wolde lerne any thynge / lette them aske theyr husbandes at home And vnto his disciple Timothe he wryteth on this wyse Let a woman lerne in silence with all subiection But I gyue no licence to a womā to be a teacher / nor to haue authorite of the man but to be in silēce For Adam was the fyrst mayde / and after Eue / and Adam was nat betrayed / the woman was betrayed in to the breche of the commandement Therfore bicause a womā is a fraile thynge / and of weake discretion / and that maye lightly be disceyued whiche thynge our fyrst mother Eue sheweth / whom the deuyll caught with a lyghte argument Therfore a woman shulde nat teache / leste whan she hath taken a false opinion beleue of any thyng / she spred hit in to the herars / by the autorite of maistershyp / and lyghtly bringe other in to the same errour / for the lerners commēly do after the teacher with good wyll What bokes be to be redde / and What nat The .v. Chapter SAynt Hieronyme Wrytynge vnto Leta of the teachynge of Paula / cōmaundeth thus Let her lerne to here nothȳg nor speke but it that perteyneth vnto the feare of god Nor there is no dout / but he wyll counsayle the same of redynge There is an vse nowe a dayes worse thā amonge the pagans / that bokes writen in our mothers tōges / that be made but for idel mē womē to rede / haue none other matter / but of warre and loue of the whiche bokes I thȳke it shal nat nede to gyue any preceptes If I speake vnto Christen folkes / what nede I to tell what a myschiefe is towarde / whan strawe drye wodde is cast in to the fire Yea but these be writē say they / for idel folke / as though idelnes were nat a vice gret inough of it selfe / without firebrondes be put vnto it / wherw t the fire may catche a mā al to gether more hote What shulde a mayde do with armoure Whiche ones to name were a shame for her I haue herde tell / that in some places gentyl womē behold marueilous busily the playes and iustynges of armed men / and gyue sentence and iudgement of them and that the men feare and set more by theyr iugementes than the mennes Hit can nat lyghtly be a chaste mynde / that is occupied with thynkynge on armour / and turney / and mannes valiaunce What places amōge these be for chastite vnarmed and weake A womā that vseth those feates drynketh poyson in her herte of whom this care and these wordes be the playne sayenges This is a deedly sickenes / nor yet ought to be shewed of me but to be couered and holden vnder / leste hit hurte other with the smell / and defile them with the infection Therfore whan I can nat tell whether it be mete for a Christen mā to handle armur / howe shulde it be lefull for a woman to loke vpon them / yea though she handle them nat / yet to be conuersant amonge them with herte and mynde / whiche is worse Moreouer / wherto redest thou other mennes loue and glosyng wordes / and by lytell lytel drykest the entycemētes of that poyson vnknowynge / and many tymes ware and wittyngly For many / in whom there is no good mynde all redy / redē those bokes to kepe hym selfe ī the thoughtes of loue It were better for them nat only to haue no lernynge at all / but also to lese theyr eies / that they shulde nat rede and theyr eares / that they shulde nat heare For as our lorde sayth in the gospell it were better for them to go blynde and deffe in to lyfe / than with .ij. eies to be caste in to helle This mayde is so vile vnto Christen folkes / that she is abominable vnto pagās Wherfore I woūder of the holy preachers / that whan they make great a do about many small matters / many tymes / they crye nat out on this in euery sermone I maruayle that wyse fathers wyll suffre theyr daughters / or that husbandes wyll suffre theyr wyues / or that the maners customes of people wyll dissemble and ouer loke / that women shal vse to rede wantonnes Hit were fyttyng that cōmon lawes and officers shulde nat onely loke vpon the courtes matters of sute / but also maners bothe cōmune and pryuate Therfore hit were conuenyent by a cōmune lawe to but away foule rebaudye songes / out of the peoples mouthes whiche be so vsed / as though nothyng ought to be songen in the cite / but foule and fylthy songes / that no good man can here without shame / nor no wyse man wtout displeasure They that made suche songes seme to haue none other purpose / but to corrupt the maners of yōge folkes / and they do none other wyse / than they that infecte the cōmon welles with poyson What a custome is this / that a songe shal nat be regarded / but it be full of fylthynes And this the lawes ought to take hede of and of those vngratious bokes / suche as be ī my coūtre ī Spayne Amadise / Florisande / Tirante / Tristane / and Celestina the baude mother of noughtynes In Frāce Lancilot du Lake / Paris and Vienna / Ponthus and Sidonia / Melucyne In Flāders / Flori and White flowre / Leonell and Canamour / Curias Floret / Pyramus and Thysbe In Englande / Parthenope / Genarides / Hippomadon / William and Melyour / Libius and Arthur / Guye / Beuis / and many other And some translated out of latine in to vulgare speches / as the vnsauery cōceytes of Pogius / and of Aeneas Siluius / Eurialus and Lucretia whiche bokes but idell menne wrote vnlerned / and sette all vpon fylthe and vitiousnes in whom I woūder what shulde delyte men but that vice pleaseth them so moche As for lernynge none is to be loked for in those men / whiche sawe neuer so moche as a shadowe of lernȳg them selfe And whā they tell ought / what delyte can be in those thȳges / that be so playne folisshe lyes One kylleth .xx. hym selfe alone / an other .xxx. an other wounded with C. woundes / and lefte deed / ryseth vp agayne / and on the next day made hole strōge / ouer cometh .ij. gyantes and than goth away loden with golde / and syluer / and precious stones / mo thā a galy wolde cary away What a madnes is hit of folkes / to haue pleasure in these bokes Also there is no wytte in them / but a fewe wordes of wantonne luste whiche be spoken to moue her mynde with / whom they loue / if it chaunce she be stedfast And if they be redde but for this / the best were to make bokes of baudes craftes for in other thynges / what crafte can be hadde of suche a maker / that is ignorant of all good crafte Nor I neuer harde man
A very frutefull and pleasant boke called the InstructioÌ„ of a Christen womaÌ„ / made fyrst in Laten / and dedicated vnto the quenes good grace / by the right famous clerke mayster Lewes Viues / and turned out of Laten in to Enlgysshe by Rycharde Hyrd whiche boke who so redeth diligently shall haue knowlege of many thynges / wherin he shall take great pleasure / and specially women shal take great coÌ„modyte and frute towarde theÌ„creace of vertue good maners Vnto the moste excellent prynces queâ—â— Catharine / the moste gratious wyfe 〈◊〉 to the moste noble and myghty prince kynge Henry the .viij. her humble bedman and oratour Richarde Hyrd prayeng good prosperite and welfare WEre it nat moste excellent princesse / that the consideration of your great goodnesse and benignite dyd as moche encorage and bolde me / as the respecte and regarde of myn owne ignoraunce retardeth me and holdeth backe / I neuer durst presume to dedicate and present vnto the maiestie of your noble grace this my rude and symple translation / so moche the more vncumly and vnmete to be offered in your hygh presence / in howe moche theloquence of thautour stayneth and defaceth the rude speche of the translatour For had I mooste gracious princesse that gyfte of erudition and vtterance / that I were able in our englysshe tonge / to gyue this boke as moche perspicuite / light / lyfe / fauour / grace / and quickenes / as maister Lewes Viues hath gyuen hit in Laten / than durste I boldely put hit forthe to your grace / nat without good hope of thanke / consyderynge the matter to be suche / as neyther a more profitable nor more necessarye can lyghtly comme in hande For what is more frutefull than the good education and ordre of women / the one halfe of all mankynd / and that halfe also / whose good behauour or euyll tatchis gyueth or bereueth the other halfe / almoste all the holle pleasure and coÌ„modite of this present lyfe / byside the furtherance or hynderance forther growyng there vpon / concernyng the lyfe to come And surely for the plantynge and nurysshynge of good vertuous in euerye kynde of women / virgins / wyues / and wydowes / I verily beleue there was neuer any treatis made / either furnisshed with more goodly counsayles / or sette out with more effectuall reasons / or garnysshed with more substanciall authoritees or stored more plentuously of conuenient examples / nor all these thynges to gether more goodly treated and handeled / than maister Viues hath done in his boke Whiche boke whan I redde / I wisshed in my mynde that eyther in euery countre women were lerned in the latin tonge / or the boke out of latin translated in to euery tonge and moche I marueiled / as I often do / of the vnreasonable ouer sight of men / whiche neuer ceace to complayne of womens conditions And yet hauyng the education and order of them in theyr owne handes / nat only do litell diligence to teache them and bryng them vp better / but also purposely with drawe them fro lernynge / by whiche they myghte haue occasyons to waxe better by them selfe But sith this faute is so farre gone and ouer largely spredde / to be shortly remedied / I thought at the least wyse for my parte hit wolde do well to translate this boke into our englisshe tonge / for the commodite and profite of our owne countre Whiche whan I had secretely done by my selfe / I shewed hit vnto my syngular good mayster and brynger vppe Syr Thomas More / to whose iugemeÌ„t and correction I vse to submyt what so euer I do or go about / that I set any store by who nat onely for the matter it selfe was very gladde therof / but also for that as he than shewed me he perceyued that hit shulde be to your noble maiestie for the gracious zele that ye beare to the vertuous education of the womankynde of this realme / wherof our lorde hath ordeyned you to be quene / so great and speciall pleasure / that he had entended / his manyfolde busynes nat withstandyng / to haue taken the tymes to haue translated this boke hym selfe / in whiche he was as he said very glad that he was nowe preuented / nor for eschewyng of his labour / whiche he wolde haue beÌ„ very glad to bestowe there in / but for bicause that the frute therof may nowe soner come forthe than he coulde haue founde the tyme. Howe be it as I answered hym / It were better to bryng forth datis in an hundred yeres for so longe hit is or that tre brynge forthe his frute than crabbis in .iiij. yere And thoughe he rekenned hym selfe easedde of the translatynge I besoughte hym to take the labour to rede hit ouer / and correcte hit Whiche he ryght gladlye dyd Wherbye I haue bene the more encoraged to put forth vnto your most noble grace this translation to whose maieste sith the originall worke was dedicate / I was of very duety me thought bounden to dedicate the translation Wherfore if there be / as I well wote there is / any good in the matter / thanke be to mayster Viues the maker if any thyng be well in this translation / thanke be to the labour of my good mayster For nothynge in this worke clayme I for myne owne / but the shewe of my good zele to do good to other / and seruyse to your noble grace whom with the sacredde maiestie of the mooste excellent prince your derest spouse / your noble issue / with encrese of more / our lorde loÌ„ge preserue in to the weale of your selfe / your realme / and all Christendome besyde The preface of the moste famous clerke maister Lodouic Viues vpon his boke called the Instruction of a Christen woman vnto the moste gratious princes Katharine quene of Englande I Haue ben moued partly by the holynes and goodnes of your lyuyng / partly by the fauour and loue that your grace beareth towarde holy study / lernynge / to write some thyng vnto your good grace / of thinformacion and bryngyng vp of a Christen womaÌ„ A matter neuer yet entreated of any maÌ„ / amonge so great plentie and variete of wyttes wryters For Xenophon Aristotel gyuyng rules of housekepynge / and Plato makynge preceptes of orderyng the coÌ„mon weale / speake many thynges apperteynynge vnto the womans office and dewte And saynt Cyprian / saynt Hieronyme / saynt Ambrose / saynt Augustine / haue entreated of maydes and wydowes but in suche wyse / that they appere rather texhort couÌ„sayle them vnto some kynde of lyuyng / than to instruct and teche them They spende all theyr speche in the laudes prayses of chastite whiche is a goodly thynge and syttyng for those great wytted and holy men Howe be it / they write but fewe preceptes rules / howe to lyue supposyng hit to be better / to exhort them vnto the beste
say / that he lyked these bokes but those that neuer touched good bokes And I my selfe some tyme haue redde in them / but I neuer foūde in them one steppe either of goodnes or wit And as for those that preyse them / as I knowe some that do / I wyll beleue them / if they preyse them after that they haue redde Cicero and Senec / or saynt Hieronyme / or holy scripture / and haue mēded theyr lyuyng better For often tymes that onely cause why they preyse them is / bycause they se in them theyr owne conditions / as in a glasse Finally / though they were neuer so wytty and pleasāt / yet wolde I haue no pleasure infected with poysō nor haue no woman quickened vnto vice And verely they be but folisshe husbandes and mad / that suffre their wyues to waxe more vngratiously subtyle by redyng of suche bokes But wherto shulde I speake of folysshe and ignorant wryters / seyng that Ouide woulde nat / that he that entendeth to fle vnchast maners / shulde ones toughe the moost witty and well lerned poetes of the grekes and latynes / that wryte of loue What can be tolde more pleasant / more swete / more quicke / more profitable / with all maner of lernyng / than these poetes / Calimachus / Phileta / Anacreon / Sappho / Tibullus / Propertius / and Gallus whiche poetes all Grece / all Italy / yea and all the worlde setteth great price by and yet Ouide byddeth chaste folkes let them alone / sayenge in the seconde boke of the Remedies of loue / Though I be lothe / yet wyll I saye With wanton poetes se thou do nat mell Ha myne owne vertues nowe I caste awaye Beware Calimachus for he teacheth well To loue / and Cous also well as he And olde Anacreon wryteth full wantonly And Sappho eke often hath caused me To deale with my lady more liberally Who can escape fre / that redeth Tibullus / Or Propertius / whan he dothe synge Vnto his lady Cynthia Orels Gallus And my bokes also sounde suche lyke thynge They soūde so in dede / and therfore was he banisshed / nothynge without a cause of the good prince Wherfore I preyse greatly the sad maners either of that tyme / orelles of that prince But we lyue nowe in a Christen countre and who is he / that is any thyng displeased with makers of suche bokes nowe a dayes Plato casteth out of the common welth of wyse men / whiche he made / Homer and Hesiodus the poetes and yet haue they none yll thyng in cōparison vnto Ouidis bokes of loue whiche we rede / and cary them in our hādes / and lerne them by herte yea and some schole maisters teache them to theyr scholers and some make expositions and expounde the vices Augustus banished Ouide hym selfe / and thynke you thā that he wolde haue kept these expositours in the countre excepte a man wolde reken hit a worse dede to write vice than to expounde hit / and enfourme the tender myndes of yonge folkes therwith We banisshe hym that maketh false weightes and measures / and that countrefeteth coyne / or an instrument And what a worke is made in these thȳges for smalle matters But he is had in honour / and counted a maister of wysedome / that corrupteth the yonge people Therfore a womā shuld beware of all these bokes / lykewise as of serpentes or snakes And if there be any woman / that hath suche delyte in these bokes / that she wyll nat leaue them out of her hādes she shulde nat only be kept from them / but also / if she rede good bokes with an yll will and lothe therto / her father and frendes shuld prouyde that she maye be kepte from all redynge And so by disuse / forgette lernynge / if hit can be done For hit is better to lacke a good thyng than to vse hit yll Nor a good womā wyll take no suche bokes in hande / nor fyle her mouthe with them and as moche as she canne / she wyll go aboute to make other as lyke her selfe as she may / bothe by doynge well / and teachynge well and also as far as she may rule by cōmaundynge and chargyng Nowe what bokes ought to be redde / some euery body knoweth as the gospelles / and the actes / the epistoles of thapostles / and the olde Testament / saynt Hieronyme / saint Cyprian / Augustine / Ambrose / Hilary / Gregory / Plato / Cicero / Senec / suche other But as touchyng some / wyse and sad men must be asked counsayle of in them For the woman ought nat to folowe her owne iugement / lest whā she hath but a lyght entryng in lernyng / she shulde take false for true / hurtful in stede of holsome / folishe and peuysshe for sad and wyse She shall fynde in suche bokes as are worthy to be red / all thynges more wytty / and full of greatter pleasure / more sure to trust vnto whiche shall bothe profite the life / and maruaylously delite the mynde Therfore on holy dayes contynually / sometyme on workynge dayes / lette her rede or here suche as shall lyfte vp the mynde to god / set it in a christen quietnes / and make the lyuynge better Also hit shuld be best afore she go to masse / to rede at home the gospell and the epistole of the day / and with it some exposition / if she haue any Nowe whā thou comest from masse / and hast ouer loked thy house / as moche as perteyneth vnto thy charge / rede with a quiet mynde some of these that I paue spokē of / if thou canst rede / if nat / here And on some workyng dayes do like wise / if thou be nat letted with some necessary busynes in thy house / thou haue bokes at hande and specially if there be any lōge space betwene the holy dayes For thynke nat that holy dayes be ordeyned of the churche to play on / and to sytte idell / and talke with thy gossyppes but vnto th entent that than thou mayste more intentyuely / and with a more quiet mynde / thynke of god / and this lyfe of ours / and the lyfe in heuē / that is to come Of virginite The .vi. Chapter NOwe wyl I talke altogeder with the mayde her selfe whiche hath within her a treasure without comparyson / that is the purenes bothe of body and mynde Nowe so many thynges come vnto my remembraunce to say / that I wote nat where is beste to begynne whether it were better to begynne where as saynt Augustyne dothe / whan he wyll intreate of holy virginite All the hole Churche is a virgyn / maryed vnto one husbande Christe / as saynt Paule wryteth vnto the Corinthis Than what honoure be they worthy to haue / that be the membres of hit / whiche kepe the same offyce in flesshe / that the holle Churche kepeth in faythe / whiche foloweth
/ and helpe them vp to the hyghest than to enforme teache the lower thynges But I wyll let passe all suche exhortatioÌ„s / bycause euery bodye shall chose and pyke out the wayes of lyuyng / out of these mennes authorite / rather than of my faÌ„tasie and I wyll coÌ„pyle rules of lyuyng Therfore in the fyrste boke / I wyll begynne at the begynnyng of a womans lyfe / and leade her forth vnto the tyme of maryage In the seconde / from maryage vnto wydowehede howe she ought to passe the tyme of her life well and vertuously with her husbande In the last boke I enforme teche the wydowhed And bicause the matter coude nat be other wyse handeled / there be many thynges tolde in the fyrst boke / perteynynge vnto wyues wydowes and moche in the seconde belongynge vnto vnmaried women and some in the thyrde ê‘teynyng vnto all Lest a mayde shuld thynke that she nede to rede but onely the fyrste boke / or a wyfe the seconde / or a wydowe onely the thyrde I wyll that euery of them shall rede all In whiche I haue ben more short / thaÌ„ many wold I shuld haue ben Nat withstandyng who so consydreth wel the cause of myne entent / and taketh good hede / shall fynde hit done nat without a skyll For in gyuynge preceptes / a man ought specially to be brefe leste he soner dull the wyttes of the reders / thaÌ„ teche them / with longe bablynge And preceptes oughte to be suche / that euery body maye soone can them / and beare easily in mynde Nor we shulde nat be ignorant of the lawes that Christe and his disciples / Petre / Paule / Iames / IohnÌ„ / and Iude taught vs where we maye se that they gyue vs the diuine preceptes brefe and shortly For who can beare in remembrance those lawes / whiche they beare nat well in mynde / that haue spende theyr holle lyfe in study of them And therfore haue I neither thrust in many examples / nor gone out of my matter to entreat generally of vice and vertue / whiche were a large felde to walke in vnto th eÌ„de that my boke myght be nat only redde without tediousnes but also be redde often More ouer though the preceptes for men be innumerable women yet maye be enfourmed with fewe wordes For men must be occupied both at home forth abrode / bothe in theyr owne matters and for the coÌ„mon weale Therfore hit can nat be declared in fewe bokes / but in many and longe / howe they shall handle them selfe in so many and diuers thynges As for a woman hath no charge to se to / but her honestie and chastyte Wherfore whan she is enfurmed of that / she is sufficiently appoynted Wherfore theyr wyckednes is the more cursed and detestable / that go about to perisshe that one treasure of women as though a man had but one eie / and an other wolde go about to put it out Some wryte fylthye and baudye rymes Whiche meÌ„ I can nat se what honeste excuse they can ley for them selfe But that theyr corrupt mynde / and swelled with poyson / can breathe non other thyng but venom / to distroye them that are nere vnto hit But they call them selfe louers / and I beleue they be so in dede / ye and blinde madde to withall And though thou loue / canst thou nat opteyne thyne owne / except thou infecte all other therfore In my mynde no man was euer banysshed more ryghtfully / thaÌ„ was Ouide / at lest wise if he was banisshed for writyng the crafte of loue For other write waÌ„ton and noughty balades / but this worshipful artificer / must make rules in goddis name preceptes of his vnthriftines / a schole maister of baudry / a coÌ„mon corrupter of vertue Nowe I doubt nat but some wyll thynke my preceptes ouer sore and sharpe Howe be it the nature of all thynges is suche / that the way of vertue is easy and large vnto good meÌ„ / and the way of vice contrarye / strayte and roughe But vnto yll men neither the way that they go in is pleasant / nor the waye of vertue large and easy inough and seyng it is so / hit is better to assent vnto good men than ill and rather to reken the bad folkes opinion false / than the good mennes Pythagoras the philosopher / other of his schole / in the descriptioÌ„ of this letter Y. say / that whan a man is paste the fyrste difficulte of vertue / all after is easy and playne Plato gyueth couÌ„sayle to chose the best way in lyuynge whiche way vse custome shall also make pleasant Our lorde in the gospell saythe / that the way into the kyngdome of heueÌ„ is strayte / nat bycause it is so in dede / but bycause fewe go it except a man wold couÌ„t his wordes false / where he saith My yocke is swete and my burthen lyght Orels where he promyseth / that there is no maÌ„ that forgoth any thynge for his sake / but he shall haue far more for it agayne / yea and that in this lyfe And what was ment therby / but the pleasures of vertue Therfore I se vnto whom my preceptes shal seme rigorous and sharpe / that is yonge meÌ„ / that be ignorant / wanton and vnthriftye whiche can nat ones beare the syght of a good woman And lyke as raÌ„ke horses neye vnto euery mare / so they go about euery tryflyng pyuysshe wenche / that hath a pleasure to be loked vpon loued and they wolde haue theyr folye to be allowable by the multytude of mysdoers As who sayth / the agrement abusion of people myght chaunge the nature of thynges Hit is no newes / that il folke hate them that auyse them well For Theophraste whan he wrote of this same matter / spake moche of mariage sadlye and wysely / he sette commen harlottis in his toppe And one Leontium the concubyne of Metrodorus / started out and babled forthe a boke without all reasoÌ„ / or shame / agaynst that maÌ„ most excellent in wisedome and eloquence whiche dede was thought so intollerable / that as though no more hope of goodnes were lefte / ther rose vp a ê“uerbe of that matter / that the nexte remedy was to seke a tre to go hange vpon Saynt Hierome wryteth of hym selfe vnto the holye mayde Demetrias in this wyse More than thyrty yere ago / I wryte a boke of virginite / in the whiche I must nedes speke agaynst vice and patefy the trappes of the deuyl / for the instruction of the maide that I taught the whiche wrytyng many be agreued withal whan euery one taketh the matter / as said by hym selfe / and wyll nat here me as an exhortour and counselloure / but lothis me as an accuser and rebuker of his doynge Thus saythe he Lo what maner of men we shall displease with teachynge them vertuouslye verely suche as
were a shame rebuke to please but sad men / chaste maydes / vertuous wyues / wyse wydowes / and fynallye all that are true christen people / nat onely in name but also in dede and with their hertes / wyll stande on our partie / whiche knowe and agree all in this / that nothynge can be more mylde and gentyll thā the preceptes of our fayth From the whiche Christe graūt vs neuer to declyne our mynde and pourpose one heares brede I haue put in remembrāce of theyr duete the good and holye women but sleyghtly / other nowe and than I take vp sharpely bycause I sawe that only techyng auayleth but a lytel / vnto those that strugle with the leader / and muste be drawen Therfore haue I spoken sometyme the more playnly that they myght se the filthynes of theyr condicions / as hit were paynted in a table / to thintēt that they shulde be ashamed / and at last leaue theyr shamefull dedes And also that good womē shuld be gladder to se them selfe out of those vices / and labour more to be furder from them / to entre in to the abitacle of vertue For I had leauer as saint Hieronyme counsayleth / auēture my shamefastnes a lytell whyle / than ieoperde my matter so yet that I wolde nat fall in to any vnclenlynes whiche were the greattest shame that can be / for hym that shulde be a maister of chastite wherfore often tymes the reder must vnderstāde more in sētence thā I speke in wordes And this worke most excellent and gratious quene / I offre vnto you in lyke maner as if a peynter wolde bringe vnto you your owne visage and image / mooste counnyngly peynted For like as in that purtrature you might se your bodilye simylitude so in these bokes shall you se the resemblaūce of your mynde goodnes bycause that you haue bene bothe mayde / wyfe / and wydowe / and wyfe agayne as I praye god you maye longe contynue and so you haue handled your selfe in all thordre and course of your lyfe that what so euer you dyd myght be an example vnto other to lyue after But you had leauer the vertues to be preysed than your selfe howe be hit no man canne preyse the vertues of women / but he must nedes cōprehende you in the same preyse howe be it your mynde ought to be obeyed Therfore you shall vnderstande / that many lyke vnto you be preysed here / by name expressely but your selfe spoken of continually / though you be nat named For vertues can neuer be preysed / but they muste nedes be preysed with all / that be excellent in them / thoughe theyr name be nat spoken of Also your dereste daughter Mary shall rede these instructions of myne / and folowe in lyuyng / whiche she muste nedes do if she ordre her selfe after thexāple that she hath at home with her of your vertue and wysedome Nor there is no doubt / but she wyll do after them / and excepte she alone of all other / dysapoynt and begyle euerye mannes opinion / she muste nedes be bothe very good and holy / that is comme of you and noble kyng Henry the viij suche a couple of mates that your honour vertue passe all craftes of preysynge Therfore all other women shall haue an example of your lyfe and dedes and by these bokes that I haue dedicated vnto your name / theys shall haue rules and preceptes to lyue by and so shall they be bounden vnto your goodnes / bothe for that / whiche it selfe hath done in gyuyng example and that hit hath ben thoccasion of my wrytyng And so I pray god gyue your good grace longe well to fare At Bruges the yere of our lorde M.D. and .xxiij. the v. day of Aprile The fyrste boke of the instruction of a Christen woman Of the bryngyng vp of the mayde Whā she is a babe The fyrste chaptre FAbius Quintilian in his boke where he doth instructe teache an oratour / wylleth his begynnyng and entrance to be taken from the cradell / and no time to be slacked vnapplied to warde th ende and purpose of the faculte entended Nowe moche more dylygence ought to be gyuen in a Christen virgine / that we may bothe enfourme her encreace and ordre it and her instruction and entrynge / and that by and by from the mylke whiche I wolde / if hit were possible / shulde be the mothers And the same counsaile gyueth Plutarche and Phauorine / and many other of the wysest and greattest philosophers For by that meanes the loue shall be the more betwene the mother and the daughter / whan none of the mothers name shall be taken from her and put vnto any other For nurces be wonte also to be called mothers And the mother maye more truely reken her daughter her owne / whom she hath nat onely borne in her wombe and brought in to the worlde / but also hath caried styll in her armes of a babe / vnto whom she hath gyuen tete / whom she hath nourisshed with her owne blod / whose slepes she hath cherisshed in her lappe / and hath cherfully accepted and kyssed the fyrst laughes / and fyrst hath ioyfully herde the stameryng of hit / couerynge to speke / and hath holden harde to her brest / prayenge hit good lucke and fortune These thynges shall cause and ingendre suche reuerent inwarde loue in the daughter toward the mother agayne / that she shall be far more loued set by of her doughter / bycause of the loue that she hath so abundantly conceyued towarde her in grene and tender age Who can nowe expresse / what charite these thynges encreace amonge folke / whan wylde beastes that haue no knowlege nor parceiuyng what loue meaneth / yet loue theyr noryshers and bryngers vp / nor shon the daungers of dethe to defende and saue them More ouer I wot nat howe / but so hit is / that we sowke out of our mothers teate to gether with the mylke nat only loue but also condicions and dispositions And that is the cause sayth the philosopher Phauorine / that maketh men to maruayle why they se many children / commen of chaste and good women / nothynge lyke theyr parentes / neither in mynde nor body nor the comen sayeng come vp of nought / whiche is nat vnknowen nat vnto children They that haue bene nurced with sowes milke haue rolled in the myer For that cause the wise mā Chrysippus bad chose the wyseste and beste nurces Whiche precepte I my selfe wyll ensue and coūsaile the mothers / that may nat norisshe their children with their owne mylke / to do likewyse Neyther I wyl so great diligēce to be gyuē in sekyng a nurce for a boy as for a maide Quintilian thought it sufficiēt to cōmaunde that the nurces shulde nat be foule and rude spoken / by cause the wayes and maner of speakyng taken in youth / wolde be harde to gette away As for
suche a noble mayster and Catharine of Alexandria / doughter vnto Costus / whiche ouer came in disputatiōs the greattest most exercised philosophers There was one of the same name Catharine Senēsis a woūdrous coūnynge mayde whiche hath lefte behynde her exāples of her witte in the whiche doth appere the purenes of her moste holy mynde Nor we nede nat to enuy the pagās for theyr poetis whiche haue in one house foure maydes all poetis / the doughters of Philippe And in saynt Hieronymes tyme all holye women were very wel lerned Wolde god that nowe a dayes / many olde mē were able to be cōpared vnto them in counnynge Saynt Hieronyme wryteth vnto Paula / Leta / Eustachiū / Fabiola / Marcella / Furia / Demetrias / Salma / and Hierontia Saynt Ambrose vnto other Saynt Augustyne vnto other and all maruelous wytted / well lerned / and holy Valeria Proba / whiche loued her husbande singularly well / made the lyfe of our lorde Christe out of Virgils verses Wryters of cronicles saye / that Theodosia / doughter vnto Theodosius the yonger / was as noble by her lernyng and vertue / as by her Empire the makynges that be taken out of Homer named centones be called hers I haue red epistoles counnyng workes of Hildegarde / a mayde of Almayne There hath bene sene in our tyme that foure daughters of quene Isabell / of whō I spake a lytell before / that were well lerned all It is tolde me with great preyse and maruayle in many places of this coūtre / that dame Ioanne / the wyfe of kynge Philippe / mother vnto Carolus / that nowe is / was wont to make answere in latyn / and that without any studie / vnto the orations that were made after the custome in townes / vnto newe princes And lyke wyse the Englisshemen say by their quene / sister vnto the said dame Ioanne The same sayth euery body by the other .ij. sisters / whiche be deed in Portugale The whiche .iiij. systers there were no quenes by anye mannes remembraunce more chast of bodye thanne they none of better name / none better loued of theyr subiectes / nor more fauored nor better loued theyr husbandes none that more lawelye dyd obeye them / nor that kepte bothe them and all theyrs better without spotte of vilanye there were none that more hated fylthynes wātonnes none that euer dyd more perfetly fulfyll all the pōytes of a good womā Nowe if a mā may be suffered amonge quenes to speke of more meane folkes / I wolde rekē amōge this sorte the daughters of S. T. M. Kn. M. E. and C. and with them theyr kyns womā M. G whom theyr father nat content only to haue them good and very chast / wolde also they shulde be wel lerned supposyng that by that meane they shulde be more truely and surely chaste Wherin neyther that great wyse man is disceyued / nor none other that are of the same opinion For the studye of lernyng is suche a thyng / the it occupieth ones mynde holly / and lyfteth it vp vnto the knowlege of moste goodly matters and plucketh it from the remembraunce of suche thynges as be foule And if any suche thought come in to theyr mynde / eyther the mynde / well fortified with the preceptes of good lyuynge / auoydeth them awaye / orels hit gyueth none hede vnto those thynges / that be vyle and foule whan it hath other moost goodly and pure pleasure / where with hit is delyted And therfore I suppose that Pallas the goddes of wysedome coūnynge / and all the Muses / were feyned in olde tyme to be virgins And the mynde / set vpon lernynge and wysedome / shall nat only abhorre from foule lust / that is to saye / the moste white thynge from soute / and the most pure from spottes But also they shall leaue all suche lyght and tryflynge pleasures / wherin the lyght fantasies of maydes haue delyte / as songes daunces / and suche other wanton peuysshe playes A woman sayth Plutarche / gyuen vnto lernyng / wyll neuer delyte in daunsynge But here parauenture a man wolde aske / what lernynge a woman shulde be set vnto / and what shall she studie I haue tolde you / The study of wysedome the whiche dothe enstruct their maners / and enfurme theyr lyuyng / and teacheth them the waye of good and holye lyfe As for eloquence I haue no great care / nor a woman nedeth it nat but she nedeth goodnes wysedome Nor it is no shame for a woman to holde her peace but it is shame for her and abomynable to lacke discretion / and to lyue ill Nor I wyll nat here condēpne eloquēce / whiche bothe Quintilian / saynt Hieronyme folowȳg hym say / was preysed in Cornelia the mother of Gracchus / in Hortentia the daughter of Hortentius If there may be founde any holy and well lerned woman / I had leauer haue her to teache them if there be none / let vs chose some man either well aged / orels very good and vertuous / whiche hath a wyfe / and that ryghte fayre ynough / whom he loueth well and so shall he nat desyre other For these thynges oughte to be seen vnto / for as moche as chastite in bryngynge vp a woman requireth the most diligence / and in a maner all together Whan she shal be taught to rede / let those bokes be taken in hande / that may teche good maners And whan she shall lerne to wryte / let nat her example be voyde verses / nor wanton or tryflynge songes but some sad sentence / prudēt and chaste / taken out of holy scripture / or the sayenges of philosophers whiche by often wrytyng she maye fasten better in her memory And in lernyng / as I poynt none ende to the man / no more I do to the woman sauyng it is mete that the man haue knowlege of many dyuerse thynges / that may both profite hym selfe and the cōmon welthe / bothe with the vse and increasynge of lernynge But I wolde the woman shulde be all together in that parte of philosophy / that taketh vpon hit to enfourme / and teache and amende the conditiōs Finally set her lerne for her selfe alone her yonge childrē or her sisters in our lorde For it neither becometh a womā to rule a schole / nor to lyue amōge men / or speke abrode shake of her demurenes honestie / eyther all to gether orels a great parte whiche if she be good / it were better to be at home within / and vnknowē to other folkes And in company to holde her tonge demurely And let fewe se her / and none at all here her Thapostle Paule the vessel of election / enfurmyng teachyng the churche of the Corinthis with holy preceptes / saythe Let your women holde theyr tonges in congregations nor they be nat allowed to speake but to be subiecte as the lawe biddeth If they
in the nyghte / whiche they called Hiacinthina / toke away .xv. maydens that were playenge in company there / and went all nyght a pace fleyng out of the countre with them and whan some of his men wolde haue deuoured them / he charged them / as wel as he coude / that they shuld nat do so and at the last some that wolde nat obey he put to dethe / to feare the reste with all After / whaÌ„ these maydes were redemed agayne by their frendes / and they sawe this Aristomenes sewed for the deth of a man / they wolde neuer go home / but lay ê“strate at the fete of the iuges vntil they se hyÌ„ quitte / that was defender of theyr chastite Howe shulde we sufficieÌ„ly preyse the doughters of Scedasus of Leuctres / a towne of the couÌ„tre of Beoce / whiche their father being from home / as we rede / had receyued .ij yonge men by the way of hospytalite / and they dronke with ouer moche wyne / in the nyght rauyshed the maydes / whiche whaÌ„ they had lost theyr virginite / wolde lyue no longer / but kyld one an other Also the maydes of Locrean be worthy to be spokeÌ„ of / that had a custome in their countres / to be sende yerely vnto Ilium whiche custome had contynued a thousande yere / nor yet was there neuer herde tell / that any had any report name of disteynynge theyr virginite Who can let passe vnspoken of the .vij. maydens of Milesye / whiche whan the frenche men distroyed all about theyr countre / kylled them selfe / leste they shulde be compelled to any villany / leauyng an example vnto all virgins / that vnto an honeste mynde the chaste purenes of bodye oughte to be more regarded than the lyfe Nycanor after he had coÌ„quered Thebes the cite / was takeÌ„ in the loue of a mayde / that he had taken prisoner / and wolde haue maryed her / whiche thyng might haue pleased a poure prysoner / but she sette more by her virginite / than by his kyngdome / and there kylled her selfe / whiche thyng he made great sorowe fore / holdyng the deade body in his armes Greke writers tell of an other mayde of Thebes / that whan her enemy a Macedon had deflowred her / a whyle she dissembled her angre / and after founde the corrupter of her virginite slepyng / whom she slewe / and after that her selfe / for ioye that she had aueÌ„ged her selfe of that abhomynable vilanye nor she wolde lyue no longer / than she had her virginite nor dye / tyll she had auenged her chastite All this sayth saynt Hieronyme Therfore christen women maye be ashamed / if any shame were in them / that do nat kepe theyr chastite truly lyuyng vnder the moste chaste Christe / sonne of the mooste chaste mother / and in the most chast churche / and faythe / seynge that pagans / worshippers of fylthye Iuppiter / baudy Venus / haue set more by their chastite / thaÌ„ all other thynges Where to shulde I recyte here the exaÌ„ples of holy virgins / to moue them with / that be nat ashamed / that chaste pagans shulde be ones named Whom shulde I specially shewe them to folowe example of amonge so many thousandes / Tecla / or Hagnes / Catharine / Lucia / or Cecile / Agatha / Barbara / or Margarita / or Dorothe / or rather the holle flocke of the .xj. thousaÌ„de virgins / whiche all hadde leauer dye / than they ennemyes shulde do theyr coursed pleasure with them Thou shalte skarse fynde .ij. men that shall so stedfastly agre in that holy purpose wherin .xj. thousande render virgins were to faste and stable There were infynyte in nombre / that had leauer be kylled / heded / straÌ„gled / drowned / or haue theyr throtis cutte / than lose their chastite whiche whaÌ„ they wold nat ste them selfe / yet they sought crafte to come by their deth / whaÌ„ they were in ieoperdye of their chastite / as Brasilla / a noble maide / borne in Dirchache / a cite of Italy / which whaÌ„ she saws her ennemye come to be rafte her of her virginite / promysed vnto hym / that if he wolde do her no vil lany / she wolde gyue hym an herbe / where of if he were anoynted with the iuse / no wepen shulde perce hym the man of warre was coÌ„tent with the offre So she went in to the nexte garden / and there toke vp an herbe / the fyrst that came to hande / and bad hym aueÌ„ture the fyrst profe on her selfe / of the vertue of the herbe / anoynted her throte there with / and bad hym smyte / to assay so he smote / and kylled her Neyther saynt Hieronyme disaloweth / that a woman kylle her selfe / to saue her chastite with And saynt Ambrose in the .iij. boke / that he wryteth of virgins / laythe agaynst this doubte the example of Pelagey the martyr / saying / there nedeth none other confyrmation / where we haue the dede of a virginne and a martyr / of fyltene yeres of age / whiche with her mother and her syters together / caste her selfe in to a water Saynt Euseby in the ecclesiastical historie sayth / that one Sophronia a noble woman / whan she sawe her husbande that was the chiefe offycer of the cyte afferde / vnable to defende her goodnes agaynst the foule and vnlawful pleasure of Maximine the emperour / closed her selfe in her chambre / there kylled her selfe and yet the churche hathe alowed her for a martyr All these examples of chastite be redde in the churche Howe dare an vnchaste and a noughty woman come thether / nor be a basshed to bryng a brothelrye in to the coÌ„pany of virgins / and defyle those pure etes with her fylthye lokes / and polute tender yeres with her corrupt voyces Thou vngratious woman / darste thou name Catharin / Hagnes / or Barbara / and fyle those holy names with thyne vnpure mouthe Darste thou name thy selfe by any of those names / and make thy selfe in name lyke vnto them / to whom thou arte so vnlyke to in conditions / and a very deedly enemy Nor cometh hit nat to thy remembrance / whan thou hereste thy selfe called / what maner one she was / whose name thou bearest And whaÌ„ thou remembrest / that she was so pure / chast / and good / and agayne thy selfe so vnpure / vnchaste / and vugrations / doste thou nat rage day nyght / for thought and repentaunce O thou moost shameles of all women / howe darest thou halowe the natiuite of the most pure virgin / that art thy selfe vnworthy euer to be borne And dareste thou shewe we thy shameles face vnto her most demure eies And woldest thou haue her to here or loke at the so ouer couerte with noughtynes / whiche whan she was in this worlde / was neuer wont to se nor here no me / nat though they were full
but for the fylthy pleasure of lechery and elles either hateth enuieth other But they that wolde kepe the nature of thynges holle and pure / neyther corrupte them with wronge vnderstandyng / shulde reken / that wedlocke is a bande couplyng of loue / benyuolence / frendshippe / and charite / cōprehendynge with in hit all names of goodnes / swetnes / and amyte Therfore let the mayde neither catche / and disceyue by subtylte hym / that shulde be her inseparable felowe / nor pull drawe by playne violence but take and be taken by honeste / symple / playne / and good maner / that neyther of them complayne with both their harmes or say / they were disceyued or compelled Here endeth the fyrst boke of the instruction of a Christen woman The seconde boke of the instruction of a Christen Woman Of Wedlocke The fyrst Chaptre THis is no place here to reson either the laudes or dispreyses of wedlocke Nor the olde questiōs are to be touched as / Is it for a wyse man to wedde a wyfe Nor the questions of our christen men / concernynge wedlocke / single lyfe / and virginite / and other / that saynt Augustine / and other doctours of our christen faith haue disputed I knowe / there haue bene some that haue sore rebuked wedlocke and that nat only heretickes / as the Manicheis / that vtterly commanded to absteyne from maryage whose errours be clene damned and banished but also pagans / whiche haue gyuen iugemēt of the holle kynde of women / vpon certayne euyll ouer moche folowyng the common gyse / whiche vpon the knowlege of a fewe / deme the holle natiō So the Carthaginences were defamed as false of promyse So the Cilicians as theuis and robbers the Romayns as couetous / the Grekes as inconstant and variable The honeste wyues ought to hate and blame the noughty wyues as a shame and sklander vnto all the kynde And truly no mā durst euer so farre dispreise woman kynde but he muste nedes confesse / that a good woman is the beste treasure / and mooste luckye and prosperous thynge that can be And as Xenophon saythe / she is the greattest cause of mānes felicite There is nothynge more swete than a good wyfe / sayth the wyse man Theognis lykewyse Xystus in his sentenses callethe her mannes ioye Eurypides the poet / whiche was sharpely vexed with .ij. noughty wyues / stuffed his tragidies with rebukes and raylynge on women / he was named in a greke worde / the hater of women yet neuer the lesse he douted nat to affyrme / that no pleasure was lyke theyrs / that had good wyues And Hesyodus the poet / a very enemy of women / sayth that as nothynge is more infortunate than a mā / that chaūceth on an euyll wyfe so lyke wyse no greatter felicite and welthe any man maye haue / than hath he / that hath a good wyfe Kyng Solomon / whithe was bysyde hym selfe for women / and of the moste wyse made the moste vnwyse / often tymes as cursynge his wyckedde dedes / he fyersly rebuketh women But so yet that he sheweth playnly by whom he mente For in his prouerbes he wryteth / that an vnwyse woman and full of boldenes shall lacke breadde And as a tre is cōsumed of the tymber worme / so he saythe is a man of an euyll wyfe But loke in the same boke / howe goodlye gaye is the preyse of a good woman of whom he sayth thus Noble is her husbande in the gates whan he sytteth with the auncient fathers of the erth Fortitude and beautie shal be the rayment of an holy woman / and she shall laugh in the laste day She hath opened her mouth vnto wisedome / and the lawe of mekenes is in her tonge / her children haue rysen vp and called her the most blessed and her husbande hath commended her Many women haue gethered ryches but thou haste passed them all These many other good wordes hath the wyse kynge spoken whiche are approued and alowed of euery wyse man with one assent Nowe I force nat for those disputations or more lyke sermons that sharpe wytted men haue made of wedlocke For doutles allerned men byd wed whiche thynge they dyd them selfe The .vij. wyse men of Grece were maried fyrst / and after that Pythagoras / Socrates / Aristotel / and Theophrast / bothe the Catons / Cicero / and Senec bicause they wel perceyued that nothynge was more after nature / than the couplyng of man and woman Wherby man kynde beynge in sundrye persons mortall / is made in all to gether euer lastynge and wherby a man yeldeth agayne vnto his successours / that whiche he taketh of his predecessours and as hit were rendreth a benifite vnto nature Aristotel in his morall bokes exorteth wyse men vnto maryage / nat onely to th entent to haue childrē / but also bicause of company For that is the principal and greattest vnite that can be For thus goth the matter in dede Of that consyderation and vniuarsall frēdship / wher with all folkes are knytte to gether as bretherne descēded of god one father of all thȳges where with nature her selfe / that in all men is the same / byndeth vs to gether with a certayne charite / more nere is that frendship / whiche is amonge folkes of one faith and it is plucked more narowe by mannes ordynaunce and lawe ciuyle For citizens fauoure more one an other / than they do foreyns and of cytyzens our speciall frendes are most dere to vs of them we loue best our owne kyns folke and of kyns folke nothynge is more nere than the wyfe whom the fyrst father of mākynde / as sone as he sawe her / sayde by by / that it was a bone of his bones / flesshe of his flesshe And whan there was yet neyther fathers nor mothers / he gaue a lawe / as in the name of nature / sayeng in this wyse For her sake a mā shall leaue bothe father mother / and abyde with his wyfe Who than can denye but that wedlocke is a thing most holy Whiche god ordeyned in paradise / whā mankynde was yet pure and clene / with no spotte defyled He chose hit in his mother he alowed hit with his presence and wolde do his fyrst myracle at the solemnyte of maryage / and there shewe an euydent token of his godheed / vnto the entent he myght declare / that he was comen to saue them / that were bothe lost by folkes so coupled / borne by folkes so coupled But I wryte nat here of the preyses of wedlocke / wher vpon often tymes most eloquente men haue made longe sermons For I do onely instruct vertuous women What a Woman ought to haue in mynde whan she maryeth The .ij. Chaptre wHat tyme a woman maryeth / she shulde calle to remembraunce the begynnynge of wedlocke / and busily consyder in her mynde and thought the lawes of
they loue agayne suche as make semblaūce as though they loued them and do nat in dede Hit were good for a wyfe to vse that counsayle / that Horace the wyse poet gyueth vnto Lollius / howe to vse his frende / vyddyng hym applye hym selfe vnto his frendes appetyte If he lyste hunte sayth he / do thou nat syt to make versys / but cast vp thy muses / and folowe the herses caryeng the nettes / leade forthe dogges Amphion and zetus were bretherne and twynnes borne of Anthiopia / the one was verye coūnyng in harpyng / thother rude and vnlerned Nowe whan the sounde of the harpe pleased nat zetus / and lyke to departe company betwixte the two bretherne / Amphion therfore layde downe his harpe and so let the wyfe ordre ber selfe after her husbandes maners / and pleasure / lest he hate and set noughte by her We rede in histories / that Andromacha Hectors wyfe gaue hay ootes vnto his horses with her owne handes / bycause she sawe what delyte her husbande had in them / and kepte them for warre / as dilygently as coulde be And Cecilius Plinius sheweth in many pistelles that he loued his wyfe moste derely / in whiche pistolles ther is one writen vnto Hispula his wyues awnt / whiche had brought her vp / where he gyueth her great thākes / that she so taught her and brought vp / whan she was a chylde and also shewed the cause why he loued his wyfe so well / wrytynge of his wyfe in this wyse She loueth me / whiche is a sygne of chastite And more ouer she is greatly gyuen vnto lernyng whiche fantasy she hath taken by the loue she hath vnto me She hath my bokes / and redeth / and lerneth them without boke whāso euer I shall pleade / she is wōders carefull and whan I haue done merueylous ioyfull She settes folkes to watche / howe I am lyked of the people / what countenaunce / what noyse I cause them to make / what iudgement I get in the ende And whan so euer I reherse a lectoure / she getteth her nexte vnto me / seperate from the other herers with a vayle / and herkeneth moste diligently for my prayses She syngeth my verses / and playeth them on the lute None other maister teacheth her / but the loue she hath vnto me / whiche is the best schole maister of all This wryteth Plinius A late whā I was at Paris and talked with Guilielmus Budeus at his owne hous / and his wyfe come bye / where as we walked / a goodly personne and a fayre / as a man shulde loke vpon / whiche as I coude deme by her comly maner and countenance / me thought shulde be both a prudēt and vertuous huswyfe So she after she hadde salued her husbande / with suche reuerence as a good woman shulde / and had welcommed me curtesly and honorably / I asked hym if she were his wyfe / yes forsoth saythe he / this is my wyfe / whiche so diligently foloweth my pleasure / that she intreateth my bokes no worse than her owne chyldren / bycause she seeth me loue studye so well In whiche thyng me thynke her worthy more preyse than was Plinius wyfe in as moche as she was lerned her selfe / and this is nat Nowe howe moche more honestly dothe she / than suche as drawe theyr husbandes from study / and counsayle them to luker / playe / or other pleasures / that they may obtayne parte them selfe / either of luker / playe / or volupties / bycause they can get no parte of theyr study And the foles knowe nat howe moche more sure and veraye pleasure hit were / to haue a wyse man than a ryche or voluptuous Moreouer they shulde lyue a great deale more quietlye with wyfe men than with ignorant foles / that neuer had set the brydell of reason to rule theyr fantasyes withal / whiche be for the more parte caried quite away with suche motions as comme in theyr myndes Nor she shulde loth in her husbande neither study nor any thing els / either by wordes / countenance / or gesture / or any maner of sygnes she shall loue all thynge in hym / haue all thynge in reuerence / and set great store by it / what so euer he dothe / assent all thyng vnto hym / and beleue what so ener he sayth / though he tolde that neither were true / nor lyke to be / nor presume aboue her husbande in any maner thyng she shall reken hym her father / her lorde / her elder / her better This shal she both knowlege in dede / and make semblaunce of For howe can any loue or frendship stande / if thou beynge ryche dispise hym poure or fayre thy selfe / loth hym beyng foule or thy selfe of great bloode / disdayne hym as of lowe byrthe Iuuenall saith / there is nothynge more intollerable than a ryche wyfe Saynt Hieronyme saith the same / writing agaynst Iouyntane And Theophrast sayth / it is a turment to suffre a ryche wyfe but I canne nat beleue that / excepte they say / if she be ill and lewde with all For what a lewdenes is hit / nat to consyder howe vayne a thyng that money is for hit is the vylest of all thyng that men be proude of But many lyghte and frayle myndes wyll ryse a lofte with a lyttell wynde Ah foole / doth nat wedlocke make all thynge commen For if that frendshipe make all thyng commen / howe moche more dothe maryage make commen nat onely theyr money / but also frendes / kynsfolke and all thynges elles Wherfore the Rhomayns as Plutarche saythe / commaunded in theyr lawes / that the husbande and wyfe shulde gyue nothyng one vnto a nother / bycause that neither shulde reken any thynge pryuatly theyr owne In a good commen wele Plato sayth / that these wordes / myne and thyne / shulde be put awaye Than moche more in a good house holde / whiche is than the beste most perfet / therto moste welthfull / whan there is as one body vnder one heed For if it haue many heddes or many bodyes / hit is lyke a monster Moreouer all the husbandes and after the similitude of Plutarch / though there be more water thā wyne in the cuppe / yet is all the myxture called wyne / so thoughe the woman brynge neuer so moche with her / and the man neuer so lytell / yet all is his For he muste nedes haue all that the woman hath / that hath her selfe is her lorde And thou mayst here our lorde say to the Womā thou shalte be in the rule of thy husbande and he shall haue the maistre on the. Nor he is to be dispised for his fauoure For thou haste fauour / he hath the / with thy fauour I wyll nat dispute / howe sklender a thing beautte is / whiche standeth but onely in mennes opynyons For she that is fayre in one mannes sight / is foule in
Neither here / or at least wyse gyue no hede vnto suche matters / as ptayne nat to thēcreasyng of vertue The poet Iuuenall rebuketh suche women as be wyse / what the people of Seres and Thrace do and what sturrynge is all the worlde ouer Also Cato in his oration / that he made of womē / wolde an honest wyfe shulde be ignorant / what lawes be made or anulled in her countrey / or what is done amonge men of lawe in the courte And here vpō rose this comen sayenge of the Grekes womens workes ought to be webbes of cloche / and nat eloquent orations And Aristotle sayth / it is lesse rebuke for a man to be busye to knowe what is done in his kytchyn / than for the woman what is done without her house Therfore he byddeth / that she shall neither speke nor here at all of any matters of the realme Seneke writeth / that his aunt for sixtene yere to gether / while her husbande was presidēt in Egypt / was neuer sene forth of her house / nor neuer resceyued into her house any of that coūtrey nor neuer asked any thyng of her husbāde / nor suffered any thynge to be asked of her selfe Therfore sayth he / that same countrey / whiche is very bablyng / and wyly to fynde faute with theyr rulers / in the whiche many a mā hath ruled with out faute / howe be it nat without an yll name / yet they gaue reuerēce vnto her / as a special example of holynes / kept in al their raylyng wordes / whiche is harde for hym to do / that hath a pleasure in ieoperdus conseytes And yet vnto this day they wyshe for suche a nother as she though they haue no hope to get her It had ben a great thyng / if the coūtrey had lyked her but .xvj. dayes / but it was a greatter thyng / that they knewe her nat These be Senekes wordes For that holy and wyse womā vnderstode well inough / that ofte accompanyeng with men shulde hynder some of her good name as hit doth no good to fyne clothe to be handled of many Ther be some womē that beare them selfe high of other folkes honore / as of theyr husbādes brother / kynsmā / and some of a frēde / with whom they haue very small acquantance What a foly is this to handle thy selfe so / that a nother shall be made good and worthy honoure / for his owne vertue / and thou made nought and vnworthy honoure / with a nother bodies vertue And many there be / that so abuse theyr kynsmennes power / that they make both them selfe / and them that haue the power hated by the meanes as the wyfe of the brother of Vitellius the emperour / whiche toke more vpon her / bicause of her brother in lawes principalite / thā themperours wyfe her selfe dyd The hedy domination of the sisters of Hiero Kyng of Siracuse / moued the people vnto insurrection where with bothe the kynge and all his children were distroyed There was also in our dayes a certayne noble man / that had a wonderous proude wyfe / and hit chaunsed hym to be tourned out of all his goodes and possessions at ones / whom euery man thought was well serued / bycause the womā vsed her selfe so proude and arrogantlye vpon her husbandes power Therfore you women that wyll medle with comon matters of realmes and cites / and wene to gouerne people and nations with the braydes of your stomackes / you go about to hurle downe townes afore you you light vpō an harde rocke where vpon though you brouse and shake countres very sore / yet they scape you perysshe For you knowe neyther measure nor order and yet whiche is the worst poynt of all / you wene you knowe veray well / and wyll be ruled in nothynge after them that be experte But you attempte to drawe all thynge after your fantasye without discretion Wene you it was for nothynge / that wyse men for bad you rule and gouernance of coūtreis and that saynt Paule byddeth you shall nat speke in congregatyon and gatherynge of people All this same meaneth / that you shall nat medle with matters of realmes or cities / your owne house is a cite great inoughe for you as for forthe abrode / neither knowe you / nor be you knowen Thucydides wolde nat that a good womā shulde be as moche as praysed with the comen voyce and moche lesse dispraysed But he wolde she shulde be clerely vnknowen / neither the comon fame to make any mētiō of her It is no great sygne of honesty for a womā to be moche knowen / talked / and sōge of and to be marked by some speciall name in many mennes mouthes as to be called fayre / or coclede yed / skwynt / browne / halte / fatte / pale or leane For these thynges in a good woman oughte to be vnknowen abrode / as we haue shewed in the boke afore Nat withstandyng ther be some that must nedes be a brode / for theyr lyuynge / as those that by sell whiche / if it were possible / I wolde nat that women shulde be put to those busynesses and if it muste nedes be so / let olde women do them / or maryed women that be paste myddle age But if yonge women must nedes do this / let them be curteise without flatterynge wordes / and shamfaste without presumsion / and rather take losse in theyr marchaundise / than in theyr honestye I say this bycause of some / whiche do entyse byers to them with excedyng flatteryng wordes But Plautus saithe / it is no poynt mete for an honest wyfe / but for a harlotte / to flatter other men whose dissaytes with in a whyle whan men knowe them / they escheme as warelye as the meremaydes songe Shamfastnes shall gette a great deale more gaynes / whom the byer shall coniecture bothe by the face and conditions / wyll neither lye nor disceyue them A ryche marchaunte hath pleasure in pleasant wordes and merye conceytes But yet fewe wyll gyue money for them and whan it cometh to the marchaundise in ernest / no man wyll beleue suche wanton speche But howe so euer these matters be / let a woman euer haue this in mynde and remembrance / that the only treasure of a woman is honestye with shamefastnes Nowe seynge I wolde haue an honeste wyfe thus ordred at home / you maye easily perceyue / howe I do alowe / that she shulde go to warre and hādle armour / whiche I wolde nat she shulde ones name And wolde to god all christen men wolde lay them away Nowe that wydowe Iudith is vanisshed away / whiche was but a shadowe and signyfication of thynges to come / and with her contynence and holynes cut of the hed of Holopherne / that is to say the deuyll Nowe Delbōra / that iudged Israel / gyueth place vnto the gospell of Christe howe be it she dyd nat helpe the
Our lorde gaue Isaac the image of Christe / the begynner of .ij. great nations of people / vnto Sara in her olde age whiche was nat discontent with her barrennes / in that tyme / whan barrennes was rekened a great shame The angell of our lorde shewed vnto the wyfe of Manna / a good and a chast womā / that Sampson shulde be borne of her / the iudge and delyuerer of Israell Suche children do they optayne / that so aske For they that be conceyued of synne and wickednes / can be naught elles / but vngratiousnes The wordes of the angell vnto Sampsons mother be these Thou art baren and without children howe be it thou shalte conceyue beare a sonne Therfore se thou drynke neyther wyne nor ale / nor eate any vnpure thȳg For thou shalte conceyue and beare a sonne / whose heed no razec shall touche for he shal be blessed of god from his babes age / from the wombe of his mother and shall begynne to delyuer Israell out of the hādes of the philystyns These wordes put me in remembraunce nowe / to gyue women with chylde warnyng / that so longe as they be great / they neither eate so moche to take surfet of / nor drynke to be drounke with For many chyldren haue afterwardes vsed the same thynges / that theyr mothers delited in / whā they were with chylde with them Nowe for to declare / what diligence oughte to be gyuen to chyldren in the bryngynge vp of them / were to longe to be comprehended in this boke / if I shulde teache euery thȳg at large Wherof many counnyng men / both of olde tyme late / haue writē moche in bokes made purposely for the same matter I wyll touche a fewe thȳges / the methȳke pertayne vnto the duetie of a wyse house wyfe Fyrste of all / let the mother reken her childrē to be all her treasure There came vpon a tyme a great ryche woman vnto Rome / out of the countrey of Campanya / whiche was hosted and lodged with the noble womā Cornelia / wyfe of Gracchus ther this ryche woman shewed out her great treasure vnto Cornelia / abundaunde of syluer and golde / ryche raymentes / and precious stones Whiche whan Cornelia had preysed / than desired this woman of Campany / that she wolde do so moche agayne / as shewe her treasure Cornelia answered / that she wolde do so at nyght Nowe were her children gone to schole / and were nat yet comen home So at nyght / whā the chyldren were comē home / she shewed them vnto this womā / and sayd these be my chiefe treasure Another tyme a certayne woman of Ionia / made great boste and shewe of glorious clothes / of great price and goodly worke / Cornelia sayd this woman maketh great bost of her clothes / but my foure sonnes indued with all kynde of vertue / be vnto me in steade of precious clothes / with costly worke / and all treasure Therfore in kepyng of this treasure / and increasyng it / there is no labour to be refused Loue shall make all labour lyght and easye Wherfore she shall nourisshe them with her owne mylke and obey the cōmaundement of nature / whiche gyuyng .ij. breastis with mylke / vnto euery woman delyuered of childe / semeth to crye and byd euery woman / that hath borne childe / to kepe childe as other lyuynge creatures do Also that wyse and lyberall mother of all thyng / Nature hath tourned all that blode / whiche wente vnto the nourisshement of the childe / whyle hit was in the mothers wombe / after that the chylde is borne / she sendeth hit vppe vnto the breastis / tourned into whyte mylke / to nourisshe the childe with all neither forsaketh the tēder babe / after that it is borne / but nourissheth hit with the same fode / where of she hath made hit But I haue spoken inough of this matter in the boke afore After wardes / if the mother can skyll of lernyng / let her teache her litle children her selfe / that they maye haue all one / bothe for theyr mother / theyr nouryse / and theyr teacher And that they may loue her also the more / and lerne with better corage / and more spede / by the meanes of the loue / that theyr teacher hath towarde them As for her daughters / she shall besyde the lernyng of the boke / instructe them also with womennes craftes as to handle wolle flexe / to spynne / to weaue / to sowe / to rule and ouer se an house Neyther a vertuous mother ought to refuse lernynge on the boke / but nowe and than studye and rede holy and wyse mēnes bokes and though she do it nat for her owne sake / at the least wyse for her childrē / that she may teache them / and make them good As Euridice / whan she was of great age / sette her selfe vnto lernynge / and study of philosophy / onely to th entent / that she myght teache her children and so she did For the babe fyrste hereth her mother / and fyrste begynneth to enforme her speche after hers For that age can do nothyng it selfe / but coūterfet and folowe other and is counnyng in this thing only She taketh her fyrst conditions and information of mynde / by suche as she hereth / or seeth by her mother Therfore it lyeth more in the mother / thā meu wene / to make the conditions of the children For she maye make them whether she wyll / very good / or very badde Nowe howe she shall make them good / I wyll gyue a fewe shorte rules Let her gyue her diligence / at least wise by cause of her children / that she vse no rude and blounte speche / lest that maner of spekyng take suche route in the tender myndes of the children / and so growe increase together with theyr age / that they can nat forget it Children wyll lerne no speche better / nor more plaȳly expresse / thā they will their mothers For they wyll counterfete both the vertue and the vice / if any be in it Iames / the kyng of Aragone / after that he had wonne my countre Valence / out of the handes of the Agarenes / whiche inhabited the citie that tyme / he droue out the people / and commaunded men of Aragon / and womē of Ilerda to go dwell in hit So the children that came of them bothe / with all theyr posterite / kepte theyr mothers language whiche we speke there vnto this daye For the space of more than .ij. hundred and .l. yere Tyberius Gracchus / Gayus Gracchus / were coūted the most eloquent mē of Rome / and they lerned it of their mother Cornelia / whose epistols were red in the olde worlde / full of pure eloquence Istrina the quene of Scythia / wyfe vnto kyng Aripithis / taught her son Syles the greke tonge Also Plato commandeth / that nurces
counsayle her that that is good / or put her in remēbrāce / whan she is maryed / of suche coūsayles as she gaue her / whā she was vnmaried but she shal nat mel with her in suche poyntes / as she thȳketh will displease her sonne in lawe She shall nat leade her to churches / nor brynge her home / nor speke to her / if she thynke it be agayne her sonne in lawes wyll Neither let any folysshe woman say to me on this maner what / may I nat speke to myn owne daughter She is thy daughter in dede / but nowe she is nat thy womā For what so euer ryght thou haddest to her / thou hast gyuen it ouer to thy sonne in lawe Therfore and thou loue thy daughter / and woldest se her happy / that is to say lyue in cōcorde with her husbande / exhorte her alwaye / and gyue her counsaile to obey her husbāde in euery poynt / nor lette her ones speake with the without he wyll gyue her leaue For who so euer wyll haue more libertie with a mans wyfe / thā the husbāde wyll suffre is an adulterer And who so euer toucheth any thyng of an other mans agaynst the owners wyll / is a thefe She shall loue her son in law none other wise thā her owne son but yet she shall reuerēce hȳ more than her owne son For a woman ought nat to thynke / that she may be as homely ouer her son in lawe / as her owne sonne but she shall desyre his welfare as moche as her owne son / and gyue hym as good counsayle exhortation but yet in suche maner / that she may seme rather to exhorte and require hym / than byd and commaunde hym Of a wyfe well worne in age The .xv. Chaptre A wyfe well shotte in age / shall do as philosophers saye the byrde of Egypte doth / whiche whan hit is olde / purgeth all the fylthy humours of hit body with spices of Araby / sendeth forthe of hit mouthe a wonderous swete breth so a woman / whan she is past the pleasure of the body / and hath done with bearyng bryngyng vp of children / than shall she sauour brethe all heuenly / she shall neither say nor do any thyng / that is nat full of holynes / and that may be example for yonger folkes to take hede of Thā as Gorgy as the Rethorycian saythe / her name shall begynne to spryng and be knowen / whan her person is vnknowen than her lyfe / holyly passed before / shall begynne to appere than in dede a vertuous woman shall rule her husbande by obeysaunce / shall brynge to passe / that her husbande shal haue her ī great auctorite / whiche afore tymes hath lyued euer vnder her husbandes rule Archyppa / wyfe vnto Themistocles / by diligent obediēce vnto her husbāde / optayned of hym suche loue / that he agayne / whan he was the most wyse and most noble man / yet folowed he his wyues mynde / almost in euery thyng and there of came this fasfiō of argumēt / whiche in bordes was comen amōge the grekes what someuer this childe wyll / they ment Theophantus Themystocles sonne / whom the mother loued tenderly / thā argued they thus What someuer this childe wyll / the mother wyll What so euer the mother wyll / Themistocles wyll and what so euer Themistocles wyll / all the cite of Athens wyll and what so euer the cite of Athens wyll all grece wyll Our lorde commaūded Abraham / to take hede vnto Saras wordes / bycause she was aged / and past the lust of the body Wherfore she wold nat coūsaile hym any childishe thȳg / or that he nede to be ashamed of / by the reason of her wanton body Therfore whan a wyfe cometh vnto this estate / and all her children maryed / and her selfe tydde out of wordly busynes / than let her loke to the grounde with her body / yeldyng it vnto the grounde / but with her mynde beholde the heuen / whither her mynde shulde flytte / and lyfte vp all her sensis / her thought / and all her mynde vnto god / and prepare and applye her selfe holly to her iourney / nor thynke nothynge / but that per tayneth vnto her iourney / whiche drawethe towarde But lette her be wyse leste in steade of holynes / she falle in superstion / by the reason of ignorance Let her be moche in holy workes howe be it / yet trust more vpon the mercy and the goodnes of god / nor trust nat on her selfe / as though by the reason of her workes / she myght come thether / as she intendeth / rather than by the benyfite gyfte of god And whyles her harte is lustyer than her body / leaue some of her bodily labour / and labour more with her mynde Let her praye more more intentyuely let her thynke often of god / and more feruētly / fastles / and wery her selfe lesse with walkyng about vnto churches Hit is no nede to mynisshe her aged body / and forsake her norysshyng Let her do good vnto other / by gyuȳg them good counsayle Let her do them good also with exāple of her lyfe / of the whiche commodite a great parte shall retourne vnto her selfe Here endeth the seconde boke The thyrde boke of the instruction of a Christen woman Of the mournynge of wydowes The fyrste Chaptre A Good Woman whan her husbād is deed / ought to knowe / that she hath the greatteste losse dāmage / that can bechaunce her in the worlde and that ther is taken from her the hart of mutual and tender loue towarde her and that she hath loste nat only the one halfe of her owne lyfe as lerned men were wonte to saye / whan they had loste them / whom they loued derely but her selfe also to be taken from herselfe all to gether / perisshed Of this cause maye come honest wepynge / sorowe / and mournynge / with good occasion / and waylynge nat to blame Hit is the greattest token that can be of an harde harte and an vnchast mynde / a womā nat to wepe for the dethe of her husbande Howe be it there be .ij. kyndes of womē / whiche in mournȳg for their husbandes / in contrarye wayes do bothe a mys That is bothe they that mourne to moche / those that mourne to lyttel I haue sene some womē no more moued with the dethe of theyr husbandes / than it hadde bene but one of lyght aqueyntance / that hadde dyed whiche was an euident sygne of but colde loue vnto theyr husbādes Whiche thȳg is so foule / that none can be more abhomynable / nor more cursed And if a manne aske them / why they do so / or rebuke them / they answere agayne / the nature of the coūtrey so requireth And the same excusis laye they for them / that vse to put the cause of theyr vices in some planet / or
that be good and caste your selfe in to perpetuall care For if thou be maryed to a fayre one / he wyll be proude of his person And if thou marye to a rythe one / his substance maketh hym stately And if thou be maried to one of great byrthe / his kynred exalteth his stomacke Nowe / if thou marye vnto one for his fayrenes / whiche hathe neyther reason / nor vertue / nor any droppe of wytte / as it is ofte proued by experience / as the wyse man of Grece sayd by these goodly Innes / where be foule hostesses by lyke reason thou myght marye an ymage or a paynted table Canst thou fynde in thy harte to be a foles wyfe / for his goodes Thanne mightest thou as well desyre to be maried to an ymage of golde Woldest thou be maried vnto a getylman borne / whiche is of fylthye and nought ye lyuynge / for his blode as well than thou myghteste those the ymage of Scipio or Cesar And in very dede it were better to be maried vnto an ymage / or a picture / or to a paynted table / than to be maryed to a vicious / or a folysshe / or a brayneles man Wherfore I may better compare them vnto asses / or swyne / lyons / or wolfes / than to mad mē And in tyme passed / I thought it had bene but a fable / that men telle / howe Palyphat the quene of Candy / dyd lye with a bulle and other as vngratious dedes as that whiche I haue harde say / other women haue done but nowe me thynketh them all lykely inough to be true / whan I se women can fynde in theyr hartes / to tomble and lye with vicious and fylthy mē / and dronkerdes / and braulers / and dawysshe / brayneles / cruell murderars For what difference is betwene them and asses / swyne / bores / bulles / or beares What madnes is it to haue delyte in suche men / and to flee and eschewe wyse men / as Plutarke the philosopher sayth / flee honeste men and good men / as warely as they wolde flee from venomous bestis Wherfore it was well and aptly spoken / that a countrey man of myne sayde / that the nature of women was in chosynge mē / lyke vnto the female wolues whiche amonge a great sorte of males / take the fouleste and worste fauored but men neuer caste any fauoure to a woman / but for some good propretie / either of substāce / person / or witte And women many tymes loue some men / bycause there is nothynge in them worthye to be beloued ▪ wherby they declare the more playnly / that they go without reason whiche thynge I say by some that haue nothynge a do with theyr reason / but all gyuen and applied vnto their bodye Agaynst whom I haue spoken sharpely / bicause they dote / and fonde good yonge men / and brynge them to fylthynes and foly / whan they wolde fayne please the women / and se they can nat / excepte they go wyde from all conditions perteynynge vnto men For lyke as childrē / whiche be gyuē all vnto sporte and playe / neither haue discretion for lacke of age to comprehende any depe matter / haue onely in pryce and regarde those / that can hādle theyr sportes and pastymes the moste aptly so women set all vpon pleasures / and volupties / wantonnes / and foly / thynke no man wyse / but those that can well conuey suche matters and what so euer perteyneth to wytte sadnes / they counte foly So their discretion is blynded so sore / that they loue / estyme and set by foles / and coūte them for great wyse men abhorre them / that be wyse in dede / hate dispyse / and lothe them / and take them for foles in lyke maner as folkes that be sicke of a great agewe / wene that swete meate is bytter and as sowes haue more delice in myre and durte than in swete flowres What hope shall we haue of them / that haue so feble discretion and so corrupted For maydes that desyre and wysshe for suche husbande 's / in whom be the externall gyftes of fortune / whiche the people calle good / nor haue no respecte vnto thyn warde goodnes / they be worthy to fele perpetuall sorowe / and to be punysshed for theyr errour / so longe as they lyue bicause they dispise that / that is the more noble and excellent in dede / in cōparison of that / whiche is more vyle lesse worth O folysshe mayde / whiche haddest leauer haue cōtynuall sorowe in golde and sylke / than haue pleasure in wollen cloth whiche had leauer be hated beaten in rayment of purple and ryche colour / thā beloued and set by in a course garment of meane colour If thou haddest leauer haue that other / take that thou haste chosen / nor be nat discontent with that / whiche thou hast wyrtyngly takē with thyn owne hādes More ouer / we haue harde tell of some so folisshe husbandes / that they haue kylled theyr wyues / as Iustina a mayde of Rome / borne of noble blode / whom her father mother maried vnto a yonge mā of great possessions / but of smale discretion and witte whiche whā he sawe his wyues whyte necke / as she was stowpyng to vnlose her shone / fell streight in to a suspection and ielosye ouer her / bycause of her beautie with a sworde cutte her necke in sunder of whom was made this epitaphie folowynge My cruell husbande to deth hath de done And with a sworde my necke in sunde cutte As I was stowpynge to vntye my shoone And to pulle out my praty fote And that besyde the bedde / where I was layde With hym nat long before O harde cruell mȳde In that same place / where as he had hadde My mayden heed / to shewe hym so vnkynde Yet I neuer offended / wherfore I ought to dye All myghty god to recorde I take And loo nowe here-slayne I lye Thus pleased fortune myne ende to make But fathers all example take by me Iustina / as warely as you can If ye loue your doughter tenderly That you ne marye her to a folisshe man Fathers and mothers whiche marye theyr children vnto good and vertuous mates / do nat onely prouyde well for them / but also for them selfe For they get them suche sonnes daughters in lawe / that shall be socoure and ayde vnto them in theyr olde age And if they be noughtys vngratious / they prouide them of enemyes Nowe of the sonne in lawe / we haue an example in the gospell For saint Peters mother in lawe / whā she lay sicke of great ague / was made holle of our lorde / at thin-stance of her son in lawe Suche it was to haue so good a sonne in lawe / that Christ disdayned nat to take vnto his disciple And of the doughter in lawe / we rede an
example in the boke of Ruth That whaÌ„ Noemy came home into Iury / her owne couÌ„tre / out of the lande of Moab / her husbaÌ„de her soÌ„nes beyÌ„g deed / brought with her .ii. soÌ„nes wyues / of whom the one called Orpha by name / returned / agayne to her owne countrey frendes / but Ruth kepte styl with her mother in lawe / both coÌ„forted her with wordes / and nourisshed kepte her with her labour in so moche that Noemy founde in Ruth / both the loue of a doughter / and dyligent seruyse of a sonne Noemy had ben a wydowe and deserte in dede / if she had hadde no better a doughter in lawe / than Orpha was but in as moche as she had Ruth / she was nat all destitute of chyldren / neyther had no cause to name her selfe Mara / that is to saye bytter / as her mynde was to be named Also after that Ruth had borne the prophet Esai by her seconde husbande called Booz / women dyd make as great semblaunce of gladnes vnto Noemye / as though she had had of her owne doughter or her owne sonne / nat onely one neuew / but as though she had hadde seuen sonnes her selfe For they sayd to her in this maner Ther is one borne nowe of thy doughter in lawe / whiche shall loue the and be better vnto the / thaÌ„ though thou haddest seuen sonnes Nowe afore I make an ende of this boke / I wyll answere vnto a madde and a fraÌ„ticke opinion / whiche bothe maydens and wyues haue / and all the common people in generall / that thynke it is expedyent for maydes / that are come to lawfull age of maryage / to be sene ofte abrode amonge people / goodly and pykedly arayed / and to kepe company and communication with men / to be eloquent in speche / and counnynge in daunsyng and syngyng / yea to loue hym afore hande / whom they entende to mary for so they say / they shall the more lyghtly mete with a bargayne A maÌ„ might make aÌ„swere to all this at ones / but I will examyne it from poynt to poynt / to coÌ„tent nat only the myndes of wyse men / but also of them that be rude and ignorant What wyse man / I pray you / wolde euer counsaile this thynge / knowyng / that yll is nat to be done / that good may come therof and specially where the ill is euident inough / and the good neyther certayne nor customed to folowe commenly vpon the dede Wherfore if the mayde can get no mariage / except she infecte her mynde / and leoperde her honesty on this facion / hit were better neuer to mary orels to mary only Christe / than to mary fyrste vnto the deuyll / that she maye be maryed to a maÌ„ afterwarde Nowe .ii. thinges there be / the mooste precious that a woman canne brynge with her to a man honesty of body / good fame nor there is no man so folysshe and madde / neither so set vpoÌ„ beautie and couetyse of goodes / neither so vngratious and so vnthrifty of lyuyng / but he wyll be content with any wyfe / hauynge these two whiche if she lacke / howe can he be content Than wolde I wytte / whether mayde is the more lykely to be of good fame and behauour / whether she that bydeth most at home / or she that walketh moche abrode At home there is none occasyon of euyll / and forthe abrode euery place is fulle And of her that taryeth at home / no man maketh question or argument But of her that walketh moche about / euery man wyll say his opinion wher amonge so dyuers sentenses a mayde shall soone catche a blotte whiche wyll sticke in no place more soner than on a mayde / neither worse to gette out Or whiche of them two do men set more by and whether wil they thyÌ„ke of most honest demeaner / her that they se either neuer / or but seelde / or her / whom they mete in euery corner Verily I thinke they wyll nat beleue / that she kepeth her honestie very well / that walketh so ofte forth And as for prouydynge of her maryage / I thynke hit shulde be more profitable for her / to be harde telle of / than seen For a mayde that is ofte in syght / shall chaÌ„ce either to say or do / that may displease hym that shuld haue her or some of them that be of his couÌ„saile or that he gyueth credence and truste vnto Wherby many tymes maryages be broken / euen in the poynt of makyng And where as they speke of clothynge / wherwith to make her gaye / if she be maried but for that / she muste nedes be hated / whan â—he is without them For she muste nedes some tymes lay away that wede / be with her husbande at home in meane araye For commonlye / as we greatly lyke them / in whom we fynde any speciall goodnes / that we loked nat for / lykewyse we hate them as sore / that disapoynt our hope of any good bountie For if thou seme pyked and propre vnto thy spouse / and arte nat so in dede / after that he hath takeÌ„ some great hope of thy beautie / he must nedes hate the / whaÌ„ he seeth hym selfe dispoyted More ouer I coude name bothe in this countrey in myÌ„ owne / dyuerse maydes / whiche coude neuer get mariage / bicause that men were abasshed of theyr costely apparell What say they this woman wolde spende vp all her maryage good in one gowne / or one broche Therto by ouer richely aparelled / maydes be rekened lyght And as for those that kepe moche companye with men / what man is there / that wyll nat suspecte yll by them Or what husbande shall she fynde so patient / that wyl be coÌ„tent to haue his wyfe to company styll and coÌ„mon with men or wolde nat rather haue suche one / as wolde more gladlye company with her husbande alone / than with a great multitude of meÌ„ Where one shall teÌ„pte her mynde with eloquence / an other with comlynes of person / some with beautie / some with lyberalyte / and some with noblenes For as for maydes to be eloquent of speche / that is to say great bablers / is a token of a lyght mynde and shrewde conditions In so moche that he that shall marye her / shall thynke he hath a serpent no wyfe Foâ— yoÌ„ge men will prayse her vnto her face / that is faâ—â— of talke / and a ioyly dauncer / and full of mery conceptes / and playe / and pleasant / and call her well manered / and wel brought vp / al to haue her at theyr pleasure / but none to mary her and all beleue that they may quickely opteyne theyr purpose of suche one but neuer a one wylbe gladde to haue suche one to his wyfe / that he seeth is so applyenge vnto euery mannes wyll they