thusP Roobid in russet / I romed aboute

All a somer season / for to seke dowell

And Freyned full oft / of folke þat I met

Yf any wight wist / where dowell was at Inne

And what man he might be / of many man I asked

Was neuer wight as I went / that me tell coulde /

Where this dowell lodgid / lasse nor more

Till it befelle on a Fridaie / two friers I mett

Maisters of þe Mynors / men of great witte

I hailed them hendelye / as I had lerned

And preid them for charitie / ere they passed ferther

Yf they knewe in anie countrie / or costes as they went

Wheras dowell dwellithe / do me to knowe

For they be men þat in this worlde / most wide walke

And knowe Countries & courtes / and many sondrie places

Bothe prynces paleises / and pouer mennes Cottes

And dowell & do euill / where thei dwelle bothe

Among vs quod the Friers / that man is dwelling

And euer hath as I hope / and euer shall hereafter

Contra quod I as a clerk / & began to dispute

And told him pleynlie / Sepcies in die cadit iustus

Seuen tymes saith the book / synneth þe rightfull

And who synneth I said / dothe euill as me thinketh

And dowell & do euill / maye not dwelle together

Ergo / he is not alwaies / among you Friers

He is sometime elliswhere / to teche the people /

I shall say the my sonne / said the Frier then

Howe seuen times the iust man / on a daie synneth

By a famyliarLX quod the Frier / I shall the fair shewe

Set a man in a bote / amiddes the brode streame

The wynde , the water / and þe boat wagging

Make a man many a tyme / to falle & to stande

For stande he neuer so stif / he stombleth if he moue

But yet is he safe & sounde / & so him behouithe

For if he arise not þe rather / and reche to the stere

The wynde wolde with þe water / þe Boat oerthrowe

And then were his life lost / through slouth of hym-self

And thus it is quod þe frier / by folke here on erthe

The water is Likened to the world / þat wasteth and waxeth

The goodes of this grounde / are Likened to þe great waves

That as wyndes and wethers / walke aboute

The Boat is Likened to our bodie / þat brittyll is of kynde

And through þe feinde & the flesh / & the fraile world

Synneth the iust man / seuen tymes on the daie /

But deadlie synne dothe he not / for dowell him kepithe

And þat is Charitie þe champion / chief helpe against Synne

for he strengthen man to stande / and stireth mannes soule

And though the bodie bowe / as Boat do in the water

Yet is the soule saf / but if þou wilt þi-self

Do a deadlie synne / and drench so thi soule

God will suffre well thy slouth / if þi-self will

For he gaf the for a defence / to rule well þi-self

That is Witt and Free will / to euery man a porcion

To fleyng foules / to fisshes and to beastes

But man hathe most þerof / and most is to blame

Onlesse he worke well þerwith / as dowell him teacheth

I haue no right knowlege quod I / to conceyue all your wordes

But if I may Liue and loke / I shall go learne better

I betake þe now to Christ / þat on the Crosse died

And I said the same saue you from mischaunce

And giue you grace in this world / good men to be

AndC thus I went wide where / walking alone

By a wyld wildernesse / and by a wood syde

Noise of the birdes / brought me aslepe

And vnder a lynde vpon a launde / lened I a stounde

To Lythe the layes / tho louelie foules made

Myrthe of theyr mowthes / made me there to slepe

The meruelousest dremes / dreamid I then

That euer dreamed man / in þis world as I wene

A bigg man as me thought / & like to my-self

Came and callid me / by my right name

What art þou quod I then / that þou my name knowest

That thou wotst well quod he / & noman / no man better

Wot I what þou arte ?T Thought said he then

I haue folowed the this vij / seuen yeres / seist þou me no rather

Art thou Thought quod I then / þou canst me telle

Where that Dowell dwellith / do me that to knowe

Dowell & dobet / & dobest the thirde quod he

Are three fair vertues / And benot / be not far to fynd

Who-so is true of his tong / and of his ij / two handes

And through his Labour & his lond / his Lifelode wynneth

And is trustie of his taile ende / taketh but his oune

And is no dronkerd nor disdeynous / dowell him foloweth

Dobett doth euen thus / And he dothe muche more

He is as lowlie as a lambe / and louelie of speche

And helpeth all men / as they nede

The bagges and the bougettesLX / he hath broken all

That the Erle Auarice / heild and his heyers

And thus with Mammons money / he hathe made him freindes

And is renne to Religion / and hath rendrid the Bible

And preacheth to the people / Saint Paules wordes

And suffreth the vnwise / with you for to liue

And with glad will do them good / for so god willeth /

Dobest is aboue bothe / & bearith a bisshops crosse

Ys hookid on the one ende / to plucke men from helle

A pyke on that other ende / to put doune the wicked

That waite any wickednesse / Dowell to angre

And dowell & dobett / Amonges them haue ordeyned

To crowne one to be kyng / to rule them bothe

That if dowell or dobetter / Did against dobest

Than shall the king come / and cast them in yrons

And onlesse Dobest intreat for them / they to be there foreuer

Thus dowell & dobet / and dobest the thirde

Crowned one to be king / to kepe them all

And to rule the Realme / by theyr three wittes

And non otherwise / but as they thre assentid

I thankid thought then / þat he me thus taught

But yet I savour not thy sayinges / I covet more to lerne

How dowell dobet & dobest / do among the people

Wit can tell þe quod thought / where they iij / thre dwelle

Ellis knowe I non þat can / þat nowe is aliue

Thought And I thus / thre daies we went

Disputing vpon Dowell / daie after daie

And ere we were ware / with witte did we mete

He was Long and Lene / Like to non other

Was no Pryde in his aparaile / nor pouertie neither

Sad of his semblaunt / and of softe chere

I durst moue no mater / to make him Iangle

But as I bad Thought then / be meane betwene

And put forth some purpose / to proue his wittes

What was dowell from dobet / & dobest from them bothe

Than Thought at þat tyme / said thise wordes

Whether dowell dobet / and dobest be in londe

Here is Will wolde wite / if Witt coulde telle him

And whether he be man or woman / this man fayne wold knowe

And worke as they three will / this is his entent