THE

WIFE of BATH,

HER

PROLOGUE.

FROM

CHAUCER.

Ye Sovereign Wives! give ear & understand Thus shall ye speed & exercise Command.

To dear-bought wisdom give the credit due,
And think, for once, a woman tells you true.
In all thefe trials I have borne a part,

I was myself the scourge that caus'd the smart ;
For, fince fifteen, in triumph have I led
Five captive Hufbands from the Church to bed.

Christ faw a wedding once, the scripture says, And faw but one, 'tis thought, in all his days; Whence fome infer, whofe confcience is too nice, No pious Christian ought to marry twice.

But let them read, and solve me, if they can, The words addrefs'd to the Samaritan :

5

10

Five times in lawful wedlock she was join'd; 15 And fure the certain ftint was ne'er defin'd.