This was his nightly dream, his daily care,
And to the heav'nly pow'rs his constant pray'r,
Once, ere he died, to taste the blissful life
Of a kind husband and a loving wife.
These thoughts he fortified with reasons still, For none want reasons to confirm their will. Grave authors say, and witty poets sing, That honest wedlock is a glorious thing: But depth of judgment most in him appears, Who wisely weds in his maturer years. Then let him chuse a damsel young and fair, To bless his age, and bring a worthy heir; To sooth his cares, and free from noise and strife, Conduct him gently to the verge of life. Let sinful bachelors their woes deplore, Full well they merit all they feel, and more:
"As done thise fooles that been seculere.
"And whan that he was passed sixty yere,
"Were it for holinesse or for dotage,
"I cannot sain, but swiche a gret corage
"Hadde this knight to ben a wedded man,
"That day and night he doth all that he can
"To espien, wher that he might wedded be;
Praying our Lord to granten him, that he
Mighte ones knowen of that blisful lif,
"That is betwix an husban and his wif;
"And for to live under that holy bond,
"With which God firste man and woman bond.
"Non other lif (said he) is worth a bene;
"For wedlock is so esy and so clene,
"That in this world it is a paradise.
"Thus saith this olde knight, that was so wise.
Unaw'd by precepts, human or divine,
Like birds and beasts, promiscuously they join:
Nor know to make the present blessing last,
To hope the future, or esteem the past:
But vainly boast the joys they never try'd,
And find divulg'd the secrets they would hide.
The marry'd man may bear his yoke with ease,
Secure at once himself and heav'n to please;
And pass his inoffensive hours away,
In bliss all night, and innocence all day:
Tho' fortune change, his constant spouse remains,
Augments his joys, or mitigates his pains.
But what so pure, which envious tongues will spare?
Some wicked wits have libell'd all the fair.
With matchless impudence they stile a wife
The dear-bought curse, and lawful plague of life;
"And certainly, as soth as God is king,
"To take a wif, it is a glorious thing,
"And namely whan a man is old and hore,
"Than is a wif the fruit of his tresore;
"Than shuld he take a yong wif and a faire,
"On which he might engendren him an heire,
"And lede his lif in joye and in solas,
"Wheras thise bachelors singen alas,
"Whan that they finde any adversitee
"In love, which n'is but childish vanitee.
"And trewely it sit wel to be so,
"That bachelors have often peine and wo:
"On brotel ground they bilde, and brotelnesse
"They finden, whan they wenen sikernesse :
"They live but as a bird or as a beste,
"In libertee and under non areste;
A bosom-serpent, a domestic evil,
A night-invasion, and a mid-day devil.
Let not the wise these sland'rous words regard, But curse the bones of ev'ry lying bard.
All other goods by fortune's hand are giv❜n,
A wife is the peculiar gift of heav'n.
Vain fortune's favours, never at a stay,
Like empty shadows, pass, and glide away;
One solid comfort, our eternal wife,
Abundantly supplies us all our life;
This blessing lasts, (if those who try, say true)
As long as heart can wish-and longer too.
Our grandsire Adam, ere of Eve possess'd,
Alone, and ev'n in Paradise unbless'd,
With mournful looks the blissful scenes survey'd,
And wander'd in the solitary shade.
"Ther as a wedded man in his estat
"Liveth a lif blisful and ordinat,
"Under the yoke of mariage ybound:
"Wel may his herte in joye and blisse abound.
"For who can be so buxom as a wif?
"Who is so trewe and eke so ententif
"To kepe him, sike and hole, as is his make?
"For wele or wo she n'ill him not forsake :
"She n'is not wery him to love and serve,
Though that he lie bedrede til that he sterve.
"And yet some clerkes sain, it is not so,
"Of which he Theophrast is on of tho :
"What force though Theophrast list for to lie?
"Ne take no wif, quod he, for husbondrie,
"As for to spare in household they dispence:
"A trewe servant doth more diligence
The Maker saw, took pity, and bestow'd
Woman, the last, the best reserv'd of God.
A Wife! ah gentle deities, can he,
That has a wife, e'er feel adversity?
Would men but follow what the sex advise,
All things would prosper, all the world grow wise.
'Twas by Rebecca's aid that Jacob won
His father's blessing from an elder son :
Abusive Nabal ow'd his forfeit life
To the wise conduct of a prudent wife:
Heroic Judith, as old Hebrews show,
Preserv'd the Jews, and slew th' Assyrian foe:
At Hester's suit, the persecuting sword
Was sheath'd, and Israel liv'd to bless the Lord.
These weighty motives, January the sage
Maturely ponder'd in his riper age;
Thy good to kepe, than doth thin owen wif,
"For she wol claimen half past al hise lif,
"And if that thou be sike, so God me save,
"Thy veray friendes or a trewe knave
"Wol kepe thee bet than she, that waiteth ay
"After thy good, and hath don many a day.
“This sentence, and a hundred thinges werse
"Writeth this man ther God his bones curse.
"But take no kepe of al swiche vanitee,
"Defieth Theophrast, and herkeneth me.
"A wif is goddes yefte veraily:
"All other maner yeftes hardely,
"As londes, rentes, pasture, or commune,
"Or mebles, all ben yeftes of fortune,
"That passen as a shadow on the wall;
"But drede thou not, if plainly speke I shal,
"A wif wol last and in thin hous endure,
"Wel lenger than thee list paraventure.
x 2
And charm'd with virtuous joys, and sober life,
Would try that christian comfort, call'd a wife. 80
His friends were summon'd on a point so nice,
To pass their judgment, and to give advice;
But fix'd before, and well resolv'd was he;
(As men that ask advice are wont to be.)
My friends, he cry'd (and cast a mournful look
Around the room, and sigh'd before he spoke :)
Beneath the weight of threescore years I bend,
And, worn with cares, am hast'ning to my end;
How I have liv'd, alas! you know too well,
In worldly follies, which I blush to tell;
But gracious Heav'n has ope'd my eyes at last,
With due regret I view my vices past,
And, as the precept of the Church decrees,
Will take a wife, and live in holy ease.
Mariage is a ful gret sacrament;
"He which that hath no wif I hold him shent;
“He liveth helples, and all desolat:
"(I speke of folk in secular estat)
"And herkneth why, I say not this for nought,
"That woman is for mannes helpe ywrought.
"The highe God, whan he had Adam maked,
"And saw him al alone belly naked,
"God of his grete goodnesse saide then,
"Let us now make an helpe unto this man
"Like to himself, and than he made him Eve.
"Here may ye see, and hereby may ye preve,
"That a wif is mannes helpe and his comfort,
"His paradis terrestre and his disport:
"So buxom and so vertuous is she,
They mosten nedes live in unitee:
“O flesh they ben, and O flesh, as I gesse,
"Hath but on herte in wele and in distresse.
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