Nowe is Mede the maide / & nomo / no mo of them all

With Bedells and Bailiffes / brought before the king

The king callid a clerke / But I cannot his name

To take Mede the maide / and make hir at ease

I shall assaie hir my-self / and sothelie appose

What man of this worldeT / that she wolde faynest haue

And if she worke by witt / and my will folowe

I will forgiue hir this gilt / so me godde helpe

Curteislie the clerke then / as the king badd

Toke Mede by the myddell / & brought hir into a chaumbre

Where was myrth & Minstralsie . mede to please

Thei that dwell in westmynstre / worshipped hir all

Gentillie with ioye / the Iustices some

Busked them to the boure / there the birde dwellid

To confort hir kindelie / by clergies leue

And said mourne not mede / nor make no sorowe

For we will intreat the king / & thi waie make

To be weddid at thi will / & where the best likith

for all Conscience cast / or craft as I trowe

Myldelie Mede then / thankid them all

Of their great goodnesse / & gaf them echeone

Cuppes of clene golde / & cuppis of syluer

Ringes with rubies / & richesses manie

The worst of their meanie / a pece of golde

Then toke they leue / thise lordes at Mede /

With that cam clerkes / to confort hir likewise

And bad hir be blythe / for we be thine owne

for to worke thi will / whill their lyfes lastT

Gentillie she then / behight them the same

And to loue them trulie / and lordes them to make

And in Consistorie at court / do call their names

Shall no lewdnesse lett / the thingLX that I loue

But he shalbe / shall be avauncid / for I am beknoune

Ther konnyng clerkes / shall clocke behinde

Than cam there a Confessor / Coped as a frier

To mede the maide / he said these wordes

And said full softelie / in shrifte as hit were

Though lernid men & lewde / had lyne be the bothe

And falsnes had folowid the / all this fiftie winter

I shall assoile the my-self / for a seame of whete

And also be thi beadman / & beare well thy message

Among knightes and clerkes / Conscience to turne

Then Mede for hir misdedes / to that man knelid /

And shroue hir of hir shrewdnes / Shameles I trowe

She tolde him a tale / and toke him a noble

For to be hir beadman / and hir brocar also

Then he assoiled hir sone / and then he said

We haue a windowe in working / will cost vs muche

Woldest þou glase the sameLX / & graue therin thi name

Sure shulde thi soule be / heaven to haue

Wist I that quod the woman / I wolde not spare

for to be youre freind frier / and faile you neuer

While you loue lordes / that lecherie haunte

And lacke not Ladies / that loue well the same

Hit is but frailtie of fleshe / ye finde hit in bookes

And a course of kynde / whereof we come all

Who maie skape the sclaunder / the scathe is sone amendid

It is synne of the seven / Sonest releasid

haue mercie quod mede / of men that it haunte

And I shall cover your chirche / and do make your Cloister

The walles do whight / And windowes glase

Do peynt and portraie / & paie for the making

That euery man shall saie / I am Sister of your house

But god to all good folke / Such grauing defendith

To wright in windowes / of their good dedes

Lest pride be peyntid there / and pompe of the worlde

For Christ knoweth thi conscience / & thy kynd will

And the cost ofLX thy couetise / and who the catell ought

Therfor I warne you lordes / leue such workes

To write in windowes / of your good dedes

Or to renneLX after goddismen / when ye dele doles

Lest you haue your rewarde here / & your heauen also

Let not thy left hand / late nor rathe

Wit what thou workist / with thi right hande

for so biddeth the gospell / good men to do their almesse

Maires and MastersT / that meanis be betwene

The king and the commons / to kepe the lawes

To punysh on pillaries / and pynyng stooles

Brewers and BakersT / Bochers and Cookes

For these are men of this worlde / that most harme worke

To the pouer people / that daily beggithT

for they poison þe people / priuilie and oft

The richT by regratrie / and rentes them buyldeLX

With that the pore people / shulde put in their wombes

For toke they all trulie / they timbred not so highe

Nor bought no burgages / by theT full certeyne

And Mede the maide / the Mayr hath besought

Of all such sellers / Siluer for to take

Or presentes without pens / as pieces of siluer

Ringes or other riches / þe Regratours to maynteyne

for my loue quod that ladie / loue them echeone

And suffre them to selle / somedeall against reason

Salomon the sage / A sermon he made

For to amende Mayers / and men that kepe lawes

And tolde them this teme / þat I telle thinke

Among letterde men / this Latine is to mene

That fire shall fall & brenne / all to ashesT

Their houses and homes / of them that desyre

Giftes and rewardes / bicause of their offices

The king from the counsell cam / & callid after Mede

And sent for hir shortlie / by sergeantes manye

That brought hir to boure / with blisse and with ioye

Curteislie the king than / beganne to telle

To mede the maide / he said these wordes

Vnwiselie woman / hast thou wrought oft

And worsse wroughtest þou neuer / then when thou fals toke

But I forgiue the that gilt / & graunte the my grace

Hens to thi death daie / do so nomore / no more

I haue a knight Conscience / cam late from beyonde

Yf he willithe the to wife / woldist thou him haue

Yea lorde quod that ladie / god forbid ellis

But I be hollie at your will / Lat hang me sone

And then was Conscience callid / to come and appere

Before the king & his counsell / as clerkes and other

kneling then Conscience / to the king Lowtid

To witt what his will were / & what he do sholde

Wilt thou wed this woman / quod the king /T if I wole assent

She is faine of thi feloship / for to be thy make

Quod Conscience to the king / Christ hit me forbidd

Ere I wed such a wife / wo me betide

for she is freile of feith / fickell of hir speche

And make men do amisse / many skore tymes

Trust of hir treasure / betraieth full manie

Wyues and widowes / wantonesse she teachethe

And lerne them Lecherie / that loue hir giftes

Your Father {f}she felled / through fals promise

And hath poysoned Popes / and appeyridT holie church

There is no better bawde / by him that me made

Betwene heauen and helle / in earthe thoughe men sought

For she is tickill of taile / and talkatife of tongT

As commone as a Cartewaie / to euery knaue that walkith

To Monkes and to Mynstrals / to mesils in hedgis

Sysours and Sommenours / such men hir preyse

Shrives of shires were shent / if she were not

for she doth men lose their londe / and their life bothe

She lettith passe prysoners / & payeth for them oft

And geue the Gailers gold / and grotes togethers

To vnfetter the fals / flee where them Likith

And take the true by the top / and teyith them fast

And hangeth them for hatred / that harme did neuer

To be cursed in Consistorie / she countith not a beane

For she clothe the Comissarie / & coteth his clerkes

She is assoiled as sone / as hir-self Liketh

And may as muche do / in won monethe

As maie your secret seale / in Six score dayes

For she is pryuie with the pope / prouisors hit knoweth

for syr Symonie And hir-self / sealeth the bulles

She blisseth thise Bisshops / though thei be lewde

She FeditheLX parsons / and preistes maynteyneLG

To haue lemans and hooresLX / all their Lyfe daies

And bring furthe bastardesLX / againe forbode lawes

There she is well with the king / wo is the realme

For she is favorable to fals / & fouleth truth oft

By IhusIesus with hir Iewelles / your iustices she shendith

And Lyeth againe the lawe / & lettith him the waie

That feith maynot / may not haue his course / hir florens go so thicke

She ledith the lawe as she lust / and louedaies maketh

And make men lose through hir loue / that Lawe might winne

The maze for a meane man / though he trustLX hir euer

Lawe is so lordlie / and lothe to make ende

Without presentz or pens / she pleaseth full fewe

Barons and burgeises / she bringethe in sorowe

And all the commons in care / that couete to liue in truthe

For Couetise and Clergie / she coupleth togethers

This is the life of that ladie / the lorde giue hir sorowe

And all that mainteyne hir men / mischaunce them betide

for pouer men maie haue no poure / to pleyne them though they sma[rte]C

Such a maistresseLX is mede / Among men of good

Then mourned mede / & turnedLX hir to the king

Desyring space to speake / spede if she might

The king grauntid hir grace / with a good will /

Excuse the if thou canst I can nomore / no more saie

for Conscience accuseth the / to be banisht for euer

Naie lorde quod that lady / beleue him the worse

When ye knowe certeinlie / where the wrong lieth

There as mischef is great / mede may helpe muche

And thou knowest Conscience / I cam not to chide

Nor to depraue thi persone / with a proude hart

Well wottest thou wreche / but if thou wilt lie

Thou hanged on my half / elleuen tymes

And also griped my golde / giuyng hit where the liked

And why thou art nowe displeased / wonder me thinketh

Yet I may as I might / helpe the with giftes

And mainteyne thi manhode / more then thou knowest

And þou hast famid me foule / before the king here

For killid I neuer no king / nor counsellid therafter

Nor did as thou demist / I do it to the king

In normandie was he not / noyed for my sake

And thou thi-self shamedist oft trulie him

Crope into a cabone / for colde of thi nailes

Thou thoughtest that winter / wolde haue lastid euer

And dreddest to be dead / for a dymme cloude

And hyedst the homewarde / for hunger of thi wombe

Without pitie pillour / pouer peopleLX diddist thou robbe

And beare their brasse at thi backe / to caleis to selle

There [I] lefte with my lorde / his life for to saue

I made his men merie / And mourning le{.}ue

I batterid them on the backe / & boldid their hartes

And made them hoppe for hope / to haue me at will

Had I bene marshall of his men / by Marie of heauen

I durst haue leid my Life / and nolesse / no lesse wedd

he shulde haue bene lorde of that lond / in length & breade

And also king of that people / his kinne for to helpe

The worstLX of his blood / A Barons pere

Cowardlie thou Conscience / counseldist him thence

To leaue his lordship / for a litill syluer

That is the richest Realme / þat reyne on reyneth

And it is mete for a king / that kepeth a Realme

TTo giue Mede to men / & to honour them with giftes

Mede maketh him belouid / and for a man holden

Emperoures & Erles / and all manere lordes

for giftes haue yong men to renne & to ride

The Pope and all the prelates / presentes will take

And giue giftes them-self / to maynteyne their Lawes

Sergeauntes for their seruice / we se well the sothe

Take Mede of their maisters / as they can agree

Beggers for their praying / aske men mede

Mynstrellis for their myrth / mede they aske

The king hath mede of his men / to make peace in lond

Men that teache childern / craue after mede

Preistes that preach the people / dothe allT aske mede

Bothe massepens and meat / at the meall tymes

All manere craftes men / craue Mede for their prentices

Marchauntes and mede / must nedes go togethers

No wight as I wene / without mede may liue

Quod the king to Conscience / by Christ as me thinketh

Mede is well worthie / the maistrie to haue

Naie quod Conscience to the king / and knelid on the erthe

There are ij / two manere of medis / my lorde with your leue

The won god of his grace / graunteth in his blisse

To them that well worke / while they bene here

The prophet speaketh therof / And put it in the psalter

Lorde who shall dwelle in thi house / & with þi holie sainctes

Or rest in thi holie hill / this asketh Dauid

And he assoileth it him-self / as the psalter tellith

They that entre of one colour / and of won will

And haue wrought workes / with right and reason

And he that vseth not / the life of vsurie

And helpeth trueLX men / pursuethe truthe

And all that {h} helpe þe innocent / and holde with the right

Without mede doth them good / and the truth helpe

Such manere men my lorde / shall haue this first mede

Of God at their great nede / when they go hence

There is a nother Mede mesureles / þat maisters desyre

To mainteyne misdoers / mede they take

And therof saith the psalter / in a psalmes ende

And he that gripeth hir gold / so me god helpe

Shall abie hit bitter / or the booke lyeth

Preistes and parsones / that pleasinges desyre

That take mede and money / for masses þat they sing

They take their mede here / as Mathue vs teacheth

That laborars and lowe folke / take of their maisters

It [is] no manere of mede / but a mesureable hire

In marchandise is no mede / I maie it well avowe

Hit is but pleine permutacion / a penyworth for a penny

And reddist thou neuer Regum / thou recrayid maideLX

Whi the vengeaunce fell on Saul /T & on his childerne

God sent to Saul / by Samuel the prophete

That Agag of Amalech / and all his people

Shulde die for a dede / that their elders had done

Therfor said Samuel to Saul / god himself commandeth

The to be buxome at his bidding / his will to fulfille

Go to Amalech with thine hoste / & what þou fyndest there sle it

Foules beastes and menT / doLX them to death

Widowes and wives / women & childerne

Movables and vnmovables / and all that þou maie fynde

Brenne hit beare it not awaie / be it neuer so riche

For Mede or for money / loke thou distroie it

Spille it and spare it not / thou shalt spede the better

And bicause he couetid their catell / and the king sparid

Forbering him and his beastes / as the bible witnesseth

Otherwise then he was warned of the prophet

God said to Samuell that Saul shulde die

And all his sede for that synne / shamefullie ende

Such a mischefe Mede made / Saul the king to haue

That god hatid him for euer / & all his heyres after

The conclusion of this mater / I mynde not to tell

Lest it anoyed men / non ende will I make

for so is this worlde nowLX / with them that haue poure

That who-so tellithe trutheT / sonest is blamed

I Conscience knowe this / for kinde wit it me taught

That Reason shall reygne / And realmes gouerne

And right as Agag had happe / soT shall some

Samuel Shall slea him / and Saul shalbe / shall be blamed

And Dauid shalbe / shall be diademid / and tame them all

And wone xpcristen king / kepe them echeone

Then shall no more mede be Maister / as she is nowe

But loue and lownesse / and leautie togithers

Shalbe / Shall be maisters of the worlde / truthe to saue

And who trespaseth against truthe / or takethe againe his will

Leautie shall do him lawe / and no man elles

Then shall no Sergeaunt for his seruice / weare a silk howe

Nor no pelure in his cloke / for pleading at the barre /

Mede of misdoers / maketh manie lordes

And ouer lordes lawes / rulethe the Realmes

But kinde loue shall come yet / And consciens togithers

And make of Lawe a laborer / such loue shall arise

And such a peace among people / & perfite truthe

That Iewes shall merveile / And wex wonder glad

That Moises or Messie / be come into this worlde

Hauing wonder in their hart / that men be so true

All that bere Baselarde / brodesworde or launce

Ax or ellis hachet / or anie wepon ellis

Shalbe / Shall be demed to the death / but if he doth it smythie

Into a sickle or sythe / to share or cultor

Euery man to pleye with a plough / pickeaxe or spade

Spinne or sprede dong / or spill them-self with sleuth

Preistes and parsons with Placebo to hunte

And diggLX vpon Dauid / euery daie till night

Hunting or hauking / if anie of them vse

His booste of his benefice / shalbe / shall be take from him

Then shall neither king nor knight / Constable nor Maire

Oppresse the Comons / nor to the court sommone

Nor put them in panell / to {t}do them plight their truthe

But after the dede is done / won dome shall rewarde

Mercie or no mercie / as truthe will accorde

Kinges court and commone court / consistorie and chapitle

All shalbe / shall be but won court / And won barone be Iustice

Then shall true tong be a tydie man / þat angrid me neuer

Batailles shall non be / nor noman / no man bere wepon

And what Smithe þat any maketh / shalbe / shall be sleyne with the same

And ere this fortune fall / men shall fynde the worst /

By six Sonnes and a ship / & half a shefe of arowes

And the middell of a mone / shall make the Iewes to turne

And Sarazens for that sight / shall sing Gloria in excelsis

For Makometh and Mede / Mishappe shall that tyme

for Melius est bonum nomen , quam diuicie multe

Then as wrothe as the wynde / waxt mede in a while

I can no Latine quod she / Clerkes wot the sothe

Se what Salomon saith / in Sapience booke

That thei that giue giftes / the Victorie wynne

And most worship haue therwith / as holie {wr.} writ telleth

I beleue well ladie quod Conscience / that thi latine is true

But thou art like a ladie / that rede a lesson ones

WhichT was Omnia probate / and that pleased hir hart

for that line was no lenger / at the leauis ende

Had she lokid on the other side / and the leaf turned

She shulde haue founde more / folowing after

As thus Quod bonum est tenete / truth that text made

And so you madame / ye coulde no more fynde

When ye lokid on Sapience / sitting in your studie

This text that ye haue tolde / were good for lordes

But ye wantid a conning clerke / to turne you the leaf

And if ye loke Sapience againe / ye shall finde that foloweth

A full displeasaunt text / to them that take mede

And that is this Animam autem aufert accipientium . &c

And that is the taile of the text / the which yeT shewid

for though we winne worship / & with mede haue victorie

The soule that the sameLX taketh / By somuche / so muche is bounde