Chapter VI: Front Matter (6)

Thenk that Dives for hus delicat lyf
To the devel wente,
And Lazar the lene beggere
That longed after cromes,
And yut had he hem nat,
For ich Hunger culde hym,
And suthe ich sauh hym sute,
As he a syre were,
At alle manere ese
In Abrahame lappe.
An yf you be of power,
Peers, ich the rede,
Alle that greden at thy gate
For Godes love after fede,
Parte wit hem of thy payn,
Of potage and of souel,
Lene hem som of thy loof,
Thauh thu the lesse chewe.
And thauh lyers and latchedrawers,
And lolleres knocke,
Let hem abyde tyl the bord be drawe,
Ac bere hem none cromes,
Tyl al thyn nedy neihebores
Have none y-maked.

4339. _Phisik ... hise furred hodes ... his cloke of Calabre._ Whitaker cites, in illustration of the dress of the physician, the costume still worn by the Doctors of Medicine in the universities. Chaucer gives the following description of the dress of the "Doctour of Phisike":--

In sangwin and in pers he clad was al,
Lyned with taffata, and with sendal.
(Cant. T. Prolog. 441.)

_Calabre_ appears to have been a kind of fur: a document in Rymer, quoted by Ducange, speaks of an _indumentum foderatum cum Calabre_.

4390. _ripe chiries manye._ This passage, joined with the mention of cherry-time in l. 2794, shows that cherries were a common fruit in the fourteenth century. "Mr. Gough, in his British Topography, says that cherries were first brought in by the Romans, but were afterwards lost and brought in again in the time of Henry VIII, by Richard Harris, the king's fruiterer; but this is certainly a mistake. When in the New Forest in Hampshire in the summer of 1808, I saw a great many cherry-trees, apparently, of much more considerable age than the time of Henry VIII. The _very old_ trees were universally of the kind called _merries_." H. E.

4431. Cato, Distich. i, 21:--

Infantem nudum quum te natura crearit,
Paupertatis onus patienter ferre memento.

4453. _so seide Saturne._ See the Introduction, p. xii.

4490. Whitaker's text reads after this line:--

Leel and ful of love,
And no lord dreden,
Merciable to meek,
And mylde to the goode,
And bytynge on badde men
Bote yf thei wolde amende,
And dredeth nat for no deth
To distruye by here powere
Lecherie among lordes,
And hure luther custymes,
And sithen lyve as thei lereth men,
Oure lorde Treuthe hem graunteth,
To be peeres to Apostles, &c.

4525. _sette scolers to scole._ It was common in the _scholastic_ ages for scholars to wander about gathering money to support them at the universities. In a poem in MS. Lansdowne, No. 762, the husbandman, complaining of the many burdens he supports in taxes to the court, payments to the church, and charitable contributions of different kinds, enumerates among the latter the alms to scholars:--

Than cometh clerkys of Oxford, and mak their mone,
To her scole-hire they most have money.

4547. Psa. xiv, 5. Qui pecuniam suam non dedit ad usuram, et munera super innocentem non accepit.

4571. Psa. xiv, 1.

4593. Matt. vii, 12. Luke vi, 31.

4618. _the clerc of stories._ Called, elsewhere, _maister of stories_. These names were given popularly to Peter Comestor, author of the famous Historia Scolastica, a paraphrase of the Bible history, with abundance of legendary matter added to it. The title given him by the author of Piers Ploughman is not uncommon in English treatises of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Lydgate, Minor Poems, p. 102 (Ed. Halliwell), speaks of Comestor thus:--

_Maister of storyes_, this doctour ful notable,
Holding a chalice here in a sonne cliere.

4619. _Catons techyng._ "Cui des videto," is the twenty-third of the "Distichorum Lemmata" of Dionysius Cato.

4621. Instead of ll. 4621-4658, the following long and curious passage is substituted in the text adopted by Mr. Whitaker:--

Wot no man, as ich wene,
Who is worthy to have.
The most needy aren oure neighebores,
And we nyme good hede;
As prisoners in puttes,
And poore folke in cotes
Charged with children
And chef lordes rente,
That thei spynnynge may spare,
Spynen hit in hous hyre,
Bothe in mylk and in mele.
To maken with papelotes
To aglotye with here gurles
That greden after fode.
Al so hemselve
Suffren muche hunger,
And wo in winter tyme;
With wakyng a-nyghtes
To ryse to the ruel,
To rocke the cradel,
Bothe to karde and to kembe,
To clouten and to wasche,
To rubbe and to rely,
Russhes to pilie,
That reuthe is to rede
Othere in ryme shewe
The wo that theese women
That wonyeth in cotes,
And of meny other men
That muche wo suffren,
Bothe a-fyngrede and a-furst,
To turne the fayre outwarde;
And beth abasshed for to begge,
And wolle nat be y-knowe
What hem needeth att here neihebores
At non and at even.
This Wit wot witerly,
As the world techeth,
What other byhoveth
That hath meny children.
And hath no catel bote hus crafte
To clothy hem and to fede,
And fele to fonge therto,
And fewe pans taketh.
Ther is payn and peny ale,
As for a pytaunce y-take;
Cold flesch and cold fyssh,
For veneson y-bake.
Frydays and fastyng-dayes
Ferthyng worth of muscles
Were a feste for suche a folke,
Other so fele cockes.
Theese were almes to helpe
That han suche charges,
And to comforte suche cotyers,
And crokede men and blynde.
Ac beggers with bagges, the wiche
Brewhouses ben here churches,
Bote thei be blynde other broke,
Other elles syke,
Thauh he falle for defaute,
That faiteth for hus lyflode,
Reicheth nevere, ye ryche,
Thauh suche lorelles sterven;
For all that han here hele
And here eyen syghte,
And lymes to laborye with,
And lolleres lyf usen,
Lyven ayens Godes lawe,
And love of holy churche.
And yut arn ther other beggers,
In hele, as it semeth;
Ac hem wanteth here witt,
Men and women bothe,
The wiche aren lunatik lollers
And leperes aboute,
And mad, as the mone sitt,
More other lasse:
Thei caren for no cold,
Ne counteth of no hete,
And are mevenge after the mone,
Moneyles thei walke,
With a good wil wit-lees,
Meny wyde contreys,
Ryght as Peter dude and Paul,
Save that thei preche nat,
Ne myracles maken;
Ac meny tymes hem happeth
To prophetien of the puple,
Pleyninge, as hit were,
And to oure sight, as hit semeth,
Suththe God hath the myghte
To yeven eche a whit wit,
Welthe, and his hele,
And suffreth suche so gon,
Hit semeth to myn inwitt,
Hit arn as hus aposteles suche puple,
Other as his prevye disciples;
For he sente hem forth selverles,
In a somer garnement,
Withoute bred and bagge,
As the Bok telleth.
_Quando misi vos sine pane et pera._
Bar fot and bred-les,
Beggeth thei of no man;
And thauh he mete with the meyere
In mydest the strete,
He reverenceth hym ryght nouht
No rather than another.
_Neminem salutaveris per viam_,
Suche manere of men,
Matheu ous techeth,
We sholde have hem to house,
And help hem when thei come.
_Et egenos vagosque induc in domum tuam._
For hit aren murye mouthede men,
Mynstrales of hevene
And Godes boyes bordiours,
As the Bok telleth.
_Si quis videtur sapiens, fiet stultus ut
sit sapiens._
And alle manere mynstrales,
Men wot wel the sothe,
To underfonge hem faire
Byfalle for the ryche;
For the lordes love and ladies
That thei with lengen,
Men suffren al that suche seyn,
And in solas taken;
And yut more to suche men
Doth, er thei passe,
Gyven hem gyftes and gold,
For grete lordes sake.
Ryght so, ye riche,
Rather ye sholde, for sothe,
Wolcomen and worsshepen
And with youre goode helpen
Godes mynstrales, and hus messagers,
And hus murye burdiers,
The wiche are lunatik lollares
And leperes aboute.
For under Godes secré seel
Here synnes ben y-keverede.
For thei bereth no bagges,
Ne non botels under clokes,
The wiche is lollaren lyf
And lewede eremytes,
That loken ful louheliche
To lacchen mennes almesse,
In hope to suten at even
By the hote coles,
Unlouke hus legges abrod,
Other lygge at hus ese,
Reste hym and roste hym,
And his ryg turne,
Drynke drue and deepe,
And drawe hym thanne to bedde,
And when hym lyketh and lust
Hus leve ys is to aryse;
When he rysen, rometh out,
And ryght wel aspieth
War he may rathest have a repast,
Other a rounde of bacon,
Sulver other fode-mete
And some tyme bothe,
A loof other alf a loof,
Other a lompe of chese,
And carieth it hom to hus cote,
And cast hym to lyve
In ydelnesse and in ese,
And by others travayle.
And wat frek of thys tolde
Fisketh thus aboute
With a bagge at hus bak,
Abegeneldes wyse,
And can som manere craft,
In cas he wolde hit use.
Thorgh wiche craft he couthe come
To bred and to ale,
And ovar more to an hater
To helye with hus bones,
And lyveth like a lollere,
Godes lawe him dampneth.
Lolleres lyvinge in sleuthe,
And overe lond stryken,
Beeth nat in thys bulle, quath Peers,
Til thei ben amended.
Nother beggars that beggen,
Bote yf thei have neede.
The Bok blameth alle beggerye,
And banneth in this manere: etc.

4645. Luke xix, 23.

4659. Ps. xxxvi, 25. Junior fui, etenim senui: et non vidi justum derelictum, nec semen ejus quærens panem.

4695. Here again, after many verbal variations from our text, Whitaker's text adds the following long passage, which is very curious, and well worthy to be preserved. Whitaker calls it "one of the finest passages in the whole poem."

Ac eremites that enhabiten hem
By the heye weyes,
And in borwes among brewesters,
And beggen in churches
Al that holy eremytes
Hateden and despisede,
As rychesses and reverences
And ryche mennes almesse.
These lolleres, latche-draweres,
Lewede eremytes,
Coveyten the contrarie,
As cotyers thei lybben,
For hit beth bote boyes,
Lolleres atten ale,
Of linguage of lettrure
Ne lyf-holy as eremytes
That wonnede wyle in wodes
With beres and lyones.
Some had lyflode of here lynage,
And of no lyf elles;
And some lyvede by here lettrure
And labour of here hondes;
Some had foreynes to frendes,
That hem fode sente;
And bryddes brouhten to some bred,
Werby thei lyveden.
Alle thuse holy eremytes
Were of hye kynne,
Forsoke londe and lordshep
And lykynges of the body;
Ac thuse eremytes, that edefyen
Thus by the hye weyes,
Wylen were workmen,
Webbes and taillours,
And carters knaves
And clerkus without grace,
Heelden hungry hous,
And had much defaute,
Long labour and lyte wynnynge,
And atte laste aspiden
That faitours in frere clothynge
Had fatte chekus;
For-thi lefte thei here laboure,
Theese lewede knaves,
And clothed hem in copes,
Clerkus as hit were.
Other on of som ordre,
Othere elles prophite,
Ayens the lawe he lyveth,
Yf Latyn be trywe:
_Non licet nobis legem voluntate, sed voluntatem
conjungere legi._
Now kyndeliche, by Crist!
Beth suche callyd lolleres,
As by Englisch of oure eldres,
Of olde menne techynge,
He that lolleth his lame,
Other his leg out of the joynte,
Other meymed in som membre,
For to meschief hit souneth;
And ryght so sothlyche
Suche manere eremytes
Lollen ayen the bylyeve
And lawe of holy churche.
For holy churche hoteth
Alle manere puple
Under obedience to bee,
And buxum to the lawe,
Furst religious of religion
Here ruele to holde,
And under obedience to be
By dayes and by nyghtes,
Lewede men to laborie,
Lordes to honte
In frythes and in forestes
For fox and other bestes
That in wilde wodes ben,
And in wast places,
As wolves that wyrhyeth men,
Wommen, and children,
And upon Sonedayes to cesse,
Godes service to huyre,
Bothe matyns and messe,
And after mete in churches
To huyre here eve song
Every man ouhte.
Thus it bylongeth for lorde,
For lered and lewede,
Eche halyday to huyre
Hollyche the service,
Vigiles and fastyng dayes
Forthere to knowe,
And fulfille tho fastynges
Bote infirmité hit made,
Poverte othere penaunces,
As pilgrymages and travayles.
Under this obedience
Arn we echone.
Who so brekyeth this, be wel war,
Bot yf he repente,
Amenden hym and mercy aske,
And meekliche hym shryve,
Ich drede me, and he deye,
Hit worth for dedlich synne
Acounted byfore Crist,
Bote Conscience excuse hym.
Loke now were theese lolleres
And lewede eremytes,
Yf thei breke thys obedience
That ben so fro churche,
Wher see we hem on Sonedays
The servise to huyre?
As matyns by the morwe
Tyl masse bygynne,
Other Sonedays at eve songe,
See we wol fewe;
Othere labory for our lyflode
As the lawe wolde
Ac at mydday meel tyme
Ich mete with hem ofte,
Conynge in a cope
As he a clerke were,
A bachelor other a beaupere
Best hym bysemeth,
And for the cloth that kevereth hem
Cald his here a frere,
Whassheth and wypeth,
And with the furste suteth.
Ac while he wrought in thys worlde,
And wan hus mete with Treuthe,
He sat atte syd benche
And secounde table,
Com no wyn in hus wombe
Thorw the weke longe,
Nother blankett in hus bed,
Ne white bred byfore hym.
The cause of al thys caitifté
Cometh of meny bisshepes,
That suffren suche sottes
And othere synnes regne.
Certes ho so thurste hit segge,
_Symon quasi dormit._
_Vigilate_ were fairour,
For thow hast gret charge:
For meny waker wolves
Ben broke into foldes.
Thyne berkeres ben al blynde,
That bryngeth forth thy lambren;
_Disperguntur oves_, thi dogge
Dar nat beerke.
The tarre is untydy
That to thyne sheep bylongeth;
Hure salve ys of _supersedeas_
In someneres boxes,
Thyne sheep are ner al shabbyd,
The wolf sheteth woolle.
_Sub molli pastore lupus lanam cacat, et
grex incustoditus dilaceratur eo._
Hoow hurde wher is thyn hounde,
And thyn hardy herte,
For to wyne the wolf
That thy woolle fouleth.
Ich leyve for thy lacchesse
Thow leest meny wederes,
And ful meny fayre flus
Falsliche wasshe.
When thy lord loketh to have
Alowance for hus bestes,
And of the monye thow haddist thermyd,
Hus meable to save,
And the woolle worth weye,
Woo ys the thenne!
_Redde rationem villicationis tuæ_,
Other arerage, ffalle.
Then hyre hurde, as ich hope,
Hath nouht to quyty thy dette,
Ther as mede ne mercy
May nat a myte avayle,
Bote have this for that,
Tho that thow toke
Mercy for mede,
And my lawe breke;
Loke now for thi lacchesse
Whether lawe wol the graunt
Purgatorie for thy paye,
Other perpetuel helle.
For shal no pardone praye for yowe ther,
Nother princes letteres.

4708. Matth. xxv, 46. Et ibunt hi in supplicium æternum; justi autem in vitam æternam.

4721. Psal. xxii, 4.

4739. Psal. xli, 4.

4745. Luke xii, 22. Conf. Matth. vi, 25.

4764. "Dixit insipiens in corde suo, non est Deus," is the commencement of Psalms xiii. and lii.

4769. Prov. xxii, 10. Ejice derisorem, et exibit cum eo jurgium, cessabuntque causæ et contumeliæ.

4771. _Perkyn_, the diminutive of Peter, or Piers. Formerly the diminutives of people's names were constantly used as marks of familiarity or endearment, as Hawkyn or Halkyn for Henry, Tymkyn for Tim or Timothy, Dawkyn for David, Tomkyn for Thomas, &c.

4796. Cato, Distich. ii, 31.

Somnia ne cures, nam mens humana quod optans,
Dum vigilat, sperat, per somnum cernit id ipsum.

4847. Matth. xvi, 19.

4941. Prov. xxiv, 16. Septies enim cadet justus, _et resurget_; impii autem corruent in malum.

4963. _To falle and to stonde._ I by no means agree with Price's interpretation of this phrase, or in his preference of the reading _to falle if he stonde_. (Note on Warton ii, 67.) The motion of the boat causes the firm man alternately to fall and stand; be he ever so stable, he stumbles now and then, but his strength is shown in his being able to recover himself. Such are the moral slips which even the just man cannot avoid. But if the man in the boat be too weak to arise again and place himself at the helm, his boat and himself will be lost for want of strength and guidance. So it is with the wicked man. The completion of the phrase quoted from Proverbs, as given in the preceding note, shows the justice of this explanation.

5014. _if I may lyve and loke._ Price (in Warton) first pointed out the identity between this expression and the one so common in Homer: it is "one of those primitive figures which are common to the poetry of every country."

[Greek: Outis, emeu zôntos kai epi chthoni derkomenoio,]
[Greek: Soi koilêis para nêusi bareias cheiras epoisei.]
Il. i, 88.

Whitaker's interpretation is nonsense, "If I have space to live and look in the book." Other instances of this phrase occur in ll. 12132, 13268, and 13303 of Piers Ploughman.

5082. 2 Corinth. xi, 19.

5157. _of four kynnes thynges._ The medieval notion of the manner in which the elements were mixed together in the formation of the human body, here alluded to, appears to partake more of Western legend than of Eastern tradition. In the English verses on Popular Science (given in my "Popular Treatises of Science written during the Middle Ages," p. 138), we have the following curious account of the four things forming the body, and the influence of each:--

Man hath of urthe al his bodi, of water he haveth wete,
Of eyr he haveth wynd, of fur he haveth hete.
Ech quic thing of alle this foure, of some hath more other lasse;
Ho so haveth of urthe most, he is slou as an asse;
Of vad colour, of hard hide, boustes forme, and ded strong,
Of moche thoght, of lute speche, of stille grounynge, and wraththe long,
A slough wrecche and ferblet, fast and loth to geve his god,
Sone old, and noght wilful, stable and stedefast of mode.

And so on with the other elements. This doctrine of the composition of man from the four elements became a very popular one in the sixteenth century, when the poets frequently allude to it, as may be seen in the examples given by Nares (_v._ ELEMENTS). In the _Mirror for Magistrates_ (_King Forrex_, page 76), it is said:--

If we behold the substance of a man,
How he is made of _elements_ by kind,
Of earth, of water, aire, and fire, than
We would full often call unto our mind,
That all our earthly joys we leave behind.

Massinger (_Renegado_ iii, 2) says:--

----I've heard
Schoolmen affirm, man's body is compos'd
Of _the four elements_.

In Shakespeare (_Twel. N._ ii, 3), Sir Toby Belch inquires, "Does not our life consist of _the four elements_?" and Brutus is commended for possessing these elements properly blended, in which the perfection of a man's nature was supposed to consist:--

His life was gentle; and the _elements_
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, This _was a man_.
_Jul. Cæs._ v, 5.

On the other hand, the ill mixing of these elements was supposed to be accompanied with a corresponding derangement of the intellectual faculties. Thus, in one of the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, a madman is addressed:--

I prithee, thou _four elements_ ill brew'd
Torment none but thyself: Away, I say,
Thou beast of passion.
_B. and Fl. Nice Valour_, act i, p. 312.

The more mythic form of this legend gives _eight things_ to the formation of the body, instead of four. Our earliest notice of this legend in England occurs in the prose Anglo-Saxon Dialogue between Saturn and Solomon (Thorpe's Analecta, p. 95):--"Saga me þæt andworc þe Adám wæs of-ge-worht se ærusta man? Ic þe secge of viii punda ge-wihte. Saga me hwæt hatton þage? Ic þe secge þæt æroste wæs fóldan pund, of ðam him wæs flesc ge-worht; oðer wæs fyres pund, þanon him wæs þæt blód reád and hát; þridde wæs windes pund, þanon him wæs seo æðung ge-seald; feorðe wæs wolcnes pund, þanon him wæs his módes unstaðelfæstnes ge-seald; fifte wæs gyfe pund, þanon him wæs ge-seald se fat and geðang; syxste wæs blostnena pund, þanon him wæs eagena myssenlicnys ge-seald; seofoðe wæs deawes pund, þanon him becom swat; eahtothe wæs sealtes pund, þanon him wæron þa tearas sealte."--_Tell me the matter of which Adam the first man was made? I tell thee, of eight pound-weights. Tell me their names? I tell thee, the first was a pound of earth, of which his flesh was made; the second was a pound of fire, from which his blood was red and hot; the third was a pound of wind, of which breath was given him; the fourth was a pound of cloud, whereof was given him his instability of mood; the fifth was a pound of ..., whereof was given him fat and sinew; the sixth was a pound of flowers, whereof was given him diversity of eyes; the seventh was a pound of dew, whereof he had sweat; the eighth was a pound of salt, whereof he had salt tears._ This legend was still prevalent in England as late as the fifteenth century, when we find it among the curious collection of questions (closely resembling those of Saturn and Solomon just quoted) entitled "Questions bitwene the Maister of Oxinford and his Scoler" (Reliquiæ Antiquæ, vol. i, p. 230),--"_C._ Whereof was Adam made? _M._ Of viij. thingis: the first of erthe, the second of fire, the iij^{de} of wynde, the iiij^{th} of clowdys, the v^{th} of aire wherethorough he speketh and thinketh, the vj^{th} of dewe wherby he sweteth, the vij^{th} of flowres, wherof Adam hath his ien, the viij^{th} is salte wherof Adam hath salt teres." A similar account is given in an extract from an old Friesic manuscript communicated to the Zeitschrift für Deutsches Alterthum, by Dr. James Grimm,--"God scôp thene êresta meneska, thet was Adam, fon achta wendem; that bênete fon tha stêne, thet flâsk fon there erthe, thet blôd fon tha wetere, tha herta fon tha winde, thene togta (l. thochta) fon tha wolken, the(ne) suêt fon tha dawe, tha lokkar fon tha gerse, tha âgene fon there sunna, and tha blêrem on thene helga ôm."--_God created the first man, who was Adam, of eight elements: the bone from the stone, the flesh from the earth, the blood from the water, the heart from the wind, the thought from the cloud, the sweat from the dew, the hair from the grass, the eyes from the sun._

5169. _a proud prikere of Fraunce._ A proud rider of France. Until the fifteenth century there appears to have been a strong prejudice among the lower orders against horsemen: their name was connected with oppressors and foreigners. Horses appear to have been comparatively little used for riding among the Anglo-Saxons until they were introduced by the Norman favourites of Edward the Confessor, in whose reign we read that the Anglo-Saxon soldiers in Herefordshire were defeated by the Welsh owing to their awkwardness on horseback, having been unadvisedly mounted by their Norman commander. The Anglo-Norman barons of the three following centuries, with their numerous household of knights and attendants who plundered and oppressed the peasantry and middle classes of society, kept alive the prejudice alluded to, and we trace it in several popular songs. In a song of the reign of Edward I (Political Songs, p. 240), we find the following lines:--

Whil God wes on erthe
And wondrede wyde,
Whet wes the resoun
Why he nolde ryde?
For he nolde no grom
To go by ys syde,
Ne grucchyng of no gedelyng
To chaule ne to chyde.
Spedeth ou to spewen,
Ase me doth to spelle;
The fend ou afretie
With fleis ant with felle!
Herkneth hideward, horsmen,
A tidyng ich ou telle,
That ye shulen hongen,
Ant herbarewen in helle!

5276. Epist. ad. Philippens. iii, 19.

5283. Epist. Joan. iv, 16.

5289. Matth. xxv, 12; Psal. lxxx, 13. Et dimisi eos secundum desideria cordis eorum, ibunt in adventionibus suis.

5305. _the four doctours._ The four doctors _par excellence_ of the western church were, I believe, Gregory, Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome.

5354. Ecclesiast. i, 16.

5363. Epist. Jacob. ii, 10. Quicunque autem totam legem servaverit, offendat autem in uno, factus est omnium reus.

5412. _as Caym was on Eve._ See further on l. 5549. According to a very curious legend, which was popular in the middle ages, Cain was born during the period of penitence and fasting to which our first parents were condemned for their breach of obedience.

5415. Psa. vii, 15. Concepit dolorem et peperit iniquitatem.

5417. Whitaker's text inserts before this line--

Caym, the cursed creature,
Conceyved was in synne;
After that Adam and Eve
Hadden y-synged,
Withoute repentaunce
Of here rechelessnesse,
A rybaud thei engendrede,
And a gome unryghtful;
As an hywe that ereth nat
Auntreth hym to sowe
On a leye lond,
Ayens hus lordes wille,
So was Caym conceyved,
And so ben cursed wrettches
That lycame han ayen the lawe
That oure Lord ordeynede.

5433. Gen. vi, 7. pænitet enim me fecisse eos.

5464. Ezech. xviii, 20.

5470. Whitaker's text adds here:--

Westminster lawe, ich wot,
Worcheth the contrarie;
For thauh the fader be a frankelayne,
And for a felon be hanged,
The heritage that the air sholde have
Ys at the kynges wille.

5479. Matt. vii, 16.

5497. John xiv, 6.

5507. _many a peire, sithen the pestilence._ The continuator of William de Nangis, who gives a detailed account of the effects of the great pestilence on the Continent, mentions the hasty marriages which followed it, but he gives quite a different account of their fruitfulness. "Cessante autem dicta epidimia, pestilentia, et mortalitate, nupserunt viri qui remanserunt et mulieres ad invicem, conceperunt uxores residuæ per mundum ultra modum, nulla sterilis efficiebatur, sed prægnantes hinc inde videbantur, et plures geminos pariebant, et aliquæ tres infantes insimul vivos emittebant." The writer goes on to observe, "Sed proh dolor! ex hujus renovatione sæculi non est mundus propter hoc in melius commutatus. Nam homines fuerunt postea magis avari et tenaces, cum multo plura bona quam antea possiderent; magis etiam cupidi et per lites, brigas, et rixas, atque per placita, seipsos conturbantes.... Charitas etiam ab illo tempore refrigescere cæpit valde, et iniquitas abundavit cum ignorantiis et peccatis; nam pauci inveniebantur qui scirent aut vellent in domibus, villis, et castris informare pueros in grammaticalibus rudimentis."--_Contin. G. de Nangis, in Dacherii Spicileg._ iii, 110 (_ed._ 1723).

5515. _do hem to Dunmowe._ This is, I believe, the earliest allusion at present known to the custom of the flitch of bacon at Dunmow, which was evidently, at that time, a matter of general celebrity. In Chaucer, about half a century later, the Wife of Bath says of her two old husbands, and of the way in which she tyrannized over them,--

The bacoun was nought fet for hem, I trowe,
That som men fecche in Essex at Donmowe.--_Cant. T._ 5799.

In a curious religious poem preserved in a manuscript in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, written about the year 1460, from which some extracts are printed in the "Reliquiæ Antiquæ," ii, 27-29, we have the following satirical allusion to this custom:--

I can fynde no man now that wille enquere
The parfyte wais unto Dunmow;
For they repent hem within a yere,
And many within a weke, and sonner, men trow;
That cawsith the weis to be rowgh and over-grow,
That no man may fynd path or gap,
The world is turnyd to another shap.

Befe and moton wylle serve wele enow;
And for to seche so ferre a lytill bakon flyk,
Which hath long hanggid resty and tow
And the wey, I telle you, is comborous and thyk,
And thou might stomble, and take the cryk;
Therfor bide at home, what so ever hap
Tylle the world be turnyd into another shap.

One or two other allusions to this custom have been found in manuscripts of the fifteenth century, and in the sixteenth century these allusions become more numerous.

5563. 1 Corinth. vii, 1.

5613. _Margery perles._ A margarite pearl, _perle marguerite_. The Latin name for a pearl (_margarita_) seems to be the origin of this expression.

5634. _a love day | to lette with truthe._ Love days (_Dies amoris_) were days fixed for settling differences by umpire, without having recourse to law or to violence. The ecclesiastics seem generally to have had the principal share in the management of these transactions, which throughout the Visions of Piers Ploughman appear to be censured as the means of hindering justice and of enriching the clergy. A little further on, Religion is blamed for being "a ledere of love-dayes." (l. 6219.) In Chaucer, it is said of the friar:--

And over'al, ther eny profyt schulde arise,
Curteys he was, and lowe of servyse.
. . . . . .
And rage he couthe and pleye as a whelpe,
In love-dayes, ther couthe he mochil helpe.
For ther was he not like a cloysterer
With a thredbare cope, as a pore scoler,
But he was like a maister or a pope.--_Cant. T._ 249, 259.

5646. The quotation is made up from Job xxi, 7; and Jerem. xii, 2.

5651. Psal. lxxii, 12.

5659. Psal. x, 4. Quoniam quæ perfecisti, destruxerunt: justus autem quid fecit?

5739. Psal. cxxxi, 6.

5769. Isai. lviii, 7.

5778. Tob. iv, 9. Si multum tibi fuerit, abundanter tribue; si exiguum tibi fuerit, etiam exiguum libenter impertiri stude.

In what follows, Whitaker's text is in parts much more brief than the one now printed; there are also many transpositions, and other variations, which are not of sufficient importance to be pointed out more particularly.

5801. _in a pryvee parlour._ 5803. _in a chambre with a chymenee._ This is a curious illustration of contemporary manners. The hall was the apartment in which originally the lord of the household and the male portion of the family passed nearly all their time when at home, and where they lived in a manner in public. The chambers were only used for sleeping, and as places of retirement for the ladies, and had, at first, no fire-places (_chymenees_), which were added, in course of time, for their comfort. The parlour was an apartment introduced also at a comparatively late period, and was, as its name indicates, a place for private conferences or conversation. As society advanced in refinement, people sought to live less and less in public, and the heads of the household gradually deserted the hall, except on special occasions, and lived more in the parlour and in the "chambre with a chymenee." With the absence of the lord from the hall, its festive character and indiscriminate hospitality began to diminish; and the popular agitators declaimed against this as an unmistakeable sign of the debasement of the times.

5829. Ezech. xviii, 19.

5835. Galat. vi, 5.

5844. Pauli Epist. ad Rom. xii, 3.

5911. _seven artz._ In the scholastic system of the middle ages, the whole course of learning was divided into seven arts, which were, grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, music, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy. They were included in the following memorial distich:--

Gram. loquitur, Dia. vera docet, Rhet. verba colorat,
Mus. canit, Ar. numerat, Geo. ponderat, As. colit astra.

5963. _a baleys._ See before, the note on l. 2819.

5990. _Caton._ Distich. lib. i, 26.

6009. Galat. vi, 10.

6022. Epist. ad Rom. xii, 19.

6037. The second Trin. Coll. MS. reads here--

Experimentis of Alkenemye
Of Albertis makyng,
Nigromancie and permansie
The pouke to reisen,
Gif thou thenke, etc.

6146. Matth. vii, 3.

6179. Matth. xv, 14; Luke vi, 39; Mark (?)

6186. _mausede._ An error of the press for _mansede_. See the Glossary.

6191. _Offyn and Fynes_. Ophni and Phinees. See 1 Samuel iv. (in the Vulgate called 1 Kings).

6199. Psal. xlix, 21.

6207. Isai. lvi, 10.

6217. The text of the Trin. Coll. MS. 2, differs very much from ours in this part of the poem. Instead of 6217-6277, we have the following lines:--

Ac now is Religioun a ridere
And a rennere aboute,
A ledere of ladies,
And a lond biggere;
Poperith on a palfrey
To toune and to toune;
A bidowe or a biselard
He berith be his side;
Godis flessh and his fet
And hise fyve woundis
Arn more in his mynde
Than the memorie of his foundours.
This is the lif of this lordis
That lyven shulde with Do-bet,
And wel awey wers,
And I shulde al telle.
I wende that kinghed and knighthed,
And caiseris with erlis,
Wern Do-wel and Do-bet
And Do-best-of-hem-alle.
For I have seighe it myself,
And siththen red it aftir,
How Crist counseilleth the comune,
And kenneth hem this tale,
_Super cathedram Moisi sederunt principes_
For-thi I wende that tho wyes
Wern Do-best-of-alle.
I nile not scorne, etc.

6223. _an heepe of houndes._ "Walter de Suffield, bishop of Norwich, bequeathed by will his pack of hounds to the king, in 1256. Blomefield's Norf. ii, 347. See Chaucer's Monke, Prol. v, 165. This was a common topic of satire. It occurs again fol. xxvii, a [l. 3321, of the present Edition]. See Chaucer's Testament of Love, page 492, col. ii, Urr. The Archdeacon of Richmond, on his visitation, comes to the priory of Bridlington in Yorkshire, in 1216, with ninety-seven horses, twenty dogs, and three hawks. Dugd. Mon. ii, 65." WARTON.

6251. Psal. xix, 8.

6259. _the abbot of Abyngdone._ There was a very ancient and famous abbey at Abingdon in Berkshire. Geoffrey of Monmouth was abbot there. It was the house into which the monks, strictly so called, were first introduced in England, and is, therefore, very properly introduced as the representative of English monachism.

6266. Isai. xiv, 4, 5.

6289. Ecclesiasticus x, 10.

6291. Catonis Distich. iv, 4.

Dilige denari, sed parce dilige, formam;
Quem nemo sanctus nec honestus captat ab ære.

6327. Colos. iii, 1.

6353. _moechaberis._ A mistake in the original MS. for _necaberis_, as it is rightly printed in Crowley's edition.

6372. John iii, 13.

6414. Matth. xxiii, 2. Super cathedram Moysi sederunt Scribæ et Pharisæi.

6440. Psal. xxxv, 8.

6476. Ecclesiastes ix, 1.

6504. Matth. x, 18. The quotation is not quite literal.

6528. For _idiotæ irapiunt_, read _idiotæ vi rapiunt_: the error was caused accidentally in the printing, and has escaped in the present edition.

6571. Matth. xx, 4.

6741. John iii, 3.

6755. Matth. vii, 1.

6764. Psal. l, 21.

6815. Isai. lv, 1.

6825. Mark xvi, 16.

6831. _may no cherl chartre make._ Such was the law of _vileinage_, then in existence. There is a curious story illustrative of the condition of the _cherl_ or peasant, in the Descriptio Norfolciensium, in my Early Mysteries and other Latin Poems of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, p. 94. The 'cherl,' vilein, or bondman, could not even be put apprentice without the licence of the lord of the soil. In the curious poem on the Constitution of Masonry (14th cent.) published by Mr. Halliwell, the master is particularly cautioned on this point:--

The fowrthe artycul thys moste be,
That the mayster hym wel be-se
That he no bondemon prentys make,
Ny for no covetyse do hym take;
For the lord that he ys bonde to,
May fache the prentes whersever he go.
_Early History of Freemasonry in England_, p. 14.

6859. _Trojanus._ 6869. _Gregorie._ The legend here alluded to is given briefly as follows, in the life of St. Gregory in the Golden Legend, fol. lxxxxvii,--

"In the tyme that Trayan themperour regned, and on a tyme as he wente toward a batayll out of Rome, it happed that in hys waye as he shold ryde a woman a wydowe came to hym wepyng and sayd: I praye thee, syre, that thou avenge the deth of one my sone, whyche innocently and wythout cause hath ben slayn. Themperour answerd: yf I come agayn fro the batayll hool and sounde, thenne I shall do justyce for the deth of thy sone. Thenne sayd the wydowe: Syre, and yf thou deye in the bataylle, who shall thenne avenge hys deth for me? And the wydowe sayd, is it not better that thou do to me justice, and have the meryte thereof of God, than another have it for thee? Then had Trayan pyté, and descended fro his horse, and dyde justyce in avengynge the deth of her sone. On a tyme saynt Gregory went by the marked of Rome whyche is called the marked of Trayan. And thenne he remembred of the justyce and other good dedes of Trayan, and how he had ben pyteous and debonayr, and was moche sorowfull that he had ben a paynem; and he tourned to the chyrche of saynt Peter waylyng for thorrour of the mescreaunce of Trayan. Thenne answerd a voys fro God, sayng: I have now herd thy prayer, and have spared Trayan fro the payne perpetuelly. By thys thus, as somme saye, the payne perpetuell due to Trayan as a mescreaunt was somme dele take awaye, but for all that was he not quyte fro the pryson of helle; for the sowle may well be in helle, and fele ther no payne, by the mercy of God."

6907. 1 John iii, 15.

6938. Luke xiv, 12.

6964. John viii, 34.

6981. Galat. vi, 2.

7015. Matth. vii, 3.

7063. Luke x, 40.

7072. Luke x, 42.

7113. Although our writer quotes the circumstance from Luke xviii, the words he gives are from Matth. xix, 21.

7113. In Whitaker's text the following passage is here inserted:--

Thus consaileth Crist
In comun ous alle,
'Ho so coveyteth to come
To my kynriche,
He mot forsake hymself,
Hus suster, and hus brother,
And al that the worlde wolde,
And my wil folwen.'
_Nisi renunciaveritis omnia quæ possidetis,
etc._
Meny proverbis ich myghte have
Of meny holy seyntes,
To testifie for treuthe
The tale that ich shewe,
And poetes to preoven hit,
Porfirie and Plato,
Aristotle, Ovidius,
And ellevene hundred,
Tullius, Tholomeus,
Ich can nat telle here names,
Preoven pacient poverte
Pryns of alle vertues.
And by greyn that groweth,
God ous alle techeth.
_Nisi granum frumenti cadens in terra,
et mortuum fuit, ipsum solum manet._
Bot yf that sed that sowen is,
In the sloh sterve,
Shal nevere spir springen up,
Ne spik on strawe curne;
Sholde nevere wete wexe,
Bote wete fyrste deyde;
And other sedes also
In the same wyse,
That ben leide on louh eerthe,
Y-lore as hit were,
And thorw the grete grace of God,
Of greyn ded in erthe
Atte the laste launceth up
Werby lyven alle.
Ac sedes that ben sowen
And mowe suffre wyntres,
Aren tydyor and tower
To mannes by-hofte,
Than seedes that sowen beeth
And mowe nouht with forste,
With wyndes, ne with wederes,
As in wynter tyme,
As lynne-seed, and lik-seed,
And Lente-seedes alle,
Aren nouht so worthy as whete,
Ne so wel mowen
In the feld with the forst,
And hit freese longe.
Ryght so, for sothe,
That suffre may penaunces
Worth alowed of oure Lorde
At here laste ende,
And for here penaunce be preysed,
As for puyre martir,
Other for a confessour y-kud,
That counteth nat a ruysshe
Fere ne famyne,
Ne false menne tonges;
Bote as an hosebonde hopeth
After an hard wynter,
Yf God gyveth hym the lif
To have a good hervest,
So preoveth thees prophetes
That pacientliche suffreth
Myschiefs and myshappes,
And menye tribulacions,
Bytokneth ful triweliche
In tyme comynge after
Murthe for hus mornynge,
And that muche plenté.
For Crist seide to hus seyntes
That for hus sake tholeden
Poverte, penaunces,
Persecution of body,
Angeles in here angre
On this wise hem grate,
_Tristitia vestra vertetur in gaudium._
Youre sorwe into solas
Shal turne atte laste,
And out of wo into wele
Youre wyrdes shul chaunge.
Ac so redeth of riche,
The revers he may fynde,
How God, as the Godspel telleth,
Geveth hem foul towname,
And that hus gost shal go,
And hus good byleve,
And asketh hym after
Ho shal hit have,
The catel that he kepeth so
In coffres and in hernes,
And ert so loth to lene
Thet leve shalt needes.
_O stulte, ista nocte anima tua egrediatur,
thesauriza et ignorat._
An unredy reve
Thi residue shal spene,
That menye moththe was ynne
In a mynte while;
Upholderes on the hul
Shullen have hit to selle.
Lo! lo! lordes, lo!
And ladies taketh hede,
Hit lasteth nat longe
That is lycour swete,
Ac pees-coddes and pere-ronettes,
Plomes and chiries,
That lyghtliche launceth up,
Litel wile dureth,
And that that rathest rypeth,
Roteth most sannest.
On fat londe and ful of donge
Foulest wedes groweth,
Right so, for sothe,
Suche that ben bysshopes,
Erles and archdekenes,
And other ryche clerkes.
That chaffaren as chapmen,
And chiden bote thei wynne,
And haven the worlde at here wil
Other wyse to lyve;
Right as weodes wexen
In wose and in dunge,
So of rychesse upon richesse
Arist al vices.
Lo! lond overe-layde
With marle and with donge,
Whete that wexeth theron
Worth lygge ar hit repe;
Right so, for sothe,
For to sigge treuthe,
Over plenté pryde norssheth
Ther poverte destrueth hit.
For how hit evere be y-wonne,
Bote hit be wel dispended,
Worliche wele is wuked thynge
To hym that hit kupeth.
For yf he be feer therfro,
Ful ofte hath he drede
That fals folke fetche away
Felonliche hus godes.
And yut more hit maketh men
Meny time and ofte
To synegen, and to souchen
Soteltees of gyle,
For covetyze of that catel
To culle hem that hit kepeth;
And so is meny men y-morthred
For hus money and goodes;
And tho that duden the dede
Y-dampned therfore after,
And he, for hus harde heldynge,
In helle paraunter;
So covetise of catel
Was combraunce to hem alle.
Lo! how pans purchasede
Faire places, and drede,
That rote is robbers
The richesse withynne.

[_Passus quartus de Dowel._]

Ac wel worth Poverte,
For he may walke unrobbede,
Among pilours in pees,
Yf pacience hym folwe,
Oure prynce Jhesu poverte chees,
And hus aposteles alle,
And ay the lenger thei lyveden
The lasse good thei hadde.
_Tanquam nihil habentes, et omnia
possidentes._
Yut men that of Abraam
And Job were wonder ryche,
And out of numbre tho men
Menye meobles hadden.
Abraam, for al hus good,
Hadde muche teene,
In gret poverte was y-put,
A pryns as hit were
Bynom hym ys housewif
And heeld here hymself,
And Abraam nat hardy
Ones to letten hym,
Ne for brightnesse of here beauté
Here spouse to be byknowe.
And for he suffrede and seide nouht,
Oure Lord sente tokne,
That the kynge cride
To Abraam mercy,
And deliverede hym hus wif,
With muche welthe after.
And also Job the gentel
What joye hadde he on erthe,
How bittere he hit bouhte!
As the book telleth.
And for he songe in hus sorwe,
_Si bona accipimus a Domino_,
Dereworthe dere God,
Do we so _mala_;
Al hus sorwe to solas
Thorgh that songe turnede,
And Job bycam a jolif man,
And al hus joye newe.
Lo how patience in here poverte
Thees patriarkes relevede,
And brouhte hem al above
That in bale rotede,
As greyn that lyth in the greot
And thorgh grace atte laste
Spryngeth up and spredeth,
So spedde the fader Abraam,
And also the gentel Job,
Here joie hath non ende.
Ac leveth nouht, ye lewede men,
That ich lacke richesse,
Thauh ich preise poverte thus,
And preove hit by ensamples,
Worthiour as by holy writ,
And wise philosophers,
Bothe two but goode,
Be ye ful certayn,
And lyves that our Lorde loveth,
And large weyes to hevene.
Ac the povre pacient
Purgatorye passeth
Rathere than the ryche,
Thauh thei renne at ones.
For yf a marchaunt and a messager
Metten to-gederes,
For the parcels of hus paper
And other pryvey dettes,
Wol lette hym as ich leyve
The lengthe of a myle;
The messager doth namore
Bote hus mouth telleth,
Hus lettere and hus ernde sheweth,
And is anon delyvered;
And thauh thei wende by the wey
Tho two to-gederes.
Thauh the messager made hus wey
Amyde the whete,
Wole no wys man wroth be,
Ne hus wed take,
Ys non haiwarde y-hote
Hus wed for to take.
_Necessitas non habet legem._
Ac yf the marchaunt make hus way
Overe menne cornne,
And the haywarde happe
With hym for to mete,
Other hus hatt, other hus hed,
Other elles hus gloves,
The merchaunt mot for-go,
Other moneys of huse porse,
And yut be lett, as ich leyve,
For the lawe asketh
Marchauns for here merchandise
In meny place to tullen.
Yut thauh thei wenden on wey
As to Wynchestre fayre,
The marchaunt with hus marchaundise
May nat go so swythe
As the messager may,
Ne with so mochel ese.
For that on bereth bote a boxe,
A brevet therynne,
Ther the marchaunt ledeth a male
With meny kynne thynges;
And dredeth to be ded therefore,
And he in derke mete
With robbours and with revers
That riche men despoilen,
Ther the messager is ay murye,
Hus mouthe ful of songes,
And leyveth for hus letters
That no wight wol hym greve.
Ac yut myghte the marchaunt
Thorgh monye and other yeftes
Have hors and hardy men,
Thauh he mette theoves,
Wolde non suche asailen hym
For hem that hym folweth,
As safliche passe as the messager,
And as sone at hus hostel.
Ye, wyten wel, ye wyse men,
What this is to mene.
The marchaunt is no more to mene
Bote men that ben ryche
Aren acountable to Crist
And to the kyng of hevene,
That holden mote the heye weye,
Evene ten hestes,
Bothe lovye and lene,
The leele and the unleele,
And have reuthe, and releve
With hus grete richesse
By hus power alle manere men
In meschief y-falle,
Fynde beggars bred,
Backes for the colde,
Tythen here goodes tryweliche,
A tol as hit semeth
That oure Lord loketh after
Of eche a lyf that wyneth,
Withoute wyles other wrong,
Other wommen atte stuwes,
And yut more, to make pees,
And quyte menne dettes,
Bothe spele and spare
To spene upon the needful,
As Crist self comandeth
To alle Cristene puple.
_Alter alterius onera porta._
The messager aren the mendinans
That lyveth by menne almesse,
Beth nat y-bounde, as beeth the riche,
To bothe the two lawes,
To lene and to lere,
Ne lentenes to faste,
And other pryvey penaunces
The wiche the preest wol wel,
That the law yeveth leve
Suche lowe folke to be excused,
As none tythes to tythen,
Ne clothe the nakede,
Ne in enquestes to come,
Ne contumax thauh he worthe
Halyday other holy eve
Hus mete to deserve;
For yf he loveth and byleyveth
As the lawe techeth,
_Qui crediderit et baptizatus fuerit, etc._
Telleth the lord a tale,
As a triwe messager,
And sheweth by seel and suthe by lettere
With wat lord he dwelleth,
Kneweleche hym crystene
And of holy churche byleyve,
Ther is no lawe, as ich leyve,
Wol let hym the gate,
Ther God is gatwarde hymself
And eche a gome knoweth.
The porter of pure reuthe
May parforme the lawe
In that he wilneth and wolde
Ech wight as hemself;
For the wil is as muche worth
Of a wretche beggere
As al that the ryche may reyme
And ryght fulliche dele,
And as much mede
For a myte that he offreth,
As the riche man for al is moneye,
And more, as by the Godspel:
_Amen dico vobis quia hæc vidua paupercula,
etc._
So that povre pacient
Is parfitest lif of alle,
And alle parfit preestes
To poverte sholde drawe.

7128. Matth. xvii, 20.

7131. Psal. xxxiii, 11.

7141. Psal. xlii, 1.

7191. James ii, 10.

7194. _over-skipperis._ Those who skipped over words in reading or chanting the service of the church. The following distich points out the classes of defaulters in this respect:--

Ecclesiæ tres sunt qui servitium maie fallunt;
Momylers, for-scyppers, ovre-lepers, non bene psallunt.
_Reliq. Antiq._ p. 90. _Poems of Walter Mapes_, p. 148.

A still more numerous list of such offenders is given in the following lines from MS. Lansdowne, 762, fol. 101, v^o:--

Hii sunt qui Psalmos corrumpunt nequitur almos:
Jangler cum jasper, lepar, galper quoque, draggar,
Momeler, for-skypper, for-reynner, sic et over-leper,
Fragmina verborum Tutivillus colligit horum.

Tutivillus was the popular name of one of the fiends (see Towneley Mysteries, pp. 310, 319; Reliq. Antiq. p. 257). According to an old legend, a hermit walking out met one of the devils bearing a large sack, very full, under the load of which he seemed to labour. The hermit asked him what he carried in his sack. He answered that it was filled with the fragments of words which the clerks had skipped over or mutilated in the performance of the service, and that he was carrying them to hell to be deposited among the stores there.

7195. Psal. xlvi, 7, 8.

7264. _Briddes I biheld._ A similar sentiment is expressed in the following parallel passage of a modern poet:--

But most of all it wins my admiration
To view the structure of this little work--
A bird's nest. Mark it well, within, without,
No tool had he that wrought, no knife to cut,
No nail to fix, no bodkin to insert,
No glue to join; his little beak was all:
And yet how neatly finished! What nice hand,
With every implement and means of art,
And twenty years' apprenticeship to boot,
Could make me such another? Fondly then
We boast of excellence, where noblest skill
Instinctive genius foils.--_Hurdis._

7342. Ecclesiasticus xi, 9.

7344. Instead of ll. 7344-7363, Whitaker's text has the following passage:--

'Ho suffreth more than God?' quath he,
'No gome, as ich leyve.
He myght amende in a mynt while
Al that amys stondes.
Ac he suffreth, in ensaumple
That we sholde all suffren.
Ys no vertue so feyr
Of value ne of profit,
As ys suffraunce, soveraynliche,
So hit be for Godes love,
And so wittnesseth the wyse,
And wysseth the Frenshe,
_Bele vertue est suffraunce,
Mal dire est petite venjaunce;
Bien dire e bien suffrer
Fait ly suffrable à bien vener._
For-thi.' quath Reson, 'Ich rede the,
Rewele thi tonge evere;
And er thow lacke eny lyf,
Loke ho is to preise.
For is no creature under Cryst,
That can hymselve make;
And yf cristene creatures
Couthen make hemselve,
Eche lede wolde be lacles,
Leyf thow non othere.
Man was mad of suche matere,
He may nat wel asterte,
That som tymes hym tit
To folwen hus kynde.
Caton acordeth herwith:
_Nemo sine crimine vivit._

7347. Genes. i, 31.

7363. Cato, Distich. i, 5.

Si vitam inspicias hominum, si denique mores,
Quum culpent alios, nemo sine crimine vivit.

It may be observed here, that Whitaker, in his note on this passage, has very much misunderstood Tyrwhitt (in Chaucer, Cant. T. 3227), in making him the authority for calling the author of the _Disticha de Moribus_ an obscure French writer. Tyrwhitt says that the mode in which Chaucer spells his name (Caton) seems to show that the French translation was more read than the Latin original. The same observation would apply to the present poem: but I am very doubtful how far it is correct. The Distiches of Cato were translated into English, French, German, &c., and were extremely popular. The author of these Distiches, Dionysius Cato, is supposed to have lived under the Antonines, and has certainly no claim to the title of _an obscure French writer_.

7441-7642. Instead of these lines, Whitaker has the following:--