tReuthP harde telle herof / and to Piers sent

To make his teme / and tille his grounde

And purchased him a pardon a pena et culpa /

For him and for his heyers / for euermore after /

And bad him hold him at home / & erie his Laies

And alle that helpe him to erye / to set or to sowe

Or any other myster / that myght Piers availe

Pardon with Piers plowman / Truth hath grauntid

Kynges and knightes / that kept holie churche

And rightfullie in realmes / rule the people

Haue Pardon through Purgatorie / to passe full Lightly

With patriarkes and Profettes / in Paradyse to be felawe

Bysshops blessed / if they be as they sholde

Legisters of bothe Lawes / þe Lewde þerwith to preche

And in-asmuch as they maie / Amende all Synfull

Are peres with th'apostils / this Pardon piers shewith

And at the daie of dome / at the high dese to sytt

Marchauntz in the mergine / had manye yeris

But non a pena et a culpa / the pope wolde them graunte

For they kepe not the holidayes / as Holy church teachith

And for they swere by their soule / & so god mot them helpe

Clene against Conscience / their wares to selle

But vnder his secret seale / Truth sent them a letter

That they shuld bye boldly / that them best Liked

And so sell it againe / and saue the wynnyng

And Amende Masondieux / therwithT & diseased folke helpe

And wicked weyes / Lightlie amende

And do bote to bridges / that broke bene

Marry maidens / or make them Nonnes

Pouer people and Prisons / fynde them their fode

And set scolers to scole / or to some other craftes

Releue Religion / and rent them better

And I shall sende you my-self / Saynt Mychaell myn Archangell

That no deuill shall dere you / nor feare you in your dying

But kepe you from dispaire / if ye will thus worke

And send your soules in safetie / to my saintes in Ioye

Then were Marchauntes merie / many wept for gladnesseLX

And preysid Piers the plowman / þat purchasid this bull

Men of Lawe Least Pardon had / that pleade for mede

For the psalter sauith them not / such as take gyftes

And namely of Innocentes / þat non euill knowe

Pleaders shuld peyne them / to pleade for such anT helpe

Princes and prelates / shulde paye for their peynes

But many a iustice and Iurour / wolde for Iohan do more

Than pro dei pietate / Beleue non other

But he that spendith his speche / & speakith for þe pouer

That is innocent and nedie / And noman / no man Appaireth

Comfort him in that case / without couetise of giftes

And speakith Lawe for the lordes loue / As he it hath lernid

Shall no deuill at his deth daie / dere him A myte

But bodie and soule to be faf / [s]af / þe psalter beareth witnesse

But to begg water , wynde , wit , nor fyre the fere

Thise foure the Father of heauen / made to be commone

Thise be Truthes treasores / true folk to helpe

That neuer shall wax nor want / without god himself

When the / the[y] drawe vnto death / And Indulgences wold haue

Their Pardon is full small / at their parting hens

That any mede of meane men / for their moting take

Ye Legisters and Lawers / take this for truthe

For if that I Lye / Mathue is to blame

He bad me telle you this / & this prouerbe he me tolde

All Lyuyng Laborers / that Liue by their handes

That trulie take / and trulie wynne /

And liue in loue and lawe / for their lowe hartes

Haue the same absolucion / þat sent was to piers

Beggers and Bidders / Be not in the bull

But if the Suggestion be true / þat maketh them to begg

For he þat begg or bid / onlesse he haue nede

He is fals with the feinde / & defraudeth þe nedy

And also begyleth the gyuer / Against his will

For yf he wist he had no nede / he wold giue it to another

That had more nede then he / so the nediest shulde be holpe

Cato kennithe me thus / and the Clerke of stories

Cui des videto / this is Catons teaching

And in the Stories he teacheth / to bestowe thine Almesse

But Gregori was a good man / & bad vs gyue all

That aske his loue / that all to vs gyueth

for though you knowe not who is worthie / god knowth who haue nede

In him þat taketh is the the / [+] trechery / if any treason be

For he that geuith yeldith / and bring himself to rest

And he that taketh boroweth / & bring himself in dett

Beggers borowe euermore / and their suertie is god allmyghtie

To repaie them þat geuith them / & yet mucheT more

Therfor begg not ye beggers / onlesse ye haue great nede

For who-so hath to begg him bread / þe booke berith witnesse

He hath ynough þat hath bread ynough / though he haue not elles

Lat vsage be your solas / of Sainctes Lyves reding

The book banneth beggery / & blameth them in þis manere

For ye liue in no loue / nor no Lawe holde

Many of you wedde not / þe women that ye dele with

But as wylde beastes with wehee / winde vp and work

And bryng furth barnes / þat Bastardes men call

Or the Back or some boon / he brekith in his youth

And sithen go faiten with your fauntes / for euermore after

There is more misshapt people / Among thise beggers

Then of all manere men / þat in þis world walke

And they that lede such Lyfe / may lothe the tyme

That they were men wrought / when they shall hens fare

But oldemen and hore / þat helples be of Strength

And wemmen with childe / that maye not worke

Blynde and bedrede / and their membres broke

That take their mischefes mekelie / as mesels and other

haue as pleyne pardon / as the plowman himself

For loue of their lowe hartes / our Lorde hath them gramtid / gra[un]tid

Their Penaunce & their purgatorie / here on this erthe

Piers quod a preist then / thi pardon must I rede

For I will construe eche clause / & tell it þe in englishe

And Piers at his prayer / the pardon vnfolded

And I behynde them bothe / beheld all the bull

All in ij / two Lynes it laie / & not a leaf more

And was writen even thus / in witnesse of Truthe

Qui vero mala , in ignem eternum /

Peter quod the preest / I can no pardon Fynde

But do well & haue well / and god shall haue thi soule

But do euill and euill haue / hope þou non other

But after þi death daie / the deuill shall haue þi soule

And piers for pure tene / pullid it in tweyne

And said Si ambulauero in medio vmbre mortis , non

I shall cesse of my Sowing quod Piers / & swynk not so harde

Nor about my bely ioye / Be nomore / no more so busie

Of preyers and of penaunce / my plough shalbe / shall be hereafter

And wepe when I shulde slepe / though whete bread me faile

The prophete his bread ete / in penaunce and sorrowe

By that the psalter saith / so did other manye

That loue god trulie / his Lifelode is full easye

And onlesse Luke lie / he teacheth vs by foules

We shulde not be busie / about the worldis blisse

Ne soliciti sitis he saith in the gospell

And shewith vs by ensamples / our-self to teche

The foules in the feilde / who fynde them meat in wynter

They haue no garner to go to / But god fynde them all

What quod the preist to perkyn / Peter as me thinke

Thou art Letterd a litill / who lerned the on book

Abstinence þe Abbesse quod Piers / myne . A . B . C . me taught

And Conscience came after / & taught me muche more

Were þou a Preest Piers quod he / þou myghtest preache where þou shuldest

As dyuyner in diuinyte with dixit insipiens to thi teme

Lewde lorell quod piers / litill lokist þou on the Bible

On Salomons sawes / selden thou beholdest

The preist & Perkyn / opposed eche other

And I through their wordes / awooke & waited about

And se the sonne in the south / sitt that tyme

Meatlesse and monylesse / on Maluerne hilles

Musing on this dreme / my waie I went

Many tymeC this dreame / hath made to studie

Of that I se sleping / if it so be myght

And also for Piers the plowman / full pensyf in hart

And what a pardon piers had all þe people to confort

And howe the preist inpugned it / with ij / two proper wordes

But I haue no trust in dreames / for I se them oft faile

Caton & Canonistes / conseyle vs to Leaue

To giue trust to dreames / for Somnia ne cures .

Yet for that the bible book / bearith witnesse

How Danyell diuyned / the dreames of a kyng

That was Nabuchadnasar / Named of clerkes

Daniell said syr king / thy dreames betoken

That Straungers shall come / þi kyngdome to clayme

Among Lower Lordes / thi lond shalbe / shall be departid

And as daniell divined / in dede so hit came to passeLX

The king {lord} lost his Lordeship / & meaner men it had

And Ioseph dreamid mervelouslie / howe þe mone & þe sonne

And the elleuen sterres / honoured him all

Then Iacob Iudgid / Iose{h}phesP dreame

Beau fitȝ quod his father / for defaute we shall

I my-self and my sonne / seke the for nede

It befelle as his father said / in Pharaoes tyme

That Ioseph was iustice / Egipt to rule

It befell as his father tolde / his freindes there him sought

And all this moue me / on thise dremes to think

And howe the preest / approuid no pardon to dowell

And demed þat dowell / all Indulgences passed

Byennals and tryennals / and Bisshops Letters

And how dowell at the daie of dome / is doutelie taken

And passeth all the Pardon / of Seynt Peters chirche

Now hath the Pope poure / Pardon to graunte the people

Without anie penaunce / to passe in-to heauen

This is oure Beleue / as Learned men vs teache

And so I beleue trulie / Lordes forbode ellis

That pardon and penaunce / And preyers do saue

Soules that haue synned / seuen tymes deadlie

But to trust to thise tryennals / trulie me thinke

Is not so sure for the soulesT / certes as is dowell

Therfor I rede you all / that riche be in this world

Vpon trust of your treasure / trentals to haue

Be ye neuer the bolder / to breake goddes commandementes

And namely ye maisters / Mayers and Iudges

That haue the welth of this worlde / & for wise men be holden

To purchase you pardon / and þe Popes bulles

At the dreadfull dome / when the dead shall arise

And come all beforeT Christ / Acomptes to yelde

Howe thou haist led þi Life / & his Lawes kept

And how þou diddist daie by daie / the dome will reherce

A poke full of Pardon {/}thereT / nor provincials lettres

Though they be founde / in þe fraternyte of all iiij / foure orders

TI sett your patentes & Pardons / at the value of one pease

Therfor I counseile all cristene / to crie god mercie

And Marie His mother / be oure meane betwene

That god giue vs grace here / ere we go hens

Such workes to worke / while we be here

That After our deathe daie / dowell may reherce

At the daie of dome / we did as he commandid /