Thou seist that oxen, asses, hors, and houndes,
They been assayed at diverse stoundes;
Bacyns, lavours, er that men hem bye,
Spoones and stooles, and al swich housbondrye,
And so been pottes, clothes, and array;
But folk of wyves maken noon assay,
Til they be wedded – olde dotard shrewe! –
And thanne, seistow, we wol oure vices shewe.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. According to the Wife of Bath, her first three husbands complained that, unlike with purchasing a farm animal, clothing or item of houseware, a husband cannot test out a wife until they are wedded. And then, her husbands said, the wife will show her vices. But they never actually said this, she makes them think they did during a drunken session.