A Merry Dialogue Declaringe the Properties of Shrowde Shrews and Honest WivesErasmus, Desiderius
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A Merry Dialogue Declaringe the Properties of Shrowde Shrews and Honest Wives
Erasmus, Desiderius
Dialogues, Latin (Medieval and modern) -- Translations into English; Imaginary conversations
Eu. Fyrst & formest, whatsoeuer thy husbande doeth sayde thou
nothinge, for his harte must be wonne by lytell and litel by fayre meanes,
gentilnesse and forbearing at the last thou shalte eyther wynne him or at
the least waie thou shalt leade a better life thē thou doest now.
Xantippa. He his beyonde goddes forbode, he wil neuer amende.
Eulalia. Eye saye not so, there is no beest so wild but by fayre
handling be tamed, neuer mistrust man thē. Assay a moneth or two,
blame me and thou findest not that my counsell dooeth ease. There be some
fautes wyth you thoughe thou se them, be wyse of this especyall that thou
neuer gyue hym foule wordes in the chambre, or inbed but be sure that all
thynges there bee full of pastyme and pleasure. For yf that place which is
ordeined to make amēdes for all fautes and so to renew loue, be
polluted, eyther with strife or grugynges, then fayre wel al hope of loue
daies, or atonementes, yet there be some beastes so wayward and
mischeuous, that when theyr husbandes hath them in their arms a bed, they
scholde & chyde making yt same plesure their lewd
condicions (that expelseth all displeasures oute of their husbandes mynde
unpleasaunt and lytell set bi corrupting the medecine that shuld haue
cured al deadly greifes, & odible offēces.
xantip. That is no newes to me.
Eula. Though the woman shulde be well ware and wyse that she shulde
neuer be disobedient vnto her husbād yet she ought to be most circūspect
that at meting she shew her selfe redy and pleasaunt unto him.
xantyppa. Yea vnto a man, holde well withall but I am combred with
a beast.
Eula. No more of those wordes, most commonly our husbādes ar
euyll through our owne faute, but to returne againe vnto our taile they
that ar sene in the olde fables of Poetes sai that Venus whome they make
chiefe lady of wedlocke (hath a girdle made by the handy worke of Vulcan
her Lorde, and in that is thrust al that enforceth love and with that she
girdeth her whan so ever she lyeth wyth her housbande
xantippa. A tale of a tubbe.
Eulalya. A tayle it is, but herkē what the taile meaneth.
xantippa. Tell me.
Eulalia That techeth us that the wyfe ought to dyspose her selfe
all the she maye that lieng by her husbād she shew him al the plesure
that she cā; Wherby the honest love of matrimony may reuiue and be
renewed, & that there with be clene dispatched al grudges & malice
xant. But how shall we come by the thys gyrdle?
Eula. We nede neyther wytchraft nor enchauntment, ther is non of
them al, so sure as honest condiciōs accompayned with good feloshyp.
xan. I can not fauoure suche an husbande as myne is.
Eula, It is moste thy profyt that he be no longer suche. If thou
couldest by thy Circes craft chaunge thin husband into an hogge, or a bore
wouldest thou do it?
xantip. God knoweth.
Eu. Art thou in dout? haddest thou leauer marye an hogge than a mā.
Xantip. Mary I had leauer haue a manne.
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