



Produced by David Starner, Louise Hope and the PG Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.









[Transcriber's Note: With the exception of hyphenation at the end of
lines, the text version preserves the line breaks of the original;
the html version has been treated similar to drama and starts a new
paragraph for each change of speaker. An illustration of the title
page is included to give an impression of the original.]




                         A mery Dia-
               logue, declaringe the propertyes
                  of shrowde shrewes, and ho-
                 nest wyues, not onelie verie
                  pleasaunte, but also not a
                    lytle profitable: made
                     by ye famous clerke
                         D. Erasmus.
                          Roteroda-
                             mus.

                       Translated into
                          Englyshe.

                        Anno. M.CCCCC.
                            LVII.




  Eulalia. God spede, & a thousand mine old
  acqueintance. xantippa. xan. As many agayn, my dere
  hert. Eulalia. me semets ye ar waren much faire now
  of late. Eula. Saye you so? gyue you me a mocke at the
  first dash. xan. Nay veryly but I take you so. Eula.
  Happely mi new gown maketh me to loke fayrer then I
  sholde doe. xan. Sothe you saye, I haue not sene a
  mynioner this many dayes, I reken it Englishe cloth.
  Eu. It is english stuff and dyed in Venis. xan. It is
  softer then sylke what an oriente purpel colore here is
  who gaue you so rich a gift. Eu. How shoulde honeste
  women come by their gere? but by their husbandes.
  xan. Happy arte thou that hathe suche an husband, but
  I wolde to god for his passyon, that I had maryed an
  husband of clowts, when I had maried col my good man.
  Eula. Why say ye so. I pray you, are you at oddes now.
  xan. I shal neuer be at one with him ye se how
  beggerly I go. I haue not an hole smock to put on my
  backe, and he is wel contente with all: I praye god I
  neuer come in heuen & I be not ashamed oftimes to shewe
  my head, when I se other wiues how net and trim they go
  that ar matched with farre porer men then he is.
  Eula. The apparell of honest wiues is not in the aray
  of the body, nor in the tirements of their head as
  saynte Peter the apostle teacheth vs (and that I
  learned a late at a sermon) but in good lyuynge and
  honest conuersacion and in the ornamentes of the soule,
  the common buenes ar painted up, to please manye
  mennes eies we ar trime ynough yf we please our
  husbands only. xan. But yet my good man so euyll
  wylling to bestow ought vpon his wyfe, maketh good
  chere, and lassheth out the dowrye that hee hadde with
  mee no small pot of wine. Eulaly, where vpon? xantipha,
  wheron hym lykethe beste, at the tauerne, at the stewes
  and at the dyce. Eulalia Peace saye not so. xan. wel
  yet thus it is, then when he commeth home to me at
  midnight, longe watched for, he lyeth rowtyng lyke a
  sloyne all the leue longe nyght, yea and now and then
  he all bespeweth his bed, and worse then I will say at
  this tyme. Eulali. Peace thou dyshonesteth thy self,
  when thou doest dishonesteth thy husband. xantip. The
  deuyl take me bodye and bones but I had leuer lye by a
  sow with pigges, then with suche a bedfelowe. Eulali.
  Doest thou not then take him vp, wel favoredly for
  stumbling. Xantip. As he deserueth I spare no tonge.
  Eulalia. what doth he then. xantip. At the first
  breake he toke me vp vengeably, trusting that he
  shoulde haue shaken me of and put me to scilence with
  his crabid wordes. Eula Came neuer your hote wordes
  vnto handstrokes. xantip. On a tyme we fel so farre
  at wordes that we wer almost by ye eares togither.
  Eula what say you woman? xan. He toke vp a staffe
  wandryng at me, as the deuill had bene on hym ready to
  laye me on the bones. Eula. were thou not redye to ron
  in at the bench hole. xanti. Nay mary I warrant the.
  I gat me a thre foted stole in hand, & he had but ones
  layd his littell finger on me, he shulde not haue
  founde me lame. I woulde haue holden his nose to the
  grindstone Eulalia. A newe found shelde, ye wanted
  but youre dystaffe to haue made you a speare. xantip.
  And he shoulde not greatlye a laughed at his parte.
  Eulali. Ah my frynde. xantyppa. that way is neither
  good nor godly, xantippa what is neither good nor
  godly. yf he wyll not vse me, as hys wyfe: I wil not
  take him for my husbande. Eulalya. But Paule sayeth
  that wyues shoulde bee boner and buxome vnto their
  husbandes with all humylytye, and Peter also bryngethe
  vs an example of Sara, that called her husbande
  Abrahame, Lorde. xantippa. I know that as well as you
  then ye same paule say that men shoulde loue theyr
  wyues, as Christ loues his spouse the churche let him
  do his duete I wil do myne. Eula. But for all that,
  when the matter is so farre that the one muste forber
  the other it is reason that the woman giue place vnto
  the man, xan. Is he meete to be called my husbande
  that maketh me his vnderlynge and his dryuel? Eula. But
  tel me dame xantip. Would he neuer offre the stripes
  after that xantip. Not a stripe, and therin he was
  the wyser man for & he had he should haue repented
  euery vayne in hys harte. Eulali. But thou offered him
  foule wordes plentie, xantip. And will do. Eula. What
  doth he ye meane season. xantip. What doth he
  sometyme cowcheth an hogeshed, somtime he doth nothing
  but stande and laughe at me, other whyle takethe hys
  Lute wheron is scarslie three strynges layenge on that
  as fast as he may dryue because he would not here me.
  Eula. Doeth that greue thee? xantippa. To beyonde home,
  manie a tyme I haue much a do to hold my handes. Eula.
  Neighbour. xantip. wylt thou gyue me leaue to be playn
  with the. xantippa Good leaue haue you. Eula. Be as
  bolde on me agayne our olde acquayntaunce and amite,
  euen from our chyldhode, would it should be so.
  xantippa. Trueth you saie, there was neuer woman kinde
  that I fauoured more Elaly Whatsoeuer thy husband be,
  marke well this, chaunge thou canst not, In the olde
  lawe, where the deuill hadde cast aboone betwene the
  man and the wife, at the worste waye they myght be
  deuorsed, but now that remedie is past, euen till
  death depart you he must nedes be thy husbande, and
  thou hys wyfe, xan. Il mote they thryue & thei that
  taken away that liberty from vs Eulalia. Beware what
  thou sayest, it was christes act. Xan. I can euil
  beleue that Eula. It is none otherwyse, now it is beste
  that eyther of you one beyng with an other, ye laboure
  to liue at reste and peace. xantyppa. Why? can I
  forgeue him a new, Eu. It lieth great parte in the
  women, for the orderinge of theyr husbandes. xan.
  Leadest thou a mery life with thine. Eula Now all is
  well. xan. Ergo ther was somwhat to do at your fyrste
  metying Eula. Neuer no greate busynes, but yet as it,
  happeneth now and than betwene man & woman, there was
  foule cloudes a loft, that might haue made a storme but
  that they were ouer blowen with good humanitie and wyse
  handlynge. Euery man hath hys maner and euery man
  hath his seueral aptite or mynde, and thinkes hys owne
  way best, & yf we list not to lie there liueth no man
  without faulte, which yf anie were elles, ywis in
  wedlocke they ought to know and not vtterly hated xan,
  you say well, Eulalya. It happeneth many times that
  loue dayes breketh betwene man and wife, before ye
  one be perfitly knowen vnto the other beware of that
  in any wife, for when malice is ones begon, loue is but
  barely redressed agayne, namely, yf the mater grow
  furthe unto bytter checkes, & shamfull raylinges such
  things as are fastened with glew, yf a manne wyll all
  to shake them strayght waye whyle the glew is warme,
  they soone fal in peces, but after ye glew is ones
  dried vp they cleue togither so fast as anie thing,
  wherefore at the beginning a meanes must be made, that
  loue mai encrease and be made sure betwene ye man &
  the wife, & that is best brought aboute by gentilnesse
  and fayre condycions, for the loue that beautie onelie
  causeth, is in a maner but a cheri faire Xan. But I
  praye you hartelye tell me, by what pollycy ye brought
  your good man to folow your daunce. Eula. I wyll tell
  you on this condicyon, that ye will folowe me. xan. I
  can. Eula, It is as easy as water if ye can find in
  your hart to do it, nor yet no good time past for he is
  a yong man, and you ar but agirle of age, and I trowe
  it is not a yere ful sins ye wer maried. Xan All thys
  is true Eulalia. I wyll shew you then. But you must
  kepe it secret xantip. with a ryght good wyl. Eula.
  This was my chyefe care, to kepe me alwayes in my
  housbandes fauoure, that there shulde nothyng angre him
  I obserued his appetite and pleasure I marked the tymes
  bothe whan he woulde be pleased and when he wold be all
  byshrwed, as they tameth the Elephantes and Lyons or
  suche beastes that can not be wonne by strength
  xantyppa. Suche a beaste haue I at home. Eula. Thei
  that goth vnto the Elephantes weare no white garmentes,
  nor they that tame wylde bulles, weare no blasynge
  reedes, for experience teacheth, that suche beastes bee
  madde with those colours, like as the Tygers by the
  sound of tumbrels be made so wode, that thei plucke
  theymself in peces. Also thei that breake horses haue
  their termes and theyr soundes theyr hadlynges, and
  other knackes to breake their wyldnes, wyth all. Howe
  much more then is it oure duetyes that ye wyues to
  use suche craftes toward our husbandes with whom all
  our lyfe tyme wil we, nyl we is one house, and one bed.
  xantip. furthwith your tale. Eula, when I had ones
  marked there thynges. I applied my selfe unto hym, well
  ware not to displease him. xantip. How could thou do
  that. Eulalya. Fyrste in the ouerseynge my householde,
  which is the very charge and cure of wyues, I wayted
  euer, not onely gyuynge hede that nothing shoulde be
  forgotten or undoone, but that althynges should be as
  he woulde haue it, wer it euer so small a trifle.
  xan. wherin. Eulalia. As thus. Yf mi good man had a
  fantasye to this thynge, or to that thyng, or if he
  would haue his meate dressed on this fashion, or that
  fashion. xan. But howe couldest thou fashyon thye selfe
  after hys wyll and mynde, that eyther woulde not be at
  home or elles be as freshe as a saulte heryng. Elali.
  Abyde a while. I come not at that yet, yf my husband
  wer very sad at anye tyme, no time to speake to him. I
  laughed