thanP had wit a wife / callid Dame Studie

That lene was of lere / and of liche bothe

She was wonderlie wrothe / þat wit me thus taught

And all staring dame Studie / sternlie saide

Well art þou wise quod she to witt / Any wisdomes to telle

To Flaterers or to Fooles / that frentike be of witt

Blamyng him & Bannyng him / and Bad hym be stille

With such wise wordes / to instruct anye {stottes}P Sottes

And said Noli Mittere man / Margarite perles

Amonges Hogges that haue / Hawes at will

They do but dreuill on them / draf were them Leuer

Then all the precious stones / þat in Paradise wexeth

I speke it by such quod she / þat sheweth by their workes

That them were leuer londe / & lordship in erthe

Or riches and rentes / and rest and their will

Then all the true sayinges / þat Salomon said euer

Wisdome and wit nowe / is not worth a might

Onlesse hit be cardid with couetise / as clothers kembe theyr wolle

Who-so can contryue deceptes / and conspire wronges

And Lede forth a louedaie / to Let with truthe

He þat such craftes can / is oft callid to counseile

They lede Lordes with Lesynges / and belye Truthe

Iob the gentill in his gestes /T witnesseth

That wicked men rule / the welth of this world

And þat they be Lordes of eche londe / þat out of lawe Liuethe

The psalter seith the same / by such as done yll

Lo seyth holy scripture / which be thise shrewes

They that geueT most / least good they {.}dele

And most vnkynde be to the comons / that most goodes possesseth

Harlottes for theyr halotrie / may haue of theyr goodes

And Iapers and Ioglors / and Ianglers of iestes

But that hath scripture / allwaie in his mouthe

And can telle of Tobie / & of the xij / twelue apostels

Or preche of the penaunce / that Pylate falslie wrought

To Ihesu / Iesu the gentill / whome the Iewes crucified

Litell is he belouid / that such a lesson shewithe

Or dauntid or drawnfourth / drawn fourth / I do it on god himself

But they that feyne them fooles / & with faiting Liueth

Against the Lawe of the lorde / And lie {of} on them-self

Spett and spewe / and speake foule wordes

Drinke and dreuill / and do men to gape

Licke men and Lye on them / that giue them no giftes

They can nomore / no more mynstralcie / nor musike men to glad

Than Munde the Myller / of Multa fecit deus /

Werenot / Were not their harlotrie / haue god my truthe

Shuld neuer Kyng nor Knight / Nor Canon of . S . Paules

Gyue them in rewarde / the value of one grote

But myrth and mynstralcie / Among men is nowe

Lecherye Losencherie / and losellis tales

Glotonye and great othes / is the myrth they loue

And if they carpe of Christ / thise clerkes & thise Lewde

At meat in theyr myrth / when mynstrallis be stille

Then telle they of the Trynitie / a tale or tweyne

And bring furth a bald reason / taking Barnard to witnesse

And put furth a presumption / to proue the sothe

Thus they dreuill at theyr deace / þe deitie to knowe

An{g}d gnawe god with a gorge / when their guttes be full

but the carefull may crie / and carpe at the gate

Bothe hungrie and thurstie / quaking for colde

There is non to take him inT / his miserie t'amende

But hunt him as an hounde / & bid him go thence

Litill louith he þat lorde / þat lent him all his goodes

That thus partith with the pouer / a parcell when he nedeth

Were no mercie in meane men / more then in rich

Pouer beggers meatlesse / myght go to bedd

God in gorge is muche / of thise great maisters

But among meane men / his mercie & his workes

And so seith the psalter / I haue sene it oft

Clerkes and other men / carpe of god fast

And haue him much in theyr mouthes / but mene men in theyr / / hertesC

Friers and faitors / haue founde such questions

To please with proude men / sithe the pestilence tyme

And preach at Paules / for pure envie of clerkes

That folke be fyrme in þe feithe / nor free of there goodes

Nor sorye for theyr synnes / so is Pride waxen

In Religion and in all the realme / among rich and pouer

That preyers haue no pour / the pestilence to lett

And yet the wreches of this worlde / is non ware by other

Nor for drede of dethe / withdrawe not their pryde /

Nor be plentuouse to the pouer / as pure charitie wolde

But in gaynesse and glotonie / forglut theyr goodes themself

And breake not to the begger / as the book teachith /

And the more he wynneth / welthe and riches

And lordeth in londes / the lesse good he dealeth

Tobye told you not so / take hede you riche

Howe the Byble booke / of hym beareth witnesse

Who-so hath muche spende manlie / so meneth Tobie

And who-so hath lesse / rule him therafter

For we haue no letter of our Life / howlong / how long it shall endure

Such Lessons Lordes / shulde loue to here /

And howe he might most meanyeLG / manlie fynde

Not to fare as a fideler / or a frere / to seke feastes

Homely at other mennes houses / and hate his owne /

EmptieLX is their hall / euery daie in the wyke /

There the lorde nor the Ladie / Liketh not to sytt

Now haue euery riche a rule / to eate by themself

In a privie parlour / for pouer mennes sake

Or in a chambre with a chymney / and leaue the chief hall

That was made for meales / men to sit in /

And all to spare to spende / that spille shall another . /

I haue herde highe men / eating at their table

{O}CarpeP as they clerkes were / of Christ & his might

And laid fautes vpon the father / that formid vs all

And carpid agaynst Clerkes / crabbed wordes

Why our Saviour wolde suffre / such a worme in his blisse

That bigyled the woman / and the man after

Through which wyles and wordes / they went to helle

And all theyr sede for their synne / the same death suffred

Here Lythe our Loore / thise Lordes begynne to dispute

Of that Clerkes do teach vs / of Christ by the gospell

Filius non portabit iniquitatem patris /

Why shulde we that now be / for the workes of Adam

Roten / and to-rende / Reason wold it not

Vnusquisque portabit onus suum /

Such motyues they moue / thise maisters in their glorie

And bring men in misbeleue / þat muse much on their wordes

Ymaginatyf hereafter / shall answere to your purpose

Augustine to such Argueris / he telleth this teme

Willith neuer to wite / why that god wolde

Suffre Sathan his sede to begile

But beleue trulie / in the Lawe of holie churche

And pray him of pardon / and Penance in þi Lyfe

And for his great mercie / to amende you here

Who-so will knowe / the waies of god allmightie

I wolde his eye were in his arse / & his fynger after

That euer will to wite / why that god wolde

Suffre Sathan / his sede to begile

Or Iudas to the iewes / IhuIesu betraye

All was as þou woldest / Lord worshippid be thou

And all is at thy will / what so euer we dispute

And they that vse those hauylones / to blynde mennes wittes

What is dowell from dobet / and deaf mut he be /

Sith he will to wite / which they bene bothe

But if he Liueth in þe Life / þat longeth to dowell

For I dare be his borrough / that dobet will he neuer

Though dobest drawe on him / day after other

And {.}When witt was ware / þat dame Studie told

he became so confuse / he couldnot / could not Looke

And as dombe as death / and drewe him asyde

And for no carping I coulde after / nor kneling to th'erthe

I myght get no greyne / of his great wittes

But all laughing he lowtid / & lokid vpon Studie

In signe that I shuld / beseche hir of grace

And when I was ware of his will / to his wyfe did loute

Saying mercie madame / your man shall I be

As long as I liue / both Late and rathe

To worke your will / while my Life endureth

So that ye teche me trulye / to knowe what is dowell

For thy mekenesse man quod she / & for thy mylde speche /

I shall send the to my cosyn / that Clergie hight

He had weddid a wife / within thise sex monethes

Which is syb to the seaven Artes / Scripture is hir name

They ij / two as I hope / after my teaching

Shall tell the to dowell / I dare it vndertake

Then was heT as fayne / as foule of faire morowe

And gladder then the Gleman / þat gold hath to gift

And asked hyr the high weye / where þat clergie dwelt

And telle me {soke} some token quod I / for tyme is that I wende

Aske the high waie quod she / Hence to suffre

Both well and woo / if that þou wilt learne

And ride furth by richesse / but rest þou not therin

For if þou couplest the therwith / to clergie commest þou neuer

And also the Licorouse Lande / þat Lecherie hight

Leaue it on thy Lefte half / a large myle and more

Till þou come to a Court / Kepe well thy tong

From Leasynges and Lyther spech / & Likerouse drinkes

Then shalt þou se Sobrietie / and Simplicitie of speche

That eche wight be in will / his wit t{o}he to shewe

And thus shalt þou come to Clergie / þat can many thinges

Telle him this token / I set him to scole

And grete well his wife / for I wrot hir many bookes

And sett hir to Sapience / & to the psalter glose

Logik I Learned hir / and many other Lawes

And all the Musons of Musike / I made hir to knowe

Plato the poete / I put him first to booke

Aristotle and other moo / to Argue I taught

Gramer for girles / I causid first to be wreten

And bete them with a balleis / onlesse they wold lerne

Of all manere craftes / I contryuid tooles

Of carpenters and Kervers / and compased Masons

And learnid them Levell & lyne / though I looke dymme

But Theologie hath Angrid me / tean score tymes

The more I muse therin / the mystier hit semeth

And the depper I deuyne / the derker me think it

TA full Lethy thing it were / if loue were not

But for it leke best by loue / I loue it the better

For where loue is leder / Lackith neuer grace

Loke þou loue trulie / if þou Likest dowell

For dobet and dobest / bene of louis kyn

In other science it seith / I se it in Caton

Who-so gloseth as gylours do / go me to the same

And so shalt þou false folke / and feithelesse begyle

This is þe Catons saying / to clerkis þat it Lerneth

But Theologie teacheth not so / who-so taketh hede

He tell vs the contrarie / against Catons wordes

He biddeth vs be as bretherne / and praie for our enemyes

And loue them that lye on vs / & lende them when they nede

And do good against euill / god him-self commandeth

Paule preached the people / þat perfitnesse louid

To good for goddes loue / & gyue men that asked

And namelie to such / as be of oure beleue

And all that offend vs / the lorde willeth us to loue

And to greue them þat greve vs / god him-self forbad it

Mihi vindictam et ego retribuam /

Therfore loke þou louist / as long as þou lyuest

for þer is no science vnder sonne / so souereigne for the soule

But astronomye is an harde thing / & euill for to knowe

Geometrie & Geomesie / so synfull of speche

Who-so worketh with those ij / two / thryueth full late

For Sorcerie is the souereyne booke / þat to those sciences longeth

Ȝit are there Fybicches in forceris / of diuerse mennes making /

Experymentes Alkenamye / the people to deceyue

Yf thou think dowell / dele therwith neuer

All thise Sciences I my-self / sotilled & ordeyned

And founded them formest / folke to deceyue

Tell Clergie this token / And Scripture after

To counseile the right / to know what is dowell

I said graunt mercie madame / and mekelie hir grete

And went wightlie awaie / without more letting

And till I came to clergie / I coulde neuer stynt

And gret the goodman / As studie me {thought} taught

And afterward the wyfe / & worshiped them bothe

And told them the tokens / þat me taught were

Was neuer man on erth / sithe god it made

Fairer interteynedLX / nor frendlier at ease

Than my-self sothlie / sone so he wist

That I was of wittes house / and with his wyfe dame Studie

I said to them soothelie / that sent was I thether

Dowell and dobet / and dobest to learne

It is commone Life quod Clerlgie / Clergie / on holie church to bileue

With all the Articles of þe feithe / that fallethe to be knoune

And that is to be trulie / both lernid and lewde

On the great god / that begynnyng had non

And on the sothefast son / that saued mankynde

Frome the deadlie death / and the deuillis powre

Through helpe of the holie ghost / the which is of bothe

Thre parsons / but nott in plurell nombre

For all is but one god / & eche is god himself

God the father god the son / god the holie ghoste / of bothe

Maker of mankynde / and of beastes bothe

Augustine the olde / hereof made bookes

And himself ordeyned / t'esthablish vs in beleue

Who was his author ?T / all the foure Evangelistes

And Christ clepid himself so / the Evangelistes bere witnesse

All þe Clerkes vnder Christ / could not this assoile /

But thus it behouith to beleue / to lewde that will dowell

For neuer had man fyne witt / the feith to dispute

Nor man hath no merite / maye reason {appro} proue it

Than is dobet {.}toP suffre / for the soules helth

All þat the book bid / by holie chirchis teaching

And that is man by thy might / for mercies sake

Loke þou worke in thy worke / that þi worde sheweth

Such as þou semest in sight / be in assaye founde

And lat no man be / by thy bearing begyld

But be such in thy soule / as þou semest without

Than is dobest to be bolde / to blame the gilty

Sithens þou seest þi-self / as in soule clene

But blame thou neuer bodie / if þou be blame worthie

Dogma tuum sordet , cum te tua culpa remordet /

God in the gospell / grevouslie reprouithe

All that lack any Life / and in fautes them-self

How art thou offendid / with a mote in thy brothers eye

Hauing a beame in thine oune / to blemish þi sight

Which letteth the to loke / lesse or more

I rede such a blynde bosarde / do bote to himself

For Abbottes & for Priours / & for all manere prelates

As parsons and parish preestes / that preache shulde and teache

All manere men / to amende their Lyues

This text was tolde you to beware or ye taught

That ye were such as ye said / to salue with other

for goddes worde wold not be lost / for þat workith euer

Yf it availed not the commons / it might availe your-self

But it semith nowe soothelie / to the worldes sight

That goddes worde workethnot / worketh not / on Lerned nor Lewde

But in such manere / as Marc meneth in the gospell

Leawde men may liken you thus / þat the beame lieth in your eye

And the mote is fallen / through your defautes

In-to all mennes eyis / by noughtie preistes

The Byble beareth witnesse / that all the people of ysraell

Bitterlie were punisshed / for ij / two euill preistes fautes

Of offyn and Phynes / for their couetise

Archa dei mishappid / and Ely brake his necke

Therfor you Correctors clawe hereon / & corect first your-self

And then may ye safely saie / as Dauid þat made the psalter

And then shall burell clerkes be abasshed / to blame or to greue you

And carpe not as they carpe nowe / and call you dumbe houndes

And drede to angre you in any worde / your workmanship to lett

And be prester at your preyer / than for a pounde of nobles

And all for your holinesse / haue ye this in hart

In Scole there is skorne / but if a clerk will lerne

And great loue and Liking / for eche of them louith other

But now is Religion a ryder a Romer by strete

A leder of louedaies / and a lowd buggar

A pricker on a palfrey / fro manner to manner

An heape of houndes at his arse / as he a lorde were

And onlesse his knaue knele / þat shall his cuppe bring

He lowreth on him & Asketh him / who taught him curtesie

Litill had lordes to do / to gyue londes from their heyres

To religiouse þat haue no ruthe / though it reyneth on their alters

In many places there they parsons be / themselfes be at ease

But of the pouer people they haue no pitie / & þat is their charitie

But they beare them as lordes / their londes Lythe so brode

But there shall come a king / & confesse you Religious

And beat you as the Byble tellith / for breakyng of your rule

And Amende Monyales / Monkes & Chanons

And put them to their penaunce / Ad pristinum statum ire .

And Barons with Erles bete them / through / beatus virres techi[ng]C

That theyr Barnes clayme / and blame you foule

hij in curribus et hij in equis ipsi obligati sunt &c /

And then friers in Freytour / shall fynde a keye

Of Constantynes cofres / in which is the tresure /

{Thett God} That Gregories godchildren haue euill dispendid

And than shall the Abbot of Abyngdon / & all his issue for euer

haue a knock of a king / and the wounde incurable

Whether this beT true / Loke you that ofte ouerse the byble

But ere that king come / Caym shall awake

But Dowell shall diggLX him doune / & distroye his might

Than is dowell and dobet quod I dominus and knighthode

I will not skorne quod Scripture / but if Scryueners lie

Kynghode nor knighthode / by aught I can espie

Helpe not to heauenwarde / one heris ende

Nor Richesse right nought / nor royaltie of lordes

Paule prouith it inpossible / riche men to haue heauenP

Salomon saith also / that syluer is worst to loue

And Cato telleth vs not to couete it but for nede onlie

Dilige denarium sed parce dilige formam /

And patriarches and prophetes / & Poetes also

Writt to teche vs / to wille no richesse

And preised Pouertie with pacience / þe apostels berith witnesse

That they haue heritage {/}inT heauen / & by true right

There rich men no right may clayme / but of ruthe & grace

Contra quod I by Christ / that can I reproue

And proue by Peter / and by Paule bothe

That who is baptysed is safe / be he rich or pouer

That is in extremis quod Scripture / among Sarazens & Iewes

They may be sauid so / and that is oure beleue

That an vnxren / vncristen in þat cace / may cristen an hethen

And for his true beleue / when he this Life Loseth

haue the heritage of heauen / as any cristian may

But xpcristen men without more / maynot / may not come to heauen

For that Christ for xpcristen men dyid / & confirmed þe Lawe

That who-so wolde and will with Crist to arise

Si cum xpõcristo surrexistis &c /

he shuld trulie loue / and the Lawe fullfill

That is loue thy lorde god / Lefest aboue all

And then all xpcristen creatures / for Cristes sake

And this belongeth to loue / to them þat beleue to be sauid

And but we do thus in dede / ere the daie of dome

It shall besitt vs full soure / the siluer þat we kepe

And our clothes that be motheten / & se beggers go nakid

Or delite in wyne or wyldefoule / and wot any in defaute

For euery cristen creature / shold be kynde to other

And than helpe the hethen / in hope of Amendement

God commandeth both high and lowe / that noman / no man hurt other

And seith slea not þat semblable is / to myn oune Likenes

Onlesse I send þe some token / and saith Non necabisT

Slea not but suffre / and all for the best

For I shall punishe them in purgatorie / or in the pitt of helle

Euery man for his misdedes / but if mercie let it

This is a long lesson quod I / and I Litill the wyser

Where Dowell is or dobet / derkelie ye shewe /

Many {telles} tales ye telle / that Theologie Lerneth

And that I was made man / & my name entred

In the Legende of Life / Long ere I was borne

Or elles vnwritten for some wickednesse as holie writ wytnesseth

I beleue it well quod I by our lorde / & on no lettre better

For Salomon the sage / that sapience taught

God gaf him grace of witt / and all hise goodes after

He demed wiselie / as holie writt telleth

Aristotle and he / who counseiled men better

Maisters þat of mercie / teach men and preache

Of their wordes they tell vs / for wysest as in their tyme

And all holie church / holdeth them bothe damned

And if I shulde worke by their workes / to wyme / wy[nn]e me heuen

That for his workes and wit / dwelleth in peyne

Then wrought I vnwiselie / what-so-euer ye preache

But of many wittie in feyth / Litell meruell I haue

Though their goost be vngracious / god for to please

For many men in this world / more set their hartes

In goodes then in god / therfore grace them faile

At their most nede / when they shall hens passe

As Salomon did and such other / þat shewid great wittes

But theyr workes as holie writ saith / were euer contrarie

Therfore wise wittid men / & well Learned clerkes

As they say themself / seld do they therafter

But I wene it be with many / as was in Noes tyme

When he made the ship / of shydes and boordes

There was not a write sauid that wrought theron / nor other workman / ellisC

But byrdes and beastes / and the blissed Noe /

And his wife with his sonnes / and also their wyves

Of wightes þat wrought it was neuer won saued

God graunt it come not so to passeLX / by them þatT the feith teache

Of holie chirch that harborowe is / & goddes house to saue

And sheld vs frome shame þerin / as Noes ship did beastes

When they þat made it / in the flood were drowned

The conclusion of this clause / of Curators is to mene

That be Carpenters holy chirch to make / for Christes oune beastes

Homines et iumenta saluabis domine &c /

On good fridaie I fynde / a felon was saued

That had Liued all his Lyfe / in falsede & theft

And for he bekened to the crosse / & to Christ confessid him

he was soner saued / then S Iohan the Baptist

And ere Adam or ysaye / or any of the prophettes

That had leyne with Lucifer / many long yeris

A robber was ransomed / rather then they all

Without any penaunce of purgatorie / to perpetuall blisse

Than Marie magdalene / what woman did worse

Or who wors then Dauid / þat Vries death conspired

Or Paule th'apostle / that no pitie had

To kille vnto death / many Christen men

And now be thise as souereynes / with Sayntes in heauen

They that wrought most wickedlie / in erth when they were

And they that spoke most wiselie / and writ many bookes

Of wit & of wisdome / with damned soules dwelle

That Salomon saith I trowe be true / & certeyn of vs all

There are wittie and well Living / but their workes be hid

In the handes of almightie god / & he knoweth the truthe

Wherfore a man is alowed here / and his true workes

Or ellis for his euill will / and envie of hert

And be alowed as he liued so / for by euill , men know good

for wherby wist men which is whight / if all thinges were black

And who were a good man / onlesse there were some shrewe

Therfor liue we furth with other men / I think fewe be good

For Qant oportet vient en place / il ny ad que pati /

And he that may all amende / haue mercie on vs all

For the truest worde / þat euer god seid / was when he said Nemo bonus P

Clergie then of Christes mouthe / commendid was full Litell

For he said to Saint Peter / & to suche as he loued

Cum steteritis ante reges et presides &c /

Though ye come before kinges / & clerkes of the Lawe

Be not Abasshed / for I shalbe / shall be in your mouthes

And giue you wit & will / and connyng to conclude

Them all þat against you / of Christendome dispute

Dauid makes mencion / he spake among kynges

And noking / no king ouercome him / as by connyng speche

But wit & wisdome / wan neuer the maistrie

Whan man was at mischef / without þe more grace

The doutiest doctour / and diuinour of þe Trynitie

Was Augustine the olde / and highest of the foure

Said thus in a sermon / I se it writen ones

Ecce ipsi ydioti rapiunt celum , vbi nos sapientes in inferno mergimur /

Which is thusmuche / thus muche in english / and no more nor Lesse /

None are rather rauished / from the right beleue

Then are thise connyng clerkes / þat can many bookes

Nor soner saued / nor sadder of beleue

Then plowmen and sheperdes / & pouer comone Laborers

Sowters / and sadelers / and such Lewde Iuttes

Perce with a pater noster / the palais of heauen

And passe Purgatorie penaunceles / at their hens parting

In-to the ioyes of Paradise / for thyr pure beleue

That inperfitely here / Knewe and eke Liued

Yea men knowe clerkes / þat haue cursed the tyme

That euer they could more / then Credo in deum patrem /

And principallie their / pater noster / many a man hath wisshed

I se ensamples my-self / & so may many other

That seruauntes that serue lordes / Selden renne in rerage

But they that kepe his treasure / clerkes and Stywardes

Right so Laye men / & of small Knowlege

Selden fallT so foule / & so far in synne

As clerkes of holie church / that kepe Christes treasure

The which is mannes soule / as Christ saithe in the gospell