we shall you teach That it is fair to have a wife in peace. One of us two must bowë doubtëless: And since a man is more reasónable Than woman is, ye must be suff’rable. What aileth you to grudgë thus and groan? Is it for ye would have my [love] alone? Why, take it all: lo, have it every deal, Peter! shrew you but ye love it well. For if I wouldë sell my bellë chose , I couldë walk as fresh as is a rose, But I will keep it for your owen tooth. Ye be to blame, by God, I say you sooth.” Such manner wordës haddë we on hand. Now will I speaken of my fourth husbánd.
My fourthë husband was a revellour; This is to say, he had a paramour, And I was young and full of ragerie, Stubborn and strong, and jolly as a pie. Then could I dancë to a harpë smale, And sing, y-wis, as any nightingale, When I had drunk a draught of sweetë wine. Metellius, the foulë churl, the swine, That with a staff bereft his wife of life For she drank wine, though I had been his wife, Never should he have daunted me from drink: And, after wine, of Venus most I think. For all so sure as cold engenders hail, A liquorish mouth must have a liquorish tail. In woman vinolent is no defence, This knowë lechours by experience. But, lord Christ, when that it rememb’reth me Upon my youth, and on my jollity, It tickleth me about mine