I am ymaginatyf quod he / ydell was I neuer

Though I sit by my-self / in sikenesse or in helth

I haue folowed the in feith / thise fyue and fourtie wynters

And many tymes I haue moved the / to think on thy ende

And howe many chaunces haue chauncidT / and so fewe to come

And of thy wylde wantonesse / when thou yong were

To Amend in thy myddillage / lest myght the failed

In thine old age / that euill can suffre

Pouertie , or penaunce / or preyer bidde

Si non in prima vigilia , nec in secunda /

Amende þ{ou}eP while thou{g} maye / thou{e} hast be warned ofte

With inpostumesLX and pestilences / with pouertie and angre

And with thise bittre baleises / god beateth his dere childerne

Quem diligo castigo /

And dauid in the psalter spekith / of such as loueth IhusIesus

Although thou strike me with thy staf / with stick or with {þ} rodd

It is but myrth for me / to amende my soule /

And thou medelist with makyng / and myghtest go saie thy psalter

And praye for them þat gyue the bread / for there are bookes Inowe

To telle men what dowell is / Dobet and Dobest also

And preachers to proue what it is / of many a peyre Friers

I se that he said truthe / and somewhat me to excuse

Said Cato conforted me / that clerke though he were

To solace him sometyme as I do / when I make

Interpone tuis interdum gaudia curis /

And of holy men I haue herde quod I / howe they other while

Plaide the perfiter to be in many placis /

But if there were any wight / that wold me telle

What were Dowell and Dobet / and Dobest at the Laste

Wold I neuer do worke / but go to holie churche

And there saie my prayers / but when I ete or slepe

Paule in his pistle quod he / proveth what is Dowell

Feith hope and charitie / and all bene good /

And saue men sondrie tymes / but non so sone as charitie

For he doeth well without doute / that doth as Leautie teacheth

That is if thou be maried man / Loue thy wyfe

And Liue as Lawe will / while ye Lyue bothe

Even so if thou be religiouse / renne thou neuer farther

To Rome nor to Rochemador / but as thy rule teacheth

And holde the vnder obedience / þat high waie is to heauen

And if thou be maid vnmaried / and maist so well contynue

Seke neuer Saynt ferther / for no soules helthe

For what made Lucifere / to lose the Highe Heauen

Or Salomon his sapience / or Sampson his strengh

Iob the Iewe his ioye / dere he it bought

Aristotle and other mo / Hypocras and Virgile

Alisandre that all wan / elengelych ended

Catell and kynde wit / was combraunce to them all

Felice hir fairnesse / Fell hir all to sclaunder

And Rosamounde right so / rufullie to beleue

The beautie of hir bodie / in badnesse she dispended

Of many such I may rede / bothe men and women

That wise wordes wolde shewe / and worke the contrarie

Sunt homines nequam , bene de virtute loquentes /

And riche men also / gather and spare

And they þat they most hate / mynestre it at Laste

And for they suffre and se / so many nedy folkes

And loue them not as oure lorde bid / Lose their soules

And richesse right so / but if the roote be true

But grace is a grasse therof / tho grevaunces to abate

But grace growe not / but among Lowlie

Pacience and pouertie / the place is where it groweth

And in true Lyving men / and in Lyfe holie

And through the gift of the holie goste / as the gospell telleth

Clergie and Kynde wit / commeth of sight and teaching

As the booke bearethe witnesse / to men that can rede

Of quod scimus commeth Clergie / & connyng of heauen

And of quod vidimus , commeth kyndwit , by sight of diuerse people

But grace is a gifte of god / and of great loue springethe

No clerk knowith how it commethe furth / nor kyndwit the weye

But yet is Clergie to be preised / and kyndwit also

And namelie Clergie for Christes loue , that of clergie is roote

For Moses witnesseth þat god wrot / for to teache the people

In the olde Lawe as the lettre tellethe / þat was the lawe of Iewes

That what woman were in adultrie taken / were she riche or pouer

With stones men shulde hir strike / and stone hir to deathe

A woman as we rede / was giltie of that dede

But Christ of his curtesie / through clergie hir saued

And through Caractes that Christ wrot / the iewes knewe themself

Giltier as afore god / And greater in synne

Then the woman that there was / and went awaie for shame

The clergie þat ther was / conforted the woman

Holy church knowethe this / þat Christes wrighting saued hir

So Clergie is confort / to creatures that repent them

And to Mad or folishLX men / mischefe at their ende

For goddes bodie might not be of bread / without clergie

The which bodie is bothe boote / to the rightfull

And deathe and damnacion / to them þat dyethe evell

As Christes Caract conforted / and also culpable shewed

The woman that the iewes brought / þat IhusIesus thought to saue

Even so goddes bodie bretherne / onlesse it be worthely take

Damneth vs at the daye of dome / as the Caractes did the Iewes

Therfor I conseile the for Christes sake / Clergie that þou Loue

For kynde wit is of his kyn / and nighe cosyns bothe

To oure lorde beleue me / therfor loue them I rede

For bothe be as Myrrours / t'amende oure fautes /

And Lederis for Lay men / and Learned bothe

Therfor Lacke thou neuer Logike / Lawe nor his customes

Nor counterplede Clerkes / I counseyle the for euer

For as man may may / [+]not se / that mysse his eyes

No more can no clerk / onlesse he gat it first through bookes

Although men made bookes / god was the maister

And Saynt Spirit the samplarie / & told what men shulde wright /

Euen so Ledeth Learneng / Lewde men to reason /

And as a blynde man in bataile / beareth weapen to fight

And Hathe non Happe with his Axe / his enemye to hitte

Nomore / No more can a kynde witted man / onlesse clerkes him teache

Come for all his kynde witte / to xpcristendome & be saued

Which is the Cofre of Christes treasure / and Clerkes kepe þe keyes

To vnlocke it at thir pleasure / and to the lewde people

Gyue mercie for thir misdedes / if men will it aske /

Buxomly and benignely / and aske it for charitie

Archa dei in the olde lawe / the Leuites it kept

Had neuer lewde man leue / to lay Hande of that Chest

But he were preest or preistes son / Patriarke or prophete

For Clergie is keper / Vnder Christe of heauen

Was there neuer no knight / but Clergie him made

But kynde wit commeth / of all manere sightes

Of birdes and beastes / of tastes of truthe and deceyte

Lyuers before vs / vsed to marke

Straunge thinges that they se / their childern to teache

And helde it an highe science / their wittes to knowe

But through their Science trulie / was neuer soule saued

Nor brought by their bookes / to blisse nor to ioye

For all their kynde knowlege commeth but by diuerse sightes

Patriarches and prophetes / reproued their Science /

Saying their wordes and wisdome / was but Folye

As to the clergy of Christ / counted it but a trifle

Sapiencia huius mundi , stulticia est apud deum /

For the heigh Holy ghost / Heauen shall to cleue

And loue shall leape out after / in-to this lowe erthe

And clennesse shall cache it / and clerkes shall it Fynde

Pastores loquebantur ad inuicem /

He speaketh there of rich men right nought / nor of right wittie

Nor of Lordes that were lewde men / but of the highest lerned

Yf Any friere were founde there / I will gyue the fyve shillinges

Nor in no beggers cote / was that barne borne

But in a burgese place / of Betheleme the best

Sed non erat locus in diuersorio &c /

To pastors and to poetes / Appered the Aungell

And bad them go to Bethlem / goddes birth to honour

And song A song of Solas / Gloria in excelsis deo

Clerkes knewe it well / And came with their presentes

Doing their homage honorablie / to him that was almyghtie

Why I haue tolde all this / I toke full good hede

How thou diddest contrarie clergie / with crabbed wordes

How that lewde men Lightlier / then Lerned were saued

Then clerkes or kynde witted men / of xpcristian people

And thou saidest true of some / but se in what manere

Take ij / two strong men / and in-to the Temmes cast them

And bothe naked as a nedle / non surer then other

The won hath connyng and can / bothe swymme and dive

The other is Lewde of that Labour / & neuer Lerned to Swymme

Which thinkest þou of them ij / two / in the Temmes is most in ieopardie

he that neuer dived / {nor}and nought can of Swymmyng

Or he that swymmeth in safetie / if that he will

There his felawe flete furthe / as the flood drivethe

And is in drede to drenche / that neuer did Swymme

He that cannot swymme quod I / it semeth to my wittes

Even so quod the man / Reason it shewethe

That he that knoweth clergie / can soner Arise

Out of Synne and be saf / though he synne ofte

Yf him Like and Lust / than any lewde man

For if the clerke be connyng / he knoweth what is Synne

And howe contricion without Confession / conforteth the soule

As thou seist in the psalter / in psalmes one or tweyne

how contricion is commended / for it putteth awaie synne

And this conforteth euery clerk / & couereth him from wanhope

In Whiche flood the feend / holdeth a man hardest

There the lewde Lyith still / and lokethe for Lent

And hathe no contricion ere he come to shifte / and then can he {not}littell tell

And as his lores man Learne him / he beleueth and troweth

And that is after Parson or parish preist / and paraduenture

Vnconnyng to lerne lewde men / as Luke beareth witnes

Dum cecus cecum ducit &c /

Wo was he marked þat wade must with the Lewde

Well may the childe blisse / that him to booke sett

That Lyving after Lernyng / saueth bothe Life and soule

Dominus pars hereditatis mee / is a mery verse

That hathe taken from Tyborne / xxti / twenti strong theues

Where Lewde theues be lolled vp / Loke how they be saued

The thefe þat had grace of god / vpon the good fridaie

Was for he knew him-self fautie to Christ & knowleged his gilt

Asking mercie of god / and he is euer redie

That Lowly aske it / And in will t'amende them

But though that thefe had heauen / he had no high blisse

As Saynt Iohan and other Sayntes / þat had deserued better

Even as some men gyue me meat / & set me Amiddes the flore

I haue meat more then ynough / but not somuch / so much worshippe

As they þat sit at the side table / or with the souereynes of the hall

But sitt as begger bordelesse / by my-self on the grounde

So it fareth by that felon / þat on good friday was saued

He sitt neither with S Iohan / Symond nor Iude

Nor with maydes nor Martyrs / Confessours nor widewes

But by him-self as a soleyn / & serued on erthe

For he that is ones a thefe / is euermore in daunger

And as Lawe Liketh to Lyue or to dye

De peccato propiciato , noli esse sine metu /

And for to serue a Saynt / and suche a thefe togithers

It were neither reason nor right / to rewarde them alike

And right as Troianus þe true knight / dwelt not depe in helle

That oure lorde ne had him Lightlie out / so beleue I þe thefe be in heven

For he is in the Lowest heaven / if our beleue be true

And well lose{s}lly he lolleth there / by the Lawe of holy churche

Qui reddit vnicuique iuxta opera sua /

And why that one thefe / on the crosse / creaunt did him yelde

Rather then the other / though þou woldest oppose

All the clerkes vnder Christ / could not the same assoile

And so I saie by the / that sekest after the whyes

And Arguest with Reason / A rebuking as it were

And of the floures in the frithe / And of their faire hewes

Wherof they cache their coloures / so clere and so bright

And willest of birdes and beastes / & of their breding to knowe

Why some be belowe and some alofte / thy Liking it were

And of the stones & of the sterres / thou studiest I belieue

Howe euery beast and birde / hathe so good wittes

Clergie nor kynde wytt / knowe neither the cause

But kynde knoweth himself / no creature elles

He is the Pyes patrone / and putteth it in hir eare

That there the thorne is thickest / to buylde and brede

And kynde taught the pecocke / to cawke in such a kynde

And taught Adam to knowe / his privie membres

And taught him and Eue / to couer them with leues

Lewde men many tymes / Maisters they oppose

Why Adam hilled not first / his mouth þat ete the Apple

Rather then his bodie benethe / Lewde thus aske clerkes

Kynde knoweth why he did so / but no clerke ellis

But of byrdes and beastes / men by olde tyme

Ensamples toke and termes / as telle the poettes

And that the fayrest foule / foulest engendrethe

And feblest foule of flight / that fleith or swymmethe

And that the pecok and the pehenne / proude rich men betoken

For the Pecock if men pursue him / maynot / may not flie highe

For the traling of his taile / ouertaken is he sone

And his sleshe / [f]leshe is fouleP fleshe / and his fete also

And vnlouely of Ledene / And Layth for to here

Right so the riche / i{s}f he his richesse kepe

And deleth it not till his deathdaye / the taile of all sorowe

Even as the pennes of the pecocke / peyneth him in his flight

So is possession peyne / of pens and of nobles

To all them that kepe it / till their taile be plucked

And thoughe the rich repent then / and Lament the tyme

That euer he gathered so {great}much / and gaf therof so Littill

Though he crieth to Christ then / with kene will I beleue

his Leden be in our lordes eare / Like a pies chatering

And when his Corps shall come / in graue to be buried

I beleue it flaume full foule / the folde all aboute

And all the other there it Lythe / invenomed through his Attre

By the Pofeet is vnderstande / as I haue lerned

Executors false frendes / that fulfille not his will

That was written and they witnesse / to worke euen as it wold

Thus the Poete proueth þat the pecock / for his fethers is reuerenced

Even so is the riche / by reason of his goodes

The Larke that is a Lesse foule / is more louely of LedeneC

And well awaie of wyng / swifter then the pecock

And of fleshe by many folde / fatter and sweter

To pouer Laboring men / the Larke is resembled

Aristotle the great clerk / such tales tellethe

Thus he Likeneth in his Logik / the Least foule out

And whether he be saf or no / the sothe wot no clerkes

Nor of Sortes nor Salomon / no scripture can telle

But god is so good I hope / that sith he gaue them wittes

To counseile vs withall / and telle vs to be saued

And the better for their bookes / to pray we be bounde

That god for his grace / giue their soules rest

for Lerned men were yet Lewde men / were not their bookes

All these clerkes quod I then / that on Christ beleue

Say in their sermons / that neyther Sarazene nor Iewe

Nor no creature elles / without cristendome is saued

Contra quod ymaginatife then / And began to loure

And said / saluabitur vix iustus / in die iudicij

Ergo saluabitur quod he / and spake nomore / no more Latyn

Troianus was a true knight / and toke neuer xpcristendome

And is saf saith the book / & his soule in heauen

For there is Cristening in font / & cristenyng in bloodshedyng

And through fyre is cristening / this is fyrme beleue

But truthe that trespassed neuer / nor did against his Lawe

But Lyueth as his Lawe teacheth / & beleue there is no better

And if there were he wold amende / & in such will dieth

Wold neuer the true god / but truthe were allowed

And whether it be or not / the beleue is great of truthe

And an hope hanging therin / to haue a mede for his truthe

for Deus dicitur quasi dans vitam eternam suis hoc est fidelibus

Et alibi , Si ambulauero in medio vmbre mortis /

The glose graunteth vpon þat vers / A great mede to truthe /

And wit and wisdome quod he / was sometyme treasure

To kepe with A commones / no richesse holde better

And much myrthe and manhode / & with that he vanished