The Pain and Sorrow of Evil Marriage

An husbande hath greate cause to care For wyfe, for chylde, for stuffe and meyne, And yf ought lacke she wyll bothe swere and stare, He is a wastour and shall never the: And Salomon sayth there be thynges thre, Shrewde wyves, rayne, and smokes blake Make husbandes ofte theyr houses to forsake.

Wyves be beestes very unchaungeable In theyr desyres, whiche may not staunched be, Lyke a swalowe whiche is insacyable: Peryllous caryage in the trouble see; A wawe calme full of adversyte, Whose blandysshynge endeth with myschaunce, Called Cyrenes, ever 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 fayre to shewe theyr vysages; And yf they be foule of loke or countenaunce, They it amende with pleasynge