The Merchant's Tale
Folio 261v
2 of 30 folios
Wele kepe þe bet / thā sche that wayth ay
60
Aftyr thȳ good / & hath doon manye a day
And ȝif thow take a wyf on to thȳ hold /
Ful lyghtely mayst þu been a coukewold
This sentence / & manye an hunderede werse
Wryth this man / there god his bonys cursse
65
But takyth no kep of alle swich vanytee
Defye Theofraste & herke me
A wyf is godys ȝifte verrayly
Alle oþere manere ȝiftys hardyly
As lōrdys rentys / pasture or comune
70
Or meoblys alle been ȝiftys of fortune
That passyn / as a schadewe vp on a wal
But dredles if pleynly speke I schal
A wyf wele laste & in thȳ hous endure
Weel lengere thā the lyste perauenture
75
Maryage is a ful gret sakrement
He which that hath no wyf I helde hȳ schent
He lyuyth helpeles & al desolat
I speke of folk in seculeer estat
And herke why I sey nat this for noght
80
That weman is for manys helpe I wrought
The heye good whā he hadde adam makyd
And say hȳ al a lone bely nakyd /
God of his greete goodnesse seyde than
Lat vs now make an helpe vn to this man
85
Lyk to hȳ self & thāne he made hym Eue
Heere may ȝe se & xxxx here may ȝe preue
That wif is manys helpe & his confort
His paradys terestre / & his desport
So buxsū & so vertevoĆ« is sche
90
They muste nedis liue in vnite
On flesch they been & on blood as I gesse
Hath but oon herte / in wele & in destresse
Awif a seynte Marie bñdicite
How myȝte a man han ony aduersite
95
That hath a wif sertis I can not seye
The blysse that is be twixe hē tweye