[61]. thee.
[62]. upon me.
[98]. answered him.
[141]. protest.
[THE TAMING OF A SHREW.]
Ritson's Ancient Songs and Ballads, ii. 242. "From one of the Sloan MSS. in the Museum, No. 1489. The writing of Charles the First's time." A far superior poem on the very popular subject of the disciplining of wives is that of The Wife Lapped in Morels Skin, printed in Utterson's Select Pieces of Early Popular Poetry, ii. 173, and as an appendix to the Shakespeare Society's edition of the old Taming of a Shrew. As a counterpart to these pieces may be mentioned the amusing poem called Ane Ballad of Matrymonie, in Laing's Select Remains, or, The Honeymoon, Aytoun's Ballads of Scotland, i. 284.
Al you that are assembled heere,
Come listen to my song,
But first a pardon I must crave,
For feare of further wrong;
I must entreat thes good wyves al 5
They wil not angrye be,
And I will sing a merrye song,
If they thereto agree.
Because the song I mean to sing
Doth touch them most of all, 10
And loth I were that any one
With me shold chide and brawle.
I have anough of that at home,
At boarde, and eake in bed;
And once for singing this same song 15
My wyfe did breake my head.
But if thes good wyves all be pleasd,
And pleased be the men,
Ile venture one more broken pate,
To sing it once agayne. 20
But first Ile tell you what it's cald,
For feare you heare no more;
'Tis calde the Taming of a Shrew,
Not often sung before.