For al fo fiker as cold engendreth hayl

A likerous mouth most han a likerous tayl.
In woman vinolent is no defence,

This knowen lechours by experience.

6050

But, Lord Crift! whan that it remembreth me

Upon my youth, and on my jolitee,

It tikeleth me about myn herte rote:
Unto this day it doth myn herte bote,
That I have had my world as in my time.
But age, alas! that all wol envenime,
Hath me beraft my beautee and my pith;
Let go, farcwel, the devil go therwith!
The flour is gon, ther n'is no more to tell;
The bren as I beft may now moîte I fell.

But yet to be right mery wol I fond.

Now forth to tellen of my fourthe hufbond.

I say I had in herte gret despit

That he of any other had delit:

6055

6066

But he was quit by God and by Seint Joce: 6c65
I made him of the fame wood a croce,
Not of my body in no foule manere,
But certainly I made folk fwiche chere
That in his owen grefe I made him frie
For anger and for veray jaloufie.
By God, in erth I was his Purgatorie,
For which I hope his foule be in glorie:

V. 6049. In woman vinolent] Rom, de la R. 14222;

Car puifque femme efi enyvree

El n'a point en foy de deffence.

6070

.6065. Seint Joce] Or Fife. Sanctus Judocus was a faint of Ponthieu, l'ocab. Hagiol. prehxed to Menage, Etymol. Fr.

For, God it wote, he fate ful oft and fonge"
Whan that his fho ful bitterly him wronge;

66076

Ther was no wight, fave God and he, that wiste
In many a wife how fore that I him twifte.
He died whan I came fro Jerufalem,
And lith ygrave under the rode-beem;
All is his tombe not fo curious

As was the fepulcre of him Darius,
Which that Appelles wrought fo fotelly:
It is but waft to bury hem precioufly.
Let him farewel, God give his foule rest,
He is now in his grave and in his chest.

Now of my fifthe hufbonde wol I telle:
God let his foule never come in helle:
And yet was he to me the moste shrew;
That fele I on my ribbes all by rew,
And ever fhal unto min ending day:
But in our bed he was fo fresh and gay,
And therwithall he coude fo wel me glofe,
Whan that he wolde han my belle chofe,

6080

6085

6099

That though he had me bet on every bon
He coude win agen my love anon.

I trow I loved him the bet, for he

6095

Was of his love fo dangerous to me.

We wimmen han, if that I fhal not lie,

In this matere a queinte fantafie.

Waite, what thing we may nat lightly have
Therafter wol we cry all day and crave.

Volume III.

6100

"

Forbede us thing and that defiren we;
Prefe on us faft and thanne wol we flee.
With danger uttren we all our chaffare;
Gret prees at market maketh dere ware,
And to gret chepe is holden at litel prife;
This knoweth every woman that is wife.

My fifthe hufbonde, God his foule bleffe,
Which that I toke for love and no richeffe,
He fomtime was a clerk of Oxenforde,

6105

And had left fcole, and went at home at borde 6110 With my goffib, dwelling in oure toun,

God have hire foule! hire name was Alifoun.

She knew my herte and all my privetee

Bet than our parish preeft, fo mote I the:
To hire bewried I my confeil all,

6115

For had my hufbond pissed on a wall,

Or don a thing that shuld have cost his lif,
To hire, and to another worthy wif,
And to my nece, which that I loved wel,
I wold have told his confeil every del:

6120

And fo I did ful often, God it wote,

That made his face ful often red and hote

For veray fhame, and blamed himself for he

Had told to me so gret a privetee.

6125

And fo befell that ones in a Lent

(So often times I to my goffib went,

For ever yet I loved to be gay,

And for to walke in March, April, and May,

From hous to hous, to heren fondry tales)

That Jankin clerk, and my goffib Dame Ales, 6130
And I myself, into the feldes went.

Myn hufbond was at London all that Lent:
I had the better leifer for to pleie,

And for to fee, and eke for to be feie

Of lufty folk. What wist I wher my grace
Was fhapen for to be, or in what place?

Therfore made I

my

vifitations

To vigilies and to proceffions,

To prechings eke, and to thise pilgrimages,
To playes of miracles, and mariages,

6135

6140

And wered upon my gay skarlet gites.

Thife wormes, ne thise mothes, ne thife mites,

Upon my paraille frett hem never a del;

And wost thou why? for they were used wel.

Now wol I tellen forth what happed me.

I say that in the feldes walked we
Till trewely we had fwiche daliance
This clerk and I, that of my purveance
I fpake to him, and said him how that he,
If I were widewe, fhulde wedden me.
For certainly, I fay for no bobance,
Yet was I never without purveance

.6137. vifitations] Rom. de la R. 12492;
Souvent voife a la mere Eglife,

Et face vifitations

Aux nopces, aux proceffions,

Aux jeux, aux feftes, aux caroles.

6145

6150

.6151. bobance] Boafting pride, Fr." En orgueil et en bo

Of mariage, ne of other thinges cke:
I hold a moufes wit not worth a leke
That hath but on hole for to fterten to,
And if that faille than is all ydo.

6155

6160

I bare him on hond he had enchanted me, (My dame taughte me that subtiltee) And cke I fayd I mette of him all night, He wold han flain me as I lay upright, And all my bed was ful of veray blood; But yet I hope that ye fhuln do me good, For blood betokeneth gold, as me was taught. And al was falfe, I dremed of him right naught, But as I folwed ay my dames lore 6163

As wel of that as of other thinges more,

But now, Sire, let me fee, what fhall I fain? A ha! by God I have my Tale again.

Whan that my fourthe hufbonde was on bere
I wept algate and made a fory chere,

6170

As wives moten, for it is the ufage,

And with my coverchefe covered my visage;
But for that I was purveyed of a make

I wept but fmal, and that I undertake.

To chirche was myn hufbond born a-morwe
With neighebeures that for him maden forewe,
And Jankin oure clerk was on of tho:

6175

As helpe me God, whan that I faw him go

bans," Froiffart, v. iv. c. 70. In the editt. it is bostance. The thought in the next lines is taken from Rom. de la R. 139147

Moult a fouris povre recours,

Et met en grand peril la druge,
Qui n'a qu'ung partuys a refuge.