And therfore, leve hufbond, I thus conclude,
Al be it that min aunceftres weren rude,

Yet may the highe God, and fo hope I,
Granten me grace to liven vertuously;
Than am I gentil whan that I beginne
To liven vertuously and weiven finne.
And ther as ye of poverte me repreve,
The highe God, on whom that we beleve,
In wilful poverte chefe to lede his lif;
And certes every man, maiden, or wif,
May understond that Jefus heven king
Ne wold not chefe a vicious living.

6755

6760

Glad poverte is an honeft thing certain,
This wol Senek and other clerkes fain..
Who fo that halt him paid of his poverte
I hold him rich, al had he not a fherte.
He that coveiteth is a poure wight,

For he wold han that is not in his might;

6765

6770

But he that nought hath, ne coveiteth to have,

Is riche, although ye hold him but a knave.
Veray poverte is finne proprely.

Juvenal faith of poverte mebily,

The poure man whan he goth by the way,
Beforn the theves he may fing and play.
Poverte is hateful good; and, as I geffe,
A ful gret bringer out of befineffe;

6775

. 6777. Poverte is hateful good] In this commendation of poverty our Author feems plainly to have had in view the following paffage of a fabulous conference between the EmpeTour Adrian and Secundus the philofopher, reported by Vin

A gret amender eke of fapience

To him that taketh it in patience.

6780

Poverte is this, although it seme elenge,

Poffeffion that no wight wol challenge.

Poverte ful often, whan a man is low,
Maketh his God and eke himself to know.
Poverte a fpectakel is, as thinketh me,
Thurgh which he may his veray frendes fee.
And therfore, Sire, fin that I you not greve,
Of my poverte no more me repreve.

Now, Sire, of elde that ye repreven me :
And certes, Sire, though non auctoritee
Were in no book, ye gentiles of honour
Sain that men fhuld an olde wight honour,
And clepe him Fader, for your gentilleffe;
And auctours fhal I finden, as I geffe.

6785

6790

Now ther ye fain that I am foule and old, Than drede ye not to ben a cokewold;

6795

cent of Beauvais, Spec. Hiftor. 1. x. c. 71;"Quid eft Pauper"tas? Odibile bonum; fanitatis mater; remotio curarum ; fa» "pientiæ repertrix; negotium fine damno; possessio abfque ca "lumnia; fine follicitudine felicitas." What Vincent has there published appears to have been extracted from a larger collection of Gnomæ under the name of Secundus, which are fill extant in Greek and Latin. See Fabric. Bib. Gr. 1. vi. c. x, and mf. Harl. 399. The author of Pierce Ploughman has quoted and paraphrafed the fame paffage, fol. 75.

V.6781.elenge] Strange; probably from the old Fr. efloingné, So in The Cuckow and Nightingale, ver. 115;

Thy fonges ben fo elenge in good fay.

And in P. P. fol. 3, b.;

Where the cat is a kiten the court is full elenges. See fol. 46, b. See alfo Glof. in v. Elenge.

For filthe, and elde alfo, fo mote I the,

Ben grete wardeins upon chastitce.
But natheles, fin I know your delit,

I fhal fulfill your worldly appetit.

6800

Chefe now (quod fhe) on of thise thinges twey,
To han me foule and old til that I dey,

And be to you a trewe humble wif,
And never you displese in all my lif;
Or elles wol ye han me yonge and faire,
And take your aventure of the repaire
That fhal be to your hous because of me,
Or in fom other place it may wel be?
Now chefe yourfelven whether that you
This knight avifeth him, and fore fiketh,
But at the laft he faid in this manere:

My lady and my love, and wif fo dere,

liketh.

6805

6810

I put me in your wife governance,..

Chefeth yourself which may be most plesance
And most honour to you and me alfo,

6815

I do no force the whether of the two,

For as you liketh it sufficeth me.

Than have I got the maifterie, quod fhe,

Sin I may chefe and governe as me left.

Ye certes, wif, quod he, I hold it beft.

6820

Kiffe me, quod fhe, we be no lenger wrothe,

1

For by my trouth I wol be to you bothe,

.6797. For filthe, and elde alfo, fo] Though none of the mff. that I have feen authorize the infertion of the fecond fo it feems abfolutely neceifary.

This is to fayn, ye bothe faire and good.
I pray to God that I mote fterven wood
But I to you be al fo good and trewe

As ever was wif fin that the world was newe,

And but I be to-morwe as faire to seen

As any lady, emperice, or quene,

That is betwix the est and eke the weft,

6825

Doth with my lif and deth right as you left. 6830
Caft up the curtein, loke how that it is.

And whan the knight saw veraily all this,
That the fo faire was, and fo yonge therto,
For joye he hent hire in his armes two:
His herte hathed in a bath of bliffe,
A thousand time a-row he gan hire kiffe:
And the obeyed him in every thing
That mighte don him plefance or liking.
And thus they live unto hir lives ende
In parfit joye; and Jefu Crist us fende

Hufbondes meke and yonge, and fressh a-bed,

And grace to overlive hem that we wed.
And eke I pray Jesus to short hir lives
That wol not be governed by hir wives;
And old and angry nigards of difpence
God fend hem fone a veray peftilence.

6835

6840

6846

THE FRERES PROLOGUE.
THis worthy limitour, this noble Frere, '
He made alway a maner louring chere
Upon the Sompnour, but for honestee
No vilains word as yet to him spake he;

But at the laft he faid unto the Wif

Dame, (quod he) God yeve you right good lif,
Ye have here touched, all fo mote I the,
In fcole matere a fal gret difficultie;
Ye han faid mochel thing right wel L-fay:
But, Dame, here as we riden by the way
Us nedeth not to fpeken but of ganie,
And let auctoritees, in Goddes name,
To preching and to fcole eke of clergie.

But if it like unto this compagnie

I wol you of a Sompnour tell a game;
Parde ye may wel knowen by the name
That of a Sompnour may no good be faid;
I pray that non of you be evil apaid:
A Sompnour is a renner up and doun
With mandements for fornicatioun,
And is ybete at every tounes ende.

6850

-6855

6860

6865

Tho fpake our Hofle, A, Sire, ye fhuld ben hende

V. 6858. Audoritees] Auctoritas was the ufual word for what we call a text of Scripture, mf. Harl. 106, 10; "Expofitio auc"toritatis, Majus gaudium fuper uno peccatore, Ibid. 21; "Expofito auctoritatis, Stetit populus de longe," c.