HE

ERE is the boke of mayd Emlyn that had v. husbandes and all kockoldes; she wold make theyr berdes whether they wold or no, and gyue them to were a praty hodefulle of belles. Imprynted at London without Newegate, in Saynt Pulkers [Sepulkers] Parysshe, by me John Skot, dwellynge in the Olde Bayly.

n. d. [circa 1520], 4to. black letter, with a woodcut on the title (borrowed for the nonce from Barclay's Ship of Fools, 1508), of a man and a woman, the former having his head surmounted by a pair of bells.

The Boke of Mayd Emlyn was one of five poetical tracts, all from the library of T. Caldecott, Esq. edited by Dr. Rimbault for the Percy Society. From a feeling that it would add to the completeness and interest of the present collection, it is now given precisely as it stands in the Percy Society edition, certain amendments in the pointing excepted.

The lady, of whose career we are presented in this" Boke" of her with a sort of quasi-biographical sketch, appears to have been a personage of very similar character to the "Widow Edyth," her contemporary, whose Twelve Mery Gestys were published in 1525. (See Old English Jest-Books, iii.) Whether, however, Maid Emlyn was, as Chaucer's Wife of Bath may be presumed to have been, drawn from the life, or was a purely fictitious creation, we are unable to determine.

The tract is considerably more entertaining than many of the so-called poetical effusions which appeared during the reign of

Henry VIII. and later; and the author, whoever he may have been, was unquestionably a man with a true vein of humour. As a picture of the times, its value need not be insisted upon.

Like the Jests of the Widow Edith, the Book of Maid Emlyn seems to have been the work of an unfriendly pen-unfriendly to the heroine, whose exploits furnish the tale, and to the sex generally.

In the Wyf of Bathes Prologe Chaucer has the following passage, which may have been seen by the present writer :

"Lo, herken such a scharp word for the nones!
Biside a welle Jhesus, God and man,
Spak in reproof of the Samaritan;

'Thou hast y-had fyve housbondes,' quod he;

' And that ilk man, which that now hath the,
Is nought thin housbond-""

And then, farther on, the Wife of Bath is made to say, in reference to King Solomon:

"God wot, this nobill king, as to my wit,
The firste night had many a mery fit
With eche of hem, so well was him on lyve.
I-blessid be God that I have weddid fyve!
Welcome the sixte whan that ever he schal!
For sothe I nyl not kepe me chast in al."

Here is the boke of mayd Emlyn that had .b. Husbandes and all kockoldes; she wold make theyr berdes whether they wold or no, and gyue them to were a praty hoodefull of belles.

YLL ye here of meruaylles
Drawne out of Gospelles
Of mayde Emlynne,
That had husbandes fyue,

And all dyd neuer thryue?

She coude so well

Louynge to go gaye,

spynne,

And seldom for to praye,

For she was borne in synne:

Oft wolde she seke

The tauernes in the weke,

Tyll her wytte was thynne;
Full swetely wolde she kys
With galauntes, ywys,

And say it was no synne;
Thus collynge in armes
Some men caught harmes,

Full lytell dyd they wynne;
And if her husbande said ought,
Loke what she sonest cought,

At his heed she wolde it flynge.
She wolde saye, lozell thou,

I wyll teche the, I trowe,

Of thy language to blynne;
It is pyte that a knaue

A prety woman sholde haue,

That knoweth not golde from tynne.
I trowe thou jalouse be

Bytwene my cosyn and me,

That is called syr Sym;1

Thoughe I go ofte thyder,
We do nought togyder,

But prycked balades synge.
And I so cunnynge be
The more worshyp is to the,
Gyuynge thanke to hym:
For he me fyrste taught,
So I may cunnynge caught,
Whan I wente a brosshynge.
With suche wordes douse
Thys lytell prety mouse

The yonge lusty prymme
She coude byte and whyne,
Whan she saw her tyme,

And with a prety gynne
Gyue her husbande an horne,
To blowe with on the morne :

Beshrowe her whyte skynne.

30

40

Maid Emlyn had a cousin in the church with whom her husband suspected her of an improper intimacy.

2 This was a very favourite occupation among all classes at that epoch. Henry himself set the example. The King and Sir Peter Carew used to sing ballads together.

And ofte wolde she sleke

To make smothe her cheke,
With redde roses therin;

Than wolde she mete,

With her lemman swete,

And cutte with hym. Talkynge for theyr pleasure, That cocke with the fether

Is gone an huntynge;

Hymselfe all alone

To the wode he is gone

To here the kockowe synge.

Thus with her playfere

Maketh she mery chere,

The husbande knoweth nothynge;

She gyueth money plente,

Bycause newe loue is daynte,

Unto her swetynge.

And prayeth ofte to come,

To playe there as shyneth no sonne :

So at the nexte metynge,

She gyueth her husbande a prycke
That made hym double quycke,

So good was the gretynge.

Kocke called of the bone,

That neuer was mayster at home,

But as an vnderlynge;

His wyfe made hym so wyse,

That he wolde tourne a peny twyse,

And then he called it a ferthynge. Nothynge byleued he