Agriculture -- England; Conduct of life; Home economics, Rural
¶ It is conuenyente for a housbande to haue shepe of
his owne, for many causes, and than maye his wife haue 76
[Sidenote: With some of the wool make clothes.]
part of the woll, to make her husbande and her-selfe
some clothes. And at the leaste waye, she may haue the
lockes of the shepe, eyther to make clothes or blankettes
& couerlettes, or bothe. And if she haue no woll of her 80
owne, she maye take wol to spynne of clothe-makers, and
by that meanes she maye haue a conuenyent lyuynge, and
many tymes to do other warkes. It is a wyues occupation,
[Sidenote: Winnow corn, brew, wash, make hay, etc.]
to wynowe all maner of cornes, to make malte, to wasshe 84
and wrynge, to make heye, shere corne, and in tyme of
nede to helpe her husbande to fyll the mucke-wayne or
dounge-carte, dryue the ploughe, to loode hey, corne, and
[Sidenote: Sell the butter, cheese, hens, geese, and corn.]
suche other. And to go or ride to the market, to sel butter, 88
chese, mylke, egges, chekyns, capons, hennes, pygges,
gese, and all maner of cornes. And also to bye all maner
[Sidenote: Keep accounts.]
of necessarye thynges belongynge to houssholde, and to
make a trewe rekenynge and a-compte to her housbande, 92
what she hath payed. And yf the housbande go to the
market, to bye or sell, as they ofte do, he than to shewe
[Sidenote: [Fol. 63.]]
his wife in lyke maner. For if one of them shoulde vse
to deceyue the other, he deceyueth hym-selfe, and he is 96
not lyke to thryue. And therfore they muste be trewe
[Sidenote: I will not explain all points of deceit.]
eyther to other. I coulde peraduenture shewe the housbandes
dyuerse poyntes that the wyues deceyue them
in: and in lyke maner, howe husbandes deceyue theyr 100
wyues: but if I shulde do so, I shulde shewe mo subtyll
poyntes of deceypt, than eyther of them knewe of before.
And therfore me semeth beste to holde my peace, least
[Sidenote: Else I should act like the Knight de la Tour,]
I shoulde do as the knyght of the toure dyd, the whiche 104
had many fayre doughters, and of fatherly loue that he
oughte to them, he made a boke, to a good entente, that
they myghte eschewe and flee from vyces, and folowe
vertues. In the whiche boke he shewed, that if they 108
were wowed, moued, or styred by any man, after suche
a maner as he there shewed, that they shulde withstande
[Sidenote: who wrote a book against vice,]
it. In the whiche boke he shewed so many wayes, howe
a man shoulde atteyne to his purpose, to brynge a woman 112
to vice, the whiche wayes were so naturall, and the wayes
to come to theyr purpose were soo subtylly contryued,
and craftely shewed, that harde it wold be for any woman
[Sidenote: but really taught vice.]
to resyste or deny theyr desyre.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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