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Take hede and lerne, thou lytell chylde, and se That tyme passed wyl not agayne retourne, And in thy youthe unto vertues use thee: Lette in thy brest no maner vyce sojourne, That in thyne age thou have no cause to mourne For tyme lost, nor for defaute of wytte: Thynke on this lesson, and in thy mynde it shytte. Glory unto God, laude and benysoun To John, to Petir, and also to Laurence, Which have me take under proteccioun From the deluge of mortall pestilence, And from the tempest of deedly violence, And me preserved I fell not in the rage Under the yoke and bondis of mariage. I was in purpose for to take a wiff, And for to have wedded without avysenesse, A full faire mayde, with hir to have ladde my liff, Whom that I loved of hasty wylfulnesse, With other folys ta lyved in distresse, As some gave me councell, and ganne me to constreyne To be partable of ther wofull peyne. They lay upon me, and hastid me full sore, And gave me councell with hem to be bounde, And ganne to preyse eche day more and more The wofull lyf in which they did habounde, And besy weren my gladnesse to confounde, Themsilf rejoysyng, both at eve and morowe, To have a felowe to lyve with them in sorowe. But of his grace God hath me preserved By the wise councell of these aungelis three; From hell gates they have mysilf conserved, In tyme of were when lovers lusty be, And bright Phebus was fresshest onto see, In Gemyne, the lusty and gladde seasoun, Whan I to wedde caught first occasioun. My joy was sette in especiall To wedde oon excellyng in fairnesse, And through here beauté have made mysilf thrall, Under the yoke of everlastyng distresse; But God all oonly of his grete goodnesse Hath be an aungill, as ye herde me tell, Stopped my passage from thylke perelis of hell. Amonge these aungelis, that were in nombre thre, There appered oon oute of the South, Which that spake first of all that Trinité All of oon sentence, the mater was well couth; And he was called "John with the gildyn mouth," Which concludith by sentence full notable, Wyves of custome be gladly variable. Aftir this John, the story seith also, In confirmacioun of ther fragilité, Howe that Petyr called the Corbelio, Affermyd pleynly, how wyfes gladly be Dyvers of hert, full of duplicité, Right mastirfull, hasty, and eke proude, Crabbed of langage when thei lust cry loude. Who takith a wyf receyveth a grete charge, In whiche he is like to have a fall; With tempest possede as is a sely barge; Wher he was fre, he makith hymsilf thrall. Wyves of porte been so imperyall, Husbondes dare not theyre lustis well gaynsaye, But lowly plie, and lowly hem obey. The husbond ever abideth in travaile; O laboure passed ther comyth another newe; And every day she gynneth a bataile, With false compleynyng to chaunge chiere and hewe. Under suche falsenes she feyneth hir to be triewe, She makith hir husbond rude as a dul asse, Owt of whos daunger impossible is to passe. Thus wedlok is an endles penaunce, Husbondes knowe that have experience, A martirdome and a contynuaunce Of sorowe ay lastynge, a deedly violence; And this of wyves is gladly the sentence Upon here husbondes when hem list be bold, Howe they allone governe the housold. And if the husbond happe for to thryve, She saith it is here prudent purviaunce: If they go bak ageynward and unthryve, She sayth it is his mysgovernaunce. He berith the wite of all suche ordynaunce; If they be poure and fall into distresse, She sayth it is his foly and his lewdnesse. And yf so be he be no spereman good, Hit may well hap he shall have an horn, A large bone to stuff wythall his hood; A mowe behynde, and fayned chere beforn; And if it fall that there good be lorn, By aventure at even or at morowe, The sely husbond shall have all the sorowe. And husbond hath grete cause to care For wyff, for childe, for stuff and for mayné, And if ought lacke she woll swere and stare, "He is a wastoure, and shall never the!" But Salomon seith ther be thynges thre, Shrewed wyfes, rayne, and smokes blake Makith husbondes there houses to forsake. Wyves been bestes very unstable In ther desires, which may not chaunged be, Like a swalowe whiche is insaciable Like perilous Caribdis of the trouble see, A wawe calme, full of adversité, Whoes blandisshyng medled with myschaunce, Callid Syrenes ay full of variaunce. They hem rejoise to see and to be sayne, And to seke sondry pilgremages, At grete gaderynges to walken upon the playne, And at staracles to sitte on hie stages, If they be faire to shewe ther visages; If they be fowle of look or countenaunce, They can amend it with pleasaunt daliaunce. Of ther nature they gretly hem delite, With holy face fayned for the nones, In seyntuaries ther frendes to visite, More than for relikkes or any seyntis bones, Though they be closed under precious stones; To gete hem pardoun, like there olde usages, To kys no shrynes, but lusty yong images. And to conclude shortly on reasoun, To speke of wedlok of foles that be blent, Ther is no more grevous, fell poysoun, Ne noon so dredfull, peryllous serpent, As is a wyfe double of here entent; Wherfore, yonge men, to eschewe sorowe and care, Withdrawe your foot, or ye fall in the snare. Explicit

(see note) heart; vice reside regret failure of knowledge set (shut) praise; blessing deadly insanity obligations; (see note) wife advice; (see note) her; led; life (see note) fools to [have] lived; (see note) began be able to share their (see note) assess abound evening; morning misery saved angels saved me doubt Gemini (June) was first tempted heart one her; myself slave alone by perils known; (see note) John [Chrysostom] Who by habit; unstable weakness Peter Corbelio heart also responsibility tossed; wretched Where imperious desire; oppose; (see note) grovel suffering; (see note) One begins; battle mood feigns herself Out; stubbornness who deadly (see note) their; they choose to household happens; prosper [by] her; management do poorly blame poor; (see note) folly; ignorance no good sex partner (spearman); (see note) It; i.e., be cuckolded grimace behind [his back] lost (see note) hapless reason chattel; retinue; (see note) extravagant spender; thrive (see note) shrewish [like] beasts Charybdis; sea wave Whose; mixed Sirens seen various; (see note) plain (open spaces) plays; raised seats show; faces unattractive delight themselves; (see note) faked; church service sanctuaries relics; saints' kiss fools; blind poison Nor none such; (see note) her forgo before (see note)

John Lydgate, Payne and Sorowe of Evyll Maryage, Select Bibliography

Manuscripts

Bodleian Library MS Digby 181 (SC 1782), fols. 7a-8b (sixteenth century).

Cambridge University Library MS Ff. 1.6, fols. 155a-156b (c. 1500).

British Library MS Harley 2251, fols. 45a-51a (1464-83).

Rome Engl. Coll. MS 1306 (also numbered 1127 and A. 347), fols. 80b-82a (1436-56).


Early Printed Edition

de Worde, Wynkyn (1509). [With introductory stanza from Cambridge University Library MS Dd. 4.54, fol. 229b.]


Editions

Collier, J. Payne, ed. The Pain and Sorrow of Evil Marriage: From an Unique Copy. In Early English Poetry, Ballads, and Popular Literature. Vol. 1. London: Printed for the Percy Society, 1965. Pp. 17-22. [Part 4.]

MacCracken, Henry Noble, ed. The Minor Poems of John Lydgate, Part II. EETS o.s. 192. London: Oxford University Press, 1934. Pp. 456-60.

Wright, Thomas, ed. The Latin Poems Commonly Attributed to Walter Mapes. London: Camden Society, 1841. [Contains Latin and French sources.]


Related Studies

Boffey, Julia. "Short Texts in Manuscript Anthologies: The Minor Poems of John Lydgate in Two Fifteenth-Century Collections." In The Whole Book: Cultural Perspectives on the Medieval Miscellany. Ed. Stephen G. Nichols and Siegfried Wenzel. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996. Pp. 69-82.

Renoir, Alan. "Attitudes Toward Women in Lydgate's Poetry." English Studies 42 (1961), 1-14.

Seah, Victoria Lees. "Marriage and the Love Vision: The Concept of Marriage in Three Medieval Love Visions as Relating to Courtship and Marriage Conventions of the Period." Ph.D. Diss., McGill University, 1978.