The Cuckold's Complaint:
OR,
The Turbulent WIVES severe Cruelty.
To the Tune of, I marry and thank ye too. Licensed according to Order.
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I Marry'd a Wife of late,
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which sinks my heart full low,
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She laid a Ladle o'er my Pate.
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a curse of a cruel Shrow.
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Before I'd been Wed a Week
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her Cruelty she did show,
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And would not suffer me to speak,
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a Curse, etc.
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I am forced to clean her Shoes
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before she abroad doth goe,
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Or else my person she'll abuse,
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a Curse of a cruel Shrow.
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I am forced to wash her Smock,
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and the Child's shitten Clouts also,
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Though I sit up till Twelve a Clock,
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a Curse of etc.
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Her Gallant comes every day,
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and they to the Tavern goe,
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But I poor heart must nothing say,
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a Curse of, etc.
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Choice Dainties is all her Fare,
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while I with a hard Crust goe;
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With this and ten times more I bear,
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a Curse of a cruel Shrow.
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One night as I went to Bed,
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I happen'd to touch her Toe,
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She with the Piss-pot broke my head,
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a Curse of a cruel Shrow.
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My Money she spends in Pride,
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while I in Rags do go,
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She Cudgels me if once I chide,
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curse of a cruel Shrow.
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Sometimes I would her embrace,
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then straitway she'll fling and throw,
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And call me Cuckold to my Face,
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a Curse, etc.
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My Gullet she often tares,
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and luggs my Ears also,
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[A]nd kicks me headlong down the Stairs,
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a Curse, etc.
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[I] wish I had ne'er bin Wed,
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[s]uch Sorrows I undergo,
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[All?] comfort now is from me fled,
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[a] Curse of a cruel Shrow.
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When I led a Single Life,
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I revell'd from Town to Town,
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But since I am married to this cross wif[e]
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the world is turn'd upside down.
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I formerly with a Friend,
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could merrily melt a Crown,
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But now one Groat I dare not spend,
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the World, etc.
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Rich Robes I was us'd to wear,
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but Fortune hath sent a frown,
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My head and heart is filled with care,
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the World is turn'd up side down.
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I formerly lived at ease,
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and kept both my Hawk and Hound,
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But now I have a Wife I cannot ple[ase]
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the World, etc.
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There's nothing like Liberty,
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but here I am ty'd and bound
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Fast to the sowre Apple-Tree,
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the World is turn'd upside down.
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