Note 4 — THE WIFE OF BATH.
Reading edition
Pope alone is responsible for the second half of this line, which in its present application has an unbecoming levity. There was a pardoner in the company, a person who got his living by selling indulgences, and by displaying the pretended relics of saints, who says that he was about to marry, but that he shall abandon his intention now that he learns what despotic authority wives exercise over husbands. The wife of Bath, unabashed, informs him that what she has told is nothing in comparison with that which is to follow:
Abide, quoth she, my tale is not begun. Nay, thou shalt drinke of another tun Ere that I go, shall savour worse than ale. And when that I have told thee forth my tale Of tribulation in marriage, Of which I am expert in all my age, That is to say, myself hath been the whip, Then might thou choose whether thou wilt sip Of thilke tunne that I shall abroach: Beware of it ere thou too nigh approach.
These dramatic touches omitted by Pope give life to the piece, and individuality to the characters.