¶ This boke is compyled by Dan Iohn̄ Lydgate monke of Burye / at the excitacion & sty­rynge of the noble and victorious prynce / Kynge Henry the fyfthe / ī the honoure glorie & reuerence of the byrthe of our moste blessed Lady / mayde / wyfe / & mother of our lorde Iesu Christe / Chapitred as foloweth by this Table.

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  • ¶ Fyrste the Prologe
  • ¶ The natiuite of our Lady. Capitu. I. ii.
  • ¶ Howe our Lady was offred in to the Temple. Capitulo. iii.
  • ¶ Of the conuersation of our Lady in the Tiple. Capitulo. iiii.
  • ¶ Howe our Lady receyued the seuen giftes of y e holy ghoste. Capitulo. v.
  • ¶ Howe our Lady prayed to god for. vii. petici­one. Capitulo. vi. vii. viii.
  • ¶ Howe Ioseph vsed the crafte of a Carpenter. Capitulo. ix.
  • ¶ Howe our Lady is sette for example of virginite. Capitulo. x.
  • ¶ Howe mercy and peace / right wisnes & trouthe disputeden for the redemption of mankynde. Capitulo. xi.
  • ¶ Howe mercy and peace brought in this plee be­fore the hyghe Iuge. Capitulo. xii.
  • ¶ Howe god the father of heuen answered to mercy and peace. Capitulo. xiii.
  • ¶ Howe the father of heuen accorded the foure systers. Capitulo. xiiii.
  • ¶ Howe his sone shulde take mankynde. Capitulo. xv.
  • ¶ Howe Gabriell the Angell was sent to our Lady. Capitulo. xvi.
  • ¶ A tamentacion of saynte Bernarde. Capitulo. xvii.
  • ¶ A recaputulacion of the wordes of Gabriell to our lady. Capitulo. xviii.
  • [Page]¶ And howe holy men by deuine lykenes / wrote of our Lady in cōmendacion of her. Capi. xviii.
  • ¶ A cōmendacion of our Lady. Capitulo. xix.
  • ¶ Autentyke cōclusions agaynste vnbyleffull me that sayden that Christe might not be borne of a made. Capitulo. xx.
  • ¶ Howe our Lady went to saynte Iohan Baptistes mother Capitulo. xxi.
  • ¶ Howe our Lady made magnificat. Ca. xxii.
  • ¶ Howe our Lady after the byrthe of saynt Iohn̄ Baptiste retourned in Nazareth. Capi. xxiii.
  • ¶ Howe the maydens that weten attendaunte to our Lady / conforted Ioseph. Capi. xxv.
  • ¶ Howe y e Angell warned Ioseph to abyde with our Lady. Capitulo. xxvi.
  • ¶ Howe the Bisshope dyd do somone Ioseph for our Lady was with chylde. Capi. xxvii. xxviii. xxix. xxx.
  • ¶ Howe, our Ladyes frendes wayled and mor­ned whan the Bisshopes made so stronge a prefe of her virginite. Capitulo. xxxi.
  • ¶ Howe our Lady prayed to god & shewe her virginite. Capitulo. xxxii.
  • ¶ Howe the people and Bisshope dredde of the assaye that was made to our Lady. Capitulo. xxxiii.
  • ¶ A comendacion of chauchers. Capi. xxxiiii.
  • ¶ Howe Christe was borne after the makynge of the worlde. v. m. i. c. foure score. xix. yere Capitulo. xxxv.
  • ¶ Howe Ioseph and our Lady went to Bethleē [Page] to paye tribute. Capitulo. xxxvi.
  • ¶ Howe Iosephe went to seche a mydwyfe. Capitulo. xxxvii.
  • ¶ A deuoute prayer that our Lady made whan Christe was borne. Capitulo. xxxviii.
  • ¶ Howe the midwyfe durste nat entre with Io­seph in to the house / for a greate light appered w tin Capitulo. xxxix.
  • ¶ Howe Balaam prophecyed the Sterre tha shewed Christes byrthe. Capi. xl.
  • ¶ Howe our Lady receyued the mydwyues. Capitulo. xli.
  • ¶ Howe the hande of Salome waxed drye. Capitulo. xlii.
  • ¶ Howe the Angels appered to the Shepeher­ders & tolde of the byrthe of Christe. Ca. xliii.
  • ¶ Howe the Shepeherders foundē Christe with our Lady. Capitulo. xliiii.
  • ¶ Howe god wolde nat be borne / but of a mayde mother and wyfe. Capitulo. xlv.
  • ¶ Howe Isaac prophecied the byrthe of Christe by touchynge the clothes of his sone Iacob Capitulo. xlvi.
  • ¶ Howe y e Garnet appell is lykened to our Lady Capitulo. xlvii.
  • ¶ Howe Ioseph figured the byrthe of Christe. Capitulo. xlviii.
  • ¶ Howe nature obeyeth to virginite. Ca. xlix.
  • ¶ Howe the chyefe Tēple of Rome tyll the night of Christes byrthe / and other wonderfull tokenes Capitulo. L.
  • [Page]¶ Howe the night of Christes byrthe a well ī Rome ranne Oyle. Capitulo. li.
  • ¶ Howe the Senatours of Rome wolden haue holdē Octauian theyr Emperoure as for her god Capitulo. lii. liii.
  • ¶ Howe the Romayns whā they had [...] ouer all the worlde made an ymage & calle it theyr god. Capitulo. liiii.
  • ¶ Howe wise Sibille tolde to the Senate of Rome the byrthe of Christe. Capitu. lv.
  • ¶ Howe the Prophetes prophecied the byrthe of Christe. Capitulo. lvi.
  • ¶ A question assoyled / whiche is worthyest of kynge / wyne for woman. Capi. lvii.
  • ¶ Howe our Lady ought worthely to be recōmē ded and honoured for the byrthe of Christe. Capitulo. lviii.
  • ¶ Of likenes of our Lady in commendacion of her. Capitulo. lix.
  • ¶ Howe Christe was circumcised. Capi. lx.
  • ¶ Howe in four maner of wyses Christe was cir­cumcised. Capitulo. lxi.
  • ¶ Howe Christe [...] circumcision in his cho­sen people. Capitulo. lxii.
  • ¶ Howe the people of god that due Iosue had in gouernaunce were saued by the stedfaste beleue of the name of Iesus. Capitulo. lxiii.
  • ¶ Howe Prophetes and matters suffreden deth for the name of Iesus. Capitu. lxiiii. lxv.
  • ¶ Howe Iesu Christe was bothe prophete / preste kynge / and mighty champyon. [Page] Capitulo. lxvi.
  • ¶ Howe by the prophecye of Balaam / watche was made vpon an Hylle. Capitulo. lxvii. lxviii.
  • ¶ Howe the thre Kynges perceyued the Sterre. Capitulo. lxix.
  • ¶ Howe Kynge Herode sent for the thre Kynges Capitulo. lxx. lxxi.
  • ¶ Of the ioye that y e Kynges had whan they foū ­de Christe. Capitulo lxxii.
  • ¶ Of vertuous pouerte and mekenes of our La­dy. Capitulo. lxxiii.
  • ¶ Howe the Angell warned the thre Kynges to passe nat by Herodes / but by another waye. Capitulo. lxxiiii.
  • ¶ A declaracion of the thre Kynges / of theyr thre gyftes. Capitulo lxxv.
  • ¶ Howe we shulde do this offrynge ghostly Capitulo. lxxvi.
  • ¶ Howe our Lady was puryfied. Capitulo. lxxvii.
  • ¶ Howe Simeon receyued Christe in the Temple of our lady. Capitulo. lxxviii.
  • ¶ Howe where and whan Simeon made / Nunc dimitus seruum tuum domine secundum verbum tuum in pace. Capitulo. lxxix.
  • ¶ Of the ioye that Ann [...] the daughter of Phanes had / whan Christe was offred in to the Temple. Capitulo. lxxx.
  • [Page]¶ A proffitable declaration of the propertes [...] Turtell and the Doue. Capitu. lxxxi.
  • ¶ Howe Candelmasse toke fyrste the name. Capitulo. lxxxii.
¶ Here endeth the Table / here after foloweth the Prologe. Laus Deo
[figure]
O Thoughtfull herte / plonged in distresse
With slōbre of slouth / this long wynters night
Out of y e slepe of mortal heuynesse
Awake anoue / and loke vpon the lyght
Of thylke sterre / that with her bemys bryght
And with the shynynge / of his stremes merye
Is wonte to glade / all our emisperye.
¶ And to oppresse the derknes / and the doole
Of heuy hertes / that sorowen and sighen ofte
I mene the sterre / of the bright poole
That with her bemys / whan she is alofte
May al the trouble asswage / and assofte
Of worldly wawes / whiche in this mortall see
Hath vs bysette with grete aduersite.
¶ The rage of whiche / is so tempestyous
That whan the calme / is moste blandisshynge
Then is the storme / of deth moste perilous
If that he want / the light of her shynynge
And but the sight: alas of her lokynge
From dethes brynke / vs to escape
The hauen of lyfe / of vs may not betake.
¶ This streme in beaute / passith Plyades
Bothe of shynynge / and of stremes clere
Boetes and Artur / and also Iades
And Esperus / whan it doth appere
For this is Spice / with her bright spere
That towarde euyn / at midnyght & at morowe
Downe from heuyn adawith all out sorowe.
¶ Whose bryght beames shynyng fro so ferre
That clowdes blake may the lyght not steyne
For this of Iacob / is the fayre sterre
That vnder wawes / neuer doth declyne
Whose course: is not vnder the ecliplyke lyne
But euery lyche of beaute may be sene
Amyd the arke / of our meridyne.
¶ And dryeth vp the bytter terys wete
Of Aurora after the morowe graye
That she in wepynge bothe on floures flete
In lusty Apryll / and in fresshe Maye:
And causeth Phebus the bryght somers daye
With his way [...] golde borned bryght and [...]
To enchase the mys [...] of our cloudy ayre.
¶ For this is the sterre / that bare y • bryght sonne
Whiche holdeth the spere / of Iuda in his hande
Whole stremes ben / out of Iesse co [...]e
To [...] lyght bothe in see and lande
Whose glade bemys / without eclipsynge stande
Estwarde to vs in the Oryent full shene
With lyght of grace to voyde all our tene.
¶ Nowe fayre sterre / o sterre of stetrys all
Whose lyght to se / Angels delyte
So let the golde dewe of thy grace fall
In to my breste / lyke scalys fayre and whyte
Me to enspyre / of that I wyll endyte
With thylke bawme sent downe by myracle
Whan the holy ghost / the made his tabernacle.
¶ And the lycoure / of thy grace shede
In to my penne / to enlumyne this dyte
Thorowe thy supporte / that I may procede
Somwhat to say in laude & praysynge of the
And fyrst I thynke / of the natiuyte
So that thyne helpe / fro me not twynne
Benygne lady / anone to begynne.
¶ Here endeth the prologe.

¶ Here begynneth the byrthe of our moste blessyd lady mayde / wyfe / and moder of our lorde Iesu christe / compyled vp dan Iohn Lydgate / monke of saynt Edmondes: Burye At the excitation and sterynge of the noble victoryous prynce / Kynge Henry y e fyfthe.

A flour of vertue / ful lōge kept in [...]os
Ful ma [...]e was / wholsome leuys fote
Only by grace / vpon the stalke a [...]oos [...]
Out of [...]else / spryngynge frō the ro [...]s
Of god ordeyned / to be re [...]uyte & bot [...]
Unto mankynde our trouble to determyne
Full longe beforne / by pres [...]ns deuyne.
¶ The whiche [...]ou [...]e preserueth man fro deth
Unto the vertue / who so [...]yst take hede
That in a gardyne / amyd of Nazareth
[...] fayre somtyme gan to sprynge a sprede
That thorowe the worlde both in lengthe & brede
The fleshe odoure / and [...]o the swetnesse
H [...]s comforteth of all he [...] h [...]upnesse.
¶ O Nazareth / with bethlem the besyde
This [...]loure the maketh / of name more [...]yall
Than other Rome: [...]late and full of pryde
O myghty Troye / with the s [...]ou [...]dy wall
Who [...]e renowne holdeth to be peregall
In honour / pryce [...]ame / or reuerence
Unto your passynge worthy excellence.
¶ If for the fruyte cōmendyd be the tree
Thou hast more laude and commendacion
For thy [...]ke floure / sprynge out of the
Than hath Aus [...]ike or worthy Scipyon:
Of Rome Cesar / or of Fabyon
Though her names / were sotyme graue in golde
Her ydel fame / to thyne may not be colde
¶ Therfore reioyse / and be right glad and light
O Nazareth / of name moste flourynge:
For out of the floure / moste fayre of sight
Moste full of grace / somtyme dyd sprynge
Of the whiche / fully remembrynge
So longe agone spake holy ysaie
When that he sayd / in his prophecie.
¶ That on this floure / playnly sholde reste
The holy ghost / for his chosen place
As for the fayrest / and also for the beste
That euer was / and moste full of grace
Whose passynge beaute / no stormes may defface
But euer a lyke / contynueth fresshe of hewe
Withouten fadynge / the coloure is so trewe.
¶ For this is y • floure / that god hymselfe behelde
The whyte Lelye / of the chosyn vale
The swete Rose / of the fayre felde
Whiche of colour / waxith neuer pale
The vyolet / our langour to auale
Purpyll he wyd / thorowe mercy and pyte
To socoure all that in mischyefe be.
¶ And from the stocke / of Ioachym and Anne
This holy floure / had her origynall
To hym afore by signe / y shewyd whan
The angell tolde hym playnly / that there shall
Of hym be borne / a mayde inspeciall
Chosen of god / most chiefe of her alye
And for her mekenesse / hyght shall Marye.
¶ And whan the Angell / at the yate of golde
Had of this mayde the byrth prophected
And all the maner / of hem bothe tolde
In bokes olde / as it is specifyed
Home to her house anone / they haue them byed
[...]nd she conceyueth this faythfull treue wyfe
[...]y Ioachym / the holy truyte of lyfe.
¶ Out of the whiche / gan growe all our grace
[...] sorowes fully for to [...]y [...]e
[...] playnly to [...]ace
Of [...]he [...]yme / callyd Serpentyne
For that whan▪ [...] / had monthes nyne
[...] this [...]r [...]y [...]e [...]o holy and [...]re
Thorowe the gra [...] of god anone it dyd appere.
[...] the Oryent to glade al mankynde
[...] dedely errour oppressyd of the nyght
With [...]lowdes blocks / and with skyes blynde
Tyll they were [...]leryd / with fayrenesse of y • [...]yght
Of the whiche the angell somtyme had a syght
With [...] wrastlynge / from hym as he [...]rayed
So longe a [...]orne / to hym whan he sayed.
¶ Lete me departe / withouten more affraye
Agaynst me / and make no resystence
The nyght is passed to the morowe graye
The fresshe Aurora so sayre in apparence
Her lyght dawith / to voyde all offence
Of wynter nyghtes full longe and tedyous
With n [...]we apperynge so glad and gracyous.
¶ This is to saye / the holy dawnynge
Of th [...] mayde / of her natiuyte
The nyght gan voyde / of our olde mornynge
Is the Angell / in fygure dydse
With suche a touche / made Iacob be
Sore: in his senewes / lyke as it is founde
In thy [...]ke mēbre / where lust doth moste hab [...]de.
¶ In fygure only / that there sholde sprynge
Downe by dyssent / out of his kynrede
A [...]ene mayde in wyll / and in worchynge
Pure of entent / bothe in thought and deds
With Aurora / with his beames rede
The nyght auoyded / with his copes donne
[...]fore the vp [...]yst / of the bryght sonne.
¶ Ryght so this mayd / at her natiuyte
The nyght of deth / auoyded hath awaye
[...] bryght Calendys / moste lusty for to se
Of Phe [...]s vpryst / withouten more delays
For [...]he is Aurora / sobrely this is to saye
Out o [...] whiche / as Prophetes gan deuyse
The sonne of lyte / to vs gan fyrste deuyse.
¶ Of whose byrthe / full many a day beforne
A [...]o [...]m [...]zat wrote in specyall
And sayd a mayde sothely shall be borne
Under the signe / aboue celestyall
That callyd is / the signe virgynall
The whiche mayde / as he [...]ke telle can.
Shall [...]ere a chylde / without spotte of man▪
¶And as Mynerue moder of prudence
Ie holde a mayde / right so is this heuenly q [...]e
B [...]re in her wombe / the fade [...] sapience
And moder was and may den clene
Of god prouyded / playnly for to bene
So coure to man and helpe in al our nede
Whan she was borne this floure of wom [...]hede.

¶ Howe our lady was o [...]yd in to the temple Capi. .iii.

ANd alter thre yere a [...] was the vsage
[...]er moders [...]appi [...] she left as in sowk [...]
[...] than [...]none / in her [...]nder age
Unto the temple / o [...]uou [...]ly they [...] brynge
[...] vnto god they made osterynge
[...] this mayde for to abyde there
With other maydens▪ that in the temple were.
¶ And not withstandyng / her passyng tendernes
[...] [...]re [...] youthe but of y [...]s thre
[...]horowe goddes helpe this braunche of holines
Withouten helpe / went vp gree by gr [...]s
[...]y [...]en [...] alo [...] that all myghten se
[...]ofore that aulter o [...] [...]o grete an hight
And whan her moder therof had asight.
¶ For veray ioye / anone she [...]ylle a downe
And sayd thus / that all my g [...]en here
God from aboue ha [...]d herde myn [...] ory [...]on
Of his goodnes / and graunted my prayer
[Page]And comforted [...] [...] [...]
In syg [...] of hem that [...] at my payne
And of malyc [...] / g [...]n at me di [...]da [...]ne.
¶ Nowe hath he ben my synguler refute
To my trystesse consol [...]cion
For he hath made / the dareyn [...] to bere frut [...]
Thorowe his myghty v [...]itacion
And made clere / my confusyon
And all me woo / for to ouergone
Onely by grace / amyd all my fone.
¶ And thorowe his myght / y • hertes hath bowyd
Of hym that gan to chace / at my pryde
Wherfore she hathe / vnto god auowyd
That her doghter / shall in the temple abyde
The holy ghoste for to be her guyde
For euer more / by godes purueyaunce
Thorowe her mekenesse / hym to do plesaunce.
¶ Forth all her lyfe / there to slepe and wake
Hym for to serue / with humble par [...]ytenes
That all maydens / myght ensample take
Of her alone / to lyue in clennes
And specially / of her me [...]enes
Be [...]yg [...]e porte / t [...]naunce and chere
If that hym lest / of herthey myght lere.
¶ Full of vertue / de [...]oyde of all outrage
Her herte was / that god to dwelle in there
And day [...] day / [...]yght as she we [...]e in age
[Page]Ryght so in vertue / gan she to encreace
And nyght ne daye / wolde she neuer ceace
To exclude slouthe / and vyces to werraye
With hande to worche / or with mouthe to praye.
¶ For but in god / her herte nought delyteth
So vpon hym entierly was her thought
And frome aboue by grace he her vysiteth
That euery thynge / but hym she set at nought
Of worldly lust / she hathe so lytell thought
That out of mynde she let it euer slyde
That nought but god / maye in her abyde.
¶ And whan that she xv. yere dyd attayne
She was as sad in conuersacion
And also demure / sothely for to sayne
From all chyldehede and dissolution
In gouernaunce and discresion
And in talkynge / as wyse and sage
As any mayde / of thyrty yere of age.

¶ Of the conuersacion of our Lady in the Temple. Ca. .iiii.

ANd of her rule / this was her vsage
From day to day / this holy mayde entyere
From pryme at morne / by contynuaunce
Tyll thre of the bell / to be in her prayere
And tyll the sonne / was at mydday spere
On golde and siluer / & on wulles so [...]e
With her handes / she wolde wyrche ofte.
¶ And [...]
From god [...]
Whiche that [...]
Thankynge [...]
And after [...] / anone this may de is went
Agayne to [...] / tyll [...] went to [...]
And at [...] with hym she toke her reste.
¶ This lyfe she [...] / and this cou [...]se [...]he go [...]th
In whome was [...] / yet founde offence
And neuer man sawe / this mayde wr [...]th
But eu [...] meke / and [...] of pa [...]enc [...]
Of herte clene / and pu [...] of concience
This lyfe she led / and as b [...]kes teche
Of wordes [...]ewe / and wondersoft [...] of speche.
¶ The meate also / that was to her brought
Out of the templ [...] / for h [...] [...]
With herte glad [...] / and with a [...] thought
To poore and [...]y / that ly [...]d in p [...]nau [...]c [...]
To ye [...]e it [...]r [...]ly / was all hee plesaunce
And who that [...]uer / of her has a syght
Of all dysease / was made gl [...] and lyght.
¶ And euery wyght / greuyd with sekenes
A touche of her / [...]ade hem hole anone
And they [...]at were / in thought and in des [...]res
Whan they her s [...] / he [...] malyce was agone
And thus she was to euery ch [...]ue
Of all [...] / r [...]yte and remedye
With a beholdyng [...] / of her godely eye.
¶ And of this [...] as it is tolde
Her godely face / was so full of lyght
That no man myght susteyne to [...]eh [...]lde
For it was clerer / than the sonne bryght
That the crowne / in the wynters nyght
Of Adryanne / ne of the sterres seuen
To her fayrnes / ne be not for to neuen.
¶ Yet neuer man tempted was to synne
Whyle he behelde on her goodely face
The holy ghost / so hoole was her within
That all enuyrone spredde gan his grace
Where that she was present in the place
For alway god gaue her to her presence
So fulsome lyght / of heuenly influence.
¶ Ne none so fayre / was neuer founde in ryme
As was that mayde of Iuda and Syon
The doughter chosen of Iherusalem
Of Dauidis sede / to besette alone
Of all maydens / to reken [...]hem euerychon [...]
She bare the pryse as well in fayrnes
As she excelled / in vertue and goodnes.
¶ Let be thou grece / and speke not of Eleyne
Ne thou Troye / of yonge Pollycene
Ne Rome of Lucresse / with her eyen tweyne
Ne thou Cartage / of the fresshe quene
Dido that was somtyme so fayre to sene
Let be your boost / and take of hem no hede
Whose beauce fayleth / as floure in frosty mede.
[...]
And Iudith [...]
And Ber [...]abe / of [...]
And Rachell fayre / Iacob can you tell
But she alone of womanhede the well
Of bounte / beaute / that neuer fade may
Nought lyke a floure th [...] storysshed but in maye.
¶ Passeth echone bothe nyghe and ferre
Bothe in fayrnes / and in perfeccion
Ryght as the sonne / doth a lytell sterre
And as the Rubye hathe the renowne
Of stones all and domynacion
Ryght so this mayde / to speke of holynes
Of women all / is lady and maystres.
¶ Of whom spake somtyme wyse Salamon
In sapience / woso lyste to seke
That she was chosen / for herselfe alone
This whyte downe / with her [...]yen meke
Whose chekes weren hee beaute for to eke
with lylyes meynte & fresshe roses reed
This is to say / who so can take hede.
¶ Fyrst with the Rose: of womanly sufferaunce
And with the fayre lylye next of chastyte
She was ennewed to yeue her suffysaunce
As well in goodnes as in beaute
And as he sayeth she fayrer was [...]ose
Than ou [...]her Pheus / platly or Lucyne
With hornes full of heuen / whan they shyne.
¶ And of this mayde / as saynt [...] sayth
In his writtynge / her beaute to [...]
Of face fayre / but fayrer yet of fayth
He sayth: she was this holy pure virgyne
Whose chaste herte / to nothynge dyd enclyne
For all her beaute: but to holynes
Of whome also / this auctour sayth expres.
¶ That she was doughter / of Dauid by diss [...]nt
Sterre of the see / and godes owne ancille
Euen in this worlde / alwey of one [...]nten [...]
And godes spouse / his hestys to fulfyll
And euer redy / for to do his wyll
Christes temple / and also receptacle
Of the holy ghoste / and chosen tabernacle.
¶ The yare of bruen▪ and also the fayrnes
Of women all / whoso loketh a ryght
Of may denhede / lady and prynces
One of the fyue / that [...]are her lampes lyght
Redy to mete / with her spouse at nyght
Full prudently / away [...]ynge at the yare
That for no stouthe / she came not to late.
¶ In fygure the▪ the chaundelabre of golde
That somtyme / her seuen lampes shene
This is to saye / the recey [...] of the holde
Of god preserued / for she was so clene
Thorowe her meryte / endewed for to bene
By grace of hym / that is of power moste
With the seuen yestes of the holy ghoste▪

¶ How one lady receynge the seuen yestes of the holy ghoste. Ca. v.

THe fyrste yeste▪ was the yeste of drede
To [...]fthe [...] [...]he thynge th [...] shall god disples [...]
The nexte pyte of veray women hede
To rewe on all▪ that she sawe in dysease
The thyrde conuynge / god and man to please
The fourthe str [...]ng the / th [...]r [...] we her stedfastnesse
Onely by vertue / al vyces to oppresse.
¶ Of counceyll the / she had excellence
To kepe her pure in virgynyte
For ay with counceyll / [...]yed is prudence
Of vnderstandynge / eke the yeste had she
For god hym selfe / chose with her to be
And of wysdome / so god lyst her [...]uaunce
To knowe erhe thyuge / that was to his plesaūce.
¶ She was also / the Trone voyde of synne
That standeth so royall / in godes owne syght
To fore whiche seuen lampes brenne
With heuenly fyre / so spyrytuall of lyght
That neuer wast / but euer alyche bryght
Contynued in one / here aboue in heuen
By the whiche Trone: and the lampesseuen.
¶ Is vnderstande / this mayde moste entere
With seuen vertues / that in her were [...]ounde
That somtyme were [...] / w t ghostely lyght so clere
Thorowe lyght of vertue / in w [...]rd [...]ly [...]co [...]nde.
[Page]Onely thorowe [...]ence / that dyd in her [...]
And all they / were grounded in me [...]enes
Her lyght to god: more pleasauntly to distres.
¶ For fayth in her / had a grounde so stable
That it was voyde / of all doublenes
Her hope of truste / was also mayntynable
Ro [...]yd in god / by parfy [...]e sykernes
Whose charite / so large gan hym dres
That vp to god / hasted ranne the fyre
With herte of clennes / to all by desyre.
¶ Str [...]nge in vertue / prubent in gouernaunce
She hath also conueyed with clennes
And [...]oueraynly / she had attempetaunce
In all her werkes / with grete aduysione [...]
And euer annexyd / vnto righwysnes
within her herte / of womanly bounte
She had of custome mercy and pyte.
¶ Sothfaste ensample also of chastyre
As sayeth Ambrose / she was in thought and ded [...]
And treue myrrour of virginite
Of poorte benygne / full of lowlyhede
As humble of chere / and feminine of drede
Prudent of speche / of what she lyste to shewe
Large of sentence / and but of wordes [...]ewe.
¶ To praye and rede / that was euer her lyfe
Of herte w [...]er: by deuocyon
To god alwey with thought contemplatyfe
[Page]Ful [...]eruent [...]
And ydel neuer from [...]
And specially / to [...]
Her hands was [...] [...]edy at the [...]ede.
¶ And full she was of compassyon
To rewe in all that [...]alt woo or smerte
Well wylled euer / with hole affeccion
To euery wyght / so longe was her herte
Sad with all this / that her neuer asterde
A looke a [...]s / of her eyen fayre
So close of sight was this debonayre.
¶ And in Psalme of holy prophecye
To loke and rede / she founde most desyte
And [...]dan she sawe / and founde in Isaye
Of Cristys hyrthe / how he dyd wryte
To god she ly [...]e / her tender handes whyte
Besechyng hym / she myght abyde and se [...]
The blesfull day of his na [...]yuy [...]e.
¶ And in the boke of Elyzabeth
That [...]yrulyd is of her auysions
I synde howe this mayde of Nazareth
Sayd euery day / seuen orisons
That callyd ben her peticions
With humble herte / this blesfull yonge mayde
Full lowly knelyng euen thus she sayde.

¶ How our lady prayed to god for seuen peticions. Ca. v.

O Blisfull lorde / that knowest the entente
Of euery herte / in thyne eternal sight
yeue me grace / the first cōmaundement
To fulfyll / as it is skylle and ryght
And graunt al [...]o / with herte will and myght
And all my soule / and all my knowynge
The fyrst to loue / aboue all other thynge.
¶ And giue me myght / playnly to fulfyll
The next biddinge / like to thy plesaunce
And for to loue / with herte and all my wyll
My neyghbour in dede and countenaunce
Right as my selfe / with euery circumstaunce
And here with all / for ioye and smerte
What thou louest / to loue with all myne herte▪
¶ Thy precepte / graunt eke that I may
Fulfyll also / bothe erly and late
In suche maner / as moste is to thy paye
Benygne lorde / and make me for to hate
Mankyndes so / for he made fyrst debate
In kynde of man / and made hym to trespace
Agaynst the / and to liese his grace.
¶ And lorde graunt me / for thy mercy digne
Aboue all thynge / for to haue mekenes
And make me humble / sufferaunt & benygne
With pacience / & inwarde myldenese
Of all vertues / gyue me eke largenese
To be acceptyd / the to queme and serue
To fynde onely thy grace I may deserue.
¶ And also lord / with quakyng herte & drede
Mekely I praye vnto thy deite
Me for to graunte / of thy godlyhede
The gracious houre / for to abyde and see
In whiche the holy chosen mayden free
In to this world / hereafter shall be bore
Lyke as Prophetes hath wrytten here before.
¶ How that she shall / by thyne eleccion
Be mayde and mother / to thy sone dere
Nowe good lorde / here myne oryson
To kepe myn eyen and my syght entyere
That I may se / her holy halowyd chere
Her sakerid beaute / & holy countynaunce
If thou grace list / me so moche auaunce.
¶ And kepe myne eres / that they may also
Here her speche / & her dally aunce
And with my tong speke / that mayden vnto
Paciently thorowe her sufferaunce
Of wordly Ioye / this were suffysaunce
And her to loue / like as I desyre
Benygne lorde / so set myn herte afyre.
¶ And lord also / on me saue thou vouche
Though I therto / haue no wordynesse
That holy mayde / to handyll and touche
Myn owne lady / and my maystresse
And that I may / with humble buxumnesse
Upon my fete / in al my best wyse
Go vnto her / for to do seruyce.
¶ And to that floure of vyrgynyte
Graunte also lorde / that I may haue space
Mekely to bowe & knele vpon me knee
Under supporte / onely of her grace
And to honour the goodly yong face
Other sone / as she dothe hym wrappe
In clothes softe lyggyng in her lappe.
¶ And loue hym best playnly to my laste
With all myn herte / & myn hole seruyce
Withouten chaunge / while my lyfe may laste
Right as thy selfe lorde caust best deuyse
So that I may in faythfull humble wyse
In all this worlde / nomore grace attayne
Than loue hym best with all my myght & payne
¶ And to thy grace also lorde I praye
To graunt me to fulfyll in dede
Hooly the statutes / and mekely to obeye
Within the temple / as I here hem rede
For but thou helpe / I may no thynge spede
As of my lyfe: & therfore vnto the
All I cōmytte as thou list it be.
¶ The obseruaunces / & the preceptes all
That to thy temple / o lorde ben partynent
So let thy grace by mercy on me falle
That I may do hem / with all myn hole entēts
And euery byddyng and cōmaundement
That thy mynystres assygnen vnto me
Make me fulfille / with al humylite.
¶ And thy temple / & thy holy house
Benygne lorde / kepe me from all damage
And make thy people / to be vertuouse
To thy pleasaunce of euery maner age
Therfore to serue / with herte & hoole corage
And where they erre / lorde on any syde
Or thou do right / let mercy be her guyde.
¶ And thus this mayde / alway day by day
In the temple makith her prayers
To please god / what she can or may
The chyef resorte / of all her desyres
Tyll she attayne / to fourtene yeres
With herte auowyd / bothe in thought & dede
For to contynue in her maydenhede.
¶ Of whose entent god / wote ful vnware
Wherin sūme of them / that in the temple abyde
Of whiche a bisshope / callyd Abyathar
Cast hym fully / for to sette a syde
Her purpose playnly / an so for to prouyde
That her auowe made of chastyte
Shulde not holde / but vtterly that she.
¶ Shold be wedded sothely yf he myght
Unto his sone / of hygh affection
For that she / in euery wyghtes sight
So passyng good of condicion
And to fulfyll / his entencion
Abyathar byhoteth golde and rente
To the bisshoppes / to make her to assente.
¶ To this purpose / & to her they gone
And what they may / they gan her excite
And to afferme / to her euerichone
With sugred tonges / of many wordes whyte
That god aboue / doth hym more delyte
In birthe of children / than in virgynite
Or any suche / auowyd chastite.
¶ And more in children / is honoured in certayn
And more in hem / hath he his pleasaunce
Than in suche / as ben not but barayn
Without fruyt / thorowe mysgouernaūce
And holy wrytte / makith remembraunce
That no man was sothely for to tell
Without seed / blessed in Israell.
¶ To whom anone / with loke downe cast & chere
Benygnely / & in full humble wyse
This holy mayde / sayd as ye shull here
Certes quod she / yfye will you auyse
Whiche in your selfe / so prudent ben and wyse
And well aduerte / in your discressioune
That Abell somtyme had a dowble croune.
¶ One for his faithfull trewe sacrifise
Offryng to god / of humble herte and free
And another / as I shall deuyse
For he his body / kept in chastite
And Ely eke / as ye may rede and see
For he in herte / was a mayden clene
He was rauysshed / aboue the sterres seuene.
¶ Body and all / in a chare of fyre
For he hym kepte / from all corrupcion
Therfore in vayne / is playnly your desyre
To speke with me / of this opynion
For god wel knoweth / myn entencyon
Howe I haue vowyd / as it to hym is couthe
To be a mayde / fro my tender y outhe.
¶ And all my lyfe / so forth to perseuere
For lyfe or deth / onely for his sake
From whiche purpose / shall I not disseuere
Thorowe his grace / whether I slepe or wake
To kepe and holde / I haue vndertake
My maydenhede / si [...]hen go full yore
Agaynst whiche ne spekith to me nomore.
¶ And whan they sawe / her herte not mutable
But euer stedfast / of one affeccion
And euer eli [...]he / as one centre stable
They haue made / a conuocacion
Of all the kynredes / in conclusion
The eyght day / for to come in fere
By one assent / to [...]r [...]e of this matere.
¶ This is to say / that of olde vsage
O [...] custome kepe / for a memoriall
That euery mayde / of fourtene yere of age
Riche and poore / of the stocke ryall
In the temple / no lenger dwell shall
But be statute / shall be take and maryed
By the lawe / and no lenger taryed▪
¶ And whan they were assembled al in one
Isacar in opyn audyence
Gan to pronounce / afore hem euerichone
Ful prudently / the sūme of his sentence
And said si [...]es / with your pacience
So yt your eres offende not ne greue
Declare I shal / my meynyng with your leue.
¶ If ye remembre sithen Salamon the kynge
Of Israel ceptre bare and crowne
In this temple / so ryal in byldyng
Haue yong maydens by deuysion
Of custome had / her conuersacion
Bothe kynges doughters & prophytes ake
As ye may fynde / yf ye lyst to seke.
¶ But to the age of fourtene yere
Abyden here and no lenger of spake
As ye wel knowe / withouten any were
And than be remeuyd from her place
And in her stede other dyd pace
As custome was / & eche in her lynage
Delyuerd was vnto mariage
¶ And as a lawe it hath be kept full trewe
Unto this tyme / in hygh & lowe estate
But now Marie / hath fonde an ordre newe
To kepe her clene and inuyolate
Agaynst whiche / there help [...]th no debate
For of fre chose / and hertely volunte
She hath to god / auowed chastyte.
¶ Wherfore me semeth / it were well sittyng
To her purpose / by good discressyon
Fyrst that we myght fully haue knowyng
Of goddes wyll / in this opynion
For thant were a more perfeccion
Her clene entente / as semyth vnto me
And eke the stronger of auctorite.
¶ Fyrst / that we myght knowe veryly
To whose kepyng / she shall commytted be
And they assenten / herto veraly
Withouten more / of hygh or lowe degre
And of accorde / & of one vnyte
The prestes all begonnen to procede
To cast lotte downe by eche kynrede.
¶ The whiche lotte / on Iuda fyll anone
As I suppos / ethrogh goodes purueaunce
And Isacar amonge hem euerichone
Purposed hath a newe ordynaunce
That euery wyght / of that allyaunce
That wyfles were / withouten more delaye
Shulde brynge a yerde / agaynst the next daye.
¶ And to the bisshop / hyest of echone
Eueryche of hem dyd his yerde brynge
Amonge whiche / Ioseph had brought one
Though he were olde / & passed his likynge
And he alone / made his offerynge
To god aboue / and a sacrifyse
In the olde lawe / suche as was the guyse.
¶ And god to hym / than dyd appere
And with the ye [...]des / bad that he sholde gone
And put them euerichone in fere
Insancta sanctorum / liggyng one by one
And in the morowe / to come agayne echone
Eueriche his yerde / to receyue agayne
And vpon whiche yerde / onely were seyne.
¶ A downe appere / and vp to heuen flee
He shall haue / without more obstacle
Marie in kepyng / so fayre vpon to see
As it is right / for the hygh myracle
And whan they come / to the tabernacle
As ye haue herde / the besshop deuoutely
Eueriche his yerde delyuerd by and by.
¶ But vtterly vpon none them of alle
At thylke tyme / was theyre nothyng sayne
For godes heste / was noughte ye ytall [...]
Other desyre / to put hem in certeyne
Wherfore the bisshop / with newe fyre agayne
Entred is in to the senturye
And whyle that he a whyle there gantarye.
¶ Godes angell appered to hym newe
Downe fro heuen / by myracle lent
And tolde playnly / the heste of god was trewe
But howe hymselfe / was somwhat necligent
For to delyuer by cōmaundement
Euery man his yerde / as he oughte
And whan the bisshop aright hym bethoughte.
¶ He gan remembre / playnly in his mynde
That of disdayne / and wylfull necligence
The yerde of Ioseph was left behynde
Wherby he knewe / that he had done offence
And gan alone / to brynge hit in presence
And toke h [...] Ioseph deuoutely in his honde
Amonge hem all there they dyd stonde.
¶ All behynde disseueryd / from the pres
With humble chere / in the lowest place
And of this yerde / in maner recheles
Full stylle of porte / with a dreedfull face
And whan he did with his hande enbrace
His yerde agayne full debonayre of lok [...]
For Innocence of humble drede he quoke.
¶ And sodenly through grace / about deuyne
All openly in euery wyghtes sight
Upon the yerde of Ioseph full benygne
Was seen a dow [...]e / of fetheris lyly whight
That towarde heuen toke the flight
And with one voyce the people tho abrayde
And vnto Ioseph / all attones sayde.
¶ Blessed arte hou / & blessed is thy chaunce
Thy face blessed / & thyne aduenture
And blessed is thyne humble attendaunce
And thou are blessed so longe tendure
For to possede / so feare a creature
So good / so holy / nowe in thy passyng age
So clene a mayde / to haue in mariage.
¶ And she alone / by preestes of the lawe
A [...]signed was / vnto his gouernaunce
But sely Ioseph / gan hym to withdrawe
With humble chere / & shamefast countenaunce
And said certes / there is none accordaunce
Betwene her yougth / flor [...]sshyng in fayrnesse
And me / whome age with vnluste doth oppresse.
¶ For she is fayre & fresshe / as rose in maye
And well I wote / also a mayden clene
And I am olde / with whyte lock [...]s graye
Passed full fore / my tender yeres grene
Wherfore I praye you / to condsydre and sene
To accorde discordaunt / saith to me nomore
Bitwene her beaute / & my lock [...]s hore.
¶ And whan the bysshop sawe the humble entent
Of this Ioseph / and the Innocence
And howe that he to take her nolde assent
To hym he sayd / in opyn audience
Ioseph he sayde / take hede to my sentence
And be well ware / that thou the not excuse
Agaynst the wyll of god / for to refuse.
¶ This holy mayde / assigned vnto the
By open signe / whiche all the people saye
Thorugh godes grace / & myghty volunte
Agaynst whiche beware to dyssobeye
And thynke howe he somtyme made to deye
Ab [...]on and Dathan / onely for the offence
Done to hym / of inobedyence.
¶ Quod Ioseph / that wyll I not in nothyng
To godes wyll ne biddyng contrayre
But her accepte / in to my kepyng
For whome god hath shewed signes fayre
Whiche is so good benygne / and debonayre
That I to her / wyll seruaunt be & guyde
Tyll for her / god list bet to prouyde.
¶ And as the custome of the lawe hem bonde
So made was the confirmacion
Be heste of wedloke / betwene hem hande in hande
And he her toke / to his possession
With herte clene / and meke affeccion
But whyle he went to Bethelem the cyte
Marie abyde stylle in Galilee.

¶ How Ioseph vsyd the crafte of a carpenter. Ca. ix.

AT Nazareth in her fathers hous
Lyke her auowe of herte alway in one
And fyue maydens the most vertuous
Of the temple where cosen out alone
Of the bisshop with her for to gone
To wayte on her / by humble attendaunce
In what they can / to serue and do pleasaunce.
¶ Of whiche the fyrst / callyd was Reyca
And Scepha the seconde / as I fynde
Susanna zabell and Abiega
[Page]The other thre / as bokes maken mynde
Whiche wolde neuer thorowe slouth be behynde
But ay in one / as it is specefyed
In werke and prayer were occupyed.
¶ And vnto hym / as made is mencion
That of lyuynge / so faythfull weren & trewe
And diligent in occupacion
Delyuered was sylke of sondry hewe
For to make dyuerse werkis newe
In the temple of intencion
Onely to be in mynyst [...]acion.
¶ And as it is put in remembraunce
Eueriche her silke toke by aduenture
Like as her hande [...]yll theron by chaunce
But Mary as god tho shope her eure
The purpyll s [...]ke toke in to her cure
Of gracious happe / of sorte without sight
The whiche colour of custome and of right.
¶ To none estate / is kyndely sytting
Of doubte to speke in speciall
But to the state onely of a kyng
So that no wyght / but of the stocke ryall
By statuts olde this coloure vse shall
For by olde tyme / ye shulde no man sene
In purpyll cladde / but other kynge or qu [...]ne,
¶ Wherfore the sorte full rightfully is fall
[...]ly by dewe disposicion
[Page]Upon Marye / that before hem all
By ligne right / is discendyd downe
Of blode ryall / and by eleccioun
Of god aboue / was chosen for to bene
For her merite of heuen and erthe quene.
¶ And mother eke / as ye shall after here
Of thylke kynge / that was clad in reed
Of purpyll hewe / bothe face and chere
Downe to the fete / from his blessed heed
Whan he of purpyll dyd his baner sprede
On Caluarye abrode / vpon the rode
To saue mankynde / whan he shedde his blode.
¶ And of this purpyll that I spake of toforne
I fynde playnly howe that Marye wroughte
Thylke vayle / that was on tweyne torne
The same houre / whan he so dere vs boughte
Lo how [...] that god in his eternall thoughte
Prouyded hath by iust purueaunce
The purpyll sp [...]ke / to his mothers chaunce.

¶ How our lady is sete for an ensaumple of virgynyte. Ca. x.

BUt nowe / I leue this blessed mayde there
In Nazareth / amonge her f [...]des to dwell
Ledyng a lyfe more par [...]yte and entere
Than any tonge / suffyse may to tell
For euyn like / as a fulsum well
Shedyth his stremys / in to the ryuere
[Page]Rtght so Marie / an ensaumpeler clere.
¶ Gaue to all by plenteuous largenes
Onely vertue / vpon euery syde
O well were they / to whome thou were maistres
And blessed eke / that myght on the abyde
To haue by ensaumple / so vertuous a guyde
And blessed was that holy companye
That day by day / the sene with eye.
¶ And blessid was the paleys & the hous
In whiche thou haddest thy holy mācion
Fortuneth well / & wonder gracious
So humble was thy conuersacion
And blessed was also all the towne
T [...]ce thou abode / & blessed the vyllage
O holy mayde / where thou haddest hostage.
¶ And blessed was the worthy table riche
Where day by day / thou wentest vnto borde
For in sothnes / the ioye was not lyche
Of Cresus kyng / for all his riche horde
And blessed be they / that herden worde by worde
Of thy speche / & blessed the houre and tyme
Of all thy lyfe / from euyn tyll the pryme.
¶ O weelfull eke and gracious the sight
Of hem that myghten vpon the beholde
For well they ought / to be gladde and light
That weren with the alway whan they wolde
And blessed weren yonge and olde
[Page]That were reioysed with thy excellence
Whan that hem lyst of thy hygh presence.
¶ O the ioye / who coulde tell a right
Of thyne heuenly meditacions
Assendyng vp aboue the sterres bright
In thyne inwardecon templacions
Or the blessed & holy vysitacions
Who can reherce / bright as sonne or leuen
So oftesent downe / to the fro heuen.
¶ Or who can tell / thyne holy slepes softe
With god alway / full in thy memorie
For loue of whome / thou sighedest full ofte
Whan thou where sole in thyne oratorye
Or who can tell / the melodye or glorye
That angelys hath made in the place
For the ioye they had to loke in thy face.
¶ I am rude / to rehersen all
For vnconnynge / & for lacke of space
The mater is / so mly spirituall
That I dare nat so hygh a style pace
But lady myne / I put me all in thy grace
This iyrst boke / compyled for thy sake
Of my symplenesse / & thus an ende I make
¶ Besechynge all to haue pyte & routh
That therof shall haue any inspeccion
If oughte be lefte of necligence and slouthe
Or sayd to moche of presumpsion
[Page]I put it mekely to her correccion
And ashe mercy / of my trespace
There as I erre / & put me in her grace.
¶ And thorowe her benygne supportacion
So as I can forth I wyll procede
With all myne herte / & hole entencion
Prayeng that mayde ofso goodlyhede
Croppe & rote / to helpe in this nede
Whome I nowe leue / in Nazareth soiourne
And to my mater / I wyll agayne retourne.

¶ Howe mercy and peace / rightwysnes & trouthe dysputed for the redemp­cion of mankynde. Ca. xi.

W No that is bounde and fettered in prison
Thynketh longe after delyuerauuce
And he that feieth payne and passyon
Desyreth sore after allegeaunce
And who that is in sorowe and penaunce.
Lytell wondre of hertely heuynesse
Though he coueyte / relees of his distresse.
¶ And who that lyueth in langour & in wo
Feare in exyle and prescripcion
And is with sette / with many a cruell fo
And can no gayne to his saluacion
To escape deth / without grete raunson
Full longe he thynketh / of full litell space
While he in bondes abydeth after grace.
¶ And yet to recorde of olde felicite
In sothfastnes / encreseth more his payne
Than all the constraynte of his aduersite
And causeth hym more / to sygh & playne
For ioye passed / can herten more constrayne
Her welthe afore / to be wepe and wayle
Than all the torment / that hem dothe assayle.
¶ O who coulde euersith the worlde began
Of more ioye or of gladnes tell
Than somtyme coulde the worthy kynde of man
That shapen was in paradyse to dwell
Tyll he alas / was banysshed in to hell
Feare in exyle / from his possession
And there to abyde / stocked in pryson.
¶ And he that lost his riches and honoure
His myrthe / his ioye / & his olde welfare
His force / his myght / and holy his socoure
And was of vertue / nakyd made and bare
And laye full secke languyssenge in care
So feare proscripte out of his contre
That by the lawe / there may no recouerbe.
¶ Whose necke oppressed / with so stronge a ch [...]
Laye plunged downe / without remedye
That whan mercy wolde haue ben a [...]ane
Right wysnes gan hit anone denye
And whan that peace for recouer gan to crye.
Came trouth forth with a sterne face
And sayd playnly / that he gete no grace.
¶ For peace and mercy to gyder assembled ware
Full longe agone to trete of this matere
And rightwysnes / with hem was eke there
And trouth also / with a deynous chere
And whan they were all foure in fere
As ye haue herde / and gan to entrete
Than fyrst of all cruelly to threte.
¶ Trouthe beganne almoste in a rage
Of cruell ire / and of melancolye
And sayd shortly / that man for his outrage
Of veray Right must nedes dye
And thus began the contrauersye
Betwene the susteren & trouthe alway in one
Sayd playnly that recouer was there none.
¶ For I quod Trouth / at his creacion
Tolde hym the parell afore his offence
But he me put out of his bandon
And gaue to me no maner audyence
And [...] quod Right all my dyligence
Wolde hym haue rewlyd / but he toke none hede
Wherfore of me / he gete none helpe at nede.
¶ And whan he gaue credence to the snake
He made his quarell euen agaynst Right
And agayne Trouth / he fallely gan to take
Whan he her clene put out of his sight
And agayn peace / began a quarell to fight
Whan he from hym mercy sette aferre
And so he sette hym selfe / all out of herre.
¶ Therfore quod Right / pleteth for hym nomore
But let hym haue / as he hath deserued
ye do grete wronge / yf ye wyll hym restore
That hath his heste / to you not conserued
Ayes quod mercy / nature hath reserued
To peace my suster playnly and to me
On wretches euer / for to haue pyte.
¶ And offendeth hath of ignoraunce
More than of malice: y wys quod mercy to
yet for all that he muste haue his penaunce
Quod Right / anone like as he hath do
And thynke quod peace / that towarde Ierico
He was disposed amonge his cruell fone
For lacke of helpe / whan he lefte hym alone.
¶ That was quod Trouth / for he was recheles
To go the waye / I taught hym of reason
Quod mercy than the mortall fo of peace
The olde Serpent rote of all treason
Of false enuye and indygnacion
Lay a wayte / to brynge hym in a trayne
Whan he to hym falsely dyd fayne.
¶ That yf he ete / of the forboden tree
The fayre fruyte in paradyse present:
He sholde lyke vnto God be.
Of good and euyll / to haue entendement
And for my syster / trouth was absent
And ye your selfe / also rightwysnes
He was betrayed / sleyghtly by falsenes.
¶ Wherfore quod mercy / I purpose vtterlye
Hym to releue / yf I can or maye
And I quod peace / wyll helpe faythfullye
The greate yre and rancour to allaye
Of iugement to put it in delaye
And here vpon to fynde full refuge
I wyll procede / afore the hye Iuge.

¶ Howe mercy and peace brought in this plee before the hyghe iuge Ca. xii.

ANd right forth w t / before the kyng of glorie
Mercy and peace the cause brought alone
And in the hygh heuenly consistorye
Peace sayd thus / amonge hem euerichone
O blessed lorde / that arte bothe thre and one
So please it the benygnely to here
What I wyll say / and my suster dere.
¶ Remembre lorde / amonge thy werkes all
Howe thou madest mercy souerayne
That whan that euer vnto the she call
Thou maiste not of right her prayer disdayne
And specially / whan that we bothe twayne
To thyne hyghnes / for any thynge requyre
Thou muste of grace / fulfyll our prayere.
¶ Is not thy mercy greate aboue the heuen
Thyne owne doughter chefe of thyne alye
And hath her place aboue the sterres seuen
With the ordres of euery Ierarchye
[Page]Whome daye by daye / thou canst so magnefye
Amonge thy werkes / to make her empresse
To helpe wretches / whan they ben in distresse.
¶ Thy mercy eke abydeth euer with the
Lyke thy gretnes & thy magnyficence
And who that dothe mercy and pyte
Dothe sacrefice / hygh in thy presence
And is not mercy / of more excellence
(Lyke as the sauter well reherce can)
Upon the erthe / than the lyfe of man.
¶ Thy selfe / also as it is playnly couthe
Auysedly who so taketh hede therto
Sayest openly with thyne owne mouthe
That a thousande / thou canst thy mercy do
And holy Dauid / recordeth eke also
With his Harpe / aboue all thynge
That he thy mercyes eternally shall synge.
¶ And howe myghte eke any creature
Upon erthe / in any maner kynde
Without mercy / any whyle endure
For all were gone / yf mercy were behynde
Wherfore lorde on mercy haue thy mynde
The wofull captyfe / to take vnto thy grace
That hath so longe / be seuered fro thy face.
¶ And though that I be humble meke & fre
Forsothe lorde of ouete and of right
yet euer in owne / my dwellyng is with the.
[Page]For selde or neuer / I parte out of thy sight
Peace is my name / that power hath & myght
Thorowe my connyng / they that be mortal fone
By the helpe of the / to accorde in to one.
¶And also lorde as holy writte can tell
That of thy peace / there may none ende be
And eke thy peace / doth euery wyght excell
And art thy selfe / of very duere
Called the prynce of peace and vnyte
And yet by hotest wretches to releue
That is mankynde / & shall neuer fro hym meue.
¶And Iob recordeth the holsomest fruyte
Of all thys worlde / spryngeth out of peace
Now lorde sithen / I am made to be refuyte
And to the wofull comfort / and encreace
Graunte of thy grace / nowe a full releace
That I and mercy / may the sone confounde
Of thy [...]ke caytyse / that lyeth in pryson bounde.
¶So that he may haue lyberte
To go at large / and haue rempssion
Of this thraldome and captyuyte
And be delyuered out of this pryson
So that there may be made redempsyon
For his seruage and fynall paye
Lorde of thy mercy / without more delaye.
¶And whan they had / her mater full purposyd
Mercy and peace / with full hygh sentence
[Page]Touchynge man with synne so enclosed
The iuge gaue benigne audyence
And whan he had kept longe scilence
For all the skilles / to hym that they layde
Yet at the laste▪to hem thus hesayde.

¶Howe god the father of heuē / answered to mercy and peace. Ca. xiii.

[...]Ine owne doughter / next to myne alye
Though your request / come of tēder herte
ye moste consydere / with a prudent eye
Of ryghtwysnes / it may not me asterte
Lyke your askyng / by tauour to aduerte
Unto the cause / that ye represent
But right and trouth / fully wolde assent.
¶Withouten whome / I may not procede
To execute any maner iugement
Wherfore let call her in this greate nede
For I mo [...]e worche by her auysement
And whan they waren come and present
Than trouth alone / touchynge this matere
Sayd openly / that all myghten here.
¶If hit so be / this man that trespaced
Ne be not dede / for his iniquyte
Though vtterly the franchesse is defaced
Bothe of my suster / ryghtwysnes and me
And fynally / our bothe lyberte.
[Page]Goeth vnto nought / of our iurisdiccion
But he be punysshed for his trausgression.
¶The worde of God / that playnly may not erre
Tolde hym afore / withouten any drede
The greate parelle / of this mortall warre
Etynge the appell / that he muste be dede
But he o [...] slouthe / toke therto none hede
Wherfore he muste / as right lyste prouide
Without mercy / the dome of deth abyde.
¶And though that peace / be of pyte meued
Man to delyuere / with zele of routhe
Righwisnes wolde than be agreued
With me to consente / that am called trouthe
And as me semeth / it were to greate aslouthe
Dome or cause plee or any sute
Without vs tweyne to be execute.
¶Me semyth eke / my syster peace dothe wronge
To foster a man / & holde agaynst vs twayne
That hath ben conuersaunt so longe
Amonge vs discorde to restrayne
Therfore quod peace / nowe wyll I not fayne
To do myne office / right to modefye
That she of rigoure / cause hym not to dye.
¶Than quod right of necessyte
Hit muste folowe / though he were my brother
That he muste dye / by dome of equyte
Or in his name / mo [...]e be dede sūme other
[Page]So of my shyppe guyded is the rather
That ne may erre [...]tor wawe nor for wynde
More than the anker of trouth wyll me bynde.
¶Certes quod mercy / so it not dysplease
Unto your noble and wyse prouidence
His deth to you may be lytell ease
For holy writte / reherceth in sentence
If you consyderd / in your aduertence
That deth of synners / the hygh god to queme
Is werst of de [...]hes / yfye of right list deme.
¶For synfull blode / is no sacrefyse
To god aboue / that euery thynge mayes [...]n [...]
Than muste ye deth / of one deuyse
That is of synne / innocent and clene
And is I [...]rowe / vnder the sonne shene
Thorowe the worlde / to reherce mankynde
It were full harde / suche one for to fynde.
¶For rust with rust / may not scoured be
Ne [...]oule with fylth / may be purefyed
But who is soyled / with dishoneste
To wasshe another / it is not aplyed
Blacke vnto white / may not be dyed
Ne blode enfecte with corrupcion
To god for synne / is none oblacion.
¶Fygure herof / ye may not be dyed
As the byble maketh mencion
Howe that a lambe of spotte & fylthe free
[Page]Somtyme was take by eleccion
And offred vp in satisfaccion
To god for synne / for to signefye
Who sholde for mannes ransome dye.
¶ Must be clene / pure and innocent
Right as a lambe / from euery spotte & blame
And trewly vnder the firmamente
There was nonesuche / sithen Adam dyd atame
The fruyte to ete / for eyther halte or lame
In souerayne vertue / is all the kynde of man
Wherfore quod mercy / the best rede that I can.
¶ That peace my syster / cesse this discorde
And all the stryte / that is vs bytwene
And that we praye / our iuge & myghty lorde
To this mater benygnely to sene
And of his grace / to shape suche a mene
For trouth & right / so prudently ordeyne
That peace ne I / haue no cause to pleyne.
¶ And this request is nought agaynst right
Ne vnto trouth playnly none oftence
If that our iuge of his greate myght
Ordeyne so in his prouydence
To scape awaye / thorowe his sapyence
That trouth and right be not displeased
Thorow peace & me though man be holpe & eased.

¶ Howe the father of heuen accorded the fouresystren Ca. xiiii.

ANd whan that she by reason had fyned
That grounded was / playnly vpon skyll
The hygh iuge by mercy is enclyned
To condescende of grace to her wyll
And in suche wyse her askynge to fulfyll
That right be serued / & trouthe not dysmayed
That peace / & she shulde eke be well apayed.
¶ And by sentence alone diffynytyfe
The iuge sayd for conclusion
An innocent pure and clene of lyfe
Shall mekely dye / to paye the raunson
For mannes gylt and trasgression
And he so frely / shall the deth abaye
In all his payne / that he [...]o worde shall saye.
¶ And thus shall right in all maner thynge
Haue her desyre / and trouth shall not fayle
But agreably in theyr worchynge
To execute fully / to stynte this batayle
And for that peace in moche may anayle
And mercy eke / shall not be agreued
Her brother askynge also shall be achyeued.
¶ To fynde a man that shall vndertake
This myghty quarell / of mercy and pyte
To suffre deth lonely for mannes sake
Uncompellyd frely and of volunte
That is a lambe withouten spotte shall be
And with his blode / shall wasshe vndefouled
The gylt of man / with rust of synne y mouled.

¶ Howe his sonne sholde take mākynde. Capittulo. xv.

BUt for to wete / of what stocke he shal spring
Ot what kynrede / and of what estate
My sothfast worde eternally lyuynge
Myne owne sonne / with me encreate
Shall downe be sent to be incarnate
And wrappe hym selfe in the mortall kynde
Of man (for loue) so that he may fynde.
¶ A clene grounde / his palayce vnto bylde
In all the erthe neyther of lyme ne stone
But in a mayde / debonayre and mylde
The humble doughter of Iuda and Syon
And vnto her / shall trouthe & mercy gone
By one accorde / sent afore my face
Lyke my deuyse / to chese me a place.
¶ And say to her in all maner thynge
Her tabernacle / that she make fayre
Agaynst the comyng of her myghty kynge
Whiche is my sonne and myne owne heyre
That in her breste / shall haue his repeyre
Where trouth & mercy shall to gyde [...] met [...]
By one assent / and her rancour lete.
¶ And there shall peace kysse rightwysnes
And all the susters accorde in that place
And right shall leue all her stourdines
And trewthes swerde / shall nomore manace
[Page]And fynally / mercy shall purchace
A chartour of pardon / like this mayden cle [...]
And whiche for man is so good a mene.
¶ That he shall mowe escape daungers
A myd the forest / free from euery trappe
While the mayde / that causeth all this peace
Hath the vnycorne slepyng in her lappe
That thorowe mekenes / shal his horne so wrappe
There it was wonte to slee by vyolence
Thorowe deth / it shall agayne deth be defence.
¶ Agaynst venym / more holsome than treacl [...]
Euery poyson asofte and aswage
Whan the lyon maketh his habitacle
Within a mayde / but of tender age
And Gabriell shall gone on message
To her alone / myne owne secretarie
With newe tydinges / & no lenger tarye.

¶ Howe Gabryell the Angell was sent to our Lady. Capittulo xvi.

ANd right forthw t the angel tarieth nought
But helde his waye from the see of glorye
Unto this mayde clene / in will and thought
Where as she sat in her oratorye
With herte ente [...]tyfe / & with hole memorie
Greate to god / and all her full mynde
To whome the angell / whan he dyd her fynde.
¶ Benignely with all humylite
Sayd vnto her alone as ye shallen here
Hayle full of grace / our lorde is with the
Ne drede the not / but be right glad of chere
That art to god / so acceptable and dere
That hooly his grace / is vpon the fall
To be moste blessed / amonge women all.
¶ And with that worde / thorowe goddes myght
All hole the somme of the deyte
That from heuen his blisfull bemys bright
Shadde on therthe of our humanyte
Whan in the breste of a mayden fre
The holy ghoste / by fre eleccion
For his mekenes hath made his mancion.
¶ For whā that Bernarde / somtyme gan beholde
With thought vp lifte / by contemplacion
The bright sonne / in herte he gan to colde
Iuly astoned / in his aspeccion
And full deuoutly / in a meditacion
Therof remembrynge / as he gan take hede
Sayde euen thus / quakyng in a drede.

¶ A lamentacion of saynt Bernarde. Capittulo. xvii.

A Lorde quod he / so I am agrysed
And sore a drade / to loke on this clerenesse
And yet well more / with feare I am supprised
For to beholde for myne vnworthynesse
[Page]Any worde to wryte or to expresse
Of this mysterie / and greate pryuyte
Benigne lorde lest thou saye to me.
¶ What arte thou bolde or darest in any wyse
My rightwisnes to tell or to wrytte
Or to presume so hardely to deuyse
My testament with thy mouth endyte
That certes lorde / but yf thou respyte
My wretchidnes by supporte of thy grace
I greately drede of deth for my trespace.
¶ But wolde god through his greate myght
And his goodnes lyke to my desyre
That from thaulter that brenneth in his sight
No lytell sparcle / but a flame of fyre
Wolde downe discende / myne herte to enspyre
For to consume with his feruent hete
The rusty filthe that in my mouthe dothe flete.
¶ And all vnclennesse / cankered there of olde
To make clene / and to scoure awaye
That thorowe his grace / I durste be so bolde
Other to wryte / or some worde to saye
That was rehercid vpon the blisfull daye
Whan Gabriell and Marie mette
In Nazareth and humbly her grette.
¶ But sithen this man / so parfyte of lyuynge
This holy Bernarde / so good and gracious
So dredfull was this mater in writtinge
[Page]That was of lyfe so inly vertuous
Howe dare I than be presumptuous
I wofull wretche in any maner wy [...]e
To take on me this parfyte hygh emprise.
¶ My lippes pollute / my mouth w t synne ysoyled
Myne herte vnclene / and full of cursidnesse
My thought also / with all vyces foyled
My breste receyte & cheste of wretchidnesse
That me to wryte of any parfitnesse
Nat onely drede of presumpsion
But for to esche we the indignacion.
¶ Of god aboue / for my greate offence
That I am bolde or hardy in his sight
To dare presume / the greate excellence
For to descryue of her / that was so bright
But vnder hope / that mercy passeth right
And that disdayne / my style not veraye
With humble herte / thus to hym I praye.

¶ A recapitulaciō of the wordes of Gabriell to our Lady / howe holy men by diuyne liknesses wrote of our Lady / in cōmē dacion of her. Capitulo. xviii

O Lorde whose mercy goth not declyne
But euer [...]liche / stondith hole in one
That somtyme sendest downe from Seraphyne
To I saye an Angell with a stone
Wherwith he began to touche his mouthe alone
[Page]To purge his lippes from all pollucion
So let thy grace to me descende downe.
¶ My rude tonge / to explite and spede
Somwhat to say / in commendacion
Ofher that is well of womanhede
And thorowe her helpe and meditacion
Be to my style full direccion
And let thy grace / alwaye be present
This boke to forther after myne entent.
¶ For of my lyfe for to vndertake
To speke or write / in so deuoute matere
Lyttell wonder though I tremble or quake
And chaunge bothe countenaunce and chere
Sithen this maydeu of vertue tresorere
Perturbed was in loke and in vysage
Of Gabriell to here the message.
And full demurely / stylle gan abyde
And in her herte castinge vp and downe
Full prudently vpon euery syde
The maner of this salutacion
And howe hit might in conclusion
In any wyse fully performed be
She stondynge hole in her vyrginite.
¶ And whan the Angell sawe her lowly hede
Her humble countenaunce / chaunged in her face
He sayde Marye for nothynge that you drede
For to fore god / thou haste founde grace
[Page]¶ And shalt conceyue / within a litell space
And in thy wombe a [...]one of all vertu
And shall hym calle (whan he is borne) Iesu.
¶ That shall be greate / & named sothfastlye
Sone of the hyest / that euer was of myght
And god to hym / shall leue yeue full iustlye
The see of Dauid / his owne fathers right
And he shall reygne in euery wyghtes sight
In the house of Iacob / eternally by ligne
Whose kyngdom euer shall laste & neuer fyne.
¶ And though his heste where passynge of [...]no­w [...]
Surmountynge / eke as in excellence
That vtwardly / gaue so meruaylous a [...]ow [...]
And wonderfull to her audience
Than she full mekely of greate reuerence
And loke downe cast other eyen clere
Benignely the Angell gan enquere.
¶ In what maner shall this thynge betyde
Sithen I no man knowe in no degre
Quod Gabriell / within thy blessed syde
The holy ghoste / shally shrowded be
And all the vertue of the Trynite
Enclose shall in thy breste so clene
The sonne of lyfe / with all his bemes shene.
¶ Wherfore this childe / that shall of the be borne
Shall called be goddes sone eterne
Beholde & see a lytell here tof [...]r [...]
[Page]Elyzabeth thy [...] owne co [...]yn de [...]
Conceyued hath sithen gone halfe yere
Though she forage went to haue bene barayne
And is with childe / to put all in certayne.
¶ That to god is nothynge impossyble
But as hym list / may euery thynge fulfyll
Unto whose worde / be fully nowe credible
Byholde quod she / of god the meke ancille
With all myne herte / obeyeng to his wyll
In euery thynge / right as hym liste it be
And like thy worde / fall it vnto me.
¶ Lo she that was chosyn for to bene
Of all this worlde / lady and empres
Of heuen & erthe / alone to be quene
And goddes mother / for her holynes
Lo for all this / howe lowly with mekenes
She all committeth vnto goddes wyll
As he ordeyneth / redy to fulfill.
¶ And wolde not calle her selfe none other name
But goddes handmayde in full lowe manere
O where is all the transitorye fame
Where is your boste / or daren you apere
Of pompe or pryde / or surquedrye in fere
With your forblowe / blowyng vanyte
Sithen that a mayde thorowe her humylite.
¶ Of pryde hath nowe wonne the victorye
And openly hath gyuen hym a fall
[Page]Thorowe whose lowlynes / y • hygh kyng of glorie
Within her wombe / hath made in speciall
His dwellynge place / & his hospitall
And with one worde / of the mayde I spoke
The holy ghoste / is in her breste yloke.

¶ A commendacion of our Lady. Capitulo. xix.

ANd whā y • Angell from her departed was
And she alone in her tabernacle
Right as the sonne perissheth thorowe the glasse
Thorowe the cristall / berall or spectacle
Without harme / right so by myracle
In to her closer the fathers sapyence
Entred is / withouten vyolence.
¶ Or any wemme / vnto her maydenhede
On any syde in party or in all
For goddes s [...]ne / takyng our manhede
In her hath bylde his paleyce pryncipall
And vnder pyght / this mancion [...]yall
With seuen pylers / as made is memorye
And therin sette his reclynatorie.
¶ Whiche is perfourmed / all of pure golde
Onely to vs for to signefye
That he all holy made hath his holde
Within this mayde / that called is Marye
And seuen pylers that sholden this mayde gye
Ben seuen spirites / so as I can disserne
[Page]Of god aboue / this mayde to gouerne.
¶ For all the tresoure of his sapience
And all the wisdome of heuen / and erthe therto
And all the richesse of spirituall science
In her were shette / and closed eke also
For she is toure / without wordes m [...]
And house of puore / in whiche Salamon
Shette all his tresour / in his possession.
¶ She was the castell / of the cristall wall
That neuer man myght yet vnclose
In whiche the kynge / that made and causeth all
His dwellyng chefe / by grace gan dispose
And like as dewe / discendeth on the rose
With syluer dropes / and of the leues fayre
The fresshe beaulte / ne myght not payre.
¶ Ne as the rayne / in Aprille or in Maye
Causeth the vertue / to renne out of the rote
The greate fayrnes / nought appeyre maye
On vyolettes / and on herbes sote
Right so this grace / of all our greues bote
The grace of god / amyde the bely whyte
The beaute causeth / to be of more delyte.
¶ And as the cokyle / with heuenly dewe so clene
Of kynde engendreth / whyte perles rounde
And hath no cherisshyng / but the sonne shene
To his fosterynge / as it is playnly founde
Right so this mayde of grace moste habounde
[Page]A peerle hath closed / within her brestes whyte
That frō the deth myght all our raūsoune quyte.
¶ She was eke the gate / of the lockes bright
Sette in the northe of hygh deuocion
Of whiche somtyme the Prophete had a sight
Ezechyell as is written in his auysion
Whiche stode euer close in conclusion
That neuer man entre / shall [...] pace
But god hym selfe / to make his dwellynge place.
¶ And yet in sothe / as I reherce can
So as the fl [...]ce of Gedyon was wette
Before he taught / with hem of Madyan
With heuenly dewe enuyron all be sette
In signe onely / he spede shall the bette
Right so hath god on her his grace shewed
With the holy ghoste / whan she was bydewed▪
¶ In token playnly / she shulde socoure be
Unto mankynde / manly for to fight
Agaynst the deuyll / that hath in his pouste
All madyan with his fell myght
And thorowe the helpe / of this mayden bright
And thorowe the dewe / of her heuenly grace
We shall this serpent from our bondes chace.
¶ She was also of golde the ryche vrne
Kepynge the man of our saluacion
That all our wo / may to ioye tourne
With holsome fode / and full perfection
[Page]She was also / as scripture maketh mencion
The yerde of Aaron / with fruyte and leues [...]ade
Of vertue moste to comforte vs and glade.
¶ She was the aultre / Cedre / golde / and stone
Stedfast and true in perfeccion
And as the Cedre conseruynge all in one
His body clene / from all corrupcion
And for to make a full oblacion
Of euery vertue to / god in chastyte
She shone as golde / by parfyte charyte.
¶ And on this aulter she made her sacrefyce
With fyre of loue / brennyng as bright
To god and man / in euery maner wyse
As downe the sterres on the frosty nyght
Her frankensence gaue so clere a light
Thorowe good ensaumple / that the parfyte leuen
Of her lyuinge / raught in to heuen.
¶ She was the trone where that Salamon
For worthynes sette his ryall set
With golde and yuore / that so bright shone
That all aboute the beaute men myght see
The golde was loue / the yuore chastite
And twelue Lyons / so greate huge and large
That of this werke / bare vp the charge.
¶ Of the olde lawe weren Prophetes twelue
That longe before gan beholde and see
That Salamon goddes sone hym selfe
[Page]Sholde in this mayde / beholde his ryall see
So that in soth / her clene virginite
To be a mother / sholde nothing lette
Amyd her breste / that he his trone sette.
¶ She was the woman that saynt Iohan
Sawe in heuen / so richely appere
Cladde in a sonne / whiche brighter shone
Than Phebus doth in his longe spere
And twelue sterres / that passyngly were clere
So as to hym playnly dyd seme
Weren sette aboue in her dyademe.
¶ And as hym thought / at her feet there stood
A large mone / bright and nothing pale
In fygure onely / that she that is so good
To swage the bitter of our olde bale
The sonne of lyfe / made to auale
Downe to the erthe / to gouerne vs and guye
And eke the mone / to vs doth signefye.
¶ All holy churche / large to beholde
Within this mayde / had his originall
Whan fynally / with his rightes olde
The synagoge of Iewys had a fall
For in this mayde / the fyrst faythfull wall
Of holy churche / God gan fyrst to bylde
Whan with his sonne / he made her go with chylde
¶ And to reforme / the rudenes vtterly
Of blynde folkes / that coude not parceyue
[Page]Howe that Marie myght kyndly
A mayde be / and a chylde conceyue
That yf hym list / reason to conceyue
They may examples / right ynowe fynde
Of this mater accordinge vnto kynde.

¶ Autentyke conclusions agaynst vnbeleufull men that saydē that Christe might not be borne of a mayde Capitulo. xx.

O Blynde man / thorowe thyne iniquyte
Why hast thou lost / thy reason & thy sight
That thou of malyce / list not for to see
Howe Christ Iesu / thorowe his greate myght
To his disciples / helde the waye right
Thorowe the yates / yshette by greate deffence
Without brekyng / or any vyolence.
¶ Why myght he not of his magnificence
Within a mayde / make his mancion
And she yet stode / in hygh excellence
Of maydenhede / from all corrupcion
ye ben to blynde / in your discression
That liste not to see / also howe he rose
From deth to lyfe / in his sepulture close.
¶ And here withall / thou mayste also aduerte
Howe he full graciously / of his myghty grace
Made Peter out of pryson to sterte
And where hym lyste frely for to pace
And yet the dores were shutte of the place
[Page]What wonder than though god by myracle
Within a mayde / made his habitacle.
¶ And beyng close / and parfytly shette
With all the bondes / of clene vyrginite
For sothfastly / her clennesse was not lette
Upon no syde / ue yet her chastite
But encreasyd / and fauour for to se
That goddes sōne / list to light adowne
Within this mayde / to make his mancion.
¶ Eke Heldefons / telleth of a tree
In stede of fruyte / hereth byrdes smale
From yere to yere / by kynde as men may se
Without medlyng of female or of male
This veryly is soth playnly and no tale
Thā wondre not though / Crist were borne bitwene.
The chaste sydes / of a mayden clene.
¶ Eke certeyne byrdes / called bultures
Without medlyng conceyuyng by nature
As bokes sayne / withouten any lees
And of her lyfe / an hondred yere endure
Than the lorde of euery creature
That causeth all / no wonder though I say
Though that he were conceyuyd of a maye.
¶ And Plunius / in bokes naturall
Wrytte of a roche / greate and large also
That wyll remeue / with a fynger small
But yf a man do all his myght therto
[Page]It wyll not stere / neyther to [...]e fro
Right so this mayde / that is of vertue moste
With a fynger of the holy ghoste
¶ And with a touche of his myghty grace
Conserued hath stedfast / god and man
That neuer myght remeue from her face
Of thylke auowe / that she fyrst began
To be a mayde / as fertorth as she can
In herte & wyll / as any roche stable
That from his grounde / is not remeuable.
¶ This clerke also this wise Plunius
Sayth in Tauriche there is an erthe founde
That of nature isso vertuous
That will cure euery maner wounde
Right so Marie was the erthe founde
That god out chose by eleccion
To bere the fruyte of our redempcion
¶ That shulde be helthe and also medecine
To all our woundes / whan they ake or smerte
And our greues & our hurtes fyne
From deth to make vs to asterte
With holsome bawme / percinge to the herte
Our festerid soris / that they shull ake nomore
Ne that she ne were / we were all forlore.
¶ And ferthermore this auctour can eke tell
Within his boke / who so loketh a right
To Iupiter sacred is a well
[Page]That whan it hath queynte his brondes bright
That efte agayne hit geueth them a newe light
Who list assaye / soth as he shall fynde
What wonder than though the god of kynde.
¶ Amyd this well / from fylthe of synne colde
Full of vertue / with fayre stremes clere
His lodging toke & his myghty holde
And thorowe his grace / sette hit newe afyre
With the holy ghoste / that that withouten were
Though she were colde / from all flesshlyhede
She brent in loue / hotter than the glede.
¶ And in Falisco / as hym liste to wryte
Is a well that causeth eke of newe
Whan the oxen drynke to be whyte
And sodaynly to chaunge her hewe
What meruayle than though / the well trewe
The well of helthe / and of lyfe eterne
The lorde of all / so as I can disserne.
¶ These stremes / shedde in to this mayde fre
To make her whightest / as in holynesse
That bothe sholde / mayde and mother be
And euer in one / kepe her clennesse
Withouten chaunge / so that her whitnesse
Ne fadeth neuer in beaute ne in coloure
Of mayden hede to bere / bothe lefe and floure.
¶ And who that wolde / dispute in this matere
[Page]I holde hym madde / or elles out of mynde
For yf he haue his eyen hole and clere
He shall nowe se prefe ynough by kynde
For he that made / bothe lefe and rynde
And with a worde / these waste wordes wylde
Myght make a mayde / for to go with chylde.
¶ And he that made the hygh cristall heuen
The firmament / & also euery spere
The golden axtre / & the sterres seuen
Cithera: so lusty for to appere
And rede marce / with his sterne hcere
Myght he not eke onely for our sake
Within a mayde / of man the kynde take.
¶ And he that causeth / fowles in the ayre
In her kynde to w [...]xe and multeplye
And fysshe eke with fynnes sleid fayre
In depe [...]aves to gouerne hem and gye
And doth one lyue / & another dye
And geueth beastes her fode vpon the grounde
And in his kynde doth hem to abounde.
¶ Sithen he is lorde / and causeth all thynge
To haue beyng / yf I shall not fayne
And is the prynce and the worthy Kyng
That all enbraceth in his myghty chayne
Why myght he not by power souerayne
At his fre choyse / that all may saue and lese
To his mother / a clene mayde these.
¶ Who causeth the fruyte / out of the harde tre
By vertue onely / that spryngeth from the rote
To growe & wexe like as men may se
With leues grene / & newe blosmes sote
Is it not that lorde / that for all our bote
Wolde of a mayde / as I reherce can
Mekely be borne / without touche of man.
¶ For he that doth the tender braunches sprynge
And fresshe floures / in the greate mede
That weren in wynter / dede & eke droppinge
Of bawme voyde / & of lust [...]hede
Myght he not make / his grayne to growe & sede
Within her brest / that was bothe mayde and wyfe
Wherof is made / the sothfast breade of lyfe.
¶ And he that grauyd of his greate [...]ight
Without poyntell / in the harde stone
And the tables / with letters clere and bright
His ten preceptes / & buyldynges euericho [...]e
The same lorde / of his power alone
Hath made this mayde / here in erthe lowe
A chylde conceyue / and no man to knowe.
¶ And he that made the busshe to appere
All on flame with ferly sparcles shene
And whan Moyses gan to approche nere
And yet no harme / came to the bowes grene
The same lorde hath conserued clene
His habytacle / & his herber swete
In this may de / from all flesshely hete.
¶ And he that made the ye [...]de of Moyses
Of a serpent / to take the liknesse
In the hall amonge all the prees
Where Pharao / the people dyd oppresse
And in deserte / the Byble bereth wytnesse
The Ryuer made to renne / of the stone
The thriste to staunche / of the people alone.
¶ And ouer this / for to verefye
His greate myght: Sampson the stronge man
As Iudicum / doth playnly specefye
Dranke the water / that from the chanell ran
And he that made the flodes of Iurdan
To torne agayne / for loue of Iosue
That all his people clerely myght se
¶ And howe wawes gan asondre breke
And lyke and hylle / to stonde hygh on lofte
And he that made the Asse to speke
To Balaam? for he rode so softe
Why myght he not / by power preued ofte
Sithen he the yren made in the water houe
Be of a mayde borne / for mannes loue.
¶ And he that made / a angell for to take
Abacuk the prophete / by a litell heare
And sodaynly brynge hym to the lake
In Babylon / whiche was so feare
And to visite ligginge in his feare
Danyell amonge the beastes rage
Tyll he to hym brought the potage.
¶ The dores shutte / of the stronge pryson
For to aswage of hunger all his payue
And in a moment / to his mancion
Full sodaynly restored hym agayne
Why myght he not as well in certayne
The same lorde / of a may de than
Take flesshe and blode / and bycome man.
¶ And he that made the sonne at Gabaon
To stonde & shyne / vpon the bright shelde
Of Iosue and towarde Achalon
The mone also as all the hooste behelde
The longe day / they faught in the felde
Agaynst the Kynges of myghty of Amorre
That his people clerely myght se.
¶ And he that made the shade we to retourne
In the orlage of Kyng Ezechye
By ten degrees onely to parfourme
By heste I made to hym of I saye
Why myght he nat / that all this worlde shall gye
Of a may de / by the same skyll
Frely be borne at his owne wyll.
¶ And he that fedde / with fyue loues smale
Fyue thousande / in solytarie place
Ferre in deserte / sittinge in a [...]ale
Thorowe the foyson / and plente of his grace
The same lorde / why myght he not purchace
Within a may de / duringe her maydenhede
Whan that hym liste to take his manhede.
¶ For as the Bee / bothe waxe and hony shede
At the hyue / who taketh hede therto
Right so Marie flouring in maydenhede
Bare in her wombe / god and man also
And yet in sothe / she was bothe two
I dare afferme / one persone in fere
A mayde clene / and Christes mother dere.
¶ And as the beame shynyng from so ferre
Shedith his light / as men maye well espye
Withouten harme / of hynderyng of the sterre
And so as Manna / fyl downe fro the skye
Right so this floure / that called is Maria
With wombe halowed into chastyte
Conceyued hath in her virgynite.
¶ And as the Barnacle in the harde tre
Of kynde bredeth / and the vyne floure
Causeth the wyne / florre for to be
Thorowe Bachus might / & grapes gouernoure
Right so in soth mankyndes sauyoure
As the barnacle and floure out of the vyne
Spronge of Marie she beyng virgine.
¶ And as a worme vnder a stone
Of therthe cometh without engendure
And as the Feuyr / of whiche there is but one
To asshes brent / rene with by nature
Right so this lorde / that all hath in his cure
Our kynde agayne for synne to renewe
Toke flesshe and blode / in this mayde trewe.
¶ And as the Snowe / fro Iupiter doth f [...]ll
Thorowe the force of Sagittarius [...]
And zepherus dothe the floures fall
On whyte blosmes / whan she doth blowe
Right so in sothe / the grace alight alow [...]
Of the holy ghoste / like a wynde cherisshyng
Amydde the mayde / to make his dwellyng.
¶ And to the floure / did no duresse
But parfytly / conserued her beaute
From euery storme / and flesshely lustiness [...]
An lyke fresshe of fayrnes for to se
As by examples / more than two or thre
As ye to forne / haue herde deuyse
Whiche as me semeth / ought ynough suffy [...]e.
¶ To all that be grounded in the fayth
Agaynst falshede / to stande at defence
And yet in suche / so as saynt Gregore sayth
Fayth hath no merite / where as euydence
Or mannes reason: geueth experience
But he that leueth / and fyndeth no reason
Ne kynde according / is worthy more guerdon.
¶ But yf that any be / nowe in this place
That hath doute or ambyguyte
Thorowe false errour / that doth his herte enbrace
Eyther of malice / or of iniquyte
For to accuse the blessed virginite
Of Marie playnly / this is my bon [...]
But if so be that he amende sonne.
¶ And are mercy / for his greate [...]ff [...]nc [...]
Of her that is / of mercy grounde and well
That he of vengeaunce / haue experience
With Ixyon / downe depe in hell
And that the clapper / of his destuned bell
May cankre sone / I mene his false tonge
Be doumbe for euer / & neuer efte to be ronge.
¶ With hym / I am no better in charite
Then ye haue herde / at euyn and at morow [...]
For here my trouthe / he gette no more of me
Saue Cerberus / I take hym to borowe
What euer he be / and leue hym with sorowe
To Tantalus his hunger to appease
At iewe wordes passe / ouer is an ease.

¶ Howe our Lady went to saynt Iohā Baptist mother. Capitulo. xxi.

FOr what in sothe / vpon any syde
Is Phebus chare appeyred of his light
Though eyen rawe / may not abyde
For to beholde / agaynst his bemes bright
Right so playnly / though the goundy sight
Of here tyke [...] may nat sustene
For to beholde the clerenes of this quene.
¶ May in no wyse sothely disencreace
Her clere light / ne her p [...]rfyte brightnesse
Whose fayre stremes / shullen neuer seace
Withouten Eclipse to shyne in clennesse
[Page]For of this mayde / as bokes done expresse
Whan Gabriell to heuen drowe the cooste
She replenisshed was / of the holy ghoste.
¶ Rose vp alone / and out of Nazareth
Towarde the mounteyns fast gan her hye
And there she sale with mekely Elizabeth
Within the house of treue Zacharie
And right forth with / whan she dyd espye
Of Marie the meke salutacion
And thorowe her eres / whan passed was the soun
¶ Within her wombe / playnly thus to tale
For very Ioye / and spirituell gladnesse
The yonge infane / with his lymes smale
Reioysed hym the Gospell sayth expresse
And she fulfilled in very sothfastnesse
With the holy ghoste / lowde gan to crye
And euen thus sayd vnto Marie.
¶ Blessed art thou amonge woman all
And of thy wombe / blessed the fruyte also
And howe to me of happe / is newe befall
My lordes mother / for to come me to
For very ioye / I note what I may do
For sothfastly thy greatyng as I here
Within my wombe / my litell childe nowe here?
¶ Rioyseth hym / for gladnes as he can
That of all wo / myne herte it doth releue
And blessed are thou / that fyrst this ioye began
[Page]The worde of god / so faythfully to beleue
Nowe be right glad / & thyne herte meue
For all thynge / shall performed be
That ben of god / byhested vnto the.
¶ Marie than with a deuoute entente
With loke benignely / and full humble [...]here
The same houre beyng ay present
Elizabeth her owne cosyndere
With a full meke / and humble chere
And all the accorde / and hole melodie
Of the holy ghoste sayd in her armonye.

¶ Howe our Lady made Magnificat. Capitulo. xxii.

WIth laude and prise / my soule magnefieth
Eternall lorde / bothe one two and thre
That all hath made / and euery thyng nowe gyeth
Whiche of his myght / and bounteous pyte
Of his goodnes and hygh benignite
Onely of mercy / list to haue plesaunce
For to consyder and graciously to se
To my mekenes and humble attendaunce.
¶ My spryte also with herte & thought in fere
Reioysed hath / with fulsome habundaunce
In god that is myne herte souerayne entere
And all my ioye / and all my suffisaunce
My hole desyre / and all my sustenaunce
Within my thought / so depe he is graue
[Page]That but in hym / without variaunce
In all this worlde / I can no gladnes haue.
¶ For he from heuen / goodly hath beholde
Of his handmay de / the humilite
Wherfore in soth / all onely for he wolde
All kynredes shall be blessed (call me)
Of the whiche the thanke / o lorde be vnto the
With pryce and honour / of euery voyce and tonge
Thorowe armony / of sothfast vnyte
For this alone / be to thy name songe.
¶ For he to me hath / do thynges greate
Of hygh renowne / and passinge excellence
His grace made / fully me to flete
For he is myghty of his magnifycence
His name holy / and moste of reuer [...]nce
That wyll I loue / hit shall me neuer sterte
With all my trewe faythfull diligence
To thanke hym / of all my hole herte.
¶ And he his mercy / moste passyngly famous
For kyn to kyn / & so downe to kynrede
Shall thorowe his grace / be so plenteous
Perpetually that it shall procede
And specially to them / that louen and drede
Myne owne lorde / with herte wylle and mynde
To suche his pyte / shall euer sprynge & sprede
Of due right / & neuer be behynde.
¶ He hath his arme enforced / & made stronge
[Page]His dredefull myght / that men may se & knowe
And proude men they reyne not full longe
He serued h [...]th / & made hem full lowe
With al his herte downe of the whele hem throwe
For to a [...]e her surquedrie and pryde
Or they were ware / her pompe was ouer throwe
Full sodenly / and leyde her boste a syde.
¶ And myghty tyrauntes / from her ryall so
He hath avayled / and I put a downe
And humble and meke / [...]or her humilit [...]
He hath enhaunced to full hygh renowne
For he can make atransmutacion
From lowe to hygh / as it is sene full ofte
And whan hym li [...] the dominacion
Of wordly pompe / to tall full vnsofte.
¶ He hath fulfilled / and fostered in her nede
With the goodes of plentuous largenes
Hem that were hongry / & indygent in drede
And hem rel [...]ed / of all her wretchednes
And he the riche / hath raught from his richesse
Full wylde & waste / to make vpon the playne
And sodenly plungyde in distresse
All solytary / & left hym ligge in vayne.
For he his chylde / chosen of Israell
Benignely hath taken to his grace
And of his mercy / is remembred well
To voyde onely / vengeaunce from his face
And humble peace / shall occupye his place
[Page]And pyte shall besesed in his stall
And trouthe shall his right / so enbrace
To sette mercy / aboue his Werkes all.
¶ As he hath spoken / & faythfully behight
To our fathers / that hath ben here tofore
To Abraham / & to his sede of right
That his mercy shall laste euermore
For nere his mercy / all the worlde were lore
Unto the whiche to make man attayne
He hath made mercy / our kynde to restore
And of all his werkes / to be souerayne.

¶ Howe our Lady after the byrthe of saynt Iohan Baptiste tourned to Nazareth. Capitulo. xxiii.

ANd whan this blessed gracious dyte
Was sayd to god / deuoutly of Marie
I fynde after playnly / howe that she
Styll in the house / bode of Zacharie
Thre monthes / the Gospell may notlye
And after that / I rede in certayne
To Nazareth / that she went agayne.
¶ And there aboue / in contemplacio [...]
In her prayers / alway day by daye
With many an holy meditacion
To queme her lorde / in what she can or maye
From whome her thought / went neuer awaye
Her full mnyde / ne her remenbraunce
[Page]For but in hym / she hath no plesaunce.
¶ In all this worlde / of no maner thynge
For all her ioye / was on hym to thynke
What euer she dyd / prayeng or worchynge
Nothinge / but he might in her herte synke
For fynally / whether she wake or wynke
Amyd her herte / he was alway present
So fixe on hym was sette her hole entent.
¶ And day by day / this holy lyfe she lad
This party emayde thorowe hygh deuocion
So seruent loue / vnto god she had
There may be made no deuision
For she sequestred her opynion
From all the worlde / & let it playnly gone
So hole to god / she gaue her herte alone.
¶ For euer in loue / she brent more and more
Towarde god / in his hygh seruice?
Was all her luste / with herte sette so sore
All erthely thynge / she fully doth despyse
And day by day / her wombe gan to ryse
Through the fulfilling of the holy ghoste
Therin by loke / whome she loued moste.
¶ This mene while Ioseph ay soiourned
In Galilee / god wote full innocent
Of all this thynge / and why he not retourned
Was for that he was so diligent
In Carpentry [...] / with all his full entent
[Page]Sondry werkes of meruaylous empryse
By carpentrye / to forge and deuise.
¶ For in this crafte inpassyng excellence
He had in soth / & hygh discression
And was had / moste in reuerence
Of all the werkmen / of that regyon
And for he had in connyng / suche renowne
Lyke a mayster / there is nomore to saye
The werkmen all his bidding dyd obaye.
¶ And when he had all werke acheued
He is repayred to Nazareth agayne
But lorde howe he was in his herte ameued
When that Marie / he hath with childe yseyne
That sore astoned / he nat what he may sayne
So at his herte / it sat so inwardly
Tyll at the laste / he abrayed sodaynly.
¶ And sayd alas / howe it is fall of newe
In myne absence / or what thyng may this be
Sithen this mayde / so faithfull & so trewe
Is with chylde / & god wote not with me
That somtyme had auowed chastite
And to my kepyng / eke deliuered was
What shall I saye / of this sodeyne cas.
¶ What shall I answere / my selfe to excuse
Unto the bysshop / yf he me appose
For eyther muste I playnly her accuse
Or my gylte / with this gylte enuose
[Page]This thynge is opene / I may it nat enclose
O blessed god / so do me nowe this grace
Out of my brest / this wofull ghoste to trace.
¶ For certes lorde / & it were thy wyll
I had leuer vtterly to dye
Than thorowe my worde / this mayde for to spyll
As I more nede / yf I her bewraye
And on my selfe / yf I the charge laye
For to afferme she hath conceyuyd by me
I more accuse her vowe of chastyte.
¶ And so my selfe / appeche of vntreuth
Sithen I in soth dyd / her neuer knowe
O blessed lorde / haue on this mater reuth [...]
For vtterly / my wyt is brought so lowe
To see corne growe / where no sede is sowe
And reason also platly can I none
Howe a mayde with chylde sholde gone.
¶ And floure forthe / in her virginite
I neuer sawe / ne neuer yet dyd rede
And this I doute / my reason can nat se
Howe that Marie / hath kept her maydenhed [...]
In myne absence / & this I double drede
My witte is brought / & wote not where to tourne
For double cause / that I haue nowe to mourne.
¶ That one is this [...]that my fantasye
May neuer accorde / that she dyd offence
And reason playnly / agayn warde doth deny [...]
[Page]And vpon kynde / grounded his sentence
To preue sothely / without resistence
That neuer woman / in natures sight
Without a man / a chylde conceyue myght.
¶ And with that worde / he brest out for to wepe
Lyke as he wolde / all in teres browne
And for the constreynt / of his syghes depe
Stode on the poynt / for to haue fallen downe
His sodayne wo / made hym almoste sowne
So for distresse this Ioseph / far in age
Of inwarde thought / cought was in a rage.

¶ Howe the Maydens that weren attēdaūt to our Lady comforted Iosephe Capitulo. xxiiii.

ANd whan the Maydēs weren [...]y present [...]
And euer in one abyding on Marie
And vnderstode / what that Ioseph mente
All atones / they began to crye
And saide Ioseph / leue thy fantasye
And thyne errour / for it is folye
Withouten auyse / to de [...]e sodaynlye.
¶ And certenly / with all our herte entere
Of knowlegynge / in very sykernesse
We wyll recorde / euerichone in fere
All openly touching her clennesse
And here vpon bere openly wytnesse
Li [...] as we knowe / vnto this same daye
[Page]Though all this worlde / at ones wyll say nay.
¶ For we in soth / thorowe busy diligence
Haue ben with her / bothe day & night
And neuer departed / out of her presence
But euer in one / had of her a syght
And late & erly / with all our myght
On her awayted / without wordes mo
And from our sight / she dyd neuer go.
¶ And euery houre / bothe tyde and tyme
Of vs / there was no deuysion
And all the morowe tyde / tyll hygh prym [...]
She neuer stynte / of her deuocion
To be in prayer / and in oryson
And eche day by continuaunce
A certeyne houre / she had a dalyaunce.
¶ With holy angels / that with her knelid or stode
And on a tyme / thorowe goddes puru [...]aunce
Of his hande / she toke her holy fode
As nedefull was to her sustenaunce
And this in soth / hath ben her gouernaunce
And as we echone / of her can recorde
Wherfore Ioseph / this lyfe doth not accorde.
¶ In sothfastnes / of thyne opynion
That so misdemeth / of this mayden fre
Of fantasye / or of false suspeccion
For to accuse her vyrginite
Of whiche thynge / we dare ensure the
[Page]That no wight / made sothely to deuyse
But the holy ghoste / her wombe for to ryse.
¶ And here / vpon we recorde can
Of all the tyme / thou were in Galilee
She neuer aloue / with was no man
And what she spake / we myght here and se
Wherfore Ioseph / let thy tales be
And deme nat amys / in worde nor in thought
For all this thyng / by goddes hande is wrought.
¶ And by his angels / comyng on message
Is this thynge fully brought aboute
Therfore Ioseph / let thyne yre asswage
And of Marie / be nothyng in doute?
Certes quod he / I may not voyde oute
My fantasye to assent in any wyse:
It shulde be lyke / as ye nowe deuyse.
¶ For by an agell / it were impossible
Her to conceyue / lyke as ye witnesse
But yf it so were / that it be credyble
Some wyght by sleyght / takyng the liknes
Of an angell / thorowe fraudelent falsenes
Thorowe innocence / shortly to conclude
By engyne of fraude / her thought to delude.
¶ And efte agayne / for his inwarde payne
He gan to chaunge / bothe face and hewe
And from his eyen / the salte teres rayne
Lyke as he wolde drowne hym selfe of newe
[Page]So sore he gan / in herte for to rewe
For this mater / that for his mortall wo
He can no rede / ne wote what he may do.
¶ And in his herte / he caste many awaye
To haue foūde refute / with all his full mynde
And thought alway / he wolde her not betraye
For he was rightfull / playnly as I fynde
And thus he gan in sondry / thoughtes wynde
As in Balaunce / for possed vp and downe
Tyll at the laste in conclusion.
¶ He purposeth fully & casteth hym vtterly
To go his waye sothely / if he myght
And thought / he wolde forsake her pryuely
And neuer more to come in her sight
Tyll an Angell on the same nyght
Sent downe from god / to Ioseph dyd appere
Whyle that he slepte / and sayde as ye shall here.

¶ Howe the Angel warned Ioseph to abyde with our Lady. Capitulo. xxvi.

O Thou Ioseph / ne drede thou not blyue
Thou the sone of Dauid / of lyne by dissent
For to take Marie to thy wyue
Whiche is a mayde / with all her full entent
With whome is ay the holy ghoste present
Of whome god / as I the tell beforne
In veray soth / that shall of her be borne.
¶ And like in soth▪ as writeth [...]
Of this mater▪ that for c [...]us [...]s thre
Unto Ioseph as he telleth vs
The Angell came / and fyrste he sayde that [...]
Sithen he was rightfull / that [...] no degre
Of purpose rightfull / he sholde vnrightfully
This holy mayde / forsake pryuely.
¶ Another cause / he writeth the expresse
That his forsakinge / might to her name
Be dishonour and cause in sothfastnesse
Of vntreue tonges / for to speke her shame
And though in her / there were no spotte of blame
Suspeccion to voyde / on euer eyther syde
The Angell bad / that Ioseph shulde abyde▪
¶ The thyrde cause / & also moste trewe
Was that he with more diligence
Sholde her kepe / whan he the s [...]th knews
That she was clene / without all offence
And wiste playnly / that by magnificence
Of the holy ghoste / his erreur to enchace
Conceyued hath this mayde full of grace.
¶ And whan Ioseph abrayed / out of his slepe
And in his herte / by reuolucion
[...]an to caste / and to take kepe
Agaynste the morowe / of his auysion
He caught comforte / and consolacion
Of all that euer he was afore dispayred
And to Marie agayne / he repayred.
¶ And [...] hole herte
That he to hym / hath so [...]
In recomforte of his in [...] [...]
His [...] [...] [...]ight [...]clared openly
And of [...]
He asketh mercy of humble affeccion
That euer to her / he had suspeccion▪
¶ And of his errour / & of his trespace
This hore graye / with all humilite
With wepynge [...]y [...] / gan to are grace
And she alone / of womanly pyte
His heuines / whan she dyd se
Comforted hym / in all that euer she might
And he alone / in all theyr sight.
¶ And all her maydens / standinge enuyron
Gan euen thus / for to cry [...]owde
Certes quod he / my derke suspeccion
Came of blyndenes / for I none other coude
But nowe in soth / the mysty blacke cloude
Of ignoraunce / is so clarefyed
That all the trouth / to me is verefyed.
¶ Thorowe grace of god / that myne olde rud [...] ness [...]
Is nowe from [...] chaced clene awaye
Haue me excused / of my derke dulnesse
With all myne herte / benignely I praye
My nyght of [...] / is tour [...]ed in to daye
That I may nowe / with myne eyen olde
The bright bemes of Tytan well beholde▪
¶ That for derknes / I [...]yste what to done
Onely for lacke / of his bemes bright
Weren me berafte / thorowe the clowdy mone
And hath within / me no clere insighte
That this Eclips / was caused all to sone
By hersodeyn interpocession
That was chefe / grounde of my suspeccion.
¶ This is to sayn / that myne erthely thought
So was oppressod / derked and borne downe
That woldely skyes / that I myght nought
Ne was nor worthy / to haue inspeccion
Of this derke knowelege / by relacion
Tyll the sonne / of his grace dyd shyne
My wytte Eclipsed / fully to enlumyne.
¶ For he to me / hath his Angell sent
Myne ignoraunce / fully for to clere
Wherfore of you / in all my best entent [...]
O ye maydens / that be present here
I axe mercy / with all myne herte entere
Of all that euer / that hath be spoken & sayd
And lowly I praye you / be not euyll a payd.
¶ And they echone / thanked god of all
With herte and wyll / bothe in worde and dede
That he on Ioseph / hath inspeciall
His grace of newe / made for to sprede
To voyde awaye / all his hole drede
Of euery conceyt / and imageninge
To make hym knowe / the trouthe of this thynge.
¶ There thorowe in soth / the ioye gan renewe
Amonge hem all echone / of one accorde
The armonye entuned / was so trewe
Betwene hem that / there was none discorde
Nat so moche as a litell worde
And thus in ioye / a whyle I lete hem dwell
And of the Bysshops / forth I will tell.

¶ Howe the Bisshop dyd do sompmon Io­seph for our Lady was with chylde Capitulo. xxvii.

TOuchynge this thinge / playnly yf I conne
Howe worde by worde / sothely in sentence
Of this thynge / the rumour is yronne
And reported / that thorow necligence
Of this Ioseph: or by vyolence
Howe that Marie / goth with chylde greate
Wherfore they haue / in a sodeyn heate.
¶ Cyted hym afore hym to apere
And he came forthe / with sober countenaunce
Of whome anone / the Bysshop gan enquere
Abyathar of his gouernaunce
From poynt to poynt / with euery circumstaunce
Touchinge this thynge / what it might amounte
Or howe that Ioseph wolde yeue a counte.
¶ That Marie debonayre and so mylde
That somtyme was / of suche opynyon
In the temple / is greate nowe with chylde
[...]
[Page]Of tonges large / and euery fantasye
As is somtyme shewed by the hewe
Of them that dranke the drynke of Ielosye
As Numeri dothe clerely specefye
Wherfore anone / there is nomore to seye
Make you redy / for ye bothe tweye.
¶ Shullē make a taste / whether it be soure or sote
There is none / agaynsay ne excusacion
Tyll the trouthe / be ryped in the rote
Ne shullen procede / to this conclusion
That god list make / a declaracion
Of all this thynge / for fauour or for routhe
There is no mene / but the playne trouthe.
¶ For yf god liste / that your innocence
Lyke your deserte / by openly excused
Than is your merite / of your excellence
That ye toforne / falsely were accused
And sithen this prefe / may nat be refused
But that ye muste / obeye to the lawe
Come of anone / & you not withdrawe.
¶ Do sette her forth / and brynge her to presence
That hath in vertue / so excellent a name
In whome was neuer yet founde offence
But vnto this tyme / euer floureth in her fame
And standeth at large / from euery maner blame
Nowe let her come / & lyke as god your ewre
For you disposeth / taketh your auenture.
¶ And she ano [...]e / was of her frendes brought
Knowinge not / what all this might mene
Deuoyde of drede / bothe in herte and thought
For drede in soth: may nat do no tene
To conscience / that is of synne clene
Ne vengeaunce / there no place ocupyeth
Where innocence / a soule vngylty gyeth.
¶ For the fyre may no whyle brenne
After the brondes be taken awaye
Ne the ryuer holde his course and renne
The hede sprynge drye / sothely this is no naye
Ne vengeaunce playnly / make may none assaye
To execute agaynst innocence
Ne voyde of synne his mighty vyolence.
¶ For nothinge but synne / may engender shame
For selde or nat / ben the chekes rede
Of hym in soth / that is deuoyde of blame
For who so is clene / taketh litell hede
To wynke or blenke / for ony maner drede
And for the assaute / of ony misty cloude
Light of vertue / may no whyle shroude.
¶ It may a while / be derked with a skye
As is amonge the fayre bright sonne
And with the wyndes / of malice and enuye
The clere sterres / often wexen donne
But whan trouth / sette abroche his tonne
To make the soth / openly be knowe
The wynde of falsenes / may no lenger blowe.

¶ Howe our Ladyes frendes wayled and morned whan the Bysshoppes made so stronge a prefe of her virginyte. Capitulo. xxxi.

THan sythen trouthe / may no whyle dare
Hornes shrynke / ne hyde hym in his neste
But lyke a sonne / his light abrode declare
Whan she that was the veray chosen cheste
Of all clennesse / and there with all the beste
Of all good / howe myght it betyde
Her light of vertue / to be sette a syde.
¶ That it nyll shyne / maugre who sayth naye
Whan her beames ben openly discured
As golde in fyre / fyned by assaye
And as the tryed / siluer is depured
And she that was in vertue moste assured
Where the holy ghoste / his dwellinge dyd sette
Howe myght than / ony mystes lette.
¶ The clere light / of her parfytnesse
Or ony maner prefe or probacion
In ony parte / for to make it lesse
For light wyll out / it may not be borne downe
And so will trouthe haue dominacion
For ony falsenes / that men can conspyre
Than she that was so fully sette a fyre.
¶ Of the holy ghoste / ne dare but lytell drede
To drynke water / whether it be thyke or clere
[Page]To take a pre [...]e / of her may denhede
For her harme / it shall haue no power
For to deface her coloure or her there
But rather amende more / and clarefye
The derke dymmynge / of euery clowde skye
¶ And so Marie standynge in the place
And all her frendes about enuyron
Where men may se / vpon many a face
Of frendely routhe / and compassion
The salte teeres / fall and renne downe
For drede and loue / they had for to sene
So harde assaye / made on her age grene.
¶ But she alwaye / constant as a wall
In thought in chere / abasshed neuer a dele
Ne in her herte / dredeth nat at all
But vpon god / tristeth alwaye wele
That he of trouth / shall trye out the stele
And by that she spake / but wordes fewe
Withouten speche / he shall the dede shewe.
¶ And whan the water fully was confecte
Lyke the statute / and the rytes olde
T [...] Bisshoppe hath the cuppe fyrste directe
Unto Ioseph and hym / the parell tolde
And manly / he gan it holde
And dranke her vp / & chaunged nat his chere
And seuen tymes aboute the Aultere.
¶ He went than by custome as he ought.
[Page]Of face and colour / alwaye lyke newe
And to Marie / also the Bisshope brought
A cuppe of water / & she of herte trewe
Accepteth eke this godely fresshe of hewe
And or she dranke / this holy parfyte mayde
All openly thus to god she sayde.

¶ Howe our Lady prayed to god to shewe her virginite. Capitulo. xxxii.

OSothfast lorde / that hast the knowlechynge
Of euery thynge / thorowe thy might
And art so truwe / and so iuste a kyng
To hygh and lowe / thou wilt do right
And nothing may be shrouded fro thy sight
Thorowe none engyne / ne thy face asterte
But sothtastly knowest euery herte.
¶ So that no wight / fade may ne fayne
Tofore the eye / of thy sapience
Nowe let thy grace / downe fro heuen trayne
Clerely in dede / and nat by apparence
To shewe in me / yf there be offence
Of any gylte / myne auowe to appeche
To the I praye / so thy light to reche.
¶ That it be couthe / here all openly
To wete in soth / whether I in chastite
Haue ledde my lyfe as faythfully
Lyke as thou knowest / for the loue of the
And if I haue my virginite
[Page]Concerned hole / this is myne oryson
Make openly a demonstracian.
¶ And with that worde / the drinke she dyd ataste
And went her course / aboute the Aultre
And all the people gan to gasen faste
If any signe / dyd in her appere
Other in colour / countenaunce or chere
But all for nought / playnly as I tolde
The more on her / they loken and beholde.
¶ The more she was in her sight fayre
And lyke as Phebus / in Ioly grene maye
Whan she hath chased / the derke misty ayre
Shineth more clere / the bright Somers daye
Whan thylke vapours / ben driuen clere awaye
Right so Ioseph / and also Marie
So fresshe were / in euery wightes eye.
¶ That to beholde / they thought it dyd hē goode
The longe daye in her opynion
For in her face / alwaye was the bloode
Without poling / or any drawing downe
And alwaye more fayre of inspeccion
Of whiche thinge / the people gan meruayle
And for astoned / thoughten her wittes fayle.

¶ Howe the Bysshope and the people drede hem of the assaye that was made to our Lady Capitulo. xxxiii.

ANd in pa [...]ye greately / weren dis [...]
Lest that god on hē / wolde take veng [...]c [...]
For they so ferre / goddes might haue assayed
Of errour blynde and ve [...]ay ignoraunce
And right forthwith / of hertely repentaunce
They bonchen her brestes / with fystes wōder sore
And all attones / fellen downe afore.
¶ This holy mayde / with humble reuerence
And wolden her fete haue / kyssed there a none
Askynge mercy / of her greate offence
And she forgaue it hem euery chone
And all the Bisshoppes / and the people gone
Benignely / to brynge her awaye
And to her paleyse / fully her conueye.
¶ Of whome the noyse / to the heuen ronge
With herte and speche / as they magnefye
The lorde aboue / in euery wightes tonge
For ioye and myrthe / gan hym glorefye
And all the daye / thus in melodye
They ladde forth / tyll it drowe to eue
And godely than / of her they toke her leue.
¶ And forth they went euery man his waye
In the storye as made is memorye
But Marie in all the haste she maye
Entred is in to her oratorie
As she that hath wonne the victorie
Of all tho that aforne gan muse
Her mayden hede / of malice to accuse.
¶ And thorowe her merite / hath y e mouthes shette
And lippes closed of hem / that weren in were
And day by day / kepinge her closette
Continuelly laye in her prayere
Expectaunt euer lyke / as ye shall here
With humble herte / and deuoute obeysaunce
Upon the tyme / of her delyueraunce.
¶ The holy ghoste / beynge ay her guyde
Her chaumbre she kept / her day awaytinge
As ye shall here / if ye liste to abyde
And god toforne / yet or the byrdes singe
And or that Flora / doth the floris sprynge
Tofore the calendes of Apryll or of Maye
My purpose is playnly / if that I maye.
¶ For to procede / forth in his dyte
So as I can / or make mencion
Of the feste and solempnite
That called is / the Incarnacion
Onely through helpe / and supportacion
Of her that is so plenteous benigne
Or that Phebus entre in the signe.
¶ With this carecte / of the Ariete
Of this feste / somwhat shall I wryte
But o alas / the Rethorikes swete
Of Petrake fraunces / that coude so endyte
And Eullius / with all his wordes whyte
Full longe agone / and full olde of date
Is dede alas / and passed into fate.

¶ A comendacion of Chaucers. Capitulo. xxxiiii.

ANd eke my maister Chaucers nowe is greue
The noble rethore / Poete of Britaine
That worthy was / the laurer to haue
Of Poetrie / and the palme attayne
That made firste / to distille and rayne
The golde dewe dropes / of speche & eloquence
In to our tonge / thrugh his excellence.
¶ And fonde the floures / firste of rethorike
Our rude speche / onely to enlumine
That in our tonge / was neuer none hym lyke
For as the sonne / dothe in heuen shyne
In mydday spere / downe to vs by lyne
In whose presence / no sterre may appere
Right so his dyttes / withouten any pere?
¶ Euery makinge / with his light distayne
In sothfastnes / who so taketh hede
Wherfore no wonder / though myne herte playne
Upon his deth / and for sorowe blede
For want of hym / nowe in my greate nede
That sholde alas / conueye and directe
And with his supporte / amende and correcte.
¶ The wronge traces / of my rude penne
There as I erre / and go not lyne right
But that for he / ne may me na [...] k [...]nne
I can nomore / but with all my might
[Page]With all myne herte / & myne inwarde sight
Prayeth for hym / that nowe lyeth in cheste
To god aboue / to gyue his soule good reste.
¶ And as I can / forthe I will procede
Sithen of his helpe / there may no socour be
And though my penne / be quakinge ay for drede
Nether to Clyo / ne to Calyope
Me liste not call for to helpe me
Ne to no muse / my poyncell for to gye
But leue all this / and saye vnto Marie.
¶ O clere Castell / and the chaste Toure
Of the holy ghoste / mother and virgine
Be thou my helpe / conceyle and socoure
And let the stremes / of thy mercy shyne
In to my breste / this thyrde boke to fyne
That thorowe thy supporte / and benigne grace
It to parforme / I may haue lyfe and space.

¶ Howe Criste was borne after the makīge of the worlde / fyue thousande and hon­dred / foure score and. xix. yere. Capitulo. xxxv.

WHan all was hushte / & all was scilence
And in his course / the longe sterry night
was halfe paste / & fresshe of apparence
Lucina shone in heuen fayre and bright
Thy worde o lorde / that is moste of might
Whiche ay abideth / and parteth not fro the
[Page]Sente & dissendeth / from the Ryall see.
¶ Hath sodeynly / vp on all erthe
Shad his light / for our saluacion
As I shall synge / or mayes day the ferthe
If ye liste here / of humble affeccion
Howe in the yere of computacion
Fourty and two / of Octauian
Ferthermore / after the worlde began.
¶ Fyue thousande / as Beda liste defyne
And an hondred sothely / this is no leace
And therewithall / nynty yere and nyne
Whan all the worlde in rest was & in peace
Withouten warre / and of Olimpiades
In the hondred nynty yere and thre
And by Cronycle / eke as ye may se.
¶ Than Augustus by cōmaundement
Generally / withouten exception
Bad by his lettres that the president
Of eche prouince / Cyte / Borough / or Towne
Thorowe out the worlde / make discripcion
Of euery hede / so that eche man
At a certeyn day / in all the haste he can.
¶ Upon a payne / be founde in the Cyte
Where he was borne / without more delaye
Bothe hygh and lowe / of what estate he be
After his statute / his tribute for to paye
And that no man / be hardy to say nay
[Page]To quyte hym selfe / of euery circonstaunce
To make in open a reconisaunce.
¶ With hande assured / and hole profession
Of the prouidence / to fore the president
That he is subiect / vnto Rome towne
With all his herte / and his hole entente
And here vpon / that he payed his rente
As the custome / and the statute bande
That is to say / that he brenge in his hande.
¶ A large peny / enprinted with the name
And the ymage of the Emperour
And there vpon / he shulde anone attame
Another of newe / and for the more honour
With hande touched / swere for swete or soure
Whyle he liueth / and neuer for to rewe
With herte and body / playnly to be trewe.
¶ To tempre / his biddinge to obeye
Withouten grutchinge / or rebellion
With all his might / for to lyue and dye
And than anone / the discripcion
Of euery hede / in his owne towne
Was made in haste / where that he was bore
And after that I fynde furthermore.
¶ His name was regestred / with hem there
Perpetuelly / to be in mynde
And this discriuinge / if ye liste to here
Was made fyrste in Sirie / as I fynde
[Page]By one Cirinus / the people for to bynde
To be to Rome. in subiection
For this Cirinus in that regyon.
¶ Was perferred there vnder the Emperoure
In bokes olde / as made is mencion
And whyles he was theyr gouernour
Was fyrste than begonne the discripcion
The yere in soth / after the foundacion
Of mighty Rome / seuen hondred & fyftene
At whiche tyme / with his beme shene.
¶ Was fresshe Phebus / in his fyrste face
Of Capricorne / the lowest stacion
The same yere / called the yere of grace
The yere of conforte and remission
Beynge the thyrtheneth the indition
The golden nombre of the same yere
Eyghtene acounted in our calendere.

¶ Howe Ioseph & our Lady went to Bethleem to paye trybute. Capitulo. xxxvi.

THe yere of Herode / thyrty yere and one
Whan made was the discripsion
As ye haue herde / that Ioseph muste gone
To Bethleem for conclusion
To paye his tribute / in his owne towne
As the statute afore dothe specefye
By cause that he / and also Marie
¶ Wherof the housholde / & the tribe borne
Called Iuda / and of the kynrede
Of worthy Dauid / as I haue sayde toforne
And on her iourney / as they gan hem spede
And holy Ioseph / dyd her brydell lede
And sodeynly / Marie than abrayde
And vnto Ioseph / euen thus she sayde.
¶ I wys quod she / me thinketh that I se
Two folkes / greately discordinge
Upon the waye / apperinge vnto me
That one reioysinge / that other compleyninge
To whome Ioseph benignely lokinge
Answered agayn / & bad her ryde in peace
And prayed her also / nat to be rechelece
¶ Ony wordes for to speke in vayne
But holde her waye / and her iourney right
And vnwarely afore them in the playne
Appered an Angell / with face sterne & bright
Of whome the beaute / gaue a pleasaunt light
The place enuyron / and a swete odoure
And his clothynge / lyke the Lyly floure.
¶ Was whyte in soth / as snowe that falleth newe
Whiche gan anone / chere and loke to meue
And therewithall / with a chaunged hewe
Began also Ioseph to repreue
And shortely bad his wordes that he leue
And sayde in soth / that he was to blame
For to be bolde / ony wordes to tame.
¶ Agaynste Marie / through thy necligence
To saye that she spake / ony wordes vayne
For that she sawe / was none apparence
But veray soth / as she hath it sayne
For truste me well / and be right certayne
Of this folke / of whiche she spake to the
In sothfastnes / lyke as thou shalt se
¶ Ben the folkes / and the peoples twayne
That ben disseuered / in full large space
That one of Iewes / that wepe shall and playne
With many tere distillinge in her face
That wilfully / shall refuse his grace
Of frowarde herte / for to be benigne
To deuoyde / and playnly to resigne.
¶ The Synagoge / with her rightes olde
Whiche in shorte tyme / shall drawe to decline
And her faces quenche / and wexe colde
With sacred light / that weren wonte to shyne
For tyme is come / that they muste fyne
And the waylinge / of her derked chere
Unclose shall / & shewe as bright and clere.
¶ This tyme of grace / fully to obeye
With herte & will / & with humble chere
For goddes worde / that no man may withsaye
Hath hasted it / gone full many a yere
To Abraham / and also Isaac in feare
And to Iacob / that in her holy sede
Full hastely / who so will take hede.
¶ Shall all the peoples blessed be
Through out the worlde / in euery lande & reme
And with that worde / that Ioseph might se
The Angell stye aboue the Sonne beme
And he goth forthe / towarde Bethleme
With Marie / tyll that they bothe twayne
In full litell space / gan to attayne.
¶ To the bondes of Bethleem the cyte
Wery and mate / somdele of her vyage
Where they founden / of people suche plente
In the cyte / of euery maner age
That they might haue / no maner herbegage
In all the Towne / neyther boure ne hall
Saue a stable / and a litell stall.
¶ That was sequestred / and I sette a syde
Out of all prees / the story sayth expresse
Made for bestes / therin to abyde
Full streyte & narowe / shadoweth with derknesse
In to the whiche / Ioseph gan hym dresse
With Marie / to reste there all night
And as she entred / a newe sodeyn light▪
¶ All the place / enlumined enuyron
That shoue as bright / as ony somers day
So that this litell humble mancion
Was fresshe and light / as Phebus is in May
Whiche gan to wexe / and encreace ay
Whyle she was there / all be that it was night
And right anone / the sothfast Sonne of light.
¶ Of all our ioye / cast hym to aryse
And shedde his light / to glade all mankynde
For towarde midnight / shortly to deuyse
Whan all was hushte / holy writte maketh mynde
As sothely as he dyd hym wynde
In the sydes of this holy mayde
So esely this newe sonne abrayde.
¶ Whan he was borne / in to this mortall lyfe
Upon the erthe / to shede his brightnesse
Withouten helpe / of ony mid wyfe
Or of his mother / trauayle or sekenesse
For she that fyrste conceyued in clennesse
It sat right well / that she shulde also
Withouten trauayle / or ony maner wo
¶ For to go quyte / at her deliueraunce
And specially / haue a prerogatyfe
In her chyldinge / to fele no penaunce
Sithen she was mayde / mother and wyfe
Chosen of god / for to stynte our stryfe
Of all women by her selfe alone
Wherfore it sat nat her to crye and grone.
¶ Lyke to other women / that be inly syke
In the tyme of theyr trauaylinge
Wherfore sithen / she was to none other lyke
No payne felte she / the houre of her childinge
And as I fynde / at her deliueringe
There was no wight / but her selfe alone
For thylke tyme / Ioseph was out gone.

¶ Howe Ioseph went to seche a myd wyfe to our Lady. Capitulo. xxxvii.

IN full greate haste / to enquere and seke
Some mid wyfe / to helpe in this nede
And in this whyle / with her eyen meke
She chylded hath / this floure of maydenhede
And home agayne / as Ioseph gan hym spede
And to the place / the midwyues brought
Euen at the dore / abasshed in her thought.
¶ Stoden still / a stoned of that light
And the brightnesse / that shone in the place
Agayne kynde / that tyme of the night
That they ne might / susteyne in her face
And no wonder / for the Sonne of grace
Within whiche caste his light so ferre
Of whome the Mone / and eche other Sterre.
¶ Receyuen her light / eueriche in her spere
All by that he laye / here in erthe lowe
In a stable / with his sacred chere
Sole with his mother / that no man dyd knowe
Of whome her loke / she mekely gan to throwe
Godely beholdynge / his fayre yonge face
And knelynge downe / began to enbrace.
¶ His tender lymmes / in her armes twayne
And wrapped hym in clothes tenderlye
And toke hym vp / & sothely gan hym leyne
In her lappe / and full humbly
[Page]She behelde his features by an by
So fayre shapen / in party and in all
And with her mylke / very celestiall.
¶ And heuenly lycour / of her pappes smale
His tender lymmes / she spredde in euery coste
The whyte bawme / to make it auale
Fet from the conduyte / of the holy ghoste
Upon the thynge / that she loued moste
And gaue hym so wke / of the pyment sot [...]
That spronge & grewe out of the holy rote.
¶ Of maydenhede / & from the chaste vyne
Of all clennes / was I tryed oute
Wherwith she made her yonge chylde to dyn [...]
Whome heuen & erthe / muste obeye and lowt [...]
All be that he / with beastes hym aboute
Laye humbly / as y [...] haue herde deuyse
And after this / his mother dyd aryse.
¶ And lifte hym vp / sothely in to the stall
Where the Asse and the Oxe stode
And on her knees / she gan anone to fall
And worshipped hym / this beste of all good
That gyueth to Angels / and to man food
And than this mayde / with debon [...]yr chere
With face erecte / and handes eke in fere.

¶ A deuoute prayer / that our Lady made whan Christe was borne. Capitulo. xxxviii.

TO god aboue / began thus for to praye
O lorde quod she / with all my full might
Tho whome eche thynge / iustely muste obeye
To the / I than as it is skyll and right
That thou so godely liste / to haue a sight
To my mekenes / though I vnworthy be
And nat disdayne / of thy benignite.
¶ To graunte onely / of thy hygh goodnesse
Me to encrece / in to suche excellence
To be a mayden / and mother in clennesse
To bere thy sonne / and thy sapience
That neuer twynneth / out of thy presence
But in heuen abydeth ay with the
And in erthe / mekely nowe with me.
¶ Lyeth in a stable / of chere moste debonayre
Tofore my face / my ioye and my conforte
Whiche with the lokinge / of his eyen fayre
Is hole my gladnes / and fully my disporte
Sothfaste pleasaunce / and my chefe resorte
My dere sonne / and my lorde also
Tho whome with herte / & all that I can do.
¶ In thanke the lorde / that liggest me beforne
That thou liste chese / to haue affeccion
Of me so mekely / in the erthe to be borne
And fro thy father / to discende a downe
Onely for helpe and saluacion
Of mankynde frely of thy will
My blessed chylde / that so good and styll.
¶ Liggest nowe here / mekely by sufferaunce
Amyd the beastes / so fayre vpon to se
And haste no wighte / to thyne attendaunce
Lyke thyne estate awaytinge vpon the
Saue that thou haste / so godely chosen me
Of thy grace / vpon the to abyde
I to serue / and thou to be my guyde.
¶ As it is right / Ioseph with vs twayne
To take his parte / what fortune so betyde
Lyke as thou liste / of grace to ordayne
And than anone / right in the sel [...]e tyde
Ioseph cam me / and stode her besyde
And sodeynly / whan he the chylde doth s [...]
Full humbly knelinge / on his kne.

¶ Howe the midwyfe durste nat entre with Ioseph in to the house for a greate light appered within. Capi. xxxix.

WOrshipped hym / w t all his herte & might
With all his will / & all his full thought
And telled Marie / for feare of the light
The midwyues / that he had brought
Astoned were / that durste nought
Entre me / but kepte hem aferre
For cause onely / that a newe sterre.
¶ Ascended was / vpon that mancion
That spredde his light / & his beames shyne
From este to weste / thorowe out the region
[Page]That all they / that dyd it sene
Gan faste muse / what it might mene
And in her hertes / greately for to charge
That a sterre / so bright / so fayre and large.
¶ Of newe dyd appere / in that reem
That neuer none suche was sene tofore
Of whiche sterre / prophetes in Iherusalem
That tyme were astoned / wondere sore
Sayden playnly / withouten any more
That this sterre / dyd signefye
Thylke sterre / whiche in his prophecye.

¶ Howe Balaam prophecied / the sterre that shewed Christes byrthe. Capitulo. xl.

BAlaam the sone of Beor / as I fynde
Commendeth so / in all his beste wyse
Whan he sayde sothely / of the kynde
Of worthy Iacob / a sterre sholde aryse
And eke also / as he doth deuise
Full openly / the Byble can you tell
Howe that a yerde / out of Israhell.
¶ Shall springe also / to smyte and oppresse
The [...]elle dukes of Moab / with her might
And he shall waste / in warre sothfastnesse
The chyldren of Sethe / and of kynde right
With the shyninge▪of his beames bright
Conquere also / to his subieccion
[Page]Withouten obstacle / and haue possession.
¶ Ofydume for his heritage
With many another riche regyon
And of Seyr / the riche Baronage
Shall to hym lowte / for his renowne
So that this Sterte in conclusion
Whiche in Bethleem / bright of sterres all
The whiche aboue the litell Oxes stall.
¶ So shene shone / at the Natiuite
Of the chylde / as ye haue herde me tell
Betokeneth playnly / as ye shall after here
That the lorde of h [...]uen / erthe and hell
Whiche may of Moab / the tyrannye fell
Was there by loke / & helde his hostage
In a stable norowe / as ony cage.
¶ Amonge beastes though / he were lorde of all
And all this / may at his will gouerne
Whiche in his hande / hangeth as a ball
In very soth / his myght is so eterne
And all this thynge / Marie gan conceru [...]
Within her selfe / syker and full close
And after that / she mekely vp rose.

¶ Howe our Lady receyued the mid wyues Capitulo. xli.

ANd to the dore / wonder womanly
She went a paace / and wh [...]se dydse
[Page]The mydwyue [...] [...]
She brought he [...] / [...] with all h [...]milite
Shephora / and also [...]
And hem welcometh / in full lowe manere
And whan that they / these signes sawe in [...]re.
¶ Of the sterres / and the bestes knele
Towarde the chylde / to do [...]m reuerence
And gan also / by other [...] fele
Of may denhede / that there was none offence
And that she stode hole in that excellence
Of parfyte clennesse / and virginite
And mother to be / and floure in chastyte.
¶ Withouten w [...]me / on any party [...]ounde
Of all the preues / that they make coude
And whan they sawe / her pappes so habounde
With heuenly mylke / sent from aboue the cloude
She ph [...]ra gan [...] to c [...]y [...]full lowde
That a mayde hath a chylde borne
The whiche thynge was not sene befor [...]e.
¶ In all this worlde / who so liste to take hede
For it i [...] soth / the right of all nature
Passeth playnly / and also doth excede
The wytte of man / I do you well assure
But I se w [...]ll through / the mighty [...]u [...]
Of goddes hande / this thynge is brought aboute
Wherof platly / I am nothynge in doubte.
¶ But assented with herte and hole credence
[Page]Hauinge theron / none [...]mbig [...]y [...]
And thane a [...]o [...]e / for [...] greate offence
And for wantruste / of her [...]owe Salome
Openly that all men might se
Were in that arme dede and colde as a stone
With whiche she was hardy for to gone.

¶ Howe the hande of Salome we [...]ed drye. Capitulo. x [...]ii.

THe chylde to touche / of presumpsion
And his mother / without reuerence
Deuoyde of drede / or of deuocion
Or any faythfull humble aduertence
Done as her ought / of his magnificence
Wherfore anone / for her hygh trespace
All openly / in the same place.
¶ She punisshed was / that all might it se
And gan for sorowe / wepe and complayne
And sayde lorde / haue pyte vpon me
And of mercy / rewe vpon my payne
And of myne offence / that thou n [...]t disdayne
Ne to thyne hyghnes / it be no displesaunce
That I a wretche / blynde of ignoraunce.
¶ Offended greately / hath in thy sight
Of [...]che [...]co [...]inge / and [...]d [...]scression
And sodeynly / in all theyr sight
Euen amiddes / of that mancion
An Angell bright / sent from heuen downe
[Page]Dyd appere / biddinge her [...]on [...]
With deuoute herte / that she sholde gone.
¶ Full humbly / in her beste entente
Unto the chylde / for to haue socoure
And touche the hemme / of his [...]estemente
Reuerently and with greate honoure
For he in soth / is the sauyoure
Of all the worlde / and of all mankynde
And power hath playnly to vnbynde.
¶ All tgo that playnen / and ben in distresse
Whan they to hym / mekely will call
And Salome / deuoutly gan her dresse
Towarde the chylde / and on her knees fall
And sayde / o lorde that power haste of all
Let thy mercy / on me sprede
For to socoure me▪ in this greate nede.
¶ Me wretched wight / punisshed rightfully
And loste for euer / saue onely thy grace
For in loth / saue onely thy mercy
I haue loste myne arme / alas for my trespace
And with that worde / as she dyd enbrace
To touche the cloth / that he laye in bounde
Without more / this Salome hath founde.
¶ Remedye / and was made hole agayne
Sodenly / or she coude it spye
And vp she rose / and made no lenger [...]ayne
But in the strete / openly gan to crye
[Page]Howe the lorde / that all this worlde may gy [...]
Descended is / and bycome man
And whiles / that she thus in the strete ran
¶ Tellinge the byrthe / and of the sterre also
And of her arme / and of her sodeyn cure
The people gan faste to drawe to
To herken more of this aduenture
For in her speche / some gan hem assure
And that her wordes myght be credible
And specially / for to them vysyle.
¶ The sterre shone euer aboue the house
Ay lyke fyx / without mocion
So bright / so longe / so glad / so ioyouse
That all that inspeccion
In herte parfyte / and tre we entencion
That they weren reioysed / and made light
And all this thynge / felle vpon the night.
¶ On a sonday / myne auctour will nat lye
As ye may fynde / if ye liste to rede
The. viii. Kalendes / for sothe of Ianuarie
Whan Marie example / of may denhede
Was of age / who so will take hede
S [...]rtene yere this floure of Nazareth
At the vysion of saynt Elizabeth.
¶ Playnly recordeth / loke and ye may s [...]
And in this nyght of mooste worthynes
Of Christes byrthe / and natiuite
[Page]As the Gospell sayth / and bereth witnes
Whan the Shepeherdes / with greate besynes
Kepte her watche the longe wynters night
Upon her shepe / an Angell with greate light.

Howe the Angels appered to the Shepe herdes / and tolde the byrthe of Christe Capi. xliii.

AMyd the felde / to hem dyd appere
And gaue hem conforte in her greate drede
And bad hem be light / and glad of chere
For I quod he / shewe to you in dede
A ioye that doth euery ioye excede
That fynally shall of all dysease
To all folke / conforte be and ease.
¶ And be to hem refuyte and socoure
In all my myscheues and aduersite
For nowe this day / mankyndes sauyour
In Bethleem / of Dauid his cyte
Is borne in soth / lyke as ye may se
Goth and beholdeth / howe that is fall
And ye shall fynde / in▪ a oxes stall.
¶ Howe that he lyeth / in clothes narowe woūde
This yonge faunte / with chere full benigne
The whiche thynge / whan that ye haue founde
That all is soth / let be to you a signe
And sodenly / with lawde & pryse condigne
With the Angell / the hole chyualrye
[Page]Of all heuen / by one armonye.
¶ For ioye her of / gan to saye and synge
Glorie and honour / in the heuenly se
Be vnto god / eternally and duringe
And in erthe / peace and reste be
To all to men / that of one vnyte
This hygh feste / honoure and magnefye
And we echone / of one melodye.
¶ O mighty lorde / we prayse and blesse the
And worship eke / with humble reuerence
And glorifye / thyne hygh mageste
And thankinge / gyue to thy magnyficence
For thy glorie / and thyne excellence
O thou lorde god / o Kynge celestiall
O god thy father / moste myghty founde at all.
¶ And god the sone / his chylde aboue eterne
Christ Iesu / borne of this heuenly Quene
O god also / the chosen lambe so derne
Sone of the father / withouten spotte all clene
That doest away / the worldes synne and ten [...]
Haue mercy on vs / of thyne hygh goodnesse
Syth thou thy selfe / in parfyte holynesse.
¶ Alone thou arte sothely / hooly and no mo
And lorde / alone ouer all thynge
And worthyest / and hyghest eke also
O Christ Iesu / of heuen and erthe kynge
With the holy ghoste / in glorie reyninge
[Page]Ay with the father / by eternite
There knyt in one / through parfyte vnite.

¶ Howe the Shepeherdes founden Christ with our Lady. Capitulo. xliiii

ANd whā the Angels / with this heuēly son­ge
The byrth of Christ / had magnefyed
With parfyte gladnesse / that was hem amonge
To heuen anone / agayne they haue hem hyed
And the herdes by one accorde a lyed
Ben hastely vnto Bethleem gone
Where they founden / whan they came anone.
¶ Marie and Ioseph / and the chylde also
Leyde in a stable / accordinge euery dele
As the Angell had sayde hem vnto
And of the sight / they lyked wonder wele
And in hem selfe / gan knowe and fele
That all was soth / that they sayde afore
Of the Angell / howe a chylde was borne.
¶ In to this worlde / mankynde for to saue
After the recorde of olde prophecye
Wherof they ganne so greate a ioye haue
That all atones / they gan magnefye
God aboue / deuoutely and to glorefye
Retorninge hem / deuoyde of euery smerte
And Marie close within her, hert.
¶ Conserued all that she dyd se
[Page]Worde and dede / and euery maner thynge
That befylle in this natiuite
Full secretely / theron ymageninge
And prudently / her selfe gouerninge
Kepte her sone / with all her besy cure
Whiche on this day / as sayth Bonauenture.
¶ Lyke a Spouse / from his chambre is gone
His chosen chyldre / through his benignite
In his chyrche / to ioye hem of Syon
By parfyte peace / and sothfast vnite
And he this day / hath shewed the beaute
Of his face / of excellente fayrnes
In whose honoure / this day of hygh gladnes.
¶ Was made the ympne / the Gospell sayth also
Our alther myrthe / and ioye to encreace
Gloria in excelsis de [...]:
And in erthe / this day a parfyte peace
To man was shewed / withouten ony leace
And as say the Poule / goddes benignite
This day appered / in our humanite.

¶ Howe god wolde nat be borne / but of a mayde mother and wyfe. Capitulo. xlv.

ANd ouer this / as he eke tell can
God was this day in similitude
In erthe honoured / in lykenesse of man
And he this day / his godhede dyd enclude
[Page]In our manhode / and shortely to conclude
This day also / yf I shall nat fayne
Befyll also other thynges twayne.
¶ The wonderfullest / and moste meruaylous
That euer yet were sene tofore
Wherof no wight by kynde is capyous
Firste howe god to saue / that was forlore
Lowly in erthe / liste to be bore
And howe a mayde in her virginite
Might also chylde / and a mother be.
¶ The whiche thynges / passen and transende
Reason of man / by kyndes lykenesse
But fayth aboue muste all comprehende
And it enbrace / by parfyte stablenesse
And make his grounde vpon the witnesse
Of Prophetes / whiche in her prophecye
So longe aforne / gan to speke and crye.
¶ After the cominge of this mighty Kynge
Our olde wo / and trouble to enchace
To whome Dauid sayde in his writinge
O bleffull lorde / shewe to vs thy face
And we in sothe / onely through thy grace
Shall saued be from all myschyef & drede
And also nowe in our greate nede.
¶ Sende to vs thy confortable light
Us to enlumine / ligginge in derkenesse
Eke Isaye / with all his inwarde sight
[Page]Up to heuen / gan his loke to dresse
And sayde lorde / of thy greate goodnesse
Out of deserte / from the harde stone
Unto the doughter / dwellinge in Syone.
¶ Sende downe thy lambe / fulfilled with meke­nesse
That lordshyp hath and dominacion
Of all the erthe / our dole to redresse
And wolde god / for our saluacion
This mighty lorde / for to come a downe
The hygh heuenes / wolde breke on twayne
Us to releue / of that we so complayne.
¶ And Dauid spake / eke this lorde vnto
In the Sawter / our sorowes for to fyne
And sayde lorde / in relese of our wo
In hygh heuenes / thy mercy make enclyne
And downe discende / and let thy grace shyne
Upon vs wretches / in the vale of sorowe
And lorde do dawe / thy holy glade morowe.
¶ Quod Salamon / and shewe to vs thy light
Of thy mercy / and rewe on our distresse
And with thy vertues / that be so moche of might
That no man may counte them ne expresse
Fulfylle Syon / and with hygh gladnesse
Thy peoples hertes / make to renewe
That thy Prophetes / may be founde trewe.
¶ For out of the / shall procede anone.
The myghty kynge / and lorde of Israhell
[Page]And nowe this day / is coruen out of stone
Without handes of that holy hell
Of whiche somtyme the prophete Daniell
In his boke wrote so longe aforne
To signefye / that there sholde be borne.
At Iherusalem / where as a mighty Kynge
Shall come in haste / his people to visite
And he shall bringe peace in his cominge
Of whome the power / shall not be alyte
For it shall laste / as hym liste to wryte
From see to see and all the erthe sprede
Thorugh out the worlde / in lenghte and brede.
¶ And Baruch commaunded to Iherusalem
To be holde in all his beste entente
Towarde the brightnesse / of the Sonne beame
And wysely loke / in to the Oriente
To se the gladnesse that this day is sent
Downe to the erthe / nowe that Christ is borne
Of whose cominge so many day aforne.
¶ Spake Isaye / & sayde in wordes playne
The hygh heuens / do your grace adewe
And sayde also / the skyes sholde rayne
Upon erthe / her moysture for to shewe
And bad the grounde eke in wordes fewe
For to open / and thus this heuenly shoure
For to brynge our alther sauyour.
¶ And Ieronime spake eke of this daye
[Page]And sayde on heyght / god sholde make sede
A grayne of Dauid / fayrer than Floure in Maye
Whiche in fresshnes / shall euer springe & sprede
And consetue Iuda of drede
And eke Israhell kepe in sykernes
And he shall make dome and rightwisnes.
¶ Upon the erthe of hygh and lowe degre
And rightwisnes / men shall his name call
Whan he cometh to sitte in the see
Of kynge Dauid / in his ryall stall
And he also tofore the prestes all
Bothe of Iuda / and Leui shall deuise
With newe encence / to do sacrefice.
¶ To god aboue / for the greate offence
Of the people and ignoraunce
With his offeringe make recompence
Or that the swerde be whette of vengeaunce
Euenlyke as made is remembraunce
In Malachie in the same wyse
This sonne of lyfe / shall sprynge and aryse.
¶ To all tho / that hym loue and drede
And ben expectant with all humilite
On his cominge / to suche he shall out shede
His light of grace / at his natiuite
Wherfore be glad / lyke as it may be
Thou Bethleem I called Effrata
Though thou be litell named in Iuda.
¶ For out the shall procede anone
The mighty kynge / and lorde of Israhell
And nowe this day / is coruen out of a stone
Withouten handes / of that holy hell
Of the whiche somtyme the prophete Daniell
In his boke wrote so longe aforne
To signefye / that there sholde be borne.
¶ A chylde in soth / without touche of man
Of a mayde after his beheste
That lyke a stone / was I corne out than
Whan he was borne / of this hygh feste
Onely to bere the crowne / and the cheste
In Babilonie of the greate ymage
That made man fyrste for to do oultrage.
¶ For nowe in soth comen is the day
Of Prophetes so longe beforne behygh [...]
For Christe Iesu / playnly this is no nay
Is lyke a stone / who so loketh a right
Whiche by his wysdome / & his fathers might
And the vertue of the holy ghoste
Was coruen out so clene of euery coste.
¶ Of that blessed parfyte holy hill
That groweth full of holsome floures fayre
For our ofher / that was in herte and will
A parfyte mayde / humble and debonayre
Lyke as the dewe of heuen doth repayre
Upon hermon alwaye / newe and newe
Amendynge ay the tresshnes of her hewe.
¶ Right so thorowe vertue / lastinge ay in o [...]
Of the holy ghoste / this day of Mar [...]e
Was coruen out the sothfast angle stoon
Who me that prophetes prayse and magnefy
For she this day / was the glad skye
Whiche the chylde of Elye dyd se
So plesantly dessende from the tre.
¶ Upon the erthe / naked and barayne
Of holsom faute / and of erbes sote
That hath shadde / the confortable rayne
The grayne of grace / for our alther bote
That perced hath / euen to the rote
Of our welfare / to do the leues sprynge
For the alone / is the felde flouringe.
¶ That somtyme gaue so passinge a swetenes
To Isaac / whan he was fall in age
Of whiche he cast / so inwarde gladnesse
That hym thought hole his corage
Renewed was / and with a glad vysage
Unto Iacob / of hertely ioye sayde
On his clothes / as he his handes layde.

¶ Howe Isaac prophecied the byrthe of Crist by touchinge of the clothes of his sone Iacob. Capitulo. xlvi

MIne owne chylde / and my sonne dere
The greate swetenesse / of y • fresshe odoure
Of thy clothinge / to my is so entere
[Page]That it fro me d [...]u [...]ydeth all langoure
Saynge tofore / that there sholde a floure
Out of the felde / springe of his kynrede
The whiche sholde suche an odoure shede.
¶ That all worlde shall conforte fynde & hele
In the swetenes / agaynste eche maladye
And souerayne helthe / in euery mischyeffele
So that this was no wight but Marie
That hy dissent / came of his alye
Out of the whiche / to glade all our chere
This day in erthe / there dyd a floure appere.
¶ The swettest / yet that euer man behelde
Passinge the Rose and the floure delyse
And of this holy fresshe fayre felde
Somtyme the spouse / spake in canticis
Whan he it sawe / so fresshe at his deuyse
And habundaunt / of a tempre eyre
And that it was so passinge inly fayre.

¶ Howe the Garnet appell is lykened to our Lady. Capitulo. xlvii.

O Howe the bawme of heuenly lycoure
Of thy swetenes / with souerayne suffesaūce
Lyke Paradyse / she dyth his vapoure
Erly a morowe / auoydinge all greuaunce
Lyke the frute / that is of suche plesaunce
The garnet appell / of colour golden hewed
Thorowe whose odoure / the corage is renewed.
¶ Of euery wight that may the eyre receyue
For euen lyke / as the golden rynde
Is playne & shyninge / as ye may conceyue
His colour kepinge / euer in one by kynde
And doth his pepynes in the scales bynde
To do conforte to seke in her accesse
Right so Marie our sekenes to redresse.
¶ This day hath borne / the holsome holy fruyte
The fruyte of lyfe / that with his swete breth
Is remedie / and also chefe refute
To mankynde / agayne the feuer of deth
For as the grayne / of the garnet sleeth
The stronge Axes / and doth the hete auale
Right so this day out of the golden scale.
¶ The holsome pepyne / and the grayne of lyfe
Christe Iesu gan fyrste to appere
And of Marie / mother mayde and wyfe
The golden Garnet / with his scales clere
Beynge all hole / and euer a lyke entere
Was borne in soth / for to refresshe blyue
Our olde Axes / and right as the Olyue.
¶ His Oyle shedeth / and braunce lefe no tree
Appereth nat of fayrnes ne coloure
Right so Marie / flouringe in chastite
This day hat borne our alther sauiour
The Oyle of peace to stynte our langour
To softe our sores / and our swellinge slake
Of all our woundes / whan they smerte or ake.
¶ And nowe this day / shortely for to wryte
This blesfull tyme of the natiuite
Of longe Ioseph / the cote of polimite
Wrought by the poure of all the Trinite
Within the closette of chosen chastite
Parformed was / and by none hande of man
As Alexander well reherce can.
¶ Within his boke / made in speciall
On Cantica / as ye may rede and se
The whiche clothe of purpell / moste ryall
Hewed with clennes of virginite
This day hath shewed in our humanite
The godhede hole / for by this cloth is mente
Of our kynde / the freel garnemente.

¶ Howe Ioseph figured the Byrthe of Christe. Capitulo. xlviii.

ALso this day of Ioseph the canele
Amyd the felde / that dothe vertue floure
Was gadered vp by clennes euery dele
Whome all that other / gan worshippe & honoure
For in chastite / clene chosen bowre
Of may denhede / this canell grewe by kynde
That whan the bretherne of Ioseph dyd bynde.
¶ Eueriche his shefe / the Byble gan deuyse
Howe it stode vp / amonge hem euerichone
And all the other / gan attones ryse
And worshipped it mekely one and one
[Page]For this Ioseph sawe this day alone
Sonne and Mone / and Sterres eke eleuen
To hym obeye / vpon the hygh heuen.
¶ And the sothfast garnet of the holy grayne
As sayth Guydo was a mayde swete
In whome was shytte sothely for to sayne
The sacred store / and eke the halowed whete
Of the seuen yere / that dyd in plente flete
For on this parfyte rote vertuous.
The seuen eres of grayne so plenteuous.
¶ This day be growen / to full perfeccion
To saue Egipte in his greate nede
And for to be to hym saluation
In crafte / whan he hath ende
For this is the grayne / that fostre and fede
With full repaste / woman chylde and man
And all his bretherne / dwellinge in Canaan.
¶ This yonge Ioseph / this Ioseph the seconde
Shall by his wytte / helpe and releue
And Iacob made in plente to abounde
With fulsum fode / at moro we and eke at cue
That the honger / on no syde ne greue
Of the seuene yere / vnto his lignage
And lyke as Ioseph / in his tender age.
¶ Thought he sawe / hygh vp in heuen
Sonne and Mone / in his auysion
And therwithall / Sterres eke elleuen
[Page]Honoure hym with greate deuocion
Of this Ioseph excellinge of renowne
This newe Ioseph / Christe Iesu hymselue
Of the Sterres / and the signes twelue.
¶ Honoured was with lowe subiection
Though he laye lowe in a Oxes stall
For bothe crony and domina [...]ion
And hole the courte / aboue celestiall
This hygh feste / for a memoriall
The laudes songe / in the heuen quere
Lyke as Dauid had in the Saultere.
¶ Prayseth the lorde of the hygh empyre
And with one wyse / his byrthe gloresyeth
That hath with loue brent and set a tyre
Seraphyne / wherfore hym magnefyeth
Betwene two beastes / though he in erthe lyeth
Full humbly / through his humilit [...]
And nowe this feste of the Natiuite.
¶ The hygh Angels / and vertues all
Praysen hym as they be wonte to done
And let the swetens / of theyr notes all
Downe to the erthe / where goddes owne sone
This day hath chose / with vs for to wone
And lyeth nowe wrapped in his mothers barm [...]
Whome well softely with her holy arme.
¶ And with the fayrnes of his fyngers whyte
Full softely she doth hym enbrace
[Page]And in so moche / in herte dothe delyte
His tenderlymmes / to welde and compace
And to beholde / the goodliste face
That euer was forgede by nature
For it was he / I dare well assure.
¶ Whome she behelde / with her eyen meke
That from eterne / was in his fathers thought
And one with hym / who can take kepe
His owne worde / that all made of nought
Whome a may de hath to mankynde brought
Thorowe her mekenes of heuen / & erthe quene
The lynyall stocke of Iuda to sustene.
¶ Whome that Iacob on his fatall daye
Whan Antropos sholde his threde vntwyne
Whiche Cloto had put in delaye
And Lachesis / or they wolde it fyue
Gan to blesse / & thus to hem deuine
Whan all his bretherne stode enuyron
This olde graye / with a full softe sown.
¶ O Iuda Iuda / thy bretherne euerichone
Shall prayse & worshyp the greate renoun [...]
Of thyne estate / whiche shalt of all thy fone
The pryde oppresse / and make hem lowte downe
That shall be cleped / the whelpe of the Lyon
The ryall beaste / whiche Maugri who sayth nay
Shall mighty be to catche / and take his praye.
¶ And prowdly bere it home / vnto his caue
[Page]My sone Iuda / in thy dredefull ten [...]
For through thy might / thou shalt victory haue
Maugre echone / that the reuers mene
For who shall moue / withstande or sustene
Thy kyngly power / to make resistence
Agayne thy manhode / and thy magnificence.
¶ That shall in the / so clerey shewe and shyne
Without [...]lipsinge / of any maner clowde
The sep [...]e [...] of whome / in soth shall neuer fyne
To be famous / by reporte of lawe lowde
He neuer cese / ne in couert shrowde
Tyll a Duke aryse of the kynrede
Whome all the worlde / shall obeye and drede.
¶ The whiche in soth / is for to be sent
Out of the sede by succession
Lyke a Kynge / to holde his parlement
With his lieges and his region
And he shall be to euery nacion
Sothfast abidynge / & socour in her nede
And he shall bynde his mighty sterne stede.
¶ Of very force / at the holsome vyne
And [...]ye his Asse / vnder the grapes rede
And he his stole / that lyke to god doth shyne
And his palle / by might of his manhede
Shall wesshe in Grapes / that shall blede
The reed blode / deper than scarlet hewe
And thus arayed / in his vesture newe.
¶ Ofloke he shall be sterner to beholde
Than the stremes of the light sterre
And of eyen fayre many folde
Than wyne fyned shyninge through a verr [...]
And lyke Iuore / that cometh fro so terre
His tethe shall be euen / smothe and whyte
And lyke in soth as Ioseph liste endyte.
¶ The sonne of Iacob / in his testament
Wherto his chyldren / he maketh mencion
To fore his deth / with full entente
His presence as they knelin downe
To hem rehercinge / the greate [...]uision
Whiche he had in Egipte goone full yore
In the Foreste / amonge the holtes hore.
¶ Howe that he sawe twelue hertes whyte
Full lustely go in her pasture
And after that Lyncolne liste to wryte
He sawe of Iuda borne a creature
Of thought & dede / a veray mayde pure
And in his dreme / he thought he dyd sene
Of her brought forth / without spotte all clene.
¶ A lambe moste fayre to his inspeccion
That euer he same / vnto his plesaunce
On whose lifte hande stode a fierce Lyon
And beastes all by one alyaunce
That were in erthe / through cruell resemblaunce
Aforcinge hem by sheltron in batayle
By fell malyce / this fayre lambe to assayle.
¶ But or they a [...] [...]yle might in fight
The lambes power / made hem for the deye
And hem vanisshed through his humble might
That man & Angell / whan they this cōquest say [...]
They fyllen downe / and the lambe dyd obeye
Sent of god this meke werriour
Whiche was borne to be our sauiour.
¶ Unto mankynde and proteccion
To slee the Lyon / that he may nat endure
And accordinge with his auysion
This lambe of god / clade in our armure
This day was borne of a mayde pure
And lorde of all here / in a litell cage
By kyn descended out of lignage.
¶ Of the worthy and mighty bretherne two
And as burion out of a stocke growynge
Right so this chylde from Leuy / and also
Fro mighty Iuda / grewe out succedinge
Borne of the blode / to be preest and Kynge
So entremed lyde by succession
Of bothe these two was the generacion.
¶ Tyll the braunches be ronne / and so ferre gone
By ly [...]all course / de [...]endinge as a steyre
Tyll the kynredes were bothe growen in to one
In to a braunche / to haue repeyre
That was preued playnly to ben eyre
The right of Leui / in preesthode to succede
And by Iuste title / who so liste to hede.
¶ For to be kynge / and bere the Diademe
After his father / and by successoure
To worthy Iuda / of Israhel to queme
To be her prynce / and mighty gouernoure
And fro Iacob / this burion and this floure
Fyrste gan sprynge / to Iesse tyll it raught
And so forth downe / tyll the buddes caught.

¶ Howe nature obeyeth to virginite. Capi. xlix.

THe holy sydes in a pure virgine
To bere fruyte / that shall mankynde saue
And nowe this day / the prophecye to fyne
In Bethleem / within a litell caue
Kynde and mayde / suche werre haue
For this mater / howe no creature
To mannes might / iustely by nature.
¶ That ben contrarie / haue her restinge place
For mayde and mother / shortely for to seye
In one persone to gyder may nat trace
For by kynde / that one muste voyde aweye
But in this cas / nature dyd obeye
To a mayde and gaue vp hole her right
Wysely aduertinge / she was to feble of might.
¶ In this mater to holde chaumpartye
With her / that was of face moste benigne
Wherfore she voydeth / all rancour and enupe
And humbly her quarell doth resigne
[Page]For it were vayne / for nature to maligne
Though she of kynde / be the emperesse
Agayne her lorde / that made her so maystresse.
¶ That she moste nede of necessite
In euery thynge / to his will obeye
And be minister vnto his volunte
Syth of her might / he bereth hym selfe the keye
For in to her / by no maner weye
It is no wronge / ne no preiudice
Though of a mayde / without synne or vice.
¶ That was so holy / and parfyte founde at all
He wolde grace descende downe so lowe
To take the clothinge / freel and mortall
Of our kynde / to make a burion growe
That neuer was of man sette ne sowe
But with a worde / and the consentinge
Of a mayde / a graffe burgeninge.
¶ Of Iudas stocke / this day gan appere
Whan Christe was borne af a mayde fre
And the father sent his sone dere
Downe to the erthe / to make an vnite
By parfyte loue / and feruent charite
Eternally be bounde / that may nat fayle
Fully assured / by weddinge & spousayle.
¶ Betwene his sone / his chosen eyre
And holy chyrche / perpetually to laste
And in a chaumbre / by excellence fayre
[Page]Of maydenhede that hym selfe caste
The holy knotte / and the bonde so faste
I bounden was / that it neuer vntwyne
And of that araye for to termine.
¶ Where the feste and the weddinge was
In all the erthe / I halowed and I holde
In all closette / more clerer than verre or glas
Or ony berelle / brighter to beholde
For by recorde of Patriarkes olde
The chaste chaumbre / was within adorned
With golde of faythe fayre bright I borned.
¶ With charite / that geueth so clare a light
To reconforte / all that ben in presence
And with syluer / depured out so bright
Thorugh hygh wisdome of ghostly sapience
And all the gemmes / chat haue excellence
In mortall vertue / for to shewe & shyne
The closette chosen / so clerely enlumine.
¶ That of vnclennesse / there may no Clipsing be
So fulsum light is there of parfytnesse
For there the Uiolettes men may beholde & se
Of clene entent and of holynes
With Roses strewed in god to haue swetenes
And with Lylies of chastite I meynte
And therof colour / that neuer will be feynte.
¶ These Uiolettes betoken maydenhede
Lyke to purpell / in signe of victorie
[Page]And in this chambre / full of honest drede
The chose closette / the chaste oratorie
This day in soth / the hygh kynge of glorie
To shewe his might / howe he for mā gan wirche
y spoused hath our mother holy chyrche.
¶ And lyke a spouse / he proceded is
Out of his chambre for to rectefye
All that was wronge / or in our kynde amys
Wherfore this feste for to glorefye
Full longe agone / to singe his psalmodye
The kynge Dauid / entune dyd his harpe
And with the tenoures / & trebbles sharpe.
¶ He to heuen gan enhaunce and reyse
This day of dayes / moste worthy & famous
And all the prophetes / in her sawes preyse
This noble feste / this feste gracious
And fro heuen with voyce melodious
Angels full lowe / sende downe alight
For to honoure this holy night.
¶ The night of nightes / hyghest of echone
Excellynge all / as in worthines
For in this worlde / was creature none
In heuen ne erthe / ne in sothfastnes
On lande ne see / that with greate busynes
Her deuoyre dyd this night to honoure
Hym that was borne / mankynde for to socoure.

¶ Howe the chiefe t [...]ple of Rome fyll y • night [Page] of Christes byrthe / and other wōderfull tokenes ⸪ Capitulo. L

[...]Or on this night / by euery creature
Was sothely shewed his natiuite
In Bethleem / howe of a mayde pure
A chylde was borne / moste souerayne of degre
And fyrste of all in Rome the cyte
His byrthe was shewed / hyghly by myracle
For walle and rofe / Toures and pynacle.
¶ Of the Temple / moste famous in the towne
To god of peace / that was consecrate
The same night / the grounde fyll downe
Playne with the erthe / waste and dissolate
In whiche Temple / moste ryall of estate
The statue stode of mighty Romulus
And at the byldynge / the storie telleth thus.
¶ Of this Temple / they of Rome went
To Appollo / with humble sacrefice
To haue answere in her best entent
Howe longe this fane ryall of asyse
So stronge bylte / and in so trusty wyse
That it sholde laste euer and endure
Agayne the assente / of ony creature.
¶ Or parturbynge / on any maner syde
And he gaue answer vnto one and all
Howe this Temple / with his walles wyde
With his crestes / and batalinge ryall
[Page]Shall euer stande sure withouten fall
Unto the tyme / that a mayde chylde
And they anone / that fyrste made it bylde.
¶ Of this answer glad / & full credible
That this Temple euer sholde stande
For hem thought it was inpossible
A mayde euer eyther on see or lande
To haue a chylde / and so they vnderstande
And they anone / gaue to the Temple a name
By one assent / for the greate fame.
¶ And called it / as I can discerne
The Temple of peace / with his walles whyte
And therwith named is eterne
And at the entre / so they dyd wryte
But on the night / the trouthe to endyte
Whan Christe was borne of a mayde clene
This Temple fyll downe / enlonge the grene.
¶ To fulfille the trewe prophecye
Of Apollo / that tolde hem all this thynge
And in that place / in worshippe of Marie
And of her sone of heuen / and erthe kynge
Standeth a chyrche full ryall of byldynge
And euen lyke the selfe / the same tyme
The greate statue / longe or it were pryme.
¶ Of Romulus / that was edefyed
Fell to the erthe / and braste on peces smale
And though Romayns made hym stellefyed
[Page]His greate heed / for all tht dyd auale
Of whome all the werkmen made a tale
That forged it many a day afore
And in so [...]h / tyll a chylde were bore.
¶ Of a mayde / it sholde stande vp right
This greate ymage / and neuer his heed encline
But he alowted vpon the same night
Whan Christe was borne of a pure virgine
Lyke as the werkmen dyd aforne deuine
Agayne the conceyte / and the entencion
Of that he mente in his opinion.
¶ I fynde also that the skyes donne
Whiche of custome / curteyne so the night
The same tyme / with a sodayne sonne
Enchaced were / that it wexed all light
As at mydday / whan Phebus is moste bright
To shewe sothely / that the sone of lyfe
Was borne that night / to stynte all our stryfe.

¶ Howe the night of Christes byrthe: a well in Rome ranne Oyle ⸪ Capitulo. li.

ANd euen than as bokes also tell
In very soth / withouten any were
The selfe tyme / in Rome was a well
Of his streames passyngly entere
To loke vpon as any Cristall clere
From his vaynes / as it dyd boyle
Of whiche the water / chaunged into Oyle.
¶ The same night / and to Tibre rann
So large plente / that all myght it se
Of whiche well longe beforne or thann
All openly in Rome the cyte
Sibille the wyse / that had seueraynte
Of prophecye playnly wrote and tolde
That the water of this well sholde.
¶ The same night / chaunge his lycoure
In to Oyle / and so a day endure
Whan of this worlde was borne the sauiour
In Bethleem of a mayden pure
And as I fynde also in scripture
The same day / hygh in the firmamente
Towarde the partye of the Oriente.
¶ Were sene thre Sonnes lustely appere
Eueriche of hem / large rounde and bright
That caste abrode his fayre beames clere
Thorugh all the worlde / in euery mannes sight
The whiche Sonnes drewe lyne right
Her course holdynge in haste / and that anone
Tyll they thre were ioyned in to one.
¶ To mankynde playnly to declare
That he was borne / in whome were founden thre
To encreace our ioye and welfare
Flesshe and soule / and eke the deite
Knytte all in one / by sothfast vnite
Whiche as a Sonne voydynge shoure and shade
Was borne this day / all the worlde to glade.

¶ Howe the Senates of Rome wolde haue hol­den Octauian her Emperour / as for her God. Capitulo. lii.

ALso in Rome / as writteth Innocente
In his Cronicle / makinge mencion
Howe the Senates all by one assent
In consistorie of affeccion
Whiche they had in her opinyon
Unto her noble and mighty Emperour
Octauian of worthynes the floure.
¶ Wolden echone / hym haue deyfyed
And called hym / by name immortall
The whiche thynge / whan he had espyed
As he that was full prudent founde at all
To his presence / made anone to call
Sibille: that was myrrour of sapience
Here vpon: to here her sentence.
¶ And ther withall / that she muste deffyne
Without doubte or ambiguite
As ferre in soth / as Phebus doth nowe shyne
If there were any of power more than he
Or peregall vnto his degre
From este to weste / here in erthe lowe
In all this worlde / that she coude of knowe.
¶ And this was downe vpon the selfe daye
Whan Christe was borne / in Bethleē by myracle
And she full wysely / Nolde put hym in delaye
[Page]To geue answer mankynde a small obstacle
Tyll at the laste / the fyne of her oracle
Amyd the chambre of the Emperour
Standynge enuyron / many a Senatour
¶ Was playnly thus / with chere and face bold [...]
O Emperour / lifte vp anone thyne eye
And loke vp gynder / & se the stercle of golde
Aboute the Sonne / whiche eche is to espye
And there beholde / thou mayste it nat denye
A mayde sitte of beaulte / moste souereyne
Holdynge a chylde in her armes tweyne.
¶ And yet anone as Octauian
Sawe the chylde / by clere inspeccion
Without abode / a voyce he herde than
From alofte / vnto the chambre downe
Beholde and se / with humble affeccion
This is the Aulter of the hygh heuen
Sette in the Sonne / clere as any leuen.
¶ Wherfore Sibille / all abrode gan seye
To hym anone / & liste nat for to byde
Thy crowne auale / and the chylde obeye
Whose face: the Sonne bright may nat hyde
And let nowe be / all thy pompe and pryde
And at one worde / she platly gan hym tell
The chyldes migh [...] / his power dyd excell.
¶ Whiche thynge / whā he gā playnly vnderstāde
Of faythfull will / and hole herte entere
[Page]He kneled downe / and liste no lengre stande
And with encence / caste in the sencere
He dyd worshippe vnto the Aultere
And to the chylde / moste excellent of fame
And liste nomore vsurpe / on hym the name.
¶ To be called agayne all skylle and right
Wrongfully a god sith there is but one
And right anone / this noble worthy knight
Through out y • worlde / his precept made to gon [...]
To prouinces and contreyes euerichone
Upon payne of deth / that none of hem all
Be herde more / a god hym for to call.
¶ For he well wiste / by signes openly
And euidencis / eke in speciall
There was one borne / of power more worthy
Than was hym selfe / and therto immortall
To whome nothynge in erthe is peregall
Of all this worlde / of hygh ne lowe estate
And for this skylle / after dedicate.
¶ Was that chambre / by hygh deuocion
To Marie playnly / this is no naye
And called eke for this auisio [...]
Ara cel [...] / yet vnto this daye
The name abydeth / and slydeth nat awaye
Ne leseth nat the light of his brightnes
Thorowe none Eclipsinge / of sorietefulnes.
¶ And in Edgadi / the lusty large vynes
[Page]That tyme of yere / of her kynde [...]
Gan florisshe & floure / and in stede of vynes
With riche baume / her branches to repayre
And the vertue / that wynter made bare
Thorowe constraynynge of colde in the rote
Nature made with fresshe blossomes sote.
¶ To assende vpon the same night
Upon the croppe / with fruyte and leues newe
Makynge the bowes / as lusty to the sight
As fresshe & as fayre of colour and of hewe
And as plenteuous / her colour to renewe
As in Septembre / whan Bachus hath pouere
To [...]e [...] his might / that tyme of the yere.
¶ Lo: howe the lorde & the mighty Kynge
That hath lordeshipe / ouer grape and vyne
Unto whose might / euery maner thynge
Heuen and erthe mu [...] encline
Can branches bare▪ with fresshe floures fyne
Araye newe / though they be sere and olde
In frosty wynter / and in weder colde.
¶ As in somer / whan Phebus is alofte
Whan Flora reygneth / in Maye & in Aprill
And make blossomes / to be as smothe & softe
Amyd Decembre / whan men for colde of chill
Wherfore this feste frely at his will
The night I meane / of his natiuite
To shewe his might / in erbe floure & tre.
¶ He made the vynes / as y [...] haue herderd [...]
In Edgad [...] [...]er [...]aw [...]e for to shede
Whan they were moste naked and harayne
And out of [...] e [...]o [...] / who so can take hede
Of whiche night / longe aforne I rede
That in Egipte / the prophete Ieronime
Full openly in his prophecye /
¶ To the prestes of that kyngdome tolde
That the Idoles of her Temples all
Withoute [...] any reste / by myracle sholde
Breke her neckes / and to grounde fall
Whan a mayde / in a Oxes stall
Hath b [...]e a chylde / this thynge shall [...]
Wherfore the prestes / in her fa [...]es wyde.
¶ Of very faythe / and of hygh credenc [...]
Secrete [...] vpon a litell stage
Upon his worde / with humble reuerence
Of a mayde [...] let make an ymage
And in her arme / a chylde of tender age
Doynge therto / in her paynym wyse
After her rytes / a maner of sacrifyse.
¶ And on this heste / ay fro yere to yere
They were a waytynge / whan [...] wolde be
Tyll on a day of happe / the kynge came nere
The noble worthy / and wyse Tolome
The whiche thynge / whan that he dyd se
Anone of hem / the cause he gan enquere
Why & wherfore the ymage was set the [...].
¶ And echone / of [...]
Gaue answer [...] / & liste nat for to lye
It was ordeyned / of olde tradicion
She wed [...]ofo [...] / through hooly prophe [...]ye
In whiche they dyd faythfully espye
Undispared the heste shall nat varye
Of the prophecie / a [...] [...] though it carye.
¶ And soth fastly [...]n conclusion
Upon the tyme / of the natiuite
The false Idolis / in Egipte fell downe
And all to braste in peces / mo than thre
To shewe truely / that y borne was he
Of heuen and erthe / that hath the regallye
And shall destroye / all false ma [...] me [...]ry [...].

¶ Howe Romayns / whan they had dominacion ouer all the worlde maden to them an ymage / and called it theyr god. Capitulo. liiii.

I Fynde also as writeth Carnotence
In his boke Pollicronicon
That whan Romayns hadden excellence
Of hygh lorshippes / so many day a gone
And the peoples / and Re [...]m [...]s euer [...] chone
Stoden vnto hem / vnder [...]owe seruage
From yere to yere / payenge a treuage.
¶ Of a tribute / that was customable
To the empyre [...] [...]
[Page]For with the Romaynes / & Senates honourable
Whan they floured / in moste felicite
Deuised haue for a [...]ialte
Amyd her towne / in moste worthy place
A large statue / feminyne of face.
¶ That made was of coper and of bras
Large and longe / & wonderfull to se
And of entayle / deuided the compas
This greate ymage / called sholde be
Goddesse of Rome / and lyke a mageste
In her right hande / sholde also holde
A large worlde / full sterne to beholde.
¶ Whiche sholde of round [...]nes haue the figure
To signefye / that she moste glorious
The [...]yte hath / hooly in her cure
And howe by her / they were victorious
And here vpon / moste excellent famous
They dyd a werkmen / seke vp and downe
And to parforme / through oute all the towne.
¶ And at the laste / of happe suche one they fynde
That passed all / to werke in entayle
And was subtyle / bothe of wytte and mynde
To werke in metall / & sayde he wolde nat fayle
Of this empryse / that maye so moche auayle
To the cyte / and shortely in this cas
Through his engyne / it parformed was.
¶ So rially / in the worlds no man
[Page]Coude amende it / in that ylke tyde
And to beholde it / many a thousande ran
So glad of it / they were an euery syde
Tyll at the laste / one of veray pryde
Presumptuously / gan to crye and call
And sayde shortely / the legges were to small.
¶ So greate a werke / longe to sustene
For lacke onely / of good proporcion
Wherfore anone / with sodayne pre and tene
The werkman brent in his opinyon
Rebukynge hym / of his presumpsion
And sodeynly / partur [...]ed in his mynde
Answered agayne / shortely as I fynde.
¶ As it had ben halfendele in scorne
And sayde frende / if thou can vnderstande
Tyll that a chylde / be of a mayde borne
I vndertake / that this werke shall stande
Thyne heed is dull / in water and in lande
To lacke thynge / thou can [...]e nat amende
And the werkman / sother than he wende.
¶ Hath of this werke / sayde & prophecied
For on the night / whan that Christe was borne
In very soth / it may nat be denyed
Of brasse the goddesse / is broken and to torne
And all the coste / of the werke forlorne
In sygne onely / that the lorde and syre
And mighty kynge / of the hygh empyre.
¶ Was borne that tyme / in the litell to [...]
Of Bethleem / of a pure virgine
To whose power / and dominacione
Greate Rome / mekely shall enclyne
For erthely lordshippes / nedes muste fyne
With all theyr pompe / and loure to hym lowe
Whan the power of this kynge is knowe.

¶ Howe wyse Sibille tolde to the Senates of Rome / the byrthe of Christe. Capi. lv.

ANd of this tyme gone / full many a yere
Wise Sibille / called Tibertyne
Spake to the Senate / full openly & clere
Her dreme expounynge / of the sonnes nyne
Whiche they sawe / all atones shyne
Upon a night / eueriche full diuerse
To hem declarynge / playnly in her verse.
¶ That eche Sonne in her auysions
Whiche in heuen / were so bright and fayre
Betokeneth sothely the generacio [...]s
That shall succede / dyuerse and contrayre
Of whiche Sonne / shall vanysshe and appayre
And of beames / waxe wonder donne
Unto the tyme / that the eyght Sonne.
¶ His streames shadde / as rede as any blode
That specefieth / the generacion
That shall by kynde / be furious and wode
And vnto vertue / full of rebellyon
[Page]Tyll there be borne / a mighty champyon
Out of the stocke of Iuda / that shall haunte
His mighty hande / her tyrannye to daunte.
¶ Whose mother shall come of the kynrede
Of the Ehrewasla [...]d yssue of her lyne
And oute of hem / euen ylyke procede
As dothe a floure / out of the rote spyne
And she shall be mother and virgine
And tolde hem eke / in her prophecie
Whan she is borne / hyght shall Marie.
¶ And she shall be eke / by eleccion
Mother to hym / that is of power moste
Of whome the byrthe / and the concepcion
Shall fully be / of the holy ghoste
And he shall stretche / vnto euery coste
His greate kyngdome / that shall neuer fyne
And his byrthe / she gan also assygne.
¶ And tolde forthe / affermynge stedfastly
Whan he were borne / that he sholde be
Bothe god and man / to gyder verely
And of the night / of his natiuite
To hem of Rome / many thynges tolde she
And specially / what he sholde hyght
As openly / ye maye haue a sight.
¶ In thylke verse / that aledged be
In greate Augustine / where ye may the name
In the beginnynge / of Christe Iesu to se
And of his renome / & of his greate fame
[Page]And by and by / howe she dyd attame
To the Iewes / his comynge euery dele
Of whiche thynge / lyke they nothynge wele.
¶ Certayne prestes / of the Iewes lawe
Gan to grutche / as they gaue audience
And bad to her / her tonge to withdrawe
And wolde for angre / haue put her in scilence
And liste of malice / gyue no credence
Unto no worde / that she spake or sayde
Tyll that she of so dayne pre abrayde.
¶ And sayde: o Iewes blynde with the skye
Of ignorance / and malice indurate
ye shall to hym / of very false enuye
Be wicked / rebell / and obstynate
And ay with hym / ye shall holden debate
And maugreth you / and all your enuye
yet shall he reygne / and kynde crowned be.
¶ Whan he is borne / in the heritage
Of his father / who so that sayth naye
And procede out of your lignage
And of his comynge / shall be no delaye
And tolde hem eke / playnly of the daye
Of his byrthe / bet than I can ryme
And lyke his worde comynge is the tyme.
¶ The tyme of tymes / the tyme of lyfe & grace
The tyme of Ioye / & nothynge to morne
Sithen he is borne with so fayre a face
[Page]The golden worlde / makynge to retorne
The worlde of peace / the kyngdome of satorne
Of whiche somtyme / Proba that was wyfe
Of Adelphus wrote in her lyfe.

¶ Howe the prophetes prophecied the byrthe of Christe Capitulo. lvi.

[...]He tyme also / that is auctorised
Of prophetes in her prophecie
Where his cōmynge is openly deuysed
Recorde I take / fyrste of hym Abbye
That sayth thus / the Bible may nat lye
Howe in the hyll / playnly of Syon
Shall ioye and helthe / come bothe in one.
¶ Unto mankynde and saluacion
Where he sette his kyngdome and his see
Wherby is take the mighty region
Of worthy Iuda / and he shall also be
Socour and helpe / vnto ydume
Of Esau / that called is the hyll
To ioye bothe to obeye his will.
¶ And Naym hyght Iuda to be light
And bad hym halowe / his festes principall
For that shall newly enspyre his syght
Assended is / vpon his see royall
That shall to the be / bothe Toure and Wall
Chiefe defence / and proteccion
In euery wo and tribulacion.
¶ And Habacuk / makynge mencion
Of his comynge / whan he wrote in tre
Of grene box / his auisyon
Where he spake / playnly of his natiuite
And his shynynge clere / and light shall be
And of the hornes / he platly gan to sayue
That he shall holde / in his handes twayne.
¶ Therin is hyd / his power and his might
That on his fone / kyngly he shall shewe
And of the hyll / he telleth there a right
Howe he shall bowe hem / & the croppes hewe
And telleth eke / in wordes nat a fewe
Of Ethiope: and also Madian
The tabernacles: howe they shall quake than.
¶ And Baruch / eke scribe of Ieronime
Full openly wrote / of his comynge
And badloke vp clerely with thyne eye
And of Dauid a burion and the sprynge
Shall be susteyned / to rayne lyke a kynge
And he shall do / through his worthynes
Dome in erthe / and also rightwisnes.
¶ And Sophone bad abyde a whyle
Upon this day / with deuocion
For he shall gader / oute of euery yle
Of eche kyngdom / and euery region
His people in one / of hygh affeccion
And also there / as he maketh mynde
From the flodes / of Ethiope and [...]de.
¶ They shal to hym deuoutely offerynge brynge
And do to hym dewe sacrefyse
And false goddes / eke through his worchynge
With royall might / he shall also despise
And from her sees / make hem to arise
And fro the bandes of her dwellynge place
Of very force / dryue hem and enchace.
¶ And of his byrthe / longe or that it fell
In a vision / wonderfull of sight
Spake the prophete called Daniell
And sayde: hym thought he sawe vpon a night
Lyke to beholde / as he demed right
A sone of man / comynge with a skye
To whome: power / honoure / and regally.
¶ There gyuen was / perpetuelly to abyde
And his kyngdome: by eternite
Shall stande hole / and nat deuyde
Whiche shall nat passe / neyther corrupte be
Whose comynge eke whan he dyd se
The holy prophete olde Ezechiel
Saythe thus / the Bibell can you tell.
¶ I shall ordeyne / & prudently prouyde
An herdeman / my slepe to kepe sure
To wake the flockes euery tyde
To kepe hem wysely / into her pasture
And forthermore / he dothe vs eke assure
The holy prophete / forthe in his writtynge
Sothely affermynge / that there shall be a kynge.
¶ Of all folkes / whose empyre shall be one
And no senger deuided into twayne
Whiche in Idoles / made of stocke and ston [...]
Ne shall nomore be pollute to ordeyne
False offerynges / to god that they seyne
And the prophecie / that called is Adge
Full openly / who so liste to se.
¶ Wryteth of his byrthe / in a litell stounde
Euen lyke as he was enspired
That he shall meue / heuen / see / and grounde
And he that is of all moste desyred
Shall come in haste / lyke a kynge a tyred
For ioye / of the whiche holy Zacharie
To Christes spouse / this doth specefye.
¶ Be glad and light / thou doughter of Syon
And singe / thou doughter of Iherusalem
Beholde thy kynge shall come right anone
That shall be borne / sothely in Bethleem
And his power / shall fro royalme to royalme
The bondes stratche / of his royalte
As ferre in south / as any flode or any see.
¶ Holden her course / as they with waues wynde
Out of her mother / the greate Occian
Of whose comynge / Malachie maketh mynde
Within his boke / the Bible tell can
Howe the name of hym / bothe god and man
Shall strotche his streames / withouten wene
Fro thylke place / where the Sonne shen [...].
¶ Reyseth his light / whan it begynneth dawe
At the vpriste in the mornynge
Unto the weste / where he goeth vnder wawe
Till efte agayne / his chariete he brynge
In to the easte / that dothe the larke synge
For ioye onely / that his beames ryse
And of his cōmynge / dothe eke Amos deuyse.
¶ And sayth: he shall newely by miracle
Restore agayne / and eke reedefye
Upon that day / the mighty tabernacle
Of kynge Dauid / with all the regallye
And of this chylde / wryteth also I saye
Whan he is borne / that in his presence
Kynges for drede / shullen kepe scilence.

¶ A question assoyled / whiche is worthy est of kynge / Wyne / or womā. Capitulo. lvii.

ANd as in erthe / is made a question
Of thynges thre / whiche was worthiest
Kynge / wyne / or woman / in comparison
Eche I praysed / and holden as for best
And all this stryfe / and as Darius gan leste
Zorobabell: withouten any slouthe
Aboue echone / had preferred trouthe.
¶ And whyle they were / atrauerse of these thre
Eueriche holdynge his opynyon
Zorobabell of right and equyte
[Page]To woman gaue his commendacion
Makynge forthwith / of trouthe mencion
Onely in signe / as he can deuyse
Fro woman fyrste / trouthe muste aryse.
¶ Whiche is the bande / & knotte pryncipall
Of all vertue / it may nat be denyed
And therwithall / so excellent royall
With god hymselfe / that is next alyed
And for it is / so moche magnefyed
Thorowe the worlde / of pryce and worthy fame
God chese hymselfe / of that to bere the name.
¶ And with his mouthe / hymself so liste hym call
As the Gospell maketh mencion
And by recorde of prophetes all
God descendynge / to one conclusion
This daye in erthe / for our saluacion
Of a woman in maydenhede flourynge
To mankynde / trouthe dyd sprynge.
¶ And fro heuen / rightwisnes behelde
Howe trouthe & mercy / in a mayde mette
And thus is trouthe / spronge out of a felde
Where the holy ghoste / the rayne of grace sett [...]
To make the graffe / that he fro Iuda sette
To fructefie / and a pure virgine
That shall be tytle of the same lyne.
¶ The crowne of Iuda / to accepte anone
And vnderfonge it as a champyon
[Page]Whiche was byrafte / so many a day a gone
From Sedechie awaye in Babilon
Whan that was made / a transmigracion
By the tyraunt: Nabugodonosor
Whose cruelte / laste shall nomore.

¶ Howe our Lady ought worthely to be recom­mēded / & worshipped for the byrthe of Christe. Capitulo. lviii.

NOwe he is borne / that is rightfull heyre
That shall make beter than Neomie
His people of Iuda / for to haue repeyre
Ierusalem agayne to reedefye
Though Herode / that falsely dothe occupye
As a foreyn / through his cruell might
By tyrannye / and no tytle of right.
¶ Of whome the kyngdom / shall nat lōge endu [...]
The reygne vsurpynge / by extorcion
For the lorde of euery creature
This day hath take / his iuste possession
In Bethleem / within a smale dongeon
He & his mother / as who sayth but all on [...]
To wayte on hym / other fewe or none.
¶ A lady myne / howe god hath made the ryche
Thy selfe alone / all richesse to possede
For in this worlde / none is the lyche
Of plente royall / fro the lande of mede
Where the hylles of golde / ben as I rede
[Page]May no treasoure / in his menes reyse
Agayne thy treasure / for to conterpeyse.
¶ For certes lady / thou alone haste all
That within heuen / Angels desyre
The Iewell eyche / the treasoure celestiall
Of heuen kynge / of erthe lorde and syre
And hym that hath all the hole empyre
Of lande & see / and the Monarchye
Thou haste hooly lady myne to gye.
¶ And as Augustine the holy doctour wryteth
In a sermon of the natiuite
We may to the saye / right as he biddeth
With deuoute her [...]e / knelynge on our kne
O blessed lady / floure of virginite
We prayen echone / o welle of our welfare
Lyke a mother / nat thy mylke to spare.
¶ Gyue hym plente / that is so plenteous
Of fulsomnesse Angels to fede
And gyue hym souke / the pyment gracious
Of thy pappes / let thy condyte shede
The swete mylke / all aboute in brede
Motherly: it makynge to auale
On his fayre tender lymmes smale.
¶ Glad maiste thou be / that saue liste to vouce
With his softe rounde lippes lyte
To haue pleasaūce / thy brestes for to touche
Onely to souke / thy blessed pappes whyte
[Page]And that hym liste / so godely to dely [...]
For his playe / to haue so moche [...]ss [...]
Euer amonge thy holy mouthe to kisse.
¶ And sodeynly / with childely chere Iocounde
Than anone / thy whyte necke to enbrace
With his softe tender armes rounde
And than atones / fall on thy face
And of his eyen / fulfilled of all grace
A goodly loke / to the warde enclyne
And so forthe / his chekes leye to thyne.
¶ And with his fyngres / mouthe / & eyen touche
His small paumes / on thy chekes leyne
His yonge face / betwene thy pappes couche
And holde hym stille / with all his besy peyne
And grype hem faste / with his hande tweyne
For therin was his heuenly repaste
Thy yonge sone / whan he liste to breke his taste.
¶ There was his fode / and his norisshynge pure
Soth faste seleer / of his sustenaunce
The tonne of lyfe / that euer dyd endure
Ay lyke fresshe / vnto his plesaunce
With sacred lycour / of holy habundaunce
That none but he may touche ne approche
For it for hym / was onely set abroche.
¶ For in that licour is full remedye
Holy refuyte / and playne medecine
Agayne the venym / brought in by enuie
[Page]Through [...]a [...]ngyne / & malice serpentyne
Whan the snake made Adam to dyne
Of the appell / that was intoxicate
Falsely with god / to make hym at debate.
¶ But nowe the mylke / of thy pappes twayne
Benigne lady / is to vs triacle
Within thy breste / spryngeth from a vayne
Agaynste the deth / to be to vs obstacle
O howe it is a passynge hygh myracle
Thorowe goddes might / & by nought elles
Out of a breste / to se two smale welles.
¶ Of a mayde spryngynge as a ryuere
To gyue hym drynke / that is kynge of all
O goodely lady / o heuenly botelere
Whan we in mischief / to the clepe & call
Some drope of grace / let vpon vs fall
And to that celer / make a redy waye
Where thou of mercy / alone bearest the keye.
¶ And of grace / let be no scarsete
Good lady / that arte of grace well
For nowe this daye / in erthe is borne of the
The sothfast god / of heuen erthe and hell
Whiche is come downe / with vs for to dwell
And hath of the / our mortall kynde ytake
Of all our wo / an ende for to make.
¶ Somtyme fro heuen / fill downe the manne
To refresshe the hongry in her nede
[Page]And that befell / in deserte right thanne
Whan Moyses the people dyd lede
But nowe this daye / in erthe man to fede
An humble mayde / to all that ben truwe
In this deserte / hath brought manna newe.
¶ Whiche to Angell is the fode of lyfe
To man repaste / of ioye and of gladnes
Chyefe reconforte / and restoratyfe
To all feble / oppressed with sekenes
O good lady / o myrrour of mekenes
Benigne floure / of womanhede the well
In this deserte / where as nowe we dwell
¶ Sende vs thy manna / of souerayne hertes hel [...]
To our conforte / and consolacion
And let vs grace / in thy mercy fele
For our refuyte / and re [...]eccion
And in this vale of confusion
Let the grace / fro the skyes rayne
The manna of lyfe / that we maye attayne.
¶ For thou alone / arte conforte syngule [...]
To tho / that no re [...]uyte con [...]e
This daye also / of mercy the ryuere
Fro whiche all grace / is to mankynde ronne
The sterre also / that hath brought forth the sone
The sone of lyfe / in erthe for to wone
O mayde / o mother / o doughter of thy sone.
¶ Whiche none insoth / sithe the worlde began
[Page]Was bothe two / but thy selfe alone
For who is he / that remembre can
Fyrste or laste / late or elles sone
So bright a Sonne / sprynge of so fayre a Mone
Saue this daye / the Sonne of lyfe moste shene
From the arose / & thou a maydē clene.
¶ Without Eclipsinge / or lesynge of thy light
For thou a mother / and mayde bothe two
In vertue aye lyke shene and bright
O fayre Rose / o Rose of Ierico
That haste this daye / god and man also
In Bethleem borne / agayne the greye morowe
The night to voyde / of all our olde sorowe.

¶ Of likenesse of our Lady / in cōmendacion of her. Capitulo. lix.

NOwe fayre Cedre / Cipresse of Syon
Springinge light of Nazareth
Chosen chambre / of wise Salamon
Floure of the felde / swettest on holte & heth
Of whome all vertue / saueth men fro deth
Of Siloe / the water eke depured
Wher [...]y the lepre of Naman was recured.
¶ Lande and glorie / of Iherusalem
Thou named arte / and of Israel gladnes
Ho [...]om cestern / this day of Bethleem
The christe of Dauid / to staunche and distres
Of Paradise the well in sothfastnes
[Page]Foyson that floweth / in to sondry Royames
The soyle to [...]dewe / with his swete streames.
¶ The lande also of promission
That mylke and hony / bothe in fere shedeth
The soyle and grounde / of our saluacion
With his herbes / that fostereth vs and fedeth
Nowe blessed mayde / whose mercy euer nedeth
Also that lyuen in thy seruise
This hygh fest▪ so for vs deuise.
¶ That in honoure of thy sone dere
We may of herte / rede / singe / and pray [...]
And let the streames / of thyne eyen clere
Thy seruauntes / o lady myne conueye
To contynue / fully vutyll we deye
The to se [...]ue / with hertely loue and drede
As moste is pleasynge to thy womanhede.
¶ And this feste / of festes principall
Called the feste of the natiuite
Make loue and peace / to reygne ouerall
And hertes ioye / with parfyte vnite
Uoyde all discorde / & let no rancour be
In hertes closed / by malice of enmite
But of thy grace / so gouerne vs and gye.
¶ This hygh feste / in whiche thy sone was borne
Nowe this midwynter / night full affeccion
Whyle Phebus shyneth in the Capricorne
We may the serue / with all deuocion
[Page]And lady myne in conclusion
Nowe this monthe / that called is Decembre
Upon thy seruauntes / faythfully remembre.

¶ Howe Christe was circumcised. Capitulo. lx.

WHan Ianus bifrons / in colde Ianuarie
With frosty berde / entred in the yere
And Phebus chare / neyeth to Aquarie
His watery beames tofore Feuerere
Whan that his light / was pale & nothynge clere
And from hym late / was passed Lucine
The same night / as I sawe her shyne.
¶ A ourned newe / with beames glad and merye
On the heuen / and caste his streames downe
I gan remembre / of the hygh ferye
That called is the circumcision
Howe it befell / than by reuolucion
By iuste acountynge in the Calenders
The fyrste daye of the newe yere.
¶ And though I wolde in my boke procede
Of this feaste / somwhat for to wryte
And to the gospell / fyrste I gan take hede
Of this daye howe Luke liste to endyte
Though he therof / speke but a lyte
And was full briefe and compendious
yet of this daye / hygh and glorious.
¶ He writeth playnly / & sayth howe that anone
After the daye of the natiuite
Whan eyght dayes passed were and gone
The chylde was brought / with all humilite
To the Temple / lowly for to be
As the lawe of the Iewes hath deuised
The eyght daye to be circumcised.
¶ And he therto / mekely dyd obeye
And with a knyfe / made full sharpe of stone
His mother lokynge / with a pyteous eye
The chylde was corue / therwithall anone
That all aboute / the reed blode gan gone
Without abode / as saythe Bonauenture
And for the payne / he dyd endure.
¶ And for sharpenes of the sodayne smerte
The chylde gan wepe / that pyte was to here
Wherfore his mother / of very tender herte
Out braste on teres / & might her selfe nat stere
That all bydew [...]d / where her eyen clere
Whan she sawe hym / that she loued so
So yonge / so fayre / to wepe for wo.
¶ But he anone / in all his passion
For all that he was so yonge of age
In manere / he had a compassion
To se his mother / to wepe in her rage
And put his hande vnto her vysage
On mouthe and eyen / passyngly benigne
And as he coude / goodely made a signe.
¶ Withouten speche / to stynte her wepynge
That came to her / of motherly pyte
And she full well / conceyueth his menynge
From poynte to poynte / & than anone gan she
To loke on hym / that was so fayre to se
And his fetures / considered by and by
And in her armes / wonder womanly.
¶ She toke hym vp / & prayed hym be still
As of motheres / is playnly the manere
And he in all obeyeth to her will
Though he were yōge / & gan to chaūge his chere
And with her kerchyef / she made his eyen clere
On his chekes / in all that euer she maye
Full motherly / the teres w [...]pte awaye.

¶ Howe in foure maner of wyses Christe was circumcised Capitulo. lxi.

ANd like of Asquyne / as it is deuised
That Christe Iesu / who so liste to se
In foure maners / was truly circumcised
Fyrste of his father / at his natiuite
With the knyfe of wilfull pouerte
And nowe this day / whiche is nat feyned
Eke with a knyfe / by the lawe ordeyned.
¶ The thyrde maner / ye maye eke consyder
Howe with the knyfe of greate aduersite
That he was kyte / firste whan he cam hyder
Takynge for vs / our humanite
And alther laste / with full cruelte
[Page]For vs he suffred circumcision
Upon the crosse / durynge his passion.

¶ Howe Christe suffred circumcision in his chosen people Cap [...]. lii.

[...]Ke in foure maner / who so can take hede
Christe in it is chosen / by good inspeccion
Here in this worlde / withouten any drede
Of newe / he suffred circumcision
The fyrste is made / by false detraccion
That ky [...]teth awaye / bothe frende and fame
And the shynynge of her goode name.
¶ The seconde is / by false tyrannye
Of suche that haue no conscience at all
But taketh awaye / by cursed robbery [...]
Unrightfully / her goodes temporall
And the thyrde / sothely is moste mortall
Of heretykes / that falsely disobeye
To holy chyrche / & to out faythe vareye.
¶ The fourth / is made by effusion of blode
Of tyraunte / that the body sleeth
Whan they of malice / agayn the fayth stode
To execute her venym vp by deth
To make mar [...]ers / to yelde vp the breth
Whome Christe Iesu eternally in glorie
Ordayned hath / [...] palme of victorie.
¶ Eke fyue tymes / Christe in his manhede
[Page]Shed his blode by effusion
And alther fyrste wh [...]n he dyd blede
Upon the daye of circumcision
And in soth / tofore his passion
Upon the hyll / for auguysshe whan heswete
The rede blode / whiche all his body wette.
¶ The thyrde tyme / his blode moste vertuous
Gan ren [...]e out by many a cruell wounde
Whan that he was this kynge moste gracious
Of the Iewes to a pyler bounde
The fourth tyme / eke as it is founde
He spent his blode / for our alther good
Whan he was nayled / hygh vpon the rood.
¶ And alther laste / whan Longeus a fere
Through his herte / playnly as I fynde
On Caluere hym perced with a spere
That blode & water / as bokes make mynde
Gan streme downe / to his eyen blynde
By whose vertue / anone this paynym knyght
Onely of grace / recouered hath his sight.
¶ And in his bokes / eke as it is tolde
Howe the pyece of his Incision
Was by an Angell / in an vrne of golde
To Charles brough in a vision
And he anone of greate affeccion
Of this myracle / for the excellence
Made it be kept for greate reuerence.
¶ And at Acon / but y [...] [...]
Full many a yete by reuolucion
In a chyrche sothely of Marie
But clerkes haue an opinion
That the daye of Resurrexion
Whan Christe Iesu rose from deth to lyue.
The same pyece retorned as blyue.
¶ To the place / where that it cain fro
Sithen that it was sothely as I fynde
Of his manhede / parteynynge therto
And a patty / longynge to his kynde
Though [...] be so / that bokes make mynde
That in Rome it is yet preserued
And yere by yere / whan this teste is serued.
¶ In a churche / whiche men of custome call
Sancta Sanctorum / of olde foundacion
The same daye / there the prestes all
Solempnely make a stacion
Whan all the people gone on procession
Fully in hope / better for to spede
From yere to yere / there they singe and rede.
¶ And ferthermore / the storie dothe deuise
The same daye / righ fortwith anone
In the Temple / as they hym circumcise
He named was Iesu of echone
The whiche name longe or that agone
Was of the Angell tolde & sayde afore
To his mother / or that he were bore.

¶ Howe the people of god that duke Iosue had in gouernaūce / weren saued by the stedfaste beleue of the name of Iesus. Capitulo. lxiii.

ANd to reherce the greate worthynes
Of this name / whiche may hat be described
My wittes ben so dull with rudenes
And in the chayne / of ygnoraunce guyded
That I alas of konnynge am depryued
Thorowe lacke of wytte / in any maner wyse
To vndertonge / so passynge hygh empryse.
¶ For this is the name / who so can discerne
Moste excellent / and moste of dignite
The name of names / sacred from eterne
As say the Bernarde / who so liste to se
Figured fyrste vnto Iosue
Through his knyghthode / whan he sholde lede
The people of god / to saue hem in her nede.
¶ For this is the name / that hertes moste desyre
For therin is so passynge swetenes
For it may beste [...]em / with grace enspyre
And with plente / of all goodely ryches
It is comforte / & so socoure in sekenes
Refuyte alfo / reste and remedye
To all tho / that felen maladye.
¶ Agaynste [...]
In all this worlde / th [...] [...] maye [...]e [...]ound [...]
For this name [...] [...] and deuyne
That hertes seke / it dothe with hole habounde
It cureth sores / it heleth euery wounde
And saueth man fro many a swerde & spere
Where euer they ryden / in laude ferre or nere.
¶ It is firste writen in the boke of lyfe
For worthyest / and moste of reuerence
And it is eke beste preseruatyfe
Agayne the assent of the vyolence
Of wicked eyre / to voyde pestelence
And from the deth / hem that playnen sore
Of his vertue / to helthe it dothe restore.
¶ It is also sothfaste saluacion
To all that be / in pouerte and in nede
It is deffence / it is proteccion
In eche parille / and in euery drede
It is also the guerdon and the mede
In them that [...]en in exyle of oultrage
Repeyre fynall of her pylgrymage.
¶ This is the welle / with the foure streames
Wherof writeth Bernarde in his sentence
That through y • worlde / refressheth all Romayns
It is so holsom / & of suche excellence
The fyrste he calleth the streame of sapience
Of whiche the flode moste inly is habounde
And right wisnes / he nameth the secounde.
¶ And the [...]
For it excelleth in perfeccion
The fourth / also as I can expresse
Is the stode of our redempcion
And of the fyrste in conclusion
Of whiche the streames ben so fresshe and fyne
Who so loketh a right / is hole our doctrine.
¶ And of his right / to make mencion
The holsom well / euer dothe flowe & flete
With mercy medlede and remission
Tosore his dome / his pre for to lere
And of the thyrde / the water is soswete
By good example / who so can discerne
In vertue ay / howe we shullen vs gouerne.
¶ And of the fourth / to speke in speciall
Is all our helthe and saluacion
For therin is our remedy finall
Agaynste deth and full proteccion
Whose blode spronge out of Christes passion
And who that liste by water to attaine
He shall it fynde closed in the same.
¶ Of parfyte richesse / it is the resorye
Whiche maye not waste / but yliche abyde
The fyre it quencheth / also of enuye
And represseth the bolnynge eke of pryde
And thorowe mekenes / setteth yre a syde
And who that hath this name in remembraunce
Hym the spyryte of slouthe / maye do no greuaūce▪
¶ It is also / [...]
Agayne wanhope / and [...]
Cristall shelde of P [...]l [...]s f [...] dispayre
Therto auoyde / the foule Abusion
And who that maketh his [...]uocacion
To this name / with herte of stablenes
It gyueth hym strenghte / & also sikernes.
¶ The cruell fyre and brennynge to withstonde
Of lecherye / and all temptacion
It is refuyte to [...] / & eke to bonde
That haue therin / her hole affeccion
Whose vertue was to kynge Salamon
Full longe aforne in deuine oracle
As I fynde / shewed by myracle.

¶ Howe Prophetes and Marters suffredē deth for the name of Iesus. Capi. lxiiii.

THis is the name of Prophetes specified
In her writynge / and in her bokes olde
O [...] apostles / moste hyghly magnefyed
By whose vertue / they the trouthe tolde
This made also marters to bebolde
And mighty lyke sterue champyons
With stable herte / to suffre her passions.
¶ By this name they were victorious
In her torment / pacience to haue
This is the name that Ignasius
Had in his herte of golde depe [...]
[Page]Wherof the tyraunt gan hym sore ab [...]ue
Whan that he sawe / his herte cutte a twayne
And letters newe / dep [...] in euery vayne.
¶ This is the name / that to confessoures
Was full repaste in her abstinence
This is the name / that in sharpe shoures
Of flesshely luste / was hole her deffence
It gaue hem might / to make resistence
Agayne synne / and knightly to warreye
And to continue / in vertue till they deye.
¶ It is the feste / and the figured fode
Of may denhede / and of virginite
The Oyle of grace / holsom to all gode
Whiche in the lampes / of parfyte chastite
Brennynge so clere / with loue and charite
That wordly wyndes / boystous & blowynge
Ne maye nat quenche / the light of his shynynge.
¶ This is the name / that moste gyueth melodie
Unto the eare / and the swettest sou [...]
It is the name / of heuenly armonie
To voyde out synne / and all temptacion
With full accorde / agaynst deuision
It causeth hertes / no lenger to debate
That parted ben / with the wreste of hate.
¶ This name is ioye of sorowfull in distresse
Eternall mede / of hem that lyuen in blisse
Salue vnto hem / that langour in sekenesse
[Page]Uesture in colde / to hem that clothes mys
Souerayne repaste / hongry for to wys
For to ascape / the cruell vyolence
Of nedes swerde / whetted with indigence
¶ Christe is the name of sothfaste sacramente
That fyrste was gyuen of holy vnccion
And he was called fyrste for this entent
For he for man / sholde make oblacion
And for he came / for our saluacion
To socoure a waye the ruste of all our blame
He hath of Iesus / worthely the name.
¶ I fynde in bokes of olde antiquite
In his writynge / as clerkes liste expresse
Howe there were foure persones of degre
Somtyme anoynte / for her worthynes
Some for manhede / & some for holynes
With obseruaunce and solempnite
As was couenable vnto her degre.
¶ Prophetes prestes / & they that beren crownes
As worthy kynges / of euery region
Apoynted weren / & mighty Champiousnes
Within palastre / through her hygh renowne
Or in champclose / hardy as Lyon
Entre wolde some quarell to darreyne
Singulerly by empryse of hem tweyne.
¶ And Christe was all by reason / as I preue
Firste prophete / by informacion
[Page]And by his doctryne / moste worthy of beleue
And he was eke the mighty champyon
That singulerly for our saluacion
Faught with the fende / & had of hym victorie
Maugre his might / & wanne the Palme of glorie
¶ And he was preste man to [...]econsile
That banisshed was out of his heritage
Whome a Serpent falsely dyd exyle
Of false malice / in a sodayne rage
And he was borne onely by lignage
To be a kynge / and by power eterne
Whan he is crowned / his people to gouerne.

¶ Howe Christe Iesu was bothe prophete preste kynge and mighty champyon. Capitulo. lxvi.

NOwe Christe Iesu soth faste preste & kynge
And for mākynde / most worthy warriou [...]
Prophet also / and truest in l [...]uynge
Be thou our helpe / be thou ou [...] socoure
And lyke a kynge / be thou our gouernoure
And champyon to helpe vs in our nede
And lyke a prophete / to wisshen vs and rede.
¶ O Christe Iesu to the I clepe and crye
Fro daye to daye / to helpe vs and releue
And of thy grace / vs wretches for to gye
Or that thou thy right [...]snes preue
Let pyte fyrste the to mercy [...]eue
[Page]And or thy [...] of vengeaunce vs manace
Let tronthe afore thy rightfull dome enbrace.
¶ For of our helpe / thou arte the pyllere
Agayne dispayre / hooly our sustenaunce
Our strengthe / our mighte / our re [...]uite fer & nere
In eche perille to saue vs from mischaunce
Thou arte our force / and our sustenaunce
And in mischief / whan drede w [...]lde vs assayle
Thou arte our shelde / thou arte our supportayle.
¶ Thou arte mighty / and thou arte meke also
Thou arte rightfull / and thou arte merciable
Lambe and Lyon / called bothe two
And sothfaste kynge / whose reygne is immutable
To repentaunte / by rygour nat vengeable
And euer aforne / in ponisshynge of thy lawe
Peace to preferre / or right his swerde may drawe
¶ And to brynge the loste shepe agayne
Out of deserte into his pasture
That was errant ydle / and in vayne
O Christe Iesu of thy benigne cure
More redyay to saue and to cure
All that ben sore / & scabbed eke with synne
Rather with pyte / than thou with reddur wynne.
¶ Nowe thou that arte the very rightfull ligne
All that is croked / goodely to redresse
And mayster of mercy / all our mischyefe fyne
O Christe Iesu / well of all swetenesse
[Page]Lorde of pyte / & lorde of rightfulnes
Haue vpon vs this daye compassion
That called is the circumcision.
¶ And graunte vs grace / with dewe reuerence
This hygh feste / so noble and so digne
Worshippe & halowe / deuoyde of all offence
And be to vs goodely and benigne
That were this daye marked with the signe
And the carecte / by the lawe ordeyned
Is very soth / and nothynge feyned.
¶ And so as thou / that neuer dyd trespasse
Thorowe thy mekenesse / and lowly subieccion
Suffre woldest / this daye of thy grace
For our offence / haue circumcision
So kytte from vs all temptacion
Of wordly luste / & make the flesshe to serue
To the spyryte / till the body sterue.
¶ And graunte vs grace / to lyue chaste & clene
O Christe Iesu / whyle that we ben here
Thorowe the prayer / of that heuenly quene
That is mayde and mother eke in fere
With helpe of her / graunte vs this newe yere
So prudently / with vertue vs prouyde
Our vyces all / that we maye circumside.
¶ And Christe Iesu / we praye vnto the
Lete thy name / whether we ryde or gon [...]
In eche perill / and eche aduersite
[Page]Be our defence / agaynste our mortall sone
To make hem stand estille as any stone
And all that casten vs falsely to warey
Make her malice / mekely to obeye.
¶ To thy name / & make hem stande all backe
Or they haue power / to haunte her cruell might
And wicked spirites / so horible & blacke
That besy ben to wayte vs daye and night
Lete thy name dryue hem out of sight
And in our forhede / whan we Iesu impresse
Make vs of grace / her malice to oppresse.
¶ For to thy name / holy we commende
Our lyfe / our deth body / herte and all
Our soule also / whan we hense wende
O Christe Iesu / o lorde Immortall
Prayenge to the / whan thou vs deme shall
To saue all tho / from eternall shame
That haue full faythe / & hole triste in thy name.

¶ Howe by the prophecie of Balaā watche was made vpon an hyll. Capi. lxvii.

THou lorde / whose light dessendeth fro so ferre
Thorowe y • roūdenes of y • speres. ix.
Withouten whome Phebus / ne no sterre
Upon heuen / power hath to shyne
Let nowe thy light / my derknes enlumyne
That thorowe thyne helpe / I maye my style gye
Somwhat to sey / of thyne Epiphanie.
[...]
¶ To se this sterre / moste famous [...]
On the heuen / whan it sholde appere
The worthy kynges / as made is mencion
Upon the hyll / togyder gone in fere
For cause they / who so lifte to here
Were of the stocke of Balaam downe descended
Wherfore of sorte / the hyll they be ascended.
¶ As fyll on hem / by custome to succede
At a certeyne of the yere by reuolucion
And on this hyll / east werde they toke hede
By good auise / in her inspeccion
The same night / of the Incarnacion
Whan Christe was borne in Bethleem of Marie
The same houre / the Sterre they aspye.
¶ Of newe arysen in the Oriente
Full lusty / of whome the beames light
Gan enlumme all the firmament
From easte to weste / it gaue so clere a light
That of the streames / euery maner wight
Astoned was / they were so bright & sheue
And to the eye / full persant for to sene.
¶ The whiche Sterre / droue his course of right
Towarde the hyll / lyke as bokes tell
Where the kynges / the longe wynters night
It to a wayte / solitarie dwell
And there anone / vpon her knees fell
And thanked god with all her hertes luste
Whiche hath nat hem defeauded of her luste.

¶ Howe the thre Kynges perceyued the sterre Capitulo. lxix.

ANd all that night to gyder as they woke
Upon this sterre / that shone so fayre & clere
And sodaynly vp warde / as they gan loke
They sawe a chylde / aboue the sterre appere
So yonge / so fayre / in a golden spere
Full roially stande / and about his hede
A large crosse / that was of blode full rede.
¶ The whiche chylde spake to hem anone
Aboue the hyll / with voyce and chere benigne
And bad hem faste / that they sholde gone
In to Iuda / right as any lyne
And folowe alwaye the sterre for a signe
That shall hym brynge to that region
Where the kynge moste worthy of renoun.
¶ Was borne that tyme / to haue the regallye
Of Iewes lande / of very dewe right
To whome the sterre dyd specefye
Whan he was borne / with his clere light
And they anone / whan passed was the night
The next morowe / no lenger liste abyde
But to warde hym / caste hym for to ryde.
¶ With greate araye / and royall aparayle
As was sittynge / to theyr worthynes
They shope hem forth / & for they wolde nat fayle
To do honoure to his noblenes
[...]
¶ To gyue hym clerely informacion
Other exploire / and of the chylde also
Surely affermynge / by false collucion
That he hymselfe wolde sone after go
Unto the chylde / and his deuoyrdo
To worshippe hym / & all vnder coloures
As the Worme / or Serpent vnder floures.
¶ Darith full ofte / & kepeth hym couertly
Of kynde malice / tyll they a tyme se
To shede her venym / & than sodaynly
All atones / whan they vnwarest be
They styngen and she wyn her cruelte
And her venym / vnder floures fayre
Full ofte is hyd / tyll they maye appayre.
¶ Right so thou Serpent full iniquite
False tygre / full of doublenes
Under fayre coloure of humilite
Thy venym dareth / & also thy falsenes
O thou tyraunt / o rote of cursidnes
Thou Herode of malice / moste mortall
What wenest thou / hym that knoweth all.
¶ To discepue with thy slyly wyle
What can suger vnder gall fayne
What wenyste thou / the kynges to begyle
And of malice / brynge hem in a trayne
Of whose comynge / though that thou disdayne
It maye nat helpe / playnly ne vayle
For of thy purpose / playnly thou shalte fayle.
¶ For by grace / they shullen in quyete
Maugre thy might all the daunger pas
For though that thou / with wordes hony swete
Maliciously / vpon her deth compas
They shullen scape / despyte of thy face
For all the coniecte / of thy prynces wyse
As the story shall anone deuyse.
¶ And so with venym / in his herte yloke
He gaue hem leue / passe through his reme
In her repayre / hym castynge to be wroke
If they retorne agayne by Iherusalem
And so the sterre / hem brought to Bethleem
And lyne tight / the chyldes hede aboue
Where as he laye still / gan to houe.

¶ Of the ioye that the Kynges had when they founde Christe. Capi. lxxii.

BUt who the ioye coude tell or endyte
Or with his mouthe / the myrthe expres
Or who can playnly with his penue wryte
The greate blisse or the gladnes
Whiche they made in sothfastnes
After her iourney / and her longe w [...]y [...]
Aboue the house / whan they the sterre seye.
¶ That gan to hem clerely certefye
Without more / the chyldes dwelly age place
And they anone / faste gan hem hye
With lusty herte / and glad of there and face
[Page]To alight downe in [...] space
They made he [...] redy / & with reuerence
They entryd in / and came in [...]o [...].
¶ Where as the chylde moste worthy of d [...]g [...]
Was with Marie in a Oxes stall
And humbly the kynges all thre
Forth they wente towarde the stall
And brought her tresoure / & her g [...]es all
As reuerently as they coude deuise
And hym presented in all her beste wy [...]e.
¶ Lyke as her estate / eueriche after other
Makynge theyr presente / with all humilite
Lyke her age / as brother after other
Golde / Franke / & Myr [...]he / they gaue hym all thr [...]
After custome of Perce and Caldee
For of th [...] lande / whan kynges present make
The custome is suche giftes for to take.
¶ And this was done with foyson and plente
In very soth / and greate habundaunce
For in [...]er presente was no scarsete
For of richesse / they had all suffisaunce
Wherfore they [...]ste with deuoute obeysaunce
Of due [...]ight / with the chylde to parte
Of her tresoure / or that they departe.
¶ And [...] [...] is pa [...]ed for tribute
As it is founde of [...]tiquite
Therfore th [...] kynges / for a maner sute
[Page]That they hym [...]
They brought hym golde ou [...] of her co [...]tr [...]
And gaue [...]
Hooly of herte / for a recog [...]isaunce.
¶ And Franke also / as clerkes can deuise
Ordeyned is in conclusion
To god onely / to make sacre [...]ise
With contrite herte and deuocion
Therfore to hym for oblacion
They brought Franke to signefye than
That he was bothe sothfaste god and man.
¶ And for they wolde in all thynge obeye
To his hyghnes / with all [...]er besy cure
In token he sholde for mankynde dye
They brought myrre to his sepulture
For like a man / deth he muste endure
And with his blode / [...]hed in his passion
For our trespace / for to make redempciom.
¶ In Franke also / who that can discerne
Is vnderstande the hygh mageste
Of his power / whiche that is eterne
And eke also / his hygh dey [...]e
The golde betokeneth his hygh dignite
And myr [...]he declareth / vnto vs at all
Of his manhode / that he was mortall.
¶ And golde betokeneth of loue the feruence
That he to ma [...] had of affeccion
[Page]And Franke betokeneth the souerayne excellence
In holynes his conuersa [...]ion
And myrre betokeneth the tribulacion
That he suffred / and all the greate penaunce
For vs in erthe by continuaunce.
¶ In golde he was knowe as a kynge
In Franke a preeste / who so can take hed [...]
Of myrre also this daye the offerynge
Was longynge onely to his manhede
And thus he was withouten any drede
Bothe kynge and preeste / as I discriue can
And for our sake in erthe a mortall man.
¶ In golde also / moste glorious metall
Figured was his hygh deyte
In Franke also / that is so cordiall
The soule also / of Christe moste parfyte of degre
And myrre betokeneth thorowe his dignite
His flesshe / the whiche by disposicion
Maye neuer suffre no corrupcion.
¶ And of these giftes passynge reuerence
Full of misterie / & heuenly priuite
And whan they had made theyr presente
Unto the chylde ay sittynge on her knee
And with greate auyse / they began beholde & see
Tofore that they remeue from that place
His godely chere / and his fayre face.
¶ Considerynge his fetures by and by
[Page]With grete insight / and humble enten [...]ion
And ay the more they loke besely
The more they thynke in her inspeccion
And thoughten alwaye / as in her reason
Though kynde & god / hath sette in one figure
The beaute hooly of euery creature.
¶ It might nat in sothenes / heuen ben liche
To his fayrnes / neyther peregall
For he that is aboue nature riche
Hath made this chylde / [...]ayreste in speciall
For in his face / they beholden all
The hole beaute / and fayrnes eke also
Of heuen and e [...]the / to gyder bothe two.
¶ Wherfore no wonder / though they hem dely [...]
Moste passingly vpon hym to se
For they in herte reioysen hem nat alyte
On hym to loke / that they haue liberte
For ay the more playnly that they be
In his presence / the parfyte hote fyr [...]
Of hertely [...]oye / hem brente in desyre.
¶ And of one thynge good hede they toke
Howe that the chylde / demurely caste his sight
Towarde hem / and godely gan to loke
On her faces / with his eyen bright
And howe that he put his armes right
Goodely to hem makynge a maner signe
To them of thankynge / with chere full benigne.
¶ And of his mother / they moche thynge enquere
Touchynge his byrthe / with humble affeccion
And she answereth moste femynyne of chere
Full prudently to euery question
With chere demure / and loke ycaste adowne
With all the porte of womenly clennes
Her selfe demenynge / chefely with mekenes.

¶ Of vertuous pouerte and mekenes of our Lady Capitulo. lxxiii.

O She that was of heuen and erthe quene
And of hell lady and prynces
O what was she / alas that might fustene
To be proude considered her mekenes
O pryde alas / o rote of our distres
Though thy booste aboue the skye blowe
Thy byloynge / hygh shallbe brought full lowe.
¶ O Surquedrie / alas why n [...]te thou se
Howe that she had heuen in her demeyne
And lady is bothe of lande and see
And of the axtre / betwene the poles tweyne
And of the enbracynge / of the golden cheyne
yet vnto her / I saye in sothfastnes
Aboue all this / agryed her mekenes.
¶ O pompe elate / with thy cheres bolde
Remembre and se / and loke howe that she
Of whome kynges haue ioye to beholde
In her presence to knele on her kne
[Page]Though she of women / be hyest in degre
Take hede & se howe louly in a stable
Howe that she sat this lady honourable.
¶ Were there of golde any clothes founde
Of Sylke Damaske / or ryche Tartaryne
Or whas there Aras aboute her hede bounde
Or was there any Uelwet Crymsyne
Or was there any Samyte or Satyne
Or were there any Tapytes / large or wyde
The naked grounde / to couer or to hyde.
¶ Or was her paleys bylte of lyme and stone
Or the pylers set on marbell graye
Or the grounde pauyd on to gone
Or fresshe parlours / glased bright as day
Or were therin chambres of aray
Or for estates / was there any hall
Saue a Dongeon / and an Oxes stall.
¶ Or of her bed was the appareyle
Of Golde & Sylke / corteyned large aboute
Or were the shetes of longe or wyde entayle
Kytte out of raynes / naye without doute
Or were there any ladyes for to loute
To her hyghnes / with besy obseruaunce
Or of maydens any attendaunce.
¶ O as me semeth of very dewe right
ye women all sholden take hede
With your Perles / and your stones bright
Howe that our quene / floure of womanhede
[Page]Of no deuise embrouded hath her wede
Ne furred with Ermyn / ne with Christi graye
Ne Martyr [...]e / ne Sabil [...] I trowe in good faye.
¶ Was none founden in her garmente
And yet she was the fayrest for to se
That euer was vnder the firmamente
That me semeth / ye sholden haue pyte
To se a lady of so hygh degre
So semely atyred / o ye women all
So narowe closed in an Oxes stall.
¶ Let be your pryde / and your affeccion
Of riche araye / & nothynge you delite
In wordly pompe / and suche abusion
Of soūdry clothes / rede / blacke / and whyte
And be well ware / or the spere byte
Of cruell deth / and the fell smerte
My councell is to lifte vp your herte.
¶ To that lady / & to that worthy quene
That you may beste helpe in your nede
And you releue / in euery wo and tene
And delyuer from all mischyef and drede
And thynke playnly / & take right good hede
That all shall passe araye / & eke riches
Whan ye leste wene / & all your semelines.
¶ Let hem afore be to a Kalendere
I sowde Eleyne / and eke Policene
Hester also / and Dido with her chere
[Page]And riche [...] / of Ethiope quene
Lygge they nat graue / vnder colours grene
And yet all this / maye nat your pryde atame
Natwithstandynge / that ye shall do the same.
¶ And after deth abydeth no memorie
For ay with deth / cometh foriet fulnes
And fare well than araye / and all vayneglorie
Saue onely vertue / that standeth in sikernes
I take recorde of the hygh mekenes
Of her that is of holines well
Of whome I thynke / sothely for to tell.
¶ Howe that she satte / for all her worthynes
Holdynge her chylde / lowly on the grounde
And kynges knelynge / as ye haue herde expres
Beholdynge her in vertue moste habounde
Till at the laste / they haue a leyser founde
To take her leue / and the same night
They gan to ryde homwarde all her might.

¶ Howe the Angell warned the thre kynges to passe nat by Herodes / but by another waye. Capi. lxxiiii.

ANd suynge after on the next night
Whyle they slepte at her lodgynge place
Came an Angell apperynge with greate light
And warned hem / that they nouht ne trace
By Herodes / but that they sholde pace
Withouten taryenge / in all the haste they maye
To her kyngdome by another waye.
¶ And in shorte tyme to theyr region
They ben repayred / the Gospell telleth thus
And of her names to make mencion;
The firste in Hebreu was called Appolleus
The next Amerus / the thyrde Damarus
And in Greke / the firste Galgatha
And Sarachim / the thyrde Malgalatha.
¶ And in Latine / as bokes make mynde
The firste of hem named was Iasper
And the seconde / playnly as I fynde
Lyke myne auctour reherce as I dar
Called was / and named Balthasar
And the thyrde / ye gete of me no more
As I rede / was called Melchior.
¶ Of whose repayre / as some bokes seyne
That firste of all / they wenten to the see
And retornynge to her kyngdom ageyne
They shipped hem at Tharse the cyte
For whiche Herode / of cursed cruelte
In Tharse made all the shippes brenne
Wherof wryte Dauid the Saulter if ye kenne.
¶ And vnto you clerely to specefie
Touchynge this [...]este / and this solemnite
Wherof is sayde this worde Epiphanie
Whiche is a worde of greate auctorite
And sayde / and compouned / who so can se
Of Epi fyrste / and Phanos soth to sayne
And one worde compouned of these tweyne.
¶ Cometh this worde of Epiphanie
And this worde Epi by discripsion
Is sayde of heyght / as I can signefye
And of a shewynge / by demonstracion
As Phanos sayde / and so by good reason
Epi and Phanos / bothe knytte in fere
Is a shewynge / that doth a lofte appere.
¶ And for this day / alofte was the sterre
Whiche Christes byrthe / and incarnacion
With his streames gan shede from so ferre
From easte to weste / in many a region
Wherof this feste in conclusion
As ye toforne haue herde me specefie
This feste is called of Epiphanie.
¶ The whiche feste hath a prerogatyfe
Of myracles notable in speciall
For thynges foure / wrought in Christes lyfe
Weren on this day by his power royall
The fyrste of all / for a memoriall
Is of the kynges / as ye haue herde me sayne
Whiche were in ydell / to reherce agayne.
¶ The seconde is / it is sothely tolde
That Christe Iesu this day of saynt Iohan
The yere whan he was thyrty wynter olde
Baptised he was in the flow Iordayne
At whiche tyme / thre kynges vnder one
Appered this day / worthy of memorie
The fyrste was that from the hygh glorie.
¶ The fathers voyce / as clerkes liste endyte
Came downe to erthe / that men might here
An lyke a downe / with fayre federes whyte
The holy ghoste also dyd appere
And Christe Iesu the fathers sone entere
This daye apperynge in our mortall kynde
Was of saynt Iohan Baptiste as I fynde.
¶ And for as moche / as they all thre
This daye were sene / by sothfaste apparence
They beynge one / in partyte vn [...]
Therfore this daye of moste reuerence
Named is truely in this sentence
Theophanos for god in treble wyse
Therin appered as ye haue herde deuyse.
¶ For The [...]s is as moche for to mene
As god in englisshe / yf ye liste to se
And Phanos / as shewynge withouten wene
As ye haue herde afore reherced of me
For in erthe / [...] god in trinite
This daye appered withouten any lye
ye truely may it calle Theophanie.
¶ Eke whan Christe was olde thyrty yere
This daye he torned water in to wyne.
That passyngly was to the eye clere
And of tarrage / inly good and fyne
The whiche he se [...]t to Archedeclyne
And for this myracle / iuly vertuous
In Galilee was shewed in an hous.
¶ This same daye / whiche man dyd espye
As holy churche maketh mencion
Therfore it is named Bethphanie
For [...]eth in englisshe by discripsion
Is called a house or a mancion
Of whiche myracle renomed of fame
Bethphanie this daye hath the name.
¶ Eke in the yere of his passion
Fer in deserte / this daye also I rede
With loues fyue / through his greate foyson
Fyue thousande I fynde / that he dyd fede
Of whiche myracle / yf ye taken hede
This day is laste named Phagiphanie
Lyke as firste was cleped Epiphanie.
¶ For this worde Phagi in to our entente
Is sayde of fedynge / of re [...]eccion
For whiche myracle passynge excellence
That is so famous / & so hygh of renoun
Lyke as the Gospell maketh mencion
Therfore this daye amonge the other all
ye lustely may it Phagiphanie call.

¶ A declaracion of the thre Kynges of theyr thre giftes. Capitulo. lxxv.

NOwe Christe Iesu this day this hygh feste
We the beseche / with herte / will / & thought
Onely of mercy / to here our requeste
For the myracles / that thou therin haste wrought
For loue of hem / that the so ferre haue sought
[Page]The worthy kynges / that came out of Caldee
The [...]o honoure / in Bethleem the cyte.
¶ And through the prayers of these kynges thre
That for thy loue / token her vyage
Iesu defende vs from all aduersite
And make vs stronge / & sure in our passage
In this exyle / and parlous pylgrimage
With our fo men of malice / and of pryde
Whiche haue vs bysette an euery syde.
¶ The whiche our golde / of parfyte charite
Wolden vs byreue by persecusion
That we shulde offre of feruente vnto the
O [...] hertely loue / and hygh deuocion
And eke our Franke of contemplacion
Wherwith he shulde make our sacrifise
O [...] hygh disdayne and malice they dispise.
¶ For Golde of trouthe / is falsely nowe alayed
By fayned loue / and simulacion
And fayth with fraude / is corrupt & frayed
With double tonges and detraccion
Our Franke also / of hygh perfeccion
That sholde brenne clere aboue the skye
Is with the code medlide of enuye.
¶ That it alas / gyue may no light
In the centre of true affeccion
For day of trouthe / is tourned in to night
Thorowe false reporte / and false suspeccion
[Page]And thus good [...]ayth / is ro [...]ed vp s [...] dow [...]e
And true menynge / derked with a skye
That we in Englisshe calle [...] flaterye.
¶ And thus our offrynge / goeth almoste wronge
Of Golde / of Franke / for ought I can espye
And our Myrre hath behynde full longe
Us to preserue / from all suche trecherye
For nowe is torned / into Ipocresye
Our holynes / & that is greate ruthe
And cause why / for fraude hath banysshed truthe.
¶ But Chrike Iesu / that all this mayste amende
And that is amisse / in eche state redres
This hygh feste / suche grace to vs sende
That we the Golde of stablenes
And eke the Franke of parfyte holynes
May on this day present vnto the
With all true herte / as dyd these kynges thre.
¶ And graunte also / bothe to hygh and lowe
To haue suche Myrre in her a vertence
That euery wyght / his owne fautes knowe
And that no man be hasty of sentence
To deme lightly before / or in absence
For sodeyne dome / meynte with ygnoraunce
Hath a longe tayle / shewynge of repentaunce.
¶ For in sothnes / if that euery man
Wolde make a myrrour of his owne mynde
To deme hymselfe / of thynge that he well can
[Page]And open his eyen / that hath be longe blynde
To se his fautes / that he coude fynde
I trowe in soth / for any hasty rape
Harmeles fro dome his felowe sholde ascape.

¶ Howe we sholde do this offerynge ghostely. Capitulo. lxxvi.

NOwe Christe Iesu y • knowest euery herte
And nothynge may be hyde fro thy p̄sence
Ne from thyne eye declyne ne asterte
Graunte vs this daye of thy magnificence
The Golde of loue / the Franke of innocence
And the chaste Myrre of clene entencion
So to presente in our oblacion.
¶ To thyne hyghnes / that it be acceptable
Whyle that we lyue euer from yere to yere
As was the offrynge in Bethleem in a stable
Made vnto the / and to thy mother dere
Of the kynges / that with the streames clere
Of a Sterre conueyed were by grace
Where thou laye / to come to the place.
¶ And vnto the this day / we clepe and call
Thou blessed quene of kynges emperesse
That gaue thy sone souke in a stall
That chaste mylke of virginall clennes
That thou this feste / o Sterre of holynes
Conueye our offrynge / to that Sterre se
Where next thy sone / thou haste the souer aynte.
¶ And good lady in this sorowfull vale
Of trouble and wo / and of heuines
Sithen thou of Iacob arte the right scale
The waye of lyfe / the Ladder of holinesse
Towarde that contre / the euen waye dresse
And make thy men thyder to assende
Where euer blesse / and ioye hath no ende.
¶ For cer [...]es lady / in this lyfe we lacke
Of sothfaste ioye / all the suffisaunce
Saue amonge we knele afore the racke
Wherwith thy sone was somtyme thy plesaunce
And vs reioysynge / as by remembraunce
Onely by likenes to loke on thyne ymage
And on thy sone / with his fayre vysage.
¶ But o alas there is but a likenes
Of portrature / that dothe greate offence
For we maye nat haue / full the blessidnes
Of thy vysage neyther of thy presence
And so to vs greate harme dothe apparence
Whan that we se / of our desyre we fayle
We maye playne / but it maye nat auayle.
¶ yet day by day / of true affeccion
We gone of newe / thy likenes for to s [...]
Where of one thynge / we haue compassion
To se the bestes that so humble be
To stande so nere betwene thy sone and the
The rude Asse / and the Oxe also
And than we saye complaynynge in our wo.
¶ With all our herte / o what thynge maye this be
To se that lorde in a racke lye
That hath the heuen in his postye
And all this worlde / power hath to gye
O howe it is that the regallie
Of heuen & erthe is brought downe so lowe
That no man liste vnnethe his power knowe.
¶ And sodeynly our hertes gynneth colde
For astonynge / & is for wonygh mate
So greate a quene / whan that we beholde
Alone sittynge all disconsolate
So fayre / so good / and so hygh estate
Moste womanly / and so benigne of chere
Thy sone / and the togyder sutynge in fere.
¶ In the bandes of so narowe a dongeon
Wherof all erthe tremble shall and quake
And euery wight by lamentacion
Wepe & playne / syghe and sorowe make
O blissed quene / onely for thy sake
To se on the / none other waytynge
But bestes with hey hym selfe fedynge.
¶ But in one thynge / comforte yet we fele
O good lady / sothely yf we se
Thre worthy kynges / afore thy face knele
Bryngen her giftes with all humilite
And hem gouerne / lyke to thy degre
With meke attendaunce / & full besy cure
But all this thynge / we se but in picture.
¶ Alas the whyle / & yet it dothe vs ease
And in party as wageth our greuaunce
For nothynge maye our sorowe so appease
As euer of the / to haue a remembraunce
For in the lady / is hoole our sustenaunce
Though we lyue in langour for thyne absence
yet good lady for thy magnificeuce.
¶ To thy seruauntes of thy grace se
And to thy sone / be for vs a mene
This hygh feste / whiche longeth vnto the
In whiche thou were honoured lyke a quene
With Myrre / & Frāke / & Golde / that shone so clene
Nowe for the honoure / this day was to the
And for the loue of the kynges thre.
¶ Whan we shall parte out of this wofull lyfe
And make an ende of this captiuite
Or Herodes through his mortall stryfe
The fende by trappe vs thorowe his cruelte
Nowe that tyme lady of thy benignite
Agaynste the snares / of this dredfull werre
To lyfe eterne / be thou our loode Sterre.

¶ Howe our Lady was purified. Capitulo. lxxvii.

Glorie / and pryce / laude / & hygh honoure
O blessed quene / be gyuen vnto the
That were of golde / the close chaste toure
Surely founded vpon humilite
[Page]Shette with the keye / of [...] [...] [...]
From all synne / fully to be assured
And of the holy ghoste / rounde aboute enuired.
¶ That neuer no brennynge of flesshely hete
Assayle might thyne holy tabernacle
With dewe of grace / thy closette was so swete
Fulfilled with vertue / onely by myracle
God chase thy wombe for his tabernacle
And halowed it so clene in euery cooste
To make it sacrarie / for his owne ghooste.
¶ Natwithstandynge / that thou were so clene
Aboue all other by eleccion
Of mekenes onely / o thou heuenly quene
Thou liste to haue none indignacion
The day to passe of thy purificacion
But to fulfille the precepte of the lawe
In euery thynge / & nat a poynte withdrawe.
¶ But euen lyke as it is specified
Leuitici who so can vnderstande
To the Temple / to be purified
Thou mekely come thyne offrynge in hande
All be the lawe sette / on the no bande
For it is there made mencion
Touchynge the lawe of purificacion.
¶ If a women conceyue by a man
And haue a chylde / by medlynge hem betwene
That it be a male / the lawe teacheth than
[Page]Fourty dayes that she shulde be vnclene
And kepe her close / [...]that no man shulde her sene
And after that she shulde her offrynge
In lawe expressed / to the Temple brynge.
¶ But taketh thede in conclusion
Howe this lawe lyke as ye shall fynde
Ne was nat put / but by condicion
Onely to them that corupt weren by kynde
Through touche of man / of suche is made mynde
The dayes nombred of her purgacion
To come and make her oblacion.
¶ And brynge a lambe / the whiche in sacrefise
Shulde all be brought in the holy place
And a pygeon / as lawe doth deuise
She shulde eke offre / as for her trespace
And than all fylthe from her to enchace
She of the preste halowed & sacrefied
Retorneth home / and fully purifyed.
¶ And if she had in her possession
Redely no lambe / onely for pouerte
Than shulde she take for her oblacion
Two turtell Doues / & therwithall go fre
Or two pygeons / like as ye may se
Leuitici / where as by distinction
Of this offerynge is made discripcion.
¶ But this may de / who so can take hede
Excluded [...]as fro this condicion
[Page]That bare a chylde / without mannes sed [...]
Brynge euer cle [...]e from all corruption
Where through / she was from suche oblacion
By lawe excepte / & was vnder no charge
For her clennes / standynge at her large.
¶ For of her wombe / the cloyster virginall
Was euer eliche / bothe firste and laste
Closed & shytte / as Castell pryncipall
For the holy ghoste / deuised [...]t and caste
And at bothe tymes shytte as lyke faste
In her chyldynge nomore through grace ybroke
Than at her conceyuynge / than it was vnloke.
¶ For nature withouten any stryfe
Repugnaunce / or any resistence
Gaue this maybe prerogatyfe
As mother to haue experience
Onely of chyldynge / & fele none offence
Nether of sekenes / ne of suche maner wo
In trauelynge as other women do.
¶ She was excepte from all suche passion
For her clennes / & so was none but she
And yet her tyme of purification
She dyd abyde of her humilite
And like as lawe ordeyneth by decrete
After all this of custome as she oughte
To the Temple she her offerynge broughte.
¶ To gyue example onely of mekenes
[Page]To the lawe she mekely wolde obeye
Fro poynte to poynte the Gospell sayth expres
And on no syde wolde it [...]at withsaye
And though that she [...]are of golde no keye
To bye a lambe / for pouerte constreynynge
yet she full mekely to make her offerynge.
¶ Brought two Turtels / as it is sayde aforne
That was the offrynge of pore folke echone
Whiche to the Temple / whan she hath borne
As custome was / she offered hem anon
And after that olde Simeon
With humble herte and a full payne
The chylde embracynge in his armes twayne.

¶ Howe Simeon receyued Christe of our Lady in the Temple. Capitulo. lxxviii.

OF his mother goodely gan hym take
Of louynge h [...]rte / and greate deuocion
And suche a ioye of hym gan to make
Within hym selfe / of hygh affeccion
That heue coude nother by worde ne soun
Outwarde declare / neyther with chere ne face
The passynge ioye that gan his herte enbrace.
¶ And he was rightfull / holy and vertuous
This olde man / this blessed Simeon
Dredefull also / and passynge famous
Amonge the prestes / to reken hem euerichone
That was expectant / and full longe agone
[Page]Of the comforte and consolacion
Of Israel in his entencion.
¶ For he had answer of the holy ghoste
In his prayere that he shulde se
The byrthe of Christe / that is of power moste
And eke fro deth / that he shall go fre
To the tyme of his natiuite
And to the daye / that with his eyen olde
The byrthe of hym / that he may beholde.
¶ The whiche day / that with his eyen olde
And for that he by reuelacion
The tyme knowe / he hath the waye hold [...]
To the Temple / with hygh deuocion
To se of Christe the presentacion
Howe that Marie and Ioseph eke also
The chylde presented / and her offerynge do.
¶ And for that Christe was the fyrste borne
After the lawe / in his tender age
Nat of Leu [...] / as ye haue herde toforne
But of Iuda / comen by lignage
Therfore his mother / moste holy of vysage
Her offrynge made / liste nat for to stryue
For hym agayne / to paye shyllynges fyue.
¶ Lyke as the custome of the lawe was
She mekely made his redempcion
And Simeon beholdynge all this cas
Full st [...]lly in his inspeccion
[Page]For loue brennynge by affeccion
Of very herte / sodaynly abrayed
Holdynge the chylde / euen thus he seyed.

¶ Howe where and whan Simeon made Nunc dimittis [...] [...]uum d [...] secundum verbum tuum in pace. Capitulo. lxxix.

O Blisfull lorde of thy hygh grace
It that thou liste nowe / thou mayste me lete
Out of this lyfe in rest and peace to pace
And suffre me to dye in quyete
For nowe to me deth is wonder swete
Nowe haue I sene thy helthe and thy socoure
And of mankynde lorde and sauyoure.
¶ Whiche thou haste dyght afore the faces all
Of eche people to make hem glad and light
To lete thy grace / so to erthe fall
Thorowe all y • worlde / to shewe his bemes bright
That maye be called for comforte of his light
Unto all the gentyles the reuelacion
The glorie also / and the saluacion.
¶ Of Israel the people in speciall
To voyde hem out of all derkenes
And Marie full mekely listeneth all
And gan merueyle with greate aduisednes
Of the wordes that he gan expres
And Ioseph / eke gan to wonder also
[Page]And Simeon hem blessynge bothe two▪
¶ Spake to Maxie / and sayde in audience
Beholde and se in thyne inspeccion
Howe he is put in ruyne and offence
Of many one here in his region
And to so me in resurrexion
That shall releue thorowe his mighty grace
And thorowe thy soule / shal a sharpe swerde pace.
¶ Of hertely wo / to se his passion
That passyngly shall be bitter and fell
To opene hertes by confession
Her soroufull thoughtes / openly to tell
And Anna than doughter of Phanuell
Borne of the Trybe of the kynrede
Called Asser / sothely as I rede.

¶ Of the ioye that Anna the doughter of Phanes had / whan Christe was offred in to the Temple ⸪ Capitulo. lxxx.

THat was that daye ronne f [...]r in age
Within the Temple by contynuaunce
Sole by her selfe out of mariage
Laye night and daye / in fastynge & penaunce
In Wydowe abyte / sade of countenaunce
And in prayer was her busy cur [...]
Whiche in that houre of grace or auenture.
¶ Whā Christs was there / with his mother dere
In the tyme of his oblacion
This Anna came / demure and sade of chere
And vnto hym / with greate deuocion
Whan she hym sawe / fyll on knees downe
Recomforted of all her olde smerte
Hym honourynge with all her hoole herte.
¶ Sayde openly that all might here
Bethe mery and lighte / in your entencion
And euery man be glad / and of good chere
For nowe is borne for our saluacion
He that shall make our redemption
This yonge chylde / blessed muste he be
That me hath graunted his face for to se.
¶ And than in soth / whā euery thynge was done
After the lawe withouten excepcion
And than Anna and holy Simeon
Had of this chylde made declaracion
As ye haue herde in conclusion
This chylde & Ioseph / and this mayde [...]e
Retourned home agayne in to Galile.

¶ A profytable declaracion of the prop [...]rtes of the Turtell / and the Doue Capitulo. lxxxi.

NOwe as me semeth in this hye fer [...]e
That named is the Purification
Euery man oughte to be glad and mery
[Page]And with good hert [...] / and hol [...] [...]
Deuoutely brynge his oblacion
And offre fyrste the turtell of innocence
Of very mekenes / and hertely pacience.
¶ And who y • wolde this offrynge make a right
He maye nat fayle / none of bothe two
Fyrste shyne in clennes / with his chaste light
As the Turtell / and therwith also
Lyche the Doue / bothe in we [...]e and wo
His herte daunte so by temporaunce
To voyde rancour / and plante in sufferaunce.
¶ And as the Turtell by contemplacion
For synne soroweth with greate waymentynge
Onely for loue / of thylke eternall dileccion
That lasteth ay / and hath none endynge
And as the byrthe sheweth the comynge
Of grene wherwith fresshe byrdes newe
Right so of vertue / with floures fayre of hewe.
¶ He muste exampell of the Turtell take
And be well ware / that he nat ne varye
But lyue sole whan he hath loste his make
And in prayer be also solitarie
And loke alwaye that he nat ne tarye
On no careyne of no flesshely hede
And with all this to take also hede.
¶ That he his lyfe lede nat in vayne
But like a Doue busely aspye
[Page]Where he [...] maye the grayne
And that he [...] n [...]t out of companye
Waytynge also the galle of enuye
And that he haue [...]y indignacion
Of synfull luste out of corrupcion.
¶ Of any careyne to foster hym and fede
And euermore with all his dusy payne
Eschewynge synne / loue god and drede
And with the Doue syghe and compleyne
For his offence / and with wynges twayne
Take his flight as ferforth as he can
Thorowe parfyte loue / bothe to god and man.
¶ And as the Doue touchet eke her make
Onely with kissynge / whan they to gyder gone
So moste he▪ whether he slepe or wake
Thorowe chastite / set his herte in one
And lyke a Doue maketh his neste of stone
This is to seye amonge all his pleasaunce
He muste his [...]lesshe daunte with penaunce.
¶ And as the Doue with her eyen meke
Of kynde aspyeth amyd the Riuere
The Haukes shadowe / whan he dothe her seke
Sechynge his repaste / bothe ferre and nere
Right so muste he with parfyte eyen clere
Amyd the watres full of wo and stryfe
In the wawes of his mortall lyfe.
¶ The dedely shadowe of the fende esche w [...]
[Page]That wayteth hym with snares large & huge
And to the deth / ay dothe hym pursewe
To trappe hym here in his deluge
And lyke a Doue f [...]e to his refuge
By grace onely if he maye escape
Or deth bytraye hym with his sodeyne trape.
¶ And who so by clennes / with the Turtell [...]
As I tofore haue made mencion
And lyke a Doue afore his perill fleeth
Of deth to esche we the persecution
And can be meke in tribulation
I dare recorde it / write it for soth
Truely to god / he his offerynge doth.
¶ And who that euer liueth in chastite
And hath enuy enclosed in his herte
He maye well offre / what so that he be
To god a Turtell / but the Doue nought
Wherfore they muste be to gyther brought
That clennes by sothfaste vnite
Without partynge / be knytte with charite.
¶ And sothely than there is no more to sayne
Whan his offerynge and oblation
Is iustely made to god of bothe twayne
It is accepted of more deuocion
And for to make a shorte discripcion
Of the Turtell / and the Doues kynde
Redeth these verses / and ye shull it fynde.
¶ Alta [...]etit [...] cantando gemit veniens Uer
Nunciat et caste viuit solus que moratur
Pullos no [...]te fo [...] morticinium que fugit
Erranea legat vol [...]at sociata cadauera vita [...]
Felle care [...]plang [...] so [...]ium que per oscula tangit
Petro dat huic [...]dum fugit hoste flum [...]e visum
Rostro non ledit geminos pullos bene nutrit.
¶ This feste also / bothe of more and lesse
Through out the worlde / in euery region
Called is the feste of [...]andelmesse
For sondry skylles / in conclusion
As olde bokes make mencion
And howe this feste fyrste toke his name
So as I can / to you I wyll atame.

¶ Howe Candelmasse toke firste the name. Capitulo. lxxxii.

SOmtyme whan Rome / through his hye re­noū
Was moste flourige i power & i might
Euery fyfthe yere by reuolucion
In Februarie vpon the firste night
Eche man and chylde / with a taper light
Went in the cyte / two and two a pas
Unto a Temple / whiche sacred was.
¶ To Febru [...] of olde fundacion
That mother was to Mars omnipotente
In whose honoure this procession
Ordeyned was by greate auysemente
[Page]At eche lustre wenynge in her entente
That her power and greate worthynes
Preserued was through helpe of this goddes.
¶ From all assaute of euery aduersayre
Supposynge fully in her oppinion
That she fortune made debonayre
For to susteyne the honoure of her towne
And through her helpe and meditacion
That mighty Mars / to encrease her glorie
In all conqueste gaue to hym glorie.
¶ For whiche cause / through out the cyte
As ye haue herde / of hygh & lowe estate
Was fyrste ordeyned this solempnite
In the Temple that was consecrate
To Februa the goddes fortunate
Thorowe helpe of whome they were victorious
And so this custome supersticious.
¶ In Rome towne / as myne auctor seyth
Obserued was / longe and many a daye
yet after that / they tourned to the feyth
But euer in one / this ryte they kepte alwaye
For olde customme is harde to put awaye
And also vsage greueth folke full sore
To do awaye that they haue kepte yore.
¶ But at the laste Pope Se [...]gius
Of the people seynge this errour
And that the customme was full [...]eryllo [...]s
[Page]Dyde his deuoyre / and also his laboure
That ryte to chaunge in to the honoure
Of our Lady / so that this hye feste
From the hyest downe to the loweste.
¶ Euery man and woman in her hande
To the Temple shulde a taper brynge
Thorowe out the worlde / in euery maner lande
And ther withall make her offrynge
After the Gospell / the prestes hand kissynge
With light solempne / that all might it sene
In honoure onely of the heuen quene.
¶ That best may be our mediatrice
To her sone / that is without fayle
Bothe lorde and kynge / and she imperatric [...]
Of lande and see / of peace and of batayle
Withouten whome / no conquest maye auayle
For she hath power more in sothfastnes
Than Februa of Rome the goddes.
¶ And thus this ryte was vtterly refused
By Sergius as ye haue herde deuise
That was aforne of hem of Rome vsed
Full many a daye in her paynym wyse
Whome to she we all Christen muste despise
And of Candels / whan this rite gan passe
Came the name fyrste of Candelmasse.
¶ This feste also / of full longe agone
The name toke of the procession
[Page]Made of Anna and holy Simeon
When they hym mete with greate deuocion
Brought to the Temple to this oblacion
As was the lawe custome and vsaunce
Of holy churche for a remembraunce.
¶ Obserued for the / fro yere to yere
Of February on the fyrste daye
With sacred light / vpon taperis clere
Shynynge as bright / as Phebus in Maye
Whan the people / in what they can or maye
Full redy ben of one entencion
To make in figure a presentacion.
¶ Of Christe Iesu with all her full might
Signefied / who so can take hede
By the tapre / that we offre light
For tyrste the waxe betokeneth his manhede
The weke his soule / the fyre his godhede
For as the waxe is made of newe
Thorowe small bees of floures fresshe of hewe.
¶ Thorowe clennes / onely and diligent labours
On blossomes gadred / & to hyue brought
So Christes manhode / growe out of a floure
Whose fresshe beaute of coloure fadeth nought
For a mayde clene / in will and thought
Lyche as waxe of floure sote and glade
Is tryed out / and dothe hem nat to fade.
¶ So Christe Iesu conseruynge her clennes
[Page]His manhode toke of a mayde fre
She standynge hole flourynge in fayrenes
With all the fresshenes of virginite
And as a tapre is one to gether on thre
So thylke lorde / that is bothe thre and one
Toke flesshe and blode / to saue vs euerychone.
¶ Of a mayde / whiche this daye fro Bethleem
Mekely wente to be purified
To the Temple of Ierusalem
As her toforne / it is specified
In whose honour / this feste is magnefied
Of all Christen men / with fresshe tapres shene
To signefye / who so that will be clene.
¶ Muste offre a taper to gether made of thre
Of feythe and werke / and true entencion
For sothfastly / but they conioyned be
Withoute partynge or deuision
Nother his offrynge ne oblacion
Howe fayre outwarde / playnly that it seme
To god aboue / it maye neuer queme.
¶ And though his taper brenne bright all daye
And enuiron make his light to shede
If werke of fay the / prolonged be awaye
And true entent / folowe nat the dede
Fare well his guerdon / his merite & his mede
For whan these thre be nat knytte in one▪
He is nat able to offrynge for to gone.
¶ For if these thre to gyder be nat meynte
Feyth / werke / and hoole entencion
His offrynge fareth but as a taper queynte
That gyueth no light / but brightnes enuiron
For derke of dede from all deuocion
His offrynge is / but if this thre
Be knette in one / thorowe perfyte vnite.
¶ Nowe Christe / that art the sothfaste holy ligh [...]
The hert of man for to enlumyne
Upon vs wretches / for thy see so bright
Lete the Sonne of thy mercy shyne
For loue of her / that is a pure virgyne
Whiche on this daye to the Temple went
Of mekenes onely the for to present.
¶ Thorowe whose prayer / lorde of thy might
Graunte vs grace / whan we be olde
And shall dye to holde our tapers light
Tofore thy see / where that it is tolde
Seuen Chaundelars / all of pure golde
Fresshely with light standeafore thy face
Theder to come of mercy / graunt vs grace.
¶ And in this exyle / where as we soiourne
Graunt vs lorde whyle that we ben here
In February / as Phebus dothe retourne
The circuite of his golden spere
Upon this daye / ay fro yere to yere
With tapers fresshe / and bright torches shene
To kepe and halowe / in honoure of that quene /
¶ To whome this feste is in speciall
Dedicat bothe of more and lasse
Whiche bare her chylde in a litell stall
Betwene an Oxe / and a sely Asse
And blessed quene / this feste of Candelmasse
To thy seruauntes / shelde and socour be
To kepe and saue from all aduersite.
¶ Here endeth the boke of the lyfe of our Lady made by Dan Iohn Lydgate mōke of bury at thynstaūce of y e moste cristē kynge: kynge Henry the fyfth
¶ Go litell boke / and submitte the
Unto all them / that the shall rede
Or here / prayenge hem for charite
To pardon me of the rudehede
Of myne enpryntynge / nat takynge hede
And if ought be done to theyr pleasynge
Saye they these balades folowynge.

¶ Sancte & indiuidue Trinitate / Iesu Christi crucifixi humanitati gloriose beate Marie virgi­ni / sit sempiterna gloria / ab omni creatura / per in finita seculorum secula. Amen

¶ Unto the holy and vndeuided Trinite
Thre persones in one very godhede
To Iesu Christe crucefied humanite
And to our blessed ladyes maydenhede
Be gyuen laude and glorie in very [...]
[Page]Of euery creature / what soeuer he be
Worlde withouten ende / Amen saye all we.

¶ Benedictum sit dulcissime nom [...] Iesu Christi / et gloriosissime Marie matris eius [...]eter [...]ū & vltra. Nos cū ꝓle p [...]a b [...]dicat virgo Maria. Am [...],

¶ Blessed be the swettest name of our lorde
Iesu Christe / and moste glorious Marie
His blessed mother / with eternall accorde
More than euer / to endure in glorie
And with her meke sone for memorie
Blesse vs Marie / the moste holy virgine
That we reygne in heuen with the ordres nyne.
¶ Here endeth the lyfe of our Lady

¶ Imprynted at London in the Flete­strete / by me Robert Redman / dwellynge in saynt Dunstones parysshe / next y e chur­che. In the yere of our lorde god. M. CCCCC. xxx I. The fyrste daye of the moneth of Nouembre

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