A sergeaunt them afrayed,

And sayd they were full queuer.
They were than full wo,
The frere wolde ben a go,

He cursed that he came thyder;
Whether they were leue or lothe,
He set them in the stockes bothe,
He wolde none dysceyuer.

In myddes of the market

Full well was set,

In full fayre wether,

For it dyd hayle and thonder;

On them many men dyd wonder,

But Emlyne laughed ever;

She thought it but a jape,
To se men at her gape,

Therof she shamed neuer

And sayd for her sportynge,
It is but for japynge,

;

That we be brought hyder; It is nother treason nor felony,

But a knacke of company,

And dye had I leuer

Than it forsake,

For I wyll mery make,

Whyle youthe hathe fayre wether.

Whan her husbande it knewe,

Sore dyd he it rewe,

And was so heuy and wo,

He toke a surfet with a cup,

That made hym tourne his heels vp,

360

370

380

390

And than was he a go.
And whan she was at large,
Care she dyde dyscharge,

And in her mynde thought tho;
Nowe wyll I haue my luste,
With all them that wyll juste,

In spyte of them that saythe so.
And bycause she loued rydynge,
At the stewes was her abydynge,
Without wordes mo;

And all that wolde entre,
She durst on them ventre,
Veray gentyll she was, lo!
And longe or she were dede,
She wente to begge her brede,

Suche fortune had she tho.

God dyd bete her surely
With the rodde of pouerte,

Or she dyd hens go.

Than she dyed, as ye shall,

But what of her dyde befall,

Naye there do I ho;

But they that rede this erly or late,

I praye Jesu theyr soules take,

Amen, saye ye also.
Finis.

400

410

Emprynted at London without Newegate, in Saynt Pulkers Parysshe, by me John Skot, dwellynge in

the Olde Bayly.

H

The Schole-house of Women.

ERE begynneth a lytell boke named the Scole howse, wherein euery man may rede a goodly prayse of the condycyons of women. In seven-line stanzas. R. Wyer, n. d.

8vo.

Herbert's Ames, fol. 375; he copies Ames; and Dibdin (iii. 181) copies him.

Here begynneth a lytle boke named the Schole house of women: wherin euery man may rede a goodly prayse of the condicyons of The yeare of our Lorde. MDXLI.

women.

The colophon is

Explicit.

Prynted at London in Paules Churche yearde, at the sygne of the maydens heed, by Thomas Petyt. MDLXI. 8vo. D 2, in fours.

Here Begynneth the Scole-house of women: wherein every man may reade a goodly prayse of the condicyons of women. Anno Domini MDLX.

This title is in an architectural compartment and the initials T. R., possibly those of the artist, are in the centre at the bottom. The colophon is-

Imprinted at London in Paules Churcheyarde at the Sygne of the Swanne by John Kyng. 4to.

Heer beginneth the Schole House of Women, wherin euery man may read a goodly lesson of the condicions of Women. Anno Domini M.D. [sic] 1572. [Col.] Imprinted at London at the long shop, adioyning vnto Saint Mildreds Church in the Pultrie by John Allde, 1572. 4to.

These four editions are all of great scarcity. Of that of 1572 there is a copy among Selden's books in the Bodleian; and Mr. Utterson reprinted it in his Select Pieces of Early Popular Poetry in 1817. The present text is formed from a collation of the ed. of 1572 with that printed by King twelve years before, which has supplied a few better readings here and there. Warton in his History (iii. 426, ed. 1824), explicitly states that there was an edition of the Schole House of Women from the press of Robert Wyer in 1542, and he quotes the title as it has been given above, substituting, however, prayer for prayse; which seems too circumstantial a description of the volume to allow us to suppose, that he was merely speaking, as he so often does, at random. Warton's "Prayer" is, it is true, an error for "Prayse;" but it is not unlikely that the book was in the hands of a friend, and that the mistake was committed by the latter, who copied the title too carelessly; or it is by no means impossible that Warton himself, having been allowed to inspect the production, was guilty of this oversight. Wyer's edition may still be in existence, but it has never been heard of.1

But whoever was the first publisher of the Schole House, it is readily susceptible of proof that the tract was in print, when (after 1541) Edward Gosynhyll put forth his " Prayse of all Women, called Mulierum Pean:" for in the latter, the author says:

"A wake, they sayde; slepe not so fast:

Consyder our grefe, and how we be blamed;
And all by a boke that lately is past,
Whyche by report, by the was fyrst framed,
The scole of women, none auctour named:
In prynte it is passed, lewdely compyled,
All women wherby be sore revyled."

Whoever reported, however, that Gosynhyll had written the Scole of Women, reported what was not true, as we have attempted to explain elsewhere.

1 Dibdin, in his edition of Herbert, evidently knew no more of the impression by Wyer than he found in Warton.

Again, Bansley, in his "Treatyse shewing and declaring the pryde and abuse of Women now a dayes," printed about 1550, or at least, some time in the reign of Edward VI (1547-53), has the following apparent allusion to the present work:

"The scole house of women is nowe well practysed,

And to moche put in ure;

Whych maketh manye a mans hayre to growe

Thorowe his hoode, you may be verye sure."

We have used the term " apparent allusion," because we do not think that this passage, taken by itself, would be sufficient to establish the pre-existence of Gosynhyll's book: for works in popular literature were frequently entitled from fashionable cant, or current proverbial expressions, as is the case even now, and it is far from improbable that the Schole or Schole-house of Women was in vogue as a phrase, before Gosynhyll adopted it as the title to his lucubration, and that, in fact, its familiarity to the public ear recommended it to him or to his publisher.

It will be observed that, in the copy which is given above of the title of Petyt's edition, there is an important discrepancy, the title bearing the date of 1541, and the colophon that of 1561. Such mistakes are not uncommon in old books, and in the present instance, we are disposed, contrary to the opinion of some bibliographers, to assign the appearance of Petyt's impression to the earlier year. The volume was evidently the property of John Kyng in 1560, and it is more than doubtful whether Petyt printed later than 1554.1

1 Herbert, in his enlarged and improved edition of Ames, mentions no book from the press of Petyt later than 1554. In Dibdin's additions to Herbert a volume occurs, supposed to have been printed by him in 1555, so that the date on the colophon of the Schole house of Women is to be received as correct, one of two very improbable suppositions must be admitted, namely, either that Petyt suspended business for six or seven years, and then resumed it for the purpose of executing one book, or that all the books printed by him between 1554 or 1555 and 1561 have disappeared, leaving no trace whatever behind them. We think, on the whole, that the date on the title must be sustained.