MS. Lambeth 853, p. 102, about 1430, written without breaks. Other MSS.
are Trinity College, Cambridge, R. 3, 19, and Ashmole 61, p. 7 (printed
in _Queene Elizabethes Achademy_), a later and inferior text, which
contains, however, a fresh and interesting stanza:
“And if it thus thee betide,
That friends fail thee on every side,
And God from thee thy child take,
Thy wreak (vengeance) on God thou must not take,
For thyself it will undo
And all thews (virtues) that thee ’longs to.
Many a one for her own folly,
Spills (destroys) themselves unthriftily.”
MS. Porkington 10, p. 135 back, about 1460-70 contained a variant form
_The Good Wife Would a Pilgrimage_, _i.e._, before she sets out for the
Holy Land, she leaves instructions for her daughter. This version
(printed in _Queene Eliz. Achad._) is interesting for its proverbs:
“The loth (hated) child behoves lore,
And lief child much more.”
“Seldom mosseth the stone,
That oft is turned and wend.”
“A fool’s bolt is soon shot
And doth but little good.”
“When deed is done, it is too late;
Beware of ‘Had I wist.’”
A third version was printed in 1597 under the title, _The Northern
Mother’s Blessing_. Written nine years before the death of G. Chaucer.
Together with it a short poem: _The Way to Thrift_. This contains
several different and interesting stanzas.
It begins:
“God would that every wife that dwelleth in this land,
Would teach her daughter as ye shall understand,
As a good wife did of the North countré
How her daughter should learn a good wife to be:
For lack of the mother’s teaching
Makes the daughter of evil living,
My lief dear child.”
Another is:
“In other men’s houses make thee no mastery,
Nor blame thou nothing thou sees with thine eye;
Daughter, I thee pray, bear thee so well
That all men may say thou art true as steel;
For wise men and old
Say good name is worth gold,
My lief dear child.
Sit not at even too long at gaze with the cup,
For to wassail and drink all up;
So to bed betimes, at morn rise belive,
And so may thou better learn to thrive.
He that will a good house keep,
Must oft times break a sleep,
My lief dear child.
If it betide, daughter, thy friend from thee fall,
And God send thee children that for bread will call,
And thou have mickle need, help little or none,
Thou must then care and spare, hard as the stone—
For evil that may betide,
A man before should dread,
My lief dear child.”
The order of the stanzas is different from that here printed.
The rhyme-scheme is normally aabbccd; but the first, second,
seventeenth, and last stanzas are irregular—abcddc, ababcdcdeef,
aabbccdde, and aaaa, thus varying in both number and arrangement of
lines. The first four verses contain roughly the same number of accents,
the fifth and sixth vary greatly in length, while the seventh is a
constant refrain to all stanzas except the first and last.
The poem is distinctly popular in tone; and I have seldom attempted to
improve its rough metre, holding that the effect is racier as it is.
p. 31. _Kirk._ Text has _church_, but the rhyme is _work_.
p. 32. _Thrive ... life._ The corresponding couplets are usually
proverbial in character.
p. 33. _Whatsoever he be._ Apparently on the basis that “e’er a man is
better than ne’er a man.”
p. 33. _Atterling._ Literally, one who deals in poisons (O. E. _ator_);
hence, a witch; hence, a shrew.
p. 34. _Maze._ Without the help of the N.E.D., the word is puzzling; but
the context seems to demand _maze_, connected with _amaze_, rather than
_maze_ = _labyrinth_.
p. 35. _Shooting at the cock._ The popular old English pastime of
throwing missiles to bring down a cock tied by the leg.
p. 37. _Deed ... speed._ The meaning is that a deed finished quickly
helps on another by giving place to it.
p. 38. _Term-day._ Servants were hired by the year at special times
which varied according to the district, being usually coincident with
the big fairs of that part. Michaelmas was a usual time.
p. 40. _As a wren hath veins._ The wren is so small that but little
blood can be let from her veins. Put more strongly: “You cannot squeeze
blood out of a stone.”