The Wanton Wife of Bath.
To the Tune of, Flying Fame, etc.
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IN Bath a wanton wife did dwell,
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as Chaucer he doth write;
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Who did in pleasure spend her days,
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in many fond delight;
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Upon a time sore sick she was,
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and at the length did dye,
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Her soul at last to heavens gate,
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did knock most mightily.
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Then Adam came unto the gate,
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Who knocketh there? quoth he.
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I am the Wife of Bath, she said,
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and fain would co[me] to thee.
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Thou art a sinner, Adam said,
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and here no place shall have.
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Alas, for you good Sir, she said,
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now g[ip] you doting knave;
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I will come in, in spight, she said,
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of all such churles as thee;
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Thou were the causer of our woe,
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and our pain misery:
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And first broke Gods commandments,
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in pleasure of thy wife.
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When Adam heard her tell this tale,
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he ran away for life.
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Then down came Jacob at the gate,
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and bids her pack to hell.
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Thou false deceiver, why, said she,
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thou maist be there as well;
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For thou deceivdst thy father dear,
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and thine own brother too.
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Away went Jacob presently,
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and made no more ado.
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She knocks again with might and main
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and Lot he chides her straight:
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Why then, quoth she, thou drunken ass
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who bids thee here to wait?
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With thy two daughters thou didst lye,
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on them two bastards got;
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And thus most tauntingly she chast
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against poor silly Lot.
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Who knocks there, quoth Judith then,
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with such shrill sounding notes?
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Alas, fine minks you cannot hear,
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quoth she, for cutting throats.
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Good Lord, how Judith blusht for shame,
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when she heard her say so.
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King David hearing of the same,
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he to the gate did go,
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Quod David, Who knocks there so loud,
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and maketh all this strife?
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