428 THE WIFE LAPPED
Thou hast here my daughter deare,
A pleasaunt thing it is :
In all the countrey I know not her peare,
So haue I parte of blisse ;
For she is wyse and fayre with all,
And will nothing cast away:
I trow there be now none in this hall,
That better can saue all thing in fay.
Nor better doth know what doth behoue
Unto an house or huswiuery,
Then she doth, which causeth me to moue
This matter to thee so busily.
'She can carde, she can spin,
She can thresh, and she can fan :
She can helpe thee good to win,
For to keepe thee like a man.
And here is an hundred pound in Golde To set thee vp, thy crafte to vse : Wherefore I am playne, I would thou should In no maner of wise thy selfe abuse, To striue with my daughter or her to intreate, For any thing that she shall doe Here after, my child therefore to beate, It should turne playnely to thy greate woe.
0 ! my deare mother, take no displeasure, Till you haue cause what so befall,
But vse your selfe alwaye by measure, For other cause none haue you shall. My wyfe and I full well shall gree,
1 trust to God in throne :
She is my loue, and euer shall be, And none but she alone.
O ! my deare sonne, thou makest me glad, Which before was full of sorrowe : For my deare daughter I was full sad, But now I say, our Lord to borrow,