To find again e'er such a wife
I will live sole all my life.

"For now of newe, for their prow, {88b}
The wives of full high prudence
Have of assent made their avow
T' exile for ever patience,
And cried wolfs-head obedience,
To make Chichevache fail
Of them to finde more vitail.

Now Chichevache may fast long
And die for all her cruelty,
Women have made themselves so strong
For to outrage humility.
O silly husbands, wo ben ye!
Such as can have no patience
Against your wives violence.

If that ye suffer, ye be but dead,
Bicorn awaiteth you so sore;
Eke of your wives go stand in dread,
If ye gainsay them any more!
And thus ye stand, and have done yore,
Of life and death betwixt coveyne {89}
Linked in a double chain.



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