/ as myghty of possessions as she / he bad haue wolle in her handes and her selfe either to spynne / to warpe / orels wynde spyndels in a case for to throw wofe of / to wynde on clewes the spynnyng of others / to ordre suche as shulde be wouen For the dressyng of wolle hath ben euer an honest occupatiō for a good woman In Rome all maydes / whā they were fyrst maryed / brought vnto theyr husbandes house dystaffe and spyndell with wolle / and wyped / stryked / and garnysshed the postes with wolle Whiche thyng was a great ceremony with them And aft / she shulde be made sytte on a felle with wolle / that she myght lerne / what she ought to do at home Than after warde she shulde saye these wordes vnto her husbande Where as thou arte Caius / there am I Caia Nowe was this Caia Tanaquil an Etruscian borne / a very noble woman and a sadde / wyfe vnto kynge Tarquine Priscus Whiche Caia Tanaquil vsed all her labour in wolle Therfore after her deth she was worshypped for a goddis / and her image set vp with a rocke / as a token and a signe of chastite and labour Also there was a custome to crye at the weddyng oftētymes / Thalassio Thalassio / that is as ye wolde saye / The wolle basket The wolle basket to th entent / the newe maried wyfe shulde remembre / what she shuld haue to do Therfore it was rekened a sygne of a wyse and a chaste womā to do that busynes The kynges sonne of Rome / and noble yonge men of the kynges bloode / whan they fell at argument about theyr wyues / came sodaynly home to Rome / they founde other of the kynges daughters in lawe amonge theyr companions and mates makynge good chere But they founde Lucrecia syttyng at her wolle vntyl late in the nyght / and her maydes busy about her / in her owne house Than all they by one assent gaue her the price of goodnes and chastite What tyme all the empire and dominion of Rome was in Augustus handes / yet he set his daughters his necis to worke vpō wolle Like wyse Terence / where he doth describe a sobre a chaste yōge womā sayth Gettynge her lyuyng by wolle webbe And Solomon / where he doth speke of the preyse of an holy woman sayth She sought for wolle and flaxe and wrought by the counsayle of her hādes Nor it maketh no force after my mynde / whether it be wolle or flaxe / for bothe perteyne vnto the necessary vses of our lyfe and be honest occupations for womē Anna mother vnto Samuel the prophet / made with her owne hādes a lynen rochet for her sonne The moste chast quene of Ithace Penelope passed the .xx. yeres that her husbāde was away / with weauynge Quenes of Macidony Epyre weaued garmentes with theyr owne handes / for theyr husbande 's / bretherne / fathers / chyldren of whiche maner garmentes / kynge Alexāder shewed some vnto the quenes of Perse lande / that his mother and sisters had made Writers of histories make mention / that molde tyme there was wonte in Spayne great wagers to be layde / who shuld spȳne / or weaue most / and tymes were apoynted to brynge forth theyr worke to shewe it / and gyue iugement of hit And great honour and preyse was gyuen vnto them / that labored moste and dilygentlyest And yet vnto this day / remayneth the same mynde and loue of sobre sadnes in many and thapplyenge of theyr worke is bosted and talked of And amonge all good women hit is a great shame to be idell Therfore quene Isabell kynge Fardinandos wyfe taught her doughters to spynne / sowe / and peynte of whom two were quenes of Portugal / the thyrde of Spayne / mother vnto Carolus Cesar the fourth mooste holy and deuoute wyfe vnto the mooste gratious kyng Henry the .viij. of Englande Let the maide also lerne cookery / nat that slubberyng and excesse in meates to serue a great meyny / full of delicious pleasures glotony whiche cookes medle with / but sobre and measurable / that she maye lerne to dresse meate for her father / and mother / and bretherne / while she is a mayde and for her husbāde and chyldren / whan she is a wyfe and so shall she gette her great thāke both of the one and thother whan she doth nat laye al the labour vpon the seruantes But her selfe prepare suche thynges as shall be more pleasant vnto her father and mother bretherne / and husbāde / and children / than if they were dressed by seruātes And that the more pleasant / if they were seke Nor let no body lothe the name of the kechyn namely beyng a thyng very necessary without the whiche neither seke folkes can amende nor holle folkes lyue The whiche occupacion Achilles both a kyng a kynges son a lorde most noble dyd nat disdayne to do For what tyme Vlisses and Nestor came to hym / for agrement betwene hym and Agamemnon / he layde the tables hym selfe / and tucked vp his clothes / and went in to the kechyn / and prepared theyr meate / to make the noble prīces sobre and tēperate chere / whom he loued so well Also hit is a thynge perteynyng vnto temperance and honestie for whan the maistres or her doughter is by / all thynge is done the more diligētly What deyntenes of hāde is that / and what lothyng of the kechyn / that they maye nat abyde to hādle or se that / whiche theyr father / or mother / or husbande / or brother / or elles theyr childe must eate Let them that do so / vnderstande / that they beray fyle theyr hādes more / whā they lay them on an other mā thā their owne husbāde / thā though they babled blacked them in soute And that it is more shame to be sene in a daūce thā in the kechyn / to handle well tables cardes thā meate And worse becometh a good womā to tast a cuppe of drynke in a feast or a bāket / reached vnto her by an other man / than to taste a suppynge in the kechyn to gyue her husbande Therfore by my coūsaile a woman shall lerne this crafte / that she may in euerye tyme of her lyfe please her frendes / and that the meate may come more clenly vnto the table I haue sene in Spayne and in France / that haue mēded of their sickenes by meates dressed of their wyues / doughters / or doughters in lawe haue euer after loued them farre the better for hit And agayne I haue sene / that haue ben hated / as doughter of the father and doughter in lawe of the father in lawe / and wyfe of her husbande / bycause they haue sayde / they coude nat skile of kookery Of the lernyng of maydes The fourth chaptre OF maydes some be but lyttell mete for lernyng Lyke
that be good and caste your selfe in to perpetuall care For if thou be maryed to a fayre one / he wyll be proude of his person And if thou marye to a rythe one / his substance maketh hym stately And if thou be maried to one of great byrthe / his kynred exalteth his stomacke Nowe / if thou marye vnto one for his fayrenes / whiche hathe neyther reason / nor vertue / nor any droppe of wytte / as it is ofte proued by experience / as the wyse man of Grece sayd by these goodly Innes / where be foule hostesses by lyke reason thou myght marye an ymage or a paynted table Canst thou fynde in thy harte to be a foles wyfe / for his goodes Thanne mightest thou as well desyre to be maried to an ymage of golde Woldest thou be maried vnto a getylman borne / whiche is of fylthye and nought ye lyuynge / for his blode as well than thou myghteste those the ymage of Scipio or Cesar And in very dede it were better to be maried vnto an ymage / or a picture / or to a paynted table / than to be maryed to a vicious / or a folysshe / or a brayneles man Wherfore I may better compare them vnto asses / or swyne / lyons / or wolfes / than to mad mē And in tyme passed / I thought it had bene but a fable / that men telle / howe Palyphat the quene of Candy / dyd lye with a bulle and other as vngratious dedes as that whiche I haue harde say / other women haue done but nowe me thynketh them all lykely inough to be true / whan I se women can fynde in theyr hartes / to tomble and lye with vicious and fylthy mē / and dronkerdes / and braulers / and dawysshe / brayneles / cruell murderars For what difference is betwene them and asses / swyne / bores / bulles / or beares What madnes is it to haue delyte in suche men / and to flee and eschewe wyse men / as Plutarke the philosopher sayth / flee honeste men and good men / as warely as they wolde flee from venomous bestis Wherfore it was well and aptly spoken / that a countrey man of myne sayde / that the nature of women was in chosynge mē / lyke vnto the female wolues whiche amonge a great sorte of males / take the fouleste and worste fauored but men neuer caste any fauoure to a woman / but for some good propretie / either of substāce / person / or witte And women many tymes loue some men / bycause there is nothynge in them worthye to be beloued ▪ wherby they declare the more playnly / that they go without reason whiche thynge I say by some that haue nothynge a do with theyr reason / but all gyuen and applied vnto their bodye Agaynst whom I haue spoken sharpely / bicause they dote / and fonde good yonge men / and brynge them to fylthynes and foly / whan they wolde fayne please the women / and se they can nat / excepte they go wyde from all conditions perteynynge vnto men For lyke as childrē / whiche be gyuē all vnto sporte and playe / neither haue discretion for lacke of age to comprehende any depe matter / haue onely in pryce and regarde those / that can hādle theyr sportes and pastymes the moste aptly so women set all vpon pleasures / and volupties / wantonnes / and foly / thynke no man wyse / but those that can well conuey suche matters and what so euer perteyneth to wytte sadnes / they counte foly So their discretion is blynded so sore / that they loue / estyme and set by foles / and coūte them for great wyse men abhorre them / that be wyse in dede / hate dispyse / and lothe them / and take them for foles in lyke maner as folkes that be sicke of a great agewe / wene that swete meate is bytter and as sowes haue more delice in myre and durte than in swete flowres What hope shall we haue of them / that haue so feble discretion and so corrupted For maydes that desyre and wysshe for suche husbande 's / in whom be the externall gyftes of fortune / whiche the people calle good / nor haue no respecte vnto thyn warde goodnes / they be worthy to fele perpetuall sorowe / and to be punysshed for theyr errour / so longe as they lyue bicause they dispise that / that is the more noble and excellent in dede / in cōparison of that / whiche is more vyle lesse worth O folysshe mayde / whiche haddest leauer haue cōtynuall sorowe in golde and sylke / than haue pleasure in wollen cloth whiche had leauer be hated beaten in rayment of purple and ryche colour / thā beloued and set by in a course garment of meane colour If thou haddest leauer haue that other / take that thou haste chosen / nor be nat discontent with that / whiche thou hast wyrtyngly takē with thyn owne hādes More ouer / we haue harde tell of some so folisshe husbandes / that they haue kylled theyr wyues / as Iustina a mayde of Rome / borne of noble blode / whom her father mother maried vnto a yonge mā of great possessions / but of smale discretion and witte whiche whā he sawe his wyues whyte necke / as she was stowpyng to vnlose her shone / fell streight in to a suspection and ielosye ouer her / bycause of her beautie with a sworde cutte her necke in sunder of whom was made this epitaphie folowynge My cruell husbande to deth hath de done And with a sworde my necke in sunde cutte As I was stowpynge to vntye my shoone And to pulle out my praty fote And that besyde the bedde / where I was layde With hym nat long before O harde cruell mȳde In that same place / where as he had hadde My mayden heed / to shewe hym so vnkynde Yet I neuer offended / wherfore I ought to dye All myghty god to recorde I take And loo nowe here-slayne I lye Thus pleased fortune myne ende to make But fathers all example take by me Iustina / as warely as you can If ye loue your doughter tenderly That you ne marye her to a folisshe man Fathers and mothers whiche marye theyr children vnto good and vertuous mates / do nat onely prouyde well for them / but also for them selfe For they get them suche sonnes daughters in lawe / that shall be socoure and ayde vnto them in theyr olde age And if they be noughtys vngratious / they prouide them of enemyes Nowe of the sonne in lawe / we haue an example in the gospell For saint Peters mother in lawe / whā she lay sicke of great ague / was made holle of our lorde / at thin-stance of her son in lawe Suche it was to haue so good a sonne in lawe / that Christ disdayned nat to take vnto his disciple And of the doughter in lawe / we rede an
vnder / but also shall kepe better theyr helthe I haue redde in an epistole of saint Hieronyme vnto Furia in this maner Phisitians and suche as wryte the natures of meÌ„nes bodies / and specially Galene in the boke of Helthe saythe / that the bodyes of chyldren and yonge men / and those that be in lustie age / bothe men and women / be very hotte of naturall heate and that all meates that encrease heate / be verye noysome for them and that it is good for them to vse all colde thyng in meates and drynkes As in contrary wyse vnto olde men / and suche as be full of fleme and colde / hotte meates and olde wyne be best Wherfore our sauiour sayth Take you hede to your selfe that your hertes be nat ouer commen with surfet and dronkennes / and the cares of this lyfe And the apostle saythe wyne / in whom is lecherye Neither hit is wonder that he that made the vessell dyd perceyue this by the vessell / that he made Where Terence / whose intente was to discribe and shewe the conditions of the worlde / sayd thus without meate and drynke corage waxeth colde Therfore fyrste if theyr stomake be stronge inough / take water in thy wyne or drynke / vntyll thy maydes yeres be past and suche water as is mooste colde And if thou mayste nat for feblenes / myngle it as Timotheus dyd / with a lytell wyne for thy stomacke and wekenes Than in meate eschewe all hote thyng I speke nat onely of flesshe / where of the vessel of election saint Paule speketh this senteÌ„ce / sayeng Hit is good to eate no flesshe nor drinke no wyne but also of pulse / all those that be full of wynde heuye shulde be eschewed And a lytell before what nedeth hit vs for to boste our chastite / whiche without hit haue all besyde that apperteyneth / as abstineÌ„ce small fare / it can nat brynge proffe of hit selfe The apostle werieth his body / and subdueth hit vnto the coÌ„mandement of the mynde / lest he shulde nat kepe that hym selfe / which he byddeth other to do Than howe can a yoÌ„ge woman / that hath a body hotte with meate be sure of her selfe Nor I coÌ„deÌ„pne nat with these wordes meates that god hath ordeyned to vse with surrendryng of thankes But I take from yonge men / and maydens the kendlyng of lust For neither the burnynge Etna / nor the countre of Vulcane / nor Veseuus / nor yet OlyÌ„pus boyleth with suche heate as the bodies of yoÌ„ge folkes enflamed with wyne delycate meates / done All this haue I brought in of saynt Hieronyme / that you myght knowe what thynges that maister of chastite dyd teache whiche writyÌ„g vnto Saluina / had leauer ieoparde the helth of the body thaÌ„ the soule / sayeng Hit is better that the stomake ake / than the mynde / and to rule the body than to do hit seruyce / stagger in goyng than in chastite The most holy man Gregorius Nazanzenus / that was saynt Hieronymis maister / wolde that his mayde shuld alay her hunger with bred / quenche her thyrst with water Hilarius the heremite / whan he lyued in wyldernes with small foode / scantly preseruyng the lyfe / and yet felte hym selfe dyuers tymes pryckedde with the bodily luste / he weried his body with fastynge / sayeng I shall tame the concupiscence / to make the thynke vpon thy meate / and nat vpon thy pleasure And this say the disciples of Christ / the felowes of saynt Paule / beyng gyueÌ„ vnto sobre and chaste religion As who knewe / that the noryshementes of holy men sente by the grace of god / were but symple and small to coÌ„tent nature / without any pleasures Helise norisshed hym selfe and the chyldren of the prophetes with wylde herbes / he byddeth / make swete the bytter meate with flower / and nat with suger And he coÌ„manded the soudiours in Samaria / of whom he had put out the eies / to be fedde with bredde and water IohnÌ„ the Baptist / that was chosen the shewer of Christe and the lyght to come / was fed in deserte with grashops and wyld hony Habacuch caryed the meate of the reapers vnto Daniell in Babylon / whiche was brede baken vnder the asshes / and a cuppe of water was sente vnto Helie from heuen to refreshe hym with and yet might god haue sente from heuen partryges / and phesauntes / and capons / and marche payns / as well as breade but holy folkes nede norishemeÌ„t to holde the soule in the body / and nat to drowne hit with What say philosophers / the maisters of worldly wisedome / al speke of meate that is easy to gette / to kepe the mynde sobre and the body chaste Socrates the father of Philosophie dyd get by sobre dyet / that he was neuer infected with any sore or ieoê‘dous sicknes Also Cornelius Tacitus wryteth / that Senec the philosopher in all his ryches fedde hym selfe with frute water therfore his body was brought so lowe / that whaÌ„ his veynes were opened / there wolde almost no blode reÌ„ne out Howe trow you that Xenocrates lyued / whiche whan his scholers had layde hym a goodly queen in his bedde / and was moche ê“uoked of her vnto luste / yet he was nat moued Plato in his lawes forbyddeth yonge men wyne Cicero in his officis wolde haue all the lyuing and arraye of the bodye / to be taken to the helthe and strength / and nat for pleasure And he sayth also / if we wolde coÌ„sydre what excellence and dignite is in the nature of man / we shulde vnderstaÌ„de / howe great shame hit is to waste hit awaye riottouslye / and to leade the lyfe delycately deliciously and howe honest it is to lyue chastely / sobrely / sadly / measurably This sayth Cicero Also Duidius / gyuynge remedy of loue / byddeth them that shall lyue chastely also to lyue temperately / and eschew suche meate as moueth the body to luste / and wynes specially / and to brynge suche to the table as refrayne the luste of the bodye Whan I speake of hotte meates / I wold be vnderstande in suche exercises also / that heate the body / and of oyntmentes / spices / talkyng and also syght of men For all these be hurtfull vnto the chastite for they fire the mynde with fylthy and ieoperdous heate Nor let nat your bed be very softe / but clene the whiche thyng also is to be regarded in clothes / that they be nat ouer delicate / but without fylthe and without spotte and lyghtly the mynde reioyseth in the clenlynes of the body And agayne / a deynty and a delycate mynde deliteth in sylkes and costely clothes and what so euer is nat suche / hit counteth harde and greuous Gregorius Nazanzenus forbyddeth maydes to weare golde and perle What a foly is it / to wene that these wordes of our sauiour Christe Ecce qui
they rekened theyr husbandes farre aboue al those vnto them Wherfore their names were had in great honour Also Tauria deserued no lesse commendation / whiche whā her husbāde was outlawed / hydde hym vp betwene the silyng and the roffe of her chambre / no moo of counsayle but one mayde and her selfe and so saued his lyfe with her owne great ieoperdy Also Sulpitia wyfe vnto Lentulus / whā her mother Tullia watched her diligētly leste she shulde folowe her husbande / that was banyshed / she gotte vpon her poure rayment / and so with .ij. mayde seruauntes / and as many men / stale away and came to her husbande nor refused to banyshe her owne selfe for his sake / that her husbande myght se in his outlawry her faythfulnes towarde hym And there haue bene very many / that hadde leauer be in ieoperdye them selfe / than theyr husbandes shulde The wyfe of Fernando Gonzalis therle of Castile / whan the kynge of the Legion of Germany / whiche is a cite in the parte of Spayne called Astury / hadde her husbande in prison / she came vnto her husbande / as it were to visite hym / and there counsayled her husbande to change raymēt with her / and steale his way / and leaue her in the ieoperdye that shulde falle and so he dyd Wherfore the kynge wondryng vpon that great loue of hers towarde her husbande / prayed god to sende hym and his chyldren suche wyues / and so let her go agayne to her husbande There was also an other of the same kynredde / whiche was maried vnto a certayne kynge of Englande / that what tyme her husbande in warre agaynste the Syryans / had catched a great wounde in his arme with a venomed swerde / and so came home in to his owne countre / nor coude neuer be healed / excepte that venome and matter were sucked out The kynge seynge that who so euer shulde do that dede / were in ieoperdy of their life / wolde suffre no man to take it vpon hym Wherfore in the nyghte whan he was a slepe / his wyfe losed the bandes of the wounde / fyrst her husbande nat perceyuynge / and after warde dissemblyng / and so by lytell and lytel sucked and spitted out the poyson / and prepared the wounde curable and redy to the phisition Wherfore I am very sory / that I haue nat the name of that noble woman / whiche were worthye to be commended with mooste eloquent prayses Howe be it / it is nat vnspoken of / for it is redde in the actes of Spayne / whiche Rodericus the bisshope of Tolet dyd write From whense I shall ones translate with honorable mention of her Lyke wyse vpon a season men of Tyrthena came a great meny out of their ile vnto Lacedemō / whom that Lacedemonyans suspected to go about some subtilte / and ther vpon set them in holde / and iudged them to dye Wherfore theyr wyues gate lycence of the kepers for to go in vnto them / as it were to visete and comforte them / and there changed rayment with them / and so they in the womens rayment / and their faces couered / as the custome of the coūtre was / escaped awaye / and lefte their wyues behynde them whom afterwardes with their children to gether they recouered agayne / and put all the Lacedemonyans in feare / as Plutarke wryteth More ouer Admetus the kynge of Thessaly / hauynge a dysease raynynge vpon hym / whiche coulde neuer be healed / without the dethe of an other body / coude fynde none / that wolde gladly die for his sake / but his wyfe Alcest Also many there hath bene / whiche after theyr husbandes dethe / wolde in no wyfe abyde on lyue Laodamia / after she had harde tell that her husbāde Prothesilaus was slayne at Troy of Hector / she kylde her selfe And Paulina / wyfe of Senec / wolde fayne haue died with her husbande / and had her vaynes cut / as he had / but she was letted by Nero and holden agaynst her wyll / tyll her armys were bounde / and her blode stopped nor she lyued nat many yeres after And whyle she was alyue / was so pale and so leane with sorowe / that she was a wōder to euery man to loke vpon and in all the state of her body shewedde manifest tokens of the kynde loue that she hadde to her husbande The doughter of Demotion / the chiefe mā of Areopagites / a yōge mayde / whā she harde tell of the deth of her spouse Leosthenes / she slewe her selfe affyrmȳg / that all though she was vntouched / yet bycause she was maryed vnto hym in mynde / she shulde be adulteter / if she maryed vnto any other afterwardes Olde wryters of stories tell / that Halcione wolde nat abyde on lyue after the dethe of her husbande Ceyx And therfore she lepte downe in to the see The fables of poetes / whiche were made to instructe out lyuȳges / adde more vnto the tale / that they were chaunged in to byrdes called Alciones and so well beloued of the goddes Thetis / that whan so euer these byrdes buylde / there is great caulmenes in the see / and fayre wether in the ayre that chaunseth yerely at certayne tymes Wherfore for those dayes he called in laten Halcionii / that is as you wolde say / the Halcyon byrdes dayes and that gyfte they say / the goddis gaue for the great loue of that woman towarde her husbāde Euadna / whan she kepte the funerall of her husbande / she lepte in to the fyre and folowed her husbande Cecinna Petus had a wyfe called Arria / this Cecinna / whan he had rysen in batayle with Scribonian agaynst Claudius themperour / and was brought to Rome / Arria desyred the sodiours to let her wayte vpon her husbande as a seruaunt whiche thynge whan they wolde nat suffre / she hyred a fysshers boote / folowed the great shippe And within a fewe dayes after the deth of her husbande / kylled her selfe at Rome and yet had she a doughter on lyue maried vnto Thrasea / the most noble and wysest man in his tyme. Portia doughter of Cato / wyfe vnto Marcus Brutus / whā her husbande was slayne / she sought for her owne dethe and whan weapōs were taken from her / she thruste hote coles in her mouthe / and choked her selfe Panthia / wyfe of kynge Susius kepte her faith vnto her husbande / beyng in captiuite / and spended out all her goodis for his lyfe And whan he was slayne in batayle / she dyed voluntarily after hym The doughter of Iulius Cesar / whiche was maryed vnto Pompey the great / whan one brought vpon a tyme home out of the feelde a cote of her husbādes be bloded / she suspectȳg that her husbande had be wounded / fell to the grounde in swonynge / and almoste deed with the whiche aflyghte of her mynde / she fell to labour of chylde a
anothers Howe frayle / and vnto howe many ieoperdies indangered / howe fletynge / and howe vnstable a thyng is beautie / whā one agewe / one wart / or one heare maye of the mooste goodly make the moste lothsome And in men no body desyreth suche grace of fayrnes but they thynke in a woman very comely and yet shalte thou rede in the wyse kynges sayeng fauour is a disceitfull thyng / and beautie is vayne But the woman that dredeth god / she shal be preysed Fynally / seynge that ye be one fleshe / or rather one person bothe thou and thy husbande / than can he neuer be foule that hath a fayre wyfe And if thou wylte nat suppose neither the wyfe nor the husbāde to be fayre / vertue alone is both beautie noblenes I wyll let passe here / howe folisshe a thynge hit is / that they call noblenes Whose opiniō and estimation standeth in the comen voyce of people / whiche is maister of all errours But be thou neuer so noble / if thou marye to one vnnoble / thou arte made vnnobler than he nor the wyfe can nat be more noble than her husbande For that thynge canne nat be alowed in no kynde of beastis The chyldren haue the name of the father thorowe all the worlde / as of the better and than if thou be very noble / either muste he be made very noble / or thou vnnoble And in the Ciuile lawe the women haue theyr dignite of theyr husbandes / and nat of theyr fathers / in so moche that those that were commyn of mooste noble father / if they maryed vnto one of lowe degree / they were nat called noble And that appered well in the noble women of Rome / whiche droue out of the chapell of chastite / that was ordayned for noble women / one Virginia / commen of noble parētes / bicause she was maryed vnto a mā of lowe byrth therfore they sayde she was none of them / but of the comen rate of people neither she denyed that / nor was ashamed to be taken for one of the lowe people / nor dispised the commen people in comparison of the noblys / nor abashed to be called Virginia Volūnius wyfe Also Cornelia / doughter vnto Scipio / whan she was maryed vnto an house / whiche was in dede great and famous / and honorable Howe be it / nothynge able to be compared with her fathers / beyng her selfe of the best bloode in Rome / and one the mooste chefe of that bloode / doughter of Scipio whiche was the conquerour of Affrike / the prince of the Senate / and all the people of Rome / and also of all the worlde most excellent / though she hadde to her mother Emylia / comen of the blode of the Emylians / the most honorable and famous / bothe in Rome / and all the worlde yet she hauynge so great honour bothe of fathers syde and of mothers / had leauer euer be called Cornelia Gracchi / by her husbādes name / thā Cornelia Scipionis Wherfore some were discontent / whiche for honour vsed to cal her Cornelia Scipionis / by her fathers name Thesia / sister vnto the elder Dionisius the tyrant of Syracuse / was maried to one Philoxenus / whiche whā he had gone about to do a displeasure vnto Dionisius / and whan he was spyed was constrayned to fie out of Sycille / this Thesia his wyfe was sēt for by the kynge her brother / and rebuked of hym / bycause she dyd nat discouer her husbandes flyghte vnto hym Whye sayde she / wenest thou that I were so vile and abiecte / that if I hadde knowen of his goynge / I wolde nat a gone with all and folowed hym / and bene rather the wyfe of Philoxenus the out lawe in any place in the worlde / than kynge Dionisius syster here at home in my countrey And all the Siracusyans hadde in great reuerence this gaye and vertuous mynde of hers And whā the tyrās were banyshed / they bothe worshipped her in her lyfe / and honoured after her deth Mary the wyfe of Maximilian the emperour / whiche had by her father of inheritance all Flanders and Pycatdye / and the people set nought by the symple and softe disposition of Maximilian / and sewed for all theyr matters vnto Mary his wyfe / yet wolde she neuer determyne nothȳg without her husbādes aduise / whose will she rekened euer for a lawe / though she myght well inough haue ruled and ordened all as she lyst / with his good wyll whiche vsed to suffer of his mylde stomacke any thing that she lyst / vnto his good and prudēt wyfe / that in her owne goodes So Mary by obeynge her husbande / and regardyng hym so well / brought hym in to great auctorite / and made the people more obediēt vnto them both / as though their powers were increased and ayded either by other And these dueties be in the mynde Nowe must we brydell the tonge / whiche if the mynde be well brydeled it shall rule it well inough For the cause why many women be catle of tonge is bicause they can nat rule their mȳdes For ire occupieth them holle / and plucketh out of scaam / nor suffreth any pte of them to rule it selfe and therfore haue they neyther measure nor reasō in their chydyng and scolding For they be put besyde all reason and discretion / whan the fyre hath catched all to gether and made his owne whiche soone increaseth in softe tymber and apte for fyre Wherof commeth ragyng / bothe of stomacke and tonge without measure Whiche I haue ofte wōdred on and that in very good and honest women / in whom sauyng this one vice / there lacketh neither chastite nor goodnes manyfolde great vertues Yet haue I myssed in them moderation and temperaunce of ire language in so moche that I haue ben ashamed of it / though none of it hath pertayned to me / but bene amōge those that haue bene very strangers to me / at least if one Christen body ought to be a stranger vnto an other Therefore as it is a harde vertue for a woman to temper her tonge / so verily hit is the moste goodly vertue that can be longe to any Whiche thynge she shall easly do / if she abyde in her owne power / nor suffer her selfe to be caried away with her owne fātasies / as it were with stormes of wether And this lette her ofte call to mynde specially / and purpose while she is safe in her owne power / that if she chaunce to falle at wordes with her husbande / she rebuke nat nor dispreyse either his kynne / or person / or cōditiōs / or his lyfe / whiche thing she woteth shulde greue his stomacke For if he be angred / with suche a thynge / he wyll bothe be worse to reconsyle / and after that he is agreed agayne / yet as ofte as that worde commeth vnto his remembraunce