Then Scripture skorned me / and a skill told

And Lackid me in Latyn / & lite by me she set

And said Multi multa sciunt et seipsos nesciunt /

Then wept I for wo / & wrathe of hir speche

And in a winking wrath / fell I a-slepe

A meruelouse dreme / then dremed I

That I was rauished euen there / and fortune me fett

And into the Lond of longing / alone she me brought

And in a Myrour þat hight myddillerth / she made to behold

Then she said to me / here mightst þou se wonders

And knowe that þou covettist / & come therto paraduenture

Then had Fortune folowing hir / ij / two faire damoselles

Concupiscentia carnis / men callid the elder maide

And Concupiscentia oculorum / callid was th'other

Pryde of perfect Liuyng / pursued them bothe

And bad me for my countynaunce / acounte clergie light /

Concupiscentia carnis / collid me about the neck

And said þou art yong & lustie / and haste yeris ynowe

for to Liue long / and Ladies to loue

And in this myrrour þou maist se / Lordinges full many

That Lede their Life in Liking / all their hole tyme

The seconde said the same / I shall folowe thy will

Till þou be a lorde and haue londe / forsake þe I willnot / will not

But I will folowe þi felawship / if fortune it Like

he shall fynde me his frende / quod fortune then

he that fo{w}loweth my mynde / failith neuer blisse

Then was there one þat hight Age / þat heuye was of chere

Man quod he if I mete with the / By Marie of heauen

Thou shalt fynd fortune to fayle the / at thy most nede

And concupiscentia carnis / clene the forsake

Bitterlie shalt þou then banne / both dayes and nyghtes

Couetise of eyes / that euer þou hir knewe

And pride of perfite Living / to much perill the bring

Yea care thou not quod Rechelesse stood forth in raggid clothes

Folowe furthe that Fortune will / þou haste yet long till Age

A man may stoupe sone ynough / whan he shall lose the croune

Homo proponit quod A poete / And Plato he hight

And deus disponit quod he / Lat god do his will

Yf Truthe will witnesse it be well done / Fortune to Folowe

Concupiscentia carnis ne Couetise of eyis

Shall not greue the greatlie / onlesse þou wilt begile thi-self

Yea farwell Phippe quod Fantasie / and forth did me drawe

Till Concupiscentia carnis / Accordid all my workes

Alasse þat eye quod Age / and Holinesse bothe

Shuld turne wit to wrechidnesse / for will to haue his Liking

Couetise of eyes / conforted me anon after

And folowed me / fourtie winter / and a fyfte more

That of dowell nor dobet / no{r} deintie me thought

I had no Liking beleue me / of them ought to knowe

Couetise of eyes / cam {A}Ofter in mynde

Then dowell or dobet / among my dedes all

Couetise of Eyes conforted me ofte

Saying haue thou no conscience / how þou come to good

Go confesse the to some Frier / & shew him thy synnes

For while Fortune is thy frende / Friers will the loue

And feche the to ther fraternitie / and for the praye

To their Priour provinciall / A pardon to haue

And prey for the poll by poll / if þou be Pecuniosus

By the counsell of this wenche / I wrought hyr wordes were so swete

Till I forgat youth / and fell into Age

And then was Fortune my Foo / for all hir fair promise

And Pouertie pursued me / And put me lowe

And then founde I the Frier afreid / & flitting bothe

Against our first covenaunt / for I said I wold not

Be buried at their house / but at my parish churche

For I herde ones / how Conscience it tolde

That there A man were Cristened / of right he shuld be buried

Or where as he were Parishen / euen there to be buried

And forthat / for that I seid thus to Friers / A Foole they me held

And loued me the lesse / For my true speche

But yet I cried on my confessour / þat held him-self so connyng

By my feith quod I Frier / ye fare Like thise woars

That wedde no widowes / but wonlie for their goodes

Right so by the rood / rought ye neuer

Where my bodie were buried / so that ye had my siluer

I haue muche merueile of you / & so hath many other

Why your Convent covetith / to confesse and to burie

Rather then to Baptise Barnes / þat be C{.}atecumelynges

Baptyzing and burieng / both be full nedefull

But muche more meritorius / me think to Baptise

For a man Baptised may / as thise maisters telle

Through Contricion come / to the highe heauen

But Barne without Baptime / maynot / may not be saued

Nisi quis renatus fuerit &c /T

And Leautie Lokid on me / and I loured After

Wherfor Lowrest þou quod Leautie / & lokid on me harde

Yf I durst quod I Among men / this dreame avowe

Yes by Peter & Paule quod he / & toke them bothe to witnesse

They will allege also quod I / and by the gospell proue

Nolite iudicare quemquam /

And wherfor seruith Lawe quod leautie / if noman / no man vndertoke it

Falsnesse nor Faiterie / for somewhat þe Apostole seide

Non oderis fratrem / & in the psalter also seith Dauid þe prophete

Existimasti inique quod ero tui similis &c /

It is Licitum for Laye men / to saie the soothe

Yf them Lust & Like / euery lawe it grauntethe

Except parsons and preistes / & prelates of holy kirk

It fallethe not for them / no tales to telle

Though the tale be true / if it towcheth Synne

A thing that all þe world wot / wherfor shuldest þou spare

And rede it in Rethorike / to rebuke deadlie synne

But be neuer the First / a faute to blame

Though þou se euill saie it not first / but be sorie for it

Nothing þat is privie / Publice þou at any time

Nor for {Lawe} loue lawde it / nor lack it not for envie

Parum lauda vitupera parcius /

He seith truthe quod Scripture then / & skipt vp and preched

But the matere that she moued / if lay men it knewe

The lesse I beleue / loue it they wolde /

This was hir teme & text / I toke full goode hede

Multi to a mangerie / and to the meate were Sommoned

And the people all come / the portar vnpynned the gate

And plucked in Pauci priuelie / & lete the rest go roome

And for Angre of hir text / trembled myn hert

And in a studie I felle / & began with my-self dispute

Whether I were chosen or not / on holie churche I thought

That cristened me at the font / for one of goddes childerne

For Christ callid vs all / come if we wolde

Sarasens & Scismatikes / & so he did the Iewes

And bad them sucke for for / [+] synne / safelie at his brest

And drinke boote for bale / brouke it who so myght

Then may all xpcristen come quod I / and clayme there entree

By the blood þat he bought vs with / & through baptisme after

Qui crediderit et baptisatus fuerit &c /

For though a cristen man wold / his Christendome renye

Righfullie to renye / no reason it wolde

For no Cherle may Charter make / nor his Catell selle

Without leue of his lorde / no lawe will it graunte

But he may renne in rerage / & so roome from home

And as renyed Caitif / recheleslie renne about

And Reason shall reken with him / & cast him in rereage

And put him in prison / in Purgatorie to brenne

For his arerages rewarde him there / till þe daie of dome

But if Contricion will come / and crie by his Lyfe

Mercie for his misdedis / with mouth or with harte

That is true said Scripture / may no synne let

Mercie all to Amende / and mekenesse hir folowe

For they be as our bookes tell / aboue goddis workes

Misericordia eius super omnia opera eius /

Yea bawe for bookes quod won / was broken out of helle

hight Troianus had bene a true knight / toke witnesse at a Pope

howe he was dead and damned / to dwelle in peyne

for an vnxpen / vncristen creature / Clerkes knowe the truthe

That all þe clergie vnder Christ / ne might me cache from helle

But wonlie loue and Leautie / and my Laufull domes

Gregorie wist this well / and willed to my soule

Saluacion for sothenesse / that he se in my workes

And after that he wept / & willed me were grauntid

Grace without prayer / and his boone was graunted

And I saued as you se / without synging of masses

By loue and by Learnyng / of my Liuyng in truthe

Brought me fro bitter peynes / there no prayer myght

Lo ye lordes what Leautie did / by an Emporour of Rome

That was an vnxpen / vncristen creature / as clerkes fynde in bookes

Not through preyer of A Pope / but for his pure truthe

Was that Sarazen saued / as S Gregorie beareth witnesse

Well ought ye lordes that Lawe kepe / this Lesson to haue in mynde

And on Troianus truthe to thinke / & do trulie to the people

Lawe without loue quod Troianus / Ley there a beane

Or anie sciens vnder sonne / the vij / seuen Artes and all

Onlesse they be lerned for the lordes loue / lost is all the time

For no cause to cache siluer / nor to be callid maister

But all for loue of the lorde / and the better to loue the people

For S Iohan said it / and true are hise wordes

Who-so louithe not beleue me / he liuith in death dying

And that all manere men / enemyes & freindes

Loue eche one other / and beleue them as them-self

Who-so beleuith not he louith not / god wot the soth

And comandethe euery man / to conforme him to loue

And chefelie the pouer people / and their enymies after

For them that hate vs / is our merite to loue

And pouer people to please / their prayers may vs helpe

And our Ioie and our helth / IhuIesu Christ of heauen

In a pouer mannes apparaile / pursued vs euer

And Loketh on vs in their Likenesse / & þat with louelie chere

To knowe vs by our kynde hart / & casting of our eyen

Whether we loue the Lordes here / before the lorde of blisse

And excite vs by th'evangelie / þat when we make feastes

We shuld not call our kyn therto / nor no riche man /

Cum facitis conviuia , nolite invitare amicos /

But call the carefull therto / the crokid and the blynde

For your freendes will fede you / and requite you agayne

Your Feasting & your fair gifte / eche frende so quiteth other

But for the pouer I shall paye / & well quite their cost

That giueth them meate {/}orT money / & loue them for my sake

For the best , some be rich and some beggers and pouer

All Are Christes creatures / and of his cofres riche

And bretherne as of won blood / as well beggers as Erles

For on Caluarie of Christis blood / xpcristendome did spring

And bloodie bretherne we became there / of won bodie wonne

As quasi modo geniti , and gentillmen alle

No begger nor boye among vs / but if synne it made

Qui facit peccatum , seruus est peccati /

In th'olde Lawe / as holie letter tellethe

Mennes sonnes / men call vs eueryone

Of Adames issue and Eue / euer till , God man , died

And After his Resurreccion Redemptor was his name

And we his bretherne by him bought / bothe riche and pouer

Therfor loue we as bretherne / & eche man merie with other

And all that euery man may spare / giue where nede is

And euery man helpe other / for hens shall we all

Alter alterius onera portate /

And be we not vnkynde of our goodes / nor o{r}f our konnyng

For no man knoweth how sone / to depart from bothe

Therfor no man dispise other / though he more Latyn knowe

Nor vngentellie rebuke / for noman / no man is without Faute

For what so euer clerkes carpe / of xpcristendome or ellis

Christ to a commone woman said / in commone at the feast

That fides sua shulde saue hir / & Salue hir of hir synnes

Than is beleue a true helpe / aboue Logike or Lawe

Of Logike or of lawe / in Legenda Sanctorum /

Is Litell allowaunce made / onlesse beleue them helpe

For it is ouerlong ere Logike / any Lesson Assoile

And Lawe is Loth to loue / onlesse he Lacheth Siluer

Bothe Logike and Lawe / who louith not to Lye

I conseile euery cristen / clive not þerto to sore

For some wordes I fynd written / were of Faithes teaching

That sauid synfull men / as S . Iohan beareth witnesse

Therfor learne we the Lawe of loue / as our lorde taught

And as S . Gregorie said / for mannes soule helthe

Why I meue this matere / is most for the pouer

For in their likenesse oure lorde hath bene ofte knoune

Witnesse in the Pask wyke / when we went to Emaus

Cleophas knew him not / that he Christ was

For his pouer Apparaile / and pilgrymes wede

Till he blessed and brake / the bread that they ete

So by his workes they wist / that he was IhusIesus

But by clothing they knewe him not / nor by carping of tong

And all was for exemple / to vs synnefull here

That we shulde be lowe / and gentill of speche

And apparaile vs not ouer prowdlie / for pilgrymes are we all

And in Apparaile of a pouer man / & pilgrymes Likenesse

Many tymes god hath bene met / Among nedie people

There neuer man him se / clothid Like the Riche

S . Iohan and other Sayntes / were sene in pouer clothing

And as pouer Pilgrymes / Asked mennes goodes

IhusIesus Christ on a Iewes doughter light / gentilwoman though she were

She was a pure pouer maide / & to a pouerman / pouer man weddid

Martha on Marie Magdalene / a great compleynt made

And to our Sauiour himself / said thise wordes

And Hastelie god Answerid / and bothe their willes folowid

Both Marthaes and Maries / as Mathue witnessethe

But pouertie god put before / and preised that as best

And all the wise that euer were / by aught þat I can spie

Preise pouertie for best life / if Pacience folowe

And bothe better and blissedder / by many fold then richesse

And though it be sowre to suffre / therafter commeth swete

As on a walnot without / is a bitter barke

But within the same / {she} the shelle being awaie

Ys a kernell of conforte / kynde to restore /

So is after pouertie or penaunce / pacientlie taken

for hit maketh A man to haue mynde of god / & A great will

To wepe and to pray / wherof cometh mercie

Of which Christ is a Kernell / to confort the soule

And more quietlie slepith / the man þat is pouer

And Lesse he dredeth death / and in the derk to be robbid

Then he that is riche / Reason beareth witnesse

Pauper ego ludo , dum tu diues meditaris /

Although Salomon seyd / as folke seeth in the Bible

Diuicias / nec paupertem / pauper[ta]tem &c /

Wyser then Salomon was / bereth witnes and taught

That perfite pouertie was / no possessions to haue

And Life most Liking to god / as Luke witnesseth

Si vis perfectus esse , vade et vende &c /

Which is to mene to men Living in this world

Who-so wilbe / will be purely perfite / must forsake possessions

Or selle it as the book seith / and the siluer dele

To beggers that begg / and aske it for goddes loue

For neuer failed man meate / þat allmightie god serued

As Dauid saith in the psalter / to such as be in will

To serue god trulie / ne greveth them no penaunce /

Nichil impossibile volenti /

Nor Lackethe neuer Lifelode / Lynnen nor wollen

Inquirentes autem dominum / non minuentur omni bono /

Yff preistes were perfite / they wold no siluer take

For masses nor Mateyns / not their meate of vsureres

Nor neither kirtell nor Cote / though they for cold shuld die

Yf they their deuoir did / as dauid saith in the psalter

Iudica me deus et discerne causam meam /

Spera in deo , spekith of preistes / þat haue no spending siluer

That if they travaile trulie / & trust in god Allmighty

They shall Lacke no Lifelode / neither wollen nor Lynen

And the Title they toke orders by / telleth they be Avaunced

Then nede not you to take syluer / for masses that you syng

For he that toke you your title / shuld take you your wages

Or the Bisshope that blissed you / if þat ye be worthie

For neuer king made knight / but he had Living to spende

As befelle for A knight / or fond him for his strengthe

It is a carefull knight / and of a caitif kinges making

That hathe no londes nor living / nor good loos of his handes

The same I saye forsothe / by all suche preistes

That haue neither connyng nor kyn / but only a croune

And a Title a tale of nought / to his Lifelode at nede

He hathe more beleue I think / to get through his Crowne

Cure ,P then through connyng / or knowlege of clene Living

I haue wonder why / and wherfor the Bisshope

Make such preistes / that betraie Laye men

A Chartre is chalengeable / before a chief Iustice

Yf false Latyn be in it / the lawe it impugneth

Or peyntid parenterlynarye / or parcellis ouerskipped

The man þat so gloseth charters / for a goky is holden

So it is a goky by god / þat in his gospell fayleth

Or in masse or mateyns / maketh any defaute

Qui offendit in vno , in omnibus est reus /

Also in the Psalter / saith Dauid to ouerskyppers

The bisshop shalbe / shall be blamed / before god as I beleue

That Crowneth suche goddes knightes / þat {knoweth no}cannotT Sapienter

Syng nor psalmes rede / nor saie masse of the daie

But neither is blamelesse / the bisshop nor the chapelyne

For they bothe be indyted / and þat is ignorantia nonT

excusat episcopos nec ydiotes preistis

This Loking on leaude preistes / hath done me lept from pouertie

Which I prayse there pacience is / more perfite then richesse

But much more in dremyng / þus with me did one dispute

And sleping I se all this / and then came Kynde

And callid me by my name / & bad me take hede

And through the wonders of this worlde / wit for to take

And on a Mounteyne þat Middillerthe hight as me thought

I was fet furthe / by ensamples to knowe

Through euery creature & kynde / my Creatour to loue

I sawe the sonne and the Sea / & also the sand after

And wheras birdes and beastes / with their makes went

Wyld wormes in woodes / & wonderfull foules

With flecked fethers / and of many colours /

Man And his make / I might bothe beholde

Pouertie and plentie / both peace and warre

Blisse and bale bothe / I se all atones / at ones

And how men toke mede / and mercie refused

I se Reason sothelie / ensue all beastes

In eating and drinkyng / & in engendring of kynde

And after course of conception / non toke kepe of other

As when they had riden in Rott tyme / Anone therafter

Males drewe to males / Amornynges by them-self

And in Euenynges also / þe males fro the females

There was neither Cowe nor Cowkynde / þat had conceyuid

That wold belowe after bulles / nor boor after sowe

Both horse an houndes / and all other beastes

Medelid not with their makes / that with fole were

Birdes I beheld / that in busshes made nestes

Had neuer man witt / to worke the Least

I had wonder at whome / and where the Pye Learned

To lay the stickes / in which she laieth and bredethe

There is no wright as I wene / shulde worke hir nest to paie

Yf any Mason made a moulde therto / much wonder it were /

But yet I merveiled more / how many other birdes

Hidd and helled their / Egges full preuylie

I / I[n] marresse and moores / that men shulde them not Fynde

And hide ther egges / when they went from them

For Feare of other foules / and wild beastes

And some trode their makes / and on trees brede

And brought furth birdes so / all aboue the grounde

And some birddes at the bill / through breathing conceyued

And some cauked I toke kepe / how pecockes bredd

Much merveiled me / what maister they had

And who taught them on treis / to tymbre so highe

There neither burn nor beast / may their birdes reche

And sithen I Lokid vpon the sea / & so furth vpon the sterres

Many wonders I se / not to be spoken nowe

I sawe floures in the frith / and their faire colours

And how Among the grene grasse / grew so many hewes

Some sour and some swete / very straunge me thought

Of their kyndes and colours / to carpe it were to long

But that most moved me / and my mode chaungid

That Reason rewardyd / and ruled all Beastes

Saue man and his make / many time and ofte /

No reason them folowid / And than I rebuked

Reason / And euen to himself I said

I haue wonder of the quod I / þat wittie art holden

Why thou ensuest not man and his make / þat no misfeat them folowe

And Reason Rebuked me / Sayeng care thou not

Why I suffre or not suffre / þou hast noȝtT to doo

Amend thou it if thou maye / for my tyme is to abide

Suffraunce is a souereyne vertue / and a swifte vengeaunce

Who suffreth more then god / no man as I beleue

he might Amend in a Mynute / all þat is Amisse

But he suffreth for some mannes good / and so is oure better

The wise and the wittie / wrot thus in the Byble

De re que te non molestat , noli certare /

For be a man fair or foule / it falleth for to Lacke /

The shape and forme / that god shoupe himself

For all that he did was well done / as holie writ witnessethe

And bad euery creature / in his kynde encresce

All to confort man / that most wo sufferith

In fonding of the fleshe / and of the fende bothe

for man was made of such matere / he maynot / may not well astert

That ne sometyme him betidde / to folowe his kynde

Cato Accordeth therwith / Nemo sine crimine viuit /

Then caught I colour anone / And began to be Ashamed

And awakid þerwith / woo was me thanneLG

That I in dreames myght not / more haue knoune

And then said I to my-self / and chidde that tyme

Now I wot what Dowell is quod I / by god as me thinke

And as I cast vp myn eyen / won Lokid on me & Asked

Of me what is / i[t] was / Iwisse syr I seyd

To se much and suffre more / certes quod I is Dowell

Haddest þou suffred he said / {sh} sleping when þou were

Thou shuldest haue knoune þat clerkes can / & conceyuid more by Reason

For Reason wold haue rehercid the / even as clergie said

{For} But for thyn entermedling / here art þou forsake

Philosophus esses , si tacuisses /

Adam whiles he spake not / had paradise at will

And when he mamled about meate / & entermetid to knowe

The wisdome and þe wit of god / he was put from blisse

And even so farid Reason by the / þou with thy rude speche

Thou Lackedst and lostLX thing / that ought not to be done

Then had he no Liking / for to Lerne the more

Pride now and presumption / paraduenture woll the Appeale

That Clergie thy companye / will not ensue

Shall neuer chalenginge nor chyding / chaste a man so sone

As shall shame / & shend him / and shape him t'amende

For Lat a Dronken Daf / in a Dike fall

Lat him ly lokenot / loke not on him / till he list to rise

For though Reason rebukid him than / it were but pure synne

But when nede taketh him vp / for doubte lest he sterue

And shame shaketh his clothes / and his shynnes wassheth

Than wot the Dronken Daff / wherfore he is to blame

Ye saie sothe quod I / I haue sene it ofte /

There smyght nothing so smert / nor smelleth so soure

As shame there he shewith him / for eueryman it shonneth

Why ye tell me this quod I / was for I rebukid reason

Certesse quod he þat is true / and shope him forth to walke

And I Arosse vp with that / and folowed him after

And preid him of his curtesie / to telle me his name