man ought him right well advise, To whom he gives his hand or his chattél. And since I ought advisë me right well To whom I give my good away from me, Well more I ought advisë me, pardie, To whom I give my body: for alway I warn you well it is no childë’s play To take a wife without advisëment. Men must inquirë (this is mine assent) Whe’er she be wise, or sober, or dronkelew, Or proud, or any other ways a shrew, A chidester, or a waster of thy good, Or rich or poor; or else a man is wood. Albeit so, that no man findë shall None in this world, that trotteth whole in all, No man, nor beast, such as men can devise, But nathehess it ought enough suffice With any wife, if so were that she had More goodë thewës than her vices bad: And all this asketh leisure to inquére. For, God it wot, I have wept many a tear Full privily, since I have had a wife. Praise whoso will a wedded mannë’s life, Certes, I find in it but cost and care, And observánces of all blisses bare. And yet, God wot, my neighëbours about, And namëly of women many a rout, Say that I have the mostë steadfast wife, And eke the meekest one, that beareth life. But I know best where wringeth me my shoe, Ye may for me right as you likë do. Advisë you, ye be a man of age, How that ye enter into marriáge; And namely with a young wife and a fair. By him that made water, fire, earth, air, The youngest man that is in all this rout Is busy enough to bringen it about To have his wife alonë, trustë me: Ye shall not please her fully yearës three, This is to say, to do her full pleasánce. A wife asketh full many an observánce. I pray you that ye be not evil apaid.”
“Well,” quoth this January, “and hast thou said? Straw for thy Senec, and for thy provérbs, I countë not a pannier full of herbs Of schoolë termës; wiser men than thou, As thou hast heard, assented here right now To my purpose: Placebo, what say ye?” “I say it is a cursed man,” quoth he, “That letteth matrimony, sickerly.” And with that word they rise up suddenly, And be assented fully, that he should Be wedded when him list, and where he would.
High fantasy and curious business From day to day gan in the soul impress Of January about his marriáge Many a fair shape, and many a fair