Here begynneth the egloges of Alexa[n]der Barclay prest wherof the fyrst thre conteyneth the myseryes of courters [et] courtes of all prynces in generall, the matter wherof was translated into Englyshe by the sayd Alexander in fourme of dialoges, oute of a boke named in latin Miserie curialiu[m], compyled by Eneas Siluius poete and oratour, whiche after was Pope of Rome, [et] named Pius. De curialium miseria. English Pius II, Pope, 1405-1464. 1530 Approx. 314 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 100 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-12 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A03715 STC 1384 ESTC S104473 99840211 99840211 4687

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 Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A03715) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 4687) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 128:06) Here begynneth the egloges of Alexa[n]der Barclay prest wherof the fyrst thre conteyneth the myseryes of courters [et] courtes of all prynces in generall, the matter wherof was translated into Englyshe by the sayd Alexander in fourme of dialoges, oute of a boke named in latin Miserie curialiu[m], compyled by Eneas Siluius poete and oratour, whiche after was Pope of Rome, [et] named Pius. De curialium miseria. English Pius II, Pope, 1405-1464. Barclay, Alexander, 1475?-1552. [124] p. : ill. (woodcuts) Printed by P. Treveris, [Southwark : ca. 1530] Barclay's Eclogues 1-3, actually a free translation of: Pius II. De curialium miseria. In verse. Imprint from STC. Signatures: A⁴ B-O⁴ P⁶. The last leaf is blank. Reproduction of the original in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.

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 eng Courts and courtiers -- Poetry. 2005-03 Assigned for keying and markup 2005-04 Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2005-05 Sampled and proofread 2005-05 Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 Batch review (QC) and XML conversion

¶ Here begynneth the Egloges of Alexāder Barclay prest wher of the fyrst thre conteyneth the myseryes of courters & courtes of all prynces in generall / The matter wherof was translated into Englyshe by the sayd Alexander in fourme of Dialoges / out of a boke named in latin Miserie curialiū / compyled by Eneas Siluius Poete and oratour / whiche after was Pope of Rome / & named Pius. ¶ Cornix. ¶ Coridon.

THe famous Poetis with the Musys nyne With wyt inspyreth / fre •• e pregnant & dyuyne Say boldely indyte / in style substanciall Some in poemis / hye and heroycall Some them delyteth / in heuy dragedyes And some in wanton / or mery comedyes Some in • atyers / agayne vyces dar carpe Some in sooete songes / acordant with the harpe And eche of these all / had lawde and exc. Hence After theyr reason / and style of eloquence Who in fayre speche / cowde breuely comprehende Most fruytful matter / men dyd hym most cōmende And who were fruytles / and in speche superflue Men by theyr wrytynge sha • tly set a qwe Therfore wyse poetes / to sharpe & proue theyr wyt In homely gestes / wrote many a mery fyt Before they durst / be of audacyte Tauenture thyngys / of weyght & grauite In this sayd maner / the famous Teocryte Fyrst in Siracuse / attemptyd for to wryte Certayne eglogys / or speches pastorall Inducynge shepherdes / men homely and rurall Whiche in playne langage / acordynge to theyr name Had sondry talkynge / somtyme of myrth & game Somtyme of thynges / more lyke to grauyte And nat excedynge / theyr small capacyte Most noble Uirgil / after hym longe whyle Wrote also eglogys / after lyke maner style His wyttes prouynge / in matters pastorall Or he durst venture / to style heroycall And in lyke maner / now lately in our dayes Hath other poetis / attemptyd the same wayes As the most famous / baptyst mantuan The best of that sort / syns poetes fyrst began And Francysk Petrarke / also in Italy In lyke maner style / wrote playn and merely What shall I speke of the fader auncyent Whiche in brefe langage / bothe playne & eloquent Bytwene Alathea / Sewstis stowt and bolde Hath made rehersall / of all thy storyes olde By true hystoryes / vs techynge to obiect Agaynst vayne fables / of olde gentyles sect Besyde all these / yet fynde I many mo Whiche hath employed / theyr dylygence also Bytwene shepherdes / as it were but a fable To wryte of matters / bothe true and profytable But all theyr names / I purpose nat to wryte Whiche in this maner / made bokes infynyte Nowe to my purpos / theyr workes worthy fame Dyd my yonge age / my hart greatly inflame Dulslowth elchwynge / myselfe to excercyse In suche small matters / or I durst enterpryse To hyer matter / lyke as these chyldren do Whiche fyrst vse to crepe / and afterwarde to go The byrde vnusyd / fyrst fleynge from her nest Dare nat aduenture / and is nat bolde nor prest With wrynges abrode / to fle as dothe the olde For vse and custome / cawseth all thynge be bolde And lytyll connynge / by crafte and excercyse To parfyte science / cawseth a man to ryse But or the paynter / can sute his craft attayne Moche forward / fassyon / transformyth he in vayne But rasynge superflue / and addynge / that dothe want Rude pycture is made / bothe parfyte and pleasant So where I in youth / a certayne warke began And nat concluded / as oft dothe many a man Yet thought I after / to make the same parfyte But longe I myssyd / yt whiche I fyrst dyd wryte But here a wonder / I fourty yere saue twayne Procedyd in age / fonde my fyrst youth agayne To fynde youth in age / is a problem dyffuse But nowe here the trouth / and than no lenger muse As I late tournyd / olde bokes to and fro One lytle tretyse / I founde amonge the mo Bycawse that in youth / I dyd compyle the same Eglogges of youth / I callyd it by name And seynge some men / haue in the same delyte At theyr great instance / I made the same parfyte Addynge and batynge / where I perceyuyd nede All them desyrynge / whiche shall this tretyse rede Nat to be greuyd / with any playne sentence Rudely conueyed for lake of eloquence It were nat syttynge / a hearde or man rurall To speke in ternies / gay and retorycall So teacheth Orace / in arte of poetry That wryters namely / theyr reason sholde aply Mete speche aproprynge / to euery parsonage After his estate / behauour wyt and age But yf that any wolde / now to me abiect That this my labour / shall be of small effect And to the redar / nat greatly profytable And by that maner / as vayne and reprouable Bycawse it makyth / onely relacyon Of shepherdes maner / and dysputacyon Yf any suche rede / my tretyse to the ende He shall well perceyue / yf he therto entende That it contaynyth / bothe lawdes of vertue And man enformeth mysleuynge to eschue With dyuers bourdes and sentenches morall Closyd in shadowe / of spechys pastorall As many poetys as I haue sayd beforne Haue vsed longe tyme / before that I was borne But yf theyr wrytynge / thoughe I insure the rate No name I chalange / of poete lawreate That name vnto them / is mete and dothe agre Whiche wryteth matters with curyosyte Myn habyte blacke / acordeth nat with grene Blacke betokened deth / as it is dayly sene The grene is pleasour / fresshe lust and • olyte These two in nature / hath great dyuersyte Than who wolde ascrybe / except he were a fowle The pleasant lawrer / vnto the mournynge cowle Another rewarde / abydeth my labour The gloryous syght / of god my sauyour Whiche is chefe shepherde / and head of other all To hym for socour / in this my warke I call And nat on Clio / nor olde Melpomene My hope is fixed / of hym ayded to be And that his mother / the heuynly empres Shall to good endynge my wyt and pene addres For to accomplysshe / my purpose and entent To lawde and pleasour / of god omnipotent And to the profyte / the pleasour and the mede Of all them whiche shall / this tretyse here & rede But to the redar / now to retourne agayne Fyrst of this thynge / I wyll thou be certayne That x. egloggys / this hole treatyse dothe holde To imitacion of other poetes olde In whiche egloggys / shepherdes thou mayst se In homely langage / nat passynge theyr degre Somtyme dysputynge / of courtly mysery Somtyme of venus / dysceytfull tyranny Somtyme cōmendynge / loue / honest and laudable Somtyme drspysynge / loue fals dyscyeuable Somtyme dyspysynge / and blamynge auaryce Somtyme excytynge / vertue to exersyse Somtyme of warre / a • horrynge the outrage And of the same tyme / the manyfolde damage And other matters / as after shall apere To theyr great pleasure whiche shall them rede or here.
¶ The prologe of the fyrst egloge▪ •• o symple shepherdys / met on a certayne day The one wele agyd / with lockers hore & gray Whiche after labours / and worldly besynes Concludyd to • yue / in rest and quietnes Yet nought had he kepte / to fynde hym clothe nor fode At dyuers holys / his hear grewe through his hode A styffe patched felt / hangynge ouer his iyen His costly clotynge / was thredbare kendall grene His patchyd Cockers / skant retchyd to his kne In the syde of his felt / there stacke a spone of tre A botell / his cote / on the one syde had torne For hangynge / the ere was nere in sonder worne In his one hand alway / his pype he bare Wherof the sounde / relesyd of his care His walet with breade and chese / so than he stods A hoke in his hande / in myddes of all his good Saue that he bostyd / to haue experience Of worldly thynges / by practyse and science Hymselfe he callyd / Cornix by his name The other shepherde / was lyke vnto the same Saue only that he / had lyued all his dayes In kepynge his folke / and sene no farther wayes Yet was he to syght / a stout and lusty freake And as he bosted / he borne was in the peake Coridon by name / his neyghbours dyd hym call Hymselfe counted / the stoutest of them all This Coridon swore / and sayd to Cornix sure That he no longar / wolde there that lyfe indure In wretchyd labour / and styll in pouerte But to the Cyte / he sayd that go wolde he Or els to the court / and there with some abyde Tyll tyme that fortune / wolde better lyfe prouyde By whiche mocyon / Cornix she with playnly Of court and courtes / the care and mysery.
¶ The fyrst Eglogge of the myseryes and maners of the court & courtes The shepher dys Interloquutours / or cōmenners in ye same Eglogge be Coridon and Cornix▪ ¶ Coridon fyrst speketh. HOrsouth frend Cornix / nought can my hart make lyght Whan I remembre / the stormes of yester nyght The thunder / & lyghtenynge / ye tempest and the hayle Hath playnly wasted / our profyte and auayle The ferfull thunder / with grenous clap and sounde Our corne hath betyn / downe flat vnto y• grounde With tempest after / and violence of rayne That it as I doubt / shall neuer ryse agayne The hayle hath betyn / our shepe within the folde That all be febled / as well the yonge as olde Our mylke is tournyd / and waxed pale and soure The storme and tempest / vpon our cowches powre Our flocke and feldes / is all our hole ryche Whiche styll is subiect / to suche vnhappynes For after that we / haue done bothe cost and payne One soden tempest / destroyeth all agayne Than farwele welfare / wors chaūce we nede nat fere Saue only to sowke / our clawes with the bere The Cytezins haue great tresour sykerly In cofers closed / auoyde of Jeopardy Theyr coynes cowched faste vnder locke and key Frome place to place / they may the same conuey Whan they of the theuys / perceyue the dyn and sounde But styl must our corne remayne vpon the grounde Abydynge stormys / hayle / thunder and tempest Tyll that it be for sykyll rype and prest As for theyr ryches no thunder / frost nor hayle No storme nor tempest / can hurt or dysauayle Suche carefull chanches / and suche aduersyte Us alwaye kepeth in wretched pouerte ¶ Cornix answereth. ¶ O Coridon my mate / I swere so haue I blys Thou playnly spekest / lyke as the matter is But as for my parte / my mynde and wyt is blynde To knowe who gydeth all wether / storme & wynde But this thynge I knowe / but yet not perfytely Yet bolde dare I be to speke to the playnly For yf that I spake it / in some audience Some men wolde malygne / and take it for offence Yf god (as men say) doth heuyn and erthe sustayne Than why doth nat he / regarde our dayly payne Our greuous labour / he iustly myght deuyd And for vs wretches / some better lyfe prouyd Some nought dothe labour / and lyueth pleasantly Though all his reason to vices he apply But se with what sweat / what besynes and payne Our symple lyuynge / we labour to optayne Beholde what yllys the shepherdes must endure For flocke and how sholde / bare lyuynge to procure In feruent heat / we must intende our folde And in the wynter almost we frese for colde Upon the harde grounde / or on the flyntys browne We sleape / whan other lay on a bed of downe A thousande yllys of daunger and sykenesse With dyuers sores / our beastes dothe oppresse A thousande peryls / and mo yf they were tolde Dayly and nyghtly inuadeth our pore folde Somtyme the wolfe / our bestys doth deuour And somtyme the thefe awayteth for his hour Or ellys ye soudyour / moche wrose thā wolfe or thefe Agaynst all our flocke / incagyth with myschefe Se how my handes / are with many a gall And styfe as a borde by warke contynuall My face all scorfy / my colour pale and wan My hed all parched / and blacke as any pan My berde lyke brystyls / so that a plyant leke With a lytel myght may thrust me thorow ye cheke And as a stokfysshe wrynkeled is my skyn Suche is the profyt / whyche I by labour wyn But this my labour sholde greue me moche y• lesse Yf rest or pleasure come of my besynesse But one sodayn storme of thunder hayle or rayne Agayne all wastyth / wherfore I toke this payne This is the rewarde / the dede / and warke deuyne Unto whose awters pore shepherdes inclyne To offer tapers / and candels we are fayne And for our offrynge / lo / this haue we agayne I can not declare / what pyte / and mercy Wrappeth vs wretches / in this hard mysery But this wote I well / it is bothe ryght and mede There most to socoure / where dothe apere most nede ¶ Coridon. ¶ Ho there frende Cornix / thou wadest now to farre Thy selfe forgettynge / thou lepest ouer the barre Small is my knowlege / thou many a thynge hast sene Yet out of the way / forsothe I se the cleue The kynge of heuyn / is mercyfull and iust And them all helpeth whiche put in hym theyr trust Whan we deserue / he stryketh nat alway This in the pulpete / hard I syr Peter say Yet oft he stryketh / whan man is obstynate And by no meanes / wyll his myslyuynge hate So all these plages / and inconuenyence Fals on vs wretches / only for our offence ¶ Cornix. ¶ For what offences / thou arte made so to say Where we of yt sorte / whiche dyd our lorde betray Or that consentyd / our lorde to crucyfy We neuer were suche / thyselfe can testyfy. ¶ Coridon. ¶ Now trust me surely / though yu be neuer so wrouth I nought shall abasshe to the to say the trouth Thought we shepherdes be out of company Without occasyon / we lyue onhappely Seke well amonge vs and playnely thou shalt se Thefe / brawlynge / malyce dyscorde / iniquite Wrathe / lechery / lesynge / enuy / and couetyse And breuely to speke truely we want no vice ¶ Cornix. ¶ What nay man parde / all we do nat offence Yet all haue sorowe / without all diffrence Say nought mā but trouth / do god nothynge deserue Without diffrence / yet be all lyke to sterue ¶ Coridon. ¶ What ceasse man for shame / thou arte of reason scant The wyse / nowe must lerne / wyt of the ignorant I haue no knowlege / saue only of my tarre Yet this I perceyue / man sholde nat seke to farre In goddes werkes / he all dothe for the best Yf thou fyndest here no esement welth ne rest What than / seke ferther for playnly so shall I In some place fortune beholdeth merely I byde nolenger by saynt Thomas of kent In suche bare places / wherfore euery day is lent The freers haue story in some day of the weke But euery day our mete is for to seke I nought haue to bye / begge can I nat for shame Except that I were blynde / impotent or lame Yf suche a gadlynge / as I sholde begge or craue Of me suche mercy / and pyte wolde men haue That they for almes (I swere by goddys sockys) In euery towne wolde make me scoure the stockes That can one Drome / by many assayes tell Whit that yll scyence / I purpose nat to mell Here no thynge I haue wherfore I nede to care Now Cornix a diewe streyght forward wyl I fare ¶ Cornix. ¶ Strayght forwarde man / hey Benedicite All other people haue as great care as we Only bare nede / is all our payne and wo But these towne dwellers hauy many paynes mo Our payne is plaesure nere / incomparyson Of theyr great ylles and sore vexacyon Of all suche thynges haue I experyence Than mayst thou surely geue to me credence Whether wylt thou go / to lyue more quietly Man / all the worlde is full of mysery. Coridon. ¶ What man / the court is fresshe and full of eas I can drawe a bowe / I shal some lorde there pleas Thy selfe can reporte / how I can byrdys kyll Myn arowe toucheth of them nothynge but the byl I hurte no flesshe / nor brule no parte at all Were nat my shotynge our lyuynge were but small Lo here a sparowe / lo here be thrusshes four All these I kylled / this day within an hour I can daunce the raye / I can bothe pype and synge Yf I were mery / I can bothe hurle and slynge I rone / I wrastell / and can wele throwe the bare No shepherde throweth the axeltre so farre Yf I were mery / I coude well lepe and sprynge I were a man mete / to serue a prynce or kynge Wherfore to the court / now wyll I get me playne A dew swete Cornix / fare well yet onys agayne Prouyde for thy selfe so shall I do for me. ¶ Cornix. ¶ Do way Coridon / for goddys loue let be Nought ellys is the court / but euyn the deuyls mowth And place most careful of east / west / north & sowth For thy longe seruyce / there nede shall be thy hyre Out of the water thou lepest in to the fyre We lyue insorowe / I wyll it nat deny But in the court is the well of mysery. ¶ Coridon. ¶ What man thou seest / and in lyke wyse se I That lusty courters / go alway Jolely They haue no labour / yet at they well besene Bardydand garded in pleasaunt whyte and grene They do nought els / but reuell slepe and drynke But on his foldys / the pore shepherde must thynke They rest / we labour / they gayly decked be Whyle we go ragged by nede and pouerte Theyr colour lusty / they byde no storme nor shours ¶ They haue y• pleasours / but al they payne is ours They haue all thynges / but we wretches haue nought They singe they daūce whyle we lore syght for thought But what bryngeth thē to this prosperyte Strength / cowrage / frendys / craft and audacyte Yf I had frendys / I haue all thynge belyde Whiche myght in court / a rowme for me prouyde But syth courters haue this lyfe contynually They haue all pleasour / and nought of mysery. ¶ Cornix. ¶ Nat so Coridon / oft vnder yalowe lockes Be hyd fowle scabbes / and ferefull frenche pockes Theyr reuyld shyrtes / of clothe / whyte / softe / & thyn Oft tymes cloketh / a fowle and scurfy skyn And where we labour / in warkes profytable They labour sorer in warke abhomynable They may haue shame to Jet so vp and downe Whan they be dettours / for doublet house & gowne And in the tauerne / remayne they last for lag Whan neuer a crosse / is in theyr courtly bag They crake / they boste / and vaunt as they were wood And moste whan they syt / in myddis of others good Nought haue they wretches saue care and mysery Who hath it proued all courtynge shall defy. ¶ Coridon. ¶ Mary syr by this / I se experyence That thou in the courte / hath kepte some resydence ¶ Cornix. ¶ Remembrynge of court they payne contynuall I thynke these paynes / but easy / short and small So the remembraunce / of greuous care and payne Causeth me gladly this hardenes to sustayne Who that hath lyued in court I the assure In stede of pleasour may this our lyfe endure Our nede is eased with pleasaunt liberte Ther care is he pyd with harde captiuite I thought our lyuynge care and vexacion Before (of the court) or thou made mencyon ¶ Coridon. ¶ Yf the court be suche as thou dost playnly tell I thynke it foly with it to deale or mell Better is frewyll / with nede and pouerte Than nede in the court / with harde captyuyte But tell me Cornix / I pray the instantly How knowest thou fyrst this gere so perfytly ¶ Cornix. ¶ Whyle I in youth in Croidon towne dyd dwell Often to the court I coolys brought to sell And than I lerned and noted parfytly Of court and courters the care and mysery For I lurked and none regarded me Tyll I had knowlege / of hye and lowe degre What was theyr maner / behauour and vsage The more I trayed / more sawe I of outrage ¶ Coridon. ¶ Than farwell courtynge / I se thou countest best Here to remayne / in symple welth and rest But in meane season / I pray the hartely Declare me all hole / the courtly mysery Beholde our wethers ley chewynge of the cud Here is no peryll / of water dyke nor mud Slowth loueth slombrynge moche slepe is reprouable But mery talkynge is greatly confortable Here is colde shadow / here is a clere fontayne Whan wordes greueth / drynke and begyne agayne For longe tyme passed / I haue herde of thy lore Whiche thynge me moueth / to here y• talke the more Begyn and shewe me / the courtes wretchydnes So I parchaunce / shall sett therby the les And where longe talkynge / oft greueth many a man I shall the furnysshe / with wordes now and than What say on Cornix why art thou now so styll Thy wyt and reason was out to be at wyll ¶ Cornix answered. ¶ Fayne wolde I comon / for plesure and pastyine But trouth is cōmitted / most greuoꝰ faut or cryme And some might me here / which by theyr wordes sowr Myght brynge me in court / in greuous dysplesour Because I shall proue all thē whiche court dothe haūt Myserable folys / mad men and ignoraunt Therfore Coridon / amonge the bowys prye Yf there lurke any Jay / sterlynge / thrusshe / or pye To note my wordes / and that them forthe agayne Wherby I myght wyn dyspesour losse or payne ¶ Coridon. ¶ Losse / goddys domynus to lose (thou hast no good Saue hoke and cokers / thy botell and thy hood Thy hode all ragged / can kepe no body drye Many haue as good / though none can them espye He hath small reason / that hath a hode more fyne And wolde for malyce / berob the here of thyne As for dyspleasour / I warant the also Thou shalt for prynces / grete eas and pleasour do For many vpon them / do dayly craue and call To be in seruyce / whiche are nat mete at all To be in the court / they labour so gladly Bycause they knowe nat / therof the mysery Whome to receyue / it is nat profytable And to dyspyse them / it is nat honorable If thou suche constrayne to leue / of theyr owne mynde Thou doest to pryncys / a very pleasour kynde And other foles / shall take thy tale in sporte And neuer the lesse / shall to the cour resorte Than let nat Cornix / playnly to say the troth Let scabbyd clawe / and gyly men be wroth Better is for truoth / suffer paynys harde Than for false flattrynge / to haue a great rewarde ¶ Cornix. ¶ Thou sayst but reason / I lawde the by saynt Johā Than boldly demaunde / I pray the Coridon Of suche matters / as to the court belonge And I shall answer / dene yf it be wronge That I haue lernyd / by practyse and scyens I shall as I may / gyue the intellygence. ¶ Coridon. ¶ The court as thou sayst / is fals and dysceyuable Than tell me wherfore / that men moost honorable Ther in remaynynge / abydyth care and payne And yet by theyr wyll / they wyll nat forth agayne ¶ Cornix. ¶ Many thynges be / whiche monyth people blynde To ren to the court / with feruent hart and mynde But of all thynges / this specyally is one The hope of honour / callyd ambycyon Ryght so Mynalcas dyd / lust of honour call And as he comyttyd / Ambycyon is egall Unto that vertue / whiche men call charyte Charyte suffceth / all hard aduersyte All payne and labour / and all vexacyon And euyn as moche / suffceth Ambycyon For worldly wretches / in honour to excell Force nat to labour / downe to the pyt of hell Lo here chefe cause / why men to court resorte But onys in the court / whan they haue had cōforte Suche is of mankynde / the blynde calamyte That in one state / yf they longe tyme haue be A lyfe there lyuynge / but vyle and full of shame Yet by no maner / can they dyspyse the same So who that in youth / hath vsed courtes rage They fynde no maner / to leue the same in age And to wyn lawdes / and prayse of the comonte In no harde labour / thynke they dyffyculte But yf men huntyd for folys and hye glory As they hunt dayly for honour transitory Ryght fewe or none / wolde to the court apply Therto be tangled / with care and mysery But vnto the court / yf thou hast thyne entent Bycause Prelatys / and wyse men it frequent Here what the shepherde / of Nazareth doth say As I harde faustus / declare vpon a day Upon they hye chayre / and seat of moyses Sat the olde scrybes / and sect of pharyses Lyue as they teche / but lyue nat as they do And thus in the court / man must behaue hym so His lyfe refoucmynge / lyke as suche ought to lyue Nat by exāple / whiche they to other gyfe. ¶ Coridon. ¶ These be hye matters / and far beyonde my wyt If suche be the court / what man wolde mel with it Yet I assuer the / before this I haue sene That worthy shepherdys lōge in y• court haue bene ¶ Cornix. ¶ All that I graunt the / but aske and thou shalt fynde That suche in the court / aboyde agayn theyr mynde As the ryche shepherde / whiche wonid in mortlake ¶ Coridon. ¶ O Cornix cornix / fele how my hart doth quake On hym what I thynke my harte is full of payne Wolde god that we coude get hym to lyue agayne What tyme he lyued / some blamed hym ywys Whiche syns he dyd / doth hym sore lacke and mys He passyd Codrus / he passyd Mynalcas He passyd Mopsus / and also Lysydas None other shepherde myght wt that man compare In durynge his lyfe / we nedyd nat to care But euer syth tyme that he was dead and gone We suffer wronges defender haue we none He was the patron of thynges pastorall His face and fauour / forget I neuer shall Whyle I was yonger he came by our cotage Than was my father / Amyntans / far in age But the same shepherde / gaue hym bothe clothe & golde O Cornix the yonge be moche vnlyke the olde. ¶ Cornix. ¶ Yes / syns his dayes / a cocke was in the fen I knowe his voyce amonge a thousand men He taught / he preched / he mendyd euery wronge But Coridon / alas / no good thynge bydeth longe He all was a cocke / he wakened vs from slepe And whyle we slumberyd he dyd our foldys kepe No cur / no fores / nor butchers dogges wood Coude hurte our foldys / his wachynge was so good The hungry wolues whiche that tyme dyd abounde What tyme he crowed / abasshed at the sounde This cocke was no more / abasshed of the foxe Than is a lyon / abasshed of an oxe Whan he went / faded the floure of all the fen I boldly dare swere / this cocke trode neruer hen This was a fader / of thynges pastorall And that well sheweth his churche Cathedrall There was I lately / about the mydes of may Coridon / his churche / is twenty sythe more gay Than all the churches / betwene the same & kent There sawe I his towmbe / and chapell excellent I thought fyue houres / but euyn a lytell whyle Saynt Johū yt virgin me thought dyd on me smyle Our parysshe churche / is but a dongyon To that gay churche / to make comparyson If the people were as pleasant as the place Then were it paradyse / of pleasour and solace Than myght I truly / ryght well fynde in my hart There styll to abyde / and neuer to departe But • ins that this cocke / by deth hath left his songe Trust me Coridon / there many a thynge is wronge Whan I sawe his fygure / lay in the chapell syde Lyke deth for wepynge / I myght no lenger byde Lo all good thynges / to sone away doth glyde That no man lyketh / to longe doth rest and abyde Whan the good is gone / my mate this is the case Seldom the better reentreth in the place. ¶ Coridon. ¶ Thou sayst trowth Cornix / I make to god a vowe But ay mate Cornix / se where be we nowe Far from the matter / where as we fyrst began Begyn where we left / I pray the yf thou can ¶ Cornix. ¶ That shall I lyghtly / thou saydest that a sorte Of good olde shepherdes dyd to the court resorte But suche as be good / be there agayne theyr wyll For truly in court / they fynde lesse good than yll To se moche amys / to them it is great payne Whā for theyr wordes / none wyl his vyce refrayne Then get they but scorne / and indygnacyon And for theyr good myndes / payne and vexacyon: ¶ Coridon.

¶ I pray the Cornix / procede / tell by and by

 ¶ Cornix ¶ Of court & courtes ye payn & mysery. That were a longe matter and very harde to do ¶ Coridon. ¶ This is best remedy / take longer tyme therto Here is gay shadowe / here is a pleasant coole Take banke and flowres / for cusshen aud for stole ¶ Cornix. Than lay downe thy hoke / gyue me that botell nere With often wasshynge the throte and voyce is clere ¶ Coridon. ¶ Lo here the botell / drynke suche as is therin Drynke better / & than in the name of god / begyn ¶ Cornix. ¶ A syr / well drawen / and that with lytell payne Than turne we our speche / nowe to ye court agayne Wo wyll to the court / fyrst let hym thynke before Whether he may suffer labour and paynes sore Bothe hunger and thryst / iniury and wronge For these shall he / fynde the rude courters amonge And more after these / yet let hym thynke agayne Whether in the court / he may that thynge optayne Whiche he desyreth / me thynketh the contrary Men wolde fynde honour / there fynde they mysery Thus all be folys / whyche wyllyngly there dwell Coridon / the court is the baytynge place of hell ¶ Coridon.

¶ That is hardly sayd man / by the rode of rest

 ¶ Cornix. ¶ I graunt it is harde / but to say trouth is best But yet shall I proue / my saynge verytable A duert my wordes / se yf I be culpable Unto our purpose / by dyuers wayes thre Men may be folys / I shall them count to the They all be folys whiche set theyr thought & mynde That thyng for to seke which they shal neuer fynde And they be foles / whiche seke thynge with delyte Whiche yf they fynde / is harme and no profyte And he is a fole / a sot and a geke also Whiche choseth a place / vnto the same to go And where dyuers wayes▪lead thether dyrectly He chosed the worst / and moost of Jeopardy As yf dyners wayes / lay vnto Islyngton To stowe on the wolde / quaueneth or trompyngtō To douer dyrham / to barwyke or ex • ster To grantham / totnes brystowe or god manchester To roan parys / to lyonor florance ¶ Coridon. ¶ What hoo man / abyde / what all redy in france Lo a fayre iourney / and shortly endyd to With all these townes / what thynge haue we to do ¶ Cornix. ¶ By god / man knowe thou that I haue had to do In all these townes / and yet in many mo To se the worlde / in youth me thought was best And after in age / to gyue myselfe to rest ¶ Coridon.

¶ Thou myght haue brought one / & set by our village

 ¶ Cornix. ¶ What man / I I myght nat for lacke of caryage To cary my owneselfe / was all that euer I myght And somtyme foreas / my sachell made I lyght ¶ Coridon. ¶ To our fyrst matter / we better must intende Els in a twelue month / we skant shal make an ende ¶ Cornix. ¶ True sayd Coridon / that can I nat denay But thyn owne selfe / dyd lead me from the way Unto these townes / nowe to retourne agayne To any of them all / yf there lay wayes twayne The one sure and short / and ledynge dyrectly The other wey longer and full of Jeopardy That fole were worthy a babyll and a hode Which wolde chose yt worst perceyuyng wel ye good One of these folyes / or all oppresse that sort Whiche nat constrayned / doth to the court resort Other that they serche / whiche they may nat attayne Or yt / whiche gottynge / shal do them hurte & payne Or of two wayes / they vse to leue the best For on no godnes / doth theyr desyres rest ¶ Coridon. ¶ What is the desyre / and purpos pryncypall Chefely frequented / amonge these courters all And for what rewarde / take they suche besynes ¶ Cornix. Myn humble speche / and langage pastorall If it were able / sholde wryte his actes all But whyle I ought speke / of courtly mysery Hym with all suche / except I vtterly But what other pryncys comonly frequent As true as I can to shewe is myn entent But yf I sholde say / that all the mysery Whiche I shall after rehers and specyfy Were in the court / of our most noble kynge I sholde fayle trouth / and playnly make leasynge And yf that I sayd that in it were no vyce So sholde I lye / in ryght lyke maner wyse As for my part / I blame no man at all Same suche / as to vyce / be subget bound & thrall For amonge all men / this wyse standeth the case That more yll thā good doth growe in euery place ¶ Coridon. ¶ Ryght well excusyth / I thought nat erst sythene That symple Cornix had halfe this subtylte But now apereth / the very trouth certayne That men of wourshyp / haue nat best wyt & brayne Now tell how courters / whiche gapeth for honour In stede of honour / fynde paynes sharpe and sour ¶ Cornix. ¶ All they whiche suffer in court labour & payne Ther by supposyge / true honoure to optayne At moche abusyth / my wordes nor doctryne Be moche vnable / to gyue them medycyne For Elebor the olde / withall his salues pure Theyr wylfull foly / coude scantly helpe and cure What man wolde thynke / that trowe honour profunde In pryncys halles / or courtes may be founde There / none hath honour / by vertue and connynge By maners / wysdom / sadnes / nor good lyuynge But who hath power / hye rowmes or ryches He hath moost honour and lawde / of more and lesse For what pore man a playne and symple sowle Though he were holy / as euery was saynt Powle Hast thou euer sene exalted of a kynge For all his maners and vertuous lyuynge These be the wordes of shepherde Siluius Whiche after was pope / and called was Pius ¶ Coridon. ¶ What yes man parde / ryght many haue men sene Which in pore houses borne & brought vp hath bene That from lowe rowmes and carefull pouerte Be now exalted to greatest dygnyte ¶ Cornix. ¶ Suche is the pleasour of pryncys / to promote Suche vnto honour / whiche scant be worth a grote But whom promote they / gyue credence vnto me Suche as in maners / to them moost lykest be And in what maners / in beestely lechery In couetyse / Ire / or in vyle glotony In hasty murder / and other cruelte Beleue my Coridon I say but veryte A couetous prynce / hath hym moost acceptable Whiche gathereth / coyn / by meanys dysceyuable As fals accusynge / and wronge extorcyon Sellynge of iustyce / frawde / and oppressyon A lecherous prynce / hath hym best in conceyt Whiche can by craftes his place & tyme best in weyt Uirgyns and wyues moost fayre and amyable To brynge to his bed / for lust abhomynable And a dronken prynce hath hym as derest mate Whiche moost can surfet / moost reuel & drynke late And vnto a prynce / whiche loueth cruelte Chefly in fauour / and conceyt is he Whiche moost delytyth / in shedynge mānys bloode Fewe vicyous prynces promote suche as be goode Nowe is accepted of men of hye degre Nor set in honour from humble pouerte Except he hath done / some dede so great of fame That all the worlde may wonder at the same But this same honour is nether true nor stable Whiche growyth of rote / so yll and detestable For veray honour and true or parfyt glory Comyth of actes / of lawdable memory In suportacyon / of ryght and equyte Or in defendynge / the churche and cōmonte Or other actes / cōmon or pryuate Whiche soūde to wourshyp these make a true estate But suche true honour / fewe prynces do deserue And no more do they / whiche in the court them serue Syth all almoost / be of mysgouernaunce For no good do they / except it be by chaunce ¶ Coridon. ¶ Yet at the leste way suche men reputed be Men of great honour / amonge the cōmonte For whyle suche walke / in court or in strete Eche man inclynyth / whiche them doth se or mete Of gothe the bonet / a becke at euery worde Eche man must nedys / gyue place vnto my lorde After his degre / byrth / or promocyon Suche of the comons / haue salutacyon And shortly to say / men dothem more honour Than to the fygure / of Chryste our sauyour ¶ Corinx. ¶ It is as thou sayst / forsothe my Coridon But harke what they say / at last whan men be gone Than they salute them / in the deuyls name And pray vnto god that they may dye with shame And so doth many by tourment and dolour Whan fykell fourtune / lyketh on them to lour But suche as dothe stoupe to them before theyr face Gyueth them a mocke whan they be out of place And one dothe whysper / soft in others ere And sayth thys tyran / is feller than a bere ¶ Coridon.

¶ Why and fere they no more for to saye thus

 ¶ Cornix. ¶ No / but harke mā what sayth ye good pope Siluius Lo this same is he / whiche by his bad councell Causeth our prynce to be to vs to fell This same is he / whiche rayseth deme and tax This same is he / whiche strayned men on rackes This same is he / whiche causeth all this war This same is he / whiche al our welth doth mar This is of comons / the veray dedly mall Whiche with these charges / thus doth oppres vs al Who hym dyspleaseth / he beth all to dust This same is he / whiche kyllyth whom hym lust That all the deuyls / of hell / hym hence carry That we no lenger / endure his tyranny This is the honour / and al the reuerence Geuyn vnto them / whā they be from presence But in suche honour / who euer hath delyte Whiche is frawdefull / so faynt and vnparsyte I am nat a ferde to call hym made and blynde And a very fole or els a sot of kynde ¶ Coridon. ¶Cornir my frende / thou spekest now to playne I fere lest this gere shall tourne vs vnto payne If any man be nere / be styll a whyle and harke ¶ Cornix. ¶ I fere nat at all / now I am set on warke Besyde this Coridon / in court moost part doth dwell Flaterers and lyers / Coryers of fafell Juggelers and dezers / and suche a schamfull table Whiche for a dynner lawd men no thynge laudable But men cyrcumspect / whice be dyscrete and wyse Doth suche vayne lawdes / vterly despyse For truely no lawde / is named good nor true Except it procede of men whiche loue vertue A rybawdus blame / is commendacyon Suche vse to slaunder / good conuersacyon But suche they commende / as be to them semblable So theyr dyspraysynge to the is profytable ¶ Coridon. ¶ Nowe truly my hart is easyd with the same For godfray gormand lately dyd me blame And as for hymselfe / thoughe he be gay and stowt He hath nought / but foly within & eke without To blowe in a bowle / and for to pyll a platter To gyrne / to brawle / to counterfayt / to flatter He hath no felawe / bytwene this & croydown Saue the prowd plowmā / gnato of chorlyngtown By cause he alway malygnyth agayne me It playne apereth / our lyfe doth nat agre For yf we lyuyd / bothe after one rate Than sholde I haue hym to me afrendly mate But Cornix / procede / tell forth of dyguyte ¶ Cornix. ¶ Often in my tale / I hyndryd am by the Suche as for honour vnto the court resort Loke seldom tymes / vpon the lower sort To the hyer sort / for moost parte they intende For styll theyr desyre is hyer to ascende And whan none can make with them comparyson A gayne thyr prynces cōspyre they by treason Than whan theyr purpos can nat come well to frame Agayne they dyscende / and that with vtter shame Coridon thou knowest ryght well what I mene We lately of this experience haue sene Whan men wolde ascende to rowmys honorable Euer is theyr mynde and lust insaciable What euer they haue / they cownt the same but small Whyle ought is greatter / nought cā thē pleas but al And onys in Cambrydge I hard a scoler say One of the same / whiche go in copis gay That no man sholde fyx / ende of felicite In wordly honour / hye rowme or dignite For it is a thynge / in certayne and vnstable Whiche man of hym selfe / to puruay is not able In another power this honour alway is Who moost it sekyth / of it doth often mys And who that seruyth / for honour and hye name And in this worlde to get hym noble fame Moche payne abydyth through cares and dystres And with many men he hath moche besynes And oft must he rather / the mynde of men content Than do the pleasour of god omnipotent Than syth two honours of dyuers sortys be One whiche is gyuyn of men of honeste The seconde honoure is of a multytude For veray trouth that man of wyt is rude Whiche huntyth in court for the fyrst honour The same to purchace / by care & grete labour As fortune honour / no man can there optayne Where neyther maners nor vertues doth rayne The seconde honour is of comonte Who that requyreth / yet more folysshe is he For he demaundyth / a thynge ryght perylous Unsure vnstable / and also vicious But bothe these sortys alway be vexyd sore Whan they in honour / se many them before And often tymes / suche as moost vnworthy be For in court seldom is lawdyd honeste Thus who of honour / and lawd is couetous Unto hym the court is moost contraryous And no where he fyndyth greatter vexacyon Thau folowynge the court suynge ambycyon For who wolde ascende / to honour pryncypall Fyndyth in the court / most care & payne of all ¶ Coridon. ¶ We haue ynoughe / had of comunycacyon As touchynge honour / and commendacyon Or worldly praysynge / for rowmys & hye name And though more / myght be declared of the same What leue some my mate / for other on to brall It were ouer moche for vs to talke of all Now talke we of myght or hye auctoryte How men for the same / loue in the court to be Spede the / for clowdys apere on euery syde If any storme fall / we can nat longer abyde ¶ Cornix. ¶ As towchynge power / myght or auctoryte Some thynge in the court in fauour great to be To be with pryncys of power excellent Some folys countyth a thynge preeminent Or that men sholde hym a kyngys tutour call Moche to comaunde / but nought to do at all Bothe peas and batayle / to order at his wyll To be of power / bothe to do good and yll But many a thousāde / which haue suche power sought Hath ben dysceyued and shortly come to nought As with one Nero namyd Elawdus In so great fauour was one Seianus That whyle this Nero was far from his empyre Seianus rulyd the same at his desyre So moche that Seian had honour than in dede As of all the worlde countyd the seconde hede That yf this Nero had dyed or his houre This Seian / truly sholde haue ben emperours But by one letter he after takyn was In vtter dyshonour deposyd from his place Led for a spectacle streyght vnto Tyber bancke And there behedyd suche was his mede & thanke All his ymagys / in his honour erecte Where with great malyce downe to yt groūd deiecte Thus all his power endyd with care & shame Who that hath wysdom / wyll note & marke y• same It is no matter / nor thynge of certaynte With myghty prynces of great power to be No state is febler more wayke and incertayne Than suche as semyth great with his souerayne He hath enurous / malygners / and yll wyll All out of fauour / adiugeth hym for yll And all the householde doth comoly hym hate Which with the mayster / is seruant & nere mate And this in the worlde is sene moost comonly That all hye rowmes be subiect to enuy Suche of all other / be hatyd and suspect If the ought offende / it lyghtly is detect And from all defence yf they be clere & quyte Than lye they in wayte / them sharply to bacbyte Some for them study / frawdys dysceyt & gyle And taleberers walke and greue them other whyle And lyke as they • ye is greuyd with a mote So prynces fauour / though it be neuer so hote Is lyghtly greuyd / and that for small offence Thought it were gottyn / with playnfull dylygence And oft is it lost for none offence at all So moche with prynces may tonges fals make fal So moche taleberers / by chraftes forge can That the emperour / callyd Adrian Slewe his olde frendys / and hatyd many one By these taleberers and false detraccyon And many prynces or this haue done the same By hasty credence / dystraynynge sore theyr name And as in Croydon I hard the colyer preche That holy scripture doth vs infourme and teche Howe Saul / Dauid / and prudent Salomon Commaundyd to be slayne of suche many one As hath ben with them in greate auctorite And dayly of suche / may we example se Bycause Isaake in myght dyd ryse and stande Fals Abymaleche hym dro • e out of his lande And Alexander with his owne handys slewe Citron his frende / whiche he dyd after rewe Bycause he compared vnto this conquerour His father Philippus / lawdys and honour And suche lyke chance / but lately dyd befall In the lande of Apuly / to the great Senescall Whiche was so greatly in fauour with the quene That none was so great as he hymselfe dyd wene And thought in fauour to byde more stedfastly For he abusyd the quene dyshonestly But to another / the quene tournyd hyr loue And than hym murdred his presence to remoue And whan she had founde / the menys hym to kyll Than had she dyuers louers at hyr wyll ¶ Coridon.

¶ O cursyd woman / and dede of cruelte

 ¶ Cornix. ¶ Ye ye Coridon / mo be as bad as she Some hath by malyce theyr sowkynge chyldren slayne But to my matter wyll I retourne agayne Theyr frawde and malyce I wyll nat nowe declare Who with them dealeth / perceyuyth what is care But now Coridon / to prynces to retourne Who pleasyth this day is out agayne the mourne Ryght fewe / or none / or by a prynces syde Whiche doth in fauour contynually abyde Whyle one ascendyth another doth descende This is the thynge wherto they most intende And whiche in the court / men chefely go about Themselfe to brynge in / and rub another out And than to clym vp to offyce and renowne And whyle they ascende to thurst another downe Echone desyreth his felawe to excell There is none order / no more than is in hell No loue / no fauour / fayth / nor fydelyte One brother can nat sure for another be The sone for the father hath no compassyon And lyke pyte / hath the father of his sone Eche man for hym selfe / and the frende for all Echone desyreth for to be pryncypall Echone wyll commaunde and haue preeminence And yf any one haue place of excellence He hath about hym a thousande iyen & nyne And as many tonges to brynge hym to ruyne On euery syde / enuyers hym awayte Deuysynge meanys / to put hym from his state A man of power / whiche many men may dear Hath euer yll wyll / thus may he many fear Hye towres decay byldyd / by flodys syde Whiche doth the wawes contynually abyde What shall a shepherde do in the court to tende Whose lyfe and seruyce on one man doth depende Thoughe thou in fauour be with a prynces or kynge Yet trust nat therin / it is vncertayne thynge Thou hast hym nat bounde / to the wt chaynnys stronge Of lead or yron / to last and tary longe But with feble wax / suche bande can nat last Whan loue wexyth colde / than shall y• tynkes brast The feruour of wrath shall thē consume and melt Than is thy fauour skant worth a shepys pelt ¶ Coridon. Of some haue I herde of men of great honour Whiche haue in the court / byd alway in fauour Tyll tyme theyr prynces departyd from this lyfe And then with the newe had lyke prerogatyfe Thus in the court no thynge so varyable As thou rehersest / nor yet so reprouable ¶ Cornix. ¶ I graunte the Coridon / some suche haue there bene But that is a byrde / whiche seldom tyme is sene That is but fortune / and chaunce nat on to trust But many be throwen / vnwarly to the dust Some whyle theyr prynces / styll lyuyd in renowne But whan they departe / all tournyth vpset downe Than yf some haue fauour / with prynces successours We se them seldom / set in so hye honours As with theyr elders / they dyd before optayne A man sone fallyth / and slow is vp agayne So many se we deposyd from degre And how moche the more / they were indygnyte So moche more / after be they vyle & abiect Theyr anucyent / name countyd of none effect Than they perceyue / who was theyr frende & fo Before in honour / forsothe they coude nat so To men in power / so me often stoup and beck Whiche gladly wolde / se theyr hedys from the neke Whan they by fortune at on the grounde agayne Than langh theyr foes & haue at them dysdayne There frendes dolour and sorowe is nat small Theyr owne dyswourshyp a shame is worst of all For after they lyue styll in dolour and dystres In shame rebukes in care and heuines This is the comon ende and sure conclusyon Of suche as with prynces serue for promocyon Wherfore I dare call them foles before the Whiche serue in the court / for myght or dygnyte ¶ Coridon. ¶ For sothe mate Cornix I can nat wele deny But that suche chances doth happyn comonly Than better is small fyre one easely to warme Than is a great fyre to do one hurt or harme I am assured / as for thy selfe and me We nede not to fere / to fall from out degre Beggery is lowest / who that can fare with all Nedyth nat to fere to lower state to fall But haue done Cornix and tell the wretchydnes Of suche as in court / serue onely for ryches As for the other the best that we do may Is to dyffer it / vntyll another day ¶ Cornix. ¶ Wele sayd Coridon / I am content with that But fyrst let me dryncke I shall the better chat This whey is sowre / but vse easeth the payne Dryncke Coridon and stope it vp agayne ¶ Coridon. ¶ Now say on Cornix / thy talkynge lykyth me I se that councell / excludyth capusyte Saue for thy wysdom or this tyme as I wene With courtly mysery I tangled sholde haue bene But well fare councell whan it is true and good I wolde that Mynalcas / this also vnderstode ¶ Cornix. ¶ Many of the court resort / dayly doutles In yongthe to gather / some treasour or ryches Than agaynst age they may go out agayne And afterwarde lyue / without labour or payne In hope of this eas and latter lyberte Many in the court byde longe captyuyte And yf some courter / thus to hym selfe doth say Alas shall I neuer ought for myselfe puruey Whan shall I in court / some lytell banke procure That from the bagge and staff myn age may be sure The fole thynketh / than moost ryches for to haue Agaynst suche season whan nerest is his graue Whan nere is endyd his iourney of this lyfe Than is he for vitayle moost besy and pensyfe Our sauyour sayth / it is as harde doutles To one whiche fixeth his pleasour on ryches To enter that royalme / whiche is aboue the skye As an asse to enter / through a nedyls iye I harde our vicayr say in lyke maner wyse Onys whan he prechyd agaynst couetyse Than it is foly great ryches to purchace And by it to losse the hope of heuenly place Is nat cryste able his poore men to sustayne Yes and to ryd them out of all other payne The poore apostels / be greater now of fame Than ryche Cresus for all his royall name Whan man hath in god his trust and confydence In all tyme of nede he faylyth none expence All good men fixeth theyr trust in god parde He knoweth better / what thynge we nede then we Of some poore freers is made more curyously Than is some abbey / or ryche monastery The fyrst hath theyr trust in god our creatour The other trustyth vpon theyr vayne treasour Thus god oft helpyth them that in hym haue trust Whan wordly ryches men leuyth in the dust ¶ Coridon. ¶ Cornir thy prouys was nat for to preche But me of the courters mysery to teche Agaynst thyn owne selfe thou spekyst now parde For fyrst thou grutced agaynst pouerte Agayne thou blamyst plenty of ryches nowe But fewe men lyuynge thy saynge wyll allowe For without ryches thou sayst openly Vertue nor connynge / now be nothynge set by ¶ Cornix. ¶ I wyll nat deny / but it is nede doutles For all men lyuynge for to haue some ryches But trust me Coridon / there is dyuersyte Bytwene to haue ryches / and ryches to haue the Than thou hast ryches / whan thou despysest store Bestowest it wele and forsest nat therfore But ryches hath the / whan wretchyd couetyse Thy mynde subdeweth / to euery yll and vyce And whan thy desyre is yet insaciable Thoughe thou haue treasour / almost innumerable Suche maner ryches / the colyer tell the can Is vyle and odyble bothe vnto god and man But nowe to the court for to retorne agayne Some thynke by prynces great ryches to optayne But whyle they coueyt / in ryched for to be Coridon for sothe / they lese theyr lyberte And yet yf I sholde / the veray trouth expres No man can in court fynde iust and true ryches If thy lord gyue the other golde or fe Unto his seruyce more art thou bounde parde Saynt Gregori sayth affyrmynge the same thynge In greattyst gyftys / is greattyst rekenynge But yf thou wylt than forth of the court depart Whan by thy prynce inryched thus thou art Than shall be founde some gyle some frawd or trayne By meane wherof thou lesyst all agayne A fawt shall be founde / some one shall the accuse Of thynge wherof thou dyd neuer thynke nor muse Though thou be gyltles yet shall thou be cōuyct Fare well thy good all shall be from the lyct Or some backe rekenynge / conseruynge thyne offyce Of all thy ryches shall pyll the with a tryce Than art thou clappyd in the flete or clynke Thā nought must thou say whā so euer thou thinke For yf thou begyn to murmur or complayne Thy lyfe thou lesest than hast thou harmes twayne ¶ Coridon. ¶ Yet were it better for to contynue styll As longe in the court / as is the prynces wyll ¶ Cornix. ¶ If thou contynue / thou must be dylygent And redy at hande / at eche commaundement Whan he commaundyth / thou must be prest to fyght To ryde and to go / by day and eke by nyght No drede no daungere / may helpe the nor excuse No payne nor peryll mayst thou fle nor refuse Some tyme must thou be in ayre contagyous And in thousandes other of chaunches perylous What he commaundyth that nedes do thou must Be it good or yll / ryghtwys / or oniust Laughe whan he laughyth / all yf thyn harte be sad Wepe whan he wepyth / be thou neuer so glad Lawde what he lawdeth / though it be not lawdable Blame what he blameth / though it be cōmendable And shortly to speke / thou must all thynge fullfyll As is his pleasour / and nothynge at thy wyll None of thy wyttes / ar at thy lyberte Unto thy mayster / they nedys must agre What is more folyshe / more founde or imprudent Than to gete ryches / by suche extreme tourment For nought it is els but playne a frenesy To byde for ryches / this care and mysery It wolde make one clawe / where as it dothe nat itche To se one lyue pore / by cause he wolde dye ryche By cause one in court / hath gotyn good or twayne Sholde all men suppose / the same there to optayne And in hope therof / to lose theyr lyberte But sekynge ryches / suche fyndeth pouerte For many in court / whyle they abyde ryches Spende all theyr treasour / & lyue in wredchydnes What sayth some fole / spende on a • one voayge Parchaunche my wagys / shall passe myn herytage But whyle he spendeth / tyll skant remayne a grote Home he retournyth / ye with a threde bare cote His horse is so fat that playne he is nat able To get his body / nor head out of the stable His swerde & bucler / is pleggyd at the bear And to go lyghter / so is his other gear The ryder walkyth / now with his bowe and arows With a fayre excuse / in hedgys to kyll sparows And oft retournynge / he sayd but all to late A diewe all courtynge / in the deuyllys date ¶ Coridon. ¶ A syr this passyth / nowe by the rode of some Better were for suche / for to hade byd at home But tell me Cornir / hath all men the boundage And payne of the court / for no more auauntage ¶ Cornix. ¶ Yes somtyme ryches is gyuyn by some chaunce To suche as of good haue greattyst aboundaunce Lyke wyse as stremys / vnto the see doth glyde But on bare hyllys / no watter wyll abyde So yf a pore man serue in the court longe whyle Fortune shall neuer so frendly on hym smyle But that a ryche man in rowme or hye dygnyte For a lytell seruyce / hath more rewarde than he As for the seruyce / none in the court shall pounder They note the persone / styll is the pore kept vnder For a lytell man / mete is a small hakney So smallest persones / hath small rewarde away But men of wourshyp / set in auctoryte Must haue rewardes great after theyr degre And Coridon prynces / gyue nought I tell the playne But whan that they lust / reuoke agayne And so suche thynges / whiche prynces to the gyue To the be as sure / as watter in a syue Thou mayst nat of them / make elienacyon Nor the same care / vntyll another nacyon Thou mayst nat dyspose them after thyn intente But lyke as thy prynce / is pleasyth and content Than suche vayne ryches can be thyne by no skyll Syth thou haste no myght to spende thē at thy wyll Ye and more ouer thou hast no faculte The same to bequeth / at wyll whan thou must dye If thou want yssue / no man shall be thyne heyre Saue onely the prynce thus doth the worlde fayre If thou haue yssue / succede shall they nat the Except with thy prynce they wyll in seruyce be How many hath be slayne / me nydyth nat expres Of suche as them erst / auancyd to ryches So prynces ar wont / with ryches some to fede Is we do our swyne / whan we of larde haue nede We fede our hogges / them after to deuour Whan they be fattyd by costys and labour In lyke wyse prynces / promotyth many one And whan thy be ryche / they gnaw them to the bone Lyke as Longinus / and Seneca doutles Which as sayth codrus were slayne for theyr ryches So wryteth Pius / whom some Eneas call A clawse allegynge / of famous Juuenall ¶ Coridon. ¶ The more of the courte that thou doost count & tell The lesse me lykyth / with it to deall or mell ¶ Cornix. ¶ What byde Coridon yet hast thou nat herde all The court is in erth / any mage infernall Without fayre paynted / within owgly and vyle This knowe they surely which there hath be whyle But of our purpos nowe for to speke agayne Fewe prynces gyue that / which to thēselfe attayne Trust me Coridon / I tell the by my sowle They robbe saint Peter / therwt to clothe salt powle And lyke as dayly we bothe may se & here Some pyll the churche / therwith to lead the quene Whyle men promotyd by suche rapyne ar glad The wretches pylled mowrne and be wo and sad And many heyres lyue gyltles in dystres Whyle on worthy / hath honour and ryches But suche vyle gyftes may nat be true playnly Nor yet possesyd by lawe ryghtwysly And syth fewe rowmys of lordly dygnyte Be wone or holden with ryght and equyte Say what thynge haue they to gyue by lawe & ryght Syth theyr chefe tresour is won by wrōgful myght When se come theyr iewels theyr coyne & cloth of pryce Saue moste by rapyne and • ellynge of iustyce Els of saynt Peters / or crystes patrymony Nowe fewe be founders / but confounders be many These be no gyftes / true honest nor laudable Neyther to the gyuer / nor taker profytable These men call gyftes / of none vtilyte Whiche thus procedyth / of fals inequyte Than leue we this vyce / whyle all good men it hate For couetous with coyne be neuer sacyate I harde syr Sampson say / but this other day That Jerome & Seneke / doth both this sentēce say That couetous wretches / nat only want that thynge Whiche thy neuer had in tytle nor kepynge But that whiche they haue also / they want & fayle Syth they it hauynge of it haue none auayle And as I remember / olde Codrus sayd also That golde nought helpyth whan we must hence go Skant haue we pleasour / of it whyle we here tary And none can his store / nor glory wyth hym cary Thus ought we to lyue as hauynge all in store But nought possessynge or carynge nought therfore What sholde chrysten men / seke ferther for ryches Hauynge fode and clothe / it is ynought doutles And these may our lorde gyue vnto vs truly Without pryncys seruice / or courtly mysery Thus fynde we in court playne no ryches at all Or ellys fynde we suche / with care contynuall That it were better / no ryches to haue founde Than for false treasour / in thraldom to be bounde ¶ Coridon. ¶ Loke vp mate Cornix / beholde in to the west These wyndy clowdys / vs thretnyth some tempest My clothes be thyn / my shepe be shorne newe Suche storme myght fall / yt both myght after rewe Dryue we out flockes vnto our pore cotage Tomorowe of court / we may haue more langage This day hast thou tolde / and prouyd openly That all suche courters / doth lyue in mysery Whiche serue in the court / for honour lawde or fame And myght or power / thou prouyd hast this same And that all they lyue / depest in dystres Which serue there / to wyn vayne treasour or ryches As for the other two / and yf ought more remayne Thou mayst tel tomorowe / whā we tourne agayne ¶ Cornix. ¶ I graunt Coridon / take vp thy bottell sone Les is the burthen / now that the drynke is done Lo here is a sporte / our bottell is contary To a Cowes vtter / and I shall tell the why With a full vtther retournyth home the cowe So doth nat the bottell / as it aperyth nowe Coridon we must haste / in our iourney make Or els shall the storme / vs and our shepe ouertake ¶ Finis.
¶ Thus endeth the fyrst Egloge of the myseryes of the Courters compyled and drawen by Alexander Barclay.
¶ The seconde egloge ¶ Hery be gynneth the seconde egloge of the myseryes of courters ¶ Coridon. HOw fel this Cornix / why taryed thou so lōge This is y•. iii • day some thige is wt the wrōge Els some ꝑturbance of housholde besynes Unto thy pasture hath made the tende the les ¶ Cornix. ¶ Codrus / the rychest shepherde of our coste Whiche of his wethers is wont hymselfe to boste Unto a banket frendly inuityd me The same day after I dyd departe fro the Whyle I hym helpyth his gestis for to chere That hath me causyth / so lately to be here ¶ Coridon. ¶ Who fatly faryth with costly meat and drynke For warke behofull doth lytyll care or thynke Whan full is the wombe the bonys wolde haue rest Fye on suche surfayt / fayre temperaunce is best My wyuys gray hen one egge layd euery day My wyfe fed hyr wele / to cause hyr two to lay But whan she was fat than laye she none at all I trowe that lyke chaunce / be vnto the befall For now of thy flocke thou hast no mynde nor care Sith tyme thy wyrtys were dullyd with fat fare ¶ Cornix. ¶ Nat so Coridon / for whan I sowpe at home I oft go to bed / with faynt aud hungry wombe Than lye I slombrynge to wyn in sleap I thynke That same which I loste for lacke of meat & drynke But whan I am fed than slepe I stedfastly And after short rest / than worke I lustely ¶ Coridon. A byrde wele ingorged / kepys wele hyr nest A full bely askyth / a bed full of rest ¶ Cornix. ¶ That is whan dyet / excedyth temporaunce Than folowyth slouth and all mysgouernaūce As brawlynge bablynge / dyscorde and lechery Blasphemynge lyenge / crakynge and periury But as towchynge me bycause I want at home Whan I am abrode I furnysshe wele my wombe Yet more I take nat than nature may sustayne And than sore worke I it to dysgest agayne So dyd I with Codrus tyll I am fatygate ¶ Coridon. ¶ I wyst wele some thynge made yt to come so late Me lyst no longer to comon of excesse But tell me Cornix / what was thy besynes ¶ Cornix. ¶ The ryuer began / the bankes to ouer flowe At dyuers partes where as the grounde was lowe For myght of water wyll nat our laysere byde We fayne were our shephe / for the tyme to set asyde And bothe day and nyght to put to our dylygence For to ouercome / the flodes violence Streng thynge our bankes and heythynge thē agayne Whiche were abated / with flodes or great rayne ¶ Coridon. ¶ The erth in this poynt is lyke maners of men From hye ground / water / dyscendyth to the fen The hye mountaynnys / of water them dyscharge And lade the ryuers with flodes great & large Agayne the ryuers / dyschargyth them lyke wyse And chargyth the see / so mennys comon gyse Is alway to lay the burthen or the sack Whiche them sore greuyth vpon some other back ¶ Cornix. ¶ No thynge is truer / than is this of the sayd It is a true prouerbe and pretely conueyd ¶ Coridon. ¶ But now thou art come I pray the hartely Begyn where thou left of courters mysery The heuyn is clere the cowdes clene away Whiche is a tokyn of cawm and pleasant day The poyntyd burdys with pleasant tunes synge The dewy flowres fresshly doth smyle and sprynge All thynge reioysyth eche thynge doth nature kepe Than were it great shame to vs to s • ort & slepe By mery taykynge / longe season semyth shorte In frendly spece / is solace & confort ¶ Cornix. ¶ As I remember we spake last of ryches Now talke we of lust or voluptuosnes Forsothe some wretches of maners vyle and rude Haue countyd in lust moost hye beatitude And namely the sect whiche folowe epycure Whiche shamefull sect doth to this day indure Whome the philosophers & clerkes nowe a days Despyse with wordys / yet folowe they his ways For what is that clerke or prelate in honour Whiche clene dyspysyth all temporall pleasour And therfore ꝑchaunce yf any suche there be Despysynge to loke on fayrnes or beawte Despysynge odours or sapour dylycate And pleasant towchynge / despysynge in lyke • ate Some call thē happy whiche can suche thynge exclude But no men count them of maners dull & rude For ii. dyuers wayes / doth mannys lyfe contayne The one of vertue / of dylygence and payne The other of lust / of pleasour myrth and rest The fyrst despysynge men count ye seconde best They way of vertue is roughe and desolate With wede & thornys shyt for all men it hate Fewe it frequentyth or folowe in regarde For the fyrst entre to them aperyth harde The way of pleasour / is playne & euydent And greatly worne / for many it frequent The harde way of vertue / at ende hath quyetnes They playne way of plesour hath daūger & distres Yet were one hantyth the passage of vertue For that one iiii. score theyr lustys doth insue ¶ Coridon. ¶ These matters be hye and semyth me dyffuse Drawe to our purpose cause me no longer muse ¶ Cornix. ¶ Though I now be poore & here no thynge set by Yet haue I or this sene some philosophy But the lacke of vse hurtyth al scyence And wretchyd thraldom is enmy to pruden •• What tyme the persone is cuntyd as abiecte Than langour makyth the wyt of small effect A famous doctour is blyndyd amonge foles Onely his valour is clerest in the scoles A precyous stone well cowchyd in pure golde Is bryght and comely / & goodly to beholde Throwe it in the myre than is the beawte gone And hyd for the tyme / bothe of the golde & stone For lacke of vsynge a swerde erst glasyd bryght With • ust is etyn / made fowle & blacke to syght Ryght so my reason somtyme fresshe to deuyse Is now made rusty / for lacke of exercyse ¶ Coridon. ¶ By this dysputynge thou mayst scoure of the rust Retourne nowe to speke of pleasour & of lust ¶ Cornix. ¶ Many blynde wretches / byde in the court labour There wenynge to wyn / theyr lustys & pleasour But it is a wonder & matter chefe of all To speke of theyr foly & appetyte rurall But fyrst let vs talke what pleasour is there sene Whiche y• v. wyttys begynnynge at the iyen ¶ Coridon. ¶ That is trouth Cornix ryght many thyngys be Whiche men haue pleasour and great delyte to se And these in the court be moost in habundance ¶ Cornix. ¶ Nay there hath the syght / no maner of pleasance And that shall I proue longe tyme or it be nyght Some men delytyth beholdynge men to fyght Or goodly knyghtes / in pleasant apparayle Or sturdy sowdiours in bryght harnes & mayle Or an army redy arayed to the war Or to se them fyght so that he stande a far Some glad is to se these ladyes beauteous Goodly apoyntyd in clothynge sumptuous A nomber of peopyll apoyntyd in lyke wyse In costly clothynge after the newest gyse Sportys / dysgysynge fayr coursers moūt & praunce Or goodly ladyes / & knyghtes synge & daunce To se fayre houses and curyous picture Or pleasant hangynge / or sumptuous vesture Of sylke of purpure / or golde moost oryent And other clothynge dyuers and excellent Hye curyous byldynge and palacys royall Or chapels temples fayre & substancyall Images grauen or va • ltes curyous Gardyns and medows or place dylycyous Forestes parkes / well furnysshed with dere Colde pleasant streamys or wellys fayre and clere Curyous cōductys / or shadowey mountayns Swete pleasant valleys / lawndys other playns Houndes & suche other thynges manyfolde Some men take pleasour and solace to beholde But all these pleasours be moche more iocounde To pryuate personys / whiche nat to court be boūde Than to suche other whiche of necessyte Or bounde to the court / as in captyuyte For they whiche be bounde to prynces without fayle Whan they must nedys be present in batayle There shall they nat be / at large to se the syght But as sowdyours / in myddes of the fyght To rone here and there / somtyme his fo to smyte And oft tymes wounded / herin is small delyte And more must he thynke / his body to defende Than for any pleasour / about hym to intende And oft is he faynt and betyn to the grounde I trowe in suche syght / smal pleasour may be foūde As for fayre ladyes / clothed in sylke and golde In court at thy pleasour thou canst nat beholde At thy pryncys pleasour / thou shalt them onely se Than suche shalt thou se whiche lytell set by the Whose shape and beautye / may so enflambe thyn hart That thought & langour may cause ye for to smart For a small sparcle / may kendle loue certayne But scantly Seuecne / may quenche it clene agayne And beautly blyndeth and causyth man to set His hart on yt thynge / whiche he shall neuer get To se men clothed in sylkes pleasantly It is small pleasour and oft causyth enuy whyle thy lene Jade / halteth be thy syde To se another / vpon a courser ryde Thoughe he be neyther gentylman nor knyght Nothynge is thy fortune / thy hart can nat be lyght As thouchynge sportys & gamys of pleasance To synge to reuell and other dalyaunce Who that wyll truly / vpon his lorde attende Unto suche pleasours he seldom may entende Palaycys pyctures / and temples sumptuous And other byldynge / bothe gay and curious These may marchauntys more at theyr pleasour se Than suche as in court be bounde alway to be Syth kynges / for must part pas nat theyr regyons Thou seest now Cytees / of foreyn nacyons Suche outwarde pleasours / may the peopyll se So may nat courters / for lacke of lyberte As for these pleasours / of thynges varyable Whiche in the fyldes aperyth delectable But seldom season mayst thou obtayne respyte The same to beholde with pleasour and delyte Some tyme the courter remayneth halfe the yere Closse within wallys moche lyke a prysoner To make escapys / some seldom tyme a • wount Saue whā theyr prynces hath pleasour for to hūt Orels other wyse them selfe to recreate And than this pleasour shall they nat loue but hate For than shal they forth moost namely to the payne Whan they in myndes wolde at home remayne Other in the frost / hayle or els snowe Or whā some tempest or myghty wynd doth blowe Or els in great heat and feruour excyssyfe But closse in houses the moost part wast theyr lyfe Of colour faded / & cloked nere with dust This is of courters the ioy and all the lust ¶ Coridon. ¶ What yet may they synge & with fayre ladyes daūce Bothe comon & lawghe / here in is some pleasance ¶ Cornix. ¶ Nay nay Coridon / that pleasourys but small Some & conte • t / what man wyll pleasour call For some in the daunse / hyr pyncheth by the hande Whiche gladly wolde se hym stretchyd in a bande Some galand sekyth / hyr fauour to purchace Whiche playne abhorryth for to beholde his face And styll in dauncynge / moost parte inclynyth she To one moche vyler and more abiect than he No day ouer passyth but that in court men fynde A thousand thynges / to vex and greue theyr mynde Alway thy foes / or present in thy syght And often so great is theyr degre and myght That nedys must thou kys yt hāde which dyd ye harme Thoughe thou wolde se it / cut gladly frō the arme And brefely to speke yf thou to court resort Yf thou se one thynge of pleasour or confort Thou shall se many before or thou depart To thy dyspleasour & pensyfnes of hert So fyndyth thy syght / there more of bytternes And of dyspleasour / than pleasour and gladnes ¶ Coridon. ¶ As towchynge the syght now se I clere and playne That men in the court shall fynde but care & payne But yet me thynketh as dayly doth apere That men in the court may pleasant thyngys here And by suche meanys haue delectacyon Whyle they here tydynges & communycacyon And all the chaunches and euery newelte As well of our Coost / as far beyonde the see There men may here some that comon of wysdom For of men wysest / within the court be some There be recountyd / and of men lernyd tolde Famous cronycles of actys great and olde The worthy dedes of prynces excellent To moue yonge prynces / suche actes to frequent For whan wyse men dare nat bad prynces blame For theyr myslyuynge / Me • alcas sayth this same Of other prynces / than lawde they the vertue To styre theyr lordes / suche lyuynge to ensure And whyle they commende / prynces vnworthely To be commendable / they warne them secretly All this may courters / in court oft tymes here And also songes of tymes swete and clere The byrde of Cornewayle / the Crayne and the kyte And mo other lyke to here it is delyte Warblynge of theyr tunys / at pleasour and at wyll Though some be besy whiche haue but lytell skyll There men may here / moche other melody In sound ressemblynge an heuynly armony Is this nat pleasour / me thynke no myrth is scant Where no reioysynge / of mynstrelsy doth want The baggepype / or fydell to vs is delectable Than is there solace more greatly commendable ¶ Cornix. ¶ Thou art dysceyuyd / and so be many mo Whiche for suche pleasour / vnto the court wyll go But for these also / I must fynde remedy Whiche sue to the court for lust of melody They be madde folys / whiche to reioyse theyr erys Wyll lyue in court more dredfull then with bearys In stede of pleasour / suche fynde but heuynes They here small good / but moche vnhapynes As towchynge tydynges / which thou dost fyrst abiect There moche thynges is tolde / fals & of none effect And more dyspleasour shall wysmen in them fynde Than ioy or pleasour to confort of theyr mynde These be tydynges / in court moost comonly Or Cytees takyn / war / frawde / & tyranny Good men subdued / or els by malyce slayne And bad in theyr stede / haue vyctory and reyne Of spoylynge murder / oppressyon and rapyne How lawe and iustyce / sore fallyth to ruyne Amonge the courters suche neweltyes be tolde And in mean season / they lawgh bothe yonge & olde Whyle one recountyd / some dede abhomynable Suche other wretches / repute it commendable But men of wysdom / well lernyd in scripture Whiche talke of maners / or secrete of nature Or of hystoryes / theyr dysputacyon Is swetely sawsyth / with adulacyon They cloke the trouth / theyr prynces to content To purchace fauour & mynde beneuolent In somtyme poetes or oratours ornate Make orysons / before some great estate It is nat so swete / to here them talkynge there Where as theyr myndes / be trowblyd oft with fear As in the scoles / where they at lyberte Without all flaterynge / may talke playne veryte For truly in courtes / all communycacyon Must nedes haue spyce of adulacyon Suche as be gylty / anone be mad and wroth If one be so bolde / playnly to say the trouth Therfore yll lyuers / oftymes lawdyd be And men dyspraysed whiche loue honeste And true hystoryes of actes anucyent Be fally tourned / some prynces to content And namely whan suche hystoryes testyfy Blame or dyswourshyp / towchyng his progeny Than newe hystoryes be fayned of the olde With flatery paynted / with lyes many folde Than some good scoler / without promocyon Herynge suche / glosyd communycacyon Dare nat be so bolde / suche lyenge to gaynsay But laughe in his mynde yet at the fole he may And also in court / Actours nat verytable And lest of valour are counted moost laudable But Liuius / Salust & quintus curcius Justinian / Plutarche / and Suetonius With suche noble auctours / and many other mo In this tyme courters wyll haue nothynge to do ¶ Coridon.

¶ Cornix / where hast thou these strange namys sought

 ¶ Cornix. ¶ I sought nat in youth the worlde all for nought Mynstreis and syngers be in the court lyke wyse And that of the best / and of the frenche gyse Suche men with pryncys / be sene more acceptable Than men of wysdom and clerkes venerable For Phylosofers / Poetes and Oratours Be seldom in court / had in so great honours Whā thou fayne wolde here / suche folkes play or synge Nothynge shall be done / of them at thy lykynge But whan it pleasyth thy prynces them to call Theyr sounde ascendyth / to chamber and to hall Whan thou woldest sleape or do some besynes Than is theyr musyke to the vnquyetnes Yet byde theyr clamour and sounde thou nedes must To thy great trouble and no pleasour or lust This is of syngers the veray properte Alway the couyte desyred for to be And whan theyr frendes wolde here of theyr cōnynge Than ar they neuer dysposed for to synge But yf they begyn desyred of no man Than shewe they all and more than they can And neuer leue thy tyll men of them be wery So in theyr conceyt / theyr connynge they set by And thus whan a man wolde gladlyest them here Than haue they dysdayne / in presence to apere And than whan a man wolde take his eas and rest Than none can voyd them they be in place so prest Yet nedys must thou exchewe season pryncypall Rewarde suche people / els art thou nough at all For theyr dyspleasoure to the and paynes harde Lo suche is ye court / thou must gyue them rewarde Besyde this / in court men here skant other thynge Saue chydynge / brawlyng / bannynge & curs • yn • Echone is besy his felawe for to blame There is blasphemynge of goddys holy name Deuysynge othis with pleasour for the nonys And often they speke togyder all at onys So many clamours vse they at euery tyde That scant mayst thou here thy felowe be the syde They boste theyr synnes / as past the fear of shame Detractynge other men fawty in the same One laudeth his londe where he was bred & borne At others contray hauynge dysdayne and scorne On eche syde soundyth foule speche of rybawdry Uauntynge and bostynge of fynne and velany No me sure maner nor shame / nor reuerence Haue they in wordes in secrete or presence A rusty rybawd more vyler than a sowe Hath in the court more audyence than thou Some booke / some brawle / some slander & bachyte To here suche maners can be but small delyte Except a wretche wyll confourme hym to that sorte Than in suche herynge his blyndnes hath conforte These scabbed scolyons may do and say theyr wyll Whan men of wourshyp for very shame are styll Who that hath wysdom wolde rather defe to be Than dayly to here suche vyle enormyte ¶ Coridon. ¶ I se in herynge men in the court haue no ioye Yet is it pleasour to handle and to toy With Galatea Licoris or phyllys Neera / Malkyn or lusty Testilis And other damys / yf coyne be in the powche Men may haue pleasour them for to fele & towche In court hath venus hyr power pryncypall For wymen vsyth to loue them moost of all Whiche boldly bosteth / or that can synge and get Whiche ar well decked with large busshes set Whiche hath the maystry / oft tyme in tournament Or that can gainbawd / or daunce feat and gent Or that can alway be mery withouth care With suche can wymen / moost chefely deal & fare So may these courters in court some pleasour wyn Duely in towchynge / and felynge theyr soft skyn ¶ Cornix. ¶ Thou arte abusyd / forsothe it is nat so Louers in court haue moost of care and wo Some wymen loue them / inflamyde be vyle lust But yet veray fewe / dare them byleue or trust For well knowe wymen / that courters chat and bable They bost theyr synnes / and euer be vnstable After theyr pleasour / than to the olde adiwe Than be they besy / to puruey for a newe This knowe all wymen / Some by experyence So fewe to courters / gyue trust or confydence Except it be suche / as forsyth nat hyr name Or passed all fear / rebuke / or worldly shame Than suche a brouthell / hyr kepyth nat to one For many courters / ensueth her alone And none shalt thou loue of this vyle sorte parde But that she louyth another more then the And than as often / as partynge felowes mete They chyde and brawle though it be in the strete Hatered and stryfe / and fyghtynge cometh after • ffu • y on of blode / and oftentyme manslaughter Thou canst no woman / kepe streyght and nygardly To whom many one dothe promes largely Another shall come / more fresshe and gayly decte Than hath he fauour / and thou art clene abiecte Whan thou haste wasted thy money / name and sede Than shalt y• haue nought saue a mok for thy mede Thou art the nynthe / wenynge to be alone For none of this sorte / can be content with one Yet shall she fayne hyr chast as penolope Though she loue twenty as well as she dothe the And eche for his tyme shall haue a mery loke Se syghyth as she great sorowe for them toke With fayned teares / she moysteth oft thy lap Tyll tyme that thy purse be taken in a trap And yf she perceyue that all thy coyn is gone Than daunce at the dore / adieu gentyll Johū And oft whan thou goost to vysyte thy lemman With hyr shalt thou fynde / some other Joly man Than shall she make the for to beleue none other But he is her fader / her vncle or her brother But playnly to speke / he brother is tho the If kynred may ryse / of suche iniquite Agayne to hyr howse / yf that thou after rome Than shalt thou fynde / that she is nat at home But gone to some other / whiche for rebuke and shame Durst nat come to hyr / for hurtynge of his name ¶ Coridon. ¶ Here is a ruell / this doth excede my mynde Who wolde thynke this gyle / to be in woman̄kynde But yet man parde / some be as good within As they be outwarde in beauty of the skyn Of this cursed sorte / they can nat be echone Some be whiche kepe them to one louer alone As penolope / was to hyr Ulires Thynke on what Codrus / recountyd of lucres Though she nat wyllynge was falsly violat With hyr owne handes procured she hyr fate ¶ Cornix. ¶ It were a great wounder a monge the wymen all If none were part • es / of lust venerall I graunte some chast / what tyme they can nat chuse As whan all men theyr company refuse Or whan she knowyth / hyr vyce sholde be detect Than of myslyuynge / auoydyth she the sect And though in ye worlde / some womē mayst thou fynde Whiche chastely lyue / of theyr owne proper kynde Or that can kepe hyr selfe onely to one Yet is with suche / of pleasour small or none To hyr at pleasour thou canst nat resorte In pleasour stollyn / but small is the conforte Neyther mayst thou longe with suche one remayne And in shorte pleasour departynge in great payne To hyr mayst thou come but only now and than By stelth & stertys / as pryuey as thou can To loue and thy lorde mayst thou nat serue togyder If so thy wyt is dystract thou w • t nat whether Thy lorde doth chalange to hym thy hole seruyce And the same doth loue chalange in lyke wyse Nat onely it is harde in the court to saue Thy lemmad chast / with hyr pleasour to haue But also / it is extreme dyffyculte Thyn owne wyfe in court to kepe in chastyts For flaterynge wowers / on euery syde apere And lusty galandes of fayre dystymulyd chere Some promes gold and gyftes great or small Some hasty galand is yet before them all So many wowers / bawdys and brokers Flatterers lyers and hasty proferes Be alway in court / that chast penolope Coude skant amonge them preserue her chastyte So great temptacyon / no woman may resyste In heuenly power / hyr myght do nat assyste For craft and coyne / flatery and instaunce Tourneth chaste myndes / to vyle mysgouernaunce Though she be honest / yet must thou leue thy loue Syth prynces courtes / contynually remoue Then Whether she be thy wyfe or concubyne Her care and dolour is great / and so is thyne For neyther mayst thou / ther styll with hyr abyde Nor lede her with the / or kepe her be thy syde Whan thou art gone / yf she behynde remayne Than fear the trowblyth / with tourmēt & wt payne By cause that the mynde / of women is onstable Alway thou doubtest / lest she be chauugeable And I assure the / yf man be out of syght The mynde of woman / to retourne is very lyght Onys out of syght / and shortly out of mynde This is theyr maner / apere the neuer so kynde Adde to all these / scorne and derysyon Whiche thou mayst suffer / & greate suspeccyon Infamy / sclaunder / and preuey Jalowsy These must thou suffer without all remedy And other daungers mo than a man can thynke Whyle other slepyth / the louer skant doth wynke Who hath these prouyd / shall none of them desyre For chyldren brent / styll after dredyth fyre Syth that the se thynges / to all men be greuous They be to courtes / yet moost dammagyous Moost paynfull noyons / and playnly importable In court them felynge / hath no thynge delectable ¶ Coridon. ¶ I se the pleasour / of towchynge is but small I thought it hony / I se now it is gall Now speke on Cornix I pray the brefely tell What ioy haue courters / in tastynge or to smell For these two wyttes / in court be recreate Ellys many wretchys / be there infatuat ¶ Cornix. ¶ The smell and tastynge / partly conioyned be And parte dysioyned / as I shall tell to the For whyle we receyue / some meatys delycate The smell & tastynge / than bothe be recreate The fragraunt odour / and oyntment of swete flour Onely delytyth / the smellynge with odour Of meate delycyous / gone is bothe smell and tast Whan it is chewyd / and through the gorge past But they whiche in mouth / haue pleasour pryncypall Or beestly folys / and of lyuynge brutall The famous shepherde / whom Nero dyd behede Them greatly blamyth / whiche beestly vse to fede Whiche for theyr wombe chefe care & labour take And of theyr belyes / ar wont theyr god to make ¶ Coridon.

¶ A god of the wombe / that harde I neuer ere

 ¶ Cornix. ¶ Coridon / thou art nat to olde for to lere I playnly shall now declare for thy sake Now beestly glottons god of theyr wombes make To god ar men wont / temples to edyfye And costly auters to ordayne semblably To ordayne mynysters / to execute seruyce To offer beestes / by way of sacryfyce To burne in temples / well smellynge ensence Glottons to the wombe / do all this reuerence ¶ Coridon. ¶ They and theyr gooddes come to confucyon Whiche forgeth ydolys / by suche abusyon But procede Cornix / tell on in wordys playne How all these thynges / they to the wombe ordayne Whiche is in temple / the auter and insence And the mynysters / to do theyr dylygence Within the temple to kepe alway seruyce And to the bely whiche is the sacryfyce ¶ Cornix. ¶ To god of the belly / glotons a temple make Of the smoky kechyn / for temple it they take Within this temple / mynystre / bawdy cookes And yonge scolyons / with fendes of theyr lokes The solem awter / is the borde or table With dysshes charged / twenty in a rable The beestes offcyd / in sacryfyce or hoste In dyuers sortes / of sodyn and of roste The sawe is ensence / or of the mete the smell And of this temple / these be the chefe vessell Platers and dysshes / morter and pot crokys Pottis and pestels / broches and flesshe hokes And many mo els / than I count or tell They knowe them best whiche with the kychē mell For god of the wombe / this seruice men prepare As for theyr true god / full lytell is theyr care ¶ Coridon.

¶ This lyfe is beestly / and vtterly damnable

 ¶ Cornix. ¶ But yet it is now reputed comendable Prynces and comons and some of relygyon Unto this temple haue chefe deuocyon To cokes and tauernes some erlyer frequent Than vnto seruyce of god omnipotent Fyrst serue the belly / than after serue our lorde Suche is the worlde / though it do yll accorde And suche as delytyth / in beestly glotony Folowith the court / supposynge stedfastly With mete and with drynke / to stofe well the paunche Whose lust insacyate / no flode of hell can staunche And for that prynces vse / costely mete and wyne These folys suppouse / to fede them with as fyne To ete and to drynke / as swete & delycate As doth theyr prynces or other great estate Lyke wyse as flyes / doth folowe and thycke swarme About • at paunches / vnto theyr vtter harme So suche men as haue / in glotony confort To lordes kechyns moost besely resorte With hungry throtys / yet go the oft away And oft haue the flyes moche greater part than they ¶ Coridon. ¶ Than tell on Cornix / what confort and pleasour Men fyndyth in court in tastynge & sauour With meate and drynke / how they theyr wombes fyll And whether thy spede / at pleasour & at wyll ¶ Coridon. ¶ To ete and to drynke / than is moost ioye & lust Whan men be hungry or greuyd sore with trust But oft vnto nowne / must thou abyde respyte Than tournyd is hounger / to doggys appetyte For playne wood houngry that tyme is many one That some wolde gladly be gnauynge on a bone On whiche vyle currys hath gnawen on before His purs is empty and houngre is so sore Or some by feblenes and wery taryenge Lese theyr appetyte / that they can ete nothynge Some other hath etyn / some bread & chese before That at theyr dyner / they lust to eate no more Theyr stomake stopyd and closyd with some crust From them hath takyn / theyr appetyte & lust Than other courters of maners beestyall With gredy mouthes deuowreth more than all Thus some at rysynge be fuller then be swyne And some for hunger agayne may syte and dyne Somtyme to gyder must thou bothe dyne & sup And somtyme thou dynest before the sonne be vp But yf thou refuse to ete before day lyght Than must thou tary and fast tyll it be nyght To ete or to drynke than is it small delyte Whan no dysgestyon hath styred appetyte Agayne art thou set to sowper all to late All thynge hath season whiche men of court not hate For neuer shall thy meate be set to in the season Where of procedyth moche sore vexacion Oft age intestate departyd sodaynly And lusty galandes departyth semblably Here of procedyth / the vomyte & the stone And other syknesse many mo than one Somtyme is the wyne soure / watery and so bad That onely the colour myght make a man be mad Colde without mesure / or hote as hors pys Bad is the colour / the sauour badder is But yf in the court thou drynke / bothe bere and ale Than is the colour trowbled / blake and pale Thynke nat to drynke it / in glas / syluer or golde The one may be stollyn / the other can nat holde Of a treyn vessell / than must thou nedy drynke Olde blake and rusty / lately takyn fro some synke And in suche vessell drynke / shall thou of tentyme Whiche in the bottom / is full of fylth and slyme And of that vessell / thou drynkest oft I wys In whiche some statis / or damys late dyd pys Yet shalt thou nat haue / a cup at thy delyte To drynke of allone / at wyll and appetyte Coridon in court / I tell the by my sowle For most parte / thou must drinke of a comon bowse And where greasy lyppes / and slymy berde Hath late ben depyd / to make some man aferde On that syde must thou thy lyppys wasshe also Or els without drynke / from dyner must thou go In the meane season / olde wyne & derely bought Before thy presence / shall to thy prynce be brought Whose smell and odour / so swete and maruelous With fragrant sauour / inbawnyth all the hous As muscadell capryke / romney and maluesy From Genes / brough from grece or hungarry Suche shall he drynke / suche shall to him be brought Thou hast the sauour / thy part of it is nought Though thou sholde perysike / for veray ardent thrust No drop thou gettest / for to esclacke thy lust And though good wynes / somtyme to the be brought The tast of better / shall cause it to seme nought Oft woldest thou drynke / yet darest thou nat sup Tyll tyme thy better haue tastyd of the cup No cup is fylled / tyll dyner halfe be done And some mynystres / it countyth than to sone But yf thou begyn for drynke / to call and craue Thou for thy calling suche good reward shalt haue That men shall call the malapert or dronke Or an abbey lowne / or lymner of a monke But with thy rebuke / yet art thou neuer the nere Whyther thou demaunde / wyne pallydale or bere Yet shalt thou nat drynke / whā thou hast nede & thrust The cup must thou spare / ay / for thy betters lust Thy ough many handes shall pas the pees or cup Before or it come to the / is all dronke vp And than yf a drope / or two therin remayne To lycke the vessell / somtyme thou arte full fayne And than at the grounde / some fylth yf thou espy To blame the butler / thou gettest but enuy And as men wekely / newe holy water poure And onys in a yere / the vessell vse to scoure So cupes & tankerdes in court as thou mayst thynke Where in the comons / ar vsyd for to drynke Or onys in the yere / empty and made clene And scantly that well / as oftentyme is sene For to aske water / thy wynes to alley Thou fynde shalt no nede / yf thou before assay With rynsynge of cupes / it tempered is before By cause pure water / perchaunce is nat in store ¶ Coridon. ¶ Fye on this maner / suche seruyce I defye I se that in court is vnclene penury Yet here though our drynke / be veray thyne & small We may therof plenty haue whan we call And in clene vessell / we drynke therof parde Take here the bottell Cornix / assay and se ¶ Cornix. ¶ Than call for the prest / whan I refuse to drynke This ale brewet / bentlye it maketh me to wynke ¶ Coridon. ¶ Thou sayst trouth Cornix / byleue me by the rode No hand is so sure / that can alway make goode But talke of the court / yf thou hast ony more Set downe the bottell / saue some lycour in store ¶ Cornix. ¶ God blysse the brewer / well colyd is my throte Now myght I for nede / synge hyer by a note It is bad water / that cannat allay dust And very soure ale / that can nat quenche thrust How rowlyth my tunge / now that I without payne Now here me I enter into the court agayne Beholde in the court / on comon table clothys So vyle and ragged that some his dyner lothys Touche them / then shall they vnto thy fyngers cleue And than must thou wype / thy handes on thy slyue So he whiche dayly fareth in this gyse Is so imbrued / and noynted in suche wyse That as many men / as on his scyrtes loke Count hym a scolyon / or ellys a gresy cooke ¶ Coridon. ¶ Yet Cornix / agayne / all courtynge I defy More clennes is kept / within some hogges sty But yet mate Cornix all be nat thus I wene For some table clothes be kept wyte and clene Fyner than sylke / and chaunged euery day ¶ Cornix. ¶ Coridon forsothe / it is as thou dost say But these be thynges / moost chefe & pryncypall Onely reserued / for greattest men of all As for other clothes / whiche serue the comonte Suche as I tolde the / or els vyler be And styll remayne the / vnto the planke cleuynge So black / so bawdy / so fowle and yll semynge Of syght and of sent / vyle and abhomynable Tyll skant may a man discerne them from the table But nowe here what meate / there nedes ete thou must And than yf thou mayst to it apply thy lust Thy mete in the court / is neyther swanne nor heron Curlewe nor crane / but cowrs befe & motton Fat porke or vele / and namely suche is bought For easyer pryce / whan they be lene and nought Thy flesshe is reesty / or lean towgh and olde Or it come to borde / onsauery and colde Somtyme twyse sodden / vnclene without tast Sawsed with coles / and asshes all for haste Whan thou it etyst / it smellyth so of smoke Than euery morsell / is able one to choke Make hunger thy sawse / be thou neuer so nyse For there shalt thou fynde none other sawse ne spyce Thy potage is made with wedes & with asshes And betwene thy tethe / of tyme the coles crasshes Somtyme halfe sodden / is bothe thy flesshe & broth The watter and herbes / togyder be so wrothe That eche goth a parte / they can nat well agre And oft be they salt / as water of the see Seldom at chese / hast thon a lytell lycke And yf thou ought haue / within it shall be quycke All full of magottys and lyke to the raynbowe Of dyuers colours / as read grene and yelowe On eche syde grawen / with myse or with rattys Or with vyle wormes / with dogges or wt cattys Unclene and scurfy / and harde as the stone It loketh so well / thou woldest it were gone If thou haue butter / than shall it be as yll Or worse than thy chese / but hungar hath no skyll And whan that egges / halfe hatched be almoost Than are they for the / layde in the fyre to roost If thou haue pearys / or apples by thou sure Than be they suche as myght no more indure And yf thou none ete / they be so good & fyne That after dyner / they serue for the swyne Thy oyle for fryenge is for the lampes mete A man it chokyth / the sauour is so swete A cordwayners shop / & it haue equall sent Suche payne & penaunce / acordyth best to lent Suche is of this oyle / the sauour peryllous That it myght / serpentes dryue out of an hous Oftyme thy stomake it causith to reboke And of it is redy / the sodaynly to choke Of fysshe in some court / thy chefe & vsyd dysshe Is whytynge hexynge / saltfysshe & stockfysshe If the day be solemne / parchaunce thou mayst fele The tast & the sapour / of tenche or ele Theyr muddy sapour shall make thy stomake ake And as for the ele / is cosyn to a snake But yf better fysshe / or any dysshes more Come to thy parte / it nought was before Corrupt yll smellynge and. v. dayes olde For sent thou canst nat receyue it yf thou wolde Thy bread is blacke / of yll sapour & tast And hard as a flynt / bycause thou none sholde wast That skant be thy tethe abyll it to brake Depe it in potage / yf thou no shyft can make And thoughe whyte & browne / be bothe at one pryce With browne shalt y• fede lest whyte myght make y• nyce The lordys wyll alway that people note & se Bytwene them & seruantes some dyuersyte Thoughe it to them tourne to no profyte at all If they haue pleasour / the seruant shall haue small Thy dysshes be one contynnynge the yere Thou knowest what meate before thē shall apere This slakyth great parte / of lustys and pleasour Whiche asketh dentyes moche dyuers of sapour On one dysshe dayly nedes shall thou blowe Tyll thou be as wery as dogge of the bowe But this myght be suffred / may fortune easely If thou sawe nat sweter meates to pas by For this vnto courters / moost comonly doth hape That while they haue browne bread & chese i theyr lape On it fast gnawynge as houndes rauenous Anone by them passyth of meate delycyous And costely dysses a score may they tell Theyr gredy gorgys ar rapt with the smell The deynteous dysshes / whiche pas throughe ye hall It were great labour for me to name them all And Coridon all yf I wolde it were but shame For sympyll shepherdes suche deyntyes to name With browne bread & chese / the shepherde is content And skant se we fysshe / past onys in the lent And other seasons / soft chese is our fode With boter & creame than is our dyner gode And mylke is our myrth / and specyall appetyte In apples and plommys / also is our delyte These fyll the bely all yf we hunger sore Whā mā hath ynough what nedyth hym haue more But whan these courters syt on the benches ydyll Smellynge those dysshes they byte on the brydyll And than is theyr payne and anger fell as gall Whan all passyth by / & they haue nought at all What fysshe is of sauour / swete & delycyous Whyle yu sore hungrest / thy prynce hath plenteous Rostyd or sodden in swete herbes & wyne Or fryed in oyle / most saporous & fyne Suche fysshe to beholde and none therof to tast Pure enuy causyth hye hart nere to brast Than seynge his dysshes of flesshe newe agayne Thy mynde hath tourmēt yet wt moche great payne Well mayste thou smell the pastyes of a hart And dyuers dentyes / but nought shall be thy part The crane / the fesant / the pecocke & curlewe The partryche / plouer / byttore & heronsewe Eche byrde of the ayre and beestes of the grounde At prynces table / shalt thou beholde habounde Season d so well in lycour redolent That the hall is full of pleasant smell & sent To se suche dysshes / & smell the swete odour And nothynge to tast / is vtter dyspleasour ¶ Coridon. ¶ Yes somwhat shall come / who can his tyme abyde And thus may I warne / my felowe by my syde What ete soft dromo / & haue nat so great hast For shortly we shall some better morfell tast Soft man and spare thou / a courner of thy belly A none shall be sent vs some lytell dysshe of Jely A legge of a swan / a partryche or twayne ¶ Cornix. ¶ Nay nay Coridon / thy bydynge is in vayne Thy thought shall vanysshe / suche dysshes be nat smal For comon courters / of them hath nought at all To thy next felowe / some morsell may be sent To thy dyspleasour greate anguysshe & tourment Wherby in thy mynde thou mayst suspect & trowe Hym more in fauour & in conceyt than thou And somtyme to the is sent a lytell crape With sauour therof to take the in a trape Nat to alay / thy hunger and desyre But by the swetnes / to set the more on fyre Besyde all this sorowe / incresyd is thy payne Whan thou beholdest before thy lorde payne mayne A baker chosen & wagyd well for thy That onely he sholde that besynes apply Yf thou one manchet / dare handyll other touche By cause of dutye to thrust it in thy pouche Than shall some sloueyn / the dasshe on the ere Thou shrynkest for shame thy bread leuynge there ¶ Coridon. ¶ My bagge full of stony & hoke in my hande Sholde gyue me a cowrage such boldly to wt stande ¶ Cornix. ¶ Nat so Coridon / they fare lyke to curres Togyther they cleue more fast than do burres Thoughe echone with other oft chyde brawle & fyght Agaynst a pore straūger they shewe al theyr myght It is a greate mastry for Coridon alone To stryue or comende / with many mo than one A strawe for thy wysdom & artys lyberall For fauour and coyne in court worketh all Thy prynces apples be swete & oryent Suche as Minalcas vnto Amintas sent Or suche as Agros dyd in his kepynge holde Of fragrant sapour and colour lyke pure golde In sauowre of whome thou onely hast delyte But yf thou sholde dye no morssell shalt thou byte His chese is costly / fat pleasant & holsome Though thy tethe water / thou etest nat a crome Upon the sewer / well mayst thou gase & gape Whyle he is fyllyd / thy hunger is a Jape Before thy souerayne shall the keruar stande With dyuers gesture / his knyfe in his hande Dysmembrynge a crane / or somwhat deynteous And though his parsell be fat & plenteous Thoughe vnto dyuers / thou se hym cut & kerue Thou gettest no gobbet / though yu sholde dye & sterue In all that thy syght hath delectacyon Thy gredy tastynge / hath great vexacron What man wyll byleue / that suche wretchyd thynge A courter may fynde his pleasour or lyuynge What man is he but rather wolde assent That in suche lyuynge is anguysshe & tourment May nat theyr tourment be well compared thus Unto the tourment of wretchyd Tantalus Whiche as sayd Fawstus / whose saynge I may thinke In flode and fruytys / may neyther ete nor drynke Auncyent poetes / this Tantalus do fayne In hell condemnyd to suffer suche payne That vp to the chyn / in water doth he stande And to his vpper lyp / retche apples a thousande But whan he wolde drynke / the water doth dyscende And whan he wolde ete / the apples doth ascende So both fruyt and water them kepyth at a stent In myddes of pleasour haue courters lyke tourmēt But now to tell table for to retourne agayne There hast thou yet another greuous payne That whan other talke / & speke what they wyll Thou dare nat whysper / but as one dom be styl And yf thou ought speke / pryuey or aperte Thou art to besy / & callyd malaperte If thou call for ought by worde sygne / or becke Thā Jacke wt the busshe shal tant the with a checke One recheth the bread with grutche & murmurynge If thou of some other demaunde any thynge He hath at thy askynge great scorne & dysdayne By cause yt thou syttest whyle he standyth in payne Somtyme the seruauntys be blynde & ignorant And spy nat what thynge vpon the bord doth want If they se a fawt / they wyll it nat attende By neglygent scorne / dysdaynynge it to mende Somtyme thou wantest other bread or wyne But nought dare thou aske yf yu sholde neuer dyne Demaunde salt trenchour spone or other thynge Than art thou unportune / & euer more crauynge And so shall thy name be spred to thy payne For at the shall all haue scorne & dysdayne Somtyme art thou erkyd of them at the table But moche more art thou of the seruynge rable The hungry seruers / whiche at the table stande At euery morsell / hath iye vnto thy hande So moche on thy morsell dystract is theyr mynde They gape whā thou gapyst / oft bytynge y• wynde By cause that thy leuyngys / is only theyr part If thou fede the well / sore greued is theyr hart Namely of a dysshe costly and deynteous Eche pece that thou cuttest to them is tedyous Than at the cupborde / one doth another tell Se how he fedeth / lyke the deuyll of hell Our parte he eteth / nought good shall we tast Than pray they to god that it be thy last ¶ Coridon. ¶ I had leuer Cornix go souperles to bed Than at suche a faste / to be so bested Better it is / with chese and bread one to fyll Than with great deynte / with anger and yll wyll Or a small handfull / with rest and sure pleasance Than twenty dysshes / with wrathfull countenance ¶ Cornix. ¶ That can Amintas recorde and testefy But yet is in court / more payne and mysery Brought in / by dysshes the table for to fyll But nat one is brought / in order at thy wyll That thou wolde haue fyrst / and louest pryncypall Is brought to the borde / of tymes last of all With bread and rude mete / whan thou art sacyate Than cometh dysshes / most swete and delycate Than must thou other dyspyse them vtterly Or to thy hurte / surfet / ensuynge glotony But yf it fortune / as seldom dothe befall That at begynnynge come dysshes best of all Or thou hast tasted / a morsell other twayne Thy dysshe out of syght / is taken sone agayne Slowe be the seruers / in seruynge in alway But swyft be they / after takynge thy meat away A specyall costom / is vsyd them amonge No good dysshe to suffer on borde to be longe If the dysshe be pleasant / other flesshe or fysshe Ten handes at onys / swarme in the dysshe And yf it be flesshe ten knyues shall thou se Manglynge the flesshe & in the platter fle To put there thy hande is peryll without fayle Without a gantelet or els a gloue of mayle Amonge all these knyues / thou one of both must haue Or els is it harde / thy fyngers hole to saue Oft in suche dysshes in court is it sene Some leue theyr fyngers / eche knyfe is so kene On a fynger gnawyth some hasty gloton Supposynge it a pees / of befe or of motton Besyde these in court mo paynes shalt thou se At borde be men set / as thycke as they may be The platters shall pas of tymes to & fro And ouer the sholders / & hede shall they go And oft all the brothe and lycour fat Is spylt on thy gowne / thy bonet and thy hat Somtyme art thou thrust / for lytell rowme and place And somtyme thy felowe reboketh in thy face Bytwene dysshe and dysshe / is tary tedyous But in y• mean tyme / though yu haue payne greuous Neyther mayst thou ryse / cough / spyt / or nese Or take other easemēt / lest thou thy name may lese For suche as this wyse / to eas them ar wont In nombre of rascaldes / courters them count Of mete is none houre / nor tyme of certente Yet from begynnynge / absent yf thou be Other shalt thou lose / thy meat and kys the post Or yf by fauour thy sowper be nat lost Thou shalt at lest way rebukes sour abyde For nat attendynge & faylynge of thy tyde Onyons or garlyke / whiche stamped Testyles Nor yet swete lekes / mayst thou nat etc ywys ¶ Coridon. ¶ What forsake garlyke / lekys and butter swete Nay rather wolde I go to Ely on my fete We counte these deyntyes / and meates very good These be chefe dysshes / and ruall mennys food ¶ Cornix. ¶ Who court frequenteth / must loue the dysshes swete And lordes dysshes / to hym ar no thynge mete As for our metys they may nat ete I thynke By cause great lordes may nat abyde the stynke But yet lordes syege / and ruall mennys or dure Be lyke of sauour / for all theyr meates pure As for comon meatys / of them pleasour is small By cause one seruyce / of them contynuall Allayeth pleasour / for voluptuosyte Wyll haue of dysshes chaunge and dyuersyte And whan thou hast smellyd meat more delycyous Thy course dayly fare / to the is tedyous Now Judge Coridon / yf here in be pleasour Me thynke it anguysshe sorowe & dolour Contynuall care and vter mysery Affliceyon of herte / & wretchyd penury But many folys thynke it is nothynge so Whyle they se courters out warde so gayly go The coursers seruantys cloch syluer & golde And other lyke thynges / delyte they to beholde But nough they regard / the inward mysery Whiche them oppressyth in court contynually And as sayth Seueke / some count them fortunate Whiche outwarde apere / well clothed or ornate But yf thou behelde theyr inwarde wretchydnes Theyr dayly trouble / theyr fruytles besynes Than wolde thou count them bothe vyle & myserable Theyr rowme and offyce / bothe fals & desceyuable For lyke as men paynt / olde wallys ruynous So by they payntyd / theyr lyfe contraryous And therfore all they whiche serue in court gladly For tast or smellynge / or spyce of glotony Haue lyke more wretchyd / than burgyes or marchant Whiche with theyr wyues haue loue & lyfe pleasant Shepherdes haue nat so wretchyd lyfe as they Though they leue porely on cruddes chese & whey On apples plommes / and drynke clere watter depe As it were lordes reynynge amonge theyr shepe The wretchyd lasar / with clynkynge of his bell Hath lyfe whiche doth the courters lyfe excell The caytyf begger hath meate & lyberte Whan courters hunger / in harde captyuyte The pore man beggyth / nothynge hurtynge his name As towchig courters they dare nat begge for shame And an olde prouerbe is sayd by men moost sage That oft yonge courters be beggers in theyr age Thus all those wretchys / whiche doth y• court frequēt Brynge nat to purpos theyr myndes nor intent But yf theyr myndes & wyll were sacyate They ar nat better / therby nor fortunate Than all be folys concludynge with this clawse Which wt glad myndes vse courtyng for suche cause ¶ Coridon. ¶ Now truly Cornir / ryght playnly hast thou tolde Of court and courters / the paynes many folde And as I suppose there can no more remayne Thy wyt and councell hath ryd me fro great payne If I had plenty of treasour and ryches I sholde or I went rewarde thy besynes But nede oft hurteth good maners commendable ¶ Cornix. ¶ What man woll gladly gyue / that is nat able But one habundynge in treasour and ryches Is ware in gyuynge / or yet to make promes Thy wyll is ynough / syth that thy store is thyn I aske of the fox no ferther than the skyn But longe is to nyght / therfore I shall gladly ¶ Coridon. ¶ What more yet declare of courtly mysery Thou hast tolde ynough / by all these crosses ten Almost for to choke vpon a thousand men ¶ Cornix. ¶ That I promysed / ryght wolde I sholde fulfyll Yet more shall I towche / yf thou can holde y• styll I sayd fyrst that some / but they be sawyn thyn Resorte vnto the court / there sowles for to wyn For wt great prynces / whyle suche men remayne They Thynke by counsell by besynes & payne Thefely to labour for the vtylyte Of dyuers causys towchynge the comonte Pore men supportynge / and chyldren faderles And helpynge wydowes / also in theyr dystres So moche more wenynge / to pleas our lorde therby Bycause they contende in payne & Jeopardy Of these must I cure / the myndes ignorant Whiche be more folys than all the remenant All yf they repute themselfe / neuer so sage Yet shall I proue themselfe stuffyd with dotage ¶ Coridon. ¶ Declare that Cornix / that fayne wolde I here We haue tyme ynough / yet doth the sonne apers ¶ Cornix. ¶ Of this forsayd sorte / scant any fynde we shall But that requyreth some lucre temporall But neuertheles / now fayne we suche a one Whiche seketh in court for no promocyon But only intende / there sowles for to wyn And as a champyon / to fyght agaynst syn Solde wyse men suppose in court so to preuayle Lost is theyr labour / theyr stody & trauayle Or sholde a good man / whiche loueth honeste Put hym in thraldom / or in captyuyte Of prynces seruyce / his sowle to wyn therby Say men what them lyst / me thynkyth y• contrary For in court required / so many a syn and vyce And so many wayes / from vertue to attyse And so many meanys / ledynge to vicyousnes That there may a man / skant byde in his goodnes For as a bad horse / resty and flyngynge Oft kestyth a man / though he be well syttynge In lyke maner wyse man and rygghtwyse Resortynge to court / dyscendyth vnto vyce All yf his reason and wyll also deny In court hath the fende / suche frawde & polesy By mean that vyces haue there no punysment For lust & suffrance / make myndes insolent But syn & synners / lye dayly so in wayte Agaynst good lyuynge / to lay theyr deadely bayte That the beste lyuers / from way of grace declyne By there occasyon / impellyth to ruyne He fallyth in rockys / & peryll consequent By force of tempest and wyndes vyolent ¶ Coridon. ¶ What man in court is neytheyr roke nor sande Dyffusly thou spekyst / & to vnderstande ¶ Cornix. ¶ I speke in parable / or by symylytude Who nat perceyuyth his reason is but rude But mate Coridon / I tell the before That what I shall say or yet haue close in store Of dyuers auctours / I lernyd of Codrus And he it lernyd / of shepherd Siluius This Codrus sayd / that Plato the great sage Of Athenence court / aduertynge the outrage Purposyd rather to fle to solytude Than lyue in honour amonge suche vyces rude Than knowe well thy selfe / what so euer thou be Whiche to sue the court hast thy felicyte And note yf thy selfe be better than plato Note well the powre yf thou haue wyll also As well as Plato / yll costom to refrayne If thou so thynkest / thou thynkest thynge in vayne In court must a man / sayle after euery wynde Hymselfe conformynge / to euery manners mynde Serue euery season / confourme hym to the tyme Be comon with mo / though it be in some cryme He must rule nature & yet he wote not whither After the season / nowe hyther & nowe thyther And in his maner he must dyrect his lyse With heuy persones / hym must he shewe pensyfe With men at leyser / whiche wyll them recreate He must be ioconde / after theyr vse and rate With aged persones / he must hym haue sadly With youth behaue hym iocounde and merely With auenturous men / whiche seke on cruelte He must shewe hym blode & of audacyte With lyuers beestly / insuynge carnall lust Lyue lecherously / forsothe he nedys must And who so refuseth than is his nature wronge He shall nat in the court ryse nor contynue longe But Coridon / thou myght obiect vnto me more That y• sayd Plato / whiche fled from court before Came longe whyle after / and was in the seruyce Of Dionisius / the Tyran of Sily • e It is as thou sayst / but harken to the ende This Tyrannys vyce / whyle he dyd reprehende All yf the Tyran counted his name diuyne As vnder colour / to folowe his doctryne The cruell Tyran / his malyce to fulfyll Solde this same Plato / mawgre his mynde & wyt But thus entreatyd / was Plato nat alone The wrathe of prynces proued haue many one And namely of suche as wysest were I wys As • enon murdred / by Tyran Phalaris His godly wysdom / nor honour of his age Coude hym nat socoure / so dyd the Tyran rage Arracreontes / somtyme of Cypres kynge Slewe Anaragoras / for all his great connynge And by commaundement / of Theodoricus Without all mercy / slayne was Boecius ¶ Coridon.

¶ These be far matters and thynges veray olde

 ¶ Cornix. ¶ Euyn suche they be / as Codrus to me tolde And yet many mo / he countyd to me playne Of worthy clerkes / whom fel prynces hath slayne But all to recount / me thynke it is nat best That askyth leyser / the sonne is nere at rest Scant tyme remayneth / to tell that is besyde Except we purpose here all the nyght abyde ¶ Coridon. ¶ Late at our churche ale / syr Sampson to me tolde A tale of moyses & other Prophetes olde How the same moyses and many of lyke sort To prynces courtes dyd oftentyme resorte He sayd that moyses though he of tonge were rude Left his hole flocke / behynde in solytude And he with Aaron / togyther both dyd go On goddys message vnto kynge Pharao Also syr Sampson recounted vnto me A lyke narracyon of prophete Helyse But Cornix / my mynde is moche obliuyous And longe hystoryes to here be tedious ¶ Cornix. ¶ As touchynge moyses and many prophetys mo I granute / they were wont to prynces for to go These men were godly / it foly were to say That all men sholde haue suche priuilege as they These were messangers of god of Izraell And fynde can we nat / that they in court dyd dwell But whan they had sayd goddes commaundement They left bothe court and prynces in continent Joseph alonly / abode with Pharao Thordinance of god had erst dysposed so To helpe his nacyon / in tyme after to come By his prouisyon / and maruelous wysdome I graunte the also / Mawricius & Martyne Sebastian / George & other men dyuyne Seruyd in court & vsyd chyua • ry And neuertheles / thy lyued holely But this Mawricius dyd chrystened become And with his legion / receyued marterdome Lyke wyse sayut George & saynt Sebastian Dyspysynge ydo • tes whiche courtys vsed than Suffered harde deth by many folde tourment For loue and true fayth of god omnipotent But durynge the tyme / these dyd in the court remayne No namys of sayntes / men gaue to them sertayne And holy martyn / whan he was come to age Gaue ouer the court / and fyxed his cowrage In goddys seruyce / remaynynge stedfastly For he perceyuyd / & knewe ryght perfytely That of pore wydowes & chyldren faderles The cause nat entryth in to the court doutles Theyr matters quealeth / for solde is all iustyce And euery speche / of rybaudry and vyce Also in courtes / of mercy founde is nought And of relygyon / no sele yf it were sought Enuy possessyth the place of charyte Onely Ambicion hath there auctoryte These vyces to resyste / passyth humayne doctryne Man they ouercome / except wysdom dyuyne If god do nat socoure it passyth mannys myght With suche occasyon / contynually to fyght This knewe saynt Martyn / by syght contynuall Yet nought hym mouyd by help celestiall And though he lyued in court ryght holely He wolde no lenger insue that chyua • ry And yet many mo / he countyd to me playne Of worthy clerkes / whom fel prynces hath slayne But all to recount / me thynke it is nat best That askyth leyser / the sonne is nere at rest Scant tyme remayneth / to tell that is besyde Except we purpose here all the nyght abyde ¶ Coridon. ¶ Late at our churche ale / syr Sampson to me tolde A tale of moyses & other Prophetes olde How the same moyses and many of lyke sort To prynces courtes dyd oftentyme resorte He sayd that moyses though he of tonge were rude Left his hole flocke / behynde in solytude And he with Aaron / togyther both dyd go On goddys message vnto kynge Pharao Also syr Sampson recounted vnto me A lyke narracyon of prophete Helyse But Cornix / my mynde is moche obliuyous And longe hystoryes to here be tedious ¶ Cornix. ¶ As touchynge moyses and many prophetys mo I granute / they were wont to prynces for to go These men were godly / it foly were to say That all men sholde haue suche priuilege as they These were messangers of god of Izraell And fynde can we nat / that they in court dyd dwell But whan they had sayd goddes commaundement They left bothe court and prynces in continent Joseph alonly / abode with Pharao Thordinance of god had erst dysposed so To helpe his nacyon / in tyme after to come By his prouisyon / and maruelous wysdome I graunte the also / Mawricius & Martyne Sebastian / George & other men dyuyne Seruyd in court & vsyd chyua • ry And neuertheles / thy lyued holely But this Mawricius dyd chrystened become And with his legion / receyued marterdome Lyke wyse saynt George & saynt Sebastian Dyspysynge ydo • tes whiche courtys vsed than Suffered harde deth by many folde tourment For loue and true fayth of god omnipotent But dutynge the tyme / these dyd in the court remayne No namys of sayntes / men gaue to them sertayne And holy martyn / whan he was come to age Gaue ouer the court / and fyxed his cowrage In goddys seruyce / remaynynge stedfastly For he perceyuyd / & knewe ryght perfytely That of pore wydowes & chyldren faderles The cause nat entryth in to the court doutles Theyr matters quealeth / for solde is all iustyce And euery speche / of rybaudry and vyce Also in courtes / of mercy founde is nought And of relygyon / no sele yf it were sought Enuy possessyth the place of charyte Onely Ambicion hath there auctoryte These vyces to resyste / passyth humayne doctryne Man they ouercome / except wysdom dyuyne If god do nat socoure it passyth mannys myght With suche occasyon / contynually to fyght This knewe saynt Martyn / by syght contynuall Yet nought hym mouyd by help celestiall And though he lyued in court ryght holely He wolde no lenger insue that chyua • ry Nor leue example / to other men to come To lyue / where reygneth no vertue nor wysdome As whan it was asked of Cryst our sauyour What sholde a man do / of penaunce or labour Or other dedys to wyn eternall blys He bed nat a man / ren to the court ywys He sayd nat go folowe a prynce or lorde or kynge But go fell thy ryches / and other worldly thynge Dyspyse all the worlde / and worldly vanyte For so haue I done / than come & folowe me In this cause / our lorde hath made no mencyon Of folowynge the court / for vayne promocyon Than let men take hede / though they be vertuous Lest whyle they folowe a thynge so perylous In court supposynge / theyr sowles for to wyn Lest there they lose them / by fallynge into syn For there be snarys and gy • ys infynyte The fende is redy / occasyon to excyte In euery corner some enuy shalt thou mete And stomblynge stonys lay hyd before thy fete Full harde is it there / Ambicyon to refayne Auaryce to slake / it is a great payne To tame enuy / & wrath to mitigate And in occasyon onclenlynes to hate Harde is it dayly to be amonge these same And none of them all / thy pleasour to inflame But yf there be any / whiche can his lust subdue Amonge all wyces / to kept them in vertue As a precyous stone / clene in the myddes of myre Or lye in flamys / nat greuyd with the fyre Or touche soft pytche and nat his fyngers fyle If suche one be founde / within a thousande myle I wyll nat deny / but that he may well sue After court / and folowe / nat hurtynge his vertue So moche more meryte / shall suche a man procure How moche more he dothe / of ieopardy endure But this is my mynde / & sure opynyon That suche as resorte / vnto the court echone Be rather overcome / by syn & visyousnes Than they can vyces vaynquysshe and repres For man of his nature / is apt to syn & vyce And with great hardnes dothe vertue exercyse Example of chyldren / whiche yf they haue theyr wyll Be lesse dysposed to goodnes / than to yll I harde Minalcas synge / this vnto his drone That scripture sayth / that mankynde is nat prone In youth and age / his pleasour to ensure In easy lustes / than hardnes of vertue Therfore I councell / thyselfe my Coridon Amintas / Codrus / and shepherdes echone And all of other men whiche wyll them saue fro hell That none of them all / presume with court to mell For there is the sowle in ieopardy by cryme And after lyfe is lost be surffet or due tyme For other must a man vnto his prynce assent Laughe at his vyces and be with them content Than lost is thy sowle / els his fawtys blame Than shalt thou his Ire agaynst the inflame As Cirus the kynge somtyme of persy lande Had one Arpolus / chefe frende of a thousand Bycause Arpolus onys blamyd his offence The wrathfull tyran / by mad malyuolence Caused Arpolus / vnwarly at a feste To ete his Chyldren as they lyke meate were drest And thus Ar polus to his chyldren was a graue For blamige thy prynce suche reward mayst • haue Ryght so Cambyses / in hasty furour slewe The sone of his frend whiche was to hym most true By cause that his frende / hym blamyd for dronknes Of suche examples / be many mo doutles ¶ Coridon. ¶ I haue hard Codrus oft tymes testefy How Aristotle / prynce of philosophy Sued the tentys / with lawdes and honour Of Alexander the myghty conquerour ¶ Cornix. ¶ Thou lytell knowest what causyd hym do so Or yf he frely had lyberte to go Truly I suppose / it was agaynst his hart And that he myght nat at lyberte departe But many other ryght worthy hye honour Also insured / that myghty conquerour As Calystynes of hye dyscressyon And also Crito / whiche was his norsys son And bolde Lichunachus / folowyd hym in fyght Whiche was a phylosopher / & eke a worthy knyght And many mo els that I can count or tell But here Coridon what vnto these befell For that Calistines forbad men to honour Great Alexander as god of moost valour After suche costome as was in Persy lande Therfore had he cut / from body / fote and hande His nose & earys / of trenchyd were also His iyen out dygged for to increas his wo Than by commaundement of the conquerour Was thrust into pryson to byde in more dolour Endurynge his lyfe / there euer to remayne But whā Lisimachus for to make short this payne Rechyd hym poysen / his cruell conquerour Made hym be throwen to lyons to deuour And at a banket / as erst was towchyd playne By Alexander was the sayd Crito slayne For blamynge of hym by cause that he dyd blame His father dedes / Philipphus by his name Therfore Coridon after my iugement And as I beleue thou wylt therto assent They all be folys / whiche sue to court so sore For all suche causys / as towched ar before Or to wyn sowles / be there content to serue Theyr owne sowle puttinge in daūger for to sterue For other do they seke and hunt about in vayne And theyr desyres there shall they nat obtayne Or yt thynge they seke / whiche shal do them dammage Els be they throwen in suche a blynde dotage That of two waynes / they chose moost Jeopardous All full of thornes / and besynes perylous All yf they myght well to theyr desyre attayne By way more easy / more short & voyde of payne ¶ Coridon. ¶ O maruelous matter and well brought to an ende I can nat be able thy reason to commende Nor yet to rewarde the thynge that thou haste done Though I had ryches / & wyt lyke Salamon Thou haste me sauyd / by councell sapient Out of hell mouth / & any folde tourment But nowe is it tyme / to drawe to our cotage The day is endyth / ryght so is our langage ¶ Finis. ¶ This endyth the seconde egloge of the miserye of courtys and courters.
¶ Here begynneth the thyrde and last egloge of the misery and behauour of courtys and courters ¶ Coridon. AFter sore labour / swete rest is delectable And after lōge nyght day lyght is cōfortable And many wordes requyreth moche drynke The throte well wasshyd thā loue y• iyen to wynke This nyght with me / it prouyd other wyse I dranke to bedwarde / as is my comon gyse But suche rest / had I tyll it was on the morne As had my mother / the nyght that I was borne ¶ Cornix. ¶ Of that I mayuayle / for thou art wont alway To sleap and to snort / tyll tyme that it be day But how hapenyd this / now tell me Coridon That thou had this nyght so sore vexacion ¶ Coridon. ¶ I was so drenchyd with dreamys a drad so sore I trowe neuer man was troubled so before Me thought in the court I taken was in trap And there sore handled / god gyue it an yll hap Me thought the scolyons / lyke fendes of there lokes Came some wt whytles / some other wt flesshe hokes Me thought that they stode echone about me thycke With knyues redy for to flea me quicke So had I slepynge as moche of fear & drede As I sholde wakynge / haue lost my skyn in dede With suche a vision / I troublyd was all nyght Wherfore I ioyed / what tyme I sawe day lyght For as soone as euer I hard the byrdes pepe For fear of dreamys / no lenger durst I slepe But stert fro my bede / as lyghtly was I prest Almost as a byrde / out fleeth from hyr nest So cawght I my male / my boteiland my hoke And forth with my flocke / anone my way I toke But tell me Cornix / I pray the hartely What thynge this my dream / may note & signify ¶ Cornix. ¶ I drede lyst some one / fulfyllyd / with yll wyll Had hard our talkynge / & it reportyd yll Whiche may vs after cause rather wepe than synge For yll wyll makyth / the worst of euery thynge But than doth one thynge / well confort me agayne Forst men ar wont / of that to dream certayne Wherwith theyr myndes / in walkynge trowbled be A strawe for dreamys / they be but vanyte And as for me / I no man dyscommende If scabbyd clawe / the trouth shall me defende But how Coridon / thy head is in thy lap What nowe so erly begynnest thou to nap ¶ Coridon. ¶ Who hath nat slept / nor restydall the nyght Must sleap by day / els shall his brayne be lyght But Cornix yf thou lyst / me for to kepe and wake Talke of some mattes agayne for goddes sake For so shall the tyme ouerpasse with lytell payne God knowyth whan we shall mete after agayne ¶ Cornix. ¶ I graunte Coridon / for recreacyon Of court yet to haue / more cōmunicacyon ¶ Coridon.

¶ All mysery of court / thou hast all redy tolde

 ¶ Cornix. ¶ Nay nay Coridon / nat by a thousande folde We shall haue mater / nere tyll this yeres ende To talke of courtes / yf I myght it intende But this one day of part well may we talke As for the other I force nat let it walke ¶ Coridon. ¶ Thāsyth downe Cornix / lean here agayne this bāke As for our talkynge we gett but lytell thanke ¶ Cornix. ¶ We gett as moche almost as we deserue I loke for no thāke nor mete though I sholde steruae In court shall men fynde yet many paynes mo Some shall I touche / lett all the other go Bycause that of slepynge was our fyrst cōmonynge Here nowe what paynes haue courters in slepynge They oftentyme slepe / full wretchedly in payne And lay all the nyght / forth in colde wynd & rayne Somtyme in bare strawe / on bordes groūde or stonys Tyll bothe theyr sydes ake and all theyr bonys And whan that one syde aketh and is wery Than tourne the other / lo here a remedy Or ellys must he ryse and walke hymselfe a space Tyll tyme his ioyntes be satled in theyr place But yf it fortune thou lye within some towne In bed of fethers / or ellys of easy downe Than make the redy / for flyes and for gnattys For lyse for fleas / punaysys myse & rattys These shal with bytynge / with stynkynge dyn & soūde Make ye wors easment / than yf thou lay on graūde And neuer in the court shalt thou haue bed alone Saue whan thou woldest moost gladly lye wt one Thy shetys shall be onclene / ragged and rent Lothly vnto syght / but lothlyer to sent In whyche some other / departyd late before Of the pestylence / or of some other sore Suche a bedfelawe men shall to the assygne That it were better to slepe amonge the swyne So fowle and scabyd of harde pymples so thyn That a man myght grate hard erustes on his skyn And all the nyght longe shall he his sydys grate Better lay on ground / than lay with suche a mate One coughyth so faste / another breth doth stynke That durynge y• nyght / scant mayst y• gett a wynke Somtyme a • eper / is sygned to thy bed Or with other sore / one greuously bested Somtyme thy bedfelawe is colder than is yse To hym than he drawith / thy clothys with a tryse But yf he be hote / by feuers than shall he Cast all the clothys / & couerlet on the Other is thy felawe alway to the greuous Or els thou to hym art alway tedyous And somtyme these courters / them more to incomber Slepe all in one chamber / nere twenty in nomber Than it is great sorowe / for to abyde theyr showt Some fert some flyngyth / & other snort & rowt Some boke & some bable / some comyth dronke to bed Some brawle & soe Jangel whā they be beestly fed Some laughe & some crye / eche man wyl haue his wyl Some spue & some pysse / nat one of them is styll Neuer be they styll tyll myddes of the nyght And than some brawlyth & for theyr beddes fyght And oft art thou sygned to loge nere the stable Than there shalt thou here of rascoides a rable Somtyme shalt thon here / how they eche other smyte The nyenge of horses / & how eche other byte Neuer shall thou knowe thy lodgynge or thy nest Tyll all thy betters / be sadled & at rest In ynnes be straungers / and gestys many one Of courters lyues / make there conclusyon And where they be knouen of neyther man nor wyfe Oft tymes courters / there ende theyr wretchyd lyf Than shall the hosteler be theyr executour Or suche other rybaude shall / that was his deuour Makynge the tapster / comyth gay & feat His shert / his doublet or bonet to excheat For flesshe that he bought & payd nought therfore Than is she extreme / for he shall come no more But a comon in / yf that thou lodge or lye Thou neuer canst lay vp / thy gere so pryuely But other it is stolne / or chaungyd with a thought And for a good / thou hast a thynge of nought For some arcant theuys / shall in thy chamber lye And whyle thou slepyst / they ryse shall pryuely All yf thou thy powche vnder thy pylowe lay Some one crafty sercher / therat shall haue assay Baudes and brethels / & flaterynge tapstres Joglers & pypers and scorfy waferers Flaterers & hostlers / and other of this secte Ar besy in thy chambre / chattynge with none effect With brawlynge they entre fyrst padyant of thy play That nought mayst y• here what wyser men do say Suche is theyr showtynge yt scantly mayst thou here The secrete folowe / whiche by thy syde is nere But rurall flymmers / & other of our sort Unto thy lodgynge / or court whan they resorte They chat they babyll / and all / but of the wombe More pert & more peuisshe thā they wold be at home Though thou wolde slepe in durynge all the nyght Some synge / some morne / theyr • ēman out of syght Some synge of Bessy / & some of Nane or kate Namely whan lycour dystourbed hath the pate The brotell boteman / and wretchyd laborer Cesse nat to synge / be vytayle neuer so dere Who can with suche haue quietnes or rest But yf thou with slepe / at last be opprest And that sore labours / to slepe the constrayne Rumour the raysyth & wakenyd agayne On mornynge whan thou myght slepe moost quietly Than must thou aryse there is no remedy For what tyme thy lorde vnto his hors is prest Than ought no seruaunt / lye in his bed at rest ¶ Coridon. ¶ Now Cornix I se that with a brawlynge wyfe Better were to byde / contynuynge my lyfe And to here chyldren cryenge on euery syde Than thus in the court this / clamour to abyde ¶ Cornix. ¶ No dout Coridon / but here more mysery Whiche in theyr lodgynge / haue courters comonly Men must wyn the marshall / or ellys herbegere With pryce or wt prayer els must thou stande arere And rewarde theyr knauys / must thou yf thon be able For to assygne the / a lodgynge tolerable And though they promyse yet shal they nought fulfyll But poynte the place / nothynge after thy wyll Other nere a preuey / a stable or asynke For sent & for clamour where y• can haue no wynke After thy rewarde they shall the so manace That malgre thy tethe thou must resigne thy place And that to some one whiche is thy ennemy • f they be pleased there is no remedy But yet for certayne / it were thynge tollerable To becke & to bowe / to personys honorable As to the marshall / or yet the herbeger Or gentyll personys / whiche vnto them be ne • e But this is a werke / a trouble and great payne Somtyme must thou stoupe / vnto a rude vyllayne Callynge hym mayster / and oft clawe his hande. All yf thou wolde se hym wawer in a bande For yf thou lyue in court / y• must rewarde this rable Cokes & scolyons / and fermers of the stable Butlers & butchers / prouenders & bakers Porters and powlers / & specyally false takers On these & all lyke / spare must thou none expence But mekely with mede / bye there beneuolence But namely of all / it is a greuous payne To abyde the porter / yf he be a vyllayne How oftentymes shall he the yatys close Agaynst thy stomake / thy forhede or thy nose How oftentymes / whan thy one fote is in Shall he by malyce / out thrust the be thy chyn Somtyme his fader / somtyme his clubbysshe fete Shall dryue ye backewarde / & tourne y• to the strete What he the sayth / commynge yf he syt How oftentymes shall he the yatys shyt For very pleasour and ioye of thy cōmynge The yatys he closyth / lo here a pleasant thynge All yf thou hast / well rewarded hym before Without thou standest / in rayne & tempest sore And in the meane tyme / a rascolde or vylayne Shall neuer whyle thou art bathyd in the rayne Somtyme the porter his malyce shall excuse And say vnto the / thy labour to abuse That other is the lorde / a slepe or in councell Than lost is thy labour / mysspent is thy trauayll ¶ Coridon. ¶ Of our pore howses / men soone may konwe the gyn So at our pleasour / we may go out and in If courtys be suche / me thynketh without dout They best be at eas whiche so remayne without For better be without / wete to the skyn with rayne Than euer in court & lyue in endles payne For yf hell yatys / dyd nat styll open gape Thā wretchyd sowles / great tourmēt sholde escape Ryght so / yf the court were close contynually Some men sholde escape greate payne & mysery But Cornix procede / tell on of courters care ¶ Cornix. ¶ Well sayd Coridon / god geue the well to farre Now wolde I speke of paynes of the ware But that me thynkyth is best for to dyffarre For yf thy lorde in batayle haue delyte To sue the warre / be paynys infynyte For whyle he warryth / thou mayst nat abyde at home Thy lust to cherysshe / & pleasour of thy wombe To sue an army / than hast thou wretchyd payne Of colde or of heat / of thrust hunger & rayne And mo other paynes than I wyll specyfy For nought is in warrefare / saue care and mysery Murder and myschefe / rapyns & cowardyse Or els cruelte / there reygneth nought but vyce Whiche here to recounte / were longe & tedyous And to our purpose in part contraryous Therfore let pas / the warrys mysery The dredefull daungers / & wretchyd penury And of these Cytees / talke we a word or twayne In whiche no man can lyue auoyde of payne For whether so euer the court remoue or flyet All the vexacyons / remoue alway with it If thou for solace into the towne resorte There shalt thou mete / of men as bad a sort With at thy clothynge / & the shall haue dysdayne If thou be besy / the club shall do the payne There be nowe customs / and actys in lyke wyse None mayst thou scorne / nor none of them despyse Than must thou eche day begyn to lyue on newe As for in Cytees I wyll no more remayne But tourne my talkynge / now to the court agayne After of this may we / haue cōmunycacyon Of Cytezyns / and of theyr vexacyon Whether that thy lorde syt / or yet stande erect Styll mayst thou stande / or els shall thou be cheet Thy head and legges shall fynde no rest nor eas If thou in court intende alway to pleas Oft must thou becke / styll stande and euer bare To wors than thy selfe / whiche is a payne & care What shall I comon / the pensyfnes and payne Of courters / or they / theyr wagys can obtayne Howe moche dyfferrynge / & howe moche abatynge Must courters suffer / and manyfolde checkynge Neuer hast thou the hole somtyme shall they abate Or els shall the day / or payment be to late From Robert to John̄ / somtyme they shall the sende And than none of bothe / to pay the / may eutende From post vnto pyller / tossyd shall thou be Scorned and blynded / with frawde and subtylte Some mayst thou beholde / sighynge for great sorowe Whan he is apoynted to come agayne to morowe For many a morowe hath he ben seruyd so Another standyth his hart replete with wo Countyng and tournynge his gotys in his cap Praynge god to sende the payer an euyll hap For where he rekened / for to receyue a pounde Skant hath he halfe / suche checkes be there founde Neuer shall the courter receyue hole salary Except that he rewarde / the payer pryuely Whan nede constraynyth somwhat to haue before He gladly receyueth / a doseyn for a score Neuer canst thou make / thy couenaunt so clere But that the payer shall brynge the far atere All yf thou ryght well / thy couenaunt fulfyll It shall the payer / interprete at his wyll For all that blynde sort / ar chokyd with anaryse As cratchers of coyne / ensewynge couetyse But somwhat to speke / of thynges necessary These do all courters / cares multyply Nowe for one thynge they labour to obtayne Nowe for another / and often all in vayne And though theyr askynge be neyther ryght ne iust Yet neuer stynt they / tyll they haue had theyr lust But yf it fortune / theyr prayer & theyr coste Be spent all in vayne / than is theyr reason loste Than lurke they in corners for a month or twayne For wo that theyr labour and prayer was in vane Some with theyr prynces / so standeth in fauour That they may auance theyr kynred to honour But than is thryr kynred so bad of gouernance That all yf they may / they dare nat them auance But how be it they durst / they drede of worldly shame Or punyishmēt of god / or ellys theyr princes bla •• ¶ Coridon. ¶ Now doutles Cornix / that man is moche onwyse Whiche lyftyth folys vnworthy to offyce But oft tyme fauour and carnall affeccyon A busyth the ryght / blyndynge dyscressyon ¶ Cornix. ¶ If thou had musyd a yere for this on clause Thou coude nat a sayed / more profytely the cause Besyde this / Coridon fewe by the lorde aboue Haue of these courters / true sure & perfyte loue For Codrus tolde me / what wrytyth ysocrate That all these prynces and euery great estate In louynge regarde / no vertue nor prudence None loue they / but of some hasty violence Without auysement / without dyscrecyon Suche loue oft prouyth faynt at conclusyon But yf they loue any they loue hym nat as frynde Bytwene lyke & lyke / best frendshyp shall we fynde For truly great lordes / loue suche men with delyte By them whan they take some pleasour or profyte As they loue horsys / dogges & mo suche What sayd I. I lye / they loue them nat so moche More loue they a hors or dogge than a man Aske of Minalcas the trouthe declare he can For comonly as sone as any man is deade Another is sone redy / for to fulfyll his stede With mede & with prayer / his place is derely bought So oft haue prynces theyr seruyce clere for nought But than yf it fortune / a dogge or hors to dye His place to fulfyll / another must they bye Yet lytell haue I sayd / wors in the court they fare Nat onely thy lorde shall for thy deth nought care For thy longe seruyce / oft shall he wysshe the dede Suche is in court / thy salayre and thy mede Other for thy seruyce / longe and contynuall Thou hast of thy lorde / receyue nought at all And whan thou arte dead with short conclusyon Than quite is thy seruyce / and oblygacyon And oft shall thy lorde sound swetely forth this A A that this man / so sone is gone away Yf he had lyued longer / a small season I sholde haue put hym to great promocyon Or els yf thy lorde hath well rewardyd the That thou hast lyuelod / & ryches in plente Than yf thou dye / byleue me for certayne Suerly trustyth / for to haue all agayne Scant any ryche man by deth hence now shall fare But that some great lorde wyll loke to be his heyre ¶ Coridon. ¶ That is no leasynge / but prouyd often trewe That causyd wydows / oftymes sore to rewe But this hath ben sene / for sothe and euer shall That the greater fysshe deuoureth vp the small ¶ Cornix. ¶ A ryght true example / mate Coridon doutles So myghty rulers / the symple folke oppres But what care in court is / now here my Coridon Concernynge thy lorde / or maysters owne parson Of prynces or comons thou fyndest seldome tyme One profytely good & spottyd with no cryme For all suche thynges as seldome tyme befall Tully was wont the monstres for to call Than is a good man / more monster in dede Than is a wether hauynge a dowble head And in lyke wyse / reheriyth Fuuenall That yf a man wolde seke ouer the worlde all So many good man vnetys fynde sholde he As there be yates / in Thebes the Cyte That is to say vnder the cop of heuen Of parfyte good men / scant shall a man fynde seuen And holy scrypture / yet speketh more straytly As shepherd Dauid / doth clerly testefy He sayd our lorde beholdynge on mankynde Coude skant one good / in all the worlde fynde Scripture recordeth / suche causes many one That men be synners / & god in good alone ¶ Coridon. ¶ Whan now mate Cornix / Aygh man god auowe Thou hast in some frerys bosome bene I trowe And spoyled some patche of his prechement Talke of the court / saue this in store for lent ¶ Cornix. ¶ So was my purpos thou nedyst nought obiect Of our fyrst purpos these wordes haue effect I tolde the before / by good auctoryte How bothe the poetis / and oratours agre And holy scrypture / that fewe men be parfyte But bad in nomber / be truly infenyte So yf thy mayster be bad & worthy blame Than art thou sory / of his dyshonest name Thy lordys vyces / and lyuynge neglygent Shall greue thy stomake yf thou be innocent It greuyth the / yf he be couetous or harde Bycause he daynyth / thy labour to rewarde And for many thynges / fayle by his neglygence And fall to ruyne for sparynge of expence Agayne yf thy lorde / be fre & lyberall Alway thou fyryst lest other men haue all His prodygall hand / oft vexith sore thy harte Lest at the endynge / nought shall come to thy parte And lest his treasour / in foly so he spende That no thynge remayne to helpe hym at the ende But yf he be gyuen / to wrath and cruelte Thou fearest lest he rage / agayne thy kyn or the If he be meke mylde and sober / thou art sory For he nat reuengyth / eche hurt and iniury And yf he be harde / than dredest thou daunger Whan he procedyth than standest thou arere If he be coward / than hast thou great enuy Agayne his foes / for they contynually Dystroy his londys and sore his name dystayne Whan he for drede / dare no thynge do agayne If he vse chattynge & oftyn be talkynge Well thou perceyuest y• whyle his tonge is walkyng His pryue councell / he oftyn dothe detect And moche he spekyth / whiche is of none effect If he be secrete and styll as one in slepe Thou sayst he douteth / that none can councell kepe And the suspectyth as moche as other mo Than art thou greuyd and full of care & wo If he loue wynes & thou fearest dronkenes If he hate wynes & thou blamest his sadnes And to his body thou countest hym nygarde By cause he wolde kepe his how sholde y• more harde To venus actis / yf he to moche aply Thou sayst he to many doth hurt and iniury If he hate wymen / & fle theyr pleasour than Bothe thou and other reputest hym no man With fewe men / yf he vse famylyaryte Thou art dyspleasyd of them yf thou nat be If he be comon / to all indyfferent Than is thy mynde in lyke wyse dyscontent By cause he loueth famylyer to be To euery persone / as greatly as with the But yf that thy prynce be good and thou be nought Thā art thou inlyke wyse sore verid in thy thought Lest that he shortly / thy seruyce may dyspyse By cause he nat lyuyth / after thy lewde gyse But yf bothe be good and of all vyces clene Whiche is a thynge that seldome tyme is sene Than monest thou / for that he is nat fortunate As he is ordeyned / and after his estate Thy hart and mynde all thou to hym inclyne That all his troubles and payne shall be thyne For this without dout / I tell the Coridon That no father is so tender ouer his son As is a good seruaunt / dylygent and true Unto a noble prynce endewed with vertue And all yf good fortune to hym be fauourable Yet styll thou dredest / bycawse it is vnstable Thus neuer shalt thou sleape in peas & quietnes But whan thou wakest thy rest is moche les ¶ Coridon. ¶ By cause thou recountest / of thy fydelyte Of maysters and men / whiche loueth honeste Now I remember the shepherde of the fen And what care for hym demeanyd all his men And shepherd Morton / whan he durst nat apere How his olde seruantys were careful of theyr there In payne and pleasour / they kept fydelyte Tyll grace agayne / haue hym auctoryte Than his olde fauour / dyd them agayne restore To greatter pleasour / than they had payne before Though or a season / this shepherde bode a blast The greattyst w • udes / yet slakyth at the last And at conclusyon / he and his flocke certayne Eche true to other / dyd quyetly remayne My harte sore mouineth / whan I must specyfy Of the gentyll Coke / whiche sange so merely He and his flocke / were lyke an vnyon Conioyned in one without dyscencyon All the fayre Cokes / whiche in his dayes crewe Whan dethe hym touched / dyd his departynge rewe The prety palays / be hym made in the fen The maydes wydowes / the wyues and the men With dedely dolour / were persyd to the harte Whan dethe constrayned / this shepherde to departe Corne / grasse & feldes / mournyd for wo & payne For of this prayer / for them obtayned rayne The plyasant floures / for wo fadyd echone Whan they perceyued this shepherde ded and gone The okys elmys / and euery sorte of dere Shronke vnder shadowe / abatynge all theyr chere The myghty wallys of Ely monastary The stonys / rockes and towres semblably The marbyll pyllers and ymages echone Swet al for sorowe whā this good cocke was gone Though he of stature / were humble wenke & leane His mynde was hye / his lyuynge pure and clene Where other fedyth / by beesty appetyte On heuenly fode was all his hole delyte And shortly after this Cock was dede and gone The shepherde Roger / coude nat byde longe alone But shortly after / fals deth stole hym away His worthy reporte yet lyueth tyll this day Whā shepe ware scabbyd this good shepherd was fayne With easy saluys theyr sore to cure agayne He nought pretendyd / nor shewed of rygour Nor was no wolfe / pore lambes to deuour Whan busshe or bramblys pellyd the shepys skayn Than had he pyte / and kept them close within Or in newe flecys / dyd tenderly them lap And with his scyrtys dyd oftentyme them hap Whan he departed / his flocke for wo was faynt The foldes sounded / with dolour and complaynt So that theyr clamour and crye bespred the yle His dede was mourned from Ely forty myle These worthy herdys and many other mo Were with theyr wethers / in lone conioyned so That more they curyd by wyt and pacyence Than dredfull Drome can do with violence Therfore all herdes / vnto the wolde I trowe Sholde lawd theyr names yf wertue reigned nowe But syth that conynge / & vertue nere be gone Nowe be they law dyd forsothe of fewe or none I let thy purpos to make conclusyon Uyce lyueth / vertue hath lyght oblyuyon But speke on Cornix / yet is it longe to nyght My mynde to dysclose / causeth my hert to be lyght ¶ Cornix.

¶ To lawde these pastours / wherfore haste thou delyte

 ¶ Coridon.

¶ All other shepherdys / to vertue to excyte

 ¶ Eornix. ¶ Than be thy wordys / no thynke mysspent in vayne But nowe to courtys wyll I retourne agayne And namely for thou / hast spokyn of konnyge Me lyst a lytle to comon of that thynge It is to clerkes great pleasour certaynly And recreacyon / to gyue them to study And some fynde pleasour and recreacyon In secrete study / and meditacyon To wryte or to rede in placys solytary Hole to the musis / his reason to apply To talke with Plato / with Tully or Uirgill With Aristotle / to comon at his wyll And other famous / doctours many one ¶ Coridon. ¶ What man all these longe past / be dede and gone Who wolde with suche deput common or talke To go where they be / shall fynde a wery walke ¶ Cornix. ¶ Though they be dede / alyue yet is theyr name These lawdes honour / theyr hye report of fame So men deuyseth / to speke with them in dede As often as they theyr noble workes rede But as for courters / as well erly as late Be of this pleasour / playne vtterly pryuate Though they lyue ydle / theyr paynes infenyte To godly warkes / them graunteth no respyte Alway in clamour remayne they / and in preas And lewde aquayntance / wyll them no tyme releas But yf that they chose some season secretly To some good stody / theyr myndesto aply To wryte or to rede / anone some wretche is fayne And glad them to vex & to dystorbe agayne But yf all other / be absent and at rest Than neuer theyr chāber the kychyn clerke is prest Jenglynge his counters chattynge hymselfe alone Thus seke all corners / quyet thou fyndest none So must on despyse / those noble oratours The famous poetys and excellent doctours And lyue amonge the auoyde of vertues all That rather a man rude beestys may them call Of great estatys / there is a blynded sort Whiche cause theyr sonys vnto the court resort That they may in court themselfe dayly frequent In lernynge vertue and maners excellent But better myght they say to lerne all malyce All cursed maners and euery braunche of vyce As Pryde dysdayne enuy & rybawdry So be good maners infect with vyllayne For surely in courtes be men moost vicyous Supportynge vyces / to vertue contraryous Dyshonest langage is countyd moost lawdable One bosteth baudry / or glotony damnable No man there / vauntyth hymselfe of honeste Of vertue maners of mercy nor Pyte But other he ioyeth of his myscheuous lyfe To haue defyled / a virgin or a wyfe Or els to haue slayne / his fo or ennemy Or fraude cōmytted or crafty felony Whiche cursyd maners / youth sooner doth insue Than godly lyuynge or maners of vertue Whan youth in vyces hath fyxed theyr cowrage They by no meanys / shall leue the same in age Nor thyncke nat in court / to fynde a yonge strypelynge Chast / sober / shamfast or maners ensuynge All sueth vyces / all sue enormyte Suche be the discyples / as theyr infourmers be For true is the clawse / rehersyd of Therence That youthe inclyned / than namely to offence Whan a lewde mayster / hym moued to inclyne By yll example to daunger and ruyne For nature leuyth / to all enormyte Whan men so vseth whiche be in dignyte Youth thynketh lawfull & but a ioconde fyt Suche vyce as elders vse dayly to cōmyt And as yonge braunches / sone rote & putryfy So youth corrupteth by vyces semblably ¶ Coridon. ¶ Be all yonge galandes / of these abusyd sort Whiche in yonge age / vnto the court resorte ¶ Cornix. ¶ Who entryth the court / in yonge and tender age Are lyghtly blynded with foly and outrage But suche as entryth of wyte and grauyte Bowe nat so soone / to suche enormyte But or they enter yf they haue lernyd nought Afterward is cōnyng y• leste parte of theyr thought In court it is countyd / vyce to haue science And countyd for rebuke / for to haue eloquence Thus haue men connynge great heuynes & payne Beholdynge themselfe in court had in dysdayne Theyr wyt despysed / In mean tyme shall they se That greatest maters rulyd / Nay / marred be Of suche blynde folys / as can nat count nor tell A score saue twenty / yet most of all suche mell But men vnlernyd of inwarde payne haue some Whan they beholde that to the court be come Men groundly lernyd / in latyne / cōmonynge The other harken and vnderstande no thynge Than truly it is / to them a greuous payne But neuertheles / of them haue they dysdayne But lyuynge in court / and fleynge none offence What shall I comon what grutche of conscience Uexeth the dayly ryght / small is thy delyte Whan troubled conscience / vnquieth doth the byde No payne is sorer / nor greuouser tourment Than to remember / and call to thyn intent Howe many vy • ys / howe great enormyte Hath the in thraldom / and in captyuyte Thyne owne conscience / is styll within thy brest As tourmentour / depryuynge the of rest With pryuey scourges / and payne intollerable Recountynge thy warkes and lyke abhominable Thou mayst nat auoyde / ne fourme this enmy sterte Fle where the lyketh / he restyth in thy herte This is of courters / the dedely tourmentour With desperacyon / them sekynge to deuour Somtyme theyr conscience grutchyd is with gyle With theft / with murder / with lechery some whyle Though theyr owne cōsciēce thus tourmēt thē wt payn To the same offences retourne they yet agayne Theyr cōsciēce grutchyng to cawse of grutche they fal Thus styll them tourment / the furyes infernall I mean remenbraunce of many folde offence Contynuall tourment / by grutche of cōscience What shall I tell the payne of sodeynce fear Whiche doth the myndes of courters often dear Somtyme the lower be greuyd with thretnynge And suffer paynes / whan they haue done no thynge Somtyme whyle the court is daunsynge in dysport Or in other solace / theyr hartys to confort A none cometh in / a soden messagere Aff • rmynge truely / s • me armyd foes nere And that same armey is nere at hande doutles Than tourneth solace to wo and heuynes And whyle some prynces / for pleasour hawke or hunt Suche ferfull tydynges to here oft are thy wont ¶ Coridon. ¶ Suche fere & daunger doth happyn comonly On all degres with sodayne ieopardy For plowmen / shepherdes & Cytezyns also Be warre endureth / great domage / losse and wo ¶ Cornix. ¶ All other sortes somtyme must stande a farre But courtes must by de all daunger of the warre Saue losse of goodes / for some haue nought to lose But this wyll I leaue and tourne to my purpose No gyftes is graunted / of god vnto mankynde Better than frendshyp whā man it true may fynde But ouer all the court no man shall fynde nor se True / stedfast / frendshyp / nor parfyte amyte For syth all courters for moost part blynded be With vicyous lyuynge and all enormyte They haue no frendshyp / but conspyracyon And to do myschefe / confederacyon For parfyte frendshyp is whan two men agre Or mo in workynge some dede of honeste Some courters be founde whiche some ingenyous Pregnant of reason wyse & laboryous Yet haue they but shadowe of vertue and goodnes And nat of vertues the playne sygnes expres Some seme lyberall / but they insue rapyne Some seme veray chast / but they to pryde inclyne Some semeth humble / whiche vseth glotony And some famylyer / whiche leane to lechery In none mayst thou se one sparcle of vertue But twenty vyces / shall that one gyfe insue In suche a meany / full of inequyte Harde is to fynde one worthy amyte But yf thou in court / some honest men awayte Than with great rulers / is he made in conceyt If he from conceyt / and out of fauour be Thou mayst nat with hym haue famylyaryte Somtyme shalt thou se suche drawen to tourment As be thy frendes / fawtles & innocent And oft thy enmy / in many a faut culpable Thou shalt in the court se hye & honorable To se thy good frende / byde dethe so wrongfully To sorowe & nought say / is a great payne truly But yet for thy lyfe / say nought be pacyent Nat only whysper / lest thou haue lyke tourment Conuersant must thou be / with suche to thy payne Whiche hath thy fader / or els thy broder slayne If thou be besy / or squarynge of langage Thou mayst parauenture walke on y• same passage And yf thou in court to ryches so assende That thou mayst reteyne / men on the to attende Some of thy seruauntys shalt thou oft tyme beholde Lewdly dysposyd / to vyces many folde Some shall be the uys / some dronkener then swyne Some shall loue brawlynge / or to lyenge inclyne Some slowe / some glotons / some fall to rybaudry Auoutry murder with other vyllayny Some be forgetfull / some • eart / some insolent Some craftles foolys / some porwd & neglygent If thou chaunge supposynge / some better for to haue Thou voydest a lubber & hast agayne a knaue And yf thou haue one with knauysshnes infect Than all the other shall folowe the same sect Agayne yf thy selfe / be pore and a seruaunt Thou shalt fynde thy mayster rude rassh & ignorāt Alway complaynynge / & neuer well content Oft askynge seruyce in paynge neglygent Of spech superflue / hasty & rygorous Enuyous / dronken / vnstable / and couetous Thus seruaunt / mayster / gentylman / and vyllayne Lyue all in court / with mysery & payne ¶ Coridon. ¶ Now truly Cornix / this is a wretchyd lyfe Uoyde of all plesour / wrappyd in payne & stryfe ¶ Cornix. ¶ Count all the rowmes / and offyces echone And none shalt thu fynde / without vexacyon What thynke the councell / whan pryncys nat agre To theyr aduysement / of moost vtylyte What haue chauncelers / of inwarde dyspleasour Whā theyr letters wrytyn to theyr prynces honour For the comon well and sure vtylyte Can nat passe forwarde / tyll they transposed be From good to ryght nought corrupt for correct What thynke controwlers whā they be dayly chekt The rulers of court / vlsher and senescall Tresorers / clerkes / & euery marshall What payne haue these / echone in his offyce Whan often rybaw • es / them sclander & despyce Or some besy body / hauynge but small in • yght Controll theyr countes / be the neuer so ryght What payne haue chapleyns / controlled in • e • uyce And Ppysicians / whan some theyr arte despyse What knyghtes / trumpetters / and sodyours comonly Whan tresores / theyr wages doth deny What payne haue cokys which skāt may seth ther befe Without some rebuke / a checke or a reprefe Coridon in court / no rowm is trust thou me But that is wrappyd / in great aduersyte But brefe to say all / and make conclusyon Ryght wysmen suffreth great trybulacyon The heuynly pleasour / to purchace & obtayne More suffceth courters to purchace endles payne I mell nat with them / whiche of necessyte Agayne theyr pleasour / must in the courtys be As besy • uters to purchace droyt and ryght Which wolde be thēce / ryght gladly yf they myght ¶ Coridon. ¶ Byleue my Cornix / thou tourned hast my mynde Farwell all courtynge / adiew pleasour onkynde Thou playne hast prouyd / that all they foolys be Whiche folowe the court / sekynge captruyte And myght els where / an honest lyfe purchace Hauynge suffy sance and moderate solace ¶ Cornix. ¶ Than lett all shepherdes / from hens to Salysbery With easy ryches lyue well / laughe and be mery Pype vnder shadows / small ryches hath moost rest In greatest sees moost sorest is tempest The court is nought els / but a tempestous se Auoyde the rockes be ruled after me There is more daunger / than is vpon the londe As swalows / rockes / tempest and quicke londe • ere maydes syngynge / abusynge with theyr songe Caribdis / Sylla / and sandy bankes longe In it be clyffes / of hardest Adamant To syn excytynge yonge folys ignorant What shepherde loueth peas and tranquilyte Or rest requireth to lyue in vnyte Swete peas of hert / who euer doth require Or helth of his sowle / yf any man desyre Fle from the court / fle from the court I cry Fle prowd beggery / and lolem mysery For there is no rest / nor godly exercyse No loue of vertu / but vse of euery vyce As auatyce / lust / and beestly glotony Cruelte / malyce / ambicyon / and enuy But namely Uenus / or lust venerall To hyr vyle actys / playnly subdueth all Upon whiche vyces / who fyxeth his entent Hymselfe to defende / hath he no argument But that of all men wyse / honest and laudable He shall be conuyct of lyuynge reprouable A naturall fole / of reason dull & rude Proface Coridon / thus do I here conclude ¶ Coridon. ¶ Conclude mote thy lyfe in blessyd state of grace Myn owne herte Coruix / for this thy good solace But hast thou touched / all hole and parfytly Of court & courters / the payne & mysery ¶ Cornix. ¶ Nay nay Coridon / I tolde the so before Moche haue I tolde behynde is moche more Theyr inwarde crymys / & vyce abhomynable Theyr outwarde ragynge in synnes detestable Theyr theft and faudes / and theyr extorcyon And of myslyuers theyr supportacyon Theyr dayly murder / and forsynge of women Fraudynge of virgins / pyllynge of symple men Auoutry incest / and fornycacyon And of good virgins / the defloracyon These and suche lyke darc I nat playnly towche For all these crosses and syluer in my powche ¶ Coridon.

¶ Than haste we hence / the sonne is nere at rest

 ¶ Cornix.

¶ Take vp thy baggage my mate / that now is best

 ¶ Coridon. ¶ But tell me Cornix one thynge or we departe On what maner lyfe is best to set my harte In court is combrance / care / payne and mysery And here is enuy / yll wyll and penury ¶ Cornix. ¶ Suffrance ouercommeth all malyce at the last Weyke is that tre / whiche can nat abyde a blast But here now my councell I byde the fynally Lyue styll a shepherde for playnly so wyll I ¶ Coridon. ¶ That I shall Cornix / thy good councell fulfyll To dye a shepherde / establyd is my wyll ¶ Cornix. ¶ So do / or after thou often shall repente Pore lyse is surest / the court is but tourment ¶ Coridon. • diew swete Cornir / departynge is a payne But myrthe reneweth / whan louers mete agayne. ¶ Finis. ¶ Thus endeth the thyrde and last egloge of the mysery of court and courters / Composed by Alexander Barclay preste in his youthe.
¶ The boke of Codrus and Mynalcas.

¶ The prologe of the fourthe Eglog of Alexander Barcley. COdrus a shepherde / lusty gaye and stout Sat wt his wethers / at pasture roūde about And poore Mynalcas / with ewes scarse fourtene Sat sadly musyng / in shadowe on the grene This lusty Codrus / was cloked for the rayne And double decked / with hoodes one or twayne That this long season none coude the here espy With vs was thou wont to syng full merely And to lye pipyng ofte tyme among the flouers What tyme thy bestes / were fedyng among oures In these colde valeys / we two were wont to bourde And in these shadowes / talke many a mery worde And ofte were we wont / to wrastell for a fall But nowe thou droupest / and hast forgotten all Here was thou wont / swete balades to syng Of song and dytie / as it were for a kyng And of gay maters / to syng and to endyte But nowe thy courage is gone / and thy delyte Trust me Mynalcas / nowe playnly I espy That thou arte wery / of shepherdes company And that all pleasure / thou semest to dispyse Lothyng our pasture / and feldes in lykewise Thou fleest solace and euery mery fytte Lesyng thy tyme / and sore hurtyng thy wytte In slouthe thou slombrist / as buryed were thy song Thy pype is broken / or somwhat els is wrong. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ What tyme the cocke crowes / fethers mout & fall From sight she lurketh / her song is gone withall Whan backe is bare / and purse of coyne is lyght The wytte is dulled / and reason hath no might A due endityng / whan gone is lyberte Enuy to muses / is wretched pouerte What tyme a knight / is subget to a knaue To iust or tourney / small pleasure shall he haue. ¶ Codrus. ¶ What / no man the kepeth / here in captiuyte And busy labour / subdueth pouerte And ofte is it better / and moche surer also As subget to obey / than at frewyll to go As by ensample / beholde a wanton colt In ragyng youthe / lepeth ouer hyll and holt But whyle he skippeth / at pleasure and at wyll Oftyme dothe he fall / in daunger for to spyll Somtyme on stubbes / his hofes sore he teares Or falles in the mudde / bothe ouer heed and eares Somtyme all the night / abrode in hayle or rayne And ofte among breres / tangled by the mayne And other peryls / he suffreth infynite So mengled with sorowe / is pleasure and delyte But if the same colte / be broken at the last His sytter ruleth / and hym refrayneth fast The spurre him pricketh / the bridell dothe him holde That he can not praūce at pleasure wher he wolde The ryder hym ruleth / and saueth from dangere By whiche example / Mynalcas it is clere That frewyll is subget / to inconuenyence Where by subgection / man voydeth great offence For man of hym selfe / is very frayle certayne But ofte a ruler / his folly dothe refrayne But as for thy selfe / thou hast no cause parde To walke at pleasure / is no captiuyte. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ Seest thou nat Codrus / the feldes rounde about Compased with flodes / that none may in nor out The muddy waters / nere choke me with the stynke At euery tempest / they be as blacke as ynke Pouerte to me / shulde be no disconfort If other spepherde / were all of the same sort But Codrus / I clawe ofte where it dothe nat ytche To se ten beggers / and halfe a dosen ritche Truely me thynketh / this wrong particion And namely sithe all / ought to be after one Whan I first beholde / these feldes from a farre Me thought thē plesant / & boyde of stryfe or warre But with my poore flocke / aprochyng nere and nere Alway my pleasure / dyde lesse and lesse apere And truely Codrus / sithe I came on this grounde Ofte vnder floures / vyle snakes haue I founde Adders and todes / and many vyle serpent Enfect olde shepe / with venym violent And ofte be the yong / infected of the olde That vnto these fewe now brought is all my folde ¶ Codrus. ¶ In some place is nother venym nor serpent And as for my selfe / I fele no greuous sent. ¶ Mynalcas. It were great marueyle / wherso gret groūde is sene yf no small medowe / were plesant swete and clene As for the Codrus / I may beleue right wele That thou no sauour / nor stynke of mud dust fele For if a shepherde / hath styll remayned long In a foule prison / or in a stynking gong His poores with yll eyre / be stopped so echone That of the eyre / he feleth small sent or none And yet the dwellers / be badder than the place The riche and sturdy / dothe threten and manace The poore and symple / and suche as came but late And who most knoweth / him most of all they hate And all the burthen / is on the asses backe But the strong caball / standeth at the racke And suche be assigned / somtyme the flocke to kepe Whiche scante haue so moche / of reason as a shepe And euery shepherde / at other hath enuy Scant be a couple / whiche loueth parfitely Ilwyll so reigneth / that braulyng be thou sure Constrayned me nere / to seke a newe pasture Saue onely after / I hope of better rest For small occasyon / a byrde nat chaungeth nest ¶ Codrus. ¶ Wele ere thou graunted / that in a small grounde Some plot of pleasure / and quyet may be founde So where of herdes / assembled is great sorte There some must be good / than to the best resorte But leaue we all this / tourne to our poynt agayne Of thy olde balades / some wolde I here full fayne For often haue I had / great pleasure and delyte To here recounted / suche as thou dyde endyte. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ ye other shepherdes / which haue ynough at home Whan ye be mery / and stuffed is your wombe Whiche haue great store / of butter / chese / and woll your cowes vthers / of mylke replete and full Payles of swete mylke / as full as they be able Whan your fat disshes / smoke hote vpon yor table Than laude ye songes / and balades magnify If they be mery / or written craftely ye clappe your handes / and to the makyng harke And one say to other / lo here a proper warke But whan ye haue said / nought gyue ye for o payne Saue onely laudes / and plesaunt wordes vayne All if these laudes / may wele be counted good yet the pore shepherde / must haue some other fode. ¶ Codrus. ¶ Mayst thou nat somtyme / thy folde & shepe apply And after at leysar / to lyue more quyetly Dispose thy wyttes / to make or to endyte Renoūsyng cures / for tyme whyle thou dost write ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ Nedes must a shepherde bestowe his hole labour Intēdyng his flockes scant may he spare one hour In goyng / comyng / and often them to tende Full lightly the day / is brought vnto an ende Somtyme the wolues / with dogges must he chace Somtyme his foldes / must he newe compace And oftyme them chaunge / and if he stormes dout Of his shepe cote / daube the walles rounde about Whan they be broken / oftymes them renewe And hurtfull pastures / note wele and thē eschewe Bye strawe and lytter / and hay for wynter colde Oft greas the scabbes / aswell of yong as olde For drede of theues / ofte watche vp all the night Besyde this labour / with all his mynde & might For his poore housholde for to prouyde vitayle If by aduenture / his wolle or lambes fayle In doyng all these / no respyte dothe remayne But well to endyte / requyreth all the brayne I tell the Codrus / a style of exellence Must haue all labour / and all the dilygence Bothe these two warkes / be greatnere importable To my small power / my strength is moche vnable The one to entende / scant may I byde the payne Than is it harder / for me to do bothe twayne What tyme my wyttes be clere for to endyte My dayly charges / wyll graunt me no respyte But if I folowe / endyting at my wyll Ech one disdayneth / my charges to fulfyll Though in these feldes / eche other ought sustayne Clene lost is that lawe / one may requyre in vayue yf coyne cōmaunde than men count them as bounde Els fle they labour / than is my charge on groūde. ¶ Codrus. ¶ Cornix ofte counted / that man shulde fle no payne His frendes burthen / to support and sustayne Fede they thy flocke / while thou dost write and syng Eche horse agreeth / nat well for euery thyng Some for the charet / some for the cart or ploughe And some for hackeneys / if they be lyght & toughe Eche felde agreeth nat wele for euery sede Who hath moost labour / is worthy of best mede. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ After endityng / than gladly wolde I drinke To reche me y• cuppe / no man dothe care ne thīke And ofte some foles / voyde of discrecyon Me and my maters / hath in derisyon And marueyle is none / for who wolde sowe y• felde With costly sedes / whiche shall no frutes yelde Some wanton body / ofte laugheth me to scorne And sayth Mynalcas / se howe thy pyltche is torne Thy hose and cokers / be broken at the kne Thou canst nat stōble / for bothe thy shone may se Thy berde lyke bristels / or lyke a porpos skyn Thy clothyng sheweth / thy winnyng is but thyn Suche mockyng tauntes / reneweth ofte my care And nowe be wodes / of frute and leaues bare And frosty wynter / hath made the feldes white For wrathe and angre / my lyppe and tong I byte For dolour I droupe sore vered with disdayne My wōbe all wasteth wherfore I byde this payne My woll and wethers / may scarsly fede my wombe And other housholde / whiche I retayne at home Leane be my lambes / that no man wyll them bye And yet their dammes / they dayly souke so drie That from their vthers / no lycour can we wring Than without repast / who can endyte or syng It me repenteth / if I haue any wytte As for my scyence I wery am of it And of my poore lyfe / I wery am Codrus Sithe my harde fortune / for me disposeth thus That of the starres / and plannettes echone To poore Mynalcas / wele fortunate is none Knowen is the trouthe / if it were clerely sought That nowe to this tyme / I styll haue song for nought For youthe is lusty / & of small thyng hath nede That tyme to age / men gyue no force nor hede Ages condycion / is greatly contrary Whiche nowe aprocheth / right styll and craftely But what tyme age / dothe any man oppresse yf he in youthe / haue gathered no richesse Than passeth age / in care and pouerte For nede is greuous / with olde infyrmite And age is fettred / oftyme with care and nede Whan strength is faded & man hath nought to fede Whan strength is faded / than hope of gayne is gone In youthes season / to make prouisyon The lytell emet / is wyse and prouydent In somer workyng / with labour dilygent In her smalle caue / conueying corne and grayne Her lyfe in wynter / to norisshe and sustayne And with her small mouthe / is busy it cuttyng Lest in her caue / the same might growe or spring So man of reason / hym selfe reputyng sage In youthe shulde puruey / to lyue theron in age. ¶ Codrus. ¶ Men say that clerkes / whiche knowe astronomy Knowe certayne starres / whiche long to desteny But all their sayeng / is nothyng veritable yet here the mater / thought it be but a fable They say that Mercury / dothe poetes fauour Under Jupiter / be princes of honour And men of richesse / of welthe or dignyte And all suche other / as haue authorite Mercury gyueth / to poetes laureate Goodly cōueyaunce / speche plesaunt and ornate Inuentyfe reason / to syng or play on harpe In goodly dytie / or balade for to carpe This is thy lotte / what sekest thou richesse No man hath all / this thyng is true doutlesse God all disposeth / as he parceyueth best Take thou thy fortune / and holde the styll in rest Take thou thy fortune / and holde thy selfe content Lette vs haue richesse / and roumes exellent. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ Thou hast of richesse / and goodes habundaunce And I haue dyties / and songes of plesaunce To aske my connyng / to couytous thou art Why is nat thy selfe / contented with thy part Why dost thou enuade / my parte and porcion Thou wantest Codrus / wytte and discrecyon. ¶ Codrus. ¶ Nat so Mynalcas / forsothe thou art to blame Of wrong enuasyon / to gyue to me the name I wolde no dytie / nor balade take the fro No harpe nor armes / whiche long to Appollo But onely Mynalcas / I sore desyre and long To gyue myne eares / to thy swete soūdyng song It fedeth heryng and is to one plesant To here good reason / and balade consonant. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ yf thou haue pleasure / to here my melody I graunt the Codrus / to ioye my armony So I haue pleasure / and ioye of thy richesse So gyftes doubled / encreaseth loue doutlesse. ¶ Codrus. ¶ He of my richesse / hath ioye whiche loueth me And who me hateth / nothyng content is he Gnuyous wretches / by malyce cōmenly Take others fortune / and pleasure heuely. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ In lykewise mayest thou / enioye of our scyence And of our muses / thoughe thou be fro presence And of our connyng / thou ioyest semblably yf ought prouoke the / by malyce and enuy yf I fede thy eares / fede thou my mouthe agayne I lothe were to spende / my gyftes all in vayne Meate vnto the mouthe / is fode and susteynance And songes fedeth / the eares with plesaunce I haue the muses / if thou wylte haue of myne Than right requyreth / that I haue parte of thyne This longeth to loue / to norisshe charyte This fedeth pyte / this dothe to right agre This is the pleasure / and wyll of god aboue Of hym disposed / for to engendre loue All plesaunt gyftes / one man hath nat parde That one of other / shulde haue necessite No man of hym selfe / is sure sufficient This is prouisyon / of god omnipotent That one man shulde nede / anothers assystence Wherby is ioyned / loue and beneuolence. Englande hath clothe / Burdeux hath store of wyne Cornwayle hath tynne / and Lymster wolles fyne. London hath scarlot / and Bristowe plesaunt reed Fenne lande hath fysshes / in other place is leed. This is of our lorde / disposed so my brother Bycause all costes / shulde one haue nede of other. So euery tre / hathe frute after his kynde And dyuers natures / in beestes may we fynde. Alway whan nature / of thyng is moost laudable That thyng men coūteth / moost good & profitable And euery person / in his owne gifte hath ioye The fole in his bable / hath pleasure for to toye. The clerke in his boke / the marchaunt in richesse The knyght in his horse / harnes and hardynesse. But euery person / of his gyftes and arte Whan nede requireth shulde gladly gyue some ꝑte Suche meane conioyneth / in bonde of loue certayne Englande & Fraūce / Scotlāde Grece & Spayne. So hast thou Codrus / of golde ynough in store And I some cōnyng / though fewe mē care therfore Thou art beholden / to Jupiter truely And I beholden to plesaunt Mercury. Joyne we our sterres / let me haue parte of thyne Cōcorde to cheryss he / yu shalte haue parte of myne Make thou Jupiter / be frendely vnto me And our Mercury / shalbe as good to the. If thy Jupiter / gyue me but onely golde Mercury shall gyue the / giftes manyfolde His pyllion ceptre / his wynges / and his harpe If thou haue all these / thou mayst grathly carpe And ouer all these / gyue the shall Mercury The knot of Hercules enlaced craftely. ¶ Codrus. ¶ Lorde god Mynalcas / why hast yu all this payne This wyse to forge / so many wordes in vayne. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ That vayne yu coūtest / whiche may hurt or enlesse Thy loued treasour / or mynisshe thy richesse If thou wylte harken / or here my muses syng Refresshe my mynde with confort and lyking Rydde me fro troubles and care of busynesse Confort my corage / whiche nowe is confortlesse A clerke a poete / combyned with a boy To haunt the muses / hath but lytell ioye The wytte and reason / is dull or of valour Lyke as the body / is called to honour Whan busy charges / causeth a man to grone The wytte than slombreth / and muses all be gone A dytie wyll haue / mynde quyet and respyte And case of stomake / els can none wele endyte I sighe / I slombre: care troubleth ofte my thought Whan some by malyce / myne art setteth at nought I heule as a kyte / for hunger and for colde For thought and study / my youthe apaereth olde My skynne hath wrincles and pomples all about For colde and study / I drede me of the gout Whan sickenesse cometh / than lyfe hath breuyte By false vukyndnesse / and wretched pouerte If men were louyng / benigne / and charytable Than were pouerte / bothe good and tollerable But sithe charyte and pyte bothe be gone What shulde pouerte remayne behynde alone No man hath pyte / eche dayneth me to fede I lost haue confort / but styll remayneth nede I haue no wethers nor ewes in my folde No syluer in purse / I knowe nat what is golde Nor corne on the grounde / haue I wheron to fare Than wolde thou haue me to lyue voyde of care Nay nay frende Codrus / trust me I the assure Suche maner salues / can nat my dolour cure Make thou me ioconde / helpe me with clothe & fode Clothe me for wynter / with pyltche / felte / & hode Auoyde all charges / let me sytte in my sell Let worldly wretches / with worldly maters mell Socour my age / regarde my heeres gray Than shalte thou proue / & se what thyng I may Than shalte thou fynde me bothe apt to write & sing Goodwyll shall fulfyll / my scarsnesse of cōnyng A plentyfull house out chaseth thought and care Soiorne dothe socour there / whe • althing is bare The sellar couched with bere / ale / or wyne And meates redy whan man hath lust to dyne Great barnesfull / fatte wethers in the folde The purse well stuffed / bothe with syluer & golde Fauour of frendes / and suche as loueth right All these and other do make the full lyght Than is it pleasure the yong maydens among To watche by the fyre / the wynter nightes long At their fonde tales / to laughe or whan they brall Great fyre and candell / spendyng for labour small And in the asshes / some playes for to make To couer wardeyns for faut of other warke To tost white sheuers / and to make prophytrolles And after talkyng / oftymes to fyll the bolles Where welthe aboundeth / without rebuke or cryme Thus do some herdes / for pleasure and pastyme As fame reporteth / suche a shepherde there was Whiche that tyme lyued vnder Mecenas And Titerus I trowe / was this shepherdes name I wele remembre / a lyue yet is his fame He song of feldes / and tyllyng of the grounde Of shepe / of oren / and batayle dyde be sounde So shirle he sounded / in termes eloquent I trowe his tunes / went to the firmament The same Mecenas / to hym was fre and kynde Whose large gyftes / gaue confort to his mynde Also this Shepherde by heuenly influence I trowe optayned his perelesse eloquence We other shepherdes / be greatly dyfferent Of commen sortes leane / ragged and rent Fed with rude frowyse / with quacham or wt crudde Or slymy kempes / yll smellyng of the mudde Suche rusty meates enblyndeth so our brayne That of our fauour / the Muses haue disdayne And great Appollo / dispyseth that we write For why? rude wyttes / but rudely dothe endyte. ¶ Codrus. ¶ I trust on fortune / if it be fauourable My trust fulfylling / than shall I wele be able Thy nede to socour / I hope after a thyng And if fortune fall wele after my lyking Trust me Mynalcas / I shall delyuer th • Out of this trouble / care / and calamyte. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ A Codrus Codrus / I wolde to god thy wyll Were this tyme redy / thy promes to fulfyll After the power / and might that thou hast nowe Thou hast ynoughe for bothe man / god auowe If thy good mynde / accordyng with thy might At this tyme present / yu shulde my hert wele light I aske nat the store / of Cosmus or Capell With sylken robes / I coueyt nat to mell No kynges dysshes / I coueyt nor desyre Nor riche mantels / or palles wrought in tyre No clothe of golde / of Tyssue nor veluet Damaske nor saten / nor orient Scarlet I aske no value of Peters costely cope Shelde of Mynerua / nor patyn of Esope I aske no palays / nor lodgynge curyous No bedde of state / of rayment sumptuous For this I lerned of the deane of Poules I tell the Codrus this man hath wonsome soules I aske no treasour / nor store of worldely gode But a quyet lyfe / and onely clothe and fode With homely lodgyng / to kepe me warme and dry Enduryng my lyfe / for sorthe no more aske I If I were certayne this lyueng styll to haue Auoyde of trouble / no more of god I craue. ¶ Codrus. ¶ This lyueng hast thou / what nedes the cōplayne? Nothing yu wantest / whiche may thy lyfe sustayne What fele man parde / thy chekes be nat thynne No lacke of vitayle / causeth a double chynne ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ Some beest is lusty / and fatte of his nature Though he sore labour / and go in badde pasture And some beest agayne / styll leane and poore is sene Though it fatly fare / within a medowe grene Though thou Codrus / styll argue tyll to morowe I lycke no dysshes / whiche sauced is with sorowe Better one smale dysshe / with ioye and hert lyking Than dyuers denties with murmure & grutching And men vnlerned / can neuer be content Whanscolers common / and clerkes be present As soone as clerkes / begyn to talke and chat Some other gloumes / and hath enuy therat It is a tourment a clerke to sytte at borde Of his lernyng / nat for to talke one worde Better were to be with clerkes with a crust Than at suche tables / to fare at wyll and lust Lette me haue the borde of olde Pytagoras Whiche of temperaunce a very father was Of philosophers the moderate rychesse In youthe or age I loued neuer excesse Some bost and promes / and put men in confort Of large gyftes / moost men be of thissort With mouthe and promes for to be lyberall Whan nede re • reth / than gyue they nought at all All onely in the is fired all my trust If thou fayle promes / than roule I in the dust My hope is faded / than shall my song be dom Lyke a nightyngale at the solsticium If thou fayle promes my confort clene is lost Than may I hang my pype vpon the post Shytte thy shop wyndowes for lacke of marchādice Or els for bycause / that easy is the price ¶ Codrus. ¶ Mynalcas / if thou the court of Rome hast sene With forked cappes / or els if thou hast bene Or noble prelates by richesse exellent Thou wele parceyuest / they be magnifycent With them be clerkes / and plesaunt oratours And many poetes promoted to honours There is abundaunce of all that men desyre There men haue honour before they it requyre In suche fayre feldes / without labour or payne Bothe welth and richesse / yu mayst lightly optayne ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ Thou art abused and thynkest wronge doutlesse To thynke that I am desyrous of richesse To fede on rawe flesshe / it is a wolues gyse Wherfore he weneth all beestes do lykewise Bycause the blynde man / halteth and is lame In mynde he thynketh / that all men do the same So for that thy selfe / desyrest good in store All men thou iugest / infected with lyke sore Codrus / I coueyt nat to haue abundaunce Small thyng me pleaseth I aske but suffisaunce Graunt me a lyueng suffycient and small And voyde of troubles / I aske no more at all But with that lytell / I holde me selfe content If sauce of sorowe my mynde nat tourment Of the court of Rome / for sothe I haue herde tell With forked cappes / it folly is to mell Mycene and Morton / be deed and gone certayne They nor their lyke shall neuer retourne agayne O Codrus Codrus / Augustus and Edwarde Be gone foreuer / our fortune is more harde The scarlet rebes / in song hath smale delyte What shulde I traueyle / in Rome is no profyte It gyueth mockes and skornes many folde Styll cratchyng coyne / and gapyng after golde Fraunde and disceyt / dothe all the worlde fyll And money reigneth / and dothe althyng at wyll And for that people / wolde more entende to gyle Uertue and trouthe / be driuen into eryle We are cōmaunded to trust for tyme to come Tyll care and sorowe / hath wasted our wysdome Hope of rewarde / hath poetes them to fede Nowe in the worlde / fayre wordes be their mede. ¶ Codrus. ¶ Than write of batayls / or actes of men bolde Or mighty princes / they may the wele vpholde These worthy rulers of fame and name royall Of very reason ought to be lyberall Some shalt thou fynde bitwene this place and Kent Whiche for thy labour / shall the ryghtwell cōtent. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ ye / some shall I fynde: whiche be so prodigall That in vayne thyng / spende / & clene wasteth all But howe shulde that man / my pouertie sustayne Whiche nought reserueth his honour to mētayne. For auncyent blode / nor auncyent honour In these our dayes / be nought without treasour The coyne auaunceth / nede dothe the name deiect And where is treasour / olde honour hath effect But suche as be riche and in promocion Shall haue my writyng but in derisyon For in this season great men of exellence Hath to poemys no greatter reuerence Than to a brothell or els a brothelshous Madde ignorance is so contagyous. ¶ Codrus. ¶ It is nat semyng / a poete thus to iest In wrathfull speche / nor wordes dis honest. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ It is no iestyng be thou neuer so wrothe In open langage to say nothyng but trouthe If parauenture / thou wolde haue trouthe kept styll Prouoke thou nat me / to angre at thy wyll Whan wrathe is moued / than rayson hath no might The tonge forgetteth discrecyon and right ¶ Codrus. ¶ To moue thy myndes / I truely were full lothe To gyue good coūsaile is far from beyng wrothe. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ As touchyng counsaile my mynde is plentifull But nede and troubles / make all my reason dull If I had counsaile and golde in lyke plente I tell the Codrus / I had no nede of the Howe shulde a poete / poore / bare / and indygent Indyte the actes / of princes exellent Whyle scant is worthe / a knyfe his pype to mende To rounde the holles / to clense or pyke the ende Beholde my whittell / almost hath lost the blade So long tyme past / is sithe the same was made The hafte is brused / the blade nat worthe a strawe Rusty and tothed / nat moche vnlyke asawe But touchyng this hurt / it is but lyght and small But care and trouble / is greuous payne withall Good counsaile helpeth / makyng the wyttes stable Ill counsaile maketh / the myndes varyable And breketh the brayne / deminysshing the strength And all the reason confoundeth at the length Great men are shamed / to gyue thyng poore or small And great they deny / thus gyue they nought at all Besyde this Codrus / princes and men royall In our enditynges / hath pleasure faynt and small So moche power haue they / with men of might As symple douues / whan eglys take their flyght Or as great wyndes / careth for leaues dry They lyue in pleasure / and welthe cōtinually In lust their lyking is / and in ydlenesse Fewe haue their myndes / from all vicyousnesse Pleasure is thyng / wherto they must entende That they most cherisshe / they wolde haue men cō cende If poetes shulde / their maners magnify They were supporters of blame and lechery Than shulde their writyng / • e nothyng cōmendable Conteyning iestes / and dedes detestable • f stynking Uenus / or loue inordynate Of rybaude wordes / whiche fall nat for a state Of right oppressed / and beestly glotony Of vyce auaunced / of slouthe and iniury And other dedes / in fame and worthy blame Whiche were ouer long / here to recount or name These to commende / Codrus do nat agre To any poete / whiche loueth chastyte. ¶ Codrus. What / yes Mynalcas ▪ some haue ben strong & bolde Whiche haue in batayle / done actes manyfolde With mighty courage / hauyng them in fight And boldely byding / for to maynteyne the right To the coude I nowe / reherse welnere ascore Of last nor richesse / settyng no force ne store Despisyng softe golde / swete fare / and beddes softe Whiche in colde harnes / lye on the groūde full ofte Closed in yron / whiche whan their woundes blede Want breed and drinke / them to restore and fede Whyle some hath pleasure in softe golde orient With colde harde yron / their mynde is well cōtent Suche were the sonnes / of noble lorde Hawarde Whose famous actes / may shame a faynt cowarde What coude they more / but their swete lyues spende Their princes quarell / and right for to defende Alas that batayle / shulde be of that rigoure Whan fame and honour / tyseth and is in floure With sodayne furour than all to quence agayne But boldest hertes / be nerest dethe certayne. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ For certayne Codrus / I can nat that deny • ucsome in batayle / behaue them manfully Suche as in batayle / do actes marcyall Laude worthy poetes / and style heroycall The plesaunt muses / whiche soundeth grauyte Had helpe and fauour / whyle these were in degre But sythe strong knightes / haue left their exercyse And manly vertue / corrupted is with vyce The famous poetes / whiche ornatly endyte Haue founde no mater / wherof to syng or write The wytte thus dyeth / of poetes auncyent So dothe their writyng / and deties eloquent For lacke of custome / thought / care / and penury These be confounders / of plesaunt poesy But if some prince / some kyng / or conquerour Hath wonne in armes / or batayle great houour Full lytell they force / for to delate their fame That other realmes / may laude or praise their name Of tyme for to come / they force nothyng at all By fame and honour / to lyue as immortall It them suffyseth / they count ynoughe truely That their owne realmes / their names magnify And that for their lyfe / they may haue laude & fame After their dethe / than seke they for no name And some be vntaught and lerned no scyence Or els they disdayne / hye style of eloquence Than standeth the poete / and his poeme arere Whan princes disdayne for to rede or here Or els some other / is drowned all in golde By couetyse kept / in cures many folde By flagrant ardour / inflamed in suche cas As in tyme past the olde kyng Mydas was Than of poemes / full small pleasure hath he Couetyse and clergy / full leudly dothe agre Besyde this Codrus / with princes cōmonly Be vntaught courters / fulfylled with enuy Juglers and pykers / bourders / and flatrers Baudes and ianglers / and cursed auoutrers And mo suche other / of lyueng vicyous To whom is vertue / aduers and odyous These do good poetes / forthe of all courtes chace By thousande maners / of thretnyng and manace Somtyme by fraudes / somtyme by yll report And them assysteh / all other of their sort Lyke as whan curres / lyght on a caryon Or stinkyng rauyns / fedde with corrupcion These two all other / away dothe bete and chace Bycause they alone / wolde occupy the place For vnto curres is caryon moost mete And also ••• yns / thynke stynkyng thynges swete Another thyng yet / is greatly more dampnable Of rascolde poetes / yet is a shamefull rable Whiche voyde of wysdome / presumeth to endyte Though they haue scautly / the connyng of a snyte And to what vyces / that princes moost intende Those dare these foles / solemnyse and cōmende Than is he decked / as poete laureate Whan stinkyng Thays / made hym her graduate Whan muses rested / she dyde her season note And she with Bacchis / her camous dyde promote Suche rascolde drames / promoted by Thays Bacchis Lycoris / or yet by Testilys Or by suche other / newe forged muses nyne Thynke in their myndes / for to haue wyt diuyne They laude their verses / they bost / they vaunt & get Though all their connyng / be scantly worthe a pet If they haue smelled / the artes trinycall They count them poetes / hye and heroycall Suche is their folly / so foliss hely they dote Thinkyng that none / can their playne errour note yet be they folysshe auoyde of honeste Nothyng seasoned / with spice of grauyte Auoyde of pleasure / auoyde of eloquence With many wordes / and frutelesse of sentence Unapt to lerne / disdayning to be tought Their priuate pleasu •• in snare so haue thē caught And worst yet of all / they count them exellent Thoughe they be frutelesse / rasshe & improuident To suche ambages / who dothe their mynde enclyne They counte all other / as priuate of doctryne And that the fautes / whiche be in them alone Also be cōmen / in other men echone Thus byde good poetes / oftyme rebuke and blame Bycause of other / whiche haue dispysed name And thus for the badde / the good be clene abiect Their arte and poeme / counted of none effect Who wanteth reason / good to discryue from yll Dothe worthy writers / enterprete at his wyll So bothe the laudes / of good and nat laudable For lacke of knowlege become vituperable. ¶ Codrus. ¶ In faythe Mynalcas / I wele alowe thy wytte yet wolde I gladly / here nowe some mery fytte Of mayde Maryon / or els of Roby Hode Or bentleys Ale whiche chaseth wele the blode Of Pert of Norwyche / or sauce of Wylberton Or buckysshe ioly / wele stuffed as a ton Talke of the botell / let go the boke for nowe Combrous is cōnyng / I make to god auowe Speke of some mat / which may refreshe my brayne Trust me Mynalcas / I shall rewarde thy payne Els talke of stoutney / whe • is more brayne than wyt Place moost abused / that we haue spoke of yet. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ Of all these thynges / langage to multiply Ercept I lyed / shulde be but villany It is nat semyng / a poete one to blame All if his honour / haue won dyffamed name And thoughe suche beestes / pursue me with enuy Malgre for malyce / that payment I defy My maister techeth / so dothe reason and skyll That man shulde restore / and rendre good for yll ¶ Codrus. ¶ Than talke of somwhat / lo it is long to night yet hath the sonne / more than one hour of lyght ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ yf I nought common / soundyng to grauyte I feare to optayne / but smale rewarde of the But if I common of vice or wantonnesse Than of our lorde / shall my rewarde be lesse Wherfore my balade shall haue conclusyon Of frutefull clauses / of noble Salomon. ¶ Codrus. ¶ Syng on Mynalcas / he may do lytell thyng Whiche to a balade / disdayneth the heryng But if thy dytie / accorde nat to my mynde Than my rewarde / and promes is behynde By mannes maners / it lightly dothe appere What men desyreth / that loue they for to here ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ Thoughe in thy promes / I fynde no certente yet of my connyng / shalte thou haue parte of me I call no muses to gyue to me doctryne But ayde & confort / of strength & might diuyne To clere my reason / with wysdome and prudence To syng one balade / extract of sapyence. AS medowes paynted / with floures redolent The sight reioyseth / of suche as thē beholde So man endewed / with vertue exellent Fragrantly shyneth / with beames many folde Uertue with wysdome / excedeth store of golde If richesse habounde / set nat on them thy trust Whan strength is sturdy / than man is perte & bolde But wyt & wysdome soone leyeth hym in the dust. Than man is beestly / whiche seweth carnall lust Spende nat on women / thy richesse or substaūce For lacke of vsyng / as steele or yron rust So rusteth reason / by wylfull ignoraunce In fraudefull beaute / set thou but small pleasaunce A plesaunt apple / is ofte corrupt within Grounde the in youthe / on goodly gouernaunce It is good token / whan man dothe wele begyn. Joye nat in malyce / that is a mortall synne Man is parceyued / by langage and doctryne Better is to lose / than wrongfully to wynne He loueth wysdome / whiche loueth disciplyne Rasshe enterprises / ofte bringeth to ruyne A man may contende / god gyueth victory Set neuer thy mynde on thyng whiche is nat thyne Trust nat in honour all welthe is transitory. Combyne thou thy tong / with reason and memory Speke nat to hasty / without aduysement So lyue in this lyfe / that thou mayst trust on glory Whiche is nat caduke / but lastyng parmanent There is no secrete / with people vyuolent By beestly surfet / the lyfe is breuyate Though some haue pleasure / in sumptuous garmēt yet goodly maners / hym maketh more ornate. ¶ Codrus. ¶ Ho there Myaclas / of this haue we ynoughe What shulde a plouman / go farther thā his plough What shulde a shepherde / in wysdome wade so farre Talke of his tankarde / or of his bor of tarre Tell som what els / wherin is more conforte So shall the season / and tyme seme light & shorte ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ For thou of Hawarde / nowe lately dyde recyte I haue a dytie whiche Cornir dyde endyte His dethe complayning / but it is lamentable To here a capitayne / so good and honourable So soone withdrawen by dethes cruelte Before his vertue / was at moost highe degre If dethe for reason / had shewed hym fauour To all his nacyon / he shulde haue ben honour Alas / bolde hertes / be nerest dethe in warre Whan out of daunger / cowardes stande a farre. ¶ Codrus. ¶ All if that ditye / be neuer so lamentable Refrayne my teares / I shall as I am able Begyn Mynalcas / tell of the bolde Hawarde If fortune fauour / hope after some rewarde. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ I pray the Codrus / my whey is weke and thyn Len me thy botell / to drinke or I begyn. ¶ Codrus. ¶ If ought be tasted / the remnaunt shall pall I may nat afore the / nowe for to spende out all We sytte in shadowe / the sonne is nat feruent Call for it after / than I shall be content. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ Styll thou desyrest / the pleasure of my arte But of thy botell / nought wylte thou yet departe Though yu be negarde / & nought wylt gyue of thyne yet this one tyme / thou shalt haue parte of myne Nowe herken Codrus / I tell myne elegy But small is the pleasure / of dolefull armony.
¶ The discrypcion of the towre of Uertue and Honour / in to whiche the noble Hawarde contended to entre / by worthy actes of chiualry.

¶ Mynalcas speketh. Hyghe on a moūtayne / of highnes marueylous With pēdant clyffes / of stones harde as flent Is made a castell / or toure moost curyous Dredefull vnto sight / but inwarde exellent Suche as wolde entre / fynde paynes-tourment So harde is the way / vnto the same moūtayne Streight / hye / and thorny / tournyng and dyfferent That many labour / for to ascende in vayne. Who dothe perseuer / and to this toure attayne Shall haue great pleasure / to se the bylding olde Joyned and graued / surmountyng mānes brayne And all the walles within of fynest golde With olde hystories / and pyctures many folde Glystring as bright / as Phebus orient With marbyll pyllers / the bylding to vpholde About the turrettes / of shape moost exellent. This toure is gotten / by labour dilygent In it remayneth / suche as haue won honour By holy lyueng / by strength or tournament And moost by wisdome / attayne vnto this tour Brefely all people / of godly behauour By rightwyse batayle iustyce and equyte Or that in mercy / haue had a chefe pleasure In it haue rowmes / eche after his degre This goodly castell / thus shinyng in beaute Is named castell / of vertue and honour In it eight Henry / is in his mageste Moost hye enhaunsed / as ought a conquerour In it remayneth the worthy gouernour A stocke and fountayne / of noble progeny Moost noble Hawarde / the duke and protectour Named of Northfolke / the floure of chiualry. Here is the Talbot / manfull and hardy With other princes / and men of dignyte Whiche to wyn honour dothe all their might apply Supportyng iustyce / concorde / and equyte The manly Corson / within this toure I se These haue we sene / echone in his estate With many other / of hye and meane degre For mercy all actes / with crownes laureate. Of this stronge castell / is porter at the gate Strong sturdy labour / moche lyke a champyon But goodly vertue / a lady moost ornate Within gouerneth / with great prouisyon But of this castell / in the moost hyest trone Is honour shinyng / in rowme imperyall Whiche vnrewarded / of them leueth nat one That come by labour / and vertue princypall. Ferefull is labour / without fauour at all Dredefull of vysage / a monster vntretable Lyke Cerberus lyeng / at gates infernall To some men his loke / is halfe intollerable His shulders large / for burthen stronge and able His body bristled / his necke mighty and styffe By stourdy senewes / his ioyntes strong and stable Lyke marbyll stones / his handes be as styffe. Here must man vanquysshe / the dragon of Cadmus Agayne the Chymer / here stoutly must he •• ght Here must he vanquysshe / the ferefull Pegasus For the golden flese / here must he shewe his might If labour gainsay / he can nothyng be right This monster labour / ofte chaungeth his fygure Somtyme an ore / a bore / or lyon wight Plainly he semeth / thus chaungyng his nature. Lyke as Protheus / ofte chaunged his stature Mutable of fygure / oftymes in one hour Whan Aristeus / in bondes had hym sure To dyuers fygures lykewise chaungeth labour Under his browes he dredefully dothe lour With glystring eyen / and syde dependant berde For thurst and hunger / alway his chere is sour His horned forheed / dothe make faynt hertꝭ ferde. Alway he drinketh / and yet alway is dry The sweate distyllyng / worthe droppes habūdant His brest and forheed / dothe humour multiply By swetyng shoures / yet is this payne plesant Of day and of night / his restyng tyme is scant No day ouerpasseth / exempt of busynesse His sight enfourmeth / the rude and ignorant Who dare parseuer / he gyueth them richesse. None he auaunceth / but after stedfastnesse Of lytell burthen / his bely is and small His mighty thyes / his vigour dothe expresse His shankes sturdy / and large fete withall By wrathe he rageth / and styll dothe chyde & brall Suche as wolde entre / repellyng with his cry As well estates / as homely men rurall At the first entre / he thretneth yrefully. I trowe olde fathers / whom men nowe magnify Called this monster / Mynerua stout and soure For strength and senewes / of man moost comenly Are tame and febled / by cures and laboure Lyke as becometh / a knight to fortify His princes quarell / with right and equite So dyde this Hawarde / with corage valtantly Tyll dethe abated / his bolde aud acyte. O happy Sampson / more fortunate than he Onely in strength / but nat in hye courage O cruell fortune / why durst thy cruelte This flour of knighthode / to slee in lusty age Thou hast debated / the flour of his lynage If thou had mercy / bewayle his dethe thou might For cruell lyons / and mo beestes sauage Long tyme nat cessed / sore to bewayle this knight O dethe thou hast done / agaynst bothe lawe & right To spare a cowarde / without danger or wounde And thus soone to quenche / of chiualry the light O dethe enuyous / moost enmy to our grounde What moost aueyleth / thou sonest dost confounde Why dyde nat vertue / assyst her champyon Thou might haue ayded / for sothly thou was boūde For duryng his lyfe / he loued the alone. O god almighty / in thy eternall trone To whom all vertue / is dere and acceptable If reason suffred / to the our crye and mone This dede might impute / and fortune lamentable Thou might haue left vs / this knight most honourable Our welthe & honour / to haue kept in degre Alas why hath dethe / so false and disceyuable Mankynde to tourment / this wyll and lyberte. It quencheth vertue / sparyng iniquite The best it stryketh / of badde hauyng disdayne No helpe nor confort / hath our aduersyte Dethe dayly striketh / though we dayly cōplayne To treate a tyranne / it is but thyng in vayne Mekenesse prouoketh / his wrathe & tyranny So at out prayer / dethe hath the more disdayne We do by mekenesse / his furour multiply. If some fell tyranne / replete with villany Shulde thus haue endyng / the dede were cōmendable But a stout capitayne / disposed to mercy So soone thus faded / the case lamentable Was he nat humble / ioconde and companable No man dispysing / and first in all labour Rightwyse with mercy / debonaire and tretable Mate and companyon / with euery soudyour. Uyce he subdued / by goodly behauour Lyke as a ryder / dothe a wylde stede subdue His body subget / his soule was gouernour From vice withdrawen / to goodnesse and vertue Whan pride rebelled / mekenesse dyde eschue Fre mynde and almes / subdued auaryce Alway he noted / this sayeng iust and true That noble myndes / dispyseth couetyse. His dethe declareth / that slouthe he dyde espyse By hardy courage / as first in ieopardy Alway he vsed / some noble exercyse Suche as belongeth / to noble chiualry In hym was there founde / no sparcle of enuy Alway he lauded / and praysed worthynesse Suche as were doughty / rewardyng largely Wrathe saue in season / he wisely coude represse. Of wyne or Bacchus / despysed he excesse For myndes kyndled to actes mercyall Sekyng for honour / and name of doughtynesse Despyseth surfet / and lyueng beestyall In hym no power / had lust veneryall For busy labour / and plesaunt abstynence All corporall lust / soone causeth for to fall No lust subdueth where reigneth dilygence He was a pyller / of sober contynence His onely treasure / and iowell was good name But O cursed dethe / thy wrathfull vyolnece By stroke vnwarned / halfe blynded of his fame Who may I accuse? who may I put in blame? God for deth / or fortune / or impotent nature God dothe his pleasure / & dethe wyll haue the same Nature was mighty / long able to endure. In fortune the faut is / holde nowe am I sure I wolde if I durst / his tyranny accuse O cursed fortune / if thou be creature Who gaue the power / thus people to abuse Thy mutable might / me causeth ofte to muse Whan man is plunged / in dolour and distresse Thy face thou chaungest / whiche dyde erst refuse By so dayne chaunces / hym liftyng to richesse. And suche as long tyme / haue lyued in nobles Anone thou plungest / in payne and pouerte Welthe / honoure / strength / right / iustyce / & goodnes Misery / dolour / lowe roume / and iniquyte These thou rewardest / lyke as it pleaseth the To mannes meryte / without respect at all One this day beyng / in great authorite Agayne to morowe / thou causest for to fall. Whan man is worthy / a roume imperyall On hym thou gloumest / with frowarde coūtenāce Weyke is thy promes / reuoluyng as a ball Thou hast no fauour / to godly gouernance No man by meryte / thou vsest to auance O blynded fortune / oftyme infortunate Whan man the trusteth / than falleth some myschance Unwarely chaungyng / his fortune and estate. Tell me frayle fortune / why dyde thou breuyate The lyueng season / of suche a capitayne That whan his actes ought to be laureate Thy fauour tourned / hym suffring to be slayne I blame the fortune / and the excuse agayne For thoughe thy fauour / to hym was rigorous Suche is thy custome / for to be vncertayne And namely whan man / is hye and glorious. But moost worthy duke / hye and vyctorious Respyre to conforte / se the vncertaynte Of other princes / whose fortune prosperous Oftyme hath ended / in harde aduersyte Rede of Pompeius / whose pereles dignyte Agayne great Cesar / dyde welthe of Rome defēde Whom after fortune / brought in captiuyte That he in Egypt / was heeded at the ende. In lyke wise Cesar / whiche dyde with hym cōtende Whan all the worlde / to hym was subyngate From his hye honour / dyde sodaynly discende Murdred in Rome / by chaunce infortunate Cato an Seneke / with Tully Rewreate These and mo lyke / for all their sapyence Hath proued fortune / sore blynding their estate By wrongfull sclaunders / and deedly violence. To poore and riche / it hath no difference Olde Polycraces / supposyng peryll past With dethe dis honest / ended his exellence Great Alexander by fortune / was downe cast One draught of poyson / hym fylled at the last Whom all the worlde / erst coude nat sacyate What is all honour / and power but a blast? Whan fortune thretneth / the lyfe to breuyate Beholde on Pyrrus / the kyng infortunate With a small stone / deed prostrate on the grounde Se Ualeryan brought downe from his estate From his empyre / in Percy thrall and bounde Of olde Priamus / it is in writyng founde Howe h • by▪ Pyrrus / was in his paleis slayne Paris and Hector / receyued mortall wounde To trust in fortune / it is a thyng in vayne. The mighty Cyrus / a kyng of realmes twayne Was slayne & his hoost / of Thomyrus the quene Thus is no mater / of fortune to complayne All that newe falleth / of olde tyme hath bensene This shalbe / this is / and this hath euer bene That bolde hertes / be nerest ieopardy To dye in batayle / is honour as men wene To suche as haue ioye / in hauntyng chiualry. Suche famous endyng / the name dothe magnify Note worthy duke / no cause is to complayne His lyfe nat ended / foule nor dishonestly In bedde nor tauerne / his lustes to meyntayne But lyke as besemed / a noble capitayne In sturdy harnesse / he dyed for the right From dethes danger / no man may flye certayne But suche dethe is metest / vnto a noble knight. But dethe it to call / me thynke it is vnright Sithe his worthy name / shall last parpetuall To all his nacion / example and clere light But to his progeny / moost specially of all His soule is in pleasure / of glory eternall So duke moost doughty / ioy may that noble tree Whose braunches honour / shall neuer fade ne fall Whyle beest is in erthe / or fysshes in the see. Lo Codrus / I here haue tolde the by and by Of shepherde Cornir / the wofull elegy Wherin he mourned / the greuous payne and harde And last departyng / of noble lorde Hawarde More he endyted / of this good admyrall But truely Codrus / I can nat tell the all. ¶ Codrus. ¶ Mynalcas / I swere by holy Peters cope If all thyng fortune / as I haue trust and hope yf happy wynde blowe / I shall or it be long Cōfort thy sorowe / and wele rewarde thy song What trust man a whyle / tyll better fortune come yf my parte be any / than shall thy parte be some. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ yf thou in purpose / so to rewarde my hyre God graunt the Codrus / thy wysshing & desyre. ¶ Codrus. ¶ Forsothe Mynalcas / I wysshe the so in dede And that shalt yu knowe / if fortune with me spede Farewell Mynalcas / for this tyme dieu te garde Nere is wynter / the worlde is to harde. ¶ Mynalcas. ¶ Go wretched ingarde / god sende the care & payne Our lorde let the neuer / come hyder more agayne And as dyde Mydas / god tourne it all to golde That euer thou touchest / or shalte in handes holde For so moche on golde / is fired thy lyking That thou dispysest / bothe vertue and cōnyng. ¶ Explicit. ¶ Thus endeth the fourthe Eglogge of Alexandre Barcley cōteyning the maners of riche men anenst poetes and other clerkes. Emprinted by Richarde Pynson / priter to the kynges no ble grace.
¶ The fyfte Eglog of Alexandre Barclay of the Cytezen and vplondyshman.

¶ Here after foloweth the Prologe. IN colde January / whan fyre is comfortable And that the feldes / be nere intollerable Whan shepe & pastoures / leueth felde & folde And drawe to cotes / for to eschewe y• colde What tyme the verdure / of groūde & euery tre By frost and stormes / is pryuate of beaute And euery small byrde / thynketh the wynter longe Whiche well apereth / by ceasynge of theyr songe At this same season / two herdes / fresshe of age At tyme apoynted / met bothe in one cotage The fyrste hyght Faustus / the seconde Amyntas Harde was to knowe / whiche better husbande was For eche of them bothe / set more by pleasour Than by habundaunce / of ryches or tresour Amyntas was formalle / and propre in his gere A man on his cloke / shoulde not aspyed a here Nor of his clothynge / one wryncle stode a wrye In london he lerned / to go so manerly Hygh on his bonet / stacke a fayre broche of tynne His pursys lynynge / was symple poore and thynne But a lordes stomake / and a beggers pouche Full yll accordeth / suche was this comely slouche In the towne and cyte / so longe getted had he That frome thens he fledde / for det and pouerte No wafrer / tauerne / halehous / or tauerner To hym was there hydde / whyle he was hosteler Fyrste was he hosteler / and than a wafrer Than a costermonger / and last a tauerner Aboute all London / there was no propre prym But longe tyme had ben / famylyer with hym But whan coyne fayled no fanour more hadde he Wherfore he was gladde / out of the towne to fle But shepe herde Faustus / was yet more fortunate For alwaye was he / content with his estate Yet nothynge he hadde / to conforte hym in age Saue a melche cowe / and a poore cotage The towne he vsed / and grete pleasure hadde To se the cyte / oftyme whyle he was ladde For mylke and votter / he thyther brought to sell But neuer thought he / in cyte for to dwell For well he noted / the madde enormyte Enuy / fraude / malyce / and suche myquyte Whiche reygne in cytes / therfore he ledde his lyfe Up londe in vyllage / without debate and stryfe Whan these two herdes / were thus together met Hauynge no charges / nor labour them to let Theyr shepe were all sure / and closyd in a cote Themselfe laye in lyttre / pleasauntly and hote For costly was fyre / in hardest of the yere Whā men haue most nede / thā euery thȳge is dere For passynge of tyme / and recreacyon The bothe delyted / in cōmunycacyon Namely they pledyd / of the dyuersyte Of rurall husbondes / and men of the cyte Fastus accused / and blamed Cytezyns To them imputynge / grete fautes cryme & synnes Amyntas blamed / the rurall men agayne And eche of thē bothe / his quareyl dyde maynteyne All wrothe dyspysed / all malyce and yll wyll Clene layde a parte / eche dyde reherse his skyll But fyrste Amyntas / thus for to speke began As he whiche counted / hymselfe the better man ¶ Finis Prologe.
¶ Interlocutoures be Amyntas and Faustus.

Amyntas fyrste speketh. THe wynter snowes / all couered is the grounde The northewynde blowys / all wt a fereful soūde The longe yse sycles / at the he wsys honge The streames frosen / the nyght is colde and longe Where botes rowed / now cartes haue passage Frome yoke the oxen / be lowsed and bondage The ploweman resteth / auoyde of all busynesse Saue whan he tendeth / his harmes for to dresse Mably his wyfe / sytteth byfore the fyre All blacke and smoke / clothed in rude atyre Sethynge some grewell / and sterynge the pulment Of peese or frument / a noble meete for lent The somer season / men counteth now laudable Whose feruour before / they thought intollerable The frosty wynter / and weder temperate Whiche mē thā praysed / they now dyspryse & hate Colde they desyred / but now it is present The braule and grutche / theyr myndes not content Thus mutable men / them pleased can not holde At grete hete grutchȳg / & grutehȳg whā it is colde ¶ Faustus. All pleasure present / of men is counted small Desyre obteyned / some counteth nought at all What men hope after / that semeth grete and dere At lyght by dystaunce / apereth great and clere. ¶ Amyntas. Eche tyme and season / hath his delyte and Joyes Loke in the stretes / beholde the lytell boyes How in fruyte season / for Joye they synge and hope In lent echeone / full busy is with his tope And now in wynter / for all the greuous colde All rent and ragyd / a man maye them beholde They haue great pleasure / supposynge well to dyne Whan men ben busyed / in kyllynge of fat swyne They get the bladder / and blowe it grete tand thyn With many beanes / or peasen bounde within It ratleth / soundeth / and shyneth clere and fayre Whyle it is throwen / and cast vp in the ayre Ech eone contendeth / and hath a grete delyte With fote or with hande / the bladder for to smyte Yf it fall to grounde / they lyfte it vp agayne This wyse to labour / they count it for no payne Rennynge and lepynge / they dryue awaye the colde The sturdy plowmen / lusty stronge and bolde Ouercometh the wynter / with dryuynge the fote ball For getynge labour / and many a greuous fall ¶ Faustus. Men labour sorer / in fruyteles vanyte Than in fayre warkes / of grete vtylyte In suche thryftles / we labour for damage Warke we dyspyse / whiche bryngeth auauntage ¶ Amyntas. Towchynge theyr labour / it can not me dysplease Whyle we be in reste / and better here at ease In the warme lyttre / smale payne hathe lytell hyre Here maye we walowe / whyle mylke is on the fyre Yf it be crudded / of brede we nede no crome Yf thou byde Faustus / therof thou shalte haue some ¶ Faustus. Wynter declareth / harde nede and pouerte Than men it feleth / whiche haue necessyte Treuly Amyntas / I tell the myne entent We fonde yonge people / be moche improuydent We straye in somer / without thought / care / or hede Of suche thynge as we / in wynter shall haue nede As soone as we here / a bagpype or a drowne Than leue we labour / there is our monaye gone But whan the northe wynde / with stormes vyolent Hath brought cold wȳter / pore wretches to turmēt And voyde of leues / is euery bowe and tree That one maye clerely / the emty nestes se Than is all our woll / and lambes gone and solde We tremble naked / and dye almost for colde Our sholders all bare / our hose and showes rent By retcheles youthe / thus all is gone and spent This cometh for wantynge / of good prouysyon Youthe dayneth counsayle / scornynge dyscrecyon Whan puerte thus / hathe caught vs in his snare Than dothe the wynter / our madde foly declare Now treuly Amyntas / I tell the my mate That towne dwellers lyue / gretely more fortunate And somwhat wyser / be they also than we They gather treasoure / and ryches in plente They spoyle the lambes / and foxys of the skynne To lappe theyr wombes / and fat sydes therin In lust in pleasure / and in good habundaunce Passe they theyr lyues / we haue not suffysaunce ¶ Amyntas. The men of the erthe / be fooles euerychone We poore shepeherdes / be not to blame alone More foly vexeth / the man of the Cyte I graunte vs ouersene / they madder be than we Thoughe I longe season / dyde in the cyte dwell I fauour it not / trouthe dare I boldely tell Thoughe Cytezyns be / oflyuynge reprouable Yet fortune to them / is moche more fauorable Fortune to them / is lyke a moder dere As a stepmoder / she dothe to vs apere Them she exalteth / to honour and rychesse Us she oppresseth / in care and wretchydnesse What is vayne fortune / but thynge bytuperable An vnhappy madnesse / vnworthy and vnstable ¶ Faustus. No doubte Amyntas / let me be fortunate And than shall I soone / become a grete estate My coyne shall encrease / than shortly shall I be Called to offyce / to gouerne a cyte All men shall here me / and gyue me credence The comonte bareheed / shall do me reuerence All other rules / lowe men and comonte Shall gladly desyre / to haue aduyse of me Yf I be happy / and fortune on me smyle Thus shall I assende / and mount within a whyle Aske thou of Cornyx / declare to the he can How coyne more than cōnynge / exalteth many man ¶ Amyntas. O Faustus Faustus / thou erres frome the waye This is not fortune / full lytell do she maye Thoughe I myselfe / rehersed but lately That fortune hathe myght / a man to magnyfy I kepe the opynyon / of wytles comonte And grounded myselfe / on none auctoryte It is not fortune / that graunteth excellence Trewe honour is wonne / by vertu and scyence Yf men gette honour / by other polecy It is no honour / but wretched mysery God maketh myghty / god gyueth trewe honour To godly persones / of godly behauyour God fyrste dysposed / and made dyuersyte Betwene rude plowmen / and men of the Cyte And in what maner / Cornyx thyne owne mate As we went talkynge / recounted to me late ¶ Faustus. What tolde the Cornyx / / tell me I the praye He hadde good reason / suche thynges to conuaye His wyt was pregnant / no reason dyde he want But trouthe to declare / his monaye was but scant But what than / some man hath pleynte of cunnynge Whiche hath of rychesse / smal pleynte or nothynge ¶ Amyntas. In herynge my tale / yf thou haue thy delyte Than take some labour / for now is good respyte Faustus aryse thou / out of thy lyttre hote Go se and vysyte / our wethers in the cote Aryse go and come / thou arte bothe yonge and able After grete colde / hete is more comfortable Go man for shame / he is a slouthfull dawe Whiche leueth profyte / for pleasure of hote strawe ¶ Faustus. Thynke not Amyntas / that Fastus hathe dysdayne To do thy pleasure / I shall refuse no payne Loke here Amyntas / lorde benedycyte The cold snowe recheth / moche hygher thā my kne Scant maye the houses / suche burthen well susteyne Lesse hurte is tempest / and sodayne storme of rayne On toppe of the chymnaye / there is an hepe of snowe So hye extendynge / our steple is more lowe The snowe is so whyte / and the sonne so bryght That playnly Amyntas / amasyd is my syght ¶ Amyntas. Gyue to the bestes / good rowen in pleynte And stoppe all the holes / where thou can fautes se Stop them wt stubbyll / efte daube them wt some claye And whan yu hast done than come agayne thy waye Nought is more noysom / to flocke / cotage / ne folde Than sodayne tempest / and vnprouyded colde What now all redy / frende Faustus here agayne By shorte conclusyon / bad warke apereth playne Thy comynge agayne / me thynke is all to soone Ought to haue mended / or profyte to haue done ¶ Faustus. This combrous wether / made me more dylygent I ran all the waye / bothe as I came and went And there I spedde me / and toke the greter payne Because I lyghtly / wolde be with the agayne After grete colde / it is full swete god wote To tomble in the strawe / or in the lyttre hote Now be we Fastus / in hey vp to the chynne Fully thy promes / I praye the now begynne Tell the begynnynge / of the dyuersyte Betwene rurall men / and men of the cyte I knowe the reason / and talkynge of Cornyx But syth I hym sawe / be passed yeres syxe His iocunde Jestes / made me oftetyme full gladde Our fyrst acquayntaūce / was whan I was a ladde Now speke my Faustus / and I shall holde me styll Tyll thou haue ended / and spoken all thy wyll ¶ Amyntas. This grete dyfference / and fyrste dyuersyte Betwene rurall men / and them of the cyte Began in this wyse / as cornyx me tolde Whiche well coulde comon / of many maters olde Fyrste whan the worlde / was fourmed and create And Adam with Eue / were set in theyr estate Our lorde conioyned them bothe / as man and wyfe To lyue in concorde / the season of theyr lyfe And them commaunded / mankynde to multyply By generacyon / to get them progeny They bothe obeyed / this swete commaundement With faythfull hertes / and labour dylygent But wolde to Jhesu / they hadde ben wyse and ware Frome y• fatal fruyte / whiche kyndled all theyr care But to my purpose / fyrste Eue hadde chyldren two A sone and a doughter / our lorde dysposed so And so yere by yere / two twynnes forthe she brought Whan god assysteth / man worketh not for nought By suche maner / these two dyde them apply The worlde to sulfyll / encrease and multyply At last our lorde / at ende of fyftene yere To Eue our moder / dyde on a tyme appere And in what maner / now here me Amyntas Adam on the felde / forth with his wethers was His flocke than he fedde / without all drede and fere Than were no wowers / hym nor his wyfe to deare He was not troubled / that tyme with Jelowsy Than was no body / to do that vylany No horned kyddes / were lyuynge at that tyme Longe after this / began this cursed cryme Than was no cocko / betwene the eest and west To laye wronge egges / within a straunge nest Than none suspected / the lyuynge of his wyfe Weclocke was quyet / and pleasaunt without stryfe But after whan people / began to multyply Than fyrste was kyndled / the flame of Jelowsy For that man commynteth / sore dredeth he agayne Fraude fereth falshode / suspectynge oft in vayne Than fle she in hast / for to haue pleasour more And them presented / whom she hadde hydde before And vnrequyred / presentynge them sayde she O lorde these also / my veray chyldren be These be the fruyte / also of my wombe Hyd for shame fastnesse / within my house at home O lorde most my ghty / hye fader cretour Withsaue to graunt them / some offyce of honour Theyr heer was ruggyd / poudred all with chaffe Some full of strawes / some other full of draffe Some with cobwebbes / and dust were so arayed That one beholdynge on them / myght be afrayde Blacke was theyr colour / and bad was theyr fygure Uncomely to syght / mysshapen of stature Our lorde not smyled on them / to shewe pleasaunce But sayde to them thus / with trowbled coūtenaūce Ye smell all smoky / of stubbyll and of chaffe Ye smell ef the grounde / of wedes und of draffe And after your sent / and tedyous sauoure Shall be your to wines / and all your behauour None can a pytcher / tourne to a syluer pece Nor make goodly sylke / of a gotes flece And harde is also / to make withouten fayle A bryght two hande swerde / of a cowes tayle Nomore wyll I make / how be it that I can Of a vyle vylayne / a noble gentylman Ye shall be plowemen / and tyllers of the grounde To payne and labour / shall ye alwaye be bounde Some shall kepe oxen / and some shall hogges kepe Som shall be thresshers / som other shall kepe shepe To dyg and to delue / to hedge and to dyke Take this for your lot / and other labour lyke To drudge and to dreuyll / in warkes vyle and rude This wyse shall ye lyue / in endeles seruytude Ryppynge / and mowynge / of fother gras & corne Yet shall towne dwellers / ofte laughe you vnto scorfi Yet some shall we graunt / to dwell in the cyte For to make podynges / or butchers for to be Coblers / or tynkers / or elles costard Jaggers Hostelers / or daubers / or drowpy water laggers And suche other sorte / whose dayly busynesse Passeth in warkes / and labour ef vylenes To stowpe / and to swete / and subiecte to become And neuer to be rydde / from bondage & thraldome Than broughtour lorde / to them the carte & harowe The gad / & the whyp / ye matoke & the whelebarow The spade / the shouell / the forke and the ploughe And all suche towles / than bad he them be toughe And neuer to grutche / at labour nor at payne For yf they so dyde / it shoulde be thynge in vayne Thus sayde the father / and lorde omny potent And than he ascended / vp to the tyrmament Thus began honour / and thus began bondage And dyuersyte / of cyte and vyllage And seruyle labour / fyrste in this wyse began Demaunde of Cornyx / declare the trouthe he can This tolde me Cornyx / whiched welled in the fen I truste his sayenge / before a thousande men ¶ Faustus. Is this the mater / praysed of the so sore Astra we for fables / I set by them no store It were a meruayle / yf Cornyx mater tolde To laude of she peherdes / or plowmen to vpholde He dwelt in the towne / and helde with the cyte Tyll nede hym mouyd / as it hathe dryuen the Whan none of you bothe / dare to the towne resorte Amonge vs shepeherdes / yet fynde ye here conforte So bothe thou and he / be gretely for to blame To ete our vytayle / and than to hurte our name The yonge men of townes / to mocke vs haue a guyse Nought elles can they do / saue lyes to deuyse This vayne inuencyon / and folysshe fayned fable Agayne rurall men / they haue delyte to bable And nought they asshame / as blȳde wretches vnwyse Of god almyghty / suche leasynges to deuyse This scorfy scoftynge / declareth openly Agaynste rurall men / rebuke and iniury But thou arte so rude / thy paunche is so fatte Agayne thyne owneselfe / thou busy arte to chatte Alyfe this same Jest / is thy rebuke and blame Thy dullyd reason / can not perceyue the same But I wall proue the / that rurall people be More wyse and noble / than they of the cyte And that the cyte / is full of fraude and stryfe Whan we in vyllage / haue good and quyet lyfe ¶ Amyntas. I praye the Fastus / herefore be thou not wrothe To haue dyspleasoure of the / I were ryght lothe I thought no mawgre / I tolde it for a bourde Yf I hadde knowen / I shoulde haue sayd noworde But saye thy pleasure / now tell for the thy sentence And I shall here the / with sobre pacyence ¶ Faustus. I shall not denye / our payne and seruytude I knowe that plowmen / for the moost parte be rude Now shall I tell the / hygh maters trewe & olde Whiche curteys Candydus / vnto me ones tolde Nought shall I forge / nor of no leasynge bable This is trewe hystory / and no surmysed fable At the benynnynge / of thynges fyrste of all God made shepeherdes / and other men rurall But the fyrste plowman / and tyller of the grounde Was rude and stordy / dysdaynynge to be bounde Rughe and stoborne / and Cayn dyde men hym call He hadde no mercy / and pyte none at all But lyke as the grounde / is dull / stony / and toughe Stubberne and heuy / rebellynge to the ploughe So the fyrste ploughman / was stronge and obstynate Frowarde selfe wyllynge / and mouer of debate But the fyrste shepeherde / was meke & nothynge fell Humble as is a lambe / and called was Abell A shepe gyueth mylke / and lytell hathe of gall So this good Abell / hadde none yll wyll at all No shepeherde founde hym / iniuryous nor wronge In durynge his lyfe / whyle he was them amonge And oft of his flocke / made he good sacryfyce Of calfe or lambes / suche as were most of pryce And of fat wethers / the best not spared he To honour our lorde / and pease his deyte Thus hadde he fauour / with god omny potent So pleasynge our lorde / that to this tyme present From fyrst begynnynge / of erth▪ and man mortall God hathe hadde fauoure / to people pastorall And poore shepeherdes / theyr cotes / felde and shepe Aungelles haue come / for to defende and kepe Some shepeherdes were / in londe of asserye Thiche after haue ben / promoted very hye So that from cotes / and houses pastorall They haue ascended / to dygnyte royall Chargys and labour / so dothe my reason blynde That call theyr names / can I not vnto mynde Yet let me stody / auoydynge pertur baunce So maye I call them / vnto my remembraunce Lo now I haue them / Abraham / and I co b Lot / I saac / yonge Joseph / and Job These now rehersed / and all the patryarches Haue not dysdayned / pore shepe nor herdes warkes Them hathe our lorde / called from humble thynges And made them prynces / dukes / other kynges So haue they chaunged / theyr clothynge pastorall With golden garment / purpure / and gaye pall And than haue after by magnanymyte Brought noble royalmes / in theyr captyuyte And haue in batayle / ben myghty conquerours Won fame immortall / and excellent honours Parys was pastour / the sone of Pryamus Pan / Sylene / Orpheus / and Joly Tyterus Sawll was shepherde / so was he in lykewyse Whiche wolde haue offred / his sone in sacryfyse Moyses was shepherde / and was his flocke kepynge Whan he came barefote / vnto the busshe flamynge Cōmannded by god / to leue his flocke and go On goddes message / to sturdy Pharao Also Apollo was herde / somtyme in Grece Nothynge dysdaynynge / to handle ewe and flece As wryteth poetes / he lefte dyuyne honour Gladde amonge wethers / to be a gouernour The blessyd aungelles / brought to suche men as we Message of concorde / of peas / aud vnyte And songe that gloria / styenge in the skye Whiche out syr Sapson / doth synge so merely Fyrst hadde shepeherdes / sure tydynge by message That god was made man / to bye hamayne lynage And he • oes instructe / by voyce angelycall Sawe god incarnate / and borne fyrste of all And this was pleasour / of goddes maieste That symple herdes / hym fyrste of all soulde se And in theyr maner / make vnto hym offrynges Before estates / as ryche and myghty kynges The ioly harper / whiche after was a kynge And slewe the gyaunt / so stoutly with his slynge Was fyrste a shepeherde / or he hadde dygnyte Ryght so were many / as stoute and bolde as he And our lorde Ihesu / our god and sauyour Named hymselfe / a shepeherde or a pastour Ryght so he named / men meke and pacyent His flocke and his shepe / for maners innocent Thynke not these wordes / glosyd nor in vayne They are the gospell / so sayth syr Peter playne I sawe them myselfe / well paynted on the wall Late gasynge vpon / our chyrche cathedrall I sawe grete wethers / in pycture and small lambes Dauncynge / some slepynge / some so wkȳge of theyr dāmes And some on y• groūde / me semed lyenge styll Than sawe I horsemen / at pendant of an hyll And the thre kynges / with all theyr company Theyr crownes gly werynge / bryght and oryently With theyr presentes / and gystes mystycall All this behelde I / in pycture on the wall But the poore pastoures / as people innocent Fyrst sawe the Cryb / of our lorde omnypotent Thus it apereth / god loueth poore pastours Seth he them graunted / to haue to grete honours Our lorde hathe fauour / bothe in the shepe and folde As it apereth / by the hostoryes olde Our lorde is redy / to socour the vyllage Despysynge townes / for malyce and outrage For god is content / with symple pouerte Pryde he despyseth / and wrongfull dygnyte ¶ Amyntas. In good fayth Fastus / thy tale is verytable Grounded on lernynge / and gretly commendable Lately myselfe / to se that pycture was I sawe the manger / I sawe the oxe and asse I well remembred / the people in my mynde Me thynke yet I se / the blacke facys of ynde Me thynke yet I se / the herdes and the kynges And in what maner / were ordred theyr offrynges As longe as I lyue / the better shall I loue The name of herdes / and cytezyns reproue Wherfore mate Fastus / I praye god gyue the care Yf thou the fautes / of ony cyte spare Speke on / and spare not / and touche theyr errour Yet maye me comon / more than a large houre. ¶ Faustus. Than tourne we to talke / a whyle of Cysezyns To touche theyr foly / and parcell of theyr synnes Thynke not Amyntas / that they of the cyte Lyue better lyfe / or wyselyer than we All yf theyr clothynge / be doubled for the colde And thoughe they glyster / so gayly in bryght golde Shynynge in sylkes / in purpure / or veluet In furryd robys / or clokes of scarlet And we poore herdes / in russet cloke and hode It is not clothynge / can make a man be good Better in in ragges / pure lyuynge innocent Than a soule delyled / in sumptuous garment Trust me Amyntas / my selfe with thesesame eyen Haue in the cyte / suche oftentymes seen Jet in theyr sylkes / and bragge in the market As they were lordes / I oft haue seen them Jet Whiche are starke beggers / and lyue in nede at home And oft go to bedde / for nede with empty wombe Nought is more folysshe / than suche wretches be Thus with proude porte / to cloke theyr pouerte What is nede clohed / or fayned habundaunce Pouerte / slouthe / and wretched gouernaunce What is fayre semblaūce / with thought and heuynes Forsoth nought elles / but cloked folysshnes And some haue I seen / whiche is a thynge damnable That whylethey wolde haue / a lyuȳge delectable Rest at theyr pleasure / and fare delycyoully Haue suffered theyr wyues / defyled wyttyngly Haue solde theyr doughters / floure of vyrgynyte O deed vnworthy / O blynde inyquyte Fame honour the soule / and chastyte be solde For wretchyd lyuynge / o cursed thurst of golde O damnable dede / so many for to spyll One wretchyd carkes / and bely for to fyll What thynge is vyler / what more abhomynable What thynge more folysshe / more fals & detestable. ¶ Amyntas. What yf they can not / to other crafte them gyue Nor fynde ather waye / or meanes for to lyue Nede hath no lawe / of two ylles parde To chose the leest yll / is none iniquyte ¶ Faustus. Seth they haue as many / soules as haue we As moche of reasone / and handes lyke plente Why maye they not to honest warke thē gyue And fynde other waye / and maner for to lyue No lawe permytteth / nor wylleth man parde To commyt mordre / for harde neressyte Nomore shoulde ony / his soule defyle nor kyll For lust transytory / or pleasure to fulfyll Yet be in cytees / mo suenge folysshnes Wenynge by crafte / for to haue grete ryches By whiche craftes / no man hathe ryches founde Syth tyme y• our lorde / fyrst fourmed mā & groūde As Alkemystys / wenynge by polecy Nature to alter / and coyne to multyply Some wasshe rude metall / with lycours many folde Of herbes wenynge / to tourne in to golde All pale and smoky / by suche contynuall And after labour / they lose theyr lyfe and all An other sort is / to this not moche vnlyke Whiche spēde theyr tymes / ī wretehyd art magyke Therby supposynge / some treasour to haue founde Whiche many yeres / is hydde within the grounde What is more folysshe / more full of vanyte Or more repugnynge / to fay the and probyte Because they wolde fle / good busynesse and payne They vse suche tryfles / & wretched thynges vayne They proue all thynges / because the wolde do nought Styll sekȳge newes / styll troubled ī theyr thought Because they wolde fle / the labour of the lande All ydle tryfles / such taketh on theyr hande Styli be they busy / and neuer come to ende To thynge profytable / do fewe of them intende Some lyue by rapyne / gyle / fraude and polecy Pariury opprelsyon / and some in vsury Some gladly borowe / and neuer paye agayne Some kepe from seruaūtes / ye stipēd of theyr payne Some rest men gyltles / and caste them in pryson Some by stronge theues / out of the dongyon Some fawn some flater / mā trust not whā they smyle Than frame the fraudes / men slyly to begyle Some in one houre / more promes to the wyll Than all his dayes / he thynketh to fulfyll By thousande meanes / of fraude and craftynesse Ly they in wayte / for honour and rychesse They fede the ryche / and often let the pore Dye for pure colde / and hungre at theyr dore We fede fat oxen / they Marmosettes kepe We fede fat Kyddes / Lambes / and good shepe And they fede hawes / apes / also houndes And small is theyr Joye / saue here wtin our boūdes We brynge them butter / egges / chese / and woll Tancardes of mylde / and creame fletynge full All maner flesshe / and all theyr hole lyuynge Without our labour / treuly they haue nothynge We are the feders / of wethers and fat hogges And they of the'cyte / fede byrdes / and grete dogges Now Juge Amyntas / whiche of these semeth the Of most auauntage / and most nobylyte ¶ Amyntas. Yf by your labour / procedeth more rychesse And most auaūtage / as semeth trouthe doubteles Than this Imeruayle that the they of the cyte Haue so grete pleynte / and we necessyte The cause can not I / call to my remembraunce Wherof procedeth / theyr store and habundaunce ¶ Faustus. The cause I tolde the / what woldest thou haue more By fraude / and flashode / haue they so mykyll store Seest thou not playnly / how they of the cyte Dayly dysceyueth / our poore symplycyte With that cruelte / agaynste vs they rage By fals oppressyon / or fayre fayned langage They thynke it pleasoure / that sorowe on them hap By glosed wordes / to take vs in trappe The most of them all / count it an almes dede Us herdes to fraude / this is a gentyll mede For them we labour / in here / wynde / colde and rayne And fraude & bysceyte / the paye vs for our payne With myndes and tongue / they stody and they muse Bothe daye and nyght / vs herdes to abuse Theyr wyt and body / all hole do they ply For vs poore wretches / to stody polecy And after theyr fraude / gyle and decepcyon Than do they laughe vs / vnto derysyon ¶ Amyntas. How came thou to knowledge / of this enormyte And of these maners / of them of the cyte My selfe there wonned / and there was couuersaunt Of some of these thynges / yet am Jygnoraunt ¶ Faustus. Thou coude not perceyue well / theyr enormyte Parchaūce thy maners / dyde with theyr lyfe agre There seldome is sene / grete contradyccyon Where men accordeth in dysposycyon No faute with moryans / is blacke dysformyte Because all the sorte / lyke of theyr fauour be So couthe thou not se / theyr vyces nor them blame Because thy owne lyfe / was fyled with the same But how I knowe them / now shall I tell to the Whyle I brought butter / to sell to the Cyte And other vytayle / I vsed mylke to cry Than hadde I knowledge / with an apotecary Of hym I lerned / moche fashode and practyse Not to the purpose / the same to excercyse He couthe make playsters / & newe cōmyxcyons In valour scant worthe / a couple of onyens Yet solde he the same / as it were golde so dere Namely / yf happened / ony infectyfe yere I was aquaynted / with many an hucster With a costardemonger / and with an hostle • This thefe was crafty / poore people to be gyle None lyke I suppose / within a dosen myle Amonge all other / his fraudes and his crymes He solde one botell / of hey a dosen tymes And in the otes / couthe he well droppe a candell Well knewe he how / his gestes for to handle And in the same In / there dwelt a prety pryme She couthe well flater / and glose with hym & hym And necke a mesure / her smyrkynge gan her sale She made ten shylynge / of one barell of ale Whome she begyled / in pottes she was fayne To wyn them wt flesshe / and paynted loke agayne And as I remembre / her name was wanton besse Who leest with her delt / he thryued not the lesse What nede more processe / no crafte of the cyte Is but is myngled / with fraunde and subtylte Saue onely the crafte / of an apotycary That is all fraude / and gylefull polecy But all these wolde swere / that they were innocent Or they totlhe cyte / dyde fyrste of all frequent There lerned they / thefce and fraude to exercyse And man of nature / is moued soone to vyce Some be also / whiche spende theyr patrymony Whiche was to them lette / by theyr olde auncestry On queanes / bawdes / in ryot and dronkenesse Theyr name defylynge / despysynge all goodnesse With cost and paynes / suche busuly labour Sekynge for shame / and dethe before theyr houre Saye where is custome / of fornycacyon Incest auoutry / and destoracyon Forsynge of women / murdre and rapyne Dyscorde & braulynge / nnd lyuynge lyke to swyne Malyce / enuy / and all iniquyte Do these not rayne / in myddes of the cyte All newe abusyon / prouokynge men to synnes Hadde fyrst begynnynge / amonge the cytezyns Where dwell grete prynces / aud myghty gouernours Theyr lyfe dyspysynge / for to haue vayne honours Capytaynes / souldyours / and all lyke company Whiche put for money / theyr lyfe in ieopardy These dwell not vpon londe / but haunteth the cyte Pore herdes fyght not / but for necessyte For lyberte / lyfe / and iustyce to vpholde Towne dwellers fyght / for vayne honour / & golde We fyght / our frendes / and housholde to defende They fyght for malyce / to ryches to ascende Our cause and quarell / is to meynteyne the ryght But all on selfe wyll / without reason they fyght They seke by woundes / for honour and rychesse And dryue the wekest / to hardest busynes O blynde sowdyour / why settest thou thy hert For a vayne stypende / agayne a mortall darte By thousande peryllys / thou takest thy passage For a small Lucre / rennynge to grete dammage Theyr swete lyfe they gyue / for a poore stypende And ofte lese they bothe / and heuen at the ende Whyle some contendeth / and fyghteth for his wage His lyfe he spendeth / than fare well auauntage What is more folysshe / or lyker to madnesse Than to spende the lyfe / for glory and rychesse What thynge is glory / laude praysynge or fame What honour report / or what is noble name Forsothe nought but voyce of wytles comonte And vayne opynyon / subiecte to to vanyte Proceste of yeres / reuoluynge of season Bryngeth all these / soone in oblyuyon Whan lyfe is faded / all these ben out of syght Lyke as with the sonne departeth the daye lyght They all be fooles / whiche medleth with the see And other wyse myght lyue / in theyr owne countre He is but a foole / whiche runneth to tempest And myght lyue on londe / in suerte and in rest He is but a foole / whiche hathe of good plenty And it dysdayneth / to vse and occupy And he whiche lyueth / in care and wretchydnes His heyre to promote / to londes and rychesse Is most foole of all / to spare in mysery With good and londes / his heyre to magnyfy And he which leueth / that thynge for to be done Unto his doughter / executour or sone Whiche he hymselfe / myght in his lyfe fulfyll He is but a foole / ond hath but lytell skyll But all these sortes / within the cyte be They want of wysdome / and sue enormyte And also the youthe / in dayes festyuall Do nought but folowe / theyr lustes bestyall The weke they vse them / in worldly busynesse The sondaye serueth / to folowe vycyousnes What tyme the shoppes / be closed all and shyt Than is the market / with Thays / Beale / & Kyt On hyest dayes / suche ware in namely solde For nought it waxeth / yf it be ones olde Npon the sondaye / whan men shoulde god honour Lefte is good laboure / ensued is errour Oftyme the olde frere / that wonned in grenewyche Agayne suche folyes / was boldly wont to preche He sayde where baudes / and theyr abusyone Were wonte to abyde / in one vyle place alone Now are they sprencled / and sparcled abrode Lyke wyse as shyppes / be docked in a rode That harde is to knowe / good women frome the yll By yll example / good are in doubte to spyll Bawdes be suffred / so where they lyste to byde That the strete fadeth / vpon the water syde Cate / Jyll mably / Phylys / and feat Jeny Because of the cyte / now can not get one peny Uyle Thays was wont / in angles for to be Now hathe she power / in all the hole cyte ¶ Amyntas. Thou pasest mesure / Faustus by god a vowe Thou sayst of malyce / ryght well perceyue I nowe Myty gate thy mynde / and tongue for it is shame Men of the cyte / thus largely to blame What man is fautles / remembre the vylage Now men vplondysshe / on holy dayes rage Nought can them tame / they be a beastly sort In swete and labour / hauynge most chefe comforte On the holy daye / as soone as morne is past Whan all men resteth / whyle all the daye dothe last They drynke / they banket / they reuell and they Jet They lepe / they daunce / despysynge ease and rest Yf they ones here / a bagpype or a drone Anone to the elme / or oke be they gone There vse they to daūce / to gainbaud / and to rage Suche is the custome / and vse of the vyllage Whan the groūde resteth / from take plough & wheles Thā must they it trouble / wt burthen of theyr heles To Baccus they banket / no feest is festyuall They chyde and the chat / they vary and they brall They tayle and they route / they reuell and they cry Laughynge / and lepynge / & makynge cuppes drye ¶ Faustus. What stynt thou thy that / these wordes I defy It is to a vylayne / rebuke and vylanye Suche rurall solace / so playnly for to blame Thy wordes soundeth / to thy rebuke and shame ¶ Amyntas. Not so frende Faustus / I spoke it but in game Agayne to the cyte / retourne in gooddes name ¶ Faustus. Yet of the cyte / mo soles tell can I Whiche wene to nombre / the sterres of the skye By them supposynge / eche desteny to tell But all be fooles / that with this mater mell Yet be they madder / whiche fyxeth theyr entent To serche the nature / of god omnypotent And dare be so bolde / to set theyr mortall syght On incomprehensyble / and pure immortall lyght Our fayth is better / for they of the cyte Beleue by reason / with grete dyffyculte Or they wyll byleue / they brawle with argument Playne speche suffyseth / vs people innocent Agayne syr Sampson / theyr quarell they defende We aske no questyon / and vse not to contende We lyght the alters / and many candels offre Whan they of the towne / skantly make a proffer Theyr fayth is feble / our fayth is sure and stable They dare be bolde / with doctours for to bable A worldly march aunt / nought knowynge of doctryne Because of his coyne / counteth his reason fyne Trust me Amyntas / no force who hereth me The coyne and connynge / doth not alwaye agre For some be that haue / grete pleynte of that one Whiche of that other / haue lytell parte or none What shoulde the foles / that dwell in the cyte Or we seke to knowe / of goddes pryuyte Yf it were nedefull / the god • ed for to knowe To symple wretches • here on the grounde alowe It is in power / of god omnypotent His very presence / to vs to represent But seth his knowlege / is comprehensyble Why seketh fooles / for thynges unpossyble And seth god wyll be / vnknowen vnto vs Why sholde thyne mortall / of endeles thyng dyscus And ruy all people / in almys doth excell Aboue all the sorte / whiche in the cyte dwell We gyue woll and chese / our wyues coyne and egges Whan freres flater / and pryse theyr propre legges For a score of pynnes / and nedles two or thre A gentell cluner / two cheses hadde of me Phylys gaue coyne / because he dyd her charme Euer syth that tyme / lesse hathe she felte of harme Yet is in the cyte / a nombre incurable Pleders / and brokers / a foule and shamefast rable Marchauntes of Justyce / hunters of ryches Cratchers of coyne / delayers of processe Prolongynge causes / and makynge wronge of ryght And ryght of plaine wrōge / opp̄ssyng law wt myght Jaylers of Justyce / theyr cursed couetyse Watreth the plantes / of cruelte and vyce ¶ Amyntas. This haue I proued / by playne experyence But tell me Fastus / what causeth this offence ¶ Faustus. The rote and the grounde / of this mysgouernaunce Is fauour rewarde / and wylfull ygnoraunce Whan coyn or fauour / ones dymmeth hath the syght Adieu all Justyce / in pryson layd is ryght Yet be in townes / a rable fraudelent Murdrers of people / and fre of ponysshement Uauntynge and bostynge / themselfe of medycyne And nought perceynynge / of seyence and doctryne Yf they be fetred / with rynges and with cheynes Than may they handle / and touche pryuy vaynes Name all dyseases / and sores at theyr wyll Auoyde of connynge / of reason other skyll Suche ryde on mules / and pages by theyr syde But yf they hadde ryght / on asses shoulde they ryde As touchynge rulers / of all the comonte The more that they haue of hye auctoryte Of lyberte wyll / and synguler pleasure So moche the more / poore people they deuoure The houndes somtyme / wont foldes for to kepe Be now wylde wolues / deuourynge all the shepe Rulers be robbers / and pyllers be pastours Gone is the guydynge / of godly gouernours O where be rulers / meynteyners of Justyce Where be s •• duers / and • lakers of all vyce Where be the frendes / of mercy and pyte Somtyme well rulynge / not spoylynge of the cyte Where be chast rulers / iust meke and lyberall Chaunged is fortune / dethe hathe deuoured all The worste remayneth / gone ben the meke and Just In stede of vertue / ruleth frewyll / and lust Where be the fathers / ryght worthy an empyre Of whome men counted / gaye talys by the fyre Somtyme with talys / and otherwhyle with songe So dryuynge a waye / the wynter nyghtes longe Alas Amyntas / nought bydeth that is good No not my cokers / my tabert / nor my hood All is consumed / all spent and worne be So is all goodnesse / and welthe of the cyte The temples pylled / dothe bytterly complayne Poore people wayleth / and cal for helpe in vayne Poore wydous sorowe / and chyldren fatherles In vayne bewayleth / whan wolues them oppresse Syn hath no scourge / and vertu no rewarde Who loueth wysoome / his fortune is but harde Counceyll and cunnynge / now tombles in the dust But what is the cause / lawe tourned is to lust Lust standeth in stede of lawe / and of Justyce Wherby good lyuynge / subdued is by vyce ¶ Amyntas. I tell the Faustus / this hastynes of the Passeth the bondes / of ryght and honeste All men thou blamest / by wrothe and hastynesse As all cytezyns / were full of vycyousnesse What man remembre / some lyue in innocence Some in the Cyte / be partles of offence ¶ Faustus. I am not angry / I saye but veryte Here me Amyntas / one clause with breuyte As many todes / as bredeth in Irelonde As many Grypes / as bredeth in Englonde As many Cockowes / as synge in January And nyghtyngales / as synge in February And as many whalys / as swymmeth in the fen So many ben there / in cytes of good men ¶ Amyntas. A good man is geason / not easy to be founde On londe or in cyte / or ouer all the grounde Many thynges longe / vnto a parfyte man Aske that of Codrus / declare the trouthe he gan Badnes encreaseth / and ouer fast dothe growe Goodnes and vertu / in comynge vp ben slowe ¶ Faustus. Thou art madde I trowe / so many foes haue we As dwell cytezyns / in all the hole cyte They clyp vs / they poll vs / they pyll vs to the skyn And what they may get / y• thynke they well to wy • To theft they constrayne vs / I tell the by all Halows And after by and by / they sende vs to the Galows Therfore it is reason / yf ought of theyrs hap Or come to our clawes / it pryuely to trap They vs oft dysceyue / dysceyue we them agayne Deuyse we slyly / gyle subtyll and trayne But this Amyntas / to me is gretest grefe And doubt for it is yll / stelynge from a thefe Yf it be secret / we maye it well deny Yf it be knowen / excuse it craftely Preue felony / thoughe it be vsed longe Is not called theft / but iniury and wronge All that they haue / within these townes playne Is our harde labour / sore trauayle & grete payne ¶ Amyntas. Now thou excedest / the marke of equyte Thou passest reason / Faustus I tell to the ¶ Faustus. What than Amyntas / haue pacyence a whyle Towne dwellers vyces / dothe all the worle defyle The ayre is corrupt / by theyr enormyte These somer stormes / whēce come they tell thou me Lyghtnynge / grete wyndes / flodes / hayle / & thundre I well remembre / o • ttyme the grounde here vnder Ryght sore hathe quaked / and caused houses fall Uyce of the cyte / is rote and cause of all The sonne in myddaye / oftyme hathe lost his lyght In lykewyse the mone / in season of the nyght Bothe hathe ben blacke / or elles reed as blode This sygne Amyntas pretendeth vs no good Why growe the wedes / and cokyll in the corne Why is haye and grasse / oftymes all forlorne Why lose we our sede / our labour und expence Where cometh moryen / and greuous pestylence All these procedeth / by madde enormyte And corrupte maners / of them of the cyte And wors is lykely / yet afterwarde to fall Yf they not refourme / theyr lyuynge bestyall Whence came the furour / of harnes and batayle Which causeth wydowes / theyr spouies to bewayle Whiche bryngeth with it / all kynde of mysery As theft / and murdre / grete deth / and penury Forsoth in cytees / this furour fyrste began To the confusyon / of many a doughty man The cyte is well / and grounde orygynall Bothe fyrst and last / of dedely ylles all Bredde in the cyte / was cruell Lycaon Bredde amonge herbes / was good Dewcalyon Amonge shepeherdes / norysshed was Rennus And also his brother / the myghty Romulus The cause of the flode / in Cyte fyrste began Wherby was wasted / nere euery best and man Our lorde dsteroyed. v. Cytes for outrage Rede where for synnes / he wasted one vyllage I trowe whan the worlde / with fyre shall wasted be The cause shall procede / and come of some cyte What shall I touche the sauour and the stynke Whiche is in cytes / of gutter and of synke There men be choked / with vyle and deedly sent Here haue we odour / of floures redolent I count me happy / whiche won in the vyllage As vndefyled / with Cytezyns outrage. ¶ Amyntas. Haue done now Faustus / lave there a strawe and test Fyll we our bely / with cruddes that is best Leue we the cyte / and all Cyuyle outrage Now it is season / to torne to the potage After our dyner / is best as in my mynde The rest to declare / y fought remayne behynde. ¶ Finis.
¶ Here endeth the. v. Eglog of Alexandre Barclay of the Cytezyn / and vplondysshman /

Inprynted at London in flete strete / at the sygne of sonne / by Wynkyn de worde.

wynkyn de worde.