[5] In the original,
I shall say sooth of husbands that I had,
As three of them were good, and two were bad.
She meant that the two were rebellious in comparison with the three who were her slaves; for in speaking of the entire five, at the commencement of the prologue, she added,
And all were worthy men in their degree.
Pope has fallen into an inconsistency. He states that the three old husbands were those who "were just tolerable." Yet when he comes to describe the youngest of the two, whom he here calls "bad," he makes the wife of Bath exclaim,
Now for my fifth loved lord, the last and best,
In Chaucer she distinctly denies that he was the best, but says she loved him best, and proceeds to explain the reason, which is that women always value those most who treat them with harshness or indifference.
[6] This trait in the wife of Bath's character is brought out more distinctly by Chaucer:
Me needeth not no longer doon diligence
To win their love, or do them reverence.
They loved me so well, high God above!
That I tolde no deynte of their love.
A wise woman will busy her ever in one
To gete her love, there she hath none.
But synnes I had them wholly in my hand
And synnes they had me given all their land,
What should I take keep them for to please
But it were for my profit or mine ease?
"I tolde no deynte of their love," means I set no store by it; "ever in one" is always; and "take keep" is take care.