Classic Poem

Of choosing a Wife.

T O haue a wily ouer wittie wife,
Is (though a Cato) to be made a foole;
Or else to be made weary of this life:
For she by all meanes must her husband schoole.
And for the most part, wiues of reaching'st wit
Haue shortest heeles, and wondrous apt to fall;
From which if husbands hold them with a bitt.
Thef'l plunge like Furies, head and taile and all
To haue a foole's another miserie,
And Fates, in either fortune, are like cruell;
For shee'l still madde a man with foolery,
And hath not wit ynough to keepe her iewell.
If she be faire, shee is a pleasant lure
To tice a man to strike vngarded beauty;
Besides this plague is past all kinde of cure,
For she can nere be taught to know her duty
Then, as in all, the golden meane is best,
So herein cheefly it's more worth then gold:
Giue me a wife halfe wise, halfe faire, halfe blest,
And not too curst wise, faire, light, yong, nor olde:
For all extreames be as extreamely hated;
(And iustly too) because they be extreame;
Then he is plagu'd and checkt that so is mated;
And so doth lothe his life, his wife, and them:
For these extreames, together with this wife
Oft make men in their garters trusse their life.