What this Mounteyne / menith and this darkeT dale

And the feilde full of folke / I shall you feyr shewe

A louelie Ladie of lere / in lynen clothed

Cam doune from a castell / and callid me faire

Seying sonne slepist thou / seist thou this people

How busie they bene all /T aboute the maze

The more part of people / that passethe this waie

Haue they worshipe in this worlde / they will no better

Of other heauen then here / holde they no tale

I was aferde of hir face / though she fair were

And said mercie madame / what is this to mene

The tour vpon the tofte quod she truthe is therin

And wolde that ye wrought / as {the} his worde teachethe

For he is father of feithe / that formid you all

C Bothe with felle and face / & gaue you fiue wittes

for to worship him therwith theT while ye be here

And therfor he haue madeLX th'erthe / to helpe you echone

With wollen and lynnen / & with liuelode at nede

In measurable mannere / to make you at ease

And commaundid of his curtesie / in commune iij / thre thinges

Arne non nedefull but those / and name them I thinke

And reken them by reason / Reherce ye them after

The won is vesture / from colde the to saue

And meat att meall / for disease of thy-self

drinke when thou art drie / and do nought of reason

That thou were the worse / when thou shuldest worke

For loth in his lyfedaies / for liking of drinke

did with his doughters / that the devill liked

Delighted him in drinke / as the deuill wolde

And lecherie him laught / and lay by them bothe

And all he wyte it the wine / that wikid dede

Through wyne and wemmen / there was loth accombred

And there gat in glotonie / girles that were churles

Therfor drede delectable drinke / & thou shalt do the better

Measure is medicine / though thou ernestLX muche

All is notT good for the ghost / that the gutte askethe

T Nor liuelode to thy likingLX / for a liere him teacheth

That is the wrechid worlde / wolde the betraie

for the feinde and the fleshe / folowe the together

This and that seithe thy soule / and seythe it in thi hart

And for thou sholdest beware / I telle the the best

Madame mercie quod I / me likethe well youre wordes

And the money of this worlde / that men so fast holdethe

Telle me to whome madame / that treasure belongeth

Go to the gospell quod she / that god said him-self

Where the people him apposed / with a penie in the temple

Whether they shulde therwithe / worship the king Cesar

And god asked at them / of whome spake the letter

And th'ymage like / that therin standithe

CesarisT they said / we se him well echone

Reddite Cesari quod Christe / that to Cesar belongethe

Et que sunt dei deo / or ellis ye do evill

for rightfull reason / shulde rule you all

C And kinde wit be wardeine / your welthe to kepe

And tutor of your treasour / and take you at nede

For husbondrie and heT / holden to-gethers

Then I freynid hir faire / for him that me made

That doungeon in the dale / that dreadfull is of sight

What maie it be to mene / Madame I you beseche

That is the castill of care / who-so commethe therin

Maie banne that he was borne / to bodie or to soule

Therein wonneth a wight / that wrong is ycallid

Father of falshede / and founded hit himself

Adam and Eue / he eggid to euill

Counsellid Cayme / to kille his naturall brother

Iudas he iaped / withe Iewes siluer

And sithen on an Eldertre hangid him after

he is letter of loue / and deceyuith them all

That trust on his treasure / betrayeth he sonest

Then had I wonder in my witt / what womman it was

That such wise wordes / of holie writ shewid

And asked hir on the high name / ere she thens went

What she were trulie / that instruct me so faire

Holie churche I am quod she / thou oughtest me to knowe

I first receyuid the / and the feithe taught

Thou broughtest me borrowes / my biddinges to fulfill

And to loue me trulie / while thy lyfe dureth

Then I knelidT on my kneis / and cried hir of grace

And preid hir pitiouslie / toT pray for my synnes

And also kenne me kyndlie / on Christ to beleue /

That I might worke his will / Þat wrought me to man

Teache me to no tresure / but tell me this same

howe I maie saue my soule / that saynt art holden

When all treasures are tried quod she / truthe is the best

I do it on Deus caritas / to deme the sothe

hit is as dereworthie a thingLX / as dere god himself

Who-so is true of his tong / and tellithe non other

And dothe the workes therwith / and willethe noman / no man yll

He is a god by the gospell / agrounde and alofteC

And like to oure lorde / by seynt Lukes wordes

The clerkes that knowe this / shulde telle it about

for cristen and vncristen / cleymeth it echeone

Kinges and knightes / shulde kepe it by reason

Ride and rapdoune / rap doune / in Realmes aboute

C And take Transgressors / and tye them fast

Till truthe had determid / their trespasse to th'ende

And that is the profession apertlie / Þat longith to knightes

And not to fast one fridaie / in fyue score wnter / w[i]nter

But holde with him and with hir / that wolde all truthe

And neuer leue them for loue / nor for laching of siluer

For dauid in his daies / dubbed knightes

And did them swere on their sworde / to serue truthe euer

And who-so passed that poynt / was apostata in the order

But Christ the noyntid kingT / knighthede tene

Cherubin and Seraphin / suche sevin and other

And gaf them might / in his maiestie / the merier them thought

And over his mene meynie / made them Archaungelles

Taught them by the trinitie / truth to knowe

To be buxome at his bidding / he bad them nought ellis

Lucifer with legions / lerned hit in heauen

But for he brake buxumnesse / his blisse did he lose

And fell from that felowship / in a fendes likenesse

In-to a derk depe hell / to dwelle there for euer

And mo thousandes with him / than man coude nombre

Lept out with Lucifer / in Lothelie forme

for they beleuid vpon him / that lyed in this manere

Ponam pedem in aquilone , et similis ero altissimo .

And all that hopid it might be so / no heauen might them holde

But felle out in fendes likenesse / nyne daies together

Till god of his goodnes / began to stable and stint

And caused heuin to shett / and stand in quiet

When these wicked went out / in wonder wise they felle

Some in th'ayre some in th'erthe / & some in helle depe

And Lucifer lowest lythe /T yet of them all

for pride that he put out / his peyne hath non ende

And all that worke with wrong / wende they shall

After their deathdaie / and dwelle with that shrewe

And they that worke wele / as holie write telleth

And ende as I have saide / in truthe that is best

Maie be sure that their soules / shall go to heauen

There truthe is in trinitie / and tronethe them all

Wherfor I saie as I saide / by sight of these textes

When all treasures are tried / truthe is the best

Lerne on theseT laie men / for letterid men it knoweth

That truthe is tresure / the triest on the erthe

C Yet haue I no kynde knowlege quod he / yet mot yeT kenne me better

By what crafte in my corps / it beginneth and where

Thou dotid daffe quod she / dull are thy wittes

Tolitill / To litill latine thou lernedist / lewdeLX in thi youthe

hit is a kind knowlege quod heT / to knoweT in thine hart

For to loue thi lorde / leuer then thi-self

No deadlie synne to do / die though thou shuldest

This I trowe be truthe / who can teache the better

Loke thou suffre him to saie / & then lerne it after

for truthe tellith that loue / is triacle of heauen

Maie no synne be on him sene / that vseth that spice

And all his workes he wrought / with loue as him list

And learnid hit Moyses for the lefest thing / & most like to heauen

And also the plentie of peace / most preciouse of vertues

For heauen might not holde it / hit was so heauy of him-self

Till it had of the erthe / eaten his Fill

And when it had of this folde / fleshe and blood taken

Was neuer leaf vpon lynde / lyghter therafter

Portatiue and persing / as the poynt of a nedill

Non armoure might it let / nor non highe walles

Therfore is loue leder / of the lordes folke of heauen

And a mene as the Maire is / betwene þe king & the commons

Right so is loue a leder / and the lawe shapithe

Vpon man for his misdedes / the mercement he taxethe

And for to knowe it rightlie / it beginneth by myght

And in the hart is the head / and the high welle

for of right knowlege in hart / there a myght beginneth

And falleth to the father / that formed vs all

He lokid on vs with loue / and lete his son die

Mekelie for oure misdedes / to amende vs all

And yet wolde he them no woe / þat wrought him þat peyne

But mekelie with mouthe / mercie he besought

To have pitie on that people / þat peynid him to deathe

Here might thou se ensamples / in hinself / hi[m]self one

That he was mightfull & meke / that mercie gan graunte

To them þat hangid him highe / and his hart thirled

Therfor I rede you riche / haue ruthe on the pouer

Thoughe ye be mightieLX / be meke in your workes

for that measure that ye meate / amisse or ellis

C ye shall receyue the like / when ye wende hens

Eadem mensura qua mensi fueritis , remetietur vobis .

For you be true of your tung / and trulie winne

And as chast as a childe / that in church wepith

But if ye loue trulie / and lende the pouer

Such good as god you sent / goodlie partingT

Ye haue nomore / no more merite / in masse nor in houres

Then Malkin of hir maidinhede / that noman / no man desyreth

For Iames the gentill / Iudged in his bookes

That feith without the factLX / is nothing worthe

And as dead as a dorenaile / but if the dedes folowe

Fides sine operibus mortua est .

For chastitie without charitie / is cheyned {is} in helle

It is as lewde as a lampe / þat no light is in

Many chapleynes are chast / but charitie is awaie

No men more covetouse / Whan they be avauncid

Vnkinde to their kynne / and to all cristen

Shewing such charitieLX / and chide after more

Such Chastitie without Charitie / is cheyned in helle

Many Curates kepe them clene of their bodie

And be accombrid with Couetise / they maie not do it from them

So harde hath | Avarice / hasped them togethers

Which is no truthe of þe | Trinite / but trecherie of helle

And lerning to laiemen / the worse for to dele

Therfor theise wordes / be writen in the gospell

Date et dabitur vobis / for I deale you all thing

And that is the locke of loue / þat lettith out my grace

To confort the carefull / Accombred with synne

Loue is leche of lyfe / and next oure lorde himself

And also the right waie / that ledithe into heauen

Therfor I saie as I said ere / by the true textes

When all treasures bene tried / truthe is the best

Now haue I tolde the what truth is / þat no treasure is better

I maye no longar lodge the with / now kepe the oure lord