Mediaeval Lore. 305 



" Of a Man " we find an amusing account of 

 courtship and marriage. The description of 

 courtship, allowing for change of manners, is as 

 true now as when it was written; for example, 

 "The spouse thinketh to win love of her he wooeth 

 with gifts, and certifieth his will with letters and 

 messengers and with divers presents 

 and to please her he putteth himself to divers 

 plays and games among gatherings of men, and 

 useth oft deeds of arms, of might and of mastery. 

 And maketh him gay and seemly in divers clothing 

 and array. And all that he is prayed to give and 

 do for her love, he giveth and doth anon with all 

 his might. And denieth no petition that is made 

 in her name and for her love." But in these 

 degenerate days the bridegroom no longer 

 " maketh revels and feasts and spousals, and 

 giveth good gifts to friends and guests, and com- 

 forteth his guests with songs and pipes and other 

 minstrely of music " ; indeed, manners and 

 customs have so changed that the te friends and 

 guests " are now expected to supply the " good 

 gifts." After his account of courtship and 

 marriage, the good friar gives us his ideas of the 

 married state, and though his description of a 

 bad wife is perhaps curiously worded according to 

 our modern ideas, there is no doubt that his judg- 

 ment was a sound one, for he says : " No man hath 

 more wealth than he that hath a good woman to 

 his wife, and no man hath more woe than he that 

 hath an evil wife, crying and jangling, chiding and 



