the present work : — " The scole house of women is nowe well practysed,
And to moche put in ure ; Whych maketh manye a mans hayre to growe Thorowe his hoode, you may be verye sure."
We have used the term " apparent allusion," because we do not think that this passage, taken by itself, would be sufficient to establish the pre-existence of Gosynhyll's book : for works in popular literature were frequently entitled from fashionable cant, or current proverbial expressions, as is the case even now, and it is far from improbable that the Schole or Schole-house of Women was in vogue as a phrase, before Gosynhyll adopted it as the title to his lucubration, and that, in fact, its familiarity to the public ear recommended it to him or to his publisher.
It will be observed that, in the copy which is given above of the title of Petyt's edition, there is an important discrepancy, the title bearing the date of 1541, and the colophon that of 1561. Such mistakes are not uncommon in old books, and in the pre sent instance, we are disposed, contrary to the opinion of some bibliographers, to assign the appearance of Petyt's impression to the earlier year. The volume was evidently the property of John Kyng in 1560, and it is more than doubtful whether Petyt printed later than 1554.1
1 Herbert, in his enlarged and improved edition of Ames, mentions no book from the press of Petyt later than 1 554. In Dibdin's additions to Herbert a volume occurs, supposed to have been printed by him in 1555, so that if the date on the colophon of the Schole-house of Women is to be received as correct, one of two very improbable suppositions must be admitted, namely, either that Petyt suspended business for six or seven years, and then resumed it for the purpose of executing one book, or that all the books printed by him between 1554 or 1555 and 1561 have disappeared, leaving no trace whatever behind them. We think, on the whole, that the date on the title must be sustained.
100 THE SCffOLE-HOUSE
In 1557,1 Edward More, of Hambledon, co. Bucks, a young man under twenty years of age, was provoked by the publi cation of the " Schole-house of Women " to a vindication of the calumniated sex, which did not come from the press, however, till 1560. More's book bears the ensuing title:— "A lytle & bryefe Treatyse called the defence of women, and especially of Englyshe Women, made agaynste the Schole howse of Women. Anno Domini M.D.LX. Imprinted at London in Paules churche yarde at the signe of the Swane by John Kynge," 4to. black letter. It was reprinted, in an imperfect and careless manner, in Select Pieces of Early Popular Poetry, 1817 ; but it was not thought worthy of a place in the present collection, as it is assuredly one of the most prosaic compositions in the language. It will be found, indeed, as a general rule, that the treatises, which were intended as diatribes and invectives against the female sex, are far more entertaining, and contain far better writing, than those published on the other side of the question. They were also, if a ballad-writer of the day may be credited, more popular and acceptable to the reading public. In his Crown Garland of Goulden Roses, 1612, Richard Johnson has a " Song in Praise and Dispraise of Women," which commences as follows : —
" Women to praise who taketh in hand,
A number shall displease ; But who so doth them most dispraise,
Doth most live at their ease."
More was not the only champion of the ladies against their ' unmannerly assailant. On the 27th May, 1560, John Allde paid fourpence for the right to print "a ballett2 called the de fence agaynst them that commonly defame women," and other pieces of the same kind possibly existed at one time, though no longer known.
1 He dates his book: "From Hambleden, the xx. day of Julye, M.D.LVjj ; " so that it was not in answer to King's edition of the Schole House, as has been generally held.
2 Could this be More's book itself, miscalled a ballad by the clerk ? Fourpence was, however, very little for a volume of such bulk.
OF WOMEN. 101
There is ground for the belief, that King issued an edition of the Schole House prior to that of 1560 : for his licence for it was obtained in 1557-8. See Mr. Collier's Extracts, i. 3.
There is a rather apt illustration of the use of the term " scholehouse," in a sense in which it occurs here, to be found in Weever's Funerall Monuments, 1631, p. 11, where that writer says : — " Besides, if one shall seriously suruay the Tombeg erected in these our dayes, and examine the particulars of the personages wrought vpon their Tombes, hee may easily discerne the vanity of our mindes, vailed vnder our fantasticke habits and attires, which in time to come will be rather prouocations to vice then incitatious to vertue, and so the Temple of God shall become a Schoolehouse of the monstrous habits and attires of our present age — "
The woodcut found in Mr. Utterson's work is not in any of the original editions.
eer
net!) tl)e§>cJ)oleJ)oufe
il|l.: £>f SCtomen
|1 tofjerm euerp man reati a gooti
ippratfeoftlje contritions
of men.
ANNO DOMINI M.D. 1572.
HE prouerb olde whoso denieth, In my conceit doth greatly erre : Bothe wit and discrescion il he applieth, That thing of truthe would debarre ; How beit that folke presume so far, Wherby the truthe is often blamed, Yet in no wise truthe may be shamed. 1[ A foole of late l contriued a book,
1 The context shows pretty clearly that the " foole" here in tended was no other than Edward Gosynhill, author of " The Prayse of All Women, called Mulierum Pean," printed by W. Mydylton, n. d. 4to, and reprinted by John King, n. d. Svo. We are afraid that Mr. Collier (Extracts from the Registers of the Stationers' Company, i. 3) too hastily adopted the impression that Gosynhill was also the author of the Schole-house of Women, on the strength of a passage, in the former work, in which Gosyn hill intimates that it was ascribed to him by report. In the Hit- lierum Paean are some lines, in which he claims the authorship of that piece (the Paean) in much more positive terms: — " If question be moved who is thine authour,
Be not adrad to utter his name : Say Edwarde Gosynhyll toke the labour
For womanhede thee for to frame."
It is difficult to explain how an allusion to the Paean could find its way into a tract printed previously to the Penan, unless we suppose that Gosynhill was dead when the later editions of the Sco/ehouse of Women came from the press, and that somebody, not very friendly to the original writer, introduced variations into the text. We have never been able to meet with the first and second editions, printed by Wyer and Petit.
106 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
And all in praise of the femynie ;
Who so taketh labour it to ouer look, 10
Shall prooue all is but flattery ;
Pehan he calleth it : it may wel be,
The pecock is proudest of his faire taile,
And so ar all women of their apparail.
^[ Wherfore as now in this treatise, What so be said in rude sentence, Vertue to increace, and to lay vice, Is cheef occasion of my pretence ; And where that trueth is, is none offence ; Who so therfore that blameth me, 20
I say he deemeth wrongfully.
•fl" Perchaimce the women take displeasure, Bycause I rub them on the gall ; To them that good be, paraduenture, It shall not bee materiall. The other sorte, no force1 at all, Say what they wil, or bendeth the brew. Them selues shall prooue my saying2 true.
IT Eche other man in generall, And, namely,3 those that maried be, so
Giue euident testimoniall, Affirming the same, if I would ly, And thus reporte, that feminy Been euel to please, and wore to trust,
1 No force is often used, as here, in the sense of no matter, it does not signify.
2 So King's ed. Allde's ed. has sayings.
3 i.e. particularly.
OF WOMEN. 107
Crabbed and combrous, when them self lust ;
1f Haue tung at large, voice loud and shril, Of words wounderous passing store, Stomacke stout, with froward wil, And, namely, when you touch the sore With one bare word, or litle more, 40
They flush and flame as hote1 as fire, And swel as a tode for faruent2 ire.
^1 And when they hear one word that soudeth [A]3 little against their lewd behauiour, And twise so muche els, which y* redoundeth To their high praise, ye maybe sure, So light of eare they be and sowre, That of the better they neuer record, The worse reherce they word by word.
^[ It were much hurt for to discry The properties all of the feminy kinde ; so
How be it a man may coniecture ny, And say also, as experience doth binde, That very few ther be to finde, But that they can, how so euer the matter stand, Beare fire and water bothe in one hand.
^[ Enuasions they haue both faint and feeble Them to excuse of duplicity ; As though they were inuincible Spotted in any wise to be ;
And with othes so craftely 60
They shalbe forged on such a ground, As all things were bothe whole and sound.
1 Hot. 8 Fervent. 3 Old eds. have Little.
108 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
^[ And be it ernest, or els in jape, Lo ! to them it is one maner of thing ; Surely nought els they after gape, But euer more in conning,1 To let2 a man of his saying ; Keason wil they not attend, But tel their owne tale to the end :
IT And [truth] for to say, moste commonly 70 This vice is appropriat to them all ; For let a man to them replye, In resoning of matters small, These women be so sensuall, That be3 their reason not worth a t — de, . Yet wil the woman haue the last woord.
1T There may no reason theirs debar, Nor none example can them conuert, They study allgate4 to be at war, And with euel sawes to be ouerthwart ; Malice is so rooted in their hart, so
That seldome a man may of them hear One good woord in a whole long yeer.
IT All beit, the number of them be5 great, Yet dooth their foly far exceed : For all is fish that commeth to net ; In case that they of their minde speed, Brooch, ring, cloth or threed, Shame haue they none to ter[e] or snatch :
1 Old eds. read camming. 2 Old eds. read tel.
3 King's ed. reads by. * Always.
5 King's ed. has are.
OF WOMEN. 109
All is their owne that they may catch.
5F What so it be they finger once, 90
Of wedded man or single, plain, He may as soon eat the adamant stone1 As the self same of them to retain ; Much they craue and nought giue again. As hoi some for a man is a womans corse, As a shoulder of mutton for a sick horse,
1F And yet we may not them long misse, For many sundry commodities ; So trick a way they haue to kisse 100
With open mouth and rowling eyes, Tung to tung disclose thies ; One and other commonly Haue in such case like propertie,
^F That hard it were, in mine opinion, If God him self would company keep, But they would bring him vpon 2 Waking or els a sleep. Displease them once, and then they weep, By meane wherof sone doo they3 cure 4 no
Yung fooles to keep long in vre.5
If And while the wooing time dooth last, I meane with them that maidens be, Loth to displease, looue sure and fast, Axe what ye wil, and speed may ye ;
1 So King's ed. Allde's ed. has stones.
2 i. e. accompany Him. See the new ed. of Nares in voce, with the two examples there given of this use of the phrase.
3 Old eds. have dooth the. 4 i. e. to take care. 5 Use, service.
110 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
Few or none, for the moste partye, Gently entreated, deny you can Within her tables to enter your man.
f That doon, they say that ye did make Promise to them by good assuraunce 120
Them to mary and to wiues take, Els had ye not had such daliaunce ; And all is for fear of good vtteraunce. In case the belly doo not swell, They holde them pleasd, and all is well.
1T Yet must ye be at farther daunger, If ye doo intend to vse them oft ; Keep them bothe at rack and maimger,1 Aray them well, and lay them soft. Yet shall another man come aloft : 130
Haue you once turned your eye and back, An other she wil haue to smick and smack.
IF Perchaunce the belly may rise with all, Then wil they stare and swere a pace?. That thine is it. When it dooth fall, Be it malary borne or base, Looke, they say, on thine owne face ; Beholde wel bothe nose and iye, Nature it self the father wil trye.
IT An other ther is to singuler grace HO
1 To indulge in them in all their extravagant tastes —
" Feare not a shaddow, but auoid a daunger : And keepe not a iade at rack & raaunger."
Uncasing of Machivils Instructions to his Sonne, 1613, p. 25.
2 Old eds. read swere and stare.
OF WOMEN. Ill
Giuen vnto the babe for the one, Or sure it is a meruelous face That God hath giuen vnto the mone,1 For were they xx. they must each one, Look they straight, either els a shore,2 Be like the father lesse and more.
1f And when they are once waxen small, And able to ride, or els to go, Unto like act againe they fall, As who would say you felt no wo ; 150
Yf ye renounce kindnes to sho, Then must ye send the to sum straung place, As good a maid as she before was.
11 Then if there come a loouer new, And them appoynt whether to come, They be like ready vnto the mew, And to be close from wind and sun, With litle labour they ar soon wonne ; Not one I warrant you amongs twentye, But she eft soones wil be as redy. IGO
1F Wed them once, and then adue, Farwel all trust and huswifery ; Keep their chambers and them self mew, For staining of their fisnamy,3
1 Many.
2 This word is still used in the West of England in the sense of awry, or on one side.
3 Physiognomy.
" He feyed his fisnamye With his foule hondez, And frappez faste at hys face Fersely theraftyre."
Morte Arthure, ed. 1847, p. 94.
112 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
And in their bed all day doo lye ; Must, once or twise euery week, Fain them self for to be sick.
11 Send for this, and send for that, Little or nothing may them please ; Come in, good gossip, and keep me chat, 170 I trust it shall do me great ease ; Complain of many a sundry disease ; A gossips cup between vs twain, Til we be gotten vp again.
IF Then must she haue maidens two or three, That may then gossips togither bring ; Set them to labour to blere the eye, Them self wil neither wash ne wring, Bake ne brue, nor any thing, Sit by the fire, let the maidens trot, iso
Brew of the best in a halfpeny pot.
11 Play who wil, the man must labour, And bring to house all that he may ; The wife again dooth nought but glauour, And holde him vp with yea and nay ; But of her cup he shall not assay, Other1 she saith, it is to thin, Or els, iwis, there is nothing in.
IT And when these gossips are once met, Of euery tale and new tiding 100
They bable fast, and nothing forget, They put, " I warrant," between each thing ;'-'
1 Either.
* Old ed. repeats, clearly in error, tiding, the compositor's eye
OF WOMEN. 113
Thus learne the yunger of the elders guiding, Day bj day keeping such Scooles, The simple men they make as fooles.
IF Them selues alway do make good cheer, With one or other they neuer rest : Our John shall pay, is that l not best ? How say ye, gossip, is it not best ? I beshrew his hart now, is he blest ! 200
He beat me, gossip, I may tel you, That yet I am bothe black and blew. 1T Thus out it shall, what so it be, Good or bad, all is one thing, "Who so euer commeth to memory, Shall not he look for the telling ? God wot they make many a leasing;2 It dooth their stomacks greatly ease To serue what may their husbands displease.
1T The yung complaineth vnto the olde, 210 Somewhat to ease their harts therby : The elder saith : good gossip, be bolde To shew your minde wholy to me ; Fear it not ; ye knowe, pardy, That I haue been bothe olde and yung, Bothe close and sure of taile and tung.
IT Then saith the yunger : I may tel you I am so matched as no woman is ; Of all this night, til the cock crew, He would not once turn me for to kisse ; 220
Euery night he riseth for to p — sse,
1 Old eds. have that is. 2 Lie.
VOL. IV. I
114 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
And when he commeth again vnwarme Booth turn his a — se into my barme ; l
1F Lappeth him self round all about, And thrusteth me out of my place, Leueth me scantly one rag or clout To couer and cast ouer my face. Ful little maner, gossop, he base ; The moste vnkindest man haue I That euer woman laid her by. 230
1F And be the day neuer so long, He dooth nothing but chide and brawle : Yea, yea, gossip, the more is my wrong, W . . . . and harlot he dooth me call, And bids me, gossip, scrape and scrall, And for my lining labour and svvete For as of him no peny I get.
1F I was a curst, or els stark mad, And when I maried with him vn wise ; I may tel you, I might haue had 240
Another maner of man then he is : If I had folowed my freends aduise, I should haue had a minion, A man of land, a gentleman.
1F The Deuil, gossip, ought me a shame, And paid I am now euery peny. I would God he had been blinde and lame The day and houre he first wooed me. Were not, gossip, [for] these Children three, I would not tary, ye may be sure, 250
Lap.
OF WCMEfl. 115
Longer with him day ne houre.
IT Then said the elder : doo as I doo, Be sharp and quick with him again ; If that hee chide, chide you also, And for one woord giue him twain, Keep him short and haue disdain ; Should he1 use you after such a rate, Bid him be stil with an euel date.
IF Cherish your self all that you may, And draw vnto good company ; 200
Cast not yourself, gossip, away, Because he playeth the churle with thee ; And by your wil keep him hungry, And bid him go, when he would game, Unto his customers. God giue him shame !
IF Be even2 with him at yea and nay, And by your wil begin the war ; If he would smite, then may you say : Go to hardely, if thou dare ; I beshrewe thy hart [and] if thou spare, 270
All the world shall wunder on thee, How thou doost wreke thy teen of me.
1F Because thou hast been at the dise, And played away all that thou hast, Or from thy gillots thou couldst not arise, Of all this day ye sat so fast, And now God giue the shame at last, Commest drunken home with a mischeef,
1 Old eds. have He should. 3 Old eds. have ever.
116 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
And wouldst be reuenged vpon thy wife !
1T Better, iwis, to holde thy hand, 280
And more for thine honestye.
I had leuer thy neck were in a band,
Then I would take it long of thee ;
Trust me, I wil finde remedye :
Smite, and thou dare, I make God auow,
I wil quite it, I wot wel how. 1F In case there be no remedye,
But that you must haue strokes sad,1
Take vp the babe that then is nye,
Be it wench, or be it lad,2 290
And bid him strike, if he be mad :
Smite hardly, and kil thy Sonne,
And hang therfore, when thou hast doon.
IF Thus euer among they keep such schooles, The yung to drawe after the olde, Meeting euer vpon their stooles, Of euery matter that they haue would, By meane wherof the yung wax bolde ; So that within a month they be Quarter maister, or more then he. 300
1T Truely some men there be That line alway in great honour, And say : it gooeth by destenye To hang or wed : 3 bothe haue but one houre ;
1 Serious, i. e. strokes or blows meant in earnest. See Nares, voce Sad. 2 i. e. Be it a boy or a girl.
3 The old proverb. Richard Lant had a licence in 1558 to print a ballad entitled : " The Prouerbe is true yc weddynge is destyne.'
OF WOMEN. 117
And whether it be, I am well sure Hanging is the better of the twain, Sooner doon, and shorter pain.
1T On pilgremage then must they go, To Wilsdon, Barking, or to some hallowes ; Perchaunce be foorth a night or two 310
On foot, for wearing of horse shooes ; A viage made vnto the stewes, And neither kneel to stones ne stocks, But the offring take with a quick box.
^1 Sometime also licence they craue To be w* some neighbour in the midwiues sted, And all to the end some other knaue Shall dub her husband a summer bird, The trueth is knowen : it cannot be hid ; All beit that few men doo him hear, 320
"Ihe cucko sapgeth all the yeer.1 £ 1T They haue also an other cast 2 |i case the husband be present ; The childe I warrant shalbe bast, And to her louer therewith sent. The sely man none euel ment, Regardeth little or nothing this, How by the babe she sends her kisse.
U And that she would be reconed true, The matter to cloke more craftely, 330
1 i. e. cuckoldom continues throughout the year. An account of this curious subject may be found in the Additional Notes to " Old English Jest Books," vol. iii.
3 Device, trick.
118 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
Her kinsman call[s] him, I warrant you, And all to blere the husbands eye. God wot, the blinde eateth many a flye : So dooth the husband often, iwis, Father the childe that is not his.
f Trim them self euery day new, And all to blere the husbands eye ; Plat and plant, and their heres hew, And all to make it for the eye ; The finest ware that they may bye, 340
And all that euer they may imagine, Is to alure the masculine.
IT Plant them round with many a pin, Einged for routing of pure golde,1 Fair without and foule within, And of their tailes haue slipper holde. Bye who wil, ware wil be solde ; He need go no farther, the fair is heer ; Bye when ye list, it lasteth ouer yeer.
1T Spare for no cost, but drink of the best, sso And also of euery dainty eat, Hot in operation, and light to digest, Nature to prouoke, and set on a heat ; Oysters, Cockles, and els what they may get, Now this, now that and fain them self sick, Such things to receiue as for the Phisick.
IF By meanes wherof Tiresias,
1 An allusion to the ring which is usually placed through the nostrils of a sow, or any other swine, to prevent them from routing.
OF WOMEN. 119
Arbither chuse[n] the trueth to discus,
Gaue1 Judgement plain in this case,
That the wonmn is far more lecherous, ,%o-
Gallus gallinis2 ter quinque sufficit3 vnus ;
Sed ter quinque viri
Non sufficiunt mulieri.
f In case they would ought of you craue, A non they weep and lower apace, And say, that they can nothing haue Them to apparel, as other wiues hase : Trust not ouer much their mourning face, Record inough of Sampsons two wiues, Who foloweth their mindes, seldome thriues. 370
IF All heit the birder, with his blered eye, Dissemble 4 sorowe with his sad face : Yet is there no birde he may come by By his engines, that may haue grace ; By women it foloweth in semblable case, Weep they, or laugh they : all is one thing, They dele moste craftely, when they be weeping.
IF And yet among [men] who so wil thriue, And office here in town and Citty, Must needs be ruled by his wiue, 330
Or els, in fay, it wil not be. The wife must able him to the degree, Able or vriable, little careth shee, Because her self would honoured be.
IF Fear not, she saith vnto her spouse,
Old ed. has giue. 2 Old eds. have gaUinus.
Old eds. have sufftcit. 4 Affects.
120 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
A man or a Mouse whether be ye ;
Should ye your honesty refuse,
And be like l as other men bee
In person and in eche degree,
Take it vpon you, doo not refuse 390
And I my self wil finde your house.
1T So by that meane of her counsail The man may not the office forsake, Because the wife would haue a tail Come raking after, and a bonet black, A Ueluet hed, and also be take With the best, and not with the wurst ; The man must be ruled, til all be in the dust.
H Of all the diseases that euer wore, Wedding is next vnto the goute ; 400
A salue there is for euery sore To help a man within or without ; But of these twaine I am in dout. No pain so feruent, hot ne colde, As is a man to be a Cuckolde.
IT And be he neuer so fearful to fray, So stark a coward, yet wil he rage And draw his knife euen straight way f Be he neuer so far in age,
Call him once cuckolde, and his courage 410
Foorthwith wil kindle and force him strike.
1 Old ed. has as like.
8 In the C Mery Talys, printed circa 1525, folio, some ludicrous examples are given of the sort referred to here. See No. 41 and No. 74.
OF WOMEN. 121
Wurse then ye named him heretike.
11 And sith there is no salue therfore, It putteth many a man in fear To be infect with the self same sore, How wel so euer they them bere ; Good token haue they also els where, That who so euer weddeth a wife Is sure of sorow al his life.
1F Of Socrates the pacient, 420
Example good of his wiues twain, . Which on a time fel at dissent, And vnto him did them complain : He laughed therat. and they again Fel bothe on him, with an euel date, A p — spot they brake vpon his pate.
If He heeld him pleased and wel content ; The p — sse ran down by his cheeks twain : Well wist I (said he) what is ment, And true it is that all men fain, 430
That after thunder commeth rain. Who hath a wife is sure to finde At home in his house many a sower winde.
1T A certain wife said to me once : I would thou knew it, God made vs Neither of Earth, stock, ne stones, But of a thing much precious, Of a rib of a man ; Scripture saies thus, Because the woman in euery need Should be like the man in woord and deed. 440
1F Man made of Earth, and woman of man, As of a thing moste principall,
122 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
Which arguoth wel, saith she then, By Judgement iust and reason naturall, That we be euer substanciall ; And yet ye men of vs bable, That women alwaies are variable.
^[ Which thing, as far as I see can, Should be imployed rather to you, Sith of the Earth God create[s] man, 450
And figures therof maketh euer new ; Nature thus naturall me seemeth now Must needs his first originall"" Ensue, or be vnnaturall.
^f As ye say (said I) help him wel Euel to thriue, and worse to fare. Who was the cause that Adam fel, His wife or no, I make you ware ? One and other little ye care, So ye may haue that ye desire, 460
Though dun and the pack lye in the mire.
^f Made of a bone, ye said ye were, The trueth it is, I cannot deny. Crooked it was, stif, and sturdy, And that would bend no maner of way ; Of nature like, I dare wel say, Of that condition all women be, Euel to rule, bothe stif and sturdy.
^[ And ouer that,1 who listeth to trye, Put me two bones in a bag, 470
Besides that.
OF WOMEN. 123
Or mo, as it is of quantitie ; That doon, holde it some what sag : Shake it also, that it may wag, And ye shall hear none other matter Of these bones but clitter clatter.
^[ Like so, of women in feeld and town Assembled where that many be, A man may hear them by the sown Farther then them ye may see ; Wherfore men say moste commonly, 430
Where many geese be, be many t — ds, And where be women, are many woords.
^[ And so the husband is like to haue A singuler treasure of his wife ; He needeth neuer an il woord to craue1 All the dayes of his long life. Hath not that man a prerogatife2 That may all way of his wife haue A thing of nought, and it not craue ?
^[ And commonly, where cause is none, 490 Some thing imagined is kept in store, Which that she may, come the good man home, With spiteful spite lay him before ; Of little or nought they make much more, And be it true or false they tel, All is sooth3 as the Gospel.
11 And yet the rib, as I suppose,
1 The a of this word has dropped out, but of the true word there can be no doubt. Utterson printed true ! !
2 Old ed. has perogatife. 3 Old ed. has soothed.
124 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
That God did take out of the man,
A Dog vp caught, and a way gose 1
Eat it clene ; so that as than 500
The woork to finish that God began,
Could not be as we haue said,
Because the Dog the rib conuaid.
11 A remedy God found as yet ; Out of the dog he took a rib, The woman foorth with he made of it, As to the man neither kin nor sib.2 Nature she foloweth, and playeth the gib, And at her husband dooth barke and ba[w]ll, As dooth the Cur, for nought at all. sio
1T A nother reason, if ye mark wel, Dooth cause the woman of woords be riue.
1 The origin of the term way-goose is involved in some ob scurity ; but, perhaps, it is a corruption of Waes-goose. In Le Calendrier Beige, 1862, ii. 270, an account is given of the solemnity and enthusiasm with which the people of Waes, in Brabant, celebrated in former times the festival of Saint Martin, when it was usual to kill a large number of geese, the Saint's peculiar bird ; and the idea is strengthened by the modern form wayz-goose, the designation applied to certain annual banquets (though at no fixed period of the year), in which printers and their staffs are accustomed to indulge. At the same time, from the manner in which the word occurs in the text, it might be an allowable presumption that the writer merely intended to convey by way-goose, in the present case, the notion of a goose which happened to be wandering by the road-side when the dog passed.
- Sib signifies, generally speaking, related, akin, but occa sionally, as here, perhaps, merely dear, or intimate. See note to Wyfe rapped in Morelles Skin, line 287.
OF WOMEN. 125
A certain man, as fortune fel,
A woman tungles wedded to wine,1
Whose frowning countenauce perceiuig by liue,
Til he might knowe what she ment, he thought
long, And wished ful oft she had a tung.
IT The Deuil was redy, and appeered anon, An aspin lefe he bid the man take, And in her mouth should [he] put but one, 520 A tung, said the deuil, it shall her make : Til he had doon his hed did ake : Leaues he gathered, and took plentie, And in her mouth put two or three.2
1F Within a while the medicine wrought ; The man could tarj no longer time, .But wakened her, to the end he mought The vertue knowe of the medicine ; The first woord she spake to him, i She said : thou whoresonne knaue and theef, 530 How durst thou waken me, with a mischeef !
1F From that day forward she neuer ceased ; Her boistrous bable greeued him sore. The Deuil he met, and him intreated To make her tungles as she was before ; Not so, said the deuil. I wil meddle no more,
1 This story is merely a metrical version of the 62nd article in A CMery Talys, ed. 1526, where it is entitled " Of the Man that had the Dome Wyfe."
2 " Whiche man, beyng glad of this medycyne, preparyd therfore, and gatheryd aspen leues ; wherfore he layde iii of them vnder her tonge, when she was a slepe." — C Mery Talys.
126 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
A1 Deuil a woman to speak may constrain, But all that in hel be cannot let it again.2
^[ And by proof dayly we see What inclination nature maketh ; oio
The aspin lefe hanging where it be, With little winde or none it shaketh. A womans tung in like wise taketh Little ease and little rest : For if it should, the hart would brest.
^[ Look, when the Sea dooth water want, Nor no winde bloweth the mil to walke ; When Ethna hil of fire is scant ; The Crowe is white,' and black is Chalke ; When women wil cease of their talke. sso
It is like propertye all women to bable, As dogges to barke, and geese to gagle.
^[ And that more is, all men say, That woman to man is moste comfort ; How beit, they meane it a nother way, And say, she is mans vtter extort ; And oner that, by iust report, The smaller pease, the mo to the pot, The fairer woman the more gillot.
If The fairer of face, the prouder of hart, 560 The lother to wo, the sooner wun,
1 Old ed. has /.
2 " Albeyt yet I haue power to make a woman to speke ; but yet if a woman begyn ones to speke, I, nor all the dyuels in helle that have the most power, be not able to make a woman to be styll, nor to cause her to leue her spekynge." — C Mery Talys, No. 62.
OF WOMEN. 127
The lesse of speech, the more ouerthwart, Not one so daungerous as is dame dun, The fowler she is, the sooner it is doon ; So short of heel they be ouer all, That if ye blowe, they must needs fall. IT By meane wherof all men report And say, that women cannot be stable ; For be one gone, an other resort And profereth them thing seruiable. 570
Our fily is fetled vnto the saddle ; Ride who wil, shod is the Mare, And thus they exchaunge ware for ware.
^[ In case thou wouldst not haue it so, But rather finde euery thing wel, I councel thee, before thou go Foorth of the town, to crowch and kneel, And offer a Candel to the deuil ; Percase thy wife would be salewed, He would forset it all be shrewed. 589
IT Example therof that was this : A certain man from home should ride, Which, fearing his wife would doo amisse, To an Image of Sathan vpon a walles side Offred a candle, and that was espied, And said : sir Sathan, now I charge thee My wife in my abcence that thou ouer see.
^[ His iorney ended, [he] came home again, And the self Image went straight vnto ; The Deuil him shewed euery thing plain, sao How he had let that should haue be[n] doo, And from her backward drawen one or twoo ;
128 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
The [most] daungerous cure that euer he had Was to keep good that would hauc be[n] bad.
^[ An other thing as principall : Be not with her in Jalosye, What misaduenture so euer befall ; Forbid her no mannes companye ; Nor yet rebuke her singulerly, In case thou doo, though thou hadst sworue, eoo A blast shalt thou bio we in Ninerus home.
^[ For as we see by experience Euery day before our eye, And by report of men of credence, For the moste part the ferninie By their innatiue distynye First and formoste, when they be chid, Wil that thing doo they be forbid.
^[ And ouer that, thy -wife present, I councel thee be wise and ware : cio
Thou praise no other mannes instrument Better then thine owne bering ware : For if thou doo, she wil not spare, Were it neuer so naturall a fool, Til she assaie the self same tool.
IT So frail they be of disposition, So crooked, so crabbed, and with that so euil, So lewd, so shrewd, light of condition, That sure it were vnpossible To let them of their owne self wil ; 620
And but it come of their owne minde, A man were as good throwe stones in ye winde.
5[ Say what ye wil, they will doo as they lust,
OF WOMEN. 129
The proof therof 's in a certain fable : — A husband man, hauing good trust, His wife to him would1 be agreeable, Thought to attempt if she had be reformable, Bad her take the pot, that sod ouer the fire, And set it abooue vpon the astire.2
^[ She aunswered him : I holde thee mad,'' 630 And I more fool, by Saint Martine ; Thj dinner is redj, as thou me bad, And time it were that thou shouldst dine, And4 thou wil not, I wil go to mine. I bid thee (said he) here vp the pot. A ha ! (she said) I trowe thou dote.
^[ Up she goeth for fear, at last, No question mooued where it should stand ; Upon his hed the pottage she cast, And heeld the pot stil in her hand ; 640
And toward him she curst and ban'd, Said and swore, he might her trust, She would with the pottage do what her lust —
IT No remedy for to discontent, To prattle to them of reason or lawe : For be a womans purpose bent, Nothing preuaileth to withdraw, Nor yet to keep them vnder awe. Giue them councel the best ye can, They wil folow their owne wil now and than. 650
1 Old ed. reads had. 2 Hearth ; i. q. astre.
8 This " fable " is nothing more than No. 64 of A C Mery Talys altered to suit the occasion, and turned into verse. 4 i. e. if. VOL. IV. K
130 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
^[ Look of discretion, few womanly, And to thee were few profitable, Not three, I dare say, among thirty, That be discreet and resonable ; And yet alwaies they bible bable Of euery matter, and make it nise,1 And in conclusion be wunderous peuish.
^[ As holy as Saints in Church they be, And in street, as Angels they were, At home, for all their hipocrisie, 660
A Deuilish life they lede all the yeer. When Lent commeth, then to the freer : The Fryer limiter,2 for a pray of pence, Wil for all causes with them dispence.
^[ And that more is, I dare auow, That if the wife displeasure take, Be it right or wrong, yet thou Must needs of force, for thy wiues sake, Fight and fray, and hie woords crake, Swere and stare, as who would say, 670
Thou wouldst not let to kil and slay. ^T I case thou take the matter light,
1 To make it pleasant, or snug. I do not remember to have seen the word used in this sense very frequently. But Gas- coigne has it in a precisely similar way : —
" The glosse of gorgeous Courtes. by thee did please mine eye, A stately sight me thought it was, to see the braue go by ; To see their feathers flaunte, to make their straunge deuise, To lie along in Ladies lappes, to lispe and make it nice."
Posies, 1575, p. 191.
2 Old ed. has limlifter.
OF WOMEN. 131
As a man of peace, looue and concord, Then wil she weep anon foorth right, And giue thee many an euil woord ; And bid thee gird to thee thy swoord, And say : if I had maried a man. This thing should not be long vndon.
^[ Kecord the wicked Jesabel, Which would haue slain good Helias. 680
Kecord also, of the Gospel, The wife of Philip,1 Herodias Which through her doughter brought to passe That Herod her graunted, or that they wist, To giue her the hed of John baptist.
^[ Thus where them self may little doo, As in regard of corporall might, Of cruelnesse they rest not so, But stir their husbands for to fight. The prouerb olde accordeth right : Women and dogges cause much strife,2 690
And moste occasion to mischeef.
^[ In case that thou so foolish be, For thy wiues woords, to make a brail, If it so fortune that she doo it see, Regardeth little what may befall, The first thing that she dooth of all, On thee she runneth and holdeth thee stil,
1 It is, perhaps, rather out of place here to point out that Herodias was at this time not the wife of Philip, but of Philip's brother, Herod.
* The proverb is : " Women and dogs set men together by the ears."
132 TEE SCHOLE-HOUSE
Whiles that an other may thee kil.
IT And if it chaunce any vnkinde woord 700 Escape thy mouth, wherby that ye Between your self fall at discord, Trust me wel, in case that she By any mean may maister thee, For the moste parte all women be In such case all without pittye.
IF Weake and feeble all beit they be, Of body much impotent, Example dayly yet may ye see, Comberous they be and maliuolent ; 710
Harmeles creatures, none euel ment ; The vpper hand if they once get, Can no more harme then a Mermeset.
^[ Who was so busy as the maid With crooked language1 Peeter to oppose?2 Once, twise, or thrise to him she said : v And thou, felowe, art one of those, The trueth (said she) thy language shose. Peter, abashed, swore and denaid, And all by reason of the lewd maid.3 720
1 St. Luke xxii. 56; St. John xviii. 17. The satirist here puts rather a violent construction on these two passages in Holy Writ, inasmuch as the woman asked Peter only once, and then not at all in " crooked language."
8 Old ed. has oppose. To oppose was formerly used in the sense of to question, to examine, more particularly as for a de gree, holy orders, &c. It is frequently so employed in Scoggin's Jests, 1626 (first printed before 1565).
3 This severe attack on the " lewd maid," is, to a large extent,
OP WOMEN. 133
IT Some men there be also that say : Be she single, or be she wed, To much she coueteth of chamber play ; As did Bibles l the thing forbed, Presumed to be in her mothers sted ; Mirha also inordinately With her owne father found meanes to lye.
IT The doughters twain of Lot the sage, Hauing like tikle in their tailes, Could not refrain their wilful rage ; 730
To satisfye with euel haile Their father feasted with costly vitail, Made him drunk, and so at last Medled with him, he sleeping fast.
1[ Examples heerof diuers ther be, To prooue my saying is straight as a line. As first, of the abhominable Pasiphe,2 And then the insasiat Missaline, Pirra, Fabula, and fair Heline, With other thousands many mo, 740
Which all to resite would neuer be doo.
If I pray you, why was Adam shent ? Because he onely did transgresse ? Eue him meeued3 first to consent To eate of the apple she did him dresse. So all came of her wilfulnes ;
a gratuitous exaggeration on the part of the author of the Schole-house of Women, of the account found in the New Testament.
1 Biblis. 2 Pasiphae. * Moved.
134 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
And sith that woman that offence began, She is more to blame then is the man.
f The wife of Lot willing also The wil of God to preuaricate, 750
Out of the Cittie, when she should go, Looked behinde her in her gate,1 To see by proof the prognosticate ; Displeased God, and she anon Transformed was into a salt stone.
IT I pray you, what did Queen Atthaly,2 (Look in Paralipomenon,) Mother of yung king Ahazye ?3 Of all and of all the wilfullest one, Mooued the king aforsaid, her sonne, 760
To doo much euil, especially The temple of God for to destroy.
*f[ Mighty Sampson two wiues had,4 The first, a Philistian by generation, Neither of them good, but passing bad, And eke to him far out of fasshion ; The first him caused by lacrimacion5 His probleme6 to hear, so that he said ;7
1 i. e. path, way.
2 Athalia, queen of Judah; assassinated B.C. 878.
3 Old ed. has Othozye. Ahaziah, King of Judah, is, of course, the person intended (2 Chron. xxii).
4 Judges xiv. 1 6 et seqq.
5 "And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not ; thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me," &c.— Judges xiv. 16.
6 i. e. Samson's riddle. 7 i. e. told her.
OF WOMEN.
135
When she knew it, she him betraid.
If The second delt much worse then so, 770 Deceiued him, as you shall hear, For she his strength did take him fro ; In her lap sleeping she dipt of his hear, Betraied her Lord and her bewpeer, Thus Dalila1 for meed him serued, And caused his eyes out to be carued.
If The wife of Job, the man elect, Saluted him with scornes and mocks, And ful vnseemly oft him chect, Saying,2 thou fool, ful of the pocks, 780
Ful like a fool thy brest thou knocks ; Weenest thou for thy fair speech God wil come thee for to seech ?
^f Thy prating leue, foule thee befall, Trust me he wil thee neuer heale ; Thy beasts, thy goods and thy children all Be dead and brent3 now euery deale,4 And thou liest heer with many a bile5 Prating and praying to the deuine,6
1 Old ed. has Dalida.
9 An abominable and over-drawn travestie of a verse in the great prose epic of Job, if it may be so called : " Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity ? curse God and die." — Job ii. 9.
3 Burnt.
4 i. e. every portion, every branch.
5 Boil. " So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." — Job ii. 7.
6 i. e. the Almighty.
136 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
And wurse thou stinkest then a dead swine. 790
IT Like wise, the wife of olde Thoby,1 Whose name, as I remember, was Anne ; Which him intreated boisterously With sad rebukes now and than ; Called him driuel and witles man, Because he gaue with hart so liberall Parte of his goods to the porall.
1F The wanton wife of King Pharao, Joseph abhored with her to lye In place secret between them two : soo
God forbid, Madame (said he). Because she sawe it would not be, A shameful lye she did inuent In prison to cast that innocent.
IF In women all this propertye Is knowen sure and manifest, That if a man may come so nye To shew them game, that they looue best, And wil not doo it, then wil they iest ; But trust me sure that with the hart sio
They wil neuer looue him afterwart.
1F The wise man saith in his Prouerbs2 A strumpets lipps are dulce as hony, But in her dealing she is sowre as hearbs, Wormewood or Rue, or worse, saith he ;
1 Tobiah.
3 " For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil. But her end is bitter as wormwood," &c. — Proverbs v. 3-4.
OF WOMEN. 137
For when them liketh to mock with thee,
With tung and eye such semblaunce they showe,
That hard it were them to mistrowe.1
IF As though they spake with mouth and hart, With face they make so good semblaunce, 820 That hard it were a man to start From their fair glosing countenaunce. Thus with their sugred vtteraunce The simple men that meane but iust Deceiued are, where they moste trust
IT In case they doo you but one benefit, An hundreth times by you recompenced, They wil you euer with that one entwit ;2 With little cause or none offenced, All our demerits shal be vnrecompenced ; sso So be it lesse, or be it more, All is lost ye gaue them before.
IT If ye remooue your copy holde, And would be tenaunt by Indenture, There is no ware then to be solde, Ye must go seek at your aduenture : For as of you I haue no denture. Think [you] that I wil be so redy, Nay, by Jesse,3 I holde you a peny.
IT And then, if ye no labour make, 840
Ye may be sure that then wil she Be sure out throwe the hauke to take, The like of her aiEnitie. Good God, how straunge now a daies be ye !
1 i. e. misbelieve. 2 Twit. 3 i. e. Jesus.
138 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
I would haue thought ye had been none such ; But by the little is knowen the much.
IT So at length, by huch or by cruch, Lease or more, euer they craue, ^
Until thy hand be in thy pouch. No woords preuail1 thee to saue, 850
A thousand thousand when they haue, To make a man a thred bare cote, And leaue him neither peny ne grote.
1F Now this, now that, they craue alway, One thing or other : they neuer rest ; Say what ye wil, they wil no nay, Nor none excuse, but their owne request ; So they may be trimmed and fed of the best, They haue no remorce who bereth the name,2 Nor whome they put to open shame. 860
H The trueth is knowen, as in this case, By holy writ autenticate,3 Between Thamer4 and the Judge Judas.5 The Book called Genesis6 examinate, How Thamer the widow in the way sat, Disguised her self in straunge aray, Judas to deseiue after that way.
1 i. e. avail.
3 "To bear the name" was to be in repute, either good or bad. It is here employed in the latter sense ; but in the prose Morte Arthure, ed. Wright, iii. 42, Sir Ector says to Sir Launcelot : — " And yee must remember the great worship and renowne that yee bee of, how that yee have been more spoken of then any other knight that is now living, for there is none that beareth the name now but yee and Sir Tristram."
3 i. e. authenticated. 4 Tamar.
* Judah. 6 xxxviii. 14 et seqq.
OF WOMEN. 139
^f Her fresh attire and countenaunce therto Prouoked this man a question to make ; She lightly concented, as some other doo, 870 Said : what Avil ye giue thy pleasure to take ? Some pledge, she said, for promise is slack. Of him she required staffe, mantel and ring, His minde to folow, and doo the thing.
^f Short tale to make, the lawe was then, A woman that found was in adultry, Dew proof aledged by credible men, Should suffer death, saunce remedye ; The matter appeered by her bely. She openly said, in slaunder of Judas : sso
Who oweth these three this deed doon has.
^f Thus be they all past shame and dreed, And careth not who bid them baile ; With ghostly sentence them to feed, Little or nothing dooth them preuaile ; Be thy back turned, anon they rail, And say, for all your counsail good, Ye had leuer a bare then a furred hood.
If To say that they can counsail keep, It were to me a meruailous thing, 890
Onles it be, when they doo sleep, Or no body [be] to giue the hearing. Desirous euer of new tiding, And were it matter of lim and life, It shalbe tolde out by thy wife.
If Tully1 the Eomain, vpon a day,
1 Cicero.
140 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
Thought to approoue his wiues secrye,
In councel told her he had put away
The Emperours sonne : to the end that we
May reign and rule bothe land and Sea. 9co
Glad was she, and yet she went,
And him disclosed incontinent.
1F Tully escaped hard with his life, And all by meane of his one foly ; Had not the trueth been knowen beliue, To haue be[n] hanged it was ieoperdye. Be it therfore true tale or lye, Be wise and ware ; wake, or ye wink, And tel not your wife all that ye think.
1T King Salomon, bothe witty and wise, 9io A woman dooth assimilate Unto a dropping euesing1 guise, Distilling down after rain late, Whose drops vncleen dooth maculate The finest vesture that any man weres, With colde and wet the body deres.2
IT Euen so a woman litigious Disquieteth an whole houshould ;
1 " A continual dropping in a very rainy day, and a conten tious woman are alike." — Proverbs xxvii. 15.
Evesing is the same as easing or casings, i. e. the eaves of a house —
" Little boy Bunting, Sat on the house easing, With a bow and a bolt."
Booke ofMeery Riddles, 1629.
2 i.e. injures.
OF WOMEN. 141
And who so he be, that in his house Entendeth to keep a woman skolde, 920
The winde that bloweth bothe moist and colde Were better far for to herbour, And lesse should finde of displeasure.
H" Enuious they be it is dayly seen, And proud also of comparison ; Eecord of Sabba,1 the gorgious Queen ; Before nor since was neuer such a one. Because she enuied King Salomon, To prooue his wisdome, and take with a trip, Passed the seas in a merualous sjiip. 930
1T Because that Naboth would not sel Unto the king of Samaria The vineyard he had at Israel, Achab the King became angry; As soon as Jesabel the Queen knew why, She straightly comaunded by writing to fain Some cryme vpon Naboth, and so he was slain.
IT Look and read the book Bocas,2 And ye shall finde many a reason 3 The pride of women to deface, 940
For their misKuing in their season ; Good women he wrot were very geason,4
1 Sheba.
2 Boccaccio, De Casibus Virorum et Fceminarum Ulustrium. a Old ed. has reason.
4 i. e. geson, scarce or scanty. So, in the Hye. Way to the Spyttell Hous, by R. Copland, we find : —
" So by reason theyr gaynes be geason, This way they reiie many a season."
142 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
As ye shall finde of ninteen be wot, But of the twenty neither letter nor iote.
1[ Salomon saith, three things [t]here be Seldome or neuer saturate.1 Hel2 the first is of the three ; The second a womans water gate ; 3 The ground of water insaciate ; 4 Of euery lewd fasshion recken who can, 950
And euer I warrant the woman is one.
1f [Of things] hard to knowe like number ther
bee,
The fourth to knowe who is he that can ; The first, which way a bird wil flee, Or of a serpents prent on a stone,5 What Hauen a ship shall driue vpon ;
1 Satisfied, satiated.
2 " The horseleach hath two/ daughters crying, ' Give, give ;' / There are three things that are/ never satisfied, yea, four things, say/ not, It is enough/
The grave ; and the barren womb ; the earth that is not filled with water ; and the fire that saith not, It is enough. . . .
There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock ; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea ; and the way of a man with a maid." — Proverbs xxx. 15-19.
It is scarcely necessary to observe that the present text is a miserable burlesque on the language of the " Preacher."
3 A coarse allusion which needs no explanation.
4 i. e. the earth that is not filled with water.
5 Old ed. reads serpent sprent from. Burns used prent for print, in which he merely followed the example of almost all early Scotish writers.
OF WOMEN. 143
The craft of a w perceiue who can,
And euer T warrant the woman is one.
^[ The ground1 also dooth vary2 by3 three ;4 The fourth may not be stablished sure : 960
A bond man set in maiestye, A fool fed fat whiles he wil in powre, An odious 5 woman in weddings vre,6 An heir made of a bond woman,7 So euer I warrant the woman is one.
11 Which things remebred wil ever 8 eche man Report of them accordingly, And say plainly, that in the woman Is little thing of praise worthy. Lettred or vnlearned whether they be, 970
They say of all creatures women are the best ; Guilts contrarium verum est.
IT And were ['t] not two small venialles,9 The feminine might be glorifide, Set in thronis 10 perpetualles And as the Goddes be deifide ;
The earth.
Vary is used here in an intransitive, and also in a rather unusual sense. It signifies to disturb, to disquiet.
Through ; equivalent to the Latin per.
i. e. three things.
This is the very word used in Proverbs xxx. 23.
Use, experience.
" An handmaid that is heir to her mistress." — Proverbs xxx. 23.
8 Old ed. has wel neer. g Faults.
10 Thronis here, and one or two other expressions, such as tratise, at line 981, and prent, at line 955, might favour a sus picion that the author of The Schole House was a North Briton.
144 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE
Twoo vcniall sinnes they haue and hide, None of the seuen * their names who can tel, They can neither doo, nor yet say wel.8
IF So to conclude of this tratise' A finall end, rude though it be, The processe through who wil superuise, Shall wel3 perceiue I make no lye ; An end therfore to make shortly, In my conceit he liueth in rest, That medleth with them of all people lest.
Go foorth, little book : be not a fraid
To be accept with them that are wise ;
And shew them plain, what so be said, 990
In any parte of this treatise,
Dooth not disdain their honesties ;
1 i. e. the seven 'deadly sins.
" We men have many faults ; Poor women have but two : There's nothing good they say, There's nothing good they do."
Complete London Jester, ed. 1771, p. 122.
The Rev. John Ward, in his Diary (ed. 1839, p. 105), quotes
the following Latin epigram, somewhat to a similar purport : —
"Est mulier mera bilis>, habet duo commoda tantum, Cum jacet in thalamo, cum jacet in tumulo."
3 Old ed. has wil.
OF WOMEN. 145
But for the lewd might haue a mirrour Heerbj to amend their damnable errour.
H Like as the Preacher dooth discommend All vices liuing with mouth and wil ; Or as the Minstrel dooth intend, With help of Lute,1 finger or quil, Example shewing to conuert the il ; Like so mine auctor dooth the same, 1000
No creature liuing spoken by name.
1T Percase any one displeasure take, Because it toucheth her properly,2 In case that she such waies forsake. Which moste accordeth to her propertye, She needeth not heerwith to be angry. God graunt vs all we may doo this, Euery man3 to amend that is amis.4
II The good alwaies wilbe content With that that is spoken in generall ; 1010
Ther wil none so soon be discontent As they that fretised 5 be with all ; Bub a scald horse vpon the gall, And he wil bite, wins and went, So wil all people that are maleuolent.
1T Go foorth therfore among the thick,
1 See Ritson's Ancient Songs and Ballads, 1829, Ixiii, Ixiv.
2 Personally, Lat. proprius.
3 So King's ed. Allde's ed. has For.
4 In King's ed. 1560, this line stands thus:—
"Euery man to anende one in that is amys.''
5 Displeased, annoyed.
VOL. IV. L
146 THE SCHOLE-HOUSE OF WOMEN.
And here in minde who is with thee, The woords that Salomon and Dauid spake In Judicum,1 and in Genesye ; Hierome,2 Juuenall, and olde Tohye, 1020
Caton, and Quid wil testyfie, And Merciall also, who listeth to try. 1F And vnto them that learned be, I would and wil thou meekely went, And showe them, who so made thee No thing purposed of il intent That should prohybe 3 the Sacrament ; But that the masculine might heerby Haue some what to iest4 with the feminy.
tje Scale of toomen,5
3[mprfnteu at Jlon
fcon at tfje long sjop attorning bnto Saint J&iOirettf in tie ^ultrie, f ofw
1 Judges. a St. Jerome.
3 So King's ed. Allde's ed. reads prohibit. * King's ed. has rest.
4 Not in Allde's ed.
applies Pater noster*
HPHE Proude Wyves Pater noster that wolde go gave, and •*• undyd her Husbonde and went her wave. Anno Domini MDLX. With a woodcut on the title of a man with purses at his girdle. [Col.] Imprinted at London in Paules Churche yearde at the Sygne of the Swane by John Kynge. 4to. black letter.
The Proude wyues Pater noster, that wolde go gave, and vndyd her husbonde and went her waye. With a woodcut on title of two women conversing. [Col.] ^f Imprinted at London in Paules Churcheyarde at the Sygne of the Swane by John Kynge. 4to. black letter.
King's press seems, about this time, literally to have teemed with popular poems for or against the fair sex ; for, not content with printing new essays on this interminable controversy, he republished some which, from their great popularity, were no longer to be procured, perhaps, and for which there was still a demand, such as Gosynhyll's Mulierum Pcean, the Schole-house of Women, &c. The printer, as was natural, or reasonable, consulted only the marketable qualities of the ware brought to him, and so we find the same person becoming the medium for introducing to public notice works of a directly opposite charac ter. It is to be hoped that Gosynhyll was dead when King reproduced his Mulierum Pcean side by side with The Schole house of Women, in the exordium to which Gosynhyll is not very politely mentioned.
The Proude Wyues Pater noster was licensed to John Kyng on the 10th June, 1560, and he paid two shillings for it and
148 PROUDE WYUES PATER NOSTER.
other articles. The tract was licensed (with others) to John Charlwood on the 15th January, 1581-82, and it appears from the Stationers' Registers, that it had been previously the property of Sampson (or John) Awdeley, so that it is likely enough that several editions issued from the press during the sixteenth century. This is one of the tracts described by Lane- ham in 1575 as being then in the library of Captain Cox. It is reprinted, not very accurately, in Select Pieces of Early Popular Poetry, 1817, and there is a review of it in Mr. Collier's Biblio graphical and Critical Account of Early English Literature, 1865, from the edition dated 1560.
The other impression, by King, without any date on the title, is among Selden's books at Oxford; it has been collated for the present purpose; and a correct representation of the original title-page is subjoined. These are the only old editions of the poem known to be in existence.
Pater nofier, tbat tooine gogage, ann unDgtifiet imf&ontte anD toent
hje feest dayes, whan wyues go gaye
To chyrche with grete deuocyon, Theyr prayers deuouily for to saye,
Theyr thynkynge is on thys lesson: Or they go forth them selfe to trym,
Both heed and brest, on foote and hande, I swere to you, by swete saynt sym,
The selfe they thynke angels well to vnderstade.
Theyr beautous behauyour and cotenauce demure They thenke fill pleasaunt for to beholde,
But for to go gaye ye may be sure They muse full often and many folde ;
And how they myght best to passe brynge, Eche as gorgyous as other to go
1 In the course of this poem there are two dialogues between two women, which is not marked in any way in the old edition. The division of the work into eight-line stanzas has been made without any regard to the sense, either by the author or by the printer of the volume ; nevertheless, I thought it advisable not to disturb this arrangement.
152 THE PROUDE WYUES
In theyr aparell, gyrdell and rynge, And other trym knackes many mo.
To churche they be come, this is no lye,
Vnto theyr pewe there for to knele, Keuerence doynge to the other by
With countenance meke, as becometh the wele ; 20 Than syt they downe, eche gossep other by,
Beholdynge theyr aparell of eyther syde, Yf the one be gaier than the other, that doth espye,
Than she thynketh her felowe set all full of pryde.
Yet to her deuocyon she dothe her set,
And Pater noster she doth begyne ; But to gaye gere her hert doth fret,
And thynketh how she may suche gaye gere wyne, Sayenge to her selfe : what fortune haue I,
That my felow so gorgyous is in her gere, 30
And I syte here so poorely her by !
But it shalbe amended, by god I swere.
^[ Qui es in celis — and that within shorte whyle, Or ells my husbande full sore it shall repent,
For I can nought gete of him by fete nor wyle, But all shall be myne now that I in hade ca hent l
1 i.e. in hand can hent or hold. To hent, or to hend is very commonly used by early writers, though now obsolete.
PAT Eli N OS TEE. 153
From him al way, whatsoeuer betyde,
Tyll I be arayde as other women be. I wolde not haue ought for no maner pryde,
But only because it is a good syght to se. 40
IT Sanclificetur nomen tuum —
Lorde halowed be thy name, Yf to suche gere I may come,
Then shall I bere bothe porte 1 and fame, As other women in euery where
Do alwaye were 2 as they do wende ; Go feete and fresshe and trymme in theyr gere,
In the best maner, as them doth to pretende.3
IF Adueniat regnu tuu — thy kingdom come to vs After this lyfe, when we hens shall wende ; so
But whyle we be here now, swete Jesus,
As other women haue, suche grace in me sende,
That I may haue, Lorde, my heede in to wrap, After the gyuse, kerchefes 4 that be fyne,
1 State, show. 2 Old eds. have where.
3 Pretend is often found in Shakespeare and elsewhere in the sense of intend; but here it appears to import the same as pertain or belong. Perhaps the word is made in the present passage to bear a rather forced meaning for the sake of the rhythm, which, however, does not seem to have weighed much with the writer in the composition of this piece.
* Old eds. have kercheses. Kerchiefs, as an article of dress for the head, were anciently very fashionable, and were often made in very costly material. Stow, in his Annales, describes in the following terms the passage through London of Eleanor,
154 THE PROUD E WYUES
And theron to sette some lusty trymme cap,
With smockes wel wrought, soude wth sylke twyne.
1T Fiat voluntas tua — thy well fulfylled be,
Lorde god, alway as thys tyme dothe requyre ; And as my gossep that sytteth here by me,
So let me be trymmed : nought elles I desyre. eo Therfore yf it may be in any wyse,
For thou haste power therof to do thy wyD, To make me go gaye after the best guyse,
For reason it is with right good skyll.1
1T Sicut in celo et in terra — in heauen as in erthe, Yt is alway sene, go we neuer so farre,2
That women aboue all the beaute bereth,
And without gaye gere our beaute we marre ;
Therfore, good lorde, let this be a ineride,3
And gaye gere to were that I may haue, 70
Duchess of Gloucester: — "On Monday, the 13th November [1441], she came from Westminster by water, and landed at the Temple bridge, from whence, with a taper of waxe of two pound in her hand, she went through Fleete streete hoodless, save a kerchief, to Pauls." See also A C Mery Talys, No. 99 (ed. Hazlitt), and note.
1 i.e. cause. So in the Winter's Tale, act iv. sc. 3—
"Per. * *
You woo'd me the false way. Flo. I think, you have
As little skill to fear, as I have purpose To put you to 't."
2 Old eds. have feere.
3 Old ed. has amended. See line 180 infra, where amende is used in the sense of amended. Amende is here required by the rhythm.
PATER NO S TEE. 155
Or elles my lyfe wyll haue an ende :
For very pure thought nought can me saue.
1T Panem nostrum cotidianum —
Our dayly brede, lorde, wyll also do well ; But of dyuers cornes I haue many a come l
At home in my barne for to sell ; But ther with, lorde, I dare not mell
For feare of my husbande that kepeth me so hard, A busshell therof I dare not sell,
For yf he wyste the game were marde.3 so
IF Da nobis hodye — gyue vs thys daye,
And specially me, my lorde, that am heuy at hert, Tyll I haue my wyll, lorde : a parte, I saye,
Of my desyre, lorde, or elles I must lyue in smarte — With that full maruaylously than3 she sigh't,4
And in a swone halfe gan she fall ; Her felowe, beholdynge that wofull wight,
She 5 wondred full sore than here with all.
IT Et dimitte nobis debita nostra — now [2nd
Mercy, good Lorde, and forgyuenes ! What is this ? Wife.']
1 Utterson printed corns.
2 Mr. Waring writes to me, " The practice to which this stanza refers is still kept up in rural districts. The farmer's wife 'robs the barn,' so they express it, sells wheat without her husband's knowledge to pay for extra finery.
3 Old eds. have can. 4 Old eds. have tight.
4 Old eds. have and.
156 THE PROUDE WYUES
I was neuer thys a frayde, I make god a vow. 91
Good Lorde, sayd she, than what meaneth this ? —
And her lyttell fynger than wronge she fast, Her to reuyue, and gaue her swete spyce ;