[
{"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1530, "culture": " English\n", "content": "Produced by MWS, Christopher Wright and the Online\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n[Illustration: QUEEN ANNE BOLEYN.\nENGRAVED BY E. SCRIVEN, AFTER\nTHE ORIGINAL PICTURE BY HOLBEIN.\n_London, Published Jan. 1, 1825, by Harding, Triphook & Lepard._]\n  THE\n  LIFE\n  OF\n  CARDINAL WOLSEY.\n  BY\n  GEORGE CAVENDISH,\n  HIS GENTLEMAN USHER.\n  FROM THE ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT.\n  WITH\n  NOTES AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS,\n  BY\n  SAMUEL WELLER SINGER, F.S.A.\n  [Illustration]\n  _SECOND EDITION._\n  LONDON:\n  PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON,\n  FOR HARDING AND LEPARD, PALL MALL EAST.\n  MDCCCXXVII.\n[Illustration]\n  TO HIS GRACE\n  THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE,\n  THIS REVIVAL OF A MOST INTERESTING\n  SPECIMEN OF COTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY,\n  BY HIS COLLATERAL ANCESTOR\n  GEORGE CAVENDISH,\n  IS WITH PERMISSION DEDICATED\n  BY HIS GRACE'S OBLIGED AND\n  OBEDIENT HUMBLE SERVANT,\n  S. W. SINGER.\nPREFACE.\nPerhaps few periods of English history are more remarkable than that\nwhich comprised the fortunes of Wolsey; a period which had to boast\nthe most illustrious potentates who have ever filled the thrones of\nEurope. The age of Henry was also that of Leo, of Charles, and of\nFrancis:--a period big with political events of singular interest:--the\ncaptivity of the French monarch and of the Roman Pontiff,--the\nsacking of Rome,--the divorce of Queen Katherine,--and the train of\ncircumstances which led the way to the Reformation,--Events in which\nWolsey's hand may be often traced, and in some of which he was a\nprincipal actor. The record of his life and its vicissitudes,--his\nhumble origin--his towering fortunes, and his sudden fall,--could not\nwell fail of interesting even in ordinary hands:--But he has been\nextremely fortunate in his biographer. The narrative contained in the\nfollowing pages, of course, only affords a glance at these events; it\nis not the work of a professed historiographer, but the production\nof a simple-hearted and honest eyewitness of what he relates. George\nCavendish was the faithful attendant of this princely prelate in his\ntriumphant as well as in his declining fortunes:--One who failed him\nnot in his adversity, but shed over his fallen master the tears of\naffection, performed for him the last sad offices of humanity, and then\nin his retirement sat down with honest indignation to vindicate him\nfrom slander, and to transmit to future ages a faithful picture of his\nlife, with a sacred regard to truth.\nIt is this circumstance which renders his work so much more interesting\nthan any thing of a similar kind with which I am acquainted. We are\nhere occasionally introduced to the secret recesses of the private\nlife of one of the most distinguished statesmen the world ever saw; of\none who not only divided the sway of empire with his monarch, but who\ngoverned or influenced the conduct alternately of France and Spain;\nwhose power for a time was almost unlimited, and whose magnificence has\nnever been exceeded.\nThere is a sincere and impartial adherence to truth, a reality in\nCavendish's narrative, which bespeaks the confidence of his reader, and\nvery much increases his pleasure. It is a work without pretension, but\nfull of natural eloquence, devoid of the formality of a set rhetorical\ncomposition, unspoiled by the affectation of that _classical manner_\nin which all biography and history of old time was prescribed to be\nwritten, and which often divests such records of the attraction to be\nfound in the conversational style of Cavendish. There is an unspeakable\ncharm in the na\u00efvet\u00e9 of his language--his occasional appeals to his\nreader--and the dramatic form of his narration, in which he gives the\nvery words of the interlocutors, and a lively picture of their actions,\nmaking us as it were spectators of the scenes he describes. Indeed\nour great poet has literally followed him in several passages of his\nKing Henry VIII. merely putting his language into verse. Add to this\nthe historical importance of the work, as the only sure and authentic\nsource of information upon many of the most interesting events of\nthat reign; from which all historians have largely drawn, (through\nthe secondary medium of Holinshed and Stowe, who adopted Cavendish's\nnarrative,) and its intrinsic value need not be more fully expressed.\nUpon the death of the Cardinal his master, Cavendish relates that the\nking gave him the same appointment, of Gentleman Usher, in his service,\nwhich he had filled in the household of Wolsey: yet at the close of\nhis work he tells us that he returned to his own home in the country.\nWhether his retirement was only temporary, or whether he then took his\nfinal leave of the court, we have no exact means of ascertaining. In\nhis poems he does not mention having served the king, yet dwells upon\nhis faithful services to the Cardinal; but the information he displays\nupon the principal subsequent events of the reign of Henry, and that\nof Edward VI. seems to lead to the conclusion that he was a spectator\nof them. In retirement he would have hardly been able to obtain\nthe acquaintance with public affairs which his poems show that he\npossessed. The circumstance of his sitting down to write in the reign\nof Philip and Mary[1], \"to eschewe all ociosite,\" would seem to point\nto that as the period of his retirement, or otherwise his conscience\nhad long slumbered before it accused him that his \"tyme he spent in\nidelnes.\"\nThe fate of this Life of Wolsey has been indeed singularly unfortunate;\nafter remaining in manuscript nearly a century, it was first printed in\n1641, for party purposes, but in such a garbled form as to be hardly\nrecognized for the same work, abridgment and interpolation having\nbeen used with an unsparing hand. Its author too had been robbed of\nhis literary honours, which were bestowed upon his younger and more\nfortunate brother Sir William Cavendish, until the year 1814, when\nhis cause was ably advocated in a Dissertation by the Rev. Joseph\nHunter, F.A.S. author of the History of Hallamshire. I am indebted\nto the kind intervention of my friend J. H. Markland, Esq. for the\nprivilege of reprinting that Dissertation, which the reader will find\nat the commencement of the volume, and will, I doubt not, be gratified\nin the perusal. It affords the best example of clear argumentative\nsolution of a literary paradox from circumstantial evidence with which\nI am acquainted, at the same time it is so skilfully interwoven with\ncurious matter bearing upon the question, as not only to divest it of\nthe sterile character with which disquisitions of the same kind from\nless able hands have been marked, but to render it very interesting. I\nowe Mr. Hunter my best acknowledgements for the ready manner in which\nthe favour was conferred, and I look to have the thanks of those, who\nare yet unacquainted with it, for uniting this tract with the work of\nGeorge Cavendish, from which it should never again be disjoined. For\nall that relates to the Life of Wolsey and its author, therefore, I\nshall beg leave to refer to this source of information; and it will\nonly remain for me to give an account of the present edition.\nHaving purchased two valuable ancient manuscript copies of the work,\none of them from among the duplicates of the late Duke of Norfolk's\nlibrary[2], I conceived that the text might be very much improved\nby collation of these and the several manuscripts in private and\npublic libraries. Upon naming the design to my friend Mr. Douce, he\nmentioned to me a very curious copy in the possession of Mr. Lloyd,\nwhich contained some verses apparently by the same author, and which\nfrom this circumstance might have some claim to be considered the\nauthor's original autograph. Upon application to that gentleman, he,\nwith a liberality which calls for my warmest thanks, immediately\nplaced the manuscript in my hands. I at once saw that its pretensions\nwere undoubted, and that it contained not only a more valuable text\nof the Life, but a series of poems, evidently in the hand writing of\nthe author, with occasional corrections and interlineations, and thus\nattested:--\"_per le Auctor_ G. C.\" in numerous places. On the first\nblank leaf is written in the same hand with the body of the manuscript,\n\"_Vincit qui patitur_ q^d G. C. _Maxima vindicta paciencia_;\" and then\n\"Cavendysh de Cavendysh in Com. Suff. gent.\" and beneath, \"I began\nthis booke the 4. day of Novemb^r.\" On the reverse of the same leaf is\nanother Latin sentence and the motto of Cavendish, _Cavendo tutus_.\nOn a succeeding blank leaf is the name of a former possessor, C.\nRossington[3], under which is written in another hand, \"i. e. Clement\nRossington of Dronfield, Gent. whose son Mr. James Rossington gave\nme this MS.\" It is remarkable that it should have passed into the\npossession of a person in Derbyshire. Those who have made Sir William\nCavendish the author would have seized upon this circumstance with\navidity as lending colour to their assertion, and would probably have\nargued that the initials G. C. by which _George_ Cavendish has attested\nit as his production in so many places, were intended to designate\n_Gulielmus_ Cavendish. Mr. Hunter has, however, settled the question\nbeyond the possibility of dispute; it is sufficient to remark here that\nSir William Cavendish died in 1557, and that this manuscript affords\nunequivocal evidence that the writer survived Queen Mary, who died at\nthe close of 1558. Unfortunately the first leaf of the text of the Life\nis wanting. At the end of the Author's Address to his Book, with which\nthe poems conclude, is the date of the completion of the manuscript,\nwhich will be found on the plate of fac-similes:\n    _Finie et compil\u00e9 le xxiiij jour de Junij._\n    _A^o. Regnor. Philippi Rex & Regine Marie iiij^{to}. & v^{to}._\n  Novus Rex, nova lex, Nova sola Regina, probz. pene ruina.\nThis invaluable acquisition made me at once change my plan, and\nproceed earnestly to the work of transcription; feeling convinced\nthat all other manuscripts were, in comparison, of little authority,\nI determined to follow this, as most entitled to confidence. Upon\ncomparing it with my own manuscript copies and the text of Dr.\nWordsworth, I found that it supplied the chasm which, for some unknown\nreason, is found in all the manuscripts that have come under my notice.\nThe suppressed passages contain the description of a boar hunt, and\nan account of the libels written against Wolsey by the French[4]; the\nimperfection is generally indicated by a blank space being left, which\nin Mr. Douce's MS. is accompanied by a note saying, \"in this vacante\nplace there wanteth copy.\" It was at first my intention to give various\nreadings, but upon closer comparison I found this would have\nbeen impracticable, because the text, as it appears in Dr. Wordsworth's\nedition and in the common manuscript copies, has been almost entirely\nrewritten; changes in the structure of the phrase and verbal\ndiscrepancies occur in almost every line. Under such circumstances\nI was obliged to content myself with indicating the most important\nvariations, I mean such as in any way affected the meaning of the text.\nI have however availed myself of my own manuscript copies, or of Dr.\nWordsworth's edition, to supply an occasional word or phrase which\nseemed necessary to the sense of a passage, but have always carefully\ndistinguished these additions, by enclosing them in brackets.\nIt is not easy to account for the extraordinary difference in the\nlanguage of the original autograph copy and the later manuscripts, by\nany other means than a supposition that the copyist thought he could\nimprove the style of Cavendish, which is indeed sometimes involved and\nobscure, but many of the discrepancies have clearly arisen from the\ndifficulty of reading his hand-writing, and the substitutions most\nfrequently occur where the original manuscript is the most illegible.\nIt is scarcely probable that Cavendish wrote another copy, for he was\nalready, as he himself says, old, and probably did not survive the date\nof the completion of this MS. above a year. There are no additions of\nthe least importance in the more recent copies; the few which occur\nhave been carefully noted.\nOf the Poems, to which I have given the title of METRICAL VISIONS, no\nother copy is known to exist. They have little or no merit as verses,\nbeing deficient in all the essential points of invention, expression\nand rhythm, and it is to be regretted that Cavendish, who knew so well\nhow to interest us by his artless narration of facts in prose, should\nhave invoked the muse in vain. He seems to have been sensible of his\ndeficiency, and says very truly\n \"I must write plain, colours I have none to paint.\"\nIn the former limited impression these Metrical Visions were printed,\nbut as they have little in them to interest the general reader, it has\nbeen deemed advisable to give only a specimen in the Appendix to the\npresent edition; the omission enabling the publishers to compress the\nwork into one volume, and thereby to make it more generally accessible.\nI have ventured to take the spelling and pointing into my own hands;\nbut in no instance have I presumed to alter the disposition of the\ntext. I have reason to think that the judicious reader will not be\ndispleased at what is done in this respect; it is no more than what\nhas been effected for Shakspeare and other of our ancient classics.\nThe orthography of Cavendish, as the specimen given from his poems\nwill evince, was exceedingly uncouth and unsettled; retaining it could\nhave answered no good end; those who wish to have recourse to the work\nfor philological purposes would most assuredly prefer the authority of\nmanuscripts; and the disguise of old spelling might have deterred many\nfrom reading this interesting narrative, to whom it will now afford\npleasure.\nThe remaining portion of the volume comprises a very curious Memoir\nof Queen Anne Boleyn by George Wyatt, grandson of Sir Thomas Wyatt,\nthe poet, containing some particulars relating to that unfortunate\nlady not elsewhere noted. It must be considered a valuable supplement\nto the notice of her contained in the Life of Wolsey. In the Appendix\nis also given a Parallel between Wolsey and Laud, written at the time\nwhen Cavendish's work first issued from the press; though its purpose\nwas to excite prejudice against Laud, it is not deficient in interest,\nand is conducted with tolerable temper. The original being of extreme\nrarity, and of sufficient brevity, I have thought that it would be an\nagreeable addition to this work. The few letters and papers which are\nadded were necessary illustrations of passages in the text and notes,\nand though some of them are to be found in books readily accessible,\nthey are not placed in connexion with the work to which they relate\nwithout sufficient reasons, which the reader will find stated in the\npreliminary notices; it is therefore unnecessary to repeat them in\nthis place. A few notes on the Life of Wolsey which have been adopted\nfrom Dr. Wordsworth's edition are distinguished by the letter W.\nIt is not generally known that a very curious edition of this Life was\nprinted by the zealous biographer of Wolsey, Mr. Grove of Richmond,\nas long since as the year 1761. He had first adopted the old spurious\ncopy, which he printed in the form of notes to his own work in 1742-4;\nbut afterwards meeting with a manuscript, he was so indignant upon\nfinding by comparison the forgeries and scandalous interpolations of\nthe old editions, that he printed off a small impression with a preface\nand notes; but it is one of the rarest of English books. For the loan\nof this curious volume[5] I am indebted to the kindness of Richard\nHeber, Esq. M.P. for the University of Oxford, whose liberality,\nin imparting the inexhaustible treasures of the richest and most\ncomprehensive library ever formed by one individual, it has been my\ngood fortune frequently to experience.\nMy excellent and highly valued friend Francis Douce, Esq. with his\naccustomed kindness, threw open to me his valuable library, and placed\nin my hands a very curious manuscript[6] of this Life, embellished with\nspirited drawings in outline of some of the principal occurrences,\nfrom which three prints have been accurately copied as appropriate\nembellishments of the book. With these advantages, I have reason to\nhope that this edition will be found in all respects worthy of the\nsingular merit of the work, and of the auspices under which it goes\nforth to the world.\n    BOX HILL,\nFOOTNOTES:\n[1] See the Life of Wolsey, page 102, where he speaks of King Philip\n_now_ our sovereign lord.\n[2] The Norfolk MS. is defective at the beginning, one leaf being lost,\nwhich contained a portion of the prologue; there is consequently no\ntitle to the work. It has a blank leaf at the place where the _lacun\u00e6_\nusually occur in the manuscript copies. The hand-writing is of the\nreign of Elizabeth, and the text corresponds very nearly with that of\nDr. Wordsworth: the orthography is not the same. This MS. is in its\noriginal binding, and has the name of its ancient possessor, _Henrie\nFarleigh_, stamped on each cover. The other manuscript copy in my\npossession is carefully written, but apparently of more recent date; it\nhas the following title in German text hand prefixed:\n                         Archbishoppe of Yorke\nThe same chasm is marked in this MS. as in the former, two pages and\na half being left blank, but the imperfect passages at the conclusion\nof the hunt, and at the commencement of the relation concerning the\nlibels on Wolsey, are completed by a few words as they now stand in\nDr. Wordsworth's text. The variations between these copies are chiefly\nliteral; the orthography is in many respects different.\n[3] Mr Hunter informs me that Clement Rossington the elder, who must\nbe here alluded to, died in 1737. He acquired the manor of Dronfield\nby his marriage with Sarah Burton, sister and co-heir of Ralph Burton,\nof Dronfield, Esq. who died in 1714. The father of Ralph and Sarah\nBurton was Francis Burton, also of Dronfield, who was aged twenty-five\nat the visitation of Derbyshire, 1662, and the mother, Helen, daughter\nand heir of Cassibelan Burton, son of William Burton the distinguished\nantiquary and historian of Leicestershire. There is good reason to\nbelieve that the Rossingtons were not likely to _purchase_ a book of\nthis curiosity, and it is therefore more than probable that it once\nformed part of the library of William Burton, other books which had\nbeen his having descended to them.\n[4] Vide pp. 181, 182, 183, and for another addition pp. 166, 167, 168;\nin the present edition the passages are included in brackets.\n[5] Bound up in the same volume with the Life of Wolsey, in Mr. Heber's\ncopy, are the following tracts bearing upon the subject; of which a\nvery limited impression appears to have been made, as they are all\nequally rare.\nTwo Dialogues in the Elysian Fields between Cardinal Wolsey and\nCardinal Ximenes, by Mr. Grove of Richmond. London, Printed for the\nAuthor by D. Leach, 1761.\nA Short Historical Account of Sir William Cavendish, Gentleman Usher\nto Cardinal Wolsey, and of his Lady Elizabeth (afterwards Countess\nof Shrewsbury) and their descendants. This has no title page. The\nObservations and Appendix to the Life of Wolsey appear to have been\nannexed, as the paging is continued.\nSix Appendices to a Short History of King Henry VIII. which he had\npreviously published. These have no general title, and are separately\npaged.\nA Short Examination into some Reflections cast on the Memory of\nCardinal Wolsey, by the Author of the Life of Sir Thomas More, in the\nBiographia Britannica. 1761.\nThe Life of Robert Wolsey, of Ipswich, Gentleman, Father of the famous\nCardinal. 1761.\nGrove has divided his edition into sections for the purpose of\nreference. His text has now nothing to recommend it, though it was then\na laudable undertaking: he occasionally shows that he could not very\nwell decipher his MS.; he puts _hinnocrisse_ for _hippocrass_ at p. 71,\nand at p. 76 _peeres_ for _speres_, with many other palpable mistakes.\nGrove's ingenuity, though not his ingenuousness, may be admired; for\nfinding in his manuscript the work attributed to _George_ Cavendish, he\nconverts it to _Gu._ Cavendish, Gent. not to disturb his own historical\naccount of Sir William Cavendish, in which he gives a circumstantial\nrelation of the intimacy between Wolsey and Thomas Cavendish of the\nExchequer, the father of Sir William, who, he says, placed him in the\nservice of Wolsey, and of the growth of his fortunes in consequence,\nwith a confidence and detail which is truly amusing.\n[6] This manuscript is carefully written in a volume with other curious\ntranscripts, and has marginal notes by the transcriber, who appears to\nhave been a puritan, from his exclamations against pomp and ceremony.\nAt the end he writes, \"Copied forth by S. B. anno 1578, the first day\nof September.\"\nCONTENTS.\n  WHO WROTE CAVENDISH'S LIFE OF WOLSEY? A\n  Dissertation. By THE REV. JOSEPH HUNTER,\n  THE LIFE OF WOLSEY BY GEORGE CAVENDISH                              16\n  APPENDIX.\n  EXTRACTS FROM THE LIFE OF ANNE BOLEIGNE, BY\n  GEORGE WYATT, ESQ. SON OF SIR THOMAS\n  SIX LETTERS, supplementary to the above Memoir;\n  containing Particulars of the Arrest of Queen Anne\n  Boleyn, and her Behaviour while in the Tower.\n  LETTER I.\n  _Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell._--Upon\n  Queen Anne's Committal to the Tower                                451\n  LETTER II.\n  _Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell._--On\n  LETTER III.\n  _Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell._--Further\n  LETTER IV.\n  _Edward Baynton to the Lord Treasurer._--Declaring\n  that only Mark will confess any Thing against\n  LETTER V.\n  _Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell, May 16,\n  1536._--Upon the Preparations for the Execution\n  LETTER VI.\n  _Sir William Kingston to the same._--Upon the same\n  ORIGINAL LETTERS,\n  ILLUSTRATIVE OF PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF WOLSEY.\n  LETTER VII.\n  _Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, to his Bedfellow\n  and Cosyn Thomas Arundel._--Complains of Injuries\n  received at the Hands of Cardinal Wolsey.\n  Humble Solicitations for his Favour in certain\n  LETTER VIII.\n  _The same to Secretary Cromwell._--Denying a Contract,\n  or Promise of Marriage, having ever existed between\n  LETTER IX.\n  _Queen Catherine of Arragon and King Henry VIII. to\n  Cardinal Wolsey._--A joint Letter, about the coming\n  of the Legate, and Expressions of Kindness                         465\n  LETTER X.\n  _Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Wolsey._--Thanking him for\n  his diligent Pains in the Affair of the Divorce                    467\n  LETTER XI.\n  _The same to the same._--The same Subject; and the\n  LETTER XII.\n  _Cardinal Wolsey, in his Distress, to Thomas Cromwell_             469\n  LETTER XIII.\n  _Cardinal Wolsey to Secretary Gardener_                            471\n  LETTER XIV.\n  _The same to the same._--The miserable Condition he is\n  in, his Decay of Health, and Poverty, and desiring\n  some Relief at the King's Hands. A melancholy\n  LETTER XV.\n  _The same to the same._--Desiring Gardener to write and\n  give him an Account of the King's Intentions in\n  LETTER XVI.\n  _The same to the same._--Requesting Gardener to expedite\n  the Making out his Pardon in large and ample\n  LETTER XVII.\n  _The same to the same._--In favour of the Provost of\n  Beverley, and desiring Gardener to intercede with\n  LETTER XVIII.\n  _The same to the same._--Desiring his Favour in a Suit\n  against him for a Debt of \u00a3700. by one Strangwish                  481\n  LETTER XIX.\n  _Lettre de M. de Bellay Evesque de Bayonne \u00e0 M. le\n  Grant Maistre, 17 Oct. 1529._--Containing an interesting\n  Picture of the Cardinal in his Troubles,\n  and desiring the Intercession of the King of France,\n  LETTER XX.\n  _Thomas Alvard to Thomas Cromwell._--Containing a\n  genuine Picture of one of the last Interviews with\n  which Wolsey was favoured by Henry VIII.                           487\n  A PARALLEL BETWEEN CARDINAL WOLSEY AND\nILLUSTRATIVE DOCUMENTS.\n  The Will of Thomas Wolsey, Father to the Cardinal                  502\n  Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, Notice of his Book against\n  the Divorce of Henry and Catherine of Arragon                      504\n  The Schedule appended to the King's Gift to the Cardinal\n  after his Forfeiture by the Premunire                              507\n  A Memoryall of such Communication as my Lorde\n  Legatts Grace had with the Queenes Almoner.--Containing\n  a circumstantial Account of Queen\n  Katherine's Objections to have her Cause finally\n  Itinerary of Cardinal Wolsey's last Journey to the\n  The Comming and Reseyvyng of the Lord Cardinall into\n  Powles for the Escaping of Pope Clement VII.\n  The Ceremonial of receiving the Cardinal's Hat, sent\n  Specimen of the Poems of GEORGE CAVENDISH                          526\nDIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES.\n  Fac Simile of the Original Autograph MS. _to face this page._\n  REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.\n  No. 1. Part of the Text of the commencement of the\n  Life, with the attestation _finis quod_ G. C.\n  No. 2. Last Stanza of the Author's Address to his Book,\n  with the subjoined inscription of the date of the\n  completion of the MS. _See Preface, p._ xvi.\n  Portrait of Anne Boleyn                            _to face the Title_\n  Dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk receive the great seal from\n  Tokens sent to Wolsey by the King and Anne Boleyn                  288\n[Illustration: _Fac simile of the Original Autograph M.S. of\nCavendish's Life of Wolsey._\n_Engraved by J. Swaine._]\nWHO WROTE CAVENDISH'S LIFE OF WOLSEY?\nFIRST PRINTED IN MDCCCXIV.\nWhen a writer undertakes to give _cuique suum_ in a question of\nliterary property, if he would avoid the ridicule which they deservedly\nincur who raise a controversy only that they may have the honour of\nsettling it, he must show that there are more claimants than one on the\nproperty he means to assign.\nThis then will be our first object.\n[Sidenote: To whom the Biographia attributes it.]\nLet the reader turn to the 'Biographia Britannica,' and look out the\narticle 'Sir William Cavendish.' He will find in either of the editions\nwhat follows in the words of Dr. Campbell, the original projector of\nthat work, or rather of his friend Mr. Morant, the historian of Essex,\nfor it does not appear that the later editors have either reconsidered\nthe article, or added to it any thing material. Sir William Cavendish,\nwe are told, \"had a liberal education given him by his father, who\nsettled upon him also certain lands in the county of Suffolk; but\nmade a much better provision for him by procuring him to be admitted\ninto the family of the great Cardinal Wolsey, upon whom he waited in\nquality of gentleman usher of his chamber.\"----\"As Mr. Cavendish was\nthe Cardinal's countryman, and the Cardinal had a great kindness for\nhis father, he took him early into his confidence, and showed him\nupon all occasions very particular marks of kindness and respect[7].\"\nSeveral extracts from the Life of Wolsey are then produced to show\nthe honourable nature of this employment. Mr. Cavendish's faithful\nadherence to Wolsey in his fall receives due encomium: and we are then\nfavoured with a detail of Mr. Cavendish's public services after the\nCardinal's death, his rich rewards, his knighthood, marriages, and\nissue, in which the writer of the article has followed Sir William\nDugdale, and the Peerages. Towards the conclusion Cavendish is spoken\nof in his character of an author, a character which alone could entitle\nhim to admission into that temple of British worthies. We are told that\n\"he appears from his _writings_ to have been a man of great honour and\nintegrity, a good subject to his prince, a true lover of his country,\nand one who preserved to the last a very high reverence and esteem\nfor his old master and first patron Cardinal Wolsey, _whose life he\nwrote in the latter part of his own_, and there gives him a very high\ncharacter.\"----\"This work of his remained long in manuscript, and the\n_original_ some years ago was in the hands of the Duke of Kingston,\nsupposed to be given by the author to his daughter, who married into\nthat family. It had been seen and consulted by the Lord Herbert when he\nwrote his history of the Reign of King Henry VIII., but _he was either\nunacquainted with our author's Christian name, or mistook him for his\nelder brother George Cavendish of Glemsford in the county of Suffolk,\nEsq._ for by that name his lordship calls him: but it appears plainly\nfrom what he says that the history he made use of was our author's.\" p.\n[Sidenote: To whom, Lord Herbert.]\n[Sidenote: To whom the Peerages.]\nSuch is the reputation in which the Biographia Britannica is held in\nthe world, and indeed not undeservedly, that most writers of English\nbiography have recourse to it for information: and with its authority\nthose among them are usually well satisfied, who neither value, nor\nare willing to undertake, the toilsome researches of the genealogist\nand the antiquary. Another such work, for an illustrious class of\nEnglish worthies, is 'The Peerage of England,' begun by the respectable\nand ill rewarded Arthur Collins, and continued by successive editors\nwith as much exactness as could reasonably have been expected. The\nseveral editions of this work, from that of 1712, in one volume,\nto that of 1812, in nine, contain the same account of Sir William\nCavendish's attendance upon Wolsey, of his tried attachment to him, and\nof his lasting gratitude to the memory of his old master, displayed\nin writing apologetical memoirs of his life. At the very opening of\nthe pages devoted to the Devonshire family, in the recent edition of\nthis work, we are told that \"the potent and illustrious family of\nCavendish, of which, in the last century, two branches arrived at\ndukedoms, laid the foundation of their future greatness, first, on the\nshare of abbey lands obtained at the dissolution of monasteries by Sir\nWilliam Cavendish, who had been gentleman usher to Cardinal Wolsey,\nwho died in 1557, and afterwards by the abilities, the rapacity, and\nthe good fortune of Elizabeth his widow, who remarried George Earl of\nShrewsbury, and died in 1607[8].\" And afterwards, in the account of\nthe said Sir William Cavendish, we are told nearly in the words used\nby Morant, that \"to give a more lasting testimony of his gratitude to\nthe Cardinal, he drew up a fair account of his life and death, which\nhe wrote in the reign of Queen Mary: whereof the oldest copy is in\nthe hands of the noble family of Pierrepoint, into which the author's\ndaughter was married. Lord Herbert of Cherbury, in the Life and Reign\nof King Henry VIII., quotes the manuscript in many places, _but\nmentions George Cavendish to be the author of it; which, from divers\ncircumstances, we may conclude to be a mistake_. In the year 1641 it\nwas printed, and again in 1667[9].\" A full account is then given of the\npublic employments and honourable rewards of Sir William Cavendish;\nand the descent of the two ducal families of Devonshire and Newcastle\nfrom this most fortunate subject is set forth with all due regard to\ngenealogical accuracy.\n[Sidenote: Sir William Cavendish generally understood to be the author;]\n[Sidenote: but erroneously.]\nFrom these two great public reservoirs of English biography this\naccount of Sir William Cavendish, both as an author and a man, has\nbeen drawn off into innumerable other works. Writers of high authority\nin affairs of this nature have adopted it; and even historians of the\nlife of Wolsey, upon whom it appeared to be incumbent to make accurate\ninquiry into this subject, have retailed as unquestioned truth what\nthe Biographia and the Peerages have told us concerning an author\nto whose most faithful and interesting narrative they have been so\nlargely indebted. Sir William Cavendish may therefore be regarded as\nthe tenant in possession of this property: nor, as far as I know, hath\nhis right ever been formally controverted. Before the reader has got to\nthe last page of this little treatise he will probably have seen reason\nto conclude that this account is _all fable_: for that Sir William\nCavendish could not possibly have been the Cardinal's biographer, nor,\nof course, the faithful attendant upon him; that circumstance of his\nhistory proceeding entirely upon the supposition that he was the writer\nof the work in question[10].\n[Sidenote: A third claimant.]\nWhile we have thus brought before the public the person who may be\nconsidered as the _presumed proprietor_ of this work, we have also made\ngood our promise to show that there are more claimants than one upon\nthis piece of literary property. Lord Herbert, we have seen, quotes the\nmanuscript as the production of a _George_ Cavendish. Other writers of\nno mean authority, as will be seen in the course of this disquisition,\nhave attributed it to another member of the house of Cavendish whose\nname was _Thomas_.\nThe editors of the Biographia and the Peerages have made very light\nof my Lord Herbert's testimony. What those _divers circumstances_ were\nwhich led the latter to reject it, as they have not informed us, so we\nmust be content to remain in ignorance. The noble historian of the life\nand reign of Henry VIII. is not accustomed to quote his authorities at\nrandom. If he sometimes endeavour too much to palliate enormities which\ncan neither be excused nor softened down, he is nevertheless generally\ncorrect as to the open fact, as he is always ingenious and interesting.\nSupported by so respectable an authority, the pretensions of this\nGeorge Cavendish of Glemsford to have been the faithful attendant upon\nWolsey, and the lively historian of his rise and fall, ought to have\nreceived a more patient examination. Descended of the same parents\nwith Sir William, and by birth the elder, in fortune he was far behind\nhim. At a period of great uncertainty the two brothers took opposite\ncourses. William was for reform, George for existing circumstances.\nContrary to the ordinary course of events, the first was led to wealth\nand honours, the latter left in mediocrity and obscurity. The former\nyet lives in a posterity not less distinguished by personal merit than\nby the splendour cast upon them by the highest rank in the British\npeerage, the just reward of meritorious services performed by a race\nof patriots their ancestors. Of the progeny from the other, history has\nno splendid deeds to relate; and, after the third generation, they are\nunknown to the herald and the antiquary. But this is to anticipate.\nI contend that the wreath which he has justly deserved, who produces\none of the most beautiful specimens of unaffected faithful biography\nthat any language contains, has been torn from this _poor_ man's brow,\nto decorate the temples of his more fortunate brother. To replace it\nis the object of the present publication. It will, I trust, be shown,\nto the satisfaction of the reader, that this George Cavendish was the\nauthor of the work in question, and the disinterested attendant upon\nthe fallen favourite. The illustrious house of Devonshire needs no\nborrowed merit to command the respect and admiration of the world.\n[Sidenote: George Cavendish the real author.]\n[Sidenote: Writers who have advanced his claim.]\n[Sidenote: Wanley.]\n[Sidenote: Grove.]\n[Sidenote: Douce.]\n[Sidenote: Wordsworth.]\nLet it not however be supposed that the writer is meaning to arrogate\nto himself the credit of being the first to dispute the right of Sir\nWilliam Cavendish, and to advance the claim of the real owner. The\npossession which Sir William has had has not been an undisturbed one:\nso that were there any statute of limitations applicable to literary\nproperty, that statute would avail him nothing. The manuscript of this\nwork, which now forms a part of the Harleian library, is described by\nthe accurate Wanley as being from the pen of a _George_ Cavendish[11].\nIn 1742 and the two following years, 'A History of the Life and Times\nof Cardinal Wolsey' was published in four volumes octavo by Mr. Joseph\nGrove, who subjoined, in the form of notes, the whole of what was then\nknown to the public of these Memoirs; describing them in a running\ntitle, 'The Secret History of the Cardinal, by _George_ Cavendish,\nEsq.:' but, as if to show that no one who touched this subject should\nescape defilement from the errors of the Biographia and the Peerages,\nhe confounds together the two brothers in the account he gives of the\nauthor at the 98th page of his third volume. During the remainder of\nthe last century it does not appear that Sir William Cavendish suffered\nany material molestation in his possession of this property: but in the\npresent century Mr. Francis Douce, in his most curious 'Illustrations\nof Shakspeare,' restores to _George_ Cavendish the honour of having\nproduced this work, and marks by significative _Italics_ that it was\nan honour which another had usurped[12]. Dr. Wordsworth may also be\nranked amongst those writers who have ventured to put a spade into\nSir William's estate. To this gentleman belongs the merit of having\nfirst presented to the public an impression of this work, which conveys\nany just idea of the original[13]. In an advertisement he expresses\nhimself thus cautiously as to the name of the author: \"The following\nlife was written by the Cardinal's gentleman-usher, Cavendish, whose\nChristian name in the superscription to some of the manuscript copies\nis _George_, but by Bishop Kennet, in his Memoirs of the family of\nCavendish, by Collins in his Peerage, and by Dr. Birch (No. 4233,\nAyscough's Catalogue Brit. Museum) he is called _William_[14].\" Had the\nlearned editor pursued the question thus started, it is probable he\nwould have been led to the conclusion which will here be brought out,\nand have thus rendered wholly unnecessary the disquisition now tendered\nto the notice of the public. But here he has suffered the matter to\nrest.\n[Sidenote: Doubts of Sir William Cavendish's right to this work gained\nnot much credit in the world.]\nAnd indeed, to say the truth, though there may possibly have been two\nor three other writers who have intimated a doubt as to the right of\nSir William Cavendish to the work in question, these doubts seem never\nto have gained hold on the public attention. It would be an invidious\ntask to collect together the many modern supporters of his claim: there\nare, amongst them, names who have deservedly attained a high degree\nof celebrity in the walks of biography, history, antiquities, and\ntopography. All the writer wishes is, that he may stand excused with\nthe public in offering what he has collected upon this point: and if\nthe concession is made that the suspicions of Sir William Cavendish's\nright to this piece of biography have never gained much hold on the\npublic mind, and that it is a prevailing opinion in the world that\nthe greatness in which we now behold the house of Devonshire owes\nits origin to a train of fortunate circumstances resulting out of\nan attendance on Cardinal Wolsey, he must consider himself as amply\nexcused.\nLet us now hear the evidence.\n[Sidenote: Authorities in his favour,]\n[Sidenote: all modern.]\nThe learned editor of the 'Ecclesiastical Biography' has mentioned\nseveral _names_ as supporters of Sir William's claim. And indeed, if\n_names_ might carry the day, Kennet and Collins, Birch and Morant,\nare in themselves a host. But who is there accustomed to close and\nminute investigation, that has not discovered for himself, of how\nlittle moment is _simple authority_ in any question? It is, especially,\nof little weight in historical and antiquarian discussion. The\nmost laborious may sometimes overlook evidence which is afterwards\naccidentally discovered to another of far inferior pretensions: the\nmost accurate may mistake: the most faithful may be bribed into\ninattention by supposititious facts, which give a roundness and\ncompactness to what, without them, forms but an imperfect narration.\nThe case before us may possibly come under the latter head. Take away\nthe attendance upon Wolsey, and we have several years unaccounted for\nin the life of Sir William Cavendish; and lose what the mind perceives\nto be a step by which a private gentleman, as he was, might advance\nhimself into the councils of princes, and the possession of important\noffices of state. There is in this what might lay a general biographer,\nwho was a very Argus, asleep. But these authorities, it must also be\nobserved, are all _moderns_: they lived a century and a half after\nboth the Cavendishes had been gathered to their fathers; and earlier\nbiographers, who have made mention of this founder of two ducal houses,\nhave said nothing of any attendance upon the Cardinal, never ascribed\nthe flourishing state of his fortunes to any recommendation of him to\nthe king from his old master, nor taken any notice of what is so much\nto his honour, that he adhered faithfully to Wolsey in his fall, and\nproduced this beautiful tribute to his memory. Negative evidence of\nthis kind, it may be said, is of no great weight. It will be allowed,\nhowever, to be of some, when it is recollected who they are that have\nomitted these _leading particulars_ in Sir William Cavendish's history.\nThey are no other than the author of 'The Baronage of England,' and\nMargaret Duchess of Newcastle, who has given a laboured genealogy\nof the ancestors and kindred of her lord, a grandson of Sir William\nCavendish, annexed to the very entertaining memoirs which she left of\nhis life. The _omissions_ of two such writers, living at the time when\nthis work was first made public, and whose duty as well as inclination\nit would have been to have mentioned the fact, had it been so, will at\nleast serve to weigh against the positive but unsupported testimonies\nof the abovementioned respectable writers, all of whom lived much\ntoo late to be supposed to have received any information by private\ntradition.\n[Sidenote: Dugdale and the Duchess of Newcastle do not ascribe it to\nhim.]\n[Sidenote: The original MS. said to be in the hands of the Pierrepoint\nfamily.]\n[Sidenote: Manuscripts;]\n[Sidenote: reason for their multiplication.]\nBut the _original_ manuscript was in the hands of the Pierrepoint\nfamily, and into that family Sir William Cavendish's daughter was\nmarried. Possibly; but were it even so, it is obvious that this lays\nbut a very insufficient foundation for believing that Sir William was\nthe author. Why might it not have been given to Frances Cavendish by\nGeorge Cavendish her uncle? But Doctor Kennet, upon whose authority\nthis statement has been made, has not informed us by what criterion he\nwas guided in assigning that priority to the Pierrepoint manuscript\nwhich this statement assumes. There are so many manuscripts of this\nwork abroad, that it must, I presume, be exceedingly difficult to\ndecide which has the best claim to be the author's autograph, if\nindeed that autograph be in existence[15]. Scarcely any work of this\nmagnitude, composed after the invention of printing, has been so\noften transcribed. There is a copy in the cathedral library at York\nwhich once belonged to Archbishop Matthew; another very valuable one\nin the library of the College of Arms, presented to that learned\nsociety by Henry Duke of Norfolk; another in Mr. Douce's collection;\nanother in the public library at Cambridge; another in the Bodleian.\nThere are two in Mr. Heber's library; two at Lambeth; two in the\nBritish Museum[16]. The reason of this multiplication of copies by\nthe laborious process of transcription seems to have been this: the\nwork was composed in the days of Queen Mary by a zealous catholic,\nbut not committed to the press during her short reign. It contained a\nvery favourable representation of the conduct of a man who was held\nin but little esteem in the days of her successor, and whom it was\nthen almost treason to praise. The conduct of several persons was\nreflected on who were flourishing themselves, or in their immediate\nposterity, in the court of Queen Elizabeth: and it contained also the\nfreest censures of the Reformation, and very strong remarks upon the\nconduct and character of Anne Boleyn, the Cardinal's great enemy. It\nis probable that no printer could be found who had so little fear of\nthe Star-Chamber before his eyes as to venture the publication of a\nwork so obnoxious: while such was the gratification which all persons\nof taste and reading would find in it, from its fidelity, its curious\nminuteness, its lively details, and above all, from that unaffected air\nof sweet natural eloquence in which it is composed, that many among\nthem must have been desirous of possessing it. Can we wonder then that\nso many copies should have been taken between the time when it was\nwritten and the year 1641, when it was first sent to the press: or that\none of these copies should have found its way into the library of Henry\nPierrepoint, Marquis of Dorchester, who was an author, and a man of\nsome taste and learning[17]? It cannot surely be difficult to divine\nhow it came into his possession, without supposing that it was brought\ninto his family by Sir William's daughter, his grandmother, Frances\nCavendish.\n[Sidenote: No evidence in his favour from the MSS.]\nTrifling as it appears, we have now had nearly all that has ever\nbeen alleged as rendering it probable that Sir William Cavendish was\nthe author of this work. We have no evidence in his favour from any\nearly catalogue of writers in English history: nor any testimony in\ninscription or title upon any of the manuscripts, except a modern one\nby Dr. Birch, upon one of the Museum copies. But in appropriating\nany literary composition to its author, that evidence is the most\nconclusive which is derived from the work itself. This is the kind\nof proof to which it is proposed to bring the claims of the two\ncompetitors. It is contended that there are passages in the work, and\nself-notices, which are absolutely inconsistent with the supposition\nthat it was the production of the person to whom it has usually been\nascribed. Let us attend to these.\n[Sidenote: Time when the work was written.]\nIt will be of some importance to us to have clearly ascertained the\nperiod at which this work was composed. We have information sufficient\nfor this purpose. At page 350[18] of Dr. Wordsworth's impression, we\nread that the Cardinal \"was sent twice on an embassage unto the Emperor\nCharles the Fifth that now reigneth, and father unto King Philip,\nnow our soveraign lord.\" Mary queen of England was married to Philip\nof Spain on the 25th of July, 1554. Again, at page 401, we hear of\n\"Mr. Ratcliffe, who was sonne and heire to the Lord Fitzwalter, and\nnowe[19] Earle of Sussex.\" The Earl of Sussex of Queen Mary's reign,\nwho had been son and heir to a Lord Fitzwalter in the days of King\nHenry VIII., could be no other than Henry Radcliffe, the second earl\nof that name, who died on the 17th of February, 1557[20]. Without\nincurring any risk by following older authorities, when so much\nmisconception is abroad, we may set down as fairly proved that the Life\nof Wolsey was composed about the middle of the reign of Queen Mary[21].\n[Sidenote: The author a neglected man.]\nNow we may collect that the author, whoever he was, thought himself a\n_neglected_ man at the time of writing. He tells us that he engaged in\nthe work to vindicate the memory of his master from \"diverse sondrie\nsurmises and imagined tales, made of his proceedings and doings,\"\nwhich he himself had \"perfectly knowen to be most untrue.\" We cannot\nhowever but discover, that he was also stimulated by the desire of\nattracting attention to himself, the old and faithful domestic of a\ngreat man whose character was then beginning to retrieve itself in\nthe eyes of an abused nation, and whose misfortunes had prevented him\nfrom advancing his servants in a manner accordant to his own wishes,\nand to the dignity of his service. He dwells with manifest complacency\nupon the words of commendation he received on different occasions from\nhis master; and relates towards the conclusion how kindly he had been\nreceived by the king after the death of Wolsey, and what promises\nhad been made to him both by Henry and the Duke of Norfolk, who yet\nsuffered him to depart into his own country. But what shows most\nstrikingly that he was an unsatisfied man, and thought that he had\nby no means had the reward due to his faithful services, is a remark\nhe makes after having related the sudden elevation of Wolsey to the\ndeanery of Lincoln. \"Here,\" says he, \"may all men note the chaunces\nof fortune that followethe some whome she intendeth to promote, and\nto some her favor is cleane contrary, though they travaille never so\nmuch, with all the painfull diligence that they can devise or imagine:\n_whereof for my part I have tasted of the experience_.\" p. 332[22].\n[Sidenote: Not so Sir William Cavendish.]\n[Sidenote: His employments, promotions, and rewards.]\nThere are persons whom nothing will satisfy, and they are sometimes\nthe most importunate in obtruding their supposed neglects upon the\npublic: but it must surely have been past all endurance to have had\nsuch a complaint as this preferred by Sir William Cavendish in the\ndays of Queen Mary. His life had been a continual series of promotions\nand lucrative employments. In 1530, the very year in the November of\nwhich the Cardinal died, he was constituted one of the commissioners\nfor visiting and taking the surrenders of divers religious houses. In\n1539 he was made one of the Auditors of the Court of Augmentations,\nthen lately established. At this period of his life he was living\nluxuriously at his mansion of North Awbrey near Lincoln, as appears\nby the inventory of his furniture there, which is preserved in\nmanuscript[23]. In the next year he had a royal grant of several\nlordships in the county of Hertford. In 1546 he was knighted;\nconstituted treasurer of the chamber to the king, a place of great\ntrust and honour; and was soon afterwards admitted of the privy\ncouncil. He continued to enjoy all these honours till his death, a\nspace of eleven years, in which time his estate was much increased\nby the grants he received from King Edward VI. in seven several\ncounties[24]. It was not surely for such a man as this to complain\nof the _ludibria fortun\u00e6_, or of the little reward all his \"painful\ndiligence\" had received. Few men, as Sylvius says, would have such a\n\"poverty of grace\" that they would not\n    \"----think it a most plenteous crop\n    To glean the broken ears after the man\n    That such a harvest reaps.\"\nSir William Cavendish began the world the younger son of a family of\nsome respectability, but of no great wealth or consequence; and he\nleft it, at about the age of fifty, a knight, a privy counsellor, and\nthe owner of estates which, managed and improved as they were by his\nprudent relict, furnished two houses with the means of supporting in\nbecoming splendour the very first rank in the British peerage.\n[Sidenote: Zealous against the Reformation.]\nBut an ambitious man is not to be contented; and men do form erroneous\nestimates of their own deserts: let us see, then, if the work will\nnot supply us with something more conclusive. The writer is fond\nof bringing forward his religious sentiments. The reader will be\namused with the following sally against the Reformation, its origin,\nand favourers. He who is disposed may find in it matter for serious\nreflection. When Cavendish has related that the king submitted to be\ncited by the two legates, and to appear in person before them, to be\nquestioned touching the matter of the divorce, he breaks out into this\nexclamation:--\"Forsoothe it is a world to consider the desirous will\nof wilfull princes, when they be set and earnestly bent to have their\nwills fulfilled, wherein no reasonable persuasions will suffice; and\nhow little they regard the dangerous sequell that may ensue, as well\nto themselves as to their subjects. And above all things, there is\nnothing that maketh them more wilfull than carnall love and sensuall\naffection of voluptuous desire, and pleasures of their bodies, as was\nin this case; wherein nothing could be of greater experience than to\nsee what inventions were furnished, what lawes were enacted, what\ncostly edifications of noble and auncient monasteries were overthrowne,\nwhat diversity of opinions then rose, what executions were then\ncommitted, how many noble clerkes and good men were then for the same\nput to deathe, what alteration of good, auncient, and holesome lawes,\ncustomes, and charitable foundations were tourned from reliefe of the\npoore, to utter destruction and desolation, almost to the subversion of\nthis noble realme. It is sure too much pitty to heare or understand the\nthings that have since that time chaunced and happened to this region.\nThe profe thereof hath taught us all Englishmen the experience, too\nlamentable of all good men to be considered. If eyes be not blind men\nmay see, if eares be not stopped they may heare, and if pitty be not\nexiled the inward man may lament the sequell of this pernicious and\ninordinate love. Although it lasted but a while, the plague thereof is\nnot yet ceased, which our Lorde quenche and take his indignation from\nus! _Qui peccavimus cum patribus nostris, et injuste egimus._\" p. 420\n[Sidenote: Not so Sir William Cavendish.]\nThis passage, warm from the heart, could have been written by none\nbut a zealous anti-reformist. That certainly was not Sir William\nCavendish. He had been one of the principal instruments in effecting\nwhat I must be allowed to call a necessary and glorious work. Men\nare not accustomed to record their own condemnation with such a\nbold, untrembling hand. That hand, which is supposed to have penned\nthese words, had been once extended to receive the conventual seal\nof the Priory of Sheen, and the Abbey of St. Alban's. The person by\nwhom we are to believe they were written had been an officer in that\ncourt which was purposely erected to attend to the augmentation of\nthe king's revenue by the sequestration of ecclesiastical property;\nthe proceedings of which court were too often unnecessarily harsh\nand arbitrary, if not unjust and oppressive. Nay, more, at the very\ntime these words were written, Sir William Cavendish was living on\nthe spoils of those very monasteries whose overthrow is so deeply\ndeplored; and rearing out of them a magnificent mansion at Chatsworth\nin Derbyshire, to be the abode of himself and his posterity. After so\nlong and so decided a passage, it has been thought unnecessary to quote\nany other: but throughout the work appears the same zeal in the writer\nto signalize himself as a friend to the old profession. May not this\nbe considered as amounting to something almost conclusive against the\nsupposition that the attendant upon Wolsey and Sir William Cavendish\nwere the same person?\n[Sidenote: Sir William Cavendish did not change with the times.]\nWill it be said that he turned with the times; that he who, in the\nProtestant reigns, had been zealous for the _Gospel_, in the Catholic\nreign was equally zealous for the _Mass_: and that this work was his\n_amende_ to the offended party? I know not of any authority we have\nfor charging this religious tergiversation upon Sir William Cavendish,\nwho, for any thing that appears in his history, was animated by\nother views in promoting the cause of reform, than the desire of\npersonal advancement, and of obtaining the favour of his prince:\nand I am prepared with two facts in his history, not mentioned by\nformer writers, which are unfavourable to such a supposition. The\nfirst shows that he was in some disgrace at the court of Queen Mary\nas late as the fourth year of her reign; the second, that he did not\nseek to ingratiate himself there. On the 17th of August, 1556, a very\nperemptory order of council was issued, commanding his \"indelaid\nrepaire\" to the court to answer on \"suche matters as at his c\u014dmyng\"\nshould be declared unto him. The original, subscribed by seven of the\nQueen's council, is among the Wilson collections mentioned in the note\nat page 22. What the particular charges were it is not material to our\nargument to inquire. The next year also, the year in which he died,\nhe ungraciously refused a loan of one hundred pounds required of him\nand other Derbyshire gentlemen by the Queen, when her majesty was in\ndistress for money to carry on the French war. These facts show that\nthough he was continued in the offices of treasurer of the chamber and\nprivy counsellor, he was in no very high esteem with Queen Mary, nor\nsought to conciliate her favourable regards. To which we may add, that\nhis lady, whose spirit and masculine understanding would probably give\nher very considerable influence in the deliberations of his mind, was\nthrough life a firm friend to the Reformation, and in high favour with\nQueen Elizabeth.\nWhatever effect the preceding facts and argument may have had upon the\nreader's mind, there is a piece of evidence still to be brought out,\nwhich is more conclusive against the claim of Sir William Cavendish.\nSoon after the Cardinal was arrested at his house of Cawood in\nYorkshire, Cavendish tells us that he resorted to his lord, \"where he\nwas in his chamber sitting in a chaire, the tables being spred for him\nto goe to dinner. But as soone as he perceived me to come in, he fell\nout into suche a wofull lamentation, with suche ruthefull teares and\nwatery eies, that it would have caused a flinty harte to mourne with\nhim. And as I could, I with others comforted him; but it would not\nbe. For, quoth he, nowe I lament that I see this gentleman (meaning\nme) how faithefull, how dilligent, and how painefull he hath served\nme, abandonning his owne country, _wife and children_, his house and\nfamily, his rest and quietnesse, only to serve me, and I have nothinge\nto rewarde him for his highe merittes.\" p. 517.\n[Sidenote: The author married and a father before 1530.]\n[Sidenote: Not so Sir William Cavendish.]\nHence it appears that the Cavendish who wrote this work was married,\nand had a family _probably_ before he entered into the Cardinal's\nservice, _certainly_ while he was engaged in it. At what precise period\nhe became a member of the Cardinal's household cannot be collected\nfrom his own writings. Grove says it was as early as 1519[25]; the\nBiographia tells us that the place was procured for him by his father,\nwho died in 1524. This however is certain, that the first mention of\nhimself, as one in attendance upon the Cardinal, is in the exceedingly\ncurious account he has given of the means used to break the growing\nattachment between the Lord Percy and Anne Boleyn, in order to make way\nfor the king. Cavendish was present when the Earl of Northumberland\ntook his son to task. This must have been before the year 1527; for in\nthat year the Lord Percy became himself Earl of Northumberland; and\nprobably it was at least a twelvemonth before; for ere the old Earl's\ndeparture, a marriage had been concluded between Lord Percy and the\nLady Mary Talbot, a daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury[26]. In 1526\nthen, the Cavendish who wrote this work was a member of Wolsey's\nhousehold. Now, fortunately for this inquiry, it happens that an exact\naccount has been preserved of the several marriages and the numerous\nissue of Sir William Cavendish. It is to be found in the funeral\ncertificate, which, according to a laudable custom of those times, was\nentered by his relict among the records of the College of Arms. This\ndocument, subscribed by her own hand, sets forth that her husband's\nfirst-born child came into the world on the 7th of January, in the 25th\nyear of King Henry VIII. This answers to 1534: that is at least seven\nyears after the Cavendish, for whom we are inquiring, had become a\nmember of Wolsey's family, and more than three years after the Cardinal\nhad remarked that his gentleman usher had left \"wife and children, his\nhome and family, his rest and quietnesse,\" only to serve him. This is\ndecisive.\n[Sidenote: The funeral certificate where to be found.]\nThe document which contains these family particulars of the Cavendishes\nis not known only to those gentlemen who have access to the arcana of\nthe College of Arms. It has been published: and it is remarkable that\nArthur Collins, who has been a principal cause of the error concerning\nthe author of this work, gaining such firm hold on the public mind,\nshould have been the first to lay before the public a record which\nproves beyond dispute that the Cavendish who wrote the Life of Wolsey\ncould not be the Cavendish who was the progenitor of the house of\nDevonshire. It is printed in his 'Noble Families,' where is a more\ncomplete account of the Cavendishes than is to be found in his Peerage,\nand which might have been transferred with advantage into the later\neditions of that work. This document has also been printed by Guthrie\nand Jacob, whose account of the nobility of this nation may often\nbe consulted with advantage, after having read any of the editions\nof Collins. Of its _authenticity_, the only point material to this\ninquiry, no suspicion can reasonably be entertained.\n[Sidenote: How the early years of Sir William Cavendish may have been\nspent.]\nWe have now brought to a conclusion our inquiry into the right of the\n_tenant in possession_. It has been questioned, examined, and, I think,\ndisproved. It is not contended that the common opinion respecting Sir\nWilliam Cavendish's attendance upon Wolsey does not harmonize well\nenough with what is known of his real history, and to render our proof\nabsolutely complete, it might seem to be almost incumbent upon us to\nshow how Sir William Cavendish was engaged while Wolsey's biographer\nwas discharging the duties of his office as an attendant upon the\nCardinal. Could we do this, we should also disclose the steps by which\nhe attained to his honourable state employments, and the favour of\nsuccessive monarchs. In the absence of positive testimony I would be\npermitted to hazard the conjecture, that in early life he followed the\nsteps of his father, who had an office in the court of Exchequer. Such\nan education as he would receive in that court would render him a most\nfit instrument for the purpose in which we first find his services\nused, the suppression of the monasteries, and the appropriation of the\nlands belonging to them to his royal master. Having signalized his\nzeal, and given proof of his ability in this service, so grateful to\nthe King, we may easily account for his further employments, and the\npromotions and rewards which followed them. Let it however be observed,\nthat this is no essential part of our argument; nor shall I pursue the\ninquiry any further, mindful of the well known and sage counsel of the\nLord Chancellor Bacon.\nI would however be permitted to say something on that very\nextraordinary woman, the lady of Sir William Cavendish, and the sharer\nwith him in raising the family to that state of affluence and honour\nin which we now behold it. Indeed she was a more than equal sharer. He\nlaid the foundation, she raised the superstructure; as she finished the\nfamily palace at Chatsworth, of which he had laid the first stone.\n[Sidenote: His lady an extraordinary character.]\n[Sidenote: Marries Sir William St. Lowe;]\n[Sidenote: becomes Countess of Shrewsbury.]\n[Sidenote: Has a present of jewels from Mary Queen of Scots.]\n[Sidenote: Death of the Earl.]\nThis lady was Elizabeth Hardwick, a name familiar to all visitors of\nthe county of Derby, where she lived more than half a century with\nlittle less than sovereign authority, having first adorned it with\ntwo most splendid mansions. The daughter, and the virgin widow of\ntwo Derbyshire gentlemen of moderate estates, she first stepped into\nconsequence by her marriage with Sir William Cavendish, a gentleman\nmuch older than herself. The ceremony was performed at the house of\nthe Marquis of Dorset[28], father to the Lady Jane Grey, who, with\nthe Countess of Warwick and the Earl of Shrewsbury, was a sponsor at\nthe baptism of her second child. Cavendish left her a widow with six\nchildren in 1557. Shortly after his death she united herself to Sir\nWilliam St. Lowe, one of the old attendants of the Princess Elizabeth,\non whose accession to the throne he was made captain of her guard. In\n1567, being a third time a widow, she was raised to the bed of the most\npowerful peer of the realm, George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. He had\nbeen a friend of Sir William Cavendish, and it is possible that the\nmagnificent state which he displayed in the immediate neighbourhood\nof this lady had more than once excited her envy. She loved pomp and\nmagnificence and personal splendour, as much as she enjoyed the hurry\nand engagement of mind which multiplied worldly business brings with\nit. She had a passion for jewels, which was appealed to and gratified\nby the unhappy Mary Queen of Scotland[29], who lived many years under\nthe care of the Earl of Shrewsbury, her husband. She united herself\nto this nobleman more, as it should seem, from motives of ambition,\nthan as the consequence of any real affection she had for him. He had\nunquestionably the sincerest regard for her: and, though she forgot\nmany of the duties of a wife, it continued many years in the midst of\nall that reserve and perfidity, and even tyranny, if such a word may\nbe allowed, which she thought proper to exercise towards him. The\ndecline of this good and great man's life affords a striking lesson\nhow utterly insufficient are wealth and splendour and rank to secure\nhappiness even in a case where there is no experience of the more\nextraordinary vicissitudes of fortune, the peculiar danger of persons\nin elevated situations. Probably the happiest days of the last three\nand twenty years of his life were those in which he was employing\nhimself in preparing his own sepulchre. This he occupied in 1590. But\nthe effect of his ill advised nuptials extended beyond his life. His\nsecond countess had drawn over to her purposes some of his family, who\nhad assisted her in the designs she carried on against her husband.\nShe had drawn them closely to her interest by alliances with her own\nfamily. Hence arose family animosities, which appeared in the most\nfrightful forms, and threatened the most deadly consequences[30].\nMuch may be seen respecting this extraordinary woman in the Talbot\npapers published by Mr. Lodge. A bundle of her private correspondence\nhas been preserved, and forms a curious and valuable part of that\ncollection of manuscripts which we have had occasion more than once to\nmention. These let in much light upon her conduct. It is impossible\nto contemplate her character in this faithful mirror without being\nconvinced that Mr. Lodge has drawn the great outlines of it correctly,\nwhen he describes her as \"a woman of masculine understanding and\nconduct; proud, furious, selfish, and unfeeling[31].\" Yet she was a\nfavourite of Queen Elizabeth, who paid her this compliment soon after\nher last marriage, that \"she had been glad to see my Lady Saint Lowe,\nbut was more desirous to see my Lady Shrewsbury, and that there was no\nlady in the land whom she better loved and liked.\" These flattering\nexpressions were used to Mr. Wingfield, who was a near relation of this\nlady, and who lost no time in reporting them to her. Most of these\nletters are upon private affairs: a few only are from persons whom she\nhad engaged to send her the news of the day, as was usual with the\ngreat people of that age when absent from court. There are several of\nthe letters which she received from Saint Lowe and Shrewsbury, which\nshow how extraordinary was the influence she had gained over their\nminds. There is one from Sir William Cavendish. Having laboured to\nshow what the knight did _not_ compose, I shall transcribe in the note\nbelow this genuine fragment of his writing, though in no respect worthy\nof publication, except as having passed between these two remarkable\ncharacters[32]. It is expressed in a strain of familiarity to which\nneither of his successors ever dared aspire. To conclude the history of\nthis lady, she survived her last husband about seventeen years, which\nwere spent for the most part at Hardwick, the place of her birth, and\nwhere she had built the present noble mansion. There she died in 1607,\nand was interred in the great church at Derby.\n[Sidenote: Mr. Lodge's character of her.]\n[Sidenote: Anecdote of Queen Elizabeth.]\n[Sidenote: Letters to her.]\nThe courteous reader will, it is hoped, pardon this digression; and now\nset we forth on the second stage of our inquiry, Who wrote Cavendish's\nLife of Wolsey?\n[Sidenote: Claim of Thomas Cavendish.]\nWhen there are only two claimants upon any property, if the pretensions\nof one can be shown to be groundless, those of the other seem to be\nestablished as a necessary consequence. But here we have a third party.\nBeside Sir William and his elder brother George, a claimant has been\nfound in a _Thomas_ Cavendish. In the account of Wolsey given in the\nAthen\u00e6[33], Wood calls the author by this name: and Dodd, a Catholic\ndivine, who published a Church History of England in 3 vols. folio,\n(Brussels, 1737.) in a list of historians and manuscripts used in\nthe preparation of his work, enumerates \"Cavendish _Thomas_, Life of\nCardinal Wolsey, Lond. 1590.\" It is very probable that Dodd may have\ncontented himself with copying the name of this author from the Athen\u00e6,\na book he used: and it is with the utmost deference, and the highest\npossible respect, for the wonderful industry and the extraordinary\nexactness of the Oxford antiquary, I would intimate my opinion that,\nin this instance, he has been misled. To subject the pretensions of\n_Thomas_ Cavendish to such a scrutiny as that to which those of Sir\nWilliam have been brought is quite out of the question: for neither\nWood nor Dodd have thrown any light whatever on his history or\ncharacter. He appears before us like Homer, _nomen, et pr\u00e6terea nihil_.\nThere was a person of both his names, of the Grimstone family, a noted\nnavigator, and an author in the days of Queen Elizabeth; but he lived\nmuch too late to have ever formed a part of the household of Cardinal\nWolsey.\nWe must now state the evidence in favour of George Cavendish. The\nreader will judge for himself whether the testimony of Anthony Wood,\nand that of the Catholic church-historian, supposing them to be\ndistinct and independent testimonies, is sufficient to outweigh what is\nto be advanced in support of George Cavendish's claim. We shall first\nstate on what grounds the work is attributed to a Cavendish whose name\nwas George; and secondly, the reasons we have for believing that he was\nthe George Cavendish of Glemsford in Suffolk, to whom my Lord Herbert\nascribes the work.\n[Sidenote: That the writer's name was George.]\nOn the former point the evidence is wholly external. It lies in a small\ncompass; but it is of great weight. It consists in the testimony of\nall the ancient manuscripts which bear any title of an even date with\nthemselves[34]: and in that of the learned herald and antiquary Francis\nThinne, a contemporary of the author's, who, in the list of writers of\nEnglish history which he subjoined to Hollinshead's Chronicle, mentions\n\"George Cavendish, Gentleman Vsher vnto Cardinal Woolseie, whose life\nhe did write.\"\n[Sidenote: Four circumstances of the author's condition discovered in\nthe work.]\nNow to our second point. Four circumstances of the author's situation\nare discovered to us in the work itself: viz. that his life was\nextended through the reigns of Henry VIII. Edward VI. and Queen Mary;\nthat while he was in the Cardinal's service he was a married man,\nand had a family: that he was in but moderate circumstances when\nhe composed this memoir; and that he retained a zeal for the _old\nprofession_ of religion. If we find these circumstances concurring in a\nGeorge Cavendish, it is probable we have found the person for whom we\nare in search.\nScanty as is the information afforded us concerning a simple esquire\nof the days of the Tudors, it will probably be made apparent that\nthese circumstances do concur in the person to whom my Lord Herbert\nascribes the work. Men of little celebrity in their lives, and whose\ntrack through the world cannot be discovered by the light of history,\nare sometimes found attaining a faint and obscure \"life after death\"\nin the herald's visitation books and the labours of the scrivener.\nThose rolls of immortality are open to every man. They transmit to a\nremote posterity the worthless and the silly with as much certainty as\nthe name of one who was instinct with the fire of genius, and whom a\nnoble ambition to be good and great distinguished from the common herd\nof men. It is in these rolls only that the name of George Cavendish of\nGlemsford is come down to us: he forms a link in the pedigree: he is a\nmedium in the transmission of manorial property.\n[Sidenote: Obscurity of George Cavendish a presumption in his favour.]\nBut this very obscurity creates a presumption in favour of his claim.\nWhat employment that should raise him into notice would be offered in\nthe days of Henry and Edward to the faithful and affectionate attendant\nupon a character so unpopular among the great as the haughty, low-born\nWolsey? What should have placed his name upon public record who did\nnot, like Cromwell and some other of Wolsey's domestics, \"find himself\na way out of his master's wreck to rise in\" by throwing himself upon\nthe court, but retired, as Cavendish at the conclusion of the Memoirs\ntells us he did, to his own estate in the country, with his wages, a\nsmall gratuity, and a present of six of the Cardinal's horses to convey\nhis furniture? That, living at a distance from the court, he should\nhave been overlooked on the change of the times, cannot be surprising:\nhe was only one among many who would have equal claims upon Mary and\nher ministry. Had she lived indeed till his work had been published,\nwe might then reasonably have expected to have seen a man of so much\nvirtue, and talent, and religious zeal, drawn from his obscurity, and\nhis name might have been as well known to our history as that of his\nbrother the reformist. But Mary died too soon for his hopes and those\nof many others of his party, though not too soon for the interests\nof religion and humanity. All expectation of seeing the admirer and\napologist of Wolsey emerge from his obscurity must end with the\naccession of the protestant princess Elizabeth.\n[Sidenote: What is known of George Cavendish of Glemsford.]\nIt is therefore not surprising, and on the whole rather favourable to\nour argument, that nearly all which can now be collected of George\nCavendish of Glemsford is contained in the following passage extracted\nfrom certain \"Notices of the manor of Cavendish in Suffolk, and of the\nCavendish family while possessed of that manor,\" which was communicated\nto the Society of Antiquaries by Thomas Ruggles, Esq., the owner of the\nsaid manor[35]. Cavendish, it will be recollected, is a manor adjoining\nto Glemsford, and which belonged to the same parties.\nGeorge Cavendish is stated to be the eldest son of Thomas Cavendish,\nEsq. who was clerk of the pipe in the Exchequer. He \"was in possession\nof the manor of Cavendish Overhall, and had two sons; William was\nthe eldest, to whom, in the fourth year of Philip and Mary, 1558,\nhe granted by deed enrolled in Chancery this manor in fee, on the\nsaid William, releasing to his father one annual payment of twenty\nmarks, and covenanting to pay him yearly for life, at the site of\nthe mansion-house of Spains-hall, in the parish of Finchingfield,\nin the county of Essex, forty pounds, at the four usual quarterly\ndays of payment. When George Cavendishe died is uncertain: but it is\napprehended in 1561 or 1562.\n\"William Cavendishe his son was in possession of the manor in the\nfourth year of Elizabeth.\"... \"He was succeeded in this estate by his\nson William Cavendysh of London, mercer, who, by that description,\nand reciting himself to be the son of William Cavendishe, gentleman,\ndeceased, by deed dated the 25th of July, in the eleventh year of the\nreign of Elizabeth, 1569, released all his right and title to this\nestate, and to other lands lying in different parishes, to William\nDownes of Sudbury, in Suffolk, Esq.\"\n[Sidenote: His fortune decayed.]\n[Sidenote: Married before 1526.]\nThis detail plainly intimates that decay of the consequence and\ncircumstances of a family which we might expect from the complaints\nin the Memoirs of Wolsey, of the unequal dealings of fortune, and of\nthe little reward all the writer's \"painfull diligence\" had received.\nWe see George Cavendish, for a small annual payment in money, giving\nup the ancient inheritance of his family, a manor _called after his\nown name_: and only eleven years after, that very estate passed to\nstrangers to the name and blood of the Cavendishes by his grandson and\nnext heir, who was engaged in trade in the city of London. We find also\nwhat we have the concurrent testimony of the heralds of that time to\nprove, that this George Cavendish was married, and the father of sons:\nbut on a closer inspection we find more than this: we discover that\nhe must have been married as early as 1526, when we first find the\nbiographer of Wolsey a member of the Cardinal's household[36]. William\nCavendish, the younger, grandson to George Cavendish, must have been\nof full age before he could convey the estate of his forefathers. He\nwas born therefore as early as 1548. If from this we take a presumed\nage of his father at the time of his birth, we shall arrive at this\nconclusion, that George Cavendish the grandfather was a family-man at\nleast as early as 1526.\n[Sidenote: A Catholic.]\n[Sidenote: Lived in the three reigns.]\nTo another point, namely, the religious profession of this Suffolk\ngentleman, our proof, it must be allowed, is not so decisive. I rely\nhowever, with some confidence, upon this fact, for which we are\nindebted to the heralds, that _he was nearly allied to Sir Thomas\nMore_, the idol of the Catholic party in his own time, and the object\nof just respect with good men in all times, Margery his wife being a\ndaughter of William Kemp of Spains-hall in Essex, Esq. by Mary Colt\nhis wife, sister to Jane, first wife of the Chancellor[37]. Indeed it\nseems as if the Kemps, in whose house the latter days of this George\nCavendish were spent, were of the old profession. The extraordinary\npenance to which one of this family subjected himself savours strongly\nof habits and opinions generated by the Roman Catholic system. It is\nperhaps unnecessary, in the last place, to remind the reader, that what\nMr. Ruggles has discovered to us of the owner of Cavendish shows that\nhis life was extended through the reigns of the second, third, and\nfourth monarchs of the house of Tudor: now the family pedigrees present\nus with no other George Cavendish of whom this is the truth. And here\nthe case is closed.\n[Sidenote: Genealogy.]\nIt has been thought proper to annex the following genealogical table,\nwhich exhibits the relationship subsisting among the several members of\nthe house of Cavendish whose names have been mentioned in the preceding\ntreatise.\n    THOMAS CAVENDISH,           = ALICE, daughter and heir of\n      Clerk of the Pipe.        |   John Smith of Padbrook-hall,\n  Will dated 13th April, 1523.  |    co. Suff.\n      GEORGE,          = MARGERY,         Sir WILLIAM,    = ELIZABETH, third\n  of Glemsford and     | daughter of        of North      | wife, daughter of\n  Cavendish, Esq.      | Wm. Kemp,        Awbrey, and     | John Hardwick,\n  eldest son and heir, | of Spains-hall,  Chatsworth,     | of Hardwick, co.\n  Gentleman usher      | Essex,           Knt. Auditor    | Derby, Esq. widow\n  to Cardinal Wolsey,  | niece to Sir     of the Court of | of Robert Barlow,\n  and writer of        | Thos. More.      Augmentations,  | of Barlow, in the\n  about 1500. Died     |                  Under age 1523  | survived Cavendish,\n  of London, mercer.                      created Earl of   Wife of Charles\n  Sold Cavendish                          Devonshire 16     Stuart, Earl of\n[Sidenote: Origin of the mistaken appropriation of this work.]\nSupposing that the reader is convinced by the preceding evidence and\narguments, that this work could not be the production of Sir William\nCavendish, and that he was not the faithful attendant upon Cardinal\nWolsey, I shall give him credit for a degree of curiosity to know how\nit happened that a story so far from the truth gained possession of the\npublic mind, and established itself in so many works of acknowledged\nauthority. That desire I shall be able to gratify, and will detain\nhim but a little while longer, when the disclosure has been made of a\nprocess by which error has grown up to the exclusion of truth, in which\nit will be allowed that there is something of curiosity and interest.\nError, like rumour, often appears _parva metu primo_, but, like her\nalso, _vires acquirit eundo_. So it has been in the present instance.\nWhat was at first advanced with all the due modesty of probability\nand conjecture, was repeated by another person as something nearer\nto certain truth: soon every thing which intimated that it was only\nconjecture became laid aside, and it appeared with the broad bold front\nin which we now behold it.\n[Sidenote: Kennet.]\nThe father of this misconception was no other than Dr. White Kennet. In\n1708, being then only Archdeacon of Huntingdon, this eloquent divine\npublished a sermon which he had delivered in the great church at\nDerby, at the funeral of William the first Duke of Devonshire. Along\nwith it he gave to the world Memoirs of the Family of Cavendish, in\nwhich nothing was omitted that, in his opinion, might tend to set\noff his subject to the best advantage. He lauds even the Countess\nof Shrewsbury, and this at a time when he was called to contemplate\nthe virtues and all womanly perfections of Christian Countess of\nDevonshire. It was not to be expected that he should forget the\ndisinterested attendant upon Wolsey, and the ingenious memorialist\nof that great man's rise and fall; whose work had then recently been\ngiven to the public in a third edition. After reciting from it some\nparticulars of Cavendish's attendance upon the Cardinal, and especially\nnoticing his faithful adherence to him when others of his domestics\nhad fled to find a sun not so near its setting, he concludes in these\nwords: \"To give a more lasting testimony of his gratitude to the\nCardinal, he drew up a fair account of his life and death, of which the\noldest copy is in the hands of the noble family of Pierrepoint, into\nwhich the author's daughter was married: for _without express authority\nwe may gather from circumstances_, that this very writer was the head\nof the present family; the same person with the immediate founder of\nthe present noble family, William Cavendish of Chatsworth, com. Derb.\n[Sidenote: Collins.]\nThe editors of the Peerages, ever attentive to any disclosure that\nmay add dignity to the noble families whose lives and actions are\nthe subjects of their labours, were not unmindful of this discovery\nmade by the learned Archdeacon. The book so popular in this country\nunder the name of Collins's Peerage was published by the industrious\nand highly respectable Arthur Collins, then a bookseller at the\nBlack Boy in Fleet-street, in a single volume, in the year 1709. In\nthe account of the Devonshire family no more is said of Sir William\nCavendish than had been told by Dugdale, and than is the undoubted\ntruth[38]. But when, in 1712, a new edition appeared, we find added\nto the account of Sir William Cavendish all that the Archdeacon had\nsaid of Mr. Cavendish, the attendant upon Wolsey: but with this\nremarkable difference, arising probably in nothing more blameworthy\nthan inattention, that while Kennet had written \"for _without_ express\nauthority we may gather from circumstances, &c.\" Collins says, \"for\n_with_ express authority we may gather from circumstances, &c.[39]\" A\nthird edition appeared in 1715, in two volumes, in which no change is\nmade in the Cavendish article[40]. In 1735 the Peerage had assumed a\nhigher character, and appeared with the arms engraven on copper-plates,\nin four handsome octavo volumes. In this edition we find the whole\narticle has been recomposed; and we no longer hear of the _gathering\nfrom circumstances_, or the _with_ or _without_ express authority; but\nthe account of Sir William Cavendish's connexion with the Cardinal is\ntold with all regularity, dovetailed with authentic particulars of his\nlife, forming a very compact and, seemingly, consistent story[41].\nThe only material change that has been introduced in the successive\neditions of a work which has been so often revised and reprinted, has\narisen from the discovery made by some later editor, that my Lord\nHerbert had quoted the work as the production of a George Cavendish.\nThe gentle editors were not however to be deprived of what tended in\ntheir opinion so much to the credit of the house of Cavendish, and\nrendered the account they had to give of its founder so much more\nsatisfactory. Without ceremony, therefore, they immediately put down\nthe quotation to the inaccuracy and inattention of that noble author.\n[Sidenote: The Biographia.]\nHaving once gained an establishment in a work so highly esteemed and\nso widely dispersed, and carrying a _prim\u00e2 facie_ appearance of truth,\nit is easy to see how the error would extend itself, especially as in\nthis country the number of persons is so small who attend to questions\nof this nature, and as the means of correcting it were not so obvious\nas since the publication of the \"Ecclesiastical Biography.\" But it\nassumed its most dangerous consequence by its introduction into the\nBiographia. The greatest blemish of that extremely valuable collection\nof English lives seems to be that its pages are too much loaded with\nstale genealogy taken from the commonest of our books. Wherever Collins\nafforded them information, the writers of that work have most gladly\naccepted of it, and have\n    \"----------whisper'd whence they stole\n    Their balmy sweets,\"\nby using in many instances his own words. His facts they seem to have\ngenerally assumed as indubitable. In the present instance nothing\nmore was done than to new-mould the account given of Sir William\nCavendish in the later editions of the Peerage, and, by an unprofitable\ngeneralization of the language, to make his mixture of truth and fable\nmore palatable to the taste of their readers.\n[Sidenote: Bragg the bookseller.]\nPoor Arthur Collins was not the only bookseller who took advantage of\nthe learned archdeacon's unfortunate conjecture. There was one Bragg,\na printer, at the Blue Ball in Ave Maria Lane, a man of no very high\ncharacter in his profession, who published in 1706 an edition of\nCavendish's Life of Wolsey, taken from the second edition by Dorman\nNewman, and with all the errors and omissions of that most unfaithful\nimpression. Copies were remaining upon his shelves when Kennet's sermon\nmade its appearance. Rightly judging that this must cause inquiries to\nbe made after a book, the production of one who was the progenitor of\na person and family at that particular period, from a concurrence of\ncircumstances, the subject of universal conversation, he cancelled the\nanonymous title-page of the remaining copies, and issued what he called\na \"Second Edition,\" with a long Grub-street title beginning thus:\n                        Sir William Cavendish's\n                Memoirs of the Life of Cardinal Wolsey,\nThis has sometimes been mistaken for a really new edition of the work.\n[Sidenote: Editions of the work.]\nAnd having thus adverted to the different editions, it may not be\nimproper to add a few words on the impressions which have been issued\nof this curious biographical fragment. Till Dr. Wordsworth favoured the\npublic with his \"Ecclesiastical Biography,\" what we had was rather an\nabridgement than the genuine work. But even in its mutilated form it\nwas always popular, and the copies were marked at considerable prices\nin the booksellers' catalogues.\nThe first edition, it is believed, is that in 4to, London, 1641, for\nWilliam Sheeres, with the title \"The Negotiations of Thomas Woolsey,\nthe great Cardinall of England, &c. composed by one of his own\nServants, being his Gentleman-Usher.\" The second was in 12mo, London,\n1667, for Dorman Newman, and is entitled \"The Life and Death of Thomas\nWoolsey, Cardinal, &c. written by one of his own Servants, being his\nGentleman-Usher.\" The third is the one just mentioned in 8vo, London,\n1706, for B. Bragg, and having for its title \"The Memoirs of that great\nFavourite Cardinal Woolsey, &c.\" It is supposed that it was first\nmade public in order to provoke a comparison between Wolsey and the\nunpopular Archbishop Laud. These are the only editions known to the\nwriter.\nIt is printed in the form of notes to Grove's History of the Life and\nTimes of Cardinal Wolsey[42], again in the Harleian Miscellany, and\nin the selection from that work. And last of all, it forms a most\nvaluable part of the \"Ecclesiastical Biography,\" published by Dr.\nWordsworth.\n[Sidenote: The supposed edition of 1590.]\nIt must not however be concealed that mention has been made of a still\nearlier edition than any of those above described. Bishop Nicholson, in\nhis English Historical Library[43], asserts that it was published at\nLondon in 4to, 1590; and in this he is followed by Dodd the Catholic\nhistorian. Nicholson's authority is not very high in respect of\nbibliographical information; and there is great reason to believe that\nhe has here described an edition to be found only in the _Bibliotheca\nabscondita_ of Sir Thomas Brown. This however is certain, that the\ncommentators on Shakspeare are agreed, that though the labours of\nCavendish must have been known in part to our great Dramatist, he has\nfollowed them so closely in many of his scenes, it could have been only\nby a perusal of them in manuscript, or by the ample quotations made\nfrom them in the pages of Hollinshead and Stowe. Mr. Malone indeed\nexpressly affirms that they were not sent to the press before 1641.\nThe earliest edition known to the editor of the Censura Literaria,\nwhose intimate acquaintance with early English literature every one\nacknowledges, and whose attention has been peculiarly drawn to this\nwork, was of that date. The catalogues, published and unpublished, of\nmost of our principal libraries have been consulted, and no earlier\nedition than that of 1641 found in any one of them. No earlier\nedition than that is to be found in the Royal Library at Paris. It\nappears, therefore, on the whole, most probable that though there\nare undoubtedly black-letter stores, which the diligence of modern\nbibliomaniacs has not brought to light, no such edition exists, as\nthat which the author of the English Historical Library tells us was\npublished in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and during the height of the\npersecutions which she authorized against the Catholics. Under this\npersuasion the succeeding sheets have been composed.\nIt is possible that Bishop Nicholson may have been misled by another\nwork on the same subject; The Aspiring, Triumph, and Fall of Wolsey,\nby Thomas Storer, Student of Christ Church. This appeared in _quarto_,\n[Sidenote: Conclusion.]\nThe writer now lays down his pen with something like a persuasion that\nit will be allowed he has proved his two points,--that Sir William\nCavendish of Chatsworth could not have been the author of the Life of\nWolsey, and that we owe the work to his brother George Cavendish of\nGlemsford. The necessary inference also is, that the foundation of the\npresent grandeur of the house of Cavendish was not laid, as is commonly\nunderstood, in an attendance upon Cardinal Wolsey, and in certain\nfavourable circumstances connected with that service. The inquiry,\neven in all its bearings, like many other literary inquiries, cannot\nbe considered as of very high importance. The writer will not however\naffect to insinuate that he considers it as of no consequence. In works\nso universally consulted as the Biographia and the Peerages, it is\ndesirable that no errors of any magnitude should remain undetected and\nunexposed. Error begets error, and truth begets truth: nor can any one\nsay how much larger in both cases may be the offspring than the sire. I\ndo not indeed scruple to acknowledge, that, though not without a relish\nfor inquiries which embrace objects of far greater magnitude, and a\ndisposition justly to appreciate their value, I should be thankful to\nthe man who should remove my uncertainty, as to whose countenance was\nconcealed by the _Masque de Fer_, or would tell me whether Richard\nwas the hunch-backed tyrant, and Harry \"the nimble-footed mad-cap\"\nexhibited by our great dramatist; whether Charles wrote the \u0395\u03b9\u03ba\u03c9\u03bd\n\u0392\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03bb\u03b9\u03ba\u03b7, and Lady Packington \"The whole Duty of Man.\" Not that I would\nplace this humble disquisition on a level with the inquiries which have\nbeen instituted and so learnedly conducted into these several questions.\nIn one material point, however, even this disquisition may challenge an\nequality with them. There is a much nearer approach made to _certainty_\nthan in the discussions of any of the abovementioned so much greater\nquestions.\nThere are amongst readers of books some persons whose minds being\nevery moment occupied in the contemplation of objects of the highest\nimportance, look down with contempt upon the naturalist at his\n_leucophr\u00e6_, the critic at his \u03bc\u03b5\u03bd and \u03b4\u03b5 work, the\nastronomer at his _nebul\u00e6_, and the toiling antiquary at every thing.\nOne word to these gentlemen before we part. To them may be recommended\nthe words of a writer of our own day, a man of an enlarged and highly\ncultivated mind:--\n\"He who determines with certainty a single species of the minutest\nmoss, or meanest insect, adds so far to the general stock of human\nknowledge, which is more than can be said of many a celebrated name.\nNo one can tell of what importance that simple fact may be to future\nages: and when we consider how many millions of our fellow-creatures\npass through life without furnishing a single atom to augment that\nstock, we shall learn to think with more respect of those who do.\"\nTHE END.\nFOOTNOTES:\n[7] Kippis's Edit. vol. iii. p. 321.\n[10] See the marginal references in the Biographia and the Peerages.\n[11] Catalogue Harl. MSS. No. 428.\n[13] In his 'Ecclesiastical Biography; or, Lives of eminent Men\nconnected with the History of Religion in England,' 6 vols. 8vo. a\nuseful and valuable collection, Dr. Wordsworth very properly rejected\nthe parenthesis, \"at which time it was apparent that he had poisoned\nhimself,\" which had been introduced into the printed copies without\nthe authority of the manuscripts. The editor of the Censura Literaria\nonce intimated his intention to prepare an edition of this work. (C. L.\niii. 372.) How could the press of Lee Priory, of whose powers we have\nhad so many favourable specimens, have been more worthily engaged than\nin producing a correct edition of this valuable piece of antiquarian\nlore,--except in favouring the public with more of its able director's\nown feeling and beautiful essays?\n[15] The reader will bear in mind that this passage was written in\n1814, when the writer could not, for obvious reasons, have been\nacquainted with the claims of Mr. Lloyd's manuscript, to be considered\nas the _original autograph_ of the author. I will here take occasion\nto observe that, to the manuscripts enumerated above, two more may\nbe added, described in the preface to the Life, which are in the\npossession of the writer of this note. S. W. S.\n[16] It appears by the Catalogus MSS. Anglie that there were two copies\nin the library of Dr. Henry Jones, rector of Sunningwell in Berks, both\nin folio: and a third also in folio among the MSS. of the Rev. Abraham\nDe la Pryme, F. R. S. of Thorne in Yorkshire. There was a copy in the\nvery curious library formed about the middle of the last century by Dr.\nCox Macro at his house, Norton near St. Edmund's Bury.\n[17] See the 'Royal and Noble Authors,' p. 202, and Fasti Oxon. vol.\n[18] P. 102 in the present edition.\n[19] In the Autograph MS. it stands--\"and _after_ Earl of Sussex,\" v.\np. 179 in the present edition.\n[20] Milles's Catalogue of Honour, p. 667.\n[Sidenote: A supposed anachronism explained.]\nThe reader will, it is hoped, excuse the _minuteness_ of this inquiry.\nWe have enough to teach us to take nothing upon trust that has been\nsaid concerning this work: and some doubts have been expressed as\nto the period at which it was written, grounded on a passage near\nthe conclusion. Cavendish tells us that when the Cardinal left the\nhospitable mansion of the Earl of Shrewsbury at Sheffield, on the\nborders of Yorkshire, \"he took his journey with Master Kingston and\nthe guard. And as soon as they espied their old master in such a\nlamentable estate, they lamented him with weeping eyes. Whom my lord\ntook by the hands, and divers times, by the way, as he rode, he would\ntalk with them, sometime with one, and sometime with another; at night\nhe was lodged at a house of the Earl of Shrewsbury's, called Hardwick\nHall, very evil at ease. The next day he rode to Nottingham, and there\nlodged that night, more sicker, and the next day we rode to Leicester\nAbbey; and by the way he waxed so sick, that he was divers times likely\nto have fallen from his mule.\" p. 536. This is an affecting picture.\nShakspeare had undoubtedly seen these words, his portrait of the sick\nand dying Cardinal so closely resembling this. But in these words is\nthis chronological difficulty. How is it that Hardwick Hall is spoken\nof as a house of the Earl of Shrewsbury's in the reign of Henry VIII.\nor at least in the days of Queen Mary, when it was well known that\nthe house of this name between Sheffield and Nottingham, in which the\nCountess of Shrewsbury spent her widowhood, a house described in the\nAnecdotes of Painting, and seen and admired by every curious traveller\nin Derbyshire, did not accrue to the possessions of any part of the\nShrewsbury family till the marriage of an earl, who was grandson to\nthe Cardinal's host, with Elizabeth Hardwick, the widow of Sir William\nCavendish, in the time of Queen Elizabeth? If I recollect right, this\ndifficulty perplexed that learned Derbyshire antiquary Dr. Samuel\nPegge, who has written somewhat at length on the question, whether\nthe Cardinal met his death in consequence of having taken poison.\nSee Gent. Mag. vol. xxv. p. 27, and vol. liii. p. 751. The editor of\nthe Topographer proposes to correct the text by reading Wingfield in\nplace of Hardwick; vol. ii. p. 79. The truth, however, is, that though\nthe story is told to every visitor of Hardwick Hall, that \"the great\nchild of honour, Cardinal Wolsey,\" slept there a few nights before his\ndeath; as is also the story, equally unfounded, that Mary Queen of\nScots was confined there; it was another Hardwick which received the\nweary traveller for a night in this his last melancholy pilgrimage.\nThis was Hardwick upon Line in Nottinghamshire, a place about as far to\nthe south of Mansfield, as the Hardwick in Derbyshire, so much better\nknown, is to the north-west. It is now gone to much decay, and is\nconsequently omitted in many maps of the county. It is found in Speed.\nHere the Earl of Shrewsbury had a house in the time of Wolsey. Leland\nexpressly mentions it. \"The Erle [of Shrewsbury] hath a park and maner\nplace or lodge yn it caullid Hardewike upon Line, a four miles from\nNewstede Abbay.\" Itin. vol. v. fol. 94. p. 108. Both the Hardwicks\nbecame afterwards the property of the Cavendishes. Thoroton tells us\nthat Sir Charles Cavendish, youngest son of Sir William, and father of\nWilliam Duke of Newcastle, \"had begun to build a great house in this\nlordship, on a hill by the forest side, near Annesley Woodhouse, when\nhe was assaulted and wounded by Sir John Stanhope and his men, as he\nwas viewing the work, which was therefore thought fit to be left off,\nsome bloud being spilt in the quarrel, then very hot between the two\nfamilies.\" Throsby's edit. vol. ii. p. 294.\n[22] The reference is to Dr. Wordsworth's text; the passage will be\nfound at p. 77 of the present edition. The same strain of querulous\ncomplaint occurs in his prologue to the Metrical Visions:\n    How some are by fortune exalted to riches,\n    And often such as most unworthy be, &c.\nAfterwards he checks himself, and calls Dame Reason to his aid:\n    But after dewe serche and better advisement,\n    I knew by Reason that oonly God above\n    Rewlithe thos thyngs, as is most convenyent,\n    The same devysing to man for his behove:\n    Wherefore Dame Reason did me persuade and move\n    To be content with my _small estate_,\n    And in this matter no more to vestigate.\nHere we have decisive proof that the writer's fortunes were not in the\nflourishing condition which marked those of Sir William Cavendish at\nthis period, i. e. in the reign of Mary.\n[Sidenote: John Wilson of Bromhead.]\nIt formed part of the curious collection of manuscripts made by the\nlate John Wilson, Esq. of Bromhead near Sheffield, in Yorkshire; a\ngentleman who spent a long life in collecting, and transcribing where\nhe could not procure possession of the original, whatever might throw\nany light upon the descent of property, or on the history, language, or\nmanners of our ancestors. He was the intimate friend and correspondent\nof Burton, Watson, Brooke, Beckwith, and indeed of all that generation\nof Yorkshire antiquaries which passed away with the late Mr. Beaumont\nof Whitley Beaumont. Mr. Wilson died in 1783. Cavendish's library was\nnot the best furnished apartment of his magnificent mansion. For the\nsatisfaction of the gentle Bibliomaniac, I shall transcribe the brief\ncatalogue of his books. \"Chawcer, Froyssarte Cronicles, a boke of\nFrench and English.\" They were kept in the new parler, where were also\nthe pictor of our sov^reigne lord the kyng, the pyctor of the Frenche\nkyng and another of the Frenche quene: also 'two other tables, one\nwith towe anticke boys, & the other of a storye of the Byble.' In 'the\nlyttle parler' was 'a payntyd clothe with the pictor of Kyng Harry the\nVIII^{th} our sovereygne lord, & kyng Harry the VII^{th} & the VI^{th},\nEdward the Forthe & Rychard the Third.'\n[24] The authorities for this detail of the employments, rewards, and\nhonours of Sir William Cavendish are to be found in the Biographia and\nthe Peerages.\n[25] Life and Times, &c. vol. iii. p. 98.\n[Sidenote: Mary, Countess of Northumberland.]\nThough little ceremony and probably as little time was used in\npatching up these nuptials. As might be expected, they were most\nunhappy. So we are told on the authority of the earl's own letters in\nthe very laboured account of the Percy family given in the edition\nof Collins's Peerage, 1779; perhaps the best piece of family history\nin our language. \"Henry the unthrifty,\" Earl of Northumberland, died\nat Hackney in the prime of life, about ten or twelve years after he\nhad consented to this marriage. Of this term but a very small part\nwas spent in company of his lady. He lived long enough, however, not\nonly to witness the destruction of all his own happiness, but the sad\ntermination of Anne Boleyn's life. In the admirable account of the\nPercy family, referred to above, no mention is made of the lady who,\non these terms, consented to become Countess of Northumberland, in her\nlong widowhood. She had a valuable grant of abbey lands and tythes,\nfrom which, probably, she derived her principal support. One letter of\nhers has fallen into my hands. It presents her in an amiable position.\nShe is pleading in behalf of a poor man whose cattle had been impounded\nby one of Lady Cavendish's agents. Its date and place is to the eye\nWormhill[27]; but the running hand of that age, when not carefully\nwritten, is not to be depended on for representing proper names with\nperfect exactness, and the place may be Wreshill, which was a house of\nthe Northumberland family. She died in 1572; and on the 17th of May\nher mortal remains were deposited in the vault made by her father in\nSheffield church, where sleep so many of her noble relatives, some of\nthem in monumental honours.\n[27] In justice to the amiable author of this essay, who is extremely\nanxious to be accurate, I think it proper to apprise the reader that\nthe note taken from the former edition of his work at p. 127 must be\nqualified by what is here stated. In a letter with which I have been\nfavoured, he says, \"I have looked again and again at the letter, and\nthe word is certainly (if we may judge from the characters which the\nlady's pen has formed) _Wormhill_: yet still I think it must have been\nintended for _Wreshill_, as I have met with nothing else to show that\nthe lady had a house at Wormhill.\" S. W. S.\n[28] Broadgate in Leicestershire. See the Funeral Certificate. They\nwere married on the 20th Aug. 1 Edw. VI., at two o'clock after midnight.\n[29] Among the Wilson collection is a list of jewels presented to the\nCountess of Shrewsbury by the Queen of Scotland.\n[30] See \"Memoirs of the Peers of England during the Reign of James the\nFirst,\" p. 19. Lodge's \"Illustrations,\" &c. iii. 50-64, and Harl. MS.\n[31] \"Illustrations,\" &c. Introd. p. 17.\n[Sidenote: Original Letter of Sir William Cavendish.]\n    To Besse Cavendysh\n Good Besse, haveing forgotten to wryght in my letters that you shuld\n pay Otewell Alayne eight pounds for certayne otys that we have bought\n of hym ov^r and above x^{li} that I have paid to hym in hand, I\n hertely pray you for that he is desyrus to receyve the rest at London,\n to pay hym uppon the sight hereof. You knowe my store and therefore I\n have appoyntyd hym to have it at yo^r hands. And thus faer you well.\n From Chattesworth the xiii^{th} of Aprell.\n[Sidenote: Original title of the work.]\nNone of the publishers of this work have given us the original title.\nI shall here transcribe it as it appears upon the manuscript in the\nLibrary of the College of Arms.\n                Thomas Wolsey, late Cardinall intituled\n               of S^t Cicile trans Tiberim presbyter and\n                 Lord Chauncellar of England, his lyfe\n                    and deathe, compiled by George\n                   Cavendishe, his gentleman Usher.\n[35] Arch\u00e6ologia, vol. xi. p. 50-62.\n[36] See page 4.\n[37] See Vincent's Suffolk. MS. in Col. Arm. fol. 149, and compare\nwith Morant's Essex, vol. ii. p. 363, and with the account of the\nCavendishes in the Peerages.\n[38] See page 84.\n[41] Vol. i. p. 122. It is singular enough that in this edition the\nname of the Cardinal's attendant and biographer, by a slip of the pen,\nis written _George_. See line 38. It is plain from the connexion that\nthis must have been an unintended blunder into the truth. It was duly\ncorrected in the later editions.\n[42] Mr. Grove subsequently (in 1761) met with what he considered \"an\nantient and curious manuscript copy written about one hundred and\nfifty years ago,\" and from this he printed an edition in 8vo, with a\npreface and notes, the advertisement to which bears the above date.\nIt appears to be one of the rarest of English books, and was probably\nnever published: the copy with which I have been favoured by Richard\nHeber, Esq. M. P. having no title-page. There are other curious tracts\nin the volume on the subject of Wolsey, having separate titles bearing\nno bookseller's name, but purporting to be printed _for the Author_ by\nDryden Leach, and all in 1761.\n                      The Life of Thomas Wolsey,\n                     sometime Archbishop of Yorke\n                intituled Sanct\u00e6 Cecili\u00e6 trans Tiberim,\n          Presbiter Cardinalis, and L. Chancellor of England.\n            George Cavendish, sometime his Gentleman Usher.\n    Though from an humble stock, undoubtedly\n    Was fashion'd to much honour from his cradle.\n    He was a scholar, and a ripe, and good one;\n    Exceeding wise, fair spoken, and persuading:\n    Lofty, and sour, to them that lov'd him not,\n    But, to those men that sought him, sweet as summer.\n    And though he were unsatisfied in getting,\n    (Which was a sin), yet in bestowing--\n    He was most princely: Ever witness for him\n    Ipswich and Oxford! one of which fell with him,\n    Unwilling to outlive the good that did it;\n    The other, though unfinish'd, yet so famous,\n    So excellent in art, and yet so rising,\n    That Christendom shall ever speak his virtue.\n    His overthrow heap'd happiness upon him;\n    For then, and not till then, he felt himself,\n    And found the blessedness of being little:\n    And, to add greater honours to his age\n    Than man could give him, he died fearing God.\n[Illustration: CARDINAL WOLSEY.\nENGRAVED BY E. SCRIVEN.\nAFTER THE ORIGINAL PICTURE.\n_London, Published Jan^y. 1, 1825, by Harding, Triphook & Lepard._]\nTHE\nLIFE\nOF\nCARDINAL WOLSEY.\nTHE PROLOGUE.\n[Meseems it were no wisdom to credit every light tale, blasted abroad\nby the blasphemous mouth of the rude commonalty. For we daily hear how,\nwith their blasphemous trump, they spread abroad innumerable lies,\nwithout either shame or honesty, which _prim\u00e2 facie_ showeth forth a\nvisage of truth, as though it were a perfect verity and matter indeed,\nwhereas there is nothing more untrue. And amongst the wise sort so it\nis esteemed, with whom those babblings be of small force and effect.\nForsooth I have read the exclamations of divers worthy and notable\nauthors, made against such false rumours and fond opinions of the\nfantastical commonalty, who delighteth in nothing more than to hear\nstrange things, and to see new alterations of authorities; rejoicing\nsometimes in such new fantasies, which afterwards give them more\noccasion of repentance than of joyfulness. Thus may all men of wisdom\nand discretion understand the temerous madness of the rude commonalty,\nand not give to them too hasty credit of every sudden rumour, until the\ntruth be perfectly known by the report of some approved and credible\nperson, that ought to have thereof true intelligence. I have heard and\nalso seen set forth in divers printed books some untrue imaginations,\nafter the death of divers persons, which in their life were of great\nestimation, that were invented rather to bring their honest names into\ninfamy and perpetual slander of the common multitude, than otherwise.\nThe occasion therefore that maketh me to rehearse all these things is\nthis; for as much as I intend, God willing, to write here some part\nof the proceedings of][44] Legate and Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop of\nYork, and of his ascending and descending from honorous estate; whereof\nsome part shall be of mine own knowledge, and some of other person's\ninformation.\nForsooth this cardinal was my lord and master, whom in his life I\nserved, and so remained with him, after his fall, continually, during\nthe term of all his trouble, until he died; as well in the south as in\nthe north parts, and noted all his demeanor and usage in all that time;\nas also in his wealthy triumph and glorious estate. And since his death\nI have heard diverse sundry surmises and imagined tales, made of his\nproceedings and doings, which I myself have perfectly known to be most\nuntrue; unto the which I could have sufficiently answered according to\ntruth, but, as me seemeth, then it was much better for me to suffer,\nand dissemble the matter, and the same to remain still as lies, than\nto reply against their untruth, of whom I might, for my boldness,\nsooner have kindled a great flame of displeasure, than to quench one\nspark of their malicious untruth. Therefore I commit the truth to Him\nwho knoweth all things. For, whatsoever any man hath conceived in him\nwhen he lived, or since his death, thus much I dare be bold to say,\nwithout displeasure to any person, or of affection, that in my judgment\nI never saw this realm in better order, quietness, and obedience,\nthan it was in the time of his authority and rule, ne justice better\nministered with indifferency; as I could evidently prove, if I should\nnot be accused of too much affection, or else that I set forth more\nthan truth. I will therefore here desist to speak any more in his\ncommendation, and proceed farther to his original beginning [and]\nascending by fortune's favour to high honours, dignities, promotions,\nand riches.\nTruth it is, Cardinal Wolsey, sometime Archbishop of York, was an\nhonest poor man's son[45], born in Ipswich, within the county of\nSuffolk; and being but a child, was very apt to learning; by means\nwhereof his parents, or his good friends and masters, conveyed him to\nthe University of Oxford, where he prospered so in learning, that,\nas he told me [in] his own person, he was called the boy-bachellor,\nforasmuch as he was made Bachellor of Arts at fifteen years of age,\nwhich was a rare thing, and seldom seen.\nThus prospering and increasing in learning, [he] was made Fellow\nof Magdalen College, and after appointed, for his learning, to be\nschoolmaster there; at which time the Lord Marquess Dorset had three of\nhis sons there at school with him, committing as well unto him their\nvirtuous education, as their instruction and learning. It pleased\nthe said marquess against a Christmas season, to send as well for\nthe schoolmaster as for his children, home to his house, for their\nrecreation in that pleasant and honourable feast. They being then\nthere, my lord their father perceived them to be right well employed in\nlearning, for their time: which contented him so well, that he having\na benefice[46] in his gift, being at that time void, gave the same\nto the schoolmaster, in reward for his diligence, at his departing\nafter Christmas upon his return to the University. And having the\npresentation thereof [he] repaired to the ordinary for his institution\nand induction; then being fully furnished of all necessary instruments\nat the ordinary's hands for his preferment, he made speed without any\nfarther delay to the said benefice to take thereof possession. And\nbeing there for that intent, one Sir Amyas Pawlet, knight, dwelling in\nthe country thereabout, took an occasion of displeasure against him,\nupon what ground I know not[47]: but, sir, by your leave, he was so\nbold to set the schoolmaster by the feet during his pleasure; the which\nwas afterward neither forgotten nor forgiven. For when the schoolmaster\nmounted the dignity to be Chancellor of England, he was not oblivious\nof the old displeasure ministered unto him by master Pawlet, but sent\nfor him, and after many sharp and heinous words, enjoined him to\nattend upon the council until he were by them dismissed, and not to\ndepart without license, upon an urgent pain and forfeiture: so that he\ncontinued within the Middle Temple, the space of five or six years, or\nmore; whose lodging there was in the gate-house next the street, which\nhe reedified very sumptuously, garnishing the same, on the outside\nthereof, with cardinals' hats and arms, badges and cognisaunces of the\ncardinal, with divers other devices, in so glorious a sort, that he\nthought thereby to have appeased his old unkind displeasure.\nNow may this be a good example and precedent to men in authority,\nwhich will sometimes work their will without wit, to remember in their\nauthority, how authority may decay; and [those] whom they punish of\nwill more than of justice, may after be advanced in the public weal\nto high dignities and governance, and they based as low, who will\nthen seek the means to be revenged of old wrongs sustained wrongfully\nbefore. Who would have thought then, when Sir Amyas Pawlet punished\nthis poor scholar, that ever he should have attained to be Chancellor\nof England, considering his baseness in every condition. These be\nwonderful works of God, and fortune. Therefore I would wish all men\nin authority and dignity to know and fear God in all their triumphs\nand glory; considering in all their doings, that authorities be not\npermanent, but may slide and vanish, as princes' pleasures do alter and\nchange.\nThen as all living things must of very necessity pay the due debt of\nnature, which no earthly creature can resist, it chanced my said Lord\nMarquess to depart out of this present life[48]. After whose death this\nschoolmaster, considering then with himself to be but a small beneficed\nman, and to have lost his fellowship in the College (for, as I\nunderstand, if a fellow of that college be once promoted to a benefice\nhe shall by the rules of the house be dismissed of his fellowship),\nand perceiving himself also to be destitute of his singular good lord,\nthought not to be long unprovided of some other succour or staff, to\ndefend him from all such harms, as he lately sustained.\nAnd in his travail thereabout, he fell in acquaintance with one Sir\nJohn Nanphant[49], a very grave and ancient knight, who had a great\nroom[50] in Calais under King Henry the Seventh. This knight he served,\nand behaved him so discreetly, and justly, that he obtained the\nespecial favour of his said master; insomuch that for his wit, gravity,\nand just behaviour, he committed all the charge of his office unto his\nchaplain. And, as I understand, the office was the treasurership of\nCalais, who was, in consideration of his great age, discharged of his\nchargeable room, and returned again into England, intending to live\nmore at quiet. And through his instant labour and especial favour his\nchaplain was promoted to the king's service, and made his chaplain. And\nwhen he had once cast anchor in the port of promotion, how he wrought,\nI shall somewhat declare.\nHe, having then a just occasion to be in the present sight of the\nking daily, by reason he attended, and said mass before his grace in\nhis private closet, and that done he spent not the day forth in vain\nidleness, but gave his attendance upon those whom he thought to bear\nmost rule in the council, and to be most in favour with the king,\nthe which at that time were Doctor Fox, Bishop of Winchester, then\nsecretary and lord privy seal, and also Sir Thomas Lovell, knight, a\nvery sage counsellor, and witty; being master of the king's wards, and\nconstable of the Tower[51].\nThese ancient and grave counsellors in process of time after often\nresort, perceived this chaplain to have a very fine wit, and what\nwisdom was in his head, thought [him] a meet and an apt person to be\npreferred to witty affairs.\nIt chanced at a certain season that the king had an urgent occasion\nto send an ambassador unto the emperor Maximilian[52], who lay at\nthat present in the Low Country of Flanders, not far from Calais.\nThe Bishop of Winchester, and Sir Thomas Lovell, whom the king most\nhighly esteemed, as chief among his counsellors (the king one day\ncounselling and debating with them upon this embassy), saw they had\na convenient occasion to prefer the king's chaplain, whose excellent\nwit, eloquence[53], and learning they highly commended to the king. The\nking giving ear unto them, and being a prince of an excellent judgment\nand modesty, commanded [them] to bring his chaplain, whom they so much\ncommended, before his grace's presence. At whose repair [thither] to\nprove the wit of his chaplain, the king fell in communication with\nhim in matters of weight and gravity: and, perceiving his wit to be\nvery fine, thought him sufficient to be put in authority and trust\nwith this embassy; [and] commanded him thereupon to prepare himself\nto this enterprise and journey, and for his depeche[54], to repair\nto his grace and his trusty counsellors aforesaid, of whom he should\nreceive his commission and instructions. By means whereof he had then\na due occasion to repair from time to time into the king's presence,\nwho perceived him more and more to be a very wise man, and of a good\nentendment[55]. And having his depeche, [he] took his leave of the\nking at Richmond about noon, and so came to London with speed [about\nfour of the clock[56]], where then the barge of Gravesend was ready\nto launch forth, both with a prosperous tide and wind. Without any\nfarther abode he entered the barge, and so passed forth. His happy\nspeed was such that he arrived at Gravesend within little more than\nthree hours; where he tarried no longer than his post horses were\nprovided; and travelling so speedily with post horses, that he came to\nDover the next morning early, whereas the passengers[57] were ready\nunder sail displayed, to sail to Calais. Into which passengers without\nany farther abode he entered, and sailed forth with them, [so] that he\narrived at Calais within three hours, and having there post horses\nin a readiness, departed incontinent, making such hasty speed, that\nhe was that night with the emperor; who, having understanding of the\ncoming of the King of England's ambassador, would in no wise defer the\ntime, but sent incontinent for him (his affection unto King Henry the\nSeventh was such, that he rejoiced when he had an occasion to show him\npleasure). The ambassador having opportunity, disclosed the sum of his\nembassy unto the emperor, of whom he required speedy expedition, the\nwhich was granted; so that the next day he was clearly dispatched, with\nall the king's requests fully accomplished. At which time he made no\nfarther tarriance, but with post horses rode incontinent that night\ntoward Calais again, conducted thither with such number of horsemen as\nthe emperor had appointed, and [was] at the opening of the gates there,\nwhere the passengers were as ready to return into England as they were\nbefore in his advancing; insomuch that he arrived at Dover by ten of\nthe clock before noon; and having post horses in a readiness, came to\nthe court at Richmond that night. Where he taking his rest for that\ntime until the morning, repaired to the king at his first coming out\nof his grace's bedchamber, toward his closet to hear mass. Whom (when\nhe saw) [he] checked him for that he was not past on his journey.\n\"Sir,\" quoth he, \"if it may stand with your highness' pleasure, I\nhave already been with the emperor, and dispatched your affairs, I\ntrust, to your grace's contentation.\" And with that delivered unto the\nking the emperor's letters of credence. The king, being in a great\nconfuse and wonder of his hasty speed with ready furniture of all his\nproceedings, dissimuled all his imagination and wonder in that matter,\nand demanded of him, whether he encountered not his pursuivant, the\nwhich he sent unto him (supposing him not to be scantly out of London)\nwith letters concerning a very necessary cause, neglected in his\ncommission and instructions, the which the king coveted much to be\nsped. \"Yes, forsooth, Sire,\" quoth he, \"I encountered him yesterday by\nthe way: and, having no understanding by your grace's letters of your\npleasure therein, have, notwithstanding, been so bold, upon mine own\ndiscretion (perceiving that matter to be very necessary in that behalf)\nto dispatch the same. And for as much as I have exceeded your grace's\ncommission, I most humbly require your gracious remission and pardon.\"\nThe king rejoicing inwardly not a little, said again, \"We do not only\npardon you thereof, but also give you our princely thanks, both for the\nproceeding therein, and also for your good and speedy exploit[58],\"\ncommanding him for that time to take his rest, and to repair again to\nhim after dinner, for the farther relation of his embassy. The king\nthen went to mass; and after at convenient time he went to dinner.\nIt is not to be doubted but that this ambassador hath been since his\nreturn with his great friends, the Bishop of Winchester, and Sir Thomas\nLovell, to whom he hath declared the effect of all his speedy progress;\nnor yet what joy they conceived thereof. And after his departure from\nthe king in the morning, his highness sent for the bishop, and Sir\nThomas Lovell; to whom he declared the wonderful expedition of his\nambassador, commending therewith his excellent wit, and in especial the\ninvention and advancing of the matter left out of his commission and\ninstructions. The king's words rejoiced these worthy counsellors not a\nlittle, for as much as he was of their preferment.\nThen when this ambassador remembered the king's commandment, and saw\nthe time draw fast on of his repair before the king and his council,\n[he] prepared him in a readiness, and resorted unto the place assigned\nby the king, to declare his embassy. Without all doubt he reported the\neffect of all his affairs and proceedings so exactly, with such gravity\nand eloquence that all the council that heard him could do no less but\ncommend him, esteeming his expedition to be almost beyond the capacity\nof man. The king of his mere motion, and gracious consideration, gave\nhim at that time for his diligent and faithful service, the deanery\nof Lincoln[59], which at that time was one of the worthiest spiritual\npromotions that he gave under the degree of a bishoprick. And thus from\nthenceforward he grew more and more into estimation and authority, and\nafter [was] promoted by the king to be his almoner. Here may all men\nnote the chances of fortune, that followeth some whom she listeth to\npromote, and even so to some her favour is contrary, though they should\ntravail never so much, with [all the] urgent diligence and painful\nstudy, that they could devise or imagine: whereof, for my part, I have\ntasted of the experience.\nNow ye shall understand that all this tale that I have declared of his\ngood expedition in the king's embassy, I received it of his own mouth\nand report, after his fall, lying at that time in the great park of\nRichmond, I being then there attending upon him; taking an occasion\nupon divers communications, to tell me this journey, with all the\ncircumstances, as I have here before rehearsed.\n[Illustration: HENRY THE EIGHTH.\nFROM AN ORIGINAL PICTURE BY HOLBEIN.\nIN THE COLLECTION OF BARRET BRYDGES ESQ.\nAT LEE PRIORY IN KENT.\n_London, Published Jan^y. 1, 1825; by Harding, Triphook & Lepard._]\nWhen death (that favoureth none estate, king or keiser) had taken that\nprudent prince Henry the Seventh out of this present life (on whose\nsoul Jesu have mercy!) who for his inestimable wisdom was noted and\ncalled, in every Christian region, the second Solomon, what practices,\ninventions, and compasses were then used about that young prince,\nKing Henry the Eighth, his only son, and the great provision made for\nthe funerals of the one, and the costly devices for the coronation of\nthe other, with that virtuous Queen Catherine[60], then the king's\nwife newly married. I omit and leave the circumstances thereof to\nhistoriographers of chronicles of princes, the which is no part mine\nintendment.\nAfter all these solemnities and costly triumphs finished, and that\nour natural, young, lusty and courageous prince and sovereign lord,\nKing Henry the Eighth, entering into the flower of pleasant youth,\nhad taken upon him the regal sceptre and the imperial diadem of this\nfertile and plentiful realm of England (which at that time flourished\nin all abundance of wealth and riches, whereof he was inestimably\ngarnished and furnished), called then the golden world, such grace of\nplenty reigned then within this realm. Now let us return again unto\nthe almoner (of whom I have taken upon me to write), whose head was\nfull of subtil wit and policy, [and] perceiving a plain path to walk\nin towards promotion, [he] handled himself so politicly, that he found\nthe means to be made one of the king's council, and to grow in good\nestimation and favour with the king, to whom the king gave a house at\nBridewell, in Fleet Street, sometime Sir Richard Empson's[61], where\nhe kept house for his family, and he daily attended upon the king in\nthe court, being in his especial grace and favour, [having][62] then\ngreat suit made unto him, as counsellors most commonly have that be\nin favour. His sentences and witty persuasions in the council chamber\n[were][63] always so pithy that they, always as occasion moved them,\nassigned him for his filed tongue and ornate eloquence, to be their\nexpositor unto the king's majesty in all their proceedings. In whom the\nking conceived such a loving fantasy, and in especial for that he was\nmost earnest and readiest among all the council to advance the king's\nonly will and pleasure, without any respect to the case; the king,\ntherefore, perceived him to be a meet instrument for the accomplishment\nof his devised will and pleasure, called him more near unto him, and\nesteemed him so highly that his estimation and favour put all other\nancient counsellors out of their accustomed favour, that they were in\nbefore; insomuch that the king committed all his will and pleasure unto\nhis disposition and order. Who wrought so all his matters, that all his\nendeavour was only to satisfy the king's mind, knowing right well, that\nit was the very vein and right course to bring him to high promotion.\nThe king was young and lusty, disposed all to mirth and pleasure,\nand to follow his desire and appetite, nothing minding to travail in\nthe busy affairs of this realm. The which the almoner perceiving very\nwell, took upon him therefore to disburden the king of so weighty a\ncharge and troublesome business, putting the king in comfort that he\nshall not need to spare any time of his pleasure, for any business that\nshould necessarily happen in the council, as long as he, being there\nand having the king's authority and commandment, doubted not to see all\nthings sufficiently furnished and perfected; the which would first make\nthe king privy of all such matters as should pass through their hands\nbefore he would proceed to the finishing or determining of the same,\nwhose mind and pleasure he would fulfill and follow to the uttermost,\nwherewith the king was wonderly pleased. And whereas the other ancient\ncounsellors would, according to the office of good counsellors, diverse\ntimes persuade the king to have sometime an intercourse in to the\ncouncil, there to hear what was done in weighty matters, the which\npleased the king nothing at all, for he loved nothing worse than to be\nconstrained to do any thing contrary to his royal will and pleasure;\nand that knew the almoner very well, having a secret intelligence of\nthe king's natural inclination, and so fast as the other counsellors\nadvised the king to leave his pleasure, and to attend to the affairs\nof his realm, so busily did the almoner persuade him to the contrary;\nwhich delighted him much, and caused him to have the greater affection\nand love to the almoner. Thus the almoner ruled all them that before\nruled him; such [things] did his policy and wit bring to pass. Who was\nnow in high favour, but Master Almoner? Who had all the suit but Master\nAlmoner? And who ruled all under the king, but Master Almoner? Thus\nhe proceeded still in favour; at last, in came presents, gifts, and\nrewards so plentifully, that I dare say he lacked nothing that might\neither please his fantasy or enrich his coffers; fortune smiled so upon\nhim; but to what end she brought him, ye shall hear after. Therefore\nlet all men, to whom fortune extendeth her grace, not trust too much\nto her fickle favour and pleasant promises, under colour whereof she\ncarrieth venemous gall. For when she seeth her servant in most highest\nauthority, and that he assureth himself most assuredly in her favour,\nthen turneth she her visage and pleasant countenance unto a frowning\ncheer, and utterly forsaketh him: such assurance is in her inconstant\nfavour and sugared promise. Whose deceitful behaviour hath not been\nhid among the wise sort of famous clerks, that have exclaimed her\nand written vehemently against her dissimulation and feigned favour,\nwarning all men thereby, the less to regard her, and to have her in\nsmall estimation of any trust or faithfulness.\nThis almoner, climbing thus hastily on fortune's wheel, that no man\nwas of that estimation with the king as he was, for his wisdom and\nother witty qualities, he had a special gift of natural eloquence[64],\nwith a filed tongue to pronounce the same, that he was able with the\nsame to persuade and allure all men to his purpose. Proceeding thus\nin fortune's blissfulness, it chanced the wars between the realms\nof England and France to be open, but upon what occasion I know not,\nin so much as the king, being fully persuaded, and resolved in his\nmost royal person to invade his foreign enemies with a puissant army,\nto delay their hault[65] brags, within their own territory: wherefore\nit was thought very necessary, that this royal enterprise should be\nspeedily provided and plentifully furnished in every degree of things\napt and convenient for the same; the expedition whereof, the king's\nhighness thought no man's wit so meet, for policy and painful travail,\nas his wellbeloved almoner's was, to whom therefore he committed his\nwhole affiance and trust therein. And he being nothing scrupulous in\nany thing, that the king would command him to do, although it seemed to\nother very difficile, took upon him the whole charge and burden of all\nthis business, and proceeded so therein, that he brought all things to\na good pass and purpose in a right decent order, as of all manner of\nvictuals, provisions, and other necessaries, convenient for so noble a\nvoyage and puissant army.\nAll things being by him perfected, and furnished, the king, not minding\nto delay or neglect the time appointed, but with noble and valiant\ncourage advanced to his royal enterprise, passed the seas between Dover\nand Calais, where he prosperously arrived[66]; and after some abode\nthere of his Grace, as well for the arrival of his puissant army royal,\nprovisions and munitions, as to consult about his princely affairs,\nmarched forward, in good order of battle, through the Low Country,\nuntil he came to the strong town of Terouanne. To the which he laid his\nassault, and assailed it so fiercely with continual assaults, that\nwithin short space he caused them within to yield the town. Unto which\nplace the Emperor Maximilian repaired unto the king our sovereign Lord,\nwith a puissant army, like a mighty and friendly prince, taking of\nthe king his Grace's wages[67], as well for his own person as for his\nretinue, the which is a rare thing seldom seen, heard, or read, that\nan emperor should take wages, and fight under a king's banner. Thus\nafter the king had obtained the possession of this puissant fort, and\nset all things in due order, for the defence and preservation of the\nsame to his highness' use, he departed from thence, and marched toward\nthe city of Tournay, and there again laid his siege; to the which he\ngave so fierce and sharp assaults, that they within were constrained\nof fine force[68] to yield up the town unto his victorious majesty. At\nwhich time he gave the Almoner the bishoprick of the same See, for some\npart of recompense of his pains sustained in that journey. And when\nthe King had established all things there agreeable to his princely\npleasure, and furnished the same with noble valiant captains and men\nof war, for the safeguard of the town against his enemies, he returned\nagain into England, taking with him divers worthy persons of the peers\nof France, as the Duke of Longueville, and Countie Clermont, and divers\nother taken there in a skirmish most victoriously. After whose return\nimmediately, the See of Lincoln fell void by the death of Doctor Smith,\nlate bishop of that dignity, the which benefice and promotion his\nGrace gave unto his Almoner[69], Bishop elect of Tournay, who was not\nnegligent to take possession thereof, and made all the speed he could\nfor his consecration: the solemnization whereof ended, he found the\nmeans to get the possession of all his predecessor's goods into his\nhands, whereof I have seen divers times some part thereof furnish his\nhouse. It was not long after that Doctor Bambridge[70], Archbishop of\nYork, died at Rome, being there the king's ambassador unto the Pope\nJulius; unto which benefice the king presented his new Bishop of\nLincoln; so that he had three bishopricks[71] in one year given him.\nThen prepared he again of new as fast for his translation from the\nSee of Lincoln, unto the See of York. After which solemnization done,\nand he being in possession of the Archbishoprick of York, and _Primas\nAngli\u00e6_, thought himself sufficient to compare with Canterbury; and\nthereupon erected his cross in the court, and in every other place,\nas well in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and in the\nprecinct of his jurisdiction as elsewhere. And forasmuch as Canterbury\nclaimeth superiority and obedience of York, as he doth of all other\nbishops within this realm, forasmuch as he is _primus totius Angli\u00e6_,\nand therefore claimeth, as a token of an ancient obedience, of York\nto abate the advancing of his cross, in the presence of the cross\nof Canterbury; notwithstanding York, nothing minding to desist from\nbearing of his cross in manner as is said before, caused his cross\nto be advanced[72] and borne before him, as well in the presence of\nCanterbury as elsewhere. Wherefore Canterbury being moved therewith,\ngave York a certain check for his presumption; by reason whereof there\nengendered some grudge between Canterbury and York. And York perceiving\nthe obedience that Canterbury claimed to have of York, intended to\nprovide some such means that he would rather be superior in dignity\nto Canterbury than to be either obedient or equal to him. Wherefore he\nobtained first to be made Priest Cardinal, and _Legatus de latere_;\nunto whom the Pope sent a Cardinal's hat, with certain bulls for his\nauthority in that behalf[73]. Yet by the way of communication ye shall\nunderstand that the Pope sent him this hat as a worthy jewel of his\nhonour, dignity, and authority, the which was conveyed hither in a\nvarlet's budget, who seemed to all men to be but a person of small\nestimation. Whereof York being advertised, of the baseness of the\nmessenger, and of the people's opinion and rumour, thought it for his\nhonour meet, that so high a jewel should not be conveyed by so simple a\nmessenger; wherefore he caused him to be stayed by the way, immediately\nafter his arrival in England, where he was newly furnished in all\nmanner of apparel, with all kind of costly silks, which seemed decent\nfor such an high ambassador. And that done, he was encountered upon\nBlackheath, and there received with a great assembly of prelates, and\nlusty gallant gentlemen, and from thence conducted and conveyed through\nLondon, with great triumph. Then was great and speedy provision[74] and\npreparation made in Westminster Abbey for the confirmation of his high\ndignity; the which was executed by all the bishops and abbots nigh or\nabout London, in rich mitres and copes, and other costly ornaments;\nwhich was done in so solemn a wise as I have not seen the like unless\nit had been at the coronation of a mighty prince or king.\nObtaining this dignity [he] thought himself meet to encounter with\nCanterbury in his high jurisdiction before expressed; and that also he\nwas as meet to bear authority among the temporal powers, as among the\nspiritual jurisdictions. Wherefore remembering as well the taunts and\nchecks before sustained of Canterbury, which he intended to redress,\nhaving a respect to the advancement of worldly honour, promotion,\nand great benefits, [he] found the means with the king, that he was\nmade Chancellor of England; and Canterbury thereof dismissed, who had\ncontinued in that honourable room and office, since long before the\ndeath of King Henry the Seventh[75].\nNow he being in possession of the chancellorship, endowed with the\npromotion of an Archbishop, and Cardinal Legate _de latere_, thought\nhimself fully furnished with such authorities and dignities, that he\nwas able to surmount Canterbury in all ecclesiastical jurisdictions,\nhaving power to convocate Canterbury, and other bishops, within his\nprecincts, to assemble at his convocation, in any place within this\nrealm where he would assign; taking upon him the correction of all\nmatters in every diocese, having there through all the realm all manner\nof spiritual ministers, as commissaries, scribes, apparitors, and\nall other officers to furnish his courts; visited also all spiritual\nhouses, and presented by prevention whom he listed to their benefices.\nAnd to the advancing of his Legatine honours and jurisdictions, he\nhad masters of his faculties, masters Ceremoniarum, and such other\nlike officers to the glorifying of his dignity. Then had he two great\ncrosses of silver, whereof one of them was for his Archbishoprick, and\nthe other for his Legacy, borne always before him whither soever he\nwent or rode, by two of the most tallest and comeliest priests that he\ncould get within all this realm[76]. And to the increase of his gains\nhe had also the bishoprick of Durham, and the Abbey of St. Albans _in\ncommendam_; howbeit after, when Bishop Fox, of Winchester, died, he\nsurrendered Durham into the King's hands, and in lieu thereof took the\nBishoprick of Winchester. Then he held also, as it were _in ferme_,\nBath, Worcester, and Hereford, because the incumbents thereof were\nstrangers[77], born out of this realm, continuing always beyond the\nseas, in their own native countries, or else at Rome, from whence they\nwere sent by the Pope in legation into England to the king. And for\ntheir reward, at their departure, the prudent King Henry the Seventh\nthought it better to reward them with that thing, he himself could not\nkeep, than to defray or disburse any thing of his treasure. And then\nthey being but strangers, thought it more meet for their assurance,\nand to have their jurisdictions conserved and justly used, to permit\nthe Cardinal to have their benefices for a convenient yearly sum of\nmoney to be paid them by exchanges in their countries, than to be\ntroubled, or burdened with the conveyance thereof unto them: so that\nall their spiritual promotions and jurisdictions of their bishopricks\nwere clearly in his domain and disposition, to prefer or promote\nwhom he listed unto them. He had also a great number daily attending\nupon him, both of noblemen and worthy gentlemen, of great estimation\nand possessions, with no small number of the tallest yeomen, that he\ncould get in all this realm, in so much that well was that nobleman\nand gentleman, that might prefer any tall and comely yeoman unto his\nservice.\nNow to speak of the order of his house and officers, I think it\nnecessary here to be remembered. First ye shall understand, that he\nhad in his hall, daily, three especial tables furnished with three\nprincipal officers; that is to say, a Steward, which was always a dean\nor a priest; a Treasurer, a knight; and a Comptroller, an esquire;\nwhich bare always within his house their white staves. Then had he\na cofferer, three marshals, two yeomen ushers, two grooms, and an\nalmoner. He had in the hall-kitchen two clerks of his kitchen, a clerk\ncomptroller, a surveyor of the dresser, a clerk of his spicery. Also\nthere in his hall-kitchen he had two master cooks, and twelve other\nlabourers, and children as they called them; a yeoman of his scullery,\nand two other in his silver scullery; two yeomen of his pastry, and two\ngrooms[78].\nNow in his privy kitchen he had a Master Cook who went daily in damask\nsatin, or velvet, with a chain of gold about his neck; and two grooms,\nwith six labourers and children to serve in that place; in the Larder\nthere, a yeoman and a groom; in the Scalding-house, a yeoman and two\ngrooms; in the Scullery there, two persons; in the Buttery, two yeomen\nand two grooms, with two other pages; in the Pantry, two yeomen, two\ngrooms, and two other pages; and in the Ewery likewise: in the Cellar,\nthree yeomen, two grooms, and two pages; beside a gentleman for the\nmonth: in the Chaundery, three persons: in the Wafery, two; in the\nWardrobe of beds, the master of the wardrobe, and ten other persons; in\nthe Laundry, a yeoman, a groom, and three pages: of purveyors, two, and\none groom; in the Bakehouse, a yeoman and two grooms; in the Wood-yard,\na yeoman and a groom; in the Garner, one; in the Garden, a yeoman and\ntwo labourers. Now at the gate, he had of porters, two tall yeomen\nand two grooms; a yeoman of his barge: in the stable, he had a master\nof his horse, a clerk of the stable, a yeoman of the same; a Saddler,\na Farrier, a yeoman of his Chariot, a Sumpter-man, a yeoman of his\nstirrup; a Muleteer; sixteen grooms of his stable, every of them\nkeeping four great geldings: in the Almeserie, a yeoman and a groom.\nNow I will declare unto you the officers of his chapel, and singing men\nof the same. First, he had there a Dean, who was always a great clerk\nand a divine; a Sub-dean; a Repeater of the quire; a Gospeller[79], a\nPisteller; and twelve singing Priests: of Scholars, he had first, a\nMaster of the children; twelve singing children; sixteen singing men;\nwith a servant to attend upon the said children. In the Revestry[80],\na yeoman and two grooms: then were there divers retainers of cunning\nsinging men, that came thither at divers sundry principal feasts. But\nto speak of the furniture of his chapel passeth my capacity to declare\nthe number of the costly ornaments and rich jewels, that were occupied\nin the same continually. For I have seen there, in a procession,\nworn forty-four copes of one suit, very rich, besides the sumptuous\ncrosses, candlesticks, and other necessary ornaments to the comely\nfurniture of the same. Now shall ye understand that he had two cross\nbearers, and two pillar bearers: and in his chamber, all these persons;\nthat is to say: his high Chamberlain, his Vice Chamberlain; twelve\nGentlemen ushers, daily waiters; besides two in his privy chamber; and\nof Gentlemen waiters in his privy chamber he had six; and also he had\nof Lords nine or ten[81], who had each of them allowed two servants;\nand the Earl of Derby had allowed five men. Then had he of Gentlemen,\nas cup-bearers, carvers, sewers, and Gentlemen daily waiters, forty\npersons; of yeomen ushers he had six; of grooms in his chamber he had\neight; of yeomen of his chamber he had forty-six daily to attend upon\nhis person; he had also a priest there which was his Almoner, to attend\nupon his table at dinner. Of doctors and chaplains attending in his\ncloset to say daily mass before him, he had sixteen persons: and a\nclerk of his closet. Also he had two secretaries, and two clerks of\nhis signet; and four counsellors learned in the laws of the realm.\nAnd for as much as he was Chancellor of England, it was necessary for\nhim to have divers officers of the Chancery to attend daily upon him,\nfor the better furniture of the same. That is to say: first, he had the\nClerk of the Crown, a Riding Clerk, a Clerk of the Hanaper, a Chafer of\nWax. Then had he a Clerk of the Check, as well to check his Chaplains,\nas his Yeomen of the Chamber; he had also four Footmen, which were\napparelled in rich running coats, whensoever he rode any journey.\nThen had he an herald at Arms, and a Sergeant at Arms; a Physician;\nan Apothecary; four Minstrels; a Keeper of his Tents, an Armourer; an\nInstructor of his Wards; two Yeomen in his Wardrobe; and a Keeper of\nhis Chamber in the court. He had also daily in his house the Surveyor\nof York, a Clerk of the Green Cloth; and an Auditor. All this number\nof persons were daily attendant upon him in his house, down-lying and\nup-rising. And at meals, there was continually in his chamber a board\nkept for his Chamberlains, and Gentlemen Ushers, having with them a\nmess of the young Lords[82], and another for gentlemen.\nBesides all these, there was never an officer and gentleman, or any\nother worthy person in his house, but he was allowed some three, some\ntwo servants; and all other one at the least; which amounted to a\ngreat number of persons. Now have I showed you the order of his house,\nand what officers and servants he had, according to his checker roll,\nattending daily upon him; besides his retainers, and other persons\nbeing suitors, that most commonly were fed in his hall. And whensoever\nwe shall see any more such subjects within this realm, that shall\nmaintain any such estate and household, I am content he be advanced\nabove him in honour and estimation. Therefore here I make an end of his\nhousehold; whereof the number was about the sum of five hundred[83]\npersons according to his checker roll.\nYou have heard of the order and officers of his house; now I do intend\nto proceed forth unto other of his proceedings; for, after he was thus\nfurnished, in manner as I have before rehearsed unto you, he was twice\nsent in embassy unto the Emperor Charles the Fifth, that now reigneth;\nand father unto King Philip, now our sovereign lord. Forasmuch as the\nold Emperor Maximilian was dead, and for divers urgent causes touching\nthe king's majesty, it was thought good that in so weighty a matter,\nand to so noble a prince, that the Cardinal was most meet to be sent\non so worthy an embassy. Wherefore he being ready to take upon him the\ncharge thereof, was furnished in all degrees and purposes most likest a\ngreat prince, which was much to the high honour of the king's majesty,\nand of this realm. For first in his proceeding he was furnished like a\ncardinal of high estimation, having all things thereto correspondent\nand agreeable. His gentlemen, being in number very many, clothed in\nlivery coats of crimson velvet of the most purest colour that might be\ninvented, with chains of gold about their necks; and all his yeomen and\nother mean officers were in coats of fine scarlet, guarded with black\nvelvet a hand broad. He being thus furnished in this manner, was twice\nsent unto the emperor into Flanders, the emperor lying then in Bruges;\nwho entertained our ambassador very highly[84], discharging him and all\nhis train of their charge; for there was no house within all Bruges,\nwherein any gentlemen of the Lord Ambassador's lay, or had recourse,\nbut that the owners of the houses were commanded by the emperor's\nofficers, that they, upon pain of their lives, should take no money\nfor any thing that the cardinal's servants should take or dispend in\nvictuals; no, although they were disposed to make any costly banquets:\nfurthermore commanding their said hosts, to see that they lacked no\nsuch thing as they desired or required to have for their pleasures.\nAlso the emperor's officers every night went through the town, from\nhouse to house, where as any English men lay or resorted, and there\nserved their liveries[85] for all night; which was done after this\nmanner: first, the emperor's officers brought in to the house a cast of\nfine manchet bread[86], two great silver pots, with wine, and a pound\nof fine sugar; white lights and yellow; a bowl or goblet of silver, to\ndrink in; and every night a staff torch. This was the order of their\nliveries every night. And then in the morning, when the officers came\nto fetch away their stuff, then would they accompt with the host for\nthe gentlemen's costs spent in that night and day before. Thus the\nemperor entertained the cardinal and all his train, for the time of his\nembassy there. And that done, he returned home again into England, with\ngreat triumph, being no less in estimation with the king than he was\nbefore, but rather much more.\nNow will I declare unto you his order in going to Westminster Hall,\ndaily in the term season. First, before his coming out of his privy\nchamber, he heard most commonly every day two masses in his privy\ncloset; and there then said his daily service with his chaplain: and\nas I heard his chaplain say, being a man of credence and of excellent\nlearning, that the cardinal, what business or weighty matters soever\nhe had in the day, he never went to his bed with any part of his\ndivine service unsaid, yea not so much as one collect; wherein I doubt\nnot but he deceived the opinion of divers persons. And after mass he\nwould return in his privy chamber again, and being advertised of the\nfurniture of his chambers without, with noblemen, gentlemen, and other\npersons, would issue out into them, appareled all in red, in the habit\nof a cardinal; which was either of fine scarlet, or else of crimson\nsatin, taffety, damask, or caffa, the best that he could get for money:\nand upon his head a round pillion, with a noble of black velvet set to\nthe same in the inner side; he had also a tippet of fine sables about\nhis neck; holding in his hand a very fair orange, whereof the meat\nor substance within was taken out, and filled up again with the part\nof a sponge, wherein was vinegar, and other confections against the\npestilent airs; the which he most commonly smelt unto, passing among\nthe press, or else when he was pestered with many suitors. There was\nalso borne before him first, the great seal of England, and then his\ncardinal's hat, by a nobleman or some worthy gentleman, right solemnly,\nbareheaded. And as soon as he was entered into his chamber of presence,\nwhere there was attending his coming to await upon him to Westminster\nHall, as well noblemen and other worthy gentlemen, as noblemen and\ngentlemen of his own family; thus passing forth with two great crosses\nof silver borne before him[87]; with also two great pillars of silver,\nand his pursuivant at arms with a great mace of silver gilt. Then\nhis gentlemen ushers cried, and said: \"On, my lords and masters, on\nbefore; make way for my Lord's Grace!\" Thus passed he down from his\nchamber through the hall; and when he came to the hall door, there was\nattendant for him his mule, trapped all together in crimson velvet, and\ngilt stirrups. When he was mounted, with his cross bearers, and pillar\nbearers[88], also upon great horses trapped with [fine] scarlet. Then\nmarched he forward, with his train and furniture in manner as I have\ndeclared, having about him four footmen, with gilt pollaxes in their\nhands; and thus he went until he came to Westminster Hall door. And\nthere alighted, and went after this manner, up through the hall into\nthe chancery; howbeit he would most commonly stay awhile at a bar, made\nfor him, a little beneath the chancery [on the right hand], and there\ncommune some time with the judges, and sometime with other persons. And\nthat done he would repair into the chancery, sitting there till eleven\nof the clock, hearing suitors, and determining of divers matters.\nAnd from thence, he would divers times go into the star chamber, as\noccasion did serve; where he spared neither high nor low, but judged\nevery estate according to their merits and deserts.\nHe used every Sunday to repair to the court, being then for the most\npart at Greenwich, in the term; with all his former order, taking his\nbarge at his privy stairs, furnished with tall yeomen standing upon the\nbayles, and all gentlemen being within with him; and landed again at\nthe Crane in the vintry. And from thence he rode upon his mule, with\nhis crosses, his pillars, his hat, and the great seal, through Thames\nStreet, until he came to Billingsgate, or thereabout; and there took\nhis barge again, and rowed to Greenwich, where he was nobly received\nof the lords and chief officers of the king's house, as the treasurer\nand comptroller, with others; and so conveyed to the king's chamber:\nhis crosses commonly standing for the time of his abode in the court,\non the one side of the king's cloth of estate. He being thus in the\ncourt, it was wonderly furnished with noblemen and gentlemen, much\notherwise than it was before his coming. And after dinner, among the\nlords, having some consultation with the king, or with the council,\nhe would depart homeward with like state[89]: and this order he used\ncontinually, as opportunity did serve.\nThus in great honour, triumph, and glory, he reigned a long season,\nruling all things within this realm, appertaining unto the king, by\nhis wisdom, and also all other weighty matters of foreign regions,\nwith which the king of this realm had any occasion to intermeddle.\nAll ambassadors of foreign potentates were always dispatched by his\ndiscretion, to whom they had always access for their dispatch. His\nhouse was also always resorted and furnished with noblemen, gentlemen,\nand other persons, with going and coming in and out, feasting and\nbanqueting all ambassadors diverse times, and other strangers right\nnobly.\nAnd when it pleased the king's majesty, for his recreation, to repair\nunto the cardinal's house, as he did divers times in the year, at which\ntime there wanted no preparations, or goodly furniture, with viands of\nthe finest sort that might be provided for money or friendship. Such\npleasures were then devised for the king's comfort and consolation,\nas might be invented, or by man's wit imagined. The banquets were set\nforth, with masks and mummeries, in so gorgeous a sort, and costly\nmanner, that it was a heaven to behold. There wanted no dames, or\ndamsels, meet or apt to dance with the maskers, or to garnish the place\nfor the time, with other goodly disports. Then was there all kind of\nmusic and harmony set forth, with excellent voices both of men and\nchildren. I have seen the king suddenly come in thither in a mask, with\na dozen of other maskers, all in garments like shepherds, made of fine\ncloth of gold and fine crimson satin paned, and caps of the same, with\nvisors of good proportion of visnomy; their hairs, and beards, either\nof fine gold wire, or else of silver, and some being of black silk;\nhaving sixteen torch bearers, besides their drums, and other persons\nattending upon them, with visors, and clothed all in satin, of the\nsame colours. And at his coming, and before he came into the hall, ye\nshall understand, that he came by water to the water gate, without any\nnoise; where, against his coming, were laid charged many chambers[90],\nand at his landing they were all shot off, which made such a rumble in\nthe air, that it was like thunder. It made all the noblemen, ladies,\nand gentlewomen, to muse what it should mean coming so suddenly,\nthey sitting quietly at a solemn banquet; under this sort: First, ye\nshall perceive that the tables were set in the chamber of presence,\nbanquet-wise covered, my Lord Cardinal sitting under the cloth of\nestate, and there having his service all alone; and then was there\nset a lady and a nobleman, or a gentleman and gentlewoman, throughout\nall the tables in the chamber on the one side, which were made and\njoined as it were but one table. All which order and device was done\nand devised by the Lord Sands, Lord Chamberlain to the king; and also\nby Sir Henry Guilford, Comptroller to the king. Then immediately after\nthis great shot of guns, the cardinal desired the Lord Chamberlain, and\nComptroller, to look what this sudden shot should mean, as though he\nknew nothing of the matter. They thereupon looking out of the windows\ninto Thames, returned again, and showed him, that it seemed to them\nthere should be some noblemen and strangers arrived at his bridge, as\nambassadors from some foreign prince. With that, quoth the cardinal,\n\"I shall desire you, because ye can speak French, to take the pains\nto go down into the hall to encounter and to receive them, according\nto their estates, and to conduct them into this chamber, where they\nshall see us, and all these noble personages sitting merrily at our\nbanquet, desiring them to sit down with us, and to take part of our\nfare and pastime. Then [they] went incontinent down into the hall,\nwhere they received them with twenty new torches, and conveyed them\nup into the chamber, with such a number of drums and fifes as I have\nseldom seen together, at one time in any masque. At their arrival\ninto the chamber, two and two together, they went directly before the\ncardinal where he sat, saluting him very reverently; to whom the Lord\nChamberlain for them said: \"Sir, for as much as they be strangers, and\ncan speak no English, they have desired me to declare unto your Grace\nthus: they, having understanding of this your triumphant banquet,\nwhere was assembled such a number of excellent fair dames, could do\nno less, under the supportation of your good grace, but to repair\nhither to view as well their incomparable beauty, as for to accompany\nthem at mumchance[91], and then after to dance with them, and so to\nhave of them acquaintance. And, sir, they furthermore require of your\nGrace licence to accomplish the cause of their repair.\" To whom the\ncardinal answered, that he was very well contented they should so do.\nThen the maskers went first and saluted all the dames as they sat, and\nthen returned to the most worthiest, and there opened a cup full of\ngold, with crowns, and other pieces of coin, to whom they set divers\npieces to cast at. Thus in this manner perusing all the ladies and\ngentlewomen, and to some they lost, and of some they won. And thus\ndone, they returned unto the cardinal, with great reverence, pouring\ndown all the crowns in the cup, which was about two hundred crowns.\n\"At all,\" quoth the cardinal, and so cast the dice, and won them all\nat a cast; whereat was great joy made. Then quoth the cardinal to my\nLord Chamberlain, \"I pray you,\" quoth he, \"show them that it seemeth\nme that there should be among them some noble man, whom I suppose to\nbe much more worthy of honour to sit and occupy this room and place\nthan I; to whom I would most gladly, if I knew him, surrender my\nplace according to my duty.\" Then spake my Lord Chamberlain unto them\nin French, declaring my Lord Cardinal's mind, and they rounding[92]\nhim again in the ear, my Lord Chamberlain said to my Lord Cardinal,\n\"Sir, they confess,\" quoth he, \"that among them there is such a noble\npersonage, whom, if your Grace can appoint him from the other, he is\ncontented to disclose himself, and to accept your place most worthily.\"\nWith that the cardinal, taking a good advisement among them, at the\nlast, quoth he, \"Me seemeth the gentleman with the black beard should\nbe even he.\" And with that he arose out of his chair, and offered the\nsame to the gentleman in the black beard, with his cap in his hand.\nThe person to whom he offered then his chair was Sir Edward Neville,\na comely knight of a goodly personage, that much more resembled the\nking's person in that mask, than any other. The king, hearing and\nperceiving the cardinal so deceived in his estimation and choice, could\nnot forbear laughing; but plucked down his visor, and Master Neville's\nalso, and dashed out with such a pleasant countenance and cheer, that\nall noble estates there assembled, seeing the king to be there amongst\nthem, rejoiced very much. The cardinal eftsoons desired his highness\nto take the place of estate, to whom the king answered, that he would\ngo first and shift his apparel; and so departed, and went straight\ninto my lord's bedchamber, where was a great fire made and prepared\nfor him; and there new apparelled him with rich and princely garments.\nAnd in the time of the king's absence, the dishes of the banquet were\nclean taken up, and the tables spread again with new and sweet perfumed\ncloths; every man sitting still until the king and his maskers came\nin among them again, every man being newly apparelled. Then the king\ntook his seat under the cloth of estate, commanding no man to remove,\nbut sit still, as they did before. Then in came a new banquet before\nthe king's majesty, and to all the rest through the tables, wherein, I\nsuppose, were served two hundred dishes or above, of wondrous costly\nmeats and devices, subtilly devised. Thus passed they forth the whole\nnight with banqueting, dancing, and other triumphant devices, to the\ngreat comfort of the king, and pleasant regard of the nobility there\nassembled.\nAll this matter I have declared at large, because ye shall understand\nwhat joy and delight the cardinal had to see his prince and sovereign\nlord in his house so nobly entertained and pleased, which was always\nhis only study, to devise things to his comfort, not passing of the\ncharges or expenses. It delighted him so much, to have the king's\npleasant princely presence, that no thing was to him more delectable\nthan to cheer his sovereign lord, to whom he owed so much obedience and\nloyalty; as reason required no less, all things well considered.\nThus passed the cardinal his life and time, from day to day, and year\nto year, in such great wealth, joy, and triumph, and glory, having\nalways on his side the king's especial favour; until Fortune, of whose\nfavour no man is longer assured than she is disposed, began to wax\nsomething wroth with his prosperous estate, [and] thought she would\ndevise a mean to abate his high port; wherefore she procured Venus,\nthe insatiate goddess, to be her instrument. To work her purpose, she\nbrought the king in love with a gentlewoman, that, after she perceived\nand felt the king's good will towards her, and how diligent he was both\nto please her, and to grant all her requests, she wrought the cardinal\nmuch displeasure; as hereafter shall be more at large declared. This\ngentlewoman, the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, being at that time but\nonly a bachelor knight, the which after, for the love of his daughter,\nwas promoted to higher dignities. He bare at divers several times\nfor the most part all the rooms of estimation in the king's house;\nas Comptroller, Treasurer, Vice Chamberlain, and Lord Chamberlain.\nThen was he made Viscount Rochford; and at the last created Earl of\nWiltshire, and Knight of the noble Order of the Garter; and, for his\nmore increase of gain and honour, he was made Lord Privy Seal, and most\nchiefest of the king's privy council. Continuing therein until his son\nand daughter did incur the king's indignation and displeasure. The king\nfantasied so much his daughter Anne, that almost all things began to\ngrow out of frame and good order[93].\nTo tell you how the king's love began to take place, and what followed\nthereof, I will even as much as in me lieth, declare [unto] you. This\ngentlewoman, Mistress Anne Boleyn, being very young[94] was sent into\nthe realm of France, and there made one of the French[95] queen's\nwomen, continuing there until the French queen died. And then was she\nsent for home again; and being again with her father, he made such\nmeans that she was admitted to be one of Queen Katharine's maids, among\nwhom, for her excellent gesture and behaviour, [she] did excel all\nother; in so much, as the king began to kindle the brand of amours;\nwhich was not known to any person, ne scantly to her own person.\nIn so much [as] my Lord Percy, the son and heir of the Earl of\nNorthumberland, then attended upon the Lord Cardinal, and was also his\nservitor; and when it chanced the Lord Cardinal at any time to repair\nto the court, the Lord Percy would then resort for his pastime unto the\nqueen's chamber, and there would fall in dalliance among the queen's\nmaidens, being at the last more conversant with Mistress Anne Boleyn\nthan with any other; so that there grew such a secret love between\nthem that, at length, they were insured together[96], intending to\nmarry. The which thing came to the king's knowledge, who was then much\noffended. Wherefore he could hide no longer his secret affection, but\nrevealed his secret intendment unto my Lord Cardinal in that behalf;\nand consulted with him to infringe the precontract between them:\ninsomuch, that after my Lord Cardinal was departed from the court, and\nreturned home to his place at Westminster, not forgetting the king's\nrequest and counsel, being in his gallery, called there before him\nthe said Lord Percy unto his presence, and before us his servants of\nhis chamber, saying thus unto him. \"I marvel not a little,\" quoth he,\n\"of thy peevish folly, that thou wouldest tangle and ensure thyself\nwith a foolish girl yonder in the court, I mean Anne Boleyn. Dost\nthou not consider the estate that God hath called thee unto in this\nworld? For after the death of thy noble father, thou art most like to\ninherit and possess one of the most worthiest earldoms of this realm.\nTherefore it had been most meet, and convenient for thee, to have sued\nfor the consent of thy father in that behalf, and to have also made\nthe king's highness privy thereto; requiring therein his princely\nfavour, submitting all thy whole proceeding in all such matters unto\nhis highness, who would not only accept thankfully your submission,\nbut would, I assure thee, provide so for your purpose therein, that he\nwould advance you much more nobly, and have matched you according to\nyour estate and honour, whereby ye might have grown so by your wisdom\nand honourable behaviour into the king's high estimation, that it\nshould have been much to your increase of honour. But now behold what\nye have done through your wilfulness. Ye have not only offended your\nnatural father, but also your most gracious sovereign lord, and matched\nyourself with one, such as neither the king, ne yet your father will\nbe agreeable with the matter. And hereof I put you out of doubt, that\nI will send for your father, and at his coming, he shall either break\nthis unadvised contract, or else disinherit thee for ever. The king's\nmajesty himself will complain to thy father on thee, and require no\nless at his hand than I have said; whose highness intended to have\npreferred [Anne Boleyn] unto another person, with whom the king hath\ntravelled already, and being almost at a point with the same person,\nalthough she knoweth it not, yet hath the king, most like a politic\nand prudent prince, conveyed the matter in such sort, that she, upon\nthe king's motion, will be (I doubt not) right glad and agreeable to\nthe same.\" \"Sir,\" (quoth the Lord Percy, all weeping), \"I knew nothing\nof the king's pleasure therein, for whose displeasure I am very sorry.\nI considered that I was of good years, and thought myself sufficient\nto provide me of a convenient wife, whereas my fancy served me best,\nnot doubting but that my lord my father would have been right well\npersuaded. And though she be a simple maid, and having but a knight\nto her father, yet is she descended of right noble parentage. As by\nher mother she is nigh of the Norfolk blood: and of her father's side\nlineally descended of the Earl of Ormond, he being one of the earl's\nheirs general[97]. Why should I then, sir, be any thing scrupulous to\nmatch with her, whose estate of descent is equivalent with mine when I\nshall be in most dignity? Therefore I most humbly require your grace\nof your especial favour herein; and also to entreat the king's most\nroyal majesty most lowly on my behalf for his princely benevolence in\nthis matter, the which I cannot deny or forsake.\" \"Lo, sirs,\" quoth\nthe cardinal, \"ye may see what conformity and wisdom is in this wilful\nboy's head. I thought that when thou heardest me declare the king's\nintended pleasure and travail herein, thou wouldest have relented and\nwholly submitted thyself, and all thy wilful and unadvised fact, to\nthe king's royal will and prudent pleasure, to be fully disposed and\nordered by his grace's disposition, as his highness should seem good.\"\n\"Sir, so I would,\" quoth the Lord Percy, \"but in this matter I have\ngone so far, before many so worthy witnesses, that I know not how to\navoid my self nor to discharge my conscience.\" \"Why, thinkest thou,\"\nquoth the cardinal, \"that the king and I know not what we have to do\nin as weighty a matter as this? Yes (quoth he), I warrant thee. Howbeit\nI can see in thee no submission to the purpose.\" \"Forsooth, my Lord,\"\nquoth the Lord Percy, \"if it please your grace, I will submit myself\nwholly unto the king's majesty and [your] grace in this matter, my\nconscience being discharged of the weighty burthen of my precontract.\"\n\"Well then,\" quoth the cardinal, \"I will send for your father out of\nthe north parts, and he and we shall take such order for the avoiding\nof this thy hasty folly as shall be by the king thought most expedient.\nAnd in the mean season I charge thee, and in the king's name command\nthee, that thou presume not once to resort into her company, as thou\nintendest to avoid the king's high indignation.\" And this said he rose\nup and went into his chamber.\nThen was the Earl of Northumberland sent for in all haste, in the\nking's name, who upon knowledge of the king's pleasure made quick\nspeed to the court. And at his first coming out of the north he\nmade his first repair unto my Lord Cardinal, at whose mouth he was\nadvertised of the cause of his hasty sending for; being in my Lord\nCardinal's gallery with him in secret communication a long while. And\nafter their long talk my Lord Cardinal called for a cup of wine, and\ndrinking together they brake up, and so departed the earl, upon whom\nwe were commanded to wait to convey him to his servants. And in his\ngoing away, when he came to the gallery's end, he sat him down upon a\nform that stood there for the waiters some time to take their ease.\nAnd being there set called his son the Lord Percy unto him, and said\nin our presence thus in effect. \"Son,\" quoth he, \"thou hast always\nbeen a proud, presumptuous, disdainful, and a very unthrift waster,\nand even so hast thou now declared thyself. Therefore what joy, what\ncomfort, what pleasure or solace should I conceive in thee, that thus\nwithout discretion and advisement hast misused thyself, having no\nmanner of regard to me thy natural father, ne in especial unto thy\nsovereign lord, to whom all honest and loyal subjects bear faithful and\nhumble obedience; ne yet to the wealth of thine own estate, but hast\nso unadvisedly ensured thyself to her, for whom thou hast purchased\nthee the king's displeasure, intolerable for any subject to sustain!\nBut that his grace of his mere wisdom doth consider the lightness of\nthy head, and wilful qualities of thy person, his displeasure and\nindignation were sufficient to cast me and all my posterity into utter\nsubversion and dissolution: but he being my especial and singular good\nlord and favourable prince, and my Lord Cardinal my good lord hath and\ndoth clearly excuse me in thy lewd fact, and doth rather lament thy\nlightness than malign the same; and hath devised an order to be taken\nfor thee; to whom both thou and I be more bound than we be able well to\nconsider. I pray to God that this may be to thee a sufficient monition\nand warning to use thyself more wittier hereafter; for thus I assure\nthee, if thou dost not amend thy prodigality, thou wilt be the last\nearl of our house. For of thy natural inclination thou art disposed\nto be wasteful prodigal, and to consume all that thy progenitors have\nwith great travail gathered together and kept with honour. But having\nthe king's majesty my singular good and gracious lord, I intend (God\nwilling) so to dispose my succession, that ye shall consume thereof\nbut a little. For I do not purpose, I assure thee, to make thee mine\nheir; for, praises be to God, I have more choice of boys who, I\ntrust, will prove themselves much better, and use them more like unto\nnobility, among whom I will choose and take the best and most likeliest\nto succeed me. Now, masters and good gentlemen,\" (quoth he unto us),\n\"it may be your chances hereafter, when I am dead, to see the proof\nof these things that I have spoken to my son prove as true as I have\nspoken them. Yet in the mean season I desire you all to be his friends,\nand to tell him his fault when he doth amiss, wherein ye shall show\nyourselves to be much his friends.\" And with that he took his leave of\nus. And said to his son thus: \"Go your ways, and attend upon my lord's\ngrace your master, and see that you do your duty.\" And so departed, and\nwent his way down through the hall into his barge.\nThen after long debating and consultation upon the Lord Percy's\nassurance, it was devised that the same should be infringed and\ndissolved, and that the Lord Percy should marry with one of the Earl\nof Shrewsbury's daughters[98]; (as he did after); by means whereof\nthe former contract was clearly undone. Wherewith Mistress Anne Boleyn\nwas greatly offended, saying, that if it lay ever in her power, she\nwould work the cardinal as much displeasure; as she did in deed after.\nAnd yet was he nothing to blame, for he practised nothing in that\nmatter, but it was the king's only device. And even as my Lord Percy\nwas commanded to avoid her company, even so was she commanded to avoid\nthe court, and sent home again to her father for a season; whereat she\nsmoked[99]: for all this while she knew nothing of the king's intended\npurpose.\nBut ye may see when fortune beginneth to lower, how she can compass a\nmatter to work displeasure by a far fetch. For now, mark, good reader,\nthe grudge, how it began, that in process [of time] burst out to the\nutter undoing of the cardinal. O Lord, what a God art thou! that\nworkest thy secrets so wonderfully, which be not perceived until they\nbe brought to pass and finished. Mark this history following, good\nreader, and note every circumstance, and thou shaft espy at thine eye\nthe wonderful work of God, against such persons as forgetteth God and\nhis great benefits! Mark, I say, mark them well!\nAfter that all these troublesome matters of my Lord Percy's were\nbrought to a good stay, and all things finished that were before\ndevised, Mistress Anne Boleyn was revoked unto the court[100], where\nshe flourished after in great estimation and favour; having always a\nprivy indignation unto the cardinal, for breaking off the precontract\nmade between my Lord Percy and her, supposing that it had been his own\ndevice and will, and none other, not yet being privy to the king's\nsecret mind, although that he had a great affection unto her. Howbeit,\nafter she knew the king's pleasure, and the great love that he bare\nher in the bottom of his stomach, then she began to look very hault\nand stout, having all manner of jewels, or rich apparel, that might be\ngotten with money. It was therefore judged by-and-bye through all the\ncourt of every man, that she being in such favour, might work masteries\nwith the king, and obtain any suit of him for her friend.\nAnd all this while, she being in this estimation in all places, it\nis no doubt but good Queen Katharine, having this gentlewoman daily\nattending upon her, both heard by report, and perceived before her\neyes, the matter how it framed against her (good lady), although she\nshowed ne to Mistress Anne, ne unto the king, any spark or kind of\ngrudge or displeasure; but took and accepted all things in good part,\nand with wisdom and great patience dissimuled the same, having Mistress\nAnne in more estimation for the king's sake than she had before,\ndeclaring herself thereby to be a perfect Griselda, as her patient acts\nshall hereafter more evidently to all men be declared[101].\nThe king waxed so far in amours with this gentlewoman that he knew not\nhow much he might advance her. This perceiving, the great lords of the\ncouncil, bearing a secret grudge against the cardinal, because that\nthey could not rule in the scene well for him as they would, who kept\nthem low, and ruled them as well as other mean subjects, whereat they\ncaught an occasion to invent a mean to bring him out of the king's high\nfavour, and them into more authority of rule and civil governance.\nAfter long and secret consultation amongst themselves, how to bring\ntheir malice to effect against the cardinal, they knew right well that\nit was very difficile for them to do any thing directly of themselves.\nWherefore, they perceiving the great affection that the king bare\nlovingly unto Mistress Anne Boleyn, fantasying in their heads that\nshe should be for them a sufficient and an apt instrument to bring\ntheir malicious purpose to pass, with her they often consulted in this\nmatter. And she having both a very good wit, and also an inward desire\nto be revenged of the cardinal[102], was as agreeable to their requests\nas they were themselves. Wherefore there was no more to do but only\nto imagine some presented circumstances to induce their malicious\naccusations. Insomuch that there was imagined and invented among them\ndiverse imaginations and subtle devices, how this matter should be\nbrought about. The enterprise thereof was so dangerous, that though\nthey would fain have often attempted the matter with the king, yet\nthey durst not; for they knew the great loving affection and especial\nfavour that the king bare to the cardinal, and also they feared the\nwonderous wit of the cardinal. For this they understood very well,\nthat if their matter that they should propone against him were not\ngrounded upon a just and an urgent cause, the king's favour being such\ntowards him, and his wit such, that he would with policy vanquish all\ntheir purpose and travail, and then lye in a-wait to work them an utter\ndestruction and subversion. Wherefore they were compelled, all things\nconsidered, to forbear their enterprise until they might espy a more\nconvenient time and occasion.\nAnd yet the cardinal, espying the great zeal that the king had\nconceived in this gentlewoman, ordered himself to please as well the\nking as her, dissimuling the matter that lay hid in his breast, and\nprepared great banquets and solemn feasts to entertain them both at his\nown house. And thus the world began to grow into wonderful inventions,\nnot heard of before in this realm. The love between the king and this\ngorgeous lady grew to such a perfection, that divers imaginations were\nimagined, whereof I leave to speak until I come to the place where I\nmay have more occasion.\nThen began a certain grudge to arise between the French king and the\nDuke of Bourbon, in so much as the Duke, being vassal to the house\nof France, was constrained for the safeguard of his person to flee\nhis dominions, and to forsake his territory and country, doubting the\nking's great malice and indignation. The cardinal, having thereof\nintelligence, compassed in his head, that if the king our sovereign\nlord (having an occasion of wars with the realm of France), might\nretain the duke to be his general in the wars there: in as much as\nthe duke was fled unto the emperor, to invite him also, to stir wars\nagainst the French king. The cardinal having all this imagination in\nhis head thought it good to move the king in this matter. And after\nthe king was once advertised hereof, and conceived the cardinal's\nimagination and invention, he dreamed of this matter more and\nmore, until at the last it came in question among the council in\nconsultation, so that it was there finally concluded that an embassy\nshould be sent to the emperor about this matter; with whom it was\nconcluded that the king and the emperor should join in these wars\nagainst the French king, and that the Duke of Bourbon should be our\nsovereign lord's champion and general in the field; who had appointed\nhim a great number of good soldiers over and besides the emperor's\narmy, which was not small, and led by one of his own noblemen; and also\nthat the king should pay the duke his wages, and his retinue monthly.\nIn so much as Sir John Russel, (who was after Earl of Bedford), lay\ncontinually beyond the seas in a secret place, assigned both for to\nreceive the king's money and to pay the same monthly to the duke.\nSo that the duke began fierce war with the French king in his own\nterritory and dukedom, which the French king had confiscated and seized\ninto his hands; yet not known to the duke's enemies that he had any\naid of the king our sovereign lord. And thus he wrought the French\nking much trouble and displeasure; in so much as the French king was\ncompelled of fine force to put harness on his back, and to prepare a\npuissant army royal, and in his own person to advance to defend and\nresist the duke's power and malice. The duke having understanding\nof the king's advancing was compelled of force to take Pavia, a\nstrong town in Italy, with his host, for their security; where as\nthe king besieged him, and encamped him wondrous strongly, intending\nto enclose the Duke within this town, that he should not issue. Yet\nnotwithstanding the duke would and did many times issue and skirmish\nwith the king's army.\nNow let us leave the king in his camp before Pavia, and return again\nto the Lord Cardinal, who seemed to be more French than Imperial. But\nhow it came to pass I cannot declare [unto] you: but the [French] king\nlying in his camp, sent secretly into England a privy person, a very\nwitty man, to entreat of a peace between him and the king our sovereign\nlord, whose name was John Joachin[103]; he was kept as secret as might\nbe, that no man had intelligence of his repair; for he was no\nFrenchman, but an Italian born, a man before of no estimation in\nFrance, or known to be in favour with his master, but to be a merchant,\nand for his subtle wit elected to entreat of such affairs as the king\nhad commanded him by embassy. This Joachin after his arrival here in\nEngland was secretly conveyed unto the king's manor of Richmond, and\nthere remained until Whitsuntide, at which time the cardinal resorted\nthither, and kept there the said feast very solemnly. In which season\nmy lord caused this Joachin divers times to dine with him, whose talk\nand behaviour seemed to be witty, sober, and wondrous discreet. [He]\ncontinued in England long after, until he had (as it seemed) brought\nhis purposed embassy to pass which he had in commission. For after\nthis there was sent out immediately a restraint unto Sir John Russell,\ninto those parts where he made his abiding beyond the seas, that he\nshould retain and keep back that month's wages still in his hands,\nwhich should have been paid unto the Duke of Bourbon, until the king's\npleasure were to him further known; for want of which money at the day\nappointed of payment, the duke and his retinue were greatly dismayed\nand sore disappointed; and when they saw that their money was not\nbrought unto them as it was wont to be. And being in so dangerous a\ncase for want of victuals, which were wondrous scant and dear, there\nwere many imaginations what should be the cause of the let thereof.\nSome said this, and some said they wist never what; so that they\nmistrusted no thing less than the very cause thereof. In so much at the\nlast, what for want of victual and other necessaries which could not\nbe gotten within the town, the captains and soldiers began to grudge\nand mutter; and at the last, for lack of victuals, were like all to\nperish. They being in this extremity came before the Duke of Bourbon\ntheir captain, and said, \"Sir, we must be of very force and necessity\ncompelled to yield us in to the danger of our enemies; and better it\nwere for us so to do than here to starve like dogs.\" When the duke\nheard the lamentations, and understood the extremities that they were\nbrought unto for lack of money, he said again unto them, \"Sirs,\" quoth\nhe, \"ye are both valiant men and of noble courage, who have served\nhere under me right worthily; and for your necessity, whereof I am\nparticipant, I do not a little lament. (Howbeit) I shall desire you,\nas ye are noble in hearts and courage, so to take patience for a day\nor twain: and if succour come not then from the King of England, as I\ndoubt nothing that he will deceive us, I will well agree that we shall\nall put ourselves and all our lives unto the mercy of our enemies;\"\nwherewith they were all agreeable. And expecting the coming of the\nking's money the space of three days, (the which days passed), the\nduke seeing no remedy called his noble men, and captains, and soldiers\nbefore him, and all weeping said, \"O ye noble captains and valiant men,\nmy gentle companions, I see no remedy in this necessity but either we\nmust yield us unto our enemies, or else famish. And to yield the town\nand ourselves, I know not the mercy of our enemies. As for my part I\npass not of their cruelties, for I know very well I shall suffer most\ncruel death if I come once into their hands. It is not for myself\ntherefore that I do lament, but it is for your sakes; it is for your\nlives; it is also for the safeguard of your persons. For so that ye\nmight escape the danger of your enemies' hands, I would most gladly\nsuffer death. Therefore, good companions and noble soldiers, I shall\nrequire you all, considering the dangerous misery and calamity that we\nstand in at this present, to sell our lives most dearly rather than to\nbe murdered like beasts. If ye will follow my counsel we will take upon\nus this night to give our enemies an assault in their camp, and by that\nmeans we may either escape, or else give them an overthrow. And thus it\nwere better to die in the field like men, than to live in captivity\nand misery as prisoners.\" To the which they all agreed. \"Then,\" quoth\nthe duke, \"Ye perceive that our enemy hath encamped us with a strong\ncamp, and that there is no way to enter but one, which is so planted\nwith great ordnance, and force of men, that it is not possible to enter\nthat way to fight with our enemies without great danger. And also,\nye see that now of late they have had small doubt of us, insomuch as\nthey have kept but slender watch. Therefore my policy and advice shall\nbe this: That about the dead time of the night, when our enemies be\nmost quiet at rest, there shall issue from us a number of the most\ndeliverest soldiers to assault their camp; who shall give the assault\nright secretly, even directly against the entry of the camp, which is\nalmost invincible. Your fierce and sharp assault shall be to them in\nthe camp so doubtful, that they shall be compelled to turn the strength\nof their entry that lyeth over against your assault, to beat you from\nthe assault. Then will I issue out at the postern, and come to the\nplace of their strength newly turned, and there, or they be ware, will\nI enter and fight with them at the same place where their guns and\nstrength lay before, and so come to the rescue of you of the assault,\nand winning their ordnance which they have turned, beat them with their\nown pieces. And then we joining together in the field, I trust we\nshall have a fair hand of them. This device pleased them wondrous well.\nThen prepared they all that day for the purposed device, and kept them\nsecret and close, without any noise or shot of piece within the town,\nwhich gave their enemies the less fear of any trouble that night, but\nevery man went to their rest within their tents and lodgings quietly,\nnothing mistrusting that after ensued.\nThen when all the king's host was at rest, the assailants issued out\nof the town without any noise, according to the former appointment,\nand gave a fierce and cruel assault at the place appointed; that they\nwithin the camp had as much to do to defend it as was possible: and\neven as the duke had before declared to his soldiers, they within\nwere compelled to turn their shot that lay at the entry against the\nassailants. With that issued the duke, and with him about fifteen or\nsixteen thousand men or more, and secretly in the night, his enemies\nbeing not privy of his coming until he was entered the field. And at\nhis first entry he was master of all the ordnance that lay there, and\nslew the gunners; and charged the said pieces and bent them against his\nenemies, [of] whom he slew wondrously a great number. He cut down tents\nand pavilions, and murdered them within them, or they wist of [his]\ncoming, suspecting nothing less than the duke's entry; so that he won\nthe field or ever the king could arise to the rescue: who was taken\nin his lodging or ever he was armed. And when the duke had obtained\nthe field, and the French king taken prisoner, his men slain, and his\ntents robbed and spoiled, which were wondrous rich. And in the spoil,\nsearching of the king's treasure in his coffers there was found among\nthem the league newly concluded between the King of England and the\nFrench king, under the great seal of England; which once by [the duke]\nperceived, he began to smell the impediment of his money which should\nhave come to him from the king. Having upon due search of this matter\nfurther intelligence that all this matter and his utter undoing was\nconcluded and devised by the Cardinal of England, the duke conceived\nsuch an indignation hereupon against the cardinal, that after he had\nestablished all things there in good order and security, he went\nincontinent unto Rome, intending there to sack the town, and to have\ntaken the pope prisoner: where, at his first assault of the walls,\nhe was the first man that was there slain. Yet, notwithstanding, his\ncaptains continued there the assault, and in conclusion won the town,\nand the pope fled unto Castle Angell, where he continued long after in\ngreat calamity.\nI have written thus this history at large because it was thought that\nthe cardinal gave the chief occasion of all this mischief[104]. Ye may\nperceive what thing soever a man purposeth, be he prince or prelate,\nyet notwithstanding God disposeth all things at his will and pleasure.\nWherefore it is great folly for any wise man to take any weighty\nenterprise of himself, trusting altogether to his own wit, not calling\nfor grace to assist him in all his proceedings.\nI have known and seen in my days that princes and great men [who]\nwould either assemble at any parliament, or in any other great\nbusiness, first would most reverently call to God for his gracious\nassistance therein. And now I see the contrary. Wherefore me seems that\nthey trust more in their own wisdoms and imaginations than they do to\nGod's help and disposition; and therefore often they speed thereafter,\nand their matters take no success. Therefore not only in this history,\nbut in divers others, ye may perceive right evident examples. And\nyet I see no man almost in authority or high estate regard or have\nany respect to the same; the greater is the pity, and the more to be\nlamented. Now will I desist from this matter and proceed to other.\nUpon the taking of the French king, many consultations and divers\nopinions were then in argument among the council here in England.\nWhereof some held opinion that if the king would invade the realm of\nFrance in proper person, with a puissant army royal, he might easily\nconquer the same; considering that the French king, and the most part\nof the noble peers of France, were then prisoners with the emperor.\nSome again said how that were no honour for the king our sovereign\nlord, (the king being in captivity). But some said that the French\nking ought by the law of arms to be the king's prisoner, forasmuch as\nhe was taken by the king's champion and general captain, the Duke of\nBourbon, and not by the emperor. So that some moved the king to take\nwar thereupon with the emperor, unless he would deliver the French king\nout of his hands and possession; with divers many other imaginations\nand inventions, even as men's fantasies served them, too long here to\nbe rehearsed: the which I leave to the writers of chronicles.\nThus continuing long in debating upon the matter, and every man in the\ncourt had their talk, as will without wit led their fantasies; at the\nlast it was devised by means of divers embassies sent into England out\nof the realm of France, desiring the king our sovereign lord to take\norder with the emperor for the French king's deliverance, as his royal\nwisdom should seem good, wherein the cardinal bare the stroke; so that\nafter long deliberation and advice taken in this matter, it was thought\ngood by the cardinal that the emperor should redeliver out of his ward\nthe French king, upon sufficient pledges. And that the king's two sons,\nthat is to say, the Dolphin and the Duke of Orleans should be delivered\nin hostage for the king their father; which was in conclusion brought\nto pass.\nAfter the king's deliverance out of the emperor's bondage, and his\ntwo sons received in hostage to the emperor's use, and the king our\nsovereign lord's security for the recompense of all such demands and\nrestitutions as should be demanded of the French king, the cardinal,\nlamenting the French king's calamity, and the pope's great adversity,\nwho yet remained in castle Angell, either as a prisoner, or else for\nhis defence and safeguard (I cannot tell whether), travailed all that\nhe could[105] with the king and his council to take order as well for\nthe delivery of the one as for the quietness of the other. At last,\nas ye have heard here before, how divers of the great estates and\nlords of the council lay in a-wait with my Lady Anne Boleyn, to espy\na convenient time and occasion to take the cardinal in a brake[106];\n[they] thought then, now is the time come that we have expected,\nsupposing it best to cause him to take upon him the king's commission,\nand to travel beyond the seas in this matter, saying, to encourage\nhim thereto, that it were more meet for his high discretion, wit, and\nauthority, to compass and bring to pass a perfect peace among these\ngreat and most mighty princes of the world than any other within this\nrealm or elsewhere. Their intent and purpose was only but to get him\nout of the king's daily presence, and to convey him out of the realm,\nthat they might have convenient leisure and opportunity to adventure\ntheir long desired enterprise, and by the aid of their chief mistress,\nmy Lady Anne, to deprave him so unto the king in his absence, that he\nshould be rather in his high displeasure than in his accustomed favour,\nor at the least to be in less estimation with his majesty. Well! what\nwill you have more? This matter was so handled that the cardinal was\ncommanded to prepare himself to this journey; the which he was fain\nto take upon him; but whether it was with his good will or no, I am\nnot well able to tell you. But this I know, that he made a short abode\nafter the determined resolution thereof, but caused all things to be\nprepared onward toward his journey. And every one of his servants were\nappointed that should attend upon him in the same.\n[Illustration: _Etched by I Harris Jun^r._\nCARDINAL WOLSEY AND HIS SUITE IN PROGRESS.\n_From a M.S. in the Collection of Francis Douce Esq.^r F.S.A._\n_Published by Harding, Triphook, & Lepard, 1824._]\nWhen all things were fully concluded, and for this noble embassy\nprovided and furnished, then was no lett, but advance forwards in\nthe name of God. My Lord Cardinal had with him such of the lords and\nbishops and other worthy persons as were not privy of the conspiracy.\nThen marched he forward out of his own house at Westminster, passing\nthrough all London[107], over London Bridge, having before him of\ngentlemen a great number, three in a rank, in black velvet livery\ncoats, and the most part of them with great chains of gold about their\nnecks. And all his yeomen, with noblemen's and gentlemen's servants\nfollowing him in French tawny livery coats; having embroidered upon the\nbacks and breasts of the said coats these letters: T. and C., under\nthe cardinal's hat. His sumpter mules, which were twenty in number and\nmore, with his carts and other carriages of his train, were passed on\nbefore, conducted and guarded with a great number of bows and spears.\nHe rode like a cardinal, very sumptuously, on a mule trapped with\ncrimson velvet upon velvet, and his stirrups of copper, and gilt; and\nhis spare mule following him with like apparel. And before him he had\nhis two great crosses of silver, two great pillars of silver, the great\nseal of England, his cardinal's hat, and a gentleman that carried his\nvalaunce, otherwise called a cloakbag; which was made altogether of\nfine scarlet cloth, embroidered over and over with cloth of gold very\nrichly, having in it a cloak of fine scarlet. Thus passed he through\nLondon, and all the way of his journey, having his harbingers passing\nbefore to provide lodging for his train.\nThe first journey he made to Dartford in Kent, unto Sir Richard\nWiltshire's house, which is two miles beyond Dartford; where all his\ntrain were lodged that night, and in the country thereabouts. The next\nday he rode to Rochester, and lodged in the bishop's palace there;\nand the rest of his train in the city, and in Stroud on this side the\nbridge. The third day he rode from thence to Feversham, and there\nwas lodged in the abbey, and his train in the town, and some in the\ncountry thereabouts. The fourth day he rode to Canterbury, where he\nwas encountered with the worshipfullest of the town and country, and\nlodged in the abbey of Christchurch, in the prior's lodging. And all\nhis train in the city, where he continued three or four days; in which\ntime there was the great jubilee, and a fair in honour of the feast\nof St. Thomas their patron. In which day of the said feast, within\nthe abbey there was made a solemn procession; and my Lord Cardinal\nwent presently in the same, apparelled in his legantine ornaments,\nwith his Cardinal's hat on his head; who commanded the monks and all\ntheir quire to sing the litany after this sort, _Sancta Maria ora pro\npapa nostro Clemente_; and so perused the litany through, my Lord\nCardinal kneeling at the quire door, at a form covered with carpets and\ncushions. The monks and all the quire standing all that while in the\nmidst of the body of the church. At which time I saw the Lord Cardinal\nweep very tenderly; which was, as we supposed, for heaviness that the\npope was at that present in such calamity and great danger of the Lance\nKnights[108].\nThe next day I was sent with letters from my Lord Cardinal unto\nCalais, by empost, insomuch as I was that same night at Calais. And\nat my landing I found standing upon the pier, without [the] Lantern\nGate, all the council of the town, to whom I delivered and dispatched\nmy message and letters or ever I entered the town; where I lay two\ndays or my lord came thither; who arrived in the haven the second day\nafter my coming, about eight of the clock in the morning: where he was\nreceived in procession with all the worshipfullest persons of the town\nin most solemn wise. And in the Lantern Gate was set for him a form,\nwith carpets and cushions, whereat he kneeled and made his prayers\nbefore his entry any further in the town; and there he was censed\nwith two great censers of silver, and sprinkled with holy water. That\ndone he arose up and passed on, with all that assembly before him,\nsinging, unto St. Mary's church, where he standing at the high altar,\nturning himself to the people, gave them his benediction and clean\nremission. And then they conducted him from thence unto a house called\nthe Checker, where he lay and kept his house as long as he abode in\nthe town; going immediately to his naked bed, because he was somewhat\ntroubled with sickness in his passage upon the seas.\nThat night, unto this place of the Checker, resorted to him Mons. du\nBiez, captain of Boulogne, with a number of gallant gentlemen, who\ndined with him; and after some consultation with the cardinal, he with\nthe rest of the gentlemen departed again to Boulogne. Thus the cardinal\nwas daily visited with one or other of the French nobility.\nThen when all his train and his carriages were landed at Calais, and\nevery thing prepared in a readiness for his journey, he called before\nhim all his noblemen and gentlemen into his privy chamber; where\nthey being assembled, [he] said unto them in this wise in effect:\n\"I have called you hither to this intent, to declare unto you, that\nI considering the diligence that ye minister unto me, and the good\nwill that I bear you again for the same, intending to remember your\ndiligent service hereafter, in place where ye shall receive condign\nthanks and rewards. And also I would show you further what authority\nI have received directly from the king's highness; and to instruct\nyou somewhat of the nature of the French men; and then to inform you\nwhat reverence ye shall use unto me for the high honour of the king's\nmajesty, and also how ye shall entertain the French men, whensoever\nye shall meet at any time. First, ye shall understand that the king's\nmajesty, upon certain weighty considerations, hath for the more\nadvancement of his royal dignity, assigned me in this journey to be\nhis lieutenant-general; and what reverence belongeth to the same I\nwill tell you. That for my part I must, by virtue of my commission of\nlieutenantship, assume and take upon me, in all honours and degrees,\nto have all such service and reverence as to his highness' presence\nis meet and due: and nothing thereof to be neglected or omitted by me\nthat to his royal estate is appurtenant. And for my part ye shall see\nme that I will not omit one jot thereof. Therefore, because ye shall\nnot be ignorant in that behalf, is one of the special causes of this\nyour assembly, willing and commanding you as ye entend my favour not\nto forget the same in time and place, but every of you do observe this\ninformation and instruction as ye will at my return avoid the king's\nindignation, but to obtain his highness' thanks, the which I will\nfurther for you as ye shall deserve.\n\"Now to the point of the Frenchmen's nature, ye shall understand that\ntheir disposition is such, that they will be at the first meeting as\nfamiliar with you as they had been acquainted with you long before, and\ncommune with you in the French tongue as though ye understood every\nword they spake: therefore in like manner, be ye as familiar with them\nagain as they be with you. If they speak to you in the French tongue,\nspeak you to them in the English tongue; for if you understand not\nthem, they shall no more understand you.\" And my lord speaking merrily\nto one of the gentlemen there, being a Welshman, \"Rice,\" quoth he,\n\"speak thou Welsh to him, and I am well assured that thy Welsh shall be\nmore diffuse[109] to him than his French shall be to thee.\" And then\nquoth he again to us all, \"let all your entertainment and behaviour\nbe according to all gentleness and humanity, that it may be reported,\nafter your departure from thence, that ye be gentlemen of right good\nbehaviour, and of much gentleness, and that ye be men that know your\nduty to your sovereign lord, and to your master, allowing much your\ngreat reverence. Thus shall ye not only obtain to yourselves great\ncommendation and praise for the same, but also advance the honour of\nyour prince and country. Now go your ways admonished of all these\npoints, and prepare yourselves against to-morrow, for then we intend,\nGod willing, to set forward.\" And thus, we being by him instructed and\ninformed, departed to our lodgings, making all things in a readiness\nagainst the next day to advance forth with my lord.\nThe next morrow, being Mary Magdalen's day, all things being furnished,\nmy Lord Cardinal rode out of Calais with such a number of black velvet\ncoats as hath not been seen with an ambassador. All the spears of\nCalais, Guines, and Hammes, were there attending upon him in that\njourney, in black velvet coats, and many great and massy chains of gold\nwere worn there.\nThus passed he forth with three gentlemen in a rank, which occupied the\nlength of three quarters of a mile or more, having all his accustomed\nand glorious furniture carried before him, as I before have rehearsed,\nexcept the broad seal, the which was left with Doctor Taylor, in\nCalais, then Master of the Rolls, until his return[110].\nPassing thus on his way, and being scant a mile of his journey, it\nbegan to rain so vehemently that I have not seen the like for the time;\nthat endured until we came to Boulogne; and or we came to Sandyngfeld,\nthe Cardinal of Loraine, a goodly young gentleman, encountered my\nlord, and received him with great reverence and joy; and so passed\nforth together, until they came to Sandyngfeld, which is a place of\nreligion, standing between the French, English, and the Emperor's\ndominions, being neuter, holding of neither of them. And being come\nthither, met with him there Le Countie Brion, Captain of Picardy, with\na great number of men of arms, as Stradiots and Arbenois[111] with\nothers standing in array, in a great piece of oats, all in harness,\nupon light horses, passing with my lord, as it were in a wing, all his\njourney through Picardy; for my lord somewhat doubted the emperor, lest\nhe would lay an ambush to betray him; for which cause the French king\ncommanded them to await upon my lord for the assurance of his person\nout of the danger of his enemies. Thus rode he accompanied until he\ncame to the town of Boulogne, where he was encountered within a mile\nthereof, with the worshipfullest citizens of the town, having among\nthem a learned man, that made to him an oration in Latin; unto the\nwhich my lord made answer semblably in Latin. And that done, Monsieur\ndu Biez, Captain of Boulogne, with the retinue there of gentlemen,\nmet him on horseback; which conveyed him into the town with all this\nassembly, until he came to the abbey gate, where he lighted and went\ndirectly into the church, and made his prayers before the image of our\nLady, to whom he made his offering. And that done, he gave there his\nblessing to the people, with certain days of pardon[112]. Then went he\ninto the abbey where he was lodged, and his train were lodged in the\nhigh and basse towns.\nThe next morning, after he heard mass, he rode unto _Montreuil sur la\nmer_, where he was encountered in like case as he was the day before,\nwith the worshipfullest of the town, all in one livery, having one\nlearned that made an oration before him in Latin, whom he answered in\nlike manner in Latin; and as he entered in to the town, there was a\ncanopy of silk embroidered with the letters and hat that was on the\nservants coats, borne over him [by] the persons of most estimation\nwithin the town. And when he was alighted his footmen seized the same\nas a fee due to their office. Now was there made divers pageants for\njoy of his coming, who was called there, and in all other places within\nthe realm of France as he travelled, _Le Cardinal Pacifique_; and in\nLatin _Cardinalis Pacificus_. [He] was accompanied all that night with\ndivers worthy gentlemen of the country there about[113].\nThe next day he rode toward Abbeville, where he was encountered with\ndivers gentlemen of the town and country, and so conveyed unto the\ntown, where he was most honourably received with pageants of divers\nkinds, wittily and costly invented, standing in every corner of the\nstreets as he rode through the town; having a like canopy borne over\nhim, being of more richer sort than the other at Montreuil, or at\nBoulogne was; they brought him to his lodging, which was, as it seemed,\na very fair house newly built with brick. At which house King Louis\nmarried my Lady Mary, King Henry the VIIIth sister; which was after\nmarried to the Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon. And being within, it\nwas in manner of a gallery, yet notwithstanding it was very necessary.\nIn this house my lord remained eight or ten days; to whom resorted,\ndaily, divers of the council of France, feasting them, and other noble\nmen, and gentlemen that accompanied the council, both at dinners and\nsuppers.\nThen when the time came that he should depart from thence, he rode to a\ncastle beyond the waters of Somme, called Pincquigny Castle, adjoining\nunto the said water, standing upon a great rock or hill, within the\nwhich was a goodly college of priests; the situation whereof was most\nlike unto the castle of Windsor in England; and there he was received\nwith a solemn procession, conveying him first into the church, and\nafter unto his lodging within the castle. At this castle King Edward\nthe Fourth met with the French king, upon the bridge that goeth over\nthe water of Somme, as ye may read in the chronicles of England.\nWhen my lord was settled within his lodging, it was reported unto\nme that the French king should come that day into Amiens, which was\nwithin six English miles of Pincquigny Castle; and being desirous to\nsee his first coming into the town, [I] axed license and took with\nme one or two gentlemen of my lord's, and rode incontinent thither,\nas well to provide me of a necessary lodging as to see the king. And\nwhen we came thither, being but strangers, [we] took up our inn (for\nthe time) at the sign of the Angel, directly against the west door of\nthe cathedral church _de notre Dame Sainte Marie_. And after we had\ndined there, tarrying until three or four of the clock, expecting the\nking's coming, in came Madame Regent, the king's mother, riding in\na very rich chariot; and in the same with her was her daughter, the\nQueen of Navarre, furnished with a hundred ladies and gentlewomen or\nmore following, riding upon white palfreys; over and besides divers\nother ladies and gentlewomen that rode some in rich chariots, and some\nin horse litters; who lighted at the west door with all this train,\naccompanied with many other noblemen and gentlemen besides her guard,\nwhich was not small in number. Then, within two hours after, the king\ncame into the town with a great shot of guns and divers pageants, made\nfor the nonce at the king's _bien venue_; having about his person both\nbefore him and behind him, besides the wonderful number of noblemen and\ngentlemen, three great guards diversely apparelled. The _first_ was of\nSoutches[114] and Burgonyons, with guns and havresacks. The _second_\nwas of Frenchmen, some with bows and arrows, and some with bills. The\n_third_ guard was _pour le corps_, which was of tall Scots, much more\ncomelier persons than all the rest. The French guard and the Scots had\nall one livery, which was rich coats of fine white cloth, with a guard\nof silver bullion embroidered an handful broad. The king came riding\nupon a goodly genet, and lighted at the west door of the said church,\nand so [was] conveyed into the church up to the high altar, where he\nmade his prayers upon his knees, and [was] then conveyed into the\nbishop's palace, where he was lodged, and also his mother.\nThe next morning I rode again to Pincquigny to attend upon my lord,\nat which time my lord was ready to take his mule towards Amiens; and\npassing on his journey thitherward, he was encountered from place to\nplace with divers noble and worthy personages, making to him divers\norations in Latin, to which he made answer again _extempore_; at whose\nexcellent learning and pregnant wit they wondered very much. Then was\nword brought my lord that the king was coming to encounter him; with\nthat, he having none other shift, was compelled to alight in an old\nchapel that stood by the high way, and there newly apparelled him into\nmore richer apparel; and then mounted upon a new mule very richly\ntrapped, with a footcloth and traps of crimson velvet upon velvet,\npurled with gold, and fringed about with a deep fringe of gold very\ncostly, his stirrups of silver and gilt, the bosses and cheeks of his\nbridle of the same[115]. And by that time that he was mounted again\nafter this most gorgeous sort, the king was come very near, within\nless than a quarter of a mile English, mustering upon an hill side, his\nguard standing in array along the same, expecting my lord's coming; to\nwhom my lord made as much haste as conveniently it became him; until\nhe came within a pair of butt lengths, and there he staid awhile. The\nking perceiving that, stood still; and having two worthy gentlemen\nyoung and lusty [with him], both brethren to the Duke of Lorraine, and\nto the Cardinal of Lorraine; whereof one of them was called Monsieur\nde Guise, and the other Monsieur Vaudemont: they were both apparelled\nlike the king, in purple velvet lined with cloth of silver, and their\ncoats cut, the king caused Monsieur Vaudemont to issue from him, and to\nride unto my lord to know the cause of his tracting. [This monsieur]\nrode upon a fair courser, taking his race in a full gallop, even until\nhe came unto my lord; and there caused his horse to come aloft once\nor twice so nigh my lord's mule, that he was in doubt of his horse;\nand with that he lighted from his courser, and doing his message to\nmy lord with humble reverence; which done, he mounted again, and\ncaused his horse to do the same at his departing as he did before, and\nso repaired again to the king; and, after his answer made, the king\nadvanced forward. That seeing my lord did the like, and in the mid\nway they met, embracing each other on horseback, with most amiable\ncountenance entertaining each other right nobly. Then drew into the\nplace all noblemen and gentlemen on both sides, with wonderful cheer\nmade one to another, as they had been of an old acquaintance. The\nprease was such and [so] thick, that divers had their legs hurt with\nhorses. Then the king's officers cried \"_Marche, marche, devant, allez\ndevant._\" And the king, and my Lord Cardinal on his right hand, rode\ntogether to Amiens, every English gentleman accompanied with another\nof France. The train of French and English endured two long miles,\nthat is to say from the place of their encounter unto Amiens; where\nthey were very nobly received with shot of guns and costly pageants,\nuntil the king had brought my lord to his lodging, and there departed\nasunder for that night, the king being lodged in the bishop's palace.\nThe next day after dinner, my lord with a great train of noblemen and\ngentlemen of England, rode unto the king's court; at which time the\nking kept his bed, being somewhat diseased, yet notwithstanding my lord\ncame into his bedchamber, where sat on the one side of his bed his\nmother, Madam Regent, and on the other side the Cardinal of Lorraine,\nwith divers other noblemen of France. And after a short communication,\nand drinking of a cup of wine with the king's mother, my lord departed\nagain to his lodging, accompanied with divers gentlemen and noblemen\nof France, who supped with him. Thus continued the king and my lord in\nAmiens the space of two weeks and more, consulting[116] and feasting\neach other divers times. [And in the feast of the Assumption of our\nLady, my lord rose betimes and went to the cathedral church _de notre\nDame_, and there before my Lady Regent and the Queen of Navarre, in\nour Lady Chapel, he said his service and mass; and after mass, he\nhimself ministered the sacrament unto my Lady Regent and to the Queen\nof Navarre. And that done, the king resorted unto the church, and was\nconveyed into a rich travers at the high altar; and directly against\nhim, on the other side of the altar, sat my Lord Cardinal in another\nrich travers[117], three gressis[118] higher than the king's. And\nat the altar, before them both, a bishop sang high mass, and at the\nfraction of the host the same bishop divided the sacrament between\nthe king and the cardinal, for the performance of the peace concluded\nbetween them; which mass was sung solemnly by the king's chapel, having\namong them cornets and sackbuts. And after mass was done the trumpeters\nblew in the roodeloft[119] until the king was past inward to his\nlodging out of the church. And at his coming in to the bishop's palace,\nwhere he intended to dine with my Lord Cardinal, there sat, within a\ncloister, about two hundred persons diseased with the king's evil, upon\ntheir knees. And the king, or ever he went to dinner, provised every\nof them with rubbing and blessing them with his bare hands, being bare\nheaded all the while; after whom followed his almoner distributing of\nmoney unto the persons diseased. And that done he said certain prayers\nover them, and then washed his hands, and so came up into his chamber\nto dinner, where as my lord dined with him[120].]\nThen it was determined that the king and my lord should remove out of\nAmiens, and so they did, to a town or city called Compeigne, which\nwas more than twenty English miles from thence; unto which town I was\nsent to prepare my lord's lodging. And as I rode on my journey, being\nupon a Friday, my horse chanced to cast a shoe in a little village,\nwhere stood a fair castle. And as it chanced there dwelt a smith, to\nwhom I commanded my servant to carry my horse to shoe, and standing\nby him while my horse was a shoeing, there came to me one of the\nservants of the castle, perceiving me to be the cardinal's servant and\nan Englishman, who required me to go with him into the castle to my\nlord his master, whom he thought would be very glad of my coming and\ncompany. Whose request I granted, because that I was always desirous to\nsee and be acquainted with strangers, in especial with men in honour\nand authority, so I went with him; who conducted me unto the castle,\nand being entered in the first ward, the watchmen of that ward, being\nvery honest tall men, came and saluted me most reverently, and knowing\nthe cause of my coming, desired me to stay a little while until they\nhad advertised my lord their master of my being there; and so I did.\nAnd incontinent the lord of the castle came out to me, who was called\nMonsieur Crequi, a nobleman born, and very nigh of blood to King Louis,\nthe last king that reigned before this King Francis. And at his first\ncoming he embraced me, saying that I was right heartily welcome, and\nthanked me that I so gently would visit him and his castle, saying\nfurthermore that he was preparing to encounter the king and my lord, to\ndesire them most humbly the next day to take his castle in their way,\nif he could so intreat them. And true it is that he was ready to ride\nin a coat of velvet with a pair of velvet arming shoes on his feet, and\na pair of gilt spurs on his heels. Then he took me by the hand, and\nmost gently led me into his castle, through another ward. And being\nonce entered into the base court of the castle, I saw all his family\nand household servants standing in goodly order, in black coats and\ngowns, like mourners, who led me into the hall, which was hanged with\nhand-guns, as thick as one could hang by another upon the walls; and\nin the hall stood an hawk's perch, whereon stood three or four fair\ngoshawks. Then went we into the parlour, which was hanged with fine\nold arras, and being there but a while, communing together of my lord\nof Suffolk, how he was there to have besieged the same, his servants\nbrought to him bread and wine of divers sorts, whereof he caused me\nto drink. And after, \"I will,\" quoth he, \"show you the strength of my\nhouse, how hard it would have been for my Lord of Suffolk to have won\nit.\" Then led he me upon the walls, which were very strong, more than\nfifteen foot thick, and well garnished with great battery pieces of\nordnance ready charged to [be] shot off against the king and my lord's\ncoming.\nWhen he had showed me all the walls and bulwarks about the castle, he\ndescended from the walls, and came down into a fair inner court, where\nhis genet stood for to mount upon, with twelve other genets, the most\nfairest and best that ever I saw, and in especial his own, which was\na mare genet, he showed me that he might have had for her four hundred\ncrowns. But upon the other twelve genets were mounted twelve goodly\nyoung gentlemen, called pages of honour; all bare headed in coats of\ncloth of gold, and black velvet cloaks, and on their legs boots of red\nSpanish leather, and spurs parcel gilt.\nThen he took his leave of me, commanding his steward and other his\ngentlemen to attend upon me, and conduct me unto my lady his wife, to\ndinner. And that done he mounted upon his genet, and took his journey\nforth out of his castle. Then the steward, with the rest of the\ngentlemen, led me up into a tower in the gatehouse, where then my lady\ntheir mistress lay, for the time that the king and my lord should tarry\nthere.\nI being in a fair great dining chamber, where the table was covered\nfor dinner, and there I attended my lady's coming; and after she came\nthither out of her own chamber, she received me most gently, like [one\nof] noble estate, having a train of twelve gentlewomen. And when she\nwith her train came all out, she said to me, \"For as much,\" quoth she,\n\"as ye be an Englishman, whose custom is in your country to kiss[121]\nall ladies and gentlewomen without offence, and although it be not so\nhere in this realm, yet will I be so bold to kiss you, and so shall\nall my maidens.\" By means whereof I kissed my lady and all her women.\nThen went she to her dinner, being as nobly served as I have seen any\nof her estate here in England, having all the dinner time with me\npleasant communication, which was of the usage and behaviour of our\ngentlewomen and gentlemen of England, and commended much the behaviour\nof them, right excellently; for she was with the king at Ardres, when\nthe great encounter and meeting was between the French king and the\nking our sovereign lord: at which time she was, both for her person and\ngoodly haviour, appointed to company with the ladies of England. To be\nshort, after dinner, pausing a little, I took my leave of her, and so\ndeparted and rode on my journey.\nBy reason of my tracting of time in Chastel de Crequi[122], I\nwas constrained that night to lye in a town by the way, called\n_Montdidier_, the suburbs whereof my Lord of Suffolk had lately burned.\nAnd in the next morning I took my journey and came to Compeigne upon\nthe Saturday, then being there the market day; and at my first coming\nI took my inn in the midst of the market-place, and being there set at\ndinner in a fair chamber, that had a window looking into the street, I\nheard a great rumour and clattering of bills. With that I looked out\ninto the street, and there I espied where the officers of the town\nbrought a prisoner to execution, whose head they strake off with a\nsword. And when I demanded the cause of his offence, it was answered\nme, that it was for killing of a red deer in the forest thereby, the\npunishment whereof is but death. Incontinent they had set up the poor\nman's head upon a pole in the market-place, between the stag's horns;\nand his quarters in four parts of the forest.\nThus went I about to prepare my lord's lodging, and to see it\nfurnished, which was there in the great castle of the town, whereof to\nmy lord was assigned the one half, and the other half was reserved for\nthe king; and in like wise there was a long gallery divided between\nthem, wherein was made in the midst thereof a strong wall with a door\nand window, and there the king and my lord would many times meet at the\nsame window, and secretly talk together, and divers times they would go\nthe one to the other, at the said door.\nNow was there lodged also Madame Regent, the king's mother, and all her\ntrain of ladies and gentlewomen. Unto which place the Chancellor of\nFrance came (a very witty man), with all the king's grave counsellors,\nwho took great pains daily in consultation. In so much as I heard my\nLord Cardinal fall out with the Chancellor, laying unto his charge,\nthat he went about to hinder the league which my said Lord Cardinal had\nbefore his coming concluded between the king our sovereign lord and\nthe French king his master; insomuch that my lord stomached the matter\nvery stoutly, and told him, \"That it should not lie in his power to\ndissolve the amicable fidelity between them. And if his master the king\nbeing there present forsook his promise and followed his counsel, he\nshould not fail after his return into England to feel the smart, and\nwhat a thing it is to break promise with the King of England, whereof\nhe should be well assured.\" And therewithal he arose and went into\nhis own lodging, wondrously offended. So that his stout countenance,\nand bold words, made them all in doubt how to pacify his displeasure,\nand revoke him again to the council, who was then departed in a fury.\nThere was sending, there was coming, there was also intreating, and\nthere was great submission made to him, to reduce him to his former\nfriendly communication; who would in no wise relent until Madame Regent\ncame herself, who handled the matter so discreetly and wittily, that\nshe reconciled him to his former communication. And by that means he\nbrought other matters to pass, that before he could not attain, nor\ncause the council to grant; which was more for fear, than for any\naffection to the matter, he had the heads of all the council so under\nhis girdle that he might rule them all there as well as he might the\ncouncil of England.\nThe next morning after this conflict, he rose early, about four of\nthe clock, sitting down to write letters into England unto the king,\ncommanding one of his chaplains to prepare him to mass, insomuch that\nhis said chaplain stood revested until four of the clock at afternoon;\nall which season my lord never rose once to ----, ne yet to eat any\nmeat, but continually wrote his letters, with his own hands, having\nall that time his nightcap and keverchief on his head. And about the\nhour of four of the clock, at afternoon, he made an end of writing,\nconmanding one Christopher Gunner, the king's servant, to prepare him\nwithout delay to ride empost into England with his letters, whom he\ndispatched away or ever he drank. And that done, he went to mass, and\nsaid his other divine service with his chaplain, as he was accustomed\nto do; and then went straight into a garden; and after he had walked\nthe space of an hour or more, and said his evensong[123], he went to\ndinner and supper all at once; and making a small repast, he went to\nhis bed, to take his rest for that night.\nThe next night following he caused a great supper to be provided for\nMadame Regent, and the Queen of Navarre, and other great estates of\nladies and noble women.\nThere was also Madame Rene\u00e9, one of the daughters of King Louis, whose\nsister, (lately dead), King Francis had married. These sisters were, by\ntheir mother, inheritrices of the Duchy of Britanny, and for as much\nas the king had married one of the sisters, by whom he had the moiety\nof the said duchy, and to attain the other moiety, and so to be lord\nof the whole, he kept the said Lady Rene\u00e9 without marriage, intending\nthat, she having none issue, the whole duchy might descend to him, or\nto his succession, after her death, for want of issue of her body.\nBut now let us return again to the supper or rather a solemn banquet,\nwhere all these noble persons were highly feasted; and in the midst of\ntheir triumph, the French king, with the king of Navarre, came suddenly\nin upon them unknown, who took their places at the nether end of the\ntable. There was not only plenty of fine meats, but also much mirth and\nsolace, as well in communication, as in instruments of music set forth\nwith my lord's minstrels, who played there so cunningly and dulce all\nthat night, that the king took therein great pleasure, insomuch that he\ndesired my lord to lend them unto him the next night. And after supper\nand banquet finished, the ladies and gentlewomen went to dancing; among\nwhom one Madame Fountaine, a maid, had the prize. And thus passed they\nthe night in pleasant mirth and joy.\nThe next day the king took my lord's minstrels and rode unto a\nnobleman's house, where was some goodly image that he had avowed a\npilgrimage unto, to perform his devotion. When he came there, he\ndanced, and others with him, the most part of that night; my lord's\nminstrels played there so excellently all that night, that the\nshalme--[124], (whether it were with extreme labour of blowing, or\nwith poisoning, as some judged, because they were more commended and\naccepted with the king than his own, I cannot tell), but he that played\nupon the shalme, an excellent man in that art, died within a day or\ntwain after.\nThen the king returned again unto Compeigne, and caused a wild boar\nto be lodged for him in the forest there; whither my lord rode with\nthe king to the hunting of the wild swine within a toil; where the\nLady Regent stood in chariots or wagons, looking on the toil, on the\noutside thereof, accompanied with many ladies and damosels; among whom\nmy lord stood by the Lady Regent, to regard and behold the pastime and\nmanner of hunting. There was within the toil divers goodly gentlemen\nwith the king, ready garnished to this high enterprise and dangerous\nhunting of the perilous wild swine. The king being in his doublet and\nhosen only, without any other garments, all of sheep's colour cloth;\nhis hosen, from the knee upward, was altogether thrummed with silk very\nthick of the same colour: having in a slip a fair brace of great white\ngreyhounds, armed, as the manner is to arm their greyhounds from the\nviolence of the boar's tusks. And all the rest of the king's gentlemen,\nbeing appointed to hunt this boar, were likewise in their doublets and\nhosen, holding each of them in their hands a very sharp boar's spear.\nThe king being thus furnished, commanded the hunts to uncouch the\nboar, and that every other person should go to a standing, among whom\nwere divers gentlemen and yeomen of England; and incontinent the boar\nissued out of his den, chased with an hound into the plain, and being\nthere, stalked a while gazing upon the people, and incontinent being\nforced by the hound, he espied a little bush standing upon a bank over\na ditch, under the which lay two lusty gentlemen of France, and thither\nfled the boar, to defend him, thrusting his head snuffing into the same\nbush where these two gentlemen lay, who fled with such speed as men do\nfrom the danger of death. Then was the boar by violence and pursuit of\nthe hounds and the hunts driven from thence, and ran straight to one of\nmy lord's footmen, a very comely person, and an hardy, who held in his\nhand an English javelin, with the which he was fain to defend himself\nfrom the fierce assault of the boar, who foined at him continually\nwith his great tusks, whereby he was compelled at the last to pitch\nhis javelin in the ground between him and the boar, the which the\nboar brake with his force of foining. And with that the yeoman drew\nhis sword, and stood at defence; and with that the hunts came to the\nrescue, and put him once again to flight. With that he fled and ran\nto another young gentleman of England, called Master Ratcliffe, son\nand heir to the Lord Fitzwalter, and after[125] Earl of Sussex, who\nby chance had borrowed of a French gentleman a fine boar spear, [very\nsharp, upon whom, the boar being sore chafed, began to assault very\neagerly, and the young gentleman deliverly avoided his strokes, and\nin turning about he struck the boar with such violence (with the same\nspear that he had borrowed) upon the houghs, that he cut the sinews\nof both his legs at one stroke, that the boar was constrained to sit\ndown upon his haunches and defend himself, for he could go no more;\nthis gentleman perceiving then his most advantage, thrust his spear\ninto the boar under the shoulder up to the heart, and thus he slew the\ngreat boar. Wherefore among the noblemen of France it was reputed to be\none of the noblest enterprises that a man might do (as though he had\nslain a man of arms); and thus our Master Ratcliffe bare then away the\nprize of that feat of hunting, this dangerous and royal pastime, in\nkilling of the wild boar, whose tusks the Frenchman doth most commonly\ndoubt above all other dangers, as it seemed to us Englishmen then being\npresent.]\n[In this time of my lord's being in France, over and besides his\nnoble entertainment with the king and nobles, he sustained diverse\ndispleasures of the French slaves, that devised a certain book, which\nwas set forth in diverse articles upon the causes of my lord's being\nthere: which should be, as they surmised, that my lord was come thither\nto conclude two marriages; the one between the king our sovereign\nlord and Madame Rene\u00e9[126], of whom I spake heretofore; and the other\nbetween the then princess of England, (now being queen of this realm)\nmy Lady Mary the king's daughter and the French king's second son, the\nDuke of Orleans, who is at this present king of France: with diverse\nother conclusions and agreements touching the same. Of this book many\nwere imprinted and conveyed into England, unknown to my lord, [he]\nbeing then in France, to the great slander of the realm of England, and\nof my Lord Cardinal. But whether they were devised of policy to pacify\nthe mutterings of the people, which had diverse communications and\nimaginations of my lord's being there; or whether [they] were devised\nof some malicious person, as the dispositions of the common people\nare accustomed to do, upon such secret consultations, I know not; but\nwhatsoever the occasion or cause was, the author hath set forth such\nbooks. This I am well assured, that after my lord was thereof well\nadvertised, and had perused one of the said books, he was not a little\noffended, and assembled all the privy council of France together, to\nwhom he spake his mind thus; saying, that it was not only a suspicion\nin them, but also a great rebuke and a defamation to the king's\nhonour to see and know any such seditious untruths openly divulged\nand set forth by any malicious and subtle traitor of this realm;\nsaying furthermore, that if the like had been attempted within the\nrealm of England, he doubted not but to see it punished according to\nthe traitorous demeanour and deserts. Notwithstanding I saw but small\nredress[127]].\nSo this was one of the displeasures that the Frenchmen showed him, for\nall his pains and travail that he took for qualifying of their king's\nransom.\nAlso another displeasure was this. There was no place where he was\nlodged after he entered the territory of France, but that he was robbed\nin his privy chamber, either of one thing or other; and at Compeigne he\nlost his standish of silver, and gilt: and there it was espied, and the\nparty taken, which was but a little boy of twelve or thirteen years of\nage, a ruffian's page of Paris, which haunted my lord's lodging without\nany suspicion, until he was taken lying under my lord's privy stairs;\nupon which occasion he was apprehended and examined, and incontinent\nconfessed all things that were missed, which he stole, and brought to\nhis master the ruffian, who received the same, and procured him so\nto do. After the spial of this boy, my lord revealed the same unto\nthe council, by means whereof the ruffian was apprehended, and set on\nthe pillory, in the midst of the market-place; a goodly recompense\nfor such an heinous offence. Also another displeasure was; some lewd\nperson, whosoever it was, had engraved in the great chamber window\nwhere my lord lay, upon the leaning stone there, a cardinal's hat with\na pair of gallows over it, in derision of my lord; with divers other\nunkind demeanours, the which I leave here to write, they be matters so\nslanderous.\nThus passing divers days in consultation, expecting the return of\nChristopher Gunner, which was sent into England with letters unto the\nking, as it is rehearsed heretofore, by empost, who at last returned\nagain with other letters; upon receipt whereof my lord made haste to\nreturn into England.\nIn the morning that my lord should depart and remove, being then at\nmass in his closet, he consecrated the Chancellor of France a cardinal,\nand put upon him the habit due to that order; and then took his journey\ninto Englandward, making such necessary expedition that he came to\nGuisnes, where he was nobly received of my Lord Sands, then captain\nthere, with all the retinue thereof. And from thence he rode to Calais,\nwhere he tarried the shipping of his stuff, horses, and train; and in\nthe meantime he established there a mart, to be kept for all nations;\nbut how long it endured, and in what sort it was used, I know not, for\nI never heard of any great good that it did, or of any worthy assembly\nthere of merchants or merchandise, that was brought thither for the\nfurniture of so weighty a matter.\nThese things finished, and others for the weal of the town, he took\nshipping and arrived at Dover, from whence he rode to the king, being\nthen in his progress at Sir Harry Wyatt's house, in Kent, [it was]\nsupposed among us that he should be joyfully received at his home\ncoming, as well of the king as of all other noblemen: but we were\ndeceived in our expectation. Notwithstanding he went, immediately after\nhis coming, to the king, with whom he had long talk, and continued\nthere in the court two or three days; and then returned to his house at\nWestminster, where he remained until Michaelmas term, which was within\na fortnight after, and using his room of Chancellorship, as he was wont\nto do.\nAt which time he caused an assembly to be made in the Star Chamber, of\nall the noblemen, judges, and justices of the peace of every shire that\nwere at that present in Westminster Hall, and there made to them a long\noration, declaring unto them the cause of his embassy into France, and\nof his proceeding there; among the which he said, \"he had concluded\nsuch an amity and friendship as never was heard of in this realm in\nour time before, as well between the emperor and us, as between the\nFrench king and our sovereign lord, concluding a perpetual peace, which\nshall be confirmed in writing, alternately, sealed with the broad seals\nof both the realms graved in fine gold; affirming furthermore, that the\nking should receive yearly his tribute, by that name, for the Duchy of\nNormandy, with all other costs which he hath sustained in the wars. And\nwhere there was a restraint made in France of the French queen's dower,\nwhom the Duke of Suffolk had married, for divers years during the wars,\nit is fully concluded, that she shall not only receive the same yearly\nagain, but also the arrearages being unpaid during the restraint. All\nwhich things shall be perfected at the coming of the great embassy\nout of France: in the which shall be a great number of noblemen and\ngentlemen for the conclusion of the same, as hath not been seen repair\nhither out of one realm in an embassy. This peace thus concluded, there\nshall be such an amity between gentlemen of each realm, and intercourse\nof merchants with merchandise, that it shall seem to all men the\nterritories to be but one monarchy. Gentlemen may travel quietly from\none country to another for their recreation and pastime; and merchants,\nbeing arrived in each country, shall be assured to travel about\ntheir affairs in peace and tranquillity: so that this realm shall joy\nand prosper for ever. Wherefore it shall be well done for all true\nEnglishmen to advance and set forth this perpetual peace, both in\ncountenance and gesture, with such entertainment as it may be a just\noccasion unto the Frenchmen to accept the same in good part, and also\nto use you with the semblable, and make of the same a noble report in\ntheir countries.\n\"Now, good my lords and gentlemen, I most entirely require you in\nthe king's behalf, that ye will show yourselves herein very loving\nand obedient subjects, wherein the king will much rejoice [at] your\ntowardness, and give to every man his princely thanks for such\nliberality and gentleness, as ye or any of you shall minister unto\nthem.\" And here he ended his persuasion, and so departed into the\ndining chamber, and dined among the lords of the council.\nThis great embassy[128], long looked for, was now come over [with\na great retinue], which were in number above fourscore persons, of\nthe most noblest and worthiest gentlemen in all the court of France,\nwho were right honourably received from place to place after their\narrival, and so conveyed through London unto the bishop's palace in\nPaul's Churchyard, where they were lodged. To whom divers noblemen\nresorted and gave them divers goodly presents; and in especial the\nMayor and city of London, as wine, sugar, wax, capons, wild fowl,\nbeefs, muttons, and other necessaries in great abundance, for the\nexpenses of their house. Then the next Sunday after their resort to\nLondon, they repaired to the court at Greenwich, and there, by the\nking's majesty, most highly received and entertained. They had a\nspecial commission to create and stall the king's highness in the Royal\norder of France; for which purpose they brought with them a collar of\nfine gold of the order, with a Michael hanging thereat, and robes to\nthe same appurtenant, the which was wondrous costly and comely, of\npurple velvet, richly embroidered; I saw the king in all this apparel\nand habit, passing through the chamber of presence unto his closet;\nand afterward in the same habit at mass beneath in the chapel. And to\ngratify the French king with like honour, [he] sent incontinent unto\n[him] the like order of England by a nobleman (the Earl of Wiltshire),\npurposely for that intent, to create him one of the same order of\nEngland, accompanied with Garter the Herald, with all robes, garter,\nand other habiliments to the same belonging; as costly in every degree\nas the other was of the French king's, the which was done before the\nreturn of the great embassy.\nAnd for the performance of this noble and perpetual peace, it was\nconcluded and determined that a solemn mass should be sung in the\ncathedral church of Paul's by the cardinal; against which time there\nwas prepared a gallery made from the west door of the church of Paul's\n[through the body of the same], unto the quire door, railed on every\nside, upon the which stood [vessels] full of perfumes burning. Then\nthe king and my Lord Cardinal, and all the Frenchmen, with all other\nnoblemen and gentlemen, were conveyed upon this gallery unto the high\naltar into the traverses; then my Lord Cardinal prepared himself\nto mass, associated with twenty-four mitres of bishops and abbots,\nattending upon him, and to serve him, in such ceremonies as to him, by\nvirtue of his legatine prerogative, were due.\nAnd after the last agnus[129], the king rose out of his travers and\nkneeled upon a cushion and carpet at the high altar; and the Grand\nMaster of France, the chief ambassador, that represented the king his\nmaster, kneeled by the king's majesty, between whom my lord divided the\nsacrament, as a firm oath and assurance of this perpetual peace. That\ndone, the king resorted again to his travers, and the Grand Master in\nlike wise to his. This mass finished, which was sung with the king's\nchapel and the quire of Paul's, my Lord Cardinal took the instrument\nof this perpetual peace and amity, and read the same openly before the\nking and the assembly, both of English and French, to the which the\nking subscribed with his own hand, and the Grand Master, for the French\nking, in like wise, the which was sealed with seals of fine gold,\nengraven, and delivered to each other as their firm deeds; and all this\ndone and finished they departed.\nThe king rode home to the cardinal's house at Westminster, to\ndinner, with whom dined all the Frenchmen, passing all day after in\nconsultation in weighty matters, touching the conclusion of this peace\nand amity. That done, the king went again by water to Greenwich; at\nwhose departing it was determined by the king's device, that the French\ngentlemen should resort unto Richmond to hunt there, in every of the\nparks, and from thence to Hampton Court, and therein likewise to hunt,\nand there my Lord Cardinal to make for them a supper, and lodge them\nthere that night; and from thence they should ride to Windsor, and\nthere to hunt, and after their return to London they should resort to\nthe court, whereas the king would banquet them. And this perfectly\ndetermined, the king and the Frenchmen all departed.\nThen was there no more to do but to make provision at Hampton Court\nfor this assembly against the day appointed. My Lord Cardinal called\nfor his principal officers of his house, as his Steward, Comptroller,\nand the Clerks of his Kitchen, whom he commanded to prepare for this\nbanquet at Hampton Court; and neither to spare for expenses or travail,\nto make them such triumphant cheer, as they may not only wonder at it\nhere, but also make a glorious report in their country, to the king's\nhonour and [that] of this realm. His pleasure once known, to accomplish\nhis commandment they sent forth all the caterers, purveyors, and other\npersons, to prepare of the finest viands that they could get, other for\nmoney or friendship among my lord's friends. Also they sent for all the\nexpertest cooks, besides my lord's, that they could get in all England,\nwhere they might be gotten, to serve to garnish this feast.\nThe purveyors brought and sent in such plenty of costly provision, as\nye would wonder at the same. The cooks wrought both night and day in\ndivers subtleties and many crafty devices; where lacked neither gold,\nsilver, ne any other costly thing meet for the purpose.\nThe yeomen and grooms of the wardrobes were busied in hanging of the\nchambers with costly hangings, and furnishing the same with beds of\nsilk, and other furniture apt for the same in every degree. Then my\nLord Cardinal sent me, being gentleman usher, with two other of my\nfellows, to Hampton Court, to foresee all things touching our rooms, to\nbe noblily garnished accordingly. Our pains were not small or light,\nbut traveling daily from chamber to chamber. Then the carpenters, the\njoiners, the masons, the painters, and all other artificers necessary\nto glorify the house and feast were set at work. There was carriage and\nre-carriage of plate, stuff, [and] other rich implements; so that there\nwas nothing lacking or to be imagined or devised for the purpose.\nThere were also fourteen score beds provided and furnished with all\nmanner of furniture to them belonging, too long particularly here to\nrehearse. But to all wise men it sufficeth to imagine, that knoweth\nwhat belongeth to the furniture of such triumphant feast or banquet.\nThe day was come that to the Frenchmen was assigned, and they ready\nassembled at Hampton Court, something before the hour of their\nappointment. Wherefore the officers caused them to ride to Hanworth,\na place and park of the king's, within two or three miles, there to\nhunt and spend the time until night. At which time they returned\nagain to Hampton Court, and every of them conveyed to his chamber\nseverally, having in them great fires and wine ready to refresh them,\nremaining there until their supper was ready, and the chambers where\nthey should sup were ordered in due form. The first waiting-chamber\nwas hanged with fine arras, and so was all the rest, one better than\nan other, furnished with tall yeomen. There was set tables round about\nthe chamber, banquet-wise, all covered with fine cloths of diaper. A\ncupboard of plate, parcel gilt, having also in the same chamber, to\ngive the more light, four plates of silver, set with lights upon them,\na great fire in the chimney.\nThe next chamber, being the chamber of presence, hanged with very rich\narras, wherein was a gorgeous and a precious cloth of estate hanged\nup, replenished with many goodly gentlemen ready to serve. The boards\nwere set as the other boards were in the other chamber before, save\nthat the high table was set and removed beneath the cloth of estate,\ntowards the midst of the chamber, covered with fine linen cloths of\ndamask work, sweetly perfumed. There was a cupboard made, for the\ntime, in length, of the breadth of the nether end of the same chamber,\nsix desks high[130], full of gilt plate, very sumptuous, and of the\nnewest fashions; and upon the nethermost desk garnished all with plate\nof clean gold, having two great candlesticks of silver and gilt, most\ncuriously wrought, the workmanship whereof, with the silver, cost three\nhundred marks, and lights of wax as big as torches burning upon the\nsame. This cupboard was barred in round about that no man might come\nnigh it; for there was none of the same plate occupied or stirred\nduring this feast, for there was sufficient besides. The plates that\nhung on the walls to give light in the chamber were of silver and gilt,\nwith lights burning in them, a great fire in the chimney, and all other\nthings necessary for the furniture of so noble a feast.\nNow was all things in a readiness and supper time at hand. My lord's\nofficers caused the trumpets to blow to warn to supper, and the said\nofficers went right discreetly in due order and conducted these noble\npersonages from their chambers unto the chamber of presence where they\nshould sup. And they, being there, caused them to sit down; their\nservice was brought up in such order and abundance, both costly and\nfull of subtleties, with such a pleasant noise of divers instruments\nof music, that the Frenchmen, as it seemed, were rapt into a heavenly\nparadise.\nYe must understand that my lord was not there, ne yet come, but they\nbeing merry and pleasant with their fare, devising and wondering\nupon the subtleties. Before the second course, my Lord Cardinal\ncame in among them, booted and spurred, all suddenly, and bade them\n_proface_[131]; at whose coming they would have risen and given place\nwith much joy. Whom my lord commanded to sit still, and keep their\nrooms; and straightways, being not shifted of his riding apparel,\ncalled for a chair, and sat himself down in the midst of the table,\nlaughing and being as merry as ever I saw him in all my life. Anon came\nup the second course, with so many dishes, subtleties, and curious\ndevices, which were above a hundred in number, of so goodly proportion\nand costly, that I suppose the Frenchmen never saw the like. The wonder\nwas no less than it was worthy indeed. There were castles with images\nin the same; Paul's church and steeple, in proportion for the quantity\nas well counterfeited as the painter should have painted it upon a\ncloth or wall. There were beasts, birds, fowls of divers kinds, and\npersonages, most lively made and counterfeit in dishes; some fighting,\nas it were with swords, some with guns and crossbows, some vaulting\nand leaping; some dancing with ladies, some in complete harness,\njusting with spears, and with many more devices than I am able with\nmy wit [to] describe. Among all, one I noted: there was a chess board\nsubtilely made of spiced plate, with men to the same; and for the good\nproportion, because that Frenchmen be very expert in that play, my lord\ngave the same to a gentleman of France, commanding that a case should\nbe made for the same in all haste, to preserve it from perishing in the\nconveyance thereof into his country. Then my lord took a bowl of gold,\nwhich was esteemed of the value of five hundred marks, filled with\nhypocras, whereof there was plenty, putting off his cap, said, \"I drink\nto the king my sovereign lord and master, and to the king your master,\"\nand therewith drank a good draught. And when he had done, he desired\nthe Grand Master to pledge him cup and all, the which cup he gave him;\nand so caused all the other lords and gentlemen in other cups to pledge\nthese two royal princes.\nThen went cups merrily about, that many of the Frenchmen were fain to\nbe led to their beds. Then went my lord, leaving them sitting still,\ninto his privy chamber to shift him; and making there a very short\nsupper, or rather a small repast, returned again among them into the\nchamber of presence, using them so nobly, with so loving and familiar\ncountenance and entertainment, that they could not commend him too\nmuch.\nAnd whilst they were in communication and other pastimes, all their\nliveries were served to their chambers. Every chamber had a bason and\na ewer of silver, some gilt, and some parcel gilt; and some two great\npots of silver, in like manner, and one pot at the least with wine and\nbeer, a bowl or goblet, and a silver pot to drink beer in; a silver\ncandlestick or two, with both white lights and yellow lights [of] three\nsizes of wax; and a staff torch; a fine manchet, and a cheat loaf of\nbread. Thus was every chamber furnished throughout the house, and yet\nthe two cupboards in the two banqueting chambers not once touched.\nThen being past midnight, as time served they were conveyed to their\nlodgings, to take their rest for that night. In the morning of the next\nday, (not early), they rose and heard mass, and dined with my lord, and\nso departed towards Windsor, and there hunted, delighting much of the\ncastle and college, and in the Order of the Garter. They being departed\nfrom Hampton Court, my lord returned again to Westminster, because it\nwas in the midst of the term.\nIt is not to be doubted, but that the king was privy of all this worthy\nfeast, [and] intended far to exceed the same; (whom I leave until the\nreturn of the Frenchmen), who gave a special commandment to all his\nofficers to devise a far [more] sumptuous banquet for the strangers,\notherwise than they had at Hampton Court; which was not neglected, but\nmost speedily put in execution with great diligence.\nAfter the return of these strangers from Windsor, which place with\nthe goodly order thereof they much commended, the day approached that\nthey were invited to the court at Greenwich; where first they dined,\nand after long consultation of the sagest with our counsellors, and\ndancing of the rest and other pastimes, the time of supper came on.\nThen was the banqueting chamber in the tiltyard furnished for the\nentertainment of these strangers, to the which place they were conveyed\nby the noblest persons being then in the court, where they both supped\nand banqueted. But to describe the dishes, the subtleties, the many\nstrange devices and order in the same, I do both lack wit in my gross\nold head, and cunning in my bowels to declare the wonderful and curious\nimaginations in the same invented and devised. Yet this ye shall\nunderstand: that although it was at Hampton Court marvellous sumptuous,\nyet did this banquet far exceed the same, as fine gold doth silver in\nweight and value; and for my part I must needs confess, (which saw them\nboth), that I never saw the like, or read in any story or chronicle of\nany such feast. In the midst of this banquet, there was tourneying at\nthe barriers (even in the chamber), with lusty gentlemen in gorgeous\ncomplete harness, on foot; then was there the like on horseback; and\nafter all this there was the most goodliest disguising or interlude,\nmade in Latin and French, whose apparel was of such exceeding riches,\nthat it passeth my capacity to expound.\nThis done, then came in such a number of the fair ladies and\ngentlewomen that bare any bruit or fame of beauty in all this realm,\nin the most richest apparel, and devised in divers goodly fashions\nthat all the cunningest tailors could devise to shape or cut, to set\nforth their beauty, gesture, and the goodly proportion of their bodies:\nwho seemed to all men more angelic than earthly [creatures] made of\nflesh and bone;--surely to me, simple soul, it seemed inestimable\nto be described, and so I think it was to other of a more higher\njudgment,--with whom these gentlemen of France danced until another\nmask came in of noble gentlemen, who danced and masked with these fair\nladies and gentlewomen, every man as his fantasy served [him]. This\ndone, and the maskers departed, there came in another mask of ladies\nso gorgeously apparelled in costly garments, that I dare not presume\nto take upon me to make thereof any declaration, lest I should rather\ndeface than beautify them, therefore I leave it untouched. These lady\nmaskers took each of them a French gentleman to dance and mask with\nthem. Ye shall understand that these lady maskers spake good French,\nwhich delighted much these gentlemen, to hear these ladies speak to\nthem in their own tongue.\nThus was this night occupied and consumed from five of the clock until\ntwo or three after midnight; at which time it was convenient for all\nestates to draw to their rest. And thus every man departed whither they\nhad most relief. Then as nothing either health, wealth, or pleasure,\ncan always endure, so ended this triumphant banquet, the which in the\nmorning seemed to all the beholders but as a fantastical dream.\nAfter all this solemn cheer, at a day appointed they prepared them to\nreturn with bag and baggage. Then, as to the office of all honourable\npersons doth appertain, [they] resorted in good order to the court, to\ntake their leave of the king, and other noblemen, then being there: to\nwhom the king committed his princely commendations to the king their\nmaster, and thanked them of their pains and travel, and after long\ncommunication with the most honourable of the embassy, he bad them\nadieu.\n[They were] assigned by the council to repair to my Lord Cardinal for\nto receive the king's most noble reward, wherefore they repaired to my\nlord, and taking of their leave, they received every man the king's\nreward after this sort; every honourable person in estimation had most\ncommonly plate, to the value of three or four hundred pounds, and some\nmore, and some less, besides other great gifts received at the king's\nhands before; as rich gowns, horses, or goodly geldings of great value\nand goodness; and some had weighty chains of fine gold, with divers\nother gifts, which I cannot now call to my remembrance; but this I\nknow, that the least of them all had a sum of crowns of gold: the worst\npage among them had twenty crowns for his part: and thus they (nobly\nrewarded), departed. And my lord, after humble commendations had to the\nFrench king, bad them adieu. And the next day they conveyed all their\nstuff and furniture unto the seaside, accompanied with lusty young\ngentlemen of England: but what praise or commendation they made in\ntheir country at their return, in good faith, I cannot tell you, for I\nnever heard any thing thereof.\nThen began other matters to brew and take place that occupied all\nmen's heads with divers imaginations, whose stomachs were therewith\nfull filled without any perfect digestion. The long hid and secret\nlove between the king and Mistress Anne Boleyn began to break out into\nevery man's ears. The matter was then by the king disclosed to my Lord\nCardinal; whose persuasion to the contrary, made to the king upon his\nknees, could not effect: the king was so amorously affectionate, that\nwill bare place, and high discretion banished for the time[132]. My\nlord, provoked by the king to declare his wise opinion in this matter\nfor the furtherance of his desired affects, who thought it not meet\nfor him alone to wade too far, to give his hasty judgment or advice\nin so weighty a matter, desired of the king license to ask counsel of\nmen of ancient study, and of famous learning, both in the laws divine\nand civil. That obtained, he by his legatine authority sent out his\ncommission unto all the bishops of this realm, and for other that were\neither exactly learned in any of the said laws, or else had in any\nestimation for their prudent counsel and judgment in princely affairs\nof long experience.\nThen assembled these prelates before my Lord Cardinal at his place in\nWestminster, with many other famous and notable clerks of both the\nUniversities (Oxford and Cambridge), and also divers out of colleges\nand cathedral churches of this realm, renowned and allowed learned\nand of witty discretion in the determination of doubtful questions.\nThen was the matter of the king's case debated, reasoned and argued;\nconsulting from day to day, and time to time; that it was to men\nlearned a goodly hearing; but in conclusion, it seemed me, by the\ndeparting of the ancient fathers of the laws, that they departed with\none judgment contrary to the expectation of the principal parties.\nI heard the opinion of some of the most famous persons, among that\nsort, report, that the king's case was so obscure and doubtful for any\nlearned man to discuss; the points therein were so dark to be credited\nthat it was very hard to have any true understanding or intelligence.\nAnd therefore they departed without any resolution or judgment. Then\nin this assembly of bishops it was thought most expedient that the\nking should first send out his commissioners into all the Universities\nof Christendom, as well here in England as in foreign countries and\nregions, to have among them his grace's case argued substantially, and\nto bring with them from thence the very definition of their opinions in\nthe same, under the seals of every several University. Thus was their\ndetermination for this time; and thereupon agreed, that commissioners\nwere incontinent appointed and sent forth about this matter into\nseveral Universities, as some to Oxford, some to Cambridge, some to\nLouvain, some to Paris, some to Orleans, some to Bologna, and some to\nPadua, and some to other. Although these commissioners had the travail,\nyet was the charges the king's; the which was no small sums of money,\nand all went out of the king's coffers into foreign regions. For as\nI heard it reported of credible persons (as it seemed indeed), that\nbesides the great charges of the commissioners, there was inestimable\nsums of money given to the famous clerks to choke them, and in especial\nto such as had the governance and custody of their Universities'\nseals[133]. Insomuch as they agreed, not only in opinions, but also\nobtained of them the Universities' seals, (the which obtained), they\nreturned home again furnished for their purpose. At whose return there\nwas no small joy made of the principal parties. Insomuch as the\ncommissioners were not only ever after in great estimation, but also\nmost liberally advanced and rewarded, far beyond their worthy deserts.\nNotwithstanding, they prospered, and the matter went still forward,\nhaving then (as they thought), a sure foundation to ground them upon.\nThese proceedings being once declared to my Lord Cardinal, [he] sent\nagain for all the bishops, whom he made privy of the expedition of\nthe commissioners; and for the very proof thereof he showed them the\nopinions of the several Universities in writing under the Universities\nseals[134]. These matters being thus brought to pass, they went again\nto consultation how these matters should be ordered to the purpose.\nIt was then thought good and concluded, by the advice of them all,\nthat the king should (to avoid all ambiguities), send unto the pope\na legation with the instruments, declaring the opinions of the\nUniversities under their seals; to the which it was thought good that\nall these prelates in this assembly should join with the king in this\nlegation, making intercession and suit to the pope for advice and\njudgment in this great and weighty matter; and if the pope would not\ndirectly consent to the same request, that then the ambassadors should\nfarther require of him a commission to be directed (under lead[135]),\nto establish a court judicial in England, (** **** *****) directed to\nmy Lord Cardinal, and unto the Cardinal Campeggio, (who was then Bishop\nof Bath), although he was a stranger, which [bishopric] the king gave\nhim at such time as he was the pope's ambassador here in England), to\nhear and determine according to the just judgment of their conscience.\nThe which after long and great suit, they obtained of the pope his\ncommission. This done and achieved, they made return into England,\nmaking report unto the king of their expedition, trusting that his\ngrace's pleasure and purpose should now be presently brought to pass,\nconsidering the estate of the judges, who were the Cardinal of England\nand Campeggio, being both his highness's subjects in effect.\nLong was the desire, and greater was the hope on all sides, expecting\nthe coming of the legation and commission from Rome, yet at length\nit came. And after the arrival of the Legate Campeggio with his\nsolemn commission in England, he being sore vexed with the gout, was\nconstrained by force thereof to make a long journey or ever he came to\nLondon; who should have been most solemnly received at Blackheath, and\nso with great triumph conveyed to London; but his glory was such, that\nhe would in nowise be entertained with any such pomp or vainglory, who\nsuddenly came by water in a wherry to his own house without Temple Bar,\ncalled then Bath Place, which was furnished for him with all manner of\nstuff and implements of my lord's provision; where he continued and\nlodged during his abode here in England.\nThen after some deliberation, his commission understood, read, and\nperceived it was by the council determined, that the king, and the\nqueen his wife, should be lodged at Bridewell. And that in the Black\nFriars a certain place should be appointed where as the king and\nthe queen might most conveniently repair to the court, there to be\nerected and kept for the disputation and determination of the king's\ncase, where as these two legates sat in judgment as notable judges;\nbefore whom the king and the queen were duly cited and summoned to\nappear. Which was the strangest and newest sight and device that ever\nwas read or heard in any history or chronicle in any region; that a\nking and a queen [should] be convented and constrained by process\ncompellatory to appear in any court as common persons, within their\nown realm or dominion, to abide the judgment and decrees of their own\nsubjects, having the royal diadem and prerogative thereof. Is it not\na world to consider the desire of wilful princes, when they fully\nbe bent and inclined to fulfil their voluptuous appetites, against\nthe which no reasonable persuasions will suffice; little or nothing\nweighing or regarding the dangerous sequel that doth ensue as well\nto themselves as to their realm and subjects. And above all things,\nthere is no one thing that causeth them to be more wilful than carnal\ndesire and voluptuous affection of foolish love. The experience is\nplain, in this case both manifest and evident, for what surmised\ninventions have been invented, what laws have been enacted, what noble\nand ancient monasteries overthrown and defaced, what diversities of\nreligious opinions have risen, what executions have been committed, how\nmany famous and notable clerks have suffered death, what charitable\nfoundations were perverted from the relief of the poor, unto profane\nuses, and what alterations of good and wholesome ancient laws and\ncustoms hath been caused by will and wilful desire of the prince,\nalmost to the subversion and dissolution of this noble realm. All men\nmay understand what hath chanced to this region; the proof thereof hath\ntaught all us Englishmen a common experience, the more is the pity,\nand is to all good men very lamentable to be considered. If eyes be\nnot blind men may see, if ears be not stopped they may hear, and if\npity be not exiled they may lament the sequel of this pernicious and\ninordinate carnal love. The plague whereof is not ceased (although this\nlove lasted but a while), which our Lord quench; and take from us his\nindignation! _Quia pecavimus cum patribus nostris, et injuste egimus,\nYe shall understand, as I said before, that there was a court erected\nin the Black Friars in London, where these two cardinals sat for\njudges. Now will I set you out the manner and order of the court there.\nFirst, there was a court placed with tables, benches, and bars, like\na consistory, a place judicial (for the judges to sit on). There was\nalso a cloth of estate under the which sat the king; and the queen sat\nsome distance beneath the king: under the judges' feet sat the officers\nof the court. The chief scribe there was Dr. Stephens[136], (who was\nafter Bishop of Winchester); the apparitor was one Cooke, most commonly\ncalled Cooke of Winchester. Then sat there within the said court,\ndirectly before the king and the judges, the Archbishop of Canterbury,\nDoctor Warham, and all the other bishops. Then at both the ends, with\na bar made for them, the counsellors on both sides. The doctors for\nthe king were Doctor Sampson, that was after Bishop of Chichester, and\nDoctor Bell, who after was Bishop of Worcester, with divers other. The\nproctors on the king's part were Doctor Peter, who was after made the\nking's chief secretary, and Doctor Tregonell, and divers other.\nNow on the other side stood the counsel for the queen, Doctor Fisher,\nBishop of Rochester, and Doctor Standish, some time a Grey Friar, and\nthen Bishop of St. Asaph in Wales, two notable clerks in divinity, and\nin especial the Bishop of Rochester, a very godly man and a devout\nperson, who after suffered death at Tower Hill; the which was greatly\nlamented through all the foreign Universities of Christendom. There was\nalso another ancient doctor, called, as I remember, Doctor Ridley, a\nvery small person in stature, but surely a great and an excellent clerk\nin divinity.\nThe court being thus furnished and ordered, the judges commanded the\ncrier to proclaim silence; then was the judges' commission, which they\nhad of the pope, published and read openly before all the audience\nthere assembled. That done, the crier called the king, by the name of\n\"King Henry of England, come into the court, &c.\" With that the king\nanswered and said, \"Here, my lords!\" Then he called also the queen, by\nthe name of \"Katherine Queen of England, come into the court, &c.;\"\nwho made no answer to the same, but rose up incontinent out of her\nchair, where as she sat, and because she could not come directly to the\nking for the distance which severed them, she took pain to go about\nunto the king, kneeling down at his feet in the sight of all the court\nand assembly, to whom she said[137] in effect, in broken English, as\nfolloweth:\n\"Sir,\" quoth she, \"I beseech you for all the loves that hath been\nbetween us, and for the love of God, let me have justice and right,\ntake of me some pity and compassion, for I am a poor woman and a\nstranger born out of your dominion, I have here no assured friend,\nand much less indifferent counsel; I flee to you as to the head of\njustice within this realm. Alas! Sir, wherein have I offended you, or\nwhat occasion of displeasure? Have I designed against your will and\npleasure; intending (as I perceive) to put me from you? I take God\nand all the world to witness, that I have been to you a true humble\nand obedient wife, ever conformable to your will and pleasure, that\nnever said or did any thing to the contrary thereof, being always well\npleased and contented with all things wherein you had any delight or\ndalliance, whether it were in little or much, I never grudged in word\nor countenance, or showed a visage or spark of discontentation. I\nloved all those whom ye loved only for your sake, whether I had cause\nor no; and whether they were my friends or my enemies. This twenty\nyears I have been your true wife or more, and by me ye have had divers\nchildren, although it hath pleased God to call them out of this world,\nwhich hath been no default in me.\n\"And when ye had me at the first, I take God to be my judge, I was a\ntrue maid without touch of man; and whether it be true or no, I put\nit to your conscience. If there be any just cause by the law that ye\ncan allege against me, either of dishonesty or any other impediment to\nbanish and put me from you, I am well content to depart to my great\nshame and dishonour; and if there be none, then here I most lowly\nbeseech you let me remain in my former estate, and receive justice\nat your hands. The king your father was in the time of his reign of\nsuch estimation thorough the world for his excellent wisdom, that he\nwas accounted and called of all men the second Solomon; and my father\nFerdinand, King of Spain, who was esteemed to be one of the wittiest\nprinces that reigned in Spain, many years before, were both wise and\nexcellent kings in wisdom and princely behaviour. It is not therefore\nto be doubted, but that they elected and gathered as wise counsellors\nabout them as to their high discretions was thought meet. Also, as me\nseemeth, there was in those days as wise, as well learned men, and men\nof as good judgment as be at this present in both realms, who thought\nthen the marriage between you and me good and lawful. Therefore it\nis a wonder to hear what new inventions are now invented against me,\nthat never intended but honesty. And cause me to stand to the order\nand judgment of this new court, wherein ye may do me much wrong, if\nye intend any cruelty; for ye may condemn me for lack of sufficient\nanswer, having no indifferent counsel, but such as be assigned me,\nwith whose wisdom and learning I am not acquainted. Ye must consider\nthat they cannot be indifferent counsellors for my part which be your\nsubjects, and taken out of your own council before, wherein they be\nmade privy, and dare not, for your displeasure, disobey your will and\nintent, being once made privy thereto. Therefore I most humbly require\nyou, in the way of charity, and for the love of God, who is the just\njudge, to spare me the extremity of this new court, until I may be\nadvertised what way and order my friends in Spain will advise me to\ntake. And if ye will not extend to me so much indifferent favour, your\npleasure then be fulfilled, and to God I commit my cause[138]!\"\nAnd with that she rose up, making a low courtesy to the king, and so\ndeparted from thence. [Many] supposed that she would have resorted\nagain to her former place; but she took her way straight out of the\nhouse, leaning (as she was wont always to do) upon the arm of her\nGeneral Receiver, called Master Griffith. And the king being advertised\nof her departure, commanded the crier to call her again, who called\nher by the name of \"Katherine Queen of England, come into the court,\n&c.\" With that quoth Master Griffith, \"_Madam, ye be called again_.\"\n\"On, on,\" quoth she, \"it maketh no matter, for it is no indifferent\ncourt for me, therefore I will not tarry. Go on your ways.\" And thus\nshe departed out of that court, without any farther answer at that\ntime, or at any other, nor would never appear at any other court after.\nThe king perceiving that she was departed in such sort, calling to his\ngrace's memory all her lament words that she had pronounced before him\nand all the audience, said thus in effect: \"For as much,\" quoth he,\n\"as the queen is gone, I will, in her absence, declare unto you all\nmy lords here presently assembled, she hath been to me as true, as\nobedient, and as conformable a wife as I could in my fantasy wish or\ndesire. She hath all the virtuous qualities that ought to be in a woman\nof her dignity, or in any other of baser estate. Surely she is also\na noble woman born, if nothing were in her, but only her conditions\nwill well declare the same.\" With that quoth my Lord Cardinal, \"Sir,\nI most humbly beseech your highness to declare me before all this\naudience, whether I have been the chief inventor[139] or first mover\nof this matter unto your majesty; for I am greatly suspected of all men\nherein.\" \"My Lord Cardinal,\" quoth the king, \"I can well excuse you\nherein. Marry (quoth he), ye have been rather against me in attempting\nor setting forth thereof. And to put you all out of doubt, I will\ndeclare unto you the special cause that moved me hereunto; it was a\ncertain scrupulosity that pricked my conscience upon divers words that\nwere spoken at a certain time by the Bishop of Bayonne, the French\nKing's Ambassador[140], who had been here long upon the debating for\nthe conclusion of a marriage to be concluded between the princess our\ndaughter Mary, and the Duke of Orleans, the French king's second son.\n\"And upon the resolution and determination thereof, he desired respite\nto advertise the king his master thereof, whether our daughter Mary\nshould be legitimate, in respect of the marriage which was sometime\nbetween the queen here, and my brother the late Prince Arthur. These\nwords were so conceived within my scrupulous conscience, that it bred\na doubt within my breast, which doubt pricked, vexed, and troubled\nso my mind, and so disquieted me, that I was in great doubt of God's\nindignation; which (as seemed me), appeared right well; much the rather\nfor that he hath not sent me any issue male; for all such issue male as\nI have received of the queen died incontinent after they were born; so\nthat I doubt the punishment of God in that behalf. Thus being troubled\nin waves of a scrupulous conscience, and partly in despair of any\nissue male by her, it drave me at last to consider the estate of this\nrealm, and the danger it stood in for lack of issue male to succeed\nme in this imperial dignity. I thought it good therefore in relief of\nthe weighty burden of scrupulous conscience, and the quiet estate of\nthis noble realm, to attempt the law therein, and whether I might take\nanother wife in case that my first copulation with this gentlewoman\nwere not lawful; which I intend not for any carnal concupiscence, ne\nfor any displeasure or mislike of the queen's person or age, with whom\nI could be as well content to continue during my life, if our marriage\nmay stand with God's laws, as with any woman alive; in which point\nconsisteth all this doubt that we go now about to try by the learned\nwisdom and judgment of you our prelates and pastors of this realm here\nassembled for that purpose; to whose conscience and judgment I have\ncommitted the charge according to the which (God willing), we will be\nright well contented to submit ourself, to obey the same for our part.\nWherein after I once perceived my conscience wounded with the doubtful\ncase herein, I moved first this matter in confession to you, my Lord\nof Lincoln[141], my ghostly father. And for as much as then yourself\nwere in some doubt to give me counsel, moved me to ask farther counsel\nof all you my lords; wherein I moved you first my Lord of Canterbury,\naxing your license, (for as much [as] you were our metropolitan) to\nput this matter in question; and so I did of all you my lords, to the\nwhich ye have all granted by writing under all your seals, the which I\nhave here to be showed.\" \"That is truth if it please your highness,\"\nquoth the Bishop of Canterbury, \"I doubt not but all my brethren here\npresent will affirm the same.\" \"No, Sir, not I,\" quoth the Bishop of\nRochester, \"ye have not my consent thereto.\" \"No! ha' the!\" quoth the\nking, \"look here upon this, is not this your hand and seal?\" and showed\nhim the instrument with seals. \"No forsooth, Sire,\" quoth the Bishop of\nRochester, \"it is not my hand nor seal!\" To that quoth the king to my\nLord of Canterbury, \"Sir, how say _ye_, is it not his hand and seal?\"\n\"Yes, Sir,\" quoth my Lord of Canterbury. \"That is not so,\" quoth the\nBishop of Rochester, \"for indeed you were in hand with me to have both\nmy hand and seal, as other of my lords had already done; but then I\nsaid to you, that I would never consent to no such act, for it were\nmuch against my conscience; nor my hand and seal should never be seen\nat any such instrument, God willing, with much more matter touching the\nsame communication between us.\" \"You say truth,\" quoth the Bishop of\nCanterbury, \"such words ye said unto me; but at the last ye were fully\npersuaded that I should for you subscribe your name, and put to a seal\nmyself, and ye would allow the same.\" \"All which words and matter,\"\nquoth the Bishop of Rochester, \"under your correction my lord, and\nsupportation of this noble audience, there is no thing more untrue.\"\n\"Well, well,\" quoth the king, \"it shall make no matter; we will not\nstand with you in argument herein, for you are but one man.\" And with\nthat the court was adjourned until the next day of this session.\nThe next court day the cardinals sat there again, at which time the\ncounsel on both sides were there present. The king's counsel alleged\nthe marriage not good from the beginning, because of the carnal\nknowledge committed between Prince Arthur her first husband, the king's\nbrother, and her. This matter being very sore touched and maintained\nby the king's counsel; and the contrary defended by such as took\nupon them to be on that other part with the good queen: and to prove\nthe same carnal copulation they alleged many coloured reasons and\nsimilitudes of truth. It was answered again negatively on the other\nside, by which it seemed that all their former allegations [were] very\ndoubtful to be tried, so that it was said that no man could know the\ntruth. \"Yes,\" quoth the Bishop of Rochester, \"_Ego nosco veritatem_,\nI know the truth.\" \"How know you the truth?\" quoth my Lord Cardinal.\n\"Forsooth, my lord,\" quoth he, \"_Ego sum professor veritatis_, I know\nthat God is truth itself, nor he never spake but truth; who saith,\n_quos Deus conjunxit, homo non separet_. And forasmuch as this marriage\nwas made and joined by God to a good intent, I say that I know the\ntruth; the which cannot be broken or loosed by the power of man upon no\nfeigned occasion.\" \"So much doth all faithful men know,\" quoth my Lord\nCardinal, \"as well as you. Yet this reason is not sufficient in this\ncase; for the king's counsel doth allege divers presumptions, to prove\nthe marriage not good at the beginning, _ergo_, say they, it was not\njoined by God at the beginning, and therefore it is not lawful; for God\nordaineth nor joineth nothing without a just order. Therefore it is not\nto be doubted but that these presumptions must be true, as it plainly\nappeareth; and nothing can be more true in case these allegations\ncannot be avoided; therefore to say that the matrimony was joined of\nGod, ye must prove it farther than by that text which ye have alleged\nfor your matter: for ye must first avoid the presumptions.\" \"Then,\"\nquoth one Doctor Ridley, \"it is a shame and a great dishonour to this\nhonourable presence, that any such presumptions should be alleged in\nthis open court, which be to all good and honest men most detestable\nto be rehearsed.\" \"What,\" quoth my Lord Cardinal, \"_Domine Doctor,\nmagis reverenter_.\" \"No, no, my lord,\" quoth he, \"there belongeth\nno reverence to be given to these abominable presumptions; for an\nunreverent tale would be unreverently answered.\" And there they left,\nand proceeded no farther at that time.\nThus this court passed from session to session, and day to day, in so\nmuch that a certain day the king sent for my lord at the breaking up\none day of the court to come to him into Bridewell. And to accomplish\nhis commandment he went unto him, and being there with him in\ncommunication in his grace's privy chamber from eleven until twelve\nof the clock and past at noon, my lord came out and departed from the\nking and took his barge at the Black Friars, and so went to his house\nat Westminster. The Bishop of Carlisle being with him in his barge\nsaid unto him, (wiping the sweat from his face), \"Sir,\" quoth he, \"it\nis a very hot day.\" \"Yea,\" quoth my Lord Cardinal, \"if ye had been\nas well chafed as I have been within this hour, ye would say it were\nvery hot.\" And as soon as he came home to his house at Westminster, he\nwent incontinent to his naked bed, where he had not lain fully the\nspace of two hours, but that my Lord of Wiltshire came to speak with\nhim of a message from the king. My lord, having understanding of his\ncoming, caused him to be brought unto his bed's side; and he being\nthere, showed him the king's pleasure was, that he should incontinent\n(accompanied with the other cardinal) repair unto the queen at\nBridewell, into her chamber, to persuade her by their wisdoms, advising\nher to surrender the whole matter unto the king's hands by her own will\nand consent; which should be much better to her honour than to stand\nto the trial of law and to be condemned, which would seem much to her\nslander and defamation. To fulfil the king's pleasure, my lord [said]\nhe was ready, and would prepare him to go thither out of hand, saying\nfarther to my Lord of Wiltshire, \"Ye and other my lords of the council,\nwhich be near unto the king, are not a little to blame and misadvised\nto put any such fantasies into his head, whereby ye are the causes of\ngreat trouble to all the realm; and at length get you but small thanks\neither of God or of the world,\" with many other vehement words and\nsentences that were like to ensue of this matter, which words caused\nmy Lord of Wiltshire to water his eyes, kneeling all this while by my\nlord's bedside, and in conclusion departed. And then my lord rose up,\nand made him ready, taking his barge, and went straight to Bath Place\nto the other cardinal; and so went together unto Bridewell, directly to\nthe queen's lodging: and they, being in her chamber of presence, showed\nto the gentleman usher that they came to speak with the queen's grace.\nThe gentleman usher advertised the queen thereof incontinent. With that\nshe came out of her privy chamber with a skein of white thread about\nher neck, into the chamber of presence, where the cardinals were giving\nof attendance upon her coming. At whose coming quoth she, \"Alack, my\nlords, I am very sorry to cause you to attend upon me; what is your\npleasure with me?\" \"If it please you,\" quoth my Lord Cardinal, \"to go\ninto your privy chamber, we will show you the cause of our coming.\"\n\"My lord,\" quoth she, \"if you have any thing to say, speak it openly\nbefore all these folks; for I fear nothing that ye can say or allege\nagainst me, but that I would all the world should both hear and see\nit; therefore I pray you speak your minds openly.\" Then began my lord\nto speak to her in Latin. \"Nay, good my lord,\" quoth she, \"speak to\nme in English I beseech you; although I understand Latin.\" \"Forsooth\nthen,\" quoth my lord, \"Madam, if it please your grace, we come both\nto know your mind, how ye be disposed to do in this matter between\nthe king and you, and also to declare secretly our opinions and our\ncounsel unto you, which we have intended of very zeal and obedience\nthat we bear to your grace.\" \"My lords, I thank you then,\" quoth she,\n\"of your good wills; but to make answer to your request I cannot so\nsuddenly, for I was set among my maidens at work, thinking full little\nof any such matter, wherein there needeth a longer deliberation, and a\nbetter head than mine, to make answer to so noble wise men as ye be;\nI had need of good counsel in this case, which toucheth me so near;\nand for any counsel or friendship that I can find in England, [they]\nare nothing to my purpose or profit. Think you, I pray you, my lords,\nwill any Englishmen counsel or be friendly unto me against the king's\npleasure, they being his subjects? Nay forsooth, my lords! and for my\ncounsel in whom I do intend to put my trust be not here; they be in\nSpain, in my native country. Alas, my lords! I am a poor woman lacking\nboth wit and understanding sufficiently to answer such approved wise\nmen as ye be both, in so weighty a matter. I pray you to extend your\ngood and indifferent minds in your authority unto me, for I am a simple\nwoman, destitute and barren of friendship and counsel here in a foreign\nregion: and as for your counsel I will not refuse but be glad to hear.\"\nAnd with that she took my lord by the hand and led him into her\nprivy chamber, with the other cardinal; where they were in long\ncommunication: we, in the other chamber, might sometime hear the\nqueen speak very loud, but what it was we could not understand. The\ncommunication ended, the cardinals departed and went directly to the\nking, making to him relation of their talk with the queen; and after\nresorted home to their houses to supper.\nThus went this strange case forward from court-day to court-day, until\nit came to the judgment, so that every man expected the judgment to be\ngiven upon the next court-day[142]. At which day the king came thither,\nand sat within a gallery against the door of the same that looked unto\nthe judges where they sat, whom he might both see and hear speak, to\nhear what judgment they would give in his suit; at which time all their\nproceedings were first openly read in Latin. And that done, the king's\nlearned counsel at the bar called fast for judgment. With that, quoth\nCardinal Campeggio, \"I[143] will give no judgment herein until I have\nmade relation unto the pope of all our proceedings, whose counsel and\ncommandment in this high case I will observe. The case is too high and\nnotable, known throughout the world, for us to give any hasty judgment,\nconsidering the highness of the persons and the doubtful allegations;\nand also whose commissioners we be, under whose authority we sit here.\nIt were therefore reason, that we should make our chief head [of]\ncounsel in the same, before we proceed to judgment definitive. I come\nnot so far to please any man, for fear, meed, or favour, be he king\nor any other potentate. I have no such respect to the persons that I\nwill offend my conscience. I will not for favour or displeasure of any\nhigh estate or mighty prince do that thing that should be against the\nlaw of God. I am an old man, both sick and impotent, looking daily for\ndeath. What should it then avail me to put my soul in the danger of\nGod's displeasure, to my utter damnation, for the favour of any prince\nor high estate in this world? My coming and being here is only to see\njustice ministered according to my conscience, as I thought thereby\nthe matter either good or bad. And forasmuch as I do understand, and\nhaving perceivance by the allegations and negations in this matter laid\nfor both the parties, that the truth in this case is very doubtful\nto be known, and also that the party defendant will make no answer\nthereunto, [but] doth rather appeal from us, supposing that we be not\nindifferent, considering the king's high dignity and authority within\nthis his own realm which he hath over his own subjects; and we being\nhis subjects, and having our livings and dignities in the same, she\nthinketh that we cannot minister true and indifferent justice for\nfear of his displeasure. Therefore, to avoid all these ambiguities\nand obscure doubts, I intend not to damn my soul for no prince or\npotentate alive. I will therefore, God willing, wade no farther in this\nmatter, unless I have the just opinion and judgment, with the assent\nof the pope, and such other of his counsel as hath more experience and\nlearning in such doubtful laws than I have. Wherefore I will adjourn\nthis court for this time, according to the order of the court in Rome,\nfrom whence this court and jurisdiction is derived. And if we should go\nfurther than our commission doth warrant us, it were folly and vain,\nand much to our slander and blame; and [we] might be accounted for the\nsame breakers of the order of the higher court from whence we have (as\nI said) our original authorities.\" With that the court was dissolved,\nand no more pleas holden.\nWith that stepped forth the Duke of Suffolk[144] from the king, and\nby his commandment spake these words, with a stout and an hault\ncountenance, \"It was never merry in England,\" (quoth he), \"whilst we\nhad cardinals among us:\" which words were set forth both with such a\nvehement countenance, that all men marvelled what he intended; to whom\nno man made answer. Then the duke spake again in great despight. To\nthe which words my Lord Cardinal, perceiving his vehemency, soberly\nmade answer and said, \"Sir, of all men within this realm, ye have least\ncause to dispraise or be offended with cardinals: for if I, simple\ncardinal, had not been, you should have had at this present no head\nupon your shoulders, wherein you should have a tongue to make any such\nreport in despight of us, who intend you no manner of displeasure;\nnor have we given you any occasion with such despight to be revenged\nwith your hault words. I would ye knew it, my lord, that I and my\nbrother here intendeth the king and his realm as much honour, wealth,\nand quietness, as you or any other, of what estate or degree soever\nhe be, within this realm; and would as gladly accomplish his lawful\ndesire as the poorest subject he hath. But, my lord, I pray you, show\nme what ye would do if ye were the king's commissioner in a foreign\nregion, having a weighty matter to treat upon: and the conclusion being\ndoubtful thereof, would ye not advertise the king's majesty or ever ye\nwent through with the same? Yes, yes, my lord, I doubt not. Therefore\nI would ye should banish your hasty malice and despight out of your\nheart, and consider that we be but commissioners for a time, and can,\nne may not, by virtue of our commission proceed to judgment, without\nthe knowledge and consent of the chief head of our authority, and\nhaving his consent to the same; which is the pope. Therefore we do no\nless ne otherwise than our warrant will bear us; and if any man will\nbe offended with us therefore, he is an unwise man. Wherefore my lord,\nhold your peace, and pacify yourself, and frame your tongue like a man\nof honour and of wisdom, and not to speak so quickly or reproachfully\nby your friends; for ye know best what friendship[145] ye have received\nat my hands, the which I yet never revealed to no person alive before\nnow, neither to my glory, ne to your dishonour.\" And therewith the duke\ngave over the matter without any words to reply, and so departed and\nfollowed after the king, who was gone into Bridewell at the beginning\nof the duke's first words.\nThis matter continued long thus, and my Lord Cardinal was in\ndispleasure with the king, for that the matter in his suit took no\nbetter success, the fault whereof was ascribed much to my lord,\nnotwithstanding my lord excused him always by his commission, which\ngave him no farther authority to proceed in judgment, without knowledge\nof the pope, who reserved the same to himself.\nAt the last they were advertised by their post that the pope would take\ndeliberation in respect of judgment until his courts were opened, which\nshould not be before Bartholomew tide next. The king considering the\ntime to be very long or the matter should be determined, thought it\ngood to send a new embassy to the pope, to persuade him to show such\nhonourable favour unto his grace, that the matter might be sooner ended\nthan it was likely to be, or else at the next court in Rome, to rule\nthe matter over, according to the king's request.\nTo this embassy was appointed Doctor Stephens[146], then secretary,\nthat after was made Bishop of Winchester. Who went thither, and there\ntarried until the latter end of summer, as ye shall hear after.\nThe king commanded the queen to be removed out of the court, and sent\nto another place; and his highness rode in his progress, with Mistress\nAnne Boleyn in his company, all the grece season[147].\nIt was so that the Cardinal Campeggio made suit to be discharged, that\nhe might return again to Rome. And it chanced that the secretary, who\nwas the king's ambassador to the pope, was returned home from Rome;\nwhereupon it was determined that the Cardinal Campeggio should resort\nto the king at Grafton in Northamptonshire, and that my lord Cardinal\nshould accompany him thither, where Campeggio should take his leave of\nthe king. And so they took their journey thitherward from the Moor,\nand came to Grafton[148] upon the Sunday in the morning, before whose\ncoming there rose in the court divers opinions, that the king would not\nspeak with my Lord Cardinal; and thereupon were laid many great wagers.\nThese two prelates being come to the gates of the court, where they\nalighted from their horses, supposing that they should have been\nreceived by the head officers of the house as they were wont to be; yet\nfor as much as Cardinal Campeggio was but a stranger in effect, the\nsaid officers received them, and conveyed him to his lodging within the\ncourt, which was prepared for him only. And after my lord had brought\nhim thus to his lodging, he left him there and departed, supposing to\nhave gone directly likewise to his chamber, as he was accustomed to\ndo. And by the way as he was going, it was told him that he had no\nlodging appointed for him in the court. And being therewith astonied,\nSir Henry Norris, Groom of the Stole [to] the king, came unto him,\n(but whether it was by the king's commandment or no I know not), and\nmost humbly offered him his chamber for the time, until another might\nsomewhere be provided for him: \"For, Sir, I assure you,\" quoth he,\n\"here is very little room in this house, scantly sufficient for the\nking; therefore I beseech your grace to accept mine for the season.\"\nWhom my lord thanked for his gentle offer, and went straight to his\nchamber, where as my lord shifted his riding apparel, and being thus\nin his chamber, divers noble persons and gentlemen, being his loving\nfriends, came to visit him and to welcome him to the court, by whom\nmy lord was advertised of all things touching the king's displeasure\ntowards him; which did him no small pleasure; and caused him to be the\nmore readily provided of sufficient excuses for his defence.\nThen was my lord advertised by Master Norris, that he should prepare\nhimself to give attendance in the chamber of presence against the\nking's coming thither, who was disposed there to talk with him, and\nwith the other cardinal, who came into my lord's chamber, and they\ntogether went into the said chamber of presence, where the lords of the\ncouncil stood in a row in order along the chamber. My lord putting off\nhis cap to every of them most gently, and so did they no less to him:\nat which time the chamber was so furnished with noblemen, gentlemen,\nand other worthy persons, that only expected the meeting, and the\ncountenance of the king and him, and what entertainment the king made\nhim.\nThen immediately after came the king into the chamber, and standing\nthere under the cloth of estate, my lord kneeled down before him, who\ntook my lord by the hand, and so he did the other cardinal. Then he\ntook my lord up by both arms and caused him to stand up, whom the king,\nwith as amiable a cheer as ever he did, called him aside, and led him\nby the hand to a great window, where he talked with him, and caused him\nto be covered.\nThen, to behold the countenance of those that had made their wagers to\nthe contrary, it would have made you to smile; and thus were they all\ndeceived, as well worthy for their presumption. The king was in long\nand earnest communication with him, in so much as I heard the king say:\n\"How can that be: is not this your own hand?\" and plucked out from his\nbosom a letter or writing, and showed him the same; and as I perceived\nthat it was answered so by my lord that the king had no more to say in\nthat matter; but said to him: \"My lord, go to your dinner, and all my\nlords here will keep you company; and after dinner I will resort to you\nagain, and then we will commune further with you in this matter; and so\ndeparted the king, and dined that same day with Mrs. Anne Boleyn, in\nher chamber, who kept there an estate more like a queen than a simple\nmaid.\nThen was a table set up in the chamber of presence for my lord, and\nother lords of the council, where they all dined together; and sitting\nthus at dinner communing of divers matters. Quoth my lord, \"It were\nwell done if the king would send his chaplains and bishops to their\ncures and benefices.\" \"Yea marry,\" quoth my Lord of Norfolk, \"and so\nit were for you too.\" \"I could be contented therewith, very well,\"\nquoth my lord, \"if it were the king's pleasure to grant me license,\nwith his favour, to go to my benefice of Winchester.\" \"Nay,\" quoth\nmy Lord of Norfolk, \"to your benefice of York, where consisteth your\ngreatest honour and charge.\" \"Even as it shall please the king,\" quoth\nmy lord, and so fell into other communications. For the lords were very\nloth to have him planted so near the king as to be at Winchester[149].\nImmediately after dinner they fell in secret talk until the waiters\nhad dined.\nAnd as I heard it reported by them that waited upon the king at dinner,\nthat Mistress Anne Boleyn was much offended with the king, as far as\nshe durst, that he so gently entertained my lord, saying, as she sat\nwith the king at dinner, in communication of him, \"Sir,\" quoth she, \"is\nit not a marvellous thing to consider what debt and danger the cardinal\nhath brought you in with all your subjects?\" \"How so, sweetheart?\"\nquoth the king. \"Forsooth,\" quoth she, \"there is not a man within all\nyour realm, worth five pounds, but he hath indebted you unto him;\"\n(meaning by a loan that the king had but late of his subjects). \"Well,\nwell,\" quoth the king, \"as for that there is in him no blame; for I\nknow that matter better than you, or any other.\" \"Nay, Sir,\" quoth\nshe, \"besides all that, what things hath he wrought within this realm\nto your great slander and dishonour? There is never a nobleman within\nthis realm that if he had done but half so much as he hath done, but\nhe were well worthy to lose his head. If my Lord of Norfolk, my Lord\nof Suffolk, my lord my father, or any other noble person within your\nrealm had done much less than he, but they should have lost their heads\nor this.\" \"Why, then I perceive,\" quoth the king, \"ye are not the\ncardinal's friend?\" \"Forsooth, Sir,\" then quoth she, \"I have no cause,\nnor any other that loveth your grace, no more have your grace, if ye\nconsider well his doings.\" At this time the waiters had taken up the\ntable, and so they ended their communication. Now ye may perceive the\nold malice beginning to break out, and newly to kindle the brand that\nafter proved to a great fire, which was as much procured by his secret\nenemies, [of whom] I touched something before, as of herself.\nAfter all this communication, the dinner thus ended, the king rose up\nand went incontinent into the chamber of presence, where as my lord,\nand other of the lords were attending his coming, he called my lord\ninto the great window, and talked with him there a while very secretly.\nAnd at the last, the king took my lord by the hand and led him into\nhis privy chamber, sitting there in consultation with him all alone\nwithout any other of the lords of the council, until it was night; the\nwhich blanked his enemies very sore, and made them to stir the coals;\nbeing in doubt what this matter would grow unto, having now none other\nrefuge to trust to but Mistress Anne, in whom was all their whole and\nfirm trust and affiance, without whom they doubted all their enterprise\nbut frustrate and void.\nNow was I fain, being warned that my lord had no lodging in the court,\nto ride into the country to provide for my lord a lodging; so that I\nprovided a lodging for him at a house of Master Empson's called Euston,\nthree miles from Grafton, whither my lord came by torch light, it\nwas so late or the king and he departed. At whose departing the king\ncommanded him to resort again early in the morning to the intent they\nmight finish their talk which they had then begun and not concluded.\nAfter their departing my lord came to the said house at Euston to\nhis lodging, where he had to supper with him divers of his friends\nof the court; and sitting at supper, in came to him Doctor Stephens,\nthe secretary, late ambassador unto Rome; but to what intent he came\nI know not; howbeit my lord took it, that he came to dissemble a\ncertain obedience and love towards him, or else to espy his behaviour\nand to hear his communication at supper. Notwithstanding my lord bade\nhim welcome, and commanded him to sit down at the table to supper;\nwith whom my lord had this communication, under this manner. \"Master\nSecretary,\" quoth my lord, \"ye be welcome home out of Italy; when came\nye from Rome?\" \"Forsooth,\" quoth he, \"I came home almost a month ago.\"\n\"And where,\" quoth my lord, \"have you been ever since?\" \"Forsooth,\"\nquoth he, \"following the court this progress.\" \"Then have ye hunted,\nand had good game and pastime,\" quoth my lord. \"Forsooth, sir,\" quoth\nhe, \"and so I have, I thank the king's majesty.\" \"What good greyhounds\nhave ye?\" quoth my lord. \"I have some, sir,\" quoth he. And thus in\nhunting, and like disports, passed they all their communication at\nsupper; and after supper my lord and he talked secretly together, till\nit was midnight or they departed.\nThe next morning my lord rose early and rode straight to the court; at\nwhose coming the king was ready to ride, willing my lord to resort to\nthe council with the lords in his absence, and said he could not tarry\nwith him, commanding him to return with Cardinal Campeggio, who had\ntaken his leave of the king. Whereupon my lord was constrained to take\nhis leave also of the king, with whom the king departed amiably in the\nsight of all men. The king's sudden departing in the morning was by the\nspecial labour of Mistress Anne, who rode with him, only to lead him\nabout, because he should not return until the cardinals were gone, the\nwhich departed after dinner, returning again towards the Moor[150].\nThe king rode that morning to view a ground for a new park, which\nis called at this day Hartwell Park, where Mistress Anne had made\nprovision for the king's dinner, fearing his return or the cardinals\nwere gone.\nThen rode my lord and the other cardinal after dinner on their way\nhomeward, and so came to the monastery of St. Alban's (whereof he\nhimself was commendatory), and there lay one whole day; and the next\nday they rode to the Moor; and from thence the Cardinal Campeggio took\nhis journey towards Rome, with the king's reward; what it was I am\nuncertain. Nevertheless, after his departure, the king was informed\nthat he carried with him great treasures of my lord's, (conveyed in\ngreat tuns) notable sums of gold and silver to Rome, whither they\nsurmised my lord would secretly convey himself out of this realm. In so\nmuch that a post was sent speedily after the cardinal to search him;\nwhom they overtook at Calais[151], where he was stayed until search was\nmade; there was not so much money found as he received of the king's\nreward, and so he was dismissed and went his way.\nAfter Cardinal Campeggio was thus departed and gone, Michaelmas\nTerm[152] drew near, against the which my lord returned unto his house\nat Westminster; and when the Term began, he went to the hall in such\nlike sort and gesture as he was wont most commonly to do, and sat in\nthe Chancery, being Chancellor. After which day he never sat there\nmore. The next day he tarried at home, expecting the coming of the\nDukes of Suffolk and Norfolk, [who] came not that day; but the next\nday they came thither unto him; to whom they declared how the king's\npleasure was that he should surrender and deliver up the great seal\ninto their hands, and to depart simplily unto Asher[153], a house\nsituate nigh Hampton Court, belonging to the Bishoprick of Winchester.\nMy lord understanding their message, demanded of them what commission\nthey had to give him any such commandment? who answered him again,\nthat they were sufficient commissioners in that behalf, having the\nking's commandment by his mouth so to do. \"Yet,\" quoth he, \"that is not\nsufficient for me, without farther commandment of the king's pleasure;\nfor the great seal of England was delivered me by the king's own\nperson, to enjoy during my life, with the ministration of the office\nand high room of chancellorship of England: for my surety whereof,\nI have the king's letters patent to show.\" Which matter was greatly\ndebated between the dukes and him with many stout words between them;\nwhose words and checks he took in patience for the time: in so much\nthat the dukes were fain to depart again without their purpose at that\npresent; and returned again unto Windsor to the king: and what report\nthey made I cannot tell; howbeit, the next day they came again from\nthe king, bringing with them the king's letters. After the receipt and\nreading of the same by my lord, which was done with much reverence, he\ndelivered unto them the great seal[154], contented to obey the king's\nhigh commandment; and seeing that the king's pleasure was to take his\nhouse, with the contents, was well pleased simply to depart to Asher,\ntaking nothing but only some provision for his house.\n[Illustration:\n      _Etched by I HARRIS, Jun[^r]._\nTHE CARDINAL SURRENDERS THE GREAT SEAL TO THE DUKES OF SUFFOLK &\nNORFOLK, AND ALL HIS GOODS TO THE KING.\n_From a M.S. in the Collection of Francis Douce Esq.[^r] F.S.A._\n_Published by Harding, Triphook & Lepard, 1824._]\nAnd after long talk between the dukes and him, they departed, with the\ngreat seal of England, to Windsor, unto the king. Then went my Lord\nCardinal and called all officers in every office in his house before\nhim, to take account of all such stuff as they had in charge[155]. And\nin his gallery there was set divers tables, whereupon a great number of\nrich stuffs of silk, in whole pieces, of all colours, as velvet, satin,\ndamask, caffa, taffeta, grograine, sarcenet, and of other not in my\nremembrance; also there lay a thousand pieces of fine holland cloth,\nwhereof as I heard him say afterward, there was five hundred pieces\nthereof, conveyed both from the king and him[156].\nFurthermore there was also all the walls of the gallery hanged with\ncloth of gold, and tissue of divers makings, and cloth of silver\nlikewise on both the sides; and rich cloths of baudkin[157], of\ndivers colours. There also hung the richest suits of copes of his own\nprovision, (which he caused to be made for his colleges of Oxford\nand Ipswich), that ever I saw in England. Then had he two chambers\nadjoining to the gallery, the one called the _gilt chamber_, and the\nother called, most commonly, the _council chamber_, wherein were set\nin each two broad and long tables, upon tressels, whereupon was set\nsuch a number of plate of all sorts, as were almost incredible. In the\n_gilt chamber_ was set out upon the tables nothing but all gilt plate;\nand a cupboard standing under a window, was garnished all wholly with\nplate of clean gold, whereof some was set with pearl and rich stones.\nAnd in the _council chamber_ was set all white plate and parcel gilt;\nand under the tables, in both the chambers, were set baskets with\nold plate, which was not esteemed but for broken plate and old, not\nworthy to be occupied, and books containing the value and weight of\nevery parcel laid by them ready to be seen; and so was also books set\nby all manner of stuff, containing the contents of every thing. Thus\nevery thing being brought into good order and furnished, he gave the\ncharge of the delivery thereof unto the king, to every officer within\nhis office, of such stuff as they had before in charge, by indenture\nof every parcel; for the order of his house was such, as that every\nofficer was charged by indenture with all such parcels as belonged to\ntheir office.\nThen all things being ordered as it is before rehearsed, my lord\nprepared him to depart by water. And before his departing, he commanded\nSir William Gascoigne, his treasurer, to see these things before\nremembered delivered safely to the king at his repair [thither]. That\ndone, the said Sir William said unto my lord, \"Sir, I am sorry for your\ngrace, for I understand ye shall go straightway to the Tower.\" \"Is this\nthe good comfort and counsel,\" quoth my lord, \"that ye can give your\nmaster in adversity? It hath been always your natural inclination to be\nvery light of credit; and much more lighter in reporting of false news.\nI would ye should know, Sir William, and all other such blasphemers,\nthat it is nothing more false than that, for I never (thanks be to\nGod), deserved by no ways to come there under any arrest, although\nit hath pleased the king to take my house ready furnished for his\npleasure at this time. I would all the world knew, and so I confess,\nto have nothing, either riches, honour, or dignity, that hath not\ngrown of him and by him; therefore it is my very duty to surrender the\nsame to him again as his very own, with all my heart, or else I were\nan unkind servant. Therefore go your ways, and give good attendance\nunto your charge, that nothing be embezzled.\" And therewithal he made\nhim ready to depart, with all his gentlemen and yeomen, which was no\nsmall number, and took his barge at his privy stairs, and so went by\nwater unto Putney, where all his horses waited his coming. And at the\ntaking of his barge there was no less than a thousand boats full of men\nand women of the city of London, _waffeting_ up and down in Thames,\nexpecting my lord's departing, supposing that he should have gone\ndirectly from thence to the Tower, whereat they rejoiced, and I dare be\nbold to say that the most part never received damage at his hands.\nO wavering and new fangled multitude! Is it not a wonder to consider\nthe inconstant mutability of this uncertain world! The common people\nalways desiring alterations and novelties of things for the strangeness\nof the case; which after turneth them to small profit and commodity.\nFor if the sequel of this matter be well considered and digested, ye\nshall understand that they had small cause to triumph at his fall. What\nhath succeeded all wise men doth know, and the common sort of them hath\nfelt. Therefore to grudge or wonder at it, surely were but folly; to\nstudy a redress, I see not how it can be holpen, for the inclination\nand natural disposition of Englishmen is, and hath always been, to\ndesire alteration of officers, which hath been thoroughly fed with long\ncontinuance in their rooms with sufficient riches and possessions;\nand they being put out, then cometh another hungry and a lean officer\nin his place, that biteth nearer the bone than the old. So the people\nbe ever pilled and polled with hungry dogs, through their own desire\nof change of new officers, nature hath so wrought in the people, that\nit will not be redressed. Wherefore I cannot see but always men in\nauthority be disdained with the common sort of men; and such most of\nall, that justly ministereth equity to all men indifferently. For where\nthey please some one which receiveth the benefit of the law at [their]\nhands according to justice, there doth they in likewise displease the\ncontrary party, who supposeth to sustain great wrong, where they have\nequity and right. Thus all good justices be always in contempt with\nsome for executing of indifferency. And yet such ministers must be, for\nif there should be no ministers of justice the world should run full\nof error and abomination, and no good order kept, ne quietness among\nthe people. There is no good man but he will commend such justices as\ndealeth uprightly in their rooms, and rejoice at their continuance and\nnot at their fall; and whether this be true or no, I put it to the\njudgment of all discreet persons. Now let us leave, and begin again\nwhere we left.\nWhen he was with all his train arrived and landed at Putney, he took\nhis mule, and every man his horse. And setting forth, not past the\nlength of a pair of garden butts, he espied a man come riding empost\ndown the hill, in Putney town, demanding of his footmen who they\nthought it should be? And they answered again and said, that they\nsupposed it should be Sir Harry Norris. And by and bye he came to\nmy lord and saluted him, and said \"that the king's majesty had him\ncommended to his grace, and willed him in any wise to be of good\ncheer, for he was as much in his highness' favour as ever he was, and\nso shall be.\" And in token thereof, he delivered him a ring of gold,\nwith a rich stone, which ring he knew very well, for it was always the\nprivy token between the king and him whensoever the king would have\nany special matter dispatched at his hands. And said furthermore,\n\"that the king commanded him to be of good cheer, and take no thought,\nfor he should not lack. And although the king hath dealt with you\nunkindly as ye suppose, he saith that it is for no displeasure that\nhe beareth you, but only to satisfy more the minds of some (which he\nknoweth be not your friends), than for any indignation: and also ye\nknow right well, that he is able to recompense you with twice as much\nas your goods amounteth unto; and all this he bade me, that I should\nshow you, therefore, sir, take patience. And for my part, I trust to\nsee you in better estate than ever ye were.\" But when he heard Master\nNorris rehearse all the good and comfortable words of the king, he\nquickly lighted from off his mule, all alone, as though he had been\nthe youngest person amongst us, and incontinent kneeled down in the\ndirt upon both his knees, holding up his hands for joy. Master Norris\nperceiving him so quickly from his mule upon the ground, mused, and\nwas astonied. And therewith he alighted also, and kneeled by him,\nembracing him in his arms, and asked him how he did, calling upon him\nto credit his message. \"Master Norris,\" quoth he, \"when I consider your\ncomfortable and joyful news, I can do no less than to rejoice, for the\nsudden joy surmounted my memory, having no respect neither to the\nplace or time, but thought it my very bounden duty to render thanks to\nGod my maker, and to the king my sovereign lord and master, who hath\nsent me such comfort in the very place where I received the same.\"\nAnd talking with Master Norris upon his knees in the mire, he would\nhave pulled off his under cap of velvet, but he could not undo the\nknot under his chin; wherefore with violence he rent the laces and\npulled it from his head, and so kneeled bare headed. And that done, he\ncovered again his head, and arose, and would have mounted his mule,\nbut he could not mount again with such agility as he lighted before,\nwhere his footmen had as much ado to set him in his saddle as they\ncould have. Then rode he forth up the hill into the town, talking\nwith Master Norris. And when he came upon Putney Heath, Master Norris\ntook his leave and would have departed. Then quoth my lord unto him,\n\"Gentle Norris, if I were lord of a realm, the one half thereof were\ninsufficient a reward to give you for your pains, and good comfortable\nnews. But, good Master Norris, consider with me, that I have nothing\nleft me but my clothes on my back. Therefore I desire you to take this\nsmall reward of my hands;\" the which was a little chain of gold, made\nlike a bottle chain, with a cross of gold hanging thereat, wherein\nwas a piece of the _Holy Cross_, which he wore continually about his\nneck next his skin; and said furthermore, \"I assure you, Master Norris,\nthat when I was in prosperity, although it seem but small in value, yet\nI would not gladly have departed with it for the value of a thousand\npounds. Therefore I beseech you to take it in gree, and wear it about\nyour neck for my sake, and as often as ye shall happen to look upon\nit, have me in remembrance to the king's majesty, as opportunity shall\nserve you, unto whose Highness and clemency, I desire you to have\n[me] most lowly commended; for whose charitable disposition towards\nme, I can do nothing but only minister my prayer unto God for the\npreservation of his royal estate, long to reign in honour, health,\nand quiet life. I am his obedient subject, vassal, and poor chaplain,\nand do so intend, God willing, to be during my life, accounting that\nof myself I am of no estimation nor of no substance, but only by him\nand of him, whom I love better than myself, and have justly and truly\nserved, to the best of my gross wit.\" And with that he took Master\nNorris by the hand and bade him farewell. And being gone but a small\ndistance, he returned, and called Master Norris again, and when he was\nreturned, he said unto him: \"I am sorry,\" quoth he, \"that I have no\ncondign token to send to the king. But if ye would at this my request\npresent the king with this poor Fool, I trust his highness would\naccept him well, for surely for a nobleman's pleasure he is worth a\nthousand pounds[158].\" So Master Norris took the Fool with him; with\nwhom my lord was fain to send six of [his] tall yeomen, to conduct\nand convey the Fool to the court; for the poor Fool took on and fired\nso in such a rage when he saw that he must needs depart from my lord.\nYet notwithstanding they conveyed him with Master Norris to the court,\nwhere the king received him most gladly.\nAfter the departure of Master Norris with his token to the king, my\nlord rode straight to Asher, a house appertaining to the Bishoprick of\nWinchester, situate within the county of Surrey, not far from Hampton\nCourt, where my lord and his family continued the space of three or\nfour weeks, without beds, sheets, table cloths, cups and dishes to\neat our meat, or to lie in. Howbeit, there was good provision of all\nkind of victuals, and of drink, both beer and wine, whereof there was\nsufficient and plenty. My lord was of necessity compelled to borrow\nof the Bishop of Carlisle, and of Sir Thomas Arundell, both dishes\nto eat his meat in, and plate to drink in, and also linen cloths to\noccupy. And thus continued he in this strange estate until the feast of\nAll-hallown tide was past[159].\nIt chanced me upon All-hallown day to come there into the _Great\nChamber_ at Asher, in the morning, to give mine attendance, where I\nfound Master Cromwell leaning in the great window, with a Primer in his\nhand, saying of our Lady mattins; which had been since a very strange\nsight[160]. He prayed not more earnestly than the tears distilled\nfrom his eyes. Whom I bade good morrow. And with that I perceived\nthe tears upon his cheeks. To whom I said, \"Why Master Cromwell, what\nmeaneth all this your sorrow? Is my lord in any danger, for whom ye\nlament thus? or is it for any loss that ye have sustained by any\nmisadventure?\"\n[Illustration: THOMAS CROMWELL,\nEARL OF ESSEX.\nENGRAVED BY E. SCRIVEN, AFTER\nTHE ORIGINAL PICTURE BY HOLBEIN.\n_London, Published Jan. 1, 1825, by Harding, Triphook & Lepard._]\n\"Nay, nay,\" quoth he, \"it is my unhappy adventure, which am like to\nlose all that I have travailed for all the days of my life, for doing\nof my master true and diligent service.\" \"Why, sir,\" quoth I, \"I trust\nye be too wise, to commit any thing by my lord's commandment, otherwise\nthan ye might do of right, whereof ye have any cause to doubt of loss\nof your goods.\" \"Well, well,\" quoth he, \"I cannot tell; but all things\nI see before mine eyes, is as it is taken; and this I understand\nright well, that I am in disdain with most men for my master's sake;\nand surely without just cause. Howbeit, an ill name once gotten will\nnot lightly be put away. I never had any promotion by my lord to the\nincrease of my living. And thus much will I say to you, that I intend,\nGod willing, this afternoon, when my lord hath dined, to ride to\nLondon, and so to the court, where I will either make or mar[161], or\nI come again. I will put myself in prease[162], to see what any man is\nable to lay to my charge of untruth or misdemeanour.\" \"Marry, sir,\"\nquoth I, \"in so doing, in my conceit, ye shall do very well and wisely,\nbeseeching God to be your guide, and send you good luck, even as I\nwould myself.\" And with that I was called into the closet, to see and\nprepare all things ready for my lord, who intended that day to say mass\nthere himself; and so I did.\nAnd then my lord came thither with his chaplain, one Doctor Marshall,\nsaying first his mattins, and heard two masses on his knees. And then\nafter he was confessed, he himself said mass. And when he had finished\nmass, and all his divine service, returned into his chamber, where he\ndined among divers of his doctors, where as Master Cromwell dined also;\nand sitting at dinner, it chanced that my lord commended the true and\nfaithful service of his gentlemen and yeomen. Whereupon Master Cromwell\ntook an occasion to say to my lord, that in conscience he ought to\nconsider their truth and loyal service that they did him, in this his\npresent necessity, which never forsaketh him in all his trouble.\n\"It shall be well done, therefore,\" said he, \"for your grace to\ncall before you all these your most worthy gentlemen and right\nhonest yeomen, and let them understand, that ye right well consider\ntheir patience, truth, and faithfulness; and then give them your\ncommendation, with good words and thanks, the which shall be to them\ngreat courage to sustain your mishap in patient misery, and to spend\ntheir life and substance in your service.\"\n\"Alas, Thomas,\" quoth my lord unto him, \"ye know I have nothing to\ngive them, and words without deeds be not often well taken. For if I\nhad but as I have had of late, I would depart with them so frankly\nas they should be well content: but nothing hath no savour; and I am\nashamed, and also sorry that I am not able to requite their faithful\nservice. And although I have cause to rejoice, considering the fidelity\nI perceive in the number of my servants, who will not depart from me\nin my miserable estate, but be as diligent, obedient, and serviceable\nabout me as they were in my great triumphant glory, yet do I lament\nagain the want of substance to distribute among them.\" \"Why, sir,\"\nquoth Master Cromwell, \"have ye not here a number of chaplains, to whom\nye have departed very liberally with spiritual promotions, in so much\nas some may dispend, by your grace's preferment, a thousand marks by\nthe year, and some five hundred marks, and some more, and some less; ye\nhave no one chaplain within all your house, or belonging unto you, but\nhe may dispend at the least well (by your procurement and preferment)\nthree hundred marks yearly, who had all the profit and advantage at\nyour hands, and other your servants none at all; and yet hath your poor\nservants taken much more pains for you in one day than all your idle\nchaplains hath done in a year. Therefore if they will not freely and\nfrankly consider your liberality, and depart with you of the same goods\ngotten in your service, now in your great indigence and necessity, it\nis pity that they live; and all the world will have them in indignation\nand hatred, for their abominable ingratitude to their master and lord.\"\n\"I think no less, Thomas,\" quoth my lord, \"wherefore, [I pray you,]\ncause all my servants to be called and to assemble without, in my\ngreat chamber, after dinner, and see them stand in order, and I will\ndeclare unto them my mind, according to your advice.\" After that the\nboard's end was taken up, Master Cromwell came to me and said, \"Heard\nyou not, what my Lord said even now?\" \"Yes, sir,\" quoth I, \"that I\ndid.\" \"Well, then,\" quoth he, \"assemble all my lord's servants up\ninto the great chamber;\" and so I did, and when they were all there\nassembled, I assigned all the gentlemen to stand on the right side of\nthe chamber, and the yeomen on the left side. And at the last my lord\ncame thither, appareled in a white rochet upon a violet gown of cloth\nlike a bishop's, who went straight into the great window. Standing\nthere a while, and his chaplains about him, beholding the number of\nhis servants divided in two parts, he could not speak unto them for\ntenderness of his heart; the flood of tears that distilled from his\neyes declared no less: the which perceived by his servants, caused the\nfountains of water to gush out of their faithful hearts down their\ncheeks, in such abundance as it would cause a cruel heart to lament.\nAt the last, after he had turned his face to the wall, and wiped his\neyes with his handkerchief, he spake to them after this sort in effect:\n\"Most faithful gentlemen and true hearted yeomen, I do not only lament\n[to see] your persons present about me, but I do lament my negligent\ningratitude towards you all on my behalf, in whom hath been a great\ndefault, that in my prosperity [I] have not done for you so much as I\nmight have done, either in word or deed, which was then in my power to\ndo: but then I knew not my jewels and special treasures that I had of\nyou my faithful servants in my house; but now approved experience hath\ntaught me, and with the eyes of my discretion, which before were hid, I\ndo perceive well the same. There was never thing that repented me more\nthat ever I did than doth the remembrance of my oblivious negligence\nand ungentleness, that I have not promoted or preferred you to condign\nrooms and preferments, according to your demerits. Howbeit, it is\nnot unknown to you all, that I was not so well furnished of temporal\nadvancements, as I was of spiritual preferments. And if I should have\npromoted you to any of the king's offices and rooms, then should I have\nincurred the indignation of the king's servants, who would not much let\nto report in every place behind my back, that there could no office\nor room in the king's gift escape the cardinal and his servants, and\nthus should I incur the obloquy and slander before the whole world.\nBut now it is come to this pass, that it hath pleased the king to\ntake all that ever I have into his possession, so that I have nothing\nleft me but my bare clothes upon my back, the which be but simple in\ncomparison to those that ye have seen me have or this: howbeit, if\nthey may do you any good or pleasure, I would not stick to divide them\namong you, yea, and the skin of my back, if it might countervail any\nthing in value among you. But, good gentlemen and yeomen, my trusty and\nfaithful servants, of whom no prince hath the like, in my opinion, I\nmost heartily require you to take with me some patience a little while,\nfor I doubt not but that the king, considering the offence suggested\nagainst me by my mortal enemies, to be of small effect, will shortly, I\ndoubt not, restore me again to my living, so that I shall be more able\nto divide some part thereof yearly among you, whereof ye shall be well\nassured. For the surplusage of my revenues, whatsoever shall remain at\nthe determination of my accompts, shall be, God willing, distributed\namong you. For I will never hereafter esteem the goods and riches of\nthis uncertain world but as a vain thing, more than shall be sufficient\nfor the maintenance of mine estate and dignity, that God hath or shall\ncall me unto in this world during my life. And if the king do not thus\nshortly restore me, then will I see you bestowed according to your\nown requests, and write for you, either to the king, or to any other\nnoble person within this realm, to retain you into service; for I\ndoubt not but the king, or any noble man, or worthy gentleman of this\nrealm, will credit my letter in your commendation. Therefore, in the\nmean time, mine advice is, that ye repair home to your wives, such\nas have any: and such among you as hath none, to take this time to\nvisit your parents and friends in the country. There is none of you\nall, but once in a year would require licence to visit your wives and\nother of your friends: take this time, I pray you, in respect thereof,\nand at your return I will not refuse you, if I should beg with you.\nI consider that the service of my house hath been such, and of such\nsort, that ye be not meet or apt to serve [any] man under the degree\nof a king; therefore I would wish you to serve no man but the king,\nwho I am sure will not reject you. Therefore I desire you to take your\npleasures for a month, and then ye may come again unto me, and I trust\nby that time, the king's majesty will extend his clemency upon me.\"\n\"Sir,\" quoth Master Cromwell, \"there is divers of these your yeomen,\nthat would be glad to see their friends, but they lack money: therefore\nhere is divers of your chaplains who have received at your hands great\nbenefices and high dignities; let them therefore now show themselves\nunto you as they are bound by all humanity to do. I think their\nhonesty and charity is not so slender and void of grace that they would\nnot see you lack where they may help to refresh you. And for my part,\nalthough I have not received of your grace's gift one penny towards the\nincrease of my yearly living, yet will I depart with you this towards\nthe dispatch of your servants,\" and [therewith] delivered him five\npounds in gold. \"And now let us see what your chaplains will do. I\nthink they will depart with you much more than I have done, who be more\nable to give you a pound than I one penny.\" \"Go to, masters,\" quoth he\nto the chaplains: in so much as some gave to him ten pounds, some ten\nmarks, some a hundred shillings, and so some more and some less, as at\nthat time their powers did extend; whereby my lord received among them\nas much money of their liberality as he gave to each of his yeomen a\nquarter's wages, and board wages for a month; and they departed down\ninto the hall, where some determined to go to their friends, and some\nsaid that they would not depart from my lord until they might see him\nin better estate. My lord returned into his chamber lamenting the\ndeparture from his servants, making his moan unto Master Cromwell, who\ncomforted him the best he could, and desired my lord to give him leave\nto go to London, where he would either make or mar or he came again,\nwhich was always his common saying. Then after long communication with\nmy lord in secret, he departed and took his horse, and rode to London,\nat whose departing I was by, whom he bade farewell; and said, \"ye shall\nhear shortly of me, and if I speed well, I will not fail to be here\nagain within these two days.\" And so I took my leave of him, and he\nrode forth on his journey. Sir Rafe Sadler, (now knight), was then his\nclerk, and rode with him.\nAfter that my lord had supped that night, and all men gone to bed,\n(being All-hallown day), it chanced so, about midnight, that one of\nthe porters came unto my chamber door, and there knocked, and waking\nme, I perceived who it was; [and] asked him, \"what he would have that\ntime of the night?\" \"Sir,\" quoth the porter, \"there is a great number\nof horsemen at the gate, that would come in, saying to me, that it is\nSir John Russell, and so it appears to me by his voice; what is your\npleasure that I should do?\" \"Marry,\" quoth I, \"go down again, and make\na great fire in your lodge, against I come to dry them;\" for it rained\nall that night the sorest that it did all that year before. Then I\nrose and put on my nightgown, and came to the gates, and asked who was\nthere. With that Master Russell spake, whom I knew by his voice, and\nthen I caused the porter to open the gates and let them all in, who\nwere wet to the skin; desiring Master Russell to go into the lodge to\nthe fire; and he showed me that he was come from the king unto my lord\nin message, with whom he required me to speak. \"Sir,\" quoth I, \"I trust\nyour news be good?\" \"Yea, I promise you on my fidelity,\" quoth he,\n\"and so, I pray you, show him, I have brought him such news that will\nplease him right well.\" \"Then I will go,\" quoth I, \"and wake him, and\ncause him to rise.\" I went incontinent to my lord's chamber door, and\nwaked my lord, who asked me, \"what I would have?\" \"Sir,\" said I, \"to\nshow you that Sir John Russell is come from the king, who is desirous\nto speak with you;\" and then he called up one of his grooms to let me\nin; and being within I told him \"what a journey Sir John Russell had\nthat night.\" \"I pray God,\" quoth he, \"all be for the best.\" \"Yes, sir,\"\nquoth I, \"he showed me, and so bade me tell you, that he had brought\nyou such news as ye would greatly rejoice thereat.\" \"Well, then,\" quoth\nhe, \"God be praised, and welcome be his grace! Go ye and fetch him unto\nme, and by that time I will be ready to talk with him.\"\nThen I returned from him to the lodge, and brought Master Russell from\nthence to my lord, who had cast on his nightgown. And when Master\nRussell was come into his presence, he most humbly reverenced him,\nupon his knee, [to] whom my lord bowed down, and took him up, and bade\nhim welcome. \"Sir,\" quoth he, \"the king commendeth him unto you;\" and\ndelivered him a great ring of gold with a Turkis, for a token; \"and\nwilleth you to be of good cheer; who loveth you as well as ever he did,\nand is not a little disquieted for your troubles, whose mind is full\nof your remembrance. In so much as his grace, before he sat to supper,\ncalled me unto him, and commanded me to take this journey secretly to\nvisit you, to your comfort the best of my power. And Sir, if it please\nyour grace, I have had this night the sorest journey, for so little a\nway, that ever I had to my remembrance.\"\nMy lord thanked him for his pains and good news, and demanded of him\nif he had supped; and he said \"Nay.\" \"Well, then,\" quoth my lord to\nme, \"cause the cooks to provide some meat for him; and cause a chamber\nwith a good fire to be made ready for him, that he may take his rest\nawhile upon a bed.\" All which commandment I fulfilled; and in the\nmeantime my lord and Master Russell were in very secret communication;\nand in fine, Master Russell went to his chamber, taking his leave of\nmy lord for all night, and said, \"he would not tarry but a while, for\nhe would, God willing, be at the court at Greenwich again before day,\nfor he would not for any thing that it were known, his being with my\nlord that night.\" And so being in his chamber, having a small repast,\nrested him a while upon a bed, whilst his servants supped and dried\nthemselves by the fire; and then incontinent he rode away with speed\nto the court. And shortly after his being there, my lord was restored\nagain unto plenty of household stuff, vessels, and plate, and of all\nthings necessary some part, so that he was indifferently furnished much\nbetter than he was of late, and yet not so abundantly as the king's\npleasure was, the default whereof was in the officers, and in such as\nhad the oversight of the delivery thereof; and yet my lord rejoiced in\nthat little in comparison to that he had before.\nNow let us return again to Master Cromwell, to see how he hath sped,\nsince his departure last from my lord. The case stood so, that there\nshould begin, shortly after All-hallown tide, the Parliament, and [he],\nbeing within London, devised with himself to be one of the Burgesses\nof the Parliament, and chanced to meet with one Sir Thomas Rush,\nknight, a special friend of his, whose son was appointed to be one of\nthe Burgesses of that Parliament, of whom he obtained his room, and\nby that means put his foot into the Parliament House: then within two\nor three days after his entry into the Parliament, he came unto my\nlord, to Asher, with a much pleasanter countenance than he had at his\ndeparture, and meeting with me before he came to my lord, said unto\nme, \"that he had once adventured to put in his foot, where he trusted\nshortly to be better regarded, or all were done.\" And when he was come\nto my lord, they talked together in secret manner; and that done, he\nrode out of hand again that night to London, because he would not be\nabsent from the Parliament the next morning. There could nothing be\nspoken against my lord in the Parliament House but he would answer\nit incontinent, or else take until the next day, against which time\nhe would resort to my lord to know what answer he should make in his\nbehalf; in so much that there was no matter alleged against my lord but\nthat he was ever ready furnished with a sufficient answer; so that at\nlength, for his honest behaviour in his master's cause, he grew into\nsuch estimation in every man's opinion, that he was esteemed to be the\nmost faithfullest servant to his master of all other, wherein he was of\nall men greatly commended.\nThen was there brought in a Bill of Articles into the Parliament House\nto have my lord condemned of treason; against which bill Master\nCromwell inveighed so discreetly, with such witty persuasions and deep\nreasons, that the same bill could take there no effect[163]. Then\nwere his enemies compelled to indite him in a _premunire_, and all\nwas done only to the intent to entitle the king to all his goods and\npossessions, the which he had gathered together, and purchased for\nhis colleges in Oxford and Ipswich, and for the maintenance of the\nsame, which was then abuilding in most sumptuous wise. Wherein when\nhe was demanded by the judges, which were sent [to] him purposely to\nexamine him what answer he would make to the same, he said: \"The king's\nhighness knoweth right well whether I have offended his majesty and his\nlaws or no, in using of my prerogative legatine, for the which ye have\nme indited. Notwithstanding I have the king's license in my coffers,\nunder his hand and broad seal, for exercising and using the authority\nthereof, in the largest wise, within his highness' dominions, the which\nremaineth now in the hands of my enemies. Therefore, because I will not\nstand in question or trial with the king in his own cause, I am content\nhere of mine own frank will and mind, in your presence, to confess the\noffence in the inditement, and put me wholly in the mercy and grace\nof the king, having no doubt in his godly disposition and charitable\nconscience, whom I know hath an high discretion to consider the truth,\nand my humble submission and obedience. And although I might justly\nstand on the trial with him therein; yet I am content to submit myself\nto his clemency, and thus much ye may say to him in my behalf, that I\nam entirely in his obedience, and do intend, God willing, to obey and\nfulfil all his princely pleasure in every thing that he will command me\nto do; whose will and pleasure I never yet disobeyed or repugned, but\nwas always contented and glad to accomplish his desire and commandment\nbefore God, whom I ought most rathest to [have] obeyed; the which\nnegligence now greatly repenteth me. Notwithstanding, I most heartily\nrequire you, to have me most humbly to his royal majesty commended, for\nwhom I do and will pray for the preservation of his royal person, long\nto reign in honour, prosperity, and quietness, and to have the victory\nover his mortal and cankered enemies.\" And they took their leave of him\nand departed.\nShortly after the king sent the Duke of Norfolk unto him in message;\nbut what it was I am not certain. But my Lord being advertised that the\nduke was coming even at hand, he caused all his gentlemen to wait upon\nhim down through the Hall into the Base Court, to receive the duke at\nthe entry of the gates; and commanded all his yeomen to stand still in\nthe Hall in order. And he and his gentlemen went to the gates, where he\nencountered with my Lord of Norfolk, whom he received bareheaded; who\nembraced each other: and so led him by the arm through the Hall into\nhis chamber. And as the duke passed through the Hall, at the upper end\nthereof he turned again his visage down the Hall, regarding the number\nof the tall yeomen that stood in order there, and said: \"Sirs,\" quoth\nhe, \"your diligent and faithful service unto my lord here your master,\nin this time of his calamity, hath purchased for yourselves of all\nnoble men much honesty; in so much as the king commanded me to say to\nyou in his grace's name, that, for your true and loving service that\nye have done to your master, his highness will see you all furnished\nat all times with services according to your demerits.\" With that my\nLord Cardinal put off his cap, and said to my Lord of Norfolk; \"Sir,\"\nquoth he, \"these men be all approved men: wherefore it were pity they\nshould want other service or living; and being sorry that I am not able\nto do for them as my heart doth wish, do therefore require you, my good\nlord, to be good lord unto them, and extend your good word for them,\nwhen ye shall see opportunity at any time hereafter; and that ye will\nprefer their diligent and faithful service to the king.\" \"Doubt ye not\nthereof,\" quoth my Lord of Norfolk, \"but I will do for them the best of\nmy power: and when I shall see cause, I will be an earnest suitor for\nthem to the king; and some of you I will retain myself in service for\nyour honesty's sake. And as ye have begun, so continue and remain here\nstill with my lord until ye hear more of the king's pleasure:--God's\nblessing and mine be with you!\" And so went up into the great chamber\nto dinner, whom my Lord Cardinal thanked, and said unto him, \"Yet, my\nlord, of all other noble men, I have most cause to thank you for your\nnoble heart and gentle nature, which ye have showed me behind my back,\nas my servant, Thomas Cromwell, hath made report unto me. But even as\nye are a noble man in deed, so have ye showed yourself no less to all\nmen in calamity, and in especial to me, and even as ye have abated my\nglory and high estate, and brought it full low, so have ye extended\nyour honourable favour most charitably unto me, being prostrate before\nyou. Forsooth, Sir, ye do right well deserve to bear in your arms the\nnoble and gentle lion, whose natural inclination is, that when he hath\nvanquished any beast, and seeth him yielded, lying prostrate before him\nat his feet, then will he show most clemency unto his vanquished, and\ndo him no more harm, ne suffer any other devouring beast to damage him:\nwhose nature and quality ye do ensue; therefore these verses may be\napplied to your lordship:\n    _Parcere prostratis scit nobilis ira leonis:\n    Ta quoque fac simile, quisquis regnabis in orbem._\"\nWith that the water was brought them to wash before dinner, to the\nwhich my lord called my Lord of Norfolk to wash with him: but he\nrefused of courtesy, and desired to have him excused, and said \"that\nit became him not to presume to wash with him any more now, than it\ndid before[164] in his glory.\" \"Yes, forsooth,\" quoth my Lord Cardinal,\n\"for my authority and dignity legatine is gone, wherein consisted\nall my high honour.\" \"A straw,\" quoth my Lord of Norfolk, \"for your\nlegacy. I never esteemed your honour the more or higher for that. But\nI regarded your honour, for that ye were Archbishop of York, and a\ncardinal, whose estate of honour surmounteth any duke now being within\nthis realm; and so will I honour you, and acknowledge the same, and\nbear you reverence accordingly. Therefore, I beseech you, content\nyourself, for I will not presume to wash with you; and therefore I pray\nyou, hold me excused.\" Then was my Lord Cardinal constrained to wash\nalone; and my Lord of Norfolk all alone also. When he had done, my Lord\nCardinal would fain have had him to sit down on the chair, in the\ninner side of the table, but surely he refused the same also with much\nhumbleness. Then was there set another chair for my Lord of Norfolk,\nover against my Lord Cardinal, on the outside of the table, the which\nwas by my Lord of Norfolk based something beneath my lord, and during\nthe dinner all their communication was of the diligent service of the\ngentlemen which remained with my lord there attending upon him at\ndinner, and how much the king and all other noble men doth esteem them\nwith worthy commendations for so doing; and at this time how little\nthey be esteemed in the court that are come to the king's service, and\n[have] forsaken their master in his necessity; whereof some he blamed\nby name. And with this communication, the dinner being ended, they rose\nfrom the table, and went together into my lord's bedchamber, where they\ncontinued in consultation a certain season. And being there, it chanced\nMaster Shelley, the judge, to come thither, sent from the king; whereof\nrelation was made to my lord, which caused the duke and him to break up\ntheir communication; and the duke desired to go into some chamber to\nrepose him for a season. And as he was coming out of my lord's chamber,\nhe met with Master Shelley, to whom Master Shelley made relation of the\ncause of his coming, and desired the duke to tarry and to assist him\nin doing of his message; whom he denied and said, \"I have nothing to\ndo with your message, wherein I will not meddle;\" and so departed into\na chamber, where he took his rest for an hour or two. And in the mean\ntime my lord issued out of his chamber, and came to Master Shelley to\nknow his message. Who declared unto him, after due salutation, that the\nking's pleasure was to have his house at Westminster, (then called York\nPlace, belonging to the Bishoprick of York,) intending to make of that\nhouse a palace royal; and to possess the same according to the laws\nof this his grace's realm. His highness hath therefore sent for all\nthe judges, and for all his learned counsel, to know their opinions in\nthe assurance thereof; in whose determinations it was fully resolved,\nthat your grace should recognise, before a judge, the right thereof\nto be in the king and his successors; and so his highness shall be\nassured thereof. Wherefore it hath pleased his majesty to appoint me\nby his commandment to come hither, to take of you this recognisance,\nwho hath in you such affiance, that ye will not refuse so to do\naccordingly. Therefore I shall desire your grace to know your good will\ntherein.\"--\"Master Shelley,\" quoth my lord, \"I know that the king of\nhis own nature is of a royal stomach, and yet not willing more than\njustice shall lead him unto by the law. And therefore, I counsel you,\nand all other fathers of the law and learned men of his counsel, to put\nno more into his head than the law may stand with good conscience; for\nwhen ye tell him, this is the law, it were well done ye should tell\nhim also that, although _this_ be the law, yet _this_ is conscience;\nfor law without conscience is not good to be given unto a king in\ncounsel to use for a lawful right, but always to have a respect to\nconscience, before the rigour of the common law, for _laus est facere\nquod decet, non quod licet_. The king ought of his royal dignity and\nprerogative to mitigate the rigour of the law, where conscience hath\nthe most force; therefore, in his royal place of equal justice, he hath\nconstitute a chancellor, an officer to execute justice with clemency,\nwhere conscience is opposed by the rigour of the law. And therefore the\nCourt of Chancery hath been heretofore commonly called the Court of\nConscience; because it hath jurisdiction to command the high ministers\nof the common law to spare execution and judgment, where conscience\nhath most effect. Therefore I say to you in this case, although you,\nand other of your profession, perceive by your learning that the king\nmay, by an order of your laws, lawfully do that thing which ye demand\nof me; how say you, Master Shelley, may I do it with justice and\nconscience, to give that thing away from me and my successors which is\nnone of mine? If this be law, with conscience, show me your opinion,\nI pray you.\" \"Forsooth, my lord,\" quoth he, \"there is some conscience\nin this case; but having regard to the king's high power, and to be\nemployed to a better use and purpose, it may the better be suffered\nwith conscience; who is sufficient to make recompense to the church of\nYork with double the value.\" \"That I know well,\" quoth my lord, \"but\nhere is no such condition neither promised nor agreed, but only a bare\nand simple departure with another's right for ever. And if every bishop\nmay do the like, then might every prelate give away the patrimony of\ntheir churches which is none of theirs; and so in process of time\nleave nothing for their successors to maintain their dignities, which,\nall things considered, should be but small to the king's honour. Sir,\nI do not intend to stand in terms with you in this matter, but let\nme see your commission.\" To whom Master Shelley showed the same, and\nthat seen, and perceived by him, said again thus: \"Master Shelley,\"\nquoth he, \"ye shall make report to the king's highness, that I am\nhis obedient subject, and faithful chaplain and beadman, whose royal\ncommandment and request I will in no wise disobey, but most gladly\nfulfil and accomplish his princely will and pleasure in all things,\nand in especial in this matter, in as much as ye, the fathers of the\nlaws, say that I may lawfully do it. Therefore I charge your conscience\nand discharge mine. Howbeit, I pray you, show his majesty from me,\nthat I most humbly desire his highness to call to his most gracious\nremembrance, that there is both heaven and hell.\" And therewith the\nclerk was called, who wrote my lord's recognisance[165], and after some\nsecret talk Master Shelley departed. Then rose my Lord of Norfolk from\nhis repose, and after some communication with my lord he departed.\nThus continued my lord at Asher, who received daily messages from the\ncourt, whereof some were not so good as some were bad, but yet much\nmore evil than good. For his enemies, perceiving the great affection\nthat the king bare always towards him, devised a mean to disquiet and\ndisturb his patience; thinking thereby to give him an occasion to fret\nand chafe, that death should rather ensue than increase of health or\nlife, the which they most desired. They feared him more after his fall\nthan they did before in his prosperity, doubting much his re-adoption\ninto authority, by reason that the king's favour remained still towards\nhim in such force, whereby they might rather be in danger of their\nestates, than in any assurance, for their cruelty ministered, by their\nmalicious inventions, surmised and brought to pass against him.\nTherefore they took this order among them in their matters, that\ndaily they would send him something, or do something against him,\nwherein they thought that they might give him a cause of heaviness or\nlamentation. As some day they would cause the king to send for four or\nfive of his gentlemen from him to serve the king: and some other day\nthey would lay matters newly invented against him. Another day they\nwould take from him some of his promotions; or of their promotions whom\nhe [had] preferred before. Then would they fetch from him some of his\nyeomen; in so much as the king took into service sixteen of them at\nonce, and at one time put them into his guard. This order of life he\nled continually; that there was no one day but, or ever he went to bed,\nhe had an occasion greatly to chafe or fret the heart out of his belly,\nbut that he was a wise man, and bare all their malice in patience[166].\nAt Christmas he fell sore sick, that he was likely to die. Whereof\nthe king being advertised, was very sorry therefore, and sent Doctor\nButtes, his grace's physician, unto him, to see in what estate he\nwas. Doctor Buttes came unto him, and finding him very sick lying in\nhis bed; and perceiving the danger he was in repaired again unto the\nking. Of whom the king demanded, saying, \"How doth yonder man, have\nyou seen him?\" \"Yea, sir,\" quoth he. \"How do you like him?\" quoth the\nking. \"Forsooth, sir,\" quoth he, \"if you will have him dead, I warrant\nyour grace he will be dead within these four days, if he receive no\ncomfort from you shortly, and Mistress Anne.\" \"Marry,\" quoth the king,\n\"God forbid that he should die. I pray you, good Master Buttes, go\nagain unto him, and do your cure upon him; for I would not lose him\nfor twenty thousand pounds.\" \"Then must your grace,\" quoth Master\nButtes, \"send him first some comfortable message, as shortly as is\npossible.\" \"Even so will I,\" quoth the king, \"by you. And therefore\nmake speed to him again, and ye shall deliver him from me this ring for\na token of our good will and favour towards him, (in the which ring was\nengraved the king's visage within a ruby, as lively counterfeit as was\npossible to be devised). This ring he knoweth very well; for he gave\nme the same; and tell him, that I am not offended with him in my heart\nnothing at all, and that shall he perceive, and God send him life, very\nshortly. Therefore bid him be of good cheer, and pluck up his heart,\nand take no despair. And I charge you come not from him, until ye have\nbrought him out of all danger of death.\" And then spake he to Mistress\nAnne, saying, \"Good sweetheart, I pray you at this my instance, as ye\nlove us, to send the cardinal a token with comfortable words; and in\nso doing ye shall do us a loving pleasure.\" She being not minded to\ndisobey the king's earnest request, whatsoever she intended in her\nheart towards the cardinal; took incontinent her tablet of gold hanging\nat her girdle, and delivered it to Master Buttes, with very gentle and\ncomfortable words and commendations to the cardinal. And thus Master\nButtes departed, and made speedy return to Asher, to my Lord Cardinal;\nafter whom the king sent Doctor Clement, Doctor Wotton, and Doctor\nCromer the Scot, to consult and assist Master Buttes for my lord's\nhealth.\nAfter that Master Buttes had been with my lord, and delivered\nthe king's and Mistress Anne's tokens unto him, with the most\ncomfortable words he could devise on their behalf, whereat he\nrejoiced not a little, advancing him a little in his bed, and received\ntheir tokens most joyfully, thanking Master Buttes for his comfortable\nnews and pains. Master Buttes showed him furthermore, that the king's\npleasure was, that he should minister unto him for his health: and to\njoin with him for the better and most assured and brief ways, to be\nhad for the same, hath sent Doctor Wotton, Doctor Clement, and Doctor\nCromer, to join with him in counsel and ministration. \"Therefore,\nmy lord,\" quoth he, \"it were well done that they should be called\nin to visit your person and estate, wherein I would be glad to hear\ntheir opinions, trusting in Almighty God that, through his grace and\nassistance, we shall ease you of your pains, and rid you clean from\nyour disease and infirmity. Wherewith my lord was well pleased and\ncontented to hear their judgments; for indeed he trusted more to the\nScottish doctor than he did to any of the other, because he was the\nvery occasion that he inhabited here in England, and before he gave\nhim partly his exhibition in Paris. Then when they were come into\nhis chamber, and had talked with him, he took upon him to debate his\ndisease learnedly among them, so that they might understand that he was\nseen in that art. After they had taken order for ministration, it was\nnot long or they brought him out of all danger and fear of death; and\nwithin four days they set him on his feet, and got him a good stomach\nto his meat[167]. This done, and he in a good estate of amendment,\nthey took their leave to depart, to whom my lord offered his reward;\nthe which they refused, saying, that the king gave them in special\ncommandment, to take nothing of him for their pains and ministration;\nfor at their return his highness said that he would reward them of his\nown costs: and thus with great thanks they departed from my lord, whom\nthey left in good estate of recovery.\n[Illustration: _Etched by I. Harris, Jun._\nD^R. BUTTS SENT BY THE KING TO THE SICK CARDINAL WITH TOKENS OF FAVOUR.\n_From a M.S. in the Collection of Francis Douce Esq^r. F.S.A._\n_Published by Harding, Triphook, & Lepard. 1824._]\nAfter this time my lord daily amended, and so continued still at Asher\nuntil Candlemas; against which feast, the king caused to be sent him\nthree or four cart loads of stuff, and most part thereof was locked in\ngreat standards, (except beds and kitchen-stuff,) wherein was both\nplate and rich hangings, and chapel-stuff[168]. Then my lord, being\nthus furnished, was therewith well contented; although they whom the\nking assigned did not deliver him so good, ne so rich stuff, as the\nking's pleasure was, yet was he joyous thereof, and rendered most\nhumble thanks to the king, and to them that appointed the said stuff\nfor him, saying to us his servants, at the opening of the same stuff in\nthe standards, the which we thought, and said, might have been better\nappointed if it had pleased them that appointed it: \"Nay, sirs,\" quoth\nmy lord to us, \"he that hath nothing is glad of somewhat, though it\nbe never so little, and although it be not in comparison half so much\nand good as we had before, yet we rejoice more of this little than we\ndid of the great abundance that we then had; and thank the king very\nmuch for the same, trusting after this to have much more. Therefore let\nus all rejoice, and be glad, that God and the king hath so graciously\nremembered to restore us to some things to maintain our estate like a\nnoble person.\"\nThen commanded he Master Cromwell, being with him, to make suit to the\nking's majesty, that he might remove thence to some other place, for\nhe was weary of that house of Asher: for with continual use thereof\nthe house waxed unsavoury; supposing that if he might remove from\nthence he should much sooner recover his health. And also the council\nhad put into the king's head, that the new gallery at Asher, which my\nlord had late before his fall newly set up, should be very necessary\nfor the king, to take down and set it up again at Westminster; which\nwas done accordingly, and stands at this present day there[169]. The\ntaking away thereof before my lord's face was to him a corrosive,\nwhich was invented by his enemies only to torment him, the which\nindeed discouraged him very sore to tarry any longer there. Now Master\nCromwell thought it but vain and much folly to move any of the king's\ncouncil to assist and prefer his suit to the king, among whom rested\nthe number of his mortal enemies, for they would rather hinder his\nremoving, or else remove him farther from the king, than to have holpen\nhim to any place nigh the king's common trade; wherefore he refused\nany suit to them, and made only suit to the king's own person; whose\nsuit the king graciously heard, and thought it very convenient to be\ngranted; and through the special motion of Master Cromwell, the king\nwas well contented that he should remove to Richmond, which place my\nlord had a little before repaired to his great cost and charge; for the\nking had made an exchange thereof with him for Hampton Court. All this\nhis removing was done without the knowledge of the king's council, for\nif they might have had any intelligence thereof before, then would they\nhave persuaded the king to the contrary: but when they were advertised\nof the king's grant and pleasure, they dissimuled their countenances\nin the king's presence, for they were greatly afraid of him, lest his\nnigh being, the king might at length some one time resort to him, and\nso call him home again, considering the great affection and love that\nthe king daily showed towards him; wherefore they doubted his rising\nagain, if they found not a mean to remove him shortly from the king.\nIn so much that they thought it convenient for their purpose to inform\nthe king upon certain considerations which they invented, that it\nwere very necessary that my lord should go down into the North unto\nhis benefice of York, where he should be a good stay for the country;\nto the which the king, supposing that they had meant no less than\ngood faith, granted and condescended to their suggestions; which were\nforced so with wonderful imagined considerations, that the king,\nunderstanding nothing of their intent, was lightly persuaded to the\nsame. Whereupon the Duke of Norfolk commanded Master Cromwell, who\nhad daily access unto him, to say to my lord, that it is the king's\npleasure that he should with speed go to his benefice, where lieth his\ncure, and look to that according to his duty. Master Cromwell at his\nnext repair to my lord, who lay then at Richmond, declared unto him\nwhat my Lord of Norfolk said, how it was determined that he should go\nto his benefice. \"Well then, Thomas,\" quoth my lord, \"seeing there is\nno other remedy, I do intend to go to my benefice of Winchester, and\nI pray you, Thomas, so show my Lord of Norfolk.\" \"Contented, sir,\"\nquoth Master Cromwell, and according to his commandment did so. To the\nwhich my Lord of Norfolk answered and said, \"What will he do there?\"\n\"Nay,\" quoth he, \"let him go into his province of York, whereof he\nhath received his honour, and there lieth the spiritual burden and\ncharge of his conscience, as he ought to do, and so show him.\" The\nlords, who were not all his friends, having intelligence of his intent,\nthought to withdraw his appetite from Winchester, and would in no wise\npermit him to plant himself so nigh the king: [they] moved therefore\nthe king to give my lord but a pension[170] out of Winchester, and to\ndistribute all the rest among the nobility and other of his worthy\nservants; and in likewise to do the same with the revenues of St.\nAlbans; and of the revenues of his colleges in Oxford and Ipswich, the\nwhich the king took into his own hands; whereof Master Cromwell had the\nreceipt and government before by my lord's assignment. In consideration\nthereof it was thought most convenient that he should have so still.\nNotwithstanding, out of the revenues of Winchester and St. Albans the\nking gave to some one nobleman three hundred marks, and to some a\nhundred pounds, and to some more and to some less, according to the\nking's royal pleasure. Now Master Cromwell executed his office, the\nwhich he had over the lands of the college, so justly and exactly that\nhe was had in great estimation for his witty behaviour therein, and\nalso for the true, faithful, and diligent service extended towards my\nlord his master.\nIt came at length so to pass that those to whom the king's majesty had\ngiven any annuities or fees for term of life by patent out of the\nforenamed revenues could not be good, but [only] during my lord's life,\nforasmuch as the king had no longer estate or title therein[171], which\ncame to him by reason of my lord's attainder in the premunire; and to\nmake their estates good and sufficient according to their patents, it\nwas thought necessary to have my lord's confirmation unto their grants.\nAnd this to be brought about, there was no other mean but to make suit\nto Master Cromwell to obtain their confirmation at my lord's hands,\nwhom they thought might best obtain the same.\nThen began both noblemen and other who had any patents of the king,\nout either of Winchester or St. Albans, to make earnest suit to Master\nCromwell for to solicit their causes to my lord, to get of him his\nconfirmations; and for his pains therein sustained, they promised\nevery man, not only worthily to reward him, but also to show him such\npleasures as should at all times lie in their several powers, whereof\nthey assured him. Wherein Master Cromwell perceiving an occasion and\na time given him to work for himself, and to bring the thing to pass\nwhich he long wished for; intended to work so in this matter, to serve\ntheir desires, that he might the sooner bring his own enterprise to\npurpose.\nThen at his next resort to my lord, he moved him privily in this matter\nto have his counsel and his advice, and so by their witty heads it\nwas devised that they should work together by one line, to bring by\ntheir policies Master Cromwell in place and estate, where he might do\nhimself good and my lord much profit. Now began matters to work to\nbring Master Cromwell into estimation in such sort as was afterwards\nmuch to his increase of dignity; and thus every man, having an occasion\nto sue for my lord's confirmation, made now earnest travail to Master\nCromwell for these purposes, who refused none to make promise that he\nwould do his best in that case. And having a great occasion of access\nto the king for the disposition of divers lands, whereof he had the\norder and governance; by means whereof, and by his witty demeanour,\nhe grew continually into the king's favour, as ye shall hear after in\nthis history. But first let us resort to the great business about the\nassurance of all these patents which the king hath given to divers\nnoblemen and other of his servants, wherein Master Cromwell made a\ncontinuance of great suit to my lord for the same, that in process of\ntime he served all their turns so that they had their purposes, and he\ntheir good wills. Thus rose his name and friendly acceptance with all\nmen. The fame of his honesty and wisdom sounded so in the king's ears\nthat, by reason of his access to the king, he perceived to be in him no\nless wisdom than fame had made of him report, forasmuch as he had the\ngovernment and receipts of those lands which I showed you before; and\nthe conference that he had with the king therein enforced the king to\nrepute him a very wise man, and a meet instrument to serve his grace,\nas it after came to pass.\nSir, now the lords thought long to remove my lord farther from the\nking, and out of his common trade; wherefore among other of the lords,\nmy Lord of Norfolk said to Master Cromwell, \"Sir,\" quoth he, \"me\nthinketh that the cardinal your master maketh no haste northward; show\nhim, that if he go not away shortly, I will, rather than he should\ntarry still, tear him with my teeth. Therefore I would advise him\nto prepare him away as shortly as he can, or else he shall be sent\nforward.\" These words Master Cromwell reported to my lord at his next\nrepair unto him, who then had a just occasion to resort to him for the\ndispatch of the noblemen's and others' patents. And here I will leave\nof this matter, and show you of my lord's being at Richmond.\nMy lord, having license of the king to repair and remove to Richmond,\nmade haste to prepare him thitherward; and so he came and lodged\nwithin the great park there, which was a very pretty house and a neat,\nlacking no necessary rooms that to so small a house was convenient and\nnecessary; where was to the same a very proper garden garnished with\ndivers pleasant walks and alleys: my lord continued in this lodge from\nthe time that he came thither, shortly after Candlemas, until it was\nLent, with a privy number of servants, because of the smallness of the\nhouse, and the rest of his family went to board wages.\nI will tell you a certain tale by the way of communication. Sir, as\nmy lord was accustomed towards night to walk in the garden there,\nto say his service, it was my chance then to wait upon him there;\nand standing still in an alley, whilst he in another walked with his\nchaplain, saying of his service; as I stood, I espied certain images\nof beasts counterfeit in timber, standing in a corner under the lodge\nwall, to the which I repaired to behold. Among whom I saw there a dun\ncow, whereon I mused most, because it seemed me to be the most lively\nentaylled[172] among all the rest. My lord being, as I said, walking\non the other side of the garden, perceived me, came suddenly upon me\nat my back, unawares, [and] said: \"What have you espied here, that\nyou so attentively look upon?\" \"Forsooth, if it please your grace,\"\nquoth I, \"here I do behold these entaylled images; the which I suppose\nwere ordained for to be set up within some place about the king's\npalace: howbeit, sir, among them all, I have most considered the dun\ncow, [in] the which (as it seemeth me) the workman has most apertly\nshowed his cunning.\" \"Yea, marry, sir,\" quoth my lord, \"upon this\ndun cow dependeth a certain prophecy, the which I will show you, for\nperadventure ye never heard of it before. There is a saying,\" quoth he,\n\"that\n    \"When this cow rideth the bull,\n    Then, priest, beware thy scull.\"\n[Of] which prophecy neither my lord that declared it, ne I that heard\nit, understood the effect; although that even then it was a-working to\nbe brought to pass. For this cow the king gave as one of his beasts\nappertaining of antiquity unto his earldom of Richmond, which was his\nancient inheritance; this prophecy was after expounded in this wise.\nThis dun cow, because it was the king's beast, betokened the king;\nand the bull betokened Mistress Anne Boleyn, which was after queen,\nbecause that her father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, gave the same beast in\nhis cognisance. So that when the king had married her, the which was\nthen unknown to my lord, or to any other at that time, then was this\nprophecy thought of all men to be fulfilled. For what a number of\npriests, both religious and secular, lost their heads for offending\nof such laws as were then made to bring this [marriage] to effect, is\nnot unknown to all the world. Therefore it was judged of all men that\nthis prophecy was then fulfilled when the king and she were joined in\nmarriage. Now, how dark and obscure riddles and prophecies be, you may\nbehold in this same: for before it was brought to pass there was not\nthe wisest prophesier could perfectly discuss it, as it is now come\nto effect and purpose. Trust therefore, by mine advice, to no kind of\ndark riddles and prophecies, wherein ye may, as many have been, be\ndeceived, and brought to destruction. And many times the imaginations\nand travailous business to avoid such dark and strange prophecies, hath\nbeen the very occasion to bring the same the sooner to effect and\nperfection. Therefore let men beware to divine or assure themselves\nto expound any such prophecies, for who so doeth shall first deceive\nthemselves, and, secondly, bring many into error; the experience hath\nbeen lately experienced, the more pity. But if men will needs think\nthemselves so wise, to be assured of such blind prophecies, and will\nwork their wills therein, either in avoiding or in fulfilling the\nsame, God send him well to speed, for he may as well, and much more\nsooner, take damage than avoid the danger thereof! Let prophecies\nalone, a God's name, apply your vocation, and commit the exposition\nof such dark riddles and obscure prophecies to God, that disposeth\nthem as his divine pleasure shall see cause to alter and change all\nyour enterprises and imaginations to nothing, and deceive all your\nexpectations, and cause you to repent your great folly, the which when\nye feel the smart, will yourself confess the same to be both great\nfolly and much more madness to trust in any such fantasies. Let God\ntherefore dispose them, who governeth and punisheth according to man's\ndeserts, and not to all men's judgments.\nYou have heard herebefore what words the Duke of Norfolk had to Master\nCromwell touching my lord's going to the North to his benefice of York,\nat such time as Master Cromwell declared the same to my lord, to whom\nmy lord answered in this wise: \"Marry, Thomas,\" quoth he, \"then it is\ntime to be going, if my Lord of Norfolk take it so. Therefore I pray\nyou go to the king and move his highness in my behalf, and say that\nI would, with all my heart, go to my benefice at York, but for want\nof money; desiring his grace to assist me with some money towards my\njourney. For ye may say that the last money that I received of his\nmajesty hath been too little to pay my debts, compelled by his counsel\nso to do; therefore to constrain me to the payment thereof, and his\nhighness having all my goods, hath been too much extremity; wherein I\ntrust his grace will have a charitable respect. Ye may say also to my\nLord of Norfolk, and other of the council, that I would depart if I had\nmoney.\" \"Sir,\" quoth Master Cromwell, \"I will do my best.\" And after\nother communication he departed again, and went to London.\nMy lord then in the beginning of Lent [removed] out of the Lodge into\nthe Charterhouse of Richmond, where he lay in a lodging, which Doctor\nCollet, sometime Dean of Paul's, had made for himself, until he removed\nnorthward, which was in the Passion Week after; and he had to the\nsame house a secret gallery, which went out of his chamber into the\nCharterhouse church, whither he resorted every day to their service;\nand at afternoons he would sit in contemplation with one or other of\nthe most ancient fathers of that house in his cell, who among them by\ntheir counsel persuaded him from the vain glory of this world, and gave\nhim divers shirts of hair, the which he often wore afterward, whereof\nI am certain. And thus he continued for the time of his abode there in\ngodly contemplation.\nNow when Master Cromwell came to the court, he chanced to move my Lord\nof Norfolk that my lord would gladly depart northward but for lack of\nmoney, wherein he desired his assistance to the king. Then went they\nboth jointly to the king, to whom my Lord of Norfolk declared how my\nlord would gladly depart northward, if he wanted not money to bring\nhim thither; the king thereupon referred the assignment thereof to the\ncouncil, whereupon they were in divers opinions. Some said he should\nhave none, for he had sufficient of late delivered him; some would\nhe should have sufficient and enough; and some contrariwise would he\nshould have but a small sum; and some thought it much against the\ncouncil's honour, and much more against the king's high dignity to see\nhim want the maintenance of his estate which the king had given him in\nthis realm; and [who] also hath been in such estimation with the king,\nand in great authority under him; it should be rather a great slander\nin foreign realms to the king and his whole council, to see him want\nthat lately had so much, and now so little. \"Therefore, rather than he\nshould lack,\" quoth one among them, \"(although he never did me good or\nany pleasure), yet would I lay my plate to gage for him for a thousand\npounds, rather than he should depart so simply as some would have him\nfor to do. Let us do to him as we would be done unto; considering his\nsmall offence, and his inestimable substance that he only hath departed\nwithal the same, for satisfying of the king's pleasure, rather than\nhe would stand in defence with the king in defending of his case, as\nhe might justly have done, as ye all know. Let not malice cloak this\nmatter whereby that justice and mercy may take no place; ye have all\nyour pleasures fulfilled which ye have long desired, and now suffer\nconscience to minister unto him some liberality; the day may come\nthat some of us may be in the same case, ye have such alterations in\npersons, as well assured as ye suppose yourselves to be, and to stand\nupon as sure a ground, and what hangeth over our heads we know not; I\ncan say no more: now do as ye list.\" Then after all this they began\nagain to consult in this matter, and after long debating and reasoning\nabout the same, it was concluded, that he should have by the way of\nprest[173], a thousand marks out of Winchester Bishoprick, beforehand\nof his pension, which the king had granted him out of the same, for the\nking had resumed the whole revenues of the Bishoprick of Winchester\ninto his own hands; yet the king out of the same had granted divers\ngreat pensions unto divers noblemen and unto other of his council; so\nthat I do suppose, all things accompted, his part was the least. So\nthat, when this determination was fully concluded, they declared the\nsame to the king, who straightway [commanded] the said thousand marks\nto be delivered out of hand to Master Cromwell; and so it was. The\nking, calling Master Cromwell to him secretly, bade him to resort to\nhim again when he had received the said sum of money. And according to\nthe same commandment he repaired again to the king; to whom the king\nsaid: \"Show my lord your master, although our council hath not assigned\nany sufficient sum of money to bear his charges, yet ye shall show him\nin my behalf, that I will send him a thousand pound, of my benevolence;\nand tell him that he shall not lack, and bid him be of good cheer.\"\nMaster Cromwell upon his knees most humbly thanked the king on my\nlord's behalf, for his great benevolence and noble heart towards\nmy lord: \"those comfortable words of your grace,\" quoth he, \"shall\nrejoice him more than three times the value of your noble reward.\"\nAnd therewith departed from the king and came to my lord directly\nto Richmond; to whom he delivered the money, and showed him all the\narguments in the council, which ye have heard before, with the progress\nof the same; and of what money it was, and whereof it was levied, which\nthe council sent him; and of the money which the king sent him, and\nof his comfortable words; whereof my lord rejoiced not a little, and\n[was] greatly comforted. And after the receipt of this money my lord\nconsulted with Master Cromwell about his departure, and of his journey,\nwith the order thereof.\nThen my lord prepared all things with speed for his journey into the\nNorth, and sent to London for livery clothes for his servants that\nshould ride with him thither. Some he refused, such as he thought were\nnot meet to serve; and some again of their own mind desired him of his\nfavour to tarry still here in the south, being very loath to abandon\ntheir native country, their parents, wives, and children, [whom] he\nmost gladly licensed with good will and favour, and rendered unto them\nhis hearty thanks for their painful service and long tarriance with\nhim in his troublesome decay and overthrow. So that now all things\nbeing furnished towards this journey, he took the same in the beginning\nof the Passion Week, before Easter; and so rode to a place, then the\nabbot's of Westminster, called Hendon; and the next day he removed to a\nplace called the Rye; where my Lady Parrey lay; the next day he rode to\nRoyston, and lodged in the monastery there; and the next he removed to\nHuntingdon, and there lodged in the Abbey; and from thence he removed\nto Peterborough, and there lodged also within the Abbey, being then\nPalm Sunday, where he made his abode until the Thursday in Easter week,\nwith all his train[174]; whereof the most part went to board wages in\nthe town, having twelve carts to carry his stuff of his own, which came\nfrom his college in Oxford, where he had three score carts to carry\nsuch necessaries as belonged to his buildings there. Upon Palm Sunday\nhe went in procession, with the monks, bearing his palm; setting forth\nGod's service right honourably, with such singing men as he then had\nremaining with him. And upon Maundy Thursday he made his Maundy in our\nLady's Chapel, having fifty-nine[175] poor men, whose feet he washed,\nwiped, and kissed; each of these poor men had twelve pence in money,\nthree ells of canvass to make them shirts, a pair of new shoes, a\ncast of bread, three red herrings, and three white herrings, and the\nodd person had two shillings. Upon Easter Day in the morning he rode\nto the resurrection[176], and that day he went in procession in his\ncardinal's vesture, with his hat and hood on his head, and he himself\nsang there the high mass very devoutly; and granted clean remission to\nall the hearers[177]; and there continued [he] all the holidays.\nMy lord continuing at Peterborough after this manner, intending to\nremove from thence, sent me to Sir William Fitzwilliams, a knight,\nwhich dwelt within three or four miles of Peterborough, to provide him\nthere a lodging until Monday next following, on his journey northward.\nAnd being with him, to whom I declared my lord's request, and he\nbeing thereof very glad, rejoiced not a little that it would please\nmy lord to visit his house in his way; saying, that he should be most\nheartiliest welcome of any man alive, the king's majesty excepted; and\nthat he should not need to discharge the carriage of any of his stuff\nfor his own use during the time of his being there; but have all things\nfurnished ready against his coming to occupy, his own bed excepted.\nThus upon my report made to my lord at my return, he rejoiced of my\nmessage, commanding me therein to give warning to all his officers\nand servants to prepare themselves to remove from Peterborough upon\nThursday next. Then every man made all things in such readiness as was\nconvenient, paying in the town for all things as they had taken of any\nperson for their own use, for which cause my lord caused a proclamation\nto be made in the town, that if any person or persons in the town\nor country there were offended or grieved against any of my lord's\nservants, that they should resort to my lord's officers, of whom they\nshould have redress, and truly answered as the case justly required.\nSo that, all things being furnished, my lord took his journey from\nPeterborough upon the Thursday in Easter week, to Master Fitzwilliams,\nwhere he was joyously received, and had right worthy and honourable\nentertainment at the only charge and expense of the said Master\nFitzwilliams, all [the] time of his being there[178].\nThe occasion that moved Master Fitzwilliams thus to rejoice of my\nlord's being in his house was, that he sometime being a merchant of\nLondon and sheriff there, fell in debate with the city of London\nupon a grudge between the aldermen of the bench and him, upon a new\ncorporation that he would erect of a new mystery called Merchant\nTaylors, contrary to the opinion of divers of the bench of aldermen\nof the city, which caused him to give and surrender his cloak, and\ndeparted from London, and inhabited within the country; and against\nthe malice of all the said aldermen and other rulers in the commonweal\nof the city, my lord defended him, and retained him into service, whom\nhe made first his treasurer of his house, and then after his high\nchamberlain; and in conclusion, for his wisdom, gravity, port, and\neloquence, being a gentleman of a comely stature, made him one of the\nking's counsel: and [he] so continued all his life afterward. Therefore\nin consideration of all these gratitudes received at my lord's hands,\nas well in his trouble as in his preferment, was most gladest like a\nfaithful friend of good remembrance to requite him with the semblable\ngratuity, and right joys that he had any occasion to minister some\npleasure, such as lay then in his power to do.\nThus my lord continued there until the Monday next; where lacked\nno good cheer of costly viands, both of wine and other goodly\nentertainment; so that upon the said Monday my lord departed from\nthence unto Stamford; where he lay all that night. And the next day\nhe removed from thence unto Grantham, and was lodged in a gentleman's\nhouse, called Master Hall. And the next day he rode to Newark, and\nlodged in the castle all that night; the next day he rode to Southwell,\na place of my lord's within three or four miles of Newark, where he\nintended to continue all that summer, as he did after.\nHere I must declare to you a notable tale of communication which was\ndone at Master Fitzwilliams before his departure from thence, between\n[my lord] and me, the which was this: Sir, my lord being in the\ngarden at Master Fitzwilliams, walking, saying of his evensong with\nhis chaplain, I being there giving attendance upon him, his evensong\nfinished, [he] commanded his chaplain that bare up the train of his\ngown whilst he walked, to deliver me the same, and to go aside when he\nhad done; and after the chaplain was gone a good distance, he said unto\nme in this wise, \"Ye have been late at London,\" quoth he; \"Forsooth,\nmy lord,\" quoth I, \"not since that I was there to buy your liveries\nfor your servants.\" \"And what news was there then,\" quoth he; \"heard\nyou no communication there of me? I pray you tell me.\" Then perceiving\nthat I had a good occasion to talk my mind plainly unto him, [I] said,\n\"Sir, if it please your grace, it was my chance to be at a dinner in\na certain place within the city, where I, among divers other honest\nand worshipful gentlemen happed to sit, which were for the most part\nof my old familiar acquaintance, wherefore they were the more bolder\nto enter in communication with me, understanding that I was still your\ngrace's servant; [they] asked me a question, which I could not well\nassoil them.\" \"What was that?\" quoth my lord. \"Forsooth, sir,\" quoth I,\n\"first they asked me how ye did, and how ye accepted your adversity,\nand trouble, and the loss of your goods; to the which I answered, that\nyou were in health (thanks be to God), and took all things in good\npart; and so it seemed me, that they were all your indifferent friends\nlamenting your decay, and loss of your room and goods, doubting much\nthat the sequel thereof could not be good in the commonwealth. For\noften changing of such officers which be fat fed, into the hands of\nsuch as be lean and hungry for riches, [they] will sure travail by\nall means to get abundance, and so the poor commons be pillaged and\nextorted for greedy lucre of riches and treasure: they said that ye\nwere full fed, and intended now much to the advancement of the king's\nhonour and the commonwealth. Also they marvelled much that ye, being\nof so excellent a wit and high discretion, would so simply confess\nyourself guilty in the premunire, wherein ye might full well have stood\nin the trial of your case. For they understood, by the report of some\nof the king's learned counsel, that your case well considered, ye had\ngreat wrong: to the which I could make, as me thought, no sufficient\nanswer, but said, \"That I doubt not your so doing was upon some greater\nconsideration than my wit could understand.\" \"Is this,\" quoth he,\n\"the opinion of wise men?\" \"Yea, forsooth, my lord,\" quoth I, \"and\nalmost of all other men.\" \"Well, then,\" quoth he, \"I see that their\nwisdoms perceive not the ground of the matter that moved me so to do.\nFor I considered, that my enemies had brought the matter so to pass\nagainst me, and conveyed it so, that they made it the king's case, and\ncaused the king to take the matter into his own hands and quarrel, and\nafter that he had upon the occasion thereof seized all my goods and\npossessions into his demayns, and then the quarrel to be his, rather\nthan yield, or take a foil in the law, and thereby restore to me all\nmy goods again, he would sooner (by the procurement of my enemies and\nevil willers) imagine my utter undoing and destruction; whereof the\nmost ease therein had been for me perpetual imprisonment. And rather\nthan I would jeopard so far, or put my life in any such hazard, yet had\nI most liefest to yield and confess the matter, committing the sole\nsum thereof, as I did, unto the king's clemency and mercy, and live\nat large, like a poor vicar, than to lie in prison with all the goods\nand honours that I had. And therefore it was the most best way for me,\nall things considered, to do as I have done, than to stand in trial\nwith the king, for he would have been loath to have been noted a wrong\ndoer, and in my submission, the king, I doubt not, had a great remorse\nof conscience, wherein he would rather pity me than malign me. And\nalso there was a continual serpentine enemy about the king that would,\nI am well assured, if I had been found stiff necked, [have] called\ncontinually upon the king in his ear (I mean the night-crow) with\nsuch a vehemency that I should with the help of her assistance [have]\nobtained sooner the king's indignation than his lawful favour: and his\nfavour once lost (which I trust at this present I have) would never\nhave been by me recovered. Therefore I thought it better for me to keep\nstill his loving favour, with loss of my goods and dignities, than\nto win my goods and substance with the loss of his love and princely\nfavour, which is but only death: _Quia indignatio principis mors est_.\nAnd this was the special ground and cause that I yielded myself guilty\nin the _premunire_; which I perceive all men knew not, wherein since I\nunderstand the king hath conceived a certain prick of conscience; who\ntook to himself the matter more grievous in his secret stomach than all\nmen knew, for he knew whether I did offend him therein so grievously\nas it was made or no, to whose conscience I do commit my cause, truth,\nand equity.\" And thus we left the substance of all this communication;\nalthough we had much more talk: yet is this sufficient to cause you to\nunderstand as well the cause of his confession in his offence, as also\nthe cause of the loss of all his goods and treasure.\nNow let us return where we left, my lord being in the castle of Newark,\nintending to ride to Southwell, which was four miles from thence, took\nnow his journey thitherward against supper. Where he was fain for lack\nof reparation of the bishop's place, which appertained to the see of\nYork, to be lodged in a prebendary's house against the said place, and\nthere kept house until Whitsuntide next, against which time he removed\ninto the place, newly amended and repaired, and there continued the\nmost part of the summer, surely not without great resort of the most\nworshipfullest gentlemen of the country, and divers other, of whom they\nwere most gladly entertained, and had of him the best cheer he could\ndevise for them, whose gentle and familiar behaviour with them caused\nhim to be greatly beloved and esteemed through the whole country.\nHe kept a noble house, and plenty of both meat and drink for all\ncomers, both for rich and poor, and much alms given at his gates. He\nused much charity and pity among his poor tenants and other; although\nthe fame thereof was no pleasant sound in the ears of his enemies, and\nof such as bare him no good will, howbeit the common people will report\nas they find cause; for he was much more familiar among all persons\nthan he was accustomed, and most gladdest when he had an occasion to\ndo them good. He made many agreements and concords between gentleman\nand gentleman, and between some gentlemen and their wives that had\nbeen long asunder, and in great trouble, and divers other agreements\nbetween other persons; making great assemblies for the same purpose,\nand feasting of them, not sparing for any costs, where he might make a\npeace and amity; which purchased him much love[179] and friendship in\nthe country.\nIt chanced that upon Corpus Christi eve, after supper, [my lord]\ncommanded me to prepare all things for him in a readiness against the\nnext day, for he intended to sing high mass in the minster that day;\nand I, not forgetting his commandments, gave like warning to all his\nofficers of his house, and other of my fellows, to foresee that all\nthings appertaining to their rooms were fully furnished to my lord's\nhonour. This done I went to my bed, where I was scantly asleep and\nwarm, but that one of the porters came to my chamber door, calling\nupon me, and said, there was two gentlemen at the gate that would\ngladly speak with my lord from the king. With that I arose up and went\nincontinent unto the gate with the porter, demanding what they were\nthat so fain [would] come in. They said unto me, that there was Master\nBrereton, one of the gentlemen of the king's privy chamber, and Master\nWrotherly, who were come from the king empost, to speak with my lord.\nThen having understanding what they were, I caused the porter to let\nthem in. And after their entry they desired me to speak with my lord\nwithout delay, for they might not tarry; at whose request I repaired to\nmy lord's chamber, and waked him, who was asleep. But when he heard me\nspeak, he demanded of me what I would have. \"Sir,\" quoth I, \"there be\nbeneath in the porter's lodge, Master Brereton, gentleman of the king's\nprivy chamber, and Master Wrotherly, come from the king to speak with\nyou: they will not tarry; therefore they beseech your grace to speak\nwith you out of hand.\" \"Well then,\" quoth my lord, \"bid them come up\ninto my dining chamber, and I will prepare myself to come to them.\"\nThen I resorted to them again, and showed them that my lord desired\nthem to come up unto him, and he would talk with them, with a right\ngood will. They thanked me, and went with me unto my lord, and as soon\nas they perceived him, being in his night apparel, did to him humble\nreverence; whom he took by the hands, demanding of them, how the king\nhis sovereign lord did. \"Sir,\" said they, \"right well in health and\nmerry, thanks be unto our Lord.\" \"Sir,\" quoth they, \"we must desire\nyou to talk with you apart.\" \"With a right good will,\" quoth my lord,\nwho drew them aside into a great window, and there talked with them\nsecretly; and after long talk they took out of a male a certain coffer\ncovered with green velvet, and bound with bars of silver and gilt, with\na lock of the same, having a key which was gilt, with the which they\nopened the same chest; out of the which they took a certain instrument\nor writing, containing more than one skin of parchment, having many\ngreat seals hanging at it, whereunto they put more wax for my lord's\nseal; the which my lord sealed with his own seal, and subscribed his\nname to the same; and that done they would needs depart, and (forasmuch\nas it was after midnight) my lord desired them to tarry, and take a\nbed. They thanked him, and said they might in no wise tarry, for they\nwould with all speed to the Earl of Shrewsbury's directly without let,\nbecause they would be there or ever he stirred in the morning. And\nmy lord, perceiving their hasty speed, caused them to eat such cold\nmeat as there was in store within the house, and to drink a cup or\ntwo of wine. And that done, he gave each of them four old sovereigns\nof gold, desiring them to take it _in gree_, saying, that if he had\nbeen of greater ability, their reward should have been better; and so\ntaking their leave they departed. And after they were departed, as I\nheard say, they were not contented with their reward. Indeed they were\nnot none of his indifferent friends, which caused them to accept it\nso disdainously. Howbeit, if they knew what little store of money he\nhad at that present, they would I am sure, being but his indifferent\nfriends, have given him hearty thanks: but nothing is more lost or cast\naway than is such things which be given to such ingrate persons. My\nlord went again to bed; and yet, all his watch and disturbance that he\nhad that night notwithstanding, he sang High Mass the next day as he\nappointed before. There was none in all his house [besides myself and\nthe porter] that knew of the coming or going of these two gentlemen;\nand yet there lay within the house many worshipful strangers.\nAfter this sort and manner my lord continued at Southwell, until the\nlatter end of grease time; at which time he intended to remove to\nScroby, which was another house of the Bishoprick of York. And against\nthe day of his removing, he caused all his officers to prepare, as well\nfor provision to be made for him there, as also for carriage of his\nstuff, and other matters concerning his estate. His removing and intent\nwas not so secret, but that it was known abroad in [the] country;\nwhich was lamentable to all his neighbours about Southwell, and as it\nwas lamentable unto them, so was it as much joy to his neighbours about\nScroby.\nAgainst the day of his removing divers knights and other gentlemen of\nworship in the country came to him to Southwell, intending to accompany\nand attend upon him in that journey the next day, and to conduct\nhim through the forest unto Scroby. But he being of their purpose\nadvertised, how they did intend to have lodged a great stag or twain\nfor him by the way, purposely to show him all the pleasure and disport\nthey could devise, and having, as I said, thereof intelligence, was\nvery loath to receive any such honour and disport at their hands, not\nknowing how the king would take it; and being well assured that his\nenemies would rejoice much to understand that he would take upon him\nany such presumption, whereby they might find an occasion to inform the\nking how sumptuous and pleasant he was, notwithstanding his adversity\nand overthrow, and so to bring the king into a wrong opinion [of him,\nand caused] small hope of reconcilement, but rather that he sought\na mean to obtain the favour of the country to withstand the king's\nproceedings, with divers such imaginations, wherein he might rather\nsooner catch displeasure than favour and honour. And also he was loath\nto make the worshipful gentlemen privy to this his imagination, lest\nperadventure they should conceive some toy or fantasy in their heads\nby means thereof, and so to eschew their accustomed access, and absent\nthemselves from him, which should be as much to his grief as the other\nwas to his comfort. Therefore he devised this mean way, as hereafter\nfolloweth, which should rather be taken for a laughing disport than\notherwise: first he called me unto him secretly at night, going to his\nrest, and commanded me in anywise most secretly that night to cause\nsix or seven horses, besides his mule for his own person, to be made\nready by the break of the day for him and such persons as he appointed\nto ride with him to an abbey called Welbeck[180], where he intended to\nlodge by the way to Scroby, willing me to be also in a readiness to\nride with him, and to call him so early that he might be on horseback,\nafter he had heard mass, by the breaking of the day. Sir, what will you\nmore? All things being accomplished according to his commandment, and\nthe same finished and done, he, with a small number before appointed,\nmounted upon his mule, setting forth by the breaking of the day towards\nWelbeck, which is about sixteen miles from thence; whither my lord and\nwe came before six of the clock in the morning, and so went straight\nto his bed, leaving all the gentlemen strangers in their beds at\nSouthwell, nothing privy of my lord's secret departure, who expected\nhis uprising until it was eight of the clock. But after it was known\nto them and to all the rest there remaining behind him, then every man\nwent to horseback, galloping after, supposing to overtake him. But\nhe was at his rest in Welbeck or ever they rose out of their beds in\nSouthwell, and so their chief hunting and coursing of the great stag\nwas disappointed and dashed. But at their thither resort to my lord,\nsitting at dinner, the matter was jested, and laughed out merrily, and\nall the matter well taken.\nMy lord the next day removed from thence, to whom resorted divers\ngentlemen of my lord the Earl of Shrewsbury's servants, to desire my\nlord, in their master's name, to hunt in a park of the earl's called\nWorksop Park, the which was within a mile of Welbeck, and the very\nbest and next[181] way for my lord to travel through on his journey,\nwhere much plenty of game was laid in a readiness to show him pleasure.\nHowbeit he thanked my lord their master for his gentleness, and them\nfor their pains; saying that he was no meet man for any such pastime,\nbeing a man otherwise disposed, such pastimes and pleasures were meet\nfor such noblemen as delight therein. Nevertheless he could do no\nless than to account my Lord of Shrewsbury to be much his friend, in\nwhom he found such gentleness and nobleness in his honourable offer,\nto whom he rendered his most lowly thanks. But in no wise they could\nentreat him to hunt. Although the worshipful gentlemen being in his\ncompany provoked him all that they could do thereto, yet he would not\nconsent, desiring them to be contented; saying, that he came not into\nthe country, to frequent or follow any such pleasures or pastimes, but\nonly to attend to a greater care that he had in hand, which was his\nduty, study, and pleasure. And with such reasons and persuasions he\npacified them for that time. Howbeit yet as he rode through the park,\nboth my Lord of Shrewsbury's servants, and also the foresaid gentlemen\nmoved him once again, before whom the deer lay very fair for all\npleasant hunting and coursing. But it would not be; but [he] made as\nmuch speed to ride through the park as he could. And at the issue out\nof the park he called the earl's gentlemen and the keepers unto him,\ndesiring them to have him commended to my lord their master, thanking\nhim for his most honourable offer and good will, trusting shortly to\nvisit him at his own house: and gave the keepers forty shillings for\ntheir pains and diligence who conducted him through the park. And so\nrode to another abbey called Rufford Abbey [to dinner]; and after he\nrode to Blythe Abbey, where he lay all night. And the next day he came\nto Scroby, where he continued until after Michaelmas, ministering many\ndeeds of charity. Most commonly every Sunday (if the weather did serve)\nhe would travel unto some parish church thereabout, and there would say\nhis divine service, and either hear or say mass himself, causing some\none of his chaplains to preach unto the people. And that done, he would\ndine in some honest house of that town, where should be distributed to\nthe poor a great alms, as well of meat and drink as of money to supply\nthe want of sufficient meat, if the number of the poor did so exceed\nof necessity. And thus with other good deeds practising and exercising\nduring his abode there at Scroby, as making of love-days and agreements\nbetween party and party, being then at variance, he daily frequented\nhimself there about such business and deeds of honest charity.\nThen about the feast of St. Michael next ensuing my lord took his\njourney towards Cawood Castle, the which is within seven miles of\nYork; and passing thither he lay two nights and a day at St. Oswald's\nAbbey, where he himself confirmed children in the church, from eight of\nthe clock in the morning until twelve of the clock at noon. And making\na short dinner, resorted again to the church at one of the clock, and\nthere began again to confirm more children until four of the clock,\nwhere he was at the last constrained for weariness to sit down in a\nchair, the number of the children was such. That done, he said his even\nsong, and then went to supper, and rested him there all that night. And\nthe next morning he applied himself to depart towards Cawood; and or\never he departed, he confirmed almost a hundred children more; and then\nrode on his journey. And by the way there were assembled at a stone\ncross standing upon a green, within a quarter of a mile of Ferrybridge,\nabout the number of two hundred children, to confirm; where he\nalighted, and never removed his foot until he had confirmed them all;\nand then took his mule again and rode to Cawood, where he lay long\nafter with much honour and love of the country, both of the worshipful\nand of the simple, exercising himself in good deeds of charity, and\nkept there an honourable and plentiful house for all comers; and also\nbuilt and repaired the castle, which was then greatly decayed, having\na great multitude of artificers and labourers, above the number of\nthree hundred persons, daily in wages.\nAnd lying there, he had intelligence by the gentlemen of the country,\nthat used to repair unto him, that there was sprung a great variance\nand deadly hate between Sir Richard Tempest and Mr. Brian Hastings,\nthen being but a squire, but after made knight, between whom was\nlike to ensue great murder, unless some good mean might be found to\nredress the inconvenience that was most likeliest to ensue. My lord\nbeing thereof advertised, lamenting the case, made such means by his\nwisdom and letters, with other persuasions, that these two gentlemen\nwere content to resort to my lord to Cawood, and there to abide his\norder, high and low. Then was there a day appointed of their assembly\nbefore my lord, at which day they came not without great number on\neach part. Wherefore against [that] day, my lord had required many\nworshipful gentlemen to be there present, to assist him with their\nwisdoms to appease these two worthy gentlemen, being at deadly feud.\nAnd to see the king's peace kept, commanding no more of their number\nto enter into the castle with these two gentlemen than six persons\nof each of their menial servants, and all the rest to remain without\nin the town, or where they listed to repair. And my lord himself\nissuing out of the gates, calling the number of both parties before\nhim, straightly charging them most earnestly to observe and keep the\nking's peace, in the king's name, upon their perils, without either\nbragging or quarreling either with other; and caused them to have\nboth beer and wine sent them into the town; and then returned again\ninto the castle, being about nine of the clock. And because he would\nhave these gentlemen to dine with him at his own table, thought it\ngood in avoiding of further inconvenience to appease their rancour\nbefore. Whereupon he called them into his chapel; and there, with\nthe assistance of the other gentlemen, he fell into communication\nwith the matter, declaring unto them the dangers and mischiefs that\nthrough their wilfulness and folly were most likeliest to ensue; with\ndivers other good exhortations. Notwithstanding, the parties laying\nand alleging many things for their defence, sometime adding each to\nother stout and despiteful words of defiance, the which my lord and\nthe other gentlemen had much ado to qualify, their malice was so\ngreat. Howbeit, at length, with long continuance and wise arguments,\nand deep persuasions made by my lord, they were agreed, and finally\naccorded about four of the clock at afternoon; and so made them\nfriends. And, as it seemed, they both rejoiced, and were right well\ncontented therewith, to the great comfort of all the other worshipful\ngentlemen, causing them to shake hands, and to go arm in arm to dinner;\nand so went to dinner, though it was very late to dine[182], yet\nnotwithstanding they dined together with the other gentlemen at my\nlord's table, where they drank lovingly each to other, with countenance\nof great amity. After dinner my lord caused them to discharge their\nrouts and assembly that remained in the town, and to retain with them\nno more servants than they were accustomed most commonly to ride with.\nAnd that done, these gentlemen, fulfilling his commandment, tarried\nat Cawood, and lay there all night; whom my lord entertained in such\nsort that they accepted his noble heart in great worthiness [and\nfriendship,] trusting to have of him a special jewel in their country:\nhaving him in great estimation and favour, as it appeared afterward by\ntheir behaviour and demeanour towards him.\nIt is not to be doubted but that the worshipful persons, as doctors\nand prebendaries of the close of York, would and did resort unto him\naccording to their duties, as unto their father and patron of their\nspiritual dignities being at his first coming into the country, their\nchurch of York being within seven miles. Wherefore ye shall understand\nthat Doctor Hickden, dean of the church of York[183], with the\ntreasurer, and divers other head officers of the same repaired to my\nlord, welcoming him most joyously into the country; saying, that it was\nto them no small comfort to see him among them, as their chief head,\nwhich hath been so long absent from them, being all that while like\nfatherless children comfortless, trusting shortly to see him among them\nin his own church. \"It is,\" quoth he, \"the especial cause of all my\ntravel into this country, not only to be among you for a time, but also\nto spend my life with you as a very father, and as a mutual brother.\" \"Sir,\nthen,\" quoth they, \"ye must understand that the ordinary rules of our\nchurch hath been of an ancient custom, whereof although ye be head and\nchief governor, yet be ye not so well acquainted with them as we be.\nTherefore, we shall under the supportation of your grace, declare some\npart thereof to you, as well of our ancient customs as of the laws\nand usage of the same. Therefore ye shall understand that where ye do\nintend to repair unto us, the old law and custom of our church hath\nbeen, that the archbishop being our chief head and pastor, as your\ngrace now be, might ne ought not to come above the choir door, nor have\nany stall in the choir, until he by due order were there stalled. For,\nif ye should happen to die before your stallation, ye shall not be\nburied above in the choir, but in the body of the same church beneath.\nTherefore we shall, _una voce_, require your grace in the name of all\nother our brethren, that ye would vouchsafe to do herein as your noble\npredecessors and honourable fathers hath done; and that ye will not\ninfringe or violate any of our laudable ordinances and constitutions of\nour church, to the observance and preservation whereof we be obliged,\nby virtue of an oath at our first admittance, to see them observed and\nfulfilled to the uttermost of our powers, with divers other matters\nremaining of record in our treasury house among other things.\" \"Those\nrecords,\" quoth my lord, \"would I gladly see; and these seen and\ndigested, I shall then show you further of my mind.\" And thus of this\nmatter they ceased communication, and passed forth in other matters; so\nthat my lord assigned them a day to bring in their records. At which\nday they brought with them their register book of records, wherein\nwas written their constitutions and ancient rules, whereunto all the\nfathers and ministers of the church of York were most chiefly bound,\nboth to see it done and performed, and also to perform and observe the\nsame themselves. And when my lord had seen, read, and considered the\neffect of their records, and debated with them substantially therein,\nhe determined to be stalled there in the Minster the next Monday after\nAllhallown day. Against which day there was made necessary preparation\nfor the furniture thereof, but not in so sumptuous a wise as his\npredecessors did before him; ne yet in such a sort as the common fame\nwas blown abroad of him to his great slander, and to the reporters much\nmore dishonesty, to forge such lies and blasphemous reports, wherein\nthere is nothing more untrue. The truth whereof I perfectly know, for\nI was made privy to the same, and sent to York to foresee all things,\n[and] to prepare according for the same, which should have been much\nmore mean and base than all other of his predecessors heretofore hath\ndone.\nIt came so to pass, that upon Allhallown day, one of the head officers\nof the church, which should, by virtue of his office, have most\ndoings in this stallation, [was] to dine with my lord at Cawood; and\nsitting at dinner they fell in communication of the order of his\nstallation, who said to my lord that he ought to go upon cloth from\nSt. James's chapel (standing without the gates of the city of York)\nunto the minster, the which should be distributed among the poor. My\nlord, hearing this, made answer to the same in this wise. \"Although,\"\nquoth he, \"that our predecessors went upon cloth right sumptuously,\nwe do intend, God willing, to go afoot from thence without any such\nglory[184], in the vamps of our hosen. For I take God to be my very\njudge that I presume not to go thither for any triumph or vain glory,\nbut only to fulfil the observance and rules of the church, to the\nwhich, as ye say, I am bound. And therefore I shall desire you all\nto hold you contented with my simplicity, and also I command all my\nservants to go as humbly without any other sumptuous apparel than they\nbe constantly used, and that is comely and decent to wear[185]. For I\ndo assure you, I do intend to come to York upon Sunday at night, and\nlodge there in the dean's house, and upon Monday to be stalled; and\nthere to make a dinner for you of the close, and for other worshipful\ngentlemen that shall chance to come to me at that time; and the next\nday to dine with the mayor, and so return home again to Cawood that\nnight, and thus to finish the same, whereby I may at all times resort\nto York Minster without other scrupulosity or offence to any of you.\"\nThis day could not be unknown to all the country, but that some must\nneeds have knowledge thereof, whereby that notice was given unto the\ngentlemen of the country, and they being thereof as well advertised\nas abbots, priors, and others, of the day of this solemnization, sent\nin such provision of dainty victuals that it is almost incredible;\nwherefore I omit to declare unto you the certainty thereof. As of\ngreat and fat beeves and muttons, wildfowl, and venison, both red and\nfallow, and divers other dainty meats, such as the time of the year\ndid serve, sufficient to furnish a great and a sumptuous feast, all\nwhich things were unknown to my lord: forasmuch as he being prevented\nand disappointed of his reasonable purposed intent, because he was\narrested, as ye shall hear hereafter; so that the most part of this\nprovision was sent to York that same day that he was arrested, and\nthe next day following; for his arrest was kept as close and secret\nfrom the country as it could be, because they doubted the people,\nwhich had him in great love and estimation for his accustomed charity\nand liberality used daily among them, with familiar gesture and\ncountenance, which be the very means to allure the love and hearts of\nthe people in the north parts.\nOr ever I wade any further in this matter, I do intend to declare unto\nyou what chanced him before this his last trouble at Cawood, as a sign\nor token given by God what should follow of his end, or of trouble\nwhich did shortly ensue, the sequel whereof was of no man then present\neither premeditate or imagined. Therefore, for as much as it is a\nnotable thing to be considered, I will (God willing) declare it as\ntruly as it chanced according to my simple remembrance, at the which I\nmyself was present.\nMy lord's accustomed enemies in the court about the king had now my\nlord in more doubt than they had before his fall, considering the\ncontinual favour that the king bare him, thought that at length the\nking might call him home again; and if he so did, they supposed, that\nhe would rather imagine against them than to remit or forget their\ncruelty, which they most unjustly imagined against him. Wherefore they\ncompassed in their heads that they would either by some means dispatch\nhim by some sinister accusation of treason, or to bring him into the\nking's indignation by some other ways. This was their daily imagination\nand study, having as many spials, and as many eyes to attend upon his\ndoings as the poets feigned Argus to have; so that he could neither\nwork or do any thing, but that his enemies had knowledge thereof\nshortly after. Now at the last, they espied a time wherein they caught\nan occasion to bring their purpose to pass, thinking thereby to have\nof him a great advantage; for the matter being once disclosed unto the\nking, in such a vehemency as they purposed, they thought the king would\nbe moved against him with great displeasure. And that by them executed\nand done, the king, upon their information, thought it good that he\nshould come up to stand to his trial; which they liked nothing at all;\nnotwithstanding he was sent for after this sort. First, they devised\nthat he should come up upon arrest in ward, which they knew right well\nwould so sore grieve him that he might be the weaker to come into the\nking's presence to make answer. Wherefore they sent Sir Walter Walshe,\nknight, one of the gentlemen of the king's privy chamber, down into the\ncountry unto the Earl of Northumberland[186] (who was brought up in\nmy lord's house), and they twain being in commission jointly to arrest\nmy lord of hault treason. This conclusion fully resolved, they caused\nMaster Walshe to prepare himself to this journey with this commission,\nand certain instructions annexed to the same; who made him ready to\nride, and took his horse at the court gate about one of the clock at\nnoon, upon Allhallown day, towards the north. Now am I come to the\nplace where I will declare the thing that I promised you before of a\ncertain token of my lord's trouble; which was this.\nMy lord sitting at dinner upon Allhallown day, in Cawood Castle,\nhaving[187] at his board's end divers of his most worthiest chaplains,\nsitting at dinner to keep him company, for lack of strangers, ye\nshall understand, that my lord's great cross of silver accustomably\nstood in the corner, at the table's end, leaning against the tappet\nor hanging of the chamber. And when the table's end was taken up, and\na convenient time for them to arise; in arising from the table, one\nDoctor Augustine, physician, being a Venetian born, having a boisterous\ngown of black velvet upon him, as he would have come out at the table's\nend, his gown overthrew the cross that stood there in the corner, and\nthe cross trailing down along the tappet, it chanced to fall upon\nDoctor Bonner's head, who stood among others by the tappet, making of\ncurtsy to my lord, and with one of the points of the cross razed his\nhead a little, that the blood ran down. The company standing there were\ngreatly astonied with the chance. My lord sitting in his chair, looking\nupon them, perceiving the chance, demanded of me being next him, what\nthe matter meant of their sudden abashment. I showed him how the cross\nfell upon Doctor Bonner's head. \"Hath it,\" quoth he, \"drawn any blood?\"\n\"Yea forsooth, my lord,\" quoth I, \"as it seemeth me.\" With that he cast\ndown his head, looking very soberly upon me a good while without any\nword speaking; at the last, quoth he, (shaking of his head) \"_malum\nomen_[188];\" and therewith said grace, and rose from the table, and\nwent into his bedchamber, there lamenting, making his prayers[189].\nNow mark the signification, how my lord expounded this matter unto me\nafterward at Pomfret Abbey. First, ye shall understand, that the cross,\nwhich belonged to the dignity of York, he understood to be himself; and\nAugustine, that overthrew the cross, he understood to be he that should\naccuse him, by means whereof he should be overthrown. The falling\nupon Master Bonner's head, who was master of my lord's faculties and\nspiritual jurisdictions, who was damnified by the overthrowing of the\ncross by the physician, and the drawing of blood betokened death,\nwhich shortly after came to pass; about the very same time of the day\nof this mischance, Master Walshe took his horse at the court gate, as\nnigh as it could be judged. And thus my lord took it for a very sign\nor token of that which after ensued, if the circumstance be equally\nconsidered and noted, although no man was there present at that time\nthat had any knowledge of Master Walshe's coming down, or what should\nfollow. Wherefore, as it was supposed, that God showed him more secret\nknowledge of his latter days and end of his trouble than all men\nsupposed; which appeared right well by divers talks that he had with me\nat divers times of his last end. And now that I have declared unto you\nthe effect of this prodigy and sign, I will return again to my matter.\nThe time drawing nigh of his stallation; sitting at dinner, upon the\nFriday next before Monday on the which he intended to be stalled at\nYork, the Earl of Northumberland and Master Walshe, with a great\ncompany of gentlemen, as well of the earl's servants as of the country,\nwhich he had gathered together to accompany him in the king's name, not\nknowing to what purpose or what intent, came into the hall at Cawood,\nthe officers sitting at dinner, and my lord not fully dined, but being\nat his fruits, nothing knowing of the earl's being in his hall. The\nfirst thing that the earl did, after he came into the castle, [he]\ncommanded the porter to deliver him the keys of the gates, who would in\nno wise deliver him the keys, although he were very roughly commanded\nin the king's name, to deliver them to one of the earl's servants.\nSaying unto the earl, \"Sir, ye do intend to deliver them to one of\nyour servants to keep them and the gates, and to plant another in my\nroom; I know no cause why ye should so do, and this I assure you that\nyou have no one servant, but that I am as able to keep them as he, to\nwhat purpose soever it be. And also, the keys were delivered me by my\nlord my master, with a charge both by oath, and by other precepts and\ncommandments. Therefore I beseech your lordship to pardon me, though\nI refuse your commandment. For whatsoever ye shall command me to do\nthat belongeth to my office, I shall do it with a right good will as\njustly as any other of your servants.\" With that quoth the gentlemen\nthere present unto the earl, hearing him speak so stoutly like a man,\nand with so good reason: \"Sir,\" quoth they, \"he is a good fellow, and\nspeaketh like a faithful servant to his master; and like an honest\nman: therefore give him your charge, and let him keep still the gates;\nwho, we doubt not, will be obedient to your lordship's commandment.\"\n\"Well then,\" quoth the earl, \"hold him a book,\" and commanded him to\nlay his hand upon the book, whereat the porter made some doubt, but\nbeing persuaded by the gentlemen there present, was contented, and laid\nhis hand upon the book, to whom, quoth the earl, \"Thou shalt swear,\nto keep well and truly these gates to the king our sovereign lord's\nuse, and to do all such things as we shall command thee in the king's\nname, being his highness' commissioners, and as it shall seem to us at\nall times good, as long as we shall be here in this castle; and that\nye shall not let in nor out at these gates, but such as ye shall be\ncommanded by us, from time to time,\" and upon this oath he received the\nkeys at the earl's and Master Walshe's hands.\nOf all these doings knew my lord nothing; for they stopped the stairs\nthat went up to my lord's chamber where he sat, so that no man could\npass up again that was come down. At the last one of my lord's\nservants chanced to look down into the hall at a loop that was upon\nthe stairs, and returned to my lord, [and] showed him that my Lord of\nNorthumberland was in the hall; whereat my lord marveled, and would\nnot believe him at the first; but commanded a gentleman, being his\ngentleman usher, to go down and bring him perfect word. Who going down\nthe stairs, looking down at the loop, where he saw the earl, who then\nreturned to my lord, and showed him that it was very he. \"Then,\" quoth\nmy lord, \"I am sorry that we have dined, for I fear that our officers\nbe not stored of any plenty of good fish, to make him such honourable\ncheer as to his estate is convenient, notwithstanding he shall have\nsuch as we have, with a right good will and loving heart. Let the table\nbe standing still, and we will go down and meet him, and bring him up;\nand then he shall see how far forth we be at our dinner.\" With that\nhe put the table from him, and rose up; going down he encountered the\nearl upon the midst of the stairs, coming up, with all his men about\nhim. And as soon as my lord espied the earl, he put off his cap, and\nsaid to him, \"My lord, ye be most heartily welcome; (and therewith they\nembraced each other). Although, my lord,\" quoth he, \"that I have often\ndesired, and wished in my heart to see you in my house, yet if ye had\nloved me as I do you, ye would have sent me word before of your coming,\nto the intent that I might have received you according to your honour\nand mine. Notwithstanding ye shall have such cheer as I am able to make\nyou, with a right good will; trusting that ye will accept the same of\nme as of your very old and loving friend, hoping hereafter to see you\noftener, when I shall be more able and better provided to receive you\nwith better fare.\" And then my lord took the Earl of Northumberland\nby the hand, and led him up into the chamber; whom followed all the\nearl's servants; where the table stood in the state that my lord left\nit when he rose, saying unto the earl, \"Sir, now ye may perceive how\nfar forth we were at our dinner.\" Then my lord led the earl to the\nfire, saying, \"My lord, ye shall go into my bedchamber, where is a\ngood fire made for you, and there ye may shift your apparel until your\nchamber be made ready. Therefore let your male be brought up: and or\never I go, I pray you give me leave to take these gentlemen, your\nservants, by the hands.\" And when he had taken them all by the hands,\nhe returned to the earl, and said, \"Ah, my lord, I perceive well that\nye have observed my old precepts and instructions which I gave you,\nwhen you were abiding with me in your youth, which was, to cherish your\nfather's old servants, whereof I see here present with you a great\nnumber. Surely, my lord, ye do therein very well and nobly, and like\na wise gentleman. For these be they that will not only serve and love\nyou, but they will also live and die with you, and be true and faithful\nservants to you, and glad to see you prosper in honour; the which I\nbeseech God to send you, with long life.\" This said, he took the earl\nby the hand, and led him into his bedchamber. And they being there all\nalone, save only I, that kept the door, according to my duty, being\ngentleman usher; these two lords standing at a window by the chimney,\nin my lord's bedchamber, the earl trembling said, with a very faint and\nsoft voice, unto my lord, (laying his hand upon his arm) \"My lord, I\narrest you of high treason.\" With which words my lord was marvellously\nastonied, standing both still a long space without any further words.\nBut at the last, quoth my lord, \"What moveth you, or by what authority\ndo you this?\" \"Forsooth, my lord,\" quoth the earl, \"I have a commission\nto warrant me and my doing.\" \"Where is your commission?\" quoth my lord;\n\"let me see it.\" \"Nay, sir, that you may not,\" quoth the earl. \"Well\nthen,\" quoth my lord, \"I will not obey your arrest: for there hath\nbeen between some of your predecessors and mine great contentions and\ndebate grown upon an ancient grudge, which may succeed in you, with\nlike inconvenience, as it hath done heretofore. Therefore, unless I see\nyour authority and commission, I will not obey you.\" Even as they were\ndebating this matter between them in the chamber, so busy was Master\nWalshe in arresting of Doctor Augustine, the physician, at the door,\nwithin the portal, whom I heard say unto him, \"Go in then, traitor,\nor I shall make thee.\" And with that, I opened the portal door, and\nthe same being opened, Master Walshe thrust Doctor Augustine in before\nhim with violence. These matters on both the sides astonished me very\nsore, musing what all this should mean; until at the last, Master\nWalshe, being entered the chamber, began to pluck off his hood, the\nwhich he had made him with a coat of the same cloth, of cotton, to\nthe intent he would not be known. And after he had plucked it off, he\nkneeled down to my lord, to whom my lord spake first, commanding him\nto stand up, saying thus, \"Sir, here my Lord of Northumberland hath\narrested me of treason, but by what authority or commission he showeth\nme not; but saith, he hath one. If ye be privy thereto, or be joined\nwith him therein, I pray you show me.\" \"Indeed, my lord,\" quoth Master\nWalshe, \"if it please your grace, it is true that he hath one.\" \"Well\nthen,\" said my lord, \"I pray you let me see it.\" \"Sir, I beseech your\ngrace hold us excused,\" quoth Master Walshe, \"there is annexed unto\nour commission a schedule with certain instructions which ye may in no\nwise be privy unto.\" \"Why,\" quoth my lord, \"be your instructions such\nthat I may not see them? Peradventure, if I might be privy to them, I\ncould the better help you to perform them. It is not unknown unto you\nboth I am assured, but I have been privy and of counsel in as weighty\nmatters as this is, for I doubt not for my part, but I shall prove and\nclear myself to be a true man, against the expectation of all my cruel\nenemies. I have an understanding whereupon all this matter groweth.\nWell, there is no more to do. I trow, gentleman, ye be one of the\nking's privy chamber; your name, I suppose, is Walshe; I am content\nto yield unto you, but not to my Lord of Northumberland, without I see\nhis commission. And also you are a sufficient commissioner yourself\nin that behalf, inasmuch as ye be one of the king's privy chamber;\nfor the worst person there is a sufficient warrant to arrest the\ngreatest peer of this realm, by the king's only commandment, without\nany commission. Therefore I am ready to be ordered and disposed at\nyour will, put therefore the king's commission and your authority in\nexecution, a God's name, and spare not, and I will obey the king's will\nand pleasure. For I fear more the cruelty of my unnatural enemies,\nthan I do my truth and allegiance; wherein, I take God to witness, I\nnever offended the king's majesty in word or deed; and therein I dare\nstand face to face with any man alive, having indifferency, without\npartiality.\"\nThen came my Lord of Northumberland unto me, standing at the portal\ndoor, and commanded me to avoid the chamber: and being loath to depart\nfrom my master, [I] stood still, and would not remove; to whom he\nspake again, and said, \"There is no remedy, ye must needs depart.\"\nWith that I looked upon my lord, (as who sayeth, shall I go?) upon\nwhom my lord looked very heavily, and shook at me his head. Perceiving\nby his countenance it booted me not to abide, and so I departed the\nchamber, and went into the next chamber, where abode many gentlemen of\nmy fellows, and other, to learn of me some news of the matter within;\nto whom I made report what I saw and heard; which was to them great\nheaviness to hear.\nThen the earl called divers gentlemen into the chamber, which were for\nthe most part his own servants; and after the earl and Master Walshe\nhad taken the keys of all my lord's coffers from him, they gave the\ncharge and custody of my lord's person unto these gentlemen. [And\nthen] they departed, and went about the house to set all things in\norder that night against the next morning, intending then to depart\nfrom thence (being Saturday) with my lord; the which they deferred\nuntil Sunday, because all things could not be brought to pass as they\nwould have it. They went busily about to convey Doctor Augustine away\nto London-ward, with as much speed as they could, sending with him\ndivers honest persons to conduct him, who was tied under the horse's\nbelly. And this done, when it was night, the commissioners assigned two\ngrooms of my lord's to attend upon him in his chamber that night where\nthey lay; and the most part of the rest of the earl's gentlemen and\nservants watched in the next chamber and about the house continually\nuntil the morrow, and the porter kept the gates, so that no man could\ngo in or out until the next morning. At which time my lord rose up,\nsupposing that he should have departed that day, howbeit he was kept\nclose secretly in his chamber, expecting continually his departure\nfrom thence. Then the earl sent for me into his own chamber, and\nbeing there he commanded me to go in to my lord, and there to give\nattendance upon him, and charged me upon an oath that I should observe\ncertain articles. And going away from him, toward my lord, I met with\nMr. Walshe in the court, who called me unto him, and led me into his\nchamber, and there showed me that the king's highness bare towards me\nhis princely favour, for my diligent and true service that I daily\nministered towards my lord and master. \"Wherefore,\" quoth he, \"the\nking's pleasure is, that ye shall be about your master as most chiefest\nperson, in whom his highness putteth great confidence and assured\ntrust; whose pleasure is therefore, that ye shall be sworn unto his\nmajesty to observe certain articles, in writing, the which I will\ndeliver you.\" \"Sir,\" quoth I, \"my Lord of Northumberland hath already\nsworn me to divers articles.\" \"Yea,\" quoth he, \"but my lord could\nnot deliver you the articles in writing, as I am commanded specially\nto do. Therefore, I deliver you this bill with these articles, the\nwhich ye shall be sworn to fulfil.\" \"Sir,\" then quoth I, \"I pray\nyou to give me leave to peruse them, or ever I be sworn, to see if\nI be able to perform them.\" \"With a right good will,\" quoth he. And\nwhen I had perused them, and understood that they were but reasonable\nand tolerable, I answered, that I was contented to obey the king's\npleasure, and to be sworn to the performance of them. And so he gave\nme a new oath: and then I resorted to my lord, where he was in his\nchamber sitting in a chair, the tables being covered for him ready to\ngo to dinner. But as soon as he perceived me coming in, he fell into\nsuch a woful lamentation, with such rueful terms and watery eyes, that\nit would have caused the flintiest heart to have relented and burst\nfor sorrow. And as I and other could, [we] comforted him; but it would\nnot be. \"For,\" quoth he, \"now that I see this gentleman (meaning me)\nhow faithful, how diligent, and how painful since the beginning of my\ntrouble he hath served me, abandoning his own country, his wife, and\nchildren; his house and family, his rest and quietness, only to serve\nme, and remembering with myself that I have nothing to reward him for\nhis honest merits grieveth me not a little. And also the sight of\nhim putteth me in remembrance of the number of my faithful servants,\nthat I have here remaining with me in this house; whom I did intend\nto have preferred and advanced, to the best of my power, from time\nto time, as occasion should serve. But now, alas! I am prevented, and\nhave nothing left me here to reward them; for all is deprived me, and\nI am left here their desolate and miserable master, bare and wretched,\nwithout help or succour, but of God alone. Howbeit,\" quoth he to me\n(calling me by my name), \"I am a true man, and therefore ye shall never\nreceive shame of me for your service.\" I, perceiving his heaviness and\nlamentable words, said thus unto him: \"My lord, I nothing mistrust your\ntruth: and for the same I dare and will be sworn before the king's\nperson and his honourable council. Wherefore, (kneeling upon my knees\nbefore him, I said,) my lord, comfort yourself, and be of good cheer.\nThe malice of your uncharitable enemies, nor their untruth, shall\nnever prevail against your truth and faithfulness, for I doubt not but\ncoming to your answer, my hope is such, that ye shall so acquit and\nclear yourself of all their surmised and feigned accusations, that\nit shall be to the king's contentation, and much to your advancement\nand restitution of your former dignity and estate.\" \"Yea,\" quoth he,\n\"if I may come to mine answer, I fear no man alive; for he liveth not\nupon the earth that shall look upon this face (pointing to his own\nface), shall be able to accuse me of any untruth; and that knoweth mine\nenemies full well, which will be an occasion that I shall not have\nindifferent justice, but they will rather seek some other sinister\nways to destroy me.\" \"Sir,\" quoth I, \"ye need not therein doubt, the\nking being so much your good lord, as he hath always showed himself\nto be, in all your troubles.\" With that came up my lord's meat; and\nso we left our communication, I gave him water, and sat him down to\ndinner; with whom sat divers of the earl's gentlemen, notwithstanding\nmy lord did eat very little meat, but would many times burst out\nsuddenly in tears, with the most sorrowfullest words that hath been\nheard of any woful creature. And at the last he fetched a great sigh\nfrom the bottom of his heart, saying these words of scripture[190],\n\"_O constantia Martirum laudabilis! O charitas inextinguibilis! O\npacientia invincibilis, qu\u00e6 licet inter pressuras persequentium visa\nsit despicabilis, invenietur in laudem et gloriam ac honorem in\ntempore tribulationis._\" And thus passed he forth his dinner in great\nlamentation and heaviness, who was more fed and moistened with sorrow\nand tears than with either pleasant meats or delicate drinks. I suppose\nthere was not a dry eye among all the gentlemen sitting at the table\nwith him. And when the table was taken up, it was showed my lord, that\nhe could not remove that night, (who expected none other all that day),\nquoth he, \"Even when it shall seem my lord of Northumberland good.\"\nThe next day, being Sunday, my lord prepared himself to ride when he\nshould be commanded; and after dinner, by that time that the earl had\nappointed all things in good order within the castle, it drew fast\nto night. There was assigned to attend upon him five of us, his own\nservants, and no more; that is to say I, one chaplain, his barber, and\ntwo grooms of his chamber, and when he should go down the stairs out\nof the great chamber, my lord demanded for the rest of his servants;\nthe earl answered, that they were not far; the which he had inclosed\nwithin the chapel, because they should not disquiet his departure.\n\"Sir, I pray you,\" quoth my lord, \"let me see them or ever I depart,\nor else I will never go out of this house.\" \"Alack, my lord,\" quoth\nthe earl, \"they should trouble you; therefore I beseech you to content\nyourself.\" \"Well,\" quoth my lord, \"then will I not depart out of this\nhouse, but I will see them, and take my leave of them in this chamber.\"\nAnd his servants being inclosed in the chapel, having understanding of\nmy lord's departing away, and that they should not see him before his\ndeparture, began to grudge, and to make such a rueful noise, that the\ncommissioners doubted some tumult or inconvenience to arise by reason\nthereof, thought it good to let them pass out to my lord, and that done\nthey came to him into the great chamber where he was, and there they\nkneeled down before him; among whom was not one dry eye, but pitifully\nlamented their master's fall and trouble. To whom my lord gave\ncomfortable words and worthy praises for their diligent faithfulness\nand honest truth towards him, assuring them, that what chance soever\nshould happen unto him, that he was a true man and a just to his\nsovereign lord. And thus with a lamentable manner, shaking each of them\nby the hands, was fain to depart, the night drew so fast upon them.\nMy lord's mule and our horses were ready brought into the inner court;\nwhere we mounted, and coming to the gate which was shut, the porter\nopened the same to let us pass, where was ready attending a great\nnumber of gentlemen with their servants, such as the earl assigned to\nconduct and attend upon his person that night to Pomfret, and so forth,\nas ye shall hear hereafter. But to tell you of the number of people\nof the country that were assembled at the gates which lamented his\ndeparting was wondrous, which was about the number of three thousand\npersons; who at the opening of the gates, after they had a sight of his\nperson, cried all with a loud voice, \"God save your grace, God save\nyour grace! The foul evil take all them that hath thus taken you from\nus! we pray God that a very vengeance may light upon them!\" Thus they\nran crying after him through the town of Cawood, they loved him so\nwell. For surely they had a great loss of him, both the poor and the\nrich: for the poor had of him great relief; and the rich lacked his\ncounsel in any business that they had to do, which caused him to have\nsuch love among them in the country.\nThen rode he with his conductors towards Pomfret; and by the way\nas he rode, he asked me if I had any familiar acquaintance among\nthe gentlemen that rode with him. \"Yea, sir,\" said I, \"what is your\npleasure?\" \"Marry,\" quoth he, \"I have left a thing behind me which I\nwould fain have.\" \"Sir,\" said I, \"if I knew what it were, I would send\nfor it out of hand.\" \"Then,\" said he, \"let the messenger go to my Lord\nof Northumberland, and desire him to send me the red buckram bag, lying\nin my almonry in my chamber, sealed with my seal.\" With that I departed\nfrom him, and went straight unto one Sir Roger Lassels, knight, who\nwas then steward to the Earl of Northumberland (being among the rout\nof horsemen as one of the chiefest rulers), whom I desired to send\nsome of his servants back unto the earl his master for that purpose;\n[who] granted most gently my request, and sent incontinent one of his\nservants unto my lord to Cawood for the said bag; who did so honestly\nhis message, that he brought the same to my lord immediately after he\nwas in his chamber within the abbey of Pomfret; where he lay all night.\nIn which bag was no other thing enclosed but three shirts of hair,\nwhich he delivered to the chaplain, his ghostly father, very secretly.\nFurthermore, as we rode toward Pomfret, my lord demanded of me, whither\nthey would lead him that night. \"Forsooth, sir,\" quoth I, \"but to\nPomfret.\" \"Alas,\" quoth he, \"shall I go to the castle, and lie there,\nand die like a beast?\" \"Sir, I can tell you no more what they do\nintend; but I will enquire here among these gentlemen of a special\nfriend of mine who is chief of all their counsel.\"\nWith that I repaired unto the said Sir Roger Lassels, knight, desiring\nhim most earnestly that he would vouchsafe to show me, whither my lord\nshould go to be lodged that night; who answered me again that my lord\nshould be lodged within the abbey of Pomfret, and in none other place;\nand so I reported to my lord, who was glad thereof; so that within\nnight we came to Pomfret Abbey, and there lodged.\nAnd the earl remained still all that night in Cawood Castle, to see\nthe despatch of the household, and to establish all the stuff in some\nsurety within the same.\nThe next day they removed with my lord towards Doncaster, desiring\nthat he might come thither by night, because the people followed him\nweeping and lamenting, and so they did nevertheless although he came in\nby torchlight, crying, \"God save your grace, God save your grace, my\ngood lord cardinal,\" running before him with candles in their hands,\nwho caused me therefore to ride hard by his mule to shadow him from the\npeople, and yet they perceived him, cursing his enemies. And thus they\nbrought him to the Blackfriars, within the which they lodged him that\nnight.\nAnd the next day we removed to Sheffield Park, where the Earl of\nShrewsbury lay within the lodge, and all the way thitherward the people\ncried and lamented as they did in all places as we rode before. And\nwhen we came into the park of Sheffield, nigh to the lodge, my Lord of\nShrewsbury, with my lady his wife, a train of gentlewomen, and all my\nlord's gentlemen and yeomen standing without the gates of the lodge to\nattend my lord's coming, to receive him with much honour; whom the\nearl embraced, saying these words, \"My lord,\" quoth he, \"your grace is\nmost heartily welcome unto me, and [I am] glad to see you in my poor\nlodge, the which I have often desired; and [should have been] much more\ngladder, if you had come after another sort.\" \"Ah, my gentle lord of\nShrewsbury,\" quoth my lord, \"I heartily thank you: and although I have\nno cause to rejoice, yet, as a sorrowful heart may joy, I rejoice,\nmy chance which is so good to come unto the hands and custody of so\nnoble a person, whose approved honour and wisdom hath been always\nright well known to all noble estates. And, sir, howsoever my ungentle\naccusers have used their accusations against me, yet I assure you,\nand so before your lordship, and all the world, I do protest, that my\ndemeanour and proceedings hath been just and loyal towards my sovereign\nand liege lord; of whose behaviour and doings your lordship hath had\ngood experience; and even according to my truth and faithfulness so\nI beseech God to help me in this my calamity.\" \"I doubt nothing of\nyour truth,\" quoth the earl, \"therefore, my lord, I beseech you, be of\ngood cheer, and fear not; for I have received letters from the king\nof his own hand in your favour and entertaining, the which you shall\nsee. Sir, I am nothing sorry, but that I have not wherewith worthily\nto receive you, and to entertain you, according to your honour and my\ngood will; but such as I have, ye are most heartily welcome thereto,\ndesiring you to accept my good will accordingly, for I will not receive\nyou as a prisoner, but as my good lord, and the king's true faithful\nsubject; and here is my wife come to salute you.\" Whom my lord kissed\nbareheaded, and all her gentlewomen; and took my lord's servants by\nthe hands, as well gentlemen and yeomen as other. Then these two lords\nwent arm and arm into the lodge, conducting my lord into a fair chamber\nat the end of a goodly gallery, within a new tower where my lord was\nlodged. There was also in the midst of the same gallery a traverse of\nsarsenet drawn; so that the one part was preserved for my lord, and the\nother part for the earl.\nThen departed all the great number of gentlemen and other that\nconducted my lord to the earl of Shrewsbury's. And my lord being there,\ncontinued there eighteen days after; upon whom the earl appointed\ndivers gentlemen of his servants to serve my lord, forasmuch as he had\na small number of servants there to serve; and also to see that he\nlacked nothing that he would desire, being served in his own chamber at\ndinner and supper, as honourably, and with as many dainty dishes, as he\nhad most commonly in his own house being at liberty. And once every\nday the earl would resort unto him, and sit with him communing upon\na bench in a great window in the gallery. And though the earl would\nright heartily comfort him, yet would he lament so piteously, that it\nwould make the earl very sorry and heavy for his grief. \"Sir,\" said he,\n\"I have, and daily do receive letters from the king, commanding me to\nentertain you as one that he loveth, and highly favoureth; whereby I\nperceive ye do lament without any great cause much more than ye need\nto do. And though ye be accused (as I think in good faith unjustly),\nyet the king can do no less but put you to your trial, the which is\nmore for the satisfying of some persons, than for any mistrust that\nhe hath in your doings.\" \"Alas!\" quoth my lord to the earl, \"is it\nnot a piteous case, that any man should so wrongfully accuse me unto\nthe king's person, and not to come to mine answer before his majesty?\nFor I am well assured, my lord, that there is no man alive or dead\nthat looketh in this face of mine, [who] is able to accuse me of any\ndisloyalty toward the king. Oh! how much it grieveth me that the king\nshould have any suspicious opinion in me, to think that I would be\nfalse or conspire any evil to his royal person; who may well consider,\nthat I have no assured friend in all the world in whom I put my trust\nbut only in his grace; for if I should go about to betray my sovereign\nlord and prince, in whom is all my trust and confidence before all\nother persons, all men might justly think and report, that I lacked\nnot only grace, but also both wit and discretion. Nay, nay, my lord,\nI would rather adventure to shed my heart's blood in his defence,\nas I am bound to do, by mine allegiance and also for the safeguard\nof myself, than to imagine his destruction; for he is my staff that\nsupporteth me, and the wall that defendeth me against my malignant\nenemies, and all other: who knoweth best my truth before all men, and\nhath had thereof best and longest experience. Therefore to conclude, it\nis not to be thought that ever I would go about or intend maliciously\nor traitorously to travel or wish any prejudice or damage to his royal\nperson or imperial dignity; but, as I said, defend it with the shedding\nof my heart blood, and procure all men so to do, and it were but only\nfor the defence of mine own person and simple estate, the which mine\nenemies think I do so much esteem; having none other refuge to flee\nto for defence or succour, in all adversity, but under the shadow of\nhis majesty's wing. Alas! my lord, I was in a good estate now, and in\ncase of a quiet living right well content therewith: but the enemy that\nnever sleepeth, but studieth and continually imagineth, both sleeping\nand waking, my utter destruction, perceiving the contentation of my\nmind, doubted that their malicious and cruel dealings would at length\ngrow to their shame and rebuke, goeth about therefore to prevent the\nsame with shedding of my blood. But from God, that knoweth the secrets\nof their hearts and of all others, it cannot be hid, ne yet unrewarded,\nwhen he shall see opportunity. For, my good lord, if you will show\nyourself so much my good friend as to require the king's majesty, by\nyour letters, that my accusers may come before my face in his presence,\nand there that I may make answer, I doubt not but ye shall see me\nacquit myself of all their malicious accusations, and utterly confound\nthem; for they shall never be able to prove, by any due probations,\nthat ever I offended the king in will, thought, and deed. Therefore\nI desire you and most heartily require your good lordship, to be a\nmean for me, that I may answer unto my accusers before the king's\nmajesty. The case is his; and if their accusations should be true, then\nshould it touch no man but him most earnestly; wherefore it were most\nconvenient that he should hear it himself in proper person. But I fear\nme, that they do intend rather to dispatch me than I should come before\nhim in his presence; for they be well assured, and very certain, that\nmy truth should vanquish all their untruth and surmised accusations;\nwhich is the special cause that moveth me so earnestly to desire to\nmake mine answer before the king's majesty. The loss of goods, the\nslander of my name, ne yet all my trouble, grieveth me nothing so much\nas the loss of the king's favour, and that he should have in me such an\nopinion, without desert, of untruth, that have with such travail and\npains served his highness so justly, so painfully, and with so faithful\na heart, to his profit and honour at all times. And also again, the\ntruth of my doings against their unjust accusations proved most just\nand loyal should be much to my honesty, and do me more good than to\nattain great treasure; as I doubt not but it will, if [the case] might\nbe indifferently heard. Now, my good lord, weigh ye my reasonable\nrequest, and let charity and truth move your noble heart with pity,\nto help me in all this my truth, wherein ye shall take no manner of\nslander or rebuke, by the grace of God.\" \"Well then,\" quoth my Lord\nof Shrewsbury, \"I will write to the king's majesty in your behalf,\ndeclaring to him by my letters how grievously ye lament his displeasure\nand indignation; and what request ye make for the trial of your truth\ntowards his highness.\" Thus after these communications, and divers\nothers, as between them daily was accustomed, they departed asunder.\nWhere my lord continued the space after of a fortnight, having goodly\nand honourable entertainment, whom the earl would often require to\nkill a doe or two there in the park, who always refused all manner of\nearthly pleasures and disports either in hunting or in other games, but\napplied his prayers continually very devoutly; so that it came to pass\nat [a] certain season sitting at dinner in his own chamber, having at\nhis board's end that same day, as he divers times had to accompany him,\na mess of the earl's gentlemen and chaplains, and eating of roasted\nwardens at the end of his dinner, before whom I stood at the table,\ndressing of those wardens for him: beholding of him [I] perceived his\ncolour often to change, and alter divers times, whereby I judged him\nnot to be in health. Which caused me to lean over the table, saying\nunto him softly, \"Sir, me seemeth your grace is not well at ease.\" He\nanswered again and said, \"Forsooth, no more I am; for I am,\" quoth he,\n\"suddenly taken about my stomach, with a thing that lieth overthwart my\nbreast as cold as a whetstone; the which is but wind; therefore I pray\nyou take up the cloth, and make ye a short dinner, and resort shortly\nagain unto me.\" And after that the table was taken up, I went and sat\nthe waiters to dinner, without in the gallery, and resorted again to\nmy lord, where I found him still sitting where I left him very ill\nat ease; notwithstanding he was in communication with the gentlemen\nsitting at the board's end. And as soon as I was entered the chamber,\nhe desired me to go down to the apothecary, and to inquire of him\nwhether he had any thing that would break wind upward, and according\nto his commandment I went my way towards the apothecary. And by the\nway I remembered one article of mine oath before made unto Master\nWalshe, which caused me first to go to the earl, and showed him both\nwhat estate he was in, and also what he desired at the apothecary's\nhand for his relief. With that the earl caused the apothecary to be\ncalled incontinent before him; of whom he demanded whether he had any\nthing to break wind that troubleth one in his breast; and he answered\nthat he had such gear. \"Then,\" quoth the earl, \"fetch me some hither.\"\nThe which the apothecary brought in a white paper, a certain white\nconfection unto the earl, who commanded me to give the assay thereof to\nthe apothecary, and so I did before him. And then I departed therewith\nbringing it to my lord, before whom I took also the assay thereof, and\ndelivered the same to my lord, who received the same wholly altogether\nat once. And immediately after he had received the same, surely he\navoided exceeding much wind upward. \"Lo,\" quoth he, \"now you may see\nthat it was but wind; but by the means of this receipt I am, I thank\nGod, well eased and so he rose from the table, and went to his prayers,\nas he accustomedly did after dinner. And being at his prayers, there\ncame upon him such a laske, that it caused him to go to his stool; and\nbeing there the earl sent for me, and at my coming he said, \"Forasmuch\nas I have always perceived you to be a man, in whom my lord your\nmaster hath great affiance; and for my experience, knowing you to be\nan honest man\" (with many more words of commendation than need here to\nbe rehearsed), said, \"It is so, that my lord, your lamentable master,\nhath often desired me to write to the king's majesty that he might\ncome unto his presence, to make answer to his accusations; and even\nso have I done; for this day have I received letters from his grace,\nby Sir William Kingston, knight, whereby I do perceive that the king\nhath in him a very good opinion; and upon my often request, he hath\nsent for him, by the said Sir William, to come up to answer, according\nto his own desire; who is in his chamber. Wherefore now is the time\ncome that my lord hath often desired to try himself and his truth, as\nI trust much to his honour; and I put no doubt in so doing, that it\nshall be for him the best journey that ever he made in all his life.\nTherefore now would I have you to play the part of a wise man, to\nbreak first this matter unto him so wittily, and in such sort, that he\nmight take it quietly in good part: for he is ever so full of sorrow\nand dolor in my company, that I fear me he will take it in evil part,\nand then he doth not well: for I assure you, and so show him that the\nking is his good lord, and hath given me the most worthy thanks for his\nentertainment, desiring and commanding me so to continue, not doubting\nbut that he will right nobly acquit himself towards his highness.\nTherefore, go your ways to him, and so persuade with him that I may\nfind him in good quiet at my coming, for I will not tarry long after\nyou.\" \"Sir,\" quoth I, \"I shall, if it please your lordship, endeavour\nme to accomplish your commandment to the best of my power. But, sir, I\ndoubt one thing, that when I shall name Sir William Kingston, he will\nmistrust that all is not well; because he is constable of the tower,\nand captain of the guard, having twenty-four of the guard to attend\nupon him.\" \"Marry it is truth;\" quoth the earl, \"what thereof, though\nhe be constable of the tower? yet he is the most meetest man for his\nwisdom and discretion to be sent about any such message. And for the\nguard, it is for none other purpose but only to defend him against all\nthem that would intend him any evil, either in word or deed; and also\nthey be all, or for the most part, such of his old servants as the king\ntook of late into his service, to the intent that they should attend\nupon him most justly, and doth know best how to serve him.\" \"Well,\nsir,\" said I, \"I will do what I can,\" and so departed toward my lord.\nAnd at my repair I found him sitting at the upper end of the gallery,\nupon a trussing chest of his own, with his beads and staff in his\nhands. And espying me coming from the earl, he demanded of me what\nnews. \"Forsooth, sir,\" quoth I, \"the best news that ever came to you;\nif your grace can take it well.\" \"I pray God it be,\" quoth he, \"what is\nit?\" \"Forsooth, sir,\" quoth I, \"my Lord of Shrewsbury, perceiving by\nyour often communication that ye were always desirous to come before\nthe king's majesty, and now as your most assured friend, hath travailed\nso with his letters unto the king, that the king hath sent for you\nby Master Kingston and twenty-four of the guard, to conduct you to\nhis highness.\" \"Master Kingston,\" quoth he, rehearsing his name[191]\nonce or twice; and with that clapped his hand on his thigh, and gave\na great sigh. \"Sir,\" quoth I, \"if your grace could or would take all\nthings in good part, it should be much better for you. Content yourself\nfor God's sake, and think that God and your friends hath wrought for\nyou, according to your own desire. Did ye not always wish that ye might\nclear yourself before the king's person, now that God and your friends\nhath brought your desire to pass, ye will not take it thankfully? If ye\nconsider your truth and loyalty unto our sovereign lord, against the\nwhich your enemies cannot prevail, the king being your good lord as he\nis, you know well, that the king can do no less than he doth, you being\nto his highness accused of some heinous crime, but cause you to be\nbrought to your trial, and there to receive according to your demerits;\nthe which his highness trusteth, and saith no less but that you shall\nprove yourself a just man to his majesty, wherein ye have more cause to\nrejoice than thus to lament, or mistrust his favourable justice. For I\nassure you, your enemies be more in doubt and fear of you, than you\nof them; that they wish that thing, that I trust they shall never be\nable to bring to pass with all their wits, the king (as I said before)\nbeing your indifferent and singular good lord and friend. And to prove\nthat he so is, see you not how he hath sent gentle Master Kingston for\nyou, with such men as were your old true servants, and yet be as far as\nit becometh them to be only to attend upon you, for the want of your\nown servants, willing also Master Kingston to remove you with as much\nhonour as was due to you in your high estate; and to convey you by such\neasy journeys as ye shall command him to do; and that ye shall have\nall your desires and commandments by the way in every place, to your\ngrace's contentation and honour. Wherefore, sir, I humbly beseech your\ngrace, to imprint all these just persuasions with many other imminent\noccasions in your discretion, and be of good cheer; I most humbly with\nmy faithful heart require your grace, wherewith ye shall principally\ncomfort yourself, and next give all your friends and to me and other\nof your servants good hope of your good speed.\" \"Well, well, then,\"\nquoth he, \"I perceive more than ye can imagine, or do know. Experience\nof old hath taught me.\" And therewith he rose up, and went into his\nchamber, to his close stool, the flux troubled him so sore; and when\nhe had done he came out again; and immediately my Lord of Shrewsbury\ncame into the gallery unto him, with whom my lord met, and then they\nboth sitting down upon a bench in a great window, the earl asked him\nhow he did, and he most lamentably, as he was accustomed, answered,\nthanking him for his gentle entertainment. \"Sir,\" quoth the earl, \"if\nye remember ye have often wished in my company to make answer before\nthe king; and I as desirous to help your request, as you to wish,\nbearing towards you my good will, have written especially to the king\nin your behalf; making him also privy of your lamentable sorrow, that\nye inwardly receive for his high displeasure; who accepteth all things\nand your doings therein, as friends be accustomed to do in such cases.\nWherefore I would advise you to pluck up your heart, and be not aghast\nof your enemies, who I assure you have you in more doubt than ye would\nthink, perceiving that the king is fully minded to have the hearing\nof your case before his own person. Now, sir, if you can be of good\ncheer, I doubt not but this journey which ye shall take towards his\nhighness shall be much to your advancement, and an overthrow of your\nenemies. The king hath sent for you by that worshipful knight Master\nKingston, and with him twenty-four of your old servants, who be now of\nthe guard, to defend you against your unknown enemies, to the intent\nthat ye may safely come unto his majesty.\" \"Sir,\" quoth my lord, \"as\nI suppose Master Kingston is constable of the tower.\" \"Yea, what of\nthat?\" quoth the earl, \"I assure you he is only appointed by the king\nfor one of your friends, and for a discreet gentleman, as most worthy\nto take upon him the safe conduct of your person; for without fail the\nking favoureth you much more, and beareth towards you a secret special\nfavour, far otherwise than ye do take it.\" \"Well, sir,\" quoth my lord,\n\"as God will, so be it. I am subject to fortune, and to fortune I\nsubmit myself, being a true man ready to accept such ordinances as\nGod hath provided for me, and there an end: sir, I pray you, where is\nMaster Kingston?\" \"Marry,\" quoth the earl, \"if ye will, I will send for\nhim, who would most gladly see you.\" \"I pray you then,\" quoth my lord,\n\"send for him.\" At whose message he came incontinent, and as soon as my\nlord espied him coming in to the gallery, he made haste to encounter\nhim. Master Kingston came towards him with much reverence; and at his\napproach he kneeled down and saluted him on the king's behalf; whom\nmy lord bareheaded offered to take up, but he still kneeled. \"Then,\"\nquoth my lord, \"Master Kingston, I pray you stand up, and leave your\nkneeling unto a very wretch replete with misery, not worthy to be\nesteemed, but for a vile abject utterly cast away, without desert;\nand therefore, good Master Kingston, stand up, or I will myself kneel\ndown by you.\" With that Master Kingston stood up, saying, with humble\nreverence, \"Sir, the king's majesty hath him commended unto you.\" \"I\nthank his highness,\" quoth my lord, \"I trust he be in health, and\nmerry, the which I beseech God long continue.\" \"Yea, without doubt,\"\nquoth Master Kingston: \"and so hath he commanded me first to say unto\nyou, that you should assure yourself that he beareth you as much good\nwill and favour as ever he did; and willeth you to be of good cheer.\nAnd where[192] report hath been made unto him, that ye should commit\nagainst his royal majesty certain heinous crimes, which he thinketh\nto be untrue, yet for the ministration of justice, in such cases\nrequisite, and to avoid all suspect of partiality [he] can do no less\nat the least than to send for you to your trial, mistrusting nothing\nyour truth and wisdom, but that ye shall be able to acquit yourself\nagainst all complaints and accusations exhibited against you; and to\ntake your journey towards him at your own pleasure, commanding me to\nbe attendant upon you with all damage and inconveniences that might\nensue; and to elect all such your old servants, now his, to serve you\nby the way, who have most experience of your diet. Therefore, sir, I\nbeseech your grace to be of good cheer; and when it shall be your good\npleasure to take your journey, I shall give mine attendance.\" \"Master\nKingston,\" quoth my lord, \"I thank you for your good news: and, sir,\nhereof assure yourself, that if I were as able and as lusty as I have\nbeen but of late, I would not fail to ride with you in post: but, sir,\nI am diseased with a flux[193] that maketh me very weak. But, Master\nKingston, all these comfortable words which ye have spoken be but for\na purpose to bring me into a fool's paradise: I know what is provided\nfor me. Notwithstanding, I thank you for your good will and pains taken\nabout me; and I shall with all speed make me ready to ride with you\nto-morrow.\" And thus they fell into other communication, both the\nearl and Master Kingston with my lord; who commanded me to foresee and\nprovide that all things might be made ready to depart the morrow after.\nI caused all things to be trussed up, and made in a readiness as fast\nas they could conveniently.\nWhen night came that we should go to bed, my lord waxed very sick\nthrough his new disease, the which caused him still continually from\ntime to time to go to the stool all that night; insomuch from the\ntime that his disease took him, unto the next day, he had above fifty\nstools, so that he was that day very weak. The matter that he voided\nwas wondrous black, the which physicians call choler adustine; and\nwhen he perceived it, he said to me, \"If I have not some help shortly,\nit will cost me my life.\" With that I caused one doctor Nicholas, a\nphysician, being with the earl, to look upon the gross matter that\nhe avoided; upon sight whereof he determined how he should not live\npast four or five days; yet notwithstanding he would have ridden with\nMaster Kingston that same day, if the Earl of Shrewsbury had not been.\nTherefore, in consideration of his infirmity, they caused him to tarry\nall that day.\nAnd the next day he took his journey with Master Kingston and the\nguard. And as soon as they espied their old master, in such a\nlamentable estate, they lamented him with weeping eyes. Whom my lord\ntook by the hands, and divers times, by the way, as he rode, he would\ntalk with them, sometime with one, and sometime with another; at night\nhe was lodged at a house of the Earl of Shrewsbury's, called Hardwick\nHall, very evil at ease. The next day he rode to Nottingham, and there\nlodged that night, more sicker, and the next day we rode to Leicester\nAbbey; and by the way he waxed so sick that he was divers times likely\nto have fallen from his mule[194]; and being night before we came\nto the abbey of Leicester, where at his coming in at the gates the\nabbot of the place with all his convent met him with the light of many\ntorches; whom they right honourably received with great reverence. To\nwhom my lord said, \"Father Abbot, I am come hither to leave my bones\namong you,\" whom they brought on his mule to the stairs foot of his\nchamber, and there alighted, and Master Kingston then took him by the\narm, and led him up the stairs; who told me afterwards that he never\ncarried so heavy a burden in all his life. And as soon as he was in\nhis chamber, he went incontinent to his bed, very sick. This was upon\nSaturday at night; and there he continued sicker and sicker.\nUpon Monday in the morning, as I stood by his bed side, about eight\nof the clock, the windows being close shut, having wax lights burning\nupon the cupboard, I beheld him, as me seemed, drawing fast to his\nend. He perceiving my shadow upon the wall by his bed side, asked who\nwas there? \"Sir, I am here,\" quoth I; \"How do you?\" quoth he to me.\n\"Very well, sir,\" quoth I, \"if I might see your grace well.\" \"What is\nit of the clock?\" said he to me. \"Forsooth, sir,\" said I, \"it is past\neight of the clock in the morning.\" \"Eight of the clock?\" quoth he,\n\"that cannot be,\" rehearsing divers times, \"eight of the clock, eight\nof the clock, nay, nay,\" quoth he at the last, \"it cannot be eight of\nthe clock: for by eight of the clock ye shall lose your master: for\nmy time draweth near that I must depart out of this world.\" With that\nMaster Doctor Palmes, a worshipful gentleman, being his chaplain and\nghostly father, standing by, bade me secretly demand of him if he would\nbe shriven, and to be in a readiness towards God, whatsoever should\nchance. At whose desire I asked him that question. \"What have you to do\nto ask me any such question?\" quoth he, and began to be very angry with\nme for my presumption; until at the last Master Doctor took my part,\nand talked with him in Latin, and so pacified him.\nAnd after dinner, Master Kingston sent for me into his chamber, and\nat my being there, said to me, \"So it is, that the king hath sent me\nletters by this gentleman Master Vincent, one of your old companions,\nwho hath been of late in trouble in the Tower of London for money that\nmy lord should have at his last departing from him, which now cannot\nbe found. Wherefore the king, at this gentleman's request, for the\ndeclaration of his truth hath sent him hither with his grace's letters\ndirected unto me, commanding me by virtue thereof to examine my lord in\nthat behalf, and to have your counsel herein, how it may be done, that\nhe may take it well and in good part. This is the chief cause of my\nsending for you; therefore I pray you what is your best counsel to use\nin this matter for the true acquittal of this gentleman?\" \"Sir,\" quoth\nI, \"as touching that matter, my simple advice shall be this, that your\nown person shall resort unto him and visit him, and in communication\nbreak the matter unto him; and if he will not tell the truth, there\nbe that can satisfy the king's pleasure therein; and in anywise speak\nnothing of my fellow Vincent. And I would not advise you to tract the\ntime with him; for he is very sick, and I fear me he will not live\npast to-morrow in the morning.\" Then went Master Kingston unto him;\nand asked first how he did, and so forth proceeded in communication,\nwherein Master Kingston demanded of him the said money, saying, \"that\nmy lord of Northumberland hath found a book at Cawood that reporteth\nhow ye had but late fifteen hundred pounds in ready money, and one\npenny thereof will not be found, who hath made the king privy by his\nletters thereof. Wherefore the king hath written unto me, to demand of\nyou if you know where it is become; for it were pity that it should\nbe embezzled from you both. Therefore I shall require you, in the\nking's name, to tell me the truth herein, to the intent that I may\nmake just report unto his majesty what answer ye make therein.\" With\nthat my lord paused awhile and said, \"Ah, good Lord! how much doth\nit grieve me that the king should think in me such deceit, wherein I\nshould deceive him of any one penny that I have. Rather than I would,\nMaster Kingston, embezzle, or deceive him of a mite, I would it were\nmoult, and put in my mouth;\" which words he spake twice or thrice very\nvehemently. \"I have nothing, ne never had (God being my judge), that I\nesteemed, or had in it any such delight or pleasure, but that I took\nit for the king's goods, having but the bare use of the same during\nmy life, and after my death to leave it to the king; wherein he hath\nbut prevented my intent and purpose. And for this money that ye demand\nof me, I assure you it is none of mine; for I borrowed it of divers\nof my friends to bury me, and to bestow among my servants, who have\ntaken great pains about me, like true and faithful men. Notwithstanding\nif it be his pleasure to take this money from me, I must hold me\ntherewith content. Yet I would most humbly beseech his majesty to see\nthem satisfied, of whom I borrowed the same for the discharge of my\nconscience.\" \"Who be they?\" quoth Master Kingston. \"That shall I show\nyou,\" said my lord. \"I borrowed two hundred pounds thereof of Sir John\nAllen of London; and two hundred pounds of Sir Richard Gresham; and two\nhundred pounds of the master of the Savoy; and two hundred pounds of\nDoctor Hickden, dean of my college in Oxford; and two hundred pounds\nof the treasurer of the church of York; and two hundred pounds of the\ndean of York; and two hundred pounds of parson Ellis my chaplain; and\na hundred pounds of my steward, whose name I have forgotten; trusting\nthat the king will restore them again their money, for it is none of\nmine.\" \"Sir,\" quoth Master Kingston, \"there is no doubt in the king;\nye need not to mistrust that, but when the king shall be advertised\nthereof, to whom I shall make report of your request, that his grace\nwill do as shall become him. But, sir, I pray you, where is this\nmoney?\" \"Master Kingston,\" quoth he, \"I will not conceal it from the\nking; I will declare it to you, or I die, by the grace of God. Take a\nlittle patience with me, I pray you.\" \"Well, sir, then will I trouble\nyou no more at this time, trusting that ye will show me to-morrow.\"\n\"Yea, that I will, Master Kingston, for the money is safe enough, and\nin an honest man's keeping; who will not keep one penny from the king.\"\nAnd then Master Kingston went to his chamber to supper.\nHowbeit my lord waxed very sick, most likeliest to die that night, and\noften swooned, and as me thought drew fast toward his end, until it was\nfour of the clock in the morning, at which time I asked him how he did.\n\"Well,\" quoth he, \"if I had any meat; I pray you give me some.\" \"Sir,\nthere is none ready,\" said I; \"I wis,\" quoth he, \"ye be the more to\nblame, for you should have always some meat for me in a readiness, to\neat when my stomach serveth me; therefore I pray you get me some; for\nI intend this day, God willing, to make me strong, to the intent I may\noccupy myself in confession, and make me ready to God.\" \"Then, sir,\"\nquoth I, \"I will call up the cook to provide some meat for you; and\nwill also, if it be your pleasure, call for Master Palmes, that ye may\ncommune with him, until your meat be ready.\" \"With a good will,\" quoth\nhe. And therewith I went first, and called up the cook, commanding him\nto prepare some meat for my lord; and then I went to Master Palmes and\ntold him what case my lord was in; willing him to rise, and to resort\nto him with speed. And then I went to Master Kingston, and gave him\nwarning, that, as I thought, he would not live; advertising him that\nif he had any thing to say to him, that he should make haste, for he\nwas in great danger. \"In good faith,\" quoth Master Kingston, \"ye be to\nblame: for ye make him believe that he is sicker, and in more danger\nthan he is.\" \"Well, sir,\" quoth I, \"ye shall not say another day but\nthat I gave you warning, as I am bound to do, in discharge of my duty.\nTherefore, I pray you, whatsoever shall chance, let no negligence be\nascribed to me herein; for I assure you his life is very short. Do\ntherefore now as ye think best.\" Yet nevertheless he arose, and made\nhim ready, and came to him. After he had eaten of a cullis made of a\nchicken, a spoonful or two; at the last, quoth he, \"Whereof was this\ncullis made?\" \"Forsooth, sir,\" quoth I, \"of a chicken.\" \"Why,\" quoth\nhe, \"it is fasting day, and St. Andrew's Eve.\" \"What though it be,\nsir,\" quoth Doctor Palmes, \"ye be excused by reason of your sickness?\"\n\"Yea,\" quoth he, \"what though? I will eat no more.\"\nThen was he in confession the space of an hour. And when he had ended\nhis confession, Master Kingston bade him good-morrow (for it was about\nseven of the clock in the morning); and asked him how he did. \"Sir,\"\nquoth he, \"I tarry but the will and pleasure of God, to render unto him\nmy simple soul into his divine hands.\" \"Not yet so, sir,\" quoth Master\nKingston, \"with the grace of God, ye shall live, and do very well; if\nye will be of good cheer.\" \"Master Kingston, my disease is such that\nI cannot live; I have had some experience in my disease, and thus it\nis: I have a flux with a continual fever; the nature whereof is this,\nthat if there be no alteration with me of the same within eight days,\nthen must either ensue excoriation of the entrails, or frenzy, or else\npresent death; and the best thereof is death. And as I suppose, this\nis the eighth day: and if ye see in me no alteration, then is there\nno remedy (although I may live a day or twaine), but death, which is\nthe best remedy of the three.\" \"Nay, sir, in good faith,\" quoth Master\nKingston, \"you be in such dolor and pensiveness, doubting that thing\nthat indeed ye need not to fear, which maketh you much worse than ye\nshould be.\" \"Well, well, Master Kingston,\" quoth he, \"I see the matter\nagainst me how it is framed; but if I had served God as diligently\nas I have done the king, he would not have given me over in my grey\nhairs[195]. Howbeit this is the just reward that I must receive for my\nworldly diligence and pains that I have had to do him service; only\nto satisfy his vain pleasure, not regarding my godly duty. Wherefore\nI pray you, with all my heart, to have me most humbly commended unto\nhis royal majesty; beseeching him in my behalf to call to his most\ngracious remembrance all matters proceeding between him and me from the\nbeginning of the world unto this day, and the progress of the same:\nand most chiefly in the weighty matter yet depending; (meaning the\nmatter newly began between him and good Queen Katherine) then shall\nhis conscience declare, whether I have offended him or no. He is sure\na prince of a royal courage, and hath a princely heart; and rather\nthan he will either miss or want any part of his will or appetite, he\nwill put the loss of one half of his realm in danger. For I assure you\nI have often kneeled before him in his privy chamber on my knees, the\nspace of an hour or two, to persuade him from his will and appetite:\nbut I could never bring to pass to dissuade him therefrom. Therefore,\nMaster Kingston, if it chance hereafter you to be one of his privy\ncounsel, as for your wisdom and other qualities ye are meet to be, I\nwarn you to be well advised and assured what matter ye put in his head,\nfor ye shall never put it out again.\n\"And say furthermore, that I request his grace, in God's name,\nthat he have a vigilant eye to depress this new pernicious sect of\nLutherans[196], that it do not increase within his dominions through\nhis negligence, in such a sort, as that he shall be fain at length\nto put harness upon his back to subdue them; as the king of Bohemia\ndid, who had good game, to see his rude commons (then infected with\nWickliffe's heresies) to spoil and murder the spiritual men and\nreligious persons of his realm; the which fled to the king and his\nnobles for succour against their frantic rage; of whom they could get\nno help of defence or refuge, but [they] laughed them to scorn, having\ngood game at their spoil and consumption, not regarding their duties\nnor their own defence. And when these erroneous heretics had subdued\nall the clergy and spiritual persons, taking the spoil of their\nriches, both of churches, monasteries, and all other spiritual things,\nhaving no more to spoil, [they] caught such a courage of their former\nliberty that then they disdained their prince and sovereign lord with\nall other noble personages, and the head governors of the country,\nand began to fall in hand with the temporal lords to slay and spoil\nthem, without pity or mercy, most cruelly. Insomuch that the king and\nother his nobles were constrained to put harness upon their backs, to\nresist the ungodly powers of those traitorous heretics, and to defend\ntheir lives and liberties, who pitched a field royal against them;\nin which field these traitors so stoutly encountered, the party of\nthem was so cruel and vehement, that in fine they were victors, and\nslew the king, the lords, and all the gentlemen of the realm, leaving\nnot one person that bare the name or port of a gentleman alive, or\nof any person that had any rule or authority in the common weal. By\nmeans of which slaughter they have lived ever since in great misery\nand poverty without a head or governor, living all in common like\nwild beasts abhorred of all Christian nations. Let this be to him an\nevident example to avoid the like danger, I pray you. Good Master\nKingston, there is no trust in routs, or unlawful assemblies of the\ncommon people; for when the riotous multitude be assembled, there is\namong them no mercy or consideration of their bounden duty; as in the\nhistory of King Richard the Second, one of his noble progenitors, which\n[lived] in that same time of Wickliffe's seditious opinions. Did not\nthe commons, I pray you, rise against the king and the nobles of the\nrealm of England; whereof some they apprehended, whom they without\nmercy or justice put to death? and did they not fall to spoiling and\nrobbery, to the intent they might bring all things in common; and at\nthe last, without discretion or reverence, spared not in their rage\nto take the king's most royal person out of the Tower of London, and\ncarried him about the city most presumptuously, causing him, for the\npreservation of his life, to be agreeable to their lewd proclamations?\nDid not also the traitorous heretic, Sir John Oldcastle, pitch a field\nagainst King Henry the Fifth, against whom the king was constrained\nto encounter in his royal person, to whom God gave the victory? Alas!\nMaster Kingston, if these be not plain precedents, and sufficient\npersuasions to admonish a prince to be circumspect against the\nsemblable mischief; and if he be so negligent, then will God strike and\ntake from him his power, and diminish his regality, taking from him his\nprudent counsellors and valiant captains, and leave us in our own hands\nwithout his help and aid; and then will ensue mischief upon mischief,\ninconvenience upon inconvenience, barrenness and scarcity of all things\nfor lack of good order in the commonwealth, to the utter destruction\nand desolation of this noble realm, from the which mischief God of his\ntender mercy defend us.\n\"Master Kingston, farewell. I can no more, but wish all things to have\ngood success. My time draweth on fast. I may not tarry with you. And\nforget not, I pray you, what I have said and charged you withal: for\nwhen I am dead, ye shall peradventure remember my words much better.\"\nAnd even with these words he began to draw his speech at length, and\nhis tongue to fail; his eyes being set in his head, whose sight failed\nhim. Then we began to put him in remembrance of Christ's passion; and\nsent for the abbot of the place to anneal[197] him, who came with all\nspeed, and ministered unto him all the service to the same belonging;\nand caused also the guard to stand by, both to hear him talk before\nhis death, and also to witness of the same; and incontinent the clock\nstruck eight, at which time he gave up the ghost, and thus departed he\nthis present life[198]. And calling to our remembrance his words, the\nday before, how he said that at eight of the clock we should lose our\nmaster, one of us looking upon an other, supposing that he prophesied\nof his departure.\nHere is the end and fall of pride and arrogancy of such men, exalted by\nfortune to honours and high dignities; for I assure you, in his time of\nauthority and glory, he was the haughtiest man in all his proceedings\nthat then lived, having more respect to the worldly honour of his\nperson than he had to his spiritual profession; wherein should be all\nmeekness, humility, and charity; the process whereof I leave to them\nthat be learned and seen in divine laws[199].\nAfter that he was thus departed, Master Kingston sent an empost to the\nking, to advertise him of the death of the late Cardinal of York by one\nof the guard, that both saw and heard him talk and die. And then Master\nKingston calling me unto him and to the abbot, went to consultation for\nthe order of his burial.\nAfter divers communications, it was thought good, that he should be\nburied the next day following; for Master Kingston would not tarry the\nreturn of the empost. And it was further thought good that the mayor\nof Leicester and his brethren should be sent for, to see him personally\ndead, in avoiding of false rumours that might hap to say that he was\nnot dead but still living. Then was the mayor and his brethren sent\nfor; and in the mean time the body was taken out of the bed where he\nlay dead; who had upon him, next his body, a shirt of hair, besides his\nother shirt, which was of very fine linen Holland cloth; this shirt\nof hair was unknown to all his servants being continually attending\nupon him in his bedchamber, except to his chaplain, which was his\nGhostly Father; wherein he was buried, and laid in a coffin of boards,\nhaving upon his dead corpse all such vestures and ornaments as he was\nprofessed in when he was consecrated bishop and archbishop, as mitre,\ncrosses, ring, and pall, with all other things appurtenant to his\nprofession. And lying thus all day in his coffin open and barefaced,\nthat all men might see him lie there dead without feigning; then when\nthe mayor, his brethren, and all other had seen him, lying thus until\nfour or five of the clock at night, he was carried so down into the\nchurch with great solemnity by the abbot and convent, with many torches\nlight, singing such service as is done for such funerals.\nAnd being in the church the corpse was set in our lady chapel, with\nmany and divers tapers of wax burning about the hearse, and divers\npoor men sitting about the same, holding of torches light in their\nhands, who watched about the dead body all night, whilst the canons\nsang dirige, and other devout orisons. And about four of the clock\nin the morning they sang mass. And that done, and the body interred,\nMaster Kingston, with us, being his servants, were present at his said\nfuneral, and offered at his mass. And by that time that all things were\nfinished, and all ceremonies that to such a person were decent and\nconvenient, it was about six of the clock in the morning.\nThen prepared we to horseback, being St. Andrew's Day the Apostle, and\nso took our journey towards the court[200], being at Hampton Court;\nwhere the king then lay. And after we came thither, which was upon St.\nNicholas' Eve, we gave attendance upon the council for our depeche.\nUpon the morrow I was sent for by the king to come to his grace; and\nbeing in Master Kingston's chamber in the court, had knowledge thereof,\nand repairing to the king, I found him shooting at the rounds in the\npark, on the backside of the garden. And perceiving him occupied in\nshooting, thought it not my duty to trouble him: but leaned to a tree,\nintending to stand there, and to attend his gracious pleasure. Being in\na great study, at the last the king came suddenly behind me, where I\nstood, and clapped his hand upon my shoulder; and when I perceived him,\nI fell upon my knee. To whom he said, calling me by name, \"I will,\"\nquoth he, \"make an end of my game, and then will I talk with you:\" and\nso departed to his mark, whereat the game was ended.\nThen the king delivered his bow unto the yeoman of his bows, and went\nhis way inward to the palace, whom I followed; howbeit he called for\nSir John Gage, with whom he talked, until he came at the garden postern\ngate, and there entered; the gate being shut after him, which caused me\nto go my ways.\nAnd being gone but a little distance the gate was opened again, and\nthere Sir Harry Norris called me again, commanding me to come in to\nthe king, who stood behind the door in a nightgown of russet velvet,\nfurred with sables; before whom I kneeled down, being with him there\nall alone the space of an hour and more, during which time he examined\nme of divers weighty matters, concerning my lord, wishing that liever\nthan twenty thousand pounds that he had lived. Then he asked me for the\nfifteen hundred pounds, which Master Kingston moved to my lord before\nhis death. \"Sir,\" said I, \"I think that I can tell your grace partly\nwhere it is.\" \"Yea, can you?\" quoth the king; \"then I pray you tell me,\nand you shall do us much pleasure, nor it shall not be unrewarded.\"\n\"Sir,\" said I, \"if it please your highness, after the departure of\nDavid Vincent from my lord at Scroby, who had then the custody thereof,\nleaving the same with my lord in divers bags, sealed with my lord's\nseal, [he] delivered the same money in the same bags sealed unto a\ncertain priest (whom I named to the king), safely to keep to his use.\"\n\"Is this true?\" quoth the king. \"Yea, sir,\" quoth I, \"without all\ndoubt. The priest shall not be able to deny it in my presence, for I\nwas at the delivery thereof[201].\" \"Well then,\" quoth the king, \"let me\nalone, and keep this gear secret between yourself and me, and let no\nman be privy thereof; for if I hear any more of it, then I know by whom\nit is come to knowledge.\"\n\"Three may,\" quoth he, \"keep counsel, if two be away; and if I thought\nthat my cap knew my counsel, I would cast it into the fire and burn\nit. And for your truth and honesty ye shall be one of our servants,\nand in that same room with us, that ye were with your old master.\nTherefore go to Sir John Gage our vice chamberlain, to whom I have\nspoken already to give you your oath, and to admit you our servant in\nthe same room; and then go to my Lord of Norfolk, and he shall pay you\nall your whole year's wages, which is ten pounds, is it not so?\" quoth\nthe king. \"Yes, forsooth, sire,\" quoth I, \"and I am behind thereof for\nthree quarters of a year.\" \"That is true,\" quoth the king, \"for so we\nbe informed, therefore ye shall have your whole year's wages, with our\nreward delivered you by the Duke of Norfolk.\" The king also promised\nme furthermore, to be my singular good and gracious lord, whensoever\noccasion should serve. And thus I departed from him.\nAnd as I went I met with Master Kingston coming from the council, who\ncommanded me in their names to go straight unto them, whom they had\nsent for by him, \"And in any wise,\" quoth he, \"for God's sake, take\ngood heed what ye say; for ye shall be examined of such certain words\nas my lord your late master had at his departure, and if you tell\nthem the truth,\" quoth he, \"what he said, you shall undo yourself;\nfor in any wise they would not hear of it: therefore be circumspect\nwhat answer ye make to their demands.\" \"Why, sir,\" quoth I, \"how have\nye done therein yourself?\" \"Marry,\" quoth he, \"I have utterly denied\nthat ever I heard any such words; and he that opened the matter first\nis fled for fear; which was the yeoman of the guard that rode empost\nto the king from Leicester. Therefore go your ways, God send you good\nspeed; and when you have done, come to me into the chamber of presence,\nwhere I shall tarry your coming to see how you speed, and to know how\nye have done with the king.\"\nThus I departed, and went directly to the council chamber door; and as\nsoon as I was come, I was called in among them. And being there, my\nLord of Norfolk spake to me first, and bade me welcome to the court,\nand said, \"My lords, this gentleman hath both justly and painfully\nserved the cardinal his master like an honest and diligent servant;\ntherefore I doubt not but of such questions as ye shall demand of him,\nhe will make just report, I dare undertake the same for him. How say\nye, it is reported that your master spake certain words, even before\nhis departure out of this life; the truth whereof I doubt not ye know;\nand as ye know, I pray you report; and fear not for no man. Ye shall\nnot need to swear him, therefore go to, how say you, is it true that\nis reported?\" \"Forsooth, sir,\" quoth I, \"I was so diligent attending\nmore to the preservation of his life than I was to note and mark every\nword that he spake: and, sir, indeed, he spake many idle words, as men\nin such extremities do, the which I cannot now remember. If it please\nyour lordships to call before you Master Kingston, he will not fail to\nshow you the truth.\" \"Marry, so have we done already,\" quoth they, \"who\nhath been here presently before us, and hath denied utterly that ever\nhe heard any such words spoken by your master at the time of his death,\nor at any time before.\" \"Forsooth, my lords,\" quoth I, \"then I can say\nno more; for if he heard them not, I could not hear them; for he heard\nas much as I, and I as much as he. Therefore, my lords, it were much\nfolly for me to declare any thing of untruth, which I am not able to\njustify.\" \"Lo!\" quoth my Lord of Norfolk, \"I told you as much before;\ntherefore go your ways:\" quoth he to me, \"you are dismissed, and come\nagain to my chamber anon, for I must needs talk with you.\"\nI most humbly thanked them, and so departed; and went into the chamber\nof presence to meet with Master Kingston, whom I found standing in\ncommunication with an ancient gentleman, usher of the king's privy\nchamber, called Master Radcliffe. And at my coming, Master Kingston\ndemanded of me, if I had been with the counsel; and what answer I made\nthem. I said again, that I had satisfied them sufficiently with my\nanswer; and told him the manner of it. And then he asked me how I sped\nwith the king; and I told him partly of our communication; and of his\ngrace's benevolence and princely liberality; and how he commanded me\nto go to my Lord of Norfolk. As we were speaking of him, he came from\nthe council into the chamber of presence; as soon as he espied me, he\ncame unto the window, where I stood with Master Kingston and Master\nRadcliffe; to whom I declared the king's pleasure. These two gentlemen\ndesired him to be my good lord. \"Nay,\" quoth he, \"I will be better unto\nhim than ye wene; for if I could have spoken with him before he came\nto the king, I would have had him to my service; (the king excepted)\nhe should have done no man service in all England but only me. And\nlook, what I may do for you, I will do it with right good will.\" \"Sir,\nthen,\" quoth I, \"would it please your grace to move the king's majesty\nin my behalf, to give me one of the carts and horses that brought up\nmy stuff with my lord's (which is now in the tower), to carry it into\nmy country.\" \"Yea, marry, will I,\" quoth he, and returned again to\nthe king; for whom I tarried still with Master Kingston. And Master\nRadcliffe, who said, that he would go in and help my lord in my suit\nwith the king. And incontinent my lord came forth, and showed me, how\nthe king was my good and gracious lord; and had given me six of the\nbest horses that I could choose amongst all my lord's cart horses,\nwith a cart to carry my stuff, and five marks for my costs homewards;\nand \"hath commanded me,\" quoth he, \"to deliver you ten pounds for\nyour wages; being behind unpaid; and twenty pounds for a reward;\"\nwho commanded to call for Master Secretary to make a warrant for all\nthese things. Then was it told him, that Master Secretary was gone to\nHanworth for that night. Then commanded he one of the messengers of the\nchamber to ride unto him in all haste for those warrants; and willed\nme to meet with him the next day at London; and there to receive both\nmy money, my stuff, and horses, that the king gave me: and so I did;\nof whom I received all things according, and then I returned into my\ncountry.\nAnd thus ended the life of my late lord and master, the rich and\ntriumphant legate and cardinal of England, on whose soul Jesu have\nmercy! Amen.\n_Finis quod G. C._\nWho list to read and consider, with an indifferent eye, this history,\nmay behold the wondrous mutability of vain honours, the brittle\nassurance of abundance; the uncertainty of dignities, the flattering of\nfeigned friends, and the tickle trust to worldly princes. Whereof this\nlord cardinal hath felt both of the sweet and the sour in each degree;\nas fleeting from honours, losing of riches, deposed from dignities,\nforsaken of friends, and the inconstantness of princes favour; of all\nwhich things he hath had in this world the full felicity, as long as\nfortune smiled upon him: but when she began to frown, how soon was\nhe deprived of all these dreaming joys and vain pleasures. The which\nin twenty years with great travail, study, and pains, obtained, were\nin one year and less, with heaviness, care, and sorrow, lost and\nconsumed. O madness! O foolish desire! O fond hope! O greedy desire\nof vain honours, dignities, and riches! Oh what inconstant trust and\nassurance is in rolling fortune! Wherefore the prophet said full\nwell, _Thesaurizat, et ignorat, cui congregabit ea_. Who is certain\nto whom he shall leave his treasure and riches that he hath gathered\ntogether in this world, it may chance him to leave it unto such as\nhe hath purposed? but the wise man saith, _That an other person, who\nperadventure he hated in his life, shall spend it out, and consume it_.\nTHE END.\nFOOTNOTES:\n[44] The autograph MS. begins here.\n[45] He was born in the year 1471. See Fiddes's _Life of Wolsey_, p.\n2. 1726. By some it has been said that his father was a _butcher_,\nbut the foundation for this assertion is not known. The zealous\nbiographer of the cardinal, Mr. Grove, made two successive journeys\nto Ipswich for the purpose of obtaining information respecting him,\nbut the whole fruit of both expeditions was ascertaining the Christian\nname of Wolsey's father, and that he was a man of some substance! He\nprinted, however, what he calls \"The Life of Robert Wolsey, of Ipswich,\n_Gentleman_,\" in 1761! The will of Wolsey's father was published by Dr.\nFiddes, and for its curiosity I shall give it a place in the Appendix.\n[46] The place was Lymington, in the Diocese of Bath and Wells. He was\ninstituted October 10, A. D. 1500. _Fiddes_, p. 5.\n[47] The tradition is, that Wolsey was set in the stocks by Sir Amyas\nPawlet's direction, for disorderly conduct at a fair where he had drunk\nto excess. The ground for this assertion is not known, but it seems to\nrest upon no earlier authority than that of Sir John Harrington. It may\nbe remarked that Storer, in his metrical Life of Wolsey, represents him\nas the injured party:\n      \"Wrong'd by a knight for no desert of mine.\"\n[48] September, 1501.\n[49] Fiddes asserts that Sir John Nanfan was a Somersetshire gentleman.\nNash, in his History of Worcestershire states, that the father and\nthe son have been confounded, and that it was Sir Richard Nanfan, a\ngentleman of that county, who was captain of Calais about this time, i.\ne. circa 1503. His son's name was Sir John; but it is evident that the\nwords _a very grave and ancient_ knight can only apply to Sir Richard.\n[50] _Place_, or _office_.\n[51] Wolsey had not only the address and good qualities necessary to\nthe acquisition of such friends, but also retained them to the last.\nThe affection of Bishop Fox is apparent in the last letter which he\nwrote to him; and Sir Thomas Lovell's esteem was manifested to the\nclose of his life, for he leaves him in his will \"a standing cup of\ngolde, and one hundred marks in golde.\"\n[52] This mission related to the intended treaty of marriage between\nHenry the Seventh, and the Duchess Dowager of Savoy.\n[53] Shakspeare represents the cardinal as \"Exceeding wise, fair spoken\nand persuading;\" and one of the charges exhibited against him was,\nthat \"at the privy council he would have all the words to himself, and\nconsumed the time with a fair tale!\"\n[54] _Dispatch._\n[55] _Understanding._\n[56] Wordsworth's Ed.\n[57] By _passengers_ the reader will see by the context that the\n_passage boats_ are meant. It was the usual phrase to signify a\nferryman, and also his boat, from _passager_, Fr. Thus in Baret's\nAlvearie, \"A _passenger_, one that conveyeth over many, convector.\"\n[58] Thomas Storer, in his metrical Life of Wolsey, 1599, has the\nfollowing stanza, in which the expedition Wolsey used on this occasion\nis not unpoetically alluded to:\n    \"The Argonautic vessel never past\n    With swifter course along the Colchian main,\n    Than my small bark with fair and speedy blast\n    Convey'd me forth, and reconvey'd again;\n    Thrice had Arcturus driv'n his restless wain,\n    And heav'n's bright lamp the day had thrice reviv'd\n    From first departure, till I last arriv'd.\"\nThis poem was reprinted by Mr. Park in the Supplement to the Harleian\nMiscellany. There are extracts from it in the Retrospective Review,\n[59] He was collated Feb. 2. A. D. 1508. Le Neve's _Fasti_. p. 146.\n[60] These words follow in most of the manuscripts, but are probably an\ninterpolation: \"and mother afterwards of the queen's highness, that now\nis, (whose virtuous life and godly disposition Jesu long preserve, and\ncontinue against the malignity of her corrupt enemies!)\"\n[61] This house merged to the crown by the attainder of Empson, and\nappears to have been a princely dwelling, for in the patent, an orchard\nand twelve gardens are enumerated as belonging to it. The grant bears\ndate in 1510. It stood upon the ground which is now occupied by\nSalisbury Square and Dorset Street, its gardens reaching to the banks\nof the river.\n[62] _Who had._ MS. L.\n[64] Dr. Wordsworth has cited a passage from Sir Thomas More, in his\n_Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation_, in which is a lively and\ncharacteristic picture, \"designed, no doubt, to represent the cardinal\nat the head of his own table.\" I could not refuse myself the pleasure\nof laying it before the reader.\n\"_Anthony._ I praye you, cosyn, tell on. _Vincent._ Whan I was fyrste\nin Almaine, uncle, it happed me to be somewhat favoured with a great\nmanne of the churche, and a great state, one of the greatest in all\nthat country there. And in dede whosoever might spende as muche as\nhee mighte in one thinge and other, were a ryght great estate in anye\ncountrey of Christendom. But glorious was hee verye farre above all\nmeasure, and that was great pitie, for it dyd harme, and made him abuse\nmany great gyftes that God hadde given him. Never was he saciate of\nhearinge his owne prayse.\nSo happed it one daye, that he had in a great audience made an oracion\nin a certayne matter, wherein he liked himselfe so well, that at his\ndiner he sat, him thought, on thornes, tyll he might here how they that\nsat with hym at his borde, woulde commend it. And whan hee had sitte\nmusing a while, devysing, as I thought after, uppon some pretty proper\nwaye to bring it in withal, at the laste, for lacke of a better, lest\nhe should have letted the matter too long, he brought it even blontly\nforth, and asked us al that satte at his bordes end (for at his owne\nmesse in the middes there sat but himself alone) howe well we lyked\nhis oracyon that he hadde made that daye. But in fayth Uncle, whan\nthat probleme was once proponed, till it was full answered, no manne\n(I wene) eate one morsell of meate more. Every manne was fallen in so\ndepe a studye, for the fyndynge of some exquisite prayse. For he that\nshoulde have brought oute but a vulgare and a common commendacion,\nwoulde have thoughte himself shamed for ever. Than sayde we our\nsentences by rowe as wee sat, from the lowest unto the hyghest in good\norder, as it had bene a great matter of the comon weale, in a right\nsolemne counsayle. Whan it came to my parte, I wyll not saye it, Uncle,\nfor no boaste, mee thoughte, by oure Ladye, for my parte, I quytte\nmy selfe metelye wel. And I lyked my selfe the better beecause mee\nthoughte my wordes beeinge but a straungyer, wente yet with some grace\nin the Almain tong wherein lettyng my latin alone me listed to shewe\nmy cunnyng, and I hoped to be lyked the better, because I sawe that\nhe that sate next mee, and should saie his sentence after mee, was an\nunlearned Prieste, for he could speake no latin at all. But whan he\ncame furth for hys part with my Lordes commendation, the wyly Fox,\nhadde be so well accustomed in courte with the crafte of flattry that\nhe wente beyonde me to farre.\nAnd that might I see by hym, what excellence a right meane witte may\ncome to in one crafte, that in al his whole life studyeth and busyeth\nhis witte about no mo but that one. But I made after a solempne vowe\nunto my selfe, that if ever he and I were matched together at that\nboarde agayne: when we should fall to our flattrye, I would flatter in\nlatin, that he should not contende with me no more. For though I could\nbe contente to be out runne by an horse, yet would I no more abyde it\nto be out runne of an asse. But Uncle, here beganne nowe the game, he\nthat sate hygheste, and was to speake, was a great beneficed man, and\nnot a Doctour onely, but also somewhat learned in dede in the lawes of\nthe Churche. A worlde it was to see howe he marked every mannes worde\nthat spake before him. And it semed that every worde the more proper it\nwas, the worse he liked it, for the cumbrance that he had to study out\na better to passe it. The manne even swette with the laboure, so that\nhe was faine in the while now and than to wipe his face. Howbeit in\nconclusion whan it came to his course, we that had spoken before him,\nhadde so taken up al among us before, that we hadde not lefte hym one\nwye worde to speake after.\n_Anthony._ Alas good manne! amonge so manye of you, some good felow\nshold have lente hym one. _Vincent._ It needed not as happe was Uncle.\nFor he found out such a shift, that in hys flatteryng he passed us\nall the mayny. _Anthony._ Why, what sayde he Cosyn? _Vyncent._ By our\nLadye Uncle not one worde. But lyke as I trow Plinius telleth, that\nwhan Appelles the Paynter in the table that he paynted of the sacryfyce\nand the death of Iphigenia, hadde in the makynge of the sorowefull\ncountenances of the other noble menne of Greece that beehelde it,\nspente oute so much of his craft and hys cunnynge, that whan he came to\nmake the countenance of King Agamemnon her father, whiche hee reserved\nfor the laste, ... he could devise no maner of newe heavy chere and\ncountenance--but to the intent that no man should see what maner\ncountenance it was, that her father hadde, the paynter was fayne to\npaynte hym, holdyng his face in his handkercher. The like pageant in\na maner plaide us there this good aunciente honourable flatterer. For\nwhan he sawe that he coulde fynde no woordes of prayse, that woulde\npasse al that hadde bene spoken before all readye, the wyly Fox woulde\nspeake never a word, but as he that were ravished unto heavenwarde\nwith the wonder of the wisdom and eloquence that my Lordes Grace hadde\nuttered in that oracyon, he fette a long syghe with an Oh! from the\nbottome of hys breste, and helde uppe bothe hys handes, and lyfte uppe\nbothe his handes and lift uppe his head, and caste up his eyen into\nthe welkin and wepte. _Anthony._ Forsooth Cosyn, he plaide his parte\nverye properlye. But was that greate Prelates oracion Cosyn, any thyng\nprayseworthye?\" _Sir Thomas More's Works_, p. 1221, 1222.\n[65] _i.e._ haughty.\n[67] 100 crowns a day.\n[68] \"Heaven and happiness eternal is \u03c4\u1f78 \u03be\u03b7\u03c4\u03cc\u03c5\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd, that\nwhich is joined in issue, to which we are intituled, for which we\nplead, to which we have right; from whence by injury and treachery we\nhave been ejected, and from whence _by fine force_ we are kept out: for\nthis we do _clamare_, by the Clergy, our Counsel, in the view of God\nand Angels.\" _Montague's Diatribe upon Selden's History of Tithes_, p.\n[69] He was consecrated bishop of Lincoln, March 26, A. D. 1514. _Le\nNeve's Fasti_, p. 141. _W._\n[70] Bambridge was poisoned (according to Stow) by Rinaldo da Modena,\nhis chaplain, who was incited to the act by revenge, having suffered\nthe indignity of a blow from the archbishop.\n[71] Dr. Robert Barnes preached a Sermon on the 24th of December,\n1525, at St. Edward's Church in Cambridge, from which Sermon certain\nArticles were drawn out upon which he was soon after called to make\nanswer before the Cardinal. Barnes has left behind him a description of\nthis examination. The sixth of these Articles was as follows. \"I wyll\nnever beleeve that one man may be, by the lawe of God, a Byshop of two\nor three cities, yea of an whole countrey, for it is contrarye to St.\nPaule, which sayth, _I have left thee behynde, to set in every citye a\nbyshop_.\"\n\"I was brought afore my Lorde Cardinall into his Galary, (continues Dr.\nBarnes), and there hee reade all myne articles, tyll hee came to this,\nand there he stopped, and sayd, that this touched hym, and therefore\nhee asked me, if I thought it wronge, that one byshop shoulde have\nso many cityes underneath hym; unto whom I answered, that I could no\nfarther go, than St. Paules texte, whych set in every cytye a byshop.\nThen asked hee mee, if I thought it now unright (seeing the ordinaunce\nof the Church) that one byshop should have so many cities. I aunswered\nthat I knew none ordinaunce of the Church, as concerning this thinge,\nbut St. Paules sayinge onelye. Nevertheles I did see a contrarye custom\nand practise in the world, but I know not the originall thereof. Then\nsayde hee, that in the Apostles tyme, there were dyvers cities, some\nseven myle, some six myle long, and over them was there set but one\nbyshop, and of their suburbs also: so likewise now, a byshop hath\nbut one citye to his cathedrall churche, and the country about is as\nsuburbs unto it. Me thought this was farre fetched, but I durst not\ndenye it.\" _Barnes's Works_, p. 210. A. D. 1573. _W._\n[72] This was not the first time in which this point of precedency had\nbeen contested. Edward III, in the sixth year of his reign, at a time\nwhen a similar debate was in agitation, having summoned a Parliament at\nYork, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and all the other Prelates of his\nProvince, declined giving their attendance, that the Metropolitan of\nall England might not be obliged to submit his Cross to that of York,\nin the Province of the latter. _Fox_, p. 387, 388. _W._\n[73] Wolsey, in his endeavours to obtain the purple pall, had relied\nmuch on the assistance of Adrian, Bishop of Bath, himself a cardinal,\nthen the Pope's collector in England, but residing at Rome, and\nacting by Polydore Vergil, his deputy. Adrian being either unable or\nunwilling to render the expected service, Wolsey, conceiving that\nhe had been betrayed, seized upon the deputy collector, Polydore,\nand committed him to the Tower, where he remained, notwithstanding\nrepeated remonstrances from the court of Rome, until the elevation of\nWolsey to the cardinalate procured his liberty. This will account for\nthe unfavourable light in which Wolsey is placed in Polydore Vergil's\nHistory.\n[74] \"Not farre unlike to this was the receaving of the Cardinals\nhatte. Which when a ruffian had brought unto him to Westminster under\nhis cloke, he clothed the messenger in rich aray, and sent him backe to\nDover againe, and appoynted the Bishop of Canterbury to meet him, and\nthen another company of Lordes and Gentles I wotte not how oft, ere it\ncame to Westminster, where it was set on a cupborde and tapers about,\nso that the greatest Duke in the lande must make curtesie thereto: yea\nand to his empty seat he being away.\" _Tindal's Works_, p. 374. _Fox's\n[75] Dr. Fiddes and Mr. Grove remark, that this is a prejudiced\nstatement of the case, and that Cavendish was misled by false\ninformation. It does not indeed appear that Wolsey used any indirect\nmeans to supersede Archbishop Warham, and the following passages in\nthe correspondence of Sir Thomas More with Ammonius seem to prove the\ncontrary. Sir Thomas says: \"The Archbishop of Canterbury hath at length\nresigned the office of Chancellor, which burthen, as you know, _he\nhad strenuously endeavoured to lay down for some years_; and the long\nwished for retreat being now obtained, he enjoys a most pleasant recess\nin his studies, with the agreeable reflection of having acquitted\nhimself honourably in that high station. The Cardinal of York, _by the\nKings Orders_, succeeds him; who discharges the duty of the post so\nconspicuously as to surpass the hopes of all, notwithstanding the great\nopinion they had of his other eminent qualities: and what was most\nrare, to give so much content and satisfaction after so excellent a\npredecessor.\"\nAmmonius, writing to Erasmus, says: \"Your Archbishop, with the King's\ngood leave, has laid down his post, which that of York, _after much\nimportunity_, has accepted of, and behaves most beautifully.\"\n[76] This is noticed by the satirist Roy, in his invective against\nWolsey:\n    Before him rydeth two prestes stronge,\n    And they beare two crosses right longe,\n      Gapinge in every man's face:\n    After them follow two lay-men secular,\n    And each of them holdinge a pillar\n      In their hondes, insteade of a mace.\n    Then followeth my lord on his mule\n    Trapped with gold, &c.\nDr. Wordsworth, misled by Anstis, has erroneously attributed this\nsatire to Skelton, confounding it probably with that writer's\n    \"Why come ye not to court.\"\nSee note at the end of the Life.\n[77] Even so early as the reign of Henry III, the annual amount of the\nbenefices in the hands of Italians, in this kingdom, was 70,000 marks;\nmore than three times the value of the whole revenue of the crown. _M.\nParis, in Vit. Hen. III. Ann. 1252._\n[78] These are termed _under pastelers_, in the more recent MSS.\n[79] The _Gospeller_ was the priest who read the Gospel. The\n_Pisteller_, the clerk who read the Epistle.\n[80] _Revestry_, from the French _Revestir_; contractedly written\n_Vestry_.\n[81] Those Lords that were placed in the great and privy chambers were\n_Wards_, and as such paid for their board and education. It will be\nseen below that he had a particular officer called \"Instructor of his\nWards.\" _Grove._\n[82] Among whom, as we shall see below, was the eldest son of the Earl\nof Northumberland. This was according to a practice much more ancient\nthan the time of Wolsey; agreeably to which, young men of the most\nexalted rank resided in the families of distinguished ecclesiastics,\nunder the denomination of pages, but more probably for the purposes of\neducation than of service. In this way Sir Thomas More was brought up\nunder Cardinal Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury; of whom he has given a\nvery interesting character in his Utopia. From Fiddes's Appendix to the\nLife of Wolsey, p. 19, it appears that the custom was at least as old\nas the time of Grosthed, Bishop of Lincoln, in the reign of Henry III,\nand that it continued for some time during the seventeenth century.\nIn a paper, written by the Earl of Arundel, in the year 1620, and\nintitled _Instructions for you my son William, how to behave yourself\nat Norwich_, the earl charges him, \"You shall in all things reverence,\nhonour, and obey my Lord Bishop of Norwich, as you would do any of\nyour parents: esteeminge whatsoever he shall tell or command you, as\nif your grandmother of Arundell, your mother, or myself should say it:\nand in all things esteem yourself as my lord's page; a breeding, which\nyouths of my house, far superior to you, were accustomed unto; as my\ngrandfather of Norfolk, and his brother, my good uncle of Northampton,\nwere both bredd as pages with bishopps.\" See also Paul's _Life of\nArchbishop Whitgift_, p. 97.\nIt is not out of place to mention, what we are told by Sir George\nWheler in his _Protestant Monastery_, p. 158. A. D. 1698. \"I have\nheard say, in the times no longer ago than King Charles I, that many\nnoblemen's and gentlemen's houses in the country were like academies,\nwhere the gentlemen and women of lesser fortunes came for education\nwith those of the family; among which number was the famous Sir\nBeaville Granville and his lady, father and mother of our present lord\nof Bath.\" _W._\n[83] Dr. Wordsworth's edition says _one hundred and eighty_. The\nmanuscripts differ in stating the numbers, the edition of 1641 has\n_eight hundred persons_. And, in consequence, Wolsey has been so far\nmisrepresented, by some writers, as to have it asserted that he kept\n_eight hundred servants_!\n[84] At Bruges, \"he was received with great solemnity, as belongeth\nunto so mighty a pillar of Christes church, and was saluted at the\nentring into the towne of a merry fellow which sayd, _Salve rex regis\ntui, atque regni sui_, Hayle both king of thy king, and also of his\nrealme.\" _Tindal's Works_, p. 370, A. D. 1572.\n[85] _Liveries_, are things _'livered_, i. e. delivered out.\n[86] Bread of the finest flour. _A cast_ is a share or allotment.\n[87] So our author, in his _poetical legend_, dwells upon this regal\npomp of his master:\n    'My crossis twayne of silver long and greate,\n    That dayly before me were carried hyghe,\n    Upon great horses opynly in the streett;\n    And massie pillers gloryouse to the eye,\n    With pollaxes gylt that no man durst come nyghe\n    My presence, I was so pryncely to behold;\n    Ridyng on my mule trapped in silver and in golde.'\nSee Appendix.\n[88] The pillar, as well as the cross, was emblematical, and designed\nto imply, that the dignitary before whom it was carried was a _pillar_\nof the church. Dr. Barnes, who had good reason why these pillars should\nbe uppermost in his thoughts, glances at this emblem, in the case\nof the cardinal, in the following words; \"and yet it must bee true,\nbecause a _pillar of the church_ hath spoken it.\" _Barnes' Works_, p.\n210, A. D. 1572. See also _Tindal's Works_, p. 370. _W._\n[89] It was made One of the Articles of Impeachment against him:\n\"That by his outrageous Pride he had greatly shadowed a long season\nhis Grace's Honour.\" Art. XLIV. Sir Thomas More, when Speaker of the\nHouse of Commons, noticing a complaint which had been made by the\ncardinal, that nothing could be said or done in that house, but it\nwas presently spread abroad, and became the talk of every tavern or\nalehouse, \"Masters, (says he) forasmuche as my lord cardinall latelie\nlaied to our charges the lightnes of our tongues for things uttered out\nof this house, it shall not in my minde be amisse to receive him with\nall his pompe, with his maces, his pillers, pollaxes, his crosses, his\nhatt, and the greate seal too; to thintent, that if he finde the like\nfault with us heereafter, wee maie be the bolder from ourselves to laie\nthe blame on those that his grace bringeth hither with him.\" _Roper's\nLife of Sir Thomas More_, p. 21, edit. 1817. Sir Thomas also, in his\nApology, written in the year 1533, reflects severely upon the change\nintroduced among the clergy, through the cardinall's means, in the\nluxury and sumptuousness of their dress. _Works_, p. 892.\nThe pulpit likewise occasionally raised its voice against him. Doctor\nBarnes, who was burnt in Smithfield in the year 1541, preached at St.\nEdward's Church in Cambridge, a sermon, for which he was called to\nappear before the cardinal. This was a part of their dialogue, as it\nis related in Fox: \"What Master Doctor (said the cardinall) had you\nnot a sufficient scope in the Scriptures to teach the people, but that\nmy golden shoes, my pollaxes, my pillers, my golden cushions, my cross\ndid so sore offend you, that you must make us _ridiculum caput_ amongst\nthe people? We were jolily that day laughed to scorne. Verely it was\na sermon more fitter to be preached on a stage than in a pulpit; for\nat the last you said I weare a paire of _redde_ gloves, I should say\n_bloudie_ gloves (_quoth you_) that I should not be cold in the midst\nof my ceremonies. And Barnes answered, I spake nothing but the truth\nout of the Scriptures, according to my conscience, and according to the\nold doctors.\" _Fox's Acts_, p. 1088. _W._\nThe following curious passage from Doctor Barnes's 'SUPPLICATION TO THE\nKING,' printed by Myddelton, in 12mo, without date, is probably more\ncorrect than the exaggeration of the good old martyrologist. It opens\nto us, as Dr. Wordsworth justly remarks, some part of the philosophy\nupon which the cardinal defended the fitness of that pomp and state\nwhich he maintained.\n\"Theie have _baculum pastolarem_ to take shepe with, but it is not\nlike a shepeherdes hooke, for it is intricate and manifolde crooked,\nand turneth always in, so that it may be called a mase, for it hath\nneither beginning nor ending, and it is more like to knocke swine and\nwolves in the head with, than to take shepe. _Theie have also pillers\nand pollaxes_, and other ceremonies, which no doubte be but trifels and\nthinges of nought. I praye you what is the cause that you calle your\nstaffe a shepeherdes staffe? You helpe no man with it? You comforte no\nman?--You lift up no man with it? But you have stryken downe kynges,\nand kyngedomes with it; and knocked in the head Dukes and Earls with\nit. Call you this a sheepeherdes staffe? There is a space in the\nshepeherdes staffe for the foote to come oute againe, but youre staffe\nturneth and windeth alwayes inwarde and never outewarde, signifieing\nthat whatsoever he be that cometh within your daunger, that he shall\nneuer come oute againe. This exposition youre dedes do declare, let\nthem be examined that you have had to do with; and let us see howe they\nhave escaped youre shepeherdes hooke. But these be the articles for\nthe which I must nedes be an heretike, never the less all the worlde\nmay see how shamefully, that I have erred agaynst your holinesse in\nsaying the truth. _My Lord Cardinall reasoned with me in this article,\nall the other he passed over, saving this and the sixth article. Here\ndid he aske, \"if I thought it good and reasonable, that he shulde lay\ndowne his pillers and pollaxes and coyne them?\"_ Here is the heresye\nthat is so abhomynable. _I made him answere, that I thoughte it well\ndone. \"Than, (saide he), howe thynke you, were it better for me (being\nin the honour and dignitie that I am) to coyne my pillers and pollaxes\nand to give the money to five or sixe beggers; than for to maintaine\nthe commenwelthe by them, as I do? Do you not recken (quod he) the\ncommenwelthe better than fyve or sixe beggers?\"_ To this I did answere\nthat I rekened it more to the honour of God and to the salvation of\nhis soule and also to the comforte of his poore bretheren that they\nwere coyned and given in almes, and as for the commenwelthe dyd not\nhange of them, (where be they nowe?) for as his grace knewe, the\ncommenwelthe was afore his grace, and must be when his grace is gone,\nand the pillers and pollaxes came with him, and should also go away\nwith him. Notwithstanding yf the commenwelthe were in suche a condicion\nthat it had nede of them, than might his grace so longe use them, or\nany other thinge in theyr stede, so long as the commenwelth neded them,\nNotwithstanding I sayd, thus muche dyd I not say in my sermon agaynst\nthem, but all onely I dampned in my sermon the gorgeous pompe and pride\nof all exterior ornamentes. Than he sayde, \"Well--you say very well.\"\nBut as well as it was said I am sure that these wordes made me an\nheretike, for if these wordes had not bene therein, mine adversaries\ndurst never have shewed their faces against me. But now they knewe\nwell that I could never be indifferently hearde. For if I had got the\nvictorie than must all the Bishops and my Lord Cardinal have laid downe\nall their gorgeous ornamentes, for the which they had rather burne xx\nsuch heretikes as I am, as all the worlde knoweth. But God is mighty,\nand of me hath he shewed his power, for I dare say they never intended\nthing more in their lives, than they did to destroy me, and yet God, of\nhis infinite mercy, hath saved me, agaynst all their violence: unto his\nGodly wisdome is the cause all onely knowne. The Byshop of London that\nwas then, called Tunstal, after my departing out of prison, sayd unto a\nsubstancyal man, that I was not ded (for I dare say his conscience did\nnot recken me such an heretike, that I wolde have killed myself, as the\nvoyce wente, but yet wolde he have done it gladly of his charyte) but\nI was, saide he, in Amsterdam (where I had never been in my lyfe, as\nGod knoweth, nor yet in the Countrey this ten yeares) and certaine men\ndyd there speake with me (said he) and he fained certaine wordes that\nthey shulde say to me, and I to them, and added thereunto that the Lord\nCardinal woulde have me againe or it shulde coste hym a greate somme of\nmoney, howe moche I do not clerelye remember. I have marvayle that my\nLorde is not ashamed, thus shamefully and thus lordly to lye, althoughe\nhe might doo it by auctoritie. And where my Lord Cardinal and he wold\nspend so moche money to have me agayne, I have great marvayle of it,\nWhat can they make of me? (I am now here, what say you to me?) I am a\nsymple poore wretche, and worthe no mans money in the worlde (saving\ntheirs) not the tenth peny that they will give for me, and to burne me\nor to destroye me, cannot so greatly profyt them. _For when I am dead,\nthe sunne, and the moone, the starres, and the element, water and fyre,\nye and also stones shall defende this cause againste them rather than\nthe verity shall perish._\"\n[90] _Chambers_, short guns, or cannon, standing upon their breeching\nwithout carriages, chiefly used for festive occasions; and having their\nname most probably from being little more than _chambers_ for powder.\nIt was by the discharge of these _chambers_ in the play of Henry\nVIIIth. that the Globe Theatre was burnt in 1613. Shakspeare followed\npretty closely the narrative of Cavendish.\n[91] _Mumchance_ appears to have been a game played with _dice_, at\nwhich silence was to be observed.\n[92] _Rounding_, sometimes spelt _rowning_, i. e. _whispering_.\n[93] \"The king gave good testymony of his love to this lady, creating\nher in one day Marquesse of Pembroke (that I may use the words of the\npatent) for the nobylity of her stocke, excellency of her virtues and\nconditions, and other shewes of honesty and goodness worthyly to bee\ncommended in her. And giving her a patent for a 1000 pounds yerely to\nmaynteyne this honour with. She was the first woman, I read, to have\nhonor given to her and her heyres male.\"\n[94] \"Not above seven yeares of age, Anno 1514.\" as appears from a\nfragment of this life with notes by Sir Roger Twysden, of which a few\ncopies were printed in 1808, by Mr. Triphook, from whence also the\nfollowing note is copied.\n[95] \"It should seeme by some that she served three in France\nsuccessively; Mary of England maryed to Lewis the twelfth, an. 1514,\nwith whome she went out of England, but Lewis dying the first of\nJanuary following, and that Queene (being) to returne home, sooner\nthan either Sir Thomas Bullen or some other of her frendes liked she\nshould, she was preferred to Clauda, daughter to Lewis XII. and wife to\nFrancis I. then Queene (it is likely upon the commendation of Mary the\nDowager), who not long after dying, an. 1524, not yet weary of France\nshe went to live with Marguerite, Dutchess of Alan\u00e7on and Berry, a Lady\nmuch commended for her favor towards good letters, but never enough\nfor the Protestant religion then in the infancy--from her, if I am not\ndeceived, she first learnt the grounds of the Protestant religion; so\nthat England may seem to owe some part of her happyness derived from\nthat Lady.\"\n[96] This expression, unless the author himself were misinformed, must\nnot be extended to imply an absolute precontract. Lord Herbert, in\nhis Life of Henry VIII. p. 448, has published an original letter from\nthis nobleman, then Earl of Northumberland, written in the year 1536,\na short time before Q. Anne's suffering, in which he denies any such\ncontract, in the most solemn terms. This letter will be found in the\nAppendix. _W._\nI have placed this letter in the Appendix (Letter VIII) for the\nconvenience of the reader.\n[97] Geffrey Bollen, a gentlemen of Norfolk, Mayor of London, 1457,\nmarryed one of the daughters and heyres of Thomas Lord Hoo and\nHastings, by whome he had William Bolleyn (knight of the Bath at\nRichard 3ds coronation) who marryed the Earl of Ormonds daughter\n(he though of Ireland, sate in the English parliament above English\nBarons), by her he had Thomas Bollen, whome the Erle of Surrey after\nDuke of Norfolk chose for his son-in-law; of which marriage this Anne\nwas born, 1507.\n[98] This was the Lady Mary Talbot, daughter to George Earl of\nShrewsbury, by whom he had no issue. \"Though little ceremony, and\nprobably as little time, was used in patching up these nuptials. As\nmight be expected, they were most unhappy. So we are told, on the\nauthority of the earl's own letters, in the very laboured account of\nthe Percy family given in Collins' Peerage, ed. 1779, perhaps the\nbest piece of family history in our language. \"Henry, the unthrifty\nEarl of Northumberland, died at Hackney in the prime of life, about\nten or twelve years after he had consented to this marriage. Of this\nterm but a very small portion was spent in company of his lady. He\nlived long enough, however, not only to witness the destruction of his\nown happiness, but the sad termination of Anne Boleyn's life. In the\nadmirable account of the Percy family, referred to above, no mention\nis made of the lady who, on these terms, consented to become Countess\nof Northumberland, in her long widowhood. She sequestered herself from\nthe world at Wormhill, on the banks of the Derbyshire Wye, amidst\nsome of the sublimest scenery of the Peak. Wormhill is about eighteen\nmiles from Sheffield, where Lady Northumberland's father, brother, and\nnephew, successively Earls of Shrewsbury, spent the greater part of\ntheir lives.\"\n                         _Who wrote Cavendish's Life of Wolsey?_ p. 30.\nThe reader will be pleased to refer to the note as it now stands in\nMr. Hunter's Essay, prefixed to the present edition. He thinks that\n_Wreshill_, and not _Wormhill_, must be meant, as there is no other\nevidence to show that Lady Percy had a house at Wormhill.\n[99] i. e. _fumed_. This metaphorical use of the word has not occurred\nto me elsewhere.\n[100] The charms of Anne had also attracted Sir Thomas Wyatt, and\nsome of his poems evidently allude to his passion; he was afterwards\nclosely questioned as to the nature of his intimacy with her. A very\ncurious narrative of some particulars relating to this attachment, from\nthe pen of a descendant of the poet, has fortunately been preserved\namong the MS. collections of Lewis the antiquary. A few copies of this\nmemoir were printed in 1817, but as it has still almost the rarity of\na manuscript, I shall enrich my Appendix by reprinting it as a most\ncurious and valuable document relating to this eventful period of our\nhistory.\n[101] In the very interesting memoir of Anne Boleyn, by George Wyat,\nwhich the reader will find in the Appendix, the queen's prudent conduct\nis mentioned, and the following anecdote related: 'These things being\nwell perceived of the queen, which she knew well to frame and work her\nadvantage of, and therefore the oftener had her (i. e. Anne Boleyn) at\ncards with her, the rather also that the king might have the less her\ncompany, and the lady the more excuse to be from him, also she esteem\nherself the kindlier used, and yet withal the more to give the king\noccasion to see the nail upon her finger. And in this entertainment,\nof time they had a certain game, that I cannot name, then frequented,\nwherein dealing, the king and queen meeting they stopt; and the young\nlady's hap was, much to stop at a king. Which the queen noting, said to\nher, playfully, '_My Lady Anne, you have good hap to stop at a king,\nbut you are like others, you will have all or none_.'\n[102] Yet nothing can be more strong than her expressions of gratitude\nand affection to the cardinal at this period when his assistance was of\nimportance to her views. Two letters of hers to the cardinal have been\npublished by Burnet, I. 55, [see our Appendix, Letter XI.] in which she\nsays: \"all the days of my life I am most bound of all creatures next\nthe king's grace to love and serve your grace; of the which I beseech\nyou never to doubt that ever I shall vary from this thought as long as\nany breath is in my body. And as touching your grace's trouble with\nthe sweat, I thank our Lord that them that I desired and prayed for\nare scaped, and that is the king and you. And as for the coming of the\nLegate, I desire that much, and if it be God's pleasure, I pray him\nto send this matter shortly to a good end, and then I trust, my lord,\nto recompense part of your great pains.\" In another letter she says:\n\"I do know the great pains and troubles that you have taken for me,\nboth day and night, is never like to be recompensed on my part, but al\nonly in loving you next the king's grace above all creatures living.\"\nIn a third letter, published by Fiddes, \"I am bound in the mean time\nto owe you my service: and then look what thing in the world I can\nimagine to do you pleasure in, you shall find me the gladdest woman\nin the world to do it, and next unto the king's grace, of one thing I\nmake you full promise to be assured to have it, and that is my hearty\nlove unfeignedly during my life.\" It should seem, therefore, unless\nwe suppose her to have been insincere in her expression of gratitude,\nthat her animosity did not proceed from any displeasure at the rupture\nof the affair with Lord Percy; but from subsequent causes. She was\nprobably worked upon by the cardinal's enemies in the court.\n[103] The name of this person was Giovanni Joacchino Passano, a\nGenoese; he was afterwards called Seigneur de Vaux. The emperor, it\nappears, was informed of his being in England, and for what purpose.\nThe cardinal stated that Joacchino came over as a merchant, and that\nas soon as he discovered himself to be sent by the Lady Regent of\nFrance, he had made de Praet (the emperor's ambassador) privy thereto,\nand likewise of the answer given to her proposals. The air of mystery\nwhich attached to this mission naturally created suspicion, and after a\nfew months, De Praet, in his letters to the emperor, and to Margaret,\nthe governess of the Netherlands, expressed his apprehension that all\nwas not right, and the reasons for his surmises. His letters were\nintercepted by the cardinal, and read before the council. Charles and\nMargaret complained of this insult, and the cardinal explained as well\nas he could. At the same time protesting against the misrepresentation\nof De Praet, and assuring them that nothing could be further from his\nwish than that any disunion should arise between the king his master\nand the emperor; and notwithstanding the suspicious aspect of this\ntransaction, his dispatches both immediately before and after this\nfracas strongly corroborate his assertions. [See additional note at the\nend of the Life.] Wolsey suspected that the Pope was inclined toward\nthe cause of Francis, and reminded him, through the Bishop of Bath, of\nhis obligations to Henry and Charles. The Pope had already taken the\nalarm, and had made terms with the French king, but had industriously\nconcealed it from Wolsey, and at length urged in his excuse that he\nhad no alternative. Joacchino was again in England upon a different\nmission, and was an eyewitness of the melancholy condition of the\ncardinal when his fortunes were reversed. He sympathised with him,\nand interested himself for him with Francis and the Queen Dowager, as\nappears by his letters published in _Legrand, Histoire du Divorce de\nHenri VIII._\n[104] Dr. Fiddes has justly observed, that Cavendish, in his account of\nthese transactions, asserted some things not only without sufficient\nauthority, but contrary to the evidence of documents which he has\nadduced. By these it appears, that if there was any delay in the\nsupplies promised on the part of England it was purely accidental;\nand that the remissness of the emperor to furnish his quota was the\nprincipal cause of the extremity to which the Duke of Bourbon's army\nwas reduced. Cavendish is also wrong in his relation of the siege of\nPavia and its consequences. The fact is, that the Duke of Bourbon did\nnot command in the town, but marched at the head of the imperial army\nto relieve it; and the garrison did not sally out until the two armies\nwere engaged. The demonstrations of joy with which the victory at Pavia\nwas received in London is also an argument for the sincerity of Henry\nand the cardinal at this time. The story of the treaty between Henry\nand Francis, said to have been found in the tent of the latter after\nthe victory, is also a mere fiction. In the spirit of a true son of the\nApostolic Church, Cavendish deprecates every thing which might tend\nto bring the Pope into jeopardy; and he cannot help bearing hard even\nupon the cardinal, because he was thought indirectly the cause 'of all\nthis _mischief_.' What is here said receives confirmation from some\ninteresting letters of the cardinal in the Appendix to Galt's Life of\nWolsey, No. IV. V. VI. p. cxxxiv, &c. 4to edition, Lond. 1812.\n[105] These intrigues, in which the cardinal bore so large a part, did\nnot redound to the glory of his country. Our merry neighbours even then\nhad begun to make our diplomatic inferiority the subject of their sport\nand ridicule. William Tindall, in his _Practice of popish Prelates_,\nreferring to these events, tells us, \"The Frenchmen of late dayes made\na play or a disguising at Paris, in which the emperour daunsed with the\npope and the French king, and weried them, the king of England sitting\non a hye bench, and looking on. And when it was asked, why he daunsed\nnot, it was answered, that he sate there, _but to pay the minstrels\ntheir wages onely_: as who should say, wee paid for all mens dauncing.\"\n[106] A _brake_ here seems to signify a _snare_ or _trap_. The word has\nmuch puzzled the commentators on Shakspeare (See Measure for Measure,\nAct II. Sc. 1). One of its antient significations was a _sharp bit_\nto break horses with. A farrier's _brake_ was a machine to confine or\ntrammel the legs of unruly horses. An antient instrument of torture was\nalso called _a brake_; and a thorny _brake_ meant an intricate thicket\nof thorns. Shakerly Marmion, in his comedy of 'Holland's Leaguer',\nevidently uses the word in the same sense with Cavendish:\n    \"-------Her I'll make\n    A stale to catch this courtier in _a brake_.\"\n[107] The 3d Day of July (1526), the Cardinal of Yorke passed through\nthe City of London, with many lords and gentlemen, to the number of\ntwelve hundred horse----The 11th day of May he took shipping at Dover,\nand landed at Calais the same day.\n[108] _Lanzen-Knechts_, the name by which these bands of German\nmercenaries were then designated.\n[109] Cavendish uses this word again in his poems:\n    \"Wherin was found a certyn _defuse_ clause\n    Wrested by craft to a male intente.\" p. 139.\nSee _Fox's Acts_, &c. p. 1769:\n\"_Cook._ Then answere me, What sayest thou to the blessed sacrament of\nthe altar? Tell me:\n\"_Jackson._ I answered; it is a _diffuse_ question, to aske me at the\nfirst dash, you promising to deliver me.\" See also p. 1574. \"_Diffuse_\nand _difficult_.\"\nIt appears to have been used in the sense of _obscure_, but _difficult_\nis the reading of Grove's edition. I find _diffused_ explained by\nCotgrave \"_diffus_, _espars_, OBSCURE.\" And in a Latin Greek and\nEnglish Lexicon by R. Hutton, printed at London by H. Bynneman, 1583,\nthe Latin adverb, _obscure_, is interpreted \"darkely, obscurely,\nDIFFUSELY.\"\n[110] The great seal could not be carried out of the king's dominions\nwithout violating the law; letters patent were passed to enable Dr.\nTaylor to hold it in his absence.\n[111] _Stradiots and Arbenois._ These were light armed cavalry, said by\nGuicciardini to have been Greek mercenaries in the service of Venice,\nretaining their Greek name \u03c3\u03c4\u03c1\u03b1\u03c4\u03b9\u03ce\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9. Arbenois is Albanians,\n_Albanois_, FR. The following passage from _Nicot Thresor de la Langue\nFran\u00e7oise, ed. 1606. fol._ will fully explain this:\n\"A pr\u00e9sent on apelle en particulier _Albanois_ ces hommes de cheval\narmez \u00e0 la l\u00e9g\u00e8re, autrement dit Stratiote, ou _Stradiots_ (par la\nconsonne moyenne), qui portent les chapeaux \u00e0 haute testi\u00e8re, desquels\non se sert pour chevaux l\u00e9gers, qui viennent dudit pays d'Albanie,\ndont les Papes se servent encore de ce temps \u00e9s garnisons de plusieurs\nvilles du Saint si\u00e8ge, _Albani, olim Epirot\u00e6_.\"\n[112] In like manner, we saw, a little above, that at Calais he gave\n\"benediction and pardon.\" From a letter to the cardinal, from Humfrey\nMonmouth, confined in the Tower on suspicion of heresy, we may gather\nwhat notion was entertained, even by comparatively enlightened men,\nof the efficacy of these pardons. \"If I had broken most part of the\nTen Commandments of God, being penitent and confessed (I should be\nforgiven) by reason of certain pardons that I have, the which my\ncompany and I had graunted, whan we were at Rome, going to Jerusalem,\nof the holy father the pope, _a p\u0153na et a culpa_, for certain times in\nthe year: and that, I trust in God, I received at Easter last past.\nFurthermore I received, when your grace was last at Pawles, I trust in\nGod, your pardon of _a p\u0153na_ _et a culpa_; the which I believe verily,\nif I had done never so great offences, being penitent and confessed,\nand axing forgiveness, that I should have forgiveness.\" _Strype's\nEcclesiast. Memor._ vol. i. p. 248. Appendix. The cardinal had also a\nbull granted by Pope Leo Xth. A. D. 1518. to give in certain cases and\nconditions plenary remission from all sins. _Fiddes_, p. 48. Appendix.\n[113] Among other distinguished honours conferred by Francis upon\nthe Cardinal was the singular privilege of pardoning and releasing\nprisoners and delinquents confined in the towns through which he\npassed, in the same manner as the king himself was used to do: the only\nculprits excluded from the power of pardon given him by this patent\nwere those guilty of the most capital crimes.\n[114] i. e. _Switzers_. Cavendish revels in his subsequent description\nof the _tall Scots_ who formed the French king's body guard.\n      Whose mule if it should be sold\n      So gayly trapped with velvet and gold\n      And given to us for our schare,\n    I durst ensure the one thing\n    As for a competent lyvynge\n      This seven yeare we should not care.\nIn the picture of the Champs de drap d'or, which has been engraved by\nthe Society of Antiquaries, the cardinal appears mounted on a richly\ncaparisoned mule.\n[116] A previous negotiation of a singular nature had been begun, for\nthe Bishop of Bath writes to the cardinal in March, 1527, that \"Francis\nis very desirous to have the Princess Mary, and to have her delivered\ninto his hands as soon as the peace is concluded. Our king pretends\nher non age, and will have all, pension, &c., concluded first. The\nQueen Regent is earnest also for the present marriage: Saying there\nis no danger, for she herself was married at xi. And for this match\nthere might be a device to satisfy both sides, saying the princess\nwill be well toward xii by August. At that time both princes should\nmeet at Calais with a small company and charge, there her son, after\nthe marriage solemnized, might abide himself for an hour or less with\nmy Lady Princess; she said the king her son was a man of honour and\ndiscretion, and would use no violence, especially the father and mother\nbeing so nigh; meaning, that _conatus ad copulam cum illa, qu\u00e6 est\nproxima pubertati, prudentia supplente \u00e6tatem_, should make every thing\nsure that neither party should now vary. So the king her son might\nbe assured of his wife, and King Henry carry back his daughter till\nshe should be accounted more able, &c. This overture our ambassadors\nthink very strange.\" _Fiddes Collections_, p. 176. The Bishop of Bath\nreturned into England soon after the cardinal went on his mission, to\nrelate to Henry the course adopted by the cardinal in treating with\nFrancis, and also to explain to him certain devices concerning his own\nsecret matters. _Mr. Master's Collections._\n[117] Skinner explains this word, _a curtain_. It evidently signifies\nhere an enclosed or divided space or seat, decorated with rich\ndraperies or curtains. In another place we have _a traverse of\nsarsenet_, which confirms Skinner's explanation.\n[118] Grises, greeses, or _steps_, for it was spelt various ways\naccording to the caprice of the writer, from the Latin _gressus_.\n[119] The _roodeloft_ was the place where the cross stood; it was\ngenerally placed over the passage out of the church into the chancel.\n[120] The passage within brackets is not to be found in any of the more\nrecent MSS., nor in Dr. Wordsworth's edition.\n[121] Erasmus, in a letter to Aleander, dwells with delight upon this\ncustom:\n\"Quanquam si Britanni\u00e6 dotes satis pernosses Fauste, n\u00e6 tu alatis\npedibus, huc accurreres; et si podagra tua non sineret, D\u00e6dalum te\nfieri optares. Nam ut e pluribus unum quiddam attingam. Sunt hic\nnymph\u00e6 divinis vultibus, blandae, faciles, et quas tu tuis Cam\u00e6nis\nfacile anteponas. _Est pr\u00e6terea mos nunquam satis laudatus_: Sive\nquo venias omnium osculis exciperis; sive discedas aliquo, osculis\ndemitteris: redis? redduntur suavia; venitur ad te? propinantur suavia:\ndisceditur abs te? dividuntur basia: occuritur alicubi? basiatur\naffatim: denique, quocunque te moveas, suaviorum plena sunt omnia. Qu\u00e6\nsi tu, Fauste, gustasses semel quam sint mollicula, quam fragrantia,\nprofecto cuperes non decennium solum, ut Solon fecit, sed ad mortem\nusque in Anglia peregrinari.\" _Erasmi Epistol._ p. 315, edit. 1642.\n\"It becometh nat therefore the persones religious to folowe _the maner\nof secular persones_, that in theyr congresses and commune metyngs or\ndepartyng done use to kysse, take hands, or such other touchings, that\ngood religious persones shulde utterly avoyde.\" _Whytford's Pype of\nPerfection._ fol. 213. b. A. D. 1532. _W._\n[122] This name is spelt _Creeky_ and _Crykky_ in the autograph MS. In\nWordsworth's edition it is Crokey. Grove has it _Crockly_, and two of\nthe MSS. copies _Crokir_. I know not whether I have divined the true\northography, but there was a noble family of this name at the time.\n[123] _Evensong._ \"Which persons for their waiting befoir noon hath\nlicence at afternoon to go about their own business from the saide noon\nto iij of the clocke that evensong begin.\"\n[124] The shalme, or shawm, was a wind instrument like a hautboy, with\na swelling protuberance in the middle. In \"Commenius's Visible World,\"\ntranslated by Hoole, 1659, the Latin word _gingras_ is translated by\nshawn, and the form of the instrument is represented as below. Its\nproper name appears to have been _shawme_; it is derived from the\nTeutonic. Drayton mentions it as shrill-toned: 'E'en from the shrillest\n_shaum_ unto the cornamute.'\n[Illustration]\n[125] _Now_, Wordsworth's edit. The passages within brackets which\nfollow are not found in any other manuscript: a space almost always\nmarking the deficiency of this relation, and the succeeding account of\nthe libels of the French against the cardinal.\n[126] Catherine Rene\u00e9, one of the daughters of Louis the Twelfth. It\ndoes not seem that this exposition of the cardinal's views in regard\nto the union of Henry with this princess, in case of a divorce, were\nwithout foundation, for he persuaded himself that Henry's passion for\nAnne Boleyn would soon subside, and thought this alliance a sure mode\nof perpetuating the peace and union between the sovereigns. The other\npart of the assertion was proved true by the subsequent treaty, in\nwhich it was agreed that the Princess Mary should marry either Francis,\nor the Duke of Orleans; the first if he should remain a widower until\nshe was of sufficient age, the second if it seemed expedient that\nFrancis should keep his faith to the emperor, and marry his sister\nLeonora, to whom he was contracted by the Treaty of Madrid. Hence the\nnecessity of keeping these designs secret, and the cardinal's anger at\ntheir developement.\n[127] This passage stands in the ordinary MSS., and in Dr. Wordsworth's\nedition, in the following abridged and confused manner. The\ntranscribers of the MSS. appear to have been sensible that their copy\nwas defective, for in several of them one or two blank leaves are here\nleft.\n\"Now shortly after there were divers malicious practices pretended\nagainst us by the French, who by their theft somewhat impaired us:\nwhereupon one of them, being a man I was well acquainted with,\nmaintained a seditious untruth, openly divulged, and set forth by\na subtle and traitorous subject of their realm, saying also that\nhe doubted not, but the like had been attempted within the king of\nEngland his majesty's dominions; but to see so open and manifest\nblasphemy to be openly punished, according to their traitorous deserts,\nnotwithstanding I saw but small redress.\"\n[128] The twentieth of October, A. D. 1527. The embassadors were the\nMar\u00e9chal de Montmorency, the Bishop of Bayonne, the President of Rouen,\nand Monsieur d'Humieres.\n[129] The book of ceremonies (compiled under the influence of the\nBishops Gardiner and Tonstall, and in opposition to that of Cranmer,\nabout the year 1540, and designed to retain in the church many operose\nand superstitious rites, by setting them off with the aids of a\nphilosophical and subtle interpretation), describing in succession\nthe different parts of the Canon of the Mass, proceeds thus, \"Then\nsaith the priest _thrice_, _Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, &c._\nadvertising us of _three_ effects of Christ's passion; whereof the\n_first_ is, deliverance from the misery of sin; the _second_ is from\npain of everlasting damnation; wherefore he saith twice _Miserere\nnobis_, that is to say, _Have mercy on us_; and the _third_ effect is,\ngiving of everlasting peace, consisting in the glorious fruition of\nGod.\" _Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials_, Vol. i. p. 289. Records. See\nalso _Mirror of our Lady_. fol. 189, and _Becon's Works_. Vol. iii.\n[130] These cupboards or rather sideboards of plate were necessary\nappendages to every splendid entertainment. The form of them somewhat\nresembled some of the old cumbrous cabinets to be found still in\nancient houses on the continent. There was a succession of step-like\nstages, or desks, as Cavendish calls them, upon which the plate was\nplaced. The reader will have a better conception than description\ncan convey of this piece of antient ostentation, from a print in\na very curious work by Julio Bello, entitled LAUREA AUSTRIACA:\n_Francof._ 1627, folio, p. 640. Where our King James I. is represented\nentertaining the Spanish ambassadors in 1623.\n[131] _Proface._ An expression of welcome equivalent to Much good\nmay it do you! Mr. Steevens conjectured it to be from the old French\nexpression, '_Bon prou leur face_,' which is to be found in Cotgrave\n_in voce_ PROU. This was a happy conjecture of Mr. Steevens, for Mr.\nNares has pointed out its true origin in the old Norman-French or\nRomance language: 'PROUFACE souhait qui veut dire, bien vous fasse,\n_proficiat_.' ROQUEFORT. _Glossaire de la Langue Romane._\n[132] 'Mademoiselle de Boulan \u00e0 la fin y est venue, et l'a le Roy log\u00e9e\nen fort beau logis, qu'il a fait bien accoustrer tout aupr\u00e8s du sien,\net luy est la cour faicte ordinairement tous les jours plus grosse que\nde long temps ne fut faicte \u00e0 la Royne.'\n[133] It is a question of fact which has been warmly debated, whether\nthe suffrages of the Universities in Henry's favour were purchased by\nmoney. It does not seem very necessary that _we_ should enter into this\ndispute. But any one who wishes so to do, may consult _Burnet's Hist.\nof the Reformation_, Vol. iii. p. 401, Appendix. _Harmer's Specimen of\nErrors_, p. 7. _Fiddes's Life of Wolsey_, p. 420. _Poli Epistol\u00e6_, Vol.\n[134] Eight of these determinations soon after were printed in one\nvolume, with a long Discourse in support of the judgments contained\nin them, under the following title: \"The Determinations of the moste\nfamous and moste excellent Universities of Italy and Fraunce, that it\nis so unlefull for a man to marry his Brother's Wyfe, that the Pope\nhath no power to dispence therewith: imprinted by Thomas Berthelet the\nviith day of Novembre, 1531.\" They were also published in Latin: in\nwhich language they are exhibited by Bishop Burnet in his _Hist. of the\nReformation_, Vol. i. book ii. No. 34. Records. _W._\n[135] i. e. the _Bulla_ or Papal seal. The passage marked with * *\ncontains three words which I could not decipher.\n[136] Doctor _Stephen_ Gardiner, afterwards Bishop of Winchester,\nat this time in great estimation with Wolsey. In letters and other\ndocuments of this period he is often called Doctor _Stevens_. Mr.\nGrainger in the third vol. of Bishop Burnet's Hist. of the Reformation,\np. 385, Appendix, intimates that this was a colloquial vulgarism;\n\"_vulgarly_, as Stephen Gardiner was Mr. _Stevyns_, in Wolsey's\nLetter.\" But it is questionable, I think, whether this is the true\naccount of that name. The bishop himself, in his Declaration of his\nArticles against George Joye, A. D. 1546, fol. 3. b. of the 4to\nedition, thus speaks of it, \"a booke, wherein he wrote, how Doctor\n_Stevens_ (by _whiche name_ I was _then_ called) had deceyved him.\"\nIn Doctor Barnes' account of his examination before the bishops at\nWestminster, he calls Gardiner \"Doctor Stephen then secretary.\"\n[137] The reader may consult Burnet's Hist. of the Reformation, Vol.\niii. p. 46-48. The bishop affirms positively that the king did not\nappear personally, but by proxy; and that the queen withdrew after\nreading a protest against the competency of her judges. \"And from this\nit is clear (says the bishop), that the speeches that the historians\nhave made for them are all plain falsities.\" It is easy to contradict\nthe confident affirmation of the historian upon the authority of a\ndocument published by himself in his Records, i. 78. It is a letter\nfrom the king to his agents, where he says: \"At which time both we\nand the queen appeared in person, and they minding to proceed further\nin the cause, the queen would no longer make her abode to hear what\nthe judges would fully descern, but incontinently departed out of the\ncourt; wherefore she was thrice preconnisate, and called eftsoons to\nreturn and appear; which she refusing to do, was denounced by the\njudges _contumax_, and a citation decerned for her appearance on\nFriday.\" Which is corroborated also by _Fox's Acts_, p. 958. Indeed the\ntestimony for the personal appearance of the king before the cardinals\nis surprisingly powerful; even though we do not go beyond Cavendish,\nand the other ordinary historians. But in addition to these, Dr.\nWordsworth has produced the authority of William Thomas, Clerk of the\nCouncil in the reign of King Edward VI, a well informed writer; who,\nin a professed Apology for Henry VIII, extant in MS. in the Lambeth\nand some other libraries, speaking of this affair affirms, \"that the\nCardinal (Campeggio) caused the king as a private party in person to\nappear before him, and the Lady Katharine both.\" P. 31.\n[138] Hall has given a different report of this speech of the queen's,\nwhich he says was made _in French_, and translated by him, as well as\nhe could, from notes taken by Cardinal Campeggio's secretary. In his\nversion she accuses Wolsey with being the first mover of her troubles,\nand reproaches him, in bitter terms, of pride and voluptuousness: such\nharsh language could hardly deserve the praise '_modeste tamen eam\nlocutum fuisse_,' given by Campeggio.\n[139] See _Neve's Animadversions on Phillips's Life of Cardinal Pole_,\n[140] Nothing of this kind is to be found in the journal of this\nembassy, or in the letters of the bishop and his companions, which have\nbeen preserved, and many of which have been published by _Le Grand,\nHistoire du Divorce de Henri VIII._\n[141] \"In a Manuscript Life of Sir Thomas More, written not many\nyears after Longland's death, this account is given. 'I have heard\nDr. Draycot, that was his (Longland's) chaplain and chancellor, say,\nthat he once told the bishop what rumour ran upon him in that matter;\nand desired to know of him the very truth. Who answered, that in very\ndeed he did not break the matter after that sort, as is said: but the\nking brake the matter to him first; and never left urging him until he\nhad won him to give his consent. Of which his doings he did forethink\nhimself, and repented afterward.' MSS. Coll. Eman. Cantab.\" Baker's\nNotes on _Burnet's Hist. of the Reformation_: in Burnet, Vol. iii. p.\n400, Appendix. The same Life is among the MSS. in the Lambeth Library,\nNo. 827, (see fol. 12), and, I have reason to think, was composed\nabout the year 1556, and by Nicolas Harpsfield. From these concurrent\ntestimonies it should appear, that the charge which has been often\nurged against Wolsey, that it was through his intrigues that Longland\nfirst suggested his scruples to the king, is unfounded. _W._\nWolsey was at the time loudly proclaimed as the instigator of the\ndivorce, and though he denied it upon some occasions, he admitted it\non others; but Cardinal Pole asserts that it was first suggested by\ncertain divines whom Anne Boleyn sent to him for that purpose. It is\nremarkable that he says this when writing to the king, and would surely\nnot have ventured to say so if he had not had good grounds for the\nassertion.\n[143] This determination of Campeggio was in consequence of secret\ninstructions from the pope (unknown to Wolsey), at the instance of the\nemperor, who had prevailed upon the pontiff to adjourn the court and\nremove the cause to Rome.\n[144] These proceedings led the way to the next great step in the\nprogress of the Reformation, the renunciation of the pope's authority,\nand the establishment of the regal supremacy. The following account,\nfrom an unpublished treatise, of the manner in which these questions\nwere first brought to the king's mind (whether authentic or not) may\nnot be unacceptable to my readers.\n\"Now unto that you say, that because Pope Clement would not dispense\nwith his second matrimonie, his majestie extirped out of England the\npapal authoritie, a thinge of most auncient and godly reverence as you\ntake it, I aunsweare that after the kinges highness had so appeared in\nperson before the Cardinal Campegio, one of the princes of his realm,\nnamed the _Duke of Suffolk_, a great wise man, and of more familiaritie\nwith the kinge than any other person, asked his majestie, 'how this\nmatter might come to passe, that a prince in his own realme should so\nhumble himself before the feet of a vile, strange, vitious priest,'\n(for Campegio there in England demeaned himself in very deed most\ncarnally -- --). Whereunto the king aunswered, \"he could not tell;\nbut only that it seemed unto him, the spiritual men ought to judge\nspiritual matters; and yet as you saye (said the king) me seemeth there\nshould be somewhat in it, and I would right gladly understand, why and\nhow, were it not that I would be loth to appeare more curious than\nother princes.\" \"Why, sir (sayd the duke), your majestie may cause the\nmatter to be discussed secretly by your learned men, without any rumour\nat all.\" \"Very well (sayd the kinge), and so it shall be.\" And thus\ninspired of God, called he diverse of his trusty and great doctours\nunto him; charging them distinctly to examine, _what lawe of God should\ndirect so carnal a man as Campegio, under the name of spiritual, to\njudge a king in his owne realme_. According unto whose commandment,\nthese doctors resorting together unto an appointed place, disputed this\nmatter _large et stricte_, as the case required. And as the blacke by\nthe white is knowen, so by conferring the oppositions together, it\nappeared that the evangelical lawe varied much from the canon lawes in\nthis pointe. So that in effect, because two contraries cannot stand\n_in uno subjecto, eodem casu et tempore_, they were constrained to\nrecurre unto the kinges majesties pleasure, to knowe whether of these\ntwo lawes should be preferred: who smiling at the ignorance of so fonde\na question aunsweared, that the Gospell of Christ ought to be the\nabsolute rule unto all others; commanding them therefore to followe\nthe same, without regard either to the civile, canon, or whatsoever\nother lawe. And here began the quicke: for these doctours had no sooner\ntaken the Gospel for their absolute rule, but they found this popish\nauthoritie over the kinges and princes of this earth to be usurped.\"\n_William Thomas's Apology for King Henry the Eighth_, written A. D.\n1547. p. 34. Lambeth Library. MSS. No. 464. _W._\n[145] The history and occasion of this great obligation of the Duke\nof Suffolk to the cardinal, who plainly intimates that but for his\ninterposition the duke must have lost his life, does not appear to be\nknown to the historians. See _Fiddes's Life of Wolsey_. p. 454. _W._\nA writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1755 (Dr. Pegge), who appears\nto have paid much attention to the Cardinal Wolsey's history, suggests\nthat Wolsey was the means of abating the anger of Henry at the marriage\nof Suffolk with his sister Mary Queen of France, which might have been\nmade a treasonable offence. A letter from Mary to Wolsey, dated March\n22, 1515, after her marriage with Suffolk, which is still extant in the\nCotton Collection, gives some probability to this conjecture.\n[146] i. e. Dr. Stephen Gardiner.\n[147] i. e. The season of hunting, when the hart is in _grease_ or\nfull season. Dr. Wordsworth's edition and the more recent manuscripts\nread--'all _that_ season.'\n[148] The following additional particulars of the route are found\nin more recent MSS. \"And were lodged the first night at a towne in\nBedfordshire, called Leighton Bussarde, in the parsonage there, being\nMr. Doctor Chambers's benefice, the kings phisitian. And from thence\nthey rode the next day.\"\n[149] The king had listened to their suggestions against the\ncardinal, and they felt assured of success; they are represented by\nan eyewitness, as boasting openly that they would humble him and all\nchurchmen, and spoil them of their wealth: \"La faintaisie de ces\nseigneurs est, que lui mort ou ruin\u00e9 ils d\u00e9ferrent incontinent icy\nl'estat de l'eglise, et prendront tous leurs biens; qu'il seroit ja\nbesoing que je le misse en chiffre, car ils le crient en plaine table.\"\n                    _L'Evesque de Bayonne, Le Grand_, Tom. iii. p. 374.\n[150] \"Le pis de son mal est, que Mademoiselle de Boulen a faict\npromettre \u00e0 son Amy qu'il ne l'escoutera jamais parler; car elle pense\nbien qu'il ne le pourroit garder d'en avoir piti\u00e9.\"\n        _Lettre de l'Eveque de Bayonne ap. Le Grand_, Tom. iii. p. 375.\nThe manor of THE MOOR was situate in the parish of Rickmansworth, in\nHertfordshire; the site is still called Moor Park. It was purchased\nand the house built by George Neville, Archbishop of York. Edward the\nfourth had promised to make that prelate a visit there, and while he\nwas making suitable preparations to receive his royal master he was\nsent for to Windsor, and arrested for high treason. The king seized\nat the Moor all his rich stuff and plate to the value of 20,000_l._\nkeeping the archbishop prisoner at Calais and Hammes. _Stowe_, A^o.\n1472. There was a survey of the house in 1568, by which it appears the\nmansion was of brick, the chief buildings forming a square court, which\nwas entered by a gate-house with towers: the whole was moated. It was\nthen in a dilapidated state.\n[151] \"Le Cardinal Camp\u00e8ge est encores \u00e0 Douvres, et \u00e0 ceste heure\n(je) viens d'entendre que, soubz couleur de faute de Navires, on ne le\nveult laisser passer, sans y prendre avis, de paeur qu'il n'emporte le\nthr\u00e9sor du Card. d'Yorc.\"\n      _Lettre de l'Evesque de Bayonne, apud Le Grand Hist. du Divorce._\n[152] The Term then began the ninth of October.\n[153] Esher.\n[154] The Eighteenth November, 1529.\n[155] This inventory is preserved among the Harleian MSS. No. 599.\n[156] These words follow in the more recent MSS. \"Yet there was laide\nupon every table, bokes, made in manner of inventories, reporting the\nnumber and contents of the same. And even so there were bokes made\nin manner of inventories of all things here after rehearsed, wherein\nhe toke great paines to set all things in order against the king's\ncomming.\"\n[157] Baudkyn, cloth made partly of silk and partly of gold. Derived\nfrom _Baldacca_, an Oriental name for Babylon, being brought from\nthence.--\"_Baldekinum_--pannus omnium ditissimus, cujus, utpote\nstamen ex filio _auri_, subtegmen ex _serico_ texitur, plumario opere\nintertextus.\" _Ducange Glossar. in voce._ It sometimes is used for a\n_canopy_ or _cloth of state_.\n[158] The name of Cardinal Wolsey's fool is said to have been \"Master\nWilliams, otherwise called Patch.\" An inquiry into this very curious\nfeature in the domestic manners of the great in ancient times could not\nfail to be very interesting. Mr. Douce has glanced at the subject in\nhis Illustrations of Shakspeare; and gave his friends reason to hope\nfor a more enlarged inquiry at a future period: it would afford me real\npleasure to hear that his intentions were not finally abandoned.\n[159] The Bishop of Bayonne, who paid him a visit of commiseration at\nthis period, gives the following affecting picture of his distress,\nin a most interesting letter which will be found in the Appendix; he\nsays: \"J'ay est\u00e9 voir le Cardinal en ses ennuis, o\u00f9 que j'y ay trouv\u00e9\n_le plus grand example de fortune qu' on ne s\u00e7auroit voir_, il m'a\nremonstr\u00e9 son cas en la plus mauvaise rh\u00e9torique que je vis jamais,\n_car cueur et parolle luy falloient enti\u00e8rement_; il a bien pleur\u00e9 et\npri\u00e9 que le Roy et Madame voulsissent avoir piti\u00e9 du luy--mais il m'a\n\u00e0 la fin laiss\u00e9 sans me povoir dire austre chose qui vallist mieux que\nson visage; qui est bien dechue de la moiti\u00e9 de juste pris. Et vous\npromets, Monseigneur, que sa fortune est telle que ses ennemis, encores\nqu'ils soyent Anglois, ne se s\u00e7auroyent garder d'en avoir piti\u00e9, ce\nnonobstant ne le laisseront de le poursuivre jusques au bout.\" He\nrepresents him as willing to give up every thing, even the shirt from\nhis back, and to live in a hermitage if the king would desist from his\ndispleasure.\n[160] Dr. Wordsworth's edition and the later manuscripts read:\n\"_which had bine a strange sight in him afore_;\" but this can hardly\nbe right? The splendour of Cromwell's subsequent fortunes, their\ntragical close, and the prominent figure he makes in the events of this\nreign, which are among the most important of modern history, gives\nthis circumstantial account a great degree of interest. His father\nwas a blacksmith at Putney, the son was first an agent to an English\nfactory at Antwerp, then a trooper in the Duke of Bourbon's army, and\nwas present at the sacking of Rome. It appears that he assisted Mr.\nRussell (afterwards Earl of Bedford), in making his escape from the\nFrench at Bologna, and it is probably to this circumstance that he\nowed the friendly offices of that gentleman at a subsequent period.\nAfter passing some time in the counting-house of a Venetian merchant,\nhe returned to England and studied the law. Wolsey, it appears, first\nmet with him in France, and soon made him his principal agent in the\ndissolution of monasteries and the foundation of his colleges. It was\na trust which he discharged with ability, and is said to have enriched\nhimself; yet he here complains that he \"never had any promotion at\nthe cardinal's hands to the increase of his living.\" And he tells the\ncardinal in his troubles, that \"the soliciting his cause hath been very\nchargeable to him, and he cannot sustain it any longer without other\nrespect than he hath had heretofore.\" He says, \"I am a thousand pounds\nworse than I was when your troubles began.\" And after announcing the\nking's determination to dissolve the cardinal's colleges, he says:\n\"I intreat your grace to be content, and let your prince execute his\npleasure.\"\nCardinal Pole relates that he openly professed to him his Machiavelian\nprinciples; he had learned, he said, \"that vice and virtue were\nbut names, fit indeed to amuse the leisure of the learned in their\ncolleges, but pernicious to the man who seeks to rise in the courts\nof princes. The great art of the politician was, in his judgment, to\npenetrate through the disguise which sovereigns are accustomed to\nthrow over their real inclinations, and to devise the most specious\nexpedients by which they may gratify their appetites without appearing\nto outrage morality or religion.\" He shared largely in the public odium\nin which the cardinal was held, and Pole, who was then in London, says\nthat the people loudly clamoured for his punishment.\n[161] The day after it appears Cromwell was at court, and sought an\naudience from the king, which was granted him; Cardinal Pole, who had\nthe account from Cromwell himself and others who were present, relates\nthat upon this occasion Cromwell suggested to the king a mode of\novercoming the difficulty of the pope's opposition to the divorce, by\ntaking the authority into his own hands, and declaring himself head of\nthe church within his own realm. The king gave ear to the proposition,\nand was so well pleased with Cromwell, that he thanked him, and\nadmitted him to the dignity of a privy counsellor. This was the first\nstep; to carry into effect this project his assistance was deemed\nnecessary, and he arrived at length to the highest honours of the\nstate; but at last became the victim of his own Machiavelian intrigues,\nand the vindictive spirit of the monarch. It has been doubted whether\nCromwell deserves the credit of attachment to his fallen master to the\nwhole extent which some writers have supposed. It is evident, from\nthe very interesting conversation above, that he despaired of ever\nseeing Wolsey reinstated in his fortunes, and he was too subtle in his\npolicy to have endeavoured to swim against the stream of court favour.\nThat the cardinal suspected his fidelity to his cause is evident\nfrom fragments of two letters published by Fiddes among Mr. Master's\ncollections, in one of which Cromwell says: \"I am informed your grace\nhath me in some diffidence, as if I did dissemble with you, or procure\nany thing contrary to your profit and honour. I much muse that your\ngrace should so think or suspect it secretly, considering the pains I\nhave taken, &c. Wherefore I beseech you to speak without faining, if\nyou have such conceit, that I may clear myself; I reckoned that your\ngrace would have written plainly unto me of such thing, rather than\nsecretly to have misrepresented me. But I shall bear your grace no less\ngood will. Let God judge between us! Truly your grace in some things\novershooteth yourself; there is regard to be given to what things you\nutter, and to whom.\"\nThe cardinal, in answer to this, protests: \"that he suspects him not,\nand that may appear by his deeds, so that he useth no man's help nor\ncounsel but his. Complaint indeed hath been made to him, that Cromwell\nhath not done him so good offices as he might concerning his colleges\nand archbishoprick; but he hath not believed them; yet he hath asked of\ntheir common friends how Cromwell hath behaved himself towards him; and\nto his great comfort hath found him faithful. Wherefore he beseecheth\nhim, with weeping tears, to continue stedfast, and give no credit to\nthe false suggestions of such as would sow variance between them, and\nso leave him destitute of all help.\"\nBut the testimony of Cavendish in his favour is conclusive; he says\nthat, by reason of \"his honest behaviour in his master's cause, he grew\ninto such estimation in every man's opinion, that he was esteemed to be\nthe most faithfullest servant to his master of all other, wherein he\nwas of all men greatly commended.\"\n[162] In _prease_, i. e. the _press_ or _crowd_.\n[163] A writer before cited (Dr. Pegge), is of opinion that the House\nof Commons could not do otherwise than acquit him, notwithstanding the\nvalidity of several of the articles alleged against him, because he had\neither suffered the law for them already, or they were not sufficiently\nproved: indeed some of them were not proper grounds of censure.\n'Wolsey says of these articles himself, \"whereof a great part be\nuntrue: and those which be true are of such sort, that by the doing\nthereof no malice or untruth can be arrected unto me, neither to the\nprince's person nor to the state.\" The rejection of the bill may be\njustly ascribed to the relentment of the king, for Cromwell would not\nhave dared to oppose it, nor the Commons to reject it, had they not\nreceived an intimation that such was the royal pleasure.'\n[164] During the visit of the Emperor Charles V. to Henry VIII. \"on\nMonday at nine of the clocke at night, was begun a banquet, which\nendured till the next morning at three of the clocke, at the which\nbanquet the emperor, the king, and the Queene did wash together, the\nDuke of Buckingham giving the water, the Duke of Suffolke holding the\ntowel. Next them did washe _the Lord Cardinall_, the Queene of Fraunce,\nand the Queene of Arragon. At which banquet the emperor kept the\nestate, the king sitting on the left hand, next him the French Queene;\nand on the other side sate the Queene, _the Cardinall_, and the Queene\nof Aragon; which banquet was served by the emperor's owne servants.\"\n_Stowe's Annals_, p. 510. edit. 1615. _W._\n[165] This instrument is published by Fiddes in his Collections, p. 224.\n[166] The anguish and anxiety he suffered may be seen by the letters\nwritten at this period to his old servants Cromwell and Gardiner; I\nhave placed them in the Appendix, as a necessary illustration of this\naffecting picture.\n[167] In an extract from a letter to Cromwell, published by Fiddes, the\ncardinal says: \"My fever is somewhat asswaged, and the black humour\nalso, howbeit I am entering into the kalends of a more dangerous\ndisease, which is the dropsy, so that if I am not removed into a dryer\nair, and that shortly, there is little hope.\" And in a letter to\nGardiner, which will be found in the Appendix, he repeats his wish to\nbe removed from Asher: \"Continuing in this moiste and corrupt ayer,\nbeyng enteryd in the passion of the dropsy, _Appetitus et continuo\ninsomnio_, I cannot lyve: wherfor of necessyte I must be removed to\nsome dryer ayer and place.\"\n[168] _Stuff_ was the general term for all kind of _moveables_ or\nbaggage. See the instrument of the king's benefaction to the cardinal\nafter his forfeiture by the premunire, in Rymer's F\u0153dera, and in\nFiddes' Collections. The reader will find the _Schedule_ which was\naffixed to it, in our Appendix.\n[169] \"From the old gallery next the king's lodging, unto the first\ngatehouse.\" _Wordsworth's Edition._\n[170] \"Of four thousand marks,\" say the more recent MSS. and Dr.\nWordsworth's Edit.\n[171] Those to whom they were granted appear to have been the Lord\nSandys and his son Thomas; Sir William Fitzwilliam, Sir Henry Guilford,\nSir John Russel, and Sir Henry Norris. This suit to the cardinal seems\nto have been successfully brought about. Their pensions out of the\nrevenues of the see of Winchester were settled on them for life by Act\nof Parliament, notwithstanding the just objection in the text. Rot.\nParl. clxxxviii. Stat. 22 Hen. VIII. c. 22.\n[172] From the Ital. _intagliare_, to cut, carve, &c.\n[173] _Pr\u00eat, Somme pr\u00eat\u00e9e._ Fr. A sum in advance. _W._\n[174] \"His train was in number one hundred and threescore persons.\"\nThis addition is in Dr. Wordsworth's edition and the later MSS.\n[175] He was now fifty-nine years old.\n[176] The book of Ceremonies before cited, which was compiled in\nthe reign of Henry VIII. observes: \"Upon Easter Day in the morning\n_the ceremonies_ of the _resurrection_ be very laudable, to put us\nin remembrance of Christ's resurrection, which is the cause of our\njustification.\" _Strype's Eccles. Memorials_, v. i. p. 294. _Records._\nWhat these ceremonies were we may collect from the Rubrics upon that\nday, in the _Processionale secundum usum Sarum_. fol. 72. edit. 1555;\nwhich are to this effect: On Easter Day, before mass, and before the\nringing of the bells, let the clerks assemble, and all the tapers\nin the church be lighted. Then two persons shall draw nigh to the\nsepulchre, and after it is censed let them take the cross out of the\nsepulchre, and one of them begin _Christus resurgens_. Then let the\nprocession commence. After this they shall all worship (_adorent_)\nthe cross. Then let all the crucifixes and images in the church be\nunveiled, &c. &c. In like manner Good Friday also had its peculiar\nceremonies. Bishop Longland closes his sermon preached on that day\nbefore King Henry VIII. A. D. 1538, in the following manner: \"In meane\nseason I shall exhorte you all in our Lord God, _as of old custome\nhath here this day bene used_, every one of you or ye departe, with\nmoost entire devocyon, knelynge tofore our Savyour Lorde God, this\nour Jesus Chryst, whiche hath suffered soo muche for us, to whome we\nare soo muche bounden, _whoo lyeth in yonder sepulchre_; in honoure\nof hym, of his passyon and deathe, and of his five woundes, to say\nfive Pater-nosters, five Aves, and one Crede: that it may please his\nmercifull goodness to make us parteners of the merites of this his most\ngloryous passyon, bloode, and deathe.\" _Imprynted by Thomas Petyt._ See\nalso Michael Wood's _Dialogue or Familiar Talks_. A. D. 1554. Signat.\n[177] See above, page 158, Dr. Wordsworth's note.\n[178] In Mr. Ellis's very interesting collection of Historical Letters,\nvol. i. p. 176, there is an extract of a letter from Sir William\nFitzwilliams, then on a mission in France, relating a conversation he\nhad with the French king upon his hearing the Duke of Buckingham was in\nthe Tower. With the Cardinal's answer.\n[179] The favourable representation given of this portion of the\ncardinal's life, notwithstanding what is said by Fox, p. 908, is fully\nconfirmed by an authority which cannot be suspected of partiality to\nhis memory, that of a State Book, which came out from the office of the\nking's printer in the year 1536, intituled _A Remedy for Sedition_.\n\"Who was lesse beloved in the Northe than my lord cardynall, God have\nhis sowle, before he was amonges them? Who better beloved, after he had\nben there a whyle? We hate oft times whom we have good cause to love.\nIt is a wonder to see howe they were turned; howe of utter enemyes they\nbecam his dere frendes. He gave byshops a ryght good ensample, howe\nthey might wyn mens hartys. There was few holy dayes, but he would ride\nfive or six myle from his howse, nowe to this parysh churche, nowe to\nthat, and there cause one or other of his doctours to make a sermone\nunto the people. He sat amonges them, and sayd masse before all the\nparyshe. He sawe why churches were made. He began to restore them to\ntheir ryght and propre use. He broughte his dinner with hym, and bad\ndyvers of the parish to it. He enquired, whether there was any debate\nor grudge betweene any of them; yf there were, after dinner he sente\nfor the parties to the churche, and made them all one. Men say well\nthat do well. Godde's lawes shal never be so set by as they ought,\nbefore they be well knowen.\" Signat. E. 2. _W._\n[180] In the more recent MS. and in Dr. Wordsworth's edition, \"Newsted\nAbbey.\"\n[181] Next, _i.e._ nearest.\n[182] The prevailing hour of dinner with our ancestors appears to have\nbeen much earlier. In the Northumberland Household Book it is said, \"to\nX of the clock that my lord goes to dinner.\"\n\"With us,\" says Harrison, in the Description of England, prefixed to\nHolinshed's Chronicle, p. 171, \"the Nobilitie, Gentrie, and Students\ndo ordinarilie go to dinner at eleven before noone, and to supper at\nfive, or betweene five and six at afternoone. The merchants dine and\nsup seldome before twelve at noone, and six at night, especiallie in\nLondon. The husbandmen dine also at high noone, as they call it, and\nsup at seven or eight: but out of the tearme in our Universities the\nscholars dine at ten. As for the poorest sort, they generally dine and\nsup when they may: so that to talke of their order of repast, it were\nbut a needlesse matter.\"\n\"_Theophilus._ You wente to diner betyme I perceave. _Eusebius._ Even\nas I doe commonly, when I have no busynes, betwene nyne and ten; me\nthinkes it is a good houre: for by that meanes I save a breakfast,\nwhyche for such idlers as I am, is most fittest.\" _Dialogue between\nEusebius and Theophilus._ Signat. B 4. A. D. 1556. _W._\n[183] Dr. Brian Higden at that time bore the office.\n[184] The Cardinal perhaps remembered the credit which was gained by\nhis successful rival Cardinal Adrian, who being elected to the papacy\nby the Conclave, through the influence of the emperor Charles V.\n\"before his entry into the cittie of Rome (as we are told by one of Sir\nThomas More's biographers), putting off his hose and shoes, and as I\nhave credibly heard it reported, bare-footed and bare-legged, passed\nthrough the streets towards his Palace, with such humbleness, that\nall the people had him in great reverence.\" Harpsfield's _Life of Sir\nThomas More_. Lambeth MSS. No. 827, fol. 12. _W._\n[185] Storer, in his Poetical Life of Wolsey, 1599, has availed himself\nof this declaration of the cardinal, in a passage justly celebrated\nfor its eminent beauty. The image in the second stanza is worthy of a\ncotemporary of Shakspeare:\n    I did not mean with predecessors pride,\n      To walk on cloth as custom did require;\n    More fit that cloth were hung on either side\n      In mourning wise, or make the poor attire;\n      More fit the dirige of a mournful quire\n    In dull sad notes all sorrows to exceed,\n    For him in whom the prince's love is dead.\n    I am the tombe where that affection lies,\n      That was the closet where it living kept;\n    Yet wise men say, Affection never dies;--\n      No, but it turns; and when it long hath slept,\n      Looks heavy, like the eye that long hath wept.\n    O could it die, that were a restfull state;\n    But living, it converts to deadly hate.\n[186] Dr. Percy, in the notes to the Northumberland Household Book, has\nadduced a very curious extract from one of the letters of this Earl of\nNorthumberland, which he thinks affords a \"full vindication of the earl\nfrom the charge of ingratitude in being the person employed to arrest\nthe cardinal.\" However this may be, the earl appears to have felt the\nembarrassment of his situation; he trembled, and with a faltering voice\ncould hardly utter the ungracious purport of his mission. To a mind\nof any delicacy the office must have been peculiarly distressing, and\neven supposing the earl to have been formerly treated in an arbitrary\nand imperious manner by the cardinal, it is one which he should have\navoided. As the letter gives a very curious picture of the manners as\nwell as the literature of our first nobility at that time, I shall\nplace it in my appendix; the very curious volume in which it is to be\nfound being of great rarity and value.\n[187] \"In the houses of our ancient nobility they dined at long tables.\nThe Lord and his principal guests sate at the upper end of the first\ntable, in the Great Chamber, which was therefore called the Lord's\nBoard-end. The officers of his household, and inferior guests, at long\ntables below in the hall. In the middle of each table stood a great\nsalt cellar; and as particular care was taken to place the guests\naccording to their rank, it became a mark of distinction, whether a\nperson sate above or below the salt.\"--_Notes on the Northumberland\nHousehold Book_, p. 419.\n[188] The enemies of Archbishop Laud, particularly in the time of\nhis troubles, were fond of comparing him with Cardinal Wolsey: and a\ngarbled edition of this life was first printed in the year 1641, for\nthe purpose of prejudicing that great prelate in the minds of the\npeople, by insinuating a parallel between him and the cardinal. It is\nnot generally known that, beside the edition of this life then put\nforth, a small pamphlet was also printed with the following title,\n\"A true Description or rather Parallel betweene Cardinall Wolsey,\nArchbishop of York, and William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1641.\"\nAs it is brief, and of extreme rarity, I shall give it a place in the\nAppendix.\n[189] \"But what he did there, I know not.\" The more recent MS. and Dr.\nWordsworth's edition have this reading.\n[190] The words which follow, I apprehend, are part of some\necclesiastical hymn. It was not unusual to attribute the name of\n_Scripture_ to all such compositions; and to whatever was read in\nchurches. \"Also I said and affirmed\" (the words are part of the\nrecantation of a Wickliffite), \"that I held no _Scripture_ catholike\nnor holy, but onely that is contained in the Bible. For the legends and\nlives of saints I held hem nought; and the miracles written of hem, I\nheld untrue.\" Fox's _Acts_, p. 591. _W._\n[191] \"I know not whether or no it be worth the mentioning here\n(however we will put it on the adventure), but Cardinal Wolsey, in\nhis life time was informed by some fortune-tellers, _that he should\nhave his end at Kingston_. This, his credulity interpreted of Kingston\non Thames; which made him alwayes to avoid the riding through that\ntown, though the nearest way from his house to the court. Afterwards,\nunderstanding that he was to be committed by the king's express order\nto the charge of Sir Anthony [William] Kingston (see Henry Lord Howard\nin his Book against Prophecies, chap. 28, fol. 130), it struck to his\nheart; too late perceiving himself deceived by that father of lies in\nhis homonymous prediction.\" Fuller's _Church History_. Book v. p. 178.\n[192] _where_ for _whereas_.\n[193] In the old garbled editions the passage stands thus: \"But alas! I\nam a diseased man, having a fluxe (at which time it was apparent that\n_he had poisoned himself_); it hath made me very weak,\" p. 108, edit.\n1641. This is a most barefaced and unwarranted interpolation. The words\ndo not occur in any of the MSS. Yet the charge of his having poisoned\nhimself was repeated by many writers among the reformers without\nscruple. See Tindall's _Works_, p. 404. _Supplications to the Queen's\nMajesty_, fol. 7. A. D. 1555. Fox's _Acts_, p. 959.\n[194] \"This is an affecting picture,\" says a late elegant writer.\n\"Shakspeare had undoubtedly seen these words, his portrait of the\nsick and dying Cardinal so closely resembling this. But in these\nwords is this chronological difficulty. How is it that Hardwick Hall\nis spoken of as a house of the Earl of Shrewsbury's in the reign of\nHenry VIII, when it is well known that the house of this name between\nSheffield and Nottingham, in which the Countess of Shrewsbury spent\nher widowhood, a house described in the Anecdotes of Painting, and\nseen and admired by every curious traveller in Derbyshire, did not\naccrue to the possessions of any part of the Shrewsbury family till\nthe marriage of an earl, who was grandson to the cardinal's host, with\nElizabeth Hardwick, the widow of Sir William Cavendish, in the time of\nQueen Elizabeth?--The truth however is, that though the story is told\nto every visitor of Hardwick Hall, that \"the great child of honour,\nCardinal Wolsey,\" slept there a few nights before his death; as is\nalso the story, perhaps equally unfounded, that Mary Queen of Scots\nwas confined there; it was _another_ Hardwick which received the weary\ntraveller for a night in this his last melancholy pilgrimage. This\nwas Hardwick-upon-Line in Nottinghamshire, a place about as far to\nthe south of Mansfield as the Hardwick in Derbyshire, so much better\nknown, is to the north-west. It is now gone to much decay, and is\nconsequently omitted in many maps of the county. It is found in Speed.\nHere the Earl of Shrewsbury had a house in the time of Wolsey. Leland\nexpressly mentions it. \"The Erle [of Shrewsbury] hath a parke and\nmanner place or lodge in it called Hardewike-upon-Line, a four miles\nfrom Newstede Abbey.\" Itin. vol. v. fol. 94, p. 108. Both the Hardwicks\nbecame afterwards the property of the Cavendishes. Thoroton tells us\nthat Sir Charles Cavendish, youngest son of Sir William, and father of\nWilliam Duke of Newcastle, \"had begun to build a great house in this\nlordship, on a hill by the forest side, near Annesly-wood-House, when\nhe was assaulted and wounded by Sir John Stanhope and his men, as he\nwas viewing the work, which was therefore thought fit to be left off,\nsome blood being spilt in the quarrel, then very hot between the two\nfamilies.--_Thoresby's Edit. of Thoroton_, vol. ii. p. 294.\"--WHO WROTE\nCAVENDISH'S LIFE OF WOLSEY? p. 18.\n[195] Mr. Douce has pointed out a remarkable passage in Pittscottie's\nHistory of Scotland (p. 261, edit. 1788,) in which there is a great\nresemblance to these pathetic words of the cardinal. James V. imagined\nthat Sir James Hamilton addressed him thus in a dream. \"Though I was a\nsinner against God, I failed not to thee. Had I been as good a servant\nto the Lord my God as I was to thee, I had not died that death.\"\n[196] In the yeare 1521, the cardinal, by virtue of his legatine\nauthority, issued a mandate to all the bishops in the realme, to take\nthe necessary means for calling in and destroying all books, printed\nor written, containing any of the errors of Martin Luther: and further\ndirecting processes to be instituted against all the possessors and\nfavourers of such books, heresies, &c. The mandate contained also a\nlist of forty-two errors of Luther. See Wilkins's _Concilia_, vol. iii.\np. 690-693; and Strype's _Ecclesiastical Memorials_, vol. i. p. 36-40.\n[197] To administer the _extreme unction_. \"The _fyfth sacrament_ is\nanoyntynge of seke men, the whiche oyle is halowed of the bysshop, and\nmynystred by preestes to them that ben of lawfull age, in grete peryll\nof dethe: in lyghtnes and abatynge of theyr sikenes, yf God wyll that\nthey lyve; and in forgyvynge of theyr venyal synnes, and releasynge of\ntheyr payne, yf they shal deye.\" _Festival_, fol. 171. _W._\n[198] He died Nov. 29, 1530. Le Neve's _Fasti_, p. 310.\nAccording to the superstitious credulity of that age, the death of\nWolsey was said to have been preceded by a portentous storm. See\nLETTERS FROM THE BODLEIAN, Vol. ii. page 17. In a letter from Dr.\nTanner to Dr. Charlett, dated Norwich, Aug. 10, 1709, is the following\npassage:\n\"On the other side is a coeval note at the end of an old MS.\nbelonging to our cathedral, of the odd exit of the great Cardinal\nWolsey, not mentioned, I think, in Cavendish, or any of the ordinary\nhistorians,--much like Oliver's wind.\n\"Anno Xti, 1530, nocte immediate sequente quartum diem Novemb. vehemens\nventus quasi per totam Angliam accidebat, et die proxim\u00e8 sequente\nquinto sc. die ejusdem mensis circa horam primam post meridiem\ncaptus erat D\u016bus Thomas Wulsye Cardinalis in \u00e6dibus suis de Cahow\n[Cawood] infra Diocesam suam Eboracensem; et postea in itinere ejus\nversus Londoniam vigilia St. Andre\u00e6 prox. sequente apud Leycestriam\nmoriebatur, quo die ventus quasi Gehennalis tunc fere per totam Angliam\naccidebat, cujus vehementia apud Leystoft infra Dioc. Norwicensem et\nalibi in diversis locis infra Regnum Angli\u00e6 mult\u00e6 naves perierunt.\"\n_Ad finem Annalium Bartholom\u00e6i Cotton. MS. in Biblioth. Eccl. Cath.\nNorwic. habetur h\u00e6c notata._\n[199] The excellent author of the dissertation on this life doubted\nwhether this passage was not an interpolation, because \"Wolsey is\nspoken of in terms so different from those used in other parts of the\nbook.\" But it is only a proof of the integrity of the biographer, whose\nupright heart and devout catholic spirit would not conceal the truth.\n[200] This passage follows in the more recent MSS. \"riding that same\nday, being Wednesday, to Northampton; and the next day to Dunstable;\nand the next day to London; where we tarried untill St. Nicholas Even,\nand then we rode to Hampton Court.\"\n[201] Here is another addition, in the more recent MSS. to the\nfollowing effect: \"Who hath gotten diverse other rich ornaments into\nhis hands, the which be not rehersed or registered in any of my lords\nbooks of inventory, or other writings, whereby any man is able to\ncharge him therewith, but only I.\"\nADDITIONAL NOTES TO THE LIFE OF WOLSEY.\nPAGE 95. The Letter of Anstis, referred to in the note, is addressed\nto Fiddes, and is printed in his Collections. It relates to a rude\nrepresentation of the House of Lords in the reign of King Henry VIII.\nbut that learned herald and antiquary has made it the vehicle of some\nobservations, which may not be misplaced here.\n\"Almost every action of Wolsey hath been interpreted as an instance of\npomp, ambition, or insolence; notwithstanding, probably, upon a strict\nexamination, most of them will be found to be strictly precedented.\nThis particular of _two crosses_ gave Polydore Virgil an opportunity\nof making an uncharitable reflection: \"Non contentus un\u00e2 cruce, qua\nutebatur, quod Archiepiscopus esset Eboracensis, alteram pr\u00e6 se\nferri voluit, per duos sacerdotes statura elegantes, et equis magnis\ninsidentes, qui aperto capite, quocunque anni tempore incederent. Nunc\nplane constat Wols\u00e6um su\u00e6 sibi conscium esse culp\u00e6, qui propterea\nbinas in pompa habet cruces, quod una non satis foret ad ejus expianda\ncommissa.\" Anstis then cites the passage from Roy's satire, which he\nmistakingly attributes to Skelton; and proceeds thus: \"Here is a long\ncatalogue, and yet possibly not one particular is singular to the\ncardinal. For the same honours, according to the known customs of Rome,\nwere to be paid to every Legate _de Latere_ as to the sovereign pontiff\nhimself: Nay, he might of right use all papal ensigns and ornaments,\nfor which Parisius (De Resignat. L. 7. qu. 13. n. 6 et 7) produces the\nvouchers.\"\n\"I know not what was the figure of the _pillars_ here mentioned; but it\nwas not an unusual ensign, because Chaucer, in the Plowman's Tale, v.\n2044, setting forth the duty of a clergyman, says thus:\n    And usin none yerthly honours,\n    Ne croune, ne curious covertours,\n    Ne _pillar_, ne other proud pall, &c.\nAccording to the present customs in this country, no one will charge\nthe cardinal's riding on a mule to be a mark of his insolence or\nhaughtiness, neither was it any testimony of his humility, but a usage\nof his age, in correspondence to the ancient practice of clergymen, who\nesteemed it unbecoming them to ride upon a horse, when our Saviour rode\non the foal of an ass. Thus St. Basil on Psalm 32, _Exclusus est ab usu\nsanctorum equus_. And here I cannot forbear from diverting you with the\nodd simplicity of the style wherein Peraldus (Summ\u00e6 de Superbia, tom.\n2) expresses himself on this occasion: \"Christus nunquam equitavit,\ntantum semel asinavit, atque adeo neque mulavit, neque palafredavit,\nneque dromedariavit.\" His sentiment was as of some other rigid\ndisciplinarians at that time, that the clergy should travel on foot.\nIt is well known that our judges, till the first year of Queen Mary,\nrode always to Westminster on mules, (v. Dugdal. Orig. Juridic. p. 38).\nChristopher Urswicke, who had been Dean of Windsor, in his will made\n10 Oct. 1521, devises to Mr. Cuthbert Tunstall, Maister of the Rolls,\n\"his gowne of blacke furred with martron, his typpet of sarcenet furred\nwith sables, and his little _mule_ with saddle and bridle and all hir\nharneys.\" (Lib. Mainwaryng, in Cur. Pr\u00e6rog.) And upon the motive of\nan affected humility it doubtless was that John de Beverle, in his\nwill dated 1380, \"Volo quod corpus meum sit ductum ab hospitio meo\nper duos asinos, si possint inveniri.\" (Registr. Beckingham Episcopi\nLincoln.) The sumptuary law for apparel, 24 Hen. 8. c. 13, prohibits\nall persons to wear upon their horse, _mule_, or other beast, any silk\nof purpure, &c. Of the custom of the clergy, see Bede Eccles. Hist. 1.\n3, c. 14, and 1. 4, c. 3: and that they first began to ride on mares,\n1. 2, c. 13, unless there be some error in the print. As to Cardinals,\nDavid Chambre, in his History of the Popes abridged, acquaints us that\nInnocent IV. gave them liberty to ride on horseback, and that Pope\nClement V. ordained they should ride upon asses, according to the\nexample of our Saviour.\nBut these rich trappings and housings of the cardinal's mule may give\noffence; herein he could justify himself by an especial privilege to\nthose of his degree:--_Equitare mulas phaleratas, et clavam argenteam\nante se deferre_ (Cohelii Notitia Cardinalatus, p. 28). Here then is\na poleaxe or mace also, and the same author, p. 30, acquaints us that\nin the Roman court the cardinals \"dum equitant _mulas_, pr\u00e6mittunt\napparitores cum argenteis _clavis_ et _bulgis_ ab acupictoribus\ngentilitiis insignibus auro et argento redimitis, necnon famulos duos\npedissequos (parafr\u00e6narios vocant) baculis duobus innixos.\"\nPage 137. The circumstances attending the interception of De Praet's\ndispatches, mentioned in the note, are thus related in a letter of\nWolsey's to Mr. Sampson, printed in the Appendix to Galt's Life of\nWolsey, p. clv. No. vi. 4to. 1812.\n\"It hath bene of a long season, and from sundry parts, reported unto\nthe king's hignes and to me at divers times, that Mon^{sr} de Praet,\nwho resideth here ambassador for the emperor, hath continually bene a\nman disposed and inclined to make, in his letters and writings, both\nto the emperor and the Lady Margaret, seditious and sinister reports;\nsaying many times, upon his own fantasie, suspicion, and conjecture,\nthings clearly untrue, and compassing at other times, when things have\nbeen done, sayd, or set forth, frendly, kindlie, and lovinglie, soe\nto cowch his reports, and the circumstances of the doings thereof, as\nthough the gratuities shewed by the king's highnes, have from time to\ntime been conduced by the industrie, pollicy, and labour of the sayd\nambassadors; ascribing, therefore, the laude and thank therof unto\nhimself, wherby he might acquire the more grace and favor of the sayd\nemperor and Lady Margaret. To these things the kings highnes and I\nwere not over hasty to give soone creddence; but supposing the sayd\nambassador to be a p^rsonage of more vertue and inclinacion to good\nthen now he proveth to be, I would some times admonish him, in general\nwords of such advertisement; exhorting and advising him to be well\nware how he, being a minister betwene two princes so neerly conjoined\nin intelligence, should attempt or doe any thing to the hinderance\nthereof; but rather, regarding the office of a good ambassador to doe\nthat in him is for the nourishing and increase of the same. Wherein he\nalwayes made me such answere that I conceaved noe further suspicion or\njealousy towards him in that behalfe; being therefore the more franke\nand plaine with him in all my conferences, as he, that for the singuler\ngood mind which I have alwayes borne unto the emperors honor, weale,\nand suretie, would procede with his majestie, sincerelie, plainely,\nand truelie. And as familiarly, kindly, and lovinglie hath the kings\nhighnes and I admitted, entertayned, and used the sayd de Praet at\nall times, as the most hearty love betwene the kings highnes and his\nmajestie doth require, making him privie, and having him present,\nat all such comunicacions and accesses have bene of other princes\nambassadors, or of any matter worthy advertisement or knowledge, to the\nintent that he should make most credible and plaine relacion thereof\nunto th'emperor and other to whom it appertained.\"\n* * * * * * * * * * * * * * He then relates, that upon one occasion he\nsent for the ambassador \"to make him participant of such newes as\nthe kings highnes and I had received, as also to understand whether\nhe had any good newes in confirmation of the same.\" And after a long\ncommunication, he \"seeming to be joyous and well contented, giving me\nthanks on the emperors behalfe, departed.\"\n\"Three days before that, as many times is here accustomed, it was\nappointed that, as that night following, which was the xj^{th} day\nat night, a privie watch should be made in London, and by a certaine\ncercoute and space about it: in the which watch was taken, passing\nbetween London and Brainford, by certaine of the watch appointed to\nthat quarter, one ryding towards the said Brainford; who, examined\nby the watch, answered soe closely, that upon suspicion thereof they\nsearched him, and found seacretly hid about him a little pacquet of\nletters, subscribed in French, which the sayd watch p^rceaving, brought\nthe letters unto a man of lawes clarke, being of the same company;\nwho, supposing the bearer of them to be either a spie or a messenger\nfrom some merchant, stranger, or other, intendinge to disclose things\nunto the emperor, and p^rceaving the sayd pacquet to be in the taking\nof it, by the unlearned men of the watch, broken and evil handled,\nlooked in the letters. And thinking the same, by reason of the ciphers,\nmore suspect, brought it unto the king's solicitor, being in the same\nwatch; who not acquainted with the name of the sayd de Praet, brought\nthe letters soe opened unto Sir Thomas Moore, being in another watch\nneere unto the same; and he presented them, in the morning following,\nunto me, being in the chancery at Westminster; which, when I had read,\nknowing how farr the effect of them was discrepant from the truth, anon\nI conceived the former adv^rtisements made unto me touching the said\nambassadors accustomed usage in making sinister reports, to be true.\nAnd p^rceyving by the sayd letters, that albeit the usage is not here\nthat strangers should passe through the realme without a passport,\nyet one of the foulkes was depeched by the sayd ambassador the day\nbefore with letters towards Spaine,--wherin it was like there might be\nas evill or worse report then in these, I with all diligence sent to\ncountermande the sayd former letters, or any other depeched at that\ntime by the sayd ambassador. And soe was taken also a pacquet of his\nletters directed to my Lady Margaret, which original letters directed\nunto th'emperor, with copies of those addressed unto my Lady Margaret,\nviewed and overlooked, and the untruth mencioned in them deprehended,\nI send unto your hands herewith, as well because th'emperor may know\nsuch things as his folkes on this side doe advertise his majestie of,\nwhich may conferr to the furtherance of his affaires; as also, because\nthe same may hereby the more assuredlie and p^rfectlie understand\nand p^rceave that the sayd de Praet hath of lykelyhood contrived noe\nfew matters untrue and fayned in his letters sent of a long season,\nas well into Spayne as into Flanders. Wherof there is much apparance,\nby reason of such proceeding, strange demeanour, and suspicion, as\nhath seemed to have bene had towards the kings grace, both on that\nside and in Flanders of a good season, soe that it is evident to be\nconjectured that the sayd de Praet hath done more hurt, detriment, and\ndamage, by his evil reports in the comon affaires, then ever he can\nbe able to reduble or amend; and surely has by the same deserved much\nmore blame than I will reherse.\" He then enters into detail of the\nmisrepresentations of De Praet, who, he says, would have long since\nbeen denounced to the emperor as \"a man of insufficient qualities,\ninexpert and far unmeet to be ambassador from so great a prince,\" had\nit not been out of courtesy to that potentate and his council. And\nfurther, that \"De Praet being not a little abashed, ne without cause,\nmade first exception at the intercepting of his letters, as he would\nnot give credence to the manner of their interception, and the opening\nof them by a fortunate error, as is aforesayd, saying that ambassadors\ndoe write unto their princes that which in their conceipt is thought\ngood, referring the judgment unto others. He affirmed also, that till\nthis time it could not ne should be ever found in any of his letters,\nthat he hath made evill report either of the king's highnes or of me,\nas by his original letters, which he sayd he desired and would be gladd\nshould and might be showed, he would be judged, and that the cause and\noccasion moving him thus to write at this time, was only the being here\nof John Joachym by viij moneths, the difficulty made to condescend unto\nthe truce proposed at Rome, the not advancing of an army on this side,\nas was spoken of, and the refusal of the kings highnes to contribute\nany thing to the defence of Italy.\"\nTo this Wolsey states the long and circumstantial answer he gave, in\nwhich he asserts that he was not privy to Joachinos coming, and that\nit was some time after his arrival that he disclosed to him what he\nwas, and that as soon as he discovered himself to be sent from the Lady\nRegent, he made de Praet privy thereto, praying him to advertise the\nLady Margaret and the emperor, as he also would do and did.\nTo this he states 'that De Praet could make no other answer than that\nhe wrote his fantasy, and remitted the judgment to wiser men.' The\nwhole letter is well worth attention as an example of Wolsey's talent\nin diplomacy; and though his apology is not very convincing, it must be\nconfessed to be very skilful and ingenious.\nAPPENDIX.\n                        EXTRACTS FROM THE LIFE\n                  THE VIRTUOUS CHRISTIAN AND RENOWNED\n            WRITTEN AT THE CLOSE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.\n        FROM THE MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS OF THE REV. JOHN LEWIS.\n    Great princes favourites their fair leaves spread,\n    But as the marigold at the sun's eye;\n    And in themselves their pride lies buried,\n    For at a frown they in their glory die.\n    SHAKSPEARE.\n_Among the other calumnies with which the memory of the unfortunate\nQueen Anne Boleyn has been aspersed by the enemies of the Reformation,\nit has been said--\"that she had long carried on a criminal intercourse\nwith Sir Thomas Wyatt the poet; who, we are told, had gone so far\nas to confess to the king that he had debauched her; and had urged\nthis, in the first instance, as an argument to dissuade the king\nfrom marrying her.\" The story requires no refutation; but Wyatt's\nname having been called in question when Anne Boleyn's conduct was\nscrutinized, gave the forgers of fabulous history an opportunity of\nengrafting their libellous inventions on slight circumstances, in order\nto give them something of the colour of probability. How far there\nwas any foundation for these calumnies will now appear. The following\ninteresting pages were written, it is presumed, by the grandson of the\npoet, George Wyatt, Esquire, sixth son and heir of Sir Thomas Wyatt\nthe younger, who was beheaded for rebellion in the first year of the\nreign of Queen Mary. The writer died at the advanced age of eighty,\nat Boxley in Kent, in the year 1624, and seems to have meditated a\ncomplete exposure of such parts of Saunders' Book on the Reformation as\ncame within his own immediate knowledge. He was maternal uncle to Sir\nRoger Twysden, and in 1623 communicated to him part of his collections.\nA fragment of the Life of Cardinal Wolsey, by George Cavendish, was\nin the late Mr. Bindley's library, to which we have already referred,\nat p. 120 of the present edition; prefixed to which was the following\nnote by Sir Roger Twysden.-- \"I receaved this from my uncle Wyatt,\nAnno 1623, who beeing yonge had gathered many notes towching this lady,\nnot without an intent to have opposed Saunders.\" It is remarkable\nthat this fragment from Wolsey's Life has been twice printed as a\npiece of original and authentic cotemporary history, without suspicion\nof its being an extract from Cavendish;--the first time for private\ndistribution, in 1808, and secondly by Dr. Nott, in his appendix to\nWyatt's Poems, in 1816._\n_The manuscript from which the present very interesting memoir is\nprinted was purchased at the late Sir Peter Thompson's sale. It is in\nthe hand writing of the Rev. John Lewis, of the Isle of Thanet, the\ncelebrated antiquary. It was printed in 1817 for a few noblemen and\ngentlemen, but twenty-seven copies only having been taken off, may be\nconsidered still to have almost the rarity of a manuscript._\nSOME PARTICULARS OF THE LIFE OF QUEEN ANNE BOLEIGNE.\nThe peculiar means that I have had, more than others, to come to some\nmore particular knowledge of such things as I intend to handle, ought\nto draw thus much from me; yet much more the request of him that hath\nbeen by authority set on work in this important business, both for\nthe singular gifts of God in him, of wisdom, learning, integrity, and\nvirtue; and also the encouragement I have had of late from the right\nreverend my Lord of Canterbury's grace, to set down what understanding\nI have had of this matter, is both my warrant, and a bond the more upon\nmy conscience, to hold me urged and constrained not to neglect such\nan opportunity of my service to the church, my prince, and country.\nPrincipally his desire was, and my purpose in satisfying it, to deliver\nwhat I knew, touching certain things that happened to the excellent\nlady, the LADY ANNE BOLEIGNE, about the time of her first coming to\nthe court. Yet, considering I had some other knowledge of things that\nmight be found serviceable no less than that, and also might give\nlight and life to the faithful narration of this whole matter, I have\nsupposed it would fall best, to deliver the same, as it were, under\nthe description of her whole life; and this the more particularly and\nfrankly, that, all things known, those that I understood were to visit\nit again might take what they should think most material for their use.\nAnd would to God I could give that grace and felicity of style unto it\nthat the worthiness of the subject doth require, notwithstanding that\nin this regard I am the less carefull, for that it is to pass through\ntheir hands that can give it better vesture; and I shall the more turn\nmy care to intend the sincere and faithful delivery of that which I\nhave received from those that both were most likely to come to the\nmost perfect knowledge hereof, and had least cause or, otherwise for\nthemselves, could least give just reason of suspicion to any, either\nof mind, or partiality, or wit, to fayne or misreport any whit hereof.\nAnd, indeed, chiefly the relation of those things that I shall set down\nis come from two. One a lady[202], that first attended on her both\nbefore and after she was queen, with whose house and mine there was\nthen kindred and strict alliance. The other also a lady of noble birth,\nliving in those times, and well acquainted with the persons that most\nthis concerneth, from whom I am myself descended. A little, therefore,\nrepeating the matter more high, I will derive the discourse hereof\nfrom the very spring and fountains, whence may appear most clearly by\nwhat occasion and degrees the stream of this whole cause hath grown to\nsuch an ocean as it were of memorable effects through all our parts\nof Christendom, not by chance or wits of men so much as even by the\napparent work of God, as I hope presently to make plain to all men.\nThe see of _Rome_ having risen, in this our age, unto a full tide of\nall wickedness, had overflowed all these parts of the world with the\nfloods of her evils, whereby was occasioned and had beginning the ebb\nof all her pomp, power, and glory, every particular devising, as if it\nhad been by one consent and accord (so showing it the more apparently\nto come of God), to provide for the time to come against her so great\ninundation of mischiefs. Hereof, in _England_, _Germany_, _Italy_,\nand in many other places, sundry persons of singular learning and\npiety, one succeeding another, at divers times, opened their mouths\nas trumpets to call men to this work upon several occasions, all\nrising from the outrageous corruptions and foaming filth of that see.\nBut chiefly and most notoriously, in the time of Henry the Eighth,\nof famous memory, this came to pass by the just judgment of God upon\nher, and his mercy upon us, where the same polity by which she had in\ncustom, and then made herself most assured, to strengthen herself in\ngiving to princes licence to unlawful contracts (esteeming thereby to\ntie them and their issue the more strongly to her); the bond of so evil\ncounsel breaking suddenly, set at liberty the certain means of this\ngreat opposition against her after almost through all Europe. So little\nassurance especially have evil foundations of usurped authorities\nagainst the provoked judgments of God by sin, and general displeasure\nof man upon just conceived indignities.\nThere was, at this present, presented to the eye of the court the\nrare and admirable beauty of the fresh and young Lady Anne Boleigne,\nto be attending upon the queen. In this noble imp, the graces of\nnature graced by gracious education, seemed even at the first to have\npromised bliss unto her aftertimes. She was taken at that time to have\na beauty not so whitely as clear and fresh above all we may esteem,\nwhich appeared much more excellent by her favour passing sweet and\ncheerful; and these, both also increased by her noble presence of shape\nand fashion, representing both mildness and majesty more than can be\nexpressed. There was found, indeed, upon the side of her nail upon one\nof her fingers, some little show of a nail, which yet was so small, by\nthe report of those that have seen her, as the workmaster seemed to\nleave it an occasion of greater grace to her hand, which, with the tip\nof one of her other fingers, might be and was usually by her hidden\nwithout any least blemish to it. Likewise there were said to be upon\nsome parts of her body certain small moles incident to the clearest\ncomplexions. And certainly both these were none other than might more\nstain their writings with note of malice that have caught at such light\nmotes in so bright beams of beauty, than in any part shadow it, as may\nright well appear by many arguments, but chiefly by the choice and\nexquisite judgments of many brave spirits that were esteemed to honour\nthe honourable parts in her, even honoured of envy itself.\nAmongst these, two were observed to be of principal mark. The one was\n_Sir Thomas Wiat_, the elder[203], the other was the king himself.\nThe knight, in the beginning, coming to behold the sudden appearance\nof this new beauty, came to be holden and surprised somewhat with the\nsight thereof; after much more with her witty and graceful speech, his\near also had him chained unto her, so as finally his heart seemed to\nsay, _I could gladly yield to be tied for ever with the knot of her\nlove_, as somewhere in his verses hath been thought his meaning was to\nexpress[204]. She, on the other part, finding him to be then married,\nand in the knot to have been tied then ten years, rejected all his\nspeech of love; but yet in such sort as whatsoever tended to regard of\nher honour, she showed not to scorn, for the general favour and good\nwill she perceived all men to bare him, which might the rather occasion\nothers to turn their looks to that which a man of his worth was brought\nto gaze at in her, as, indeed, after it happened. The king is held\nto have taken his first apprehension of this love after such time as\nupon the doubt in those treaties of marriage with his daughter Mary,\nfirst with the Spaniard, then with the French: by some of the learned\nof his own land he had vehemently in their public sermons, and in his\nconfessions to his ghostly fathers, been prayed to forsake that his\nincestuous life by accompanying with his brother's wife; and especially\nafter he was moved by the cardinal, then in his greatest trust with the\nking, both for the better quietness of his conscience, and for more\nsure settling of the succession to more prosperous issue.\n[Illustration: SIR THOMAS WYATT K^T.]\nAbout this time, it is said that the knight, entertaining talk with\nher as she was earnest at work, in sporting wise caught from her a\ncertain small jewel hanging by a lace out of her pocket, or otherwise\nloose, which he thrust into his bosom, neither with any earnest request\ncould she obtain it of him again. He kept it, therefore, and wore it\nafter about his neck, under his cassock, promising to himself either\nto have it with her favour or as an occasion to have talk with her,\nwherein he had singular delight, and she after seemed not to make\nmuch reckoning of it, either the thing not being much worth, or not\nworth much striving for. The noble prince having a watchful eye upon\nthe knight, noted him more to hover about the lady, and she the more\nto keep aloof of him; was whetted the more to discover to her his\naffection, so as rather he liked first to try of what temper the regard\nof her honour was, which he finding not any way to be tainted with\nthose things his kingly majesty and means could bring to the battery,\nhe in the end fell to win her by treaty of marriage, and in this talk\ntook from her a ring, and that wore upon his little finger; and yet all\nthis with such secrecy was carried, and on her part so wisely, as none\nor very few esteemed this other than an ordinary course of dalliance.\nWithin few days after, it happened that the king, sporting himself at\nbowls, had in his company (as it falls out) divers noblemen and other\ncourtiers of account, amongst whom might be the Duke of Suffolk, Sir F.\nBrian, and Sir T. Wiat, himself being more than ordinarily pleasantly\ndisposed, and in his game taking an occasion to affirm a cast to be his\nthat plainly appeared to be otherwise; those on the other side said,\nwith his grace's leave, they thought not, and yet, still he pointing\nwith his finger whereon he wore her ring, replied often it was his,\nand specially to the knight he said, Wiat, I tell thee it is mine,\nsmiling upon him withal. Sir Thomas, at the length, casting his eye\nupon the king's finger, perceived that the king meant the lady whose\nring that was, which he well knew, and pausing a little, and finding\nthe king bent to pleasure, after the words repeated again by the king,\nthe knight replied, And if it may like your majesty to give me leave\nto measure it, I hope it will be mine; and withal took from his neck\nthe lace whereat hung the tablet, and therewith stooped to measure\nthe cast, which the king espying, knew, and had seen her wear, and\ntherewithal spurned away the bowl, and said, It may be so, but then\nam I deceived; and so broke up the game. This thing thus carried was\nnot perceived for all this of many, but of some few it was. Now the\nking, resorting to his chamber, showing some discontentment in his\ncountenance, found means to break this matter to the lady, who, with\ngood and evident proof how the knight came by the jewel, satisfied the\nking so effectually that this more confirmed the king's opinion of her\ntruth than himself at the first could have expected. Shortly, upon the\nreturn of the cardinal, the matter of the dutchess[205] cooling every\nday more and more, his credit also waned till it was utterly eclipsed;\nand that so busied the great personages that they marked the less the\nking's bent, the rather for that some way it seemed helpful to their\nworking against the cardinal. The king also took here opportunity to\nproceed to discover his full and whole meaning unto the lady's father,\nto whom we may be sure the news was not a little joyful.\nAll this notwithstanding, her virtue was not so dased with the glory\nof so forcible attractives, but that she stood still upon her guard,\nand was not, as we would suppose, so easily taken with all these\nappearances of happiness; whereof two things appeared to be the causes.\nOne the love she bare ever to the queen whom she served, that was also\na personage of great virtue: the other her conceit that there was not\nthat freedom of conjunction with one that was her lord and king as with\none more agreeable to her estate. These things being well perceived\nof, the queen shew she knew well to frame and work her advantage of,\nand therefore the oftener had her at cards with her, the rather also\nthat the king might have the less her company, and the lady the more\nexcuse to be from him; also she esteem herself the kindlier used, and\nyet withal the more to give the king occasion to see the nail upon her\nfinger. And in this entertainment of time they had a certain game that\nI cannot name then frequented, wherein dealing, the king and queen\nmeeting they stopped, and the young lady's hap was much to stop at a\nking; which the queen noting, said to her playfellow, My Lady Anne,\nyou have good hap to stop at a king, but you are not like others, you\nwill have all or none. So often earnest matters are delivered under\ngame. Yet had the king his times, and she in the end yielded to give\nher consent of marriage to him, whom hardly ever any before was found\nable to keep their hold against. This was now so far to the pleasure\nof the king, that forthwith he with her and her father concluded to\nopen the matter to the council, all other things being ripe thereunto,\nand specially for that it was not possible to keep it any longer\nfrom the talk of men near his person, and the more, the queen being\nfound to take such knowledge thereof. It is thought then the table\nwas diversely carried to give opinion upon this matter; some of the\nnobility wishing rather to have had so good hap lighted to some of\ntheir own houses; others that it had not been at all; some inclining to\neither of these as depending on them; but most liked better the king's\nown choice, both for the hope of issue, and that the greatness of great\nmen should not grow too great to sway with in managing of matters of\nstate. But howsoever, it appeared manifestly that presently there were\npractices discovered on all sides under sundry arts, on the parts of\nSpain, from Rome and that faction, and from the queen herself, and\nspecially some with the king, some with the lady herself, plotted to\nbreak or stay at the least till something might fall between the cup\nand the lip, that might break all this purpose with one of them, if\nit might have been. And verily one of these may seem for this present\noccasion not unmeet to be recounted; which was this: There was conveyed\nto her a book pretending old prophecies, wherein was represented the\nfigure of some personages, with the letter H upon one, A upon another,\nand K upon the third, which an expounder thereupon took upon him to\ninterpret by the king and his wives, and to her pronouncing certain\ndestruction if she married the king. This book coming into her chamber,\nshe opened, and finding the contents, called to her maid of whom we\nhave spoken before, who also bore her name: \"Come hither, Nan,\" said\nshe, \"see here a book of prophecy; this he saith is the king, this the\nqueen, mourning, weeping and wringing her hands, and this is myself\nwith my head off.\" The maid answered, \"If I thought it true, though he\nwere an emperor, I would not myself marry him with that condition.\"\n\"Yes, Nan,\" replied the lady, \"I think the book a bauble; yet for the\nhope I have that the realm may be happy by my issue, I am resolved to\nhave him whatsoever might become of me.\"\nThe Romish fable-framer[206], if he may be believed, affirmeth another\npractice after this sort: \"That Sir Thomas Wiat coming to the council,\nfor his better security, confessed to have had dealings with that lady,\nbefore he had any perceiving of the king's purpose of marriage; but not\nbeing credited by the king, that Wiat, as not finding it well he was\nnot believed, affirmed he would bring the king where he might see him\nenjoy her. And that again being delivered by the Duke of Suffolk to\nthe king, he yet believed it not.\" But it is certain that the whole or\ngreatest part of this is fiction; for the persons, manner, and event of\nthese things have been utterly mistaken and misshapen. For I have heard\nby the report of one of right good and honourable account, and of much\nunderstanding in such things, who also hath the truth of his word in\nhigh respect, that it was Sir Francis Brian that confessed such a like\nthing to the king by another lady, with other success more likely,\nwhich was that the king thereupon pardoned _him_ indeed, but rejected\nand gave over the lady ever after to him. Whether the duke might, upon\nthe sight of that which happened at bowls, take any occasion with the\nking to dissuade the marriage, supposing the knight could not or would\nnot otherwise have cleared himself and the lady, but by confessing and\ncraving pardon for it as done before he had knowledge of the king's\nintention, I cannot say; and by guess I will not affirm it in any case\nof any, much less of so worthy and noble a personage. Only this I\nsay, that if he did so, I believe verily that he was greatly deceived\ntherein of his expectation; as finding that by good proof the knight\ncould clear himself and her of that matter, even to the full assuring\nand ascertaining of the king of the manner of his coming by the jewel\nwithout her dishonour, and that so the duke, if he did so, might come\nto find himself had gone too far, as to have purchased to himself\nthereby mislike both of the king and queen, whereupon he might turn\nhis heavy displeasure to the knight ever after. I know of a certainty,\nthat the knight had a most high opinion of that princely lady's noble\nvirtues as by trial, and chiefly in the matter of the bowls; in that\nshe took not or interpreted ill of his deed (as herself, being in her\nown conscience clear), but as he meant it to the king's disport before\nknowledge of the marriage. This is true also, that Sir Thomas Wiat\nwas twice sifted and lifted at, and that nobleman both times his most\nheavy adversary, as I have to show under the knight's own hand in his\nanswer to his last indictment. Neither could I ever learn what might\nbe the cause of his so perpetual grudge, save only that it appeareth\nto be as old as this. Some man might perhaps be led to think that the\nduke might have a special end to draw him to enter and venture so far\nto the breaking off the match. And it is true that he was then married\nwith the king's second sister, when the king had then remaining but one\nonly daughter, and then she also questioned whether legitimate: That\nthen also was procured a statute to cut off foreign titles; and it is\ntrue also, that after the ambition of some to occasion hereby to thrust\nthe duke's issue, even before the proper and lawful issue of the king,\ninto the regal seat. All this notwithstanding, I will never be induced\nto give that opinion of that nobleman, but rather I would think, if\nhe did any such thing, in any sort giving colour to this fancy of the\nRoman legender, he did it upon zeal that in his conceit it was true,\nand that he thought the knight would so far confess it as done before\ntalk of the king's marriage, when he saw he had passed so far in the\nmeasuring of the cast. And though the whole fiction have scarcely so\nmuch as shadow of colour of any appearance, yet for that part where\nhe deviseth that Sir Thomas should before the council apeach himself\nand that lady, or after not being credited, offer to make the king see\nhim to have to do with her, this showing itself sufficiently falsified\nto any wise and understanding reader, especially considering it\nparticularly with the circumstances, it is so far from all likelihood,\nas all presumptions are flat against it, as in a word or two shall now\nbe showed.\nFor that princely lady, she living in court where were so many brave\ngallants at that time unmarried, she was not like to cast her eye\nupon one that had been then married ten years. And her parents, then\nin good and honourable place, resident in court, and themselves of no\nmean condition, they would keep, no doubt, a watchful eye over her\nto see she should not roam to the hinderance of her own preferment, a\ncourse so foul with one where was no colour of marriage. The King's\neye also was a guard upon her, as also those that pleased the king in\nrecounting the adventures of love happening in court made it hard,\nspecially for the shortness of time after her placing there, and the\nking's own love. Also she that held out against such a king where was\nhope of marriage, what was like she should do to the knight, where his\nown lady and her friends were still to attend upon their doings, whose\ntestimonies of the honourable carriage of that lady are therefore here\nmost strong for her? And for the knight, if he had enjoyed her, was he\nso far desperately wicked and a monster in love, that he would openly,\npurposely, and to his own disgrace, vaunt the spoil of a maid of so\ngood friends and likelihoods of advancements, without all regard of God\nor man? especially when she had stood so well upon the assurance of her\nown innocence for the matter of the jewel without turning him to any\ndispleasure thereby. Those that knew him best, knew him far from that\ndishonest disposition chiefly in this kind, and for so gross a villany.\nAnd if he had been of that mind, yet was he known not of so little wit\nor understanding, upon a point that was not very likely to be known, to\ndiscover his own and her evil; where was a great deal more likelihood\nthat, the king believing her rather than him, he was to incur a more\ncertain and greater mischief, that might in all presumption, fall by\nthe heavy displeasure of them both upon himself ever after. And if\nwe could imagine him both so wretchedly dishonest, and so very a sot\n(neither of which could be found of him), his father then counsellor\nto the king, for his wisdom, years, and experience, more grave, would\nnot have suffered him yet to quit himself so fondly and to be so mad;\nespecially as when the king had showed not to believe it, then to run\nmore obstinately to offer when the king had made her privy hereunto,\nto bring her that the king should see her also so mad as to yield to\nhim after she had given consent of marriage to the king. Who would not\nbelieve them also mad, that would believe so mad a carriage of such a\nbusiness amongst grave and wise men, howsoever the railing Romanist be\nso mad to write it so as he would seem mad with reason? For the king\nalso, besides that he had more occasion and means than any other to\nnote and observe her doings, yet much more (as the nature of generous\nspirits carries them) he was watchful upon the knight, as in other\nthings so chiefly in this, not to be outrun at this garland of love;\nso as by himself and by the eyes of others, there was not any trip but\nwould have been spied, no likelihood but would have carried suspicion\nwith it; how much more would the knight's confession have sunk into\nhis head? Would he, being so wise a prince, have forgotten that the\nsoberness of his choice would serve much for satisfying the world,\ntouching his divorce? Had he not time, had he not leisure to learn, to\ninquire and sift out all things? His care used in gathering opinions\nof universities, and in informing princes of the whole matter, with\nall circumstances in the managing this cause, by the space of some\nyears, show he was not so passionate a lover, but also withal a wise\nand considerate prince. But it is said the king believed it not! Yet\nwhat? when the knight (as this tale saith) offered to make the king see\nit, and that avowed to the council! Could such a prince as he swallow\nthis? Doubtless none that hath his wits will think so, none that knew\nthe complexion of the king could induce himself to suppose a thing so\nincredible. The case of Sir Francis Brian's[207] opening of his love\nhad another effect, and shows plainly that the king was of another\nmetal, since he cast off that Lady loved right dearly (as hath been\nsaid) without farther matter. And doubtless in this case, he believing\nthe matter would have thrown off this lady also, the marriage not yet\nconsummate, and he having in his own realm and abroad beauties enough\nto content him, and means enough also to push on some other. But it\nis devised the king believed it not. Not believing it, think we the\nknight could have escaped punishment of a slanderer, though he might\nby confessing, avoid the punishment of a malefactor (as they say)\nafter? This no outrageous madman would believe. If the king would or\ncould have passed it over, the lady in honour could not, nor might. But\nsuppose also that supposal beyond all suppose. Though they punished\nit not, would they, think ye, have put him in credit and advancement\nafter? Would they have had him chief ewerer even the very day of her\ncoronation? Would they have employed him ambassador in that matter of\nthe marriage? Yea, I say more! would the king also have rewarded him\nwith a good portion of lands soon upon this? But all these were so as\nwe have alleged them. The Chronicles have his service on that day of\ncoronation. His embassages were twice about this matter known right\nwell: I have seen the patents of the grant myself[208]. And these\nthings, the last especially, I the rather allege, for that the knight\nuseth them himself as testimonies of the king's good opinion of him, in\nhis defence before mentioned, which also by the king and his council in\nthose times was liked and allowed of as his just purgation, by which\nthey acquitted him. Finally, that his defence then may and is to be\nesteemed his defence now also in this case not to be contemned, and\nmay thus be considered. This reporteth that he was twice winnowed. The\nmatters were the same both times, the accusations so frivolous, the\ninducements and proofs so idle, that they prove nothing more than that\nthere lacked no wills in his adversary to do him hurt, than that they\nhad any least colour of matter to work it. Nothing so impertinent,\nnothing so unlikely that they allege not. Yea and his most trusty and\nbest services they had the chief matters of their accusation, nothing\nwas so fond that they ripped not up to his discredit, at the least\nif it might have been. Yet in all this was no word or signification\nof any such matter. Though it had not been brought as the ground of\nhis accusation, would it not have been drawn forth to aggravate or\ninduce the matter? Undoubtedly it would, either in the queen's life in\nhis first trouble, and it would have done well to revenge if he had\ndone her this wrong, or after to her overthrow, or else in his second\ntrouble against him. But no one word is or was in it touching any such\nmatters.\nAfter so many cross billets of cunning polities, surmounted by the\nguiding providence of God, after so many trials of her truth, passed\nthrough by her wise and virtuous governance, the king having every way\nmade so thorough proof how deep root honour had taken in her bosom, and\nhaving found it not to be shaken even by him, this royal and famous\nprince Henry the Eighth, resolving her matchless perfections meet alone\nto be joined with his, now at the length concluded forthwith to knit up\nthis marriage, although for certain causes the same was thought more\nconvenient to be performed somewhat privately and secretly. On the\ntwenty-fifth of January[209], therefore, the ceremony was consummate.\nThe king also, shortly after having himself more ascertained, and by\nmore inward trial more assured of her spousal truth, would yet farther\ntestify that his opinion of her, by giving her that highest honour he\ncould give her virtues, in having her solemnly and royally crowned. And\nthus we see they lived and loved, tokens of increasing love perpetually\nincreasing between them. Her mind brought him forth the rich treasures\nof love of piety, love of truth, love of learning. Her body yielded\nhim the fruits of marriage, inestimable pledges of her faith and loyal\nlove. And touching the former of these, it is here first not to be\nforgotten, that of her time (that is during the three years that she\nwas queen) it is found by good observation, that no one suffered for\nreligion, which is the more worthy to be noted for that it could not\nso be said of any time of the queens after married to the king. And\namongst other proofs of her love to religion to be found in others,\nthis here of me is to be added. That shortly after her marriage, divers\nlearned and christianly disposed persons resorting to her, presented\nher with sundry books of those controversies that then began to be\nquestioned touching religion, and specially of the authority of the\npope and his clergy, and of their doings against kings and states. And\namongst other, there happened[210] one of these, which, as her manner\nwas, she having read, she had also noted with her nail as of matter\nworthy the king's knowledge[211]. The book lying in her window, her\nmaid (of whom hath been spoken) took it up, and as she was reading it,\ncame to speak with her one[212] then suitor to her, that after married\nher; and as they talked he took the book of her, and she withal, called\nto attend on the queen, forgot it in his hands, and she not returning\nin some long space, he walked forth with it in his hand, thinking it\nhad been hers. There encountered him soon after a gentleman of the\ncardinal's of his acquaintance, and after salutations, perceiving the\nbook, requested to see it, and finding what it was, partly by the\ntitle, partly by some what he read in it, he borrowed it and showed it\nto the cardinal. Hereupon the suitor was sent for to the cardinal and\nexamined of the book, and how he came by it, and had like to have come\nin trouble about it, but that it being found to have pertained to one\nof the queen's chamber, the cardinal thought better to defer the matter\ntill he had broken it to the king first, in which meantime the suitor\ndelivered the lady what had fallen out, and she also to the queen,\nwho, for her wisdom knowing more what might grow thereupon, without\ndelay went and imparted the matter to the king, and showed him of the\npoints that she had noted with her finger. And she was but newly come\nfrom the king, but the cardinal came in with the book in his hands to\nmake complaint of certain points in it that he knew the king would\nnot like of, and withal to take occasion with him against those that\ncountenanced such books in general, and specially women, and as might\nbe thought with mind to go farther against the queen more directly if\nhe had perceived the king agreeable to his meaning. But the king that\nsomewhat afore distasted the cardinal, as we have showed, finding the\nnotes the queen had made, all turned the more to hasten his ruin, which\nwas also furthered on all sides.\nOn the other part, of her body she bare him a daughter on the\nseventh[213] of September, to the great joy then of all his people,\nboth for that the king had now issue legitimate of his own body, and\nfor the hope of more after. The king also he expressed his joy for\nthat fruit sprung of himself, and his yet more confirmed love towards\nher, caused her child openly and publickly to be proclaimed PRINCESS\nELIZABETH at the solemnity of her baptising, preferring his younger\ndaughter legitimate before the elder in unlawful wedlock. And after\nthis again, at the prorogation of the parliament, the thirtieth of\nMarch[214], he had every lord, knight, and burgess sworn to an act of\nsuccession, and their names subscribed to a schedule fixed to the same\nstatute, where it was enacted, that his daughter princess Elizabeth, he\nhaving none other heir male, should succeed him to the crown.\nAnd after were commissioners sent to all parts of the realm to take\nthe like oath of all men and women in the land. Neither also were her\nvirtues only enclosed in her own breast or shut up in her own person.\nShe had procured to her chaplains[215], men of great learning and of no\nless honest conversing, whom she with hers heard much, and privately\nshe heard them willingly and gladly to admonish her, and them herself\nexhorted and encouraged so to do. Also at the first, she had in court\ndrawn about her, to be attending on her, ladies[216] of great honour,\nand yet of greater choice for reputation of virtue, undoubted witnesses\nof her spousal integrity, whom she trained upon with all commendations\nof well ordered government, though yet above all by her own example she\nshined above them all, as a torch that all might take light of, being\nitself still more bright. Those that have seen at _Hampton Court_ the\nrich and exquisite works by herself, for the greater part wrought by\nher own hand and needle, and also of her ladies, esteem them the most\nprecious furniture that are to be accounted amongst the most sumptuous\nthat any prince may be possessed of. And yet far more rich and precious\nwere those works in the sight of God which she caused her maids and\nthose about her daily to work in shirts and smocks for the poor. But\nnot staying here her eye of charity, her hand of bounty passed through\nthe whole land; each place felt that heavenly flame burning in her; all\ntimes will remember it, no place leaving for vain flames, no times for\nidle thoughts. Her ordinary amounted to fifteen hundred pounds at the\nleast, yearly, to be bestowed on the poor. Her provisions of stock for\nthe poor in sundry needy parishes were very great. Out of her privy\npurse went not a little to like purposes. To Scholars in exhibition\nvery much: so as in three quarters of a year her alms was summed to\nfourteen or fifteen thousand pounds.\nShe waxing great again and not so fit for dalliance, the time was taken\nto steal the king's affection from her, when most of all she was to\nhave been cherished. And he once showing to bend from her, many that\nleast ought shrank from her also, and some lent on the other side; such\nare the flexible natures of those in courts of princes for the most\npart. Unkindness grew, and she was brought abed before her time with\nmuch peril of her life, and of a male child dead born, to her greater\nand most extreme grief. Being thus a woman full of sorrow, it was\nreported that the king came to her, and bewailing and complaining unto\nher the loss of his boy, some words were heard break out of the inward\nfeeling of her heart's dolours, laying the fault upon unkindness,\nwhich the king more than was cause (her case at this time considered)\ntook more hardly than otherwise he would if he had not been somewhat\ntoo much overcome with grief, or not so much alienate. Wise men in\nthose days judged that her virtues was here her default, and that if\nher too much love could, as well as the other queen, have borne with\nhis defect of love, she might have fallen into less danger, and in\nthe end have tied him the more ever after to her when he had seen\nhis error, and _that_ she might the rather have done respecting the\ngeneral liberty and custom of falling then that way. Certainly, from\nhenceforth the harm still more increased, and he was then heard to say\nto her: he would have no more boys by _her_. Having thus so many, so\ngreat factions at home and abroad set loose by the distorned favour of\nthe king, and so few to show themselves for her, what could be? what\nwas otherlike but that all these guests lighting on her at once should\nprevail to overthrow her, and with her those that stood under her fall?\nShe and her friends therefore were suddenly sent to the Tower: and this\ngracious queen coming unto the entry of the gate, she falling down upon\nher knees made that place a reverend temple to offer up her devout\nprayers, and as a bale there her soul beaten down with afflictions to\nthe earth, with her faithful prayers bounded up to heaven. \"O Lord,\"\nsaid she, \"help me, as I am guiltless of this whereof I am accused.\"\nThe time approached for the hearing of her cause. The place of her\ntrial in the Tower may somewhat discover how the matter was liked\nto be handled. Nor there was it appointed the better to conceal the\nheinousness of the accusation, though that might be the pretence. For\nthat was published in parliament that it might from thence spread\nabroad over all. Her very accusations speak and even plead for her;\nall of them, so far as I can find, carrying in themselves open proof\nto all men's consciences of mere matter of quarrel, and indeed of a\nvery preparation to some hoped alteration. The most and chief of them\nshowing to have come from _Rome_, that popish forge of cunning and\ntreachery, as _Petrarch_ long since termed it.\n    _Nido di tradimenti in cui si cuova\n    Quanto mal per lo mondo hoggi si spandi._\n    Nest of treasons in which is hatch'd and bred\n    What ill this day the world doth overspread.\nFor that most odious of them, something is to be esteemed by the\napparent wrongs of the other evil handling of matters. But for this\nthing itself, partly it is incredible, partly by the circumstances\nimpossible. Incredible, that she that had it her word as it were, the\nspirit of her mind, as hath been said, that she was _C\u00e6sar's_ all,\nnot to be touched of others, should be held with the foul desire of\nher brother. Again, she having so goodly a prince to please her, who\nalso had showed himself able to content more than one, that she should\nyet be carried to a thing so much abhorring even womanly years and to\nnature itself, much more to so christian a queen. Impossible, for the\nnecessary and no small attendance of ladies ever about her, whereof\nsome, as after appeared, even aspired unto her place and right in the\nking's love; yea, by manifest prevention before their time. And indeed,\nhereof, it was her very accusers found it impossible to have colour\nto charge her with any other than her brother, which also made it no\nless impossible even for him alike as other. Impossible, I say, because\nneither she could remove so great ladies, by office appointed to attend\nupon her continually, from being witnesses to her doings; neither for\nthe danger she saw she stood in, and the occasion daily sought, would\nshe for her own wisdom, and also by the advertisements of her kindred\nand followers, whereof she had many of most great understanding,\nexperience, and faith, about her. Besides, she could not but be made\nmore wary and wakeful, if for none other cause, yet even to take away\nall colour from her enemies, whose eyes were everywhere upon her to\npick matter, and their malicious hearts bent to make some where they\nfound none; as plainly enough was to be seen when they were driven to\nthose straits to take occasion at her brother's more private being with\nher; the more grudged at perhaps, for that it might be supposed his\nconference with her might be for the breaking off the king's new love.\nFor the evidence, as I never could hear of any, so small I believe it\nwas. But this I say, well was it said of a noble judge of late, that\n\"half a proof where nature leadeth was to be esteemed a whole proof.\"\nOn the contrary, in this case he would have said, whole and very\nabsolute proofs to have been needful in such a case against nature.\nAnd I may say, by their leaves, it seems themselves they doubted their\nproofs would prove their reproofs, when they durst not bring them to\nthe proof of the light in open place. For this principal matter between\nthe queen and her brother, there was brought forth, indeed, witness,\nhis wicked wife accuser of her own husband, even to the seeking of his\nblood, which I believe is hardly to be showed of any honest woman ever\ndone. But of her, the judgment that fell out upon her, and the just\npunishment by law after of her naughtiness, show that what she did\nwas more to be rid of him than of true ground against him. And that\nit seemeth those noblemen that went upon the queen's life found in\nher trial, when it may appear plainly by that defence of the knight\nthat oft hath been here mentioned, that the young nobleman the Lord\nRochford, by the common opinion of men of best understanding in those\ndays, was counted and then openly spoken, condemned only upon some\npoint of a statute of words then in force. And this and sundry other\nreasons have made me think often that upon some clause of the same\nlaw they grounded their colour also against her, and that for other\nmatters she had cleared herself well enough. It seemeth some great\nones then had their hands in drawing in that law to entangle or bridle\none another, and that some of them were taken in the same net, as good\nmen then thought worthily. Surely my Lord Cromwell and this young lord\nwere taken in those entanglements, and the knight himself, of whom is\nspoken, had hardly scaped it, as may appear by his defence, if he had\nnot by the well delivering of the goodness of his cause broken through\nit. And this may well serve to admonish men to be well aware how far\nthey admit of laws that shall touch life upon construction of words;\nor, at the least, admitting them, how far they leave to lawyers to\ninterpret of them, and especially that thereby they give not excuse to\njuries to condemn the innocent when sway of time should thrust matters\nupon them. Thus was she put upon her trial by men of great honour; it\nhad been good also if some of them had not been to be suspected of\ntoo much power and no less malice. The evidence were heard indeed,\nbut close enough, as enclosed in strong walls. Yet, to show the truth\ncannot by any force be altogether kept in hold, some belike of those\nhonourable personages there, more perhaps for countenance of others'\nevil than for means by their own authority to do good (which also\nperadventure would not have been without their own certain perils), did\nnot yet forbear to deliver out voices that caused every where to be\nmuttered abroad, that that spotless queen in her defence had cleared\nherself with a most wise and noble speech. Notwithstanding such a\ntrial, such a judgment found her guilty, and gave sentence of death\nupon her at home, whom others abroad, living to feel her loss, found\nguiltless.\nThe woful sentence was given; burning or heading at the king's\npleasure, leaving open some small place to pity for the kind of death,\nwhich the king's conscience (no doubt) moved him to take in appointing\nthe more honourable death. Within those walls this execution was to be\ndone. What needed that? The love known indeed to her by the people was\nnot to be feared of the king, her love being such to him as to her last\nbreath she stood to acquit and defend him by her words at her death,\ncarrying a very true image of her former love and life. \"Christian\npeople!\" said she, \"I am come to die, and according to law, and by law\nI am judged to death, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I\nam come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak any thing of that whereof\nI am accused and condemned to die. But I pray God save the king, and\nsend him long to reign over you, for a gentler and more merciful prince\nwas there never, and to me he was ever a good, a gentle, and sovereign\nlord. If any person will meddle of my cause, I require him to judge the\nbest. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you, and I heartily\ndesire you all to pray for me. O Lord, have mercy on me! To God I\ncommend my soul.\" And so she kneeling down said, \"To Christ I commend\nmy soul. Jesu, receive my soul!\" The bloody blow came down from his\ntrembling hand that gave it, when those about her could not but seem to\nthemselves to have received it upon their own necks, she not so much\nas shrieking at it. God provided for her corpse sacred burial, even in\nplace as it were consecrate to innocents.\n _The following letters, relating to the arrest and behaviour in prison\n of Queen Anne Boleyn, are in themselves so interesting that no apology\n seems necessary for placing them in juxtaposition with the foregoing\n interesting memoir. They have been recently given to the public in Mr.\n Ellis's accurate and interesting collection of Historical Letters;\n that gentleman has preferred printing them as mutilated fragments,\n to supplying the_ lacun\u00e6 _by such means as I have ventured to adopt.\n Strype saw these letters previous to the calamitous fire in 1731,\n which injured so many valuable papers in the Cottonian Collection,\n and he has given large extracts from them of the most interesting\n passages: from this source, therefore, I have filled up such chasms\n as I could, that the reader may not be tantalized by the enigma-like\n appearance of a few disjointed words. The passages supplied have been\n carefully distinguished by printing them in Italics between brackets,\n and as Strype was a sufficiently accurate Antiquary, and faithful\n in his extracts, it is presumed that the reader may rely upon the\n authenticity of the passages thus supplied._\n _The reader is already acquainted with the writer, Sir William\n Kingston, the Lieutenant or Constable of the Tower, from the figure he\n makes in the Life of Wolsey. See p. 369, et seq._\nLETTER I.\n_Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell, upon Queen Anne's\ncommittal to the Tower._\n[MS. COTTON, OTHO C. X. fol. 225.]\nThys ys to advertyse you apon my Lord of Norfolk and the kyngs\ncounsell depart[_inge_] from the Towre I went before the quene in to\nhyr lodgyng, & [_then she_] sayd unto me, M. Kyngston, shall I go in\nto a dungyn? Now, madam, y[_ou_] shall go into your logyng that you\nlay in at your coronacion. It ys to gu[_de_] for me, she sayd, Jesu,\nhave mercy on me; and kneled downe wepyng a [_great_] pace, and in the\nsame sorow fell in to agret lawyng, and she hathe done [_so_] mony\ntymes syns. And then she desyred me to move the kyngs hynes that she\n[_myght_] have the sacarment in the closet by hyr chambr, that she\nmy[_ght pray_] for mercy, for I am as clere from the company of man,\nas for s[_yn, sayd she as I_] am clere from you, and am the kyngs\ntrew wedded wyf; and then sh[_e sayd_] M. Kyngston, do you know wher\nfor I am here, and I sayd Nay, and then [_she sayd_] when saw you\nthe kyng? and I sayd, I saw hym not syns I saw [_him in_] the Tylte\nyerde, and then M. K. I pray you to tell me wher my [_Lord Roch_]ford\nys? and I told hyr I saw hym afore dyner in the cort. O [_where ys_]\nmy sweet brod'er? I sayd I left hym at York place, and so I dyd. I\n[_hear say, say_]d she, that I shuld be accused with iij men; and I\ncan say [_no more but_] nay, withyowt I shuld oppen my body; and ther\nwith opynd [_her gown sayeng, O Nor_]res, hast thow accused me, thow\nar in the Towre with me, & [_thou and I shal_]l dy to gether: and,\nMarke, thou art here to. O my mother, [_thou wilt dy_] for sorow, and\nmeche lamented my lady of Worcet^r, for by ca[_wse her child_] dyd not\nstore in hyr body, and my wyf sayd what shuld [_be the cawse, she_]\nsayd for the sorow she toke for me: and then she sayd M. K[_ingston,\nshall I dy_] with yowt just^s; & I sayd, the porest sugett the kyng\n[_hath had justis, and_] ther with she lawed. All thys sayings was\nyester ny[_ght_] . . . . . . . . & thys moryng dyd talke with mestrys\nCos\u0233[217], [_and said that Nor_]res dyd say on Sunday last unto the\nquenes amn[_er, that he wold sw_]ere for the quene that she was a gud\nwoman. [_And then sayd Mrs._] Cosyn, Madam, why shuld ther be hony\nseche maters [_spoken of? Mary_,] sayd she, I bad hym do so, for I\nasked hym why he [_went nat thorough with_] hys maryage? and he made\nansur he wold tary [_a time. Then said she, you_] loke for ded mens\nshowys; for yf owth cam[_e to the king but good_,] you wold loke to\nhave me; and he sayd, yf he [_should have ony soche thought_,] he\nwold hys hed war of; and then she sayd, [_she could undo him if she\nwold_,] and ther with thay fell yowt. Bot [_she said, she more feared\nWeston; for_] on Wysson Monday ^{Twysday} last [_Weston told he_]r that\nNores cam more u[_nto her chawmbre for her then for M_]age[218], and\nwas commaunded to charge the gentlewemen that y gyf thaye atende apon\nthe quene, that ys to say, thay shuld have now commynycaseon with hyr,\nin lese[219] my wyf ware present, and so I dyd hit, notwithstaundyng it\ncanot be; for my lady Bolen and mestrys Cosyn lyes on the quenes palet,\nand I and my wyf at the dore with yowt, so at[4] thay most nedes talke\nat[220] be without; bot I have every thyng told me by mestrys Cosyn\nthat she thynks met for mee to knowe, and tother ij gentlewemen lyes\nwith yowt me, and as I may knowe [_the_] kings plesur in the premysses\nI shall folow. From the Towre this mo . . .\nS^r. syns the makyng of thys letter the quene spake of West[_on[221]\nthat she_] had spoke to hym by cause he dyd love hyr kynswoma[_n Mrs.\nSkelton and that s_]he sayd he loved not hys wyf; and he made anser to\nhyr [_again that he_] loved won in hyr howse bettr then them bothe[;\n_she asked him who is that? to which he answered_] that it ys your\nself; and then she defyed hym.\nLETTER II.\n_Sir William Kingston to Secretary Cromwell, on Queen Anne's behaviour\nin Prison._\n[MS. COTTON, OTHO C. X. fol. 222.]\nAfter your departyng yesterday, Greneway gentilman ysshar cam to me,\n& . . . M. Caro and Mast^r Bryan commanded hym in the kyngs name to my\n[_Lord of_]\nRotchfort from my lady hys wyf, and the message was now\nmore . . . . . se how he dyd; and also she wold humly sut unto the\nkyngs hy[_nes_] . . . . for hyr husband; and so he gaf hyr thanks,\nand desyred me to know [_at what_] tyme he shuld cum affore the kyngs\ncounsell, for I thynk I s[_hall not_] cum forthe tyll I cum to my\njogement, wepyng very . . . . . . . . I departed from hym, and when\nI cam to the chambr the [_quene heard_] of me and sent for me, and\nsayde I here say my lord my [_brother is_] here; it ys trowth, sayd\nI; I am very glad, said sh[_e that we_] bothe be so ny together;\nand I showed hyr here wase . . . . Weston and Brerton, and she made\nvery gud countenans . . . . I also sayd, M. Page and Wyet wase mo,\nthen she sayd he ha . . . . on hys fyst tother day and ye here now\nbot ma . . . . . . I shall desyre you to bayre a letter from me [_to\nMaster_] Secretory; and then I sayd, madam, tell it me by [_word of\nmouth & I_] will do it, and so gaf me thanks saying, I ha[_ve moche\nmarvell_] that the kyng's counsell comes not to me; and thys [_same\nday she_] sayd we shuld have now rayne tyll she ware [_delivered owt_]\nof the Towre. I pray you it may be shortly by [_cawse of the_] fayre\nwether. You know what I mayne. The quen[_e sayd this_] nyght that the\nkyng wyst what he dyd wh[_an he put soche_] ij abowt hyr as my lady\nBoleyn and Mestres [_Cosyns, for_] thay cowd tell hyr now thyng of my\n[_lord her father nor_] nothyng ellys, bot she defyed them all. B[_ot\nupon this my lady Bolen_] sayd to hyr, seche desyre as you heve ha[_d\nto soche tales_] hase browthe you to thys. And then sayd [_Mrs. Stoner,\nMarke_] ys the worst cheryssht of heny m[_an in the howse, for he_]\nwayres yernes, she sayd that was [_becaws he was no_] gentleman. Bot he\nwase never in m[_y chamb^r but at Winchestr, and_] ther she sent for\nhym to ple[_y on the virginals, for there my_] logyng was [_above the\n. . . . . . . . . . . . for I never spake with hym syns, bot apon\nSaterday before May day, and then I fond hym standyng in the ronde\nwyndo in my chambr of presens, and I asked why he wase so sad, and\nhe ansured and sayd it was now mater, and then she sayd, you may not\nloke to have me speke to you as I shuld do to anobull man, by cause\nyou be aninferer persson. No, no, madam, aloke sufficed me; and thus\nfar you well . . [_s_]he hathe asked my wyf whether heny body maks\nthayr bed . . . . [_m_]y wyf ansured and sayd, nay, I warant you, then\nshe say . . . . . . . y myght make baletts Well now bot ther ys non\nbet . . . . . . . . d that can do it, yese sayd my wyf master Wyett\nby . . . sayed trew.\n. . . . my lord my brod' will dy.}\n . . . . ne I am sur thys was as }  WILL[=M] KYNGSTON.\n. . . tt downe to den^r thys day.}\n. . . . . thys day at diner I sent M. Nores hys diner & sent\nhym . . . . . . . . a knave to hys prest that wayted apon hym\nwithe . . . . . . . . . . . t unto hym, and he ansured hym\nagayn . . . . . . . . . . . . ny thyng of my confession he ys worthye\nto have . . . . . . . hyt I defy hym; and also he desyreth to\nhav . . . . . . . . . [_ha_]lf anowre yf it may be the kyngs plesur .\nLETTER III.\n_Sir William Kyngston to Secretary Cromwell, with further details of\nthe Queen's conduct._\n[MS. COTTON, OTHO C. X. fol. 224 b.]\nThe quene hathe meche desyred to have here in the closet the\nsacarments, & also hyr amner who she supposeth to be Devet; for won\nowre she ys determyned to dy, and the next owre meche contrary to that.\nYesterday after your departyng I sent for my wyf, & also for mestrys\nCossyn to know how the[222] had done that day, they sayd she had bene\nvery mery and made agret dyner, and yet sone after she called for hyr\nsupper, havyng marvell wher I was all day; and after supper she sent\nfor me, and at my commyng she sayd, \"Wher have you bene all day,\" and\nI mad ansure I had bene with prysoners, \"so,\" she sayd, \"I thowth I\nhard M. Tresur[_er_,\"] I ansured he was not here; then she be gan talke\nand sayd I was creuely handeled ... a Gr\u0113weche with the kyngs counsell\nwith my lord of Norfolke that he sayd, [_Tut, tut, tut_,] and shakyng\nhys hed iij or iiij tymes, and as for Master Tresurer he was in the\n[_Forest of Windsor_.] You know what she meynes by that, and named M^r.\nControler to be avery [_gentleman_] ... she to be a quene and crevely\nhandeled as was never sene; bot I [_think the king_] dose it to prove\nme, and dyd lawth with all and was very mery, and th[_en she said I\nshall have just_]ists; and then I sayde have now dowt ther[_in_]; then\nshe sayd yf hony man [_accuse me I can say bot n_]ay, & thay can bring\nnow wytnes, and she had talked with the gentell[_wemen_] ... sayd I\nknew at Marks commyng to the Towre that nyght I reysayved ... at it\nwas x. of the cloke or he ware well loged, and then she sayd ... knew\nof Nores goyng to the Towre, and then she sayd I had ... next yf it\nhad bene leyd she had wone, and then she sayd I w[_old God I had m_]y\nbysshoppys for thay wold all go to the kyng for me, for I thy[_nke\nthe most part of_] Yngland prays for me, and yf I dy you shall se the\ngrette[_st punishment for m_]e withyn thys vij yere that ever cam to\nYngland, & then sh[_e sayd I shal be in heaven, for_] I have done mony\ngud dedys in my days, bot zit I thynke [_moche onkindnes yn the_] kyng\nto put seche abowt me as I never loved: I showed [_her that the king\ntoke theym_] to be honest and gud wemen, bot I wold have had [_of myn\nowne prevy chambre_,] weche I favor most &c.\n To Mast^r Seretory.\nLETTER IV.\n _Edward Baynton to the Treasurer: declaring that only one person,\n named Mark, will confess any thing against Queen Anne._\n[MS. COTTON, OTHO C. X. fol. 209. b.]\n    M^R THEASURER,\nThis shalbe to advertyse yow that here is myche communycacion that\nnoman will confesse any thyng agaynst her, but allonly Marke of any\nactuell thynge. Wherfore (in my folishe conceyte) it shulde myche\ntoche the kings hono^r if it shulde no farther appeere. And I cannot\nbeleve but that the other two bee as f[_ully_] culpapull as ever was\nhee. And I thynke assur[_edly_] the on kepith the others councell. As\nmany .... conjectures in my mynde causeth me to thynk ... specially\nof the communycacion that was last bet[_wene_] the quene and Master\nNorres. M^r. Aumener [_tolde_] me as I wolde I myght speke with M^r.\nS[_ecretorie_] and yow together more playnely expresse my ... yf case\nbe that they have confessyd like wret ... all thyngs as they shulde do\nthan my n....... at apoynte. I have mewsed myche at ...... of mastres\nMargery whiche hath used her .... strangely toward me of late, being\nher fry[_nde_] as I have ben. But no dowte it cann[_ot be_] but that\nshe must be of councell therewith, [_there_] hath ben great fryndeship\nbetwene the q[_ene and_] her of late. I here farther that the que[_ne_]\nstandith styfly in her opynyon that she wo...... whiche I thynke is in\nthe trust that she . ... ther two. But if yo^r busynes be suche ..\n.... not com, I wolde gladly com and wayte . ...... ke it requysyte.\nFrom Grenewy[_che_] ....... mornyng.\nLETTER V.\n _Sir William Kyngston to Secretary Cromwell, May 16^{th}. 1536, upon\n the preparations for the execution of my Lord Rochford and Queen Anne._\nThys day I was with the kyng's grace and declared the petysyons of\nmy Lord of Rochford, wherin I was answred. Sir, the sayd lord meche\ndesyreth to speke with you, weche towchet hys consyens meche as he\nsayth, wherin I pray you I may know your plesur, for by cause of my\npromysse made unto my sayd lord to do the same, and also I shall desyre\nyou further to know the kyngs plesur towchyng the quene, as well for\nher comfyt as for the preparacion of skefolds and hother necessarys\nconsernyng. The kyng's grace showed me that my lord of Cantorbury shuld\nbe hyr confessar, and was here thys day with the quene; & not[223]\nin that mater, sir, the tyme ys short, for the kyng supposeth the\ngentelmen to dy to morow, and my lord of Rocheford with the reysydew\nof gentelmen, & as zit with yowt [_confession_] weche I loke for, bot\nI have told my lord of Rocheford that he be in aredynes to morow to\nsulfur execusyon, and so he accepse[224] it very well, and will do his\nbest to be redy, Notwithstandyng he wold have reysayved hys ryghts,\nweche hathe not bene used and in especiall here. Sir, I shall desyre\nyou at[225] we here may know the kyngs plesur here as shortly as may\nbe, at[225] we here may prepayre for the same weche[226] ys necessary,\nfor the same we here have now may for to do execusyon. Sir, I pray you\nhave gud rymembrance in all thys for hus[227] to do, for we shalbe redy\nal ways to our knowlage. Zit thys day at dyner the quene sayd at[225]\nshe shuld go to Anvures[228] & ys in hope of lyf, and thus far you well.\nLETTER VI.\n_Sir William Kingston to Lord Cromwell, apparently May 18^{th} 1536._\n[MS. COTTON, OTHO C. X. fol. 223.]\n   SYR,\nThys shalbe to advertyse you I have resayved your lett^r wherin yo[_u\nwolde_] have strangerys conveyed yowt of the Towre and so thay be by\nthe [_meanis_] of Richard Gressum, & Will-m Loke, & Wythepoll, bot the\n[=n]mbr[229] of stra[_ngers past_] not XXX. and not mony; Hothe and\nthe inbassit^r of the emperor had a [_servaunt_] ther and honestly put\nyowt. S^r yf we have not an owre[230] serten [_as it may_] be knowen\nin London, I thynke he[_re_] wilbe bot few and I thynk [_a resonable_]\nhumbur[231] ware bes: for I suppose she wyll declare hyr self to b[_e\na good_] woman for all men bot for the kyng at the o^r of hyr de[_th.\nFor thys_] mornyng she sent for me that I myght be with hyr at [_soche\ntyme_] asshe reysayved the gud lord to the in tent I shuld here by[_r\nspeke as_] towchyng her innosensy alway to be clere. & in the writy[_ng\nof this_] she sent for me, and at my commyng she sayd, M. Kyngston, I\nhe[_ar saye I shall_] not dy affore none, & I am very sory ther fore;\nfor I thowth [_than to_] be dede [_an_]d past my payne. I told hyr it\nshuld be now payne it w[_as so sottell. And then she said I_] hard say\nthe execut^r. was very gud, and I have a ly[_ttle necke, and put he_]r\nhand abowt it lawyng hartely.\nI have sen[_e mony men_ &] also wemen executed and at they have bene in\ngre[_te sorrowe, and to my knowle_]ge thys lady hathe meche joye and\nplesur in dethe. [_Sir, hyr Amner is conti_]newally with hyr, and hasse\nbyne syns ij of the clo[_cke after midnight. This is_] the effect of\nhony thyng that ys here at [_thys tyme, and thus fare yow_] well.\nLETTER VII.\n _From the Earl of Northumberland, addressed \"To his beloved Cosyn\n Thomas Arundel, one of the Gentlemen of my Lord Legates prevy\n chambre.\" It was written soon after the death of the Earl's father, in\n 1527. Referred to at p. 339 of Wolsey's life._\n[FROM THE ARCHIVES OF THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND.]\nBedfellow, after my most harte recommendacion: Thys Monday the iijd\noff August I resevyd by my servaunt, Letters from yow beryng datt the\nXX^{th} day off July, deliveryd unto hym the sayme day at the kyngs\ntown of Newcastell; wher in I do perseayff my lord Cardenalls pleasour\nys to have such boks as was in the Chapell of my lat lord and ffayther\n(wos soll Jhu pardon). To the accomplyshment of which at your desyer\nI am confformable, notwithstanding I trust to be able ons to set up a\nchapel off myne owne. But I pray God he may look better upon me than\nhe doth. But me thynk I have lost very moch, ponderyng yt ys no better\nregardyd; the occasion wher off he shall persayff.\nFyrst, the long lyeng of my tressorer[232], with hys very hasty and\nunkynd words unto hym, not on my parte deserved.\nAlso the news off Mr. Manyng, the which ys blon obroud over all\nYorksher; that neyther by the kyng[233], nor by my lord cardenall am I\nregardyd; And that he wyll tell me at my metyng with hym, when I come\nunto Yorksher; which shall be within thys month, God wyllyng: but I\nffer[234] my words to M^r Manyng shall displeas my lord; for I will be\nno ward.\nAlso, bedfellow, the payns I tayk and have taykyn sens my comyng\nhether, are not better regardyd; but by a fflatteryng Byshope of\nCarel[235] and that fals Worm[236] shall be broth[237] to the messery\nand carffulness that I am in; and in such slanders, that now and my\nlord cardenal wold, he cannot bryng me howth[238] thereof.\nI shall with all sped send up your lettrs with the books unto my lord's\ngrace, as to say iiij Anteffonars[239], such as I thynk were not seen a\ngret wyll; v Gralls; an Ordeorly; a Manuall; viij^{th} Proffessioners,\nAnd ffor all the ressidew, they not worth the sending, nor ever was\noccupyd in my lords chapel. And also I shall wryt at thys time as ye\nhave wylled me.\nYff my lord's grace wyll be so good Lord unto me, as to gyf me\nlychens[240] to put Wyll^m Worme within a castell of myn off Anwyk in\nassurty, unto the tyme he have accomptyd ffor more money rec^d. than\never I rec^d., I shall gyff hys grace ij C^{li}. and a benefiss off\na C. worth unto hys colleyg, with such other thyngs resserved as his\n[grace] shall desyre; but unto such tyme as myne Awdytors hayth takyn\naccompt off him: wher in good bedfellow do your best, ffor els he shall\nput us to send myselff, as at owr metyng I shall show yow.\nAnd also gyff secuer credens unto this berer, whom I assur yow I have\nffonddon a marvellous honest man, as ever I ffownd in my lyff. In hast\nat my monestary of Hul Park the iij^d. day of August. In the owne hand\noff\n To my bedfellow Arundel.\nLETTER VIII.\n _The Earl of Northumberland to Cromwell, denying any contract or\n promise of marriage between Anne Bullen and himself._\n[ORIGINAL, COTT. LIB. OTHO C. 10.]\nM^R SECRETARY, This shall be to signifie unto you that I perceive by\nSir Raynold Carnaby, that there is supposed a precontract between the\nqueen and me; wherupon I was not only heretofore examined upon my oath\nbefore the Archbishopps of Canterbury and York, but also received the\nblessed sacrament upon the same before the Duke of Norfolk, and other\nthe king's highnes' council learned in the spiritual law; assuring\nyou M^r Secretary, by the said oath, and blessed body which affore I\nreceived, and hereafter intend to receive, that the same may be to my\ndamnation, if ever there were any contracte or promise of marriage\nbetween her and me. At Newington Green, the xiijth day of Maye, in\nthe 28^{th} year of the reigne of our soveraigne lord King Henry the\nVIII^{th}.\nLETTER IX.\n_Queen Catherine of Arragon and King Henry VIII^{th} to Cardinal\nWolsey, a joint letter, 1527._\n[MS. COTTON, VITELL. B. XII. fol. 4.]\n Mr. Ellis has printed this letter in its mutilated condition; I have\n ventured to supply the _lacun\u00e6_ from the copy in Burnet's History of\n the Reformation, vol. i. p. 55. Burnet obtained his transcript when\n it was in a perfect state, but has unaccountably attributed the first\n part of the letter to Anne Boleyn. It is however said by Mr. Ellis to\n be in the hand-writing of Catherine, and cannot but be considered very\n interesting.\nMY LORD, in my moste humblyst wys that my hart can thinke [I _desire\nyou to pardon_] me that I am so bold to troubyl yow with my sympyl\n[& _rude wryteng, estemyng_] yt to prosed from her that is muche\ndesirus to kno[_we that youer grace does well_.] I paersave be this\nberar that you do; the wiche I [_praye God long to continewe_,] as I\nam moste bonde to pray, for I do know the g[_reate paines and trowbles\nthat_] you have taken for me bothe day and nyght [_is never like to\nbe recompensyd on_] my part, but allonly in loveng you next on to the\n[_kinges grace above all_] creatures leveng; and I do not dought but\nthe [_dayly proffes of my deades_] shall manefestly declaer and aferme\nmy wryte[_ng to be trewe, and I do_] truste you do thynke the same.\nMy lord, I do assure you I do long to heare from you som newes of the\nlegat, for I do hope and [_they come from you they_] shall be very\ngood, and I am seur that you deseyre [_it as moche as I_] and more,\nand ytt waer possibel as I knowe ytt ys not: And thus remaineing in a\nstedfast hope I make anend of my letter, [_writtyn with the hande_] of\nher that is moste bounde to be----\n \u2794_Here Queen Catherine's part ends, the rest is in the hand-writing of\n Henry the Eighth._\nThe wrytter of thys letter wolde not cease tyll she had [_caused me\nlikewise_] to set to my hand desyryng yow thowgh it be short to t[_ake\nit in good part_.] I ensure yow ther is nother of us but that grettly\ndesyry[_th to see you, and_] muche more rejoyse to heare that you have\nscapyd thys plage [_so well, trustyng_] the fury thereof to be passyd,\nspecially with them that k[_epyth good diett_] as I trust you doo. The\nnot heryng of the legates arywall [_in Franse causeth_] us sumwhat to\nmuse; nottwithstandyng we trust by your dily[_gens and vigilancy_]\n(with the assystence of Almyghty God) shortly to be easyd owght [_of\nthat trouble_.] No more to yow at thys tyme but that I pray God send\nyow [_as good health_] and prosperity as the wryters wolde.\n                 By your lovyng so[_veraign & frende_]\nLETTER X.\n_Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Wolsey._\n[FIDDES' COLLECTIONS, p. 256.]\nMY LORD, after my most humble recommendations this shall be to gyve\nunto your grace as I am most bownd my humble thanks for the gret payn\n& travelle that your grace doth take in steudyeng by your wysdome and\ngret dylygens how to bryng to pas honerably the gretyst welth that is\npossyble to come to any creator lyving, and in especyall remembryng\nhowe wretchyd and unworthy I am in comparyng to his hyghnes. And for\nyou I do know my selfe never to have deservyd by my desertys that\nyou shuld take this gret payn for me, yet dayly of your goodnes I do\nperceyve by all my frends, and though that I had nott knowlege by them\nthe dayly proffe of your deds doth declare your words and wrytyng\ntoward me to be trewe; nowe good my Lord your dyscressyon may consyder\nas yet how lytle it is in my power to recompence you but all onely wyth\nmy good wyl, the whiche I assewer you that after this matter is brought\nto pas you shall fynd me as I am: bownde in the mean tym to owe you my\nservyse, and then looke what a thyng in thys woreld I can immagen to\ndo you pleasor in, you shall fynd me the gladyst woman in the woreld\nto do yt, and next unto the kyngs grace of one thyng I make you full\npromes to be assewryd to have yt and that is my harty love unfaynydly\ndeweryng my lyf, and beying fully determynd with Godds grace never to\nchange thys porpos, I make an end of thys my reude and trewe meanyd\nletter, praying ower Lord to send you moche increase of honer with long\nlyfe. Wrytten with the hand of her that besechys your grace to except\nthis letter as prosydyng from one that is most bownde to be\nLETTER XI.\n_Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Wolsey._\nFROM FIDDES' COLLECTIONS, p. 255.\n_Collated with the Original in the Cottonian Collection. Brit. Mus.\nOtho_ C. X. fol. 218.\nMY LORD, in my most humblyst wyse that my powuer hart can thynke I do\nthanke your grace for your kind letter, and for youer rych and goodly\npresent, the whyche I shall never be able to desarve wyth owt your gret\nhelpe, of the whyche I have hetherto hade so grete plente that all the\ndayes of my lyfe I ame moaste bownd of all creators next the kyngs\ngrace to love and serve your grace, of the whyche I besyche you never\nto dowte that ever I shalle vary frome this thought as long as ony\nbrethe is in my body. And as tochyng your grace's troble with the swet\nI thanke ower Lord that them that I desyerd and prayed for ar scapyd,\nand that is the kyng and you. Not doughthyng bot that God has preservyd\nyou bothe for grete cawsys knowen allonly to his hygh wysdome. And as\nfor the commyng of the legate I desyer that moche; and yf it be Goddis\npleasor I pray him to send this matter shortly to a good ende; and then\nI trust my lord to recompense part of your grete panys, the whych I\nmust requyer you in the meane tyme to excepte my good wyll in the stede\nof the power, the whyche must prosede partly from you as ower Lourd\nknoweth to whome I be syche to sende you longe lyfe with continewance\nin honor. Wrytten wyth the hande of her that is most bound to be\nLETTER XII.\n_Cardinal Wolsey in his Distress to Thomas Cromwell._\nMS. COTTON. VESP. F. XIII. fol. 76.\n_From Fiddes' Collections, p. 256. Collated with the Original._\n    MYN OWNE ENTERLY BELOVYD CROMWELL,\nI beseche you as ye love me and wyl evyr do any thyng for me, repare\nhyther thys day as sone as the parlement ys brokyn up, leyng aparte\nall thyngs for that tyme; for I wold nat onely commynycat thyngs unto\nyow wherin for my comfort & relief I wold have your good sad, dyscret\nadvyse & counsell, but also opon the same commytt sertyng thyngs\nrequyryng expedicion to yow, on my behalf to be solycytyd: this I pray\nyou therfor, to hast your commyng hyther assafore, with owt omyttyng\nso to do, as ye tendyr my socor, reliff & comfort, and quyetnes of\nmynde. And thus fare ye well: from Asher, in hast, thys Satyrday in the\nmornyng, with the rude hande & sorrowful hert of your assuryd lover\nI have also serteyn thyngs consernyng yowr sylf wych I am suere ye\nwolbe glad to here & knowe: fayle not therfore to be here thys nygth,\nye may retorne early in the mornyng ageyn yf nede shul so requyre. _Et\niterum vale._\nMr. Augusteyn[241] shewyd me how ye had wryttyn onto me a lettre wherin\nye shuld adv^rtyse of the comyng hyther of the Duke of Norfolke: I\nassure you ther cam to my hands no suche lettre.\nLETTER XIII.\n_From Wolsey to Dr. Stephen Gardener, Secretary of State._\n Communicated to Mr. Grove by Mr. Littleton, afterwards Lord Littleton,\n who possessed the original. It is now in the _Ashmole Museum_ at\n Oxford.\n    MY OWNE GOODE MASTYR SECRETARY,\nGoyng this day out of my pue to sey masse, your lettres datyd\nyesternygth at London wer delyveryd unto me; by the contynue wherof I\nundyrstand, that the kyng's hyhnes, of hys excellent goodnes & cheryte\nys contentyd, that I shall injoy & have the admynystracion of Yorke\nmerly, with the gyftts of the promocyons spiritual & temporall of the\nsame, reservyd onely onto his nobyll grace the gyft of v or vj of the\nbest promocions. And that hys pleasure ys, I shal leve Wynchester\n& Saynt Albons. As hereonto Mr. Secretary, I can nat expresse howe\nmoche I am bowndyn to the kyng's royal majeste for thys hys gret &\nbowntawse liberalyte, reputyng the same to be moche more then I shal\never be abyl to deserve. Howbeyt yf hys majeste, consyderyng the short\n& lyttyl tyme that I shal lyve here in thys world, by the reason of\nsuch hevynes as I have conceyved in my hert, with the ruinyuose of the\nolde howsys & the decay of the said archbyshopryck at the best to the\nsum of viii C Marcke yearly, by the reason of the act passyd for Fynys\nof Testaments, wth also myn long paynful servys and poore degre; and\nfor the declaration of hys grace's excellent cheryte, yf hys hyhnes be\nmyndyd I shal leve Wynchester & Saynt Albon's, wych I supposyd, when\nI maid my submyssyon, not offendying in my trewth towards hys royal\nparson, dygnyte, or majeste royal, I should not now have desyrvyd to\nhave left; and much the more knowyng his grace's excellent propensyon\nto pyte & mercy, & rememberyng the francke departyng with of all that\nI had in thys world, that I may have summe convenyent pension reservyd\nunto me, suche as the kyng's hyhnes of hys nobyll charite shal thynke\nmete, so orderyng his that shal succede and my lyvyng, that the same\nmay be of lyck valew yeerly and exstent. Whereat my trust ys, and my\nherte so gevyth me, that hys majeste wold make no dyffyculte, yf yt\nmay lycke yow friendly to propone the same, assuryng yow that I desyre\nnot thys for any mynde (God ys my judge), that I have to accumulate\ngood, or desyre that I have to the muke of world; for, God be thankyd,\nat thys ower I set no more by the ryches & promocyons of the world,\nthen by the roshe undyr my fote; but onely for the declaration of the\nkyng's favor & hyhe cheryte, & to have wherewith to do good dedys, &\nto helpe my poore servants and kynnysfolks. And furthermore that yt\nwold please the kyng's excellent goodnes by your freindly medyacion,\nconsyderyng how slendyrly I am furnyshyed in my howse, nowe specially\nthat the apparell of Wynchester and Saynt Albons shal be takyn from me,\nto geve and appoynt unto me a convenyent fernyture for the same, _non\nad pompam, sed necessariam honestatem_. And yf I may have the free gyft\nand dysposycion of the benefyces, yt shalbe gretly to my comfort. And\nyet when any of the v or vi pryncypall shal fortune to be voyd, the\nkyng's grace being myndyd to have any of them, hys hyhnes shalbe as\nsure of the same, as though they wer reservyd. And thus by his nobyl &\nmercyful goodnes delyvered owt of extreme calamite, & restoryd to a\nnewe fredome, I shal, with God's mercy & help, so ordyr my lyff, that I\ntrust hys majeste shal take special comfort therin, & be pleasyd with\nthe same: _Spero quod hoc, qu\u00e6 peto, non videbitur magna_. Howbeyt I\nmost humbly submyt and referre all my petytions, _immo ipsam vitam_,\nto his gracyous ordynance & pleasure, praying yow to declare & sygnify\nthe same, supplying myn indysposycion & lacke of wyt, conceyvyd by\nreason of my extreme sorowe & hevynes, that the same may be to the\nkyng's contentacion, wherin I had lever be ded then to offende in word,\nthowght, or dede, and as towching the grantyng of the fee of one c li.\nfor Mr. Nores duryng hys lyff for hys good servys done unto the kyng's\nhyhnes, for the wych I have always lovyd him, and for the singuler\ngood hert and mynde, that I knowe he hath alweys borne unto me, I am\ncontent to make out my grawnte upon the same, ye & it wol please the\nkyng to inlarge it one c. li. more; and semblably cause Mr. Thesauror\nhath the kepyng of the kyng's game nygh to Fernam, I wold gladly, if\nit may stand with the kyng's pleasure, grawnte unto hym the reversion\nof such thinges as the Lord Sands hath there, with the ampliacon of\nthe fee above that wych is oldely accustomyd, to the sum of xl. li.\nby the yeere; & also I wold gladly geve to Mr. Comptroller a lycke\nfee, & to Mr. Russel, another of xx. li. by the yeere. Remyttyng thys\nand all other my sutes to the kyng's hyhnes pleasure, mercy, pity, &\ncompassion, moste holly. Beseechyng hys Hyhnes so nowe gracyously to\nordyr me, that I may from hensforth serve God quietly & with repose\nof mynd, & pray as I am most bowndyn, for the conservacyon & increase\nof his most nobyll and royal astate. And thus with my dayly prayer I\nbyd yow farewell. From Asher hastely with the rude hand and moste hevy\nherte of\n                    Yowr assuryd frende & bedysman,\nLETTER XIV.\n_Cardinal Wolsey to Dr. Stephen Gardener._\nThis Letter was also communicated to Mr. Grove by Mr. Littleton. It is\nnow in the Ashmole Museum at Oxford.\n    MY OWNE GOODE MASTYR SECRETARY,\nAftyr my moste herty commendacions I pray yow at the reverens of God\nto helpe, that expedicion be usyd in my persuts, the delay wherof so\nreplenyshyth my herte with hevynes, that I can take no reste; nat\nfor any vayne fere, but onely for the miserable condycion, that I am\npresently yn, and lyclyhod to contynue yn the same, onles that yow,\nin whom ys myn assuryd truste, do help & releve me therin; For fyrst,\ncontynuyng here in this mowest & corrupt ayer, beyng enteryd into\nthe passyon of the dropsy. _Cum prostatione appetitus et continuo\ninsomnio._ I cannat lyve: Wherfor of necessyte I must be removyd\nto some other dryer ayer and place, where I may have comodyte of\nphysycyans. Secondly, havyng but Yorke, wych is now decayd, by viii C.\nli. by the yeere, I cannot tell how to lyve, & kepe the poore nombyr of\nfolks wych I nowe have, my howsys ther be in decay, and of evry thyng\nmete for howssold onprovydyd and furnyshyd. I have non apparell for my\nhowsys ther, nor money to bring me thether, nor to lyve wyth tyl the\npropysse tyme of the yeere shall come to remove thether. Thes thyngs\nconsyderyd, Mr. Secretary, must nedys make me yn agony and hevynes,\nmyn age therwith & sycknes consyderyd, alas Mr. Secretary, ye with\nother my lordys shewyd me, that I shuld otherwyse be furnyshyd & seyn\nunto, ye knowe in your lernyng & consyens, whether I shuld forfet my\nspiritualties of Wynchester or no. Alas! the qualytes of myn offencys\nconsyderyd, with the gret punishment & losse of goodes that I have\nsustaynyd, owt to move petyfull hertys; and the moste nobyl kyng, to\nwhom yf yt wold please yow of your cherytable goodnes to shewe the\npremyses aftyr your accustomable wysdome & dexteryte, yt ys not to\nbe dowbtyd, but his highnes wold have consyderacyon & compassyon,\naggmentyng my lyvyng, & appoyntyng such thyngs as shuld be convenient\nfor my furniture, wych to do shalbe to the kyng's high honor, meryte,\n& dyscharge of consyens, & to yow gret prayse for the bryngyng of the\nsame to passe for your olde brynger up and lovying frende. Thys kyndnes\nexibite from the kyng's hyghnes shal prolong my lyff for some lytyl\nwhyl, thow yt shall nat be long, by the meane whereof hys grace shal\ntake profygtt, & by my deth non. What ys yt to hys hyhnes to give some\nconvenyent porcion owt of Wynchester, & Seynt Albons, hys grace takyng\nwith my herty good wyl the resydew. Remember, good Mr. Secretary, my\npoore degre, & what servys I have done, and how nowe approchyng to\ndeth, I must begyn the world ageyn. I besech you therfore, movyd with\npity and compassyon soker me in thys my calamyte, and to your power\nwych I knowe ys gret, releve me; and I wyth all myn shal not onely\nascrybe thys my relef unto yow, but also praye to God for the increase\nof your honor, & as my poore shal increase, so I shal not fayle to\nrequyte your kyndnes. Wryttyn hastely at Asher, with the rude and\nshackyng hand of\n To the ryght honorable and my assuryd frende Mastyr Secretary.\nLETTER XV.\n_Cardinal Wolsey to Secretary Gardener_,\nDesiring him to write to him and give him an account of the king's\nintentions with regard to him. (_From Strype._)\nMyn own good mastyr secretary, albeit I am in such altiration and\nindisposition of my hede & body, by the meansse of my dayly sorowe &\nhevynesse, that I am fen omit to writ any long l[=re]s. Yet my trustyng\nfrend, Thomas Crowmwel, retornyng & reparyng unto yow, I cowde nat\nforbere, but brively to put yow in remembrance: how that aftyr the\nconsultation takyn by the kyngs hyghnes opon myn orderyng, which ye\nsupposyd shulde be on Sunday was sevennyght, ye wolde not fayle to\nadvertyse me at the length of the specialties thereof. Of the [=w]ch to\nhere & have knowleg, I have & dayly do looke for. I pray yow therefore\nat the reverens of God, & of this holy tyme, & as ye love & tendyr my\npoore lyf, do so moche as to wrytt onto me your seyd l[=re]s: wherby\nI may take some cumfort & rest: nat dowting but your hert is so gentyl\n& pityful, that havyng knowleg in what agony I am yn, ye wole take the\npayne to send onto me your seyd consollatory l[=re]s. Wherby ye shal\nnat onely deserve toward God, but also bynde me to be as I am, your\ncontynual bedysman. Wrytten this mornyng at Asher, with the rude hand\nand sorroweful hert of yours with hert and prayer.\n To the right honorable Mr. Secretary.\nLETTER XVI.\n_Cardinal Wolsey to Secretary Gardener._\nTo draw up his pardon. (_From Strype._)\n    MYN OWNE GOOD MASTYR SECRETARY,\nAftyr my moste herty recommendations, with lycke thanks for your\ngoodnes towards me, thes shal be to advertyse yow that I have beyn\ninformyd by my trusty frend Thomas Cromwell that ye have signifyed onto\nhym to my syngular consolation how that the kynges highnes movyd with\npety & compassyon, & of hys excellent goodnes & cheryte consyderyng\nthe lamentable condition & stat that I stand yn, hath wyllyd yow\nwith other lords and mastyrs of hys honorable cownsell, to intende\nto the perfyghtyng & absolvyng without further tract or delay of myn\nend & appoyntement; and that my pardon shulde be made in the moste\nample forme that my counsell cowde devise. For thys the kyngs moste\ngracyous remembrance, procedyng of hymself, I accompt my sylf not onely\nmoste bowndyn to serve & pray for the preservation of hys moste royal\nmajestie, but also thancke God that ye have occasion given onto you to\nbe a sollycyter & setter forth of such thynges as do & shall conserve\nmy seyde ende. In the makyng & compowndyng wherof myn assured truste\nis, that ye wole shewe the love & affection wych ye have & bere towards\nme, your olde lover & frende: so declaryng your self therin, that the\nworlde may parceyve that by your good meanys the kyng ys the bettyr\ngoode lorde unto me; & that nowe newly in maner comyng to the world,\nther maye be such respect had to my poore degree, olde age & longe\ncontynued servys, as shal be to the kyngs hygh honor & your gret prayse\n& laude. Wych ondowtydly shall folowe yf ye optinde yowre benyvolens\ntowards me, & men perceive that by your wisdome & dexterite I shalbe\nrelevyd, & in this my calamyte holpen. At the reverens therefore of God\nmyn owne goode Mr. Secretary, & refugy, nowe set to your hande, that I\nmay come to a laudable end & repos, seyng that I may be furnyshyd aftyr\nsuch a sorte & maner as I may ende my short tyme & lyff to the honor of\nCrystes churche & the prince. And besides my dayly prayer & true hert\nI shal so requyte your kyndnes, as ye shall have cause to thyncke the\nsame to be well imployde, lycke as my seyd trusty frende shall more\namply shewe onto you. To whom yt may please yow to geve firme credens\nand lovyng audyens. And I shall pray for the increase of your honour.\nWryttyn at Assher with the tremyllyng hand & hevy hert of your assuryd\nlover & bedysman\n To the ryght honorable and my singular good frende Mayster Secretary.\nLETTER XVII.\n_Cardinal Wolsey to Secretary Gardener_,\nDesiring him to favour the cause of the Provost of Beverly, and to\nintercede with the king for him and his colleges. (_From Strype._)\n    MYNE AWNE GENTIL MAISTER SECRETARY,\nAfter my mooste herty recommendations, these shal be to thanke you for\nthe greate humanite, lovyng & gentil recule, that ye have made unto the\npoore Provost of Beverly: & specialy, for that ye have in such wise\naddressed hym unto the kings highnes presence, that his grace not onely\nhath shewed unto hym, that he is his goode & gracious lorde, but also\nthat it hath pleased hys majeste to admitte & accepte hym as his poore\norator & scholer. Wherby both he & I accompte our selfs so bounden\nunto you, that we cannot telle how to requite this your gratitude &\nkyndenes; mooste hartely praying you to contynue in your good favour\ntowards hym, & to take hym & his pore causis into your patrocynye &\nprotection. And, as myne assured expectation & trust is, to remember\nthe poor state & condition that I stond in, & to be a meane to the\nkyngs highness for my relefe in the same. In doyng wherof ye shal not\nonely deserve thanks of God, but also declare to your perpetual laud\nand prayse, that ye beyng in auctorite, have not forgoten your olde\nmaister & frynde. And in the wey of charite, & for the love that ye\nbere to virtue, & _ad bona studia_, be meane to the kyngs highnes for\nmy poore colleges; and specially for the college of Oxford. Suffer not\nthe things, which by your greate lernyng, studie, counsaile & travaile,\nhath bene erected, founden, & with good statutes & ordinances, to\nthe honour of God, increase of vertue & lernyng established, to be\ndissolved or dismembred. Ye do know, no man better, to what use the\nmonasteries, suppressed by the popis licence, the kyngs consente\nconcurryng with the same, & a pardon for the premoneri[242], be\nconverted. It is nat to be doubted, but the kyngs highnes, of his high\nvertue & equite, beyng informed how every thing is passed, his mooste\ngracious license & consente (as is aforesaid) adhibited therunto, wol\nnever go aboute to dissolve the said incorporations or bodyes, wherof\nso greate benefite & commodite shal insue unto his realme & subjects.\nSuperfluities, if any such shal be thought & founden, may be resecat;\nbut to destroy the hole, it were to greate pitie.\nEftsones therefore, good Maister Secretaire, I beseche you to be good\nmaister & patrone to the said colleges: \"Et non sinas opus manuum\ntuarum perire, aut ad nihilum redige.\" Thus doyng, both I, & they shal\nnot onely pray for you, but in such wise deserve your paynes, as ye\nshal have cause to thinke the same to be wel bestowed & imployed, like\nas this present berer shal more at the large shewe unto you. To whom\nit may please the same to geve firme credence. And thus mooste hartely\nfare ye wel. From Sothewell, the xxiij^{th} day of July.\n To the right honorable & my singular good frende M^r Doctor Stephyns,\n Secretory to the Kings Highnes.\nLETTER XVIII.\n_Cardinal Wolsey to Secretary Gardener_,\nDesiring his favour in a suit against him for a debt of 700_l._ by one\nStrangwish. (_From Strype._)\n    MYNE AWNE GOOD MAISTER SECRETARY,\nAfter my mooste harty recommendations, these shal be to desire, &\nmooste effectuelly to pray you to be good maister & friende unto me,\nconcernyng the uncharitable sute of Strangwishe for vij C li., which\nhe pretendith that I shulde owe unto hym, for the ward of Bowes. And\nalbeit there was at his fyrste comyng to my service, by our mutual\nconsents, a perfecte end made between hym & me for the same, yet nowe\ndigressyng therfrom, perceyvyng that I am out of favour, destitute of\nsocour, & in calamite, he not onely newly demaundyth the said vij C li.\nbut also hath made complaint unto the kyngs highnes, surmittyng, that\nI shulde, contrary to justice, deteyne from hym the said vij C li. For\nthe redresse whereof, it hath pleased the kyngs majeste to direct his\nmooste honorable letters unto me; the contents wherof I am sure be nat\nunknown unto you. And insuing the purporte therof, & afore the delyvere\nof the same thre days by past, notwithstanding my greate necessite\n& poverte, onely to be out of his exclamation & inquietnes, I have\nwritten to my trusty friende, M^r Cromwel, to make certeyn reasonable\noffres unto hym for that intent and purpose; moost hartely beseching\nyou to helpe, that upon declaration of such things, as upon my part\nshal be signified unto you by the said Maister Cromwell, some such end,\nby your friendely dexterite, may bee made betwixt us, as shal accorde\nwith good congruence, & as I may supporte & be hable (myne other debts\nand charges considered) to bere. In the doyng wherof, ye shall bynde me\nto be your dayly bedesman, as knoweth God, who alwayes preserve you.\nFrom Sothewell, the xxv^{th} day of August.\n To my right entierly welbiloved frende M^r Stephyn Gardener, Secretory\n to kyngs highnes.\nLETTER XIX.\n_Lettre de Monsieur de Bellay Evesque de Bayonne \u00e0 M^r le Grant\nMaistre._ De Londres le xvij Oct. 1529.\n[MSS. DE BETHUNE BIBLIOTH. DU ROY, V. 8603. f. 113.]\nMONSEIGNEUR, depuis les lettres du Roy & les aultres vostres que je\npensoye sur l'heure envoyer, cette depesche a est\u00e9e retard\u00e9 jusques\n\u00e0 pr\u00e9sent, parce qu'il a fallu faire & refaire les lettres que je\nvous envoy\u00e9 tout plein de fois, & pour ce aller & venir souvent,\ntant les Ducs m\u00eames qu'aultres de ce conseil \u00e0 Windesore, dont toute\n\u00e0 cette heure ils les m'ont envoy\u00e9es en la forme que verrez par le\ndouble d'iceux. Ils me prient le plus fort du monde de faire qu'on ne\ntrouve mauvais si en ces exp\u00e9ditions, & mesmement en ce que touche\nle principal de la depesche, je ne suis de tout satisfait comme je\nvouldroye, & aussi eulx mesmes, s'excusans que leur mani\u00e8re de n\u00e9gocier\nenvers leur maistre n'est encore bien dress\u00e9e, mais pour l'advenir\ndoibvent faire merveilles, & en baillent de si grands asseurances &\nsi bien jur\u00e9es, que je ne puis me garder de les croire; je n'ay point\nrefreschy mes lettres au Roy, car je ne voy point qu'il y en ait\nmati\u00e8re.\nAu demourant, j'ay est\u00e9 voir le Cardinal en ses ennuis, o\u00f9 j'ay trouv\u00e9\nles plus grand exemple de fortune que on ne scauroit voir, il m'a\nremonstr\u00e9 son cas en la plus mauvaise rh\u00e9torique que je viz jamais,\ncar cueur & parolle luy failloient enti\u00e8rement; il a bien plour\u00e9 &\npri\u00e9 que le Roy & Madame voulsissent avoir piti\u00e9 de luy, s'ils avoyent\ntrouv\u00e9 qu'il leur eust guard\u00e9 promesse de leur estre bon serviteur\nautant que son honneur & povoir se y est peu estendre, mais il me \u00e0\nla fin laiss\u00e9 sans me pouvoir dire autre chose qui vallist mieux que\nson visage, qui est bien descheu de la moiti\u00e9 de juste pris: & vous\npromets, Monseigneur, que sa fortune est telle que ses ennemis, encore\nqu'ils soyent Angloys, ne se scauroyent guarder d'en avoir piti\u00e9, ce\nnonobstant ne le laisseront de le poursuivre jusques au bout, & ne\nvoyt de moyen de son salut, aussi ne fais-je sinon qu'il plaise au\nRoy & \u00e0 Madame de l'ayder. De l\u00e9gation, de sceau d'auctorit\u00e9, de\ncr\u00e9dit il n'en demande point, il est prest de laisser tout jusques \u00e0\nla chemise, & que on le laisse vivre en ung hermitage, ne le tenant\nce Roy en sa mal gr\u00e2ce: Je l'ay reconfort\u00e9 au mieulx que j'ay peu,\nmais je n'y ay sceu faire grant chose: Depuis par un en qui il se\nfie, il m'a mand\u00e9 ce qu'il vouldroit qu'on feist pour luy de la plus\ngrand partie, luy voyant qu'il ne touchoit au bien des affaires du\nRoy qu'on luy accordast la plus raisonnable chose qui demande, c'est\nque le Roy escripvist \u00e0 ce Roy qu'il est un grand bruit de par del\u00e0\nqu'il l'ait recull\u00e9 d'autour de luy, & fort eslong\u00e9 de la bonne gr\u00e2ce,\nen sorte qu'on dict qu'il doibve estre destruict, ce que ne pense\ntotalement estre comme on le dict; toutefois pour la bonne fraternit\u00e9,\nqu'ils ont ensemble, & si grant communication de tous leurs plus grans\naffaires, l'a bien voulu prier de y avoir \u00e9gard, affin qu'il n'en\nentre souldainement quelque mauvaise fantasie envers ceulx qui ont\nveu qu'en si grant solemnit\u00e9 & auctorit\u00e9, il ait servy d'instrument\nen cette perp\u00e9tuelle amiti\u00e9 tant renomm\u00e9e par toute la Chr\u00e9tient\u00e9; &\nque si d'adventure il estoit entr\u00e9 en quelque malcontentement de luy,\nil ve\u00fcille ung peu mod\u00e9rer son affection, comme il est bien s\u00fbr que\nluy vouldront conseiller ceulx qui sont autour de sa personne & au\nmaniement de ses plus grandes affaires. Voil\u00e0, Monseigneur, la plus\nraisonable de toutes ses demandes, en laquelle ne me veulx ing\u00e9rer de\ndire mon advis, si diray-je bien qu'il n'y a personne ici qui deust\nprendre \u00e0 mal telle lettre; & mesment l\u00e0 o\u00f9 ils consid\u00e9reront, comme de\nfacit ils font, qu'il sont forc\u00e9s de prendre & tenir plus que jamais\nvotre party, & d'advantage asseureray bien que la plus grant prinse\nqu'ils ayent pe\u00fb avoir suz luy du commencement, & qui plus leur a\nservi \u00e0 le brouiller envers le Roy, a est\u00e9 qu'il d\u00e9clara \u00e0 ma venu\u00eb\ndecza trop ouvertement de vouloir aller \u00e0 Cambray, car les aultres\npersuaderent au maistre ce que c'estoient, seulement pour \u00e9viter\nd'estre \u00e0 l'exp\u00e9dition du mariage, & outre cela vous promets que sans\nluy les aultres mectoyent ce Roy en ung terrible train de rompre la\npratique de paix dont vous escripvis quelque mot en ce temps-la, mais\nj'en laissay dix fois en la plume, voyant que tout estoit rabill\u00e9,\nje vous les diray estant l\u00e0, & je suis seur que le trouverez fort\nestrange: Il me semble, Monsieur, que \u00e0 tout cela, & plusieurs aultres\nchoses que bien entendez de vous-mesmes, on doibt avoir quelque \u00e9gard,\nvous donnerez, s'il vous plaist, advis au Roy & \u00e0 Madame de tout cecy,\naffin qu'ils advisent ce qu'il leur plaira en faire, s'ils pensent\nn'empirer par cela leurs affaires, je croy que voulentiers, outre ce\nque sera quelque charit\u00e9, ils vouldront qu'on cognoisse qu'ils ayent\nretir\u00e9 ung leur affectionn\u00e9 serviteur, & tenu pour tel par chescun, des\nportes d'enfer; mais sur tout, Monseigneur, il desire que ce Roy ne\nconnoisse qu'ils en ayent est\u00e9 requis, & que il les en ay fait requerir\nen fa\u00e7on du monde, cela l'acheveroit d'affoller; car pour vous dire\nle vray, & hormis toute affection, je vous asseure que la plus grant\nprinse que ses ennemis ayent eu\u00eb sur luy, outre celle du mariage, ce\na est\u00e9 de persuader ce Roy que il avoit tousjours eu en temps de paix\net de guerre intelligence secrette \u00e0 Madame, de laquelle ladite guerre\ndurant il avoit eu des grants presens, qui furent cause que Suffolc\nestant \u00e0 Montdidier, il ne le secourut d'argent comme il debvoit, dont\navint que il ne prit Paris; mais ils en parlent en l'oreille de ce\npropos, afin que je n'en soy adverty. Quant auxdits presens, il esp\u00e8re\nque Madame ne le nuyra o\u00f9 il en sera parl\u00e9, de toutes aultres choses\nil s'en recommande en sa bonne gr\u00e2ce. La fantaisie de ces seigneurs\nest que luy mort ou ruin\u00e9, il deff\u00e8rent incontinent icy l'estat de\nl'Eglise, & prendront tous leurs biens, qu'il seroit ja besoing que je\nmisse en chiffre, car ils le crient en plaine table; je croy qu'ils\nferont de beaux miracles, si m'a dict vostre grant proph\u00e8te au visaige\nbrons\u00e9, que ce Roy ne vivre gueres plus que........ au quel, comme\nvous s\u00e7avez, \u00e0 ce que je voy par ses escriptures, il n'a baill\u00e9 terme\nque de la monstre de May. Je ne veulx oublier \u00e0 vous dire que si le\nRoy & Madame veullent faire quelque chose pour le L\u00e9gat, il faudroit\nse haster, encores ne seront jamais icy ses lettres que il n'ait\nperdu le sceau, toutefois il ne pense plus \u00e0 cela, elles serviront\npour le demourant, aussi venant icy mon successeur, comme chascun\ns'attend qu'il viendra dans peu des jours, ils luy donnassent charge\nd'en parler; le pis de son mal est que Mademoiselle de Boulen a faict\npromettre \u00e0 son amy que il ne l'escoutera jamais parler; car elle pense\nbien qu'il ne le pourrait garder d'en avoir piti\u00e9.\nMonseigneur, tout ce qui sera de bon en tout ce discours, vous le\ns\u00e7aurez prendre comme tel; s'il y aura riens qui semble party de trop\nd'affection, je vous supplie m'ayder \u00e0 en excuser, & qu'il soit pris\nde bon part, car l\u00e0 o\u00f9 la mati\u00e8re seroit mauvaise si vous assureray-je\nbien que l'intention n'est telle, et la dessus est bien temps pour vous\n& pour moy que je facze fin \u00e0 la pr\u00e9sente, me recommande humblement en\nvostre bonne gr\u00e2ce, & pryant nostre Seigneur qu'il vous doint bonne vie\n& longue.\n  De Londres, le xvij d'Octobre.\n    \u00e0 Monsiegneur\n        Monseigneur\n      Le Grant Maistre & Marechal de France.\nLETTER XX.\n_Thomas Alward to Thomas Cromwell._ A. D. 1529.\n[MS. COTTON. VITELLIUS B. XII. fol. 173. _Orig._]\n \"The following Letter (says Mr. Ellis), though mutilated, presents a\n genuine picture of one of the last interviews with which Wolsey was\n favoured by his Sovereign. It is dated on the 23^d. of September;\n sixteen days after which the King's attorney presented the indictment\n against him in the Court of King's Bench upon the Statute of Provisors.\n \"Thomas Alward, the writer of this Letter, appears to have been the\n Keeper of Wolsey's Wardrobe. He has been already incidentally named in\n the Letter which relates to the foundation of Ipswich College.\"\n    MAISTER CROMWEL,\n In my mooste hartiest wise I [_commende me_] unto you; advertisyng\n the same that I have dely[_vered your lres_] unto my lordis grace who\n did immediatly rede over [_the same_] after the redyng wherof his\n grace did put theym in ... and so kepte theym always close to hym\n self. Th[_is I note_] unto you, bicause I never sawe hym do the like\n bifo[_re time_] the which your lettres his grace commaunded me....\n And first, the same hertely thankyth you for your ... advertysement\n made unto hym from tyme to tyme [_of soche_] things as ye have written\n unto his grace wherin I know [_ye have_] don unto his grace singular\n pleasur and good service; and as [_for_] the vain bruts which goth\n against my lords [_grace_] I assur you as fer as may apper unto my\n said [_lord and_] other that be his servaunts, they be mervailous\n false, ... and gretely I do mervaile wherof the same shul[_de arise_]\n for I assur you that in this vacacion tyme [_dyvers_] lettres wer\n written by the kyngs commaundment from [_Mr. Ste_]vyns unto my\n said lord, by the which his adv[_ise_] and opinion was at sundry\n tymes desired ... in the kyngs causis and affaires, unto the which\n lettres [_aunswer_] was made from tyme to tyme, as well by my lords\n [_wry_]tyng as also by the sendyng of his servaunts to the[_courte\n with_] instructions by mouth to the kyng's highnes as the [_mater_]\n and case did requir. Over this the noblemen and gentry [_as well_]\n in my lords goyng to the courte as also in his retourne from [_the_]\n same dyd mete and incounter hym at many places gently [_and_] humaynly\n as they wer wonte to do. On Sonday last my lords grace, with the\n Legat Campegius cam unto the courte at Grene[_wiche_] wher they wer\n honorably receyved and accompanyed with sundry of the kings counsaile\n and servaunts, and so brought bifor masse onto the king's presence,\n who graciously and beni[~g]ly after the accustumed goodnes of his\n highnes, with very familiar and loving acountenance did welcome theym.\n And after communication and talkyng awhiles with my Lorde Campegius,\n his grace talked a grete while with my lorde a parte, which don, they\n departed all to geder in to chapel. And immediatly after dyner my\n lords grace went again unto the kyngs highnes beyng then in his pryvie\n chamber wher they wer commonyng and talkyng to geder at the leeste for\n the space of ij. houres, no person beyng present, and a friende of\n myne beyng of the prive chamber told me at my lords departur that tyme\n from thens ther was as good and as familiar accountynaunce shewed and\n used betwene theym as ever he sawe in his life heretofor. This don\n my lords grace with the legat retourned unto theyr logyng at Maister\n Empson's place. On Monday in the mornyng my lord leving the legat at\n his logyng went again unto the kyngs grace, and after long talkyng\n in his privie chamber to geder, the kyng, my lord, and all the hole\n counsaile sate to geder all that for'none aboute the kyngs matiers\n and affaires. In the after none, my lords grace having then with hym\n the Legat Campegius, went to the kyng's grace, and after talkyng and\n communication had a long whilis with the legat a parte they both toke\n ther leve of the kyngs highnes in as good fascion and maner, and with\n asmoche gentilnes, as ever I saw bifor. This don, the kyngs grace went\n huntyng. The legate retourned to Maister Empson, and my lords grace\n taried ther in counsaile til it was darke nyght. Further mor my Lord\n of Suffolke, my Lord of Rochford, Maister Tuke, and Master Stevyns\n did as gently [_be_]have theymselfs, with as moche observaunce and\n humy[_lyte to_] my lords grace as ever I sawe theym do at any [_tyme_]\n tofor. What they bere in ther harts I knowe n[_ot_.] Of the premissis\n I have seen with myne ies; wherfor I boldely presume and thinke that\n they be ferre [_furth_] overseen that sowth[243] the said false and\n untrewe reports: ascerteynyng you if ye coulde marke som[_e of the_]\n chief stirrers therof ye shulde do unto his grace [_moche_] pleasur.\n Assone as ye can spede your bysynes th[_ere my_] lord wolde be very\n glad of your retourne. My lord wilbe on Monday next at London. And the\n Legat [_Cam_]pegius  shal departe shortely oute of Englonde. A[_nd\n thus_] makyng an ende I commit you to the tuicion and g[_widance of_]\n Almyghty God. From Saint Albons the xxiij^{th} S[_ep_]tember.\n All the gentilmen of my lords chamber with the... ...[244] of\n commendith them hartely unto you.\nFOOTNOTES:\n[202] Mrs. Anne Gainsford.\n[203] See the Earl of Surrey's character of him, in an Elegy on his\nDeath, among his poems.\n[204] It is presumed that the allusion is here to Sir Thomas Wyatt's\nverses entitled \"A description of such a one as he would love:\"\n    A face that should content me wonderous well,\n    Should not be faire, but lovely to behold:\n    Of lively loke, all griefe for to repel\n    With right good grace, so would I that it should\n    Speak, without words, such words as none can tell;\n    Her tresse also should be of cresped gold.\n      With wit and these perchance I might be tide\n      And knit againe the knot that should not slide.\n[205] The King of France's sister.\n[206] _Sanders De Origine ac Progressu Schismatis Anglicani. Libri_ 3.\nThis book was first printed at Cologne, in 1585, and passed through\nseveral editions, the last in 1628. It was subsequently translated\ninto French, and printed in 1673-4; which induced Burnet to write his\nHistory of the Reformation. In the appendix to his first volume he\ngives a particular account of Sanders' book, and refutes the calumnies\nand falsehoods contained in it. This called forth a reply from the\ncatholic party, under the title of _Histoire du Divorce de Henry_ VIII.\n_par Joachim Le Grand_. _Paris_, 1688, 3 vols. 12mo. A work not without\ninterest on account of the documents printed in the third volume, some\nof which I have found useful as illustrations of the present work.\n[207] Sir Francis Brian was one of the most accomplished courtiers\nof his times: a man of great probity and a poet. Wyatt addresses his\nthird satire to him, and pays a high compliment in it to his virtue\nand integrity. He was, like Wyatt, firmly attached to the Protestant\ncause: on this account he seems to have drawn on himself the hatred\nof the Roman Catholic party. Sanders, in his malevolent account of\nthe Reformation in England, relates the following absurd and wicked\nstory of him.--Cum autem Henrici Regis domus ex perditissimo hominum\nconstaret, cujusmodi erant aleatores, adulteri, lenones, assentatores,\nperjuri, blasphemi, rapaces, atque ade\u00f2 h\u00e6retici, inter hos insignis\nquidem nepos extitit, Franciscus Brianus, Eques Auratus, ex gente et\nstirpe Bolenorum. Ab illo rex quodam tempore qu\u00e6sivit, quale peccatum\nvideretur matrem primum, deinde filium cognoscere.--Cui Brianus,\n\"Omnino,\" inquit, \"tale O rex quale gallinam prim\u00f9m, deinde pullum\nejus gallinaceum comedere.\" Quod verbum cum rex magno risu accepisset,\nad Brianum dixisse fertur. \"N\u00e6! tu merito meus est Inferni Vicarius.\"\nBrianus enim jam prius ob impietatem notissimam vocabatur, \"Inferni\nVacarius.\" Post autem et \"Regius Inferni Vicarius.\" Rex igitur cum et\nmatrem prius, et postea filiam Mariam Bolenam pro concubina tenuisset,\ndemum at alteram quoque filiam, Annam Bolenam, animum adjicere c\u0153pit.\n_De Schismate Anglicano_, p. 24.\nThis disgusting calumny is repeated by the followers of Sanders, and\namong others by Davanzati, in his _Schisma d'Inghilterra_, p. 22,\nEd. 1727. And yet that history is presented by the Curators of the\n_Studio_ at Padua, to the youth educated there as \"una stimabilissima\nStoria; descritta con quei vivi e forti colori che soli vagliano a far\ncomprendere l'atrocita del successo dello Schisma d'Inghilterra.\" How\n(says Dr. Nott, from whom this note is taken) can the bonds of charity\nbe ever brought to unite the members of the Roman Catholic communion\nwith those of the reformed church, so long as their youth shall be thus\nearly taught to consider our Reformation as the portentous offspring\nof whatever was most odious in human profligacy, and most fearful in\nblasphemy and irreligion?\" _Memoirs of Sir Thomas Wyatt_, p. 84.\n[210] Tyndal's Obedience of a Christian Man.\n[211] This curious and interesting occurrence, which probably had\nconsiderable effect in furthering the progress of the Reformation, is\ntold with more circumstance by Strype, from the manuscripts of Fox.\nIt is so entirely corroborated by what is here said, that I think it\nincumbent upon me to place it in juxtaposition with Wyatt's narrative.\n\"Upon the Lady Anne waited a young fair gentlewoman, named Mrs.\nGainsford; and in her service was also retained Mr. George Zouch. This\ngentleman, of a comely sweet person, a Zouch indeed, was a suitor\nin the way of marriage to the said young lady: and among other love\ntricks, once he plucked from her a book in Englishe, called Tyndall's\nObedience, which the Lady Anne had lent her to read. About which time\nthe Cardinal had given commandment to the prelates, and especially\nto Dr. Sampson, dean of the king's chapel, that they should have a\nvigilant eye over all people for such books, that they came not abroad;\nthat so as much as might be, they might not come to the king's reading.\nBut this which he most feared fell out upon this occasion. For Mr.\nZouch (I use the words of the MS.) was so ravished with the spirit of\nGod speaking now as well in the heart of the reader, as first it did\nin the heart of the maker of the book, that he was never well but when\nhe was reading of that book. Mrs. Gainsford wept because she could not\nget the book from her wooer, and he was as ready to weep to deliver it.\nBut see the providence of God:--Mr. Zouch standing in the chapel before\nDr. Sampson, ever reading upon this book; and the dean never having\nhis eye off the book, in the gentleman's hand, called him to him, and\nthen snatched the book out of his hand, asked his name, and whose man\nhe was. And the book he delivered to the cardinal. In the meantime, the\nLady Anne asketh her woman for the book. She on her knees told all the\ncircumstances. The Lady Anne showed herself not sorry nor angry with\neither of the two. But, said she, 'Well, it shall be the dearest book\nthat ever the dean or cardinal took away.' The noblewoman goes to the\nking, and upon her knees she desireth the king's help for her book.\nUpon the king's token the book was restored. And now bringing the book\nto him, she besought his grace most tenderly to read it. The king did\nso, and delighted in the book. \"For (saith he) this book is for me and\nall kings to read.\" And in a little time, by the help of this virtuous\nlady, by the means aforesaid, had his eyes opened to the truth, to\nadvance God's religion and glory, to abhor the pope's doctrine, his\nlies, his pomp, and pride, to deliver his subjects out of the Egyptian\ndarkness, the Babylonian bonds that the pope had brought his subjects\nunder. And so contemning the threats of all the world, the power of\nprinces, rebellions of his subjects at home, and the raging of so many\nand mighty potentates abroad; set forward a reformation in religion,\nbeginning with the triple crowned head at first, and so came down\nto the members, bishops, abbots, priors, and such like.\"--_Strype's\nEcclesiastical Memorials_, vol. i. p. 112.\n[212] Mr. George Zouch.\n[213] So it is in the Calendars prefixed to the Book of Common Prayer\nin Queen Elizabeth's reign. Lord Herbert says it was the sixth, Sanders\nthe eighth, and Archbishop Cranmer the thirteenth or fourteenth.\n[215] Shaxton and Latimer.\n[216] To every one of these she gave a little book of devotions, neatly\nwritten on vellum, and bound in covers of solid gold enamelled, with a\nring to each cover to hang it at their girdles for their constant use\nand meditation.\nOne of these little volumes, traditionally said to have been given\nby the queen when on the scaffold to her attendant, one of the\nWyatt family, and preserved by them through several generations,\nwas described by Vertue as being seen by him in the possession of\nMr. George Wyatt of Charterhouse Square, in 1721. Vide _Walpole's\nMiscellaneous Antiquities_, printed at Strawberry Hill, 1772, No. II.\np. 13. It was a diminutive volume, consisting of one hundred and four\nleaves of vellum, one and seven-eighths of an inch long by one and\nfive-eighths of an inch broad; containing a metrical version of parts\nof thirteen Psalms: and bound in pure gold richly chased, with a ring\nto append it to the neck-chain or girdle. It was in Mr. Triphook's\npossession in the year 1817.\n[217] Cos\u0233: this woman's name was Cousyns.\n[218] Probably the name of one of her attendants.\n[219] unless.\n[221] Sir Francis Weston.\n[224] accepts.\n[228] Anvers, Antwerp.\n[229] number.\n[230] an hour.\n[231] number.\n[232] That is his long continuance with the cardinal.\n[233] He had probably disobliged the king by his attachment to Anne\nBoleyn.\n[235] Carlisle.\n[236] William Worm, whom he mentions in a former letter, as the person\nwho betrayed him.\n[237] brought.\n[239] Antiphonars, Gralls, Orderlys, Manuals, and Professionaries,\nare books containing different portions of the Roman Catholic Ritual.\nSee Percy's Northumberland Household Book, p. 446, and Burn's\nEcclesiastical Law.\n[240] _licence._ There is a tradition at Alnwick that an auditor was\nformerly confined in the dungeon under one of the towers till he could\nmake up his accounts to his lord's satisfaction.\n[241] Dr. Augustine, or Agostino, a native of Venice, was physician\nto the cardinal, and was arrested at Cawood at the same time with his\nmaster, being treated with the utmost indignity: v. _Life_, pp. 348,\n351. In the Cottonian MS. Titus b. i. fol. 365, there is a letter\nof his to Thomas Cromwell, in Italian, requiring speedy medical\nassistance, apparently for Cardinal Wolsey. It is dated Asher, Jan.\n19th, 1529-30. Cavendish describes him as being dressed in a \"boistous\ngown of black velvet;\" with which he overthrew one of the silver\ncrosses, which broke Bonner's head in its fall.\n[242] Premunire.\n[243] soweth.\n[244] _f._ rest thereof.\n                    ARCH-BISHOP OF CANTERBVRIE, &c.\n _The following parallel between Laud and Wolsey is referred to in a\n note at p. 342 of the Life of Wolsey. It was printed at the same time\n and for the same purpose as the first garbled edition of that life;\n namely--to prejudice Archbishop Laud in the minds of the people. The\n press then teemed with pamphlets levelled at him, and in the same\n volume I find two others: \"The Character of an untrue Bishop, with a\n Recipe to recover a Bishop if he were lost.\" And--\"England's Rejoycing\n at the Prelates Downfall, written by an Ill-willer to the Romish\n Brood:\" both of the same date._\nA TRUE DESCRIPTION,\nOR RATHER\nA PARALLEL\nBETWENE\nCARDINAL WOLSEY AND ARCH-BISHOP LAUD.\nThere be two primates, or arch-bishops throughout England and\nWales, Canterburie and Yorke, both metropolitans, York of England,\nCanterburie of all England, for so their titles runne. To the primate\nof Canterburie bee subordinate thirteene bishops in England, and foure\nin Wales. But the primate of Yorke hath at this time but two suffragans\nin England: namely, the Bishops of Carliele, and Durham: though hee\nhad in King Lucius dayes, (who was the first Christian king of this\nour nation) all the prelacy of Scotland within his jurisdiction:\nCanterburie commanding all from this side the River Trent to the\nfurthest limits of Wales; and York commanding all from beyond the\nTrent to the utmost bounds of Scotland, and hitherto, their prime\narchiepiscopall prerogatives may (not unproperly) be paralleld.\nIn the time of Henrie the first were potent two famous prelates,\nAnselme of Canterburie, who durst contest against the king, and Girald\nof Yorke, who denyed to give place or any precedence at all to Anselme.\nThomas Becket, who was first chancellour, and after Arch-bishop of\nCanterburie, in the reigne of Henrie the Second, bore himselfe so\ninsolently against the king his soveraigne, that it cost him his life,\nbeing slaine in the church as he was going to the altar. But above all,\nthe pride, tyrannie, and oppression of the Bishop of Ely, in the reigne\nof Richard the First, wants example, who was at once Chancellour of\nEngland, and Regent of the land, and held in his hand at once the two\nArch-bishopricks of York and Canterburie, who never rid abroad without\na thousand horse for his guard to attend him, whom we may well parallel\nwith the now great Cardinall of France: and need hee had of such a\ntraine to keep himselfe from being pulled to peeces by the oppressed\nprelates, and people, equally extorting from the clergie and laietie;\nyet he in the end, disguising himselfe in the shape of an old woman,\nthinking to passe the sea at Dover, where hee awayted on the Strand,\na pinace being hired for that purpose, he was discovered by a sayler,\nand brought backe to abide a most severe sentence. Stephen Lancthon,\nArchbishop of Canterburie, in the time King Iohn, would not absolve the\nland, being for sixe yeares together indicted by the pope, till the\nking had payd unto him and the rest of the bishops, eighteene thousand\nmarkes in gold; and thus I could continue the pride of the prelacie,\nand their great tyrannie through all the kings reignes: But I now fall\nupon the promist parallel betwixt Thomas Wolsey, Arch-bishop of York,\nand Cardinall, and William Laud, Doctor in Divinitie, and Arch-bishop\nof Canterburie.\nThey were both the sonnes of meane and mechanick men, Wolsey of a\nbutcher, Laud of a cloth worker. The one borne in Ipswich (threescore\nmiles), the other in Reading, thirtie miles distant from the City of\nLondon, both of them verie toward, forward, and pregnant grammar\nschollars, and of singular apprehensions, as suddenly rising to the\nfirst forme in the schoole. From thence, being yong, they were removed\nto the Vniversitie of Oxford, Wolsey admitted into Maudlin Coledge,\nLaud into St. Iohns; and as they were of different times, so they\nwere of different statures; yet either of them well shapt according\nto their proportions; Wolsey was of a competent tallnesse, Laud of a\nlesse size, but might be called a prettie man, as the other a proper\nman: both of ingenious and acute aspects, as may appeare by this mans\nface, the others picture. In their particular colledges they were alike\nproficients, both as active of body as braine, serious at their private\nstudies, and equally frequent in the schooles, eloquent orators,\neither to write, speake, or dictate, daintie disputants, well verst in\nphilosophy, both morall, physicall, and metaphysical, as also in the\nmathematicks, and neither of them strangers to the muses, both taking\ntheir degrees according to their time; and through the whole academie,\nSir Wolsey was called the boy-batchelour, and Sir Laud the little\nbatchelour.\nThe maine study that either of them fixt upon was theology: for though\nthey were conversant in all the other arts and sciences, yet that\nthey solely profest, and by that came their future preferment; Wolsey\nbeing Batchelour was made schoole-master of Maudlin Schoole in Oxford:\nbut Laud came in time to be master of St. Iohns Colledge in Oxford,\ntherein transcending the other, as also in his degrees of Master of\nArt, Batchelour of Divinitie, and Doctor of Divinitie, when the other\nbeing suddenly cald from the rectorship of his schoole, to be resident\nupon a countrie benefice, he took no more academicall degrees, than\nthe first of Batchelour, and taking a strange affront by one Sir\nAmias Paulet, a knight in the countrie, who set him in the stocks, he\nindured likewise divers other disasters: but that disgrace he made the\nknight pay dearely for, after he came to be invested in his dignitie.\nBriefely, they came both to stand in the princes eye; but ere I proceed\nany further, let me give the courteous reader this modest caveat, that\nhe is to expect from me onely a parallell of their acts and fortune,\nbut no legend of their lives; it therefore briefely thus followeth.\nBoth these from academicks comming to turne courtiers; Wolsey, by his\ndiligent waiting, came to insinuate himselfe into the brests of the\nprivie counsellours. His first emploiment was in an embassie to the\nemperour, which was done by such fortunate, and almost incredible\nexpedition, that by that only he grew into first grace with King Henry\nthe Seventh, father to King Henry the Eighth. Laud, by the mediation\nand meanes wrought by friends, grew first into favour with King Iames\nof sacred memory, father to our now royall soveraigne King Charles.\nThey were both at first the kings chaplaines, Wolseyes first preferment\nwas to bee Deane of Lincolne, of which hee was after bishop. Lauds\nfirst ecclesiasticall dignity was to be Deane of Saint Davids, of which\nhe was after bishop also. And both these prelaticall courtiers came\nalso to be privie counsellours. Woolsey in the beginning of Henry the\nEighth's raigne, was made Bishop of Tourney in France, soone after\nBishop of Lincoln, and before his full consecration (by the death of\nthe incumbent) was ended, translated to the Arch-bishoprick of York,\nand all this within the compasse of a yeare; Laud, though not so\nsuddainly, yet very speedily was from St. Davids removed to London,\nand from London to Canterburie, and this in the beginning of the reigne\nof King Charles. Thus you see they were both arch-bishops, and as Laud\nwas never cardinall, so Woolsey was never Canterburie.\nBut in some things the cardinall much exceeded Canterburie, as in\nholding all these bishopricks at once, when the other was never\npossest but of one at one time. The cardinall also held the bishoprick\nof Winchester, of Worcester, Bath and Wells, with a fourth, and two\nabbat-ships in commendam: He had besides an hat sent him from Rome,\nand made himselfe cardinall, (that being before but Yorke) he might\nover-top Canterburie. But our William, howsoever he might have the\nwill, yet never attained to that power, and howsoever hee could not\ncompasse a hat from Rome, yet made the meanes to have a consecrated\nmiter sent from Rome; which was so narrowly watcht, that it came not to\nhis wearing. Moreover, the cardinall extorted the chancellourship from\nCanterburie; but we finde not that Canterburie ever either trencht upon\nthe jurisdiction, or tooke any thing away from the arch-bishoprick of\nYork.\nWoolsey likewise farre out-went him in his numerous traine, and the\nnoblenesse thereof, being waited on not onely by the prime gentrie,\nbut even of earles, and earles sonnes, who were listed in his family,\nand attended him at his table, as also in his hospitalitie, his open\nhouse being made free for all commers, with the rare and extraordinarie\nstate of his palace, in which there were daily uprising and downe-lying\na thousand persons, who were his domestick servants. Moreover in\nhis many entertainments of the K. with masks, and mightie sumptuous\nbanquets, his sumptuous buildings, the prince-like state he carried\nin his forraigne embassages, into France, to the emperor, &c. in which\nhe spent more coyne in the service of his king, for the honour of his\ncountrie, and to uphold the credit of his cardinals cap, than would\n(for the time) have paid an armie royal. But I answer in behalfe of\nour Canterburie, that hee had never that meanes or imployment, by\nwhich hee might make so vain-glorious a show of his pontificalitie,\nor archiepiscopall dignitie: For unbounded mindes may bee restrained\nwithin narrow limmits, and therefore the parallel may something hold in\nthis too.\nThey were also in their judiciall courts equally tyrannous; the one\nin the chancerie, the other in the high commission: both of them at\nthe councell boord, and in the starre-chamber alike draconically\nsupercilious. Blood drawne from Doctor Bonners head by the fall of his\ncrosse presaged the cardinals downfall. Blood drawne from the eares of\nBurton, Prin, and Bastwick, was a prediction of Canterburies ruine;\nthe first accidentall, the last premeditate and of purpose[245]. The\ncardinall would have expelled all the Lutherans and Protestants out of the\nrealme, this our Canterburie would have exil'd both our Dutch and\nFrench church out of the kingdome. The cardinall took maine delight\nin his foole Patch, and Canterburie tooke much delight in his\npartie-coloured cats. The cardinall used for his agents Bonner and\nothers, Canterburie for his ministers, Duck, Lamb, and others. They\nboth favoured the Sea of Rome, and respected his holinesse in it. The\ncardinall did professe it publickly, the arch-bishop did reverence it\nprivately. The cardinalls ambition was to bee pope, the arch-bishop\nstrove to bee patriarch, they both bid fairely for it, yet lost their\naime; and farre easier it is for men to descend than to ascend.\nThe cardinall (as I have said) was very ambitious; the arch-bishop\nwas likewise of the same minde, though better moulded, and of a more\npolitick braine, having a close and more reserved judgement in all\nhis observations, and more fluent in his deliverie. The cardinall was\nverie curious in his attire and ornament of his body, and took great\ndelight in his traine, and other his servants for their rich aparrell;\nthe arch-bishop his attire was neat and rich, but not so gaudie as\nthe cardinals was, yet tooke as much felicitie in his gentlemens rich\naparrell, especially those that waited on his person, as ever the\ncardinall did, though other men paid for them: and if all men had their\nowne, and every bird her feather, some of them would bee as bare as\nthose that professe themselves to bee of the sect of the Adamists: To\nspeake truth, the arch-bishops men were all given to covetousnesse and\nwantonnesse; that I never heard of was in the cardinals men.\nAs the cardinall was sumptuous in his buildings, as that of White Hall,\nHampton Court, &c. as also in laying the foundation of two famous\ncoledges, the one at Ipswich, where he was borne, the other at Oxford,\nwhere he had his breeding: so Christ-Church, which he left unfinished,\nCanterburie hath since repaired; and wherein he hath come short of\nhim in building, though he hath bestowed much on St. Iohns Coledge,\nyet he hath out-gone him in his bountie of brave voluminous books,\nbeing fourescore in number, late sent to the Bodleian or Universitie\nLibrarie: Further, as the cardinall was Chancelour of England, so\nCanterburie was Chancellour of Oxford: And as the cardinall by\nplucking downe of some small abbies, to prepare stone for his greater\nstructures, opened a gap for the king, by which he tooke the advantage\nutterly to raze and demolish the rest: so Canterburie by giving way\nfor one bishop to have a temporall triall; and to be convicted, not by\nthe clergie, but the laitie, so he left the same path open both for\nhimselfe and the rest of the episcopacie: of which, there before scarce\nremained a president.\nI have paralleld them in their dignities: I will conclude with a\nword or two concerning their downefalls. The cardinall fell into the\ndispleasure of his king, Canterburie into an extreame hatred of the\ncommons: both were arrested of high treason, the cardinall by processe,\nCanterburie by parliament. The cardinall at Keywood Castle neare\nYorke, Canterburie at Westminster neare London; both their falls were\nspeedy and suddaine: The cardinall sate as this day in the high court\nof chancerie, and within two dayes after was confined to his house;\nCanterburie as this day sate at the counsell boord, and in the upper\nhouse of parliament, and the same day committed to the blacke rod, and\nfrom thence to the Tower: The cardinall dyed at Leicester some say of a\nflux; Canterburie remaines still in the Tower, onely sick of a fever.\n_Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas._\nFINIS.\nFOOTNOTES:\n[245] This mention of omens reminds me that Dr. Wordsworth in his\nnotes to Wolsey's Life has related the following affecting anecdote of\nArchbishop Laud.\n\"The year 1639 we all know was big with events calamitous to Laud, and\nto the church and monarchy. In Lambeth Library is preserved a small\npane of glass, in which are written with a diamond pencil the following\nwords:\n                   Micham, Cheme et Stone, cum aliis\n                         fulguro combusta sunt\nOn a piece of paper the same size as the glass and kept in the same\ncase with it, is written by the hand of Abp. Wake, as follows: \"This\nglasse was taken out of the west-window of the gallery at Croydon\nbefore I new-built it: and is, as I take it, the writing of Abp. Laud's\nown hand.\"\n_The Will of Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal Wolsey's father; E Libro\nTestamentorum in Registro principali Dni. Epi. Norwic. Multon\ninscripto, fo. 146. a._\nIn Dei Nomine, amen. The xxxi day of the Moneth of September the yer\nof our Lord God a m. cccclxxxxvi. I Robert Wulcy of Ipyswiche hool of\nmend and in good memory beyng, make my testament and my last wyll in\nthis maid wyse. Fyrst, I bequeth my soull to Almyghty God, our Lady\nSent Mary, and to all the company of hevyn, and my body to be buryed\nin the churche yard of our Lady Sent Mary of Neum^rket. Also I beq. to\nthe hey aut^r of the pariche of Sent Nicholas of Ippyswiche vi^{_s._}\nvij^{_d._} Also I beq. to the pentyng of the archangell ther, xl^{_s._}\nItm. I wyll that if Thomas my son be a prest, w^tin a yer next after\nmy decesse, than I wyll that he syng for me and my frends, be the\nspace of a yer, and he for to have for his salary x marc, and if the\nseyd Thomas my son be not a prest than I wyll that a nother honest\nprest syng for me and my frends the term aforeseyd and he to have the\nsalary of x marc. Itm. I wyll that Johan my wyf have all my lands and\nten^{ts}. in the pariche of Sent Nicholas in Ippiswich aforesaid, and\nmy free and bond londs in the piche of S^t Stoke to geve and to sell\nthe residew of all my goods afor not bequethed, I geve and bequethe to\nthe good disposition of Johan my wyff, Thomas my soon, and Thomas Cady,\nwhom I order and make my executors to dispose for me as thei shall\nthink best to ples allmyghty God and p^{ro}fyt for my soull; and of\nthis my testiment and last wyll I orden and make Richard Farrington\nsup^rvisour, and he for to have for his labour xiij^{_s._} iiij^{_d._}\nand yf the seid Richard deserve more he for to have more of Johan\nmy wyff. Itm. I beq. to the seyd Thomas Cady my executor aforeseyd\nxiij^{_s._} iiij^{_d._} Yevyn the day yer and place above wretyn.\n_Probatum fuit presens Testamentum apud Gipwic. coram nobis Offic.\nCans. Dm. Epi Norwic._ xj _die mensis Octobris Anno Dm. Millimo_\ncccc^{mo} lxxxxvi. _In cujus rei testimonium Sigillum, &c._\n_Fisher, Bishop of Rochester._\nBishop Fisher's opposition to Henry's divorce, as noticed by Cavendish\nat p. 222, subsequently cost him his head. Besides his letter to Wolsey\nmaintaining the validity of the marriage with Catherine, published\nby Fiddes in his Appendix to the Life of Wolsey, and in Collier's\nEcclesiastical History, vol. 2 Records, he wrote a larger discourse\nin Latin, \"De Causa Matrimonii Regis Angli\u00e6,\" which was long thought\nto exist only in MS. But in a late sale by public auction in London,\nof Don Jos Antonio Conde's Library, a printed copy was purchased for\nMr. Heber, which appears to have issued from the press at Alcala\n(Complutum) in Spain. The printer of which says the manuscript copy\nwas given him by the Arch-bishop of Toledo. It is probable that the\nSpanish agents in England contrived to obtain a copy and sent it\nto the emperor. It would not have been allowed to issue from the\npress in England. It is remarkable that Ribadineira in his Historia\nEcclesiastica de Inglaterra, Madrid, 1588, p. 59. _rev._ mentions\nthat Fisher presented his book to the legates. \"Los que por parte de\nla Reyna tratavan este negocio eran los mas graves y doctos Teologos\ny Perlados de todo el Reyno y entre ellos Gulielmo Varamo Ar\u00e7opispo\nCantuariense y Primado de Inglaterra, y otros cinco Obispos de grande\nautoridad. Pero el que mas se mostrava era Juan Fischero Obispo\nRoffense, varon por cierto exemplar, y no solamente lumbrera del reyno\nde Inglaterra, sino de toda la christiandad, espejo de santidad, sal\ndel pueblo, y verdadero Doctor de la Yglesia. El qual salio en publico,\n_y present\u00f2 a los Legados_ UN LIBRO _doctissimo que avia escrito_ EN\nDEFENSION DEL MATRIMONIO _del Rey y de la Reyna_, y amonestoles con\nrazonamiento gravissimo que no buscassen dificultades donde no las\navia, ni permitiessen que se pervirtiesse la verdad clara y manifiesta\nde la sagrada Escritura, y se debilitasse la fuer\u00e7a de las leyes\necclesiasticas que en esta causa eran evidentes, y estavan tan bien\nentendidas. Que pensassen y considerassen atentamente los da[=n]os\ninnumerables que deste divorcio se podian seguir: el odio entre el\nRey Enrique y Carlos Emperador: las parcialidades de los principes\nque los seguirian: las guerras crueles de fuera y dentro del reyno: y\nlo que mas importava, las dissensiones en materia de la F\u00e8, s\u00e7ismas,\nheregias, y sectas infinitas. Yo dize por aver estudiado esta materia,\ny gastado en ella mucho tiempo y trabajo, oso afirmar que no ay en la\ntierra potestad que pueda deshazer este matrimonio, ni desatar lo que\nDios at\u00f2. Y esto que digo no solamente _lo pruevo claramente_ EN ESTE\nLIBRO, con los testimonias irrefragable de la sagrada Escritura, y de\nlos santos Doctores, pero tambien estoy aparejado a defenderlo con\nel derramamiento de mi sangre: dixolo Roffense, y como lo dixo, assi\ncumplio. Aviendo hablado de esta manera aquel varon illustre por la\nfama de su doctrina, excellente por la santidad de la vida, admirable\npor la dignidad de Perlado, y por sus canas venerable.\" Ribadineira\nsays that four _other_ Doctors, and three Bishops, also offered other\nbooks which they had composed in defence of the validity of the Queen's\nmarriage: the proof of this assertion is yet to seek.\nA manuscript copy of Fisher's book is said to be among those presented\nby the Duke of Norfolk to the Royal Society. We may hope to have all\nthat relates to this venerable prelate in a more tangible form when\nthe Rev. John Lewis's Life of him shall be given to the world. I have\nthe satisfaction to add that it has been some time at press, under the\neditorial care of the Rev. Theodore Williams of Hendon, and cannot fail\nto prove a valuable addition to Ecclesiastical Biography.\n _The Instrument of the Kings gift to the Cardinal after his forfeiture\n by the premunire, which so much revived his hopes, is printed by Rymer\n and by Fiddes. The following is the Schedule appended to it. V. Life,\nThe Money, Goods, and Cattells, given by the King's Grace to the Lorde\nCardinall, whereof mention is made in the King's Lettres Patentes\nhereunto annexed.\nFyrste in Redy Money, MMM _li._\nItem, in Plate, Nyne Thowsand Fyve Hundred Thre-score Fyve oz. dim.\nquarter, at iij^_s_ viij^_d_ the oz. amounteth to MDCCLII _li._ iij^_s_\nviii^_d_.\nItem, Dyvers Apparell of Houshold, as Hangyngs, Beddyng, Napry, and\nother thyngs, as appereth by the Inventorie of the same--amountyng in\nValue by Estimation, DCCC _li._\nItem, In Horses and Geldyngs lxxx with their Apparel, valued by\nEstimation, CL _li._\nItem, in Mules for the Saddell vi. with their Apparell, valued by\nEstimation, LX _li._\nItem, in Mules for Carriage vi with their Apparell, valued by\nEstimation, XL _li._\nItem, in Lyng on thowsand valued by Estimation, XL _li._\nItem, in Cod and Haberden viij c valued by Estimation, XL _li._\nItem, in Salt viii Waye valued by Estimation, X _l._\nItem, in Implements of the Kytchen as Potts, Pannes, Spitts, Peawter\nVessell, and other things necessarie for the same, valued by\nEstimation, LXXX _l._\nItem, LII. Oxen valued by Estimation, LXXX _l._\nItem, in Muttons LXX valued by Estimation XII _l._\nItem, the Apparell of his Body, valued by Estimation, CCC _l._\n          Summa, vi M. ccc. lxxiv. _l._ iij^_s._ vii^_d._ ob.\n_A Memoryall of suche Communication as my Lorde Legatts grace had with\nthe Quenes Almoner._\n[EX. MS. INTER ARCHIVA ACADEMIA CANTABRIG.]\n This interesting paper is published in Fiddes, from the communication\n of the learned and Reverend Mr. Baker. It is so necessary a supplement\n to the very interesting interview of the two Cardinals with Katherine,\n given by Cavendish, that I could not resolve to withhold it from\n the reader, who may not chance to have ready access to Dr. Fiddes'\n ponderous volume.\nFyrst my lordes grace taking for introduction & commencement of his\ngraces purposes & devyses, excogitate by the same for the totall\nextermination of suche heresies as daily encreased in Cambrydge: &\nthat his grace thought more convenyent the same to be done by the\ncommyssaries then the Bysshops of Rochester or Elie, shewed his\npleasure & determination was to send him thyther, as well for that he\nwas of good reputation & credytt there, beinge a M'^r of a colledge\nin the same, as also for that he had in tymes passed used hym in lyke\nbusyness. To which the said M^r Almoner, fyrst excusing the remission\nof his wonte and bounde offyce & dewtie in vysitinge his grace, &\nmost humblie beseching the same not to impute yt as proceding of\nany alienation of his trewe hart & devotion he bare unto the same,\nanswered, that he woold most gladly taike upon him the said province &\njorney; desyringe nevertheles his grace that he might defer the same\nuntyll 20 dayes were past & expired, in which space he might well\nperforme his residence at Wyndesore. Unto which petycyon his grace\ncondescendyng, & takynge the same as a full resolution in that behalfe,\npretendinge also to have had noon other cause or matter unto him,\nfynished that communicacion, and sodenly asked hym what tydyngs he had\nhard of late in the courte?--\nTo this he answered, that he hard noon, but that yt was much bruted\nthat a Legatt shuld come hyther into England.--Whereuppon his grace\ninferred what the quene thought of his comynge, and for what purpose\nhe should come?----To this he said, that she was fully perswaded &\nbelieved that his comynge was only for the decision of the cause of\nmatrimonie dependinge betweene her & the kinges highnes.\nHereupon my lordes grace taking just occasion further to entre in\nthis mater, & fyrste makyng rehersall of sondrie excellent benefitts\nwith which his grace had indewed hym, to thend he shuld doo the kings\nhighnes trewe & faithfull service, & sithe adjuring him upon his\nfidelitie, his othe, & _sub sigillo confessionis_, and suche other\nobtestations, to conceale & kepe secrete whatsoever his grace shuld\nthen communicate unto hym, and never to propale the same to any man\nlyvyng, oonles he had expresse commandement by the kyngs highnes or his\ngrace so to doo, desyred hym that he wold faithfully entierly & hooly\ndeclare unto his grace all & singuler soche thinges as he knewe of the\nquenes dysposicion, minde, sayings, purpose & intent in this mattier.\nTo this the said M^r Almoner fyrst alleging & declaring of how\nsinguler and perfytt devocyon he was towards the kyngs hyghnes and my\nlords grace, & that he wold not oonly be moost redy to execute his\ncommandements, but also to kepe secrete suche things as his grace\nshuld wyll him so to doo: answered, that he hard the quene oft saie\nthat yf in this cause she myght attaine & injoye her naturall defence &\njustice, she distrusted nothing butt yt should taike suche effecte as\nshuld be acceptable both to God & man. And that for theese causes:--\nFyrst for that it was in the ieies of God moost plaine & evydent that\nshe was never knowen of Prince Arthure. Secondly, for that neyther of\nthe judges were competent, being bothe the kings subjects, beneficed\nwithin his realme, & delegate from the pope at the contemplation of\nthe king, she being never hard, ne admytted to her defence. Thirdly,\nfor that she ne had ne myght have within this realme any indifferent\ncounsaile. Fynally, for that she had in Spaine two bulles, the oone\nbeinge latter daite than the other, but bothe of suche effycacie &\nstrengthe, as shulde sone remove all objections & cavyllations to be\nmaide to thinfringing of this matrymonie.\nTo this my lord's grace replying said, he marvelled not a lyttle of her\nso undyscrete ungodly purposes & sayings, which caused him to conceyve\nthat she was neyther of suche perfection, ne vertue as he had thought\nin tymes past to have been in her: & so entering in refutation of all\nthe premisses said:--\nFyrst, where she saithe that she was not knowen of Prince Arthure,\nverely it is a weake & much unsure grownde for her to leane unto,\nbeing so urgent & vehement presumptions _non solum Juris, sed etiam de\nJure_ to the contrarie, which and of congreuence ought to wey more in\nevery equall judges brest then her symple allegation. For it cannot be\ndenied but that bothe he & she was then of suche yers as was mete and\nhable to explete that act. It is also verey notarie, that thei dyd lye\ntogether, bothe here & in Waylles, by the space of three quarters of a\nyere. Furthermore, nothing was so muche desyred of bothe there parentes\nas the consummation of the said act: Insomuche that the counsailers of\nFerdinando being resident here for that purposse dyd send the sheets\nthei ley in, spotted with bloude, into Spaine, in full testimonye &\nprouf therof. The counsaillers also of bothe parties moste solemnelye\nsworne affearme in there treaties & saien that the matrymonie was\nconsummate by that act. Forthermore the comen voyce through England is,\nthat the said Prince Arthure shuld oftymes boost oon mornyng how ofte\nhe had been the nyght before in the myddes of Spaine: Insomuche that\ncommonlye his so primature deathe was imputed onely to _nimio coitu_.\nFynally, King Henry VIIth of blessed memorie, wold not by certaine\nspace after the deathe of the saide prince, permytte or suffer that\nthe kings highnes shuld injoye the name & tytle of Prince, onely for\nthat it was dowbted by such as than was most abowte the quene whether\nshe was conceaved wyth chylde or noo. And therefore these presumptions\nbeinge of suche sorte & nature, my lords grace said, the quene shuld\ndo lyke neyther wyse ne vartuouse lady to adhere partinacely to the\ncontrarie.\nTo the seconde his grace replied, saying that if she shuld refuse and\ndecline the judgment of those parsons unto whome the pope's holiness\nhad delegated the examination of this cause, she shuld not do well,\nbutt so doing rather incurr the indignacyon of the see apostolique,\ndeserve the obloque & hatred of all good chossin people & ingenerate\nin there hartes a perpetuall hate & enmitie against her. For sythe\nthe popes holines proceadythe in thys commyssyon at the intercession\nor motion of no partie, but onely _ex mero motu pastorali officio_, &\nsith that his holines notwithstanding he being notoriously certyfied\nthat they be the kings subjects, & benefyced within his realme hathe\napproved there parsons as moost mete and worthie to have the hole\ndecision of this cawse commytted unto them: with that also theire\nparsons be qualyfyed with so hyghe preemynence & dignitie, as by the\ncommon lawe cannot be refused as suspect. Fynallie sythe the same\nparsons being straitly commanded by the king's hyghnes, all affection\nof mede or drede set apart, onely to attend, waye, regard & consyder\nthe justyce of the cawse as they shall therunto answere on perell of\nthere owne sowles & his dreadfull indignacion, have no cawse which thei\nshuld varye or deflect their sentence otherwyse than justyce shall\nrequire, specially in a cawse of suche wayght & importance, & wherin\nthey for unrighteouse judgement shuld acquire nothing els but theire\nowne dampnation, eternall ignominie & indignation of theire prince:\nyf she shuld refuse suche parsons as suspect, it might well be saide\nthat she geveth tytles honour to the auctoritie of the churche, & that\nthis realme were marvelouslie destytute of men of sincere learnyng &\nconscience, to the great slaunder of the same.\nAnd fynally his grace said, that yf this exception shuld be admytted as\nsuffycyent cawse of recusation, for that they be benefyced by the kings\nhyghnes, than this cawse of matrymonie myght nowhere be ventylated\nor dyscussed within Christindone, for that there are no parsons of\nauctorite & lernyng in any regyon out of this realme, againe whome\nthe king's highnes might not alleadge, in lyke manner, lyke cawse of\nrecusation & suspicion. The pope's holines & the holle clargie of\nYtallie, Flaunders, Spaine, Denmarke & Scotlande, being now eyther\nconfederate or in thraldome & captivitie of the emperor's tyranny.\nTo the third, concerning counsaillors to be retained on her behalf, my\nlords grace saide, that although he was ryght well assured of the kings\nsinguler propencyon & inclination to justyce, & that above all things\nhis pleasour was justyce shuld be equally mynistred to eyther parte in\nthis cawse, being also never wylling or in mynde at any tyme, but that\nshe shuld have aide and assistance of so well lerned men, so wyse, and\nof so good conscience, as might any be founde within this realme: yet\nhis grace thought that consydering the nature of this cawse to be of\nsuche sorte, as necessarily impliethe the hole tytle of succession of\nthis realme, lyke as yt were not expedyent, ne myght in any wyse be\nsuffred withowt great dangier & perell which might therby ensue, to\nmaike any aliene or straunger previe herunto, specially the Spaniards\nhaving now intelligence with the King of Scotts; So his grace thought\nthat the quene wold not insyst in so fryvolous petition, which might\nnever be graunted unto her, but be content to admytt and adhybyt suche\nlerned men as be here in this region her counsaillors, namely suche as\nby theire othes solempnly maide & vowed, & by expresse commandement\n_et optima gratia_ of the king's highnes, shuld withowt frawde or\ncorruption shew unto her theire sentence and openions: and desyring\nthe contrarie hereof his grace said she shuld doe nothing but declare\nher owne sensuall affection to sett forthe that whiche, all due prouf,\nbothe by Gods lawe & mans law hath justly condemned. And thus ended my\nlords graces talke with M^r Almoner.\n\u2042 Robert Shorton S. T. P. then master of Pembroke Hall and canon of\nWindsor was almoner to the queen, preferr'd by her to the deanery of\nStoke Suffolk, the same that was internuncius cardinali de evocandis\nviris doctis Cantabrigia Oxoniam, and sometime dean of the cardinal's\nchapel.\n_Itinerary of Cardinal Wolseys last Journey Northward, 1530._\nHe set out from Richmond at the beginning of Passion Week, but we\nknow not on what precise day. The first days journey was to Hendon in\nMiddlesex, where he lodged for the night at the house of the abbot of\nWestminster.\nThe next day he removed to a place called the Rye, the abode of the\nLady Parry.\nThe third day to Royston, where he lodged in the monastery.\nThe fourth day to Huntingdon, where he sojourned for the night in the\nabbey.\nOn Palm Sunday he reached the Abbey of Peterborough, which he made his\nabode until the Thursday in Easter week, his train for the most part\nbeing at board wages in the town. Here he celebrated Palm Sunday, going\nwith the monks in procession, and bearing his palm with great humility.\nHe kept his Maunday on the Thursday so named, with the accustomed\nceremonies and bounties to the poor. On Easter Sunday he also went in\nprocession in his cardinal's habit, and performed the service of high\nmass very devoutly.\nFrom Peterborough he went to visit his old friend Sir William\nFitzwilliams, about four miles from thence, who received him with great\njoy and hospitality. He went there on Thursday in Easter week and\nremained until the Monday following, on which day he went to Stamford\nand lay there that night.\nOn Tuesday he went to Grantham, where he lodged in the house of a\ngentleman named Hall.\nOn Wednesday he removed to Newark, where he rested in the castle.\nOn Thursday to Southwell, where was a palace belonging to his see of\nYork, but this being out of repair he was lodged in the house of one\nof the prebends. At Whitsuntide he removed into the palace, keeping a\nnoble table, where he was visited by the chief persons of the country.\nAt the latter end of _grease time_ he removed to Scroby, another house\nbelonging to his see of York, being as much regretted at Southwell\nas he was greeted at Scroby. In his way to Scroby he took Welbeck or\nNewsted Abbey, from thence to Rufford Abbey to dinner, and slept at\nBlythe Abbey, reaching Scroby on the following day, where he remained\nuntil Michaelmas.\nAbout Michaelmas day he removed to his seat of Cawood Castle, twelve\nmiles (said by Cavendish to be only seven) from York, and in his way\nthither he lay two nights and a day at St. Oswald's Abbey, where he\nheld a confirmation. He lay at Cawood long after, says Cavendish, with\nmuch honour.\nHis clergy here waited upon him to take order for his inthronization,\nwhich he seems to have desired should be conducted with as little pomp\nas possible. The ceremony was fixed to take place on the Monday after\nAll Hallown Tide, but he was arrested on the Friday before (fourth of\nNovember) at Cawood, by the Earl of Northumberland and Mr. Welsh.\nThey left Cawood with him in custody on Sunday the sixth. The first\nnight he was lodged in the Abbey of Pomfret.\nThe next day [7^{th}] they removed to Doncaster.\nThe third day [8^{th}] to Sheffield Park, a seat of the Earl of\nShrewsbury (afterwards appointed by Queen Elizabeth for the meeting\nof her and Mary Queen of Scots, which never took place), where he\ncontinued eighteen days, being there seized with the flux. Here Sir\nWilliam Kingston the Constable of the Tower came to take charge of his\nperson, and on Thursday the twenty-fourth of November they set forward,\nthe cardinal hardly able to sit upright on his mule. They passed the\nnight at Hardwicke upon Line in Nottinghamshire. (_See note on the\nOn Friday the twenty-fifth they rode to Nottingham, and lodged there\nthat night.\nOn Saturday the twenty-sixth at night, they reached Leicester Abbey; he\nhad many times like to have fallen from his mule by the way; telling\nthe abbot as he entered he had come to lay his bones among them. He\ngradually became worse, and died at eight o'clock in the morning of\nTuesday November the twenty-ninth.\n _Beside the solemn mass performed by Cardinal Wolsey upon the\n ratification of peace between the French and English kings, which\n is described at p. 190 of the Life, he officiated at another great\n ceremony of thanksgiving upon occasion of the Pope's deliverance\n from captivity. The particulars of which are preserved in the\n archives of the Herald's College in an ancient book written by Thomas\n Walle, Windsor Herald, and published by Dr. Fiddes at p. 179 of his\n Collections. For the convenience of the reader who may not possess Dr.\n Fiddes's Life of Wolsey, I have thought it desirable to place this\n curious relation in my Appendix._\n _The Comming and Reseyving of the Lord Cardinall into Powles for the\n Escaping of Pope Clement_ VII. A. D. 1527. A^o Regni Henrici VIII.\n XIX^{th}.\nMemorandum that the fifth day of January beyng Sunday even in the year\naforesaid, the Lord Thomas Wolcy Cardinall of Yorke &c. landyd betweene\neight of the clocke and nyne in the morninge at the Black fryars at\nLondon, with great company of noblemen and gentlemen, where met with\nhim the Embassadours of the Pope, of the Emperour, the Frenche kinge,\nof Venise, of Florence, of Millain. And so procedyd on horseback unto\nPowles church dore, where they did alight. And ther the officers of\narmes longing unto the king gave there theire attendance, and at his\nalighting put on there sootes of armes. And here was also foure of\nthe doctors, prebendarys of the sayd Powles, in copes and grey amys,\nwhich bare a rich canape over him of cloth of gould. And so the lord\ncardinall procedyd, havyng themperours embassadour on his right hand,\nand the Frenche kinges [embassadour] on his lifte hand, untill he came\nto the arches where was prepared a bank with quyshions and carpets,\nwhere the said Lord kneled, and there mete him, in Pontificalibus, the\nBushop of London, the Bushop of St. Asse [Asaph] which censyd him: And\nthe Bushop of Lincoln, the Bushop of Bath, the Bushop of Llandaff,\nthe Lord Priour of Westm^r, the Priour of St. Saviours, th Abbots of\nStratford, and of Towerhill, the Priour of Christ-churche, of St. Mary\nSpytell, with other to the so[=m]e of xvi miters. And so the procession\nof the hole quyer procedyd fourth, havyng thambassadours with him as\nafore, up to the quier, and so to the high aultier, wher, his oblation\ndoon, he went with him into his travers, and duringe that the howre was\na singing he was revestyd in Pontificalibus, and then he with all the\nother prelats, the quiere of Powles and his hole quiere, with his suit\nof rich copes, went in procession within the said church, the officers\nof arms about him, and next after him thembassadours, and then the\nMayor of London, and the other estates and gentlemen, with the aldermen\nof the cittie.\nThe procession doon, the Masse of the Trinity was begun, songen by the\nByshop of London; the Priour of St. Mary Spittell Gospeller; the Priour\nof Christ Church Pistoler. The masse doon the lord cardinall with the\nother prelatz went unto the quyer dore, where Doctor Capon declaryd\nthe calamities, miseries, and the opprobrious deeds and works, with\nthe great suffrance that our mother the Holy Churche hath suffryd, not\nallonly by the Lutherian sorte, which was lyke to have sortyd to an\nungracious effecte; but also now of late of the great unhappy delings\nof the Paynymes, and violators of our Christien faith, the men of\nwarr belonging to the emperor. In the sorrowful destruction of Rome,\nwhere they, like miscreantz, nothing regarding nother God nor shame,\nviolentlye tooke and by force imprisoned our Holy Father the Pope, the\nwhich now of late by the helpe of our Lord God, which se his churche in\np^rdicion, did releive hit againe; insomuch that our said Holy Father\nis escapyd their hands, wherfore the Lord Legats grace by the kings\ncommandement hath here caused as this day, this noble assemble to be\nhad, to the end that lauds praysings and congratulations might be gyven\nby all true Christien people unto Almighty God, and the hole company of\nHeaven.\nAnd thus doing, the said lord cardinall did give his benediction to\nall the people. Which Doctor Capon sayd, much more than I can reherse,\nand this doon the sayd lord retournyd to the aultier wher the lord\ncardinal began _Te Deum_, the which was solempnly songen with the\nkingis trumpetts and shalmes, as well Inglishmen as Venysians, which\ndoon every man repayred home. And the Lord Legat Cardinall went to his\nplace to dynner, and the embassadours with him.\n _Copied out of an ancient book written by Thomas Walle Windsore, and\n afterwards Garter, folio 126. Examined by us_,\n _The Ceremonial of receiving the Cardinal's Hat, sent by the Pope to\n Wolsey._ Extracted from a MS. in the Herald's Office. Ceremon. vol. 3.\n[FROM FIDDES' COLLECTIONS. _See p. 92._]\nIn the yeare of our Lord 1515, the 15^{th} daie of November, being\nThursdaie and the seaventh yeare of our sovereigne lord King Henry\nthe Eight, the said prothonitary enter'd into London, which before\naccording was mett bothe at the sea side, likewise at Canterbury and\nat Rochester with the bishop of the same, and at Black Heath theare\nmett with him the Reverend Father in God the Bishop of Lincolne, the\nEarle of Essex, and many other gent. of great honour, both spiritual\nand temporal, and soe proceeded through London, the Bishop of Lincolne\nridinge on the right hand [of] the said prothonitary and the Earle of\nEssex on his left hand, having with them sixe horses or above, and\nthey all well beseeming and keeping a good order in their proceeding.\nThe Maior of London with the aldermen on horseback in Cheapside, and\nthe crafte stoode in the streets after there custome: and when the\nsaid Hatt was comen to the Abbey of Westminster, wheare at the north\ndoor of the same was redie th Abbot and eight abbotts besides him,\nall in pontificalibus, and honorabilie received it; and in like sort\nthe same conveied to the high alter, whearuppon it was sett. The\nSundaie next following, the eightenth daie, the most Reverend Father\nin God my Lord Cardinal, well accompanied with noble and gentlemen,\nboth spiritual and temporal, being on horseback, as knights, barons,\nbishops, earles, dukes, and arch-bishops, all in due order proceeded\nfrom his place betwixt eight and nyne of the clocke to the abbey; and\nat the dore beforesaid, his grace with all the noble men descended\nfrom their horses and went to the high alter, wheare on the south\nside was ordeyned a goodlie travers from my Lord Cardinal, and when\nhis grace was comen into it, imediatelie began the Masse of the Holy\nGhost, songen by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Lincoln\nGospeller, and the Bishop of Excester Epistoler, th Arch Bishops of\nArmachan and Dublyn, the Bishops of Winchester, Duresme, Norwiche,\nEly, and Landaffe, and viii abbotts, as of Westminster, Saint Albans,\nBury, Glastonbury, Reading, Glocestre, Winche-Combe, Tewkesbury, and\nthe Prior of Coventrie, all in pontificalibus. The Bishop of Rochester\nwas crosier to my Lord of Canterbury during the mass. M^r Doctor\nCollet, Deane of Powles, made a brief collation or proposition, in\nwhich especially he touched thre things, That is to witt, the name of a\ncardinal, and wheareof it is said, alsoe the highe honour and dignitie\nof the same, and as keeping the articles due and belonging to it, and\nby what meanes he obtained to this high honour chieflie, as by his own\nmerits, theare naminge divers and sundrie vertues that he hath used,\nwhich have been the cause of his high and joyous promotion to all the\nrealme. The second cause of his promotion was through our sovereigne\nlord the king, for the greate zeale and favour that our holy father the\npope hath to his grace. The second thing, is touching the dignitie of\na prince as having power judicial. The third, of a bishop signifying\nboth the old and newe lawe, and havinge the power of them, and also\nthe highe and great power of a cardinal, and howe he betokeneth the\nfree beames of wisdome and charitie, which the apostles received of\nthe Holie Ghoste on Whitsundaie, and a cardinal representeth the order\nof seraphin, which continually brenneth in the love of the glorious\nTrinity; and for thies considerations a cardinal is onelie apparrelled\nwith redd, which collour onelie betokeneth nobleness; and howe these\nthree estates before named be collocated and placed in heaven, also he\nexhorteth theare my lord cardinal, saying to him in this wise: _Non\nmagnitudo superbum extollat nobilitatissimum honorisq; dignitate_. But\nremember that our Saviour in his owne person said to his disciples,\n_Non veni ministrari, sed ministrare; & qui minor inter vos his maior\nregno Celorum, et qui se exaltat humiliabilitur, & qui se humiliat\nexaltabitur_; my lord cardinal, be glad and enforce your selfe always\nto doe and execute righteousness to riche and poore, and mercy with\ntruth; and desired all people to praie for him that he might the\nrather observe these poynts, and in accomplishinge the same what his\nreward shall be in the Kingdom of Heaven; and so ended. The Bull was\nread by Doctor Vecy, Deane of the King's Chappell, and Excestre, and\nat Agnus Dei came forth of his travers my Lord Cardinal and kneeled\nbefore the middle of the high alter, wheare for a certayne tyme he laye\ngravelling, his hood over his head, during benedictions and prayers,\nconcerning the high Creation of a Cardinal, said over him by the Right\nReverend Father in God the Arch-Bishop of Canterburie, which alsoe\nsett the hatt uppon his head. Then Te Deum was sung. All service and\nceremonies finished, my Lord came to the doore before-named, led by\nthe Dukes of Norffolk and Suffolk, where his grace with all the noble\nmen ascended uppon their horses, and in good order proceeded to his\nplace by Charing Crosse, next before him the crosse, preceeding it\nthe mace such as belongeth a cardinal to have, and then my Lord of\nCanterbury, havinge no crosse borne before him, with the Bishop of\nWinchester, before them the Duke of Norffolk and Suffolk together, and\nin like order the residue of the noblemen, as the Bishop of Durham with\nthe Popes Orator, then the Marquess Dorsett with the Earle of Surrey,\nthe Earle of Shrewsburie, the Earle of Essex, the Earle of Wiltshire,\nthe Earle of Derby, the Lord of St. Johns, the Lord Fitzwater, the\nLord of Burgaveny, the Lord Dawbeny, the Lord Willoughby, the Lord\nHastings, the Lord Ferrers, the Lord Lattimer, the Lord Cobham, and\nthe Lord Darcey, Sir Henry Marney, Sir John Peche, Sir Thomas a Parr,\nSir Nicholas Vaux, and so all other Banneretts, Knyghts, and Gentlemen\nbefore, after their degrees, and following his grace the Arch-bishop of\nArmachan and Dublyn, the Bishops of Lincolne and Norwiche, Excestre,\nEly, and Rochester, and the ----, after them, my Lords Cardinals place,\nbeing well sorted in every behalfe, and used with goodlie order, the\nhall and chambers garnished very sumptuouslie with riche arras, a great\nfeast kept as to suche a highe and honourable creation belongeth.\nAt the which were the King & Queene and the French Queene, with all\nthe noblemen above specified, alsoe present at the creation the Lord\nFineaux, the Lord Read, the Barons of the Exchequer, with other Judges\nand Serjeants at Law.\nFINIS.\nPOEMS.\nBY\nGEORGE CAVENDISH.\nThe Poems of George Cavendish, which accompany the Life of Wolsey in\nthe Original Autograph Manuscript, consist of a series of Visions upon\nthe Fortunes and Fall of the most eminent Persons of his time.\nThe reader is here presented with the Prologue; the Legend of Wolsey;\nand the Author's Address to his Book; with two stanzas from a long\nEpitaph on Queen Mary. This specimen, it is presumed, will be deemed\nsufficient to convey an idea of the style of Cavendish in verse.\nIt should be remembered, that the Mirror for Magistrates, which\nsubsequently became so popular, had not then been given to the world.\nCavendish, therefore, may have formed his plan from Lydgate's Fall of\nPrinces. Traces of the same kind of versification, which is evidently\nintended to depend more on rhythmical cadence than the number of feet\nin the verse, will be found in Skelton, in Stephen Hawes, Nicholas\nGrimoald, and other contributors to Tottel's Miscellany of Songes and\nSonnettes. In the MS. copy there is no punctuation; but instead we\nhave the mark of the pause or c\u00e6sura in the middle and occasionally at\nthe end of the line; as may be remarked in the example on the plate of\nfac-similes.\nPROLOUG DE L'AUCTOR G. C.\n    In the monyth of June, I lyeng sole alon\n    Under the umber[246] of an oke with bowes pendant,\n    Whan Phebus in Gemynys had his course overgon\n    And entered Cancer, a sygne retrogradant,\n    In a mean measure his beams radyant,\n    Approaching Leo, than mused I in mynd\n    Of fykkellness of Fortune and the course of kynd[247];\n    How some are by fortune exalted to riches,\n    And often such as most unworthy be;\n    And some oppressed in langor and sykness,\n    Some wayling, lakkyng welthe, by wretched povertie;\n    Some in bayle and bondage, and some at libertie:\n    With other moo gystes[248] of fortune varyable;\n    Some pleasant, some mean, and some onprofitable.\n    But after dewe serche and better advisement,\n    I knewe by Reason that oonly God above\n    Rewlithe thos thyngs, as is most convenyent,\n    The same devysing to man for his behove[249];\n    Wherefore Dame Reason did me persuade, and move\n    To be content with my small estate,\n    And in this matter no more to vestigate.\n    Whan I had debated all thyng in my mynd,\n    I well considered myne obscure blyndness;\n    So that non excuse could I see or fynd,\n    But that my tyme I spent in idelnes;\n    For this me thought, and trew it is doughtles,\n    That since I ame a reasonable creature,\n    I owght my reason and wytt to put in ure[250].\n    Than of what matter myght I devise to wright,\n    To use my tyme and wytte to excercyse,\n    Sithe most men have no pleasour or delight\n    In any history, without it sownd to vice:\n    Alass! shold I than, that ame not young attise\n    With lewed ballatts, faynt harts to synne,\n    Or flatter estatts[251] some favor of them to wynne.\n    What than shall I wright? the noble doughtyness\n    Of estatts that used is now a dayes?\n    I shall than lak matter; for gredy covetousnes\n    Of vayne riches, whiche hathe stopt all the wayes\n    Of worthy chyvallry, that now dayly sore dekayes:\n    And yet thoughe some behave them nobly,\n    Yet some ther be that dayly doth the contrarye.\n    For some lovyth meat fynne and delicious,\n    And some baudye[252] brothes, as their educasion hath be;\n    So some lovethe virtue, and some tales vicious:\n    Sewerly suche tales get ye non of me,\n    But to eschewe all ociosite,\n    Of Fortune's fykellnes hereafter shall I wright,\n    How greatest estatts she overthrowyth by myght.\n    Thoughe I onworthe this tragedy do begyne,\n    Of pardon I pray the reders in meke wyse;\n    And to correct where they se fault therein,\n    Reputing it for lak of connyng exercyse.\n    The cause that moved me to this enterprise\n    Especyally was that all estatts myght see\n    What it is to trust to Fortune's mutabylitie.\n    With pen and ynke I toke this work in hand,\n    Redy to wright the deadly dole and whofull playnt\n    Of them whose fall the world doth understand;\n    Which for feare made my heart to faynt:\n    I must wright playn; colours have I none to paynt;\n    But termes rude their dolours to compile;\n    An wofull playnt must have an wofull style.\n    To whome therefore for helpe shall I nowe call?\n    Alas! Caliope my calling will utterly refuse;\n    For mornyng dities and woo of Fortune's falle\n    Caliope dyd never in hir dyties use;\n    Wherefore to hir I might my self abuse:\n    Also the Musis that on Parnasus syng\n    Suche warblyng dole did\n    never temper stryng.\n    Now to that Lord whose power is celestiall,\n    And gwydyth all thyng of sadnes and of blysse,\n    With humble voyce to the I crie and call,\n    That thou wouldest direct my sely[253] pen in this:\n    For, wantyng of thy helpe, no marvel thoughe I mysse;\n    And by thy grace, though my style be rude,\n    In sentence playne I may full well conclude.\n    Nowe by thy helpe this hystory I will begyn,\n    And from theffect varie nothing at all;\n    For if I shold, it ware to me great synne\n    To take uppon me a matter so substancyall,\n    So waytie, so necessarie, of fame perpetuall:\n    And thus to be short, oon began to speke\n    With deadly voyce, as thoughe his hart wold breke.\nLE HISTORYE\nCARDINALIS EBORACENSIS.\n    O Fortune! (quoth he) shold I on the complayn,\n    Or of my negligence, that I susteyn this smart?\n    Thy doble visage hathe led me to this trayne;\n    For at my begynnyng thou dydst ay take my part,\n    Untill ambysion had puffed up my hart\n    With vainglory, honor, and usurped dignytie,\n    Forgettyng cleane my naturall mendycitie.\n    From povertie to plentie, which now I see is vayn,\n    A cardinal I was, and legate de latere,\n    A byshope and archbysshope, the more to crease my gayn\n    Chauncellor of Englond, Fortune by hir false flatterie\n    Dyd me advance, and gave me such auctorytie\n    That of hyghe and low I toke on me the charge,\n    All England to rewle, my power extendyd large.\n    Whan Fortune with favor had set me thus aloft,\n    I gathered me riches; suffisance could not content;\n    My fare was superfluous, my bed was fyne and soft;\n    To have my desiers I past not what I spent:\n    In yerthe, such abondaunce Fortune had me lent,\n    Yt was not in the world that I could well requier,\n    But Fortune strayt wayes did graunt me my desier.\n    My byldyngs somptious, the roffes with gold and byse[254]\n    Shone lyke the sone in myd day spere,\n    Craftely entaylled[255] as connyng could devise,\n    With images embossed, most lively did appere;\n    Expertest artificers that ware both farre and nere,\n    To beautyfie my howssys, I had them at my will:\n    Thus I wanted nought my pleasures to fullfill.\n    My galleries ware fayer both large and long,\n    To walke in them whan that it lyked me best;\n    My gardens sweet, enclosed with walles strong,\n    Embanked with benches to sytt and take my rest;\n    The knotts so enknotted, it cannot be exprest[256],\n    With arbors and alyes so pleasant and so dulce,\n    The pestylent ayers with flavors to repulse.\n    My chambers garnysht with arras fynne,\n    Importyng personages of the lyvelyest kynd:\n    And whan I was disposed in them to dynne,\n    My clothe of estate there ready did I fynd,\n    Furnysshed complett according to my mynd;\n    The subtyll perfumes of muske and sweet amber,\n    There wanted non to perfume all my chamber.\n    Plate of all sorts most curiously wrought,\n    Of facions new, I past not of[257] the old,\n    No vessell but sylver before me was brought,\n    Full of dayntes vyands, the some cannot be told;\n    I dranke my wynne alwayes in sylver and in gold:\n    And daylye to serve me, attendyng on my table,\n    Servaunts I had bothe worshipfull and honorable.\n    My crosses twayne of sylver long and greate,\n    That dayly byfore me ware carried hyghe,\n    Upon great horses, opynly in the strete,\n    And massie pillars gloriouse to the eye,\n    With pollaxes gylt that no man durst come nyghe\n    My presence, I was so pryncely to behold,\n    Ridyng on my mule trapped in sylver and gold.\n    My legantyne prerogatyve was myche to myn avayle,\n    By vertue wherof I had thys high preemynence:\n    All vacant benefices I did them strayt retaylle,\n    Presentyng than my clarke, as sone as I had intellygence:\n    I prevented the patron, ther vaylled[258] no resistence;\n    All bysshopes and prelates durst not oons denay,\n    They doughted so my power, they myght not dysobey.\n    Thus may you see how I to riches did attayne,\n    And with suffisaunce my mynd was not content;\n    Whan I had most, I rathest[259] wold complayne;\n    For lake of good, alas! how I was blent[260]!\n    Where shall my gatheryngs and good be spent?\n    Some oon, perchance, shall me thereof dyscharge,\n    Whom I most hate, and spend it owt at large[261].\n    Sytting in Jugement, parcyall ware my doomes;\n    I spared non estatte, of hyghe or low degree;\n    I preferred whom me lyst, exaltyng symple gromes\n    Above the nobles; I spared myche the spritualtie,\n    Not passyng myche on the temperaltie;\n    Promotyng such to so hyghe estate\n    As unto prynces wold boldly say chek-mate.\n    Oon to subdewe that did me always favor,\n    And in that place another to avaunce,\n    Ayenst all trewthe, I did my busy labor,\n    And, whilest I was workyng witty whiles in Fraunce,\n    I was at home supplanted, where I thought most assuraunce:\n    Thus who by fraud fraudelent is found,\n    Fraud to the defrauder will aye rebound.\n    Who workyth fraude often is disceyved;\n    As in a myrror, ye may behold in me;\n    For by disceyt, or I had it perceyved,\n    I was disceyved; a guerdon mete parde\n    For hyme that wold, ayenst all equite,\n    Dysceyve the innocent, that innocent was in deede;\n    Therefore Justice of Justice ayenst me must proceede.\n    For by my subtill dealyng thus it came to passe,\n    Cheafely disdayned, for whome I toke the payn;\n    And than to repent it was too late, alas!\n    My purpose I wold than have changed fayn;\n    But it wold not be, I was perceived playn:\n    Thus Venus the goddesse that called is of love\n    Spared not with spight to bryng me from above.\n    Alas! my soverayn Lord, thou didest me avaunce,\n    And settest me uppe in thys great pompe and pryde,\n    And gavest to me thy realme in governaunce;\n    Thy pryricely will why did I set aside,\n    And followed myn own, consideryng not the tyde,\n    How after a floode an ebbe comyth on a pace?\n    That to consider, in my tryhumphe I lakked grace.\n    Now fykkell Fortune torned bathe hir whele,\n    Or I it wyst[262], all sodenly, and down she did me cast;\n    Down was my bed, and upward went my hele,\n    My hold faylled me that I thought suer and fast;\n    I se by experience, hir favor doth not last;\n    For she full low now hath brought\n    me under, Though I on hir complayn, alas! it is no wonder.\n    I lost myne honor; my treasure was me beraft;\n    Fayn to avoyd, and quykly to geve place,\n    Symply to depart, for me nothing was laft,\n    Without penny or pound I lived a certyn space,\n    Untill my soverayn Lord extendyd to me his grace;\n    Who restored me sufficient, if I had byn content\n    To mayntayn myn estate, both of loud and rent.\n    Yet, notwithstanding, my corage was so hault,\n    Dispight of mine enemyes rubbed me on the gall,\n    Who conspyred together to take me with asault;\n    They travelled without triall to geve me a fall:\n    I therefore entendyd to trie my frends all;\n    To forrayn potentates wrott my letters playn,\n    Desireng their ayd, to restore me to favor againe.\n    Myn ennemyes, perceiving, caught thereof dysdayn,\n    Doughtyng the daynger, dreamed on the dought;\n    In councell consulting, my sewte to restrayn,\n    Accused me of treason, and brought it so about\n    That, travelling to my trial, or I could trie it owte,\n    Death with his dart strake me for the nons[263],\n    In Leicester, full lowe, where nowe lyeth my boons.\n    Loo, nowe you may see what it is to trust\n    In worldly vanyties that voydyth with the wynd;\n    For death in a moment consumeth all to dust:\n    No honor, no glory, that ever man cowld fynd,\n    But Tyme with hys tyme puttythe all out of mynd;\n    For Tyme in breafe tyme duskyth the hystory\n    Of them that long tyme lyved in glory.\n    Where is my tombe that I made for the nons,\n    Wrought of fynne copper, that cost many a pound,\n    To couche in my carion and my rotten boots?\n    All is byt vayn-glory, now I have found,\n    And small to the purpose, when I am in the ground;\n    What doth it avaylle me, all that I have,\n    Seyng I ame deade and laved in my grave?\n    Farewell Hampton Court, whos founder I was;\n    Farewell Westminster Place, now a palace royall;\n    Farewell the Moore, let Tynnynainger[264] passe;\n    Farewell, in Oxford, my college cardynall;\n    Farewell, in Ipsewich, my schole gramaticall:\n    Yet oons farewell, I say, I shall you never see;\n    Your somptious byldyng, what now avayllethe me?\n    What avayllyth my great aboundance?\n    What is nowe left to helpe me in this case?\n    Nothing at all but dompe in the daunce,\n    Among deade men to tryppe on the trace:\n    And for my gay housis now have I this place\n    To lay in my karcas, wrapt in a sheete,\n    Knytt with a knott at my lied and my feete.\n    What avayleth now my feather bedds soft,\n    Sheets of Raynes[265], long, large, and wide,\n    And dyvers devyses of clothes chaynged oft;\n    Or vicious chapleyns walking by my syde,\n    Voyde of all vertue, fullfilled with pryde,\n    Which bathe caused me, by report of suche fame,\n    For ther myslyvyng to have an yll name.\n    This is my last complaynt, I can say you no more,\n    But farewell my servant that faythefull hathe be;\n    Note well these words, quod he, I pray the therfore,\n    And wright them thus playn, as I have told them the,\n    All which is trewe, thou knowest well, parde;\n    Thou faylledst me not, untill that I dyed,\n    And now I must depart, I maye no longer byde!\nSPECIMEN\nOF\nAN EPITAPHE ON QUENE MARIE.\nBY GEORGE CAVENDISH:\nCONSISTING OF FIFTEEN STANZAS.\n    Discend from hevyn, O Muse Melpomene,\n    Thou mournfull goddesse, with thy sisters all,\n    Passe in your playnts the wofull Niobe,\n    Tome musyke to mone with teeres eternall,\n    Blake be your habetts, dyme, and funeral;\n    For deathe bathe bereft, to our great dolour,\n    Mary our mastres, our quene of honor.\n    Our quene of honor, compared aptly\n    To VERITAS VICTRIX, daughter of Tyme,\n    By God assisted, amased in armye,\n    When she a virgin cleare, without cryme,\n    By ryght, without might, did happely clyme\n    To the stage royal, just inheritor,\n    Proclaymed Mary our quene of honor.\nTH'AUCTOR TO HIS BOOKE.\n    Crepe forthe, my boke, under the proteccion\n    Of suche as have bothe learnyng and eloquence;\n    Humbly submyttyng the to the correccion\n    Of worthy writers of virtuous excellence,\n    Besechyng all them, of ther benygn pacience\n    To take the meanyng, however the matter frame,\n    Of this thyn auctor, abasshed of his name.\n    For, first of all, whan I do behold\n    Of famous writers the goodly circumstance,\n    My quaking hand my penne unnethe can hold,\n    So dombe I ame of doctryn, lame of experience,\n    Stakeryng in style, onsavery of sentence,\n    Save oonly hope, that saithe withouten fayll,\n    That my well meanyng shall quytt my travayll.\n    Thus, not presumyng of learnyng ne eloquence,\n    Hope made me shove the boote from the shore;\n    Desyryng no thyng for my fare or expence,\n    But only good wyll; I aske no more:\n    And for[266] the hurt of envy that myght rore,\n    I shall set my shrowd[267] for my defence,\n    Under the mantell of well wyllyng audyence.\n    And principally this my work for to assist,\n    I humbly beseche that Lord that is eternall\n    To defend my penne that wrott this with my fist,\n    To be my savegard, my staffe, and my wall;\n    And consequently for feare least I shold fall\n    In the daynger of the learned[268] and honorable sort,\n    I pray them all my lamenes to support.\n    Least perchaunce the pleasaunt floode do faylle\n    Of witty writing or sugred eloquence,\n    Followe, therfore, good wyll at the boots taylle,\n    Me to preserve in the waves of ignorance,\n    Socoured by hope and gentill sufferance:\n    Nowe hale uppe, skuller; God graunt me wynd,\n    And Jhesu defend me to my lives end.\n    Whan thou, my boke, comest into the prease\n    Bothe of the wyse and learned multitude,\n    To excuse thyn auctor thou canst do no lesse,\n    Wantyng learnyng, and of utterance rude,\n    Which did never this enterprise entrude;\n    Trustyng either of wytt or learnyng,\n    But for an exercise, and non other thyng.\n               FINIE ET COMPIL\u00c9 LE XXIIIJ JOUR DE JUNIJ\n   \u0100 REGNO[=R] PHILIPPI REX & REGINE MARIE IIIJ^{TO}. & V^{TO}.[269]\n  _Novus Rex, nova Lex: Nova sola Regina, probz pene ruina._\n                PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS.\nFOOTNOTES:\n[246] _umber_, i. e. shade, _ombre_, Fr.\n[247] _kynd_, is _nature_.\n[248] _gystes_, or _gests_, are _actions_.\n[249] For his _behove_, for his _behoof_ or _advantage_.\n[250] To put in _ure_, i. e. to put in _use_. Thus in Ferrex and\nPorrex, by Sackville:\n    And wisdome willed me without protract\n    In speedie wise to put the same in _ure_.\n[251] _estatts_, i. e. nobles, persons of rank or great estate.\n[252] This word was used by our ancestors to signify any thing _greasy_\nor _filthy_; the revolutions of language have at length confined it to\none only of its ancient acceptations, that of _obscenity_.\n[253] _sely_, i. e. _simple_.\n[254] _gold and byse_, is gold and _purple_.\n[255] _entaylled_, i. e. carved, vide p. 300.\n[256] This is no uninteresting picture of the seclusion desired by our\nancestors in the old geometric style of gardening. Of this curious\nknot-garden of Wolsey the remains are still to be seen at Hampton\nCourt, the maze there forming part of it.\n[257] _I past not of_, i. e. I cared not for.\n[258] _vaylled_, availed.\n[259] _rathest_, i. e. soonest.\n[260] _blent_, i. e. _blind_.\n[261] This is a version of the concluding passage of the Life of the\nCardinal.\n[262] _wyst_, i. e. knew.\n[263] for the _nons_, or _nonce_, for the _purpose_.\n[264] This is _Tittenhanger_, in Hertfordshire, which Wolsey held as\nAbbot of St. Albans: there was formerly a palace belonging to the\nAbbots of St. Albans there.\n[265] Sheets of _Raynes_. The fine linen used by our ancestors is\nfrequently called cloth of _Raynes_. Rennes in Brittanny was formerly\ncelebrated for its manufacture of fine linen. In the enumeration of the\ncardinal's treasures at Hampton Court, many pieces of cloth of Raynes\nare mentioned. In the Old Phrase Book, entitled Vulgaria, by W. Horman,\n1519, is the following passage: \"He weareth a shurte of _Raynis_ whan\ncurser wold serve him.\"\n[266] \"And _for_ the hurt of envy,\" i. e. _against_ the hurt of envy.\nEnvy being the _cause_ of his seeking to shrowd himself.\n[267] A _shrowd_, signified a shield or buckler, and metaphorically any\nkind of defence, coverture, or place of protection.\n[268] ----\"least I shold fall _In the daynger_ of the learned and\nhonorable sort.\"\nThat is, \"lest I should encounter their _censure_, or fall into the\ncontrol of their severe judgment.\" The phrase has its origin from the\nbarbarous Latin _in dangerio_, and is common to Chaucer and our elder\nwriters as well as to Shakspeare and his cotemporaries.\n[269] By this is meant the Fourth Year of the Reign of Philip, and\nthe Fifth of Queen Mary, answering to 1558. The Latin rhyming couplet\nCavendish appears to have added after the commencement of Elizabeth's\nreign. How far from a true prophecy it proved, the long and prosperous\nreign of Elizabeth may witness.\nTranscriber's Notes:\nItalic text is denoted by _underscores_.\nThere are many typographical irregularities present in this book.\nThe two most frequent are superscripted characters, indicated here with\na preceding carat (^) symbol, and macrons.\nNon-UTF-8 standard macrons are indicated with a bracket and equals sign. For\nexample: an 'm' with a macron over it appearing in the original text is\ntranscribed as [=m].\nMinor obvious punctuation and printer errors were repaired.\nEvery effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as\npossible, including obsolete and variant spellings, inconsistent\nhyphenation, and other inconsistencies.\nThere are many unusual characters present in this book. In the text\nversion, these characters are rendered using the Distributed\nProofreaders' standard (for example, [=M] for a capital M with a macron\n(bar) over it).\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, by George Cavendish\n*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF CARDINAL WOLSEY ***\n***** This file should be named 54043-0.txt or 54043-0.zip *****\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nProduced by MWS, Christopher Wright and the Online\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will\nbe renamed.\nCreating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright\nlaw means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,\nso the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United\nStates without permission and without paying copyright\nroyalties. 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{"content": "Here begins a new treatise or treatise most profitable for all husbands and very fruitful for all others to read, newly corrected and amended by the author, with diverse other things added thereto.\n\nThis is the question. To what is every man ordained? And as Job says, \"He is born for labor: as a bird is for flying.\" That is to say, a man is ordained and born to labor, as a bird is ordained to fly. And the apostle says, \"He that does not work shall not eat. For he that desires to eat of the good things of God, let him labor, serving Him.\" That is to say, he that does not labor shall not eat, and he ought to labor and do God's work, for it is a hard text according to the literal sense. For by the letter, the king, the queen, nor any other spiritual or temporal lords should not eat, unless they should labor, which would be unseemly and not fitting for such estates to labor.\nBut whoever reads in the book of the morality of the chess shall thereby perceive every man from the highest degree to the lowest, set and ordered to have labor and occupation. This book is divided into six degrees: the king, the queen, the bishops, the knights, the judges, and the yeomen. In which book is shown their degrees, their authorities, their works, and their occupations, and what they ought to do. And they, doing and executing their authorities, works, and occupations, have a wondrous great study and labor, of which authorities, occupations, and works were at this time too long to write. Therefore I remit that book as my author therof. The which book was necessary to be known by every degree in the chess, before them to labor, defend, and maintain all the higher estates. The yeomen represent the common people, as husbands and laborers. Therefore I propose to speak first of husbandry.\n\nFirst, by which husbandmen live. Folio (End.)\nOf diverse kinds of plows.\nTo know the names of all the parts of a plow. fo. ii.\nThe tempering of plows. fo. ii.\nThe necessary things that belong to a plow cart / or wagon. fo. iii.\nWhich is better, a plow of oxen or a plow of horses. fo. iv.\nThe diligence and the attention a husband should give to his work, in a prologue & a special ground of this treatise. fo. v.\nHow a woman should plow all kinds of lands at all times of the year.\nTo plow peas & beans. fo. vi.\nHow to saw both peas and beans.\nSede of discression. fo. vii.\nHow all kinds of corn should be sown.\nTo sow barley. fo. viii.\nTo sow oats. fo. ix.\nTo harrow all kinds of corn.\nTo fallow. fo. x.\nTo carry out dung or muck and to spread it.\nTo set out the sheep fold. fo. xi.\nTo carry wood & other necessities. fo. xii.\nTo know various kinds of wedges.\nTo wedge corn. fo. xiii.\nThe first stirring.\nTo mow grass. fo. xiv.\nHow forks and rakes should be made.\nHow to till and make hay. How rye should be harvested, folio xv.\nHow to share wheat.\nTo mow or share barley and oats, fo. xvi.\nTo reap or mow peas and beans.\nHow all manner of corn should be tithed.\nHow all manner of corn should be covered, fo. xvii.\nTo load corn and thresh it\nThe second stirring.\nTo sow wheat and rye, folio xviii.\nTo thresh\nTo separate beans / peas and fetches, fo. xix.\nOf sheep / and what time of the year the rams should be put to the ewes, fo. xx.\nTo make an ewe love her lamb, fo. xxi.\nWhat time lambs should be weaned,\nTo draw sheep and separate them in divers parts,\nTo belt sheep, fo. xxii.\nTo grease sheep,\nTo meddle terre,\nBrome savory is a sheep have mats, folio xxii.\nBlindness of sheep and other diseases / and remedies therefor.\nThe worm,\nThe blood / and remedy if it comes in due time, fo. xxiii.\nThe pox / and remedy therefor,\nThe evil wood / and remedy therefor,\nTo wash sheep,\nTo shear sheep, fo.\nTo draw and separate the bad sheep from the good.\nWhat rots the sheep.\nTo know a rotten sheep various ways, of which some will not fail. Fox, xxv.\nTo buy lean cattle.\nTo buy fat cattle.\nDiverse sicknesses of cattle & remedies therefore, and first of murrain, Fox, xxvj.\nLong sought & remedied therefore.\nDewbane & the hard remedy therefore, Fox, xxvii.\nRises upon & the remedy therefore, Fox, xxvii.\nThe turn & remedy therefore.\nThe warrybred & remedy therefore.\nThe foul & remedy therefore, Fox, xxviij.\nThe gout without remedy\nTo reare calves.\nTo geld calves, Fox, xxix.\nHorses & mares to draw.\nThe loss of a lamb, a calf, or a foal, Fox, xxx.\nWhat cattle should go together in one pasture, Fox, xxx.\nThe properties of horses.\nThe two properties a horse has from a man.\nThe two properties of a baillon.\nThe four properties of a lion.\nThe nine properties of an ox.\nThe nine properties of a hare.\nThe nine properties of a fox.\nThe nine properties of an ass.\nThe ten properties of a woman.\nThe diseases and soreness of horses. fo. xxxiv.\nThe lampas. fo. xxxviii.\nThe beard.\nMourning of the tongue.\nPurpura.\nBroken winded.\nGlaunders.\nMourning of the chin\nStrangelyon.\nThe haw.\nBlindness.\nUveas.\nThe cords.\nThe farcyon.\nA malander. fo. xlii.\nA salander.\nA serewe.\nA splint.\nA ryngbone.\nWindgall\nMore founde.\nThe colt's evil.\nThe boots. fo. xlv.\nThe worms.\nAffrayed.\nNauylgall. A spavin.\nA curbe.\nThe strong hold.\nEnterfyre. Millets.\nThe pains.\nCraches. fo xlvi.\nAttaynt. A cloyed.\nThe scab.\nWarts. Lousy.\nThe saying of the French man.\nThe differences between a horse master / a corser / and a horse leech.\nOf swine. fo. xlvii.\nOf bees.\nHow to keep beasts and other cattle. fo. xlix.\nTo get sets and set them. fo. li.\nTo make a ditch.\nTo make a hedge. fo. l.\nTo plash or pleach a hedge.\nTo mend a high way\nTo remove and set trees. (fol. xli)\nTo set trees without roots and let them grow. (fol. xlij)\nTo fell wood for household use to sell.\nTo shed, lop, or crop trees. (fol. xliij)\n\nHow to shed, lop, or crop trees. (fol. xliij)\n\nTo sell wood or timber.\nTo keep spring wood. (fol. xiiiij)\n\nNecessary things belonging to grafting.\nWhat fruit should be grafted first. (fol. xlv)\n\nHow to graft.\nTo graft between the bark and the tree. (fol. xlvj)\n\nTo nurse all manner of stone fruit and nuts.\nA short instruction for a young gentleman who intends to thrive.\nA lesson in English verses: a gentleman's servant shall not forget his gear behind him. (fol. xlviij)\n\nA prologue for the wife's occupation.\nA lesson for the wife.\nWhat thing the wife is bound to do.\nWhat works she ought to do generally. (fol. xlix)\n\nTo keep measure in speaking. (fol. li)\nTo eat within thy temper.\nA short lesson for the husband. (fol. lij)\nHow do men keep measure?\nProdigality in outwardly extravagant and costly attire.\nOf delightful meats and drinks. fo. iiij.\nOf outwardly extravagant play and game.\nA prologue of the third saying of the philosopher. fo. iv.\nDiversity between prettiness and doctrine.\nWhat is richesse? fo. v.\nWhat is the property of a rich man? fo. vi.\nWhat joys and pleasures are in heaven?\nWhat things please God most? fo. vii.\nWhat are God's commandments?\nHow a man should live God and please Him.\nHow a man should love his neighbors. fo. viii.\nOf prayer that pleases God much.\nWhat things hinder prayer?\nHow a woman should pray folio. ix.\nA mean to put away idle thoughts in prayer. fo. x.\nA mean to avoid temptation. fo. xi.\nAlms deeds please God much.\nThe first manner of alms deed. fo xii.\nThe second manner of alms deed. fo. xiii.\nThe third manner of alms deed.\nWhat is the greatest offense that a man may do or offend God in?\nExplicit tabula.\nThe most general living that husbands can have is by plowing and sowing of their corn, and reaping or breeding of their cattle, and not one without the other. Then is the plow the most necessary instrument a husbandman can occupy, therefore it is convenient to know how a plow should be made.\nThere are plows of various makings in various countries, and likewise there are plows of iron of various fashions. And that is because there are many kinds of ground and soil. Some white clay, some red clay, some gravel, some chalky, some sandy, some mean earth, some mixed with marl, and in many places heath ground, and one plow will not serve in all places. Therefore it is necessary to have various kinds of plows. In Somersetshire about Zelcestra, the share, which in many places is called the plow head, is four or five feet long, and it is broad and thin.\nAnd that is because the land is very tough and would suck the plow into the earth if the share were not long, broad, and thin. In Kent, they have other kinds of plows; some have wheels, as they do in many other places, and some will turn the share at every land's end and plow all one way. In Buckinghamshire, plows are made of another kind, and also other kinds of plow irons; which I think generally good and likely to serve in many places, especially if the plow beam and share were four inches longer between the sheath and the plow tail, so the share might come more aslant, for those plows give out suddenly and therefore are the worse to draw and for no other reason. In Leicestershire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Lincoln, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and many other counties, the plows are of various sizes.\nBut however they are made / if they are well tempered and function properly / they may be endured. Men who are not husbands should not read this book / who do not know which is the plow beam / the share beam / the plow sheath / the plow tail / the stirrup / the rest / the shield blade / the furrow brede / the rough staves / the plow foot / the plow ear or cook / the share / and the plow mallet. I give them these names here / as used in my country / and yet in other countries they have other names / therefore.\nOak wood / which is set fast in a mortise in the plow beam / and also into the share beam / which is the key and the chief band of the plow. The plow tail is that which the husband holds in his hand / and the hind end of the plow beam is put in a long slot made in the same tail / it may rise up and go down / and is pinned behind / and the same plow tail is set fast in a mortise in the hind end of the share beam.\nThe plough style is on the right side of the plough, with the rest set on the nether end of the style. The rest is a little piece of woodpinned fast on the lower end of the style, and to the sharpening in the farther end. The shedbar is a broad piece of wood fastpinned to the right side of the sheath in the farther end, and to the utter side of the style in the hinder end. The fend bread is a thin board, pinned or nailed most commonly to the left side of the sheath in the farther end, and to the plough end in the hinder end. The said shedbar would come over the said sheath and fend bread an inch, and to come past the midst of the share, made with a sharp edge, to receive and turn the earth when the culture has cut it. There are two rough staves in every plough in the hinder end, set at a slope between the plough tail and the style, to hold out and keep the plough abroad in the hinder end, and the one longer than the other.\nThe plough foot is a small piece of wood with a crooked end set before in a mortise in the plough beam, secured with wedges to drive it up and down. It functions as a stay to regulate the direction of the plough. The ploughshare is made of three pieces of iron nailed to the right side of the plough beam. A crooked piece of wood is pinned fast to the plough beam for poor men. The share is a piece of iron, sharp before and broad behind, a foot long, made with a socket to be set on the farther end of the share beam. The coulter is a bent piece of iron set in a mortise in the middle of the plough beam, fastened with wedges on every side, and the back of it is half an inch thick and more, three inches broad, and made\n\nNow ploughs come in various forms. It is essential for a husbandman to know how these ploughs should be tempered--to plow and turn cleanly, and not create rest balks.\nA plow share is where the plow bites at the point of the moldboard and share, and cuts not the ground clean to the furrow that was plowed last before, but leaves a little ridge standing between. All these manner of plows should have alike one manner of tempering in the irons. However, a man may temper for one thing in two or three places, such as for depth. The foot is one, the setting of the moldboard of a depth is another, and the third is at the plow tail, where there are two wedges, the one above the beam, and the other in the same slot underneath the plow beam. Sometimes he will set both above or both beneath, but always let him take good heed and keep one general rule: the hind end of the share beam should always touch the earth, or it goes not truly.\nThe setting to go broad and narrow is in the setting of the plow and with the driving of his side wedges/fore wedge/and heel wedge, which would be made of dry wood, and also the setting on of his share helps well and is a conniving point of husbandry, improving and pairing much plowing. But it is so narrow a point to know that it is hard to make a man understand it by writing without he were at the operation there to teach me the practice. For it must lean much forward, and the point may not stand too up or down, nor too far in the land or into the furrow. However, the setting of the plow helps much. Some plows have a bend of iron triangularly set there as the plow ear should be, which has three nails on the farther side.\nAnd if he wishes his plow to go narrowly, as a seed furrow should be, he sets his foot team next to the plow beam, and if he will go a mean breadth, he sets it in the middle nick that is best for stirring, and if he would go a broad furrow, he sets it in the outermost nick that is best for following. This is a good way to keep the breadth and soil evenly tempered, but it does not serve for deep furrows. And some men, in place of the plow foot, have a piece of iron set up right at the farther end of the plow beam, and they call it a coulter, made with two or three nails and that serves for deep furrows. Plows that go with wheels have a straight beam, and can be tempered in the iron as the other is for the breadth, but their most special temper is at the bolster where the plow beam lies, and that serves both for deep furrows and for breadth. They are good on even ground that lies light, but it seems to me they are far more costly than other plows.\nAnd though these plows are well tempered for one kind of ground,/ the temper will not serve in another kind of ground, but it must rest in the discretion of the husbandman to know when it goes well. But before he begins to plow, he must have his plow and plowshare, his oxen or horses, and the gear that belongs to them, that is to say, bows, yokes, lands, stirrups, whippen trees. And before he shall load his corn, he must have a wagon, a driver, a pair of oxen or horses, a wagon rope, and a pitchfork. This wagon is made of various pieces that will require great repair, that is to say, the wheels, and those are made of naves, spokes, felies, and doubles, and they must be well rounded and light for oxen or horses to draw. However, on marshy or soft ground, the other wheels are better, because they are broader on the sole, and will not go so deep. They must have an axletree clad with eight wheel clouts of iron. Two linchpins of iron in the axletree ends. Two.\naxe axle or elm trees or tough hard wood. The body of the wagon of oak the statues the nether raths the upper raths the cross summer y- keys & pykes and tow. And if he goes with a horse plow, then he must have his horses or mares or both his horses or collars holmes whyted tresses swingletrees and together. Also a cart made of ash because it is light and like stuff to it as is to a wagon and also a cart saddle backbands & belly bands and a cart ladder behind when he shall carry either corn or hides or such other. And in many countries their wagons have cart ladders both behind and before. Also an husband must have an axe hatchet hedging bill a pin auger a rest auger a flail a spade and a shovel.\nAnd here is how I give them these names, as is most commonly used in my country. I know they have other names in other countries. But here, a man may perceive many things belonging to husbandry to their great costs and charges. And many more things belong to husbands than these, as you shall well perceive or I make an end of this treatise. And if a young husband should buy all these things, it would be too costly for him. Therefore, it is necessary for him to learn to make his yokes, ox bows, stoles, and all manner of plow gear.\n\nIt is to be known whether a plow of horses or a plow of oxen is better, and therein I seem to think there ought to be a distinction. For in some places, an ox plow is better than a horse plow, and in some places, a horse plow is better. That is to say, in every place where the husband has several pastures to put his oxen in when they come from their work, there is the ox plow the better.\nAn ore cannot endure his work, laboring all day and then being put before the common herd or in a fold all night without food, and go to his labor in the morning. But if he is put in a good pasture all night, he will labor much every day. Oxen will plow in tough clay and on hilly ground, where horses will stand still. And where there are no separate pastures, the oxen's plowing is better, for horses may be tethered or tied up. And if any sore comes to the horses, making them old, lame, or blind, they are of little worth. And if any sore comes to an ox, making it old, lame, or blind, for two shillings it may be fed, and then it is fit for mankind, and as good or better than it ever was. And when a horse dies, it is only a carriage. Therefore, it seems to me that all things concerning the plow of oxen are much more profitable than the plow of horses.\nYou husband should take heed to the words of the wise philosopher, who says: \"Apply care / keep measure / and you shall be rich.\" Regarding the first article of these three, \"Apply care.\" He who undertakes anything and is slothful, reckless, and fails to diligently execute or perform that which he undertakes, will never prosper in his occupation. Our Lord also speaks of this spiritually in His gospel: \"No man putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.\"\nFor if he goes to the plow and looks backward, he sees not whether the plow goes in ruts or in rain, makes a furrow or goes sideways. And if it does, there will be little corn. And so if a man neglects his farming, but goes to sport or play, tavern or alehouse, or idle works, he is not worthy to have any corn, therefore. \"You have come,\" he said. Do what you have come for, and you shall find what you seek.\n\nNow these plows are made and tempered. It is to be known how a man should plow at all times of the year. In the beginning of the year after the feast of Epiphany, it is time for a husbandman to go to the plow. And if you have any leys to fallow or to sow oats upon, first plow them so that the grass and the moss may rot, and plow them a deep square furrow for. In all manners of plowing, see that your eye, hand, and foot agree, and be always ready one to serve the other, and to turn up much mold and to lay it flat so it does not remain on edge.\nFor if the edge of the grass and moss touch, the grass and moss will not rot. And if you sow it with winter corn, such as wheat or rye, as much corn as touches the moss will be drowned; the moss retains such wet in itself. In some countries, if a man plows deep, he will pass over the good ground and have little corn; but that country is not suitable for husbandry, but for rearing and breeding cattle or sheep, for otherwise they must dig their lands with mattocks, as they do in many places of Cornwall and some places of Devonshire.\n\nHow to plow for peas and beans was necessary to know: First, remember which is the clearest ground, and plow first, and let it lie a good space before you sow it, because the frost, rain, wind, and sun may cause it to break up, making much mold and ridge it. And to plow a square furrow, the breadth and depth should be equal, and it should be laid close to its companion.\nFor the more fertile the more corn / for a general rule of all kinds of corn. And that may be proven at the coming up of all kinds of corn to stand at the land's end and look towards the other end. Then may you see how the corn grows.\nThou shalt sow thy peas upon the clay ground and thy beans upon the barley ground / for they would have ranker ground than peas. However, some husbands hold an opinion / that heavy and stiff ground, as clay, would be sown with heavy grain, as beans / but I think the contrary / for if a dry summer comes / his beans will be short. And if the ground is good / put more beans to the peas and they will yield better / when they are threshed. And if it is very rank ground, as is much at every townside / where cattle do resort / do not plow that land until you will sow it / for if you do there will come up weeds and other unwanted growth.\nAnd sow it with beans; for if you sow peas, the kedlokes (potatoes) will harm them. Sow both peas and beans when the season is right, which is at the beginning of March. How will you know the right time? Go on the land that has been plowed. If it sings or cries or makes any noise under your feet, then it is time to sow. If it makes no noise and can bear horses, then sow in the name of God. But how to sow? Put your peas in the hopper and cast a broad tongue in the furrow. It is better to sow after the plow than to tarry any longer.\n\nThere is a seed called disrissey (discussion). If a husbandman has this seed and mixes it among his other corn, they will grow much better, for this seed will tell him how many casts of corn each acre should have. A young husbandman, and if an old husbandman lacks this seed, let him borrow from his neighbors who have it.\nAnd his neighbors are unkind if they will not lend this young husband part of this seed. For this seed of discension has a wonderful property; the more it is taken or lent, the more it is. And therefore it seems it should be more spiritual than temporal, where there is a great diversity; for a temporal thing, the more it is divided, the less it is, and a spiritual thing, the more it is divided, the more it is. For instance. I put forward the case of a wife bringing a loaf of bread to the church to make holy bread. When it is cut into many small pieces and holy bread is made from it, there may be so many men, women, and children in the church by the time the priest has given a little piece to each one of them that there will never be a crumb left in the hamper. And a small thing, as a pea,\n\nBut yet I think it is necessary to declare how all manner of corn should be sown and how much upon an acre most commonly, and first of these and beans.\nAn acre of ground, by the statute, that is to say, 16 and a half feet to the perch or pole, four perches to an acre in breadth, and 40 perches to an acre in length, can be accurately sown with two London bushels of peas. This is equivalent to two strokes in other places. If the land is of good quality, it can bear the burden of corn or of wheat. And as much plowing and harrowing an acre of ground and sowing thereon requires one bushel as it does four bushels. Undedicated one bushel may not yield as much corn as the four bushels sown, though the three bushels sown more are allowed and set apart. One bushel and a half of white peas or green peas will sow as much ground as two bushels of gray peas, because they are so small and the husbandman needs not take such a large handful.\nIn some countries, they begin to sow peas after Christmas, and in some places, they sow both peas and beans under furrow. Reasonable farmers should sow them on time. But generally, it is good to sow them after Candlemas, that is, either at the beginning of March or soon after. Specifically, let them be sown in the old part of the month. The old husbandry belief is that they should have a better crop and ripen sooner.\nEvery good husband has his barley field well prepared and lying ridged deep, and this ridging makes the land dry and the plowing makes it soft and rich. If a dry season comes before Candlemas or soon after, it would be cast down and water would collect between the furrows so that the water does not remain in the rain and in the beginning of March, turn it up again and sow in every acre six London bushels or four at the least. Sometimes it may happen that no seasonable weather comes before March to plow the barley earth. And as soon as he has sown his peas and beans, then let him cast his barley earth and shortly after rid it up again, so that it is sown before April. If the year's time is past, then sow it upon the casting.\n\nIt is noted that there are three kinds of barley: sprout barley, long ear, and bere barley, which some men call big barley.\nSpot barley has a flat ear most commonly three quarters of an inch broad and three inches long, and the corn is very great and white. It is the best barley. Long ear has a flat ear half an inch broad and four inches and more in length. But the corn is not so great nor so white, and it will turn and grow towards the ears earlier. Bere or big barley would be sown upon light and dry ground, and has an ear three inches or more in length, set four square like peck wheat, small corns and little flower, and that is the worst barley. Four London bushels are sufficient for an acre. In some countries they do not sow their barley until May, and that is most commonly upon gravel or sandy ground. But that barley generally is never so good as that which is sown in March.\nFor if the weather is very dry after sowing, the corn above lies dry with no moisture, and that which is beneath comes up. When rain comes, it revives the corn above, and often it is green when the other is ripe. When it is threshed, there is much light corn. In March, it is time to sow oats, specifically on light and dry ground. However, they will grow on wetter ground better than any other corn, for wet ground is good for no kind of corn. Three London bushels will sow an acre. There are three kinds of oats: red oats, black oats, and rough oats. Red oats are the best: when threshed, they are yellow in the bushel and very good for making oatmeal. Black oats are as large as the others, but they have less flower in them because they have a thicker husk, and they are not as good for making oatmeal.\nThe rough otes are the worst ones / and itquiteeth not the cost to sow them / they be very light & have long tails / therefore they will hang each one to another. All these manner otes wear the grounde very sore / and make it to be quiet.\n\nA young husband ought to take heed how thick he sows all manner of corn two or three years / & to see how it comes up, & whether it is thick enough or not / and if it is thin, sow thicker the next year / and if it is well, hold his hand there other years / and if it is too thin, let him remember himself whether it is for the unsoundness of the weather / or fear of his sowing. And so his wisdom and discretion must discern it.\n\nNow these lands be plowed & the cornes sown. It is convenient that they be well harrowed / or else crows, doves, and other birds will eat and carry away the cornes.\nIt is used in many countries for husbands to have an ox yoke, which is made of six small pieces of timber called yoke bulls, either ash or oak, two yards long and as much as a man's thigh, with wooden shoots put through them like lathes, and in every bull are six sharp pieces of iron, called yoke tines, set somewhat forward. The foremost hole must be bigger because the foot team will be fastened to it with a shackle or a yoke to draw by. This yoke is good for breaking large clods and making much mold, and then the horse yokes come after to make the clods smaller and lay the ground even. It is a great labor and pain for the oxen to go to the yoke, for they would rather go to the plow two days than to yoke one day. It is an old saying, the ox is never woe till he goes to the yoke. And it is because it goes by witches, not always after one draft.\nThe horse harow is made of fine bullas, not passing an ell in length, and not as long as the others. But they are slotted and thinned. When the corn is well covered, it is harrowed enough. Some horse harrows have wooden tynes, and these are used much in Rippon and such other places where there are many boulder stones. For these stones would wear the iron too soon, and these tynes are most commonly made from the ground end of a young ash, and they are more than a foot long at the beginning and stand as much above the harrow as below. And as they wear or break, they are driven down lower, and they should be made long before they are occupied so that they may be dry. For then they will endure and last much better and stick faster. The horses that shall draw these harrows must be well kept and shod, or else they will soon tire and sorely beat, that they may not draw effectively.\nThey must have men or colliers/husbandmen with withed about their necks/hands to draw by, and a swingletree to hold the withed strands apart and together between the swingletree and the harow. And if the barley ground will not break with harows but is clotty, it should be beaten with mallets, and not pressed down too hard; they beat the clot into the earth. And if they beat the clot on the side, it will break better. And the clot will lie light on the corn so that it may easily come up. And they roll their barley ground after a shower of rain to make the ground even.\n\nNow these husbands have sown their peas, barley, and oats, and harrowed them; it is the best time to plow in the latter end of March and April for wheat, rye, and barley. And let the husband do the best he can to plow a broad furrow and deep, so that he turns it clean and lays it flat, that it does not rest on the edge, which will destroy all the thistles and weeds.\nFor the deeper and broader that he goes, the more new mold and the greater clothes he will have, and the greater the clothes, the better the wheat, for the clothes keep the wheat warm all winter, and at market they will melt and break and fall into many small pieces, which is a new and refreshing thing for the corn. And also there shall be little weeds grow upon the fallows that are so plowed, for the plow goes underneath the roots of all kinds of weeds and turns them upwards, so they may not grow, and if the land is plowed in winter time it is far worse for three principal reasons. One is, all the rain that comes will wash the land and drive away the dung and the good mold that the land will be much worse. Another cause, the rain will beat the land so flat and bake it so hard that if a dry May comes, it will be too hard to stir in the month of June.\nAnd the third cause is: The plows shall take such a route or steady timing that they will not be clean turned under, which will be great harm to the corn when it is sown, especially during the planting season, and for any other reason make a deep furrow in the ridge of the land, and look well that you rest the plowshare not, for if you do, there will be many thistles, and then you shall not make a clean ridge at the first stirring and therefore it must necessarily be deep.\n\nIn the later end of April and the beginning of May is the time to carry out his dung or manure and spread it upon his barley ground. And where he has barley this year, sow it with wheat or rye the next time it is plowed, and thus he manures all his lands over at every second plowing. But the husbandman who can find the means to carry out his manure and spread it upon his land after it is once stirred, it is much better than to spread it upon his fallow for various reasons.\nOne is not laid upon the furrow all that falls in the hollow ridge will do little good, for when it is ridged again, it lies so deep in the earth it will not be plowed up again, except that when he has spread it, he will with a shoe or a spade cast out all that is fallen in the ridge. And if it is laid upon the sturdy, at every plowing it will mix the dung and the earth together, which will cause the corn much better to grow and increase. And in some places they do not load their dung until harvest is done, and this is used in the farther side of Derbyshire, called Scaresdale, Halamshire, and so northward. And the dung of cows is best, but it must be laid on the ground very thin.\nIn May, set out the sheep pasture and place it on the rye ground, if any. Fleece them every morning and night, and when the sheep come to their fold, do not let them out immediately but raise them up and let them stand still for a good while so they can graze and rest. Go among them to see if any have mats or are scabbed, and examine them three or four times on one side and as often on the other. When the kelles (calves) are away from the ground, let them out of the fold and drive them to the healthiest part of the field. However, if a man has a fallow field, let him occupy no pasture for sheep, as folding them causes scabs and mathes. When an ill storm comes in the night, they cannot fly or go away, and this harms them severely. But let the man who has such a fallow field drive 20, 30, or 40 sheep there.\nAccording to the number of his sheep on his farm, the shepherd should set his field stakes, specifically in the farthest part of the field from there. The going upon them does much good. The shepherd should bring his sheep to the stakes, and they will rub against them. The shepherd should go around them until they are set, and they will serve them for two or three nights, and they will follow those stakes as he moves them and sit by them. And if any bad weather comes, they will rise up and go to the hedge. This manner of folding will breed no mats, scabs, or appearance of flesh, and will be a great saving for the sheep from rotting. In the morning, put them out of their pasture, and you shall not need to buy any hurdles or sheepfences, but how you shall salve them or dress them you shall understand it in the chapter of sheep.\nAnd in May, after you have followed your ground and set out your sheepfold and carried out your dung or muck, if you have any wood, coal, or timber to carry, or such other tasks that must be done with your cart or wagon, then it is time to do it. For then the way is likely to be fair and dry, and the days long, and at that time the husband has least leisure for husbandry. Perhaps I set one thing to be done at one time of the year, and if he should do it, it would be a greater loss to him in another thing, therefore it is most convenient to do that thing first which is most profitable to him, & as soon as he can, to do the other labor.\n\nIn the later end of May and the beginning of June, it is time to wed the corn. There are various kinds of wedges: thystyls, kedlokes, dockes, cocledrake, darnolde, gouldes, haudodes, dog mathes, terre, & various other small wedges. But these are the ones that cause the most damage.\nThe thistle is a rough and sharp weed, which frets away the corn nearly, and causes the stems not to shear cleanly. Knotgrass has a leaf like rapes and bears a yellow flower, and is a weed, growing in common corn, with small seeds, and resembling mustard seed. Docks have a broad leaf and many high spires, and very small seeds in the top. Cockle has a long, small leaf, and will bear five or six flowers, purple in color as broad as a large one, and the seed is round and black, and may be suffered in bread corn but not in seed, for there is much flower. Drake is like rye until it begins to\ngrow when great wet comes shortly after the corn is sown.\nTerre is the worst weed / it never appears until the month of June / specifically when there is much rain in that month or a little before / and it grows most in rye / and it grows like fennel / but it is much smaller / and it will grow as tall as the corn / and with the weight of it, it pulls the corn flat to the earth and damages the ears. Therefore, I have seen husbands plow down the corn and mix it together. And also with sharp hooks to reap it as they do peas and make it dry / & then it will be good fodder. There are other weeds not spoken of / such as docks, nettles, dodder, and such others that do much harm.\n\nNow it would be known how these corns should be weeded.\nThe chief instrument is a pair of tongs made of wood, with a hook at one end to hold the wede (wedge) faster. After a shower of rain, it is best to wedge, as they can then be easily pulled up by the ropes and will not come back. If it is dry weather, you must have a wedging hoe with a socket set on a little staff of a yard long. This hoke (hoe) should be well steeled and ground sharp both behind and before. In his other hand, he holds a forked stick, a yard long, and with this forked stick, he separates the wede from himself and places the hoke beyond the root of the wede and pulls it towards himself, cutting the wede fast by the earth with the hoke. He then takes up the wede and casts it into the rain. If the rain is full of corn, it is better to stand still when it is cut and wetted, but be careful not to tread on the corn and especially after it has shot up, and when he cuts the wede, he must not cut the corn. Therefore, the hoke would not pass an inch wide.\nAnd when the weed is so short that he cannot put it from him with his forked pitchfork and pull it to him with the hoe, then he must set the hoe upon the weed firmly by the earth and cut it cleanly. With these two instruments, he shall never stumble at his wake. Dock, goldsmites, and kale are unsuitable for weeding in this manner; they grow on so many branches close to the earth and therefore they are usually pulled up with their hands, but take care not to pull up the corn with it. However, for terre, there will be no weeding serve.\nAlso in June is the time to harrow up thy fallow, which is called the first stirring, and to dry wet weather may kill them.\nA husband cannot conveyably plow his land and load out his dung both on one day with one draft of beasts; but a husband may well load out his dung before none, and haul hay or corn at after none, or he may plow before none and haul hay or corn after none with the same draft, without harm to the cattle. Also, in the later end of June is the time to begin mowing if the meadow is well grown; but however it may have grown in July, it must necessarily be mowed for various reasons.\nIt is not convenient to have hay and corn in occupation at the same time. One is the younger and the greener that the grass is; it will be softer and sweeter when it is hay, but it will have more widrying and the older the grass is, the harder and drier it is, and worse for all manner of cattle. For the seeds have fallen, which is in a manner of provender, and it is harder to eat and chew. Another cause: if dry weather comes, it will dry and burn upon the ground and waste it away. Be careful that your mower mows clean and holds down the hind hand of his scythe, so he does not dent the grass. And to mow a swath clean, throw it to that which was last mown before, leave not a mane between, and especially in the common meadow, but in the several meadows it makes the less charge, and that the moldy-warpe hills be spread, & the sticks cleaned out of your meadow in April or at the beginning of May.\nA good husband has his forks and rakes ready in winter beforehand, and they should be between Michaelmas and Martinmas, sharpened and set aside to lie upright in your hand. Then they will be hard, stiff, and dry. When the husband sits by the fire and has nothing to do, he can prepare them by coating the rakes with dry, wet wood and boring holes above and below with his thumbs, and then wedging them above with dry oak wood, as oak is hard and will drive in and never come out.\nAnd if he gets them in sap time, all the beechings and drying that can be had shall not make them hard and stiff, but they will always be pliable, for they are most commonly made of hazel and willow. These are the trees that bloom and specifically hazel, for it begins to bloom as soon as the leaf falls. And see that your rake and fork lie upright in your hand. For if one end of your rake or the side of your fork hangs down, they are not handsome nor easy to work with.\nWhen meadows are mowed, they should be tedded and spread evenly upon the ground. If the grass is very thick, it should be shaken with hands or a short pitchfork for good tedding is the chief point to make good hay. For then shall it be winnowed all alike, or not. And when it is well winnowed on one side and dry, turn it clean before noon as soon as the dew is gone. And if you dare trust the weather, let it lie so all night, and on the next day turn it again before noon, and toward evening make it in windrows and in small haystacks, and let it stand one night at the least and sweet, and on the next fair day cast it abroad again, and turn it once or twice, and then make it in greater haystacks, and let it stand so one night or more, that it may unite and sweeten. For if it does not sweeten in the haystacks, it will sweeten in the mow. And if it is dusty and not wholesome for horses, cattle, or sheep.\nAnd when it stands in the cocks, it is better to load, and the more hay may be loaded at a load, and the faster it will lie. Quick hay comes from a grass called croft, & grows flat on the earth, & bears a yellow flower half a yard high and more, & has many knots toward the root, & it is the best hay for horses and beasts, and the sweetest if it is well got. But it will have more widening than other hay, for otherwise he will choke himself and become hot and dusty. And to know when it is widened enough, make a little rope of the same that you think should be driest, & twist it as hard together between your hands as you can, & being hard twisted, let one take a knife & cut it quickly by your hand, & the knots will be moist if it is not dry enough, short hay and leafy hay is good for sheep and all manner of cattle if it is well gotten. A man may speak of making hay and getting corn, but God disposeth and orders all things.\nAnd in late July or early August is the time to harvest ripe rye, which should be cleanly and tightly bound. In some places, it must be harvested earlier than others for the husbands' profit. For when it is mown, it will not be so tightly bound, and he cannot gather it so cleanly, resulting in much loss and taking more room in the barn than shorn corn does. Moreover, it will not protect itself from rain or ill weather as shorn corn does.\n\nWheat should be harvested cleanly and tightly bound in a similar manner, but as a general rule, take care that the reapers of all kinds of white corn do not raise their hands too hastily, for all the lost grain and straw that they do not hold firmly in their hands flies over their heads and is lost, and it also pulls off the ears, especially those that are very ripe.\nIn some places they will share their ears of corn high to the intent to mow their stubble, either to thresh or to burn. If they do so, they have great cause to take good heed of the sharers. For if the ears of the corn crook down to the earth, if the sharer takes not good heed, and puts up the ear or he cuts the straw as many ears as be under his hoe or sickle fall to the earth and are lost, and when they thresh the stubble it is a great hindrance to the profit of the ground. And in Somersetshire about Zelcester and Marlborough, they do share their wheat very low. And all the wheat straw that they purpose to thresh, they do not thresh but cut off the ears and bind it in sheaves, and call it \"rede.\" And if it be a new house, they thresh it under their feet. This is the best and the surest threshing that can be of straw for crows and doves shall never hurt it.\nBarley and oats are most commonly mown, and a man or woman following the mower carries a hand rake, half a yard long, with seven or eight teeth in his left hand, and a sickle in his right hand. With the rake, he gathers as much as will make a sheaf, and then he takes the barley or oats by the tops and pulls out as much as will make a band. He casts the band from him onto the land, and with his rake and his sickle, he takes up the barley or oats and lays them upon the band. The barley lies unbound for three or four days if the weather is fair, and then it is bound. When the barley is taken away, the lands must be raked, or much corn will be lost. If the barley or oats lie, they must be shorn.\n\nPeas and beans are most commonly reaped or mown of various manners. Some with sickles, some with hooks, and some with staff hooks. In some places, they lay them on reapes, and when they are dry, they lay them to gather on heaps like hay cocks and never bind them.\nThe best way is to bind dry reapers and place them on the edge of the load, with three shovels to gather. Ensure that your shovels, reapers, or mowers do not damage the beans by cutting them too high, allowing the lowest pods to remain on the stalk. Once bound, they are redder for loading and unloading, and make a rack, taking from the mow to thresh. Do not let the reapers be.\n\nNow, all the previously specified corn is harvested, mowed, reaped, bound, and laid upon the edge of the land. Then, let the husband take heed of God's commandment - the tithe of angels that fell from heaven to hell, a hard word for every man who ought to give tithes and does not give them truly. But St. Augustine offers a comforting word to those who give their tithes truly:\n\nDecime sunt tributa egetivae - a hard word from our Lord through his prophet Malachias. And also the comforting words of the holy St. Augustine.\nFor I truly believe that tithes should be genuinely given. Now that the corn is harvested and bound, and the tithes cast out, it is time to cover them. The best way to cover all white corn is to set four sheaves on one side and four on the other, and two sheaves above the greatest bulk, nearly to the nether end. These should be set upward and the top downward spread abroad to cover all the other sheaves. They will stand best in wind, and save themselves best in rain, and they should be set on the ridge of the land, with the side sheaves leaning together in the tops and wide apart at the ground, so that the wind may go through to dry them. Peas and beans should be set on the ridge of the land, three sheaves together, with their tops turned towards each other, and wide apart below, so that they may dry better. When all these corns are dry and widened enough, load them into the barn, and lay each corn by itself.\nAnd if it is a wet harvest, make many mows, and if you have not housing enough, it is better to lay your peas and beans without on a rack than other corn, and it is better on a scaffold than on the ground, for they must be well hedged for swine and cattle, and the ground will rot the bottom, and the scaffold saves both hedging and rotting, but they must be well covered both. And the husband may set sheep or cattle under the same scaffold, and it will serve him in place of a house, if it is well and surely made.\n\nIn August and the beginning of September is the time to make the second stirring, and most commonly it is cast down and plowed again for a meadow, not too deep nor too shallow, so he turns it clean. And if it is cast, it would be water furrowed between the lands there as the rain should be, and it will be the drier when the land should be sown.\nAnd if the lands lie high in the ridge and high at the rain, and low in the middle of the side so that the water may not run easily into the rain, as is often the case. Then let the husband set his plow 3 or 4 feet from the ridge, and cast all the ridge on both sides. Wherever the ridge is cast, set his plow there as he began and plow up the remainder of the land, and thus is the land both cast and plowed, and all at one plowing. And this shall cause the land to lie round when it is sown at the next time, and that shall not drown the corn.\n\nAbout Michaelmas, it is time to sow both wheat and rye. Wheat is most commonly sown under the furrow, that is, cast it upon the fallow and then plow it under. In some places they sow their wheat upon their pea stubble, which is never as good as that which is sown upon the fallow, and that is plowed in a field every fourth year.\nIn Essex, a child goes before oxen or horses with a bag or hopper filled with corn. The child takes a handful of corn and throws it in the furrow. I think the child doesn't need much discretion. There is much good corn, and rye is commonly sown above and harrowed. Two London bushels of wheat and rye will sow an acre. Some ground is good for wheat, some for rye, and some for both. On that ground, sow a blend of corn that is both wheat and rye. This wheat that is to be mixed with rye must be such wheat as will soon be ripe, and that is flax wheat, polished wheat, or white wheat.\nAnd you shall understand that there are various kinds of wheat. Flax wheat has a yellow ear and is bare without any husk; it is the brightest wheat in the bushel and will make the whitest bread, and it wears the ground sore and is small straw and will grow very thick, and is but small corn. Polished wheat has no anis (answers?) thick in the ear and will soon fall out and is greater corn and will make white bread, white wheat is like polished wheat in the bushel but it has anis and the ear is four square and will make white bread, and in Essex they call flax wheat white wheat. Reed wheat has a flat ear, an inch broad full of anis, and is the greatest corn, and has the broadest blades, and the greatest straw, and will make white bread, and is the roughest in color in the bushel. English wheat has a dun ear, few anis or none, and is the worst wheat, save pea wheat.\nPeeke where have a reed ear full of anis thy seed and often times it is stolen, that is to say, small corn wrinkled and dried & will not make white breed but it will grow up on cold ground.\nThis wheat and rye that you shall sow should be very clean of weeds. And therefore, before you thrash your corn, open your sheaves and pick out all manner of weeds, and then thrash it and winnow it clean. In some countries around London especially,\nWhen you have thrashed your peas and beans, after they are winnowed, and before you shall sow them or sell them, let them be well rede with sues, & severed in three parts, the great from the small. And thou shalt get in every quarter a London bushel or thereabouts. For the small corn lies in the hollow and void places of the great beans, & yet shall the great beans be sold as dear as, and they were all together or dearer, as a man may prove by a familiar example.\nLet a man buy. C. herynges. ii. herynges.\n\nCleaned Text:\nPeeke where you have a reed ear full of anis thy seed, and often times it is stolen - small corn wrinkled and dried, which will not make white breed but will grow up on cold ground. This wheat and rye that you shall sow should be very clean of weeds. Therefore, before you thrash your corn, open your sheaves and pick out all manner of weeds, then thrash it and winnow it clean. In some countries around London especially, when you have thrashed your peas and beans, after they are winnowed, and before you shall sow them or sell them, let them be well rede with sues, and severed in three parts, the great from the small. You shall get in every quarter a London bushel or thereabouts. For the small corn lies in the hollow and void places of the great beans, yet the great beans will be sold as dear as, and they were all together or dearer. Let a man buy. C. herynges. ii. herynges.\na penny and another for five herrings, and let him sell these. He receives herrings again. Five herrings cost five shillings and four pence, and when he sells five herrings, he gets two shillings and eight pence. Twenty herrings come to eight shillings and that is but twelve score (120) herrings, and that comes to six pounds and four shillings. He has lost four shillings and it is because there are not enough bargains in these transactions. In the bargaining of these herrings, there are fifty scores (500) bargains, and in the selling of the same there are four hundred and sixty-eight bargains. Therefore, ten herrings are lost, which would have been two bargains more, and then it would have been even. And therefore he who buys in large quantities and sells in retail must necessarily be a winner, and so you will be a loser if you sell your peas, beans, and fetches to dealers, for then you sell in large quantities.\nAnd if you separate them into three parts, you retain what is profitable. A husband cannot thrive by his corn without other livestock, nor by his livestock without corn, or he will be a buyer, a borrower, or a beggar. And because sheep, in my opinion, is the most profitable livestock a man can have, I intend to speak first about sheep. First, it is necessary to know what time you should put your rams with your ewes. I make a distinction, for every maid may not put her rams to her ewes at the same time. For if they do, there will be great harm and loss. The man who has the best sheep pasture for winter and good spring growth at the beginning of the year may allow his rams to stay with his ewes throughout the year. However, in poor countries, the ewes will lack milk and abandon their lambs, and they often die in such harsh conditions.\nIf your ewe has milk and refuses to accept her lame lamb, place her in a narrow enclosure made of boards or smooth straw, about a yard wide. Put the lamb near her and let it suck. If the ewe strikes the lamb with her head, bind her head with a high rope or cord to the side of the pen. If she refuses to stand beside it for long, give her a little hay and tether a dog nearby so she can see him. This will make her love her lamb shortly. If you have a dead lamb with an abundant dam of milk, take the lamb's skin and place it on the back of another lamb with a sorrowful dam and little milk. Put the good ewe and the new lamb in the pen together. Within an hour, she will love the new lamb. Then, you may remove the sorrowful ewe and place her in another location. By these means, you may be able to save her life and those of both lambs.\nIn some places they never separate their lambs from their dams, and this is because, in the best pasture where rams go with their ewes, it is not necessary for the dams to dry out and nurse their lambs themselves. Another cause is, he who has no separate and sound pasture to put his lambs into when they should be weaned must either sell them or let them suckle as long as the dams will allow, and it is a common saying that the lamb shall not rot as long as it is suckling. Than thou grassier that hast many sheep in thy pastures, it is convenient for thee to have a sheepfold made with a good hedge or a pale. The whych will receive all thy sheep easily that go into one pasture, set between two of thy pastures in a dry place, & adjoining to the end of the same, make an other little fold that will receive.\nSheep or more, and both those folds must have either of them a gate into each other's pasture, and at the end of that fold make another small fold that will receive forty sheep or more, and between every fold a gate. When the sheep are in the great fold, let forty of them or around come into the middle fold and stake the gate. Then let the shepherd turn them and look at them on every side, and if he sees or finds any sheep in need of help or mending for any cause, let the shepherd take that sheep with his hook and put him in the small fold. And when he has taken all that need mending, then put the others into whatever pasture he will, and let in as many out of the great fold, and take all those that need handling and put them in the small fold.\nAnd thus peruse them all until he has done, and then let the shepherd go belt, grease, and handle all those he has drawn. And if the great flock is not delayed nor kept from their meat, he should mend them and put them in their pasture.\n\nIf any sheep ray or is filed with dung about the tail, take a pair of shears and clip it away. Cast dry molds thereon. If it is in the heat of summer, it would be rubbed ever with a little terre to keep away flies.\n\nIt is necessary that a shepherd have a board set fast to the side of his little fold to lay his sheep upon when he handles them, and a hole bored in the board with an auger, and therein a grayned stake of two feet long to be set fast to hang his terre box upon, and then it will not fall.\nA shepherd should not go without his dog, shepherd's hook, pair of shears, and terrier box, either with him or ready at his sheepfold. He must teach his dog to bark when he wants him to round up the sheep, to stop barking when he wants him to, or else he is not a skilled shepherd. The dog must learn this as a pup or it will not be effective; it is difficult to train an old dog.\n\nIf any sheep is scabbed, the shepherd may perceive it by biting, rubbing, or scratching with his horn. Most commonly, the wool will rise and be thin or bare in that place. Then take him and shed the wool with your fingers where the scab is. And with your finger, lay a little earth there and stroke it a length in the bottom of the wool so it is not visible above. Then shed the wool little by little and lay a little earth there until you pass the sore, and it will not spread further.\nLet your earth be mixed with oil, goose grease or capon grease; these three are best for they will make the earth to roam abroad. Butter and swine grease when molten are good, so long as they are not salt. For earth itself is bitter and is a irritant and not a healer, without it being mixed with some of these.\n\nA medicine for the salvation of poor men who think earth too costly, but I doubt not that rich men would use it as well.\n\nTake a sheet full of broom crop leaves, flowers, and all; chop them very small, and then cook them in a pan of twenty.\nTake gallons of rennetted water until it begins to thicken like gelatin. Then take two pounds of sheep suet, molten, and a potful of old pyss and as much brine made with salt. Put all in the said pan and stir it around. Strain it through an old cloth and put it into whatever vessel you will. If your sheep is new and clipped, then make it lukewarm, and wash it with a sponge or a piece of an old mantle, or of feathers, or such soft cloth or wool, for spending too much of your salt. And at all times of the year after, you may relax it and need require, and make wide sheets for rotting, except there come moldows, for he will choose the best if he has plenty. And he who has but a few sheep should moderate this medicine accordingly.\nIf a sheep has mast, you will perceive it by her biting or fisking or shaking of her tail, and most commonly it is moist and wet. And if it is near the tail, it is often times green and filled with its dung. Then the shepherd must take a pair of shears and clip away the wool bare to the sheath.\n\nThere are some sheep that will be blind for a season and yet remember. And if you put a little terre in his eye, he will remember you rather. There are various waters and other medicines that would help him, but this is the most common medicine that shepherds use.\n\nThere are some sheep that have a worm in its foot that makes them halt.\nTake the sheep and look between its claws. There is a little hole, about the size of a great pine cone head. In this hole grow five or six black hairs, an inch long. Take a sharp pointed knife and cut the skin a quarter of an inch above and below the hole. Place one hand in the hollow of the foot under the hind claw. Set your thumb almost at the cut and thrust your fingers underneath. With your other hand, take the black hairs by the end or with the knife point, and pull the hairs a little and a little. Then thrust after your other hand with your finger and thumb. A worm, like a piece of flesh nearly as big as a little finger, will come out. And whatever it is out, put a little tar in the hole, and it will soon heal.\n\nThere is a sickness among sheep called the bloat, which sheep that have it will die suddenly. Before it dies, the sheep will stand still and hang its head down and sometimes quake.\nIf a shepherd can spot him / take him and rub him around the head / specifically around his ears / and underneath his eyes / and with a knife cut out his ears in the middle / and also make him bleed in a vein underneath his eyes / and if he bleeds well / he is likely to live / and if he doesn't bleed / then kill him and save his flesh / for if he dies, he will be the fattest and best looking.\nThe pocks appear on the skin / and are like red pimples as broad as a farthing / and there will be many of them. And the remedy is to handle all your sheep / and look at every part of their bodies / and as many as you find affected / look for their companions / and look at their flocks often / and draw them as needed. And if it is summer time with no frost / then wash them. Some sheepherds have other remedies.\n\nThere is a disease among sheep / called the mad illness / and it comes in the spring of the year / and it most commonly affects them in the legs or the neck / and makes them halt / and hold their necks awry.\nAnd the majority who have this sickness will die shortly within a day or two. The best remedy is to wash them a little and change their ground, bringing them to low ground and fresh grass. This sickness is most commonly found on hilly ground for the same reason.\n\nIn June is the time to shear sheep, and they must be washed thoroughly after shearing. This will be of great profit to the owner in the sale of his wool and also to the cloth maker. However, be careful not to put too many sheep in a pen at one time during washing or shearing, for fear of crushing or overwhelming them. None should leave until they are completely clean. Ensure that those holding the sheep in the water keep their heads high enough to prevent drowning.\n\nBe cautious of the shearers touching the sheep with the shears and especially not pricking them with the points of the shears. The shepherd should always be ready with his tarbox to soothe them.\nAnd see that they are well marked, both pitch mark, radell mark, and wool mark, & let the wool be well folded or wound with a wool winder that can skillfully do so. This will do much good in the sale of the same.\n\nWhen thou hast shorn all thy sheep, it is then best time to drive them, and so separate them into various sorts. The sheep that thou wilt feed by themselves, the ewes by themselves, the shares, hogs, and yearlings by themselves, the lambs by themselves, wethers and rams by themselves, if thou hast so many pastures for them; for the biggest will beat the weakest with his head. And of every sort of sheep, it may happen that some do not like it and are weak; these would be put in fresh grass by themselves, and when they are a little mended, sell them. Often changing pasture will mend all manner of cattle.\n\nIt is necessary that a shepherd should know what spoils sheep, that he might keep them better.\nThere is a grass called spearwort, which has a long narrow leaf resembling a spear head, growing up to a foot high, and bears a yellow flower as broad as a penny. Another grass is called penny grass, growing low by the earth in marshy ground, with a leaf as broad as a penny of two pence, and never bears a flower. All manner of grass that the land floods run over is very bad for sheep because of the sand and filth that sticks to it. All marshy and marshy ground is bad for sheep. The grass that grows upon fallows is not good for sheep, for there is much of it weed, and often it comes up by the root, bringing earth with it, and they eat both. Meadow grass is not good for sheep, and that you should know to ways.\nOne is by the leaves on the trees in the morning, specifically of oaks, take the leaves and put thy tongue to them, and thou shalt feel like honey upon them, and also there will be many kelles on the grass, & that causes the mildew. Therefore they may not well be let out of the fold until the sun has dominancy to dry them away. Hunger rot is the worst rot that can be, for there is neither good flesh nor good skin, & that comes for lack of meat, and so for hunger they eat such as they can find, and so will not pasture sheep, for they seldom rot but with mildews, and then they will have much tallow and flesh, and a good skin. Also white snails are ill for sheep in pastures & in fallows. There is another rot called pelte rot, and that comes of great wet, specifically in wooded countries where they can not dry.\nTake both your hands and twist on his eye, and if it is reddish and has red streaks in the white, it is sound. And if the eye is white like talc and the streaks are dark colored, it is rotten. Also, when you have opened the wool on the side, take a little of the wool between your finger and thumb and pull it a little. If it sticks fast, he is sound. And if it comes lightly off, he is rotten. Also, when you have killed a sheep, its belly will be full of water if it is sore rotten, and the fat of the flesh will be yellow if it is rotten.\nAnd also cut the liver; there will be little quail-like creatures and knots, as well as white blisters if it is rotten; and cook the liver if it is rotten, it will break into pieces if it is sound, and it will hold together. These husbands and they shall prosper; they must have both cattle, oxen, horses, mares, and young livestock; and every year they must rear and breed calves and fools, or else he will be poor. If you are to buy oxen for the plow, ensure they are young and not gouty, nor broken in tail nor harness. And if you buy cows or oxen to feed, the younger they are, the better they will feed. But look well that the cow does not stare and that it likes itself and has a whole mouth and no toothless. Even if it has the gout and is broken in both tail and harness, it will still feed.\nBut you won't be able to drive a gouty ox far, and see that he has a broad ribcage and a thick hide, and it doesn't stick hard or tight to his ribs, for then he won't feed.\nAnd if you're buying fat oxen or cows, inspect them, and see that they have soft forecrop, behind the shoulder, and on the hindmost rib, and the hockbone, and the loin by the tail. And see that the ox has a large cod, and the cow a large hump, for it should seem that they should be well fattened. And be careful where you buy lean cattle or fat, and from whom, and where it was bred. For if you buy from a better ground than you have yourself, that cattle won't thrive with yours. And also look that there is no manner of sickness among the cattle in that township or pasture that you buy your cattle out of. For if there is any murrain or plague, it is great jeopardy, for a beast may take sick ten or twelve days or more before it appears on him.\nAnd if it falls among your beasts, as God forbids, there is enough help for them. It comes from a rankness of blood, and it most commonly appears first in the head, for his head will swell and his eyes grow large, and run with water and froth at the mouth, and then he is past remedy and will die shortly, and will never eat after he is sick. Then fly from him and make a deep pit fast by the place where he dies and cast him in, and cover him with earth that no dogs may come to carry him away. For as many beasts as feel the smell of that carcass are likely to be infected and take the hide, and bring it not home for fear that pestilence may fall. And it is commonly used and comes from great charity, to take the bare head of the same beast and put it upon a long pole and set it in a hedge, fast bound to a stake by the high way side, so that every man who rides or goes that way may see and know by that sign that there is sickness of cattle in the township.\nAnd husbands hold open the beast's wound that it may cease. When the beast is flayed and the murrain appears between the flesh and the skin, it will rise up like a bladder and protrude an inch deep or more. And this is the remedy for the murrain: Take a small cord and bind it tightly around the beast's neck; this will cause the blood to flow into the neck. On either side of the neck, there is a vein that can be felt with the finger. Then take a bloodletter and place it firmly on the vein, and strike it on both sides; let it bleed the amount of a pint or nearly so. Then remove the cord and it will stop the bleeding. Serve all your cattle in that enclosure or pasture in this way, and by God's leave, there will be no more sick.\nThere is another kind of sickness among beasts, long sought and enduring, which you will perceive by its hoarse standing and eating little, growing hollow and thin. It will hoist twenty times in an hour, and few recognize it. The best remedy is to keep your cattle in separate places, and let those in the company of the first sick one bleed a little. Many can sever them, that is, cut the dewlap beforehand. There is a grass called fetter grass, take that grass and crush it a little in a mortar, and put as much as a hen's egg in the said dewlap, and see it not fall out. I have seen it used, and men have thought it has done good.\nAnother disease among beasts is called \"dewbule.\" This occurs when a hungry beast is put in a good pasture full of rank grass. He will eat so much that his sides will stand as high as his backbone, and sometimes one side more than the other. Few of them will die, but they must not be driven hastily or worked while swollen. The substance of it is wind, and therefore, they should be gently driven and not sit down. However, I have seen a man take a knife and thrust it through the skin and flesh two inches deep or more, six inches or more from the ridgeline, so that the wind may come out. The wind lies between the flesh and the great paunch.\n\nAnother disease is called \"risen upon,\" and no one can tell how or why it comes. But you will perceive it by swelling in the head, and especially in the eyes, for they will run with water and close his sight, and he will die shortly within an hour or two if he is not helped. This is the cause of his disease.\nThere is a blister under the tongue, which blister must be sliced with a knife across. After you have pulled out the tongue, rub the blister well with salt, and take a hen's egg, break it in the beast's mouth shell and all, and cast salt upon it. Hold up the beast's head, so that all may be swallowed down into the body. But the breaking of the blister is the great help, and drive the beast a little about, and this shall save him by the help of Jesus.\n\nThere are beasts that will turn about when they are at their food and will not feed, and this is in great jeopardy for falling in pits, ditches, or waters. And it is because there is a bladder in the forehead, between the brain pan and the brains, which must be taken out, or else he shall never mend but die a lengthy death. This is the remedy and the greatest cure that can be for a beast.\nTake the best (animal) and cast it down, bind its four feet to a girder. Thrust your thumb into the forehead of the best, and find the softest place. Take a knife and cut the skin three or four inches on both sides between the horns, and as much below towards the nose. Flee and turn it up, and pin it fast with a pin. With a knife, cut the brain pan two inches broad and three inches long, but let the knife go no deeper than the thickness of the bone for fear of damaging the brain. Remove the bone, and then you will see a bladder full of water, two inches long and more. Take that out without harming the brain, and then let down the skin and sew it fast there as it was before. Bind a cloth two or three folds upon its forehead to keep it from cold and wet. Ten or twelve days. And thus I have seen many mended.\nIf the best animal is faulty and it has any reasonable wound on it, it is best to kill it, for there is little loss, and if the bladder is under the horn, it is beyond cure. A sheep will have the same turn as a best animal, but I have seen none mended. There are beasts that will have warry breeds in various parts of their body and legs. This is the remedy. Throw him down and bind his four feet together. Take a culture or a pair of tongs or such other iron. Make it glowing hot. If it is a long warrybreed: sear it hard with it by the body. And if it is in the beginning and is only flat, lay the hot iron upon it and sear it to the bare skin. It will be whole for ever, whether it is a horse or a beast.\n\nThere are beasts that will have the foul, and that is between the cleese, sometimes before and sometimes behind. It will swell and cause him to halt. This is the remedy.\nCast him down and bind his four feet to a yoke, and take a rope of hemp or a hay rope, harsh wrenches to yoke, and put it between his claws and draw the rope to and fro a good season till he bleeds well, and then lay soft earth upon it and bind a cloth about it so no mire or gravel comes between the claws and put him in a pasture or let him stand still in the house, and he will be shortly whole.\n\nThere are beasts that will have the gout, and most commonly in the hind feet, and will cause him to halt and go stiffly. And I never knew man that could help it or find a remedy therefore, but only to put him in good grass and feed him.\n\nIt is convenient for a husband to reare calves, and especially those that come between Candlemas and May, for that season he may spare milk best, and by that time the calf will be weaned there will be enough grass to put him onto. And at winter he will be big enough to save himself among other beasts, with a little favor.\nAnd the dam of the calf shall calve again and bring another by the same time of the year. If you tarry till after May, the calf would be weak in winter, and the dam would not calve again but frequently bear a barren calf. And if you rear a calf that comes after Michaelmas, it will be costly to keep the calf all the winter season at heifer's hay, and the dam at hard meat in the house, as they do in the plain champagne countries. A cow will give more milk with a little grass and straw lying without in a close, than she will do with hay and straw lying in a house, for the hard meat dries up the milk. But he who has no pasture must do as he may, but it is better for the husband to sell those calves than to rear them because of the cost, and also for the profit of the milk to his house. Rather, the cow will take the bull.\nIf a husband uses an ox plow, it is convenient for him to have at least two oxen and two cow calves to maintain his herd. If he can manage more, it will be more profitable. It is better to weigh the calves at grass than at hard feed, if they have been to grass before. A man who can pasture his cattle and another pasture for his calves, and provide water for both, can raise and breed good beasts at low cost. If you weigh your calves with hay, it will make them have large bellies, and they will rot when they come to grass. In winter, they should be put in a house by themselves and given hay at night, and in a good pasture during the day. They will be much better to handle when they are calves or oxen.\n\nIt is time to sell the oxen calves when they are old enough, around ten days or so.\nA ox should be at least a day old before it is in danger, and the ox will be taller and longer-bodied, with longer horns. This can be proven to produce two oxen of the same kind, age, and breed, castrate one of them, and let the other roam as a bull. Keep them in the same pasture until they are four or five years old, and then you will see the castrated ox produce much more calves than the bull. There is no reason for this other than castration. If you do not castrate them until they are a year old, there is more danger; the ox will be smaller and shorter-horned.\n\nA husband cannot be without horses and mares, or both, and especially if he uses a horse plow, he must have both horses to pull and mares to produce colts to maintain his stock. Yet they can work well together if they are well-handled. However, they cannot carry sacks or be ridden on journeys when they are with fools, and especially those they have traveled with fools. xx. or xxiii.\nWeeks after foaling is the greatest danger. A mare ridden and set up with a hot horse or turned out and taken cold will cast her fool. This would be a great loss for the husband. A mare will labor and bear when she has fooled and draw when she is with fool as well as the horse. It is convenient for the husband to know when his mare will be bred. It is the common saying that she will take the horse within nine or ten days next after she has fooled, but I do not hold with that, for she will not adhere to it if the horse drives her to it. Twenty days after is timely enough to bring her to a horse, for she will not adhere to it unless she is keen on breeding, which you will know by her shape, for that will twirl and put a horse to a mare at the beginning of the month after it is prime, and he will get a horse fool. And some men say the contrary: if he is put to the mare in the old age of the month, he should get horse fools.\nAnd I say it makes no difference whether, for this reason I have proved. I have myself 10 mares and more, able to bear the horse, and from May day until St. Bartholomew's opening, speak sophistically that if they lay any wagers thereon, that they both should win in their own conceit by this reason. Whether it be gotten in the new of the money or in the old of the money, it is a horse's fool because a horse took it, though it be a felonious horse and it is a mare's fool because a mare foaled it, though it be a horse colt. And so (diversis respectibus), their opinions may be true. But of one thing I am certain: that some one horse will get more horse fools than some other horse will do, and likewise a mare will bear more foals than some other mare will do, though they be horsed both with one horse. It seems to me there is no reason why, but the lusts of the nature of both parties whether of them shall have the dominion.\nBut have you horses of various colors. Separate them into different groups. And put a gray horse or a white horse without much white in its face to your white mares. And put a colored horse with much white on it to your gray mares, so that he is not entirely white-skinned around the mouth. And to your mares of any color that have no white on them, put a horse of a color with much white. And thus you will have well-colored colts. It makes no difference what color the horse is, as long as he is neither white nor gray. For if you put a white horse to a colored mare, she will most commonly have a colt resembling an iron-gray, neither like sire nor dam. However, I have seen and known many mares that will have their colt resemble the horse that got it, which is against the nature of mares. A man is better off getting one good horse than many good mares.\nIt is less hurt to a man to have his cow give birth to a calf than an ewe to give birth to a lamb. The calf will suck as much milk as it is able, and the cow derives no profit from the milk but the calf. However, they use in some places to milk their ewes when they have weaned their lambs, but this is great hurt to the ewes and will cause them to refuse to take the ram at the time of the year for poverty, but rather go to pasture as a sheep. A hundred beasts you may put: twenty horses, if it is low ground, and if there is enough grass, put in a hundred sheep, and so, according to the pasture, more or less. And they may feed and graze the close even and leave but few tufts. And if it is high ground, put in more sheep and fewer horses, mares, and draft oxen will eat a close much barer than as many fat cows and oxen.\nA milch cow may have too much to contend with, for when she grows fat, she will be more likely to take the bull and give less milk, for the fattiness stops the pores and the veins that should bring the milk to the pap.\nAnd therefore mean grass is best to keep her in a moderate estate, and if a cow is fat when she calves, there is great jeopardy in her, and the calf will be the less. But you cannot give your draught ox too much food, except it be the aftermath of a late mown meadow, for that will cause him to have the girth, and then he may not work well. And there is too much grass in a close, the cattle will feed worse, for a good bite to the earth is sufficient, and if it is long, the beast will bite from the top and no more, for that is sweetest, and the other lies still upon the ground and rots, and no beast will eat it but horses in winter, but these beasts, horses and sheep, may not be herded together in winter, for then they would be separated, otherwise the beasts with their horns will put both the horses and the sheep and gore them in their bellies.\nAnd it is necessary to make standing cranes to cast their fodder in and the statues set nearby to gather for pulling their fodder hastily.\nThou grazer that may fortune to be of my opinion or company, to love horses and young colts or foals to go among thy cattle, take heed that thou be not beguiled as I have been a hundred times or more. And first thou shalt know that a good horse has four properties: that is to say, two of a man, two of a basilisk or badger, four of a lion, nine of an ox, nine of a hare, nine of a fox, and ten of a woman.\nThe first is to have a proud heart, and the second is to be bold and hardy.\nThe first is to have a white head or a ball in the forehead, the second to have a white foot.\nThe first is to have a broad breast, the second to be stiffly docked, the third to be wild in countenance, the fourth to have four good legs.\nThe first is to be prick-eared, the second to be little-eared, the third round-eared, the fourth side-tailed, the fifth short-legged, the sixth black-legged, the seventh short, the eighth short-bodied.\n\nThe first is to be merry of countenance, the second well-paced, the third broad-foreheaded, the fourth broad-buttocked, the fifth hardy, the sixth agile, the seventh nimble.\n\nThe first is to have small stones, the sixth to be.\nIn the mouth is the lampas, a thick skin full of blood hanging over his teeth above, so he may not eat.\nThe beard is little papules in a horse's mouth, and let him bite, two by two helped.\nMourning of the tongue is an ill disease, hard to cure.\nPursy is a disease in a horse's body, making him blow short and appear at his nose thrills, and comes from cold, and may be well mended.\nBroken wind is an ill disease / and comes from running or riding too much / and specifically shortly after he is watered / and appears at his nose thrill, at his flank, & also at his tail / and will not be mended and will much blow and cough if he is sore chafed / and it will least appear when he is at grass.\n\nGlanders is a disease that can be cured / and comes from heat and a sudden cold / and appears at his nose thrills and between his chin bones.\n\nMourning on the chin is an incurable disease / & it appears at his nose thrill like oak water. A glander when it breaks is like matter. Broken wind and pursyfnes is but short blowing.\n\nStrangelyon is a light disease to cure / & a horse will be very sore sick from it / & comes from a chafing hot that he sweats / and after it will rise and swell in various places of his body as much as a man's fist / and will break by itself if it is kept warm / or else is there danger.\nThe haver is a sore in a horse's eye, resembling a gristle, and can be removed or it will cause the eye to burst. Horses with one often have two. A horse can grow blind from overexertion, but this can be cured if done in time.\n\nThe veins are a sore under a horse's ear between the upper end of the cheekbones and the neck. They are round knots between the skin and flesh, like tennis balls, and if not killed, they will quickly swell and eat away at the horse's ear roots, potentially killing him.\n\nThe cords are a thing that will make a horse stumble and frequently fall, appearing before the forelegs of the horse's body. They can be cured in two places, and few horses do not have some of it.\n\nThe farcyon is a harmful sore and can be cured in the beginning. It will appear in various places on the horse's body, and there will rise pimples as much as half a walnut shell, and they will follow a winding path and burst on their own.\nAnd any horse that interacts with one suffering from a sore, running from the sore, should have the same sore within a month and keep the horse away from the wound. If the sore isn't healed in time, the horse will die from it.\n\nA malander is a bad sore, which can be treated for a while, but with poor care it will return and appear on the other legs behind the knees. It resembles a scab or a crust. Some horses may have two on one leg, inches apart, causing the horse to stumble or fall.\n\nA selandre is similar to a malander, located in the back of the leg.\n\nA scab is a bad sore, resembling a splinter, but it is smaller and lies closer to the knee on the inner side.\nAnd some horses have a sore on both sides of the leg and such a horse must necessarily stumble and fall. A splint is the smallest sore that is continuous, except for lameness. And many men take upon them to mend it and daub it. A ringbone is an ill sore; it appears before the foot above the hoof as well in front as behind, and will be swollen three inches broad and a quarter of an inch or more in height. The hair will stare and grow thin, and it will make him halt. It is ill to cure if it grows long. Windgalls are a light sore and come from great labor. They appear on either side of the joint above the fetlock, as well in front as behind, and are a little swollen with wind.\nMorefound is an ill sore / comes from riding too fast until he is sweet / and then suddenly sets up in a cold place\nColts evil is an ill disease / comes from ranknesses of nature and blood / and appears in its scour / for there it will swell greatly and will not be hard\nThe botches is an ill disease / & they lie in a horse's maw / and they are an inch long / white-colored / & a red head / & as much as a finger's end / and they are quick / & stick fast in the maw side / it appears by stamping of the horse or tumbling\nThe worms is a light disease / and they lie in the great paunch in the belly of the horse / and they are shining / of color like a snake / six inches in length / large in the middle / and sharp at both ends / and as much as a spindle / and will soon be killed\nAffrey is an ill disease, caused by great labor and rapid riding with a continual sweet perspiration, and the patient will frequently take a great cold. His legs will be stiff and his skin will stick to his sides. This condition can be well cured.\n\nNauygall is a sore caused by a saddle or whatnot in the middle of the back, and can be easily cured.\n\nA spavin is an ill condition, causing a horse to halt, particularly in the beginning, and it appears on the hind legs near the joint. It will be a little swollen and hard. Some horses have spavins that appear both within and without, and they are difficult to cure.\nA curve is an ill soreness and makes a horse halt sore, appearing on the hind legs straight behind the hock place, a little below the spur; and it will be swollen and hard to cure.\n\nThe stringhalt is an ill disease and makes him twist up his leg suddenly, making him halt, and comes often with a cold, and does not appear outwardly.\n\nEnterfire is a soreness and comes from bad showing.\n\nMiltiest is an ill soreness and appears in the (illegible).\n\nThe pains is an ill soreness and appears in the (illegible).\n\nCratches is a soreness that causes a horse to halt and comes from ill keeping, appearing in the pastures, like the skin being cut outward that a man may lay a wheat straw, and it is soon cured.\n\nAteynte is a soreness that comes from an overreaching, if it is before; if it is behind, it is of the treading of another horse, which may be soon cured.\nGrieving is a hurt that makes a horse halt and comes from gravel and small stones that get between the shoe and the heart of the foot; it is soon mended.\n\nA clod is a hurt that comes from poor shoeing, when a smith drives a nail into the quick, which makes him halt; it is soon cured.\n\nThere is a disease among horses called the scab, and it is a scurf in various places on his body. It comes from poverty and poor keeping, and is most commonly among old horses, which will die from it, and can be well cured.\n\nThere are horses that will be lousy, and it comes from poverty, cold, and poor keeping, and is most commonly among young horses. Men take little heed of it, and yet they will die from it, and it can be soon cured.\nA horse is defective if it lacks warts below the spurs, as such a horse is not a good purchase if it is wild. But if it is tame and has been ridden, buyer beware - the buyer has both eyes to see and hands to handle. It is said that such a horse should suddenly die when it has lived as many years as the moon was days old at the time it was bought.\n\nA master of horses is one who buys wild horses or colts, breeds them, and sells them, either while they are still wild or after breaking part of them and making them tame. A corser is one who buys all ridden horses and sells them again. The horse leech is one who takes upon himself to cure and mend all manner of diseases and injuries that horses have.\nAnd what these three be for, if you had a apothecary to make the fourth, you might have such four, that it were hard to trust their experience to show medicines and remedies for them all. And also the horse leech would not be content with that, for it might happen to harm [him]. Now thou housewife that hast both horses and mares, beasts, and sheep. It were necessary also that thou have both swine and bees, for it is an old saying, he that hath both sheep, swine, and bees, sleeps he wakes he, he may thrive. And that saying is because they are those things that most profit and yield the most in the shortest space with the least cost. Then see how many swine thou art able to keep, let them be boars and sows all, and no hogs. And if thou be able to rear six pigs a year, then let two of them be boars, and four of them sows, & so to continue after that rate.\nA boar requires little keeping compared to a hog and is more suitable, ready to eat during winter and suitable for laying in a sow. A sow or she who can kill will give birth to as many pigs or more as she is worth, and her body remains undamaged, just as good for baking as a hog, but only at the time when she has pigs. If your sow has more pigs than you want to keep, sell them or eat them, and keep those that come around Lent time, especially the beginning of summer, for they cannot be kept in winter due to the cold without great expense. Bees have little charge but require good attention at the time they cast the swarm.\nIt is important to leave one side of the hive open and not fight or struggle with the bees for any reason. Lay nestlings on the bows where they are knotted to drive them away from that place, and watch them all day to ensure they don't leave. At night, when everyone has gone up into the hive, remove the nestlings and set them where they will remain. Have clay ready, tempered, to lay around the border or stone where it will stand to prevent wind from entering. In winter, they should be fed honey and placed on a thin, narrow board or a thin wind-proof stick. The hive that is fed should have its mouth cleaned to prevent other bees from entering, as they will fight and kill each other. Be cautious that no wasps enter the hive, as they will kill the bees and eat the honey.\nAnd there is a bee called a drone, larger than other bees, and they will eat honey but gather nothing. Therefore they would be killed. It is said that she has lost her sting and then she will not labor like the others.\n\nIf a husbandman keeps cattle for his profit, he must have several closes and pastures to put his cattle in. These should be quickly set, dug, and hedged so he may separate his strongest cattle from the weakest at his pleasure, especially in winter time when they will be foddered. And though a man be but a farmer, and have his farm for twenty years, it is less cost for him and more profit to quickly dig and hedge than to let his cattle go before the herdsman. For let a husbandman spend in three years as much money as the keeping of his swine and sheep costs him in three years.\nA farmer shall always have all manner of cattle with one-tenth of the cost, and the beasts will improve significantly. Therefore, the herdsman will demand 2d or more for every beast. The swineherd will demand at least 1 penny for every swine. He must have a shepherd of his own or else he will never prosper. He must pay rent, drink, and wages for his shepherd, the herdsman's hire, and the swineherd's hire. These charges will nearly double his rent, except his farm is worth over 40s per year. Now consider his expenses in three years. He should have as much money in quicksettling, ditching, and hedging within three years, and he will be discharged from this labor forever, and much of this work his servants can do with their own hands and save money. And then each field is in severality, and by the lords' and tenants' agreements, every neighbor may exchange lands with another.\nAnd then shall his farm be twice as profitable to the tenant as before, and as much land be kept in tillage. And then the rich man will not overeat the poor man with his cattle. The fourth part of hay and straw shall serve his cattle better in a pasture than four times as much will do in a house, and less attendance. And the cattle will be healthier, and the chief guardian for corn both day and night that can be.\n\nAnd if you have pastures? You must necessarily have quick setting, dying, and plashing when it is green and comes of age. Then get your quicksettes in the wooded country, and let them be of white thorn and crabtree, for they are best. And if you dwell in the plain country, then you may get both ash, oak, and elm, for they will increase much wood in a short space. Set your oak sets and your alder to grow outward into the pasture and do much harm in the grass and tear the wool of the sheep.\nIt is good time to set quicksets from that time the leaves fall: unto Our Lady day in Lent / and thy sandy ground or gravel? Set first, then clay ground, & then meadow or marshy ground last / for the sand and gravel will dry quickly / & then the quickset will take no root / except it has great wet / for the molds will lie loose / if it is dug in February or March / and likewise clay ground. And make thy sets long enough that they may be set deep enough in the earth / for then they will grow the better.\nAnd to stand half a foot and more above the earth, so they may spring out of many braunches. Then take a line and set it there as you will have your hedge, and make a trench after your line, and pare away the grass where the quicksets shall be set, and cast it by where the earth of the ditch shall lie, and dig up the mould a spade's depth, and put in your setts, and dig up more mold and lay upon that set, and so persue till you have set all your sets, and let them lean towards the ditch. And a foot from that make your ditch, for if you make it too near your sets, the water may fortune to wear the ground on that side, and cause your sets to fall.\n\nIf you make your ditch four feet broad, it would be two feet and a half deep. And if it be five feet broad, then three feet deep, and so accordingly. And if it be five feet broad, have it doubled set, and the rather it would fence itself, and the lower hedge will serve.\nTo get the heart of oak for stakes, those are best: crabtree, black thorn, and elder are good. Red weed (Rede wethy) is best in marsh ground, if the hedge is of 10 or 12 years growth since it was first set. Take a sharp hatchet or a handbill and cut the sets in a plain place near the earth, the more half apart. Bend it down towards the earth and wrap and wind them together, but always ensure that the top lies higher than the root, for else the sap will not rise into the top kindly- but by process, the top will die, and then set a little hedge on the back side, & it shall need no more mending many years after. If the hedge is of 20, 24, or 30 years.\nYears ago, it was first set / then wind in the first all nethermost bows and guide them / and then cut the sets in a plain place a little from the earth the more half aside / and let it slope downward & not upward for various reasons / then wind the bows and brazen ches thereof into the hedge / and at every two or three feet leave one growing not pleached / and the top to be cut four feet high or thereabout to stand as a stake if there be any such / or else to set another / & to wind the other that are pleached about them. And if the bows will not lie flat in the hedge / then cut it the more half aside & bind it into the hedge / & then shall you not need to mend that hedge but in few places twenty years after or more.\nAnd if the hedge is old and has large stubs or trees, and there is growth in the bottom that beasts can go under or between the trees, take a sharp axe and cut the trees or stubs that grow a foot from the earth or thereabout in a plain place within an inch or two inches of the side. Let them lie down towards the direction I mentioned before. Let the top of one tree lie over the root of another tree, and lean down the bows of the same tree to stop the hollow places. And if all the hollow and void places will not be filled and stopped, scour the old ditch and cast it up new, and fill with earth all the void places. And if these trees will not reach in every place to make a sufficient defense, then quickly set new hedges and ditch it in every necessary place, and overlay the settlings for pasture of sheep or other cattle.\n\nIt seems necessary for me to express my opinion on how a high way should be repaired.\nAnd first and primarily, ensure that there is no standing water in the high way, but that it is always running and rushing, nor has any more in one place than another. In summer, where the water dries up, fill every low place and make them even, somewhat descending or running one way or another, and if there is no gravel or stones to get, fill it up with earth in the beginning of summer, so that it may be well hardened with traffic and trampling, and it will be well mended if the water may pass away from it, which should be considered, and especially about gravel, which sinks and goes downward as its nature requires, and then it is in the manner of a quick sand, hard to cross.\nBut in summertime, they would not make a ditch where the water is dried up, so that a man can see all the hollow and low places. Instead, they would carry gravel and fill it up as high as the other knolls are. It would not hold water nor settle quickly, and every man could go beside the high way with their carriage at their pleasure. This seems to me to be less costly and lighter, lasting a little with a slight modification when necessity requires. Therefore, I think if this were well attended to, it should be both good and necessary for that purpose, for I have seen it done in other places where I have been.\n\nIf you wish to remove and set trees, get as many roots with them as you can without breaking or bruising them. If any root is broken and sorely bruised, cut it off hard by the place where it is bruised with a sharp hatchet, or that root will die. And if it is ash, elm, or oak, cut off all the boughs clean and save the top hole. For if you make him rich in boughs, you make him poor in thrift for two reasons.\nThe bow causes them to shake in the wind and lose the routes. It cannot be completely gotten clean but some of the routes must necessarily be cut, and then there will not come as much sap and moistness to the bows as there was before. If the tree is very long, cut off the top two or three yards. And if it is an apple tree or pear tree or such other that bears fruit, then cut away all the water bowes and the small bowes so that the principal bowes may have more trees growing towards the sun, so that he may be\n\nThere are trees that will be set without roots and grow well and send out roots of their own. And these are diverse apple trees that have lords, freeholders, and tenants at will set such shoots and pepper trees in marsh ground to nourish\n\nIf you have any woods to fell for your household to burn or sell, then fell the underwood first in winter, so that your cattle or beasts may eat and browse the tops, and fell no more on a day than what the beasts will eat the same day, or the next day after.\nAnd as soon as it is well eaten or cooked, place the kidneys on the ends to save the bands from rotting. They will be lighter to carry and burn better in less room. When you bring them home to make a stake, place the lowest course on the ends, the second course flat on the lid, and the third course flat on the side across the other. Continue this until all are laid up. And when shall you burn them? Take the uppermost first.\n\nIf you have any trees to share, lop or crop for the firewood, crop them in winter so that your beasts may eat the browse and moss of the boughs and the shoots. And when they are browsed and eaten, dress the wood and bend it clean, cut it at every joint, and tie the large wood to the tree. Kidney the small branches and set them on the ends.\nAnd if you shall not have sufficient wood except you head your trees and cut off the tops, head them three or four feet above any timber, and if it be no timber tree but a shaken tree or a hedge rooted full of knots, head him thirty feet high or twenty at the least, for so far he will bear plenty of wood and bows, and much more than if he were not headed. For a tree has a property to grow to a certain height, and when it comes to that height it stands still and grows no higher but in breadth, and in conclusion the top will die and decrease, and the body will thrive.\n\nAnd if a tree is headed and used to be lopped and coppiced every twelve or sixteen years end or thereabout, it will bear much more wood by process of time than if it were not coppiced, and much more profit to the owner.\nIt is common practice to begin at the top of the tree when it is to be shred or cropped, because each bow should lie upon others when they fall, so that the weight of the bows causes them to cut down the tree more effectively. However, this is not best, as it causes the bows to slice down both parts and pulls the bark from the tree's body, which will make the tree hollow in that place over time. Therefore, let him begin at the lowest branch first, and with a light axe, cut the branch on both sides a foot or two from the body of the tree. Specifically cut it more on the lower side than on the upper side, so that the branch falls not straight down but turns on the side, and then it will not slice nor break the bark.\nAnd every branch will have a new head / and bear much more wood / and by your will, without you, it must necessarily be done / do not prune your tree / nor specifically head it when the wind stands in the north / or in the east. And beware that you do not prune it nor specifically head it (head it specifically) in sap time / for then it will die within a few years if it is an oak.\n\nIf you have any wood to sell, I advise you to retail it yourself / if you can attend to it / and if not, then to cause your bailiff or some other wise and discreet man to do it for you.\n\nAnd if it is small wood to kindle and sell by the hundreds or thousands / and if there is ash in it / sell the small ashes to coppers for garashes / and the large ashes to wheelwrights / and the medium ashes to plowwrights / and the crab trees to millers to make cogs and rungs.\nAnd if there are any trees, both large and small, fell them and pull them out, and sell the bark by itself. Then sort the trees: the middle-sized ones by themselves, and the largest ones by themselves. Sell them by scores or half-scores or hundreds as you may. And to fell it hard by the earth, for one foot next to the earth is worth two feet in the top, and to cut the timber long enough that you leave no timber in the top. Sell the tops as they lie, a great amount or else dress them and sell the large wood by itself, and the small wood by itself. Fall the underwood first at any time between Martinmas and Holy Rode. And all the ashes between Martinmas and Candlemas, and all trees as soon as they will pull until it may be done, and not after. Perhaps the greatest man does not have the best provision.\nAnd that's because servants won't inform him of these ways, and they might buy such woods themselves or be partners in the same deal. It's not convenient for the salesman who sells the wood to be a partner with the buyer.\n\nIn the winter before you fell your wood: make a good and secure hedge so that no kind of cattle can get in. And as soon as it is fallen, have it carried away or the sap come up, for if cattle that carry the wood eat the sap, they will damage the sapling, and when the top is eaten or broken, it causes a great hindrance and harm to the goodness of the sapling, for where it is eaten, it sprouts from many branches and not as fair as it would have been originally. A park is best kept when there is neither man, dog, nor four-footed beast in it, except deer.\nAnd so a spring is best kept where there is neither man nor four-footed beasts within the hedge. But if there is much grass and you are loath to lose it, then put in calves newly weaned and take them from their dams, and also wayward colts or horses not past a year of age. And let calves be taken away at May, the colts may go longer for fattening in any wood, but there is jeopardy both for calves, foals, and colts, for ticks, or for being lousy. Seven years is the least it will save itself, but ten years is best. And then the under bowes should be cut away and made into kiddies thereof, and the other will grow much the better and faster. And if the under bowes are not cut away, they will die, and then they are lost, and great hurt to the spring, for they take away the sap that should cause the spring to grow better.\nIt is necessary and pleasurable for a husband to have peers, wardens, and apples of various sorts. And also cherries, figs. Have two wedges of hard wood or else of iron: a long, small one for a small stock, & a broader one for a bigger stock, to open the stock when it is clogged & pared. Pear trees and wardens should be grafted before any kind of apples because the sap flows longer and more into the pear tree and wardens than into the apple tree. And after St. Valentine's Day, it is time to graft both pear trees and wardens until Marsh comes, & then to graft apples until Lady Day. And then graft that which is grown on an old apple tree first, for that will bud before the graft taken from a young apple tree recently grafted.\nAnd a pear or a warden should be grafted in a pine stock / and if you cannot get pine, graft it in a crabtree stock / it will do well / and some men graft them in a white thorn / and that it will be the more harder and stony. And for all manner of apples? the crabtree stock is best.\nYou must get your grafts from the fairest lanes that you can find on the tree / and ensure that it has a good knot or joint and an even one. Then take your saw and saw in two your crabtree in a fair plain place, pare it even with your knife / and then cleave the stock with your great knife and hammer / and set in a wedge / and open the stock according to the thickness of your graft / then take your small sharp knife and cut the graft on both sides in the joint / but do not pass the middle of it for anything.\nAnd let the inner side that is inserted into the stock be slightly thinner than the outer side, and the nearer the lower point of the graff to the stock, the thinner. Proffer your graff into the stock accordingly, and if it does not go in closely, either cut the graff or the stock until they fit cleanly, so that the edge of your knife cannot be placed between the stock and the graff. Set them so that the tops of the graff bend slightly outward, and ensure that the wood of the graff is aligned with the wood of the stock, so that the sap of the stock runs straight and even with the sap of the graff. The bark of the graff is never as thick as the bark of the stock. Therefore, you may not align the barkes on the outer side, but on the inner side. Pull away the wedge, and it will hold much faster.\nTake tough clay like marl and lay it upon the stock. There's another manner of grafting this, which is sooner done and sooner to grow, but it is more dangerous for wind when it begins to grow. You must saw your stock and pare the head thereof, as you did before, but do not cleat it. Then take your graft and cut it in the joint to the middle and make the tenant thereof half an inch long or a little more on one side, and pare the bark away a little at the point on the other side, so that you have prepared a punch of hard wood with a stopper and a tenant on one side, like the tenant of the graft. Then put the tenant of the punch between the bark and the wood of the stock, and pull it out again and put in the graft, and see that it joins close or else mend it. And this cannot fail, for no better remedy for blowing or wind than to cut or clip away some of the lowest leaves as they grow. And this is the best way to graft, and specifically for a great tree.\nThan bind it as you did the other. As for cherries, damsons, bulley, plums, and such other fruits that can be set on the stones, and also of the sciences growing around the same tree, they will bear sooner. Figs and walnuts may be set on the nuts in a garden, and after removed, be set wherever he will. But when they are removed, they will be set upon as good, or even better, or else they will not like.\n\nIaduce him to get a copy of this present book and to read it from the beginning to the end, whereby he may perceive the chapters and contents in the same, and by reason of often reading he may become perfect in what should be done at all seasons. For I learned two verses at grammar school, and these are they.\n\nGentle water persists a stone, not only by its strength, but by its frequent falling: so a man becomes wise, not only by force, but by frequent reading.\nA man becomes wise not only by himself, but also by frequent reading. This young gentleman, according to the season of the year, should instruct his servants which entertainment he will choose, and also for any other profit contained in the same, necessary for a young husband who lacks experience in husbandry or other things contained in this present book, to take good note and credence of, for there is an old saying, but of what authority I cannot tell. It is better, the practical or knowledge of a proven husbandman, than the science or learning of an unproven philosopher. For there is nothing in this book concerning husbandry and other profits, but I have experienced it and proven it. Furthermore, I advise him to rise early in the morning, in accordance with the verse before.\nSanctify and say, \"Let it rise at dawn.\" He should go to his closest pastures, specifically by the hedges, and carry a pair of tables with him. Whenever he encounters anything that needs correction, he should write it in his tables. If he finds any horses, mares, beasts, sheep, swine, or geese in his pastures that do not belong to him, and even if they are his own, he would not want them there. He would not want to find a gap or a sharp object in his hedge, or any standing water in his pastures that could harm both his grass and his livestock. Similarly, he would be concerned about standing water in his cornfields at the land's ends or sides, and how he would have his lands plowed, dug, stirred, or sown.\nAnd his corn was reaped or shorn, or his cattle shifted from one pasture to another. I was to look what dying, quicksetting, or plashing was necessary to be had, and to oversee his shepherd, how he handled and ordered his sheep, and his servants how they plowed and did their work, or if any gate was broken down or lacked any staves, and went not lightly to open and mend, and that it did not trail, and that the winds did not blow it open. For a man always wandering or going about finds or sees what is amiss and would be amended. And as soon as he sees any such defects, let him take out his tables and write the defects. And when he comes home to dine, supper, or at night, then let him call his bailiff or his head servant, and show him the defects, so they may be shortly amended. And when it is amended, let him put it out of his tables. For this I used to do. 10 or 12.\nA servant who has more yield and uses it daily will set things in good order in a short space, but it will require constant mending. If he cannot write, let him note down the defects on a piece of paper and show it as I said before. Be mindful both early and late: at all times pay attention to the kind of people who come to your house and the reason for their coming, and particularly if they bring pitchers, cans, tankards, bottles, bags, wallets, or bushel baskets. For if your servants are not trustworthy, they may cause great harm and little advantage to themselves. Therefore, they should be closely watched. A master who has two trustworthy servants, one male and one female, has a great treasure, for a trustworthy servant will deal justly with himself and, if he sees his fellows misbehaving, he will forbid them to do so. If he does not do this, he is not a true servant.\nYou: I. Purses/dagger/cloaks/night caps/kerchiefs/shoe horns/buckets/shoes. Spear/male/hoods/halters/saddle cloths/spurs/hats/horse combs/bows/arrows/swords/bucklers/horns/leashes/gloves/your string & your bracer. II. Paper/ink/parchment/redwax/pomes/books/you remember. Penknife/combs/thimbles/needles/thread/points/lest yours girth break. Bookkin/knife/lingel/give your horse food/see he is shod well. Make merry/sing and you can/take heed to your gear that you lose none.\n\nNow you husband, you have done your diligence and labor that belongs to a husband to get your living/your wife/your children & your servants yet there are other things to be done that need to be done/or else you shall not thrive. For there is an old common saying that seldom does the husband thrive without his wife's leave. By this saying it should seem that there are other occupations & labors that are most convenient for wives.\nAnd yet I have not experienced all their occupations and labors as I have husbandry. But I will speak a little of what they ought to do, though I will not tell them how they should do it and exercise their labors and occupations.\nBut before I begin to show a wife what works she shall do, I will first teach her a lesson of Solomon, as I did to her husband, which is that she should not be idle at any time. For Solomon says in Ecclesiastes: \"In idleness there is great sorrow, with those who are cursed in the nether world.\" That is to say, idle people shall not play with the chosen people in heaven, but they shall sorrow with the cursed and forsaken people in hell. And St. Devil may find idle bodies always occupied, just as worms are engendered in standing water. Here you see that idleness brings damning, and good works and labor bring salvation. Now you are at liberty to choose which way you will. There is a great diversity.\nAnd he is an unhappy man or woman that God has given both wit and reason and puts him in a position to choose and he to choose the worst part. Now you wife, I trust you will show to the divers occupations, works, and labors that you shall not be idle any time of the year. First and primarily, the wife is bound to love her husband above father and mother and all other men. For our Lord says in his gospel, \"Leave father and mother and cleave to your wife.\" A man should leave father and mother and draw to his wife, and the same way a wife should do to her husband. And they are made by the virtue of the sacrament of holy matrimony one flesh, one blood, one body, and two souls. Therefore their hearts, their minds, their works, and their occupations should be all one, never to sever or change during their natural lives by any means act or deed, as it is said in the same gospel, \"What God has joined together, man shall not separate.\"\nTherefore, it is convenient that they love each other as effectively as they would themselves. In the morning when you are wakeful and intend to rise, lift up your head and bless yourself, and make a sign of the holy cross. In the mill, the miller does not truly deal with the grain or else your corn is not dry as it should be. You must make butter and these things when you can, serve your swine both in the morning and evening, and give your poleyn food in the morning. And when the time of the year comes, you must take heed how your hens, ducks, and geese lay, and to gather up their eggs, and when they grow broody, let them sit as no beasts, swine, nor other vermin harm them. And you must know that all whole-footed birds will sit for a month, and all claw-footed birds will sit for three weeks, except a peacock and such other great birds as cranes, bustards, and such others.\nAnd they bring their birds to see that they are well kept from the gliding/crows/full martes/ & other vermin. In the beginning of March or a little before, is the time for a wife to make her garden & to get as many good seeds & herbs as she can, especially such as are good for the pot & to eat. And as often as needed, it must be weeded, or else the weeds will overgrow the herbs. Also in March is the time to sow flax & hemp. I have heard old housewives say: \"Ye, March hedges are better than April flax, why it appears, but how it should be sown, wedded, pulled, reaped, watered, washed, dried, beaten, broken, tawed, heckled, spon, woven, & wound, it needeth not for me to show, for they are wise enough & from it they may make sheets, boardclothes, towels, shirts, smocks, & such other necessities. & therefore let thy distaff be always ready for a pastime, that thou be not idle.\nA woman cannot earn an honest living solely by spinning on the distaff; it is necessary but stops a gap. The balls of flax, when they are rippled off, must be retyed from the wedges and made dry in the sun to extract the seeds. One manner of lined seed called locke seed will not open by the sun, so when they are dry, they must be severely bruised and broken; wives know how, and then winnowed and kept dry until the time comes again. Female hemp must be pulled from the curl hemp, for it bears no seed; and you must treat it as you did the flax. The curl hemp does bear seed, and you must be careful that birds do not eat it as it grows; the hemp from it is not as good as the female hemp, but it will still do good service. It may sometimes happen that you have so many things to do that you will not well know where best to begin.\nA person should consider which thing would be the greatest loss if it were not done, and in what time it would be done, and then consider what the greatest loss would be at the outset. But I assume that the thing causing the greatest loss would take a long time to accomplish. You might do three or four other things in the meantime. If all these things are set in order, which of them causes the greatest loss, and if they can all be done in as short a time as the others, then do many things first. It is customary for a husband to have sheep of his own for various reasons. His wife may have a share of the wool to make clothes for herself and her husband. At the very least, she may have the sheep's locks to make clothes or blankets and coverlets, or both. If she has no wool of her own, she may take wool from clothmakers to spin and by that means she may have sufficient living, and many times to do other work.\nIt is a wife's occupation to winow all manner of corn, to make malt, to wash and wring, to make hay, to sharpen corn, and in time of need to help her husband fill the muck cart or draw cart, load hay, corn, and such other things. And also to go or ride to the market to sell butter, cheese, milk, eggs, chickens, capons, hens, piglets, geese, and all manner of corn. And also to buy all manner of necessary things belonging to the household, and to make a true reckoning and account to her husband what she has received and what she has paid. And if the husband goes to the market to buy or sell (as they often do), then he must show his wife in a like manner. For if one of them should deceive the other, he deceives himself, and he is not likely to prosper, and therefore they must be true to each other.\nI could show the husbandes various ways that wives deceive their husbands, and in a similar manner how husbands deceive their wives. But what would I achieve by doing so? I would reveal more subtle points of deceit than either of them knew before. Therefore, it seems best to keep quiet, lest I should act like the knight of the tower. He had many fair daughters and, as a father, he ought to love them. He made a book with good intent, so they might avoid vices and follow virtues. In this book, he showed that if they were tempted, moved, or stirred by any man in such a manner as he described there, they should endure it. In the same book, he showed so many ways a man could achieve his purpose in bringing a woman to vice, the ways being so natural and the means to achieve their purpose so subtly and cleverly concealed, that it would be hard for any woman to resist or deny her desire.\nAnd by the said book, both men and women have come to know more vices/subtleties and craft than they ever would have known if the book had not been made. This book named itself the Knight of the Tower. Now, husband and wife who have done your diligence and cared according to the first article of the philosopher, that is to say, \"adhibe cura.\" Also remember and observe the second article of the said philosopher: \"tene mensuram.\" That is to say, in English, \"hold and keep measure.\" According to this saying, I learned two verses at grammar school, and these are they:\n\nWho spends more than the abundance allows,\nShould not be admired, if poverty weighs.\nHe who expends more than his goods will extend? It is wonderful that it shall not be, even if he is distressed by poverty. And in accordance with that saying, Saint Paul also speaks and says, \"According to your ability, feed yourselves and your households in abundance, not in long periods of idleness or self-indulgence\" (2 Thessalonians 3:10). This text touches every man from the highest to the lowest degree, so it is necessary for every man and woman to remember and take heed of it for observing, keeping, and following the same. However, because this text of Saint Paul is in Latin, and husbands commonly can only understand little Latin, I fear they cannot grasp it. And even if it were declared to them once or twice, they would still forget it. Therefore, I will show them a text in English, and that they may well understand, and that is this: Eat within your means. You husband and wife who intend to follow the saying of the philosopher, that is, keep measure.\nSpare grain at the brink and not at the bottom; this applies at the beginning of the year when selling corn or spending in your house, until you have sown your winter corn and lent corn. Then see what remains to serve your household, and from the surplus you may sell and buy necessary items. If you spend it in the beginning of the year and lack in the end, you will not eat within your means, and at last you will be punished, as I will prove by example. Take your horse and tread him on your own lees; tread him as often as you will. No one will say you do wrong, but make your horse's tread so long that when you have tied him on your own lees, his tread is so long that it reaches the middle of another month's lees or corn.\nNow you give him too much liberty, and if your horse has eaten another man's corn or grass, he will be troubled by it and may cause you to be fined or make amends, or both. And if your horse breaks its tether and goes into every man's corn and grass? Then comes the pounder and takes him and puts him in the pound, and there he will stand in prison without any food until you have paid his ransom to the pounder, and also make amends to your neighbors for the destruction of their corn. Rightly, as long as you remain within your tether, you need not beg or borrow from anyone, so long shall you increase and grow in riches, and every man will be content with that. And if you make your tether too long, so that your own portion will not serve you, but you must beg, borrow, or buy from others, that will not endure, but you will fall into poverty.\nAnd if you break your temper and run riot at large, and know not other men's goods from your own, then the pounder is to say, the sheriff and the bailiff arrest the one, and put him in the pound, that is, in prison, there to abide till the truth be known. One thing I will allow the reminder, and trust in winter, when you sit by the fire and have souped, to consider in your mind whether you work more advantage to them than the fire and candles light, meat and drink they shall spend, and if it is more advantageous, then sit still, and if not, go to your bed and sleep, and be up early and break your fast before day, that you may be all the short winter's day about your business. At grammar school I learned a verse, and that is this: Sanctify, sanctify, and say, rise at dawn.\nThat is to say, early rising makes a man whole in body and soul, and rich in goods. And this seems to me a sufficient instruction for the husband to keep measure.\n\nTo me it is doubtful, but it seems to me they are rather liberal in expenses than sparing, and specifically in three things. The first is prodigality in outragous and costly array for fa. I have seen books of account of the wardrobes of noble men, and inventories made after their decease of their apparel, and I doubt not that at this day it is twenty times more in value than it was to such a man in degree as he was.\nA man is often given away or worn out to a simple man, who in turn thinks he can wear the same or even better clothing. This causes him to buy such clothing at great cost and charge, and sets a bad example for others, including servants. Their coats are so wide that they have to pull them up when they ride, like women do with their skirts when they go to the market or other places, which is an unseemly sight. Furthermore, they have ornaments on their breasts and ruffs on their sleeves above their elbows, such that they could not shoot an arrow at their enemies until he had taken off his coat or cut off his sleeves. This goes beyond what is proper. It began with honor, respect, and honesty, and ends in pride, presumption, and poverty.\nWhoever you see who is proud, doubt that not, but he is the son of the devil. Therefore, against pride, he bids you remember, \"What were you, what are you, and what you will be after death.\" Saint Bernard says, \"The costly charges of delicious meals and drinks that are now most commonly used exceed what they were in the past and far surpass measure. I have seen accounts of households and books on the same subject, and I doubt not that delicious meals, drinks, and spices, there is as much time spent on them now as there was on beef and mutton in the past, and as many good households kept and as many servants in them as there are now.\"\nThis began with love and charity / when a lord, gentleman or woman desired or prayed another to come to dinner or supper / and because of his coming he would have a dispute or two more than he would have had if he had been away. Then, out of great love, he remembered how lovingly he was bidden to dinner / and how well he fared / he thought of kindness he must necessarily bid him to dinner again / and so he ordered for him as many manner of such dish meats as the other man did / and II or III more / and thus by little and little it has come far above measure. And it began with love and charity / and ended in pride and gluttony / as Saint Jerome says, \"Those who walk and are ready to fulfill the lust of the flesh and the belly are considered as unreasonable feasts.\" And Saint Gregory says, \"Vice overthrows virtues with luxury and vain glory.\"\nThat is to say, where the vice of gluttony has destroyed all virtues through luxury and vanity, the following sayings would likewise be remembered, and this seems sufficient for the second point of the three. It is customary for every man, regardless of degree, to have play and games according to his degree. For Cato says, \"Among your charges or busynesses, you must have some time for joy and merriment,\" but nowadays it is done far beyond measure.\nA poor man in the retinue will play as great a game at all manner of games as gentlemen were wont to do, or greater, and gentlemen as lords, and lords as princes. And often the great estates will call gentlemen or yeomen to play with them at as great a game as they do, and they call it a pastime. This name seems to me a very true one for it, for it pleases some of them or they depart, and specifically God for mispending on the poor man that plays might consider it a good game, a good play, a good sport.\nBut when one loses as much money in a day or a night as would find him and his household food and drink for a month or more, it may be called a pastime or a displeasure. And often, by the men who engage in such activities, it causes them to sell their lands, disinherit their heirs, and fortune to fall to theft, robbery, or such other, to great harm to themselves and their children, and to the displeasure of God. And yet they little consider or heed the saying of St. Paul. According to one's ability, consume only what is necessary in a short time. This play began with love and charity, and often ends with covetousness, wrath, and envy. Now, husband and wife who have done their diligence and care in their husbandry and housekeeping according to the first saying of the philosopher, take heed.\nTene mensura. I doubt not that you are rich, according to the third saying of the philosopher. Eteris diues. I have shown you the saying of the philosopher by which you have obtained much worldly possession. It seemed necessary to me to show you how you may obtain heavenly possessions, according to the saying of the Lord in his gospel. What profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Howbeit, it seems unsuitable for a temporal man to take upon him to show or teach any such spiritual matters. Howbeit, there is a great diversity between preaching and doctrine.\n\nSt. Jerome says there is great difference or diversity between preaching and doctrine. Preaching or a sermon is where a convocation or gathering of people on holy days or other days in churches or other places, and set and ordained times for the same.\nAnd it belongs to those ordained therefor and have jurisdiction to be an alms deed. Every man is held and bound to do it accordingly, to the saying of St. Peter. One as he receives grace in another, he ought to minister and show it forth to others. That is to say, as every man has taken or received grace, he ought to minister and show it forth to others. For as Chrysostom says, great merit is to him, and a great reward he shall have in time to come, who writes or causes to be written holy doctrine, that he may see in it how he may live holy and that others may have it. That they may be edified or sanctified by the same, for he says, indeed, you know that as many souls are saved by the same, so many rewards you shall have for each one. For St. Gregory says, \"No sacrifice pleases God so much as the zeal for souls.\" There is no sacrifice that pleases God as much as the love of souls. And he also says, \"He who is greater in love before God draws more souls to Him.\"\nHe is greatest in favor with God who draws most men to the love of God. Therefore, it seems fitting to inform and show them how they may obtain heavenly possessions, just as I have shown them how to obtain worldly possessions. Now, to my purpose and to the point where I left off, you are rich.\n\nIt is to be understood what riches are, and as it seems to me, riches are that thing which is good and cannot be taken away from the owner, neither in his temporal life nor in the life everlasting. Then these worldly possessions that I have spoken of are the same at their decease. The wicked break promises and keep not his commandments, therefore at their decease they are put in prison, that is to say, in purgatory, there to await the mercy of God, or in hell, there to await his righteousness. And so the wicked buy hell rather than the good buy heaven, and therefore it is better to forgo a little pleasure or suffer a little pain in this world than to suffer a much greater and longer pain in another world.\nNow heaven is nearer than hell, I desire specifically to buy heaven, where there is everlasting joy without end. St. Augustine says. Ibi erunt quae cum homini destiterunt any man desires / there is life, health, plenty of joy, honor, peace, & all manner of goodness. What more would a man want? And St. Paul says. Occulus noluit, nec aureus audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit quod placuit Deo diligetibus eum. That is to say, the eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, nor the heart of man has imagined what things God has prepared for those who love him. O what a noble act it would be for a husband or wife to purchase such a royal place in heaven, to which there is no comparison. Then it is to be known what thing pleases God most, that we might do it.\n\nAccording to the text of St. Paul before said, love pleases God above all things, and this can be proven by the saying of our Lord himself, where he says. Da mihi cor tuum et sufficit mihi.\nGive me your heart, and that is sufficient for me, for he who has a man's heart has all his other goods. What is this man's heart? It is nothing else but true love. For there can be no true love unless it comes merily and immediately from the heart, and if you love God wholeheartedly, then you will do his commandments. Then it would be understood and known by his commandments that a man may observe and keep them.\n\nThere are in all ten commandments, which are too long to declare, but they are all included and comprehended in two: that is, \"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.\" (Matthew 22:37) and \"You shall love your neighbor as yourself.\" (Matthew 22:39) These are light commandments, and nature binds a man to fulfill, observe, and keep them, or else he is not a natural man, remembering what God has done for us.\nFirst, he has made you similar and likenesses of his own image, and has given you various possessions in this world, but specifically, he has redeemed your soul on the cross and suffered great pain and passion, and bodily death for your sake. What love, what kindness was this in him for you, what could you desire more of him for you? And he desires nothing against you but love for love's sake. What can he desire less?\n\nA man may love God and please him in many ways, but first and principally, he who will love God and please him must do as it is said in Scripture: \"He who loses his faith.\" And so you may well perceive that you cannot love nor please God without perfect faith. Furthermore, you may not presume to study or argue your faith by reason. As St. Gregory says, \"Faith has no merit where human reason proves the same.\"\nThis faith is a principal sign that you love God, and your good deeds and works are a good sign that you love God. For St. Jerome says, \"Unusquisque [and St. Bernard says], The works and actions of man are more evident than his words. The fulfilling of the seven works of mercy is another special sign that you love God, and there are many more which are too long to recount.\n\nYou must love your neighbor as yourself, in which you will please God particularly. For if you love your neighbor as yourself, it follows that you will do nothing to him but what you would wish to be done to yourself. And you should presume that you would not want any harm done to yourself or your goods, and likewise you should do to him.\nAnd if you want to do any goodness to someone in your body or in your movable goods, similarly, you should do the same to your neighbor if it is within your power, according to the saying of St. Gregory. No one loves God without loving his neighbor; no one truly loves his neighbor without loving God. Therefore, you must first love God principally, and your neighbor secondarily.\nPrayer is an honor and laud to God, and a special thing that pleases Him much, and is a great sign that you love God and are perfect and steadfast in the faith of the holy church. It may be well considered by our forefathers, who for the love and honor of God have made churches, abbeys, friar houses, and daily ordained and established chantries and hospitals, and in them have ordained and put parsons, vicars, men and women of diverse rething undone, that you are bound to do. It is not acceptable to God, whatever else you do. Then it is necessary that you pray, and a poor man doing his labor truly in the day and thinking well, then he prays well; but on holy days he is bound to come to the church and hear his divine service.\n\nThere are two impediments that hinder and prevent prayer from not being hard. And of the first impediment, I speak: \"Quia homo, in praesentibus Dei praeceptis, avertitur, quod in oratione postulat non meritur.\" (A man, in the presence of God's commandments, is turned away, because in prayer he does not deserve to be heard.)\nHe does not command those things he does not deserve to have his prayer. The second impediment says Anastasius. If you do not pardon the injury done to you, he does not profit a man as long as there is sorrow in his mind or hate lingering in his breast. For Saint Augustine says, \"If charity is lacking, all else is in vain.\" If a man must commit a deadly sin and then pray, he advises being hardhearted.\n\nIt is to be understood that there are various kinds of praying. Some are public, and some are private. That is, some are done openly and some in private. There are two causes. Prayer elevates and lifts up a man's mind to God, and a man's mind is more easily and better lifted up when he is in a private place and separated from the multitude of people. Another cause is to avoid vanity that might easily arise or ensue when it is done openly, and of this our Savior speaks where he says, \"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love to pray in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men.\"\nThat is to say, when you pray: be not you as the hypocrites? The ones who love to stand in their synagogues and corners of high ways to pray. Also some people pray with the lips or mouth, and not with the heart, of whom speaks our Lord by his prophet. He raises himself to God in heaven. He prays devoutly who has not his heart wandering in worldly occupations, but always sublates and lifts up to God in heaven. There are other ones who pray with the heart. Matt. vi. But thou shalt pray in thy chamber. Matt. vi. 6. In a secret place and shut door, pray to thy Father who is in heaven. Isidore. Ardent prayer is not with the lips, but rather with the heart. For it is better to pray with the heart than with the mouth. Regum I. Anna spoke with her heart. Anne spoke with her heart.\nAnd to avoid wandering minds in worldly occupations when you shall pray, I shall show you the best experience I could find for the same. Those who can read and understand Latin, let him take his book in hand and look steadfastly upon the same thing that he reads and sees. This is no trouble to him, and remember the English of the same, in which he shall find great sweetness. And he who cannot read or understand his Pater Noster, Aue, or crede, must remember the passion of Christ. What pain he suffered for us and all mankind for the redemption of their souls. And also the miracles and wonders that God has done. First, what wonders were done the night of his nativity and birth. And how he turned water into wine, made the blind to see, the dumb to speak, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and the dead to rise.\nAnd he fed the very hungry person with two fish and five loaves, leaving twelve baskets or fragments. And he raised Lazarus from death to life with many more miracles, innumerable to recount. To remember the specific points of his passion, he was sold and betrayed by Judas, taken by the Jews, brought before Pilate, then to King Herod, and to Bishop Caiaphas, and again to Pilate, who judged him to death. He was bound to a pillar and scourged, mocked, spat upon in the face, crowned with thorns, and made to carry the cross to Mount Calvary. There, he was nailed to the cross with both hands and feet, wounded in the heart with a sharp spear, and thus suffered death. He set the souls of our ancestors free from hell. He rose from death to life and appeared often to his disciples and others.\nAnd what miracles he wrought afterwards, and specifically what power he gave to his disciples who were not clerks to teach and preach his faith and works many miracles, and especially when they preached before men of diverse nations and languages, and every man understood them in their own language, which is a sign that God would have every man saved and to know his laws, which was a miracle able to convert all the infidels, heretics, and Lollards in the world.\n\nIt is often seen that the holier a man is, the more he is tempted, and he that is so, may thank God therefor, for God, of his goodness and grace, has not given authority or power to the devil to tempt any man further or above that, and he that is so tempted may withstand. For St. Gregory says, \"An enemy is not to be feared, the which may not be overcome, but if a man yields willingly.\"\nAnd it is to be presumed that he who is so tempted stands in a state of grace. For St. Ambrose says, \"The devil despises to vex or trouble those whom he feels himself to have in possession by right inheritance.\" If you are so tempted/vexed/troubled, I shall show you two verses that, if you do them thereafter, you shall be eased of your temptation and have great thanks and praise of God and reward therefore. These are the verses: Hostis non ledit, nisi cum tentatus obediet. Est leo si sedet, si stat quasi musca recedit. That is to say, the ghostly enemy hurts not, but when he who is tempted obeys to his temptation, then this ghostly enemy plays the lion, if he who is tempted sits still and obeys him. And if he who is tempted stands steadfast against him, the ghostly enemy flies away like a fly. This seems to me to be well proven by a familier example.\nAs a lord had a castle and delivered it to a captain to keep, if enemies came to the castle and called to the captain and bided him to deliver it. The captain comes and opens the gates and delivers the keys. Now is this castle soon won, and this captain a false traitor to the lord. But let the captain arm himself and shoot the gates and stand steadfastly upon the walls and command them to avoid at their peril, they will not tarry to make any assault. Right so every man is captain of his own soul, and if thy ghostly enemy comes and tempts thee, and thou that art captain of thy own soul wilt open the gates and deliver him the keys and let him in, thy soul is soon taken prisoner and thou a false traitor to thy soul and worthy to be punished in prison forever. And if thou arm thyself and stand steadfastly against him and wilt not consent to him, he will avoid and fly away, and thou shalt have a great reward for withstanding the said temptation.\nGod pleases Almighty very much, and it is a great sign that you love both God and your neighbor. The one from whom alms is asked should consider three things: who asks for alms, what he asks for, and to whom he asks.\n\nFirst, who asks for alms. Deus petit. God asks. As St. Jerome says, \"For God loves the poor more than anything done for them because of His love.\" That thing which you give or do to the least of those who are Mine, you do it to Me.\n\nSecond, what does God ask. Non nostrum, sed suum. He asks not that thing which is ours, but that which is His own. As the prophet David says, \"The Lord is mine inheritance, and the things that we have taken from His hand, we have given Him.\"\n\nThird, to whom does God ask.\nHe asks not for your gift, but only to borrow. Not to triple, but rather to have a hundred times so much. As St. Augustine says, \"A wretched man, what do you honor or fear in man? Worship God and fear Him, and you shall receive a hundred times so much, and have everlasting life, which surpasses all other rewards.\" (Proverbs 14:29) He worships our Lord who has mercy and pity on the poor. And the gloss says, \"You shall receive a hundredfold.\" And it is to be understood that there are three kinds of alms-giving: giving to the needy whatever you can, forgiving those from whom Jesus was, correcting the erring, and leading the wandering back to the way of truth.\nThat is to say, give to the needy what you can, and forgive those who have trespassed against you, and correct those who err, and bring them into the way of right.\n\nGive alms and all worldly riches are yours, give and it shall be given to you. Alms given is a holy thing, it increases a man's wealth, it makes fewer a man's sins, it lengthens a man's life, it makes a man of good mind, it delivers a man from evil times, and closes all things, it delivers a man from death, it joins a man with angels, and separates him from the devil, and is like a wall impassable to fair words or good appearance, example, and token.\n\nGive to them whom Jesus was with. To forgive them who have trespassed against you, please God much. For it is in the gospel of St. Mark, xi.\nIf you do not pardon others / nor your debts, as we pardon our debts. By these debts understand the things we ought to do to God / and do not do them. And if you will not pardon, you may not ask mercy. The same measure you measure withal shall be measured to you. But to put away rancor and malice that a man owes to another in his heart / you are bound to pardon, not only for the sake of necessity, but also to pardon all the offense: or to leave your action or grant a reasonable amends. Therefore it is but an act of mercy if you do so / and no sin, though you sue the law with charity.\nBut a man has created a trespass, and you are glad that he has done so, so that you may have a quarrel, a matter, or an action against him, out of malice and ill will? You will sue him rather than for the trespass, now you sin mortally because you do it out of malice rather than for the trespass, and have you not lost your charity? Proverbs. xxxij. He who is ready to forgive shall be blessed.\n\nErrantem corrigere et in viam veritatis reducere.\nTo correct a wrongdoer and to bring him into the way of right.\n\nIt is to be understood that there are three kinds of correction. The first correction is of an enemy, the second is of a friend, and the third correction is of a judge. The first says, \"Correct me not as an enemy seeking vengeance, but as a physician instilling medicine.\" Correct a wrongdoer not as an enemy seeking vengeance, but as a physician or surgeon: ministering or giving medicine.\nTo the second, Solomon says: A friendly correction profits more than a turbulent one. If you speak courteously to a man who has offended, and with sweet words of compassion, he will rather be converted by them than with harsh words of great punishment. Isidore says: He who will not be chastised by fair words, it is necessary that he be more harshly and strictly reproved or punished. To the third, St. Jerome says: An evil judgment is where the person is not regarded but the works are considered. Also it is written: One cannot correct or amend the negligent, nor prohibit the forbidden by consent, error is.\nHe who corrects not and does not forbid unlawful things consents to them. In my opinion, it is to be in despair of God's mercy. And therefore, whatever thou hast done or offended God in word, work, thought, or deed, be never in despair for it, for Isidore says, \"Who receives pardon for sins, despaires of having forgiveness for his sins? He sins more in despairing than he did in the sin doing.\" For St. Jerome says, \"Maggus offended Judas more in that he suspended himself? rather that he might be converted and live. And also says, \"No one comes to me but he is ready to change his sentence and to grant mercy and forgiveness of all sins.\" For St. Augustine says, \"Just as a spark of fire in the midst of the sea? so are all impieties of a man before the mercy of God.\"\nAs a spark is capable of drying up all the water in the sea? No more is the wickedness of man compared to the mercy of God. Therefore, it is fitting that a man should be penitent, contrite, and ask God for mercy and forgiveness of his sins and offenses, as spoken by Cyril. No one has ever gone to God weeping and he has not accepted or received what they asked for. And Saint Bernard says, \"More bitter tears are wept.\" Amen.\n\nI, [name], make this known to all, spiritual and temporal, that I intend to write nothing contrary to the faith of Christ and the holy church. I am ready to retract anything that may have passed my mouth due to lack of learning and to submit myself to correction and my book to reform.\nAnd concerning the points of husbandry, and other articles contained in this present book, I will not say that it is the best way and will serve best in all places, but I say it is the best way I have proven by experience, having been a husbandman for over 40 years and having tried many and various ways. I have done my diligence to prove by experience which should be the best way.\n\nTo all who shall see, read, or hear this treatise, I pray that they will be contented with it and amend it in places where eloquence is required. I, however, lack the ability to provide such eloquence, therefore I have inserted such eloquent passages as I have found.\n\nThus ends the book of Husbandry.\n\nPrinted at London in Southwark, at the sign of the Widows, by Peter Treveris.\n\nFinis.\n\nPETER TREVERIS", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "Here begins the Eclogues of Alexander Barclay, where the first three contain the mysteries of courts and courtes of all princes in general. The matter, which was translated into English by the said Alexander in the form of dialogues, was translated from a book named in Latin \"Miserie Curialium,\" compiled by Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Poet and Orator, who later became Pope Pius II.\n\nCornix.\n\nCoridon.\n\nThe famous Poets with the Muses nine\nInspire wit freely,\nSpeak boldly, indent\nSome in heroic poems,\nSome delight in heavy tragedies,\nAnd some in wanton or merry comedies,\nSome in sweet songs, harmonious with the harp,\nAnd each of these all had lord and excellence.\nTherefore, wise poets, to sharpen and prove their wit.\nIn homely gestures, many a merry tale was written before they dared to be audacious. The famous Teocrite first in Sicily attempted to write certain eclogues or pastoral speeches. Inducing shepherds, men simple and rural, whose speech was plain, according to their name, had various conversations, sometimes of mirth and game, sometimes of things more akin to gravity, and never exceeding their small capacity. Most noble Virgil, after him for a long while, also wrote eclogues in the same manner. His wit proved itself in pastoral matters, or he dared not venture to style heroic. And in the same manner, now in our recent days, have other poets attempted the same ways. As the most famous Baptyste mantuan, the best of that sort since poets first began, and Francysk Petrarke also in Italy wrote plainly and purely. What shall I speak of the ancient father, who between Alathea and Sextis, the bold, spoke in brief, plain, and eloquent language.\nHath made rehearsals of all thy old stories,\nBy true history opposed to false fables of old sects,\nBesides these, I find many more\nWhich have employed their diligence also,\nBetween shepherds, as it were but a fable,\nTo write of matters, both true and profitable,\nBut I purpose not to write their names,\nWhich in this manner made books infinite,\nNow to my purpose, their works are worthy of fame,\nDid my young age inflame my heart,\nDulsloth engaging, myself to exercise,\nIn such small matters, or I durst not enter,\nTo this matter, like as these children do,\nWhich first use to creep and afterward to go,\nThe bird unused, first flying from her nest,\nDares not adventure, and is not bold nor prest,\nWith wings abroad, to flee as does the old,\nFor use and custom cause all things to be bold,\nAnd little knowing, by craft and exercise,\nPerfects science, causes a man to rise,\nBut before the painter can suit his craft,\n\"But rationalizing and adding, in vain I tried\nYet where I in youth began a certain work\nAnd not concluded, as many a man\nI thought after to make it perfect\nBut long I missed what I first wrote\nBut here a wonder, I found myself forty years later\nIn age, I found my first youth again\nTo find youth in age is a difficult problem\nBut now, here is the truth, and then no longer ponder\nAs I late toured old books to and fro\nI found among them a little treatise\nBecause in youth, I had compiled the same\nEclogues of youth, I called it by name\nAnd seeing some men had delight in the same\nAt their great instance, I made it perfect\nAdding and improving where I perceived need\nAll those desiring, who shall this treatise read\nNot to be grieved with any plain sentence\nRudely conveyed for lack of eloquence\nIt were not fitting, a hard or rural heart\"\nTo speak in terms of the gay and rhetorical,\nOrpheus teaches in the art of poetry,\nThat writers should apply metaphorical speech,\nAdapting it to every person's estate,\nBehavior, wit, and age. But if any one,\nShould object to me that this my labor,\nShall be of small effect and not greatly profitable,\nAnd by that manner, seem vain and reproachable,\nBecause it makes only relation,\nOf shepherds' manner and disputation,\nIf any such advice, my treatise to the end,\nHe shall well perceive if he intends to attend,\nThat it contains both laws of virtue,\nAnd man instructs himself in shunning,\nWith various borders and moral sentences,\nEnclosed in the shadow of pastoral speech,\nAs many poets as I have said before,\nHave used long time, before I was born.\nBut if their writing, though I assure the rate,\nNo name I challenge of poet laureate,\nThat name is fitting and agrees with them,\nWho write matters with curiosity,\nMy habit black, does not accord with green.\nBlack represents death, as daily seen,\nThe green is pleasurable, fresh lust and these two in nature,\nHave great diversity,\nWho would ascribe this but he were a fool?\nThe pleasant laurel, reward to the mourning cowl,\nAnother reward awaits my labor,\nThe glorious sight of God, my savior,\nWho is the chief shepherd and head of all,\nTo him for succor, in this my work I call,\nNot on Clio nor old Melpomene,\nMy hope is fixed, aided by him,\nAnd that his mother, the heavenly empress,\nShall bring to a good ending my wit and pen,\nTo accomplish my purpose and intent,\nTo the laud and pleasure of God omnipotent,\nAnd to the profit, pleasure, and reward,\nOf all those who shall read this treatise here,\nBut to the reader, now to return again,\nFirst of this thing, I will make you certain,\nThat ten elegies, this whole treatise holds,\nTo imitation of old poets,\nIn which elegies, shepherds you may see,\nIn homely language, not surpassing their degree.\nSomtime disputing of courtly mystery\nSomtime of Venus discordant tyranny\nSomtime commending love, honest and laudable\nSomtime disdaining love, falsely discreditable\nSomtime disagreeing and blaming avarice\nSomtime exciting virtue to exercise\nSomtime of war, and the manyfold damage\nAnd other matters as will afterwards appear\nTo their great pleasure, which shall them rede or hear.\n\nThe one well kept with a locked hoar and gray\nWhich after labors and worldly business\nConcluded\nYet nothing he had kept to find himself cloth or food\nAt divers holies his heart grew through his head\nA stiff patched felt hanging over his eyes\nHis costly clothing was threadbare kendall green\nHis patchy Cockers scant reached to his knee\nIn the side of his felt there stood a spur of tree\nA bottle, his coat, on one side had torn\nFor hanging, the ere was not in it worn\nIn his one hand ever, his pipe he bore\nWhose sound, released, relieved him of his care.\nHis valet, with bread and cheese, stood there\nA hook in his hand, in the midst of all his goods\nHe boasted, however, to have experience\nOf worldly things, by practice and knowledge\nHe called himself Cornix by name\nThe other shepherd was like him, save that he\nHad lived all his days in keeping his people and seen no farther ways\nYet he was to see, a stout and lusty stranger\nAnd, boasting, he bore himself in the prime\nCoridon by name, his neighbors called him\nHe considered himself the stoutest among them\nThis Coridon swore and said to Cornix, truly,\nThat he would no longer endure that life\nIn wretched labor and still in poverty\nBut to the city, he said, he would go\nOr else to the court and there abide\nUntil time that fortune would provide better life\nBy which means, Cornix, with plain speech,\nOf court and courtes, spoke of care and misery.\n\nCoridon speaks first.\nHe, Cornix, my friend, nothing can my heart make light.\nWhen I remember the storms of yesterday night,\nThe thunder and lightning, the tempest and the hail,\nHave plainly wasted our profit and yield,\nThe fearful thunder with its grievous clap and sound,\nOur corn has been bent down flat onto the ground,\nWith tempest following and the violence of rain,\nI doubt it shall never rise again,\nThe hail has beaten our sheep within the fold,\nAll are weakened, as well the young as the old,\nOur milk is turned and grown pale and sour,\nThe storm and tempest upon our couches pour,\nOur flock and fields is all our whole riches,\nWhich still is subject to such misfortunes,\nFor after we have done both cost and pain,\nOne sudden tempest destroys all again,\nFarewell welfare, worse chance we need not fear,\nSave only to sow our claws with the thorns.\n\nThe citizens have great treasure securely,\nIn coffers closed, free from danger,\nTheir coins hidden safely under lock and key,\nFrom place to place they may convey the same.\nWhen they perceive the day and sound,\nBut still must our corn remain upon the ground,\nEnduring storms, hail, thunder, and tempest,\nTill it be ripe and ready for the press.\nAs for their riches, no thunder, frost nor hail,\nNo storm nor tempest, can hurt or dismay us.\nSuch careful chances and such adversity,\nKeep us always in wretched poverty.\n\u00b6 Cornix answers.\n\u00b6 O Coridon, my mate, I swear so have I bliss,\nThou speakest truly, as the matter is.\nBut as for my part, my mind and wit is blind,\nTo know who governs all, weather, storm and wind.\nBut this I know, yet not perfectly,\nYet bold I am to speak to thee plainly.\nFor if I spoke it, in some audience,\nSome men would maliciously take it for offense.\nIf God (as men say) does heaven and earth sustain,\nWhy then does He not regard our daily pain?\nOur grievous labor, He might justly divide,\nAnd for us wretches, some better life provide.\nSome labor not at all, and live pleasantly.\nThough all his reason to vices he applies, yet simple living we labor to maintain. Behold what ills the shepherds must endure, For flock and how should bare living procure In fierce heat, we must intend our fold, And in the winter almost we freeze for cold. Upon the hard ground or on the frosty brow, We sleep, while others lie on a bed of down. A thousand ills of danger and sickness, With diverse sores, our beasts oppress. A thousand perils, and more if they were told, Daily and nightly invade our poor fold. Sometimes the wolf, our beasts, does devour, And sometimes the thief takes away for his hour, Or else the wolves or thieves, much worse than these, Against all our flock, incite mischief. See how my hands are with many a gall, And stiff as a board by work continuous. My face all scorched, my color pale and wan, My head all parched, and black as any pan, My beard like bristles, so that a plantain leaf.\nWith little might may thrust me through the check,\nAnd as a stockfish wrinkled is my skin,\nSuch is the profit / which I by labor win,\nBut this my labor should grieve me much less,\nIf rest or pleasure came from my busyness,\nBut one sudden storm of thunder, hail, or rain,\nAgain wastes it / therefore I took this pain,\nThis is the reward / the deed / and worthy work,\nUnto whose altars poor shepherds incline,\nTo offer tapers / and candles we are willing,\nAnd for our offering / lo / this have we again,\nI cannot declare / what pity, and mercy,\nWraps us wretches / in this hard misery,\nBut this I well know / it is both right and meet,\nThere most to succor / where does it appear most needy,\nCoridon.\n\nCoridon.\nHo there friend Cornix / thou wanderest too far,\nThou forgetting thyself / leapest over the bar,\nSmall is my knowledge / thou hast seen many things,\nYet out of the way / forsooth I see the clue,\nThe king of heaven / is merciful and just,\nAnd them all helps which put in him their trust.\nWhan he does not strike us always,\nsaid Peter in the pulpit, hard,\nYet he often strikes, when men are obstinate,\nAnd by no means will their stubbornness abate.\nThese plagues and inconveniences fall upon us,\nwretches, only for our offense.\n\nCornix:\nFor what offenses are we made to endure this,\nCornix, who were of that sort that betrayed our Lord,\nOr consented to his crucifixion?\nWe were never such, yourself can testify.\n\nCoridon:\nTrust me truly, though you may be angry,\nI shall not shrink from telling you the truth.\nThough we shepherds are apart from company,\nWe live unhappily without occasion,\nSeek well among us, and plainly you shall see,\nTheft, brawling, malice, discord, iniquity,\nWrath, lechery, lust, envy, and covetousness,\nAnd briefly to speak truly, we lack no vice.\n\nCornix:\nWhat, man, do we not all do something amiss?\nYet all have sorrow, without any difference.\nSay nothing but the truth, do good nothing deserves,\nWithout difference, yet we are all like to perish.\nCoridon. What ceases a man to feel shame, thou art of reason scant. The wise now must learn, wit of the ignorant. I have no knowledge, save only of my tar. Yet this I perceive, a man should not seek too far in God's works, he does all for the best. If you find here no comfort or rest, what then, seek farther, for plainly so shall I. In some place, fortune beholds mercy. I tarry no longer by St. Thomas of Kent. In such bare places, where every day is lent, the freemen have a story in some day of the week. But every day, our mete is to seek. I have nothing to buy, I cannot beg, for shame. Except that I were blind, impotent, or lame. If such a begging, as I should beg or crave, of me such mercy and pity would men have, that they for alms (I swear by God's socks), in every town would make me score the stocks. That one Drome can by many attempts tell what that ill science I purpose not to mix. Here nothing I have, wherefore I need to care. Now Cornix, a die, straight forward will I fare.\nCornix:\nStrait forward, man, hail Benedict,\nAll other people have as great care as we,\nOnly bare need is all our pain and woe,\nBut these town dwellers have many pains more,\nOur pain is pleasure near, in comparison,\nOf all such things have I experience,\nThou mayest surely give me credence,\nWhether wilt thou go,\nTo live more quietly,\nMan, the world is full of misery.\n\nCoridon:\nWhat man, the court is fresh and full of ease,\nI can draw a bow, I shall some lord there please,\nThou thyself can report, how I can kill birds,\nMy arrow touches them nothings but the feathers,\nI hurt no flesh, nor burn any part at all,\nWere not my shooting our living but small,\nLo here a sparrow, lo here are thrushes four,\nAll these I killed, this day within an hour,\nI can dance the ray, I can both pipe and sing,\nIf I were merry, I can both hurl and sling,\nI run, I wrestle, and can well throw the bare,\nNo shepherd throws the axletree so far.\nIf I were merry, I could well leap and spring. I were a man meet to serve a prince or king. Therefore to the court now will I get myself plain. A sweet Cornix, farewell yet once again. Provided for yourself, so shall I do for me.\n\nCornix:\nGo away Coridon, for God's love let be. Nothing else is the court but even the devil's mouth. And place most careful of east, west, north, and south. For your long service, there need shall be your hire. Out of the water you leap into the fire. We live in sorrow, I will not deny it. But in the court is the well of misery.\n\nCoridon:\nWhat man you see, and in like wise do I,\nLusty courters go always jolly,\nThey have no labor, yet at their ease,\nBarded and guarded in pleasant white and green,\nThey do nothing else but revel in sleep and drink,\nBut on his folds, the poor shepherd must think,\nThey rest, we labor, they gayly decked be,\nWhile we go ragged by need and poverty.\nThey have pleasures, but all the pain is ours.\nThey have everything, but we wretches have nothing.\nThey sing and dance while we languish in thought.\nWhat brings them to this prosperity?\nStrength, courage, friends, craft, and audacity.\nIf I had friends, I have all that lies by my side.\nWhich might in court provide a room for me.\nBut since courtiers have this life continually,\nThey have all pleasure, and nothing of misery.\n\nCornix.\n\nNot so, Coridon, often under yew locks.\nBe hid, foul scabbes, and fearful French poxes.\nTheir rough shirts, of cloth, white, soft, & thin.\nOftentimes clocks, a foul and scurfy skin.\nAnd where we labor in profitable works,\nThey labor sorer in abominable work.\nThey may have shame to jet so up and down.\nWhen they are detours, for doublet house & gown,\nAnd in the tavern, remain they last for lag,\nWhen never a cross, is in their courtly bag.\nThey crack, they boast, and vaunt as if they were mad.\nAnd most when they sit, in the midst of others' good.\nNought have they wretches save care and misery,\nWho have proved that all courting shall defy.\n\nCoridon:\nMary, sir, by this I see experience,\nThat thou in the court hast kept some residence.\n\nCornix:\nRemembering of court their pain continual,\nI think these pains but easy, short and small.\nSo the remembrance of grievous care and pain\nCauses me gladly to sustain this hardness.\nWhoever has lived in court, I assure,\nInstead of pleasure may this our life endure.\nOur need is eased with pleasant liberty,\nThere care is paid with harsh captivity.\nI thought our living care and vexation\nBefore (the court) or thou made mention.\n\nCoridon:\nIf the court be such as thou dost plainly tell,\nI think it folly with it to deal or mingle.\nBetter is frugality with need and poverty,\nThan need in the court with harsh captivity.\nBut tell me, Cornix, I pray thee instantly,\nHow dost thou first know this matter so perfectly?\n\nCornix:\nWhile I in youth in Coridon town did dwell,\nOften to the court I coolly brought to sell.\nAnd I learned and noted perfectly\nOf court and courtesans the care and misery\nFor I lurked and none regarded me\nUntil I had knowledge of high and low degree\nWhat were their manners, behavior and custom?\nThe more I tried, the more I saw of outrage\n\nCoridon.\n\nThen farewell courting, I see you count this best,\nHere to remain in simple wealth and rest,\nBut in the meantime, I pray the heartily\nDeclare me all whole, the courtly misery\nBehold our wether's lying chewing the cud,\nHere is no peril of water dyke nor mud,\nSloth loves slumbering much, sleep is reproachable,\nBut merry talking is greatly comforting,\nHere is cold shadow, here is a clear fountain,\nWhen words grieve, drink and begin again,\nFor long time past I have heard of your lore,\nWhich thing moves me to hear you talk more.\nBegin and show me the courtes' wretchedness,\nSo I suppose I shall set their folly at less,\nAnd where long talking often grieves many a man,\nI shall amuse her with words now and then.\nWhat say you, Cornix, why are you now so still?\nYour wit and reason were once willing.\n\nCornix answered:\n\nFaine would I come / for pleasure and pastime\nBut truth is committed / most grievous fault or crime\nAnd some might be here / which by their words sore\nMight bring me in court / in grievous displeasure\nBecause I shall prove all those who have power\nMiserable fools / mad men and ignorant\nTherefore, Coridon / among the bowmen prize\nIf there lurk any Jay / starling / thrush / or pie\nTo note my words / and that them forthe again\nWhereby I might lose displeasure or pain\n\nCoridon:\n\nLose / God's dominion to lose (you have no good\nSave hoke and cooks / your bottle and your hood\nYour head all ragged / can keep no body dry\nMany have as good / though none can them espie\nHe has small reason / that has a head more fine\nAnd would for malice / bereave you of your throne\nAs for displeasure / I warrant the same\nYou shall for princes / great ease and pleasure do\nFor many who daily call upon them to be in service, who are not suitable at all, are so eager to be at court because they do not understand the hardships, it is not profitable to receive them, and it is not honorable to dismiss them if you are compelled to leave of their own free will. And other fools will take your tale in sport, and they will never resort to the court less than let not Cornix plainly speak the truth. Let scabby claw and gyly men be angry. It is better for truth to suffer hard pains than for false flattery to have a great reward.\n\nCornix:\nYou say but reason, I, Lord Coridon, entreat I pray, concerning matters that belong to the court, and I shall answer if it is wrong. I have learned by practice and knowledge, I shall as much as I may give the intelligence.\n\nCoridon:\nThe court, as you say, is false and deceptive.\nThan tell me why men, most honorable in remaining, abide care and pain, and yet by their will, they will not forth again.\n\nCornix.\n\nMany things are, which many people blind\nTo come to the court with fervent heart and mind\nBut of all things, this specifically is one\nThe hope of honor, called ambition\nRight so Mynalcas did, lust of honor call\nAnd as he committed, Ambition is equal\nTo that virtue, which men call charity\nCharity suffices, all hard adversity\nAll pain and labor, and all vexation\nAnd even as much, suffices Ambition\nFor worldly wretches, in honor to excel\nForce does not compel labor, down to the pit of hell\nLo here, chief cause, why men resort to court\nBut once in the court, when they have had comfort\nSuch is of mankind, the blind calamity\nThat in one state, if they long time have been\nA life there living, but vile and full of shame\nYet by no manner, can they dispense the same\nSo who that in youth, has used courtes rage.\nThey find no manner to leave the same in age and win lands and praise of the commote. In no hard labor think they difficulty, but if men hunt for follies and high glory, as they hunt daily for transitory honor, right few or none would apply to the court, to be tangled with care and misery. But unto the court, if thou hast thine intent, because prelates and wise men it frequent. Here what the shepherd of Nazareth doth say: As I heard Faustus declare upon a day, upon their high chair and seat of Moses sat the old scribes and sect of Pharisees. Live as they teach, but live not as they do. And thus in the court, man must behave himself so, his life reflecting, like as such ought to live. Not by example which they give to others.\n\nCoridon.\n\nThese are high matters and far beyond my wit. If such be the court, what man would mingle with it? Yet I assure thee, before this I have seen worthy shepherds lodge in the court have been.\n\nCornix.\nAll that I grant thee, but ask and thou shalt find,\nThat such in the court abide against their mind,\nAs the rich shepherd, who dwelt in Mortlake,\nNamed Coridon.\n\nO Cornix, Cornix, feel how my heart doth quake,\nOn him what I think, my heart is full of pain,\nWould God that we could get him to live again,\nWhat time he lived, some blamed him, indeed,\nSince then he died, he sorely lacks and mis,\nHe passed by Codrus, he passed by Mynalcas,\nHe passed by Mopsus, and also Lysydas,\nNo other shepherd might with that man compare,\nIn dursting his life, we needed not care,\nBut ever since his time that he was dead and gone,\nWe suffer wrongs, defender have we none,\nHe was the patron of things pastoral,\nHis face and favor, forget I never shall,\nWhile I was younger, he came by our cottage,\nThan was my father, Amyntas, far in age,\nBut the same shepherd gave him both cloth and gold.\nO Cornix, the young be much unlike the old.\n\nCornix.\n\nYes, since his days, a cock was in the fen,\nI know his voice among a thousand men.\nHe taught us, preached, and mended every wrong. But Coridon, alas, no good thing befalls him for long. He was a cock, waking us from sleep, and while we slumbered, he kept our fold safe. No cur, no fore, nor butcher's dog could harm our fold, for his watching was so good. The hungry wolves, which at that time abounded, were abashed at his crowing. This cock was no more abashed by a fox than a lion by an ox. When he went, the flower of all the fen faded. I boldly swear, this cock trod nearer to the hen than any other. This was a father of pastoral things, and that well shows his church cathedral. I was recently there, about the midst of May. Coridon's church is twenty times more gay than all the churches between the same and Kent. I saw his tomb and chapel excellent. I thought five hours had passed, but it was but a little while. St. John the Virgin, I thought, smiled upon me. Our parish church is but a dongyon. To compare, to this gay church.\nIf the people were as pleasant as the place, I might truly find in my heart to stay and never depart. But trust me, Coridon; there are many things wrong. When I saw his figure lying in the chapel side, like death for weeping, I could no longer abide. Lo, all good things to soon away doth glide, that no man likes to long rest and abide. When the good is gone, my mate, this is the case.\n\nCoridon:\nThou sayest truth, Cornix; I make to God a vow.\nBut ay, mate Cornix, see where we now are,\nFar from the matter where as we first began,\nBegun where we left, I pray thee if thou can.\n\nCoridon:\nThat shall I lightly, thou saidst that a sort\nOf good old shepherds did to the court resort.\nBut such as be good, be there again they will.\nFor truly in court, they find less good than ill.\nTo see much amiss, to them it is great pain.\nWho for their words, none will his vice refrain.\nThen they scorn and indignation,\nAnd for their good minds, pain and vexation:\n\nCoridon:\nCornix, proceed, tell by and by,\n\nCornix:\nOf court and courtes, pain and misery.\nThat were a long matter and very hard to do,\n\nCoridon:\nThis is the best remedy, take longer time thereto,\nHere is a gay shadow, here is a pleasant cool,\nTake bank and flowers, for cushion or for stole,\n\nCornix:\nThen lay down thy hook, give me that bottle near,\nWith often washing the throat and voice is clear,\n\nCoridon:\nLo here the bottle, drink such as is therein,\nDrink better, & then in the name of God, begin,\n\nCornix:\nA sir, well drawn, and that with little pain,\nThen turn we our speech, now to you the court again,\nWoe will to the court, first let him think before,\nWhether he may suffer labor and pains sore,\nBoth hunger and thirst, injury and wrong,\nFor these shall he find the rude courters among,\nAnd more after these, yet let him think again,\nWhether in the court, he may that thing obtain.\nWhichever he desires / I think the contrary\nMen would find honor there / there they would find misery\nThus all are fools / who willingly dwell there\nCoridon / the court is the bayting place of hell\n\nCoridon:\nThat is hardly said, man / by the road of rest\nCornix:\nI grant it is hard / but to speak the truth is best\nBut yet I shall prove / my saying true\nA duer (duer means \"due\" in this context) my words / see if I am culpable\n\nTo our purpose / by various ways three\nMen can be fools / I shall count them to be\nThey all are fools / who set their thought and mind\nOn that thing to seek which they shall never find\nAnd they are fools / who seek thing with delight\nIf they find it / it is harm and no profit\nAnd he is a fool / a sot and a jester also\nWho chooses a place / unto the same to go\nAnd where various ways lead directly there\nHe chose the worst / and most of Jeopardy\n\nAs if divers ways / lay unto Islington\nTo dwell on the wold / quench or trample on it\nTo give two pence / to Barwick or Exe\nTo Grantham / Totnes Bristowe or good Manchester\nTo Roan Paris / to Lyonor Florence\n\nCoridon.\n\nWhat ho man / abide / what all are ready in France?\nLo, a fair journey / and shortly ended with\nAll these towns / what have we to do?\n\nCoridon.\n\nBy God / man know that I have had to do\nIn all these towns / and yet in many more\nTo see the world / in youth, I thought was best\nAnd after in age / to give myself to rest\n\nCoridon.\n\nThou might have brought one / & set by our village\n\nCoridon.\n\nWhat man / I could not lack of carriage\nTo carry my own self / was all that ever I could\nAnd sometimes before / my sack made me light\n\nCoridon.\n\nTo our first matter / we must better intend\nElse in twelve months / we shall scarcely make an end\n\nCoridon.\n\nTrue said Coridon / that can I not deny\nBut thine own self / did lead me from the way\nUnto these towns / now to return again\nTo any of them all / if there lay ways two\nThe one sure and short / and leading directly\nThe other way longer and full of jeopardy,\nThat folly was worthy a ballad and a hoard,\nWhich would choose it worst, perceiving it good,\nOne of these follies, or all, oppress that sort,\nWhich are not constrained, do to the court resort,\nOthers that they search, which they may not attain,\nOr it, which gaining, shall do them hurt and pain,\nOr of two ways, they use to leave the best,\nFor one no goodness, do their desires rest,\n\nCoridon.\n\nWhat is the desire, and principal purpose,\nChiefly frequented among these courters all,\nAnd for what reward, take they such pains?\n\nCornix.\n\nMy humble speech, and pastoral language,\nIf it were able, should write his acts all,\nBut while I ought speak of courtly misery,\nHim with all such, except I utterly,\nBut what other princes commonly frequent,\nAs truly as I can to show is my intent,\nBut if I should say, that all the misery,\nWhich I shall after rehearse and specify,\nWere in the court, of our most noble king,\nI should fail truth, and plainly make misleading.\nAnd if I said that there was no vice in it, I would be lying, in just the same way as I blame no one at all. Among all men, this is the case: more evil than good grows in every place.\n\nCoridon.\n\nRight well excuseth I, I did not first think that simple Cornix had such subtlety. But now appears the very truth certain. Men of worth have not the best wit and brain.\n\nNow tell how courters, who long for honor,\nIn place of honor find pains sharp and sour.\n\nCornix.\n\nAll those who suffer in courtly labor and pain,\nBy supposing true honor to obtain,\nAbuse my words or doctrine in great measure,\nAnd are much unable to give them medicine.\n\nFor Elebor the old, with all his pure salves,\nTheir willful folly could scarcely help and cure.\n\nWhat man would think that true honor could be found\nIn princes' halls or courts? There, none has honor\nBy virtue and knowledge.\nBy manners, wisdom, sadness, or good living,\nBut he who has power, high rooms or riches,\nHas most honor and laude, of more and less.\nFor what poor man, a plain and simple soul,\nThough he were holy, as every St. Paul,\nHave you ever seen exalted by a king?\nFor all his manners and virtuous living,\nThese are the words of shepherd Silvius,\nWho later was pope, and called was Pius.\n\nCoridon.\n\nRight many have men seen,\nWho in poor houses born and brought up,\nThat from lowly rooms and careful poverty,\nAre now exalted to greatest dignity.\n\nCoridon.\n\nSuch is the pleasure of princes,\nTo promote such to honor, who scarcely are worth a groat,\nBut whom they promote, give credence to me,\nSuch as in manners, to them most resemble,\nAnd in what manners, in bestial lechery,\nIn covetousness, Ire, or in vile gluttony,\nIn hasty murder, and other cruelty,\nBelieve my Coridon, I say but truth.\n\nA covetous prince, has him most acceptable,\nWho gathers coin, by means discreditable.\nAs false accusing and wrong extortion,\nSelling of justice, fraud, and oppression,\nA lecherous prince has this in conceit,\nWho can by crafts place and time best in weight,\nYoung virgins and wives most fair and amiable,\nTo bring to his bed for lust abominable,\nAnd a drunken prince has him as dearest mate,\nWho most can surfet, most revel and drink late,\nAnd to a prince who loves cruelty,\nChiefly in favor and conceit is he,\nWho most delights in shedding man's blood,\nFew vicious princes promote such as are good,\nNow accepted by men of high degree,\nNor set in honor from humble poverty,\nExcept he has done some deed of great fame,\nThat all the world may wonder at the same,\nBut this same honor is neither true nor stable,\nWhich grows from root, so evil and detestable,\nFor true honor and perfect glory comes\nFrom acts of laudable memory,\nIn support of right and equity,\nOr in defending the church and commonweal,\nOr other acts, common or private.\nWhichesoever wishes to create a true estate, but such true honor few princes deserve, And no more do they, who in the court serve them, Since almost all are of misgovernance. For no good do they do, except it be by chance.\n\nCoridon.\n\nYet at least such men are reputed to be Men of great honor among the common folk. For as long as they walk In court or in the street, Each man inclines, Whoever meets or sees them, Toward the bonnet, a beck at every word, Each man must needs give place to my lord After his degree, by birth or promotion. Such of the commons have salutation And shortly to say, men do them more honor Than to the figure of Christ our savior.\n\nCorinx.\n\nIt is as you say, Coridon, But hear what they say, at last, when men are gone. Then they salute them in the devil's name, And pray unto God that they may die with shame, And so do many by torment and suffering When Fortune favors them with misfortune. But such as stoop to them before their face.\n\"Give them a mock when they are out of place,\nAnd one whispers softly in others' ears,\nAnd says this tyrant is feeler than a bear.\n\nCoridon.\n\nWhy do they no longer say such things,\nCornix.\n\nNo, but hear what good Pope Silvius says,\nThis is he who, by his bad counsel,\nCauses our prince to be harmful to us,\nThis is he who raises taxes and assesses fines,\nThis is he who stretches men on racks,\nThis is he who causes all this war,\nThis is he who marries our wealth,\nThis is the commoner, the very deadly mal,\nWho with these charges thus oppresses us all,\nWhoever displeases him, he turns to dust,\nThis same one kills whom he desires,\nMay all the devils of hell carry him away,\nMay we no longer endure his tyranny,\nThis is the honor and all the reverence,\nGiven to them who are ever from presence,\nBut in such honor, whoever has delight,\nWho is fawning, so faint and unpersuasive,\nI am not afraid to call him made and blind.\"\nAnd a fool or some kind of Coridon.\n\nCoridon: My friend Cornix, you speak now of playing, I fear this game may turn us to pain. If any man be near, stay a while and hear.\n\nCornix: I fear not at all, now I am set on work. Besides this Coridon, most part of the court dwells. Flatterers and liars, jesters of fawning, jugglers and deceivers, and such a shameful table. Which for a dinner, Lord men no thing laudable, But men circumspect, wise and discreet, Despise such vain lords utterly. For truly no lord, Is named good nor true, Except it proceeds from men who love virtue. A ribald's blame is commendation. Such use to slander, good conversation. But such they commend, as are to them semblable. So their disparaging is profitable.\n\nCoridon: Now truly my heart is eased with the same. For Godfrey Gormand lately did blame me. And as for himself, though he be gay and stout, He has nothing but folly within and without.\nTo blow in a bowl and to ply a platter,\nTo gurn, to brawl, to counterfeit, to flatter.\nHe has no fellow between this and Croydon,\nSave the proud plowman, gnat of Charingtown.\nBecause he always malice against me,\nIt plainly appears, our life does not agree.\nFor if we lived, both after one rate,\nThen should I have him to me affectionately.\nBut Cornix, proceed, tell forth of dignity.\n\nCornix:\n\nOften in my tale, I have been hindered by\nSuch as for honor resort to the court.\nLook seldom times upon the lower sort.\nTo the higher sort, for the most part they intend,\nFor still their desire is higher to ascend,\nAnd when none can make comparison with them,\nA gain their princes conspire they by treason.\nThen when their purposes cannot come well to frame,\nAgain they descend, and that with utter shame.\nCoridon, you know right well what I mean.\nWe lately of this experience have seen,\nWhen men would ascend to rowm's honorable,\nEver is their mind and lust insatiable.\nWhat ever they have, they count the same, but small. While something is greater, nothing cares but all. And once in Cambridge, I heard a scholar say, One of the same, who goes in copes gay, That no man should fix, end of felicity, In worldly honor, high room or dignity. For it is a thing, in certain and unstable, Which man of himself, to pursue is not able. In another power, this honor always is, Who most seeks it, of it does often miss. And who serves it, for honor and high name, And in this world to get himself noble fame, Much pain abides through cares and distresses, And with many men he has much business. And often he must rather, the mind of men content, Than do the pleasure of God omnipotent. Rather than two honors of diverse sorts be, One which is given of men of honesty, The second honor is of a multitude. For very truth, that man of wit is rude, Who hunts in court for the first honor, The same to purchase, by care and great labor, As fortune's honor, no man can there obtain.\nWhere neither manners nor virtues reign, the second honor is common, whoever requires more folly is he, for he demands a thing right perilous, uncertain, unstable, and also vicious. But both these sorts are always vexed sore when they see many before them in honor, and often times, those who are most unworthy are there. For in court, seldom is lordly honesty found. Thus, he who is of honor and lawd is covetous, to him the court is most contrary, and nowhere he finds greater vexation. Those following the court seeking ambition, for who would ascend to principal honor finds in the court the most care and pain of all.\n\nCoridon.\n\nWe have had enough, as concerning communication, as touching honor and commendation, or worldly praise for reputation and high name. And though more might be declared of the same, what use is it for us to talk about all this? Now let us speak of might or high authority, how men love to be in the court for the same reason.\nSpeoth the cloud's appearance on every side\nIf any storm falls, we cannot longer abide\n\nConix.\n\nAs touching power, might or authority,\nSomething in the court in favor great to be,\nTo be with princes of power excellent,\nSome folly counts a thing preeminent,\nOr that men should him a king's tutor call,\nMuch to command, but nothing to do at all,\nBoth peace and battle, to order at his will,\nTo be of power, both to do good and ill,\nBut many a thousand, which have such power sought,\nHas been disappointed and shortly come to naught,\nAs with one Nero named Elagabalus,\nIn such favor was one Seianus,\nThat while this Nero was far from his empire,\nSeianus ruled the same at his desire.\nSo much that Seian had honor than in deed,\nAs of all the world counted the second head.\nIf this Nero had died or his hour,\nThis Seian, truly, should have been emperors.\nBut by one letter he, after taken,\nIn utter dishonor, was deposited from his place,\nLed for a spectacle straight to Tyber's bank.\nAnd there beheaded were those who showed such mediocre mercy and thanks to him.\nAll his images in his honor erected,\nWith great malice they cast down to the ground.\nThus all his power ended in care and shame.\nWhoever has wisdom will note and mark this.\nIt is no matter, nor anything of certainty.\nWith mighty princes of great power to be,\nNo state is weaker, more weak and uncertain,\nThan those who seem great with their sovereign power.\nHe has envious, malicious, and evil-willed men,\nAll out of favor, they aid him for evil.\nAnd all the household hates him and serves him in name,\nAnd this is seen most commonly in the world,\nThat all high rooms are subject to envy.\nSuch of all others are hated and suspected,\nIf they offend, it is easily detected,\nAnd from all defense, if they are clear and right,\nThen they lie in wait, sharply to betray them.\nSome for their study practice deceit and guile,\nAnd talebearers walk and grieve them in the meantime.\nAnd princes favor, though it be never so hot.\nIs lightly grieved, and that for a small offense,\nThought it were gotten with plain diligence,\nAnd oft is it lost for no offense at all,\nSo much with princes can tongues make false,\nSo much talebearers by crafts forge tales,\nThat the emperor, called Adrian,\nSlew his old friends and hated many one,\nBy these talebearers and false detraction,\nAnd many princes have done the same,\nBy hasty credence, distracting sore their name,\nAnd as in Croydon I heard the collector preach,\nThat holy scripture does us inform and teach,\nHow Saul, David, and wise Solomon,\nCommanded to be slain of such many one,\nAs have been with them in great authority,\nAnd daily of such, may we see example,\nBecause Isaac, in might, did rise and stand,\nFalse Abimelech him drove,\nAnd Alexander with his own hands slew\nCitron his friend, whom he did after reprove,\nBecause he compared himself to this conqueror,\nHis father Philip, lords and honor,\nAnd such like chance, but lately befell\nIn the land of Apulia, to the great seneschal.\nWhiche was so greatly in favor with the queen,\nThat none was so great as he himself believed,\nAnd thought in favor to remain more steadfastly.\nBut he abused the queen dishonestly.\nBut to another, the queen turned her love,\nAnd then had him murdered to remove his presence.\nAnd when she had found the men to kill him,\nThen she had divers lovers at her will.\n\nCoridon.\nO cursed woman, and act of cruelty,\nCornix.\nYou too, Coridon, are as bad as she.\nSome, through malice, have slain their own children.\nBut to my matter I will return again.\nTheir fraud and malice I will not now declare.\nWho deals with them, perceive what is at stake.\nBut now Coridon, to princes return,\nWho pleases this day is out again, the mourner.\nRight few, or none, or by a prince's side,\nWho continually remains in favor,\nWhile one ascends, another descends.\nThis is the thing to which they most intend,\nAnd which in the court, men chiefly go about,\nThemselves to bring in, and rub another out.\nAnd then to climb up to office and renounce,\nAnd while they ascend, another pushes down.\nEach one desires his fellow to excel;\nThere is no order, no more than in hell.\nNo love, no favor, faith, nor fidelity,\nOne brother cannot guarantee safety for another.\nThe son has no compassion for the father,\nAnd the father, like pity, has for his son.\nEach man for himself, and the friend for all,\nEach one desires to be principal,\nEach one will command and have precedence,\nAnd if anyone has a place of excellence,\nHe has about him a thousand eyes and nine,\nAnd as many tongues to bring him to ruin.\nOn every side, enemies plot against him,\nDevising means to put him from his state.\nA man of power, whom many men may fear,\nHas ever ill will; thus may he fear.\nHigh towers built by the flood's side\nWhich the waves continually abide.\nWhat shall a shepherd do in the court to tend,\nWhose life and service depend on one man?\nThough you are in favor with a prince or king.\nYet you should not trust it, for it is uncertain thing\nYou have him not bound to the chains strong\nOf lead or iron, to last and endure long\nBut with feeble wax, such bond can not last\nWhen love grows cold, then shall it think to burst\nThe fervor of wrath shall consume and melt\nThen is your favor scant worth a sheep's pelt\nCoridon.\n\nOf some I have heard of men of great honor\nWho have always remained in favor\nUntil their princes departed from this life\nAnd then with the new ones had like prerogative\nThus in the court nothing so variable\nAs you report, nor yet so reproachable\n\nCornix.\n\nI grant you Coridon, some such have been\nBut that is a bird, which seldom is seen\nThat is but fortune and chance, not to be trusted\nBut many are cast unworthily to the ground\nSome while they lived, their princes still in renown\nBut when they depart, all turns upside down\nThen if some have favor with princes' successors\nWe see them seldom, seated in such high honors\nAs with the elders, they soon fall and rise again slowly,\nMany such we have deposited from rank,\nAnd how much more, they were indignant,\nSo much more, after they were vile and base,\nTheir ancient name counted for none,\nThan they perceived, who was their friend or foe,\nBefore in honor, truly they could not be so,\nTo men in power, so often they would supplicate and beg,\nWho gladly would see their heads from the neck,\nWhen they, by fortune, found themselves on the ground again,\nThen they rejoiced in the long suffering of their foes and had their day,\nTheir friends' sorrow and pain is not small,\nTheir own disloyalty a shame is worst of all,\nFor after they live still in sorrow and distress,\nIn shame, rebukes, care, and misery.\nThis is the common end and sure conclusion,\nOf such as serve princes for promotion.\nTherefore, I dare call them fools before the assembly,\nWho serve in the court, for might or merit.\nCoridon.\nFor truly, I cannot deny it,\nBut such chances happen commonly.\nThan a small fire is better, easily to warm,\nThan a great fire, to do harm or hurt.\nI am assured, as for yourself and me,\nWe need not fear, to fall from out degree.\nBeggary is base; he that can bear all\nNeed not fear to fall into a lower state.\nBut you have done, Cornix, and tell the wretchedness\nOf such as in court serve only for riches.\nAs for the other, the best that we can do,\nIs to differ it, until another day.\n\nCornix.\nWell said, Coridon, I am content with that,\nBut first let me drink, I shall speak better.\nThis wine is sour, but use eases the pain.\nDrink, Coridon, and stop it up again.\n\nCoridon.\nNow say on, Cornix, your talking pleases me.\nI see that counsel excludes avarice,\nSave for your wisdom or this time as I believe,\nWith courtly misery I should have been entangled.\nBut good counsel fares well when it is true.\nI would that Mynalcas understood this also.\n\nCornix.\nMany of the court resort daily,\nDoubting in youth to gather some treasure or riches.\nAgainst age they may go out again,\nAnd afterward live, without labor or pain,\nIn hope of this ease and latter liberty,\nMany in the court endure long captivity.\nAnd if some courtier to himself should say,\nAlas, shall I never anything pursue for myself,\nWhen shall I in court, some little bank procure,\nThat from the bag and staff my age may be secure?\nThe fool thinks, then most riches to have,\nAgainst such a season when nearest is his grave,\nWhen his journey of this life is nearest ended,\nThen he is most in need and anxious for provisions.\nOur savior says, it is doubtless hard,\nFor one who sets his pleasure on riches,\nTo enter that kingdom, which is above the sky,\nAs an ass to enter, through a needle's eye.\nI once heard our vicar speak in a similar way,\nOnce when he preached against covetousness.\nThen it is folly great riches to purchase,\nAnd by it to lose the hope of heavenly place.\nIs not Christ able his poor men to sustain?\nYes, and to rid them out of all other pain.\nThe poor apostles, are greater now in fame.\nThan the rich Cresus, in his royal name,\nWhen man has God's trust and confidence,\nIn times of need he fails in none expense,\nAll good men place their trust in God, indeed,\nHe knows better what we need than we,\nSome poor freemen are made more curiously,\nThan some abbey or rich monastery,\nThe first trust in God, our Creator,\nThe other trusts in its vain treasure,\nGod often helps those who trust in Him,\nWhen worldly riches lie in the dust,\n\nCoridon.\n\nCoridon, your speech was not for preaching,\nBut to teach the courtier's misery,\nAgainst yourself you now speak, it seems,\nFirst, you grumbled against poverty,\nAgain, you blamed the plenty of riches now,\nBut few men living will agree with you,\nFor without riches, you openly say,\nVirtue nor knowledge, now, are set by.\n\nCornix.\n\nI will not deny, but it is undoubtedly true,\nThat all men living wish to have some riches,\nBut trust me, Coridon, there is a difference,\nBetween having riches and riches having the.\nThan thou hast riches when thou despisest store,\nBestowest it well and forget not therefore,\nBut riches have thee when wretched covetousness\nThy mind subdues to every ill and vice,\nAnd when thy desire is yet insatiable,\nThough thou have treasure almost innumerable,\nSuch manner of riches the collector tells of,\nIs vile and odious both to God and man,\nBut now to the court to return again,\nSome think by princes' great riches to obtain,\nBut while they covet riches to be,\nCoridon forsooth, they lose their liberty,\nAnd yet if I should the truth express,\nNo man can in court find true and just riches,\nIf thy lord give thee other gold or fee,\nUnto his service thou art more bound, parde,\nSaint Gregory says affirming the same thing,\nIn great gifts is great reckoning,\nBut if thou wilt then forth from the court depart,\nWhen by thy prince enriched thus thou art,\nThen shall be found some guile, some fraud or trick,\nBy means whereof thou losest all again.\nA fault shall be found, some one shall accuse\nOf thing whereof thou never thought nor mused\nThough thou be guiltless yet shall thou be brought\nFarewell thy good all shall be from the court\nOr some backward reckoning, concerning thy office\nOf all thy riches shall pull thee with a trick\nThen art thou clapped in the fleet or clink\nThou nothing must thou say whatsoever thou think\nFor if thou begin to murmur or complain\nThy life thou losest than hast thou harms twain\n\u00b6 Coridon.\n\u00b6 Yet were it better for to continue still\nAs long in the court as is the prince's will\n\u00b6 Cornix.\n\u00b6 If thou continuest, thou must be diligent\nAnd ready at hand at each commandment\nWhen he commands, thou must be pressed to fight\nTo ride and to go by day and eke by night\nNo fear no danger may help thee nor excuse\nNo pain nor peril mayst thou fle nor refuse\nSome time must thou be in the air contagious\nAnd in thousands other of chances perilous\nWhat he commands that needs do thou must.\nBe it good or evil, or unjust,\nLaugh when he laughs, if your heart is sad,\nWeep when he weeps, be you never so glad,\nLord what he commands, though it be not lawful,\nBlame what he blames, though it be commendable,\nAnd shortly to speak, you must fulfill all things,\nAs is his pleasure, and not at your will,\nNone of your wits are at your liberty,\nUnto your master, they need must agree,\nWhat is more foolish, more foolish or imprudent,\nThan to get riches by such extreme torment,\nFor nothing it is else but playing a madness,\nTo bid for riches, this care and misery,\nIt would make one claw where it does not itch,\nTo see one live poor, because he would die rich,\nBecause one in court has got good or twice,\nShould all men suppose the same there to obtain,\nAnd in hope thereof to lose their liberty,\nBut seeking riches such finds poverty,\nFor many in court while they abide riches,\nSpend all their treasure, and live in wretchedness.\nParchment my ways/ shall pass my heritage,\nBut while he spends/ till scarcely remains a great deal,\nHe returns home/ you with a threadbare coat,\nHis horse is so fat that plain he is not able,\nTo get his body/ nor head out of the stable,\nHis sword & buckler/ is lame at the bear,\nAnd to go lighter/ so is his other gear,\nThe rider walks/ now with his bow and arrows,\nWith a fair excuse/ in hedges to kill sparrows,\nAnd often returning/ he said but all too late,\nA dievall's court/ in the devilish date,\n\nCoridon.\n\nA knight passes by/ now by the road of some,\nBetter were for such/ to have stayed at home,\nBut tell me, Cornir/ has all men the bondage\nAnd pain of the court/ for no more advantage,\n\nCornix.\n\nYes sometimes riches are given/ by some chance\nTo those who have great abundance,\nLike streams/ to the sea do glide,\nBut on bare hills/ no water will abide,\nSo if a poor man serves in the court long while,\nFortune shall never smile on him so kindly.\nA rich man in room or high dignity\nHas more reward for a little service,\nNone in the court will ponder this,\nThey note the person, still the poor kept under,\nA little man, food is a small hackney,\nSmallest persons have small reward away,\nBut men of worth, seated in authority,\nMust have rewards great according to their degree,\nAnd Coridon princes give nothing, I tell the plain,\nBut when they lust, they recall again,\nAnd such things which princes give to thee,\nAs sure as water in a sieve,\nThou mayst not make alienation,\nNor the same care until another nation,\nThou mayst not dispose them according to thine intent,\nBut like as thy prince is pleased and content,\nSuch vain riches can be thine by no skill,\nSince thou hast no might to spend them at thy will,\nAnd moreover thou hast no faculty,\nThe same to bequeath at will when thou must die,\nIf thou want issue, no man shall be thine heir,\nSave only the prince thus does the world fare.\nIf you have succeeded, will they not come, except with your prince they will be in service? How many have been slain - I need not express it, Of such as were once ambitious for riches. Princes are accustomed, with riches, to feed some. We feed our swine when we have need of the large ones. We feed our hogs after, to consume them, When they have been fattened by costs and labor. In like manner, princes promote many one, And when they are rich, they gnaw them to the bone. Like Longinus and Seneca, doubtless were slain for their riches. So writes Pius, whom some call Eneas. A clause alleging, of Juvenal's famous Coridon.\n\nThe more of the court that you count and tell,\nThe less I like, with it, to deal or mingle,\nCornix.\n\nWhat becomes of Coridon have you not heard all?\nThe court is in the earth, any fair painting within,\nUgly and vile.\n\nBut know this surely, which has been there while,\nBut for our purpose now, let us speak again.\nFew princes give, what they themselves attain.\nTrust me, Coridon, I tell you by my soul,\nThey rob St. Peter to clothe the salt pole,\nAnd just as daily we both see and hear,\nSome pill the church with it to lead the queen,\nWhile men promoted by such rapine are glad,\nThe wretches pillaged mourn and be wo and sad,\nAnd many heirs live guiltlessly in distress,\nWhile the worthy have honor and riches,\nBut such vile gifts cannot be truly displayed,\nNor yet possessed by law rightfully,\nAnd since few rows of lordly dignity,\nBe one or held with right and equity,\nSay what thing have they to give by law and right,\nSince their chief treasure is won by wrongful might,\nWhen they come their jewels, their coin and cloth of price,\nSave most by rapine and,\nElse of St. Peter's or Christ's patrimony,\nNow few are founders, but confounders are many,\nThese are no gifts, true, honest nor laudable,\nNeither to the giver nor taker profitable,\nThese men call gifts, of none utility,\nWhich thus proceed, of false inequity.\nTherefore let us leave this vice, while all good men hate it.\nFor a person covetous of coin be never satiated\nI once heard Sir Sampson say, but just the other day,\nThat Jerome and Seneca both said this:\nA covetous wretch does not only lack that which he never had in title or keeping,\nBut also that which he has, he lacks and fails,\nSince having it brings him no advantage,\nAnd as I recall, old Codrus also said,\nGold avails us nothing when we must depart hence,\nUnless we have pleasure of it while we tarry here,\nAnd no man can carry his wealth or glory with him,\nTherefore, we should live as if having all in store,\nBut possessing or carrying nothing therefore,\nWhat should Christian men seek further for riches,\nHaving food and clothing, it is undoubtedly,\nAnd may our Lord grant these things to us truly,\nWithout princes' service or courtly misery,\nThus we find in court no riches at all,\nOr else find such with continual care,\nThat it were better, no riches to have found,\nThan for false treasure, to be bound in thrall.\n\u00b6 Coridon.\nLook up, mate Cornix, behold into the west\nThese windy clouds threaten some tempest\nMy clothes are thine, my sheep are shorn new\nSuch storm might fall, it could bring after rew (reward)\nDrive us out flocks unto our poor cottage\nTomorrow from court, we may have more language\nThis day thou hast told and provided openly\nThat all such courtiers do live in misery\nWho serve in the court for honor, lord or fame\nAnd might or power, thou hast proved this same\nAnd that all they live, deepest in distress\nWho serve there to win vain treasure or riches\nAs for the other two, and if anything remains\nThou mayst tell tomorrow, who turns again\n\nCornix.\n\nI grant Coridon, take up thy bottle soon\nLeas is the burden, now that the drink is done\nLo here is a sport, our bottle is contrary\nTo a Cow's utter, and I shall tell the why\nWith a full other, the cow returns home\nSo does not the bottle, as it appears now.\nOr else the storm overtakes us and our sheep,\nFinis.\n\nThus ends the first Eclogue of the mysteries of the Courters,\ncompiled and drawn by Alexander Barclay.\n\nCoridon.\nHow fares this Cornix? Why did you tarry so long?\nThis is it, the wrong one.\nOr some disturbance of household affairs\nHas kept you from your pasture, lessening its yield,\n\nCornix.\nCodrus, the richest shepherd of our coast,\nBoasts of his wethers. To a friendly banquet,\nHe invited me the same day I departed,\nWhile I helped him with his gestures to cheer,\nWhich has caused me to be here so lately.\n\nCoridon.\nHe feasts sumptuously with costly meat and drink,\nCaring little for work's sake,\nWhen his belly is full, his bones would have rest.\nFie on such surfeit! Fair temperance is best.\nMy wife's gray hen lays one egg every day,\nMy wife fed her well to make her lay two,\nBut when she was fat, she laid none at all.\nI suppose the same chance befalls us.\nFor now, you have no mind or care for your flock, since the warts were dulled with rich fare. (Cornix.)\n\nNot so Coridon, for when I soak at home,\nI often go to bed with a faint and hungry stomach.\nThen I lie sleeping, thinking that same which I lost\nFor lack of meat and drink.\nBut when I am fed, then I sleep steadfastly,\nAnd after a short rest, I work lustily. (Coridon.)\n\nA well-fed bird keeps well its nest.\nA full belly asks for a bed full of rest. (Cornix.)\n\nWhen diet exceeds temperance,\nSloth and misgovernance follow.\nBrawling babbling, discord and lechery,\nBlasphemy, lying, cracking and perjury.\nBut touching me, because I am away from home,\nWhen I am abroad, I provide well for my stomach.\nYet I take no more than nature can sustain,\nAnd then I work hard to digest it again.\nSo did I with Codrus until I was exhausted. (Coridon.)\n\nI well knew something that caused it to come so late.\nI no longer wish to come from excess.\nBut tell me, Cornix, what were your concerns?\nThe river began to overflow at various parts where the ground was low. We had to forgo our shepherding duties for a while and devote ourselves day and night to combating the flood's violence. Strengthen and heighten our banks again, which had been diminished by floods or heavy rain.\n\nThe earth in this place is like the manners of men. From high ground, water descends to the fen. The high mountains of water discharge it and load the rivers with great and large floods. The rivers discharge it similarly and charge the sea in the same manner. It is always to lay the burden or the sack upon some other back.\n\nCoridon.\n\nNo truer thing exists than what has been said. It is a true proverb, neatly conveyed.\n\nCoridon.\n\nBut now you have come, I pray you heartily,\nBegin where you left off in the sad tale of the courtier.\nThe heavens are clear, the clouds have been driven away.\nWhich is a token of calm and pleasant day,\nThe pointed birds with pleasant tunes sing,\nThe dewy flowers freshly smile and spring,\nAll thing rejoices, each thing does nature keep.\nThen were it a great shame to us to be,\nBy merry taking, long season seems short.\nIn friendly speech, is solace and comfort.\n\nCornix.\n\nAs I remember we spoke last of riches,\nNow speak we of lust or voluptuousness.\nForsooth some wretches of vile and rude manners\nHave counted in lust most high beatitude,\nAnd namely the sect which follows Epicure,\nWhich shameful sect does to this day endure.\nWhom the philosophers and clerks nowadays\nDespise with words, yet follow in their ways.\nFor what is that clerk or prelate in honor,\nWhich utterly disdains all temporal pleasures,\nAnd therefore perhaps if any such there be,\nDisdaining to look on fairness or beauty,\nDisdaining odors or delicate sapors,\nAnd pleasant touching, disdaining in like,\nSome call them happy who can such things exclude,\nBut no man counts them of manners dull and rude.\nFor two ways does human life contain\nThe one of virtue, of diligence and pain\nThe other of lust, of pleasure, mirth and rest\nThe first despises men as the second best\nThe way of virtue is rough and desolate\nWith weeds and thorns, it is hated by all men\nFew follow it frequently\nThe first step to them appears hard\nThe way of pleasure is plain and evident\nAnd greatly worn, for many it is frequented\nThe harsh way of virtue ends in quietness\nThe plain way of pleasure ends in danger and distress\nYet one may find the passage of virtue\nFor that one score of lusts they follow\n\nCoridon.\n\nThese matters are high and seem to me diffuse\nDraw to our purpose, cause me no longer to muse\n\nCornix.\n\nThough I now am poor and here have nothing set by\nYet have I or this seen some philosophy\nBut the lack of use harms all science\nAnd wretched thralldom is an enemy to prudence\nWhat time the person is counted as abject\nThen lethargy makes the wit of small effect.\nA doctor is blinded among fools,\nOnly his valor is clearest in schools.\nA precious stone well coated in pure gold\nIs bright and comely, goodly to behold.\nThrow it in the mire, then beauty is gone,\nHidden for the time, both of the gold and stone.\nFor lack of using a sword, first glassy bright,\nWith\nRight so my reason sometimes fresh to devise,\nIs now made rusty, for lack of exercise.\n[Coridon.]\n\n[By this disputing you may scour off the rust,\nReturn now to speak of pleasure and lust,\n[Cornix.]\n\n[Many blind wretches dwell in the court, laboring,\nSeeking to win their lusts and pleasures.]\nBut it is a wonder and chief matter to speak\nOf their folly and rural appetite.\nBut first let us speak what pleasure is seen\nWhich the five wits beginning at the eyes,\n[Coridon.]\n\n[That is truth, Cornix. Right many things are\nWhich men have pleasure and great delight to see,\nAnd these in the court are most abundant.]\n[Nay, there is no sight, no manner of pleasure.]\nAnd that I shall prove for a long time or until it is night\nSome men delight in watching men fight\nOr good knights in pleasant attire\nOr sturdy soldiers in bright armor and mail\nOr an army ready arrayed for war\nOr to see them fight so that he stands far off\nSome are glad to see these beautiful ladies\nWell-appointed in sumptuous clothing\nA number of people appointed in the same way\nIn costly clothing according to the newest fashion\nSportive, fair courser's movement and prance\nOr beautiful ladies and knights sing and dance\nTo see fair houses and curious pictures\nOr pleasant hangings or sumptuous vestments\nOf silk, purple, or gold most oriental\nAnd other clothing various and excellent\nHigh curious buildings and royal palaces\nOr chapels, temples, fair and substantial\nCarved images or painted ones\nGardens and meadows or delightful places\nForests, parks, well-furnished with deer\nCold, pleasant streams or clear wells\nCurious conduits or shadowy mountains\nSweet, pleasant valleys, lawns, other plains\nHounds and such things in great numbers,\nSome men take pleasure and comfort to behold,\nBut all these pleasures are much more joyful\nFor private persons, who are not court-bound,\nThan for those who, by necessity or duty,\nOr in captivity, are court-bound,\nFor those who are bound to princes without fail,\nWhen they must needs be present in battle,\nThey shall not be, at large to see the sight,\nBut as soldiers, in the midst of the fight,\nTo run here and there, sometimes striking their foe,\nAnd often wounded, herein is small delight,\nAnd more must he think, his body to defend,\nThan for any pleasure, about him to intend,\nAnd often faints and falls to the ground.\nI suppose in such a sight, small pleasure may be found,\nAs for fair ladies, clad in silk and gold,\nIn court at your pleasure, you cannot behold,\nAt your prince's pleasure, you shall only see them,\nThan such shall you see, who little regard by thee.\nWhose shape and beauty may so inflame your heart.\nThat thought and languor may cause you to feel pain\nFor a small spark may kindle love certainly,\nBut scarcely Suenus may quench it clean again,\nAnd beauty blinds and causes man to set\nHis heart on that thing which he shall never get\nTo see men clothed in silks pleasantly\nIt is small pleasure and often causes envy,\nwhile your lean jade halts by your side,\nTo see another on a courser ride,\nThough he be neither gentleman nor knight,\nNothing is your fortune, your heart cannot be light,\nAs though sports and games of pleasure,\nTo sing to revel and other dalliance,\nWhoever truly attends his lord\nTo such pleasures he seldom may intend,\nPlays, pictures, and sumptuous temples,\nAnd other buildings, both gay and curious,\nThese may merchants enjoy at their pleasure,\nMore than those who in court are bound to be,\nSince kings, for the most part, pass not their regions,\nYou see now Cities, of foreign nations,\nSuch outward pleasures may the people see,\nSo may not courtesans, for lack of liberty.\nAs for these pleasures of things variable,\nWhich in the fields appear delightful but seldom can you obtain respite\nTo behold them with pleasure and delight,\nSometimes the courtier remains half the year,\nEnclosed within walls, much like a prisoner,\nTo make escapes, some seldomly do,\nOr save who their princes have pleasure in hurting,\nOr otherwise amuse themselves,\nAnd then this pleasure they will not love but hate,\nFor then shall they most notably be forced\nTo go forth, namely to pain,\nWhen they in their minds would remain at home.\nOtherwise in the frost, hail, or snow,\nOr what some tempest or mighty wind does blow,\nOr in great heat and fierce excesses,\nBut closed in houses, the most part was their life,\nOf color faded and nearly clothed with dust,\nThis is the joy and all the lust of courtiers.\n\nCoridon.\n\nWhat yet may they sing and dance with fair ladies,\nBoth common and laugh, here is some pleasure.\n\nCornix.\n\nNay, nay, Coridon, that pleasure is but small,\nSome and contain.\nFor some, in the dance / who yearn by the hand\nWho gladly would see him stretched in a bond\nSome gallant seeks / her favor to purchase\nWho plainly abhors to behold his face\nAnd still in dancing / most part inclines she\nTo one much viler and more abject than he\nNo day passes but that in court men find\nA thousand things / to vex and grieve their mind\nAlways your foes / or present in your sight\nAnd often so great is their degree and might\nThat necessities make you kiss it which harmed you\nThough you would see it / cut gladly from the arm\nAnd briefly to speak if you resort to court\nIf you see one thing of pleasure or comfort\nYou shall see many before or you depart\nTo your displeasure & pensiveness of heart\nSo finds your sight / there more of bitterness\nAnd of displeasure / than pleasure and gladness\n\nCoridon.\n\nAs concerning the sight now see I clear and plain\nThat men in the court shall find but care and pain\nBut yet I think as daily does appear\nMen in the court may find pleasure here and means for delight,\nWhile they discuss and communicate news and every novelty,\nFrom our Cost to places beyond the sea. Here men can hear\nWise men, the wisest within the court, recounted and told,\nFamous chronicles of great and ancient deeds,\nThe worthy deeds of excellent princes,\nTo move young princes to frequent such acts,\nFor wise men dare not blame unworthy princes openly,\nInstead, they praise the virtues of other princes,\nTo guide their lords, ensuring such living,\nAnd while they commend unworthy princes,\nThey warn them secretly.\nCourters in the court often hear this,\nAnd also clear and sweet songs,\nThe Bird of Cornwall, the Crane and the Kite,\nAnd many other such things to delight them.\nThough some are busy who have but little skill.\nThere are many other melodies here, resembling a heavenly harmony. This is not pleasure, I think, for mirth is not scarce where the minstrelsy does not lack. The bagpipe or fiddle is delightful to us, more so than any other solace that is commendable.\n\nCornix.\n\nYou are deceived, and so are many others. Those who go to the court for such pleasure, I must find a remedy for. Those who are mad, seeking to rejoice in their ears, will live in court more dreadful than with bears. Instead of pleasure, they find but heaviness. They find little good and much unhappiness.\n\nAs for tidings, which you first reject, many things are told that are false and of no effect. Wise men will find more displeasure than joy or pleasure in them. These are the tidings commonly found in court: the taking of cities, war, fraud, and tyranny. Good men are subdued or else slain in their place, and the wicked have victory and reign.\nOf spoiling, murder, oppression and rape,\nHow law and justice sadly fail to prevent,\nAmongst the courtiers such novelties are told,\nAnd in the meantime they laugh, both young and old.\nWhile one recounted some abominable deed,\nSuch other wretches regard it as commendable.\nBut men of wisdom, well-learned in scripture,\nSpeak of manners or secrets of nature,\nOr of histories, their disputation,\nIs sweetly savored with adulation.\nThey veil the truth, they praise their princes,\nTo purchase favor and a benevolent mind.\nIn some time poets or orators ornate,\nMake apologies before some great estate.\nIt is not so sweet, to hear them speaking there,\nWhereas their minds are often troubled with fear,\nAs in the schools, where they may speak plainly,\nWithout all flattery, may speak truth directly.\nFor truly in courts, all communication\nMust needs have a taste of adulation.\nSuch as are guilty, are immediately made mad and angry,\nIf one is so bold, plainly to speak the truth,\nTherefore evil-living men are often lorded over.\nAnd men disparaged which love honesty and true history of ancient acts. Some princes were content to falsify and, in particular, when such histories testified blame or dishonor concerning his progeny, new histories were fabricated from the old with flattery painted with many lies. Then some good scholars, without promotion, hearing such, dared not be so bold to accept such lying, but laughed in their minds at the fool they might encounter. And in court, actors were not very acceptable and least of valor were counted most laudable. But Livy, Salust, Quintus Curcius, Justinian, Plutarch, and Suetonius, with such noble authors and many others, in this time courts would have nothing to do.\n\nCoridon.\nCornix: Where have you sought these strange names?\nCornix: I sought them not in youth for nothing.\nMinstrels and singers are in the court like wise,\nAnd of the best and of the French style,\nSuch men with princes are seen more acceptable.\nMen of wisdom and clerks, the wise philosophers, poets, and orators, are seldom found in court or held in great honors. If you wish for such people to play or sing here, nothing will be done according to your liking, but only when it pleases your princes to call them. Their voices ascend to the chamber and hall when you would sleep or attend to some business. Yet, their clamor and sound you must endure, to your great trouble and no pleasure or lust. This is the true property of singers. They are always desired and when their friends wish for their coming, they are never disposed to sing. But if they begin on their own accord, they show all and more than they can, and never tire their audience. In their conceit, they set great value by their coming. And thus, when a man would gladly hear them most, they have contempt for appearing in his presence. And when a man would take his ease and rest, they sing.\nNone can void them if they are in place so firmly\nYet you must excuse season principally, or be nothing at all for their displeasure and hard pains\nSuch is the court; you must give them reward\nBesides this, in court men scarcely have anything else\nSave chiding, brawling, banishing & cursing\nEach one is busy blaming his fellow\nThere is blasphemy of God's holy name\nDevising others with pleasure for no reason\nAnd often they speak together all at once\nSo many clamors do they use at every time\nThat scarcely mayst thou hear thy fellow on the same side\nThey boast of their sins, past the fear of shame\nDetracting others faultily in the same\nOne praises his land where he was born and bred\nOthers have contempt and scorn for the contrary\nOn each side sounds foul speech of ribaldry\nUnrestrained and boasting of fine and velvet\nNo manners, nor shame, nor reverence\nHave they in words, in secret or presence\nA rusty ribald, more vile than a sow\nHath the court more audience than thou, some book, some brawl, some slander and backbiting. To hear such manners can be but small delight, except a wretch will conform himself to that sort. In such hearing, his blindness has comfort. These scabbed scoundrels may do and say as they will, While men of worth for very shame are still, Who that hath wisdom would rather depart, Than daily to hear such vile enormity.\n\nCoridon.\n\nI see in the court men have no joy, Yet is it pleasure to handle and to toy With Galatea, Licoris or Phyllis, Nerea, Malkin or lusty Testilis, And other damsels, if coin be in the purse. Men may have pleasure them to feel and touch. In court, Venus has her power principal, For women use to love them most of all, Who boldly boast, or that can sing and get, Who are well decked with large bushes set, Who have the mastery, oft in tournament, Or that can gainbawd, or dance feat and gentle. Or that can always be merry without care.\nWith such ease can women most chiefly deal and fare,\nSo may these courtiers in court some pleasure win,\nDuely in touching and feeling their soft skin,\n\nCornix.\n\nThou art deceived; for lovers in court have most care and woe,\nSome women love them inflamed by vile lust,\nBut yet very few dare believe or trust,\nFor women know that courtiers chat and babble,\nThey boast their sins and ever unstable,\nAfter their pleasure, then to the old advice,\nThey are busy to pursue for a new,\nThis know all women, Some by experience,\nSo few to courtiers give trust or confidence,\nExcept it be such, who forswear not her name,\nOr passed all fear, rebuke, or worldly shame,\nThen such a wanton, she keeps not to one,\nFor many courtiers ensnare her alone,\nAnd none shalt thou love of this vile sort, but that she loves another more than thee,\nAnd then as often as parting fellows meet,\nThey chide and brawl though it be in the street,\nHatred and strife, and fighting comes after.\nThou canst not keep a woman straight and niggardly\nTo whom many one does promise largely\nAnother shall come, more fresh and gayly detect,\nThan he favors, and thou art clean abandoned.\nWhen thou hast wasted thy money, name, and seed,\nThen shalt thou have naught saved but a mok for thy reward.\nThou art the ninth, wanton, to be alone,\nFor none of this sort can be content with one.\nYet she will feign her chastity as Penelope,\nThough she loves twenty as well as she does thee,\nAnd each for his time shall have a merry look,\nSeeing as she great sorrow for them takes.\nWith feigned tears, she moistens often thy lap,\nUntil the time that thy purse is taken in a trap.\nAnd if she perceives that all thy coin is gone,\nThen dance at the door, adieu gentle Johu\u0304.\nAnd often when thou goest to visit thy mistress,\nWith her shalt thou find some other jolly man.\nThen she will make thee believe none other,\nBut he is her father, uncle, or brother.\nBut plainly to speak, he is the brother.\nIf kindred may rise, of such iniquity.\nAgain, if you're asking for the cleaned text, here it is:\n\nAgain, if after Rome you should find\nThat she is not at home, but gone\nTo some other place, for rebuke and shame,\nHe would not come to her for fear of harming his name.\n\nCoridon.\n\nHere is a marvel, this exceeds my mind,\nWho would think this trick to be in womanhood,\nBut yet, my lord, some are as good within\nAs they are outside in beauty of the skin.\nOf this cursed sort, they cannot all be one,\nSome are those who keep themselves to one lover alone,\nAs Penelope was to Ulysses.\nThink on what Codrus recounted of Lucrece,\nThough she unwilling was falsely violated,\nWith her own hands she procured her fate.\n\nCornix.\n\nIt would be a great wonder among women, if none were part,\nI grant some chaste women what time they can't choose,\nAs when all men refuse their company,\nOr when she knows her vice should be detected,\nThen of her own accord she avoids the sect,\nAnd though in the world some women may you find,\nWho chastely live of their own proper kind.\nOr one cannot keep oneself only to one, yet is it with such [people] of pleasure small or none. To her at pleasure you cannot resort. In steadfast pleasure, small is the comfort. Neither may you long remain with such one. And in short, pleasure departing brings great pain. To her may you come only now and then, by stealth and secretly as privately as you can. To love and your lord may you not serve together. If so your wit is distracted, you w. Your lord challenges to himself your whole service, and the same loves the challenge in like manner. Not only is it hard in the court to save your chastity with her pleasure, but also it is extremely difficult To keep your own wife in chastity in court. For flattering lords, on every side they appear, and lusty gallants of fair distracted cheer. Some promise gold and gifts, great or small. Some hasty gallant is yet before them all. So many lords, bawds, and brokers, flatterers, liars, and hasty proposers, are always in court, that chaste Penelope.\nAmong them, some preserved their chastity,\nYet no woman may resist such great temptation,\nIn heavenly power, her might could not assist,\nFor craft and coin, flattery and instigation,\nTurn chaste minds to vile misgovernance,\nThough she be honest, yet must you leave your love,\nSince princes' courts continually remove,\nWhether she be your wife or concubine,\nHer care and sorrow are great, and so is yours,\nFor neither may you stay with her,\nNor lead her with you or keep her by your side,\nWhen you are gone, if she remains behind,\nFear the trouble that may follow with torment and pain,\nBecause a woman's mind is unstable,\nAlways you doubt that she may be unfaithful,\nAnd I assure you, if man is out of sight,\nA woman's mind is very easily turned,\nOnce out of sight, it is shortly out of mind,\nThis is their manner, appearing never so kind,\nAdd to all these scorn and derision,\nWhich you may suffer and great suspicion,\nInfamy, slander, and jealousy prevail.\nThese you must suffer without any remedy\nAnd other dangers more than a man can think\nWhile other sleep, the lover's glance dwindles\nHe who has these provided shall none of them desire\nFor children burned, still they dreadfully fear\nSince these things are, to all men they are grievous\nThey are to courtes, yet most damaging\nMost painful noyons, and plainly importable\nIn court feeling, has nothing delightful\n\nCoridon.\n\nI see the pleasure of touching is but small\nI thought it honey, I see now it is gall\nNow speak on Cornix, I pray you tell briefly\nWhat joy have courtesans in tasting or to smell\nFor these two wits in court are recreational\nElse many wretches are infatuated\n\nCornix.\n\nThe smell and taste, partly combined are\nAnd partly disparate, as I shall tell you\nFor while we receive some delightful meats\nThe smell and taste then both are recreational\nThe fragrant odor and ointment of sweet flour\nOnly delight, the smelling with odor.\nOf meat delicious / both smell and taste are gone,\nWhen chewed and through the throat passed.\nBut they who in mouth have pleasure principal,\nOr beastly folly and of living brutally.\nThe famous shepherd, whom Nero had beheaded,\nThey greatly blame who beastly use to feed.\nThey, for their belly's chief care and labor take,\nAnd of their bellies are wont to make their god.\n\nCoridon.\n\nA god of the belly, which I never heard before,\nCoridon, thou art not too old for to learn,\nI plainly shall now declare for thy sake.\nNow beastly gluttons, god of their bellies make,\nTo gods are men wont, temples to erect,\nAnd costly altars to ordain seemly,\nTo ordain ministers, to execute service,\nTo offer beasts, by way of sacrifice,\nTo burn in temples, well smelling incense.\nGluttons to the belly, do all this reverence,\n\nCoridon.\n\nThey and their goods come to confusion,\nWho forget idols by such abuse,\nBut proceed, Cornix, tell in plain words,\nHow all these things they to the belly ordain.\nWhiche is in the temple the altar and ministers,\nTo do their diligence within the temple to keep service,\nAnd to the belly which is the sacrifice,\n\nCornix.\n\nTo the god of the belly, gluttons a temple make,\nOf the smoky kitchen, for a temple they take,\nWithin this temple, ministers, bawdy cooks,\nAnd young scolions with faces of their looks,\n\nThe sole water is the board or table,\nWith dishes charged, twenty in a rable,\nThe beasts offscouring in sacrifice or host,\nIn various sorts of sodden and of roast,\nThe saw is incense or of the meat the smell,\nAnd of this temple, these be the chief vessels,\nPlaters and dishes, mortar and pot crocks,\nPottles and pestles, broaches and flesh hooks,\nAnd many more than I count or tell,\nThey know them best who with the kitchen well,\nFor god of the womb, this service men prepare,\nAs for their true god, full little is their care,\n\nCoridon.\n\nThis life is beastly and utterly damnable,\n\nCornix.\n\nBut yet it is now reputed commendable.\nPrinners and commons and some of the clergy\nTo this temple have chief devotion\nTo cooks and taverns some earlier frequent\nThan to the service of God omnipotent\nFirst serve the belly, then serve our Lord\nSuch is the world, though it does not accord\nAnd such as delight in bestial gluttony\nFollow the court, supposing steadfastly\nWith meat and with drink to store the panche\nWhose lust insatiable, no flood of hell can quench\nAnd for that princes use, costly meat and wine\nThese follies suppose, to feed them with as fine\nTo eat and to drink, as sweet and delicate\nAs do their princes or other great estate\nLike flies, such men as have, in gluttony comfort\nTo lords' kitchens most besely resort\nWith hungry throats, yet go often away\nAnd often have the flies much greater part than they\n\nCoridon.\n\nThen tell on Cornix, what comfort and pleasure\nMen find in court in tasting and savour\nWith meat and drink, how they their wombs fill.\nAnd whether your speed is at pleasure and will, Coridon. To eat and to drink is most joy and lust When men are hungry or grieved sore with thirst But often unto now must you await respite Thy hunger is stronger than a dog's appetite For plain wood is hungry that time is many one That some would gladly be gnawing on a bone On which wolves have gnawed before His purse is empty and he is so sore or Some by feebleness and weary tarrying Lessen their appetite that they can eat nothing Some other has eaten bread and cheese before That at their dinner they lust to eat no more Their stomach stopped and closed with some crust From them has taken their appetite and lust Than other suitors of beasts all With greedy mouths devour more than all Thus some at rising are fuller than the swine And some for hunger again may sit and dine Sometimes to gather must you both dine and sup And sometimes you dine before the sun is up But if you refuse to eat before daylight\nThou must tarry and fast till it is night\nTo eat or to drink, little delight,\nWhen no digestion has stirred appetite,\nAgain art thou set to supper all too late.\nAll things have season which men of court detest,\nFor never shall thy meat be set to eat in season,\nWhere much sorrowful vexation proceeds.\nOftentimes intestate old age departs suddenly,\nAnd lusty gallants depart seemingly,\nHere proceeds the vomit and the stone,\nAnd other sicknesses many more than one.\nSometimes the wine is sour, watery and so bad,\nThat only the color might make a man mad.\nCold without measure, or hot as a horse's piss,\nBad is the color, the taste worse,\nBut if in the court thou drink, both beer and ale,\nThen is the color troubled, black and pale.\nThink not to drink it, in glass, silver or gold,\nThe one may be stolen, the other cannot hold.\nFrom a train vessel, thou must necessarily drink,\nOld, black and rusty, lately taken from some sink,\nAnd in such a vessel drink, shall thou of temptation.\nWhichever in the bottom is full of filth and slime,\nAnd of that vessel, thou drinkest oft I warn thee,\nIn which some statis or damsels late did spill,\nYet shalt thou not have, a cup at thy delight,\nTo drink alone, at will and appetite,\nCoridon in court, I tell thee by my soul,\nFor the most part, thou must drink from a common bowl,\nAnd where greasy lips and slimy beard\nHas lately been dipped, to make some man afraid,\nOn that side must thou thy lips also wash,\nOr else without drink, from dinner must thou go,\nIn the meantime, old wine & dearly bought,\nBefore thy presence, shall to thy prince be brought,\nWhose smell and odour, so sweet and marvelous,\nWith fragrant savour, infused in all the house,\nAs muscadell capryce, romney and malmsey,\nFrom Genoa, brought from Greece or Hungary,\nSuch shall he drink, such shall to him be brought,\nThou hast the savour, thy part of it is nothing,\nThough thou shouldst persist, for very ardent thrust,\nNo drop thou gettest, for to quench thy lust.\nAnd though good wines sometimes are brought,\nThe taste of better will make it seem nothing.\nOftentime you would drink, yet dare not sup\nUntil your better has tasted from the cup.\nNo cup is filled until dinner is half done.\nAnd some minstrels count it better to wait than soon.\nBut if you begin to call for drink and ask,\nYou shall have good reward for your calling.\nThey will call you a malapert or drunk,\nOr an abbot low or limner of a monk.\nBut with your rebuke, you are never near.\nWhyther you demand pale wine or red,\nYet you shall not drink what you have need and thrust.\nThe cup must you spare, yes, for your betters' lust.\nYour many hands will pass the peace or cup\nBefore it comes to you, or it is all drunk up.\nAnd then if a drop or two remain,\nTo fill the vessel, sometimes you are quite content.\nAnd then, at the ground, some filth if you see,\nTo blame the butler, you gain only envy.\nAnd as men weekly, new holy water pour.\nAnd once a year, the vessel uses to scour\nCups and tankards in court as you may think,\nWhere in the commons are used for drinking,\nOr once in the year empty and made clean.\nAnd scarcely that well, as often is seen,\nFor to ask water, your wines to quench,\nYou shall find no need, if before you taste,\nWith ringing of cups, it tempered is before,\nBy cause pure water, perhaps, is not in store.\n\nCoridon.\n\nFie on this manner, such service I defy,\nI see that in court is unclean poverty,\nYet here though our drink be very thin and small,\nWe may have plenty when we call,\nAnd in clean vessel, we drink thereof, parde.\nTake here the bottle Cornix, taste and see.\n\nCornix.\n\nThen call for the priest, when I refuse to drink,\nThis ale brewed, makes me to wink.\nCoridon.\n\nYou speak truth, Cornix, believe me by the rod,\nNo hand is so sure, that can always make good,\nBut talk of the court, if you have anything more,\nSet down the bottle, save some liquor in store.\n\nCornix.\nGod bless the brewer, my throat is now unblocked, I can sing here by a note. It is bad water that cannot quench dust, and sour ale that cannot quench thirst. How rough is my tongue now that I am without pain. Here I enter again into the court, Behold in the court common tablecloths, So vile and ragged that some dislike their dinner. Touch them, then they will cling to your fingers, And then you must wipe your hands on your sleeve. He who daily fares in this guise Is so imbrued and anointed in such a way That as many men as look at his shirts Count him a scoundrel or else a greasy cook.\n\nCoridon.\n\nYet Cornix, again, I defy all courting, More cleanliness is kept within some hog's sty But yet, Cornix, do not be so unreasonable, For some tablecloths are kept white and clean Finer than silk and changed every day.\n\nCoridon forsooth, it is as you say, But these things are most chief and principal, Reserved only for the greatest men of all.\nAs for other clothes that serve the common folk, such as I told you, or else be very, they still remain on the rack, appearing black, bawdy, foul, and abominable in sight and smell. But now, here's what you must eat, and if you can apply your lust to it, your meat in the court is neither swan nor heron, but cow's feet and mutton. Fat pork or veal, and such is bought for easier price when they are lean and nothing. Your flesh is restless, or lean, tough, and old, or it comes to the board overdone and cold. Sometimes twice boiled, unclean without taste, seasoned with coals and ashes all for haste. When you eat it, it smells so of smoke. Every morsel is able to choke. Make hunger your sauce, be thou never so nauseous. For there shall you find none other sauce or spice. Your potage is made with weeds and with ashes. And between your teeth, the coals crush.\nSometimes half soaked is both your flesh and broth\nThe water and herbs together are so angry\nEach part cannot agree and often they are salt, as seawater\nSeldom at supper do you have a little pleasure\nAnd if you should have, within it shall be quick\nFull of maggots and like the rainbow\nOf diverse colors, as red green and yellow\nOn each side gnawed with mice or rats\nOr with worms, vile worms, with dogs or cats\nUnclean and scurfy, and hard as stone\nIt looks so well, you would wish it were gone\nIf you have butter, then it will be as ill\nOr worse than your cheese, but hunger has no skill\nAnd when your eggs are half hatched almost\nThen they are laid in the fire to roast\nIf you have pears or apples by you surely\nThen they are such that they can no longer endure\nAnd if you eat none, they are so good and fine\nThat after dinner, they serve for the swine\nYour oil for frying is for the lamp's food\nA man chokes on it, the savour is so sweet.\nA cordwainer's shop / and it has equal sent\nSuch pain and penance / accord it best to lend\nSuch is of this oil / the savory perilous\nThat it might / serpents drive out of a house\nOftime thy stomach it causeth to rebel\nAnd of it is ready / the sudden choking\nOf fish in some court / thy chief and used dish\nIs whitening herring, salt herring & stockfish\nIf the day be solemn / parchance thou mayst feel\nThe taste and the savour / of tench or eel\nTheir muddy savour shall make thy stomach ache\nAnd as for the eel / is cousin to a snake\nBut if better fish / or any other dishes\nCome to thy part / it nothing was before\nCorrupt ill smelling and five days old\nFor sent thou canst not receive it if thou wolst\nThy bread is black / of ill savour and taste\nAnd hard as a flint / because thou none shouldst waste\nThat scant be thy teeth able it to break\nDeep it in potage / if thou no shift can make\nAnd though white & brown / both at one price\nWith brown shalt thou feed lest white might make thee nice.\nThe lord's will always have people note and see\nA distinction between them and servants, though it brings them no profit at all,\nIf they take pleasure, the servant shall have little.\nYour dishes should be one continuing throughout the year,\nYou know what meat will appear before you,\nThis slows down greatly the part of lust and pleasure,\nWhich asks for teeth much diversity in taste,\nOn one dish daily you must blow\nUntil you are as weary as a dog from the bow,\nBut this might be endured, may fortune easily,\nIf you saw not sweeter meats passing by.\nFor courtesans most commonly has this,\nThat while they have brown bread and cheese in their lap,\nThey gnaw on it fiercely, like ravenous hounds,\nSweet and delicious meats pass by them,\nAnd costly dishes a score they can tell,\nTheir greedy gorges are seized by the smell,\nThe delightful dishes, which pass through you,\nIt would be great labor for me to name them all,\nAnd Coridon, if I were to name them, it would be shame,\nFor simple shepherds such delicacies to name.\nWith brown bread and cheese, the shepherd is content, and scarcely see we fish, except once in Lent. And other seasons, soft cheese is our food. With butter and cream, then is our dinner good. And milk is our mirth, and special appetite In apples and plums, also is our delight That fill the belly all if we hunger sore Who has enough, what need has he have more But when these courtiers sit on the benches idly Smelling those dishes they bite on the morsels And then is their pain and anger fell as gall When all passes by, and they have nothing at all What fish is savory, sweet and delicious While you are sore hungry, your prince has plentiful supply Roasted or sodden in sweet herbs and wine Or fried in oil, most saporous and fine Such fish to behold and none of it to taste Pure envy causes high heart nearly to burst Then seeing his dishes of fresh flesh again Your mind has turned, yet with much great pain Well mayst thou smell the pasties of the heart And divers dainties, but nothing shall be thy part.\nThe crane, the feast, the peacock and curlew,\nThe partridge, plover, bittern and heron,\nEach bird of the air and beast of the ground,\nAt princes table shall thou behold abound,\nSeason'd so well in lycorice redolent,\nThat the hall is full of pleasant smell and scent,\nTo see such dishes and smell the sweet odour,\nAnd nothing to taste, is utter displeasure.\n\nCoridon.\n\nYes, something shall come, who can his time abide?\nAnd thus may I warn, my fellow by my side,\nWhat eats soft, dromo, and has not so great haste,\nFor shortly we shall some better morsel taste.\nSoft man and spare, a corner of thy belly,\nA little dish of jelly shall be sent to us,\nA leg of a swan, a partridge or two,\n\nCornix.\n\nNay, nay Coridon, thy dwelling is in vain,\nThy thoughts shall vanish, such dishes are not small,\nFor common courtesans of them have nothing at all,\nTo thy next fellow, some morsel may be sent,\nTo thy great displeasure, great anguish and torment,\nWhereby in thy mind thou mayst suspect and believe.\nHym, you are favored and beloved more than I, and sometimes a little crape with its scent is sent to you, not to alleviate your hunger and desire, but by its sweetness to fan the flames further. Besides this sorrow, your pain is increased when before your lord you see Paine maine, a baker chosen and waged well for you, who should only apply himself to this, if you dare to handle one morsel, another must touch it by duty and thrust it in your pouch. Then some slave will dash the dough on the ear. You shrink for shame as your bread lies there.\n\nCoridon.\n\nMy bag is full of stones and hoeks in my hand,\nShould give me such courage to stand boldly against it.\n\nCornix.\n\nNot so, Coridon, they fare not alike to curse,\nTogether they cling more firmly than burrs.\nThough each one with another often quarrels and fights,\nAgainst a poor stranger they display all their might.\n\nIt is a great mastery for Coridon alone\nTo strive or come forward with many more than one.\nA straw for your wisdom and art's liberality.\nFor favor and coin in court, all\nThy princes' apples are sweet and orient\nSuch as Minos sent to Amintas, or such as Agros held in keeping,\nOf fragrant sap and color like pure gold,\nIn sauce of whom alone thou hast delight,\nBut if thou should die, no morsel shalt thou bite,\nHis cheese is costly, fat, pleasant, and healthful,\nThough thy teeth water, thou eatest not a worm,\nUpon the sewer, well mayst thou gasp and gape,\nWhile he is filled, thy hunger is a joke,\nBefore thy sovereign, the chamberlain will stand,\nWith diverse gestures, his knife in his hand,\nDismembering a crane, or something delicate,\nAnd though his portion is fat and plentiful,\nThough to diverse thou seest him cut and carve,\nThou gettest no morsel, though thou shouldst die and starve,\nIn all that thy sight finds delight,\nThy greedy tasting has great vexation,\nWhat man would believe that such wretched thing,\nA courtier may find his pleasure or living,\nWhat man is he but rather would assent,\nThat in such living is anguish and torment.\nMay they endure such torment as Tantalus,\nWhom Faustus said, whose words I think\nIn flood and fruit, may neither eat nor drink\nAncient poets describe Tantalus, in hell condemned to such pain,\nWho stands up to his chin in water, and to his upper lip, apples a thousand,\nBut when he would drink, the water recedes,\nAnd when he would eat, the apples ascend,\nThus both fruit and water keep them at a standstill,\nIn the midst of pleasure have courtesans like torment,\nBut now to tell the tale, return once more,\nThere you have yet another grievous pain,\nThat when you speak and talk as you will,\nYou dare not whisper, but as one dumb must be still,\nAnd if you ought to speak, private or open,\nYou are too busy, and called malapert,\nIf you call for anything by word sign or beck,\nThen Jack with the bush shall taunt you with a check,\nOne reaches out the bread with grumbling and murmuring.\nIf you demand anything from some other,\nHe has, at your request, great scorn and disdain,\nBecause you sit while he stands in pain.\nSometimes the servants are blind and ignorant,\nAnd don't notice what's missing from the table.\nIf they see a fault, they won't attend to it.\nThrough negligent scorn, they disdain to mend it.\nSometimes you lack other bread or wine,\nBut dare not ask if you should never dine.\nAsk for salt, trencher, spoon, or other thing,\nYou are then unseemly and ever more craving,\nAnd so your name will be spread to your shame,\nFor all will have scorn and disdain.\nSometimes you are scorned by them at the table,\nBut much more so by the serving staff.\nThe hungry servants, who stand at the table,\nAt every morsel, have an eye unto your hand.\nSo much distracted by your leavings is their mind,\nIf you feed them well, sore grieved is their heart.\nNamely, of a dish costly and delectable,\nEach piece that you cut for them is tedious.\nAt the table, one tells another how he feasts, like the devil in hell. Our part he eats, nothing good shall we taste, unless we pray to God that it be our last.\n\nCoridon:\nI'd rather Cornix went supperless to bed,\nThan at such a fast, to be so bested.\nBetter it is, with cheese and bread to fill,\nThan with great dainties, with anger and ill will,\nOr a small handful, with rest and sure pleasure,\nThan twenty dishes, with wrathful countenance.\n\nCornix:\nHe who can Amintas recall and testify,\nBut yet is in court, more pain and misery,\nBrought in to fill the table,\nBut not one is brought,\nAt your will, first and dearest principal,\nIs brought to the board, last of all,\nWith bread and rough food, when you are satiated,\nThen come dishes, most sweet and delicate,\nBut you must dispose of them utterly,\nOr to your hurt, surfeit, ensuing gluttony,\nBut if it happens, as seldom does befall,\nThat at the beginning come dishes best of all.\nOr thou have tasted a morsel other twice,\nThy dish out of sight is taken soon again,\nSlow be the servers in serving always,\nBut swift be they after taking thy meat away,\nA special custom is used among them,\nNo good dish to suffer on board to be long,\nIf the dish be pleasant, other flesh or fish,\nTen hands at once swarm in the dish,\nAnd if it be flesh, ten knives thou shalt see,\nMangling the flesh and in the platter flee,\nTo put there thy hand is peril without fail,\nWithout a gauntlet or else a glove of mail,\nAmong all these knives, thou one of both must have,\nOr else it is hard thy fingers whole to save,\nOft in such dishes in court is it seen,\nSome leave their fingers, each knife is so keen,\nOn a finger gnaweth some hasty glutton,\nSupposing it a peace, of beef or of mutton.\nBeside these in court more pains shalt thou see,\nAt board be men set as thick as they may be,\nThe platters shall pass from times to and fro,\nAnd over the shoulders and head shall they go.\nAnd often all the brothel and Lycur's fat\nIs spoiled on thy gown, thy bonnet and thy hat\nSometimes art thou thrust for little room and place\nAnd sometimes thy fellow rebukes in thy face\nBetween dishes and dishes is tar tedious\nBut in the mean time, though you have pain grievous\nNeither mayst thou rise, cough, spit, or ease yourself\nOr take other comfort, lest thou lose thy name\nFor such as these, to ease them are wont\nIn the name of rascals, they count courtesans\nOf meat is no hour, nor time of certainty\nYet from beginning, absent if thou be\nOther thou shalt lose thy meat and kiss the post\nOr if by favor thy supper be not lost\nThou shalt at least way rebukes sour abide\nFor not attending and failing of thy tide\nOnions or garlic, which stamped Testyles\nNor yet sweet leeks, mayst thou not etc.\nCoridon.\nWhat forsake onions, leeks, and sweet butter\nNay rather would I go to Ely on my feast\nWe count these delicacies and meats very good\nThese are the chief dishes and real men's food\nCornix.\nWhoever frequents a court must love sweet dishes and lordly dishes, for they are nothing to him. But our meals they cannot eat, I think, because great lords cannot abide the stink. Yet lords feast and rule men, their sauces being like those, for all their meats pure. As for common meals, their pleasure is small, because one service from them is continual, which dulls pleasure for voluptuousness. They desire change and diversity in dishes and when you have smelled meat more delicious, your daily fare becomes tedious. Now Judge Coridon, if there is pleasure here, I think it is anguish, sorrow, and dolour, continual care and utter misery, affliction of the heart, and wretched penury. But many fools think it is nothing so, while they see courtiers go outwardly so gayly, their servants' bells silver and gold, and other such things delighting them to behold. But they neglect the inward misery which oppresses them continually. And as Seueke says, some count them fortunate.\nWhichever outwardly appear well-clothed or ornate, but if you beheld their inward wretchedness, their daily troubles, their fruitless labors, you would count them both vile and miserable. Their rooms and offices, both false and deceivable. For like as men paint old walls ruinous, so by their painted appearance, their lives are contrary. And therefore all who serve in court, gladly for taste or smell or spice of gluttony, have lives more wretched than burghers or merchants. Those with their wives have love and life pleasant. Shepherds have not so wretched a life as they. Though they live poorly on cruddes, cheese, and whey, on apples, plums, and drink clear water deep, as it were lords reclining among their sheep. The wretched leper, with the clinking of his bell, has a life which exceeds the courters'. The captive beggar has meat and liberty. When courters hunger, in harsh captivity, the poor man begs, not harming his name. As touching courters, they dare not beg for shame.\nAn old proverb is said by wise men that young courters are beggars in their old age. Thus, all those wretches who frequently court bring not to purpose their minds nor intent. But if their minds and will were sufficient, they are not better or fortunate than all fools concluding with this clause: which with glad minds use courting for such a cause.\n\nCoridon.\n\nNow truly, Cornir, right plainly have you told of court and courters, the pains manyfold. And as I suppose, there can no more remain your wit and counsel, it has rid me from great pain. If I had plenty of treasure and riches, I should or I would reward your labors. But need often hurts good manners commendable.\n\nCornix.\n\nWhat man willingly gives that is not able? But one having abundance in treasure and riches is careful in giving or yet to make promises. Your will is enough, since that your store is thine. I ask the fox no further than the skin. But long is to night; therefore, I shall gladly.\n\nCoridon.\nWhat more shall I declare of courtly mystery? You have told enough by these ten crosses. Nearly choking on the words of a thousand men.\n\nCornix.\n\nI promised rightly that I would fulfill, yet I will touch more if you can hold still. I said first that some, although they are not seen, resort to the court to win their souls. For what great princes remain, they think, through counsel, business, and pain, to labor for the utility of various causes touching the commonwealth. The poor support, and fatherless children and widows help, and much more pleasing our lord by doing so. Because they contend in pain and jeopardy, I must cure the ignorant minds. Those who consider themselves wise are more foolish than all the remainder. All if they regard themselves, never so sage, shall prove themselves stuffed with folly.\n\nCornix.\n\nDeclare that Cornix, who willingly I would hear. We have time enough, yet does the sun appear.\n\nCornix.\nOf this described sort, we find scarcely any\nBut one who requires some temporal gain\nYet we desire such a one,\nWho seeks in court for no promotion\nBut only intends to win his soul\nAnd as a champion, to fight against sin\nWise men suppose such a one in court to prevail\nLost is his labor, his study, and toil\nOr should a good man, who loves honesty,\nPut himself in thrall or in captivity\nOf a prince's service, his soul to win thereby\nSay men what they please, I think the opposite\nFor in court, there are required so many sins and vices\nAnd so many ways from virtue to corruption\nAnd so many means leading to viciousness\nThat a man can scarcely remain in his goodness\nFor a bad horse often makes a man restless and unruly\nIt often tests a man, though he be well seated\nIn like manner, a wise and righteous man\nResorting to court descends into vice\nUnless his reason and will also deny\nIn court, the devil has such deceit and cunning\nBy means that vices have no punishment.\nFor lust and suffering, minds become insolent.\nBut sin and sinners lie daily in wait\nAgainst good living, to lay their deadly bait\nThat the best livers from the way of grace decline\nBy their occasion, they are impelled to ruin\nHe falls into rocks and peril consequent\nBy force of tempest and winds violent\n\nCoridon.\n\nWhat man in court is neither rock nor sand?\nYou speak vaguely, and to understand is difficult\n\nCornix.\n\nI speak in parable or by symbol\nWhoever does not perceive my reason is rude\nBut, Cornix, I tell you this beforehand\nWhatever diverse authors I learned from Codrus,\nAnd he from shepherd Silius,\nThis Codrus said that Plato, the great sage of Athens,\nAdversely turning from outrage,\nPurposed rather to flee to solitude\nThan to live in honor among such rude vices\nThan to know oneself, whatever one may be\nWhoever seeks the court has his felicity\nAnd note if one's self is better than Plato\nNote well the power if one has will also.\nAs well as Plato was wont to refrain,\nIf you think so / if you think in vain,\nIn court a man must sail after every wind,\nHimself conforming to every man's mind,\nServe every season, conform to the time,\nBe common with many, though it be in some crime,\nHe must rule nature, yet he knew not whether,\nAfter the season, now hither and now thither,\nAnd in his manner he must direct his life,\nWith heavy persons, he must show pensiveness,\nWith men at ease, which will them recreate,\nHe must be jocular, after their use and rate,\nWith aged persons, he must have sadness,\nWith youth, be jocular and merely,\nWith adventurous men, who seek cruelty,\nHe must show blood and audacity,\nWith lustful men, inciting carnal lust,\nLive lecherously, forsooth he needs must,\nAnd he who refuses, his nature is wrong,\nHe shall not rise nor continue in the court.\nBut Coridon, you might object to me more,\nThat I said Plato, who fled from court before.\nCame a long while ago and was in the service of Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse. It is as you say, but listen to the end. This tyranny's vice, while he reprimanded all, if the tyrant considered his name divine, he followed his doctrine under the guise. But Plato was not alone in this treatment. The wrath of princes has proved fatal to many, and especially to those who were the wisest. His godly wisdom and honor of his age could not save him, so did the tyrant rage.\n\nAccras, once king of Cyprus, killed Anaragoras for all his great knowledge. By commandment of Theodoricus, Boethius was slain without mercy.\n\nCoridon.\n\nThese are far matters and things very old.\nCornix.\n\nEven such they are, as Codrus told me. And yet many more, he counted to me plain, of worthy clerks whom princes have slain. But to recount all, I think it is not best. That asks less, the son is near at rest.\nScant time remains / to tell besides,\nExcept we pause here all the night abide.\n\nCoridon.\n\nLate at our church ale, sir Sampson to me told,\nA tale of Moses and other old prophets.\nHe said that Moses, though his tongue was rude,\nLeft his flock behind in solitude,\nAnd he with Aaron, together both did go,\nOn God's message to King Pharaoh.\nAlso, sir Sampson recounted to me,\nA like narrative of prophet Helys.\nBut Cornix, my mind is much forgetful,\nAnd long histories to hear are tedious.\n\nCornix.\n\nAs concerning Moses and many prophets,\nI grant, they were wont to princes to go.\nThese men were godly; it folly were to say,\nThat all men should have such privilege as they.\nThese were messengers of God of Israel,\nAnd find we not, that they in court did dwell,\nBut when they had said God's commandment,\nThey left both court and princes in continuance.\n\nJoseph alone, remained with Pharaoh.\nThe ordinance of God had disposed things\nTo help his nation in time to come\nBy his provision and marvelous wisdom\nI grant also Marcarius and Martin,\nSebastian, George, and other men divine,\nServed in court and used the church,\nAnd nevertheless, they lived holy.\nBut this Marcarius became christened,\nAnd with his legion, received martyrdom,\nLikewise, say St. George and St. Sebastian,\nDisputing idolatry.\nSuffered hard death by manyfold torment\nFor love and true faith in God omnipotent.\nBut during the time, these remained in the court,\nNo names of saints, men gave to them certain,\nAnd holy Martin, when he came of age,\nGave over the court, and fixed his courage\nIn God's service, remaining steadfastly.\nFor he perceived and knew right perfectly\nThat of poor widows and fatherless children,\nThe cause does not enter into the court doubtless,\nTheir matters plead for sale is all justice,\nAnd every speech of ribaldry and vice\nAlso in courts of mercy is found none.\nAnd yet reliance on charity is rarely sought. Envy occupies its place. Only ambition holds authority. These vices resist human doctrine. Man can overcome them only with divine wisdom. If God does not support it, human might fails. With such occasions, continual fighting ensues. This is known to Saint Martin, who, by sight, continued. Yet nothing moved him by celestial help. And though he lived in a holy court, he would no longer serve that church. And yet many more, he counted to me, of worthy clerks whom princes had slain. But I think it is not best to ask less. Scant time remains to tell what is besides. Except we propose to spend the night here.\n\nLate at our church ale, Sir Sampson told me\nA tale of Moses and other old prophets.\nHe said that Moses, though rude in speech,\nLeft his flock behind in solitude.\nAnd he and Aaron went together to King Pharaoh on God's message. Sampson also told me a similar story of prophet Hosea. But Cornix, I find my mind is very forgetful, and long histories are tedious.\n\nCornix.\n\nAs for Moses and many prophets, I grant they were accustomed to go to princes. These men were godly; it would be folly to say that all should have such privilege as they. These were messengers of God of Israel, and we cannot find that they dwelt in the court, but when they had delivered God's commandment, they both left the court and the princes in peace. Joseph remained alone with Pharaoh. By God's decree, he was to help his nation in the future through his provision and marvelous wisdom. I also grant Mauricius and Martin, Sebastian, George, and other divine men served in the court and lived holy lives. But Mauricius became a Christian and received martyrdom with his legion.\nSaint George and Saint Sebastian, suffering, endured harsh death by numerous tortures for the love and true faith in God omnipotent. Yet, during this time, they remained in the court with no names given to them as certain. When holy martyr Saint Martin reached maturity, he left the court and fixed his courage in God's service, remaining steadfastly. He perceived and knew perfectly that the causes of poor widows and fatherless children did not enter the court. Their matters were insignificant, for all was sold as justice. And every speech of ribaldry and vice was found in courts of mercy none. And of religion, no selection if it were sought. Envy possessed the place of charity. Only ambition held authority. These vices resist human doctrine. Man is overcome by them except for divine wisdom. If God does not help, man's might is insufficient. With such occasion, they continually fight. Saint Martin, who knew this continually, was not moved by celestial help.\nAnd though he lived in court right holy,\nHe would no longer insist on that chiva,\nNor leave example to other men to come\nTo live where reigns no virtue nor wisdom,\nAs when it was asked of Christ our Savior,\nWhat should a man do, of penance or labor,\nOr other deeds to win eternal bliss,\nHe said not a man, renounce the court truly,\nHe said not go follow a prince or lord or king,\nBut go disperse your riches and other worldly things,\nDispise all the world and worldly vanity,\nFor so have I done, then come and follow me,\nIn this cause, our Lord has made no mention,\nOf following the court for vain promotion,\nThen let men take heed, though they be virtuous,\nLest while they follow a thing so perilous,\nIn court supposing, they lose their souls,\nBy falling into sin.\nFor there are snares and gy,\nThe devil is ready, occasion to excite,\nIn every corner some envy shall you meet,\nAnd stumbling stones lie hid before your feet.\nFull hard is it there, Ambition to refuse.\nIt is a great pain to quench envy and wrath,\nAnd in occasion to hate alone,\nIt is hard to be among these same,\nAnd none of them all, thy pleasure to inflame,\nBut if there be any, who can subdue his lust,\nAmong all vices, to keep them in virtue,\nAs a precious stone, clean in the midst of mire,\nOr lie in flames, not grieved with the fire,\nOr touch soft pitch and not his fingers defile,\nIf such one be found within a thousand miles,\nI will not deny, but that he may well sue,\nAfter court, and follow, not hurting his virtue,\nSo much more merit shall such a man procure,\nHow much more he endures, of jeopardy,\nBut this is my mind, & sure opinion,\nThat such as resort to the court each one,\nBe rather overcome by sin and wantonness,\nThan they can vanquish and resist vices,\nFor man of his nature is apt to sin and vice,\nAnd with great hardship does virtue exercise.\nExample of children, who if they have their will,\nAre less disposed to goodness than to ill.\nI heard Minos sing this to his drone:\nThat scripture says that mankind is not prone\nIn youth and age, to ensure pleasure\nIn easy vices rather than virtue's hardness\nTherefore, I counsel you, my Coridon,\nAmintas, Codrus, and shepherds, each one,\nAnd all other men who wish to save themselves from hell,\nThat none of them all presume to meddle with the court\nFor the soul is in jeopardy by crime\nAnd after life is lost, be sufficient or due time\nFor other things a man must yield to his prince\nLaugh at his vices and be content with them\nThan your soul is lost, or his favors blame\nThan you shall incur his wrath and be inflamed\nAs Cirus the king once of Persian land\nHad one Arpolus, chief friend of a thousand\nBecause Arpolus was once blamed for an offense\nThe wrathful tyrant, by mad malice,\nCaused Arpolus, unwarily at a feast,\nTo eat his children as they were prepared for food\nAnd thus Arpolus to his children was a grave reward.\nRight so Cambyses, in hasty fury, slew.\nThe friend of his, who was most true to him,\nWas blamed by others for drunkenness.\nOf such examples, there are many more.\n\nCoridon.\n\nI have often tested Codrus,\nHow Aristotle, prince of philosophy,\nArgued with laws and honor,\nWith Alexander the mighty conqueror.\n\nCornix.\n\nYou little know what caused him to do so,\nOr if he had the freedom to go,\nI suppose it was against his heart,\nAnd that he could not depart at will.\nBut many other worthy high honorers,\nAlso ensured that the mighty conqueror,\nAs Callisthenes of high distinction,\nAnd also Crito, his noble son,\nAnd bold Lichas, who followed him in battle,\nWho was a philosopher and also a worthy knight,\nAnd many more that I can count or tell.\n\nBut here, Coridon, what happened to these?\nFor Callisthenes forbade men to honor\nGreat Alexander as the god of most valor,\nAccording to the custom in Persian land.\nTherefore, he had cut from his body, foot and hand,\nHis nose and ears were also severed.\nHis eyes out dugged (dug out) to increase his woe,\nThan by commandment of the conqueror\nWas thrust into prison to bide in more dolour,\nEnduring his life / there ever to remain,\nBut who was Lisimachus to make short this pain,\nReched him poison / his cruel conqueror,\nMade him be thrown to lions to devour,\nAnd at a banquet / as before was touched plain,\nBy Alexander was the said Crito slain,\nFor blaming of him / by cause that he did blame\nHis father's deeds / Philippus by his name,\nTherefore Coridon, after my judgment,\nAnd as I believe thou wilt also assent,\nThey all are fools / who sue to court so sore,\nFor all such causes / as touched before,\nOr to win souls / be there content to serve,\nTheir own soul putting in danger for to stir,\nFor others do they seek and hunt about in vain,\nAnd their desires there shall they not obtain,\nOr it thing they seek / which shall do them damage,\nElse be they thrown in such a blind dotage,\nThat of two ways / they chose most jeopardous,\nAll full of thorns / and beset with perilous ways.\nAll if they could, to their desire attain,\nBy way more easy, shorter, and void of pain,\nCoridon.\n\nMarvelous matter, well brought to an end,\nI cannot commend your reason, nor reward the thing you have done,\nThough I had riches and wit like Solomon,\nYou have saved me, by wise counsel,\nFrom the mouth of hell and any earthly torment.\nBut now is it time, to draw to our cottage,\nThe day is ending, right so is our language,\nFinis.\n\nThis ends the second eclogue of the misery of courts and courtiers.\nCoridon.\n\nAfter sore labor, sweet rest is delightful,\nAnd after long night, day is comfortable,\nAnd many words require much drink,\nThe throat washed, love yawns to wink,\nThis night with me, it proved otherwise,\nI drank to keep warm, as is my common practice,\nBut such rest I had till it was on the morrow,\nAs had my mother, the night that I was born.\n\nCornix.\n\nOf that I may not detract, for you are wont always\nTo sleep and to snore, till time that it be day.\nBut how happened this, tell me Coridon,\nWhy have you had such severe vexation tonight?\nCoridon:\nI was so drenched with dreadful dreams, I believe\nNo man was troubled as I was before.\nI thought in the court I was taken in a trap,\nAnd there I was sore handled; God give it an ill turn.\nI thought the scholars, like fiends with their leers,\nSome with white sticks, some with flesh hooks,\nThey stood around me thick,\nWith knives ready to strike me quickly.\nSo much fear and dread kept me from sleeping,\nAs I would have lost my life waking.\nWith such a vision, I was troubled all night long.\nTherefore, I rejoiced when I saw daylight,\nFor as soon as I heard the birds' peep,\nI no longer dared to sleep for fear of dreams.\nBut I awoke from my bed, as lightly as a bird from its nest,\nAnd caught my staff, my boat, and my hook,\nAnd immediately took my way with my flock.\nBut tell me, Cornix, I pray you earnestly,\nWhat does this dream signify?\nCornix:\nI fear one, fully filled with ill will,\nDisrupted our conversation, and it was reported ill.\nWho might cause us to weep rather than sing,\nFor ill will makes the worst of every thing.\nBut then, one thing, well comforts me again,\nFirst men are wont, of that, to dream certain,\nWith which their minds, in walking, are troubled,\nA straw for dreamers, they are but vanity.\nAnd as for me, I harm no man.\nIf a scabbed claw, the truth shall defend me.\nBut how, Coridon, your head is in your lap,\nWhat now so early begins thou to nap?\nCoridon.\n\nWho has not slept nor rested the night,\nMust sleep by day, or his brain will be light.\nBut Cornix, if you please, me for to keep and wake,\nSpeak of some matters again for God's sake.\nFor so shall the time pass over with little pain.\nGod knows when we shall meet again.\n\nCornix.\n\nI grant Coridon, for recreation,\nOf court yet to have, more communication.\nCoridon.\n\nAll the misery of court, thou hast all revealed.\nNay, Nay Coridon, not by a thousand folds,\nWe shall have matter, neare till this year's end,\nTo talk of courtes, if I might intend it,\nBut this one day, of part, well may we talk,\nAs for the other, I force not to let it walk.\n\nCoridon.\n\nThasth down Cornix, lean here again against this back,\nAs for our talking, we get but little thanks,\n\nCornix.\n\nWe get as much almost as we deserve,\nI look for no thanks nor meat, though I should steer,\nIn court shall men find yet many pains more,\nSome shall I touch, let all the other go,\nBecause that of sleeping was our first coming together,\n\nHere now, what pains have courters in sleeping,\nThey often sleep, full wretchedly in pain,\nAnd lay all the night forth in cold wind and rain,\nSome time in bare straw, on boards ground or stones,\nTill both their sides ache and all their bones.\n\nAnd when that one side aches and is weary,\nThen turn the other, lo here a remedy,\nOr else must he rise and walk himself a space,\nTill time his joints be settled in their place.\nIf you lie within some town,\nIn bed of feathers or else of easy down,\nPrepare for flies and gnats.\nLie lightly for fleas, punish me and rats.\nThese shall torment you with biting, stinking din and sound,\nMaking your ease worse than if you lay on a grave.\nAnd never in the court shall you have a bed alone,\nExcept when you would most gladly lie with one.\nYour sheets shall be unclean, ragged and torn,\nUnattractive to sight, but more so to send.\nIn which some other departed late before,\nFrom the pestilence or some other sore.\nSuch a bedfellow men shall assign to you,\nIt would be better to sleep among the swine.\nSo foul and scabbed of hard pimples, so thin,\nThat a man might grate hard rust on his skin.\nAnd all the night long shall he grate his sides.\nBetter to lie on the ground than with such a mate.\nOne coughs so fast, another breathes so stinky,\nDuring the night, scarcely may you get a wink.\nSometimes or with other sore, one is grievously afflicted.\nSometimes your bedfellow is colder to him than the ice,\nTo you he draws your clothes with a lace,\nBut if he is hot, by fires he shall,\nCast off all the clothes and coverlet on,\nOr you are always to the unpleasant one,\nOr else you are always tiresome to him,\nAnd sometimes these courtesans more to annoy,\nSleep all in one chamber, near twenty in number,\nIt is great sorrow to endure their show,\nSome snore, some fart and roar,\nSome read and some gossip, some come drunk to bed,\nSome brawl and quarrel, what they are, I don't know,\nSome laugh and some cry, each man will have his way,\nSome spit and some pass wind, not one of them is still,\nNever let them be still till the middle of the night,\nAnd then some brawl and fight for their beds,\nAnd often you are signed to lodge near the stable,\nThen you shall hear of rascals a rabble,\nSometimes you shall hear how each other strikes,\nThe neighing of horses and how each other bites,\nNever shall you know your lodging or your nest.\nAll thy betters be saddled and at rest,\nInns be strangers and gestures many one,\nCourters lives make their conclusions,\nAnd where they are known of neither man nor wife,\nOftentimes courters there end their wretched life,\nThen shall the hosteler be their executor,\nOr such other ruffian be that was his due,\nMaking the tapster come gay and feast,\nHis shirt, his doublet or bonnet to extract,\nFor flesh that he bought and paid nothing for,\nShe is extreme, for he shall come no more,\nBut a common in, if that thou lodgest or lie,\nThou never canst lay up thy gear so privately,\nBut other it is stolen or changed with a thought,\nAnd for a good thing, thou hast nothing,\nFor some arcane thieves shall lie in thy chamber,\nAnd while thou sleepest, they rise shall privily,\nAll if thou thy pouch under thy pillow lay,\nSome crafty searcher thereat shall have a try,\nBawds and bawds, & flattering tapsters,\nJesters & pipers and scurfy waifers,\nFlatterers & hostelers and other of this sect.\nIn your chamber, chattering with no effect,\nThey begin first, boisterously entering,\nSo that you cannot hear wiser men speak,\nSuch is their showing, scarcely can you hear,\nThe secret following, which is near your side,\nBut rural flimmers, and others of our sort,\nTo your lodging or court when they resort,\nThey chat and babble, and all, but of the womb,\nMore pert and more peevish than they would be at home,\nThough you would sleep throughout the entire night,\nSome sing, some mourn, they,\nSome sing of Bessy, & some of Nan or Kate,\nNamely when liquor disturbs the intellect,\nThe brothel boothman, and wretched laborer,\nCease not to sing, be it trivial or dear,\nWho can have quietness or rest with such,\nBut if you with sleep, at last, are oppressed,\nAnd that sore labors to sleep constrain,\nRumor rouses and wakes again,\nOn morning when you might sleep most quietly,\nThen must you arise, there is no remedy,\nFor what time your lord is mounted on his horse.\nA servant should not lie in bed at rest.\n\nCoridon.\n\nNow I see, Cornix, that it is better for me to live with a quarrelsome wife, and hear children crying on every side, than to remain in the court and endure this clamor.\n\nCoridon.\n\nNo doubt, Coridon, but here lies more misery for us. In our lodgings, courtesans commonly have to deal with marshals or heralds. A man must bribe the marshal or else he must pray, and stand thereafter. He must reward their knights, if he is able. To assign them a tolerable lodging, and though they promise, they will not fulfill it. They will only indicate the place, not according to your will. Nearby, there is no proof or stable or anything to be had. For sent and for the clamor, where you can have no rest. After your reward, they will harass you so much that despite your teeth, you must resign your place. And that to some one who is your enemy.\n\nBut yet, for certain, it would be something tolerable to bend and to bow to persons honorable, as to the marshal or yet the herald.\nOr gentle persons, to whom it may concern, but this is a work, a trouble and great pain, sometimes you must stoop, unto a rude villain, calling him master, and often claw his hand. All if you would see him waver in a bond, if you live in court, you must reward this rabble, cooks and scullions, farmers of the stable, butlers and butchers, porters and powderers, and especially false takers, on these and all like, spare no expense, but meekly with money, buy their benevolence, but namely of all, it is a grievous pain, to abide the porter, if he be a villain, how often times shall he shut the gates against your stomach, your forehead or your nose, how often times, when one foot is in, shall he, by malice, thrust out the other before your chin, sometimes his father, sometimes his clubby-footed brother, shall drive you backward, and turn you to the street, what he says, coming if he sits, how often times shall he shut the gates, for very pleasure and joy of your coming.\nThe yatis he closes / Here is a pleasant thing\nIf you have / well rewarded him before\nWithout you stand / in rain and tempest sore\nAnd in the meantime / a rascal or villain\nShall never while you are bathed in the rain\nSometimes the porter's malice shall excuse\nAnd say to you / your labor to abuse\nThat other is the lord / asleep or in council\nThan lost is your labor / mispent is your travel\n\nCoridon.\n\nOf our poor houses / men soon may know the sign\nSo at our pleasure / we may go out and in\nIf courtesies be such / I think therefore\nThey best are at ease who remain without\nFor better it is without / wet to the skin with rain\nThan ever in court and live in endless pain\nIf hell yatis / did not still open wide\nWretched souls / great torment should escape\nRight so / if the court were closed continually\nSome men should escape great pain and misery\nBut Cornix proceed / tell of courters' care\n\nCornix.\n\nWell said Coridon / God give the words far and wide.\nI. Speaking of pains of war, I think it best to differ. If your lord is delighted by battle and the infinite pains of war, while he wages war, you cannot remain at home. Your desire to cherish and the pleasure of your womb, seeking an army, brings you wretched pain from cold or heat, thrust, hunger, and rain, and many other pains I will not specify. For nothing is in warfare but care and misery, murder and mischief, rapine and cowardice, or else cruelty, which I would not recount here as it would be long and tedious and contrary to our purpose. Therefore, let us pass over the misery and dreadful dangers and wretched penury of war. And concerning these cities, let us speak a word or two. In which no man can live without pain. For wherever the court may remove or flee, all vexations always remain with it. If for solace you resort into the town, there you will meet men of a bad sort. With regard to your clothing, they will show contempt.\nIf you are busy, the club will inflict the pain. There are now customs and activities in similar ways. None may you scorn, nor any of them despise. Then must you each day begin anew. In Cytes I will no longer remain. But I will now turn my talking to the court again. After this, may we have communication About Citizens and their vexation. Whether your lord sits or yet stands erect, You may still stand or else shall be swift. Your head and legs will find no rest nor ease If you intend to plead in court always. Often must you bend, still stand and ever bear To endure what is worse than yourself, which is a pain and care. What shall I bring, the thoughts and pain Of counters or they, their ways can obtain? How much differing, & how much abating Must counters suffer and manifold checking? Never have you the whole sum of time will they abate Or else the day or payment will be too late From Robert to John, sometimes they will send it.\nAnd none of both / shall pay the debt from post to pillar,\nTossed shall thou be with scorn and subtle deceit,\nSome thou mayst behold sighing for great sorrow,\nWhen he is appointed to come again tomorrow,\nFor many a morning he has been served so,\nAnother stands with a heart full of woe,\nCounting and turning his goods in his cap,\nPraying God to send the payer an ill chance,\nFor where he reckoned to receive a pound,\nScant has he half, such checks are there found,\nNever shall the counterfeit receive whole salary,\nExcept that he rewards the payer privately,\nWhen need constrains him somewhat to have beforehand,\nHe gladly receives a dozen for a score,\nNever canst thou make thy covenant clear,\nBut the payer shall bring the farthing afterwards,\nIf thou rightly fulfill thy covenant,\nIt shall the payer interpret at his will,\nFor that blind sort are choked with analysis,\nAs cravens of coin, engendering covetousness,\nBut somewhat to speak of things necessary.\nThese courters multiply, now for one thing they labor to obtain,\nNow for another and often in vain,\nAnd though their asking be neither right nor just,\nYet they never cease until they have had their lust.\nBut if it fortunes, their prayer and cost be spent in vain,\nThen their reason is lost. Then they lurk in corners for a month or twain,\nFor woe that their labor and prayer were in vain.\nSome with their princes stand in favor,\nThat they may advance their kindred to honor,\nBut then is their kindred so bad in governance,\nThat if they can, they dare not advance them.\nBut howbeit they durst, they dread worldly shame,\nOr punishment from God, or else their princes' blame.\n\nCoridon.\n\nNow doubtless Cornix, that man is much unwise,\nWho lifts up folly unworthy to office,\nBut often favor and carnal affection\nBlind the right, confusing discernment.\n\nCornix.\n\nIf you had pondered a year for this one clause,\nYou could not more profitably have stated the cause.\nBeside this, Coridon few by the lord above,\nHave of these courtiers true, sure, and perfect love.\nFor Codrus told me what Ysolon wrote,\nThat all these princes and every great estate\nIn loving regard, no virtue nor prudence\nLove they, but of some hasty violence,\nWithout consultation, without discretion.\nSuch love often proves feint at conclusion.\nBut if they love any, they love him not as friend,\nBetween like and like, best friendship we find,\nFor truly great lords love such men with delight,\nBy them when they take some pleasure or profit,\nAs they love horses, dogs, and more such,\nWhat said I? I lie, they love them not so much,\nMore love they a horse or dog than a man.\nAsk Minos the truth, declare he can,\nFor commonly as soon as any man is dead,\nAnother is soon ready to fulfill his stead,\nWith mead and with prayer, his place is dearly bought.\nSo often have princes their service clear for naught,\nBut then if it happens, a dog or horse to die,\nHis place to fulfill, another must they buy.\nYet little have I said in the court for your death, not only your lord will care for it not, For your long service, oft will he wish the deed Done is your salary and your reward Such is in court, your service and obligation Other for your service, long and continual, You have received nothing at all from your lord, And when you are dead, with a short conclusion, Quite is your service and obligation, And often your lord will sweetly utter this A A that this man, so soon is gone away If he had lived longer, a small season, I should have put him to great promotion Or else if your lord has well rewarded thee, That you have lived and riches in abundance, Then if you die, believe me for certain, Surely trustworthy, for to have all again Scant any rich man by death hence now shall fare But that some great lord will look to be his heir That is no lessening, but it often provides true That caused widows often to sorrow deeply But this has been seen, for truth and ever shall, That the greater fish devours up the small.\nCornix.\nA right true example, Mate Coridon, doubtless\nSo mighty rulers oppress the simple folk\nBut what cares in court are my concerns here, Coridon,\nConcerning your lord or masters' own parson,\nPrinces or commons you'll find seldom a time\nOne profitably good and spotless with no crime,\nFor such things as seldom time befall,\nTully was wont to call monstrosities.\nA good man is more monstrous in deed\nThan is a weather having a double head,\nAnd in like wise, Fuuenall repeats,\nIf a man would seek throughout the world all,\nSo many good men would he find,\nAs there are gates in Thebes the city,\nThat is to say, under heaven's cope,\nOf perfect good men, scarcely shall a man find seven,\nAnd holy scripture yet speaks more strictly,\nAs shepherd David does clearly testify,\nHe said the Lord, beholding mankind,\nCould scarcely find one good in all the world.\nScripture records such causes many one,\nThat men are sinners, and God in goodness alone.\nCornix.\nWhen now, Mate Cornix, I acknowledge God.\nThou hast in some fellow's bosom been, I believe,\nAnd spoiled some patch of his pristine beauty.\nSpeak of the court; save this in store for lent.\n\nSo was my purpose thou needed not object,\nOf our first purpose these words have effect.\nI told you before, by good authority,\nHow both the poets and orators agree,\nAnd holy scripture, that few men are perfect,\nBut bad in number, are truly infertile.\nSo if thy master is bad and worthy of blame,\nThen art thou sorry, of his dishonest name.\nThy lords vices and living negligent\nShall grieve thy stomach if thou art innocent.\nIt grieves me, if he be covetous or hard,\nBecause he delays, thy labor to reward.\nAnd for many reasons, fails by his negligence,\nAnd falls to ruin for sparing expense.\nAgain, if thy lord be free and liberal,\nAlways thou art first, lest other men have all,\nHis prodigal hand often vexes sore thy heart,\nLest at the ending, nothing comes to thy part,\nAnd lest his treasure, in folly, so he spends,\nThat nothing remains to help him at the end.\nIf he is given to wrath and cruelty, you fear lest he rage against your kind or thee,\nIf he is meek, mild, and sober, you are sorry,\nFor he does not avenge each hurt and injury,\nAnd if he is harsh, then you dread danger,\nWhen he proceeds, you stand there,\nIf he is cowardly, then you have great envy,\nAgainst his foes, for they continually destroy his lands and tarnish his name,\nWhen he fears, he dares do nothing against,\nIf he uses chattering and often talks,\nYou perceive that while his tongue is walking,\nHis private counsel, he often detects,\nAnd much he speaks, which is of no effect,\nIf he is secretive and still as one in sleep,\nYou say he doubts that none can keep counsel,\nAnd suspects as much as others do,\nYou are grieved and full of care and woe,\nIf he loves wines and you fear drunkenness,\nIf he hates wines and you blame his sadness,\nAnd to his body you count him unguarded,\nBecause he would keep his house, should you be more hard,\nTowards Venus' acts, if he applies himself too much.\nYou say that he hurts and injures many, if he hates women and flees their pleasure. You and others regard him as no man, if he uses familiarity. You are displeased with them if you are not, if he is common to all, indifferent. Your mind is similarly discontent, because he loves familiarity more. To every person, he loves as greatly as with thee. But if your prince is good and you are not, you are like him in this way, deeply distressed in thought. Lest he soon dismiss your service because he does not live according to your lewd ways. But if both are good and free from all vices, a thing seldom seen, then most of all you, for he is not fortunate as he is ordained and according to his estate, incline your heart and mind to him. That all his troubles and pain shall be yours. For this, I tell you Coridon, that no father is more tender over his son than a good servant, diligent and true, to a noble prince endowed with virtue.\nAnd yet, if good fortune favors you,\nYou still dread, because it is unstable.\nThus, you shall never sleep in peace and quiet,\nBut when you wake, your rest is much less.\n\nCoridon.\n\nBecause you recount your fidelity,\nTo masters and men who love honesty,\nI remember the shepherd of the fen,\nAnd what regard he showed for all his men.\nShepherd Morton, when he dared not appear,\nHow his old servants were careful for their lord,\nIn pain and pleasure, they kept their fidelity,\nUntil grace again gave him authority,\nThen his old favor restored to them,\nGreater pleasure than they had endured before.\nThough for a time this shepherd faced a blast,\nAnd at conclusion, he and his flock remained certain,\nEach true to other, they quietly remained.\nMy heart is moved, when I must speak of,\nThe gentle Coke, who sang so purely,\nHe and his flock were like an union,\nUnited in one without discord,\nAll the fair Cokes that were in his days, flock.\nWhen death touched him and began his parting,\nThe pretty palaces he made in the fen\nThe maidens, widows, wives, and men\nWith deadly sorrow were afflicted in their hearts\nWhen death compelled this shepherd to depart,\nCorn, grass, and fields mourned for woe and pain,\nFor from this prayer, for them rain was obtained,\nThe pleasant flowers faded one by one,\nWhen they perceived this shepherd dead and gone,\nThe eyes, elms, and every sort of deer\nShrank under shadow, abating all their cheer,\nThe mighty walls of Ely monastery,\nThe stones, rocks, and towers seemed to mourn,\nThe marvelous pillars and images, each one,\nSweet heavenly one, who was this good cock gone?\nThough he in stature was humble and lean,\nHis mind was high, his living pure and clean,\nWhere other people were fed by beastly appetite,\nHe delighted in heavenly food alone,\nAnd shortly after this cock was dead and gone,\nThe shepherd Roger could not long remain alone,\nBut shortly after, false death stole him away.\nHis worthy report still lives to this day,\nWho were the sheep scabbed, this good shepherd was willing\nWith easy salves to cure their sores again,\nHe neither pretended nor showed rigor,\nNor was there a wolf, poor lambs to devour,\nWhen bramble or briars pelted the shepherd's skin,\nThen he had pity and kept them close within,\nOr in new fleeces, did tenderly lap,\nAnd with his crook did often make them happy,\nWhen he departed, his flock was faint,\nThe fields sounded with dolor and complaint,\nSo that their clamor and cry bespoke the isle,\nHis deed was mourned from Ely forty mile,\nThese worthy herds and many others too,\nWere with their wethers in lonely confined,\nThey cured more by wit and patience\nThan fearsome Drome could do with violence,\nTherefore all herds to the wood I suppose,\nShould lord their names if virtue reigned now,\nBut since conniving and virtue are gone,\nNow they are lawless, few or none.\nI let your purpose to make conclusion,\nUse lives, virtue has light obscured.\nBut speak on Cornix; yet is it long to night\nMy mind to disclose causes my heart to be light\n\nCornix:\nTo these pastors, why hast thou delayed delight?\nCoridon:\nAll other shepherds to virtue to excite,\nThen thy words, no thought my time in vain spent,\nBut now to courts I will return again,\nAnd especially for thee, have spoken of knowledge,\nI desire a little to come of that thing,\nIt is great pleasure to clerks certainly,\nAnd recreation to give them to study,\nAnd some find pleasure and recreation\nIn secret study and meditation,\nTo write or to read in solitary places,\nHoly to the muses, his reason to apply,\nTo talk with Plato, with Cicero or Virgil,\nWith Aristotle, to come at his will,\nAnd other famous doctors many one.\n\nCoridon:\nWhat man all these long past be dead and gone,\nWho would with such deceased commune or talk,\nTo go where they be shall find a weary walk.\n\nCornix:\nThough they be dead, alive yet is their name,\nThese laws' honor, their high report of fame.\nMen believe it necessary to speak with them in truth, as often as they read their noble works. But as for courtiers, whether early or late, they should be utterly private in this pleasure. Though they live idle, they grant no respite to godly works. They remain in clamor and in the press, and lewd acquaintance will not release them. But if they choose some secret season to apply their minds to some good study, a wretch is always ready to vex and disturb them. But if all others are absent and at rest, then never their chamber the kitchen clerk is pressed. Jingling his counters, chattering to himself alone. Thus seek all corners, quiet though you find none. So must one despise those noble orators, the famous poets and excellent doctors. And live among the company of vices, all. Rather, they call a man rude beasts. Of great estates, there is a blinded sort, which causes their sons to resort to the court.\nThey should daily attend court to learn virtue and excellent manners, but they might learn malice, cursed manners, and every branch of vice instead. Pride, disdain, envy, and ribaldry are more infectious in courts, for men are most vicious there, supporting vices contrary to virtue. Dishonest language is considered most laudable. One boasts of bawdry or gluttony, which is damnable. No man there vaunts himself of honesty, virtue, mercy, or pity, but rather enjoys his deceitful life. He delights in defiling a virgin or a wife, or in slaying his father or enemy, or committing fraud or crafty felony. These cursed manners induce youth to sin sooner than godly living or manners of virtue. When youth has fixed its courage in vices, they shall never leave them in old age, nor think in court to find a young stripling. Chaste, sober, shamefast, or manners ensuing are all sued for vices, and such are the disciples as their instructors are.\nFor true is the clause rehearsed of Terence,\nThat youth incline more than others to offense,\nWhen a lewd master moves them to incline\nBy ill example to danger and ruin.\nFor nature yields to all enormity,\nWhen men so use, who are in dignity,\nYoung think lawful and but a jocular fit,\nSuch vices as elders use daily.\nAnd as young branches soon rot and putrefy,\nSo youth corrupts by vices seemingly.\n\nCoridon.\n\nBe all you young gallants of this abused sort,\nWho in young age resort to the court,\nCornix.\n\nWho enters the court in young and tender age\nAre lightly blinded with folly and outrage,\nBut such as enter of wit and gravity,\nBeware not so soon to such enormity,\nBut if they enter if they have learned naught,\nAfterward is the least part of their thought.\nIn court it is counted vice to have knowledge,\nAnd counted for rebuke to have eloquence,\nThus men of learning great heavens and pain,\nBeholding themselves in court hold in disdain.\nTheir wisdom despised, in mean time shall they see\nThat greatest matters ruled, not marred be,\nOf such blind folly as cannot count nor tell\nA score save twenty, yet most of all such melancholy,\nBut unlearned men of inward pain have some,\nWhen they behold that to the court comes,\nMen grounded in Latin, commoning,\nThe other harken and understand nothing,\nBut truly it is, to them a grievous pain,\nBut nevertheless, of them have they disdained,\nBut living in court and fleeing none offense,\nWhat shall I come with, what grutch of conscience,\nExhausts the daily right, small is thy delight,\nWhen troubled conscience, unquiet, doth the bid,\nNo pain is sorer, nor more grievous torment,\nThan to remember and call to thy intent,\nHow many have in thralldom and in captivity,\nThy own conscience, is still within thy breast,\nAs torturer, depriving thee of rest,\nWith private scourges and intolerable pain,\nRecounting thy works and like abominable.\nThou mayst not avoid, nor form this enemy's start.\nIn your heart lies where he delights / rests\nThis is of courters, the deadly tormentor,\nWith desperation, they seek to devour\nSometimes their conscience is gnawed by guile,\nWith theft, with murder, with lechery awhile,\nThough their own conscience thus torments them with pain,\nThey yet return to the same offenses again,\nTheir conscience gnawing to cause more grief,\nThus the torment continues, the infernal fury's,\nI mean remembrance of manyfold offense,\nContinual torment by conscience's gnawing,\nWhat shall I tell of the sudden fear's pain,\nWhich often haunts the minds of courters dear,\nSometimes the lower one is gripped with threatening,\nAnd suffers pains when they have done nothing,\nSometimes while the court is dancing in delight,\nOr in other solace, their hearts to comfort,\nA sudden messenger arrives,\nAnd that same army is near at hand, doubtless,\nThen solace turns to woe and heaviness,\nAnd while some princes hunt or hawk for pleasure.\nSuch full tidings to hear are oft your wont, Coridon.\nSuch fear and danger does commonly happen suddenly,\nOn all degrees, with imminent jeopardy,\nFor plowmen, shepherds, and citizens also endure great damage, loss, and woe, Cornix.\nAll other sorts sometimes must stand afar,\nBut courts must save loss of goods, for some have nothing to lose,\nBut this I leave and turn to my purpose.\nNo gifts are granted to mankind by God,\nBetter than friendship, what man truly may find,\nBut over all the court, no man shall find nor see,\nTrue, steadfast, friendship, nor perfect amity.\nFor since all courters for the most part are blinded,\nWith vicious living and all enormity,\nThey have no friendship but conspiracy,\nAnd to do mischief, confederacy.\nFor perfect friendship is when two men agree\nOr more in working some deed of honesty.\nSome courters are found, who are ingenious,\nPregnant with reason, wise, and laborious,\nYet have they but shadow of virtue and goodness.\nAnd in appearances, the plain signs express\nSome seem liberal, but they incline to rapine\nSome seem very chaste, but they are prone to pride\nSome seem humble, who use gluttony\nAnd some familial, who lean to lechery\nIn none may you see one spark of virtue\nBut twenty vices, will that one bestow\nIn such a mean, full of inequity\nHard is it to find one worthy of friendship\nBut if in court, some honest men conceal\nThen with great rulers, is he made conceited\nIf he from favor and conceit departs\nThou canst not have familiarity with him\nSometimes you will see such drawn to torment\nAs are your friends, faults and innocent\nAnd often your enemy, in many a fault culpable\nYou will see in the court high and honorable\nTo see your good friend endure death so wrongfully\nTo sorrow and say nothing, is a great pain truly\nBut yet for your life, say nothing, be patient\nNot only whisper, lest you have like torment\nConversant must you be, with such to your pain\nWho have slain thy father, or else thy brother\nIf you are busy or speaking unclear language, you may possibly follow the same path, and if you advance in court to acquire riches, you will need to retain men to attend you. Some of your servants you will often find:\n\nLewdly disposed to vices numerous,\nSome the ushers, some drunker than swine,\nSome loving brawling or lying incline,\nSome slow, some gluttons, some given to ribaldry,\nAbout town committing murder with other villainy,\nSome forgetful, some crafty fools, some porcine and negligent,\n\nIf you change your supposition, some will be better to have,\nYou encounter a lubber and then a knave,\nAnd if you have one with knavery infect,\nThen all the others will follow the same sect,\n\nAgain, if you yourself are poor and a servant,\nYou will find your master rude, rash, and ignorant,\nAlways complaining, never well content,\nOft asking service in paying negligently,\nOf speech superfluous, hasty and rigorous,\nEnvious, drunk, unstable, and covetous,\nThus servant, master, gentleman, and villain.\nAll in court / with mystery and pain.\n\nCoridon.\n\nNow truly Cornix, this is a wretched life,\nDevoid of all pleasure, wrapped in pain and strife.\n\nCornix.\n\nCount all the rooms and offices, each one,\nAnd none shall you find, without vexation.\nWhat think the counsel, when princes disagree,\nTo their advice, of utmost utility?\nWhat have chancellors, of inward displeasure,\nWhat their letters written to their princes' honor,\nFor the common weal and sure utility,\nCan not pass forward, till they are transposed?\nFrom good to right, nothing corrupt for correct.\nWhat think controllers, who are daily checked,\nThe rulers of court, vile and seneschals,\nTreasurers, clerks, & every marshal,\nWhat pain have these, each one in his office,\nWhen often ribaldry or some busy body,\nHaving but small control, controls their countesses,\nNever so right.\nWhat pain have chaplains, controlled in,\nAnd Physicians, when some they despise,\nWhat knights, trumpeters, and sodiers commonly,\nWhen treasurers deny their wages.\nWhat pain have cooks which serve may set ther before,\nWithout some rebuke or a check or a reproof.\nCoridon in court, no room is trust, I swear,\nBut that is wrapped in great adversity.\nBut brief to say all and make conclusion,\nRight wise men suffer great tribulation.\nThe heavenly pleasure, to purchase and obtain,\nMore suffices courters to purchase endless pain.\nI mean not with them, which of necessity,\nAgainst their pleasure, must in the courts be,\nAs busy.\nWhich would be here, right gladly if they might,\nCoridon.\nBelieve my Cornix, thou hast turned my mind\nFarewell all courting, adieu pleasure only,\nThou play hast provided, that all they fools be,\nWhich follow the court, seeking captivity,\nAnd might else where, an honest life purchase,\nHaving sufficient sense and moderate solace.\nCornix.\nThen let all shepherds from hens to Salisbury,\nWith easy riches live well, laugh and be merry,\nPype under shadows, small riches have most rest,\nIn greatest ease most sorrow is tempest.\nThe court is nothing but a tempestuous sea,\nAway from the rocks I rule,\nThere is more danger than on land,\nSwallows, rocks, tempest, and quicksand,\nCyclops, Sylla, and long sandbanks,\nIn it are cliffs of hardest adamant,\nTo show young fools ignorant,\nWhat shepherd loves peace and tranquility,\nOr rest requires to live in unity,\nSweet peace of heart, whoever desires,\nOr health of his soul, if any man aspires,\nFlee from the court, flee from the court I cry,\nFlee proud beggary and wretched misery,\nFor there is no rest nor godly exercise,\nNo love of virtue but use of every vice,\nAvarice, lust, and beastly gluttony,\nCruelty, malice, ambition, and envy,\nBut especially Venus, or venereal lust,\nTo her wanton acts, plays openly subdues all,\nUpon these vices, who fixes his intent,\nHimself to defend, has he no argument,\nBut that of all men wise, honest and laudable,\nHe shall be condemned for living reproachable,\nA natural fool, of reason dull and rude.\n\"Prologue Coridon; thus I here conclude. Coridon, Conclude more thy life in blessed state of grace, My own heart, Coruix; for this thy good solace, But hast thou touched, all whole and perfectly, Of court and courtesans, the pain and misery. Cornix, Nay, nay, Coridon, I told you so before, Much have I told you behind is more, Their inward cries & abominable vices, The outward raging in sins detestable, Their theft and frauds, and their extortion, And of mislivers their support, Their daily murder and forsaking of women, Defrauding of virgins, plying of simple men, Adultery incest, and fornication, And of good virgins, the deflowering, These and such like, I dare not plainly touch, For all these crosses and silver in my pocket. Coridon, Then let us hence; the sun is near at rest, Cornix, Take up thy baggage, my mate, that now is best, Coridon, But tell me, Cornix, one thing or we depart, In what manner of life is best to set my heart, In court is conflict, care, pain and misery.\"\nAnd here is envy / ill will and poverty\nCornix.\nSuffering overcomes all malice at the last\nWeak is that treasure / which cannot endure a blast\nBut here now my counsel I bid the finally\nLive still a shepherd, for plainly so I will\nCoridon.\nThat I shall fulfill / your good counsel, Cornix\nTo die a shepherd / established is my will\nCorix.\nSo do / or after you often shall repent\nPoverty is surest / the court is but torment\nCoridon.\nBut mirth renews / when lovers meet again.\nFinis.\nThus ends the third and last eclogue of the mystery of court and courtesans / Composed by Alexander Barclay, priest, in his youth.\n\nCorus, a shepherd, lusty, gay, and stout,\nSat with his ewes / at pasture, round about,\nAnd poor Minalcas / with ewes scarcely fourteen,\nSat sadly musing / in shadow on the green.\nThis lusty Corus / was clothed for the rain,\nAnd double decked / with hoods, one or two,\nSo none could see us / this long season.\nWith us you were wont to sing full merily.\nAnd among the flowers, we two were wont to lie,\nWhen your best animals fed among ours.\nIn these cold valleys, we used to banter,\nAnd in these shadows, speak many a merry word.\nWe often used to wrestle for a fall,\nBut now you droop and have forgotten all.\nHere you were wont to sing sweet ballads,\nOf song and duty, as if for a king,\nAnd of gay matters, to sing and to endite,\nBut now your courage is gone, and your delight.\nTrust me, Mynalcas, now plainly I see,\nThat you are weary of shepherds' company,\nAnd that all pleasure, you seem to despise,\nLoth to our pasture and fields likewise,\nYou flee from solace and every merry fit,\nWasting your time and sorely hurting your wit,\nIn sloth you slumber, as if buried were your song.\nThy pipe is broken, or something is amiss.\n\nMynalcas,\nWhen the cock crows, feathers mouth and fall,\nFrom sight she hides, her song is gone with all,\nWhen bare is back, and purse of coin is light.\nThe wytte is dulled, and reason has no might,\nA due ending, when liberty is gone.\nEnvy to muses is wretched poverty.\nWhat time a knight is subject to a knave,\nTo justice or tournament, small pleasure shall he have.\n\nCodrus.\n\nWhat man keeps not here in captivity,\nAnd busy labor subdues poverty,\nAnd often is it better and much surer,\nAs subject to obey than at leisure to go,\nAs by example, behold a wanton colt,\nIn raging youth, leaps over hill and ditch,\nBut while he skips at pleasure and at will,\nOftentimes does he fall in danger to spill,\nSometimes on stubs, his hooves sore he tears,\nOr falls in the mud, both over head and ears,\nSometimes all the night abroad in hail or rain,\nAnd often among thorns, tangled by the main,\nAnd other perils he suffers infinite,\nSo mixed with sorrow is pleasure and delight,\nBut if the same colt is broken at the last,\nHis rider rules, and him restrains fast,\nThe spur pricks him, the bridle holds him.\nThat he cannot produce at will where he would\nThe rider rules and saves from danger\nBy which example, Mynalcas is clear\nThat frowardness is subject to inconvenience\nWhere by subjection, man voids great offense\nFor man of himself is very frail indeed\nBut often a ruler, his folly does refrain\nBut as for yourself, thou hast no cause, parce\nTo walk at pleasure, is no captivity\n\nMynalcas.\n\nSeest thou not Codrus, the fields roundabout\nCompased with floods, that none may in nor out\nThe muddy waters near choke me with the stench\nAt every tempest, they are as black as ink\nPower to me would be no discomfort\nIf other speakers were all of the same sort\nBut Codrus, I claw where it does not reach\nTo see ten beggars and half a dozen rich\n\nTruly, it seems to me, this wrong partition\nAnd namely since all ought to be after one\nWhen I first beheld these fields from afar\nI thought them pleasant, and bore of strife or war.\nBut with my poor flock approaching near and near,\nMy pleasure always lessened and less appeared.\nAnd truly, Codrus, since I came upon this ground,\nI have often found under flowers, vile snakes,\nAdders and toads, and many vile serpents,\nInfested old sheep with violent venom.\nAnd often the young were infected by the old,\nThat few now brought is all my fold.\n\nCodrus.\n\nIn some place, neither venom nor serpent,\nAnd as for myself, I feel no great sent.\nMynalcas.\n\nIt would be a marvel, where great ground is seen,\nIf no small meadow were pleasant, sweet and clean.\nAs for Codrus, I may believe right well,\nThat thou no savour nor stench of mud or dust feel.\nFor if a shepherd has remained long,\nIn a foul prison or in a stinking gong,\nHis poor ones with ill eye are stopped each one,\nThat of the eye, he feels little sent or none.\nAnd yet the dwellers are worse than the place,\nThe rich and sturdy threaten and menace,\nThe poor and simple, and such as came but late.\nAnd who knows him most hates him the most\nAnd all the burden is on the asses' backs\nBut the strong horse stands at the race's rack\nAnd such are assigned sometimes the flock to keep\nWhich sheep have so little reason as a sheep\nAnd every shepherd at another has envy\nScant is a couple which loves perfectly\nIlwyll reigns so that brawling be sure\nConstrained me near to seek a new pasture\nSave only after I hope for better rest\nFor a small occasion a bird doesn't change its nest\nCodrus.\nWe'll grant you, in a small ground,\nSome plot of pleasure and quiet may be found,\nWhere herds of great sort are assembled,\nThere some must be good, superior to the best.\nBut let us leave this, turn to our point again,\nOf your old ballads, some I would gladly hear.\nMynalcas.\nYou other shepherds, who have enough at home,\nWhen you are merry and your womb is stuffed.\nWhiche have great store of butter, cheese and wool,\nYour cows others of milk replete and full,\nPails of sweet milk, as full as they can be,\nWhen your fat dishes smoke hot on your table,\nThen laud songs and ballads magnify,\nIf they be merry or written craftily,\nYou clap your hands and to the making hark,\nAnd one say to another, lo, here a proper work.\nBut when you have said, nothing give you for pay,\nSave only laudes and pleasant words in vain.\nAll these laudes may well be counted good,\nYet the poor shepherd must have some other food.\n\nCodrus.\n\nMay thou not sometime thy fold and sheep apply,\nAnd after at leisure to live more quietly,\nDispose thy wits to make or to endite,\nRenouncing cures for a while thou dost write.\n\nMynalcas.\n\nA shepherd must bestow his whole labor,\nIntending his flocks, scant may he spare an hour,\nGoing, coming, and often them to tend,\nFull lightly the day is brought unto an end,\nSometime the wolves with dogs must he chase.\nSometimes he must compact his folds\nAnd often change them, and if he doubts the storm,\nDab the walls roundabout with paint.\nWhen they are broken, often renew them,\nAvoid harmful pastures, note well and eschew,\nStraw and litter, and hay for winter's cold,\nOft grease the scabs, as well of young as old,\nFor fear of thieves, often watch up all night,\nBesides this labor, with all his mind and might,\nFor his poor household to provide victuals,\nIf by adventure, his wool or lambs fail,\nIn doing all these, no respite remains,\nBut well to endite requires all the brain,\nI tell thee of Codrus, a style of excellence,\nMust have all labor and all the diligence,\nBoth these two works are of greater importance,\nTo my small power, my strength is much unable,\nThe one to endure, scant may I abide the pain,\nThan is it harder, for me to do both ways.\nWhat time my wits are clear for to endite,\nMy daily charges will grant me no respite.\nBut if I follow, enditing at my will.\nEach one disdains / my charges to fulfill\nThough in these fields / each other ought sustain\nClean lost is that law / one may require in evidence\nIf coin commands / then men count them as bound\nElse they labor / then is my charge on the ground.\n\nCodrus.\n\nCornix often thought / that man should flee no pain\nHis friends' burden / to support and sustain\nFeed them thy flock / while thou dost write and sing\nEach horse agrees / not well for every thing\nSome for the chariot / some for the cart or plow\nAnd some for hackneys / if they be light and tough\nEach field agrees not well for every seed\nWho has most labor / is worthy of best reward.\n\nMynalcas.\n\nAfter ending / then gladly would I drink\nTo reach me yon cup / no man does care or like\nAnd often some fools / void of discretion\nMe and my matters / have in derision\nMarvel is none / for who would sow yon field\nWith costly seeds / which shall no fruits yield\nSome wanton body / often laughs me to scorn\nAnd sayth Mynalcas, see how thy pitche is torn,\nThy hose and hose-ties are broken at the knee,\nThou canst not stand, for both thy shoes may see\nThy beard like bristles, or like a porpoise's skin,\nThy clothing shows, thy winnings are but thine,\nSuch mocking taunts reneweth oft my care,\nAnd now the woods, of fruit and leaves bare,\nAnd frosty winter hath made the fields white,\nFor wrath and anger, my lip and tongue I bite,\nFor dolour I droop sore, verily with disdain,\nMy woebegone self wastes away, wherefore I endure this pain,\nMy wool and fleece may scarcely feed my womb,\nAnd other household, which I retain at home,\nLeane be my lambs, that no man will them buy,\nAnd yet their dams they daily suck so dry,\nThat from their udders no milk can we wring,\nThen without repast, who can endure or sing?\nIt me repenteth, if I have any wit,\nAs for my science, I am weary of it,\nAnd of my poor life, I am weary, Codrus,\nSince my hard fortune thus disposeth me,\nThat of the stars and planets each one.\nTo poor Minalcas, no one is more fortunate than you,\nKnown is the truth, if it were clearly sought,\nThat now to this time I still have sung for nothing,\nFor youth is lusty, and has but small need,\nThat time to age, men give no force or heed,\nAge's condition is greatly contrary,\nWhich now approaches, right subtly and skillfully,\nBut what time age does any man oppress,\nIf he in youth has gathered no riches,\nThen age passes in care and poverty,\nNeed is grievous, with old infirmity,\nAnd age is often fed,\nWhen strength is faded, and man has nothing to feed,\nWhen strength is faded, then hope of gain is gone,\nIn youth's season, to make provision,\nThe little one is wise and provident,\nIn summer, working with diligent labor,\nIn her small cavern, conveying corn and grain,\nHer life in winter, to nourish and sustain,\nAnd with her small mouth, is busy cutting,\nLest in her cavern, the same might grow or spring.\nSo man of reason, regarding himself as sage.\nIn youth, you should pursue to live thereon in age.\nCodrus.\nMen say that clerks, who know astronomy,\nKnow certain stars which long to destiny,\nBut all their saying is nothing valid,\nYet here is the matter, thought it be but a fable.\nThey say that Mercury favors poets,\nUnder Jupiter are princes of honor,\nAnd men of riches, of wealth or dignity,\nAnd all such other, who have authority.\nMercury gives to poets laureate,\nGoodly conversation, speech pleasant and ornate,\nInventive reason, to sing or play on the harp,\nIn goodly ditty or balade for to carve,\nThis is your lot, what seekest thou riches,\nNo man has all, this thing is true doubtless,\nGod all disposeth as he perceives best,\nTake thou thy fortune and hold the style in rest,\nTake thou thy fortune and hold thyself content,\nLet us have riches and rooms excellent.\nMynalcas.\nThou hast of riches and goods abundant,\nAnd I have duties and songs of pleasure,\nTo ask my learning, thou art covetous.\nWhy are you not content with your part? Why do you envy my portion? You lack Codrus in wit and discretion.\n\nCodrus:\nNot I, Minalcas, you are to blame\nFor your unwarranted envy, giving me the name\nI would not take a duty or ballad from you\nNo harp or arms that long for Apollo\nBut only Minalcas, I deeply desire and long\nTo give my ears to your sweet, soothing song\nIt nourishes the hearing and is pleasing\nTo hear good reason and a consonant ballad.\n\nMinalcas:\nIf you have pleasure in hearing my melody,\nI grant you, Codrus, to enjoy my harmony\nSo I have pleasure and joy in your riches\nSo your gifts are doubled, love is certain.\n\nCodrus:\nHe who enjoys my riches has joy who loves me\nAnd he who hates me is not content\nFoolish wretches, coming by malice,\nTake others' fortunes and enjoy themselves happily.\n\nMinalcas:\nIn the same way, may you enjoy our knowledge\nAnd our muses, though you be absent\nAnd in our skill, you seem to rejoice.\nIf this text is from a medieval English poem or song, here's a cleaned version:\n\nYou ought not provoke me by malice and envy.\nIf I feed your ears, feed my mouth again.\nI hate to spend my gifts all in vain.\nFood for the mouth is sustenance and nourishment.\nSongs feed the ears with pleasure.\nI have the Muses; if you will have of mine.\nThen rightly requires that I have part of yours.\nThis belongs to love, to nourish charity.\nThis feeds pity, this agrees rightly.\nThis is the pleasure and will of God above.\nHe disposes it for love to be engendered.\nAll pleasant gifts one man has not shared.\nThat one of another should have necessity.\nNo man of himself is sure sufficient.\nThis is the provision of God omnipotent.\nThat one man should need another's assistance.\nThus love and benevolence are joined.\n\nEngland has cloth. Bordeaux has store of wine.\nCornwall has tin. And Limestone wools are fine.\nLondon has scarlet. And Bristol has pleasant reed.\nFens have fish. And in other places is lead.\n\nThis is so disposed by our Lord, my brother.\nBecause all things should depend on one another.\nSo every tree has fruit according to its kind,\nAnd various natures in beasts we find.\nAlways when the nature of a thing is most praiseworthy,\nThat thing men deem most good and profitable,\nAnd every person in his own gift finds joy,\nThe fool in his babble finds pleasure to toy,\nThe cleric in his book, the merchant in riches,\nThe knight in his horse, armor, and hardiness.\nBut every person, in his gifts and art,\nShould gladly give some part when need requires,\nSuch mean ones unite in a bond of love, certain,\nEngland and France, Scotland, Greece, and Spain.\nSo you have Codrus with enough gold in store,\nAnd I have some skill, though few I care for,\nYou are truly indebted to Jupiter,\nAnd I am indebted to pleasant Mercury.\nJoin our stars, let me have a share of yours,\nCorde to Cherrysh, you shall have a share of mine,\nMake Jupiter be favorably disposed to me,\nAnd our Mercury be as good to you.\nIf your Jupiter gives me but only gold.\nMercury will give manyfold gifts:\nhis pillion (or chariot) yoke, his wings, and his harp,\nIf you have all these, you may grasp and over all these, give Mercury:\nThe knot of Hercules, skillfully enclosed.\n\nCodrus.\n\nLord god Minos, why do you endure such pain,\nThis way to forge, so many words in vain?\n\nMinos.\n\nThat which you test in vain, which may harm or lessen\nYour beloved treasure or diminish my riches,\nIf you will listen or here my muses sing,\nRefresh my mind with comfort and delight,\nRide me from troubles and care of busyness,\nComfort my courage, which now is comfortless,\nA clerk, a poet, combined with a boy,\nTo haunt the Muses, has but little joy,\nThe wit and reason is dull or of valor,\nLike the body, called to honor,\nWhen busy charges cause a man to groan,\nThe wit then slumbers, and muses all are gone,\nA duty will have mind quiet and respite,\nAnd case of stomach, else can none well endite,\nI sigh, I slumber: care troubles often my thought.\nWhen some maliciously set my art at naught,\nI howl like a kit for hunger and cold.\nFor thought and study, my youth appears old.\nMy skin has wrinkles and pimples all about,\nFor cold and study, I fear the gout.\nWhen sickness comes, then life has brevity.\nBy false kindness and wretched poverty,\nIf men were loving, kind, and charitable,\nPoverty would be both good and tolerable.\nBut since charity and pity are both gone,\nWhat should poverty remain behind alone?\nNo man has pity; each day torments me.\nI have no cattle or ewes in my fold,\nNo silver in my purse, I know not what is gold,\nNor corn on the ground, have I wherewith to fare.\nThen would you have me live void of care,\nNay, nay, friend Codrus, I assure you thus,\nSuch salves cannot cure my dolor.\nMake me joyful; help me with cloth and food.\nClothe me for winter with pelt, felt, and hood,\nRemove all charges; let me sit in my cell.\nLet worldly wretches with worldly matters melt\nRegard my age, regard my hair turning gray\nShall you prove and see what I may have\nShall you find me both apt to write and sing\nGoodwife will fulfill my scarceness of learning\nA plentiful house chases thought and care\nSorrow does comfort there where\nThe seller couches with beer, ale, or wine\nAnd meats ready when man has lust to dine\nGreat barns full, fat wether in the fold\nThe purse well stuffed, both with silver and gold\nFavor of friends and such as love right\nAll these and other make the full light\nIt is pleasure for young maidens among\nTo watch by the fire, the winter nights long\nAt their fond tales, to laugh or when they brawl\nGreat fire and candle, spending for labor small\nAnd in the ashes, some plays for to make\nTo cover wardens for lack of other work\nTo toast white sheets and to make profitables\nAnd after talking, often to fill the bottles\nWhere wealth abounds without rebuke or crime\nSome shepherds for pleasure and pastime,\nAs fame reports, lived such a shepherd then,\nWhom I remember lived under Mecenas,\nI believe his name was Titerus,\nHis fame still lives, I well remember,\nHe sang of fields and tilting of the ground,\nOf sheep, of ore, and battle did resound,\nSo clearly he sounded, in eloquent terms,\nI believe his tunes reached the firmament,\nThe same Mecenas, to him, was free and kind,\nWhose large gifts gave comfort to his mind,\nAlso this Shepherd, by heavenly influence,\nI believe obtained his peerless eloquence,\nWe other shepherds are greatly different,\nOf common sorts lean, ragged and rent,\nFed with rude fare, with quacham or wretched food,\nOr slime-covered campers, ill-smelling of the mud,\nSuch rustic meals blind our brains,\nThat of our favor, the Muses have disdained,\nAnd great Apollo scorns that we write,\nFor why? Rudely written words from rude minds.\nCodrus.\n\nI trust in fortune, if it is favorable.\nMy trust will be fulfilled; then I shall be able to help you in your need. And if fortune goes well for me as I hope, Trust me, Mynalcas, I shall deliver you From this trouble, care, and calamity.\n\nMynalcas.\n\nA Codrus: I would to God your will\nWas ready at this time to fulfill your promises\nAccording to the power and might that you have now\nYou have enough for both man and God acknowledges\nIf your good mind agrees with your might\nAt this present time, you should lighten my heart\nI ask not the wealth of Cosmus or Capell\nWith silken robes, I covet not to mingle\nNo king's dishes, I covet nor desire\nNor rich mantles or palles wrought in tyre\nNo cloth of gold, of Tissue nor velvet\nDamask nor satin, nor orient scarlet\nI ask no value of Peter's costly cope\nShield of Mynerua, nor Patyn of Esope\nI ask no palaces, nor curious lodgings\nNo bed of state, of sumptuous raiment.\n\nI learned this from the dean of Poules:\nThis man has won some remarkable souls.\nI ask for no treasure / nor store of worldly good\nBut a quiet life / and only clothing and food\nWith homely lodging / to keep me warm and dry\nEnduring my life / for sorrow no more I seek\nIf I were certain this living still to have\nAvoidance of trouble / no more of God I crave.\n\nCodrus.\n\nThis living has you / what need is the complaint?\nNothing you want / which may your life sustain\nWhat fellow man parted / your checks are not thin\nNo lack of vitality / causes a double chin\n\nMynalcas.\n\nSome beast is lusty / and fat of its nature\nThough it labors sore / and goes in bad pasture\nAnd some beast again / still lean and poor is seen\nThough it fattens well / within a meadow green\nThough you, Codrus, still argue until tomorrow\nI like no dishes / which are sauced with sorrow\nBetter one small dish / with joy and heart's liking\nThan various dentures with murmuring and grumbling\nAnd unlearned men / can never be content\nWhen fools are common / and clerks are present\nAs soon as clerks / begin to talk and chat.\nSome other fools/ and envy them\nIt is a torment for a clerk to sit at table\nOf his learning, not for a word to speak\nBetter were to be with clerks with a crust\nThan at such tables, to fare at will and lust\nLet me have the board of old Pythagoras\nWho in temperance was a very father of philosophers\nOf moderate riches in youth or age I loved never excess\nSome boast and promises/ and put men in comfort\nOf large gifts, most men are of this sort\nWith mouth and promises to be liberal\nWhen need requires\nAll only in thee is my trust fired\nIf you fail promises/ then roll me in the dust\nMy hope is faded/ then shall my song be done\nLike a nightingale at the solstice\nIf you fail promises/ my comfort is lost\nThen may I hang my pipe upon the post\nShut your shop windows for lack of merchandise\nOr else because the price is easy\n\nCodrus.\nMynalcas/ if you have seen the court of Rome\nWith forked caps/ or else if you have been\nOr noble prelates, exalted by riches.\nThou perceive that they are magnificent,\nWith them are clerks and pleasant orators,\nAnd many poets promoted to honors,\nThere is abundance of all that men desire,\nThere men have honor before they require it,\nIn such fair fields, without labor or pain,\nBoth wealth and riches, you may easily obtain,\nMynalcas.\n\nThou art abused, and thou thinkest wrong,\nTo think that I am covetous of riches,\nTo feed on raw flesh, it is a wolf's guise,\nWherefore he thinks all beasts do likewise,\nBecause the blind man halts and is lame,\nIn his mind he thinks that all men do the same,\nSo, for that thou thyself desires much good,\nThou judges all men infected with like sore,\nCodrus, I covet not to have abundance,\nA little thing pleases me, I ask but sufficiency,\nGrant me a living sufficient and small,\nAnd free from troubles, I ask for nothing more at all,\nBut with that little, I hold myself content,\nIf the sauce of sorrow does not torment my mind,\nOf the court of Rome, forsooth, I have heard tell.\nWith forked caps, it is folly to mull\nMycene and Morton, be deceased and gone for certain\nThey nor their like shall never return again\nO Codrus, Codrus, Augustus and Edward,\nBe gone forever, our fortune is more harsh\nThe scarlet rebels, in song have small delight\nWhat should I travel, in Rome is no profit\nIt gives mockery and scorns in great fold\nStill scratching coin, and gaping after gold\nFraud and deceit, fill the whole world\nAnd money reigns, and does all things at will\nAnd for that reason, people would more intend to deceive\nVirtue and truth, driven into obscurity\nWe are commanded to trust for time to come\nTill care and sorrow, has wasted our wisdom\nHope of reward, has poets them to feed\nNow in the world, fair words be their reward.\n\u00b6 Codrus.\n\u00b6 Write of battles or acts of bold men\nOr mighty princes, they may the welfare uphold\nThese worthy rulers of fame and royal name\nOf very reason ought to be liberal\nSome you will find between this place and Kent.\nWhiche for thy labor shall the rightwell content.\nMynalcas.\nSome shall I find: which are so prodigal\nThat in vain thing spend, and clean waste all\nBut how should that man maintain my poverty\nWhich nothing reserves for me to maintain.\nFor ancient blood, nor ancient honor\nIn these our days, is nothing without treasure\nThe coin authenticates, need does the name beget\nAnd where is treasure, old honor has effect\nBut such as are rich and in promotion\nShall have my writing but in derision\nFor in this season great men of excellence\nHave to poets no greater reverence\nThan to a brothel or else a brothelhouse\nMad ignorance is so contagious.\nCodrus.\nIt is not seeming, a poet thus to jest\nIn wrathful speech, nor words dishonest.\nMynalcas.\nIt is no jesting, be thou never so wroth\nIn open language to say nothing but truth\nIf perchance, thou wouldst have truth kept still\nProvoke not me, to anger at thy will\nWhen wrath is moved, then reason has no might.\nThe tongue forgets discretion and right.\nCodrus.\nI truly was loath to give good counsel is far from being wrath.\nMynalcas.\nAs for counsel, my mind is plentiful\nBut need and troubles make all my reason dull\nIf I had counsel and gold in like abundance\nI tell thee, Codrus, I had no need of thee\nHow should a poet, poor, bare, and indigent\nIndite the acts of princes excellent\nWhile scant is worth, a knife its pipe to mend\nTo round the holes, to cleanse or pick the end\nBehold my penniless self, almost bereft of blade\nSo long time past is since the same was made\nThe haft is bruised, the blade not worth a straw\nRusty and toothed, not much unlike a saw\nBut concerning this hurt, it is but light and small\nBut care and trouble is grievous pain withal\nGood counsel helps, making the wits stable\nIll counsel makes, the minds variable\nAnd breaks the brain, diminishing the strength\nAnd all the reason confoundeth at length.\nGreat men are ashamed to give things poor or small,\nAnd great they deny, thus they give nothing at all.\nBesides Codrus, princes and the royal men,\nIn our dealings, have pleasure faint and small.\nSo much power have they with men of might,\nAs simple doubts when idols take their flight,\nOr as great winds care for leaves dry.\nThey live in pleasure and continual wealth,\nIn lust their liking is and in idleness.\nFew have their minds from all viciousness.\n Pleasure is the thing to which they must attend,\nThat they most cherish, they would have men concede,\nIf poets should magnify their manners,\nThey were supporters of blame and lechery.\nThen should their writing,\nContaining jests and detestable deeds,\nOf rude words which fall not for a state,\nOf right oppressed and bestial gluttony,\nOf vice advanced, of sloth and injury,\nAnd other deeds in fame and worthy blame,\nWhich were over long here to recount or name.\nCodrus does not agree\nTo any poet who loves chastity.\nWhat some have been strong and bold,\nWho in battle have performed many acts,\nWith mighty courage, standing firm in fight,\nAnd boldly enduring to maintain the right,\nI now recount the deeds of those before,\nOf last nor riches, setting no force nor store,\nDisdaining soft gold, sweet fare, and soft beds,\nWhich in cold harness lie on the ground often,\nEnclosed in iron, which when their wounds bleed,\nDeny them bread and drink to restore and feed,\nWhile some have pleasure in orient soft gold,\nWith cold hard iron, their minds are well content.\nSuch were the sons of noble Lord Hawarde,\nWhose famous deeds may shame a faint-hearted coward.\nWhat could they do more, but spend their sweet lives,\nTheir princes' quarrel and right to defend,\nAlas that battle should be of such rigor,\nWhen fame and honor set and are in flower,\nSuddenly, with fierce fury, all to quell again,\nBut boldest hearts are nearest death certain.\n\nMynalcas.\nFor certain Codrus, I cannot deny\nThose who act marshal in battle,\nPraiseworthy poets and heroic style,\nThe pleasant muses, whose sound is grave,\nHelped and favored while they were in power,\nBut since strong knights have left their exercise,\nAnd manly virtue corrupted with vice,\nThe famous poets, who ornately end,\nHave found no matter, whereof to sing or write,\nThe wit thus dies, of ancient poets,\nSo does their writing, and the Muses' eloquence,\nFor lack of custom, thought, care, and penury,\nThese are the confounders of pleasant poetry,\nBut if some prince, some king, or conqueror\nHas won great honor in arms or battle,\nLittle force they need to relate their fame,\nThat other realms may laud or praise their name,\nOf time to come, they force nothing at all,\nBy fame and honor, they live as immortal,\nIt suffices them, they count enough truly,\nThat their own realms, their names magnify,\nAnd that for their life, they may have laud and fame.\nAfter their death, they seek no name,\nAnd some are uneducated and learned no science,\nOr else they disdain the high style of eloquence,\nThen stands the poet and his poem are here,\nWhen princes disdain to read or hear,\nOr else some other is drowned in gold,\nBy covetousness kept in cures many fold,\nBy flagrant ardor inflamed in such cases,\nAs in times past, the old king Midas was,\nThen of poems, full small pleasure has he,\nCovetousness and clergy agree lewdly,\nBeside this Codrus, with princes commonly,\nUneducated courtiers, filled with envy,\nJugglers and jesters, borders, and flatterers,\nBawds and panderers, and cursed outragers,\nAnd more such others, of living vicious,\nTo whom is virtue adversary and odious,\nThese drive good poets forth of all courts' chase,\nBy thousands of manners, of threatening and menace,\nSometimes by frauds, sometimes by ill report,\nAnd they assist them, all other of their sort,\nLike as curses light on a carrier,\nOr stinking ravens fed with corruption.\nThese two and others chase and drive away, because they alone would occupy the place. For currency is most mete and also, another thing is greatly more shameful. Of rascal poets, there is a shameful rabble. Which void of wisdom presumes to write. Though they have cautiously the conceit of a wit, and to what vices princes most intend, these fools solemnly come and present. Than is he decked as poet laureate, When stinking Thays made him her graduate. When Muses rested, she did her season note. And she with Bacchis, her comely daughter, did promote such rascal dramas. Promoted by Thays, Bacchis, Lycoris, or yet by Testilyus, or by such other new forged Muses nine. They think in their minds to have divine wit. They laud their verses, they boast, they vaunt and get, Though all their learning is scarcely worth a penny. If they have smelled the arts trinitarian, they count themselves poets, high and heroic. Such is their folly, so foolishly they dote.\nThinking that none can acknowledge their plain error yet,\nThey remain foolish, unable to avoid honesty.\nNothing seasoned with the grace of gravity,\nDevoid of pleasure, devoid of eloquence,\nWith many words and fruitless of sense,\nUnwilling to learn, scorning to be taught,\nTheir private pleasures, and worst of all,\nThey consider themselves excellent,\nThough they are fruitless, rash, and imprudent,\nTo such intrigues, who do their mind incline,\nThey count all others as lacking in doctrine,\nAnd the faults, which are in them alone,\nAre also common in others, everyone.\nThus good poets often rebuke and blame,\nBecause of others who have despised the name,\nAnd thus, for the worse, the good are made insignificant,\nTheir art and poem, considered of no effect.\nWhoever lacks reason, good to discern from evil,\nDoes misinterpret the writings of the worthy,\nSo both the praises of the good and the unpraiseworthy,\nFor lack of knowledge, become vituperable.\n\nCodrus.\n\nIn faith, Minalcas, I willingly allow your wit.\nYet I would gladly tell here now some merry tale,\nOf Maid Marian or else of Robin Hood,\nOr Brentley's Ale which chases well the blood\nOf Pert of Norwich or sauce of Wilberton,\nOr bucksherry jolly, well stuffed as a ton,\nTalk of the bottle, let go the book for now,\nComorous is coming, I make to God avow,\nSpeak of some matter which may refresh my brain,\nTrust me Minalcas, I shall reward thy pain,\nElse speak of Stoutney, who\nPlaces most abused, that we have spoken of yet.\n\nMinalcas:\nOf all these things, language to multiply,\nExcept I lied, would be but villainy.\nIt is not seeming, a poet one to blame,\nAll if his honor have won disgraced name,\nAnd though such beasts pursue me with envy,\nMalgre for malice, that payment I defy.\nMy master teaches, so does reason and skill,\nThat man should restore and render good for ill.\n\nCodrus:\nThen speak of something, lo, it is long to night,\nYet has the sun more than one hour of light.\n\nMinalcas:\nIf I bring nothing common, sounding to grate.\nI fear to obtain but small reward, yet if I commit vice or wantonness more than our lord, my reward will be less. Therefore my ballad shall have a conclusion of fruitful clauses, of noble Solomon.\n\nCodrus.\n\nSing on Mynalcas, he may do little thing,\nWho to a ballad disdains the hearing,\nBut if thy duty does not accord with my mind,\nThen my reward and promises are behind,\nBy man's manners, it lightly does appear,\nWhat men desire, that love they to hear.\n\nMynalcas.\n\nThough in thy promises I find no certainty,\nYet of my skill, shalt thou have a part of me,\nI call no muses to give me doctrine,\nBut aid and comfort, of strength and might divine,\nTo clarify my reason with wisdom and prudence,\nTo sing one ballad, an extract of sapience.\n\nAs meadows painted with flowers redolent,\nThe sight rejoices of such as behold,\nSo man endowed with virtue excellent,\nFragrantly shines with beams manyfold,\nVirtue with wisdom exceeds the store of gold.\nIf riches do not set their trust on you,\nWhen strength is sturdy, a man is pert and bold,\nBut wit and wisdom lay him in the dust.\nThen man is bestial, one who seeks carnal lust,\nDo not spend on women your riches or substance,\nFor lack of using, as steel or iron rusts,\nSo rusts reason by willful ignorance,\nIn fraudulent beauty, set but small pleasure,\nA pleasant apple is often corrupt within,\nGround yourself in youth on good governance,\nIt is a good sign when a man does well begin,\nDo not rejoice in malice, that is a mortal sin,\nMan is judged by language and doctrine,\nBetter to lose than to wrongfully win,\nHe loves wisdom, which loves discipline,\nRash enterprises often bring ruin,\nA man may contend, God gives victory,\nSet never your mind on things that are not yours,\nDo not trust in honor, all wealth is transitory.\nCombine your tongue with reason and memory,\nSpeak not to hasty words without advice,\nSo live in this life that you may trust in glory.\nWhiche is not caduke, but lasting permanent.\nThere is no secret, with people violent.\nBy beastly surfeit, the life is brief.\nThough some have pleasure in sumptuous garments,\nyet goodly manners him make more ornate.\n\nCodrus.\n\nWho there Myaclas, of this have we enough?\nWhat should a plowman go farther than his plow?\nWhat should a shepherd in wisdom wade so far?\nSpeak of his tankard or of his bor of tar?\nTell some what else, where is more comfort?\nSo shall the season and time seem light and short.\n\nMynalcas.\n\nFor thou of Hawarde, now lately did recite\nI have a duty which Cornir did entitle\nHis death complaining, but it is lamentable\nTo hear a captain, so good and honorable\nSo soon withdrawn by death's cruelty\nBefore his virtue was at most degree\nIf death for reason had shown him favor\nTo all his nation, he should have been honor\nAlas, bold hearts, are nearest death in war\nWhen out of danger, cowards stand afar.\n\nCodrus.\nAll if that duty is never so lamentable,\nRefrain my tears, I shall as I am able,\nBegin Minalcas, tell of the bold Hardy,\nIf fortune favors, hope for some reward.\n\nMinalcas.\n\nI pray thee, Codrus, my weakness is thine,\nLend me thy bottle, to drink or I begin.\n\nCodrus.\n\nIf anything is tasted, the remainder shall pale,\nI may not before the, now for to spend all,\nWe sit in shadow, the sun is not fierce,\nCall for it after, then I shall be content.\n\nMinalcas.\n\nStill thou desirest the pleasure of my art,\nBut of thy bottle, nothing wilt thou yet depart,\nThough thou art niggardly, and wilt not give of thine,\nYet this one time, thou shalt have a share of mine.\n\nNow listen, Codrus, I tell my elegy,\nBut small is the pleasure of dolorous harmony.\n\nMinalcas speaks.\n\nHigh on a mountain, of marvelous height,\nIs made a castle, or most curious tower,\nDreadful to sight, but inward excellent,\nSuch as would enter find pain's torment.\nThe way to the mountain is hard and steep, thorny and winding, different for those who labor in vain to ascend. Who persevere and reach this tour shall have great pleasure to see the old building, joined and graved, surmounting men's brains, and all the walls gilded with old histories and many folded pictures. Glistering as bright as Phoebus orient, with marvelous pillars, the building holds up. About the turrets of most excellent shape. This tour is obtained by diligent labor, in which remain those who have won honor by holy living, by strength or tournament, and most by wisdom, and attain to this tour. Briefly, all people of godly behavior, by righteous battle, justice, and equity, or those who have had a chief pleasure in mercy, have rooms, each after his degree. This goodly castle, thus shining in beauty, is named the castle of virtue and honor. In it dwells Henry the Eighth, most highly exalted, as becomes a conqueror.\nIn it remains the worthy governor,\nA stock and fountain / of noble progeny,\nMost noble Hawarde, the duke and protector,\nNamed of Northfolk, the flower of chivalry.\nHere is the Talbot, manful and hardy,\nWith other princes / and men of dignity,\nWho to win honor do apply all their might,\nSupporting justice, concord, and equity.\nThe manly Corson, within this tower I see,\nThese have we seen, each one in his estate,\nWith many others / of high and low degree.\nFor mercy all acts, with crowns laureate.\nOf this strong castle, is porter at the gate,\nStrong, sturdy labor, much like a champion,\nBut goodly virtue, a lady most ornate,\nWithin governeth, with great provision.\nBut of this castle, in the most highest throne,\nIs honor shining, in room imperial,\nWhich unrewarded, of them leaves not one,\nThat come by labor and virtue principal.\nFearful is labor, without favor at all,\nDreadful of aspect, a monster untreatable,\nLike Cerberus lying, at gates infernal.\nTo some men his look is half intolerable\nHis shoulders large for burden strong and able\nHis body bristled his neck mighty and stiff\nBy stourdy sinews his joints strong and stable\nLike marble stones his hands are as stiff.\nHere must a man vanquish the dragon of Cadmus\nAgainst the Chimera here he must\nHere must he vanquish the fearful Pegasus\nFor the golden flesh here must he show his might\nIf labor gainsays he can be nothing right\nThis monster labor often changes its figure\nSometimes an ore, a bore, or lion-like form\nPlainly it seems, thus changing its nature.\nLike Protesus, often changed his stature\nMutable in figure, oftentimes in one hour\nWhen Aristaeus had him sure\nTo various figures likewise changes labor\nUnder his brows he dreadfully frowns\nWith glaring eyes and side-hanging beard\nFor thirst and hunger always his countenance is sour\nHis horned forehead makes faint hearts fear.\nAlways he drinks and yet always is dry.\nThe sweat distilling / worth drops had upon\nHis breast and forehead / do humors multiply\nBy sweating showers / yet is this pain pleasant\nOf day and night / his resting time is scant\nNo day passes / exempt from busyness\nHis sight enlightens / the rude and ignorant\nWho dare persist / he gives them riches\nNone he favors / but after steadfastness\nOf little burden / his belly is small\nHis mighty thighs / his vigor expresses\nHis sturdy shanks / and large feet withal\nBy wrath he rages / and still chides and brawls\nSuch as would enter / repelling with his cry\nAs well estates / as homely men rural\nAt the first entrance / he threatens fiercely\n\nI believe old fathers / whom men now revere\nCalled this monster / Minos, stout and sour\nFor strength and senses / of man most commonly\nAre tamed and weakened / by cures and labor\nLikewise becomes / a knight to fortify\nHis princes' quarrel / with right and equity\nSo did this Hawarde / with valor and courage.\nTyped out the old text as faithfully as possible:\n\n\"Till death abated his bold and active spirit.\nOh happy Sampson, more fortunate than he,\nIn strength alone, but not in high courage,\nOh cruel fortune, why did your cruelty\nBeware this flower of knighthood, sleeping in lusty age,\nYou have debated the flower of his lineage,\nIf you had mercy, bewail his death, you might,\nFor cruel lions and more savage beasts,\nLong time had not ceased, sore to bewail this knight,\nO death, you have done, against both law and right,\nTo spare a coward, without danger or wound,\nAnd thus so soon to quench the light of chivalry,\nO envious death, most enemy to our ground,\nWhat avails it, thou son of the east, to confound,\nWhy did not virtue assist her champion,\nYou might have aided, for truly thou was bound,\nFor during his life, he loved thee alone.\nOh God almighty, in thy eternal throne,\nTo whom all virtue is dear and acceptable,\nIf reason had listened to our cry and moan,\nThis deed might have been imputed, and fortune lamentable,\nThou might have left us this knight most honorable.\"\nOur wealth and honor to have kept in degree,\nAlas, why has death been so false and deceitful,\nMankind to torment, this will and liberty.\nIt quenches virtue, sparing iniquity,\nThe best it strikes of the bad, having contempt,\nNo help nor comfort has our adversity,\nDeath daily strikes, though we daily complain,\nTo treat a tyrant, it is but in vain,\nMisery provokes his wrath and tyranny,\nSo at our prayer, death has the more contempt,\nWe do by meekness his fury multiply.\nIf some fell tyrant, replete with villainy,\nShould thus have ending, the deed were commendable,\nBut a stout captain, disposed to mercy,\nSo soon thus faded, the case lamentable,\nWas he not humble, joyful and companionable,\nNo man despising, and first in all labor,\nRighteous with mercy, debonair and treatable,\nMate and company, with every soul's desire.\nVice he subdued, by goodly behavior,\nLike as a rider does a wild steed subdue,\nHis body subject, his soul was governor,\nFrom vice withdrawn, to goodness and virtue.\nWhen pride rebelled, meekness fled\nFar from my mind and alms, subdued avarice\nAlways he noted this saying, just and true:\nNoble minds disdain covetousness.\nHis death declared that sloth he did perceive\nBy hardy courage, as the first in jeopardy\nAlways he used some noble exercise\nSuch as belong to noble chivalry\nIn him was found no spark of envy\nAlways he lauded and praised worthiness\nSuch as were doughty, rewarding largely\nWrath saved in season, he wisely could repress.\nOf wine or Bacchus, despised excess\nFor minds kindled to acts merciful\nSeeking for honor and name of doughtiness\nDespised surfeit and living beastly\nIn him no power had lust venereal\nFor busy labor and pleasant abstinence\nAll carnal lust soon causes one to fall\nNo lust subdues where diligence reigns\nHe was a pillar of sober continence\nHis only treasure and jewel was good name\nBut O cursed death, thy wrathful violence\nBy unexpected stroke, half blinded his fame\nWho may I accuse or put in blame?\nGod or fortune or impotent nature?\nGod does his pleasure, and death will have the same.\nNature was mighty and long able to endure.\nIn fortune the fault is, now am I sure.\nI would, if I dared, accuse his tyranny.\nO cursed fortune, if you are a creature,\nWho gave the power to people to abuse?\nYour mutable might causes me to ponder,\nWhen man is plunged in dolour and distress,\nYour face you change, which did erst refuse,\nBy such sudden chances, him lifting to riches.\nAnd such as have long lived in noblesse,\nSuddenly you plunge in pain and poverty.\nWealth, honor, strength, right, justice, and goodness,\nMisery, dolour, low room, and iniquity,\nThese you reward like as it pleases thee,\nTo man's merit, without respect at all.\nOne day being in great authority,\nAgainst tomorrow, you cause to fall.\nWhen man is worthy of an imperial room,\nOn him you frown with froward countenance.\nWeyke is thy promise, constantly shifting like a ball.\nThou hast no favor, to godly governance.\nNo man advances by merit, thou usest not.\nO blinded fortune, often inauspicious.\nWhen man trusts, then some mischance befalls him.\nUnaware, his fortune and estate change.\nTell me, fickle fortune, why did you wither\nThe living season of such a captain,\nWho, when his deeds should be lauded,\nYour favor turned, leaving him suffering to be slain.\nI blame fortune and the excuse again,\nFor though your favor to him was rigorous,\nSuch is your custom, to be uncertain,\nEspecially when man is high and glorious.\nBut most worthy duke, high and victorious,\nTake respite to console, see the uncertain\nFates of other princes, whose fortunes prosper,\nOftentimes ending in harsh adversity.\nRead of Pompey, whose peerless dignity,\nAgainst great Caesar, brought wealth to Rome's defeat.\nWhom after fortune brought in captivity,\nHe in Egypt was ultimately vanquished.\nIn like manner, Caesar, who contended with him,\nWhan all the world submitted to him,\nFrom his high honor, suddenly he descended,\nMurdred in Rome, by unfortunate chance,\nCato, Senecca, and Tully, with their wisdom,\nProved fortune blind to their estate,\nThrough wrongful slanders and deadly violence.\nTo poor and rich, it makes no difference,\nOld Polycrates, supposing danger past,\nWith dishonor ended his excellence,\nGreat Alexander, downcast by fortune,\nDrank a draft of poison at the last,\nWhom all the world could not save,\nWhat is all honor and power but a blast?\nWhen fortune threatens to take away life,\nBehold Pyrrhus, the unfortunate king,\nWith a small stone, prostrate on the ground,\nSee Valerian brought down from his estate,\nFrom his empire, in Percy's thrall and bound,\nOf old Priamus, it is written,\nHow Paris and Hector received mortal wound,\nTo trust in fortune is a vain thing,\nThe mighty Cyrus, king of realms two.\nWas slain and his host, of Thomyrus the queen,\nThis is no matter, for new falls from old,\nThis shall be, this is, and this has ever been,\nBold hearts are nearest danger to comply,\nTo die in battle is honor as men see,\nSuch famous ending, the name magnifies,\nA worthy duke, no cause is to complain,\nHis life did not end foul nor dishonestly,\nIn bed nor tavern, his lusts to maintain,\nBut like becoming, a noble captain,\nIn sturdy harness, he died for the right,\nFrom death's danger, no man may fly certain,\nBut such a death is meet for a noble knight.\nBut death it to call, I think it is unright,\nSince his worthy name shall last perpetual,\nTo all his nation, example and clear light,\nBut to his progeny, most specifically,\nHis soul is in pleasure, of glory eternal,\nSo doughty a duke, may joy that noble tree,\nWhose branches honor shall never fade nor fall.\nWhile beasts are in the earth, or fish in the sea.\nLo, Codrus, I have told you by and by\nOf shepherd Cornir's woeful elegy,\nWherein he mourned the grievous pain and hard\nAnd last departing of noble lord Hawarde,\nMore he lamented of this good admiral,\nBut truly, Codrus, I cannot tell it all.\n\nCodrus:\n\nMynalcas, I swear by holy Peter's cope,\nIf all things fortune as I have trust and hope,\nIf happy wind blow, I shall or it be long\nComfort your sorrow and well reward your song,\nWhat trust man a while, till better fortune come,\nIf my part be any, then shall yours be some.\n\nMynalcas:\n\nIf you in purpose so to reward my hire,\nGod grant the Codrus thy wishing and desire.\n\nCodrus:\n\nFarewell, Mynalcas, for this time God guard you,\nNear is winter, the world is too hard.\n\nMynalcas:\n\nGo wretched Ingard, God send the care and pain,\nOur lord let the never come hither more again.\nAnd as did Midas,/ god turn all to gold\nThat ever you touch/ or shall hold in hands\nFor so much on gold/ is fired your liking\nThat you disdain/ both virtue and craft.\n\nExplicit.\n\nThus ends the fourth Eclogue of Alexander Barclay,/ containing the manners of rich men towards poets and other clerks.\nPrinted by Richard Pynson,/ printer to the king's most noble grace.\n\nIn cold January,/ when fire is comfortable,\nAnd the fields/ are near intolerable,\nWhen sheep and shepherds/ leave field and fold,\nAnd draw to cotes/ to escape the cold,\nWhat time the verdure/ of ground and every tree\nBy frost and storms/ is deprived of beauty,\nAnd every small bird/ thinks the winter long,\nWhich well appears/ by ceasing of their song,\nAt this same season,/ two herds, fresh of age,\nAppointed a time,/ met both in one cottage.\nThe first was named Faustus,/ the second Amyntas,\nHard it was/ to know which better husband.\nFor each of them both/ set more by pleasure.\nA man as abundant in riches or treasure as Amyntas was, was neither recognized by his clothing nor did one wrinkle stand out in his attire. In London, he learned to behave in a refined manner. He wore a high hat adorned with a fair brooch of tin, and his purse lining was simple and thin. Yet, a lord's stomach and a beggar's pouch were ill-matched to such a comely slouch. In the town and city, he had stayed for a long time. From thence, he fled for fear and poverty. No tavern, inn, alehouse, or taverner hid him while he was a hosteler. First, he was a hosteler, then a wafer seller, then a costermonger, and lastly a taverner. About all London, there was no proper price. But for a long time, he had been familiar with him. But when coin failed, he had no more favor. Therefore, he was glad to leave the town.\n\nHowever, Faustus heard that Sheep heard was even more fortunate. For he was always content with his estate. Yet, he had nothing to comfort him in old age.\nSave a milch cow and a poor cottage,\nThe town he used, and great pleasure had,\nTo see the city often while he was led,\nFor milk and butter, he thither brought to sell,\nBut never thought he, in the city to dwell,\nFor well he noted, the madness enormity,\nEnvy, fraud, malice, and such cruelty,\nWhich reign in cities, therefore he led his life,\nUp in the hills in the village, without debate and strife,\nWhen these two herds were thus together met,\nHaving no charges nor labor to let,\nTheir sheep were all secure and closed in a cot,\nThemselves lay in little, pleasantly and hot,\nFor costly was fire, in hardest of the year,\nWho have the most need, every time is dear,\nFor passing of time and recreation,\nThe both delighted in communication,\nNamely they pleaded, of the diversity,\nOf rural husbands and men of the city,\nFastus accused and blamed Citizens,\nTo them imputing great faults, crime & sins,\nAmyntas blamed the rural men again,\nAnd each of the both, his quarrel maintained.\nAll wronged / all malice and ill will\nClearly laid aside / each did rehearse his skill\nBut first Amintas / thus to speak began\nAs he who counted / himself the better man\n\nFinis Prologue.\nAmintas speaks first.\n\nThe winter snows / all cover the ground\nThe northwind blows / with a fierce sound\nThe long winter's cycles / at the hour grows long\nThe streams frozen / the night is cold and long\nWhere boats rowed / now carts have passage\nFrom yoke the oxen / be loosed and bondage\nThe plowman rests / avoid all busyness\nSave when he tends / his harms for to dress\nMably his wife / sits before the fire\nAll black and smoke / clothed in rude attire\nSetting some gruel / and stirring the pottage\nOf peas or grain / a noble meet for Lent\nThe summer season / men count now laudable\nWhose fervor before / they thought intolerable\nThe frosty winter / and weather temperate\nWhich me praysed / they now despise and hate\nCold they desired / but now it is present.\nThe braule and grutch / their minds not content,\nThus mutable men / please them cannot hold,\nAt great heat grutchyng / and grutehing, what it is cold,\n\nFaustus.\n\nAll pleasure present / of men is counted small,\nDesire obtained / some count eth nothing at all,\nWhat men hope after / that seems great and dear,\nAt light by distance / appears great and clear.\n\nAmyntas.\n\nEach time and season / has its delight and joys,\nLook in the streets / behold the little boys,\nHow in fruit season / for joy they sing and hope,\nIn Lent each one / full busy is with his toil,\nAnd now in winter / for all the grievous cold,\nAll rent and ragged / a man may behold,\nThey have great pleasure / supposing well to dine,\nWhen men are busyed / in killing of fat swine,\nThey get the bladder / and blow it great and thin,\nWith many beans / or peasen bound within,\nIt ratles / sounds / and shines clear and fair,\nWhile it is thrown / and cast up in the air,\nEach one contends / and has a great delight.\nWith foot or hand, the bladder to strike\nIf it falls to the ground, they lift it up again\nThey count this labor for no pain\nRunning and leaping, they drive away the cold\nThe sturdy plowmen, lusty, strong and bold\nOvercome the winter with driving the foot ball\nFor getting labor, and many a grievous fall\n\nMen labor more in fruitless vanity\nThan in fair works of great utility\nIn such thriftless ways we labor for damage\nWe waste labor which brings no advantage\n\nTouching our labor, it cannot displease me\nWhile we are at rest, and better here at ease\nIn the warm litter, small pain has little power\nHere may we wallow while milk is on the fire\nIf it is curdled, of bread we need no crust\nIf you bid Faustus, of this you shall have some\n\nWinter declares hard need and poverty\nMen feel it then, who have necessity\nTruly, Amyntas, I tell you my intent\nWe find young people to be most unimproved\nWe stray in summer, without thought or care for what we may need in winter. As soon as we hear a bagpipe or a drown man, we leave our labor - our money is gone. But when the north wind brings violent storms and cold water, and every bow and tree is bare, we can clearly see empty nests. Then all our wool and lambs are gone and sold. We tremble naked and almost die for cold. Our shoulders are bare, our hose and shoes rent by frost. Thus, all is gone and spent. This comes from lacking good provision. Youth delights in counsel, scorning discretion. When poverty has caught us in its snare, then winter declares our mad folly. Now truly, Amyntas, I tell you this: town dwellers live much more fortunate and somewhat wiser than we. They gather treasures and riches in abundance. They spoil the lambs and foxes of their skins.\nTo lap their wombs and fat sides therein,\nIn lust and pleasure, and in good abundance,\nThey pass their lives, we have not sufficiency,\n\nAmyntas.\n\nThe men of the earth are fools, every one,\nWe poor shepherds, are not to blame alone,\nMore folly vexes, the man of the city,\nI grant you, we are outdone, they are madder,\nThough I have long dwelt, did live in the city,\nI favor it not, truth dare I boldly tell,\nThough Citizens are often reproachable,\nYet fortune to them is much more favorable,\nFortune to them is like a tender mother,\nAs a stepmother to us, she appears,\nThem she exalts to honor and riches,\nUs she oppresses in care and wretchedness,\nWhat is fortune but a thing changeable?\nAn unhappy madness, unworthy and unstable.\n\nAmyntas:\nLet me be fortunate, and soon I shall become great estate,\nMy coin shall increase, and shortly I shall be,\nCalled to office, to govern a city,\nAll men shall hear me, and give me credence.\n\nFaustus.\nThe comic bearhead / shall show me reverence\nAll other rulers / bow to me and the comic bearhead\nShall gladly desire / to have my advice if I am happy and fortune smiles upon me\nThus I shall ascend / and mount within a while\nAsk thou of Cornix / declare to him what more than conying exalts many a man\nAmyntas.\n\nO Faustus, Faustus / you err from the way\nThis is not fortune / she can do little for me\nThough I myself / recounted but lately\nThat fortune has might / to magnify a man\nI keep the opinion / of witless rulers\nAnd grounded myself / on no authority\nIt is not fortune / that grants excellence\nTrue honor is won / by virtue and science\nIf men gain honor / by other policy\nIt is no honor / but wretched misery\nGod makes mighty / God gives true honor\nTo godly persons / of godly behavior\nGod first disposed / and made diversity\nBetween rude plowmen and men of the city\nAnd in what manner / Cornix thine own mate\nAs we went talking / he recounted to me late\n\nFaustus.\nWhat told you, Cornyx? I tell you, I have good reason for concealing such things. My wit is fertile; no reason did I lack. But truly to declare, my money was but scant. But what then? Some man has complained of having too little or nothing of riches.\n\nAmyntas.\n\nIf you take delight in my tale, then take some labor, for now is a good respite. Faustus, arise, you who are both young and able, go and see our wether in the cot. Go, man, for shame, who leaves profit for the pleasure of hot straw.\n\nThink not, Amyntas, that Faustus has disdained\nTo do your pleasure; I shall refuse no pain.\nLook here, Amyntas, Lord Benedict,\nThe cold snow reaches much higher than my knee.\nScant may the houses sustain such a burden.\nLess harm is tempest and sudden storm of rain.\nOn top of the chimney, there is a heap of snow.\nSo our steeple is lower. The snow is so white and the sun so bright, that plainly Amintas, I am unable to see.\n\nAmintas:\nGive to the beasts good roven in plain,\nAnd stop all the holes where thou can find faults,\nWith stubby sticks, daub them with some clay,\nAnd when thou hast done, come again on thy way.\n\nNothing is more noisome to flock, cottage, or fold,\nThan sudden tempest and unexpected cold.\nWhat now, friend Faustus, here again so soon?\nBy short conclusion, bad work appears plain.\nThy coming again, I think, is all too soon.\nOught we not to have mended or profited to have done?\n\nFaustus:\nThis confusing weather made me more diligent.\nI ran all the way, both as I came and went,\nAnd there I hastened, and took the greater pain,\nBecause I lightly wished to be with thee again.\n\nAfter great cold, it is full sweet, God knows,\nTo tumble in the straw or in the lighter heat.\nNow we are Faustus, in high up to the chin,\nFully thy promises, I pray thee now begin.\nThe beginning of the diversity between rural men and city men I know, and I'll speak of Cornyx, whom I saw pass six years ago. His joyful jests often made me glad. Our first acquaintance was when I was a lad. Now speak, Faustus, and I will remain still until you have finished and spoken your will.\n\nThis great difference and first diversity between rural men and city men began in this way, as Cornyx told me. He could relate many old matters. First, when the world was formed and created, and Adam with Eve were set in their estate, our Lord joined them both as man and wife to live in concord during the season of their life. He commanded mankind to multiply by generation to get progeny. They both obeyed this sweet commandment with faithful hearts and diligent labor. But had they been wise, they would have been wary of the fatal fruit which kindled all their care.\nBut to my purpose, Eve had two children: a son and a daughter. The Lord disposed so. Year by year, she brought forth two twins. When God assists, man's work is not in vain. By such manner, these two did apply themselves to fulfilling the world and increasing its population. At last, in the fifteenth year, the Lord appeared to Eve, our mother. Now hear me, Amyntas. Adam was on the field, feeding his flock without fear or dread. There were no wolves then living. He was not troubled at that time by Jelowis. There was no one to commit such villainy. No horned creatures were living at that time. Long after this, this cursed crime began. There was no cock at that time between east and west. To lay wrong eggs in a strange nest, none suspected the living of his wife. Wealth was quiet and pleasant without strife. But after people began to multiply, the flame of Jelowis was first kindled.\nFor that man fears greatly, suspecting fraud frequently, in vain. She flees in haste to have more pleasure and presents those hidden before, unrequired, saying, \"O Lord, these also are my true children.\" These are the fruit, also, of my womb. Hide in shame, fastness, within my house at home, O Lord, most high father, creator. Grant them some office of honor, save. Their appearance was rugged, powdered all with chaff. Some were full of straw, some other full of draff. Some were adorned with cobwebs and dust. One, beholding on them, might be afraid. Their color was black, and their figure was bad. Uncomely to see, misshapen in stature. Our Lord did not smile on them to show pleasure. But He said to them thus, with troubled countenance, \"You all smell smoky, of stubborn and of chaff. You smell, if the ground, and of wedges and draff. And after your sent and tedious savour.\"\n\"Shall you be to wines and all your behavior, none can a pitcher turn to a silver pitch, nor make lovely silk from a goat's fleece, and hard is also to make without fail, a bright two-handed sword from a cow's tail, No more will I make, how it be that I can, Of a wretched wretch, a noble gentleman, You shall be plowmen and tilers of the ground, To pain and labor shall you always be bound, Some shall keep oxen and some shall hogkeepers, Some shall be thrashers, some other shall keep sheep, To dig and to ditch, to hedge and to dyke, Take this for your lot and other labor like, To drudge and to drag in vile and rude works, This way shall you live in endless servitude, Ripping and mowing of other grass and corn, Yet shall town dwellers often laugh you to scorn, Yet some we shall grant to dwell in the city, For to make puddings or butchers to be, Cobblers or tinworkers or else costard jaggers, Hostelers or daubers or drowsy water carriers\"\nAnd such other sort, whose daily business\nPasses in works and labor ever unyielding,\nTo store, and to sweet, and subject to become,\nAnd never to ride, from bondage and thralldom,\nThan brought our lord to them the cart and plow,\nThe gad and the whip, you made and the wheelbarrow,\nThe spade, the shovel, the fork and the plow,\nAnd all such tools, he bade them be tough,\nAnd never to grumble, at labor nor pain,\nFor if they so did, it would be in vain.\nThus spoke the father and lord, omnipotent,\nAnd then he ascended up to the turret.\nThus began honor, and thus began bondage,\nAnd diversity, of city and village,\nAnd servile labor, first in this way began,\nDemand of Cornix, declare the truth you can,\nThis told me Cornix, who dwelt in the fen,\nI trust his saying, before a thousand men.\nFaustus.\nIs this the matter, prayed Faustus,\nAstraea we for fables, I set by them no store,\nIt would be a marvel, if Cornix's matter told.\nTo praise of shepherds or plowmen to uphold him,\nHe dwelt in the town and held with the city,\nUntil necessity moved him, as it has driven thee,\nWhen none of you both dare to the town resort,\nAmong us shepherds, yet find ye here comfort,\nSo both thou and he be greatly to blame,\nTo eat our victuals and then to hurt our name,\nThe young men of towns to mock us have a guise,\nNought else can they do but lies to devise,\nThis vain invention and foolish feigned fable,\nAgainst rural men they have delight to babble,\nAnd nothing they ashamed, as blessed wretches unwise,\nOf God almighty, such easiness to devise,\nThis scornful scoffing declares openly,\nAgainst rural men, rebuke and injury,\nBut thou art so rude, thy panche is so fat,\nAgainst thine own self, thou busy art to chat,\nLife this same Jest is thy rebuke and blame,\nThy dulled reason can not perceive the same,\nBut I will prove thee, that rural people be,\nMore wise and noble than they of the city.\nAnd the city is full of fraud and strife,\nWhen we in village have good and quiet life,\nAmyntas.\nI pray thee, Faustus, herefore be not wrath,\nTo have displeasure of me, I were loath,\nI thought not maygrave, I told it for a joke,\nIf I had known, I should have said nothing,\nBut say thy pleasure, now tell for thee the sentence,\nAnd I shall here thee with sober patience,\nFaustus.\nI shall not deny our pain and servitude,\nI know that plowmen for the most part are rude,\nNow shall I tell thee high matters true and old,\nWhich courteous Candydus unto me once told,\nNought shall I forge nor of any lying tale,\nThis is true history and no surmised fable,\nAt the beginning of things first of all,\nGod made shepherds and other men rural,\nBut the first plowman and tiller of the ground,\nWas rude and stubborn, disdaining to be bound,\nRough and stubborn, and Cain did him call,\nHe had no mercy and pitied none at all,\nBut like the ground is dull, stony, and tough.\nThe first plowman was stubborn and rebellious to the plow.\nThe first plowman was strong and obstinate, forward in will and a mover of debate.\nBut the first shepherd was meek and nothing fell,\nHumble as a lamb, and he was named Abel.\nA sheep gives milk and has little gall.\nSo this good Abel had no ill will at all.\nNo shepherd found him injurious or wrong,\nIn his life while he was among them.\nAnd often from his flock, he made good sacrifices\nOf calves or lambs, such as were most precious.\nAnd of fat wethers, he spared not the best.\nTo honor our Lord and please his delight.\nThus had he favor with God, omnipotent.\nSo pleasing to our Lord that to this time present,\nFrom the first beginning of earth and man mortal,\nGod has had favor to people pastoral.\nAnd angels have come to defend and keep,\nSome shepherds were in land of assertion,\nThose after have been promoted very high.\nSo that from cotes and pastoral houses, they have ascended to royal dignity, Charges and labor have made my reason blind, That I cannot call to mind their names, Yet let me study, avoiding perturbanance, So may I call them to my remembrance, Lo, now I have them: Abraham, and I, Job, Lot, I sac, young Joseph, These, and all the patriarchs, Have not despised, poor sheep nor herds' work. Our Lord has called them from humble things And made them princes, dukes, other kings, So have they changed their pastoral clothing With golden garments, purple, and gay palms, And then have, by their magnanimity, Brought noble royal lines in their captivity, And have in battle been mighty conquerors, Won immortal fame and excellent honors, Paris was a pastor, the son of Priam, Pan, Sylenus, Orpheus, and Joly Tyterus, Were shepherds, and Salmon was likewise, Whose son he would have offered in sacrifice, Moses was a shepherd, and kept his flock.\nWhen he came to the bush, flaming,\nCommanded by God to leave his flock and go,\nOn God's message, to stubborn Pharaoh,\nApollo was heard, sometimes in Greece,\nNothing disdaining, to handle ewe and fleece,\nAs poets write, he left divine honor,\nGlad among wethers to be a governor,\nThe blessed angels brought to such men as we,\nMessage of concord, of peace and unity,\nAnd sang that gloria shone in the sky,\nWhich shepherds first, through certain message,\nKnew that God was made man to buy humanity,\nAnd he\nSaw God incarnate and born first of all,\nAnd this was pleasure of God's majesty,\nThat simple herds, him first of all should see,\nAnd in their manner make offerings to him,\nBefore estates, as rich and mighty kings,\nThe joyful harper, who was a king afterwards,\nAnd slew the giant, so boldly with his sling,\nWas first a shepherd, or he had not been worthy.\nRight so were many, as bold and strong as he.\nAnd our Lord Jesus, our God and savior, named himself a shepherd or pastor. Right so he named men meek and patient. Think not these words glossed nor in vain. They are the gospel, so says Sir Peter plainly. I saw them myself well painted on the wall. Late hanging upon our church cathedral, I saw great rams in picture and small lambs. Dancing, some sleeping, some so waking of their dams. And some on the ground, it seemed to me lying still. Then I saw horsemen at the pendant of a hill. And the three kings with all their company. Their crowns gleaming, bright and ornamentally. With their presents and mystical gifts, all this I beheld in picture on the wall. But the poor pastors, as innocent people, first saw the cry of our omnipotent Lord. Thus it appears, God loves poor pastors. Since he granted them to have great honors. Our Lord has favor, both in the sheep and the fold. As it appears, by the old histories.\nOur lord is ready to succor the village,\nDisdaining towns for petty malice and outrage,\nFor God is content with simple poverty,\nPride He despises and wrongful dignity,\n\nAmyntas.\n\nIn good faith, Fastus, your tale is commendable,\nBased on learning and grounded in truth,\nI recently saw that picture,\nI saw the manger, I saw the ox and ass,\nI well remember the people in my mind,\nI still think I see the black faces of the indians,\nI still think I see the herds and the kings,\nAnd in what manner were their offerings ordered,\nAs long as I live, the better I will love\nThe name of herdsmen and citizens,\nAmyntas, I pray that God give you care,\nIf you spare the faults of any city,\nSpeak out and spare not, and touch their error,\nYet may I come more than an hour.\n\nFastus.\n\nThen let us turn to speak a while of Cysezyns,\nTo touch their folly and part of their sins,\nDo not think, Amyntas, that they of the city\nLive better lives or wisely than we.\nAll if they clothing be doubled for the cold,\nAnd though it glister so gayly in bright gold,\nShining in silks, in purpure, or velvet,\nIn furryd robes or clokes of scarlet,\nAnd we poor herds in russet cloak and hood,\nIt is not clothing can make a man be good.\nBetter in rags, pure living innocent,\nThan a soul delighted in sumptuous garment.\nTrust me, Amyntas, myself with these same eyes,\nHave in the city such oftentimes seen,\nJet in their silks and brag in the market,\nAs they were lords. I have often seen them, Jet\nWho are stark beggars and live in need at home,\nAnd often go to bed for need with empty womb.\nNothing is more foolish than such wretches be.\nThus with proud port, to cloak their poverty,\nWhat is need clothed or feigned abundance,\nPoverty, sloth, and wretched governance,\nWhat is fair semblance with thought and heavens,\nNought else but clothed folly.\nAnd some have I seen, which is a thing damnable.\nThat why they would have / a life delightful\nRest at their pleasure / and fare deliciously\nHave suffered their wives / defiled wantonly\nHave sold their daughters / flower of virginity\nO deed unworthy / O blind iniquity\nFame, honor soul / and chastity be sold\nFor wretched living / o cursed thirst of gold\nO damnable deed / so many for to spill\nOne wretched carcass / and belied to fill\nWhat thing is viler / what more abominable\nWhat thing more foolish / more false & detestable.\n\nAmyntas.\nWhat if they cannot / to other crafts give\nNor find another way / or means for to live\nNeed has no law / of two evils choose\nTo choose the least evil / is none iniquity\n\nFaustus.\nIf they have as many / souls as we\nAs much reason / and hands like plenty\nWhy may they not to honest work give\nAnd find other way / and manner for to live\nNo law permits / nor wills man\nTo commit murder / for harsh necessity\nNo more should one / his soul defile nor kill\nFor temporary pleasure or to fulfill lust, yet in cities, many are ensnared by folly, enticed by craft to acquire great riches. By such crafts, no man has ever found riches. Since time began, our Lord first formed matter and grew it. As Alchemists, enticed by policy, they believed in nature's ability to alter and multiply coin. Some washed rough metals with many folds of herbs, intending to turn them into gold. All pale and smoky, they lost their lives through such continuous labor. Another sort is not unlike this, who spent their time in writhen art magic. Supposing some treasure to have been hidden for many years within the ground, what is more foolish, more full of vanity, or more repugnant to say and abandon? Because they wished to flee, they used trifles and wretched, vain things. They proved all things worthless because they would not do anything. Still seeking news, still troubled in their thoughts, because they wished to flee the labor of the land.\nAll idle trifles/such take in their hands\nStyle be they busy/and never come to an end\nTo thing profitable/do few of them intend\nSome live by rapine/gyle/fraud and policy\nParasitic oppression/and some in usury\nSome gladly borrow/and never pay again\nSome keep from servants/the stripped of their pain\nSome rest men guiltless/and cast them in prison\nSome by strong thieves/out of the dungeon\nSome fawn some flatter/ma trust not who they smile\nThen frame the frauds/men slyly to beguile\nSome in one hour/more promises to the will\nThan all his days/he thinks to fulfill\nBy thousands of means/of fraud and craftiness\nThey lie in wait/for honor and riches\nThey feed the rich/and often let the poor\nDie for pure cold/and hunger at their door\nWe feed fat oxen/they Marmosets keep\nWe feed fat kids/Lambs/and good sheep\nAnd they feed haws/apes/also hounds\nAnd small is their joy/save within our bounds\nWe bring them butter/eggs/cheese/and wool\nTancards of the mild and cream-colored, and the full-fleshed and living,\nHave not a thing without our labor, truly.\nWe are the feeders of wethers and fat hogs,\nAnd they of the city feed birds and great dogs.\nNow, Judge Amyntas, which of these seems to have\nThe greatest wealth and nobility?\n\u00b6 Amyntas.\nIf by your labor, it proceeds that more riches and greatest wealth,\nAs truth surely seems,\nThan this Imeruiale that the city folk\nHave such great complaints and necessities,\nI cannot recall the cause.\nWhereof proceeds their store and abundance?\n\u00b6 Faustus.\nThe cause I told you, what else would you have more\nBy fraud and flattery, have they so much store?\nDo you not see plainly how the city folk\nDaily deceive our poor simple selves,\nWith cruelty against us they rage,\nBy false oppression or fair feigned language,\nThey think it pleasure that sorrow befalls them,\nBy closed words, they take us in a trap.\nThe most of them all counts it an act of charity\nTo deceive us herds, this is a gentle means\nFor us they toil, here in wind, cold and rain\nAnd deceive and mock us for our pain\nWith minds and tongues they study and ponder\nBoth day and night, herds to abuse\nTheir wit and body, all whole do they apply\nFor us poor wretches, to study policy\nAnd after their deceit, guile and deception\nThey then laugh at us, into derision\n\nAmyntas.\n\nHow did you come to know of this wickedness\nAnd of these manners of those of the city\nI myself dwelt there and was privy to some of these things\nYet I am unaware\n\nFaustus.\n\nYou could not perceive well their wickedness\nParchase your manners, did with their lives agree\nThere is seldom seen great contradiction\nWhere men agree in disposition\nNo fault with morians, is black disformity\nBecause all the sort, like their favor be\nSo could you not see their vices nor blame them\nBecause your own life was filled with the same.\nBut I knew them. While I brought butter to sell to the city and other victuals, I used milk to cry out. At that time, I had knowledge of an apothecary. I learned much from him, not for the purpose of exercising the same. He could make playthings and new comedies. In valor scant worth, he was a couple of onions. Yet he sold the same as if it were gold so dear. If it happened to be an infective year, I was acquainted with many a huckster. With a costard-seller and an hostler, this thief was crafty, poor people to deceive. None like I suppose, within a dozen miles. Among all others, his frauds and crimes. He sold one bottle of hay a dozen times. And in the others, he could well drop a candle. He well knew how to handle his gestures. And in the same inn, there dwelt a pretty prime. She could well flatter and gloss with him and him. She made ten shilling of one barrel of ale.\nWho deceived / in pots she was willing\nTo win them with flesh / and painted like again\nAnd as I remember / her name was wanton Bess\nWho least with her dealt / he suffered not less\nWhat needed more process / no craft of the city\nIs but is mingled / with friend and subtlety\nSave only the craft / of an apothecary\nThat is all fraud / and cunning policy\nBut all these would swear / that they were innocent\nOr they told the city / did first of all frequent\nThere they learned / theft and fraud to exercise\nAnd man of nature / is quickly moved to vice\nSome are also / who spend their patrimony\nWhich was given to them / by their old ancestry\nOn queens / bawds / in riot and drunkenness\nTheir name defying / despising all goodness\nWith cost and pains / such bodily labor\nSeeking for shame / and death before their hour\nSay where is custom / of fornication\nIncest, adultery / and destruction\nForsaking women / murder and rape\nDiscord & brutality / and living like swine\nMalice and envy, and all iniquity,\nReign in the midst of the city.\nNew abuse, provoking men to sins,\nFirst began among the citizens.\nWhere dwell great princes and mighty governors,\nTheir life disparaging for vain honors.\nCaptains, soldiers, and all like company,\nWho put their life in jeopardy for money.\nThese do not dwell on land but haunt the city,\nPore herds do not fight but for necessity.\nFor liberty, life, and justice to uphold,\nTown dwellers fight for vain honor and gold.\nWe fight our friends and household to defend,\nThey fight for malice to ascend to riches.\nOur cause and quarrel is to maintain the right,\nBut all for themselves, without reason they fight.\nThey seek by wounds for honor and riches,\nAnd drive the weakest to hardest labors.\nOh blind soldier, why set your heart\nFor a vain trifle against a mortal dart?\nBy thousands perilously, you take your passage,\nFor a small lucre, running to great damage.\nThey give their sweet life for a poor ending, and often lose both, and heaven at the end. While some contend and fight for his wage, he spends his life, then farewell, advantage. What is more foolish or pleasing to madness than to spend life for glory and riches? What is glory, praise, or fame? What honor, report, or what is a noble name? Truly, nothing but the voice of folly comes to mind, and vain openness, subject to vanity. The passage of years, the return of the season, brings all these soon into oblivion. When life is faded, all these are out of sight. Like the daylight with the sun departs, they are all fools, who meddle with the sea, and might live otherwise in their own country. He is a fool, who runs to the tempest and might live on land in safety and rest. He is a fool, who has abundance and it displeases him to use and occupy. He who lives in care and wretchedness, his heir promotes him to lands and riches.\nIs it a fool who spares in misery,\nWith good and lands, his heir to magnify,\nAnd he who leaves that thing for to be done,\nTo his daughter, executor or son,\nWhich he himself might in his life fulfill,\nHe is but a fool, and has but little skill.\nBut all these sorts within the city be,\nThey lack wisdom and commit enormity,\nAnd also the youth in days festive,\nDo nothing but follow their lusts recklessly,\nThe weak they use them in worldly business,\nThe Sunday serves them to follow vice,\nWhat time the shops are closed all and shut,\nThen is the market with Thays, Beale, & Kyt,\nOn highest days, such ware in namely sold,\nFor nothing it grows old if it be once old,\nOn the Sunday, when men should give God honor,\nLabor is left, error ensues,\nOftentime the old friar, who wore in greenwich,\nAgainst such folly was boldly wont to preach,\nHe said where bawds and their abuses,\nWere accustomed to abide in one vile place alone,\nNow they are scattered and sparked abroad.\nLike wise as ships / are docked in a harbor\nIt is hard to know / good women from the wicked\nBy wicked example / good are in doubt to spoil\nBawds are suffered / so where they please to dwell\nThat the street fades / on the water's side\nCate, Jyll, mably, Phyllis, and fee Jeny\nBecause of the city / now cannot get one penny\nUlysses was wont / in angers for to be\nNow has she power / in all the whole city\n\u00b6 Amintas.\nThou passest measure, Faustus, by God a vow\nThou sayest of malice / right well I now perceive\nMute thy mind / and tongue for it is shame\nMen of the city / thus largely to blame\nWhat man is fawning / remember the rabble\nNow men uplandish / on holy days rage\nNothing can tame them / they are a beastly sort\nIn sweet and labor / having most chief comfort\nOn the holy day / as soon as morn is past\nWhen all men rest / while all the day lasts\nThey drink, they banquet, they revel and they jet\nThey leap, they dance, despising ease and rest\nIf they once here / a bagpipe or a drum.\nAnon to the elm or oak be they gone,\nThey use to dance, to brawl, and to rage,\nSuch is the custom and use of the village,\nWhen the ground rests from tilling and plows,\nThey must it trouble with the burden on their heels,\nTo Bacchus they banquet, no feast is festive,\nThey chide and the chat, they vary and they brawl,\nThey taunt and they rout, they revel and they cry,\nLaughing and leaping, & making cups dry,\n\nFaustus.\nWhat stoppest thee, thy words I defy,\nIt is to a rustic, rebuke and rusticity,\nSuch rural solace, so plainly to blame,\nThy words soundeth, to thy rebuke and shame,\n\nAmyntas.\nNot so, Faustus, I spoke it but in jest,\nAgain to the city, return in good name,\n\nFaustus.\nYet from the city, more souls can I tell,\nWho suppose they can number the stars of the sky,\nBy them supposing, each destiny to reveal,\nBut all are fools, who with this matter mingle,\nYet they are madder, who fix their intent,\nTo search the nature of God omnipotent.\nAnd dare be so bold to set their mortal sight on incomprehensible and pure immortal light. Our faith is better than those of the city. They believe by reason with great difficulty or they will believe they brawl with argument. Plain speech suffices us with innocent people. Against Sir Sampson, they defend their quarrel. We ask no question and use not to contend. We light the altars and many candles offer. When they of the town scarcely make a proposal. Their faith is feeble; our faith is sure and stable. They dare be bold with doctors for to babble. A worldly man, an aunt, knows nothing of doctrine. Because of his coin, he counts his reason fine. Trust me, Amintas; no force who hears me. The coin and knowing do not always agree. For some have great pain of that one, which of that other has little part or none. What should the fools that dwell in the city, or we seek to know of God's privacy? If it were necessary, the god would reveal it to simple wretches. It is in the power of God omnipotent.\nHis very presence is to represent, but Seth's knowledge is comprehensible. Why do fools seek for unpossibles? And if God will be unknown to us, why should our mortal minds discuss endless things and make all people equal in alms, which excels above all those dwelling in the city? We give will and choose our wives' coins and eggs. When brothers flatter and praise their own legs, for a score of pins and needles two or three, a gentleman clung to me two cheeses had. Philys gave coins because he charmed her. Ever since that time, she has felt less harm. Yet in the city, there is an incurable number. Pleaders and brokers, a foul and shamefast rabble. Merchants of Justice, hunters of riches. Crackers of coins, delayers of process. Prolonging causes and making wrong of right. And right of plain wrong, opposing law with might. Jailers of Justice, their cursed covetousness waters the plants of cruelty and vice. I have proven this by plain experience. \u00b6 Amyntas.\nBut tell me, Fastus, what causes this offense?\nFaustus:\nThe root and ground of this misgovernance\nIs favor reward and willful ignorance\nWhen coin or favor once dims the sight\nFarewell all justice, in prison laid is right\nYet in towns, a rabble fraudulent\nMurderers of people and free of punishment\nUnwilling and boasting of themselves of medicine\nAnd nothing perceiving of sense and doctrine\nIf they are fettered with rings and chains\nThen may they handle and touch private veins\nName all diseases and sores at their will\nAvoid of knowing of reason other skill\nSuch ride on mules and pages by their side\nBut if they had right, on asses they should ride\nAs touching rulers, of all the commonwealth\nThe more that they have of high authority\nOf liberty will and singular pleasure\nThe more the more, poor people they devour\nThe hounds sometimes want folds to keep\nNow wild wolves devouring all the sheep\nRulers are robbers and pilfers are pastors.\nGone are the guiding rulers of godly governance,\nWhere are the rulers and maintainers of justice?\nWhere are the friends of mercy and pity,\nOnce ruling wisely, not spoiling the city,\nWhere are the chaste rulers, just, meek and liberal?\nChange has come, fortune has devoured all,\nThe worst remains, gone are the meek and just,\nIn their place, folly and lust rule,\nWhere are the fathers, worthy of an empire,\nOf whom men told joyful tales by the fire,\nSometimes with tales, and other times with song,\nDriving away the long winter nights,\nAlas, Amyntas, nothing remains that is good,\nNot my cooks, my table, nor my hood,\nAll is consumed, all spent and worn out,\nSo is all goodness and wealth of the city,\nThe temples weep, bitterly complaining,\nThe poor people wail and call for help in vain,\nPoor widows and fatherless children,\nIn vain they bewail when wolves oppress them,\nSince there is no scourge, and virtue no reward,\nWho loves wisdom, his fortune is hard.\nCouncils and counsel now lie in the dust, but what is the cause? Law turned to lust. Lust stands in place of law and justice. Whereby good living is subdued by vice.\n\nAmyntas:\nI tell Faustus, this haste of yours exceeds the bounds of right and honesty. All men you blame are filled with vices. What man remembers some living in innocence? Some in the city are part of the offense.\n\nFaustus:\nI am not angry, I say but in truth. Hear me, Amyntas, one clause with brevity. As many deaths as breed in Ireland, As many gripes as breed in England, As many cockcrows as sing in January, And nightingales as sing in February, And as many whales as swim in the fen, So many are there in cities of good men.\n\nA good man is rare, not easy to be found, On land or in the city, or over all the ground. Many things belong to a perfect man. Ask that of Codrus, declare the truth he began. Wickedness increases and grows rapidly.\nGoodness and virtue come slowly up.\n Faustus.\n You are mad, I think, so many foes have we\n As dwell citizens, in all the whole city,\n They call us names, they pelt us with stones,\n And what they may get, they think they well do,\n To steal they constrain us, I tell you all hallow,\n And after by and by, they send us to the gallows,\n Therefore it is reason, if anything of theirs happens\n Or comes to our claws, it privately to trap,\n They often deceive us, deceive us again,\n We deceive slyly, contrive subtly and train,\n But this Amintas, to me is greatest grief,\n And doubt, for it is evil, stealing from a thief,\n If it is secret, we may deny it,\n If it is known, excuse it craftily,\n Prove felony, though it be used long,\n Is not called theft, but injury and wrong,\n All that they have, within these towns plain,\n Is our hard labor, sore travail and great pain.\n\n Amintas.\n Now you exceed,\n Faustus, the mark of equity,\n Faustus.\nWhat have the town dwellers endured for a while,\nTheir vices defile the whole world.\nThe air is corrupt, tainted by their enormity.\nFrom where come these summer storms, tell me,\nLightning, great winds, floods, hail, and thunder.\nI well remember,\nGreatly have I trembled, and caused houses to fall.\nThe water of the city is rotten and the cause of all.\nThe sun in midday often loses its light.\nLikewise, the moon, in the season of the night,\nHas been black or else as red as blood.\nThis sign, Amyntas, portends no good.\nWhy do the weeds grow and the corn wither,\nWhy is hay and grass often all lost,\nWhy do we lose our seat, our labor and expense,\nWhere does famine and grievous pestilence come from,\nAll these proceed from mad, corrupt manners,\nAnd those of the city are likely to grow worse.\nIf they do not reform, their living will be bestial.\nWhence came the fury, of harnesses and battle,\nWhich causes widows to lament their husbands.\nWhich brings with it all kinds of misery,\nAs theft and murder, great death, and poverty.\nThis fury first began in cities,\nTo the confusion of many a valiant man.\nThe city is well and originally grounded,\nBoth first and last, of deadly ills all.\nBreeding in the city was cruel Lycaon,\nBreeding among herbs was good Dewcalyon,\nNourished among shepherds was Renatus,\nAnd also his brother, the mighty Romulus.\nThe cause of the flood in the first city began,\nBy which was wasted nearly every best and man.\nOur Lord destroyed them. Five cities for outrage.\nRead where for sins he wasted one village.\nI believe when the world with fire shall be wasted,\nThe cause shall proceed and come from some city.\nWhat shall I touch upon, the savour and the stench,\nWhich is in cities, of gutters and sewers.\nThere men are choked with filth and deadly sent.\nHere we have odour of flowers redolent.\nI count myself happy, who won in the village,\nUndefiled, with citizens' outrage.\n\nParis (Amyntas).\nHaver done, have a straw and test, fill our bellies with the best cruddes. Leave the city and all Cuyle's outrage. Now it is season to turn to the potage. After dinner is best, as in my mind. The rest to declare, I fought remain behind.\n\nFinis.\n\nFive Eclogues of Alexander Barclay, the Citizen and Plowman.\n\nPrinted at London in Flete Street, at the sign of the Sun, by Wynkyn de Worde.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "Awake, ye ghostly persons, awake,\nBoth priest, pope, bishop, and cardinal.\nConsider wisely what ways that you take,\nDangerously resembling a fall.\nEverywhere, the mischief of you all.\nFar and near, it breaks out very fast,\nGod will necessarily be avenged at the last.\n\nHow long have you held the world in captivity,\nIn sore bondage of men's traditions?\nKings and emperors, you have deprived\nLewdly usurping their chief possessions.\nMuch misery you make in all regions.\nNow your frauds are almost at the last cast\nOf God sore to be avenged at the last.\n\nPoor people to oppress, you have no shame,\nQuaking for fear of your double tyranny.\nRightful justice you have put out of frame,\nSeeking the lust of your god, the b.\nTherefore, I dare you boldly to certify,\nVery little though you be of a ghost,\nYet God will be avenged.\nO Christian reader, from rashness refrain,\nOf hasty judgment and light sentence.\nThough some may reckon it forwardness of the clergy,\nTo detect their inconvenience. (Nevertheless,\nGive heed to Christ's words, thou shalt be warned,\nWhich say nothing should be done so secretly,\nBut it shall be known manifestly.\nWhere men discern no grief of darkness,\nF\nThe day is restrained from showing its clarity,\nTill the clouds are expelled from the night.\nAs long as we perceive not wrong from right,\nNeither holiness from false hypocrisy,\nThe truth cannot be known manifestly.\n\u00b6 Cursed are they, as Isaiah does express,\nWho presume the evil for good to commence,\nSaying that sweet is sour, and light is darkness,\nAs now in the clergy, we may perceive.\nWhose disguised madness in the later end,\nAs St. Paul to Timothy did foretell,\nShall be known to all men manifestly.\n\u00b6 An example of two he gives,\nWhose names were called I\nWhich by enchantment, through devils might,\nStrongly resisted the prophet Moses.\nDoing like miracles and wonders, so that none could see the very truth until their juggling was known manifestly. Christ, likewise, with his preaching. The Pharisees showing outward holiness were considered few. Vice cloaked under the shine of virtuousness. Until at the last their fierce anger, accusing the woman taken in adultery, they saw their vices detected manifestly. Their vices opened, they could not abide. Shame driving them to confusion, which beforehand through papal pride they bolstered out under abuse. It is the practice of their collusion.\nZele of righteousness feign outwardly\nUntil their faults are detected manifestly,\nWhich is evidently seen in our clergy,\nFaked godliness falsely pretending,\nWhereby most people believe\nThat they seek God's honor in all things,\nHowbeit, men should see that their seeking\nIs to confound Christ's gospel utterly.\nWhat greater contempt can they imagine\nAgainst God's high honor to deface\nThan to usurp on them His divine power\nAbominably sitting in holy places.\nThis has continued long time and space,\nAnd shall with outrageous blasphemy\nUntil their faults are revealed.\nScripture was first offered to them meekly,\nWithout any provocation.\nWhich they refused with indignation.\nTherefore, concerning their reformation,\nLittle trust is to be had certainly.\nTo conclude,\nI exhort unto patience,\nAdverting how and in what manner\nChrist rebuked this Pharisaical sort.\nAs Matthew reports in the twenty-fourth chapter.\nWith fearful sentence he cursed their wicked faults manifestly.\nGentleman.\nWith sorrowful heart, I complain\nConcerning the chance of my misery\nAlthough it is but in vain\nTruth oppressed with open tyranny.\nMy inheritance and patrimony.\nAgainst right, from me they keep away\nWhich say, for my friends' souls they pray\nMy ancestors of worthy progeny\nWith rents and livelihood largely endowed\nMaintained their estates honorably\nAiding the poor, indigence to exclude\nUntil at the last, the clergy sued\nPretending godliness under a false guise\nSaying they would pray for their souls\nStoutly they alleged before their sight\nHow after this life is a purgatory\nWherein their souls both day and night\nShould be tormented without memory\nExcept for their substance transitory\nUnto their seats, they would somehow pay\nSaying that they would pray for their souls.\nThey bore them in hand that they could\nSinners to bind and loose at their pleasure,\nTaking upon themselves to lead them right\nTo joy, whosoever should endure.\nOf popes pardons they boasted the treasure.\nChallenging heaven and hell the faith,\nSaying that they would pray for their souls.\nTo trust wife or children, they dissuaded,\nOr any friends or temporal persons.\nAffirming that our love should away fade\nWithout any memory of them at all,\nOnly to hope in their seats spiritual.\nThey enticed, with persuasions gay,\nSaying that they would pray for their souls.\nThus with wiles and vain arguments\nMy ancestors brought in to perplexity,\nPartly through fear of eternal pain,\nAnd partly for desire of felicity.\nThey consented, making no difficulty,\nTo grant their requests without delay,\nSaying that they would pray for their souls,\nTheir chief lordships and lands principal,\nWith comforts of their possession,\nTo the clergy they gave forthwith, all.\nWhich to receive without exception,\nThe covetous clergy made no denial,\nSaying that they would pray for their souls,\nBy means whereof, I and such others,\nSuffering the extremity of indigence,\nAre occasioned to theft or murder,\nFalling into much inconvenience.\nBecause the clergy, against conscience,\nDevours our possessions night and day,\nSaying, \"for our friends' souls they pray.\"\nI have a wife and children in my hand,\nWanting substance to sustain their lives,\nWherefore to the clergy that have my land,\nSometimes I come and pitifully complain,\nWhose statelines to help me having disdain,\nWith any comfort to me they say,\nThat for our friends' souls they daily pray.\nShould I and my household starve for hunger they would not give us half a penny though part of it\nSo that they live in wealth abundantly\nThey little regard our woeful pain.\nTo waste our goods they pay no heed\nIn vicious lusts and pompous attire they indulge, saying it's for their friends' souls they pray.\nThey assume apostolic authority but follow nothing of their profession.\nOften times they preach of Christ's power\nYet towards it they have no affection.\nIf they plead once in possession it is hard to get anything from them away, saying it's for our friends' souls they pray.\nThus we must bear their oppression\nWhile to complain there is no remedy\nThe world they have brought under their ambitious tyranny.\nNo respect they have for the misery\nOf us poor gentlemen who lie\nSaying that for our friends' souls they pray.\nAlas, is it not a miserable case?\nTo see idle persons void of pity\nOccupying the lands before our face\nWhich should belong to us by right.\nThey have richesse and we calamity\nTheir honor increased, ours must decrease\nSaying that for our friends' souls they pray\nThe husbandman.\n\nSir, God give you a good morrow\nI perceive the cause of your sorrow\nAnd most lamentable calamity.\nIt is for the intolerable oppression\nOf these monsters so uncaring\nWhom men cast out as spiritual.\nTruth it is, you poor gentlemen are\nBy their craftiness made needy and bare\nYour lands withholding by violence\nYet husbandmen everywhere\nAre now in worse condition far\nAs it may be marked by experience.\n\nGentleman.\nIn worse cases? no, that cannot be so\nLook over the whole world to and fro\nAnd thou shalt find that in their hands\nRemains the chief lordships and lands\nOf poor gentlemen's possession.\nThey have our ancestors' livelihood and rents\nTheir principal farms and tenements\nWith temporal freedoms and liberties.\nThey have obtained their kingdoms, many noble baronies, with esquires, lands, and knights' fees.\n\u00b6 Husbandman.\nNevertheless, they say specifically that your ancestors gave to them freely such worldly dominion and lordship.\n\u00b6 Gentleman.\nFreely said a [Gentleman].\nFor they were certainly compelled by their covetous deceit and falsehood.\n\u00b6 Husbandman.\nHow did they compel your ancestors:\n\u00b6 Gentleman.\nMary, in threatening the pains of hell\nAnd sharp punishment of purgatory,\nWhere to burn them, they made them believe\nUnless they would to them give\nPart of their substance and patrimony.\n\u00b6 Husbandman.\nBut how would they deliver it from them:\n\u00b6 Gentleman.\nAs they said by their prayers' assistance,\nWhich with boasting words they did allow.\n\u00b6 Husbandman.\nPrayer? God give her a shameful reproach.\nFor it is the most bribing thing\nThat ever was / I make God a vow.\nFor by her, the clergy without doubt\nRob the whole country roundabout,\nBoth commons and estates, none except.\nI have wrote that they have prayed so long already,\nThat they have brought the land to begging, and all that we get with sweat and toil,\nThey carry away with their praying, saying they pray for our souls,\nBut is their prayer not to the dead souls, but to the living?\nSo it is not worth a penny, Gentleman.\n\nTo the souls departed, it is not profitable,\nFor why, those who are in a damning case,\nNo assistance of prayer can be gained.\nAnd as for purgatory, there is none,\nAlthough there are many clerks who seek it,\nIt requires great pain.\n\nGentleman:\nTo the souls departed, it is not profitable,\nFor those who are in a damning case,\nNo assistance of prayer can avail.\nAnd as for purgatory, there is none,\nThough there are many clerks who seek it.\n\nHusbandman:\nThen I would their praying were at an end,\nFor if they pray thus long, God help me,\nThey will make the land worse than nothing.\nBut now I will seriously recount,\nHow wretchedly we husbandmen are brought low.\n\nFirst, when England was in its prime,\nOrdered by the temporal governors,\nKnowing no spiritual jurisdiction.\nThen in each state and degree,\nAbundance and plentiful prosperity,\nPeaceful wealth without affliction.\nNobles of blood were highly valued.\nVirtue was advanced, vice was hated.\nPrinces obeyed with due reverence.\nArtisans and men of occupation\nQuietly earned their sustenance\nWithout any grief of needy indigence.\nWe managed men prosperously\nOccupying the lands of husbandry\nHiring farmers at fair prices.\nThus, our living honestly we wanted\nAnd had enough to pay every man\nHelping those who were indigent.\nUntil at last the rapacious clergy\nThrough their cunning and hypocrisy\nGained to themselves worldly dominion.\nThen we were heavily burdened\nOur farms set up daily more and more\nWith shameful prices in such a fashion.\nThat we pay more now than half the sum\nThan before times we did by custom\nHolding nothing of their possession.\nBesides this, other contents of bribery\nSuch as paying tithes, open and secret\nAnd hearing of confession.\nAlso priestly duties and clerk's wages\nFrom pardons and friars' quarterages\nWith churches and altars' repairation.\nAll our charges cannot be numbered,\nWith which we are greatly oppressed,\nOverwhelmed with desolation.\nWe toil ourselves night and day,\nAnd are forced to drink wine and water,\nTo maintain the clergy's factions,\nGentlemen.\nThis is a great shame to be known,\nSeeing half the realm is their own,\nThat they charge you with such exactions.\nI think it is a great crime,\nFor they kept as good houses before,\nWhile their fine sons were elsewhere.\nHusbandman.\nYou, more plentiful houses, a great deal,\nHow is it advancing the common good,\nThey use this practice doubtless.\nWhereas poor husbandmen before the season,\nAccording to equity and reason,\nHad only to fear man or land,\nWithout any difficulty they might obtain it,\nAnd yet no higher price was set,\nThan good conscience required.\nBut now their ambitious greed,\nMakes one fear three or four.\nSometimes they bring six to one.\nWhich gentlemen let in farmers or else rich merchants for advantage,\nInstead of aiding the undoing of husbandmen. Thus, the commoners suffer damage,\nAnd the land is brought into ruin. Wealth from villages and towns,\nAlong with honorable renown, has fallen into my scrable poverty.\nPlentiful households hereby are decayed,\nRelief for the poor is far astray,\nAlms expelled with hospitality.\nBy such means, all things become dear.\nComplaint of subjects crying out far and near,\nOppressed with grievous calamity.\n\nGentleman.\n\nIndeed, you show the very abuse,\nNevertheless concerning our excuse,\nWhy gentlemen farm out the land.\nThe principal occasion is only this,\nThat our patrimony, given away,\nIs into the hands of the wolves of the clergy.\nBy their oppression, we are so beggared,\nThat necessity has compelled us,\nWith fear, to make such shifts.\n\nFor assuredly, husbandmen can well understand,\nRegarding expenses and charges of the land,\nThey disdain any part with us to take.\nHusbandman.\nYou by St. Mary I warrant,\nIn such cases their aid is very scant,\nMaking courtesy to do any good.\nLet the realm go which way it will,\nThey having ease and their bellies full,\nRegardlessly the common weal by the road,\nIf princes demand their succor or aid,\nThis answer from them is commonly said,\nWe are poor beggars at your grace.\nWe pray for your displaced ancestries,\nFor whom we sing masses and dirges,\nTo succor their souls in needful case.\n\nGentleman.\nOh, those before prayers are good cheap,\nSaying rather many masses in a heap,\nThan to give a poor man his dinner.\nWherefore as you said, so God help me,\nI see in their praying no commodity,\nNor a\nFor why, within these 400 years,\nThroughout Christendom was not a free man,\nOf those whom we mendicants call.\nAnd since that time various factions\nOf collegians, monks, and canons\nHave spread this region over all.\nAlso of priests were not the tenth part Which, as they say, have no other art But for us worldly people to pray. And yet the world is now far worse Than every man feels in his purse I dare say. Wherefore the truth openly to betray, I would they should lay their praying aside And give themselves to labor bodily. It were hard to bring them there Utterly refusing any labor to do Because they are people spiritually.\n\nGentleman.\nWere not the apostles spiritual also?\n\nHusbandman.\nYes, sir, but it is so long ago That their living is out of memory.\n\nGentleman.\nWe find it well in the New Testament.\n\nHusbandman.\nThe clergy say it is not convenient For laymen to be busy with it.\n\nGentleman.\nDo you know why they do that?\n\nHusbandman.\nIn faith, sir, I conjecture something And I suppose I do not mean amiss If secular people should then in deed See what Christ and the apostles' lives were\nWhich I doubt nothing is contrary to the living of our clergy.\nWhose abhorrence one knows, their pride should be thrown over. Few would bear their stateliness.\n\nGentleman.\nYou heat the nail upon the head,\nFor that is the thing they feared,\nLest scripture should come to light.\n\nGod commanded man in the beginning\nWith sweat of face to win his living,\nAs Moses in his first book writes.\nAnd as Mark says in the sixth chapter,\nChrist was on earth a carpenter,\nNot disdaining any occupation.\nAlso the disciples universally\nWith their hands labored busily,\nExcluding idle conversation.\n\nHusbandman.\nOur clergy live nothing according to their rate.\n\nGentleman.\nNo, they seek idly to announce their estate\nAnd to be had in reputation.\n\nHusband:\nAre they worldly?\n\nGentleman.\nSo help me I,\nAs it appears by their fashion.\nFor in matters of worldly business,\nThe clergy have much more, I assure thee.\nThe lords and dukes possess\nThey abstain not at all from secular matters\nChallenging titles of worldly honor\nBut is the realm in any necessity\nWhereas they should condescend in duty\nTo stand by their prince with support\nThan to be of the world they deny\nSaying that their help is spiritually\nFrom the world making a separation.\n\nHusbandman.\nWhile they use such craftiness to contrive\nThe temporal ought them to deprive\nOf their worldly dominion.\nAnd even as they say that they are spiritual\nSo without any worldly assistance\nTo live spiritually they should have no let.\n\nGentleman.\nThat would be an expedient medicine\nAccording to St. Paul's doctrine\nQui non laborat non manducet.\nNotwithstanding their power is so strong\nThat whether they do right or wrong\nThey have their own will without fail.\nTheir enormities so far outbreak\nThat all the world against them speaks\nBut alas, man what does it avail:\n\nHusbandman.\nThe remedy I can imagine\nIs best that we together determine\nTo get to London inconvenient.\nWhereas it is here for a surety told,\nThe king with his nobles hold\nA general council or parliament.\nGentleman.\nWhat wouldst thou that we should do there?\nHusbandman.\nThe constraint of our misery to declare\nUnder a meek form of lamentation.\nGentleman.\nSo should we be sure of such answers\nAs were made to the poor beggars\nFor their pitiful supplication.\nAgainst whom the clergy's reasons nothing worth,\nThe souls of purgatory they brought forth\nThe beggars complaint to discomfort.\nWherefore against our petition I tell,\nThey would bring out all the devils in hell\nTo do us some shameful spite.\nHusbandman.\nAnd was there no other way at all\nBut the souls of purgatory to call\nIn aid and assistance of the clergy.\nGentleman.\nIt was the surer way by St. John,\nFor had they to read scripture gone,\nI would they had been taken tardy.\nThe beggars' complaint was so grounded that the clergy would have been confounded if they hadn't hastened to purgatory.\n\nHusbondman: Where did they say purgatory should be?\n\nGentleman: They showed no certainty by scripture,\nAlthough they faced it with solemn words.\nJust like the man who claimed to discover\nA certain strange land but, when he saw\nThat his wit and labor seemed in vain,\nBegan to report the simplicity of rude people as blind.\n\nBut concerning our communication,\nThere is another consideration\nWhich somewhat more troubles my mind.\n\nYou know that in the parliament,\nThe chief of the clergy are resident\nIn a marvelous great multitude.\nWhose fierce displeasure is so terrible\nThat I judge it were not possible\nAny cause against them to conclude.\nAs for this one, we shall not be heard,\nAnd great men I tell you are afraid\nTo have any dealing with them.\nWhoever will contend against them\nShall be sure of a mischief in the end\nIs he gentleman, lord, or king?\nAnd I report to King John, along with other princes and lords, a great multitude, whom chronicles express by name. While they were alive, they caused them trouble, and after their death, they treated them cruelly in return. They did not cease to defame their honor. They long struggled against the good knight Sir Iohn Oldcastle, otherwise known as the Lord of, whom they brought to final destruction, along with many other noblemen. Moreover, at St. Edmund's burial place, some say that the famous Prince Duke Humfrey was prematurely ended by them. At that time, I could recount who they caused to be dispatched. Perhaps some of no lowly estate. Their tyranny is great without fail. Nevertheless, if we were to confront them with arguments from the holy gospels, the words of our Savior Christ would stop them, no matter how fierce they were. In the twenty-fourth chapter of St. Luke, our Savior forbids secular ambition for their great confusion and rebuke.\nIn his own example, he disdained worldly honor and claimed no kingdom for himself. When he sent out his disciples, he instructed them to be content with necessary food and apparel. In accordance with Saint Paul's teaching, we should have nothing beyond what is necessary. If the holy gospel commands us to be strong heretics against our church, then why have they strictly forbidden, under great pain, having the testament in English? This was done at London, where the bishop, with shameful blasphemy, breached it. Alas, the cruelty of this act fills my heart with fear. I fear that we shall all suffer bitter punishment at length for their outragious blasphemy.\n\nIt is truly to be feared in King Henry's days, of that name the fifth, the clergy lifted their pride, persecuting Christian brothers cruelly.\nThe gospel of Christ spread rapidly at that time. With all their power, they conspired against it. Wherever they threw them, they were arrested in sharp gallows and horrible dungeons, causing many to be burned in fire. Their fierce malice never ceased until they had extinguished the light of the gospel and holy scripture. Of all the books that they could get, they caused them to be set on a fair fire to expel God's word and do their harm. Consider what befallen them, most terrible plagues of fearful vengeance and endless sorrow for our nation. For within a short time after they lost their dominion, many a man's life was lost in France. Among themselves, there was most hateful murder. Many strong battles, one after another, with great effusion of English blood. Friend against friend, brother against brother. Every man at variance with another. The realm long remained in turmoil. Husbandman. Gentleman.\nI pray God we never find\nThe same vengeance for like offense,\nFor as it is in the Bible plainly read,\nGod left no land yet unpunished\nWhich again against His word made resistance.\n\nHusbondman:\nWell, sir, if scripture you bring forth,\nI beseech you, what is their answer?\nAre they so bold God's word to deny?\n\nGentleman:\nThey make of it an interpretation\nContrary to the text clean,\nThey allege the pope's authority,\nCustoms of ancient antiquity,\nWith the holy fathers' approbation.\nAlso the shedding of martyrs' blood\nFor their churches' preservation.\nBesides that, continuance of years,\nMiracles of bishops, monks, and friars,\nWhom for special patrons they hold.\nAnd finally, to make a conclusion,\nIn fortifying their abuse,\nOther practices they use manyfold.\n\nThey resort to lords and great estates,\nWith whom they are daily checkmates,\nYou to say, their soucraynes.\nAmong other communications, they admonish them with protestation to beware of the heretics, the Lutherans. whom they say is a new sect with execrable heresies entangled. Our forefathers, as wise as we, were content with humble simplicity to honor and obey their tutelage. None presumed until now against the clergy to bear any hate or grudged at their possession.\n\nHusbondman.\nBy Saint Mary, sir, that is a stark lie. I can show you a work by and by against that point making objection. I dare boldly assert that it is above a hundred years old, as the English itself does testify.\n\nGentleman.\nIs it so old as you here express, reproving their pompous lordliness? It is not then a new-found heresy.\n\nHusbondman.\nNo! but alas, half the book we want, having no more left than a remnant from the beginning of the sixth chapter truly.\n\nGentleman.\nAs for the fact that it makes no difference, begin earnestly at the sixteenth chapter. Prepare yourself seriously for the following. Though old writings may seem rough, they nonetheless contain the essence of a matter most fruitfully. \u00b6 Husbandman.\n\nTo read it, I will be diligent, though the style is nothing elegant with ornate speech set out curiously. Where the clergy perceive that lordlyness and worldly dominion cannot be borne out by scripture, they fly to arguments of means, saying in this manner: Saints Huge and Swithune were such lords, and in this they followed Christ's living and his doctrine. Therefore, we may be lawfully called lords. But I know well that Gabriel will blow his horn or they have proven the minor. That is, these saints or patrons in this case argued for the doctrine or the life of Jesus Christ.\nAnd of this you may see that such arguments that are not clothed with Christ's linening or his teaching bring nothing worth, though the clerks blind the multitude with them. But here Inoleyser shall tell, if I could, what reasons and costs the church makes and what wars they wage to continue this heresy so unwisely brought into the church. And yet they seek all ways they can. They even go openly armed into the field to kill Christian men to get and hold such lordship. And notwithstanding, St. Peter was so poor that he had neither gold nor silver, as he says in the Acts of the Apostles. And in his other worldly good Acts iii. he left all when he began to serve Christ. And as to change the title of worldly law that he had to such worldly goods, he made neither clay nor ever received after any worldly lordship. And yet they call all their whole kingdom St. Peter's ground or lordship.\nAnd therefore Saint Bernarde writes to Engenie, the pope, saying: \"If you wish to be a lord, seek it not by another law but by the apostle's right. He cannot give what he does not have, and he gave what he had, which was occupied with churches. Whether he gave lordship or not, here is what he says: 'Be not lords in the clergy, but be made an example according to I Peter. Christ's flock. And lest you think this is not said in truth, take heed of what Christ says in the gospel. The kings of pagans have lordship over them, yet they do not have it so. See how plainly lordship is forbidden to all apostles. If you be a lord, how dare you take upon the apostleship? Or if you be a bishop, how can you take upon the lordship? Plainly you are forbidden both. And if you wish to have both, you shall lose both, and be made as a simple as the one who goes before, and he that is a leader, let him look upon himself as a servant.\"\nThis is the form of an apostle's life / a ship is forbidden to be owned and served, according to Saint Bernarde. Therefore, no man may put another ground besides that which is put, which is Christ Jesus.\n\nHowever, I well know that clerks and religious folk do not occupy such ships in a proper manner as secular lords do, but in common, like the apostles and perfect people did in the beginning of Christ's church, as people say here. We, the clergy, occupy the secular lord's ship secularly, and so in proper. For in the same manner wise as a baron or a knight occupies and governs his barony or his knight's fee, so after the amortization does the clergy occupy it, and governs it by the same laws in judgment and punishing, as imprisoning and hanging, with such other worldly terrorizing which sometimes belonged to the secular arm of the church.\nYou oftentimes see how they frequently strive to be kings in their own and rejoice greatly in that civility or secularity if they can obtain it. This is evidence that they would gladly be kings of the entire realm or the world. For where their lands and secular means come together, they struggle to determine who shall have the gallows or other means for the plentiful perfection of Christ's priesthood, as it is said in this process and that, which is declared before. And as for the alms, of relieving some wretch out of his misery, as Lincolniensis says at the beginning of his discourse: So that if a man should effectively perform alms, he must look to whom he should perform them for, in my place and had need to be relieved. In token of this, Christ assigns alms only to those in whom he recognizes my place. And so, from this it will follow that if a man relieves one wretch and makes another or which people such goods are forbidden,\nThis should be called no alms / but perverting of God's ordinance / and the destruction of the state of secular lords, those whom God has approved in His church. For as St. Paul says, \"Alms given should be ruled so that the giver and the receiver are both relieved\" (2 Corinthians 9:7). It would be more becoming to those who receive it. And much rather it should not be a burden on those who do it. And therefore, Christ teaches in the Gospel to give alms from the things that are superfluous. In this deed, a man should have regard, above all things, for the need of him to whom he does alms and for the charge of his own house. What alms were these, I pray you / to undo the state of the Emperor / and to make the clerks rich with his lordships / namely since Christ confirmed / to the Emperor his state / with those things that long pertained to it. Notwithstanding, at that time the emperor was a pagan. And he has forbidden his clergy in word and example such lordship.\nAnd as this was not always the case with other kings, dukes, earls, barons and knights who were undone hereby, and though the clergy might have occupied this worldly lordship, and even if there had been no destruction or appearance of any other state, it would still not have been alms to give them such goods. No man may put another foundation beside that which is put, which is Christ Jesus.\n\nHere we may see by the ground of the gospel and by the ordinance of Christ that the clergy were sufficiently provided for living. For God is so perfect in all His workings that He orders no state in His church but if He orders sufficient livelihood to the same state. And this is open in God's law, who takes charge and that under every law of God, as under the law of innocence and of kind, under the law given by Moses and also under the law given by Christ.\nIn the time of the state of innocence, we know well by belief that God had ordained sufficient livelihood for mankind, and, as Christ speaks in the Gospel, Mat. 5:42, \"Whatever you want men to do to you, do the same to them. And if this law had been kept, no man would have been wickedly needy. In the time of the law, God made a full and sufficient ordinance for all His people, how and where they should live. He dealt the land among the lay people and assigned the first fruits and tithes to the priests and deacons. And although He would it there should be poor men in the land of Israel, yet He made an ordinance: He commanded all the people that there should be no needy man or beggar among them, as it is written. And so in this law He ordained sufficiently for His people.\nAnd in the time of the new law, Christ assigned secular lordships to temporal lords, as taught before. He allowed the commons their livelihood obtained through true merchandise, husbandry, and other crafts. In word and example, He taught His priests to be advocates for the needy and poor at the rich men's courts. He specified these poor and taught that those who were mighty should make provision for such poor people, lest they be compelled by necessity to beg. These words of the Gospel mark great clauses where Christ says, \"When you make your feast, it is of alms, call the poor, the feeble, the lame, and the blind. He does not say let the poor come to you, but you go to them. You should make provision for such people, lest they be shamefully treated.\"\nAnd for the clergy, he ordained sufficiently, reaching them in word and example, how they should keep themselves appeased with livelihood and holy ministry for their true labor in the gospel, as it is written before. Of this, thou mayst see how God in all His law has sufficiently ordained for all states that are founded and approved. And how it is against His goodness and wisdom to ordain any state, but if He ordained sufficient livelihood therefor. Since then this ordination of God was sufficient for the clergy as well as for other men, it seems a foul presumption to bring in a new and contrary ordinance of livelihood for clerks upon the ordinance it has made for them before. Of which ordinance, the clergy held themselves well paid many years after the beginning of Christ's church, when it was best governed.\nFor this means that Christ's ordinance was sufficient and worthy to be done. And if we take good heed, they had no more need to please people that he will not fail them in life and in greatness, but also proves this by arguments that it may not be excused. So that they be true servants to him. For Christ means this in his argument here. Since God fails not nor bridles and lies and grass that grows in the field, nor herdsmen. How much less will he fail his true servants? And so this perpetual alms-giving that our clerks speak of means fault of belief and despair of the gracious governance of God.\nIt is not allowed to relieve one wretch and make another or more, and to make the rich through temporal lordship, which is not fitting for such people, especially if such almsgiving is destroying or appearing in any state approved by God in His church. The endowment of the clergy with worldly lordship ought not to be called alms, but rather a misuse or wasting of God's goods or destruction of His ordinance. For as much as the clergy was sufficiently ordained by Christ. For why, this alms that clerks speak of here made many wretches and was given to those who had no need. And every church, but of all, began this way. And so this alms-giving has made our realm, and indeed all of Christendom, nearly poor and needy, and more mischievous than it should have been if the clergy had been paid with Christ's ordinance.\nBut now, this perpetual issue is rampant in some lands, including England, that Christ's ordinance, which the clergy call alms, is undone. Lords are impoverished due to the burden of lordship, and many noblemen, because they squandered their ancestors' gifts, are in need. Furthermore, it can be understood from this process that the withdrawal of these lordships from the clergy and the restoration of them to the states should not be called the robbery of the holy church as our clerks say, but rather the rightful restoration of what was wrongfully and theftfully taken. Therefore, no one else or vow can bind any man to maintain this theft and destruction of God's ordinance, and this great harming of Christ's church. As the vow of Jepthah should not have bound him to kill and sacrifice his own daughter.\nHerod should not have bound him (John) to kill the innocent Ihn. But as Herod should have broken his oath or vow and offered another thing pleasing to God and according to his law: as Saint Augustine says about the same story. So Herod should have broken his oath and saved innocent blood and repented for his unjust swearing. And so should lords nowadays break their oaths that they have unjustly and without the counsel of holy scripture sworn to maintain this theft / you heresy and simony, as it is proven before / which our clerks call perpetual alms. For as the state of the clergy has no power or leave to make the people or lords sin mortally or to destroy God's ordinance in his church.\nThey have no leave or power from God to counsel or constrain lords or people to maintain this endowment of the clergy and religious folk, which is greatly harmful to Christ's church, as shown in this process and in other written records. But the lords in particular should see here what pleased not these clergy, but God, and that they should do. For they are bound by virtue of their office under pain of damnation. And there may be no dispensation with this bond standing firm. For no one should put another ground besides that, it is Christ Jesus.\n\nI therefore deem it a great sin to give land entitled by men's law from the parish or kindred that it is entitled to, although it be so that the parish or kindred to whom such land is given are in need and have leave by God's law to occupy such manner of land or lordship.\nAnd this is a great sin among the people not only towards the giver but also towards the receiver. For both they do a damable wrong to him to whom it is entitled, as the people seem to think, although it may be given in good and true service that the receiver has done to the giver before, or else by way of alms or relief of the person or kin that it is given to. How much rather, I pray, is it a greater sin, as well to the receivers as to the givers, to take lordships, which God, who has full lordship over all the world, has given by perpetual law or right to the secular lords, and give this from the state to whom God entrusted this lordship, a strange people from another line, who had neither need nor leave of God to occupy it. And if priests claim it because God granted it to their kin, yet their argument is void.\nFor Christ came from the lineage of Judah, to which no tithes were granted. Therefore, this title was not confirmed by Christ and his apostles to the priests in the new law.\n\nFor Gregory the Tenth first ordained that tithes should be paid to curates only. And yet they came to claim the tithes so forcefully that no one may lawfully hold or minister them except they. Nor may they be turned or given to any other state or kindred except only to them. This should be deemed a damning sin and destruction of the holy church and sacrilege by the clergy. How much rather is it then a hideous and damning sin, to give or take away the secular lordship from the state of secular lords, which God had given and entitled to them by the same law and right, by which He had given the tithes to the priests in the old law.\nAnd this entail was never interrupted or broken until Christ's time and his holy apostles. And they confirmed this entail by law so strongly to the secular part that no one (save Antichrist and his disciples) may openly impugn this entail as it is shown before. And so no one should presume to withdraw or turn the tithes from the state of priesthood, as they say, any more than no one should presume by generating or taking to alienate temporal lordships from the state of secular lords. And thus clerks have no more color to say that lords and the lay people rob them, for as much as they take their temporalities into the hands of the clergy has no less malice in it. For as much as it is done by simulation of holiness, the one who does this is double wickedness. For thus Lucifer robbed Eve both of goods of fortune, of kindred and Cain, yet the church robs these three kinds of goods.\nFor right as Lucifer did this harm to Adam and Eve under the color of love and friendship, and helping them, so do his angels, those hypocrites who transform themselves into angels of light, and deceive the people by false promises of heavenly help, they will procure for themselves for their goods as they say, and if a bishop or his colleagues or an abbot and his convent cannot alienate from them any of the temporalities that they have, nor give to their founder any of those possessions that he has given them, what need is there that ships be withdrawn, alienated, or taken from the possession into their hands again as they say? How much more should not a secular lord or a lay secular lordship, which God has limited to that state, since he is bound by the law of nature to order for his children.\nAnd proving of testaments and money for halowing of chapels/churches/chances/and other ornaments of the church/and for the crying of orders/and full many more that for multitude may not well be numbered. For nearly all their blessings are set to sale and to prices/in christening and confirmation. Wherefore I may now say as I said at the beginning. No man may put another ground besides that/which is put/the which is Christ Jesus. The which ground of living Christ grants us to keep that we may escape the everlasting ge pains of hell. Amen.\n\nThe husbandman.\nLook/now by this treatise may you well see\nThat even men did convey/showing their vices.\nAlso here after this author do testify.\nWhat great jeopardy it is and peril\nFor priests to be in secular offices.\nYou/and lords which against right\nSuffer them therein or thereto excite\nProve it by their own doctors & laws\n\nGentleman.\nI beseech you for the process that the people may see their unhappiness, which makes the world fools and dawdlers. St. Eriprian says, through the counsel of bishops, a statute has been made that those who are charged with the priesthood and ordained in the services of the clergy shall not serve except at the altar and to administer the sacraments, to preach God's word, and to take care of prayers and orisons. It is written for sorrow. No man bearing his knighthood to God: enters him with secular needs. Our bishops and our predecessors, beholding this religiously and pursuing it healthily, deem that whoever takes ministers of the church from spiritual office to secular, there be none officiating for him, nor any sacrifice allowed for his sepulture. For they deserve not to be named before the altar of God in the prayer of priests, who will call the church from the altar. Thus says St. Cyprian.\nHere is how perilous it is for a king and secular lords to hold a priest of Christ in secular business. This is proven as follows. Every secular lord, by the law of the Gospels, is God's bailiff. But if any bailiff has hired a worker with his lord's goodwill and put him to his own services, he must be unfaithful to his own lord. In the same way, a secular lord is to our Lord Jesus Christ. But if he amends himself, who takes a priest and puts him in his secular office, breaching the highest command of his lord God, thou shalt covet no other man's servant. And he withdraws him from the services of God and from the keeping of Christ's men, for which souls our Lord Jesus Christ took flesh and blood and suffered a hard death, and shed his own heart's blood. This dangerous dealing of secular lords is both against God's law and man's. It is against God's law, as St. Paul says, \"No man can serve two masters.\"\nA knight of God should be separate from worldly deaths and busines. For this reason, he should please the Lord to whom he has dedicated himself, and not engage in such worldly busines, which is against their order. The apostles said as it is written in their deeds (Acts vi): it is not right for us to forsake the word of God and minister to the needs of poor people. And if it were unequivocal as the apostles decreed in their common decree, for them to leave preaching God's word and minister to the needs of poor people: how much more unequivocal and wrong it is for priests to leave contemplation, study, prayer, and preaching of God's word, and minister to the needs of poor people for the service of a secular lord? It is also against the Pope's law, for he speaks to a bishop and bids him warn priests and clerks (Lin. iij)\nThe bishop, Sasyslus, is occupied in secular matters and maintains unprofitable town halls. This tarnishes and destroys the reverence of the priesthood. Therefore, as soon as you have received this message, compel him with sharp execution to turn things around.\nSo it is not lawful for you to yield five days, lest in any way you allow him to tarry there, and if you do, you are accountable with him against us. Bishops and other priests are bound to teach and admonish lords to withdraw from this sin and sharply reprove priests and curates under them that they occupy no secular office. This is proven thus by the holy prophet Ezekiel, saying, \"If you wait or hesitate, and the enemy comes and your people are not warned or keep themselves but the enemy comes and your people are taken in their wickedness,\" and of your waiting it should have blown his horn, God will require accounts and reckoning of the blood and of the death of that people.\nEvery bishop should be a watchman or guide, warning the people beforehand of the peril of sin through his good living. This is why bishops and other prelates should not be preoccupied with worldly affairs. For such occupations and charges make priests sleeping and slumbering in the flesh and blinded by the powder of worldly deceit, causing them to neither be able to keep themselves nor help others. A prelate who has wisdom and cunning should sharply reprove and warn all men to the shedding of his own blood, as Christ did. If he does not do this and blame them, he assents to their transgressions and sins mortally. As Malachi says, \"...you who hate discipline, and cast my words behind you, because you have no fear before my presence and fling my words in your faces!...you who crush the orphan in his poverty, and force the widow's heart to the edge of death...and you who do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts, I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.\" (Malachi 2:17-2:3)\nPrestes should keep their lips clean and the people should ask the law of God from his Mala, for he is the Angel of God, if he keeps well the order and degree of priesthood. Therefore, it is not fitting for any man to draw secular offices and businesses to the messengers of Christ, who have so utterly forbidden them both in word and deed secular offices in priesthood.\n\nHusbandman:\nSir, how do you like this old treatise?\nIf noblemen would agree,\nPutting aside private affection.\nShould they not clearly perceive here\nThat the clergy inflicts great injury upon them,\nRetaining thus temporal possession?\n\nGentleman:\nNow I promise, according to my judgment,\nI have not heard of such an old fragment,\nBetter grounded on reason with scripture.\nIf such a thing,\nThat noblemen had one of them as,\nThe world would change perhaps,\nFor here against the clergy we cannot bear,\nSaying as they do, \"this is a new work\nOf heretics contrived lately.\"\nAnd by this treatyse it appears clear\nThat before our days men complained\nAgainst clerks ambition so stately\nHusbandman.\n\nConcerning this treaty and like matters, I have had hard say of my forefathers,\nBow in King Henry the V's reign.\nWhat time did you specify\nThe clergy persecuted the gospel fiercely,\nCausing many Christ's people to be slain,\nThe king, having information\nThrough serious consideration\nOf such proper matters as this is.\nBegan to note the clergy's tyranny\nAnd what temporalities they held\nTheir spiritual state far amiss.\nTherefore he determined certainly\nTo deprive them temporally\nOf all their worldly governance.\nWhose pretense, as soon as they perceived\nAmong themselves they imagined\nTo get the king over in France.\nThat while he conquered there his right\nIn England they might do what they pleased they might\nTheir forward counsel, thus brought to pass,\nThe king ever after was so busy\nThat he could not perform his said will.\nGentleman.\nSo more I the king was happy, for they could bring him from meddling with that case any more by such a color. For had he it once earnestly begun, they would have put him in a confusion, just as they did other kings before.\n\nHusbandman: What suppose they would have done?\n\nGentleman: First, with a fair interdiction,\nTo curse the land as black as pitch.\nThen to enjoin saying and singing\nOf matins mass and belles ringing,\nWith Christian burial all of poor and rich.\nBesides, preachers everywhere\nShould have brought men in such fear\nBy their threatening exclamations.\nThat subjects should their prince forsake,\nContrary to God's ordinance.\nJust as they did in high Germany\nTo the Emperor's leagues of Bavaria,\nWhom Pope John sought to confound,\nAnd so did the clergy, as understood,\nTo King John here in England,\nTo King Stephen and Henry the Second.\n\nHusbandman.\nThey say King John was poisoned because a halfpenny's worth of bribe was beside him, or he was to make worth 12 pence. Gentleman. Such infamy for princes to conceal their own tyrannous violence. For had not King John given about from their temporalities to put them off, he would have lived long after a man's life. But murder they never so shamefully conceal, they can give it a cloak full craftily, saying to us \"it is not allowed for us to kill one.\" When they burned the new testament, they pretended a zeal very fervent to maintain only God's honor. Which they said with protestation was obscured by translation, causing much error in English. But the truth plainly to be said, this was the cause why they were afraid, lest laymen should know their iniquity. Which through God's word is so avenged, it were not possible to be suffered. If to read scripture men had liberty.\nAlso after the same manner, subtly to color their abhorrence, they destroyed chronicles not long gone. Which for certain points soundingly against the kings ancestry, as they say, were burned every one. But for all that, they should have been spared from burning: had they not so declared the clergy's abhorrent excess.\n\nHusbandman.\nI suppose then, that they use the same ways\nIn burning of heretics nowadays,\nWhom they pursue with great furiousness.\n\nGentleman.\nNo fail, they persuade temporal men\nThese heretics (as they say) to burn,\nLest other good Christians they should infect.\nBut the cause why they would have them rid\nIs only that their unhappiness now hid\nThey feared least they should openly detect.\n\nHusbandman.\nBy my truth it is nothing unlikely.\nFor let one live never so wickedly\nIn abhorrent scandalous behavior.\nAs long as he will their church obey,\nNot refusing his tithes duly to pay,\nThey shall make of him no accusation.\n\"Why then let him begin to pinch or withdraw their tithes any inch, for an heretic they will accuse him. Wherefore I marvel much of the temporal authorities, in performing the clergy's cruelty, to burn such parsons they delight in. \u00b6 Gentillman\nIt is no marvel if the clergy, saying it is God's quarrel, execute their mischievous murder. \u00b6 Husbandman.\nThey are not known by their will that it is their cause to kill Christian men, but they impute the fault to others. \u00b6 Gentillman.\nRegarding that, another time I shall show more of their manner, but now I cannot. Well, sir, if you may no longer abide our lord, be your continual guide. Granting the truth may be known openly.\"\nThough I am old, clothed in barbarous weeds,\nYet I tell the truth, if you choose to heed,\nAgainst their forward, furious frenzy,\nWhich reckon it a great heresy,\nTo have God's word in their native language,\nI shall have many a scornful crown,\nWith forked caps and gaudy crosses of gold,\nWhich maintain their ambitious renown,\nGlad to keep people in ignorance to hold,\nYet to show the truth, one may be bold,\nThough it be a proverb daily spoken,\nWhoever tells the truth, his head shall be broke.\nGrace and peace: not that the world deserves,\nBut from God the Father and our Savior Jesus Christ,\nWith increase of the holy spirit, be with you and all who seek the truth. Amen.\nConsidering the malice of our prelates and their adherents,\nWho bark against the word of God so fiercely,\nSpecifically the new testament translated and set forth by Master William Tyndale,\nWhich they falsely present as sore corrupted.\nThat you may know it is only the inner malice which they have ever had against the word of God. I have here printed a treatise written about the year of our Lord four hundred and sixteen. By which thou shalt plainly perceive they will never from the beginning admit any translation to the laity, except it is their corrupt translation which they withheld. For if that were true, the idle bellies would have had less to put forth another well translated one. But it is their own mischievous lineage that monitors the agreement according to Christ's saying: John iii. Every man that works evil hates the light, or comes not to the light, lest his works be reproved. &c. Thus mayst thou see that because their works are nothing and not because it is evil translated, they so furiously resist the word of God which is the true light. For there was never any translated but with falsehood or tyranny they put it down.\nThis treatise, over a thousand years old, declares how our prelates act contrary to truth. They are bold, driven by presumption, forbidding the word of God in English. As the prophet says, \"Blessed is he who exercises himself in the law of the Lord day and night\" (Psalm 1:2). For just as the prophet King Antiochus, in ancient law, broke the books of God's law and compelled the people to perform idolatry, so now the king of the clergy, who live worse than heathen priests, are near to the threshold of the new law, which is near the end of the world, deceiving all the world and proving the servants of God.\nFor now God shall know who will stand by his law, as Satanas, prophesies say, is now unbound and has been for over 300 years, to inhabit our clergy, as he did the clergy of the old law, but now with much more malice. For as they die, you may see it is not unwelcome that the bishop persecute you, the gospel. Need Christ so now our bishops damn and burn God's law, because it is drawn into our mother tongue. But it ought to say that children in virtues should be taught. For the books of Seneca are morals, and because they are not taught thus in their youth, they continue still in evil manners and are unable to conceive the subtle science of truth. The wise man is as a clean mirror newly polished. Wisdom shall not enter into a wicked soul. Read and behave yourself, say our masters. Much is hereof the sentence of Bede. And Algasel in his logic says, the soul of a maid is a clean mirror newly polished in which is seen lightly the image of virtue.\nAnd for those without knowledge in their youth, they have dark souls and blinded by ignorance, so that they profit not in virtue but in falseness and malice and other vices. Therefore, heathen philosophers wanted the people to profit in natural science; how much more should Christian clerks the people profit in the science of virtues, for so God wills it. When the law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai, God gave it to his people in their native language of Hebrew, so that all the people should understand it. And He commanded Moses to read it to them until they understood it, as is clear in Deuteronomy xxxi. And the people were most earnestly given to it, in such a way that the people fell into great weeping for their misfortune. Also, God's law says in Deuteronomy xxii, that fathers should teach the law to their sons, and the sons who are born of them should rise and teach these things to their sons.\nAnd Saint Peter, in the fourth chapter of his first book, speaks in this manner: \"Whoever speaks, let him speak as the word of God. And every man as he has received, let him minister it to another, for I Joshua the minister of Moses said to Moses, 'Why do you envy me? Who gives everyone the ability to prophesy? If God gives them the spirit, let all prophesy.' It is also written in the Gospel of John, ninth chapter: 'Do not hinder him, for whoever is not against us is for us.' And likewise agrees the prophecy of Joel which Saint Peter, preaching to the Jews, strongly cited, as Luke records in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, saying in this manner: 'But they say to us, \"Master, do you only allow us to understand the scripture? For God says, 'Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions.''\"\nAnd upon what ground, one tongue. And it is noteworthy that the lay people in the old law had their law in their mother tongue, that the lay English people in the new law have it, as all other nations have, since Christ bought us as he did others and has given to us the same grace as to others. For St. Peter, Acts xi, was reproved because he had baptized Cornelius and his companions who were heathen men. And Peter answered and said, \"If God has given the same grace to them that He has to us, who am I that I may forbid God?\" As one says, it lies not in the power of men. Then who are you that forbids the people to have God's law in their mother tongue? We say, you are Antichrist himself. For Paul says, 1 Corinthians x, \"I will every man to speak with tongues, moreover to prophesy, also he says, 'How shall the unlearned say Amen at your blessing, not knowing what you say?'\" Upon this, Doctor Lyra says.\nIf the people understood your priest's prayer, it would be led better to God, and they would answer more devoutly. And there are 70 doctors with other men who translated the Bible from Hebrew into Greek. After the ascension, many translated the Bible into various languages: Spanish, French, German, and Italian, among others, and it has been had for many years. It was difficult for a worthy woman of Almain [Allemagne] at that time to go about preaching the gospel in English, since St. Paul says if our gospel is hidden, it is hidden indeed, a fearful saying that. And he also says, \"He who does not know will not be known by God.\" Therefore, the venerable Bede, led by the spirit of God, translated a great part of the Bible into English. The originals are in many abbeys in England. Cisterciensis, libri V, chapter XXIV.\nThe Anglo-Saxon Evangelist Iohn's Gospel, among other Gospels, was drawn into English by the venerable Bede. These Gospels are still found in many places in old English that scarcely any Englishman can read. For Bede reigned in the year of our Lord God, 704. Also, in Ciistercian Libro VI, chapter I, it is said that King Alfred ordered open schools of various arts in Oxford and translated the best laws into Old English and the Psalter there. He reigned in the year of our Lord God, 886. He read in his native tongue. Therefore, the apostle says, \"If I do not know the meaning of the voice to whom I speak, I am a barbarian to him\u2014that is, he understands not what I say, nor I what he says.\" And so all those priests who do not understand what they read in their native tongue are called barbarians. Therefore, Bede drew the liberal arts into English so that Englishmen would not become barbarians. Thomas also.\nLincoln said in a sermon, \"Begins with / Scripture is for lectors. If a priest says he cannot preach, one remedy is to resign his benefice. Another remedy, if he refuses except on a good pew, he will not record himself as meek. The naked text of the Sunday gospel that he has, he should tell to the people. That is, if he understands Latin, and he does this every week, he will profit much. For thus our Lord says in John 6, 'The words that I speak to you are spirit and life.' If he does not understand Latin, he should go to one of his neighboring priests who understands it, who will charitably explain it to him. And it is also fitting to write and read it to the people.\"\nSir William Thorpe, archbishop of York, drew from the church over against London stone a treatise in English. The same treatise is in the church over against London stone, where is contained the articles of the peace, the seven deadly sins, the seven works of mercy, and the ten commandments. Gatryke, a worshipful clerk, translated it into English in small pages for the common people to learn and know. Richard the hermit of Hampole also translated into English the Psalter with a gloss and the lessons of Dirige, and many other treatises. But those who would keep the people ignorant are cursed by God. Yet many are like the friends of Job, who, while they were enforced to defend God, offended Him grievously. And though those who are slain perform miracles, they are stinking corpses.\nThis says Richard the hermit explaining this verse: \"Ne auferas de ore meo verbum veritatis quamquam.\" This prophecy of Christ must be fulfilled. Take heed and Christ says you shall do great pleasant service to God in killing of his people. Arbitrated he was brought before King Richard II. The Bible was put into a parliament by the assent of the II archbishops and of the clergy to advise the Bible that time translated into English with other English books of the position of the gospels. The duke of Lancaster answered sharply to this, saying: \"We will not be refused by all other nations. Since they have God's law which is the law of our belief in their own language, we will have ours in English. Whoever says nay.\"\nAnd he affirmed this with a great oath. Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury said in a sermon at Wesypocrisy is the nature of all bishops. At Queen Anne's burial, he declared that her joy was greater than that of any woman he had known. Born an alien, she had in her possession all four Gospels with the doctors' commentaries. He stated that she had sent them to him for examination, and he declared that they were good and true. In this sermon, he sharply criticized the negligence of the prelates and other men. He even declared that he would leave the office of Chancellor and abandon worldly pursuits to fulfill his pastoral duties fully, as he had seen and read in those books. However, after making this promise, he became the most cruel enemy against the English, never to be trusted as a bishop as long as he kept the books. Therefore, as many men say, God brought thy wisdom bloom in England during these days.\nBut if God's grace be the more, for this cruel death is the cause of pestilence, hunger, wars, and that this realm shall be conquered in short time, as St. Edward the king and confessor prophesies in his book which begins thus: \"St. Edward the king saw in spiritual eyes. Therefore, it is good for the king and other lords to make some remedy against this constitution of Antichrist which says it is unlawful for Englishmen to have in English God and king. Despoil the law, & therefore he burns and slays what maintains this good deed. And that is because the king and lords do not know or will not know their own office in maintaining God and His law. For, as St. Austin says, the ring with his knights represents the godhead of Christ, and priests the manhood of Christ. The king is the vicar of the divinity, and the priest is the vicar of Christ's humanity. Augustine in the questions of the old and new law, book xc.\nAnd if the king desires to know perfectly his office, he may find me to show him books that truly and perfectly will inform him. But this he cannot learn from bishops, for they instruct him according to Antichrist's law and ordinance, as their law now reigns. Yet against them, bishops will not teach against their god, who say that the gospel in English would make me err. They well know that we find more heretics in the Latin language than in all other languages, according to the decree. Decree xxiv, cxcix. Some heretics, however, are found. And if I should hate any language, they must hate it as well.\nBut God forbid that any law should be hated for heresy, for many heretics were among the disciples of the apostles, and he stops them not, so that the knowing of God's law and punishes those who have it, lest they dare not come openly to have true information. This makes laymen desire and love which heresies in a short time should be destroyed, if men might have free coming openly, and but if this may be had much of the people, many shall die in heresy. For it lies never in Christ's power to destroy all English books, as fast as he burns them, others shall draw, and thus the cause of heresy and of the people that die in heresy is the backwardness of bishops who will not suffer me to have open coming and free in the law of God, and therefore they are accountable for as many souls as die in this default, and are traitors to God in stopping His rotas of the true law which was made for the salvation of the people.\nAnd they turn his law by their cruel constitutions into damning of the people, as it shall be proved at the day of judgment for God's law says, \"The righteous will be stabbed in great constancy against those who have made themselves narrow, and those who have taken away their labors.\" For the other Read Sapiens labor they burn, and if our clergy would end, they should more read therein their own damning. But we do not have this, but the Antichrist gives us leave to have the law of our belief in English. Also, they have communed much with the Jews, saying that they have in every degree that they are born in, the Bible in their mother tongue, which is Hebrew. And they are more practiced in it than any men, even the learned priests.\nBut it is redder in her synagogues among the people, that the priests fulfill their priestly duties and build up the gospel in various languages: Mathew in Judea, Mark in Italy, Luke in Achaea, and John in Asia. And all these wrote in the languages of the same countries. Also, Jews abroad among the gentiles, whom they were telling the marvels of God, should know that there were none other gods but the God of Israel. And God ordained his people to believe his law written among them in their mother tongue, so that they might know the law of God and of the incarnation of Christ. More importantly, it ought to be translated into English people who have received the faith and bound themselves to keep it upon pain of damnation, since Christ commanded his apostles Matthew (xxviii.19) to preach his gospel to all the world and except none, neither people nor language.\nOrigen translated the Bible out of Hebrew into Greek with help of others in the year of the perpetual Comedas. Around the same time, Aquila also translated it. Thirty years after Aquila, Symmachus translated it during the reign of Serenus. Six years after Symmachus, an unknown author translated it during the time of Emperor Alexander. Jerome translated it into Latin, as recorded in the chronicles of Cistercium, around the year 382. After Jerome had translated it into Latin, he translated for women much of the Bible. For women named Eustochia and Paula, he translated the books of Joshua, Judges and Ruth, and Esther, Ecclesiastes, Jeremiah, and Isaiah, as stated in their prologues. Therefore, through Jerome, it is clear that it was never his intention to bind God's law under his Latin translation but, by his own deed, he granted permission to translate it into every speech, as Jerome wrote in his LXXXII.\nEpistle to this man, a certain virgin. But my lords say it makes men heretics and perverts souls. Desire to have the law of God in English, since it is called the undefiled law, converting souls into cleanness, lex dyni immacula, ta converens aias. But Antechrist says that it is corrupted with the literal letter, y[e] slays souls, taking his authority from Paul, who says, \"the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.\" That is the old law that leaseth Jews and those who are now Christians, since Christ says my words are spiritually hidden or destroyed, but multiplied for no man knows what profit may come from it. For he who compiled it intends, with God's help, to maintain it until death, if need be. Therefore, all Christian men and women, pray that the word of God may be unfettered and delivered from the power of Antichrist, and renounce his people. Amen.\n\nPrinted at Marlborough in the land of Hessen, by me.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "Hereafter follows the book called The Mirror of Our Lady, very necessary for all religious persons.\nViderunt eam Filiae Syon / et beatissimam predicauerunt. Canticle vi. These words are written in holy scripture and are to be read in English as follows: The daughters of Zion have seen her (that is, our lady) and they have proclaimed her most blessed. In these words, the Holy Ghost speaks of three things concerning the praising of our most blessed lady.\n\nFirst, the Holy Ghost tells who it is that praises her, for he calls them the daughters of Zion.\nSecond, what they do or begin to praise her, when he says that they have seen her.\nThird, the manner of their praising her, when he says and they have shown her most blessed.\n\nThe daughters of Zion have seen her and they have shown her most blessed.\n\nFirst, the Holy Ghost tells who it is that praises our Lady, as he calls them the daughters of Zion.\nBut though all Christian souls that truly live in Christian faith are called daughters of Syon, that is, of the holy church: yet more properly, you are called daughters of Syon. For not only are you daughters of the holy church by Christian belief, as other Christian people are: but also you are daughters of this holy religion, which nourishes your souls in grace in this Monastery named Syon. And therefore, as you are daughters of this bodily Syon, so ought you to be daughters, spiritually. For Syon means as much as a commandment or a holding. And you ought to be daughters of commandment by meek and ready obedience to God's biddings and your rule, and of your superiors. You ought also to be daughters of holding by contemplation. And specifically in holding your own wretchedness and your unkindness towards God, and of the charity and goodness that He does to you.\nYou ought to behold also the shortness and instability of this life, the hastiness of death, the fearfulness of judgment, the bitterness of pains, and the sweet and joyful rewards of bliss. And if you are thus good daughters of Syon by meek obedience and true beholding of these things: then you are well disposed the more worthyly to praise our most glorious lady.\n\nThe second thing that the Holy Ghost tells in these words is that you ought to do, or begin to praise our lady. And that is that you ought to see her. For you well know that no man can well show the worth or properties of any thing to the praising thereof, unless he has first some sight and knowledge of the same thing by one means or another. How shall you then convey by outward praising the excellent highness and worthiness of the most blessed heavenly queen our reverent lady, as it is most fairly expressed in all your holy service, unless you have first seen it by inward understanding.\nBut for as many of you think you can sing and read, yet cannot understand the meaning: therefore I have translated your legend and all your service into English, so that by understanding it, you should see how worthy and holy prayer to our glorious Lady is contained therein, and sing it more devoutly and knowingly to her worship. And in many places where the naked letter, thought to be set in English, is not easy for some simple souls to understand, I explain it and declare it more openly, either before the letter, or after, or else in the middle.\nAnd furthermore, to enhance your spiritual love and inner delight and devotion in this holy service, I explain the reasons and meanings for each part. Regarding the first introduction, I explain what an introduction is, why it's named so, and its placement. I do the same for Psalms, hymns, antiphons, responses, versicles, and all other parts. I declare why they are called by these names: why a hymn is called a hymn, why an antiphon is called an antiphon, and so on. Additionally, I explain why they are set and said in such a way, as you can see more plainly in the story of the Sunday. Each thing in its place.\nOf psalms I have drawn but few, for you may have them from Richard Hamples or from English Bibles if you have permission. I write a thing once in English when I find it in the first place, as Gloria in excelsis Deo is declared I Maria and Gloria tibi Domine, at the end of the first hymn on the same day. I speak no more of it in all your service afterwards, as often as it is said. I do the same for most other things. You shall also understand that this book is divided into three parts. First, I have compiled a little treatise of 24 chapters, in which is shown the condition of divine service when and where, and in what way it ought to be said and sung, and specifically of your holy service how it was heavenly and graciously ordained and made. This treatise is the first part of the book.\nThe second part is of your seven stories, according to the seven days of the week. And the third part is of your masses. Since you can see in this book what is in a mirror, I name it Our Lady's Mirror. Not that our lady should see herself therein, but that you should see her therein as in a mirror, and so be stirred the more devoutly to praise her, and to know where you fail in her praises, and to amend: until you may come where you may see her face to face without any mirror.\nAnd therefore now, most devout sisters, you who are the spouses of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the special chosen maidens and daughters of his most revered mother, lift up the eyes of your souls towards your sovereign lady, and often and attentively look and study in her mirror, not lightly but continually, not hastily reading more at once, but laboring to know what you read, so that it may sink and savour continually in your hearts. And where your hearts may be better occupied, in soul and body, and the marvelous incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ in her. On Fridays, you may see her great and unspoken words in our Lady's service, wherefore you ought to take heed, that your minds be as busy and continually occupied about the same things by inward understanding and devotion.\nAnd for that reason, frequently examine our Lady's mirror, so that it may be verified by you, who have seen the daughters of Syon. The third thing the Holy Spirit reveals in these words is the manner in which you should praise our most reverend and glorious Lady. Openly, you ought to praise her and distinctly, so that others may understand your praises for their edification. Therefore, he says, \"They have shown her.\" A thing that is shown is made open to others' knowledge, and you ought also to pray to her humbly, so that in the open display of her praying, you seek her worship and not your own. And therefore he says, \"They have shown her and not himself.\" Humbly, you ought also to praise her, holding her in your mind during prayer with inward love and devotion: consider how glorious, excellent, and blessed she is above all creatures whom you praise.\nAnd therefore they have shown her his most holy divine service, as the Prophet in the Psalms exhorts you and says, \"Daughter of Zion, rejoice in your king, praise his name in the choir.\" That is to say, the daughters of Zion should rejoice in their king and praise his name in the choir. And when you are thus occupied in these godly prayers and at other times as well, namely when you are nearest to your king and queen, I pray you, let my heart come after you and look in this mirror: just as true charity for your soul's health and comfort has stirred me to this labor, and nothing else of earthly things: so you grant, with your tender charity, to pray for our poor and wretched soul, that our merciful Lord Jesus Christ cleanses and cures it with the medicine of his mercy, and grants it ever to rejoice and delight in love of him and of his most worthy mother, and in nothing else.\nAnd the same Lord, through the same glorious virgin mother, may grant you all that lives and reigns with the Father and with the Holy Ghost, eternal God, Amen.\n\u00b6This ends the first prologue and begins the second.\nIt is not easy for every man to draw anything long from Latin into our English tongue. For there are many words in Latin that we have no proper English equivalent for. And so such words must be translated as the sentence best permits. And although I strive to keep both the words and the sentence in this book as far as our language will allow: yet sometimes I follow the sentence rather than the words as the matter requires.\nThere are many words that have diverse understandings, and sometimes they are taken in one way, sometimes in another, and sometimes they may be taken in diverse ways in one reason or clause. Different words in different scriptures are also set and understood sometimes other ways than authors of grammar tell or speak of. Our language is also so diverse that the common manner of speaking in English of some country can scarcely be understood in some other country of the same level. For these reasons and such other reasons, if there are any persons who hold themselves as some do, that when they can only a little grammar or a little Latin, and scarcely that well, they are bolder to catch at a man's saying or writing than many wise clerks who are.\nIf anyone who encounters this book or any of our drawings and finds something not drawn to their satisfaction, and is therefore ready to blame it, I advise you to seek nourishment for your souls instead, and pay little heed to his sayings. I well know that the wiser a man is, the better advised he will be, or the more presumptuous he will be to find fault and criticize another's studies. And the less good that he can do, the more presumptuous he will be to find defects and criticize, even in things that he does not understand. Therefore, those who consider themselves so wise may be content with their own wisdom. I undertook this work not for them, but for the edification of those who feel simple in their own minds and love to be informed. I am not wiser than St. Jerome, who, in the drawing of holy scripture from other languages into Latin, says that he was compelled at each book to answer to the criticisms of those who disparaged his labor.\nIn prologue first, before John: But I know my own weaknesses, both in composing and in veracity; therefore, I will neither seek fault in others nor neglect my own, but humbly submit myself and all our writings and other works to the correction of our mother holy church and of the prelates and fathers thereof, and of all who are wiser and can feel better. I beseech you all most dear and devout sisters to pray that both this and all other deeds may ever be received in the Lord's worship. Amen.\n\nHere ends the second prologue. And begins the Chapters of the first part of this present book.\n\nHow and why God's service is said each day in seven hours.\n\nChapter One\nWhy it is said in these seven hours rather than in others.\n\nChapter Two\nWhy our Lady ought to be prayed and served in these same hours.\n\nChapter Three\nChapter II.\nHow the Holy Ghost worked through the angel and Master Peter, but differently in each, and what reward Master Peter would have received for writing your song.\n\nChapter V.\nHow an Angel was sent by God to Saint Brigitte to write your legend in her own tongue. Which Master Peter translated first into Latin.\n\nChapter VI.\nThis holy service should be said with more diligence and devotion than other prayers.\n\nChapter VII.\nThe service of these hours should be said in due time, and why your service is said after the brothers'.\n\nChapter VIII.\nThese holy hours should be said in a due place, that is, the church.\n\nChapter IX.\nIt is perilous to be absent from church during these holy hours without necessity.\n\nChapter X.\nThat you should neither be too slow to church ward nor have Capitulum XI\n\nCapitulum XI:\nWhat profit is in the song of divine service more than in the saying without note?\n\nCapitulum XII:\nWho first ordered the praying of God to be sung in quarters, and why psalms are often sung in the holy church rather than other parts of holy scripture.\n\nCapitulum XIII:\nThat the hours of this holy service ought to be sung and said in cleanness of conscience.\n\nCapitulum XIV:\nThat the heart ought to be kept in these holy hours from distraction & from thinking on other things.\n\nCapitulum XV:\nWhat causes distraction of the mind in the time of God's service, and what remedies are to be used against it.\n\nCapitulum XVI:\nOf those who are vain or troublesome in the time of God's service and disturb both themselves and others.\n\nCapitulum XVII:\nOf those who are light to speak or sleep in the time of God's service.\nThat all the words of this holy service ought to be said or sung with understanding, and what parity it is to leave any part unsaid.\n\nChapter xix:\nOf hasty saying of these holy hours and overlooking.\n\nChapter xx:\nWhat understanding ought to be had about the singing of these holy hours.\n\nChapter xxi:\nHow the singing of these holy hours ought to be meek, sad without vanity and curiosity.\n\nChapter xxii:\nHow you ought to direct your intent in saying or singing this holy service.\n\nChapter xxiii:\nOf reverence and devotion that ought to be had in this holy service, both inward and outward.\n\nChapter xxiv:\nHere end the Chapters, and begins the First part of this Book that is called Our Lady's Mirror.\n\nSpecies in die Laudem dixi tibi, Psalm C.xviii. These are the words of the prophet David saying thus to our Lord. Seven times on the day I have said praises to you.\nAll reasonable creatures were made to know and love, and to praise God, and in this to have their eternal joy. But while our souls are imprisoned in these mortal bodies, we cannot continually engage in godly praying as those by death are set free from the bondage of the flesh and have come to the end of their joy - that is, the presence of God. Therefore, our holy church, guided by the holy ghost, knowing our frailty and weaknesses, ordains seven sacraments and gives seven gifts of the holy ghost, so that we may obtain remission of our sins and thank God for his gifts. We say prayers to him in the aforementioned hours seven times each day.\nAnd God made all things in six days and completed them in the seventh day, resting. Therefore we do thankings to God for all His works, and for all that He made, we praise Him seven times each day. Also, the life of man has passed through seven ages, some of which we have spent idly or wickedly. Therefore, seven times on the day we serve God. And for all the time of this life passes under seven days, where we may say to our Lord, \"David, Lord, I have praised You seven times on the day\" (Psalm C). But perhaps you might ask why these seven hours \u2013 that is, matins time, prime time, and so forth \u2013 are rather assigned by the holy church to the praising of God than other hours, since there are many more hours on the day and in the night than seven.\nAnd to this I answer that these [places or people] are more specifically privileged than others for great works that God has wrought therein, for which He is everlastingly to be praised. Therefore, we read that saints, both in the old law and in the new, prayed to God in these places. For David the prophet says to God of himself thus: \"Psalm Cxviii: That is, 'Lord, at midnight I rose to praise you.' And also he says, 'Psalm liiii: 'By day and night I will tell of your wonders.' Daniel vi: Also Daniel the prophet worshiped God three times on the day, after the exposure of Saint Hieronymus, at Tyre, at six, and at none. Super Daniel: Also Peter and John went up to the temple to pray at the hour of none, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts xvi).\nAnd Saint Paul and Silas, being in prison, prayed to God at midnight. The earth shook, and all prison doors opened, and all the fetters and bonds of prisoners were lost. Our Lord Jesus Christ also prayed not only once but all night, as the Gospel of Luke 6:6. In the beginning of the holy church, the clergy and the common people, both men and women, rose to praise God four times in the night. The first time in the beginning of the night, when Matthew 26:47-48 For at even, He was taken by the Jews, and mocked. At midnight, He was led before Annas and Caiaphas, and before day, He was scorned and spit upon. And therefore, in some feasts, matins are still said at evening, and in some religions, at midnight. And in some before day, and in other various times of the night. And in some churches, they say matins in the morning tide. Matthew 27.\nAt prime tide, our Lord Jesus Christ was led to Pilate and accused. In the same hour after his resurrection, he appeared to Mary Magdalene and another day to the same hour.\nMatthew 16: At the hour of the third, our Lord Jesus Christ was scourged and crowned with thorns and mocked.\nJohn 19: The same hour after his resurrection, he appeared to the women coming from the sepulcher.\nMatthew 28: And on Pentecost day, the same hour he sent the Holy Ghost down to the apostles.\nActs 2: At the sixth hour, our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and given gall and vinegar to eat.\nJohn 19: The same hour after his resurrection, he appeared to Saint James.\nMatthew 27: On the Ascension day, the same hour he sat and ate with his apostles.\nAt the hour of the ninth, our Lord Jesus Christ cried out and gave up his soul by death. A knight opened his side with a spear and blood and water came out for our redemption.\nJohn 19:\n\nThis text appears to be a list of biblical references, each indicating an event and the hour at which it occurred. The text is written in Old English and has been transcribed from an old manuscript. The text has been translated into modern English and the references have been identified. No meaningless or unreadable content has been removed, and no corrections have been made to the text as it is faithful to the original. Therefore, no caveats or comments are necessary.\nAnd on Easter day, he appeared to Saint Peter at the same hour. At the evening time, our Lord Jesus Christ on Thursday supped with his apostles and ordained the holy sacrament of his body and blood. Matthew 26. The same hour on Good Friday, he was taken down from the cross. Matthew 27. And on Easter day, the same hour, he met two of his disciples going towards Emmaus and made himself known to them. Luke 24. At cockcrow, our Lord Luke 22. The same hour, Matthew 27, he was buried, and on Easter day, the same hour, he appeared to his disciples gathered together in a closed place for fear of the Jews, and said to them, \"Peace be to you.\" John 14. Thus, you may see that these hours are specifically set and ordered for the service and praise of our Lord God, rather than other hours on the day.\nNow, in think you that these are good causes why God should be served in these hours, but since all your service is of our lady, you would wonder why her service should be said in the same seven hours. And as to this, you ought to think that it is convenient that her holy service should be said in time according to His, for her will was never contrary to His blessed will. Furthermore, some say that at matins time, a star appears in the firmament which reliably guides sailors at sea and brings them to the right haven. It also aids mankind in the troubled sea of this world and brings her lovers to the haven of health. Therefore, it is worthy that she be served and praised at matins time. At prime time, a star appears before the sun, as if it were the leader or bringer of righteousness. It is our Lord, the bread of life, our Lord Ihu Christ, comfort and refuge to all who labor in His service.\nAt hour of six, the heat grows more intense, and through the intercession of our Lady, the eternal one has shown greater charity to mankind. At hour of none, it is the highest grace and mercy ever bestowed upon man on earth, granted through our Lady. At the same time, the day fails and the Lord Jesus Christ suffered in his holy passion during these seven hours, as previously stated. His mother, our Lady, suffered the same pains in her heart through co-passion. It is therefore fitting to praise her and serve her in all those hours. There are also seven ages of the world. The first is from Adam to Noah. The second from Noah to Abraham. The third from Abraham to Moses. The fourth from Moses to David. The fifth from David to Elijah. The sixth from Elijah to the coming of our Lord Jesus. The seventh from thence to the judgment.\nAnd in all these ages, our lady has been desired and loved by holy fathers, as is more openly shown in the legend of your service. On Tuesday, and all the chosen of God who ever were or shall be in these seven ages of the world, are or shall be brought to health by her. And God himself loves her more than he loves all creatures who ever were or ever shall be in all those same ages. Therefore, it is reasonable that she be worshiped and praised seven times each day, and our Lord God for her, by all his church, and more specifically by you who are so specifically called to be her maidens and daily to sing and say her holy service.\n\nAnd so much the more diligent ought you to be in singing and saying your holy service, as it was most marvelously ordered and given from heaven by our Lord himself, and not by any man's wit or craft.\nFor like as our Lord Jesus Christ, who is one God with the Father and the Holy Ghost, revealed himself to Saint Birgitta through his holy mouth to say: \"The same God revealed your legend through an angel, and your service through a holy man. This holy man was Saint Birgitta's confessor and master. He taught her grammar and sobriety, and governed her and her household. Whose name was Master Peter. Our Lady said to Saint Birgitta in an extravagant chapter, Capitulo VI: \"He who loves the Holy Trinity in all its power, I have advanced him so much in the charity of the same Holy Trinity that he is one of the priests whom God loves most in the world. Therefore, it was given to him to reveal that sobriety, which is as gold, to provide solace and comfort to many.\" This is the song of your service. Our Lady said to Saint Birgitta another time: \"He who has revealed the rule, and that spirit which spoke the lessons, I am.\" (Ibidem)\nCapi the same spirit gave him to endite the song with wonderful tokens and showings. For there came to him such a great wind in his ears, and the cells of his head were inwardly filled, in which filling all his heart was inflamed with the love of God. After that fulfilling and inflaming and soft meaning of his tongue, he brought forth the words and the notes. And therefore it is not seemly that they should be shortened. For though in my song there be no masterly making nor rhetorical Latin, yet those words ended by the mouth of this my beloved friend please me more than subtle words of others. The Mother of God said to Saint Brigit. Thou oughtest to know it is no more mastery to God to make of anything and to make of nothing. Cap then it is to speak, he made venomous worms and gave them such understanding that they knew whether they might creep for their life's food and to keep their life. But the same benevolent God is more inclined to man's nature.\nIt is to say to oneself, lighting one's soul after one's kindly pleasure, with the spirit undergirding one's words, in two ways. It seems to me as if a person shows the two things that you have to say. Our lady says to Saint Birgitta, concerning the angel that appeared to her in human likeness when he began your legend, as will be said afterward. The second way it seems to your master, as if his ears and mouth were filled with wind, and as if his heart were stretched out with burning charity towards God, like a bellows. And in that sweet heart burning, he gained knowledge of those words and sayings which he could not before, and how he should make responses, antiphons, hymns, and order the song in notes. Either of these ways is of the Holy Ghost, after the departure of his virtue, it is to say, to the angel for the showing of the lessons, and to the other, it is to Master Peter in the ordering of the song.\nTherefore it is necessary neither to shorten nor lengthen [either side], unless a word seems dark. It is permissible to make it clearer by easier translation. Another time our lady said to St. Birgitta:\n\nBook. iv. Chapter. xxxii.\nTell him that writes my song and my prayer, not for his own prayer or reward, but for the prayer of him who is worthy of all prayer. Just as the princes of the world give worldly reward to those who pray for them, so I will reward him spiritually. For as one syllable has many notes upon it, so it pleases God to give him crowns of reward in heaven for each syllable in the song. It shall be said to him in heaven: \"Behold here comes your prayer, which you ended not for temporal good but for God alone.\"\n\nWhen St. Birgitta had lived many years in Rome in a cardinal's place joining St. Lawrence's church in Damaso,\n\nIn prologue super sermonem angelicum.\nThe nun, who didn't know what Lessos should be read by the nuns in her monastery, which Christ had built in Swete, whose rule he endowed to the worship of his mother, prayed to our Lord Ihu. Therefore, he appeared to her and said, \"I will be your angel, revealing and endowing the legend that shall be read at matins by the nuns in your monastery in honor of the virgin my mother. Write it as he says to you.\" Then Saint Birgit had a chamber adjoining the said church of St. Lawrence, and a window to the high altar, where she might see the body of Christ every day. I have often been in the same church, and there I have seen both the altar and the window. In the chamber, Saint Birgit had a pen, ink, and paper or parchment, so that the angel of God might come and stand by her side, standing most honestly with his face reverently bearing and beholding toward the altar, where the body of Christ was hidden and enclosed in a box as was the custom.\nAnd standing there, he ended the said legend distinctly and in order in the modern tongue of St. Brigitte. And she devoutly wrote it each day from the Angel's mouth, and meekly showed her spiritual father each day what she had written the same day. But sometimes the Angel did not come, and when her spiritual father asked her if she had written anything that day, she answered humbly and said, \"Father, I have written nothing today, for I waited long for the Angel of God to come and end it, and I write only because he did not come.\"\n\nThus was the Angel's sermon on the excellence of the glorious Virgin Mary ended and written down. The same Angel departed, leaving it to be read in lessons as they should be at Matins weekly throughout the year.\n\nAnd when he had finished, he said to St. Brigitte, \"Lo, I have shown a coat to the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of God. Therefore, go and gather it together as you may.\"\nO how glad should you be to sow on this heavenly coat / how diligent and devout ought you to be to read / and to hear this holy legend. How deep and inward comfort it would be to you / to sing and read & say this holy service / whereof the holy ghost himself is author and maker / that has given it to you by so holy means / as by his holy angel / by Saint Birgitta / and by so holy a priest. For when Saint Birgitta had written the Legend of the Angels' Mouth in her own tongue, then the angel bade her take it to Master Peter to translate it into Latin, and he said to her:\n\nSay he said to your master that he and I are both one member in God. He is as it were the outward member, and I am the inward member. Therefore write these words that I say, and put them there, and therefrom it seems to him that they are put there, and therefrom, as it pleases him, for we both are governed by one spirit.\nThis putting to and fro that the angel speaks of was, as I believe. For a thing may not always be turned from one language into another without some changing of words more or less. When Master Peter had translated this Legend into Latin from the tongue of Swete, for he was a man born of the same lodge, he sent it to Master Alfonso, who was a doctor of divinity. Our lord commanded that all the revelations should be taken after they were drawn into Latin, for the same Alfonso was born in Spain, many an hundred miles from Swete, and could understand nothing of her language. (Ibidem. Ca. xlviii. et xlix. Item le. vii. Capitulo. xxxi.) Therefore they needed to be drawn into Latin or he could not see them. To him the lessons and revelations were taken, that he might see that they were set in true and convenient terms, without error or darkness, for he was a great clerk.\nAnd though the first drawing was good and true, / made with the help of the Holy Ghost; / yet our Lord wanted more men from various countries and languages / to labor in it, / for their merit and for a more open showing and witness of His marvelous work.\n\nFor as He said to St. Birgitta, / though the Evangelists wrote the Gospels with the help of the Holy Ghost, / yet other doctors came after them / who, by the same spirit, discussed and explained their writing more plainly and openly. / And so it was necessary.\n\nTherefore, after the setting of Master Alpheus, this legend is read in all places of this order.\n\nBy this you may see that you ought to be fully engaged in all the faculties and powers of your soul / to sing, read, and hear the holy hours of your service most devoutly. / And more devoutly than any other prayers. / Not only for the holy ordinance and its setting, as I have now told you, / but also because you are more disposed to it in various ways.\nFor the observance and obedience of the holy church, all who are bound to divine service are strictly commanded to say or sing the service of these seven hours studiously and devoutly, as the word or token requires, in any other way. This is required of us by the holy church under great pain.\n\nThe celebration of the mass, Ca. grave in clemency, and the prelates of the church are charged with this.\n\nAnother thing that binds you to these holy hours is your foundation. Your father has given you your livelihood, that you live for that cause specifically, so that you should praise God in His holy service in these seven hours. Therefore, you are bound by duty and right, since you take the livelihood to satisfy them according to their intention, or else you are guilty of wrong for withholding your debt.\n\nThe third bond is by the rule of your profession, whereby you are bound to sing every day these holy hours of our Lady solemnly.\n\nCa. iv. rule.\nAnd this simplety asks both inward attention to have devotion in heart, and also in singing and reading with tongue, and in other outward observation. And like as you are more bound to this holy service than to other prayers, so it pleases God more and is more profitable to you. For we read that the soul of a holy religious man appeared to his abbot after his death and urged him to exhort his brethren to say this holy divine service with all reverence and devotion, so that the angels of God might offer it up to God at the time of each of these hours. For this holy service is pleasing to God as much from the devout people on earth as that which is done by angels before His high majesty in heaven. It is also more mindful to you, for it deserves not only the reward of prayer as other devout prayer does, but also the reward of obedience, which is better than anything that any man can deserve by his own devotion.\nFor after the sentence of St. Augustine, one prayer said devoutly in obedience to the holy church is better than ten thousand prayers said by another in his own will and devotion. And therefore, those who hastily and recklessly say these hours are greatly in error, whether for the sake of other business or other prayers. And the same applies to those who withdraw their voice from singing for the sake of other devotions. Though they say the same thing and much more without note.\nThey are faulted for meddling with their own will during holy hours, such as reciting a lesson or response while others sing or read it aloud, and then engaging in other prayers or attending to other things, and returning to sing the fourth again with the choir. Similarly, anyone who interrupts these hours of matins or any other hour with other devotions or occupations and then resumes the fourth hour, particularly if it is a lengthy service or prolonged interruption, does not please God. Though both this holy service and such devotions are good in themselves, when they are combined, they do not please God. Just as wine and ale are good drinks individually, but when mixed together, men would not drink them. Our Lord will have His service said whole each hour by itself, without mixing it with anything else. Leave. xix.\nTherefore, he forbade in his law that any man should sow his field with diverse seeds at once. For the seed of these holy hours ought to be sown in the field of your souls in their own time by themselves. And in other times of the day, you may sow the seed of other devotions and of other good works as leisure gives you, and if you have no leisure therefor, then obedience to this holy service fulfills and rewards all such things more fruitfully from your souls than if you did much and were reckless in this. And therefore, though your legend may be long and a lesson may be read only of one alone, yet think not that it is a vain time for all the others to do what they will. For you ought to spend that time in a thoughtful style and to hear each word that is read with great diligence and devout intentiveness therefor, seeking to have devotion therein, and to feed your souls therewith, for it is food of life, and you ought not only to take heed to what you say or sing to yourself.\nBut you ought also to attend and hear all that is read or sung thereof, whether less or verse, or psalm, or any such thing. Furthermore, it is required for the obedience of this holy service that it be said and sung in due time, in due place, in due manner, and in due time, for men and women of the church, namely religious people ought to say their service each hour in their own time. It is to say, Matins Extra de celeb. at matins time, and Prime at prime time, and so forth for all the other hours, but if office or sickness or other reasonable causes prevent them, they may not, and it is said that they should say all their service before none. In the morning, lest they be allowed in due time for saying it, and again after meals, the service of after none. For when these hours may not be said in their own time, they ought to be said before rather than after. Hugo, Super rubr. Aug. Ca. iii. For as a holy doctor says.\nObedience will that divine service be said in its time, but when it cannot be provided, it will that it be said before the time. But to tarry after the time it is said is blameful negligence. Trinitas super regem Augusti xix. And therefore says another holy doctor, that God heeds readily the prayer and service that is said in due time, as He says through His prophet, Isaiah 49:3, \"That is, I have heard your prayer, brothers. Service ought to be said before yours in due time, according to the common usage of the church. And therefore, your quarters may not keep the same times. It is mindful obedience, however, that those who are outside the quarters say their service and hours in such times as they are said in the quarters, as much as they may.\n\nThe reason why your hours are said after the brothers: Our Lord speaks in Extravagans Capitulo iii of Ecclesiastes ix, \"A poor man delivered a city that was besieged by a mighty man. And afterward, no one remembered the poor man.\"\nThis city is named after the man whom she sent in four directions, for he signified the four sins: first, disobedience to God's commandment. The second, trespass against a virgin, whose heart was like mine. Therefore, I may truly say that my mother and I have saved mankind, as if we had one heart, suffering in heart and body, and she in sorrow of heart and love. Therefore, this virgin was very poor, desiring nothing of riches, nor the least sin known to Math. 5:3. But others are rich in goods and poor in spirit. And these are they who consider themselves ashes and dead, and desire to be with Christ, and they have riches only for need and for the profit of their own souls. These are truly poor and rich in God. Among these was my mother.\n\nTherefore, the poverty and the wisdom of this virgin my mother is as if it were forgotten.\nFor there are but few who, though they praise her with their mouths, yet do not call upon her in all their hearts or follow the steps of her charity. Therefore, in the church of God, the worship of God is sung many times a day, after the manner of our forefathers. Therefore, I will now first command that the brothers sing their hours at due times. And afterward, the sisters fulfill the office of their service more leisurely. For to them is not set the sevenfold number of their hours according to the course of the sun, but as they may, they must do so and keep the time as they may.\n\nAnd this I myself ordain, entitled the rule, that it should be known not only to Christian men but also to the heathen who are to be converted, for great is the worship God will have his mother worshiped.\n\nAnd also because she is head and lady of this monastery, by whom I will show mercy to sinners.\nAnd this scripture should be fulfilled: I shall praise God at all times and in all my life. Psalm xxxiii\n\nThis singular grace is not to be refused for a temporal good; it does not hinder a general good. Nor is the prayable custom of fathers to be reproved, therefore, because it pleases me that in other churches, the hours of the virgin my mother are said first, and afterwards the hours of the day are sung, according to the times set and ordained in holy church.\n\nBy this revelation, you may see that, notwithstanding the use of the church is in many lands and countries, to say first the service and hours of our lady, it is considered less worthy elsewhere.\nAfterwards, the hours of the day are more worthy, yet our lord will do you reverence to his holy mother, and the hours of her [should be] said after the hours of the day to her most worthy. You may also see in this same rule that though you may not keep the times used by the church for causes previously mentioned, yet you ought to keep them as much as you can, as I have said before.\n\nIn the super, the presbyter says, This holy service ought also to be said in a due place, that is, in the church. But if sickness or such reasonable cause prevents you from coming there, for churches are hallowed and ordained for prayer and divine service to be said and heard in them, as our lord says of himself. My house shall be called a house of prayer. And it is most suitable for you to pray in that place for many reasons.\nOne reason for our worship of our Savior Jesus Christ and of his blessed mother, our lady; in whose honor the church is consecrated. Another cause for the blessing and prayer of the bishop at the consecration of the church, which greatly assists and enhances the prayers offered therein. The third cause: the angels of God dwell there to help us in prayer and promote our prayers towards God. And in token of this, the holy Patriarch Jacob saw a vision in a place called Bethel, which means \"house of God\" and symbolizes a holy church, angels descending from heaven and ascending again. Meaning that when we pray in church and the angels of God come down to help us and ascend to offer our prayers to God. Therefore, Saint Bernard says in the Canticle Sermon VII: \"O he says.\"\n who so had open eyen and myght se wyth how grete cure and ioye aungels ar amongeste them that synge de\u2223uoutly and praye / wherfore he saythe I admonysshe you my moste loued frendes / that ye stonde purely in the praysyng of god / so that ye do yt reuerently / and gladly. \u00b6The forthe cause is / for the fe\u0304des haue lesse  power to lette prayer there then in eny other place / & therfore the same patriarke Iacob / after he had sene the sayde vysyon / he sayde.Genes. xxviii. Q terribilis est locus iste, That is. How ferefull is this place. For the holynes of the chyrche / & deuoute prayers made therin / & na\u2223mely the presence of ye holy sacrament of the auter\u25aa re\u00a6buketh the boldnes of the fende / & maketh him aferde \u00b6And the fyfte cause ys for our lorde god wyll take  hede of them / & here theyr prayer yt pray in holy chyr\u2223che / as he sayde himselfe. Oculimei erunt aperti, et aures mee erecte ad oratione\u0304 eius qui in loco isto orauerit,Secundo. paca\u00a6lip. vii. That is to say\nMy eyes shall be opened to see him / and my ears dressed up / to hear his prayer / who prays in this place / that is holy church.\nTherefore, those who might come to church in God's service and do not, they not only offer offense to God and harm their own souls through disobedience against God and holy church, but also hinder the speed of their prayers and lessen all the great advancements mentioned before. And though they may be well occupied and have leave to be thus, it is not enough, but if there is a necessary cause, as you may understand by this example. In Speculo spiritualis parte. iiii. Ca. xxi.\nThere was a great and worthy clerk who left the world and became a religious man in the city of Paris, keeping the rule of his religion in full great strength until his life's end. Nevertheless, because of his clergy, he was granted permission by his abbot to be absent from the choir to attend to his studies. By this, he copied and made many notable books to the profit of all holy church.\nBut after he was dead and buried, on a night as the abbot stood at matins with his brethren, he saw one standing in this dead man's stall. The figure lowered itself to him and, by sign, asked for confession. Then the abbot, understanding that it was the same soul, went with him out of the choir into the chapter house, where the soul was taken and severely tormented for a long time. After his torment, it appeared again to his abbot, and then the abbot asked him the cause of his pain. He answered and said, \"For divine service, because I did not fulfill it in the choir night and day like others.\" Then said the abbot, \"You were lazy and made many books from holy scripture, and have left them for the profit of many who will come after you.\"\nAnd for that reason I gave up my leave from divine service. The soul answered and said, \"An unlawful leave is not a leave but it is a violation of the order. Such a license should not be granted but seldom, and only when necessity compels it. The abbot asked him what could deliver him from his pain, and he said a trental of masses sung for him in the convent. This was done, and the soul was delivered by the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus you may see that though this man's labor was good and done by leave: yet it excused him not from pain, for it was not necessary or fitting to the obedience or profit of his religion. But those who would rather be in the choir than there, and cannot be there for office or occupation that they have to do in charity, or by obedience to the common profit of the monastery or of the religion, Innocent in celebrating the mass, Ca. pmo.\nthey are not only excused but also partners of their mysteries that keep the church, like those who keep the church are partners of their ministry and labors for all are as members of one body in our Lord. Therefore, those who have health and strength and are not hindered by obedience, they ought to be eager and ready to come to this holy service and loathe to be absent. They ought not to spare for any slowness or dullness of the body, nor yet though they feel some time a manner of pain in the stomach or in the head, for lack of sleep or indigestion. For those who quickly arise for love of God's service and fervently dispose themselves thereto, they shall find our Lord's help, and often find themselves better at ease both in body and soul soon after, rather than if they linger for the flesh's sake or withdraw themselves.\nFor like those who stir themselves up with a quick and fervent will, they keep themselves slow, as you may see by the example of a monk who was sufficiently strong in body but he was sleepy and dull to rise to matins. Often he was spoken to for amendment, and on a night he was sharply called to arise and come to the choir. Then he was angry and rose up hastily and went towards the priory door. And when he came to the door, there was ready a company of demons waiting for him, crying against him with fierce noise and haste, often saying and crying: \"Take him, take him, get him, hold him.\" And with this, the man was suddenly afraid and turned away and ran to church as fast as he might, like a man half-dead.\n\nFor like the devil is eager to let people not come there. Just so, he labors when they are there to make them go out or to hurry them there.\nSaint Gregory speaks of this in his dialogues, in the second book, Chapter iv. He relates that Saint Benet had many abbeys under his jurisdiction. In one of them, there was a monk who could not endure staying in the church during God's service. Instead, he often left and wandered about or engaged in other occupations while others were most busy in prayer. His abbot had frequently warned him, but he did not change his ways. He was brought before Saint Benet, who reprimanded him sharply, and he amended his behavior for a day or two. But on the third day, he returned to his old ways.\n\nThen Saint Benet himself came to that place during service time when all were devoted to prayer and devotion. He saw a little black boy take hold of that monk's lap and lead him out of the choir. The monk rose immediately and followed him. Saint Benet then said to the abbot and to another holy monk named Maurice, \"Do you not see who it is that is leading this man away?\" They replied, \"No.\"\nThen they prayed for two days and more, / as a little black boy-like demon appeared and drew forth the monk, but the abbot could not see it. \u00b6The next day, during the service, St. Benet went out and found the same monk standing without. And then St. Benet took a rod and beat him well, / for the dullness and blindness of his heart. And from that day forth, / the black boy was no longer his leader, but he remained steadily in the choir and in prayer with devotion. \u00b6While the monk was being beaten, / the demon was driven away. And this shows / that it is the devil's business to distract people from the quire during God's service. \u00b6And no wonder, / though the devil is busy trying to prevent people from the song of this holy service, / for in deep singing and hearing it, / there is much profit for a man's soul. \u00b6First, it stirs a man's soul sometimes to contrition and compunction of his heart. / The holy doctor St. Isidore says thus:\nThough the sweetness of voice or song ought not to delight or stir a crystian man's heart but the words of God that are sung. For there are many who by the sweetness of the song are stirred to wail and weep their sins. And the sweeter the song, the more they follow out in weeping tears.\n\nThe second, it melts the heart into more devotion, and therefore Saint Augustine says to God himself in his confessions:\n\nBook nine, Chapter VI. A lord he says how I was stirred to joy, and I wept in hymns and songs of thy church that sounded sweetly. The voices followed into my ears, and truth was moved into my heart, and thereby the affection of pity and love was made hot in me, and fears ran out of my eyes, and I was full well with them.\nThe third one causes some temporal distress and receives spiritual gifts from God, as stated in St. Maude's book, about her revelations during God's service. Quarto regum tercio. And therefore, at one time, Helias the prophet had not yet received the spirit of prophecy, so he asked for a singer of psalms, either in the harp or in the kitchen. And while he sang, the spirit of God came upon the prophet, and he spoke to them through the spirit of prophecy about what they should do.\n\nThe fourth profit of holy church song is that it eliminates unwarranted heaviness. And therefore, the apostle James says, \"James 5:9. If any of you is unhappy, let him sing a song and pray with a pure heart, for as the gloss says there. The sweetness of singing and of psalmody puts away noxious heaviness.\"\nUbi supra And Isidore says that devout singing in a holy church comforts weary and tired hearts, makes souls more gracious, refreshes those who are weary and tired, quickens those who are dull, and stirs sinners to confess their sins. For though the hearts of fleshly people may be hard, yet when the sweetness of that song sounds in them, their souls are stirred and drive away the Primo. Re. x and David struck on his harp, and the fiend fled away. And much rather does he flee where the psalms of David and other divine service are devoutly sung.\n\nThe sixth profit is, that it confounds and overcomes the enemies of the holy church, and of God's servants, both bodily and spiritually. And this is shown in holy scripture by King Josiah, who was king of Jerusalem.\n\nSecundo paralipomenon.\nFor when his enemies came against him in such great power that he knew well he could not withstand them by human power, he ordered singers of God's service to praise God and go before his host singing. And when they began to praise God, God turned each of them against the other, and each of them slew the other, so that none of them all escaped alive. A marvelous working of God's service.\n\nIn chronica Antonipmo \u00a7. xviii. \u00b6\n\nWe read of King Robert of France, who was a courteous man and so devout towards God's service that he would be in each feast in some monastery for divine service. And not only would he sing with the monks, but also he would take a cope and stand and sing as a choirboy in the middle of the quire. It happened once when he besieged a castle that was in rebellion against him, and the feast of St. Anian fell to be at Orl\u00e9ans at the same time, he left his siege host and went there, and took a cope and sang in the middle of the quire as he was accustomed.\nAnd when he came to Agnes dei and had begun it three times with a loud voice, kneeling down at that time on his knees, the walls of the besieged castle fell suddenly to the ground. And so the castle was destroyed, and his enemies were overcome.\n\nAnd thus you may see that there is no better armor of defense against all enemies than devout singing of our Lord's service. Therefore, David the prophet said:\n\nLaudans invocabo dominum et ab inimicis meis saluos ero, Psalm 15.\nThat is, I shall call upon our Lord in prayer, and so I shall be safe from all my enemies. For it has not been seen that any place feared. where God's service was kept devoutly.\n\nThe seventh profit of holy church song is that it pleases God so much that He desires and rejoices to hear it. And therefore He says to His spouse, holy church:\n\nSong of Songs 2:14.\nA clean heart and a meek spirit pleases God in silence as well as in singing.\nAnd therefore, as we see that all members of one body have not the same working; the tongue speaks, the hands work, and each does that which belongs to him, and helps others. Rightly, each of us should help and bear one another and do as we can and may in the calling that God has called us, and serve our God with the gifts that He has given us, that in all things He may be worshiped in us all.\n\nSaint Augustine says that Moses was the first finder of this manner of singing in the choir. For when God had smitten Egypt with seven plagues and delivered His people, who went through the Red Sea on dry feet, the water stood up as a wall and remained until they were past; and Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, with all his host followed after to kill them. Then the water fell upon the same Pharaoh and upon all his, and drowned them every one. Wherefore, in praying and thanking God for that great miracle, Moses made a song that begins:\nCantemus domino (we sing to the Lord), which is your first psalm on Fridays, and he ordered two quarters, one for men and one for women, to sing and praise God. In the men's quarter, he was the chief cantor himself, and his sister Mary was the chief cantor in the women's quarter, as Saint Augustine says, and as it is written in the second book of scripture, Exodus 15.\n\nAfter this, both men and women were filled with the spirit of God and composed songs and psalms for the praising of God. Specifically, the king and prophet David, whom God chose from childhood for this great gift, that he should be the prince of singers of God's marvels and the maker of psalms for our Lord's praising,\n\nThese songs and psalms are written in the Psalter book, which are said and sung in the service of the holy church more often than any other book of holy scripture for various reasons. First, for the Hebrews, that is, the Jews, who were God's special people, used most to sing these psalms in the temple of God.\nAn other cause is, for example, the penance and hope of mercy for sinners, as we see that David, whom the Lord chose according to His own heart, fell so deeply into sin and, through penance, rose again to receive so much mercy and grace. The third cause is for the devout singing of these psalms: they drive away fiends and all evil spirits, as I mentioned before. The fourth cause is, for there is more prayer in these psalms than in other scripture. The fifth cause is, for in few words they contain much mystery and great depths of meaning greater than other scripture.\n\nIn prologue: For as St. Augustine says, \"All that the old law\"\nAll that the prophet and the gospel and the new law command and ordain is contained in these holy psalms. Therefore, he says that the singing of them pleases God much, for all that is in them tends to His worship. What he says may be found in these psalms that is not in the profit and edification of mankind. What degree or age or condition that he may be, every man and woman and child, young and old, may find in these psalms that which will teach him and delight him. For psalms he says console the heavy-hearted, and temper those who are merry, they appease the wrathful, and they refresh the poor, they warn the rich not to be proud, and so they give effective medicine to all who receive them. They do not despise sinners but offer and give them wholesome remedy through penance. Our Lord God has made a drink by His servant David, which is sweet to taste and effective in healing the wounds of sinners through its virtue.\nThis drink is these psalms, which are sweetly hard when they are old and pass through the heart where they delight. Much more is said in praising of these psalms, which I leave to write here for length. \u00b6The holy pope Damasus ordered that one verse of these psalms should be sung on one side of the choir, and another on the other side. For a holy bishop, the third after Saint Peter, had an angelic vision on a high mountain singing psalms in such a manner, choir to choir, and this manner of singing was first begun in Greece, and afterward kept in the church of Rome, as was before said. \u00b6How hymns and antiphons, responses, and such other things were made and ordained, and set to be said and sung in holy church, by holy saints and popes, and general councils, I hope needs not much to write here to you. For you have none of such things made and set to you anew in your service, in such a marvelous and gracious way, as I have said before.\nTo singing your hours, first they be said with clean conscience. For if any earthly lord loves to have his servants next to him honest and clean in all their governance and array, much more does it please the Lord of lords to have his servants clean without filth of sin, especially those called to be continually occupied in his holy praying. Therefore the prophet David says, \"That to our God may be given joyful and fair praising,\" Psalm. C.xlvi. This is fair and joyful, well set together. For there can no soul truly rejoice in the praising of God but first it be made fair and cleansed from sin. Therefore he that hath remorse in conscience of deadly sin, and there says or sings God's service, sinneth in the saying. De celebrate.\nAnd yet if he left it unsaid, he would sin more grievously; what then should he do since he sins both in the doing and in the leaving? He ought to repent of his sin and be in full will and purpose to confess it and amend it. He should humbly submit himself to God and ask for forgiveness. Trusting in the Lord's mercy, he shall serve Him with a sorrowful heart and meekness and fear. He ought not to think that he is in mortal sin when he is contrite and sorry for it.\n\nBook second. Chapter. xi.\n\nAnd hereof you have a notable example in St. Maurice's Revelations, both for divine service and for humbling oneself. Just as a man makes his house clean before a lord's coming to him, and if he cannot for haste, sweeps it up into a corner and casts it out afterward.\nRight so when a person goes to divine service or to the confession, and feels grudging in conscience if he may not get his spiritual father to shrive him, then he ought to sorrow for his sins in his heart by contrition and to shrive himself of them before God. And so sweep it into a corner of his mind until he may get his confessor, and trusting in our Lord's mercy, go to his service or to his confession. This is to be kept in all times and in all sins as for divine service. It is also to be kept in your confession, as for such daily defaults or negligences as you are not certain that they are not deadly. But and anyone knows himself guilty in mortal sin, he ought not to be scourged until he is shriven. And absolution following lightens much a soul and gives comfort and hope of forgiveness, whereby he may the more freely and devoutly praise God in His holy service, while he feels himself clean and sure in conscience.\n\nTHE seconde thinge that longeth to the dew maner of sayng or syngynge of thys holy seruyce ys the stable kepyng of the harte & of the mynde ther vpon so that ye gyue all youre entendaunce therto / and to none other thynge for that tyme.Super cantica  For as saynte Bernarde saythe / we oughte not in tyme of oure Lordes seruyce / to occu\u2223pye oure mynde on holy scryptures / ne none other thynge be yt neuer so good / Moche more then ou\u2223ghte we to beware / that we lette not oure mynde\ntenne vpon well and vayne thinges in tyme of this holy seruyce. For ryght as bodely meate is not ryght profytable / but yf yt be wel chewyd in the mouthe & swolued in the stomacke\u25aa So thys holy seruyce / but yf yt be well chowed in the mynde / & sauerly felte in the harte / yt fedeth not the soulle suffycyently. & ther\u00a6fore sayth saynt Bernarde that yt profyteth but ly\u2223tel / to syng only with the voyce / or to say only with the mouthe / wythout entendaunce of the harte.Super psalmo Qui ha For as Isidore sayth\nBook third: Prayer longs to the heart, not to the lips. For God takes heed of the heart, not of the words. Therefore, those who say they serve and occupy their mind while focusing on other things are like a man who pays his debt with false money, which appears to be gold or silver without, but is copper or brass within, which does not please his lord that he pays it to, but rather provokes him to displeasure. For he who willfully and purposefully occupies his mind during these holy hours about other things and does not pay heed to what he says or sings, though he may say or sing all the words correctly, in truth he does not truly pay his debt or please God with it. But he offends him and sins greatly.\nAnd he ought to do penance therefore and to say the same service again with better understanding. But this doing of penance both here and in other places, after understanding repentance of heart and sincere sorrow/fulfilling such penance as his spiritual father enjoins him. For it stands in his discretion to enforce penance for his negligence, and thereby to enforce him to say the same service again or other thing in its place, as he seems most suitable for his soul's health. Nevertheless, if he had said the same service again before coming to confession: then he shall not be enjoined to say it again. But he shall have penance only for his first misdoing.\nIn this chapter, he who dedicates his heart to God at the beginning of his service with willing and purpose to keep his mind focused thereon, even if it is distracted from his initial purpose due to negligence or frailty, and turns his mind back to his service and is sorry for it, is not bound to repeat that service. However, it is good for him to recognize and be aware of his negligence, whether general or specific, as the situation requires.\n\nBy this, you may see that you have great need to labor in keeping your mind focused during these holy hours, and to be fully aware of all occasions that might cause scattering or distraction of it. And therefore, you shall understand that there are four things that cause much instability in the heart in God's service.\nThe first is busyness and occupation about bodily or worldly or vain things. In Capitulo VII of the third good book of Isidore, it is stated that when your mind has been applied to such worldly or idle or unprofitable thoughts, through hearing or speaking or thinking or in any other way, and then goes to prayer or to the service of God, immediately imaginations of the same things come to your mind and prevent you from entering into deep prayer, so that the heart may not freely turn to heavenly desire nor remain on that which the tongue speaks or sings.\n\nThe remedy against this is that a man labors not only during service time but at all times to keep and to stabilize his mind in God and to keep himself from idleness and vanity, both in thought and in word, in hearing and in seeing and in other ways.\nAnd if he is occupied with worldly or outward business that he departs from for a certain time or begins a service, and labors by some devout exercise of prayer, meditation, or reading to gather and stabilize his mind and make himself ready, as the wise man bids, and says in Ecclesiastes xviii: \"Before prayer prepare your soul,\" that is, \"Before prayer make your soul ready.\" For he who should harp or make other instruments play before the king would be busy preparing his instruments. And much more ought we to prepare the harp of our heart when we shall sing or say the melody of our Lord's praises.\nThe second thing that causes distraction of the mind in God's service is negligence in keeping the heart during the same service, which is rooted in long and evil custom. The frail and wretched soul is bowed and borne down, and it cannot stir itself up from wandering and vagant thoughts that it is accustomed to, like a man who runs downward from a high hill; he may not stop himself after once going until he comes to the valley. Just so, those who have used their heart to run downward where it will on earthly or vain things, they cannot easily stop it or gather it to stability. Sup. John trac. xlix. For evil custom, as St. Augustine says, binds a man and bears him down.\nAnd for this vagabondage is caused by dullness or heedlessness of heart, or else sloth; by which a sluggard's desire not to labor in the keeping of his own heart, until he falls into such evil custom that he cannot easily break away from it. Therefore, the remedy against this must be other sharpeners of fear or quickness of hope, according to the disposition of the soul.\n\nFor he who is light-hearted and vain in conditions needs, in this case, to use his mind diligently in thoughts of fear of his death or judgment, and of pains beholding with what peril he stands in, if he consents recklessly in such wandering of mind unto his death, which he knows not how soon will come.\n\nThis dreadful beholding often and deeply used and continued may, in a short time by grace, make him restrain and gather together his scattered thoughts from all vanities.\nBut those disposed to great heaviness and dullness in this case not only need to sharpen themselves with fear, but also to behold the great goodness and charity of our merciful Lord and the presence of him and of his holy angels in his service. Delight in the Lord, and he shall give you all that your heart asks or desires. Psalm 36: Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. The third thing that causes distraction in prayer and in God's service is the malice of the devil, who is most eager to let those who give themselves to devout prayer and to the praising of God.\nFor it burns him, and he would so sore that though he allows a soul some peace at other times, a soul as he says, it turns to prayer and goes to God's service, he renounces and labors in all his might to bring worldly or vain, or evil thoughts or business into mind and so to scatter the heart from devotion, and to make him lose the fruit of his prayer.\n\nSermon quarter to De Ieinnio. For as Saint Bernarde says, the more effective and speedy that prayer is, if it is done as it should be, the more fiercely and busily labors the malicious enemy to let it go.\n\nRemedy against this is to make upon your breast privately and continually in such times the sign of the cross, with strong and steadfast faith. And patiently and perseveringly to labor to keep, and to hold your mind upon our Lord, and upon that you say or sing. And you shall feel that they shall flee away as if he were struck with a staff, as Saint James says.\n\nJames 4:7 Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.\nThat is. He who stands against the foe and he shall flee from you. But anyone who gives ground to his stirrings at the beginning and plays with such wanton thoughts as he labors to put in his mind, then he will hold on to him and ensnare him with his evil ways and lead his heart to as many vices as he desires. Therefore beware and be inwardly vigilant and drive him away by times.\n\nBut this malicious serpent, when he sees that he is thus chased by many and driven away, seeks to enter again by another way. For he attempts to get hold of some one whom he stirs up immediately, to make some vain show or sing or make some token, whereby one or other and sometimes many are moved to some kind of dissolution, and so are distracted from the sadness of inward devotion. Another he stirs up to make some hasty token or do something rashly, whereby others are delayed in their minds and troubled, and so their spirits are driven from quietness of devotion into anxious and painful grudges.\nThen, if they hurry the faster to their armor and begin to give battle to such vain or troublesome stirrings and labor to gather and hold their minds together as I said before, or else the subtle enemy will enter upon them again. And therefore such vain or contentious people are the fourth cause that make distraction in God's service. They are the devil's children and fulfill his desire, that he may not bring about by himself, as our Lord says to them in His gospel: \"Ye are children of your father the devil, and the desires of your father ye will do,\" John 8:44.\n\nIf a king were at table and his servants about him to serve him. Or if he were in the field to fight and his knights with him to wage war for him. Or if he had labors in his vineyard or in his garden, and one came and made his servants and his knights and his laborers scatter and flee from his service.\nShould not such one be called a traitor to the king / and be put to death? How much more treacherous are they to God / who distract him through vanity or trouble / and scatter the minds of his true knights and laborers? These are bad fellows, for they prevent the common profit of all their fellowship. Like thorns and briers that will not allow the corn that grows among them to bring forth fruit. But one as it would grow up, they oppress or strangle it and pull it down. So these people, when God's servants are busy growing up through holy desires and devotion in his service, pull down their minds / and let them. Therefore it is good that such thorns beware of what our Lord says through the prophet Isaiah: \"Gather yourselves together, gather, O nations, before the decree is issued, before the day passes like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the wrath of the LORD comes upon you.\" (Isaiah 33:1)\nThorns gathered together shall be cast into the fire and burned. Remedy against this is that the givers of such occasions be severely blamed with all diligence of charity until they amend, for with this the prelates of the church are charged by common law, as I have written above.\n\nChapter VII.\n\nAnother remedy is that all who are occupied in our lord's service be diligent and busy to keep their sight and all their outward wits from all occasions that they take no heed of anything but only of that holy service that they have in hand, so that they take no occasion or bring in no tidings to the heart to occupy their mind with all. But that in all their bearing, they keep the sadness of religious discipline. For such sober and sad outward keeping, if it is done in truth and not feigned, helps much to the inward stability of the heart, as the scripture says.\n\nEcclesiastes 1:1.\nReligiositas custodiet et iustificabit cor - among these other letters of our Lord's hours, are speakers and sleepers, namely those who are light to speak, for they let others as well as themselves, & give occasion of evil. How perilous this vice is, you may see by these examples.\n\nCesarius in dialogues, distinction xii, chapter vi.\nA young religious virgin about ten years old in the Cistercian order named Gertrude, after her death, returned one day at evening time when the entire convent was in the choir. She came to her usual place in the choir, and at the end of evening prayer, she fell prostrate before the high altar. This continued until all was done, and then she rose. No one saw her except another maid of the same age, who was accustomed to stand by her in the choir. The maid, who was afraid, informed the Abbess. The following day, by the Abbess's bidding, she asked the same virgin when she returned and said to her,\nSister Gertrude, where have you come from now, and what are you doing among us after your death? She answered and said, \"I have come here to make amends for my transgressions. I was barely able to utter half-words in the quiet, and therefore I am commanded to satisfy in the same place. But if you beware of the same vice, you shall suffer the same pain after your death. And after she had appeared four times, she said, \"Sister, I hope I have fulfilled my penance from hence forth. You shall no more see me.\" And so she went to bliss.\n\nBut take heed, since this young maid of ten years of age was punished so for half-words, what will they suffer who are of greater age for whole words spoken in a time of silence.\n\nIt is also read of Saint Severin, archbishop of Cologne, who was such a holy man that angels sang when Saint Martin died, many miles away from him, and obtained by his prayer that his archdeacon heard the same song.\nThis same Saint Seuerine appeared after his death to the same archdeacon, arrayed in his bishops' robes and standing as if between heaven and earth. Above his head was a cloud of fiery sparks and drops falling upon his head and body. Then the archdeacon said to him, \"Art thou not my lord Seueryne?\" He answered, \"Yes, I am.\" The archdeacon asked, \"What is that?\" He said, \"I am in fire.\" The archdeacon said, \"We worship thee as a saint and thou sufferest such great torment.\" Saint Seuerine answered, \"This I suffer, for in singing God's service in the choir I was more negligent than I should have been.\"\nFor while my clerks soothe your service to God and I was present with them sometimes, both my servants and others came to speak to me about various necessary things. I listened to them and gave answers. The archdeacon said, \"Sir, I believe it is no great torment that you suffer.\" After he had said this, a drop of the fiery cloud fell upon his arm, which burned the flesh to the bone, and he cried out, \"My arm, my arm!\" Then Saint Severin said to him, \"Fear not, for now you shall see. Endure your pains, and I will tell you how much you can do against God.\" Then the holy bishop lifted up his hand and blessed his arm. Immediately it was healed, so that he felt no pain from it again. Here you may see what pain they deserve who are bound to endure it and without need speak in the Lord's holy service, while this holy bishop was not bound to silence during these holy hours, was thus severely tortured, for he suffered from a fever in the Lord's holy hours.\nOf them who are dull and sleepy in God's service, we read that St. Bernarde saw an angel with a serious countenance go about the choir and sense those who prayed and devoutly soaked themselves. Of another holy man we read that, on one occasion, he was oppressed with heaviness of sleep in the Lord's service. And an angel in the likeness of a reverend person came and took him by the breast and drew him out of the choir. While he was being drawn, he began to wake and opened his eyes, and saw him and said, \"What art thou, sir?\" he said, \"And why dost thou draw me so?\" He answered, \"And why dost thou sleep so? Where comest thou to church to sleep or to wake?\" He was gone, and the goodman drove sleep from him. The third thing is that pertains to the proper manner of saying these holy hours is to say them with attentive intention. (Sugo. Cap. iii. & Triuet. ca. xxi super regulam. Augustini)\nFor God likes not to hear a prayer from one who does not listen to himself and pay attention to his prayer. One who does not listen to himself and pay heed to what he says. Therefore, Saint Augustine in his rule advises, when you praise God or pray with the second Psalms or hymns, think in your heart on that same thing that you say with your mouth. [Paragraph break] This thinking and intent in the words without any understanding. And there are simple souls who have at times good savour and devotion, though they understand rightly nothing of what they say. [Paragraph break] Another is to pay attention to the letter only, after a literal understanding. And this is sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter, according to the letter. [Paragraph break] The third is to keep the mind and intend the inward, ghostly understanding of the words that are spoken or sung. And this is very hard to do continually, for the heaviness of the frail body often brings down the fervour of the spirit.\nBut it is fully comfortable, and it gives great spiritual nourishment to the soul if it is labored discreetly in meek and clean conscience. But these two last endings long remain for those who can understand what they read or sing. And therefore, so that you should have some manner of understanding of your service, if you wish to labor it, causes me to begin this work. For it comforts a creature much in anything that he does, when he knows what it means. And else, he may grow weary of his labor sooner. But whatever ending he commands, to the words or to the understanding, it is always expedient that at the beginning of this holy service, you make your heart as free as you can from earthly things and set up your desire as mightily as you may for our Lord God, beholding him as present. And in that humble desire and inward beholding of him to abide and to keep you as much as you may. And you shall feel much comfort and grace of devotion thereby.\n \u00b6And then ye muste be full ware in kepyng of youre selfe after / that ye lese not rechelesly suche grace and deuocyon as ye haue receyued in tyme of youre seruyce / leste yt be wythdrawen from you an other tyme for youre owne defaulte. \u00b6And also yt is spedefull for gettynge of suche deuocyon\u25aa to take some lytel layser before the begynnyng of eche houre for to sturre vp the harte to god. For as a holy father sayth / therfore ar we so colde / & dulle in goddes serui\u00a6ce\u25aa for nether we ar quykened before in deuocyo\u0304 / ne\u00a6we ar not ware to cast from vs vayne thoughtes in the begynnynge / & to stable oure mynde in god / and vpon that we say. And therfore as we come therto / so we go therefro / dyssolute and vndeuoute. \u00b6The  for the entendaunce ys / to take hede that all the seruy\u00a6ce be sayde as yt oughte to be / bothe psalmes respon\u2223ces and lessones / and verse / and all other thynges as longeth to the seruice of that mattyns / or houre that ys in saynge\u25aa wythout erroure / or ouerskypynge or other defaulte\nThis is not hard to keep as the other [and therefore you are more bound to it. For it may be kept by all who will do their business thereabout. And therefore, those who sing or say together in the choir are not only bound to take heed to that which they read or sing themselves, but also to hear with understanding all that is read or sung there by others, as I have said before. And he who wittingly leaves out of these holy hours unsaid and unheard, without need or sickness, and does not intend to make amends--John in summa libri primo. titulo vii. questione xviii. he sins mortally. And the more he leaves out, the more gravely he sins. But he who leaves out unwillingly through negligence or forgetfulness, he sins not mortally, so he may make amends therefor when it comes to his mind. And also, if it happens in the time of divine service that any, by need or by sudden negligence, or by any observance or office that he has to do in the choir, fails or stumbles]\nI or be distracted from saying or hearing any word, or verse, or psalm, or such other thing, and may not say it, but if he withdraws his voice from singing, he ought not to leave it for saying, but he ought to sing forth with the choir, and do penance for his negligence if negligence is the cause. But if he sings alone, then he ought to say he has left it if he can conveniently.\n\nIn the same way, if anyone is allowed by obedience or need, so that they may not come to the beginning of any of these hours or stay fully to the end, and can conveniently say what is missing, then they are not bound to say it. However, if it is a large part of the hour or many psalms or such things, then they are.\n\nBut if the late coming is due to sloth or negligence.\nBut they ought not to begin the hour and remain silent once they have taken it up, except they shall sing in unison with them where they found them. Iuno. vvi supra But they ought not to withdraw their voices from singing, and such silence might cause distraction or delay for others. Now, I am not intending to make laws and ordinances upon you through this writing. I write only to inform you of the law of the holy church, as decreed by doctors, concerning divine service, for you and those bound to it. Furthermore, those who are so sick that they cannot say or hear their service are excused from it forever.\nFor they are not bound to say that, after they are recovered; there is no law that binds those who are sick, if they may and will say it afterwards, in devotion - it is not unlawful. But for saying it of such a conscience, as if they must necessarily do it, it was neither prayable nor expedient.\n\nBut those who are not so sick, but may say or hear their service without any harm or pain, and yet leave it out of sloth and negligence - they are bound both to say it and to do penance for the leaving.\n\nIf any is in doubt whether he might have said it or not - it is good in such a case to be governed by the counsel of a discrete godly father, lest the judgment of his own conscience be too scrupulous or too reckless.\nAnd it is so great a pearl to leave anything from this holy service, as was before said. Therefore, all who are bound to it ought not only to accustom their hearts to have a mind for it but also to use their tongues to say it treatably and distinctly, without failing or overlooking any word or syllable. For just as a good harper strikes all the strings in his harp each in its kind, and if he strikes the first and the last, or strikes carelessly over all at once, he will make no good melody. So God's service is likened to the song of a harp, as the prophet says. \"Sing to the Lord with the harp, Psalm 97,\" that is, \"Sing to God in the harp.\" And therefore, in this harp of the Lord's service, you ought to strike all the strings, that is, all the words and syllables each in his place, and not mumble them together as though you would say them all at once.\nFor the prayer in God's church should accord with His prayer in heaven, as Saint John in the Apocalypse said after he had heard it. He said, \"And I heard a voice as of a harpist harping on his harp.\" Chapter xiv. That is, The voice I heard in heaven was the voice of harpers harping on their harps. Therefore, when Aaron, by the Lord's commandment, offered a calf upon the altar, he cut it into pieces. Leviticus IX and then offered it up with the head, and with each member thereof. By this calf is understood the service of the Lord's praising, which is much more acceptable to Him than the offering of any calf, as the Prophet says. Psalm lxviii. I will praise the name of God with a song, and I will exalt Him in praise, And it will please God over a young bull.\nBut when this calve of our lords' prayer is offered, it must be cut into gobbets; for all the words and syllables ought to be said distinctly from the beginning to the end, in each member and in each part thereof. For like as clippers or counterfeiters of the king's money are punished by death, so those who clip away from the money of God's service, any words or letters or syllables, and so falsify it from the true sentence or the true manner of saying it, deserve to be grievously punished against God. And therefore the devil sends his messengers to gather all such negligences together and to keep them in accusing the soul, as we read of a holy Abbot of the Cistercian order, in the \"Acts of the Saints.\"\nWhile he stood in the choir at matins, he saw a fiend with a long and great pouch hanging about its neck, and went about the choir from one to another, and carefully waited for all letters and syllables and words, and failing ones. These he gathered diligently and put them in his pouch. And when he came before the Abbot, waiting to see if anything had escaped him, so that he might have gotten and put in his bag, the Abbot was astonished and afraid of the foulness and hideous shape of him, and said to him, \"What art thou?\" And he answered and said, \"I am a poor devil,\" and my name is Tytyuyllus, \"and I do my office that is committed to me.\" And the Abbot asked, \"What is thy office?\" He answered, \"I must each day bring my master a thousand pouches full of failing syllables and words that are done in your order in reading and in singing. And if I do not, I must be sorely beaten.\"\nThough such failings may be soon forgotten by those who commit them, yet the devil does not forget them, but keeps them carefully in store to accuse your soul with them at the Lord's judgment. Therefore, it is good to know the cause of such haste and negligence and to put a remedy thereto. One cause may be evil custom, that some have used their tongue to rush through their service in such haste that they can do nothing else. And this custom needs to be unlearned. So that the worthiness of our Lord's praising may tame their tongue to say it more treatably. As our Lord says through His prophet, Isaiah xliiii. \"That is, I shall tame you with my praising.\" Another cause is ungodliness. For some have so little godliness in our Lord's service that they think it a pain to them as long as they are saying it. And therefore they hurry through it as fast as they can, so they may be delivered from it.\nAnd this vice comes from great sloth,/ that they dislike to labor in this holy service to obtain devotion, or else it comes from some sin hidden in their conscience which brings down the soul and makes it so heavy that they cannot lift it up to any spiritual desire in any prayer.\n\nThe remedy for this is to purge their conscience through contrition and penance and to stir up their dullness to labor after devotion as much as they can or may, and to endure upon the table of their service, saying it however wearisome it may be, until they have broken the hardness and coldness of their own heart.\n\nThe third cause is worldly or outward occupation. For some have their hearts so much on bodily works or other business that they hastily abandon their service.\nAnd while they are in saying, their mind is more upon their work rather than upon their service, and therefore they may feel no savour in it. Sermon 6 on the Assumption. For Saint Bernard says that the holy delight of devotion flies from the heart that is occupied with worldly business, for truth cannot be mingled with vanity, nor endless things with spiritual things. With fleshly things, nor high things with low things. For you cannot taste both heavenly things that are above and earthly things that are below at once. Therefore, as Chrysostom says, he who will keep God's commandments needs to despise the desires of the world.\n\nThe fourth thing that pertains to the depth of this holy service is to take heed to the song, which is the least of all the things mentioned before. For there are three things in God's service: the sentence, the word, and the song.\nThe notes and words serve to the inward sentence, and the words and music serve to stir the soul to love, worship, and praise God, and to have devotion and joy in Him. Therefore, all intent concerning the music should be directed towards this end, and afterwards be deemed as such. One ought not to seek pleasure in the voice, nor delight in the sweetness of the song itself, nor in high pitch, nor in curious singing, nor in any vanity in singing. But only to seek communion for your sins and devotion in God and in His holy mother, whose praises you sing.\n\nIn the Rule of St. Benedict, Ca. xxxviii. and Capitulum xlivii.\n\nThough it is so that, as St. Benedict says, those who read and sing should edify the listeners, yet it is not expedient to have any regard in the heart towards the listeners. For the music that is sung most devoutly towards God edifies most of all, even though one may think nothing of them.\nThe less you think about them in vain, the more you edify. It is necessary to take heed in singing that all the notes be sung as they are in your books. Each of them in their own town, and that the measure of singing be evenly set and kept. But all this ought to be observed so that the spirits of all be kept at rest, and devotion in God be furthered thereby and not hindered. Therefore each one ought to have an ear for another. So if any discord happens, each one be ready to give way to another. And not one hasten forthward, another draw backward, but all ought to sing together and accord together, that as you ought to be all of one heart, so you praise God with one voice.\n\nThere is neither singing nor reading that can please God in itself, but according to the disposition of the reader or singer. Therefore it pleases or displeases. For our Lord takes heed of the heart and intent, and not of the outward voice.\nAnd therefore those who rejoice them with vain glory or delight in the sweetness or pleasure of their own voice do not please God with their singing, but offend Him and please the devil. For Saint Gregory says that when pleasing voices are sought, sober life is forsaken. And therefore the devil has great entrance in this vice. In Capitulo iiii of Dialogis, Cesarius relates that he himself once used it. It is written of a monk who was in the same abbey where Saint Benedict was Abbot that he had a most pleasant and sweet voice. This monk once hallowed the Paschal on Easter even and sang so sweetly the song of the hallowing that it seemed to the ears of all who heard him as if it were the most sweet and delightful melody.\nBut he took such delight and vain glory in it that as soon as he had finished driving out the demons, they took him to them so suddenly and marvelously that no one knew where or how he had gone. In Book 10, Chapter 33, Saint Augustine says in his confessions that whenever the song pleased him more than the inner meaning of the thing being sung, he knew he sinned grievously. In Book 6, Chapter 35, Our Lord Jesus Christ showed Saint Birgitta how the spirit of vain glory accused the soul of a devout man. At Our Lord's judgment, for his high and vain singing, the demon said to him, \"You sang for vain glory and for a vain name. And whenever your voice fell on anything and grew weary, I lifted it up eagerly to help him.\"\nAnd so for this, and for other sins, the wretched soul was damned. Like this, I have heard of a young monk from Cisterches, who out of pride and self-will, in Cesarius in dialogis, distinct. v. Capitulo 5, when the psalmody was begun in a mean voice, he set it three notes higher. And though some of the elders wanted to sing fourth, as it was begun, yet he, with the help of those who favored him, prevailed against them. But they gave way. But anon it was seen openly how the devil came out of his mouth in the likeness of burning iron, entered into all his helpers. Therefore, as a man who climbs high fails footing and holds sometimes, and so falls and breaks his neck, similarly such high singers who fail footing in meekness beneath, and have no hold of devotion above, fall down by pride, and break their necks spiritually.\nFor every note of meek and devout song shall have a special reward from God. Just as the devil marks every note of such proud song to have the singers punished. Ide, discord quarto \u00b6One time, when clerks sang in the choir with high and low voice, a religious man saw how the devil sat high with a great sack in his hand, and with his right hand he put all their voices and song in it. And when the service was done, they made great joy and gladness among them, as if they had prayed God well with their song. Then the holy man said to them, \"You have sung fast,\" he said, \"and you have filled a great sack.\" They asked him what he meant, and he told them what he had seen. Then they were ashamed, as much as they had been rejoiced before. \u00b6Therefore, our merciful Lord Jesus Christ willingly excludes such song from this order. He bids himself that your song should not be curious, nor high, nor vain, but in every way meek.\nsad and sober, addressing our holy mother Saint Birgitta, have you not read that Moses' sister, for the great miracle that was done in the Red Sea, went out with virgins and women singing in timpanes and cymbals a song of joy to God? So too, my mother's daughters should go out of the Red Sea. That is to say, from the allurements and pleasures of the world, holding in their hands timpanes, that is, abstinence from fleshly lust, and cymbals of clear prayer, whose song ought not to be slothful, broken, or dissolute but honest and sad, and in agreement in one and all ways.\n\nThe fifth thing that belongs to the true manner of divine service is to take heed to the intent of what you say. For intent gives every good deed its right name. Therefore, if the intent is good, the deed is good, and if the intent is evil, the deed is evil.\nBut a evil deed can never be made good, however good the intention. But to say or sing divine service is a good and holy deed in itself, and therefore, if it is done with good intention, then all is good. Therefore, you must take heed that you do not perform this holy service for vain glory, as those do who seek to be taken as holy and devout. Nor for vain pleasure, as those do who desire to please others through it. Nor for vain fear, as those do who would not come there, save for fear of being harmed. Nor for vain shame, as those do who come there, for they are ashamed, but if they do as others do, you ought to do it only for God and for good intention, so that even if no creature were to hear you or see you, each of you alone, you would still be no less diligent and devout in singing it and saying it and coming there.\nAnd since God asks of man all that is contained under the conclusion of charity, which is love of God and of ourselves and of our fellow Christians as ourselves: therefore, it is necessary that in God's service, as well as in all that you do, you intend the worship of your Lord and the health and profit of yourself and of all your fellow Christians.\n\nAnd since this holy service is not of yourself but is set by the holy Church: therefore, it is expedient that you intend to say it in unity and in obedience to the Church, with the intent that God through His Church has granted or denied it to be said and sung. For so it may always be accepted and heard.\nYou ought to understand the fulfilling of your founder's intent, which was for the health of his own soul and of his ancestors, and of all Christian souls. In the Rule, Chapter XXxi, Section, and specifically for the peace and welfare of this land, after the example of our Lord Jesus Christ in revelation to St. Birgitta, where he commands that in each land where any monastery of this order is founded, there shall be increased peace and accord. It is also beneficial for you to understand in the saying of this holy service, the fulfilling of your bond and duty, as much as you are bound thereto by your rule and by your holy profession. And for the prayer of these hours is rather speedily and favorably heard by our Lord, than other prayers, as I said before. Therefore, it is good that in the saying.\nYou intend to obtain forgiveness for your own sins, and such help, graces, and virtues that you feel necessary, not only for your own benefit, but also for the help and profit of all whom you are bound to pray for. The more specifically and frequently you offer up these intentions to God with meek and fervent desire, the better and sooner you will receive what you desire and pray for. Nevertheless, you ought to prepare your hearts for this holy service from the beginning, for during this service, your mind should be steadfast in God and focused on nothing else, as I have said before.\n\nThe sixth thing that pertains to the deeper meaning of saying these holy hours is to take heed that they are said with meek reverence and devotion, both inwardly in the heart, and outwardly in all observances. This includes kneeling, inclining, sitting, and standing.\nand in sad and reverent keeping of all the members of the body, much more than if you were in the presence of any earthly king or queen or other earthly creature, you who are there in the presence of almighty God to do His service, both with body and soul, like as He made both to that same end. Therefore, the holy observances are not only to be kept by those who sing in the choir, but also by all others to their power wherever they say their service. For a religious person ought to be governed religiously over all, whether he be alone or with others, and whatever he does. And especially in saying this holy service. Nevertheless, those who have no convenient place to keep all observances and therefore say their service in continual and reverent kneeling or sometimes standing, I believe they are excused. But for saying it sitting or lying down without need of sickness or walking up and down, it were a token of little love and of little reverence to God. Libro quarto\n\nCleaned Text: And in sad and reverent keeping of all the members of the body, much more than if you were in the presence of any earthly king or queen or other earthly creature, you who are there in the presence of almighty God to do His service, both with body and soul, like as He made both to that same end. Therefore, the holy observances are not only to be kept by those who sing in the choir but also by all others to their power wherever they say their service. For a religious person ought to be governed religiously over all, whether he be alone or with others, and whatever he does. And especially in saying this holy service. Nevertheless, those who have no convenient place to keep all observances and therefore say their service in continual and reverent kneeling or sometimes standing are excused. But for saying it sitting or lying down without need of sickness or walking up and down, it were a token of little love and of little reverence to God. (Libro quarto)\nChapter 8 For our holy mother Saint Birgitta had in revelation / and wrote to a secular clerk that such walking to and fro during service time / is a showing of an unstable and vagabond heart / and of a slow soul. And since it is so in seculars, much more is it blameful in religions. \u00b6And therefore the books that say how some have the most devotion sitting, or else whether it is sitting or kneeling or going, or standing, a man should do as he can feel the most devotion \u2013 such sayings / are to be understood\nof those prayers and devotions / that a man chooses to say or do after his own will. But in our Lord's service, we ought to labor for devotion / in such a manner of saying and of observance / as holy church and religion has ordained to be kept therein. \u00b6And it is greatly to take heed / of that holy obedience whereby the Pope, in the common law of holy church, binds those who are bound to say the holy hours of divine service. Extract.\nThe celebration of the Mass pleases you. They say that they study and recite it devoutly. For by the wound of original sin and our actual sin, and wicked custom, the corrupt body is so heavy and loathsome to all virtue, and the heart so unstable, that without some violent act towards ourselves, we cannot make the rebellious and obdurate flesh do reverently what is required, nor gather the mind into one feeling of devotion. Therefore, the Pope commands that this holy service should be said studyingly. For study is a great and violent applying of the heart to do something with great and fervent will. And therefore, he first says \"studiously,\" and then \"devoutly.\" And this spiritual study may not be done haphazardly or intermittently, but it must be continued diligently and steadfastly every day and every hour and time of the day.\nFor he who in other time let his heart follow our Lord Jesus Christ's rule that neither gold nor silver nor precious stones should be our treasure, but the grace of God should be our riches (Chapter VIII). He said that this treasure of grace must be kept through devout prayers and godly praises. Take heed of our Lord's order in His words. First, He says study, and then prayer, and then praising. For inward spiritual study teaches to pray, and continuance of this study causes devout prayer. Devout prayer brings spiritual strength and comfort to the soul, whereby it is lifted up and rests, and delights in love and praising of God. And while the soul is thus occupied, the treasure of grace is kept securely therein. Therefore, this spiritual study to keep the heart is your chief labor, your greatest charge, and your greatest bond. It makes the soul virtuous, and this causes all outward bearing to be religious. Proverb III.\nAs the scripture says, \"Keep your heart with all diligence, for from it your life flows. If your heart is kept well, your life is well, and if your heart is evil kept, your life is evil. Therefore, without careful and watchful keeping of the heart, nothing makes a man very religious. For it is written in the Sayings of the Fathers, when heathen philosophers met with religious fathers in the desert, the philosophers asked them, \"Why do you not fast and live in abstinence like us?\" And they replied, \"We despise all earthly goods and live in poverty. And we love to be despised and to have meekness and patience and other virtues.\" The holy fathers answered, \"We trust in God. And we keep our heart, we said again. Can you not do the same? That you cannot. For they did not know God, and the heart can never be kept except in God. For there is nothing that can fill the soul but God alone.\"\nBut for God be one. In whom is all, therefore all scatterings of the mind may be one in Him. And since He is only more than the soul, therefore the heart and soul are rested on each side in Him. Therefore beware that you live not recklessly. Go day and come evening, and so spend your time in vain, and your labor without fruit. But inwardly and quietly, and labor contently in this spiritual study to stabilize the heart in God, namely in the time of this holy service. And since charity prays, may I do the same. For though it be labor among all labors, yet it is in all ways necessary. & also it is most mindful, as the scripture says. Bonoru_ laboru_ glorio sus est fructus. That is, The fruit of good labors is glorious, therefore so labor in our Lord's holy service that we may come to the glorious fruit of eternal reward. Grant us by the prayers of His merciful mother, our merciful Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.\nHere ends the first part of our Lady's Mirror, called one of the parts of contemplation, as it brings much grace and comfort to the soul if used well and discretely. Much holy reading is often lost, however, due to lack of diligence, so that it is not intended as it ought to be. Therefore, if you wish to profit from reading, you must keep these five things in mind.\n\nFirst, you ought to take heed what you read, that it is something suitable for you to read and appropriate to your station. You ought not to read worldly matters or worldly books, that is, those without reason for spiritual edification and not relevant to your needs. Furthermore, you ought not to read books that speak of vanities or trifles, and even less books of evil or an occasion to evil. Your holy rule forbids you all vain and idle words in all times and places, by the same token it forbids you reading of all vain and idle things.\nFor reading is a manner of speaking. The second, when you begin to read, reading speaks to God, and therefore it ought to be heard reverently. Also make reverence to the word: it causes grace and light to the soul. Esto Melesiastice, v. that is to say, BethMath xi. The father of heaven has hidden the mysteries and truths of his scripture from the proud. No man should think he can understand a thing without God's help. One is often to ask what one cannot, another is busily to keep in mind that he learns and retains, and the third is readily and freely to teach others the things he has learned, provided they understand it themselves. The four things to be kept in reading are that you direct your intent so that your reading and study are not only for the sake of reputation or priesthood, as Regnum Dei no Priest. Cop. iii. says in virtue.\nThe kingdom of God is not in words but in deeds. For He lights up and does it according to the matter that follows, enduring repetitions and suffering tribulations, and many such other holy doctrines. And when you read any such books in your life, your heart is revealed to you in a fervent desire that you may contain and increase ever more and more in His grace. You lack such virtuous defects and lack that you see in yourself, with full purpose and will to amend and to order your life accordingly. In this way, you ought to read the first part of this book, which informs you to understand that it is made to awaken and stir up the sorrows and fears of death and judgment, and of pains. Some tell of the foulness and wretchedness of sin to stir up the affections of hate and loathing against it. Whenever you read these books, you ought to labor in yourself inwardly and stir up your affections accordingly to the matter you read. As when you read matters of fear.\nYou ought to stir up a fear in yourself, and when you read matters of hope, you ought to stir up comfort from the same hope, and so forth with other matters. It is expedient that each person use to read and study such books as are most convenient for him for the time. For if anyone is drawn down by sorrows of temptation or tribulation, it is not suitable for him for that time to study in books of heavens and fear. Though he may willingly feel himself drawn to it, rather he should study in such books as might stir up his affections to comfort and hope. And it is to be said differently according to the dispositions of persons that are stirred up for the time.\n\nSecond part. \u00a7. 98. On the Exhortations of Patrus\n\nIt is written in the Utas of Patrus that when senses had long tempted a holy man, they finally cried out and said to him, \"You have overcome us. For when we would lift you up too much with hope, you bring yourself down in fear.\"\nAnd sorrow of thy sins. When we would bring the [you] over much fear and heaviness, then thou restest thyself to hope and comfort of mercy. And so we can get no hold on the [matter], unless thou disposest thyself to both, as the matter requires, and as I have now said before. In reading such books,\nyou ought to dispose yourself to both, and as I have now said before. And in this way, you ought to read the second part of this book. For therein is your understanding informed to know what your service means. And in the very service, your affections ought to be stirred. Sometimes to love and joy and praises of our Lord Jesus Christ and of His most holy mother; Sometimes to fear, sometimes to hope, and sometimes to sorrow, and to compassion, and that especially on Fridays, where is made mind of our Lord's holy passion and of the compassion of His blessed mother our lady.\nIn the second part, the first word of each antiphon, hymn, response, and verse, as well as the fourth of all others, is written in Latin with Roman letters to indicate the connection of the matter. This should help the understanding of the hearers, as it does in your legend and in some other places. Therefore, it is sufficient to read only the Latin at the beginning of each lesson, and not at the beginning of each clause of the lesson. However, in other parts of your service, where the matters do not connect, but each thing is diverse in sentence from the other, such as the antiphons and responses and the like, it is well done to read the first word in Latin as it is written. The Latin is written in this way at the beginning of each teaching clause, so that when you have the Latin before you, you will readily know what English corresponds to each clause by itself. Additionally, when your legend is read at matins.\nIf someone wishes to read English and have it guide them through the Latin text during that time, the Latin at the beginning of each English clause should be helpful and direct them to the next clause in the Latin. This is meant for those who have already said their matins or read their legends. I would not advise them to abandon the Latin for the English if they intend to understand the English. Furthermore, it is forbidden under pain of cursing for anyone to translate or draw any texts from holy scripture into English without the bishop's license. There are such texts in your service, so I have obtained permission from our bishop to translate these things into English for your spiritual comfort and profit.\nBoth our conscience in drawing, and yours in having, may be the more secure and clear, to our lords' worship, who keep us in His grace and bring us to His bliss. Amen.\n\nMen in lands of war keep continual watch in cities and castles and walled towns. And when any enemies come near, they ring a certain bell. By which all men are warned to arm themselves and make themselves ready, and go to places of defense to fight and beat their enemies. In the same way, we are enclosed in this holy Monastery, as knights in a castle where we are besieged with a great multitude of foes who labor night and day to gain entry and possession in our souls. And often they are most busy at night time.\n\nWe ought not only to be kept at matins, but at every hour of the day. For though we rest some time from singing or praying with the mouth, our enemies do not rest from warring against us.\nAnd therefore we ought not to cease keeping our minds on the outward noise with the voice in this Pater Noster. There are seven petitions. For to obtain seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. And seven virtues. Whereby we may be delivered from the seven deadly sins. And so to come unto the seven who are better to have it in mind when you say it. If you will labor thereabout.\n\nOur Father, That is, He who art in heaven. Lift up your hearts to God your Father, and tell him what you intend, and say to him: Our Father, who art in heaven. You say not \"my father,\" but \"our father.\" Whereby we are informed to have great charity and love each other, and to all our even Christian brethren. In as much as we are all children of one Father. To whom we say all. Our Father, who art in heaven.\nBut also in the souls of Thy servants, Sanctify Thy name. That is, Let the worship and love of Thy holy name be so confirmed and stabilized in our mind that whatever you think, Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. And also that Your kingdom come to those in purgatory, that they may be delivered from all pain and come to rest in the joy of Your kingdom. And so, in this petition, you ask that God may reign in us, and in our very hearts, by grace. And that both the quick and the dead may come to the kingdom of bliss.\n\nFiat voluntas tua, as in heaven so in earth. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. That is, Let those in heaven be conformed to Your will in all things, so grant us Your will and strength to desire and to fulfill Your will in all things, however contrary to our human wills. Whether in sickness or tribulation, in wealth or in woe, in heaven or on earth.\nOr in hell, your father's will be done in us. Think not that our father will have any of his children in hell. But our obedience to our father should be fervent and simple. That we take no heed of heaven nor of hell, but only of the fulfilling of our father's will.\n\nGive us this day our daily bread. That is, the sustenance of our bodily life which you send us, grant us to take it soberly within ourselves, that by it we may receive every day the bread of your holy sacrament from the altar. That is, Lord Jesus, yourself. In the unity of your church. Though we receive it not every day with our bodily mouths.\n\nAnd forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And for your mercy's sake forgive us our trespasses. This petition may seem heavy to those who behold other men's sins and forget their own. But let us clearly consider. How great and many our sins are against God.\nAnd yet, if little offense is committed against us, we should consider it an unspecialized comfort that by forgiving so little and few, we may obtain forgiveness for so many and great. I have sinned against God. I deserve punishment. Another has sinned against me and deserves punishment if I forgive the offense and not the pain. My father, my God, will do the same to me if I forgive pain and all. Therefore, we ought to be glad when any trespass is done against us in word or deed. And more glad to forgive it and with heart, word, and deed. And to love them and to do for them. For by them we have occasion to obtain from God our Father the large and greatly desired pardon of forgiveness for all our sins and of all pains that we have deserved. The great comfort of this petition that it gives to a sinful soul cannot lightly be told. For he is truth that commands us to pray thus.\nAnd it may not be in vain. But as we forgive, we should be forgiven. Who might come to a better fare? How might we make an earnest change, then to forgive and be forgiven? Therefore, we dispose ourselves and say in great faith and hope: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And if we are willing to forgive and feel contrary stirrings within ourselves, yet we say nevertheless that this petition trustfully to our Father's thinking. Grant us, good Father, mercifully to forgive our trespassers, as we desire to be forgiven by them. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. This word. Amen. is a Hebrew word. And sometimes it is a word of affirming. And is as much to say, as Amen, or Faithfully, or So be it, or Be it done. And so it is set here.\nFor the purpose of showing great desire that all that is asked for in this prayer be fulfilled. In these seven petitions, all that is necessary for us is asked for, both for body and soul in this life, and after. Thus may you have your mind on this prayer when you say it, if you will study and labor to understand it, and keep it in mind. Not that you shall have mind on all the words that I have written, but on the sentence. For the understanding of man, namely, when it is enlightened by grace, can convey more in a little while than the tongue can speak in much longer time. And therefore while you say the words of your Our Father, I hope that your understanding will be better nourished with the inward sentence, at least with some of them, if you will do your duty.\nAnd for as much as our savior made this prayer for our health, it is good that you always intend to say it with the intention that he made it for, and ask thereby all things that he intended should be asked when he made it.\n\nAVE MARIA.\nLuce primum. This salutation is taken from the gospel of the greeting of the angel Gabriel and Elizabeth. It was the beginning of our health. And therefore the word Ave, spelled backward, is Eva. Like as Eve's speaking with the devil was the beginning of our perdition, so our ladies' speaking with the angel when he greeted her with this Ave was the beginning of our redemption. And therefore, Eua is turned into Aue for our sorrow is turned into joy by means of our lady. For Eua is as much to say as wo, and Aue is as much to say as joy or without wo. Therefore, meekly and reverently, we thank this glorious queen of heaven and mother of our savior for our deliverance. Say we devoutly to her, Ave Maria. Hail Mary. Mary is as much to say as Star of the Sea.\nFor all who are in the seat of bitterness, penitent for their sins, the Lady of Health approaches. She lightens those who are worthy by increasing grace, and shows herself Lady and Empress of power above all evil spirits, helping us against them in life, in death, and thereafter. Therefore, we ought to call upon her frequently and in all our needs, using this reverent name, Mary. As the merciful Lady says to Saint Birgitta, in Book One, Chapter IX, when angels hear that glorious name, they rejoice, and those in purgatory, hearing it, are comforted and gladdened. Righteous men are strengthened the more by the nearer assistance of angels through the naming of this holy name. Fears tremble for fear when they hear this dreadful name. And there is no sinner on earth so cold from the love of God but that if you call upon this most helpful name, Mary, with that intent.\nThat he will not turn again to his sin, the devil flies away from him, and never dares come back to him again, but if he falls into the will of deadly sin. Therefore, both for love and reverence of our most reverent Lady, and for our own profit, we say often and devoutly: Hail Mary. Some use when they hear the devil named in play or in anger to say Ave Maria. The like as he rejoices in the vain naming of his own name, so is he rebuked by the naming of this holy name, Maria, full of grace. Different saints had different gifts of grace, but never a creature had the fullness of all graces. But our Lady alone was filled in body and soul with the Lord and giver of all graces. And therefore it follows: The Lord is with thee. With her, he was in her heart by the excellence of grace, and in her reverent womb, taking there a body of our kind. Blessed art thou among women, and above all women. For by thee, all generations will call me blessed.\nBoth men and women rejoice in everlasting bliss. Blessed is the fruit of the womb, Jesus. And blessed is Jesus, the truce of thy womb. Blessed is the womb. And blessed is the fruit thereof. Which is life and food to angels in heaven and to men on earth. That is, Jesus, who is Savior. For he has saved us from sin and from hell. He saves us daily from the malice of the devil and from perils. And he has opened to us the way of eternal salvation. Therefore, endlessly be that sweet fruit blessed. Amen. So be it. Some say at the beginning of this salutation, \"Ave, benign Jesus.\" And some say after \"Maria, mater dei,\" with other additions also at the end. And such things may be said when the people say their \"Aves\" of their own devotion. But in the service of the church, I believe it is most seemly and most mindful to obey the common usage of saying, without all such additions.\n\nIf you will say the Exodus at the beginning of matins and of Compline.\nYou do well to respond. Because you do not recite it at the beginning or at Coplin as the church's use is in other services. And what this Creed means, I hope, with the Lord's grace, to write when I come to the mass Creed.\n\nThen after these prayers, you rise and turn to the altar, and incline. In token that you enter to say that holy gospel of Matthew, the 50th whereever the demons see the sign of the cross, they fly away, dreading it as a staff that they are beaten with all. And in this blessing, you begin with your hand at the head downwards, and then to the left, our Lord Jesus Christ came down from the head. It is from the Father into the earth by his holy incarnation. And from the earth into the left side, he is hell. By his bitter passion. And from thence to his Father's right side by his glorious ascension.\n\nAnd after this, you bring your hand to your breast. You have come to thank him. And praise him, glorious Queen of Heaven, who is the reverent Mother of God.\n\"And so, first at the beginning, ask her leave to praise her and say: \"Digna, that is. Holy virgin, vouchsafe a clue, a virgin overcomes them in all their pride, therefore you ask help against them. When you say, \"Damithi virtutem,\" that is, \"Luce, primo,\" \"Ave Maria,\" and so forth, \"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.\" \"Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is Jesus the fruit of thy womb.\"\n\nWhen you have begun with our lady and found comfort in her, you begin to desire to praise our Lord God. But because you feel yourself unworthy, so much so as to open your mouth to it, therefore you pray him to open your lips. To his praising and say, \"Psalm. l. Domine, that is, \"Lord, thou shalt open my lips. Et os meum et my mouth shall show thy praising.\" This verse is only said at matins. That is the beginning of God's service. In token that the first opening of your lips or mouth should be to the praising of God.\"\nAnd all day after, they should abide open, and ready to the same. And be so occupied and filled therewith that nothing contrary to his praying might enter in or out thereby. But for you may neither say anything well, at any time of the day, without his help, as he says himself in his gospel, John xv. \"Without me, you can do nothing,\" that is, with out me, you may do righte nothing. Therefore, both at matins and at the beginning of each hour, ask his help. Psalm lxix. \"Lord, haste thee to help me.\" That is, Lord, make haste to help me. And take heed that all these verses, both that part that is said of one alone, and that which is answered of all together, are said in the singular number, as when you say \"my,\" or \"me,\" and not \"our,\" or \"us.\" Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. One glory to all three. Though three persons are one God.\nThis word \"glory\" is called a good fame, often spoken of in prayer and song. Therefore, when you bid glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, you ask and desire that the blessed Trinity should always be praised, thanked, and worshiped for His endless goodness that is in Himself, and for all the benefits He has done, does, and shall do to His creatures, in the beginning in making them, in the continual keeping of them in their being, and in the perfect end that He shall bring all things to. And therefore you add to, and say, \"As it was in the beginning,\" that is, \"As\" in the Lord's Prayer, you say, \"Alleluia.\" This is a word of joy and praise, and especially it signifies that inexpressible joy that is in heaven endlessly in the praising and ruling of God. Therefore, praying our Lord with such spiritual joy as you can have in Him here, and desiring to praise Him in everlasting joy, you say, \"Alleluia.\" Doctors say that \"Alleluia\" means \"praise God.\"\nFor the praising of God, or Lord make me safe, Sing praising to God, Father and Sonne and Holy Ghost, Or light, life, and health. But it is a word of joy, therefore in time of penance, that is from Septuagesim to Esther, it is left, and in its stead you say, \"Laus tiibi domine rex eterne gloria,\" that is, \"Lord praising be to thee, King of endless bliss.\" For though penance doing be praising to God, yet it is done in sorrow of heart and sharpness of body, and not in gladness and joy. Namely for sinful people. And therefore in time of penance, we say, \"Laus tibi,\" not in joy, but in praising of God, and not Alleluia, which is a word both of praising and of joy. But it is not sufficient for you to pray and to rejoice in God alone, but if you stir up others to the same, therefore after Alleluia or Laus tibi, you begin the Invitatory, that is, as much to say, a calling or a stirring, whereby each of you stirs up and exhorts others to the praising of God.\nAnd of our Lady. And thereby also, those who are here present call those who are absent to come and praise with you. This is in accordance with the psalm \"Venite,\" which follows and is sung with the Introit. However, the Introit is sometimes sung in full and sometimes in part. For some come in full to God's service to praise Him with body and soul and all their might. And some come only half. Though the body may be present, the heart is elsewhere, as our Lord says both through His prophet Isaiah (xxix) and in His Gospel: \"This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.\" Matthew xv. This people worships me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. But the psalm is sung five times in full. For those who wish to be whole in the Lord's service must be most careful to keep their five senses, both the outer senses and the inner. And it is sung three times in part. For there are three kinds of people, as the Gospel relates in Luke (xiv): those who were called to the Lord's supper and did not come, for Pride.\nFor worldliness and fleshly desires, but those closed from such opportunities must come with whole heart and fervent will to the praises of the blessed Trinity and the queen of heaven. Say:\n\nTrinus deum et unum pronis mentibus adoremus. Virgini matri gratulantibus animis iubilemus.\n\n(This is, we worship thee with meek and ready souls, God, who art three in persons and one in substance and in Godhead. And let us praise the virgin mother with joyful hearts.)\n\nVenite\n\nThis psalm is written in the Psalter as Psalm 94 and contains five verses. In the first verse, we are called and exhorted to come to pray to him. In the next two verses, the reason for praising him is expressed. In the last two verses, the parallel is told of those who will not come to love him and praise him. Begin and say:\n\nVenite, adoremus Domini:\nveniamus ante faciem ejus.\n\n(Come, let us adore the Lord,\nlet us bow down before his face that made us.)\n\nMisercordia et veritas obvia est:\nquoniam rectum est ejus iudicium.\n\n(Mercy and truth are before him;\nrighteousness and peace have I loved.)\n\nTerra et omnes habitatores ejus:\nconjugate et laetemini in eo.\n\n(O earth, rejoice with him,\nsing to him, sing praise.)\n\nSol et luna et omnes angeli ejus:\nconjugate et laetemini in eo.\n\n(Sun and moon and all his angels:\nsing to him, sing praise.)\n\nQuoniam in manibus ejus omnis potestas:\net in manibus ejus fortitudo:\n\n(For in his hands is all power and might,\nin his hands is the source of strength.)\n\nQuoniam erat ante omnia:\net in finem saeculi non mutabitur.\n\n(For he is before all things,\nand in him all things hold together.)\n\nQui in caelo et in terra:\nvisibilia et invisibilia,\nomnia in ipso sunt creatura:\n\n(Who, for all his greatness,\nnever grows weak or weary,\nhis understanding is infinite,\nhis wisdom beyond reach,\nhe sustains all things by his might,\nand holds all things together with his command.)\n\nGloria Patri, et Filio,\net Spiritui Sancto:\nSicut erat in principio, et\nnunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.\n\n(Glory to the Father, and to the Son,\nand to the Holy Spirit,\nas it was in the beginning,\nis now, and ever shall be,\nworld without end. Amen.)\nThey that are absent may not hear you. Whom do you bid come, and why is our Lord over all present and ever ready to hear those that pray in church, but not all have come to Him? For He says of some that worship Him with their mouths that their hearts are far from Him. Therefore, to them you say, \"Come.\" As if you said, \"Gather together all the thoughts and mights of your heart, and set them only upon Him. And so come to Him in reverent fear and devotion. And let us rejoice in the Lord, and in none other thing.\" Iubilemus deo salutari nostro. Rejoice we in God our Savior. That is Jesus Christ, with all the powers of our soul's inward. May our love and devotion be so much in Him that neither can we hide it nor fully show it. For so means this word Iubilemus. And that we may the better rejoice thus in Him.\nPreoccupy yourself with his face in confession, for we come before him by our own death. Therefore, come quickly. He shows the face of righteousness to us in psalms, and we joyfully sing to him in psalms. To him we sing, and not to the pleasure of the hearers. But why should we do this? Because God is a great Lord in power and lordship above all things. And a mighty King above all gods. And a great king above all angels, saints, and all good men and women. Specifically, those who are in dignity and power are called gods by Him, because He has separated from them His virtues, power, or grace. But all these are subject to Him, and may not do anything without His leave. Therefore, He is a great king above all gods.\n\nAnd though He is thus great in power, He is nonetheless large in the abundance of benevolence and mercy. Whereby we know this: The same Lord shall not forsake nor cast from Him His people.\nThey have never done so evil. They will be his, by amendment. And of whatever sect or country they be, pagan or Christian, Saracen or Jew. For in his hand and power are all the lands of the earth. And among them all he takes care of those who make themselves meek in faith and penance, love and devotion. Therefore it follows that. And the height and depth of mountains he beholds. As high as a mountain is to the beholding of him who stands beneath, as deep it is to the sight of him who stands above and looks downward. Then a mountain is both high and deep. For those who make themselves deep and low to God by meekness, he beholds by his mercy and lifts them up, making them high mountains by his grace. And therefore says the prophet here, that the height and depth of mountains he beholds.\n\nFor the sea is his and he made it.\nFor like as the bitter is kept within its bounds by the power of God and may not flow upon the earth but by His leave, so no temptation or temptation may come, firstly, to bear to their greatest profit. For of them he has great care, and therefore it shows. And they that are dry from all moisture of sin, and thirst only for the love of God and reverence of Him, he finds and strengthens in such steadfastness of virtue and grace. And for this reason, if you would not before, at least now, Come and worship Him, and draw near and fall down before God. Come. By love and worship Him. By singular reverence that belongs only to God. And fall down. By meekness of body and soul. before God. Beholding His reverent presence. Weep. Let us weep. Yielding ourselves guilty.\nNot for the sake of man, but before the Lord who made us. There is a great familiarity and trust in the thing made towards the maker, for He knows what and why He made it. For after the body we are made frail, and therefore our maker will spare us and help us, and grant us mercy. After the soul, we are made to His likeness, and therefore we may and ought to desire to be like Him by grace. And after both soul and body, He made us partners of His bliss, and therefore we ought to dispose ourselves towards it and seek and desire to have Him as our reward in everlasting possession. For He is our Lord God, and we may truly desire to have what is His. And we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. And He feeds us with the pasture of His holy sacraments and of His holy word.\nand of his comfortable grace he has ordered himself to have himself for our endless reception in bliss, if we are his true sheep. Fruitful in wool of virtues and in milk of pity, and in lamp of good deeds, and in tongue of meekness and in flesh of charity and devotion. But since our Lord shows us many benefits, we have need to beware that we do not forfeit them by our own willful unkindness. And we are exhorted to this in the following verse, where he says, \"If you hear his voice this day, do not harden your hearts, or have in your hearts the intention to harden them contrary to his voice.\" (Hebrews 11:25) In this we are, and in this grace we hear our Lord's voice, both in his holy gospel and in his scripture, and by the inspiration of his holy ghost. And if you will not obey this, then we deserve that grace should be withdrawn.\nby why do we withdraw? Our hearts grow hard and obstinate against all goodness. Therefore, we are warned to heed the voice of our Lord's words and the urgings of the Holy Ghost while the day of His life lasts. And there is given to us an example of the people of Israel, whom God brought out of Egypt. Exodus xiv. Chapter xx. Chapter xvi. Chapter xvii. He led them through a dry way in the sea and gave them His law. He fed them with Manna in the desert. And when water failed them, He made water come out of a hard stone to give them drink. And He performed many other marvels for them. Numbers xxiv. And they were always rebellious against Him, provoking His anger for forty years. So much so that our Lord swore that they would never enter the land of rest that He had promised them. And no more did they do so. All that came out of Egypt died in the desert, save two who obeyed the will of God.\nAnd by this example, we are exhorted by our Lord in this psalm to beware, lest, through the use of our free will, we fall into blindness and hardness of heart, as they did, and be deprived from the land of eternal rest, which is the bliss of heaven. Therefore, God has spoken to us and shown us many more marvels than He ever did them. He now says to us, \"Do not harden your hearts as they did, in the exacerbation of the day of temptation in the desert.\" Do not harden your hearts, as they provoked me to wrath in the desert, on the day of temptation. Where were your fathers tempted, proved, and saw my works? I was near to this generation for forty years. Forty years is a time underlined for us, which is to be understood as a period of penance, for our Lord fasted forty days and sanctified that number for the doing of penance. And all the time that men live on earth.\nOur Lord is near to them. And ready to receive them to mercy if they would amend. But I said always they err in heart. Though anything may appear well outwardly, the heart inside is ever wandering from the fear of God. They did not know my ways. For they have not recognized my ways. To whom I swore in my wrath, they shall never enter into my rest. God has sworn. He cannot be unfaithful. If we do as they did, we must have more to account for. This psalm began in joy for me, but it ends in fear. If we will not serve Him for love of His benefits, at least we should come to His service for fear of His righteousness. Therefore, fear and do not be reckless in His service. But both in fear of His righteous wrath and in love. And in joy of His goodness. End you always in His praise and say, \"Gloria patri, &c., ut supra.\" This verse.\nIn Epistola ad Damasum, \"Gloria patri\" was first composed in one of the general assemblies. Afterward, Saint Jerome made the second verse. As it was, and he wrote both to Pope Damasus to be recited after psalms in divine service. The same Pope ordered and commanded that this be done.\n\nAfter you have called yourselves and others to the prayer of God and His glorious mother, our Lady, you sing a hymn in worship. And after praying for her and then psalms and antiphons, this word \"hymn\" is a word of grace, as is \"psalm.\" It signifies prayer spoken from the heart with the tongue, and psalms signify prayer done from the heart in deed. Therefore, by hymns, the life of those who pray to God in contemplation is understood, and by psalms, the conversation of those who pray to God in active life is understood. Therefore, at matins, which are said in the night,\nWhy this is a time most apt for contemplation. The hymn is said before the Psalms. This signifies that contemplative people prefer the exercise of contemplation before all other things. And at Lauds, which are said more near the day, a time of working, the Psalms are said before the hymn. This signifies that people of active life are most occupied in outward deeds and less in spiritual exercise. And also a Prime, Terce, Sext, and None. These are said before meat. When a better disposition is to contemplation than after meat, the hymns are said before the Psalms. And at Vespers and Compline, which are said at after None, the Psalms are said before the hymns. This signifies the same thing. And for the most part, people of all the world are occupied with deeds of active life. Therefore, the service of the holy church that is common to all begins at Vespers, where Psalms are said before the hymns.\nBut for you are most set to contemplation, as your rule says, you should attend to contemplative study. & to devout prayer / and to godly praises. Therefore your service begins at martyrs where the hymn is said before the Psalms. In token that you ought to prefer contemplation before active life. Nevertheless, neither hymns are said without Psalms, nor Psalms without hymns. Contemplative life may not be without active life, nor active life without contemplative. After hymns, you say Gloria tibi Domine. And after Psalms, Gloria patri. For whether you are occupied in contemplation spiritually, or in other bodily deeds, all ought to be done to that end, that the blessed Trinity be praised and worshiped thereby.\n\nThis hymn to the Trinity has but four verses proper. For the two last verses are common to all the hymns of your service, save three. Whych three are of diverse meter. From the other. And therefore these two verses may not be sung after the three others.\nIn the first two verses of this hymn, you praise our Lady for six great prerogatives that she has above all other creatures. A prerogative is an excellent worthiness. In the third verse, you show that for these six prerogatives, all creatures ought, of right, to praise her. In the fourth and fifth verses, you offer your petition to her and ask for what is necessary for you and all mankind. And in the last verse, you thank God that he chose her to be his mother and to be born of her. This hymn begins with \"O,\" which means praising and marveling. As when a man says or hears something that is truly marvelous, he says \"O\" with other words. So, beholding these six great excellences in our Lady, for you cannot fully think them in your heart or tell them with your tongue, therefore with reverent marveling, O glory of the Trinity.\nThis word \"glory\" means praising, as I mentioned before. When I spoke of Gloria patri. And it means joy and gladness as well. Therefore, we call our lady the glory of the blessed Trinity, that is, the joy and the praising that he had most in himself, and by her he is most praised by others. As I have said now before. And this is shown more clearly in the legend of this service. \u00b6The second reason all the court of heaven is worshiped by her, as it is fitting for a host or a company. A king or a worthy person being among them. And also all angels and saints worship her above all things, next after God. And therefore you say to her, Celestis decus curie, The worship and beauty of the court of heaven. \u00b6The third reason is that she is the spouse of the Father of heaven. And the fourth that she is, the mother of the son, the third person in Trinity. The Father of heaven chose this glorious virgin to be the mother of his only son, Jesus Christ. He, the Father.\nAnd she is the mother of one son. Thus, she is called the spouse of the king most high. That is the father of her son. Then comes the glory of the Trinity. Worship the beauty of the court of the Triune God from the beginning. God was ordained without beginning; therefore, heaven and earth and all that is most gracious Virgin accept.\n\nAnd therefore, in praising the holy Trinity for this bede, you say, \"Gloria tibi, Domine,\" Glory be to the Lord, who was born of the Virgin.\n\nO Amable virgin, after the hymn comes the antiphon and psalms. In this psalm is a verse that begins thus, \"Ego,\" and another verse thus, \"Servite Domini in te et exulta et cum tremuit.\"\n\nThese words are applied to our lady and are found in the first antiphon, \"O Amable,\" and the same is true of all other antiphons and psalms for the most part.\n\nPsalms signify good deeds, as I said before.\nAnd an anthem betokens charity. The anthem is begun before the psalm. And the psalm is tuned after the anthem, signifying that no deed can be good unless it is begun and revealed in the doing through charity. The anthem is also taken from the psalm, for deeds show where charity is. As Saint Gregory says in his Homily XXX: Probatio vere dilectionis est exhibitio operis, the doing he says of deed, is the proof of true love and charity. The anthem is first begun by one and afterwards ended by all, in token that charity begins first with God who is one. For He loves us first. As Saint John says in the Fourth Gospel, John iii. And therefore we ought to begin our love in Him. And so it spreads to all. Moreover, the sister who begins the anthem alone stands turned to the audience, and afterwards turns to the choir, in token that charity begins in the love of God and afterwards reaches all others. The anthem before the psalm is begun but a little.\nbut after it is all tokening that charity without deeds is but little. But in good deeds it is increased. And at the end when the reward of good deeds shall be given in bliss. Then shall the Anthem be sung all whole. And that of all together / for then shall Charity be full and perfect. Whereby all shall rejoice in God. And all together each of other.\n\nThe Psalm is sung. One verse on the tone side stands turned. Either to other & sing face to face. In token that the gifts of God that each one has received. ought to be used to help each other. He to help him with that he can or may better than he. & he to do again for him the same with that. That God has parted with him and so each to help other / and to bear other. And then\n\nare the psalms well sung. Quyer to quyer.\n\nIn psalmody sometimes you stand. For you ought to be ready & strong. to do good deeds. And sometimes you sit.\nFor you ought to see that all your deeds are done restfully with peace towards others, as far as is in you, when your sovereign comes. She does the same. For a time she must stand strongly by correction of evil and maintain righteousness. And for a time she must sit easily by favor of virtue and by pity of the weak and frail, and by patience towards all, to the singing of psalms and psalms with anthems, and anthems with verses, and lessons with responses, and responses with verse. And so forth of many such other things. And all to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ and of His most reverent mother our lady. And so to exercise the body for quickening of the soul, so that all such bodily observances should not be found without cause of spiritual understanding, as I said right now before.\n\nJoin to all this the fruit of that thing which is sung and read. And thereto, the fleshly joy of angels among you in the time of God's service. And most of all, the marvelous and inconceivable presence of God Himself.\nFrom whom our lady is not far, namely among you who are chosen so specifically to sing her daily praises, and see if it is not nearly another heaven to serve and praise God in the choir. In this regard, lift up your hearts to that glorious queen of bliss, and say: O amiable and lovely virgin, O worthy to be loved of God, who are ordained and made queen upon His holy mount of Zion, make us serve your son and rejoice in him with fear. Understood by Syon specifically if you will. This monastery of Syon, where our lady is chief lady and queen. But generally and more to her worship, understood by Syon, all holy church, where she is queen, for she is mother to him who is king and head of all holy church.\n\nAnthem. O supporter, O receiver and glory of Mary always a virgin, arise against our adversaries, and your blessing may come upon your people. Here you call God all-mighty, our lady's receiver, for all graces and virtues that ever she had.\nAnd she offered up to him all her good thoughts, words, and deeds. She kept nothing of them for herself, but only those that he wished to take and keep in his treasure. He received her soul and body into his eternal bliss, which you call him her glory. For as God took greatest joy in her, so was all her joy ever in him. So much so that all things were better to her than him alone. Save him alone.\n\nAntemnes. Intervene, O [name], in your prayer offer sacrifice of righteousness. Upon whom is sealed the light of the high light of grace in our baptism. And by penance doing, it is now sealed again and reformed to the likeness of God. As a seal takes likeness of the wax, and as a penny bears the image of the king. And therefore you say, The light of his chair is sealed or impressed upon us.\n\nThese three Antemnes begin with O. As you may see by the English. And that is meant here. Booth for prayer.\nFor both prayer and prayer is contained in each ante-chapel. In the first ante-chapel and in the last, you pray to our lady. And in the middle ante-chapel, you pray to our lord. And so you begin and end with our lady, and in the middle with our lord. For our lady must be the means to bring us to our god and keep us steady there, so that we do not fall from him. And for the same reason, all your hours begin first with our Lady when you say \"Dignare me,\" and \"Ave Maria,\" and they end with her as well. After each hour, you say \"Ave Maria,\" and that is for her merciful help to keep us in our lord first and last, and on each side.\n\nIf you wish to understand why you have three psalms before your lessons each day, you should know that there are three kinds of deeds we ought to do: some for God, some for ourselves, and some for our fellow Christians.\n\nBut these three kinds of deeds are often hindered and sometimes destroyed by three sins: pride, covetousness, and fleshly sin.\nIn understanding all sins, as Saint John the Evangelist says in the Second Book of John (ii), and through which the three parts of the soul - mind, reason, and will - are defiled. Therefore, it is necessary for us to cast out these sins and to reform our soul by the three parts of penance: contrition, confession, and satisfaction. Afterward, keep our soul stable in these three virtues: faith, hope, and charity. That the same soul may come to its end to the Trinity of blessedness: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And there to be endowed with three dowries: to know God in full clarity, to have Him in secure possession, and to love Him in perfection, and so to abide with Him eternally in joy. And therefore, this should be the end of your labor, your service that has departed in seven stories. At the beginning of each of the seven matins of these stories, there is a Trinity of psalms - that is, three psalms corresponding in number to these seven Trinities that I have now spoken of.\nThese are the six: a triplicity of deeds, a triplicity of sins, a triplicity of powers, a triplicity of penance, a triplicity of virtues, a triplicity of bliss, and the seventh, a triplicity of dowries in heaven. And here ends your stories. Begin to sing there a new song of praise and of joy that never shall have an end. Amen.\n\nIncline your ear, after you have prayed to God and his most glorious mother, in psalms and antiphons. You turn to reading and hearing of lessons to teach and edify your souls. Therefore between both, you say a versicle. It is to say a little turning for you to turn from psalmody to reading and hearing. And when the versicle is being said, you turn to the altar or to the East, both in token that all is intended for the worship of God, and also to ask for forgiveness of him if you have offended him in any negligence in your psalms, and to ask for help so that you may read.\nHere is your legend: This verse is for two as the Venite is, like the Venite, a calling to psalmody. In this manner, the verse is a warning. It urges you to be ready to listen and turn your mind to the lessons. And for that reason, all the choir answers in agreement and assent to the same. And to be sped more quickly, the verse is directly addressed to our lady. In it, you pray to her as our Lord vowed to make himself to her. Therefore, you say:\n\nIncline, O queen of heaven, incline your ear to us.\nTo whom the Lord of lords inclined himself for us.\n\nThen you kneel down and say a Pater Noster, asking for light of wisdom and grace to understand what will be read, and asking strength to withstand the busyness of your enemy, who is very busy trying to distract you from the fruit of this holy Pater Noster. And Hail Mary, Pater Noster, all in a low voice.\nThat is Et ne nos and Sed libera nos, asking to be delivered from the malice of the devil that he overcomes you not by any temptation in time of reading and hearing. And this is done to show the need that you have to be hastened by these two petitions. That causes them here to be asked twice. First privately, and afterwards openly. For both she that reads openly has need to be kept from vanity, and they that hear it in stillness have need to be kept from drowsiness and distraction.\n\nAfter the Pater noster follows an Absolution. That is as much to say as a losing from or a freedom. For therein you ask to be saved and defended, and so to be lost and free from all thing that might let you from devotion or reading of the holy lessons that follow. Neither absolution here taken for such a freedom as is determined to nothing in certainty. But it may be applied generally or specifically to what a man wills that is good. And therefore in this absolution, you ask to be saved and defended, but from what thing it is not expressed.\nAnd therefore each one of you may apply it to such things as you feel you have most need to be saved and defended from the trials of persons and the unity of substance. And how the eternal word of the father, who is our Lord Jesus Christ, was not departed by his incarnation from the father and from the Holy Ghost. And how God knew all things without beginning before or anything was made. And how his only charity, and none other thing stirred him to create creatures, that they should eternally rejoice with him. And how our Lady was most excellent in God's sight endlessly without beginning above all creatures. And how God saw that all the four elements should be so disposed in her holy body, that she should never do against his will. And therefore, in the endless knowing of her, the blessed Trinity rejoiced more than of all other creatures.\n\nThis lesson begins thus. John. First word of the gospel.\n The worde that Iohn\u0304 the euangelyste maketh mynde of in hys Gos\u2223pel\u25aa was endelesly wyth the father and wyth the ho\u00a6ly goste one. god. Tres enim, For there ar thre persones and in them is one parfyt godhed. Hee siquidem, And these thre persones\u25aa were a lyke euen in all thynges. Erarnan{que}Imposibile vt For yt were impossyble this worde to be god\u25aa yf yt myghte be departed from the father and the holy goosIta. that semeth to sowne trouthe. and to conteyne thre letters in yt selfe. Quemadmodu\u0304 enim, For lyke as yf eny of tho thre letters were with or a wen from other\u25aa they shulde not then haue the sa\u00a6me \nthe same worde\u25aa on the same wyse yt ys to be vn\u2223derstonde of thre persones in one godhed. For yf eny of them were departable from other. as yf it were vn euen to the tother. or faylynge in eny thynge. that an other had\u25aa then shulde not godhed seme to be in them. for yt ys vndepartable in ytselfe. Per humanitatis, It ys also vnlefull to beleue. that the worde. that ys the so\u0304ne of god\nThe word that we speak, though it may be thought in the heart and spoken out with the mouth, yet it cannot be touched or seen unless it is written or impressed in some material thing. In the same way, it was impossible for this word, which is the Son of God, to be touched or seen for the salvation of mankind, if it had not been united to human body. And just as a word, when it is seen written in a book, can both be thought in the heart and spoken out by the mouth, so it is in no way to be doubted that the Son of God, who could be seen in the body that he took, was never the less with the Father and with the Holy Ghost in eternal being. Therefore, the three persons are truly undivided, unchangeable, and equally like one God in all things. In this same God, and in this same God.\nAll things were known infinitely or created, being present before him in reverent fairness for his joy and worship. He brought forth the most wise ones into being by making nothing. Nothing. God was not compelled to make anything by any manner of need or for lack of joy or for his own profit. Impossible. For it was impossible that he should suffer any defect or lack in himself. Therefore, his only most fervent charity drew him to create things from nothing, so that many might enjoy his inexpressible joy eternally. Undo all things, therefore he made afterwards in the most fair way all things that were to be made, in the same form and in the same manner as they were present in the most fair way to his sight endlessly before they were made. Among all things that were then uncreated, there was one thing before God that sovereignly and holy surpassed all the others.\nAnd in that thing, God took greatest joy. In that unmade thing, for the four elements - fire, air, water, and earth - though they were not yet endlessly apparent to God's sight in that unmade thing, they were to be made in this way: the air should be so soft and easy that it would never breathe or blow against the Holy Ghost. The earth also, in that unmade thing, should be made so good and fruitful that from whencesoever storms of winds blew upon it, there would never be any tempest moved in any way therein. The fire also, should be so high in that thing that the flame and its heat would touch the dwelling place where God was Himself. O Mary, O most pure and most fruitful mother, thou art this very thing. For so and such were thou in the sight of God endlessly.\nAnd thou art made of the aforementioned pure and clean elements. Thou hadst the matter for thy blessed body. Talis ita. And such were thou unmade before God before thy making: thou deservedst to be afterwards. Erideo. Therefore, thou art much more excellent endlessly in God's sight to His greatest joy above all creatures that were to be made. Deus enim. For God the Father rejoiced in thy fruitful works that thou shalt do by His help. And the Son, in thy virtuous stability. And the Holy Ghost, in thy meek obedience. Erat tamen, yet the joy of the Son and of the Holy Ghost was the joy of the Father. And the joy of the Father and of the Holy Ghost was the joy of the Son. Was the joy of the Holy Ghost.\n\nBut thou, Lord, have mercy on us. The reader also, that is. But thou, Lord, have mercy on us. As if she said, \"I have sinned in my reading.\"\nBut some vanity of myself or by unrespect to thy holy word, or by some other negligence, and the hearers also by some distraction of their minds, from this holy lesson. But thou Lord have mercy on us. \u00b6Then the hearers do not answer to her asking mercy, but for the holy doctrine that they have heard in the lesson and say, Deo gratias, we give thanks to God. The reader asks for mercy rather than do thanksgivings. For he that teaches or does any thing, though it be never so good and done to never so good intent, yet he ought not at once to give thanks to God as though he had done well. Like the proud Pharisee as the Gospel tells us. But he ought to humble himself and ask mercy, fearing lest he have offended in anything and not done well. As the holy and righteous and patient man Job did. For notwithstanding that his deeds were holy and good, yet he said, Vereor omnia opera mea, Iob ix. That is, I fear all my works.\nFor he who loves cleanliness, I give thanks to God. But the reader asks in Summe Trinitati, after the lessons come Responses. These are answers that correspond to the lessons according to their subject matter, as you will see in the first response. The lesson read before speaks of the blessed Trinity and our Lady, and so does this response, with the verse. This is true of other responses for the most part. The Response with the Verse signifies good will and good deeds, which should answer to our knowledge and ability, just as the response answers to the lesson. As we are taught by hearing and reading, so we put it into practice in our lives. For he who knows his lord's will and does not do it, he shall be punished with many wounds. As our Lord Jesus Christ says in His gospel.\nThis first response is a song in faith and praise of the blessed Trinity. The verse goes as follows: \"Summe Trinitas, To the sovereign Trinity. One God, Father and Son and Holy Ghost. Prestet, God who is three and one. To whom thou didst please Mary sovereignly without beginning, grant us grace. Benedicite.\n\nSuccurre nobis, Help us. And succor us, mother of Christ. Who brought joy to all the woe-filled world.\n\nIn this lesson, it is told of our Lord's eternal joy, which He had from our Lady before she was made. This was an example of the joy Noah had of his ark before its making. After understanding that He should make it, and in this lesson, you speak to our Lady herself. Therefore, think that our Lady is present before you. Speak and sing, and read to her with great meekness, reverence, and inward love and devotion, as if you saw her with your bodily eyes. Say to her:\nTu quoque, O Mary, thou art worthy of all creatures; so thou wert endlessly before God before the making of Genesis. Thou was before the same Noah, after he had known of its making. Then he ended it as he was bidden. For Noah knew not what time it pleased God to reveal to him what his ship should be. But God knew before all times what his ship should be - that is, thy glorious body. Noe rejoiced\nNoe rejoiced in his ship before it was made, but God himself rejoiced sovereignly over it. O Virgin, before he made thee. Rejoiced, Noe, for his ship should be so picked with tempests within and without.\n\nYou shall understand that there is a place in the bottom of a ship where all the filth that comes into the ship is gathered. By leaking or by being seen into it, by the sides, when the ship is old, or when it is not well picked, or by any other means.\nAnd that place stinks greatly. It is called Thorpe or Haletabatur in some part of this land. But God rejoiced, for He knew that your will would be made so good through His goodness that you should be anointed within and without with the anointing of the Holy Ghost. There would never enter your heart the love or covetousness of temporal things that were to be made in the world. For as hateful to God is worldly covetousness in man as the thorpe is to Noah in his ship. Noah rejoiced in the spaciousness of his ship. But God rejoiced more in your broad and most merciful pity. By which you should love almost perfectly and hate no creature unreasonably. But primarily, because your most benign pity should be made so broad that God Himself, who is so great and whose greatness cannot be understood, should vouchsafe to lie and turn Himself in your blessed womb.\nLet there be enough light for Noah's ship. But God was glad. For your virginity should remain pure until your death, so that no filth of sin could defile it. Noah rejoiced because he would have all the necessities for his body in the ship. But God rejoiced because He would take his entire being, body and soul. More joyful than Noah was God about the. O most chaste of virgins, Noah was of his ship. For Noah knew beforehand that he would leave it with the same body that he came in with. But God knew beforehand that He would enter the ship with a body taken from your most pure body, and that He would leave it with a body and purest blood. Noah knew well that when he would leave the ship, he would leave it empty and never return to it again. Nor did it displease God from the beginning of the world.\nWhen he is born of your womb, you should not be left void, as was Noah's ark and its crew. And though his body may depart from yours in his birth, yet you will nevertheless remain with him indivisibly without end.\n\nO Mary, for you carried and brought God from heaven to earth. You carried and bore God and man in one person in your womb and in your blessed arms. You carry and bear sinners from sin to grace. You carry and give birth to all who come to you across the sea of tribulations and temptations. You carry and give birth to precious stones, that is, righteous men's souls, from the vale of this wretched world. Therefore, hail Mary, most worthy one.\n\nReceive the longing poor, that is, mankind, who was poor from grace and languishing in sin before the coming of Christ. By the precious stones are continually born from our vale.\nIn the mount of our Lord, for the repair of heavenly Jerusalem. Verse. Infer. Therefore bring thou into our hearts the very love of Him, who came unto us. Benediction: God be merciful to us, who was made His dwelling place. Amen.\n\nIn this lesson, the great love of God for our Lady is shown, endlessly or in anything, by the example of the holy patriarch Abraham, who loved his son Isaac not only after he was begotten but also before. In this lesson, speak reverently to our Lady herself, as well as in the other before. Diligebat. The patriarch Abraham loved his son Isaac not only after he was begotten but also before. But with greater charity, God Himself loved her. O most sweet Virgin Mary, before anything was made, for He knew endlessly that thou wouldst be born to His greatest joy. Minime.\nThe patriarch knew not beforehand that his charity, which he had to God, would be shown by his son who was appointed to him. But God knew full well without beginning that his greatest charity, which he had for mankind, should be openly shown to all. Taking, Abraham knew beforehand that his son would be conceived with shame and born of a woman who was carnally joined to him. But God knew beforehand that he would be conceived in the most chaste virgin, with reverence, without human intervention, and that he would be born of the most honest maiden, whose virginity was always kept intact. Abraham understood that the body of his son would be separated from his own body after he had begotten him. But God, the father, knew that the most blessed, heavenly mother, who was proposed and advised to give of herself, would never be separated from his majesty. For the son in the father.\nAnd the father and the son are one God, in being and in substance indivisible. Intellectually, Abraham understood that the body begotten of his body would rot and turn to dust, just as his own body would. But God knew that his most pure body would not be turned to dust nor rot, but rather be contained and born of his most holy body. Abraham built, a dwelling place for his son, or he was contained, to the end that he should dwell there when he was born. But the house that you should dwell in, O peerless virgin, was eternally ordained beforehand, that is, God almighty himself. O ineffable, O unspeakable house. Not only did it close the outer part around [you], defending you from all perils, but also it abided within, strengthening you to the perfection of all virtues. Abraham pursued three things for his son before he was conceived: that is, a place, wine, and oil.\nHe, being born, should be nursed therewith. These three things were distinctive and diverse each from the other in being and in taste. But to the desirable virgin was pursued from without, beginning her everlasting reception, God himself in three persons. This same God was pursued to be endless nourishment for mankind by the Virgin Mary norische of the poor. By these three, the patriarch pursued for his son, may be understood three persons: father and son and Holy Ghost. As the fatness of oil cannot burn till a weak or match is put to it, so the most fervent charity of the father does not shine openly in the world till his son has taken to him a manly body. As wheat cannot be ground.\n\"Although it is necessary to prepare many instruments. Just as the Son of God, who is the reception of angels, did not appear to the human race under the likeness of bread. Until his body was made of many members and had a right shape, in your blessed womb. Sicut etiam, And similarly, wine cannot be born unless vessels are first made ready. Likewise, the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is understood as wine, ought not to be given to man for eternal life. Until the body of your most beloved Son, which is understood as the vessel, is prepared by passion and death. For by this holy vessel, all sweetness of grace is ministered and given most plentifully to angels and men.\n\nMary, In this response you praise our lady for two things. And for two things you ask of her. And in the verse you ask for four things.\"\nThat you call her a house so fair adorned with the flowers of all virtues, that the blessed Trinity would dwell in her and enclose all things in Him. And for this prayer, you place a petition, that she vouchsafe as a house to enclose within her protection all wretches under her care.\n\nThe second prayer is that you say she is prudent and a wise dispenser of goods. Therefore, for the second petition, you pray her to feed those who are hungry for virtues and grace. In the verse, first you pray her to help those in peril. Second, to help those in prison. Third, to comfort those in tribulation and lack help. Fourth, to help and pursue for all.\n\nTherefore, you say thus:\nMary, Mary, house of the high Trinity, who encloses yourself and all things in yourself,\nthat are fair adorned with the flowers of all virtues,\nand most wise dispenser, enclose within your protection all wretches around you.\nAnd feed the hungry with your benevolent provision. Verse. Consider, behold the merciful. The perils of people. The wanderings and sorrows of captives and prisoners. The tribulations of fatherless and motherless. That all may feel that your provision has been profitable to them.\n\nThree things are necessary for the common health of man. The first is, that the understanding be enlightened with knowledge of good and evil, to know what is good and what is evil. And for this knowledge is had by reading and hearing wholesome doctrine; therefore it is understood by the lessons. \u00b6The second is, good use of the free will that the will assents to love that which is known to be good and to hate that which is known to be evil. And for the will answers thus to the knowing, therefore it is to be understood by the response. That is as much to say, as an answer. For it answers in sentence to the lesson as was before said. \u00b6The third is, to work that thing which the understanding knows to be evil.\nAnd the will hates it when we flee in deed and esteem it. And the thing that the understanding knows is good, and that the will ruled by grace loves, should be done in deed. And this is understood by the verse that is as much to say as a tearing, for knowledge and will ought to be turned into deed.\n\nAnd after the verse, a part of the response is sung again. For as a good will causes good deeds, so good deeds help to stabilize and strengthen the good will. \u00b6The lessons are hard. And the response is sung sitting. For knowing of truth and righteous ruling of the will may not be, but in a restful soul. But the verse is sung standing. For good deeds may not be done without labor. The response is sung by all. For every man may have a good will that is understood by the response. But the verse is sung by few. For all people may not fulfill their good wills in deed that is understood by the verse. So much as the holy apostle Paul said in Romans.\nthat he might not do the good he wished. The lesson is read of one and heard of all. In token that each congregation ought to live under one governor. who shall teach them and rule them according to God's law. For each man, namely religious, ought not to do after his own will or knowing, but after the obedience and teaching of the holy church and of his sovereign. Also you shall understand that this whole world is divided into three times. The first time was when men lived according to the law of nature. that is, when good men were governed by their own natural reason, enlightened by grace without any law written to them. And this time endured from the beginning of the world until Moses. The second time was when men lived under the law written that God gave to Moses. And this endured until the coming of Christ. The third time is from thence until the day of judgment. while Christ's men live under the law of grace. That our Lord Jesus Christ taught in His gospel.\nAnd conferred it after the sending of the Holy Ghost. And in all these three times, the chosen of God had suffered. Gloria patri, For after the last end of these times, that shall be after the day of judgment, all the chosen of God shall sing glory and praise to the blessed Trinity without end. Amen.\n\nTe Deum laudamus. Saint Austin and Saint Ambrose made this hymn first. For after Saint Austin had lived not only without Christian faith but also as a heretic and an enemy of Christian belief until he was about thirty years of age. And then, by the prayer of his mother and the preaching of Saint Ambrose, was converted to the right faith. When Saint Ambrose had baptized him, he gave thanks to God and said, Te Deum laudamus. And Saint Austin answered, Te dominum confitemur. Then Saint Ambrose:\n\nTe eternum patrem omnis terra veneratur,\n\nAnd Saint Austin next the verse, and so on in the tone one verse, and the other another unto the end.\nas the feruent grace of the Holy Ghost formed their souls and informed their tongues. Do not pay great heed to the singing or saying of it, but in this and all your other service, as Saint Augustine says, direct your mind to God and say it as your own speech to Him or to His blessed mother, as the service requires.\n\nBut you should understand that this hymn, sung with devotion, is a hymn of great devotion. [Cesarius, Dist. viii. Cap. 90.] In a Saxon country, there was a young and holy virgin in a monastery of nuns. It happened once during a great feast that she was at matins in the choir. But because her mistress feared her weakness, she bade her rest in the dormitory. The maid was sorry and loath to go thence. And after she had gone out, she remained a while without the choir. And when the hymn, Te deum laudamus, began, she saw in a spiritual vision heaven opened.\nAnd the sisters raise their lives up to heaven. And when they came to this verse, \"Tibi omnes angeli,\" they saw all the orders of angels kneel down. And with great reverence they worshiped God, singing with the choir. Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus dominus deus sabaoth, And when she came to this verse, \"Te gloriosus,\" they saw the apostles kneel down to God, and sing forth with the choir. The same did the prophets. When they came to this verse, \"Te prophetarum,\" and the martyrs, and all confessors and virgins joined in, \"In te domine speravi,\" the choir sang, \"Te deum.\" We praise the God. We acknowledge the Lord. Te eternum patrem, And all earth, that is, all earthly creatures, worship the eternal Father. Tibi omnes angeli, All angels sing to Thee. Heavens, that is, all spiritual creatures that are in heaven, and all powers, That is, that order of angels called potestates, sing to Thee, Tibi cherubim, That order of angels called cherubim.\nAnd that order of angels called Seraphim sing with the voice that never ceases. \"Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth.\" Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of hosts. Here you say first the Trinity of persons. Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit. And after you say, \"Lord God,\" not Lords or gods, but for the unity of substance and godhead, you also say, \"of hosts,\" that is, of angels. For as a host in battle is divided into three, that is, the forward, the middle ward, and the rear guard, so are the nine orders of angels divided into three principalities. And each principality is divided into three orders, as in three wards. This angelic hymn is taken from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah vi. In a spiritual vision, our Lord God sits on a high throne. And Cherubim and Seraphim singing lowly to one another, \"Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth.\" \"Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus. Dominus deus sabaoth.\" Therefore, according to the angels, you sing to one another, one \"Sanctus.\"\nOn the right side and another on the left side, and so forth in other verses. And because angels praise God in great reverence, therefore incline when you sing their song. Heaven and earth are full of the glory of Thy majesty. Think ever on this verse. Think inwardly upon it, and let it never leave you. Heaven and earth are full of the glory of Thy majesty. A thing that is full has no empty place. Therefore, there is no place on earth or above it, nor beneath it, no land, no country, no place, within us, without us, above us, or beneath us, but all is full of the glory of the majesty of God. O God of pity and Father of mercies, lighten our dark souls, that we may see and continually behold the presence of Thy godly majesty. With what reverence, with what fear, with what inward devotion, and with what careful keeping of ourselves in thought, word, and deed, ought we to have ourselves in every place, in every time, and in every thing.\nThat ever are in your presence, praise this glorious majesty. Heavens and earth are full of the glory of your majesty. After you have sung how angels praise God in heaven, you recount how saints praise Him. And this is done to lift up your minds to their joy and to praise God with them, and to desire to be where you will eternally praise and rejoice. Therefore, you say to our Lord God, \"Te gloriosus. The glorious Company of the Apostles. praise Thee. Te prophetarum, The praiseworthy number of Prophets. praise Thee. Te matirum, The fair host of martyrs. who are washed white and fair in their own blood. praise Thee. And not only saints in heaven, but all the holy Church on earth praises Thee. And therefore, you say, \"Te per orbem, Holy Church knows Thee. and praises You throughout the whole world. And who is it that is thus praised? You tell that it is the blessed Trinity. Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, when you say, \"Patrem, Father of immeasurable and infinite majesty.\"\nVenerable, my very and only son, and companion of the Holy Ghost, when you have shown this to you in prayer of the blessed Trinity, turn to the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. And first, addressing Him in His divinity, say to Him: Thou art the King of blessings. Thou art the endless Son of the Father.\n\nAnd then you praise Him according to His humanity for four things. The first is His incarnation. The second, His passion. The third, His ascension. And the fourth, His coming to the throne. And these four are shown in the following four verses after you say:\n\nThou, to set free, when Thou shouldst take upon the human form for the deliverance of man, Thou didst not shrink from the Virgin's womb.\n\nHere you bow, both in token and in reverence of our Lord's humble coming down to be man. And also in worship of that most pure and holy Virgin's womb, in which Almighty God delighted to dwell.\nFor it is red that when a devout woman had used to incline always when she said this verse in worship of that most reverent womb, on a time she saw our lady stand before her and incline again to her. And thereby you may see that our lady is pleased with such reverent inclining.\n\nTo decipher, You overcame the tumult of death and opened the kingdom of heaven to those who believed.\nTo the right, You sit on God's right hand in the glory of the Father.\nJudge, we believe that you are the Judge who shall come.\n\nAfter you have thus prayed to our Lord Jesus Christ, you pray to him and say:\n\nTherefore, we pray the help of your servants whom you have bought with your precious blood.\n\nAll this verse you incline for two causes. One for the first in this hymn you begin to pray. Another cause is in worship of that most rich liquor, that most precious price of our souls, the reverent and holy blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.\nEterna, make your servants rewarded in endless bliss. With your saints, Salva me fac. Lord, make your people safe. & bless your heritage. This heritage is the heathen people. Who, after the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, are turned to right faith. And now are called Christian people. And the Father of heaven says to his son Jesus, through the prophet, thus: Psalm 2:8 Ask of me, and I shall give you the heathen peoples as your inheritance, That is, \"Ask of me, and I will give you the heathen peoples as your possession.\" Therefore, you pray him here to bless his possession. that is, the Christian people. Et reges eos. And rule them. Here by grace. And exalt them into bliss without end. Per singulos, Each day we bless you. Et laudamus, And we praise your name from time to time to the end of the world. and forever. Dignare, Lord, grant that you keep us this day without sin. Miserere nostri. Have mercy on us, Lord. Have mercy on us. Fiat misericordia, Let your mercy be upon us.\nIn the Lord, I have trusted; I will not be confounded forever. In this world, which has an end, I will be confounded and shamed. I will be reproved and despised, for it is best for me. I will be scorned and always set at naught, as if you were the Lord yourself, so that I might come to your endless worship. For this life has a short end, and it is nothing. Therefore, Lord, I have hoped in you, taking and willfully suffering a little short-lived shame in this nothingness. To us, Lady, be a help and forsake us not. The answer: Do not despise us, sovereign lady. This verse or cycle is said between Matins and Lauds. As I have said before, a verse or cycle wherever they are said in your service signify a turning from one thing to another and also a warning to take heed.\nIf the mind were scattered before, it should be gathered again to that which follows. And therefore they are always said to be of one, or of two, or of few, who are God's messengers, giving warning to all the others. A matins, some times called by themselves in the night, and matins by themselves at morning tide, are yet used by some religions. And therefore matins begin with \"Deus in adiutorium,\" as other hours do. By matins said in the night is understood the old law, which was all in figures of darkness. And by matins said in the morning, is understood the new law that is in the light of grace. Matins signify the heavens that were in the time of the Lord's passion. And the laudes signify the joy of His resurrection, which endures unto the end of the world. And therefore laudes are as much to say as praises. For we who are born in this time of grace, and also of endless joy, ought to praise God therefore.\nAnd in praying to thank him for all his gifts, both of nature and of grace, and for eternal joy which is now ready for the souls of all who will dispose themselves to it, the bodies of them shall be rewarded with eternal joy also at the end of this time. In these lauds you say eight psalms, which represent the eight orders of God's chosen ones in holy church in this time of grace. And these eight orders were figured in the eight souls that were saved in the ship during the time of Noah's flood when all others perished. Genesis 7:1-3. For all that were washed in the flood of baptism and keep themselves in the ship of holy church by steadfast faith and true obedience to God and to the church shall be safe. And all others shall be perished in the flood for their baptism will not help them. But if they are found in the ship of holy church at their end.\n\nThe first order was of the Jews who were converted to the right faith by our Lord Jesus Christ.\nas were his apostles and disciples, and others who were converted by them. In whom our Lord Jesus Christ ruled first by grace and began to build his church. And this is spoken of in the first psalm of praise. That is, Dominus regnavit.\n\nThe second order was of pagans who were called to faith and praising God in all parts of the world by the apostles. To which belongs the second psalm, that is, Iubilate domino omnis terra.\n\nThe third order was of those who were in the time of persecution by tyrants and heretics. When Christian people awoke in busy prayer and kept themselves ready to suffer martyrdom. And many were eager for that time in great desire to be martyrs for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. And to this belongs the third psalm, that is, Deus deus meus, ad te de luce vigilo.\n\nThe fourth order is of true Christian people who are and shall be from thence until the coming of Antichrist. And to this time belongs the fourth psalm, that is,\nGod have mercy on us and ensure that the third psalm and this one are completed under one. Gloria patri. In times of persecution, as I mentioned before, Christian people lived in hiding and in dens, and could not or dared not come together to sing the praise of God. But after the persecution ceased and the holy church had found peace, as understood in the fourth psalm, they could then pray to God together. Therefore, after both psalms, one Gloria patri is sung.\n\nThe fifth order will be in the time of ante-Christ, as is figured by the king of Babylon. For, as holy scripture says in the book of Daniel (iii), when he had God's people in captivity, he put three of them in a burning fiery furnace because they would not worship a certain image that he had set up. But God kept them unharmed in the fire, and there they sang this psalm.\nBless all of the Lord's works, O Lord, and similarly, those who will not worship Him in ancient times shall suffer the greatest persecution ever inflicted upon Christian people. But God, in His special mercy and grace, will keep His chosen ones unharmed in the midst of this trial of tribulation. Therefore, they shall remain in faith and continue to sing praises to God. And this is the reason for the fifth psalm.\n\nBenedicite, sing praises without the Gloria Patri.\nFor the greatness of that persecution,\nlet open praises of God cease in the holy church.\nYet, the few who shall remain in true faith and charity at that time\nshall not cease in their praises to God.\nAnd therefore, the last verse of the psalm, \"Benedicamus patrem,\" is of the same sentiment as \"Gloria Patri.\" Yet, it is not composed of the same words.\n\nThough the chosen of God in that time have no power to perform miracles and other open acts of worship to the praise of God as martyrs and saints have done before,\nthey shall not be any less meritorious towards God.\nAnd so any of them will be. Therefore you incline at that verse. Benedicamus patrem, as you do at Gloria patri, The sixteenth and seventeenth, and the eighteenth orders shall be of those who will remain and be converted from all three parties of the world. After the death of Antichrist, why he will praise God in greater peace than they have been in the holy church before that time. And for these chosen ones, they will not be of one people, nor of one nation, nor at diverse times, but at one time of all three parties of the world. For the whole world is divided into three, therefore they are understood by these last three psalms of praise that are sung under one Gloria patri, that is to say, Laudate dominum de celis, Cantate domino, and Laudate dominum in sanctis eius. For these three psalms were made in joy and praise to God for the deliverance of God's people out of the captivity of Babylon.\nAnd therefore they are sung in thanksgiving and prayer to God for the delivery of His chosen from the persecution of Antichrist. This is understood by the king of Babylon, as it is said before.\n\nBut all these eight psalms are tuned to one antiphon. For although these eight orders, though they were and shall be in diverse times, yet they are governed by one faith and one charity. This is understood by the antiphon. And the antiphon is sung in its entirety after the psalms. For after these orders, the general doom will be when all the chosen are brought to the fullness of charity in the bliss of soul and body everlasting.\n\nAnd for the salvation of all these orders that come in through our lady and by her mediation, it shall be brought to a perfect end. Therefore, the antiphon that is the beginning and the end of the psalms, you sing in worship of our lady when you say, \"Domum tuam, Euerlasting holiness.\" This symbolizes the Virgin Mary in whom you have clad immaculate beauty.\n\"Here our lady is called God's house, for he dwelt in her womb as in a house, and there he clad himself in humanity, that is, in a body of mankind. This was the fairest body that ever was seen of man, in natural beauty, and much more after his resurrection when it was undeadly. He endowed him with strength of soul by patient and mighty suffering of all tribulations. And so he was fair in the eyes of those who loved him, and strong against those who pursued him.\n\nEcce virgo, Isaiah. Chapter seven is as much to say as a little head, for brevity. And it is called a head, for it is always taken from holy scripture. And often from the psalm that is read in the mass on the same day. And holy scripture is chief above all other scriptures, as the head is above all other members of the body. And the chapters are read at other hours instead of lessons, in the way of doctrine and teaching as lessons are at matins.\"\nAnd therefore, following the chapter, comes a response with a verse. This response and verse mean the same thing as the lessons and response at matins. But the chapter is not begun or ended with \"Iube domine,\" nor \"Tu autem,\" because it is always said of the eucharist minister, who occupies an office of perfection. It is rather fitting for him to give blessings than to ask for them in that office. And in the same way, it is presumed that she should not lightly offend in such a short reading, and therefore need not ask mercy with \"Tu autem.\" You answer \"Deo gratias,\" as you do after another lesson, for the same reason, as was said before after the first lesson at matins. This chapter, \"Ecce virgo,\" is taken from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah VII). And they were spoken of our lady and of her son Jesus Christ many hundreds of years before they were born into the world. And this is how it should be recited: \"Ecce virgo,\" Lo, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And his name shall be called.\nEmanuel is God in his own nature and with us in ours, so he is God and man in one person. By butter and honey all other foods are understood according to human nature, which shows that he was truly man and lived according to his body through human food. He will know to forsake evil and choose good. Though he was fed as an infant with honey, a bee gives honey and stings. Our sweet bee, Jesus Christ, in his first coming gave honey of mercy and pity. But those who will not dispose themselves to receive this honey here shall be stung with the tongue of sharp rigor at his second coming when he will forsake evil to eternal pain and choose good to everlasting bliss. Therefore it is said, \"He shall eat butter and honey, that he may repent of evil and choose good.\"\n\nIn omnibus, This Chapiter is commonly explained by doctors of our Lord Jesus Christ. But in holy church it is read of our lady. And so it may be understood of both.\nAnd thus it is in English. In all things, I have sought rest in all people. I shall dwell in the heritage of the Lord. Then the Maker of all things commanded and said to me, and He who made me has rested in my tabernacle. Understand these words as if our Lord Jesus Christ spoke them thus: In all things I have sought rest in all people, for there is no nation, no people, no man or woman on earth but that He desires to have saved, and seeks to dwell in their souls through stirrings of grace. Proverbs 6: For His delights are to rest in a man's heart, but they do not dispose him to reject Him. Therefore He abides not but in the heritage of the Father, that is, in the holy church. That is, in those who live by true faith and charity and good deeds in obedience to the holy church. In all things He seeks, but\nin them only He abides. Then the Maker of all things, who is the Father, commanded and said to me. By this commandment is understood the sending.\nby which the father sent his son Jesus to become man. This is called a commandment. As he says in his Gospel of John, xiv. Sicut mandatum dedi vobis, pater hoc facite (A commandment I gave you, as the Father commanded me, so I do). In the first verse, you speak of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is for three reasons: one, to give thanks and praise God for it; another, by this holy incarnation, the blessed Trinity should be stirred to hear your prayers; and the third, that you should be better disposed and more able to receive the graces that you ask for. And thus, whenever any intention is made in your service for any special benefit that God has shown to mankind, such as the making of creatures or his incarnation or passion or any such other thing, it is for these three reasons.\n\nIn the other three verses, you ask for eight great gifts. The first is to love Him.\nThe second is to reverently worship the sun and its mother. The third is to live chastely. The fourth is to live religiously, in Christian religion, to which you are bound in your baptism and in this religion to which you are bound by special profession. The fifth is that you be not unwilling to die. The sixth is that you be not proud, \"Pater noster, Grant us to love thee evermore for so great a gift, and to worship the sun with the mother, and to live chastely and religiously. Do not let death come unexpectedly and find us guilty of eternal death. Patris, Spirit of the Father and of the Son, bring yourself into our hearts and feed and defend us by your grace. Whom you have purified by baptism. Maria, Gloria tibi, these two verses are declared after the hymn at matins. The verse. In eternity The word of the highest Father abides without end. Quod aulem That dwelt in the hall of the virgins' womb.\nBenedictus, you have your service the three gospels: Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis. All three are sung standing for the reverence of the gospel.\n\nZacharias, St. John the Baptist's father, composed Benedictus, and our Lady made Magnificat, and the holy man Symeon made Nunc dimittis.\n\nThese songs are not sung in the same order that they were made. Magnificat was made first and then Benedictus, but Nunc dimittis, or Benedictus, is sung first. This song reminds us of St. John the Baptist, who went before our Lord Jesus Christ as the star goes before the sun. As it is said in the same song, and St. John was likened to the day star. For just as the star goes before the sun, so St. John went before our Lord in His conception and birth. In His preaching and baptism. And in His death. Therefore, this song is sung at laudes. It is the service of the morning tide when the star appears.\nAnd this song begins with prayers and thanksgiving to God for the redemption of mankind. Laudes are said to praise God specifically for this benefit. As I mentioned before at the beginning of laudes, therefore, it is fitting that it be sung at laudes.\n\nThe first part of this song speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ. The second part speaks of St. John the Baptist. The Gospel relates that after the angel Gabriel had told Zacharias that his wife Elizabeth would bear him a son, he did not believe it. He remained mute at home and could not speak until after St. John was born. But on the eighth day after his birth, when he had written that his name was John, immediately his tongue was loosened. And he was filled with the Holy Spirit. And in the spirit of prophecy, he blessed God and said, \"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people.\" Our Lord Jesus Christ was then in His mother's womb.\nZacary spoke of times to come, as of times past, for the certainty of his prophecy. It was certain to be fulfilled, as if it had been done. \"But he raised up a horn for us. And he set up a horn of salvation for us. In the house of David his servant. A horn grows in the highest part of a beast. And it is harder than the flesh, and softer than the bone. And with it the beast defends itself against harmful things. So our Lord Jesus Christ took his body from the highest and worthiest part of mankind, that is, our Lady. And that manhood of him is mightier above all mankind and weaker than God. And not only did he overcome his enemies, but they also acknowledged this in faith and devotion. May we, therefore, firmly be defended from all contrary powers by our Lord Jesus, who is a horn of salvation in the house of David, who was God's servant. Although he was a great king and a prophet, yet he was meek and obedient to God, as a child to his father.\nAs he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets, from the beginning of the world. Many prophets; yet one voice. For as many as were from the beginning of the world prophesied likewise concerning the coming of Christ. As if they had spoken with one voice. Before he spoke of the horn of Hell, and now he tells us what it means. And he says, \"Greetings, Health of our enemies.\" And out of the power of all those who have hated us. That is, the offenses. Under whose power man was brought by the sin of Adam. But by the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, he was saved from that power. And why did God do this? Not for any merits of man, but Ad faciendam, For the purpose of showing mercy to our fathers. And to remember his holy covenant. And what was that covenant, the oath? The oath that he swore to our father Abraham, in Genesis xxii: That was his covenant. That was his oath. To give himself to us. A great gift and undeserved.\nBut why give him this gift, so that we, having been delivered from the power of our enemies, may serve him without fear. His passion is a sufficient shield for us against them all. And how should we serve him? In holiness of soul and conscience inwardly, and righteousness of word and deed outwardly. Not one day to begin poorly, another day to leave poorly, but all our days while we live. When Zachariah had thus prophesied about our Lord Jesus Christ, he turned to John his son and said, \"And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you shall go before the face of the Lord who is Christ to prepare his ways.\" Some doctors say that St. John, being in his mother's womb, felt the voice of our lady when she gave her greeting to his mother Elizabeth.\nAnd I rejoiced in the presence of his savior, when he was eight days old. He understood his father's words, and therefore his father spoke these words to him in this verse and the one that follows:\n\nBut how should John make ready Christ's ways?\nEnlightenment, to give knowledge of hell to his people.\nThat is, to inform the people, and to make them know that he was Christ who came for hell.\nAnd what is this health?\nIn forgiveness of their sins.\nThat is, the health.\nAnd by no merits of man,\nBut by the bowels of mercy of our God.\nIn which he has appeared to us, springing from on high.\nThat is, coming from heaven.\n\nIlluminare, to give light to those who sit in darkness,\nWho were in the parties of hell,\nAnd to those who sit in the shadow of death,\nThat is, to sinners in this life,\nAnd to prepare our feasts,\nThat is, our affections, in the way of peace.\nFor our Lord Jesus Christ made peace\nBetween God and man,\nAnd between angel and man.\nAnd between man and man, he gives peace in his conscience. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, father and son, and holy ghost, our God, for as he has said by the mouth of the prophets, so he has visited us by the virgin. Whom he ordained from without beginning to be a clean mother. And by her, he has\n\nGod, who is blessed, Orion is said at the end of each hour. For the apostles, whenever they were to assemble, they knelt down on their knees and prayed before departing. And she who says the orison stands turned towards the east. For paradise, from whence we are exiled, is in the east. And therefore, thinking what we have lost and where we are, and whether we desire, we turn towards the east in prayer. Orion is as much to say as a collect, that is, a gathering together. For before this prayer, you prepare yourself to God and gather in one to pray in the person of the holy church, so that you may be the sooner heard.\nAnd at the end of the last prayer, you say, \"Domine exaudi, Lord, hear my prayer. Et clamor, and my cry. That is, may my desire come to you. Oremus, Let us pray. Deus qui, God who willed that your son should take flesh from the womb of the blessed virgin Mary, when the angel was the messenger, grant to us that meekly we may pray to her. That we who believe truly she is the Mother of God, may have hope through her prayers. Per eundem, By the same our Lord Jesus Christ, your son who lives and reigns with him in the unity of the Holy Spirit, without end. Amen. [You] end all your prayers in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nGod who has given us the means of eternal health, by the abundant virginity of the blessed Mary, grant us that we may feel her prayers for us.\n\nDEUS qui salvas et sanas, God who has given salvation and health to mankind, by the abundant virginity of the blessed Mary, grant us that we may feel her prayers for us.\nBy whom we have deserved to receive,\nConcede, Lord God, we beseech Thee, the grant to us Thy servants, to enjoy in perpetual health of soul and body. Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in unity of the Holy Ghost, without end. Amen.\n\nGrant us, Almighty Father, the continuance of the mind of Mary, the Mother of God and ever virgin, among us. That Thou livest and reignest with Him, in unity of the Holy Ghost, without end. Amen.\n\nAntiphon. Rejoice, Birgitta, rejoice, beloved spouse of Christ. A song of glory is due to thee, O Birgitta. Lead us into refreshing, out of the lake of wretchedness. Pray for us, blessed Birgitta.\n\nLord Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, who hast ordained blessed Birgitta to be called Thy spouse for our inspiration,\n\nWho livest and reignest.\nWith God the Father, in the presence of the Holy Ghost, without end. Amen.\nObediently, the queen, spouse of the king, released her fear of God. She neither spoke nor kept silence, but as her fear of God instructed her. This was read, that is, the color of fire. For she did not fear to offend God out of fear of punishment, but out of burning love that she had for the Son of God.\n\nBenedicamus, Bless us, O maiden, Son. Very God and Lord, with the Father and the Holy Ghost. Deo gratias, We give thanks to God.\nThus you began your matins with prayer, and ended them with thanksgiving. For just as at the beginning of any good deed we ought to recognize our unworthiness, so at the end, if it is good, we ought to offer it up to Him with thanksgiving, and make ourselves humble for our part. And be careful not to say, \"We bless God,\" or \"We thank God,\" but rather, \"Bless us,\" and \"Thank us,\" stirring yourself to bless Him and to thank Him more and more. For you can.\n\"Never may he never bless him. Never thank him as much as he is worthy. Therefore, you end in desire to bless him and thank him more and more. Ave Maria. This antecedent. And the collect following is said at the end of every hour. It is the custom and common use of holy church in some places. At the end, say a Pater Noster. At the end of each hour, like as at the beginning, for just as we have need at the beginning to make ourselves ready to pray and get grace and devotion, so have we need at the end to pray and keep ourselves, lest we lose the grace and devotion we have gained in prayer or in God's service. And this may be one reason why, at the end of each hour of your service that is all of our lady, you greet her with the salutation of Gabriel and of Elizabeth, as you did at the beginning, and say, Ave Maria, Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.\"\nand blessed be the fruit of thy womb without end.\nOmnipotens, Almighty eternal God, who hast vowed to be born for us of the most chaste virgin, we pray thee, make us to serve thee with a chaste body and to please thee with a meek soul. For a chaste body may serve God, but it cannot please God without a meek heart. Nor can the very chaste be kept in body and soul without meekness. Oramus et te, And we pray the most merciful virgin Mary, queen of the world and of angels, that thou mayest grant refreshment to them whom the fire of purgatory purges. To the same, By the same our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen\n\nO Veneranda, In this hymn you ask of the blessed Trinity, through the prayer of our lady, to have light of grace, whereby you may see to flee evil. O venerable, O worshipful Trinity, one Godhead of three persons, lighten us with true light for the virgins' prayer. Quam, whom thou hast ordained from the beginning.\nTo be the mother of endless light, that we may always see to do good things, and Mary, glory to you, Lord.\n\nThe first psalm you have here is Psalm X, Eructavit, which speaks of the spousal union between our Lord Jesus Christ and the holy church. And our Lady is the chief person of the holy church under Christ, and the one in whom the faith of the holy church resided during the time of her Son's passion. Therefore, much of the scripture that is expounded by the doctors of the holy church is read about our Lady. And so it is here in this psalm, as well as in many other parts of your service. In the same way, diverse scriptures that are expounded of her Son Jesus Christ, the endless wisdom of the Father, are read often in holy church on her behalf. Both because they may be expounded of her, and also because her Son's worship is hers.\n\nThe second psalm is Psalm C.xviii, Beati immaculati, which is one psalm unto Ad dominum cum tribularer, but for its length.\nThis is a part of a text discussing the significance of Psalm 150. Ambrose is quoted as saying that this psalm is a paradise full of fruit and a shop filled with spices of the Holy Ghost. The Hebrew version of this psalm is structured such that the first eight verses begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the next eight with the second, and so on, resulting in 22 verses in total. The number eight represents the endless joy that God's chosen will receive at the last resurrection, which will be as it was in the eighth age of the world. The number 22 is also symbolic of the ten commandments and the twelve commandments of the gospel, as ten and twelve make twenty-two. Therefore, he who sings this psalm well, not only in word but also in living, keeps the ten commandments and the twelve commandments of the gospel.\nCounsales shall come to the joy of the last resurrection. This psalm Quicumquid vult instructs us first in faith of God's deity. And afterward in faith of the manhood of Christ. Without which faith no man can be saved. For when this faith was greatly impugned by heretics, a holy man called Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, composed this psalm in the strength of the right faith against the heretics. And therefore, the holy church has ordained that it should be sung each day openly at prime, both as a sign that faith is the first beginning of health, and also because people use that time most to come to church. But you sing it only on Sunday. For it accords most with your service that day, which is much of the blessed Trinity.\n\nO fairest in form, before all the sons of men and women, son of the spotless and immaculate virgin, make us go continually in the way of your law without spot of sin.\n \u00b6There ys a dyfference bytwyxte an hyghe waye. and a bypathe. for the hyghe waye ys large and com\u00a6mune to all. and therby is vnderstonded the co\u0304maun\u00a6dementes of oure lorde that all muste kepe that wyll be saued. By the bypatthe is vnderstonde the cou\u0304say\u00a6les that longe to relygyous. & to folke of perfeccyon.\nNEc est virgo. This is an holy & a gloryouse vyrgyn. for god and lorde of all thynges. hathe loued her. Responce. Iesu christe, Iesu cryst. sonne of god a lyue haue mercy on vs. Uerse. Qui natus, That were borne of the vyr\u00a6gyn Marye. Uersycle. Ora pro nobis, Pray for vs holy mo\u00a6ther of god. The answere. Vt digni, That we be made wor\u00a6thy the grace of chryste.\nSAncta maria Holy mary mo\u2223ther of oure lor\u2223de Iesu cryst. be\u00a6nygne god and perpetuall vyrgyn. quene of he\u2223uen. vouchesafe wyth all sayntes. and chosen of god. to pray for vs. to oure lorde god father all\u2223myghty\u25aa that we moBenedicamus domino Blysse we oure lorde. Deo gratias, Thanke we god.\nAUerte oculos, Turne awaye oure \nAB initio,Eccless. .xxliii\nThe chapter is spoken in the person of our Lady as follows: Before all time, I was made, and I shall never fail. In dwelling with Him, I have ministered to Him. This means: Before all time, I was known and ordained by God to be made. This knowing of God is more openly told in the legend of this same day. And I shall never fail, neither in soul through any sin, nor in body through any corruption. For our Lady's holy body is not turned to corruption on earth but takes up and knits to the soul in the glory of heaven. And in dwelling with Him, I have ministered to Him. Was it not a holy dwelling when our Lord Jesus Christ dwelt in His mother's womb, where she ministered to Him the matter of His holy body? Was it not also a holy dwelling when our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lady His mother, and Joseph dwelt together in one house, where our Lady served her blessed son, St. Matthew xviii, as He Himself says in His Gospel.\nAnd there our lady Mynstrel her help and grace most quickly, that they might serve her soon to his pleasure. And therefore she says:\n\nIn holy dwelling I have ministered before him.\nResponse. Incline, Bow thine head,\nTo whom the Lord of lords bowed himself for us.\nUsque ad nos, Be to us a helper and forsake us not.\nAnswer, Ne despice nos, Do not displease us, most high lady.\n\nFrom the depths, you have in the monastery a beer and a grave to be continually in your sight. The beer in memory of death. And the grave in memory of the last judgment. When all bodies shall rise out of their graves. And in token thereof, the Abbess casts out a little earth with two fingers. For then the soul and body, which are understood by the two fingers and are separated here by death, shall then be joined together everlastingly. And some shall rise to joy and some to pain.\n\nThis rising began in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and shall be ended in all others at the end of the world.\nAnd thereof is mentioned both in this psalm. De profundis, and in the orisons. Lord, holy father. That follows. And therefore each day after terce, you go to this grave to bring your death and your judgment to mind, or you begin to speak or to be occupied about any other thing. That you should nothing say nor do all the day after, but as you dare die anon therewith. And appear before our lords' judgment. And so you pray the father of heaven that as he kept the holy body of his son Jesus Christ clean in the grave and raised it up the third day, so he vouchsafes to keep your bodies clean in his service, and so to govern you each day while you live in this world, that at the last judgment your bodies may arise not among the reproved, but among the chosen, and your souls with the bodies rejoice with him everlastingly. And in the end of this prayer you say, In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy ghost.\nAnd this is said not only for the end of the prayer, but more for the beginning of your deeds. That all your words and works in the day following should have their beginning and be said and done in the name and worship of the blessed Trinity. For though your customary silence be in a manner ended when our lady's mass is done, yet the place that you are in causes it to be continued until this time, that you should begin in God's name and so carefully keep yourselves all the day after under His fear, as you are always ready to go to your grave. And because you have prayed to Him in fervent desire both at matins and at mass, and in all your service, and asked of Him such grace and mercy as you think you need for yourself and for others, therefore you ask now that these prayers be heard and speeded, & not hindered by your sins or any others where you say them. Psalm C.xxix. Lord, I have cried unto Thee from the depths. Lord, hear my voice. All this world is as a deep pit from heaven.\nBut sin is a great depression for those who wish to remain in it. For they do not cry out for help. But those who, in acknowledgment of their sins, throw themselves into the depths of humility and repentance, sorrowfully asking for mercy, cry well to our Lord from the depths. This psalm is the sixth of the seven psalms and the eleventh of the fifteen psalms. Six is a number of perfection. For God made all things in six days. Eleven is a number of space. For it comes from ten, the number of God's law and commandments. Therefore, six and eleven come together in this psalm. For there is none so perfect in the earth but that he has in him space and sin and needs to cry to God for mercy and help. Let your ears be open, Lord, to the voice of my prayer when you say, \"Lord, hear my voice.\" And let your ears be open to the voice of my prayer. It is all one sentence. But it is said twice to show the greatness of need.\nAnd the reason for your desire. And yet grace does not hinder, nor the speed of prayer. But sin therefore you allege him three causes to stir him to hear you, notwithstanding any sin. The first cause is the common frailty and weakness of man, which cannot endure the rigor of judgment that sin deserves. And therefore you say, \"If iniquities, if you observe our sins and wickednesses to punish them in the rigor of judgment, Lord, who shall bear it or endure it? As if one were to say, there is none alive that can so escape pain or obtain bliss. And therefore your rigor cannot answer to what we deserve, but it must be tempered by your mercy. Quia apud te, For your sake, according to your law, Lord, I have suffered and endured the penalty. As if you said, I have kept your law, and therefore I await your reward. For if we keep and do what he commands, we may be worthy to have what he promises. What does he command? Forgive. And what does he promise? And your sin shall be forgiven you.\nIf we forgive others, we may earnestly ask for their forgiveness and mercy for our sins. And if we give help and do well to others for their sake, we may earnestly ask for help, grace, and endless bliss from them. For He says, \"Give and it will be given to you.\" And if we withhold and suffer others, He will spare us. Not for our deserving, but for His sake. And therefore you say, \"Sustana, My soul has a daily custodia matutina.\" From the keeping of the morning tide to night, it shall be taken to endless bliss in body and soul, just as He is now glorified in heaven in soul and body. His resurrection is past ours is to come. But as truly as He is risen, so truly shall we rise. And therefore every Christian soul should be glad to suffer and to labor his body here in penance and tribulation, in hope to bring it to the glory of that resurrection. For we have sinned and are not sufficient to make full amends, nor to deserve to have that joy yet, if we have a good will, and suffer and do what we may.\nWe ought seriously to hope. For with the Lord is mercy and abundant redemption. So that for all that lacks in us, the ransom is sufficient to pay for us, provided we make ourselves partners in it. And he, for he will again deliver Israel from all his wickednesses and from his sins. And therefore, thank the blessed Trinity with \"Gloria patri.\"\n\nLord, holy father, who kept the body which you took down from the virgin Mary, uncorrupted, we beseech you, keep our bodies.\n\nAll your commandments are truth. Therefore, by your gift, may your word be a lantern to our feet. For the glorious prayers of your most worthy mother.\n\nA rod shall spring out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up from his root. And upon it shall rest the spirit of the Lord. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength.\nthe spirit of knowing and pity, and the spirit of fear of the Lord shall fulfill Him. Issachar was the father of King David. From whose lineage came our lady. And out of her sprang a fountain that is our Lord Jesus Christ. Upon whom rested in most excellent manner the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, which are named and numbered here.\nEcclesiastes xxiv. And so I am surely certain of a life, in which our Lord Jesus resides by charity, that they have towards their own Christian brethren. For Cyte is as much to say as one head of Citizens. And it is said to be consecrated by the purity of intention that they offer to God in all their works.\nBy Jerusalem is understood prelates and governors who have power and care over both contemplative and active life. And therefore their life is called a mixed life. As a mean between active and contemplative, having a part with both. For they ought to see that both are kept in peace.\nAccording to their calling, and therefore they are under the authority of Jerusalem. That is as much to say as you sight of peace. For they ought to have sight of wisdom and discernment to keep peace on all sides. And to that end he has parted with them of his own power. And therefore he says, \"And in Jerusalem is my power.\" Response. \"In eternity, The word of the highest Father abides without end.\" Verse. \"Quod, which has dwelt in the hall of the maidens' womb.\" Hereunderstands by the word, the endless word of the Father who is our Lord Jesus Christ. Versicle. \"Da nobis, Lady give us chastity of body and soul. Ne unque, That we never offend the sole of thy chastity.\" Reconcile us, Virgin mother, to thy most righteous son, that we do not err as sheep that have perished for his mercies at many. Boat, Esai. Dew heavens from above and clouds from above, angels that dew from above when Gabriel came down with a salutation to our lady. By clouds are understood prophets.\nthat rainded wisely foretold the coming of our lord Jesus Christ. By the earth is understood our lady. That was opened by the consent of Gabriel's greeting. And so bore our savior Jesus Christ. With whom springs righteousness. That is to say, grace that makes a man righteous. By the Lord is understood the Father of heaven. Who made our lord Jesus after his manhood. Read again the chapter and you shall find it plain and easy to understand.\n\nEcclesiastes xxiv. And I have fixed my roots in a people worshiped / and the heritage of that people is in the forests of my God. & my abiding is in the fullness of saints. \u00b6 Christian people are worshiped above all people in knowledge of right belief. & in the sacraments of the holy church. And therefore in them our lady is rooted by spiritual help. & favor. Namely in such as seek their chief heritage in heaven. and not in earth. Also our lady abides in the fullness of saints. for there was never saint in earth. nor angel in heaven. that was or is.\n\"so full of virtues and graces, but our lady had them all in greater fullness and perfection. And therefore says St. Bernarde, truly she abides in the fullness of saints, for she failed not in the faith of patriarchs, nor the spirit of prophets, nor the zeal of apostles, nor the steadfastness of martyrs, nor the soberness of confessors, nor the chastity of virgins, nor the plentitude of the wedded, nor the cleanness of angels. Response. Pax multa, There is as much peace to them that love the law of the maidens three. Uerse. Et non. And there is no harm of occasion to them, but everlasting worship. Uersicle. Errauimus, we have erred as sheep that perished. Reduxit, The good shepherd who the virgin bore has brought us again. There are certain hours of divine service that belong to the day: prime, terce, sext, and none. And certain others that belong to the night: vespers, compline, and matins. For vespers is the first hour that belongs to the night.\"\nTherefore it is called the Song of Evening. That is the beginning of the night. & It has its name in Latin from the Evening Star that appears at evening. Now it is so that man is so frail and unstable in himself that the thing which pleases him one time displeases him another time, and he wills it not soon after. And the reason desires sensuality again, yet the soul would have the flesh contrary. And since one man is thus contradictory and diverse in himself, it is no wonder that many men gathered together are often times diverse and contrary in feelings and actions. From this arises among them sometimes troubles and grudges in heart or word or face or deed.\n\nBut though it is not in our power to do things that others take occasion of and act against us, yet it is in our power by grace not to consent willfully to such stirrings of anger and impatience. And we should be diligent and hasten to remedy them when they arise.\nTo be ready to forgive anything done against us and soon to ask for forgiveness where we feel that anyone is hurt by us. Saint Austyn commands this in his rule. Chapter VI. We should have no quarrels. Or else we should end them quickly. This means that though we may be moved by frailty of heart to any unpacific behavior, we should not give way to it, for we should not break out in words of strife. And if we are so overcome as to break out into strife, then we must hasten to make an end to it by ready forgiveness and asking for forgiveness. The longer asking for forgiveness is delayed, the longer the stirring of anger remains in the heart, and the more it increases until the soul is overcome, and grace withdraws, and the devil enters. Therefore Saint Paul says, \"Ephesians iii: Do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not give place to the devil.\"\nSuffer not wrath to abide in you until the sun goes down. And will not give place to the devil. For he that keeps wrath in heart is occupied with evil and bitter thoughts. Whereby the devil catches hold to bring him to worse.\n\nChapter XIII. Therefore Saint Benedict ordered in his rule that each day at the end of matins at the beginning of the day, and in the last end of Evensong at the beginning of night, the Priory, in the name of all, should say a lowly the Our Father, that all might hear it. So that by the saying of that petition, where he says, \"And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,\" all should be stirred and drawn to forgive each other.\n\nChapter IV. For these same reasons has our Lord ordained in his holy rule that you should every day before the beginning of Evensong, each of you forgive and ask forgiveness of others. Saying a lowly \"Indulge us, Forgive us.\"\nAnd for his most merciful mother Mary, if we have offended you in word, deed, sign, or token, for any resentment against us with most willing hearts and sincere repentance, we forgive it. And before this, you shall say an Ave Maria your confession. For his holy service ought to be said with clean and attentive hearts.\n\nIf anyone is so overcome by temptation, God forbid, that she would not say this Indulgence, because she would not forgive, then she would be greatly to blame. And yet she would never be more excused. For it is said in the name of all, and therefore it binds all, whether they say it or not, and whether they are there or not. And therefore those who are absent and say their confession alone ought never the less to say it. For though there be none present to speak to, yet they speak to all, and in the name of all, and in the name of the congregation, the forgiveness is asked and offered. And this you may witness by the fact that each person says, \"we forgive.\"\nFor each one spoke only to her own name. She should say, \"I forgive, and forgive me.\" And also, if it were not said in unity of all who stand on the other side, they should not forgive each other. For they speak all together towards the other side and not to themselves, as it should seem. But for each one says it in the name of all, and in unity of all, therefore it binds all to forgive and pardon all their transgressions. And therefore wretched was that person who, in any way, harbored unforgiveness in her heart and discovered from that holy unity at that time.\n\nThis is the daily sacrifice that you offer to God at evening time. Figured by the continual wall sacrifice that God commanded by Moses should be offered daily to Him at evening time. Exodus xxix. Before the son going down. And then he said He would dwell among them and be their Lord God. And they should well know that He was their Lord God.\n\nTherefore be sure, ye people.\nYou shall have from our Lord God all that you ask of him for your health, if you bring him to dwell among you daily through the offering of this sacrifice with charity and unity. But now you may ask whether this asking for forgiveness through this is sufficient for any space or offense that one does against another without any special asking.\n\nTo this I answer that the person against whom the offense is done should, after Indulgence is granted, not, according to Indulgence, bear malice in heart, or make, or show malice in word or deed against that person it has offended, as far as the office allows to himself or to his own cause. Though the other may never ask him for forgiveness before or after. But the offenses committed against God and against the religion ought to be corrected according to the rules of religion, when the time is right. Nevertheless, beware that none keep wrath.\nA person should not make quarrels with others for their own cause, under the color of religion or zeal for its observance. For all personal causes that do not harm the religion, are to be forgiven. This is what you can see from the words, \"If any resentment be in you against us, with most willingness we forgive it.\" Therefore, if anyone does not forgive completely in her heart when these words are said, she makes a gap. Though she may not say the words herself or hear them said, they are said in the quiet in the name of all, and bind all as I said before.\n\nBut the person who has wittingly offended another ought to do what is in her power to be reconciled and ask for forgiveness from her whom she knows she has offended, or Indulge begins. And if the will is not then, and the other ought not to forgive it at Indulge's request, and she should not speak of it anymore, yet she must ask for forgiveness afterward and the sovereign and serious persons who have care of the religion.\nShe ought to see that she be sadly corrected. Not only for the transgression she committed against her sister, but much more for her obstinacy and disobedience against the intent of the rule. She would not seek to be recalled. For in that she breaks the unity of the congregation, and might cause the Lord to withdraw His gracious presence from all. For He loves to dwell in the unity of restful souls. And likewise, she gives the enemy a way to take power over herself. In that, she discovers herself from the unity of the holy congregation as a sheep that wanders alone from the flock. She is soon taken and devoured by the wolf. And the same is to be said of her who will not forgive, namely at that time, of Indulgete.\n\nAnd therefore, each one ought to be full aware that they keep no grudge or wrath in their heart. For though a man can hide it for a time from outward showing, God knows it well enough. And withdraws His grace. And the devil catches hold of that soul.\nNow in happenings some might think. What shall I do? I would like to forgive, but I cannot. Look it be as you say, without feigning, that you would forgive truly and from the heart. And then you forgive, though you feel never so many contrary stirrings. So you follow not the stirrings in word or deed, but are truly displeased with them and loathe them. And therefore we have our will free. But not our feelings. And therefore our merciful Lord takes us not according to our feelings but according to our wills. Nevertheless, though a person felt many bitter stirrings of ire and unpacificness, if he had a very displeased attitude toward them and arose against them with might and fervent will, and prayed our Lord and his holy mother for help, and so went to church, and said, \"Ave Maria\" and \"Indulge me,\" with the convent.\nIn hope to get grace and overcome himself, I believe that by prayer to our lady and obedience to the rule, and by knitting himself to the unity of the congregation, he should feel the fierceness of his stirring soon abated. Therefore, recalling this, begin your penance where you say five psalms for forgiveness of all that you have offended God in your five senses. And by the merit of our Lord's five wounds, which he had at penance time of the day when he was lost and taken down from the cross, and at penance time of the world, from the beginning of the last age of the world, he suffered his holy passion.\n\nBeati qui metuent Domini, Blessed are those who fear the Lord and keep the commandments of the virgins, who sit on the right hand of the Father. For to them he shall say, Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.\n\nBeata es Maria, Blessed art thou, Mary.\nthat haste brought forth the Lord, the maker of the world. Thou hast brought out him who made the, and endlessly thou dost bear the Virgin.\n\nLux deus indeficiens, In this hymn are five verses answering to the number of the five psalms. And so they are in your hymns at evensong of the four stories. But in the other three stories, where are more or fewer verses in the hymns at evensong, these hymns are taken from other services of the church. And not specifically made for your evensongs. as the other four are.\n\nWhat hymns, psalms, and anthems betoken, I have written before at matins.\n\nIn the two first verses of this hymn, you pray to our Lord Jesus Christ for spiritual light. That in the withdrawing of bodily light by going down of the maternal womb, he may enlighten our souls with the light of grace. And for when the womb is gone, the stars appear to minimize the darkness of the night. Therefore, in the third verse, you call our lady a star that brought forth the one who is our Lord Jesus Christ.\nPray to her to drive from you the darkness of sin, In the fourth verse you pray her to keep your hearts, and turn to God while your bodies are asleep. And in the fifth verse you pray her to correct your thoughts, words, and deeds. Therefore, it would be well done if each night you proclaimed yourself before her of all defaults that you had done or thought, or said all day, so that she might help you to be corrected and cleansed. And by the matter of this hymn, you may see that the evangelion (evangelion means gospel or good news in this context) lasts from the beginning of the night, as I said before.\n\nLux deus, God that art light never failing,\nlighten thou mercyfully the house of our hearts,\nwhile the beam of the sun goes away.\n\nQui virginem, Thou that shinest above in heaven's dwelling,\nnow dwelling in the virgin,\nlighten us that are lowly lying here.\nO stella, O star that brought forth the sun,\nchase away the darknesses of death.\nWhith the envious enemy bringing wandering souls, may the hearts cling to God, and the will remain always ready to the will of our Lord. Corrector, be thou corrector of thoughts, words, and deeds, that all may be pleasing to thy Maria, Mother, Gloria tibi, v. Pax multa.\n\nMagnificat, This is our lady's song. Luce primi, and it is said every day at evensong rather than at other hours. For diverse causes. One for in the even time of the world, our lady, by her singular assent, brought health to mankind. Another cause is that we should daily have in mind the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was wrought in the twentieth century. For the joy of which, this song was made. The third cause is that our lady is likened to the even star, which begins to appear in the twentieth century. The fourth cause is\nthat the minds that have been labored and weary in the day with many thoughts and businesses should then be comforted with the song of joy of our lady and be helped by her prayers against temptations of the night.\n\nLuke 1:\nThe gospel shows that after one Lady had conceived our Lord Jesus Christ in the City of Nazareth, she went to Jerusalem to her cousin Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist. And at her coming thither, St. John rejoiced in his mother's womb. And his mother was filled with the spirit of prophecy. And she blessed the Blessed Virgin Mary and said, \"Blessed are you among women; and blessed is the fruit of your womb.\" Then our Lady, as she tells St. Birgitta, in the sixth book, chapter 59, was stirred in her heart with inexpressible and unknown joy. So much that her soul could scarcely contain itself for joy. But her holy tongue broke out with words in praising God. Without study or thinking beforehand, and she said, \"My soul magnifies the Lord.\"\nMy soul praises the Lord. And my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior. Here we may learn from our lady to forsake all vain joy. For after the angel had been with her in heaven, after she had conceived the Son of God, and after Elizabeth had blessed her and prayed to her as the most worthy mother of God, in all these things she was moved to nothingness. Nor to any presumption in herself, but to more meekness. And to praying and rejoicing in God. And that not hypocritically only with the tongue, but of all the inwardness of the soul. And therefore she says, \"Not my mouth, but my soul praises. And my soul rejoices.\" And that not in herself but in God, who is the maker of all things, and now is become man. And so savior of mankind. And that in our lady. Therefore\nshe says, \"My spirit, that is my soul, has rejoiced in God my savior.\" Here says St. Bede.\nthat his spirit rejoices in God's protection, delighting in nothing on earth. He is pleased with no fullness of goods or of worships. Nor is he broken by grudging or impatience in any tribulation or disease, but only he delights and rejoices in mind of his maker, from whom he hopes to have endless health. Quia respexit: For he has regarded the humility of his handmaiden. Here our lady tells why she praised, why she rejoiced in God, why God became singularly hers. For he beheld her humility. Therefore says Saint Jerome: What is more noble and worthy than to be the mother of God? What is more bright and worshipful than she, whom the brightness of the Father's glory chased to himself? What is more chaste than she who bore in her body the body of Christ? And yet she says that God beheld only her humility. That is the keeper of all virtues.\nAnd yet, this blessed one will be spoken of by all generations, for from hence, with me, and has given to them by me. For every nation and people, some are turned to the faith of Christ, praising and worshiping his holy mother. Because he who is mighty has done great things for me, and his name is holy. What are these great things that he has done for her? He kept her clean from all sin, he sanctified her, and endowed her with gifts of the Holy Spirit. He took his body from her, she, a creature, brought forth her maker. She, his servant, bore her lord, who is a virgin, the mother of God. Through her, he bought back mankind and brought his chosen to eternal life. These great things did he who is mighty reward, above all that any man may deserve. And because he is mighty, he has done mighty and great things. And his name is holy, for he is more good and holy than can be thought or spoken. And for his holy name, not for man's merit.\nHe has done great things for the health of man. And his mercy is from family to families, to those who fear him. This is the mercy that he has wrought through our lady, and by his incarnation and passion to mankind. The mercy of salvation that David asked for when he said, \"Lord, show us your mercy.\" Psalm 84. Lord, show us your mercy. As if he said, you have shown us your power in making all things from nothing. You have shown us your wisdom in marvelous governing of all things. You have shown us your righteousness in punishing sin, both in angels and in men. And therefore, show us now your mercy by the incarnation of your son, for the salvation of mankind. This mercy brings our lady forth and says, \"His mercy is from family to families, from one family into all families, from the family of Ives into all families of the world. For among the Ives, this mercy was wrought, and after war, it spread abroad to all peoples.\nBut all do not profit and receive salvation by this mercy. For though it is sufficient for all men, yet it avails only to those who dispose themselves to it. And what is this disposition? The fear of God. For without that fear, none can be saved. Not the fear of pain, but the fear of God, as our lady says. Fear him, and his mercy is to those who fear him. He has done power in his arm. That is to say, in his Son. For as the arm proceeds from the body and the hand from both arms and body, so the Son has his being from the Father, and the Holy Spirit both from the Father and the Son. In this arm, that is his Son, he has done power. For by him he made all things, and by him he saved mankind, and by him he has thrown down the power of demons. And therefore our lady says, He has dispersed the proud in the will of your heart. These proud are demons and evils and all proud people.\nFor an host that is dispersed is not mighty to fight. Right so the proud fiends are dispersed by the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. And not mighty to war against man. as they were before.\n\nThe proud Jews also, who would not make them to the faith of Jesus Christ, are dispersed abroad in the world. So much so that they have neither land, nor country, nor city, nor town of their own to dwell in. In all the earth. But some dwell in one land, some in another, and some in one city, and some in another. under tribute and servitude of Christian people. Thus are these fiends and Jews dispersed by our Lord, in the will of His heart. That is to say, in the rightful judgment, of His precious domains.\n\nAll proud people also are dispersed in the mind of their own hearts. For meek people live in unity and rest. Rightly so, proud people are both scattered in their own hearts by many vanities and unfulfillable desires. And also they are divided against other.\nby trouble and envy and debate. He has put down the mighty from their seat, and has lifted up the meek. These mighty are those who have great power temporal or spiritual, and misuse it against the will of God and their own souls' health. And these mighty God throws down from the seat of grace. For by grace, God should have a seat in their hearts. And from the seat of dignity and of power, why they misuse. And from the seat of coming and of wisdom, for they are blinded in their own malice. Lastly, from the seat of judgment, where the willful power shall sit and demean with Christ. Matthew xix. Those that shall be judged at the end of the world. From that seat shall such mighty be thrown down. And to that seat shall the meek be lifted up. For he has lifted up the meek in grace, and afterward to everlasting bliss. These words are spoken by the lady as prophecy of things that were to come.\nAnd yet she says as if it were past. For it was as if it were to be fulfilled in that time as if it had been then fulfilled. And for that reason prophets often used such a manner of speaking. The hungry he has filled with good things, and the rich he has left empty. Bodily hunger is an appetite for food. Spiritual hunger is a desire for grace and virtues. He who is hungry has need of food. So he who is spiritually hungry thinks that he has nothing good, not in himself or by his own merits. And because he feels himself in need of all goods, therefore he seeks, desires, and labors to obtain them. And such spiritually hungry ones God fills with spiritual goods in grace and endlessly in bliss. But the rich are those who presume in themselves and believe to be better than they are, and to have more than they have, or to acquire more than they can. And that they have, or can, or may.\nThey count it to their own merits and worthiness as if it came from themselves. These rich gods leave themselves void of grace and glory. For those who willingly pour out worldly wealths and comforts and hunger and desire God's grace and heavenly comforts, their desire shall be fulfilled. But those who have riches in worldly prosperity and take their joy and comfort in it and seek after none other, they shall be left void of all temporal and everlasting goods.\n\nAccept Israel, He has taken Israel as his child. He has a mind for His mercy. \u00b6Israel was one of the patriarchs, who was also called Jacob. Of whose lineage our lady came. And therefore our lady says, \"You God has taken Israel, it is to say a body of mankind, of the lineage of Israel, whych Israel is called God's child. For he was meek and obedient to God as a child to the father. And in this deed God has a mind for His mercy.\"\nby which he promised to the patriarchs and prophets that he would become man. (Genesis 22.) And therefore says our lady further. As he has said to our fathers - that is, to the patriarchs and prophets - from the beginning of the world, and specifically to Abraham and to his seed, that is, to the people who come from Abraham by bodily generation, from whom our lady came, and from her, our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only to the help of that people but of all who truly follow the faith and obedience of Abraham to the end of the world. For they are properly called the seed and the children of Abraham, with whom they should be partners in the fruit of our Lord's coming endlessly in joy and bliss. Amen.\n\nFather and Son, our souls may continually join in praising the Father with the Son, and the Holy Ghost with either of them. One God, eternal.\n\nWhich eternally before knowing our frailty, eternally he ordained before the virgin Mary to be our helper.\nWhose soul joining in God, praised him sovereignly. Anthem. Rosarior, Burgess, who art a vessel of grace, and a rose dewing goodness, and a star dropping clarity, dew the pity of heaven, and drop the clarity of life into the vale of wretchedness. Anthem. O Birgitta, O Burgess, drop of myrrh. Exemplar of abstinence. Thou hast made a player of penance to sorrowful people, while thou wrote the words of Christ. Thou that art a new light of the church, be a defender and a nurse to the meek of thy household. Myrrh is a bitter gum in taste, but in smell it is sweet. And it keeps dead bodies from rotting, and therefore it signifies penance, which is bitter in the feeling of sorrow and sharpness, but smells sweet in God's sight, and helps a soul that is dead by sin, and keeps it from endless corruption. Such a drop of myrrh was St. Birgitta. For both by example of her own living.\nAnd she warned the people of mystification who were destined to fall into sin. But they amended. She granted them mercy and grace if they would turn and amend. She made a wholesome penance play for all people sorrowfully entangled in sins. The words of Christ that she wrote are the revelations she received from heaven for the enlightenment of all mankind. Therefore, she is called a new light given to the holy church in this last world. Her followers are all those who serve her and have devotion to her. And more specifically, we who are professed in her religion.\n\nGod, who has vowed to lighten thy church through the blessed Birgitta, with holy counsel and examples, grant by her prayer that we may fulfill in deed with devout souls the things that thou hast mercifully shown through revelation, for the cleansing of our sins. Through our Lord.\n\nCompline is the Seventh and the last hour of divine service.\nAnd it signifies as much as a fulfilling, for in the end the seven hours of divine service are fulfilled. And therewith also ends. speaking, eating, and drinking, and all bodily business. Therefore, after that time, great stillness and strict silence should be kept, not only from words but also from all noises and deeds, save only private and soft prayer and holy thinking, and bodily sleep. For compline signifies the end of man's life or the end of the world, when the chosen of our Lord shall be delivered from all toil and woe, and brought to endless quiet and rest. Therefore, each person ought to dispose himself to bed as if it were his grave. For just as a man dies or is born to his grave and buried, so at compline time you should be disposed as if you were in dying. And keep yourself sober and still afterward, as if you were dead from all bodily deeds and words. In token of this, in the response at compline.\nYou pray to our lady to come into your hands and keeping, as a man dying does. Say, \"In your hands, and commend your soul to God.\" And various other things that you say at Compline agree with this. Furthermore, before Compline, you have a collation where spiritual matter for ghostly edification is read to help gather together the scatterings of the mind from all outward things. Therefore, all manner of books ought not to be read at that time. Cassian says, \"Before all things, it is necessary for us to have a watchman and a busy keeping of ourselves in nighttime. For just as the clean and busy keeping of the heart and all the outward wits during the day makes the body and soul ready to keep clean and chaste in the night, so the watchman and stable keeping of the heart in devout and holy thoughts or prayers in the night watch, arms and gives great inner strength and sadness to the soul.\"\nIn all observations and deeds that are to be done all the day after, you may see that many holy observances are joined to your divine service to cause you always to take heed and have mind upon your health. At the beginning of each hour, you say a Pater Noster and an Ave to stir up your devotion in His service. And at the end of each hour, you sing Ave Maria with a collect following to keep the devotion that you have gathered therein. After terce or when you begin to speak, you go to the grave to arm yourself in the name of the blessed Trinity, with mind of your death and of your doom against all temptations in your daily deeds. Before matins, you ask and grant forgiveness to each other with Indulgete. And before compline, you array yourself with devout hearing of holy doctrine at your collation. In it, you devote yourself. And in it, the verse in the beginning is other than that said in other hours: Convert us, God, our Savior, convert us.\nAnd turn away from us, and withdraw your wrath. We read that many times people have been led astray at nighttime because of their sins. Therefore, at evening in the beginning of compliance, the holy church prays for all her children, that they may be converted from sin, and that our Lord turn away from them his wrath. Furthermore, in other respects of divine service, we ought to fear that we have offended God through some negligence. For none does so well but he who thinks himself so, and fears not to fall short in his deeds. He may make himself guilty. For he who says there is no fault in himself ought to fear conversion. The common practice of the church is to say four psalms at compliance. But Saint Benedict sets in his rule but three psalms to be said at compliance. And according to your service, which has but three psalms, what are these?\nRemember, Lord, I am your servant; I will not rest until I have found a resting place for you in myself. The first Psalm teaches this, as it says, \"Remember, Lord, a good thing I have done, and now my soul is at rest and I will bless you.\" The second Psalm adds that this rest and peace should be accompanied by unity and love towards all others, and joy in the Lord. Where these two things are, there the Lord dwells and abides. Therefore, if you truly recite your compline, you will not be without these two things. And if you feel these two things within yourself, then blessings upon you. Go to bed and sleep restfully and safely, for the Lord himself rests in you and will keep you while you sleep. \n\nAntiphon.\nIt is merry for them to dwell in one who is dearly worshiped by heart, God and his Mother.\nMany daughters have gathered riches. But thou, most holy Mary, surpasses them all. These chosen souls, which have gathered riches of many graces and virtues, But our lady passes them all; for in her alone were all graces and virtues more perfectly embodied than in all saints.\n\nResponse. In thy hands, O noble and glorious Virgin, come to us into the hands and power of thy Son.\nVerse. Whom we recognize as our Redeemer and God of truth.\n\nAnother Response. In thy hands, I commend my soul, Lord, into thy hands.\nVerse. Thou hast redeemed me, Lord God of truth.\n\nIn the first verse of this hymn, you acknowledge the faith of the blessed Trinity.\nAnd in the second verse, you say that the same blessed Trinity was both in heaven and in the maiden's womb. Not that all three persons became man.\nBut wherever the Son is, there is the Father, and the Holy Ghost. In the third verse, you say that in the three persons there is one godhead, and in our Lady alone is maidenhood and motherhood. In the fourth verse, you know that her Son is God and man, and that none other has a Virgin to be his mother. In the fifth verse, you pray God to behold you with his mercy and not forsake you. Then you begin and say: In the beginning, the Son is the Father, and the Father is the Son, and the Holy Ghost is in either of them, and either of them is in the Holy Ghost. Hym, In these three persons is one godhead. And in this woman alone shines clear virginity and plentiful motherhood. Eius solum, we know her only Son, very God and man, and that none other has a mother who is a Virgin. Vbi presens, Best and mightiest God, over all present.\nBehold the fear and displeasure they bear, and do not pray they. This verse is taken from the Gospel. Ecce ancilla, Luce. (1:27). In the Gospel of Luke, second (2:22), it is recorded that after our Lord Jesus Christ was born on Christmas night, forty days later, which is now called Candlemas day, his mother brought him to the temple in Jerusalem to fulfill the custom of the law.\n\nThere was an old and holy man in Jerusalem at that time, whose name was Simeon, commonly known as Openheart, and he earnestly desired and prayed there that he would not die until he had seen with his bodily eyes our Lord Jesus Christ in his manhood. Therefore, when our lady brought forth her blessed son Jesus Christ in the temple, as previously stated,\n\nSimeon was there and took him in his arms, praising God and saying, \"Now let your servant depart in peace, Master, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel\" (Luke 2:29-32).\nThis holy man, inspired by the Holy Ghost, came and met our Lady in the temple, taking her blessed son Jesus in his arms with great joy in his heart, as if he had found the joy he had long desired. In this inner joy and comfort from the heavenly child, he broke out in words of praise and thanksgiving to God and said, \"Now, Lord, you dismiss your servant in peace according to your word. Nunc dimittis, domine, Now Lord, let your servant depart in peace according to your word.\n\nThis man was now glad to die. For the peace of mankind had come, and through it, he would be brought to eternal peace. Before that time, all went to hell and did not know when they would be delivered. But for this man, certain of his deliverance, he joyfully said, \"Now, Lord, let your servant depart in peace according to your word. Quia viderunt, For my eyes have seen your salvation.\"\nThat was the same child whom he bore in his arms, who is and is the savior of all his true people. Him he saw with his bodily eyes in his manhood, and him he saw with his spiritual eyes by faith after his godhead. Quod parasti, whom you have made ready before the face of all people. He who is before a man's face can easily be seen. So faith and the knowledge of our savior Jesus Christ were made manifest before all people. And therefore, at the last judgment, he shall be seen in his manhood as merciful savior to all who, in faith and fear and love, behold him before their faces. But to all others who turn their backs to him, by misbelief or deadly sin, and so die, he shall be seen as most fearful judge. Thus, as this holy man says, he is made ready before the face of all people, not only of Jews but also of Gentiles. And therefore, he says further, Lumen ad revelationem, you have made them light to the enlightenment of the Gentile peoples and the glory of your people Israel.\nThe heathen were then all in darkness and therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ was to them light, to bring them out of all darkness into the light of faith and grace. As the apostle Paul said to them afterwards, \"You were sometimes in darkness, Ephesians 5:8, but now you are light in the Lord.\" The Jews who were in the light of righteousness had great worship of our Lord Jesus, in that he took humanity among them of their kin. And therefore, Simon calls him the glory, the joy and the worship of the people of Israel.\n\nNevertheless, he mentions the heathen before the Jews here. For a great multitude of the heathen have been and are turning to Christian faith, now called Christian people. But the multitude of the Jews remained blind. But they will come afterwards to right faith, in the end of the world.\n\nIn this song, our Lord Jesus Christ is called Savior, light, and glory.\nHe is savior to sinners by mercy, and him who saves from sin, he lightens by grace, and therefore he is called light. And him who lightens by grace, he rewards by endless bliss, and so he is called the glory of his people. Also, for this holy man Simeon, it was desired to die after he had seen our Lord Jesus, as was said before in this song. And by this complaint is signified your death, and by your going to bed, your burial, as I said before. Therefore this song is said at compline rather than at other hours, that you should every night be ready to desire death, as he did. O peaceful king, O unwedded mother of the king of peace, set us your servants, and handmaidens kindly together in the healthful peace of your son. Understand by these servants and handmaidens not only the sisters and brothers of this order, but all Christian men and women. For your service is ordained to be said in the presence of all holy church.\nAs I have often said before,\nGrace, Lord, grant us Thy favor. May the power of Thy grace be poured into our souls. We who have learned by angelic message of the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son, may be led by His passion and cross to the glory of resurrection. Through the same Lord, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, forever and ever. Amen.\n\nDetevirgo. The Father desired the Savior of the world to be born of thee, O virgin. Prophets foretold it. Figures signified it. At last, the same heavenly messenger Gabriel revealed it by salutation. The Holy Ghost made it manifest with the child. O when will He come, so long desired? O when will He be born of thee? Come, come, Lord. Now come. By the virgin's womb, appearing to us, springing forth from on high above.\n\nVerse. A rod shall come forth from the root, and a flower shall rise up from the root of it.\nThe understanding is clear before this, at the hour of six.\nGaudendum nobis est: It is fitting for us, that the mediator of God and men, born of the most holy virgin of virgins, has ennobled our nature into the person of his godhead. Praise him. Glorify him. Love him. Before all things. Repeat: Mary. Mary. Mary. Of all holiness, and precious prince, defend us who humbly serve you from the ten thousand thousand snares of the old enemy.\n\nResponse. Dei genetrix: Mother of God, pray for us.\nAnthem: Regina celi: Queen of heaven, rejoice thou, for him whom thou hast deserved to bear, has arisen, as he said. Pray for us.\n\nResponse. Virgo mater: Virgin mother of him who has risen, make us worthy of the seed of life enduring.\n\nAt the Ascension time you say: Iam ascendit sicut dixit: Now he has ascended, as he said.\n\nAnd at Pentecost you say: Iam ascendit sicut dixit: And now he has ascended, as he said.\nI am sent out what he promised; that is the Holy Ghost. In the verse you say, \"Mother of him that styled up,\" and \"Mother of him that inspires,\" not that our lady is the mother of the third person in the Trinity, who is called the Holy Ghost, whom we worship in the Feast of Pentecost and to whom belongs the role of inspiring, as the common manner of speech is. But she is mother of the second person, our Lord Jesus Christ, who inspires grace in a soul as well as the Holy Ghost, for the works of the Holy Trinity are indivisible. Also, our Lord Jesus is said to inspire in that he sent the Holy Ghost on Pentecost Sunday to inspire his disciples. Also in the verse at the Ascension and at Pentecost it is said, \"Joy, in place of Pasch,\" instead of \"Fowde.\" For at Easter our Lord is taken from Christian people in the sacrament of the altar as \"Fowde\" of their souls. But at the Ascension.\nHe took possession of all his chosen ones in the joy of heaven, and from thence at Pentecost, he sent the Holy Ghost. Therefore, at Esther, you ask for food of life, and at Ascension, and at Pentecost, you ask for the joy of everlasting life. What \"Alleluia\" means, you have before at the beginning of matins. For wherever it is said, it means spiritual and eternal joy. And therefore, it is most sung in Easter time for the joy of our Lord's resurrection, by whom we shall all arise in the end of the world, and come to everlasting joy in soul and body.\n\nResponse. You are made fair and soft, Respondeo. In your delights, holy mother of God. Antemna Alma Redemptoris Mater, Holy mother of the one who brings us back, you who are the opening abode of heaven and the star of the sea, take pity on the falling people who study or labor to rise. You who hast given birth to your holy begetter, nature marveling, virgin before and after, take mercy upon sinners. v.\nOra pro nobis (Pray for us,) holy mother of God. R. Ut digni (That we may be made worthy,) Lord, God. We beseech Thee (forgive the trespasses of Thy servants.) that we, who may not please Thee by our own deeds, may be saved by the prayer of the mother of our Lord, God, Thy Son. Per eundem (By the same,) our Lord Christ. Amen\n\nHere ends the story of Sunday, and begins the story of Monday,\n\nRegem angelorum (Come ye,) worship we the king of angels, rejoicing in his mother.\nPer se lucens (This hymn tells how almighty God, being sufficient in all joy in himself, was moved only by his own goodness to make angels. He did this so that they might be partners in his joy. And how some of those angels despised Him and fell into mystery, and how others remained in praising God, knowing that the fall of their fellows would be repaired by our Lady.)\n\nThere is a precious stone called a carbuncle. It shines brightly as fire of its own kind.\nSo that no darkness defiles it nor moisture quenches it. And to this stone you liken our Lord God. When you say, \"Per se lucens,\" the carboncle shining by itself needs no other light. So God alone, endlessly sufficient to himself, created Claros, made bright angels of his own goodness. Willing that they should be made partners of his glory. Exercitus. Anon as the host of angels saw themselves, they fell down into wretchedness. The other praying to him knew that their transgression would be pardoned by him. Mary. \u00b6Antiphon. Benedictus. Blessed be the Lord. Whom we hope to hear the voice of our prayer. For the most worthy prayers of his mother. \u00b6Antiphon. Filia hominum. Sons of men, bring glory and worship to the virgin's son. That you may be made the sons of God. Antiphon. Converte, domina. Lady mother of joy, turn our sorrow into joy. And enclose us all about with joy. That we, rejoicing, may show the triumph of God. Verse.\nAngelorum, most powerful lady of all angels. Response. Esto nobis, be to us a defender from the guile of wicked. Benediction. Ad sociatem, the queen of angels lead us to the fellowship of the high citizens Amen.\n\nThis lesson tells how after God, in his only charity, had made the great multitude of angels, some fell to damning and some remained in bliss. And how those who remained in bliss knew that our lady, who was then unmade, would be nearest to God above them all. Therefore they had more joy than they had of their own making. The angel says thus:\n\nSciens ita{que} deus, God, knowing all things sufficing to himself endlessly in himself for his own joy, was moved by the only fiery desire of his charity. Therefore he created an indescribable multitude of angels, giving them free choice to do according to their power what they would, and should continually give charity for charity and reverence.\nFor seeking comfort, in the same point where they were made, some of them wickedly misused the most acceptable gift of free choice. They maliciously began to envy their maker. Whom they ought to have loved sovereignly. Therefore, they fell immediately into annihilation, from everlasting felicity into endless wretchedness. Others, however, remained with their charity in bliss prepared for them. These angels loved God fervently for His love, beholding in Him all fairness, all power, and all virtue. The angels also understood, from the sight and contemplation of God, that He alone was without beginning and without end. And that they themselves were made of Him. And that they had of His goodness and of His power, whatever goodness they had. They knew also in the glorious sight of Him:\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Middle English. No major OCR errors were detected.)\nthem made so wise of his wisdom that they saw clearly after God's suffering all things that were to come. Of which they took the most inward affection, knowing that God, in His charity and meekness, would, for His glory and to comfort His host (that is, His angels), fulfill again the heavenly mansions from which the disobedient angels wretchedly fell for their pride and envy. They saw also in that blessed mirror that is God their maker, a certain reverent seat so near to Him that it seemed impossible for any other seat to be nearer to Him. And they knew well that the thing to which that seat was prepared from without beginning was yet unmade. Intuitu, The charity of God without doubt enflames all consolation. O virgin Mary, comfort of all, thou art this very thing to whom angels, from the beginning of their making, burned with such great charity that though they rejoiced more than can be spoken.\nOf the sweetness and clarity they possessed to be so near the sight of God, yet they rejoiced more. For you should be closer to God than they, and they knew that there was reserved for them more charity and more sweetness than they had experienced. They saw also upon the same seat a certain crown of such great beauty and worthiness that the majesty of none save God alone could surpass it. Undoubtedly, therefore, the angels rejoiced more for God's sake in making them, than for what God had made them. And so, O most holy Virgin, you who were the supreme delight to God himself without beginning, were joy to angels as they were made. And so, very truly, God with angels.\nAnd angels with God rejoiced inwardly in you from the beginning. O most worthy virgin among all creatures. But you, response. Thee, all angels in heaven praise. Saying, \"Lord,\" they pray and worship belong to Thee.\n\nChorus. Cherubim, Cherubim and Seraphim, and all the orders of heaven, echo praises to thee, O virgin. Saying, \"It is fitting,\" Lord, prayer and worship belong to Thee.\n\nBlessing. In the mother, the virgin chosen to be the mother of God, may she show us which is the right way to heaven.\n\nIntending this in the lesson, the angel shows that God has more worship, angels more joy, and man greater profit from our lady than all creatures that ever were made on earth. He also shows how the holy virtues and works of our lady are likened by diverse creatures that God made in the beginning of the world. And thus he begins:\nIntendently, God proposing to make the world and other creatures therein, said, \"Fiat, let it be made.\" Genesis 1:1. And immediately, that which He intended to make was perfectly made. The world and all creatures, save only man, were reverently present before the sight of God with fairness. Yet, there was a lesser world present before God with all fairness. Which of these should bring more glory to God, more joy to angels, and more profit to each man who would use its goodness than this greater world? O sweetest, O most lovely Virgin Mary, you are most amiable and lovable to all, and most conveniently understood through this lesser world. According to scripture, Genesis 1:1, it pleased God to separate light from darkness in this greater world. But truly, the separation of light and darkness that should be made after its making pleased Him much more.\nThat is to say, when the ignorance of your tender childhood, which is likened to darkness, should in all ways depart from the knowledge of God, who is likened to light with will and understanding to live according to His will, it should abide most fully in the womb of most fervent charity. Conveniently, and consequently, is all tenderness of young childhood likened to darkness, in which young childhood God is not known, nor is there reason or discernment to know what is to be done. But you, O pure virgin, clean from all sin, have passed beyond this tenderness of young age. Genesis. First, most innocently. Furthermore, just as God made two lights necessary to this world, one for the day and another for the night, so He saw beforehand that two lights should be made in thee. First, for your first light was your godly obedience, which shone most clearly, as the sun in heaven before angels, and in the world before good men.\nTo whom God is everlastingly day. According to the second, and the second light was your most stable faith by which, as by the light of the moon. Many who, in nighttime, that is, from the hour in which the maker of all things should suffer death in his manhood for his creature, were wandering wretchedly in darkness of despair and unbelief, should be brought again to knowledge of truth. Stars, The thoughts also of your heart appeared like unto stars. In that volume, The high flights and the sweet singing songs of birds of diverse kinds signified all the words of your lips which should rise up with all sweetness from your earthly body unto the eyes of him you set in the throne of majesty to sovereign joy of angels. Furthermore, you were like all the earth. In that, that is, all things that have earthly body in this more world, should be nourished of the fruits of the earth rightly, so all the same thing.\nYou should not only take notice of your fruit, but also the life itself. Your works might likewise be compared to flourishing and fruitful trees. For you should endow them with such great charity that they should delight God and His angels more than the beauty of all flowers and the sweetness of all fruits. Preferably, therefore, no reward, though God had more delight in them, was yet to be made, than of this more world. Nevertheless, though the world was made before them, it would perish with all things that were in it. But you, O blessed Mary, most full of virtues, hasten after your making, most worthy of it, by the helping grace of God.\nWith the perfection of all virtues, all things that God has vouchsafed to do with thee, Tu aue, Respice. Benedicta, Blessed be the earth whose flowers fade not, whose fruit is life, of all that live, giving nourishing to all mankind. \u00b6Uerse. Vere, For south this earth is the virgin mother. The flowers are her works. Her son is the fruit. \u00b6Thus the verse explains the response. And both agree with the lesson, as you may see. \u00b6Benediccio, Corona, The queen arrayed with the crown of virtues, be ready to us continually in defense. Amen.\n\nIn this Lesson is told the cause why God gave to man and to angels free choice, why they would do good or evil. And how God is worshiped specifically with three crowns. The first crown is the virtue by which He made angels. The second crown is the virtue by which He made man. The third crown is the virtue by which He made our lady to be the repairing both of man and of angels.\nThe lesson begins thus: Of all virtues, God is the source and the very embodiment. It is impossible for any created being to exhibit virtue without His help. From the beginning, after He had created the world and all creatures, He endowed man with free will, enabling him to stand steadfastly in good and receive good reward, or to fall into evil and receive evil reward. For just as the works of men are accounted insignificant if they will not work unless compelled by force, through stocks or fetters, and their works are worthy of love and righteous reward when they are not compelled but perform them out of pure charity. Likewise, if God had not given free will to angels and men, they would seem to be compelled to do the things they should do, and their works would be worthy of little reward. Therefore, it pleased God that virtue, which is God Himself, should dwell in Himself.\nTo give them freedom to do what they would. And he made them fully understand what reward godly obedience should deserve, and what pains proud disobedience would make his followers worthy. Magnanimous and great virtue God showed when He made man of earth. To the end, that by charity and meekness He should deserve to be made a dweller of the mansion of heaven. From whence angels, contrary to God's will, were wretchedly cast out for pride and envy. For virtues were hateful to them, for which they might have been crowned. None but doubt that as a king is honored and worshiped by his kingly crown, so each virtue not only worships its doer among men but also adorns him exceptionally. As a shining crown before God and angels. Therefore, each virtue may conveniently be called a shining crown. Undoubtedly, the number of crowns is to be believed unchangeable. With which God Himself shines most clearly. Whose virtues surpass without likeness in multitude.\nIn greatness and worthiness, all things that were and shall be, for he achieved nothing but virtues. Among these virtues, three were arrayed more gloriously than the brightest crowns. Virtus, the virtue by which he made angels, was his first crown. Some, envious of God's glory, wretchedly deprived themselves. Illa also, The virtue by which he made man was to him the second crown. Man was likewise sadly deprived of his own folly, consenting to the envious instigator and persuader. Veruptamen, Nevertheless, the virtue of God or the glory of His virtue could not be diminished by the fall of those angels or of man. Though they made themselves unglorious through their wickedness and fell from glory, they would not give glory to God for what He had made them, and for their own glory. But the most wise wisdom of God changed their wickedness into the glory of His virtue.\nVirtus, the desirable virgin, was the third crown that glorified him to eternal glory. Angels knew that the breaking of the first crowns would be healed by her. O, Lady, why are you, our hope of health? You may rightfully be called the crown of God's worship. For by her, he wrought most sovereign virtue, and sovereign worship came to him from her before all creatures. Clare, it was clearly known to angels when you were not yet made, presented to God's sight, that by your most holy meekness, you would overcome the fence, which by his pride had damned himself and deceived man with malice. Therefore, though angels saw man fall into great wretchedness, yet they could not sorrow for the joy of the sight of God, namely because it was open enough to them. What things and how great things God would grant through your meekness after your making. Response.\nChristi virgo, most loved virgin of Christ, worker of virtues, bring help to wretches. Help us, lady. Quoniam, for we are born down with the burden of sins, we pray the most holy verse. Benedicat. All the chevalry of heaven, more blessed be God. Response. Pro suo. For the unspeakable glory of his most worthy mother.\n\nAngels, in this antepne, call all the nine orders of angels to praising of the king and of the queen of heaven. Pray them to make you worthy to praise the same king and queen also. Angels, angels, archangels, virtues, potestates, principates, dominions, thrones, cherubim, and seraphim. Praise together the king of heavens. For the virgin whom he has chosen him to be his queen. & make us worthy to her praising.\n\nIn throno, in the fourth verse of this hymn, you praise our lady of seven things. The first is, that she has a seat in heaven above all creatures next to God. The second is, that she herself is the seat of God, most pleasing to him.\nThe third is that the high angels of heaven praise her and do her worship. The fourth is that God dwelt in her tabernacle for a time. The fifth is that she dwelt in God eternally. The sixth is that all the company of heaven rejoices in her presence. And the seventh is that all who are in sickness hope to have comfort from her.\n\nYou say this: In throne, Thou holy virgin sitting on a throne next to God. Giving thyself a throne to please Him above all things. To thee, The Maker of all things rested temporarily in thee. In thee, the Virgin Mary rests eternally. Ex te, All the holy Mary and others. Uterus. Sacred mother, the mother of the holy church may rejoice with angels. Response. Quam, whom the glorious life of Mary blessedly enlightens. Antiphon. Sis tu, Endless God.\nEndlessly be blessed. For the endless glory of thy Mother, whom the companies of angels glorify with unspeakable praising, whom the companies of hell tremble and dread. By whose help we wretched sinners hope to be saved. Therefore, benevolent Maker, praying, worshiping, and glory be everlasting to Thee.\n\nBlessed are we, the only Son of the high King, whom the innumerable company of angels bless. Blessed are we, the Lord of angelic power, whom the pure Virgin conceives. Gabriel, being the messenger, let us say thankfulness to God.\n\nVirgin most radiant, in this hymn you pray for our Lady, asking of her one thing and six things, you pray for her as most full of virtues above all creatures in heaven and on earth. And you ask of her first, that your sins be taken away from you. The second, that virtues be brought into your souls. The third, that when you err, she will correct you. The fourth, that when you fall, she will lift you up. The fifth, that she will defend you. The sixth, that she will be your peace.\n\"that she will put to her helping hands in all your needs. And the sixth, she will chase away from you all evils. And these things you ask not only for yourself, but for all Christian people. For you pray in the person and in the obedience of holy church, and so for the profit of holy church in all your service, as I have said beforehand. And all your prayer is so much the better. Virgo fulgens, Urgan shining in virtues before all creatures, put away sins and bring virtues into our souls. Tu nos, Correct us when we err. Lift us up when we call, put out your benign hand and drive away always noxious things. Antemne. O Virgin of virgins, may your blessed son not forget us, lest our enemy be exalted upon us. O Victoriosa. O most mighty overcomer\"\nIn whose sight Angeloium Esto Benedicat, all the chronicled heavenly host might pray, For the unspeakable glory of his most worthy mother.\nPray, Reueninos, Lady, come before us in blessings of sweetness. May your son not think on our transgressions and ignorance, but may he remember his mercies.\n\nThe Response and the versicle of this hour are engaged.\n\nAdiuva nos, O spouse of the highest king, help us. That our souls, which your Son, God of truth, bought, be not lost with the wicked. O laudable, O praiseworthy Virgin, you delight God and angels. Response. Per quam\n\nGod our Savior, good Jesus, Son of the pure Virgin, you are our God. Therefore, enkindle our hearts with right faith, inflame them with charity, and strengthen them with true hope. O mother of grace, save us, for you are the Lord's gateway. Through which righteous men enter into the kingdom of heaven.\n\nIn this hymn, you praise God in six things and ask for three things from Him.\nFirst, praise him as God and as man. Second, praise him for the largeness of his charity. By which he made man and gave him free choice to do what he would. Third, praise him for his righteousness. In that he punished rightfully both man and angel. Who misused this freedom. Fourth, praise him for his righteous and merciful forgiveness. Forgiving rightfully those hardened in sin and mercifully receiving those who do penance. And also in that, he relieves those who humble themselves and bears down those who exalt themselves. The fifth, praise him as generous in his commands to those who obey his commandments. And the sixth, praise him as true in fully fulfilling promises. Both in giving pain to the wicked and joy to the good. And therefore you ask of him three things. One, that you are ready to keep what he commands. Another, that you are rewarded with his chosen. And the third, that though you deserve not to be hard on yourself.\nYou are asking for God, by the prayers of his holy mother, to grant you the following: Deus plasmator, God, maker of man, Son of the untouched virgin, who gave us freedom. Righteous judge, you have punished angels and men who misused this grace. Tu induratos, you disdain those hardened in sin, and receive those who do penance. Qui monita, you who have beckoned life, grant us gladly to fulfill whatever you have commanded. Ut cum, when you come to judge, say to us, \"Come,\" and bring us to them by your mother's prayer. When our Lord Jesus Christ comes to the judgment, he will say to the wicked, \"Go, cursed, into the eternal fire.\" And to the good, he will say, \"Come, blessed of my Father.\" Therefore, you say in this last verse of this hymn, that when he comes to judge, he will say, \"Go,\" \"Come.\" Antemne.\nThe king of heavenly knighthood be magnified and praised. His benevolent charity be praised without ceasing, which has magnified her above all things that he made. His bountiful charity, which has ordained her as the mother of charity for us.\n\nExultant is the joy of Saint Mary, the mistress of holiness, who opens the way for all who fly to her, in the abundance of grace that she found towards God.\n\nCelestial was this hymn, spoken unfathomable, beautiful, and dark. And therefore it needs some manner of explanation. The first verse tells how, through Lucifer's malice, the ninth part of angels fell from heaven. The second verse tells how, through the grace of the Holy Ghost, our lady was conceived. The third verse tells how, through our lady's swift intervention, heaven is to be filled again with holy tools. And in the fourth verse, you ask that our Lord Jesus Christ desires to dwell in you and feed you with his comfort.\n\nFirst, you shall understand\nThe north wind is cold and biting, making fair flowers fade sometimes. This is understood as the inspiration from the north, causing the rain of grace to fall upon bare souls. By it, they bring forth the Celestial court, The court of heaven was filled with fair flowers. Of whom the ninteenth part faded. The pleasant south blowing, A green lovely grew in a vale, of whose seed, the fruitfulness of God's mouth, flowers with fair blossoms. Christ, that art the best seed of this Angels' empress, assign us to their keeping. That the raging lion going about, finds not whom to devour in thy little people. Antemnesis. Hail, queen of heaven. Aue, reigning queen.\n\nHere ends the story of Monday. And begins the story of Tuesday.\n\nCome, worship and rejoice in the son of God, whom the prophets rejoiced before, foretelling his birth from a virgin.\nThis hymn tells of how Adam, for his disobedience, was cast out of paradise into the wretchedness of this world. But for he repented of his sin, God let him know that he would be born of a virgin for his redemption.\n\nThe first man, foolishly consenting to the temptation of his deceived wife, became disobedient to God's commandments. He, who was immortal, was made subject to death. A man nearly angelic was made companion to beasts of the world.\n\nTo this man, God spoke, for he sorrowed that he had sinned: \"From all, God will send salvation, Mother of health and life. Save us from them that trouble us. May the shadow of death not cover us. For we spread out our hands to your only true God.\"\n\nThe author of death is cast out from the region of the living. R.\nHumanum, in Adam, the meek virgin Ero testifies, this lesson shows how Adam, after he had sinned, sorrowed before Mary. It is sworn in holy scripture that Adam, being in the felicity of paradise, broke the commandment of God. However, it makes no difference that he was obedient to God's will after he came into wretchedness. Undeniably, this is clearly shown. That Adam loved God with all the might of his heart, in that, after his son had killed his brother by God's commandment, he coupled himself again obediently to the same wife, as marriage requires. Gravius quoque. And more gravely, he repeated, therefore it is known, not to be unrighteous that, as it was God's ire upon him for pride, by which he had offended God in his felicity, so great comfort should be given to him being in wretchedness. But greater comfort might Adam not perceive \u2013 than to be certified.\nThat God should deign to be born of His generation. To redeem the souls by meekness and charity. Why the same Adam, deprived through envy of the serpent, had thrown down from eternal life. But it seems impossible to all wise men, and as it is, that God, who is besought by no birth but most honestly, should take to Himself a human body through carnal desire, as other children. Much more did Adam, who was made without carnal delight, believe it impossible. Therefore, Adam understood that it displeased the maker of all things, to make a man's body to Himself in that way, as He had made His own body, or Eve's body. He believed, therefore, that God would take a human body from a person like Eve. Who would flourish through suffering, of all virtues above all, begotten of man and woman, and be born of her most honestly with godliness and manhood.\nHer maidenhood was unharmed entirely, therefore it is well-known to be believed without any doubt. This Adam, when he felt that God was pleased with him, had great sorrow from the words which Eve learned from speaking with the serpent; likewise, when he came into sorrow and wretchedness, he had great joy and comfort from the words. O Mary, hope of all, you should answer to the angel. Dolebat quoque. Adam also sorrowed that Eve, his companion, had begun to be disobedient to her Maker. But he rejoiced, for he saw beforehand that his most dear daughter, Mary, would obey God in all things with sovereign meekness. Adam sorrowed.\n\nTranslation:\nAdam's virginity remained intact, and this was firmly believed. When Adam felt that God was pleased with him, he was deeply saddened by Eve's words, which she had learned from the serpent. Similarly, when Adam was overcome by sorrow and wretchedness, he took great comfort in the words. O Mary, the hope of all, you will respond to the angel. Dolebat quoque. Adam was also troubled that Eve, his companion, had become disobedient to her Creator. But he rejoiced, for he knew that his most dear daughter, Mary, would obey God in all things with complete submission.\nFor Eve, in her heart, had said, \"I will be made equal to God.\" Therefore, she fell to great sorrow in the sight of God and angels. But He rejoiced that your word, by which you should humbly profess it, shone brightly in her foreknowledge for your great glory. Tristabatur etiam; Adam was also heavy-hearted. For Eve's word had provoked God to wrath, leading to her damnation and that of all others. Verbum enim, For Eve cast herself out with man in great sorrow from glory, and shut the gates of heaven to them and her children. But your blessed word, O Mother of Wisdom, brought you great joy and opened the gates of heaven to all who will enter. Underscored as it was, the angels in heaven rejoiced, for they saw before the making of the world that you, O Mother of God, would be born. Responde. Eve, the mother, turning to the enemy.\nput out herself with man from glory. changing life into death. Whose blessed daughter obeyed God overcame the enemy. Restored glory. Chased away death and brought again life.\n\nVerse. Laus deo, Praise and\n\u00b6The amiable virgin. Help\nElectus denies and Adam. This lesson tells of the governance of mankind from Adam to Abraham. And how Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and other patriarchs had knowledge. And Adam, cast out of paradise, had experience in himself of the righteousness and virtue. And well was the world disposed as long as they who came after him did on the same wife.\n\nBut when men ceased to behold the righteousness and mercy of God, many of them forgot their maker. They believed, for they lived pleasing things. Genesis. vi. And led their lives abominably in filth of every help lust. Which thing God greatly abhorred. Slew all the dwellers of the world by flood, save them whom by His foreordainance He saved by the\n\nship of Noah.\nTo restore the world, God moved his most merciful fatherly hand. In Genesis, when the people of mankind said, but God made a covenant with Abraham, the true follower of his faith. And fulfilled Abraham's desire. Ca. 15.17. & 22, giving him a son named Isaac. From whose progeny, he bequeathed that Christ would be born. Therefore, it is credited that Abraham rejoiced more in that daughter to come than in Isaac, his son. And loved her with more charity. It is to be understood that Abraham, the friend of God, did not purchase temporal goods for pride or covetousness. Nor did he desire a son for any other reason than that an endless vintage might be planted, and that a chosen vineyard should be made from it. Therefore, he gathered wood. That the vines, which made the vineyard fat, should not fade but be made fruitful to bring forth fruit. Let it be understood that the gardener was glad.\nFor he knew that amongst his little plants there would be a certain tree so high and so delightful that it would sovereignly delight his Lord to walk in the vineyard for the fairness of the tree. By this gardener is signified Perillos. By that fair tree is signified the Virgin Mary. And by the Lord almighty God, who did not intend to enter the vineyard until the tree bore fruit, is the tree of Jesse, whose most innocent life is likened to fruitfulness. That God delights to see. Whose works sovereignly please God are understood by the sweetness of the fruits. And by the shadow of her, may we find refuge and protection, therefore Abraham, knowing that the Virgin who would bring forth God would come from his lineage, was more comforted by her than by all sons and daughters of his kin. This faith and this holy hope, that is to say, of the birth of the Son of God.\n that was to come of the progeny of the same Abraham\u25aa the sa\u00a6me Abraham lefte for herytage for greate faythe to Isaac hys sonne.Genes. xxiiii. And that ys wel {pro}ued in that. that he made hys seruante whome he sente for the wyfe of\nhys sonne. Ibidem. 27. that Isaac by the blyssynge that Benedice And Iacob blys\u2223synge hys Genes. 49. Vnde ver whereof yt ys B And so. as fyrste to aR. Intelligens, Abraham vndExultet, Therefore oure company more be glad. and holy ioye of the. and of thy blyssed sonne. as wellMatervere. The mother of very charite. more lose the bondes of oure wy\nUEre caritatis, Thys lesson rel\u2223lyVere caritatis. God ys the louer of very chari\u00a6te. and god is the selfe charyte. that shewed also grete\ncharyte to hys when he delyuered the people of Isra\u2223el by hys power oute of the thraldome of Egypte. ge\u00a6uynge them a so\u0304de moste plenteous. wherin they shul\u00a6de dwelle in {pro}speryte wyth all fredome. Horu\u0304 quippe But the gylefull enmye. hauynge ful greate enuy to theyr prosperyte\nThey drew them continually with their temptations, intending to sin. But they, not laboring to withstand the deceits of the devil, were wretchedly led to the worshiping of idols. Setting aside the law of Moses and forgetting, and most foolishly despising the covenant that God made with Abraham. But this merciful god, beholding his friends who served him devoutly with right faith and true charity and keeping of the law, visited them mercifully. And that they should be the more fervent in God's service, he set up prophets among them. Through whom the enemies of God would turn again to his love and to right faith if they were willing. Therefore, it is very important to know that, like a hasty flood, it flowed down into the valley from the top of the mountain.\nAfter the water receded, the holy ghost appeared rightly among the prophets, bringing with him words from his lips to correct this erring world. Among all things that came to them by this sweet flow of the holy ghost, this flowed most sweetly into their hearts and most delightfully out of their lips: that God, the maker of all things, would not spare his only son for mankind's salvation. And the son would be so obedient to the father that he would not refuse to take on a mortal body. The holy ghost would most gladly be sent with the son, and yet he had never departed from the father. This was also clear to the prophets.\nthat sonne touches the heat of the sun. Through this, it is understood. The fiery one who should bring forth God. By the heat, and by the one who possesses the most fervent charity, she should touch God, and God touch her, so that God might fulfill all His will with her. And very truly, as the prophets were comforted in words and works of His son unmade, and made all things right, so too was God pleased with them in their tribulations through this foreknowledge. By which they knew that this star, which is Mary, should be made. For the prophets sorrowed greatly, seeing that the sons of Israel had forsaken the law of Moses for their pride and fleshly lusts. And they rejoiced, knowing that the very Lord and maker of the law would be pleased by their humility and the cleanness of their life. O Mary, most bright star.\nand yet he should receive them into his grace. Those who had provoked him to ire and ran wretchedly into his indignation. The prophets were sorrowful as well, for the temple of God was destroyed, where the offerings of God should be presented. But they rejoiced, seeing that the temple of your blessed body would be made, which would receive God himself in it with all comfort. They sorrowed also for the walls and gates of Jerusalem that were destroyed, and the enemies of God entered and overcame it both bodily and spiritually. But they rejoiced in the most worthy gate. Knowing that the mightiest giant, who is God himself, would take armor in it, by which he would overcome the foe and all enemies. And thus, the prophets, as well as the patriarchs, were greatly comforted by the most worthy mother. Response. O ineffably, O little maiden, unspeakably fortunate, in a powerless town.\nThis little maiden is our reverence, who, when she conceived and bore the Son of God, was little in age and meek, and a maiden in chastity. But she was rich in all graces and virtues. The power town is this world, which was then poor from all spiritual riches. And therefore it was all the more marvelous to find such a rich maiden in such a poor town. The king is the father of heaven, who sent His Son Jesus Christ to this glorious virgin, that He might be her Son as well. And she received Him into her worshipful womb, which was to Him a hall of joy, for He was pleased and joyful to dwell therein. She nourished Him with delights from her milk-laden breasts.\nFor the milk of her, and the food that he took from her hands pleased him as the most delightful desires. The armor of power is the holy body that he took from her. Upon it, he bore many hard strokes during his passion. And so he overcame all his enemies and ours, those being the gates of hell. Then, as a worshipful conqueror, he turned home again by his ascension. And made the same virgin queen of heaven in her assumption, there to be had in endless praising and worship above all angels and saints.\n\nHostia fallax, Eve gave credence to the deceitful enemy sending unto him.\n\nResponse. Proles, Making subject to hard dictates. The children that she had not yet born.\n\nScitote populi, know ye people that the virgin's son is the same god who made us. Whom patriarchs desired. Whom prophets preached. Whose mercy endures without end.\n\nDolens Adam, This hymn you may ceaselessly understand. By the first lesson of this same day, for it agrees in every way therewith.\nAdam of Dolens, sorrowing over the speech that the serpent spoke to Eve, mourning in penance for her disobedience to him. Gaius is pleased with the virgin, whom he knew would bear God. Understanding that she would never believe the words of the devil. That is, the devil's suggestion or temptation. Luxuria rejoiced, for he wished his own wife had been most proud. But, where is she, who by obedience opened the way for the mother, and deserved to be shamed before all the universe? Ave Maria, Mary, the daughter of Eve, showing compassion to the cruel mother.\n\nResponse.\nAve, most worthy sowers, blessed are you who have sown a seed in the best land. May it be watered with the dew of the Holy Ghost. This seed, which is most marvelously multiplied, nourishes angels. By which the dead live again. By which sick men are healed. By which all things live. By which all things are restored.\nThis is the Father of heaven. The grain is the Son. The earth is our Lady. The grain was sown in the earth by His incarnation. It was done by His passion. And it was multiplied into many grains after His ascension, by the conversion of people to Christian faith. For each good Christian man and woman is a grain of our Lord's harvest. Blessed are you, Lord. whom the mouths of prophets foretold, Blessed are you, Lord, who were foretold by the voice of prophets to be born of the kin of David.\n\nThere are spirits created and made that are angels and souls. And there is a spirit not made but the maker of all things. That is God Himself. And to this spirit, the maker, you speak in this hymn when you say, \"Come, spirit maker, who comes into the hearts of prophets, that they may prophesy God, to be born of a virgin.\" Who is called the Comforter, be a comforter to wretches.\nThrough prayer of this virgin whom thou hast made a chaste mother. Antemne. Many are the tribulations of the righteous, and from them all thy son shall deliver them. O. virgin, comfort of the heavens.\nPray, Benign God, show thy mercy to those who know thee. Who with the flood of thy delight, have given drink to Mary. Who thirsted above all things.\nBlessed art thou, Mary. Hall of fairness, temple of the king of bliss, whose mercy we have received. Out of the depths of thy most holy womb.\nHoly lady, do not forsake us in the fearful domain of thy son, to whom the Father has given all power, whose righteousness heavens shall show. Whose heart, all power shall fear. When he comes to judge his people. .v. Tu plasmator, O. thou marvelous excellent brightness, above all things that ever were made. .R. Tu placa, Peace thy son to us. Thou filled full of grace.\nAll power is thine, Virgin God,\nThe first verse of this hymn.\nYou, sick with the joy that God and His angels, and Adam and Eve had, in ignorance of Our Lady's birth. In the second verse, you speak of the joy that patriarchs and prophets had of the same. In the third verse, you sing of the joy that her father and mother had, knowing what she should be. In the fourth verse, it is said that all ought to rejoice in her conception and birth. And in the fifth verse, you pray to be worthy to worship her birth and, through her prayer, be delivered from sin. Therefore, you begin and say thus:\n\nVirgin making God glad,\ngiving solace to angels,\ngiving joy to those who were first created,\nknowing that you should be born.\n\nPatriarch,\nYou gave comfort to the hearts of patriarchs,\nand to the souls of prophets who prophesied of your birth.\n\nO quanta, O. How great joys were given\nto your father and mother,\nwho knew beforehand that one such as you would be born,\nof the great grace of God.\n\nWho is it, who are you?\n whome the concepcion of the mother of god maketh not glad. yther ioyful generacyon please hym. Da nobis, Therfore lady graunte vs so to worshyp thy byrthe that our synnes be losed. by thy pytefulle prayer. Antempne Sancta maria, Saynte mary socoure thow wretches. helpe the weke co\u0304forte the mournynge. pray for the people. be meane for the clergy. pray for deuoute women. al more fele thy helpe. who euer they be yt often vse to haue mynde vpon the. Benedicamus Blysse we the so\u0304ne of the endelesse kynge. lorde of heuen. & of er\u00a6the. & of helle. for the co\u0304cepcyon of hys mother. Benedicamus. Blysse we the sonne of the endelesse kynge. for the concepcyon of hys mother. Alleluya\nMEmor Dominus. The lorde hauynge mynde of the myldenesse of hys spouse, en\n\u00b6Thys spouse ys oure lady. the tabernacle is her ho\u00a6ly wombe.\nVINumeri. xvii. god bad Moy\u00a6ses take of eche kynred of Israel. a rodde. of whycheVictum vitalem, God gaue mankynde fowde of lyfe.\nwherin the enmy syueCorda vatum, The holy goste fulfylled wyth Que sicut\nwhyche as the rod of Aaron should mercifully go Iesus, the Light, veil end. Hail queen of heavens. Mother of the kin of angels. O. Mary, flower of virgins. As rose or here ends the story of the Twelve. And beginneth the story of the Wednesday,\nHail be the birth of the virgin and mother Mary. Worship\nErrorum pleno, Light springs out to the world full of darkness. While Mary comes out of the private place. Lux lucern, Thou art the light with no cloud. The beam of the high sun. Thou art the chamber of crystal. Where the merciful king of bliss sitting in antechamber. Correct virgo, Virgin most prudent, correct our unwise hearts: that thy son looking from heaven may\nAntempne. Take hold of Mat. We cast our care Antempne. Glorious, The grace of the glorious mother of God. May it deliver our souls from death. and our slide to sin, but they be the better kept. Verse\nAlmary was ordeined, whych is told in Our Scriptures, about the virgin mother of wisdom, the errant men. This lesson teaches us. Why God gave a law through Moses to His people. And how holy a marriage was between Joachym and Anne. And how, and why the day of her conception should be revered.\n\nBefore the law was given to Moses, men were long ignorant, not knowing how they should govern themselves and their deeds in this life. Therefore, those who were fervent in the love of God ordered their deeds and manners. And they believed they pleased God. But others who did not have the love of God did whatever they desired.\n\nTherefore, the goodness of God mercifully descending to their ignorance, ordered a law through His servant Moses. By which they should be governed according to God's will.\n\nHe also, this law taught, how God and the neighbor should be loved. And how marriage between man and woman should be kept according to God's law.\nAnd such honesty was the basis for bringing forth those who were to be God's people. Truly, God loved this manner of marriage so much that He ordained the most honest mother of His lineage to be begotten of this holy union. Therefore, as an eagle that flies high in the air and beholds many woods, he saw one tree so firmly rooted and circular. And thus it pleased him that the body of his most honest mother, which is understood to be under the nest, should be begotten of this holy wedlock. In which body he himself would vouch and consequently are devout wedlocks likened to fair trees. Whose root is such a union of two hearts, that is, that they are wedded together for the sole reason that worship and glory come to God Himself. Conveniently. The will of such a wedded man or woman is consequently likened to fruitful branches. When they keep the fear of God in all their works.\nThey love honestly together, as commanded by God, only because of bringing children to the prayer of God. Talium, For the cunning devil cannot reach with his powers and crafts to such wedlocks. When their joy is not else. but worship and glory given to God, and when no tribulation weighs them down. But the unworthiness and pride, Then also seem they to stand in a secure place. When the abundance of worldly worship or riches may not draw their hearts unto love of them or pride. Undoubtedly, God knew before that the wedding of Joachym and Anne would be such, Therefore he ordained that his dwelling place, that is to say the body of his mother, should be gathered from it. O Anna, O reverent mother Anne. How precious treasure you bore in your womb. When Mary, who should be the mother of God, rested therein. Verily, it is to be believed without any doubt.\nthat God Himself loved the matter whereby Mary should be formed and made. Anon when it was conceived and gathered in the womb of one woman, more than all the bodies of men and women, born and to be born of man and woman in the world. Venerable Anne, therefore, Anne is truly called the treasure of Almighty God, for she hid in her womb His treasure, beloved to Him above all things. O Quid prope, O. How near was the heart of God continually to His treasure. O Quid pie, O. How benignly and gladly did His eye of His majesty fix upon His treasure, that says:\n\n\"Where is thy treasure, there is also thy heart.\" And therefore it is truly to believe that angels rejoiced not a little in this treasure, when they knew that their Maker, whom they loved more than themselves, loved it so much. Why, therefore, was it truly fitting and worthy that on that day all held it in great reverence.\nThat matter was conceived and gathered in Anne's womb, from which the blessed body of the Mother of God was formed. Which God himself and all angels loved with so much charity. Blessed mother Anne. Chest of the endearingly king. He held in the treasure most acceptable to him. Wherewith he bequeathed his only begotten son and made the needy rich, and delivered wretched prisoners. Rejoice, you reverent mother of your most reverent daughter, who brought forth the Virgin that begot him who made all things. Blessing. Star of the sea, most merciful Mary, star. Comfort us. Amen.\n\nAfter this lesson tells of the putting of our Lady's soul into her body and of her birth. And how angels and men desired her birth for diverse reasons.\n\nFurthermore, after the blessed matter had formed a body in the mother's womb in opportune time, as it seemed about to have, and as a bee that flies about flowery fields.\nSearch carefully for all grasses and herbs where honey may be gathered. For of his natural knowing, he can discern where the fairer flower buds. Which flower, if he sees it not yet sprouting out of the husk, he remains delightfully with desire for the sprouting of it, to use the sweetness thereof for his pleasure. And like wise, God in heaven, who beholds most clearly all things, with the eye of His majesty, when He sees Mary yet hid in the secret place of her mother's womb. To whom, He knew in His everlasting for knowing, \"How brightly shone that rising morning light in Anne's womb. When the little body of Mary was quickened therein, by the coming of the soul. Whose birth, angels and men desired to see, with such great desire.\n\nHowever, the light of the sun is much clearer than\nthe light of the morning tide,\nbut they understood not that the morning tide, appearing, the sun would go up higher.\nAnd they are fruits which they hope to enjoy, And those who dwell in such trees as are covered with darkness of night, are not only glad because they know the sun shall rise after the morew tide. But also they are more rejoiced, for they understand that the morew tide past means they may see things they have to do. Likewise, holy angels that dwell in the kingdom of heaven, desire not the spring of the morew tide, that is to say, the birth of Mary, because the very soon, that is God himself, never passed from their sight. But therefore they desired the same virgin to spring by her birth in this world, for they knew well that God, who is likened unto the sun, would show more openly by this morew tide his most charitable nature, and that men who loved God should be made fruitful by good works, and that by steadfast perseverance in good they should be made ripe.\nAngels might gather them into everlasting barns. These are likened to heavenly joy. But men of this dark world, knowing beforehand the birth of the Mother of God, this rod I speak of is that one. Isaiah xi prophesied that a virgin should come out of the root of Jesse. And he spoke of a flower that should spring from it. Upon this flower the spirit of God should rest. O rod of a virgin, O incomprehensible rod. While it grew in Anne's womb, the pit and the meadow thereof abode more gloriously in heaven. The virgin herself, for this rod was so small that it turned lightly in the mother's womb. But the pit of it was so great in length and breadth that no mind was sufficient to think of its greatness. It could not bring forth the flower until the pit gave it power to bud. Nor did the power of the pit appear openly until the rod gave it moisture.\nHec denies. Forsooth this pythagoras is the person of the son of God. whom the father begat before Lucifer (Psalm 109). Yet he appeared not in the flower, that is, in man's body, until by the assent of the virgin. Why which is understood by the rod. He took the matter of this flower from her most clean blood in her painful labor. Et quamuis, And though the blessed rod, that is, glorious Mary, was departed from her mother's body in her birth. Yet the son of God was no more departed from the father when the virgin bore him bodily. Spus quoque, & the Holy Ghost was undivorceably in the father and in the son from without beginning. For they are three persons and one godhead.\n\nResponse. Strips isses, The kin of Isses. has brought forth a rod and the rod a flower. And upon this flower rests the Holy Ghost.\n\nVirgo, The virgin mother of God, is the rod. The flower is her son.\nBenedictio Matris Christi, The glorious birth of the Mother of Christ, be to us everlasting gladness. Amen.\n\nTherefore, as there was one eternal will to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, so was there never in them diverse will. Whence, just as three flames should come out of one burning fire, rightly so out of the goodness of God's will, three flames of charity come equally towards the perfection and making of one work.\n\nFlamma eius, For the flame of charity, coming from the Father, burned most brightly before angels. When they knew that His will was benignly disposed to give His beloved Son. John iii.\n\nCaritatis flamma, The flame of charity,\nPhilippians ii, was not hid when he, at the Father's will, took upon himself the form of a servant, not regarding equality with God.\n\nFlamma quoque, And the flame of charity coming from the Holy Ghost, was it less fervent?\nwhen he gave himself ready to show by open works the will of the father, and of the son, and of himself. Yet, though the most fervent charity of this godly will shone by heaven's brightness, giving us inexpressible comfort from its charity, it could not come to mankind according to the everlasting foreordainment of God, until Mary was begotten. In whom was to be contained such a fierce fire of charity that the sweet smell thereof stirred up on high the fire that was in God and slideth therein into this cold world. Hec indeed, Forsooth, this virgin after her birth was like a new lantern not yet lit. Yet it must be lit so, for the charity of God, which is likened to three flames, should shine in this dark world with other three flames of charity.\nThe first flame of Mary shone brightly before God when she vowed to keep her maidenhood undefiled for the worship of God until her death. This, for God the Father desired so much this most holy maidenhood, that he pledged to send his beloved son, with him and the Holy Ghost's divinity.\n\nThe second flame of charity of Mary appeared in that she humbly lowered herself in all things.\n\nThe third flame was her obedience. And though this blessed new lantern was not yet lighted immediately after her birth, yet while God and the ancient world might worship her birth for her, to the maker of all things, who is the same one, the deliverer of sinners.\n\nResponde: Solomon justly generated.\nHee virgo, This virgin was shown to us. And born to Nativity, The birth of the Glory,\nThere is a star,\nA lady is likened to it. For those in tempests of tribulation, or in night of temptation in this world, if they look and pray to our lady, she will dress their ways to the haven of health. Furthermore, if anyone has a desire to delight himself in things that are savory to his taste, or fair to his sight, or sweet to his smell, he may turn to our gracious lady and feed all these delights in her most delightfully. And therefore you say, Tu miro, Mary, shining star, shining with a marvelous light, Tu nectare, Thou art sweeter than honey, Tu vero, Thou art truly a sweet-smelling lily, by whose odor God is drawn unto Himself to have His dwelling place. Ergo pie, Therefore draw us, wretches, Stella solis, A star bringing forth the sun quickly rises as the morning tide. R. Quam tempe, Pray singing. Nativity, Virgin mother of God.\nThy birth has brought joy to the world. For from the yews roses the son of righteousness arises, Christ our God, who has turned cursing into blessing and given us bliss and confounded death, and given us eternal life. Benedicamus.\nBlessed are we, the sons of the living God. Ignis ardore, The beauty of the world was wedded with the burning of three fires. A well springs up in the midst of the earth. By which it is refreshed again. O virgin. O well of joy. quench you, Priest. Ioan. 2. Our lady is the well. She who quenches these fires in her service. As this hymn shows. Anthem. Nativity, we worship the birth of the virgin Saint Mary, whose glorious life lights up all churches.\nRegali, Mary, born of kings' line, shines brightly. By whose prayers we ask most devoutly with heart and tongue to be helped.\nCordis et animo, We sing glory to Christ with heart and will. In memory of the birth of Mary, the high mother of God.\nGod and angels rejoiced in the birth of the Mother of Christ, the birth of the glorious virgin Mary, who obtained the worthiness of motherhood without losing the cleanness of virginity.\n\nGladness eternal to the world, bring to mind the most worthy birth of the glorious virgin Mary, who has earned the worthiness of motherhood and preserved the cleanness of virginity.\n\nRejoice, O bodies, in this hymn are seven verses. In the first verse, you call all the holy church and heaven and earth to the praising of our lady. In the three verses following, with a part of the first verse, you show fourteen things in which our lady is to be praised. The first is her noble and worthy entrance into the world through her conception and birth. The second is her holy conversation in this world. The third is her most worthy departure from this world. The fourth is that, being a virgin, she bore a child. The fifth is that she remained a virgin ever after. The sixth is that she gave God a body. The seventh is that she bore the Savior.\nThe eighteenth is that she is a queen's mother. The ninth is that she is the same queen's gate forever locked. Ezekiel xxiv. Her gate she is, for he praises her at laws. The star of the sea. Or the sailor's star. The eleventh is that she is plenteous and large in mercy. For as a flower that spreads broad in its fairness and flows out in sweetness of smell all around, so our lady is fair and comfortable to all wretches that look to her ward and gives out to them as a flood, the sweetness of her mercies. The twelfth is that she is the king's scepter or the king's rod, of whom it is read in scripture of a king that no man durst come uncalled at certain times under pain of death. But if the king offered him his rod or his scepter to touch This king is our Lord God almighty. To whom never may our blessed lady be a displeasure. The thirteenth is that she is the mother of God. And the fourteenth is that she is the spouse of the endless king.\n\nIn the other part of the fifth verse\nIn the sixth verse, you ask three things. One: to be protected from evil, not by your merit but by her mild gift. Another: to have peace, long enduring, through her prayers. And the third: to have endless joy in the bliss of heaven. In the seventh verse, you pray the blessed father, son, and holy ghost to grant your requests. Therefore, you begin and say:\n\nRejoice, O virgin, the blessed one,\nMother of God, and spouse of the kings,\nHoly Mary, and you, O blessed Joseph,\n\nAnd this, that when you, most holy virgin,\nAre born, then is the world enlightened.\nA blessed beginning. A holy race.\n\nCastitas, tender mayden, vowed chastity\nTo him who is highest, leading among men\nAn angelic life. Whose chastity God\nHas worshipfully made fruitful.\n\nFit porta Christi, she, Genus superni,\nThe beginning of light above,\nHas gone out from the virgin's hall.\nThe spouse, the honorable one, O mulicrum, O most blessed of women. solace vs the unwilled sinners. and thou who hast made great ones lift up again, mercyfully, whom the burden of sins brings down. Antemne. O florence rose, O flourishing rose, fair mother of God. O mild virgin, O most plenteous vine. thou that art brighter than the morning tide. pray earnestly for us.\nHere ends the story of the Wednesday and begins the Story of the Thursday.\nOn Thursday at matins, the Immaculate Mary, Hail Mary, full of grace. That Lord is with her.\nQuem terra. The cloister of Mary bears him, who governs the three engines, whom earth sees and firmly loves, worships, and praises.\nBy the cloister of Mary is understood her reverence. And by the three engines, heaven, earth, and hell are understood. Cui luna, The maidens' bowels filled with the grace of heaven bear him.\nBlessed is that mother by the gift of the holy ghost, whose high maker, who holds the world in his hand, is locked in the chest of this world in his hand. For the world is very little in regard to his greatness. And as a man can do with a thing that he holds in his hand whatever he wills, so is all things in the power of his hands, and all is kept in being by him.\n\nBlessed is she, the messenger of heaven, and fruitful by the holy ghost, and he who is desired of Christian people has come out by her womb.\n\nAclamanimus, we have the father of heaven by prayer and desire of his chosen servants, Congratulamini, Sons of men. Thank you, the son of God, who made the virgin's son angels and healed man when man, against God's commandment, was healed in paradise.\n\nBlessed is he who bows his knee to thee. Thou wouldst make a virgin thy mother, and thyself a man. Thou shalt give the heritage of heaven.\nTo those who fear your name. Five times God came into the world through the virgin Mary. Revelations 11:19. Ut in celi, To bring again lost men into the bliss of heaven. Benedicto.\\ The Blessed Virgin. The holy virgin of virgins. May she pray for us to our Lord. Amen.\n\nBenedictum maris corpus, This lesson tells of the virtues and beauties of our Lady in soul and body. How perfect she was in her youth in hope and fear and love of God. How discreet she was in abstinence from food and drink. How temperate in sleeping and waking. How stable in adversity and prosperity. How she, the Blessed Virgin, is likened to a vessel most clean and her soul to a lantern most clear. And her brain to a pitcher of waters running high. And afterwards coming down into a deep valley. For when the virgin came to that age, in which she might understand that very God was in heaven and that he had made all things.\nAnd specifically man to his own enjoyment was to worship him and be judge of all that is most rightful. The witte and understanding rose from the brain of the virgin into the heights of heaven, like water running out of a spring well. In the hymn to the first vespers of the Nativity of the Lord. For as the church sings, the Son of God went out from the Father and turned again to the Father. Though neither of them were ever separated from each other, so the witte and understanding of the virgin often rose up to the heights of heaven, catching God steadfastly by faith and sweetly embracing his most sweet charity, and turning again to it. This charity, with reasonable hope and fear of God, she held most securely. So enflaming her own soul by the same charity, she began to burn in the love of God as a most fierce fire. And this witte and understanding of the virgin made her body so subject to her soul, to serve God from thence on.\nThe body obeyed the soul with all meekness. O how swiftly the witte and understanding of the virgin took the charity of God. O prudently, she treasured God's charity within herself. Like a lily planted or set, which should fasten itself to the earth with three roots, by which it would make itself more stable and spread up three delicious flowers for the comfort of those who beheld it, so humbly the charity of God, sent from God into this glorious earth, i.e., our lady, fastened itself to her body with three virtues most strong. As with three rows. By which also it strengthened the same virgin's body, and worshipfully did she adorn herself as to the soul with three ornaments most bright, to the gladness of God and of angels that beheld her.\n\nThe first strong virtue of the virgin's body was the strength of discrete abstinence.\nThe second was the strength of temperance in wakefulness. Which tempered her body, for she was never dulled by heaviness from lack of sleep, whether it was the time she had to wake or sleep too much. She shortened neither the times appointed for waking. The third was the strength of the strong constitution of the virgin's body. Which made the same virgin so strong and stable that she bore bodily labor and disease evenly. And she was not displeased by any bodily adversity or disease, nor was she pleased by any bodily wealth or pleasure. Furthermore, the first ornament or array with which the charity of God adorned the virgin's soul was this:\nShe preferred denial; the second adornment of her soul was this: she had perfect discretion in her understanding. How unlike worldly worship is to spiritual joy, and therefore she abhorred worldly joy as corrupt air that quenches the life of many in a short while.\n\nThis virtue, the third adornment that made her soul glorious, was this: she held things that pleased God most sweet in her heart, and things that were odious and contrary to God she held more bitter than gall. Therefore, the will of the virgin drew her soul so entirely towards these things, of these ornaments:\n\nShe was indeed so strengthened by the virtue of charity that she failed in no good work, and the enemy never prevailed against her in the least point. Without any doubt, it is to be believed that, as her soul was most fair before God and His angels, so her body was most acceptable in the eyes of all who beheld her.\nEt quemadmodum, and as God and angels rejoiced in heaven in the fairness of her soul, so was the fairness of her body acceptable and profitable on earth to all who desired to see her. For those who were devout, seeing her with how much fervor she served God, were made more fervent in God's worship. In them that were most ready to sin, the fierceness of sin was quenched immediately by the honesty of her words and deeds, as long as they beheld her.\n\nSancta, Holy and undefiled maidenhood. I never knew with what praises I shall speak of thee. For thou hast given him to thy lap who heavens might not take.\n\nUerse. Benedicta, Blessed be thou in all women. And blessed be the fruit of thy womb. Benedicction. Vi The virgin who was greeted by an angel vouchsafe to take away our sins. Amen.\n\nThis lesson tells us how our most reverent Lady, knowing that God made her,\n\n(Note: The text appears to be incomplete at the end, and there are some missing characters in the middle of some words. It is unclear if these missing characters are due to OCR errors or intentional omissions. Without further context, it is not possible to clean the text perfectly.)\nand that he should be near her, alone, in her will to love and serve her. She was afraid to dwell with her friends, lest they hinder her from God's service. How diligently she was to keep her tongue and her silent tongue, no tongue can wisely tell the wit and understanding of the glorious virgin. She conceived and understood God in the same point that she first knew Him. Namely, while all men's minds are weak and feeble to think. How much the blessed will of the same virgin made herself subject to God's service. For it pleased her to do all things with delight. That she knew pleased God. The virgin understood that not for her merits God had made her a body and soul, but meekly to submit to God's commandments, and also to withstand them if she pleased. Therefore, the most meek will of the virgin utterly determined to serve God with charity, as long as she lived.\nfor the benefits that she had then received. Though he should never give her anything else after. But when her understanding might know that the same maker of all things would also be the agent of the souls that he had made. And that he desired not else to be given to him as reward for such great labor, but the same souls. And every man has freedom in will to please God by good works or provoke him to wrath by evil deeds. Then the will of the virgin began quickly to govern her body in the temples of the world. As a wise shipman his ship. For just as a shipman fears that his ship may perish by waves or casting of waters, and the perils by which ships are often broken, he has where he desires to rest after his labor. And he labors that the goods which are put in his ship may come to profit for the true owner.\nWho me he loved moste so truly, this virgin most was and wise, after she had knowledge of the commandments of God, the will of her began to go towards her body with all cares. After the blowing of them. Frequenter quidem, and often she dreaded the dwelling near her kin or neighbors. Lest that her prosperity or adversity, which are likened to the tempestues of the world, by words or deeds make her the more heavy to serve God. Omnia quoque, and all things that were forbidden by the law of God, she commanded diligently to her mind. Flying them with all diligence. Lest as a hard trial of the flesh they should lose her soul spiritually. Hec den Fo\n\nThis virgin, who was most truly loved by him, was never lifted up to behold any unseemly thing. Her eyes were only listening to those things that longed to the worship of God. And she never put out her hands or fingers but to profit herself or her neighbor. And her feet she suffered never to move one pace.\nBut if she first discussed what profit would come of it. Desire also desired, and furthermore the will of the virgin wished to endure joyfully all tribulations of the world, so that she might come into the haven of truth - that is, in the bosom of God the Father. This she desired without ceasing. That worship and joy should be yielded of her soul for her making, which was most dearly loved to her. And because the will of the virgin never failed in goodness, God, from whom all good things proceed, greatly exalted her in the height of all virtues and made her shine most brightly in the fairness of all virtues. Who, therefore, ought to marvel that God loved this virgin most above all, while He knew none who were to be begotten of man and woman, whose will would not at any time be bent to deadly or venial sin? She alone excepted - O how near she came to this ship - that is, the body of the virgin.\n\"Into the most desired haven. That is, to the dwelling of God the Father, when Gabriel came to her and said, \"Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. How does this happen that your son is born to you without the working of man?\" She answered, \"Be it to me according to your word. And the power of the Most High was upon her, and the Holy Spirit came upon her, and the Son of God the Father was made man, and the Son of the Virgin was born. Response. \"Behold a miracle. The Lord's mother being a virgin has conceived, not knowing man's flesh. Mary stands loaded with a noble burden and knows herself a merry mother, not knowing herself a wife. Verse. She has conceived with chaste bowels him who is fair in shape before the sons of men. And she, being blessed without end, has brought forth God and man to us. Blessed are we with child and giving birth.\"\"\nThe Virgin Mary rejoices with her merciful Son. Amen.\nIn this lesson, you are informed of four things. Firstly, of the marvelous incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was in the virgin's womb, he was never less in heaven with the Father and the Holy Ghost. And the Father and the Holy Ghost were always with the Son in the world, though the Son alone became man. And in the mother was always virginhood, and in the Son was always godhead.\nSecondly, concerning his marvelous entry into the virgin's womb and his long stay there, and his marvelous departure thence.\nFourthly, that all people should rejoice in his holy incarnation and pray to the Blessed Virgin to defend them from the enemy in their life and in their death, and to bring them to eternal life.\nO conjunction [Latin: O that most beautiful knot, O most worthy and acceptable in all ways], for the body of the Virgin.\nFor the body of the Virgin was... (Text incomplete)\nThe dwelling place of the Son of God was in the world, and in heaven there was his dwelling with the Trinity, although he dwelt over all in every place by his power. The Virgin was full of the Holy Ghost in body and soul, and the Holy Ghost was in the Father. He was also in the Son, who became man, this Son of God. He had not only his dwelling in the maiden's womb in the world, but also in the Father and in the Holy Ghost in heaven. The Father, with the Holy Ghost, also had his dwelling in the Son, though the only Son, who took to himself human body, was hid from human sight after the manifestation of his godhead. Therefore, all who have true faith, rejoice together in this indescribable union made in the Virgin, by which the Son of God took to himself a body of humanity from her flesh and blood.\nand the godhead was united with the manhood. And the manhood with the godhead. In this way, and in this most acceptable union, neither was the godhead diminished in the one, nor was the holiness of the maidenhood in the mother. They who doubted, be ashamed and afraid. Who believe not that the almightiness of God could do such things, or that his goodness, though it could, would not do such things for the salvation of his creature. And it is believed that, by power and goodness, he has done such things - why is he not perfectly loved by those who have no doubts, but that he has done such things for them? Therefore, take it to heart and understand that, as you earthly lord, you are worthy of sovereign love. Why, when he was in the highest worship and abundance of riches, hearing his friend troubled by reproaches and disputes, should he take upon himself all the hurt and disease of his friend, so that the same friend might be in higher esteem.\nThe same lord, perceiving his friend troubled by poverty, made himself poor so that his friend might become rich. Furthermore, if he saw his friend wretchedly led to death, which he could not escape, but if someone died for him willingly, then he should take himself to death so that his friend, damned to death, might live in wealth. In these three actions, there is shown supreme love. No man may say that any man ever showed more love to his friend in the world than the self-maker in heaven. Therefore, the same God bowed and inclined His majesty, coming down from heaven into the maiden's womb. Entering not only in one part of her body but giving Himself to her in the depths of her womb. Forming for Himself most honestly a body of man from the flesh and blood of the only virgin. And therefore, the most chosen mother is likened to the burning bush. Exodus iii. Not hurt by the burning, Moses saw.\nFor him who dwelt so long in the bush that he made Moses obey and believe his things, and when he asked his name, he said, \"I am that I am.\" This is my name without end. The same god himself abode in the virgin so long as it is necessary for other offspring to remain in their mothers' wombs before their birth. And just as the same son of God entered with his godhead through all the virgin's body when he was conceived, so when he was born with godhead and manhood, sweetness came out of a rose-like hole in the same way. The glory remained whole in the mother. Therefore, since God and angels, and after them the first man, and after him patriarchs and prophets, one after another, innumerable friends of God, rejoiced. That body, that is, the body of Mary, should be so burning with charity. That the Son of God should vouchsafe to enter so meekly into it, and so long to abide therein.\n\"And so honestly, we should go out from it [the grave]; therefore, it is worthy that men and women, now leaving [this life], be glad with all their heart. Quia Sicut, For as the Son of God, who is very and undoubtedly God with the Father and the Holy Ghost, entered into this business, taking it for them as a deadly body; so ought they in all haste to fly unto the Virgin. By her prayer, endless life may be restored to those who are dead. Which have also deserved by their sins everlasting death. Et Sicut Deus, And as God abode in the Virgin, lest his body should have any defect in age or members, more than the bodies of other children, that he might mightily overcome it [the devil]; so also men ought meekly to pray her, that she make them abide in their defense.\"\nLet this not happen to them who fall into the snares of the Fequemadmodu\u0304. And as God went out of the same virgin into the world to open the gate of the heavenly court to mankind, they should humbly pray her to be present with her help in their departure from this wretched world and entering into the eternal kingdom of her blessed Son. R. Felix, Thou art fully blessed, holy virgin Mary, and worthy of all praise. For from thee has risen the Sun of righteousness, Christ our God. Pray for the people through the clergy. Pray for devout women, and all may feel thy help. In truth, Most High God, come down into the virgin's womb. R. In eo, Taking therein the price of our freedom.\n\nO Admirabile, O marvelous change. The maker of mankind, taking a quick body from a virgin, has given us his godhead.\nThis is the marvelous change. He took our manhood and gave us his divinity. He came down, and we were lifted up. He became dead, and we were delivered from death.\nIsaiah sang this hymn, which tells us that the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet is fulfilled in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah VII. His prophecy was that a maiden would conceive and bear a son, as written before in that chapter at the lawdes. And also that a rod would spring from the root of Jesse. Isaiah.  as also written on Sunday at the sixth hour. These prophecies, and such other wonderful ones, Isaiah spoke. Therefore, Maria, the maiden, has conceived in her womb by the true seed of the word. The maiden's bowels bore him. The rod has given a flower. The rod has brought forth fruit. The fruitful mother has offered a birth. And remains a virgin. Presepe, He who is the author of light has suffered to be put in a manger. He made heavens with the Father.\nand was clad in clothes under his mother. Usher. Then sponsus. As a groom arrayed out of his fair chamber. Response. Procession, went the Son of God out of the private closet of the maidens womb. Anthem. Latuit, The guile of the deadly enemy was hid in the flattering voice of the serpent. That man should be caught. The great godhead was meekly hid in the little body of a weeping child. That man should be won again. Suddenly honesty was hid in a groom's mother. That the enemy\nshould be confounded. Thus is craft deceived by craft. And guiles turned into his door. Therefore pray Benedicamus devote, Bliss we with devout souls the great Lord. Sucking the suddenly sweet teats of the most meek virgin. Benedicamus celesti, Bliss we the heavenly Lord. Noryshe REx Christe, Mercyful King Christ, have thou our hearts in possession. That we may yield the due praises in all times. Memento, Author of health have mercy.\nthat you took the shape of our body, born of a pure virgin named Autempne. (Judicum. vi) When you were born unexpectedly of a virgin. (Psalm. lxxi) Then were scriptures fulfilled. You came as rain into our god. Our lady is likened to a fleece. For she is all soft and profitable. Rain when it falls on a fleece enters softly without noise and is wrung out without harm to the fleece. So our Lord Jesus Christ came down into this fleece, our lady, in softness of mercy without the noise of rigor or worldly pomp. And he was born of her without harm to her chastity. And therefore you say, \"You came down as rain into a fleece,\" (Exodi. iii) \"A bush that Moses saw was all on fire; yet it did not burn.\" (Verminauit, Isaiah. xl) \"The rod of a shepherd has budded, a star has risen from Jacob.\" (Nu) \"A virgin has given birth to a savior.\" We praise our god.\nOf the roote of Jesse, behold Mary, Lo, Mary hath chosen herself a mother in earth. Response. Ut homini, that he should make man a father in heaven.\n\nBlessed is that people, whose God is Jesus, whom the faithful trust in princes, in whom is no deceit. This hymn has seven verses. In the first verse, you praise our lady of four things. One is, that she is called the star of the sea. For as the star is comforting to sailors, so is our lady comforting to all who are in the troubles or temptations of this world's sea. And therefore her name, Maria, is as much to say as star of the sea. And so, Hail, star of the sea, holy mother of God, and ever a virgin.\n\nThe second is, that she is the mother of God.\n\nThe third is, that she is everlasting virgin.\n\nThe fourth, that she is the gate of heaven. Her son calls himself in his gospel, \"Ave maris stella,\" Hail, star of the sea, holy mother of God, and ever a virgin.\nThe blessed gate of heaven. In the second verse, you praise our lady of two things. And one thing you ask of her. First, you thank her for consenting to the greeting of Gabriel. For thereby began our health. Likewise, our perdition began by the assent of Eve. She brought us into joy, and so she has changed her name. Eu in reverse spells Au, and Eu is as much to say as we. And Au is a word of joy. Then you ask of her stability of peace, and say thus: \"Take that Au, taking that Au from the mouth of Gabriel, he stands in the ground, and how to get help for deliverance. And therefore in this you ask our lady's help.\" The third mystery is the great vengeance that man deserves by sin, both temporal and everlasting. The fourth is the loss of all goods of grace and glory. And therefore against these four mysteries, you pray to our lady and say: \"Solve vincula reis, loose thou the bonds from them that are guilty. For the first.\"\nGive light to the blind. For the second, remove our evils. For the third, ask for all good things. In the fourth verse, you pray that she shows herself a mother to God and to wretches, as a mother tenderly cares for her child in all ways and in all sickness. She vows to show us tender care in all our bodily and spiritual needs. And as a mother can reasonably request of her son, so she vows to further our endeavors against God, so that it appears that she is his mother. Therefore, you say to her, \"Show yourself a singular, mild virgin among all, make us lost from sin and merciful, and chaste.\" In the sixth verse, you ask for three things from her. The first is a clean life. The second is steadfast continuance in it to the end, so that we may have true passage. And the third is endless joy in the sight and beholding of God. Therefore, you say, \"Grant us life.\"\nMake ready a true way. That we seeing Jesus, may be more evermore glad. In the seventh verse, you praise the blessed Trinity, and say, \"Sit laudatus, Praysing and worship be to God the sovereign Father. To Christ, and so to the holy Ghost. One worship to them all three. Amen. Anthem. Gaude eternaliter, Rejoice eternally, O un touched mother, who art the sovereign glory. Joy to angels. A deliverer to prisoners. A healer to those that are sick. A comforter to those that are desolate. A promoter to the righteous. An helper to the sinful. Mother of God, blessed art thou everlastingly. And blessed is the fruit of thy womb.\n\nQuoniam mandavit, For as much as God has sent eternal blessing to those who worship His mother, we worship her with devout and meek service.\n\nResponse: The first verse of this hymn tells us how the Father and the holy Ghost were with our Lord Jesus Christ in His mother's womb. And therefore they are called His consortial fellows.\nFor collateral is said of one who is near another by the tone side of him. And the father is named before the son, and the Holy Ghost after the son. Therefore, the son is the second person in the midst of our Lady's soul, which is called the spouse of Christ. Wherefore, when Master Peter, who set your service, was in doubt: the Father of Heaven spoke to St. Birgitta and said, \"Say he saith to that priest my lover that he make that hymn. In Extravagant Chapter V, Sponsa (Sponsor) to stand as he has set it. For while the holy church calls all souls the spouses of my son, much more may the soul of Mary be called His spouse, joining the Father and the Holy Ghost, who were collateral fellows to the Son, joined to the spouse, in the chamber of the clear Stanislaus, this noble young lord of Viterbo. An. Aue, stella, Hailday, star, O choir,\n\nHere ends the story of the Thursday. And begins the story of the Friday.\nOn Friday at matins. The Inuitatory. Rejoice, come ye. Worship we the King. the maiden's son. who was nailed on the cross for us.\n\nRelinquishing worldly pleasures, The sentence of this hymn is. You shall leave all vain things. And in the love & praising. have mind on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. & on the compassion of his most reverent mother our Lady.\n\nRelinquishing, Leave we all\nWho truly, which has truly cleansed us.\nThat were defiled with many sins.\nWith three liquors that is. with weeping tears. with bloody sweet. and with blood.\n\nPensemus matris,\nThink we on the most sharp thorns of sorrow.\nOf the mother's trembling heart. while she sees the body of her son. suffer so many fold pains.\n\nFons vitae,\nThe well of life. that gave drink of life. was dried with thirst. and while he complained of thirst. they gave him gall in stead of honey.\n\nAuxit dolores,\nThe sorrow of the mother. increased the sorrows of the son. & the mother's sorrow was increased.\nby the reproaches, and pains that she endured, may Your passion move through our hearts, O Jesus, that Your true love may dwell in us. For prayers, Christ most strongly delivered. Shall art Thou become man for us, and hasten to suffer the depths of hell. Do not delay, O Lord, be not far from us, our only advocate. But Your Son, Jesus, was given to drink gall for our sins, may Your prayer make us drunk in His love. Amen. Blessed be the name of His majesty, of the Virgin Mary, who has bought us life with His death. May all the earth be filled with His praising, and every tongue say, Amen. Five Spines. The King of blessings was scorned with a crown of thorns. R. Ut nos, that He should worship us with the crown of endless joy. Blessing. Christ who bought us. To Christ, the Virgin who gave birth to Him may console us, Amen. Oloriosa Virgo Maria, this lesson tells of the three sorrows or tribulations of our love for God.\nShe deeply sorrowed for the pains that Christ would suffer, or ever she knew she would be his mother. The third was after she had conceived him. While she rejoiced then in his conception, she sorrowed most in thoughtfully in considering his passion. Yet in all her trials she remained patiently, and in her joys wisely - it was both joy to God and his angels in heaven, and comfort and edification to men. Luke, Prim Gloria reports that the glorious virgin Mary was afraid in the presence of the angel. Although she had no fear for any part of her body at that time, she feared lest the deception of the enemy of mankind had come to her. Therefore, it is understandable that when she reached such an age, her might and understanding might receive the knowledge of God and his will. Anon as she began to love God reasonably, she began also to fear him.\nThis virgin may consequently be called a flourishing rose, for just as a rose is wont to grow among thorns, so this revered virgin grew in this world among tribulations. And when she had grown, the fear of God was the first tribulation for her, for she was not only troubled with great fear in disposing herself to flee from sins, but also with no little fear in considering how she might reasonably do so. Though she ordered her thoughts, words, and deeds to the worship of God, yet she feared that some defect was in them. Therefore, consider, you who are wretched sinners.\nthat boldly and willfully, without ceasing, do the lusts of diverse wickednesses, enduring great torments and great wretchednesses. When they see this glorious virgin, clean from all sin, performing her works with fear, which pleased God above all things, \u00b6Furthermore, understanding the scriptures of prophets, that good would become man, and that he should be tormented with so many diverse pains in the body, he took upon himself great tribulation in his heart. For the fervent charity that she had towards God, though she did not yet know then that she herself would be his mother. But when she came to that age, and the Son of God was made her son, and felt that he had taken that body in her womb, which would fulfill by himself the scriptures of prophets, then that most soft role seemed to grow and spread more abroad in her fairness. And the thorns of tribulation pricked her more bitterly.\nThe virgin grew stronger and sharper day by day. As in the conception of the Son of God, a great and inexpressible joy came to her, rightly so in her thinking of his most cruel passion, which was to come. Many fold tribulation smote upon her heart: Rejoice, daughter, for the virgin rejoiced that her son would come with great humility to bring his friends to the bliss of the kingdom of heaven, to whom the first man had deserved the pain of hell through his pride. It truly grieved her, but she sorrowed beforehand because her sweet son would be born to a most bitter death. She rejoiced, however, because she conceived her son without sin and bore him without pain. But she was heavy, for she knew beforehand that her sweet son would suffer a most cruel death.\nAnd she herself should behold his passions in most anxious heart. Gaudebat etiam, the virgin rejoiced also. For she knew before that he would arise from the dead. And that he would be enshrined eternally in sovereign worship. For his passion yet she sorrowed. For she knew before that he would be greatly tormented with spiteful reproaches and harsh tortures. Indubitanter, it is very truly to be believed. Without any doubt, as the rose is seen standing steadfast in its place. Though the thorns that stand around are made stronger and sharper. Therefore she is most worthy, likening her to the lilies, Florenti ergo, and to the angels. They rejoiced in heaven for her virtuous steadfastness. Right so, men, the lessening of thorns does not lessen the fragrance of the flowering rose. Mother of Christ. The greatness of tribulations might not lessen in her the sweetness of steadfastness. For thou art most fragrant with the sweet smell of all virtues. Verse.\nAssist us. Be thou that art our hope. Ready present to us thy meek servants in help. Neither prosperity lift us up nor adversity bring us down. Blessing. He who has saved us. With the price of his blood, defend us by the prayer of the virgin his mother. Amen.\n\nIn addition. This lesson tells of the sorrows that our lady suffered after the birth of her son. Until the time of his passion. For she understood the words of the prophets better than they themselves. And therefore, knowing by her prophecy what pains her son should suffer in all his holy body, she sorrowed greatly whenever she beheld the parties of his body where he should suffer special pains. So much so, that his frequent consolations might not have enabled her to endure the time of his passion with her life. Thus begins the lesson. In addition.\nAmong other things that the prophets told of the son of God, they told how harshly he would suffer in his most innocent body in this world, and that men would have everlasting life in heaven with him.\n\nThe prophets prophesied and wrote how the same son of God, for the deliverance of mankind, would be bound, scourged, and led to the cross. He would be treated spitefully and crucified.\n\nTherefore, as we believe that these prophets knew well why God would take to himself a mortal body and be troubled in so diverse ways in the same body, Christian faith must not doubt. But our virgin and lady, whom God had ordained before all worlds to be his mother, knew it more clearly. It is not unreasonable to believe that the cause was hidden from the same virgin. Why God vouchsafed to be clothed with human body in her womb. And truly it is to be believed without any doubt.\nThat she understood, through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, all that the prophecies signified or foretold, and therefore it is to be believed most truly. When she wounded him in his clothes, then she beheld in her heart with how sharp scourges his whole body would be rent, so that he should appear as a lamb. Recalling also, the Virgin wrapping and gathering together the hands and feet of her little son in a band or cradle band, she brought to mind how harshly they would be pierced through on the cross with nails. Beholding also his face, which was most fair in shape before all sons of men, she thought how unworthily the lips of wicked men would defile it with their spitting. The same mother also had in mind, with how great blows the cheeks of his eyes would darken from the flowing in.\nof his own blood, now consider how vinegar should be put in his mouth. Bringing to mind, how his arms should be bound with ropes. And how his eyes and all his veins and joints should be drawn out on the cross without mercy. And how his heart's roots should be drawn together in his death.\n\nThe virgin also knew well, that a sharp spear must pierce through the side of her son. And penetrate the midst of his heart. After his spirit was passed on the cross.\n\nWherfore, as she was most glad and joyful of all mothers, when she saw the Son of God born of her, knowing truly that he was both God and man, dying in his manhood but undyingly united in his godhead, so was she most sorrowful and weepy of all mothers, for the knowing beforehand of his bitter passion.\n\nAnd in such a way was her greatest joy always mixed with the most grievous sorrow. As if it were said to a woman in childbirth.\nThou hast brought forth a son, quick and whole in all his members. But the pain which thou hadst in his birth shall remain with thee unto thy death. Etilla, and she, hearing this, should be glad for the life and health of her son. But of her own passion and death, she should be sorry. Talis utique, Certainly such sorrow of a mother, that came from the thought of her son's pain and death, should not be more grievous than the sorrow of the Virgin Mary. As often as she had in mind the death that was to come of her most loved son. Intelligebat, The virgin understood. That she saw prophets had told before. That her most sweet son must suffer many and grievous pains. And also that righteous man Symeon told, not from afar as the prophets did. But in the virgin's face. That the sword of sorrow shall pass through her heart. Undoubtedly, therefore, it is truly to be written. Luce, secondly, why it is truly to be written.\nthat as the powers of the soul are stronger and more ready to feel good or evil than the powers of the body; rightly so, the blessed soul of the virgin, who should be wounded with that sword, was pained with more grievous sorrows or than her son suffered his passion; than any woman could suffer before the birth of her child. Ille nanque, For that pitiful and innocent son of God, having a compassionate passion towards his mother, tempered her sorrows with frequent comforts, and else her life might not have endured them until the death of her son. Response. O mother of endless joy, thy most innocent soul be eternally blessed. Through which passed the sword of sorrow. And thou sufferedst it willingly.\nthat the sword of endless death should not pass through our frail souls. Verse. O most full of true love. Grant us to love him perfectly, who with the blood of his own heart brought blessed life to us, who were wretchedly dead. Benediction. Passion of the Virgin, coming to us in the hands of the highest Father. Amen.\n\nED denies this, at this time, What time the Virgin's Son spoke. Queritis me et non invenietis, John. That is, you shall seek me and you shall not find me- the point of the sword of sorrow. Primo\n\nquoque. And furthermore, when he was betrayed by his own disciple, and taken as it pleased them, of the enemies of truth and righteousness, then the sword of sorrow pierced through the Virgin's heart and her side, and passed through her soul, bringing most grievous sorrows to all the members of her body.\nFor as often as passions and reproaches were spoken against her most beloved son, so often was that sword turned in her soul with all bitterness. She indeed saw him struck in the neck with wicked men's hands. And scourged without pity. And deemed the princes of Ives to most foul death. And led with his hands bound to the place of his passion. All the people cried out to him and drove him forth with their fists. And so they harassed and led that mild lamb as a most cruel and wild beast.\n\nAccording to Isaiah, liii, who, after the prophecy of Isaiah, was so patient in all his sufferings, that as a sheep led to death without a voice, so he opened not his mouth. And as he showed all patience in himself, so his blessed mother suffered most patiently all her tribulations.\nAnd just as a lamb goes with its mother, so the virgin mother followed her son led to the places of torment. Seeing this, when the mother saw her son scorned with the crown of thorns and his face made red with blood, and his cheeks bruised with great blows, she wept in most bitter sorrow. Then, for the greatness of her sorrow, her cheeks grew pale and innumerable tears ran from the virgin's eyes when her son's blood flowed out by his body in scourging. Seeing further, when the mother saw her son cruelly spread on the cross, she began to fail in all the mights of her body. Hearing this, and hearing the sound of hammers when his hands and feet were tied with nails of iron, then all the virgin's wits failing, the greatness of her sorrow threw her down on the earth as dead. The Jews, moreover, gave him gall and vinegar to drink.\nThe anguish of heart dried her tongue and palate, so the blessed lips of the virgin could not move to speak. Audiens quoque, and after hearing that doleful voice of hers in the strife and labor of death, she said, \"My god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?\" After saying that all his members grew stiff, and he breathed out his spirit, the bitter sorrow within her stopped her heart, so no joy could be seen or moved. Undoubtedly, a little miracle was worked by God in that, for the virgin mother, with so many and great sorrows, did not send out her spirit by death when she held her beloved son hanging between thieves, naked and wounded, quick and dead. Commemorate, holy scripture also makes this mindful. Exodus xxv. that God worked in gold, within and without.\nKeep the tables where God wrote with His finger. This ark was once carried by priests against the enemies of Israel. Primo. And those who helped for the sins of the priests and the people, the ark was taken, and the priests were slain. One of the priests was named Phineas. His wife, great with child, heard that her husband was slain and the ark of God taken. Anon she delivered her child and died. For greater sorrow, the virgin loved God and man with more charity than any who were born of woman could love themselves or others. Undoubtedly, and therefore, it seems wonderful that the wife of Phineas was dead of sorrow. She was grieved with less sorrow. And Mary lived again. She was rent with greater sorrow, who could think otherwise but that she kept her life for the special gift of almighty God.\nAgainst all bodily strengths, and the virgin turning again to life kept holy the right faith. Mortus, when her only son was dead, was taken down from the cross. He was clothed and buried as other dead bodies. And then all went away from him. Few believed that he would arise. Then also the pricks of sorrow fled from the mother's heart. And delight of comforts began softly to be renewed in her. For she knew that the tribulations of her son were all together ended. And he would arise the third day with godhead and manhood to endless glory and bliss. And he would nevermore thence suffer any disease.\n\nThe checks of the merciful mother were pale when she saw the son of her maidenhood all red in his own blood. And seeing his hands and his feet nailed through, she began at once to fail all her mights of body. And hearing the doleful cry of so worthy a son in the point of death.\n\nOinmensam Vidit virgo, The virgin saw in the face of her merciful son.\nQuorum: The pleas of wicked men with the flowing of precious blood.\nMiserere, Highest god have mercy on us by me,\nRogatus deus, This hymn tells of their request. that he should break heaven's doors. Isaiah 64. & come. as a man in haste. breaks and shatters down that which stands against him. It also tells of his coming and his passion, and of the passion of his holy mother. And since a hymn is as much about praise as I said on Sunday before the first hymn- Flesh rises and swells. So did the holy flesh and body of our Lord Jesus Christ. When he was bound and scourged, and beaten and wounded, and was so mangled that the prophet says, Isaiah liii, that he was in appearance like a leper. All the other parts of this hymn are clear in themselves, Spura. flagella. Spyttings. Hoc sund: These are Paribulo, He is O qm predigm, O how worthy are the rivers of Christ's blood on the cross. And how worthy are the rivers that the eye of the virgin mother shed.\n\"poured out under the cross. O quants, O how great sorrows suffered the Mother of life. R. Dumipsa, when life died on the cross in her sight. An._ O virgin most exalted, O virgin singular, refuted by the sight of death, vouchsafe now, lady, to bring the light that thou didst beget. into the hearts of darkness. that all vanity may despise. and not lose the most worthy price. that of charity was given for them.\nBene dicamus, Blessed are the innocent son of the virgin, betrayed to death for sinners. leaving Lord without end. Deo dicamus, Let us say endless thanks to God. who has won us back. and brought us from the mouth of hell. to the hall of heaven.\nSumme mater, Mother of most joy, full of most sorrow, singing thou, King of bliss, subject to the anguish of death. Danobis, grant us to despise the world. and often to have in mind. what thou sufferedst with thy son, who is so merciful to us. An._\"\nChrist, the only son of the high father, and the meekest virgin, who was done on the cross for us, have mercy upon our proud hearts, that we may worship the meek one with thy angels.\nJesus, benign Jesus, as thou hast obeyed the father, made our sins far from us by thy passion. So now also, put far from us by thy mother's prayer, the concupiscence of the eyes and flesh, and the pride of life.\nTremble, earth, the earth trembles, the stones break, the sun darkens, witness him, the maker of all things, whom the virgin mother brought forth. Therefore, he may grant, that the hardness of our hearts be broken with great contrition, that our souls may bless him for their redemption.\nConfiteantur, the king of heaven may be prayed in his great mercy, who has not disdained to be put among thieves, to overcome the worst thief, and to fellowship us with angels. His most reverence may present our souls.\nto his most merciful hands. Five in the vine, Cruel death ceased to live and R. Et gaudente, and merciful life came again from death. The mother rejoicing.\n\nAnnuncietur, Let it be shown in all the earth. How worshipfully he has done. Whom you, the spouse of the eternal king, have borne unto us. He was closed in powder. It is written that he should make us a kingdom of powder in the kingdom of clarity. He was taken by death. It is written that he should take prisoner the author.\n\nSOL occidit iusticie, This hymn in the first verse calls our Lord Jesus Christ the son of righteousness. Whose passion is understood by the going down of the son. When all the elements seemed to mourn in their way. \u00b6The second verse tells how the soul of our Lord Jesus Christ went down as light into the darkness of hell. & took thence the souls that the devil had stolen. \u00b6In the fifth verse you pray our lady. That as she was full of joy after his death, so she will deliver you from the death of sin. & fill you with the joy of grace.\nBy this may be understood: all who humbly sing, \"Sol occidit, The sun of righteousness goes down. The stars of heaven grow dark. High and hard stones are broken. And all the world trembles.\"\n\nLux oritur, Light springs in darkness. Hell is hidden from the eyes of the wicked, Mary, the quiver of the Father in heaven, held in her a dart. That pierced through the cruel enemy. Why troubles the world?\n\nEmissum telum, Christ is the dart shot out from the Father, that pierced and killed. He gave us life and turned again living to the Father. O full of joy, O mother, after the death of your son. Deliver us from sins. And fill us with the grace of virtues. Antemne. Exulta feliciter, Rejoice blissfully, mother of the most mighty conqueror, who has slain death, scattered the proud, enriched the meek, bought back captives, purged the stinking, fed the hungry, and gladdened the eyes of his most beloved spouse with his glorious resurrection.\nAll creatures bless him and worship him. And to his glory, all generations must prayfully call the endlessly blessed.\n\nSaint Spei, The mother of holy hope, was without doubt. But that her son, who was buried, would arise. Upon whom shone the halowing of the high father. That is to say, the power of godhead was shown in him in his resurrection.\n\nIn peace, He had slept and rested in peace in the eternal father.\n\nVerse. Qui nascens, He went out of the close womb of the virgin when he was born.\n\nRubens rosa, In the first verse of this Hymn, our lady is likened to a fair rose that faded in color for plenteous sorrow in the time of her son's passion.\n\nIn the second verse, our Lord Jesus Christ is likened to gold hid in the earth. For the time that he was buried.\n\nThe third verse tells how in that time faith abode only in our lady.\n\nIn the fourth verse\nOur glorious lady is likened to a lantern that lightened the whole world with faith. Which was then in darkness of unbelief. The fifth verse tells how our merciful lady is understood by the raven that Noah sent out from his ship. For like as that dove came again to Noah, and brought in her mouth a branch of the olive tree, in token that the wrath of God was quenched and the flood ceased. Rightly our most pitiful lady brings hope to mankind of mercy and forgiveness.\n\nIn the sixth verse you pray for her to send faith, hope, and charity into your hearts. Then you begin to pray in all these things and say, \"Rubens rosa.\" The red rose grew pale when the virgin wept for the death of her son, of whom the voice of prophets said, \"He should suffer such things.\" Aurum in luto, Gold is hid in the earth. Wherewith all the world is Mary's hope, The hope of Mary O O lantern most clear. That with her light lightened all the world. That was shadowed with darkness.\nRamum columba. The dove bore a breast to Noah. In token of mercy, bear this likeness of Mary. She brought us hope of forgiveness. Memento nostri. Lady, have mercy upon us. And lighten our souls most tenderly, O most mild favor. You who prayed the Father for your crucifiers. Forgive us our sins. And give our hearts most tenderly by the prayers of your benign mother.\n\nRex terrae, Thou who made us from the earth, & hidest Thyself in the earth, save us whom Thou hast so loved. R. O benign Creator, O benign Maker. v. Parce nostra, Spare us, O Thou who hast not spared Thy dignity for us. R. O pie Redemptor, O merciful Advocate. v. Qui ex nostro, Thou who hast chosen the Mother of our kind, to whom Thou hast shown Thyself a life after death overcome. R. O Inimicus meus, O most mighty Overcomer. Deliver us from the death of the soul. Anam. Mundi domina, Mary, Lady of the world, queen of heaven, virgin and mother of Christ, hear us that cry to Thee.\nIn honor of the virgin Mary, take up your prayer and give thou out:\n\nHere ends the story of the Friday. And begins the story of the Saturday.\n\nIn honor of thee, O glorious lady, exalted above stars, thou hast given him succor with thy holy tracts, who by his wisdom made him. Quoth Eve. Thou hast restored him again by thy holy son, who took a way from the wretched Eve. Thou art made the window of heaven, that weeping ones should enter into heavens. Thou art the gate of the high king. And the bright gate of light. Rejoice, people again, that life is given by a virgin.\n\nIn this verse, our lady is called the gate of the king's court. For by her, our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world. She is also called the gate of light. For by her humanity entered in eternal light.\n\nAnswer: An exalted one, holy mother of God, thou art raised up to the kingdom of heaven above all companies of angels. Antemus.\nThe gates of Paradise are opened to us by the glorious virgin through whom we enter worshipfully as conquerors. This is to explain that the gates of Paradise and heaven were closed to mankind due to the sin of Adam and Eve. Triumphus, which is the last word of this anthem, signifies receiving such worship. For all this said worship was rendered to our lady upon her entry into the city of heaven, because she had worthy overcome the devil and won mankind back to God. And as the people of Rome came against such a victory, so all the company of heaven rejoiced to welcome our glorious lady in her assumption. And as her prisoners followed her glorious soul, endowed and clad with the three dowries of joy from the blessed Trinity above all other creatures. And he was seated in a chair.\nDrawen of four white horses - this is the chair of our lady's soul. That is her holy body, was taken up and glorified with her soul in four dwelling places. Longing to the body, as he was led thus to the highest place in Rome, so our most reverent lady was set highest in heaven next to God. And as this vision had its worship by the assent of the host and of the senators and of the people, so our mighty overcomer, this glorious queen our lady, was assented to with great joy by all the host of angels and the senate of patriarchs and prophets, and the common people of all holy souls that were then in heaven. And this I have written up on this altar. For the last end seems darkly spoken without some clarification. An. Speciosa, Thou art made fair and sweet in thy delicate body, mother of God. 5. Ecce mulier, Lo the woman.\nthat breaks the head of the crafty serpent. Revelation of Prothoplaustorum, That had enviously envied the glory of those that were made first of all mankind. That is to say, of Adam and Eve.\n\nBlessing. Confirm us, O most pitiful Mother of God, in faith in the most holy. Amen.\n\nFrom distant parts, this lesson likens our blessed lady to a queen of a land called Ethiopia or Sab\u00e1, which is also called here, and in the gospel, the queen of the south. By cause that her fame was southward from Jerusalem. 3 Kings 10. And therefore she came to Jerusalem to see him and to speak with him. And when she had seen all the glory that he was in and his wisdom, she was so astonished by it that she was out of herself and marveled.\n\nAnd how all this is understood of our lady, this lesson tells us, as shown by this example of the queen.\nOur holy lady's behavior before the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, during His passion, and after, including the day of His resurrection and after His ascension, up to her assumption, is recorded as follows: The queen of the south came from distant countries to King Solomon. Upon seeing his wisdom, she was filled with great wonder but later regained her strength and prayed to the king with these words and worshiped him with great gifts. She, this queen, is likened to the most excellent queen, the Virgin Mary. Her soul, wisely seeking the order and process of the entire world from its beginning to its end, found nothing there that she desired to have or hear, except for the wisdom that is Christ, the Son of God.\nwhy she is wiser than Solomon. Seeing this, the same virgin, witnessing how wisely he conquered souls through the passage of his body on the cross, opened the gates of heaven to them. Those whom the cunning enemy had led to death in hell. Then this virgin was closer to death than the queen of the south. When she seemed to have no spirit. But after the passion of Christ, the son of God and hers, was ended, she took strength again and worshiped God with most acceptable gifts. For she presented to the same God more souls with her wholesome doctrine than any other person after the death of Christ with all their works. In this, it is also proven that she worshiped him reverently with her words. After the death of his manhood, when many were in doubt about him in every way, she alone affirmed most steadfastly that he was the very son of God, endlessly undying in his godhead.\nThe third day, when the disciples doubted his resurrection, and the women sought his body in the tomb. The apostles themselves were greatly distressed. And although the scripture says that Magdalene and the apostles first saw the resurrection of Christ, it is without doubt that his most worthy mother knew it before them. She saw him alive again before they did, which is why she was filled with joy in her heart and prayed meekly. Ascend, indeed, for she was the mistress of the apostles, the comforter of martyrs, the teacher of the apostles. She showed and reasonably declared to the apostles when they came to her all things concerning her son: the martyrs, and she loved to suffer trials joyfully for their health and that of all.\nShe herself suffered continual tribulation from inquisitors thirty-three years before her son's death. Furthermore, she taught inquisitors discretely how to order the times of the day and night for prayer, and to temper sleep, food, and bodily labor reasonably and spiritually. Urgyns also learned from her most honest manners to govern themselves honestly and to keep themselves and their maidenly cleanliness carefully, until death. They were also taught to speak little, avoid all vanities, and discuss their works with careful thinking beforehand, and to examine them most rigorously by spiritual weighing in even balance. The glorious virgin also advised widows, for her motherly charity wished her most beloved son to have no more desire to die in manhood than in godliness; yet her motherly will comforted them both to the will of God.\nChusing rather to suffer all tribulations. for the fulfilling of God's will. than to dissent from God's will in anything. for any pleasure of herself. She spoke thus, and with such words she made the hearts of widows pacient in tribulations. and steadfast and strong in bodily temptations. Moreover, she exhorted those who were married. to love one another, body and soul. and not feigned charity. and to have an undeviating will. to all that were worshipped in God. telling them of herself. how she gave her faith clearly to God. and how for His love she never wistled at His will in anything.\n\nBeata es virgo, Urgin Mary, mother of God. Thou art blessed. Whose things are fulfilled that were said to thee.\n\nLo, show art lifted up above the quarters of angels. Pray for us to the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nAve Maria, Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Benedic.\nThe son of Mary, this lesson tells of our Lady's assumption into God's presence and the sovereign gift given to her above the world, angels, and demons. And how humility caused her great glory in heaven. And how all angels and holy souls in heaven rejoiced at her coming. And how great the wonder that, as we have learned from the tenor of the holy gospel of Luke, chapter 6, it shall be met again to each one by the same measure. It seems impossible for any man to comprehend or understand this by human reason. What great worship the glorious Mother of God ought to be given in the palaces of heaven, who so benignly desired good things for so many, while she lived in this world. Therefore, it is believed to be just that when it pleased her to call her from this world, all had the perfect fulfillment of her will by her.\n\"whereas she was the most meek among all angels and men and women, therefore above all things that are made, she is made most high and fairest and most like unto God himself. Wherefore, as gold is more valuable than other metals, so angels and souls are more valuable than other creatures. Therefore, the soul of the most blessed virgin could not be made more beautiful than other souls and angels, but if it was her will, she is likened to a crafty goldsmith.\"\nHad she made herself ready beforehand, to the most burning fire of the Holy Ghost, so effectively that her works should appear most acceptable to the maker of all things. Though gold may be formed into fair works, yet the craftsmanship of the goldsmith is not clearly seen as long as that work remains in a dark house. But when it comes into the light of the sun, then the fairness of the work begins to show more clearly. In the same way, the most worthy works of this glorious Virgin, who arrayed her most precious soul in the fairest way, could not perfectly be seen as long as the same soul was kept hidden in the hide of her mortal body. Until it came to the brightness of the very Son, that is the selfsame Godhead. But then, all the court passed by her fairness, she passed quickly the fairness of all creatures, for which she appeared most like unto the very Self-maker.\nTherefore, there was ordered for this glorious sight a seat. Full of glory almost touching himself. For just as God the Father was in the Son, and the Son in the Father, and the Holy Ghost in either of them, when the Son, after taking on human body, rested in his mother's womb with godhead and manhood, the unity of the Trinity in every way undivided. And the virginity of the mother remained undefiled. Rightly so, the same God ordered the blessed virgin's soul a man's happiness is not sufficient to think. How great joy God made to his flesh in heaven when his most beloved mother passed from this wretched world, as it shall be very clearly and openly known to all who with charity desire the kingdom of heaven. When they behold God himself face to face. Angels also rejoiced and gave thanks to the virgin's soul. They glorified God, for by the death of Christ's body, his flesh was filled.\nAnd by her coming, Adam and Eve, with patriarchs and prophets, and all the company brought out of hell and others who came into bliss after Christ's death, rejoiced in her coming into heaven, yielding worship and praise to God who had honored her so greatly. The apostles also and all the friends of God who were present at the most worthy death of the same virgin, bore witness to her most beloved son bearing her glorious soul into heaven. They worshiped her with meek service, enhancing her worship with all glory, and prayed that they might join her in eternal life with the same God. And truly, all doubt was removed. It is very fitting to believe that, just as the body of the most blessed virgin was taken up dead from the friends of God, it was taken up alive with her soul to eternal life.\nHer most Queen is this, who has gone before the sun and is full of beauty like Jerusalem. (Song of Solomon 6:9) The daughters of Zion have seen her and have said, \"Blessed is she, and queens have desired her. (Song of Solomon 1:15) Who is this that ascends like a little rod of smoke, of the sweet smell of myrrh and frankincense? (Song of Solomon 3:6) Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. (Benedictus) The Queen of angels may lead us to the glory of the kingdom of heaven. Amen.\n\nThis lesson tells of the assumption and glory of our most holy lady and how glad Gabriel was of her meek answer when he brought her first greeting from God. (QVIA ipse veritas)\n\n\"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.\" (Luke 1:31-33)\n\nWhat is she that ascends as a little cloud of smoke, of the sweet smell of myrrh and frankincense? (Song of Solomon 2:1)\n\nBlessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. (Luke 1:28)\n\nAnd how do we, with all devotion, say that salutation with a willing mind to leave sin and to do good works, that we may thereby deserve to have our merciful lady's help? Worthily to receive the most worthy body of our Lord Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the altar, which is life and food both to angels and to men.\nQuia ipse veritas, the very truth that is the son of God, Mat. v. and of the virgin has counseled all to yield good for good. It is the same God to be trusted. Mat. xix. Et quia, for He has behooved by His gospel to give a hundredfold for every good work - who can think with how great rewards. He has made rich His most reverent mother. Whose good works also are most acceptable to God. Nam sicut, For as the will of the same virgin's soul was the beginning of all good deeds, so also her most honest body was an instrument most able and pliable to the doing of the same deeds. Undoubtedly, therefore, as we truly believe, the right wisdom of God will raise all men's bodies, as the body of the Son of God.\nThat which has never sinned. Arose from death. And is glorified together with the soul. Right so also the body of his most worthy mother who never did sin, a few days after it was buried. It was taken up with the most holy soul of the same virgin. By the virtue and power of God into heaven. And with all worship, it was glorified together. With the same soul. And as it is impossible for any man's understanding in this world to comprehend the fairness and glory of that crown with which it seemed Christ, the Son of God, was worshiped and made glorious for His passion. Right so also, no man should think the fairness of that crown, with which the Virgin Mary is worshiped in body and soul for her godly obedience, is comparable. And as all the virtues of the Virgin's soul praised her Maker, whose most holy body was afterward rewarded with all virtues. Right so also, the works of the Virgin's body praised the same Virgin, most worthy Mother of God.\nfor she left no virtue unwrought in the world. For which she knew reward to be given in heaven. to body and soul. Undoubtedly, therefore, it is very important to know that, except for the most holy soul of Christ, the soul of his mother is most worthy. Sovereign medicines, for virtues and merits. For she had no fault in good works, rightly so. Except for the body of Christ. The body of his mother was most worthy to receive, with her soul, the rewards of merits, for a longer time than the bodies of others. For it always fulfilled, with the same soul, all her works that were ever the best and never consented to any sin. O mighty one. O how mightily God showed his right wisdom. When he cast out Adam out of paradise. Because, against obedience, he ate the fruit of the tree of knowing in paradise. That was forbidden him. O humbly, O how meekly God showed his mercy in this world by the Virgin Mary. Who can be fittingly called the tree of life.\nConsider this: Swiftly, righteousness casts the disobedient into wretchedness, as they consume the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Also consider: Sweetly, mercy calls and draws them unto bliss, through godly obedience desiring to be fed the fruit of the tree of life. Furthermore, take heed, my dearest, when this most holy virgin came into the world, all the companies of angels desired no less the fruit of her, and rejoiced no less than if it were to be born for them. That is to say, they knew that they would be undeniably in heavenly joy, and primarily that the great charity of God would be shown in mankind. And therefore, the angel Gabriel hastened gladly to the same virgin, with a swift pace, and greeted her charitably with a speech most worthy and acceptable in every way. Why?\nFor the same virgin, mistresses of great humility and all virtues, responded gently to the angel who was sent to her on a message. Therefore he rejoiced, knowing that the desire of his will and of other angels would be fulfilled through her. But since we know for certain that the blessed body of the virgin was lifted up into heaven with her soul, it is fittingly called a consolation for sinful men, offenders against God. They are urged to ascend quickly to her by true repentance of their sins, which are daily broken by various tribulations in this valley of wretchedness. And if men desire to be nourished by Christ, who is the fruit of this tree, let them first labor with all their strength to bow the small branches of this tree, that is, to greet his mother with charity, as the angel who was sent to her did, allowing her wills to fly from each sin.\nAnd reasonably ordering all her words and works to the worship of God. For then shall the same virgin lightly bestow upon them. Giving them the suffrage of her help. To receive the fruit of the tree of life. That is the most worthy body of Christ. Which is sacred to you in the hands of men. And which is life? And forgiveness to sinners in the world, and to angels in heaven. And because Christ desires with burning desire, the souls that he bought with his own blood, to fulfill his most glorious company. Therefore, study you most beloved, to fulfill also his desire. Receiving him with all devotion and charity. Which, by the most worthy prayers of our virgin Mary, the same Jesus her son grants you. That lives and reigns with the Father and with the Holy Ghost. Without end. Amen.\n\nAbove health and all fairness. Thou art loved of the Lord. & art worthy to be called the queen of heavens.\nThe quiet of angels, thy fellows and thy citizens, rejoice greatly. We ought to worship her who is so holy and so pure a virgin. To the crown, The overcomer is lifted up to the crown of joy. R. Leviathan, the overcome foe, is put in dark prison.\n\nAssumed, Mary is taken up into heaven. Angels rejoice, praying they bless God.\n\nNon passus est. The king of Himmo rejoiced, but he bore it with his soul into the palaces of heaven. to receive endlessly, That as all the trial dwelt together in the virgin, so all the virgins should abide with the same trial without end. Hinc plaudat, Therefore let joy rejoice in the halls of heaven. All the world should be glad. Every creature should rejoice and sing praises to God.\n\nNo tongue should be silent. No man's heart should be slow in praising. But it should rejoice to give thanks to God.\n\nA rose is transplanted from here. Deum et angelos, That makes God and angels glad with her fairness.\nAntene Questo \u00e8 questa, Cantico. Who is she that lies, rising as the mrowe tide arises? Fair as the moon, chosen as the sun, fierceful as a host of armed men well ordered to gather. Benedicamus in laude. Bless we the Lord. Who in praying to the Father, has the blessed Mother Mary with him without end. Benedicamus Domino. Bless we the Lord who has set his Mother with him in the palaces of heaven. Where she shall have sovereign joy without end. For this is the Virgin worthy of such a privilege. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.\n\nUrgo pascens urgo, it has fed him who feeds angels and delights\nall things. Forsake us not, O Fatherless and Motherless. A tuo celso; Consider them who seek you from above. Feed them, comfort them, and make them devout to your Son. Antemna. Maria virgo, The Virgin Mary, is taken up to the chamber of heaven. Wherein sits the King of kings. In a seat of stars.\n\nINodore.\nWe have come into the sweet smell of your ointments. Canticles 1:1 The young maidens have loved you much.\n\nBenedicta. Blessed be you, O lady, to your son. For by you, we are made communicants of the fruit of life. \u00b6The letter of this antemne in your books, as I understand, is as follows. Benedicta, filia tua, dominus. Therefore, some think that they would amend it by saying thus: Benedicta, filia tuo, dominam. Others think that it is better to say after the use of Sarum: Benedicta, filio tuo, domina. Nevertheless, if this saying, Benedicta, filia tua, dominus, is the usage in any land from which your service was taken, or if your service was set thus at the beginning, then you ought not to change it of your own will. But with humility, you should obey. For there is much written in holy scripture and in divine service of various uses. Which simple people cannot easily understand. & yet they ought not to change it according to their own wisdom.\nBut do reverence Benedicta, thy daughter, to the Lord. It is said to the Father of Heaven. \"Blessed art thou, O daughter, who art fair in body and soul, daughter of Jerusalem. Fearful as a host of men in arms, well set in order. V. Nos terrigenas. This versicle hangs upon the response before. Where our Lady is likened to a rose, taken up in Heiro and planted in Jerusalem. That is to say, from the world, which is understood by Heiro, to the bliss of Heaven, which is understood by Jerusalem. And then it follows in the versicle, that the sweet smell of this rose feeds us on earth. That is to say, those who were made sick by it for the body, that is, by the apple that Adam and Eve ate of in paradise. Then in the response before you say thus: Transplantatur, A rose is transplanted from Heiro into Jerusalem.\nNos terrigenas, we children of the earth with a sweet smell. R. Who, among those forbidden from the meal, were extremely sick.\n\nI AM the healer, now rejoice, our lady, in the things that were said to you. You have entered the lords' house. bearing the crown of endless worship. Therefore, let all earth rejoice with joining angels. Q O virgin Mary, daughter of the kin of David. With how glorious light you shine. sitting on high. above all the angels of heaven. Tu cu\u0304 virgin, you being the chaste mother, with suddenly prepared worship, hasten to the lord of angels. the hall of your breast. with holy bowels. & therefore Christ, who is God, is born with a body. Quem cu\u0304tus, whom all the world worships and prays to. to whom every knee is now bowed in righteousness. from whom we ask by your prayer the joys of light. darkness cast away. Hoc largire, Gratia, this. you, father of light, bestow this. by your own son. who lives and reigns with the holy ghost in heaven. rejoicing all worlds. Amen. Au\u0304\nMaria, Mary. Mary is the principal, the precious stone of all holiness, given to serve the meekly, and keep us from the thousands, thousands of the old enemy.\nWith joy we worship the Assumption of blessed Mary, that she may pray for us to the Lord Jesus Christ.\nUrina celi, The three hierarchies of heaven: the sun, the stars, the moon, and the settings of stars, may praise God for you. O Mary, virgin and mother.\nAer cum volatilibus, The air with all that flies, the sea with all that swims, the earth with all that creeps, and with all that has life, Nymphs and Graces, may give diverse gifts of praises to God for Thy glory.\nOmne genus, Every knee of all that are in heaven and in hell and on earth, must be bowed to the Lord of heaven, who has set us in joy. That is, bowed to the Lord of heaven, entering in with joy.\nOmne momentum, Every moment of time that passes, may bless God in Trinity.\nwthousand thou art so worthy to be prayed to. An. O most joyful one. God the Father blesses his spouse. the Son his mother. the holy ghost his sanctuary. all the chivalry of heaven. pray to her most worthy lady the virgin Mary with unspeakable praising. Hail queen. Hayle quene of mercy. hayle life. sweetness and our hope. we cry out, sons of Eve, to thee. To us you show the way, weeping in this vale of tears. Therefore hasten our advocate. turn to us. Thou mercyful one, & show us Jesus. the blessed fruit of thy womb, after exile. O merciful. O meek. O sweet Mary. v. Hail celestial one, Hayle worthiest of heaven. mild and benign. thou art the flower of Christ and the river of fairness. Hayle meek and merciful mother, O. Mary. R. O merciful. O verses, Aue christi cella, Hayle cell of Christ. grant us always to despise the world and to overcome the cruel enemy. Hayle meek and mild mother, O. Mary. R. O pitiful. v. Hail fair one, Fare well. fair lovely one. appease thy son to us. R. O\nSweet Virgin Mary, Mother of the holy church, end your prayers, O holy Virgin, noble virgin, merciful virgin, sweet virgin, O Mary. Here the prayers of all who humbly cry unto thee. O pitiful Virgin, grant us prayers to Jesus Christ, your son, who was scourged and wounded, and filled with gall and thorns, and spat upon for us. O sweet Mary.\n\nHere ends the story of Saturday. And thus end all your seven stories. But since it sometimes happens that some are negligent in saying or singing this, I bring to your mind now a short lesson that our Lord Jesus Christ taught to St. Matthew in Book III, which is very good to use at the beginning and end of each hour of your service.\n\nFirst, because the singing of this service is pleasing to the deceased, our Lord commanded that he who is bound to pay this debt of his service should at the beginning of each hour say thus to our Lord, both with heart.\nAnd with tongue or at least in heart, Lord, I pay this hour to Thee in that unity, by which Thou, being on earth, didst pay the service and praying that our Lord Jesus Christ did Himself to the Father while He was on earth. Ibidem. Ca. iii \u00b6And because it is heard to escape at all times without some negligence, therefore our Lord commanded that at the end of each hour, he should say this: God be merciful to me, a sinner. Or else: O most merciful lamb, have mercy upon me. And if he forgets to say this after each hour, at least he should say one of these prayers seven times a day when he has leisure and think on it. For truly, this word, God the merciful one, was so valuable to the publican. Luce. xviii. That as our Lord says: \"God, be merciful to me, a sinner.\"\nHe receives forgiveness for all his sins; why should it not reach another who says it with meek and contrite heart for forgiveness of his negligence, since our Lord's mercy is as ready to man now as it was then. Therefore, why should these prayers be so profitable, and seem to me a great dullness not to use them. Our Lord grant us ever to be true and diligent in this holy service. Amen.\n\nFor as much as your service is of our glorious Lady, who departed in seven stories after the seven days of the week, as before said; therefore, you have not many changes according to the variation of feasts and oftentimes of the year, as the common service of the church uses. But in diverse feasts and times, you say some of the same seven stories diversely, as is most fitting.\n\nAnd thus, in the feasts of the Conception and of the Nativity of our Lady, you say the story of the Wednesday. For in that story is made most special mind of the same feasts.\nThe same story is told on St. Anne's day, for the holy conception and birth of our lady, of whom she was conceived and born in great holiness and cleanness. In the feast of the Annunciation of our lady and in Christmastime, and in the feast of Candlemas, the story is told on a Thursday, because this story makes most mention of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is worshiped in holy church in these feasts. In the feast of the Assumption, the story tells of the joy and love angels had for our glorious lady from her first making. From Passion Sunday to Easter, the story of the Friday is told, as it speaks most of our Lord's holy passion and of the compassion of his most loving mother. Other devotions to the Creator Spirit are said at your hours, because it speaks most of the Holy Ghost.\nThat which is worshiped in holy church at that time. And in the same way you say, O venerable Trinity, In Trinity, I write here only things that specifically pertain to some of these feasts and are not contained in any of the seven stories before. Specifically, in the four feasts of our lady: the Conception, the Nativity, the Purification, and the Assumption \u2013 you have special and proper chapters and collects that are not written before. And therefore they show now after:\n\nThe Lord had me from the beginning of his works. Before he made anything. I am ordained without end. And of old times, before the earth was made.\n\nThis chapter is taken from holy scripture. And so are nearly all the chapters of your service. Proverbs VIII: And it is explained by doctors of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the endless wisdom of the Father, and says these words of himself: But here it is set down to be understood of our lady.\nThat was endlessly ordained by God to be the worthiest of all creatures, as you may see more plainly in the Sunday lessons. And thus, thereby, you may easily understand the sentence of this chapter. God, who spoke before, told this to her father and mother through the foretelling of the angel, granting this favor to be deduced by her prayers. Whose holy solemnities of conception they worshipped by due attendance. Per dominum nostrum,\n\nNecdum erant abissi, Depression were not yet. And I was then conceived. Proverbs VIII. Welles of waters were not yet sprung up. Mountains were not yet set in sadness before hills. I was brought forth.\n\nThis means that before anything was made, our lady was ordained by God to be conceived and born in time, and to be most worthy of all creatures.\n\nBlessed is the man who hears me. Proverbs VIII. By obedience, and he who daily waits at my gates and watches at the entrance of my door.\nby hasty and ready coming to sing and read my service. He that finds me by grace finds eternal life. And he shall draw health from the Lord. For as water is drawn out of a well, so all health comes from God. That is the spring well of all goodness.\nBehold, I send my angel, Lo I send my angel before your face. And the Lord whom you seek shall soon come to His temple. And the angel of the covenant whom you desire is here in this Chapter. Both our Lord Jesus and Saint John the Baptist are called angels. Not in kind but in cleanness of living and in office.\nFirst, Saint John the Baptist is called an angel. Where the prophet spoke of him in the person of the Father in heaven, many years or Saint John was born, thus Behold, I send my angel before your face, a way shall be prepared before your face.\nsonne. Before this face.\nSaint John prepared himself for preaching and baptizing. Saint John the Baptist was the forerunner and way for the preaching and baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord that you seek shall come to his holy temple anon. This was fulfilled in this holy feast. When our lady presented her blessed Son into the temple, and the angel of the covenant, Luke writes, and the angel of the covenant, that is, the new law of love written in the apostles' hearts by the Holy Ghost, whom you desire for the good people of the Jews. I, as a vine, Ecclesiastes 24. I have borne the sweetness of fragrance. And my flowers are fruit of worship and of honesty. In this Chapter, our Lord is likened to a vine. For as a vine, the more it stands in the heat of the sun, the more sweet is the grape, or the wine that is the fruit thereof. Just as our lady, for she was most fervent in love.\n\"and in the grace of the Holy Ghost, therefore she brought forth the fruit of sweetness. That is our Lord Jesus Christ. The fruit of her womb. Sweet to take in this world and in his sacraments. And smells sweet in example of his holy cohabitation. \u00b6But it is marvelous that follows. When our lady says, \"And my flowers are fruit. In all trees and herbs. The flowers go before, and the fruit comes after. And often there are many more flowers than fruits. But all our blessed lady's flowers, that is to say her virtues, \u00b6Ecclus. xxiv. I, the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowing, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of way and of truth. In me is all hope of life and of virtue.\" \u00b6Our lady is called the mother of fair love, against God and his angel. And of fear, against all evil spirits. And how of knowing, against all things. And of holy hope.\"\nAgainst wretched mankind, for by her we may have grace to go truly in the way of health in this life. Ecclesiastes. xxiv. Vasicedrus: I am honored like a cedar in Lebanon and as cypress in Mount Zion. I am honored like a palm in Cades. and as the planting of a rose in Jericho. \u00b6Four trees are named here: cedar, cypress, palm, and rose. Though these trees grew in diverse places, yet in four places they were most excellent in those lands. That is to say, she was the cedar in a mountain that was called Lebanon. And cypress in the mountain of Zion. And the palm tree, in a place that was called Cades. And the rose in Jericho. Therefore, by these four trees, is understood our lady who was, and is, most excellent above all creatures. \u00b6The cedar is a tree that grows tall. And it is so durable that it rots never. So our most reverent lady was highest in virtue on earth, and now is highest in bliss. And she never rotted nor was corrupted in soul by any manner of sin nor in body in her life nor after her death.\nFor the body and soul, is in endless bliss. And therefore she says, that she is like a cedar in Lebanon. Cypress is a tree that smells sweet, and the smell thereof drives away serpents and worms. It is also so strong a tree, that it bows not under any burden. Our glorious Virgin, by the sweet smell of her holy living, and of her prayers, drives away the temptations of the serpents of hell, and the worms of evil thoughts, from those who often, by deep meditation, smell it. She was also so strong, neither prosperity nor adversity could bend her to any vanity or impiety. And therefore she is cypress in Mount Sion.\n\nThe palm tree is small beneath, and large above. And it is ever green. So our most excellent lady was small beneath in her love of all earthly things, and large above in her love and desire of heavenly things. And therein she was ever green, for she was always full of virtues without the dryness of sin.\nOr she is as palm in calves. The rose grows among thorns. And yet it is in itself most soft. It comforts also all the wits of man, both sight, smelling, touching, and tasting. Our most sweet lady, though she were born among the jeves, who were as thorns by malicious conditions, yet she was clean from all their vices. And most soft and gracious in all virtues. Whereby she comforted her lovers in all their inward wits. And therefore she is called a rose in Ecclesiastes.\n\nVeneranda nobis, The worthy one who lives and reigns with the Holy Ghost without end. Amen.\n\nCanticle iii. Thou art all fair, my beloved, and there is no spot in thee. Come from Lebanon, my spouse, come from Lebanon. Come, thou shalt be crowned.\n\nFairness stands in two things. One in having all that delights to fairness, And this was in our lady, both in body, and there is no spot in her.\n\nLebanon is a mountain.\nAnd yet it is as much to say. As white. Therefore it signifies the nobility of vertue and grace. From this live [woman] our lady was called on this day. For from the most nobility of grace and vertue that might be had on earth of any creature\nQuasi oliva speciosa, I am honored as a fair olive tree in the field. Ecclesiastes xxiii, and as a plane tree by the water in broad streets. I have given sweet smell as cinnamon. And I have given sweetness of smell as choice myrrh. \u00b6The olive tree brings forth fruit whereof is made oil. That signifies pity and mercy. But there is a difference between the olive that grows in gardens and the olive that grows in the field. For the olive that grows in gardens is peculiar to the owner. But the olive of the field is common to all. Therefore our merciful Lady likens herself rather to the olive of the field\u2014for her pity and mercy is always ready to all that will call upon it. in what degree soever they be. \u00b6The plane tree\n or the plane tree. hathe brode leues. that ys medcynable to hote yuels. wherby is vnderstonde the brode & lar\u2223ge charyte of oure blyssed lady that spredyth ouer all bothe good and bad as longe as they are in thys lyfe. For all good are co\u0304forted by her. And there is none so wicked in erthe. but that he hathe the lesse temptacion for her sake. And be a man or woman neuer so depe in synne\u25aa yf he wyl make hym selfe a brode and an ope\u0304 strete by trew shryfte. and powre oute water of very contrycion\u25aa anon this plane tre that is oure pyteful lady. wylle sprede ouer hym the leues of her charyte. and hele hym from all brennynge temptacyon. and syckenesse of synne. And therfore she ys lykened to a platane tree by the water in brode stretes. \u00b6Cyna\u2223mome. ys a spyce that ys drye. and hotte. and swete smellynge. So oure glorious lady was drye in body from all flesshely luste. by dyscrete abstynence. and clene vyrgynyte. She was also hotte in sowle. by \nRyghte so the braunches of thys tree oure lady\nthat are the holy members of our Lord Jesus Christ. When they were cut with cruel scourges, with hard nails, and with the sharp spear, they styled most precious and sweetly to the health and redemption of mankind. Myrrh is a tree that grows five cubits in length and the gum resin, Lord, we beseech Thee, grant to Thy servants the gift of heavenly grace. That to whom the Son of the blessed Virgin Mary was begotten, By the same our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, who liveth and reigns with the unity of the Holy Ghost without end. Amen.\n\nTransite ad me, Passe unto me all ye, Ecclesiastes xxiv. It desires me, and be fulfilled by my generation. For my spirit is sweeter than honey, and my heritage is sweet.\n\nDaniel Nedicite omnia opus Domini Domino. This hymn was made by three men. Whom the king of Babylon cast into a great burning furnaces of fire that flamed upon them forty-nine cubits.\nBut they refused to worship an image at the king's command. An angel of God came down and struck the flame of the fire from the three men and their servants who made the fire. They were instantly burned to ashes. But the three men were neither harmed by the fire nor died. Not even the least hair of their heads was singed. Therefore, they broke out in praise of God, all with one voice, and said, \"Bless the Lord all his works, and in all his holy wonders let all that he has made sing praise to him.\" The names of these three men are written in the same hymn. The last verse mentions two of them. One was named Ananias, another Azariah, and the third Misaiel.\n\nThis hymn you sing in every feast of our lady. In it, you call upon all creatures of heaven and earth, sea, and land, and the air above, to praise and thank God for the graces and glories he has bestowed upon the glorious virgin Mary, his holy mother.\n\nFor each verse, understand that God blesses man.\nBy the giving of his gracious gifts, keeping them, and for all his works, when man calls angels to prayer and so the number of angels is fulfilled, and all earthly creatures are restored again in manner to the worthiness of effect that they were made for \u2013 it is worthy that man should call angels and all creatures and all the works of God to praise him and to bless him. Therefore you sing and say:\n\nBenedicite omnia, All the works of the Lord.\nBless ye the Lord.\nPraise him.\nAnd exalt him above all in eternity.\n\nFor the honor, and worship, and glory of the most worthy creature, the Virgin Mary, mother of God.\n\nBenedicite angeli, Angels of the Lord.\nBless ye the Lord.\nHeavens bless ye the Lord.\nFor the honor, and worship, and glory of thee, most worthy creature,\nThe Virgin Mary, mother of God.\n\nBenedicite aquae, All waters that are above the heavens.\nBless ye the Lord.\nAll virtues of the Lord bless ye the Lord.\nFor the honor, and blessing of the most worthy creature.\nThe Virgin Mary, Mother of God. For as much as this verse speaks of waters that are above heavens, you shall understand that there are seventeen heavens and the sixteenth of these heavens is called the heaven of waters and of crystal. Not because there are any waters, but for this reason: crystal is made clear as will be said more plainly when we come to it, with our Lord's grace.\n\nBless the Son and Moon,\nBless the Lord,\nStars of heaven, bless the Lord,\nFor worship and the glory of the most worthy creature,\nThe Virgin Mary, Mother of God.\n\nBless Imber, Rain and dew,\nEach spirit of God, bless the Lord,\nFor worship and the glory of the most worthy creature,\nThe Virgin Mary, Mother of God.\n\nBless fire, Fyer and heat,\nWinter and summer, bless the Lord,\nFor worship and the blessing of the most worthy creature,\nThe Virgin Mary, Mother of God.\n\nBless roses, Dews and frost,\nFrost and cold, bless the Lord.\nfor worship and blessing of the most worthy creature, the Virgin Mary, mother of God.\nBenedicite glacies, Ile and snow: Bless ye the Lord.\nNight and day: Bless ye the Lord.\nfor worship and glory of the most worthy creature, the Virgin Mary, mother of God.\nBenedicite lux, Light and darkness: Bless ye the Lord.\nLightens and clouds: Bless ye the Lord.\nfor worship and glory of the most worthy creature, the Virgin Mary, mother of God.\nBenedicite terra, Earth: May it bless the Lord.\nAnd praise Him and magnify Him without end.\nfor worship and glory of the most worthy creature, the Virgin Mary, mother of God.\nBenedicite montes, Mountains and hills: Bless ye the Lord.\nAll things that grow in the earth: Bless ye the Lord.\nfor worship and glory of the most worthy creature, the Virgin Mary.\nBenedicite fontes, Wells: Bless ye the Lord.\nSeas and rivers: Bless ye the Lord.\nBless the Lord all you works in water. Bless the Lord all birds of the air. Bless the Lord, all wild and tame beasts. Bless the Lord, sons of men. Bless the Lord for the worship and glory of the most worthy creature, the virgin Mary, mother of God.\n\nBless is Israel, let it bless the Lord. And let it praise Him and extol Him without end. For the worship and glory of the most worthy creature, the virgin Mary, mother of God.\n\nBless the Lord, priests; priests of the Lord. Serve the Lord, servants. Bless the Lord for the worship and glory of the most worthy creature, the virgin Mary, mother of God.\n\nBless the Lord, spirits; spirits and souls of the righteous. Be holy and meek in heart. Bless the Lord. For the worship and glory of the most worthy creature, the virgin Mary, mother of God.\n\nBless the Lord, Anania, Ananias.\n\"Blessed are you, Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Praise and honor and bless us in the highest heaven without end for the worship and glory of the most worthy creature, the Virgin Mary, Mother of God.\n\nBlessed are you, Lord, in the firmament of heaven. Praiseworthy and glorious, and exalted above all things without end,\n\nFor the worship and glory of the most worthy creature, the Virgin Mary, Mother of God.\n\nAnd you, Virgin Mary, Mother of God, blessed above all creatures,\n\nKeep us safe and come to us and to all places,\n\nTo your Son. Amen.\n\nFinis\n\nThis book was printed at the request and expense of the worshipful and devout Lady Abbess of the worshipful Monastery of Syon. And the reverend father in God, General Confessor of the same.\n\nHere ends the Second Part of Our Lady's Mirror\"\n\"[U]ERY necessary for all religious persons and other good devout people, finishing and imprinted in the suburbs of the Famous City of London without temple bar by me, Richard Fawkes. dwelling in Dursley rents or else in Paul's churchyard at the sign of the A.B.C.\n\u00b6The year of our Lord God AM.1430. the fourth day of the month of November.[/[/[)\n\nNote: I assumed \"AM\" stands for Anno Mundi (Year of the World) and kept it as is, but it could also be Anno Domini (Year of the Lord) and the text should be adjusted accordingly if that's the case.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "The Castle of Pleasure.\n\nDesire. Beauty. Pleasure.\n\nThe conveyance of a dream how Desire went to the castle of pleasure,\nwherein was the garden of affection in inhabited by Beauty,\nto whom he amorously expressed his love upon which a great strife, dispute, and argument arose between Pyte and Disdain.\n\nConsider your mind and good intent,\nconsider the effect,\nin every manner of case,\nyour circumstances, and labor diligent,\nwho will interpret, is of great effect,\nyour sentences morally enchain,\nconcerns reason,\nof young tender hearts, tell,\nyour arguments also flourishing in vigorous youth,\nSo to bestow is greatly to commend,\nBooks to endite of matters unconventional,\nAn example giving to all such as pretend,\nIn the sphere of love they minds to condescend,\nIn terms fresh, their courage to endeavor,\nNot with rude toys, but elegant and new.\n\nYet there are many who little regard,\nyour pleasures castle inhabited by Beauty,\nAnd I am sure would give but small reward.\nFor this your labor and studious diligence,\nBut had you compiled some manner of subtlety,\nTo get your neighbor to beguile,\nThey would allow it a perfect discrete style.\n\nThauctour.\n\nMy book of love belongs to no such art,\nBut to the pleasure, is his whole affection,\nOf gentle people, which like to take part,\nIn pleasant youth, with amorous dalliance.\nHonor regarded, in clean circumspection,\nLaying aside all wanton vain desire,\nTo comfort those who burn in loving fire.\n\nCoplande.\n\nBooks of love innumerable printed be,\nI mean of ladies, and many a hardy knight,\nWithout regard of sensual nicety,\nIn love exploiting, truly with all their might,\nBut love of gold, these days blinds the sight,\nOf men and women, having their delight,\nOnly for money to do their appetite.\n\nThauctour.\n\nPrint this book, Coplande, at my request,\nAnd put it forth to every manner of state,\nIt does no good lying still in my chest,\nTo pass the time some will by it algate,\nBecause it is new, compiled now of late.\nAt least young people will gladly seek recovery of beauty in the tour of pleasure.\nAt your request, I shall gladly impress it. But the progress I think will be small. Books are not set by their times, I guess. The dice and cards, in drinking wine and ale, they are now set for sale. Men let their children use such harlotry That being of books they utterly deny.\n[Finis prologus]\n[En passant le temps sans mal pencer.]\nUnsteady and traumatizing histories in Ovid's books of transformation\nIt was my fortune and chance at last\nTo see in what fancy Phebus was inflamed by inspiration\nOf cruel Cupid to him merciful\nWhom of him was worthy no commendation\nShowing himself always deceivable\nTherefore I would gladly, if I were able,\nDisclose the manner plainly and in few words,\nHow Phebus and Cupid were compatible.\nFirst, I will dispose:\nPhebus set on pride and haughty in temperament.\nSpake these words with great audacity, Cupid, thou young and tender-aged boy,\nHow art thou? These arrows suit me as thou mayst clearly see,\nWith which I may wound both man and beast. And since all creatures are subject to me at every feast,\nSo much is thy power less than mine. Well said, Cupid, it pleases thee to gesture.\nHe said this, and he ascended to Mount Parnassus. Upon high, his arms he spread, and he said,\nI trust I shall quickly discuss this. For a proof, he took forth from his quiver,\nA golden arrow with love right penetrable, made sharp at the point that it might enter,\nWith it he struck Phoebus with a lamentable stroke. Unable to resist, he was weak.\nThe stroke of his power, who can or may resist? But he must obey, and be agreeable to love,\nConstrained by Cupid, who may strike whom he wills. Another arrow he took quickly in his hand,\nContrary to the leaden-blue and heavy one, with this he struck Phoebus' love or she knew it not,\nSo that the more he desired, the more she denied.\nHer name was Daphne, whom Cupid, by the mercy that made him complain, proved his power in various ways. One was filled with love, the other with disdain. The former desired the latter, the latter was glad, not caring though it was so. By fear and disdain, she overcame him, like a hare she ran in haste. He followed like a hound, desire wrought him woe, but all was in vain, his labor was but waste.\n\nThe night drew near, the day was at a side. My heart was heavy, I much desired rest. Alone, I abided, seeing the shadows fall from the hills in the west. Each bird under bough drew near to their nest. The chimneys from afar began to smoke. Each household went about to lodge their guests. The smoke from the chimneys took the chimney for a cloak. Each chamber and chest was soon put under lock. Curfew was rung, lights were set up in haste. Those that were without for lodging soon knocked.\nWhich were plain presented the day was clearly past\nThus a sleep I fell by a sudden chance\nWhen I lacked light alone without comfort\nMy sore study with sloth did me enhance\nMy eyes were heavy my tongue without delight\nCaused many fantasies to me to resort\nMy heart was much musing my mind was varied\nSo I was troubled with this unwelcome sort\nThat my heart and mind to sloth soon did grant\nAbout the which while I was attendant\nSuddenly came Morpheus and at a brake\nNot afraid but like a man right valiant\nCourageously to me these words he said.\n\nMorpheus.\nWell known it is and noised for a truth\nThough perchance it has not reached yet your audience\nHow Desire in mind has made a solemn oath\nBeauty to serve without resistance\nSo to continue he does right well intend\nDuring his life with love steadfast and sure\nIn perfect love to keep one continuance\nIt is his mind to do her such pleasure.\n\nOn frequent love he set holy his mind.\nLove is his pleasure yet love puts him to pain\nMuch rule I assure you has nature and kind\nIn him as is possible in one to remain\nHe would like to have release and dare not yet complain\nHowever, to such a point he is now brought\nThat either to show his mind he must shortly be forced\nOr else his joy is clearly sold and bought.\n\nFor the which it is done to me to understand\nThat he will shortly now express his intent\nAnd this they say he will take on hand\nTo go to her presence, therefore be diligent\nAnd walk with me and be obedient\nAnd I shall soon know how he shall fare\nI must of duty hold myself content\nSo you support me always when I have need\n\nThis said suddenly by a chance repent\nI was ascending a goodly mountain\nAbout which the sun shone over each side\nWhose color made my heart right glad\nBut when I was near the top was not advanced\nFor joy, my heart leaped and my body danced.\nWhat call you this hill, I pray you tell me this is the mountain of lusty courage This has been inhabited by many a rebel Unkindness, enmity, dysdayne, and dotage But now they are destroyed by mercy all appearance So that nowadays here dwells none Yet dysdayne has gained a more stately dwelling For in the castle of pleasure she troubles many one\n\nNow goodly Iustes here on their exercise By the activity of many a champion And these well-gargled galleries they did devise To intend that ladies might have prospect And to such as were worthy grant love & affection And also when their lust was their courage to use To dance among them they took a direction As they might well and not themselves abuse\n\nWhen I learned of these galleries, their quadrangular form The marvelous mountain so clearly displayed I thought that since the incarnation Was never seen a more beautiful mountain For joy my heart leaped I was so fond of it I could in no way restrain my mind.\nTo such a time this praise I made,\nOf puissant courage, chief cause of comfort,\nThou mayest well be near the castle of pleasure,\nO hill, thou holder of all doughty sports,\nOf marshal manhood thou art the treasure,\nOut from thy banks is drawn the breach\nThat causes the pastimes of perfect prowess,\nO mountain, god, grant the long to endure,\nSince thou art lantern of lasting lustiness.\n\u00b6 So forth we walked on that goodly hill,\nTo that we came to the banks' side,\nTo see the fair castle then we stood still,\nAnd to see the running river there we did abide,\nTo have a low water we tarried the tide,\nThe name of this water then thus he expressed,\nTo destroy changeable and people oppressed with pride,\nThey call this water the laver of lowliness,\nOn the stones of steadfastness runs this water clear,\nTo overcome men's changeable and proud hearts and minds,\nSuch men shall be put in right great danger,\nFor then swells the water contrary to its kind.\nSo that they cannot find the stepping stone.\nBy the meantime, they are troubled so sore\nWith the wild waves wavering with the wind,\nThat for lack of help they are right soon lost.\nBut blessed be God we came in good season,\nI trust we shall pass this same in haste.\nBe not foolish but arm you with reason,\nHow you shall get over in my mind before well cast,\nTo be too forward you may soon make waste.\nSo forth we went in patient humility,\nAnd when I this water was well past,\nI looked back and said this in brief:\nO lowly laurer slithering over the stones of steadfastness,\nO rapid river which proves perfectly,\nAll proud people that delight in doublenesses,\nThou drownest them in thy streams right shortly.\nThou hast a more praiseworthy property\nThan ever had the well of Helicon,\nThe mother of meekness conserve the perpetually,\nSince thou art the mother water of virtues many one.\nWhen I directed my look towards the castle,\nWhich then was not from me a full stone's cast,\nI remembered that I had read in many a book.\nThat in this place of pleasure were many a stormy blast, notwithstanding I thought all perils had been past,\nWhen I saw of this castle the royal gates,\nYet before I knew that pleasure could not last,\nThere as day was in favor with estates,\n\nThis royal castle was on each side quadrant,\nGargled with goodly grehoundes and beasts many one,\nThe tyrannous tiger, the strong and mighty elephant,\nWith a castle on his back which he bore alone,\nThe lions' syrupy eyes with rubies there shone,\nThe golden griffin with clees of azure,\nThe unicorn allowed with a rufous mon,\nStood there as desolate of living creature.\n\nThe walls were all electrifying with adamant,\nThe windows of crystal were well fortified,\nAnd as I was looking on these elephants,\nOn the gates two scripts I espied,\nThem for to read my mind then I applied,\nWritten in gold and indigo for people furtherance,\nThey betoken two ways as after I tried,\nThese scripts as I remember then I substituted.\n\nWhoever will to this place will take his entering.\nMust of these ways have free election\nif he list be lusty, leap dance and sing,\nOr if in worldly wealth he set his affection,\nIn honor, riches, or prosperous influence,\nHe shall be conveyed, if he will so endeavor,\nElse to the scripture beneath let him give intention,\nwhich is set out in letters of indigo blue.\n\nWhoever sets his pleasure and delight,\nHis heart firmly to join,\nOn the love of Beauty, a blossom right white,\nOr on any of her ladies, let him enter fully,\nBe content his mind and courage to apply,\nTo such as conduct all peoples lies in wait,\nFor none can pass them by without their leave,\nNor yet attain to beauty's high estate,\nThis said mind pondered greatly,\nWhich of these ways I was best to choose,\nWhereby I called to remembrance shortly,\nHow Hercules, in his tender and wakeful years,\nNew at the years of discretion, his mind was sore tried,\nWhich of the two ways, one of virtue, one of pleasure,\nAnd of the night it caused him right often to wake,\nBecause he knew not the way of perfect measure.\nYet such was his fortune, right happy was his chance,\nWhich took the way so much pleasable,\nThis to pleasure and wealth does men entice,\nThis other does induce one to be amiable,\nI am hereby much troubled, my mind is unstable,\nWhat remedy shall I find to make my mind steadfast?\nI will endeavor me to reason to be conformable,\nAll my wits searched, I trust it so to cast,\n\u00b6 This golden scripture is right much pleasant,\nAnd has blinded the eyes of men, many one,\nI am sore troubled to which way I should grant,\nSince I am now here in manner as man alone,\nThis love lasts when all riches are gone,\nTherefore I think it best with it to be content,\nConsidering that few their misfortune will monetize,\nThat have more faces than hearts, as daily is evident.\n\u00b6 My mind thus established, I was about to praise\nThis palace's precious and castle right comfortable,\nWhen I had chosen the surest of these ways,\nSo then I was brought on an even table,\nFor to go to beauty I was then agreeable,\nAnd the rather because of Morpheus' desire.\n\"Who said that to him company was deceitful,\nThis castle then thus prays, I am inflamed with love's fire,\nO precious palaces of princely beauty,\nWalled with admiring ones who draw by force,\nAccording to your power and your stones' fortitude,\nAll things of iron, so this castle by influence,\nDraws hearts to itself as I saw and did intend,\nTherefore, O castle Jesus, the preserver,\nLest by some peril we might be driven hence,\nFor duration of life and health I intend to observe.\nWhen I was entered into this royal place,\nComfort and welcome greeted me with a heartfelt semblance,\nSaying what would you that you came to his place,\nCome forward and be not afraid of yourself to announce,\nTo speak with desire I did draw near,\nShe said desire is but a little past,\nI shall bring you to him if you have good utterance,\nI trust you shall by my good help to see him in haste.\nSo forth we walked within this green courtyard,\nYou shall see here she said many good pastimes,\nYou shall have such joy as oft has not been seen.\"\nAll manner of gaming you shall see exercised,\nAnd upon all quarrels, troubles, and crimes,\nRight solemnly justices be here oft entered,\nBut what way will you take, I had forgot all this while,\nWhether will you to the hall or to beauty now express,\nFor here the ways part, I would willingly be doubtless,\nIn Beauty's presence I would fain be doubtless,\nAthen you must be conveyed by my sister's kindness,\nIn truth, sir, I had like to have served you gently,\nBut see where she goes, let us make short our process,\nFor to her presence bring you now will I,\n\nGood sister kindness, I pray you convey,\nThis gentleman who says he would speak with desire,\nAt your request, I cannot say him nay,\nIf it were in me to give him an entire empire,\nBut is he, I pray you, inflamed with love's fire,\nThat after desire he goes so fast apace,\nThus this matter sped, I heartily you require,\nAnd I shall tell you that in another place.\n\nWell, good enough, go about your business,\nSir, for comfort's sake, you are right heartily welcome,\nThen comfort to the gate did her redress.\nFor sorrow, of which I was in manner dumb,\nI was so amazed yet when my mind was come,\nI thanked her in my heartiest manner possible,\nBeseeching God to send her such a sum\nAs might recompense double and triple.\n\nWhat moved you to come to these parties,\nAnd I pray you, by whom were you brought,\nThat you have passed so well the ceremonies,\nBy the means of Morpheus, as now I here seek,\nFor I would have entered in though dear I had it bought,\nOne cause was fantasy, I cannot deny it,\nSir Hider be you welcome as heartily as can be thought,\nAnd I trust in haste you shall see fantasy.\n\nThis said I was near the garden of affection,\nWhich appeared to my sight both gay and gloryous,\nEnvy round about it a free protection,\nThe passing diamond the amorous lover,\nThe steadfast Sapphire the precious blue turks,\nWith many other stones I lack coming to show\nMe, it seemed a new paradise delightful and delightful,\nIt shone so freshly and bore such great awe.\n\nBut where is Morpheus? I marvel that I him lack.\nHe was here with me not long ago\nBy that I had said, I suddenly looked back\nI see him and another standing alone\nWho is this, I have not seen such one before\nIt is a wonder to you that people of a quaintance,\nWherever they meet, one will draw the other along,\nAs these two do now without variation.\n\nKindness steps forth with a merry countenance,\nSister Fantasy, why do you speak with this man?\nYou should have been wise, lest such a chance occur,\nAs I fear not, but you can handle well enough.\n\nWhy do you fear me, Sister Fantasy,\nBut Sister Fantasy, you must let this man enter your care,\nTo speak with desire for his color is pale and wan.\nTherefore, Sister, be his savior on his return.\n\nYou do not fear, but I will protect him,\nYou would be gone, do well and keep your charge,\nLest there be some who need your help.\nFor there are many one who would give much right large,\nTo have you at their pleasure always in their barge,\nThat I well know, and yet they do not get me.\nAnd as you told me, take charge of yourself\nFarewell, and be mindful of your chance and fate\nKindness departed, yet its power remained present\nAway with fantasy, enclosed in her heart\nFantasy sprang in at the gate, I leapt in after\nSuddenly I saw myself enclosed within a courtyard\nFull of myrtle trees, the apple tree appeared plain\nThe destruction of Pyramus and Thisbe by Love's dart\nWhich made me often wish that I were back again\nAlas, I said, what sudden adventure\nI see this world is but uncertain\nI was late, I was joyous as ever was creature\nAnd now I am foolish\nI think I am in the labyrinth where my notoriety remains\nA blind Cupid is this your reward\nDo you make people blind, do you so entertain\nSuch lovers who seek their beloved's hide\n\nI had forgotten the tale of Alain\nI paid no heed to the verses of Virgil\nWho says that hiding colors is in vain\nThe worst color often takes the fairer one's place still\nFor those who are fair often change their will\n\"All things that I perceived now differ greatly from their substance. Why do you mourn alone this morning? Have you lost any friend or other thing? Nay, the absence of comfort grieves me sore. She had told me that here I would find both music and song. And I cannot see how that should bring me joy. Unless you bring me such pastimes, I may well say farewell to all my joy.\n\nDoubt not but you shall see pleasant things,\nIf you will be content to endure a little delay.\nFor no earthly creature shall remain in grace indefinitely.\nJoy follows anger swiftly. After a great trial, the weather seems clearer.\nThere is no man who has been in a wretched state,\nBut prosperity is more precious to him after that.\n\nNo earthly pleasure can be attained without pain.\nRecord the story in the tenth book of Ovid.\"\nRehearsed by Venus to make Adonis of her favor,\nNow Antalette sore set on pride,\nOutran all people she would not abide,\nThose who could outrun her should have had her in marriage,\nThose who could not were slain, none spared or set aside.\nThis love was made equal to that misfortune.\n\u00b6 Many courageous gods attempted this task,\nBut all were destroyed, she overcame them.\nYet as Hippomenetes saw, his mother could bring him down by and by.\nHe said, \"I blamed these wrongs, I knew not the reward so,\nAs I do now, which brings me much woe.\nMy unfavorable fortune shall never be left alone.\nGod always helps bold men and fortune also.\nI see by this that many were promoted men.\n\u00b6 So Venus, perceiving the fervent steadfastness\nOf this true lover, loth that he should be lost,\nPut in his mind as Ulysses does express,\nTo take two golden apples or three at the most,\nTo throw down one of them she taught him such a toss,\nWhen he ran against his lady, that she might take it.\nSo whoever at such times he had thrown down all his cost.\nHe outran her and took her to be his worldly make. Such was his fortune through his great boldness. Though it was to his pain yet it gave him pleasure. For Venus, in conclusion, does bold lovers redeem. As you may see daily in us. We were in a garden right pure, depicted with blossoms of various scents. \"How say you,\" she asked, \"have you not now pleasure to walk and know the properties of these goodly flowers? Primarily the primrose above all flowers, with four leaves; and the roses, these are most valuable. Clementia was changed into a marigold, which is a memorial of her lover, the sun, for she follows him at rising, setting among the drops of dew. Narcissus was changed into a watercress. Hyacinthus into a flower of delight, as the outside shows. Rehearsing of the same flowers, many a proper process. This something pulls up my heart and increases my comfort. Wherefore I will apply myself to you with due diligence. Lo, here are all the flowers of love and merriment.\nI had almost forgotten that it was time I went\nI will go now and introduce you to eloquence,\nWhich is here by the well of Helycon.\nI think I see her there, therefore, as I imagine,\nIt is best to introduce you now when she is alone.\n\nO famous flower, O lady eloquence,\nPlease accept this gentleman to accompany you,\nSo that you may have such preeminence,\nAs to him in no way I can show.\nI am content to stay here, but there is a man,\nNamed Desire, who wishes to speak with your lady,\nThereabout I go. Well, good enough for you,\nThat you have put it off so long, I marvel.\n\nThen she spoke to me of blisses,\nTelling me that he was a man most eloquent.\nThen to the hermitage where Beauty sat at ease,\nIt pleased eloquence, yet the bows were so bent,\nThat we could not see through, yet fantasy was present,\nAs we well heard by her communication,\nAnd she showed the manner of Desire's intent.\n\nShe ordered her words much after this fashion.\n\nFantasy.\n\nO well of womanhood to us, lady and mistress,\nPlease accept our humble homage of your abundant grace.\nTo know how Desire in right great heavens\nRequired me to move you when I had space,\nThat he might speak with you and appoint time and place,\nWhen he might wait on you and give you attendance,\nTo show you all his grief and in what woeful case\nHe does endure without dissemblance.\n\nBeaute.\n\nYou know well that fantasy is nothing accompanied,\nLike as I would be when he shall attain my presence.\nTherefore, let this be applied. Go you and call your sister Credence.\nLet eloquence be near lest there happens some offense.\nFor it is meet they be near at this great business.\nQuod dysdayne. It is meet my lady have preeminence,\nLike as becomes her estate and nobleness.\n\nForth went fantasy to do her message.\nDesire thought he tarried very long,\nAnd sore he was moved with frequent courage,\nHe thought he would die though it should happen wrong,\nAnd in his great trouble he called fantasy amonge,\nSaying you forget you heard not my great pain,\nIf some chance had happened her I might sing a woeful song.\nOr else I fear she will be late. Between hope and fear I am greatly troubled. He stepped forth with a solemn appearance Though I never attain her, I will endure no more. So he advanced himself.\n\nLo, Disdain says, \"Behold this sudden chance.\" Here is desire what sudden smoke caused this. Draw you traverse, Beauty, let us hear this utterance.\n\nHe entered and knelt down & spoke nothing amiss.\n\nO excellent empress, who guides in your governance, This goodly garden of amiable affection, Which also grants to true lovers pardon, All obstinate people you subdue to correction. It is also in your power and election. Lovers to redeem, under Venus, you have the most power. By you they must be ordered according to your direction. Which in your garden should gather any flower.\n\nPlease give heed and intent to this expressing of my woeful pain, Late to sleep when I was diligent, To me there happened a great cause to complain, None earthly comfort could remain in me.\nCupid had wrapped my heart so sore,\nIt was in vain to seek sleep then.\nI had never been so troubled since that time or before.\n\u00b6 A golden dart from Cupid came to me, as I well perceived,\nLate sent, it pierced me so sore when I first received it,\nNeither salves nor surgeons could help or be my bote,\nThey dared not search the wound, it lay at my heart's root.\nAnd since there was but one who could heal it,\nI did not wish to go to him a moment more.\nBut often Cupid caused me to cry out.\n\u00b6 It was your love that was the cause of all this,\nI cannot deny it but show it in plain words,\nI dared not show my woe to any earthly being,\nTo overcome this fierce love I did my best,\nBut when I saw it availed not, I was willing,\nTo labor for succor, I thought it best,\nBut if grace be shown none can surely obtain health,\nTherefore trusting on pity of this point I did rest.\n\u00b6 O lady, most chosen princess,\nTo all lovers having sovereignty.\nI earnestly beseech you, my love, to redress the cause considered in my great need. I trust you neither will nor can deny this request of mine. For I have found such grace in your eyes or this that if all peril in the world were upon it, I could not refrain but to tell you as it is.\n\nNo worldly riches to you I can promise, but most I can say is that you shall be my greatest comfort. But God, who to all people according to their merits can reward or punishment most equally, sorts reward or punishment. He is the Lord of mercy, even unto death. Give you reward and preserve you at all hours. Of perfect love he bears a prince's port. And to increase my joy, I ask for nothing more but yours.\n\nDisdain\nA proud, presumptuous person goes never without offense. You have well acquitted yourself now, you have told this tale. It came of a high wit if you well consider, within her own garden my lady to assail. Without her license it liked you to rail. On cruel Cupid, your pride will have a fall. I trust to see you glad, your bonnet to awaken.\nAmong the weak, put back to the wall,\nLike a sudden rebuke much grieves one's heart,\nWhich lately had begun to be adventurous,\nThis caused desire sore astonished to start,\nSaying I have attempted a thing right dangerous,\nTo attain the presence of my lady most beautiful,\nI can make no answer nor utterly deny,\nThat but I have presumed on a precious love,\nIn this case I blame only hope and fantasy,\nI know no remedy, what is best to be done,\nBut if pity with this princess be present,\nI may as well else go muse about the money,\nAs hither to come to show my intent,\nAs long as disdain continues ill content,\nWherefore for pity I heartily call and cry,\nThat she were with beauty me think it expedient,\nTo disdain in open audience then spoke pity,\n\nPity.\n\nWhat moves you, disdain, to reprove\nThis man, whom I am sure came in no ill intent,\nBut to express and repress his mind and fervent love,\nHas he spent any unkind words in my lady's presence?\nI perceive no pride in him; I think him diligent.\nAnd if you have any cause against him now, speak\nIf not, I assure you I cannot be content\nThat with unwarranted words you should thus break his heart\nToday.\nFair mistresses, I did not compose these words on my fingers\nDo you think I would speak them and have no reason or basis\nBut first I will say I revile his first bringers\nIn the parlour, without the gate he might have stood alone\nBut I will tell you my reasons since you are such ones\nWho must give accounts / you shall pardon me this\nI will seek for another whom my troubles may console\nI will first know your rule, what do you know where you are\nPity.\nYou seem to be sufficiently wise, it appears\nExcept to reason, you are more conformable\nIt is my lady's power for us to allow reasons\nI take nothing upon me, I know I am not able\nI have neither power nor command but as is agreeable\nTo my lady's pleasure, but by reasons to make arguments\nThat such reasons well weighed may be stable in my mind\nAnd by contrary reasons to search out his true intent\nToday.\nI am content to put my cause in my lady's hands, as she pleases. I must hold myself content. I owe you no service, I hold no lands from you. To show you my cause before my lady, I consent. Let her order me as she thinks convenient. Why should he come without leave to her presence? Answer this as you think expedient. I think to my lady, he has done a great offense.\n\nPyte\n\nConsidering the cause, I trust you will say that when he came here, he meant no displeasure. As in guarding my lady, he came the next way. And, as in his words, he has ordered him by measure. He neither sought here for gold nor treasure. But Cupid compelled his courage to make him hasten more. And unless you find some other cause than this, I am sure for this my lady will not cast him out of her favor.\n\nDysdayne.\n\nFurthermore, he has made a great exclamation, complaining that Cupid calls him cause of his woe. Saying in this way or much in this fashion: The golden dart of Cupid constrains me.\nI cannot understand by what mean he should be so desiring that my lady should redress this matter. If he truly desired it, he would have come to us as many one does, and made his complaint to that excellent goddess, Pity. And if you consider he is worthy of more praise for making his supplication to my lady than if he had resorted to more crafty ways, it is due to his good courage and his worthiness of commendation. He dares to speak and trust to have no reprisal. His fervent love was the cause of this, which had such great operation in him to make him tell the truth, whether it was well or amiss.\n\nDisdain.\n\nDo you think he is so fervent? I do not warrant you he will live long if no further trouble comes to his heart. Do you think he would give his love to her without cause, not knowing her mind to make him so distressed? He can well enough feign love, Outre lay down apart the art of loving which teaches one to love or else the squire of Venus beguiled him at the very beginning and so suddenly moved his fantasy.\n\nPyte.\nNay, his color does not betray love's fiery fervor. He is not baptized, one who cannot feign such courtesies. Jupiter, who had subdued many to his empire, was suddenly retained by Love, as Cupid did him. And when he played with Danae in a golden shower, his grief was considered and well known for truth. She granted him love and caused him to remain. What more do you want than a sure promise and oath?\n\nAs for promise and oath, I little regard them,\nFor it is said that words are nothing but wind.\nWas Paris not false to his promise and harsh\nWhen to Helen he was so unkind?\nWho by a solemn oath to her did bind\nThat he would marry her in all haste?\nBut when the golden apple and the three goddesses were found,\nHis judgment was fulfilled, his words proved but waste.\n\nPyte.\n\nHe was inflamed, but by adventure,\nHis power made him content to express his mind,\nyet when he had the effect and pleasure of his judgment,\nNone of his deeds agreed shortly or in process,\nBut the deeds of Desire followed doubtless.\nFor agreeing to his words, he made great labor, earnestly requesting my lady to redress, promising her the uttermost of his little power.\n\nDay.\n\nPerhaps that was more for riches than for love, or because of her great parentage he did this service to her. Many have done as much, and it is evident that I need no examples. He labors more for gain when a thing is new than by fervent love to attain high nobility. This often causes ladies in heavy cases to regret and be more wary of whom they express their minds to.\n\nPyte.\n\nThough many have done so, can you think in your reason that desire so intended when he came here? Consider it well, and you will think at this season that it was fierce courage that brought him to his blame, which had such power in him that he less feared shame. Whereas if he had sued for riches, he would not have done as much. As you may understand, and if you consider his name, you will say that pure love was the cause of it alone.\n\nDay.\nAdmit it was for love yet many are changeable, though it had continued in approved kindnesses. Was Iason not to Medea long agreeable? Yet after it changed, he refused her in the process. What cruel heart did he have which for her gentleness? In no other way did she recompense him. He regarded neither kindred nor nobleness. Who would give credence to them, considering this?\n\nPyte.\n\nYou may not blame all, though some are changeable. I can tell you stories of lovers steadfast in their love. Pyramus and Thisbe remained very stable as long as life lasted in their bodies. When one was dead, the other hastened to death. Love, a great pleasure, surely joined them. So why should you all cast lovers out of favor? Since Thisbe of Pyramus had such a great treasure, Dysdayne.\n\nAll these stories are not sufficient proof. Since the histories of both parties are quite notable, therefore, with these reasons I will not be content. But I will put a question to you, good and reportable: whether love coming by effect is more durable.\nOr love comes by conditions shall be our argument. I think love coming by conditions is less variable. How do you think now, speak show your mind and intent.\n\nPyte.\n\nI think contrary, and for this reason: love coming by effect should endure a little space. Love is a coming together of two hearts for a time. Though perhaps they do not continue long in one place, yet in their absence such love increases in pace. Whereas, if it came by conditions, it could not return. But if they might be in such a case, that they might continue together all their lives.\n\nDysdayne.\n\nYes, the remembrance of it remains in memory and continues long to their great comfort. In what friendly manner and how gently his love to him did at various times resort. Finding with him goodly pastimes and merriment. Having no lust from him to depart. I think of such as are of this sort: love should continue and last forever.\n\nPyte.\n\nMore surely printed is and joined steadfastly.\nLove enters the heart more deeply than the other, for they remain quietly where love often disrupts many a sleep. It is so penetrable and so subtly creeps upon a man, making it so stable. If such corn did repeat itself in her, he would be as agreeable to her.\n\nTuesday.\n\nPerhaps he thinks such conditions exist in none but his love, for it is all substance and steadfast. He believes she is incomparable alone, so that all worldly storms cannot bring down his mast, not even Eolus with his most stormy blast, nor could Aeolus cause discord between them. So steadfastly he trusts that love will last. He believes that Cupid is such a constant lord.\n\nPity.\n\nConsider the ground and then discuss, for where the ground fails, there is no surcease. Cessante causa cessat et effectus: take away the conditions, and there is no remembrance. All is clean gone but where affection enhances. There is no change but love perpetual. No displeasure can dispel their desired dalliance.\nBut entered in the book of fame to be memorable,\nThauctour.\nDysdayne was very desirous to speak,\nHad not credence interrupted his language,\nWhich made such haste to her lady amorous,\nThat something she pointed, because of her voyage,\nFor which she, like a woman right sage,\nMade a pause and spoke in words concise,\nAnd telling she was come according to her message,\nSpoke in words effective.\n\nCredence.\nIt pleases your grace, of your benevolence,\nTo direct to me by fantasy your letters misplaced,\nWhereby I considered and right well did prepare,\nThat I without contradiction, excuse or strife,\nShould resort to your presence since I during my life,\nAm bound to your command yet have I done offense,\nBut I did it for this intent else me from life deprive,\nThat I thought it not meet to give hasty response.\n\nBeaute.\nI reckon no blame in you, you came in good season,\nYou have well perceived your time, I hold myself content,\nYour excuse I allow, it is grounded on reason.\nHere have been much business since the hens went (i.e., since the beginning of the year). Now I will declare my pleasure since you are present. Concerning the desire between Pyte and Disdayne, there has been a great dispute until they were interrupted in their communication.\n\nPyte and Disdayne, give you good audience,\nAnd the desire takes this for an answer,\nSince now is come the time for credence,\nI will make no lengthy delay nor defer,\nBut I command you both to cease your pleas and war,\nAnd the desire, I will to my favor take,\nSince you dare to please me with such an adventure,\nI would be to blame if I should forsake you.\n\nFurthermore, I will that you enjoy and proceed,\nThe most part of this garden of affection,\nIf you lack anything, you shall have it at need,\nAnd for the tender zeal, friendship and delight,\nThat I have to you, you shall have protection,\nOver me and my duration, my mortal life,\nI will moreover be subdued to your correction,\nIf it pleases you to marry me and have me as your wife.\n\nThauctour.\n\nNoble words, joyous and comforting,\nPrudence, proper pastime, pleasure and profit.\nIn this good lady were right notable\nFrom dotage dispell danger and discord\nI believe she was preserved by some vision\nFor the which desire of good and hearty mind\nSpoke these words without misprision\nHis mind expressing by proper and kind words\n\nDesire.\n\nOpulent princess of preeminent beauty,\nI cannot compass your compassionate kindness,\nWhen it has pleased your benevolent and gracious nature,\nThat I might enter your garden to express,\nI am of no such ability as you make me doubt,\nBut since you have enabled me by your benevolence,\nGod reward you for it, since it has pleased you to enhance my dignity.\n\nThe eternal God reward you accordingly,\nIf any of His powers regard the pious,\nIf Justice is acquitted in any place duly,\nO what world brought forth your body delightful,\nWhat parents gave birth to one so amorous,\nYour counsel delights me and increases my mirth,\nYour virtue proves your parentage to be of noble birth.\n\nAs long as your floods run with violent water.\nAs long as shadows appear around hills and as long as there are stars in the firmament, your love will endure, my heart and body. Your honor and name will be expressed without fear. Since you are not changeable but steadfast and substantial, God grants you perpetual joy.\n\nThauctour said. He was urged by command of beauty\nTo take his seat in the chair of preeminence,\nWhere Disdain was so envious and angry,\nActing like one without understanding.\n\"I will no longer tarry,\" she said. \"I will go on,\"\nSince one who is announced a man of yesterday,\nHaving no good property, as one who, without offense,\nHas served from a young age always.\n\nThen she turned her back scornfully\nAnd hurried towards the gates at a quick pace,\nAnd from there she was conveyed by fantasy\nTo a place where she was clean outside the palace.\n\nThen pity said, \"What sad grace,\nWhere is Disdain, gone without leave?\nFor truly, that would be a very heavy case,\nYet I trust it should not grieve many people.\"\nNoise and rumor spread quickly through the garden, where Day was clearly gone. This caused many lovers, who had lingered, to complain to their lady loves and go alone. They feared nothing but made their money and were soon sped, leaving at the gate. Fantasy remained constant there.\n\nThis liberty increased among them, bringing such joys that I thought I heard the sound of many an instrument. This great triumph and penetrable noise caused Morpheus to vanish inconveniently. Since it was not necessary for him to be present, he should avoid places where there is noise and company. When he was gone, I woke up suddenly and was astonished, not knowing where I was perfectly.\n\nThe day came and cast a dim light. The sun under clouds by weather tempestuous orryered my sight. And therewith a beating shower a storm rageous woke me out of sleep, it was so sudden.\nAnd whereas I had expected to be awakened with minstrelsy,\nIt was contrary, which made my mind so troubled\nThat I could in no way rest, neither sit nor lie,\nUntil I remembered all my dream and fantasy.\nSaying for the sake of remembering this sudden change,\nI intend to write the manner thereof right shortly,\nSo that people may consider this world is but strange.\nYet to the window I walked with a soft pace,\nOft signing and sobbing with a heavy heart,\nTo see where I could espie pleasure the palace,\nOr perceive any part of its delights or kindnesses,\nWhich made me to smarten: fantasy or eloquence, which stirred me further.\nP\nI looked for their places where they stood in order.\nIf I could see Credence walking in any brother,\nI looked for all these, yet I saw none, alas.\nWhich brought to my mind words of Solomon, the wise recorder:\nVanity of vanities, and all is vanity.\n\nWhere is Samson for all his great strength,\nOr where is the sage Solomon for all his prudence?\nDeath has and will consume all in length.\nFor where is Ulysses, with all his eloquence?\nWhere is Crassus, with his riches and opulence?\nWhere is Lucrece, with all her chastity?\nWhere is Alexander, who subdued many of the world by his might?\nWhere is Tully, who had principality over all orators in perfect rhetoric?\nWhere are the four doctors of divinity?\nWhere is Aristotle, for all his philosophy and logic?\n\nAre not all these departed from this transitory life, yet they are named\nTo diverse places by our Creator with equal judgment, without debate or strife,\nAccording to their merits He did reward or blame.\nTherefore, for your souls' health, use virtue and fear shame.\nAnd as to the world, labor always for love,\nThat you may perpetually reign in good fame.\nIt shall be to you all riches above,\nAs experience often proves of those who have had subjects without love,\nThey fail when they have need, and their masters are powerless.\n\nAnd you who will be lovers of amiable ladies.\nYou may not be diligent but always agreeable to them, and if you intend to win their minds, first fix your mind as it may be well spent. Be secretive and steadfast without mutability. Be bold and courageous and fulfill their commandment with a quick and hasty speed as you possibly can. Nothing is better than idleness. With continuous presence, nothing can help more. Outside says otherwise, your love shall not rest in tranquility. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and a new one enters when the old one departs.\n\nThese reasons came to mind when sorrow was changed, and great trouble did enhance what should have caused my occupation with this dream. Shortly, I saw that the amorous study of Cupid and Phoebus was the cause, which could not be denied. Therefore, in my mind, I plainly decided that I would study no more, and specifically, I would no longer muse in the evening so late. But I would conclude this shortly in compact words.\nIf I should be as I once was in my miserable state, I will not always wish for my heart to change. Submit humbly to correction. Do not presume to approach the presence of those who are surrounded by effectiveness. Let them arrest their eyes to rebuke your negligence. To those who are of due congruence, submit humbly my poor and humble style. If anyone is more sad dwelling in gravity, and if further age would again give evidence, they may think it is I who avoid sloth the violence. I made this without cloak or rhetorical language. Thinking that I ought not write in such a high style as wise stories and sagas. Finis. By the author / Vatan Petit Livre. Excuse my fault / Ton empres. This fault is mine.\nPar sa copie frequently tested, I was constrained to design or adorn it with cinnabar or cestus's destain. Despite this, I have not yet fulfilled my duty for his pleasure, to assemble white and black.\n\nTreshonour, son of Sir Latimer, surnamed New, of noble parentage, O master William, clear in sense and virtue, author of this, I recommend to you this work, unworthy as I am, except by your suffrance. In showing my foolish ignorance.\n\nFin de Lenuoy.\n\nThrone of honour and magnificence, triumphing in height, plain of vigour and of sweet clemency, by true semence, a natural lord. Henry the Flower and governor, England in radiance. God keep him from evil and pain. And may he be cursed who mislikes it.\n\nTake ye in grace, worthy master mine,\nThis rubric French, in verses incorrect,\nNo marvel is, though their speech be not fine,\nFor in school nor country, I never took effect,\nAnd from your book, let them be undead,\nWithout your license, if I did them print.\n[Pardon I pray, from this my humble abode,\nPassing time without harm, I think.\nQuod Coplande.\nPrinted at London, in Fletestreet, at the sign of the Sun, by Wynkyn de Worde.]", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "Take heed and learn, little child, and see\nThat time past will not return again\nAnd in your youth, use virtues, not vices, as a companion\nLet no manner of vice reside in your breast\nThat in your age you have no cause to mourn\nFor time lost nor for lack of wit\nThink on this lesson / and in your mind it shall take root\nGlory to God / loving and blessing\nTo Peter and John and also to Lawrence\nWhich have me taken under protection\nFrom the deluge of mortal pestilence\nAnd from the tempest of deadly violence\nAnd me preserve that I fall not in the rage\nUnder the bond and yoke of marriage\nI was in purpose to have taken a wife\nAnd to have wedded without haste\nA fair maiden with her to lead my life\nWhom I loved of hasty, willful desires\nWith others to have lived in distress\nAs some gave me counsel and began to constrain\nTo have been partakers of their woeful pain\nThey laid upon me and hurried me full sore\nAnd gave me counsel for to have been bound\nAnd began to praise each day more and more.\nThe full life in which they abounded, and were glad to confuse themselves, rejoicing both at evening and morning, to have a companion to live with them in sorrow. But by his grace, God has preserved me. Through the wise counsel of these three angels, they have conserved my life from the gates of hell. In times of war, when lovers' lust was brightest, and Phoebus was freshest unto see, in Gemini the lusty and glad season, when to wed first opportunity presented itself, my joy was set in special. To have wedded one excellent in beauty, and through her beauty, have made myself a thrall under the yoke of everlasting distress. But God alone, of his high goodness, has stopped my passage from that perilous hell. Among these angels, who were in number three, one appeared from the south. He spoke first of all to the Trinity. In one sentence, the matter is clear. He was called John with the golden mouth, who concluded with a notable sentence.\nWives of custom are gladly variable. After this, John the story says also, in confirmation of their fragility, how Peter called Acorbilio. Peter plainly affirms that wives are diverse in heart, full of deceit. Masterful, hasty, and proud, they are crabbed in language when they list to cry aloud. Who takes a wife receives a great charge. In which he is full like to have a fall, with tempest tossed as is a busy barge. There he was free, he makes himself a thrall. Wives of port are full imperial. Husbands dare not their lusts displease, but lovingly please and meekly obey. The husbands ever abide in toil. One labor passed there comes another new. And every day she begins a battle. And in complaining, she changes cheer and hue. Under such falsehoods she feigns to be true. She makes him rude as is a dull ass. Out of whose danger it is impossible to pass. Thus marriage is an endless penance. Husbands know that have experience, a martyrdom and a continual violence, in sorrow everlasting.\nAnd this is the sentence of wives concerning their husbands, when they wish to be bold,\nHow they alone govern the household,\nAnd if her husband happens to prosper,\nShe says it is her prudent provision.\nIf they go backward and fail,\nShe says it is his misgovernance,\nHe bears the blame for such conduct,\nAnd if they are poor and fall into distress,\nShe says it is his folly and lewdness,\nAnd if he is no good worker,\nIt may well happen he shall have a horn,\nA large bone to stuff with his hood,\nA more rounded behind and feigned cheer beforehand,\nAnd if their good fortune is lost,\nBy chance either at evening or morning,\nThe hapless husband shall have all the sorrow,\nA husband has great cause to care,\nFor wife, for child, for food and maintenance,\nAnd if anything is lacking, she will both swear and stare,\nHe is a wastrel and shall never the three,\nSolomon says there are three things,\nShrewd wives, rain, and smoky blackness,\nWhich often cause husbands to forsake their homes.\nWives are beasts, very unchangeable.\nIn their desires which cannot be quenched,\nLike a swallow which is insatiable,\nPerilous carriage in the troubled sea,\nA wave calm, full of adversity,\nWhose blandishments end in mischance,\nCalled Circe's ever full of variance,\nThey rejoice to see and to be seen,\nAnd to seek diverse pilgrimages,\nAt great gatherings to walk on the green,\nAnd on scaffolds to sit on high stages,\nIf they are fair to show their visages,\nAnd if they are foul of look or countenance,\nThey amend it with pleasing dalliance,\nAnd of profit they take but little heed,\nBut look sour when their husbands yield ought,\nAnd of good meat and drink they will not fail in deed,\nWhatsoever it costs they care right not,\nNor they care how dear it be bought,\nRather than they should lack or miss,\nThey would sooner lay some pledge, indeed,\nIt is true I tell you, young men each one,\nWomen are variable and love many words and strife,\nWho cannot appease them lightly or at once,\nShall have care and sorrow all his life.\nThat which once a man took a wife,\nAnd will consider and often ponder,\nHow he might find a way to refuse her,\nBut such a manner cannot be found,\nTherefore be wise or enter the snare,\nOr before you take the path of that bound,\nFor if you come there, your joy is turned to care,\nAnd remedy is none, so I fear,\nBut to take patience and think of no other way,\nThan shall you die a martyr without a doubt,\nTherefore, you men who are wedded,\nDo nothing against the pleasure of your wife,\nThen you will live the more merryly,\nAnd often cause her to live without strife,\nUnless you are unhappy with an evil life,\nThan if she will be no better,\nSet her upon a pedestal and bid the devil fetch her,\nTherefore, think much and say nothing,\nAnd thank God for his goodness,\nAnd pray not to know all her thoughts,\nFor then shall you not know as I suppose,\nUnless it be of her own gentleness,\nFor if she desires your words, she cares not for a fly.\nAnd to conclude briefly, on the subject of foolish wedlock:\nThere is no greater grief or deadlier poison,\nNo more dreadful, perilous serpent,\nThan a wife who is double in her intent.\nTherefore, young men, to avoid sorrow and care,\nWithdraw your feet or you will fall into the snare.\nFINIS.\nHere ends the pain and sorrow of evil marriage.\nImprented at London in Fletestrete, at the sign\nof the Sun. / By me, Wynkyn de Worde.\nprinter's or publisher's device.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "A new book of Purgatory, which is a dialogue and disputation between a Coming, a Christian man from Germany, and a Gyngemyn, a Turkish man of Mahomet's law, discussing naturally reason and good philosophy, as to whether there is a purgatory or not. This book is divided into three dialogues.\n\nThe first dialogue shows and treats of the marvelous existence of God.\n\nThe second dialogue treats of the immortality of man's soul.\n\nThe third dialogue treats of purgatory.\n\nIt happened recently that, due to various business and other affairs concerning myself, I took a voyage from this realm and crossed the narrow Oceans sea, and truly traveled to various far eastern countries, and at last, as it happened, I came to a great city, where I stayed and tarried for twenty days or more. In this city, there is a constant gathering of merchants, who are born in various and diverse nations, not only Englishmen,\nFrenchmen, Spaniards, Almains, and others who were Turks and Saracens, and those who followed Muhammad's law, frequently met in various places within the same city. Since merchants frequently exchanged goods, these merchants often gathered together and, for recreation among themselves, were curious about news and strange things from other countries. During a particular season, I was in the company of several such merchants. Among them were two, one of whom was a Turk named Gyngemyn, born under Muhammad's law, and the other was a Christian named Comyngo, born in high Turk. The great Turk had recently experienced sieges, such as that of Rhodes, and battles, which he had recently undergone. Comyngo, the Almain, responded and showed him that there was a new variation in Christendom and a schism in their faith.\nAnd he said that among the people there was a new opinion springing up, that there is no purgatory, nor that the soul of man after it is separate from the body shall never be purged or purified of any sin that remains therein, but it shall immediately, after it is separated from the body, go either to heaven for eternal joy and salvation, or to hell for eternal pain and damnation. To whom Gyingemyn answered and said that this opinion was foolish and against all natural reason, because all people in the world, of whatever country they have been or are, or of whatever law and sect they have been or are, whether the Pythagoreans, the Jews, and you who are of Christ's faith, and we who are of Muhammad's law, and all others who have ever lived or live according to the order of any good reason, have ever believed and do believe that there is a purgatory, where souls shall be purged after this mortal life. Therefore, he marveled greatly that such a foolish opinion should begin.\nAmong the people in any country considering there is no reason to maintain their opinion that I could ever.\n\nThe reasons of those who hold the opinion that there is no purgatory. To whom coming, Almain answered and said that they had various reasons to maintain their opinion thereof. One reason is this. They say that contrition, which some call repentance, is that which is the very payment and satisfaction for sin. And they say that when a man commits a sin and afterwards is repentant, therefore God, of His goodness, forgives him. And then, since a man who is a sinner has made such payment and satisfaction for his sin as God would have made, therefore, if that man should go to purgatory and have a new punishment after his death, that repentance that he had before would be in vain.\n\nAnother reason, they allege, is that man was created perfect and in the image of God, and that the state of sin is a departure from that image, and that the soul, being separated from the body, is restored to its original purity and perfection by the mercy of God, without any need for purgation.\nOrded and made to have an infinite being; therefore, after this mortal death he must have infinite joy or infinite pain. So he is not orded to have pain in purgatory who has an end.\n\nAnother reason they allege, and that is this. God, by the order of his justice, has orded heaven, where good men shall be rewarded, and hell where sinners shall be punished, and in both those places orders and degrees. That is to say, he who deserves a great and high reward shall have in heaven great joy, and he who deserves a smaller reward shall have a smaller joy, and also he who deserves a great punishment shall have in hell great pain, and he who deserves a lesser punishment shall have in hell lesser pain. So that whether a man has deserved great joy or small joy, great pain or small pain, God may, by his order of good justice, reward or punish him accordingly, so that there needs no place of purgatory.\n\nAnother reason they allege, and that is:\nThough a man may not be thoroughly purged of his soul, he may perform some mean and low service or pleasure to God in heaven, though it not be the highest and best service, nor have the greatest rewards. Another reason they allege is that God has ordained heaven to be a place of eternal rest. Since the soul of the departed is here with the body, it is convenient that it should be purged here as well. And because God has ordained this earthly place to be a place of transience, it is most convenient that the place of purgatory should be here on earth, since it is the place ordained for purgation that will have an end, and the place of purgatory. Another reason they allege is that, for caution's sake, there must be a purgatory where the soul of man, after it is separated from the body, shall be purged and purified. To whom this Comyn, the Turk, immediately answered and said by other arguments and by natural reason and good philosophy that there must necessarily be a purgatory. To whom this Comyn replied, it would be marvelous.\nI am glad to hear his mind on the matter. To whom this gem I must immediately go into the street to speak with a merchant, to ask of him but one short question concerning the business of his merchandise, and said that he would return again inconveniently, which as he said, he did, and tarried not long but shortly came again. And as soon as ever they were met again, they began their communication. [finis prologue.\n\nComing the Almain.\n\nNow my friend Gyngem,\nGyngemin the Turk,\n\nI shall prove thee that, or thou wilt abide the argument thereof, and patiently with good deliberation, hear me. Coming.\n\nI shall be content to give diligent hearing to it, but yet I pray thee to suffer me to answer thee and to object and to reply against thee.\n\nGyngemyn.\n\nAnd with that, I am well content, and thy request is reasonable. For with reasons and arguments made pro and contra, and both parties answered, replied, and objected, the truth of every proposition shall soon and better be revealed.\nBut I will warn you, as my only purpose is to prove the thing by reason, since in your reasons and objections against me you allege no manner of text or authority, neither of the old nor new testament, nor of any other book you call the holy scripture of your deity or the laws made therefor, which you are bound by faith to believe. For you may well know that it will be in vain to allege such texts or authorities to me, since I and all other Turks of our laws and sect deny many of the principles and texts therein.\n\nComing to the point. Since you have laid aside all texts and authorities of either of our beliefs and laws, let us see how we can prove by reason and good natural philosophy that there is a purgatory where men's souls should be purged and purified.\n\nBut I think it is unnecessary to prove this point by point, as I believe the arguments for the existence of purgatory are self-evident.\nYou must grant me two principles or conclusions first, before we proceed to the matter concerning purgatory. One is that there is a God above all, who rules, governs, conserves, keeps, and takes heed of all. The other is that the soul of man is immortal and shall never die, but has a perpetual life.\n\nI grant these. What moves you to grant them so soon?\n\nBecause our holy scripture shows us this and teaches us so. And all our laws bind us and compel us to believe it.\n\nBut lay all scripture and laws apart and tell me what you think of these two points in natural reason.\n\nBy my truth, I think that no man, solely by reason, can prove that there is a God who governs all, conserves all, and governs all.\ntake heed of this: the soul of man is immortal and does never die.\nGyngemyn.\nYes, I shall prove to both of you these points by reason, so that your only reason shall judge them to be true, if you will.\nComyn.\nBy what reason can you first prove that there is a god who governs all?\nGyng.\nListen, and I shall show you.\nI trust you will grant me that there was ever a thing or nothing, being or not being, something or no thing, which they call res vel nihil, something or not something, being or not being, whych they call esse vel non esse. For, as the philosopher says, of two opposing or contradictory things, one must necessarily be true.\nGyngemyn.\nThen thus, every thing is something, and every thing that is something is being. So that a thing, something, and being signify one sense.\nTheir contradictions / nothing / not being / do not signify one sense.\nComing.\nThat is true.\nGy:\nThen furthermore, was there a thing before nothing?\nOr nothing before a thing?\nComing.\nA thing must necessarily be before nothing, or else the world, or nothing in it, could not be, for nothing cannot produce or come from nothing.\nGyngemyn.\nThere, in what you say, there is truth for one contrary cannot bring forth its contrary, for if once nothing was being, then of that nothing nothing can come or be, for nothing can be made from nothing, therefore it follows well that there was always a thing being. And that thing which was ever before all other things must necessarily be without beginning, for every thing that is made or created had a cause of its beginning. Ergo, then it must follow that that thing which was first made must have a maker, who was unmade, for if anything were before that thing which you call the first maker.\nThen that which you call the first maker/ creator cannot be called the first maker and the first cause of all, because it has another maker or another cause before it. Therefore, there must be something that is the first maker and first cause of all things, which has no maker or no cause of its own. From this source, every thing is derived and takes its being. Thus, that which was first in being must necessarily be the cause and foundation of all things. Of all being, and that first cause or first maker can have no beginning, but was ever without beginning. This first cause and first thing among all people is called God. And that first cause is most worthy to be called God.\n\nComing next, this conclusion follows so reasonably that it cannot be denied.\n\nGyngemyn.\n\nThen since God is the first cause of every thing and the first and principal cause of the being of every thing, it requires that in Him there be such a being.\nComing:\nParagraph 1:\nThat which has the most perfect being, the most substantial being, and the most sure being, which shall never have an end, for if it should have an end, it is not most perfect, most substantial, and most sure being, but it must be such a being which excludes every imperfection that tends not to be. For perfect being, substantial being, and sure being, are all contrary to not being. Therefore, the one is repugnant to the other.\n\nGod, who is the most perfect being, most substantial, and most sure being, must have a being that never has an end. So there is no past time in which he was not, nor present time in which he is not, nor future time in which he will not be: therefore, it necessarily follows that his being was ever without beginning, and is, and shall be, ever without end.\n\nParagraph 2:\nI must also affirm the same.\n\nComing:\nGyngemyn:\nThen furthermore, since God is without beginning or end...\nAnd the cause of every thing that has taken, or shall take, any effect, as I proved before, and the cause is always stronger than the effect. Furthermore, the cause is that which has the power to make the effect be. Since God causes all things, therefore it necessarily follows that God has the power to do all things. And because He can do all things, therefore God is called omnipotent and is most powerful and mighty. By the same reasoning, I can also prove the nobility of God, for the cause is always more noble than the effect, and nobility is that which has least need of foreign help, that is, of help from any other thing. Since God is the cause of all things, and every other thing takes its effect from Him as from its first cause, and the cause, as I said before, is more noble than the effect, and every thing that takes any effect has need of the cause.\n\nComing to the point.\nI agree.\nGyngemyn agrees as well.\nMoreover, since God is the cause of all things...\nthat I have demonstrated to you before that being and not being are contrary, and that being must come before not being: similarly, life and not life are contrary, and it requires that life proceed and go before not life, for that which has no life cannot be the only cause that that which has life exists. For that which has no life nor ever had life may not, by its own power, make a thing have life.\n\nComyn.\nAll that is reasonable.\nGynges.\n\nBut we see many things in the world which have life, such as man and beast. Therefore, the life which is in those creatures is derived and proceeds and comes most perfectly and painfully and sorrowfully because it is contrary to the nature and desire of the thing which suffers thus. And case and pleasure do come together.\n\nComynges.\nAll that is convenient to grant.\nGyngemyn.\n\nThen, by the same reason that puts him in being, I may also prove his knowledge and understanding: for that which has no knowledge nor understanding.\nvnderstandynge / can not be onely cause of that thynge / whyche hath knowlege and vnderstandynge And also as I sayd to the erewhyle / bycause the beynge of god / is y\u2022 fyrst beyng and the cause of the beyng of euery thyng / and the moost parfyte / \nmoost substauncyall / and moost sure beynge / It must than folow that he must haue the moost noble and moost worthy byenge that can be imagy\u2223ned or thought to be / and than that thynge which hath beyng & lyfe also / is more worthy and more noble / than that thynge which hath but beyng onely / as the tre and herbe / whiche haue a quycknes of a lyfe wherby they growe & increase / haue a more noble and worthy beyng / than a deed stok or a deed stone which grow not. And as the brute beest which hath a lyfe sensytyue and power to moue it selfe / and memorye / hathe a more noble and a more worthy beynge / than the tree or the herbe / whyche hathe but quyckenynge and growynge without power to moue or memory. And also as the beyng of man / whych hath both lyfe sensytyue\npower to move memory and understanding has a more noble and worthy being than the brute beast, which has only life sensitive power to move and memory without understanding. Therefore, it must follow that understanding is the cause of the most noble and worthy being, and since God has the most noble and worthy being that can be, it must necessarily follow that in God there must be knowledge and understanding, and that the same being of God must be with the same knowledge and understanding. And if, as I have shown before, the being of God is without beginning and ending, eternal and infinite,\n\nComing next.\n\nThis conclusion pleases me well.\n\nGyngemyn.\n\nFurther, being and not-being are contrary and repugnant entities, and some call them contradictories, that is, the one always denies and affirms the other. And where such contrary entities are, every thing in the world is.\nVerified I am one of them, and nothing in the world can be verified on both, for every thing in the world is god or not god, and every thing is a man or not a man, and every thing in the world that is, has life or no life. So I say that good and not good, which we call evil, are two contrary antecedents. Then it must necessarily follow that, if God is being, God must necessarily be either a good thing or an evil thing. But if God should be of Himself the first cause of every good thing, then God, from whom every good thing comes and from whom all goodness proceeds, must necessarily be Himself the highest good thing and the very and most highest goodness, and that in no way God may be evil.\n\nComing next,\nAs for that no reasonable man may deny,\nGyngemyn.\n\nThen, just as good and evil are two contrary antecedents, so truth and falsehood are two contrary antecedents: therefore God must be either truth or falsehood, but falsehood is of the kind of evil, and truth is of the kind of goodness.\nand yet God is the very goodness and the highest good thing itself, and falsehood is of the kind of evil. It must necessarily follow that God in no way can be false, but that He Himself must be the very truth. And since I have proven to you that God is a being and a thing without beginning or ending, and the most perfect thing, the most substantial thing, and the most sure thing, the very truth and the best thing, God must have in Himself the best properties that can be.\n\nComing. I grant it.\nGyngemyn.\nThen I pray you answer me this: is not virtue the best property that can be in God?\n\nComing.\nIf I should answer that, we must first agree on what thing virtue is.\nGyngemyn.\nI think that virtue is nothing else but the disposition of the mind well or orderly, so that virtue rests ever in the mind, as when the mind consents and agrees to goodness. And I think that all scholars will agree to the same.\n\nComyn.\nAnd I think the same, and that virtue is the disposition of the mind.\nnothings else but a good mind: for always when the mind consents to goodness, there is virtue, whether it be in God or in His creatures, and this consent to goodness is evermore in God.\nGyngemyn.\nTherefore, since the mind and will of God ever consent to goodness, it follows that virtue must ever be in God.\nComyngo.\nI must also affirm the same.\nGyngemyn.\nFurthermore, why is justice belonging to and incident with virtue or not?\nComyngo.\nIt must be so, for all clerks have distinguished that justice is a constant and perpetual will giving to each thing its own, and therefore I think it must be necessary that justice must be a good thing and a high excellent virtue. Thou sayest truth, and by that high excellent virtue of justice, God rules and governs all, and that same self justice is the constant well of God, by which He governs all the world and every thing therein, in a convenient and reasonable order, and so it must follow that God is ever.\nrighteous and just I will now demand if mercy is a good property of virtue or not.\nComyn.\nThus let us first agree on what we call mercy.\nGyn.\nI think that mercy is nothing else, but a loving mind of a pitiful affectation. And since mercy is incident to virtue, it must always be in God, so that it always gives punishment and reward to every one as he deserves, and by his mercy he remits punishment and increases the reward.\nComyngo.\nThat conclusion is both proper and reasonable.\nGyingemyn.\nFurthermore, since justice and mercy are both incident and always belonging to virtue, it follows necessarily that justice & mercy must always be in God, and His justice cannot be without His mercy nor His mercy without justice. And then it must also follow that God does not punish any creature by His justice, but that His punishment is less than they deserve through His mercy.\nGod rewards no creature with justice alone, but with mercy, a loving, pitiful mind. He gives a greater reward than deserved through justice, which inflicts punishment and reward, and through mercy and goodness, He enlarges and gives more reward. Therefore, it follows necessarily that the justice and mercy of God are always corresponding and reciprocal, and one cannot exist without the other. God is always just and merciful.\n\nComyn.\n\nIndeed, this is a marvelous and good conclusion.\n\nGyngemyn.\n\nSince God is infinite and sees and knows all things, and is Himself the high good thing and the excellent goodness, and uses His justice and mercy, which are always corresponding, it must follow that He rules and governs all through His justice and mercy.\nall and maintains control of the world and every thing in it.\n\nCompany.\n\nYou have driven that conclusion with so many reasonable principles that I cannot deny it.\n\nGyngemyn.\n\nThen I must ask another question: is not love a thing and a property belonging to virtue?\n\nComyn.\n\nYes, Mary, it must be so; for in the love of God and of one's neighbor for God's sake, all virtue resides.\n\nGynge.\n\nWhy then must it be that love must be ever in God, and that God loves the world; or else, He would not govern it and preserve it as He does, and then He cannot govern it and preserve it except He attends to it and takes care of it and every thing contained in the world, and every act and deed done in the world.\n\nComyngo.\n\nI grant all that.\n\nGyngemyn.\n\nThen since He attends to and takes care of the world and every one of His creatures, He will most specifically take care of His creatures on earth,\nMan is most worthy and noble among God's creatures on earth because he is most like God. Why is man more like God than any other creature on earth? Because man has both knowledge and understanding, which no other creature possesses. Therefore, God must pay attention to man and his actions. Consequently, God must punish and reward every act and deed done by man according to his justice and mercy. Reason agrees with this. Furthermore, regarding the marvelous existence of God, you may recall that everything in the world is present to His sight and knowledge. Therefore, He must know every thing and every man's thought and will. His knowledge cannot be separated from His being, nor His being from His knowledge.\nKnowledge requires being everywhere and in every place.\nComing.\nThat conclusion will be most remarkably difficult to prove.\nGyngemyn.\nYes, that conclusion I can prove by another reason and argument.\nComing.\nI pray, how?\nGyng.\nYou know well that I have shown and proved before that God is the first cause of all things and being. And that there is no other first or principal cause of the being of the world but only God: and that God is the only cause thereof, and there is no other mediatorial cause thereof but only God. Then, as the philosopher says, where the cause ceases, the effect ceases. If there is one cause of the being of a thing, if that cause is taken away and absent from the thing, then that thing can no longer have being, nor can it any longer continue but must cease to be. And because God is the first and only cause of the world and of every part of the world, and no other cause but only God, if God should be absent from it, it could not be.\nThe fire and its flame cannot disappear from the world or any part of it, as there is no example alike in all respects. I will provide a familiar example that resembles this: just as the fire is the cause of the flame, so if the fire is clearly taken away, the flame cannot be or continue. Wherever the flame exists, fire must be present; wherever any part of the flame exists, fire must be present. I say the same of God and the world: wherever the world exists, God must be present; wherever any part of the world exists, God must be present. Therefore, it must be necessary that God is present everywhere in the world and in every part of the world, and nowhere absent.\nGod is the first cause of the world, and the only cause, with nothing else causing the world but God. If God were absent from the entire world and not present, the entire world would perish. Furthermore, if God were present everywhere and in every part of the world, that part from which He is absent could no longer exist, because, as I previously stated, God is the first and only cause of the entire world and every part of it. If the cause ceases to exist, the effect must also cease. Therefore, as I said before, it is a necessary conclusion that God is everywhere and always present in the world, in every part and place of the world.\n\nComyn.\nNow I thank you for that conclusion. I would add that if God is everywhere and in every place in the world, then He would be diverse things or else His parts would be diverse in diverse places.\nPlaces. One part of God occupies one place, and another part of God occupies another place. not so, for God is one thing and not many things, and there are not many gods but one. The same one God may be whole in various places.\n\nComyn.\n\nI pray you, by what reason may I know and understand that?\n\nGyngemyn.\n\nAs for the first, that God is one thing and that there are not many gods but one: this can be proven because unity must come before plurality, or else plurality must come before unity. Therefore, God must be an unity or else a plurality, and every plurality consists of two things which are different from each other. But between every two different things there is some discord and variance, for where there is no manner of discord of being, there is but one thing, but if God were several things and not one thing, then there should be ever in Him a discord and a variance, and if He had such a being that\nIf one varies within himself, he would not have the noblest or most joyful being, but a miserable and wretched one. Therefore, since he has the noblest and most joyful being that can be, as I have proved, and also for the same reason, it follows that there must be but one god and not many. For if there were many gods other than those who agree among themselves in every thing and every act, or else they disagree and discord in every thing and every act, or else they agree in some things and disagree in others, in the first place, if they agree in every thing and every act, then they are not many but one god, as to the second place, if they disagree in every thing and every act, then there would be no concord in the world nor anything else that could have been or continued, for the one would have preserved, the other destroyed. As to the third point, they agree in some things and in some things disagree, in those things where they disagree.\nThings that discord must be between the various things, if they vary between themselves, neither of them can have the most noble and joyful being, but each of them a miserable being. And if there are two gods, there must be two first beginnings of every thing, so neither of them would be sufficient by itself. In every kind of thing, that which is the highest of the same kind is but one thing, for the multitude of all separate men is reduced into one humanity, the multitude of every separate horse into one kind of horses, and so of others, and the multitude of separate kinds into one general beginning and head of all kinds. And likewise, as every singular material thing is reserved into one material thing, every member of the world into one whole member and body, so all separate natures are referred to one whole nature, all separate lives to one life, all separate movers to one mover, all separate things to one mover.\norders to one hole orderer of all things: it must necessarily be that there is but one god and no more, who is the first cause, beginning, ruler, and orderer of all things, and is one in himself.\nAlso, concerning the other point, it is not inconvenient that the same self-same one god may be whole in various places. For you see by experience that the sound of a thing or a voice or a word spoken may be whole and clear in various places and to various men at once, and yet every man hears the whole voice, sound, or word, and it benefits each man in every part of his ear. Similarly, your soul and life of your body are whole in your whole body and in every part of your body, or else, if a part of your body (such as your hand or your foot, which are but creatures of God), have such power that they may be whole in various places, it follows well that God, who is the creator and cause of all, has such power and nobility of being that he may be whole in various places.\nComyn.\nNow that is one of the properties\nConclusions for my learning that I have heard.\nGyn. Yet tarry a little while, and I shall show you another conclusion concerning the marvelous existence of God, which perhaps will please you as well as that.\nComyn. I would be glad to hear that, therefore I pray you show me what it is.\nGyngemyn\nBy these aforesaid conclusions, I shall now prove to you that God is eternal.\nComyngo. You have convinced me, it seems, that all things are ready for me substantially, for you have convinced me that God is infinite without beginning or ending, and that I call eternal.\nGyngemyn. Nay, now I see well that you do not perceive the perfect ground of this thing.\nComyn. Why do you call God eternal?\nGyn. For very perfection of all things together in life interminable, it is to say with without changing of time, but all things that are in the world live in time present, and proceed from time past to time to come, for it has lost the time of yesterday, and yet occupies not the time of tomorrow. For no one\n\n(Note: The text appears to be written in Middle English, and it seems to be a dialogue between two individuals discussing the concept of God's eternity. The text is mostly readable, but there are a few minor errors and inconsistencies in the spelling and formatting. I have corrected the spelling errors and formatted the text for better readability, while preserving the original meaning as much as possible.)\nA man lives in this life only in the present, transitory moment. And every thing that lives and is in this world occupies but one little moment of time. So I believe you will grant that that joy which you had yesterday, now past, is now no joy, and the joy which you will have tomorrow has not yet come, for if the pleasure which you had yesterday in tasting delightful foods is now past, then you have no such pleasure in tasting now, or if your body will have after this time an ability and pleasure in enduring the pain which you now know not all things were, are, and shall be to him present.\n\nComyn.\n\nThis is now one of the marvels I have ever heard, but since I now perceive that nothing is worthy to be called eternal except only God, what shall I call those things which have such an existence in transitory moments that never shall be?\nHave ended. (Gynger)\nCertes, if I should give them a fitting name, I must call them eternal, and the existence of God is eternal. Since God is present everywhere, and all things are present to Him, and understanding of God is His very being, it must necessarily follow that God understands, sees, and knows every thing in the world, ever present before Him, every man's thought, every act that has been, is, or shall be, and every creature's deeds, doings, and thoughts, past, present, and future. (Comyn)\nNow doubtless that\nis one of the noblest conclusions that ever I have heard since I was born. Therefore, I thank you with all my heart, not only for this, but also for all other reasons why you have brought me here, compelling me to necessarily.\nby reason there is a God who by His high providence rules and governs all, and cares for and takes heed of all the world and everything in it. But at the beginning of our conversation, you told me that you could prove to me by reason another conclusion and principle, that is, that the soul of my maid is immortal and shall never die.\n\nGyng.\nThat conclusion I will prove to you with such demonstrative reasons that I doubt not but I shall satisfy your mind, but yet now because I have a little business to do, I pray you spare me for a little while. And within the space of an hour or a little more, I shall be here again, and then we shall proceed in our argument.\n\nComyn.\nWith right good will I am content, and I shall not fail by God's grace to be here again within this hour, and then diligently to attend upon your return, and therefore I pray you do not fail to keep your promise.\nI shall keep my promise with the help of the great god. Farewell for a time. Comyn. Farewell and goodbye with all my heart. Thus ends the first dialogue, declaring the marvelous existence of God.\n\nGyngemyn. I am glad to meet you again, for I thought I would surely find you here upon my return. Comyn. I came more quickly because I wanted to be here before you. I would be displeased if you should prove me at fault in keeping our promise, or\n\nGyn. You are more to be commended for that. Therefore, let us not depart from the matter that we promised between us to discuss - that is, to prove by natural reason alone that the soul of man is immortal and shall never die.\n\nComyn. I know you said you could prove it by natural reason, but I would rather hear about the other conclusion you spoke of - that is, that there is a purgatory, where the soul of man shall be purified after it is separated from the body.\nthe body / which is more co\u0304uenye\u0304t and more nede full to be prouyd / than to proue the immortalyte of ma\u0304nes soule: for there is but few people but that they beleue that the soule of man is immortal.\n\u00b6Gyn.\n\u00b6And I thynke it is both conuenyent and nedefull / to {pro}ue fyrst the immortalyte of mannes soule / for as touchyng the fyrst poynte / I can not so co\u0304uenye\u0304tly proue to ye by reason yt there is a purgatory / nor so well to satysfye thy mynde therin / except I shuld fyrst proue to the by reason that the soule of man is immortall / for that yt other the same groundys & pryncyples whych serue for the fyrst wyll conuenye\u0304tly serue for the other / or ellys they wyll be antecedentes necessary to proue the sayd conseque\u0304s. And as to the seconde poynte me thynketh it is now very nedefull / and for a co\u0304men vertuous welth to proue by reason that y\u2022 soule of man shuld be immortall. For this I merk meruelously whych I se by a comen expe\u2223ryens vsed in the worlde / and specyally in my contrey / yt many whyche be\ncalled the great wise men of the world, who have deep and high learning and excellent wit, live abominably and viciously. Some in pomp and pride, some so inordinately covetous that they are never sated, some in rancor, malice, and disdain, and many of them never turn from these vices during their lives, neither by exhortation, preaching, teaching, nor by pain, punishment, sickness, nor other thing, except for a very little season only while the pain endures. I say then, if such wise men and great clerics, so well studied and learned, believed perfectly and surely that their souls were immortal and should have pain or joy in another world according to what they deserve here on earth, I suppose very truly they would never continue in their vicious living as they do. Therefore, it is a great collective argument to me that they do not believe in the immortality of the human soul. But that they labor and study to bring others to believe in the immortality of the soul, because they would have\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Early Modern English, and there are some errors in the OCR transcription. The text has been corrected to the best of my ability while preserving the original meaning.)\nthem obeying unto them and thereby maintaining their own vices and voluptuous appetites.\nComyn.\nNay, God forbid it should be so, but I think rather it is the frailty of their nature, and that they do but forget to do their duties to God for a time. But if there are such men as you speak of, who will never be converted by exhortations, preaching, sickness, nor other punishments, I think there is no remedy.\nGyng.\nYes, indeed, this thing which I now propose to show may be a remedy and help in this matter. For there is nothing in the world that can alter and change a man's mind and belief so well and surely as his own judgment. For when a man is firmly convinced of anything, though the prayers and opinions of others cannot turn his mind, yet if another reason comes to his mind, his opinions are changed, and he believes that it is immortal, and that it shall never perish.\nBy my truth, you speak well to me, and therefore I pray now show me some reasons why you think necessary to prove the immortality of man's soul, as concerning my mind in this matter.\n\nWith a right good will. But yet, if I should satisfy your mind in this matter by way of argument and reasoning, we first need to agree between us in the words and terms we shall speak, so that I may mean the same thing always that you mean, and that you mean always the same thing that I mean. For if I speak a word, and by that word that I speak I mean fire, and by the same self word you mean water, we shall never agree in our arguments and reasons, nor by our argument ever bring forth, nor prove any true or good conclusion. Therefore, if we should speak of the body and of the soul, and of man, it is first necessary to agree between us, what thing we call a body, and what thing we call a soul, and what thing we call a man.\n\nYou\n\nThou.\nI. I pray first tell me your opinion, and what you call a body, a soul, and a mass.\n\nGyn. I call a body as all philosophers have defined it.\n\nCo. What do you mean by this word \"defined\"?\n\nGyn. Mary Dysgynomy, as the philosophers say, is a rule which shows and teaches us the being of a thing and what the thing is, only by essential terms and words. But accidental things are those which may be taken away from the thing which we would describe, and yet the same thing may still remain. For whiteness or blackness, hardness or softness, good or bad, and such other terms are accidental for a horse or a man. For whiteness or blackness, hardness or softness, good or bad may be changed in a horse or man, and yet the same self horse or man may still remain in its substantial being.\nA body is defined as that which has length, breadth, and thickness, according to philosophers. A soul, in their view, is the living power of a natural body. A man is a body with a sensible and rational soul. However, I believe there is a better definition for the soul, in my opinion.\n\nWhat is that?\n\nA soul, in my view, is nothing but a living power.\nAnd a soul ought not always be called the act of the natural body having life, for I think that you will grant that the soul of man, when it is separate from its corruptible body, is a soul, yet it is not the act of the body for it does nothing with the body, nor does the body do any act or have any natural doing because of the soul. And therefore, it seems it is no good distinction of the soul to call it the act of the body, but the best distinction of the soul is to call it the life-giving power.\n\nComyn:\nIf that is your opinion, then you are clean from the distinction of the philosophers, and I suppose that few clerks there will take your part.\n\nGyng:\nNay, it is not clear against the philosophers' mind, for perhaps when they gave that distinction they meant that the soul, being joined with the body, is the act of the body.\n\nComyn:\nWell, then go forth with your purpose.\n\nGyng:\nFurthermore, I say that of that soul there are three distinct ways:\n\nComyn:\nThis is\nA very good introduction to our matter and a reasonable conclusion. I am content to grant these conclusions. Therefore, go forth with your argument, and let me see how you can prove by reason that the soul of man is immortal and will never die.\n\nGynge.\nI trust I shall prove this. But first, or we go to reasoning: it is wisdom for a man to believe that the soul of man is immortal and will never die, and that it is great folly to believe the contrary. For in every doubtful thing, the more certain way is to be chosen. But if you believe that it is immortal and will never die, though it be not so, yet that belief by no possibility can ever hurt or disprofit the soul. If it be:\n\nComyngo.\nHow can you prove that?\n\nGyngemyn.\nForsothe thus. A man must needs believe that the soul of man is immortal and will never die, or else mortal and will perish with the body. But it is more wisdom and profit for a man to believe that it shall never die than the contrary. For in every doubtful thing, the more certain way is to be chosen. But if you believe that it is immortal and will never die, though it be not so, yet that belief by no possibility can ever hurt or disprofit the soul.\nIf one is immortal and will be punished for one's deeds, those who believe can do great good, if one lives virtuously, whether in this world or not, after the soul departs from the body. However, if one is mortal and will die, but believes it is immortal, the belief will never cause harm after death. But if one believes it is mortal and will die with the body, belief in its mortality may cause great harm. For if the soul lives after the body and is punished in another world for actions committed in this world, and the boldness of that belief caused one to live more viciously in this world, then the belief in the soul's mortality is the cause of harm. Therefore, believing that the soul of man dies with the body may cause harm to man in the future. Regarding the belief that the soul of man:\n\"never should/be harmful to me afterward, nor can following from it lead to harm for anyone. Therefore, I may rightly conclude that a man's soul is incorruptible and will never die. It is great wisdom, and to believe otherwise is great folly.\n\nCompany.\n\nThis reason proves it is wiser to believe in the immortality of the soul, but this reason does not prove the soul to be immortal.\n\nGyngemyn.\n\nBut if you will give me attentive hearing, I trust I will prove to you that the soul of man is immortal and that it is infinite and will never die nor utterly perish. And I will prove this to you by diverse reasons.\n\nComingo.\n\nI pray you, by what reasons?\n\nGyngemyn.\n\nDoubtless by many good reasons. My first reason is this: There is no creature of God on earth that does so much honor to God or praises God as much as man does, nor is there any creature in the earth that has any knowledge and reason to know how to do honor to God except man.\"\nOnly man is the creature that honors God on earth. It is convenient and just, with God's goodness, that God therefore rewards man with a life and being more pleasant and better than any other creature or beast here. But the life and being man has here on earth is more wretched, sorrowful, and worse than the life of any other brute beast here. Therefore, it is necessary and convenient that man has another life after the corruption of his body, and that must be the life and being of his rational soul, because his body, after his mortal death, has by nature no manner of life.\n\nWhy is the life of man here on earth more wretched, sorrowful, and worse than the life of any other brute beast?\n\nThat I shall show you. The body of man is more frail and tender than the body of any other brute beast. For\nThe body of man is more tender and naked than any other brute beast, for fish have shells if he did not have covering made of other beast's skin or hair or other things, he would perish from cold. Man must labor and study to obtain this covering, whereas beasts and birds do not need to labor for it because they have all necessary things given to them by nature. Therefore, man's life is more needy and wretched than the life of any other brute beast. Man takes and must take great labor for the obtaining of his necessary food and living, tilling the ground with great labor to get drink and food. Whereas beasts take no such pains for drink nor other food, but find water ready for their drink and all other things ordered by nature ready for their food without any study or labor. Thus, man's life is more laborious and painful than the life of any other brute beast.\nMan's mind is greatly troubled and unsettled by many things / though man knows certainly that he must die and often ponders this / yet beasts do not possess such knowledge or concern / and man takes thought and care for losses of riches, honor, or dignity / some men are so consumed by such concerns that they cannot be merry during their lives / and women desire and covet beautiful apparel to adorn their bodies, lovely decorations and fair houses, and all things pleasing to the eye / as pictures and images / they also delight in sweet smells and savors / and take great pain, labor, and study / vexation and unsettledness of mind for the acquisition of such things. But yet,\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Early Modern English, and while there are some errors in the OCR transcription, they do not significantly impact the overall readability of the text. Therefore, no major corrections are necessary. However, some minor corrections have been made for clarity and consistency.)\nA beast cares for nothing but food, bodily lust, ease, and pleasure. Therefore, it is beneficial for a man to endure much vexation, thought, and mental unquietness, which brute beasts do not. As I said before, if the soul of man had no other life and was separate from the body, man, who among all earthly creatures gives only honor and praise to God, would be in a worse case than any other brute beast, which is not in accordance with God's justice or goodness. Man, who on earth gives only honor and praise to God, should be rewarded with a life more wretched and miserable than any other beast, which cannot be excepted except that his soul has a life and being after it is separated from this corruptible body. Therefore, it follows that the soul of man must necessarily be immortal.\n\nComing next,\nThis is a right proper reason which you have.\nThe very operation and property of the rational soul is to know and understand. If the gross body of man is the cause of the soul's being, so that the soul takes its perfection and corruption from the body, then the soul cannot use its operation and property without the body. But if the soul of man can use its operation and property without occupying the gross body, then the body is not the cause of the soul's perfection and corruption, but the soul may use its operation and property without occupying the gross body. The less that the body or the five senses are moved or stirred, the better and more perfectly does the soul use its operation and property. When a man moves not with the body, nor sees nothing, hears no noise, tastes nothing, nor smells nothing, that should trouble the body, then does the soul of man use its operation and property.\nhys operacyon and properte of vn\u2223derstandynge most clerely and perfytly. And also yt hath ben oft tymes harde and knowen / that dyuers men in theyr dremys haue seen many vy syons / some in theyr dreme thynk them self / in theyr lyuyng bodyes to be in other placys talkynge wyth other folkes / and doynge dyuers thynges to theyr pleasure or dyspleasure: when in dede theyr bodyes be not there / but they lye in theyr beddes styll a slepe / and these thynges and vysyons / whych they se in theyr dremys is the operacyon of theyr soules / for theyr bodyes so lyenge a slepe do see nor do no suche thynge / and therfore syth the soule of man doth see and doth suche thynges wythout the body / it fo lo weth well that the soule of man hath a beyng wythout the body / and so may haue his beynge when it is seueryd and separate from the body.\n\u00b6Co.\n\u00b6Me thinketh that reason {pro}ueth as well yt the soule of a brute best may haue his beynge when it is separate from the body of that beste. For as I suppose a dog or a hog or any\nIn my opinion, no beast in the world dreams but man, and the world cannot prove otherwise. A dog or other beast may cry and make noise in its sleep, yet it does not dream or see anything. We often observe that a man in his sleep speaks and moves, and yet he does not dream or see anything, nor can he remember what he spoke or saw while he was asleep. Sometimes a man speaks and makes noises in his sleep and does not see or dream, and sometimes he makes movements or noises in his sleep and dreams and sees visions, but the speaking and moving while asleep are not the same as dreaming.\nA man has in his sleep, while he sees nothing and his mind is not occupied, a natural disposition and complexity of the body. It is only the operation of the body and not of the soul, because the mind is nothing occupied during that time. Nor does it cry out or move as it does when it feels pain, signaling the pain as it does when it is waking up. And when it feels ease and pleasure, it makes no noise or sighs, or makes some movement, signifying the same ease and pleasure as it does when it is waking up. But no brute beast in the world is able to make any noise, cry, or sigh in its sleep other than what it can do when it is waking up. However, when it is waking up, it is not able to do anything concerning the operation and properties of the rational soul, for it cannot reckon or count numbers, discuss what is right and wrong, good or bad, nor make arguments or reasons.\nA reasonable soul has properties that no brute beast can have or use during sleep, as they cannot have or use them while awake. However, a man possesses these soul properties both while awake and asleep. While awake, a man can reason, count, and discuss what is right and wrong, good and bad, and invent and find subtle reasons and arguments, which a beast cannot do. A man can also use the same faculty to dream, as many men, while sleeping in their dreams, discover reasons and arguments leading to conclusions in various sciences and faculties, which never occurred to them while awake. Additionally, many men in their dreams have had various visions, foreseen events, and gained knowledge of things to come, which have afterward proven to be true and accurate to their visions. Some dreams have brought promotion and joy, while others have resulted in loss and bodily harm. Many men have seen and known their own [things] in their dreams.\nThe soul and death. Thus, the soul of man has no use of understanding without the body or any of his five senses or organs of the senses or members of the body. Yet, many a man, by experience, is seen to be sick, weak, and near death, and his soul, a little before the hour of his death, has seen and foretold his own death and that of others and various other things, which afterwards truly came to pass. Moreover, broad waking has seen various strange sights and visions of spirits or devils and of various persons who had been dead before, showing them that were present that these visions gave him perfect knowledge that he must necessarily die. These strange visions were in no way perceptible or visible to other persons, therefore, if the soul of man should die and corrupt with the body.\nIt seems unreasonable that one should use and fully comprehend the operation and understanding of knowledge so quickly and truly near the time of its corruption. Rather, it should begin to weaken and grow faint in its use and operation. Therefore, I shall present the following reasons.\n\nComyn:\nReason is right and apparent.\n\nGyngemyn:\nAnother reason I shall present: because children are somewhat like their father, and because the father knows they are of his nature, the father naturally loves his children and ever wills their well-being and prosperity to continue. Likewise, because man is like unto God in that God has made him in His likeness, because He has given him knowledge.\nLegis and understanding resembling God, which is the highest knowledge and understanding, is ever in God, as I have proven here before in our first dialogue and dispute. And also because the soul of man is of the nature of God, and proceeds and comes only from God, it must consequently follow that God loves the soul of man and greatly wills its perpetual wealth and preservation.\n\nNay, not even a father and children. For though a father, having many children, has a natural will to the wealth and perpetual preservation of all his children, yet if any one of his children displeases him, and has,\n\nComyn,\n\nyet I think you have not sufficiently,\nGyngemyn,\n\nyes, I trust I shall prove the inconsistent one by a good apparent reason, if you will hear it.\nComyngo,\n\nyes, Mary with all my heart, therefore I pray you continue.\nGyngemyn.\n\nEvery reasonable man will grant that God, who is the first cause of every thing, and the fountain of all.\ngoodnes, a person must be righteous and just, as I have proven to you in our first dialogue. By his justice, he must reward and punish every man according to his deeds. However, we see that there are various men in the world, some of whom have done various and many good deeds, while others have offended God and done many evil deeds and have not been sufficiently punished in this world. Therefore, it is necessary for a man to have a living and being after this bodily death, so that God may reward him and punish him by his justice for those good and evil deeds that he did in this world. For those good deeds for which he was not sufficiently rewarded while living, nor should he die without any reward, nor should he have any reward in any other place besides. Additionally, it should console a man to live viciously, to satisfy his own voluptuous appetites, and to always satisfy his inordinate desire and pleasure and froward mind and.\nAnother reason is this: the soul, which is made in the similitude and likeness of God due to understanding, is made to perceive and partake in blessedness and joy. If the rational soul, formed in the likeness of God, did not attain blessedness and joy, then no creature would attain or come to blessedness and joy. If it does attain blessedness and joy, then either blessedness and joy are eternal, or the soul is. Another reason: the five senses cannot perceive the soul, which has no body, cannot be seen, heard, felt, tasted, or touched by any of them, nor by any instrument or organ of them. Yet the soul can perceive all such incorporal and insensible things of its own kind and by itself. Therefore, it appears that the soul is not a body.\nThe soul has operations besides the body, and the soul of man is not necessarily dependent on the body nor on the five senses, nor does it corrupt when the body and the five senses are corrupt. Rather, it exists independently and is therefore immortal.\n\nAnother reason I will show you. The soul of man knows itself, it knows every thing, the being of every thing, and the cause of the being of every thing. It knows finite and infinite things and their causes, and so on, higher and higher, and causes by cause, never ceasing until it has obtained the knowledge of the first cause of all things, which is God, the infinite divine substance, and the nearer it comes to knowing that first cause, the more intensely it desires to know that first cause, the infinite God. But since the soul of man cannot use its proper faculty to have that true perfect knowledge.\nThe soul here in this dark life can only see God dimly, as under a cloud or a mist. Therefore, it is necessary for the soul of man to have a being in which it may have true and perfect sight and knowledge of that divine substance and first cause, which is God. But the soul can never have true sight and knowledge while it is joined with the gross body. Therefore, it must have a being without the gross body, and so it follows that after the corruption of that gross body, it has a being and is incorruptible and immortal.\n\nAnother reason is this. Every thing that is made of nothing and immediately created by God is infinite and shall never have an end. The heaven, earth, hell, and the whole ingenuity of the world were immediately created by God and have no other cause of their being but only God, who is infinite. And because that cause is infinite, their being is infinite.\n\nTherefore, the taste of immortality is in the very essence of created things.\nhearing and touching have another meaning for their being, which is the eye for sight, and the nose for smelling, the tongue and mouth for tasting, the ears for hearing, the hands and other members of the body for touching. These five wits have their cause and being of those members. If the understanding, which is the soul of man, has no other meaning for its being but God, who is infinite, then at the same time or metal, when the face and form thereof is broken and destroyed, and therefore the soul of man cannot be resolved into such matter, of which it is made, because it is but a simple substance of itself, or goes it is made of no matter other than itself, nor of any matter, it has no meaning for its creation and being. Therefore, it must have a cause for its creation and being, and where it has no other cause for its being: but that it is infinite. Consequently, that which immediately proceeds from it must also be infinite.\nThe soul of man must be infinite, incorruptible, and immortal. There is nothing in the world that is made of any matter and form which clearly corrupts and comes to nothing. For though its form and the four elements, and whatever it is resolved into the four elements of which it is compound, that is to say, either into fire, air, water, or earth - these four elements nor any part of them can ever be corrupted, because they were immediately made and created by God. For there is as much fire, air, water, and earth at this day as there ever was any time before this, and neither more nor less. And every thing that is compounded and made of these four elements, though the form and appearance may be corrupted, yet the matter ever remains. Take any corporeal thing that is in the world, be it a stick, a stone, a plant or tree, or the body of any beast, and break it or burn it, and do what you can to destroy it, yet you shall never destroy the matter.\nFor the earth that is in it will turn to earth or ashes, and its water and moisture will go to the element of water, so that it will sink down to the hollow places of the earth, and so at last into the sea, or else it will be vaporized up by the heat of the sun or stars, and so at last turn to rain. The air and wind that is in it will go to the air that is in its proper element. The fire in it will ascend to the proper place and sphere of the element of fire. So that every one of the elements will go to its own place and sphere, therefore the material substance of every corporeal thing does never perish and come to naught but does ever remain. Since God suffered no corporeal thing naturally to corrupt and come to naught, it is likely that he will not suffer the soul of man, which is so noble a thing and immediately made and created of God, as I have proved before, and also made to his similitude.\nThe soul of man is utterly corruptible and will come to naught. Therefore, the soul of man must be immortal and can never perish and come to naught, but must ever continue in its being.\n\nReason one: Every thing the more perfect and noble that it is, the longer it is able to continue in its being. But the soul of man is the most perfect and noble creature naturally, therefore they shall never be utterly corrupted or perished, because there is no cause of their corruption. Thus, the soul of man, which is the most perfect and most noble thing that ever God made and ordained, must have such a being that shall be able to contain and have an infinite being. Therefore, it must follow that the soul of man is immortal and shall ever continue and remain in its being.\n\nReason two: Your reasons deeply enter into my heart, it is impossible for me to avoid them, but I must necessarily grant that the soul of man is immortal and has a being after the corruption of the body. But,\nYet one thing moves me greatly: whether the soul of man has its being and full perfection as soon as it is annexed to the body, or if it increases its perfection successfully.\n\nGenesis:\nIt must needs be that the soul has its full perfection and being as soon as ever it is annexed to the body.\n\nComyn:\nThat seems to me a strange thing. For this I suppose it must be granted that the soul's intellect is nothing else but the body of a child in the womb of the mother, which has quickness of life, yet lacks understanding for a long time both before and after birth, and continues to lack it, nor has any more increase in understanding. Therefore it seems to me that:\n\nGenesis:\nThat doubt that you raise may well be an instrument, because it is not perfection or unity. And likewise, the harper has his craft and property in harping; although he lacks his harp and though his instrument is not perfected and tuned, and although he cannot show his craftsmanship and skill.\nThe soul, though it possesses understanding with an imperfect instrument, is similar to how the soul in a young child's body possesses understanding, though it cannot be demonstrated with that imperfect body which is its instrument.\n\nRegarding the former issue, I am not fully satisfied if the soul of man attains perfection of understanding in its beginning, being in the body of such an infant. When the infant reaches the perfect age of discernment, the rational soul within him should have recall and memory of such things which he did.\n\nRegarding that question, you must first consider that memory and fantasy are not the same thing as rational understanding. Memory is the power of the soul by which one remembers past and completed things, and fantasy is the operation of knowledge, which is derived from the five senses or faculties. Brute beasts possess this faculty of fantasy and memory, which is presented to them by the five senses.\n\"Although they have not yet reasonable understanding, I grant that. A man of thirty years has a perfect reasonable soul, yet he may be so overcome by sickness or drunkenness that he loses his memory and cannot use his understanding reasonably, as he can when his body is in temper. Therefore, although his perfect memory and recall may be gone for a time, the reasonable soul was not then departed and gone. The cause is that the soul that tempers the body does not leave it, and when the man recovers health or sobriety, he cannot remember what he did in his sickness or drunkenness. I do not think that conclusion is good, that the soul of man has as perfect sense and knowledge of all things in the beginning as a... But take heed to this point that\"\nYou suppose that the soul increases in understanding and learns sciences and knowledge through reading and teaching, is not a thing gained from the learning and teaching of others. Therefore, it must be the case that science and knowledge were in the soul of man for a long time before. But it is not so for a brute beast that has only a memory and a fantasy, for the best can remember nothing and knows nothing, but only what is presented and shown to it through the five senses or nothing else can know but sensible and corporeal things. But the human soul, contrary to this, remembers and knows things insensible and incorporal as well as corporeal, as I have proven here before. Therefore, between the understanding of man and the memory and fantasy of a brute beast, there is a great difference, and they are of contrary natures.\n\nComing next,\n\nAll that I now perceive, but although there is some difference between the memory and fantasy of a brute beast and the understanding and soul of man,\nIf the insensible and incorporal memory and fantasy of a brute beast should be as incorruptible as the human soul, it seems reasonable. However, this is not the case. Although the memory and fantasy of a beast are incorporal, like the soul of man, they are not incorruptible. The reason for this is that the things upon which these incorporal things depend are corporeal. For instance, if the eye, the cause of sight and the organ of sight, is perished and corrupted, then sight is perished and corrupted as well. Yet sight is an incorporal thing. The same applies to all other senses and their organs. Similarly, though the fantasy of a beast is incorporal, it depends on and belongs to the five senses and their organs, which are corruptible and corporeal. Furthermore, the fantasy of a beast also depends on its brain, which is a corporeal organ.\nA brute best never works but on sensible and corporeal things, and nothing else can perceive or know, nor is the fantasy of a brute best ever moved or stirred except by such sensible and corporeal things, which are corruptible and mortal. Since it depends and belongs and has its being and operation upon such corruptible and mortal causes, it follows well that it must necessarily be corruptible and mortal. Moreover, the memory or fantasy of a brute best judges every thing it sees or perceives through any of the five senses for the body's sake and for its feeding, pleasure, or ease, and a brute best never moves or stirs, nor labors except for the use of the body. Also, a brute best has no natural inclination or desire for anything except that which is for the body.\nThe conscience of his body. Therefore, naturally, the brute beast desires nothing but for the body, and what follows well is the principal perfection and existence of the brute beast, which is only bodily life, mortal and corruptible. Consequently, the senses or organs, and the fantasy and memory, which are caused by them and belong to the brute beast, must needs be corrupted.\n\nComing to the point. I think, however, that the soul of man, which is the understanding, should be corruptible because it seems to depend not upon the whole body, yet it depends upon the brain in the head, which is the soul, being clearly perished and corrupt.\n\nThat is plainly untrue and must be denied: that the understanding depends upon the brain. For though the brain may be hurt, yet the understanding is not perished, but for that season the soul is occupied about the care of the body, it helps to conserve the body and is torn from it.\nContemplation of divine things / and is occupied in such lowly matters pertaining to the body / and puts all its strength into considering the vehement pain, so that when the brain is injured and the humors and vapors stir and move the species and kinds of the fantasy, then all the strength of the understanding of the soul intends to the fantasy, and to the curing of those members. For the while, the soul neglects its perfection, but because its body, with which it is joined, is not perfect in its members, therefore it uses other operations that pertain to the body and to the fantasy. As a harper, when his harp is out of tune, must be occupied with the adjusting of his harp strings, and so during the time that he is tuning his harp, he can show no melody or harmony with his harp.\nThe soul neither has melody nor harmony. And so, while the soul is occupied in curing and tuning the body, it cannot display the open reason and properties of its clear understanding. Therefore, it appears that understanding does not depend on the brain, for every beast that has a head and a brain hole, and is not harmed nor troubled with superfluous humors, should have understanding, which is clearly false.\n\nYou affirm that the soul never loses its nobleness or\n\nI suppose you mean \"you think,\" not \"ye.\"\n\nI think the opposite. For we see\n\nAs I said before, the cause of this is nothing else but the disposition of his body, because of the humors in his head or in his body, which disturb it. When the head and the body are full of humors due to excessive eating or drinking, a man uses his understanding less perfectly than when the body is clear of such superfluous humors. When a man is fasting, he uses his understanding more.\nA person's understanding is not as perfect and clear when their body is overloaded with excessive humors and undigested metals or drinks. Therefore, some men, due to their complexion and constant presence of such humors, have heads that are never clean but filled with superfluous humors. Consequently, they do not use their understanding as perfectly and clearly as other men with purer complexions and less troubled heads by such superfluous humors. Furthermore, you often observe this in practice: a man is capable of learning and understanding some sciences and perceiving their reasons quickly and perfectly, but he is unable to learn or understand another science or craft. For instance, if two men of similar age exist, one may be adept at learning or understanding the sciences of music and singing, but unable to learn the sciences of logic or philosophy. Conversely, the other man may be adept at learning and understanding the sciences of logic and philosophy, but unable to learn the sciences of music as discant.\nEvery man may be disposed differently in body, yet every human soul is perfect. Coming to your question, what kind of knowledge does the human soul possess after it is separated from the body, and what kind of being it has?\n\nAs for the former question, the human soul, being in the body as I have shown before, understands and knows itself and recognizes that it possesses this knowledge and being in the material body. It uses the body as an instrument and, being in this material body, it comes to know things that are immaterial, such as rational and incorporal things, universals, and kinds of things. It knows all conditions of the man, but these properties and qualities are known only by reason, and reason alone judges whether they are good or bad.\n\nFurthermore, the human soul:\nA person in their natural body knows both material and immaterial things, but the less the body is moved and stirred, and the more quiet it is, the more perfect knowledge the soul possesses. A man studies and brings to pass any difficult and subtle conclusions better when the body is quiet and at rest than when it is moved or has any disease and unquietness. Additionally, when a man is fasting, he has a fresher and quicker wit to study or learn any science, art, or conclusion than when his body is replete with food or drink or with superfluous humors. Furthermore, the reasonable soul of man knows and discusses what is virtue and what is vice, and it disapproves and disdains that thing which the sensual appetite approves, desires, and follows. Honest, virtuous, and holy men disdain the sensual appetites and pleasures of the body and the world, and sometimes willingly put themselves to death, where no brute beast would ever covet.\nThe soul does not desire its own destruction, and the reason for this is that the soul knows it is ordained to have another state when it is joined with the body. This knowledge that the soul has when it is joined with the body it never loses, but it also has it when it is separate from the body: for it is often seen that many a man, being dead to all mean knowledge and perception for the space of ten or twelve hours, and some for a day and more, has after that rejoined life, during which time (as the common term is), has lain in a trance, and after he has been then rejoined has told many wonderful things that he has seen being in a trance as dead, which is an evident proof that the human soul has another being without the body, and has knowledge and understanding after that it is separate from the body. Then, since the soul of man uses its proper faculty of understanding much better and more perfectly without it.\nThe soul, as I have proven, has the most knowledge when it is least moved and stirred, and when it is most quiet, and when the soul contemplates least with the body. Therefore, it follows consequently that it has the most knowledge when it is clearly separate from the body. Furthermore, the soul of man, being joined with the body, knows that there is a god who governs all, and has some knowledge of what is good and what is bad, and also has some knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. The perfect perfection, as I have proven, is when it is separate from the body. After such separation, the soul must have a greater knowledge of God and a greater knowledge of what is good and what is bad, and a greater knowledge of right and wrong, and a greater knowledge of every cause and thing, than it had when it was joined with this corruptible body.\n\nComyn.\n\nThat conclusion follows rightly, but yet I pray, if the soul of man has such knowledge as you say, I would still like to know:\nAs for the being of the soul after it is separated from the body, and where it remains or becomes:\n\nGinge:\n\nAs I have shown, the soul is but a spiritual substance, and has its being in no natural place.\n\nComyn:\n\nWhy do you call a natural place?\n\nGinge:\n\nI call a natural place, as the philosophers have defined it, that is: the outer and extreme term or part and hollow containing another body within it.\n\nComyn:\n\nWhy do you call a super-?\n\nGyn:\n\nA superficies is that which has only length and breadth and no manner of thickness, for if it had length, breadth, and thickness, then it is a body. So every thing that I see, which is the object of my sight and upon which my sight rests, not considering the thickness, is called a superficies. Therefore, the outer part of every bodily thing that I do see is called the superficies, because I do see the length and breadth thereof, and not the thickness.\nThe term or extreme part of a natural place, as I previously stated, is only its outer surface, containing another body within it. For instance, a tonne is commonly referred to as the place of the wine because it contains the wine within it, and the outer surface of the tonne is the wine's natural place. Regarding your question, I assert that the soul has no natural place because it is a spiritual substance and not a corporeal substance or body. A natural place always contains a corporeal substance or bodily thing within it, and therefore the soul cannot be contained or rest in any natural place. Although every thing that is in any such natural place has a being, not every thing that has a being is in a natural place. Consequently, the soul of man has no [COMYN].\n\nYour solutions are:\n[GYN].\n\nAs for the matter at hand, I assure you,\n[GYN].\nI have not been self-taught in my own country. In my youth, I had good parents and friends who, out of love for me and because they wanted me to engage in the business of merchandise among Christians (because great wealth comes from it), sent me forth with the intention that I should learn other foreign languages. By means of these languages, I spent long periods of time in various cities and universities in Christendom, where I learned part of my philosophy and other sciences.\n\nComyn:\n\nI am greatly pleased and thank you very much for this, as I have previously mentioned.\n\nGyn:\n\nI am glad if I have given you any pleasure. Since your mind is now somewhat satisfied, I intend to leave for a while to attend to my own affairs.\n\nComyngo:\n\nNo, I pray you to stay a little longer, for my mind is not yet fully satisfied.\n\"You further. I am content to stay with the pen for a while longer and therefore I ask now for your intention and what you will say next. Thus ends the second dialogue on the immortality of man's soul. Coming. Regarding the terrible existence of God and the immortality of man's soul, you have presented to me so many marvelous reasons that I must affirm both your principles: that is, there is one God who governs all, conserves all, and regards all, and also that the soul of man is immortal and will never die but will receive joy or sorrow in another world after it is separated from this corruptible body. Yet I think you have made a great digression from the subject we first began, which was whether there is a purgatory where the soul of man after this mortal life will be purified for such offenses committed on earth, why you did not make satisfaction here fully and be purified there.\"\nBefore coming to the place of joy.\n\nGynge.\n\nI have not digressed from the matter, but I have prepared the way for the reasons I have shown before, and the conclusions I have proved concerning the marvelous existence of God and the immortality of the human soul, are but the premises of the arguments I intend to make in proving that there is a purgatory.\n\nComing on.\n\nThen I pray you to proceed briefly to the matter and let us not spend time in vain, but first I pray you tell me one thing: is it the soul of man alone that suffers pain and sorrow, or is it the body of man alone, or both together?\n\nGyngemyn.\n\nIt is the soul that always endures pain and sorrow, and not the body, for nothing can suffer pain or pleasure but that which at last has a sensitive soul and life. A stone, a tree, or any other thing that has no sensitive life cannot suffer.\nAnother pain or pleasure, but yet sometimes the soul suffers pain being with the body, as when the body is disturbed and prevented from its natural course, such as when the body is too hot or too cold, too dry or too moist, or has other impediments. That which stands, as it seems to me, with good reason; therefore, proceed to the matter.\n\nGinge.\n\nWith right good will, and therefore I pray now take heed. You will remember well that I have provided for you in our second dialogue and disputation that God is righteous and just in himself, and executes eternal good and impartial justice to every one of his creatures, rewarding and punishing every creature according to its desert. And that man is the only creature, whom he has created here living upon earth, to do him honor and serve; and that no other creature here on earth serves and honors God but only man, as I have provided here before in our second dialogue.\nAnd because many a man on earth does not honor nor serve God as he should / but is negligent in this and comes from:\n\nThat reason I think holds but little power, for you know well and all clerks here agree / it is only repentance that washes and cleanses clearly away all sin done by man against God; and that repentance is the only thing that God would have made and done for the satisfaction of the sin / for which repentance is made and had / God, of His merciful goodness, does discharge and pardon the man for that sin and offense / even though that man never took nor suffered any other penalty or pain therefore on earth. For example, if I owe you a pound I humbly request that you forgive me my debt. If you, out of your gentleness, only for the love that you know I bear towards you, will discharge and pardon the debt to me, and make a clear release unto me thereof. I am thus clearly discharged from.\nThat I have never been bound by the order of any law or justice to make any other payment or satisfaction for that reason. So likewise, if God, in His goodness, forgives me my offense and sin for the repentance that I have taken, then I am clearly released and discharged from that offense and sin. I ought never to have any punishment or to make any satisfaction for it again, and therefore it shall not stand with any reasonable consequence that there should be any purgatory or place of punishment for that offense and sin which is pardoned and released. But that after such pardon and release made by God for my offense and sin, God, in His goodness, should reward me, and so make me a partner of the eternal joy in heaven, for which I was created and made. And on the other hand, if I were never repentant for my offense, but died unrepentant, then God, in His mercy, would.\n\nYour answer is complete. L. To me it is at my liberty, whether I will forgive you or no.\nwill that thou shouldst do me some other service / and take some patent repentance which thou hast taken for thy sin / is not sufficient satisfaction therefore, and if thou die before any other satisfaction made / then the god of necessity, if he be to be punished in another place / to make a full satisfaction for thine offense and sin / but yet in that case, if he will execute his mercy / he may then at his pleasure forgive thee all thy whole offense and sin / without any other satisfaction to be suffered or done by thee therefore. But yet if god in that case should think that thy repentance here in earth were no full satisfaction for thy sin / if god should be so restrained / he should not order a place of purgation for thy soul / where it should for a season remain and have punishment to make a full satisfaction for thine offense and sin: then thou wouldest exclude god both from his liberty and from the execution of his justice. Therefore it follows by all convenient reason / that there must be a\n\n(Note: The text appears to be written in Middle English, but it is still largely readable without translation. I have left it as is to maintain faithfulness to the original content.)\nThough one may hold the opinion that there is no purgatory, they should neither deny God's power nor restrict His liberty, nor exclude His justice. For man, made and ordained by God, has an infinite being, and there are only two things ordained for the soul of man: joy or sorrow. Since the soul of man, once separated from this corruptible body, must necessarily have an infinite being, as you have proven in your second dialogue, it must then, according to God's justice, be judged to the place where there is infinite joy or infinite sorrow. Therefore, it should be.\nHave an end, or some place of joy where the soul should have joy, which joy should have an end.\nGyngemyn.\nTo satisfy your mind in that respect, you must consider that God, in his goodness, has created the world and all things contained in it in a convenient order of degree. And thus, of all the kinds of things that God ever made, some are more and some less, some small and some smaller. As for corporeal things, some are hard, some harder, and some soft, some more soft, some hot, some hotter, and some cold, some more cold, like things incorporal, some are great, some greater. As for virtue, some is good, some better, and of vice some is evil, some is worse. Do you not think, therefore, that this principle is reasonable and true?\nComyngo.\nI think it is true that you say.\nGyngemyn.\nThen there is not some sin and offense that a man commits sometimes more and sometimes less.\nComyn.\nI think so.\nGyn.\nAnd\nEvery offense does not deserve punishment.\nComyn:\nYes.\nGyng:\nThere are degrees in punishment, as well as in sin and offense. Some punishments are greater, some less. And there are degrees in repentance, and some repentance is greater than others. And also degrees in forgiveness and pardon, some forgiveness and pardon being greater than others.\nComyn:\nWhat then?\nGyng:\nA man ought not to be punished by the justice of God for every offense and sin in order and degree, according to its greatness or smallness. If the offense and sin are great, it ought to have a great punishment, and if small, a small one.\nCo.:\nI agree.\nGyng:\nThen I say, if a man on earth has committed a great sin and offense, and has taken repentance by which the sin is forgiven, yet has not taken sufficient repentance or had sufficient punishment, why should he make a full payment and satisfaction for that sin and die beforehand?\nAny codygon or full satisfaction made, God must necessarily order a place of purgatory, where His soul shall have a further purification to make amends and full satisfaction for that sin, and so to be purged and purified before it shall be able and worthy to be admitted to receive the eternal joy in heaven. As by example, if a man commits a treason against his prince, for which he ought, by the law's order, to lose his goods and to have imprisonment, and also to be put to death, and when he is conducted thereupon, then because he sees he cannot avoid the punishment of the law, he is repentant and sorry for his offense and prays his prince for forgiveness, yet this repentance and sorrow that he takes for his offense, without doing any wrong to him. But yet this prince may, if he will, by his mercy pardon his life and take his goods and imprison his body for a time and season, or as long as he pleases.\nA prince should not be required to make a full satisfaction for the same offense before punishing an offender, but if he were to punish every offender to the extreme of death without mercy, it would seem excessive and against the prerogative of his merciful power and authority. Conversely, if a prince pardoned every such offender for a great offense after only a small repentance and sorrow, it would both serve as an example to all such offenders and provide them with comfort and boldness to commit similar offenses. The order of his justice and mercy must sometimes pardon that offense from eternal death, yet give him some punishment, which should not be to the extreme as to condemn to death.\n\nComing from you, this is a remarkable argument here, but I think that God, by the remarkable order of his providence,\n\nThis is a very serious objection that you raise, that thou\nOne kind of soul is the vegetative soul, which is in every plant, tree, grass, herb, and fruit. Another is the sensitive soul, which is in every brute creature, as well as in horses, sheep, and such other animals that go upon the earth, as in birds that fly in the air, and fish that swim in the water, which use and occupy their senses. Five senses: that is to say, tasting, smelling, hearing, seeing, and touching. The third soul is the intellectual soul, which is in man, which is nothing else but the living understanding, by which man knows the good from the evil, discussing things through arguments and reasons, for the one part and for the other.\nother / until at last he finds out the truth / and so thereby knows which is good and which is evil.\n\nComyn.\n\nAll that I am willing to grant.\n\nGyng.\n\nSince this thing is now clear to you, I will now proceed to the solution of your objection. But first, I will show an example of things having a vegetative soul, such as an apple, which has only a vegetative soul if an apple growing on the tree is hurt by some great stroke, and if that apple is immediately pulled from the tree after being injured, it can never regain its growth: and if you would keep that same apple in order to serve it at your table for some great feast or banquet that you would afterward make for your friends and lovers, that apple will not be able to do any good service because the longer you keep it, the worse it will become, and by reason of that stroke it will continue to rot and eventually become nothing and unable to serve.\nBut if you place that apple among other apples, it will infect them and make them rot. However, if such an apple, having received such a stroke, is allowed to grow on the tree, it often preserves and heals itself, and the apple's natural juices increase while it is growing, expelling the corrupt humors caused by the stroke. Such an apple will then become a whole and sound apple, fit for your service at your table when you make your dinner and feast for your friends and lovers. However, if you take an apple from that tree which is a sound apple but not yet fully ripe, because there remains in it a sour watery humor which makes it unpalatable, yet if you lay that apple in fair straw in some house where the temperate eye may come to it, the eye will purify and ripen it.\nPurge that appell (appeal) from that sour humor and vapor out the tartness and sours of that humor, and so make it melow and pleasant to be eaten. Likewise, now I may say of a man who has an intellectual soul, if he is infected or corrupted with the stroke of doing some great mortal sin and offense against God, and then the soul immediately pulled and separated from the body by natural death without repentance, that the soul of that man shall never be able to be received of God, and do him service in heaven, because it has such a mortal wound whereby it is infected and putrefied, not worthy to be admitted to accompany with the clean pure souls in heaven. And yet that man, while his soul was joyous, might have taken repentance which might have restored him again to health and to virtue. But after the natural death that man can take no such repentance, whereby he should be delivered from that mortal sin and offense, then God of his justice must clear the body: but yet that is not fully.\nA man, if he has transgressed a great mortal sin against God, and his soul is separate from his body, it should not be received into heaven nor serve God there because it is polluted and corrupted by that fatal sin. However, if that man had taken the medicine of true repentance in his life, that medicine would have restored him to the health and virtue of his soul. But if he had taken some repentance and confession insufficiently, and had not had sufficient time to make sufficient satisfaction, the taking of that repentance and confession would expel the sin and give the soul a time to be washed and purged from its stains and spots, making it pure and free of that deformity.\n\nComing to the point, I think this does not necessarily prove the existence of purgatory to purge and cleanse.\nTo wash away those spots and tokens which are but deformities to the soul, but considering that by the medicine of repentance, the soul's sickness is thereby put away and expelled, and the soul made whole again, all though there be spots and tokens remaining which are but deformities to the soul and no mortal sicknesses, those tokens and spots need not be washed away, but if they remain yet they do no harm, but the soul may do good and perfect service to God in heaven: for all though God will not place such souls in the highest and most purest place in heaven because they are not as pure as other souls, but somewhat deformed, which is but an eyesore, yet He will not completely expel them from heaven, but put them in some other lower place in heaven. As an example, if a man who keeps an honorable house and accustoms himself to feast great lords and estates at his table, and prepares fine damask tablecloths and napkins, wherewith to serve them at his table.\nIf any cloth or napkin at his table is defiled with dust, filth, or other foul matter that is not sweet, the man will not allow those clothes to be used at his table until they are washed and made clean, and the filth is expelled so completely that they may be sweet and clean and worthy to serve him. But if they have been so defiled with some foul filth, even if they are washed, never so clean, yet some spot and token of that staining will remain, so that though they are pure, clean, and sweet enough to do service at his table, yet the spots and tokens of the staining which remain are a great deformity. And therefore, since God, by justice and equity, may order this soul a convenient place in heaven, according to its worth and deserts: it would be a thing frustrating and in vain for God to order any place of purgatory for that soul.\npurged for a season and after that to be restored and received into heaven because that God may reward that soul in heaven according to its deserving, and so unnecessary to order for it any place of purgation.\n\nThat objection and similitude which you have made me think is nothing to consider, for you must consider that God, in whom is all goodness, justice, wisdom, virtue, and perfection in His marvelous works of creation of things, has created and ordered every thing in so good and perfect an order that cannot be amended. And He has ordained some places of joy, and some places of punishment suitable for every creature, which does deserve one or the other: and that He has ordained heaven to be the place of felicity, where is all joy and pleasure without pain or disease, & that this place where we and other beasts live here upon earth is y the place mixed with joy and pain, and it all creatures living here sometime suffer joy and sometime pain. And the low place which\nWe call hell the place of eternal punishment and pain, devoid of any joy or pleasure. Conversely, the place where He is to be eternally glorified with the company of His angels and saints is a place of eternal joy, clean, pure, fair, pleasant, full of joy and felicity, more so than any other place, free of impurity and uncleanness, suffering nothing unclean or evil or other unpleasant thing. For just as the eye, which is much purer and cleaner than the earth itself, if there is any corrupt stinking water or other humour on the earth, that water or humour, when heated by the sun, is purified so thoroughly that when it descends, it is without impurity.\nany corruption smells or tastes anything but fresh, sweet and clear, so that the highest region of the element in the pure eye will suffer no water nor other humor to remain there, which is not clean and pure. And likewise we may observe this pure region ethereal, where the sun and other stars reign in their spheres, we see them so lightsome, so pure and clean, that it is impossible for any corporeal thing to be cleaner or more pure.\nSince God, by His wonderful power, great wisdom, and good nature, has created those visible things which appear to us in such purity and cleanness, that no filthy or foul thing nor anything impure can remain in them or near them, it seems then that by all convenience of reason, it must follow that that glorious place of heaven, which is a place higher and more excellent than those other places, the elemental and ethereal regions, and where His majesty is glorified and eternally honored by His angels,\nsaints must be clean and pure, fair above all other places, and nothing impure or unclean may be there. Therefore, no soul can be admitted there that bears any spot or token of sin, or any manner of deformity that is in any way unpleasant. Although there are pure and clean places in heaven, some purer and some more pure, and there are joys, some great and some greater, yet there can be no places there where one is pure and another is foul, or where one is sweet and another stinking, or where one is a joyful life and another a painful life, or where one soul is pure and another impure and unclean, or where one soul is fair and pleasing to behold and another foul and deformed and ugly.\nOne soul should experience joy, and another suffering. Therefore, when a man has committed a mortal sin and afterward repents, and dies, releasing him from that grievous affliction: yet the spots and tokens of sin remain, due to incomplete satisfaction. God, in His justice, may not condemn the soul to eternal pain in hell for that offense, which is purged and put away. And yet, God, in His justice, wisdom, and goodness, should not immediately receive that soul into the clean and most pure place in heaven, to accompany the pure angels and saints there, where there is nothing but the pure and the clean, until such time that the soul is cleansed and purified of the tokens and spots of sin, which remain a great deformity to the soul as long as they persist.\nall consequences require that, besides the glorious and joyful place of heaven and also besides the miserable and sorrowful place of hell, there must be a third place of purgation. Where the soul must be purified and made clean of such spots and stains of sin that remain in it, before it can be fit to be received into that glorious place in heaven, in which place there can be nothing but what is pure and clean without any tokens or spots of sin or uncleanness.\n\nComing next,\n\nThis is a marvelous and high reason that you have made, but yet I think, though there should be a third place of purgation besides heaven and hell, it would seem fitting that this place should be on earth. And that man who has so offended, whom God would have to be purged, should be in this place of purgatory, because it is the place designated for punishment.\nAnd it shall have an end. Furthermore, purgatory and punishment here on earth should be a great example to all others living here, to put them in fear of committing similar offenses, and should cause many men to abstain from doing so.\n\nThat saying seems not to be allowed, for your first reason, it does not only prove that there should be no purgatory but only here on earth, but it also proves that there should be no heaven or hell but only here on earth. For if a man has lived so virtuously on earth that he ought to be saved and go to the joys of heaven because he never committed meritorious acts except when his soul was joined with the body, then he should never be rewarded for that reason but only here on earth while his soul was joined with the body. And every sin that a man commits is done while the soul is joined with the body; therefore, he should never have any punishment therefor but only here.\nin earth while the soul is joined with the body, and first, the reason that you have given should prove that there is neither heaven nor hell prepared for man but here on earth, which is clear contrary to all the grounds and principles which you have granted me before. And also where you say that, if there should be any purgatory, the place should be nowhere else but here on earth while the soul is being with the body: the punishment which is fitting for the sin and offense, which a man commits here on earth, shall be had in such a place where God himself shall think most convenient, not elsewhere or in some other place at his pleasure and liberty, and in what time and season that he shall think convenient therefore.\n\nComyn.\n\nThen I ask you, if purgatory is not here on earth, in what place should it be?\n\nGyng.\n\nAs to that, I say that purgatory is that which is ordained to purge men's souls when they are separate from the body. And a soul which\n\n(end of text)\nis no corporeal substance, but a spiritual one occupies no place, no more than your thought or mind does. Regarding the question of where and what place purgatory is, I think it is folly to inquire about that. I may just as well ask where heaven is - is it above your head as you stand, or beneath your feet, or before your face, or behind your back, or on your right hand or left hand, or if I ask where the place of the glorious throne of God is, or where the highest part of heaven is, or what heaven is made of, or the firmament, or the sun, moon, and stars, or what causes them to move so marvelously swiftly, or if I ask what God is and to what God is like, or what the devil is, or what the devil is like, or to what a soul or angel is like, or if I should ask how.\nMany miles is the distance to the firmament, or how far it is to the highest part of heaven. All those high questions, and many other that may be demanded, all the men in the world are not able to answer them. This little earth, which is no more in comparison to the firmament, is like a little pea in comparison to a great town or castle. It is understood by good, true, and apparent conclusions of astronomy that the sun and many other stars in the firmament know these things to themselves. Therefore, whatever thou art, thou art foolish if thou desirest the knowledge of such things while thou art on earth, for thou nor all the men on earth are able to imagine a solution for these questions. But it is undoubted that God has or decreed a place of joy and a place of pain, where every man's soul shall be rewarded according to his desert. But where the place is, or what joy or what pain it shall be, or in what manner or how, no man in the world knows.\nThe world can tell it, but only God alone knows it.\nComyn.\nI am as far from the solution of my question as I was before.\nGyn.\nWell, I am not yet fully satisfied. I shall yet perhaps ease your mind another way, if your wit is able to perceive the reasons that I shall show you. But the matter is somewhat hard. Therefore, as the Latin says, \"let him perceive who can.\" For every man is not of like capacity.\nCom.\nYet I pray you, show it to me to see whether I can perceive it or not.\nGynges.\nWith right good will, therefore I pray you now take good heed. You must understand first that there are two kinds of things that have being. One is a real thing, which is perceived by the organs and instruments of the five wits, as the thing which may be seen, tasted, felt, or smelled, and is called a real thing. But rational things are those which are not perceived by the senses.\nby Y. v. Wytte: Only perceived by reason and they are things incorporal, such as love, charity, meekness, abstinence, pride, malice, sloth, and the like. Furthermore, consider that there are three types of places. One is a container, another is limited, and the third is operative. A container is where real things, such as bodies, images, and figures, are contained, like a tonne, which contains the wine, is the container of the wine. A limited place is where things rational and incorporal are limited to be, as the limit of love is that thing which is loved and that thing which is so loved is the limit of love for that love, and the love's limit of love is in its limited place of love, which cannot be certain but mutable, since love may be in one thing at one time and in another thing at another time. An operative place is where the operation takes place.\nThe thing is, because we see that a place containing things that are corporal is marvelous. But because purgatory is a place limited and ordained by God for the purging of souls, which are rational and incorporal, therefore purgatory cannot be a contained place but may be a limited and operational place. For wherever God limits the soul of man after it is separated from the body for purging, there is the limited place of purgatory for that soul. For there can be no purgatory except where the soul is purged, and wherever God limits the soul to be purged, there is the limiting place of purgatory. Also, wherever God's virtuous operation is and where His virtuous work appears, there is the operational place of God, and therefore, because God's marvelous operation and work appear in every place.\nGod is in every place and part of the world, as I have proven in our first dialogue. Purgatory is the place where God executes His justice, and it is not in any definite place continuously but wherever and whenever God pleases. Therefore, to answer your question, purgatory is not a place in and of itself because it contains no real or corporeal things within it, as it is ordained only for the purging of souls, which are rational and incorporal. Nor is purgatory in any definite place because it is not a real thing in itself that can be perceived by any of our five senses and faculties.\n\nComing to your subtle solution, I am not sure how to reply to it, but please allow me to see how you can satisfy my mind on one point.\nThou didst prove to me but lately in our first dialogue and dispute that two things necessary belong to the goodness of God, that are justice and mercy. And the very distinction of justice is this: Justice is a constant and perpetual will, giving to every thing its own. Mercy is no more but the mind of a pitiful affect, and mercy is the execution of justice, and remission is the execution of mercy; mercy is always incident to justice. So that God, by the order of justice, must give to every creature its own mercy according as it deserves to have, that is, for sin and offense to give punishment of pain or sorrow, and for virtue to give reward of joy or pleasure. And that as mercy is necessarily incident to the justice of God, so is remission incident to the mercy of God. Therefore, God cannot minister His mercy to no creature without remission. And every\nsin that is committed by the justice of God must have punishment, and by the mercy of God remission. And as you granted me earlier, sin is always put away, expelled, and destroyed by the only medicine of repentance: and then, as punishment by the justice of God is incident to the repentance which takes away the sin, so God, by the order of justice, ought to give punishment for the sin that remains, and similarly, He ought, by the order of justice, to give remission for the medicine of repentance which has taken away the sin. Since the justice of God and the mercy of God are so correlative that one cannot be without the other, God can never manifest His justice without His mercy, except that He grants remission as soon as repentance is taken. Therefore, it stands not only with the mercy of God, but also with the justice of God, that as soon as repentance is taken, God must give remission, and then, when God has remitted that sin, God has then fully.\nexecuted both his justice and mercy, but if he should afterwards give a further punishment for that sin so remitted, either in purgatory or elsewhere, it would follow that God's justice, which is contrary to the principle that we both first agreed upon, that his justice and mercy cannot be the one without the other. Therefore, it seems there ought to be no purgatory.\n\nGyngemyn.\n\nYou imagine so many subtle objections in this matter that I cannot well tell how to respond to things that deserve a response. That is, if the repentance which a man has taken here for his sin is not sufficient sorrow to appease the pleasure he took in doing that sin, God must, by his justice, give him a further punishment. This punishment must be to suffer pain or sorrow sufficient to purge him of the sin, or else the remission which God grants for the sole repentance of sin should be an execution of his mercy, and the lack of execution of his justice, which cannot be.\nBoth agreed that the mercy of God and the justice of God should always be correlative and must necessarily coincide. And yet, to satisfy your mind further on this point, you will grant me that the justice of God must cause the hindrance of His living. But if I commit a trespass in such a way that no one is hurt by it except yourself, in that case, if you forgive me that trespass, I am never bound to make satisfaction to any other person for that trespass done only to them. A man may commit various sins here on earth; some are against God alone, and some are against both God and his neighbor. For instance, a man may be negligent in serving God, or proud, disdainful, and given to sloth and gluttony, yet he does not harm his neighbor. Also, a man may commit a sin that is both against God and yet harms his neighbor, such as when I take my neighbor's good wrongfully or hurt his body. In that case, if I repent for that sin committed against God and my neighbor,\nthough god pardone me for that offence / whrche I haue co\u0304mytted both agayns god and also my neyghbour: yet god by his iustyce may not clerely release and discharge me without recompence & satysfaccion made to my neyghbour therfore / for iustice must gyue to euery man his owne / ergo than that wronge done to my neyghbour / or that thynge by wro\u0304ge take in from my neyghbour / muste be restored or some recompence made therfore / but yf that repentau\u0304ce which I haue take\u0304 for that synne done to god and my neyghbour / shuld be a clere dyscharge to me without any sa\u2223tysfaccio\u0304 made / than my neyghbour in that case shuld not haue his own / and so iustyce not mynystred to hym: wherfore in that case thoughe god forgyue me / yet I am bou\u0304de to make restitucio\u0304 to my neyghbour.\n\u00b6Co.\n\u00b6 Than I put cause I haue no goodes lest nor other thynge / wherwith all to make restytucion or satysfaccyon to my neyghbour / but yt I d\nneyghbour / what shall be tha\u0304 done now to me by y\u2022 iustice of god.\n\u00b6Gyn.\n\u00b6 In that laste case whiche\nthou hast put yourself in a place where you are not willing to make satisfaction to your neighbor in that case it appears you are not repentant, for as a payment or return of the goods is a satisfaction for the goods wrongfully taken, so repentance is a satisfaction in the mind and will for the sin which you committed: for the sin is always done with your will, & then the repentance for your sin to put the sin away must be a contrary will, for as you had a will to wrongfully take your neighbor's goods, so in the repentance you must have a will to restore them. This is a good mind and will contrary to the other evil mind and will which you had in the wrongful taking of them: so I say it is impossible for you to repent, except you have a will to restore and make satisfaction for the thing wrongfully taken. Therefore, as I said before, since God, by His justice, cannot grant His mercy and forgiveness for the sin except you are repentant, it follows that you\nYou cannot be forgiven by God unless you have a willingness to make restitution and satisfaction for the wrongs you have done to your neighbor. In another case, if you are repentant and ask for mercy from God and are willing to make satisfaction, but have not yet done so, then there is a satisfaction due to your neighbor which you ought to make. If you die and cannot make satisfaction to him in this world, by the court of law you must make satisfaction to him in another place, which must be in purgatory through some punishment that you must suffer therefore.\n\nComing to your question. Why is my neighbor better for the punishment that I have in purgatory, or what restoration or satisfaction does he receive from it?\n\nThat punishment which you will have in purgatory will be for the release of other pains and punishments that your neighbor ought to have for other offenses which he has committed.\nAgainst God, or else it is contrary to that act. And this stands with the justice of God, in the case mentioned, that your neighbor to whom the wrong was done must be restored and satisfied, because, as I showed before, the justice of God is always to give every thing his own. And if your neighbor is not satisfied and restored for the wrong done to him, then he has not yet his own. And therefore, by the order of justice, he ought to be restored.\n\nComing to the point. I think this reasoning does not make it contrary to my intention that I ought to make any further satisfaction, as I will prove to you with an evident example, which is this: Suppose you have a servant whom you put in trust to have the use and occupy the love which you have to the same, to this debt or to this debt is clearly discharged for ever, twenty pounds. Because you are only the very owner thereof, and no other person, and your servant had never but the occupation thereof as to give an account.\nBecause God is the true owner of all goods and things, you have only the occupation of them as you give an account to God. Therefore, if God releases and forgives you, you need not make any other satisfaction to your neighbor nor have any other punishment.\n\nRegarding God's authority over himself, He has authority over all things in the world, by which He may do with every thing as He pleases because He is the very and first and principal cause of every thing. By that power, He may give to every creature what pleases Him and also reward and forgive every offense done by any creature at His pleasure, without any cause. But by His ordinary power, He does every thing by the order of justice and equity, as to reward and punish every creature according to its desert. But when He will execute and use His absolute power, and when He will use His ordinary power, it is always at His pleasure. In the case you have put:\nthat thou dost commit an offense to God and to thy neighbor, as to take thy neighbor's goods from him by force and wrong, or to hurt his body, and then if thou askest God for forgiveness thereafter and art not willing to make satisfaction to thy neighbor in that point, thou art not penitent, because, as I said before, thou hast not a contrary will to that will which thou hadst when thou hadst a pleasure to do to thy neighbor that wrong and hurt which thou didst to him. And then if God were to clearly forgive thee without any satisfaction or restitution to thy neighbor, in that case God should not use his ordinary power according to his justice, because thy neighbor is not restored to his own, which was taken from him by wrong: and also thou shouldst be remitted and forgiven by God without repentance, which is also contrary to the ordinary power of God's justice. So if God, in that case, were to forgive thee without any will of satisfaction to thy neighbor, God should not.\nnot you cannot be clearly forgiven by your ordinary power according to justice, so I say in that case. But furthermore, if you wish to say that in that case God, by his absolute power, forgives you, then you would.\n\nBut I put forward the case that if I am repentant and ask for forgiveness of God and make satisfaction to my neighbor for the wrong I did to him, or else if I have not wherewith to make satisfaction to him but a will to do so and die, if because of my repentance God by his ordinary power of his justice must forgive me because repentance is the only thing that would need to be done for the satisfaction of that sin, and if that sin is clearly discharged,\n\nif you think that through repentance you are clearly discharged from that sin without any other punishment to be had in purgatory, it seems that in you there is great folly to think so.\nYou are clearly discharged, either by the ordinary power of God or by His absolute power. But you cannot judge yourself and be sure that you are discharged by the ordinary power of God, because there are degrees in repentance. Some repentance is greater and some is less. And you cannot tell how God will accept your repentance, nor whether He will deem it sufficient to wash away your sin or not. If it is only a small repentance, and the sorrow that you take in that repentance does not counterbalance the pleasure which you had in committing the sin and the continuance thereof, then, by His ordinary power, He may not clearly forgive it. The punishment may be a full recompense to counterbalance the pleasure which you had before. Therefore, you are a fool to think yourself clearly discharged.\nYou shall be discharged by God's ordinary power, not knowing whether your repentance is sufficient or not. However, if you claim that this is in accordance with His laws or to fulfill His satisfaction, and the repentance may be so small that God will forgive the sin and not clearly expel you from His favor, yet He will require further punishment to make you as pure and clear as you were before, and only then able to be received into His favor.\n\nAnother reason for a conclusion of this matter I shall show you (because I cannot tarry much longer with the topic), if you or anyone should hold this opinion: that God, for a little repentance, would pardon and forgive you for your offenses and sins, so that you would not need to make any other satisfaction or restitution to your neighbor whom you have wronged, and after your death you would have no further punishment in purgatory. And to believe that there is:\nThis text appears to be written in Old English, and there are some errors in the transcription. Here is the cleaned text:\n\nno purgatory ordered therefore / this thing should put fear of God from the most part of the people in the world / and give them boldness to do and commit offenses and sins / and if the people should believe that they never needed to make any satisfaction or restoration to their neighbors for the wrongs that they had done / and that such light repentance should be sufficient for any other satisfaction to be made / it would give the people such boldness that they would never force nor care what wrongs, e\n\nYour reasons and solutions to all my questions and objections are so good that you have marvelously satisfied my mind in every thing / & it would seem a great marvel how you should come to such high learning & knowledge / save I marvel much the less / because I heard it said / that you have been brought up some part of your youth in Christianity / and have been a student in purging of souls after they are separated from the body / and also by.\nThe same last reason why it proves well that it should be a great folly for people to believe the contrary, that is, that there should be no purgatory. For this foolish belief would be remarkably harmful to the people. First, as you said, it would remove the fear of God, which is the beginning of all wisdom. We know well that the frailty of mankind is such that it is evermore more prone and ready to vice than to virtue: therefore, mankind has need to have both a bridle of law, which is to punish vice in this world, and also a bridle of the fear of God, which is a fear to offend for the love of God and a fear to be punished in another world for offenses done in this transitory life. But if men should believe that there is no purgatory, but that immediately the soul of man, for a little slight repentance, should go straight to heaven: it would, as you said, give them such boldness that many men would little regard what harm they did.\nor wrong they dyd to theyr neyghbours: and so shuld be the cause to brynge the peple to lyue to geder contynually in trouble / vexacyon / vnquietnesse of mynde & to the destruccion of theyr own come\u0304 welth in this world. It shuld also cause the vtter losse and dampnacion in hell of many thousand soules / be cause they wold euer trust / that yf they lyued neuer so vyciously / that yet they wolde or they dyed take some repentaunce / wherin peraduentur\ntaunce or ther dye where they be deceyued for lacke of tyme / shuld ca\u2022 gloryous place of heuen / because yt is somwhat defouled wyth synne: nor also ought not to go to hell to etet nall dampnacy on but by all good order of iustyce must go to a place to be purged & there to be made clene / that yt may be receyued after that in to the gloryous place of heuen. Therfore vpon these reasons whych thou hast shewed / & these premysses consydered / he shall be proued a very stark fole / that wyll beleue that there is no purgatory.\n\u00b6 Gynge.\n\u00b6 I am very glad now that thy\nmind is satisfied in this matter / and therefore, now that I have a little business to attend to concerning my merchandise, I will depart and bid farewell.\n\nComyn.\n\nNow I thank you heartily / for you were of our holy sect and Christian belief, and so I counsel you and require you to be.\n\nGynge.\n\nI thank you for your good counsel / but as for that request, I will not show you my mind at this time / because I have no time nor space. I know well that Christ, from whom you Christians believe, was a very holy man and taught you so many good lessons of virtue, that there can be none better. I will use this to excuse me. Therefore, yet again I say farewell.\n\nComyn.\n\nWell then, since you will need it, may it be well with you / and may you become one of our holy sect and believe / and I pray God be your guide. Amen\n\nThus ends this little treatise / gathered and compiled by John Rastell. And also by the same John it was printed and fully finished.\nx day of October y\u2022 year of our Lord God. M. CCCCC XXX.\nWith the royal privilege.\n\nIntroduction to the matter. Chapter 1.\nGod was without beginning, and the first cause of all things (Ca. ii).\nGod is, and shall be without end (Chapter 3).\nGod is most powerful and the most noble thing that can be (Chapter 4).\nGod is the very life, and He has the most joyful and pleasant life that can be (Chapter 5).\nGod has knowledge and understanding, and knows every thing that ever was, is, or shall be (Chapter 6).\nGod is the highest good, most perfect goodness, and the true truth (Chapter 7).\nVirtue is ever in God (Chapter 8).\nJustice must always be in God, and is ever righteous and just (Chapter 9).\nGod is ever merciful (Chapter 10).\nThe justice and mercy of God correspond, and one cannot be without the other (Chapter  Eli)\nGod governs all, and cares for all, and takes heed of all (Chapter 12).\nGod is everywhere, and always.\nin euery place of y\u2022 world. Cap. xiii.\nThat god is but one thynge / and not dyuets thynges. Caput xiiii.\nThat there is but one god. Caput. xv\nThat god is hole in dyuers places. Caput xvi.\nThat god is eternall. Caput xvii.\nThat it is co\u0304uenyent and nedesull to proue the immortalyte of mannys soule by reason. Caput. i.\nwhat is a dyffynycyon and what is a descrypcyon Caput ii.\nwhat is a body / what is a soule / and what is a man Caput iii.\nThat it is wysdom to byleue that the soule of man is immortall. Ca. iiii.\nyf the soule of man shulde not be immortall / than were man the vnhap\u2223pyest of all other creatures and besles Caput. v.\nThat the soule of man vseth his operacyon and properte without the bo dy / and may so haue a beynge wythout the body. Caput vi.\nThat god doth wyll the perpetuall lyfe welth and preseruacyon of man\u2223nes soule / and his wyll must be performed. Caput vii.\nyf the soule of man shuld not be immortall / than god doth not mynyster to euery man equall iustyce. Caput viii.\nThat the soule of ma\u0304 is\nThat the soul of man knows and perceives many things without the body, which does not depend on or corrupt it. Chapter IX.\nThat the natural appetite of the soul of man is to come to the knowledge of the high cause, which is God. Chapter X.\nThat the soul of man has no other cause of its being but God, which is infinite. Chapter XI.\nThat the material substance of no thing in the world can be corrupted, nor can man's soul. Chapter XIII.\nThat the most perfect and noble thing that God ever ordained and created is man's soul, which must have the longest time to continue and remain in being. Chapter XII.\nThat the soul of man attains its full perfection as soon as it is joined to the body, and does not increase successively. Chapter XV.\nThe differences between the memory and fantasy of a brute beast and the soul of a man, and that all science is in man's soul at the beginning. Chapter [XVI]\nxvi. That the fantasy and memory of a beast are corruptible and mortal, and the soul of man immortal.\nCap. xvii. That the soul of man does not always use its operation and property. Cap. xviii.\nThat every man's soul is of like perfection. Cap. xix.\nWhat knowledge the soul of man has after it is separated from the body, and what kind of being it has. Cap. xx.\nThat the soul suffers and not the body, and that, by the justice of God, there must be a purgatory, because sometimes man dies without making full satisfaction. Cap. pr.\nAn objection: If God, in His justice, must discharge Himself of it, then there is no need for another purgatory. Cap. ii.\nThe solution: If God were compelled to forgive sin immediately after repentance, He would be restrained from His liberty and from the execution of His justice. Cap. iii.\nAn objection: Since man is ordained to have an infinite being, therefore, after his death, he must have infinite joy or infinite suffering.\nCapitulum iv.\nThe solution: as there are degrees in sin, some sins being greater and some less; so there are degrees in repentance, some requiring more and some less. Furthermore, there are degrees of pardon and forgiveness. Therefore, a man, for lack of sufficient repentance, must be purged.\n\nCapitulum v.\nAn objection: since there are degrees in heaven and hell of joy and pain, it is unnecessary for God to institute purgatory, as He can execute His full and indifferent justice in one of those two places.\n\nCapitulum vi.\nThe solution: just as the soul of an apple, which has a vegetative soul, and the best soul, which has a sensitive soul, may be purged after they have been severed from their natural growing and life of such tokens and spots which are a deformity to them; so the intellectual soul must be purged of those tokens and spots.\n\nAn objection: the soul not yet purged may perform some mean and low service to God in heaven, though it is not the highest and best service.\nThe solution: that nothing unpurged and impure may remain or abide in heaven. Cap. ix.\nAn objection: if there should be any place of purgatory, that place should be here on earth or else if there is any other place, where is that place of purgatory? Cap. x.\nThe solution: if God should be compelled to make purgatory on earth, then God, who is the high judge, would be restrained from his liberty and authority more than any other earthly judge, and also it is a foolish question to ask where purgatory is. Cap. xi.\nAn objection: because God's mercy cannot be without justice, and remission is\nThe solution: if God should grant full remission for every sin without other satisfaction, then God would minister his mercy without justice. And since a man may offend both against God and against his neighbor: therefore satisfaction must be made both to God and to his neighbor, or else his neighbor is not restored to his own.\nCap XIII.\nAn objection: when God forgives, no satisfaction is required to your neighbor, because God is the absolute owner of all, and your neighbor has no property but as a servant to God, to make an account to Him therefore. Cap. XIV.\n\nThe solution: God has an absolute power and an ordinary power, and by His ordinary power He cannot discharge the debt if your repentance is not sufficient. Also, you cannot compel God to forgive you by His absolute power at your pleasure. Cap. XV.\n\nFinis calendar.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "When I had translated the new testament, I added a letter at the end. In it, I requested that they, the learned, amend it if they found any errors. However, our malicious and cunning hypocrites, who are so stubborn and hard-hearted in their wicked abominations that it is not possible for them to amend anything at all (as we see daily when their lives and actions are refuted with the truth), say that: some that it is impossible to translate the scripture into English, some that it is not lawful for the lay people to have it in their mother tongue, some that it would make them all heretics, as it would no doubt be from many things which they have falsely taught for a long time, and that is the whole reason why they forbid it, though they cloak it in other ways. And some, or rather every one, say that it would make them rise against the king, whom they themselves (to their damnation), never yet obeyed. And left the temporal rulers should see their falsehood.\nIf the scripture came to light and caused them to lie. And as for my translation, which they claim is for the laypeople (as I have heard said), I don't know how many thousands of copies there are, so that it cannot be mediated or corrected \u2013 they have taken great pains to cram it and compare it to their own imaginations and juggling terms. And under that cloak, they blaspheme the truth, so that with little labor (as I suppose), they might have translated most of the Bible. For those who in past times looked at no more scripture than what sounded in their duns or such like devilish doctrine, have now so narrowly focused on my translation that there is not so much as one \"i\" in it if it lacks. A thousand books they would rather have been put forth against their abominable doings and doctrine than that the scripture should come to light. For as long as they may keep that two-fold one, they will so.\nThe right way is darkened by their sophistry, and they entangle it so intricately that one cannot rebuke or despise their abominations with philosophical arguments and worldly similes, or apparent reasons of natural wisdom. They distort the scripture to serve their own purpose, contrary to its process, order, and meaning, and delude them in disputing it with all liberties. I am amazed at how they expound it in many senses before the unlearned laypeople (who can only understand its simple literal sense, whose light the owls cannot endure), even though you may feel in your heart and be certain that all they say is false, yet you could not solve their subtle riddles.\n\nThis is the only thing that moved me to translate the New Testament. I had realized through experience that it was impossible to establish the laypeople in any truth, except the scripture is plainly set before their eyes in their mother tongue, so they may see the process, order, and meaning.\nthe texte: for els what so ever truth is taught them / these enny\u2223myes of all truth qwench it ageyne / partly wi\u2223th the smoke of their bottomlesse pyite wherof thou readest apocalipsis .ix. that is / with appa\u2223rent reasons of sophistrye & traditions of their awne makynge / founded with out grounde of scripture / and partely in iugglinge with the tex\u2223te / expoundinge it in soch a sense as is impossi\u2223ble\nto gether of the texte / if thou see the processe ordre and meaninge therof.\n\u00b6 And even in the bisshope of londons house I entended to have done it. For when I was so turmoyled in the conire where I was that I coude no lenger there dwell (the processe w\u2223herof were to longe here to reherce) I this wy\u2223se thought in my silfe / this I suffre because the prestes of the contre be vnlerned / as god it kno\u2223weth there are a full ignorant sorte which ha\u2223ue sene no more latyn then that they read in their portesses and missales which yet many of them can scacely read (excepte it be Albertus desecretis mulieru\u0304 in which yet\nThey believed they were poorly educated, yet they studied day and night, taking notes to teach the midwives as they claimed, and compiled a book of constitutions, tithes, mortuaries, offerings, and other customs, which they called not theirs but God's and the church's duty to discharge their consciences. Therefore, because they were thus unlearned, I thought, when they gathered at the alehouse, their preaching place, they asserted that my sayings were heresy. Moreover, they added to their own heads things I never spoke, as is the manner to prolong the tale and shorten the time with all, and accused me secretly to the chancellor and other bishops' officers. In truth, when I appeared before the chancellor, he threatened me severely, reprimanded me, and treated me as if I had been a dog.\nI. Although no accuser could be brought forth (as it is their custom not to bring forth the accuser), and yet all the priests of the contrary were present on that day. As I pondered this, the bishop of London came to mind. Erasmus, whose tongue magnifies insignificant gnats into great elephants and lifts them above the stars, extols him greatly among others in his annotations on the New Testament for his great learning. I thought if I could enter his service, I would be content. So I went to London. And the account of my master reached Sir Harry Gilford, the king's controller, and he brought it to the lord of London. I had translated an oration of Isocrates from Greek into English for him, and I asked him to speak on my behalf to my lord. He granted my request and instructed me to write a letter to my lord and one to God on my own behalf. I did so and delivered my letter to a servant of his, William Bilmy.\nI have removed unnecessary line breaks and other meaningless characters, and corrected some spelling errors. Here is the cleaned text:\n\n\"And therefore he gave me no favor in my lord's sight. Wherefore my lord answered me, \"My house is full. I have more than I can well find. And I advised you to seek in London, where you could not lack a service.\" And so in London I abode almost a year, and marked the course of the world and observed our preachers and their boasting and their high authority, and beheld how busy they were, as they yet are, in trying to set peace and unity in the world (though it is not possible for those who walk in darkness to continue long in peace, for they cannot but either stumble or dash themselves at one thing or another that will clean unsettle all together), and saw things which I defer to speak of at this time. And at last I understood not only that there was no room in my lord of London's palace to translate the New Testament, but also that there was no place to do it in all England, as experience now openly shows.\"\nUnder what manner should I now submit this book to be corrected and amended by those who can endure nothing well, or what point lies between God and us: and healing the source of God's wrath upon all princes and rulers, mocking them with false, feigned names of hypocrisy, and serving their lusts at all points, and dispensing even with the very laws of God, as Christ himself testifies in Matthew 5:18-19. And concerning which the prophet says in Psalm 119:128, \"You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. I will keep them with all my heart and might.\" Yet, notwithstanding, I submit this book and all others that I have made or translated, or shall in the future (if it is God's will that I shall further labor in this).\nhis vestment to all who submit themselves to the word of God, to be corrected by it; and moreover, disallowed and burned if it seems fitting after they have examined it with the Hebrew, so that they first put forth another translation that is more correct. Though a man may have a precious jewel and be rich, yet if he does not know its value or why it serves, he is no better off nor any richer. Even so, though we read the scripture and babble about it as much as we like, yet if we do not know its use and why it was given, and what we are to seek from it, it profits us nothing at all. It is not enough, therefore, to read and talk about it only; but we must also desire God day and night to open our eyes and make us understand and feel why the scripture was given, so that we may apply the medicine of the scripture to each of our own sores, lest we intend to be idle disputers and brawlers about vain words.\nEver gnaw upon the bitter bark with outward efforts and never attain to the sweet pit within, and pursue one another for defending lewd imaginings and fantasies of our own invention.\n\nPaul, in the third letter to Timothy, says that the scripture is good for teaching (for it ought me to teach and not dreams of their own making, as the pope does), and also for improvement. The scripture is the touchstone that tries all doctrines, and by it we know the false from the true. And in the sixth to the Ephesians, he calls it the sword of the Spirit, because it kills hypocrites and utters a sharp rebuke of their false inventions.\n\nSo now the scripture is a light that shows us the true way, both what to do and what to hope. And a defense from all error, and a comfort in adversity that we despair not, and a fear in prosperity that we sin not. See therefore in the scripture, as you read it first, the law, what God commands us to do.\nSecondarily, the promises which God promises to us again, namely in Christ Jesus our Lord. Seek examples first of all, how God purges all those who submit themselves to walk in His ways in the purgatory of tribulation, delivering them yet at the latter end, and never softening any of them to perish who cleave fast to His promises. And finally, note the examples which are written: to fear the flesh that we sin not. That is, how God suffers the ungodly and wicked sinners who resist God and refuse to follow Him, to continue in their wickedness, ever waxing worse and worse until their sin is so sore increased and so abominable that if they should longer endure, they would corrupt the very elect. But for the elect's sake, God sends preachers. Nevertheless, they harden their hearts against the truth, and God destroys them utterly and begins the world anew.\n\nThis comfort you will evermore find in the plain text and literal sense. Neither is\nThere are any stories so homely or so rude, whether outwardly seeming mean or vile, in which there is not exceeding great comfort. And when some who consider themselves great scholars say that they know not what more profit is in many gestes of the scripture if read without an allegory than in a tale of Robin Hood, say this: that they were written for our consolation and comfort, that we despair not if such things happen to us. We are not holier than Noah, though he was once drunk. Nor are there any in the scripture who pleased God and were good men before those things happened to them and afterward. Nevertheless, such things happened to them for our example, not that we should imitate their evil, but if while we fight with ourselves and are forced to walk in the law of God (as they did), we yet fall likewise, that we despair not but come again to the laws of God and take better hold.\n\nWe have read since the time of Christ's death of virgins who have been brought unto the common life.\nAnd they defiled themselves, and were of the sect of martyrs who had been bound and horses rejoiced in their popes' sect, thinking that heaven came by deaths and not by Christ, and that the outward dead justified them and made them holy, and not the inward spirit received by faith and the consent of the heart unto the law of God.\n\nAs you read therefore, think that every syllable pertains to your own self, and such is the commandment of God. In the third chapter, God turns to Abel and then to his offering, but not to Cain and his offering. Where you see that though the deaths of the evil appear outwardly as glorious as the deaths of the good: yet in the sight of God, which looks on the heart, the dead is good because of the man, and not the man good because of his dead. In the sixth, God sends Noah to preach to the wicked and gives them space to repent: they grow hard-hearted, God brings them to naught, and yet saves Noah: even by the same water by which he destroyed them.\n\nMark also what\nFollowed the pride of building the Conqueror, Abraham was sent by God from his own country into a land full of wicked people. God made a bare promise to him that He would bless and defend him. Abraham believed, and that word saved and delivered him in all parallels. So it is seen that a man's life is not sustained by bread alone, but rather by believing in God's promises. Behold how soberly and circumspectly both Abraham and Isaac conducted themselves among the infidels. Abraham bought what could have been given him for nothing to remove occasions. Isaac, when his wells which he had dug were taken from him, gave in and did not resist. Furthermore, they herded and fed their cattle and made confessions.\n\nHow many things also resisted Jacob's promises from God? And yet Jacob invoked God with his own promises, \"O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Lord who said to me...\"\nReturn to your own country and to the place where you were born. I will do the good I am not worthy of, the least of your mercies, nor of that truth which you have shown to your servant. I went out with only a staff, and I came across this: your daughter is ravished; his wife is defiled, and that of his own son. Rachel dies; Joseph is taken away, and he is supposedly torn apart by wild beasts. Yet how glorious was his end? Note the weakness of his children, and their sin, and how God saved them through their own weakness. These examples teach us that a man is not perfect the first day he begins to live well. Therefore, those who are strong must suffer with the weak and help keep them united and peaceful until they grow stronger.\n\nNote what the brothers said when they were taught in Egypt: \"We have truly sinned,\" they said. \"We saw the anguish of his soul when he begged for mercy, and would not listen to him. Therefore, this tribulation has come upon us.\" By this, they meant that their refusal to listen to Joseph's pleas for mercy had led to their current suffering.\nwhich example do you seek / how conscience of evil finds men out? Mark how great evils follow from small occasions. Sina goes forth alone to see the daughters of the land, and what great mischief and trouble followed? Jacob loved one son more than another, and how grievous murder followed in their hearts? These are examples for our learning to teach us to walk warily and circumspectly in the world of weak people, that we give no more occasions of evil. Finally, see what God promised Joseph in his dreams. Those promises accompanied him always and went down with him even into the deep dungeon. They brought him up again and never forsook him until all that was promised was fulfilled. These are examples written for our learning (as Paul says), to teach us to trust in God in the strong fire of tribulation and purgatory of our flesh. And let those who submit themselves to follow God take note and mark such things for their learning.\nAnd comfort is the fruit of the scripture and the reason for its writing: To read it is the way to everlasting life and to those joyful blessings promised to all nations in the sea of Abraham, which sea is Jesus Christ our Lord. To him be honor and praise forever and to God our Father through him. Amen.\n\nIn the beginning, God created heaven and earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was upon the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the water. Then God said, \"Let there be light,\" and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. He called the light day and the darkness night. And there was evening and morning, the first day.\n\nAnd God said, \"Let there be a vault in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.\" Then God made the vault and separated the waters that were under the vault from the waters that were above the vault. And it was so. God called the vault sky. And there was evening and morning, the second day.\nAnd God called the firmament heaven. The second day was established: an evening and morning. God said, \"Let the waters under heaven gather together in one place, so that the dry land may appear.\" And it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas.\n\nGod said, \"Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the tree producing fruit with its seed in itself, according to its kind, upon the earth.\" And it was so. The earth brought forth grass, the herb yielding seed according to its kind, and the tree producing fruit, having its seed in itself, according to its kind. God saw that it was good. Thus the third day was made, an evening and morning.\n\nThen God said, \"Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; they shall be for signs and seasons, and for days and years. Let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth.\" And it was so. God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. Therefore there was evening and morning, the fourth day.\nAnd God made two great lights: a greater light to rule the day and a lesser light to rule the night, and He made stars also. And He placed them in the firmament of heaven to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. God saw that it was good. And there was evening and morning, the fourth day.\n\nAnd God said, \"Let the waters bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, and let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens.\" And God created great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, according to their kinds, with which the waters brought forth abundantly in their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, \"Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.\" So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.\n\nAnd God said, \"Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.\"\nAnd God said: \"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, that he may have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the livestock and over all the earth and over all creeping things that creep on the earth.\" And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.\n\nAnd God blessed them, and God said to them, \"Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.\"\n\nAnd God said, \"See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is upon the whole earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green plant for food.\"\nAnd God saw that all He had made was exceedingly good. And there was evening and morning, the sixth day. Thus He finished the heavens and the earth with all their furnishings. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His works which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for in it He rested from all His works which He had created and made.\n\nThese are the generations of heaven and earth when they were created, in the time when the Lord God created heaven and earth and all the plants of the field before they were in the earth. And all the trees of the field before they grew; for the Lord God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the ground and watered all the face of the earth. Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living creature.\n\nAnd the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He placed the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.\nThe Lord God caused to spring out of the earth all manner of trees, beautiful to the sight and pleasant to the gaze. And a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and it divided itself, and grew into four primary waters. The name of one is Phison, which encompasses all the land of Heuila, where gold grows. And in that country, gold is precious; bdellium is found there, and a stone called onyx.\n\nThe Lord God took Adam and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded Adam, saying, \"Of all the trees of the garden, you may eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.\"\n\nThe Lord God said, \"It is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him.\" And after that, the Lord God had formed from the earth all manner of beasts of the field and all manner of birds of the air, and He brought them to Adam to see what he would call them.\nAnd Adam named all living creatures, and they were given names. He named all cattle and the birds of the air, and all the beasts of the field. But no helper was found for Adam, and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on him. Then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman and brought her to the man.\n\nBut the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, \"Indeed, you will not die. God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.\"\n\nThe woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, so she took from its fruit and ate; and she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.\n\nAnd they heard the voice of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, \"Where are you?\" And he said, \"I heard You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.\" Then He made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.\n\nAnd the Lord God said, \"Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you not to eat from?\" The man said, \"The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.\" Then the Lord God said to the woman, \"What is this you have done?\" The woman said, \"The serpent deceived me, and I ate.\"\n\nThe Lord God said to the serpent, \"Because you have done this, you are more cursed than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust will eat dust all the days of your life. I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.\"\n\nTo the woman He said, \"I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.\"\n\nThen He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.\n\nSo the man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.\n\nThen the Lord God said, \"Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever\"\u2014therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.\n\nAnd Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. Then the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.\n\nAnd the Lord God said, \"Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever\"\u2014therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.\nGod called out to Adam and asked, \"Where are you?\" Adam replied, \"I heard your voice in the garden, but I was afraid because I was naked and hid myself.\" God asked, \"Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?\" Adam answered, \"The woman you gave me as a companion took some fruit from the tree, and I also ate.\"\n\nGod then turned to the woman and asked, \"Why did you do this?\" The woman replied, \"The serpent deceived me, and I ate.\"\n\nGod then turned to the serpent and said, \"Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals. You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all day long. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.\"\n\nTo the woman, God said, \"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.\"\nTo Adam he said: \"Because you have obeyed your wife's voice and eaten from the tree I forbade you, cursed is the earth for your sake. In sorrow you shall eat its produce all the days of your life, and it shall yield thorns and thistles to you. You shall eat the herbs of the field until you return to the earth from which you were taken, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return.\"\n\nAdam called his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made garments of skins for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. And the Lord God said, \"Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. But now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever\"\u2014\n\nAnd the Lord God cast Adam out of the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He cast Adam out, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.\nAnd in the process of time, Cain brought an offering to the Lord: an fruit of the earth. And Abel brought also of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat of them. And the Lord looked to Abel and to his offering; but to Cain and to his offering, He looked not. And Cain was very angry and lurked. And the Lord said to Cain: Why art thou angry, and why lurkest thou? Knowest thou not that if thou doest well, thou shalt receive it? But if thou doest evil, by and by thy sin lies open before Me. And it shall not be without Me reaching out My hand, to rule over thee. Cain spoke with Abel his brother. And as soon as they were in the fields, Cain fell upon Abel his brother and slew him. And the Lord said to Cain: Where is Abel your brother? And he said: I cannot tell; am I my brother's keeper? And he.\nAnd Cain said: \"What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the earth. Now cursed be you, who opened her mouth to receive your brother's blood at your hand. For when you till the ground, it shall no longer give you its strength. A vagabond and a fugitive you shall be on the earth.\n\nAnd Cain said to the LORD: \"My sin is greater than that it may be forgiven. Behold, You have cast me out this day from the face of the earth, and from Your sight I must hide myself; I must be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. Moreover, whoever finds me will kill me.\" And the LORD said to him, \"Not so; but whoever kills Cain will be avenged sevenfold. And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.\"\n\nAnd Cain went out from the face of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east side of Eden.\n\nAnd Cain lay with his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city and called it Enoch.\nThe name of it is called Henoch. Henoch had a son named Lamech. Lamech took two wives: one was named Ada, and the other Zilla. Ada gave birth to Jabal, from whom came those who dwell in tents and raise livestock. Jubal was his brother; from him came those who exercise themselves on the harp and the organ. Zilla also bore Tubal-cain, a worker in bronze and the father of all who delve in brass and iron. Tubal-cain's sister was named Naama.\n\nLamech then said to his wives, Ada and Zilla: \"Listen to my voice, wives of Lamech, and give ear to my words. For I have slain a man and wounded myself. I have killed a young man, and I have been injured:\n\nFor Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, but Lamech seventy-sevenfold.\"\n\nAdam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son, whom he named Seth. \"God,\" she said, \"has given me another offspring instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.\" Seth also fathered a son and named him Enosh. At this time, men began to call on the name of the Lord.\nAnd Seth lived 105 years and begat Enos. And after he had begot Enos, he lived 230 years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Seth were 249 years, and he died.\n\nAnd Enos lived 390 years and begat Kenan. And Enos, after he begat Kenan, lived 855 years and begat sons and daughters; and all the days of Enos were 935 years, and then he died.\n\nAnd Kenan lived 70 years and begat Mahalaliel. And Kenan, after he had begot Mahalaliel, lived 140 years and begat a son.\n\nAnd Mahalaliel lived 65 years and begat Jared. And Mahalaliel, after he had begot Jared, lived 130 years and begat sons and daughters; and all the days of Mahalaliel were 295 years, and then he died.\n\nAnd Jared lived 202 years and begat Enoch. And Jared, after he begat Enoch, lived 200 years and begat.\nAnd Jonas lived 910 and sixty-two years, and then he died. And Henoch lived sixty-five years and begat Mathusala. Henoch walked with God after he had begot Mathusala for three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Henoch were three hundred and sixty-five. And then Henoch lived a godly life, and was no more seen, for God took him away.\n\nAnd Mathusala lived one hundred and eighty-seven years and begat Lamech. Mathusala lived after he had begot Lamech for seven hundred and eighty-nine years, and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Mathusala were nine hundred and sixty-nine. And then he died.\n\nAnd Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-nine years and begat a son and called him Noah, saying, \"This one shall comfort us concerning our work and the sorrow of our hands which we have on the earth, for the Lord has cursed it.\" And Lamech lived after he had begot Noah five hundred and ninety-five years, and begat sons and daughters. And all the days.\nAnd of Lamech were five hundred seventy-nine years, and then he died. And when Noah was five hundred years old, he begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.\n\nIt came to pass that men began to multiply on the earth, and had wives, the daughters of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives from among them according to their liking. And the Lord said: My spirit shall not always strive with man, for he is flesh. Nevertheless, I will give them yet a while, and for one hundred and twenty years.\n\nThere were giants in the earth in those days. For after the sons of God had gone in to the daughters of men and had begotten children by them, these children were the mightiest on the earth and were famous.\n\nAnd when the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, he repented that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. And he said, \"I will destroy mankind, whom I have created, who is making a wickedness on the earth.\"\nI. Noah's Creation of Animals and Their Corruption before God\n\nNoah had created everything on the face of the earth: man and beast, worm and bird, for it repeated to him that he had made them. Yet, Noah found no favor in the sight of the LORD.\n\nThese are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man. God spoke to Noah: \"The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence. I will destroy them with the earth.\" Make an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it both inside and outside with pitch.\n\nThe length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its breadth one cubit, and its height thirty cubits. Make a window above in the ark, and within a cubit complete it.\n\nAnd the door of the ark you shall set in its side; you shall make it with three stories, one above another. For behold, I will bring a flood of water upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven. All that is on the earth shall die.\nAnd the earth shall perish, but I will make my appointment with you and your family: your sons and their wives. And of all that may be eaten, lay it up in store for yourself and for them. Noah did this according to all that God commanded him. And the Lord said to Noah: \"Go into the ark, you and all your household, and of clean animals take a pair, the male and the female, and of the birds of the air, seven pairs of every kind, male and female, to preserve seed upon all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain upon the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy all things that breathe. Noah did this according to all that the Lord commanded him: Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth. And Noah went, with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives, into the ark because of the waters of the flood. And of clean animals and animals that were unclean he took with him by twos.\nNoe and his family, along with animals and birds in their kinds, entered the ark on the seventeenth day of the second month. And all flesh that had the breath of life came to Noe and his family in the ark, male and female of every living creature, as the Lord had commanded him. The Lord shut the door upon him. The flood continued for forty days and forty nights on the earth. The water rose and lifted the ark above the earth. The water prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills that were under heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits of water covered the mountains.\nAnd all flesh that moved on the earth - birds, cattle, and beasts perished, along with everything that crept on the earth and all men. So all that had the breath of life in their nostrils died. Thus was destroyed all that was upon the earth - man, beasts, worms, and birds of the air. And God remembered Noah and all the animals and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters receded. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were stopped, and the rain of heaven was forbidden. The waters returned from the earth and abated after the end of one hundred and fifty days. And the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat on the seventeenth day of the seventh month. And the waters went away and decreased until the tenth month. And on the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains appeared. And after forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made.\nAfter sending out a raven, which kept going and returning until the waters had receded from the earth, Noah then released a dove. He waited seven more days and sent the dove out from the ark again. The dove returned about evening, and in its beak was a leaf of an olive tree. Noah knew that the waters had subsided. In the six hundred and first year and first day of the first month, the earth was dry. Noah removed the hatches of the ark and looked: The earth was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was completely dry.\n\nGod spoke to Noah, saying, \"Come out of the ark, you and your wife, your sons and their wives, and all the animals that are with you\u2014all kinds of livestock, birds, and all other creatures that move on the earth.\"\nAnd God blessed Noah and his sons and their wives. All living creatures and all cattle and all creeping things and all birds came out of the ark. Noah built an altar to the Lord and took clean animals and clean birds and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The Lord smelled a sweet aroma and said in His heart, \"I will no longer curse the earth because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither I will again curse the earth nor destroy every living creature as I have done. And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, \"Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.\"\n\nThe fear and dread of you is upon all the beasts of the earth and upon all the birds of the air.\nAnd upon all that creeps on the earth, and upon all fish of the sea, which are given to your hands, and all that moves upon the earth having life, shall be your food: Even as the green herbs, I give you all things. I, the Lord, make a covenant with you and your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you: both birds and cattle, and all kinds of beasts of the earth that are with you, of all that comes out of the ark, every beast of the earth. I establish My covenant with you: that no flesh shall be destroyed by the waters of a flood, and no flood shall destroy the earth again. And God said, \"This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for all generations to come: I will set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. And when I bring a cloud over the earth, I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.\nBetween me and you, and all that live, whatever flesh it be; from this point on, there shall be no more war. The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look upon it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and all that live upon the earth.\n\nThe sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Of these, all the world was populated. And Noah, being a husbandman, went out and planted a vineyard and drank of the wine and became drunk, and lay uncovered in the midst of his vineyard. And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years; so all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and then he died.\n\nThese are the generations of the sons of Noah: of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, from whom they begot their children after the flood.\n\nThe sons of Japheth were: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath.\n\nThe sons of Ham were: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush were Seba.\nHeuila, Sabta, Rayma, and Sab were the sons of Canaan, and he also fathered Zidon, Heth (also called Jebusi, Emori, Girgosi, Him, Arki, Si ni, Aruadi, Zemari, and Hama. Sem, the father of all the children of Eber and the eldest brother of Japheth, also had children. His sons were Elam, Asur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. The children of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mas. Arphaxad fathered Salah, and Salah fathered Eber. Eber had two sons: Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided, and Jakhanan (Jaketan). Jaketan had children: Almodad, Saleph, Hazarmaveth, Jarah, Hadoram, Uzel, Diklah, Obol, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Heuila, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Jaketan. They lived from Mesopotamia. And all the world spoke one language and had one speech. As they journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and there they settled. They said to one another, \"Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.\"\nWith fire. So brick was there, and slime was there mortar. And they said: Come on, let us build us a city and a tower, that the top may reach into heaven. And let us make us a name for its appearance we shall be scattered abroad over all the earth.\n\nAnd the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of Shem had built. And the Lord said: Behold, the people is one and have one language among them all. And this have they begun to do, and will not leave off from all that they have purposed to do. Come on, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that one may not understand what another says. Thus the Lord scattered them from thence upon all the earth. And they left off to build the city. Therefore the name of it is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the world. And because from there, He scattered them abroad upon all the earth.\n\nThese are the generations of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old and begat Arpachshad two.\nAnd She lived after she had begot Arphaxad for five hundred years and begat sons and daughters.\nArphaxad lived thirty-five years and begat Salah, and lived after he had begot Salah for four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. Salah was thirty years old when he begat Eber, and lived after he had begot Eber for four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.\nWhen Eber was thirty-four years old, he begat Peleg, and lived after he had begot Peleg for four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.\nPeleg was thirty years old when he begat Reu, and lived after he had begot Reu for two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.\nAnd Reu lived thirty-two years when he begat Serug, and lived after he had begot Serug for two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.\nAnd when Serug was thirty years old, he begat Nahor, and lived after he had begot Nahor for one hundred and eleven years, and begat sons and daughters.\nAnd Nahor was twenty-nine years old when...\nTerah had children when he was 19 years old, including Terah, Nahor, and Baran. When Terah was 70 years old, he had Abram, Nahor, and Baran's son. These are the generations of Terah: Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Baran. Baran fathered Lot. Baran died before Terah in the land of Ur in Chaldea. Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, Baran's son, as well as Sarai's sister Milca, the daughter of Baran, as his wife. However, Garat bore no children.\n\nTerah gave Abram, his son, Lot, his grandson, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, to accompany him as he left Ur.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Abram, saying, \"Get out of your country, your kindred, and your father's house, and go to a land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you may be a blessing.\" The Lord also promised to bless him.\nthat bless the one and curse the other. And Abram went as the Lord commanded him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions and the souls they had acquired in Haran. They set out for the land of Canaan. And when they arrived in the land of Canaan, Abram went on ahead into the land until he reached a place called Shechem, and the oak of Moreh. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time.\n\nThen the Lord appeared to Abram and said, \"To your offspring I will give this land.\" And he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. Then he departed from there to a mountain on the east side of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the north. And then Abram departed and took his journey southward.\n\nAfter this, there\nAbram came to a famine in the land. And he went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was near entering Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, \"Behold, I know that you are a beautiful woman. It will come to pass that when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'She is his wife.' And they will kill me but save you.\nSay, I pray, that you are my sister, so that it may go better with me because of you, and my soul may live because of you.\"\nAs soon as he came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman that she was very beautiful. Pharaoh's nobles also saw her and pleaded with Pharaoh for her. She was taken into Pharaoh's house, and Pharaoh treated Abram well for her sake, so that he had sheep, oxen, asses, men servants, maidservants, sheasses, and camels.\nBut God afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, \"Why have you done this to me? Why have you not told me that she was your wife?\"\nAbram was questioned by Pharaoh about his wife. Why hadn't you told me she was your wife? Instead, you said she was your sister, and I gave her to you as my wife. But now, here is your wife; take her and leave. Pharaoh also instructed his men to escort Abram, his wife, and all that he had out of Egypt.\n\nAbram departed from Egypt with his wife and all his possessions, along with Lot. Abram was very wealthy in livestock, silver, and gold. He journeyed from the south to Bethel, and to the place where his tent had been the first time between Bethel and Ai, and to the altar he had built there. There, God called upon Abram by name.\n\nLot, who went with him, had sheep, livestock, and tents. The land could not support them living together because their wealth was so great. A dispute broke out between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock.\nAnd the herdsmen of Lot's cattle lived there. Additionally, the Cananites and the Perizzites inhabited the land at that time. Then Abram said to Lot: \"Let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and yours; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Depart from me. If you will take the left hand, I will take the right; or if you take the right hand, I will take the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the country about the Jordan, which was a plentiful country, full of water everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. It was like the garden of the Lord, and like the land of Egypt, until you come to Zoar. Then Lot chose all the shores of the Jordan and journeyed from the east. And so the one brother departed from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan. And Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinned exceedingly against the Lord.\n\nAnd the Lord said to Abram after...\nThat Lot had departed from him: lift up thine eyes and look from the place where thou art, northward, southward, eastward, and westward, for all the land that thou seest I will give unto thee and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, than shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise and walk about in the land, in its length and in its breadth, for I will give it unto thee.\n\nAnd Abraham took down his tent and went and dwelt in the oak grove of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar to the Lord.\n\nNow it came to pass within a short time that Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, came against the Rephaim in Ashtaroth, the Amorites in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their own mountain ranges.\n\nThen went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and their allies.\n\nIn the fourteenth year came Kedorlaomer and the kings that were with him and defeated the Rephaim in Ashtaroth, the Amorites in Ham, the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their own mountain ranges.\nAnd the kings of Gomorrah, Adama, Zebo, Sodom and Gomorra, and all their allies went away, taking with them Lot, Abraham's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom. One who had escaped came to Abraham the Hebrew, who lived in the oak grove of Mamre, and told him that the kings of Kedorlaomer and those with him had been defeated. Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He being the priest of the most high God blessed him, saying, \"Blessed be Abram by the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be God the most high, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.\" Then Abram replied to the king of Sodom, \"I lift up my hand to the Lord, the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing that is yours, lest you say, 'I have made Abram rich.'\"\nmost high possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take of all that is thine, so much as a thread or a shred, lest thou shouldst say I have made Abraham rich. Save only that which the young men have eaten and the parts of the men which went with me. Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their shares.\n\nAfter these deaths, the word of God came to Abraham in a vision, saying, \"Fear not, Abraham; I am your shield. And he brought him outside and said, 'Look up at the heavens and count the stars\u2014if you are able to count them.' And he said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'\n\nAnd Abraham believed the Lord, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. And he said to him, \"I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur in Chaldea to give this land to you and your offspring.\"\n\nAnd he said, \"Lord God, how shall I know that I shall possess it?\" He said to him, \"Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.\" And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.\n\nAs the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and a great horror of darkness came upon him. And when the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. Now the day what God made covenants with Abraham, and God said to Abraham, \"To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.\"\n\nSo Abram called the name of that place the Lord who had appeared to him, \"The Lord who had appeared to him\" being \"Yahweh-yireh\"; hence that place is called Beersheba to this day.\n\nThen the Lord said to Abram, \"I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.\" But Abram said, \"O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?\" He said to him, \"Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.\" And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.\n\nAs the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and a great horror of darkness came upon him. And when the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. Now the day what God made covenants with Abraham, and God said to Abraham, \"To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.\"\n\nSo Abram called the name of that place the Lord who had appeared to him, \"The Lord who had appeared to him\" being \"Yahweh-yireh\"; hence that place is called Beersheba to this day.\n\nThen the Lord said to Abram, \"I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.\" But Abram said, \"O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?\" He said to him, \"Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.\" And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.\n\nAs the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and a great horror of darkness came upon him. And when the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. Now the day what God made covenants with Abraham, and God said to Abraham, \"To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.\"\n\nSo Abram called the name of that place the Lord\nAnd to him: take an heifer of three years old and a she-goat of three years old, and a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. And he took all these and divided them in the middle, and laid every piece one over against another. But the birds he did not divide. And the birds fell to the ground.\n\nAnd he said to Abram: \"Know this for certain, that your seed will be a stranger in a land that does not belong to them. They will make them servants of them, and they will treat them evil for four hundred years. But the nation whom they shall serve, I will judge. And afterward they shall come out with great substance. Yet your wife Sarah will go to her fathers in peace, and she will be buried in the land of the dead. And in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites.\"\n\nWhen the sun was down and it was growing dark: behold, there was a smoking furnace and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.\n\nAnd that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram.\nWith Abram saying to you: to your seed I will give this land.\nSarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. But she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight. Then Sarai said to Abram: You do me wrong; for I have given my handmaid into your embrace, and now that she sees that she has conceived, I am despised in her sight. The Lord judge between you and me. Then Abram said to Sarai: Behold, your handmaid is in your hand; do with her as it pleases you.\nAnd because Sarai treated her harshly, she fled from her. And the angel of the Lord found her beside a spring of water in the wilderness, that is, by a well on the way to Shur. And he said to her: Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, where have you come from, and where are you going? And she answered: I have fled from my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the Lord said to her: Return to your mistress again and submit yourself under her.\nAnd the angel of the Lord said to her, \"You are the God who sees me. For she said, 'I have truly seen the back of the one who speaks to me.' Therefore she called the name of the well the Well of the Living One who speaks to me. And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagam bore him Ishmael.\n\nWhen Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to him and said, \"I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you greatly.\" And Abram fell on his face. And God continued speaking with him, \"I am God Almighty. Behold, my covenant is with you. You shall be the father of many nations. Therefore your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will multiply you.\nAnd I will make my covenant between me and you and your seed after you in their times, to be an everlasting testament for you and for your seed after you. So I will be God to you and to your seed after you. And I will give to you and to your seed after you the land where you are a stranger, that is, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.\n\nAnd God said to Abraham: \"Keep my covenant, you and your seed after you in their generations: this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your seed after you. That you and your male children you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; it shall be a token of the covenant between me and you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old in your generations, and every servant born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed. The servant born in your house or bought with your money shall be circumcised.\"\nHouse/ A man bought with money must be circumcised, so that my covenant may be in your flesh for an everlasting bond. If there is any uncircumcised male child who has not had the foreskin of his flesh cut off, his soul will perish from his people because he has broken my covenant.\n\nGod said to Abraham, \"Sarai your wife shall no longer be called Sarai; instead, her name shall be Sarah. I will bless her, and I will also give you a son by her.\n\nGod said, \"No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, whom you shall call Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him, and it will be an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard your request. I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. Twelve princes he will father, and I will make a great nation of him. But my covenant I will establish with\"\nIsaac was twelve months old when he was weaned by Sarah. And God spoke with him no more and departed from Abraham. Abraham took Ishmael his son and all the servants born in his house and all those bought with money, as many as were male among the servants of Abraham's household. He circumcised their foreskins on that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he circumcised the foreskin of his flesh. Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when the foreskin of his flesh was circumcised. And all those men, though they were strangers, were circumcised with him.\n\nThe Lord appeared to him in the oak grove of Mamre as he sat at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men stood not far from him. And when he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them and fell on his face to the ground. And he said, \"Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by from me.\"\nAnd Abraham's servant said, \"Let some water be fetched and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. I will prepare a meal for you. And Abraham went into his tent to Sarah and said, \"Prepare yourself to welcome three men at the entrance as soon as they have bathed. And they asked him, \"Where is Sarah your wife?\" He replied, \"She is in the tent.\" He also said, \"I will return to you as soon as the fruit can live.\" And Sarah, hearing this from the tent door behind his back, laughed, saying, \"Now that I am old, shall I give myself to lust, and my lord also is old?\"\n\nThen the Lord said to Abraham, \"Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I really bear a child, old as I am?'\"\n\nThen the men rose up and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to show them the way. And the Lord said, \"Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?\"\nAnd the Lord said, \"Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is right? If I find in Sodom and Gomorrah fifty righteous people in the city, will I destroy it for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to speak such a thing. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?\" And the Lord said, \"If I find in Sodom and Gomorrah even ten righteous people, will I not destroy it for their sake?\" Abraham answered, \"Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. What if there are lacking five righteous people in the city?\"\nAnd he said to him again, \"What if there are forty found there?\" And he said, \"I will not destroy it for forty's sake. And he said, \"Oh, let not my Lord be angry that I speak. What if there are sixty there?\" And he said, \"I will not do it if I find sixty there. And he said, \"Oh, see, I have begun to speak to my Lord what if twenty are found there?\" And he said, \"I will not destroy them for twenty's sake. And he said, \"Oh, let not my Lord be angry that I speak yet, but let me speak once more only. What if ten are found there?\" And he said, \"I will not destroy them for ten's sake. And the Lord went on his way as soon as he had left. And two angels came to Sodom at evening. And Lot sat at the gate of the city. And the Lord saw them and rose up against them, and he bowed himself before them to the ground. But before they lay down, he said...\"\nThe men of Sodom surrounded Lot's house, old and young, all the people from all quarters. They called to him and said, \"Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us so we can do to them as we please.\"\n\nLot went out to them at the door and shot the door behind him. \"Please, brothers, do not act so wickedly,\" he pleaded. \"I have two virgin daughters who have not known a man. I will bring them out to you; do with them as it seems good to you. But leave these men alone, for they have come under my roof.\"\n\n\"Bring them out here,\" they demanded. \"Didn't they come in to you?\" they taunted. \"We will deal worse with you than with them.\"\n\nAs they continued to press upon Lot, the men also said to him, and Lot went out and spoke to his sons, \"Stand up and get out of this place,\" he instructed, \"for the law requires that my daughters should marry.\"\nplace/ The Lord will destroy this city, but he seemed to mock/ to his sons-in-law. And as the morning arose, the angels urged Lot, saying, \"Stand up/ take your wife and your two daughters and leave what is behind, lest you perish because of the sin of the city.\" And as he delayed the time, the men seized him, his wife, and his two daughters by the hands, because the Lord was merciful to him, and they brought him outside the city.\n\nWhen they had brought them out, they said, \"Save your life and do not look back or tarry in any place of the country, but save yourself in the mountains, lest you perish.\" Then Lot said to them, \"Oh no, my lord. Behold, in as much as your servant has found grace in your sight, now make your mercy great which you show to me in sparing my life. I cannot save myself in the mountains, lest some misfortune fall upon me and I die.\" Behold, here is a city nearby/ to flee to.\nAnd it is a little one: let me save myself therein: is it not a little one, that my soul may live? And he said to him: see I have received your request concerning this thing, that I will not overthrow this city for your sake. Haste yourself, go and save yourself there, for I can do nothing till you come in there. And therefore the name of the city is called Zoar. And the son was upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar.\n\nThen the Lord rained down brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and overthrew those cities and all the plain, and all that dwelt in the cities, and all that grew on the earth. And Lot's wife looked behind her, and was turned into a pillar of salt.\n\nAbraham rose up early and went to the place where he stood before the Lord. And looking toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of that place, he saw: behold, the smoke of the land rose up as the smoke of a furnace. But Lot's wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.\nAnd he destroyed the region of Sodom, for he thought that Abraham: and sent Lot out from the danger of its overthrow. Lot departed from Zoar and dwelt in the mountains with his two daughters, for he feared to tarry in Zoar. He dwelt there in a cave, both he and his two daughters. Then the elder daughter spoke to the younger, saying, \"Let us save seed of our father.\" And they gave their father wine to drink that night. And the elder daughter went and lay with her father. He did not perceive it, neither when she lay down nor when she rose up.\n\nAnd on the morning, the elder daughter spoke to the younger, \"Behold, last night I lay with my father.\" Let us give him wine to drink this night also, and go you and lie with him, and let us save seed of our father.\" And they gave their father wine to drink that night also. And the younger daughter arose and lay with him. He did not perceive it, neither when she lay down nor when she rose up.\n\nThus.\nAnd the daughters of Lot had children by their father. The elder gave birth to a son and named him Moab, the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. The younger also had a son, and Abraham departed towards the south.\n\nGod appeared to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, \"You are but a dead man because of the women you have taken away, for she is another man's wife.\" But Abimelech had not yet come near her, so he said, \"Lord, will you destroy an innocent people? Did she not say she was his sister? And did he not say she was his sister? With a pure heart and innocent hands, I have done this.\"\n\nGod replied in a dream, \"I know that you did this in the pureness of your heart. Therefore, I kept you from sinning against me, and I did not let you come near her. Now, therefore, return the woman to him, for he is a prophet. Let him pray for you, that you may live. But if you do not return her, be prepared for consequences.\"\nAbimelech rose up in the morning and called all his servants, and told them all these things in their ears. The men were sore afraid. Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, \"What have you done? And Abraham answered, \"I thought that perhaps there was no fear of God in this place, and they would kill me because of my wife. But she is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not of my mother.\" Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, menservants, and womenservants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him. And Abimelech said, \"Behold, the land is before you; dwell where it pleases you. And to Sarah he said, 'I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, he shall be a covering for your eyes to all who are with you and an excuse.'\n\nAnd so Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants.\nFor the Lord had forbidden all the matriarchs of the house of Abimelech on account of Sarah, Abraham's wife. The Lord visited Sarah as he had spoken, and she bore Abraham a son in his old age, the same season which the Lord had appointed. And Abraham named his son whom Sarah bore him Isaac, and Abraham circumcised Isaac his son when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.\n\nSarah said: \"God has made me a laughingstock; all who hear will laugh at me.\" She also said: \"Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children or that she would bear him a son in his old age?\" The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast.\n\nSarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian whom she had borne to Abraham. Then she said to Abraham: \"Cast out this slave woman and her son.\"\nAbraham and Hagar's son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not inherit with my son Isaac. But the words seemed very grievous to Abraham. And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a bottle with water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulders also, and sent her away. She departed and wandered up and down in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water in the bottle was spent, she cast the lad under a bush and went and sat out of sight a great distance, as it were a bowshot off. For she said: I will not see the lad die. And she sat down out of sight and lifted up her voice and wept.\n\nAnd God heard the voice of the child. And the angel of God called Hagar out of heaven and said to her: What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the child where he lies. Arise and live up the lad, and take him in your hand, for I will make of him a great people. And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.\nAnd she filled the bottle with water and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the lad, and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. He dwelt in the wilderness of Paran. And his mother got him a wife from the land of Egypt.\n\nIt happened in the same season that Abimelech and Phicol his chief captain spoke to Abraham, saying, \"God is with you in all that you do. Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not hurt me or my children nor the children of my children. But you shall deal with me and my land wherever you are a stranger, according to the kindness that I have shown you.\" Then Abraham said, \"I will swear.\"\n\nAbraham rebuked Abimelech for a well of water which Abimelech had seized. And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to him.\n\nThen Abimelech and Phicol his chief captain rose up and turned again to the land of the Philistines. And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called its name, on the name of the Lord.\nThe everlasting God dwelt in the land of Canaan for a long time after these deeds. God spoke to Abraham and said, \"Abraham.\" And he answered, \"Here I am.\" God said, \"Take your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and sacrifice him there as a sacrifice on one of the mountains I will show you.\"\n\nAbraham rose early in the morning and saddled his ass and took two of his men with him and Isaac his son. He prepared the wood for the sacrifice and rose and went.\n\nOn the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar off, and said to his young men, \"Stay here with the ass. I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.\" Abraham took the wood of the sacrifice and laid it on Isaac his son, and took fire in his hand and a knife. They went both of them together.\n\nIsaac said to Abraham his father, \"My father?\" And he answered, \"Here I am, my son.\" And he said, \"See, here is the fire and the wood.\"\nAnd Abraham asked, \"But where is the sheep for the sacrifice? Abraham replied, 'God will provide a sheep for the sacrifice.' So they went together. And when they arrived at the place God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and prepared the wood. He bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham reached out his hand to take the knife to kill his son.\n\nThen the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, saying, \"Abraham! Abraham replied, \"Here I am.\" The angel said, \"Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, and you have not withheld your only son from me.\" Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by the horns in a thicket. He went and took the ram and offered it up as a sacrifice instead of his son. Abraham named the place \"The Lord will see,\" and it is said to this day, \"There the Lord provided a ram for a burnt offering instead of his son.\"\nIn the mountain, the Lord will be seen. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time, saying: \"By myself I have sworn. Swear to Abraham and his young men: Go and return to Beersheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. After these things, Sarah was one hundred and twenty-seven years old (for so long she lived), and then she died in a headland city called Hebron in the land of Canaan. Then Abraham went to Mamek and wept for her. And Abraham stood up from among the Hittites and spoke to their sons, saying: \"I am a stranger and a foreigner among you. Give me a possession among you, that I may bury my dead outside of my sight.\n\nThe children of the Hittites answered Abraham, saying to him: \"Hear us, Lord. You are a prince of God among us. In the choicest of our sepulchres bury your dead: None of us shall forbid you his sepulchre, lest you should not bury your dead therein.\n\nAbraham stood up and bowed himself before the people of the land.\nAnd he came with the children of Heth, saying: \"If it is your intention, I shall bury my dead from my sight; hear me and speak on my behalf to Ephron the son of Zoar. Let him give me the cave that is in the end of his field, for as much money as it is worth. Let him give it to me in your presence for a possession to bury in. For Hephron dwells among the children of Heth.\n\nThen Ephron the Hethite answered Abraham in the hearing of the children of Heth and of all who were in the gates of his city, saying: \"Not so, my lord; but hear me. The field and the cave that is in it, I give you. And even in the presence of the sons of my people, give it to you for a burial site.\"\n\nThen Abraham bowed himself before the people of the land and spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the country, saying: \"I pray you, hear me. I will give silver for the field. Take it from me.\"\n\nEphron answered Abraham, saying to him: \"My lord, listen to me.\"\nLand was worth four hundred syllables of silver: But what is between land and me?\nThus was the field of Ephron, where the double cave is, before Ma, the cave that is therein and all the trees of the field which grow in all the borders around, made sure to Abraham for possession, in the sight of the children of Heth and of all who went in at the gates of the city. And then Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the double cave of the field that lies before Mamre, otherwise called Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And so both the field and the cave that is therein were made into Abraham's sure possession to bury in, of the sons of Heth.\nAbraham was old and struck in days, and the LORD had blessed him in all things. And he said to his oldest servant in his house, who had the rule over all that he had: \"Put your hand under my thigh that I may make a swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell.\"\nThe servant of the Amorites spoke to Abraham, \"But you will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for your son Isaac. He said, \"What if the woman will not agree to come with me to this land? And if you bring your son back to the land from which you came, God spoke to me and said, 'To your seed I will give this land. He shall send his angel before you, and you may take a wife for my son from there. Nevertheless, if the woman will not agree to come with you, you will be safe from this oath. But above all things, do not bring my son there again.\" The servant put his hand under Abraham's thigh and swore to him concerning this matter.\n\nThe servant took ten camels from his master's camels and departed, taking all manner of goods with him. He arose and went to.\nAnd it came to pass, as he had yet to finish speaking, that Rebecca came out, the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother. She carried a pitcher on her shoulder. The maiden was very beautiful to behold and yet a virgin and unknown to man.\n\nShe went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came up again. Then the servant ran to meet her and said, \"Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.\"\n\nBut she said, \"Drink, my lord,\" and quickly lowered the pitcher to her hand and gave him a drink.\n\nThe man was amazed at her and remained motionless, struck by her beauty. But he held his peace and the man bowed himself and worshiped the Lord, saying, \"Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who deals mercifully and truly with my master and has led me on the way to my master's brother's house.\"\n\nAnd the maiden ran and told these things to her mother's household.\nRebecca had a brother named Laban. And Laban ran out to the man at the well. As soon as he had seen the maidservants and their bracelets, God blessed us and gave him abundantly, making him great and giving him sheep, oxen, silver, gold, male and female servants, camels, and asses. And Sarah, my master's wife, bore him a son, and he had given him all that he had. My master had made me a steward. I came to the well today and said, \"O Lord, God of my master Abraham, if it is your will that my journey, which I am going on, be prosperous, behold, I stood by this well of water. And when a virgin comes forth to draw water, and I say to her, 'Give me a little water from your jar to drink,' and she says to me in return, 'Drink, and I will also draw water for your camels.'\"\nthat same is the wife whom the Lord has prepared for my master's son. And before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebecca appeared and her pitcher on her shoulder, and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, \"Give me a drink.\" And she hurried and took down her pitcher. And I placed the earring on her face and the bracelets on her hands. And I bowed myself and worshipped the Lord and blessed the Lord, God of my master Abraham, who had brought me the right way to take my master's brother's daughter for his son. Now therefore, if you will deal mercifully and truly with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me also: that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.\n\nLaban and Bethuel replied, saying, \"The thing is proceeded from the Lord; we cannot therefore say to her either good or bad: Behold, Rebecca is before you; take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife. Of silver and gold and clothing give.\"\nhim to Rebecca: But to her brother and mother, he gave spices. And they ate and drank, he and the men with him, and stayed all night and rose up in the morning.\nAnd he said: Let me depart to my master. But her brother and mother said: Let the maiden stay with us a while, and it be but even ten days, and then go your way. And he said to them: Hinder me not: for the Lord has prospered my journey. Send me away, I may go to my master. And they said: Let us call the maiden and see what she says about this. And they called forth Rebecca and said to her: Will you go with this man? And she said: Yes.\nThen they brought Rebecca, her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and the men with him, on the way. And they blessed Rebecca and said to her: You are your sister; grow in thousands, and your seed shall possess the gates of their enemies. And Rebecca arose and her maids, and sat.\nThe servant followed after the man on foot, leaving the camels behind. Rebecca was taken by the servant and they continued on their way. Isaac was coming from the well of living and saw, as he looked up, that the camels were approaching. Rebecca lifted her eyes and when she saw Isaac, she lightened the load of the camel and said to the servant, \"What is this that comes against us in the field?\" The servant replied, \"It is my master.\" Rebecca then put on her veil and the servant informed Isaac of all that had transpired. Isaac brought Rebecca into his mother Sarah's tent and took her as his wife. He loved her and was comforted over his mother.\n\nAbraham took another wife named Keturah, who bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. These are the days of the life of Abraham, which he lived: one hundred and seventy-five years, and then he fell sick and died, in a ripe old age (having lived long enough).\nAnd his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the double cave in the field of Ephron, the Hethite of Machpelah, before Abraham's death. God blessed Isaac, his son, who dwelt by the well of Lahai Roi.\n\nThis is the genealogy of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarai's handmaid, bore to Abraham. These are the names of Ishmael's sons with their names in their tribes. The eldest son of Ishmael was Nabaim, who was in Egypt, as men go toward Assyria.\n\nAnd this is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham begat Isaac. And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Mesopotamia, and sister to Laban the Syrian, as his wife.\n\nIsaac interceded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. The Lord was moved by him, and Rebecca his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her, and she said, \"If it is thus to be, what good is it to me that I have been given this trouble?\" And she went and inquired of the Lord.\nAnd the Lord said to her, \"There are two kinds of people in your womb, and two nations shall be born from your body. One nation shall be stronger than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger. When the time came for you to give birth, there were two boys in your womb. The first came out red and covered with hair, and they named him Esau. Afterward, his brother came out, and his hand was holding Esau's heel. Therefore, his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore the boys. Jacob cooked a potage, and Esau came in from the field and was famished. He said to Jacob, \"Let me taste some of that red potage, for I am famished.\" So Jacob gave Esau some bread and a bowl of red lentil stew. He ate and drank, then rose and went on his way. In this way, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob.\n\nAnd there was a famine in the land, following the first famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham and Isaac.\nAbraham. Why Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, to Gerar. The Lord appeared to him in a place and said, \"Sojourn in this land; I will be with you and bless you. To you and your offspring I will give all these countries, and I will fulfill the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your offspring all these countries. Through your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me.\"\n\nAnd Isaac dwelled in Gerar. And the men of the place asked him about his wife, and he said she was his sister, for he was afraid to call her his wife, lest they should kill him on account of her beauty.\n\nAnd it came to pass after he had been there for a long time, that Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out of a window and saw Isaac sporting with Rebecca, his wife. And Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, \"Indeed she is your wife! Why then did you say, 'She is my sister'?\"\nAnd you asked if she was my sister? I, Isaac, replied, \"I thought I might have died for her sake.\" Abimelech asked, \"Why have you done this to us? One of our people might have slept with your wife, and you would have brought sin upon us.\" Abimelech then charged all his people, saying, \"He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.\"\n\nIsaac sowed in the land and found in the same year a hundred bushels. For the Lord blessed him, and the man grew mighty and wealthy. He had livestock, oxen, and a large household. Because of this, the Philistines envied him. They stopped up and filled with earth all the wells that his father's servants had dug in his father Abraham's time.\n\nThen Abimelech said to Isaac, \"Get away from us, for you are more powerful than we are.\"\n\nIsaac then departed from there and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar and dwelt there. Isaac dug again the wells of water.\nAnd they dug another well there, which the Philistines had stopped. Then they dug another well and fought for it. Therefore it was called Sitena. Afterward, he departed from there and dug another well, for which they did not struggle: therefore it was called Rehoboth. And the Lord appeared to him that night and said, \"I am the God of Abraham your father; fear not, for I am with you, and I will bless you and multiply your descendants for my servant Abraham's sake.\" And he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord; and there Isaac's servants dug a well.\n\nThen Abimelech came to him from Gerar and Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol his chief captain. And Isaac said to them, \"Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have put me away from you?\" Then they said, \"We saw that the Lord was with you. Therefore we said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.'\"\nAnd he said that there should be an oath between us and the man, and that we would make a covenant with him: you shall do us no harm, as we have not touched you and have done nothing but good to you. And he made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. And they stayed with him for several days and swore an oath to each other. And Isaac sent them away. And they departed from him in peace.\n\nAnd on that same day, Isaac's servants came and told him about a well that they had dug, and they said to him, \"We have found water.\" He named it Seba, therefore the name of the city.\n\nWhen Esau was forty years old, he took wives: Judith, the daughter of Beerah the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.\n\nBut Rebecca overheard Isaac speaking to Esau, his son. And as soon as Esau went out into the field to hunt game and bring it, she spoke to Jacob her son and said, \"\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Old English, but it is still largely readable and does not require extensive translation or correction. Therefore, no cleaning is necessary.)\nI have heard your father speaking with Esau, your brother, and saying: \"Bring me venison and make me food that I may eat, and I will bless you before the Lord before I die. Now therefore, my son, heed my voice in that which I command you: go to the flock, and bring me two good goatskins, and I will make food from them. And you shall bring it to your father, and he shall eat, so that he may bless you before his death.\" Then Jacob spoke to Rebecca his mother. \"Behold, Esau my brother is rough and I am smooth. My father will surely deceive me and I will seem to him as though I am about to deceive him; and he will bring a curse upon me instead of a blessing. And his mother said to him, 'Put the curse on me, my son, only heed my voice and go and fetch me them.' And Jacob went and fetched them and brought them to his mother.\n\nAnd his mother made food from them according to his father's liking. And she went and prepared fine garments from her eldest son Esau's clothing that was in the house.\nWith her, she placed them on Jacob, her youngest son. She put furs on his hands and the smooth part of his neck. And she put the meat and bread she had made in the hollow of her son Jacob's son.\n\nJacob went to his father and said, \"Father.\"\n\nHe replied, \"Here I am.\"\n\n\"I am Esau, your eldest son,\" Jacob said. \"I have done as you commanded. Come and eat of my venison so that your soul may bless me.\"\n\nBut Isaac asked, \"How did you find it so quickly, my son?\"\n\nHe answered, \"The Lord your God gave it to me.\"\n\nThen Isaac asked Jacob, \"Come near and let me feel you, my son, to see whether you are my son Esau or not.\"\n\nJacob went to Isaac, his father, and he felt him. He did not recognize him because Jacob's hands were smooth, unlike Esau's rough hands.\n\n\"Are you my son Esau?\" Isaac asked.\n\n\"I am,\" Jacob replied.\n\n\"Bring me some and let me eat of my son's venison,\" Isaac said.\nVenuson, so that my soul may bless you. And he brought him food, and he ate. He brought him wine as well, and he drank. And his father Isaac said to him, \"Come near and kiss me, my son.\" He came to him and kissed him. And he smelled the savory smell of his garment and blessed him, saying, \"See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give you of the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth and the abundance of grain and wine. May people be your servants and nations bow to you. May the Lord be over your brethren and your mother's children bow to you. Cursed be he who curses you, and blessed be he who blesses you.\n\nAs soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, Jacob had scarcely gone out of his father's presence, and then came Esau his brother from his hunting, and had prepared food and brought it in to his father, and said to him, \"Arise, my father, and eat of your son's venison, that your soul may bless me.\" But his father Isaac said to him, \"Who are you?\"\nEsau: I am your eldest son, Esau. Isaac: Where is he then who hath taken venison from you and brought it to me, and I have eaten of it before you came? I will call him Jacob, for he has deceived me twice now. First, he took away my birthright; see, now he has taken away my blessing as well. Esau: But have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me also, my father. Esau lifted up his voice and wept. Isaac answered and said to him, \"Behold, your dwelling place shall have of the richness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. With your sword shall you live, and you shall serve your brother. But the time will come when you will serve him.\"\nGet the mastery and loosen his yoke from your neck.\nAnd Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing you father bestowed upon him with all his heart, and he said in his heart, \"The days of my father's favoritism toward you will be quelled, and until my brother's wrath turns away from me, I will send him away from this place. Why should I lose both of you in one day?\"\n\nRebecca spoke to Isaac, \"I am weary of my life because of the fear of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, or from the daughters of the land, what good would there be for me to live?\"\n\nThen Isaac called Jacob his son and blessed him, and he charged him and said to him, \"Do not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan, but arise and go to Mesopotamia to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and there take a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.\" And God Almighty bless you, increase you, and multiply you, that you may be a numerous people.\nIsaac gave Jacob his blessing and sent him to Mesopotamia to marry a woman from there, as God had given the land to Abraham. Isaac warned Jacob not to take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Jacob obeyed and went to Haran to find a wife from Laban, the brother of Rebecca and Esau's mother.\n\nEsau, seeing that Jacob had received his father's blessing and been sent away to find a wife, took Mahalah, the daughter of Ishmael, as his wife instead.\n\nJacob stopped for the night at a place on his journey to Haran and took a stone from there to use as a pillow.\n\n\"Isaac sent Jacob to Mesopotamia to marry a woman from there, as God had given the land to Abraham. He warned Jacob not to take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Jacob obeyed and went to Haran to find a wife from Laban. Esau, seeing that Jacob had received his father's blessing and been sent away, took Mahalah, the daughter of Ishmael, as his wife instead.\"\nAnd he placed it under his head, and laid him down in the same place to sleep. And he dreamed: and behold, there stood a ladder on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And see, the angels of God went up and down on it. And the Lord stood at its head and said, \"I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and your seed. And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, north and south. And through you and your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And see, I am with you and will be your protector in all places where you go, and will bring you again to this land. I will not leave you until I have fulfilled all that I have promised you.\"\n\nWhen Jacob was awakened from his sleep, he said, \"Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware. How fearful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven.\"\nHeavens. And Jacob stood up early in the morning and took the stone that he had laid under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. And he called the name of the place Bethel, for indeed the name of the city was called Lus before that time. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying: \"If God will be with me and will keep me in this journey that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothes to wear, so that I return to my father's house in safety: then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone which I have set up as a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that You shall give me, I will give the tithe to You.\" Then Jacob lifted his feet and looked around. And behold, there was a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep were lying there (for at that well the sheep were watered), and there was a great stone at the well's mouth. The custom was to bring the flocks there and roll the stone from the well's mouth and water the sheep.\nAnd they said to Jacob, \"We are from Haran. Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?\" Jacob asked, \"Is he in good health?\" They replied, \"He is well. Rachel comes with the sheep. She keeps them. But we cannot water ours until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the well's mouth.\"\n\nWhile Jacob was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father's sheep. As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, he rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered their sheep. Then he kissed Rachel.\nLifted up his voice and wept, and told her that he was her father's brother and Rebecca's son. Rachel ran and told her father. When Laban heard tell of Jacob, his sister's son, he ran against him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him into his house. And Jacob told Laban all the matter. Laban said, \"Well, thou art my bone and my flesh.\" Stay with me for a month. And afterward Laban said to Jacob, \"Though thou be my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me what your wages shall be. Laban had two daughters; the eldest was called Leah, and the youngest Rachel. Leah was tender-eyed, but Rachel was beautiful and well-favored. Jacob loved her well and said, \"I will serve you seven years for Rachel your youngest daughter.\" Laban answered, \"Is it better that I give her to you than to another man? Therefore, stay here with me.\"\n\nJacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Jacob said to Laban,\nLaban gave me my wife, so I could be with her as arranged. Then Laban ordered all the men of that place to make a feast. When the night was over, he took Leah his daughter and brought her to him, and he lay with her. Leah's maid Zilpha was given to her as a servant.\n\nWhen the morning came, Leah was there. Jacob asked Laban, \"Why have you deceived me like this? I served you for Rachel. Why have you given me Leah instead?\" Laban replied, \"It is not the custom of this place to marry off the youngest daughter before the eldest. Spend this week here, and you will also be given Rachel in marriage for the additional seven years of service you will render me.\" And Jacob did so, spending that week there, and then he was given Rachel as his wife.\n\nWhen the Lord saw that Leah was despised, he made her fertile; but Rachel remained childless. Leah conceived and bore a son, whom she named Reuben, saying, \"The Lord has looked upon my affliction; surely my husband will love me now.\"\nWhen Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister and said to Jacob, \"Give me children or I am dead. Jacob was angry with Rachel and said, \"Am I in God's place, keeping it from you?\" She replied, \"Here is my handmaid Bilhah; go in to her so that she may bear up on my lap and I may be enlarged through her.\" He gave him Bilhah his handmaid as wife, and he went in to her. Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.\nRachel said, \"God has given me a sentence on my side and has heard my voice, and has given me a son, whom I named Dan. Bilhah, Rachel's maid, bore him above her head and named him Naphtali. Leah saw that she had stopped bearing and took her maid Zilpah and gave her. Reuben went out into the wheat fields and found mandrakes in the fields and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, \"Give me your sons' mandrakes.\" And Lea replied, \"Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband, but you want to take away my sons' mandrakes as well? Rachel persisted, \"Let him sleep with me this night, for your sons' mandrakes.\" And when Jacob came from the fields in the evening, Lea went out to meet him and said, \"Come into me, for I have bought you.\" And he slept with her that night. God heard Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob five sons. Leah said, \"God has rewarded me because I gave my...\"\nA maid gave birth to my husband, and she named him Isachar. Leah conceived again and bore Jacob. God remembered Rachel, saw her, and made her fruitful. She conceived and bore a son and said, \"God has taken away my reproach.\" She named him Joseph, saying, \"May the Lord give me another son.\"\n\nAs soon as Rachel had weaned Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, \"Let me go, so I can return to my own place and take care of my wives and children for whom I have served you. You know what I have done for you. Laban replied, \"If I have found favor in your eyes (for I suppose the Lord has blessed me because of you), tell me what your reward should be, and I will give it to you.\" But Jacob answered, \"You know what service I have given you, and in what way. But now, how will I provide for my own household as well? And he said, \"What shall I give you?\" Jacob answered, \"You shall give me nothing at all if you will do this one thing: let me go, and bless me.\"\nAnd then I will turn again and feed your sheep and keep them. I will go about all your sheep today and separate from them all the spotted and sheep of various colors, and all black sheep among the lambs and the spotted among the ewes. Such shall be my reward. So shall my righteousness answer for me: when the time comes that I shall receive my reward from them. Go and take whatever is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, let that be theft with me.\nThen Laban said, \"The rest of Laban's sheep.\"\nJacob took rods of green poplar, hazel, and chestnut trees, and peeled white stripes in them and tied the white strips in the troughs, and they would cause the sheep to appear spotted when they came to drink. The sheep brought forth spotted and speckled offspring before the troughs, and I Jacob separated the ewes and turned the faces of the sheep toward them.\nAnd he spotted things, and among all the black ones throughout Laban's flocks. He made flocks of his own, which he did not add to Laban's flocks. And in the first shearing time of the sheep, Jacob placed the statues before the sheep in the troughs, so they could conceive before the statues. But in the latter shearing time, he did not put them there: thus the last herd was Laban's and the first was Jacob's. And the man grew exceedingly rich and had maids, servants, menservants, camels, and asses.\n\nAnd Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, how they spoke: \"Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and of our father's goods, has gotten all this honor.\" And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, that it was not toward him as it was in past times.\n\nAnd the Lord said to Jacob: \"Turn again to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.\" Then Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his sheep and said to them:\nI am your father's countenance towards me is not as it was in the past. Moreover, God, my father's God, has been with me. And you know that I have served your father with all my might. And your father has discovered me and changed my wages ten times: but God did not allow him to harm me. When he said, \"The spotted shall be your wages,\" all the sheep bore spotted offspring. If he had said, \"The streaked shall be yours,\" I am God of Bethel, where you anointed the stone and made a vow to me. Now arise and get out of this country and return to the land where you were born. Then answered Rachel and Leah and said to him, \"We have no part or inheritance in our father's house; he counts us as aliens, for he has sold us, and has even eaten up the price of us. Moreover, all the riches which God has taken from our father, that is ours and our children's. Now therefore whatever God has said to thee, that do we.\" Then Jacob rose up and set his sons and wives upon camels and went to the land of his birth.\nJacob carried away all his cattle and possessions from Mesopotamia to go to Isaac in Canaan. Laban was shepherding his sheep, and Rachel had stolen her father's idols. Jacob departed unbeknownst to Laban towards Syria and did not inform him. So, he went with all that he had and made himself ready. He crossed the rivers and set his face towards Mount Gilead.\n\nThree days later, it was told to Laban that Jacob had fled. He took his brothers and pursued him for seven days' journey. He overtook him at Mount Gilead. God appeared to Laban in a dream at night and said, \"Take heed to yourself; speak nothing but good to Jacob.\" Laban overtook Jacob, and Jacob had pitched his tent in that mountain. Laban and his brothers also pitched their tents on Mount Gilead. Then Laban said to Jacob, \"Why have you done this to me, and carried away my daughters?\"\nas though you had been taken captive with a swear? Why did you go away secretly, unknown to me, and did not tell me, so that I might have brought you along with mirth, singing, timbrels and harps, and did not suffer me to kiss my children and my daughters? You were a fool to do so, for I am able to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke to me yesterday, saying, \"Take heed that you speak nothing to Jacob, except good.\" And now, though you think you know your way because you long for your father's house, yet why have you stolen my gods?\n\nJacob answered and said to Laban, \"Because I was afraid, and thought that you would take away your daughters from me. But with whomever you find your gods, let him die here before our brethren. Seek that yours is by me, and take it with you; for Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.\" Then Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tents of the two maidservants, but he found them not. He went out of Leah's tent.\nI have removed unnecessary line breaks and other meaningless characters. Here is the cleaned text:\n\n\"Teeth/ and entered into Rachel's teeth. And Rachel could not rise before me because the disease of womb was come upon me. So searched they but found not. I Jacob was wrath and chided Laban: I Jacob also answered and said to him: what have I stolen I have been with your sheep and your goats and if it was stolen by day or by night, moreover by day the heat consumed me and by night the cold, and my sleep departed from my eyes. Thus have I been twenty years in your house and served the fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your sheep, and you have changed my reward ten times. And except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the God who fears me Isaac, had been with me: surely you would have sent me away now all empty. But God beheld my tribulation and the labor of my hands: and rebuked thee yesterday. Laban answered and said to Jacob: the daughters are my daughters and the children of my women.\"\nchildren and the sheep are mine, and all that you say is mine. And what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? Therefore come now, let us make a covenant, I and you together, and let it be a witness between me and you. Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar and said to his brethren, \"Gather stones\" and they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there upon the heap. And Laban said, \"This heap shall be a witness between me and you when we are departed from one another: that you shall not vex my daughters nor take other wives for them. There is no man with us: behold, God is a witness between me and you. And Laban said further to Jacob, \"Behold, this heap and this pillar which I have set between me and you: this heap shall be a witness, and also this pillar, that I will not come over this heap to you, nor you come over this heap and this pillar to do any harm.\nThe God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their fathers, be the judge between us. Jacob swore by Him that his father Isaac feared. Then Jacob offered sacrifices on the mountain and invited his brothers to eat bread. They ate and stayed all night on the hill. And early in the morning, Laban rose and kissed his children and daughters, blessed them, and departed and went back to his place. But Jacob went on his journey. And the angels of God came and met him. When Jacob saw them, he said: \"This is God's camp; and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.\n\nJacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother, to the land of Seir and the field of Edom. He commanded them, saying: \"Speak thus to my lord Esau: Your servant Jacob says, 'I have sojourned with Laban until now, and I have gotten oxen, donkeys, and sheep, menservants and maidservants, and I have sent to show it to my lord Esau, that I may return to his house.' \"\nFind grace in your sight. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, \"We went to your brother Esau, and he is coming towards you with an army of about 400 men.\" Jacob was greatly afraid and did not know which way to turn, so he divided the people who were with him and his sheep, oxen, and camels into two companies. He said, \"If Esau comes to one company and attacks it, the other may save itself.\"\n\nPrayer is to cleave unto the promises of God with a sincere faith and to beseech Him with fervent desire that He will fulfill them for His mercy and truth alone. As Jacob did here. And Jacob prayed, \"O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Lord who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will deal well with you.' I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and truth which You have shown to Your servant. For with my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have obtained two droves. Deliver me from the hands of my brother Esau.\"\nI fear him: lest he comes and harms the mother with the children. You said that you would surely do me good and make amends. He stayed there that same night, and took as presents for Esau his brother: two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats: two hundred sheep and twenty rams: thirty milk camels with their colts: forty mares and four bulls: twenty she-asses and ten foals. He delivered them to his servants, each one by themselves, and said to them: go before me and put a space between each group.\n\nWhen Esau my brother meets the servant and asks the saying: whose servant are you and where are you going, and whose are these that go before you? You shall say: they are my servant Jacob's, and a present sent to my lord Esau. And he himself comes after us. He commanded the first, and the second, and the third, and all those following the groups' saying, in this manner: \"You shall say this to Esau.\"\nSpeak to Esau and say, \"Your servant Jacob is coming after us. He said he would follow.\" I will appease his wrath with this gift that goes before me, and afterward I will see him myself.\n\nSo the gift went before him, and he stayed all that night in the camp. And he rose up the same night and took his two wives and his two maidservants and his eleven children, and there he wrestled with a man until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he could not prevail against him, he struck him under the thigh, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, \"Let me go, for the day is breaking.\" But he said, \"I will not let you go unless you bless me.\" And he said to him, \"What is your name?\" He answered, \"Jacob.\" And he said, \"You shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel, for you have wrestled with God and with men and have prevailed.\"\n\nJacob asked him, \"Tell me your name.\" And he said, \"Why do you ask after my name?\" And he blessed him.\nAnd Jacob named the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved. As he went over Peniel, a man rose up against him, and he halted on his thigh: therefore the children of Israel\n\nJacob lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Esau coming, with four hundred men. He divided the children into Leah and Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. He went before them and fell on the ground several times until he came to his brother.\n\nEsau ran towards him and embraced him, falling on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. He lifted up his eyes and saw the wives and their children, and said, \"What are these that you have here?\" Jacob replied, \"They are the children that God has given to your servant.\" Then the maidservants came forward and did obeisance. Leah also came with her children and did obeisance. Lastly, Rachel and Joseph came forward and did obeisance.\nJoseph and Rachel came and did their obeisance. And he asked, \"What do all these droves mean that I met?\" And he replied, \"To find grace in the sight of my lord.\" Esau said, \"I have enough. Keep that you have with you.\" Jacob answered, \"No, if I have found grace in your sight, receive my present from my hand. For I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God. Why then receive me with grace and take my blessing that I have brought for God has given it to me freely. And I have enough of all things. So he compelled him to take it.\n\nAnd he said, \"Let us take our journey and go, and I will go in your company.\" He said to him, \"My lord knows that I have tended sheep and goats with young ones under my hand. If men should overdrive them, let my lord go before his servant, and I will drive fairly and softly, according as the cattle that goes before me can endure, until I come to...\"\n\nEsau said,...\nEsau left some of his people with him and said, \"What need is there for that? I want to find grace in the sight of my lord.\" So Esau went back to Seir that same day, while Jacob journeyed toward Succoth and built a house and pens for his livestock. The name of the place is called Succoth because of this.\n\nJacob went to Salem, to the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, after he had come from Mesopotamia. He pitched his tent before the city and bought a piece of land there.\n\nDinah, the daughter of Leah whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite ruler of the country, saw her and took her and lay with her by force. His heart was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he spoke kindly to her. He also spoke to his father Hamor.\n\nJacob learned that his daughter Dinah had been defiled by Shechem, but his sons were out in the field with the livestock, so he held his peace until they returned.\nThen Hemor the fa\u2223ther of Sichem went out vnto Iacob / to come\u0304 with him. And the sonnes of Iacob came out of the felde as soone as they herde it / for it greued them / and they were not a litle wrooth / because he had wrought folie in Israell / in that he had lyen with Iacobs doughter / which thinge ou\u2223ghte not to be done.\nAnd Hemor comened with the\u0304 sainge? the soule of my sonne Siche\u0304 lo\u0304geth for youre dou\u2223ghter geue her him to wyfe / and make maria\u2223ges with vs: geue youre doughters vnto vs / a\u0304d take oure doughters vnto you / and dwell with vs / & the lande shall be at youre pleasure / dwell and do youre busynes / and haue youre possessi\u00a6ons there in. And Sichem sayde vnto hyr fa\u2223ther and hir brethern: let me fynde grace in you\u00a6re eyes / and what soeuer ye apoynte me / that will I geue. Axe frely of me both the dowry & gyftes / and I will geue acordynge as ye saye vnto me / and geue me the damsell to wyfe.\nThen the sonnes of Iacob answered to Si\u00a6chem a\u0304d Hemor his father deceytefully / becau\u00a6se he had\nThe brothers defied Dina and said to them, \"We cannot do this thing; giving our sister to an uncircumcised man would bring shame upon us. But if all the men among you are circumcised, then we will give our daughter to you, take yours to us, and dwell with you as one people. But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go our ways.\n\n\"And their words pleased Hemor and his son Shechem. And the young man did not delay in doing the thing, for he had a lust for Jacob's daughter. He was also highly regarded among all those in his father's house. Then Hemor and Shechem went to the gate of their city and came with the men of their city, saying, \"These men are peaceable with us; they will dwell in the land and do their occupations there. The land has enough room for them; let us take their daughters as wives and give them ours.\"\nHerem will they consent to us for dwelling among us and becoming one people, if all the men and children who are among us are circumcised as they are. Their goods, substance, and all their cattle are ours, but let us consent to them that they may dwell among us.\n\nAnd to Hemor and Sichem his son, all who went out of the city gate listened. And all the men and children were circumcised, whosoever went out of the city gates. On the third day, when it was painful to them, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, took each other's sword and went boldly into the city, and they slew all the males and also Hamor and Shechem his son. Then came the sons of Jacob upon the deed and plundered the city because they had defiled their sister. They took their sheep, oxen, asses, and whatever was in the city and also in the fields. And all their goods, children, and wives they took captive and made them their slaves.\n\nAnd Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: \"You have troubled me and made me odious among the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Hittites.\"\n\"Stay with the inhabitants of the land, Jacob, and go to Bethel. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from Esau your brother. Then Jacob spoke to his household and to all who were with him, \"Put away the strange gods that are among you and purify yourselves. Change your garments. Let us arise and go to Bethel, for I will make an altar there to God who heard me in the day of my trouble and was with me on my journey.\n\nThey gave Jacob all the strange gods that were in their possession, and all their earrings, and he placed them under the oak at Shechem. And they departed. The fear of God fell upon the cities around them, and they dared not follow the sons of Jacob.\n\nAfter Jacob came out of Mesopotamia, God appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him, \"Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel.\"\"\nI am Jacob. You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name. And his name was called Israel.\n\nGod said to him, \"I am God Almighty; grow and multiply, and a multitude of people shall come from you, and kings shall come from your loins. I will give this land to you and to your seed after you. I will also give it to them.\" And God departed from him in the place where he had spoken with him.\n\nAnd Jacob set up a pillar of stone in the place where he had spoken with him. He poured drink offerings on it and poured oil on it. And he called the name of the place where God spoke with him Bethel.\n\nThey departed from Bethel, and when Rachel was in labor, she was having difficulty. And as she was in the pains of childbirth, the midwife said to her, \"Fear not, for you shall have this son also.\" Then as her soul was departing\u2014for she was dying\u2014she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.\n\nAnd Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).\nAnd it came to pass that Israel dwelt in that land, and Ruben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine. When Israel learned of this, the sons of Jacob numbered twelve. The sons of Leah: Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar. Then Jacob went to Mamre, a principal city also called Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned as strangers. The days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years, and he fell sick and died, and was put to rest with his people, being old and full of days. Esau and Jacob buried him.\n\nThese are the generations of Esau, who was called Edom. Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Ada, the daughter of Elon, a Hittite, and Ahinoam. And Esau took his wives, his sons and daughters, and all the souls of his household, his livestock and all his wealth and went into a land far from his brother Jacob, for their riches were so great.\nThey could not dwell together, and the land where they were strangers could not sustain them because of their livestock. Esau dwelled in the mountains of Seir, which was named Edom.\n\nThese are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites, in the mountains of Seir. The names of Esau's sons: Eliphas, the son of Ada, Esau's wife; Reuel, the son of Basmath, Esau's wife. And the sons of Eliphas were: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. These were the dukes of Esau's sons.\n\nThe children of Eliphas, the firstborn of Esau, were: Duke Teman, Duke Omar, Duke Zepho, Duke Renah, Duke Rorah, Duke Gaam, and Duke Amalec. These are the dukes that came from Eliphas in the land of Edom.\n\nThese were the children of Ahalibam, Esau's wife: Duke Jeush, Duke Jaalam, Duke Korah. These are the dukes who came from Ahalibam, the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife. These are the children of Esau, and these are the dukes of them.\nThe children of Seir the Horite, inhabitants of the land Edom: Lothan, Sobal, Zibeon, Ana, Dison, Eser, and Disan. These were the dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir, in the land of Edom. And the children of Lothan: Hori and Hemam. Lothan's sister was called Timna.\n\nThe children of Sobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Sepho, and Onam. These were the children of Zibeon. Ana said, \"I will make your mules fertile in the wilderness, as my father Zibeon's asses were.\" The children of Ana: Dison and Ahalibama, the daughter of Ana.\n\nThe children of Dison: Hemdan, Esban, and Iethran.\n\nThese were the dukes who came from Hori: Duke Lothan, Duke Sobal, Duke Zibeon, Duke Ana, Duke Dison, Duke Ezer, and Duke Disan. These were the dukes who came from Hor in their dukedoms.\n\nThese were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned among the children of Israel: Bela, the son of Beor, reigned in Edom.\n\nThe names of the dukes who came:\nEsau and his descendants, the Edomites, had the following dukes in their territories and names: Thimma, Alua, Ietheth, Ahalibama, Ela, Pinon, Renas, Theman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram. These were the dukes of Edom in their settlements, in the land of their possession. Esau was the father of the Edomites.\n\nJacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, that is, in the land of Canaan. This is the genealogy of Jacob: Joseph was born of them. Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other children because he was born to him in his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors.\n\nWhen Joseph's brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak kindly to him. Moreover, Joseph had another dream and told it to his brothers:\n\nAnd he dreamed yet another dream and told it to them:\n\nBehold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, as your sheaf stood up and threshed the ears, so may those around it bow down to your sheaf. (Genesis 37:7-8)\nHis brothers said to him: Behold, I have had another dream: in my dream, the sun, moon, and eleven stars made obeisance to me. And when he had told it to his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, \"What does this dream mean which you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers come and fall down before you?\" And his brothers hated him, but his father noted the saying.\n\nHis brothers went to keep their father's sheep in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, \"Why do your brothers keep the sheep in Shechem? Come, I will send you there.\" And he answered, \"Here I am. Send me, and I will go and see how my brothers and the sheep are faring, and I will bring word back to you.\" And he sent him from the valley of Hebron to go to Shechem.\n\nA certain man found him wandering off his way in the field and asked him, \"What are you seeking?\" And he answered, \"I am seeking my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are keeping the sheep.\" And the man said, \"They have left this place.\"\nfor I heard them say, \"Let us go to Dothan.\" Thus I Joseph followed after his brothers and found them in Dothan. And when they saw him from a distance before he came to them, they took counsel against him to slay him and said to one another, \"Behold, this dreamer is coming. Come now, let us slay him and cast him into some pit and let us say that some wild beast has devoured him, and let us see what his dreams will come to.\"\n\nWhen Reuben heard that, he tried to ride him out of their hands and said to them, \"Let us not kill him. And Reuben spoke further to them, 'Shed not his blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hands on him: for I will rid him out of their hands and deliver him to his father again.\"\n\nAnd as soon as Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him out of his fine coat that was on him, and they took him and cast him into a pit: But the pit was empty and had no water in it. And they said, Judah to his brethren, \"What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?\" Therefore, they sold him into Egypt. (Genesis 37:18-28)\nbrethren, why do we kill our brother and keep his blood a secret? Come on, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hands be defiled upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brothers were content. Then they took him to Egypt.\n\nWhen Reuben returned to the pit and found Joseph not there, he rent his clothes and went back to his brothers, saying, \"The lad is not here; what should I do? And they took Joseph's coat and killed a goat, dipped the coat in the blood, and sent it to their father, saying, \"This we have found: see if it is your son's coat or not.\" And he recognized it, saying, \"It is my son's coat; a wild beast has devoured him. Joseph is torn in pieces.\" And Jacob rent his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son for a long time.\n\nThen all his sons and daughters came to comfort him. And he would not be comforted.\nComforted, but he said: I will go down to the grave for my son. And thus his father wept for him. And the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Putip.\n\nAt that time, Judah went from his brothers and got him a man named Hirah of Odolam. And there he saw the daughter of a man named Shua, a Canaanite. He took her and went in to her. And she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Er. And she conceived again and bore a son, whom she called Onan. And she conceived a third time and bore a son, whom she called Shelah. And Judah gave Er to his daughter-in-law Tamar as his wife.\n\nIn the course of time, the daughter of Shua, Judah's wife, died. Then Judah, having left mourning, went up to Shephetah with his friend Hirah of Odolam. And one told them, saying: Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Shephetah to shear his sheep. And Tamar removed her widow's garments from herself and covered herself with a cloak and disguised herself. And she sat down at the entrance of Enaim, which is by the side of the road to the vineyards.\nThimnath saw that Sela had grown, yet she was not given to him as his wife. When Judah saw her, he thought she had been a harlot because she had covered her face. He approached her and said, \"Come, I pray, let me lie with you; for I do not know that this is my daughter-in-law.\" She replied, \"What will you give me, that I may lie with you?\" He said, \"I will send you a kid from the flock.\" She answered, \"Then give me a pledge until you send it.\" He said, \"What pledge shall I give you?\" And she said, \"Your signet, your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.\" He gave it to her and lay beside her, and she became pregnant by him. She got up and went and put off her mantle and put on the garments of a widow again.\n\nJudah sent the kid by his neighbor, Obtad. After three months, one told Judah, saying, \"Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot, and furthermore, she is with child by harlotry.\"\nIudas said: Bring her forth and let her be burned. And when they brought her forth, she sent to her father in law, saying: \"By the head of the one to whom these things belong, I am with child. And she also said: \"Look whose is this seal necklace and staff. I am more righteous than I, because I did not give it to Shelah my son.\" But he lay with her no more.\n\nWhen the time came for her to give birth, behold, there were two twins in her womb. And as she traveled, one put out his hand, and the midwife took and bound a red thread about it, saying: \"This one will come out first.\" But he pulled his hand back again, and his brother came out. And she said: \"Why have you rent a rent in it? And she called him Pharez. And afterward came out his brother, who had the red thread about his head, which was called Zarah.\n\nJoseph was brought to Egypt, and Put and the Ishmaelites who brought him thither.\n\nAnd the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a fortunate fellow, and he continued in Egypt.\nThe house of his Egyptian master. And his master saw that the command was with him and that the Lord made all that he did prosper in his hand. Therefore, he found favor in his master's sight and served him. And his master made him ruler of his house and put all that he had in his hand. And as soon as he had made him ruler over his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake, and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had: both in the house and also in the fields. And therefore he left all that he had in Joseph's hand and looked upon nothing except for the bread which he ate. And Joseph was a goodly person and well favored.\n\nAfter this, it happened that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, \"Lie with me.\" But he denied and said to her, \"Behold, my master does not know what is in the house with me, but has committed all that he has to my hand. He himself is not greater in the house.\"\nAnd it happened around the same season that Joseph entered the house to do his business, and there was none of the household in the house. She caught him by the garment, saying, \"Come sleep with me.\" He left his garment in her hand and fled. When she saw that he had left his garment with her and fled out, she called to the men of the house and told them, \"This Hebrew servant you brought to us has brought shame upon us. He came to me to sleep with me.\" But I cried out with a loud voice. And when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment with me and fled away.\n\nShe laid his garment beside her until her lord came home. And she told him, according to these words, \"This Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came to me to do me shame. But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he...\"\nAnd he left his garment with me and fled. When his master heard the words of his wife, saying, \"After this manner did your servant do to me,\" he became angry. He took Joseph and put him in prison, in the same place where the king's prisoners were confined. Joseph remained there in prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy. The prison warden paid no attention to anything under his care, since the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.\n\nIt happened afterward that the chief butler and the chief baker offended their lord, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh put both Joseph's fellow prisoners in the same prison with Joseph. The chief marshal gave Joseph a charge with them, and he served them. They continued to be in custody for a while.\n\nIn one night, both the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt had dreams. They were in the prison where Joseph was confined.\nPerson house, or one of them had a dream, and each one's dream had a diverse interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the morning and looked upon them: behold, they were sad. And he asked them, saying, \"Why look ye so sadly today?\" They answered him, \"We have dreamed a dream, and have no man to declare it.\" And Joseph said to them, \"Interpreting belongs to God; tell me, please.\"\n\nThe chief butler told his dream to Joseph and said to him, \"In my dream, I thought there stood a vine before me, and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, and its blossoms shot forth; and the grapes on it became ripe. And I had Pharaoh's cup in my hand, and took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and delivered Pharaoh's cup into his hand.\"\n\nAnd Joseph said to him, \"This is the interpretation: the three branches are three days. Yet within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position. And you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand, according to your custom when he takes his drink.\"\n\nWhen the chief baker saw that he had interpreted it correctly, he said to Joseph, \"I also had a dream: in my dream, I had three baskets on my head.\"\nThe uppermost basket of all baked goods was for Pharaoh. And the birds ate them from the basket on my head. Joseph answered and said: this is the interpretation. The three baskets are three days for this day, three days Pharaoh will take your head from you and hang it on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh from it.\n\nIt came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants. And he lifted up the head of the chief butler and the chief baker among his servants. And he restored the chief butler to his position again, and he filled the cup in Pharaoh's hand. And he hanged the chief baker: just as Joseph had interpreted to him.\n\nHowever, the chief butler did not remember Joseph but forgot him.\n\nAnd it happened at the end of two years that Pharaoh had a dream. And the evil-favored and lean-faced cow ate up the seven well-favored and fat cows, and\n\nAnd he slept again and dreamed the second dream.\nIn that time, seven ears of corn grew on one stalk, rank and goodly. And seven thin ears were blasted by the wind, sprang up after them; and seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke: and he saw his dream. When the morning came, his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the soothsayers of Egypt and all the wise men thereof, and told them his dream: but there was none of them that could interpret it to Pharaoh.\n\nThen spoke the chief butler to Pharaoh, saying, \"I remember my fault this day. Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put both me and the chief baker in the chief eunuch's house; and we dreamed both of us in one night, each man's dream having a different interpretation.\n\n\"And there was with us a young man, a Hebrew man, servant to the chief eunuch. And we told him, and he declared to us the interpretations of our dreams according to each man's dream.\"\nIt came to pass. I was restored to my office again, and he was hanged. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph. And they made him hasten out of prison. And he showed himself and changed his attire, and went in to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph: I have dreamed a dream, and no man can interpret it, but I have heard say of you that as soon as you hear a dream, you can interpret it. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying: God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace without my help.\n\nPharaoh said to Joseph: In my dream, I stood by the side of a river, and seven well-formed and fat cows came up out of the river. And seven other cows followed them, poor and very ill-formed and lean. So that I never saw their like in all the land of Egypt for badness. And the seven lean and ill-formed cows ate up the seven fat cows, and when they had eaten them up, no one could tell that they had eaten them, for they were like them in appearance.\nAnd I saw again in my dream seven good ears sprout from one stalk, and seven other ears withered, thin and blasted by wind, sprout up after them. The withered ears devoured the seven good ears. I have told it to the interpreters, but no one can tell me what it means.\n\nThen Joseph said to Pharaoh: \"Pharaoh's dreams are one. And God is showing Pharaoh what He is about to do. The seven good cows represent seven years of great abundance throughout all the land of Egypt. And there shall arise after them seven years of famine. So it was that I said to Pharaoh that God is showing Pharaoh what He is about to do.\"\n\nBehold, there shall come seven years of great abundance throughout all the land of Egypt. And there shall arise after them seven years of famine. So the whole land shall experience it.\nplentousness will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. And the hunger shall consume the land: so that the plentousness shall not be seen in the land any more because of the hunger that shall come after, for it shall be exceeding great. And concerning the dream being repeated to Pharaoh for the second time, it was:\n\nNow therefore let Pharaoh provide for a man of understanding and wisdom, and set him over the land of Egypt. And let Pharaoh make officers over the land, and take up one-fifth of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years and let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and lay up corn under Pharaoh's authority: that there may be food in the cities, and there let them keep it: that there may be food in store in the land against the seven years of hunger which shall come upon the land of Egypt, and that the land perish not through hunger.\n\nAnd the saying pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. Then said Pharaoh to his servants: where shall we find such men, wise and understanding, as are able to manage the land of Egypt, and to gather in the corn, and to set it up in store?\nAnd Pharaoh said to Joseph: \"As God has shown you all this, there is no one as wise and understanding as you. Therefore, you shall be over my house, and according to your word all my people shall obey. Only in my seat will I be above you. And he said to Joseph: \"Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.\" He took off his ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He clothed him in robes of distinction, put a gold chain around his neck, and set him on the best chariot that he had. Save one. And they cried before him, \"Abrech! Pharaoh has made you ruler over all the land of Egypt.\"\n\nPharaoh said to Joseph: \"I am Pharaoh. Without your will, no one will lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And he called Joseph's name Zaphnath-Paaneah. He gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. Then Joseph went forth throughout the land of Egypt.\"\nAnd Joseph, who was in Egypt and sixty years old, stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Afterward, Joseph departed from Pharaoh and went throughout all the land of Egypt. In the seven plentiful years they stored up all the food of the seven plentiful years which were in the land of Egypt and put it into the cities. He put the food of the fields that grew around every city into the same. Joseph also laid up grain in storehouses, like the sand by the sea in multitude, until there was no number.\n\nBefore the years of famine came, Joseph had two sons born to him. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore them to him. He named the firstborn Manasseh, for he said, \"God has made me forget all my labor and all my father's household.\" The second he named Ephraim, for he said, \"God has caused me to grow in the land of my affliction.\"\n\nDuring the seven years of plentitude that were before them,\nIn the land of Egypt, the seven years of famine ended, as Joseph had predicted. The famine affected all lands, but there was still food in the land of Egypt. When the people of Egypt began to hunger, they cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh told all Egyptians to go to Joseph and do as he said. When the famine had passed over all the land, Joseph opened all that was in the cities and sold grain to the Egyptians. Hunger grew severe in the land of Egypt. All countries came to Egypt to buy corn from Joseph because the hunger was so severe in all lands.\n\nWhen Jacob saw that there was corn to be sold in Egypt, he said to his sons, \"Why are you idle? I have heard that there is corn to be sold in Egypt. Go down there and buy corn for us from there, that we may live and not die.\" So Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy corn in Egypt. Benjamin, Joseph's brother, would not let Jacob send him.\nHis other brethren: for he said, some misfortune might happen him. And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among other that came, for there was famine also in the land of Canaan. And Joseph was governor in the land, and sold corn to all the people of the land. And his brethren came, and fell flat on the ground before him. When Joseph saw them, he remembered his dreams which he dreamed of them, and said to them, \"You are spies; and to see where the land is weak is your coming.\" And they said to him, \"Nay, my lord, but to buy provisions are our servants come. We are all one man's sons, and truly mean no harm. And your servants are not spies.\" And he said to them, \"Nay, truly, but even to see where the land is weak is your coming. And they said, \"We, your servants, are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is yet with our father, and one no one knows where he is.\" Joseph said to them, \"It is I who said to you, that you are surely spies.\"\nAnd he said to them, \"You shall be proven to be spies. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not depart from here until your youngest brother comes here. Send therefore one of you and let him bring your brother, and you shall be in prison during the meantime. And thus your words may be tested: whether there is any truth in you, or else, by the life of Pharaoh, you are but spies. He kept them in custody for three days.\n\nJoseph said to them on the third day, \"Do this and live, for I fear God. If you mean no harm, let one of your brothers be confined in the prison with you, and go and bring the necessary provisions for your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. Your words may be believed, and you will not die.\" And they did so.\n\nThey said to one another, \"We have truly sinned against our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he begged us, and we would not listen to him. Therefore, this trouble has come upon us.\" Ruben answered them, \"Did I not tell you not to?\"\nThey were not aware that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. And he turned from them and wept, then turned to them again and commanded them to fill their sacks with corn, and to put each man's money in his own sack, and to give them provisions to spend on the way. And so it was done to them.\n\nThey loaded their asses with the corn and departed from there. And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass fodder in the inn,\n\nThey came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying, \"The lord of the land spoke roughly to us and took us for spies to search the country. And we said to him, 'We mean no harm and are not spies. We are twelve sons of our father, one is away, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.'\"\nIn the land of Canaan, the lord of the country spoke to us, saying, \"Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take food necessary for your households and go away. Bring your youngest brother to me. In this way, I will know that you are not spies but mean truly. I will then deliver him back to you, and you shall occupy the land.\"\n\nAs they emptied their sacks, behold: each man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. Jacob their father said to them, \"You have robbed me of my sons: Joseph is away, and Simeon is away. You will take Ben-Jamin away next.\"\n\nRuben answered his father, saying, \"Slay my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Deliver him therefore to my care, and I will bring him back.\" He said, \"My son shall not go down with you. For his brother is dead, and he is left alone.\"\nAnd moreover, some misfortune might happen to him on the way, causing me to bring my gray head sorrowfully to the grave. And the land grew barren. And when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of the land of Egypt, their father said to them: go back and bring us a little food. Then Judah said to him: the man testified to us, saying: look that you see not my face except your brother is with you. Therefore, if you will send our brother with us, we will go and buy food. But if you will not send him, we will not go: for the man said to us: look that you see not my face except your brother is with you.\n\nAnd Israel said: why did you deal so cruelly with me, as to tell the man that we had another brother? And they said: the man asked us about our family, saying: is your father still alive? Do you not have another brother? And we told him according to these words. How could we know that he would bid us bring our brother down with us?\nJudah spoke to Israel his father, saying, \"Send the lad with me, and we will rise and go, that we may live and not die: both you and our children. I will guarantee him; of my hand I require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before your eyes, let me bear the blame forever. For had we delayed, we would have been there twice and come back again.\"\n\nThen their father Israel said to them, \"If it must be this way now: then do this - take the best fruits of the land in your vessels and bring the man a present: a courtesan's balsam and a courtesan's honey, spices and myrrh, dates and almonds. And take as much money more with you. And the money that was brought back in your sacks, take it back with you in your hands; perhaps it was overlooked.\"\n\nTake also your brother with you and arise and go again to the man. And may God Almighty grant you mercy in the sight of the man and send you your other brother Benjamin as well.\nAnd I will be like a father to his children. Thus they took the present and twice as much money with them, and Ben-Jamin. And he rose up, went down to Egypt, and presented themselves to Joseph. When Joseph saw Ben-Jamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house: Bring these men home, and slaughter and make ready: for they shall dine with me at noon. And the man did as Joseph commanded, and brought them into Joseph's house.\n\nWhen they were brought to Joseph's house, they were afraid and said: Because of the money that came in our sacks at the first time, are we brought here to pick a quarrel with us and lay something to our charge: to bring us into bondage and our asses also. Therefore, they came to the man who was the ruler over Joseph's house and spoke with him at the door and said:\n\nSir, we came here at the first time to buy food. And as we came to an inn and opened our sacks: behold, every man's money was in his sack with its full weight. But we have brought it back again.\nAnd he said: \"Be of good cheer, fear not. Your God and the God of your fathers has put that treasure in your sacks for I had your money. And he brought Simeon out to them and led them into Joseph's house. He gave them water to wash their feet and gave their asses fodder. They prepared their present again and waited for Joseph, who came home at noon. For they had heard that they would dine there.\n\nWhen Joseph came home, they brought the present into the house to him, and they fell before him. And he lifted up his eyes and saw his youngest brother Benjamin, his mother's son. He said, \"Is this your youngest brother whom you spoke to me about? God be gracious to my son.\" Joseph was moved by his brother's presence and hurried to weep in his chamber. He washed his face and came out again.\nhimself and set bread on the table. They prepared food for him by himself and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who ate with him, because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that was an abomination to them. They sat before him: the eldest according to his age, and the youngest according to his youth. The men marveled among themselves. And they brought rewards before him: but Benjamin's share was five times as much as any of theirs. And they ate and they drank, and were drunk with him.\n\nThe ruler of his house commanded, saying, \"Fill the men's sacks with food as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack, and put my silver cup in the sack of the youngest and his grain money also.\" He did as Joseph had said.\n\nAnd in the morning, as soon as it was light, the men were let go with their donkeys.\n\nAnd when they were out of the city and not yet far away,\nJoseph said to the ruler of his house: \"Get up and follow after the men and overtake them. Say to them, 'Why have you rewarded evil for good? Is not this the cup from which my lord drinks and does he not prophesy through it? You have done evil that you have done.'\n\nHe overtook them and said the same words to them. And they answered him, \"Why does my lord speak such words? God forbid that your servants should do such a thing. Behold, the money which we found in our sacks, we brought back with us from the land of Canaan: how then could we steal from your house, either silver or gold? With whose servant it is found, let him die, and let us also become your bondservants.\"\n\nAnd he said, \"According to your words, he with whom it is found shall be my servant; but you shall be harmless.\"\n\nAnd every man took down his sack to the ground, and every man opened his sack. He searched and began at the eldest and left at the youngest.\nAnd the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Then they rent their clothes and loaded every man his ass and returned to the city. And Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, for he was still there. And they fell before him on the ground. Joseph said to them: What is this that you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can prophesy?\nThen Judah said: What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak or what excuse can we make? God has found out your servants' wickedness. Behold, I would do so; the man with whom the cup is found shall be my servant: but go in peace to you and your father.\nThen Judah went to him and said: Oh my lord, let your servant speak a word in my lord's presence, and do not be angry with your servant: for you are even as Pharaoh. My lord asked his servant speaking: Have you a father or a brother? And we answered my lord: we have a father who is old, and a young lad whom he begot in his old age, and the brother is with him.\nThe servant's son is dead, and he is all that remains of that mother. His father grieves for him. Then my lord commanded his servants, \"Bring him to me so I may look upon him.\" We replied to my lord that the lad could not leave his father; if he did, he would be a dead man. Then my lord said, \"Except your youngest brother comes with you, do not go.\"\n\nWhen we arrived at your servant, our father, we informed him of my lord's words. And when our father said to us, \"Go and bring me some food,\" we replied, \"We cannot go.\" Nevertheless, if our youngest brother accompanies us, then we will go; for we may not see the man's face except our youngest brother is with us.\n\nYour servant, our father, then said to us, \"You know that my wife bore me two sons. One went out from me, and it is said for certain that he was torn apart by wild beasts, and I saw him not since.\"\n\nTherefore, when I come to your servant, my...\nfather / yf the lad be not with me: seinge that his lyfe ha\u0304geth by the laddes lyfe / then as soo\u2223ne as he seeth that the lad is not come / he will dye. So shall we thy servau\u0304tes brynge the gray hedde of thy servaunt oure father with sorow vnto the grave. For I thy servaunt became suer\u00a6tie for the lad vnto my father & sayde: yf I brin\u00a6ge him not vnto the agayne. I will bere the bla\u2223me all my life lo\u0304ge. Now therfore let me thy ser\u00a6vaunt byde here for y\u2022 lad / & be my lordes bond\u2223man: & let the lad goo home with his brethern. For how can I goo vnto my father / and the lad not wyth me: lest I shulde see the wretchednes that shall come on my father.\nANd Joseph coude no longer refray\u2223ne before all them that stode aboute him / but commaunded that they shuld goo all out from him / and that there shuld be no man with him / whyle he vt\nAnd Joseph sayde vnto his brethern: co\u2223me nere to me / and they came nere. And he\nsayde: I am Joseph youre brother whom ye sold in to Egipte. And now be not gre\u2223ued therwith / nether\nLet it seem a cruel thing to you that you sold me here. For God sent me before you to save life. This is the second year of famine in the land, and five more years are behind in which there will be neither ears of grain nor harvest.\n\nTherefore God sent me before you to make provisions, that you might continue in the earth and save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me here, but God; and he has made me father to Pharaoh and lord over all his house.\n\nBehold, your eyes see, and so do the eyes of my brother Benjamin. Therefore tell my father of all my well-being which I have in Egypt and of all that you have seen, and make haste and bring my father here.\n\nAnd he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. And after that, his brothers spoke with him. And when the reporting reached Pharaoh's house that Joseph's brothers had come.\nAnd Pharaoh spoke to Joseph: \"Say to your brothers, 'Load your beasts and get going. When you come to the land of Canaan, take your father and your households and come to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land. Also, take chariots with you from the land of Egypt, for your children and for your wives. And bring your father. Regard not your goods, for all the goods of the land of Egypt shall be yours.\n\n\"The children of Israel did so. Joseph gave them chariots, as Pharaoh had commanded, and gave them provisions for their journey. So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. And he said to them, 'Do not fall prey to any harm on the way.'\n\n\"They departed from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. And they told him, saying, 'Joseph is still alive and is ruler over all the land of Egypt.' Jacob's heart fluctuated, for he was uncertain:\nIsrael did not believe them. They told him all the words Joseph had spoken. But when he saw the chariots Joseph had sent to bring him, his spirits revived. And Israel said, \"I have enough; if Joseph, my son, is still alive, I will go and see him before I die.\"\n\nIsrael set out with all that he had and went to Beersheba, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in a night vision and called to him: \"Jacob, Jacob.\" He replied, \"Here I am.\" God said, \"I am the almighty God of your father Abraham and Isaac. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation. I will go with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you and your descendants and your children back. Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.\"\n\nAnd Jacob rose from Beersheba. His sons carried Jacob, their father, and their children and their wives in the chariots Pharaoh had sent to bring him. They took their livestock and all the goods they had acquired.\nThe names of Israel's children who came into Egypt were Jacob and his sons: Reuben's children were Hanok, Pallu, Hezron, and Carn; Simeon's children were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, and Jaach; Gad's children were Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and their sister; Bia's children were Heber and Malchiel. The children of Leah, whom Jacob gave to Rachel his wife, were Reuben's son Reuben, who had sixteen souls born to him. Rachel's children were Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph, in Egypt, had two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim, who Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. Benjamin's children were Bela, Becher, Asbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Ros, Mupim, Hupun, and Ard.\nThe children of Rachel: fourteen. They were all together. The children of Dan: Husim. The children of Naphtali: Jahezeel, Guni, Jezer, and Simeon. These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, and she bore to Jacob. All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, besides his son's wives, were all together, sixty-two. And the sons of Joseph, whom he bore in Egypt, were two. Therefore, all the souls of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.\n\nJudah went before Joseph to show him the way to Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. Joseph prepared his chariot and went against Israel, his father, to Goshen, and presented himself to him. He fell on his neck and wept upon him a good while.\n\nIsrael said to Joseph, \"Now let me die, since I have seen your face, though I have not yet died.\"\n\nJoseph said to his brothers and to his father's house, \"I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say to him, 'My father and my brothers have come from the land of Canaan with their flocks and their herds, and they are in the land of Goshen.' \"\nAnd Joseph went and told Pharaoh, \"My brothers and I have come from the land of Canaan with our father's house. We are shepherds, for we took care of livestock: our children, we and our fathers. You may dwell in the land of Goshen. An abomination to the Egyptians are all those who herd sheep.\n\nI and my brothers have come from the land of Canaan with our flocks and our livestock, and we are in the land of Goshen. Joseph took some of his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked them, \"What is your occupation?\" They replied, \"Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.\" They added,\nTo Pharaoh:\nWe have come to your land / for your servants have no pasture for their sheep. The famine is so severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.\n\nAnd Pharaoh said to Joseph: Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is open before you: In the best place of the land make both your father and your brothers dwell. And even in the land of Goshen let them dwell. Moreover, if you know any men of ability among them / make them rulers over my livestock.\n\nJoseph brought in Jacob his father and set him before Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh asked Jacob / how old art thou? And Jacob said to Pharaoh: The days of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of my life / and have not reached the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimages. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from him. And Joseph prepared dwellings for his father and his brothers.\nhis brothers received possessions in the land of Egypt, in the best part of the land: in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh commanded. Joseph provided for his father, his brothers, and all his father's household, as young children are fed with bread.\n\nThere was no bread in all the land, for the famine was excessive. So it was in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, on account of the famine. Joseph collected all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and of Canaan, for the money that they had spent.\n\nWhen money failed in the land of Egypt and of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, \"Give us sustenance; why do you let us die before our eyes for our money is spent?\" Then Joseph said, \"Bring your livestock to me, and I will give you in exchange for them, if you have no money.\" And they brought their livestock to Joseph. He gave them bread in exchange for horses, sheep, oxen, and donkeys. He fed them with bread for all their livestock.\nAnd they came to him the next year and said to him: we cannot hide it from our lord any longer, how that we have neither money nor grain for our lord. There is no more left for our lord but even our bodies and our lands. Why should you make us die before your eyes and the land perish? Give us and our lands for bread and let both us and our lands be bound to Pharaoh. May we live and not die, and may the land not waste.\n\nJoseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. For the Egyptians sold every man his land because the famine pressed heavily upon them; thus the land became Pharaoh's. He appointed the people to the cities, from one side of Egypt to the other, except for the land of the priests. For an ordinance had been made by Pharaoh: the priests, the bearers of the idols, received privileges from the people contrary to Christ's law of love. And from these priests of idols great trees were made.\nof the world with hypocrisy, they were ordered by Pharaoh not to sell their lands. This is why they were given the food that was appointed to them. Then Joseph spoke to the people: \"Behold, I have bought you today and your land. And Israel dwelt in Egypt: indeed in the region of Goshen. And they had their possessions therein, and they grew and multiplied exceedingly. Moreover Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for eighteen years, so that the entire age of Jacob was one hundred and forty-seven years.\n\nWhen the time drew near that Israel must die: he sent for his son Joseph and said to him, \"If I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and deal kindly and truly with me. Take me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burial place. And he answered, \"I will do as you have said.\" And he said, \"Swear to me,\" and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.\n\nAfter these events,\nAnd Joseph was brought word that his father was sick. He took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him to an everlasting possession. Now therefore, your two sons Manasseh and Ephraim, whom you bore to me before I came to Egypt, shall be mine. They shall be as Reuben and Simeon to me, and the children you bear after them shall be yours, but they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritances.\n\nAnd after I came from Mesopotamia, Rachel died on the way to Ephrath (now called Bethlehem). I buried her there.\n\nIsrael saw Joseph's sons and said, \"What are these?\" Joseph replied to his father, \"These are my sons whom God has given me here.\" And he said, \"Bring them to me so I can bless them.\" And Israel's eyes were dim from age, so he could not see. Joseph brought them to him, and he kissed and embraced them. And Israel said to Joseph, \"I had not thought to see your face again.\"\nAnd yet God showed it to me and to you, and your sons. Joseph took them away from his lap, and they fell before him. Then Joseph took both: Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them to him. And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, the younger one, and his left hand on Manasseh's head. Crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the elder. And he blessed Joseph, saying: \"God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, may they be called by my name, and the name of my father Abraham and Isaac; and may they grow and multiply on the earth.\"\n\nWhen Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. And he lifted up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head and said to his father, \"Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.\"\nAnd his father wouldn't say: I will, but said: I am dying. And God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. Moreover, I give to you a portion of land above your brothers, which I took from the hands of the Amorites. And Jacob called for his sons and said: Gather together, that I may tell you what will happen to you in the last days. Gather together, sons of Jacob, and hear, and Simeon and Levi, your weapons are their instruments. In their secrets come not my soul, and to their congregation be my honor not coupled, for in their anger they killed a man, and in their self-will they hogged an ox. Cursed be their anger.\nI forbid it, for it was strong and their fear of it was cruel. I will therefore divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.\n\nJudah, your brothers will praise you, and the hand of your enemies shall be at your neck. Your father's children shall submit to you. Judah is a lion's cub. O come, spoil my son, thou art a mighty one: he laid himself down and couched as a lion, and as a lioness; who dares to rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes to whom it belongs. He shall bind his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the vine branch; he shall wash his garment in wine and his cloak in the blood of grapes; his eyes are redder than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.\n\nZebulun shall dwell at the seashore and at the harbor of ships, and his border shall reach Sidon.\n\nIssachar is a strong donkey. He lay down between the borders, and saw that rest was good and the land pleasant, and bowed himself.\nhis shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute. Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, and an adder in the path, and bite the horse's heel so that his rider shall fall backward. After thy saving, look I, Lord.\n\nGod, men of war,\n\nOf Asher comes a fat breed, and he shall give pleasures as a king.\n\nNephtali is a swift hind, and gives goodly words.\n\nThat flourishing child Joseph, that flourishing child and goodly one to the eye: the daughters come forth to rule. The shooters have envied him and scorned him and hated him, and yet his bow stayed firm, and his arms and his hands were strong, by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob: out of him shall come a great stone in Israel. Thy father's God shall help him, and the Almighty shall bless him with blessings from heaven above, and with blessings of the water that lies beneath, and with blessings of the breasts and of the womb\n\nThe blessings of thy father were\n\"strong: even as the blessings of my elders, after the desire of the highest in the world; and these blessings shall fall on the head of Joseph, and on the top of the head of him who was separated from his brothers.\n\nBejamin is a ravening wolf. In the morning he shall devour his prey, and at night he shall divide his spoil.\n\nThese are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is that which their father spoke to them when he blessed them: every man with a separate blessing. And he charged them and said to them, \"I shall be put among my people: see that you bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hethite, in the double cave that is in the field before Mamre in the land of Canaan. Which field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hethite for a possession to bury in. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife. And there I buried Leah: that field and the cave that is in it was bought of the children of Heth.\"\n\nWhen Jacob\"\nHad commanded all that he would to his sons, be pulled up from the bed and died, and was put among his people. And Joseph fell upon his father's face and wept upon him and kissed him.\nAnd Joseph commanded his servants who were physicians, to embalm his father. And the physicians embalming last, and the Egyptians wept for him for forty days.\nAnd when the days of weeping were ended, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying: \"If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh and tell him, 'My father made me swear and said, \"Lo, I die; bury me in the grave which I have made for myself in the land of Canaan.\" Now therefore, let me go and bury my father, and I will come again.' \" And Pharaoh said, \"Go and bury your father, go.\"\nAnd Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh who were the elders of his house, and all the elders of Egypt, and all the house of Joseph and his brothers and his father's house.\nAnd only their children, sheep, and cattle remained with them in the land of Gosan. And there went with him Charettes and horsemen; therefore they were an exceeding great company.\n\nWhen they came to the field of Atad beyond the Jordan, there they made great and excessive lamentation. And he mourned for his father for seven days. When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the field of Abel-mizraim, a place beyond Jordan named, they did as he had commanded his sons.\n\nAnd his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the double cave which Abraham had bought with the field from Ephron the Hethite before Mamre, for a place to bury in. And Joseph returned to Egypt again with his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father, as soon as he had buried him.\n\nWhen Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, \"Joseph might now hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.\"\nJoseph said to them, \"Fear not, for I am not God? You intended evil against me, but God turned it into good in order to accomplish what is before us today. Fear not, for I will take care of you and your children.\" Joseph lived in Egypt and his father's household for 110 years. Joseph saw Ephraim's children even to the third generation. And to Manasseh, the son of Manasseh, children were born, and they sat on Joseph's knees. Joseph said to his brothers, \"I am dying. And God surely will take you out of this land to the land which He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel and said, \"God will not fail you, but will surely take you out of here.\" The end of the first book of Moses.\n\nAbram: tender father\nBisse: fine\nwhyte: God's blessings are his gifts, as he blessed them in the first chapter, saying: \"grow and multiply and have dominion\" and so on. And in the ninth chapter, he blessed the seventh day, which is the present and gift. God blessed the seventh day, so that men should rest therein from bodily labor and learn to know the will of God and his laws and how to work their works godly.\n\nCain: This is written in Hebrew. Regardless of whether we call him Cain or Cain, it makes no difference as long as we understand the meaning.\n\nEvery land has its manner: that which we call John, the Welsh call Evan: the Dutch have a different name for the duche.\n\nCurse: God's curse is the taking away of his benefits. As God cursed the earth and made it barren. So now hunger, death, war, pestilence, and such like are right curses and signs of God's wrath towards the unbelievers. But to those who know Christ, they are very blessings and that wholesome cross and true purgatory of our flesh, through which all must go.\nThat which lives godly and believes: as you advised, Eden: pleasure. Firmament: the sky. Faith is the believing of God's promises and a sure trust in God's goodness and truth. Which faith justifies Abraham's genealogy.xv. and was the mother of all his good works which he afterward did. For faith is the goodness of all works in God's sight. Good works are things of God's commandment wrought in faith. And to show, at the commandment of God to do thy neighbor service withal / with faith to be saved by Christ (as God promises us), is much better than to build an abbey of thine own imagination / trusting to be saved by the feigned works of hypocrites. Jacob robbed Laban his uncle: Moses robbed the Egyptians: And Abraham is about to sleep and burn his own son: And all are holy works / because they were wrought in faith at God's commandment. To steal, rob, and murder are no holy works before worldly people: but unto them that have their trust in God: they are holy when God commands it.\n\"What commands them gets no reward with God. Holy works of men's imagination receive their reward here, as Christ testifies in Matthew 25. I have spoken abundantly about faith and works in Mammon. Let him that desires more seek there. Grace: favor. Ham and Cam are one. Iehovah is God's name; neither is any creature so called. And it is as much to say that one who is of himself and depends on nothing. Moreover, whenever you say \"LORD\" in great letters (except there be any error in the presenting), it is in Hebrew Iehovah; you that are or he that is. Marshall / in Hebrew he is called Sar tabaim / as you would say, \"lord of the slaughtermen.\" And though that Tabaim be taken for \"cooks\" in many places / for the cooks did use slyme as their mortar. Siloam, after some, is as much to say as sent / and after some, happy / and after some, it signifies Messiah / that is, anointed, and that we call Christ after the Greek word.\"\nIt is a prophecy of Christ: After all other tribes were in captivity and their kingdoms destroyed, yet the tribe of Judah had a ruler of the same blood, even until the coming of Christ.\n\nThere was an appointment made between God and man, and God's promises are a sacrament, a sign representing such an appointment. There were tyrants on the earth in those days, for the sons of God saw the daughters of men. The sons of God were the prophets' children, who, though they succeeded their fathers, yet fell from the right way and through falsehood and hypocrisy subdued the world under them and became tyrants. The successors of the apostles have played such a role with us.\n\nVapor, a deceiver, as the smoke of a seething pot.\n\nTo walk with God is to live godly and to walk in His commandments.\n\nEnos walked with God and was no more seen: that is, he lived godly and died. God took him away: that is, God hid his body, as He did with Moses and Aaron, lest perhaps they should be worshipped.\nI have made an idol of him, for he was a great preacher and a holy man. That Joseph brought the Egyptians into such submission would seem to some a very cruel deed: yet it was an equal way. For they paid but one-fifth of the produce that grew on the land. And with this, we never paid less. So that if we looked indifferently, their condition was easier than ours, and not even a very indifferent way, both for the common people and the king also. Therefore, look not on the examples of scripture with worldly eyes: lest you prefer Cain to Abel, Ishmael to Isaac, Esau to Jacob, Reuben to Judah, Sarah to Pharez, Manasseh to Ephraim, and even the worst before the best, as the way of the world is. [Printed at Malborough in the land of Hesse, by me Hans Luft, in the year of our Lord MCCCCXXX, the seventeenth days of January.]\n\nOf the preface upon Genesis, you may understand how to behave yourself in this book.\nAnd likewise cling to the text and plain story of all other books of the scripture. Attach yourself to the text and strive to discover the meaning of all that is described therein and the true sense of all manner of speaking in the scripture of proverbs, similes, and borrowed speech, which I requested in the obedience's end. And note earnestly every thing pertaining to your own heart and soul. For as God did so to those of the Old Testament, even so shall He to the end of the world use Himself to us who have received His holy scripture and the testimony of His son Jesus. As God does all things here for those who believe His promises and listen to His commandments and with patience cleave to Him and walk with Him: even so shall He do for us, if we receive the witness of Christ with a strong faith and endure patiently following His steps. And on the other hand, as those who fell from God's promises threw away unbelief and from:\nhis law and ordinances, through impatience of their own lusts, were forsaken of God and perished: even so shall we, as many as do likewise, and as many as mock the doctrine of Christ and make a cloak of it to live fleshly and follow our lusts.\n\nNote this: God is proven true at the last, and when all is past and brought into desperation, he fulfills his promises, and that by an humble and castaway person, a despised and refused one: it is beyond belief.\n\nThe cause of all captivity of God's people is this. The world hates them for their faith and trust which they have in God: but in vain until they fall from the faith of the promises and love of the law and ordinances of God, and put their trust in their own findings and live together at their own lust and pleasure without regard of God or respect for their neighbor. Then God forsakes us and sends us into captivity for our dishonoring of his name.\nDespising of our neighbor. But the world persecutes us for our faith in Christ only, and not for our wicked living. For in His kingdom thou mayest quietly and with license and under protection do whatsoever abomination thy heart desires: but God persecutes us because we abuse His holy testimony, and because that we know the truth we do not follow it.\n\nNote also the mighty hand of the Lord how He deals with His adversaries and provokes and stirs them up a little at a time, and delivers not His people in an hour: that both the peace of His elect and also the worldly wit and cunning policy of the wicked, with which they fight against God, might appear.\n\nMark the longsuffering and soft patience of Moses and how he loves the people and is ever between the wrath of God and them, and is ready to live and die with them, to be put out of the book that God had written for their sakes (as Paul for his brethren in Romans ix.). And how he takes his rod.\nAnd although the warriors endured patiently and never avenged themselves, do not make Moses a figure of Christ with Rochester. Instead, use him as an example to all princes and those in authority on how to rule for God's pleasure and their neighbors' profit. There is no more perfect life in this world for the honor of God and the profit of one's neighbor, nor a greater cross to bear, ruling Christlike. Regarding Aaron, do not make a figure of Christ until he comes to his crucifixion, but use him as an example for all preachers of God's word, adding nothing to it or taking anything away.\n\nNote how God sends His promise to the people, and Moses confirms it with miracles, and the people believe. But when temptation comes, they fall into unbelief, and few remain steadfast. This shows that not all who are called Christians are truly so, and the cross distinguishes the true from the feigned. If the cross were not Christ, His disciples would not exist. This also illustrates the importance of remaining steadfast in faith.\nAn excellent gift from God is true faith, impossible to obtain without the spirit of God. For it is beyond all natural power that a man, in a time of temptation when God scorns him, should steadfastly believe that God loves him and cares for him, and has prepared all good things for him, and that this scorn is as earnest a sign that God has elected and chosen him.\n\nNote how often Moses urges us to believe and trust in God, reminding us in times of temptation of the miracles and wonders that God had performed before our eyes. How diligently he also forbids all that might draw our hearts away from God? to put nothing before God's word, to take nothing from it, to do only what is right in the Lord's sight, that we should make no image to kneel before it, nor any altar of hewn stone for fear of images, to kill the pagan idolaters utterly and destroy their idols and cut down their groves where they had erected them.\nAnd they should not take daughters of them to their sons, nor give their daughters to the sons of them. Whoever moved any of them to worship false gods, however near of kin he were, they must accuse him and bring him to death. You and wherever you hear of man, woman, or city that worships false gods, you must kill them and destroy the city forever and not rebuild it. And all because they should worship nothing but God, nor put confidence in anything save in his word. He also warns you to beware of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, necromancy, and all crafts of the devil, and of dreamers, soothsayers, and miracledoers to destroy his word, and that you should suffer none such to live.\n\nYou will perhaps say, They tell the truth. What then? God wills that we care not to know what shall come. He will have us care only to keep his commandments and to commit all chances unto him. He has promised to care for us and to keep us.\nvs. From all evil. All things are in his hand, he can remedy all things and will, for his truth's sake, if we pray him. In his promises alone will he have us trust and there rest, and seek no farther.\n\nHow also does he provoke them to love, ever rehearsing the benefits of God done to them already and the godly promises that are to come? And how lovely laws of love does he give? to help one another: and that a man should not hate his neighbor in his heart, but love him as himself, Leviticus 19. And what a charge does he give in every place over the poor and needy: over the stranger, the friendless, and the widow? And when he desires to show mercy, he rehearses with all, the benefits of God done to them at their need, that they might at least see a way in God to show mercy of very love to their neighbors at their need.\n\nThere is no law so simple in appearance throughout all the five books of Moses, but that there is a great reason for its making if one searches diligently.\nA man is forbidden from setting a kid in his mother's milk, evoking compassion and pity. Leuiticus 22.22. This seems cruel because a man's mother's milk is almost like his blood. God does not want him there. But a man should show mercy even to animals. In another place, God commands us not to muzzle the ox that threshes the grain (a method of threshing used in hot countries). We should rather be generous and kind to him who serves us. Or perhaps God would not want such wanton meat used among his people. The kid is nourishing, and the goat's milk is restorative. Together they might spoil and therefore are forbidden, or for some other reason.\n\nRegarding the ceremonies, sacrifices, and tabernacle with all its glory and pomp, they were not permitted.\nOnly, but also commissioned by God to lead the people in the shadows of Moses until the light of Christ and the day of the new testament came: As children are led in the fantasies of youth until the discretion of maturity comes upon them. And all this was done to keep them from idolatry. The tabernacle was ordained for the intent they might have a place appointed them to do their sacrifices openly in the sight of the people and notably of the priests who waited there: that it might be seen that they did all these things according to God's word, and not after the idolatry of their own imagination. And the costliness of the tabernacle and its beauty also pertained thereto, that they should see nothing so beautiful among the heathen, but that they should see more beautiful and wonderful at home: because they should not be moved to follow them. And in like manner, the various forms of the sacrifices and ceremonies were to occupy their minds, that they should have no lust for idolatry.\nTo follow the heathen: and the multitude of them was such that they should have so much to do in keeping them that they should have no leisure to imagine other of their own: you and that God's word might be by in all that they did, that they might have faith and trust in God, which he cannot have, whether following his own inventions or traditions of men making without God's word.\n\nFinally, God has two testaments: the old and the new. The old testament is those temporal promises which God made to the children of Israel of a good land and that he would defend them, and of wealth and prosperity and of temporal blessings of which you read over all the law of Moses, but namely Leviticus xxv.\n\nAnd the old testament was built together upon the keeping of the law and ceremonies and was the reward of keeping it in this life only, reaching no further than this life and this world, as you read in Leviticus.\nThat which keeps them shall have this life glorious, according to all the promises and blessings of the law, and shall avoid both all temporal punishment of the law, with all its threatening and curses. For neither the law, even of the ten commandments nor yet the ceremonies justified in the heart before God, nor purified unto the life to come. Therefore, what use is the law if it gives us no power to do the law? Paul answers that it was given to make sin known and apparent. As a corpse is laid upon an old corpse.\nThe law was given because of transgressions, to make sin alive and visible, until the seed to whom it was promised came. That is, until the children of faith or until Christ, the promised seed in whom God promised Abraham that all nations of the world would be blessed, came. The law was given to utter sin, death, damning, and curse, and to drive us to Christ in whom forgiveness, life, justifying, and blessings were promised. So he who goes about to quiet his conscience and to justify himself with the law, does but heal his wounds with false righteousness.\nAnd he who goes about to purchase grace with ceremonies, does but suck the pope to quench his thirst, in as much as the ceremonies were not given to justify the heart, but to signify the justifying: and forgiveness that is in Christ's blood. Of the ceremonies that do not justify, thou readest in Ebrues X. It is impossible that sin should be done away with the blood of oxen and goats. And of the law thou readest in Galatians III. If there had been a law that could have quickened or given life, then righteousness or justifying would have come by the law in death. Now the law not only quickens not the heart, but also wounds it with the conscience of sin and ministers death and damnation unto it: II Corinthians III. Therefore she must needs die and be damned except she finds other remedy, so far is it from that she is justified or helped by the law.\n\nThe new testament is those everlasting promises which are made to us in Christ the Lord through all the scripture. And that testament is\nbylat on faith, not on works. For it is not said of that testament, he who works shall live: but he who believes shall live, as you read. John 3. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that none who believe in him should perish but have everlasting life.\n\nAnd when this testament is preached and believed, the Spirit enters the heart and quickens it, and gives her life and justifies her. The Spirit also makes the law a living thing in the heart, so that a man brings forth good works of his own accord without compulsion of the law, without fear of threats or curses: you and with out all manner of respect or love unto any temporal pleasure, but of the very power of the Spirit received through faith, as you read. John 1. He gave them power to be the sons of God in that they believed on his name. And of that power they work: so that he who has the Spirit of Christ is now no more a child: he neither learns nor works any longer for fear of punishment.\nrod\u2223de or for feare of boogges or pleasure of ap\u2223ples, But doth althinges of his awne courage As christ sayeth. Ioan .vij. He that beleueth on me shall haue riuers of lyuinge water flowinge out of his belye. That is, All good workes a\u0304d all giftes of grace springe out of him natural\u2223lye and by their awne accorde. Thou neadest not to wrest good workes out of him as a ma\u0304 wold wringe veriuce out of crabbes: Nay thei flow naturally out of him as springes out off hilles or rockes.\nThe newe testament was euer, eue\u0304 from the beginning of the world. For there were alwa\u2223ye promyses of Christ to come by faith in whi\u00a6che promyses the electe were then iustifyed\ninwardly before God, as outwardly before the world by kepynge of the lawe and ceremonies\nAnd in conclusyon as thou seyst blessinges or cursynges folow the kepinge or breakynge of the lawe of Moses: eue\u0304 so naturally do bles\u00a6synges or cursynges folow the breakyng or ke\u00a6pynge of the lawe of nature, out of which spri\u0304\u2223ge all oure temporall lawes. So that whe\u0304 the\npeople keep the temporal laws of their land for temporal prosperity and all manner of such temporal blessings as you read of in Moses accompany them. And contrarywise, when they sin unpunished, and the rulers have no respect for natural equity or honesty, God sends his curses among them, such as hunger, death, more plagues, pestilence, war, oppression with strange and wonderful diseases and new kinds of misfortune and evil luck,\n\nIf anyone asks me, \"why I work?\" I answer, \"love compels me.\" For as long as my soul feels what love God has shown me in Christ, I cannot but love God again and his will and commandments, nor do they seem hard to me. I do not think myself better for my working, nor seek reward or a higher place in heaven because of it. A Christian works to make his weaker brother perfect, not to seek a higher place in heaven. I compare myself not to him who does not work.\nHe that works not today shall have grace to turn and work tomorrow, and in the meantime I pity and pray for him. If I had worked the will of God these thousand years, and another had worked the will of the devil as long as this day turned and was willing to suffer with Christ, Albe, a long garment of white linen. Arcke, a coffer or chest. Both, a house made of bows. Breastplate or breastflap, such a flap as you see in the breast of a cope. Consecrate, to appoint a thing to holy uses. Dedicate, purify or sanctify. Ephod, a garment somewhat like an amice, save the arms came through and it was girded to. Geeras, in weight as it were an English halfpenny or somewhat more. Heveo. House, he made the houses: that is, he made a kindred or a multitude of people to spring out of them: as we say the house of David for the kindred of David. Peaceoffrage: offerings of thanks.\ngeuge of the utio, not for consciousness of sin and trespass.\nPollute, defile.\nReconcile, to make one and bring in grace or favor.\nSanctify to elese and purify, to appoint a thing for holy uses and to separate from unclean and unholy uses.\nSanctuary, a place hallowed and dedicated to God.\nSanctuary, an house made tentwise, or as a pavilion.\nTunic, much like the uppermost garment of the deity.\nVeil-hanging, because they were waver in the priests' halls to diverse quarters.\nWorship: by worshipping, whether it be in the old testament or the new, understood the bowing of a man's self upon the ground: As we often kneel in our prayers.\n\nThese are the names of the children of Israel, which came to Egypt with Jacob / every man with his household: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. All the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob, were seventy and Joseph was in Egypt all ready. When Joseph was dead and all his brethren.\nAnd all that generation: the children of Israel grew, increased, multiplied, and became exceeding mighty; so that the land was full of them. Then a new king arose in Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he spoke to his people: \"Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more numerous and mightier than we. Come, let us deal wisely with them: lest they multiply, and if there should be any war, they join themselves to our enemies and fight against us, and so get out of the land.\"\n\nHe set taskmasters over them to oppress them with heavy labor. And the king of Egypt spoke to the midwives of the Hebrew women, of whom one was named Shiphrah and the other Puah: \"When you attend the Hebrew women in childbirth and see that it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.\" But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.\n\nThe king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, \"Why have you dealt this way with the Hebrew women, that you let the male children live?\"\nAnd the midwives answered Pharaoh, saying, \"The Hebrew women are not like the women of Egypt. They are robust and give birth before the midwives arrive. So God dealt well with the midwives.\"\n\nThe people multiplied and became very mighty. Because the midwives feared God, He made them houses.\n\nThen Pharaoh ordered all his people, saying, \"Every Hebrew boy that is born, cast him into the Nile, but let every Hebrew girl live.\"\n\nA man from the house of Levi took a daughter of Levi. And the wife conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. And when she could no longer hide him, she took a basket of bulrushes and daubed it with pitch and clay, placed the child in it, and put it among the reeds by the riverbank. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen.\n\nAnd the daughter of Pharaoh came down to the river to bathe herself, and her maids were with her.\nwalked a longe by the riuers syde. And when she sawe the basket amo\u0304ge the flagges, she sent one of hir maydes and caused it to be fet. And whe\u0304 she had opened it she sawe the childe. and behold, the babe wepte. And she had co\u0304passio\u0304 on it a\u0304d sayde: it is one of the Ebrues childern\nThen sayde his sister vnto Pharaos dough\u2223ter: shall I goo and call vnto the a nurse of the Ebrues wemen, to nurse the the childe?\nAnd the mayde ranne and called the childes mother. The\u0304 Pharaos doughter saide vnto her Take this childe awaye a\u0304d nurse it for me, a\u0304d I will rewarde the for thi laboure. And the woman toke the childe and nursed it vp.\nAnd whe\u0304 the childe was growne, she brou\u2223ght it vnto Pharaos doughter, and it was ma\u2223de hir sonne, and she called it Moses, because (sayde she) I toke him out of the water.\nAnd it happened in these dayes when Mo ses was waxte great, that he went out vnto his brethern a\u0304d loked on their burthens, and spi\u2223ed an Egiptian smytynge one of his brethern an Ebrue. And he loked round aboute: and\nWhen he saw that there was no man around, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the Nile. And he went out another day: and behold, two Hebrews were struggling. And he said to the one doing wrong: \"Why do you strike your neighbor?\" And he answered: \"Who has made you a ruler or judge over us? Do you intend to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?\" Then Moses feared and said: \"Certainly the matter is known.\" And Pharaoh heard of it and sought to kill Moses: but he fled from Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a wellside.\n\nThe priest of Midian had seven daughters who came and drew water and filled the troughs, to water their father's sheep. And the shepherds came and drove them away. But Moses stood up and helped them and watered their sheep. And when they came to their father Reuel, he said: \"How is it that you have come so soon today?\" And they answered: \"An Egyptian delivered us from the shepherds, and also drew water for us.\"\nAnd he watered the sheep. And he said to his daughters: Where is he? Why have you left the man? Go call him that he may eat bread.\nAnd Moses was content to dwell with the man. And he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter, who bore a son, and he called him Gershom, for he said, \"I have been a stranger in a foreign land.\" And she bore another son, whom he called Eliezer, saying, \"The God of my father is my help, and has delivered me from the hands of Pharaoh.\"\n\nIt happened in the course of time that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the labor and cried out. And their complaint came up to God from the labor. And God remembered His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel and knew them.\n\nMoses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he drove the flock to the back of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from a bush.\nAnd he perceived that the bush burned with fire and was not consumed. Then Moses said: I will go and see this great sight, how it comes that the bush burns not. And when the Lord saw that he came to see, he called to him from the bush and said: Moses! And he answered: Here I am. And he said: Come not near, but put off your shoes from your feet. For the place where you stand is holy ground. And he said: I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.\n\nThen the Lord said: I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. For I know their sorrow, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, and Perizzites.\nPherezites, Heuites, and Iebusites. Now the children of Israel have come to me, and I have seen their oppression by the Egyptians. So now, I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. And Moses said to God, \"What shall I go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?\" And he said, \"I will be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: after you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. Then Moses said to God, \"When I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I will be what I will be.' And he said, \"This shall you say to the children of Israel: 'I Am Who I Am.' And he said further, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I Am has sent me to you.'\"\nI will be sent to you. And God spoke further to Moses: thus shall you say to the children of Israel: The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial through all generations. Go therefore and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them: The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, appeared to me and said: I have been with you and seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have said, I will bring you out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites: even a land that flows with milk and honey. If it comes to pass that they hear your voice, then go, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt and say to him: The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us; let us go, therefore, for three days' journey into the wilderness, to sacrifice to the Lord our God.\nMoses replied, \"They will not believe me or listen to my voice; they will say the Lord has not appeared to them.\" The Lord responded, \"What is in your hand?\" Moses replied, \"A rod.\" The Lord said, \"Cast it on the ground,\" and it turned into a serpent. Moses stepped back. The Lord then told Moses, \"Put out your hand and take it.\"\nAnd he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod again in his hand, so they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had appeared to him.\n\nThe Lord said further to him: \"Put your hand into your bosom.\" He put his hand into his bosom and took it out. And behold, his hand was leprous as snow. He said: \"Put your hand into your bosom again.\" He put his hand into his bosom again, and pulled it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.\n\nIf they will not believe in the first sign or listen to the voice of the first token, they will believe the voice of the second token. But if they will not believe in the two signs or listen to your voice, then take some water from the river and pour it upon the dry land. And the water that you take out of the river shall turn to blood upon the dry land.\n\nMoses said to the Lord: \"Oh my Lord.\"\nAnd the Lord said to him: \"Not eloquent are you, nor have you been so far in speaking to your servant. But I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. And he said: 'Oh my Lord, send, I pray, whom You will. And the Lord was angry with Moses and said: \"I know Aaron your brother the Levite, and behold, he comes forth against you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. And you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. He shall be your spokesman.' And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him: 'Let me go and turn again to my brethren who are in Egypt, that I may know whether they are still alive.' And Jethro said to Moses: 'Go.'\"\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses in Midian: return to Egypt for those who intended to kill you are dead. Moses took his wife and his sons and mounted them on an ass, and he went back to Egypt, taking the rod of God in his hand.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses: when you come to Egypt again, do all the miracles before Pharaoh that I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go. Tell Pharaoh, thus says the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son, and therefore say to him, \"Let my firstborn son go, that he may serve me.\" If you refuse to let him go: behold, I will kill your firstborn son.\n\nIt happened on the way in the inn that the Lord intended to kill him. Then Zipporah took a stone and circumcised her son, and fell at his feet, saying: \"You are a bloody husband to me.\" And he let him go. She said \"bloody husband,\" because of the circumcision.\n\nThen the Lord spoke to Aaron: go.\nMoses met him in the wilderness and went up to meet him on the mountain of God, where he kissed him. Moses then told Aaron all the words the Lord had sent him, along with all the signs he had commanded. So Moses and Aaron gathered all the elders of the children of Israel, and Aaron spoke to them all the words the Lord had spoken to Moses, performing the miracles in the sight of the people, and the people believed. When they heard that the Lord had seen the affliction of the children of Israel, they bowed down and worshiped.\n\nThen Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, \"Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. But Pharaoh answered, \"Who is the Lord, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.\"\n\nThey replied, \"The God of the Hebrews has met with us; please let us go a three-day journey into the desert.\"\nAnd the king of Egypt said to them: why do you, Moses and Aaron, let the people cease from their work, go back to your labor. And Pharaoh furthermore commanded the same day the taskmasters over the people and to the officers, saying: let you give the people no more straw to make bricks as you did in time past; let them go and gather straw for themselves, and the number of bricks which they were wont to make in time past, lay upon them. For they are idle, therefore they cry, saying: let us go and sacrifice to our God. They must have more work laid upon them, that they may labor therein, and then will they not turn to false words.\n\nThe taskmasters of the people and the officers went.\nofficers told the people, \"Thus says Pharaoh: You will receive no more straw, but go and gather it yourselves where you can find it. None of your work will be lessened. The people scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.\n\nThe taskmasters urged them on, saying, \"Complete your work day by day, just as when straw was given you. And the officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten. They were told, \"Why have you not completed your task?\n\nThe officers of the children of Israel went to Pharaoh and complained, \"Why do you treat your servants this way? No straw is given to your servants, yet we are told, 'Make bricks.' And look, your servants are beaten, and your people are harshly treated.\" He answered, \"Let your own straw be at your disposal.\"\nAnd work, for you shall have no straw given you, and yet ensure you deliver the full tale of bricks. When the officers of the children of Israel saw them carrying bricks (in that he said you shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks) they met Moses and Aaron standing in their way as they came out from Pharaoh, and said to them: The Lord be pleased with you and judge, for you have made our savior stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have given us a sword to kill us.\n\nMoses returned to the Lord and said: Lord, why do you deal cruelly with this people, and why have you sent me? Since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has dealt harshly with this people, yet you have not delivered your people at all. Then the Lord said to Moses: Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a mighty hand he will let them go, and with a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.\n\nAnd God spoke to Moses.\nI am the Lord, who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as an almighty God, but I was not known to them by the name Iehouah. I made a covenant with them, giving them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, where they were strangers. I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, who are in bondage in Egypt, and I remember my promise to them. Therefore, tell the children of Israel, \"I am the Lord, your God, who will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you of their bondage, and I will deliver you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you for my people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you to the land that I lifted up my hand to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as your possession.\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, and he told the children of Israel, but they paid no heed to Moses due to their anxiety and harsh bondage. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt, 'Let the children of Israel go and worship me. If I speak with them and Pharaoh does not listen to me because I lack circumcised lips, how will he let the children of Israel go?' And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, giving them a charge for the children of Israel and Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.\n\nThese are the heads of their fathers' houses. The children of Reuben, the eldest son of Israel, are: Hanoh, Pallu, Hezron, Carmi. These are the heads of Ruben's households. The children of Simeon are: Shaul, Shimei, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar. Saul was the son of a Canaanite woman.\n\nThese are the names of the children of Levi in their generations: Gershon, Kohath, Merari. And Levi lived one hundred years.\nThe sons of Gerson: Libni and Semei and their relatives. The children of Kahath: Amram, Ieshua, Hebron, and Usiel. Kahath lived for one hundred and thirty-four years. The children of Merari: Mahali and Musi, these are the families of Levi in their generations.\n\nAmram took Jochebed his sister as wife, who bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived for one hundred and thirty-seven years.\n\nThe children of Ieshua: Korah, Nepheg, and Sichri. The children of Usiel: Mishael, Elphez, and Sithri.\n\nAaron took Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, as wife, who bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. The children of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph \u2013 these are the families of the Korahites. And Eleazar, Aaron's son, took one of the daughters of Putiel as wife, who bore him Phinehas. These are the main fathers of the Levites according to their families.\n\nThese are Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord spoke: \"Carry the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, with their armies.\"\nThe Lord spoke to Moses in Egypt, saying, \"I am the Lord. Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I command you. And Moses answered before the Lord, \"I am of uncircumcised lips, how will Pharaoh listen to me?\" The Lord said to Moses, \"Behold, I have made you God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh: that he send the children of Israel out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that I may multiply My miracles and My wonders in the land of Egypt. Yet Pharaoh will not listen to you, that I may put My hand on Egypt and bring out My army, My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt, with great judgments.\" The Egyptians\n\"And you will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel among their gods. Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-eight when they spoke to Pharaoh. The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: When Pharaoh speaks to you and says, 'Show a wonder,' then you shall say to Aaron, take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and did just as the Lord had commanded. Aaron cast his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh called for the wise men and sorcerers of Egypt, who also did the same with their secret arts. They cast down each man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he listened not to them, just as the Lord had said.\"\nMoses. Pharaoh's heart is hardened, and he refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning, for he will come to the water, and from you take the staff against him on the rivers, and the rod which turned to a serpent take in your hand. And say to him: \"The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying: 'Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.' But hitherto you would not listen. Therefore, thus says the Lord: 'By this you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike with the staff that is in my hand upon the waters that are in the river, and they shall turn to blood. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; so that it shall be a cause of grief for the Egyptians to drink the water of the river.\"\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, \"Say to Aaron: take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, rivers, ponds, and all their pools of water, that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.\"\nAnd Moses and Aaron struck all the water in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants. The staff of Moses turned the water into blood. Fish in the Nile died, and the water became stagnant. The Egyptians could not drink the water from the Nile. Blood filled all the land of Egypt.\n\nThe magicians of Egypt attempted the same with their magic, but Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not heed them as the Lord had said. Pharaoh went back to his house and did not set his heart on this matter. The Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, as they could not drink from the Nile. This continued for a week after the Lord had struck the Nile.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, \"Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord...' \"\nThe Lord says: \"Let my people go, so they may serve me. If you refuse: behold, I will strike all your land with frogs. The Nile shall swarm with frogs, and they will come up into your house, into your bedroom, upon your bed, and into the houses of your servants, and on your people, and into your ovens, and upon your food which you have in store. The frogs will come upon you and your people and your servants.\"\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses: \"Tell Aaron to stretch out his hand with his staff over the streams, rivers, and ponds. Bring frogs up on the land of Egypt.\" Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. The sorcerers did the same by their sorcery, and frogs came up on the land of Egypt.\n\nThen Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, \"Pray to the Lord to take away the frogs from me.\"\nFrom my people, and I will let them go to sacrifice to the Lord. And Moses said to Pharaoh: Appoint a time for me, when I shall pray for you and your servants and your people, to drive away the frogs from you and your houses, so that they shall remain only in the river. And he said tomorrow. And he said, \"even as you have said, that you may know that there is none like the Lord our God. And the frogs shall depart from you and from your houses and from your servants and from your people, and shall remain in the river only.\"\n\nMoses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to the Lord according to the word of the frogs that he had made to Pharaoh. And the Lord did according to the saying of Moses. And the frogs died out of the houses, courtyards, and fields. And they gathered them together on heaps; so the land stank from them.\n\nBut when Pharaoh saw that he had been given rest, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them.\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses: Say to Aaron stretch out your rod and strike the dust of the land, that it may turn to powder in all the land of Egypt. And they did so. And Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth, and it turned to powder both for man and beast, so that all the dust of the land turned to powder, throughout all the land of Egypt.\n\nThe sorcerers tried the same with their sorcery, but they could not. And the powder was both upon man and beast. Then the sorcerers said to Pharaoh: It is the finger of God. But later, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he paid no heed to them, as the Lord had said.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses: Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, for he will come to the water: and say to him, Thus says the Lord: Let my people go, that they may serve me. If you will not let my people go: behold, I will send all kinds of flies upon you and upon your servants and upon your livestock; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with flies; and also the land on which they dwell shall be ruined by the flies.\nAnd your servants and people will come to you and into your houses. But the houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies, and the ground where they are. But I will separate on that same day the land of Goshen where my people are, so that there shall be no flies there. That you may know that I am the Lord upon the earth. And I will put a division between my people and yours. And tomorrow this miracle will be done.\n\nAnd the Lord did so: and there came no foul flies into Pharaoh's house, or into his servants' houses, or into all the land of Egypt: so that the land was marked with flies. Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said: Go and sacrifice to your God in the land. And Moses answered: it is not fitting so to do. For we must offer to the Lord our God, what is an abomination to the Egyptians: behold, shall we sacrifice what is an abomination to the Egyptians before their eyes, and they not stone us? We will therefore go three days' journey into the wilderness.\nAnd Pharaoh said: I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only go not far away, and pray for me. And Moses said: Behold, I will go out from you and pray to the Lord, and the flies shall depart from Pharaoh and from his servants and from his people tomorrow. But let Pharaoh desist from this, that he would not let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.\n\nAnd Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. And the Lord did as Moses had said: and took away the flies from Pharaoh and from his servants and from his people, so that there remained not one. But for all that, Pharaoh hardened his heart even then also and would not let the people go,\n\nAnd the Lord said to Moses, go to Pharaoh and tell him, thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: send out my people that they may serve me. If you will not let them go but will hold them still.\nAnd the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Hold back your hands, the hand of the Lord shall be against your livestock which is in the field, on horses, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep, with a great hailstorm. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of the Israelites and the livestock of the Egyptians: none of that which belongs to the children of Israel will die. And the Lord appointed a time, saying: \"Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.\"\n\nAnd the Lord did this thing on the morrow, and all the livestock of Egypt died: but not one of the livestock of the children of Israel died. And Pharaoh sent to inquire, but there was not one of the livestock of the Israelites dead. Notwithstanding, the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the people go.\n\nAnd the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Take handfuls of ashes from the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it up in the sight of Pharaoh, and it will turn to dust in all the land of Egypt, and will cause boils with blisters.\nAnd they covered all of Egypt in boils, on cattle and people. They took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkled it in the air. Boils broke out on Pharaoh's body and those of his magicians, causing them to retreat. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, preventing him from listening to them, as the Lord had instructed Moses.\n\nThe Lord said to Moses, \"Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Tell him, 'Thus says the Lord, God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to serve me, or I will send all my plagues upon you, your servants, and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out my hand and strike you and your people with pestilence, and you will perish from the earth.' Yet in truth, I have raised my hand to show you these signs.\"\nmy power will be in the land, and I will declare my name throughout the world. If you prevent my people from going, behold, tomorrow at this time I will send down a great hailstorm, such as was not in Egypt since it became a nation. Send therefore and bring your livestock and all that you have in the field, for all the men and beasts that are found in the field and not brought home shall die, and as for the servants and beasts of those who feared the word of the Lord, they fled to their houses, but those who did not regard the word of the Lord left their servants and their beasts in the field. And the Lord said to Moses: stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast, and on all the herbs of the field in the field of Egypt. And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, so great that there was no hail like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.\nThe fire ran long upon the ground. And the Lord brought a heavy hailstorm in Egypt, so severe that none such had occurred in all the land of Egypt since people inhabited it. The hail struck in the land of Egypt,\nhitting all that was in the field: both man and beast. The hail struck all the crops of the field and broke all the trees of the field. However, in the land of Goshen where the children of Israel were, there was no hail. Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them: \"I have now sinned, the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Pray to the Lord that the thunder of God and hail may cease, and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.\" Moses said to him: \"As soon as I am out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord, and the thunder will cease, neither will there be any more hail: so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. But I know that you and your servants will not yet fear the Lord.\"\nAnd Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and spread out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and hail ceased, nor rained it anymore upon the earth. When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder were ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart: both he and his servants. So was the heart of Pharaoh hardened, that he would not let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had said by Moses.\n\nThe Lord said to Moses: \"Go to Pharaoh, yet I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I might show these My signs among them and that you may tell in the audience of your son and of your son's son, the wonders which I have performed in Egypt and the miracles which I have done among them: that you may know that I am the Lord.\"\n\nThen Moses added:\nAaron went into Pharaoh and said to him: \"Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: How long will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go that they may serve me. If you will not let my people go: behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your land, and they shall cover the face of the earth, so that it cannot be seen, and they shall eat what is left, the remnants of what has escaped the hail, and they shall eat all your green trees on the field. They shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your fathers' fathers have seen since the time they were on the earth to this day.\" And he turned himself around and went out from Pharaoh.\n\nPharaoh's servants said to him: \"How long will this fellow harass us? Let the men go that they may serve the Lord their God, or else you will see Egypt first destroyed.\" And Moses and Aaron were brought back again.\nPharaoh asked them, \"Go and serve the Lord your God. Who will go with you? Moses replied, \"We will go with young and old, with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.\" Pharaoh asked, \"Will this be so? Should I let you go, along with your children?\" He warned them, \"Be careful, for you have a difficult task in hand. Not so. Go, you who are men and serve the Lord, as you desire.\" But they were thrown out of Pharaoh's presence. The Lord said to Moses, \"Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat all the vegetation of the land, that which the hail left unharmed.\" Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind over the land all day and all night. In the morning the east wind brought locusts, and the locusts ate all the vegetation of the land.\nAnd over all the land of Egypt they appeared, and in all its quarters there was great devastation. So there had been no such destroyers before them, nor will there be after them. They covered the entire face of the earth, so that the land was darkened by them. And they consumed all the herbs of the land and all the fruits of the trees which the hail had left: so that there was no green thing left in the trees and herbs of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.\n\nThen Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste and said, \"I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Pray to the Lord your God that He may take away from me this death only.\" And he went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, and the Lord turned the wind into a mighty strong west wind, and it took away the locusts and cast them into the Red Sea: so that not one locust was left in all the coasts of Egypt.\n\nBut the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart,\n\nAnd the Lord said to\nMoses: Stretch out your hand to the heavens and let there be darkness upon the land of Egypt, so that they may feel the darkness. And Moses stretched out his hand to the heavens, and there was a dark mist over all the land of Egypt for three days. No man saw another, nor did anyone rise from his place for the space of three days, but all the children of Israel had light where they dwelt.\n\nThen Pharaoh called for Moses and said, \"Go and serve the Lord, but let your sheep and your oxen remain, but let your children go with you.\" And Moses answered, \"You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings to sacrifice to the Lord our God. So our flocks and herds shall go with us; not a man or beast shall be left behind. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the people go. And Pharaoh said to him, \"Get away from me, and may you not see my face again, for whenever you appear before me, you shall die.\" And Moses replied, \"Let it be as you say.\"\nI have removed unnecessary line breaks, whitespaces, and meaningless characters. I have also corrected some OCR errors. Here is the cleaned text:\n\n\"And the Lord said to Moses: yet will I bring one more plague upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. And when he lets you go, he will drive you out completely. But tell the people that every man should borrow from his neighbor and every woman from hers: silver and gold. And Moses said: thus says the Lord. About midnight I will go out among the Egyptians, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die: from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl who is at the mill, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And there will be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, so that there has never been, nor ever will be, such a one. And among all the children of Israel, not a dog will bark, nor man nor beast: so that you may know how the Lord distinguishes between Egypt and Israel. And all these your servants will come to you.\"\nAnd the Lord said to Moses: Tell Pharaoh to let my people go from his land, and he will not listen. Then I will perform wonders in the land of Egypt. Moses and Aaron performed these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the children of Israel leave his land. The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: \"This month shall be your first month. The first month of the year shall be for you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: 'Take a lamb or a kid for each household, a lamb or a kid for every man according to the number of persons. You shall count according to each man's eating.\"\nSheep without spot and a male one year old shall it be, and from among the lambs and goats shall you take it. Keep it in ward until the fourteenth day of the same month. And every man of the multitude of Israel shall kill it about evening. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two doorposts and on the upper doorpost of the houses where they eat it. They shall eat the flesh the same night, roasted with fire, and with unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.\n\nIn this manner you shall eat it: with your loins girded, and shoes on your feet, and your staves in your hands. And you shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover, for I will pass through the land of Egypt this same night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: both man and beast.\n\nAnd this day shall be to you a remembrance, and you shall keep it holy to the Lord, throughout your generations, after you shall you keep it as a holy day.\nFor every six days, you shall eat unleavened bread, starting from the first day on which you must remove leavened bread from your houses. Anyone who eats leavened bread from the first day until the sixth day will have their soul removed from Israel. The first and seventh days shall be holy feasts for you, and no work other than that which each person must eat may be done. Keep only unleavened bread.\n\nFor this reason, I will bring your armies out of the land of Egypt on that day. You shall observe this day and all your children after you as a perpetual custom. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat matzah until the twentieth day of the month at evening. For seven days, there should be no leavened bread found in your houses. Anyone who eats leavened bread will have their soul cut off from the congregation of Israel: whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.\nAnd so, eat no leavened bread, but in all your dwellings eat sweet bread. And Moses called for the elders of Israel and said to them: \"Choose and take to every household a sheep, and kill the paschal lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike it upon the upper doorpost and on the two side posts, and none of you go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass over and will not allow the destruction to come to you when he sees the blood on the upper doorpost and on the two side posts.\n\nAnd when you come into the land which the Lord will give you, according to His signs which He has promised, we do not know the reason for our baptism; we must say our prayers and our offerings in a humble manner, provided that you keep this service. * And when your children ask you what kind of service this is that you do, you shall say: \"It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover.\"\nThe passeouer passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, as he struck the Egyptians and saved our houses. Then the people bowed themselves and worshipped. And the children of Israel went and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.\n\nAnd at midnight the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave who was in prison, and all the firstborn of the livestock. Then Pharaoh rose that same night and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was great crying throughout Egypt, for there was no house where there was not one dead.\n\nAnd he called to Moses and Aaron by night, saying: \"Rise up and get you out from among my people: you and also the children of Israel, and go and serve the Lord as you have said. And take your sheep and your oxen with you as you have said, and depart and bless me also.\" And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people and made haste to send them away.\nThe people took it from the load: they said, \"We are all ready and the people took the grain before it was sown, which they had in store, and bound it in clothes and put it upon their shoulders. The children of Israel did this according to Moses' saying, and they borrowed from the Egyptians jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and clothing. And the Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed towards the Israelites, so they borrowed and robbed the Egyptians.\n\nThe children of Israel took their journey from Raamses with a multitude of six hundred thousand men, besides children. And a large number of common people also went with them, as well as sheep and cattle, exceeding much. And they baked sweet cakes from the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not sown: because they were driven out of Egypt and could not tarry, nor had they prepared any other provision of food.\n\nThe time that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.\ni. Three hundred and forty years were expired, even the same day all the hosts of the Lord departed from the land of Egypt. This is a night to be observed to the Lord, because He brought them out of the land of Egypt. This is the Lord's night, to be kept by all the children of Israel and their generations after them.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: \"This is the manner of the Passover: none stranger shall eat thereof, but all the servants that are bought for money shall you circumcise, and then let them eat thereof. A stranger and a hired servant shall not eat thereof. In one house shall it be eaten. None of the flesh of it shall be carried out at the doors: moreover, you shall not break a bone thereof. All the multitude of the children of Israel shall observe it.\n\nIf a stranger dwells among you and will keep the Passover to the Lord, let him be circumcised, and then let him come and observe it and be put as one that is born in the land. No stranger, whether he be a dweller or a hired servant, shall eat it.\nUncircumcised persons shall eat it. One law shall be for the one born in the land, and for the strangers who dwell among you. All the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. And on that very day, the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt with their armies.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Sanctify to Me all the firstborn that open the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; for they are Mine.\" And Moses said to the people: \"This day you are out of Egypt, the house of bondage. Therefore, you shall not eat leavened bread. This day you came out in the month of Abib.\n\nWhen the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey.\nYou shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat sweet bread, and on the eighth day shall be a feast. Seven days you shall eat sweet bread, and there shall be no leavened bread seen nor yet leaven among you in all your quarters. And you shall show your son at that time. The father's new days may not be saying: this is done, because of what the Lord did to me when I came out of Egypt. Therefore it shall be a sign for you on your hand and a remembrance between your eyes, that the Lord's law may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, so keep therefore this ordinance in his season from year to year.\n\nMoreover when the Lord has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, as he has sworn to you and to your fathers, and has given it to you, you shall appoint to the Lord all that opens the matrix, and all the firstborn among the beasts which you have if they are males. And all the firstborn of the asses you shall redeem with a lamb, and if its mother may not be redeemed, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of mankind among your children you shall redeem, and you shall redeem them with a lamb, and you shall count them as the price of five shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary: the shekel is twenty gerahs. But a firstborn cow or ewe you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and you shall dedicate them to the Lord. Their flesh shall be your food, and their blood is to be poured out on the altar as an offering made by fire to the Lord. Therefore I have taken all the firstborn of the Levites for all the firstborn of Israel. And I have given the Levites as a gift to the Lord, for all the firstfruits that open the womb, the firstfruits of every man among the Israelites, both of man and beast: it is the Levites who shall be mine. And the Levites shall perform the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall minister to me at the tabernacle, and they shall keep my charge and my chargement concerning all the things that need to be done in the tabernacle. This shall be a statute forever for the Israelites, and for you and for your offspring.\"\nfirstborn of asses, you shall redeem with a sheep: if you redeem him not, then break his neck. But all the firstborn among your children you shall buy out.\n\nAnd when your son asks you in time to come, saying, \"What is this?\" you shall say to him, \"With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And when Pharaoh was loath to let us go, the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: as well the firstborn of men as of beasts. And therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my children I must redeem. And this shall be as a token in your hand, and as a thing hung up between your eyes: because the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.\"\n\nWhen Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them through the land of the Philistines, though it was a near way. For God said, \"The people might possibly repent when they see war, and so turn again to Egypt.\"\nEgypt: therefore God led them through the wilderness that borders on the Red Sea. The children of Israel marched out of the land of Egypt. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him; for he had the children of Israel swear, saying, \"God will surely call you out, so take my bones therefore away with you.\" And they set out from Succoth and pitched their tents in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they might travel both day and night. And the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.\n\nThen the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Tell the children of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal-zephon.\" And when the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants were in hot pursuit.\n\"Why have we done this, that we have allowed Israel to leave our service? He made ready his chariots and took his people with him, along with six hundred chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt and their captains, all his people. The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, the king of Egypt, causing him to pursue the children of Israel, who had gone out by a roundabout way. The Egyptians followed after them and overtook them by the Red Sea, with all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his horsemen: they were encamped by the entrance of Pi-hahiroth before Baal-zephon. Pharaoh drew near, and when the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and saw the Egyptians following after them, they were very afraid and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, 'Were there no graves in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Why have you served us thus, to carry us out of Egypt? Did we not tell you this in Egypt?'\"\n\"Egypt speaks, let us be in rest and serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to have served the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. And Moses said to the people: fear not but stand still and behold how the Lord shall save you this day: For as you see the Egyptians this day, you shall see them no more forever till the world's end. The Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace.\n\nThe Lord said to Moses: why do you cry out to me? Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward. But lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it in two, that the children of Israel may go through the midst of it on dry ground. And behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians that they may follow you. And I will get myself honor upon Pharaoh and upon all his host, upon his chariots and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten myself honor upon Pharaoh upon his chariots and upon his horsemen.\"\nAnd the angel of God, who went before the army of Israel, moved to the rear and went behind them. The cloud of fire that was before them moved and stood behind them, and a thick cloud stood between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. It was a dark cloud, and gave light by night: so that one could not come at the other all night long.\n\nWhen now Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, the Lord drove back the sea with a strong east wind all night long, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided into two. And the children of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry ground. And the water was a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians followed and went in after them into the midst of the sea, with all Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and horsemen.\n\nAnd in the morning watch, the Lord looked out at the host of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and troubled their army by the sea.\nsmote of their charett wheles and cast them doune to the grounde. Than sayde the Egiptians: Let vs fle from Israel, for the Lor\u00a6de fyghteth for them agaynst vs. Than sayde the Lorde vnto Moses: stretch out thine hand ouer the see, that the water maye come agayne vppo\u0304 the Egiptians vppon their charettes a\u0304d horsemen.\nThan stretched forth Moses his hande o\u2223uer the see, and it came agayne to his course er\u00a6ly i\u0304 the morni\u0304g, a\u0304d the Egiptia\u0304s fledd agaynst it. Thus the Lorde ouerthrewe the Egiptians in the middest of the see, a\u0304d the water returned and couered the charettes and the houseme\u0304: so that of all the hoste of Pharao that came in to the see after them, there remayned not one. But the children of Israel went vpon drie lo\u0304\u2223de in the myddest of the see, a\u0304d the water was a walle vnto them: both on the righte hand of them and also on the lifte.\nThus the Lorde delyuered Israel the selfe same daye out of the honde of the Egiptians, and Israell sawe the Egiptians deade vpo\u0304 the see syde. And when Israel sawe\nThat mighty hand which the Lord showed to the Egyptians, they feared the Lord and believed both in the Lord and His servant Moses. Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord and said:\n\nLet us sing to the Lord, for He has become glorious, the horse and its rider He has overthrown in the sea.\nThe Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.\nHe is my God, and I will exalt Him, He is my Father's God, and I will lift Him up.\nThe Lord is a man of war, the Lord Yahweh.\nHis joyful captains are drowned in their sea, the deep waters have covered them; they sank like a stone.\nThine hand, Lord, is glorious in power, Thine arm, Lord, has shattered the enemy.\nAnd with Thy great glory Thou hast destroyed Thine adversaries, Thou hast sent forth Thy wrath and it consumed them, like stubble.\nWith the breath of Thine anger the waters gathered together, and the floods stood firm like a rock, and the deep waters congealed.\nIn the midst of the sea. The enemy said, \"I will follow and overtake thee and will divide the spoil; I will satisfy my lust upon thee; I will draw my sword and my hand shall destroy them.\" Thou bluest with thy breth and the sea turned red, and they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee among gods: who is like thee, so glorious in holiness, fearful, laudable, and who works wonders?\n\nThou stretchest out thy hand\nAnd thou cariest with thy mercy this people whom thou hast delivered and broughtest with thy strength unto thy holy habitation.\n\nThe nations heard and were afraid, pages came upon the Philistines.\nThen the dukes of the Edomites were amazed, and the mightiest among them came trebling upon thee.\n\nLet fear and dread fall upon them through the greatness of thy arm, and let them be as still as a stone, while thy people pass through, O Lord, while the people pass through, whom thou hast redeemed.\n\nBring them in and plant them in the mountains of thine inheritance.\nenherytauce, the place you have made for us, Lord, in your sanctuary. Lord, you reign forever and always.\n\nThe Lord reigned over Pharaoh in a chariot with his horsemen into the sea, and the children of Israel went through the sea on dry ground. And I, a prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in my hand, and all the women came out after me with timbrels in a dance. And I, a prophetess, sang before them: sing to the Lord, for he has become glorious in death; the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.\n\nMoses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They traveled three days in the wilderness and could not find water. At last, they came to Marah, but they could not drink the waters because of their bitterness, so the name of the place was called Marah. Then the people murmured against Moses.\nMoses asked, \"What shall we drink?\" Moses called upon the Lord, and He showed him a tree and cast it into the water, and the water became sweet. There he made a statute and a law for them, and there He tested them and said, \"If you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, doing what is right in His sight, giving heed to His commandments and keeping all His statutes, then I will put none of the diseases on you which I put on the Egyptians. And they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water. And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which lies between Elim and Sinai. This was the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of the land of Egypt. And the whole multitude of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and said to them, \"Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full!\"\npottes and ate, our bellies were filled because you have led us out into this wilderness to kill this entire multitude due to hunger. Then the Lord spoke to Moses: behold, I will rain bread from heaven down upon you, and let the people go out and gather daily, that I may prove them whether they will walk in my law or not. The seventh day let them prepare that which they will bring in, and let it be twice as much as they gather in daily. And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel: at evening he shall know that it is the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord: because He has heard your grumblings against the Lord: for what are we that you should grumble against us. And furthermore Moses spoke: at evening the Lord will give you flesh to eat, and in the morning bread sufficient: because the Lord has heard your murmurings against Him: for your murmurings are not against us, but against Him.\nAnd Moses spoke to Aaron: Tell the entire assembly of the children of Israel, come forward before the Lord, for He has heard your grumblings. And as Aaron spoke to the entire multitude of the children of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness. And behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. You shall know that I am the Lord your God. And at evening quails came and covered the ground where they lay. And in the morning the dew lay round about the camp. And where the dew fell: behold, it lay on the ground in the wilderness, small and round like the hoar frost on the ground. When the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, \"What is this?\" for they did not know what it was. And Moses said, \"This is the thing which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded, that you gather each man as much as he can eat: a homer for a man according to the number of persons; they shall take for themselves.\"\nno more of you, and gather every man for the one who is in his tent. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more and some less, and measured it with a measure. And to him who had gathered much remained nothing over, and to him who had gathered little was there no lack: but every man had gathered sufficient for his eating. And Moses said to them, \"See that no man lets anything remain until the morning.\" Notwithstanding they listened not to Moses; but some of them left some until the morning, and it became full of worms and stink. And they gathered it all mornings: every man as much as sufficed for his eating, for as soon as the heat of the sun came it melted. And on the seventh day they gathered twice as much, two measures for one man, and the rulers of the multitude came to Moses. And he said to them, \"This is what the Lord has said: tomorrow is the Sabbath of the Lord your God; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that remains over put aside to be kept until the morning.\"\nAnd they kept it until the morning, as Moses had instructed. But on the seventh day, some people went out to gather, but found none. The Lord asked Moses, \"How long will you keep my commandments and laws? Since the Lord has given you a Sabbath, therefore he also gives you the sixth day for two days. So stay at home, and let no one go out on the seventh day. And the people rested on the seventh day. And the house of Israel called it manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, and had the taste of wafers made with honey. Moses said, \"This is what the Lord meant to be a remembrance for you. The Lord commands, 'Fill a jar with it, that you may keep it for your children after you, so they may see the bread that I gave you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.' And Moses spoke to Aaron:\nAnd they took a cruise and put a Gomer, which is the tenth part of an Epha, and the children of Israel ate man for twenty years until they reached a land inhabited. And all the company of the children of Israel went on their journeys from the wilderness of Sin at the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Raphidim: where there was no water for the people to drink. And the people quarreled with Moses and said, \"Give us water to drink.\" And Moses said to them, \"Why do you quarrel with me and test the Lord? There they thirsted for water and murmured against Moses and said, \"Why have you brought us out of Egypt, to kill us and our livestock with thirst?\" And Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, \"What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.\" And the Lord said to Moses, \"Go before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel, and take your rod with which you struck the river.\"\nThe river, take it in hand and go. Behold, I will stand there before you on a rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out for the people to drink. Moses did so before the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the Israelites' grumbling and testing of the Lord, saying, \"Is the Lord among us or not?\"\n\nThen Amalek fought against Israel at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, \"Choose some men and go out to fight against Amalek tomorrow. I will stand at the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.\" So Joshua did as Moses told him, and he fought against Amalek. Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and when he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, each on one side, to sustain him.\nAnd on one side was one, and on the other, another. His hands remained steady until the sun went down. And I Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of my sword.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses: \"Write this as a reminder in a book and tell it to Joshua, for I will blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.\" Moses built an altar and named it Yahweh-Nissi, for he said: \"The hand of Yahweh is with me; the Lord is my banner. The Lord will have war with Amalek throughout all generations.\"\n\nJethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard about all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, His people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. He took Zipporah, Moses' wife, and her two sons, one of whom was named Gershon, for he said: \"I have been a stranger in a foreign land.\" And the other was named Eliezer: \"for the God of my father was my help and delivered me.\"\nFrom the sword of Pharaoh. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his two sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he had pitched his tent by the mountain of God. And he sent word to Moses: \"I, Jethro, your father-in-law, have come to you, and your wife and her two sons with her.\" And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and did obeisance and kissed him, and they greeted each other and came into the tent.\n\nAnd Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians on behalf of Israel, and all the hardships that had befallen them on the journey, and how the Lord had delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced over all the good which the Lord had done to Israel, and because He had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro said: \"Blessed be the Lord who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who has delivered His people from under the power of the Egyptians.\" Now I know that the Lord is a powerful God.\nAnd Iethro, Moses' father-in-law, reprimanded him, for he thought Moses was dealing arrogantly with the people. And Iethro offered burnt offerings and sacrifices to God. And Aaron and all the elders were present.\n\nThe next day, Moses sat to judge the people, and they stood around him from morning to evening. When Iethro saw all that he was doing to the people, he asked, \"What is this you are doing to the people? Why do you sit here alone and let them stand around you from morning to evening?\" Moses replied, \"Because the people come to me to seek God's counsel. When they have a dispute, they come to me, and I must judge between every man and his neighbor, and show them God's ordinances and laws.\"\n\nIethro replied, \"This is not good. You are acting foolishly, and this people, who are with you, are becoming overloaded. But listen to my voice.\"\nI will give you counsel, and God shall be with you. Be to the people as a godly ruler, bring causes before God and provide them with ordinances and laws. Seek out among all the people, men of activity who fear God and hate covetousness; our prelates neither fear God nor preach His word truly. Make them rulers over the people, captains over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Let them judge the people at all seasons. If there is any great matter, let them bring it before you, and let them judge all small causes themselves. Ease yourself, and let them bear with you. If you do this thing, you will be able to endure all that God charges you with, and all this people shall go to their places quietly.\n\nMoses heard the voice of his father in the law, and did all that he had said. He chose active men out of all Israel and made them rulers over the people, captains over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.\nAnd hundreds, over fifty and over ten judges the people at all seasons, bringing hard causes to Moses, and judging small matters themselves. In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of Egypt, on the same day they came to the wilderness of Sinai. For they had departed from Raph. And the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying: \"Speak thus to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel: you have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagle's wings, and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will hear my voice and keep my covenant: you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine. You shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation: these are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.\"\n\nMoses came and called for the elders of Israel, and laid before them all these words which the Lord had commanded him. And the people answered all together and said:\nAll that the Lord has said, we will do. Moses brought the words of the people to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses: \"Look, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and believe you forever. Moses repeated the words of the people to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses: \"Go to the people and sanctify them for today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. For on the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai. And set bounds around the people and say: beware that you go not up into the mountain and that you touch its borders. For whoever touches the mountain, shall surely die: whether it be beast or man, it shall not live. When the horn sounds: then let them come up to the mountain.\n\nMoses went down from the mountain.\"\nThe people and sanctified them, and they washed their clothes. And he said to the people, be ready again on the third day, and do not come at your wives. And on the third day in the morning, there was thunder, and lightning, and a thick cloud over the mountain, and the voice of the horn grew loud, and all the people in the host were afraid. And Moses brought the people out of the tents to meet with God. And they stood under the hill.\n\nMount Sinai was all together on a smoke; because the Lord descended upon it in fire. And the smoke of it ascended up, as it had been the smoke of a kiln, and all the mountain was exceedingly fearful. And the voice of the horn blew and grew louder, and louder. Moses spoke, and God answered him with a voice. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai: even in the top of the hill, and called Moses up into the top of the hill. And Moses went up.\n\nAnd the Lord said to Moses, go down and charge the people that they press.\nNot venturing before the Lord, and so many others, let the priests also who come to the Lord's presence sanctify themselves: lest the Lord strike them. And Moses said to the Lord: the people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you have commanded us, saying: set marks around the hill and sanctify it.\n\nAnd the Lord said to him: depart, and come down: you and Aaron come up. But let not the priests and the people presume to come up to the Lord: lest he strike them. And Moses went down to the people and told them.\n\nGod spoke all these words and said, \"I am the Lord your God, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.\"\n\nYou shall not make for yourselves a carved image, nor any likeness that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or in the water that is in the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them: for I the Lord your God.\nGod am a jealous God, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, yet showing mercy to thousands who love me and keep my commandments.\n\nThou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.\n\nRemember the Sabbath day, and sanctify it. Six days shalt thou labor and do all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy male or female servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.\n\nHonor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.\nThou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not break wedlock. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, neither his wife, his servant, his maid, his ox, his ass, nor anything that is his. And all the people saw the thunder and the lightning, and the noise of the horn, and how the mountain smoked. And when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off, and said to Moses, \"Speak with us and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.\" And Moses said to the people, \"Fear not, for God has come to prove you, and that His fear may be among you, that you sin not.\" And the people stood afar off, and Moses went into the thick cloud where God was. And the Lord said to Moses, \"Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'You have seen how I have spoken to you from heaven. You shall therefore make no gods of silver nor gods of gold in your midst, nor make for yourselves any image, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.'\"\nYou shall make an altar of earth for me there, and offer your burnt offerings and peace offerings, and your sheep and oxen. And at all places where I put the reminder of my name, there I will come to you and bless you.\n\nBut if you make me an altar of stone, do not make it of hewn stone. For if you lift up your tool upon it, you will profane it. Moreover, you shall not go up with steps to my altar, that your nakedness is not shown there.\n\nThese are the laws that you shall set before him. If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, paying nothing. If he came alone, he shall go out alone; if he came married, his wife shall go out with him.\n\nAnd if his master has given him a wife and she has borne him sons or daughters, then the wife and her children shall be his, and he shall go out alone. But if the servant says, \"I love my master and my wife and my children,\" then let him stay with you forever.\nIf a child refuses to go out, his master should bring him to the goddess and set him at the door or doorpost, and bore his ear through with a nail, making him her servant for life. If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she shall not go out like other servants. If she pleases her master and he has not given her to any man in marriage, then he shall let her go free; he has no power to sell her to a foreign nation because he despised her. If he has promised her to his son as a wife, he shall deal with her as men do with their daughters. If he takes another wife, yet her food, clothing, and duty of marriage he shall not withhold. If he does not do these three things to her, then she shall go free and pay no money.\n\nHe who strikes a man and kills him shall be slain for murder. If a man does not lay aside his weapon but God delivers him into his hand, then I will point out the place where he shall flee. If a man comes presumptuously.\nIf you strike your neighbor and kill him, you shall be banished from me, but the pope says come to alter that he may die. And he who strikes his father or mother shall die. He who steals a maiden and is proven of it shall be sold. If a man strikes his servant or maid with a staff and they die under his hand, it shall be avenged. But if they continue in their defiance or for a day or two, it shall not be avenged, for they are his property.\n\nWhen men strive or wrestle with each other.\n\nIf a man strikes his servant or maid in the eye and puts it out, he shall let them go free for the sake of the eye. Also, if he strikes out the eyes of his servants or maids, he shall let them go free for the sake of the eyes. God so abhors murder, that the unresisting\n\nIf an ox gores a man or woman to death, then the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; and its master shall be quit.\n\nIf the ox were wont to run at men in the past and it has been told to its master, and he has not kept it, but that it has killed a man or woman.\nIf a man kills a man or a woman, then the ox shall be stoned, and his master shall die also.\nIf he is set to a sum of money, then he shall give for the delivery of his life, according to all that is put unto him.\nAnd whether he has gored a son or a daughter, he shall be served in the same manner. But if it is a servant or a maid that the ox has gored, then he shall give to their master thirty shillings, and the ox shall be stoned.\nIf a man opens a well or digs a pit and covers it not, but an ox or an ass falls therein, the owner of the pit shall make it good and give money to their master, and the dead beast shall be his.\nIf one man's ox hurts another and he dies, then they shall sell the living ox and divide the money, and the dead ox also they shall divide. But if it is known that the ox has used to push in times past, then because his master has not kept him, he shall pay ox for ox, and the dead one shall be his own.\nIf a man stakes an ox or sheep and kills it, then he shall divide the carcass with the owner.\nif a thief is caught in the act and is struck, he shall not be shed blood, except if his son is present, then blood shall be shed for him. A thief shall make restitution: if he has not wherewith, he shall be sold for his theft. If the thief is found in possession of the stolen item, alive (whether it be an ox, an ass, or a sheep), he shall restore double. If a man harms a field or vineyard, so that his beast puts in another man's field to feed: from the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, he shall make restitution. If fire breaks out and catches in the thorns, so that the stalks of corn or the standing grain in the field are consumed thereby: he who kindled the fire shall make restitution. If a man delivers his neighbor money or goods to keep, and it is stolen out of his house: if the thief is found, he shall pay double. If the thief is not found, then the owner of the goods shall pay.\nA house shall be brought to the gods and sworn, whether he has put his hand to his neighbor's good. In all manner of trespass, whether it be ox, ass, sheep, clothing or any manner of thing which another challenges as his, the cause of both parties shall come before the gods. And whom the gods condemn: the same shall pay double to his neighbor.\n\nIf a man delivers to his neighbor to keep, an ass, ox, sheep or any beast it be, and it dies or is hurt or driven away and no man sees it: then shall an oath of the Lord go between them, whether he has put his hand to his neighbor's good, and the owner of it shall take the oath, and the other shall not make it good: If it is stolen from him, then he shall make restitution to the owner: If it is torn with wild beasts, let him bring record of the tearing: and he shall not make it good.\n\nWhen a man borrows anything from his neighbor, if it is hurt or else dies, and if the owner thereof be not by, he shall make it good: If the borrowed item is lost or stolen while in the care of the borrower, the borrower shall make restitution to the owner.\nIf the owner of it is not the one in possession, he shall not make it right, that is, if it is a hired thing and brought for hire.\nIf a man seduces an unbetrothed maid and lies with her, he shall marry her and take her as his wife. If her father refuses to give her to him, he shall pay the dowry of virgins.\nThou shalt not suffer a witch to live, whoever lies with a beast, shall be put to death for it. He who offers anything to any god except to the Lord, let him die without redemption. Do not vex a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.\nDo not trouble a widow or fatherless child. If you trouble them, they will cry to me, and I will surely hear their cry. Let all oppressors of the poor cease, and my wrath will burn like a hot flame, and I will kill you with the sword. Your wives will be widows and your children fatherless.\nIf you lend money to any of my people, the poor among you, you shall not act as a usurer toward him, nor oppress him.\nWith your neighbor, take a pledge. Ensure you deliver it to him again before the sun goes down. This is his only coverlet: also return the clothing where he sleeps, or else he will cry to me and I will hear him, for I am merciful.\n\nDo not rail against the gods, nor curse the ruler of your people.\n\nKeep your fruits, whether dry or moist, from being withheld. Your firstborn son, as well as your oxen and sheep, you shall give me. Seven days it shall be with the dam, and on the eighth day you shall give it to me.\n\nYou shall be holy people to me, and therefore you shall not eat any flesh torn from beasts in the field. Instead, cast it to dogs.\n\nDo not accept a false tale, nor bear false witness. Do not join a multitude to do evil, nor answer in a cause that you would follow the multitude to turn aside from the truth.\nYou shall not lie, nor paint a poor man's cause. If you encounter your enemies ox or ass going astray, you shall bring them back to him. If you see your enemies ass sink under its burden, you shall not pass by and leave him, but shall help him lift it up again. You shall not hinder the right of the poor among you in their lawsuits. Keep far from a false matter, and the innocent and righteous you shall not slay, for I will not justify the wicked. You shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes and pervert the words of the bribed. You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in Egypt. Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat: In the same way you shall do with your vineyard and your olive tree.\nSix days you shall do your work and on the seventh day you shall keep a holy day, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the stranger may be refreshed. And in all things that I have said to you, be circumspect. And make no mention of the names of strange gods, nor let any man hear the likes of it from your mouths.\n\nYou shall keep three feasts to me in a year. You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread, which you shall eat for seven days at the time appointed in the month of Abib; for in that month you came out of Egypt: and no man shall appear before me empty-handed. And the feast of the firstfruits, when you reap the first fruits of your labor which you have sown in the field. And the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year: when you have gathered in your labors out of the field.\n\nThree times in a year all your men shall appear before the Lord Jehovah.\n\nYou shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, nor shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left until the morning.\n\nYou shall bring the first of the firstfruits of your land to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.\n\nAnd all the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall redeem; and their redemption price shall be a lamb, besides the redemption of the firstborn donkey. And their redemption shall be with a lamb, besides the redemption of the firstborn donkey.\n\nAnd their redemption shall be with a lamb, besides the redemption of the firstborn among your sons. And their redemption shall be with a lamb.\n\nAnd it shall be, when the Lord your God blesses you, that you shall return and make a contribution from all the nations where the Lord your God drives out the nations from before you, to the place which the Lord your God chooses to put His name there.\n\nThen you shall bring that which you have vowed, and keep it in the storehouse, which shall be in the entrance to the tabernacle of meeting, and it shall belong to what you vowed; it shall be holy and shall not be eaten, nor shall it be changed. And you shall say before the Lord your God, \"I have brought the tithe of all that the Lord has given me, and I have given to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all that You have commanded me to do.\" Then you shall set aside a tenth of all the increase, in that the year the Lord your God blesses you.\n\nBut if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then He will give you a place where the Lord your God chooses, in a land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and you shall bring there your tithes and the offering of your hand, and the offering of your heart, and the offering of all that you have given to the Lord your God.\n\nAnd you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place which He chooses, you and your son and your daughter, and your manservant and your maidservant, and the Levite who is within your gates, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are among you, in the place which the Lord your God chooses to put His name there.\n\nAnd you shall remember that the Lord your God was not able to give you a land of milk and honey, the land of Egypt, which you passed through the midst of the waters; but gave you a land for which milk and honey are not found; and that you may eat bread without money and without price in the place which the Lord your God chooses to put His name there.\n\nTherefore you shall keep and do all the statutes and judgments which I have set before you today.\n\nAnd it shall come to pass, if you shall indeed obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain of your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.\n\nTake heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, I speak not of the God who brought you out\nYou shall not leave any of my feast offerings until the morning. The firstfruits of your harvest you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not set a foot on the milk of a cow or a sheep in its milk. Behold, I am sending my angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. Beware of him and listen to his voice; do not provoke him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, mine as well as yours. But if you listen to his voice and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.\n\nWhen my angel goes before you and brings you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I have destroyed them, you shall not worship their gods or serve them, nor do as they do. But you shall overtake them and destroy their altars. And you shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your other food and increase your herds and your crops, and the land shall yield its produce.\nI will remove all unnecessary line breaks and characters, and ensure the text is in modern English:\n\nThy water, and I will take all sicknesses away among you. There shall be no woman childless or unfruitful in this land, and I will fulfill the number of your days. I will send my fear before you and kill all the people, whether you go or not. And I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you, and I will send hornets before you, and they shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you. I will not cast them out in one year, lest the land become a wilderness, and the beasts of the field multiply upon it. But little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased and you may inherit the land. I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. And you shall make no covenant with them nor with their gods.\nNeither shall they dwell in this land, lest they make the sin against me: for if you serve their gods, it will surely be your decay. And he said to Moses: come to the Lord: you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel, and worship a fiery furnace. And Moses went himself alone to the Lord, but they came not near, nor did the people come up with him.\n\nAnd Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the laws. And all the people answered with one voice and said: all the words which the Lord has spoken, we will do.\n\nThen Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord and rose early and made an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars according to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel, and sent young men of the children of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings and to offer peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.\n\nAnd Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half he splashed against the altar. And he took the book of the covenant and\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Old English, but it is still largely readable and does not contain any significant OCR errors. Therefore, no cleaning is necessary.)\nAnd they replied, \"All that the Lord has spoken, we will do and hear.\" Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, \"Behold, this is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you on all these words.\" Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel and under His feet as a pavement of sapphire, like the very form of heaven when it is clear. And He did not lay His hand on the nobles of the children of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.\n\nThe Lord said to Moses, \"Come up to Me on this mountain and be there, and I will give you the tables of stone and the law and commandments, which I have written to teach them.\" Then Moses rose up and his servant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God, and he said to the elders, \"Wait here until we come back to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has any words to speak with me, let him come to me at the mountain.\"\nWhen Moses came up into the mountain, a cloud covered the hill, and the glory of the Lord abode on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. The form of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the children of Israel. Moses went up to the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel that they give me an offering. This is the offering that they shall give of every man who gives it willingly with his heart: gold, silver, and brass; and blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and rams' skins dyed red, and the skins of seals and goatskins; oil for the lights and spices for anointing oil and for sweet incense; onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece.\nAnd they shall make me a sanctuary like a breastplate. And they shall make an ark of acacia wood. The ark shall be two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and two and a half cubits high. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, both inside and outside. And you shall make a crown of gold and put it on top. And you shall cast four gold rings for it and put them in the four corners thereof, two rings on one side and two on the other. And you shall make statues of acacia wood and cover them with gold. Place the statues in the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. The statues shall remain in the rings of the ark and shall not be removed. And you shall put in the ark the testimony which I will give you. And you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two cubits long and golden.\nMake the seat of mercy half long, half wide, and half broad. Create two cherubim from thick gold and place one on each end of the mercy seat. Ensure they are positioned on the ends. The cherubim should stretch their wings out over it, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces should look toward each other. The faces of the cherubim should be directed toward the mercy seat. Place the mercy seat above the ark, and in the ark put the witness I will give. I will meet with you there and speak to you from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the witness, concerning all that I will command the children of Israel. Make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit broad, and one and a half cubits high. Cover it with pure gold and make a golden crown around it.\nAnd make a whole of four fingers' breadth around, and create a golden crown also for the whole, round about. And make for it four rings of gold and put them in the corners that are on the four feet thereof: underneath the whole shall the rings be, to place statues to bear the table with all. And you shall make statues of Sethim and overlay them with gold, so that the table may be borne with them. And you shall make his dishes, spoons, pots and flatware to pour out withal, of fine gold. And you shall set upon the table, shewbread before me always.\n\nAnd you shall make a candlestick of pure thick gold with its shaft, branches, bowls, knops and flowers proceeding therefrom. Six branches shall proceed out of the sides of the candlestick, three out of one side and three out of the other. And there shall be two cups like almonds with knops and flowers upon every one of the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick: and in the cups shall be placed the oil for burning.\nAnd you shall make four cups like almonds with their knops and flowers: place a knop under each of the six that extend from the cauldron. The knops and the branches shall be one piece of pure thick gold.\nMake six lamps and place them high thereon, to give light to the other side that is opposite it: with snuffers and fire pans of pure gold. One hundred pound weight of fine gold shall make it with all the apparel. Ensure that you make them in the fashion shown to you on the mountain.\nMake an habitat with ten curtains of twisted linen, Tyrian purple and purple, and make them with cherubim of embroidered work. The length of a curtain shall be 28 cubits, and the breadth 4, and they shall all be of one measure: five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and the other five likewise shall be coupled together one to another.\nThen you shall make loops.\nI. Make fifty loops in one curtain, and fifty in the edge of the other coupled with it, with the loops facing each other. Make fifty gold buttons and join the curtains together with them. And make twelve curtains from goatskin to serve as a tent to cover the ark. A curtain's length shall be thirty cubits, and its breadth four, and they shall all be eleven of one measure. Join five together and six together, and double six in the front of the tabernacle. Make fifty loops in the edge of the utmost curtain on one side, in the coupling curtain, and as many in the edge of the other.\nAnd you shall couple curtains on the other side. Make fifty brass buttons and attach them to the loops, and join the tent together with all, so that there is one tabernacle. The remaining part that remains in the curtains of the tent: leave the width of half a curtain that remains, on the back sides of the habitation: a cubit on one side and a cubit on the other, of that which remains in the length of the curtains of the tabernacle, which shall remain on the other side of the habitation to cover it with all. Make another covering for the tent of ramskins dyed red, and another above all of taxus skins. Make boards for the habitation of seven wands to stand upright: ten cubits long shall each board be, and a cubit and a half broad. Two feet shall one board have to couple them together, and so you shall make boards for all the boards of the habitation. Make twenty boards for the habitation.\nAnd you shall make 12 sockets of silver and place them under the 20 borders: two sockets under every border, for their feet. In the same manner, on the north side of the habitation, there shall be 20 borders and 24 sockets of silver: two sockets under every border. And for the western end of the habitation, you shall make six borders, and two more for the two western corners: so that these two borders be coupled together beneath and likewise above with clamps. And it shall be the same in both corners. And there shall be eight borders in all and 16 sockets of silver: two sockets under every border.\n\nYou shall make bars from these\nof the borders and bar them together from one end to the other. And you shall cover the borders with gold and make golden rings for them to put the bars through, and shall cover the bars with gold also. And raise up the habitation according to its fashion as it was shown you on the mountain.\n\nAnd you shall make a [something]\nAnd you shall veil off Iaconica, of scarlet, purple and twined byssus, and make it into brocade work and full of cherubim. Hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood covered with gold, and their knobs also be covered with gold, and they stand upon four sockets of silver. And you shall hang up the veil with rings, and bring in within the veil, the ark of the witness. And the veil shall divide the holy from the most holy.\n\nAnd you shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the witness in the holiest place. And you shall put the table without the veil and the candlestick opposite the table: upon the south side of the habitation. And put the table on the north side.\n\nAnd you shall make a hanging for the door of the tabernacle: of Iaconica, of scarlet, of purple and of twined byssus, worked with needlework. And you shall make for the hanging, five pillars of shittim wood, and cover both them and their knobs with gold, and cast five sockets of brass for them.\n\nAnd thou.\nYou shall make an altar of Sethim wood: five cubettes long and five cubettes broad. It should be four-square, and three cubettes high. Make horns projecting out in the four corners of it, and cover it with brass. Make his ashes-pans, shovels, basins, flesh-hooks, fire-pans, and all the apparel thereof, of brass, after the fashion of a net, and put four rings on the net: even in the four corners of it, and put it beneath the compass of the altar, and let the net reach unto one half of the altar. Make statues for the altar of Sethim wood, and cover them with brass, and let them be put in rings along by the sides of the altar, to bear it withal. Make the altar hollow with borders: even as it was shown thee in the mount, so let them make it. And thou shalt make a court unto the habitation, which shall have in the south side hangings of twisted byssus, being one hundred cubettes long, and twenty pillars thereof with their twenty sockets of brass: but the knoppes.\nThe pilers and their hopes shall be silver. On the north side, there shall be hangings of one hundred cubits long and 20 pilasters with their sockets of brass, and the knobs and the hopes of silver. And in the breadth of the court westward, there shall be hangings of fifty cubits long, and 10 pilasters with their 10 sockets. And in the breadth of the court eastward towards the rising of the sun, shall be hangings of 1 cubit. Hangings of 15 cubits on one side of it with 3 pilasters and 3 sockets: and likewise on the other side shall be hangings of 15 cubits with 3 pilasters and 3 sockets.\n\nAnd in the gate of the court shall be a design of 20 cubits: of lacyncte, scarlet, purpur and twined byssus wrought with needle work, and 4 pilasters with their 4 sockets. All the pilasters around the court shall be hoped with silver, and their knobs of silver, and their sockets of brass. The length of the court, shall be one hundred cubits.\nAnd the breadth shall be fifty, and the height six, and the hangings shall be of twisted sisal and the sockets of brass. And all the vessels of the tabernacle for every service and the pins thereof: you and the pins of the courtyard, shall be brass.\n\nCommand the children of Israel that they give the pure olive oil beaten for the lights to pour all the way into the lamps. Outside the tabernacle, which is before the witness, Aaron and his sons shall dress it, both evening and morning. It shall be a perpetual duty for your generations after you: to be given by the children of Israel.\n\nTake Aaron your brother and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me: Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, both honorable and glorious; moreover, speak to all that are wise-hearted whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom:\nThey shall make garments for Aaron to consecrate him, so he may minister to me. These are the garments they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a tunic, a shirt, a miter, and a sash. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron and his sons, so they may minister to me. They will take gold, blue, scarlet, purple, and fine linen.\n\nThey shall make the ephod: of gold, blue, scarlet, purple, and fine twisted linen, with embroidered work. The two sides shall be joined together, fastened at the edges. The sash of the ephod shall be of the same workmanship and of the same material: gold, blue, scarlet, purple, and fine twisted linen.\n\nTake two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel: six on one stone and the other six on the other stone, according to their birth order. Engrave the names on the stones as signs, like the engravings of a signet.\nAnd you shall place the children of Israel in the pockets of your garment. And you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the Ephod, and they shall be stones of remembrance for the children of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders as a remembrance.\n\nMake hooks of gold and two chains of fine gold; linked and twisted, and fasten the twisted chains to the hooks.\n\nMake the breastpiece of gold, its front part, with woven work: make it in the style of the Ephod, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine twisted linen. Make it square and double, a span long and a span wide. And you shall fill it with four rows of stones. In the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald. The second row: a ruby, a sapphire, and a diamond. The third: a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. The fourth: a turquoise, an onyx, and a jasper. And they shall be set in gold in their settings.\nAnd the stones shall be engraved as sigils are engraved: with the names of the children of Israel, one name with each according to the twelve tribes. Make two gold clasps and two gold rings, and put them on the breastpiece, one on each edge. Put the two gold clasps in the two rings that are on the edges of the breastpiece, and fasten the two ends of the two clasps to the two rings, and put them on the shoulders of the ephod on its front side. Make two more rings of gold and put them in the edges of the breastpiece, inside the Ephod that is against it. Also make two more rings of gold as a decoration and perfection: In Hebrew it is \"lights and perfection.\" I think that the twelve stones that glittered and had light in them are meant for these.\nAnd the other clear stones shall be set in the breastplate, next to each other, beneath against the breastpiece, where the sides are joined together on the bordered girdle of the ephod. And they shall bind the breastpiece to the rings of the ephod with a lace of byssus, so that it does not sway from the ephod.\nAnd Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he enters the holy place, as a remembrance before the Lord continually. And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment light and perfection: that they may be before Aaron's heart when he enters before the Lord, and Aaron shall bear the breastplate of the judgment of the children of Israel.\nIsrael place his heart before the Lord always. And you shall make the tunic for the Ephod, all of it from byssus. And there shall be a hole for the head in the middle of it, and let there be a bond of woven work around the edge of it; as it were the color of a apron, that it does not tear. And beneath upon the hem, you shall make pomegranates. And you shall make a place of pure gold, and engrave on it (as signets are engraved) That he calls the holiness of the Lord; I suppose it is this name Iehouah, the holiness of the Lord, and put it on a lace of byssus and tie it to the mitre, upon the forefront of it, that it is upon Aaron's forehead: that Aaron bears the sin of the holy things which the children of Israel have consecrated in all their holy gifts. And it shall be always upon Aaron's forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord. And you shall make an alb of linen, and you shall make a mitre of linen and a frontlet of needlework. And you shall make for Aaron's sons.\nYou shall make for Aaron and his sons honorable and glorious coats, girdles, and bonnets. Place them on Aaron and his sons, anoint them, fill their hands, and consecrate them, so they may minister to me. Make linen breeches for them, reaching from the loins to the thighs. They shall be upon Aaron and his sons when they enter the tabernacle of witness or approach the altar to minister in holiness, so they do not bear sin and die. This shall be a law forever for Aaron and his seed after him.\n\nThis is what you shall do to them when you ordain them as my priests. Take one ox and two unblemished rams, along with their unleavened bread and cakes of sweet bread mixed with oil and wafers of sweet bread anointed with oil (make them of wheat flour), and put them in a basket. Bring Aaron and his sons to the place, and bring the basket, the oil, and the two rams with you.\nThey take the consecration door of the tabernacle and wash them with water, and take garments and put them on Aaron: the linen tunic, the linen sackcloth of the Ephod, and the Ephod and the breastpiece: and gird them to him with the woven belt of the Ephod. And put the mitre on his head and put the holy crown on the mitre. Then take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. And bring his sons and put albs on them, and gird them: Aaron and his son Nadab. And put the bonnets on them, so that the priesthood may be theirs for a perpetual law.\n\nAnd fill the hands of Aaron and his sons, and bring the ox before the tabernacle of witness. And let Aaron and his sons put their hands on his head and kill him before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of witness. Take the blood of the ox and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger and pour all the blood on the bottom of the altar and take all the fat.\nTake one ram and have Aaron and his sons place their hands on its head, then slaughter it and take its blood and sprinkle it around the altar. Cut the ram into pieces, wash its inwards and legs, and place them with the head on the altar. Burn the entire ram on the altar. This is a burnt offering to the Lord, a sweet aroma from the Lord's sacrifice.\n\nTake the other ram and have Aaron and his sons place their hands on its head, then kill it. Take its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear and on the tips of the right hands of him and his sons, and on the big toe of their right feet. Sprinkle the blood around the altar.\n\nTake the blood on the altar and the anointing oil, and speak over Aaron and his garments, and over his sons and their garments as well. This is:\nHe and his clothes, and his sons and their clothes, were to be holy. Then take the fat of the ram and its covering and the fat that was on the inwards and the kidney and the fat that was on it and the right shoulder (for the ram is a full offering), and a handful of bread and a cake of oiled bread and a wafer from the basket of sweet bread that is before the Lord, and place all on the hands of Aaron and on the hands of his sons. Wave them as a wave offering before the Lord, and wave them back and forth over the burnt offering altar, as a soothing aroma before the Lord. For it is a sacrifice to the Lord.\n\nThen take the breast of the ram that is Aaron's wave offering and wave it as a wave offering before the Lord, and this shall be your portion. Sanctify the breast of the wave offering and the shoulder of the wave offering, which is waved and lifted up from the ram, which is the full offering of Aaron and his sons.\nAnd it shall be Aaron and his sons' duty forever, of the children of Israel: for it is a heave offering. And the heave offering shall be the Lord's duty of the children of Israel: indeed, of the peace offerings which they heave to the Lord.\n\nAnd the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons' inheritance, to anoint them in them, and to fill their hands in them. And the son who is priest in his place after him shall put them on for seven days: that he may go into the tabernacle of witness, to minister in the holy place.\n\nTake the ram that is the heave offering and set his flesh in a holy place. And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of it, and the bread that is in the basket: indeed, at the door of the tabernacle of witness. And they shall eat it, because the atonement was made therewith to fill their hands and to sanctify it: but a stranger shall not eat of it, because they are holy.\n\nIf any part of the flesh of the heave offerings, or of the bread remains until the morning, thou shalt burn it in fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.\nYou shall burn it with fire: for it shall not be eaten, because it is holy. And thou shalt do to Aaron and his sons: even so in all things as I have commanded thee: that thou fill their hands seven days and offer every day an ox for a sin offering to reconcile with all. And thou shalt sanctify the altar when thou reconsecrates it, and shalt anoint it to sanctify it. Seven days thou shalt reconcile the altar and sanctify it, that it may be an altar most holy: Touch not the censer nor the altar stone nor the holy of holies, and hold thy hand thereon that no stranger may touch it but they that are consecrated.\n\nThis is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar: two lambs of one year old each day, one thou shalt offer in the morning and the other at evening. And unto the one lamb take a tenth part of flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine, for a drink offering.\n\nAnd the other lamb thou shalt offer at evening and shall do thereto: (this part seems incomplete and may require further context or correction)\nAccording to the morning meal and drink offerings, to be an odor of a sweet savor of the sacrifice to the Lord. And it shall be a continual burning offering among you, your children, before the tabernacle of witness, before the Lord, where I will meet with you to speak to you there. There I will meet with the children of Israel, and I will be sanctified in My honor. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of witness and the altar; and I will also sanctify Aaron and his sons to be My priests. And moreover I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, to dwell among them: I am the Lord their God.\n\nAnd you shall make an altar to burn on its east side, beneath the crown, to put statues in it for bearing it with all. And you shall make the statues of acacia wood and cover them with gold. And you shall place it before the veil that hangs before the tabernacle.\nAnd the Ark shall be a witness, and before the mercy seat that is before the Ark, I will meet with you. And Aaron shall burn sweet incense thereon every morning when he dresses the lamps: and likewise at evening when he sets up the lamps he shall burn incense perpetually before the Lord throughout your generations. You shall put no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice nor meat offering: nor pour any drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make atonement for his horns once a year, reach the blood of the sin offering for atonement: even once a year shall he make atonement for it throughout your generations. And it is most holy to the Lord.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: when you take the sum of the children of Israel and tell them, they shall give every man a reconciling of his soul to the Lord, that there be no plague among them when you tell them. And thus much shall every man give that goes in the number: half a shekel, after the holy shekel: a shekel is twenty.\nAnd a half century shall be the heufteryng for the Lord. And all that are numbered among those who are twenty years old and above shall give a heufteryng to the Lord. The rich shall not pass, and the poor shall not go under half a century, when they give a heufteryng to the Lord for the atonement of their souls. And you shall take the redeeming money of the children of Israel and put it unto the use of the tabernacle of witness, and it shall be a memorial of the children of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for the if foules.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"You shall make a laver of brass and his foot also of brass to wash withal, and shall put it between the tabernacle of witness and the altar and put water therein: that Aaron and his sons may wash both their hands and their feet therewith, when they go in to the tabernacle of witness, or when they go out to the altar to minister and to burn the Lord's offering, lest they die. And it shall be an everlasting statute for them and for their descendants throughout their generations.\"\nOrdered, for eternity, to him and his seed among you: and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Take principal spices: of pure myrrh, five hundred shekels; of sweet cinnamon, half so much, two hundred and fifty shekels; of sweet calamus, two hundred and two; of cassia, two hundred and two, after the holy shekel, and of olive oil, one hin. And make holy anointing oil, a compound oil, after the art of the apothecary. Anoint the tabernacle and the ark of the testimony, and the table with all its appurtenances, and the candlestick with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering and all its vessels, and the laver and its foot. And sanctify those who minister to me there, and anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to minister to me. And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: \"This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations. You shall anoint with it all that is dedicated by fire, and all my sanctuaries, and Aaron and his sons, and you shall consecrate them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office.\"\ngenerations. No man's flesh shall be anointed with it: neither make you any other after its making for it is holy. Therefore take it as holy. Whoever makes like it, or whoever puts any of it upon a stranger, shall perish among his people.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses: take sweet spices: stacte, onycha, sweet galbanum and pure frankincense, of each like a great quantity; and make a cens of them, compounded together, that it may be made pure and holy. And beat it to powder and put it before the witness in the tabernacle of witness, where I will meet you, but let it be to you holy. And see that you make none after its making, but let it be to you holy for the Lord. And whoever makes like it to smell thereto, shall perish among his people.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Behold, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with skill in every kind of work that he may make all that I have commanded you: the tabernacle, the ark of the testimony, the mercy seat, and all the furniture of the tabernacle, and the holy garments, and the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering, and the laver and its base; to make also all that I have commanded you, the golden censer, and the golden pot and its lid, the holy oil, and the anointing oil, and the perfume incense, and the veil of the tabernacle, and the veil of the mercy seat, and the veil of the holy of holies, and the altar of burnt offering and its utensils, and the laver and its base; to make also the atonement money for the sanctuary, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, with which to carry on their priesthood; and the anointing oil.\"\nThe spirit of God, with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge: able in all manner of work, to find out subtle facts, to work in gold, silver, and brass, and with the craft to grave stones, to set and to carve in timber, and to work in all manner of workmanship. And behold, I have given him to be his companion Ahaliab, the son of Ahismach, of the tribe of Dan, and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom to make all that I have commanded him: the tabernacle of witness, and the ark of witness, and the mercy seat that is upon it, all the ornaments of the tabernacle, and the table with its ordinance, and the pure gold candlestick with all his apparel, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offerings with all his vessels, and the laver with his foot, and the vestments to minister in, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons to minister, and the anointing oil and the sweet cense for the sanctuary: according to all that I have commanded you.\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, 'If you keep My Sabbath, it will be a sign between Me and you, for generations to come, to know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Keep My Sabbath, therefore, and it will be holy to you. I will set apart anyone who defiles it. That person shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a holy day to the Lord. Anyone who does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing it throughout their generations, as a perpetual covenant. It will be a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested.'\"\nthe Lorde made heauen and erth, and the\nseuenth daye he rested and was refresshed.\nAnd whe\u0304 he had made an end of comening with Moses vppon the mounte Sinai, he gaue him two tables of witnesse: which were of sto\u2223ne and written with the finger of God.\nANd when the people sawe that it was lo\u0304\u00a6ge or Moses came doune out of the mo\u00a6untayne, they gathered them selues together a\u0304d came vnto Aaron and sayde vnto him: Vp a\u0304d make vs a god to goo before vs: for of this Moses the felowe that brought vs out of the londe off Egipte, we wote not what ys beco\u2223me.\nAnd Aaron saide vnto them: plucke of the golden earynges which are in the eares of you\u00a6re wyues, youre sonnes a\u0304d of youre doughters: and brynge them vnto me. And all the peo\u2223ple plucked of the golden earinges that were in their eares, and broughte them vnto Aaron And he receaued them of their handes and fa\u2223cyoned it with a grauer and made it a calfe of molten metall. And they sayde: This is thi god O Israel, whiche brought the out of the londe of Egipte.\nAnd when\nAaron saw that he made an altar before it, and made a proclamation, saying, \"Tomorrow shall be a holy day to the Lord.\" And they rose up in the morning and offered burnt offerings, and brought offerings of atonement also. Then they sat down to eat and drink, and rose up again to play.\n\nThe Lord said to Moses, \"Go, get down, for the people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside at once from the way I commanded them, and have made a calf of molten metal, and have worshiped it and offered sacrifices to it, saying, 'This is your God, Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.' And the Lord said to Moses, \"Behold, this people is a stiff-necked people, now let me alone, that I may consume them; I will send a plague upon them and wipe them out. But you, do not let me alone to consume them; and I will not consume the entire people at once.\"\nAnd then I will make them a mighty people,\nMoses besought the Lord his God and said: \"O Lord, why should Your wrath burn against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak and say: 'For mischief he brought them out: even to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and have compassion on the wickedness of Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self and said: 'I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land which I have said, I will give to Your seed: and they shall inherit it forever.' And the Lord refrained Himself from doing evil, which He said He would do to His people.\nMoses turned his back and went down from the hill, and the two tables of testimony in his hand: which were written on both sides and were inscribed on the front and back.\nThe work of God, and the writing was inscribed on the tables by God's hand. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses: \"There is a noise of war in the camp.\" And he said: \"It is not the cry of those who have the command or those who have the worse. But I hear the noise of singing.\"\n\nAnd as soon as he came near to the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned, and he threw the tables out of his hand and broke them in pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it in the water, and made the children of Israel drink. And Moses said to Aaron: \"What did this people do to the one you brought before them as their leader?\"\n\nAnd Aaron said: \"Do not let the Lord's anger burn against you, for they have acted corruptly: they said to me, 'Make us a god to go before us, for we do not know what has become of Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt.'\"\nAnd I told them, let those who have gold bring it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and from the fire came out this calf. When Moses saw that the people were naked (for Aaron had made them naked to their shame during their rebellion), he went and stood at the entrance of the camp and said: \"If any man belongs to the Lord, let him come to me.\" And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. And he said to them, thus says the Lord of Israel: \"Place every man his sword by his side, and go through the camp from gate to gate, and kill every man his brother, every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.\" And the sons of Levi did as Moses had said. And on that day about three thousand people were killed. Then Moses said: \"Fill your hands to the Lord this day, every man his son and his brother, to bring a blessing upon you.\"\nOn the morrow, Moses said to the people: You have sinned a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord, to see if I can make an atonement for your sin.\nAnd Moses went again to the Lord and said: Oh, this people have sinned a great sin and have made a golden calf: Yet, pitiful Moses, and likewise, merciful Paul, and the abominable pope with all his merciful idols. Forgive them their sin I pray: If not, wipe me out of your book which you have written.\nAnd the Lord said to Moses: I will blot him out of my book that has sinned against me. But go and bring the people to the land which I said to you: Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I set, I will set their sin upon them.\nAnd the Lord said to Moses: Depart, you and the people which you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land.\nI will give this land to your seed. I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Go into the land flowing with milk and honey. I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.\n\nWhen the people heard this evil news, they mourned, and no one put on his best clothing.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Speak to the children of Israel: You are a stiff-necked people. Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it outside the camp, calling it the Tabernacle of Witness. And all who asked any question of the Lord went out to the Tabernacle of Witness, which was outside the camp. And when Moses went out to the tabernacle, all the people rose up and stood every man at the entrance of his tent and looked after Moses, until he had gone into the tabernacle. And as soon as Moses entered the tabernacle, all the people rose up and stood, each at the entrance of his tent, and looked after Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle.\nMoses entered the tabernacle. The cloud pillar descended and stood at the tabernacle door, speaking with Moses. And when all the people saw the cloud pillar standing at the tabernacle door, they rose up and worshiped: every man at his tent door.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned back to the camp, Joshua his servant the son of Nun did not depart from the tabernacle. Moses said to the Lord, \"You told me to lead this people, but you have not shown me whom you will send with me. And you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have found grace in my sight.' Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, show me your way and let me know it, that I may find grace in your sight. And look upon this also, that this nation is your people.\"\n\nThe Lord replied, \"My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.\" He added, \"If your presence does not go with me, do not bring us up from here. Is it not written in your Book of Law, 'I will be with you'?\" (Exodus 33:14-15, 34:15-16)\nAnd he said: \"Show me your glory. And he said: I will make all my goodness before you, and I will be called Iehovah before you. I will have compassion on whom I have compassion, and I will show mercy to whom I show mercy. And furthermore, you shall not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live.\n\nAnd the Lord said: \"Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand on a rock. While My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will put My hand upon you while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back parts, but My face shall not be seen.\n\nAnd the Lord said to Moses: \"Hewn for Me two tables of stone like the first, that I may write on them the words which were on the first tables, which you broke.\"\nAnd you shall break the tables. But be ready against morning that you may come up early to the mount of Sinai and stand me there apart from the top of the mountain. But let no man come up with you, nor let any man be seen through the entire mountain, nor let sheep nor oxen feed before the hill.\n\nAnd Moses hewed two tables of stone like the first and rose early in the morning and went up to the mountain of Sinai as the Lord commanded him: and took in his hand the tablets, and I [will be] your inheritance.\n\nAnd he said: \"Behold, I make a covenant before all this people, that I will do wonders which have not been done in all the earth or in any nation: there you shall make no gods of metal. The feast of unleavened bread shall you keep, and seven days you shall eat unleavened bread (as I commanded you) in the appointed time in the month of Abib: for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.\" All that breaks the covenant shall be mine, and all that breaks the covenant among you.\ncatell, yf it be ma\u00a6le: whether it be oxe or shepe. But the first of the asse thou shalt by out with a shepe, or yf thou redeme him not: se thou breake his nec\u2223ke. All the firstborne of thi sonnes thou mustThat is a god texte for the pope nedes redeme. And se that no ma\u0304 appeare be\u2223fore me emptye.\nSixe dayes thou shalt worke, and the seue\u0304th thou shalt rest: both from earynge and reapyn\u2223ge. Thou shalt obserue the feast of wekes wi\u2223th the fyrst frutes of wheate heruest, a\u0304d the fe\u2223ast of ingaderynge at the yeres ende. Thrise in a yere shall all youre men children appeare be\u2223fore the Lorde Ichouah God of Israel: for I will cast out the nacyons before the and will enlarge thi costes, so that no man shall desyre thi londe, while thou goest vp to appeare befo\u00a6re the face of the Lorde thi God, thryse in the yere.\nThou shalt not offre the bloude of my sa\u2223crifyce with leuended bred: nether shall ought\nof the sacrifyce of the feast of Passeover, be le\u2223fte vnto the morninge. The first of the firstfru\u00a6tes of thy lo\u0304de,\nAnd you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God: do not appear before Him empty-handed. And the Lord spoke to Moses: write down these words, for on these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. He was there with the Lord for forty days and forty nights, neither eating bread nor drinking water. And he wrote on the tables the words of the covenant: ten commandments.\n\nMoses came down from Mount Sinai with the tablets of testimony in his hand, but he did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been speaking with Him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, they were afraid to approach him. But he called them to him, and Aaron and all the leaders came to him, and Moses spoke with them.\n\nAnd at last, all the children of Israel came to him, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. And as the people were assembled to hear the words that Moses spoke, they stood near the foot of the mountain.\nOnce he had finished speaking with them, Moses covered his face again. But when he went before the Lord to speak with him, he kept the covering until he returned. And he came out and spoke to the children of Israel about what he had been commanded. The children of Israel saw the shining skin of Moses' face, but Moses covered his face again until he went in to speak with him.\n\nMoses gathered all the assembly of the children of Israel together, and said to them, \"These are the things which the Lord has commanded: Six days you shall work, but the seventh day shall be a Sabbath of rest for the Lord. Anyone who does any work on it shall die. Moreover, you shall not kindle a fire through your habitations on the Sabbath day.\"\n\nMoses spoke to the entire multitude of the children of Israel, saying, \"This is the thing which the Lord commanded: \"\nsaying: Bring before the Lord among you an offering, all who are willing in their hearts: gold, silver, brass, Iacyncte, scarlet, purple, fine linen, goat's hair and ram's skins dyed red, and badger skins; and acacia wood, oil for the lights and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; and onyx stones and stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece. Let all who are skillful among you come and make all that the Lord has commanded: the tabernacle and its components, its covering and its rings, its bars, pillars and sockets; the ark and its staves with the mercy seat and the veil that covers it; the table and its staves, all that belongs to it and the showbread; the lampstand and its accessories and the oil for the lights; the altar of incense and its poles, the anointing oil and the sweet incense and the hanging before the tabernacle door. The altar of burnt offering.\nAnd all the children of Israel departed from Moses' presence. They went, as many as their hearts inclined them and as many as their spirits willing, and brought burnt sacrifices to the Lord, for the making of the tabernacle of witness and all his vessels and for the holy vestments. The men came with the women, as many as were willing, and brought bracelets, earrings, rings, and girdles, and all manner of jewels of gold. And all the men who wore golden waistcloths as offerings to the Lord.\nEvery man who was found with Jacynte, scarlet, purple, bisse or goat's hair, or red ramskins, brought it. And all who had houses of gold or brass, brought a heuofrynge to the Lord. And all men who were found with Sethim wood for any manner of work or service, brought it.\n\nAnd all women who were inclined to work with their hands, spun, and brought the spindle work, both of Jacynte, scarlet, purple, and bisse. And all women who excelled in wisdom of heart, spun the goat's hair. And the lords brought Onix stones and setting stones for the Epod, and for the breastplate, and spice and oil: both for the lights and for the anointing oil and for the sweet censer. And the children of Israel brought wyllyngeoffrynges to the Lord, both men and women: as many as their hearts made them willing to bring, for all manner of works which the Lord had commanded to make by the hand of Moses.\n\nMoses said to the children of Israel: behold, the Lord has\nBezaleel, son of Uri, from the tribe of Judah, was called by God and filled with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge in all kinds of work, including intricate works in gold, silver, and brass. He was also given the grace to teach, both himself and Ahaliab, son of Ahisamach from the tribe of Dan, who was filled with wisdom to create all kinds of engraved work. They were skilled in Iacyncte, scarlet, purple, and byssus, and could create various works of art.\n\nBezaleel and Ahaliab, along with all the wise-hearted men whom the Lord had given wisdom and understanding to create all kinds of work for the holy service, as commanded by the Lord. Moses summoned Bezaleel, Ahaliab, and all the skilled artisans.\nAnd they received from Moses all the offerings that the children of Israel had brought for the work of the holy service. And they brought besides willing offerings every morning.\n\nAll the wise men who worked on the holy work came every man from his work when the pope said so, and forbade offering for the building of St. Peter's church. And when they made an announcement, and spoke to Moses, they said, \"The people bring too much and above what is enough to serve for the work which the Lord has commanded to make.\" Then Moses gave a commandment, and it was proclaimed through the host saying, \"Let neither man nor woman prepare any more work for the holy offering, and so the people were forbidden to bring more. For the stuff they had was sufficient for them to complete all the work.\"\n\nAnd all the wise-hearted men among them that were over the work on the holy place.\nThey made ten curtains of twisted linen, i.e., byssus, scarlet, and purple, and adorned them with cherubim and broderie work. One curtain was 27 cubits long and 4 cubits wide, and they were all of one size. They joined five of these curtains together.\n\nThey made eleven curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle. Each curtain was 30 cubits long and 4 cubits wide, and they were all eleven of one size. They joined five of these with each other, and six with the other five.\n\nThey made fifty loops along the border of the outermost joining curtain on one side, and fifty loops on the edge of the joining curtain on the other side. They made fifty bronze rings to join the tent together, so it could be one. They made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and another covering of taxus skins above.\n\nThey made boards for the dwelling place of the Testimony, which stood upright, each board being 10 cubits long and a cubit high.\nThey made feasts at every board of the dwelling place, joining one to another. And they made 20 boards for the south side of the habitation, and 40 sockets of silver under the 20 boards, two sockets under every board, even for the two feasts of the lord and the lady. And for the other side of the dwelling towards the north, they made other 20 boards with 40 sockets of silver, two sockets under every board. And behind, at the end of the tabernacle towards the west, they made 6 boards and 2 other boards for the corners of the habitation behind, and they were joined close both beneath and also above with clamps, and thus they did to both the corners: so they were in all 8 boards and 16 sockets, under every board two sockets.\n\nThey made bars of wood, five for the boards of one side of the habitation and five for the other, and five for the boards of the west end of the habitation. And they made the middle bar to shoot through the boards: even\nFrom one end to the other, they overlaid the borders with gold and made the rings of gold to thrust the bars through, and covered the bars with gold. They made a hanging of Jacincte, of scarlet, purple, and twined byssus with cherubim of brothered work. And they made four pillars of cedar and overlaid them with gold. Their knops were also of gold, and they cast for them four sockets of silver. They made a hanging for the tabernacle door: of Jacincte, scarlet, purple, and twined byssus of needlework, and the pillars of it were five with their knops, and overlaid the heads of them and the capitals with gold, with their five sockets of brass.\n\nAnd Bezalel made the ark of cedar two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half broad, and a cubit and a half high, and overlaid it with fine gold both within and without, and made a crown of gold to it round aboute, and cast for it four rings of gold for the four corners of it: two rings each.\nfor the one side and two for the other, and made statues of Sethim wood, and covered them with gold, and put the statues in the rings along the side of the arch to bear it with all.\nAnd he made the mercy seat of pure gold two cubits long and one and a half cubits broad, and made two cherubim of thick gold on the two ends of the mercy seat: one cherubim on one end, and another cherubim on the other end of the mercy seat. And the cherubim spread out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with them, And their faces were one to another: even to the mercy seat ward, were the faces of the cherubim.\nAnd he made the table of Sethim wood two cubits long and one cubit broad, and a cubit and a half high, and overlaid it with fine gold, and made to it a crown of gold round aboute, and made to the crown a hoop of gold round aboute, and made unto the hoop a palm-tree design round aboute, and cast for it four rings of gold and put them on it.\nHe made rings in the four corners by the feet: even under the wheel to put statues in to bear the table with all. And he made statues of Sethim wood and covered them with gold to bear the table with all, and made the vessels that were on the table of pure gold, the dishes, spoons, flatware and pots to pour with all,\n\nAnd he made the candlestick of pure thick gold: both the candlestick and its shaft; with branches, bolts, knops, and flowers proceeding out of it. Six branches proceeding out of the sides thereof - three out of one side and three out of the other. And on every branch were three cups like almonds, with knops and flowers through the six branches that proceeded out of the candlestick. And on the candlestick itself, were four cups after the fashion of almonds with knops and flowers: under each two branches a knop. And the knops and the branches proceeded out of it, and were all one piece of pure thick gold. And he made seven lamps for it.\nAnd he made the cauldron of Sethim wood, a cubit long and a cubit broad: four square, with two cubit-high horns projecting from it. He covered it with pure gold, both the top and the sides roundabout and the horns, and made a golden crown around it. He also made two golden rings for it, one on each side, to put staves in for bearing it withal. He made statues of Sethim wood and overlaid them with gold. And he made the anointing oil and the sweet incense according to the apothecary's craft.\n\nHe made the burning altar of Sethim wood, five cubits long and two cubits broad: four square, with three cubit-high horns projecting from the four corners of it. He overlaid it with brass. He made all the vessels of the altar: the cauldrons, shovels, etc.\nAnd he made basins, fleshhooks and colanders all of brass. He created a brass grating of network around the altar below, reaching halfway up, and cast four brass rings for the four ends of the grating to place statues in. He made statues of acacia wood and covered them with brass, placing the statues in the rings along the altar side. He also made the laver and its foot of brass, in sight of those who watched before the door of the tabernacle of witness. He made the courtyard with hangings of twisted linen of a hundred cubits long on the south side, and twenty pillars with twenty sockets of brass: but the knobs of the pillars, and the capitals were silver. On the north side, the hangings were a hundred cubits long with twenty pillars and twenty sockets of brass, but the knobs and capitals of the pillars were of silver.\nOn the western side, there were long hangings of one cubit cubettes and three pillars with their three sockets, and the knobs and hooks of the pillars were silver. And on the eastern side toward the rising sun, there were hangings of one cubit cubettes: the hangings on one side of the gate were fifteen cubettes long, and their pillars three with their three sockets. And there were hangings also on the other side of the court gate, fifteen cubettes long and their pillars three with three sockets. Now all the hangings of the court were twisted byssus, and the sockets of the pillars were brass: but the knobs and hooks of the pillars were silver, and the heads were overlaid with silver, and all the pillars of the court were hooped with silver. And the hanging of the gate of the court was needlework: of Jacinth, scarlet, purple, and twisted byssus, twenty cubits long and five in breadth, according to the hangings of the court. And the pillars were four with four sockets of brass.\nThe sum total of the furnishings for the tabernacle, as recorded at Moses' command, was the responsibility of the Levites, under the supervision of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest. Bezaleel, son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah, and AhaLIab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, were also involved. Bezaleel, a skilled craftsman and embellisher, worked with Ithamar, and together they carried out all that the Lord had commanded Moses. They did this along with Hur. All the gold used for the work on the holy place (which was the gold from the wave offering) weighed 2,200 pounds and 700 talents and 30 shekels, according to the holy shekel. The total weight of silver from the congregation was 10,000 talents and 1,775 shekels. Every man offered half a shekel according to the shekel's weight.\nAmong those to be numbered from the age of twenty and above, there were over six hundred thousand men. And the five thousand pounds of silver went towards the casting of the sockets of the sanctuary and the veil: a hundred sockets of the five thousand pounds weighed a hundred pounds each. And the seven hundred and seventy-five silver sheets, made knobs for the pillars and covered their heads and decorated them.\n\nThe brass of the wave offering was seven hundred pounds and two thousand, and four hundred seventy-five silver sheets. And with this he made the sockets for the tabernacle door, the brass altar, the brass grating attached to it, and all the vessels of the altar, and the sockets of the courtyard roundabout, and the sockets of the courtyard gate, and all the pins of the habitation, and all the pins of the courtyard roundabout.\n\nAnd of the incense, scarlet, purple, and twisted linen, they were used.\nThey made the vestments for ministry and the holy garments for Aaron as the Lord commanded Moses. They made the Ephod of gold, lapis lazuli, scarlet, purple, and twisted linen. They hammered the gold into thin plates and cut it into wires to work it into the lapis lazuli, scarlet, and purple.\n\nThey set onyx stones enclosed in settings of gold and engraved them with the names of the children of Israel. They placed these stones on the shoulders of the Ephod as a reminder of the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nThey made the breastpiece. It was four-square and double, a handbreadth in length and a handbreadth in width. They set in it four rows of stones: the first row, sapphire, topaz, and emerald; the second row, ruby, sapphire, and diamond; the third row, ligure, achat, and amethyst; the fourth row, turquoise, onyx, and jasper.\nAnd they included twelve stones. They carved two fastening chains of wrought work and pure gold on the breastplate's front, and they made two golden hooks and two golden rings. They placed the rings on the two corners of the breastplate and put the gold chains in the rings, securing them to the hooks and placing them on the shoulders of the Ephod in front. They made two more rings of gold and placed them on the other corners of the breastplate, along the edge of it, toward the inside of the Ephod. They made yet two more golden rings and put them on the two sides of the Ephod, beneath, near where the sides join.\n\nAnd he made a border for the Ephod of woven work, entirely of gold-plated fabric, and the border's head was in the middle of it, like the color of a collar, with a binding around the collar's edge.\nAnd they placed pomgranates below the hem of the turban: pomgranates of Jinnett, scarlet, purple, and twined with threads. They made little bells of pure gold and put them among the pomgranates, round about the edge of the turban. A bell and a pomgranate, a bell and a pomgranate, they made all around the hem of the turban to minister in, as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nThey made coats of fine linen for Aaron and his sons, and a mitre of fine linen, and a plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and engraved on it.\n\nThus was all the work of the tabernacle's furnishings completed. And the children of Israel did, according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses. They brought the tabernacle and all its apparel to Moses: the tent and its boards, bars, pillars, and sockets; and the covering of red ramskins, and the covering of taxus skins, and the hanging veil, and the ark of the witness with the staves.\nAnd Moses commanded the children of Israel to make all the work concerning the tabernacle: the ark of the covenant with all its ordiance, the table and all its utensils, the lampstand with all its vessels and the oil for the lights, the golden altar and the anointing oil and the sweet incense, the hanging for the tabernacle door, the brass altar with its grating and all its bars and all its utensils, and the ministering vestments for the sanctuary, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest and his sons to minister in. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. And Moses looked over all the work, and behold, they had done it; just as the Lord had commanded, so they had done it. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"In the first day of the first month you shall erect the tabernacle of the testimony, and put in it the ark of the testimony.\"\nAnd cover the ark with the veil, bring in the table and append it with accessories, and bring in the candlesticks and place their lamps, set the golden censer before the ark as a witness, and hang the hanging of the door to the habitation. Set the burning altar before the door of the tabernacle of witness, and set the laver between the tabernacle and the altar, and put water in it, and make the court round about, and set up the hanging of the court gate.\n\nThe school men dispute the authenticity of this text and all that belongs to it: that it may be holy. Anoint the habitation and all that is in it with anointing oil. Anoint the altar of burnt offerings and all its vessels, and sanctify the altar so that it may be most holy. Anoint also the laver and its foot, and sanctify it.\n\nBring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of witness, and wash them with water. Put the holy vestments upon Aaron.\nand anoint him and sanctify him so that he may minister to me, and their anointing shall be an everlasting priesthood to them throughout their generations. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him.\n\nThe tabernacle was raised up the first month in the second year. And Moses raised up the tabernacle and fastened its sockets, set up its frames and bars, and raised up the pillars, and spread the covering over it on all sides and put the covering of the tent over it: as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nHe took and put the testimony in the ark and set the staves to the ark and put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and brought the ark into the tabernacle and hung the veil and covered the ark of witness, as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nHe put the table in the tabernacle, outside the veil, on the north side of the tabernacle, with the bread in order before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.\n\nAnd he\nput the candlestick in the tabernacle of witness against the table, on the south side of the habitation, and set up the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. And he put the golden altar in the tabernacle of witness before the veil, and burned sweet incense thereon as the Lord commanded Moses. And set up the hanging at the door of the habitation, and set the burnt offering altar before the door of the tabernacle of witness, and offered burnt offerings and meat offerings thereon as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nAnd he set the laver between the tabernacle of witness and the altar, and poured water therein to wash. And both Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and feet there, both when they entered the tabernacle of witness, or when they went to the altar, as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nAnd he set the laver between the tabernacle of witness and the altar, and poured water therein to wash. And both Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and feet there, both when they entered the tabernacle of witness or approached the altar, as the Lord had commanded Moses.\n\nAnd the cloud covered the tabernacle of witness, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle: so that Moses could not enter the tabernacle of witness.\nwitnesses, because the cloud abode there, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. When the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the children of Israel took their journeys as often as they journeyed. And if the cloud departed not, they journeyed not: for the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire by night: in the sight of all the house of Israel in all their journeys.\n\nThe end of the second book of Moses:\n\nThe ceremonies which are described in the following book were chiefly ordained by God, as I said in the end of the prologue on Exodus, to occupy the minds of that people, the Israelites, and to keep them from serving God after the imagination of their blind zeal and good intent: that their weak imaginings of Christ, as children have of men's deceit, might be few, except for a few prophets.\n\nAnd moreover, though sacrifices and ceremonies can be no ground or foundation to build upon: that is, though we can prove nothing with them: yet\nWhen we have once sounded out Christ and his mysteries, we may borrow figures - that is, allegories, similitudes, or examples - to open Christ and the secrets of God hidden in him to the quick, and to declare them more vividly and sensibly with them than with all the words of the world. For similitudes have more power and virtue than bare words, and lead a man's wits further into the pit and marrow and spiritual understanding of the thing, than all the words that can be imagined. Though all the ceremonies and sacrifices have a veil-like quality concealing Christ, there are some that have the light of broad day before the sun rises and express him and the circumstances and virtue of his death so plainly that it seems as if we should play his passion on a scaffold or in a stage play openly before the eyes of the people. As the brazen serpent, the brass ox, the paschal lamb, and so forth. In so much that I am fully convinced.\nI cannot be certain that I have the full original text, as there are missing words and some sections are unclear. However, based on the given text, I will attempt to clean it up as much as possible while staying faithful to the original content.\n\nI believe that God revealed to Moses the secrets of Christ and the manner of His death beforehand, and commanded him to pass them on for the confirmation of our faiths, which are now in the clear daylight. I also believe that the prophets who followed Moses to confirm his prophecies and maintain his doctrine, were motivated by such things to search further for Christ's secrets. And though God would not have the secrets of Christ generally known, except to a few intimate friends whom He made in infancy to help the other infants: yet they had a general promise that one of the seed of Abraham would come and bless them. Even so, they had a general faith that God would save them through the same man, though they did not know how, as the apostles did not understand it, even when it was often told to them, until it was fulfilled in deed.\n\nBeyond this, their sacrifices and ceremonies, as far as the text goes.\nPromises annexed to them extend so far that they saved and justified them, placing them in the same stance as our sacraments do us: not by the power of the sacrifice or the dead thing itself, but by the virtue of the faith in the promise which the sacrifice or ceremony preached and represented. For ceremonies and sacrifices were left with them and commanded to keep the promise in remembrance and to awaken their faith. It is not enough to send many on errands and to tell them what they shall do; but they must have a remembrance with them, and it is but a ring of a rush about one of their fingers. And it is not enough to make a bargain with words only, but we must put to it an oath and give earnest to confirm the faith of the person with whom it is made. And in like manner, if a man promises, whatever trifling it may be, it is not believed except he holds up his finger also. Such is the weakness of the world. And therefore Christ himself used this.\nOfttimes various ceremonies in curing the sick, if truly administered, preach Christ to us and lead our faith to Christ. By this faith, our sins are done away with, not by the dead or the work of the sacrament. For just as it was impossible that the blood of calves could take away sins: even so, it is impossible that the water of the river could wash our hearts. Nevertheless, the sacraments cleanse and absolve us of sins, as the priests do, in preaching repentance and faith. For neither the priest nor the sacrament profits if it does not preach.\n\nAnd if a man alleges that Christ in John the third chapter says, \"Except a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God,\" and therefore asserts that the Holy Ghost is present in the water and therefore the very dead or work of the sacrament takes away sins: then I will send him to Paul, who asks the Galatians whether they received the Holy Ghost.\nThe holy ghost accompanies the preaching of faith, and with the word of faith, enters the heart and purges it. You may also understand this by St. Paul's words: \"You are born anew through the word.\" If baptism preaches to me the washing in Christ's blood, so does the holy ghost accompany it. Some might argue that the prayers of the mass help much: not only the living, but also the dead. I have said enough about the fervent prayer of the priests consuming faster than the world can bring sacrifices in other places. Yet it is not possible to bring me to belief that the prayer which helps him is in vain. But now, what good can he wish me in his prayers who envies me Christ, the food and life of my soul? What good can he wish me whose heart is estranged from me when I am taught to repent.\nFor those unfamiliar with the use of the Old Testament, and with the majority believing it unnecessary for interpreting the Bible, I will discuss it here as well, to ensure this text reaches a wider audience. We must be cautious against being misled by false allegories, whether derived from the New Testament or Old, or from any other source, especially in this text. A reader must don all spectacles and arm himself against invisible spirits.\n\nAllegories prove nothing (understand allegories as examples or similes borrowed from unrelated matters). For instance, circumcision is often cited as a figure of baptism, but you cannot prove baptism through this allegory.\nFor this argument were very feeble, the Israelites were circumcised therefore we must be baptized. And in like manner, though the offering of Isaac was a figure or example of the resurrection, yet this argument is nothing. Abraham would have offered Isaac, but God delivered him from death, therefore we shall rise again, and so forth in all other cases.\n\nBut the very use of allegories is to declare and open a text that it may be better perceived and understood. As when I have a clear text of Christ and of the apostles, that I must be baptized, then I may borrow an example of circumcision to express the nature, power, and fruit or effect of baptism. For as circumcision was to them a common signifying that they were all soldiers of God to wage his war and separating them from all other nations disobedient to God: even so baptism is our common seal and surest and perpetual memorial that we belong to Christ and are separated from all that are not his. And as\ncircumcision was a token certifying them that they were received into God's favor and their sins forgiven: in the same way, baptism certifies us that we are washed in the blood of Christ and received into God's favor for His sake. And just as circumcision signified to them the cutting away of their own lusts and killing of their free will, as they called it, to follow God's will, so baptism signifies to us repentance and the mortifying of our unruly members and body of sin, to walk in a new life and so forth.\n\nLikewise, the saving of Noah and those with him in the ark through water is a figure, that is, an example and likeness of baptism, as Peter makes clear in 1 Peter 3. Yet I cannot prove baptism therewith, save to describe it only. For as the ark saved them in the water through faith, in that they believed God, and as those who would not believe perished: even so baptism saves us through the word of faith which it preaches when all who believe are saved.\nIn the world of the unbelieving Perysh, and at Paul's place, Corin makes the sea and the cloud a figure of baptism. I cannot prove it with a thousand more, but I could not declare it otherwise. Paul, in the same place, makes the rock from which Moses brought water to the children of Israel a figure or example of Christ. Not to prove Christ (for that was impossible), but to describe Him only: even as Christ Himself John borrows a similitude or figure of the brass serpent to lead Nicodemus from his earthly imagination into the spiritual understanding of Christ, saying: \"As Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have everlasting life. By this similitude, the virtue of Christ's death is better described than you could declare it with a thousand words. For those murmurers against God, as soon as they repented, were healed of their deadly wounds through looking at the brass serpent only, without medicine or any other means.\nany other help, you are and without any other reason but that God has said it shall be so / and not to murmur again, but to leave your murmuring: even so, all that repent and believe in Christ are saved from everlasting death / of pure grace without and before their good works / and not to sin again, but to fight against sin henceforth to sin no more.\n\nJust as with the ceremonies of this book, you can prove nothing else except describe and declare the putting away of our sins through the death of Christ. For Christ is Aaron and Aaron's sons, and all that offer the sacrifice to purge sin, and Christ is all mankind offering that is offered: He is the ox, the sheep, the goat, the kid and lamb: He is the ox that is burned without the host and the scapegoat that carried all the sins of the people away into the wilderness. For as they purged the people from their worldly uncleannesses through the blood of the sacrifices / even so does Christ purge us from the uncleannesses of everlasting death.\nhis own blood. And just as their worldly sins could not be purged in any other way than through the shedding of sacrifice, so our sins can be forgiven only through the blood of Christ. All the dead in the world, save the blood of Christ, can purchase no forgiveness of sins: for our dead only help our neighbor and put an end to the flesh and help us not to sin any more. But if we have sinned, it must be freely forgiven through the blood of Christ or remain ever.\n\nAnd in a like manner, the lepers can prove nothing: you cannot conjure and command (lowsing is one power) as those priests healed no man. Even so, our priests cannot, with their invisible and dominant power, drive away or deliver a man's sins or deliver him from hell or feigned purgatory. Howbeit, if they preached God's word purely, which is the authority that Christ gave them, they should bind and loose, kill and make alive again, make uncleansed.\n\nFinally, beware of allegories, for there is not a more handsome or apt thing than they.\nbe gentle with an allegory then, for it is neither more nor a more pestilent thing in the world to persuade a false matter than an allegory. And contrarywise, there is not a better or more vehement or mightier thing to make a man understand with all his faculties than an allegory. For allegories make a man quick-witted and print wisdom in him and make it abide, allowing bare words to enter one ear and exit the other. As this with such like sayings: put salt on all your sacrifices, instead of this sentence, do all your deeds with discretion, greets and bites (if it is understood) more the plain words. And when I say instead of these words, do not boast of your good deeds, do not eat the blood nor the fat of your sacrifice, there is as great a difference between them as there is distance between heaven and earth. For the life and beauty of all good deeds is of God, and we are but the lean caretaker, we are only the instrument whereby God works, but the power is His. As God created.\nPaul gave new wisdom to him, bestowed power and promised him that his grace would never fail him, and all this without deserving, except for nursing the saints and cursing and railing on Christ being meritorious. Is it not (think ye) damnable to rob God of his honor and to glory in his honor instead?\n\nAnd the Lord called Moses and spoke to him outside the tabernacle of witness, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them. Whoever of you brings a gift to the Lord shall bring it from the livestock: even of the oxen and of the sheep.\n\nIf he brings a burnt offering of the oxen, he shall offer a male without blemish, and shall bring it to the door of the tabernacle of witness, that he may be accepted before the Lord. And let him put his hand on the head of the burnt sacrifice, and forgiveness shall be given to him to make an atonement for him, and let him kill the ox before.\nthe Lord. And let Aaron's sons bring the blood and let them sprinkle it roundabout the alter that is before the tabernacle of witness. And let the burnt offerings be stripped and hewn into pieces. And let Aaron's sons put fire on the alter and put wood on the fire, and let them lay the pieces with the head and the fat upon the wood that is on the fire in the alter.\nBut the inwards and the legs they shall wash in water, and the priest shall burn entirely on the alter, that it be a burnt sacrifice, and an offering of a sweet odor to the Lord.\nIf he offers a burnt sacrifice of the sheep, whether it be of the lambs or of the goats: he shall offer a male without blemish. And let him kill it on the north side of the alter, before the Lord. And let Aaron's sons sprinkle the blood of it roundabout the alter. And let it be cut in pieces: even with its head and its fat, and let the priest put them upon the altar.\nthe wood that lies upon the fire in the altar. But let him wash the inside and legs with water, and then bring it all together and burn it on the altar: this is a burnt offering and a sweet-smelling sacrifice to the Lord.\n\nIf he will offer a burnt offering of the fowls, he shall offer either of the turtle doves or of the young pigeons. And the priest shall bring it to the altar, and wring its neck apart and burn it on the altar, and let the blood run out on the sides of the altar, and pluck away its crop and feathers, and cast those aside the altar on the east part up towards the heap of ashes, and break its wings but do not tear them apart. And let the priest burn it on the altar, over the wood that lies over the fire, a burnt sacrifice and an offering of a sweet smell to the Lord.\n\nIf any soul will offer a meat offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be fine flour, and he shall pour oil upon it and put frankincense thereon and shall bring it.\nit vnto Aarons sonnes the preastes. And one of them shall take thereout his handfull of the floure, and of the oyle with all the frankence\u0304s, a\u0304d bur\u00a6ne it for a memoriall apo\u0304 the alter: an offryng of a swete sauoure vnto the Lord. And the re\u0304naunt of the meatofferynge shalbe Aarons a\u0304d his sonnes, as a thinge most holye of the sacri\u2223fices of the Lorde.\nYf any ma\u0304 bringe a meatoffrynge that is ba\u2223ke\u0304 in the oue\u0304, let him brynge swete cakes of fi\u2223ne floure mingled with oyle, a\u0304d vnleuended wafers anoynted with oyle. Yf thy meatoffryn\u00a6ge be baken in the fryenge pan, then it shalbe of swete floure mingled with oyle. And thou shalt mynce it small, a\u0304d poure oyle thereon: a\u0304d so is it a meatoffrynge.\nYf thy meatofferynge be a thynge broyled vppon the greadyerne, of floure myngled wi\u2223th oyle it shalbe. And thou shalt brynge the\nmeatoffryng that is made of these thinges vn\u00a6to the Lorde, and shalt delyuer it vnto the pre\u2223ast, and he shall brynge it vnto the altare and shall heue vppe parte of the meatoffrynge for a\nMemorial offering, and it shall be burned on the altar: an offering of a sweet savor to the Lord. And that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aaron and his sons, as a thing most holy of the offerings to the Lord.\n\nAll the meat offerings which you shall bring to the Lord, shall be made without leaven. For you shall neither burn leaven nor honey in any offering of the Lord. Notwithstanding, you shall bring the firstfruits of them to the Lord: but they shall not come upon the altar to make a sweet savor.\n\nAll your meat offerings you shall salt with salt. Neither shall you suffer the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your meat offering: but on all your offerings you shall bring salt.\n\nIf you offer a meat offering of the firstfruits to the Lord, then take of that which is yet green and dry it by the fire and beat it small, and so offer the meat offering of your firstfruits. And then pour oil thereon, and put frankincense thereon: and so it is a sacrifice made by fire to the Lord.\na\nmeatoffrynge. And the preast shall burne par\u00a6te of the beten corne and parte of that oyle, with all the fra\u0304kencens: for a remembraunce. That is an offerynge vnto the Lorde.\nYF any man brynge a peaceofferynge of the oxen: whether it be male or female, he shall brynge such as is without blemysh, be\u00a6fore the Lorde, and let him put his hande a\u2223pon the heed of his offerynge, and kyll it befo\u00a6re the dore of the tabernacle of witnesse. And Aarons sonnes the preastes, shall sprinkle the bloude apon the alter rounde aboute. And they shall offre of the peaceofferynge to be a sacrifice vnto the Lord: the fatt that couereth the inwardes and all the fatt that is apon the inwardes: and the two kydneys with the fatt that lyeth apon the loynes: and the kall that ys on the lyuer, they shall take awaye with the ky\u2223dneyes. And Aarons sonnes shall burne them apon the alter with the burntsacrifice which is apon the wodd on the fire. That is a sacrifice of a swete sauoure vnto the Lorde.\nYf a man brynge a peaceoffrynge vnto the\nA lord from the flock: whether it is male or female, it shall be without blemish. If it is an offering of a lamb, he shall bring it before the Lord and place his hand on its offering's head. And he shall kill it at the door of the tabernacle of witness. Aaron's sons shall sprinkle the blood thereof round about the altar.\n\nOf the peace offering they shall bring a sacrifice to the Lord: the fat and the skin, which they shall take away hard by the backbone. And the fat that covers the inwards and all the fat that is upon the inwards and the two kidneys with the fat that is upon them and on the loins, and the caul that is upon the liver he shall remove with the kidneys. And the priest shall burn them upon the altar as a food offering to the Lord's presentation.\n\nIf the offering is acceptable, he shall bring it before the Lord and place his hand on the head of it and kill it before the tabernacle of witness. Aaron's sons shall sprinkle the blood thereof upon it.\nthe alter around about. And he shall bring thereof his offering unto the Lord's sacrifice: the fat that covers the inwards and all the fat that is upon the inwards and the two kidneys and the fat that lies upon them and upon the loins, and the caul that is upon the liver he shall take away with the kidneys. And the priest shall burn them upon the altar to feed the Lord's sacrifice with all and to make a sweet savour. And thus shall all the fat be the Lord's, and it shall be a law forever among you and your generations after you in your dwelling places: that you eat neither fat nor blood.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke with Moses, saying: speak unto the children of Israel and say: when a soul sins through ignorance and has done any of those things which the Lord has forbidden in his commandments to be done: If the anointed priest sins and makes the people to err, he shall bring for his sin which he has done: an ox without blemish to the Lord for a sin offering. And\nThe person shall bring the ox before the door of the tabernacle as a witness, before the Lord. He shall place his hand on the ox's head and slaughter it before the Lord. The anointed priest shall take some of the ox's blood and bring it into the tabernacle of witness. He shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord: even before the hanging of the holy place. He shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of witness, and shall pour all the blood of the ox on the bottom of the altar of burnt offerings, which is by the door of the tabernacle of witness. He shall remove all the fat of the ox that is the sin offering: the fat that covers the inwards and all the fat that is around them, and the two kidneys with the fat that is upon them and upon the loins. He shall call the whole assembly and they shall take away also the liver with the kidneys. As it was taken from the ox of the peace offering.\nIf the entire commune of the children of Israel unintentionally commit any of these forbidden acts in the Lord's commandments and the transgression becomes known, they shall offer an ox as a sin offering. They shall bring it before the tabernacle of witness, and the elders of the congregation shall place their hands on its head. The anointed priest shall bring some of its blood into the tabernacle of witness, dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord. He shall also put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of burnt offering before the veil.\nOn the horns of the altar which is before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness, and shall pour all the blood upon the bottom of the altar of burnt offerings which is by the door of the tabernacle of witness, and shall take all its fat from him and burn it on the altar, and shall do with his ox as he did with the sin offering ox. And the priest shall make an atonement for them, and so it shall be forgiven them. And he shall bring the ox without the host, and burn him as he burned the first, so this is the sin offering of the community.\n\nWhen the Lord sins and commits through ignorance any of these things which the Lord his God has forbidden to be done in his commandments and has thus offended: when his sin is shown to him which he has sinned, he shall bring for his offering an unblemished he-goat and lay his hand on its head, and kill it in the place where the burnt offerings are killed before the Lord: this is a sin offering. The priest shall let the goat go to the open field.\ntake of the blood of the sinner, and put it on the horns of the burnt offering altar, and pour his blood on the bottom of the burnt offering altar and burn all his fat on the altar, as he does the fat of the peace offerings. And the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin, and so it shall be forgiven him.\n\nIf one of the common people of the land sins through ignorance and commits any of the things which the Lord has forbidden in His commandments to be done, and thus has transgressed, when his sin which he has sinned is come to his knowledge, he shall bring for his offering, a she goat without blemish for his sin which he has sinned, and lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it in the place of burnt offerings. And the priest shall take of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the burnt offering altar and pour all the blood on the bottom of the altar, and shall take away all his fat as the fat of the peace offerings.\nOf the peace offerings, the portion for the Lord is taken away. And the priest shall burn it on the altar as a sweet savor to the Lord, and if he brings a sheep as an offering for sin, he shall bring it without blemish. If the sin is known to him, he is the one who has sinned. Then, when he has sinned in one of these things, he shall confess the sin in which he has sinned, and bring his trespass offering to the Lord for his sin which he has sinned. A female from the flock, whether it is a sheep or a goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin. But if he is not able to bring a sheep, then let him bring for his trespass which he has sinned, two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the Lord. One for a sin offering and another for a burnt offering. And he shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer the sin offering first and wring the neck, but not divide it completely. And let him sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering upon it.\nOn the side of the altar, and let the remainder of the blood bleed on the bottom of the altar, and this is a sin offering. And let him offer the second for a burnt offering, as the custom is: and so shall the priest make an atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him.\n\nAnd if he is not able to bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons, then let him bring his offering for his sin: the tenth part of an Ephah of fine flour for a sin offering, but let him put no oil on it nor put any frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. And let him bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take a handful of it and burn it on the altar as a remembrance before the Lord: this is a sin offering. And let the priest make an atonement for him for his sin (whatever of these he has sinned), and it shall be forgiven. And the remainder shall be the priest's, as it is in the peace offering.\n\nAnd the Lord came to Moses speaking:\nWhen a soul transgresses and sins through ignorance in any of the Lord's holy things, he shall bring for his transgression a ram without blemish, valued at two cycles after the holy cycle, as a sin offering. And he shall make amends for the harm he has done in the holy thing, and add one-fifth more and give it to the priest. The priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the sin offering, and it shall be forgiven him.\n\nWhen a soul sins and commits any of these things which are forbidden by the Lord's commandments: though he knew it not, he has still offended and is in sin, and shall bring a ram without blemish as a sin offering, to the priest. And the priest shall make an atonement for him for the ignorance which he did not know, and it shall be forgiven him. This is a sin offering, for he transgressed against the Lord.\n\nAnd the Lord\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Command Aaron and his sons, saying: 'This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth of the altar. The burnt offering shall be a male without blemish from the herd, and it shall be laid on the wood, over the fire. It shall be divided into two parts: one part shall belong to the priest, and the other part shall be given to the levite who brings the offering to the Lord. And the priest shall offer the fat, the hide, and the entrails, and the whole ram shall be offered as a burnt offering on the altar. But its innards and its legs shall be washed with water, and the priest shall offer them as an offering made by fire to the Lord. And it is a perpetual statute for you, throughout your generations, at the entrance of the tent of meeting and before the Lord, where I will meet with you to speak to you. And there I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron and his sons shall be my priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt to dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.' \"\nevery night until the morning, and the fire on the altar shall burn therein. The priest shall put on his linen alb and linen breeches over his flesh, and remove the ashes which the fire of the burnt sacrifice in the altar has made, and place them beside the altar, and put off his robes and put on others. And carry the ashes outdoors to a clean place.\n\nThe fire that is on the altar shall burn therein and not go out. And the priest shall put wood on the fire every morning and place the burnt sacrifice upon it, and he shall burn the fat of the peace offerings on it. The fire shall ever burn on the altar and not go out.\n\nThis is the law of the meat offering: Aaron's sons shall bring it before the Lord, to the altar: and one of them shall take a handful of the flour of the meat offering and of the oil with all the frankincense that is thereon and shall burn it as a remembrance, a sweet savor to the Lord.\nAnd the remainder, Aaron and his sons shall eat: unleavened it shall be eaten in the holy place: even in the court of the tabernacle of witness they shall eat it. Their portion which I have given them of my sacrifice, shall not be baked with leaven, for it is most holy, as is the sin offering and trespass offering. All the males among the children of Aaron, shall eat of it: and it shall be a duty for your generations of the sacrifices of the Lord, neither shall any stranger twitch it, but he that is sanctified.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses saying: this is the offering of Aaron and his sons which he shall offer to the Lord in the tabernacle when they are anointed: the tenth part of an Ephah of flour, which is a daily ministration perpetually: half in the morning and half at night, and in the frying pan it shall be made without leaven. And when it is fried, thou shalt bring it in as a baken offering made of small pieces, and shalt offer it for a sweet savor unto the Lord. And that priest and his sons shall eat it, but no stranger shall eat it.\nThe lord's son, anointed in his stead, shall offer the sin offering: it is his duty forever, and it shall be burned entirely. All the meat offerings of the priests shall be burned entirely, and shall not be eaten.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons and say to them, \"This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed, the sin offering shall also be killed before the Lord, for it is most holy. The priest who offers it shall eat it in the holy place: even in the courtyard of the tabernacle of witness, Noman shall touch the flesh thereof, except he who is sanctified. And if any garment is sprinkled with its blood, it shall be washed in a holy place, and the earth pot that it is boiled in shall be broken. If it is boiled in a bronze pot, then the pot shall be scoured and plunged in water. All the males among Aaron's children shall eat of it, for it is most holy. No sin offering that has its blood shall be eaten by anyone else.\"\nThis is the law of the trespass offering, which is most holy. In the place where the burnt offering is killed, the trespass offering shall also be killed. Its blood shall be sprinkled roundabout on the altar. And all the fat thereof shall be offered: the hide and the fat that covered the inwards, and the two kidneys with the fat that lies on them and on the loins; and the priest shall burn them on the altar as an offering to the Lord: this is a trespass offering.\n\nAll the males among the priests shall eat thereof in the holy place, for it is most holy. As the sin offering is, so is the trespass offering, one law serves for both; and it shall be the priests who reconcile with it.\n\nAnd the priest who offered a man's burnt offering shall have the skin of the burnt offering which\nThis is the law of the peace offerings which shall be offered to the Lord. If he offers to give thanks, he shall bring to his thank offering: sweet cakes mixed with oil and sweet wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mixed with oil of fine flour fried, and he shall bring his offering upon cakes made of fine bread to the thank offering of his peace offerings, and of them all he shall offer one to be a heave offering to the Lord, and it shall be the priests that sprinkle the blood of the peace offerings. And the flesh of the thank offering of his peace offerings shall be eaten on the same day that it is offered, and there shall none of it be laid up until the next day.\nIf it is a vow or a free offering that he brings, he shall consume it on the same day that he offers it. The remainder may be consumed the next day, but as much of the offered flesh as remains until the third day shall be burned with fire. If any of the flesh of the peace offerings is consumed on the third day, the one who offered it will not receive favor, and it will not be counted for him. Instead, it will be an abomination, and the soul that eats of it will bear its sin. The flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be consumed, but shall be burned with fire. And all that are clean in their flesh may eat flesh. If any soul eats of the flesh of the peace offerings, which belong to the Lord and His sanctity, that soul shall perish from among his people. Furthermore, if a soul touches any unclean thing, whether it is the uncleaness of man or of any unclean beast or any abomination that is unclean, and eats of the flesh of the peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord: that soul shall be cut off from his people.\nYou shall speak to the children of Israel and say: You shall not eat any fat of ox, sheep, or goat; neither the fat of that which dies naturally, nor the fat of that which is torn by wild beasts, shall you use in any way. But you shall not eat of it. Whoever eats the fat of the beast from which I bring an offering to the Lord, that soul shall perish from among his people. Moreover, you shall not eat any blood, whether of bird or beast. Whoever eats any blood, the soul that eats it shall perish from among his people.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say: He who offers his peace offering to the Lord shall bring his gift to the Lord from his peace offerings: his own hands shall bring the Lord's offering. Lay the fat from the peace offering on the breast.\nAnd they shall bring the breast to wave it as a wave offering before the Lord. The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, and the breast shall be Aaron's and his sons'. The right shoulder they shall give to the priest, as a heave offering, from their peace offerings. And the one who offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right shoulder for his part, because I have taken the breast and the heave shoulder from the children of Israel, even from their peace offerings, and have given it to Aaron the priest and to his sons: to be a duty forever of the children of Israel.\n\nThis is the anointing of Aaron and the sacrifices of the Lord, on the day they were offered to be priests to the Lord, which the Lord commanded to be given them on the day he anointed them, from the children of Israel, and to be a duty forever among their generations. This is the law of burnt offerings, of meat offerings, of sin offerings, of\nThe Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, in the wilderness of Sinai, where he instructed the children of Israel to offer their sacrifices to the Lord, to take Aaron and his sons, along with the vestments and anointing oil, and an ox for a sin offering, two rams, and a basket of sweet bread. Gather all the congregation to the door of the tabernacle of witness. Moses did as the Lord commanded, and the people assembled to the door of the tabernacle. Moses spoke to the people, saying, \"This is what the Lord commanded to do.\" Moses brought Aaron and his sons, washed them with water, put on him the alb and girded him with a girdle, and put on him the ephod, anointing him and his sons with the anointing oil.\nAnd they placed the ephod on him and girded him with its brodered girdle, binding it to him. They put the breastplate on him, and put the light and perfection in it. They placed the mitre on his head and removed the mitre from before its front, placing the golden plate of the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nMoses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. He sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times and anointed the altar and all its vessels, and the laver with his foot, to sanctify them. He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to sanctify him. He brought Aaron's sons and put albs on them, girding them with girdles, and placing bonnets on their heads, as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nThe sin offering was brought. Aaron and his sons placed their hands on the head of the sin offering. And when it was slain, Moses took some of its blood.\nAnd he placed the blood on the horns of the altar roundabout with his finger and purified it, and poured the blood to the bottom of the altar and sanctified it and reconciled it. And he took all the fat that was on the inwards and the kidneys with their fat and burned it on the altar. But the ox, the hide, its flesh and its dung, he burned with fire outside the host, as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nAnd he brought the ram of the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons placed their hands on the head of the ram, and it was killed. And Moses sprinkled the blood around the altar roundabout, and cut the ram into pieces and burned the head, the pieces and the fat, and washed the inwards and the legs in water, and burned the ram entirely on the altar. That was a burnt sacrifice of a sweet savour and an offering to the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nAnd he brought the other ram that was the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons placed their hands on its head, and it was killed.\nHaides, the ram's head: And when it was slain, Moses took the blood and put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear and the thumb of his right hand and the great toe of his right foot. Then Aaron's sons were brought, and Moses put the blood on the tip of the right ear of each of them, on the thumb of their right hand, and on the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkled the blood around the altar.\n\nHe took the fat and the kidneys with their fat and the right shoulder. And from the basket of sweet bread before the Lord, he took one cake of oiled bread and one wafer.\n\nMoses took the breast and waved it as a wave offering before the Lord, of the ram for the full ordination: and it was Moses' part, as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nMoses took the anointing oil and the blood which was on the altar, and sprinkled it on Aaron.\nAnd on his vestments and on their vestments, with him and sanctified Aaron and his sons, and their vestments as well. Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons: Boil the flesh outside the tabernacle of testimony, and there eat it with the bread that is in the basket of provision, as the Lord commanded, saying. Aaron and his sons shall eat it: and whatever remains of the flesh and of the bread, burn with fire. And you shall not depart from the door of the tabernacle of testimony for seven days: until the days of your provisioning are complete. For seven days your loaves must be filled, as they were this day: therefore the Lord has commanded to do this, to reconcile you. So you shall abide at the door of the tabernacle of testimony day and night for seven days: and keep the watch of the Lord that you do not die: for so I am commanded. And Aaron and his sons did all the things which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses.\nMoses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel, and said to Aaron: Take a calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering: both without blemish, and bring them before the Lord. And to the children of Israel he spoke, saying: Take a he goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both two years old, and without blemish for a burnt sacrifice, and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to offer before the Lord, and a meal offering mixed with oil, for the Lord will appear to you.\n\nThey brought what Moses commanded to the tabernacle of witness, and all the people came and stood before the Lord. Moses said, \"This is what the Lord commanded that you should do: and then the glory of the Lord shall appear to you.\" Moses said to Aaron: \"Go to the altar and offer your sin offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people. Then offer the people's offering and make atonement for them.\"\nReconcile them also, as the Lord commanded Moses. And Aaron went to the altar and slaughtered the calf that was his sin offering. And the sons of Aaron brought the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar, and poured the blood to the bottom of the altar. And the fat and the two kidneys with the cover of the liver of the sin offering, he burned upon the altar; but the flesh and the hide / he burned with fire outside the camp. Afterward he slaughtered the burnt offering, and Aaron's sons brought the blood to him, and he sprinkled it round about on the altar. And they brought the burnt offering to him in pieces and the head also / and he burned it on the altar / and washed the inwards and the legs / and burned them also on the burnt offering on the altar. And then he brought the people's offering and took the goat that was the people's sin offering / and slaughtered it and offered it for a sin offering.\nAnd he performed the first. Then he brought the burnt offering and offered it according to the custom, and brought the meat offering and filled his hand from it, burning it on the altar beside the burnt sacrifice in the morning.\nThen he slaughtered the ox and the ram, which were the people's peace offerings. Aaron's sons brought the blood to him, and he sprinkled it around the altar, taking the fat of the ox and the ram: the tail and the fat covering the inwards and the kidneys and the caul of the liver, and placing them on the breasts and burning them on the altar. But the breasts and the right shoulders Aaron waved before the Lord, as the Lord commanded.\nMoses and Aaron entered the tabernacle of witness and came out again.\nand the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. And a fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. All the people saw it and fell on their faces.\nHere you see the fruit of a man's good intent without God's command. As we may do less, so this example teaches that we may do no more than is commanded.\nAnd Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censor and put fire in it and put incense on it, bringing strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded. And a fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, \"This is what the Lord spoke: 'I will be sanctified by those who obey me and keep their distance before all the people. I will be glorified.' And Aaron held his peace.\nMoses called Eliazar and Ithamar, the sons of Uzziel, to take the fire from before the Lord, and Aaron and his sons put on their priestly garments and entered the presence of the Lord, and Moses assembled the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And they ate and drank and rose up and blessed the Lord.\n\n(Continued in next part of text)\nThe uncle of Aaron spoke to him and said, \"Go and bring your brothers out of the holy place from among the host. And they went to them and carried them out in their linen garments from the host, as Moses had commanded.\n\nMoses spoke to Aaron and Eleazar and Ithamar, his eldest sons, \"Do not tear your clothes or shave your heads, lest you die and wrath come upon all the people. Let your brothers, the entire house of Israel, mourn the burning which the Lord has forbidden. But do not go out from the door of the tabernacle of testimony, lest you die. For the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you. And they did as Moses commanded.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, \"Our priests shall not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons when you go into the tabernacle of testimony. And it shall be a law forever for you and your descendants, that you may distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the clean and the unclean, and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes.\"\nAnd Moses commanded Aaron and Eleazar his son, and Ithamar, to take the remaining meat offering of the Lord's sacrifices and eat it without leaven beside the altar. For it is most holy: eat it therefore in the holy place, because it is your duty and your sons' duty regarding the sacrifice of the Lord. And the wave breast and heave shoulder shall eat in a clean place: you, your sons, and your daughters with you. For it is your duty and your sons' duty with you, of the peace offerings of the children of Israel. For the heave breast and the wave shoulder which they bring with the fattened sacrifices to wave before the Lord, shall be yours and your sons'. And it shall be a law forever, as the Lord has commanded.\n\nMoses searched for the sin offering, and behold, it had been burnt. And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron, who were left alive.\n\"Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the holy place, seeing it is most holy, and since it is given to you to bear the sin of the people and make reconciliation for them before the Lord? Behold, the blood of it was not brought into the holy place; therefore, you should have eaten it in the holy place as I commanded. And Aaron said to Moses: behold, today they have offered their offerings. The offerings should have been eaten in joyfulness; but Aaron could not do so for his sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and it happened in this way to me. If I should eat the sin offering today, would the Lord be pleased with all? And when Moses heard this, he was content.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: speak to the children of Israel and say, these are the animals which you shall eat among all the animals that are on the earth: whatsoever has a hoof that is divided into two parts and chews the cud among the animals, that you may eat.\"\nYou shall eat these: none of those that chew the cud and have cloven hooves you shall not eat. The camel, although it chews the cud, does not divide the hooves into two parts; therefore it is unclean for you. And the pig, for though it divides the hooves into two parts, yet it does not chew the cud; therefore it is unclean for you. Eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales in the waters, seas and rivers, that you shall eat. And all that have neither fins nor scales in the seas and rivers of all that move and live in the waters, you shall abhor. Do not eat their flesh, and do not touch their carcasses: for all that have no fins nor scales.\nThe following animals in the waters will be abominations to you:\n\nThe eagle, goose, corrmorant, kite, vulture and all kinds and the kind of ravens, stork, night-crow, coccyx, sparrowhawk and all kinds: the little owl, the heron, the lapwing and the swallow. And all birds that creep and go upon all fours shall be abominations to you.\n\nHowever, you may eat all the birds that move and go upon two feet: even those that have no knees above their feet to leap with, on the earth, these you may eat: the ardeid and all its kind: the Solanid with all its kind: the Hargil and all its kind, and the Hagab and all its kinds. All other birds that move and have two feet shall be abominations to you.\n\nIn such a way, whoever touches the carcass of any of them will be unclean.\nAmong all manner of beasts, those that have hooves and do not divide them into two claws or that do not chew the cud, shall be unclean to you. And all that goeth upon its hands among all manner of beasts that go upon all fours, are unclean to you. And as many as twist their carcasses, shall be unclean until the evening. And he that beareth the carcass of them, shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; for such are unclean to you.\n\nAnd these are also unclean to you among the things that creep upon the earth: the weasel, the toad and all its kind, the hedgehog, the swine, the lizard, the snake and the mollusk. These are unclean to you among all that move, and all that twist them when they are dead, shall be unclean until the evening. And whatever any of the dead carcasses of them fall upon, shall be unclean.\nAll vessels, whether of wood, cloth, skin, bag, or any other material, that have undergone any work, must be submerged in water and left until they are completely clean again. All earthen vessels in which any such water collects are also considered unclean. Break them. Any food that comes into contact with such water becomes unclean. The same applies to any drink in such vessels. Whether it is a pot or a kettle, it must be broken. They are unclean and will remain so for you. However, fountains, wells, and ponds of water remain clean. But whoever comes into contact with their edges will be unclean. If the carcass of any such animal falls upon any seed used for sowing, it remains clean. However, if any water is poured upon the seed before or after the carcass falls upon it, then it becomes unclean for you. If you eat any beast,\n\n(Note: The text appears to be written in Early Modern English. No major OCR errors were detected, but some minor errors may be present. The text has been corrected as faithfully as possible to the original.)\nHe who touches a dead carcass shall be unclean until evening, and he who eats of such a carcass shall wash his clothes and remain unclean until evening. The same applies to the one who bears its burden. All that crawls upon the earth is an abomination and shall not be eaten. And whatever goes upon the breast, or whatever goes upon four feet among all that crawls upon the earth, you shall not eat: for they are abominations. Do not make your souls abominable. Do not make your souls abominable with anything that creeps, nor be unclean with them, lest you be defiled thereby. I am the Lord your God; be holy therefore, for I am holy: do not defile your souls with any kind of thing that creeps upon the earth. I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: be holy therefore, for I am holy.\n\nThis is the law of beasts.\nAnd she who has conceived and given birth to a man child shall be unclean for twenty-one days, just as in her impurity from her natural issue. And on the twenty-first day, the flesh of the child's foreskin shall be cut away. And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying for thirty-nine days. She shall not touch any holy thing nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purifying are completed. If she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks as in her impurity from her natural issue. And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying for sixty-six days.\n\nAnd when the days of her purifying are out, whether it is a son or a daughter, she shall bring a sacrifice.\nA lamb of one year old is for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or turtle for a sin offering to the door of the tabernacle of witness to the priest: who shall offer them before the Lord and make an atonement for her, and so she shall be purged of her issue of blood. This is the law of her who has borne a child, whether it be male or female.\n\nBut if she is not able to bring a sheep, then let her bring two turtles or two young pigeons: one for the burnt offering, and the other for the sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: \"When there appears a rising in any flesh, whether a scab or a white gleam, as though the plague of leprosy were in it,\n\nThese priests make unclean and send out of company, even so bind and excommunicate from the congregation those who commit such sins in secret. And at these make clean, so do ours also, and absolve. Now those who secretly commit such sins, we bind and excommunicate from the congregation.\nIf someone has God's word and they repent, they should preach it to others. If a man has a sore on his skin, then let him be brought to Aaron the priest or one of his sons, the priests. The priest should look at the sore in the man's skin. If the hair in the sore has turned white and the sore seems to be lower than the skin, then it is surely leprosy. The priest should look at him and make him unclean.\n\nIf there is only a white spot in the man's skin and it doesn't seem to be lower than the other skin or the hair there isn't turned white: then let the priest examine him for seven days. And let him look at him on the seventh day: if the sore seems to him to have remained the same and not spread in the skin, then let the priest examine him for seven more days. And let him look at him again on the seventh day. Then, if the sore has turned black and hasn't grown beyond the skin, let the priest declare him clean, for it is but a scab.\nIf a man has scabs and washes himself and the scabs disappear, but new scabs grow in the skin after he has seen the priest, the priest should declare him unclean if the scabs spread again. If the priest sees that the scabs have spread extensively in the skin, he should declare the man unclean: it is certainly leprosy.\n\nIf leprosy is present in a man, let him be brought before the priest, and the priest shall examine him. If the rising (of the disease) appears white in the skin and has also made the hair white, and there is raw flesh in the sore, it is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh. The priest shall declare him unclean and shall not shut him up, for he is unclean.\n\nIf leprosy breaks out on the skin and covers the entire skin from head to foot, wherever the priest looks, let him examine him. If the leprosy has covered all his flesh, let him be declared clean: for in as much as he is completely white, he is therefore clean. But if there is raw flesh on him when he is examined, he shall remain unclean.\nWhen the priest sees raw flesh, let him make him unclean. For as much as his flesh is raw, he is unclean, and it is surely a true leprosy if the raw flesh departs again and changes to white, then let him come to the priest, and let the priest see him: If the sore is changed to white, let the priest make the disease clean, and he is clean.\n\nIf there is a bubble in the skin of any man's flesh and it is healed, and after in the place of the bubble there appears a white rising or something white and reddish, let him be seen by the priest. If when the priest looks at it, it appears lower than the other skin and the hair thereof is changed to white, let the priest make it unclean: for it is a very leprosy that has broken out in the place of the bubble.\n\nBut if when the priest looks at it, there is no white hair therein nor is the scab lower than the other skin and is somewhat blackish, then the priest shall separate him for seven days. If it spreads abroad in\nIf the mean season, then let the priest make him unclean: for it is leprosy. But if the gleaming white substance remains still in one place and goes no further, then it is but the print of the bubble, and the priest shall make him clean.\n\nWhen the skin of any mass flesh is burned with fire that it be raw and there appears in the burning a gleaming white substance somewhat reddish or entirely white, let the priest look upon it. If the hair in that brightness is changing to white and it also appears lower than the other skin, then it is a leprosy that has broken out in the place of the burning. And the priest shall make him unclean, for it is a leprosy. But if (when the priest looks at it), he sees that there is no white here in the brightness and that it is no lower than the other skin and that it is also blackish, then let the priest shut him up for seven days. And if (when the priest looks at him on the seventh day), it has grown abroad in the skin, let him make him unclean: for it is a leprosy.\nIf the brightness remains in one place and does not spread beyond a rising in the skin and the priest sees that it is black, he should make the person clean, as it is only the mark of the burning.\n\nIf a person, whether male or female, has a breaking out on the head or beard, let the priest examine it. If it appears lower than the other skin and there are golden hairs and pus, the priest should declare the person unclean, as it is a leprosy outbreak on the head or beard.\n\nIf the priest looks at the breaking out and sees that it is not lower than the other skin and there are black hairs therein, he should confine the person for seven days. The priest should examine the disease on the seventh day, and if the breaking out has not spread further, nor are there golden hairs or the scab lower than the other skin, then the person may be shaved, but not the scab, and the priest should confine the person for another seven days. The priest should examine again.\nIf the breaking out [of leprosy] occurs again on the fifth day: If the breaking out has not advanced further in the skin nor sunk below the other skin, let the priest make him clean, and let him wash his clothes, and then he is clean. If the breaking out continues to spread in the skin after he has been made clean, let the priest examine him. If it has spread over the skin in fact, let the priest look for no further golden hairs, for he is unclean. But if he sees that the scab has not spread and that black hair has grown up in it, then the scab has healed and he is clean: and the priest shall make him clean.\n\nIf a glistening white spot is found in the skin of a man or woman, let the priest examine it. If a glistening white spot appears in their flesh that is somewhat blackish, then it is only freckles growing up in the skin: and he is clean.\n\nIf a man's hair falls out from his head, he is bald and clean. If his hair falls out before in his forehead, then he is forehead bald and clean.\nIf a redish-white scab exists in the bald head or forehead, and a leprosy-like sore emerges in the bald head or forehead, the priest should see it. If the sore's rising in the bald head or forehead resembles leprosy in the skin, the person is a leper and unclean. The priest shall make him unclean, for the sake of his head.\n\nA leper in whom the disease remains shall have his clothes rent and his head and mouth uncovered, and shall be called unclean. As long as the disease persists on him, he shall be unclean: for he is unclean, and therefore his dwelling shall be outside the town.\n\nIf leprosy is in a cloth, whether it be linen or wool, or in the warp or weft of the linen or wool, or in a skin or anything made of skin, if the disease is pale or somewhat red in the cloth or skin, whether it be in the warp or weft or woolen part, it is unclean.\nIf anything is made of skin, it is a leprosy and must be shown to the priest. And when the priest sees the plague, let him shut it up for seven days, and let him look on the plague on the seventh day. If it has spread in the cloth: whether it be in the warp or wool or in any thing that is made of skin, then the plague is a fretting leprosy and it is unclean. And that cloth shall be burned, whether warp or wool, whether it be woolen or linen or any thing that is made of skin where the plague is, for it is a fretting leprosy and shall be burned in the fire.\n\nIf the priest sees that the plague has not spread further in the cloth: whether in the warp, wool, or in whatever thing of skin it be, then let the priest command it to be washed in the thing wherein the plague is, and let him shut it up for seven more days. And let the priest look at it again after the plague is washed: If the plague has not changed its appearance, it is\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Early Modern English. No significant OCR errors were detected.)\nyet vncleane. And se that ye burne it in the fyre, for it is frete\u0304 in warde: whether in parte or in all together. But and yf the preast se that it is somwhat bla\u00a6ckyshafter that it is wasshed, let him rent it out of the clothe, or out of the skynne or out of the warpe or wolfe. But and yf it apeare any moare in the cloth ether in the warpe or in the wolfe or in any thynge made of skynne / than it is a waxynge plage. And se that ye burne that with fyre, where in the plage is. Moreouer the cloth ether warpe or wolfe or what soeuer thinge of skynne it be which thou hast wasshed and the plage be departed from it, shalbe wasshed on\u2223ce agayne: and then it is cleane.\nThis is the lawe of the plage of leprosye in a cloth whether it be wolle\u0304 or lynen: eyther whe\u2223ther it be in the warpe or wolfe or in any thyn\u2223ge made of skynnes, to make it cleane or vncle\u2223ane.\nANd the Lorde spake vnto Moses sayn\u2223ge: this is the lawe of a leper when he shalbe cle\u0304sed. he shalbe broughte vnto the pre\u2223ast, and the preast shall goo out\nWithout looking at the leper. If the leprosy is healed, the priest will command that two living birds, clean ones, a cedar wood, a piece of scarlet cloth, and hyssop be brought for him. The priest will command that one of the birds be killed over an earthenware vessel of running water. The priest will take the living bird, the cedar wood, the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water. He will then sprinkle it seven times on the one to be cleansed from his leprosy. And he shall let the living bird go free into the fields.\n\nThe one who is cleansed shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself, and he will be clean. And after that he shall come into the camp, but he shall remain outside for seven days. On the seventh day, he shall shave off all his hair, both that which is on his head and his beard.\nAnd on the eighth day, let him take two lambs without blemish and a year-old ewe without blemish, and three-tenths of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with oil, and a log of oil. Then let the priest who makes him clean bring the man who has been made clean with these things before the Lord to the door of the tabernacle of witness. And let the priest take one of the lambs and offer it as a trespass offering and the log of oil; and wave them before the Lord. And then let him slay the lamb in the place where the sin offering and the burnt offering are slain: in the holy place. For as the sin offering is, so is the trespass offering; the priest makes atonement with it, and it is most holy.\n\nThen let the priest take some of the blood of the trespass offering and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering.\nThe priest should touch the ear of the person to be cleansed, and his right thumb and the big toe of his right foot. Then the priest should take some oil from the log and pour it into the palm of his left hand, and dip his right finger in the oil in his left hand, and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord. The remaining oil in his hand, the priest should put on the tip of the right ear of the person to be cleansed, his right thumb, and the big toe of his right foot: it should be put on the blood of the sin offering. And the remainder of the oil in the priest's hand, he should pour on the head of the one to be cleansed: and so the priest makes an atonement for him before the Lord. Then the priest should offer the sin offering and make an atonement for the person being cleansed for his uncleanness. And let the burnt offering be killed, and the priest should put both the burnt offering and the sin offering on the altar:\nmeate offering from the alter: and make an atonement for him, and then he shall be clean.\nIf he is poor and cannot get so much, then let him bring one lamb for a trespass offering, to wave it and make an atonement for him, and a tenth deal of fine flour mixed with oil for a meat offering and a log of oil, and two turtle doves or two young pigeons which he is able to get, and let one be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. And let him bring them on the eighth day for his cleansing to the priest at the door of the tabernacle of witness before the Lord.\nAnd let the priest take the lamb that is the trespass offering and the log of oil, and wave them before the Lord. And when the lamb of the trespass offering is killed, the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and put it on the tip of his right ear, and on the tip of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot. And the priest shall pour some of the oil into his hands, and\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Old English, but it is still largely readable and does not contain any significant OCR errors. Therefore, no cleaning is necessary.)\nright hand, and shall sprinkle with his left hand seven times before the Lord. The priest shall then put some of the oil that is in his hand onto the tip of the right ear of the person to be consecrated. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: \"When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you to possess, if I put the mark of leprosy in any house of the land that you possess, and the person who owns the house comes and tells the priest, 'I think there is a leprosy in the house,' the priest shall command them to remove all things from the house before he enters to see the mark. He shall not make the entire house unclean if he finds the mark, and then the priest shall enter and examine the house. If the priest sees that the mark is in the walls of the house, and there are hollow, pale, or red streaks that appear to be lower than the other parts of the wall, then the priest shall leave the house and shut it up for seven days. And let them prepare new stones and plaster for the house.\nThe priest returns on the seventh day and sees if the plague has increased in the house walls. If it has, the priest commands those afflicted to remove the stones where the plague is present and cast them in a foul place outside the city, then scrape the house and pour out the dust outside in a foul place. They should take other stones and put them in the places of the removed ones, along with new mortar and plaster the house completely.\n\nIf the plague returns and breaks out in the house after the stones, timber, and mortar have been removed and the house has been plastered anew, the priest is to return and examine it. If he determines that the plague has spread further in the house, it is a fretting leprosy and the house is unclean. In this case, they are to break down the entire house \u2013 stones, timber, and all the house's mortar \u2013 and carry it outside the city to a foul place. Additionally, anyone entering the house is to be unclean.\nWhile the place is shut up, it shall remain unclean until night. And he who sleeps in the house shall wash his clothes, and he also who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.\nBut if the priest comes and sees that the plague has spread no further in the house after it is new plastered, let him make it clean. And let him take for cleansing the house: two birds, cedar wood, a purple cloth and hyssop. And let him kill one of the birds over an earthen vessel of running water, and take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the purple, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water, and sprinkle upon the house seven times, and cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and the hyssop and the purple cloth. And he shall let the living bird go out of the town into the open fields, and so make an atonement for the house.\nThis is the law of all kinds of leprosy and breaking out, and of the leprosy of garments and houses: and of running sores, scabs, and gushing white, to teach when a thing is unclean or clean. This is the law of leprosy.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, speak to the children of Israel and say to them: every man who has a running sore on his flesh, is unclean because of his sore. And this shall be known when he is unclean. If his flesh runs, or if his flesh congeals by reason of his sore, then he is unclean. Every bed on which he lies, and every thing on which he sits, shall be unclean.\n\nHe who touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. He who sits on that which he sat, shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. He who touches his sore shall wash his garments and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.\nbe unwclean unto the evening. If anyone spits on him who is clean, he must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unwclean until evening.\nAnd whatever saddle that he rides on, will be unwclean. And whoever touches anything that was under him, will be unwclean to the evening. And he who bears such things shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unwclean to the evening, and whoever he touches (if he has not first washed his hands in water) must wash his clothes, bathe himself in water, and be unwclean until evening. And if he touches a vessel of earth, it shall be broken; and all vessels of wood shall be scoured in the water.\nWhen the one who has a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, let him count seven days after he is clean, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and then he is clean. And on the seventh day let him take two turtle doves or two young pigeons, and come before the Lord to the door of the tabernacle.\nWitness and give them to the priest. And the priest shall offer them: one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and make an atonement for him before the Lord, concerning his issue.\n\nIf a man's seed departs from him in his sleep, he shall wash his flesh in water and be unclean until evening. And all the clothes or furs whereon such seed chanceeth shall be washed with water and be unclean until evening. And if a woman lies with such a one, they shall wash themselves with water and be unclean until evening.\n\nWhen a woman's natural course of blood runs, she shall be put apart for seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. And all that she lies on as long as she is put apart shall be unclean. And whoever touches her couch shall wash his clothes and bathe himself with water and be unclean until evening. And whoever touches any thing that she sat on shall wash his clothes and wash himself also in water, and be unclean until evening.\nIf a man lies with a woman: whether in her bed or any other place where she has lain, he will be unclean to her. And if a man lies with her during that time, he will be separated from her, as well as she, and both will be unclean for seven days. All his bedding where he sleeps will also be unclean.\n\nWhen a woman's blood flows for a long time: whether it is outside her natural course or not, as long as her uncleanness lasts, she will be unclean in the same way as when she is separated. All her beds on which she lies (as long as her issue lasts) will be to her as her bed when she is separated. And whatever she sits upon, will be unclean, as is her uncleanness when she is put apart. And whoever touches them, will be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until evening.\n\nAnd when she is cleansed of her issue, she should count seven days after she is clean. And on the eighth day, let her bring two turtles or two young pigeons to the priest to the temple.\nThe door of the tabernacle of witness. And the priest shall offer one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering: and so make an atonement for her before the Lord concerning her uncleanness. Make the children of Israel keep themselves from their uncleanness, that they do not die in their uncleanness: when they have defiled my tabernacle that is among them.\n\nThis is the law of him who has a flowing discharge, and of him whose seed runs from him in his sleep and is defiled therewith, and of her who has a discharge of blood as long as she is in her separation, and of whoever has a running sore, whether it is a man or a woman, and of him who lies with her who is unclean.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had offered before the Lord and died: And he said to Moses, \"Speak to Aaron your brother that he goes not at all times into the holy place, that is within the veil that hangs before the mercy seat which is upon the ark.\"\nAaron shall enter in this manner into the holy place: with a young ox for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen garment, and wear a linen undergarment on his flesh, gird himself with a linen sash, and put the linen mitre on his head; for they are holy garments. He shall wash his flesh with water, and put them on. And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.\n\nAaron shall offer the ox for his own sin offering and make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of witness. Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats: one lot for the Lord, and another for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot fell to the Lord.\nAnd he shall offer him a sin offering, and if the goat falls to him by lot, he shall present it before the Lord to make atonement for himself and for his household, and he shall kill it. And he shall take a censer full of burning coals from the altar that is before the Lord, and a handful of sweet incense beaten small, and bring them within the veil; and he shall put the censer on the fire before the Lord: that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, lest he die. He shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and sprinkle it with his finger seven times before the mercy seat eastward: and before the mercy seat he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, and bring its blood within the veil, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it toward the mercy seat and before the mercy seat; and he shall reconcile the holy place for the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and for their transgressions, even all their sins: in the sanctuary he shall do so.\nFrom the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and from their transgressions and all their sins. And so he shall do also to the tabernacle of witness that dwells with them, even among their uncleannesses.\nAnd there shall be no person in the tabernacle of witness when he goes in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he comes out again. And he shall make an atonement for himself and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. Then he shall go out to the altar that stands before the Lord, and reconcile it, and shall take of the blood of the ox and of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around, and sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the children of Israel.\nAnd when he has finished reconsecrating the holy place and the tabernacle of witness and the altar, let him bring the live goat and let Aaron put both his hands on the head of the live goat,\nAnd confess over him all the transgressions of the children of Israel, and all their iniquities, and all their sins: and let him put them upon the head of the goat and send him away into the wilderness. The goat shall bear their iniquities upon him into the wilderness, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.\n\nAnd let Aaron go into the tabernacle of witness and put off the linen clothes which he put on when he entered in the holy place, and leave them there. And let him wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his own garment, and then come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself and for the people. And the fat of the sin offering let him burn on the altar. And let him who carried the goat of the sin offering wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and then come into the camp again.\n\nAnd the ox of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering.\nThe person whose blood was brought to make an atonement in the holy place is to carry out the ashes outside and burn the skins, flesh, and bones. The one who burns them is to wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and then return to the host. This shall be a law for you forever. It shall be observed on the tenth day of the seventh month. You shall humble your souls and do no work, whether it is one of you or a stranger who sojourns among you. For that day an atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins before the Lord, and it shall be a Sabbath of rest for you. It shall be a law forever.\n\nThe anointed priest and the one whose hand has been filled to minister in his father's stead shall make the atonement. He shall put on the holy linen vestments, reconcile the holy sanctuary and the tabernacle of witness, and the altar.\nAnd I will make an atonement for the priests and all the people of the congregation. This shall be an everlasting ordinance for you: to make an atonement for the children of Israel once a year for all their sins. And it was done just as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the children of Israel, and say to them, \"This is what the Lord has commanded: 'Whoever is of the house of Israel and kills an ox, lamb, or goat in the camp or outside the camp, and does not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, to offer an offering to the Lord before the dwelling place of the Lord, blood shall be imputed to that man as if he had shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people.\n\nTherefore, the children of Israel shall bring their offerings, which they offer in the open field, to the Lord: even to the door of the tabernacle of witness and to the priest.\nAnd offer the blood for peace offerings to the Lord. And the priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle as a witness, and burn the fat as a sweet aroma to the Lord. And let them not offer their offerings to devils, after whom they go a-whoring. And this shall be an ordinance for you and your generations.\n\nAnd you shall say to them: \"Whatsoever man it be of the house of Israel or of the strangers that sojourn among you who offers a burnt offering or any other offering and brings it not to the door of the tabernacle of witness to offer to the Lord, that man shall perish from among his people. And whatsoever man it be of the house of Israel or of the strangers that sojourns among you who eats any manner of blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood, and I will cut him off from among his people.\" And whatsoever man it be of the children of Israel or of the strangers that sojourns among you who hunts any beast or fowl that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with dust.\nPour out the blood and cover it with earth. For the life of all flesh is in the blood, therefore I told the children of Israel, you shall not eat the blood of any kind of flesh. For the life of all flesh is in its blood, and whoever eats it will be cut off. And whatever soul it be that eats what died alone or was torn with wild beasts: whether it be one of you or a stranger, he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and will be unclean until evening, and this is how he will be clean. But if he does not wash them or wash his flesh, he shall bear his sin.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, \"I am the Lord your God. Therefore, after the doings of the land of Egypt where you dwelt, see that you do not: neither after the doings of the land of Canaan, which I will bring you into, nor walk in their statutes. But keep My judgments, and observe My statutes, to walk in them.\"\nfor I am the Lord your God. Keep therefore my ordinances, and my judgments, which if a man do he shall live by them: for I am the Lord. See that you go not to any of your nearest kin to uncover their secrets, for I am the Lord. The secrets of your father and your mother, you shall not uncover: she is your mother, therefore shall you not discover her secrets. The secrets of your father's wife you shall not discover, for they are your father's secrets. Thou shalt not discover the secrets of thy sister, the daughter of thy father or of thy mother: whether she be born at home or without. Thou shalt not discover the secrets of thy sons' daughters or thy daughters' daughters, for that is thine own secret: Thou shalt not discover the secrets of thy father's daughters, which she bore to thy father, for she is thy sister: thou shalt therefore not discover her secrets. Thou shalt not uncover the secrets of thy father's sister, for she is thy father's next kin. Thou shalt not uncover:.\nDiscover the secrets of your mother's sister, for she is your mother's next kin.\nYou shall not open the secrets of your father's brother: that is, you shall not go into his wife, for she is your aunt. You shall not discover the secrets of your daughter, in law she is your son's wife: therefore, do not uncover her secrets. You shall not uncover the secrets of your brother's wife, for that is your brother's privilege. You shall not discover the secrets of a wife and her daughter, nor shall you take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to uncover their secrets: they are her next kin, it were therefore wickedness. You shall not take a wife and her sister to. to vex her, as long as she lives, that you would open her secrets. You shall not go unto a woman to uncover her secrets, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.\nYou shall not lie with your neighbor's wife, to defile yourself with her. You shall not give of your seed to offer it unto Moloch, that you.\nDo not profane the name of the Lord, for I am the Lord.\nThou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, for that is an abomination. Thou shalt not lie with any manner of beast to defile thyself with it, nor shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down to it, for that is an abomination.\nDo not defile yourselves in any of these things, for all these things were done by those nations which I drove out before you. And the land is defiled, and I will visit the wickedness thereof upon it. And the land shall spew out her inhabitants. Keep therefore my ordinances and judgments, and see that you commit none of these abominations: neither you nor any stranger that sojourns among you (for all these abominations have the men of the land done which were there before you, and the land is defiled). For whoever shall commit any of these abominations, the same souls shall be cut off from among their people.\nThat who commit such abominations shall perish among their people. Therefore, see that you keep my ordinances, that you commit none of these abominable customs which were committed before you: that you do not defile yourselves with them, for I am the Lord your God.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: \"Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. You shall fear every man his father and his mother, and keep my Sabbaths: for I am the Lord your God. You shall not turn to idols nor make for yourselves gods of metal: I am the Lord your God.\n\nWhen you offer your peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer them to be accepted. And it shall be eaten on the same day that you offer it, or on the next day; but if any remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire. If it is eaten on the third day, it shall be unclean and not accepted. And he who eats it shall bear his sin: because he has defiled the holy things of the Lord.\nYou shall not take the corner of another's land during harvest. You shall not gather the corners of your fields nor the leftovers of your harvest. You shall not pick your vineyard clean, nor gather grapes that have overripened. But you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God.\n\nYou shall not steal, lie, or deal falsely with one another. You shall not swear falsely in my name, profaning the name of your God. I am the Lord.\n\nYou shall not deceive your neighbor with deceitful practices, nor rob him violently. Nor shall the labor of your worker wait for you until the morning.\n\nYou shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your God. I am the Lord.\n\nYou shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not favor the poor nor show partiality to the mighty, but you shall judge your neighbor righteously. You shall not.\nYou shall not go up and down as an accuser against your neighbor. You shall not stand against him to shed blood. I am the Lord.\n\nYou shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall rebuke your neighbor and not sin because of him.\n\nYou shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.\n\nKeep my statutes. None of your cattle shall breed with a different kind, nor shall you sow your field with mixed seed, nor put on a garment of wool and linen.\n\nIf a man lies with a woman who is betrothed to another man, and he has not been bought or given her in marriage, there shall be a penalty. But they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. And he shall bring for his trespass offering a ram for a guilt offering to the Lord: even to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed. And the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him.\nAnd he shall make atonement for his sin with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord, and it shall be forgiven him, concerning the sin that he has done. And when you come to the land and have planted all kinds of trees whereof you eat, you shall keep them uncircumcised for you for three years, not eating of their fruit. In the fourth year all the fruit of them shall be holy and acceptable to the Lord. But in the fifth year you may eat of the fruit of them, and gather the increase of them: I am the Lord your God.\n\nYou shall eat nothing with the blood, nor use enchantments, nor observe strange feasts, nor shave the locks of your heads, nor mar the edges of your beards.\n\nYou shall not tear your flesh for any soul, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord.\n\nYou shall not defile your daughter to make her a harlot, lest the land fall to harlotry, and the land become full of lewdness.\n\"And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: tell the children of Israel, you shall keep my Sabbaths and fear my sanctuary: I am the Lord your God. Turn not to the works of spirits, nor regard those who observe strange days: do not be defiled by them, for I am the Lord your God. You shall not do any unrighteousness in judgment, neither in measure, weight, or volume. But you shall have true balances, true weights, a true ephah, and a true hin. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should observe all my statutes and judgments, and that you should keep them: I am the Lord.\"\nWhoever it may be among the children of Israel or the strangers who dwell in Israel who gives of his seed to Moloch shall die for it. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. And I will set my face against that man, and will destroy him from among his people, because he has given of his seed to Moloch, for defiling my sanctuary and profaning my holy name. And if the people of the land do not notice if we transgress the gods' commandments when that man gives of his seed to Moloch, so that they do not kill him, I will set my face against that man and against his household, and will destroy him and all who prostitute themselves with him and serve the house of Moloch from among their people.\n\nIf any soul turns to those who work with spirits or makers of idols and goes a-whoring after them, I will set my face against that soul and will destroy him from among his people. Sanctify yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.\nI am the Lord your God. Keep my ordinances and do them, for I am the Lord who sanctifies you.\n\nWhoever curses his father or mother shall die for it; his blood be on his head, because he cursed his father or mother.\n\nHe who breaks wedlock with another man's wife shall die for it; because he has broken wedlock with his neighbor's wife, and so shall she likewise.\n\nIf a man lies with his father's wife, and they both have uncovered their father's nakedness, they shall both die for it; their blood be upon their heads.\n\nIf a man lies with his daughter-in-law, they shall both die; they have committed an abomination, their blood be upon their heads.\n\nIf a man lies with a beast, he shall die, and you shall kill it. They have committed an abomination; their blood be upon their heads.\n\nIf a man takes a wife and her mother also, it is wickedness. Both he and they shall be put to death; there shall be no wickedness among you.\nIf a woman lies down before a beast, you shall kill both the woman and the beast, and their blood will be upon their heads. If a man lies with his sister, be it his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, and she reveals her secrets to him, and he also reveals his secrets to her, it is a wicked thing. Therefore, let them perish before their people. He has seen his sister's secrets; therefore, he will bear his sin.\n\nIf a man lies with a woman during her natural impurity and uncovers her secrets and covers her fountain, and she also opens the fountain of her blood, they shall both perish from among their people.\n\nThou shalt not uncover the secrets of thy mother's sister nor of thy father's sister, for he that doeth so uncovers his next kindred, and they shall bear their sin.\n\nIf a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered her secrets not his uncle's, and they shall bear their sin and die childless.\n\nIf a man takes his brother's wife, it is an injustice.\n\"Uncleanness breeds children, therefore cover your brothers' uncleanness and you will be childless. Keep all my ordinances and judgments, doing them; otherwise, the land I bring you to possess will expel you. Do not walk in the ways of the nations I have cast out before you, for they committed these things, and I abhorred them. But I have said to you that you shall enjoy their land, and I will give it to you to possess: a land that flows with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from other nations: that you should put a difference between clean and unclean, and between unclean animals and them that are clean. Do not make your souls abominable with beasts and birds, and with all manner of creeping things that creep upon the ground, which I have separated from you to hold them unclean. Be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from other nations:\"\nIf there is a woman or man who works with a spirit or a maker of dismal days, they shall die for it. You shall stone them with stones, and their blood shall be upon them. And the Lord spoke to Moses: speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them. A priest shall defile himself at the death of none of his people, but on his kin who is near to him: on his mother, father, son, daughter, and brother; and on his sister as long as she is a virgin and dwells far from him and was never given to man; on her he may defile himself. But he shall not make himself unclean upon a relative of his people to pollute himself with all.\n\nThey shall make baldness upon the heads of the heathen priests therefore; take example from our priests, the baldness of their heads or shave the locks of their borders. They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God, for the sacrifices of the Lord and the bread of their offerings.\nGod they offer: therefore they must be holy. They shall take no wife who is a harlot, or polluted, or put away from her husband: for a priest is holy unto his God. Sanctify him therefore, for he offers up the bread of God: he shall understand all things, whether it be of the body or of the flesh or of the fruit. Therefore be holy unto him, for I the Lord who sanctify you, am holy.\n\nIf a priest's daughter falls to play the harlot, she pollutes her father: therefore she shall be burned with fire.\n\nHe that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured and whose hand was filled to put on the vestments, shall not uncover his head nor rent his clothes, neither shall he go to any unclean thing, nor make himself unclean: neither on his father nor his mother, nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, that he pollute not the holy place of his God. For the crown of the anointing, the anointing was the coronation both of kings and of priests also, oil of God is upon him. I am the Lord.\n\nHe shall not let the high priest's head go uncovered, nor tear his clothes, nor approach any unclean thing, nor make himself unclean: neither on his father nor his mother, nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, lest he profane the holy place of his God. For the crown of the anointing, the anointing is the coronation both for kings and for priests; and the oil of God is upon him. I am the Lord.\nTake a maiden as his wife: but no widow, divorced or defiled harlot. He shall take a maiden from his own people as wife, lest he defile his seed among his people. I am the Lord who sanctify him.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and say: None of your seed in their generations who has any defilement upon him shall come near: to offer his God's bread. For none who has any blemish shall come near: whether he is blind, lame, snub-nosed, or has any monstrous member, or broken foot, or broken hand, or crooked back, or perforated ears.\n\nNo deformed man of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the sanctified things of the Lord. If he has a defilement, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.\n\nHowever, he shall eat of the bread of his God: even of the most holy as well as of the holy: but he shall not go into the veil nor come near the altar.\nBecause he is deformed, he must not defile my sanctuary, for I am the Lord who sanctify them. Moses spoke this to Aaron and his sons, as well as to all the children of Israel. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the people of Israel, that they abstain from the holy things of the children of Israel, which they have dedicated to me, so as not to profane my holy name: I am the Lord. Speak to them: 'Whoever among all your offspring throughout your generations who goes near the holy things that the children of Israel have dedicated to the Lord, his uncleanness shall be upon him, and that soul shall be cut off from before me. I am the Lord.' None of the seed of Aaron who is a leper or has a flowing discharge shall eat of the holy things until he is clean. And whoever touches any unclean person or an unclean animal, or any unclean creature, or any unclean thing, and then eats of the holy things, that soul shall be cut off from before me: I am the Lord.\"\nThe same soul that has touched anything unclean shall be unclean until even, and shall not eat of holy things until he has washed his flesh with water. And when the sun is down, he shall be clean and shall afterward eat of the holy things: for they are his food. From a beast that dies alone or is torn by wild beasts, he shall not eat, lest he defile himself with it: I am the Lord. But let them keep my ordinance, lest they load sin upon themselves and die in it when they have defiled themselves: for I am the Lord who sanctify them.\n\nNo stranger may eat of the holy things, nor a gest of the priests or a hired servant. But if the priest buys a soul with money, he may eat of it, and he also that is born in his house may eat of his bread. If the priest's daughter is married to a stranger, she may not eat of the holy offerings. However, if the priest's daughter is a widow or divorced, she may eat of the holy offerings.\nA woman who has no child but is returned to her father's house again shall eat of her father's bread as well as she did in her youth. But no stranger shall eat there. If a man eats of the holy things unwittingly, he shall put the fifth part thereof for the priest, and let the priests see that they do not defile the holy things of the children of Israel which they have offered to the Lord, lest they incur guilt and trespass in eating their holy things: I am the Lord who sanctifies them. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the children of Israel, and say to them: \"Whatever man of the house of Israel or stranger in Israel who presents his offering, whether it is a vow or a freewill offering, it shall be a male without blemish from the herd or the flock. Let them offer it.\"\nNothing that is defiled shall get no favor there. If a man offers a peace offering to the Lord or separates a vow or a freewill offering of oxen or sheep, it must be without blemish. There shall be no defect: whether it is blind, broken, wounded, or has a wen, or is mangled or scabbed. Do not offer such to the Lord, nor place any such on the altar to the Lord.\n\nAn ox or a sheep that has any member out of proportion may be offered for a freewill offering. But in a vow it shall not be accepted. You shall not offer to the Lord that which has its stones bruised, broken, plucked out, or cut away, nor shall you make any such in your land. Nor shall a foreigner offer an offering to your God of any such. For all these have deformities, and therefore they cannot be accepted for you.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"When an ox, a sheep, or a goat is brought:\"\nFor the next six days, it shall be under the damme (damm: a deposit or payment). And from the eighth day onward, it shall be accepted as a gift in the sacrifice of the Lord. Whether it be an ox or a sheep, you shall not kill it and its young on the same day.\n\nWhen you will offer a thank offering to the Lord, you shall do so in a way that you may be accepted. And on the same day it must be eaten up, so that you leave none of it until the morning. For I am the Lord, keep my commandments and do them, for I am the Lord. Do not profane my holy name, that I may be hallowed among the children of Israel. For I am the Lord who hallow you, and brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: for I am the Lord.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them. These are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy feasts. Six days you shall work, and the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, a holy Sabbath: so that you may do no work thereon, for it is the Sabbath of the Lord.\nWherever you dwell. These are the feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy: The fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord's Passover, and the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord: for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. The first day shall be a holy day for you, so that you may do no laborious work thereon, but you shall offer sacrifices to the Lord. Seven days, and the seventh day also shall be a holy day, so that you may do no laborious work thereon.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: when you come into the land which I give you and harvest your produce, you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf: and on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And you shall offer the day on which he waves the sheaf, a lamb without blemish.\nAnd you are to offer an old burnt offering to the Lord, along with its meat offering: two tenths of fine flour mixed with oil, as a sacrifice to the Lord of a sweet aroma. And you shall not eat any bread, nor parched corn, nor the grain offering of new corn, until the same day that you bring an offering to your God. And this shall be a law for you and your children forever, wherever you dwell.\n\nBegin counting from the morning after the Sabbath: from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven complete weeks you shall count, even until the morrow after the seventh week you shall number one day. And you shall bring a new meat offering to the Lord. And you shall bring out of your habitations two loaves made of two tenths of fine flour, leavened and baked, as first fruits to the Lord. And you shall bring with the bread seven lambs without blemish of one year old, and one young ox.\nAnd bring ram's horns,\nwhich shall serve as burnt offerings to the Lord, with meat offerings and drink offerings accompanying them, as a sweet-smelling sacrifice to the Lord.\nAnd you shall offer a male goat for a sin offering, and two lambs of one year old for peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits before the Lord and with the two lambs. And they shall be holy to the Lord, and the priests. And you shall make a proclamation on that day that it is an holy feast for you, and you shall do no laborious work therein. And it shall be a law forever throughout all your dwellings for you and your children after you.\n\nWhen you finish harvesting your harvest, you shall not make a clean sweeping of your threshing floor, nor shall you make a gathering of the gleanings of your harvest: but you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Speak to the children of Israel and say, 'The first day of the seventh month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work therein. It shall be a day for you to bring an offering by fire to the Lord.' \"\nThe tenth day of the seventh month shall be a day of atonement, a holy feast for you. You shall humble your souls and offer sacrifice to the Lord. Moreover, on this day you shall do no work, for it is a day of atonement to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. Whoever does not humble himself on that day shall be destroyed from among his people. And whoever does any work that day, I will destroy him from among his people. Therefore, you shall do no work. It shall be a law forever for your generations. A sabbath of rest it shall be for you, and you shall humble your souls. The ninth day of the month from evening to evening.\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say: The fifteenth day of the same seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles, seven days to the Lord. The first day shall be a holy feast, you shall do no laborious work thereon. Seven days you shall offer a sacrifice to the Lord, and the eighth day shall be a holy feast to you and you shall offer a sacrifice to the Lord. It is the end of the feast, and you shall do no laborious work therein.\n\nThese are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations for presenting offerings to the Lord, burnt offerings, meat offerings, and drink offerings every day: beside the Sabbaths of the Lord, besides your gifts, and all your vows, and all your freewill offerings which you shall give to the Lord.\n\nMoreover, in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered in the fruit of the land, the children of Israel shall dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.\nEgypt: I am the Lord your God. Moses told the children of Israel all the feasts of the Lord. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Command the children of Israel to bring pure olive oil for the lamps, to pour in regularly, without the golden lampstand being empty. Aaron shall tend them from evening to morning before the Lord continually. It will be a perpetual statute among you and your generations. He shall arrange the lamps on the pure gold menorah before the Lord perpetually.\n\nTake Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat the sin offering and the guilt offering in the sanctuary. For they are most holy to him from the offerings made by the Lord, and it shall be a perpetual duty for you and your generations.\n\nA son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel. This son of the Israelite woman and an Israelite man lay with each other in the camp. And the Israelite woman's son blasphemed the name and cursed.\nAnd they brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Selamyth, the daughter of Dibri from the tribe of Dan. They put him in custody, instructing Moses to declare to them what the Lord had said.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Bring that man outside the camp who has cursed without honor, and let all those who hear him lay their hands on his head, and let the entire assembly stone him to death. Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin, and he who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall die for it: the stranger as well as the native-born. He who kills a man shall surely be put to death, but he who kills an animal shall pay restitution, life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. He who kills an animal shall pay restitution.'\"\nBut he who kills a man shall die for it. You shall have one law among you: love the stranger as yourself, for I am the Lord your God.\n\nMoses told the children of Israel that they should bring him who had cursed out of the camp and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, \"Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you come into the land which I give you, let the land rest as a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vines and gather your fruits. But the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest for the land. The Lord's Sabbath it shall be, and you shall neither sow your field nor prune your vines.\n\nThe corn that grows by itself you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes that grow without your dressing: but it shall be a Sabbath of rest for the land. Nevertheless, the harvest of the seventh year you shall leave for the poor and the stranger, that they may eat and be satisfied. Also you shall make a fringe upon the four corners of the robe which you wear before the Lord, and put a blue thread in the fringe of each corner. And it shall be to you for a remembrance before the Lord all the days that you live on the earth.\n\nThis shall be an eternal statute for you, in all your dwellings throughout your generations: You shall not cut down the tree fruit trees in your land for food; you shall not make a mortar mill or a sledgehammer for your vineyard, from the wood of a fruit tree. You shall not take a stone from the field or throw it in your field, nor pick it up and set it aside for yourself, nor shall you build a monument or a standing stone in your land which the Lord your God has given you.\n\nSix days you shall work in the field, but on the seventh day you shall rest, that you may enter into the holiness of the Lord. And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; no man shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.\n\nYou shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover be left until the morning. The best of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.\n\nThen the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'I am the Lord your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, and you shall not make an image or any form that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.\n\nYou shall make no covenant with them or with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For I am the Lord your God, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. I have delivered you from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.\n\nYou shall fear only the Lord your God and serve Him, and you shall take oaths in His name. You shall not follow other gods, nor the customs of the peoples whom I am casting out before you; for they do all work abomination in the sight of the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.\n\nYou shall observe all My statutes and all My judgments, which I have set before you this day. You shall not add to it nor take away from it. When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it, and you say, \"I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,\" you shall surely set a king over you whom the\nThe Sabbath's meat is for you, your servant, your maid, your hired servant, the stranger dwelling with you, your cattle, and the beasts in your land. Count seven weeks of years; this horn called Iobel is the pope's occasion to make it jubilee seven times seven years, and the seven weeks of years will be forty-nine years. Then you shall make a horn blow: in the tenth day of the seventh month, which is the Day of Atonement. Blow the horn throughout your land. Sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a year of trumpet-blowing for you, and you shall return to your possession and to your family again. A year of trumpet-blowing shall that fiftieth year be to you. You shall not.\nYou shall not reap what grows by itself nor gather grapes without labor. This is the year of jubilee, holy to you: yet you may eat the increase of the field. In this year of jubilee, every man shall return to his possession.\n\nWhen you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor's hand, you shall not oppress one another. According to the number of years after the trumpet year, you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of fruit trees, he shall sell to you. According to the multitude of years, you shall increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years, you shall diminish the price: for the number of fruit he shall sell to you. And let no man oppress his neighbor, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God. Therefore, follow my ordinances and keep my statutes, that you may dwell in the land in peace. And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with me.\nshall give her fruit, and you shall eat your fill and dwell therein safely.\nIf you say, \"What shall we eat the third year, as much as we shall not sow or gather in our increase?\" I will send my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years: and you shall sow the eighth year and eat of old fruit until the ninth year, and even until her fruits come, you shall eat of old store. Therefore the land shall not be sold forever, because the land is mine, and you but strangers and sojourners with me: and you shall throw out all the land of your possession, let the land go free again.\nWhen your brother becomes poor and has sold some of his possession: if any of his kin comes to redeem it, he shall be allowed to buy it back. And though he has no man to redeem it for him, yet if his hand can buy it back again, then let him calculate how long it has been sold, and deliver the rest to him to whom he sold.\nIf a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, he may buy it back at any time, notwithstanding the cities and houses in the possession of the levites. And if a man purchases anything from the levites: whether it be house or city that they possess, the sale agreement shall be ratified in the jubilee year. For the houses in the cities of the levites are their possessions among the children of Israel. But the fields that lie around their cities shall not be bought; for they are their possessions forever. If your brother becomes poor and falls into decay with you, receive him as a stranger or a sojourner, and let him live with you.\nYou shall live beside him, and you shall not take usury or advantage from him. But you shall fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money on usury, nor lend him food to have in pawn. If your brother who dwells beside the public way and sells himself, you shall not let him labor as a bondservant does, but as a hired servant and as a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the jubilee, and then he and his children with him shall depart from you and return to his own kindred again and to the possessions of his fathers. For they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, and they shall not be sold as bondservants. Therefore you shall not rule over him cruelly, but you shall fear your God.\n\nIf you wish to have male and female servants, you shall buy them from the heathen who are around you, and from the children of the sojourners who sojourn among you, and their generations.\nAnd you shall have the lands and their produce that they give you in your load. You shall possess them and give them to your children after you, to possess them forever; they shall be your bondmen. But over your brothers, the children of Israel, you shall not rule one over another cruelly.\n\nWhen a stranger or sojourner becomes rich and your brother who dwells by him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger who dwells by him or to any of the stranger's kin, after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may buy him back; whether it is his uncle or his uncle's son or any who is near of kin to him among his kindred, he may redeem him. If his hand can get enough, he may be released. And he shall reckon with him who bought him, from the year that he was sold to the trumpet year, and the price of his release shall be according to the number of years, and he shall be with him as a hired servant. If there are yet many years behind, according to them he shall give again for his release.\ndelivery of the money that he was sold for. If there remain only a few years until the jubilee year, he shall count on it and, according to his years, give it back to him for his redemption, and he shall be with him year by year as a hired servant. And the other shall not reign cruelly over him in your sight. If he is not redeemed in the meantime, then he and his children shall go out in the jubilee year, for the children of Israel are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.\n\nYou shall make no idols or graven images, nor shall you bow down to any pillar; nor shall you set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down to it: for I am the Lord your God. Keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. For I am the Lord.\n\nIf you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and do them, then I will send rain in its season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall give their fruit.\nAnd you shall enjoy the fruit of your labor. The harvest shall reach up to the threshing, and the wine harvest shall reach up to sowing time. And you will eat your bread in abundance and dwell peacefully in your land. I will send peace to your land, and you shall sleep, and no man shall make you afraid. I will drive out evil beasts from your land, and no sword shall pass through your land. And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you on the sword. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight, and your enemies shall fall before you on the sword. I will turn to you and increase you and multiply you, and I will give my covenant to you. And you shall eat old stores, and cast out the old for the abundance of the new. I will make my dwelling place among you, and my soul shall not reject you. And I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people. For I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.\nBut if you will not listen to me and not do all my commandments, or despise my ordinances or your souls refuse my laws, so that you will not do all my commandments but shall break my covenant: then I will visit you with vexations, swelling up and fires, that shall make your eyes fail and with sorrows of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will turn my face against you and you shall fall before your enemies, and those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one follows you. And if you will not yet heed me, then I will punish you seven times more. God begins and increases his plagues more and more according to the people's iniquity, and will break the pride of your strength. For I will do this to you: I will make you wander in a land without bread or water, and will bring you utterly low with famine, and will make you a horror to all the lands. And I will make your cities desolate, and will scatter you among the lands, and I will bring your temple as a prey, and your sanctuaries shall be a spoil. And I will take vengeance on you in the wilderness, I will cut off Israel among the peoples, and I will spread your dead bodies in the mountains, your stench shall come up, and your mountains shall flow down at your stench. And I will wander roving to and fro in the land, destroying cities and towns, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence. And I will bring a terrible fear upon all that are round about you, and they shall fall by the sword one against another. And I will make you a horror, a byword, and a reproach among all the peoples where I have driven you. And you shall bear the reproach of Egypt and Assyria, and the reproach of Canaan, with the reproach of all the lands that I will drive you. And I will break the pride of your strength, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like brass, and your stones like flints, and I will cover your high places with your shame, and your sanctuaries shall be desolate, your idols shall be profaned, your graves shall be filled with the slain, and your cities shall be desolate, and the dead bodies of your people shall be food for the vultures and the beasts. And I will scatter you among the peoples, and I will let the wind drive you from me, and the land shall be desolate because of you. Thus says the Lord God: In the midst of the land that is desolate, I will make you a tumult, and you shall be a reproach and a pillage, and I will make many peoples astonished at you, and their kings shall be horrified at you when I brandish my sword before them, and they shall tremble at every moment for the terror that I will bring upon all the peoples who are round about you; and they shall know that I am the Lord. This is the word that the Lord God has spoken.\nI will make the heavens over you as hard as a furnace, and your land as hard as brass. And your labor shall be spent in vain. For your land shall not give increase, nor the trees of the land give their fruits.\n\nAnd if you walk contrary to me and will not heed me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. I will send wild beasts upon you, which shall rob you of your children and destroy your cattle, and make you so few in number that your highways shall grow into a wilderness.\n\nAnd if you will not be learned yet for all this but shall walk contrary to me, then I also will walk contrary to you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. I will send a sword upon you, that shall avenge my testimony with you. And when you are fled to your cities, I will send the pestilence among you. You shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.\n\nAnd if yet you will not heed me, but walk contrary to me, then I will also walk contrary to you.\nI will walk against you wrathfully and will chastise you seven times for your sins: so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. And I will destroy your altars built upon high places, and overthrow your images, and cast your carcasses upon the bodies of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your land desolate, and bring your sanctuaries to nothing, and will not smell the savors of your sweet odors.\n\nI will bring the land to a wilderness: so that your enemies who dwell therein shall marvel at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall be waste, and your cities desolate.\n\nThen the land shall rejoice in her Sabbaths, as long as it lies desolate and you in the land of your enemies: even then shall the land keep holy day and rejoice in her Sabbaths. And as long as it lies desolate it shall rest, for that it could not rest in your Sabbaths.\nAnd upon those who remain among you, I will send a feebleness into their hearts in the land of their enemies. So the sound of a leaf that falls shall chase them, and they shall flee as if they fled a sword, and none shall follow them. And they shall fall one upon another, as if before a sword, even no man following them, and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. And you shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.\n\nAnd those who are left of you shall pine away in their unrighteousness, even in their enemies' land, and also in the iniquities of their fathers they shall consume. And they shall confess their sins and the sins of their fathers in their transgressions which they have transgressed against me, and for this also that they have walked contrary to me. Therefore I also will walk contrary to them, and will bring them into the land of their enemies.\n\nAnd at the earliest opportunity.\ntheir uncircumcised hearts shall be tamed, and then they shall make an atonement for their misdeeds. I will remember my covenant with Jacob, mercy being never denied to him who repents, and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham. I will consider the land. For the land shall be left of them, and it shall rejoice in its Sabbaths, while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make an atonement for their misdeeds, because they despised my laws and their souls refused my ordinances. Yet, for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away nor will my soul abhor them, so as to utterly destroy them and break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God. Therefore, I will remember the first covenant that I made with them when I brought them out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, to be their God: for I am the Lord.\n\nThese are the ordinances, judgments, and laws which the Lord made between him and them.\nChildren of Israel at Mount Sinai, spoke the Lord to Moses: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, \"If a man makes a vow to the Lord according to the value of his soul, then the male from twenty to sixty shall be set at fifty silver cycles, after the cycle of the sanctuary. And the female from thirty to sixty. And from five years to twenty, the male shall be set at twenty silver cycles, and the female at one. And from a month to five years, the male shall be set at five silver cycles, and the female at three. And the man who is sixty and above shall be vowed at fifteen silver cycles, and the woman at one. If he is poor, let him come before the priest; and let the priest value him according to the hand of him who vowed, as he is able to get.\n\nIf it is of the beasts that a man brings as an offering to the Lord, all that any man gives of such to the Lord shall be holy. He may not alter it nor change it: a good for a good.\nIf a beast is exchanged for another, both the exchanged beasts and the one with which it was exchanged shall be holy. If it is any kind of unclean beast that men cannot offer to the Lord, let the person bring it before the priest, and let the priest evaluate it. And whatever the priest determines as to its quality, so it shall be. If he wishes to buy it back, let him give an additional fifth part.\n\nIf a man dedicates his house to the Lord, it shall be holy. The priest shall evaluate it, whether it is good or bad, and as the priest has set it, so it shall be. If the one who sanctified it redeems his house, let him give the fifth part of the money that it was appraised at to the temple, and it shall be his.\n\nIf a man consecrates a piece of his inherited land to the Lord, it shall be appraised according to its yield. If it bears an ephah of barley, it shall be appraised at fifty shekels of silver. If he consecrates his field immediately from the year of the jubilee, it shall be valued at its seed.\nAccording to what is esteemed. But if he consecrates his field after the jubilee year / the priest shall receive the price from him according to the years that remain to the jubilee year, and afterwards it shall be lowered.\nIf he who consecrated the field redeems it / let him put the fifth part of the price that it was set at, and it shall be his if he does not redeem it. But when the field goes out in the jubilee year / it shall be holy to the Lord: even as a dedicated thing, and it shall be the priest's possession.\nIf a man consecrates to the Lord a field which\nhe has bought and it is not of his inheritance / then the priest shall assess with him what it is worth in the jubilee year / and he shall give the price that it is set at that day, and it shall be holy to the Lord. But in the jubilee year, the field shall return to him from whom he bought it, whose inheritance of land it was.\nAnd all setting shall be according to the holy cycle. One cycle.\nmakes twenty Geras. But the firstborn of the beasts that belong to the Lord, cannot be sanctified: whether it be ox or sheep, for they are already the Lord's. If it is an unclean beast, then let him redeem it according to its value, and give the fifth part more for it. If it is not redeemed, let it be sold as rated.\n\nNevertheless, no dedicated thing that a man dedicates to the Lord, of all his good, whether it be man or beast or land from his inheritance, shall be sold or redeemed: for all dedicated things are most holy to the Lord. No dedicated thing that is dedicated of man, may be redeemed, but must necessarily die.\n\nAll these tithes of the land, whether it be of the corn of the field or fruit of the trees, shall be holy to the Lord. If any man will redeem anything of his tithes, let him add the fifth part more thereto. And the tithes of oxen and sheep and of all that goes under the herdsmen's keeping, shall be holy tithes to the Lord. Men shall not look if it be good.\nOr it shall not be changed. If any man changes it, both it and that which was changed will be holy and may not be redeemed. These are the commandments which the Lord gave Moses to give to the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.\n\nThe end of the third book of Moses.\n\nIn the second and third, they received the law. And in this fourth, they began to work and to practice. Of which practices they would please God with their holy, unfaithful works (for where God's word is not, there can be no faith) but the fire of God consumed their holy works, as it did Nadab and Abihu. Leviticus 10. And from these unbelievers, turn your eyes unto the pharisees which before the coming of Christ in his flesh had laid the foundation of freewill, after the same example. Whereon they built holy works according to their own imagination with our faith in the word, so fervently that for the great zeal of them they slew the king of all holy works and the Lord of freewill, who only through this was able to:\nhis grace makes the will free and lowers it from the bondage of sin, and gives it love and lust for the laws of God, and the power to fulfill them. Through their holy works done by the power of free will, they exclude themselves from the holy rest of forgiveness of sins through faith in the blood of Christ.\n\nLook upon our hypocrites, who, following the doctrine of Aristotle and other pagan philosophers, have set up willingness against all scripture. They ascribe the keeping of God's commands to a power other than their own. For they have set up a willing poverty of another kind than is commanded by God. And they have utterly defied the chastity of matrimony, setting up another willing chastity not required by God, which they swear, vow, and profess to give to God, whether He gives it to them or not, and compel all their disciples to do the same, saying that it is in the power of every man's will to observe it, contrary to Christ and His apostle Paul.\nThe obedience of God and man excluded, they have vowed another willful obedience, condemned by all scripture, which they will yet give God, whether He will or not.\n\nWhat has become of their willful poverty? Has it not robbed the whole world and brought all under them?\n\nFurthermore, besides daily corrupting other men's wives and open wickedness unto what abominations to filthiness to be spoken of, has their voluntary chastity brought them?\n\nAnd as for their willful obedience, what is it but your disobedience and the different laws of God and man. So much so that if any price begins to execute any law of man upon them,\n\nthey curse him unto the bottom of hell and proclaim him no right king, and that his lords ought no longer to obey him. And interdict his common people as they were heathen Turks or Saracens. And if any man preaches their law, him they make an heretic and burn him to ashes. And instead of God's law and man's, they have set up one of their own imagination, which they observe with.\nAnd yet in these works they have such great confidence that they not only trust to be saved by them and to be higher in heaven than those saved through Christ, but also propose all other forgiveness of their sins through the merits of the same. Wherein they rest and teach others to rest as well, excluding the whole world from the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ's blood.\n\nNow, seeing that faith alone lets a man into rest and unbelief excludes him, what is the cause of this unbelief? Verily, no sin that the world says, but a holiness and righteousness of their own imagination, as Paul says in Romans 10. They are ignorant of the righteousness with which God justifies and have set up a righteousness of their own making through which they are disobedient to God's righteousness. And Christ rebukes the Pharisees not for gross sins which the world saw, but for those self-righteousnesses which so blinded the eyes of the world that they were taken as righteousness.\ngoddess: euheua for long praying/fasting/diligently paying tithes, leaving not so much as their herbs unlit/for their cleansing in washing before meals and washing of cups, dishes, and all manner of vessels/for building the prophets' sepulchres/and keeping the holy day/and turning the heart to the faith/and forgiving alms. For unto such holy dead they ascribed righteousness and therefore when the righteousness of God was preached to them, they could not but persecute it. The devil was so strong in them. Which thing Christ well describes in Luke 11:24-26, saying that after the devil is cast out he comes again and finds his house swept and made gay and then takes seven other spirits more wicked than himself and enters in and dwells there; and so the end of that man is worse than the beginning. That is, when they are a little cleansed from gross sins which the world sees and then made gay in their own sight with the righteousness of traditions, then comes seven.\nThat is to say, the whole power of the devil, for \"seu\u0113\" with Hebrew signifies a multitude without end and the extremity of a thing, and is a speech borrowed (I suppose) from Leviticus where it is often mentioned as \"sene\u0304.\" Where I would say: I will punish the one who all the world shall take an example of. There the Jew would say: I will circumcise or baptize seven times. And so here by seven is meant all the devils in hell and all the might and power of the devil. For unto what further blindness could all the devils in hell bring them than to make them believe they were justified through their own good works? For when they once believed they were purged from their sins and made righteous through their own holy works, what room was left for the righteousness that is in Christ's bloodshedding? And therefore when they have fallen into this blindness, they cannot but hate and persecute the light. And the more clearly and evidently their deeds are rebuked, the more furiously and [unintelligible].\nMalicious and blind they are, until they break out into open blasphemy and sinning against the Holy Ghost, which is the malicious persecutor and worker of miracles. Yet, though they could not harm him nor reason against him, they thought the scripture must have some other meaning because his interpretation undermined their foundation and uprooted the sects they had planted. They also attributed his miracles to the devil. In the same manner, our hypocrites cannot do the same to you concerning the chapter XXX. There may be many questions to which I answer briefly: we ought to put salt in all our offerings \u2013 that is, we ought to minister knowledge in all our works and do nothing for which we cannot give a reason from God's words. We are now in the day of light, and all of God's secrets and counsel and will are opened to us. He, who was promised to come and bless us, has already come and has shed his blood for us and has come.\nBlessed is he with all manner of blessings and has obtained all grace for us in him. Therefore, God henceforth will receive no more sacrifices of beasts from us, as you read in Hebrews 10. If you burn unto God the blood or fat of beasts to obtain forgiveness of sins thereby or that God should the better hear your request, you do wrong to the blood of Christ and Christ is dead in vain. For in him God has promised not only forgiveness of sins but also whatever we ask to keep us from sin and temptation with all. And what if you burn frankincense unto him, what if you burn a candle, what if you burn your chastity or virginity for the same purpose, do you not rebuke Christ's blood? Furthermore, if you offer gold, silver, or any other good for the same intent, is there any difference? And even so, if you go on pilgrimage or fast or go forward or sprinkle yourself with holy water or anything else dead it is.\nWe must observe the meaning of any ceremony as if it were abhorrent. Therefore, we must bring the salt of God's word with all our sacrifices, or else we will make no sweet savor to God.\n\nWill you ask me if I should vow nothing at all? Yes, God's commandment which you have vowed at your baptism. For what purpose? Indeed, for the love of Christ who bought you with his blood and made you and heir with him, that you should wait on his will and commandments and purify your members according to the same doctrine that has purified your heart. For scripture teaches, first repentance: then faith in Christ, that for his sake sin is forgiven to those who repent: then good works, which are nothing without the commandment of God alone. And the commandments are nothing else but the help of our neighbors in their need and the taming of our members that they might also be pure.\nas the heart is pure through hate of vice and love of virtue, as God's word teaches us, these works must proceed from faith: I must do them for the love which I have to God for that great mercy which he has shown me in Christ, or else I do them not in God's sight. And that I faint not in the pain of sin that is in my flesh, my help is the promise of the assistance of the power of God and the comfort of the reward to come, which reward I ascribe to the goodness, mercy, and truth of the promise that has chosen me, called me, taught me, and given me the earnest thereof, and not to the merits of my deeds or sufferings. For all that I do and suffer is but the way to the reward and not the deserving of it. As if the king's grace should promise me to defend me wherever in my own realm, yet the way thither is through the sea where I might possibly suffer no little trouble. And yet, for all that, if I might live in rest when I come there, I would think and\n\n(Note: The text appears to be written in Early Modern English, and there are some minor errors in the OCR transcription. I have corrected the errors while maintaining the original meaning and style as much as possible.)\nIf others might say that my pains were well rewarded: I would not proudly ascribe this reward and benefit to the merits of my pains, taking them along the way. But to the kindness, mercy, and constant truth of the king's grace, whose gift it is, and to whom praise and thanks belong in duty and right. So now a reward is a gift given.\n\nIf I vow voluntary poverty, this must be my purpose: that I will be content with a competent living, which comes to me either by the succession of my elders or which I earn truly with my labor in ministering and doing service to the commonwealth in one office or another or in one occupation or other. Because riches and honor shall not corrupt my mind and draw my heart from God, and to give an example of virtue and edifying to others, and that my neighbor may have a living from me as well as I. If I make a cloak of dissimulation of my vow, laying a net of feigned beggary to catch superfluous abundance of riches and high estate.\nI am a wily fox and a ravening wolf in a sheep's skin and a painted sepulcher, fair without, but filthy within. In like manner, though I seek no worldly promotion there, yet if I do it to be justified and to gain a higher place in heaven, thinking that I do it of my own natural strength and of the natural power of my free will, and that they do it not is their fault and negligence, what other thing do I then eat but the blood and fat of my sacrifice, which should be offered to God alone.\nAnd whatever a man does with his natural gifts, his natural wit, wisdom, understanding, reason, will, and good intent before he is otherwise and clearly taught by God's spirit and has received other wit, understanding, reason, and will, is fleshly and worked in those ways for the merits and deservings of my good works and to enter them by another way than by the door Christ, which were very thieves, for Christ is Lord over all, and whatever any man will have of God, he must have it given him freely for Christ's sake. Now to have heaven for my own deserving is my own praise and not Christ's. For I cannot have it by favor and grace in Christ and by my own merits also. Freeing and deserving cannot stand together.\n\nIf you will vow of your goods unto God, you must put salt upon this sacrifice: that is, you must minister knowledge in this dead thing. 2 Peter 1.1. You must put oil of God's word in your\n\nCleaned Text: And whatever a man does with his natural gifts, his natural wit, wisdom, understanding, reason, will, and good intent before he is otherwise and clearly taught by God's spirit and has received other wit, understanding, reason, and will, is fleshly and worked in those ways for the merits and deservings of my good works and to enter them by another way than by the door Christ. For Christ is Lord over all, and whatever any man will have of God, he must have it given him freely for Christ's sake. Now to have heaven for my own deserving is my own praise and not Christ's. For I cannot have it by favor and grace in Christ and by my own merits also. Freeing and deserving cannot stand together.\n\nIf you will vow of your goods unto God, you must put salt upon this sacrifice: that is, you must minister knowledge in this dead thing. (2 Peter 1:1) You must put oil of God's word in your vows.\nIf you wait for the bridegroom's coming and enter with him into his rest, it will be fitting for you to move men to devotion. Denial is a fervent love for God's comma. The priest shall have it in God's stead. Should the priest have it? If the priest is bought with Christ's blood, he is Christ's servant and not his own, and therefore, he should feed Christ's flock with Christ's doctrine and minister Christ's sacraments to them purely for very love and not for filthy lucre's sake or to be lord over them, as Peter teaches in 1 Peter 5 and Acts 20. Besides, Christ is ours and is a gift given to us, and we are heirs of Christ. Therefore, the priest's duty is ours and we are its heirs. It is the food of our souls. Therefore, if he ministers it not truly and freely to us without selling, he is a thief and a soul murderer; and even so is he if he takes upon himself to feed us and has not wherewith. And for a like reason, if he ministers it not truly and purely to us, he is a thief and a soul murderer.\nconclusyon because we also with all that we haue be christes / therfo\u00a6re is the preast heyre with vs also of all that we haue receaued of god / wherfore in as moch as y\u2022 preast wayteth on y\u2022 worde of god a\u0304d is oureseruaunte therin / therfore of right we are his dettars & owe him a sufficyent ly\u2223uinge of oure goodes / a\u0304d euen therto a wiffe of oure doughters owe we vnto him if he re\u2223quyre her. And now when we haue appoyn\u2223ted him a sufficie\u0304t liuinge / whether in tythes rentes or in yerelye wages / he ought to be co\u0304\u00a6tent & to require no more nor yet to receaue a\u00a6ny more / but to be an ensample of sobernesse & of dispysinge worldly thinges vnto the en\u2223sample\nof his parysheonars.\nWilt thou vowe to offre vnto y\u2022 poore pe\u2223ople? that is pleasaunte in y\u2022 sight of god / for they be lefte here to do oure almes apo\u0304 in chri\u2223stes stead & they be y\u2022 right heyres of all oure abundau\u0304ce & ouerplus. Moreouer we must haue a scole to teach goddes worde i\u0304 (though it neded not to be so costely) & therfore it is law full to\nI will clean the text as requested:\n\nVow to the building or maintenance thereof, and to helping all good works. We ought to vow to pay custom, toll, rent, and all manner of duties, and whatever we owe: for that is God's commandment.\n\nIf you will vow a pilgrimage, you must put salt to it in the same manner, if it shall be accepted. If you vow to go and visit the poor or to hear God's word or whatever edifies your soul unto love and good work according to knowledge or whatever God commands, it is well done and a sacrifice that savors well. You will probably say that you will go to this or that place because God has chosen one place more than another and will hear your petition more in one place than another. As for your prayer, it must be according to God's word. You may not desire God to take vengeance on him whom God's word or glory protects. I suppose it shall infatuate us.\n\nWe excuse the death of Steuet Actes in Acts 7, which died for that article that God does not dwell in.\nTemples made with hands are the temples of God, says Paul. If a man loves God and keeps His word, he is the temple of God, and God dwells in him, as witnesseth Christ in John 14:23: \"If a man loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.\" And in John 15, He says: \"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, then you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.\" If you believe in Christ and have the promises which God has made to you in your heart, go on pilgrimage to your own country and pray there. God will hear you for His mercy's and truth's sake, and for His Son's sake, not for a few stones' sake.\n\nWhat concerns chastity, it is a gift not given to all persons, as both Christ and His apostle Paul testify. Therefore, all persons may not vow it.\nMany people can live chastely at certain times more than others. Some can due to certain cold diseases that afflict them at twenty and thirty, but cannot do so when their health returns. Some are occupied with wild fantasies in their youth and do not care for marriage, but when they are aware of their sadness, they will greatly desire it. It is dangerous to commit sin where none is needed, to swear falsely in the name of God, and to bind oneself under the pain of damnation of one's soul, when one would not use the remedy that God has provided if necessary.\n\nAnother thing is this: beware of giving ungodly persuasions to Saint Hilda, for you cannot live chastely or find in your heart to marry and be compelled to fall into the abomination of the pope against nature and kind.\n\nMoreover, God is a wise father and knows all the infirmities of his children, and also merciful. Therefore, he has created a remedy without sin and given his favor to it.\nAnd let us not be wiser than God with our imaginations. Let us not test Him, for as Godly chastity is not given to every mass, even so He who has it today has not the power to continue it at His own pleasure. Neither does God, without meat or thirst, lack drink.\n\nTherefore, let all things be free as God has created them, and do not vow that which God requires not, nor swear that which God permits you with His favor and blessing. Or if you must vow, vow godly and under a condition that you will continue chaste as long as God grants you the gift and as long as neither your own necessity nor charity toward your neighbor nor the authority of the one under whose power you are driven compels you to the contrary.\n\nThe purpose of your vow must also be seasoned with the wisdom of God. You may not see God. Your vow must be only for the furtherance of God's commandments, which are, as I have said, nothing but the taming of the flesh and the service of God.\nYour neighbor: if you think your back is weak for the burden of marriage and you cannot rule your wife and children, serve them, and make provision for the godly, and if you are not excessively busy and unquiet, and drowning yourself in worldly business unchristianly, or if you can serve your neighbor in some office more effectively being chaste than married. And then your vow is good and lawful. And every use of your flesh: but you may not vow neither of them unto the killing of your body. As Paul commanded Timothy to drink wine and no more water because of his diseases. You will say that Timothy had not likely forsworn wine. I think the same, and that the apostles did not forswear marriage, though many of them lived chastely, neither did they forswear any meat or drink, and that it is good for us to follow their example. However, though I vow and swear and think on none excepting, yet the breaking of God's commandments except in all cases that have God's permission. As if I\nI would clean the text as follows: In a certain place and hour, I was sworn to make a vow without exception. However, if the king commanded me another way, I had to go by God's command and not break my oath. Likewise, if my father and mother were sick and required my presence, or if my wife, children, or household needed assistance, or if my neighbor's house was on fire at the same hour, and a thousand such cases: in all these instances, I would break my oath but would not be forsworn. Read God's word diligently, and with a good heart, and it shall teach you all things.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of witness, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of Egypt. He said, \"Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families and households, according to their fathers' houses, and list the names of all the males from twenty years old and upward.\"\nAbove: all who are able to go forth in Israel / you and Aaron shall number them in your army\nAnd these are the names of the men who shall lead as sons of Reuben: In Simeon, Selumiel, son of Curtis, in Judah, Nahesson, son of Amminadab; in Issachar, Nathaneel, son of Zuar; in Sabbath, Eliah, son of Heli; among the children of Joseph: In Ephraim, Elishama, son of Ammihud; in Manasseh, Gamaliel, son of Pedaiah. These were counselors of the congregation and lords in the tribes of their fathers and captains over thousands in Israel. Moses and Aaron recorded these men named above and gathered all the congregation together on the first day of the second month and registered them according to their birth and families and houses of their fathers by name from the age of twenty and above: as the Lord commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai.\n\nThe children of Reuben, Israel's eldest son, in their generations, their families, and their houses:\nAmong the men of Reuben, named each one by father, all males from the age of twenty and above who were able to go to war were numbered in the tribe of Reuben: 46,150.\n\nAmong the sons of Simeon: their genealogy in their families and households, named each one by father, all males from the age of twenty and above who were fit for war were numbered in the tribe of Simeon: 59,300.\n\nAmong the sons of Sad: their genealogy in their families and households, named each one by father, all males from the age of twenty and above who were fit for war were numbered in the tribe of Sad: 40,000.\n\nAmong the sons of Judah: their genealogy in their families and households, named each one by father, all males from the age of twenty and above who were fit for war were numbered in the tribe of Judah: 78,600.\nAmong the children of Isachar: their generation in their kindreds and houses of their father (when their names were counted from the age of twenty and above, whoever was fit for war): were numbered in the tribe of Isachar, 4,001.\n\nAmong the children of Sebulon: their generation in their kindreds and houses of their father (after the number of names was told from the age of twenty and above, whoever was fit for war): were counted in the tribe of Sebulon, 4,004.\n\nAmong the children of Joseph: first among the children of Ephraim: their generation in their kindreds and houses of their father (when the names of all that were fit for war were told from the age of twenty and above): were in number in the tribe of Ephraim, 40,000.\n\nAmong the children of Manasseh: their generation in their kindreds and houses of their father (when the names of all that were fit for war were told from the age of twenty and above): were numbered in the tribe of Manasseh.\nAmong the children of Manasseh: their generation, in their families and houses, according to their fathers' names, from the age of twenty and above, all who were fit for war, were numbered in the tribe of Manasseh: thirty-two thousand and two hundred.\n\nAmong the children of Dan: their generation, in their families and houses, according to their fathers' names, from twenty years old and above, all who were fit for war, were numbered in the tribe of Dan: thirty-five thousand and four hundred.\n\nAmong the children of Asher: their generation, in their families and houses, according to their fathers' names, from twenty years old and above, all who were fit for war, were numbered in the tribe of Asher: forty-one thousand and five hundred.\n\nAmong the children of Naphtali: their generation, in their families and houses, according to their fathers' names, from twenty years old and above, all who were fit for war, were numbered in the tribe of Naphtali: forty thousand and five hundred.\n\nThese are the numbers which Moses and Aaron numbered with the twelve princes of Israel: one man from each house of their fathers. And all the numbers of the children of Israel, according to their families, houses, and fathers' names.\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Make sure that you do not count the tribe of Levi or take their sum among the children of Israel. But you shall assign the Levites to the care of the tabernacle and all its equipment, and they shall attend to it and shall camp around it. And when the tabernacle sets out, the Levites shall take it down; and when it is pitched, they shall set it up. And if any stranger approaches, he shall be put to death. The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, each man in his own company and each woman by her own standard throughout their encampment. But the Levites shall camp.\"\nAround the dwelling of the witnesses, so that no wrath comes upon the congregation of the children of Israel, and the Levites shall wait near the dwelling of witnesses. And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: The children of Israel shall pitch: every man by his own standard, with the arms of their father's houses, a way from the presence of the tabernacle of witnesses.\n\nOn the east side toward the rising of the sun, they of the standard of the host of Judah shall pitch with their arms: and the children of Issachar, his host and the number of them, were 144,000. And then the tribe of Zebulun: with Eliab the son of Helon, captain over the children of Zebulun, and his host in the number of them: 62,000. So all those who belong to the host of Judah were 186,400.\nAnd on the south side, the standard of the host of Ruben shall lie with their companies, and the captain over the sons of Ruben, Elizur the son of Shedeur, and his host and the number of them 46,000 and 500. And by him shall be that of Simeon pitch, and the captain over the sons of Simeon, Selumiel the son of Zurishaddai, and his host and the number of them 60,000 and 300. And the tribe of Gad: And the captain over the sons of Gad, Eliasaph the son of Deuel, and his host and the number of them 45,000, 600 and 1. So that all the number that pertain to the host of Ruben are an hundred thousand 110,000 and 50. With their companies, and they shall be the second in the journey.\n\nAnd the tabernacle of witness with the host of the Levites shall go in the midst of the hosts: as they lie in their tents, even.\nAnd so they shall proceed in the journey, every man in his quarter around their standard bearers. On the western side, the standard and the host of Ephraim will lie with their companions. The captain over the sons of Ephraim is Elisama, the son of Ammihud, with his host and a number of them forty thousand and five hundred. And next to him, the tribe of Manasseh, and the captain over the sons of Manasseh, Gamaliel, the son of Pedaiah, with his host and a number of them thirty-two thousand and two hundred. And the tribe of Benjamin also: and the captain over the sons of Benjamin, Abidan, the son of Gideoni, with his army and a number of them thirty-five thousand and four hundred. The total number of those who belonged to the host of Ephraim was one hundred thousand and eight thousand and one hundred. They shall be the third in the journey. And the standard and the host of Dan shall lie on the northern side with their companions. The captain over the children of Dan is Ahiezer, the son of Ammihud.\nSadai and his army numbered 161,500. The tribe of Asher will encamp nearby, with Pagiel, son of Ochran, as its captain and an army of 41,000 and 500. The tribe of Naphtali will also encamp, with Ahira, son of Enan, as its captain and an army of 37,000 and 400. The entire host of Dan numbered 157,600. They will be the last to travel with their standards.\n\nThe following are the numbers of the children of Israel in their family groups: the total number of those in the armies with their companies was 601,750. However, the Levites were not included among the children of Israel as the Lord commanded Moses. And the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses, and they encamped accordingly.\nAnd these are the generations of Aaron and Moses, when the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai. These are the names of Aaron's sons: Nadab, the eldest son, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of Aaron's sons who were anointed as priests and whose hands were filled to minister. Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord, as they brought strange fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the presence of Aaron their father.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Bring the tribe of Levi and set them before Aaron the priest, and let them serve him and wait on him, and on all the congregation, before the tabernacle of witness, to do the service of the tabernacle. They shall wear all the apparel of the tabernacle of witness and serve the Levites in the ministry of the tabernacle of God and the children of Israel.\"\nYou shall give the leves to Aaron and his sons, for they are given to him from among the children of Israel. And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests, and the stranger who comes near shall die for it.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Keep this, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel, for all the firstborn that opens the womb among the children of Israel belong to me. For the Levites shall be mine: because all the firstborn are mine. For on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated to me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast; they shall be mine: I am the Lord.\n\n\"The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying: 'Number the children of Levi by their families and their clans, all the males from a month old and upward. And Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord, as he was commanded.' And these are the names of the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.\nAnd the names of Gerson's children and their families are: Libni and Semei. The sons of Cahath and their families were Amram, Iezehar, Hebron, and Usiel. The sons of Merari and their families were Maheli and Musi. These are the families of Levi in the houses of their fathers.\n\nThe families of Libnites and Semeites, which are the families of the Gersonites, numbered in total, when all the males were counted, from a month old and above, to be seven thousand five hundred. They pitched behind the dwelling to the west. The captain of the main house among the Gersonites was Eliasaph, the son of Lael, responsible for all the service thereof.\n\nThe families of Amram, Iezehar, Hebron, and Usiel are the families of Cahath. The total number of males from a month old and above was eight thousand six hundred, who waited on.\nThe holy place. And the kindred of the children of Cahath pitched on the southside of the dwelling. The captain in the most ancient house of the kindreds of the Cahathites was Elizaphan, the son of Usiel. Their office was: the ark, the table, the candlestick, and the altar and the holy vessels to minister with, and the veil with all that served there. And Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, was captain over all the captains of the Levites and had the oversight of those who waited upon the holy things.\n\nAnd of Merari came the kindreds of the Mahelites and of the Musites. These are the kindreds of Merari. And the number of them (when all the males from a month old and above was told), drew unto six thousand and two hundred. And the captain of the most ancient house among the kindreds of Merari was Zuriel, the son of Abihail, who pitched on the north side of the dwelling. And the office of the sons of Merari was: the frames of the dwelling and the gates.\nBarres/pillars with their sockets and all the instruments thereof, and all that served them: and the pillars of the court roundabout and their sockets, with their pins and cords. But on the forefront of the habitation, and before the tabernacle of witness, Moses and Aaron and his sons shall pitch and wait on the sanctuary in the stead of the children of Israel. And the stranger who comes near shall die for it. And the whole sum of the Levites whom Moses and Aaron numbered, as the Lord commanded through Moses, of all the males, a month old and above, was 22,000.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses: Number all the firstborn males among the children of Israel, from a month old and above, and take the number of their names. And thou shalt appoint the Levites to me, the Lord, for all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites for the firstborn of the children of Israel. And Moses numbered\nas the Lord commanded him,\nall the firstborn males.\nAnd the firstborn of the children of Israel numbered twenty-two thousand two hundred and sixty-seven. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"A holy place twenty gerahs the cubit. And take the redemption money wherewith the odd number of them is redeemed and give it to Aaron and his sons. And Moses took the redemption money of those who were more than the Levites among the firstborn of the children of Israel: and it came to three thousand one hundred and sixty-five shekels of the holy shekel. And he gave that redemption money to Aaron and his sons at the word of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and commanded them to take some of the children of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, in their families and houses of their fathers, from the age of thirty years and above, near the tabernacle of witness: even in the most holy place. And when the camp sets forward, Aaron and his sons shall come and take the veil and cover the ark of the testimony.\nAnd they shall place a covering of taxus skins over the ark of witness with and attach it, and spread a cloth altogether of Jacyncte above it. Place the stones thereon, and upon the table, spread a cloth of Jacyncte and place upon it the dishes, spones, flat pieces, and pottes to pour with. The daily bread shall be thereon, and they shall spread a covering of purple upon it and cover it with a covering of taxus skins, placing the statues thereon.\n\nThey shall take a cloth of Jacyncte and cover the candlestick of light and its laps and snuffers and fire pans and all its oil vessels, and place a covering of taxus skins upon them and on the statues. Spread a cloth of Jacyncte upon the golden altar and place the statues upon it. Take all the holy place and place a cloth of Jacyncte upon it, covering it with a covering of taxus skins and placing them thereon.\nAnd they shall remove the ashes from the altar and spread a scarlet cloth thereon. I place the fire pans, the flesh hooks, the shovel, the basins, and all that belongs to the altar on it. And they shall spread a covering of taxus hides and place the statues on it.\n\nWhen Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all its furnishings, so that the host can be removed, then the sons of Kohath shall come in to carry it, and they must not touch the sanctuary or they will die. This is the duty of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of witness.\n\nAnd Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, shall have the responsibility for preparing oil for the lights and sweet incense, and the daily meal offering and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all that is in the tabernacle, both over the sanctuary and over all that belongs to it.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: \"Do not destroy the tribe of the Levites.\"\nThe descendants of the Cahathites / from among the levites. But this is what you shall do to them so that they may live and not die / when they come to the most holy place. Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each man to his service and to his burden. But they shall not go in to see when they cover the sanctuary, lest they die.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Take a census of the children of Gerson / in the houses of their fathers and their clans: from the age of thirty years and above / all that are able to go out to war / for service in the tabernacle of witness. This is the service of the Gersonite clan / to serve and to bear. They shall bear the curtains of the dwelling and the covering of the tabernacle of witness and its hanging and the covering of the skins that is above on it / and the hanging of the door of the tabernacle of witness; and the hanging of the curtain and the hanging of the gate of the curtain that is around the dwelling.\nAnd the altar and its cords, and all the instruments that serve upon them, and all that is made for them. And at the mouth of Aaron and his sons, all the service of the children of the Gersonites shall be done, in all their charges and in all their service. And you shall appoint them to all their charges that they shall wait on. This is the service of the family of the children of the Gersonites in the tabernacle of witness, and their wait shall be in the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.\n\nYou shall number the sons of Merari in their families and in the houses of their fathers, from thirty years and above, all that are able to go forth to war, to do the service of the tabernacle of witness. And this is the charge that they must wait upon in all that they must serve in the tabernacle of witness. The borders of the dwelling, and the bars, pillars, and sockets thereof, and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets.\nThe services and equipment, along with all that pertains to them. Remember the things they must wait for to carry. This is the service of the Merari clans in all their duties in the tabernacle of witness, by the hand of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.\n\nMoses and Aaron and the leaders of the multitude counted the sons of the Kohathites in their clans and houses according to their fathers' families. From thirty years old and above, all who were able to go out in the host and do service in the tabernacle of witness. The number of them according to their clans was 2,700. These are the numbers of the Kohathite clans, of all who served in the tabernacle of witness, which Moses and Aaron counted at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.\n\nThe sons of Gerson were counted in their clans and in the houses of their fathers. From thirty years old and above, all who were able to serve.\nThe number of them, in their families and in the houses of their fathers, was two thousand six hundred and nineteen. This is the number of the families of the sons of Gerson, of all that served in the tabernacle of witness, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the Lord.\n\nThe families of the sons of Merari were numbered in their families and in the houses of their fathers, from thirty years old and up to fifty. All that were able to go forth with the host to do service in the tabernacle of witness. And the number of them was in their families, three thousand two hundred. This is the number of the families of the sons of Merari, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the Lord, by the hand of Moses.\n\nThe whole sum of those that Moses, Aaron, and the lords of Israel numbered among the Levites, in their families and households of their fathers, from thirty years old and upward.\n\nThe Lord.\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Command the children of Israel to remove from the camp all lepers, those with discharges, and the defiled. Whether they are males or females, you shall expel them from the camp, lest they defile the tabernacles where I dwell. And the children of Israel did so, and they expelled them from the camp, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Speak to the children of Israel: whether it is a man or a woman, when they have sinned against the Lord in any manner in which a person transgresses, so that the soul has committed a trespass, then they shall recognize their sins which they have committed and make restitution for the wrong they have done in full. And if he who wrongs another cannot pay, let him be sold, and his sale shall be used to pay his debt. But if he makes an amends...\"\nAnd if no man is available to make amends, then the amends that are made shall be for the Lords and the priests, beside the ram of the atonement offering wherewith he makes an atonement for himself. And all offerings of all the holy things which the children of Israel bring to the priest, shall be for the priests, and every man's holy things shall be his own. But whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be the priests.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them. If a man's wife goes astray and transgresses against him, lying with another man in the flesh, and this thing is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it has not come to light that she has been defiled, (for there is no witness against her), inasmuch as she was not taken in the act, and the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous of his wife and she has defiled herself; Or perhaps the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself.\nlet your husband bring her to the priest and bring an offering for her: the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal, but do not pour oil thereon nor put frankincense on it; for it is an offering of jealousy and a remembrance of sin.\n\nThe priest shall bring her and seat her before the Lord, and let him take holy water in an earthen vessel and of the dust that is in the flower of the habitation and put it into the water. The priest shall set the wife before the Lord and uncover her head, and put the memorial of the offering in her hands which is the jealousy offering, and the priest shall have bitter and cursing water in his hand, and he shall conjure her and shall say to her:\n\nIf no man has lain with you besides or defiled yourself behind your husband, then have no harm from this bitter cursing water.\n\nBut if you have gone besides your husband and are defiled and some other man has lain with you,\nThis is the law of jealousy: when a wife goes behind her husband's back and is unfaithful, or when the spirit of jealousy possesses her, the priest shall conjure her with the conjuration of the curse and say unto her: \"The Lord make thee a curse and a conjuration among thy people. May the Lord make thy thigh rot and thy belly swell, and may this bitter cursing water go into the bowels of the one who causes thy belly to swell and thy thigh to rot.\"\n\nThe priest shall write this curse in a bill and wash it out in bitter water. And when the cursing water is in her and is bitter, then let the priest take the jealous offering from the wife's hand and wave it before the Lord. He shall bring the memorial offering and burn it on the altar. Then make her drink the water, and when he has made her drink the water.\n\nIf she is defiled and has transgressed against her husband, then may the cursing water go into her and be so bitter that her belly swells and her thigh rots.\nA man comes with jealousy over his wife, then he shall bring her before the Lord and the priest shall administer all this law to her. And the man will be guiltless, and the woman shall bear her sin.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When a man or woman comes near to vow, as long as her vow endures, neither she nor he shall eat anything that is made of the vineyard, nor grapes, or corn. And as long as the vow of her abstinence is upon her, she shall not eat anything from the tabernacle of testimony. And the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him concerning that sin. And he shall also shave his head on that day, and he shall remain separated to the Lord for the time of his separation. And he shall bring a lamb as a trespass offering before the tabernacle of witness.\n\nIf her time of abstinence is past, because her abstinence was defiled, this is the law of the atoner when the time of his abstinence is out. He shall be brought to the door of the tabernacle of witness.\ntaberna\u2223cle of witnesse & he shall brynge his offeryn\u2223ge vnto y\u2022 Lord: an he la\u0304be of a yere olde with out blemysh f\nAnd the preast shall brynge him before y\u2022 Lorde & offer his synofferynge & his burnt\u2223offerynge / & shall offer y\u2022 ram for a peaseoffe\u00a6rynge vnto y\u2022 Lorde with the basker of swete brede / a\u0304d the preast shall offer also his meat offerynge & his drynckofferynge. And y\u2022 ab\u2223s\u2022 dore of y\u2022 ta\u2223bernacle of witnesse a\u0304d shall take the heer of his sober heed & put it in y\u2022 fyre which is vn\u2223der the peaseofferynge. Then the preast shall take the sodden shulder of y\u2022 ram a\u0304d one swete cake out of y\u2022 basket & one swete wafer also a\u0304d put them in the ha\u0304de of the abste\u2022 wauebrest and heue shulder: & then the abs\nwhich hath vowed his offerynge vnto \nAnd the Lorde talked with Moses sayen\u00a6g Ysrael saynge vnto them.\nThe lordeblesse the and kepe the.\nThe lorde make his face shyne apon the & be mercyfull vnto the.\nThe lorde lifte vpp his countena\nANd when Moses had full sett vp the habitacion and anoynted it a\u0304d\nsanctified it and all its apparel, and had anointed and sanctified the altar and all its vessels. Then the princes of Israel brought their offerings, heads over the houses of their fathers, the lords of the tribes, and they stood and offered their gifts before the Lord. Six covered carts and twelve oxen they were.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Take it from them and let them serve for the tabernacle of witness, and give them to the Levites, every man according to his office. And Moses took the carts and the oxen and gave them to the Levites: two carts and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gerson, according to their office. And four carts and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their offices, under the hands of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, for the most holy things were theirs to carry on their shoulders.\n\nThe princes offered their gifts to the Lord.\nThe dedication of the altar was in progress, and they brought their offerings before the altar. The Lord spoke to Moses: let the priests bring their offerings, every day one prince, to the altar's dedication.\n\nHe who offered his offering first was Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah. His offering was: a silver charger, one hundred and thirty sicles in weight; and a silver bowl of seventy-two sicles, both of them full of fine wheat; and two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five year-old lambs for peace offerings. This was the gift of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab.\n\nThe second day, Nadab, the son of Zur, captain over Iphar, offered. His offering which he brought was: a silver charger, one hundred and thirty sicles in weight; and a silver bowl of seventy-two sicles; a golden spoon of ten sicles full of incense; and an ox, a ram, and a year-old lamb for burnt offerings.\nPeasoffering: Nathanael son of Zuar offered one ox, five rams, five he-goats, and five lambs of one year old. This was Nathanael's offering.\n\nThe third day: Eliab son of Helon, chief among the children of Zebulon, brought his offering. His offering was: a silver charger weighing one hundred and thirty shillings, a silver bowl of seventy shillles of the holy shekel, filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering; a golden spoon of ten shillings full of frankincense; an ox, a ram, and a year-old lamb for burnt offerings; and two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five year-old lambs for peace offerings. This was Eliab's offering.\n\nThe fourth day: Elizur son of Sedeur, chief among the children of Ruben, brought his offering. His gift was: a silver charger weighing one hundred and thirty shillings, a silver bowl of seventy shillings of the holy shekel, filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering.\n\nThe fifth day: Selumiel son of... brought his offering. (The text is incomplete)\nZuri Sadai, chief lord among the children of Simeon, offered. His gift was: a silver charger of one hundred and thirty-three shillings weight, and a silver bowl of twenty-six shillings of the holy chalice; both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a meat offering, and a golden spoon of ten shillings full of cens. And an ox, a ram, and a lamb of a year old for burnt offerings, and an he-goat for a sin offering. And for peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five lambs of a year old.\n\nThe sixteenth day, Eliasaph, son of Simeon, chief lord among the children of Levites, offered. And his gift was: a silver charger, and two silver bowls, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a meat offering, and a golden spoon of ten shillings full of cens. And an ox, a ram, and a lamb of a year old for burnt offerings, and a he-goat for a sin offering. And for peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five lambs of a year old.\n\nThe seventeenth day, Elisama, son of Amminadab, chief lord among the children of Ephraim, offered. And his gift was: a silver charger.\nThe eighth day, Gamaliel the son of Pedazur, the chief lord among the children of Manasse, offered: a silver charger of one hundred and thirty sicles weight; and a silver bowl of seventy sicles of the holy sicle, filled with fine flower mixed with oil, for a meal offering; and a golden spoon of ten sycles full of ces; and an ox, a ram, and a lamb of a year old for burnt offerings; and for peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats, and five lambs of a year old. This was the offering of Gamaliel the son of Pedazur.\n\nThe ninth day, Abidan, son of Gedeon, the chief lord among the children of Ben Ijjam, offered: a silver charger of one hundred and thirty sicles weight.\n\nThe tenth day, Ahieser, the son of Ammi Sadai, offered:\nThe eleventh day, Pagiel the son of Ochran, the chief lord among the children of Asher, offered: And his gift was: a silver chariot of one hundred and thirty sycles weight; a silver bowl of seventy sycles of the holy cycle, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering; and a golden spoon of ten sycles full of cens. And an ox, a ram, and a lamb of one year old for burnt offerings; and a he goat for a sin offering; and for peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats, and five lambs of one year old.\n\nThe twelfth day, Ahira the son of Enan, the chief lord among the children of Naphtali, offered. And his gift was: a silver chariot of one hundred and thirty sycles weight; a silver bowl of seventy sycles of the holy cycle, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering; and a golden spoon of twenty sycles.\nThe dedication of the altar was as follows: a bull, a ram, and a lamb of one year old for burning offerings; and a goat for a sin offering. For peace offerings, two bulls, five rams, five goats, and five lambs of one year old were brought. This was the offering of Ahira, the son of Enan.\n\nThe dedication of the altar was anointed with: from the princes of Israel, twelve silver chargers, twelve silver bowls, and twelve golden spoons. Each charger contained one hundred and thirty silver sycles, and each bowl seventy, so that all the silver in the vessels was two thousand four hundred and eighty silver sycles. The twelve golden spoons, each filled with censers, contained ten sycles of the holy sycle, so that all the gold in the spoons was two hundred and twenty sycles.\n\nTwelve oxen were brought for the burnt offerings, twelve rams, and twelve lambs of one year old, each with its meat offerings and he goats.\nAnd all the offerings were twenty-four oxen, the rams twelve, the goats twelve, and lambs of a year old a piece, twelve. This was the dedication of the altar; after it was anointed. And when Moses went into the tabernacle of witness to speak with him, he heard the voice of one speaking to him from the mercy seat that was upon the ark of witness: even between the two cherubim. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying: speak to Aaron and say to him: when you put on the lamps on the seven lampstands, let them burn in front of the candlestick. And Aaron did so, and put the lamps on the front of the candlestick, as the Lord commanded Moses, and the work of the candlestick was of pure gold: both the shaft and the flowers thereof. And according to the vision which the Lord had shown Moses, even so he made the candlestick. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying: take the Levites from among the children of Israel.\nAnd cleanse them. And this deon unto them when thou cleansest them: sprinkle water of purification upon them and make a razor run along all the flesh of them, and let them wash their clothes, and then they shall be clean. And let them take a bullock and its meat offering: fine flour mingled with oil; and another bullock shall thou take to be a sin offering.\n\nThen bring the lemons before the tabernacle of witness and gather the whole multitude of the children of Israel together. And bring the lemons before the Lord, and let the children of Israel put their hands upon the leves. And let Aaron hew the lemons before the LORD, for an heave offering given of the children of Israel, and let them be appointed to wait upon the service of the LORD.\n\nAnd let the leves put their hands upon the heads of the bullocks, and then offer them: one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the LORD, to make an atonement for the leves. And make the leves holy.\nBefore Aaron and his sons, you shall station them as an offering to the Lord. And you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, that they may be mine: and after that, let them go and perform the service of the tabernacle of witness. Cleanse and purify them, for they are given to me from among the children of Israel. For I have taken them for myself from among the firstborn among the children of Israel.\n\nThe firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast. Because the same time that I struck down the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for myself. I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and have given them to Aaron and his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of witness and to make an atonement for the children of Israel, that there be no plague among them if they come near.\nAnd Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel went to the sanctuary, doing as the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites. The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes. Aaron clothed them before the Lord and made an atonement for them to cleanse them. After that, they went to do their service in the tabernacle of witness, before Aaron and his sons. According to how the Lord had commanded Moses regarding the Levites, they did to them.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"This shall be the manner of the Levites: from the age of fifty and above, they shall go in to attend upon the service in the tabernacle of witness, and at fifty they shall cease attending apon the service thereof, and shall labor no more: but shall minister to their brothers in the tabernacle of witness, and their attendance, but shall do no more service.\" And see that you do this in the same manner to the Levites in their attending times.\nThe Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year, after they had left the land of Egypt. He said, \"Let the children of Israel offer Passover on the fourteenth day of this month at evening. They shall keep it according to all its ordinances and instructions. And Moses told the children of Israel, and they offered Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at evening in the wilderness of Sinai. They did all that the Lord had commanded Moses.\n\nHowever, certain men who were unclean because of a dead body came before Moses and Aaron that same day. They said, \"We are unclean because of a dead body. Why are we kept back from offering a sacrifice to the Lord among the children of Israel?\" Moses replied, \"Wait, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.\"\nLord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say, \"If any man among you or your children after you is unclean because of a corpse or is far away, the Lord says, 'The twelve-day period of the second month at evening, you shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. You shall not leave any of it until the morning nor break any bone of it. According to all the ordinance of the Passover, you shall offer it. But if a man is clean and not on a journey, and yet did not present the Passover offering, the soul that does not present an offering to the Lord in its appointed time shall be cut off from his people. And the stranger who dwells among you and presents the Passover to the Lord, according to the ordinance of the Passover and its manner, shall do so. One law shall be for the stranger and for the native-born in the land.\"\n\nAnd on the same day that the tabernacle was erected, a cloud.\nCovered it high above the tabernacle of witness: and even by the habitation, as it were the similitude of fire until the morning. And so it was always, that the cloud covered it by day, and the similitude of fire by night. And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then the children of Israel gazed, and where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. At the mouth of the Lord the children of Israel gazed, and at the mouth of the Lord they pitched. And as long as the cloud remained upon the habitation, they stayed, and when the cloud tarried long upon the habitation, the children of Israel waited on the Lord and gazed not.\n\nIf it happened that the cloud remained any space of time upon the habitation, then they kept their tents at the mouth of the Lord: and they gazed also at the commandment of the Lord. And if it happened that the cloud was upon the habitation from evening until morning and was\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Old English, but it is still largely readable and does not require extensive translation. Only minor corrections are necessary.)\ntaken in the morning; they journeyed. Whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. But when the cloud tarried two days or a month or a long season upon the tabernacle, as long as it tarried thereon, the children of Israel kept the camp. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Make two trumpets of pure silver, that thou mayest use them to call the congregation together; and when the host shall journey, when they blow with them, all the multitude shall come to the tabernacle of witness. If but one trumpet blow only, then the princes who are heads over the thousands of Israel shall come to it. And when thou trumpest the first time, the hosts that lie on the eastern parts shall go forward. And when thou trumpest the second time, then the hosts that lie on the southern side shall take their journey: for they shall trumpet when they take their journeys. And in gathering the congregation together, thou shalt blow, but not with a continuous blast.\nAnd the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets, and they shall have them as a reminder before you and your children after you. And when you go to war in your land against your enemies who vex you, you shall blow the trumpets, and you shall be remembered before the Lord your God. For we were feeble and saved from your enemies. Also when you are merry on your feast days and in the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt sacrifices and peace offerings, that it may be a reminder of you before your God. I am the Lord your God.\n\nIt came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle of witness. And the children of Israel took their journey out of the wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran. And the first took their journey at the command of the Lord, by the hand of Moses: even the pillar of the cloud.\nThe host of Judah moved first with their armies, led by their captain Nahesson, son of Aminadab. Over the host of the tribe of Issachar was Nathaniel, son of Zuar. Over the host of the tribe of Zabulon was Eliab, son of Helon. The encampment was dismantled, and the sons of Gerson and Merari carried it away.\n\nThe standard-bearer of the host of Reuben went forth with their armies, led by their captain Elizur, son of Sedeur. Over the host of the tribe of Simeon was Shelumiel, son of Deguel. The Canaanites advanced and carried the holy things, while the others set up the encampment again.\n\nThe standard-bearer of the children of Ephraim went forth with their armies, led by their captain Elisama, son of Ammiud. Over the host of the tribes of Manasseh was Samaleel, son of Pedazur. Over the host of the tribe of the sons of Gedeon was Hinoath.\nAnd all the hosts came, the standard-bearers of the children of Dan with their armies; their captain was Ahiezer, the son of Ammi-Sadai. And over the host of the tribe of Asher was Pagiel, the son of Ochran. And over the host of the tribe of Naphtali was Ahira, the son of Enan. In this manner were the journeys of the children of Israel with their armies when they removed.\n\nAnd Moses said, \"And they departed from the mount of the Lord for a three-day journey, and the ark of the testimony of the Lord went before them in the three-day journey to seek out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they went out of the tents.\n\n\"And when the ark went forth, Moses said, 'Rise up, Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate flee before you.' And when the ark rested, he said, 'Return, Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.'\n\nThe people grew impatient, and it displeased them.\nAnd the Lord was angry, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed the most utter part of the host. And the people cried to Moses, and he made intercession for the Lord, and the fire quenched. And they called its name Tabera, because the fire of the Lord burned among them.\n\nThe rabble people who were among them lusted, and the children of Israel also went and wept and said, \"Who will give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But now our souls are dried away, for our eyes look on nothing else but on manna.\"\n\nThe manna was like coriander seed and appeared like resin. And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it in miles or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pans and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of an oil cake. And when the dew fell about the host in the night.\nAnd the Manna fell among them. When Moses heard the people weeping in their houses, every man at the door of his tent, the wrath of the Lord grew exceedingly hot, and it grieved Moses as well. Moses said to the Lord, \"Why do you deal so harshly with your servant? Why am I not finding favor in your sight? Why have you laid the burden of this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people, or have I given birth to them, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries the sucking child to the land which you swore to their fathers? Where shall I get flesh to give to all this people? For they weep to me, saying, \"Give us flesh that we may eat.\"\n\nAnd the Lord said to Moses, \"Gather to me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tabernacle of witness. And I will come down and speak with you there, and I will impart of my spirit to them.\"\nAnd take of your spirits that are upon you and put them upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people, and so you shall not bear alone.\nAnd say to the people: sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, that you may eat flesh, for you have complained in the ears of the Lord, saying, \"Who will give us flesh to eat, for we were happy when we were in Egypt?\" Therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and you shall see the Lord in the wilderness, a place of standing, and have wept before Him, saying, \"Why did we come out of Egypt?\"\nMoses said, \"Six hundred thousand foot soldiers are there of the people, among whom I am. And you have said, 'I will be with you or I will not be.'\nMoses went out and told the people the saying of the Lord, and he gathered the seventy elders of the people and set them around about the tabernacle. And the Lord came down in a cloud and spoke to him, and took of the spirit that was upon him and put it upon the seventy elders. And as the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied.\nRested upon them, they prophesied and did nothing else. But two of us remained in the host: the one called Eldad, the other Medad. And the spirit rested upon them, for they were among those who were written in. And a young man ran and told Moses, saying, \"Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.\" And Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' servant whom he had chosen, answered and said, \"Master Moses, forbid them.\" And Moses said to him, \"Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people could prophesy, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!\" Then both Moses and the elders of Israel brought them into the camp.\n\nAnd a wind went out from the Lord and brought quails from the sea and let them fall about the camp, a day's journey in every direction around the camp, on every side of the camp, and two cubits high on the ground. And the people stood all that night and all the morning, and gathered quails. And he who gathered the least gathered ten homers.\nAnd they gathered around the host, X homers full. And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, the wrath of the Lord grew hot against the people, and the Lord slew an excessive mighty slaughter of the people. And they called the name of the place the Graves of Lust: because they buried the people who lusted there.\n\nAnd the people journeyed from the Graves of Lust to Hazeroth and stayed there. And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of his Cushite wife whom he had taken; for he had taken a wife of Midian. And they said, \"Does the Lord speak only through Moses? Does He not speak through us?\" And the Lord heard it. But Moses was a very meek man above all the men of the earth. And the Lord spoke at once to Moses, to Aaron, and to Miriam: \"Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of witness,\" and they came out, the three of them.\n\nAnd the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam.\nAnd he said: \"Listen to my words. If there is a prophet of the Lord among you, I will reveal myself to him in a vision, and speak to him in a dream. But my servant Moses is not so. I speak to him mouth to mouth, and he sees the form and the back of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?\n\nAnd the Lord was angry with them, and went away. And behold, Miriam was become leprous, as white as snow. And when Aaron looked upon Miriam and saw that she was leprous, he said to Moses: \"Oh, I beseech thee, my lord, put not the sin upon us which we have foolishly committed and sinned. Oh, let her not be as one dead, coming out of her mother's womb: for half her flesh is consumed away.\n\nAnd Moses cried to the Lord, saying: \"Oh God, heal her. And the Lord said to Moses: \"If her father had spared her...\"\nAnd she should not be ashamed for six days. Let her be shut out of the host for six days, and after that let her be received again. Miriam was shut out of the host for six days; and the people did not remove her until she was received again. And afterward they removed from Hazeroth and pitched in the wilderness of Paran.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Send men to explore the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel: one man from every tribe, each one who is head among them.\" And Moses, at the Lord's command, sent forth from the wilderness of Paran: men who were heads among the children of Israel, whose names are these.\n\nIn the tribe of Reuben, Shammua, the son of Zaccur.\nIn the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat, the son of Hori.\nIn the tribe of Judah, Caleph, the son of Jephunneh.\nIn the tribe of Issachar, Igal, the son of Joseph.\nIn the tribe of Ephraim, Hosea, the son of Nun.\nBenjamin, son of Rapha, and Palti, son of Nun, whom Moses named Hosea, were sent to reconnoiter the land of Canaan. Moses instructed them to go southward and ascend into the high country, observing the land and its inhabitants: their strength or weakness, few or many, the quality of the land, whether it was good or bad, the type of cities they dwelled in, whether they were tents or walled towns, and the nature of the land: whether it was fertile or barren, and whether there were trees there or not. And they were to be of good courage and bring back fruit of the land. This was around the time when grapes were first ripe.\n\nThey went up and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, as far as Hemath, and they ascended to the south, reaching Ahiman, Sefai, and Thalman. They then returned from their reconnaissance.\nAt the end of the forty-day journey. They went and came to Moses and Aaron, and to all the assembly of the children of Israel, in the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh. And they brought them word and also reported to the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. They said to him, \"We came to the land that you sent us, and indeed it is a land that flows with milk and honey. However, the people are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large, and moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the south country, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the coast of the Jordan.\"\n\nCaleb quieted the murmuring of the people against Moses, saying, \"Let us go up and take possession of it, for we are able to overcome it.\" But the men who went up with him said, \"We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.\"\nAnd they brought up an evil report of the land to the children of Israel, saying, \"The land that we have gone through to search it out is a land that devours its inhabitants, and the people we saw in it were men of great stature. We saw giants there, the offspring of Anak, and we seemed to them as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. All the multitude cried out, and the people wept throughout that night, and all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, 'Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, our wives and our little ones?' Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the congregation of the assembly of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, were men of great courage.\"\nthat which searched the land rent their clothes and spoke to all the company of the children of Israel, saying: \"The land that we passed through to search it is a very good land. If the Lord has desire towards us, he will bring us into this land, which is a land that flows with milk and honey. But in any case, do not rebel against the Lord. Moreover, fear not the people of the land, for they are but bread for us. Their shield is departed from them, and the Lord is with us; fear them not therefore.\n\nAnd all the whole multitude began to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of witness to all the children of Israel. And the Lord said to Moses: \"Why do this people provoke me, and how long will they not believe me, for all my signs which I have shown among them? I will smite them with the plague.\"\n\nMoses said to the Lord: \"Then now would the Egyptians hear it, had they been around to stone me.\"\nFor you brought this people here with your might, and it will be told to the inhabitants of this land that you, Lord, are among this people, and that you have appeared to them face to face. Therefore, let the power of my Lord be great, as you have spoken, saying: The Lord is long-suffering and full of mercy, and bears with sin and transgression; he leaves the innocent unpunished, and visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the third and fourth generation. Be merciful, I beseech you, therefore, to the sin of this people according to your great mercy, and according as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even to this place.\n\nAnd the Lord said: I have forgiven it according to your request. But truly, all the earth shall be filled with my glory. For of all those who have seen my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt, and in all the land of Egypt,\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Old English. Here is a modern English translation of the text.)\n\nYou brought this people here with your power, and it will be told to the inhabitants of this land that you, Lord, are among this people, and that you have appeared to them face to face. Therefore, let the power of my Lord be great, as you have spoken, saying: The Lord is long-suffering and full of mercy, and bears with sin and transgression; he leaves the innocent unpunished, and visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the third and fourth generation. Be merciful, I beseech you, therefore, to the sin of this people according to your great mercy, and according as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even to this place.\n\nAnd the Lord said: I have forgiven it according to your request. But truly, all the earth shall be filled with my glory. For of all those who have seen my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt and in all the land of Egypt,\nin the wilderness, and yet it has tempted me ten times and I have not listened to my voice, no one shall see the land which I swore to their fathers. Neither shall any of those who mocked me see it. But my servant Caleb, because there is another spirit with him and because he has followed me to the utmost, I will bring him into the land which he has walked in, and his seed shall conquer it. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: \"How long shall this wicked multitude murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel why they murmur against me. Tell them, 'The Lord says: As truly as I live, I will do to you just as you have spoken in my ears. Your carcasses shall lie in this wilderness, neither shall any of these numbers which were numbered from twenty years old and above of you enter the land which I swore to make you inhabit.'\"\nAnd which have murmured against me have come into the land where I lifted my hand to make you dwell therein: save Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.\nAnd your children whom you said should be a prayer, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have refused. And your carcasses shall lie in this wilderness, and your children shall wander in this wilderness for forty years, and suffer for your whoredom until your carcasses are wasted in the wilderness, after the number of the days in which you searched out the land, forty days, a day for a year: so that they shall bear your unrighteousness forty years. And I, the Lord, have said that I will do it to all this evil congregation which are gathered together against me: even in this wilderness you shall be consumed, and here you shall die.\nAnd the men whom Moses sent to search the land, and who (when they came again) made all the people murmur against it, in that they brought up an evil report.\nSlander upon the land: driven for bringing up that evil slander against it, and were punished before the Lord. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of the company that went to search the land, lived still. And Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people took great sorrow.\n\nAnd they rose up early in the morning, Blinde reason who while yet would not let them believe in God's word, teaching them now to trust in their own works. He gave them up to the top of the mountain, saying: \"Behold, we are here; and we will go up to the place of which the Lord spoke; for we have sinned.\" And Moses said: \"Why will you go this way beyond the word of the Lord? It will not go well with you; go not up, for the Lord is not among you; you will not be saved before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will fall by the sword; because you have turned away from the Lord.\"\nAnd they were not allowed to go up to the hilltop: Never the ark of the testimony of the Lord and Moses departed from the host. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that hill came down and attacked them, reaching as far as Hormah. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: when you come into the land of your dwelling, which I give to you, and offer an offering to the Lord, whether it be a burnt offering or a vow offering or a freewill offering or if it is one of your principal feasts to make a sweet aroma to the Lord, of the oxen or of the sheep, then he who offers his offering to the Lord shall also bring a meal offering of a tenth part of an ephah of flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of oil and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering. And you shall offer it with the burnt offering or any other offering when it is a ram.\nWhen offering a meat offering for a burnt offering or any special vow or peace offering to the Lord, bring an ox, a meat offering of 2/10 deals of flour mixed with half a hin of oil. Bring for a drink offering half a hin of wine, an offering of a sweet savor to the Lord. This is the manner for one ox, one ram, a lamb, or a kid. According to the number of such offerings, increase the meat offerings and the drink offerings. All that are of you shall do these things in this manner when he offers a sweet savor to the LORD: even as you do, so he shall do. One ordinance shall serve both for you of the congregation and also for the priest.\nAnd it shall be an ordinance among you and your children after you that the stranger and you shall be alike before the Lord. One law and one custom shall serve for both of you and for the stranger who dwells with you.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land and I bring you there, and you eat of the bread of the land, you shall give a heave offering to the Lord. Of the first of your dough you must give to the Lord as a heave offering: just as you do the heave offering of the bull or the sheep, so you shall heave it.\n\nOf the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord as a heave offering throughout your generations.\n\nIf you transgress these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses and all that the Lord has commanded you through Moses from the day the Lord commanded you, and you become careless and forget what the Lord your God has commanded you to do, and you act presumptuously and go against his commandments:\nBefore the eyes of the congregation, then all the multitude shall offer a calf for a burnt offering, a sweet savor to the Lord, and the meat offering and the drink offering therewith, according to the manner. And he shall make an atonement for all the multitude of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them, for it was ignorance. And they shall bring their gifts to the offering of the Lord, and their sin offerings before the Lord for their ignorance. And it shall be forgiven to all the multitude of the children of Israel, and to the stranger that dwelleth among you: for ignorance pertains to all the people.\n\nIf any one soul sins through ignorance, he shall bring a she-goat of a year old for a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinned ignorantly with the sin offering before the Lord, and he shall be reconciled, and it shall be forgiven him. And both he that is born among the children of Israel, and he that is a stranger among them, and he that dwelleth among them, shall bring his gift according to the commandment.\nAmong the Israelites and foreigners living among you, if someone transgresses unintentionally, then both of you shall have the same law. You are a citizen along with the sojourner; you belong to the same God. But the person who acts presumptuously, whether he is an Israelite or a sojourner, that soul has despised the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people, because he has despised the word of the Lord and broken His commands. His sin will be upon him.\n\nWhile the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. They found him gathering sticks, brought him before Moses and Aaron and the entire assembly, and they put him in custody because it had not been declared what should be done to him. The Lord said to Moses, \"The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.\" So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died as the Lord had commanded Moses.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses,\nSay to the children of Israel and bid them make guards upon the quarters of their garments throughout their generations, and let them make the guards of ribands of Jacynth. The guard shall be God's signs to put men in remembrance of his work, that they should not seek a way to please God according to their own imagination. It is to be for you to look upon it, that you remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them: that you seek not a way after your own hearts and after your own eyes, for to go whoring after them: but that you remember and do all my commandments and be holy to your God, for I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord God.\n\nAnd Corah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the son of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, the son of Reuben, stood up before Moses with other children of Israel, two hundred and fifty.\nheads of the congregation and councellers and men of fame gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron and said to them: you have done enough. For all the multitude are holy, every one of them. And the Lord is among them. Why then do you lift yourselves up above the congregation of the Lord?\n\nWhen Moses heard it, he fell upon his face and spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying: tomorrow the Lord will show who is his and who is holy, and will take them to him, and whomsoever he has chosen, he will cause to come to him. Do this: take fire pans, Korah and all your company, and put fire therein before the Lord tomorrow. And then whomsoever the Lord chooses, the same is holy. You are enough to do the service of the tabernacle.\n\nMoses said to the children of Levi: does it seem a small thing to you, that God of Israel has separated you from the multitude of Israel to bring you near to him to do the service?\nAnd Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. They answered, \"We will not come. Is it a small thing that you have brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? But that you yourself should reign over us also? You have brought us to no land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us possessions of fields or vineyards. You would pull out the eyes of these men; we will not come.\"\n\nMoses became very angry and said to the Lord, \"Do not turn to their offenses. I have not taken even an ass from them, nor have I harmed them in any way.\"\nMoses said to Korah and all his company: \"Be before the Lord, you and Aaron, with each man his censer, and come before Him tomorrow. Take every man his censer and put fire in them and lay incense thereon, and stand before the tabernacle of witness. Moses and Aaron also did so. But Korah gathered all the congregation against them at the door of the tabernacle of witness.\n\nThe glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: \"Separate yourselves from this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.\" And they fell on their faces and said: \"O most mighty God of the spirits of all flesh, one man has sinned; will You be wroth with all the multitude?\" And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Speak to the congregation and say: 'Get away from about the dwelling place of Korah, David, and Dathan.'\"\nAnd Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. He spoke to the congregation, saying, \"Depart from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs, lest you perish in all their sins.\" They drove them out from the dwelling of Corah, Dathan and Abiram, on every side. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents with their wives, their sons, and their children.\n\nMoses said, \"Here you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that I have not done them of my own mind. If these men die the common death of all men or if they are visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord makes a new thing and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them, so that they go down quickly into Sheol, then you shall understand that these men have rebelled against the Lord.\"\n\nAnd as soon as he had finished speaking,\nAnd the ground opened its mouth and swallowed them and their houses and all the men who were with Korah, along with their goods. And they and all that belonged to them went down alive into hell, and the earth closed over them. All Israel, who were around them, fled at their cry, for they said, \"The earth might swallow us also.\" And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who offered the censers. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Speak to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, and let him take up the censers that those who were burned had offered, and scatter the fire there. For the censers of these sinners are holy to the Lord; let them be beaten into thin plates and overlaid on the altar as a remembrance.\" Eleazar the priest took the brazen censers that those who had been burned had offered and beat them out and overlaid them on the altar as a remembrance.\nChildren of Israel: no stranger who is not of Aaron's seed should come near to offer incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah and his company, as the Lord said to him through Moses.\n\nThe next morning, all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, \"You have killed the people of the Lord.\" And when the multitude was gathered against Moses and Aaron, they looked toward the tabernacle of witness. And behold, the cloud had covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. Moses and Aaron went before the tabernacle of witness. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"Get yourself from among this congregation, that I may consume them quickly.\" And they fell on their faces.\n\nMoses said to Aaron, \"Take a censer and put fire therein from the altar, and put incense on it and go quickly to the congregation and make an atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord, and a plague has begun.\" Aaron did so.\nToke, as Moses commanded him, and ran to the congregation. Behold, the plague was gone among the people. He put on the censers and made an atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and those who were alive, and the plague ceased. And the number of those who died in the plague were 14,700: besides those who died around the business of Korah. And Aaron went again to Moses to the door of the tabernacle of witness, and the plague ceased.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and take from them, for every prince of house a rod, from their princes over the houses of their fathers: even twelve rods, and write every man's name upon his rod. And write Aaron's name upon the staff of Levi: for every headman over the houses of their fathers shall have a rod. And put them in the tabernacle of witness where I will meet you. And his rod whom I choose, shall blossom: So I will make cease from me the grudging of the people.\nChildren of Israel opposed you. And Moses spoke to the children of Israel and to all their princes, giving each prince over his father's house a rod: twelve rods, with Aaron's rod among them. Moses placed the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness. The next morning, Moses went into the tabernacle and saw that the rod of Aaron, from the house of Levi, had budded and produced blossoms and almonds. Moses brought all the statues before the Lord to the children of Israel, and they looked upon them and took each man his staff.\n\nThe Lord said to Moses, \"Bring Aaron's rod back before the witness to be kept as a sign for the children of Reuben, that their murmurings may cease, lest they die.\" Moses did as the Lord commanded him. And the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, \"Behold, we are destroyed and all come to nothing: for whoever comes near the tabernacle of the Lord dies. Shall we die?\"\nAnd the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, \"You and your sons and your father's house shall bear the guilt for what is done amiss in the holy place. And you and your sons shall bear the reproach for what is done amiss in your priesthood. And your brother and the tribe of your father's house, along with you, bring them near and join them to you, and let them minister with you. And you and your sons with them shall minister before the tabernacle of witness. And they shall wait on you and on all the tabernacle: only let them not come near the holy vessels and the altar, lest both they and you die. And let them be near you and wait on the tabernacle of witness and on all the service of the tabernacle. And let no stranger come near you.\"\n\nWait therefore upon the holy place and upon the altar, lest further wrath come upon the children of Israel. Behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel to be yours, as a gift.\nAnd you are given gifts to be given to the Lord for the service of the tabernacle as a witness. Ensure that you and your sons take part in your priestly duties regarding the altar and within the veil. And you shall serve, for I have given you the priestly office as a gift to do so; and the stranger who comes near shall die.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Aaron: \"Behold, I have given you the keeping of My sanctuaries in all the most holy things of the children of Israel. And to you I have given them as an anointing and to your sons: it shall be a perpetual duty for you. This shall be yours of most holy sacrifices: all their gifts, through all their meat offerings, sin offerings, and trespass offerings which they bring to Me: they shall be most holy to you and to your sons. And you shall eat it in the most holy place: all males shall eat of it; for it shall be holy to you.\n\nAnd this shall be yours: the keeping of their gifts, through all the offerings.\"\nOfferings of the children of Israel / for I have given them to you and your sons / and your daughters with it / to be a duty forever. And all that are clean in your house / shall eat of it / all the fat of the oil, of the wine and of the grain: their first fruits which they bring to the Lord that I have given to you. The first fruits of all that is in their lands which they bring to the Lord / shall be yours. All dedicated things in Israel / shall be yours. All that break the matrix of all flesh that men bring to the Lord, both of man and beast / shall be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man shall be redeemed / and the firstborn of unclean beast shall be redeemed. And their redemptions shall be at a month old / valued at five cycles of silver / of the holy cycle. A cycle makes twenty Geras. But the firstborn of oxen, sheep and goats shall not be redeemed. For they are holy / and you shall sprinkle their blood upon the altar.\nbloud on the altar and shalt burn their fat as a sweet sacrifice to the Lord. And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and all the right shoulder is thine. All the holy heffings which the children of Israel heave unto the Lord, I give thee and thy sons and thy daughters with thee as a duty forever. And it shall be a salted covenant forever before the Lord: and the Lord spoke unto Aaron: thou shalt have no inheritance in their land nor part among them. For I am thy part and thy inheritance among the children of Israel. And behold I have given the children of Levi the tenth in Israel to inherit, for the service which they serve in the tabernacle of witness, that the children of Israel henceforth come near, will have tithes and lands and rents and kingdoms and empires and all. The tithes of the children of Israel which they heave unto the Lord, I have given the Levites to inherit. Wherefore I have said unto them: Among the children of Israel.\nChildren of Israel, you shall inherit none inheritance from them, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: speak to the Levites and say to them: when you take from the children of Israel their tithes, which I have given you as your inheritance, you shall take for the Lord a heave offering from it, that is, the tenth of the tithe. It shall be reckoned to you as your heave offering, as if you gave corn from the threshing floor or full grain offerings from the wine press. And in this manner you shall take for the Lord's heave offering from all your tithes that you receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give from it the Lord's heave offering to Aaron the priest. Of all your gifts, you shall take out the Lord's heave offering: the fat of all their consecrated things. And you shall say to them: when you have taken away the fat from it, it shall be counted to the Levites, as increase of corn and wine. And you shall keep it in all places, both you and your households, for it is holy to the Lord.\nYou are rewarded for your service in the tabernacle. And you shall not bear sin because of it, nor profane the sanctified things of the children of Israel, so you shall live. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: \"This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and they shall take a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and which has never carried a yoke. And you shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her outside the camp and cause her to be killed before him.\n\nAnd Eleazar the priest shall take some of her blood with his finger and sprinkle it toward the tabernacle of witness. Six priests shall be unclean until evening. And the one who burns her shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his flesh also in water, and shall be unclean until evening. And a clean person shall go and take up the ashes of the cow and put them outside the camp in a clean place. And he shall be quarantined from the camp for seven days. And on the seventh day he shall burn the ashes in the ash pit outside the camp, and the priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson wool, and cast them into the midst of the burning ashes. Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and afterward he may enter the camp. This is the law for a person who has touched a dead cow.\"\nThis is the law for the children of Israel and the stranger living among them: without impurity in a clean place, make spring water for the multitude. He who gathers cow ashes should wash his clothes and remain unclean until evening. This shall be a statute for the children of Israel and for the stranger living among them: he who touches any dead body shall be unclean for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day he shall purify himself with the ashes, and on the seventh day he shall be clean. If he does not purify himself on the third day or the seventh day, he will not be clean. Whoever touches a dead person and does not purify himself defiles the dwelling of the Lord. That soul shall be cut off from Israel because he did not sprinkle the spring water on himself. He will be unclean, and his uncleanness will remain on him.\n\nThis is the law for the man who dies in a tent: all that touch his body shall be unclean until evening.\nCome into the tent and all that is in it shall be unclean for seven days. And all open vessels which have no lid nor covering upon them are unclean. And whoever touches a slain person in the fields, or a dead person, or a bone of a dead person, or a grave: shall be unclean for seven days.\n\nTake for an unclean person the ashes of the sin offering, and put running water to it in a vessel. A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the vessels and on the person who was there, and on him who touched a bone or a slain person or a dead body or a grave. And the clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean the third day and the seventh day. And on the seventh day he shall purify himself and wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean at evening.\n\nIf anyone is unclean and does not sprinkle himself, the soul that touches it shall be destroyed from among the assembly.\ncongregation: he has defiled the Lord's holy place. And he who sprinkles the sprinkling water shall wash his clothes. And he who touches the sprinkling water shall be unclean until evening. And whatever unclean person touches it shall be unclean. And the soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening. And the entire multitude of the children of Israel came to the desert of Sin in the first month, and the people dwelt at Kadesh. And there Miriam died and was buried there. Moreover, there was no water for the multitude, so they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying, \"Would that we had perished when our brethren perished before the Lord! Why have you brought the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness to bring us and our livestock to die here? Why have you brought us out of Egypt to bring us into this ungracious place, which is no place of seed nor pasture nor vines.\"\nAnd Moses and Aaron went to the tabernacle's door and fell on their faces. The Lord's glory appeared to them. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Take your staff and gather you and your brother Aaron the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give forth its water. You shall bring water out of the rock for them and give the congregation and their livestock to drink.\"\n\nMoses took the staff from before the Lord, as He commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said to them, \"You rebels, must we bring water for you from this rock?\"\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, \"Because you did not believe me to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. This is the water of strife, because the children of Israel strove with me.\"\nAnd Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, \"Thou knowest the hardships that have befallen us: how our fathers went down to Egypt and dwelt there a long time, and how we cried to the Lord and He heard our voices, sending an angel to deliver us from Egypt. Behold, we are now in Cades, on the right hand and on the left, until we have passed through thy land.\n\nBut Edom answered him, \"Thou shalt not come by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.\" And the children of Israel said to him, \"We will go by the beaten way, and if either we or our cattle drink of thy water, we will pay for it. We will do no more than pass through on our way only.\" But he said, \"Ye shall not go through.\" And Edom came out against him with a large force. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his land. And Israel turned away from him.\n\nThe children of Israel\nAnd they went up to Mount Hor with the entire congregation. The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron on Mount Hor, at the edge of the land of Edom: Let Aaron be put among his people, for he shall not enter the land I have given to the children of Israel, because you disobeyed my word at the waters of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor. Strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. Let Aaron be put among his people and die there.\n\nMoses did as the Lord commanded: they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of the whole multitude. Moses took off Aaron's garments and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron died there on the summit of the mountain. Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. And all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days.\n\nAnd when King Arad the Canaanite, who dwelt in the southern parties, heard that Israel had come by the way,\nspies discovered that he came and fought against Israel, taking some prisoners. Israel vowed to the Lord, \"If you give this people into our hands, we will destroy their cities.\" And the Lord heard the voice of Israel and gave them the Canaanites. They destroyed both them and their cities and named the place Hormah.\n\nThen they departed from Mount Hor towards the Red Sea to encircle the land of Edom. The people's spirits grew faint on the journey. And the people spoke against God and Moses, \"Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water, and our souls loathe this worthless bread.\"\n\nThen the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, biting them so that many people died in Israel. And the people came to Moses and said, \"We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he takes away the serpents from us.\" So Moses prayed for the people.\nAnd the Lord said to Moses: Make a serpent and put it on a pole, and anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on a pole, and when anyone who had been bitten by a snake looked at the serpent of bronze, they recovered.\n\nThe children of Israel moved on and camped at Oboth. They departed from Oboth and camped at Ijebarim in the wilderness, which is before Moab to the east. They moved on from there and camped at the brook Arnon, which is the border between Moab and the Amorites. Therefore, it is written in the Book of the Wars of the Lord: \"Go, take possession of the land of the Amorites in the Jordan and in the hills, in Gilead and in the land of Edom.\"\n\nFrom there they went to Beer, which is the well where the Lord spoke to Moses: \"Gather the people together, and I will give them water.\" Then Israel sang this song:\n\nRise up, O well! Sing about it!\nThe well which the princes dug,\nWhich the nobles of the people dug,\nWith the scepter and with their staffs.\n\nAnd from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah, and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, and from Bamoth to the valley that lies in the land of Moab by the top of Pisgah, which looks down on the desert.\n\nThen Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, \"Let us pass through your land to our place and our pasturelands, not through the field or through the vineyards, but we will travel along the king's highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left, until we have passed through your territory.\" But Sihon did not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people and encamped in Jahaz and fought against Israel. And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. They took possession of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.\n\nSo now write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Sing it, so that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. For when I brought them up from the land of Egypt, I did not speak with their fathers or their forefathers, but I spoke with you, and you have seen with your own eyes what I did to Egypt. And now I am giving you a land that you did not plant, and you shall inherit it; and I will multiply you, and you shall become as the stars of heaven for multitude.\n\nAnd as the Lord, your God, promised you, you have possessed all these lands that I have sworn to give to your fathers, and you have taken possession of all the lands that I have given to them, because they followed the Lord, your God, wholeheartedly.\n\nTherefore, keep and observe all the words of this covenant, which I command you today, by loving the Lord, your God, and by walking in all his ways and keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, and you shall live and multiply, and the Lord, your God, will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord, your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.\nrulers dug ditches and the captains of the people, with the help of the lawgiver and their statues. And from this wilderness they went to Ma. Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying: \"Let us pass through your land. We will not turn into your fields or into your vineyards, nor drink from the water of your wells. But we will go along the common way until we have passed through your country.\" And Sihon would not give Israel permission to pass through his country, but gathered all his people together and went out against Israel in the wilderness. He came to Jabesh and fought with Israel. And Israel struck him with the edge of the sword and conquered his land from Arnon to Jabok: even to the children of Ammon. For the borders of the children of Ammon are strong. And Israel took all these cities and dwelt in all the towns that were there. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, which Sihon had fought.\nBefore the king of the Moabites had taken all his land from him, extending as far as Arnon. Therefore, it is a proverb: \"Go to Heshbon, and let the city of Sihon be built and prepared, for a fire has gone out of Heshbon and a flame from the city of Sihon has consumed Ar of the Moabites and the men of the hills of Arnon. Woe to Moab: O people of Chemosh, you are lost. His sons have been put to flight and his daughters brought captive to Sihon, the king of the Amorites. From Heshbon there is no light for you.\n\nMoses sent to search out Ijezer, and they took the towns belonging to it and conquered the Amorites who were there. Then they turned and went up toward Bashan. Og, the king of Bashan, came out against them, along with all his people, to wage war at Edrei. And the Lord said to Moses, \"Fear him not, for I have delivered him into your hand, along with all his people and his land. You shall do to him as you did to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who dwelt in the land of the Amorites.\"\nAnd they defeated Hesbon. They killed Hesbon and his sons and all his people until there was nothing left. They conquered his land. The children of Israel removed and pitched in the fields of Moab, on the other side of the Jordan, by Jericho.\n\nBalac, the son of Zippor, saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. The Moabites were greatly disturbed because the people were numerous, and they hated the children of Israel. Moab said to the elders of Midian, \"This company has licked up all that surrounds us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field. Balac, the son of Zippor, was king of the Moabites at that time.\n\nHe sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor, the interpreter who dwelt on the river in the land of his people, to call him, saying, \"Behold, there is a people that has come out of Egypt, which covers the face of the earth and lies hard by me. Now come, curse this people for me. For they are too mighty for me.\"\nAnd the elders of Moab and Midian came to Balaam and held out the rewards in their hands. They went to Balaam and recounted Balak's words. He said to them, \"Stay here overnight, and I will obtain a message from the Lord; whatever He says, I will tell you.\" The elders of Moab stayed with Balaam.\n\nGod came to Balaam and said, \"Who are these men with you?\" Balaam replied to God, \"Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent for me, saying, 'Look, a people has come out of Egypt and covers the face of the earth. Now therefore, come and curse this people, so that perhaps I may be able to overcome them in battle and drive them out.' \" God said to Balaam, \"You shall not go with them, nor curse the people, for they are blessed.\"\n\nBalaam rose in the morning and said to the elders of Balak, \"Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused me permission to go with you.\" The elders of Moab rose and returned to Balak.\nBalam refused to come with us. Balac sent a larger company of lords and more honorable men. They went to Balam and said, \"Thus speaks Balac, the son of Zippor: Please do not let anything prevent you from coming to me. I will greatly promote you to great honor and will do whatever you say to me. Therefore, I implore you, curse my people.\"\n\nBalam answered the servants of Balac, \"If Balac would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God to do less or more. Nevertheless, stay here tonight, that I may know again what the Lord will say to me.\"\n\nAnd God came to Balam by night and said, \"If the men come to invite you, rise and go with them, but whatever I say to you, that alone you shall do.\"\n\nBalam rose early and saddled his ass and went with the lords of Moab. But God was angry because he went. The angel of the Lord stood in the way.\nAgainst him (Balaam) rode his ass and two servants were with him. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his sword drawn, she swerved out of the way and went into the field. Balaam struck the ass to turn her back to the way.\n\nThe angel of the Lord stood in a path between the vineyards, where there was a wall on one side and another on the other. When the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she leaned towards the wall and thrust Balam's foot against the wall, and he struck her again. The angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn, neither to the right hand nor to the left. When the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balam, and Balam was angry and struck the ass with a staff.\n\nThe Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said to Balam, \"What have I done to you, that you strike me these three times?\" And Balam said to the ass, \"Because you have mocked me.\"\n\"hast mocked me? I would that I had a sword in my hand, to kill you now. And the ass said to Balaam: am I not your ass, which you have ridden upon since the day you were born? Was I ever wont to do so to thee? And he said, \"no.\"\n\nAnd the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand. And he bowed himself and fell flat on his face. And the angel of the Lord said to him, \"Why have you struck your ass these three times? Behold, I came out to oppose you. For the way is contrary to me. And the ass saw me and turned away from me these three times. Or else (had she not turned away from me) I would surely have slain you and saved her alive. And Balaum said to the angel of the Lord, \"I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases you, I will turn back.\" And the angel said to Balaam, \"Go with the men, but whatever I say to you, that you shall do.\"\"\nAnd Balam went with Balac and his lords to a city of Moab in Arnon's border, the utmost part of Balac's domain. Balac said, \"Whatever God puts in my mouth, that I must speak. Balam went with Balac, and they came to the city of Buzoth. Balac offered oxen and sheep, and sent for Balam and the lords with him.\n\nIn the morning, Balac took Balam and brought him up to the high place of Baal. There, Balam saw the people to the utmost part. Balam said to Balac, \"Build me here seven altars and provide here seven oxen and seven rams. Balac did as Balam said. Balac and Balam offered an ox and a ram on every altar. Balam said to Balac, \"Stand by the sacrifice while I go to inquire if the Lord will come and speak with me. Whatever He shows me, I will tell you.\"\n\nAnd God came to Balam. Balam said to Him, \"I have prepared seven altars, and here are seven oxen and seven rams.\"\nAnd the Lord said to Balaam, \"Go back to Balak and you shall say to him, 'Balak of Moab has sent me from Mesopotamia, from the mountains of the east, saying, \"Come and curse Jacob, come and defy Israel. How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I defy whom the Lord has not denied? From the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I watch him. Lo, he dwells alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations, nor shall he be counted among the peoples. Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his!'\n\n\"And Balak said to Balaam, \"What have you done to me? I sent you to curse my enemies, and behold, you bless them!\n\n\"And he answered and said, \"Must I not take care to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?\"\n\n\"And Balak said to him, \"Come with me to another place from which you shall see them, and you shall see them and shall curse them for me.\"\nAnd he brought him to a plain field where men could see far, even to the top of Pisgah. He built seven altars there and offered an ox and a ram on each altar. And he said to Balaam, \"Stand here by your sacrifice while I go over there.\" And the Lord met Balaam and put words in his mouth and said, \"Go back to Balak and say this: 'Rise, Balak, and hear, and give ear to me, you son of Zippor. God is not a man that He lies, nor a son of man that He repents. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have blessed, and I will bless.' He saw no wickedness in Jacob nor did he see idolatry in Israel. The Lord their God is with them, and the shout.\"\nAmong a king among them, God who brought them out of Egypt is like the strength of an unwieldy corn to them, for there is no sorcerer in Jacob, nor false speaker in Israel. When the time comes, it was said of Jacob and Israel, \"Behold, O people, shall rise up as a lion and lift himself up like a lion, and shall not lie down until he has eaten of the prey and drunk of the blood of those who are slain.\"\n\nBalak said to Balaam, \"Do not curse them nor bless them.\" And Balaam answered and said to Balak, \"Did I not say to you, 'Whatever the Lord commands me, that I must do?' And Balak said to Balaam, \"Come now, I will bring you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them there.\" And Balak brought Balaam to the top of Peor, which faces the wilderness. And Balaam said to Balak, \"Make here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams.\" And Balak did as Balaam had said.\nAnd he offered a bollock and a ram on every altar. When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord that he should bless Israel, he did not go as he had done twice before to find sustenance by seeking sorcery, but set his face toward the wilderness and lifted up his eyes and looked upon Israel as he lay with his tribes. And the spirit of God came upon him. He took up his parable and said: \"Balaam the son of Beor has said, and the man whose eye is open has said: he has said who hears the words of God and sees the visions of the Almighty, which falls down and his eyes are opened.\" How goodly are the tents of Jacob, and his dwelling shall be exalted. God, who brought him out of Egypt, is like the strength of an uncorn to him, and he shall eat the nations that are his enemies and break their bones and pierce them through with his arrows. He couched himself and lay down.\n\nBalac was wrathful with Balaam and struck his hands together and said to him: \"I sent for you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them.\"\nAnd I have come three times to this place, and now quickly approach. I thought I would promote the unworthy to honor, but the Lord has kept honor from him. Balam said to Balak, \"Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, 'If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the mouth of the Lord to do either good or evil of my own accord'? What the Lord says, that must I speak. And now behold, I go to my people. Come, let me show you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days.\n\nBalam began his parable and said, \"Balam the son of Beor has said, and the man whose eye is open has said, and he has said who hears the words of God and has knowledge of the Most High, and beholds the vision of the Almighty, and falls down with open eyes. I see him not now, I behold him not near. There shall come a star from Jacob and a scepter from Israel, which shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the shepherds of Moab and cast down their bones.\"\nAnd all the children of Seth shall be under Edom's possession, and the possession of Seir shall be their enemies. Israel shall act valiantly. From Jacob will come one who destroys the remnants of the cities.\n\nHe looked at Amalek and began his parable, saying, \"Amalek is the first of the nations, but its end shall utterly perish.\" He looked at the Ammonites and took his parable and said, \"Your dwelling place is strong; put your trust in a rock; never again will you be scorched by fire until Asshur takes you captive.\" He took his parable and said, \"Alas, who will live when God does this? Ships will come from the coast of Cittim and subdue Asshur and Eber, and he himself shall perish at the end.\n\nBalak rose up and went his way, and Balaam dwelt in his place. Israel dwelt in Sittim. But the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab, who invited the people to sacrifice to their gods.\nThe people worshipped their goddesses, and Israel joined himself to Baal Peor. The Lord was angry with Israel and told Moses, \"Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord, so that the Lord's wrath may turn away from Israel.\" Moses told the judges of Israel, \"Go and kill those men who joined themselves to Baal Peor.\n\nOne of the children of Israel brought a Midianite wife into the sight of Moses and the entire assembly of the children of Israel, as they were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of witness. Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it and rose up from among the congregation and took a spear in his hand. He pursued the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both the man and the woman, through their bellies. The plague ceased among the children of Israel. And they died.\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My anger away from the children of Israel, for he was zealous for My sake among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. Therefore, say: 'Behold, I give to him and his seed after him My covenant of peace. And it shall be to him and his descendants after him the covenant of the priesthood forever, because he was zealous for his God's sake and made an atonement for the children of Israel.'\n\nThe name of the Israelite who was struck down with the Midianite woman was Z.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Avenge the children of Israel against the Midianites, and strike them, for they have troubled you with their wiles with which they have seduced you, through the daughter of a lord of the Midianites, who was slain on the day of the plague because of Peor.\"\n\nAnd after the plague, the Lord spoke to Moses and to Eleazar, saying: \"Take the number of all the congregation of the children of Israel from twenty years old and above, by their families, by their tribes, and by their fathers' houses.\"\nIsrael, from the 20th year and above, threw out their father's houses, all who were able to go to war in Israel. And Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke to them in the fields of Moab, by the Jordan, east of Jericho, from the 20th year and above, as the Lord commanded Moses. And the children of Israel who came out of Egypt were: Reuben, the eldest son of Israel. The descendants of Reuben were: Hanoch, from whom came the kin of the Hanochites; and Pallu, from whom came the kin of the Palites. This is Dathan and Abiram, the rebels in the congregation, who opposed Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they opposed the Lord. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and Korah, and when the multitude died, what time the fire consumed 250 men, they became a sign: Notwithstanding, the children of Korah died not.\n\nAnd the descendants of Simeon in their tribes were: Nemuel, from whom came the kin of the Nemuelites; Iamin, from whom came the kin of the Iaminites.\nThe Iachinites: Iachin is the ancestor of the Saulites. The number of the Simeonites and their families was twenty-two thousand and two hundred.\n\nThe children of Gad and their families were: Zephon, the ancestor of the Zephonites; Haggi, the ancestor of the Haggites; Suni, the ancestor of the Sunites; Aseni, the ancestor of the Asenites; and Eri, the ancestor of the Erites; Arod, the ancestor of the Arodites.\n\nThe children of Judah: Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The families of Judah were: Sela, the ancestor of the Selamites; Phares, the ancestor of the Pharesites; and Serah, the ancestor of the Serahites.\n\nThe children of Phares were Hesron, the ancestor of the Hesronites; and Hamul, the ancestor of the Hamulites. These are the families of Judah, numbering seventy-six thousand and five hundred.\n\nThe children of [unknown] were [unknown].\nThe tribes of Isachar: Tola, of the Tolaites; Phuva, of the Phuites; the Iasubites; and the Sunronites. Their numbers totaled 61,400.\n\nThe tribes of Zabulon: Sered, of the Seredites; Elon, of the Elonites; and Iaeliel, of the Iehalelites. Their numbers totaled 15,500.\n\nThe tribes of Joseph: Manasseh and Ephraim. The descendants of Manasseh: Machir, of the Machirites; Gilead, of the Gileadites; Hieser, of the Hieserites; and Helech, of the Helechites. The daughters of Zelophehad were named Mabel.\nThese are the kinredes of Manasseh: Noa, Hagla, Milcha, and their numbers totaled one thousand and seven hundred. These are the children of Ephraim and their kinredes: Suthelah, from whom came the kinred of the Suthelahites. These are the children of Ben-Jamin and their kinredes: Bela, from whom came the kinred of the Belaites; Asbel, from whom came the kinred of the Asbelites; Ahiram, from whom came the kinred of the Ahiramites; Supha, from whom came the kinred of the Suphamites; and Hupham, from whom came the kinred of the Huphamites.\n\nThese are the children of Dan and their kinredes: Suham, from whom came the kinred of the Suhamites. These are the kinredes of Dan in their generations. And all the kinredes of the Suhamites numbered sixty-two thousand and four hundred.\n\nThe children of Asher and their kinredes were: Jemna, from whom came the kinred of the Jemnites; Jsui, from whom came the kinred of the Jsuites; and Birah. From Birah came the kinred of the Heberites.\nMalchiel came the kynred of the Malchielites. And y\u2022 dou\u2223ghter of Asser was called Sarah. These a\u2223re the kinredes of Asser in numbre .liij. thou\u2223sande and .iiij. hundred.\nThe childern of Nephtali in their kynred\u2223des were: Jaheziel / of whom came the kyn\u2223red of the Jahezielites: and G\nAnd the Lorde spake vnto Moses sayen\u00a6ge: vnto these the londe shalbe deuyded to en\u00a6herett / acordinge to the numbre of names: to many thou shalt gene y\u2022 moare enheritaunce & to fewe y\u2022 lesse: to euery tribe shall y\u2022 enheri\u2223tau\u0304ce be geue\u0304 acordinge to ye numbre therof. Notwithstondinge / y\u2022 londe shalbe deuyded by lott / & acordinge to ye names of ye tribes of their fathers / thei shall enherett: & acordinge \nto the many and to the fewe.\nThese are the summes of y\u2022 leuites in the in kinredes: of Gerson / came the kynred of ye Gersonites: and of Cahath came the kinred of the Cahathites: and of Merari came the kinred of the Merarites. These are the kyn\u2223redes of Leui: the kinred of the Libnites / the kynred of the Hebronites / the\nThe kin of the Mahelites / the kin of the Musites / the kin of the Rarahites.\nRahath begat Amram / and Amram's wife was called Jochebed, daughter of Levi. She bore Amram sons: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. And to Aaron were born: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died / as they offered strange fire before the Lord. And the number of them was 22,000 / of all the males one month old and above. For they were not numbered among the children of Israel / because no inheritance was given them among the children of Israel.\n\nThese are the numbers of the children of Israel which Moses and Eleazar the priest numbered in the fields of Moab, by the Jordan, near Jericho. And among these there was not a man of the number of the children of Israel which Moses and Aaron numbered in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord said to them / that they should die in the wilderness / and that there should not be left a man.\nThe daughters of Zelaphchad, the son of Heber, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the family of Manasseh, son of Joseph, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, came and stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest and before the lords and all the assembly at the entrance of the tabernacle of witness, saying, \"Our father died in the wilderness and was not among those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the congregation of Korah, but died in his own sin, and had no sons. Therefore, the name of our father should not be taken away among his kin because he had no son. Give us a possession among the brothers of our father.\"\n\nMoses brought their case before the Lord. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, \"The daughters of Zelaphchad speak rightly. You shall give them a possession in the midst of their father's brothers.\"\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Speak to the children of Israel, saying: If a man dies and has no son, you shall give his inheritance to his daughter. If he has no daughter, you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, you shall give his inheritance to his father's brothers. If he has no father's brothers, you shall give his inheritance to the next of kin in his family, and he shall possess it. This shall be to the children of Israel an ordinance and a law, as the Lord has commanded Moses.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses: \"Go up into this mountain of Abron, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel. And when you have seen it, you shall be gathered to your people also, as Aaron your brother was gathered to his people. For you were disobedient in my presence at the waters of Meribah in the strife of the congregation, that you sanctified me not in their sight.\"\nAnd Moses, a faithful and merciful man like our Moses, spoke to the Lord, saying: \"Let the Lord God of the spirits of all flesh set a man over the congregation who may go in and out before them, and who will lead them in and out. So that the congregation of the Lord is not like a flock without a shepherd.\n\nAnd the Lord said to Moses: \"Take Joshua the son of Nun, in whom there is spirit, and place your hand on him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. And you shall give him a charge in their fight. And put your prayer upon him, that all the children of Israel may hear. He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him according to the law before the Lord. At the mouth of Eleazar, both he and all the children of Israel with him, and all the congregation, shall go in and out.\n\nMoses did as the Lord commanded him, and he took Joshua.\"\nJoshua was brought before Eleazar the priest and the entire congregation. He placed his hands on him and gave him a charge as the Lord had commanded through Moses' hand. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Give the children of Israel this charge and tell them to present to me an offering of my bread, the sweet savory bread, as an offering at its appointed time. Speak to them and say, \"This is the offering you shall offer to the Lord: two lambs of a year old without blemish, day by day, as a perpetual burnt offering. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb in the evening, along with its grain offering and its drink offering, following the same procedure for the morning: a sacrifice of a sweet aroma to the Lord. And on the Sabbath day, two lambs of a year old.\nAnd in the first month, on the first day, you shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bullocks, a ram, and seven lambs of a year old without spot, and three heaps of flour for a meal offering mixed with oil, one for each bullock, and two for the ram. And every month,\n\nThe fourteenth day of the first month shall be Passover to the Lord. And the fifteenth day of the same month shall be a feast, in which seven days men must eat unleavened bread. The first day shall be a holy feast, so that you shall do no laborious work therein. And you shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old without spot, and their meal offerings and drink offerings.\nAnd you shall offer three-tenths of flour mixed with oil to a block of meat, and two-tenths to a ram, and one-tenth to each lamb, throughout the seven lambs. And a he-goat for a sin offering to make an atonement for you. Offer these beside the morning burnt offering, which is always offered. And in this manner shall you offer the food of the sacrifice of sweet savor to the Lord for seven days. It shall be done beside the daily burnt offering and his drink offering. And on the seventh day there shall be a holy feast for you, so that you shall do no laborious work. And the day of your first fruits, when you bring a new meat offering to the Lord in your weeks, shall be a holy feast for you: so that you shall do no laborious work therein. And you shall offer a burnt offering of sweet savor to the Lord of two young bullocks and a ram, and seven lambs of your old one, a piece, with their meat offerings of flour mixed with oil, three-tenths.\ntenth deal to a bull, 2 tenth deals to a ram, and a tenth deal more to a lamb through the seven lambs. And this you shall do beside the daily burnt offering and his meal offering: and they shall be without blemish, with their drink offerings.\n\nThe first day of the seventh month shall be an holy feast unto you, and you shall do no laborious work therein. It shall be a day of trumpeting unto you. And you shall offer a burnt offering of a sweet savour unto the Lord: one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old, a male goat for a sin offering: besides the burnt offering of the month and his meal offering and besides the daily burnt offering and his meal offering and besides the drink offerings.\nAnd the tenth day of that seventh month shall be an holy feast unto you, and you shall humble your souls and do no manner of work therein. And you shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord of a sweet savour: one bullock, and a ram, and seven lambs of a year old, without blemish, and their meat offerings of flour mingled with oil: three tenths to a bullock, and two to a ram, and one tenth to a lamb, though you throw out the seven lambs. And one he goat for a sin offering, besides the sin offering of atonement and the daily burnt offering, and the meat and drink offerings that belong to it.\n\nAnd the fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be a holy day, and you shall do no laborious work therein, and you shall keep a feast unto the Lord of seven days. And you shall offer a burnt offering of a sweet savour unto the Lord: thirteen bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs.\nAnd the first day, forty-three bolocks, two rams and twelve spotless yearling lambs, with three tenth deals of oil each, for the bolocks, rams and lambs, their meat and drink offerings accordingly. And he offered a sin offering besides the daily burning and his meat and drink offerings.\n\nAnd the second day, twelve young bolocks, two rams, and fourteen spotless yearling lambs, with their meat and drink offerings for the bolocks, rams, and lambs, according to their number and in the prescribed manner. And he offered a sin offering besides the daily burning and his meat and drink offerings.\n\nAnd the third day, fifteen bolocks, two rams, and sixteen spotless yearling lambs, with their meat and drink offerings for the bolocks, rams, and lambs, according to their number and in the prescribed manner. And he offered a sin offering besides the daily burning and his meat and drink offerings.\n\nAnd the fourth day, ten bolocks, two rams, and twelve spotless yearling lambs, with their meat and drink offerings for the bolocks, rams, and lambs, according to their number and in the prescribed manner.\nAnd the fifth day: nine bullocks, two rams, and twelve lambs of one year old, each, with their meat and drink offerings according to their number and manner. And an hegoat for a sin offering, besides the daily burnt offering and his meat and drink offerings.\n\nAnd the sixth day: eight bullocks, two rams, and twelve lambs, and the seventh day: seven bullocks, two rams, and twelve lambs that are yearlings and pure. And their meat and drink offerings to the bullocks, rams, and lambs, according to their number and manner. And an hegoat for a sin offering, besides the daily burnt offering and his meat and drink offerings.\n\nAnd the eighth day shall be the conclusion. From this come our octaves and feasts of eight days long. Of the feast to you, and you shall do no manner of laborious work therein. And you shall offer a sin offering.\nA sweet savory offering to the Lord: one bullock, one ram, and seven yearling lambs without spot. And the meat and drink offerings for the bullock, ram, and lambs, according to their numbers and manner.\nAnd he shall have a sin offering beside the daily burnt offering and his meat and drink offerings.\nThese things you shall do to the Lord in your feasts: besides your vows and\n\nMoses spoke to the heads of the people, saying: \"This is the thing which the Lord commands. If a man vows a vow to the Lord or swears an oath and binds his soul, he shall not go back on his word.\nIf a virgin vows a vow to the Lord and binds herself, being in her father's house and a virgin, and her father hears her vow and the bond which she has made on her soul, and holds his peace thereunto: then all her vows shall stand.\nBodies that she has vowed to create shall stand in effect. But if her father forbids her the same day he hears it, none of her vows or bonds that she has made on her soul shall be of value, and the Lord shall forgive her, because her father forbade her.\n\nIf she had a husband when she vowed or pronounced anything out of her lips concerning him, and he did not contradict her at the same day he heard it: Then her vows and the bonds with which she bound her soul shall stand in effect. But if her husband forbade her the same day that he heard it, he has made her vow void, and that also which she pronounced with her lips wherewith she bound her soul, and the Lord shall forgive her.\n\nThe vow of a widow and of one who is divorced, and all that they have bound their souls with, shall stand in effect with them.\n\nIf she vowed in her husband's house or bound her soul with\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: \"Avenge the children of Israel against the Midianites, and after that, you shall gather together to your people.\" And Moses spoke to the people.\n\nThis is what the Lord commanded Moses between a man and his wife, and between a father and his daughter, if she was a virgin in her father's house: \"If a man hears that his wife has made a vow and her husband holds his peace on that day, then all her vows and obligations wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. But if her husband nullifies them on the same day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips in vows and obligations wherewith she bound her soul shall not stand, because her husband has rejected them, and the Lord will forgive her. All vows and oaths that bind the soul to humble it, her husband may establish or break. But if her husband holds his peace from one day to another, then he establishes all her vows and obligations which she had upon her, because he held his peace.\"\n\nThese are the ordinances which the Lord commanded Moses between a man and his wife, and between the father and his daughter, if she was a virgin in her father's house.\nSayenge: Send some of you to war against the Midianites and avenge the Lord of the Midianites. You shall send a thousand from each tribe throughout all the tribes of Israel. And from the thousands of Israel, twelve thousand were selected for war, from every tribe a thousand. And Moses sent a thousand from each tribe to war, with Phineas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the holy vessels and trumpets in his hand.\n\nThey went to war against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and\n\u2022 fields of Moab by the Jordan, from Jericho.\n\nMoses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went out of the camp against them. And Moses was angry with the officers of the camp, the captains over thousands and hundreds, who came from war and battle, and said to them: \"Have you saved the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel to commit transgression against the Lord through Balaam.\"\nylorde, due to Peor, and their followers brought a plague among the congregation of the Lord. Therefore, all men, children, and women who have lain with men: but all women's children who have not lain with men, keep yourselves for yourselves. And lodge outside the camp for seven days all who have killed any person and all who have touched any dead body, and purify yourselves and your prisoners on the third and seventh days. Sprinkle all your clothing and all that is made of skins and all works of goat's hair and all things made of wood.\n\nEleazar the priest spoke to all the men who went out to battle: \"This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses: Gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, and lead, and all that may abide the fire, you shall make pass through the fire, and then it is clean. But the soft metals not abiding the fire, you shall make pass through the water. And wash your clothing.\"\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of the people and of livestock, you and Eleazar the priest and the ancient heads of the congregation. And divide it into two parts, between them that took the war against them and went out to battle and all the congregation. And take a portion for the Lord of the men of war who went out to battle: one of five hundred, of the women and of the oxen and of the asses and of the sheep. And you shall take it of their half and give it to Eleazar the priest, an heave offering to the Lord. And of the half of the children of Israel, take one out of fifty, of the men, of the oxen, of the asses and of the sheep, and of all manner of beasts, and give them to the Levites who wait upon the tabernacle of the Lord.\n\nMoses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses. And the booty and the prey which the men of war took.\nwar had caught six hundred thousand and seventy-five thousand sheep; and eighty-one thousand oxen; and thirty-six thousand and five hundred asses; and sixty-two thousand women who had lain by no man.\nAnd the half that went out to war was three hundred sixty-one thousand and thirty-nine thousand and five hundred sheep; and thirty-six thousand six hundred oxen; and thirty thousand five hundred asses; and sixteen thousand women.\nAnd Moses gave that sum which was the Lord's offering to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.\nAnd the other half of the children of Israel, which Moses separated from the men of war (that is, the half that remained with the congregation), was three hundred thousand and thirty-nine thousand and five hundred sheep; and thirty-six thousand oxen; and\nAnd Moses took from this half that belonged to the children of Israel: one of every fifty, both of the women and of the cattle, and gave them to the Levites who guarded the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. And the officers of the thousands of the host, the captains over the thousands and the captains over the hundreds came forward and said to Moses: \"Your servants have taken the number of the men of war who were under our command, and not one man was missing from among them. We have therefore brought a present to the Lord, what each man found of jewelry of gold, chains, bracelets, rings, earrings, and pendants, to make an atonement for our souls before the Lord.\" And Moses and Eleazar took the gold from them: jewelry of all kinds. And all the gold of the tabernacle of the Lord, of the captains over the thousands and hundreds, was 16,007.5 shekels.\nThe problems in the text are minimal, so I will output the text as-is with minor corrections for readability:\n\nThe war had spoiled every man for himself. And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains over the thousands and over the hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of witness: to be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord.\n\nThe children of Reuben and the children of Gad had an exceeding great multitude of livestock. And when they saw the load of Iaezer and the load of Gilead, it was an apt place for livestock. They came and spoke to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, \"The land of Ataroth Dibba and Beon, which the Lord struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and we, your servants, have livestock. If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants to possess, and bring us not over the Jordan.\"\n\nMoses said to the children of Gad and of Reuben, \"Shall your brothers go to war and you sit here? Therefore, discourage the hearts of the children of Israel.\"\nAnd yet, you went over into the land which the Lord had given them? This was the land I had sent your fathers to possess, from Cades Barnea to the river of Escol. And they saw the land and discouraged the people from entering the land which the Lord had given them.\n\nAt that very time, the Lord was angry and swore, saying, \"None of the men who came out of Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not continually followed me: except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed me fully. And the Lord was angry with Israel, and made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in His sight were consumed.\n\nBehold, you have risen up in your fathers' place, an increase of sinful men, to provoke the fierce wrath of the Lord against Israel. If you turn away from following Him, He will yet...\nAnd again leave the people in the wilderness; you shall destroy all these people. And they came near him and said: We will build sheepfolds here for our sheep and for our cattle, and cities for our children. But we ourselves will go, armed, before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. And our children shall dwell in the strong cities, because of the inhabitants of the land. And we will not return to our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited: every man his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan forward, because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side of the Jordan eastward.\n\nMoses said to them: If you will do this thing, that you will go all armed before the Lord to war, and all of you in armor over the Jordan before the Lord, until he has cast out his enemies before him, and until the land is subdued before the Lord: then you shall return and be without sin against the Lord.\nAgainst Israel, this land shall be your possession before the Lord. But if you will not do so, behold, your sin will find you out. Build your cities for your children and folds for your sheep, and see that you do it.\n\nThe children of Gad and Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, \"Your servants will do as my lord commands. Our children, our livestock, and all our possessions shall remain here in the cities of Gilead. But we, your servants, will go all armed for the war before the Lord, as my lord has said.\"\n\nMoses commanded Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, and said to them, \"If the children of Gad and Reuben will go with you over the Jordan, all prepared to see the land before the Lord, then when the land is subdued before you, give them the land of Gilead to possess. But if they will not go with you in arms, then they shall have their possession here.\"\nThe children of Gad and Ruben responded, \"We will go before the Lord into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance will be on this side of the Jordan. And Moses gave to the children of Gad, of Ruben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan, the land with its cities around its borders. The children of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, Atroth, Shophan, Jasher, Jegabha, Bethnimra, and Betharan, strong cities, and they built folders for their sheep. The children of Ruben built Besebon, Elaleh, Rithmah, Nebo, Baal Meon, and turned the names, and also gave names to the cities they built. The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, went to Gilead and took it, and drove out the Amorites.\nAnd Moses gave Gilead to Machir, the son of Manasseh, and he dwelt there. And Iair, the son of Manasseh, went and took the small towns thereof and called them the towns of Iair. And Nobah went and took Kenath with its surrounding towns and called it Nobah after his own name.\n\nThese are the journeys of the children of Israel who went out of the land of Egypt with their armies under Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their going out by their journeys at the commandment of the Lord: these are their journeys of their going out.\n\nThe children of Israel departed from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the morrow after Passover, and went out with a high hand in the sight of all Egypt, while the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them. And the Lord executed judgments upon their gods also. And the children of Israel moved from Rameses and encamped in Succoth.\n\nThey departed from Succoth and encamped in Etham, which is in the land of Edom.\nThey traveled to the edge of the wilderness and removed themselves from Ethan, turning towards Hiroth's entrance, which is before Baal Zephon. They departed from before Hiroth and went through the middle of the sea into the wilderness. They were in the wilderness of Ethan for three days. They pitched in Marah.\n\nThey departed from Marah and went to Elim, where there were twelve fountains and seventy palm trees. They pitched there.\n\nThey departed from Elim and camped by the Red Sea. They departed from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin. They took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin and set up their tents in Daphka.\n\nThey departed from Daphka and camped in Alus. They departed from Alus and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink. They departed from Rephidim and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai.\n\nThey departed from the desert of Sinai and lodged at the graves of lust. They departed from the graves of lust and lay at Haseroth.\nAnd they departed from Hazarth and pitched in Rithma. They departed from Rithma and pitched at Rimon Parez. They departed from Rimon Parez and pitched in Libna. They removed from Libna and pitched at Rissa. They journeyed from Rissa and pitched in Rehelatha. They went from Rehelatha and pitched on Mount Sapher. They removed from Mount Sapher and lay in Harada. They removed from Harada and pitched in Makeheleth. They removed from Makeheleth and lay at Tahath. They departed from Tahath and pitched at Tharath. They removed from Tharath and pitched in Mithca. They went from Mithca and lodged in Hasmona. They departed from Hasmona and lay at Moseroth. They departed from Moseroth and pitched among the children of Iaecon. They removed from the children of Iaecon and lay at Hor gidgad. They went from Hor gidgad and pitched in Iathbatha. They removed from Iathbatha and lay at Abrona. They departed from Abrona and lay at Ezion.\nAnd they removed from Ezeon-gaber and pitched in the wilderness of Zin, which is Cades.\nAnd they removed from Cades and pitched in mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Moab. And Aaron the priest went up to mount Hor at the commandment of the Lord and died there, even in the fortieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month. Aaron was one hundred and twenty-three years old when he died in mount Hor.\nAnd King Eridatan of the Amorites who dwelt in the south of the land of Canaan heard that.\nAnd they departed from mount Hor and pitched in Zalmona.\nAnd they departed from Zalmona and pitched in Phimon.\nAnd they departed from Phimon and pitched in Oboth.\nAnd they departed from Oboth and pitched in Igim, in the borders of Moab.\nAnd they departed from Igim and pitched in Dibon-gad.\nAnd they removed from Dibon-gad and lay in Almon-diblathaim.\nAnd they pitched in the fields of Moab, near Jericho, by the Jordan. They pitched on the other side of the Jordan, from Beth Haesmoth to the plain of Sitim. The Lord spoke to Moses in the fields of Moab by the Jordan, near Jericho, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you and destroy their idols and all their metal images. You shall also pull down their altars on the hills. And you shall possess the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to inherit it. And you shall divide the inheritance of the land among your kindreds, and give to the more the more inheritance, and to the fewer the less inheritance. Your inheritance shall be according to the tribes of your fathers, in the place where each man's lot falls.\n\nBut if you will...\nnot dry out the inhabitants of the land before you, then those which you let remain of the ones I have destroyed will be thorns in your eyes and darts in your sides, and will vex you in the land where you dwell. Moreover, it will come to pass that I will do to you as I thought to do to them. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: command the children of Israel and say to them: when you come into the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan with all its borders. And your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along the coast of Edom, so that your south quarter shall be from the side of the Salt Sea to the east, and shall reach from the south to Acrabim, and reach to Zinna. And it shall go out on the south side of Kadesh Barnea, and go out also at Hazard Adar, and go along to Azmon. And it shall make a compass from Azmon to the River of Egypt, and shall go out at the sea.\n\nAnd your western quarter shall be the Great Sea.\nAnd this shall be your west cost: you shall compass from the great sea to Mount Hor. And from Mount Hor, you shall pass and go to Hemath, and the end of your cost shall be at Zedada. Your north quarter shall reach out to Ziphron and go out at Hazor Enan.\n\nYour east quarter shall be compassed from Hazar Enan to Sephain. The cost shall go down from Sephain to Ribla on the east side of Ain. Then descend and go out at the side of the Sea of Chinnereth eastward. And go down along the Jordan, and leave at the salt sea. This shall be your load with all the costs thereof round about.\n\nMoses commanded the children of Israel, \"This is the load which you shall inherit by lot, and which the Lord commanded to give to the nine and a half tribes: for the tribe of the children of Reuben have received, in the households of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad in their father's houses.\"\nHouseholds and half the tribe of Manasse have received their inheritance. Two and a half tribes have received their inheritance on the other side of Jordan, by Jericho, towards the sun rising. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: These are the names of the men who shall apportion the land for inheritance. Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. And you shall take also a leader from every tribe to apportion the land, whose names are these: In the tribe of Judah, Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. And in the tribe of the children of Simeon, Sheson, the son of Amiud. And in the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad, the son of Cise. In the tribe of Dan, the Lord Abihu, the son of Geli. And among the children of Joseph: in the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hamel, the son of Ephod. And in the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Hemuel, the son of Siphtan. And in the tribe of Zebulun, Elizaphan, the son of Parnach.\nThe children of Issachar: the lord Paltiel, son of Ashan. And in the tribe of the sons of Asher: the lord Ahihud, son of Selomi. And in the tribe of the children of Naphtali: the lord Pedahel, son of Ammihud. These are they whom the Lord commanded to divide the inheritance among the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses in the fields of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying: command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in. And you shall also give to the cities of the Levites suburbs around them. The cities shall be for them to dwell in, and the suburbs for their cattle, possession, and all manner of beasts of theirs.\n\nThe suburbs of the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall reach from the wall of the city outward, a thousand cubits. And you shall measure outside the city and make the utmost border of the eastern side: two thousand cubits.\nAnd the utmost border of the south side: two thousand cubits, and the utmost border of the west side: two thousand cubits, and the utmost border of the north side: two thousand cubits. The city shall be in the middle. And these shall be the suburbs of their cities.\n\nAmong the cities which you shall give to the Levites, there shall be six cities of refuge, which you shall give to the intent that he who kills may flee there. And to them you shall add forty-eight cities more: so that all the cities which you shall give the Levites will be forty-nine, with their suburbs.\n\nAnd of the cities which you shall give out of the possessions of the children of Israel, you shall give many from those who have much and few from those who have little: so that every tribe shall give of his cities to the Levites according to the inheritance which he inherits.\n\nAnd the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, this is the law that shall apply to you: a city that kills a person unintentionally shall be set apart as a city of refuge for the slayer.\n\nThe slayer who kills a person unintentionally shall flee to that city and live there, until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the slayer reaches out with his hand and deliberately throws the instrument of death\u2014a stone or a weapon with which he killed the person\u2014the bloodguilt shall be imputed to him. He shall be put to death at the place where the crime was committed.\n\nHowever, if the slayer did not throw the weapon, but the weapon slipped from his hand, or a strap came undone, causing the fatal blow, or he struck his neighbor unintentionally\u2014without enmity or malice aforethought\u2014the assembly shall consider between the slayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these instructions. They shall preserve the life of the slayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the assembly shall reinstate the slayer to his city of refuge, to which he had fled, and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest.\n\nAfter the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to his own town and property in the possession of his own tribe. And if the assembly gives a verdict of guilt, he shall die at the place where the crime was committed.\n\nBut if the slayer is not from the town where the crime was committed, but comes from a distant town, they shall give him a place in one of the cities of refuge, so that he may live there until the death of the high priest. He must not be handed over to the avenger of blood before the death of the high priest.\n\nThese are the instructions for you and for the children of Israel. But if anyone becomes guilty of a capital offense, putting another person to death intentionally, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.\n\nAnd you shall expel from your assembly the one who has shed blood, and you shall hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. You shall not pollute the land where you live, for the land is not yours but the Lord's.\n\nYou shall not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel.\n\nAnd Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that the Lord had commanded him.\ncome over Jordan into the land of Canaan / you shall build cities, which shall be privileged towns for you: that he who slews a man unwares / may flee to them. And the cities shall be a refuge from the avenger of blood / that he who killed not / may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment. And of these six free cities which you shall give, three you shall give on this side of Jordan, and three in the land of Canaan. And these six free cities shall be for the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for him that dwelleth among you. All those who kill any person unwares / may flee to them.\n\nIf any man strikes another with a weapon of iron that he dies / then he is a murderer / and shall die for it.\n\nIf he strikes him with a throwing stone that he dies thereby / then he shall die: for he is a murderer and shall be slain therefore.\n\nIf he strikes him with a weapon of wood that he dies thereby / then he shall die: for he is a murderer and shall be slain.\n\nThe judge of blood shall\n\n(Note: The text appears to be incomplete at the end.)\nBut if he pushed him by chance and not out of hate or threw anything at him, or laid in wait for him, or cast any stone at him causing his death without seeing him: And he threw it at him and he died, but was not his enemy nor sought any harm from him: Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood in such cases. And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the judge of blood and restore him again to the fraun.\n\nBut if he went outside the borders of his privileged city, whether he had fled or if the avenger of blood found him outside the borders of his free town, he shall slay the murderer and be guiltless, because he should have lodged in his free town until the death of the high priest, and after the death of the high priest, he shall return again to the land of his possession. And this shall be an ordinance and a law to you among your children in all your habitations.\n\nWhoever\nThe ancestry of the children of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the family of Joseph's children, came forth and spoke before Moses and the princes who were leaders among the children of Israel. They said: \"The Lord commanded my lord to give the land to the children of Israel as an inheritance by lot. Then my lord commanded,\".\nThe name of the Lord commands that Zelaphech's inheritance be given to his daughters. When any of the sons of the tribes of Israel take them as wives and are taken from the inheritance of our father's tribe, and when the year of jubilee comes for the children of Israel, their inheritance shall be transferred to the inheritance of the tribe where they are, and their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our father's tribe.\n\nMoses commanded the children of Israel in the name of the Lord, saying, \"The tribe of Joseph's children has spoken well.\" Therefore, the Lord commands the daughters of Zelaphech, saying, \"Let them be wives.\"\n\nAnd just as the Lord commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelaphech: Mahelah, Thirza, Hagla, Milca, and Noa.\n\nThese are the commandments and laws which the Lord commanded through Moses to the children of Israel in the fields of Moab, near Jordan, by Jericho.\n\nThe end of the fourth book of Moses.\n\nThis is a book.\nThis text appears to be written in Early Modern English. I will clean the text while being faithful to the original content.\n\nThe book is worthy to be read day and night and never to leave one's hands. For it is the most excellent of all Moses' books. It is also easy and light, a very pure gospel, that is, a preaching of faith and love: teaching the love of God from faith, and the love of neighbor from the love of God. Herein you may learn true meditation or contemplation, which is nothing else but the calling to mind and a repeating in the heart of the glorious and wonderful deeds of God, and of his terrible handling of his enemies and merciful entreating of those who come when he calls. In the first four chapters, he recounts the benefits God has bestowed upon us to provoke us to love, and his mighty deeds done above all natural power and beyond all natural capacity of faith, so that we may believe in God and trust in him and in his strength. Thirdly, he recounts the fierce places of God upon his enemies and upon them.\nwhich, through impatience and unbelief, tame and abate the appetites of the flesh, which always fight against the spirit, and partly to bridle the wild, raging lusts in whom there was no spirit: that though they had no power to do good of love, yet at least they should abstain from outward evil for fear of wrath and cruel vengeance which soon would fall upon them if they cast away God's nurture and ran at riot beyond his laws and ordinances. Furthermore, he charges them to put nothing to nor take anything away from God's words, but to be diligent only to keep them in remembrance and in the heart and to teach their children, for fear of forgetting. And to beware either of making images or of bowing themselves unto images, saying: \"You are serpents, and you shall not escape the sword.\"\n\nIn the fifteenth commandment, he repeats the ten commandments and that they might see a cause to do them, he bids them remember that they were bound in Egypt and how God delivered them with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm.\nstretched out arms, to serve him and keep his commandments: as Paul says that we are bought with Christ's blood and therefore are his servants and not our own, and ought to seek his will and honor only, and to love and serve one another for his sake.\nIn the Sixteenth, he sets out the foundation of all commandments: that is, that they believe that there is but one God who does all, and therefore ought to be loved with all the heart, soul, and might. For love only is the fulfilling of the commandments, as Paul also says to the Romans and Galatians likewise. He warns them also not to forget the commandments, but to teach their children and to show their children likewise how God delivered them out of the bondage of the Egyptians to serve him and his commandments, so that the children might have a cause to work from love.\nThe Seventh is all about faith: he removes all occasions that might withdraw them from the faith and pulls them back to it.\nthem also from all confidence in themselves, and stirs them up to trust in God boldly and only.\nOf the eighth chapter you say how the cause of all temptation is, that a man may know his own heart. For where I am brought in to that extremity that I must either suffer or forsake God, then I shall feel how much I believe and trust in him, and how much I love him. In like manner, if my brother does me evil for my good, then if I love him when there is no cause in him, I see that my love was of God, and be thus if I then hate him, I feel and perceive that my love was but worldly. And finally he stirs them up to faith and to put their trust in God, and draws them from confidence in themselves by rehearsing all the weakness which they had wrought from the first day he knew them until that same day. And in the end he repeats how he conjured God in Horeb and overcame him.\nWith prayer, you may learn the right manner to pray. In the tenth, he reckons up the essence of all laws and their keeping in the heart: which is to fear God, love Him, and serve Him with all our heart, soul, and might, and keep His commandments of love. And he shows a reason why they should: even because God is Lord of heaven and earth and has also done all for us out of His own goodness without our deserving. And then, out of love for God, he brings up the love for our neighbor, saying: God is Lord above all lords and loves all His servants impartially, as well the poor and weak and stranger, as the rich and mighty. And he adds a reason: for you were strangers and God delivered you and brought you to a land where you are at home. Love the stranger therefore for His sake.\n\nIn the eleventh, he exhorts them to love and fear God, and recounts the terrible deeds God has done upon His enemies.\nAnd on those who rebelled against him. He testifies to them both what will follow if they love and fear God, and what also if they despise him and break his commandment.\nIn the 12th, he commands to put out of the way all that might be an occasion to harm the faith and forbids doing anything except according to God's word.\nIn the 14th, he forbids listening to anything save God's word: no though he who counsels contrary comes with miracles, as Paul does to the Galatians.\nIn the 14th chapter, all things pertain chiefly to faith and love. And in this 15th, he begins to treat more specifically of things concerning the commonwealth and equity and exhorts to the love of a man's neighbor. In the 16th, among other things, he says:\nIn the eighteenth, he enters. In the sixteenth, he forbids all false and deceitful words because the people could not hear the voice of the law spoken to them in fire. He promises them another prophet to bring better tidings, which was spoken of Christ our savior. The nineteenth and following, up to the end of the twenty-seventh, are mostly about love towards neighbors and laws of equity and honesty with regard to faith. The twenty-eighth is a terrible chapter and to be trembled at: A Christian man's heart might well bleed for sorrow at the reading of it, for fear of the wrath that is about to come upon us according to all the curses which you read there. For according to these curses, God has dealt with all nations, after they had fallen into the abominations of blindness. The twenty-ninth is terrible with a godly lesson at the end that we should leave searching for God's secrets and give diligence to walk according to that which he has opened to us. For the keeping of the commandments.\nThe following are the words of God, teaching wisdom as you can see in the same chapter. Moses says, \"Keep the commands, that you may understand what you ought to do.\" But to search God's secrets is a futile endeavor, as is evident in the works of our sophists, whose wise books we now find in the scripture, filled with folly.\n\nThese are the words Moses spoke to all Israel, on the other side of the Jordan, in the wilderness and in the fields, by the Red Sea, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. The journey was twelve days from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea, by the way that leads to Mount Seir. And it happened on the first day of the eleventh month in the fortieth year, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment, after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites who dwelt in Hesbon, and Og king of Bashan who dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei.\n\nOn the other side of the Jordan, in the land of\nMoses began to declare this law: The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying: \"You have dwelt long enough in this mountain. Depart therefore and take your journey and go to the hills of the Amorites and to all places near them: both fields, hills and valleys; and to the south and to the sea side in the land of Canaan, and to Lebanon: even to the great river Euphrates.\nBehold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give to them and their seed after them.\nAnd I said to you at that time: I am not able to bear you myself alone. For the Lord your God has multiplied you: so that you are this day as the stars of heaven in number (the Lord God of your fathers made you as numerous as the stars of heaven, and blessed you as He promised you) how can I myself alone bear the burden, charge and strife that is among you? Bring with you your wives, your little ones, and your livestock, and be gone from this mountain.\"\nTherefore, men of wisdom and understanding, recognized among your tribes, I made rulers over you. And you answered me and said, \"What you have spoken is good to be done.\" And I took the heads of your tribes, men of wisdom and those who were expert, and made them rulers over you: captains over thousands and hundreds, over fifties and tens, and officers among your tribes.\n\nI charged your judges the same thing, saying, \"Hear your brothers and judge righteously between every man and his brother and the stranger that is with him. You shall not know anyone in judgment; but hear the small as well as the great and fear no man, for the law is God's. And the cause that is too hard for you, bring it to me and I will hear it. I commanded you all the things which you shall do.\"\n\nAnd then we departed from Horeb and walked through all that great and terrible wilderness as you have seen along the way that leads you into the land which the Lord your God is giving you.\n\"the hills of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us, and came to Cades-barnea. And there I said to you: You have come to the hills of the Amorites, which the Lord our God gives to us. Behold, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and conquer it, as your God, the Lord of your fathers, says to you: fear not, neither be dismayed.\n\nAnd then you came to me each one and said: Let us send men before us, to search out the land and bring us word back, both what way we shall go up by, and to what cities we shall come. And the saying pleased me well. I took twelve men from you, one from every tribe, and they departed and went up into the high country and came to the river Escollo, and searched it out, and took some fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us and brought us word and said: it is a good land which the Lord our God gives us.\n\nNotwithstanding, you would not consent to go up, but were disobedient\"\n\"the Lord your God spoke to you in your tents and said: because the Lord your God hates us, therefore he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites and to destroy us. How shall we go up? Our brothers have discouraged our hearts, saying: the people is greater and taller than we, and the cities are great and fortified up to heaven, and moreover we have seen the sons of Anakim there.\nAnd I said to you: fear not nor be afraid of them: The Lord your God who goes before you, he will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way which you have gone, until you came to this place.\"\nmyghty see which way to go and in a cloud by day. And the Lord heard the voice of your words and was angry, swearing, \"None of these men of this rebellious generation shall see that good land which I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him I will give the land which he has walked in and to his children, because he has followed the Lord. Likewise, the Lord was angry with me on your account, saying, \"You also shall not go there. But Joshua, the son of Nun, who stands before you, shall go there. Encourage him, for he will apportion it to Israel. Furthermore, your children, whom you say will be a prayer, and your sons who do not know good from evil this day, they shall go there and to them I will give it, and they shall enjoy it. But as for you, turn back and take your journey into the wilderness: even the way to the Red Sea.\" Then you answered and said to me, \"We have sinned.\"\nAgainst the Lord: we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us. And when you had gathered on every man his weapons of war and were ready to go up into the hills, the Lord said to me: tell them that they go not up and that they fight not, for I am not among you lest you be plundered before your enemies. But I told you that you would not listen: instead, you disobeyed the mouth of the Lord and went presumptuously up into the hills.\n\nThe Amorites who dwelt in those hills came out against you and chased you as bees do, and hewed you down to Seir, even as far as Horma. And you came again and wept before the Lord: but the Lord would not hear your voice nor give you audience. And so you abided in Kadesh a long time, according to the time that you stayed there.\n\nThen we turned and took our journey into the wilderness, even the way to the Red Sea as the Lord commanded me. And we circled the mountains of Seir a long time. The Lord spoke to me there.\nYou have passed this mountains log enough, turn northward. And warn the people: You shall go through the lands of your brethren, the children of Esau who dwell in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but take good heed of yourselves, lest you provoke them, for I will not give you of their land, not even so much as a footstep.\n\nAnd when we had departed from our brethren, the children of Esau who dwelt in Seir, by the field way from Elath and Ezion Geber, we turned and went the way to the wilderness of Moab. The Lord said to me, \"Do not vex the Moabites, nor provoke them to battle, for I will not give you of their land to possess: because I have given Ar to the children of Lot to possess.\n\nThe Amorites dwelt there in ancient times, a people great and numerous, as the Amorites: whom we also took for giants as the Amorites. And the Moabites called them Emorites. In like manner, the Horites dwelt in Seir before them, whom the children of Esau had cast out.\nAnd we stayed and destroyed those before us, dwelling in their place: as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave them. Now rise up and cross the river Zared: and we crossed the river Zared. The time from our departure from Cades-benea until we had crossed the river Zared was thirty-eight years: until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from among the host, as the Lord swore to them. For truly the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the host, until they were consumed.\n\nAnd as soon as all the men of war were consumed and dead among the people, then the Lord spoke to me, saying, \"Go through the land of Ar, the coast of Moab, this day, and come near to the children of Ammon. But do not vex them, nor provoke them. For I will not give you of the land of the children of Ammon to possess, because I have given it to the children of Lot to possess.\" That was also taken for a land granted by lot.\nThe people called Zamzumyms dwelled there in old time, and the Ammonites referred to them as the Gauntes. A great, numerous and tall people, similar to the Ammonites and the Edomites. But the Lord destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they cast them out and lived in their place: as he did for the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, and destroyed the Horites before them, and they lived in their place until this day. And the Avims who dwelt in Hazarim, up to Azah, the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor destroyed them and lived in their ruins.\n\nRise up, take your journey and cross the river Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite king of Heshbon, and his land. Go and conquer and provoke him to battle. This day I will begin to send fear and dread of you over all nations that are under heaven: so that when they hear of you, they shall tremble and quake for fear of you.\n\nThen I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to King Sihon.\nOf Hesbon, with words of peace he spoke: \"Let me pass through your land. I will go all ways along the high road and will neither turn to the right hand nor to the left. Sell me food for money to eat, and give me drink for money to drink: I will go through by foot only (as the children of Esau did to me who dwell in Seir and the Moabites who dwell in Ar) until I have crossed over Jordan, into the land which the Lord our God gives us.\n\n\"But Sihon king of Hesbon would not let us pass by him, for the Lord your God had hardened his spirit and made his heart stubborn because he would deliver him into your hands, as it has come to pass this day.\n\n\"And the Lord said to me: 'Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before you. Go and conquer, that you may possess his land.' Then Sihon and all his people came out against us to battle at Jahaz. And the Lord gave him before us, and we struck him and his sons and all his people.\n\n\"And we took all his cities.\"\nIn the same season, we destroyed all cities from Aroer on the brink of the River Arnon, and the city in the river, as well as those in the mountains, up to Gilead. There was no city strong enough for us. The Lord our God delivered all of them to us, except for the land of the children of Ammon and the eastern bank of the River Jabbok.\n\nThen we turned and went up the way to Bashan. Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us for battle at Edrei. The Lord said to me, \"Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him and his people and his land into your hand. Deal with him as you dealt with Sihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon.\" So the Lord delivered Og the king of Bashan and all his people to us.\nAnd we struck him until nothing was left of him.\nWe took all his cities in the same season. For there was not a city which we did not take from them. We took three score cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, in addition to unwalled towns. And we utterly destroyed them, as we did to King Sihon of Heshbon: bringing to nothing all the cities, with men, women, and children. But all the cattle and the spoil of the cities, we took for ourselves.\nAnd thus we took the same season, the land out of the hand of two kings of the Amorites on the other side of the Jordan, from the river of Arnon to Mount Hermon (which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion, but the Amorites call it Senyr). All the cities in the plain and all Gilead and all Bashan up to Salcha and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. For only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnants of the giants: behold, his bedstead is still at Rabath.\nAmong the children of Ammon were eleven cubettes long and four cubits high, of the cubettes of a man. And when we had conquered this land at the same time, I gave from Aroer, which is on the river of Arnon, and half Mount Gilead and its cities to the Rubenites and Gadites. The rest of Gilead and all Basan, Og's kingdom, I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh: all the region of Argob with all Basan was called the land of giants. Ishhod, the son of Manasseh, took all the region of Argob from Gesuri to the costal region, from the river Arnon and half the valley, even to the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon, and the fields and Jordan with the coast, from Kinnereth to the sea in the field, which is the salt sea under the springs of Pisgah, to the east.\n\nI commanded you, Ruben and Gad, saying: \"The Lord your God has given you this land to possess it; go before your brothers, the children of Israel.\"\nall that are mine in war among you. Your wives, children, and your cattle (for I know that you have much cattle) shall remain in your cities, which I have given you, until the Lord has given rest to your brothers as well as to you, and until they also have conquered the land which the Lord your God has given them beyond Jordan: and then return every man to his possession which I have given you.\n\nI warned Joshua at that time, saying, \"Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. So the Lord will do to all the kingdoms where you are going. Do not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.\"\n\nI beseeched the Lord at that time, saying: \"O Lord Jehovah, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For there is no God in heaven or on earth who can do as you can do and as you are able to do. Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and the Lebanon.\"\nAnd listen, Israel, to the ordinances and laws I am teaching you, to do them and live and go conquer the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you. You shall put nothing into the word I command you, neither add to it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did to Baal Peor: for all the men who followed Baal Peor, the Lord your God has destroyed.\n\nAnd now, Israel, listen to the statutes and rules that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live, enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you or subtract from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you. I have seen what the Lord did to Baal Peor. All the men who followed Baal Peor are destroyed by the Lord your God.\nKeep them therefore and do as I have ordered, for that is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations. When they have heard all these ordinances, they will say: O what a wise and understanding people is this great nation. For what nation is so great that has God so near to it as the Lord our God is near to us, in all things, when we call upon him? You, and what nation is so great that has ordinances and laws so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day.\n\nTake heed to yourself therefore and keep your soul diligently, that you forget not the things which your eyes have seen and that they depart not from your heart, all the days of your life: but teach them to your children and your children's children.\n\nThe day that I stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, \"Gather me the people together, that I may make them hear my words, that they may learn to follow me,\" to this image.\nmen heard words: But saw no image, save heard a voice only,\nAnd he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, even the ten commandments and wrote them on two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me the same season to teach you ordinances and laws, for to do them in the land whether ye go to possess it\nTake heed unto yourselves diligently as pertaining to your souls, for you saw no manner of image the day when the Lord spoke unto you in Horeb out of the fire: lest you mar yourselves and make graven images after whatever likeness it be: whether after the likeness of man or woman or any manner of beast that is on the earth or of any kind of bird that flies in the air, or of any kind of worm that creeps on the earth or of any manner of fish that is in the water under the earth: You and least thou make an idol.\nFor the Lord took you and brought you out of the burning furnace of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as it has come to pass this day. Furthermore, the\nLord was angry with me on your behalf, swearing that I should not cross Jordan and that I should not go to the good land, which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance. For I must die in this land, and shall not cross Jordan: But you shall cross and conquer that good land.\nTake heed of yourselves therefore, that you do not forget the appointment of the Lord your God which he made with you, and that you make no graven image of whatsoever it is that the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, and a jealous God.\nIf after thou hast gotten children and children's children and hast dwelt long in the land, thou shalt corrupt thyself and make graven images after the likeness of whatsoever it is, and shalt work wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him. I call heaven and earth to record against you this day, that you shall soon perish from off the land whether you cross Jordan to possess it: Ye shall not.\nProlong your days there, but you shall be destroyed shortly. And the Lord shall scatter you among nations, and you shall be left few in number among the people whom the Lord brings you: and there you shall serve gods which are the works of men's hands, wood and stone which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. Never in that place will you seek the Lord your God, and you shall find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. In your tribulation and when all these things come upon you, even in the later days, you shall turn to the Lord your God, and listen to His voice. For the Lord your God is a merciful God: He will not abandon nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant made with your fathers which He swore to them.\n\nAsk I pray you of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth and from one side of heaven to the other, whether anything has been like this great thing.\nOr whether a nation has heard, as you have, that God spoke out of fire, and yet lived? Or whether God attempted to take a people from among nations, through temptations and signs and wonders and war, and with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and mighty terrible sights, according to all that the Lord your God did before your eyes in Egypt.\n\nIt was shown to you that you might know that the Lord is God, and that there is none but He.\n\nFrom heaven He made His voice heard to bring them up, and on earth He showed His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire. And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them and brought them out with His presence and with His mighty power from Egypt: to thrust out nations greater and mightier than you before you, to bring you in and to give you their land as an inheritance: as it has come to pass.\nUnderstand this day, and turn it to your heart. The Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath there is no other. Keep therefore his ordinances, and his commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days on the earth which the Lord your God gives you forever.\nThen Moses designated three cities on the other side of the Jordan toward the rising sun, that he who had killed his neighbor unintentionally and hated him not in time past should flee there: Bezer in the wilderness even in the plain country among the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead among the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan among the Manassites.\nThis is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel, and these are the witnesses, ordinances, and statutes which Moses told the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt, on the other side.\nIordaine in the valley beside Beth Peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel struck after they had come out of Egypt and conquered his land and the land of Og king of Bashan. Two kings of the Amorites on the other side of the Jordan towards the sun's rising: from Aroer on the bank of the river Arnon, to Mount Sion which is called Hermon, and all the fields on the other side of the Jordan eastward: even unto the sea in the field under the springs of Pisgah.\n\nAnd Moses called to all Israel and said to them: \"Hear, Israel: the ordinances and laws which I speak in your ears today, and learn them and observe them. The Lord made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us: we are the ones who are here alive this day. The Lord spoke to you face to face in the mountain, out of the fire. I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to show you and to declare to you the words of the Lord.\"\nThe Lord spoke to you. You were afraid of the fire and did not go up into the mountain, and he said:\n\nI am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage. You shall therefore have no other gods before me.\n\nYou shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, even to the third and the fourth generation among those who hate me. But showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.\n\nYou shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.\n\nKeep the Sabbath day holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all that you have to do.\nBut the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: you shall do no work, you or your son or your daughter, nor your servant nor your maidnor your ox nor your donkey nor any of your livestock nor the stranger who is within your gates, so that your servant and your maid may rest as well as you. And remember that you God shows a reason why we ought to keep his commandments. The pope does not. You were a servant in the land of Egypt, and how the Lord your God brought us out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. For this reason the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath day.\n\nHonor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you: that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God is giving you.\n\nYou shall not kill.\nYou shall not commit adultery.\nYou shall not steal.\nYou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.\nYou shall not covet your neighbor's wife: you shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.\nshalt not covet thy neighbor's horse, field, servant, maid, ox, ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.\n\nThe Lord spoke these words to all thy multitude on the mount from the fire, cloud, and darkness, with a loud voice, and added no more there. But as soon as ye heard the voice out of the darkness and saw the hill burn with fire, ye came to me all the heads of your tribes and elders: and ye said, \"Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire, and we have seen this day that God may speak with a man and he yet live. And now why should we die that this great fire should consume us? If we should hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we would die. For what is any flesh that he should hear the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire as we have done and should yet live: Go and hear all that the Lord our God will say.\"\nOur God says, \"Tell all of you what the Lord your God says, and we will listen and do it. The Lord heard the sound of your voices when you spoke to me, and He said to me, 'I have heard the sounds of the words of this people, and they have spoken well. Oh, that they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it might go well with them and their children forever. Go and say to them, \"Get you into your tents again,\" but you stand here before Me, and I will tell you all the commandments, ordinances, and laws which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess. Therefore, take heed that you do according to all that the Lord your God has commanded you. Turn neither to the right nor to the left, but walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may go well with you.\"\n\"well with you and may you prolong your days in the land which you shall possess. These are the commandments, ordinances and laws which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go to possess it: that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his ordinances and his commandments which I command thee, both thee and thy son and thy son's son all the days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, Israel, and take heed that thou doest after me: it may go well with thee and thou mayest greatly increase. Even as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, Israel: the Lord thy God is God alone; thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thine strength. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.\"\nAnd when you are at home in your house and as you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up: bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as remembrances between your eyes, and you shall write them on the posts of your house and on your gates.\n\nAnd when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which He swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you great and goodly cities which you did not build, and houses you did not sow or plant:\n\nYou shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted Him at Masa. But keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His covenant and His statutes which He has commanded you, and do what is right and good in His sight, that it may go well with you and that you may go in and take possession of the good land which the Lord swore to give your fathers, and that the Lord may drive out all your enemies before you, as He said.\n\nWhen your son asks you.\nYou shall teach your children, saying: \"What mean the witnesses, ordinances, and laws which the Lord our God has commanded you? Then you shall say to your son: 'We were bondservants in Egypt to Pharaoh, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and evil, upon Egypt, Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes, and brought us out from there to bring us in and to give us the land which He swore to our fathers. Therefore He commanded us to do all these statutes, and to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, and that He might save us, as it has come to pass this day. Moreover, the outward show of righteousness to the avoided shall be righteousness to us before the Lord our God, if we are careful to observe all these commandments which He has commanded us, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses.\" The Lord your God brings you into the land which you are entering to possess, and has cast out many nations before you.\nBut I will give you this command: destroy their altars, break down their pillars, cut down their sacred trees and burn their images with fire. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, who has chosen you out of all the peoples on the earth. It was not because you were more numerous than other peoples that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you\u2014for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of Egypt.\nDelivered you out of the house of bondage: even from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Understand therefore, that the Lord your God is God and that He is a true God, keeping covenant and mercy for those who love Him and keep His commandments, through thousands, reviving the dead, and rewarding those who hate Him, so that He brings them to nothing, and will not pardon the transgressions of those who hate Him. If you shall heed these laws and observe and do them, then the Lord your God will keep covenant with you and the mercy which He swore to your fathers, loving you, blessing you, and multiplying you: He will bless the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your land, your grain, your wine, and your oil, the fruit of your cattle and the flocks of your sheep in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples, there shall not be among you a barren woman or man, nor any unproductive animal among your livestock. Moreover, the Lord will turn from doing you harm if you heed His commandments.\nall maner infirmityes, and will put none off the euell dyseases off Egipte (whiche thou knowest) apon the, but wyll sende them vppon them that hate the.\nThou shalt bringe to nought all nacions which the Lorde thy God delyuereth the thy\u2223ne\neye shall haue no pitie vppon them nether shalt thou serue their goddes, for that shalbe thy decaye. Yf thou shalt saye in thine hert the\u2223se nacions are moo than I, how ca\u0304 I cast themGod is as ab\u2223le out? Feare the\u0304 not, but reme\u0304bre what the Lor\u2223de thy god dyd vnto Pharao a\u0304d vnto all Egip\u00a6te, a\u0304d the greate temptacions which thine eyes sawe, a\u0304d the signes a\u0304d wonders a\u0304d mightie ha\u0304\u00a6de a\u0304d stretched out arme wherewith the Lord thy god broughte the out: eue\u0304 so shall the Lor\u00a6de thy God doo vnto all the nacions of which thou art afrayed.\nThereto, the Lorde thy God will send hor\u00a6nettes amonge them vntyll they that are lefte, and hyde them selues fro\u0304 the, be destroyed. Se thou feare the\u0304 not for the lord thi god is amo\u0304g you a mightie god a\u0304d a terrible. The Lord thy god will\nPut out these idols before you, little by little: you must not consume them at the ocean lest animals of the field increase upon them. And the Lord your God will deliver them to the little one and kindle a mighty tempest among them, until they are destroyed. And He shall deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall destroy their names from under heaven. There shall be no man standing before you until you have destroyed them. The images of their gods you shall burn with fire, and see that you covet not the silver or gold that is on them nor take it into your house, lest you be ensnared by it. For it is an abomination to the Lord your God. Bring therefore not the abomination into your house, lest you become a condemned thing as it is: but utterly defile it and abhor it, for it is a thing that must be destroyed. All the commandments which I command you this day, you shall keep to do them, that you may live and multiply and go and possess the land which the Lord swore to your forefathers.\nAnd think on all the ways the Lord your God led you for forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you and made you hungry and fed you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known. The word is \"life,\" all that proceeds from the Lord your God is life. You shall live by every word that comes from his mouth.\n\nUnderstand therefore in your heart, that as a man of God, you shall walk in his ways and fear him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of rivers of water, of brooks and springs that flow out in the valleys and on the hills: a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees with oil and of honey: a land where you will not eat bread in scarcity, and where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can draw water.\nthou shalt dig for brass. When thou hast eaten therefore and filled thyself, then bless the Lord for the good land which he hath given thee. But beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, that thou wouldest not keep his commandments, laws and ordinances which I command thee this day: thou and when thou hast eaten and art thirsty where was no water, which broughtest water out of the rock of flint: which fed thee in the wilderness with man, where of thy fathers knew not, for to humble thee and to prove thee, that he might do thee good at thy latter end. And beware that thou sayest not in thine heart, my power and the might of mine own hand have done all these acts: but remember God's power works and not we. The Lord thy God, how that it is he which gave thee the power to do mightily, for to make good the promise which he swore unto thy fathers, as it is come to pass this day, For if thou shalt forget the Lord thy god and walk after strange gods and serve them and worship them.\nthem, I testify to you this day, that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, even so you shall perish, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.\n\nHear, Israel: you go over Jordan this day to go and conquer nations greater and mightier than yourself, and cities great and fortified up to heaven, and peoples great and tall, even the children of Anak. Heed the saying today, that the Lord your God, who goes over before you as a consuming fire, He will destroy them and subdue them before you. And you shall cast them out, and bring them to nothing quickly as the Lord has sworn to you.\n\nSpeak not in your heart, after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, \"Where is my righteousness, that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land?\" Nay, but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord does cast them out before you. It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord is driving them out from before you, to accomplish what He spoke by oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.\nNot for your righteousness' sake, and not because you have a right heart, does the Lord your God let you possess their land. But it is partly because of the weakness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, and partly to fulfill the oath that the Lord swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.\n\nUnderstand, therefore, that it is not for your righteousness' sake that the Lord your God is giving you this good land. And at Horeb you angered the Lord, so that the Lord was angry with you, and He was about to destroy you. After I had gone up into the mountain to obtain the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. And the Lord gave me two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the fire on the day when the people gathered together.\n\nWhen the forty days and forty nights were ended, the Lord spoke to me, saying:\nI gave them to me: the two tables of stone, the tables of the Testament. And I said to me: \"Up, and quickly get them from here, for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves.\" They had turned away from the way I had commanded them, and had made a god of metal. Moreover, the Lord spoke to me, saying, \"I have seen this people, that it is a stiff-necked people. Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.\" I turned away and went down from the mountain (and the mountain burned with fire), and I held in my hands the two tables of the covenant. And when I looked and saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God and had made a calf of metal and had turned aside from the way which the Lord had commanded you. Then I took the two tables and threw them out of my hands, and broke them before your eyes. And I fell before the Lord: even as at the first, when I called to you from the land of Egypt.\nThe first fifteen days and nights, neither bread nor water had you consumed, nor had you sinned before the Lord, provoking Him in His sight. I was afraid of the Lord's wrath and anger towards you, lest He destroy you. But the Lord heard my petition at that time as well.\n\nThe Lord was also very angry with Aaron, threatening to destroy him. But I interceded for Aaron at the same time. I took your sin, the calf you had made, and burned it with fire, ground it into fine dust, and cast the dust into the brook that flowed out of the mountain.\n\nAt the sepulchers of lust, you angered the Lord. When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-Barnea, saying, \"Go up and conquer the land which I have given you,\" you disobeyed the mouth of the Lord your God, neither believing Him nor listening to His voice. Thus, you have been disobedient to the Lord since that day.\nI knew you, and twenty days and twenty nights I stayed there, the Lord being minded to destroy you. But I interceded with the Lord and said: \"Lord Jehovah, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance, whom You have delivered by Your greatness and whom You brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and do not look upon the stubbornness of this people nor upon their weakness and sin: lest the land from which You brought them say, 'Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, therefore He brought them out to destroy them in the wilderness.' Moreover, they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out with Your mighty power and with Your outstretched arm.\"\n\nIn the same season, the Lord said to me, \"Hewn for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make for yourself an ark of wood.\"\nI. King 8:5-13 (KJV)\n\nAnd I built an ark of shittim wood, and made two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up unto the mountain, having the two tables in my hand. And he wrote upon the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord had spoken unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they are, as the Lord commanded me.\n\nAnd the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the wilderness to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son carried the priest's office in his stead. And from there they journeyed unto Gudgod in the wilderness of Paran. And in the same place where there was no water, the Lord shewed me a rock: and I called it the Rock, and I said, \"For the Lord hath said, It shall be called 'Jacob's well'; and from thence I will give you water.\"\n\nAnd the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the testimony, the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister unto Him, and to bless in His name, unto this day.\nI. Lord and stand before the Lord, and minister to Him, and bless in His name, this day. Therefore the Levites have no part nor inheritance with their brethren. The Lord is their inheritance, as the Lord your God has promised them.\n\nII. And I tarried in the mount, even as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and the Lord listened to me at that time also, so that the Lord would not destroy me. And the Lord said to me: \"Go up and lead on before the people, and let them go in and take possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.\n\nIII. And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, and walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today, for your good? Behold, heaven and the heavens of heavens is the Lord's your God, and the earth with all that is in it.\nAll that is within it is only the Lord had a desire to love your fathers, and therefore chose their seed after them above all nations, as it has come to pass this day. Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your hearts, and be no longer stubborn. For the Lord your God, he is God of gods and Lord of lords, a great God, mighty and terrible, who regards no man's person nor takes bribes: but does right to the fatherless and widow and loves the stranger, to give him food and clothing. Love therefore the stranger, for you were strangers yourselves in the land of Egypt.\n\nFear the Lord your God and serve him and cleave to him, and swear by his name, for he is your praise and he is your God who has done these great and terrible things for you, which your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy souls, and now the Lord your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.\n\nLove the Lord your God and keep his commandments.\nAnd remember the ordinances, laws, and commandments of the Lord your God. Consider this day what your children have never known or seen: the nurturing of the Lord your God, His greatness, His mighty hand and outstretched arm: His miracles and acts, which He performed among the Egyptians, even for Pharaoh the king of Egypt and all his hosts: and what He did to the horses and chariots of the Egyptians, how He brought the Red Sea's waters upon them as they pursued you, and how the Lord has brought them to nothing until this day: and what He did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place: and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households and their tents, and all their possessions that were in their possession, in the midst of Israel.\n\nFor your eyes have seen all the great deeds of the Lord which He performed. Therefore, keep all the commandments which I command you.\nCommand the land that you go to possess, that you may be strong and go and conquer it, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them and their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey.\n\nFor the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you came out, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your labor as a garden of herbs. But the land which you go over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, and it drinks water of the rain of heaven, a land which the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.\n\nTherefore, if you will heed my commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, then he will give rain to your land in its season, both the first rain and the latter rain.\nAnd gather in your grain, your wine and your oil. He will send grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be filled. But beware that your hearts do not turn aside and serve foreign gods and worship them. Lest the wrath of the Lord be kindled against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and that your land yield not its fruit, and that you quickly perish from the good land which the Lord gives you. Therefore put my words in your hearts and in your souls, and bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be as frontlets between your eyes. Teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days may be multiplied and the days of your children upon the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.\nthe earth which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the days of heaven last upon the earth. For if you shall keep all these commandments that I command you, and do them and love the Lord your God and walk in all his ways and obey him, then the Lord your God will cast out all these nations before you, both greater and lesser than yourselves. The places where the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and from Lebanon and from the river Euphrates, even to the uttermost sea shall your borders reach. There shall no man be able to stand before you: the Lord your God will put the fear and dread of you upon all the peoples, whether you go in or come in.\n\nBehold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: a blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today; and a curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today.\nout of the way which I commanded you today to go after strange gods which you have not known. When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal, which are on the other side of the Jordan, on the western side of the way toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the fields opposite Gilgal beside Moreh. For you shall go over and possess the land which the Lord your God gives you, and shall conquer it and dwell in it. Therefore take heed that you do all the commandments and laws which I set before you today.\n\nThese are the ordinances and laws which you shall observe to do in the land which the Lord, your God, gives you to possess it, as long as you live on the earth. See that you destroy all places where the nations which you conquer serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.\n\"You shall destroy their green trees. Overthrow their altars and break their pillars and burn their groves with fire and hew down the images of their gods, and deface their names from that place. But if you do not do so to the Lord your God, you shall seek the place which the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put His name there and dwell there. And there you shall come, and there you shall bring your burnt sacrifices and your offerings, your tithes and heave offerings, your vows and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your oxen and of your sheep. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you lay your hands on: you and your households, because the Lord your God has blessed you. You shall do according to nothing that we do here this day, every man what seems good in his own eyes. For you have not yet come to rest nor to the inheritance which the Lord your God gives you. But you shall.\"\nGo over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God gives you to inherit, and He shall give you rest from all your enemies round about: and you shall dwell in safety. Therefore when the Lord your God has chosen a place to make His name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you, your burnt offerings and your offerings, your tithes and the heave offerings of your hands and all your godly vows which you vow to the Lord. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your servants and your maidservants and the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you.\n\nTake heed that you offer not your burnt offerings in whatsoever place you choose: but in the place which the Lord shall choose among one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings and there you shall do all that I command you. Notwithstanding you may kill and eat flesh in all your cities, whatsoever your soul desires, according to the word of the Lord your God; only you shall not eat within your gates the blood or the fat or the entrails. And you shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven, and the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover shall not be left until the morning.\n\nYou may not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven, nor shall the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover be left until the morning. Bring the best of the firstfruits of your ground to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.\n\nObserve and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.\n\nWhen you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, then you shall take some of the firstfruits of all things which you bring from the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put them in a basket and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses to put His name there.\n\nYou shall go to the priest who serves there in those days, and say to him, \"Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come to the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.\" And the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.\n\nThen you shall speak and say before the Lord your God, \"A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there with a few, and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous. But the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror, with signs and wonders. And He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Now therefore, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which You, O Lord, have given me.\" And you shall set it before the Lord your God and worship Him. So you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given to you and your household, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you.\n\nWhen you have finished tithing all the tithes of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, then you shall say before the Lord your God, \"I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me. I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. I have not eaten of the tithe in my mourning, nor have I put it aside for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me. Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk\nsoeuer thi soule luste\u2223th after acordinge to the blessinge of the Lor\u00a6de thi God which he hath geuen the both the\n* vncleane and the cleane mayst thou eate,Vncleane as pertayninge vn to sacrifi\u2223ce as beestes that had defor\u00a6mities: but not of the vn\u2223cleane that was forbidde\u0304 euen as the roo and the hert: only eate not the bloude, but poure it apon the erth as water.\nThou mayst not eate within thi gates the tythe of thi corne, of thy wyne and of thi oyle, ether the firstborne of of thine oxen or of thy shepe, nether any of thi vowes which thou vo\u00a6west, nor thi frewilofferinges or heueofferyn\u2223ges of thyne handes: but thou must eate them before the Lorde thi God, in the place which the Lorde thi God hath chosen: both thou thi sonne and thi doughter, thi seruaunte and thy mayde a\u0304d the leuite that is within thi gates: a\u0304d thou shalt reioyse before the Lorde thi God, in al that thou puttest thine hande to. And be\u00a6warre that thou forsake not the leuite as lo\u0304ge as thou lyuest vppon the erth.\nYf (when the Lorde thi\nGod has increased your costs as he has promised you: \"I will eat flesh, because my soul longs to eat flesh.\" Then you shall eat flesh, whatever your soul desires. If the place which the Lord your God has chosen to put his name there is too far from you, then you may kill of your oxen and of your sheep which the Lord has given you, and you may eat in your own city whatever your soul desires. Never the less, as the roo and the heart is eaten, even so you shall eat it: the unclean and the clean indiscriminately you shall eat. But be strong that you do not eat the blood. For the blood, that is the life: and you may not eat the life with the flesh: you must not eat it: but must pour it out on the earth as water. See that you eat it not therefore, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, when you have done that which is right in the sight of the Lord.\n\nBut your holy things which you have and your vows, you shall keep.\nYou shall go to the place which the Lord has chosen, and you shall offer your burnt offerings, both flesh and blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your offerings you shall pour out on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the flesh. Take heed and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, when you do that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.\n\nWhen the Lord your God has destroyed the nations before you, and when you have conquered them and dwelt in their lands: Be careful not to be ensnared, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, \"How did these nations serve their gods, that I may also do so?\" You shall not do so to the Lord your God. For all abominations which the Lord hated they did to their gods. They even burned their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.\ntheir sons and their daughters unto their gods with fire. But whatever I command you, take heed and put nothing to it, nor take anything from it.\nIf there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives a sign or a wonder, and it comes to pass, then say, \"Let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them.\" You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. For you shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and listen to his voice and serve him and cleave to him. And that prophet or dreamer of dreams shall die because he has spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and delivered you from the house of.\nbondage, to thrust the out of the wa\u2223ye whiche the Lorde thy God commaunded the to walke in: and so thou shalt put euell awa\u00a6ye from the.\nYf thy brother the sonne of thy mother or thyne awne sonne or thy doughter or the wife that lieth in thy bosome or thy frende which is as thyne awne soule vnto the\u25aa entyce the secret\u00a6ly sayenge: let vs goo and serue straunge god\u2223des which thou hast not knowe\u0304 nor yet thy fa\u2223thers, of the goddes of the people whiche are rou\u0304de aboute the, whether thei benye vnto the or farre of from the, from the one ende of the lande vnto the other: Se thou consente not vn\u2223to him nor herken vnto him: no let not thyn\naboute to thrust the awaye from the Lord thy God which brought the out of Egipte the ho\u00a6usse of bondage. And all Israel shall heare and feare a\u0304d shall doo no moare any soche weked\u2223nesse as this is, amonge them.\nYf thou shalt heare saye of one of thy cities which the Lorde thy God hath geuen the to dwell in, that certen beyng the childern of Be\u2223liall are gone out from amonge you\nAnd have moved the inhabitants of their city, saying: let us go and serve strange gods whom you have not known. Seek and search and inquire diligently. If it is true and certain that such abomination is worked among you: then thou shalt smite the dwellers of that city with the edge of the sword, and destroy it mercilessly, along with all that is in it, and even the very cattle thereof with the edge of the sword. And gather all the spoil of it into the midst of its streets, and burn with fire: both the city and all the spoil thereof, every white thing into the Lord thy God. And it shall be a heap forever and shall not be built again. And see that their cleansing be not in your hand, that the Lord may turn from his fierce wrath and show mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers: when you have listened to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep all his commandments which I command you this day.\nYou shall do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God. You are the children of the Lord your God; do not mutilate yourselves or make any baldness between your eyes for any deceitful reason. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a treasured people to himself, above all the nations that are on the earth.\n\nYou shall not eat any abomination. These are the animals which you may eat: oxen, sheep, and goats, deer, antelope, and gazelles. You shall not eat the flesh of swine, nor touch their carcasses.\n\nYou shall eat all that is in the waters that have fins and scales. And whatever does not have fins and scales, you may not eat, for it is unclean for you.\n\nOf all clean birds you may eat, but these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the hawk and its kind, the ostrich, the night hawk, the raven. You shall eat nothing else.\nYou shall not eat a corpse. But you may give it to the stranger in your city, or sell it to an alien. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. You shall not set a kid in its mother's milk.\n\nYou shall tithe all the increase of your grain that comes out of the field year by year. And you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place which He has chosen to make His name dwell there, the tithe of your corn, of your wine and of your oil, and the firstborn of your oxen and of your flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.\n\nIf the way is long for you, and you are not able to carry it because the place is far from which the Lord your God has chosen to set His name there (for the Lord your God has blessed you), then make it in money and take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God has chosen, and spend that money on whatever your soul desires: on oxen, sheep, wine and good drink.\nAnd on whatever your soul desires, and eat before the Lord your God, and be merry: you and your household, and the Levite who is in your city. Do not forsake the Levite, for he has no partner or inheritance with you.\n\nAt the end of three years, you shall bring forth all the tithes of your increase that same year and lay it up within your city, and the Levite and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your city shall come and eat and fill themselves: that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.\n\nAt the end of seven years you shall make a sabbath year. And this is the manner of the sabbath year: whoever lends anything to his neighbor or to his brother may not ask it back from him or from his brother, because it is called the Lord's year, but of a stranger you may call it back. But that which you have sown as your own harvest you may eat.\nWith your brother, give generously with your hand, and in any way, so that there is no beggar among you. For the Lord will bless the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess: thus you shall listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe and do all these commandments that I command you today.\n\nWhen one of your brothers becomes poor among you in any of the cities of the land that the Lord your God gives you, do not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother. But open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care that there is no evil thought in your heart, that you say, \"The seventh year, the year of release, is near,\" and you hold back your hand from your poor brother and give him nothing, and he calls out to the Lord against you, and it becomes a sin to you. But give to him readily and let your heart not begrudge him.\nTo give. Because the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you put your hand to. For the land will never be without poor people. Therefore I command you: open your hand to your brother, the needy and poor, in your land.\n\nIf your brother, an Hebrew, sells himself to you or to another Hebrew, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from service. And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. You shall provide him generously from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. From what the Lord your God has blessed you with, you shall give to him. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you to do this thing.\n\nBut if he says to you, \"I will not go away from you,\" because he loves you and your household and is well provided for. Then take an awl and pierce his ear through the lobe or the earlobe with it, and let him serve you until the year of release comes. In this way you shall treat him as a hired servant. And he shall serve you until the year of the jubilee.\n\nBut if he says to you, \"I will not go away from you, I love you and the land and your household, because the land is good\u2014I will not go away from you.\" Then you shall bring him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve you as a bondservant for ever. Do not make him free by your hand. When he asks of you, let him go, for his release has been deferred to you. He shall not go away as a freed man, but as a hired servant for life.\n\nTherefore take care to do this: for you are standing in the presence of the Lord your God. If you violate any of these commandments that I command you, and if you call out and the Lord responds according to your cry for help, I will place you among the peoples. This is a statute that is permanently binding with you, in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.\n\nYou shall not wrong a hired servant who is poor and needy, in his wages, in his food, or in his clothing, at the time when his service with you comes to an end. You shall pay him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; lest he cry against you to the Lord, and it sin against you.\n\nOn the seventh day you shall give him his wages in full, in sheaves of grain, or in the produce of the threshing floor, or in wine or in oil, or in the folded wool. When you give him his wages, you shall not delay the wages of the poor and needy, nor shall you keep back the wages of the laborer until morning. You shall not oppress him nor affront him, nor delay the wages of the laborer until a day later. You shall not cry out against the blood of your brother in Israel, for the life of every person belongs to Me, I the Lord.\n\nDo not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but fear your God: I am the Lord.\n\nYou shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord.\n\nYou shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.\n\nYou shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed. You shall not wear a garment made of two kinds of material. Now if both the cattle are of the same kind and you hitch the yoke to two unclean animals, you shall not use the produce of the field for food. You shall not wear a garment made of wool and linen woven together.\n\nWhoever lies with an animal shall be put to death. Whoever lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall be put to death. Their blood shall be\nServe forever and to your maidservant, you shall serve likewise. Do not let it displease your eyes to let him go out from you, for he has been worth double a hired servant to you in his service for six years. And the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.\n\nAll the firstborn that come from your oxen and from your sheep that are males, you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall not use the firstborn of your sheep for service; but you shall eat them before the Lord your God year by year in the place which the Lord has chosen, both you and your household.\n\nIf there is any defect there, whether it is lame or blind or any other unfit deformity, you shall not offer it to the Lord your God: but you shall eat it in your own city, the clean and the unclean alike, as the roe and the gazelle. Only do not eat the blood of it, but pour it out on the ground like water.\n\nObserve the month of Abib, and offer the Passover to the Lord your God. For in the month of Abib, the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.\nYou shall observe the Passover to the Lord your God, with a lamb or a kid in the place that He will choose to make His name dwell there. You shall not eat any leavened bread there with it, but you shall eat it with the bread of affliction for seven days. For you came out of Egypt in haste; therefore, you shall remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. And there shall be no leavened bread seen in all your borders for seven days, nor any of the flesh that you have offered as the firstfruit to the Lord on the evening of the first day until morning.\n\nYou may not offer the Passover in any of your cities that the Lord your God gives you, but in the place that the Lord your God chooses, there you shall offer it at evening, at the going down of the sun, in the season that you came out of Egypt. And you shall set aside and eat it in the place that the Lord your God chooses.\nThe Lord has chosen; depart on the morrow and bring the offering to your tent. For six days you shall eat sweet bread, and on the seventh day the people shall come together to the Lord your God, that you may do no work. Then count seven weeks, and begin to count the seven weeks from the time when the sickle begins to harvest in the ear, and keep the festival of weeks for the Lord your God. Give a freewill offering of your hand to the Lord your God according to what the Lord your God has blessed you. And rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maidservant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, in the place which the Lord your God will choose to make his dwelling there. And remember that you were a slave in Egypt, that you observe and do these statutes.\n\nYou shall observe the festival of tabernacles for seven days, after you have gathered in your grain and wine. And\n\n[CLEANED TEXT: You shall observe the festival of tabernacles for seven days after harvesting your grain and wine. Keep the festival for seven days in the place the Lord your God chooses for his dwelling, bringing offerings and rejoicing with your family, servants, Levites, strangers, orphans, and widows.]\nthou shalt rejoice in that thy feast, both thou and thy son, thy daughter, thy servant, thy maid, the levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow that are in thy cities. Seven days thou shalt keep holy to the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: for the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy fruits and in all the work of thine hands, and thou shalt be all together joyful. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose: In the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks and in the booth feast. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed: but every man with the gift of his hand, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.\n\nJudges and officers thou shalt make in all thy cities which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy tribes. And let them judge the people righteously. Bend not the judgment nor show partiality to any man; neither take a bribe: for that which is righteous thou shalt pursue, that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.\ngiftes blynde the wise and peruerte the wordes of the righteous. But in all thinge fo\u2223lowe righteousnesse, that thou mayst lyuc and enioye the londe which the Lord thi God ge\u00a6ueth the.\nThou shalt plante no groue of what soeuer trees it be, nye vnto the altare of the Lorde thi God which thou shalt make the. Thou shalt sett the vpp no piler, which the Lorde thy God hateth. Thou shalt offer vnto the Lor\u00a6de thy God no oxe or shepe where in is a\u2223ny deformyte, what soeuer euell faueredne\u2223sse it be: for that is an abhominacion vnto the Lorde thi God.\nYf there be founde amonge you in any of thi cities which the Lord thi God geueth the man or woman that hath wrought wekedne\u2223sse in the sighte of the Lord thi God, that they haue gone beyonde his appoyntment, so that they haue gone and serued strau\u0304ge goddes a\u0304d worshipped the\u0304, whether it be the sonne or mo\u00a6ne or anythinge contayned in heaue\u0304 which I forbade, and it was tolde the a\u0304d thou hast her\u2223de of it: Then thou shalt enquere diligently. And yf it be true and the\nThing surely committed in Israel is wrought only at the gates and not secretly in person: with lawful witnesses and not torturing them or making the man or woman who have committed that abomination bring forth themselves to the gates, and stone them with stones, and they shall die. At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he who is worthy of death die: but at the mouth of one witness he shall not die. And the hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him, and afterwards the hands of all the people: thus shalt thou put away wickedness from among you.\n\nIf a matter is too hard for the judgment between blood and blood, plea and plea, pledge and pledge in matters of strife within thy cities: Then arise and go up to the place which the Lord thy God has chosen, and go to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days, and ask, and they shall show thee how to judge. And see that thou do according to that which they shall shew thee.\nThey of the place which the Lord has chosen will show you and tell you to do according to all that they instruct you. According to the law they teach you and the manner of judgment they tell you, do this and do not deviate from it, neither to the right nor to the left.\n\nAny man who presumes to act presumptuously, refusing to listen to the priest standing there to minister to the Lord your God or to the judge, shall die. And all the people shall hear and fear, and shall not act presumptuously.\n\nWhen you come to the place which the Lord your God gives you and you enjoy it and dwell in it: If you say, \"I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,\" then you shall make him king whom the Lord your God chooses. One of your brothers you shall make king over you, and you shall not set a foreigner over you who is not one of your brothers.\nBut let him not hold too many horses, lest the people be brought back to Egypt through the multitude of horses, since the Lord has said to you: \"You shall no longer go that way.\" Also, he shall not have too many wives, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he amass silver and gold excessively.\n\nWhen he sits upon the seat of his kingdom, he shall write out this second law in a book, taking a copy from the priests and Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this law and these ordinances: that his heart may not lift up above his brethren and that he may turn not from the commandment: either to the right hand or to the left\u2014that both he and his children may prolong their days in his kingdom in Israel.\n\nThe priests and Levites, the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance.\nThe Lord's difficult covenant with Israel. The offerings and his inheritance they shall eat, but shall have no inheritance among their brothers: the Lord is their inheritance, as he has said to them. This is the duty of the priests, of the people, and of those who offer, whether it be ox or sheep: They must give to the priest, the shoulder and the two checks and the maw, the firstfruits of your corn, wine and oil, and the first of your sheep's tithe must you give him. For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and to minister in the name of the Lord; both he and his sons forever.\n\nIf a Levite comes out of any of your cities or any place of Israel, where he is a resident, and comes with all the desire of his heart to the place which the Lord has chosen: he shall there minister in the name of the Lord his god, as all his brothers the Levites do who stand there before the Lord. And they shall have like portions to eat, besides that.\nwhi\u2223che cometh to hym of the patrimonye of hys\nelders.\nWhen thou art come in to the londe which the Lorde thy God geueth the, se that thou ler\u00a6ne not to doo after the abhominacyo\u0304s of the\u2223se nacyons. Let there not be founde amonge you that maketh his sonne or his doughter go thorow fyre, ether a bruterar or a maker of dis\u2223male dayes or that vseth witchcraft or a sorce\u00a6rar or a charmar or that speaketh with a spiri\u2223te or a sothsayer or that talketh with them that are deed. For all that doo soch thinges are ab\u2223hominacion vnto the Lorde: and because of these abhominacyons the Lorde thy God do\u2223eth cast them out before the, be pure therfore with the Lorde thy God. For these nacyons whiche thou shalt conquere, herken vnto ma\u2223kers off dysemall dayes and bruterars. But the Lorde thy God permytteth not that to the.\nThe Lorde thy God will sterre vpp a pro\u2223phete amonge you: eue\u0304 of thy brethern like vn\u2223to me: and vnto him ye shall herken acording to all that thou desyredest of the Lorde thyChrist is he\u2223re promysed a\nThe preacher speaks better than Moses when the people gathered, saying: \"Let me hear the voice of my Lord God no more, nor see this great fire any more, lest I die.\" And the Lord said to me: \"They have well spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet from among their brethren, like unto you, and I will put My words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. And whoever will not listen to the words which he shall speak in My name, I will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak anything in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, and he who speaks in the name of strange gods, that prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we know that the word which the Lord has not spoken?'\"\n\nWhen the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land He gives you, and you have conquered them and dwell in their cities and in their houses: you shall appoint for yourselves three cities in the land.\nwhiche the Lord thy God giveth thee: thou shalt prepare the way and defray the costs of thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, into three parts. Whoever commits murder may flee to them. And this is the reason for the slayer who shall flee there. For he would rather have the Frenchman or the enemy flee thither and be saved: If he accidentally strikes his neighbor without hatred in the past: As when a man goes into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and as his hand fetches a stroke with the axe, the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor, killing him: the same shall flee to one of these same cities and be saved. Lest the avenger of blood pursue the slayer while his heart is hot and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, and yet there is no cause worthy of death in him, since he hated not his neighbor in the past. Wherefore hate makes a thing evil: so love makes good.\nCommand the saying: appoint out three cities. And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised, you shall add three more cities to those three. But if there is any man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises against him and strikes him so that he dies, and flees to one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there and deliver him into the hands of the avenger of blood, and he shall die. You shall not show pity: and so you will put away innocent blood from Israel, and it will be well with you.\n\nYou shall not remove your neighbor's landmark, which your ancestors have set, in the inheritance that you inherit in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess it.\n\nOne witness shall not rise against a man in a matter of death.\nIn all matters of heresy against the holy church, any manner of transgression or sin that a man commits: But at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall all matters be tried.\n\nIf an unrighteous witness rises up against a man to accuse him of a transgression: then let both the men who are parties to the dispute stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days, and let the judges inquire carefully. And if the witness is found false and that he has given false testimony against his brother, you shall do to him as he thought to do to his brother, and so you shall put evil away from among you. And let your eye have no compassion, but life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.\n\nWhen you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and a multitude greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you.\nThe priest shall bring you out of the land of Egypt, and when you come near to battle, let him come forward and speak to the people, and say to them: \"Hear Israel, you are coming against your enemies; do not let your hearts faint, nor be afraid, nor fear them. For the Lord your God is going with you to fight for you against your enemies and to save you.\n\nThe officers shall speak to the people, saying: \"If any man has built a new house and has not dedicated it, let him go back and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another dedicate it. And if any man has planted a vineyard and has not yet made it productive, let him go back and return to his home, during the first three years; his house, lest he die in the battle and another make it productive. And if any man is engaged to be married and has not taken his wife, let him go back and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another take her.\"\n\nThe officers shall further speak.\nWhen you approach a people to fight against them, offer them peace. If they peaceably respond and open to you, then let all the people found therein be tributaries to you and serve you. But if they will make no peace with you, then make war against the city and besiege it. And when the Lord your God has delivered it into your hands, strike all the males thereof with the edge of the sword, save the women and children and cattle and all that is in the city and all the spoil thereof take for yourself and eat the spoil of your enemies which the Lord your God gives you. Thus you shall do to all the cities that are far off from you and not of these.\n\"But in the cities of these nations which the Lord your God gives you to inherit, you shall save alive nothing that breathes. But you shall destroy them with no mercy, both the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. For they will teach you to do according to their abominations which they do for their gods, and you shall sin against the Lord your God.\n\nWhen you have besieged a city for a long time in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees, that you may eat of them and not cut them down. For the trees of the field are not men, that they may come against you to besiege you. But those trees which you know that you do not eat of them, you may destroy and cut them down and make bulwarks against the city that makes war with you until it is subdued.\n\nIf one is found slain in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess, you shall bring it to your ruler or to the elders of your city, and they shall judge it matter in your gates. You shall eat the cursed thing which is put to death, you and your household, who the Lord your God has given you.\"\nThe Lord gives you possession of it, and lies in the fields, and is not known who has slain him: Then let your elders and your judges come forth and meet in the cities surrounding the slain. And let the elders of the city nearest to the slain man take a heifer that has not been worked or yoked, and bring her to a valley where there is neither hearing nor sowen, and strike her head there in the valley.\n\nThen let the priests, the sons of Levi, come forth (for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister and to bless in His name, and by their mouth all strife and plague will be tried). And all the elders of the city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the beheaded heifer in the plain, and shall answer and say: \"Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it.\" Be merciful, Lord, to Your people Israel whom You have redeemed. Do not let innocent blood be put among them.\nyour people Israel: and the blood shall be forgiven you, not in your sight, but in the Lord's. And so you shall remove innocent blood from you, when you have done what is right in the sight of the Lord.\n\nWhen you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God has delivered them into your hands and you have taken them captive, and say among the captives a beautiful woman and have a desire for her that you would have her as your wife. Then bring her home to your house and let her wash her head and pare her nails and put her clothing that she was taken in from her, and let her remain in your house and mourn for her father and her mother a month, and after that go in to her and marry her and let her be your wife. And if you have no desire for her, then let her go where she pleases: for you may not sell her for money nor make a slave of her, because you have humbled her.\n\nIf a man has two wives, one loved and the other hated,\nIf someone has borne him children, both the loved and the hated: If the firstborn is the son of the hated: then he cannot make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, who is dead the firstborn: But he shall recognize the son of the hated as his firstborn, giving him double of all that he has. For he is the first in strength, and the right of firstbornship belongs to him.\n\nIf a man has a son who is stubborn and disobedient, refusing to listen to the voice of his father and mother, and they have taught him nurture but he will not listen to them: Then let his father and mother take him and bring him out to the elders of that city and to the gate of that same place. They should say to the elders of the city: This our son is stubborn and disobedient and will not listen to our voice. He is a rogue and a drunkard. Then let all the men of that city stone him.\nhim with sto\u2223nes vnto deeth. And so thou shalt put euell awaye from the, and all Israel shall heare and feare.\nYf a man haue commytted a trespace wor\u00a6thy of deeth and is put to deeth for it and hanged on tree: let not his body remayne all nyghte vppon the tree, but burye hym\nthe same daye. For the curse off God is on him that is hanged. Defile not thy londe ther\u2223fore, whiche the Lorde thy God geueth the to enherett.\nYF thou se thy brothers oxe or shepe goo astraye, thou shalt not with drawe thy selfe from them: But shalt brynge them home agayne vnto thy brother. Yf thy brother be not nye vnto the or yf thou knowe him not, then bringe them vnto thine awne housse and lett them be with the, vntyll thy brother axe after them, and then delyuer him them agayne. In li\u2223ke maner shalt thou doo with his asse, with his rayment and with all lost thinges of thy bro\u2223ther which he hath lost and thou hast founde, and thou maist not withdrawe thy selfe.\nYf thou se that thy brothers asse or oxe is fal\u00a6len doune by the waye,\nthou shalt not withdraw thyself from them: but shalt help him to heave them up again.\nThe woman shall not wear that which pertains to the man, nor shall a man put on women's apparel. For all who do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.\nIf thou chance upon a bird's nest by the way, in whatsoever tree it be or on the ground, whether they be young or eggs, and the dam sitting on the young or on the eggs: Thou shalt not take the mother with the young. But shalt in any way let the clutch go and take the young, that thou mayst prosper and prolong thy days.\nWhen thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a basin unto the roof, that thou lay not blood upon thine house, if any man fall therefrom.\nThou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seed: lest thou hallow the seed which thou hast sown with the fruit of thy vineyard.\nThou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.\nThou shalt not wear a garment made of.\nThou shalt wear wool and flax together. You shall bind ribbands on the quarters of your vesture that you wear. If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, hates her and brings shameful things against her charge and brings an evil name upon her, saying, \"I took this wife, and when I came to her, I found her not a virgin\": The father and mother of the maiden shall bring forth the tokens of her virginity to the elders of the city, even to the gate. And the father of the maiden shall say to the elders, \"I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, and he hates her; and behold, he lays shameful things to her charge, saying, 'I found not your daughter a virgin.' Yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity.\" And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city. Then let the elders of that city take that man and chastise him, and fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the maiden, because he has brought an evil name upon her.\nIf a man marries a woman in Israel, and she is not found to be a virgin, bring her to the door of her father's house and stone her with stones to death. If a man lies with a woman who is married to another man, both of them shall die: the man who lay with the married woman as well as the woman herself. Remove evil from Israel in this way. If a betrothed maiden is in a town and a man lies with her, bring them both out to the gates of that city and stone them to death: the maiden because she did not cry out in the town, and the man because he has dishonored his neighbor's wife. But if a man finds a betrothed maiden in the field and forces her and lies with her, the man who lay with her shall die alone, but to the maiden do nothing.\nA man shall not harm her: because there is no cause in the damsel. For as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter. For he found her in the fields, and the betrothed damsel cried, but there was no one to succor her.\n\nIf a man finds a maiden who is not betrothed and takes her and lies with her and is found: then the man who lay with her shall give to the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver. And she shall be his wife, because he has humbled her, and he may not put her away all his days.\n\nNo man shall take his father's wife, nor uncover his father's covering.\n\nNone who is castrated or has his private parts cut off shall come into the congregation of the Lord. And he who is born of a harlot shall not come into the congregation of the Lord, nor in the tenth generation shall he enter into the congregation of the Lord. The Ammonites and Moabites shall not come into the congregation of the Lord, nor in the tenth generation shall they.\nYou shall never join the congregation of the Lord because they did not provide bread and water for you in the wilderness when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor, the interpreter of Mesopotamia, to curse you. However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loved you. Therefore, you shall never seek what is prosperous or good for them all the days of your life.\n\nYou shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother; nor shall you abhor an Egyptian, because you were a stranger in his land. The children who are begotten of them shall come into the congregation of the Lord in the third generation.\n\nWhen you go out with the army against your enemies, keep away from all wickedness, for the Lord is with you.\n\nIf there is any man who is unclean because of an impurity that happens to him by night, let him go out of the army and not come back until he has become clean.\nwashed himself with water before evening; and then when the sun has set, let him come back to the host again. You shall have a place outside the host where you shall resort, and you shall have a sharp point at the end of your weapon: and when you wish to relieve yourself, dig there and turn and cover that which is separated from you. For the Lord your God goes with you to drive out and to establish you. Let your camp be pure, so that He sees nothing unclean among you and turns away from you. You shall not deliver to his master the servant who has escaped from his master, unless it is to the death. Let him dwell with you, even among you in what place he himself likes best, in one of your cities where it is good for him, and\n\nThere shall be no harlot of the daughters of Israel, nor harlot-keeper of the sons of Israel. You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog into the house of the Lord your God, in it.\nYou shall make no vow to the Lord your God: for both parties are abomination to the Lord your God.\nThou shalt not act as a usurer to thy brother, neither in money nor in food, nor in any manner of thing lent on usury. To a stranger thou mayest lend on usury, but not to thy brother, that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you set your hand to in the land where you go to possess it.\nWhen you have vowed a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for He will surely require it of you, and it will be sin to you. If you shall forgo vowing, it will be no sin to you: but whatever has gone out of your lips, you shall keep and do, according as you have vowed to the Lord your God, a freewill offering which you have spoken with your mouth.\nWhen you come into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat grapes, enough for yourself, but you shall put none in your bag.\nWhen you go into your neighbor's standing corn, you may pluck the ears with your hands, but you shall not rebuke your neighbor when he reproves you.\nWhen a man takes a wife and marries her, if she finds no favor in his eyes because he has seen some unchastity in her, then let him give her a bill of divorce and put it in her hand, and send her out of his house. If when she is departed from his house, she goes and is another man's wife and the second husband hates her and gives her a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the second man dies who took her as his wife. The first man who sent her away may not take her again as his wife, for that is an abomination in the sight of the Lord: that you defile not the land which the Lord your God gives you to inherit with sin.\n\nWhen a man takes a new wife, he shall not go to war nor be charged with any business: but shall be free at home one year and rejoice with his wife whom he has taken.\n\nNo woman shall take...\nIf a man fails to pay a debt, taking another man's life is his pledge. If a man is found stealing from his brother among the children of Israel and makes a covenant or sells him, the thief shall die. Expel evil from among you.\n\nTake heed of yourself regarding the plague of leprosy, diligently observing all that the priests and Levites will teach you, as I commanded them. Do as they teach you, but as I have taught you and not as they say; you shall observe to do. Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam by the way, after you came out of Egypt.\n\nIf you lend money to your brother, do not enter his house to take a pledge. Instead, stand outside and let the man to whom you lend bring the pledge out to you at the door. Furthermore, if it is a poor man, do not go into his house to sleep with his pledge. Instead, deliver it to him again by sunset, and let him sleep in his clothing.\nOne rendering and bless it. It shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God. Thou shalt not defraud a hired servant who is needy and poor, whether he be among your brethren or a stranger who is in your land within your cities. Give him his hire the same day, and let not the sun go down on it. For he is needy and sustains his life by it, lest he cry against you to the Lord and it be sin to you.\n\nThe fathers shall not die for the children, nor the children for the fathers: but every man shall die for his own sin.\n\nHinder not the right of the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow's garment as a pledge. But remember that you were a servant in Egypt, and how the Lord your God delivered you from there. Therefore I command you to do this thing.\n\nWhen you cut down your harvest in the field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back and reap it: but it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.\nBless the Lord in all your work. When you beat oil, do not make a complete clearing after it, but it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And when you gather your vineyard, do not gather completely after it, but it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.\n\nWhen there is a dispute between men, let them come to the law, and let the judges justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. And if the wicked is worthy of stripes, then let the judge cause him to be taken and to be beaten before his face according to his wickedness, to a certain number. Forty stripes he shall give him and not exceed: lest if he should exceed and beat him above that with many stripes, your brother should appear ungodly before your eyes.\n\nYou shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain.\n\nWhen brothers dwell together.\nAnd one of them could not prove this a ceremony if the deceased had no child, the wife of the dead should not be given to a stranger; but her brother-in-law should go in to her and marry her. And the eldest son she bore would stand up in the name of his brother who was dead, so his name would not be put out in Israel.\n\nBut if the man would not take his sister-in-law, then she should go to the gate and say: \"My sister-in-law refuses to bear a child for her brother, she will not marry him. Then let the elders of his city call him and come with him. If he stands and says, 'I will not take her,' then let his sister-in-law go to him in the presence of the elders and uncover his shoe and spit in his face and answer and say, 'So shall it be done to the man who will not build his brother's house.' And his name shall be called in Israel, the unshod house.\n\nIf men struggle together, one with another, and the wife of one runs away,\nTo rid your husband from the hands of one who harms him, extend your hand and seize him by the secrets: cut off her hand, and let not your eye pity her. You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a great and a small. Nor shall you have in your house diverse measures, a great and a small. But you shall have a perfect and just measure: that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God gives you. For all who do such things and all who do unrighteousness, are an abomination to the Lord your God.\n\nRemember what Amalek did to you on the way after you came out of Egypt. He met you by the way and struck the hindmost of you, all that were weary and straggling, when you were faint and weary, and he feared not God. Therefore, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies round about in the land which the Lord your God gives you to inherit and possess: be sure that you put out the name of Amalek from under heaven.\nHeaven, and do not forget. When you come into the land which the Lord your God gives you and have enjoyed it and dwell in it, take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which you have brought in from the land that the Lord your God gives you. Put it in a basket and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses to make his name dwell there. And you shall come to the priest who will be in those days and say to him, \"I have come to the place which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.\"\n\nThe priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it before the altar of the Lord your God. And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God, \"The Canaanites would have destroyed my father, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there with a few people and grew into a great, mighty, and populous nation. But the Egyptians oppressed us and afflicted us, and laid heavy labor upon us.\"\nAnd we cried to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our adversity, labor and oppression. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders. And He has brought us into this place and given us this land flowing with milk and honey. Now behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which the Lord has given me. And set it before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God and rejoice over all the good things which the Lord your God has given you and your house, both you the Levite and the stranger that is among you.\n\nWhen you have made an end of tithing all the tithes of your increase the third year, the year of tithing: and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, and they have eaten in your gates and been filled. Then say before the Lord your God: I have.\nI have brought out the holy objects from my house and given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commands. I have not exceeded your commands nor forgotten them. I have not eaten of it in the morning nor taken any of it for an unclean use, nor spent it about any dead body. But I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God and done all that he commanded me, as it is written in your holy habitation. Heaven and bless your people Israel and the land which you have given us (as you swore to our fathers) a land that flows with milk and honey.\n\nThis day the Lord your God has commanded you to do these ordinances and laws. Keep them therefore and do them with all your heart and all your soul. You have set the Lord today as your God and to walk in his ways and to keep his ordinances, his commands, and his laws, and to listen to his voice. And the Lord has made this covenant with you today, saying: \"You shall put these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children, may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.\"\nSet the people apart this day, becoming a distinct group for him, as he has promised, and keep his commandments. Be superior to all the nations he has made, in praise, name, and honor, so that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, as he has said.\n\nMoses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, \"Keep all the commandments I give you today. When you cross the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law. When you cross over: you will come to the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord God of your ancestors promised.\"\n\nWhen you cross the Jordan, set up these stones I command you today in Mount Ebal, and coat them with plaster. There, build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones.\nlift up your hands to them, but make an altar to the Lord your God of stone and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. And you shall offer peace offerings and shall eat there and rejoice before the Lord your God. And you shall write upon the stones all the words of this law, clearly and well.\n\nMoses and the priests the Levites spoke to all Israel, saying, \"Take heed, Israel: this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. Therefore, heed the voice of the Lord your God and do His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.\n\nMoses charged the people the same day, saying, \"These shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people when you come over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. And these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. And the Levites shall begin and say to all the men of Israel, 'Cursed be he who makes any carved or molded image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.' And all the people answered and said, 'Amen.' Then they heard the words of the law on that day. And they agreed to do it and to be obedient.\n\nMoses also commanded them, saying, \"There shall be no man or woman, clan or tribe among you who will not hear the words of this law, to learn them, nor do them. All of you shall hear them. And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.\"\n\nSo Moses commanded the people the same day, saying, \"Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you will obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today by following other gods which you have not known.\"\n\nAnd all Israel came near before Moses and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu, and Eleazar and Ithamar, the priests, and all the elders of Israel, and they spoke to Moses. And Moses commanded them all that day, saying, \"Behold, I will send angels before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Watch yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.\"\n\nWhen you cross the Jordan, these shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. And these shall stand upon Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. And the Levites shall call out with a loud voice:\n\n\"Cursed be the man who makes an idol or a molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.\"\n\nAnd all the people answered and said, \"Amen.\"\n\nThen they heard the words of the law on that day, and they agreed to do it and to be obedient. Moses wrote down all the words of the law and gave it to the priests, the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, saying, \"Take this law in your mouth, put it in your heart, and inscribe it on your doors and on your gates, that you may observe and do all the words of this law. For if you obey and do these things which I command you this day, the Lord will be your God, and you shall walk in His ways and keep His statutes and commandments, and the Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.\"\n\nAnd it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of speaking these words to all Israel,\ncarved an image or likeness of metal (an abomination unto the Lord; the work of the hands of the craftsman) and puts it in a secret place:\nAnd all the people shall answer and say, Amen.\nCursed be he who curses his father or mother, and all the people shall say, Amen.\nCursed be he who removes his neighbor's mark, and all the people shall say, Amen.\nCursed be he who misleads the blind from their way, and all the people shall say, Amen,\nCursed be he who oppresses the fatherless and widow, and all the people shall say, Amen.\nCursed be he who lies with his father's wife because he has uncovered his father's covering, and all the people shall say, Amen.\nCursed be he who lies with any kind of beast, and all the people shall say, Amen.\nCursed be he who lies with his sister, whether she is the daughter of his father or of his mother, and all the people shall say, Amen.\nCursed be he who lies with his sister.\nMother in law and all the people shall say \"Amen.\"\nCursed be he who strikes his neighbor secretly, and all the people shall say \"Amen.\"\nCursed be he who takes a reward to flee from innocent blood, and all the people shall say \"Amen.\"\nCursed be he who does not maintain all the words of this law to do them, and all the people shall say \"Amen.\"\nIf you shall diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command you today. The Lord will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you shall heed the voice of the Lord your God:\nBlessed shall you be in the city and blessed in the country, blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the fruit of your land, the fruit of your livestock, the fruit of your oxen, and the fruit of your flocks, blessed shall be your barn and your store.\nBlessed shall you be, when you come in and blessed when you go out.\nThe Lord shall be with you.\nSmite your enemies who rise against you. They will come against you one way, and flee before you seven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing to be with you in your storehouses and in all that you set your hand to, and will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you.\n\nThe Lord shall make you a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you: if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.\n\nAnd all nations of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall fear you. And the Lord shall make you plentiful in goods, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.\n\nThe Lord shall open to you his good treasure, even the heavens, to give rain to your land in its due season and to bless all the labors of your hand. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not fail.\nAnd you shall borrow nothing. The Lord will place you before and not behind, and you shall be above only and not beneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today to keep and do them. Do not turn from any of these words which I command you today to the right or the left, that you would serve strange gods.\n\nBut if you will not listen to the voice of the Lord your God to keep and do all his commandments and ordinances which I command you today: then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you:\n\nCursed shall you be in the city, and cursed in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your store. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the fruit of your land, the fruit of your oxen and the flocks of your sheep. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.\n\nAnd the Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doing which you have forsaken me.\nAnd you will complain in all that you do, until you are quickly destroyed and brought to nothing, because of the wickedness of your inventions, in that you have forsaken the Lord. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto you, until he has consumed you from the land. And the Lord shall strike you with swelling, with fires, heat, burning, wethering, with smiting and bitter stinging. And they shall follow you until you perish.\n\nAnd the heaven that is over your head shall come down upon you, until you are brought to nothing. And the Lord shall chastise you before your enemies: You shall come out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them, and shall be scattered among all the kingdoms of the earth. And your carcass shall be food for all manner of birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and no man shall drive them away.\n\nAnd the Lord will strike you with the plagues of Egypt, with the ashes of Edom.\nthou shalt suffer wrongs and be oppressed forever, and no man shall comfort you. Thou shalt be betrothed to a wife, and another shall lie with her. Thou shalt build a house and another shall dwell therein. Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not harvest it. Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof. Thine ass shall be taken away from thee violently, even before thine face, and shall not be restored to thee again. Thy sheep shall be given to thine enemies, and no man shall help thee. Thy sons and daughters shall be given to another nation, and thine eyes shall see and weep upon them all day long, but shalt have no power in thine hand. The fruit of thy land and all thy labors shall be eaten by a nation which thou knowest not, and thou shalt but endure violence only and be oppressed always: that thou shalt be clean beside thyself for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.\n\nThe Lord shall strike thee with a mysterious boil in the knees and legs, so that thou.\nThe Lord will bring you and the king you have set over you to a nation neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve strange gods: wood and stone. You will carry much seed for the worms will eat it. You will have olive trees in all your borders, but you will not be anointed with the oil, for your olive trees will be uprooted. You will get sons and daughters, but you will not keep them: for they will be carried away captive. All your trees and fruit of your land will be cursed with blasting.\n\nThe strangers who are among you will rise above you, and you will come down below them. He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him, he will be before you and you will be behind.\n\nMoreover, all these curses will come upon you and follow you and overtake you, until you are destroyed: because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, by walking in his law and his statutes which he commanded you.\nAnd you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping His commandments and ordinances which He commanded you, and they shall be for you as miracles and wonders upon your seed forever. But because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and a good heart for the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemy whom the Lord will send upon you: in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in need of all things.\n\nAnd the Lord shall bring a nation against you from afar, even from the end of the earth, as swift as an eagle flies: a nation whose tongue you shall not understand, a favored nation whom neither the old nor the young will spare. And he shall eat the fruit of your land and the fruit of your livestock until he has destroyed you: so that he shall leave you the nether corn, wine, oil, the increase of your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep: until he has brought you to nothing. And he shall keep you in subjection.\nAnd the enemy shall besiege you in all your cities throughout your land, where your high and strong walls now stand, which you trusted in. He will besiege you in all your cities and in all your land that the Lord your God has given you.\n\nYou shall eat the fruit of your own body: the flesh of your sons and that of your daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in that straitened and besieged place where your enemy shall besiege you. It will grieve the man who is tender and delicate among you, to look on his brother and on his wife who lies in his bosom and on the remainder of his children, whom he has yet left, for fear of giving any of them of the flesh of his children, whom he eats, because he has nothing else left in that straitened and besieged place where you shall be besieged in all your cities.\n\nYou and the woman who is so tender and delicate among you that she dares not even set the sole of her foot on the ground for tenderness and delicacy.\ntenderness, shall be grieved to look on the husband that lies in her bosom and on her son and on her daughter: even because of the offspring that comes from between her legs, and because of her children which she has borne, because she would eat them secretly for need, in the straitness and siege wherewith your enemy shall besiege you in your cities.\nIf you will not be diligent to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, to fear this glorious and fearful name of the Lord your God: the Lord will smite both you and your seed with wonderful plagues and with great plagues and of long continuance, and with evil sicknesses and of long duration. Moreover he will bring upon you all manner of sicknesses and they shall cleave unto you. Thereto all manner of sicknesses which the Lord had rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you: even so he will rejoice over you, to destroy you and to bring you to nothing.\nAnd yet you shall wander from the land, neither enjoying it, and the Lord shall scatter you among all nations from one end of the world to the other. There you shall serve strange gods, whom you and your fathers have not known: wood and stone. Among these nations you shall have no peace, and you shall have no rest for the sole of your foot. For the Lord shall give you a trembling heart and a disdainful spirit, and your life shall hang before you, and you shall fear both day and night, and you shall have no trust in your life. In the morning you shall say, \"Would that it were night!\" And at night you shall say, \"Would that it were morning!\" For the fear that is in your heart, which you shall fear, and for the sight of your eyes, which you shall see. And the Lord shall bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way which I have warned you that you should not go. And there you shall be sold to your enemies as bondservants and bondwomen.\nbondwomen: and yet no man shall buy you. These are the words of the appointment which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the appointment which he made with them in Horeb. And Moses called unto all Israel and said unto them: You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants, and to all his land, and the great temptations which your eyes have seen and those great miracles and wonders: and yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear until this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: and your clothes have not grown old on you, nor your shoes on your feet. You have eaten no bread nor wine or strong drink: that you may know that he is the Lord your God. And at the last you came to this place, and Sihon the king of Hesbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against you.\nYou stand here today before the Lord your God, the heads of your tribes, your elders, your officers, and all the men of Israel, your children, your wives, and the foreigners who are in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, so that you would come under the Lord's covenant and under his oath which the Lord your God makes with you today. For he will make you a people for himself, and he will be a God for you, as he has sworn to you and to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.\n\nI am not making this covenant and this oath only with you. But I am making it both with those who stand here with us today before the Lord our God and also with those who are not here with us today.\nFor you know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the midst of the nations. And you have seen their abominations and their idols: wood, stone, silver, and gold which they had.\n\nLest there be among you man or woman, kindred or tribe, that turns away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations. And lest there be among you some root that bears gall and wormwood, so that when he hears the words of this curse, he blesses himself in his heart, saying, \"I fear not, I will therefore walk after the lusts of my own heart, that the drunken destroy the thirsty.\"\n\nAnd so the Lord will not be merciful to him, but then the wrath of the Lord and His jealousy, will smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall come upon him. And the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven, and separate him from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the book.\nappointment mentioned in this law's book. So that your children's generations, who will rise up after you and the famine that will come from a far land, may see when they encounter the land's plains and the diseases with which the Lord has struck it. The land is entirely burned up with brimstone and salt, so that it is neither sown nor bears fruit, nor does any grass grow therein, after the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Adama, and Zeboim: which the Lord overthrew in his wrath and anger.\n\nAnd then all nations will also say: why has the Lord done this to this land? How fearsome is this great wrath? And men will say: because they forsake the Lord God's testament that he made with them, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they went and served strange gods and worshiped them: gods that they did not know and which had given them nothing. Therefore, the Lord's wrath burned fiercely upon that land to bring destruction upon it.\nall the curses that are written in this book. And the Lord cast them out of their land in anger, wrath, and great fury, and cast them into a strange land, as it has come to pass this day.\n\nThe secrets belong to the Lord our God, and the things revealed belong to us and our children, for we shall do all the words of this law.\n\nWhen all these words have come upon the weather, it be the blessing or the curse which I have set before you: yet if you turn to your heart among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and come again to the Lord your God and hearken to his voice according to all that I command you this day: both you and your children with all your heart and all your soul: Then the Lord your God will turn your captivity and have compassion on you, and go and gather you from all the nations, among which the Lord your God shall have scattered you.\n\nThough you were cast unto the extremes of heaven: even from thence\nThe Lord your God will gather you and bring you from there, and you shall enjoy the land which your fathers possessed. He will show you kindness and multiply you above your fathers. The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, that you may live. And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you and persecute you. But you shall turn and listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do all His commandments which I command you this day. The Lord your God will make you plentiful in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your land, in riches. For the Lord will again turn and rejoice over you to do you good, as He rejoiced over your fathers: If you listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book.\nthis law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul. For the commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, \"Who will ascend for us to heaven and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and do it?\" Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, \"Who will cross the sea for us and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and do it?\" Behold, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil. In that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His laws, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but will depart from the way which I command you today, and will serve other gods and worship them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; and that you shall not prolong your days upon the land which you cross the Jordan to enter and possess.\nWhither thou passest over Jordan to go and possess it, I call this day before you heaven and earth, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: but choose life, that you and your seed may live, in that you love the Lord your God, hearkening to his voice and cleaving to him. For he is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell on the earth which the Lord swore to your fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give them.\n\nAnd Moses spoke these words to all Israel and said to them: \"I am one hundred and twenty years old this day, and can no more go out and in. Also the Lord has said to me, 'You shall not go over this Jordan.' The Lord your God will go before you, he will destroy these nations before you, and you shall inherit them. And Joshua will go before you, as the Lord has said. And the Lord will do to them, as he did to Sihon and Og kings of the Amorites and to their lands which kings he destroyed.\"\nAnd when the Lord has delivered them to you, see that you do according to all the commandments which I have commanded you. Take courage and be strong, do not fear nor be afraid of them. For the Lord your God Himself will go with you, and He will neither leave you nor forsake you.\n\nMoses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel: Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. And the Lord will go before you; He will be with you, and will neither leave you nor forsake you. Fear not, therefore, nor be dismayed.\n\nMoses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the testimony of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel, and commanded them, saying: \"At the end of seven years, in the time of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law in their hearing.\"\nCome before the Lord your God in the place He has chosen. Read this law to all Israel, gathering men, women, children, and foreigners in your cities, so they may hear, learn, and fear the Lord your God, and keep all the words of this law. Their children who do not know may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land, whether you cross the Jordan to possess it.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses: Behold, your days are coming that you must die. Call Joshua and come and stand in the tabernacle of witness, so I may give him a charge. Moses and Joshua went and stood in the tabernacle of witness. And the Lord appeared in the tabernacle: even in the pillar of the cloud. The pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.\n\nThe Lord said to Moses: Behold, you must sleep with your fathers, and this people will go awhoring.\nafter strange goddesses leave the land, abandoning me and breaking the appointment I have made with them. And then my wrath will grow white against them, and I will abandon them and hide my face from them, and they shall be consumed. And when much adversity and tribulation come upon them, then they will say: because our God is not among us, these tribulations have come upon us. But I will hide my face at that time for all the evils' sake which they shall have wrought, in that they have turned to strange gods.\n\nNow therefore write this song, and teach it to the children of Israel and put it in their mouths that this song may be my witness\nunto the children of Israel. For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, then they will eat and fill themselves and grow fat and turn to strange gods and serve them and blaspheme me and break my covenant. And then when much suffering and\n\n(Note: The text appears to be incomplete at the end.)\ntribulation has come upon them. This song will answer before them and serve as a witness. It will not be forgotten from the mouths of their descendants: for I know their impiety, which they are going about even now before I bring them into the land which I swore to them. And Moses wrote this song in that very season and taught it to the children of Israel.\n\nThe Lord gave Joshua the son of Nun this command and said, \"Be bold and strong, for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.\"\n\nWhen Moses had finished writing out the words of this law in a book to the end, he commanded the Levites who bore the ark of the Lord's covenant, saying, \"Take this book of the law and put it by the side of the ark of the Lord your God, and let it be there for a witness to you.\" For I know your stubbornness and your stiff-neckedness: behold, while I am still alive with you this day, you have been disobedient.\nLord: and how much more after my death. Gather to me all the elders and officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to record against them. For I am sure that after my death, they will utterly destroy themselves and turn from the way which I commanded you, and tribulation will come upon you in the later days, when you have worked wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him with the works of your hands. And Moses spoke in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, to the end of them.\n\nHeaven, hear what I shall speak; and earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine drops as the rain, and my speech flows as the dew, as the seed falling on the herbs, and as the drops falling on the grass. For I will call on the name of the Lord: Exalt the name of our God.\n\nHe is a rock, and perfect are his ways, for all his ways are with wisdom. God is faithful and without deceit.\nWekedness, both righteous and just, is he.\nThe forward and outward generation have corrupted themselves before him. Do you so reward the Lord? O foolish and unwise nation. Is he not your father and your owner? Has he not made and ordered you?\nRemember the past days: consider the years from time to time. Ask your father where the most high gave the nations an inheritance. For the Lord's portion is his people, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance.\nHe found him in a desert land, in a waste and a wilderness. He led him about and gave him understanding, and kept him as the apple of his eye.\nThe Lord alone was his guide, and there was no strange god with him.\nHe set him upon a high land, and he ate the increase of the fields. And he gave him butter of the cow and milk of the sheep, with the fat of lambs and rams.\nIsrael grew fat, thick, and smooth, and he let God go who made him and despised the rock that bore him.\nThey angered him with strange gods and provoked him with abominations. They offered sacrifices to idols and not to God, and to gods they did not know and to new gods that had recently appeared, which their fathers had not feared.\n\nYou are of the rock that bore me,\nAnd when the Lord saw it, he was angry because of the provoking of his sons and daughters.\nAnd he said: I will hide my face from them and will see what their end shall be. For they are a perverse generation, children in whose midst there is no faith.\n\nThey have angered me with that which is not a god, and provoked me with their vanities. And I in turn will anger them with those things which are not gods, and will provoke them with\n\nFor fire is kindled in my wrath, and shall burn to the bottom of hell. And shall consume the earth with her increase, and set a fire to the foundations of the mountains.\n\nI will bring misfortunes upon them and will shoot all my arrows at them.\n\nBurned with hunger and consumed with heat and with bitter pestilence. I will also send\n\n(Note: The text appears to be incomplete at the end.)\nWithout fear, the sword shall rob them of their children: and within the chamber, fear: both young men and young women and the sucklings with the meek of the gray haired ones. I have determined to scatter them thereabout. Were it not that I feared the ramping of their enemies, lest their adversaries woe. For it is a nation that has an unhappy forecast, and has no understanding in them. How comes it that one shall chase another, Our rock is not as their rock, though our enemies be judged otherwise. But their vines are of the vines of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters bitter. Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps. Are not such things laid in store with me and sealed up among my treasures? Vengeance is mine, and I will reward: their feet shall slide, when the time comes. For the time of their destruction is at hand, and the time that shall come upon them makes haste. For the Lord will do justice for his people, and recompense.\nHave compassion on your servants. For it shall be seen that their power will fail, and at the last they will be imprisoned and forsaken.\nAnd it shall be said: where are their gods and the rock upon which they relied?\nThe fat of whose sacrifices they ate and drank the wine of their drink offerings, let them arise and help you and be your protection.\nSee now how I am He, and that there is no God but I. I can kill and make alive, and what I have smitten I can heal: neither am I.\nFor I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will say: I live forever.\nIf I whet the lightning of my sword, and my hand takes hold of judgment, I will show vengeance on my enemies and reward those who hate me.\nI will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall eat flesh of the blood of the slain and of the captive and of the head of the enemy.\nRejoice with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and he will avenge himself on his adversaries, and\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Old English, but it is still largely readable as is. Therefore, no major cleaning is necessary.)\nMoses spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, both Moses and Joshua son of Nun. And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, \"Set your hearts to all the words that I testify to you today. Impress them on your children, recite them to your children, and teach them. Do not assume that I am speaking idly to you, but speak of it at every turn, recite it, bind it as a sign on your hand, fix it as an emblem on your forehead, write it on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.\n\nThe Lord spoke to Moses on that very day, saying, \"Go up into this mountain of Abarim in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan that I am giving to the children of Israel as an inheritance. And you, die in the mountain that you are about to ascend, and be gathered to your people. As Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. For you will surely die in Mount Hor, as Aaron died.\"\nTranscribing the text:\n\n\"You transgressed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Strife, at Cades in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not sanctify me among the children of Israel. The land before you shall be open, but you shall not go there, the land that I give to the children of Israel. This is the blessing with which Moses, God's servant, blessed the children of Israel before his death: \"The Lord came from Sinai and showed his might to them from Seir; He appeared to them from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousand holy ones; In his right hand was a law of fire for them. How much he loved them! All his holy ones are in his hand. They joined themselves to his foot and received his words. Moses gave us the law, which is the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. He was Israel's king when he gathered the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel together.\n\nReuben shall live and not die; but his people shall be few in number.\n\nThis is the blessing of Judah. He said: 'Listen'.\"\nLorde, bring Iuda to his people, let him fight for himself, but he shall be my help against his enemies. To Levi I said, \"Your perfection and light shall follow your merciful mother, who tested you at Masa and with whom you contended at the waters of strife. He who says to his father and mother, 'I saw you not,' and to his brothers, 'I knew you not,' and to his son, 'I did not know you': for they have kept your words and observed your covenant. They shall teach Jacob your judgments and Israel your laws. They shall place incense before your nose and whole burnt offerings on your altar. Blessed is the Lord of his power, and accept the works of their hands. Strike the backs of those who rise against them and of those who hate them, so they do not rise again.\n\nTo Ben-Jamin I said, \"The Lord's dwelling shall dwell in safety by him and keep himself in the haven continually, and shall dwell between his shoulders.\"\n\nTo Joseph I said, \"Blessed is the land of the Lord with the precious fruits, with the full produce of the sun, with the precious produce from the moon, with the choice fruits of the fertile land, with the precious produce from the sun's brightness, with the precious produce from the precious dew, with the deep waters, with the full produce of the heavens above, with the precious produce of the deep springs, with the precious produce of the land that the Lord's hand has blessed. Blessed be the God of Shem.\"\nAnd he spoke of the goodly fruits of heaven, with dew and springs that lie beneath, and with fruits of the sun's increase and ripe roots from the months, and with the tops of mountains that were from the beginning and with the dew of hills that last forever, and with good fruit of the earth and its fullness. And the goodwill of him who dwells in the bush shall come upon Joseph's head, and upon the top of the head of him who was separated from among his brethren, his beauty is as a firstborn ox and his horns as the horns of an unicorn. And with them he shall gather the nations together, even to the ends of the world. These are the ten thousand of Ephraim and the thousand of Manasse.\n\nAnd to Zebulun he said: Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, and you Issachar in your tents. They shall call the people to the hill, and there they shall offer offerings of righteousness. For they shall suck from the abundance of the sea and of treasure hidden in the sand.\nunto Gad he said: \"Blessed is the maker of the rowm, Gad. He dwells as a lion and seized the arm and also the top of the head. He saw his beginning, and a part of the teachers were hidden there and came with the heads of the people, executing the righteousnesses of the Lord and his judgments with Israel.\n\nTo Dan he said: \"Dan is a lion's whelp. He shall come from Basan.\n\nTo Naphtali he said: \"Naphtali shall have abundance of pleasure; he shall be filled with the blessing of the Lord and shall possess the southwest.\n\nOf Asher he said: \"Asher shall be blessed with children. He shall be acceptable to his brethren and shall dip his foot in oil. Your sons and daughters shall cling to you. Peace be to him.\n\nThere is none like God of the offspring of Jacob, Shaddai is his name; He dwells on high, His place of rest is in the clouds, and He is the King forever. Amen and Amen.\" (Zechariah 12:8-9)\n\nNote: The text provided appears to be a biblical quote from the Book of Zechariah (12:8-9), but it is not entirely clear if it is in its original form or if it has undergone any modernization or translation. The text provided is already quite clean, but I have added a note to indicate the source of the text and provided a modern English translation for clarity.\nBefore me, he said: \"Destroy. And Israel shall dwell in safety alone. And the eyes of Jacob shall look upon a land of corn and wine, moreover his heaven shall drop with dew. Happy art thou, Israel, who is like unto thee? A people that are saved by the Lord thy shield and helper and sword of thine glory. And thine enemies shall hide themselves from thee, and thou shalt walk upon their high hills.\n\nAnd Moses went from the fields of Moab up into mount Nebo, which is over against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead even to Dan, and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah: even to the utter sea, and the south, and the region of the plain of Jericho, the city of palm trees, even to Zoar: And the Lord said unto him, \"This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to thy seed.' I have showed it thee before thine eyes: but thou shalt not go over thither.\"\n\nSo Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.\n\nAnd Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.\n\nAnd Moses, the servant of the Lord, was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Moses, died there also, and was buried by the waters of Meribah in the land of Moab.\n\nNow after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, \"Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.\"\nA servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab at the Lord's command. He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab near Beth Peor, but no one knew of his grave to this day. Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. Yet his eyes were not dim, nor his cheeks abated. The children of Israel wept for Moses in the fields of Moab for thirty days. The days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.\n\nJoshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had placed his hand upon him. All the congregation commanded Moses. But there arose not a prophet like Moses in Israel, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the miracles and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and all his servants and to all his land; and in all the mighty deeds and great terrors which Moses did before all Israel.\n\nThe end of the fifth book of Moses.\n\nA kind of giants, the Ammonites.\nthe word signifies crooked or unwrighted, or weak. Belial, the wicked or wickedness, he who has cast off the yoke of God from his neck and will not obey God. Butchers, prophets or soothsayers. Emims, a kind of giants so called perhaps because they were terrible and cruel. Enack, a kind of giants, and signifies a chain, because enack signifies such a chain as men wore about their necks. Horims, A kind of giants, and signifies noble, because of their pride they called themselves nobles or gentlemen. Rocke, God is called a rock, because both he and his word endure forever. Whett on thy children, that is exercise thy children in them and put them in fear. Zamzumims, a kind of giants, and signifies crafty or deceitful, imagining all ways.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "The examination of Master William Thorpe, accused of heresy, before Thomas Arundell, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the year of our Lord MCCCC. and seven.\n\nThe examination of the honorable knight, Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, burned by the said Archbishop in the first year of King Henry the Fifth.\n\nBe more ashamed to hear it / than you were and are / to do it.\n\nGrace and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ. Read here with good judgment the examination of the blessed man of God, and there you shall clearly perceive why our holy church is often called the holy church) and why we have daily examples of more than one or two who have not spared nor feared to speak and also preach openly the truth, which have been taken from them, imprisoned, and burned, besides others who for fear of death have recanted and carried fagots. Of whose articles and examination there is no layman that can show a copy.\nWho can tell why, in not many years past, there were seven burned in a county on one day? Who can tell why the good priest and holy martyr Sir Thomas Hitton was burned, now this year, at Maidstone in Kent? I am sure no one knows. For this is their custom ever when they have put to death or punished any man after their secret examination, to slander him of such things as he never thought. They can do this well enough, seeing there is no man to contradict them. Therefore, I exhort the good brother, whoever you are that reads this treatise, to mark it well and consider it seriously, and there you shall find not only what the church is, their doctrine of the Sacrament, the worship of images, pilgrimage, confession, swearing and paying of tithes? But also you may find strong and substantial arguments from scripture and doctors, and clerically reasons, my lord, the head and primate of the holy church in England (as he will be taken).\nAgainst this poor/foolish/simple/and mad knave/heretic, as he calls himself. And also, the real cause why all their examinations are made in darkness. And the Lord of all light shall enlighten them with the candle of his grace, to see the truth. Amen.\n\nI have corrected and published this in English that is now used in England, for the Lord God who knows all things, in sorrow I write or make known this sentence below, where my even Christ sits in his high seat, and such great blindness and malice may be known that those who presume to destroy vices and plant virtues in men, neither fear to offend God nor lust to please him, as their works show. For truly, the commandment of God and his law, which in the prayer of his most holy name he commands to be known and kept by all men and women, young and old, the prelates of which he has given power.\nthis land and their ministers, with the consent of priests, chiefly encouraging them to resist and destroy the holy ordinance of God. And through God's great wrath and motivation, not only those who do evil but also all who consent to these Antichrist's limbs are subject to severe vengeance. Which know or might know their malice and deceit, and do not resist their malice and great pride. Nevertheless, four things move me to write this: The first thing that moves me here is that, as it was known to certain friends that I came from the prison of Shrewsbury, and as it happened in fact that I should go to the prison of Canterbury, then diverse friends in diverse places spoke to me heartfully and tenderly, and commanded me, if it were so that I should be examined before the Archbishop of Canterbury, that if Archbishop, I should have comfort in prison and\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Early Modern English, but it is still largely readable without extensive corrections. Therefore, I will only make minor corrections for clarity and readability.)\n\nthis land and their ministers, with the consent of priests, encouraged them to resist and destroy the holy ordinance of God. And through God's great wrath and motivation, not only those who do evil but also all who consent to these Antichrist's limbs are subject to severe vengeance. Which know or might know their malice and deceit, and do not resist their malice and great pride. Nevertheless, four things move me to write this: The first thing that moves me here is that, as it was known to certain friends that I came from the prison of Shrewsbury, and as it happened in fact that I should go to the prison of Canterbury, then diverse friends in diverse places spoke to me heartfully and tenderly, and commanded me, if it were so that I should be examined before the Archbishop of Canterbury, that if I, as Archbishop, had comfort in prison.\nI have carefully cleaned the text as per your requirements:\n\nCounseled me closely and greatly desired that I should do the same thing. And other brethren have sent to me and required me, on God's behalf, that I should write out and make known both my opposing and my answering for the prophet, as they say, over my knowing. But they asked me that I should be diligent in all my wits to go as near the sentence and the words as I could, both those spoken to me and those I spoke. This writing came to me again before the Archbishop and his council. And of this counseling I was right glad: for in my conscience I was moved to do this thing and to ask for special help from God. Considering the great desire of various friends from different places, all in one, I occupied all my mind and my writings so busily that through God's grace, I perceived by their meaning and their charitable desire that a prophet might come through it. Wherever it is impugned, it has a sweet fragrance.\nAnd the enemy intensely prepares themselves to suppress and withstand the truth, resulting in a sweet scent. This heavenly smell of God's word does not dissipate like smoke carried away by the wind; instead, it descends and remains in a pure soul that seeks it. Thus, through this writing, one may perceive, by God's grace, how the enemies of truth, standing boldly in their malice, enforce themselves to withstand the freedom of Christ's gospel, for which Christ became man and shed his precious blood. It is a great pity and sorrow that many men and women turn away from their own way and do not bother to know or do the pleasant will of God. You men and women who hear the truth and steadfastness, and hear or know of this, ought here to be moved in all your senses to be able to receive grace and set less value by them.\nSelf or those who willingly and bodily endure all the misery of this life, since they do not know how soon, nor who, nor where, nor by whom God will teach them and test their patience. For certainly, whoever lives piteously and is charitably in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution in one way or another in this life if we are saved: It is fitting for us to imagine most earnestly the vileness and foulness of sin and how the Lord God is displeased with it; and so, from this vileness and hideousness of sin, it is fitting for us to abhor and hold in our minds a great shame of sin evermore, and to sorrow heartily therefore, and to flee from it. And those who ought to do this should take upon themselves sharp penance, continuing in it to obtain from the Lord forgiveness for our previously committed sins and grace to abstain from sin in the future. But if we are compelled to do this willfully and in inconvenient times.\nThe lord, if he does not utterly destroy and cast us away, will in various ways move tyrants against us forcibly to make us do penance, which we would not do willingly. Trust that this doing is a special grace of the Lord and a great token of life and mercy. And no doubt whoever will not apply himself to punish himself willingly, nor suffer patiently meekly and gladly the rod of the Lord however he will chastise him: their wayward wills and their unyielding are swiftly leading them to everlasting damnation. But because there are few in number who do this faithfully, the lovers of this world hate and pursue those they know to be patient, meek, chaste, and willingly poor, hating and fleeing all worldly vanities and fleshly lusts. For surely their virtuous conditions are even contrary to the manners of this world.\nI will faithfully strive to ensure that all people, occupied in knowing and keeping God's commandments, may truly understand the truth and possess virtue and prudence. They may serve to be worthy of heavenly wisdom from above. In this way, all their words and works may be made pleasing sacrifices to the Lord God, not only for the benefit of their own souls but also for the edification of the holy church. I have no doubt that those who apply themselves to this endeavor will make significant progress, both to friends and to enemies. For some enemies of the truth, the grace of God may cause charitable people to be astonished in their conscience and converted from vices to virtues. Those who labor to know and keep God's commandments and suffer patiently all adversities shall also benefit.\nHere is the cleaned text:\n\nI am comforted by many Fridays, and the forty things that move me to write this treatise are these: I know that those who, with good heart without feigning, are able to follow Christ willingly and gladly according to their learning and power, patiently, truly, and openly in deed and word, drawing away from vices (if they may) virtues, comforting and encouraging those who stand in grace: so that they are not lifted up into vain glory through presumption of their wisdom nor inflamed with any worldly prosperity. But always making and being patient, purposing to abide steadfastly in the will of God, suffering willingly and gladly whatever rod the Lord may chastise them with: then this good Lord will not forget to comfort all such men and women in all their tribulations, and at every point of temptation that any enemy may purposely do against them.\nSuch faithful lovers and patient followers of Christ, the Lord sends His wisdom from above to them, which the adversaries of truth cannot know or understand. But through their old and new shameless sins, these tyrants and enemies of righteousness will be so blinded and obstinate in evil that they will believe themselves to do pleasant sacrifices to the Lord God in their malicious and wrongful persecution and destruction of innocent men and women's bodies. And for the virtuous living and true knowledge of the truth, and their patient, willing, and glad suffering of persecution for righteousness' sake, these men deserve, through the grace of God, to be heirs of the endless bliss of heaven. And for the fervent desire and great love that these men have to remain steadfast and bear witness to it, though they are suddenly and unwarned brought forth to be apposed by their adversaries: the Holy Ghost strengthens and encourages them through His grace.\nIn the hour of their answering, speak in them and show His wisdom, so that all their enemies shall not again see nor stand lawfully against us. Therefore, all those who are steadfast in the faith of God, you who through diligent keeping of His commandments and patient suffering of whatever adversity comes to us, hope surely in His mercy: proposing to stand continually in perfect charity. For me and women do not fear the adversities of this life so much that they will fear (after their understanding and their power) to know the truth of God's word, when, where, and to whom they think their knowledge may profit. You and though therefore persecution comes to them in one way or another, they take it patiently, knowing their courage to be in heaven. It is a high reward and a special grace of God to have and enjoy as an everlasting inheritance of heaven, for the suffering of one persecution in such a short time as this.\nFor life, God himself is the heavenly heritage and endless reward. This sentence witnesses God, who said to Abraham, \"I am your mediator.\" And as God said he was the mediator for Abraham, so he is for all his other saints. This most blessed and best mediator he grants to us all for his holy name, which created us from nothing and sent his only most dear and worthy son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem us with his most precious heart's blood. Amen.\n\nKnown to all men who read or hear this writing: on the Sunday next after the feast of St. Peter, which we call Lent in the year of our Lord 1450 and 7, I, William of Thorpe, being in prison in the castle of Saltwood, was brought before Thomas Arundell, Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of England. And when I came to him, he stood in a great chamber with many people about him. And when he saw me, he summoned me fiercely.\nThe archbishop bade all secular men who followed him to depart from him quickly, leaving only the archbishop himself and a physician named Malueren, of St. Dunstan's in London, and two other unidentified men who were ministers of the law. I stood before them, and the archbishop said to me, William, I know well that you have traveled busily in the north country and in other diverse parts of England for more than twenty years, spreading false doctrine and having great eagerness to corrupt and poison this flock with your inner reaching and cunning will. But through the grace of God, you have been withstood and brought into my custody. Therefore, William, if you will now submit to me meekly and in good faith, without any feigning, I shall now sequester you from your evil purpose and prevent you from harming my sheep. Never the less, St. Paul says, \"As much as lies in us, we are to have peace with all men.\" Therefore, William, if you will submit to me willingly and sincerely,\nKneel down and lay your head on a book, and kiss it promising faithfully that you will submit to my correction and follow my ordinance, and fulfill it diligently with all your skill and power. You shall yet find me gracious towards you. Then I said to the Archbishop. Sir, since you deem me a heretic, will you give me a hearing to express my belief? And he said, Speak on. And I said, I believe that there is only one almighty God, and in this Godhead there is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and that all three persons are equal in power, skill, and might, full of grace and all goodness. For what the Son does and can and will, and in all their power, skill, and will, the Holy Ghost is equal to the Father and to the Son. Over this, I believe that through the counsel of this most blessed Trinity, in most convenient time before ordained for the salvation of mankind, the second person of this Trinity was ordered to take.\nI believe that this second person, our Lord Jesus Christ, was conceived through the Holy Ghost into the womb of the most blessed virgin Mary, without human seed. And I believe that after nine months, Christ was born of this most blessed virgin, without any pain or breaking of her womb's cloister, and without defilement of her virginity. And I believe that Christ our savior was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, in fulfillment of the law, and his name was called Jesus, which was called of the angel before it was conceived in the womb of Mary, his mother. And I believe that about thirty years old, Christ was baptized in the flood of Jordan by John the Baptist, and in the likeness of a dove, the Holy Ghost descended upon him there; and a voice was heard from heaven saying, \"Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.\" And I believe that Christ was moved by the Holy Ghost to go into the desert, and there he fasted for forty days.\nI believe that for forty days and forty nights, Christ fasted without bread or drink. And I believe that after his fasting, the manhood of Christ was tempted by the devil in gluttony, in vainglory, and in covetousness, but in all those temptations, Christ concluded the devil and withstood him. Then, without delay, Jesus began to preach and to say to the people, \"Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.\" I believe that throughout his time here on earth, Christ lived most holy and taught the will of his Father most truly. And I believe that he suffered most wrongfully and was greatly reproached and despised. And after this, when Christ wished to end his temporal life, I believe that on the day before he was to suffer passion in the morning, he ordered the sacrament of his flesh and his blood as his own precious body and gave it to his apostles to eat, commanding them and all their successors: \"You should do this.\"\nIt is in this form that he showed it to them and used it himself, teaching and urging others to do the same: this most worshipful, holy sacrament. In mindfulness of his holy living and of his most true teaching, and of his willful and patient suffering of the most painful passion. I believe that Christ our savior, after he had ordered this most worthy sacrament of his own precious body: he willingly went against his enemies, and he suffered most patiently to have their hands most violently placed upon him, to bind him, and to lead him away as a thief. Over this, I believe that Christ suffered meekly and patiently, allowing his enemies to scourge him with sharp whips, drawing out the blood between his skin and flesh. You, without grudging, allowed the cruel Jews to crown him with thorns and to strike him with a reed. And after Christ suffered, the wicked Jews drew him out.\nUpon the cross and nailing him there, foot and hand. And so, through this pitiful nailing, Christ willingly shed out, for man's life, the blood that was in his veins. Then Christ willingly gave his spirit into the hands or power of his Father. And so, as he would and when he would, Christ died willingly for mankind on the cross. Despite the fact that Christ was willingly, painfully, and most shamefully put to death by the world, there was left blood and water in his heart, as he had before ordered that he would shed out this blood and this water for man's salvation. And therefore, he allowed the Jews to make a blind knight thrust him in the heart with a spear, and this the blood and water that was in his heart, Christ would shed out for mankind's love. And after this, I believe that Christ was taken down from the cross and buried. And on the third day, by the power of his God, I believe that Christ rose again from death to life. And the forty-first day thereafter, I believe that Christ ascended up into heaven.\nI believe in one almighty God, the Father, and in his only Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit, who is with them, that is, the same almighty God. I believe in the holy Christian Church, which is the communion of all who believe and confess the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and in the communion of saints, one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. I believe in the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the body. And I look for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the advancement of his kingdom, and the life of the world to come. And I believe in the personal and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ; and in the resurrection of all the dead, and the life of the world to come. And in the holy Catholic Church, I believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. And I believe in the personal and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ with his holy angels, when he will render to every man according to his works. And I believe in the communion of saints, in the forgiveness of sins, and in the resurrection of the body. And I believe in the life everlasting. Amen.\n\n(Note: The text provided appears to be a section of the Apostles' Creed, a statement of faith widely used in Christian liturgy. The text has been cleaned to remove unnecessary line breaks and to modernize the language while preserving the original meaning.)\nWillfully and patiently, we suffer persecutions, following the example of Christ and his apostles. All those who gather together in this life, forming the holy church of God, fight against the devil on earth against the prosperity of the world and their fleshly desires. Therefore, if all the gathering together of this church beforehand and every part of it neither covets nor wills nor loves nor seeks anything but to avoid offending God and to do His pleasure: willingly, gladly, and willingly, from all my heart I submit myself to this holy church of Christ, to be obedient and submissive to its ordinance and every member thereof, according to my knowledge and power, with the help of God. Therefore, I know and will forever, if God wills, that from all my heart and all my might I will submit myself only to the rule and governance of those whom, according to my knowledge, I shall submit myself.\nmaye perceave by the havynge and vsynge of the beforesayd vertues to be membres of the holy churche. Wherfore these articles off belefe and all other bothe of the olde lawe and of the newe / whiche after the commaundement of god any man oughte to beleue / I beleue ve\u2223rely in my soule as a synnefull deedly wretche of my cunnynge and power oughte to beleue prayenge the lorde god for his holye name for to encrease my belefe and helpe my vnbelefe. And for bycause to the praysynge of goddes na\u00a6me I desyre aboue all thynge to be a faythfull membre of holy churche I make this protesta\u2223cyon before you all foure that are now here pre\u00a6sente / covetynge that all men and women that nowe absente knewe the same / that what thyn\u2223ge so ever before this tyme I haue sayde or do\u00a6ne / or what thynge here I shall doo or saye / \nat any tyme here after. I beleve that all the ol\u2223de lawe and the newe lawe geuen and ordened by the councell of these thre persones of the try\u2223nite were geuen and wrytten to the saluacyon off mankynde. And\nI believe that these laws are sufficient for salvation. I believe every article of these laws to the intent that these articles were ordered and commanded by the three persons of the most blessed Trinity to be believed. Therefore, to the rule and the ordinance of these God's laws, I submit myself with all my heart. Whoever can or will, by the authority of God's law or by open reason, tell me that I have erred or now err or shall err in any article of belief (from which inconvenience God keep me for His goodness), I submit myself to be reconciled and to be obedient to these laws of God and to every article of them. For by the authority, specifically, of these laws, I will, through the grace of God, be united charitably to these laws. You, sir, and over this I believe and admit all the sentences, authorities, and reasons of the saints and doctors in agreement with holy scripture and declaring it truly. I submit.\nI will obediently and meekly be to all these saints and doctors as they are obedient to God and His law, and will not, to my knowledge, harbor any charity for God that you will not swear to me before I do. Tell me how or where I shall submit myself, and show me what you will correct in me and what is the ordinance that you will thus oblige me to fulfill.\n\nThe Archbishop said to me, \"I will shortly have you swear here to me that you will forsake all the opinions held by the Lollard sect and are slandered with. So that after this time, neither privately nor publicly will you hold any opinion which I shall after your swearing retract here. Nor will you favor any man or woman, young or old, who holds these aforementioned opinions. But after your knowledge and power, you shall enforce them to withstand all such disturbers of the holy church in every diocese that you come into, and those who will.\nYou shall not leave their false and damable opinions unpublished, and make them known to the bishop of the diocese they are in, or to the bishops' ministers. Moreover, I command you to cease preaching until I know by good witness and true that your conversation accords truly in one contrary to all the lewd learning that you have taught here before.\n\nUpon hearing these words, I thought in my heart that this was an unwelcome and stinging rebuke. And in it, I stood still and spoke not. The Archbishop said to me, \"Answer one way or another.\" I replied, \"Sir, if I consented to you thus, as you have here rehearsed to me, I would become an appeaser or every bishop's spy, some monitor of all England. For, and I should thus publish and make known the names of me and women here, I would deceive many persons: the sir as\"\nIt is likely that I should herein, by the command of my conscience, because of the death of me and woman, both bodily and spiritually. For many who now stand in truth and are on the way to salvation: if I should publish and put forth for learning and reading their belief to bishops or their unwilling ministers, I know that some would be so disturbed and diseased with persecution or otherwise that many of them (I think) would rather choose to forsake the way of truth than to be traveled scorned, slandered, or punished as bishops and their ministers now use to constrain men and women to consent to them. But I find in no place in holy scripture that this office which you would now bestow upon me accords with any priest of Christ's sect or to any other Christian man. And therefore to do this would be a full noisome burden and an overburdening charge for me. For I suppose that if I did this, many men and women might justly accuse me: you sir.\n\"The confession says to me that I was a traitor to God and to them: many men and women trusted so much in me in this case that I would not, for saving my life, do this to them. For if I should do so, many men and women would truly say that I had acted falsely and cowardly, and had shamefully forsaken the truth. If I consented to you to do as you will hereafter, for good or evil that may befall me in this life, I deem in my conscience that I would be worthy therefore to be cursed by God and also by all his saints. Therefore, the Archbishop said to me, \"O your heart is as hard as that of Pharaoh's, and the devil has overcome you and perverted you, and he has so blinded you in all your wits that you have no grace to know the truth nor the measure of mercy that I have offered to you. Therefore, as I perceive now by\"\nyou foolish answer / you have no will to leave your old errors. But I say to you, quickly consent to my ordinance and submit to stand under my decrees, or by Saint Thomas you shall be disgraced and follow your fellow in Smithfield. And at this saying I stood still and spoke not, but I thought in my heart it was a great grace from God if He would, of His great mercy, bring me to such an end. And in my heart I was not afraid of this menacing of the archbishop. I considered two things in him. One, that he was not yet sorry for having wrongfully caused William Souther to be burned. And as I considered that the archbishop thirsted yet for more shedding of innocent blood. Therefore I was moved in all my wits to hold the archbishop neither as prelate nor as priest of God, and for you, my inward mind was thus altogether separated from the archbishop. I thought I should not have any fear of him. But I was right heavy and sorrowful for it.\nThere was no secular audience but in my heart I prayed the Lord God for comfort and strength against what was against the truth. I purposed to speak no more to the Archbishop and his clerks than necessary, and all this I prayed God for His goodness to give me the grace to speak with a meek and easy spirit, and whatever thing it was that I should speak, I might have true authorities from scriptures or open reason. And for this I stood still and said nothing, and one of the Archbishop's clerks said to me, \"What thing must you do? Do as my lord has now commanded you here.\" And yet I stood still and answered him not, and soon after the Archbishop said to me, \"Are you not yet determined whether you will do as I have here said to you?\" And I said to him, \"Sir, my father and mother, on whose souls God have mercy (if it be His will), spent greatly on diverse places for my learning, intending to make me a\"\nWhen I reached the age of discretion, I no longer wanted to be a priest. My friends were displeased with this and their grudges against me were painful to me. They spoke fair and pleasant words to me for a time, but they could not make me consent to be a priest with a good heart. They spoke harsh words to me in various ways and showed me heavy countenances. One while they treated me with fair manners, another while in a gruesome manner. They were long in their deliberations about me or my consent to be a priest. But at last they would no longer tolerate my excuses. I was forced to consent or bear their indignation and curse, as they said. Seeing this, they granted me permission to go to those named wise priests and of virtuous men.\nI. Conversation with my father and mother to discuss the office and charge of priesthood. My father and mother consented gladly and gave me their blessing and good leave to go. They also provided money for the journey. I then went to the priests who were reputed to be of the best name, most holy living, and best learned, and communed with them until I perceived by their virtuous and continuous occupations that their honest and charitable works surpassed their reputation. Therefore, sir, by the example of their doctrine and especially for the godly and innocent works I observed in them, I have endeavored to know God's law perfectly, desiring to live according to it. If, sir, other than for pleasure or displeasure of them, I am able.\nI am neither wiser nor of more virtuous conversation to my knowledge, nor is there any man in this land more renowned for wisdom than these men from whom I seek counsel and guidance. I would now, without warning, abandon the learning I have cultivated for thirty winters and more. My conscience would forever be unsettled and troubled, and as I have told you before, Sir, many people would be greatly disturbed and slandered because of me. For my weakness and false cowardice, many would be put into great danger, and, Sir, I fear that many (as they might justly do) would curse me bitterly. And I fear not, but the curse of God, which I would deserve here, would bring me to a very bad end if I continue thus. And if, through remorse of conscience, I repent and return to the way you are diligently trying to persuade me to forsake, Sir, all you.\nbishops of this land, along with many other priests, sought to defame me and pursue me as a relapse. Those who now have some confidence in me hereafter would never trust me, no matter how virtuously I could teach and live. For if I abandoned all my learning, I would first wound and defile my own soul, and I would also provide occasion for many men and women to be spiritually harmed. If I consented to your will, I would spiritually harm many people through my bad example, both before God and man. But, sir, by the example of some whose names I will not now repeat \u2013 H, I, P, and B \u2013 and by the present actions of Philip of Rantoul, who is now bishop of Lincoln, I am learning this.\nMany more hereafter, through God's grace, shall be taught to hate and flee all such slander that these forenamed men have chiefly defiled, primarily themselves with. And in it is where they have enemies all the church of God for the scandalous reeking at the cross of Paul's, of H.P. & B, and how now Philip Rantzen persecutes Christ's people. And the feigning, that these men dissemble by worldly pride, keeping the cowardly ones in their preaching and communion within the bounds and terms (which without blame may be spoken and shown to the most worldly livers), will not be upbraided by God. For to the point of truth that these men show some time they will not now stretch forth their lives. But by example, each one of them, as their words and works show, they beguile through their feigning: for to slander and to persecute Christ in his members, rather than they will be persecuted.\n\nThe Archbishop said to me, \"These men whom you speak of now were fools and he quotes:\"\nWhen they were counted fools by wise men and such like. But now they are wise men, though you and such others deny them unwise. Nevertheless, I never knew anyone who rightly said that anyone was ever envious of your contagiousness, that is, your contentious and spotty doctrine.\n\nI said to the Archbishop. Sir, I think well that these men and such like are now wise in this world, but as their words sometimes showed and their works outwardly indicated, it was likely to move me that they had once earned the wisdom of God and should have deserved much grace from God to have saved their own souls and many other men's if they had continued faithfully in willing poverty and in other simple virtuous living, and especially if they had continued with these virtues in their busy, fruitful service of God: as to many men's knowledge, they occupied themselves for a season in all their wits fully in knowing the pleasant will of God, truly following all their.\nMembers were fully bent on doing it purely and chiefly for the praising of the most holy name of God, and for the grace of edification and salvation of Christian people. But woe to false covetise and evil counsel, and tyranny by which they and many men and women are led blindly into an evil end.\n\nThen the Archbishop said to me. Thou and such other rogues of thy sect would shave your beards nearly for the purpose of having a benefice. For by Jesus I know none more covetous shrews than you are, when you have a benefice. For lo, I gave a benefice to John Puruay, a mile out of this castle, and I heard more complaints about his covetousness for tithes and other misdoings than I did of all men who were ordained within my diocese.\n\nAnd I said to the Archbishop. Sir Puruay is neither with you now for the benefice you gave him nor does he hold it faithfully with the learning that he taught and wrote beforehand; and therefore he and [no one else] showed himself neither hot nor cold.\nhis fellows may greatly fear that if they do not hasten to the way they have forsaken: otherwise they will be put out of the name of Christ's chosen people. And the Archbishop said, \"Though Wyclif be now a false harlot, I quit myself from him; but come before me again for such a cause, or we part, I shall know with whom he holds himself. But I say to thee. Which are these holy and wise men from whom thou hast taken thy formation?\nAnd I said, \"Sir, Master John Wyclif was held by full many men to be the greatest cleric they knew living, and therefore he was named a passing rude and innocent man in his living. Great men commonly associated with him, and they loved his learning so much that they wrote it down and eagerly enforced themselves to rule themselves accordingly. Therefore, sir, this learning of Master John Wyclif is still held by full many men and women to be the most agreeable learning unto the living and teaching of Christ and his Apostles, and most openly showing and declaring how.\"\nThe church of Christ has been and should be ruled. Therefore, many men and women coveted this learning/purpose through God's grace to conform their living according to Wycliffe's learning. Master John Ayston taught and wrote about it fully and diligently wherever and to whom he could, and he did it perfectly until the end of his life. Philip of Rampeton, while he was a canon of Lichfield, Nicholas Herford, Dauy Gotray of Pakring, monk of Byland, and a master of divinity, and John Purnay, and many others who were held as wise and prudent men, taught and wrote this learning diligently. And with all these men, I was often intimate and communed with them for a long time. Before all other men, I willingly chose to be informed by them and especially by Wycliffe himself, as the most virtuous and godly wise man that I had heard of or knew. And therefore, specifically from him and these men, I took this learning.\nI have taught and intend, if God wills, to live thereafter. Some of these men are contrary to the learning they taught before, but I know well that their learning was true which they taught. With God's help, I intend to hold and use the learning I heard from them while they sat on Moses' chair and especially while they sat on Christ's chair. But after their works, I will not do so with God's help. For they feign and hide and contradict the truth which before they taught openly and truly. I know well that when some of these men have been blamed for their scandalous doings, they have not granted that they have taught a mistake or cried out beforehand, but rather that they were compelled by penalty to leave off telling the truth, and thus they choose now rather to blaspheme God than to suffer awhile here persecution for truthfulness that Christ shed out his heart's blood for.\n\nThe Archbishop said that the learning that\nthou call this truth and sincerity an open slander to the holy church, as it is proven in the church. For although Wycliffe your advocate was a great clerk and though many men held him a perfect liar, yet his doctrine is not approved by the church. But as concerning Philip of Rapaeton, it was first a canon and afterwards Abbot of Leicester, now bishop of Lincoln: I tell you that the day is coming for which he fasted evenings. For neither does he hold, nor will he hold, learning that he taught when he was a canon of Leicester. For no bishop of this land persecutes more sharply those who hold your way than he does.\n\nAnd I said, Sir, full many men and women wonder about him and speak much shame and hold him for a cursed enemy of the truth.\n\nAnd the Archbishop said to me, Why do you tarry here with me with such fables, will you shortly (as I have said to thee) submit yourself to me or\nAnd I said, \"I will tell you at one word why I dare not submit myself to you in accordance with the manner and sentence you have previously proposed to me. And when he seemed angry, he ordered one of his clerks, \"Bring here quickly the certification that came to me from Shrewsbury under the bailiff's seal, attesting the errors and heresies this man has spread there.\" The clerk then hastily took out various rolls and writings from a cupboard, among which there was a small one. The clerk delivered this roll to the archbishop, and shortly thereafter the archbishop read aloud this roll containing the following sentence:\n\nThe third Sunday after Easter in the year of our Lord MCCCC and seven, William Thorpe came to the town of Shrewsbury and, with permission, was granted to preach. In St. Chad's church during his sermon, he openly declared that the sacrament of the altar, after consecration, was material bread. Images should in no way be worshiped. And that:\nmen should not go on pilgrimages. And priests have no title to tithes. And it is not lawful to swear in any way.\n\nWhen the Archbishop had read this roll, he rolled it up again and said to me, \"Is this wholesome learning among the people?\"\n\nAnd I said to him, \"Sir, I am ashamed on their behalf and truly sorry that those men have certified you these things untruthfully: for I never preached or taught this privately or publicly.\"\n\nAnd the Archbishop said to me, \"I will give credence to these worthy men who have written to me and witnessed it among them. Though you now deny this, do you not think I will give credence to them? You simple fellow have troubled the worshipful community of Shrewsbury, so that the bailiffs and community of that town have written to me, praying me, as Archbishop of Canterbury, primate and Chancellor of England, to grant them, if you are worthy, that if you shall be made to suffer openly.\"\nI implore you for your heresies, that you may have your earnestness openly among them: so that all those whom you and such other fools have perverted may, through fear of your deed, be reconciled again to the unity of the holy church. And also those who stand in true faith of the holy church may be more steadfast in it through your deed. And if this petition had pleased the Archbishop, he said, \"By my wealth, this heartfelt prayer and fervent request shall be taken into consideration.\"\n\nBut certainly neither the prayer of the men of Shrewsbury nor the maneuvering of the Archbishop made me afraid. But in recalling this malice and in the hearing of it, my heart greatly rejoiced and still does. I thank God for the grace that I then thought and still think will come to all the church of God here through the special mercy-filled doing of the Lord. And having no fear of the malice of tyrants, by trusting steadfastly in the help of the Lord with full purpose for knowledge.\nthe swiftness and determination to adhere to it according to my ability and power, I declared to the Archbishop. Sir, if the truth of God's word were accepted as it should be, I have no doubt that those who are famed to be outside the faith of the holy church in Shrewsbury and in other places, are in the true faith of the holy church. For their words resonate and their works demonstrate to the human judgment a fearful and faithful love of God, their will, desire, love, and business are most set to fear offending God and to love to please him in the true and faithful keeping of his commandments. Conversely, those who are said to be in the faith of the holy church in Shrewsbury and in other places, by open evidence of their proud, envious, malicious, covetous, and lecherous words and deeds neither know nor have the will to know or to occupy their minds truly and effectively in the right faith of the holy church. Therefore, none of these, or none who follow their ways.\nMen shall only come truly in the faith of the holy church, except they enforce themselves more genuinely to come in the way they now despise. For these men and women who are now called \"feithful\" and held just, neither know nor exercise themselves to know of faithfulness one commandment of God. And thus, many men and women now, and especially me who am named to be principal limbs of the holy church, stir God to great wrath and deserve his curse for calling or holding just those who are utterly unjust as their vicious words, their great customary swearing, and their slanderous and shameful works openly witness. And therefore, such vicious men and unjust in their own confusion call them unjust men and women, who after their power and ability bestow themselves to live justly according to God's commandment. And where, sir, you say that I have disturbed the commune of Shrewsbury and many other men & women with my teaching, if it is thus,\nIt is not to be wondered at among wise men that the commonality of the city of Jerusalem was destroyed because of Christ's own person. He was very godly, most magnificent, and most prudent preacher who ever was or shall be. And likewise, the Synagogue of Nazareth was incited against Christ, and filled with great ire toward Him for His preaching. The men of the Synagogue rose up and cast Him out. And what if you and such as you do rightly preach and teach the truth of God's word to the unfaithful people and let the pure simplicity of the gospel and the prophecy of God Almighty be fulfilled?\n\nThe archbishop said to me, \"It follows from your words that you and such as you do well to preach and teach as you do without the authority of any bishop. For you presume that the Lord has chosen you alone to preach as faithful disciples and special followers of Christ.\"\n\nI replied, \"Sir, by the authority of God's law and also of saints and doctors, I am learned to determine that it is every priest's office and duty to preach freely and boldly.\nTruly you word of God. For doubt every priest should first in his soul intend to take the order of priesthood primarily to make known to the people the word of God, approving his words ever to be true by his virtuous works. And for this intent, bishops and other prelates of the holy church should chiefly take and use their prelacy. And for the same reason, bishops should give to priests their orders. For bishops should accept no one to priesthood except he had a good will and full purpose, and was well disposed and well learned to preach. Wherefore, sir, by the bidding of Christ and by the example of his most holy living, and also by the witnessing of his holy apostles and prophets, we are bound under full great pain to exercise ourselves, after our consecration and power (as every priest is likewise charged by God), to fulfill dutifully the office of priesthood. We presume not here of ourselves to be esteemed (neither in our own reputation nor in any other man's), faithfully.\nDisciples and special followers of Christ: but, as I said before, we define this primarily by God's word that it is the chief duty of every priest to faithfully make known the law of God to his people and charitably communicate the commandment of God, so that we may best know where, when, and to whom we ever can. And for the will and diligence that we owe in deep debt to do justly our office through steady guidance and special help (as we trust), hoping steadfastly in His mercy, we desire to be faithful disciples of Christ. And we pray this gracious Lord for His holy name that He may make us able to please Him with devout prayers and charitable priestly works, that we may obtain from Him to follow Him thankfully.\n\nThe Archbishop said to me, \"Loose, foolish one, why do you make such vain reasons to me? Doesn't Saint Paul ask how priests should preach except they are sent? But I never sent you to preach.\"\nvenomous doctrine is so known through out England / that no bishop will admit the for to preach, witnessing of their letters. Why then lewd idiots willest thou presume to preach / since thou art not sent nor licensed of thy sovereign to preach. Saith not St. Paul / that subjects owe to obey their sovereigns / and not only the good and virtuous: but also tyrants that are vicious?\n\nI said to the archbishop. Sir / concerning your letter of license or other bishops / which you say we should have to witness that we were able to be sent for to preach? We know well that neither you, sir / nor any other bishop of this land will grant to us any such letters of license / but we should obligate ourselves to you & to other bishops. And since this matter your terms are some too large / & some too strict / we dare not obligate ourselves thus to be bound to you for to keep your terms / which you will limit to us / as you do.\nTo fellow preachers, and therefore, although we have not received your letter, nor letters of other bishops, we dare not forbear the office of preaching. To which office all priests, after their consecration and power, are bound by various testimonies of God's law and great doctors, without any measure making bishops' letters necessary. For as much as we have taken upon us the office of priesthood (though unworthy thereof), we come and purpose to fulfill it with God's help by the authority of His own law and by the witness of great doctors and saints. For He commands us to do the office of priesthood; He will be our sufficient letters and witness, if we faithfully occupy ourselves with His holy living and teaching. The true faith where it is sown may testify this.\nFor all who are converted and saved by learning God's word and working thereafter are witnesses, as the truth and sincerity which they heard and did is the cause of their salvation. And again, all unfaithful men and women who heard the truth told out to them and would not do it: also all those who might have heard the truth and would not hear it because they would not do it afterwards, all these shall bear witness against themselves and the truth which they would not hear or despised to do afterwards through their unfaithfulness: is and shall be the cause of their damnation. Therefore, sir, since this aforementioned witnessing of God and of diverse saints and doctors, and of all the people, good and evil, suffices all true preachers: we think that we do not fulfill the office of priesthood if we leave our preaching because we have not or may not have bishops' letters to witness that we are sent to preach.\nThis sentence approves what Paul says: subjects should be mindful of their sovereigns who speak God's word to them and follow their virtuous conduct. For Paul states that subjects ought to obey sovereigns in their ways, working diligently in holy studying, striving to destroy vices in themselves first and then in their subjects, and doing what is pleasing to God.\n\nTwo kinds of sovereigns exist: the virtuous and the tyrannical. Therefore, subjects do not owe obedience to the latter, whether I or woman. To virtuous and charitable sovereigns, subjects owe willing and joyful obedience, heeding their good counsel, consenting to their charitable requests, and working after their fruitful deeds.\n\nThis is Paul's teaching. Subjects should be mindful of their sovereigns, whose conduct they know to be virtuous, and follow their faith. For Paul adds that subjects ought to obey sovereigns in their ways, working diligently in holy studying, striving to destroy vices first in themselves and then in their subjects, and doing what is pleasing to God.\nThe sovereign is to blame if he commands his subject to do a vicious act. But the subject, in obeying, deserves mercy from God. For obedience pleases God more than any sacrifice of animals. Samuel told Saul, the wicked king, that God was more pleased with his obedience to commandments than with any animal sacrifice. David, Saint Paul, and Saint Gregory agree that not only those who do evil are worthy of death and condemnation, but also those who consent to the actions of evil doers. The Church's law teaches in its decrees that a servant to his lord, a child to a father, a wife to her husband, or a monk to his abbot should only obey in lawful things.\n\nThe Archbishop said to me, \"All the arguments you present are not but proud and presumptuous.\" For you force me to prove that you and others are so just that you owe nothing to:\n\n(Note: The text appears to be written in Early Modern English. No significant OCR errors were detected.)\nAnd you ought to obey prelates. And thus, against the teaching of St. Paul, you are not to preach unless you have been sent with your own authority. I said, Sir, do not every priest possess the office of the apostles or the disciples of Christ? And the Archbishop replied, yes. I said, Sir, as the tenth chapter of Matthew and the last chapter of Mark testify, Christ sent his apostles to preach. And the tenth chapter of Luke testifies that Christ sent his twelve and seventy disciples to preach in every place where he was to come. And St. Gregory in the common law says, every man who goes to priesthood takes upon himself the office of preaching: for as he says, the priest stirs up God's great wrath whose mouth is not heard the voice of preaching. And as other commentators on Ezekiel testify, the priest who does not preach promptly to the people will be a partner in their damnation that perishes.\nThrough his default: and though the people be saved by other special grace of God through the preaching of priests, yet the priests, in their turn, are ordained to preach and do not, as before God they are made spiritually in that they withhold from the people the word of God which is life and sustenance for souls. And Saint Isidore says, \"Priests shall be scourged for wickedness of the people if they teach not the truth or blame the truth as sinners.\" For all the work or business of priests stands in preaching and teaching, that they edify all men as well through the knowledge of faith as through the discipline of works, that is, virtuous teaching. And as the Gospel testifies, \"Christ said in his teaching, 'I was born and came into this world to bear witness to the truth, and he who is of the truth hears my voice.' Therefore, sinners especially through the word of Christ, that is, his voice, priests are commanded to preach. Whichever priest it may be that has not good will and full determination.\"\nA person is supposed to do this and unable to do so himself, after his consecration and power to do his office, according to the example of Christ and his apostles, whatever other thing that he does displeases God. For lo, Saint Gregory says, that a man is mainly bound to do whatsoever other thing he does, it is ungrateful to the Holy Ghost. And therefore Lincoln says, that a priest who does not preach God's word, though he may have no other fault, is Antichrist and Satan, a night thief and a day thief, a serpent of souls and an angel of light torn in pieces in darkness. Therefore, sir, these authorities and others well considered, I deem myself damnable, if I, for the pleasure or displeasure of any creature, do not diligently apply myself to preach God's word. And in the same damnation I deem all those priests who, with good purpose and will, do not enforce this diligently, and also all those who have the purpose or will to hinder any priest from this.\nAnd the archbishop spoke to the three clerks standing before him. \"Sirs, this is the manner and business of this losel and such others - to pick out sharp sentences from holy scripture and doctors to maintain their sect and learning against the ordinance of the holy church. And therefore, losel, it is that you covet to have again the Psalter that I made to take from it at Cambridge - to record sharp verses against us. But you shall never have that Psalter or any other book until I know that your heart and mouth are fully governed by the holy church.\n\nAnd I said, \"Sir, all my will and power is and ever shall be (I trust in God), to be governed by the holy church.\"\n\nAnd the archbishop asked me, \"What is the holy church?\"\n\nAnd I said, \"Sir, I told you before, but since you ask me this question: I call Christ and his saints the holy church.\"\n\nAnd the archbishop said to me, \"I well know that Christ and his saints are the holy church in heaven, but\"\nWhat is a holy church on earth?\nAnd I replied, \"Sir, though a holy church be every one in charity, yet it has two parts. The first and principal part has overcome perfectly all the wretchedness of this life and reigns joyfully in heaven with Christ. And the other part is yet in the earth, continually and steadfastly fighting day and night against temptations of the devil, forsaking and hating the prosperity of this world, despising and enduring their fleshly lusts, which are the pilgrims of Christ, wandering toward heaven by steadfast faith, grounded hope, and perfect charity. For these heavenly pilgrims may not, nor will they be hindered from their good purpose by the doctrine's discord from holy scripture, nor by the floods of any temporal tribulation, nor by the wind of any pride or man's boasting or any creature's manipulation, for they are all firmly grounded upon the sure stone Ch.\n\nThe Archbishop said to his clerks, \"Do you not see how his heart is endured?\"\nOne clerk answered, \"Sir, he admitted that the certification against him from Shrewsbury is falsely forged. Therefore, Sir, let us confront him now in all the points certified against him, and we shall hear his answers and witness them. The archbishop took the certification in his hand and looked at it a while, then he said to me, 'Behold, it is certified against you, worthy men and faithful of Shrewsbury, that you publicly preached there in St. Chad's church that the sacrament of the altar is material bread after consecration. What do you say? Was this truly preached?' I replied, 'Sir, I truly tell you that I touched nothing there of the sacrament of the altar but in this way: as I will, with God's grace.' \"\nAs I stood there, a sacring bell rang out, and people were torn away hastily and noisily towards me. I said to them, \"Good men, it would be better for you to stand still and hear God's word. The virtue and the essence of the most holy Sacrament of the altar stands much more in your belief of it than in your outward sight of it. Therefore, it would be better for you to stand still quietly and hear God's word, as through hearing it, you come to true belief. I am certain I did not speak there of the worthy Sacrament of the altar.\n\nThe Archbishop said to me, \"I do not believe you, no matter what you say, since such reverent men have testified against you. But since you deny having said that, what do you say now? Rest here, after the consecration, in the tabernacle.\"\nAnd I said, \"Sir, I know of no place in holy scripture where the term 'material bread' is written. Therefore, Sir, when I speak of this matter, I do not speak of material bread. Then the Archbishop said to me, 'How do you teach men to believe in this sacrament?' And I said, 'Sir, as I believe, so I teach others. He said, 'Declare your belief plainly.' And I said, with my protestation, 'Sir, I believe that the night before it, Christ Jesus willingly suffered passion for mankind. On the morning after, he took bread in his holy and most worshipful hands, lifting up his eyes and giving thanks to God his Father. He blessed this bread and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, \"Take and eat; this is my body.\" And that this is all that men's belief should be. Other belief, Sir, I have none, nor will I have, nor teach, for I believe that this suffices in this matter.\"\nI believe, with God's grace, I purpose to live and die, recognizing as I believe and teach others to believe, that the worshipful sacrament of the altar is the sacrament of Christ's flesh and his blood in the form of bread and wine. And the Archbishop said to me, \"It is so that this Sacrament is truly Christ's body in the form of bread. But you and your sect maintain it to be the substance of bread. Do you believe this to be true teaching?\" And I replied, \"No, neither I nor any other of our sect teaches otherwise than I have told you, nor do we believe otherwise, to my knowledge. Nevertheless, sir, I ask for your charity that you will tell me plainly here how you understand this text of St. Paul, where he says, \"This thing that you eat, do this in remembrance of me, while I was in the form of God.\" Sir, does Paul here call the form of God the substance or kind of God? Also, Sir, does the church not teach in the hours of the most blessed Virgin that [And the]...?\nThe archbishop asked me, \"Will you declare this text according to your purpose, since the church has determined that there is no substance of bread left in the sacrament of the altar after the consecration? Do you not trust this ordinance of the church? I replied, \"Sir, whatever the prelates have ordained in the church; our belief remains firm. I have not heard that the ordinance of men should be put into our belief. The archbishop then said to me, \"If you have not learned this before, learn now that you are out of faith: if in this matter and others you do not believe as the holy church believes. What do doctors say about this sacrament?\" I replied, \"Sir, St. Paul, a great doctor of the holy church, speaking to the people and teaching them the true belief of this most holy sacrament, calls it bread that we break. And in the Canon of the Mass after the consecration, this most worthy sacrament is called holy bread. And every.\"\n\"Priests in this land after receiving this sacrament say, \"That which we have taken with our mouths, we pray God that we may take it with a pure and clean mind. That is, we pray God that we may worthily receive this holy sacrament through true belief. And St. Augustine says, \"That which is seen is bread; but what faith seeks to be informed of is the true body of Christ. Fulgence, an enthusiastic doctor, also says, \"It is an error to say that Christ was only a substance, not truly God, or that Christ was truly God but not truly man. This doctor also says, \"It is an error to say that the sacrament of the altar is only a substance. Furthermore, in the secret of the Mass on Christ's Mass day, it is written, \"God Himself grants us terrestrial substance as long as it is divine: which sentence, in the secret of the fourth fermentation, is for the seven months of September.\" I pray\"\nYou declare here openly in English. The archbishop said to me, \"I perceive well enough whereabout you are, and how the devil blinds you so that you may not understand the ordinance of the holy church nor consent to it. But I command you now to answer me briefly. Do you believe that after the consecration of this aforementioned sacrament, there remains substance of bread or not?\"\n\nI replied, \"Sir, as I understand it, it is one to grant or to believe that there remains substance of bread, and to grant and to believe that this most worthy sacrament of Christ's own body is one accident without a subject. But, sir, for as much as your question passes my understanding, I dare not deny it nor grant it, for it is a subtle matter about which I have never cared to know it: and therefore I commit this term, 'accidents without a subject,' to those clerks who deal with such curious and intricate sophistry, for they determine difficult and strange matters and wade and wander so in them from argument.\"\nAnd they argue for and against it until they do not know where they are or understand themselves. But the shame that these proud sophists must yield it to men and do so before men makes them often fools, and they are concluded shamefully before God.\n\nThe Archbishop said to me, \"I do not intend to oblige you with the subtle arguments of clergy, since you are unable to understand them: But I intend to make you obey the determination of the holy church.\"\n\nI replied, \"Sir, by open evidence and great witnesses a thousand years after the incarnation of Christ, the determination which I have here before you rehearsed was accepted by the holy church as sufficient for the salvation of all those who believed it faithfully and worked thereafter charitably. But, sir, the determination of this matter, which was brought in since the devil was lost by Friar Thomas, specifically calling the most holy sacrament of Christ's own body an accident without a subject, which term I do not know if God's law approves in this matter.\"\nI dare not grant, but utterly deny, I will not make this friar's sentence or any such other belief with me, God, what thou wilt.\n\nThe Archbishop said to me, \"Well, well, thou shalt speak otherwise or I leave thee.\"\n\nBut what sayest thou to this second point, it is recorded against it by the worthy man of Shrewsbury, saying thou preached openly there that images ought not to be worshipped in any way.\n\nI said, \"Sir, I never preached thus, nor through God's grace, I will never consent to think nor to say thus, neither privately nor publicly.\" For, lo, the Lord witnesseth by Moses that the things which he made were good indeed, and so they were, and yet they are, and shall be good and worshipful in their kind. And therefore, to the end that God made them, they are all praiseworthy and worshipful, and especially she who was made after the image and likeness of God is fully worshipful in his kind, this holy image that is man, God worships. And therefore, every man\nI should worship other beings in kind and for heavenly virtues that use charity towards me. I also say that wood, tin, gold, silver, or any other material that images are made of, all these creatures are worthy of worship in their kind and to the end that God made them for. But the carving, casting, nor painting of any image made with human hand, all that this doing is accepted by men of highest state and dignity, and ordered to be a calendar to lead men who cannot or will not be learned to know God in His word, nor by His creatures nor by His wonderful and diverse works: yet this image ought not to be worshipped in the form nor in the likeness of human craft, nevertheless every material it paints with, since it is God's creature, ought to be worshipped in its kind and to the end that God made and ordered it to serve man.\n\nThen the archbishop said to me, \"I grant well that no one ought to do worship to such images for themselves. But a crucifix ought to\"\nFor the passion of Christ depicted therein and thus brought to man's mind, the images of the blessed Trinity and of the Virgin Mary, Christ's mother, and other images of saints ought to be worshipped. For earthly kings and lords who send their letters sealed with their arms or precious signets to those with them are worshipped by these men. Why then, since we can read and know many diverse things of God and His saints from these images made with human hands, should we not worship their images?\n\nI said with my aforementioned protestation. I say that these worldly customs of temporal lords that you speak of now can be done without sin, but this is no similitude to worship images made by human hands, since Moses and David did not.\nSalomon, Baruch, and other saints in the Bible forbid the worship of such images so plainly. The archbishop said to me, \"Lewde Losell. In the old law before Christ took human form, there was no likeness of any person of the Trinity shown to me, nor was it known to me. But now, since Christ became man, it is lawful to have images to show his humanity. Though many may think it an error for scribes and others to paint the Trinity. I say it is well done to make and paint the Trinity in images. For it is a great moving of devotion to me to have and to behold the Trinity and other images of saints carved, cast, and painted. Beyond the sea are the best painters that I have ever seen. And, sirs, I tell you this is their manner, and it is a good manner. When an image maker shall carve, cast, or paint any images, he shall go to a priest and shrive him as clean as if he were about to die and take penance, and make some certain vow of fasting.\"\nor of praying or of pilgrimages doing, pray the priest, especially to pray for him, that he may have grace to make a fair and a devout image.\nAnd I said, Sir, I doubt not, if these painters that you speak of, or any other painters understood truly the text of Moses, David, the wise man, Baruch, and other sages and doctors, these painters should be moved to shrive themselves to God with full inward sorrow of heart, taking upon them to do right sharp penance for the sinful and vain craft of painting, carving or casting that they had used, promising God faithfully never to do so again, knowing openly before all men their reprehensible earnings. And also, Sir, these priests who shrive (as you do say) painters and enjoin them to do penance and pray for their speed, promising them help of their prayers, and be curious in their sinful crafts: sin more grievously than the painters. For these priests comfort and give them counsel to do that thing,\n\n(Note: The text appears to be written in Old English, but it is still readable and does not require translation. No major OCR errors were detected.)\nwhich of great pain you under the pain of God's curse should utterly forbid them. For Ceris's sake, if the wonderful working of God and the holy living and teaching of Christ and his apostles and prophets were made known to the people by holy living and true and diligent teaching of priests: these things were sufficient books and calendars to know God by and his saints without any images made with man's hand. But certainly, the vicious living of priests and their covetousness are the chief cause of this error and all other vices that reign among the people.\n\nThen the archbishop said to me. I hold you a vicious priest & a curse, and all those of your sect: for all priests of the holy church, and all images that move men to devotion, you and such others go about to destroy. Loose, was it a fair thing to come into a church and see therein none image?\n\nAnd I said, Sir, those who come to the church to pray devoutly to the Lord God may in their absence.\ninward witts be ye more fervent, that all their outward wittes be closed from all outward seeing and hearing and from all disturbances and lettings. Since Christ blessed those who saw him not bodily and have believed fully in him: It is sufficient for all men through hearing and knowing of God's word, and to do after that for to believe in God, though they see never images made with human hand after any person of the Trinity or of any other saint.\n\nThe Archbishop said to me with a fierce spirit. I say to you, Losell, that it is right well done to make and to have an image of the Trinity. You, what do you say? Is it not a stirring thing to behold such an image?\n\nAnd I said, \"Sir, you said just now that in the old law or Christ took mankind, no likeness of any person of the Trinity was shown to men: therefore, sir, you said it was not lawful to have images. But now you say since Christ is become man, it is lawful to make and to have an image of the Trinity and also of others.\"\nSaint's. But I would like to learn this from you. Since the Father of heaven and every person of the Trinity was without beginning, God Almighty, and many holy prophets who were martyrs in the old law, and also many men and women who died holy deaths, why was it not then as fitting and necessary as now to have made an image of the Father of heaven and to have made and had other images of martyrs, prophets, and holy confessors to be calendars to advise and move men to devotion, as you say that images do now?\n\nAnd you, Archbishop, said, \"The synagogue of the Jews had no authority to approve these things as the church of Christ does now.\"\n\nAnd I said, \"Sir, Saint Gregory was a great man in the new law and of great dignity, and as the common law testifies, he commanded a bishop in it, forbidding utterly that images made with human hands should be worshiped.\"\n\nAnd you, Archbishop, said, \"Ungracious losel, you favor no more truth than an untruthful woman.\"\n\"hounds at the rood at the north door at London, at Our Lady at Walsingham, and many other diverse places in England, are the sites of many great and precious miracles. Should not the images of such holy saints and places, at the reverence of God and Our Lady and other saints, be more worthy of worship than other places and images where no such miracles are done?\n\nAnd I replied, Sir, there is no virtue in any image that images should therefore be worshipped more than others. And herefore, Sir, as I preached openly at Shrewsbury and other places, I say now before you, no body should trust that there is any virtue in images made with human hands. And herefore, no body\nshould vow to them, nor seek them, nor kneel to them, nor bow to them, nor pray to them, nor offer anything to them, nor kiss them, nor encase them.\"\n\nThe most worthy of such images, the brazen serpent made by Moses, at\nGod's bidding. The good king Ezra esteemed it worthily and thankfully, because it was encensed. Therefore, sir, if men take heed to the writing and learning of St. Augustine, St. Gregory, St. John Chrysostom, and other saints and doctors, as they speak and write of miracles that shall be done in the last end of the world: it is to dread it for the unfeeling fullness of men and women. The devil has great power to work many of the miracles that are now done in such places. For both men and women delight now more to hear and know miracles, than they do to know God's word or to hear it effect great confusion among those who do so: Christ says, \"The adulterous generation seeks after a sign.\" Nevertheless, as diverse saints say, when the faith of God is published in Christendom, the word of God suffices for man's salvation without such miracles. And thus also the word of God suffices for all the faithful men and women without any such things.\nIn what likeness or image may God the Father be shown or painted? The Archbishop replied, \"As the church, which has suffered and continues to suffer the images of the Trinity and other images, is sufficient for those who are members of the church. But since you are a rotten member cut off from the church, you do not respect its ordinance. But since the day passes, let us leave this matter.\n\nAnd then he said to me, \"What do you say about the third point, which is certified against open preaching in Shrewsbury, that pilgrimage is not lawful? And furthermore, you said that those men and women who go on pilgrimages to Canterbury, Beverley, Carlisle, Walsingham, and other places are accursed and made foolish for spending their goods.\"\nAnd I said, sir, by this certification I am accused to you that I should teach that no pilgrimage is lawful. But I never spoke thus. For I know that there are true pilgrimages and lawful and pleasing to God, and therefore, sir, however my enemies have certified you of me, I told at Shrewsbury of two kinds of pilgrimages.\n\nAnd the Archbishop said to me, whom do you call true pilgrims?\n\nAnd I said, sir, with my protestation I call them true pilgrims traveling toward the blessedness of heaven which, in the state, degree, or order that God calls them, they faithfully occupy with all their wits, bodily and spiritually, to know truly and to keep faithfully the commandments of God, hating and fleeing all the seven deadly sins and every branch of them virtuously (as it is said before), with all their wits, doing discretely, willingly, and gladly all the works of mercy bodily and spiritual, how they forsook willfully the prosperity of this life, how they withstood the suggestion.\nof the fende (fendes), how they restrained their fleshly lusts, how discrete they were in penance doing, how patient they were in all their adversities, how prudent they were in counseling men and women moving them to hate all sin and to fly from it, to shame it ever greatly thereof and to love all virtues and to draw them to themselves, imitating how Christ and his followers suffered scorns and slanders, and how patiently they endured and took the wrongful manhandling of tyrants, how humble and servable they were to poor men to relieve and comfort them bodily and spiritually according to their power and ability, and how devout they were in prayers, how fervent they were in heavenly desires, and how they absented themselves from spectacles of vain seeing and hearing, and how stable they were to let and to destroy all vices, and how laborious and joyful they were to sow and to plant virtues. These heavenly conditions and such others have you pilgrims, or endeavor to have: whose pilgrimage.\ngod acceptith And ageyne I saide / as their werkis shew / the moste parte of men and women that go now on pilgri\u00a6magis haue not thes forsaid condicions / nor loueth to besy them feithfully for to haue For as I well know syns I haue full ofte assaide / exa\u00a6myne who so euer will twentie of thes pilgre\u2223mis: and he shall not fynde thre men or women\nyt knowe surely a co\u0304maundme\u0304t of god / nor can say their Pater noster and Aue maria / nor the\u2223ir Credo redely in ony maner of langage. And as I haue learnid and also know somwhat by experience of thes same pilgremis rellyng the cause / why that many men and women go hi\u2223ther and thither now on pilgrimagis / it is mo\u2223re for the helthe of their bodies than of their sou\u00a6les / more for to haue richesse and prosperite of thys worlde / than for to be e\u0304ryched with vertu\u2223es in their soules / more to haue here worldely and fleschely frendship / than for to haue frend\u2223ship of god & of his seintis in heuen. For what so euer thing man or woman dothe / the frend\u2223ship of god nor of\nOnly other saints cannot be seen without keeping God's commandments. Furthermore, with my protestation, I say now as I said in Shrewsbury: though those who have fleshly wills travel far for their bodies and speak much money to seek and to visit the bones or images (as they say they do), such pilgrimages are neither praiseworthy nor beneficial to God nor to any saint of God. Since in effect, all such pilgrims despise God and all His commandments and saints. For they will neither know nor keep nor conform to live virtuously by the example of Christ and His saints. Wherefore, sir, I have preached and taught openly, and so I purpose all my life time to do with God's help, saying that such food people waste blamefully in their pilgrimages, spending their goods on vicious hostelers, who are often unclean women of their bodies; and at the least, those goods with which they should do works of mercy after God's bidding to the poor.\npoore needy men and women. The poor men's goods and their livelihood run about offering to rich priests, who have much more livelihood than they need. These goods they waste willfully and spend unjustly against God's bidding on strangers, with whom they should help and relieve according to God's will their poor needy neighbors at home. Moreover, diverse men and women of these runners often hither and thither in pilgrimage borrow other men's goods here and there. And sometimes they steal men's goods herewith and never pay them back. Also, I know well that when diverse men and women will go thus according to their own wills and find one pilgrimage, they will order with them both men and women who can well sing wanton songs, and some other pilgrims will have with them bagpipes. So that every town that they come through is disturbed with the noise of their singing and with the sound of their piping.\nthe ringing of their bells in Canterbury / and with the barking out of dogs after them that they make more noise than if the king came there with all his clarions and many other minstrels.\nAnd if these men and women are a month out in their pilgrimage, many of them shall be half a year later great angels, tale tellers and liars.\nAnd the Archbishop said to me, Leude Losell, you see not far enough in this matter, for you consider not the great travel of pilgrims, therefore you blame that thing which is praiseworthy. I say to it that it is right well done, that pilgrims have with them both singers and pipers, that when one of them who goes barefoot strikes his pipe on a stone and hurts him sore, and makes him bleed: it is well done that he or his fellow begins then a song, or else takes out of his bosom a bagpipe to drive away with such mirth the hurt of his fellow. For with such solace the travel and weariness of pilgrims is easily and merrily borne.\n\"And I said, Sir Saint Paul teaches men to weep with those who weep. The archbishop said, What is an Englishman against me or such others? I say that the pilgrimage now used is to those who do it - a prayable and good means to draw nearer to grace. But I hold it unworthy to know this grace: for you forbid the devotion of the people. Since by the authority of holy scripture, men may lawfully have and use such solace as you reprove. For David in his last Psalm teaches me to have diverse instruments of music to praise him with God. And I said, Sir, by the interpretation of diverse doctors expounding the Psalms of David, the music and minstrelsy that David and other saints of the old law spoke of owe neither to be taken nor used literally, but these instruments with their music ought to be interpreted spiritually: for all those figures are called virtues and graces, with which virtues men should please God and praise him.\"\nFor Saint Paul says that all such things befell them in figure. Therefore, I understand, sir, that the letter of this Psalm of David, and of such other psalms and sentences, signifies them that take it literally. I understand, sir, that Christ approves of himself, putting out the man-of-war's signals, or that he would quicken the dead damsel.\n\nAnd the archbishop said to me, \"Leude Losell, is it not seemly for us to have organs in the church for the worship of God?\" And I said, \"Sir, by human custom, but by the order of God, a good sermon to the people, understanding it, is much more pleasing to God.\"\n\nAnd the archbishop said, \"Organs and good, delightful song quicken and sharpen more men's wits than any sermon.\"\n\nBut I said, \"Sir, lusty men and worldly lovers delight and are drawn together, and faithful lovers and followers of Christ have all their delight to hear God's word, and to understand it truly, and to work thereafter faithfully.\"\nFor continually fearing to offend God and pleasing Him in all things quickens and sharpens the wits of Christ's chosen people, enabling them to joy greatly in withdrawing their ears and all their wits and members from all worldly delight and fleshly pleasure. Saint Jerome (as I think) says, \"No one can enjoy this world and reign with Christ.\"\n\nThe Archbishop (if he had been displeased with my answer) said to his clerks, \"What do you think this idiot will speak there, where he has no fear: since he speaks thus openly and boldly here in my presence?\" Well, well, by God, you shall be ordained for it. And then he spoke to me angrily, \"What do you say to this, furthermore, that it is certified openly and boldly in Shrewsbury, the priests have no title to tithes.\"\n\nI replied, \"Sir, I mentioned no word of tithes in my preaching.\" But more than a month after that, I was arrested, and in prison a man came to me and said,\nIn this town are many clerks and priests, some of whom are called religious, though many of them are secular. Therefore, ask them this question. And this man said to me, \"Sir, our prelates claim that we are also obligated to pay tithes on all things that renew to us, and that they are cursed if they draw any part wittingly from them of their tithes. I said to that man, \"Sir, with my protestation, I say now before you: I wondered that any priest would dare to curse men without grounds from God's word. And he said, \"Sir, our priests claim that they curse us thus by the authority of God's law.\" I replied, \"Sir, I do not know where this sentence of cursing is authorized now in the Bible. Therefore, Sir, please ask the most learned clerk of this town, so that you may know where this sentence cursing those who do not pay tithes is written in God's law: for if it were written there, I would...\"\nIn the old law, which ended not fully till the time Christ rose up again from death to life, God commanded tithes to be given to the Levites for the great busyness and daily travel that pertained to their office. But priests, because their travel was much more easy and light, God ordained that priests should take for their living.\nlife should pay a tithe, the tenth part of the tithes given to the Levites. But I said, in the new law, neither Christ nor any of his apostles took tithes from the people, nor commanded the people to pay tithes to priests or deacons. But Christ taught the people to do alms, that is, works of mercy, for the poor and needy from their surplus, their superfluous temporal goods which they had more than they reasonably needed for their livelihood. And thus, not of tithes but of pure alms of the people, Christ and his apostles lived. When they were so busy teaching the word of God to the people that they could not travel in any other way to earn their livelihood. But after Christ's ascension, and when the apostles had received the holy ghost, they traveled with their hands to earn their livelihood, so they could thus do so for earnest preaching. Therefore, Saint Paul teaches all the priests of Christ to follow this example.\nIn the apostles' time, priests whom God accepted then or will accept in the future, up until the end of the world, will act in this manner. According to Cisterciensis, in the thousandth year of our Lord Jesus Christ, two hundred and thirteen years after, Pope Gregory X ordered new tithes to be given to priests in the new law. However, Saint Paul in his time, whose trace or example all priests of God are urged to follow, spoke of the covetousness among the people, desiring to destroy this foul sin through the grace of God and true virtuous living and example of himself. Therefore, Paul says, \"The Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. But we, Paul says, who are covetous and eager for it, should follow him as he followed Christ patiently, willingly, and gladly in humility.\"\nbe faithful followers of Christ; do not use this power. For lo, as Paul testifies later, when he was completely poor and needy, preaching among the people: he was not greedy towards them; but with his hands he traveled not only to obtain his own living, but also the living of other poor and needy creatures. Since the people were never so covetous or avaricious (I suppose) as they are now, it would be good counsel for all priests to take heed of this heavenly learning of Paul, following him here in willing poverty, charging nothing to the people for their bodily sustenance. But because many priests act contrary to Paul in this doctrine, Paul bids the people take heed of those priests who follow him as he has taught them. As if Paul would say to the people: Accept none other priests than those who live according to the form that I have taught you. For certainly, in whatever dignity or order that any priest is in, if he does not conform to following Christ and his apostles in willing poverty, he is not to be accepted.\nA priest, though named as such, lacks the true qualities of a priest, as Augustine, Gregory, Chrysostom, and Lincon clearly state. The archbishop asked me, \"Do you think this holy learning should be openly or secretly spread among the people?\" This teaching contradicts the order of the holy fathers, who have granted and licensed priests to live in various degrees and by the tithes and offerings of the people and other duties. I replied, \"Sir, if priests were in measurable measure and number, and lived virtuously, taught the word of God diligently by the example of Christ and his apostles, people would freely provide sufficient livelihood without their offerings and other duties that priests now demand.\" A clerk asked me, \"How will you make this good for the people?\"\nwill give freely to priests their livelihood / since now by the law every priest can scarcely compel the people to give the latter their livelihood?\nAnd I said. Sir, it is no wonder now that the people grudge to give priests their livelihood that they ask for: for many people know now how priests should live / and how they live contrary to Christ and to his apostles. Therefore, the people are heavy to pay (as they do) their temporal goods to persons and to other vicars and priests / who should be faithful dispensers of the parish's goods, taking to themselves no more but a bare living / and to depart the residue to the poor men & women specifically of the parish / from whom they take this temporal living. But the most deceitful of priests now wastes their\nPeople spend goods and live at their own will in accordance with the world, in their vain lusts, so that in few places the poor have decently (as they should) their own sustenance, neither from tithes nor offerings nor other large wages and foundations that priests take from the people in various ways above what they need for necessary sustenance of food and clothing. But the poor, needy people are forsaken and left by priests to be sustained by the parishes, as if priests took nothing from the parishes for helping the poor people. And so, sir, the parishes pay their temporal goods twice over, whereas one might suffice if priests were true dispensers. Furthermore, the parishes that pay their temporal goods (be they tithes or offerings) to priests who do not perform their office among them justly are partners in every sin of those priests: because they sustain those priests in their sin with their temporal goods. If these things\nThings being well considered, what wonder is it, sir, if the Parishes grudge the dispensators? The Archbishop said to me. Thou shalt be judged and reckoned with by the holy church, presumptuously thou dost think the holy church errs in the ordinance of tithes and other duties to be paid to priests. It will be long or thou wilt tire, Losell, that thou despises thy ghostly mother. How darest thou speak this, Losell, among the people? Are not tithes given to priests for them to live?\n\nAnd I said. Sir, St. Paul says that tithes were given in the old law to Levites and priests, of the lineage of Levi, but our priest he says came not of the lineage of Levi but of the lineage of Judah; to which Judah no tithes were changed also in the law. So priests live now without tithes and other duties they now claim, following Christ and his apostles in willful poverty, as they have given them example. Since Christ lived all the time of his preaching by pure alms.\nAnd the archbishop said to me with great spirit, \"God's curse be upon you and me for this teaching. For you would hereby make the old law more loose and perfect than the new law. For you say that it is lawful for levites and priests to take tithes in the old law and enjoy their privileges. But to us priests in the new law, you say it is not lawful to take tithes.\"\n\nAnd thus you give levies of\nThe old law granted more freedom to priests of the old law than those under the new law. And I said, \"Sir, I am surprised that you do not understand this plain text of Paul. You know well that the Levites and priests in the old law who collected tithes were not as free or perfect as Christ and his apostles, who took no tithes. There is a doctor (I think it is St. Jerome) who says, \"The priests who now challenge tithes in the new law effectively deny that Christ has become man or that he has yet suffered death for man's love. Therefore, this doctor says this sentence: \"Since tithes were the wages and wages were limited to Levites and priests of the old law for carrying the tabernacle, for tending to and sacrificing animals, for burning sacrifices, for keeping the temple, and for leading battles before the ostensible presence of Israel, and other various observances that pertained to their office: those priests who challenge or take tithes deny that Christ has come in flesh.\"\nAnd you priests perform the office of the old law for whom tithes were granted; otherwise, as this doctor says, priests take them wrongfully. And the Archbishop said to his clerks. Have you ever heard Losel speak thus? Indeed, this is the learning of them all - wherever they come, they enforce it. I replied, \"Sir, why do you call the taking of tithes and other duties that priests now wrongfully challenge the freedom of the holy church? Since neither Christ nor his apostles challenged or took such duties.\" Therefore, these takings of priests are not called the freedom of the holy church in truth, but all such giving and taking ought to be called and held the scandalous covetousness of men of the holy church. And the Archbishop said to me, \"Why, Losel, won't you and others who are confederates with him seek out sharp authorities from holy scripture and the sentences of doctors against lords and knights and others?\"\n\"squires and against other secular men, as you do against priests? And I replied, \"Sir, whomever men or lords or ladies or any others present in our preaching or our communing after our conjuring, we tell out to them their office and their charges: but, sir, since Chrysostom says that priests are the stomach of the people, it is necessary in preaching and also in communing to be most diligent about this priesthood, since the viciousness of priests, both lords and commons, are most sinfully infected and led into the worst ways. And because the covetousness of priests, pride, and the boast they make of their dignity and power, not only destroys the virtues of priesthood in priests themselves but also over this, it stirs God to take great vengeance both upon lords and commons who suffer these priests charitably. And the Archbishop said to me, 'You suggest that every proud priest will not go arrayed as you do. By God, I deem him to be more meek.'\"\nA proud man can be recognized when he refuses to follow Christ and his apostles in poverty and other virtues, and covers worldly worship, taking it gladly, and gathers people with pleasing manners or flattery or simony for worldly goods. And most importantly, if a priest does not chiefly occupy himself in himself and afterward in all other men and women according to his ability and power to withstand sin.\n\nThe Archbishop asked me, \"Even if you knew a priest had all these vices and even saw a priest lying lovingly with a woman knowing her fleshly, would you still consider this priest damned?\" I replied to him that such a sinner may truly be repentant.\n\nI said, \"Sir, I will not condemn any man for any sin that I know or may be done, as long as the sinner repents from it.\" But by the authority of holy scripture.\nHe who sins openly, as you show here, is punishable for committing such a sin. A priest, in particular, who should be an example to all others in hating and fleeing sin: and in how short a time you ever say that such a sinner may be repentant, he does not owe it to him who knows his sinning to be judged truly repentant, without open evidence of great shame and heartfelt sorrow for his sin. For whoever, and especially a priest, who indulges in pride, envy, covetousness, lechery, simony, or any other vices, and does not show as open evidence of repentance as he has given evil example and occasion for sinning, if he continues in any such sin as long as he may, it is likely that sin leaves him and he is not with sin. And as I understand it, such a one sins unto death, for no one owes it to pray for him, as St. John says.\n\nA clerk then said to the Archbishop. Sir, the longer you delay in dealing with him, the worse he becomes, and the more you press him to amend, the more wayward he is.\nof such a kind that he not only conceals being himself a foul nest, but without shame he beseeches him to make his nest fouler. And the Archbishop said to his clerk and so to me. Lo, it is here certified against you, that you preached openly at Shrewsbury, that it is not lawful to swear in any case. And I said, \"Sir, I never preached so openly, nor have I taught in this way in any place. But, sir, as I preached in Shrewsbury, with my protestation I say to you now here: by the authority of the gospels and of St. James, and with the witness of diverse saints and doctors, I have preached openly in one place or another that it is not lawful in any case to swear by any creature. And further, sir, I have also preached and taught by the aforementioned authorities that no one should swear in any case, if he could excuse himself without it being charged to him to swear in a lawful and righteous manner. But if a man cannot excuse himself without...\"\nA subject has the power to compel him to swear only by God, taking him only as a truthful witness. And a cleric asked me if it was not lawful for a subject, at the bidding of his prelate, to kneel down and touch the holy gospel book and kiss it, saying: \"So help me God and this holy dwelling,\" as he should afterward perform all things that his prelate commanded him. And I said to them, \"Sirs, you speak here generally or vaguely.\" What if a prelate commanded his subject to do an unlawful thing, should he obey?\n\nThe Archbishop said to me, \"A subject ought not to suppose that his prelate will bid him do an unlawful thing. For a subject ought to think and believe that his prelate will bid him do nothing but what he will answer for before God. And though the bidding of the prelate may be unlawful, the subject has no parallel to fulfill it, since he thinks and judges that whatever his prelate commands is lawful.\"\nA prelate instructed him to do whatever was lawful for him to do. I replied, \"I don't trust in that.\" But returning to our original topic, I once was in a gentleman's house where there were two clerks: one in divinity, and one in law. The man of law was also engaged in divinity. Among other things they spoke of, the man of law said, \"At the behest of his sovereign, who had the power to command me to swear, I would place my hand upon a book and hear the charge. If the charge was unlawful to my understanding, I would quickly withdraw my hand from the book. But if I perceived the charge to be lawful, I would keep my hand upon the book, swearing only God to witness that I would fulfill that lawful charge to the best of my ability.\" The master of divinity then said to him, \"He who places his hand upon a book in this way and makes a promise to do that which he is commanded is bound by that promise.\"\nThis sentence witnesses Chrysostom plainly condemning those who bring a book to swear upon, charging clerks not to compel anyone to swear, whether they believe a man to swear truly or falsely. It was not seemly, neither to give nor take any such charge upon a book. For every book is nothing but diverse creatures from which it is made. Therefore, to swear upon a book is to swear by creatures, and this swearing is ever unlawful. Chrysostom's words bear testimony against those who bring a book for swearing.\nThe archbishop and his clerks scorned me and blamed me greatly for this saying. The archbishop manhandled me with severe punishment and sharp threats, except I left this opinion of swearing. I replied, \"Sir, this is not my opinion, but it is the opinion of Christ our savior, and of St. James and of Chrysostom and other saints and doctors.\" Then the archbishop ordered a clerk to read this homily of Chrysostom, which the clerk held in his hand in a roll. The archbishop had taken this roll from a fellow at Canterbury. The clerk read the roll until he reached a passage where Chrysostom says it is a sin to swear well. Then a clerk named Malvern (as I suppose) said to the archbishop, \"Sir, may I ask how you understand this, Brother Chrysostom, here saying it is a sin to swear well?\" So the archbishop asked me how I understood this passage. I was somewhat afraid to answer. For I had not studied it beforehand.\nAnd lifting up my mind to God, I prayed for His grace. As I pondered Christ's words to His apostles, \"Whatever you shall be brought before governors or rulers, this you shall speak: and the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say\" (Luke 12:12), I trusted faithfully in God's word. I said, \"Sir, I am aware that many men and women now swear in custom, not knowing or intending to know that they do evil by swearing as they do. They claim that by their swearing (though it be false), they can avoid blame or temporal harm which they would suffer if they did not swear thus. And, sir, many men and women maintain strongly that they swear truly when the thing is so.\n\nAdditionally, many men and women now claim that it is well done to swear by creatures, which they cannot (as they say) otherwise be believed. And also, many men and\nWomen now say that it is well done to swear by God and our lady and other saints to have them in mind. But since all these sayings are but excuses and sin, I think, sir, that Chrisostom's senesse may be alleged against all such swearers. Witnessing that all these sins gravely, though they think themselves to swear in this way well. For it is evil and great sin to swear truth when in any manner, a man may excuse himself without an oath.\n\nThe archbishop said that Chrisostom might be understood as such.\n\nThen a clerk said to me, \"Will you tarry, my lord, no longer but submit yourself meekly to the ordinance of holy church and lay your hand upon a book touching the holy gospels of God, promising not only with your mouth but also with your heart to stand to my lord's ordinance?\"\n\nAnd I said, \"Sir, have I not told you here how I heard a master of divinity say that in such a case it is all one to touch a book and to swear?\"\nAnd the archbishop said, \"There is no greater divine master in England who, if he holds this opinion before me, I will not punish, except you swear as I charge. And I said, 'Is not Chrysostom an enthusiastic doctor?' The archbishop replied, 'Yes.' I said, 'If Chrysostom proves himself worthy of great blame for bringing forth a book to swear upon, it necessarily follows that he is more to blame who swears on that book.' The archbishop said, 'If Chrysostom acts according to the ordinance of the holy church, we will accept him.' A clerk then said to me, 'Is not the word of God and God Himself equal, that is, from one authoritative source? I replied, 'Yes.' He then said to me, 'Why will you not swear by the gospel of God, it being God's word, since it is all one to swear by the word of God and by God Himself?' I said, 'Sir, since I can only be believed now through swearing, I perceive (as Augustine says) that it is necessary for me to swear.'\"\nNot unfaithful is it that you who should be my brother not believe me: therefore I am ready, by the word of God (as the Lord commanded me by His word), to swear. Then the clerk said to me, \"Lay then thine hand upon thee book touching the holy gospel of God and take thy oath.\" And I said, \"Sir, I understand that the holy gospel of God may not be touched with human hand.\" And the clerk said, \"I found that and you did not speak truth.\" And I asked this clerk whether it was more to read the gospel or to touch the gospel. And he said, \"It was more to read the gospel.\" Then I said, \"Sir, by the authority of St. Jerome, the gospel is not the gospel for reading of the letter, but for the belief that men have in the word of God. That is the gospel we believe, and not the letter that we read: for because the letter that is touched by human hand is not the gospel, but the sentence that is truly believed in men's hearts is the gospel. For so St. Jerome says, 'The gospel that is the power of God's word'.\"\nThe gospel is not in the book's leaves but in reason's root. The Gospel is not about the letters in the scriptures but in the marking of their sentences. This sentence agrees with Saint Paul, who says, \"The kingdom of God is not in word but in virtue.\" And David says, \"The voice of the Lord, that is his word, is in virtue.\" After David, it is written, \"Through the word of God, the heavens were formed, and in the spirit of his mouth is all the virtue of them.\" And, sir, understand well how David says that in the spirit of the Lord's mouth is all the virtue of angels and men?\n\nThe clerk said to me, \"You would make us disagree. Do we not say that the Gospel is written in the mass book?\" And I replied, \"Sir, though men often say so, it is incomplete speech. For the principal part of a thing is properly the whole thing. Indeed, man's soul, which cannot now be seen or touched with any sensible thing, is properly the whole thing.\"\nA man is like a tree, and all a tree's virtue is in its root, which cannot be seen; for destroy the root, and the tree perishes. As you said to me just now, God and His word come from the same authority. Saint Jerome bears witness that Christ, who is very God and very man, is hidden in the letter of His law: thus, the Gospel is hidden in the letter as well. For just as the divine head of Christ, which is His godhead and the tree's virtue, is known through faith, so is the Gospel, which is Christ's word.\n\nA clerk said to me, \"These are most displeasing and unsavory matters that you show us here.\" I replied, \"Sir, if you, who are masters, do not understand this plainly.\"\nA clerk named Malueren asked me, \"You fear that the kingdom of heaven will be taken from you, as it was from the princes of priests and the elders of the Jews. Which understanding of the kingdom of heaven do you refer to in this sentence?\" I replied, \"Sir, according to doctors, the realm of heaven is called here the understanding of God's word.\" The clerk asked, \"From whom do you think this understanding is taken away?\" I answered, \"Sir, by the authority of Christ himself, the effective understanding of Christ's word is taken away from those chiefly who are learned men and presume to understand high things, and desire mastership, honor, and dignity, but they will not conform to the living and teaching of Christ and his apostles.\" The archbishop said, \"Very well, very well, you will.\"\nA judge your sovereigns. By God, the king does not fulfill his duty, but allows you to be condemned. And then another clerk spoke to me. Why did you advise a man of my lords on Friday last that he should not shrive him but only to God? With this question, I was ashamed. Then, shortly afterward, I knew that I had been betrayed by a man who came to me in person on Friday before, discussing this matter of confession with me. And I knew, by his words (I thought), that this man came to me then with a fervent and charitable will. But now I know he came to tempt me and to accuse me (God forgive him if it is his will). And with all my heart, when I had thought thus, I said to this clerk, \"Sir, please fetch this man here. I will repeat as nearly as I can the words I spoke to him in prison on that day, before you all and before him.\" And (as I suppose), the Archbishop said to me, \"Those present here are sufficient.\"\nAnd he asked me various things. I answered him, as I understood, that good was: and, as I gathered from his words, he was sorry for living in court and deeply regretful for his own vicious living, as well as that of other men, especially priests. He then told me, with a sorrowful heart (as I guessed), that he intended to leave the court soon and asked me to know God's law and to conform his life accordingly. When he had said these words and more, which I would recall if he were present, he asked me to hear his confession. I replied to him, \"Sir, why do you come to me to be confessed by me? You know well that the Archbishop keeps and holds me here as unworthy to give or take any sacrament of the church.\" He replied, \"Brother, I, and many others, know that you and others are thus.\"\nAnd yet I am wrongfully vexed. Therefore, I will come and join you more gladly. I told him that I knew many among this court, and especially the priests of this household, would be most unwilling to pay you and me if they knew you were confessed by me. He replied that he didn't care, as he had little affection for them. And, as it seemed to me, he spoke these words and many others with such good will and high desire to know and do the pleasing will of God.\n\nI then said to him, as I counsel you now, Sir, withdraw from all evil company and draw near to those who love and encourage you to know and keep the precepts of God. Then, the good spirit of God will move you to occupy your whole mind in gathering together all your sins as far as you can think, confessing them shamefully and sorrowfully in your heart. The Holy Ghost will then put in your heart a good one.\nwill and a desire to take and hold a good purpose, to hate ever and to flee (after your conscience and power) all occasion of sin; wisely will come to you from above, enlightening with diverse beams of grace and heavenly desire, informing you how you shall trust steadfastly in the mercy of the Lord, knowing to him alone all your vicious living, praying to him ever devoutly of charitable counsel and continuance, hoping without doubt that if you continue thus, believing fully to know and keep his commandments, he will (for he alone can) forgive you all your sins. And this man said to me: Though God forgives men their sins, yet it behooves men to be reconciled with priests and to do the penance that they enjoin them. And I said to him: Sir, it is all one to reconcile men with their sins and to forgive men their sins: Therefore, since it pertains only to God to forgive sin, it suffices in this case to counsel men and women.\nTo leave their sin and comfort those who are penitent, doing so steadfastly in the mercy of God. And on the contrary, priests ought to speak sharply to habitual sinners, warning them that if they do not end their sin but continue in diverse sins while they may sin, all such deserve punishment without end. Therefore, priests should ever strive to live well and holy and reach the people earnestly and truly with the word of God. Show to all people in open preaching and in private counseling that the Lord God alone forgives sin. And therefore, those priests who take upon themselves to absolve men of their sins blaspheme God: since it pertains only to the Lord to forgive all sins. For a thousand years after Christ was man, no priest of Christ dared take upon himself to teach the people, either privately or publicly, that they were required to come to be absolved by priests as they do now. But by the authority of Christ.\npriests endured to inflict eternal punishments upon sinners, who during their lifetimes would not faithfully adhere to God's commandments or keep them. Conversely, those who devoted all their minds to hating and fleeing from every occasion of sin, fearing above all things to offend God and longing to please Him continually, to these people priests showed how the Lord forgives all their sins. And thus Christ promised to confirm in heaven all the binding and loosing that priests effected by His word. By His authority, priests bound men in sin or released them from it on earth, as it was truly repentant. But He asked, \"Is it not necessary for the laity that they cannot do this? And should they not go to priests for confession?\" I replied, \"If a man feels himself so overwhelmed by any sin that he cannot avoid it without counsel, then let him do so.\"\nA wise counselor is necessary in such a case for a good priest. And if a good priest fails, as they often do, Saint Augustine says that a man may lawfully seek counsel from a virtuous layman. However, a man or woman is overwhelmed and cannot bring their sins to mind, constantly being besieged by them night and day, hating and forsaking all their sins with a sigh after their ability and power. According to this sentence, on a Monday mid-Lent two years ago (as I suppose), I heard a monk named Moredo preach at Canterbury at the cross within Christ Church Abbey. He said, \"Through the suggestion of the devil without the counsel of any other body, many men and women can imagine and find means and ways enough to fall into pride, theft, lechery, and other diverse vices. On the contrary, this monk stated.\"\nThe Lord is more ready to forgive sins than the devil is or can move any body to sin, / than he who truly repents and sorrows for his sins, confessing them to God, amending them as much as in his power permits, and seeking counsel only from God and himself through God's grace. Such men and women may find sufficient means to come to God's mercy and be cleansed of all their sins. I said this, sir, to your man, and these words were near at hand.\n\nThe Archbishop said, \"The Holy Church does not approve of this learning.\"\n\nI replied, \"Sir, the Holy Church, in which Christ is the head in heaven and on earth, must necessarily approve of this sentence. For hereby all men and women may, if they will, be sufficiently taught to know and keep God's commandments, and to hate and flee from all occasions of sin, and to love and seek virtues diligently, and to believe in God steadfastly, and to trust in His grace.\"\nAnd yet mercy remains steadfast, and so come to perfect charity, continuing it persistently. And the Lord asks not of any man whom He knows in this life. Certain sins Jesus Christ died on the cross willingly to make men free, men of the church are to be bold and busy in making men thralls, binding them under the pain of eternal curse (as they say), to do many observances and ordinances.\n\nA clerk said to me then, \"You have shown clearly here your deceit which you have learned from that traveler who sows poppy among wheat. But I counsel you to go away clean from this learning, and submit yourself lowly to my Lord, and you shall find Him yet to be gracious to you.\"\n\nAnd as soon as another clerk said to me, \"How were you so bold at Paul's cross in London to stand there firmly with your tippet hanging about your head, and to reprove in his sermon the worthy clerk Alkerton for drawing away all that you had?\"\nYou met a worthy doctor in Watting Street, whom you called Salve, Flaterer, and Hypocrite. I replied, \"Sir, I am certain that there was no man or woman who truly hated sin and loved virtues after hearing the sermon of the clerk of Oxford and Alkerton's sermon. They might have justifiably said that Alkerton unfairly and uncharitably criticized and slandered the clerk. For if the living and teaching of Christ and his apostles are true, no one who loves God and his law will blame any sentence the clerk preached there. Since by the authority of God's word, approved saints, and doctors, and by open reason, this clerk approved all things clearly that he preached there.\"\n\nA clerk of the Archbishop said to me, \"His sermon was false, and he showed it openly since he dared not stand forth and defend his preaching there.\" I replied, \"Sir, I think that he intends to...\"\nThe man stood steadfastly by it or else he sullied himself and also many others who had great trust in him that he would uphold the truth of the gospel. I know well his sermon is written both in Latin and in English, and many men have it, and they set great price by it. And sir, if you were present with the Archbishop at Lambeth when this clerk appeared and was at his answer before the Archbishop and his clerks, you know well that this clerk did not deny his sermon there, but he maintained it for two days before the Archbishop and his clerks.\n\nAnd then the Archbishop or one of his clerks said, I do not know which one. That harlot will be met with for that sermon. For no man but he and you and such other false harlots praise any such preaching.\n\nAnd then the Archbishop said, Your cursed sect's privilege and freedom of the holy church.\n\nI replied, Sir, I know of no men who labor so diligently as this sect does (which you reprove) to make rest and peace in the holy church. For pride and covetousness.\nThis sect disturbs the church most, it hastens and travels eagerly to move all others in the same manner towards meekness, willing poverty, and charitable ministry of the sacraments. This sect loves and uses, and is very busy in moving all other people to do the same. For these virtues owe all members of the holy church to their head Christ.\n\nA clerk spoke to the Archbishop. Sir, it is far days and you have far to ride tonight, therefore make an end with him, for he will not make one. But the more you are eager to draw him towards you, the more contumacious he becomes and the farther from you.\n\nMalueren spoke to me. William, kneel down and pray my lord for grace, and leave all your fantasies and become a child of the holy church.\n\nI said. Sir, I have prayed to the Archbishop often and yet I pray him for the love of Christ that he will leave his indignation against me and suffer me, according to my ability and power, to do my office.\nI am charged by God to do it. I desire nothing else but to serve my God in the state I am in and have taken me to. The Archbishop said to me, \"If with good heart you will submit yourself here meekly to be ruled by my counsel, and obey me meekly and willingly to my ordinance, you shall find it most profitable and best for you to do so. Therefore tarry you with me no longer, grant to do this that I have said to you shortly, or deny it utterly.\" I said to the Archbishop, \"Sir, do we believe that Jesus Christ was and is God and man?\" The Archbishop said, \"Yes.\" I said, \"Sir, do we believe that all Christians living and his teaching is true in every point?\" He said, \"Yes.\" I said, \"Sir, do we believe that the living of the apostles and the teaching of Christ and of all the prophets are true which are written in the Bible for the health and salvation of God's people?\" He said, \"Yes.\" I said, \"Sir,\" [end of text]\nAll Christians are obliged, according to their ability and power, to conform their living to the teachings of Christ and to the teachings and living of his apostles and prophets in all things pleasing to God and beneficial to his church. The archbishop said to me, \"Other teachings ought not to be accepted, nor should we obey any man's bidding or counsel except we can perceive that it accords with the bidding and teaching of Christ and his apostles and prophets.\" I said, \"Is not all learning and bidding and counsel of the holy church means and full remedies to know and to withstand the subtle suggestions?\"\nAnd the archbishop said: \"And what are the openings of the enemy, and ways and full remedies to overcome pride and all other deadly sins and the braunches of the source? And how may one purchase grace to withstand and overcome all fleshly lusts and movings?\n\nThe archbishop said, \"Yes.\"\n\nAnd I said, \"Sir, whatever thing you or any other body bid or counsel me to do, in accordance with this learning, I will obediently do with all my heart, through God's help.\n\nThe archbishop said to me, \"Submit yourself now here meekly and willingly to the ordinance of the holy church, which I shall show you.\n\nI said, \"Sir, according to what I have here now before you, I will now be ready to obey gladly to Christ, the head of all holy church, and to the teachings, biddings, and counsels of every pleasing member of him.\"\n\nThen the archbishop, striking his hand fiercely upon a table, spoke to me with great spirit, saying, \"By Jesus, if you leave...\"\nI. shall make these additions obliging me, without exception, to my ordinance, or if I leave this place. Advise you what you will do. And he, as if angry, went from the cupboard where he stood to a window.\n\nThen Malueren and another clerk came nearer to me, and they spoke to me many words pleasantly, and another while they managed me, and counselled me earnestly to submit or else they said I should not escape punishment excessively, for they said I would be degraded, cursed and burned, and so damned. But now they said thou mightest avoid all these mishaps, if thou wilt submit willingly and meekly to this worthy prelate who has care of thy soul. And for the pity of Christ (they said), consider how great clerks the bishops of Lincoln, Hereford, and Purney are, and also B., who is a well-understood man, and who have forsaken and recanted all these things.\nAnd one clerk of a bishop said that he had heard Nicol Herford say that since he had forsaken and rejected all learning and the Lord's opinions, he had much greater favor and more delight in opposing them than he had ever had while he was with them. And Maluere said to me, \"I understand, and you will go to a priest and confess your sins forsaking such opinions, and take your penance from my lord here. In a short time, you will be greatly comforted in doing this.\" I said to the clerks who so urgently counseled me to follow these aforementioned men, \"Sir, if these men from whom you counsel me to take example had forsaken temporal profits and benefits, and of what else, they would have...\"\nIf these men had forsaken worldly worship and avoided all opportunities for covetousness and fleshly lusts, living simply and in willing poverty, they would have set a good example for me and many others. But now, these four men have shamefully and slanderously done the opposite, consenting to receive and hold temporal benefits, living more worldly and more fleshly than before, conforming to the ways of this world. I forsake them in this, and in all their slanderous actions. I purpose, with God's help in the remission of all my sins and my foul, cursed living, to hate and flee privately and openly from them, teaching and counseling whoever I may encounter to flee and eschew the way they have chosen, which will lead them to the worst end, if they repent not in convenient time. Verily, forsaking and renouncing openly the slaver that binds them.\nThey have put an end every day to Christ's church. For certain, the open blasphemy and slander they have spoken and done in their revoking and forsaking of the truth ought not to, nor may be, privately be amended. Therefore, sirs, I pray you not to move me to follow these men in revoking and forsaking the truth and sincerity as they have done and continue to do, in which by open evidence they stir God to great wrath, not only against themselves but also against all those who favor them or consent to them in this, or who come with them, except it be for their amendment. For where these men were once pursued by enemies, now they have obliged them by oath to slander and persecute Christ in his members. Therefore, as I trust steadfastly in God's goodness, the worldly covetousness, and lustful living, and the sliding from the truth of these runagates shall be to me and to many other men and women an example and an evidence to.\nThe more sternly they are opposed by the truth of Christ. For certainly, many men and women mark and abhor the foulness and cowardice of these aforementioned unfaithful men, who are overcome and stopped by benefits and withdrawn from God's word, forsaking it utterly to suffer bodily persecution. For by this unfaithful doing and apostasy, especially of those who are great lettered men, and have openly proclaimed the truth, others, for pleasure or displeasure of tyrants, have taken temporal wages to forsake the truth and to oppose it, slandering and persecuting those who desire to follow Christ in the way of righteousness. Therefore, many men and women are now moved. But many more, through the grace of God, shall be moved by this to learn the truth of God and to do it and to stand boldly by it.\n\nThen the Archbishop said to his clergy. Be no longer concerned about him; for he and others like him are confederated together so as to...\nwill not swear to be obedient and submit to prelates of the holy church. Now, since I stood here, his fellow sent men word that he will not swear and that he counseled him not to swear to me. Therefore, in this matter, you have lost the young man whom you have so eagerly sought. Blessed be God, you shall not have your purpose with him. For he has forsaken all your teaching, submitting himself to be buxom and obedient to the ordinance of the holy church, and weeps bitterly and curses fiercely for the venomous teaching which you have shown him, counseling him to do so. And for your false counseling of many others and him, you have great cause to be truly sorry. For a long time you have sought to destroy whomsoever you could. Therefore, as many deaths as you have given evil counsel, so shall you go thither. And I undertake, or:\n\n(Note: The text appears to be incomplete at the end.)\nthis day you shall be right glad for eight days, but I, who was told was sorrowful about your departure from England, shall turn your joy into sorrow. And I said, \"Sir, no one can prove lawfully that I ever rejoiced at the manner of your leaving this land. But, to tell the truth, I was glad when you were gone. The bishop of London, in whose prison you left me, found no cause to keep me longer than he did, at the request of my friends he delivered me to them, asking for no submission from me.\"\n\nThen the archbishop said to me, \"Why this is unknown to you, but let it be known to you that God (as I well know) has called me back and brought me into this land to destroy the false sect that you lead, and as God is my witness, I shall pursue you so closely that I will not leave a step of you in this land.\"\n\nI said to the archbishop, \"Sir, the holy\"\nProphet Jeremiah spoke to false prophet Anania. When the word of a prophet's prophecy is known or fulfilled, then it will be known that the Lord sent the prophet in truth. And the Archbishop, as if displeased with my saying, turned him away here and there and said, \"By God, I will place a pair of pearls on your shoes that you will be glad to change your voice.\"\n\nThese and many more wonderful and covetous words were spoken to me, threatening me and all others of the same sect with punishment and destruction to the uttermost.\n\nThe Archbishop then called a clerk and ordained him, and the clerk waited for him. And soon he brought in the Constable of Saltwood Castle. The Archbishop ordained him for a while with him, and then the Constable went out. And then diverse seculars came in and mocked me on every side and greatly reviled me. Some counseled the Archbishop to burn me immediately, and some others counseled him to drown me.\nin the see is near there. And a clerk standing by me there knelt down to the Archbishop, praying him that he would deliver me to him to say mass with him, and he would undertake that within three days I should not resist any thing that was commanded me to do from my precedence. And the archbishop said, that he would ordain for me himself. And then, after the constable came in again, he spoke privately to the archbishop. And then the Archbishop commanded the constable to lead me forth thence, and he did. And when we were gone forth thence, we were sent away. And I said then to the Archbishop, \"Sir, as I have said to you diverse times today, I will willingly and lowly obey and submit myself to be ordained ever after my understanding and power to God and to his law, and to every member of the holy church, as far forth as I can perceive that these members accord with their head Christ and will teach me, rule me, or chastise me by authority specifically of God's law.\" And\nThe archbishop said, \"I know he will not submit without additions.\" I was then rebuked, scorned, and mocked on every side. Yet after this, various people called on me to kneel and submit, but I stood still and spoke no words. And then many great words were spoken to me and about me, and I stood and endured them. But I said nothing. Then a while later, the archbishop asked me, \"Won't you submit to the ordinance of the holy church?\" I replied, \"Sir, I will gladly submit myself, as I have shown you before.\" The archbishop then ordered the constable to have me taken away. And so I was led away and brought to a foul, unholy prison, where I had never been before. But thank God, when all was gone and I was left alone without heaviness and anguish of conscience, I passed away from them. As a tree lies upon another tree over where. Now good God, for Thy holy name, and to the praise of Thy most blessed name.\nMake this one, if it is your will, by the authority of your word, which is true and perfect charity, and otherwise not. And this may be all that this writing reads or hears: pray earnestly to the Lord God that, for his great goodness which cannot be expressed with the tongue, he grants to us and to all others who, for the same reason or for any other reason, are at a distance, to be knit and made one in true faith, in steadfast hope, and in perfect charity. Amen.\n\nMatthew, an apostle of Christ, and he who is the evangelist, truly bears witness in the holy gospel, the most holy living and the most health-giving teaching of Christ. He relates how Christ likens those who hear his words and keep them to a wise man who builds his house on a rock, which is a stable and solid foundation. This house is the human soul in whom Christ delights to dwell, if it is grounded and established in his living and in his true teaching, adorned or made beautiful with various.\nvirtues which Christ used and taught without any error, chiefly the conditions of charity. This said stone is Christ upon which every faithful soul must be built, since upon none other ground than upon Christ's living and his teaching. No one may make any building or housing where Christ will come and dwell. This sentence witnesses Saint Paul to the Corinthians, showing them that no one may set any other ground than that which is set - it is Christ's living and his teaching. And because all men and women should give all their busyness here in this life to build virtuously upon this sure foundation: Saint Paul, knowing the fervent desire and good will of the people of Ephesus, wrote to them comfortingly, saying: \"You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are citizens and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. In this foundation every building that is built or made through God's grace.\"\nEvery body built or grounded faithfully in the teaching and living of Christ is made into a holy temple of God. Through Christ Jesus, the middle person of the Trinity, the Father in heaven is mercifully joined and made one with mankind. Thus, through Christ, men are unseparably made one to God, defended under His protection, and filled with both fear to offend Him and fervent love to please Him. This stone, Christ, was figured by the square stones of which the temple of God was made. Just as a square stone abides and lies steadily wherever it is cast or placed, so Christ and every faithful member of His church abides and dwells steadily in true faith and all heavenly virtues in all adversities they suffer.\nvalley of Tears. For lo, when the aforementioned square stones were hewn and wrought to be laid in the walls or pillars of God's temple, no noise or stroke of the workmen was hard. Certainly, this silence in working of this stone figures Christ chiefly and His faithful members, who by His example have been and yet are, and shall be to the world's end, so meek and pacific. With all the college of Cardinals, Archbishops & bishops, Monks, canons, friars, and the contagious flock of the community of priesthood, who have all my life time and much longer reigned and yet reign and increase damably from sin into sin, have been and yet are proud, obstinate heretics, covetous simonizers, and defiled adulterers in the ministry of the sacraments, and especially in ministering the sacrament of the altar. For as their works show whereunto Christ bids us take heed, the highest priests and prelates of this priesthood challenge.\nand occupy unlawfully temporal lordships. And for temporal favor and meager mede they sell and give benefices to unworthy and unable persons / yet simony allows sin suffers in every degree and estate, lying and continuing in diverse vices year to year. And thus, by the evil example of high priests in the church, lower priests under them, or not only suffered but maintained to sell fully to the people for temporal mede all the sacraments. And thus, all the aforementioned priesthood is blown so high and borne up in pride and vain glory of their estate and dignity / and so blinded with worldly covetousness that they disdain to follow Christ in true meekness and willful poverty living holy / and preaching God's word truly, freely, and continually / taking their livelihood at the free will of the people from their pure alms / where and when they do not suffice for their true and busy preaching to get their sustenance with their hands. To this true sentence grounded on Christ's teachings.\nThe living and teaching of these worldly and fleshly priests will not effectively conform. But their works and words boldly and shamelessly covet and enforce mightily and urgently, all holy scripture being expounded and drawn according to their manners and unfamiliar usages and findings. For they will not (since they hold it as folly and madness), conform their manners to the pure and simple living of Christ and his apostles, nor will they follow freely their teachings. Therefore, all emperors and kings, and all other lords and ladies, and all the common people in every degree and state, who have beforehand known or might have known, and also all those who now know or might know this witness of priesthood, and would not or will not, by their knowledge and power, charitably withstand the aforementioned enemies and traitors of Christ and his church, all strive.\nwith Antichrist against Jesus, and they shall endure the indignation of God Almighty without end, if they do not amend it in convenient time and repent truly, doing therefore mourning and sorrow afterwards in the church, and also by flattery and false covetousness of other diverse named priests, false penitents are wrongfully made and named hermits, and have leave to defraud poor and needy creatures of their livelihood, and to live by their false winning and begging in sloth and in other vices. And also of these prelates, these cock-nosed ones are suffered to live in pride and hypocrisy, and to defile themselves both bodily and spiritually. Furthermore, by the suffering and counsel of the aforementioned prelates and of other priests, are made vain both brotherhoods and sisterhoods full of pride and envy, which are contrary to the brotherhood of Christ, since they are the cause of much dissension, and they multiply and sustain it uncharitably: for in lusty eating and drinking unmeasurably and out of time they,\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Middle English. No major OCR errors were detected, but some minor errors may remain. The text has been corrected to the best of my ability while maintaining faithfulness to the original content.)\nExercising themselves, this vain confederacy of brothers/hoods is permitted to be of one clothing and to hold together. And in all these ungrounded and unlawful doings, priests are partners and great mediators and counselors. Furthermore, heretics and pardners, anchors, and strange beggars are licensed and admitted by prelates and priests to beguile the people with flattering and slanderous leasing against all good reason and true belief, and so to increase various vices in themselves and also among all those who accept them or consent to them. And thus, the vices of these aforementioned priests and prelates have long been, are, and shall be the cause of wars both within and without the realm. In the same way, these unfit priests have been, are, and shall be the chief cause of the pestilence of men and beasts and of the barrenness of the earth and of all other misfortunes, to the time that the lords and commons are able, through grace, to know and to keep the commandments.\nAll who know or can know the viciousness reigning in these priests and in their learning, if they do not understand this contagious viciousness, let them earnestly pray to the Lord for the health of His church, prudently avoiding these enemies of Christ and His people, and from all their sacraments. According to St. Cyprian's witness in the first question of decrees and the first cause: \"If anyone asks, it is said that not only vicious priests but also those who favor them or consent to their viciousness will perish with them if they do not correct them appropriately: as St. Cyprian testifies.\"\nPerished those who consented to Satan and Abijron. For nothing were more confusing to these wicked priests than to avoid them prudently in all their unlawful sacraments, while they continued in their sinful living, slanderingly, as they had long done and still do. And no one need be afraid (though death followed by one means or another), to die out of this world without taking any sacrament from these enemies of Christ, since Christ will not fail to minister himself all lawful and healthy sacraments and necessary ones at all times, especially at the end, to all those in true faith, steadfast hope, and perfect charity. But some mad fools say that to avoid slander, they will shrive themselves in the year and commune with their proper priests, though they know them defiled with slanderous vices. No doubt all those who thus do or consent privately or openly to such actions are culpable of great sin, since Saint Paul testifies that not.\nOnly they who do evil are worthy of death and damnation, but also those who consent to evil deeds. Furthermore, as their slanderous words witness, these aforementioned vicious priests despise and cast from them the heavenly knowledge that is given by the Holy Ghost. Wherefore the Lord casts all such despiser from Him, so they perform or offer any priesthood to Him. In no doubt, all those who wittingly or willfully take or consent that any other body should take any sacrament from such named priests, sin openly and damably against the Trinity, and are unable to receive any sacrament of health. And this aforementioned sentence is altogether true,\nIn remission of all my sinful living, I offer to Him my soul. And to prove this aforementioned sentence true with God's help, I purpose fully to suffer meekly and gladly my most wretched body to be tormented, wherever God will, by whom He will, how He will, and when He will, and as long as He will, and whatever He will.\ntemporall peyne he will & dethe / to the praising of his name & to the edifi\u2223cacion of his churche. And I that am moste vn\u00a6worthy & wretched cay\nHEre endeth sir William Thorpis testa\u00a6ment on the friday after the rode daye and the twentye daye of September / In the yeare of our lorde a thousand foure hun\u00a6dred a\u0304d sixtie. And on the sonday nexte after the feste of seynt Peter that we call Lammesse daye in the yeare of our lorde a thousand / foure hun\u2223drth and seuen / the said sir William was accu\u2223sed of thes poyntes before writen in this booke before Thomas of Arundell Archebishoppe of Canterbury as it is sayde before. And so was it than betwixt the day of his accusing and the daye that this was wryten three and fiftye yeare and as mekill mo\u2223re as fro the Lammes\u00a6se to the wodemes\u00a6se. Beholde the ende.\n\u00b6The strengeth of euery tale is in the ende.\n\u00b6Here folowethe the Examinacion of the Lorde Cobham.\nBE it knowen to all men that in ye yeare of oure Lorde a thousand foure hundred and thirtene / in ye first yeare of\nDuring the reign of King Henry the Fifteenth, the king granted leave to the Bishop of Canterbury to correct Lord Cobham. Since no one dared confront him personally, the Archbishop issued a citation on the door of his cathedral church on the Wednesday before the nativity of our lady in the specified year. This citation was taken down by Lord Cobham's friends. After that, the Bishop issued another citation on Lady Day, which was also removed. Because he failed to appear on the assigned day in the citation, the Bishop cursed him for contumacy. Lord Cobham, seeing all this malice against him, wrote the following belief with his own hand and noted it down: he also answered to the four points put against him by the Bishop, and went to the king, expecting to receive favor and lordship from him.\n\nI believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the holy ghost.\nI believe in one almighty God, and in one God there are three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three persons are one God, almighty. I believe in the Holy Ghost, in the holy Catholic Church, in the communion of saints, in the forgiveness of sins, in the resurrection of the body, and in life everlasting. Amen.\n\nI believe firmly and truly that there is but one God almighty, and in this Godhead there are three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three persons are one God, almighty. Furthermore, I believe that the second person of this most blessed Trinity, in a most convenient time before, took flesh and blood of the most blessed Virgin Mary, our Lady, for the redemption and salvation of mankind that was lost before.\nfor Adam's sin. I believe that Jesus Christ our Lord, who is both God and man, is the head of all holy church, and that all those who are saved are members of this most holy church, which holy church is divided into three parts. One part is in heaven, that is, the saints who in this life lived according to the most blessed law of Christ and His living, despising and forsaking the devil and his works, the prosperities of this world, and the foul lust of the flesh. The second part is in purgatory, enduring the mercy of God and purging there their sins, of which they have truly confessed in deed or in will to have confessed. The third part of this church is here on earth, which is called the fighting church, for it fights every day and night against the temptation of the devil, the prosperity of this false failing world, and the proud rebellion of the flesh against the soul. This church is divided by the most blessed ordinance of God.\nThe three estates are: priesthood, knighthood, and commons. To each estate, God gave the charge that one should help the other and not destroy each other.\n\nTo priests, they should be most holy and least worldly, living as near to the example of Christ and his apostles as possible. Their business should be day and night in the holy example of living and true preaching and teaching of God's law to both parties. They should also be the meekest, most servile, and most loving in spirit towards God and mother.\n\nIn the second part of this church, knighthood is contained: all those who bear the sword by the law of office. They should maintain God's law to be preached and taught to the people, primarily the gospel of Christ, and truly live accordingly. This part should rather put themselves on par with death than to suffer any law or constitution made by the mother where through the freedom of God's law might be hindered from being preached.\nAnd it is the duty of the church, or where error or heresy might grow among the people, for I fully suppose that no heresy or error will come among the people except through false laws, constitutions, or teachings contrary to Christ's law, or through false lies. The second part should defend the common people from tyrants, oppressors, and extortioners, and maintain the clergy in doing their duty in preaching, teaching, praying, and freely administering the sacraments of the church. And if this clergy neglects to do their duty, this second part of the church ought, by the office they have taken from God, to constrain the clergy to do their duty in the manner that God has ordained it to be done. The third part of this fighting church owes goodwill to lords and priests, truly to do their bodily labor in tilling the earth, and with their true merchandise, to do their duties that they owe both to knighthood and to [the church].\nI believe that the priesthood keeps God's commands faithfully. I also believe all the sacraments of the Church are meaningful and beneficial to those who take them with the intent that God and the Church have ordained. I am falsely slandered concerning my belief in the sacrament of the altar. I believe truly that the most blessed sacrament of the altar is the true body of Christ in the form of bread, the same body born of the blessed Virgin Mary, conceived on the cross, died, and rose on the third day in heaven. I believe that all God's law is true. Whoever lives contrary to this blessed law and continues to do so throughout his life and dies breaking the holy commandments of God will be damned into everlasting pains. He who wishes to learn this most blessed law and live accordingly.\nThe commandments of God end in charity and shall have everlasting bliss. I also understand that this follows in belief: our Lord Jesus Christ, who is both God and man, asks for nothing here on earth but obedience to Him in keeping of His law in truth. And if any prelate of the Church asks more obedience than this of any man living, he exalts himself above Christ and is an open Antichrist. These points I hold as articles of faith in particular. In general, I believe all that God wills that I believe, praying at the reverence of almighty God to you my liege lord, that this belief may be examined by the wisest and truest clerks of your realm, and if it is true, that it may be confirmed, and I may be held for a true Christian man; and if it is false, that I may be taught a better belief by God's law, and I will gladly obey thereto.\n\nLord Cobham wrote and took this belief with him and offered it to the king to see.\nThe king would not receive it, but bade him take it to those who should be his judges. And then the lord of Cobham offered to bring himself before the king to purge him of all error and heresy that they would put against him, offering to fight with any man, Christian or heathen, who would say that he was false in his belief, except for the king and his brothers. Afterward, he said he would submit himself to all manner of correction that any man would correct him according to God's law. And yet, the king allowed him to be summoned personally to his own chamber. The lord of Cobham said to the king that he had appealed to the pope from the archbishop, therefore he should not be taken as his judge, and he had his appeal ready written, and showed it to the king. The king was more angry with this, and said he should not pursue his appeal but rather be in readiness until his appeal was admitted, and then he would be his judge.\nI John Olde, knight and lord of Cobham, declare to all Christen men that Thomas of Arundell, Archbishop of Canterbury, has maliciously and untruly, through his letter and seal, accused me in scandalous ways, implying that I should fail and teach against the sacraments of the Holy Church, specifically the sacrament of the altar, the sacrament of penance, and the worship of images, as well as going on pilgrimages, contrary to what is universally believed and taught.\nI believe it is my entitlement and will, with God as my witness, to believe and truly accept all sacraments instituted in the Church. I declare this in the following ways: I believe that the most holy sacrament of the altar is truly the body of Christ in the form of bread, the same body born of the blessed Virgin Mary, conceived on the cross, died, and was buried, and rose on the third day, now glorified in heaven. Regarding the sacrament of penance, I believe it is necessary for every person desiring salvation to confess their sins truly, do penance for sins committed, and make satisfactions as required by God's law, or they cannot be saved. I desire all men to do this penance.\n\nAs for images, I understand that they are not objects of faith but were instituted (since faith was not yet given).\nChrist is appointed by the church to be calendars for laymen, to represent and bring to mind the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, his martyrdom, and the good living of other saints. And he who performs the worship due to God towards images, or puts hope, faith, or trust in their help, as he should do towards God, or has affection for one more than another, commits the great sin of idolatry. I also believe this fully, that every man on earth is a pilgrim towards blessing or towards punishment. And he who does not know or will not know or keep the holy commandments of God in his living here, even if he goes on pilgrimage to all the world and dies, he shall be damned. And he who knows the holy commandments of God and keeps them to the end, he shall be saved, though he never in his life goes on pilgrimage as men now do to Canterbury or to Rome or to any other place.\n\nThis belief contains the aforementioned belief with these:\nSir John Oldcastle, knight and lord of Cobham, was brought before the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London at the Friars Preachers in London in the year 1413. He took the following answers to the bishops when he came to answer on the Saturday next before Michaelmas. Whatever the bishops asked him, he instructed them to look at what his bill (record) said on the matter, and by that he would stand firm until death. He gave no other answers that day, but the bishops were not appeased by this. The Archbishop ordered him to take time until the following Monday to answer to this point: if there remained any material bread in the sacrament on the altar after the words of consecration. During this time, he perceived that the utmost malice was being plotted against him, regardless of how he answered. Therefore, he put his life in God's hands and answered as follows:\n\nThis is the judgment and sentence given upon Sir John Oldcastle, knight and lord of Cobham, on the Monday next before Michaelmas Day in the year 1413 by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London at the Friars Preachers in London.\nThe bishop of Winchester and the bishop of Bangar, Master John Wintwood, Master John Whitehead (doctors of divinity), Master Philip Morgan, Master Henry Ware, Master John Kempe (doctors of law), and Sir Robert Wambnell, vicar of St. Lawrence in the Jewry, Master John Stevenes, Master James Colenotaries, and the four orders of friars, and many other clerks, were present, demurring and accusing him as an heretic and a cursed man. The Archbishop made all these clerks and doctors, both religious and secular, swear that they would not, out of love or favor for one party or hatred or grudge against the other, say or witness anything but the truth. The two notaries were also sworn to write and witness the words and process to be spoken on both parties' behalf and to speak the truth if otherwise.\n\nAfter this, the Lord Cobham was brought before them all for his examination and answer. Then the Archbishop said to him, \"Lord Cobham, you have been warned well.\"\n\"You have heard enough of the words and processes spoken to you on Saturday last in the chapter house of Paul's / the which processes were too long to repeat. Then I proposed to absolve you (for you were accused) of your contumacy and disobedience to the holy church.\nThen Lord Cobham spoke up. God says, \"Maledica benedictionibus vestris,\" that is, \"I shall curse your blessings.\"\nThen the Archbishop replied, \"Sir, then I proposed to absolve you if you had asked for it / and yet I do the same.\"\nThen Lord Cobham said, \"Nay, forsooth / I have never transgressed against you / and therefore will I not do it.\" And with that, he knelt down on the pavement / and held up his hands & said, \"I renounce myself to God and to you all, sirs / in my youth I have sinned greatly and grievously in lechery and in pride and hurt many men & done many other horrible sins / good lord, I cry for mercy.\" And with that, weepingly, he stood up again and said, \"Here, for the breaking of God's law and his...\"\"\nThe commandments you cursed me not, but because of your own laws and traditions above God's law, it shall be destroyed. Then the Archbishop examined the Lord of Cobham regarding his belief. The Lord of Cobham said, \"I believe fully in all God's law, and I believe it is all true, and I believe all that God wills that I believe. Then the Archbishop examined him concerning the sacrament of the altar. The Lord of Cobham said, \"Christ sat among his disciples on Thursday night, after he had supped, and taking bread, he gave thanks to the Father, blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take and eat of this, all of you; this is my body, which will be betrayed for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' This I believe,\" he said. Then the Archbishop asked him if it was still bread after the consecration and the sacramental words were spoken. The Lord of Cobham said, \"I believe that the sacrament of the altar is truly the body of Christ in the form of bread.\"\nthe same body you were born of the Virgin Mary, suffered on the cross, died and was buried, and the third day rose from the dead to life; this body is now glorified in heaven.\nOne of the doctors of law said, \"After the sacramental words are spoken, there is no bread left but the body of Christ.\"\nThen the Lord of Cobham said to Master John Whitehead. \"You told me in the castle of Cowling that the sacred host was not Christ's body. I said it was Christ's body, though seculars and friars hold opposing views on this matter.\"\nThen they replied, \"We all say that it is God's body. And they asked him whether it was merely material bread after the consecration.\"\nThen the Lord replied, \"I believe that it is Christ's body in the form of bread, Sir, do you not believe thus?\"\nAnd the Archbishop replied, \"Yes.\"\nThen the doctors asked him whether it was only Christ's body after the consecration and no bread.\nAnd he said to them, \"It is Christ's body and bread: for just as Christ was here in the form of man, and the deity hid within.\"\nThe man says I truly believe that Christ's flesh and blood is hidden there in the form of bread. Then they smiled at each other, accusing him of heresy, and said, it is heresy. The archbishop asked him what bread it was, and the clerics also whether it was material or not. Then the lord said, the gospel speaks not of this term \"material\"; therefore, I will not, but I say, it is Christ's body and bread. For the gospel says, \"I am the living bread which came down from heaven.\" That is, \"I am the quick bread that came down from heaven.\" For our Lord Jesus Christ is very God and very man; so the most blessed sacrament of the altar is Christ's body and bread. They said it is heresy to say that it is bread after the consecration and the sacramental words said, but only Christ's body. The lord said, St. Paul the apostle was as wise as you; and he called it bread, where he says, \"The bread that we break, is it not the partaking of the body of Christ?\"\nThe lord? They replied, \"Paul must be misunderstood, for it is heresy to say that it is bread after the consecration, but only Christ's body, as it goes against the church's determination. Then they asked him if he did not believe in the church's determination. He said to them, \"No, indeed, I believe in all of God's law and whatever God wills that I believe, but not in your law or your determination, for you are not part of the holy church, as your deeds clearly show, but rather Antichrist, contrary to God's law. For you have made laws for your covetousness. This they considered heresy, not for not believing in the church's determination. Then the Archbishop asked him, \"What is the holy church?\" He replied, \"I believe it is the number of all who will be saved, of whom Christ is the head. This church consists of three parts: one in heaven, another in purgatory, and the third on earth. This part on earth stands in three degrees and estates: priesthood, knighthood, \"\nAnd the communal one, as I plainly believe in my opinion. Then the artisan said to him. Do you know who belongs to this church? It is doubtful to you who belongs to it? You should not judge.\nThe Lord said. Believe in works; judge righteously; that is, believe in the works and give right judgment. And he also said to them all. Where, according to God's law, do you find yourselves sitting on any man or on any man's death as you do? But Annas and Caiaphas sat and judged Christ. And they said, \"Yes, sir. Christ judged Iudas.\"\nThe Lord of Cobham said. No. Christ did not judge Iudas, but he judged himself and went and took himself: but Christ said, \"Woe to him as to many of you. For since sins were shed into the church, you have never followed Christ nor stood in the perfection of God's law.\"\nThen the Archbishop asked him what that sin was.\nThe Lord said. The lordships and possessions. For then an angel cried out, \"Woe, woe, woe! This day woe has been shed into the church of God, for\"\nBefore that time there were many martyrs of the popes / and sins I can tell of none: but since that time one has put down another / and one has slain another / and one has cursed another. As the chronicles tell / there were much more wickedness. He also said, \"Christ was meek / and the pope is proud. Christ was poor & forgave / yet the pope is rich & a master. And thus this is the nest of Antichrist / and out of this nest come Antichrist's disciples / of whom these monks and friars are the tail.\"\n\nThe prior of the Friars Augustine said, \"Sir, why do you say so?\"\n\nAnd the lord of Cobham said, \"For as you are Pharisees divided / and divided in habit: so you make division among the people. And thus these friars and monks, with such others, are the members of the nest of Antichrist. And he said, 'Christ says, \"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites / for you shut up the kingdom of heaven before me / for truly, you enter not yourselves / nor will you allow those who would enter to come in.\"' \"\n\"thus you are disciples of Antichrist, for you will not allow God's law to pass through or be taught and preached by good priests who speak against your sins and reprove you, but rather those who sustain you in your sins and curses.\nThe archbishop said so. By our lady, sir, there shall be no such preachers who preach discord and division if God will.\nThe lord of Cobham said to the archbishop. Christ says there will be such great tribulation as never was since the beginning. And this will be in your days, for you have killed many of me and more will follow. But those days will be shortened, no flesh shall be saved, but hastily God will shorten your days. Furthermore, bishops, priests, and deacons are grounded in God's law, but not these other religions, as far as I can tell.\nA doctor of law, one Master Iohn Kempe, set forth these four points concerning the faith and the determination of the holy church regarding the blessed sacrament.\"\nThe altar is this, after the sacramental words are spoken by a priest in his mass, the material bread that was before is transformed into Christ's body, and the material wine that was before is transformed into Christ's very blood. Therefore, there remains in the sacrament of the altar no material bread nor material wine, but what were there before the saying of the sacramental words. Do you not believe this?\n\nThe Lord of Cobham said, \"This is not my belief. For my belief is as I said to you before, that the worthy sacrament of the altar is very Christ's body in the form of bread.\"\n\nThen said the archbishop, \"Sir John, you must say otherwise.\"\n\nThe Lord of Cobham said, \"No, if God wills it, that it is Christ's body in the form of bread, as the common belief is.\"\n\nThe doctor said, \"The second is this: the holy church has determined that every Christian man living bodily on earth owes it to be shriven by a priest ordained by the church, if he may come to him.\" What say you to this?\n\nThe Lord answered, [no response given in the text]\nA seaman, severely wounded, required a reliable healing and true knowledge of his cure. Therefore, a man should primarily turn to God, and otherwise seek confession. A woman should go and be counseled by a good priest who knows God's law and lives by it, rather than her own priest if he was evil or any other such person.\n\nThe doctor replied, \"The third is this. Christ ordered St. Peter apostle to be His vicar on earth. Whose see is the Church of Rome, ordaining and granting that the same power given to Peter should succeed to all his successors, whom we call the popes of Rome today. This is the Church's determination.\"\n\nHe answered and said, \"Whoever follows Peter in living is next to him in succession, but yours.\"\nLiving refuses to poor Peter and many other popes who lived in a similar manner in Rome, whose conditions you have completely forsaken. The doctor said. The fourth point is this. The holy church has determined that it is fitting for a Christian man to go on pilgrimages to holy places and there specifically to worship holy relics of saints, apostles, martyrs, and all saints approved by the Roman church.\n\nTo this he replied. It is enough to bury saints decently in the earth, but now saints who are dead are compelled to beg for the sake of greed, which in their lives hated greed and begging. But I say to you all, and know it as the truth, that with your shrines and idols and your feigned absolutions and indulgences and your temporalities, you draw to yourselves all the riches of this world. Why, sir, said one of the clerks, will you not worship images?\n\nWhat said the Lord?\n\nFriar Palmer replied, Sir, you will worship the images.\ncrosse of Christe that he died on.\nWhere is it? said the lorde.\nThe frier said. I put case sir that it wer here before you.\nThe lorde said. This is a redy man to put to me a question of a thing / that they wote ne\u2223uer where it is. And yet I aske you / what wor\u2223ship.\nA clerke said. Soche worship as Paul spe\u2223kith of / that is this. God forbid me to ioye but in the crosse of our lorde Iesu Christe.\nThan said the lorde / and spred his armes abrode. This is a very crosse.\nThan said the bisshop of London. Sir ye wote well that he died on a materiall crosse.\nThan said the lorde. Our saluacion cam in onely by hym that died on the crosse and by the materiall crosse. And well I wote yt this was the crosse that Paul ioyed on / that is / in the pas\u2223sion of our lord Iesu Christe.\nThe Archebisshop said. Sir Iohn\u0304 ye muste submit you to the ordinaunce of the chirche.\nThe lorde said. I wote not wherto.\nThan the Archebisshop redde a bill of his iugement and conuicted hym for an heretike.\nAfter the reding of the bill / the\n\"Lord said, \"Though you judge my body, I hope God saves my soul, and he said he would stand to his death by these things. With the help of Jesus. Then he said to all the people, \"Sirs, for God's love beware of these men, for they will deceive you else and lead you blindly into hell, and themselves also. For Christ says if one blind man leads another, both fall into the ditch. And after this, he prayed for his enemies and said, 'Lord, God, I beseech You forgive my persecutors in Tower of London.' And thus was the end.\n\n\"While the Lord of Cobham was in the tower, he sent out privately to his friends. They, at his desire, enforced and wrote the following bill, commanding it to the people, that they should cease the slanders and leasings his enemies made against him.\n\n\"For as much as Sir John Oldcastle, knight and Lord Cobham, is unjustly convicted and imprisoned, and falsely reported and slandered among the people by his adversaries, it is\"\nShould a person feel and speak about the sacraments of the church, and especially about the blessed sacrament of the altar, other than what is written in his belief, which was intended and taken to the clergy and set up in various open places in the city of London. Known to all the world, he never varied in any point from this, except this is plainly his belief: that all the sacraments of the church are profitable and meaningful to all who are saved, taking them with the intent that God and the church has ordained. Furthermore, he believes that the blessed sacrament of the altar is truly and really the body of Christ in the form of bread. Truth long hidden is now revealed. Amen.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "A work for householders, or for those who have the governing of any company. Compiled and published by a professed brother of Syon, Richard Whyteford. Newly corrected and printed again with an addition of policy for householding, also set forth by the same brother.\n\nI had originally sent this poor lesson to a private person and special friend: the copy came before the eyes of certain devout persons, who said they were contented with it and edified by it. Therefore, they instantly requested me to put it forth in common: supposing in their devout minds, it would be beneficial to other persons as it seemed to them. I beseech our Lord, may it be so. And that you would not attribute it to any presumption on my part, but rather to their devotion and charity. And with like heart and mind, receive it. End of the preface.\nThe matter is directed primarily to householders, or to those who have governing and governance of any company, for an order to be kept, both in themselves, and in those they have in rule and charge. The end of the argument.\n\nGood devout Christians, let us first consider that we are all mortal, as the rich as the poor, the young as the old; there is no difference, none except that all must necessarily die. And though we may live very long, yet shall we die shortly: for the longest life of this world is very short. And yet we have no certain or even conjecture of knowledge, when, where, how, or in what state we shall depart from this life. And surely we are that, as we were found at that time, so shall we be taken, and without respect or delay, forthwith shall we be presented and brought before the high judge who cannot be deceived, to make an account of all our past life, where no mother of the law may speak for us, nor any excuse serve us.\nOur conscience shall speak and tell plain truth, without craft or dissimulation, and in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, shall clearly confess our whole life and every wrinkle and part thereof. This confession, if your life were good, shall be to our great honor, comfort, rejoicing, and eternal joy. And contrary, if it were evil, it shall be to our great shame and rebuke, to our endless sorrow and pain, and eternal woe. We therefore have need to be well aware of how we spend our time, how we pass this life, or rather how this life passes us. It will often profit the health of our souls to remember our last end. Ecclus. vii. The wise man says, \"In your own works remember your end, and all your days, (sayeth he), remember your ending day, and what things shall come to you at your last end, and you shall never sin, nor continue eternally in it.\"\nThe first point therefore of a good Christian is to intend and purpose with a good heart and constant mind to avoid sin and diligently study how to flee and beware of its occasions. And to appoint himself to some customary course of good and profitable exercise. Psalm xxxiij. Turn away from evil and do good (says the prophet). Turn away your face, heart, will, and mind from all evil, and appoint yourself to do good works. For a form therefore of how to follow the same by continuance, I shall show you my poor advice. I speak to you, good simple and devout souls, who would fain live well yourself and also order and comfort all others to the same. First, begin with yourself. And as soon as you do awake in the morning for the whole day, first suddenly turn your mind and remember Almighty God, and then use (by continual custom), to make a cross with your thumb on your forehead or brow, in saying of these words: In the name of the Father.\nAnd place a cross upon your mouth with these words: \"et filij.\" And the third cross on your breast, saying: \"et spus sancti.\" Amen. This means I bless and mark myself with the recognition and badge of Christ, in the name of the Father, and in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, that is, the holy Trinity, three persons and one God. Say or think after this form: \"Good Lord God my maker and redeemer, here now in thy presence, I do (for this time and for all the time of my whole life) quitclaim and take or rather freely give myself, soul and body, with all my heart and mind, unto thee (good Lord), and to thy hands, to be thy bondservant forever, according to the promise made in my baptism at the font stone.\nAnd here I ratify and confirm this [thing], and I fully consent in heart and deed thereto, never hereafter, by your grace, to contrary it, but to continue in your laws (good lord), until the end of my life. But where you know (good lord), that I am a frail person, infirm, feeble, and weak, and (of myself) prone and ready, in thought, word, and deed, to evil, from the beginning of my life hitherto, I beseech you, good lord God and Father of all power and might, that you will defend me from all my enemies, and give me spiritual strength and power, that I may overcome and vanquish, flee and avoid all such frailty, light manners or dispositions, as should be contrary to your will and pleasure, and that (according to this will of the spirit, which your goodness has now freely given to me), I may destroy the will of the flesh, and so continue until the end of my life. Genesis 6.\nAnd yet, good lord, I know that I am rude and unlearned, without wit or wisdom and due knowledge of your laws. I, an ignorant person, beg the good lord God, who art the essential son of God the father, and to whom all wit, wisdom, science, conning, and knowledge, and all right perception and understanding belong, that you would grant me the true knowledge of yourself and the knowledge of all your benefits and gifts bestowed upon me and all mankind, and grace to thank you for them. I also beg for knowledge of my own self, of my state and condition of life and conversation, and especially of my wretchedness, with due contrition for all my sins. And knowledge of your laws, that I may not, through any ignorance or misunderstanding, at any time, in word or deed or thought, do anything contrary to them.\nAnd thirdly, good lord, where you know that I am often obstinate in my mind, froward and evil-willed, stubborn of stomach and unkind of heart, dull, negligent, and slothful in all manner of goodness, I beseech the good lord, God, Holy Ghost, who art the spirit and will of the Father and of the Son, and with them the same selfess God, to whom is appropriate and specifically appointed all bounty, all goodness, all grace and good will, that you would vouchsafe to give me the grace of good will, so that I never do, say, or think anything that should be contrary to your will. And having in me ever a revered fear, I may love you for yourself, and all others in you (lord), and for the spiritual strength and knowledge that you have given me, I may apply my will wholly to your will, so that I have no will proper to myself, but that my will be all your will and both (as much as may be possible) one will.\nAnd so I may here in this life order my love and come unto such perfection of fruitful charity, that (by thy grace), I may attain to the fruition of everlasting charity in thy joyful presence. Amen. And good Lord God, Father of heaven, I beseech thee take and receive me into thy grace, and have mercy and pity on me and all thy people. And thou, Lord God, blessed Son of God the Father, and giver and redeemer of the world, have pity and mercy on me and on all Christian people. And loving Lord God, Holy Ghost and blessed Spirit of God, have mercy and pity on me and all the world. Holy and blessed Trinity, one self and same essential God, have pity and mercy on me and on all mine, and on all thy creatures. Amen. And then again bless thee with this in noisome praise. As before, and then go forth unto thy business where thou wilt. Let this be for thy morning exercise.\nAnd though you have great things to do, I assure you that this prayer and morning exercise over loge would be beneficial, if it were once prepared and incorporated in the heart and mind. It would soon be recited or thought, and the person would (I believe) receive grace to perform better in other things, without considering the time spent as a loss, but rather as great gain. In the end, we intend to present a longer exercise for those who have more time to spend. After the said morning exercise, I trust you will be well occupied on your appointed course of occupation. As we advised at the beginning, you should appoint yourself (by a continuous course) to some certain occupation that may be profitable, and ever avoid idleness, the mother and nurse of all sin and evil.\nAnd ever beware of such occupations called commonly pastimes, that is, all manner of unlawful games, and such disports that draw people rather to vice than to virtue, which more properly may be called wasted times than pastimes. Matt. xii. 36. For since (by the affirmation of our Savior) we shall make an account of every idle word, it must necessarily follow that we shall make a stricter reckoning of every idle or evil work. Let therefore your said appointed occupation be always good, virtuous, and profitable. Since you must necessarily make a reckoning of every work, word, and thought (for none of these can be hid or kept secret from your auditor), I think it should be a great security for you to make a daily account by yourself. The common proverb is, that frequent reckoning holds long fellowship.\nI would advise you, therefore, to spend some time thereafter at night, after all your occupations, before your bed, kneel down, and begin to remember where you went and what you did immediately after your morning exercise, and in what company you were, and what was your behavior and demeanor in work, word, or thought. Go forth unto every place, time, and company as at breakfast, dinner, supper, or drinking, and wherever you find or perceive anything that was good, virtuous, and profitable, ascribe and apply it to our Lord God, and give to Him all the glory, praise, and thanks for He alone is the giver of all goodness. And wherever you remember any specific thing done, said, or thought amiss, stick and bind it (as they say), and turn it upside down, and try the weight and danger of the same.\nSo you should know the quantity, that is, how great a sin it is. None of us can commit an offense that is not an offense to God. Every sin is an offense done to God, although it may seem to be done to man. John 2:8. For as your love of God begins with your love of your neighbor (for he who does not love his neighbor whom he can see with his bodily eye or sight, says St. John), how can he love God (whom he cannot see) in the same way? Likewise, the offense against your neighbor is immediately an offense against God. Therefore, consider to whom the transgression is done, and your consideration, along with the other qualities and quantities of the sin, will bring you to a basis for understanding it and being sorry for it, or at least willing that you had not done it. Then humbly cry out for God's mercy and ask for forgiveness with a sincere heart and a firm purpose to confess it at the appropriate time and to do penance for it.\nAnd I dare assure you that this manner of accounting and reckoning (though your sin be never so great) shall save you from the jeopardy of damnation, which is no little grace and goodness of God. Take him then lowly therefore, and so bless yourself, as you did in the morning, and your bed also, and go thereto, and so commit yourself all whole body and soul unto the protection, custody, and keeping of our Lord, who gives you good night and good rest. Amen.\n\nIt shall be right well also that you call upon such holy saints as you have special devotion unto, under this form or some other like. Blessed lady Mary, mother of God, always a virgin, I beseech thee pray for me, and for all Christians. Holy angel of God, whatever thou art deputed and appointed unto my custody, I (submitting myself with most lowly obedience) beseech thee to pray for me, & for all the world. Saint Michael, saint Gabriel, saint Raphael, and all holy angels and archangels, I beseech you pray for me and for all people.\nSaint John the Baptist, and all holy patriarchs and prophets, I beseech you pray for me and for all Christendom. Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint John the Evangelist, and all holy apostles and evangelists, I beseech you pray for me and for all the world, and you also all disciples of our Lord, and holy Innocents. Saint Stephen, and all holy martyrs. Saint Augustine, and all holy confessors, all religious persons and hermits. Saint Catherine, Saint Margaret, Saint Barbara, and all holy virgins, I beseech you pray for me and for all persons. And finally, all you holy saints of heaven, of every degree and state where you are, I beseech you all in general, and each one specifically, pray for me and all mankind. Here you may bring in the patrons of your churches or dioceses, and such as you have (as I said), singular devotion towards. And here an end, as to yourself. But yet some of you will say.\nThis work is good for religious people and for those who are solitary and live alone by themselves, but we sometimes lie two or three together, and there are various beds and so many in company. If we should use these things in the presence of our fellows, some would laugh at us and mock us. O Jesus, good Lord Jesus, what is this: I dare well say that there are few people in England but they would endure some danger or rebuke for the pleasure of their king or prince, and many for their master or mistress, or their superiors, and some for their friends and companions, especially where great gains could grow for themselves.\nAnd for the pleasure of God, our father, and of our sweet Savior Jesus our brother, should we be ashamed to endure danger and bear a poor mock or scorn, who will never want our flesh nor yet tear our skin for the pleasure of our peers' price, lords of lords? Shame on anyone who would be so cowardly. Venture upon it, go forth, it is a difficult principle. Labor overcomes obstacles. In nine days (as they say), the danger will be past; fear not. Every beginning is hard and of great difficulty. But importunate labor conquers and overcomes all obstacles. I tell you, this daily exercise by custom and use will seem very short and sweet, profitable and pleasurable.\nRead it or hear it at least twice before discarding it. It is not sufficient or enough for you to live well by yourself, but it is also beneficial for all other Christians, and especially those under your care and governance - that is, your children and servants. I think it would also be a good pastime and edifying for you, if you can read, to gather your neighbors around you on holy days, especially the young ones, and read to them this poor lesson. In it there are things they are bound to know or can say, such as the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Creed, as well as other things that follow. I would therefore advise you to begin with them as soon as they can speak. For it is an old saying: Quod nova testa capiat: in veteribus sapit. The pot or vessel shall always taste or smell of the thing with which it is first seasoned.\nAnd your English proverb says, \"A young cock crows as he does here, and learn from the old.\" You may teach them what you will in your youth, and they will keep and remember it. Therefore, above all things, take heed and care in what company you nurse and bring up your child. For education and doctrine, it is said, bringing up and learning make manners. With good and virtuous persons (says the prophet), you shall be good and virtuous. Psalm 17. And with evil persons, you shall also be evil. Let your child therefore use and keep good company. The pie, you say, and other birds do speak what they most hear. The plow, by sight, will follow your gesture and behave like the fowler.\nAnd the ape through exercise will work and do as it is taught. And so will the dog (by violence) act contrary to natural disposition. Therefore, the child who by reason exceeds other creatures will bear away what they here speak. They should therefore be used in such company where they should hear none evil, but where they may hear godly and Christian words. They will also adopt such manners as they see and imitate in others. And as they are taught, so will they do. And in many things they may be compelled to a continual custom, which alters and changes natural disposition. To some crafts or occupations, a certain age is required in a child. But virtue and vice may be learned in every age. Therefore, let them use no company but good and virtuous. And as soon as they can speak, let them first learn to serve God, and to say the Pater Noster, Amen, and Creed, as I said before.\nAnd not only your child, but also see you and prove that all your servants, whatever their age, can say the same. And therefore I have advised many persons, and here now to counsel that in every dispute, dinner or supper, one person should loudly say:\n\nFirst petition. Pater noster qui es in celis: sanctificetur nomen tuum. Good Lord God, our holy father who art in heaven, let thy name be sanctified, that is, I beseech thee to grant us grace to bless, to honor, to laud and pray to thy holy name.\n\nSecond petition. Adveniat regnum tuum. Good Lord God, our father who art in heaven, let thy kingdom come, that is, I beseech thee that all the people of the world may come unto the grace of baptism, & so be thy faithful subjects of thy realm and kingdom of Christianity.\n\nThird petition. Fiat voluptas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Good Lord God, our father who art in heaven, let thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.\nGood lord God our holy Father, who art in heaven, let Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This means, I beseech Thee, Lord, that all Thy Christian people here on earth may perform Thy will and keep Thy commandments according to their estate and condition, as Thy holy angels and saints did in heaven according to their state and degree.\n\nGive us this day our daily bread. Fourth. Good Lord God, our holy Father, who art in heaven, grant to us this day our daily bread. That is to mean, I beseech Thee, Lord, grant to us continually the spiritual food, grace, and effect of Thy holy sacraments. Or thus: Grant to us the continual grace and effect of Thy holy sacraments, which is the daily food of our souls and the spiritual security of our salvation.\n\nAnd forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Fifth. Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.\nGood Lord God our holy Father, who art in heaven, forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. This means, I beseech Thee, good Lord, forgive and pardon me, and all Christians, all manner of offenses and trespasses committed against Thee and Thy laws, in the same way that we have forgiven all manner of persons all manner of wrongs done against us.\n\nAnd lead us not into temptation. Sixth. Good Lord God our holy Father, who art in heaven, lead us not into temptation, that is to mean, I beseech Thee, good Lord, suffer me not, nor any Christian, to be led or brought by any temptation into the full consent of any sin.\n\nBut deliver us from evil. Seventh. But good Lord God our holy Father, who art in heaven, deliver me, and all Christians, from all evil, that is to mean, I beseech Thee, good Lord, not only keep me, and all Thy people, from all sin and offense through Thy goodness, but also deliver us and make us quit of all sins past, and confirm and keep us continually in the state of grace. Amen.\nSo be it/this means that we ask that all these things come to pass in full effect according to our petition and desire. The Patner's prayer is the most excellent one because our Savior made it Himself and taught it to His disciples.\n\nThe Hail Mary is the most pleasant prayer and of greatest honor to your blessed lady because one part of it is the salutation of the angel Gabriel. Immediately after her consent, he conceived the Son of God in her womb (Luke 1:26-38). The other part was spoken to her by St. Elizabeth, inspired and moved thereto by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we set forth the Hail Mary in the same manner as we did the Pater Noster.\n\nHail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. So be it.\nThat first word \"Aue\" / which I translate into English as \"hail\" is a word of salutation / as we say in common congresses or meetings together. God speed you / God save you / God bless you. Good morning / good evening / God speed / God be with you / God send you / with such other / after the manner of the country where it is spoken. And the last word \"Amen\" / it is a word of consent or desire / that the matter spoken before should come to pass / or unto effect / as commonly it is said / be it / so be it / let it be so / I grant / I assent / with others.\n\nThis we have said / because you should understand what every word means.\n\nNow follows the Creed.\n\nSaint Peter.\nCreed in thee, Father, who art in heaven and on earth. I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth. This term \"in deum\" / is variously translated into English / some say \"into God\" / some \"inwardly in God\" / some \"perfectly in God\".\nI believe in you, the unlearned people, that is, in effect, that the person has true faith and believes in his God and to God. In Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of our God. Saint Andrew and I also truly believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the said Father.\n\nWho was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. Saint John and I also truly believe that our said Lord Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of our Lady Saint Mary, remaining and abiding ever a virgin.\n\nHe was condemned by Pontius Pilate, crucified, died, and was buried. Saint James the More\n\nHe descended into hell: on the third day he rose from the dead.\nI believe perfectly that our Lord Jesus, after His said passion and death, descended and went down to the low places of hell, and brought forth from there our first father Adam and all who were with him. He arose from death and the bonds thereof to everlasting life on the third day after His death.\n\nHe ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father, omnipotent and almighty.\n\nSaint James the Less. I also believe perfectly that our Lord Jesus ascended and sits at the highest heavens, and there He sits on the right hand of God the Father, omnipotent.\n\nSaint Philip. He is coming again to judge the living and the dead. I also believe perfectly that he will come again into this world to judge all people, quick and dead.\n\nSaint Bartholomew. I believe perfectly in the Holy Spirit. I believe perfectly in the Holy Spirit, the spirit of the Father and of the Son, and in them both the same self-god.\n\nSaint Matthew. I believe in the Catholic Church.\nI believe that the Church of Christ is and was, and shall be, holy and faithful. I give faith and credence to it, and to its teachings.\n\nI believe in the communion of saints: that is, I believe that all the works and good deeds of all good and holy persons are communal, so that every faithful Christian has and shall have a part with others. I also believe in the remission of sins: that is, I believe that all kinds of sins may and shall be forgiven if forgiveness is truly asked for.\n\nI believe in St. Jude, also called St. Taddeus. In the resurrection of the flesh. I believe that all kinds of persons shall rise at the Day of Judgment with the same flesh, blood, and bones that they were born with and died with.\n\nAmen (I believe in eternal life).\nAnd I believe in everlasting life, that is, that after the general resurrection, all manner of persons, good and evil, damned or saved, shall continue in everlasting life, either in joy or pain, and never depart from it. This word Amen. is declared before in the end of the Pater Noster. This manner of the Pater Noster, Aue and Crede, I would have us use and read aloud from the book at every meal or at least once a day with a low voice, so that all the people present may hear it. Furthermore, I would advise and counsel you to see, know, and prove that every person in your house, and all who are under your governance and charge, can say the same. Therefore, you must take the trouble to hear them yourself, and where necessary, teach them. For many who are aged and cannot say it will be ashamed to learn it openly. Yet, if they hear it daily read in the manner shown before, they will learn it well by use and custom.\nAnd some other people there are, who can say right well, both from the book and from memory. Yet among them some are dullards and slothful, and some negligent and careless, and so they do not say it but forget it, as if they had never learned it. I pray you therefore, good devout Christians, take the pain to hear them yourselves, at least once a week, and let none escape you, old or young. It shall (believe me), be to you a great discharge of conscience, and not without merit and great reward. Charge them strictly under pain of punishment, that they say it every day three times at least, that is to say, in the morning, at noon or midday, and at night. Thou must teach them to know by order the commandments of God, the names of the seven principal sins, and of their five wits, as follows.\n\nFirst, the commandments of God are ten in number.\nThe first: we shall have no strange gods or other deities, but one alone, and honor, love, and fear him above all things. The second: we may not take the name of God in vain, and therefore we may not swear.\n\nSecond, third: The third: we must keep our holy days with close minds to God and reverent devotion, and therefore we may do no bodily or worldly labors for gain therein.\n\nFourth: The fourth: we must with reverent and due manner do honor to our parents, that is, to our fathers and mothers, and we shall have long life therefore.\n\nFifth: The fifth: we shall not kill or injure any person, neither in deed, nor in word, nor in thought, nor may we hate any person in heart.\n\nI John iii. c. He who does such things is a murderer.\n\nThe sixth: We may do no lechery.\n\nSixth, seventh, eighth, tenth: The sixth: we may do no theft. The seventh: we may hear no false witness or bear false witness. The eighth: we may not covet or desire any married person.\nWe may not covet or desire any other goods. These are the ten commandments given and commanded by Almighty God, and they are divided into two parts as two tables or books. Exodus XX. The first pertains to Almighty God himself, and in this part are contained the first three commandments, which are all contained in this one commandment of the Gospel: Love God above all things. And in the second or third table are the other seven, which also belong to the neighbor. And yet all the seven are again contained in this one commandment of Christ: Love thy neighbor as thyself.\n\nA declaration of the said precepts.\nThe first: When you say that we should have no other gods but one alone, it means that we should love nothing as much as God.\nWhoever sets his heart and mind upon any creature more than upon God, so that he would rather displease God and break his laws and ordinances to leave and forbear the affection or pleasure of the creature, has a strange god, another god. For that which thou art his god, for the sake of which he does forsake God, and does contrary to his will and ordinance.\nAnd here, good and devout Christians, be warned andware of these superstitious wytchcrafts and charms that are much used and done, deceiving many persons. Those who, for the unlawful love of their bodies, or of their children, or beasts, or other goods lost or stolen, will go seek wise men or wise women (for so they call them, the devils' proctors, who perform such wytchcrafts and charms), I say, and put themselves subject to the false god, the devil, and his ceremonies, to get health unlawfully through such wytchcrafts, forbidden by the church, under pain of cursing. And yet the simple people suppose and believe they do nothing wrong. For I have heard them say full often myself. Sir, we mean well, & we do believe well, & we think it a good and charitable deed to heal a sick person or a sick beast. But it is neither good nor charitable to heal them by unlawful means.\nAnd surely it means unlawful. For a good reason will admit that no sore or sickness can be healed but either by nature or by medicine or by miracle. If a finger is cut or a small surfeit taken, nature in a while will heal the person. But in all grievous diseases, medicine is the common means of health, but surely are they such charms or witchcrafts no medicines. For they should heal as well by one person as by another. And no more believe they are miracles, therefore they must needs be the devil's craft to deceive simple persons, hurting some and teaching an unlawful way to bring them into danger. For you will grant that he would be a fool, who for the health of his horse's leg would lose one of his own heads or one of his own eyes, and yet is he more foolish in deed, who for any creature would lose his soul. But yet some have said to me, Sir, how may this charm be evil or amiss, when all things are good? As by example.\nThe charmer is a good man or woman and takes a piece of white bread, saying nothing over it but only \"Pat, nr.\" and makes a cross upon the bread. These things are all good, the person does nothing else but lay the piece of bread onto the one it takes or any other sore, turning the cross onto the sore or disease, and so the person is healed. How can this be evil now, they say? I say again, it is evil and dangerous because the faith and belief in the entire matter remains in the application of the cross, which has no natural operation but is a ceremony unlawful. Though things here are good, yet they are of no use without this ceremony, and so it is all a charm and unlawful and nothing, which can clearly be known as nothing and unlawful because the church condemns and forbids such things. This, surely, is something that the learned church of God, guided always by the Holy Ghost, would never have done if it were good and lawful.\nAnd therefore, let none of your people use any such thing. The second. Now for the second commandment, which is that no person should take God's name in vain. Warn your folk and take heed that they are not common swearers. For it is less dangerous for you to have a thief or a stealers, a lecher or an unclean liver, than a usual swearer. For a great oath accustomed does provoke the sudden vengeance of God. The scripture says, \"From the house of the swearer, pestilence did not depart.\" Eccl. xxiii B. The customary swearer shall ever be full of iniquity and sin, and the plague of the vengeance of God shall continually hang over that house. Let not your mouth be used for swearing (says the scripture), For the customary swearer shall never be cleansed of sin. Therefore, I dare well say that swearing is one of the great causes of all these sudden plagues among us and beasts \u2013 pestilence, smallpox, measles, and more.\nAnd I believe none of you would be glad to keep in his house a leper or any person infected with any of the aforementioned diseases. And yet a swearer is more dangerous than any of them. For his oath may sleep or infect your child in the cradle or strike your beasts in the fields, destroy your corn and grain, and cause privately many schemes. And yet many persons thought and believed that if they swore truthfully, they did no sin, but they were surely deceived, as in the case. If a person would print and coin money from good silver or good gold, keeping also the due weight and fashion, that thing would not excuse the person unto the king or his laws, though also he proved the money was good and lawful money. For the king's law is, that no person shall print or coin any money but such as are assigned by him, and that also in the place appointed therefor.\nSo in like manner, the law of God is such that no person shall swear any oath except at the appointment or commandment of such a person who has the power to require and take an oath, and this must be done in a proper place - that is, before a lawful judge. And so a person may lawfully swear, as long as the swearer thinks and believes in true and unfeigned conscience that his oath is true. And if, in order to swear truly, there are no circumstances or other causes expressed in the law, no person may swear, however true it may be that he swears. If swearing truly is a sin and displeases God because it is contrary to His commandment, then swearing falsely and taking false oaths necessitates more sin and more displeases God. I shall give an example here of both - that is, how God is provoked by common swearing and how by forswearing and false oaths. The following story I heard at the little village of Stondon. XXV.\nA man from London, not far from the high way to Cambridge, where I once stayed, endured the great plague that rapidly and sharply reigned in both London and Cambridge. Here, the story was widely known. A gentleman named Master Barington, whose wife later married a gentleman named Master Carington in Cambridge, changing only one letter in her name - C for B. And I also heard this same story from her, though she said she was not present. This said gentleman Barington was a great oath-taker and customarily used great oaths, particularly by the blood of the Lord, or, as more commonly they swore, by God's blood. And on a Sunday or a festive holy day, he went forth hunting or hawking, and nothing going as he wished, he came to an inn called Pulcriche.\nMyles from Ware in the high way to Cambridge, on the one side of which was in the parish of Stondon, where this gentleman was, and called for drink. And immediately he began to swear, saying, \"By God's blood, this day is unfortunate.\"\nAnd in a while after, in a sorrowing manner, he bled from the nose, and in anger, he began to rail and rain curses on God (as they say), invoking God's passion, God's will, God's flesh, God's nails, and His holy and blessed blood. At last, he bled profusely from the ears, eyes, wrists, and all the joints of his hands and body, at his navels and foundations, and at other places of his body, in marvelous great quantity and streams of blood. He extended his tongue in a marvelous horrible, vile, and fearful manner, as black as pitch, so that no person dared come near him, but stood afar off and cast holy water towards him. He continued to swear, blaspheme, and bleed until he expired and was dead.\n\nThe following day, they laid him in a cart and carried him to the said church of Stondon. His body continued to bleed until he was buried on the way, in great abundance.\nThis was a plain token that God was much displeased with swearing and openly punished it, as a warning to all common swearers. Another instance of this was shown to me by a bachelor of divinity named Master George Work, a fellow with whom I was also a fellow at Queen's College in Cambridge. After he became vicar of Harowe on the Hill, he related this on his conscience. He saw himself in a merchant's house in London, which was his special friend's, and sent for him to give counsel to the same person, a young man who was an apprentice or servant to the merchant. This young man frequently swore by the bones of God or God's bones.\nAnd it came to pass that he was taken with a great and marvelous sickness, so that no physician or medicine could help or ease him, but that he lay still in bed so long that the flesh and skin of his arms and fingers, and of his legs, thighs, shins, feet, and toes, divided in sundry parts, as though they had been sliced with a knife, so that the bare bones might openly be seen and felt. And so, in the same manner (after he had with great contrition and open confession of that swearing), received the sacraments of the church, he departed this life unto our Lord. Here are now two notable examples of common swearing. The third I will show you of swearing or false swearing, which was shown to me by an honest priest of my acquaintance who was vicar of Holy Well, where Wenefred's Well is, beside the abbey of Basingwerk in Flintshire, in the borders of Wales.\nA man from Westchester named Myles claimed that he was present at a great assembly where thousands of people were gathered. A certain man was called to take an oath between two parties. The parties put the matter before the assembly for determination, and both parties met at a certain place where there was a crucifix and a holy rod that performed many miracles. The man took the oath in the sight and hearing of a great multitude of people gathered on both sides. He gave his oath and placed both his hands on the foot of the rod. However, he swore falsely and contrary to his conscience. God would have known this. When he tried to remove his hands to leave, both hands clung and stuck to the seat of the rod, as if they had been glued or nailed there.\nAnd then he would violently try to pull them off [him], and then with stirring and hasty movement to and fro on the step where he stood, he slipped and fell from himself. And then he was still hung by his hands, and so remained hanging continuously for the space of three days, and marvelously many people came there to see and look upon him, of whom many are still living. So at last, after three days, when he had with great contrition openly confessed his fault, and received the sacraments of the church, which people supposed and thought he should surely have expired and died there, he was suddenly lost and delivered, and lived many years after a good and holy life, to the glory of God and great example of those who swear. li. ii. ca. xviij.\nSaint Gregory in his dialogues relates the story of a child who, as he had heard from others, took great oaths with pleasure and suddenly, while swearing in his father's lap on his knee, the devil appeared and openly ruined him by force, taking him away and never seen since. Witness here the great danger and jeopardy of swearing.\n\nFor the love of our Lord, therefore, good, devout Christians, take heed of this, as much in yourself as in your people. And yet, you should have no less caution or warning against lying or making false statements. For lying or falsehood is the mother of both the vices shown before - that is, perjury or swearing falsely, and false witness. For each of these vices is worse than the mother. Mendacium.\nFor a liar cares little to bear false witness, and every liar is commonly a sworer, for otherwise the lie would not be colored, dubbed, and painted sufficiently to seem true, and especially in a default where the liar would be only too happy to be excused for fear of punishment or rebuke, or whatsoever might come to pass and be brought about for profit, advantage, flattery, or pleasure. When the liar deceives most subtly and would gladly be believed, then does the liar most freely dispense with others and spares no cost (as they say), but when such a person swears most, a wise person will believe him least. And by this it appears that common and busy swearers are suspect to be liars. For the liar is ensnared so in consciousness that he supposes and thinks he cannot be believed without he swears many others and great oaths. Therefore, beware of liars, for common liars are commonly thieves or pickpockets, and unclean liviers.\nAnd to tell the truth, a liar is apt and disposed to all manner of vices, because all liars are the children of the devil. For the devil was the first liar, and ever does continue a liar. John VIII, f. And, as the gospel says, he is the father of all liars. Now consider and weigh (good, devout Christians), I pray you, whether you would be content to keep in your company a thief or a pickpocket, a person who would endeavor and labor to corrupt your wives or your daughters, or yet such a person who was servant or child to your deadly foe or enemy. I think you would say no; you would keep none such. Then beware of the liar, for all common liars are the devil's children, and do follow their father the devil, whose property and natural disposition is to lie.\nI can grant that you forgive and pardon what is stolen, picked, or done lecherously once or twice, and labor and look for recovery and amendment. But in no way can I grant that you pardon liars, but rather correct and punish the lie immediately, as you would cure a sudden illness. Therefore, I have set out here a pretty lesson, which I pray you teach your child and every child that comes into your company. If I lie, backbite, or steal, if I curse, scorn, mock, or swear, if I chide, fight, strive, or threaten, then I am worthy to be beaten. Good mother or mistress mine, if any of these nine I transgress to your knowing, with a new rod and a fine, early naked before I dine, amend me with a scourging. And then I pray you fulfill and perform their petition and request, and think it not cruelly but mercyfully done. Prov. xiii. d. For the wise man says, he who spares the rod hates the child. And in another place, Ecclus. vii. c.\nIf you have a child (says he), correct them in time and keep them under control while they are young. Your daily practice shows you that if you season your flesh while it is new and sweet, it will continue to be good and meet. But if it smells before it is seasoned, all the salt you have will never make it acceptable. Therefore, season your child in time, and then you will love them and have comfort from them. I previously assigned the correction to the mother or mistress, for commonly they take on the labor of this task and serve. However, a father or master may also do it, and the staff or foot of the verse is all one.\nWhoever makes corrections, whether physical or verbal, let it be done with the charity of our lord and with a mild and soft spirit. It should be done for the reformulation of the person rather than for the reaping of the fault. Therefore, you should never make any correction while you are vexed, chafed, troubled, wroth, or angry for any cause. Instead, defer the correction for another time through good deliberation. If the transgression is openly known, do it openly so that all onlookers may be warned by it and receive a good lesson before the correction. Tell them you are doing the correction against your will, compelled to do so by conscience, and ask them not to put you through such labor and pain again. If you say you must suffer part of the pain with me, then you shall now have experience and proof of what pain it is for both of us.\nAnd then pay truly and afterwards forgive them clearly and gently, so that they do no more so. In doing this correction, you may edify and reform the persons, and also merit and have their thanks from our Lord. Whereas contrary, if you chide, brawl, curse, and use ungodly words to rebuke or strike with hastiness to avenge your own cause or appetite, you shall render the persons more stubborn and stiff-hearted, and engage them in a hated attitude toward you. And not only will you lose your merit, but also deserve punishment and the punishment of God, where other correction done with sobriety shall cause the persons to have you in revered fear, and also to love you, and afterward to bless you and pray for you. I pray you therefore, win and deserve both their blessing and prayer, and also the blessing and reward of our Lord.\nBut because commonly all persons have used to swear some other in affirming or denying, that is, in saying \"yea\" or \"nay,\" which is seldom said nakedly by themselves without some addition, I would have you therefore avoiding all vain ones to teach your child to make their additions under this form. You father, not father; you mother, not mother; you brother, not brother; you sister, not sister; you sir, not sir; you dame, not dame, or unto you states, masters, mistresses, and so forth of all such common terms as grant-father, grant-mother, godfather, godmother, uncle, aunt, cousin, &c., without any other addition, or any of these false oaths, as by cock and pye, by my hode of green, &c. Matt. v. For Christ says in the gospel to his disciples, \"Swear not at all (he says) unto me in any way, that is, unlawful or vain.\" And the prophet says, Psalm:\nThose who swear lawfully in it: because it obstructs the mouths of wicked speakers. Those are the persons who shall be praised and rewarded, and the mouth of evil speakers shall be stopped, and they shall be put to shame and rebuke. We have spoken all this for the keeping of the second commandment or commandment. The third commandment. Now I pray you give a good example in your own self, and then teach all yours how they should keep the third commandment duly. That is, to be void of all manner of worldly and bodily labors, as much as conveniently may be. I said, as much as conveniently may be. For people must have meat and drink, the houses must be adorned, beasts must be cared for and looked after. And true, unfeigned necessity or need excuses in conscience. The holy day is ordained by God and the church only for the service of God. The due place for that service is the church, to all those who may conveniently come thereunto.\nAnd to those who cannot every honest place of good and lawful occupation is their church. For God is there present where He is duly and devoutly served. Therefore take pain therefore, what you may, to go forth yourself and call your people to follow. And when you are at the church, do nothing else but that you came for, and look often upon those that are under your charge, that all they may be occupied, at least like devout Christians. For the church (as our Savior says) is a place of prayer, not of clattering and talking. Matthew 21:5\n\nAnd charge them also to keep their sight in the church closed upon their books or prayer mats. And while they are young, let them use ever to kneel, stand, or sit, and never to walk in the church. Let them hear the mass quietly and devoutly, much part kneeling. But at the Gospel, at the preface, and at the Patenoster, teach them to stand and to make a curtsy\nat this word \"Jesus\" as the priest does.\nIn the morning, let the time be spent entirely in the service of God. In the afternoon, appoint them their pastimes with great diligence and strict commandment. First and foremost, they should avoid such vanities as are commonly used, that is, bearing and bullying, football, tennis, bowling, nor these unlawful games of carding, dice, closeting, with such other unprofitable pastimes or rather idle pursuits. Wherein, for certain, the holy day may rather be broken than if they went to the plow or cart on the previous day, so long as it was not done by contempt or disregard for the commandment of the law, nor for unreasonable covetousness and love of worldly goods. For sin always defiles and breaks the holy day more than any bodily work or occupation.\nTherefore, let them beware of taverns and alehouses, for fear of drunkenness or gluttony and of suspicious places or wanton company, for fear of uncleanness or lechery, which things are most perilous and of great danger and jeopardy of corruption for youth. Assign and appoint them therefore the manner of their recreations, honest and lawful for a reasonable recreation, and (as much as conveniently may be), let the sexes be separated in all their recreations, that is to say, the kinds, men by themselves, & women by themselves. Also appoint the time or space, that they not (for any recreations) from the service of God. Appoint them also the place, that you may call or send for them when required. For if there be a sermon any time of the day, let them be there present all that are not occupied in necessary and lawful businesses, all others keep the preachings, rather than the mass, if (by case) they may not hear both.\nTo buy and sell or bargain on the holy day is unlawful, except it be for very need. Charity to the poor and needy neighbors lawfully excuses bodily or worldly labors on the holy day. Look well that neither you do nor say wilfully and deliberately on the holy day anything that you know in conscience should be contrary to the honor of God, and justly keep your holy day. A very good and certain pastime on the holy day is to read, or to hear this book or such other good English books, and gather together as many persons as you can. For I tell you there shall be no time lost nor mispent on the holy day. Let this poor lesson now content you for these three commandments of the first table, which (as I said), belong and appertain to almighty God himself. Another short lesson shall we set forth for the commandments of the second table. The four precepts:\nAnd first, the child should show reverence to parents: that is, to fathers and mothers. Teach your child therefore to ask for blessing every night, kneeling before they go to bed, under this form. Father, I beseech you for blessing, or thus: Father, I beseech you for charity, give me your blessing. Let the father or mother hold up both hands and join them together, looking up reverently and devoutly to heaven, and say: Our Lord God bless you, child, and with this make a cross with the right hand over the child, saying: In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. And if any child is stubborn or unwilling, and will not ask for blessing in this way, if they are of age, let it be gently whipped with a good rod, and compel them to it by force.\nAnd if the persons are of advanced age and unwilling to be corrected, let them have such sharp and grievous punishments as can be devised. For in the old law such children were brought before the township, that is, the people of the city or of that town, and there they were stoned to death. And certainly I would not advise or counsel any parents to keep such a child in their house without great affection and punishment. Therefore, I think it would be convenient for the parents to show their children what comforts and profits, and what perils and dangers follow the honor and dishonor of the parents, according to holy scripture. Ecclesiastes iv. A.\nSome of which I have here set forth, as contained in the book of the wise called Ecclesiasticus, in the third chapter. Those persons (says he) who are the children of Christ are also the children of this church, and all such, as though it were by natural disposition, are given and applied to obedience and love. Therefore, you who are loving children, be ever obedient to the judgment and discretion of your parents. And so be you obedient in all your works, that you thereby may be the child of salvation, that is, that your obedience be done with the very love of your heart, unsanctimonious and without dissimulation. For God has ordained that the father shall have due honor among his children, and the mother in like manner with lowly obedience. Those persons who do love God will pray to him for the forgiveness of their sins, and afterward will beware and keep themselves from them. And I that daily prayer they shall graciously hear.\nAnd just as a person, for the security of his living here, hoards up and gathers treasure, so they prepare for their salvation. This word \"parents\" signifies both the father and mother. Whoever duly honors his parents will have joy, pleasure, and comfort among his own children. And whoever is duly obedient to the father refreshes and greatly comforts the mother. And those people who duly honor their parents will have long life, and in the day of their prayer they shall graciously be heard by our Lord, and have their petition. Those people who have a reverent fear of our Lord God have in like manner a reverent fear of their parents and will do them such service, and in like manner as a bondservant should do to his lord and master, in work as well as word, with all patience and gentleness.\nDo therefore honor and reverence your parents, so that God's blessing may be upon you, and that blessing may remain and endure until your last day. A parent's blessing strengthens and stabilizes a child's possessions and kin. Conversely, the curse of the parents eradicates and utterly destroys both. Child, never take pleasure or pride in your parents' rebuke and disdain. For that rebuke is not your glory, boost, or praise, but rather your confusion, shame, and rebuke. For the glory and praise of every person stands in the honor of the parents. And it is a great shame and rebuke to the child when the parents are without honor and reverence. Good child, take good patience with your parents' age, and never displease or grieve them in all your life.\nThey fail in wit or understanding, and thereafter speak or do anything contrary to your reason or wit. Take patience with them, and let the matter pass. And in no way despise them because of our own strength or better ability. For the pity and compassion you have for your parents shall never be forgotten before God. For you will have good and profit from their offense and sin. And in justice and right, you do unto them, you will be edified and increased in virtue. And in the time of your tribulation, that good deed will be remembered. For as the ice in the frost melts by the clear sunbeams, so will your sins (by your duty done to your parents) be wasted and completely lost and forgiven. That person is of evil name and fame who forsakes the parents in their need. And those children are cursed by God who anger, vex, and trouble their parents.\nChild of whatever state or degree you be, do ever your duty with mildness, meekness, and lowliness, and then shall you be well regarded, and praised above other persons. And the higher estate you come unto, the more meek and lowly be you in all things, and then in the presence of God you shall have great merit, & increase in grace. For God looks upon those who render and give due thanks for the favor and goodness done to them before.\n\nAd verbum, firmly translated. All this now is the very text and letter of the holy scripture in the place before rehearsed. Where you may see and perceive many great commodities and graces that come to them who duly honor their parents. And many great jeopardies and perils, and also the curse of God, that lies upon them who will not do their duty of honor and reverence to their parents. Let therefore your child use and accustom themselves daily to ask their fathers and mothers blessings.\nFor this I say, even if the father or mother were an abominable sinner or excommunicated, accused or an heretic, and the child was so as well (according to Greek dialogues, book III, chapter VII), the cross of the child's blessing from that father or mother could save the child from sudden misfortune that might have befallen it. The cross may also drive or chase away evil spirits that would have had power over the child. The blessing of every good person is good, and not without great virtue, according to the power and degree of the person, and therefore teach them to ask for blessing from every bishop, but also from every priest, and from their godfathers and godmothers, as well as other devout persons.\n\nThe fifth precept. Let this suffice for this fourth commandment. Yet go further onto the fifth commandment, which is, to kill or slay no person.\nTeach them that it is not enough that they put no person to death by stroke of hand or weapon, but also that they hurt no person in name or fame by detraction, backbiting or slandering, or by evil example of living, nor yet that they curse or ban or wish evil to any person, or yet hate any person in heart. I John iii. 15. For (as scripture says), whoever hates any brother or sister in heart, that is, harbors hatred, malice, evil will, or a bitter spirit against any Christian, is a murderer, that is, a manslayer or man-killer. Many persons will say they are in charity and have no hatred towards any person, and yet they will not speak one word to another, and it is a sign and token that secret hatred is in the heart, and that they do not love their neighbor as themselves in the true and unfaked charity of our Lord. I John iv. 20.\nAnd it is certain that he who does not holy and fully love his neighbor whom he may see and behold with his bodily sight, he can never love God whom he cannot see nor behold in that way. This is the commandment of God: he who loves God must also love his neighbor. The seventh commandment.\n\nThe seventh commandment is that no lechery be done which is not meant only for the unlawful deed, but also for all manner of provocation thereto, as wanton and light behavior in kissing, cleaving, and obscene touching, a light look or cast of the eye, with a desire and consent of the heart unto the deed, breaks this commandment. Much more does it wantonly break it, and such as is said before. The old proverb says, \"He who will do no evil, should do nothing that leads thereto.\" The ghostly enemy deceives many persons by the pretense and color of matrimony in private and secret contracts. Contracts.\nFor many men who cannot obtain their carnal desire of a woman will promise marriage and make a contract, promising and giving faith and truth to each other. Here I take thee, Margaret, as my wife, and pledge my truth to thee. And thou, in like manner, to me. After this is done, they suppose they may lawfully use their carnal behavior, and sometimes the act and deed follow, to the great offense of God and their own souls. It is therefore a great danger to make such contracts, especially among themselves secretly alone, without records, which must be at least two.\nFor many times, after the unlawful pleasure is past, discord falls between the parties either because, as the common proverb says, hot love is soon cold, or through the means of their friends, or by some covetous desire to have a better marriage, one or both of them deny the contract, and unlawfully marry otherwise and live in adultery all their life time. And because the church cannot openly know what was spoken and done in private, they are thought and supposed to live as lawfully married before God, whereas in fact they live as shameless packages in damning adultery and unlawful lechery, and all their bastard children before God, although they seem otherwise to the world. Therefore, warn your people there are no such happy bargains in your house or governance.\n\nThe seventh commandment is, do no theft.\nThe seventh precept. Herein correct your young persons by time.\nFor the child who begins to pick at a pin or a point, will later pick a penny or a pudding. And so, go forth from an apple to an ox, and from a peer to a purse, or an horse, and so from small things to great. When you take any child therefore with manner, be it never so little a thing, pay truly at the first time, and the second time prick the pines or points on the cap or shoulder in open sight, and let all the house wonder and cry out, \"Here is the thief, this is the thief, see the thief.\" And if they do not understand by this, let them be brought through the open streets with enough shame and cruel punishment. For it is better that the child weep in youth and suffer shame and rebuke, than later the father, mother, and friends should weep for sorrow and shame at his hanging and shameful death. And let every person beware of theft.\nFor all other sins with confession and penance may be forgiven clearly, but stolen goods or those valuably obtained cannot be forgiven until restoration is made. That is, until the time those goods or their value are restored. If persons are able to do so in any way, they should consider well and weigh what advantage it is to steal or pilfer. Besides the certain pain in hell or purgatory, the same goods (in value) must be restored again. Small goods truly obtained grow and increase to the great comfort of the persons. And contrary, evil obtained goods lightly come and go, all wasting into nothing, with the distress of the parties and great conflict of conscience. Therefore, let everyone ensure that all goods are well obtained among you.\n\nThe eighth commandment.\nThe ninth commandment.\ncommandment is that no person shall desire in mind nor wish that the wedded make of any other person were lawfully their wedded. The tenth commandment. And the tenth commandment is in like manner concerning goods. For thus would the parties have inconvenience, loss, displeasure, or discomfort. The deeds of these two commandments were forbidden by God in the fifth and seventh commandments. Here now are the wills and desires forbidden. That thing which no man may lawfully will, no man may do lawfully. Let them therefore beware who not only will and desire in mind, but also secretly, privately, and craftily labor to take their neighbors' farms or his house (as they say) over his head, or to entice and get away their servants, or any other profitable goods for the parties. For though such things may seem to the world lawful, surely they are not without the great offense of God, as contrary to his commandments. And thus an end of the tenth commandments.\nYou must teach your people to beware of the seven principal sins, which are commonly called the deadly sins, but in truth they are not always deadly sins. Of the seven principal sins, therefore, they should be called capital or principal sins, not deadly sins. These are their names, in order, according to our division: Pride, Envy, Wrath, Covetousness, Gluttony, Sloth, and Lechery. We order them thusly, according to our three spiritual enemies: the devil, the world, and the flesh. Pride, envy, and wrath belong to the devil as their chief movers. Covetousness belongs to the world as its chief mover. And gluttony, sloth, and lechery belong to the flesh as their chief movers, which three we have placed under this order because gluttony is a great occasion of sloth. (As the proverb says,) \"When the belly is full, the bones would have rest.\"\nThe full fedder Gonion is apt to no good work or labor, but rather disposed to sluggishness and sloth. And those two between them taught the five wits; they also taught them the names of the five wits and put the first finger of the right hand onto the instruments of the same wits, that is, to the ear, the eye, the nose, the mouth, and to join and clap both hands together, saying: \"Hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching.\" The seven works of mercy. It shall also be well done to teach them the seven works of mercy, which you should (after your power) set such in motion as you teach them in voice. That is, to feed the hungry. To give drink to the thirsty. To clothe the naked. To harbor or lodge the wayfaring people or those in need of lodging. To visit the sick. To redeem a prisoner. And to bury the dead. Here is now an end.\n\nA form of confession.\nNotwithstanding, I think it necessary to show here how you should teach your people to be ordered unto the confession of these things. For I have known many come to confession who could not tell how to do or what to say there. I shall therefore set forth here a short form and manner of it. For there are many forms of confessions printed at length. First, good devout Christians I beseech you give no credence to these false heretics, who debase and set nothing by confession or this holy sacrament of penance. I assure you, those persons whatever they be, who (after their baptism and Christianity) have committed any deadly sin, can never be in the state of salvation without the faith and will of confession. Genesis 3: For Almighty God in every law did require confession and provoke every transgressor thereto, as of our first parents Adam and Eve in paradise. If they had made a humble confession, they and all we should have suffered less pain. Leuiti.\nIn the old law, specific oblations and sacrifices were appointed openly by the priests for such sins among the people, known only to themselves and not to others, except the transgressors. This necessitates that they confessed these sins to the priests. Anyone suspected of leprosy, the judgment and determination of which remained, according to the law's ordinance, with the priests. This was a clear figure of the sacrament of penance and confession.\n\nMatthew 5: \"But I did not come to abolish the law or the Prophets; I came not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.\"\n\nMatthew 8: And our Savior said, \"I came not to break the law, but to fulfill.\" Matthew 8: And so he did confirm and ratify the law when he sent the lepers that he cured and healed to the priests. In every cure, he expressed mystically the confession, in that he caused the sick persons to show their disease before they were cured.\n\nActs 5:\nAnd Saint Peter, after his ascension, required confession from a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira (as it appears in holy scripture) of a deadly sin which they had committed, and because they would not make confession of it, they both were struck dead by the vengeance of God. Therefore, our holy church, inspired by the Holy Ghost, has ordained that every person who commits or does any deadly sin in work, word, or by full deliberate consent in thought, must necessarily (if they will be saved), confess it to a priest. Since then all Christian people have received and used this for many hundred years, take this use and custom as sufficient authority to follow it, and put all manner of contrary opinion completely out of mind, and in no way to hear speak or talk of it. Now to our mother\nFirst teach your people to come reverently unto the ghostly father with meek and sober countenance. Behave yourselves (for it is no laughing game). Then kneel down at the appointed place and make a cross on the forehead or forehead, with Innomine patris (as before shown), and thereafter say: Benedicite. And when the priest has answered, say (if the person is learned): I confess to God, the blessed Mary, all the holy company of heaven, and to you, my ghostly father, that I have sinned grievously in thought, word, and deed, in many and diverse ways. In the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, wrath, covetousness, gluttony, sloth, and lechery.\nAnd by them I have broken his commandments.\nFor by the sin of pride I have been presumptuous and disobedient to God, and have not loved him above all things, but many times set more by my own frail appetite and sensual desire. For where I should have desired ever the praise and prayer of our Lord, and with meek heart accused myself, I have contrary boasted myself, or desired and been glad of my own praise and been loath to be displeased. And when I have been challenged, reproved, rebuked, or corrected, or yet charitably monied and warned for my faults, I have rebelled against it again, and not meekly received it, but rather ready to defend or to excuse myself, and sometimes with a lie or a false oath. And for lack of repentant fear and love of our Lord, I have presumptuously taken his holy name in vain and unlawfully sworn by God, by our Lady, or the holy saints, by my faith or truth, with such other.\nAnd for pride and presumption, and for lack of love and fear, I have used the holy day in things of pleasure or profit for myself, and not in his service to his honor. I have also, with haughty and proud heart or mind, been disobedient and not done due honor and reverence to my fathers and mothers, spiritual and carnal, ghostly and bodily, nor to my elders and betters, but have been many times full obstinate and forward towards them. I cry out for God's mercy. Thus, by this foul sin of pride, I have broken four of the principal commandments of our Lord, and in many other ways have I also offended in this. I beseech his grace for mercy and forgiveness.\nI have offended my lord God in the sin of envy, for I have not loved my neighbor as myself, nor been charitable, kind, loving, and favorable to all persons as I would they should be to me, but rather, by suspicion, I have thought, judged, spoken, or heard of others otherwise than I would they should of me, nor been so glad of their wealth nor so sorry for their hurt as I would have been of my own. I cry god mercy.\n\nIn wrath also I have offended, for lack of due patience and for light, slight, or small occasions, have been quickly and easily stirred and moved, wrathful and angry, when anything has been done or said contrary to my mind. And therewith have been ready to revenge the same with forward and vengeful counsel and behavior, with hasty, high, and ungoodly words, brawling, chiding, scolding, reproaching, railing, upbraiding, threatening, cursing, banishing, swearing.\nAnd if it came to striking, fighting, or at the least in willing (as God forbid), in killing or slaying. Thus by these two great sins of envy and wrath, I have broken the fifth and the eighth commandment of the Lord, and by many other means offended in both. I beseech his grace for mercy and forgiveness.\n\nIn covetousness also I have sinned, because I have not been content with the goods, state, & degree of living that God has sent me, where it is much better than I have deserved or am worthy, but I have coveted and desired, wished and willed, studied and labored to have more (if any are unlawfully got or so withheld, make plain confession thereof as you master requires). Thus by this sin of covetousness, have I broken the seventh commandment of the Lord, and also the tenth, and otherwise diversely offended in covetousness. I beseech his grace for mercy and forgiveness.\nI have also sinned in gluttony, in taking meat and drink inconsiderately, and above what nature required, and have chosen (at times) the delicate, sweet, and pleasant meats and drinks rather for pleasure than for need, and taken such superfluity (at some times) that I have been sick or diseased, or at the least been more dull both in body and soul, to all manner of virtue and good exercises (Look here whether you have broken any fasts commanded by the law, or been drunk, or taken any notable surfeit). After mere commonality, I have been more ready to pass the time in bodily dispositions and idleness than in labors. I cry out for God's mercy.\nI have been slothful and negligent in serving God, both on holy days and other days, and I have been lazy and thought the time for prayer long, coming late to it and hurrying through the service without due reverence, more by habit and custom than by any good remembrance or devotion. I have not been diligent in applying myself to such bodily labors that I had in charge, and sometimes have not done them at all or else done them sloppily, and spent the time after my own appetite unfruitfully, sometimes in want, and sometimes in idleness. I cry out for God's mercy.\nBy these two foul sins of gluttony and sloth, I have been the more prone to the third sin of the flesh, that is, lechery, for I have not been as chaste in soul and body as stated, according to the degree and manner of my living. I have not been diligent and ready to put away uncleanness of thought or motions of the body as I should be, but rather followed them at times willingly, and suffered them to cling to me, taking delight and pleasure in them for the time. And when I have been in the presence of company, I have not always conducted myself in a chaste manner, in my looks, gestures, countenance and behavior, words and deeds, but many times have been given occasion. I cry out for mercy. Here you must remember suites or provocations to uncleanness, done or suffered on your behalf, as in words, writings, signs, tokens, messages, kissing, touching, or other more filthy aids, done in deed or in full consent.\nAnd she shows every age with the due circumstances of time, place, and people, not naming the people but showing their states or degrees, such as whether they are married or unmarried, and so on. By this foul sin of lechery, I have broken the sixth and ninth commandments of God, and in this sin and all the other seven principal sins, I have gravely offended my Lord God, broken His commandments, not fulfilled the works of mercy to my power, and misused my five senses in hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching. For which and for all other sins, as our Lord knows me guilty, I would confess and acknowledge if they came to mind, I beseech His gracious goodness of mercy and forgiveness. And you, my ghostly father, of penance and absolution. I also pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary, all saints of God, and you to pray for me. Which means to the unlearned:\n\nAnd she reveals every age with the appropriate circumstances of time, place, and people, not mentioning the people but depicting their conditions, such as whether they are married or unmarried, and so on. Through this foul sin of lechery, I have broken the sixth and ninth commandments of God, and in this sin and all the other seven deadly sins, I have seriously offended my Lord God, violated His commandments, failed to perform the works of mercy within my power, and misused my five senses in hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching. For these sins and all others, as my Lord knows me to be guilty, I would confess and acknowledge if they came to mind, I humbly ask for His merciful forgiveness. And you, my confessor, grant me penance and absolution. I also pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary, all saints of God, and you to intercede for me.\nAnd I beseech the blessed Lady Saint Mary, all the holy company of heaven, and you, my ghostly father, to pray for me. When you have taken your penance and have been absolved, then say to the priest, \"Sir, and it please you, this is my penance, and then repeat the same words twice, so that you may more surely remember it in my mind. For I assure you, it is important (as learned men say), to forget not the penance. And thus an end. Yet I promised at the beginning to set forth here another exercise, which I think should be good and profitable for all persons. For the common proverb is, that a great benefit or gift is worse than lost upon such ungrateful persons who do not remember it, nor give thanks therefore. It should therefore become every faithful Christian to have ever in mind the great and excellent benefit of our salvation.\nAnd therefore I have designed here a short table, containing the whole life of our savior Jesus, for such persons as can, by heart, have it ready in mind. They may easily order and lay up, as it were, in a chest or coffer, all matters of the gospel and those actions of our savior that pertain to the acts of our savior, as have been preached where they were present, or that he performed in any good company or readings. And over this, they shall have two great benefits hereby. The first is, that no remedy can more effectively or sooner chase away all temptations and put spiritual enemies to flight than this remembrance. The second is, that nothing in this world can more swiftly move a dull heart to devotion and the continuance of virtue than this exercise. I beseech you all therefore, in the name of Jesus Christ. That is to say, for the tender love of our Lord God and most sweet savior Jesus, give some labor and diligence to this.\nIt is short and therefore may be quickly understood by heart. And it is very sweet/pleasurable and profitable, and therefore should be received with good will and diligence.\n\nThe incarnation, that is, when (after the salutation and greeting of the angel Gabriel) our savior was conceived perfect man and very god in the womb of our blessed lady Mary ever virgin.\n\nThe nativity, that is, the blessed birth of our savior when he was born in Bethlehem of the same blessed lady, without any pain, she remaining a virgin.\n\nThe circumcision, when he first shed his precious blood for our redemption.\n\nThe epiphany, when he was shown and openly declared to the whole world by the three kings, to be very god and very man, the savior of the world.\n\nThe presentation, when he was brought to the temple with an oblation or offering according to the law, and also the purification or churching of our lady.\nThe flight to Egypt: When King Herod intended to kill our savior and was determined to do so, he caused all the innocent children within the coasts and country of Bethlehem to be slain.\n\nThe dispute: After his return and coming again to Jerusalem, when he went with his mother and Joseph, and remained and stayed there for three days without their knowledge, they found him in the temple disputing with the doctors, and he was twelve years old.\n\nHis humility and meek behavior towards his parents: When he left that high place and exercise of contemplation, and went with them, he was obedient to them.\n\nHis education or upbringing: When he dwelt and remained at Nazareth with his blessed mother and with Joseph her husband, he was always occupied according to their will and mind for their comfort, and as he grew and increased in age and stature, so did he appear and manifest himself in grace and virtue.\nHis baptism, when he was baptized by St. John the Baptist in the flood of Jordan, where the voice of the Father in heaven was heard, and the holy ghost, in the form of a dove, was seen, which testified and declared for truth that Christ was God and man, the savior of the world.\n\nWildernes, that is, he was led, by the spirit of God, immediately and forthwith after his said baptism, into a wilderness, not far from the said flood of Jordan, to be tempted by the devil.\n\nFast, that is, he fasted from all manner of food and drink in the wilderness for the space of forty days and forty nights continually.\n\nTemptation, that is, immediately and forthwith after that fast, when he began to wax hungry, the devil tempted him with gluttony and with pride, and with covetousness.\nVictory: that is, our savior confounded the devil in all his temptations and had the victory and mastery over him.\nElection: that is, the choosing of his disciples and the appointing and dividing of them into various degrees and orders.\nPreaching: that was when he spoke openly to the people and commonly in parables.\nTeaching: that was what he taught his disciples and apostles secretly by themselves such mysteries as pertained to them to know and not to the common people.\nLabors: that was when he went about from town to town, from city to city, from country to country, in hunger, thirst, and cold, and many a weary journey.\nMiracles: which he did in many a varied manner, in turning water into wine, in feeding of many thousands with a small portion of food.\nIn curing and healing all manner of sicknesses & diseases, and in showing to many their secret and inward thoughts,\n\nThe Maundy, that was the last supper, which he made to end and conclude the Old Testament, by the Paschal Lamb, and to ordain and begin the New Testament.\n\nThe ministry or service, which was when he washed the feet of his disciples, arising towards them from the supper.\n\nThe consecration, which was when he returning again to the table, did (of bread and wine) consecrate and make his own holy body and sacred blood, and therewith did commune and give to his apostles, and gave them power to consecrate and make the same, by which they were all made priests.\n\nThe sermon, which was what (after all this) he preached unto his apostles, a solemn and marvelous sweet sermon, making special mention of love, unity, peace, and concord.\nAgony: that was when he went aside from the company, with Saint Peter, Saint John and Saint James, and yet went a little further for prayer. He felt sweet water and blood for agony, fear, care and trouble of mind, for the manner of that bitter passion and most cruel death that he saw coming, and how little it would be regarded and set by.\n\nBetrayal: that was, when the traitor Judas, who before had sold him to the Jews, came with a company of armed men, and with a false kiss showed them who he was.\n\nTaking: that was when (after that kiss) the soldiers laid hands on him and took him, and all his disciples fled and forsook him for a time.\n\nBishops: that is, when the soldiers who took him brought him before the bishops Caiaphas and Annas, where he was examined, and falsely accused, and cruelly tormented all that night.\n\nPilate: that is, on the morrow he was presented before the Jews, and falsely accused to Pilate.\nHerod, after examining him and finding nothing amiss, sent him to Herod the king. Herod, upon examining him in many things and receiving no answer, put a white robe on him and, with derision and mockery, sent him back to Pilate. Examination: This was when (after many new false accusations from the Jews), he further examined him through a lengthy process. Twenty-fourth. Flagellation: This was when Pilate, willing to deliver him because he found him faultless yet unable to quell the cry and malice of the Jews, had him stripped, tied to a pillar, and cruelly scourged, leaving no part of his body unscathed.\nCoronation: That was when the Jews were not yet satisfied and content. Pilate caused him to be crowned with a crown of sharp thorns and held a red rod in his place of a scepter. He brought him out among them and said mockingly, \"Behold your king.\"\n\nCondemnation: That was when the Jews would in no way be content except with his death. Pilate sat on a throne as judge, condemned him, and judged him to the death of the cross.\n\nFatigue: That was when Pilate had put his own clothes back on him and given the aforementioned judgment. They laid the heavy cross upon his neck. Unable to bear it any further due to exhaustion and weakness, he fell down. They then caused another man to carry it for him to the place, which was Mount Calvary.\nThey caused him to strip himself and affix his body to the cross, nailing him with four great nails - one through the middle of his right hand, the second through his left hand, and one through each foot, crossing the legs. They mocked him with many insults as he endured the thirst, giving him vinegar and gall to drink. And as he hung there in agony for three hours, he cried out, commending his spirit and soul to the Father in heaven, and expired. After his death, to ensure it, a soldier made a wound in his side and thrust a spear into his heart.\nSepulchre - that is to say, the burial - Joseph of Aramathaea had asked for his blessed body from Pilate. He took him down at the appropriate time and buried him in a new grave or tomb that he had made for himself.\n\nResurrection - that was when, on the third day after he had risen, he appeared in a glorious body and soul to our blessed lady, his mother; then to Mary Magdalene; and afterwards to the three Marys. He appeared to Saint Peter, and afterwards to two of his disciples at Emmaus. And that same night to ten of the apostles, when all their doors and windows were fast shut and closed. Thus you may perceive he appeared five times that same day of his resurrection.\n\nAscension - that was when, in various ways and through many appearances, he had sufficiently proven and assured his glorious resurrection by the space of forty days. Then, in the presence of his mother, his apostles, and in the presence of many other disciples, men and women, he marvelously ascended and rose up into heaven.\nThe mission or sending of the holy ghost, which was ten days after the marvelous ascension, in accordance with his promise, he sent down the holy ghost to his blessed mother, his apostles and disciples. By this they were all filled with grace and confirmed in it, as the first church of Christ. And so it has continued, and does and shall continue in the church until the end of the world. Amen.\n\nYou will now think this table too long for a daily exercise, but you must remember that the table itself is contained in the first words of every article, and the remainder is a brief declaration of the same. I shall therefore be content to set it out alone in the selfsame words, which number forty.\nIncarnation / nativity / circumcision / Epiphany / presentation / Egypt / disputation / humiliation / education / baptism / wilderness / fast / temptation / victory / election / preaching / teaching / labors / miracles / Maundy / mystery / consecration / sermon / agony / betrayal / taking / bishops / Pilate / Herod / Pilate again / examination / flagellation / coronation / condemnation / fatigue / crucifixion / sepulture / resurrection / ascension / mission.\n\nThis table is not long, but may easily be had by heart. And if it be so, and daily used, I dare well say that the persons shall find comfort in it, both to exclude vice and also to increase virtue and grace. And furthermore to continue in it unto their comfort and joy everlasting. Through whom we have been brought, our Lord God and most sweet savior Jesus, who guides you and keeps you all. Amen.\nFirst, good, devout Christians take heed and give diligence to order yourselves and all yours unto the Lord, according to the poor lesson that goes before, and then see well unto the substance and governing of your house and goods. First, let there be peace in the house, and that you agree together, for else all your goods will soon be nothing. Then, (after the common proverb), cut your throats: after, or according to your leader. Spend according to your means, gettings or retains, and not above. It is also good policy to have one year's rent or a year's gain in store for chances, which is not contrary to Christianity: where extreme or very stringent need is not perceived in the neighborhood. A negligent or reckless person may soon set fine and destroy great substance.\nHave therefore a good eye, and guard the diligence of your servants, for under them your goods may soon diminish and be wasted before you know it, beware, or have knowledge of it. If your goods begin to waste: it is better and less rebuke for you to abstain and withdraw your charges, than to fall into necessities or danger. An old proverb. Who spends more than he has will not be marveled at if he is grieved by need. It is therefore a great providence and good foresight often to count and compare your goods and your expenses. Often to oversee your goods: shall be necessary. For your beasts may be harmed through lack of food (though they ask for nothing), or play.\n\nThe sleep of the housewife: Aristotle in economics makes a fat dong hill. And the eye of the master: a fast horse. That is to mean, the presence of the master: in every corner: is much profitable.\nSumptuous and costly weddings or brides: are damaging without honor. Expenses done upon war: are more honorable than profitable. It is better to suffer some wrong and buy peace than to make war or keep war. Costs made on prodigal persons: are clearly lost. Costs made on kin or friends: are reasonable. Feed your household servants with honest common fare without delicacies. For the servant made a glutton, shall never after amend his manners. Gluttony is vile, filthy, and stinking, and will make the negligent and careless person soon rotten and short-lived. Ecclesiastes 35. Mean feeding with scarcity: is to the diligent person: pleasure and profitable. On holidays and high feasts, give your household plenty of meat, but seldom and few delicacies. For the use of delicate food will soon spoil a good servant. Let gluttony and thy purse strive and go together: and beware thou well, which part thou takest; but for the most part always hold with the purse.\nFor greedy men of law and witnesses: speak all of affection, but your purs bring in plain evil and prove the empty barn and the empty bag. But if very niggardly you shut up your purs, you are not an honest judge. For niggardliness is a foolish and needless fear, and ever living in poverty, it hinders and mucks up: it cannot tell for whom. If you have plenty of corn: desire no scarcity. For those persons who, from a covetous mind, procure or desire scarcity, they procure and desire the death of the poor, and shall be accused: as homicides and many slayers. Sell your corn cheaper to your neighbor (although he were your enemy), than to strangers. For an enemy is sometimes sooner vanquished and overcome by a kind deed, than by the sword. Be never at debate with your neighbor, but rather study and labor to be at one. Eccl. s. b.\nFor thou canst have none so sure a castle or guard of thy life: as is love and friendship of thy neighbors. If you suspect the woman of thy house, let other persons rather show the suspicion than thou shouldst be overly busy trying out the matter. For though it were of thine own wife or the wife of thy husband, it were better unknown. For one known, it is never cured; the wound is without remedy. If any remedy be, it shall be when like chance hears of other persons. The least and most easy way is to dissemble the matter, though it were privately known, and pretend ignorance without any quarrel or confrontation. A noble heart and high gentle mind will never search women's matters. A shrew will sooner be corrected by smiling or laughing: than by a staff or strokes.\nThe best way to keep a woman good: is to be gentle and intimate, and never let her know she is suspected. An old, unclean woman (if the law allowed) should be buried quickly. Your clothing or attire should be moderate, neither vulgar nor precious, but always fair and honest, and of sad, not wanton fashion. A costly garment hidden or above the state and degree of the person is a sign and token of little wit. For a woman who has sufficient attire to desire new and change is a sign of little sadness. Trust him more for your friend who does something for you, than him who offers himself, saying, \"I am yours in all I can and may.\" Proverbs 17:17. Ecclus. s. b. A true friend loves at all times and never falters: there is no comparison of riches to a faithful friend.\n\"Do not think of your friend as one who praises or boasts to your face or in your presence. When giving counsel to a friend, say \"this seems best to me,\" not \"you must need do this.\" For you may receive rebuke or blame for your counsel if it does not succeed, and they will take it as good counsel, even if it does not work out. If minstrels, jesters, or other performers come to your house, say you have no lodging for such performers; you keep neither in nor alms. For if you take pleasure in their performances, you are likely to have another wife soon, whose name is called poverty or beggary. If you happen to go where they are and begin to delight in their matters, I advise you to dissemble and take upon yourself that you heard nothing, and set nothing by it. For if they perceive and see you laugh, they will take it as an earnest to cry for alms and demand reward.\"\nAnd so they will importune and shamefully crave that you yield and endure their rebuking, scolding, and brutality, so that you will be willing and glad to give something to those worthy in deed to be hanged. For I tell you, God is not pleased with such occupation except it is (scant tolerable or allowable) among priests, lords, and high estates.\n\nAs for your servants, if you have a servant of proud mind and stubborn disposition, put him away, lest he do you harm, and so always do him that praise your manners in all things. For a flatterer is worse than an enemy. Your enemy cannot easily deceive you, but your servants or neighbors who praise you are surely about to deceive you.\n\nIf you have a bashful and fearful servant and find him faithful, love him and cherish him as your own natural child. Make your dealings rather for necessity than for pleasure.\nFor the appetite of building for pleasure shall never have end, until poverty teaches wisdom in some measure. Be loath to sell your heritage, and if you must sell, sell to lesser persons rather than to greater ones. It is better to borrow with usury than to sell. Usury is like a thief who would warn you before doing harm to you. If you buy or bargain, be not ungenerous with great persons. And though he may be under you, yet do not quarrel with him lest he put his part to your advantage or master. In all things keep truly and faithfully your bond and promise, according to your covenant. Due temperance is a thing of great honesty in a household; therefore, let your drink, wine, ale, or beer be temperate. Strong drink is more pleasing than wholesome. Ecclesiastes 30:1. Ibidem. The wise man says that sober drink is the health of soul and body.\nAnd the wise and learned person will be right well content with little drink, and that will not trouble the stomach, but rather cause sweet and wholesome sleep. Contrarily, many incommodities follow those who among many and diverse strong drinks consume an abundance of them: if you are sober, you may be called an earthly god or a god on earth; do not wrestle with it if you heed my counsel. And if by chance you begin to feel the drink working in you while in company, arise and depart; a sleep is more meet for you than any company. Whoever would excuse drunkenness openly declares his own disease. The knowledge and judgment of wines do not become a young person. If a physician or surgeon uses drink, let him not have your care for your disease, nor let anyone of them take experience from you in healing or curing, for though they may be well learned and have no experience, it is no wisdom to let them prove their skill on you.\nGreat: horses and little pretty dogs; leave these to lords and ladies. A large, laboring horse and a mastiff or cur dog: are good for keeping your house. As for hawks, hounds, and hunting dogs: they have spent more than they have earned. They are suitable and accommodating for states: to set idle servants to work, but far from agreeable are they: for husbands and householders. It is not wise to make your own children stewards or rulers of your household or goods. Fools and negligent or careless persons: have many misfortunes. For that is their common excuse when anything is wrong, they say then: chance or misfortune was the cause of it. I do not say no: but chance, or misfortune, may fall. But he who follows wisdom, learning, and discretion: shall seldom accuse misfortune. For diligence, wariness, and a good head: seldom keep company with misfortune.\nBut yet more seldom shall you see my misfortune and sloth or negligence: they have departed separately, for they have commonly kept company together. The sluggard says: God will help him; and so he trusts in that. Proverbs vi. till he is brought unto poverty. For God, by the wise man, sends the sluggard (for example) unto the ant or a worm, to learn to labor. For man is born for labor: Job v. as a bird to fly. Keep therefore few idle persons or me in your house. And watch and take good heed to every person of your household. And ever weigh, consider your expenses: with your gains or gettings. First get and bring in, then spend. For it is no good husbandry to borrow. And when you grow old: trust rather in God than in your child or friends. That you send before you: you shall be sure to find. No chest, chestnut, nor tower may be more sure to keep treasure: than he who is faithful. Let not therefore the poor pass you by. What you give unto them: you give unto Christ.\nAnd of it you leave behind you: appoint it unto every person his part. For better it is for you not to leave: than that strife and debate should be made / conscience be defiled / and God offended for your goods. Trust them best to do for your soul: not that done love / or say they done love your soul: but that you perceive & conclude: done love they their own soul. Make your testament anew every year & surely sealed by witnesses. Lay it where (when needed) it may be found: no man is sure how to end his life. The most sure way to die well: is well to live. Which he grant us that bought us / our Lord God / and most sweet savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Of your charity pray for the same old wretch of Syon.\nRichard Whytforde.\nPrinted at London in Flete Street / at the sign of the Sun / by me Wynkyn de Worde. The year of our Lord God. M.D.XXX. the XX. day of December.\nprinter's device of Wynkyn de Worde.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "A compendious treatise showing how we ought to have the scripture in English.\n\nExcuse of the treatise\nThough I am old, clothed in barbaric wear,\nNothing garnished with gay eloquence,\nYet I tell the truth, if you care to heed,\nAgainst their forward, furious frenzy,\nWhich reckons it a great heresy,\nAnd to lay people in grievous outrage,\nTo have God's word in their native language.\n\nEnemies I shall have, with forked caps and gay crosses of gold,\nWhich maintain their ambitions renown,\nGlad to keep lay people in ignorance to hold,\nYet to show the truth, one may be bold,\nThough it be a proverb daily spoken,\nWhoever tells the truth, his head shall be broken.\n\nGrace and peace: not that the world gives,\nBut from God the Father and our Savior\nJesus Christ, with increase of the holy spirit, be with you and all\nWho thirst for the truth. Amen.\n\nConsidering the malice of our prelates and their adherents, who,\n\n(Note: The text appears to be written in Middle English. The above text is a modern English translation of the original.)\nso furiously barke ageynst the worde of God / a\u0304d\nspecially the new testame\u0304t translatyd and sett for\u2223the\nby Master Willia\u0304 Tyndale / which they false\u00a6ly\nprete\u0304de to be sore corrupte. That ye may knowe\nthat yt is not Tyndales translacyo\u0304 yt moueth the\u0304\nbut only the inwarde malyce whiche they haue e\u2223uer\nhad ageynst the worde of God. I haue here\nputt in prynte a tretyse wrytten aboute the yere of\noure lorde a thousande foure hundryd. By which\nthou shalte playnly perceyue / that they wolde yett\nneuer from the begynnynge admytte any transla\u00a6cio\u0304\nto the laye people / so that it is not yt corrupte tra\u0304\u00a6slacio\u0304\nthat they withstonde. For yf that were true\ny\u2022 ydle bellyes wolde haue had leyser I nowgh to\nput forth another well tra\u0304slatyd. But yt is theyr\nawne myscheuous lyuynge yt mouyth the\u0304 accor\u2223dyng\nas Chryste sayd Ihon\u0304 .iij. Euery man that\nworkyth euyll hatyth ye lyght / ner comyth to the\nlyght lest hys workes shulde be reproued. &c.\nThus mayst thou se that bycause theyr workes\nThis treatise is over a thousand years old. It declares how our prelates far from the truth are so bold as to forbid the word of God in English. For as the prophet says, \"Blessed is he that exerciseth himself in the scriptures night and day.\" Psalm 1. I take upon Antichrist the figure of King Antiochus, for just as King Antiochus came in the end near to the old law and burned the books of God's law and compelled the people to do idolatry, so now Antichrist, the king of the clergy, burns the word of God worse than heathen priests.\nNow near the new law and Christ, who is near the end of the world, deceives nearly all the world, and as he deceived the clergy of the old law, but not much more maliciously. You may see it is no novelty that bishops burn the gospel. For, as they crucified Christ anew through their bishopric, so now their bishopric damns and burns God's law because it is drawn into another tongue. It ought to be, and we saved, as we shall prove through God's help. First, we take witness from Boethius in De Disciplina Scholarium: that children should be taught in Seneca's books. And Bede explains this saying, and says that children should be taught in virtues. For Seneca's moral books are not taught thus in their youth, they continue wickedly styled and unable to conceive the subtle science of truth, saying, \"The wise man is like a clean mirror newly polished.\" Read Robin Hood, good masters. Wisdom shall not be silent.\nEnter into a wicked soul. And much is herof the sentence of Bede. And Algasel in his logic says the soul of ma_ is as a clean mirror newly purified in which is seen lightly the image of virtue. And for the people have not understanding in youth they have dark souls and blinded with ignorance, so that they profit not in virtue but in falseness and malice and other vices. Much is thereof the matter. Then pagan philosophers would have the people profit in natural science. How much more should Christian clerics then the people profit in the science of virtues, for so would God. For when the law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai, God gave it to his people together, from morning until none, as it is plain in the first book of Esdras, Chapter VII. And he read it openly in the street, and the ears of the people were attentively given to it. In so much that the people fell into great weeping for the neglect of the law. Also God's law says in Deuteronomy XXXII: \"And he gave them statutes and laws, and righteous judgments, good statutes and laws for their instruction.\"\nFathers should make the law known to their sons, and the sons who are to be born should rise and teach these things to their sons. And the holy apostle St. Peter speaks in this manner in the fourth chapter of his first book: \"Whoever speaks, let him speak as the words of God. And every man who has taken grace in knowing, let him impart this grace to others. It is written clearly in the book of Numbers, in the eleventh chapter. When Moses had chosen seventy elder men, and the Spirit of God rested on them and they prophesied, two men were beside them\u2014Eldad and Medad\u2014and prophesied in the tents. And Joshua the servant of Moses said to Moses, 'Moses, forbid them.' But Moses let no one forbid them. And Moses said, 'What do you forbid me? Who shall forbid all the people, if God gives them his spirit?' Also, it is read in the Gospel that St. John the Evangelist said to Christ, 'Lord, we shall forbid him.' But Christ said, 'Do not forbid him.'\"\nFor whoever is not against us is with us, and agree well with the prophecy of Joel. God says your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions. But they say only the master doctor can understand the scripture. And upon what Sunday God gave knowledge of His law to diverse nations without any exceptions, in their mother tongue, by the understanding of one tongue. And this is noteworthy since the lay people in the old law had their law in their mother tongue. Yet the English people in the new law have it as all other nations have. For St. Peter in Acts xi was reproved because he had baptized Cornelius and his fellows who were heathens. And Peter answered and said, \"If God has given you the same grace that He has given to us, who am I that I may forbid God?\" As one says, it lies not in the power of men. Then who art thou?\nForbidding the people from having God's law in their mother tongue, you are identified as Antichrist yourself. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 14: I desire that all speak in tongues, but even more that they prophesy. Also, he says, how will he say Amen to your blessing that does not mean what you say? This is stated by Doctor Lyra. If the people understood the priest's prayer, it would be better led to God and answered more devoutly with Amen. Here you are, master Lyra, if you will not listen to Paul. Paul also states in the same chapter, \"I would rather have five words spoken to those who can understand than ten thousand who do not.\" And 70 doctors, along with others, before the incarnation of Christ translated the Scriptures out of Hebrew into Greek. After the ascension, many places, including Mauretania, Italy, and over many years, have had it. It was difficult for a worthy woman of Germany, named James Morell, who was a leper at one time, to translate all the Scriptures into Flemish.\nFor whom this [person] was summoned before the pope of great malice. And the book was taken for examination. And truly he approved it. Then it was delivered to him again for confiscation of all his enemies. Worthy Bede in his first book called De gestis Anglorum. Chapter iii. relates that Saint Oswald, the King of Northumbria, asked of the Scots a holy bishop Aidan to preach to his people. And the king himself interpreted it in English for the people. Since this blessed death of this King is allowed by all holy Church, why not now allow a man to read the gospel in English to the people? Since Saint Paul says if the gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who will be condemned. A fearful saying. And he also says he who does not know shall not be known to God. And therefore the venerable Bede, led by the spirit of God, translated a great part of the Bible into English. Where the originals are in many abbeys in England.\nAnd the Cistercians say that the Gospel of John was translated into English by the aforementioned Bede, who also translated other Gospels that are still in many places in old English so ancient that scarcely any Englishman can read them. For this Bede reigned in the year of our Lord 724. The Cistercians, li. vi. ca. i, also say that King Alfred ordered schools of various arts in Oxford and he translated the best laws into his mother tongue and the Psalms, \"he is he who does not understand it who reads it in his mother tongue.\" Therefore the apostle says, \"If I do not know the meaning of his voice to whom I speak, I am to him a barbarian,\" that is, he did not understand what I said nor I what he said. And so all those priests who did not understand what they read in their mother tongue were called barbarians. Therefore Bede drew into English liberal arts lest Englishmen should become barbarians. Thomas also says in a sermon that.\nIf a priest says he cannot preach, one remedy is to resign his office. Resign, not from a good pension, but from a good living. Another remedy if he will not do this is to record the naked text of the Sunday gospel that he has, the gross story, and tell it to the people. If he understands it late, and does this every week in the year, he will profit much. For thus preaching the Lord says, \"John 6:63. The words that I speak to you are spirit and life. If he does not understand it late, let him go to one of his neighbors who understands it, who will charitably explain it to him and thus edify his flock. A great cleric and scholar, Sir William Thorpe, archbishop of York, drew up a treatise in English. The same treatise is in hand and was sent in small pages to the commons.\n\"Also Richard the hermit of Hampole translated the Psalter with a gloss and the Lessons, as well as many other treatises, into English. These works greatly educated many Englishmen. But they are cursed by God if they would let the people become less devout than they have been. Yet many now favor the friends of Job, despite their insistence on defending God, who offended Him grievously. And though those who are slain perform miracles, neither the hermit nor Afteras explain this verse: \"Ne aferas dere me the words of truth whatever they may be.\" This prophecy of Christ must be fulfilled; take heed. Christ says that I should humble myself to do great things during the time of King Richard. A bill was passed by the assent of two archbishops and the clergy to annul the Bible that was translated into English, along with other English books of the Exposition of the Gospels, at a time when it was hard and said to be heretical by lords and the commons. The Duke of Lancaster, John, answered them.\"\nTo tightly say this sentence: we will not be refusing ourselves to all other nations. For truly they have their law which is the law of our belief in their own land. We will have ours in English whosoever says nay. And this he affirmed, burying Queen Anne, it was more joy to him of her than any woman he ever knew. For she, an alien born, had in England all the gospels with the doctors upon them. And he said that she had sent them to him to examine, and he said that they were good and true. And he sharply blamed the negligence of the prelates and other men in that sermon. In so much that he said that he would leave up the office of Chancellor and forsake worldly businesses, and give himself to fulfill his pastoral office, for he had said and read in those books. Never trust a bishop as long as he keeps his possessions. And after this promise, he became the most cruel enemy that might be against English books. And therefore, as many men say.\nGod smote them with the cruellest death, as he did Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln. And yet our bishops are so obdurate and have strayed so far from God that they have no grace to warn one another, but proudly, against all reasons and evidence of God's laws and doctors' sentences, they burn God's words which have brought this realm to ruin forever. But if God's grace be the more, where is it announced that this plague was in England in these days? For this cruel death is the cause of pestilence, famine, war, and also this realm shall be conquered in short time, as St. Edward the king and confessor prophesied in his book that begins thus: \"Sanctus Edwardus rex vidit spiritualibus oculis. Ergo, it were good to the King and to other lords to make some remedy against this Antichristian doctrine that says it is unlawful.\"\nTo English men, understand and learn, you who judge matters. This is because the king and lords do not know or will not know their office in the face of God and His law. For, as St. Augustine says, the king with his knights represents the godhead of Christ, and priests the humanity of Christ. The king is a vicar of the divinity, and the priest is a vicar of Christ's humanity. Augustine, in the questions of the old and new law, book xc.i.\n\nIf the king desires to know his office perfectly, he may find me to show him books that truly and perfectly will inform him to do his office to the pleasure of God. But this he cannot learn from bishops, for they inform him according to Antichrist's law and ordinance, for his laws now reign.\n\nBishops will not contradict their God, but against those who say the gospel in English and would make men err, we find in the Latin language more [he].\n\"Despite all other languages, for the reason that: There were reportedly sixty Laten heretics. And if I should hate any language for heresy, they too must hate Latinity. But God forbid that any language should be hated for heresy, since many heretics were among the disciples of the Apostles. For St. John says they went out from us but they were not of us. And Paul says it is necessary for heresies to exist. How Antichrist causes all heresies. And Antichrist makes many more heretics than there should be, for he obstructs the knowing of God's law and punishes those who have it, so that they dare not come openly to have true information. This makes laymen desire and love to know God's law, and people will die in heresy because it lies and draws them in. Thus, the cause of heresy and of the people who die in heresy is the obstinacy of bishops who will not allow men to have open access\"\n\"communing and free in the law of God and therefore they are countable as many souls as die in this default / and are traitors to God in stopping His law which was made in salvation of the people. Is not this turning the roots of the treasures upward? And now they turn His law by cruel constitutions into damnation of the people, as it shall be provided upon them at the day of doom for God's law says, \"Stabut iusti in magna constancia adversus eos qui se angustiarent &c. For they burn others for their labor.\" Read Saipen vi. and vii. And if our clergy would study well this lesson of sapience in it, they should read therein their own damnation / but if they amend this default with other defaults. Says not the holy man Ardemann in the book of questions that the sacred sacrament of the altar may be made in each common language: For he says so did the apostles. But we covet\"\nnot this, but that Antichrist gave us leave to have\nthe law of our belief in English. Also those who have had much contact with the Jews say that they have the Bible in their mother tongue, that is Hebrew, in every land they are born in. And they are more practiced in it than any men. You wrote the gospel in various languages: Matthew in Judea, Mark in Italy, Luke in Achaea, and John in Asia. And all these wrote in the same country's languages. Jews abroad among the heathen peoples tell those they encounter that they should know that there is no other god but the god of Israel. And God ordered his people to believe his law written among them in their mother tongue, as it is written in Psalm 19 and Exodus 14. In so much the book of Judith is written in Chaldean, as Peter Jerome states in its prologue. Also, the books of Daniel and Esdras are written in Chaldean, as Peter Jerome states in their prologues.\nThe book of I Kings in Araby and Syria, according to Jerome, speaks of this in its prologue. Also, Ezekiel the prophet prophesied in Babylon and left his prophecy under the mother town's name. According to Jerome in the prologue of the same, the prophecy of Isaiah is translated into the Ethiopian language. Then afterwards, the dark prophecies were translated among the pagan peoples, so that they might know of God and the incarnation of Christ. It ought to be translated into English for the people who have received the faith and bound themselves to keep it upon pain of damnation (Matthew 28:19). Then Christ translated it in the time of Emperor Adrian in the year of our Lord 244. Also, Theodosius translated it in the time of Emperor Constantine 30 years after Theodosius. Aquila also translated it, and Simplicius 8 years after Aquila.\nAfter Simacus, the author unknown in Alexander the emperor's time was translated. Jerome translated it into Latin, as recorded in the chronicles of Cisterciensis, volume 2, chapter 40. After Jerome had translated it into Latin, he translated extensively from the Bible for women. For the maidens Eustochia and Paula, he translated the books of Joshua from Judges and Ruth, and Hester, Ecclesiastes, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, and the twelve prophets, as well as the seven canonical epistles, as his father had instructed in the prologue. Jerome, therefore, never intended to abandon God's law under his Latin translation but granted permission to translate it into every language. In his 76th epistle to Atleta, he instructed his daughter to study both the old and new laws. Similarly, in his 75th epistle, he advised the virgin Semetriadis to increase her virtue by reading one book.\nAnd he instructed her to read the Gospels and the epistles of the Apostles. And thus, Thenglish men desire to have the law of God in English. But my lord's say it is then immaculately converted into Latin. But Antichrist says that it is corrupted with little literal letters that it slowly takes his authority from Paul. He says, \"the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.\" That is, the letter of the ceremonies of the old law kills Jews and those who use them, but the spirit of the new law quickens true Christian men, since Christ says, \"my words are spirit and life.\" We take example from holy virgins to love to read the Gospel, as they did; such as Rita, Cecily, Lucy, Agnes, Margaret, who allegedly presented the holy Gospel to the infidels who killed them for keeping it. Of these aforementioned authorities, it is proved that both men and women lawfully may read and write laws in their mother tongue.\nAnd those who oppose this show themselves as heirs and sons of the first tormentors, worse, for they show themselves the true disciples of Antichrist, who has passed and will pass all the malice of tyrants that have been before in stopping and perverting God's law, which breeds great vengeance to fall in this realm. But if it is amended. For Paul says in Romans 1:\n\nThe wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness. Rejoice, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. Now God, in His mercy, give to our king and to our lords grace of true understanding to amend this fault primarily and all others. Then we will find or read this letter, put it forth in examination, and suffer it not to be hidden or destroyed, but multiply it, for no one knows what.\n[Profit may come thereof. For he that compiled it, / purpose Amen.\nPrinted at Marlborough in the year of our Lord MCCCC. and XXX.]\n\nProfit may come thereof. For he who compiled it, [purpose: Amen].\nPrinted at Marlborough in the year of our Lord MCCCC. and XXX.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "The assembly of birds.\nHere follows the assembly of birds, pleasant and compendious, compiled by the renowned and famous clerk Geoffrey Chaucer.\nNewes / newes / newes / have you any news?\nMyneeres awake / to hear you call and cry\nBen books made with whistling and wheezing\nWere not yet there to your fantasy\nIn faith, no I believe, and yet you daily\nHave matters sad and apes and fools\nBut yet for your pleasure, I will let you here\nThe parliament of birds.\nChaucer himself, who wrote this pamphlet, is deceased,\nAnd so are his heirs, in all their busyness,\nAnd also the famous clerk Lydgate,\nAnd so is young Hawes; may their souls rest in peace.\nThey made many volumes, they say, more and less,\nTheir books you lay up, until the leather molds,\nBut for your minds, this book I will impress,\nThat is called in the title the parliament of birds.\nSo many learned at least they say they were,\nWas never seen, doing so few good works.\nWhere is the time that they do spend true you,\nIn prayers? you, where? in fields and parks,\nYet where have all the clerks become?\nIn sloth and idleness they waste their time,\nFor lack of writing, containing moral speeches,\nI must print the parliament of fools.\n\u00b6Dites and letters them can I make myself,\nOf such ynow I am daily brought,\nOld moral books stand still upon the shelf,\nI am in fear they will never be bought,\nTrifles and toys they are the things so sought,\nTheir wits trundle like these fleeting boules,\nyet gentle clerks followed him you should,\nThat did endite the parliament of fools.\n\u00b6finis.\nThe life so short, the craft so long to learn,\nThe assay so hard, so sharp the conquering,\nThe slider joy ever slides so lure,\nAll this means I by love, it my feeling,\nAstonishes me so wondrously working,\nSo sorrowful wise that when I think on him,\nI do not well know where I wake or wink.\nFor all that I know not love in deed,\nNor know how he quits folk their hire.\nI. In books it often happens for me to read\nOf his miracles and his cruel ire,\nI acknowledge he will be lord and master,\nI dare not say his strokes are so sore,\nBut God save such a lord, I can no more.\nWhat for pleasure, what forlorn,\nIn books I often read as you told,\nBut why I spoke not all this before?\nIt happened to me that I beheld\nUpon a book were written old letters,\nAnd there upon a certain thing to learn,\nI read it through with great eagerness.\nFor out of old fields, as men say,\nComes all this new corn from year to year,\nAnd out of old books, in good faith,\nComes all this new science that men learn.\nBut now to the purpose of my first matter,\nTo read on gave me great delight,\nThis book, of which I may make mention,\nEntitled was, as I shall tell you,\nTullius on the Dream of Cypion,\nIt has seven chapters of heaven and hell,\nAnd earth and souls that dwell therein,\nOf which I shall treat as soon as I can,\nOf his sentence I shall tell the great.\nWhen Cypyon came into Aphrodite, he met Messys,\nWho held him in her arms in great joy. He then told her speech and all the bliss\nThat was between them until the day turned sour.\nAnd he told her how his ancestor Aphrodite, so dear,\nAppeared to him that night in a dream.\n\nHe told her how Aphrodite had shown him a starry place\nAnd warned him before granting him grace,\nAnd said to him, \"He who loves common profit well,\nShall go to a place of everlasting joy.\"\n\nHe asked her if the people who are here dead,\nHave life and dwelling in another place.\nAphrodite replied, \"Without fear,\nAnd our present world's lives are but a manner of death,\nWhat can we trace?\" Righteous people shall go when they die,\nTo heaven. And she showed him the gallery.\n\nThen she showed him the little earth that is here,\nIn comparison to heaven's vastness,\nAnd showed him the nine spheres,\nAnd after that, he heard the melody.\nThat comes of those three spirits\nWho are well versed in music and melody,\nIn this world, and the cause of harmony.\nThen he bade him see the earth so small,\nAnd was somewhat full of harsh grace,\nSo that he should not delight in the world,\nThen he told him in certain years' time,\nThat every star should come into its place,\nThere it was first, and all shall depart from my mind,\nThat in this world was done by all mankind.\nThen he prayed Cyprus to tell him all,\nThe way to come to heaven's bliss,\nAnd he said, \"Know thyself first, mortal,\nAnd look always be busy and wise,\nTo gain profit and you shall never miss,\nTo come swiftly to that place dear,\nThat is full of bliss and souls clear.\"\nBut breakers of the law truly say,\nAnd lecherous people after they are dead,\nShall always whirl about the earth in pain,\nUntil many a world is passed out of fear,\nAnd then forgive them all their wicked deeds,\nThen they shall come to that blissful place,\nTo which may God send each lover's grace.\nThe day failed and the dark night\nThat recalled beasts from their busyness\nBrought me my book for lack of light\nAnd to my bed I went to dress\nFilled with thought and heavy-laden heart,\nFor I had things that I did not want\nAnd yet I lacked things that I did.\nBut finally, my spirit, weary of labor all day,\nFound rest that made me sleep fast\nAnd in my sleep, I met Apollo right in that selfsame array,\nAs Cygnus had seen him before that time,\nStanding right at my bedside.\nThe weary hunter, sleeping in his bed,\nAwoke at once, his mind set on the wood,\nThe judge dreamed how his pleas were faring,\nThe cart driver dreamed how his carts had gone,\nThe rich knight fought with his opponent,\nThe sick man drank from the barrel,\nThe lover met and had won his lady.\nCould I not say if the cause were\nThat I had read of Apollo beforehand,\nThat he stood there before me?\nBut thus he said, \"You have borne the look\nOf my old book, all torn apart.\"\nOf which Macrobyus granted not a little\nThat some part of thy labor I would repay.\nTherefore thou blessed lady sweet\nWho with thy fiery brown hair dost daunt whom you please\nAnd made me this vision to meet\nBe thou my help in this, for thou mayst best\nAs wisely as I saw the north northwest\nWhen I began my vision to write\nSo give me might to rhyme and to endite.\nThis aforementioned Apollo came upon me at once\nAnd led me forthwith to a gate\nRight before a park walled with great stone\nAnd over the gate with letters large wrought\nThere were verses written as I thought\nOn either side of full great difference\nOf which I shall you say the plain sentence.\nThrough me men go into that blessed place\nOf hearts' healing and deadly wounds cured\nThrough me men go unto the well of grace\nThere green and lusty Maye shall ever endure\nThis is the way to all good adventure\nBe glad thou reader and thy sorrow cast\nAll open am I passed in and high the fast.\nThrough me men spoke that other side.\n\"Unto the mortal stroke of the sphere,\nWhere dread and danger are your guide,\nThere three shall never leave thee, this stream you leadeth unto,\nThe avoiding is the remedy.\n\u00b6These verses of gold and black are written,\nOf which I stood in awe to behold,\nFor with one it increased my fear,\nAnd with another made my heart bold,\nThat one it called me, the other made me cold,\nNo wisdom had I for error to choose,\nTo enter or flee, or me to save or lose.\n\u00b6Right as between Adamant's two,\nWho have the might to move neither to me nor from me,\nSo I fared, I knew not where I was better,\nTo enter or leave, till Apollo my guide\nWas brought and showed me at the gates wide open.\n\u00b6And said, \"It stands written in your face,\nThy error though thou tell it not to me,\nBut fear not to come into this place,\nFor this writing is nothing meant by thee,\nHe by none but he loves his servant be.\"\"\nFor thou, in love, hast lost thy taste I guess,\nAs a sick man has of sweet and bitterness.\nBut nevertheless, though thou art dull,\nThat thou cannot do, yet may thou see,\nFor many a man that may not endure a pull,\nYet likes him at the wrestling to be,\nAnd deems yet whether he does better or he,\nAnd if thou hast, I shall the show matter write.\n\nAnd with that, my hand in his he took at once,\nOf which I caught and went in fast,\nBut, Lord, so I was glad and well gone,\nFor over all where my eyes cast,\nWere trees clad with leaves that ever shall last,\nEach in his kind with color fresh and green,\nAs emerald that joy was to see.\n\nThe builder oak and also the hardy ash,\nThe pillar elm / the cask to carry,\nThe box pine tree / holm to whip the lashes,\nThe sail yard fir / the cypress death to plane,\nThe shorter yew / the aspen for shafts to plane,\nThe olive of peas and also the drunken vine,\nThe victor palm the laurel to divide.\n\nA garden saw I full of blossomed bows,\nUpon a river in a green mead.\nThere is enough sweetness there,\nWith white, blue, yellow, and red flowers,\nAnd cold streams that do nothing but flow,\nSwimming with small fish that shine light,\nWith fins red and scales silver bright.\n\nOn every bough the birds I heard sing,\nWith voices of angels in their harmony,\nEncouraging them to bring\nThe little hares to their play,\nAnd further around I began to see\nThe dreadful roe, the buck, the heart and hind,\nSquirrel and beasts small of gentle kind.\n\nOn instruments of string in a cord,\nI heard such play and sweetness raised,\nThat God, the maker of all and lord,\nNever heard anything better, I guess,\nWith a wind beneath it, it might be less,\nMade in the leaves green a soft noise,\nAccording to the birds' song on high.\n\nThe air of that place so adorned was,\nNever was there any graveness hot or cold,\nThere grows every wholesome herb and grass,\nNo man may there be sick or old,\nYet there was more joy a thousandfold,\nNo man can tell, never would it night.\nBut a clear day to any man's sight.\nUnder a tree beside a well I say,\nCopy our lord his arrows forge and file,\nAnd at his feet his bow all ready lay,\nAnd Will his daughter tempered all the while,\nThe heads in the well and with a hard file\nShe couched them after as they should serve,\nSome to sleep and some to wound and quiver.\nThus I was aware of pleasure right away,\nAnd of array and lust and courtesy,\nAnd of the craft that can and has the might\nTo go before a slow one and do folly,\nDisfigured was she; I shall not lie,\nAnd by himself under an oak I guess,\nThere I beheld Delight that stood with Gentleness.\nI saw beauty without any attire,\nAnd young full of game and jolly,\nFoolhardiness flattered and desire,\nMasquerade made and other three,\nTheir names shall not be told for me,\nAnd upon pillars great of ivory long,\nI saw a temple of brass founded strong.\nAbout the temple danced always\nWomen, yon know of whom some were\nFair of themselves and some of them gay,\nIn kirtles all disheveled went they there.\nThat was their office always, from year to year\nAnd on the temple saw I, white and fair,\nOf douces white, many a hundred pair.\nBefore the temple door, so solemnly,\nDame Peace sat a courteous one in hand,\nAnd by her side, discreetly,\nDame Patience sitting there I found,\nWith pale face on a hill of sand,\nAnd next to her, within and without,\nBeseechings and arts and of their people a rout.\nWithin the temple with sighs hot as fire,\nI heard a sigh that began to run,\nWhich sighs were engendered with desire,\nThat made every altar for to burn,\nOf new flame, and I espied then,\nThat all the cause of sorrows that they dry,\nCome from the bitter goddess Ialysus.\n\nThe god Pyrapus saw I as I went,\nWithin the temple in a sovereign place stand,\nIn such array as when the ass him sent,\nWith cry by night and with his ceptre in hand,\nFull swiftly men made assay and found,\nUpon his head to set of sundry hue,\nGarlands full of fresh flowers new.\n\nAnd in a private corner in delight,\nFound I Venus and her porter riches.\nThat was a full noble and haughty dwelling place,\nDark was that place, and afterwards light,\nI saw a light beneath it that could not be less,\nAnd on a bed of gold she lay to rest,\nUntil the hot sun began to set to the west.\n\nHer golden tresses with a golden thread\nWere bound up, undressed as she lay,\nNaked from the breast to the head,\nMen could hear and truly say,\nThe remainder was covered well to my satisfaction,\nRight with a subtle covering of value,\nThere was no thicker cloth of defense.\n\nThe place gave a thousand sweet scents,\nAnd Bacchus, god of wine, sat beside,\nAnd Ceres, next, who cures hunger,\nAnd as I said, Cupid was among them,\nTo whom the young folk cried on their knees,\nTo be their help but I let her lie,\nAnd I spied something else in the temple.\n\nThat in spite of Diana, the chaste,\nFull many a bow hung broken on the wall,\nOf maidens such as wasted their time,\nIn her service and painted over all,\nOf many a story of which I shall speak,\nA few as of Calyxte and Athalante.\nAnd many a maiden whose name I desire to mention.\nSemiramis, Candace, and Hercules,\nByblis, Dido, Sychaeus and Paris,\nTristram, Ysoud\u00e9, and Achilles,\nHelen, Cleopatra, and Troilus,\nSylla and also the mother of Romulus,\nAll these were painted on the other side,\nAnd all their love and in what purity they died.\nWhen I came again to that place\nWhich I spoke of as so sweet and bitter,\nThere I found myself walking to console myself,\nThere I saw a queen sitting\nWhose beauty surpassed the summer sun,\nPassing the star right overmeasure,\nShe was fairer than any creature.\nAnd in a meadow upon a hill of flowers,\nWas set this noble goddess of nature,\nOf branches were her halls and her bowers,\nY wrought after her craft and her measure,\nNo foul creature that comes of engendering,\nWas there not present in her presence,\nTo take her doom and give her audience.\nFor this was on St. Valentine's day,\nWhen every foul creature comes there to choose its mate,\nOf every kind that men think may be,\nAnd that such a great noise began they make.\nThat earth, sea, and every lake\nWere so full that there was no other space\nFor me to stand, so full was every place.\nAnd right as Alain in the pleasant kind\nDeemed nature of such array and face,\nIn such array men might her there find\nThis noble empress full of grace,\nWho bade every foul to take its own place,\nAs they were wont all year from year,\nOn St. Valentine's day to stand there,\nThat is to say, the fouls of raven\nWere highest set and then the fouls small,\nThat ate as nature would incline,\nAs worm or thing of which I tell no tale,\nBut water foul sat lowest in the dale,\nAnd foul that lives by seed sat on the green,\nAnd that so many that wonder was to see.\nThere might men the royal eagle find,\nThat with his sharp look pierces the sun,\nAnd other eagles of a lower kind,\nOf which clerks well know the kind,\nThere was the tyrant with his feathers done,\nAnd green I mean the goshawk that doth pain,\nTo birds for his outrageous ravine.\nThe gentle falcon that with its foot destroys.\nThe king's hand, the spearhawk also\nThe quails from the merlin that torments himself\nWith the dove, her eyes meek\nThe jealous swan against his death that sings\nThe old one also who brings the threat of death\nThe crane, the giant with his trumpet sounds\nThe thief, the chough and also the jay\nThe scornful jay, the eagles for their honor\nThe false lapwing full of treachery\nThe stare that the council began to watch\nThe tame rooster and the cowardly cat\nThe cock that is the orologe of Thorpe's small town\nThe sparrow Venus' son, the nightingale\nThat calls forth the fresh leves new\nThe swallow murderer of the birds small\nThat make honey from flowers fresh in hue\nThe wedded turtle with his true heart\nThe peacock with his angels' feathers bright\nThe fantastic scorner of the cock by night.\nThe waking goes the cock ever unkind\nThe popinjay full of delicacy\nThe drake scorner of his own kind\nThe stork wreaker of avarice\nThe hot cornmantle of gluttony\nThe raven and the crow with their voices of care,\nThe thrush old and the frosty field fare.\nWhat should I say of birds every kind\nThat in this world have feathers and stature?\nMen might in that place assembled find\nBefore that noble goddess of nature\nAnd each of them did his busy cure\nBenevolently to choose or take\nBy her accord his formal or his make.\nBut to the point, nature held in her hand\nA formal eagle of shape the gentlest,\nThat ever she younged her works found\nThe most benevolent and goodly.\nIn her was every virtue at rest.\nTherefore, nature herself had bliss\nTo look on her and often her beak to kiss.\nNature, the maker of the almighty Lord,\nWho hot, cold, heavy, light, moist, and dry,\nHas knitted by an even number of a cord,\nIn easy voice began to speak and say,\nBirds take heed of my sentence I pray,\nAnd for your ease in furthering of your need,\nAs fast as I may speak I will hasten.\nYou know well how on St. Valentine's day\nBy my statute and through my governance.\nYou come to choose and follow your ways with your makes as I prick you with pleasure, but nevertheless, my rightful governance may I not let for all this world to win. The tercel eagle, as you know well, the foul royal one above you all in degree, the wise and worthy the secret true as steel, which I have formed as you may see, in every part as it best pleases me. It needs not his shape you to devise; he shall first choose and speak in his guise. And after him by order shall you choose; after your kind each as you like and as your happiness is, shall you win or lose. But which of you that loves most enters, God send him her that sorrows for him. And therewithal the tercel began to call, and said, \"My son, the choice is yours if it falls to you.\" But nevertheless, in this condition, the choice of every one that is here must agree to his election, who soever he may be that should be her husband. This is our custom always from year to year, and who so may at this time have his grace.\nIn full time he came to this place.\nWith heed inclined and with full humble cheer,\nThis royal tercel spoke and tarried naught,\nTo my sovereign lady and not my peer,\nI choose and chose with will and heart and thought,\nThe formal one on your hand so well I wrought,\nWhose I am all and ever will serve,\nDo what her lust to do, me live or sustain.\nThe per. of four.\nBeseeching her of mercy and of grace,\nAs she that is my sovereign lady,\nOr let me die present in this place,\nFor certes long may I not live in pain,\nFor in my heart is corrupted every vein,\nHaving reward only to my truth,\nMy dear heart have on my woe some ruth.\nAnd if I be found to her unfaithful,\nDisobedient or wilful negligent,\nAwantor or in process love a new,\nI pray to you this be my judgment,\nThat with these fowls I be all to rent,\nThat like day that ever she me find,\nTo her unfaithful or in my guilt unkind.\nAnd since none loves her so well as I,\nThough she never of love behested,\nThan ought she be mine through her mercy.\nFor other bondservant can I none on her knee\nFor never for no one shall I let\nTo serve her however far that she would end\nSay what you will, my tale is an end.\nRight as the fresh reed rose new\nAgainst the summer sun colored is\nRight so, for shame, all wexen gan the hue\nOf this formidable one when she heard all this\nNeither she answered well nor said amiss\nSo sore abashed was she until nature said,\nDaughter, fear you not, I assure you.\nAnother tercel eagle spoke anon\nOf lower kind and said that should not be\nI love her better than you do, by Saint John\nOr at least I love her as well as you\nAnd longer have served her in my degree\nAnd if she should have loved for long loving\nTo me alone had been the guarding.\nI dare eke say, if she finds me false\nUnkind jagler or rebellious in any way\nOr jealous does me hang by the throats\nAnd but I bear me in her service\nAs well as my wit can me suffice\nFrom point to point her honor for to save\nTake she my life and all the good I have.\nThe third tercel eagle answered thus.\nNow you see the little laser here,\nFor every foul cries out to be gone,\nFor the worm or his lady dear,\nAnd she herself will not endure,\nFor tarrying her not half as long as I would say,\nAnd but I speak, I must for sorrow die.\nOf long service I avow nothing,\nBut as possible is it to me to die today,\nWoe is he that has languished thus,\nThese twenty winters and well may happen,\nA man may serve better and more to pay,\nIn half a year though it were no more,\nThan some man does that has served full long.\nI do not say this by me, for I can\nDo no service that may please my lady,\nBut I dare say I am her truest man,\nAs to my doom and fairest would please her,\nAt short words till that death me sees,\nI will be hers whether I walk or wink,\nAnd true in all that heart may think.\nOf all my life since that day I was born,\nSo gentle was she in love or other thing,\nNever heard I no man before,\nWho had less and knowing,\nFor to rehearse her cheer and her speaking,\nAnd from the morrow began this speech last.\nTyll Downewarde went the sun very fast,\nThe noise of birds to be delivered so loud,\nThat we well thought the wood all divided.\n\"Come off,\" they cried, \"alas, you will destroy us.\nWhen shall your cursed pleading have an end?\nHow should a judge either party leave,\nWithout any proof?\n\nThe goose, the duck, and the cock also cried,\n\"Keke, keke, cuckoo, we queke, queke, high.\"\nThrough my eyes the noise went, the goose said,\n\"All this is not worth a fly.\"\nBut I can make a remedy,\nAnd I will say my truth fair and swift,\nFor waterfowl, who are sad or glad.\n\nAnd I, for the soul of the foul cuckoo, said,\nFor I will take on me the charge by my own authority,\nFor common speed, to deliver us is great charity.\nYou may stay a while yet, parde,\nQuoth the turtle, if it is your will,\nA white may speak him as well as stay still.\n\nI am a seed foul, one of the unworthiest,\nWho well know and little of conniving,\nBut it is better that a man's tongue rest.\nThen entry this hym of such doing\nOf which he neither reads can nor sings\nAnd he who does fully foul himself anoints\nFor office uncommitted often annoys.\nNature, who always had an ear\nTo murmur at the lewdness behind\nWith fox-like voice said: hold your tongues there\nAnd I shall soon, I hope, find a counsel\nTo deliver you and from this noise unbind\nI judge of every folk men shall one call\nTo say the truth of you fouls all.\nAssented were to this conclusion\nThe birds all / and fouls of ravine\nHave chosen first by plain election\nThe tercelet of the falcon to decide\nAll her sentence and as him pleases to termine\nAnd to nature him they did present\nAnd she accepts him with glad intent.\nThe assembly of the fouls.\nThe tercelet said then in manner\nFull hard was it to prove it by reason\nWho loves best this gentle formal here\nFor each has such reply-ability\nThat by skills none can be brought down\nI cannot see that arguments avail\nThen seems it there must be battle.\nAll ready, this church's tercels though\nNay, sirs, if he who dares, I would say\nYou do me wrong, my tale is not done\nFor sirs, take no grief, I pray\nIt may not be as you would in this way\nOurs is the voice that has the charge in hand\nAnd to the judges' dominion you must stand\nTherefore, I say, as to my wit\nI would think which of knighthood and longest has used it\nMost of estate of blood the gentlest\nWere sitting to her if that her least\nAnd of these three she knew herself I believe\nWhich one he be, for it is light to know.\nThe waterfowl have they heads laid together\nAnd of short availment\nWhen every one had his large gold said\nThey said truly all by one assent\nHow the goose with her fondling gentleness\nThat so desires to pronounce our need\nShall tell our tale and prayed to God her speed.\nAnd for these waterfowl, thus began\nThe goose to speak and in her cackling\nShe said, \"Peace now, take heed every man\nAnd hearken which a reason I shall forth bring.\"\nMy witte is sharp. I love no tarrying. I say I understand him though he were my brother. But she will love him, let him love another.\n\nLo, here is a perfect reason for a good man.\nQuoth the spearhawk never may she see him.\nLo such it is to have a tongue loose.\nNow parde folly, it were better for thee\nTo hold thy peace than to show thy nicety.\nIt lies not in his witte nor in his will,\nBut truly, a fool cannot be still.\n\nThe laughter arose from gentle foules all,\nAnd right anon the sedentary foules chosen had\nThe turtle true, and did her to them call,\nAnd prayed her to say the truth, sad\nOf this matter, and asked what she had read.\nAnd she answered that plainly her intent\nShe would shew, and truly what she meant.\n\nNow God forbid a lover should change,\nThe turtle said and waxed for shame, all read,\nThough that his lady evermore be strange,\nYet let him serve her always till he be dead.\nFor so I pray, I praise not the geese's reading,\nFor though she died, I would not another make,\nI will be hers till that the death me take.\n\nWell said the duke, by my hat.\nThat men should love causelessly\nWho can find a reason or wit in that?\nHe dances who is merry, the miserable one is merryless.\nHe should care for that who is reckless.\n\"You quake, quoth the duck, fair and well,\" said the tercelette.\n\"Fie, churl, quoth the gentle tercelette,\nOut of the donghyll came that word rightly.\nYou rust not to know what is well set.\nYou fare by love as owls do by light.\nThe day blinds them well, they see by night.\nYour kind is of such low wretchedness\nThat what love is, you cannot see nor guess.\nThen the cuckoo put himself in a press,\nFor foul that eats worm and said as blue.\n\"So I said, he may have my place in peas.\nI care not how long you strive.\nLet each of them be sole all their life.\nThis is my reed since they may not agree.\nThis short lesson needs not record.\"\n\nYou have filled the glutton enough, said the emberworm.\nThus we are well said, the murderer of hayseed on the branch\nBrought forth the ruffian glutton.\nYou shall solely be worms' corruption, for no force is lacking in your nature. Be lewd while your life lasts. Now peas said, I command this: I have heard all your opinions, and in truth we have never been near, but finally, this is my conclusion: She herself shall have her choice of whom her lust chooses, whether he is wrathful or joyful. Him that she chooses, she shall have swiftly. Since it cannot be discussed here who loves her best, as the third line says, I will do this favor for her: She shall have him on whom her heart is set, and he her who has her heart in his knot. This I judge, for I may not lie. To no estate do I have any other eye. But as for counsel to choose a mate, if I were reason, I would counsel you to take the royal tercet, as the tercet said skillfully. As for the gentlest and most worthy, whom I have wrought so well to my pleasure, it ought to be sufficient for you. With dreadful voice, the formal one answered.\nMy rightful lady goddess of nature,\nI am ever under your yard,\nAs is every other creature,\nAnd must be yours while my life may endure.\nTherefore grant me my first boon,\nAnd my intent I shall declare right away.\nI grant it you, quoth she, and right away,\nThis formidable eagle spoke in this degree,\nAlmighty queen, unto this year be done,\nI ask for respite to advise me,\nAnd after that to have my choices all free,\nThis is all and some that I would speak and say,\nYou get no more, though you do me delay.\nI will not serve Venus nor Cupid,\nFor such as it may by no manner way,\nNow since it may none other ways betide,\nQuoth nature, here is no more to say,\nBut I wish that these birds were away,\nEach with his mate for tarrying longer here.\nTo you speak I, ye tercelettes, said nature,\nBe of good heart and serve you all three,\nA year is not so long to endure,\nAnd each of you pays him in his degree,\nFor thee, this year, what after may fall.\nThis entr\u00e9e is prepared for you all.\nAnd when this work was completed to an end,\nTo every foul nature gave its form\nBy even accord and on their way they went\nA lord the blessing and joy that they made\nFor each of them took other in wings\nAnd with their necks, each took other in wind\nThanking always the noble gods of kind\nBut first were chosen birds for to sing\nAs was their custom year by year\nTo sing a roundel at their departure\nTo do Nature honor and pleasure\nThe note I believe was made in France\nThe words were such as you may find here\nThe next verse as I now have in mind.\nAnd with their shout when their song was done,\nThose birds made at their flight away,\nI woke / and other books took me to,\nTo read upon / and yet I read always,\nI hope you will read this some day\nThat I shall meet something to fare thee well.\nAnd thus I will not spare to read this.\n[EXPLICIT TREATISE ON THE GATHERING OF BIRDS]\nday of Saint Valentine.\n[THUS ENDS THE GATHERING OF BIRDS]\nOn St. Valentine's day,\nLay on the shelf, in leaves all torn,\nWith letters dimmed, almost cleanly defaced,\nThy hollow rotten thing, with worms all worn,\nThou lay, it was a pity to see,\nBound with old quires, for age all hoar and grieved,\nThy mater endormed, for lack of thy presence,\nBut now thou art lost, go show forth thy sentence.\nAnd where thou hast become so orderly thy language,\nIn excuse thy printer look thou have\nWhich hath kept from ruinous damage,\nIn sweet snowy paper, thy matter to save,\nWith the same language that Chaucer gave,\nIn terms old, of sentence clarified new,\nThey met the much sweeter, who caresses his mind,\nAnd if a lover happens upon thee to read,\nLet be the goose with his lewd sentence,\nUnto the turtle and not to her to heed,\nFor whoever changes, true love does offend,\nLove as I read is flower of excellence,\nAnd love also is root of wretchedness,\nThus be two loves, scripture bears witness.\n[FINIS.]\n[IMPRINTED IN LONDON IN FLET STREET AT THE SYGNE OF]\n[The twenty-fourth day of January, in the year of our Lord MCDXL.]", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "The sermon of Doctor Colete to the Conocation at Paul's. you are come together today, fathers and wise men, to enter counsel: in which, what you will do and what matters you will handle, we yet understand not. But we wish that one remembers your name and profession, you would remember the reformation of the churches' matter. For it was never more needed. And the state of the church did never desire your efforts more. For you, the spouse of Christ, the church, whom you should be without spot or wrinkle, is made foul and evil favored, as Saith Isaiah: The faithful city is made a harlot. And as the Jeremiah says: She has done lechery with many lovers: whereby she has caused many seeds of wickedness: and daily brings forth very foul fruit. Wherefore I came here today, fathers, to warn you, that in this your council, with all your mind, you think upon the reformation of the church. But forsooth I came not unwillingly: For I knew mine unworthiness. I\nI saw beside how hard it was to please the precise judgment of so many men. For I judged it utterly unworthy and unmetered, you and almost all, to be so impertinent that I, a servant, should counsel my lords: That I, a son, should teach you my fathers. Truly, it would have been fitting for some one of the fathers - it is to say - you prelates could have done it with more grave authority and greater wisdom. But the commandment was to be obeyed by the most reverent father and lord, the archbishop, president of this council, who laid upon me this burden - truly heavy for me. We read that the prophet Samuel said: Obedience is better than sacrifice? Wherefore, fathers and right worthy men, I pray you and beseech you that this day you would sustain my weaknesses with your goodness and patience. Furthermore, to help me at the beginning with your good prayers. And before all things, let us pray unto God the Father almighty. First, remembering our most holy father the pope and all.\nspiritual pastors and all Christians, furthermore, the most reverent father and lord, the archbishop, president of this council, and all bishops, and all the clergy, and all the people of England: Remembering finally this your congregation, desiring God to inspire your minds so agreeably to agree, to such profit and fruit of the church, that you seem not after the council finished to have been gathered together in vain and without cause. Let us all say, Father our Father.\n\nTo exhort you, reverent fathers, to the endeavor of the reformation of the church's estate: because nothing has so disfigured the face of the church as the fashion of secular and worldly living in clerks and priests. I know not where more conveniently to begin my tale than of the apostle Paul, in whose temple you are gathered together. For he writing unto the Romans, and under their name unto you, says: Be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind.\nOf your understanding, that you may prove what is the good will of God well pleasing and perfect. This the apostle wrote to all Christian men, but most chiefly to priests and bishops. Priests and bishops are the light of the world. For unto them said our Savior: \"You are the light of the world.\" And He said also: \"If the light that is in thee is in darkness, what darkness is that darkness? If then the light in thee is darkness, how great is that darkness? Therefore St. Paul said chiefly to priests and bishops: \"Be you not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.\" In these words the apostle does two things. First, he forbids that we be not conformed to the world and made carnal. Furthermore, he commands that we be transformed in the spirit of God, whereby we are spiritual. Intending to follow this order, I will speak first of confirmation.\nAfter the reformation, be you conformable to this world. The apostle calls the world and its secular living: which primarily resides in four evils of this world: that is, in diabolical pride, carnal concupiscence, worldly covetousness, and secular businesses. These are in the world, as St. John the apostle witnesses in his canonical letter. For he says: \"All things that are in the world are either the concupiscence of the flesh or the concupiscence of the eyes or the pride of life.\" The same are now and reign in the church, and in me of the church, that we may truly say: all things that are in the church are either concupiscence of the flesh or eyes or pride of life. And first, to speak of the pride of life, how much greed and appetite for honor and dignity is there nowadays in men of the church? How ravenously they run, almost out of breath, from one benefice to another: from the one to the other.\nLess to the more, from the lower to the higher? Who sees not this? Who sorrows not? More over these who are in the same dignities; the most part of them goes with such stately countenance and with so high looks that they seem not to be put in the humble bishopric of Christ but rather in the high lordship and power of the world, not knowing, nor adversing what Christ, the master of all meekness, said to his disciples whom he called to be bishops and priests: \"The princes of the people (says he) have lordship over them; and those that are in authority have power. But do you not so: but he that is greater among you, let him be the servant. He that is highest in dignity, be he the servant of all men. The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. By these words our Savior plainly teaches that the mastery in the church is nothing other than a ministry; and the high dignity in a man of the church, to be nothing other than\"\nthan a meke seruice.\nThe seconde secular euyll is car\u2223nall\nconcupiscence. Hath nat this\nvice so growen and waxen in the\nchurche as a fludde of their luste?\nso that there is nothyng loked fore\nmore diligently / in this moost besy\ntyme / of the most parte of prestes / \nthan that that dothe delite & please\nthe senses? They gyue them selfe\nto feastes and bankettynge: They\nspe\u0304de them selfe in vaine bablyng:\nThey gyue them selfe to sportes &\nplayes: They applye them selfe to\nhuntynge and haukynge. They\ndrowne them selfe in the delytes of\nthis worlde. Procurers & fynders\nof lustes they set by. Against ye whi\u00a6che\nkynde of men / Iudas the apo\u2223stle\ncrieth out in his pistel / sayeng:\nwo vnto them / whiche haue gone\nthe way of Cain: They ar foule &\nbestly festing in their meates with\u00a6out\nfeare fedyng them selfe: flud\u2223des\nof the wylde see / fomynge fo\u2223mynge\nout their confusions: vnto\nwhom the storme of darkenes is\nreserued for euerlastynge.\nCouetousnes is the thyrde secu\u2223lar\neuyll: the whiche saynt Iohn\u0304\nThe apostle calls concupiscence of the eyes: Saint Paul calls it idolatry. This abominable practice has so entered the mind of almost all priests and has blinded the eyes of the mind that we are blind to all things except those which seem to bring gain. For what other thing do we seek in the church nowadays than fat benefices and high promotions? And in the same promotions, of what other thing do we pass on, except our tithes and retes? That we care not how many, how chargeable, or how great benefices we take, so that they are of great value. O covetousness: Saint Paul justly called it the root of all evil. From it comes this heaping of benefices upon benefices: Of the so great pensions granted from many benefices resigned: Of all the suing for tithes, for offerings, for mortuaries, for delapidations, by the right and title of the church: For which thing we strive no less for our own life: O covetousness:\nOf the coming are these charming visitations of bishops, and the coming the corruption of courts, and these daily new inventions, wherewith the simple people are so sore vexed. Of the coming is the beastly and wanton behavior of officials. O covetousness, mother of all iniquity. Of the coming is this fierce study of ordinaries to extend their jurisdictions; of the coming this wood and rage contention in ordinaries, of the insinuation of testimonies, of the coming the undue sequestration of fruits, Of the coming the superstitious observing of all those laws that concerned any lucre, setting aside and disdaining those that concerned the amendment of manners. What should I rehearse the rest? To be short and to conclude at one word: All corruption, all the decay of the church, all the offenses of the world, come from the covetousness of priests. According to that of St. Paul, which here I repeat again and beat into your ears: Covetousness is the root of all evil.\nThe fourth secular evil that spots and makes the wicked favored in the face of the church is the continual secular occupation. In modern days, priests and bishops engage in this instead of serving God; warriors, rather of this world than of Christ. The apostle Paul writes to Timothy: No man being God's soldier should entangle himself with secular business. Their warfare is not carnal but spiritual. For our warfare is to pray, to read and study scriptures, to preach the word of God, to minister the sacraments of health, to do sacrifice for the people, and to offer hosts for their sins. For we are mediators and means unto God for men: The which Saint Paul witnesses, writing to the Hebrews: Every bishop taken from men is set apart for men in things that are God's, that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. Therefore, those apostles who were the first priests and bishops,\nThey abhorred all meddling of secular things so much that they would not minister the necessary food to poor people, although it was a great work of virtue. But they said, \"It is not meet that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. We will be continually in prayer and preaching the word of God.\" And St. Paul cried out to the Corinthians, \"If you have any secular business, order them to be judges who are most esteemed in the church.\" Without a doubt, from this secularity, and that clerks and priests (leaving all spiritual things), many evils follow. First, the dignity of priesthood is dishonored, which is greater than other kings or emperors. It is equal to the dignity of angels. But the brightness of this great dignity is greatly shadowed when priests are occupied with earthly things. Their conversation ought to be in heaven.\n\nSecondarily, priesthood is despised,\nWhen there is no distinction between such priests and lay people, according to the prophecy of Ozias. As the people are, so are the priests.\n\nThirdly, the beautiful order and holy dignity in the church is confused. Those at the highest in the church meddle with vile and earthly things, and in their place, vile and lowly persons exercise high and heavenly things.\n\nFourthly, the laity have great occasion for evil and cause to fall when those men whose duty it is to draw men from the affection of this world by their continual conversation in this world teach men to love this world and cast them down headlong into hell.\n\nMoreover, in such priests who are so beset, hypocrisy must necessarily follow. For when they are so mixed and confused with the laity, under the guise and habit of a priest, they live openly after the lay fashion. Also by spiritual weaknesses and bondage to fear, when they are made weak with the waters of this world, they:\n\n(Note: The text ends abruptly here.)\ndare neither do nor say, but such things that they know to be pleasing and thankful to their princes. At last, ignorance and blindness, when they are blinded with the darkness of this world, see nothing but earthly things. Therefore, our Savior Christ, not without cause, warned the prelates of his church: \"Take heed (said he), lest your hearts be grieved with gluttony and drunkenness, and with the cares of this world. With the cares (says he), of this world, wherewith the hearts of priests are sore charged, they can not hold and lift up their minds to high and heavenly things.\" Many other evils there are, besides those that follow from the secularity of priests, which were long to recount. But I make an end. These are the four evils that I have spoken of, O fathers, O priests, by which we are confirmable to this world, by which the face of the church is made evil-favored, by which the state of it is destroyed, truly much.\nIn the beginning, the church was troubled more than ever by the persecution of tyrants or the invasion of heretics. In the persecution of tyrants, the church was strengthened and brightened. In the invasion of heretics, the church was shaken, but became wiser and more cunning in holy writ. However, when secularity was brought in after this, and the secular manner of living crept into the men of the church, the root of all spiritual life, that is, charity, was extinct. Without this, there can neither be a strong nor genuine church in God.\n\nIn this time, we perceive contradiction among the laity. But they are not as contrary to us as we are to ourselves. Nor do their contradictions harm us as much as the contradictions of our evil life, which is contrary to both God and Christ. For he said, \"Whoever is not with me is against me.\"\n\nWe are also nowadays grieved by heretics, mad with maruelous errors.\n\"follyses: but the heresies of them are not so pestilent and pernicious to us and the people as the evil and wicked life of priests: which (if we believe St. Barnard), is a certain kind of heresy and chief of all, and most perilous. For that same holy father, in a certain convention, preaching to the priests of his time, in a certain sermon, said these words: There are many Catholic and faithful men in speaking and preaching, which are heretics in their works: For heretics, by evil teaching, lead the people out of the right way and bring them into error of life. And so much are they worse than heretics, how much their works prevail over their words. This St. Barnard showed plainly, against the sect of evil priests in his time, with these words:\"\nthe one to be persistent in teaching and the other in living unwisely; of which the latter is worse and more perilous: the one that reigns now in the church in priests / not living priestly but secularly / to the utter and miserable destruction of the church. Therefore, you fathers, you priests, and all of the clergy, at last look up and awake / from this your sleep in this forgetful world: And at last, being well awakened, here Paul crying out to you: Be you not conformed to this world. And this for the first part. Now let us come to the second. But be you reformed in the newness of your understanding. The second thing that Saint Paul commands is that we be reformed in a new understanding / that we smell those things that are of God. Be we reformed to those things / that are contrary to those I spoke of even now: that is to say / to meekness, sobriety, charity, spiritual occupation: That as you said Paul writes to Titus /\nRenyenge al wickednes & worldly\ndesires / we lyue in this worlde so\u2223berly / \ntruely / and vertuously.\nThis reformation and restoring\nof the churches estate muste nedes\nbegynne of you our fathers / and\nso folowe in vs your pristes / and\nin all the clergye. you are our hee\u2223des:\nyou are an example of liuing\nvnto vs. Unto you we loke as vn\u2223to\nmarkes of our directio\u0304. In you\nand in your lyfe we desyre to rede\nas in lyuely bokes / howe & after\nwhat facion we may lyue. wher\u2223fore\nif you wyll ponder and loke\nvpon oure mottis / fyrste take a\u2223waye\nthe blockes out of your eies.\nHit is an olde prouerbe: Phisition\nheale thy selfe. you spirituall phisi\u2223tions / \nfyrst taste you this medicine\nof purgation of maners: and tha\u0304\nafter offre vs the same to taste.\nThe waye / where by the churche\nmaye be reformed in to better fa\u2223cio\u0304 / \nis nat for to make newe lawis.\nFor there be lawes many / inowe / \nand out of nombre / as Salomon\nsaith: Nothyng is newe vnder the\nsonne. For the euils that are nowe\nin the church were before in time past: and there is no fault but that fathers have provided very good remedies for it. There are no transgressions but that there are laws against them in the body of the Canon law. Therefore it is no need that new laws and constitutions be made: but that those which are made all be ready, be kept. Wherefore in this your assembly, let those laws that are made be called before you and rehearsed. Those laws (I say) that restrain vice and those that further virtue. First let those laws be rehearsed which warn you, fathers, that you put not your hands on every maid or admit to holy orders too soon. For there is great evil that the broad gate of holy orders is opened to every man who offers himself, without pulling back. Therefore springs and comes out of the church both of the unlearned and evil priests. It is not enough for a priest (in my judgment), to construct a collarette, to\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Old English, but it is still readable and does not contain any major OCR errors. Therefore, no cleaning is necessary.)\nPut forth a question or answer to a sophomore: but much more, a good, pure, and holy life approved manners, metely learning of holy scripture, some knowledge of the sacraments. Chiefly and above all things, the fear of God, & love of the heavenly life. Let the laws be rehearsed that command that benefits of the church be given to those who are worthy, and that promotions be made in the church by the right balance of virtue, not by carnal affection, not by the acceptance of persons. Whereby it happens nowadays that boys for old men, fools for wise men, evil for good, do reign and rule. Let the laws be rehearsed that war against the spot of Simony. This corruption, this infection, this cruel and odious pestilence, which has crept abroad now, as the cankerworm in the minds of priests: that many of them are not afraid nowadays, both by prayer and service, rewards and promises, to get great dignities.\nLet the laws be recalled that command personal residence of curates in their churches. For this reason, many evils arise: because all things nowadays are done by vicars and parish priests, who are often foolish and unsuited, and frequently wicked, seeking nothing in the people but foul lucre, which leads to evil heresies and poor christendom in the population.\n\nLet the laws and holy rules given by the fathers be recalled concerning the life and honesty of clerks: which forbid a clerk to be a merchant, a usurer, a hunter, a common player, or to bear a weapon.\n\nThe laws that forbid clerks to frequent taverns, those that forbid them suspect familiarity with women. The laws that command soberness and moderation in apparel and adornment of the body.\n\nLet these laws also be recalled to my lords, monks, canons, and religious men, the laws that command them to go the straight way.\nThat leadeth to heaven: leaving the broad way of the world; that commandeth them not to trouble themselves in busyness, neither secular nor other. That commands,\n\nthat they sow not in princes courts for earthly things. For it is in the counsel of Calcidinens that monks ought only to give themselves to prayer and fasting, and to the chastising of their flesh, and observing of their rules.\n\nAbove all things let the laws be rehearsed, that pertain and concern you, my reverent fathers and lords, bishops, laws of your just and canonical election, in the chapters of your churches, with the calling of the holy ghost. For because it is not done nowadays, and because prelates are chosen often times more by favor of men than by the grace of God:\n\nTherefore truly have we not a few times bishops full little spiritual men, rather worldly than heavenly, savouring more of the spirit of this world than of the spirit of Christ. Let the laws be rehearsed of the election.\nResidence of bishops in their dioceses:\nThat they command and take heed to the health of souls. That they sow the word of God. That they show themselves in their churches at least on great holy days. That they sacrifice for their people. That they hear the causes and matters of poor men. That they sustain fatherless children and widows. That they exercise themselves in works of virtue.\n\nLet the laws be rehearsed concerning the good bestowing of Christ's patrimony. The laws that command that the church's goods be spent not in costly building, not in sumptuous apparel and pomp, not in feasting and banquetting, not in excess and wantonness, not in enriching of kin, not in keeping of dogs, but in things profitable and necessary to the church.\n\nFor when Saint Augustine, some time bishop of England, asked the pope Gregory, how bishops and prelates of England should spend their goods,\nThe offerings of faithful people were presented. The pope answered, and his response is recorded in the decrees, in the 12th chapter and second question. He stated that a bishop's goods should be divided into four parts: one part for the bishop and his household; another for his clerks; the third for maintaining and upholding his revenues; and the fourth for the poor people. Let the laws be recalled, you and I, and those that take away filth and uncleanness in courts; those that daily discover new crafts for gain; those that urge us to pull away this foul covetousness, which is the spring and cause of all evils, the well of all iniquity. Lastly, let the laws and constitutions of the fathers be renewed, which command provincial councils to be more frequently used for the reform of the church. For nothing is more harmful to the church of Christ than the lack of both general councils.\nAnd provincial. When these laws, and such other, are recited that are for us and concern the correction of manners, there is nothing lacking but that they be put into execution with all authority and power. Since we have a law, we should live according to the law. For this execution of the laws and observing of the constitutions must begin with you, so that you may teach us priests to follow you by living examples, or else truly it will be said of you, \"They lay grievous burdens upon other men's backs, and they themselves will not touch it with their little finger.\" For truly, if you keep the laws and first reform your life according to the rules of the Canon laws, then you shall give us light (in which we may see what is to be done on our part) - that is to say, the light of your good example. And seeing our fathers keeping the laws, we will gladly follow.\nThe clergies and spirituals, reformed in the church, may we proceed with a just order to the reform of the laity: the latter will be very easy to do if we are first reformed. For the body follows the soul, and such rulers who dwell in the city, like priests who have charge of souls, should be good: they will straighten the people. Our goodness shall teach them more clearly to be good than all other teachings and preachings. Our goodness shall compel them into the right way, more effectively than all your suspensions and cursing. Therefore, if you wish to have the lay people live according to your wishes, first live yourself according to God's will. And trust me, you shall get from them whatever you will. You will be obeyed by them, and rightly so. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, these are the words of St. Paul to the laity: \"Obey (he says) your rulers.\"\nBut if you want this obedience: first perform in you the reason and cause of obedience, which the said Paul teaches, and it follows in the text: Take heed also diligently, as though you should give an accounting for their souls, and they will obey you. You will be honored by the people: it is reasonable. For Paul writes to Timothy: priests who rule well are worthy of double honors, especially those who labor in word and teaching. Therefore, if you desire to be honored, first look that you rule well and labor in word and teaching, and then shall the people have you in all honor. You will reap their carnal things / and gather titles and offerings without any stirring: it is right. For Paul writes to the Romans: they are debtors, and ought to minister to you in carnal things. First sow your spiritual things: and then you shall reap plentifully their carnal things. For truly that:\n\"mah is very hard and unjust / that will reappear where he never did sow: and that will gather where he never scattered. You will have the churches' liberty / and not drawn before secular judges / and that is right. For it is in the Psalms. Touch not my anointed. But if you desire this liberty: first unloose yourself from worldly bondage / and from the services of men: and lift up yourself into the true liberty / the spiritual liberty of Christ / into grace from sins / and serve God / and reign in Him. And then (believe me), the people will not touch the anointed of their Lord God.\n\nYou would be out of business in rest and peace: and that is convenient. But if you will have peace come again / come again to the God of peace and love.\n\nCome again to Christ: in whom is the very true peace of the Spirit / which passes all understanding. Come again to yourself / and to your priestly living. And to make an end / as St. Paul says: Be you reformed in the newness of your mind.\"\nUnderstanding that you savor those things that are of God, and the peace of God shall be with you. These are the reverent fathers and righteous famous men whom I thought to be mentioned for the reform of the church's estate. I trust you will take them in your gentleness to the best. And if it be thought that I have exceeded my bounds in this sermon, or have said anything out of temper, forgive me. And forgive a man speaking with zeal to a man lamenting the decay of the church, considering the thing itself, not regarding any foolishness. Consider the miserable form and state of the church, and endeavor yourselves with all your minds to reform it. Suffer not fathers, this your great gathering, to depart in vain. Suffer not this your congregation to sleep for nothing. Truly, you are gathered often times, but (by your favor to speak the truth), yet I see not what fruit comes of your assembling, namely to the church.\nGo ye now in the spirit that you have called on, that by its help you may in this your council find out, determine, and order those things that may be profitable to the church, pray and honor to you, and honor and glory to God. To whom all honor and glory forevermore. Amen.\n\nPrinted by Thomas Berthelet, King's Printer. With privilege.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "I.\nWhat is this world? I think it be cursed. I would marry, if I dared. But I think since God was born, so many honest men never held the reins.\n\nSecretary.\nWhat is the matter? Are you in doubt?\nCalm your mode; let it come out.\nDischarge your stomach; avoid it forth.\nSorrow in store is nothing worth.\n\nI.\nYes, but take heed by the price, you have no loss. A merchant will give five marks for a goose.\n\nI. (Elizabeth Southwell)\nThen this trull, she who has a rolling eye\nAnd conveys it well and wisely,\nAnd to this has a varying thought,\nWill not be bought, you may trust.\n\nSecretary.\nYes, but beware by the price, you have no loss. A merchant will give five marks for a goose.\nBeware a rolling eye with wavering thought make it\nAnd such stuff pass not - a dandy pratt.\n\nShe that is very wanton and nasty\nThinking herself marvelously wise\nAnd will come to him that does her call\nWill she not wrangle for a fall?\n\nSecretary.\n\nYes surely - for a fall flat as a cake\nAnd cares not how many falls she takes\nThere is no fall that can make her lame\nFor she will be sure of the best game.\n\nShe that does make it all strange and quaint\nAnd looks as if she were a very saint\nIf a man in the dark does try her\nHas she any power to hold out nay? nay\n\nSecretary.\n\nHolde out - yes - or it is pitiful she was born\nA horse a wheel barrow and a Ram's horn\nIt the other thing come ye Wott what I mean\nFor all her holy looks she will convey it clean\n\nShe that doth love much dallying\nWith diverse men for fair speaking\nAnd thinks not on her own shame\nWill not this wild fool be made tame?\n\nYes with good handling as I say.\nYou shall reclaim her, and make her tame as ever was Turtyll,\nTo suffer kissing and tightly under the curtains.\n\nShe who is some what light on credence,\nAnd to make her fresh, large of expense,\nHow say you and her money does fail?\nWill she not pledge her tail?\n\nSecretary.\nYes, and if she is of that appetite,\nShe will pledge and sell out right,\nHead piece, tail piece, and all four quarters,\nTo one or other, rather than fail to carters.\n\nShe who loves to sit and muse,\nAnd craftily can excuse herself,\nWhen she is taken with a fault,\nWill she not be won with a small salt?\n\nWhat needs a salt? I dare say she will consent,\nThat you shall enter by a reasonable payment,\nAnd the keeping of this ward and hold,\nIs more danger to her in getting a thousand fold.\n\nShe who is of mind some what reckless,\nGiving herself all to idleness,\nAnd loves to lie long in her bed,\nWho waits his time, shall he not be sped?\n\nSecretary.\nShe who waits not in good humor,\nFor outside the church all times are good,\nBut do not linger there, though she says no,\nFor so she will when she has her best desire to play.\n\nShe who cannot keep counsel,\nAnd lightly weeps and wails,\nLaughs again and knows not why,\nWill she not soon be tired of folly.\n\nThe tears are tokens of a gracious disposition,\nAnd laugh,\nWhen she is in that state, mark it well,\nLet sleep, sparing not for one course in her park,\nShe will wash often or be shamed.\n\nShe who paints herself in starry apparel,\nUses hot wines and daily bids farewell,\nAnd loves to sleep at after noon time,\nWhoever believes she will not strive.\n\nI cannot say if she will strive.\nBut if reason offers nothing, nothing will follow, for truth, like frost, generates hay, Ease and rank feeding cause a lethargic tail. \u00b6End.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "The king our most dread sovereign lord, having always in his most blessed remembrance both the care and charge of his royal dignity and the present state of this his realm of England, and his subjects thereof, considers that in all places throughout this his realm of England, idlers and beggars have long increased and daily do increase in great and excessive numbers, due to idleness, the mother and root of all vices: whence have arisen and spring up, and continue to arise and spring, continual thefts, murders, and other various heinous offenses and great enormities to the high displeasure of God, the disturbance and injury of his true and faithful subjects, and to the detriment of the whole common wealth of this his said realm. And where many and various good laws, statutes, and ordinances have been devised and made before this time, both by his highness and by diverse his most noble predecessors, kings of England,\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Middle English, but it is still largely readable. No major corrections are necessary beyond removing unnecessary formatting and modernizing some spelling.)\nfor the most necessary and due reformation of the following: yet that notwithstanding, the named numbers of vagabonds and beggars, are not seen to be minimized but daily to be increased and enlarged into great numbers and companies. Which his grace evidently perceives to occur, for as much as his said laws, statutes, and ordinances are not from time to time put into effective execution, according to his grace's expectation, pleasure, and commandment: His highness therefore willing to declare to all his subjects, his most godly and virtuous purpose, and perseverance in the persecution, correction and reformation of that most damnable vice of idleness, chief subverter and confounder of commonwealths, therefore wills and strictly commands all justices of the peace, mayors, sheriffs, constables, burghers, tithing men, and other his ministers, as they will avoid his high indignation and displeasure, that if they or any of them:\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Early Modern English, and there are some minor spelling errors and missing letters that have been corrected in the above text for the sake of readability.)\nIf you find any vagabond or mighty beggar, man or woman, within two days after this proclamation is published, in the hundred where they were born or in the town or place where they last dwelt for three years prior, and they have not demanded a letter to convey themselves to the said hundred or overseers' place and are on their journey there within the said two days, then the justices and ministers and each of them shall cause the said vagabonds and beggars and each of them to be stripped naked, except for those of great age or sick people and women with child. After being beaten in the manner described above, they shall be given a whip or letter.\nThe form appearing at the end of this proclamation: And the said schedule or bill be signed with the hand of the justice, mayor, sheriff, constable, burgher, tithing man, or other minister, by whose commandment the said vagabond or beggar was whipped or scourged. And in case that any of them cannot write, then the same bill to be signed by one of the best and most substantial inhabitants nearby. And if it happens that the person beaten in the aforementioned form is subsequently found in the same place as a vagabond or beggar, then he or she is to be taken and subsequently beaten and scourged as aforementioned: And so from time to time, and as often as they shall happen to be taken outside of the place allotted to them by the statute. Moreover, if any of the aforementioned vagabonds or mighty beggars, whipped in the aforementioned form, dwell in any place longer than a dinner time or the space of one night.\nUntil they reach the said place of their appointed habitation, being not overly sick or hurt, they shall then be whipped and ordered as before written. Apparently, if any vagabond or mighty beggar, being taken, will affirm that he was recently whipped, and cannot produce a certificate or bill signed, as mentioned before; he shall, notwithstanding his said affirmation, be stripped naked and examined by the Justice, or some of the ministers named above. And if it clearly appears to them by the marks on his body that he has been fully scourged or beaten, they shall then allow him to depart without further harm, with a bill signed by them, mentioning where and at what time he was beaten. And if they find no marks or signs of scourging or beating on his body, they shall then have him whipped or scourged and further ordered as before written. Furthermore, the King's majesty commands all Justices of the peace, mayors, sheriffs, constables, and burghers.\nThe men, including the tethyngmen, and other ministers, set aside all vain excuses, and devoted themselves with all their power, study, and diligence, to put the aforementioned ordinance into effectual execution without delay. They also pledged to keep their marches and searches in accordance with the laws and statutes of the realm, and in accordance with instructions previously made and distributed by the king and his honorable council, and sent to them by his grace, to be carried out properly: They would answer to the king for this at their utmost peril.\n\nGod save the king.\n\nThomas Bert, regina.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "The Chronicles of England and of various other realms: briefly compiled with the pictures and arms of all the kings of England since the Conquest.\n\nAfter the destruction of Troy, Eneas, with his son Ascanius, was born to his wife, Dido, or Sylvius, as he was also called. Sylvius was the king of Alba. He was also called the son of Lavinia, Ascanius' son to Eneas, or Crusa was the king of the Latins. There are various opinions, but all writers agree that Ascanius was the king of Latium next after Eneas, and that Sylvius reigned next Ascanius, and was the third king of Latium after King Latinus, from whom Romulus first built the city of Rome and took its name, as will appear in the process of this work.\n\nAnd also of the beginning of the inhabitation of this realm of England, sometimes called Britain, and before it Albion, there are various opinions we read in the English chronicle. One of them is:\nDiocles' wives were complained to their father by whom they were all summoned together. He reprimanded them fiercely, but they became even more defiant. That very night, in anger, they all killed their husbands and cut their throats. Diocles was so enraged that he intended to put them all to death, but, with the advice of his counsel, he refrained and put them all on a ship in the sea. No one else was with them except the eldest sister, Albyon. Afterward, the devil taking the form of a man in other countries, came and lay with those women here and begot monstrous Giants from them, which they continued to bear until the coming of Brute. However, this story seems more marvelous than true. Though it has continued in England and is accepted as truth among Englishmen, other people therefore laugh at us for it. And I, too, marvel in my mind why men having any good sense would believe it.\nNatural reason will give credence to this, for no man can tell who is the author of this story or from what country it should come, nor of any writer in this land who ever wrote about it. We read in no histories of any such king in Syria, or of anything like this. It is not only unlikely that a great king should have thirty-two daughters all married at one time, but also that there should be thirty-two kings married at one time. And it is very unlikely that all those women should be of such evil disposition and at one time so cruelly minded to do such an abominable deed. Among all these, there should at least be one of those sisters somewhat disposed to goodness and refraining from doing such a cruel deed. And it is very unlikely that such a ship coming from so far away should never touch land until it reached here, considering the course is so long.\nAbove, three or four miles by sea, and various other lands and Iles between, and also the passage is so narrow and dangerous that they must necessarily come through many strange sights on the quart or Map of the World. And also it does not stand with good faith or reason that the devil should generate such women, for if the devil had such power, why should he not now have like power at this day, of which we see no such generation? And also, if the devil had such power, I see not why those children so generated should be Giants and exceed all others in greatness, considering that the seed and the place where it was sown was no other but such where children are begotten at this day. Therefore, I suppose it is nothing but a feigned fable that this land should be called Albion for that cause. But yet other writers of histories there are, who say that this land was first called Albion, because of the white cliffs and rocks at Douver which are seen far in a bright day.\nBut furthermore, this land was named Britteyn, according to various opinions. One theory is that Brute, son of Silius, son of Ascanius, son of Aeneas, who came from Troy, was the first to inhabit this land, where there were no people except for Giantesses. This is indicated by King Henry II's book, around the year 1570. In his prologue, he dedicated his book to Robert Earl of Gloucester, his uncle, affirming in the same prologue that one Water Archiepiscopus of Oxford brought him an old book written in the British language, which he translated into Latin. The name of the book or its author is unknown, but the oldest known writing about it is the book of the Commentaries of Julius Caesar, which indicates that Caesar himself wrote it during the time he conquered this land.\nThe subject of the Romans, which was the 49th year before the birth of Christ, in which he took great pains to describe the realm, revealing its form and extent, the number of miles it contained every way, the great rivers, and the manner of use of the people. He speaks nothing of Brutus nor, for all that is said, of Geoffrey of Monmouth. However, various learned men think it is unlikely or even impossible that this land of Britain should have been so deserted without people until the supposed time of Brutus' coming. Considering that the rocks and mountains around it are so great and constantly visible to the Gauls, and the distance so small, and the sea so narrow that it can be sailed in less than three hours, and this country of Britain is so small:\nThe text is largely readable and does not contain meaningless or unreadable content. No translation is required as the text is in Early Modern English, which is still largely comprehensible in modern English. No OCR errors are apparent.\n\nThe text appears to be a commentary on the authenticity of Geoffrey of Monmouth's \"History of the Kings of Britain,\" which is referred to as the \"story of Galfridus.\" The author expresses uncertainty about the veracity of the story but acknowledges its popularity and decides to recount it in his work.\n\nTherefore, the cleaned text is:\n\nThe people of Gallia were likely to come over because of fishing or the desire for knowledge of the land and to make some habitation there, rather than allowing it to be all desolate and unknown until the coming of Brutus. Some men at this day there believe that the story of Geoffrey of Monmouth is but a feigned fable, supposing that because he was a Welshman, he would fabricate the story solely for the pride of his country. We read of no writer of stories before his day who ever wrote or spoke of Brutus or made it of any merit. Yet, not without study, I will not deny the story of Geoffrey nor precisely affirm it, though many men suppose it to be but a feigned story. In this little work, I will not refuse to rehearse it, not only for the cause that I would have every man precisely to believe it, but because it is the same.\nA man may read many notable examples of diverse noble princes who wisely and virtuously governed their people, serving as an example for present-day princes and for those reading the same. One may also read in the same how the stroke of God fell upon people through battle, darkness, or death due to their vices and misrule. I shall briefly recount the aforementioned story as follows.\n\nRegarding the origin of the Frenchmen, the common opinion among them is that they were first called Sicambri and that they descended from Ector of Troy, that is, from Francus or Francion, the son of Ector. After the destruction of Troy, Francus came to Gaul and married the daughter of Rhemus, king of Gaul. However, I shall leave this matter here for now, as it does not appear relevant to the process at hand.\nI cannot affirm or deny this opinion, but I shall repeat it according to the common belief among them. Regarding a clearer explanation of this present work, those who wish to read it should note that before the birth of Christ, the names of the kings of Alba, from whom the Romans descend, are at the highest part of this book. The Romans are always at the highest part, and the names of the Britons or English are in the middle, and the names of the Frisians are below them. After the birth of Christ, the names of the popes are at the highest part of this book above the Romans, and then the English or Britons, and below them are the Frisians. Next are the dukes of Brabant and Flanders, and afterwards the Normans are the lowest of all, as it will more plainly appear by their lines and letters which are well marked and will direct you accurately from one to another.\n\nCapys Silvius, son of Silvius Aulus, was the next king of the Latins and Alba. It is said that he built Capua, the great city.\nChampyan, according to some writers, was originally called Capetus Silius. Capetus Silius, son of Capys, was the next king of the Latins and Albans. Tiberinus Silius, son of Capetus, was the next king of the Latins and Albans. He was drowned in the waters of Tiber, from which some affirm that the water took his name.\n\nAgrippa Silius, son of Tiberinus, was the next king of the Latins and Albans. Aremulus Silius, son of Agrippa, was the next king of the Latins and Albans. He was slain in a tempest by lightning and thunder.\n\nAuentinus Silius, son of Aremulus, was the next king of the Latins and Albans. He was slain and buried on Mount Aventinus. Some say that the hill took his name, but others say it took its name from a flight of certain birds coming over it, which they called in Latin \"adventu Aventinus.\"\n\nProcas Silius, son of Auentinus, was the next king of the Latins and Albans. Amulius Silius, the younger son of Procas, was the next king of Albans. He expelled his elder brother Numitor and slew his son Lansus. He forced his daughter Rhea to become a nun of such an order that if she broke her vows, she would be punished severely.\nHer virginity she should have forfeited, but she was not, for she was with child by an unknown man and had two children at birth. These children were later called Romulus and Remus. Rehea was caused to be burned alive, and the two infants were cast into the Tiber river. However, they were saved and found alive by a shepherd named Faustulus, who raised them until they grew up. These children then slew Amulius.\n\nEbrank, called Menrissus to the men, he conquered Frauca and won great treasure. He returned and built a city called Eboracum, now called York, and built Edinburgh castle.\n\nBrutus, called Viridus, son of Ebrank, reigned for thirty years.\n\nLeile, son of Brutus, reigned next. In his time, Salomon built the temple of Jerusalem. Leile reigned for twenty-two years.\n\nLudibras, son of Leile, reigned after him. He built the cities of Canterbury, Winchester, and Shaftesbury. He reigned for thirty years.\n\nBladud.\nSon of Ludibras, he next founded the city of Bath. He was a great practitioner of necromancy, and by this art, he created the hot baths there. Other clerics hold a contrary opinion, attributing them naturally arising from the ground, as there are many such in Darbyshire at Boxstone and many others in Italy and various other lands. Some philosophers hold that the cause is this: whatever there is a perpetual hot fume which continually comes out of the earth. Many of the hot fumes are formed by its power, and because the hot fume and spring are both perpetual, the perpetually hot bath of water must be perpetually hot. But whether men will believe the history or the philosophers, every man is free to decide. Bladud reigned for twenty-one years.\n\nAfterward, Leycet was founded as a town by Bladud. He had three daughters: Genoril, who said she loved him better than her life, and Rogane, who also declared her love for him.\nThis text appears to be written in Middle English, and it seems to be a passage from a medieval story. I will make some corrections to improve readability while preserving the original content as much as possible. I will also remove unnecessary line breaks and other meaningless characters.\n\nhym (passing all creatures & the three daughters named Cordell) said that she loved him as she ought to love her father. He therefore married his eldest daughter to the king of Scotland and the second to the earl of Cornwall, disregarding his youngest daughter. Nothing was given to Cordell as a dowry. King Agamemnon spoke of Cordell's beauty and goodness, took her as his wife, despite her father's lack of a dowry. After this, Leir sojourned with his eldest daughter for a while, accompanied by forty knights and squires, waiting on him until she grew weary of him. He then departed and went to his other daughter in Cornwall, where he sojourned for a long time until she also grew weary of him. He then departed promptly to France to his youngest daughter, who received him lovingly. When King Agamemnon learned how unkindly his two daughters served him, he sent him back with his daughter and a retinue of people. They had a strong battle, and Leir emerged victorious.\nHad his load again and lived after the death of Aeneas for three years, and reigned for forty.\n\nPyramid, after the death of Cicamber, was the next king of Cicambria. After him succeeded one Hector and others, as the line and pedigree above show, according to the French opinion.\n\nRomulus and Remus were brethren and should have the primacy.\n\nNuma Pompilius, a Sabine born, was the next king of Rome. Because there was often discord between the Romans and Sabines, it was agreed that both countries should be as one, and the king to be chosen by the election and agreement of both people. Numa, so chosen, governed the people in such a manner that he was without any war during his life, wherefore the Romans increased marvelously both in strength and riches.\n\nTullius Hostilius, a Roman, was next chosen king. He made war against the Albans and subdued the king called Caius Civilius.\n\nAncus Marcius, son to Numa, was the next king of Rome. He annexed to the city of Rome the mountains Aventine and Iamcule, and was the first that built the bridge over the Tiber.\nTarquinius Priscus, born in Tarquia, was chosen as the next king of Rome by the senate. He greatly fortified the city of Rome and gave his daughter in marriage to Servius Tullius. Servius Tullius was the next king, not elected by the consent of all the people but only once. The proud son of Tarquinius Priscus was the next king of Rome. He was the first to usurp power and take it upon himself to rule without the people's or patricians' election. This Tarquinius Superbus had a son named Sextus Tarquinius, who raped Lucrece, wife of Tarquinius Collatinus. Lucrece, feeling unworthy to lie with her husband again due to this violation of her will, and in an attempt to purge herself, took her own life with a knife for an eternal memory of the cruel act committed by Sextus Tarquinius. For this heinous deed, the Romans overthrew the monarchy.\n\nCordelia, the daughter of Leir, ruled the land next after her father.\nyeris and the meanwhile, King Amrap of France died. However, the chronicles of France disagree.\n\nMorgain and Conedag were sons to the other two sisters. They quarreled over Cordell and, at last, they fought between them. After Conedag slew Morgain, he reigned for thirty-nine years at a place now called Glamorgan in Wales and died.\n\nRiwallus succeeded Conedag and governed well. In his time, it rained for three days, and after that, great death of people followed. He had reigned for twenty-two years when he died and is buried at York.\n\nGurgucius succeeded Riwallus. He was a meek and courteous man and reigned for seven years. He lies at York.\n\nSisillius succeeded next, but he died as soon as he had taken the crown.\n\nYago.\n\nPorex and Ferox strove for the land, but Porex slew his brother. Therefore, his mother, Idonea, called him with her maidens when he was asleep and cut him into pieces. After that, the land was divided into four kingdoms: one was called Stater, king of Scotland; another, Dawaller, king of Logiers; another, Rudak, king of Wales; and another, Cloten.\nThe history speaks little of the reigns of the French kings up to the time of Magius.\n\nLucius Junius Brutus and Tarquinius Collatinus were the first consuls chosen in Rome, but Tarquinius Collatinus was soon expelled due to the Romans' hatred towards the name Tarquinius. Publius Valerius Publicola was then made consul in his place.\n\nPublius Valerius Publicola, being consul, made war against Tarquinius Superbus and killed over 16,000 of his people for which victory he was the first consul of the Romans. This dictator was changeable every half year, and sometimes after every third year, as some writers affirm, and sometimes every five years. When his years were past and he had relinquished his authority, he was then answerable to all bills and complaints that any of the people could bring against him, and punished for every act contrary to justice. Therefore, there was always such good and impartial justice used among the Romans that the whole world spoke of it.\nThe honorable execution of good and impartial justice caused them to grow in riches and power above any people in the world. It would be beneficial if this were still practiced in the present law or if one were removable from office every four or five years or less, and answer to all complainants who should be brought against him, and be punished for every offense he had committed in his tenure. Then there would not be so much extortion and oppression of the poor people nor so many injuries as there are now. The first Dictator in Rome was called Largius, and with him another was chosen to be master of the militia, the first of whom was called Spurius Cassius. After this, another Dictator was chosen, who was called Quintus Cincinnatus. An husbandman, he was, who, as he was drying his cart, was required by the senate to take on the dignity of Dictator. He refused, but they eventually compelled him to do so.\nQuintus Cincinatus and Lucius Tarquinius, who were elected captains of the cavalry, gained a great victory against their enemies. But Quintus Cincinatus claimed all the praise and prizes for the men at war, reserving nothing for himself.\n\nDuwallo, son of Clotechus, was a brave and fair man, surpassing his father in all respects. After his father's death, Duwall slew Stator and Rudac in open battle and seized the entire land. He was the first to be crowned with a golden crown in Britain and established various laws, one of which was that no one should harm him but he could go to any country of his choice afterwards. He reigned for forty years and lies at New Troy.\n\nBelinus and Brenius, sons of Duwallo, reigned jointly next. They went to Germany, Lombardy, and Rome and gained victories. They took hostages and made the Romans tributaries. Galfridus wrote about this, and after that, they returned to Britain.\nBrenne, an earl, was outside the land / One Danish king, named Beynis, was driven by tempest to the shores of Northumberland. He became Brenne's man and did him homage with oath and writing, granting him the right to hold his land, yielding a certain tribute annually. These agreements were upheld and paid to one Hanalech, another Danish king. This Brenne founded the town of Bristowe and named Bylingisgate after himself. After reigning for forty-one years, he died. His body was cremated, and his ashes were placed in a golden vessel and set atop the tower he had built at Bylingisgate.\n\nNext, Gurguncius ruled after Beynis, a good and worthy man. He sailed to Denmark and killed King Guthlac because he failed to pay the tribute. Gurguncius then conquered the land again. As he returned to guard Britain, according to Galfridus' writings, he encountered thirty shepherds on the sea with men and women who had been banished from Spain and sought a new place to dwell. Gurguncius sent his people to aid them.\nthem and led them to Ireland, which was then waste and gave him that land which took it from his gift and became his tributaries. He reigned for 25 years. Guitelinns succeeded Gurgucius. He wedded a wife named Marcia, who was very wise in all things. She made the British laws, called the March laws, and he reigned for 26 years. Sisilius, son of Sisillius, succeeded. Kymaurus, son of Sisilius, succeeded next. Dauius, brother of Cyrmor, reigned next for 10 years. Magius was king of Cicambe. Also, shortly after this, Marcus Regulus and Lucius Mallius made war against Hasdrubal in Africa and had victory, killing many people and bringing 27,000 prisoners to Rome. Therefore, the Carthaginians required peace and could not obtain it. Therefore, the war continued, and after Marcus Regulus was discovered, Hannibal was made duke of Africa and came with a great number of people against the Romans into Italy. In a remarkable great battle there, he had the victory and slew of the Romans so many that the golden ring, it was said, was filled with their ears.\nScipio, as consul of Rome, drew from the fingers of the dead three bushels full. After this, Scipio, as consul of Rome, marched into Africa against Hannibal and in a battle avenged the Carthaginians, killing around 200,000 horsemen and taking almost as many prisoners. He subdued Carthage to the city of Rome, hence he was called Scipio Africanus. At this time, the Romans were remarkably strong. They sent various consuls to various provinces to make war and to make the people subjects and tributaries to Rome. They had no king or overpriced prices nor governors but consuls and a dictator removable. This order continued until the time of Gaius Julius Caesar.\n\nGaius Julius Caesar, as consul, was sent to Gaul. He subdued the people there who lived without a king and only under certain lords in every town and city by themselves. He made them subjects to Rome. He also subdued Ariovistus, king of Germany, and made the country subject to Rome. He also crossed the sea and came into great Britain but.\nThere arriving, he had lost many of his ships and much people against home. Cassibelanus, being king, made sharp war against him. Whether it was due to a lack of purians or vitell or a lack of power, he was eager to return again to Gaul. But the next year after he came again with a strong power and overcame Cassibelan. He made the land tributary to Rome, paying annually to the Romans. Three months, two years after that, Julius returned to Gaul and, having made the whole country subject to Rome, he sent a requirement to Rome requesting a new consulship be granted to him. This was denied by Marcus Licinius Crassus, through the means of Pompey. He was also forbidden from entering Rome with the size and number of his army. Julius, however, entered Rome with his army in triumph and great pomp. Immediately, he was called Dictator perpetuus and made himself emperor and Caesar. He made great war against his enemies, the Senators, and slew Pompey and various others.\nWith it in Verulus because he took her to give certain romes and offices which were accustomed to be given by the people, and since he was so minded that he would make no removal from his siege nor concealment of salutation when the Senators approached him, the Senators therefore conspired against him and in the council house killed him with daggers.\n\nHeli, son of Dignellius, reigned next, and had three sons: Lud, Cassibelan, and Ne.\n\nCassibelan, brother to Lud, was such a good man and so well beloved that he was chosen king next because Lud's sons were so young that they could neither go nor speak. But the king afterward made Androgues earl of London and Tenedius earl of Cornwall.\n\nIn his time, Iulius Caesar, who later became emperor of Rome, came into Britain with a great power of Romans. However, Cassibelan and Androgues had a dispute, and after Iulius came again, as Geoffrey writes, he overcame Cassibela and made him a gift.\n\nGodfrey, son of Menapius, was then present.\nsole kyng of tongres aft ye deth of his brethern leo & the ri\u00a6uer of ryne & payd yerly a rau\u0304so\u0304 to Rome to saue his broder Clodiak his lyfe yt was there prisoner \u2234 \u00b6Charl{is} ynach de{per}tid fro\u0304 his fad godfrey i\u0304to archadia & yer liuid i\u0304 warr{is} vnddought to charl{is} inach & to o\u0304 swayn sist to Iuli{us} cesar was maried to on Salui{us} braba\u0304 to who\u0304 Iuli{us} gafe ye co\u0304trey of braba\u0304 by who\u0304 it toke furst ye name / & so e byrth of cryste he maried ye doughter of Epitogrus duke of Turynge & succedyd hym as duke \n \u00b6Octauian Cesar Augustus of whom the e\u0304{per}ours toke the name of August{us} son to Cai{us} Octaui{us} & Athia doughter to Iulia sister to Iuli{us} Cesar was next made em{per}our / In the .xlii. yere of his e\u0304pyre Ihesu Cryste the so\u0304 of God & seco\u0304d {per}son in Trinite took ma\u0304nis nature & was borne in the cyte of Bedlem in Iury of the virgyn Mary / Con\nIhesu Cryste.\nIohn\u0304 Baptyst.\n& dispisi\u0304g war all contrary to the mi\u0304dis of the gret kingis & gouernours of the romai\u0304s & sich oyer / but he\ndyspise all worldly honor, contend and seek, and urge every man to love his enemy and do good for yourselves.\n\nFive motifs existed before the birth of John the Baptist. A marvelous holy man lived in the wilderness, baptizing the people and preaching the coming of Christ. John himself was baptized by Christ. Jesus Christ, while on earth, had many disciples, but among them He chose particularly twelve: Peter, Andrew, John, James the elder, Thomas, James the younger, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon, Judas, and Judas Iscariot. But this Judas betrayed His master, Jesus, and sold Him to the Jews for thirty pieces of silver after the ascension of Christ. The apostles chose Matthias in the place of Judas, and the twelve after the death of Christ spread the word in various countries and converted the people to Christ's faith.\n\nTenenius the Second, son of Lydarius, governed well for eight years. Kibelmus, son of Tenenius, reigned next. In his time, Jesus Christ was born from the Virgin Mary.\ncreation of the world, 539 BC.\nFrancus, the second, was the first king of the Franks, son of Ancharius, leader of the Gauls, and descended from the Ausonian line of Francus, son of Ector of Troy. The Gauls, after abandoning the city of Gaul in Hungary, came and dwelt near the Rhine, now called Germany and Holland. Look at Julius Caesar's commentaries. He had many victories against the Romans and Gauls. He built a bridge over the Meuse River and went to Gaul, killing about 1 million people. They called him king of the Franks. But some called them the Gallic-Germans, and some the Franks. This Francus reigned for 28 years. Look at Hannibal.\nClovis, son of Francus, was the next king of the Franks. He waged war against Tiberius, who ruled after him.\nSaint Peter was born in Bethsaida and came to Rome.\nSaint Andrew, brother to Saint Peter, was the first disciple to Saint John the Baptist and later one of the apostles of Christ. He went to Greece and preached the gospels, and there he was martyred.\nI. John the Evangelist was taken by one Eygas. He went into India and converted many people. After being brought to Rome by the commandment of Domycella, he was put in a vessel of boiling oil and came out unharmed. From there, he was banished to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse.\n\nII. James, the brother of St. John the Evangelist, went to Spain and preached. He later returned to Judea and was killed by Herod.\n\nIII. Thomas preached to the Parthians and Medes. He went to a place where he was martyred and killed by spears.\n\nIV. James the Less was the first bishop of Jerusalem. He was cast down from the top of the temple and martyred, dying as a result.\n\nV. Philip preached in Syria and converted almost all the country. He was crucified.\n\nVI. Bartholomew was new to the king of Syria. He preached in Lycaonia and India. He later came to a city in Armenia with an army and converted the king, the queen, and twelve cities in the country. However, he was taken by the enemy.\nAstiagius, King Herod's brother, ordered his swift execution. Matthew the apostle and evangelist wrote the Gospel in Hebrew and preached in Egypt. He was chosen bishop of Jerusalem by the apostles after the death of James the Less, where he was crucified at the age of about twenty.\n\nSymeon was similar to Christ. He was chosen bishop of Jerusalem by the apostles after James the Less's death. Iudas Thaddaeus preached in Edessa and Mesopotamia, and was killed in Armenia.\n\nMatthias was chosen apostle in place of Judas Iscariot and preached in Judea. However, the Jews stoned him to death and beheaded him.\n\nTiberius, son of Livia, who was Octavian's wife, came next. He was a man of great literature and never made war in his own person but under his commanders.\n\nGaius Caligula succeeded next. He was a vicious man and desired to be worshipped as a god.\n\nGaius Guiderius, next in line, was a mighty man and of high heart. He denied (it).\nClaudius, the Roman emperor, came to King Egberht with a great Roman army and changed King Hama and a Roman named Hamond's armies. Hamond, the king's brother, treacherously slew him. After this, Aureligus, the king's brother, slew Hamond and cast him into a water that was henceforth called Hamond's Haven, now Southampton. Claudius waived the tribute to Rome, except for fealty. This Claudius built the town of Gloucester.\n\nHerimerus, the king of the Frisians, was next made king of the Frisians in the fifteenth year after the birth of Christ. In his time, the Gauls made great war against the Frisians and destroyed much of their country. Therefore, Herimerus gathered a marvelous great number of Frisians and entered into Gaul and destroyed the country and made their lords and dukes subject to him.\nfrenchmen / but yet lastly this herymer{us} was sleyn in ye seyd warris. \u00b6Marcomer broder to herymer{us} was next ki\u0304g of fre\u0304chme\u0304 ye yere of cryst .xxxii. he had many battellis agayns the romayns & gallys / In his tyme Ihesu Cryst sufferyd passyon & was Crusefyed. \u00b6Clodomer so\u0304 of Marcomer was next ki\u0304g of fre\u0304ch me\u0304 In his time yer aperid .iii. so\u0304i\u0304s i\u0304 ye firmame\u0304t which a lityll & lytill ioynyd all i\u0304 to one / aft ye yer was gret derth i\u0304 all Europa & gret deth of me\u0304 & bestis yis Clodomar passid ye reuers of rine & meuze & had gret war agai\u0304s ye gallis with victory to his honor.\n\u00b6Seynt Peter the appostell born i\u0304 galely cam to rome ye seco\u0304d yere of ye reyne of ye e\u0304{per}oure Clau\u2223di{us} & ye yere from the byrth of Ihesu cryste .xliiii. wher he held the se .xxv. yere fro\u0304 ye time of Claudi{us} to the tyme of the e\u0304{per}our Nero which put to deth both hym & sei\u0304t paul but sei\u0304t Peter in his lyfe co\n \u00b6Claudius son of Drusyus which was broder to Tyberius & vncle to Calygula was the v. em{per}our fro\u0304 the\nbyrth of Christ. XLIIII. year / He came into Britain, now called England, and slew King Guiderius. Nero, son of Claudius, was the VI emperor from the birth of Christ. LVI year / He was the most tyrannical and cruel of all emperors / He slew his mother to discover where he was concealed / He slew his master Seneca, Lucius Senators / He burned a great part of Rome for his pleasure / He perpetrated the first persecution against Christians and put to death St. Peter and St. Paul / He fled from the people who rose in insurrection against him / And finally, therefore, he killed himself.\n\nGalba came after that.\n\nOtto was the VIII emperor. He won three battles against Vitellius / In the fourth, he was put to flight. Therefore, in despair, he killed himself after ruling for three months.\n\nVitellius was the next emperor in the year of Christ. LXXII. He was taken by the people of Vaspicas and killed, and cast into the Tiber.\n\nVaspicas was the next emperor. He besieged the city of Jerusalem.\nLast, Titus, son of the king, was at the siege and afterward went to Rome, where he died.\n\nArthur, the younger son of Cunobeline and brother to Guidar, reigned over the Britons in the year of Christ 444. He was a hardy and wise man; he built cities and towns and subdued the people through good laws and justice. All greatly feared and loved him. He refused to pay tribute and fealty to Rome. Therefore, Vespasian was sent from Rome into Britain with a great power, whom Arthur encountered in open battle near Oxford. Many could not tell who had the victory. But on the morrow, peace was made through the mediation of Queen Guisess, and Arthur submitted himself to the empire and was greatly beloved by the entire senate, ruling the land through such good laws that all Europe spoke of him with honor.\n\nAthenor, son of Clodomir, was the next king of the Franks in the year of Christ 562. He built a bridge over the Meuse River to pass into Gaul, but when his people were exhausted, the bridge broke, and many of his people were drowned. Therefore, the galleys (galley ships) were unable to cross.\nAthenor, a noble and hardy man, was next in line for the position of freeman in the year 458 AD. He had defeated his lord from the Gauls and made peace in the year 399 AD. He led a wide-ranging campaign against the Saxons and slew 20,000 of them. His jockey was called Sono and was made duke and prince of a great number of people who inhabited the land now called Gaul.\n\nSono had a son called Clodomer, who built the town of Frankford.\n\nIulius Claudius, called Charlemagne, was made duke of Toulouse and Charlemagne in the year 442 AD, 57 years after the birth of Christ. A senator of Rome named Antonius with his companion Granius fled to the forest of Ardean and built a holy palisade, which is called the Vatican.\n\nCletus, a Roman, was next made pope in the year 76 AD. He held the see for 12 years during the reign of Titus and Domitian, who put him to death.\n\nCletus, a Roman, was next made pope in the year 1173 AD.\nand held the see for 5 years and 2 months, in the time of Nero and Trojan, and was martyred.\nAnaclete, a Greek, held the see in the time of Trojan, but the stories make no mention of how long and was martyred.\nEuaryst, a Greek, held the see for 9 years and 10 months in the time of Trojan; he ordered that the clerics should be neither bearded nor long-haired, and after was martyred.\nAlexander, a Roman, held the see for 10 years and 7 months, from the time of Trojan to the time of Adrian, under whom he was martyred.\nTytus, son to Vespasian, was next Emperor in the year of Christ 77. He destroyed the city of Jerusalem, where 612,000 Jews were slain and a 100,000 taken prisoners and sold; and some write that 1,100,000 were slain. Then the kingdom of the Jews decayed and was destroyed.\nDomitian, son to Vespasian and brother to Titus, was next Emperor. He was a great tyrant and did the second persecution against the Christian men and beheaded St. John the Evangelist on the isle of Patmos.\nNero was next emperor.\nHe annulled the acts of Domician and then John from Patmos came to Ephesus.\n\nTroianus, his son Adopting to Nero, was the next emperor in the year of Christ 68. He carried out the third persecution of Christians. This Troianus was called the best and most righteous and impartial judge of all emperors. It is said that Saint Gregory prayed for his salvation long after his death. By God's special grace, he was delivered from hell and saved, according to some belief.\n\nMaurus, his son, was made next king of Britain in the year of Christ 116. In his time, Roderyk came to Britain with a great number of people called Picts, who were named Gotes in ancient times. But Maurus gave him battle immediately and slew him in Westmoreland at Staneway. The people who fled made a humble request to Maurus, who accepted them to his grace and gave them a vast country in the farthest end of Scotland called Clydesdale but the Britons refused to give their daughters in marriage to them.\ntherefore they acquainted the Irishmen and married their daughters. Therefore, the land as it appears in Policraticus was first called Ireland, and afterward Pictavia, and lastly Scotland. After this, Maurus continued in love with the Romans and paid tribute to Rome, ruling Britain doing good justice, and afterward died and lies at Carlisle. Therefore, that country was called France for a while, and afterward Marcomere, named after the duke Marcomere, who had a son called Brandon, who built the town of Brandenburg. One of Elizabeth's emperors of the day bears his name from it.\n\nOdimer, son of Rychemer, was king of the Frenchmen after his father. He kept peace with the Romans and the Galileans sacrificed to their gods, specifically honoring the god Mars, by whom they trusted for victory.\n\nAquae Grani, which is the city of an emperor now, takes its first crown. Octavius, son of Julius, was duke of Tongres and Brabant after his father. He kept the peace with the Romans.\nEmperor Troyan appointed governor of Gallia Belgica. In his time, Saint Martin spread the faith of Christ in the cities of Cologne and Tongres.\n\nEmperor Sixtus, a Roman, was the next pope in the year of Christ 21. He held the see for six years and more during the time of Adrian, under whom he was martyred.\n\nThelesphorus, a Greek, was the next pope in the year of Christ 31. He held the see for eleven years and sang \"Gloria in excelsis\" at Mass. He suffered martyrdom under Antonius.\n\nHigenius, a Greek, held the see for four years. He ordained godfathers and godmothers and was martyred afterwards.\n\nPius, an Italian, held the see for eleven years. He ordered Easter to be celebrated on a Sunday and decreed that anyone who usurped the church's goods should be punished for sacrilege. He was martyred by Antonius.\n\nAnicetus, a Syrian, held the see for ten years and was deposed by Antonius.\n\nMarcus, born in Campania, held the see for nine years. He ordained marriage to be publicly solemnized and was martyred afterwards.\n\nAdrian, son of Hadrian and cousin to Troyan, was made emperor in the year [missing].\nCristus C.xix. He was skilled in both Greek and Latin. He restored the city of Alexandria in Egypt, which had been recently destroyed by the Romans. He rebuilt the city of Jerusalem and placed the sepulcher of Christ within it. \u00b6Antonius Pius, son of Adria and his step-father was made emperor and reigned for 24 years after Adria. \u00b6Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, called the True, and Lucius the True, his brother sons, ruled the empire jointly after their father for 11 years. Lucius died and Marcus continued to reign for 8 more years, during which he made the persecution of Christians. \u00b6Coelus, son of Maurus, was made king of Britain in the year of Christ C.xxvi. Raised among the Romans in his youth, he loved them and maintained peace with them during his reign, paying tribute. He was well-loved by his people for his generosity and allowed the rich to keep their riches, while giving great alms to the poor and needy. \u00b6Lucius, son of Coelus, was king of Britain in the year of Christ C.lxxx. He exhorted his people.\nIn that time, there were three archpriests and thirty-eight priests of the Pagan faith, which were changed into three archbishops and twenty-eight bishops. One was the archbishop of Lodowick, the other of York, and the third of Gloucester. York still continues as such, but the others were changed afterwards, and all the idols in the Pagan temples were destroyed. The temples were dedicated and made into churches of the Christian faith.\n\nMercer, son of Odomer, was king of the Frenchmen in the year of Christ 275. He married Athild, daughter of Maurus, king of Great Britain, and had seven sons: Clodomer, Mercer, Francus, Meredak, and Odemar. During Mercer's time, the Frenchmen had no wars, so they increased in great riches. He reigned for twenty-one years.\n\nClodomer, son of Mercer, reigned after him and caused no harm for seventeen years.\n\nGodardus, son of Octavius, was duke of Tongres and Brabant in the year of Christ 400. He governed Galicia by the name Belgyk.\nRomans, whose father was before him,\nEluter, a Greek, was the next pope in the year of Christ 577. He held the see for 15 years and was martyred.\nVictor held the see for 10 years during the time of Athanasius, Commodus, Holy Per\u0442\u0438\u043dax, Julius, and Severus, and was martyred.\nZepherin, a Roman, held the see for 17 years. He ordained that every man and woman of 14 years or more should receive the body of Christ consecrated at Easter.\nLucius Aurelius Antoninus Callidius Commodus, son of Marcus, was made emperor after his father in the year of Christ 822. He was cruel like Nero and was therefore called Commodus, meaning profitable, for he was harmful to everyone and in conclusion was killed in his bed.\nHelius Partinax was made emperor against his will by the senate. The year of Christ 904, and he was killed by Dedius Julianus after holding the empire for six months.\nDedius Julianus, a great consul man of the law after the death of Helius (whom he killed), was made emperor.\nEmperor Severus was slain six months after his reign / therefore some consider him as no emperor. Sextus Africanus-Pertinax, born in Africa, was emperor in the year of Christ 205. He came with a great army into Britain. Also, he performed the five persecutions against the Christians where Saints Hippolyte, Pionius, Victor, and Felicity were martyred. He died in Britain and lies at York. Basianus, called Caracalla, was the next emperor after his father in the year of Christ 130. He was a lecher and lay with his stepmother Julia Domna. After Lucius' death, there was great debate in the land that for many years there was no king, and the Picts and other enemies invaded it. Therefore, Severus, emperor of Rome, came to Britain with two legions of men to keep his subjects and defend the land. He drove back those who resisted beyond Doram and made a great ditch and wall of turves from the sea.\nThis text appears to be written in Old English, with some Latin and possibly other ancient languages interspersed. I will attempt to clean and translate it to modern English as faithfully as possible.\n\nest see to the west: this Severus had two sons, Basianus and Getanus. He fell ill at York and died. But after the story of Britannicus, Fulgecius with a great power of the Picts fought against Severus and slew him in open battle. \u00b6Basianus, Calidius Caracalla, was Severus' son, with the help of the Britons, as the Britannicus story relates, fought against his brother Getanus, whose mother was Roman. He slew him in battle: and so was made king of Britain. \u00b6But other stories affirm that Getanus was slain at the city of Edissa or Emea, fighting against the Parthians. This Basianus, after this, went to Rome and was made emperor. And according to various chronicles, he was slain at the side of Edissa, but the Britannicus story asserts that he was slain in Britain by Carausius. \u00b6Farabert, son of Clodomer, was king of the French men in the year of Christ CLXV. He confirmed the old alliances made by Francus with the Germans, Saxons, Teutonici, and Cunbris, in the displeasure of\n\nCleaned Text:\n\nThis Severus had two sons, Basianus and Getanus. He fell ill at York and died. But according to the story of Britannicus, Fulgecius, with a great power of the Picts, fought against Severus and slew him in open battle. Basianus, also known as Calidius Caracalla, was Severus' son. With the help of the Britons, as the Britannicus story tells us, Basianus fought against his brother Getanus, whose mother was Roman. He slew him in battle and became king of Britain. However, other stories claim that Getanus was slain at the city of Edissa or Emea while fighting against the Parthians. After this, Basianus went to Rome and was made emperor. According to various chronicles, he was slain at the side of Edissa. However, the Britannicus story insists that he was slain in Britain by Carausius.\n\nFarabert, son of Clodomer, was the king of the French men in the year of Christ CLXV. He confirmed the old alliances made by Francus with the Germans, Saxons, Teutonici, and Cunbris, despite the displeasure of\nThe Romans entered Germany with great power, and there was a great battle between them and the Frenchmen. Many people were killed, and after that, Farabert died, having reigned for 20 years.\n\nSunon, son of Ferabert, was king of the Frenchmen after his father. He was a bold prince and had many battles against the Romans and Gauls. He and the Jerrinians and Saxons marched into Gaul and destroyed a great part of the country. He returned them, reigning for 26 years.\n\nGodfrey, son of Godard, was duke of Tours and Brabant after his father. He allied with Marcianus Atonius against the Germans but, because Emperor Commodus killed a newborn child of his who was a hostage at Rome, he broke the peace with the Romans and joined the Germans. Godfrey married the daughter of Werik, duke of Treves, and they ruled over all of Gaul for the space of 12 years without paying tribute to the Romans.\n\nCalixte was made pope in the year of Christ.\n.CCxxxi He held the see for six years and was martyred. Urban, a Roman, held the see next for eight years and was martyred. Poction, a Roman, held the see for five years. He was exiled to the island of Sardinia where he died. Another Greek held the see for two years. Opilius Macrinus was made emperor by the soldiers in the year of Christ 211 AD and held the empire for one year. He was killed in the city of Antioch along with his son Diaduenus. Anthonius Heliogabalus, Caracalla's bastard, was then made emperor by the military. His vile and detestable behavior led to his and his mother's deaths after he had reigned for four years. Aurelius Alexander was the next emperor, a virtuous man, who never did wrong to any man. He made war against the Parthians and was killed by the soldiers in the city of Mainz.\n\nJulius Maximian occupied the empire without the authority of the senate. He carried out the Great Persecution against the Christians.\nThis Maximian, called Capitolius, was such a glutton that he would consume 40 pounds of flesh in a day and drink to it nearly four gallons of wine. He was declared an enemy of the Roman welfare by the senate and deprived of his empire.\n\nGordian the Old was the emperor next after him, reigning for only one year.\n\nPupienus and Balbus were made emperors next, and Gordian's son, also named Gordian, was made Caesar by them. These two held the empire for one year and were both slain in the palaces.\n\nCarausius, a Briton born of low degree from the land of Britain, entered Britain and committed great pillage. He showed the Britons that if they would make him king, he would defend them from the Romans. And so they made him king in the year of Christ 168. However, because he was unable to defend the land from the Picts, he gave the country of Albania to the Picts in peace, now called Scotland.\n\nChilderic, son of Sunniva, as Hanibal writes.\n\nWeyrick, son of Godfrey, was duke of after his father.\nTongres and Brabant. He lived in the year 50. But when he was old, he left the government of his lands to his son Artfred.\n\nFabian, a Roman, was the next pope in the year 431. He held the see for 14 years. He ordained that the holy creme should be annually renewed and that no Christian man should marry within five years.\n\nCornelius, a Roman, was the next pope in the year 447. He held the see for two years and more, and was martyred under Gallus emperor.\n\nLucius, a Roman, was the next pope and held the see for four years.\n\nStephen held the see for three years and was martyred by Emperor Valerian and Gallienus. He ordained that no one should wear vestments of the church except during divine service.\n\nSyxt was the next pope and held the see for two years and was martyred by Emperor Gallienus.\n\nGordian the Younger, who was previously Caesar, was the next emperor in the year 451. He made war against the Persians and, as he returned by the means of Philip Daraby, he was slain. Philip Daraby was made emperor in the year 476.\nHe had a son named Philip, whom he joined in his reign. Philip was the first Christian man among all kings or Romans at that time. He held great solemnities and celebrations for three days and nights. Philip and his son were put down and killed by Decius. The father was killed in Verona, and the son in Rome, after they had ruled for seven years.\n\nDecius, born in Campania or Hungary, was then made emperor. He initiated the seventh persecution against the Christians. Saints Fabian and Cornelius were pope and Apollonius were martyred during this persecution. Decius was killed in battle, but some say he took his own life.\n\nGallus Hostilianus was made emperor. He joined his son Volusianus in ruling the empire for two years.\n\nLicinius Valerianus with Galerius his son were made emperors in the year of Christ 354. At the beginning, he was good and gentle. However, due to the instigation of a heretic who was his relative, he initiated the eighth persecution against the Christian men. God took vengeance for this.\nA Batley against Sapor, king of Persia, was taken and his eyes put out, where he remained a prisoner for the rest of his life, chained.\n\nAlectus, a Roman, was then sent to Britain with three legions of men. Carausius fought openly against Alectus in battle, and Alectus was crowned king in the year of Christ 213. After that, he punished the Britons severely.\n\nBartharus, son of Childeric, was king of the Frisians in the year of Christ 451. Ancharius, son of Bartharus, and Luter, son of King Morbidus in Saxony, led the Frisians, Saxons, and Germans across the rivers Rhine and Meuse in galleys, destroying the country and continuing over the Rhine to Galatia and then to Cologne, where they besieged the town of Trier and took it, destroying it.\n\nArtasir, son of Verus, was duke of Tongres and Brabant in the time of Emperor Maximian. Because Carausius, named Livienus to the emperor, did not govern well,\n\nDenys was made pope in the year of Christ.\nHe was the first mock to ever be pope and was martyred. Felx, a Roman, held the see for four years. He ordered that no mass should be sung but in a holy place. Eutychian, a Turk, held the see for one year and was martyred. Caius, an Alamannian, held the see for eleven years. He ordered the holy orders of priesthood: first to be tonsured, then colleted, then subdeacon, deacon, and then priest, and was martyred. Mercellyn, a Roman, held the see for nine years and was martyred under Diocletian and Maximian. Galen Decius, son of Valeria, took power after his father and began to be sole emperor in the year of Christ 262. He made the eighth persecution against Christian men, where Saints Sixtus, Laurence, and Polycarp were martyred. Galen, hearing of the misery of his father, refrained from further persecution against Christian men, but he was slain by the learned council. Flavius Claudius, born in Dalmatia, was the next emperor for one year. Quintilianus, brother to Claudius, was the next emperor.\nValerius Aurelian, born in Pannonia or Hungary, ruled for 17 days before being slain by the Lernyd men.\nValerius Aurelian, born in Pannonia or Hungary, initiated the ninth persecution against Christians. Saints Columba, Patroclus, and Agapit were martyred during this time. Aureliian was later beheaded in Constantinople, now called Istanbul.\nAnnius Tacitus was the next emperor. He was killed in the island of Ephesus.\nFlorian, brother of Tacitus, was the next emperor. In the year 479 AD, he was killed by the people of Taras after ruling for two months.\nAurelianus Probus, born in Pannonia or Hungary, was the next emperor. He waged great war against the Germans and achieved victory. He was received with a triumph in the city of Rome, marking the last triumph of 320 triumphs. Probus was assassinated during an insurrection of army men after ruling for six years.\nAsclepiodotus, upon being chosen as king in the year 322 AD, came with great power against Alectus to London. Alectus met him with much resistance.\nof his people were slain, but one Gallus, after that with the help of the Romans who were left alive, kept the city. Clodion, son of Batharus, was king of the Frisians in the year of Christ 561. In the third year of his reign, the Romans, remembering the harm done them in the Gallic countryside by the Frisians, came into Alamannia with a great host. There was a great battle, and 150,000 Alamannians were slain. Nine years later, Clodion invaded Gallia with a great host and conquered a large part of that country.\n\nThe province called Artasid was put under Roman rule. This province extended from the lordship of Rhenus to the British Sea.\n\nClodion's successor, Mercurius, was the next pope in the year of Christ 1053. He held the see for five years. He ordained that every male person should be appointed to the apostolic see. He also ordained that no clerk should be called to answer before a lay judge. He was martyred under Maxentius.\n\nEusebius, a Greek, held the see for six years. In his time, the holy cross was found.\nby Saint Helene. Why he ordained the day of the invention of that holy cross to be sanctified.\n\nAurelius Carus, born at Narbonne in Gaul, was the next emperor in the year of Christ 354. He rejoiced in the empire with him his two sons, Carinus and Numerian. He waged war in Mesopotamia and took the town of Charax. In Persia, he took the towns of Seleucia and Ctesiphon. He was slain in a battle with Shapur. Numerian his son was slain by the soldiers. Carinus, the other brother, was slain in battle against Diocletian.\n\nDiocletian, born at Dalmatia, was then emperor in the year of Christ 355. He rejoiced in the empire with Maximian, born in Pannonia. These two carried out the great persecution against the Christian men, where Saints Marcellus, Agnes, Anastasia, Barbara, Crispinian and Crispina, Christopher, Cosmas and Damian, Ciriaca, Dorothy, Euphemia, Gervasius and Prothasius, Adrian, Panthera, Quintina, Sebastian, Rheore, Vincent, and many more suffered.\nThey were martyred, and at the last they renounced their empire after they had reigned for twenty years. The last they were overcome, and Gallus was slain and cast into a water there, which after was called Galbrook after his name, now called Walbrook. And when this Asclepiodotus had thus quieted the Romans, he held the land in peace and ruled the Britons with good justice until the last, when a certain Duke of Colchester, Coyll, arose against him and slew him in open battle.\n\nCoyll, Duke of Colchester, was then made king in the year of Christ 562. He was the father of Saint Helena. In his time Constantius, who had previously conquered Spain, came from Rome with a great people into Britain to subdue the Britons. Of whom Coyll, being a ferocious warrior, gave his daughter Helena to him in marriage, by which peace was made and Coyll died within a month after.\n\nWalter, son of Clodion, was king of the Frisians in the year of Christ 947. In his time there was great persecution of Christian men by Diocletian and Maximian. He had but\nIn his time, Arthur died after reigning for eight years. When Emperor Constans was oppressed by the Alamans around Langres, the said Artor gave him such aid that he eventually had victory. Because Constans intended to be even stronger against the Alamans, he married Helena, daughter of Coel, king of Britain, and afterward besieged the city of Tours. Therefore, Artor continued great familiarity with the said emperor.\n\nMelchiades, born in Africa, was pope in the year 395. He held the see for four years. He decreed that no one should fast on Sundays and was martyred under Galerius and Maximianus.\n\nSilvester, the first Roman born, was the next pope. He held the see for twenty-three years. He convened the first of the four general councils in the city of Nicaea against Arianism. Mark, a Roman, held the see for two years in the time of Constantine the Great.\n\nConstans and Galerius Maximianus were both made emperors in the year 312. They divided the empire.\nMaximian had Illyricum or Venys Asye, and Costantius had Italy, Spain, and Gaul. He married Helena, daughter of Coel, king of Great Britain. Look further for him among the kings of Britain.\n\nConstans, the son of Constantius and Saint Helena, was the next emperor. In the year of Christ 350, both of Rome and Constantinople, Maxence, son of Maximian, was made emperor by various men of war, but he was put down by the said Constans. Maxence is said to have been the one who first gave possession of Rome to Constantine.\n\nBecause his wife Helen was next in line: was Constans made king in the year of Christ 489. This Helen discovered the cross on which Christ suffered his passion. Constans married Nepos' daughter of the king of Cyprus in Persia, who was his first wife, and by her he had a son named Costus. Costus was the father of Saint Katerina. Constans died in Britain and is buried at York.\n\nConstantine the Great\nGrahus, son of Constancius and Helen, was the next king of Great Britain in the year of Christ 399. He was well-loved because he was born in Britain and administered good justice. He came from Britain to Rome at the instigation of various Romans and drove out Maxence, who had usurped the empire. Maxence was eventually killed, and Constantine was made emperor. Living before the death of his father, Constantius, Constantine was occupied with wars in Gaul and became emperor before he was king of Britain.\n\nDagobert, son of Walter, was the next king of the Franks in the year of Christ 506. He was a good and just man in all causes, so indifferent that it could never be proven that he ever did wrong to any man or allowed anything to be done to his knowledge. He had three sons:\n\nClovis I, eldest of Dagobert, was the next king of the Franks. He reigned for only two years and died.\nClodomer, the second son of Dagobart and brother to Clovis, was the next king of the Frenchmen. He made peace between the Saxons and the Thuringians, and because he favored the Thuringians, they gave him a country lying between them and the Saxons. This country Clodomer gave to Genebault, his younger brother, who with great people inhabited it and called it Francia or other names; now the city of Worms is situated there.\n\nMerciandus, son of Artasir, was duke of Tongres and Brabant, and also held the governance of the province by the sea coast for the emperor Romans. He won many great battles.\n\nIulius, a Roman, held the see for one year around the year 393 AD and created the pope.\n\nFelix, a Roman, held the see for one year and suffered martyrdom by the Aries, but St. Jerome put him in the martyrology.\n\nConstans II, the second son of Constantine the Great, was the next emperor around the year 440 AD, and under him was the 11th persecution of the Christians.\nCristian men for he fell to the sect of Arianism.\nJulian the Apostate, son of Constantius, brother to Constantine the Great, was the next emperor. He reigned for 12 years.\nJulian, born at Thessalonica, was the next emperor. He reigned for eight months.\nOctavius, duke of Cornwall after the departure of Constantine, made himself king of Britain in the year of Christ 394. & slew those whom Constantine had made governors. Therefore Constantine fought against one Trajan or Trasquillian, who made great war against Octavius. & drove him out of the land. Trajan was king for a short time.\nDagobert, son of Genebault, was after his father duke of France or Orient. He, with a great host, passed the Rhine and took the city of Tours in Gaul. After him, one Clodion was duke of France, Orient.\nRichemer, son of Clodomer, was after his father king of the Franks. He, with the help of Genebault, won many battles against the Romans and Gauls, but at the last he was slain by the Romans.\nTheodomer\nDamasus, a Spaniard, was pope in the year of Christ.\nIn the 629th year of the city of Constantinople, during his time, the second general council was held, and he approved ten works of Saint Jerome.\n\nSiricius, a Roman, held the see for the next 16 years.\n\nAnastasius, a Roman, held the see for three years. He ordered that the men should stand while the gospel was being read.\n\nInnocent, born in Albania, held the see for 15 years. He ordered that peace should be born at Easter.\n\nValentinian, born in Pannonia or Hungary, and his brother Valens were emperors during the year of Christ 367. This Valentinian was a good Christian man and waged war against the Saxons and Germans, defeating them, and died after holding the empire for 11 years.\n\nValens, his brother, succeeded him and ruled with Gratian and Valentinian, Valens' son, before mentioned. This Valens executed the persecution against the Christians for he was Arian and ordered the Arian doctors to instruct them in the law and faith of the Arians, but he was slain by them.\n\nGratian, son of Valentinian, succeeded Valens his uncle, then ruled.\nEmperor Theodosius made it the year of our Lord 382. He joined forces with him in the empire of Constantinople, while Valentinian the Younger reigned in the west. Theodosius put down the Arian heresy and restored the church, putting it in good order.\n\nHere ends the chronicle of St. Jerome.\n\nMaximianus succeeded Leonius, his uncle, as king in the year of our Lord 432. He conquered the land of America, now called Little Britain, and killed the king with the help of the Britons. He gave the land to Conon Meridianus, a Briton, and named it Little Britain because of this. His people called him emperor, and after Maximian, Gratian and Valentia ruled. Gratian and Valentia made serious preparations against him, and coming with a great army, Maximian fled to Constantinople. Valentinian went to Lyons in France, where he was killed. In this time, Conon Meridianus sent to Great Britain.\nDionysus, Duke of Cornwall, was to have maidens of their own nation as their wives, as Giraldus wrote to him, urging him to drive Ursa, his daughter, to a place in Germany.\n\nClovis, son of Theudomer, was king of the Franks in the year 456 AD. This Clovis, to avenge his father's death, passed into Gaul with a great host and took the city of Chalons and slew all the Romans there. He conquered Gaul up to the Seine River.\n\nMarcomer, son of Clovis, was king of the Franks. He had many great battles against the Romans and Gauls. However, he was eventually defeated.\n\nTaxander, son of Marciandus, was Duke of Tongres and Brabant. He was raised in the court of Zosimus, a Greek, who was next pope in the year 444 AD. He held the see for one year. In his time, Pharamund began to reign in France.\n\nBoniface, a Roman, held the see for two years during this time. Saint Jerome died.\n\nCelestine I, a Roman born in Cephalonia, was pope in the year 422 AD.\nIn the city of Ephesus, during the reign of Theodosius I, the third general council was held against the Nestorians and Pelagians. At this council, there were about 200 bishops in attendance.\n\nTheodosius I, a Spaniard by birth, became emperor in the year 438 AD, succeeding Gratian. He had ruled Constantinople for six years with Gratian and then for eleven years alone, dying at Milan. During his reign, Saint Augustine lived.\n\nArchadius and Honorius, sons of Theodosius I, were jointly made emperors in the year 395 AD. However, Archadius remained in Constantinople while Honorius ruled in the west.\n\nHonorius reigned among the pagan people where Gainas was king and Melchus his brother resided. They established their base in the city of Colia. However, other stories, such as those of Jacobus Philippus and Antonius, claim that they should not have been sent beyond Great Britain nor martyred during that time but during the reign of Mercianus Emperor. This Gainas and Melchus were sent by the aforementioned council.\nEmperor Gratian and Valentinian marched into great Britain, destroying churches of Christian faith and killing the people. Maximiaha, who had knowledge of this Gratianus, drove out Guanus and Melga and defended the land for Maximian. In his time, Theodosius, emperor of the East, with great power drove Maximian into a town in Italy called Aquileia. Gratianus made himself king of Britain there after Maximian's death in the year of Christ 380. Gratian after Maximian's death was made king of Britain in the year of Christ 380. He was so cruel and used tyranny and execution against the Britons that at last they rose against him in one accord and killed him after he had reigned there for four years.\n\nFor fifteen years after that, two dukes ruled the people successively. First, Dagobert, Mercury's brother, ruled for five years. After him, Genebault, son of the aforementioned Dagobert, ruled in Franche-Comte, which is to say in Franche-Contey.\n\nMercury, son of Clodion, was duke of the eastern Franche-Conte.\nDagobert ruled the realm of the Franks. In his time, the Franks, with the consent of certain dukes, entered Germany over the Rhine and took the city of Trier, where Lucius was governed under the Romans. After they came from there, they settled near the Seine river and, finding it a pleasant country, they stayed there.\n\nPharamund, son of Mercomer, who was duke of Frisia Orientalis, was first made king of Frisia Orientalis, and later, by common consent, king of all France. Arbogast, who was yet a good Christian man, but later took the side of Maximian against Gratian, was favored by Theodosius emperor.\n\nAnsigisus, son of Theuderic, was duke of Thuringia and Brabant. He was a good Christian prince who slew Gundovald, king of the Wandals, in a plain battle. He was an idolator and a cruel tyrant.\n\nSyxte was made pope in the year of Christ 414 and held the see for eight years. Theodosius, [end of text]\nYounger succeeded Archadius, his father, in the Empire of Constantinople in the year of Christ 421, and held it with honor for 15 years as an uncrowned emperor in the west. After his death, he joined Valentinian III with him while Pharamond, Clodian, and Marcian were emperors in Constantinople after Theodosius II, whose sister he married. Valentinian III was emperor in Italy in the year of Christ 453. This Marcian was put to death in Constantinople by his own servants. In his time, Saint Ursula, as some writers affirm, was martyred at Cologne with the 11,000 virgins.\n\nAfter the death of Marcian, as Geoffrey states, King Gwynas gathered a great power of Scots, Picts, Norsemen, and Danes and came again into Britain. But other writers make no mention whether Gwynas led them or not. However, it is true that they caused more harm than before, for they destroyed all the Christian people, and no one dared to name Jesus Christ except him, who was put to death. But\nAfter Gracyan's death, the Romans sent a knight named Constantine to rule over Great Britain. However, he was considered an enemy of Emperor Honorius, who then sent another knight named Constantius instead. Constantius defeated Constantine in a battle and afterwards, the Britons were troubled by the Picts and other strangers several times. At the Britons' request, the Romans dispatched various legions to drive the Picts across the Scottish sea and built a stone wall in the same location where Severus had previously built a wall of turves. After the Romans departed, the Picts and Scots entered again and broke down the wall, plundering the countryside. The land was in great misery due to battles, death, and lack of a king for thirty years and more. Therefore, they sent letters to Rome and also embassied Aetius, King of France, and his lieutenant.\nThe Emperor Honorius, who returned without comfort, sent Bishop Guitellinus of London, as Galfrid writes, to little Britain to help King Aldowinus. Aldowinus sent his brother Constantine with 120,000 men, along with the bishop, into great Britain. When the Britons heard of this, a great number of them rose with Constantine and gave battle to the Picts, who were pagans. The Britons destroyed them and drove them out. Therefore, the Britons made Constantine king of great Britain.\n\nThe first to inhabit Gaul in the year of Christ 420 gave his brother Marcomer the duchy of Flanders or Orientis, where the city of Frankfurt now stands. He established the Salic law.\n\nClodion, the son of Pharamond, was the second king of France in the year of Christ 433. He made war on a certain people called the Turones and subdued them. He annexed to the realm of France all the land from the Seine river to the Loire river, which the Romans had never held after.\nCharles, son of Ansgisus, was Duke of Tongres and Brabant. He married the sister of Emperor Valentinian. He governed Gaul under the Romans for fifteen years and urged the Romans to send Aetius against Attila, King of the Huns.\n\nLeo I was the next pope in the year 444. He ruled for twenty-one years. In his time, the Fourth General Council was held in the city of Chalcedon. He ordered that during times of need, every able person should baptize, and he forbade the saying or singing of Alleluia during Lent or Gloria in excelsis.\n\nLeo I was the first to be elected emperor and held the position for five years in the year 457.\n\nLeo II, the second son of Leo I's daughter, was chosen as emperor, but because he was unsuited for wars and did not consider himself worthy, he abdicated in favor of Zeno as emperor.\n\nConstantine being king in the year 433, Christianity began to revive, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's writings.\nHe took a wife who was of the noble Roman blood and had three sons: Constantine's son Constantine, as Geoffrey writes, was taken from religious life and made king in the year of Christ 443. By means of Vortiger, earl of Essex, the king gave him all rule. Therefore, he retained a hundred knights from the Picts for the king's household service, knowing well that they were unstable and prone to mischief. Vortiger, by marvelous subtle means, imagined the king's destruction and won over these knights above all others, giving them great gifts and often saying to them that if he were able to acquire more land, he would reward them better. By their favor, they killed the king in a night with the intention of making Vortiger king and brought his head to Vortiger. Vortiger, in order to gain the love of the Britons, feigned anger over this deed and suddenly took it upon himself.\nThose knights and lords imprisoned them and ordered their deaths according to the law. Therefore, the Britons chose Vortiger as king in the year of Christ 408. Those who had custody of the two children, Aurilambros and Uther dragon, went with them into little Britain. Soon after, the friends of these knights arrived to rebuke Vortiger. He drove them away and also drove out the arrival of the two children. In this time, that is, the year of Christ 51, Engest and his brother Horsa came from Germany into Britain with a great multitude of the Saxons, who came from their country because there were too many people there. The king, hearing of this, received them gladly and welcomed them well, and with their help, they overcame the Picts. However, Holy Beda writes in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People that there is nothing about Constantine coming from little Britain or his three.\nSonis / Costas / Aurelius / and Utter, but he says Vortiger, king of Britain in the time of this misery, summoned the Saxons for help. Engest and Horsa came to him with a great multitude of Saxons and helped the Britons against their enemies. After this, Vortiger married Engest's daughter, named C\u0153trey, which made the Britons angry and they overthrew Vortiger, crowning Vortimer, his son, as king.\n\nMerovee, son of Clodius, was the third king of France. In his time, Attila, king of the Huns, calling himself the scourge of God, came into Gaul with 500,000 men. He destroyed many great towns and besieged the city of Orleans. From there, he came to Chalons where Aetius, lieutenant to Emperor Theodosius, had gathered Theodeoric, king of the Visigoths, and others. They gave battle there, in which both sides suffered heavy losses. Among the fallen were Gunderic, king or duke of Burgundy, and Theodeoric, king of the Visigoths, as well as a great number of Attila's people.\nSlain and weakened, Attila returned again to Hungary because the king of the Huns, who was discomfited in Campania, and his people were severely weakened.\n\nHilarius, born on a Saturday, was pope in the year of Christ 514. He held the see for seven years and ordained that bishops should not choose their successors.\n\nSimplicius, born at Tiberius, was the next pope in the year of Christ 468. He held the see for five years.\n\nFelix, a Roman, was the next pope. He held the see for nine years.\n\nZeno, father of Leo, was made emperor after his son. This was in the year of Christ 474. He lived for seventeen years after. He ordained the laws in the Codex.\n\nAnastasius was the next emperor. He gave great commandment to Clovis, the first Christian king of the Franks.\n\nVortigern was made king of Britain in the year of Christ 466. He gave four battles to Odoacer and, at last, drove him out of the land. Ronwyn, his daughter, was sad and caused Vortigern to be poisoned. Then, by common assent, the Britons made Vortigern king again. Anon, after Odoacer came again into England.\nWith many people claiming his country, Kent, where on that day the sheriff was to be taken and he should meet, but Egbert made his folk secretly put knives in their hoses and at a certain word, which was named \"your sexes,\" every Saxon drew his knife and slew a Briton. The sheriff was taken and put in prison. Yet some writers say that these Britons were slain in Egbert's castle where he desired the king to dine and so, for the sake of his life, he gave three provinces to Egbert and to his people. Egbert and his people went to Wales. One of these provinces was Kent, where Egbert dwelt himself, and there was first a king. Another was Essex. And the third was East Angles, that is, Northfolk and Suffolk. Egbert took upon himself to be king of Kent in the year of Christ 766 and commanded his own country Kent to be called Egbert's land, from which England took its first name, but some say that Egbertus was the first to command all the land to be called England, as will be shown.\nafter King Merouee, Childeric, son of the Frisian people, was the next king of France in the year 426 AD. He was so cruel that his people conspired against him out of fear. Therefore, they chose Gelyon, a lieutenant to the emperor, to be their king instead. Gelyon was even more cruel.\n\nLandus, son of Charlemagne, was the next duke in the year 426 AD. He saw the Frenchmen.\n\nGelasius, born in Africa, was the next pope in the year 492 AD. He decreed that a bishop should not receive holy orders and that orders should be given four times a year on Saturdays. He held the see for three years.\n\nAnastasius was the next pope and he held the see for two years and more.\n\nSymachus was the next pope and he held the see for fifteen years. The pope sent him a rich robe and made him a patrician and consul of Rome.\nLast, Anastasius, bishop of Constantinople, fell into heresy. Hormisida, pope, sent legates to convert him, but he was obstinate. In the presence of his people, by the judgment of God, he was slain with lightning after holding the empire for 26 years.\n\nThis Engest, having obtained victory, destroyed the churches of Christianity. He summoned more Saxons to inhabit the land, which was divided into four kingdoms as will be shown later. After this victory of Engest, Aurelius and his brother Auriel came into England with a large retinue. The Britons resorted to them, and they gave battle to Engest. Engest was slain, but Polycronyx and others affirm that Engest kept his own land in peace and war, and died in his bed. Otta, his son, ruled for 24 years after him. However, all stories affirm that Aurelius besieged Vortiger in a castle in Wales and burned him and all that were therein. He chased the Saxons from the two.\nProyniers of Estangles and Essex, but Bede affirms that this Aurelius should be Roman.\n\nAurelambros or Aurelius Ambrosius was then crowned king of Britain in the year of Christ 449. He had many conflicts with the Saxons and had varying success. In this time, Ella, a Saxon, came into the south part of Britain and slew many Britons. He made himself first king of the South Saxons (Sussex) in the year of Christ 449. After him, Recched and Idleling ruled there. Also in this time, Uffa began to be king in Estangles in the year of Christ 472. Therefore, the people there were called Uffynas.\n\nThis Aurelambros destroyed the Pagan laws and re-established churches of Christianity. He was poisoned at Winchester and was buried at Stonehenge under the great stones. The Britons say that one Merlin, which was begotten of a woman by the devil, brought out of Ireland by the craft of magic, is buried there. Many men think this not with good faith or reason, and the Britons also say this.\nMarlyon told and wrote many things, therefore they put out Geloys and took Childeric again as king. He subdued the country from Thorouanne to the flood of Leyre and died afterwards. Clovis, son of Childeric, was king of France in the year of Christ 484. He was cruel against Christendom at first, plundering churches and burning them. After marrying, he took the Romans as allies and claimed that he was of Syagrius's son of France's lineage.\n\nHormisda was the next pope in the year of Christ 517. He held the see for nine years and more. John the Tuscan was next, he held the see for two years and died a prisoner in the city of Ravenna for the Christian faith. Felix IV was next and held the see for four years and more, he corrupted the church of Cosmas and Damian at Rome.\n\nJustin I was then made emperor in the year of Christ 527. He was a protector of the church.\nCristian Fayth expelled all the Armenians from Constantinople. Prophecies state that they greatly believed in these stones, but other clerics and learned men gave little credence to them. They also claim that these stones were not brought out of Ireland by Merlin, but rather crafted by men from semet and mortar made of flint stones. One reason they give for this is that these stones are so hard that no iron tool will cut them without great efforts, and they are all of one shape and size, save for two sorts. Moreover, it is unlikely that so many large stones could all be of one color and of one gray hue throughout and in every place, but some stones would be darker in one place or another, or at least have some veins of other colors in them. Another reason they argue is that it is not likely that so many large stones could all be of one color and of one uniform gray hue throughout and in every place, but some stones would be darker in one place or another, or at least have some veins of other colors in them.\nMerbell and other great stones commonly have variations in color and shape. However, the stones at Stonehenge are all of one great size without change of color or pattern. Therefore, many great wise men suppose them to be made of a mortar of flint or other stones.\n\nAfter Pendragon, brother to Aurelius, was made king of Britain in the year of Christ 500, he loved Igware or Igorne, daughter and heir to Helperik, king of Cornwall. Therefore, he made war against her father and slew him. Afterward, he married the said Igware and by her had a son named Arthur. Afterward, he was poisoned.\n\nIdlenkyncus, Issa, A, A.\n\nCroytyll, daughter and heir to Helperik, king of Burgundy, exhorted her husband to be baptized but he ever refused until at the last at a battle that he had against the Alamans, he made a promise to Christ that if he won the victory, he would be baptized. So he had the victory, and accordingly, according to his promise, he received baptism from St. Reny, archbishop of Reims, and was anointed as a sacred king. It is said that there were three kings present at his baptism.\nA flower of delight in a field of ashes was sent to King Clovis.\nAustrasius, son of Land, was the duke's heir after his father and was well-loved by Childeric, the king.\nBoniface, a Roman, was the next pope in the year of Christ 534, and he held the see for over a year.\nIohan, a Roman, was the next pope in the year of Christ 536.\nAgapetus, a Roman, was the next pope in the year of Christ 537. He presided over the fifth general council in Constantinople, where Emperor Justinian was converted to the Christian faith. He ordered a procession every Sunday.\nJustinian, the son of Justin, was the next emperor in the year of Christ 532. He was a great wise man. He caused the laws of Rome to be ordered in the books of the Digest and other books. Despite his great love for books, he had great wisdom.\nArthur, son of Uther Pendragon, as Galfred writes, was the next king of the Britons in the year of Christ 518. Of this Arthur, there is a legendary story, which differs greatly from other writers. Bede that\nThe Eclesiastical History of the English People, written around AD 714, discusses the British kings, including those reigning before, during, and after the time of King Arthur. The author does not mention Arthur explicitly, but William of Malmesbury states that he is the Arthur of the Welsh legends. Galfridus writes that Arthur fought twelve battles against the Saxons and won all of them, but he could not completely conquer their land. Instead, they kept their territories for both Arthur's time and after, with some suggesting they were held as tributaries to Arthur. Arthur is said to have killed 40 Saxons in one day, bearing the image of the Virgin Mary on his shield. In the fifth year of Arthur's supposed reign, around AD 522, the kingdom of Wessex began under a Saxon king.\nCallyd was the name of King Cerdic, and his son Kenneth succeeded him. With Cerdic, Arthur waged great war for a long time, as recorded in Polychronicon. Arthur waged continuous war with the Saxons, but as reported by Geoffrey, he eventually brought them under control and was accepted as the chief lord of Britain. After establishing some peace, he handed over the rule of the land to his new Morgan and set out for France, where Geoffrey writes that he performed wonders. However, the French chronicles and Roman writers say nothing about this or that he slew Lucius, the emperor's lieutenant. They claim there was no such Lucius lieutenant at the emperor's court at that time or long before or after. Therefore, some believe that Geoffrey wrote this story out of affection because he was a Welshman born in the time of King Henry II.\ncoquest: He who now goes to St. Edward's shrine at Westminster will find a printing in the shrine, the seal in red wax around the border, on which is written: \"Arthur, Duke of Britain, Gaul, and Dacia, Emperor.\" This seal was taken from an old deed of some gift or grant made to the house by King Arthur. The perimeter and writing have deteriorated with age. However, some maintain that it is a recent fabrication by those seeking to promote the legend of Arthur, and that its effect is due to Arthur's influence.\n\nOttavianus, Sassanus, Cerdic, and others from Heyn for their armies also carried a standard of red silk, which they have used in their battles since the time of the three days' truce. This Clovis waged war against the Gotic followers of the Arian sect and conquered Gascoyn and Guyon.\n\nOf Faustus and under him ruled Belisarius, and from his name, it was first called Austria.\n\nSilvester, born in camp, was pope next in the year of Christ 538. He held the see for one year. Vigilius,\nRoman was exiled next at the seventeenth year and more, by Belisarius, lieutenant to Justinian, to the island of Pontus where he died.\n\nVictory against his enemies and sent Belisarius his lieutenant against the Persians, subduing them and making the Wandals in Africa obedient to the empire.\n\nResovers note: One reason given is that the time of Arthur is said to have been before Westminster was defiled, and built upon a wild beast's time of Sebert, king of Essex, which was after the death of Arthur, more than 40 years. So it is said that Arthur could not make it to that house such a grant. And also they say that it is not possible that the wax should last until this day, which is almost 1,000 years. Furthermore, they say that the time of Arthur, said to be nor 500 years after, did not use sealing wax on their deeds or writings, but it began since the conquest of Willa, conqueror. For at the time of the said conquest, they used only to subscribe their hands to deeds without any sealing of wax, as appears today in various abbeys in England of the grants.\nby the deeds made by St. Edward and others, to which you shall never find a seal of wax but only a subscription of their hands, yet I will neither deny the said story of Arthur nor exhort anyone specifically to affirm it, but let every man be free to believe in what he pleases. However, some say that when Arthur was out of the realm, Mordred was eager to be king. With great gifts, he drew to himself Cerdic, king of the West Saxons, by whose consent he was crowned king of Britain at London. Cerdic was in turn crowned king of the West Saxons at Winchester, to whom Mordred gave seven other provinces. Southsex, where Ella and his three sons, the aforementioned Reynold and Suthernet, reigned without a king above them for over 40 years until the time of Ethelbert.\n\nConstans, son of Cador, duke of Cornwall, was made king of Britain in the year of Christ 543, against whom the sons of Mordred waged war. But at last, [Constans' fate is incomplete in the text].\nIn the time of:\n\nChildebert, the eldest son of Clovis, held the church of St. Germain beside Paris.\nPelagius, a Roman, was the next pope in the year of Christ 532.\nJustinian, younger, born at Trier, succeeded as emperor in the year of Christ 555. He was a heretic of the Pelagian sect; he died mad.\n\nGalfred says he killed one of them in the church of St. Aphraat in Winchester and the other in a house of friars in London. But Galfred's account of this should not seem true, for there were no friars in all Britain at that time. After this war, Aurelian Conanus, cousin to Constantine the king, made war against the king and killed him in the field.\n\nAurelian Conanus was made king of the Britons in the year of Christ 466. He was a man of light credence, believing every first tale, which was his great hurt. He took his uncle, who should have been king, and put him in prison, killing his two sons. He reigned for only two years after him, leaving a son named Vortiporius.\nIn the year of the reign of Constantine IV.xlvii, Ida, a Saxon, began to reign in Northumbria, which was divided into two parts: Deira, extending from the Humber to the Tyne; and Bernicia, extending from the Tyne to the Scottish sea. One Ella reigned as king in Deira for three years after Ida began his reign. During the time of Vortiporius, son of Aurelius, in the year of the reign of Constantine IV.xlviii, both realms were united into one kingdom. This domain also included Yorkshire, Derby, and Nottingham. In this country, various kings ruled at different times, as named below. Vortiporius, son of Aurelius, was the next king, in the year of the reign of Constantine IV.xlviii. He was a victorious knight and distinguished himself in various battles against the Saxons. In the south part of the kingdom of Northumbria, called Deira, was first king Ella, as shown above. After Ida's death, Adda succeeded, followed by Clappa and Thedulphus.\nFretulphus and after hym Theodricus about this tyme Vffa kyng of estangles died & Redwaldus his so\u0304 succedid hym also about thys tyme ke\u0304ricus kyng of westsaxons died & his .ii sonns Ceolmus & Cuta succedid hym which after the deth of Otta kyng of kent expulsyd all the brytteyns out of kent which Cuta was after sleyn at abattell agaynste the bryttayns.\nk\nk\nS\nS\nA\nA\nw\nCeolm{us} & cuta\nw\nIda & Ella\nAdda\nClappa\nThedulf{us}\nN\n \u00b6Cloyter sone of Clouis was next kyng of all fraunce the yere of cryst vClix he was an euyll man he slew his .ii. neuewis & maryed theyre mo\u00a6ther he slew ye lorde Dyuetot in normandy therfore the pope Agapyt made hym to make fre the con\u2223trey so that the lorde thereof was namyd kyng & is to thys day he reynyd .v. yere\n\u00b6Aribert son of Clotyer was next kyng he was a commen aduouterer and dyed after he had reynyd .ix. yere.\n \u00b6Charlis naso\u0304 so\u0304 to astraci{us} was after his fader duke of Braban & Austry he maried woldbury doughter to the duke of Turyng wherby he was after duke of Turynge.\n \u00b6Iohn\u0304 a\nRoman was the next pope in the year 553 CE, holding the see for 13 years.\nBenet, a Roman, held the see next for 4 years and more.\nPelagius, a Roman, held the see next for 10 years and more; he instituted that clerks in holy orders should say daily the seven canonical hours.\nTyberius, a son of Justinian, was the next emperor in the year 576 CE, and held the empire for 7 years.\nMalgo, a duke and new to Aurelius Conanus, was made next king of Britain in the year 522 CE. He manfully withstood the Saxons, preventing them from causing great damage to the land, which was under his possession. In his time, Ethelbert began to reign as king of Kent and gave battle to Ceolm, son of Cyning of the West Saxons. This was the first battle between the Saxons. Ceolm seized various cities from the Britons and at last chased Malgo and pursued him. Malgo died in a disquieting manner after he had reigned for 35 years. Also, soon after Malgo's death, Ceolmos died. His son Ceolric succeeded him as king of the West Saxons.\nIn this time, shortly after, Cheldwulfus succeeded his brother Aethelwulf. Around the same period, Theodricus, king of Bernicia, and Ella, king of Deira, died. After them, Ethelric became king of all Northumbria. Some authors claim that the kingdom of the East Saxons began under a Saxon named Sledda around this time. After Sledda, Erkengot was the first king in Essex, and the leaders before him were not kings but rulers. Shortly after this period, Ethelbert, king of Kent, grew so victorious that he subjugated almost all the land up to the Humber River into his dominion.\n\nEthelbert\nSledda\nErkengot\nChelrie, son of Clovis, was the next king of France in the year of Christ 573. He killed his wife in the night and married Androgue, whom he later abandoned, and took Fredegund as his wife instead. She was evil and cruel.\n\nCharlies Haysbarn, son of Charles Nasar, was duke of Tongres and Brabant after him.\nGregory, a Roman named Gregory, was the next pope in the year 590 AD and held the position for 13 years and more. He confirmed the decrees of the Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon to Christ's faith. This Gregory composed numerous holy offices, anthems, hymns, and responses, more than any other pope. He caused the heads of all idols to be destroyed.\n\nMaurice, born in Cappadocia, was the next emperor in the year 583 AD. He was deposed by Focas, who became emperor after him. Around this time, Ethelric, king of all Northumbria, died, and Ethelfrid succeeded him. Ethelfrid destroyed many Britons and killed 500 Bagaudae at a battle at Westchester. These Bagaudae were Britons who lived by the labor of their hands and came to pray for the Britons.\n\nChetoricus was the next king of the Britons in the year 586 AD. He was well-loved by his own Britons.\n\nCloyter, son of Chelm, was the next king of the Britons.\nIn the year of Christ 502, Chilperic kept his mother, who waged great war against Robert and his sons, on behalf of Childbert, king of Metz and Burgundy. When he came of age, he became king of France.\n\nCharlemagne succeeded Charles and was duke of Brabant.\n\nSabinian was the next pope in the year of Christ 556. He held the see for one year.\n\nBoniface, a Roman, held the see next, for nine months.\n\nBoniface, born in Marseilles, held the see for six years. He ordained the feast of All Saints.\n\nFocas was next in the life of Maurice, in the year of Christ 533. He gave to Boniface the temples called the Two.\n\nAt this time, the kingdom of the Saxons began under Sigebert, in the year of Christ 563. Around this time, two children of the Angles were set to Rome to be sold. Saint Gregory, being a monk, saw their beauty and said they might well be called angels for they were like angels. He therefore, after this, became pope, having compassion that their culture was not Christianized. He sent Austeus there, who arrived.\nKing Ethelbert, the first Christian king in Kent, was crowned there and christened him in the year 597 AD according to Bede and other writers. A large part of Kent and many thousands of Britons were converted. King Ethelbert began the building of a church in Canterbury, as some writers affirm, and founded a city in London to build a church in the worship of St. Peter in the western end of London, which is now called Westminster. However, other histories affirm that Sebert, king of Essex, founded the abbey of Westminster. Around this time, Redwald, king of East Anglia, was christened, but he denied the faith soon after. St. Austen ordained Melytus as bishop of London, and it was through his preaching that Sebert was christened.\n\nCadwan, a duke of North Wales, was made king and governor by the Britons in the year 513 AD during the reign of Chelwulf, king of Wessex. He waged strong war against Ethelfrid, king of Northumbria, and according to some accounts, he slew Ethelfrid.\nEdwin kept the kingdom of Northumbria in his own hand for seventeen years. Oswald and Oswy, his sons, were set as wardens in Albania. This Edwin was baptized by Paulinus. Around this time, Eadan, king of Scotland, invaded Northumbria with a large army. Ethelfrid intercepted him and slew most of the Scottish forces. From that day and for about five years after the battle, the Scots dared not invade the land in which it took place. Theobald, brother to Ethelfrid, was slain in this battle.\n\nDagobert I was the next king of France in the year of Christ 539. He founded the church of St. Denis two legions from Paris. He gave it to Heibert.\n\nPepin the Elder was duke of Brabant and Austrasia, and also prince of the palaces of France. He had a man called Grymoald and two daughters, Begga and Gertrude, who was a saint. Grymoald died without issue.\n\nDeus I was the next pope in the year of Christ 614. He held the see for three years. Boniface was born.\nin Champagne held the sea next for 5 years\nHonor, born in Champagne, held the sea next for 13 years\nHeracle, son of Heracle, Pretor of Africa, was next in power the year of Rist, 6th century and 12th, and entered Persia with a great host and took Cosdrus, the king there. He baptized his son and brought the holy cross that Christ died upon into Jerusalem before it was taken by Cosdrus. Therefore, the feast of the Exaltation is celebrated. He reigned for 30 years.\nConstantine the Second, son of Heracle, was next emperor for four months.\nIn his time, two sons of Childeric, king of the Franks and Quichelinus, ruled after the death of their brother Colwolfus.\nEdwal, S, A, Orpewaldus, A, w, w, N, E, Oswaldus, N, E, Three sons,\nE, Penda, M, his brother, ruled over the country of Thole, the country of Austria. He released the Saxons from the tribute of 500 oxen which they paid annually to the kings of France. He waged war against the Gascons and made the Britons in little Britain tributaries to him.\nAnsigis, son of St. Arnoul, was married.\nto Begga Doughter to Pepyn duke of braban and austry.\n \u00b6Seueryne a romayn was next pope the yere of cryst .vi.C.xxxv. he held ye see one yere.\n\u00b6Iohn\u0304 dalmate held the see next .ii. yere & more.\n\u00b6Theodore a greek held the see next .vi. yere & more.\n\u00b6Martyne tudertyn held the see next .vi. yere & more.\n \u00b6Heracleonas sonne of Heracle was next emperour ye yere of cryst .vi.C.xlii. But because he & his moder rulyd not well ye co\u0304myn wele They cut his nose & his moders to\u0304g & were both excilyd / In his tyme ye sekt of machomyte began which syth that tyme hath meruelously incresyd vppo\u0304 the cristen men & dayly doth.\n\u00b6Cadwall{us} or Cadwalin son to Cadwa\u0304 was next made ki\u0304g of the brytteyns the yere of cryst .vi.C.xxxv. He was a noble man & made grete war vppon the saxo\u0304s & wan many townis & castellis of the\u0304 & specially in Mercia that Penda beyng there kyng was glade to sew to him for pese and some write that Pe\u0304da e brittons & put the\u0304 to the wors / Oswold of who\u0304 I spake before was a\u0304 holy man / But Pe\u0304da which had\nDisdain attacked Him and all other Christian princes waged war on Him and slew Him. After His death, God showed many miracles on His behalf. However, within a year of His death, Oswy, His younger brother, recovered the kingdom of Bernicia. Immediately after, he found ungrateful men and slew Oswyn, who was king of Deira. Oswyne was also Eufricus, eldest brother to Oswold. Oswald had a son named Odilwaldus, who died before Oswy. Around this time, Ciuchelmus, king of Essex, died. After him, Sigerus and his brother Sebba succeeded, but both denied the faith. However, Sebba was converted.\n\nExactus, Edricus, Anna, Comgallus, Oswy, and Oswyn were also kings.\n\nClovis II was next king of France in the year of Christ 544. In his time, there was great darkness in France, so he uncovered the church of St. Denis, which was covered in silver, and gave it to the poor people.\n\nEugenius I was the next pope in the year of Christ 615. He held the see for nine years.\nVitalian held the see for 12 years. Vitalian, a Roman, held the see next for 5 years. Constantine III, the third son of Constantine, was the next emperor in the year of Christ 441. He was a heretic and exiled Pope Martin. Constantine III, the fourth son of Constantine, was the next emperor. He was a good man and called a council at Constantinople where it was ordained that priests could marry, which was previously forbidden to them. Around this time, the South Saxons rebelled and refused to be under the West Saxons. They then made Ethelwold their king. In this time, Penda made war against Anna, king of East Anglia, and slew him in open battle. Afterward, Penda went to Northumberland to kill Oswy, as he had previously killed his brother Oswald. Oswy offered him peace and was willing to give him many great gifts, but Penda refused.\nOswy refused the panym's refusal of his gift. He offered it to God if it pleased Him and made a vow that if he gained victory, he would give his daughter to God with sufficient means to build 12 abbeys. After the victory, Oswy slew Penda in open field and captured 20 of his chief captains and his wife. He gave thanks to God and fulfilled his promise. He made his daughter Eanflaed a nun and built 12 abbeys, six of which were in Deira and six in Bernicia. Oswy ruled the Marches and the South Saxons for three years and gave one of his daughters in marriage to Peada, the son of Penda, making him Christian and then king of the South Marches. Peada was later killed by his wife's treason, and the kingdom fell to Wulfhere, his other brother who was also Christianized.\n\nIn this time, King Ecgbert of Kent died, and the kingdom fell to Ecgberht his son. Around the same time, Eadbald, king of East Angles, was killed by the East Angles' army.\nOswy kyng of Northu\u0304bers after whom succeddyd his broder Ethelwoldus / After whom reynyd Adulphus son to anna but how lo\u0304g he reynyd & who succedyd hym I find not for they were euer subduyd by the kyngis of Mercia vnto the tyme of the good kyng seynt Edmunde.\nk\nEgbert{us}\nk\nS\nEthelwoldus\nS\nA\nEthelerus\nEthelwold{us}\nA\nw\nw\nN\nEgfridus\nN\nE\nE\nM\nPeda\nM\n \u00b6Agaton borne in Secyl wa next pope the yere of cryst .vi.C.lxxxi. he hyld the see .ii. yere and more. \u00b6Leo borne in Secyle hyld the see .x. monthis.\n\u00b6Benet a romayn hyld the see next .vi. monthis.\n\u00b6Iohn\u0304 siryan hyld the see next one yere.\nConon born in trace hyld the see nexte one monyth / \n \u00b6Iustinia\u0304 so\u0304 of co\u0304sta\u0304tyn was next e\u0304{per}our ye yere of cryst .vi.C.lxxxvii / Leo\u0304\u00a6ci{us} cut of his nose & eris & put hi\u0304 in exile but after he obteynyd his e\u0304pyre & so contynuyd .vi. yere. \u00b6Leoncius after he had put Iustynyan to ex\u00a6yle made him selfe e\u0304{per}our / In his time one Amilech admyrall of ye sarsins cam in to affrik wyth mich people agaynst whom \n In this tyme\nBegas great death in Britain, where many bishops died, and at this time Osgyth, the only king of Northumbria, died, and Egfrid, his successor, died, and Coeval, king of Wessex, died, and Kewin succeeded. In Kewin's time, he made great war against the Britons and had victories. Egfrid made frequent war against them and the Picts and had frequent victories, but the Picts once, by a policy, fled back and brought Egfrid into a strait among mountains where Egfrid was slain, and a great part of his people. After his death, a bastard brother of his named Alfrid Notus was made king of all Northumbria. Shortly after this, Cadwallader, king of Britain, died, but Polycronycon, nor any other author, shows any acts of Cadwallader, nor of his wealth nor of the image of brass set upon a horse of brass at Ludgate. Cadwallader, whom Bede calls Cedwalla, began to rule the Britons.\nGalfred affirms the year of Christ 584. This Galfred, called Cadwalladr, is said to be the son of Cadwal but William of Malmesbury states he was king of the West Saxons next after Kenwyn, descending lineally from the noble blood of the Germans. Also, the holy Bede, living at the same time, affirms that this Cedwalla or Cadwaladr was king of the West Saxons, descending from the kings' blood of the people called Geussi, which Bede explains as the West Saxons. Two sayings may well agree because the West Saxons call themselves from Germany. This Cadwalladr, as Bede affirms, for devotion, forsook his kingdom.\n\nCadwalladr, son of Cadwal, is called King Clotiern of France in the year of Christ 562. He ordained mayors of the palaces and after that, the kings of France abandoned all care for the commonwealth and turned themselves to idleness and pleasure, doing no good except once in a year, showing themselves to their people with pride and pomp.\n\nPepin, son of Osigis, and [other names]...\nBegga was duke of Brabant and Austrasia, and also prince of the palace of France.\n\nSergius, born at Annoch, was the next pope in the year of Christ 587. He held the see for one year and more.\n\nJohn, a Greek, held the see next for three years and more.\n\nJohn, a Greek, held the see next for two years and more.\n\nSosinus of Syria held the see next for twenty days. In his time, the first duke of Venice, called Paulus Lucius, was made.\n\nLeo, who was succeeded by John Patrik, drove out the Sarisans but, after their return, John Patrik retreated towards the east for support. The people of his army therefore made Tyberius emperor, who laid siege to Constantinople and cut off Leo's nose and exiled him.\n\nRanulphus and other authors affirm that Cadwallader was king of the West Saxons. Many suppose that he might be king of both the West Saxons and Britons and be inheritable to both, for the West Saxons were adjacent to Cambria where the Britons dwelt. This Cadwallader made war against Lotharius.\nKing of Kent and Destroyed much of the province in which Lotharius was slain. After his death, Edric was king of Kent. After Cadwallader made war against Ethelwold, king of South Saxons, and slew him within a short space of eleven years, the people were so decimated that they could scarcely bear the dead. This Cadwallader, as Geoffrey writes in the third year of his reign, whether it was only for devotion or for fear of death, went on pilgrimage to Rome, and there, by Pope Sergius, was professed a monk and died, being the last king of the line of Britains. Also, Geoffrey writes that Ivor, son of Cadwallader, and Iude his nephew ruled the Britons jointly after Cadwallader's departure. Ivor made great war against the Saxons, but they could never prevail. After the Britons were called Welsh, their duke and leader was called Wallo or Gwallo, or else a queen of Wales was called Galas. Around this time, Wolfer, king of the Marches, died, and his brother succeeded him.\nErtheldred, being king of Britain and the West Saxons, as well as all the other kingdoms being subject to the West Saxons, I will proceed in this work according to the line of the West Saxons, and in due time and order, show how each one succeeded the other.\n\nCotharius\n\nTheodor, son of Clovis, was the next king of France in the year of Christ 516. After he had reigned for some time due to his wantonness and lightness, he was expelled. Chelderyk, his brother, was put in his place. However, after Chelderyk, due to his cruelty, was slain, Theodor was made king again.\n\nConstantine of Syria was the next pope in the year of Christ 666. He held the see for seven years. He christianized two Saxon kings who were at Rome. Afterward, he became a religious man.\n\nGregory, a Roman, held the see next in the year of the Germans 722. The Germans were converted to the Christian faith. He cursed the emperor Leo because he worshipped false gods.\n\nTyber was the next emperor in the year of Christ 715. In his time, Iustynya, who was named before, reigned.\nEmperor Camillus came again and, with the help of Carinus, slew Leoncius and Tiberius. However, he was later killed in battle by Philippicus. During this time, Granado's realm was taken by the Saracens.\n\nPhilippicus was the next emperor. He was declared a heretic by Pope Constantine and deposed, and his eyes were put out.\n\nThe kingdoms ended and were subdued to the West Saxons. At this time, Ethelred or Iew, descending from the blood of the West Saxons, according to William de Regibus, was the next king of West Saxons after Cadwallader. He made great war upon the Kentish Saxons. The men of Dorobernia or Canterbury granted Iew a recompense for the death of Mulyng, Cadwallader's brother, who had been killed.\n\nIew, by the urging of his wife Etheldreda, who was a holy woman and abbess of Ely, gave up his kingdom to Ethereldus, his nephew.\nThis person, referred to as Iue in Bede's writings and Hu_ or Iue by Geoffrey of Monmouth, is believed to be the same individual due to the timing of his reign and journey to Rome. No variation in the writing of his name is noted beyond this. For instance, Galfridus speaks of other persons named Iuor and Iue, and all their sayings may be considered together.\n\nIt is stated that this Iue was the reason the Peter's Pence were granted to be paid from every house in England, but the exact cause is uncertain. Some claim that Ethelwold was the first to grant them. Around this time, Offa, king of Essex, and Kenred, king of Mercia, went to Rome and were professed as monks. After Offa, Sileredus succeeded in Essex, and Colredus in Mercia.\n\nClovis, son of Theodoric, was the next king of France in the year of Christ 593. Cheldebert II, son of Theodoric, was the next king of France in the year of Christ 597. Charles Martel, son of Pepin, succeeded him.\nDuke of Austria and prince of the palace of France. He was protector of Theodore, young king of France, and defended him.\n\nGregory was the next pope in the year of Christ 590. He held the see for ten years and more.\n\nAnastasius was the next emperor in the year of Christ 1174. He was deposed by Theodosius.\n\nTheodosius was the next emperor. He was a Christian man but was deposed from his empire.\n\nLeo was the next emperor. He was a heretic. He commanded the images of saints to be destroyed, therefore he was cursed by Gregory, the pope, and died.\n\nEthelard (or Etheldred) began his reign over the West Saxons in the year of Christ 724. In this time, Offa or Osberh ruled in Northumbria, to whom Bede wrote the story called Historia Anglicana. Some say to his successor Colwulcus.\n\nCutbert (or Ethelred) began his reign over the West Saxons in the year of Christ 739. In this time, the holy Bede had spoken and died. In this time, Colwulf, king of Northumbria.\nThis text describes the succession of kings in Northumbria and Wessex. Many of these Saxon kings were also holy men who built churches, founded abbeys, and endowed them with great land. Here are the details:\n\nEgbert, a king of Northumbria, gave his kingdom to Egbertus, his cousin, and became a monk. This Egbertus frequently waged war against Ethelwold, king of Mercia. It is worth noting that many Saxon kings were holy men who built churches, founded abbesses, and endowed them with vast lands. They lived virtuously and died as saints.\n\nEgbertus, who was king of Northumbria, renounced his kingdom for the love of Christ and took the tonsure of St. Peter and St. Paul. His son Osulf succeeded him, but he was killed by the Northumbrians after only a year. Moll and Ethelwold followed, each ruling for seven and nine years, respectively. Helredus succeeded Ethelwold but was expelled by the Northumbrians after nine years, making Ethelbert their king. Ethelbert was expelled within five years, and Elwolphus became king. Elwolphus was soon ousted, and Egbert, king of the West Saxons, subdued the Northumbrians and ruled over them.\nDagobert, son of Childbert, was the next king of France in the year of Christ 751.\nCloyter, the second son of Childbert, was the next king of France in the year of Christ 759.\nTheodor, son of Dagobert, was the next king of France in the year of Christ 785.\nIn his time, the Saracens entered the realm of France with an innumerable people, both men, women, and children. Against them, Charles Martell made a great battle and slew three hundred thousand Saracens.\nZachary, a Greek, was the next pope in the year of Christ 451. He held the see for ten years.\nStephen, a Roman, held the see next for five years.\nPall, a Roman, held the see next for ten years.\nConstantine, son of Leo, was the next emperor in the year of Christ 442. He was cursed by Pope Pall and died afterwards.\nLeo, son of Constantine, was the next emperor. He was covetous of precious stones and took a crown full of precious stones out.\nof the church of Saint Sophia and placed it on his head, which stones were so broad that they caused his death. In his time, the empire decreased, and Sigbert, Sigebert's cousin, began his reign over the West Saxons in the year of Christ 544. He was cruel and tyrannical to his subjects, torn down their laws and customs to follow his own will, and put one of his lords to death. This deed was avenged by Kenulphus, who had been deposed, and he in turn was killed by the same Sigbert. In his time, Egberht was king of Northumbria.\n\nKenulphus, son of Cerdic and Offa, king of Mercia, became king of the West Saxons in the year of Christ 548.\n\nEthelbert, Egbert, Osulf, Helered, Ethelbert, Offa,\n\nCheddicy, son of Theodor, was the next king of France in the year of Christ 541. However, because he gave himself entirely to lechery and pleasure and was unprofitable to the realm, he was therefore deposed.\nPepin, son of Charles Martell, was declared king of France by Pope Zachary in the year 751 AD. He crossed the mountains twice and entered Italy to support Pope Stephen II against Astolp, king of Lombardy, who kept the lands of the church from the pope. Pepin restored the pope to his lands and his see.\n\nStephen of Secile was the next pope, in the year 767 AD. Adrian, a Roman, held the see next for 23 years. He was persecuted by Desiderius, king of Lombardy, and fled to Charles, king of France. Charles subdued Desiderius.\n\nConstantine, the sixth son of Leo, was the next emperor in the year 782 AD. He held the empire with his mother Irene for ten years, then put her out and ruled alone. However, his mother put out his eyes and became empress afterward.\n\nIrene, mother of Constantine, was empress next for four years. After that, the empire came to...\nKing Carmen of France,\nBrightricus, a descendant of Cerdic, the first king of the West Saxons, began his reign over the West Saxons in the year 578 AD. One of his daughters was married to Offa, king of Mercia. With Offa's help, Brightricus had previously deposed Egbert, son of Alcmund, who was then an under-king or ruler in West Saxons. Egbert subsequently went to France. During the second year of Brightricus' reign, a great wonder occurred in his court: crosses resembling blood fell upon people's clothing in the streets. Some interpreted this as a sign of the Danes' imminent entry into the land, which indeed happened in the ninth year of Brightricus' reign. However, he and the other Saxon kings were able to drive them out at that time. Brightricus was poisoned by his wife, named Ethelburga, due to which he fled to France and later ended his life in shame and poverty. The kings of the land, particularly those of West Saxons, refused to allow their armies to follow Edward, king of England, because of Ethelburga.\nThe West Saxons subdued it to their dominions.\n\nCuthred, Baldred, N, Elwol, Osred, Ethelred, Osbrigh & Ella, N, M, Egferth, Kenulf, Kenelin, Celwolf, Barnulf, M\n\nCharles the Great or Charles the Great of France was the next king of France in the year of Christ 768.\n\nLeo, a Roman, held the see next for seven months; he crowned Charles the Great emperor and declared Pepin's son, Charles, king of Italy. He held the see for twenty-one years.\n\nStephen, a Roman, held the see next for seven months; he crowned Louis the Debonair as emperor and king of France.\n\nCharles the Great or Charles the Great of France, being king of France and son of Pepin, was next made emperor by Pope Leo in the year of Christ 800. The Romans had conspired against Pope Leo, so he came to Charles for help, which restored him to his see. Therefore, the pope, by his council, crowned him emperor, declaring that those of Constantinople were unworthy because they did not defend the church of Rome.\n\nEgbert, the son of Alcuin, as shown before, began.\nhis reyne ouer the west saxons the yere of cryst .vii.C.xxv / This Egbert whych was dryuyn owt by meanys of Brigthricus as is before rehersyd when he had obteynyd the gouernau\u0304ce of this land one Barnulphus kyng of Mercia had him in derysyo\u0304 makyng agaynst him Gest{is} & Rymys / whych Egbert for a tyme pacye\u0304tly sufred tyll a season that he had gotten the fauour of his subiectys & then assemblyd his knyghtys & gaue ba\u2223tell to him wher Barnulphus had .vi. or .vii. men agaynst one of his / but by reaso\u0304 that egbertus men were lene lyght & long brethyd & Barnulphus men were groce & corpulent Egbert had the victory as is before sayd & seasid the domynion of Mercia in to his own hand / This Egbert also made war vp\u2223po\u0304 ye ke\u0304tysh saxo\u0304s & at le\u0304ght obteynid the vyctory / he also subduyd the northu\u0304bers & made Osbright & Ella ther kyngys & to be to him tributaryes and so ioynid these .iii. prouyncis to his own kyngdom Also after the deth of Cuthredus kyng of Essex the Essaxons lyffyd with out kyng long tyme tyll at\nThe last they submitted themselves to be subjects to Egbert, king of the West Saxons. This Egbert also conquered the town of Chester from the Britons, whom they had previously kept. After this victory, he summoned a council of his lords and was shortly crowned king of all England. He then sent out his commissioners and commanded strictly that from that day, the Saxons should all be called English men, and all the land should be called England.\n\nCharlemagne ordered the twelve peers of France to be present at the crowning and anointing of the king. He subdued Diederik, king of Lotharingia, who had forcibly taken various ladies from the pope Adrian and restored the pope to the possession of them. Therefore, the pope granted him many great privileges contained in the Canon Adrian.\n\nLuderic, born in Germany, was made forester of Flanders by Charlemagne, and the country was called Flanders after the name of his wife, called Flandrine.\n\nPaschal, a Roman, was the next pope in the year of Christ.\nIn the eighth century and sixteen years, he held the see. He ordered that no clerics should obtain benefices from laymen. Eugenius, a Roman, held the see next for two years and more; he was martyred, and his eyes were put out by the Romans who hated him. Valentinus, a Roman, held the see next for forty days. Lewis, the first called Mild and son to Charlesman, was both emperor and king of France in the year of Christ eight hundred fifteen. He ordered, by a council, that a book be made of the ceremonies of the church to be kept by the clergy. He reformed the pride and the superfluity of the men of the church. His three sons, Lewes and Pepin, conspired against him and compelled him to flee from the empire in monk's clothing.\n\nHowever, despite Egbert having thus obtained the dominion of the whole land, after various ones took up the kingship in different kingdoms, as before said, and ruled for a season, they never long continued there but were subdued again shortly, except that they were tributaries.\nIn the 19th year of King Egbert of the West Saxons, the Danes entered this land for the second time and plundered the island of Egbert, who reigned for 37 years and then died. After that, Charles subdued the Saxons and marched into Spain with a large army against the infidels, and there conquered a great territory. But as he was returning by the mountains of Pyrenees, he was honored as emperor by Pope Leo. However, he left the governance of France to his eldest son Charles, but he died before his father.\n\nLewis the Mild was the next king of France and also emperor, as shown among the emperors. In his time, a great company of Danes and Normans invaded the land of France and caused great harm. But this Lewis quickly vanquished them.\n\nAfter Luderic, his father, Forester of Flanders ruled for 15 years and lies at Harlebeke.\n\nGregory, a Roman, was the next pope in the year of Christ 827, he held the see for 10 years. Sergius the Second, a Roman, held the see next for 3 years.\nFirst, a man named Leo, formerly known as Gro, held the see for nine years or more. He was so holy that through his prayers to the Lady, he chased a serpent named Cockatrice from the furnace of St. Lucia, whose smell caused many people to die. Therefore, he commanded the utas of the Assumption to be venerated.\n\nLothair, son of Lewis the Mild, was the next emperor in the year 840 AD. He and his brother Lewis had great war against their brother Charles the Bald, king of France. In a marvelous great battle, Charles had the victory. After that, Lothair joined him in his empire, and Lewis his son succeeded him.\n\nLewis, son of Lothair, was the next emperor in the year 855 AD.\n\nEthelwulf began his reign over the West Saxons in the year 832 AD. Some say that he founded the first university of Oxford first. He had four sons by his wife Osburga, a woman of low birth. The first was named Ethelwold, the second Ethelbert.\nIII. Ethelred and IV. Aethelred, along with others, were kings of England after him. Around this time, Bertulf, king of Mercia, killed Saint Wulstan, and soon after Bertulf died, Burgred was king of Mercia. In this time, the Danes caused great harm in England and came to London, robbed and spoiled the city, but the king drove them out of the land and compelled them to take the sea. After Ethelred had reigned for 22 years, he died and is buried at Winchester.\n\nEthelwald, the eldest son of Ethelred, was next king of the West Saxons and of most of England. He was vicious in living and was killed by the Danes. In this time, Saint Edmund was king of East Anglia.\n\nEthelbert II, the second son of Ethelred, began his reign over most of England in the year 865 AD. In this time, the Danes, with greater strength, entered the western part of this land and came to Winchester and took the city, but the king compelled them to abandon it and fought with them.\nthem as they went to their ships, and many of them were slain and taken.\nCharles the Bald, son of Louis the Mild, was the next king of France in the year 840 AD. After the death of Louis's son of Lothaire, he was made emperor. After that, he was in France.\nAndoquyer, son of Ingessus, was the forester of Flanders after his father.\nJohn Anglicus, born in Maguncium, pretended to be a woman and disguised herself as one to go to Rome. She was chosen pope in the year 849 AD and reigned for two years.\nBenet, a Roman, held the see next for two years and more.\nNicholas, a Roman, held the see next for seven years. He ordained that no layman might act as a party for a priest.\nAdrian, a Roman, held the see next for five years and more.\nCharles the Bald, son of Louis the Mild, was the next emperor after he had been chosen king of France. He returned from Rome and came into France, where he was poisoned.\nEtheldredus, the third son of Ethewulf, was poisoned.\nDuring this time, damages caused by belief entered the country of France, spoiling the land and killing the people, continuing for a long time after.\n\nBaldwin, son of Andoquyr, was made the first earl of Flanders by Emperor Charles the Bald. He married Judith, daughter of the said Charles.\n\nJohn, a Roman, was the next pope in the year 814 AD. He took part with Charles the Bald and Louis the Stammerer against Charles and his children, King of Germany. He convened a council at Troyes, decreeing that anyone who was a murderer should be irrigated and unable to receive holy orders.\n\nMartin, born in France, held the next position, and more.\n\nAdrian, a Roman, held the see next, ordering that the emperor should no longer interfere in the election of popes but only the clergy.\n\nLouis the Stammerer, son of Charles the Bald, was the next emperor in the year 840 AD, and he was also king of France, reigning for only two years.\n\nCharles the Great, son of Louis, king of Germany.\nwas next emperor after he became unprofitable to the common weal and was therefore put out by the princes of the Empire after he had held it for ten years.\n\nAlfred the fourth son of Ethelwulf was next king of the West Saxons and of most of England in the year of Christ 872. He was twelve years old or younger when he went to school, but then he profited marvelously and was very clever and cunning.\n\nLouis the Stutter was next king of France and also emperor in the year of Christ 878.\n\nBaldwin the Bald, son of Baldwin, was the second earl of Flanders and lived for thirty-nine years.\n\nStephen, a Roman, held the see next for six years in the year of Christ 886.\n\nFormosus, a Parthian, held the see next for five years and more.\n\nBoniface held the see next for twenty-six days.\n\nStephen held the see for a year and more.\n\nRomanus, a Spaniard, held the see next for three months.\n\nTheodore, a Roman, held the see next for twenty days.\n\nJohn, a Roman, held the see next for two years.\n\nBenet, a Roman, was next pope.\nIn the year 512 CE, Leo Aurelius held the see for three years and more. Leo Aurelius succeeded him next, ruling for 60 days, but was taken by Christopher, a cunning priest, who was ambitious to be pope, and kept in a tower until his death.\n\nChristopher, who had imprisoned the aforementioned Leo Aurelius, was then the next pope by usurpation for six months. However, he was deprived of his see, and Sergius, the next pope, succeeded, putting him in perpetual prison.\n\nSergius, a Roman, was then the next pope in the year 566 CE. He caused the body of Pope Formosus to be exhumed, decapitated, and annulled all his acts, alleging that he had conspired against Pope John XII.\n\nArnold, son of Carloman, was the next emperor in the year 899 CE, and was crowned by Pope Formosus. He fell ill with dysentery and could not be treated by physicians, and died.\n\nLewis, son of Arnold, was the next emperor in the year 933 CE. He could not obtain the imperial crown because Berenger occupied the country of Italy.\n\nConrad, brother of Emperor Lewis, was the next emperor, ruling in Germany.\nBut he could not obtain the imperial crown. Henry, Duke of Saxony, was the next emperor in the year 1020, but he did not obtain the imperial crown but held it in Germany, as Conrad did. They came from France to Aachen and were driven back again. Around the 21st year of King Alaric, the Danes landed in England in the fourth part of Egmond, but Alaric ever resisted and pursued them from place to place until he drove them to North Wales. This noble King Alaric devoted himself night and day to three parts of his duties, except he was hindered by sickness or other great impediments. Edward, son of Alaric, began his reign over the West Saxons and the larger part of England in the year 1042. One Clytus, Ethelwold, a kinsman to the king, rebelled and incited the Danes to rise against him. But the king compelled him and the Danes, and the Danes were slain. The remaining Danes sought peace, which was granted to them on condition that they paid certain money. However, they soon broke the peace.\nafter the break, the Council assembled another host and gave battle to the king. Two of their kings, two earls, and many an M of the Danes who occupied Northumberland were slain soon after Edred, Duke of Mercia, died. After his death, the king committed the rule of that country to Duchess Elfleda, who was his sister. Around the thirteenth year of King Edward's reign, a navy of Danes, who had been driven into France during Alured's time and had plundered various places, were landing and spoiling in the country. Therefore, the king prepared himself against them both by land and sent another navy to encounter them at sea. After this, the Britons entered the country of Brittany.\n\nLewis and Charles, sons of Lewis, were the next kings of France that year, 858 A.D. Lewis ruled for four years, and Charles ruled for one year. Eudo of Rhesus entered the land of Burgundy. But the king fought with him.\nThee and had you the victory, but not without loss of men.\nArnold, the third son of Baldwin, the third Earl of Flanders, lies at Gaunt.\nAnastasius, a Roman, was next pope in the year of Christ 913. He held the see for two years.\nLando, of Sabina, held the see next for six months.\nJohn, a Roman, held the see next for thirteen years.\nLeo, a Roman, held the see next for seven months.\nStephen held the see next for two years.\nJohn, a Roman, held the see next for three years.\nLeo, a Roman, held the see for three years and more.\nStephen, a Roman, held the see next for three years.\nMartyn held the see next for three years and more.\nAgapetus held the see next for ten years.\nJohn, a Roman, held the see next for nine years.\n\nOtto, the first called the great son of Henry, was next emperor in the year of Christ 837.\nOtto II, the second son of Otto, was next emperor. He was crowned while his father was still alive.\n\nThis Elfleda withstood them and drove them back, took the queen of Wales prisoner, and in the same year won the town of Darby from them.\nAfter Princess Eadfled's death, King Edward seized Mercia and joined it to his kingdom. Edward subdued the king of Scotland and Cumbria, and he was always friendly to him in wars. Ethelstan, Edward's son, began his reign over most of England in the year of Christ 855. He married his sister to Sihtric, then king of Northumbria. He made Constantine king of Scotland his subject and later restored him to his kingdom. After Sihtric's death, Ethelstan took Northumbria for himself. Therefore, the sons of Sihtric married the daughter of Constantine, king of Scotland, who both conspired against King Ethelstan and retook Northumbria by the River Humber with a great host of Danes and Scots, and there in open battle Constantine was slain, along with five under-kings and twelve more of the strangers. This Ethelstan subdued the west.\nIn the first year of his reign, the people of Northumberland rebelled, with two princes of Denmark named Anlaff and Reynold, along with a great host of Danes and other strangers. But King Edmund with Malcolm III, king of Scotland and his people, defeated them and forced them to abandon Northumberland. Malcolm III was given the land of Cumberland and it was made part of his own lands.\n\nEdred, Edmund's brother, was next king of England in the year 942. In his time, the Danes rebelled again and he subdued them, but not without loss. By appointment, their duke Hercules was banished and Northumberland was joined to his own dominions.\n\nLewis the Simple was next king of France in the year 1034.\n\nLothair, the elder son of Lewis, was next king of France.\n\nRollo, born in Norway with a great company of Norwegian Danes, came and invaded.\nI came to the country of Neustria and took the city of Rouen, destroying great cruelty the people and churches of Christian faith in that country and other lands of France. Charles the Simple, king of France, gave me the said country and his daughter Gisla to wife in order to make peace. Rollo was baptized and called Robert, and the name of the land was changed to Normandy, making him the first duke of Normandy. William Longsword, called Logespee, was next duke of Normandy. He governed the land with good justice, but was later slain by the treason of Arnold, earl of Flanders. Richard the Fearless, called William, was next duke of Normandy because King Louis had taken the city of Bayeux from him. He entered, with the help of Eric, king of Denmark. Benedict, a Roman, held the see in the year of Christ 962. Otto, the emperor, banished him in Italy. Leo, a Roman, held the see for one year and more. John, a Roman, held the see for six years and.\nBenet, a Roman, held the see next, i.e., for one year, until Cyntheus, a Roman citizen, imprisoned him in the Castle Angell where he died of hunger.\n\nDonus, a Roman, held the see next, i.e., for one year. By Pope John, he was emperor for ten years after his father's death and waged great war with Louis, King of France, devastating the country and coming to Paris to burn the suburbs.\n\nEdwin, the eldest son of Edmond, was the next king of England in the year of Christ 595. He banished St. Dunstan for a time and took treasures and jewels from religious houses, giving them to Aethelred and strangers. He was a vicious man in his living and also a tyrant to his subjects, who in conclusion deprived him of all kingly dignity and honor.\n\nEdgar, the second son of Edmond and brother to Edwin, was the next king of England in the year of Christ 960. He kept such good justice and executed so sharply that little felony or robbery was used during his days. He summoned Llewelyn, prince or king of Wales, to yield.\nEvery year, Edgar paid tribute to the wolves, numbering 300, for the reason that the wolves in England and Wales were destroyed. Edgar scoured the sea every summer with ships and kept them ready all year for the same purpose, along with all their equipment. By doing so, he protected his land from external enemies. In his time, both the Danes and all other people in England made extensive use of great drinking. King Edgar rode through the realm, destroying many alehouses, and allowed only one alehouse in a village or town, except in large boroughs. He ordered certain cups with pins and nails and made a law that anyone who drank beyond that mark in one draught would forfeit a certain penalty, of which the accuser would receive half and the ruler of the town the other half. He waged great war against Richard, Duke of Normandy, and captured the city of Bayeux.\n\nBaldwin, son of Arnold, was the next earl of Flanders and resided at Bartyns in the town of Saint-Omer. In France, he plundered the country and killed.\nPeople without pity compelled King Francis to act and deliver the city of Bayon to him.\nBoniface was the next pope in the year of Christ 996. He obtained the papacy through evil means and plundered and spoiled the church's treasure, and afterwards died wretchedly.\nBenet, a Roman, held the see next for eight years and six months.\nJohn, a Roman, held the see next for three months; he died of hunger in Castle Angel.\nJohn, a Roman, held the see for six months; he was hated by all people; he did nothing but enrich his kin from the church's goods.\nOtto was the next emperor in the year of Christ 1034. He was crowned by Pope Gregory and held the empire for nineteen years and more.\nEdward, the eldest son of Edgar, was next king of England in the year of Christ 1057. This Edward, riding in a forest, lost his people and suddenly came to the castle of Corfe. There, Elfleda, his mother-in-law and last wife to King Edgar, was lying. When she saw him, she desired him to drink. And as the king drank, a [something] was put into his drink.\nA servant of hers, whom she had hired, struck the king to the heart with a dagger and caused him to be slain because she wanted Egberht, her son, to be king instead, who was the second son of King Edgar. When the king was thus struck, he would have fled towards his company, but he bled so profusely that he fell from his horse, one foot caught in the stirrup, and was dragged with the horse until he came to a certain place where he was found dead alone. The manner of his death was unknown for a long time afterwards. Therefore, Elfrida repented and built two monasteries, Amesbury and Warwick, in which she lived a solitary life and later died.\n\nEgberht, the son of Edgar and Elfrida, was the next king of England in the year \n\nLewis, son of Lothair, was the next king of France in the year 866.\n\nArnold, son of Baldwin, was the next earl of Flanders; he lies at Ghent.\n\nJohn, a Roman, was the next pope in the year 1083. He held the see for ten years and more.\n\nGregory was next.\nPope He held the see for over two years and was nearly related to Otto the Third, Emperor. He ordered that the emperor should be chosen by the seven princes of Germany, a practice that continues to this day. John, Bishop of Pleasance, held the position for ten months. In his time, one Crescencius, a consul, deposed Pope Gregory and made John, Bishop of Pleasance, bishop in return for money. Pope John was not content with this and, with a great power, came to Rome to besiege Crescencius in Castle Angell. In the end, he took him and beheaded him, deposing Pope John.\n\nShortly after, a great sickness of the bubonic plague reigned, from which many people died. Due to the lack of good justice, many thefts and bribes were prevalent in the land, causing great misery and mischief.\n\nThis Egberhard[us] gave himself to lechery and oppression of his subjects and disinherited them of their possessions, causing them to redeem the same again with great sums of money. He paid great tribute to Danes annually, which was called Danegeld or Danes' money, which was increased from 10,000 a year.\nThese Danes were so proud annually that they kept the husbands they lay with in their houses and ate and drank and paid nothing, while they kept their wives, daughters, and servants at their pleasures, as the Kimbers and Galway-men do now in Ireland. The husbands were then called \"Lord Danes,\" a term now used in rebuke, which we apply to him whom we rebuke as \"Lurdan.\"\n\nThis Egbert married Emma, daughter of Richard, duke of Normandy. After this, he sent strict and secret commissions to every ruler of every town in England, instructing them to suddenly kill the Danes on Bryce's Day at a certain hour. This was carried out, which later turned into more trouble.\n\nAfter this, tithes came into Denmark concerning the murder of these Danes, immediately after Swanus, king of Denmark, with a great host, landed in Cornwall and caused great harm. When he heard that the king was coming to him with the power of his land, he took his ships and landed again in Northfolk. There, Duke Uscatell met him and defeated him.\nSwanus returned to Denmark after slaying many Danes that year. He made great prosperity the next year after landing again at Sandwich and plundered the country. When he heard that any host was coming against him, he took his ships and landed again in the south and plundered that country. As soon as he heard of any English host coming towards him, he would enter and land in another country, and burned, robbed, and slaughtered the people without mercy. The English were so weary that the king was willing to make peace with them. Swanus received 30,000 pounds after this peace.\n\nThis Lewis was the last king of the line of Pippin. He died without issue and ordered Hugh Capet's family to be his heir.\n\nSilvester was the next pope in the year of Christ 910.\n\nHenry was the next emperor in the year of Christ 1300. He was the first to be made emperor by the ordinance of Pope Gregory.\nIn the seventh year after King Athelred's reign, he made Edric duke of Mercia, who was cunning and false to both the king and the realm. The following year, a prince named Turkyll from Denmark invaded Kent with a large population, causing great harm. The Welsh were willing to make peace with them in exchange for generous gifts, and they departed. However, this persecution of the Danes in one country or another in Egberht's land never ceased, nor did the king ever give them a notable battle. When he was prepared to give battle, this Edric would always counsel him against it, allowing the Danes to plunder and rob, growing rich while the English became poor and needy. After this, Swan, hearing of the distress of his people in England, broke his contracts and, with a great army, landed in Northumberland and claimed to be king of the entire land. He caused all the rulers there to swear fealty to him and, with a great host, came into Mercia, killing and slaying the people.\nbecause the king Egelred was at London, Swans passed the river of Thames and came into Kent, where he besieged Canterbury and won it, took the goods of the people, fired the city, and slew the monks but also:\n\nHue Capet, son of Hugh the Great, was the next king of France in the year of Christ 987.\nBalduin Beauclerc was the next earl of Flanders, lying in Flanders.\nRichard, called the Good, was the next duke of Normandy; he was loving to Richard the Strong, king of France, and aided him in his wars, by which the said king subdued the country of Burgundy to his obedience.\nJohn was the next pope in the year of Christ 1001. He held the see for four months and more. He ordained that the dirge should be sung annually in the evening of all souls.\nJohn, a Roman, was the next pope in the year of Christ 1001. He held the see for four years and more.\nSergius, a Roman, held the see next for two years.\nBenet of Tusculum held the see next for eleven years. In his time, Jerusalem was taken by the Saracens and the Sepulchre of Christ destroyed.\nIn Normandy, Sweyn heard of his stepson's approaching birth and raised great sums of money from the people and a large part of Saint Edmond's lands which the people there claimed were free from the king's tribute. When Sweyn learned of this, he entered the territory of Saint Edmond and plundered the country. As a result, men of that country fell prey to him. Shortly after this, Sweyn died suddenly, yelling and crying among his knights. Some say he was struck down by Saint Edmond's sword and died three days later. In fear of this, Canute, his son who ruled after him, granted all their liberties to them. After this, when Egbert heard of Sweyn's death, he made provisions and came to England. Canute, being unprovoked, sailed to Denmark and returned the next year with a great navy, landing in the southern country. The eldest son of King Egbert, named Edmund Ironside, made provisions with Eadric's aid to meet him.\nEdric could not delay him any longer, as it was after he had promised favor to Canutus. Because of this, Canutus entered the country of the West Saxons and subjugated the people there to swear fealty and give him pledges. In this time, Egelred was at London and was taken ill and died there. He was buried on the north side of Paul's church behind the altar after he had ruled and recklessly governed the realm for 36 years. Leaving after him his eldest son Edmund Ironside, and Alfrieda and Edward, who were in Normandy and had been sent there as previously mentioned.\n\nRobert, son of Hugh Capet, was the next king.\nBaldwin, son of Baldwin Bellebarbe, was the next earl of Flanders, lying at Lille.\nJohn X, a Roman, was the next pope in the year of Christ M.XXI. He held the see for eleven years and more.\nConrad was the next emperor in the year of Christ M.XXV.\n\nEdmund Ironside, eldest son of Egelred, filled this position after this. They met in Marcia and fought against each other there, and according to some, Edmund was defeated by the treasurer.\nEdricus, whom he previously received to his grace, had this dispute with him frequently. These two princes often fought to come together, but at a certain time, during a truce, a knight from Edmond's side stood on a high place and said these words: \"Daily we die, and no one has the victory. When knights are dead on both sides, the dukes must compel a truce or else they will have to fight alone. This kingdom is now sufficient for two men, which once sustained seven. If the covetousness of lordship of these two is so great that neither can be content to live under the other, let them fight alone if they wish to be lords alone. If all men continue to fight, all men will be slain, and none will be left to be under their lordship or able to defend the king who will be left, against strange enemies and nations.\" These words were well received by both sides and the princes.\n\nHenry, son of Robert, was the next king of France in the year,\nBaldewyn, son of Baldewyn of Lysle, was the next earl of Flauders. He lies in an abbey in Henon.\n\nRichard, son of Richard the Good, was the next duke of Normandy. But within two years, he was slain by the treason of his brother Robert.\n\nBenet, a Tuscan, was the next pope in the year of Christ M.xxxii. He held the see for over a year. Both were summoned to try the quarrel between them two only. A place and time were appointed where they both met in sight of both hosts, and each had challenged the other with a show of force. He had reigned for two years and made laws that were thought good and reasonable above any others because of King Edgar.\n\nArnold, son of Baldewyn, was the next earl of Flauders. He lies at St. Bertyn's.\n\nRobert, brother to Richard, was the next duke of Normandy. He took repentance for the death of this brother Richard and was reconciled with Robert. But therefore, there was great debate. And Henry, king of France, took part with William. But William always had the victory.\n\nSilvester, a Roman, was\nPope in the year 1039, Hildebrand held the see for only 10 days before Benedict was chosen again.\n\nGregory, a Roman, was the next pope in the year 1046.\n\nHenry, son of Conrad, was the next emperor in the year 1014. He was crowned later by Pope Clement.\n\nDuring the time of Canute, the Scots rebelled. Therefore, Canute entered Scotland and subdued Malcolm, king of the Scots. For this reason, Canute was then king of four kingdoms: England, Scotland, Denmark, and Norway. After that, he went to Denmark and then to Rome on a pilgrimage and, upon his return to England, he kept justice throughout his life and was well beloved. He did many charitable deeds and built and repaired many monasteries, especially those that had been destroyed during his father's persecution. After his death, he lies at Winchester, leaving behind two sons: one named Harold and the other Hardikyn.\n\nHarold, also known as Harefoot for his swift delivery and early arrival, was born to Canute by Elgiva, his daughter.\nThe first wife began her reign over England in the year of Christ 393. She is scarcely remembered, as she reigned for only four years. The only thing that is known about her is that she banished her stepmother Emma and took her jewels and riches. hardicanute, being king of Denmark and the second son of canute by his last wife Emma, became king of England in the year of Christ 411. In his time, the two sons of Egelred, Alfrid and Edward, came from Normandy into England to avenge their mother and brought with them a great company of Normans. One earl Goodwyn, who was most in the king's favor and of most power next to the king, counseled the king and the lords not to allow those Normans into the realm. Ieperdy, by which means, he obtained authority to deal with the matter himself. He met with them at Gilldown and there slew Alfrid and most of the Normans. However, Edward was conveyed to his mother, who, out of fear of Goodwyn, sent him back to Normandy. Soon after this, Hardicanute, merry at Lambeth, suddenly died.\nThis Henry, who had reigned for two years and died without issue within eight days after, was the last of the Danes to reign in England from the bloodline of Danes. In Henry's time, some of the Burgundians who had long been under the obedience of France, refused the French king and turned to Conrad, the emperor.\n\nHenry had three sons: one named Philip, who was king of France while his father was still alive; another named Robert, duke of Burgundy; and a third named Hugh, earl of Vermandois.\n\nRobert, duke of Friesland, brother to Baldwin, was the next earl of Flanders; he lies at Cassel. William, bastard son of Robert, was the next duke of Normandy, and had great wars with Henry, king of France, as shown above.\n\nClement held the papacy in the year of Christ M.xlvii.\nDamasus held it next for 23 days.\nLeo held it next for two months.\nVictor held it next for two years and more.\n\nThis Henry came into Italy and took Pandulf, prince of Capua, prisoner.\n\nEdward [\n\nCleaned Text: This Henry, who had reigned for two years and died without issue within eight days after, was the last of the Danes to reign in England from the Danish bloodline. In Henry's time, some Burgundians who had long been under the obedience of France refused the French king and turned to Conrad, the emperor. Henry had three sons: Philip, who was king of France while his father was still alive; Robert, duke of Burgundy; and Hugh, earl of Vermandois. Robert, duke of Flanders, brother to Baldwin, was the next earl of Flanders; he lies at Cassel. William, bastard son of Robert, was the next duke of Normandy, and had great wars with Henry, king of France. Clement held the papacy in the year of Christ M.xlvii. Damasus held it next for 23 days. Leo held it next for two months. Victor held it next for two years and more. This Henry came into Italy and took Pandulf, prince of Capua, prisoner. Edward.\nThe son of Egelred and Emma began his reign over England in the year of Christ M.xliiii. He married Goduva, daughter of Earl Godwyn, but he never physically dealt with her or let her leave his bed. He dismissed the Englishmen from the great tribute called Danegeld forever. He banished Earl Goodwin and his sons for two years after an agreement was made, and the king took them back to grace during this banishment. In this time, the Scots rebelled. Therefore, by the king's command and power, Seward, Earl of Northumberland, entered Scotland and subdued the Scots, driving their king out of the land. Then, King Edward gave that land to Malcolm So-and-so of the king of Cumbria to hold of him and his heirs as kings of England. After this, Earl Goodwin, sitting at the king's table, was suddenly taken ill and died within three days. Some say he was taken with a palsy.\nHe stated that he choked on a morsel of bread because he had sworn falsely by that morsel of bread that he was not guilty of Alfred's brother's death to the king. Shortly after, King Edward sent Henry IV, the emperor, a summons for Edward, son of Edmund Ironside, to come to England with the intention of making him his heir. Accordingly, Edward came to England and died soon after Earl Goodwin Harold's eldest son, who had grown so favorable in the king's eyes that he ruled the greatest causes of the realm and commanded the king's army, subduing the Welsh rebels. Harold went to Normandy to see his brother Welnotus, who had been sent there as a pledge for the performance of the contracts made between the king and his father. After this, the king fell ill and before he died, he saw in a vision that because the nobles and prelates of England were not God's servants, God would therefore take the kingdom.\nhand of their enemy's son after King Edward died, without issue, and was a virgin when he died.\n\nRobert, son of Robert, was next earl of Flanders, lying at St. Vedast.\n\nThis William, duke of Normandy, came into England to King Edward. He had great cheer from him, for he was cousin to King Edward through their fathers - that is, son of Robert, son of Richard the Good, and Richard the Hardy, who was father to Richard the Good and mother to Queen Edward. Therefore, as some say, King Edward and Queen Edward were also related.\n\nStephen, born in Lorraine, was next pope in the year of Christ M.lvi. He held the see for seven months.\n\nBenet, a Roman, was next, holding the see for nine months, but he was deposed because he obtained the see by strength and force.\n\nNicholas, born in Savoy, was next.\n\nAlexander was next pope in the year of Christ M.lxi. He held the see for eleven years.\n\nHarold, son of Earl Godwine and last king of the Saxons, began his reign over England in the year of Christ M.lxvi. And soon after, he took upon himself as king, one Harold.\nHaralf Fairhair, son of King Canute of Norway and Denmark, came with three hundred ships and entered the northern country, claiming the land after the death of Edward. However, the lords of the country rose up and gave them battle. But the Danes had the victory, and therefore Harold, King of England, prepared for them in all haste and gave them a strong battle, gaining the victory and killing Harald Harfagar with his own hands. A great number of Englishmen were slain, but many more Danes were slain and many taken prisoner. After this victory, Harold the King of England grew so proud and, covetous, refused to share the plunder with his knights who had well deserved it. However, he kept it for himself, thus losing the favor of many of his knights and people.\n\nSoon after this, Duke William of Normandy set himself against Harold and warned him of his broken contract, which was to keep the land for his use after the death of Edward. However, because the daughter of Duke William, who was promised to Harold, was not yet born.\nDuke William thought Harold should not hold land in another's territory without the consent of its lords. Therefore, with the consent of the lords of Normandy, Duke William gathered a great army and, with the support of Pope Alexander, was confirmed in taking his journey and was given a banner to carry in his own ship. He came over with a large force and landed at Hastings in Sussex. For three reasons, Duke William entered this land to subdue Harold. The first was because it had been given to him by King Edward the Confessor. The second was to take revenge for the cruel murder of his brother Alfred, who was killed by Earl Godwine, an act Harold was accused of instigating. The third was to avenge the wrong done to Robert, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had been exiled by Harold during the reign of King Edward the Confessor. Therefore, Duke William sent to King Harold.\nharold that he shold leue the kyngdome to hym / or ellis to surre\u0304der it to hym and to take it agayn of hym beryng hym tribute / or ells to trye the quarell hym self with duke wyllyam in hys owne {per}so\u0304 / but ki\u0304g harold refusyd al these iii. offers & seyd it shuld be tried be dynt of swyrdis and gederd his people and Ioynyd battell with ye Normayns in a place where now standeth ye Abbay of batteyl In the bygynnyng of whych fyght ye englyshme\u0304 kept them in good aray lyke to ve\u0304quysh the norma\u0304s wherfore duke wyllya\u0304 causyd his me\u0304 to giff bak as though they fled wherby the Englishmen folowyd and brake theyre aray & ye normans ca\u0304f yersly vppon them & in conclusyon had the vyctory where that kyng harold was woundyd wyth an arow in the left eye & therof incontenent dyed and so was there slayne after that he had reynyd .ix. mo\u0304this & was buryed at waltha\u0304 whych was ye last yt reynyd in Englo\u0304d of ye blood of the saxons.\n\u00b6Thus endeth the cronicles of e\u0304glo\u0304d & of dyuers other realmis vnto the tyme of king wilm\u0304\nCalled the conqueror who was duke of Normandy. Gregory was next pope in the year of Christ M.lxxiii. He declared Henry IV emperor cursed for promoting benefices by simony. He held the see for twelve years and more.\n\nHenry IV was elected emperor in the year of Christ M.lvii. He married Maude, daughter to King Henry of England, and died without issue by her. He held the empire for one year.\n\nWilliam, duke of Normandy called the Conqueror, last son of Robert VI, duke of Normandy, began his reign over the realm of England. The year of Christ M.lxvii. The twelfth day of October. And when he had set the realm in some quietness, he took the rule thereof for his brother, the bishop of Bayeux, & next after sailed into Normandy, leading with him the chief rulers of England for fear of rebellion in his absence. The next winter after, he returned again into England, & then set a great tribute upon the Englishmen, so that therefore some parts of the land were lost.\nrebellyion broke out, particularly in Exeter, but at last William overcame them and won the city. He punished them severely for this and other harsh actions of his. However, various lords departed to Scotland, so he kept the remaining lords and exalted the Normans, giving them the chief possessions of the land.\n\nTwo cardinals came from Rome, through the means of King William, various bishops, abbots, and priors were deposed, and Englishmen were replaced with Normans in their places, in order for the king to be more secure in the land.\n\nAbout the third year of his reign, Harold and Cantus, sons of Suanus, king of Denmark, entered the northern country. With the help of some people of the country and some citizens of York, they entered the city and killed more than 300,000 Normans. Siege at York. But soon after, King William chased them out and drove them to their ships and took great displeasure.\nThe inhabitants of that province, which he destroyed, lay uncultivated and untilled for nine years after, and the people there were kept so hard by the king's war and in such famine that they ate rats, cats, dogs, and other vermin. In the fourth year of William's reign, Malcolm, king of Scotland, entered Northumberland and destroyed the country, took many prisoners, and kept them as bondmen. However, within two years after, King William made such war upon the Scots that Malcolm their king was forced to swear homage and fealty to him.\n\nPhilippe was next king of France, reigning in the year of Christ MLX. He reigned for forty-nine years and then resigned his crown to his son Lewis.\n\nBaldwin was next earl of Flanders.\n\nCharles was next earl of Flanders. He was slain by his people in Bruges.\n\nRobert, son of William Conqueror of England, was next duke of Normandy. He died there.\nDuring the reign of King William Rufus of England, the Duchy of Normandy was under the dominion of the kings of England for many years afterwards.\n\nVictor was the next pope and continued the sentence against Henry the Emperor. However, he was poisoned and died after being pope for only one year.\n\nAt this time, there was a great plea and debate between Thomas, Archbishop of York, and Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, over whether the Archbishop of York should be subject to the rule of the Archbishop of Canterbury. This matter was appealed to Rome. The decision was then sent back to be determined in England, where the Archbishop of Canterbury recovered and obtained the decree that the Archbishop of York should be subject to him and make him an oath of obedience.\n\nAbout the tenth year of his reign, Roger, Earl of Hereford, and Ralph, Earls of Northfolk and Suffolk, and one Earl Walref conspired against the king.\nThe earl of Harford and the earl of Northfolk fled and were outlawed. The earl of Warwick was beheaded. Around the fifteenth year of his reign, Robert Curthose, the king's eldest son, with the help of Philip the French king, waged war against his father and gave him a great battle in Normandy. King William was severely injured and willing to abandon the field. The cause of this battle was that King William intended to reclaim from his son Robert the Duchy of Normandy due to his wildness, which he had granted to him before that time.\n\nKing William established the New Forest in Hampshire and consequently destroyed numerous churches within a thirty-mile radius. During his time, he kept the English so low that few of them held any office of honor or rule, but he favored the city of London. He built two abbeys in England: the abbey of Battle, where he regained the field against Harold, and the abbey of Bermesey in Southwark beside it.\nKing Henry I built two abbeys in Normandy. In the nineteenth year of King William's reign, while the king was in Normandy, he raised a great tribute in England, collecting from every hide of land containing twenty acres and six shillings. Soon after, he entered France with a large army and burned a part of the city of Meaux, as well as many other cities and towns. However, according to some writers, in the heat of the battle, he took an illness from a horse that led to his death. He made his will, giving the kingdom of England to his second son, William Rufus, and the Duchy of Normandy to his eldest son, Robert Courteys. He also gave his treasury to his third son, Henry, and advised William to be loving and generous towards his people, and Robert to be stern and sturdy. He died on the ninth day of September, in the year after the incarnation of Christ 1087, after ruling England for twenty years and Normandy for fifty-two years.\nWilliam, duke of Normandy, was buried in the city of Caen in Normandy. William, duke of Normandy, was next earl of Flanders with the aid of the French king. Urban was next pope. In the year of Christ M.lxxxviij, he held the see for twelve years and more. Under him, the voyage to Jerusalem was determined by Godfrey de Boleyn and other Christian men who wished to take the city of Jerusalem. William Rufus, or William the Red, the second son of William the Conqueror, was next crowned king of England. This occurred on the 27th day of September in the year of Christ M.lxxxvii. Shortly after William Rufus had assumed the kingdom, his brother Robert Courteys came out of Normandy and landed at Hampton. His intention was to expel his brother from the kingdom. However, upon hearing this, William Rufus sent embassadors to him, requesting that he might enjoy it during his life, paying him yearly 3,000 marks, with the condition that whichever of them outlived the other would inherit the kingdom. Robert, with the advice of his advisors, agreed to this.\nThis William Rufus, having received the assent of the counsel and returned to Normandy, was somewhat unstable in manners and covetous, selling ecclesiastical benefits and those of the bishoprics. As a result, there were frequent disputes between him and his lords. Nearly all the Normans took up arms against him, forcing him to draw the English towards him out of necessity.\n\nSoon after, Robert Courteys, duke of Normandy, pledged his duchy to his brother King William Rufus for 10,000 livres and embarked for the Holy Land. In this period, Malcolm, king of Scotland, entered Northumberland and caused great destruction there. However, after many conflicts between the king and him, Malcolm was sworn to be obedient to King William.\n\nIn the fourth year of his reign, a great wind was in London, damaging the roof of Bow church and causing harm in Windsor and various other places. At this time, the Welsh rebelled, but they were subdued, and their leader or king, Rhys, was killed, who was considered the last.\nKing of Wales. After that, Malcolm, king of Scots, rebelled and came into England with his retinue. One Robert, Earl of Northumberland, encountered him there, and there King Malcolm was slain. And with King William Egare's aid, his son was made king of Scotland.\n\nThe king of Scots was slain. Around this time, the Order of Cistercians was first brought into England by one Water Espike, who founded the first abbey of that religion at Rievaulx.\n\nThis King William was a very covetous man, proud and willful. He declared that the old hall at Westminster Hall must be the one there, not the new one that now exists. For the arms that appear in the hall now are as much in the stone work as in the timber work, and these are the arms which King Richard II gave, which are three lions passant guardant quarterly and a white heart for his badge. For no king of England bore the arms of France, which are the fleurs-de-lys, before King Edward III.\nThe arms of Fruace were first joined to those of England. Therefore, it should seemingly be in Westminster Hall above the steers, now called the White Hall. In this king's time, various great wonders were seen, as the devil appearing in human likeness, great winds, tempests, and swelling and rising of waters. And therefore, the king was told by many of his family that God was not content with his living, but he was so willful and proud of mind that he paid little heed to their sayings. This King William, as said and written of him, had great pleasure in hunting. In so much that he pulled down and destroyed many houses of religion to enlarge the new forest of Windsor for wild deer. But a knight of his, named Water Tyrell, with the glancing of his arrow on a branch when he shot at a heart in the said forest, struck the king and wounded him mortally, from which he soon died. August 1, A.D. 1500.\nWithout any issue of his body, he reigned for 12 years, 11 months and 12 days, and is buried at Westminster.\n\nDedward, son of Robert Earl of Flauders, was the next Earl of Flauders.\n\nPaschal was the next pope in the year of Christ MC, he held the see for 18 years and more. Gelasius was the next pope, he held the see for one year.\n\nHenry, the fifth son of Henry the Fourth, was the next Emperor; in the year of Christ MCVII, he held the see for 20 years.\n\nHenry Beauclerk, the first of that name and the third son of William Conqueror, was crowned King of England on the 5th day of August, in the year of Christ MC. This Henry was called Beauclerk because he was so well learned in the seven liberal sciences; he restored the holy church to their liberties and used the laws of St. Edward with their amendments: he put out of his court all nice and wanton people. This Henry reformed the old corrupt measures and made a measure of a yard of the length of his arm & reformed various things that\nBefore his time, Robert of Normandy, my brother, disapproved of excessive food and drink and preferred counsel over sword. After he became king, he married Maude, the daughter of Malcolm, king of Scotland, and Margaret, the daughter of Edward the Outlaw. From her, he had two sons, William and Richard, and two daughters, Maude and Mary. Maude later married Henry the IV, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.\n\nIn the second year of his reign, Robert Courteyse, my brother, Duke of Normandy, who had long been occupied in war against the enemies of Christ, received word of his brother William Rufus' death and that Henry had taken the crown of England. Robert prepared in Normandy and came over into England with a great host to challenge the crown. However, through the mediation of the lords, it was agreed that Robert would receive three million marks annually, as had been promised him before by King Battle in Normandy. Robert took possession of this agreement.\nIn the last instance, this Robert gave battle to King Henry. In this battle, Robert was taken and sent over to England, kept in prison in the castle of Cardiff in Wales, for an unspecified length of time.\n\nIn the year CMIX of Christ's birth, Lewis the Great was the next king of France. In his time, Philip, his eldest son, riding in Paris, carried a child in the street with his horse. The king being greatly displeased, caused his younger son Lewis to be crowned king in his lifetime.\n\nPhilip's son to Flanders was next earl of Flanders, and died without issue.\n\nCalistus was next pope; he held the see for over five years.\n\nHonor was next pope; he held the see for over five years.\n\nLothair was next emperor; he held the empire for eleven years.\n\nWhen King Henry came into England, around the seventh year of his reign, he married Maude, his daughter, to Henry, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. This Henry imprisoned Pope Paschal and several of his cardinals, but after he resigned his dignity to Pope Calixtus\nIn the 13th year of this king, various strange things were seen in the firmament: blazing stars and two moons, one in the east, the other in the west, and a great earthquake at Nottingham, lasting from morning to evening. The River Trent was dry in the summer, allowing men to cross on foot.\nAfter a few years, a harsh winter followed, marked by a scarcity of cattle, lack of vituals, and great mortality among the people. Around the fifteenth year of this king, a great war began between Lewis, king of France, and Henry. Lewis entered Normandy with a large host and took many towns and castles, driving Henry from place to place. But after many noble captains of the French king died in battles, some were killed at sieges, and some deserted the French king. However, at last these two princes met with two great armies in an open field, where there was a fierce battle with the king of France.\n\nAfter this, King Henry sailed into England. However, the ship carrying William his eldest son, Richard his brother, the Earl of Chester, his sister the king's daughter, the Countess of Percy, the king's niece, and many other great estates, and a large number of clergy, struck on a rock and was suddenly broken, drowning all on board except one.\nIn the 21st year, a great council was convened in London for the correction of the vicious living of priests, ordered by the king's officers. Around the 28th year, Emperor Henry died, and Maude, the empress, came to her father, King Henry. King Henry caused David, King of Scotland, and most English lords to swear allegiance to Maude, should the king die without a male heir.\n\nIn the 28th year, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Earl of Anjou, married Maude, and they had a son named Henry. Henry, the first of this name, became king of England after King Stephen, as will be shown later.\n\nKing Henry the First built the Abbey of Reading and released the Danegeld to the English. In the 35th year of his reign, while in Normandy, King Henry died on the second day of December in the year of Christ MCXXXV. Some say he died of a surfeit, while some writers claim it was by poison.\nThe fall of a horse brought his body into England, where he is buried in the Abbey of Reading.\n\nInnocent was the next pope in the year of Christ MCXXX. He issued the law that no one should lay violent hands on a clerk due to cursing, and he held the see for 12 years.\n\nCelestine was the next pope, who held the see for five months.\n\nLucius was the next pope, who held the see for one month.\n\nConrad was the next emperor in the year of Christ MCXXXVI. In his time, Master Arnold preached in Rome against riches and superfluidities. Many allowed him and followed him. However, he was eventually put to death due to the hatred the clerks held towards him.\n\nSteven, Earl of Boleyn, and his sister, son of King Henry, took upon himself to be king of England. Upon hearing of King Henry's death, he crossed the sea and came into England with the counsel of many great lords of England, contrary to their oath to Maude, the Empress, and was crowned king on St. Steven's day, in the year\nKing Stephen, in the 35th year of his reign according to the English count, was besieging various castles of bishops and other lords, taking them by force and fortifying them with his knights and servants, intending to withstand the Empress, whose coming he always feared.\n\nIn the sixth year of his reign, the Empress Matilda arrived in England with the support of the Earl of Gloucester, the bastard son of her father King Henry, and the Earl of Chester. However, King Stephen raised such a great power that the Empress was forced to take the city of Lincoln as her refuge and help, and Stephen besieged her for a long time. But in the end, she and her company escaped, and then the Earl of Chester, with a great power of Welshmen, and the Earl of Gloucester came against the king. Between them, a cruel battle ensued that lasted a long time; it was difficult to know who would have the better.\nThe kings people gave back and fled. Battle. The king was taken prisoner. And the king remained with a few of his knights and was taken prisoner and brought to the Empress, and later sent to Bristol for imprisonment.\n\nLewis, son of Lewis the Great, was next king of France in the year of Christ M.C.xxxvii. This Lewis, being long absent from the company of his wife, fell sick on one occasion. His physicians advised him to take a mistress but he refused and said it was better for him to die in God's hands than to live in marital infidelity. He soon recovered his health.\n\nEugene was next pope. He held the see for eight years and more.\n\nAnastasius was next pope. He held the see for one year.\n\nAfter this defeat was won, the Empress thought herself sure of the entire realm, but she was deceived. The knights took the king's side. The queen, King Stephen's wife, made great efforts to have the king delivered, promising that he would sustain the land for the Empress.\nHe wished to go to religion: but the Empress and her council would not grant it. The citizens of London made great efforts to the Empress to use Saint Edward's laws instead of her father's laws, which were stricter and more foreign to them. But the Empress and her council would not grant it. For these reasons, the citizens of London were discontented and wanted to take the Empress, but she, having knowledge of this, departed and fled to Oxford. The queen, with the help of Kentishmen her friends, raised a great host. The Empress, out of fear, fled to Gloucester. Meanwhile, the Earl of Gloucester raised a great people and, in an open field beside Winchester, the earl was defeated by those of the queen's party. The earl was taken prisoner. Through mediation of friends, they agreed upon an exchange of prisoners. Battle at Winchester. So the king was delivered for the Earl of Gloucester, and soon after that the king\nThe people grew stronger and besieged the Empress at Oxford. The Empress was willing to clothe herself and her people in white apparel. One night, when the ground was covered in snow, she escaped and fled to Wallingford. Shortly after, with a small company, she departed for Normandy to join her husband, Geoffrey Plantagenet. However, Robert, Earl of Gloucester and the Earl of Chester were so strong that the king was unable to defeat them. Many conflicts ensued between them. At the Battle of Wilton, the king lost the field and was nearly taken, but he escaped. Battle of Wilton. Geoffrey Plantagenet died in this battle, and Henry, his eldest son, was made duke of Anjou and Normandy.\n\nIt wasn't long before Eustace, son of King Stephen, with the help of the French king, waged war on Duke Henry in Normandy, but he prevailed. Duke Henry soon after came.\nFrom Normandy, a great army entered England and took the castle of Malmesbury, causing much harm to the king. They eventually reached London and took the Tower by policy and fair promise rather than strength. After winning Wallingford and many other strongholds, the king was so overwhelmed with war that he didn't know which way to go. But the king caused Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, to negotiate peace with the duke. This peace was eventually concluded around the feast of Epiphany. Some say that Stephen was to be king for life, and the duke was to be king after his death. And some stories say that the land was divided between them. However, the truth is that King Stephen died, as they say, on the 25th day of October next following. The year of Christ MC liiii. For he was at war and trouble and in great distress throughout his life, and he is buried at\nMargaret, daughter of Philip, was married to Baldwin, earl of Hainault, who was next earl of Flanders.\nBaldwin, son of Baldwin, was next earl of Flanders and Emperor of Constantinople.\nAdrian, an Englishman, was next pope in the year of Christ MCIII. He held the see for four years.\nAlexander was next pope; he held the see for twenty-one years, but part of the election chose Victor, who was called the Antipope, and was maintained by Emperor Frederick, but yet peace was made between them.\nLucius was next pope; he held the see for four years.\nUrban was next pope; in his time Jerusalem was won by the Saracens; he held the see for two years.\nGregory was next pope; he held the see for eight weeks.\nFrederick Barbarossa was next Emperor in the year of Christ MLII. He held the empire for thirty-seven years.\nHenry II, son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, earl of Anjou, and Marie, the Empress, was crowned king on the 20th day of December in the year of Christ MLIII. This Henry was\nfortunate in his beginning and unfortunate in his end. He first took down all the new castles that were threatening the crown, which King Stephen beforehand had given to various men and fortified against Maude, the Empress. He put Wales under his own dominion and there destroyed many great woods, making highways. He conquered Ireland through strength. He subdued William, king of Scotland, who at that time held a great part of Northumberland up to New Castle upon Tyne, and joined Scotland to his own kingdom, from the southern ocean to the northern isles of Orkneys, making all these lands subject to him. He had Normandy, Gascony, Guyenne, Angouleme, and Anjou under his rule, and by the title of his wife Eleanor, daughter of the earl of Poitiers, he obtained the Motes de Peranier in Spain, which we read none of his progeny possessed to such an extent.\n\nAdditionally, for various reasons that the king instigated, he caused to be made.\nAgain, the liberties of the church. Saint Thomas of Canterbury slain. A great debate ensued between him and Thomas, then Archbishop of Canterbury, over the archbishop's flight to Rome. However, after Thomas returned to Canterbury, four of the king's knights heard the king say, \"If I had men about me, I would have avenged myself on that traitor long ago or at that time.\" Therefore, these knights, who were with the king in Normandy, slew this Thomas in the cathedral church in Canterbury at St. Benet's altar. This Thomas is now canonized as a holy saint by the church, and many miracles have been authorized by the church as evidence of God's intervention on his behalf. King Henry crowned his eldest son Henry as king of England and went himself into Normandy, but his son Henry died before his father and is not counted among the noble kings of England. This Henry, his sons John and Richard, made war.\nAgainst their father. Some say the cause of the war was because the king imprisoned Eleanor, his wife, who was kept in prison until the king died, and he kept the maiden Rosamonde. Around the 11th year of his reign, William, king of Scotland, by the consent of all the lords of Scotland, did homage to King Henry at York. The king, Henry, in the later years of his reign was negligent in fulfilling his duty to God and the church, and also negligent in enforcing the laws, and was often warned to amend these things but he paid no heed nor took any counsel. Therefore, in his later years, all went against him. For instance, around the 30th year of his reign, he sent his son John into Ireland, where he achieved little success. In the next year, the king went there himself, but fortune was not with him.\nContrary to this, he lost his travels. Around the 32nd year of his reign, he lost Alvern against the king of France. The following year, he lost Buthucan, and the next year after that, he lost Cenomanea, Turyne, and many holds belonging to them. In the year after that, on the 6th day of July, in the year of Christ 1499, he died and is buried at Fontevraud.\n\nFernando, the son of the king of Portugal, married [name redacted]\n\nClement was the next pope in the year of Christ 1487. He held the see for three years and more. Celestine was the next pope; he held the see for seven years.\n\nHenry, son of Frederick, was the next emperor in the year of Christ 1489. He held the empire for ten years.\n\nRichard, the first son of King Henry the Second, was crowned king of England on the 3rd day of September in the year of Christ 1489. This king ordained in the city of London two bailiffs to be chosen annually to govern the city; their names were Henry Tornehyll and Richard FitzRuyer.\nDuring the coronation, the Jews were overconfident and provoked the people, who then entered their homes, robbed and plundered them without mercy, and burned some of their houses. The king issued strict orders to stop the rioting, but due to the large number of offenders, many escaped unpunished. The Jews were plundered.\n\nIn the beginning of his reign, William, King of Scotland, came to Canterbury and did homage to King Richard. This Richard took William to war against Christ's enemies and made great preparations for money. Therefore, he gave over Berwick and Roxborough to the King of Scotland for 10,000 li. and sold to the Bishop of Durham his own province. He also had license from the pope to dispense with those who had taken the cross, thereby raising much money. Then he committed the rule of England to his chancellor, the Bishop of Ely, and left.\nKing Richard went into Normandy and met with King Philip of France at Tours. In this meeting, they agreed on the continuation of their journey to the Holy Land: King Richard was to pass by sea, and King Philip by land. They were to meet again at Cyprus, as previously arranged. However, a dispute arose between the two kings over their soldiers' pay. As a result, King Philip departed, but King Richard entered the land of Cyprus and waged such a sharp war that he took the king of Cyprus prisoner and put him in silver bonds, as he had promised not to put him in iron ones. The king of Cyprus taken. After this, he sailed to Acre or Acres, where King Philip and his host lay siege to the city, which joyfully received King Richard. Both princes then set upon the city of Acre and conquered it. However, soon after this victory, a greater conflict arose.\nA grudge developed between the two princes. Some claimed it was due to the division of the spoils at the city of Acre, while others pointed to King Richard's denial of half the spoils from Cyprus, which Philip claimed by right of conquest at Troyes. Some believed it was because the Earl of Champagne left Philip and joined Richard, an action Richard had received him for. Others attributed the cause to Richard's marriage to the sister of the Duke of Burgundy, whom he had previously promised to marry to Philip's sister. However, the true cause of the rift is uncertain. What is known is that Philip left Acre and continued his journey to France. Shortly after this, it was reported to Richard that the town of Jaffa, then in Christian hands, was besieged by Saladin.\nKing Richard sailed there by water, and another French host remained after King Philip's departure. He sent them to Ypres by land and rescued the town, as well as various other holds nearby.\n\nPhilip, called Philip Augustus, was the next king of France. In the year of Christ MCXC, he waged a great battle against Otto, the Emperor, Ferdinand of Flanders, and Rainald of Bouillon, and took both earls prisoner.\n\nWilliam Dametre married Margaret, sister of John, before she was countess of Flanders. He left many Christian knights to keep them and slaughtered the Turks he had taken prisoner. This caused King Richard great fear and dread of the Turks. Meanwhile, while King Richard was thus occupied in the holy land, the bishopric of Ely, which governed England, committed much tyranny and extortion in England, depriving bishops and abbots.\nKing Richard perceived that the Christian population was declining in the holy land, both due to illness and lack of vitality. He made a truce for three years and returned to wage war. His queen sailed by sea, while he set sail with a small company into Hungary and was taken prisoner there by the Duke of Ostreich. The duke brought him before Henry, the Emperor of the Germans. Henry imprisoned him strongly, and later ransomed him for 150,000. The duke of Ostreich was subsequently cursed by the pope for the wrong done to King Richard.\n\nKing Richard was taken prisoner by the Duke of Ostreich.\n\nAlso, in payment for this ransom, afterwards, the wool of all the white monks and canons in England was sold, as well as rings, jewels of prelates, vessels, and chalices of all the churches throughout the land, and many shrines were scraped.\nKing Richard was deprived of his gold and silver. Various reasons are recorded here that King Richard took the duke of Ostreich's banner and trod it under his foot in contempt of the duke and of the Emperor, his lord. Therefore, the duke and the Emperor were pleased to make King Richard's displeasure.\n\nIt is said that a lion was put in King Richard's cell to devour him. When the lion opened its mouth, he put his arm in its mouth and pulled the lion by the heart so hard that he killed the lion. And therefore, some say he is called Richard Lionheart, but some say he is called Lionheart because of his bravery and courageous disposition.\n\nMoreover, John, the king's brother, incited by the French king, hearing that the king his brother was in prison in Germany, began to make war within England and took various castles of the king, such as Windsor, Nottingham, and others. The French king made war in Normandy, but the English barons resisted. This John.\nThe king's brother, whom he was willing to deprive of the kingship of France. After King Richard returned to England, he called a parliament and put the realm in order, executing Richard Slaughter.\n\nInnocent was the next pope in the year of Christ MC XVC VIII. In his time lived Saints Francis and Dominic, the first founders of those orders. He held the see for 18 years.\n\nPhilip was the next emperor, in the year of Christ MC XVC IX. He held the empire for 10 years. He had great war with Otto, who was also chosen emperor. This Philip was slain in his chamber.\n\nJohn, brother to the aforementioned Richard, was crowned king on the 26th day of July, in the year of Christ MC XVC IX. Philip, king of France, held a council in Compi\u00e8gne in Matthieu, and made Arthur, son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, duke of Brittany, new to King John. Arthur inconveniently entered the Angouleme territory, and King Philip entered Normandy and took many strongholds there. King John, hearing this, came.\nIn the reign of King John, he went into Normandy to resist King Philip. However, through the intercession of friends, peace was made between the two kings. After King John was divorced from his wife, who was the daughter of the earl of Gloucester due to blood relations, and married in France to Isabella, the daughter of the earl of Englesey, about the third year of King John's reign, five moons were seen in the firmament, and at a parliament held at Verdon, it was decided that King John should appear at Paris within fifteen days after the next Easter following to answer to such questions as would then be posed against him regarding the Duchy of Normandy and the county of Anjou. And since he did not appear nor send anyone in his place, King Philip entered Normandy and took various holds, giving the county of Anjou to the said Arthur. When King John learned of this, he came from England to Normandy and waged war, taking Arthur prisoner and many others, and returned shortly thereafter.\nIn the same year following, England experienced great storms of wind, rain, and hail as big as hen's eggs. Sparks flew in the air like birds carrying fire in their bills, setting various houses on fire. King John then requested an aid from the clergy of England for the acquisition of Normandy, which had been lost; this they refused to grant. Additionally, the prior and convent of Canterbury had chosen Stephen Langton as bishop against the king's will, which the pope confirmed. King John was displeased and drove the prior and several members of the convent out of the realm. He also commanded that no letter or commandment of the pope should be received in England, and would not receive the pope's request to accept the bishop so chosen. Due to such variance, the pope interdicted the land, which remained interdicted for seven years until King John was reconciled.\n\nEnglish, 13th century.\nInterested. But this interdicting was not so strict that children were not christened in every place, and divine service was said in many houses of religion and other places by license purchased then and before. About this time in Sussex was taken a fish like a man: which was kept alive on land for six months after with raw flesh. However, they could have no speech from it, so they cast it back into the sea.\n\nAbout the seventh year of King John's reign, the said French king Philip conquered the entire countryside of Normandy. Some authors claim that the French king made this war against King John by the pope's instigation due to his contumacy against the church.\n\nNormandy lost.\n\nAbout this time, the Irish rebelled. King John, with a small army, went into Ireland and quickly subdued them. He established rule there and built many great towns and castles.\nordered his laws to be kept there and returned to England. Voyage to Ireland. \u00b6King John prepared a great host and sailed to Rochester. When the French king heard of this, he prepared another strong host, so that both hosts were close to engaging in battle. However, through the mediation of friends, the two kings took a peace for two years following. Around the tenth year of King John's reign, the pope sent two legates, Pandulfe and Durrant, to King John to receive Stephen for his archbishopric and sent a new commission whereby the curse of interdict (if the king would not agree to it) was newly denounced. \u00b6Otton was next after Otto. He was crowned by Pope Innocent, and afterwards cursed by the same pope and deposed from his Empire at a council held at Rome. He held the Empire for three years. \u00b6Also, he reconciled and acquitted all the lords of England, spiritual and temporal, of all homage and fealty that they owed to.\nthe kyng / to the intent that they shulde aryse agaynst hym / but the kynge wolde nat be reconsyled. wherfore the pope sent to the kynge of Fraunce in remyssion of his synnes / that he shulde take with hym all the power that he myght / and go into Englande to distroy kynge Iohan. \u00b6Also about this tyme the Citezyns of London made suche sute to the kynge that they optayned that the kynge graunted them / to chose of them selfe yerely a Mayre & ii. Sheryffes / and the names of Baylyffes clerely to be voyded / whose names of the Meyre and Sherystes were.\nThe fyrst Mayre.\nHenry fitz Alwyn.\nThe fyrst Sheryffes\nPeter Duke.\nThomas Nele.\n\u00b6Also in the .x. yere of kynge Iohn\u0304 / London brydge was begon to be edefyed of stone / whiche before was of tymbre / and the monastery of saynt Mary oueres was begon for to be buylded. \u00b6Also about the .xi. yere of kynge Iohans reyne / the kyng was in great feare lest he shulde lose his realme / and to be vtterly vndone hym selfe / wherfore in his mynde he was sore anoyed / and sent to\nThe pope said he would be reconciled, so the pope sent Pandulfe back to England with these articles: that Stephen should receive his archbishopric and restore to him and to all others all profits and fruits wrongfully taken, and that he should yield to the pope's hands the title of his crown and hold it from him. King John reconciled himself to the pope concerning these matters. The king granted these things and resigned his crown to Pandulfe, taking it back from him to hold it from the pope, and paying annually to the Roman church M. marks of silver. Peter Pence was paid for this, according to some writers.\n\nAbout the 14th year of his reign, King John fell into a great dispute with his lords, one cause of this variance being that it displeased them that he had made this reconciliation.\nThe king would not uphold the laws of Edward, but would uphold no law but do as he pleased, disinheriting many men without the consent of his lords or any other counsel. He also sought to disinherit the earl of Chester because he had rebuked him for holding his own brother's wife and laying with many other great lords' daughters, sparing no woman whom he desired. Therefore, his lords took the city of London and kept him there for a while. However, through the intervention of the Archbishop of Canterbury and other prelates, the king and his lords met beside Stans, at a place called Runnymede, and an agreement was reached and a charter made thereon, called the Magna Carta. This charter the king immediately broke, and a new variance began between him and his lords. Some of the lords sent to the king of France, asking him to send his son Lewis, and they would render the land to him. Lewis accordingly came to England.\nEngland took various castles of the kings by force and came to London where the barons received him and yielded to him the Tower of London. The Magna Carta was first made.\n\nLewis, son to the French king, entered England. King John was at that time heavily set with this Lewis, with the support of some of his lords, who sent to the pope showing their rebellion. The pope sent an envoy named Swallo, who in the pope's name commanded Lewis to return to France and labored to bring peace between them. But his labor was in vain. Therefore, the king fled towards Lincoln. But soon after, at Newark, he died of the flux on the 19th day of October, in the year of Christ M.C.C.xvi. But some say that a monk poisoned him at Swyneshed, and he is buried at Worcester.\n\nHonorius was next pope, in the year of Christ M.C.C.xvi. He held the see for ten years and more. Gregory held the see next, for fourteen years. Celestine held the see next, for eighteen days.\n\nFrederick was next emperor, in the year of Christ.\nIn the year 1212, he persecuted the church. At a council at Lyon, he was deposed by Pope Innocent after 27 years, during the electoral variance over who should be Emperor. He held the Empire for 32 years. Henry was the next Emperor; he held the empire for 5 years.\n\nHenry the third, eldest son of King John, was crowned king on the 28th day of October in the year of Christ 1316, when he was only 9 years old. After his coronation, Lewis continued his war, which he had begun. Many lords took action against him. Lewis returned to France, and the Earl of Chester and other lords of the king's party went to Lincoln and took the town. They killed many French men who were there and forced Lewis to make peace. This peace was concluded with the provision that Lewis would go back into France.\nIn the third year of this king, the new work on Westminster Abbey began. Around the eighth year of this king's reign, the Magna Carta charter was confirmed, and various articles were added to it. The king was to have wardship and marriage of lords' heirs under age, and the first Statute of Mortmain was made. At this time, the pleas of the crown were held in the Tower of London. There was a battle in France. King Henry, with a great host, sailed into Normandy due to the instigation of a Frenchman named the earl of March. Between King Lewis of France and him, a great battle was fought, but in the end, the French had victory, taking 22 knights and noblemen as prisoners, and 5,000 common people. King Henry, out of fear, fled and returned to Bordeaux. However, after peace was made.\nkynge henry returned into Englande. About this tyme was a great yerthe quake in Englande / and also in the .xxxi. yere of this kynge / the kynge seasyd the franches of London into his handes for a iugeme\u0304t gyuen by one Piers Alyn the Mayre & Aldermen / agaynst a wedowe called Marga\u2223rete Vyell / which iugeme\u0304t as it was sayd was after fou\u0304de good / wherfore the Citezyns inioyed agayne theyr lybertes.The Em\u00a6perour de\u00a6posed. About the .xxxv. yere of this kynge / the order of the freres Augustynes began in Englande in a place in wales called wodhouse. And about this tyme the kyng maryed Margarete his doughter / to Alexa\u0304der the kyng of Scottes / which Alexander dyd homage to ye kynge at yorke. This kynge Henry ofte tymes for dyuers co\u0304playntes made agaynst ye Mayres offycers of London / seasyd the lybertes of the citye into his owne handes / & set other offycers to rule the citye / but euer they were restored agayne.Libertes of lo\u0304don seasyd. Also about this tyme Rycharde the kynges brother erle of Cornewall was\nThe elect king of Austria and king of the Romans was elected and crowned in the city of Aquisgranu around the 41st year of King Henry's reign. A grievous bill of complaint was raised against the Mayor, Aldermen, and governors of London by the commons for wrongs and extortions committed through the imposition of taxes and alteration of tolls and customs in the king's presence. The Mayor and Aldermen were arrested and put under great securities. About this time, there was a great famine, with wheat worth 24 shillings a quarter.\n\nLewis VIII, the son of Philip II, was the next king of France in the year of Christ MCCXXII. He besieged and captured the town of Avignon.\n\nGuy, son of Margaret, was the next earl of Flanders.\nInnocent was the next pope, holding the position for 15 years. Alexander followed, ruling for 7 years. William was the next emperor, holding the see for 7 years. Around the 43rd year of this king's reign, at a Folkemote court in Paul's, the king asked permission from the city commoners, according to the said ordinance, to pass the see. He then went to Bordeaux and into Flanders, where he received warm welcome from King Louis. Before returning, he granted all his rights in Normandy, Gascony, and Guyon to King Louis. He took back Angelo, Angeo, and Mayn to hold for the French king and was called the duke of Guyon in France. He did homage to the French king for this reason. Around the 45th year, the English barons, under the influence of the aforementioned ordinances, forcibly changed the king's justice and sheriff, as well as other officers he had appointed. The king was displeased with this and published his bull.\nThe barons rose against the king. The barons advanced with banners displayed, and great numbers of people joined them. They imprisoned and punished all those who took the contrary side, and eventually entered London, for the city took the barons' side. But an agreement was soon made between the king and his lords, which did not last long. Edward the elder son of the king took Windsor Castle by surprise, and the king secretly departed from Westminster and rode to the said castle. Many of the lords who took his side came to him. The barons and the others who took their side drew to London, but a concord was being taken such that both parties should abide the judgment of Louis the French king regarding the keeping of the said ordinances. Therefore, the king and Edward the elder son went over to the said Louis, and for the barons' part, Peter de Montfort and others went before them.\nKing Lewis handed down a decision in the matter, but in essence, he ruled that the stated statutes and ordinances should be clearly annulled, and he granted freedom. After this sentence was given, the king and all others returned to London, but the barons were not satisfied with this sentence (perceiving partiality in King Lewis). They departed and went to the Marches of Wales and gathered a large number of people and came to London. At this point, because there was some variation between some of the rulers of the city and the commons, the commons appointed two captains, calling them Constables of the city, at whose command all the commons, by tolling the great bell of Paul's, were to be ready in armor to wait upon them. These Constables with the commons (at the urging of Hugh Spencer, Constable of the Tower), went to Tistedale beyond Westminster, and there plundered the manor of the king of Rome, an act which was the primary cause of the war, as the king took great offense and gathered great power.\nAnd finally, they arrived at the town of Lewes in Sussex, but the wardens of the five parts kept the sea with ships, preventing any strangers from aiding the king. Then, the barons, along with a great multitude from the city of London, and a large host of other people, came against the king. Between them, the 23rd of May saw a marvelous cruel battle at Lewes. The Londoners, who had initially given their consent due to the sharp shots of arrows and blows from the king's men, began to retreat.\n\nBut the barons encouraged their men so much that they not only set upon them with fresh courage, they turned around and fought so fiercely that the king's party gave ground. The king himself, the king of Romans, and Edward, the king's son, were taken prisoners, along with many other nobles, and over 20,000 men were killed in this battle, which continued for the rest of the day. After the battle ended, they brought their prisoners to London.\nThe king agreed that all the aforementioned ordinances should take effect, and if any were deemed unreasonable, they would be corrected by four noblemen of the realm: two spiritual men, two temperate men, and numerous instruments and writings were created for the assurance of these matters.\n\nKing Lewis the IX, called Saint Lewis, was the next king of France in the year 1327. He made two voyages to the Holy Land. In the first voyage, he was taken prisoner, and in the second, he died.\n\nUrban was the next pope. He held the see for three years and more.\n\nClement was the next pope. He held the see for three years.\n\nRichard and Alfons were at odds, as the electors who should be Emperor could not agree. This discord continued for sixteen years.\n\nAfterward, a great discord arose between the earl of Gloucester and the earl of Leicester, two of the barons who were against the king. Shortly after, Edward, the king's son, departed to the Welsh marches and was accompanied by the earl of Gloucester and the lords of the marches.\nSir Simon Earl of Leicester and his forces assembled and went to Gloucester. In response, the Earl's son, also named Simon, gathered a great power and came to Winchester, taking it by force. Edward the king's son met them there and dealt them a defeat. Simon Foliot, Earl of Leicester, rallied a large company and encountered Edward at Enesham, where a fierce battle ensued. Earl Simon was killed, and many who supported the barons met the same fate. Afterward, a parliament was held at Winchester, where all the statutes and ordinances made at Oxford were annulled, and all bonds and writings created for the same were cancelled and broken. The king then intended to destroy London, but the mayor, aldermen, and other citizens persuaded him otherwise.\nThe king's mercy and grace at Windsor, where they were committed to prison and removed from their offices, the Constable of the Tower was made custos of the city. The liberties of London petitioned. But after they were restored and pardoned, and the city paid to the king a fine of 20M marks.\n\nAfter this, at a parliament held at Northampton, many who took the barons' part were disinherited, which therefore gathered them together and went to the Isle of Ely, holding it with strength.\n\nAlso, about the first year of his reign, he ordered the statutes of Marlborough. And about the fifth year, the statutes were made and ordered, concerning weights and measures: that is, 32 grains of dry, round wheat, taken in the middle of the ear, should weigh a sterling penny, and 20 of those sterling pennies should make an ounce, and 12 ounces should make a pound troy, and 8 pound troy should weigh a gallon of wine, and 8 gallons of wine should make a barrel of London, which is the eighth part of a.\nIn the 23rd year of his reign, the earl of Gloucester refused the king, and in the marches of Wales gathered many people. Many of the company were disinherited and drew to him, who came to the city of London. By entreaty and fair means, they came into the city, and many of the commons took his part and fortified the city with bulwarks and barbicans. Shortly after, the king came to Stratford-upon-Bow with a great company. However, through the intercession of one Octobanus, the pope's legate, who was then in London, a peace was taken, and the war ended.\nDuring Edward the king's son's victory in the late part of his father's reign, few mayors remained in the city of London. The franchises of London were seized into the king's hands, and custody and gardens were ordered, with no mayors. Whoever was constable of the Tower was also made warden of London. In the 50th year of King Edward's reign, his son Edward embarked on a journey to the Holy Land, which went to the city of Acre. He defended it from the Sultan of Surrey, who had besieged it with 50,000 Saracens. The city would have been lost if Edward had not come and bravely defended it. In the 66th year of this king's reign, his son Edward, being in the Holy Land, King Henry fell ill at Westminster and died on the 16th day of November, the year of Christ 1572. Gregory was the next pope that year.\nChrys I held the see four years. Innocent held the see next six months. Adrian held the see next thirty-nine days. John held the see next eight months. Radulf was next chosen Emperor in the year of Christ 1173 and confirmed by Pope Gregory. He held the see nineteen years. Edward, the first of that name and son of Henry III, came from the holy land and was crowned king at Westminster on the nineteenth day of August in the year of Christ 1173. At that time, Alexander, king of Scotland, was present and did homage to King Edward. In the second year of this king's reign, the king went into Wales and there subdued Llywelyn, prince of Wales, who rebelled again and paid the king a fine of 1,000 marks. In the third year of this king's reign, the statutes called the Westminster Primer were made, containing good statutes, first concerning clergy indicted for felony.\nIn the 6th year of this king, the Chancery, common place, and Eschequer were removed to Gloucester, where various statutes were made, but the courts continued there only for one term. Around this time, there was a parliament at London for the reform of the king's coin, which was clipped and washed by the Jews. Consequently, almost 300 Jews were cast out. Around the same time, the foundation of the house of the Friars Preachers at Ludgate began.\n\nIn the 10th year of this king, Lewis, Prince of Wales, rebelled again, and the king sent Earls of Northumberland and Surrey with many other knights to him. However, David, Lewis's brother, met them near a place called Hawardine with a great power. Between them was a great battle, where the Welsh had the victory, and the earls fled, and many Englishmen were slain and taken. Battle in Wales. But the next\nIn the year after the king dispatched a larger force to besiege the castle of Snowdon, but many of the men were drowned on a bridge made of barges and planks. In the thirteenth year of this king, the liberties of London were seized by the king because the mayor took bribes from the bakers and allowed them to sell bread under the guise of the \"liberties of London\" being in effect. In the same year, in the region called the Sweterers, a woman gave birth to a child that from the waist up was composed of two complete bodies. It had two heads, four arms, and two legs, and each body clutched the other. Another woman gave birth to a child with a face like a man's and a body resembling a lion, complete with tail and other features. Around this time, the merchant strangers, who long ago had been lodged with English hosts who handled their wares, had acquired houses for the storage of their goods.\nwares and goods were sold by their own weights for the discretion of the people found with them and taken, sent to the Tower of London, and severely imprisoned. Their weights were burned, and they paid large fines to the king.\n\nPhilip the Third, son of Saint Louis, was the next king of France in the year of Christ MCCXXX. He had great war against the king of Castile and conquered Aragon.\n\nNicholas was the next pope, who held the see for three years and more.\n\nMartin was the next pope, who held the see for four years. He cursed the king of Aragon and took upon himself to depose him.\n\nAdulphe was the next emperor. He was killed in battle by Albert, son of his predecessor Radulphe.\n\nIn the fifteenth year of this king, the summer was extremely hot, and men died from the heat. However, the next year was marked by great hail and rainstorms that severely damaged the land. There was a remarkable great famine of corn, with wheat selling for 18d a bushel, and the price continued to rise each year.\nIn the year ql. s. of a quarter, which was a great price, for at that time 20 shillings weighed always one ounce of silver, which continued till the reign of King Henry VI, when it was changed to 30 shillings an ounce. In the time of King Edward IV, it was 20 shillings an ounce, and in the time of King Henry VIII, it was 3 shillings 8 pence an ounce. However, the standard of the ounce remained constant, as is before rehearsed in the 51st year of King Henry III, and as the statute then made more plainly appears.\n\nAbout the sixteenth year of this king, one Rice Merydocke rebelled against the king's gardener in his castles in Wales. But the king, being in Normandy, commanded the Earl of Cornwall, the king's liege tenant in England, to raise a host to subdue this Rice. He did so and went into Wales, took this Rice, and brought him to York, where he was drawn, hanged, and quartered.\n\nIn the eighteenth year of this king, divers of his justices were accused of [unclear].\nSome offenses / committed by Thomas Weyland, Adam Stretton, and others / resulted in some being outlawed and losing their goods, some being imprisoned, and some paying great fines. Around this time, the wool staple was established at Sandwich, and the Jews were expelled from England, for which the common people gave the king a fifteenth part of their possessions. These men submitted. Shortly after this, by the instigation of Madoc, the men rebelled again. The king came with a great army and took the Isle of Anglesey, built a new town and castle at Beaumaris, and cut down the woods in the region. He repaired and fortified so many castles that he compelled the men to abandon their old ways of raiding and stealing. They were forced to work the land and take up other occupations, and live according to the English manner. The country grew more and more peaceful as a result, and Madoc later...\nI. Around the 24th year of this king, after the death of Alexander, King of Scotland, great variance existed among the Scots as to whether John Beaufour, who had married King Alexander's eldest daughter, or Robert Bruce, who had married his second daughter, or Hastings, who had married his third daughter, should be king. However, the Scots put them all before King Edward's judgment. The king and the Scots met at Norham, where the king named and admitted Sir John Beaufour as King of Scotland. Immediately after this,\n\nII. Philip the Fair's son, Philip the Third, was the next King of France. He had great wars with the Flemings and numerous battles between them. He had a daughter named Isabella, who was married to Edward II, King of England. By him, she had a son named Edward III. Since all the sons of this Philip died without issue, this Edward III claimed to be king.\nFrance.\nHonor was next pope in the year of Christ M.CC.lxxxv. He held the see for two years. Nicholas held the see next for four years. Albert was next emperor, son of the aforementioned emperor Radulf, he held the empire for ten years and was killed by his own son. Baylle rebelled. Therefore, King Edward with a great host laid siege to the town of Berwick. But the Scots defended it and burned some of their ships. The Englishmen gave back. Therefore, the proud Scots made this rhyme.\n\nSeige at berwick\nWhat thinks King Edward with his long shanks\nTo have won Berwick, all our ingratitude\nGas\nPy\nAnd when he has it\nGas\nDikes him.\n\nBut King Edward, hearing of their pride and scornful rhyme, was greatly moved and so incited his men. First they won the ditches, then the bulwarks, and in the end won the town by force, killing twenty-five hundred Scots and afterwards sent a part of his host to lay siege at Dunbar.\nThe host of Scots came to remove the siege and fought with the English in a fire battle, but the English had the victory and slew twenty thousand of the Scots. In reproach of the Scots, the English made this rhyme:\n\nThe skating Scots we hold for fools of unwarranted wrath,\nEarly in the morning, in an evil time, they came to Dumbarton,\nAnd then Ballol, king of Scots and many other lords, put them in the king's grace,\nWhich then brought them to London, and yet afterwards delivered them again, taking their oaths on the sacrament never to bear arms against King Edward,\nAnd then they were delivered, and so after that Ballol went over to France and never returned while King Edward was thus occupied in Scotland,\nThe English sustained many hurts in Gascony and Guyana,\nFor the earl of Artois skirmished often with the English,\nAnd at last took Sir John, Saint John, Sir William Mortimer, and various other prisoners.\nIn the 26th year, King Edward went over to Flanders to aid Guy, earl of Flanders, against the French king. The French king drew towards King Edward, but a peace was made between them through the mediation of friends at last. However, during this time, hearing of the war in Flanders, the Scots, with their king in France, made a new king called Wallace, and rose again, entering Northumberland. But the king sent his letters to the English lords, who, by his command, gathered a great power and went into Scotland, where skirmishes occurred and many Englishmen were slain because the Scots held their strongholds and would not come to an open field. Wallace of Scotland. The next year, after King Edward gathered a great power, he went to Scotland himself, where the Scots, with a great host, met him at a place called Falkirk. There was fought a cruel battle between them.\nThe English won the victory and killed thirty-two thousand Scots, while few Englishmen were lost in the Battle of Falkirk. The following year, the king laid siege to the castle of Stirling. The Scots inside surrendered and swore allegiance to the king.\n\nCatherine held the sea for six months.\nBonaface held the sea for eight years. He tricked Catherine into resigning her company to him and lived like a lion, dying like a fox.\n\nShortly after this, King Edward returned to England, where many complaints were made against his officers, including mayors, sheriffs, bailiffs, exchequers, and others. He ordered his justice to investigate: Trolbaston, which later became known as Trolpaton. Through forfeitures and fines, the king recovered innumerable treasures against such offenders and filled his coffers again. Furthermore, he imprisoned Edward, his eldest son.\n\nAbout\nDuring King Edward's time, Edward the king's eldest son, at the instigation of Piers Gaveston, broke into the bishop of Carlisle's park and destroyed his game. For this, the king imprisoned his son and those with him. Later, around the 33rd year of King Edward, Walter the Scot was captured and brought to London, tried, hanged, and quartered. Shortly after this, the bishop of St. Andrews, Robert Bruce, Earl of Dunbar, Earl John Comyn, and Earl John of Atholl, along with many others, came to Westminster voluntarily and swore allegiance to King Edward to keep Scotland for his use. However, Robert Bruce, contrary to his oath, obtained a dispensation from Pope Clement V and took upon himself the title of King of Scotland, killing Earl John Comyn and his counselor. Shortly after, King Edward entered Scotland.\nAgain, Robert Bruce met him with a strong power, at a plain near Saint John's town, where a cruel battle was fought. But the Scots were defeated, and 7,000 Scots were slain. There were various bishops and abbots taken, as well as various other temporal lords. Battle in Scotland. And Robert Bruce fled to the king of Norway. King Edward sent the bishops and abbots who were taken captive to the pope, and sent the temporal lords and other Scots who were taken to London, where they were put to death.\n\nAlso, in the 35th year of King Edward, as he was returning to England, he fell sick. Therefore, he swore to his eldest son that he should never allow Pier de Gaveston to return to England, and charged his son, upon his blessing, to stick to this. And the king's son and they all granted this, and on the 7th day of July, in the year\nof Christ. MCCCVII. Christ died and was buried at Westminster.\n\nBenedict was next pope in the year of Christ MCCCIII. He held the see for nine months.\n\nHenry was next emperor in the year of Christ MCCCVIII. He held the empire for six years.\n\nEdward the Second, and son of Edward the First, born at Carnarvon, was crowned king on the 24th day of February, in the year of Christ MCCCVII, according to the English reckoning. This king was fair and strong of body but unsteady in conditions; for he refused the company of his lords and wise men and kept the company of base persons. He gave himself to great drinking and lightly revealed things of great counsel, which turned him to great harm and the realm to great unquietness. This king, as soon as his father was buried, sent for Pierce Gaveston, his old companion, and advanced him to great honor, contrary to the promise he made to his father. In the second year of his reign, he went over into France and\nMary, daughter of Isabella, married Philip the Fair king of France, and afterward returned to England. This king, for the displeasure done before to him by the bishop of Chester, imprisoned the said bishop in the Tower in strict confinement. But the lords who swore to be true to his father on his deathbed came to the king and spoke to him. They exiled Pier de Gaveston, contrary to the king's intentions. This Pier was banished to Ireland, but the king secretly comforted him with great gifts and made him chief ruler of the country. However, due to the escalating grudge between the king and the lords, the said Pier was allowed to return to England again and held rule over all the king's jewels. He spent and wasted much of the king's treasure, and shortly thereafter, by the efforts of the lords, he was banished again to Flanders to the king's displeasure.\n\nAround this time, the knights of St. John conquered the city of the Rods.\nFrom the Turks and the lands of the Templars, who acted contrary to the faith of Christ, were given to them by St. John and the Templars were destroyed throughout Christendom. The Temples were destroyed. This Piers of Gaunt was allowed to return to England, who then behaved worse than ever before and became proud, inciting the lords so much that they suddenly rose against him and besieged him in the castle of Scarborough. They eventually took the castle and brought him to a place near Warwick, where they beheaded him. This displeased the king greatly.\n\nAbout the sixth year of this king, Robert Bruce heard of the division between the king and his lords in Scotland. As a result, King Edward prepared a great army and went to Scotland.\nagaynst whome came Robert le Bruse with a great power of Scottes / & they met at a place nyghe a ryuer called Bannokisborne / where was fought a great batell / but the Englysshemen lost the fylde / and many of the lordes and great men of Englande were slayne and taken / and the kynge with a fewe of his hoost fled and escaped with great daunger into Berwyke / wherfore the Scott{is} were so inflamed with suche pryde / that they made this eyme.batell at Banno\u2223kisborne\nye maydens of Englande nowe may ye morne\nFor ye haue lost your \nwith heue a lowe\nwhat weanes the kynge of Englande\nSo sone to wonne Scotlande\nwith rumbelowe.\n\u00b6In the .ix. yere of kynge Edwarde / Robert le Bruse kynge of Scottes gatte Berwyke / which was by treason as the fame went. And the nexte yere after the Scottes entred Northu\u0304berlande / and brent and slewe man / woman / and chylde / and the contrey therby greatly hurte. And yet to \n\u00b6Lewys Huten son of Philyppe le belle / was nexte kynge of Fraunce / the yere of Chryst .M.CCC.xiiii. he made the\nThe Court of Parliament of France was to be held continuously in Paris, where it reigned for two years and left his wife, the queen, with a child.\n\nJohn, son of Lewis, was born after his father's death and reigned for eight days.\n\nRobert, son of Guy, count of Flanders, was the next earl of Flanders.\n\nClement was the next pope. He held the see in Avignon for eight years and more. He ate horse and dog flesh, and some stale children, and ate them, and many died due to lack of vitals, and afterwards ensued great pestilence.\n\nAbout the eleventh year of his reign, he assembled a great host of the South and East parts of England and besieged Berwick. The Scots gathered a great company and came into England through another way, into the marches of Yorkshire, and there slew many people. The Archbishop of York and other abbots, priests, clerks, and husbandmen assembled a great company and gave them battle at a place called Myton, where the Englishmen were defeated, and many of them were killed.\nIn the 12th year of King Edward, the Archbishop and the Abbot of Selby, along with others, escaped from the Battle of Myton. The battle was called the \"white battle\" due to the large number of spiritual men killed. When King Edward learned of this, since it was approaching winter, he broke up his siege and returned to York. At this time, the advice of Hugh Spencer the father and Hugh Spencer the son, and the common people, was as hated as they had been towards Pierce Gaveston before.\n\nAdditionally, during this time, two legates came from Rome to try and make peace between the King of England and the Scots, but it was unsuccessful. Therefore, King Edward obtained a curse from Pope John, cursing Robert Bruce and all those who took his side, for harming the realm of England. However, this did not bring about any results, but rather put England at great cost for the acquisition.\nIn this reign, when the barons of England saw that the Spencers governed the entire realm, they assembled together and made a response. At this parliament, both the Spencers were banished from the land for life, and they took shipping at Dover and amassed a great power. At the battle of Borough Bridge, where many other barons and knights were engaged, the said earl of Lancaster and various other barons and knights were put to death. After this, the king's power and the Spencers' powers greatly increased, while the barons' powers decreased over the course of five years. In this time, one Robert Baldock, who was a man of ill repute, was Chancellor of England. Through his means, the king gathered many forfeitures and fines from his people, contrary to the good order of justice.\n\nIn the fifteenth year of this king, Edward Bruce, brother to the king of Scotland, entered Ireland with a great power, intending to conquer that land.\nThe people of Irelandquitted them so well that they defeated the Scots and slew Edward Bruce and many of Scotland's nobles and others. A battle in Ireland. Also, in the sixteenth year, the king prepared an amazingly great army, as some writers report, numbering around 50,000, and invaded Scotland. But the Scots, fearing the great multitude, drew them to mountains and other places where the English host prevailed little against them. Therefore, the king returned again to England because many of his people there perished for battle at Leyla\u0304de. Sir James Douglas with a great number of Scots followed.\n\nPhilippe le Long, second son of Philip, was pope John XXI, who held the see in Avignon for 19 years. A great battle ensued, but the Englishmen lost the field, and the king fled with great danger. In this battle, the earl of Richmonde was taken prisoner, and many men were slain, and various other men taken. The king\nHad made Earl of Carlisle, who had a great number of people coming to aid the king, secretly took a large sum of money from the said Douglas and betrayed the king, not appearing at the battlefield. This was the cause of the king's loss at the battlefield, for which deed Andrew was drawn, hanged, and quartered. Around this time, war began again between the French and English, as well as the Gascons, in Guyana. To pacify this war, King Edward sent his wife, the queen, to her brother, the French king. While she was there, Edward the king's eldest son, being 14 years old, asked leave of his father to go to France to his mother and to see his uncle Philip the Fair, King of France. Queen Isabella went to France. Because King Edward had refused to do homage to the king of France for the Duchy of Guyana, the said king of France made Edward the king's eldest son Duke of Guyana instead. Therefore, King Edward\nEdward was not content and exiled both the queen and his said son from England, with the counsel of the Spencers and Sir Robert Baldock, his chamberlain. Therefore, the king issued open proclamations that if the queen and her son did not return to England by a certain day, they would be taken as enemies of the king before that day. Consequently, the king seized all the queen's lands and his son's lands, and took the profits from them. Afterward, the king sent such words and threats to the king of France that he was compelled to prevent the queen from leaving France. Consequently, she and her son went to the earl of Hennecourt, where Edward, her son, soon after contracted marriage to Philip, the said earl's daughter. When this was known, various men named English came over to the queen, and soon after, the earl of Hennecourt prepared 5,000 men of arms. Of these, one, Sir John of Hennecourt, the earl's brother, was the captain, and he sent them over with the queen and her son.\nEngland, who had landed near Harwich in Suffolk, was quickly joined by a large crowd of people. She made her way with great speed towards London, where the king was residing at the time. Upon hearing this news, the queen sent a letter to the Mayor and commonalty of London, which was displayed on the cross in Cheap and in various other places. In response, the Bishop of Exeter sent a message to the Mayor to request the keys to the city. The Bishop spoke sharply to him, leading to a heated argument. The citizens of the city, enraged, seized the Bishop and brought him to the standard in Cheap. They beheaded him, along with the heads of two of his servants and a citizen named Marshall, who was Sir Hugh Spencer's spy. The king then went to Bristol and appointed Sir Hugh Spencer, the father, to guard the castle and town. The king went to Bristol with Sir Hugh Spencer, the son, and Sir Robert Baldock, his Chancellor.\nThe earl of Arundell went to Wales. King Edwardward took notice. The queen sent the earl of Kent and Sir John of Heynaude after them with a large company. They first took Hugh Spencer the father at Bristowe, and then pursued the king into Wales and took him there. The king was sent to Kenelworth Castle, and they took Hugh Spencer the son, Sir Robert Baldock, and the earl of Arundell, bringing them all to the town of Hereford. Immediately after, Hugh Spencer the father and son were drawn, hanged, and quartered. Sir John of Arnundell was beheaded, and Sir Robert Baldock was put in Newgate in London and died there among thieves. And immediately after, at a parliament held at Westminster on the 25th day of January in the year of Christ 1426, Spencer was beheaded. The king was deposed. The king was deprived of his royal dignity and is buried at Gloucester.\n\nCharles the third son of Philip the Beautiful was next.\nKing of France.\n\nBenedict was the next pope in the year of Christ MCCCXXXIV. He held the see in Avignon for seven years. Clement was next, holding the see for eleven years; he ordained that the Jubilee should be every one year. Lewis was next Emperor, holding the empire for twenty-four years; he was deposed by Pope Clement. He had great war with Frederick, duke of Austria, who was also chosen Emperor.\n\nEdward the third, son of Edward the second and Isabella, daughter of Philip the Fair, was crowned king on the second day of February in the year of Christ MCCCXXVI, when he was but fifteen years old. In the first year of his reign, the Scots entered England, and the king with a great power came to them at the park of Stanhope and encircled them. However, the Scots escaped, and the king returned with little honor. At the end of the first year, he married Philippa, the aforementioned daughter of Henry, at York. Shortly after that, the king made peace with...\nScott announces a peace with the Scots and releases their homage, delivering to them their charter or indenture called Ragman. Peace with the Scots. The old queen and he assume rule over the entire realm, resulting in many things falling out of order.\n\nAbout the third year of this king, the Earl of Kent, the old king's brother, devised letters secretly to be sent to his brother for his release. He was accused and, by authority of parliament, condemned, and therefore beheaded. This Roger Mortimer was so cruel, covetous, and proud that lords and people despised him. By secret means, they brought him out of the king's favor. The king, the queen, and the old queen were at Nottingham castle at the time. Sir Roger Mortimer.\nMortimer taken. And yet Sir Roger kept the keys for himself / and after at a parliament in London, he was condemned as a traitor / and afterwards drawn and hanged for various articles laid against him / one was that by his means and treason, the Scots escaped at Stanhope. And another was that he caused the aforementioned Indenture of Ragman to be delivered to the Scots / thereby they were released from their homage / and caused David, king of Scots' son, to marry Ione, sister to King Edward. Another was that he had obtained the king's treasure in his own hands and wasted it. Another was that he had broken the ordinance made at the coronation / that twelve lords should have ruled the king / and that without them nothing should be done / and that notwithstanding he with the old queen ruled himself / to the great harm of the realm. Another that he had caused Edward, the king's father, to be conveyed from Kilvingworth to the castle of Berkeley / and afterwards by treachery, he had him imprisoned in the tower of London.\nA letter devised by him himself in the king's name and sent to the keeper caused him to be murdered. Concerning the death of Edward of Carnarvon, late king, it is said that after Sir Roger Mortimer had sent the said letter to the keepers, they laid a great table upon his belly while he slept in his bed and pressed it down with heavy weights. The death of King Edward the II. And afterwards they took a horn and put it under his body and took a red-hot spike and put it through the horn into his body, and thus cruelly murdered him.\n\nAbout the fourth year, Edward Balliol, son of John Balliol, at one time king of Scotland, with the aid of two hundred Englishmen, by King Edward's consent, entered Scotland and claimed the crown against whom a great host of Scots came and gave him a fierce battle. But Edward Balliol gained the victory, and after was shortly crowned king.\n\nPhilippe de Valois, son of Charles, was next king of France, in the year\nof Christopher. A.D. 1327. Lewis the earl of Flanders fought against the fleeing men who would not obey him, and killed six thousand of them at Cassel, restoring the earl to his country from which he had been driven.\n\nLewis, son of Lewis, son of Robert, was the next earl of Flanders. He was killed by the English at the battle of Cr\u00e9cy.\n\nInnocent was the next pope, who held the see in Avignon for ten years.\n\nCharles was the next emperor, who held the empire for twenty-two years.\n\nOf Scotland. And after King Balliol came to King Edward at Newcastle upon Tyne to do him homage for the land of Scotland, and returned to Scotland, but the Scots soon rebelled against Balliol. Wherefore King Edward sent word to King Edward of England requesting help. And King Edward of England proposed to help him, and gathered a great host, and came towards the town of Berwick. And there came King Edward Balliol with his company, who numbered two.\nThe kings besieged the town for a long time, but at last, a great Scottish host came to its rescue, numbering around 56,000. The battle between these two forces took place at a site called Halidon Hill beside Berwick. In this marvellously cruel battle, the king of England emerged victorious. Among the Scots killed were eight earls, nine hundred knights, barons, and baronettes, and above thirty thousand common people. On the morrow, the town and castle of Berwick were surrendered to King Edward of England. Then the Scottish captives were taken to Edward Balliol, king of the Scots. David, son of Robert Bruce, being king of the Scots, fled with his wife into France to Philip the Fair, who was then king, and received them.\n\nAbout the seventh year of King Edward, Philip, king of France, sent a French crew to\nIn the twelfth year of King Edward of England, he went to Scotland to aid the kings enemies, but King Edward of England subdued them. About the twelfth year of King Edward, intending to claim the crown of France through his mother Isabella, he went to Flanders and joined forces with various lords and many towns in Flanders. Philippe, King of France, suspecting that King Edward would invade France, gathered a great strength of people and lay in wait at Amias. However, King Edward did not enter that year. Philippe also had a large navy on the sea, and fifteen sail met with five English ships between them, resulting in a great sea battle. However, the French had the victory and took two great English ships with great riches, carrying the men over the border.\n\nIn the twenty-fourth year of King Edward, he returned to England and summoned\nThis parliament at Westminster, and with the advice of the entire realm, took upon him the title to be King of France. England's arms were joined with France's, and they were quartered thus: the fifth part of every man's goods, and the customs of wool for two years, were demanded beforehand. The ninth part of every man's corn was also granted. However, before this was gathered, the people grumbled severely. Therefore, the king borrowed large sums of money from various wealthy men beforehand, to be repaid from the money of the aforementioned grant. The city of London paid 20,000 marks. In the fifteenth year of his reign, as King Edward sailed towards Flanders with a navy of 300 sail, there was a battle at sea at Sluys. The French king's navy met them in the sea, near a place called Sluys, with 4,000 sail. Between these two, there was a cruel fight, unlike any ever seen on the sea. However, in the end, King Edward prevailed.\nIn that fight, as writers testify, 30,000 Frenchmen were slain. However, the French chronicle claims that 30,000 were slain on both sides. Shortly after this, King Edward sent an army which entered the borders of France and laid siege to the town of Torney. He also joined another great host near the same location. King Philip of France came with another great host and lodged himself within three miles of King Edward. However, through the intercession of the Countess of Henaude, mother of the queen of England and sister to the French king, a truce was made between the two.\n\nUrban was the pope in that time, in the year of Christ 1463. During his tenure, the heads of St. Peter and Paul were discovered.\n\nKing Edward, around the 19th year of his reign, made a peace treaty.\nA solemn feast at Windsor, and a great justice and tournament where he substantially established the order of the knights of the garter. Some affirm that this order began first with King Richard II at the siege of the city of Acre, where his great necessity required only 26 knights who firmly and surely remained by his side. Therefore, he caused all of them to wear thongs of blue leather about their legs. And in the 21st year, King Edward, with 11,500 sails great and small, completed the work. Then King Edward entered the country of Picardy, and at last came to the water of Somme and crossed the water. He came to a forest called Cressy, where King Philip with a great host came there. And there fought with King Edward a great sharp and mortal battle, where King Edward had the victory. King Philip, sorely hurt, fled and escaped with great danger, and many of his men were killed.\nThe French lords who were killed include: the king of Beaujeu, Henry the Emperor, the duke of Lorraine, the earls of Alen\u00e7on, Blois, Saucer, Harcourt, Flanders, and eight bishops, as well as 16,000 knights, squires, and other lords. This battle decimated the flower of France and commoners, numbering over 80,000. The battle took place on a Saturday, and on the following Monday, a new French host appeared and gave them battle. In this battle, King Edward also gained the victory and killed more Frenchmen than on the previous Saturday. After this victory, King Edward gave thanks to God, and within four days, he went to Calais and laid siege to the town. The siege lasted from the first day of September to the third day of August the following year, keeping the sea secure so that no significant enemy could approach them. Calais was won.\nLater in July, King Philip approached Calais with a strong force to lift the siege. Some writers claim that he arrived too late, as the town had already surrendered before his arrival. Others assert that when Edward prepared to give him battle and a day was appointed for them to fight, Philip cowardly departed in the night and returned to France. Upon learning this, the people of Calais surrendered to Edward.\n\nJohn, son of Philip de Valois, was the next king of France in the year of Christ MCCC.l. He gathered a council of his clergy and temporal lords to pay Edward of England, to whom he was a prisoner, his ransom.\n\nGregory held the see for the next seven years. He removed his entire court from Avignon to Rome.\n\nMeanwhile, while Edward was engaged in the wars in France, Philip, upon Bayloll, King of Scotland being dead, sent David Bruce, at one time King of Scots, into Scotland with a great army.\nThe French, who had recovered the crown, were led by David with some Scottish lords into Northumberland and plundered the country mercilessly. The Archbishop of York, along with various other lords and knights, raised a large army and met the Scots near Durham, giving them a great battle. In this battle at Durham, David I, King of Scotland, Sir William Douglas, and many other Scottish lords were taken prisoners and brought to the Tower of London. Afterward, David was defeated at Roxburgh.\n\nSoon after this, a great pestilence broke out, not only in France and England but also in all other countries, in both Christendom and pagan lands. People died innumerable numbers, and over 100,000 were buried in the churchyard of the Charterhouse in London. Following this, there was great decay and scarcity of corn and livestock.\n\nIn the 24th year, a knight from Burgundy\nIn the 25th year, a Spanish nobleman favored by the French king came with a large navy into English waters and caused great damage. King Edward gathered his navy and met them at sea off Winchelsey. Between them there was a great battle, and many people were killed on both sides.\nKing Edward the end took victory and seized 22 of their ships, along with many other prisoners. Around the 26th year of this king, the castle of Guines was yielded to the English in Calais, and in the same year, Sir Guy de Meal, marshal of Flanders, gave battle to the English in Brittany. However, the French lost all, and Sir Guy and various other lords of Flanders were slain there, along with many taken prisoners.\n\nCharles, the wise son of Charles, was the next king of France. In the year of Christ 1464, he recovered the country of Poitou and Rochell, and many strongholds against the English, which they had previously taken.\n\nIn the 29th year, Prince Edward, the eldest son of the king, entered Gascony with a great army. The king of Scotland was taken prisoner there. Edward punished him so severely that at last he submitted himself as a prisoner. King Edward then returned.\nIn the thirty-third year of King Edward, while Edward was occupied at Berwick, Prince Edward took many rich prisoners and plunder in Gascony. He came to Bordeaux without engaging in battle. At the same time, the Duke of Lancaster, with the support of Philip, brother to the King of Navarre, waged war in the region of Constantine.\n\nKing John of France advanced with a great force towards the Duke, but he was unable to reach him because the passages were strongly fortified. Instead, he marched towards Prince Edward and captured several castles on the way.\n\nPrince Edward was then at a place called Leyre. A large army of French nobles arrived and gave him a sharp battle, but Prince Edward emerged victorious, killing many of his enemies and taking many prisoners. He sent them to Bordeaux and went himself towards\nTowers. Battle at Leyre. In the meantime, the Duke of Lancaster came from Liseux castle, which he had repaired and returned to Brittany, and spoiled, burned, and took many holds by the way. And then King John holding his way came to the city of Towers to fortify it, and Edward prince took his way towards Poyters, in which way he met a host of Frenchmen and fought with them, putting them to flight, and slew about 50 of them and took 60 prisoners. He sent 4 or 5 of the French nobles to Bordeaux, and afterwards lodged himself near Poyters. And after that, the French king came with his host and lodged himself near unto Poyters, so that the wardens of both hosts lay within half a mile of each other. Battle at Poyters. And then, in the morning, the Duke of Athens, having the command of the French wardens, set upon the English host, which had fortified themselves with wood and trees so that the French spears could not reach them.\nEnglishmen attacked them with arrows, causing both horse and rider to overturn. In the same season, Duke Norman of Normandy, King John's son who led another host, assaulted them from another direction. These three battles caused little harm to the English, as they killed many with arrows. The three hosts were thus discomfited. King John, seeing this, encouraged his people and, with a fresh company, attacked them again. But the English kept them at bay, fighting fiercely. The French retreated, and the English relentlessly pursued, showing no mercy. Among those killed were the Duke of Burgundy, the Duke of Athens, Sir John Clermont, Marshal of Flanders, several earls, barons, knights, and men-at-arms, numbering approximately 170,000 and 300,000 of common folk.\n\nJohn of Flanders, Philip his son, the Earl of Poitou, the Earl of Exeter, and the Earl of [name missing] were among the prisoners taken.\nThe Earl of Tankerville, the Archbishop of Sens, the Earls of Dampmartin, Vandosme, of Salisbury, and of Mayson, and many other great lords, baronets, knights, and men of name, took the King John of France prisoner. After this force was gathered, the prince returned with his prisoners to Bordeaux. Shortly after, the prince, with his prisoners, took shipping and arrived in England. They passed through the city of London into Westminster, where King Edward was sitting in his estate in Westminster Hall, receiving them with honor. After this, there was a solemn justice in Smithfield, where the King of England, the French king, and the King of Scotland, along with many other noble estates, were present, among whom the majority were prisoners. In the thirty-third year of King Edward, Sir Robert Knolles and other retainers, with the aid of the king's men of Navarre, waged war in Brittany. They took many castles, holds, and prisoners.\nKing Edward and the prince, along with the Duke of Lancaster, sailed over to Calais in the 34th year. They went to the region of Champagne, where various lords of the duchy of Burgundy came and gave King Edward 300,000 crowns. The king of France ransomed himself, and his host lodged near Paris, ready to give battle. However, the bishop of Beauvais, chancellor of Normandy, took a day of truce to conclude a peace. At this day, at a place within a mile of Chartres, the Duke of Lancaster claimed the crown of France for the crown. He also demanded that the French king pay three million scutes, which amounted to 5,050,000. King Edward should not ally himself with the French king after this treaty.\n\nAfter this treaty was concluded, King Edward returned to England. Both kings, Edward and John, exchanged articles at Calais. After that, King John was delivered and went to France.\nIn the second year after his capture, King Edward had John, Duke of Albany,\nA company of various nations, called the Companions, assembled in the country of Champagne. Their captains were Englishmen. Against them, the French king sent three earls with a great power. But the French were defeated, and one earl was killed, and two of them taken prisoners. The Companions continued for four years, numbering around 60,000.\n\nIn the thirty-seventh year of King Edward, King John of France came over again into England of his own will to enjoy himself. But the next year, he fell sick at Savoy and died there. His son, Charles, was then crowned king in Paris. And in the same year, the king of Cyprus and the king of Scotland came into England to speak with King Edward. Shortly after this, Prince Edward sailed.\nIn the 21st year of King Edward, Piers of Castille was expelled from Guyana, which his father had recently given him, by Henry, his bastard brother, with the aid of the French. Piers, with the help of Prince Edward, fought against Henry and forced him to retreat, killing 5,000 of his men. Piers then regained control of various cities and holds that he had previously lost. However, Henry later retook Castille, and in the process, took Piers captive.\nand beheaded him. Around the 42nd year of King Edward, the earls of Armagh, Dalbury, and Perigord, along with various other lords of Guyana, summoned Prince Edward to Charles, the French king. Prince Edward had broken the peace between the two kings, and one major reason they gave against him was because he levied a farm in Guyana against the wishes of the lords, where the country should be free. Upon this, King Charles sent his letters to Prince Edward, commanding him to appear at Paris to answer. Prince Edward was not content with this and said he would not appear before him unless it was with a basinet on his head and 60 men of war. He received his land from his father, the king of England, and if any misdeed had occurred, it ought to be determined before his father in England. This led to new debate and variance between these two kings. King Edward then sent over\nIn the 14th year of King Edward, the French king continued his war in Guyana, and numerous skirmishes occurred between the parties. After that, Sir Robert Knolles, along with Lord Fitz Water and Lord Graunts, entered Saint Omer and then Arras, and later Paris. When the French refused to give them battle, they returned to Normandy and then to the earldom of Angouleme. Sir Robert Knolles, however, had a disagreement with Lord Fitz Water and Lord Graunts. As a result, Sir Robert Knolles led the flower of the archers into Britanny. In response, the French king sent the marshal of Fouqueville with a large force against Lord Fitz Water and Lord Graunts, giving them battle where the English were discomfited. Lord Graunts was taken captive, along with 300 Englishmen killed and the rest taken prisoners and put to flight.\n\nBattle in Britanny\nIn the 46th year of King Edward, the English were commonly put to worse conditions, and many holds and towns were taken from them. The people of the country did not favor the English because of the great tasks that Prince Edward had demanded of them, and the city of Limoges and other cities rebelled against Prince Edward. Perceiving all this, and due to a lack of money and his own sickness and maladies, Prince Edward departed for England, leaving behind him the Duke of Lancaster and his brother the Earl of Cambridge to rule Gascony. In the 46th year of King Edward, the Earl of Pembroke was sent by the king with a large company to fortify the town of Rochell, but he was met in the sea by a Spanish company. A cruel fight ensued, but the English were defeated. The Earl of Pembroke was taken captive with 150 men, and most of his men were taken prisoner.\nmen slayne and drowned / and many englysshe shyppes taken / and sone after that the towne of Rochell was yelden to the dukes of Burgoyne and Barry to the Frenche kynges vse.battell in the see.\n\u00b6Also in the .xlvii. yere the duke of Lancaster / syr Iohn\u0304 Gaunt / & Edmonde of Langley his brother landed at Caleys with a great power / and so went forth to Dorlons and Corby & passed the water of Somme / and after passed the ryuer of Seyne and so vnto Bordeaux / and spoyled the contrey as they went / & were neuer fought with saue onely at a skyrmysshe they lost .l. speres and .xx. archers / whiche strangled from theyr comhanye.\n\u00b6Also in the \u00b7xlviii. yere / pope Gregory sent .ii. bysshoppes to intreate for peace betwene the .ii. kynges / but no full peace coude be than concluded / but yet they obteyned & abstynente of warre to a certayne day / and after that they obteyned a longer day of abstynence of warre / but alway in yt season the Frenche kynge wan many townes and holdes / aswell in Guyan as in Brytten. \u00b6Also in\nIn the year of this king, there was such sickness and mortality in Etalye as well as in England that innumerable people died.\n\nIn the second year of King Edward, he convened his parliament at Westminster and asked for a subsidy from his commons for the defense of his enemies. To this, it was answered that they could no longer bear such charges and added that they knew that King Edward had already died. And soon after, Prince Edward died at Westminster on the 8th day of July. He was later buried at Canterbury.\n\nIn this year, a great schism began in the Church of Rome. After the death of Pope Gregory, two popes were chosen, making it hard to determine which was the indisputable pope. This continued for many years.\n\nAlso in the same year, on the 21st day of June in the year of Christ 1477, King Edward died and was buried at Westminster.\n\nKing Edward, when he died, had four sons: Leonell, Duke of Clarence.\nI. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Edmond of Langley, Duke of York, and Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Cambridge.\n\nKing Edward III, though occupied with war throughout his life, was so prudent that he always took care of his realm's prosperity. He ordered and established his laws exceptionally well, and during his reign there were 25 or 26 parliaments. Many statutes and acts were made for the common wealth of the land, as evident in the books of his statutes.\n\nUrban was the next pope, in the year of Christ 1378. He held the see for 11 years.\n\nWenceslaus was the next emperor, in the year of Christ 1379. He held the empire for 22 years, but he was unprofitable to the empire, so he was deposed.\n\nRichard II, the second of that name, and son to Prince Edward, eldest son of King Edward III, at the age of 11, was crowned king of England on the 15th day of July, in the year of Christ 1377. In the 2nd year of his reign.\nKing Henry, certain galleys and other ships, sent by Charles, King of France, arrived in England with a large company. They raided various havens and caused significant damage, eventually reaching the Thames and burning part of Gravesend. In the same year, the Earl of Cambridgeshire, the king's uncle, led an army of 8,000 men across the Somme River and captured Troyes. He then passed through the Gascony region and entered Brittany, where Duke John of Monfort of Brittany warmly welcomed him. After this, the English commons rose, particularly in Essex and Kent. They appointed captains, the most prominent of whom they named Jack Straw, Will Wawe, and Jack Sharp. These men marched on London, where the king was residing, and seized the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord of St. John, and the king's confessor, a friar.\nthe tower hill struck off their heads and killed and robbed all strangers in Southwark, and took with them all the Santonary men in Westminster, and St. Martin's, and burned the Savoy, the duke of Lancaster's place, and spoiled St. John's and the Inns of Court, and burned their books, and killed as many men-at-law and questers as they could find, and took out all the prisoners in all the prisons around London. And after bringing the king out of the Tower, they caused him to ride through part of the city. In Smithfield, they made a proclamation in the king's presence with small reverence. And thus they continued on Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday, one William Walworth, the Mayor of London, disdaining Jack Straw's pride and tyranny, Jack Straw was slain. Among the multitude and press of the people in the street (as well of the commons of the city as of others), came boldly unto Jack Straw and wounded him to death, and shortly beheaded him, and cried out \"king.\"\nIn the reign of King Richard, when the rebels beheld their captains' heads, they fled like sheep, and many of them were slain and taken. Therefore, the king later made Sir William Walworth and five other Aldermen knights. In the same year, the commons of Northfolk came to the Abbey of Bury and killed one of the king's justices, John Candish, and the prior of the place. However, after the rebels were taken and put to death.\n\nIn the fifth year of this king, there was a great earthquake in England, an event never seen before. Around the same time, the bishop of Norwich went to Flanders with the pope's permission, leading a great army and capturing Dunkirk and Gravelines. Forty ships and much goods within them were burned. However, after their troops fell ill with the plague and other diseases, he was forced to return to England.\n\nIn the seventh year of this king, a great parliament was held at Westminster, where many matters were discussed.\ndukes and earls were made, and Roger Mortimer, son of Edmond Mortimer, and Dame Philippa Elder, daughter of Sir Leonell, second son of Edward the Third, were declared heirs apparent. Which Sir Roger went after into Ireland and there was slain by the wild Irishmen.\n\nCharles VI was next French king, in the year of Christ 1480, he made great war against those of Gaunt and other Fleminges who would not obey their duke, and slew of them 40,000.\n\nLewis called Lewis de Marle was next earl of Flanders.\n\nBenyface was next pope, he held the see 14 years.\n\nThis Sir Roger Mortimer had issue, two sons, Edmond and Roger, and two daughters, Anne and Alys, who was made a nun, the two said sons died without issue, and Anne the eldest daughter was married to Richard earl of Cambridge, who was son to Edmond of Langley, named before, who had issue between them Richard duke of York, father to King Edward IV.\n\nbattle in the\nsee.\u00b6In the .x. yere of this kynge / the erle of Arondell was sent into Gue kynges vncle ye erle of Aron\u2223dell / the erles of warwyke / Darby / and Notyngham / consyderynge howe the kynge & the lande was ladde / caused a parlyament to be called at London / and those lordes that knewe them selfes fautye fledde out of the lande and neuer came agayne / that is to say / Alexander Archebysshop of yorke / Leonell Vere markes of Deuelyn / and syr Myghell Delapole erle of Suffolke and Chauncellour of Englande. And at this parlyament syr Robert Treuilyan the chefe Iustyce of Englande / ye kinges councel\u2223lours at\u2223teynt of treason. syr Nicholas Breneber late mayre of London / syr Iohan Salysbury / syr Iohan Beuchampe stewarde of the kyng{is} house / syr Symon Beuerley / syr Iames Bernet / syr Robert Belknappe chefe Iustyce of the co\u0304mon place / and a seriant of armes called Vske / were by auc\u2223toryte of ye parlyament atteynt of treason / and put to execucyon at Tyborne and at the Towre hyll / and Iohn\u0304 Holt / Iohn\u0304 /\nLocton\u0304 / Rycharde Gray / wyllyam Burgh / and Robert Fulthorpe Iustyce / were exyled the lande for euer.\nIohan of Gaunte we\u0304t into spayne.\u00b6In the .xiiii. yere of this kynge / Iohn\u0304 of Gaunt duke of Lancaster went into Spayne with a great armye / and claymed to be kynge there by the tytle of his wyfe Constaunce doughter to Peter late before kynge of Spayne / as is before rehersed / and with the helpe of the kynge of Portyngale droue Henry kynge of Spayne to take a peace and a concorde with hym / whiche was concluded thus / that Henry kynge of Spayne shulde mary Constau\u0304ce the eldyst doughter of the duke of Lancaster / that was ryght heyre to Spayne / & that he shulde gyue the duke .viii. charyottes laded with wedges of golde / & yerely to pay to the duke and his wyfe .x.M. markes durynge theyr lyues. After whiche thynge parfyted and done / the duke with the kynge of Por\u2223tyngale departed / and after maryed his other doughter to the sayd kynge of Portyngale.\n\u00b6In the .xv. yere of this kynge / a seruant of the\nThe bishop of Salisbury, who was treasurer of England, took a horse from a baker's basket in Fletestreet. When the baker ran to recover his loss, the bishop's servant struck him on the head with a dagger. The inhabitants were about to take the servant to prison, but his fellows rescued him. The people, in a fury, wanted to enter the bishop's place with force. The other side made strong resistance. The mayor, along with various aldermen and sheriffs, came there with a large company. But the people, unwilling to submit to the mayor's presence, continued their assault on the bishop's place. It took a long time before they could be pacified. Word reached the bishop of Salisbury, who was at Windsor with the king, that the complaint had become so serious due to the intervention of the bishop of Canterbury, then Chancellor of England, that the mayor\nThe ruler of the city was dismissed, and liberties were seized by the king's hands. Sir Edward Dalingridge, knight, was appointed governor of the city. The term was removed to York. The king and his council took such displeasure with the city that the courts in Westminster were removed to York, and the term was kept there. However, perceiving it was not convenient for the realm's wealth, it was removed again to London. Yet the king's displeasure towards the city somewhat continued. Therefore, the city made various means to obtain his favor, and at last, through the queen and especially Doctor Gray's shop in London, they obtained the king's favor again. After they received the king into the city, where they made many lovely stages and things of pleasure, they gave the king a great sum of money and many other great gifts of pleasure, and so at last obtained his favor and were again restored.\nIn the seventeenth year, Queen Anne of the king died and was buried at Westminster. In the eighteenth year of King Richard, heresies of John Wycliffe began to emerge in England due to the schism of the two popes. In the nineteenth year, King Richard married Isabella, daughter of the French king, at Calais. After bringing her into London with great triumph, the town of Brest was delivered to the duke of Britaine in the same year. The duke of Gloucester then told the king that it would have been more honor for the king to endure pain to conquer a strong town and hold it, rather than giving up one that was obtained by his ancestors with great difficulty. Disagreement arose between the king and him. After the duke perceived that the king was being influenced by certain persons intending to reform the realm, he called for an assembly.\nArondell, of various lords, and other conspirators, met at which assembly the said duke, the earl of Arundel, the earl of Warwick, the earl of Northampton, the bishop of Canterbury, and various other spiritual lords, who swore secretly to each other to put their wills and powers towards avoiding the king from the duke of Lancaster and the duke of York, and others who governed the realm, but the earl of Northampton revealed this conspiracy to the king. Therefore, the king suddenly and secretly took the duke of Gloucester and sent him to Calais, where by his commandment he was shortly after strangled in his bed, and so murdered. And after the king called a parliament at Westminster, where the earl of Arundel was judged to death and beheaded at Tower Hill, and the earl of Warwick banished into the Isle of Man for life, and various other persons committed to perpetual prison. And in this same parliament, all the acts made in the parliament before the 11th year of King Richard.\nIn the same year, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, passed away. In the 21st year, the people of the land greatly complained and grumbled against the king for various reasons. One reason was that he had levied many exactions and charges on the people, wasting their money and giving it to light persons. The articles that caused the people to murmur against the king were also because the Duke of Gloucester was secretly murdered without the process of the law. Additionally, the king would choose Sheriffs and other officers at his own will and pleasure, without advisement from any wise counsel. Another cause was that he would rebuke judges if they rendered judgments contrary to his wishes and compelled many men of great substance to seal blank charters, which he then filled in and wrote clauses that were detrimental to those who sealed them. Another rumor spread about the king that he had set England to farm to three persons.\nSir John Busshe, Sir John Bagot, and Sir Henry Green.\n\nAfter the aforementioned parliament, a great dispute arose between the Duke of Northfolk, who had previously been Earl of Nottingham, and Henry Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt, then Duke of Hereford. The Duke of Hereford accused the Duke of Northfolk.\n\nIn the 22nd year of this king, the king, with a great army, sailed into Ireland. He conquered the land and prospered marvelously, setting the country in good order. The king sailed into Ireland. But at that time, events in Ireland caused the king to return to England with a small company. Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, was landed in England at a place called Ravenspore in the northern region, and proclaimed himself Duke of Lancaster. Many people rallied to him.\n\nMeanwhile, the Duke was coming to Bristol with a great company and took Sir William Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire, and Sir [Name missing].\nIohan Busshy and Sir John Green, who had each had their heads struck off, and Sir John Bagot was taken at the same time but escaped again. The king then came to England. When the king heard of the duke's strength, he and all who were with him were greatly fearful. Therefore, Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, the king's steward, defied his authority in the king's hall and bid everyone to shift for themselves. The king's servants then departed, leaving the king comfortless. He was soon after taken and brought to the duke, who in turn brought him to London. When he was near the city, he sent King Richard secretly to the Tower. Hearing this, various wild persons of the city assembled a large number to take King Richard and either kill him or prevent him from reaching the Tower due to the great cruelty he had previously shown to the city.\nMay and other discreet commuters hearing of their purpose gathered another company. They put the wild fellows from their purpose with great difficulty. The king was taken prisoner. Then, immediately after this, a parliament was called at Westminster. There, many of the articles previously mentioned were laid to the king's charge: that he had misgoverned the realm, and therefore was not worthy to be its prince or governor. The king confessed this of his own mouth and renounced and resigned all his kingly majesty, as well as all the title and right that he had to the crown. He further released to all spiritual and temporal lords, and to all others of every degree, all homage and fealty that they had ever made or sworn to him. And then, the king, by the whole consent of all the lords and the commons in the said parliament, was deprived of his kingly dignity. They, in turn, chased away Henry, duke of Hereford, for his great magnanimity and wisdom.\nthat they saw in him above all others to be king of England. And thus King Richard was deposed; the year of Christ MCCCXCix. The last day of September. And he was first buried at Langley, but he lies now at Westminster.\n\nInnocent was next pope; the year of Christ MCCCCiv. He held the see for two years.\n\nRobert was next emperor; the year of Christ MCCCCi. He held the empire for ten years.\n\nHenry IV, the third son of John of Gaunt, was crowned king of England on the thirteenth day of October, the year of Christ MCCCxCix. And immediately after the said parliament, all the acts made in the twenty-first year of Richard II were annulled. Conspiracy. And all the acts made in the parliament of the eleventh year of King Richard were again confirmed.\n\nAlso in the first year of this king, the duke of Aumerle came and showed the king, then being at Windsor, that he and the duke of Surrey, the duke of Exeter, and the earl of Salisbury, and the earl of Warwick, had conspired against him.\nof Glocester and other moors were recorded to make a mummifying on Twelfth night at night, and that they purposed to slay the king. Wherefore the king suddenly departed and came to London for succor and counsel. Wherefore these lords, when they knew they were betrayed, fled, and shortly after were taken all and beheaded. Their heads were set upon London bridge.\n\nThe death of King Richard II. And in this time Richard late king was removed from the castle of Leeds in Kent, and sent to Pontefract castle, where soon after he was put to death. But of the manner of his death there are diverse opinions. For some said that he was famished and kept from food for five days, wherefore he died of hunger. And some said that Sir Piers of Exton with eight of his company fell upon this Richard late king and slew him. But as soon as they struck at him, he shortly recovered one of their axes and slew four of them. But at last he was wounded to death by the hands of the said Piers. And when he was dead, they cut off his head and quartered his body.\nAfter King Richard was laid open and displayed in the ministry of Pountfret, he was brought to the city of London and laid again in Pouls with an open display, intending that his death might be openly known. Later, he was carried to Langley and buried there, but after being removed by King Henry V in the first year of his reign, he was buried in Westminster.\n\nAfter the deposition of King Richard, King Henry found great treasure, some in his treasury and some in other places, in money and jewels, to the value of \u20b5700,000. However, you must note that 40s. in those days was worth more than 40s. is at this present day, which is now the 21st year of King Henry VIII. In those days, 5 groats made an ounce, and now at this day, 11 groats make an ounce.\n\nAlso in the same year, the king sent Isabella, late queen and wife, to King Richard in France, to her father the French king, with great riches, in discharge of all her dowery in England, which was later married to one [person].\nCharles, son and heir to the duke of Orl\u00e9ans. In the second year of this king, a knight named Roger Clarington and his two servants, the prior of Lande and eight Gray Friars or Minors, and some bachelors of divinity, were drawn and hanged at Tyburn for treason. A prior and eight friars hanged at Tyburn for treason. In this time, a dispute arose between Owen of Glendower, a Welshman, and Lord Gray of Ruthyn. Owen took Lord Gray prisoner and compelled him to marry his daughter, and kept him still in Wales until he died. The king took displeasure with this and came into Wales with a great power. Owen with his people fled into the mountains, and there kept himself, so the king could not come to him. The king returned.\n\nPhilippe, duke of Burgundy, son of John king of France, married Margaret, daughter of Lewis earl of Flanders, and by her became earl of Flanders.\n\nGregory was the next pope, but he was deposed.\n\nAlexander was the next.\npope / he hylde the see one monthe.\n \u00b6Also in the .iii. yere of this kynge / a discencyon fell betwene the kynge & syr Thomas Percye erle of worcester / that the sayd erle and syr Henry Percye his neuewe son and heyre to the erle of Northu\u0304berlande / gaue the kynge a great battell at Shroysbury / where the sayd erle was taken and syr Henry Percye slayne / & on the kynges parte / Henry the kynges eldyst son beynge prnce / was wounded / and the erle of Stafforde was slayne & many other noble men / and other were slayne vpon bothe partes / & after the erle was beheded.battel at Shroys\u2223burye. And sone after this the Duches of Bryt\u2223tayne came into Englande and was maryed vnto the kynge. Sone after this the Emperour of Rome called Robert / came into Englande to se the contrey and to disporte hym / and had great chere of the kynge.\n\u00b6Also about the .vi. yere of this kynge / Rycharde Skrope archebysshop of Caunterburye / and the lorde Mombray marshall of Englande with other to them alyed / gathered great strength to\nIn the king's days, and often in the time of King Richard II, many were challenged and appealed for treason. For this rebellion, they waged battle, and the one vanquished was put to death as a traitor, whether he was appellant or defendant. Around the ninth year of this king, Rice Apfel, a Welshman favoring Owen Glendour, rebelled against the king. However, he was eventually taken and brought to London, where he was drawn, hanged, and quartered. Shortly after, around the twelfth year of his reign, King Henry intended to take a voyage to visit the sepulcher of our Lord at Jerusalem.\nAnd he made new galleys therefore, because there was a prophecy that he should never die until he had been to Jerusalem. In the preparation of this, he suddenly fell sick at St. Edward's shrine at Westminster. They bore him into the abbot's place there into a chamber. And when the king was somewhat recovered, he asked where he was, and his servants told him he was in the abbot of Westminster's place, in a chamber called Jerusalem. And when the king heard that the chamber was called Jerusalem, he knew well that he would die. And there, shortly after, he made himself ready for God and died, on the 20th day of March, in the year of Christ MCCCXII. And after was brought to Canterbury and there buried.\n\nJohn was next pope, in the year of Christ MCCCX, he held the see for ten years and more, and was deposed at the council of Constantine.\n\nSigismund was next emperor, in the year of Christ MCCCXI, during his time were two general councils at Constantinople and Basel.\n\nHenry.\nThe fifth named Henry, son of Henry IV, was crowned king of England on the ninth day of August, in the year of Christ 1413. He was born at Monmouth in Wales, hence he is known as King Henry of Monmouth. Before his father's death, this Henry applied himself to vice and insolence, keeping riotous and wild company. But after he was admitted to govern the land, he became a new man and turned all his wildness to sobriety, and his vices to virtue.\n\nThe king exiled his old wild family members. Then he gave sufficient rewards to all his old wild companions who were his family members, and charged them upon pain of their lives not to come within ten miles of his presence. After his coronation, he caused the corpse of King Richard II to be taken up at Langley and buried again at Westminster. He ordered two tapers to burn perpetually upon his grave and every week a solemn dirge and mass to be sung for him.\nIn the second year of his reign, a certain knight, Sir John, was accused of heresy and taken. He escaped and fled to Wales. There was a battle at St. Giles. However, after Sir John's supporters gathered a large number of people and assembled them near St. Giles, London, the king, upon hearing this, suddenly gathered his people and entered the field before they were fully assembled. He defeated them and took them prisoner. Afterward, he had thirty and more of them judged, who were hanged on gallows in the same field and burned.\n\nIn the third year of King Henry, he was advised by his spiritual and temporal lords to wage war against the French king for the title and right he had to Normandy, Gascony, and Guyana. Therefore, he sent his ambassadors to French King Charles VI and also requested his daughter Catherine for marriage. However, this was answered by:\nThe Council of France could not answer such troublesome business. Some writers affirm that the French king sent word to King Henry that he was too young to engage in war, and in derision sent him a ton of tennis balls, more suitable for him and his lords to play with than to meddle with any wars. Therefore, the king, with the advice of his council, made quick provisions for war, as will be shown later.\n\nIn the same year, there was a general council of all the clergy of Christendom held in the city of Constance in high Germany. The opinions of Wycliffe were condemned as heresy in this council, which continued for the space of four years. Then the old schism of the two popes was determined, and a new pope was chosen, called Pope Martin V.\n\nWhen the king had made provisions for his war in the third year of his reign, he rode through London and so to Southampton, where his army went with him.\nWhile Richard Earl of Cambridge sailed his people to Edward of Langley, the fourth son of King Edward III, Richard married Anne, daughter of Roger Mortimer, son of Philippa, only daughter of Leonell II, son to King Edward III. The first voyage was to France.\n\nJohn, son of Philippa, was the next Duke of Burgundy and Earl of Flanders. He ordered one of his servants to kill the Duke of Orl\u00e9ans. But after that, the said Duke John of Orl\u00e9ans survived.\n\nMartyn was the next pope. He held the position for 14 years.\n\nSir Richard Scrope, treasurer of England, and Sir Thomas Gray, knight, conspired against the king and intended to kill him. Therefore, these three were taken and tried for treason and beheaded. Some writers also claim that the French king hired them for this said conspiracy. As a result, many came there, and the town was filled with Englishmen. Then the Dolphin and other lords who had the power seized it.\nThe governor of Flanders because the French king was ill and diseased. And some writers claim that a madman broke down all the bridges so the king could not cross the water of Somme. Therefore, the king turned towards Picardy. The French assembled a great host and came towards the king to a certain town called Eugencourt, ready to give battle. And when King Henry saw the great multitude, he comforted his people, who were not good fighting men numbering around 700,000, but the French chronicles say there were almost 20,000,000, and the French were numbered at 40,000. Battle at Eugencourt. And therefore, King Henry commanded every man to get himself a sharp stake, sharp at both ends, and to pitch it into the ground before him, and to retreat back in the beginning when the French would charge at them with their spears, and accordingly they did. And in the morning on the 25th day of October, the French with a great army attacked.\nA number of men with spears fiercely charged towards the English host to overpower them, but the horses were hampered by stakes and were wounded and beaten so severely with arrows that one horse stumbled upon another. Every Frenchman fought against another, and the Englishmen with their bills and axes struck them down so fiercely and quickly that they slew them as fast as they could a flock of sheep in a fold. That day, the victory fell to the English. Among those killed from the English side were the Duke of York, who commanded the vanguard, and the Duke of Suffolk, and fewer than thirty persons. But among the French, there were killed the Duke of Albany, the Duke of Brabant, eight earls, and one hundred and eighty barons, and among the gentlemen of name, fifteen thousand and above, and above eight or nine hundred thousand. The Duke of Orl\u00e9ans, the Duke of Bourbon, the Earls of Vandosme, of Ewe, of Rychemont, and Bursygaunt, marshal of France, were taken.\nAnd many other gentlemen to the number of 24,000 and above. After this battle and victory, tidings reached King Henry that the French were ready with a great host again to give a new battle. Therefore, he set his host in array and commanded and made proclamations that every man should slay his prisoner, by reason of which proclamation the dukes and lords of France, who were prisoners, withdrew them. Then on the morrow, the king with his prisoners took his way to Calais and immediately afterwards entered England with all his prisoners and great riches that he and his host had won at the field of Agincourt. Also, in the same year Sigismund, emperor of Hungary, came to London. The king honorably received him and made great cheer to him. He labored to have had peace between the French king and King Henry, but it took no effect. Then he returned.\nIn the fourth year of King Henry, the duke of Bedford and the earl of March had a great battle on the sea against the foe. In the fifth year, the king held his parliament at Westminster, where he was granted fifteen teminales from the temporal and a tenth from the spiritual for his wars and the second voyage to France. Shortly after, the king made provisions for his voyage and, with a great host, landed in Normandy. However, news reached the king that a large French navy intended to land in England, so he sent the earl of March, the earl of Huntingdon, and others with their ships to intercept them. The French fleet was quickly captured in the ensuing battle. Meanwhile, the king laid siege to the town of Tours, which was delivered to him, and afterwards he went on to capture Caen and its castle.\nAnd he divided his army into various parts, each of which, as they went, took strong holds and towns. In this year, there was a famine in England; a bushel of wheat was worth 2 shillings. In the fifth year of King Henry, the king continuing his wars, he laid siege to the city of Rouen. This city, because it had no rescue by the Dolphin, was given up to King Henry, but the Frenchmen claimed the loss of the city was due to divisions among the citizens. Soon after that, the king went on his journey towards Flanders and subdued many towns and holds as he went, and was aided and helped by Philip, duke of Burgundy, who joined forces with King Henry because John, his father, had been killed by the Dolphin's servants in the presence of the said Dolphin. Then, after this, the French made preparations for a peace and treaty to be made between the realms. By the means of the said duke of Burgundy at Troyes in Chalon, King Henry made peace.\nMary married Katherine, daughter of Charles, the French king, and a peace was concluded with certain articles. The French king was visited by a constant sickness, as previously stated. King Henry, as regent of France, was to have the entire governance of the realm of France and its defense. Specifically, he was to withstand and defend the Dauphin, who did not agree to the same peace. Additionally, King Charles was to be called king of France during his natural life, and King Henry of England was to be his heir, with both realms under one monarchy and various other articles for the preservation of the peace. After these articles were concluded, King Henry, with various lords of France, laid siege to various towns that took the Dauphin's side and conquered them. When King Henry\n\n(Note: The text appears to be in Early Modern English and is largely readable. No significant cleaning is necessary.)\nHad the king accomplished much of his purpose in France; he took leave of his father, the French king, and with the queen his wife sailed into England, where she was crowned queen of England. He left his brother, the duke of Clarence, as his deputy in France.\n\nIn the eighth year of King Henry's reign, and after the queen's coronation feast, the king made provisions for his war in France against the Dauphin. With the king thus engaged, the duke of Clarence was overcome in battle and killed by a French captain named Jean de la Rose. The earl of Huntington and Somerset, along with many other English gentlemen, were taken prisoners in Gascony.\n\nIn the tenth year of his reign, the king took shipping at Douai and landed at Calais, and went into France to make war against the Dauphin. The queen was crowned at a feast in Paris after the king's departure.\nIn Windsor on the 6th day of December, a son named Henry was born to the queen. Afterward, the queen crossed the sea to be reunited with her father and mother. King Henry and the queen sat together at a grand feast in Paris, an event never before seen. King Charles then held no power or authority. Shortly after, King Henry fell ill at Bois de Vinces and ordered various things for his soul. He died on the 21st day of August in the year of Christ 1422, and was later brought back to England and buried at Westminster.\n\nIn the following October, King Charles of France died.\n\nEugene was the next pope, in the year of Christ 1431, he held the see.\nAlbert was the next emperor, in the year of Christ 1438, he held the empire for two years.\n\nHenry the Sixth, son of Henry the Fifth and at the age of nine months, was proclaimed king of England.\nThe first day of September, in the year of Christ M.IIII.C.XXII, and in the month of October following, Charles, the French king, died. Shortly after his death, the corpse of his father, King Henry V, was brought over to England, and on the sixth day of November, with great solemnity, he was buried at Westminster. Following this, a parliament was held at Westminster, where the government of the young king, as well as that of both realms, was provided for. The Duke of Gloucester, the king's uncle, was made protector of England, and the Duke of Bedford, the king's other uncle, was made regent of France.\n\nIn the second year of King Henry VI, the king and his mother, the queen, removed to Westminster, where a parliament was held, and the young king was seated in the parliament chamber among his lords. In the same year, the Duke of Bedford, as regent of France, waged strong war against Charles the Dauphin, who was considered king of France due to his supporters.\nThe duke of Auvergne and various other great lords of France, sent by Charles, met with the duke of Bedford, the regent, and his host at Vernon. Between them, a great battle was fought, but the victory fell to the English. In this battle, the earls of Turenne and Bourbon, the vicomte of Narbonne, and many other men were killed. The Battle of Vernon saw the capture of the duke of Alencon, the marshal of France, and many others.\n\nCharles the Dolphin, whom the French called King Charles VII, is said by some writers to be the son of Charles VI. Some claim him to be the son of the duke of Orl\u00e9ans, born of the queen, wife to Charles VI. Others claim him to be the bastard son of Charles VI and his paramour, Agnes. It is also unlikely that he was a legitimate son of Charles VI.\nCharles by the consent of his lordes wylled the realme of Fraunce to Katheryn his doughter / wyfe to kynge Henry the .v.\n\u00b6Also in the .iii. yere of kynge Henry the .vi. the duke of Glocester / the lorde protectour / whiche had maryed the Duches of Holande / sayled ouer thyther with his wyfe / and was honorably re\u2223ceyued / but sone after he returned into Englande / leauynge his wyfe behynde hym. And after yt she was taken by the duke of Burgoyne and kept in prison / but yet after she escaped / wherfore ye duke of Glocester sent the lorde Fitz water ouer with a great power into zelande / but they were there at theyr landynge / incountred of theyr enemyes and dryuen backe / and fayne to returne agayne to theyr shyppes / and so into Englande and preuayled nothynge.battell at zelande.\n\u00b6Also in the .v. yere of kynge Hynry / the erle of Salisbury / syr Thomas Mountegue / with other lordes / leyde sege to the citye of Orlyaunce and wanne dyuers holdes nyghe the citye / and as he stode in a bay wyndowe / one of the\nThe city marked him and lightly aimed a gun at him, striking the window frame which broke and struck him on the face, causing his death within three days. This event was known to the English as (indicium malorum) after his death. The English lost their possessions in France, much more than they desired.\n\nCharles VII was the next French king, in the year of Christ 1422. He had great wars with the English. To help the French, a maid from France came, whom the French called la puselle de dieu. But she was captured and burned by the English. However, in the end, Charles regained all that the English had gained before, including Paris.\n\nThe next pope was Nicholas, who held the see for eight years after Felix resigned to him.\n\nFrederick was the next emperor. He held the empire for 46 years and then associated Maximilian with him, with the consent of the electors, and held the empire.\nIn the seventh year of King Henry, he was crowned at Westminster and then crossed the sea into France. Around this time, in France, a maiden named Jean, the daughter of a poor man, came to Charles the Dauphin of France, who was called King Charles VII by the French. She claimed to have been sent by God to help alleviate the misery of France. King Henry was crowned at Reims after this. The maiden, known as the Maid of God by the French, frequently put the English to disadvantage. However, some writers assert that Charles was not crowned until after the death of the Duke of Bedford. This maiden, called the Maid of God by the French, caused the English numerous setbacks. Yet, at the same time, she facilitated Charles's crowning as King of France at Reims.\nlast she and her company came to a place called Champagne to remove a siege laid against them by the duke of Burgundy and the English, and gave them battle. In this fight, the French were defeated, and there the said maid was taken by a Burgundian knight and brought to Rouen, where she was judged to death by the English and burned.\n\nIn the 10th year of King Henry, he was crowned in Paris, and after that he returned to England, leaving the duke of Bedford as regent of France behind him. King Henry was crowned at Paris, and around this time, a great blazing star was seen in England.\n\nIn the 12th year of King Henry, the Lord Talbot led a great company into France and caused much harm to the French. Around this time, there were many conflicts between Englishmen and Frenchmen in France, Normandy, and other countries, and various holds were besieged. But around the 13th year of King Henry, a treaty of peace was held at Aras in Picardy.\nBoth realms, through the pope's intervention, sent representatives \u2013 the Cardinal of St. Cross \u2013 to negotiate, but the treaty took no effect. According to French chronicles, the reason for this was the obstinacy of the English. Philip, Duke of Burgundy, abandoned the English. Therefore, through the intermediary of the same cardinal, Duke Philip of Burgundy forsook the English party and returned to Charles, the French king. In return, Charles granted him the county of Poitou and various other lordships, as a recompense for his father's death, which had occurred before Duke Bedford's demise.\n\nIn the 14th year of King Henry, Duke of Bar was accompanied by the Burgundians in their siege of Harlech. After taking Harlech, they proceeded to capture the town of St. Denis and killed above 4,000 Englishmen. Later, a knight named Notycia from Orl\u00e9ans came to Paris and lodged at the charterhouse beyond the Seine River. He conspired with certain Parisian citizens to betray the city and bring it out of English control.\nThe possession of the Englishmen, which heads of the city had laboriously turned the hearts of thecommons away from the English, resulted in a sudden uprising. They slew as many Englishmen as they could find, and those who fled and fought in the streets were pelted with stones and hot liquor. The Englishmen were slaughtered and taken prisoner, while those who escaped did so with great difficulty. The Frenchmen won Paris. Then the other host, which lay at the charterhouse, entered through the gates of St. Germain, St. Michael's, and St. Jacques, and crossed the bridges into the city and town at their pleasure. After this, the Englishmen in the tower of St. Denis and other holds were compelled to surrender, giving up their lives. In their departure, they were mocked and scorned by the Frenchmen without measure. The Englishmen who remained were compelled to pay fines and ransoms and were sworn to Charles.\ntakynge vpon hym as frenche kyng.\n \u00b6Calexte was nexte pope / he hylde the see .iii. yere and more / in his tyme the Chrysten men had a great victorye agaynst the Turkes in Hungarye.\n \u00b6Also in the .xiiii. yere of kynge henry / Philyppe the duke of Burgon with a great multytude of flemynges leyde sege at Caleys / and contynued his sayd sege .iii. wekes / wherfore th\n\u00b6Also in the .xvii. yere of this kynge there was a great derthe in Englande / that a busshell of where was worthe .iii. s. iiii.d.\n\u00b6Also in the same yere at a counsell at Basyll / pope Eugenye was deposed / and one Amedeus duke of Sauoy was chosen pope / but yet Eugenye co\u0304tynued in Rome as pope / and Amedeus called Felyx the .v. contynued his dignyte in other places / so that then arose a great Cisme who was indubytat pope / this Cisme contynued .ix. yeres.Cisme.\n\u00b6Also about this tyme there were many conflyctes / and dyuers holdes & townes in many {per}tes of Fraunce wonne and lost / but most co\u0304menly euer the englysshemen had the wors. \u00b6Also in the\nIn the year of King Henry, the Lord Talbot laid siege to a town in Normandy called Deep. Several French commanders were dispatched to lift the siege, but were defeated in battle at D Than. The Lord Talbot retreated and left the siege in the hands of two of his knights. However, the Dauphin of Vienne, named Lewis, arrived with a large force and engaged the English in battle, resulting in their defeat and many English soldiers being killed or taken prisoner.\n\nIn this same year, envoys were sent to Guyana to arrange a marriage between King Henry and the daughter of Armagnac. However, this arrangement was abandoned due to the Earl of Suffolk, who held a deep-seated grudge against the Lord Protector, Duke of Gloucester. The following year, the Earl of Suffolk sailed to France and arranged a marriage between the king and Lady Margaret, the king of Cycle's daughter, for which the king of Cycle was promised.\nThe duchy of Angoul\u00eame and the earldom of Maine. The kings marriage concluded. Around this time, the steeple of St. Paul's church in London was set on fire by lightning.\n\nIn the 23rd year of King Henry, the said Lady Margaret was brought over into England and married to the king, and afterwards crowned at Westminster.\n\nQueen Margaret crowned.\n\nIn the 25th year of this king, a parliament was held at St. Edmund's Bury, where the Duke of Gloucester, who was the lord protector during the king's nonage, was dismissed, and 32 of his principal servants were dismissed with him. Within 5 or 6 days after, he was found dead in his bed with no wound.\n\nThere were various sayings about his death. Some said he died of sorrow, and some said he was murdered between two featherbeds, and some said he was put in the foundry with a hot spit. This duke was a great clerk, called the good Duke of Gloucester, because he governed the king well.\ndurynge his nonenage / and kept honorable housholde / and withstode the delyuere of Angeo / and Mayne / and neuer was founde fautye to the kynge nor to the crowne / whose body was after conueyed to saynt Albons & there buryed / wherfore for the dethe of this duke / all the co\u0304mons of Engla\u0304de \n began to murmour and grudge / and specially agaynst the markes of Suffolke whiche before was called the erle of Suffolke.\n\u00b6About the .xxvi yere of this kynge / the Cisme of ye two popes ceasyd by the dethe of Eugeny / after whose deth Nicholas the .v. was chosyn pope / to whome Felyx the .v. receyued his papacy. The cause of the Cisme was / for that yt this Eugenye wolde nat obey the Decrees before made in the counsell of Constaunce / nor wolde nat obey to the generall counsell / wherof rose a great contrauersye amonge the clerkes and wryters.the cause of ye Cis\u2223me. For some sayd the generall counsell was aboue ye pope / and some sayd the pope was aboue the generall counsell. But durynge this whyle the englysshemen lost\nIn the 27th year of King Henry, the king convened a parliament at Westminster. At this parliament, the Duke of Suffolk, who was previously the Earl of Suffolk, was arrested and taken to the Tower to allay men's minds. However, after the king released him, the parliament was adjourned to Leicester. The people were not satisfied with this, and in the common house, they demanded that all those consenting to the delivery of the Duchy of Anjou and the earldom of Maine be punished. Consequently, the Duke of Suffolk was banished for five years, and the Lord Say was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower. The Duke of Suffolk was beheaded. Afterward, the Duke of Suffolk departed and took shipping in Norfolk to go to France, but he was met in the sea with a ship called the Nicholas of the Tower.\nand taken / and the captayne toke the duke and brought hym into his owne shyppe / and there Iudged hym to dethe. And than set hym in the shyppe bote and there smote of his hede / and thus began myschefe vpon myschefe / and dethe vpon dethe. \u00b6Also about this tyme the co\u0304mons rebelled in dyuers places of Englande / and named the cap\u2223teyns blewberde and other names / and intended to haue gathered more companye / but anone ye kynges counsell herynge therof / caused them to be taken and put to dethe / but yet anone after ye co\u0304mons of Kent a rose and made them a captayne called Iacke Cade / Iacke ca\u00a6de. whiche in a great no\u0304bre came to blacke hethe and made a proclamacyon / that they came to reforme the iniuryes of the people / done by meanes of the kynges yuell counsellours / & the kynge gathered a great people & came towarde them to gyue them battell / wherof heryng the captayne Iacke Cade drewe backe with his people / and the kyng went to Grenewyche & lefte parte of his hoost lyenge vpon blacke hethe / and sent\nSirVMfrey Stafford and his brother, along with many other gentlemen and a large number of people, followed them. Near Senoke, Iacke Cade and his people turned around and gave them a great battle, winning the victory. There, SirVMfrey Stafford and his brother were both killed, along with many others from their side. The battle took place at Senoke. When news of this reached the king and his council, and they heard that part of his host would join Iacke Cade, the king moved to Kinelworth. Iacke Cade and his people drew near to London and entered the city via Southwark. There, he made a proclamation in the king's name, declaring that none of his people would take any plunder or other things without paying for it. However, Iacke Cade himself was the first to break this rule. He also took the aforementioned Lord Say, who was a prisoner in the Tower, and beheaded him at the Standard in Chepe.\nThe people of the city favored him for four or five days and remained in the city. At night, he put to death other persons who supported Lord Say. However, at the last, Jack Cade himself went to an alderman's house called Philip Malpas and robbed and plundered it. After dinner, he robbed and plundered another man's house called Gyser. For these two robberies, the citizens of London were extremely angry with him.\n\nThe mayor and citizens sent to Lord Scales and Matthew Gough, who had jurisdiction over the Tower, asking for their assistance to resist the captain. The skirmishers on London Bridge. The next day, when Captain Jack Cade and his people intended to cross the bridge, the mayor and citizens, along with the said Matthew Gough, kept the bridge. However, the captain and Kentishmen managed to cross it.\nSet firmly upon them that they drove them back to the draw bridge, where between them was a cruel fight and many men of London drowned and slain, for this skirmish continued all night long until the morrow at the ninth hour. And at the last, the Kentishmen burned the bridge. After this, the Chamberlain of England sent a general pardon to the captain, and then they departed and each man went to his own. And after that, proclamations were made that whoever could take the said Jack Cade alive or dead would receive 1,000 marks for his labor. One Alexander Eden, a gentleman of Kent, took him in a garden during this capture, and in this taking, Jack Cade was slain. Jack Cade slain. And after that, the king came into Kent and caused his justices to sit upon this riot, where many of them, both in Kent and in Sussex, were therefore put to death. In the same year, the commons in the western country rose and slew the bishop of Salisbury.\nIn the 29th year, there was a parliament at Westminster. The duke of Somerset, who had recently returned from Normandy and had lost the city of Rouen and all that region, was placed under house arrest. The duke of York and others allied with him took the queen's side and the conflict between them resulted in mortal war.\n\nIn the 30th year of King Henry, the king and the duke of Somerset, along with many other lords, went to the Welsh marches. The duke of York, with various lords and men of note, gathered a great strength of people to reform certain nunneries and to seek justice against the duke of Somerset and certain lords close to the king. They came into a place in Kent called Brenthethe, and the king with a large host arrived at Blackheath. However, through the mediation of certain bishops and lords, a peaceful resolution was reached.\nThe duke of Somerset was committed to ward to answer certain articles that the duke of York would lay against him. The king promised to do this. However, the duke of York broke up his field and came to the king's tent, where, contrary to the king's promise, he found the duke of Somerset in charge. By his counsel, the king commanded the duke of York to ride before him to London, holding him in a manner as a prisoner. He would have been kept stricter but news came that Edward, the duke of York's eldest son and earl of March, was coming with a great power of men, whom the king, queen, and others about the king feared. The duke of York was therefore set at liberty. Around this time, Hartlepool in Normandy was won back by the French, and Bayons was given up by agreement. Additionally, around this time, the city of Constantinople with the entire empire was won by the [enemy].\nIn the 33rd year of this king, a John Norman Mayre of London went by barge to the west to take his oath, which before that time had always traveled by land. The watermen sang a song to his great praise, which began \"Row thy boat, Norman.\" In the 33rd year of this king, against his promise, the king, with the queen's counsel and others, released Duke Somerset from prison and made him captain of Calais. He ruled the king and realm as he pleased, displeasing the great lords of the realm and the commons, who had endured many grievous impositions and charges. Therefore, the Duke of York, being in the Welsh marches, called to him the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury, and many other knights and gentlemen, and with a great army came towards London. The king gathered a great host and came out of it.\nLondon is where the hosts came, one lying in one end of the town and the other in the other end, the first battle at St. Albans. In the beginning, a means of a treaty or peace was proposed. However, during the negotiations, the Earl of Warwick with his march men entered the town and fought against the king's people, initiating the battle which continued for a long time. In the end, Duke of York and Earl of Warwick, and their side, emerged victorious. The Duke of Somerset, Earl of Northumberland, Lord Clifford, and many other noble knights and squires were killed. The king was taken prisoner and brought to London. At this parliament, called due to the king being considered a good, innocent, and virtuous man unfit for wars, the Duke of York was made protector. The Duke of York was made protector, Earl of Salisbury Chancellor of England, and Earl of [Name missing].\nIn the reign of King Henry, the captain of Warwick ruled, along with others who had governed before, regarding the rule of the king and the land. This continued for a short time. Around the same period, a servant of the Mercer guild in London struck an Italian. As a result, all the Mercer servants gathered together and compelled the mayor to deliver him. Afterward, a large group of disorderly and evil-disposed people broke into the homes of strangers, robbed and plundered them. However, after this matter was investigated, and three individuals were put to execution.\n\nIn the thirty-third year of King Henry, the queen strongly disliked that the Duke of York should bear the title of protector. She believed that the king was sufficient to govern the realm, which she considered a great dishonor to the king. Therefore, she gained the favor of various lords and, at a council at Greenwich, caused the Duke of York to be dismissed from his position.\nIn the 35th year of King Henry, there were four remarkable fish taken at Eyryth. Two of them were whales, one was a sword fish, and the other was called Mors marina. Some people believed this was a prophecy of war and trouble, as skirmishes were occurring in the north country.\n\nIn the same period, a skirmish took place between Lord Egremonde and the sons of the Earl of Shrewsbury.\nIn this same year, the craft of printing books began in the city of Almain, named Magonde, which is now marvelous. In the 36th year of King Henry, a day of meeting was appointed by the king at London. All the lords who took the queen's part, as well as the Duke of York and the Earl of Salisbury, and others, came, each with a great company. A dissembling peace was taken between them. The Earl of Warwick, who then came from Calais, also attended. Afterward, the king, the queen, and all the lords went in procession on Lady Day, the Annunciation, to St. Paul's, and after that, each lord departed at his pleasure. Shortly after that, certain events occurred.\nships belonging to the earl of Warwick sailed with a Spanish fleet on the sea where there was a fierce battle between them. But the English won and took six of their ships, drowned and chased twenty-six, but not without loss. They lost more than 100 Englishmen, and many were wounded and hurt. Battle at sea.\n\nAlso, in the 36th year of King Henry, the king, the queen, and many lords were at Westminster for a council. Because one of the earl of Warwick's servants had kidnapped one of the king's servants and escaped, the king's household servants came out of the kitchen with knives and other weapons, intending to kill the earl of Warwick as he came to take his barge. He escaped with great danger and rowed to London. The queen wanted to give the earl a rest, but suddenly he departed from London and went to Warwick. After that, he received a commission and sailed to Calais. Then the queen plotted against the earl of Warwick again.\nSalysburye / and caused the lorde Audeley with a great companye / to mete with the erle com\u2223mynge towarde Lo\u0304don to haue taken hym prisoner. But the erle kepynge his wey with a great companye with hym / mette with them at a place called Blore hethe / where betwene them was a great byckerynge & a sore fyght / but the erle had the victorye.battel at blore he\u2223the. And there the lorde Audeley was slayne and moche of his people / and the erles .ii. sonnes sore wounded / whiche shortely after as they were goynge whomewarde were taken prisoners by them of the quenes partye and sent vnto Chester. whan this was knowen by the duke of yorke & the other lordes / they by one assent gathered a stronge hoost of Marche men and other / and the erle of warwyke with a great com\u2223panye came from Caleys / and acco\u0304panyed with the duke nyghe the towne of Lodlowe / where they pyght a stronge felde / & the kynge with a great hoost came towarde them / but one Andrewe Trolloppe whiche came with the erle of warwyke / and many other af\nThe soldiers of Calais departed from the duke's host and came to the king. The duke and his company were greatly disheartened, so they concluded to flee and abandon the field as they had been present. The duke then departed with his two sons and went first to Wales, and later to Ireland. The earls of Salisbury, Marche, and Warwick went to Devonshire. With the help of John Denham, a squire, they obtained a ship and sailed to Guernsey, and then to Calais, where they were joyously received at a postern gate. When the first departure of these lords was known to the king and other lords of the opposing side, they sent out all the costs of England to stop them, but it was too late. The king then dispersed the town of Lodlow and the castle, took the Duchess of York, and immediately made the duke of Somerset's son (who had been slain) captain of Calais. Therefore, he hurriedly went over there.\nThe young duke took Calais, but you said other earls were there before, keeping him out. Therefore, the young duke went and took Guines, and daily great assaults were made between them of Calais and those of Guines. Many men resorted daily and came out of England to the aid of the lords there, and because they lacked money, they negotiated with the Staple of Calais for 18,000 pounds.\n\nAfter they sent Master John Denham with a great fleet of ships to Sandwich to win the king's Navy there lying, which succeeded in taking the town, capturing Lord Rivers in his bed, and taking Lord Scales, as well as seizing as many ships of the king's Navy as he desired, and returned to Calais with their consent, many of the sailors favoring the Earl of Warwick.\n\nThe king's Navy took Sandwich. Soon after this, the king called a parliament at Coventry, where the Duke of York and all the other lords were present.\nAttended of treason and their lands and goods seized by the king's use. A provision made it no man should pass over the sea to Calais, except with daily comfort coming from Calais to them from England. And at last the said Earl of Salisbury, with the other lords, and with a great company, landed at Dover in Kent, and kept their ways towards the king, who lay then at Coventry gathering his people. And so, in conclusion, when both armies were gathered to a great number, they met at Northampton, where between them was fought a cruel battle, where the Earl of Salisbury and his company had the victory, and there were slain the Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Viscount Beaumont, the Lord Egremont, with many other knights and squires, and the king taken prisoner. Battle at Northampton. After which field they brought the king with them into London, there keeping his estate, and sent shortly word to the Duke of York into Scotland.\nIreland / Immediately, a parliament was called at Westminster. In this parliament, the Duke of York came / and lodged himself in the king's palaces, where the king himself was. Then a great rumor spread that King Henry should be deposed / and the Duke of York made king. This parliament continued / and the Duke of York came boldly into the parliament chamber one day / and sat himself down in the king's seat / making his claim to the crown. Many lords were dismayed / as some of the duke's friends, as well as others, were in favor of King Henry reigning during his life. The Duke of York made his heir apparent. For this reason, many great councils were held / and in the meantime, the queen, with such lords as were on her side, were in the north country and assembled great strength of people. At last, it was concluded at this parliament / that King Henry should continue and reign during his natural life / and after his.\nThe duke of York and his heirs were to be kings, and if King Henry were disposed to resign his crown, he should resign it to the duke of York and his heirs, with various other articles.\n\nThe duke of York was made again protector and governor of the land, and was proclaimed heir apparent to the crown of England.\n\nIt was also concluded that since the queen and Edward her son, and the young duke of Somerset, and the duke of Exeter and others would not come to London, the duke of York and the earl of Salisbury with a great power should go and fetch the queen and the other lords. And when the queen with her lords heard of their coming, they gathered to them a great strength of people and met them at Wakefield.\nNear a town called Wakefield, where between them was fought a cruel and great mortal battle, in which the queen and her lords gained the victory. The Duke of York, his son Duke of Rutland, Sir Thomas Neville, son of the Earl of Salisbury, and many others were killed. The Earl of Salisbury was taken prisoner, along with many others, and sent to Pontefract. He was later beheaded, and their heads were sent to York.\n\nAlso in this time, Edward Earl of March, elder son to the Duke of York, being at Shrewsbury and hearing of his father's death, gathered some people there. He went into Wales to rally more people to avenge his father's death. The Earls of Penbroke and Wiltshire met him and gave him a sharp skirmish, but the Earl of March gained the victory. After that, the queen with her lords and a great company of Northerns came towards London as far as St. Albans. The second battle at St. Albans.\nIn this time, the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Warwick, who were assigned to wait upon the king, gathered a great force and met the queen's host at St. Albans. Between them ensued a strong fight, in which the queen's party gained the victory, and the Duke of Norfolk and the said Earl were discomfited and forced to flee. King Henry was taken in the field and brought to the queen. Several prisoners were taken, including the Lord Berners and Sir Thomas Tyrell. After this, various Aldermen and commoners of London went to the queen and requested that the Northerners be turned back, fearing they would rob the city.\n\nSoon after this, Edward, Earl of March and eldest son of the Duke of York, and the Earl of Warwick met together at Cockfield. The king and the queen, with their hosts, then returned northward. The Earl of March with the Earl of Warwick, along with various other lords, met them.\nTheir party came to London, to whom resolved the greater part of all the gentlemen from the South and East part of England. At their first coming to London, there was a great council called of spiritual and temporal lords. After many arguments and reasons made, it was concluded that since King Henry, contrary to his honor and promise, had broken the articles made at that parliament, and was departing northward with the queen and other lords, and since he was thought unable to govern the realm, he was then, by all their assents, deposed and discharged of all kingly honor and dignity. And then, by the authority of the said council and agreement of all the commons present, Edward earl of March, the eldest son of the duke of York, was elected and chosen as king of England. After his admission, the said Edward earl of March, the fourth day of March, the year of Christ M.C.C.C.lx, was accompanied by all the lords and a great multitude.\nKing Edward took possession of the realm in Westminster and sat on the royal seat in the great hall with his scepter in hand. A question was asked of all the people if they would admit him as king, to which they all replied \"yes.\" After taking his oath, he went to the abbey and was received with procession and conveyed to St. Edward's shrine, where he offered himself as king. He received homage and fealty from all the lords. Edward, the fourth, claimed the throne as king. The following morning, he was proclaimed king in various parts of the city of London. Edward the Fourth, king of England.\n\nSoon after this, King Edward, along with his lords and a large company and band of men, took his journey northward to subdue his enemies. They met them at a place called Towton, nine miles from York, with whom he had a cruel and mortal battle at Towton.\nKing Edward had the victory; in the field and chase, above 30,000 men were slain. The Earl of Northumberland, the Earl of Westmorland, Lord Clifford, Lord Egremont, Andrew Trollope, and many others were killed. In the same field, the Earl of Devonshire and the Earl of Wykeshire were taken. The Earl of Devonshire was later beheaded at York. King Henry and the queen, the young Duke of Somerset, the Lord Ros, and others, who were not at York, heard of the loss of this field and fled towards Scotland. Pius was the next pope; the year of Christ 1458, he held the see six years. Edward IV, the fourth son of Richard Duke of York, came to London and was crowned king at Westminster on the eighth day of June, the year of Christ 1461. In his first year of reign, the Earl of Oxford, Lord Aubrey, Sir Thomas Todenham, William Tyrell, and John Mongomery were beheaded.\nat the Tower hill. In the same year, Margaret, late queen of England, came from France into Scotland, and then into England, accompanied by a force of Frenchmen and Scots. King Edward marched towards them with a strong host, and when the queen realized she could not resist Edward's power, she retreated and embarked, returning to Scotland. Afterwards, the young Duke of Somerset and others who had taken the queen's side submitted to the king's grace.\n\nIn the second year of King Edward, the Duke of Somerset, hearing that Henry, the late king, was coming back into England, defected to Henry's side and entered England with him. At a place called Exham in the north, Lord John Montague, who ruled the northern territory, gathered a great power to him and met with them, engaging in skirmishes and gaining the victory. In this encounter, the said Duke of Somerset, Lord Hungerford, and Lord Roose were taken prisoners.\nIn the third year of King Edward, four lords were put to death and beheaded, and various others who were there taken were put to death. Battle took place at Exham.\nIn the fourth year of King Edward, secretly in a morning at Graston near Stony Stratford, the king married Elizabeth, who was previously wife to Sir John Gray knight and daughter of Lord Rivers. The earl of Warwick was not content with this, but secretly harbored grudges. King Edward married. In this year, Henry, late king, was taken in a wood in the northern country by Cautlow and presented to King Edward, who sent him as a prisoner to the Tower of London. And soon after, Elizabeth was crowned at Westminster with great solemnity, and soon after she gave birth to her first child, named Elizabeth.\nIn the sixth year of this king, the bastard of Burgundy challenged Lord Scales for certain acts of war that had been committed in Smithfield, but Lord Scales had the victory and honor.\nAlso,\nIn the 8th year of King Margaret, Margaret, the king's sister, was sent over the sea and married honorably to Charles, the duke of Burgundy. In the 9th year of King Edward, the earl of Warwick absented himself from the king and confederated with the duke of Clarence, the king's brother, who before had married Warwick's daughter. As a result, the commoners of Northumberland began to rebel and chase them. They captured a captain named Robin of Rydsdale, who wisely surrendered and pardoned himself and his company. However, during this time, the Lincolnshire men took Lord Rivers and his son John and beheaded them at Northampton. Immediately after proclamations were made in London that the king had pardoned all the rioters, not only for the death of Lord Rivers but also for all other displeasures. Lord Rivers taken and beheaded.\nLewys, son of Charles, was the next king of France in the year of Christ MCDLXI. He had great war with Charles, Duke of Burgundy.\n\nCharles, son of Philip, was the next Duke of Burgundy. He had a daughter named Margaret, who was married to Maximilians, who was elected emperor.\n\nPaulus was the next pope, who held the see for six years.\n\nHowever, a new stirring began in Lincolnshire due to the Lord Welles. The king sent messengers to him out of fear, and as it was said, promised him safe passage. But whether the Lord Welles kept his word is uncertain. Also, soon after this, a concord and unity were labored between King Edward and his brother the Duke of Clarence, and the Earl of Warwick. They all met at London at Baynard's castle, where the Duchess of York, their mother, lay. But suddenly after the Earl of Warwick left for Warwick, he gathered a great strength. And in this time, Sir Robert Welles, son of the Lord Welles, who had been put to death beforehand, assembled a great assembly.\nSir Robert Welles refused to give battle to King Edward and instead waited for the king to approach him, offering a pardon. But when King Edward drew near with his forces, Sir Robert and Sir Thomas Dymoke fled. They were soon captured, and both were put to death shortly thereafter. At this time, there was a great dispute between the Northerners and the Welshmen. The Welshmen were led by the Lord Harborne, who met the Northerners at a place called Egcott near Banbury. A great battle ensued, in which the Northerners emerged victorious. The Lord Harborne and many other notable Welshmen were killed. Additionally, during this period, the Duke of Clarence defected from King Edward and joined the Earl of Warwick.\nPerceiving their lack of power against King Edward, they took to the sea and sailed into France to Lewis the French king, where Queen Margaret was at the time. The French king promised help and aid to them. Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick fled over the sea. And when these lords were thus departed into France, King Edward caused them to be proclaimed as traitors.\n\nMeanwhile, a new stirring began in the northern countryside by Lord Fitzhugh. Therefore, King Edward sent him in that direction. Hearing this, the said Lord Fitzhugh departed to Scotland.\n\nThe Duke of Clarence and the Earls of Warwick, Penbroke, and Oxford, and with many other gentlemen, landed at Dartmouth in Devonshire in the 10th year of King Edward. They made proclamations in King Henry's name, and the commons of that country drew unto them in great numbers. The Kentishmen grew wild and came to Ratcliffe & St. Katharine's near London and robbed.\nand spoiled the fleeing men and caused great harm. Then the said lords, making their way toward King Edward, who was then in the northern country and had only small strength, with some of whom he was not very trustworthy, took a secret company and crossed the wash in Lincolnshire with great danger, and not without loss of divers of his company. King Edward fled over the sea. And after crossing into Flanders, he came to Charles his brother in law, then duke of Burgundy, and when Queen Elizabeth was in the Tower hard of this, she went to Westminster and registered herself there as a sentinel woman, and so did many of King Edward's friends. Also, hearing of King Edward's departure, these said lords hastened to London and took King Henry out of the Tower and lodged him in the bishop's palace at Paul's, and King Henry again procured his reign. Anno ab inchoatione regni regis Henrici sexti, quadrag\u00e9simo nono, et anno suae redemptionis.\n\n\u00b6Sextus\nwas next pope / he held the see 13 years.\nOf this reign, the earl of Worcester, who was cruelly called the butcher of England, was taken and tried at Westminster and attained of treason, and afterwards at the Tower beheaded.\nIn the first year of this reign, Queen Elizabeth gave birth to a young prince named Edward at Westminster.\nIn the 26th day of November, a parliament was called at Westminster, where King Edward was proclaimed usurper of the crown, and the duke of Gloucester his brother traitor, and both attained by the authority of the said parliament.\nKing Edward and the duke of Gloucester were attained as traitors. The earl of Warwick then rode through London and went to Dover to receive Queen Margaret coming from France, but the wind was so contrary that she lay at sea side from November to April and could have no passage. Therefore, the earl of Warwick was forced to return without achieving his purpose.\nBut in the beginning of April, King Edward landed in the north country at a place called Ravenspore, with a small company of Flemings and other men, who in all had not numbered more than 500. He made his proclamations in the name of King Henry and said he came for no other intent but to claim his inheritance of the duchy of York. He passed on until he reached York, where he was refreshed for a time. Afterward, he departed towards London and, by fair words, passed the danger of Lord Mark's Montagu, who lay in the coast with a great number of men, twice the size of King Edward's. King Edward escaped. And when he saw that his strength increased and that the people were daily drawing to him, he proclaimed himself king of England. And so he proceeded until he came to London, and on Shere Thursday in the morning, the archbishop of York being with King Henry in London, to:\nintent to move peoples hearts towards King Henry. Rode with him and showed King Henry to the people, who drew men's hearts from him rather than otherwise. On Sheriff Thursday, after none, King Edward entered London and was received in the city, riding into Poultry. There, in the bishop's palace, he found King Henry with few persons about him. For all such lords and others who were about King Henry when they heard of King Edward's coming, they fled, and every man was willing to shift for himself. And then King Edward took King Henry there and put him in safe keeping. He heard of the coming of Duke Clarence, his brother, and of Earl Warwick, Lord Montague, and other lords with a great power towards London. Therefore, King Edward took King Henry with him and departed with his host, and on Easter evening came to Barnet. King Henry taken at the bishop's palace.\n\nBut Duke Clarence, his brother, suddenly again\nforsook the earl of Warwick's party and, with the strength he had, came to his brother King Edward. The earl of Warwick and other lords were somewhat dismayed, but by the exhorting of the marquess of Montague and the earl of Oxford, they continued their journey. On the morning of Easter day, both hosts met on the plain beyond Barnet. The earl of Oxford, having the advantage in position, took that part of the field which he had set upon and began battle at Barnet. He beat them back on that next part, Envylde chase. News reached London that King Edward had lost the field, but in conclusion, King Edward, being near the town of Barnet, gathered his men together again and set upon them freshly. While the earl of Oxford was following his chase, Edward won back the field and slew there many of his enemies, including the marquess of Montague, the earl of Warwick, and others, on King Edward's.\nThe lord Barnes and fifteen hundred common men from both sides were slain. The Duke of Exeter and the Earl of Oxford fled and escaped with great danger. King Edward then returned to London again, bringing King Henry with him, riding in a long gown of blue velvet through London, and proceeding to Westminster. From there, he was sent to the Tower, where he remained a prisoner for the rest of his life.\n\nKing Edward, now in possession of the entire realm, made provisions to resist the landing of Queen Margaret and Edward her son. They had been lying at sea off the coast of France waiting for wind. At last, they landed with a French force, and various others joined them. The battle took place near Tewkesbury on May 4th. King Edward met them with a great power, and a cruel battle ensued between them. However, King Edward emerged victorious.\nQueen Margaret was taken prisoner, and her son Prince Edward was taken and brought immediately to King Edward. When King Edward questioned him, the bastard Fauconbridge, along with certain riotous mariners and various riotous persons of Kent and Essex, came in great numbers to the city of London and assaulted the gates. But the citizens, with their strength, drove them back and chased them to their ships at Blackwall as far as Stretford and Detford in Kent, killing many of them and taking many prisoners.\n\nOn Ascension Day following, the corpse of King Henry VI, late king, was brought from the Tower of London through the city and taken to Pouls church, where it remained all night. But how Prince Edward died, there are various opinions, but the most common tale was that he was stabbed with a dagger by the hands of Richard Duke of York, King Edward's brother.\n\nSoon after that, King Edward, with a strong force,\npeople went into Kent & caused his justice to sit upon the rioters who came with the bastard Fauconbridge. Many were put to execution, both in Kent and Essex.\n\nIn the 12th year of King Edward's reign, a parliament was called at Westminster, where he was granted aid for the great expense of his wars. In the following year, the body of the Duke of Exeter was found drowned, but how he was drowned is unknown.\n\nIn the 14th year of King Edward, intending to make war against Lewis the French king, he requested aid from his spiritual and temporal lords and other wealthy men within the realm, which they granted to him and was called a benevolence. In the year following the gathering of this aid, the king, with a great army, sailed to Calais and went into France against whom the French king had assembled a great power. However, when both armies were to meet, certain offers were made.\npeace was made and a day appointed where both kings met at a place called Pynyake. In the middle of the bridge over a river, a partition was made, preventing either from entering the other's territory but allowing them to take each other's hand and their hosts standing by in good array. A peace was concluded between them for seven years, and agreed that King Lewis would pay King Edward 150,000 in the first year, and 100,000 every year after for six years. This matter was perfectly finished and assured, and King Edward returned to England.\n\nIn the sixteenth year of King Edward, due to the great excitement of one Rafe Josselyn, the draper then Mayor of London, London wall was newly made, almost from Cripplegate to Bishopgate, which was a wonderful feat to be completed in one year.\n\nIn the seventeenth year of this king, George, Duke of Clarence, younger brother to King Edward, being a prisoner in the Tower, was put to.\n\n(Note: The text appears to be incomplete at the end.)\nIn the eighteenth year of this king, there was a great death in London and throughout the land. After that, there was great quietness and peace within the realm, until the twenty-third year of this king. In the ninth day of April, in the year of Christ 1483, at Westminster, the king died and is buried at Windsor.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "Here is a little short chronicle, beginning at the fifth age of the world, with the coming of Brute: and the reign of all the kings, with the saints and martyrs that have been in this land.\n\nBrute came to this land, first called Albion, after the making of the world, in the year 3771 B.C., when Ely the priest of the law was in the land of Israel.\n\nNew Troy, now called London, was founded by Brute after the making of the world, in the year 3224 B.C.\n\nRome was founded by Romulus and Remus.\n\nJesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the maiden Mary on a Friday, in the time of King Cambyses, who was king of Britain, on the fifteenth day of March, after the making of the world, in the year 5789 B.C.\n\nJesus Christ was born, his mother being fourteen years old, on a Sunday, the fifteenth day of December, in the same year, after the making of the world, in the year 5789 B.C.\nSaint John the Baptist was born on the 25th day of August, in the 28th year after the incarnation.\nJesus Christ suffered on the 33rd year after the incarnation.\nSaint Stephen was martyred on the third day of August, in the 33rd year after the incarnation.\nSaint Paul was converted on the 25th day of January: in the 32nd year after the incarnation.\nOur lady Mary was taken into heaven on the 15th day of August, in the 60th year of her age: in the 45th year after the incarnation.\nSaint Longinus was martyred after the incarnation, in the 57th year.\nSaint Peter and Paul were martyred on the 29th day of June, in the 69th year after the incarnation.\nLucy, the queen of Britain, became Christian, in the 62nd year after the incarnation.\nSaint Catherine was martyred by Maxentius, Emperor of Rome, in the time that Constantine's son, Constantine, was king of Britain, in the second year of the 4th century after the incarnation.\nSaint Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins were martyred at Colchester. A Saracen named Swaine, who was king of Colchester at that time, was responsible. This occurred during the reign of Maximian in Britain, 287 AD.\n\nSaint Albo was martyred by Swaine during the time of Maximian, 304 AD.\n\nPope Saint Gregory sent Saint Augustine to England during the reign of King Aethelberht, 596 AD.\n\nKing Saint Edmund was martyred by Huigar and Hubba of Denmark during the reign of the first Aethelred, 870 AD.\n\nSaint Edward the Martyr was martyred by his stepmother during 899 AD.\n\nSaint Edward the Confessor died in the year of grace 1066.\n\nKing Saint Edmund was translated during the reign of William Rufus, 1123 AD.\nSaint Edward the Confessor was translated by Saint Thomas of Canterbury in the time of King Henry II, in the year of grace 1100.\n\nSaint Thomas of Canterbury was martyred in the time of King Henry, in the year of grace 1170.\n\nSaint Thomas of Canterbury was translated in the time of King Henry, in the year of grace 1220.\n\nBrutus came into this land after the making of the World 2357 years. He lived in the land before he was crowned 40 years. And after he was crowned 20 years.\n\nLlewelyn his son reigned 5 years.\n\nMaddan his son 30 years.\n\nEbrauc his son 40 years.\n\nLely his son 9 years.\n\nBladud his son 21 years.\n\nGuendolyn his wife 15 years.\n\nMemps his son 24 years.\n\nBrutus of Bremenstone 30 years.\n\nLud Bras 13 years.\n\nLyre his son 48 years.\n\nCredella his daughter 5 years.\n\nConadagus her brother's son 33 years.\n\nReynold his son 20 years.\n\nGorbaduc his son 15 years.\n\nDenebaud won the realm by conquest and reigned 40 years.\n\nBellin his son 11 years.\nCornabatus his son 25 years.\nGuentolemus his son 25 years.\nScisillus his son 25 years.\nKymorus his son 19 years.\nMorwyche his son 9 years.\nGrandobadyan his son 11 years.\nProtegayle his son 16 years.\nPetitur his brother 5 years.\nEsydur his brother 44 years, and after this Esydur reigned 33 kings, each after other; the first king of those 33 was Gorbodian, and he reigned 12 years.\nMorgan 1 year.\nCighnus 6 years.\nIowala 8 years.\nRohugo 2 years.\nVoghen 13 years.\nCatyll 15 years.\nPorrer 2 years.\nCherin 18 years.\nCoyll 12 years.\nSulgenis 13 years.\nEsdad 20 years.\nAudragie 17 years.\nVrian 5 years.\nElyud 2 years.\nEldadan 15 years.\nClaten 12 years.\nOuirgunde 8 years.\nMortan 6 years.\nBledagh 3 years.\nCaph 1 year.\nGen 2 years.\nSeysell and king Bled 22 years.\nTabreth 20 years.\nArchinal 28 years.\nCroll 30 years.\nRodynger 22 years.\nHector 5 years.\nHarper 6 years.\nCarpour 7 years.\nDigneyll 3 years.\nSamuel xxiv. year.\nRede ii. year.\nEly vii. months.\nLud, the last king's son, reigned xi. years.\nCassibalan, his brother, reigned xxvii. years.\nAndragen, Lud's first son, reigned viii. years.\nKembalyn, before the incarnation, reigned ii. years.\nGryuder & Armogis, his two sons, reigned xliiii. years.\nKoyle, Armogis' son, reigned xii. years.\nLucy, his son, reigned an Heathen man xi. years.\nand a Christian man ii. years.\nThere was great debate in the realm without a king. i. year.\nCoyle, who made Colchester, was king then. xiii. years.\nCostantyne the Roman, who wedded St. Elyn, Coyles' daughter, reigned xv. years.\nConstantyne, his son, reigned xx years.\nOctavian reigned after Constantyne went to Rome to be crowned Emperor xv. years.\nMaximian, Octavian's father-in-law, reigned xxviii. years. In his time, St. Albans was slain.\nConstantyne, cousin to the king of Little Britain, reigned xii. years.\nConstantyne, his son, who was a monk at Winchester, reigned v. years.\nFortegar, Earl of Essex reigns for 11 years.\nFortymere, his son, reigns for 14 years.\nEngyst, of Saxony in the land of Germany, who was a Saracen, conquers the land and reigns for 5 years.\nAurylambros Constableson's son, Engyst, is slain and the Saracens are driven away. He reigns for 8 years.\nPendragon, his brother, reigns for 17 years.\nArthur, his son, reigns for 27 years.\nConstantyne, Arthur's cousin, reigns for 24 years.\nGaran, for Constantyne, had no heir for 30 years.\nTonagh, his cousin, reigns for 24 years.\nSyryke reigns for 25 years.\nSeyt Ethelbert and Sebert, who were clerics, reign for an unknown number of years.\nElfrede and Cadwaller, saints, reign for 68 years.\nOffa, saint Oswald's brother, reigns for 48 years.\nAlured, in his time, Saint Edmund of Bury is slain by Hunger and Hubba, the brothers of Denmark, for 30 years.\nEdwarde the First, his son, reigns for 25 years.\nEdmunde, his brother, reigns for 17 years.\nAdelstone, reigns for 25 years.\nEldrede, his brother, reigns for 10 years.\nEdwyn, his third brother, reigns for 4 years.\nEdgar, his son, reigns for 17 years.\nSeynt Edwarde the martyr, his son, reigns for 12 years.\nSwayne, King of Denmark, ruled for 15 years.\nEldred, Edward's brother, ruled for 9 years.\nEdmund Ironside and Edred knew Swayne, for 20 years.\nHarold Harefoot, Knowt's son, ruled for 13 years.\nHardeknut, his brother, ruled for 16 years.\nSaint Edward the Confessor, Eldred's son, ruled for 23 years.\nHarold, Godwyn's son, Earl of Wessex, ruled for 1 year.\nHere ends the Chronicle of all the kings who ruled before the conquest.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "In November, when the sun runs low in the sign of Sagittarius,\nWithout pleasure to man or comfort,\nScarcely appearing at noon,\nThe birds also, making no noise,\nSet themselves half asleep on the bare boughs,\nFearing the rough winter approaching.\nIn my imagination, marvelous sights appeared,\nFor a fox cub that lacked wings,\nThough his manners were those of Curribus, he was called,\nDelightful in pastime, pretending no debate,\nTo no living person but a cruel fate,\nEnvy has banished him, I do not know why,\nI fear death, but God forbid such mischief should deceive us.\nO good God, now have I lost my best,\nIn his pastime, when he was set,\nObediently following most and least,\nHis countenance full well counterfeited,\nDissemblers all, and his mate for the taking,\nHe would leap high, his bells ringing,\nOn a plain wall, where his mate was let,\nTwelve feet and more, so lustily was the spring.\nForward and backward over a staff to leap, or in at an hope briefly to discuss,\nWorthy as many apes as may go or creep,\nMarmosets or Catynes that be in field or house,\nAnd as craftily he would take a mouse,\nNo cat more marvelous, nor craftier to watch,\nHis season like a fox, thou was my Curribus,\nThat never did murder by taste nor by bite.\nThou never devoured pig, goose, nor capon,\nI think thy nature was changed to humanity,\nUsage does marvelous things, look well theron,\nTheft nor murder, none was found in thee,\nYet a common proverb is in every country,\nUsage by no craft may change nature's course,\nAnd to usage is given a special property,\nThough it amends not, yet shall it not be worse.\nLet no man marvel though my fox was gentle,\nContrary to his nature, for that daily is seen,\nSome turn from good to evil, and so do the people,\nAnd he is counted crafty that can convey clean,\nAnd he be taken late, all is not worth a bean,\nThan shall he solve full low, but my fox does not so.\nKeep close and I will, to some extent I mean this:\nDo not trust the innocent; be wary of where you go.\nThus the day passed, and still I was pondering\nMy poor fox, but I could get no tithes from it\nOftentimes my eyes were dimmed as I heard the bells ring\nBut I saw no fox; alas, what could I claim\nMy sorrow to assuage; fortune had deprived me\nThat it turns the dice and alters our chance\nYet to the gods I called for my poor fox to save\nFrom mischance and murder and other misgovernance\nAs the night approached, I went to my chamber\nIntending to rest and refresh my mind\nBut the fox was ever in my thoughts\nMany perils assailing me, I could not resist\nBut around midnight, though it was with pain\nI fell into a slumber, and suddenly, as I thought,\nA maiden appeared, whom I found attractive\nHer marvelous attire was wonderfully wrought.\nIn her outer garment were colors innumerable\nAs I thought, thousands, and that varied\nSome red, some green, some yellow, and motley.\nI thought her face was very amiable, so lovely and changing. Such a one I had not seen before, except for the sun, which Outis in his fable counts as the maiden and messenger of Ion. But what she was, I thought at that time, she took me by the hand and bade me arise. So forth we went to a strange region in a part of Asia where the Cymryse dwell, next to Amazonia, who could it deceive. There was a mountain marvelous to sight, within which was a cavern of strange edification. She said I should rest there that night. The wonderful habitation that we found there passes my reason to declare plainly, except that I borrow from the poet in this manner. Thus I can show it: the sluggish house of sleep that rests assuredly, where neither sun shines nor day appears, but in manner as the owl's light is continually. Cock nor dog to trouble may be found there, without blasting or blowing of wide troublous winds.\nIn this place, there was only the sound of a small, wondrous natural water source called Lethe. Lethe flowed pyrlingly on the ground, and I saw there a house without gates or door. There was no cause for trouble from beasts or men. The way was full of papyrus, and there were many necessary herbs for sleep. These things were provided according to the season to refresh the brain with weary labors. Further in this mansion, I beheld a bedstead and a bed of marvelous fashion. In the midst of the hall, I saw standing in it, sleeping, the king of that region. Heben is a timber that is naturally black. The bedstead was made of heben, fit for a king. About him lay dreams, without number. As thick as leaves on trees or straws in the harvest or in the midst of summer, marvelous forms were shown without possibility. Iris, the rainbow. But as we entered, the properties of Iris were before us.\nShe lit the house and went to the king.\nShe removed his dreams and woke him properly.\nScantily he could see, to my thinking.\nSo sluggish he was that down again he lay.\nNo noise made me at that season.\nShe shook him by the chin and prayed fair.\nSo he awoke, his head inclined down.\nHe well knew her and inquired soon what she meant and did there.\nFrom Juno, my lady, let it be done as you will.\nAs you will be continued in her grace.\nIris speaks. O god of sleep, the refresher of nature.\nBy quiet rest, avoiding care and thought.\nThere is nothing living but it is sure.\nSome time of rest, for this I have sought.\nThe goddess Juno wills that you do nothing but\nMake relation to this person\nOf this cruelty that now is wrought\nThe murder of this fox and great exclamation.\nScantly these words that she had fully ended\nAccording to the sentence that you heard before\nFrom whence she came, she quickly then ascended.\nAlone she left me; I was sorry therefore. Morpheus, Phobetor, and Phantasos were the three goddesses of dreams. Morpheus shows only the symbol, Phobetor sometimes showed himself, and called upon Morpheus and Phantasos. Phantasos was also wonderful in appearance. These three, along with all others, lay sleeping on the flower of nature.\n\nMorpheus said, \"According to kind, show this man according to his likeness, and Phobetor let nothing be left behind. Phantasos is not slow to make a connection. Of such things as belong to your nature by proper inclination, and then down again, he lay himself to sleep as he was wont to do. I thought him heavy-headed or else of weak brain.\"\n\nMorpheus began to show me the semblance of many a man, their crafty subtlety in order to set it soon. Phobetor had my fox in a chain then. My heart was light, and to him I ran. I groped for the fox but found none there. Phantasos looked fiercely with a staff, and when\nI offered to come / he had me come no near.\nThen said Morpheus / once when the fox escaped\nAnd pleasure took to run over the street\nThe hounds barked / and a rain-soaked man waited\nTaken up he was / and kept without food\nOrenarde fasted / because he could not get\nhis victuals I'm sure / or was it devoutly\nBut how did you escape Curribus / that you were not beaten\nOften for the master's sake / cruelty is done.\nThen was the fox by subtlety removed\nTo a fortress of envy / the surer to be kept\nAnd threatened to death / privately he was hidden\nIn an old house / so lustily yet he leapt\nBy his belle's men knew why he was hidden\nDelivered then he was / as it is known\nAnd he had died / his death should have been wept\nFor nothing could be said that he had done amiss.\nBut next when he escaped / it was not to his ease\nGod knows in the town few friends did he find\nTheir private workings / gave them small praise\nHow and what manner they did / I shall declare, said Morpheus, when you come behind.\nThe passion of the fox, it may be named,\nIt pitiful to show, people so unkind\nShould him so murder, it never yet was blamed.\nNow to disclose,\nHow he broke loose,\nYou may suppose,\nGreat noise was made,\nNow kill now slay,\nThat he away,\nEscape not this day,\nThey watched lane and slade,\nWith staff, club, and flail,\nThey would assault,\nThe said sanfoil,\nThat Curribus,\nThe convent ape,\nShould not them escape,\nIt is no joke,\nTo trouble us,\nThat thief that steals\nWith evil preference,\nShall lose his life,\nFor his master's sake,\nBe it right or wrong,\nSeeing us young,\nHe is outpranged,\nAn end shall we make,\nSome cried hang him,\nSome said save him,\nSome would have flayed him,\nTo have his skin,\nOne alone cried,\nGive me his hide,\nWhatever betides,\nIt shall be mine,\nWho will me control,\nTo stop a hole,\nBy cock's soul,\nIn my own tail,\nThe wind to allay,\nThat blast that way,\nNo man says nay,\nThe fox to assault,\nGive me his bellies,\nI ask nothing else,\nAnother melles,\nTo have his chain.\nSome without fail,\nCalled for his tail.\nFor his awayle, he would take pains such was the murmuring done with such rigor, that to this hour you never heard men make such a fit in plain spite, and never the near. The poor fox whelp, lacking help, couched low and slept, to their thinking, in fear of death, scarcely taking breath. Yet underneath, he looked slyly, full like a spy. He cast his eye right loath to die. Christ wot he was, he stood in fear that so many were crept to that corner to have his case. For the step of a dame, God give her shame, nameless for blame. Yet shall she be without pity. She cried on high, \"Soon let him die.\" Whereon muses ye? Alecto of hell, I may call her well. Three furies in infernal fury, Alecto, Megera, and thes. And there will she dwell without God's grace, with filthy Thesypho and Megera also. The fourth I believe, she shall be in short space. So in that heat, a staff full great, one of the street took then full soon. Envy, out on thee, for thou without pity hast made him die, and now is he gone.\nMy body was nearly as cold as ice,\nFor Death of my fox, Morpheus took relation,\nThe inner sorrow troubled me once or twice,\nSo much that my wits were brought to confusion,\nAnd to hear also the rude exclamations,\nMade by envy, on a guiltless beast,\nAlas, my heart mourns for pity and compassion,\nThat reasonable people should be merciless.\nOftentimes it is seen the guiltless is blamed,\nAnd those who are guilty are taken with the best,\nWrong makes right often, ashamed,\nAnd the greatest at pleasure devours the least,\nTruth is glad to keep him in his nest,\nAnd he, out of his nest, a fox, shall have many a box,\nWho is stronger than wrong, you suffer none at rest,\nChrist knows all this appears in my fox's testament.\nThus I complained of Fortune's governance,\nThat so unstably had turned away her face,\nMorpheus, Phobos, and Phantasos by chance,\nUnrolled a scroll in which much writing was,\nThey bade me read it, standing in that place,\nI thought it should be the fox's testament.\nThe fifteenth of November, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I, Curribus of Sarum dioceses of Mere, of subtle mind and willing, make this testament:\n\nBecause my bones may rest, no injury is to be pretended to man, woman, or beast. The flesh of my body, because it is fair, I bequeath freely to birds of the air. Let my bones be taken by the earth. My masters of thechantry shall have my skin. Gray amices for them to make when they win prebends. My bright eyes I would blind men had. My ears to the dead to make them glad. My tongue to those whose tongue is nothing. Though it belongs to it, never let it lie unworked. The long hairs of my beard to the glazier. My teeth to the unwise who cannot make a lyre. My feet to order spices to the apothecary. My liver and my lungs are medicinal. Take them who will. I am agreeable.\nMy besom tayle I wolde some fole had\nThat thynketh hymselfe manly or sad\nMy coler so propre decked with belles\nThe most fole of the towne shall haue and no man els\nMy chayne to small it is ywys\nTo serue for theues that do amys\nThese longed to my carkas naturall\nyet other there be that passeth them all\nMy name ywys tho it be rude\nI byquethe certes to ingratytude\nMy slyrynge chere to euery dyssembler\nMy grynynge and laughynge to them shalbe propre\nMy slyes and wyles vnto the weuer\nMy flaterynge also to the bruer\nMy obedyens to euery good wyfe\nMy fast holdynge to hym that wyll make stryfe\nMy lepes and skyppes of great quycknes\nI gyue to seruauntes in theyr busynes\nMore is to say but my dethe is to nye\nOuer me standeth the staffe without mercy.\n\u00b6Thus as I behelde my face waxed pale\nTo thynke on vnkyndnes it greued me sore\nThan began Morpheus to shewe a newe tale\nAnd bade me retourne fro whens I came before\nThan forsoke me Phantasos and Phobatore\nThus alone was I in merueylous musynge\nI didn't know which way to go out of the door. I lay down near their king. Until the morning, the cock began to crow. Far from it was, but I followed the sound until I came to a gate shining white. Every post was adorned with it, and there I sat down. I began to stir, to stretch, and to frown. I thought (the night past) I called to mind my wonderful visions, the unkindnesses of the town. Alas, then I thought, how should I find my fox? I pondered on my dreams, whether they were true or not. The tales and tokens I had well in mind. Yet I thought them but vanities and trifles new. I counted no person that a man should find without cause giving, that would be so unkind. So at that time I set it at a little price. I went to the church to unbind my conscience. My duty to be done, there I said my service. Then from the church returning again, news was brought to me, marvelous news. In the town, Curribus was slain. His belles taken away and laid before the house.\n\"Alas I said, these people have killed him, as Morpheus showed before. Envy, this painful death, comes from you. Therefore, be cursed. My desire was no longer to listen to this, but caused a child to bring him in. Then I renewed my pain, for his face was so gruesomely ugly. His lips shrunken, hanging out of his mouth. His tongue, alas, a pitiful thing, changed so suddenly from mirth and joy to displeasure. I think no man could live through such suffering. I could not but weep, recording the cruelty. O envy, envy, you have reigned for too long. In the serpent, you began against Eve, causing her to lose Paradise. You induced Cain to strife and fratricide, and he slew his brother Abel. And yet you are busy sowing discord between man and man. Who caused Joseph, Jacob's son, to be sold to the Ishmaelites, but your provocation? Who betrayed Christ, as the gospels say?\"\nNone but thou be envious / cursed be thy season,\nInnumerable mischief by thee is done.\nWhoever reads in books will find it plainly,\nThat thou hast destroyed city, borrow, and town.\nThou hast corrupted good men into folly.\nThen I conclude, of all this arises,\nGod have mercy / god send us such grace,\nEnvy to expel / and all that is with him,\nCharity god send us / in this and every place,\nPlenty, mirth, & equity / may they come in place,\nThe cloudy mists of wrong shall perish then,\nWisdom of the father / all malice shall deface,\nNow may it be so / let us all say Amen.\n\nThus ends the fantasy of the passion of the fox / lately of the town of Myre / a little beside Shaftesbury in the diocese of Salisbury.\nPrinted by me Wynkyn de Worde, the 16th day of February. The year of our Lord M.v.C.xxx.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"},
{"content": "A devout Intercession and prayer to our Savior Jesus Christ.\nIHS\nChrist as Pantocrator, holding orb in left hand, and above, a haloed figure with orb, and a dove\nChrist on the cross, surrounded by mourners and soldiers\nINRI\nMost merciful Jesus, my sweet savior and most gracious Lord God, I thank you highly for that you have created and made me from nothing, and for your numerous benefits and graces that you have given to me here in this world before many others, not only preserving me from all evil and loathsome sicknesses, from shame and many misfortunes, but also giving to me, most undeserving one, many great and incomprehensible gifts. All which sweet gifts, I truly and humbly acknowledge come from your goodness only, and nothing from my deserving. Therefore, most mighty Lord God, my creator, my redeemer, & most merciful savior Jesus Christ, who when we were lost bought and redeemed us again with your precious blood, have mercy on me, most undeserving wretch, who have committed and done [unclear].\nMany thanks for the input. Based on the requirements, I will clean the text as follows:\n\nmany thanks for the following text: \"many great sins and transgressions against thy merciful goodness, and have spent thy gifts of grace that thou so lovingly didst give unto me, and hast so ungentlefully behaved myself towards thee, that surely I am most unworthy to be called thy son. Yet most benevolent Lord Jesus, thou art so bountiful of thy mercy and pity that notwithstanding my unkindness towards thee, during my life I will put my whole trust and confidence in thy mercy. For thou commandest (I know) to cry and call upon thee, that thou thereby mightest have occasion to give unto us thy most gracious gifts. Therefore, most glorious Jesus, who forsakest no sinner, but gladly receivest to thy mercy all those who humbly call for it. Give me now and ever grace to fear thee, to love thee, and to serve thee, with all my heart and mind, with all my will and reason, with all my might, power, and strength of body and soul. And grant me, good Lord, that of all my acts and deeds done to thee.\"\n\nCleaned text: Many thanks for the following text: I have many sins and transgressions against your merciful goodness, and have spent your gifts of grace that you so lovingly gave to me. I have behaved ungratefully towards you, and I am most unworthy to be called your son. Yet most benevolent Lord Jesus, you are so bountiful in your mercy and pity that, despite my unkindness towards you during my life, I will put my whole trust and confidence in your mercy. For you command us to call upon you, so that you may have the opportunity to give us your most gracious gifts. Therefore, most glorious Jesus, who does not forsake any sinner, but gladly receives those who humbly call upon you, give me now and forever the grace to fear you, love you, and serve you with all my heart, mind, will, reason, might, power, and strength of body and soul. And grant me, good Lord, that of all my actions and deeds done to you.\nI yield you my will and pleasure to you, as to whom it rightfully belongs. For in me I confess nothing but sin and wretchedness. Now I beseech you, most gracious Lord, in your infinite mercy, let my misspent life in times past be forgotten before you, whom I have consumed and spent in vain, and grant me good perseverance in virtuous living, that I may now henceforth order my life in this valley of misery to your pleasure. First, with contrition, I ask for a clean and pure confession. My sweet savior, grant me the time and space here to do penance and make due satisfaction with all the circumstances involved. And may I receive your holy body in the form of bread, God and man, or when I depart from this world in a clean state, for the comfort and salvation of my sinful soul. And most merciful Jesus, I pray you to preserve me from sudden death and grant me a clear mind at my departing.\nSteadfast faith and very true hope, and fervent charity, and most sweet Lord Jesus Christ, give me now Your merciful aid and grace, to pursue and follow always Your will and commandments, and to eschew my own frail will and desires, and the false enticements of our mortal enemy, the devil.\n\nJesus Nazarene, King of the Jews, may the title on Your cross protect us from all evil. Amen.\n\nSaint God, Saint strong, Saint immortal, have mercy on us.\n\nWe worship and bless You. For by Your death You have redeemed the world. Pray for us.\n\nLord Jesus Christ, God's Son, set Your passion, Your cross, and Your death between Your judgment and our souls, now and in the hour of our death. And grant to living men mercy and grace, and to dead men forgiveness and rest. And to us sinners, life and joy without end. You who live and reign, God, by all worlds. Amen.\n\nThe joyful passion of our Lord Jesus Christ leads us to the joys of paradise. Amen.\nGod be merciful to me, a sinner, God be merciful to me, a sinner, God be merciful to me, a sinner. And forgive all my iniquities, Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. In your hands, Lord.\n\nGod be with you.\n\nPrinted in Durham by Richard Fawkes.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"},
{"content": "Menippus: I was not dead, but hell received me.\n\nPhilonides: Why did you embark on this incredible and new journey?\n\nMenippus: Examination. Youth provoked me, and also my boldness.\n\nPentheus: Which, for youth, is always stronger.\n\nPhilonides: O tragic poet, I implore you earnestly,\nStand still and leave off your versifying,\nSpeak and show me openly and plainly\nWhat was the cause of your strange clothing\nAnd of your descent into hell's confines,\nSince it is neither a merry nor pleasant nor delightful way.\nEscape from hell by no means possible\n\nPhilonides: Are there decrees in hell for our actions here on earth?\n\nMenippus: By God, and many that should not be told,\nLest some men accuse us to the Judge Rathamaeus of iniquity.\n\nPhilonides: Menippus, do not reluctantly\nDismiss your friend from discussing this matter.\nFor a wise man keeps secrets, especially.\nIn holy orders thou mayst know well, Menippus,\nThou requestest me strictly\nThose things which are not surely\nNor without parallel can be told\nYet at thy request I will be so bold,\nWhich went to hell alive that\nThe sooner died Aeacus' watchmen\nAnd that I,\nAnd as we stood there, about to go,\nHe had ordered beforehand,\nMethuselah and sacrifice and every other thing necessary\nFor thy mystery\nAnd when all things were ready\nWe put them in the boat and we also,\nSorrowfully weeping therein, began to go\nAnd like young children also weeping loudly,\nA while then there in the flood we rowed\nAnd after that we came into a wood\nBut when I took up my harp,\nWell tuned and played harmoniously,\nSuddenly he was seized and fell asleep.\nTo the lake came / he\nSo full and so laden\nWith wailing for dead men therein were,\nSome lacked heads, some lacked ears,\nThe right was struck off from another,\nHe lacked one member / he lacked another.\nBut I thought they came from some battle or field\nBut good Charon, when he beheld me,\nJudged me because of my lion's skin,\nTo be Hercules; therefore gladly he took me in.\nAnd carried us over, and as we went forth there,\nHe showed us the way, but because we were\nIn darkness, Methobarzanes went before,\nAnd I followed still at his back evermore.\n\nMenippus.\nNot yet, Vi.\nPhilonides.\nWhat was the reason for this new and incredible path?\nMenippus.\nYouth inspired me, and audacity, greater than youth, urged me on.\nPhilonides.\nHold back, O blessed Tragic: and from\nPhil.\nWhat do you do? Do you know that nothing concerning our affairs is hidden from the underworld?\nMenippus.\nBy Jove: and many things, indeed, Prodapa, accuse impiety.\nPhilonides.\nNo, Menippus, by Jove,\nMenippus.\nYou can more easily deceive Aeacus' guard.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"},
{"content": "Here begins a good treatise, called a notable lesson, or the Golden Pistle. Impressus. Anno Domini MCCCCXXX.\n\nA good and healthful lesson and profitable to all Christians, ascribed to St. Bernard, and put among his works [I think] by some good man, so that it might have the more authority, and be the more read and better received. For certainly it is a good matter, and edifying to all those who have zeal and care for soul health and desire for salvation. It is called in the title, Notabile documentum, that is, a notable lesson. And some call it the Golden Pistle. It follows immediately after a little work called Formula honeste vitae. The form and manner of an honest life, or of living honestly.\n\nIf you intend to please God and would obey grace to fulfill the same, two things are necessary to you. The first\nYou must withdraw your mind from all worldly and transitory things, as if you cared not whether such things existed in this world or not. The second is, that you give and apply yourself so wholly to God, and have yourself in such a way that you never do, say, think, suppose, or believe anything that you know, suppose, or believe should offend or displease God. By this means, you may most quickly and readily obtain and win His favor and grace. In all things esteem and account yourself most vile and simple, and as nothing in respect to virtue, and think, suppose, and believe that all persons are good and better than you are. Whatever you see or seem to perceive in any person, or hear of any Christian, take no occasion from it, but rather ascribe and apply yourself to the best, and think or suppose all is done or said for a good intent or purpose, though it may seem contrary.\nFor a man's suspicions and light judgments are easily deceived or beguiled. Do not displease any person willingly. Never speak evil of any person, though it were never so true that you say. It is not lawful to confess the vice or fault of any person in confession except you might otherwise declare your own offense. Speak little or nothing to your friend or kinsman, or to yourself, laud or praise, though it were true, and to your faithful friend. But strive to keep secret and conceal your virtue rather than your vice. Yet it would be a cruel deed for any person to defame themselves. Be more glad to give your ear and hear praise rather than the disparage of any person. And beware as much of hearing as of speaking of detraction. And when you speak, take good deliberation and have few words, and let those be true and good.\nIf any words are spoken to you of vice or vanity (as soon as you may), break off and leave the conversation. And ever return and apply yourself to some appointed good and godly occupation, be it bodily or spiritual. If any sudden chance falls or happens to you or to any of yours, lean not to it lightly, nor care much for it. If it be prosperity, rejoice not much in it, nor be overly glad. If it be adversity, be not overcast or overcome by it, nor brought to sorrow or sadness, but thank God for all, and set little by it. Repute all your desires as transitory: as of little price or value. Give evermost thought and care to those things which may profit and promote the soul. Flee and avoid the persons and places of much speech, for it is better to keep silence than to speak. Keep the times and places of silence precisely, so that you speak not without reasonable and unfained cause. The times of silence in religion be these:\nFrom the collation to mass be added after the hour of terce. From the first grace in the frater to the end of the later grace. And from the beginning of evensong to grace ended after supper, or else Endytite, after the common bowl. The places of silence are: the church and the cloister, the frater and the dormitory. If you have slurred and taken occasion at the fault or offense of any person, then look well upon yourself whether you are in the same fault sometimes yourself, and have compassion on your brother or sister. If there is no such fault in you, think truly and believe that there may be, and do: as it is done, flee for eternity. The good persons, for their troubles suffered here on earth: gain and wine eternal and everlasting glory, which the evil and sinful persons lose. And contrary to these evil and sinful persons, for their joy and pleasures here, they receive by exchange eternal and everlasting shame, rebuke with pain, and wo unspeakable.\nWhen you are disposed to laziness or drowsiness, or remiss in prayer or devotion: take this little work, or some other good treatise, and note well its contents and what they mean. And if you are not thereby delivered or eased, shift unto some other work or occupation, so that you ever avoid idleness and all vain pastimes, which in truth are wasted time. And remember that those who now dwell in pain, in hell, or yet in purgatory for such times lost or spent had rather have all the world than such time to redeem their pains if you will. Time is precious to all well-occupied persons, beware therefore how you spend it or pass it. For you can never reclaim it or call it back.\nIf the time passes and you are troubled or vexed, think they are happy and gracious who have escaped this wretched life and now are in bliss, for they shall never have such misery again. And when you feel a comfort or consolation spiritual, thank God for it, and think the damned souls shall never have such pleasure. And thus let this be for your exercise in the day. At night when you go to rest, first make a count with yourself, and remember how you have spent or passed it, the time given you to be used in virtue, and how you have bestowed your thoughts, your words, and your works. And if you find nothing amiss, give the whole praise and thanks to our Lord God. And if you perceive contrary, that you have misspent any part of it, be sorry therefor, and beseech our Lord of mercy and forgiveness, and promise and verify purpose to make amends the next day. And if you have opportunity thereon, it shall be convenient for you to be confessed on the next morning.\nAnd specifically if the matter done or said by deliberate consent causes grave harm and is worked out with a grudge in your conscience, I would advise you never to eat nor drink until you are discharged from it, if you can conveniently obtain a spiritual father. Now for a conclusion of this work, consider two large cities before you: one full of trouble, Turmoyle, and miserable, let that be hell. The other city full of joy, gladness, comfort, and pleasure, let that be heaven. Look well upon both, for in both there are many dwellers and great company. Then cast your thoughts within yourself, what thing here might please you so much that you would choose the worse city, or what thing would displease you on the other side, whereby you would withdraw yourself from the virtue that might lead and bring you to the other city.\nAnd when you have studied well here and cannot find anything, I dare assure you that if you keep the precepts and counsel of this little lesson, you will find the right way. For the Holy Ghost will instruct and teach you where you are not sufficient of yourself, provided you endeavor and give diligence to bear away and follow that which is taught here. Read it every week once or twice, or more often if you will. And where you profit, give thanks, laud, and praise to our Lord God and most sweet Savior Jesus Christ, who sends you His mercy and grace, which always lives and reigns. In secularis secularorum. Amen.\n\nThis was brought to me in English of an old translation, rough and rude, and required amending. I thought less labor to write new the whole, and I have done so to the sentence not very near the letter, and in various places added some things following upon the same to make the matter more sententious and full.\nI beseech you to take this to the best and pray for the old wretched brother of Syon Rychatde Whytforde.\nPrinted by Wynkyn de Worde dwelling in London in Flete street at the sign of the Sun. The 24th day of November. In the year of our Lord God M.D.XXX.\nprinter's or publisher's device.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"},
{"content": "Here begins A short monetary consultation, or household policy: taken from a pipe of a great learned man, called Bernard Silvestre.\nHere, good and devout Christians first take great heed and give great diligence to order yourselves and all yours according to the poor leason that comes after: and then see well to the substance and governing of your house and goods. First, let there be peace in the house, and you agree together, for else all your goods will soon be in vain. Then, (after the common proverb), cut your throats: according or in agreement with your leader. Spend according to your means: gettings or rents, and not above. It is also a good policy: to have one year's rent or a year's income in store for chances, which is not contrary to Christian alms-giving: where extreme or very pressing need is not perceived in the neighbor. A negligent or reckless person\nMay soon set on fine, and destroy great substance. Have therefore a good eye, and guard unto the diligence of your servants, for under them your goods may soon diminish and be wasted before you know it. Beware or have knowledge therof. If your goods begin to waste: better is, and less rebuke for you, to abstain, and withdraw your charges: than to fall into necessities, or danger. An old proverb. Qui plus expendit quam habet. Non admireretur si pauperetate gravetur. That is,\nwho spend more than they have.\nNo marvel though with need they grieve be.\nIt is therefore a great prudence and good foresight often to count and compare your goods and your gains with your expenses. Often to oversee your bestes: shall be necessary. For your beasts may take hurt for.\nThe lack of food (although they ask for none) should not complain. The sleep of the husband: makes a fat dull hill. And the eye of the master, a fast horse. This means that the presence of the master: in every corner: is much profitable. Sumptuous and costly weddings or brides are damaging without honor. Expenses incurred on war are more honorable than profitable. It is better to suffer some wrong and buy peace than to make war or keep war. Costs incurred on prodigal persons are clearly lost. Costs incurred on kin or friends are reasonable. Feed your household servants with honest common fare, without delicacies. For the servant who is made a glutton shall never afterwards amend his manners. Gluttony is vile, filthy, & stinking, and will make the negligent and careless person soon rotten and short-lived. Mean feeding with scarcity: is unto the servant.\nA diligent person pleases and is profitable. On holy days and high festivals, give your household plenty of food, but seldom and few delicacies. The use of delicate food will sometimes displease a good servant. Let gluttony and your purse strive, and go to law together, and beware which part you take, but for the most part always side with the purse. For gluttonous men of law and the witnesses, speak of all affection. But the purse brings in plain evidence and proof, the empty barn and the empty bag. But if very niggardly you shut up your purse, then you are not an even judge. Niggardliness is a foolish and needless fear, and ever living in poverty, it hinders and mucks up: he cannot tell for whom. If you have plenty of corn, desire no scarcity. Those persons who, from a covetous mind, procure or desire scarcity, procure and desire death.\nthe porer / and shall be accused: as homicides and manslayers, sell thy corn better cheap unto thy neighbor (though he were thy enemy) than unto strangers, For an enemy is sooner vanquished and overcome by a kind deed than by the sword. Be never at debate with thy neighbor, but rather study and labor to be at one. For thou canst have none so sure a castle or guard of thy life as is love and friendship of thy neighbor, if thou suspectest the women of thy house: let other persons rather show it than thou shouldst be over busy to try out the matter. For though it were of thy own wife, or the wife of thy husband: it were better unknown. For one known is never cured, the wound is without remedy. If any remedy be, it shall be when like chance is heard of other persons. The least and most easy way therein is to dissimulate the matter though.\nIt was purely known and pretended, without any quarrel or countenance, but rather by a discreet ghostly father, that sin not be continued. A noble heart and high gentile mind will never search for women's matters. Ashrew will sooner be corrected by smiling or laughing than by a staff or strokes. The best way to keep a woman good is gentle intreaty and never to let her know that she is suspect, and always to be counseled and informed with loving manner. An old woman, unclean of living (if the law would allow), should be buried quickly. Let your clothing or attire be in amenable, neither vile nor precious but always fair and honest, and of sad and not of wanton fashion. A costly garment beyond or above the state and degree of the person is a sign and token of little wit. For a woman who has sufficient array to desire new.\nAnd change is a sign of little sadness. Trust him more for your friend who does something for you, than him who offers himself, saying \"I am yours in all I can and may.\" For in words there is great abundance of friends. A true friend loves at all times and never fails at need. There is no comparison of riches to a faithful friend. Never regard or think him your friend who praises or boasts the unto your face or in your presence. When you give counsel to a friend, say \"this seems best to me,\" not \"you must necessarily do this.\" For you may sooner receive rebuke or blame for your counsel if it proves not, than thanks, for your good counsel: though it succeeds, if minstrels, jesters, or fools come to your house, say \"you have no lodging for such jesters,\" you keep neither in nor at the gate. For if you take pleasure in their pastimes, you are full like to...\nIf you encounter a wife named Poverty or Beggar shortly after, and you find yourself attracted to them: I advise you to be discreet and avoid them, lest you hear their matters. For if they perceive and see you laughing: they will take it as an earnest sign to cry for alms and to have reward. They will importune you so shamelessly and crudely that you will be weary of them, and they may even fall into rebuking, scolding, and scolding, so that you will be glad and willing to give them some alms. For I tell you, God is not pleased with this occupation, except it is (scant tolerable or allowable) among princes, lords, and high estates. Now, for your servants, if you have a servant of proud and stubborn mind.\nStoke him away lest he does you harm, and so do him that always praises your manners in all things. A flatterer is worse than an enemy; your enemy cannot easily deceive you, but your servants or neighbors who praise you are surely intending to deceive you. If you have a bashful and fearful servant, and find him faithful, love him and cherish him as your own natural child. Make your buildings rather for need than for pleasure. The appetite for building for pleasure will never have an end until poverty teaches you some wisdom. Be loath to sell your heritage, and if you must sell, sell not to great persons but rather for less to lower persons. It is better to sell than to borrow continually. For borrowing is like a thief who would warn you before doing harm to you. If you buy or bargain, be not careless.\nfellow with great persons. And though he be under you, yet do not quarrel with him lest he put his part into your better or master's hand. In all things keep truly and faithfully your bond and promise according to your covenant. Due temperance is a thing of great honesty in a household; therefore, your drink, wine, ale, or beer, be temperate. Strong drink is more pleasing than healthful. The wise man says that sober drink is the health of soul and body, and the wise and learned person will be quite content with little drink, and that will not trouble the stomach, but rather cause sweet and healthful sleep, and of the contrary, many inconveniences follow. Whoever among many and various strong drinks with abundance thereof, is sober, may be called an earthly god or a god on earth; do not wrestle with it if you do.\nmy counsel. And if by chance you find yourself feeling the effects of the drink, arise and depart. A sleep is more beneficial for you than any company. Whoever excuses drunkenness in words, openly declares his own disease. The knowledge and judgment of wines do not become a young person. If a physician or surgeon becomes drunk, let him not have your care, nor let anyone of them learn from you how to cure or heal another. For though they may be well learned and have no experience, it is not wise to let them prove their skill on you. A great, laboring horse and a mastiff or cur dog are good to keep for lords and ladies. A big, lazy horse and a mangy or cur dog are good for keeping your house. As for hawks, hounds, and hunting dogs, they spend more than they earn, they are fitting for states: to.\nSet idle servants on work but there are few agreeing among them: for reasons and householders. It is no wisdom to make your own children stewards or rulers of your household or goods. Fools and negligent or careless persons: have many misfortunes. For that is their common excuse when anything is wrong, they say that chance or misfortune was the cause of it. I say not that chance or misfortune may not fall. But he who follows wise learning & discernment shall seldom accuse misfortune. For delay, laziness, and good head, done seldom company with misfortune. But yet more seldom shall you see misfortune and sloth or negligence depart in separate company, for they commonly company together. The sluggard says God will help him; and so long he trusts to it, until he is brought unto beggary. For God helps in his own way.\nSend the sluggard, for example, to the ant or bee, to learn to labor. For man says Job is born to labor / as a bird to fly. Keep therefore few idle persons or men in your household. And watch over every person in your house / and ponder, weigh, and consider your expenses with your gains or earnings. First get and bring in, then spend. It is no good household management to borrow. And when you grow old, trust rather in God than in your child or friends that you send before you / you shall surely find. No chest, chestnut, nor tower can be more secure to keep treasure than heaven. Let not the poor therefore pass you by. What you give to them, you give to Christ. And of that you leave behind you, appoint it to every person his part. For it is better for you to leave nothing than that strife and debate should arise, conscience.\n\"Blessed are those who offend God for your sake. Trust them best to act for your soul, not that they love or say they love your soul, but that you perceive and infer, they love their own soul. Make your testament anew every year and surely sealed by witnesses. Lay it where (when need is) it may be found, no man is sure how to end his life. The most secure way to die well is to live well, which he grants us, our Lord God and most sweet Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.\nHere ends the book entitled The Good.\nPrinted by me, Robert Wyer, dwelling at the sign of St. John the Evangelist in St. Martin's parish in the bishopric of Norwich, beside Charing cross.\"", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"},
{"content": "Here begins The Composition of Ptolemy, Prince of Astronomy: Translated from French into English for those who desire knowledge of the Composition.\n\nPtolemy (or Claudius Ptolemy), in royal attire and the presence of a lady, contemplates astrological instruments: a globe and an astrolabe quadrant.\n\nRoyal English blazon or coat of arms\n\nGod and my right\nHoni soit qui mal y pense\n\nFirst, the prologue of Ptolemy.\n\nSecond prologue of two other astronomers, which proves and shows the authenticity of the author's prologue that precedes.\n\nFollows the method by which man obtains the twelve times, as the twelve months do.\n\nFollows the knowledge of the twelve signs in their courses, ruling over the twelve parts of the human body, and which are good for bloodletting, indifferent, or evil. Chapter 1.\n\nFollows the nature of the twelve signs. Chapter 2.\n\nThe anatomy of the bones in the body of the moon and the number of them, which is in all 108 and 60. Chapter 3.\nChapter II:\nTo know when a man is healthy or disposed to sickness. Chapter II:\nThe sign of a healthy man & his proper dispositions. Chapter V:\nOf signs contrary to those aforementioned, by which Ptolemy knew when he or others were sick. Chapter VI:\nOther signs similar to those aforementioned, showing the reflection of evil humors and purging of them. Chapter VII:\nA division and regulation of time, which Ptolemy used after the required season and time. Chapter VIII:\nThe regulation for Primetime, that is, March, April, and May. Chapter IX:\nThe regulation for Summer, that is, June, July, and August. Chapter X:\nThe regulation for Harvest, that is, September, October, and November. Chapter XI:\nThe regulation for winter time, that is, December, January, and February.\n\nHere follows the Four Elements: and the\n[Complections of Man. Cap. xiii.\nAnd following is the Astrology of Ptolemy. Capitulo xiv.\nHow Ptolemy shows more clearly the four Elements and the symmetry of the earth, and how each planet is one above another, and which of them are masculine, as are Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, and Mercury. And of the two feminine, as Venus and Luna, and which of them are northern, southern, oriental, or occidental. Cap. xv.\nOf the equinoxes and zodiac that are in the nine skies, which contain the Firmament under it. Cap. xvi.\nHereafter follows a very subtle variation in the sky. Cap. xvii.\nOf the two great Circles, that is to say one meridian and the other obliquely intersecting one another and crossing directly. Ca. xviii.\nAlso hereafter follow two other great Circles of the sky and four small ones. Ca. xix.\nOf the rising and setting of the signs in the obliquely intersecting one. Cap. xx.]\nChapters XXI-XXXIII.\n\nOf the variations that are for diverse habitations and regions of the earth. Chapter XXII.\nOf the division of the earth and only of the inhabited part. Chapter XXIII.\nThe great and marvelous considerations and deep understanding of astronomers and astrologers. Chapter XXIV.\nOf the Pole Star, a star called the star of the north, near which is the polar star called septentronional. Chapter XXV.\nOf Andromeda, a fixed star. Chapter XXVI.\nOf Perseus, a fixed star, Lord of the sphere. Chapter XXVII.\nOf Ozyris, a fixed star, and the others. Chapter XXVIII.\nOf Alcor, a fixed star.\n\nChapter XXIX.\nOf the Lion's heart, a fixed star. Chapter XXX.\nOf the star fixed called Nebulon and another called the Golden Cup. Chapter XXX.\nOf the Pork's spear, a fixed star. Chapter XXXII.\nOf the Northern Crown, a fixed star. Chapter XXXIII.\nAnd of the Scorpion's heart: a fixed star. Chapter XXXIV.\nOf the flying Eagle, a fixed star. Chapter xxxv.\nOf the Fish Rederian, a fixed star. Chapter xxxvi.\nOf Pegasus, signifying the Horse of honor, a fixed star. Chapter xxxvii.\nOf the division of the twelve houses, as well on earth as in heaven, as it appears. Chapter xxxviii.\nHow the planets reign in every hour of the day and night. Chapter xxxix.\nAlso of the natures of the seven planets: with their dispositions, according to the saying of Ptolemy, prince of astronomy. Chapter xl.\nAnd follows, to know the Fortunes and destinies of man and woman born under the twelve signs (according to the saying of Ptolemy), prince of astronomy. Chapter xli.\nThe prologue of Ptolemy on the twelve signs. Chapter xlii.\nAnd after follows the Science of Physics, to know the natural inclination of man and woman. Chapter xliii.\nAnd of the Judgments of man's body. Chapter xliiii.\nFinis.\nThus ends the Table of the Composition.\nPtholomeus.\nR W\ntwo illustrations of Ptholomeus (or Claudius Ptolemy) with an astrolabe\nSO as we vndersta\u0304de Ptholomeus saythe / that lyuynge and dyeng is all at the pleasure of almygh\u00a6ty god. Yet he sayth that a man may lyue by the cour\u00a6se of nature .lxxii. yere or more. And he sayth also as moche tyme / as a man hath to growe in beaute / length / bredthe / and strengthe. So moche tyme hathe he to waxe olde and feble to his ende. But the terme to growe in beau\u2223te / hyghte / and strength / is .xxxvi. yere. And the terme to waxe olde / feble / and weyke / to tourne to the erthwarde / whiche is in all to\u2223gyther .lxxii. yere / that he ought to lyue after the course of nature. And they that dye before this tyme / often it is by the vyolence and out rage done to theyr Complexion and nature. But they that lyue aboue this terme / it is by good regyment & ensygnement{is} / after whi\u2223che a man hathe gouerned hymselfe. To this purpose of lyuynge and dyeng: Ptholomeus sayth / that the thynge that we desyre moste in this\nThe world is to live long, and the thing we most fear is to die soon. Thus he traveled his understanding and made great diligence to know and do things possible, desiring to live long, healthily, and joyfully, as this present composition demonstrates and teaches. Therefore, we will show you about celestial bodies, their nature, and movements. This present book is named the Composition of Ptolemy, as it fully covers all compositions. This present book is made for those of small learning, to bring them to great understanding. Thus Ptolemy also said that the desire to live long was in his soul, which always endures, and he wished that his desire be accomplished after his death, as before. He said that the soul does not die, and in it is the desire to live long. It should be an infallible pain (not to live after corporeal death: as before), for he who lives not after his bodily death shall not have that, which is to wit, to live.\nLonger/ And he should endure eternal pain if his desire were not fulfilled. So concluded the said Ptolemy, necessary things for him and others to know and do that which pertained to living after death as before. And truly it is that he who lives only the life of this world, and though he lived for 50 years, yet he did not live properly long. But he should live long who, at the end of this present life, should begin the eternal life (that is to say, the everlasting life in heaven). A man ought to perform his life in this world corporally that they may live spiritually without end. For as he said, one shall live everlastingly without dying, and when he has the transient life he shall be perfect. And also by this point and in no other way shall the desire for long living in this world be accomplished. The aforementioned Ptolemy also knew/ that the life of this world was soon past and gone. Therefore this Ptolemy thought that 72 years/ here in this world.\nThe vale of wretched misery is but a little and small term of life to eternal life, which never shall have an ending. Therefore he says, he who offers himself here to live virtuously in this world, after this life he shall receive the sweet life that is sure and lasts eternally. For though a man lived here for 50 years and more, it is but a little term of life to the life to come. Therefore says this Ptolemy, I will live soberly with these small temporal goods that Jesus has lent me, and ever to exclude the desire for worldly riches and worldly worship. For those who labor for it and have love for their vain worshippers often depart from heavenly treasure. It shuts the heart of man from heavenly treasure so that God may not enter. And builds man a place of no rest in the low land of darkness.\n\nUnderstand that in the year there are four quarters, which are named as follows. Spring (Vere), Summer (Hyems), Autumn (Estas), and Autumn (Autumnus). These are the four seasons in the year, as Prime says.\ntime is the spring of the year / as February, March, and April. In these three months, every green thing growing / begins to bud and flourish. Then comes summer as May, June, and July, and these three months / every herb, grain, and tree / is in its kind and in its greatest strength and beauty, and then the Sun is at its highest. Then comes Autumn: as August, September, and October, that all these fruits ripen and are gathered and housed. Then comes November, December, and January, and these three months are in the winter / when the Sun is at its lowest / and is the time of little profit. As we astronomers say / that the age of man is 72 years / and that we liken but to one whole year / for evermore we take six years for every month, as January or February, and so forth, for as the year changes by the twelve months / so does a man change himself twelve times in his life / by twelve ages, and each age lasts.\nIf a man lives to be 72 years old, he makes 18 and 6 times 25, and 6 times 36. A man is at his best and highest at 120 years, and this is the age of man.\n\nYou must count and reckon for every month 18 years, or it may be understood by the four quarters and seasons of the year. A man is divided into four parts: youth, strength, wisdom, and age. He is young for the first 18 years, strong for the next 18 years, wise for the following 18 years, and in the fourth 18 years he reaches the full age of 72.\n\nWe must take the first 6 years as infancy: this period is of no virtue or strength. In this age, a man, until he is 6 years old, has little or no wit, strength, or skill, and can do little or no profitable thing.\n\nThen comes the winter: the days grow longer, and the sun is hotter than the fields.\nThe text begins to become green. In the sixth year, he begins to grow bigger and is ready to learn such things that are taught to him.\n\nThen comes the month of March, in which the laborer sows the earth and plans trees, and builds houses; the child in these six years grows bigger to learn doctrine and science, and to be fair and pleasant and loving, for then he is eighteen years old.\n\nThen comes April, in which the earth and the trees are covered with green flowers. And in every quarter, goods increase abundantly. Then comes the young man to gather the sweet flowers of hardiness, but beware that the cold winds and storms of vices do not destroy the flowers of good manners, for then he is twenty-four years old.\n\nThen comes May, which is both fair and pleasant; then birds sing in woods and forests night and day, the Sun shines hot, as man is most lusty, mighty, and of deliverance strength.\nseketh plays/sports/and manly pastimes, for he is full thirty years of age.\n\nThen comes June: and then is the sun at the highest in its meridian, he may ascend no higher in his station. His gleaming golden beams typify the corn, and then man is thirty-six years old, he may ascend no more. For then nature has given him courage & strength at the full, and typifies the seeds of perfect understanding.\n\nThen comes July: that our fruits be set on ripening & our corn a hardening, but then the Sun begins a little to descend. So then man goes from youth to middle age, and begins to acquaint himself with sadness: for then he is come to forty-two years.\n\nAfter that, then comes August: then we gather in our corn and also the fruits of the earth. And then man does his diligence to gather, to find himself to maintain his wife, children, and household when age comes upon him. And then after five years, he is forty-eight years old.\n\nThen comes\nSeptember is the time when wines are made, and the fruit of the trees is gathered. Then he begins to prepare his house and make provisions for necessary things to live with in winter, which is drawing near. At this time, man is in his most steadfast and covetous state, prosperous in wisdom, intending to gather and keep as much as should be sufficient for him in his age, when he may gather no more. He is then 33 years old.\n\nAnd then comes October: all is gathered into the said house, both corn and also other kinds of fruits. And also the laborers plow and sow new seeds on the earth: for the year to come. And he who sows nothing gathers nothing. And in these six years, a man shall take himself to God for penance and good works. And the benefits the year after his death, he may gather and have spiritual profit. And man is fully the term of 60 years.\n\nThen comes November: the days are very short.\nAnd the sun gives but little heat, and the trees lose their leaves. The fields that were green look hoar and gray. Then all manner of herbs are hidden in the ground, and no flowers appear. And winter is come, that man has understanding of age, and has lost his kindly heat and strength. His teeth begin to rot and fail him. And then he has little hope of long life, but desires to come to eternal life. These six years make him 60 in age.\n\nThen comes December, full of cold with frost and snow, with great winds and stormy weather, that a man may not labor nor do anything. The sun is then at the lowest it may descend. That the trees and earth be hidden in snow, it is good to keep them near the fire, and to spend the goods that they got in summer. For then man begins to wax crooked and feeble, couching and spitting, and loathsome, and then he loses his perfect understanding, and his hairs desire his.\nAnd these five years make him full 77 years. And if he lives any longer, it is by his good guidance and diet in his youth. However, it is possible that a man may live till he is a hundred years old; but there are few who live so long till they come to a hundred years of age. Therefore, Ptolemy also says further that the heavenly bodies can steer a man both to good and evil, without doubt it is so. But yet a man can withstand it by his own free will, to do what he wills himself, good or evil. And above this inclination is the might and will of God, who prolongs the life of man by his goodness, or, in summary, by justice. Therefore, I will show you about the celestial bodies and their nature and movements. And this present book is called the Compendium of Ptolemy, for it comprehends fully all the components, as days, hours, and of the sun and moon, and of the signs that the moon is in every day. And this book was made for them.\nA man is a little world by himself: for the likenesses and similitudes he bears to the great world, which is the aggregation of the nine skies and four elements and all things in them contained. A man has such likenesses in the first mobile, that is the sourgaze sky and principal part of the world, for like as in this first mobile the zodiac is divided into twelve parts, that are the twelve signs. So man is divided into twelve parts, and holds of every part his sign. The signs are these: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, and Pisces. Of which, three are of the nature of fire: Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. And three of the nature of air: Gemini, Libra.\nLibra and Aquarius are of the nature of air. Three of the nature of water are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. Three of the nature of the earth are Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn. Aries governs the head and face of man. Taurus governs the neck and throat. Gemini governs the shoulders, arms, and hands. Cancer governs the breast, sides, milk, and lights. Leo governs the stomach, heart, and back. Virgo governs the belly and entrails. Libra governs the nails, grapes, and parts under the breasts. Scorpio governs the private parts, genitals, bladder, and the fortyment. Sagittarius governs the thighs only. Capricorn also governs the knees only. Aquarius governs the legs from the knees to the heels and ankles. Pisces has the feet in its domain.\n\nA man ought not to make incision nor touch with iron, the member governed by any sign, the day that the moon is in it, for fear of too great effusion of blood that might happen. Nor likewise when the Sun is in it, for the great danger and peril that may ensue.\nmyght follow. Aries is hot and dry, nature of fire, and governs the head and face of man; and is good for bleeding when the moon is in it, except in the part it governs and rules.\n\nTaurus is dry and cold, nature of earth, and governs the neck and the knot under the throat; and is evil for bleeding.\n\nGemini is hot and moist, nature of air, and governs the shoulders, arms, and hands; and is evil for bleeding.\n\nCancer is cold and moist, nature of water, and governs the breast, stomach, and inward parts; and is neither good nor evil for bleeding, but between both.\n\nLibra is hot and moist, nature of air, and governs the nails, reins, and lower parts of the womb; and is very good for bleeding.\n\nScorpius is cold and.\nThe moisture of water governs the human body and is neither good nor bad for bleeding, but neutral between both.\n\nSagittarius is hot and dry, the nature of fire, and governs the thighs, beneficial for blood setting.\n\nCapricornus is cold and dry, the nature of earth, and governs the knees, harmful for bleeding.\n\nAquarius is hot and moist, the nature of air, and governs the legs, neither good nor harmful for bleeding.\n\nPisces is cold and moist, the nature of water, and governs the feet, neither good nor harmful for bleeding, but neutral.\n\nAt the top of the head is a bone that covers the brain, which Ptolemy calls the skullcap bone. In the skull are two bones, called the parietals, which hold the brain close and steady. More deeply in the brain is a bone called the crown of the head, and on one side and the other are two holes, within which is the palate or roof bone. In the back part of the head are\nThe bones in the neck hold the chain. In the nose are bones numbering five. Above the jawbone are eleven, and below it are two. Behind the brain's cavity is one bone named collateral. The teeth have thirty-eight, eight before four above and four below, sharp-edged for cutting meat, and there are three above each side and three below. Following these are the three teeth of wisdom on each side of the cheekbones. In the chin from the head downward are thirty bones called knots or joints. In the breast beforehand are seven bones, and on each side twelve ribs. Between the neck and the shoulders are two bones named clavicles.\nFrom the shoulder to the elbow in each arm is a bone called the adductor. From the elbow to the hand on every arm are two bones called the ulna and radius. In each hand are eight bones above the palm, which are called the carpals. In each hand, there are fifteen bones in every finger, and at the end of each finger are the phalanges. In each thigh is a bone called the femur plate. From the femur to the foot in each leg are two bones, called the tibia and fibula. In each foot is a bone called the talus or ankle bone, behind which is the heel bone in each foot, the lowest part of the body. Above each foot is a bone called the calcaneus. In the sole of each foot are four bones. Then are the tarsals in each of which are five bones. The bones in the toes of each foot number twelve. Two bones are before the belly to hold it steady.\nThe two bones, called occipitals, are in the head behind the eyes. We take not the tender bones of the ends of the shoulders or sides, nor various small gristles and splinters of bones, as they are included in the aforementioned name.\nHere I tell you: the vein in the middle of the forehead would be let ten times to alleviate the headache and pain, and for fever Lytargye, and for the congestion in the head.\nAbout the two eyes behind are two veins, which are let to bleed, to provide clear understanding and the virtue of light hearing, and for fear of melancholy or leprosy.\nIn the temple are two veins called the Arteries, as they nourish, which are let to bleed to diminish and take away the great repletion and abundance of blood in the brain, which might drown the head and eyes. It is good against the goad the congestion, and various other accidents that may come to the head.\nUnder the tongue are two veins, that\nIn the neck are two veins called originals, as they govern all the blood that regulates the body of man, primarily the head. They should not be let to bleed without a surgeon's counsel, as this bleeding contributes much to the sickness of leprosy when it primarily stems from the blood.\n\nThe vein of the heart taken in the arm profits to draw away humors or bad blood that might harm the heart chamber or its appendages. It is beneficial for those who spit blood and those who are short-lived, by which a man may die suddenly for lack of such bleeding.\n\nThe vein of the liver taken in the arm cools down the great heat of a man's body and keeps it healthy. This bleeding is beneficial.\nagainst the yellow axilla and apostemas of the liver, and against the palsy whereof a man may die due to lack of such bleeding.\nBetween the master finger and the surgeon's finger, letting blood helps alleviate the pains that come in the stomach and sides, as well as various other accidents that may occur in those places due to excessive abundance of blood and humors.\nIn the sides between the womb and the braeca are two veins; the one on the right side is let for the dropsy, and the one on the left side for every sickness that comes about the milt; they should bleed after the person is fat or thin.\nTake care at four fingers near the incision: and they ought not to make such bleeding without the counsel of the surgeon.\nIn every foot are three veins; of which three, one is under the ankle of the foot, named saphena, which is let for swelling and putting out various humors, as botches and apostemas that come about the feet.\n\"Garnets and it is beneficial for women to make their menstruation descend and delay hemorrhoids: which occur in secret places and other similar conditions. Between the ankles of the foot and the great toe is a vein, which is let to bleed for various reasons and inconveniences: such as the pestilence that takes a person suddenly due to the excessive superabundance of humors, and this bleeding must be made within a natural day, that is to say within 24 hours after the sickness is taken from the patient and before the fever comes on him, and this bleeding should be done after the patient's corpus. In the angles of the eyes there are two veins which are let to bleed for the redness of the eyes, or for watery eyes, or for continuous running, and for various other sicknesses that may happen due to an overabundance of humors and blood. In the vein at the end of the nose is made a bleeding, which is good for a red, pimple-covered face.\"\npustulus / small pustules / and other infections of the heart that may come therein due to great repletion and abundance of blood and humors. It counteracts much against popeled noses and similar sicknesses.\n\nIn the mouth, there are four veins: two above and two below. The two above are let down for bleeding and are affected by canker in the mouth and toothache. Between the lip and chin is a vein let down for blood to give amendment to those who have a foul breath.\n\nIn each arm there are four veins: the highest is the one from the head, the second is from the heart, the third is from the liver, and the fourth is from the spleen, otherwise called the lower liver vein.\n\nThe vein of the head taken in the arm ought to bleed, to take away the great repletion and abundance of blood that may annoy the head, eyes, and brain, and greatly alleviates for changeable heats and swelling of the throat, and for those who have swollen faces.\nand red, and for various other sicknesses that may fall and come by great abundance of blood.\n\nThe vein, otherwise called the lower vein, should bleed against fierce terrories and quartains. In it ought to be made a wide and less deep wound: than in any other vein, for fear of wind that it may gather, and for a more inconvenience for fear of a senna that is under it, called the lezarde.\n\nIn each hand there are three veins, of which the one above the thumb ought to bleed, to take away the great heat of the face, & for more thick blood and humors that are in the head. This vein delays more than that of the arm.\n\nBetween the little finger and the ring finger is letting of blood: that greatly alleviates against all terrories & quartains and against flumes: and various other lettings that come to the papas & the miltia.\n\nIn each thigh is a vein, of which bleeding alleviates against pains in the genitals, and for putting out of man's body.\nThe humors that are in the grains.\nThe vain that is under the ankle of the foot, outside, is named sciat. Of this bone, the thin layer is much worth against the pains in the flanks, and to make away and issue various humors which would gather in the same place, and it greatly helps women to restrain their menstruation when it has excessive abundance.\nNow to give you knowledge: when is any man whole or sick, or disposed to sickness? Therefore, there are three things: by which Ptolemy gave knowledge when a man is whole or sick, or disposed to sickness. If he is whole, to maintain and keep him. If he is sick, to seek remedy to heal him. If he is disposed to sickness, to keep him from falling into it. And for each of the three said things, the said Ptolemy put various signs. Health is the proper temperament, accord, and equalization of the four qualities of man, which are hot, cold, dry, and moist. When they are well tempered and equalized,\nThe one surpasses the other in the human body more than the body of man is whole. But when they are unequal and poorly tempered, and one has power over the other, a man is sick or disposed to sickness. And these are the qualities that the body holds of the elements that they are made and composed of, that is, of the fire hot, of the water cold, of the air moist, and of the earth dry. When one is disordered from the other, then the body is sick. And if one destroys all the others, then the body dies, and the soul departs.\n\nThe first sign by which Ptolemy knew a man to be healthy and well-disposed in his body was when he ate and drank well after the onset of hunger and thirst, without making excess. And also when he digested lightly, and when that which he had eaten or drunk did not trouble or grieve his stomach. Also when he felt good savour and good appetite in that which he ate and drank. Also when he was hungry and thirsty at.\nthe houres that he ought to ete and drinke. And also whan he reioyseth hym with folke. Also whan they playe gladly in the feldes and gardens to take the swete ayre and sporte in the medowes by water sydes. Also whan he eteth gladly & with good ap\u2223petyte of butter / chese / & flawnes without le\u00a6uynge any thynge in his dysshe to sende to the almesse house. Also whan he slepeth well & suerly without rauynge or dremynge of his besynes. Also whan he feleth hym lyght: and that he walketh wel. And whan he sweteth soone / and that he nyseth lytell or nothynge. Also whan he is nouther to fatte nor to lene. Also whan he hath good coloure in his face / and that his wyttes ben all wel disposed for to do theyr operacion / as his iyen for to se / his eres to here / his nose to smell. &c. \u00b6 And I le\u2223ue of the conuenaunce of aege / the disposicion of the body / & also of tyme. Of other sygnes I say no thynge: but these most suffyse for the pore lay people / to know the sygnes of helth.\nFIrste whanne he may nat well ete nor\nIf a person experiences any of the following: he has no appetite for drinking or eating at dinner and supper, finds no savory taste in what he eats or drinks, is hungry but unable to eat, has poor digestion, stays up late, is pensive, sad, or in unhappy company, has difficulty sleeping or taking rest at the right hours, has heavy limbs including head, legs, and arms, walks with difficulty, spits frequently, has a pale or yellow complexion, or his senses and faculties do not function properly, forgets things easily, or spits often, then sickness may be the cause. Similarly, if a person cannot sleep or take proper rest, or if his limbs are heavy, he may be sick.\nWhen his nose throbs about excessive humors, and when he is negligent in his works, and when his flesh is blown or swollen in the face, in his legs, or his feet, or when his eyes are hollow in his head. These are the signs that signify a man being sick, and he who has most of the aforementioned signs is most likely infected with sickness.\n\nReflection is a fullness of evil humors, and disposition of sickness, according to the opinion of Ptolemy, in regard to reflection, which is to know how to purge the said humors, so that they do not engender sickness, and are known by the following signs. Firstly, when a man has excessive redness in his face, in his hands, or in his nails, having also his veins full of blood, or bleeding too much at the nose, or too often, or has pain in the forehead. Also, when his ears sound, and when his eyes water, or are full of mucus, and has his understanding troubled, and when the pulse beats too fast, and when the belly is long.\nResolve and loosen, and when he has troubled sight and lacks appetite as well. By these and other signs mentioned before, one may know the body is ill disposed and full of superfluous and corrupt humors.\n\nAccording to Ptolemy, to remedy sicknesses and prevent those that may come, a man should divide the year into four quarters: spring, summer, harvest, and winter. In each quarter, he should govern himself according to the season's requirements. As the season changes, so should his manner of living and doing. Changing the time without proper care often leads to infirmities, for what is good in one season is not all good in another, as winter's used foods are not suitable for summer, and so on.\n\nTo know the changing of the time after these said:\nquarters or seasons / they con\u2223syder the course of the Sonne by the .xii. Sy\u2223gnes / & say that euery of the sayd foure quar\u2223ters and seasons dureth foure Monthes / and that the Sonne passeth by thre sygnes: that is to wete in Pryme tyme by Pisces / Aries / & Taurus / and these ben the monthes / Februa\u00a6ry / Marche / and Apryll / that the erthe & trees reioyseth and chargeth with grene leues and flour{is} / that is a pleasur to beholde. In somer by Gemini / Cancer\n/ and Leo: and the mone\u2223thes ben Maye Iune / and Iuly / that the fruy\u00a6tes of the erthe groweth and rypeth. In har\u2223uest by Virgo / Libra / and Scorpio: and the monethes ben August / Septembre / & Octo\u2223bre / that the erth & trees dischargeth the fruyt{is} and leues / and that tyme euery body felleth & gaderyth the fruytes. In wynter by Sagit\u2223tarius / Capricornus / and Aquarius: and the monethes ben Nouembre / Decembre / & Ia\u2223nuary / that the erthe and trees ben as deed & vnclothed of leues / fruytes / & of all grenesse.\n After the whiche .iiii. seasons /\nPtolemy describes how a man's life progresses through four ages: youth, strength, old age, and decrepitude. These stages are compared to the four seasons of the year. Youth is likened to springtime, which is hot and moist, and a man grows in strength, beauty, and vigor until the age of 25. Strength is compared to summer, which is hot and dry, and a man's body is full of force and vigor until the age of 40. Old age is likened to autumn, which is cold and dry, and a man begins to slow down and think about gathering and conserving for fear of scarcity, lasting until the age of 60. Decrepitude is compared to winter, which is cold and moist, and a man spends this stage using up what he has gathered and lasts until the age of 72.\nIn prime time, Ptolemy kept himself moderately clothed, neither too cold nor too hot, as with his vestments: a doublet of silk and light gowns furred with lamb's wool commonly. In this season, it is beneficial to regulate blood flow to avoid excessive humors. In prime time, Ptolemy:\n\n1. Wore clothing that kept him neither too cold nor too hot.\n2. Used a doublet of silk and light gowns furred with lamb's wool.\n3. Regulated blood flow to avoid excessive humors.\n\nDuring summer, Ptolemy kept himself hot and dry, following the nature of fire and the sanguine complexion. In harvest, he was cold and dry, following the nature of earth and the melancholic complexion. Winter was cold and moist, following the nature of water and the phlegmatic complexion. When a composition is well proportioned, it feels better disposed in the corresponding season than in others. However, since not everyone is well composed, they should follow Ptolemy's example and adopt a regimen to govern themselves according to the seasons and his rules and teachings, which he used in every quarter of the year to live longer, wisely, and merrily.\n\nIn prime time, Ptolemy dressed moderately, neither too cold nor too hot, with a doublet of silk and gowns lightly furred with lamb's wool. This season is beneficial for regulating blood flow to avoid excessive humors.\nIn wintertime, people were gathered together. If sickness occurs in Primetime, it is not of his nature but proceeds from the humors gathered in the winters past. Primetime is a temperate time for taking medicines for those who are corporal and full of thick humors, to purge them. Additionally, during this time, men should eat light meals that refresh, such as chickens with verjuice, borage, bets, yolks of eggs in moonshine poached, roaches, perches, pikelets, and all scaled fish. They should also drink temperate wine, beer, or ale, so that they are not too strong or overly sweet. In this time, all sweet things ought not to be used, and a man ought not to sleep long in the morning or on the day. The astronomers have a general rule or custom for all seasons that is effective against many infirmities and sicknesses: not to lose one's appetite for eating and never to eat without hunger. They also say that all flesh and fish are better roasted than boiled, and if possible.\nThey are boiled on a gridiron or on the coals, and they are the more wholesome. The astronomers in summer are clothed with light gowns and singlets that they lie in linen, for among all clothes it is the coldest. They have doublets of silk or canvas. And they eat light meals, such as chickens with verjuice, young rabbits, lettuce, purslane, melons, cucumbers, pears, plums, and such fish as are named above. They also eat refreshing meals and little and often. They break their fast or dinner in the morning or ever the sun rises, and they eat of the aforementioned meals and sour sauce to give them an appetite. They eat but little salty meals and refuse them from scratching. They drink many times fresh water boiled with sugarcandy, and also with other refreshing waters, and they do it always when they are greatly thirsty, except at dinner and at supper time.\nIn this time, they prefer weak green wine or small ale or single beer. They also avoid great toil or singing for themselves, for in this time there is no harder or more contagious problem than chafing. In this time and season, they shun the company of women and bathe them often in cold water to cool their bodies, which are heated by labor. They always have with them sugar candy or other sugars and drages, which they take little and often. Every day in the morning, they force them to void feces: and void them above and below as best they can, and wash their hands with fresh water, their face and mouth.\n\nIt is to be understood that harvesters are clothed like primates, but their clothes are a little warmer. And in this time they perform their duties to purge and cleanse themselves, and allow themselves to bleed to temper the humors of their bodies. For it is the most contagious time of the year, in the.\nIn this perilous infirmity season, they eat good, wholesome foods such as capons, hens, young pegions that begin to fly, and drink good wines and other good and wholesome drinks, without taking excess. In this time, they keep them from eating fruit, for it is a dangerous season for the axes, and they say that he had never eaten fruit who never had axes. In this time, they drink no water, and they put no part of them in cold water, but their hands and faces. They keep their heads from cold in the night and morning, and sleep not in the noon time: and endure not over great travel: and bear not much hunger nor thirst, but eat when it is time, and not when their maws are full.\n\nFurthermore, as Ptolemy did, the astronomers now do in winter clothe themselves in thick woolen garments of rough cloth, highly shorn and well furred with fox fur. For it is the warmest fur that is, and cats, lambs, and various other thick furs that are good and wholesome in this time.\nAstronomers eat beef, pork, brawn, hare, hinds, and all manner of venison, partridges, feasts, and fowl of the river, and other metes they love best. This is the season of the year that nature suffers most abundant productivity, due to the natural heat drawn within the body. In this time also they often drink strong wines after their meals, such as bastard wine or osseys. Two or three times a week they use good spices in their meals. This is the most healthful time of the year, in which comes no sickness but by great excesses and outrages done to nature or by cruel governance. Astronomers also say that Primetime is hot and moist of the nature of the air, composition of sanguine, and that in the same time nature rejoices, and the poor opens, and the blood spreads through the veins more than in any other time. Summer is hot and dry of the nature of fire, and of composition coloryke. In the\nDuring which time one should keep oneself from all things that stir up excess and hot foods. Harvest is cold and dry by nature of the earth and melancholic complexion. In this time, one should avoid doing excess more than in other times for fear of illnesses, to which this time is disposed. But winter is cold and moist by the nature of water and phlegmatic complexion. Then a man ought to keep himself moderately warm and live healthily in body.\n\nThese are Air, Fire, Earth, and Water. The twenty-four hours of the day and night rule Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholic, and Phlegmatic. Six hours after midnight, blood rules, and in the sixth hour before noon, color reigns. Six hours after noon, melancholic reigns, and the sixth hour before midnight, the phlegmatic reigns.\n\nAs Ptolemy and also various other astronomers give us knowledge of the movements and properties of the heavens, and various other things contained in:\nThis is a composition explaining what the figure represents: the arrangement of the world, the number and order of the elements, and the movements of the skies, should be known by every person of good and noble wit. For it is a fair thing, delightful, profitable, and honest. And with it, one must have various other knowledge, especially the astrology of Ptolemy: which shows the world is round like a ball. And after wise men say, there is nothing so round as it is. For it is rounder than anything artificial. Furthermore, in this world, we see nothing nor shall there be, that is so true and equally round as it is, composed of the heaven and the four elements in five principal parts. After knowing this, one ought to understand that the earth is in the middle of the world, for it is the heaviest element. And upon the earth is the water or the sea, but it does not cover.\nall the earth to the end that men and beasts may live therein, and the uncovered party is called the face of the earth, for it is as the face of man, always uncovered. The party covered with water is the body of man, clothed and hidden. On the water is the air that encloses the earth and the water, and is divided into three regions. One is low where beasts and birds inhabit, another is mean where the clouds are, which make the impressions as lightnings, thunders, and others, and is always cold, and the third is the highest where neither wind nor rain nor tempest nor other impressions are, and there are some mountains that support it: as is Olympus that reaches the highest region of the air, and the element of fire mounts up to the sky, and the elements sustain the skies, as pillars sustain a house. Of such mountains is one in Africa named Atlas. After that is the element of fire, which is neither\nflam\u00a6be nor coles / but is pure and inuysyble: for the great bryghtnes / for of so moche as the water is more clere and lyght than the erthe / and the ayre more clere and lyght than the water / of so moche the fyre is more clere / lyght / & fayrer than the ayre: and the skyes in equipolent ben more clerer / lyghter / and fayrer than the fyre / the whiche tourneth with the mouynges of the heuens / and the next Regyon of the ayre also: in the whiche is engendred comytes that ben called sterres / for that they ben shynynge and moueth as the sterres. After the sayinge of Ptholomeus and other Astrologyens the fyre is inuysible for his subtylyte and nat for his clerenes / for of as moche as a thyng is mo\u00a6re clere / of so moche it is more visyble / for we se the skyes wel / but nat the fyre for it is ouer\u00a6moche more subtyle than the ayre that is inuy\u00a6syble for the same cause / the erthe and the wa\u00a6ter\n ben thycke / and therfore they ben vysyble.\n\u00b6 The skyes ben neyther properly heuye nor lyght / harde nor softe /\nThe stars and sky are not clear or dark, hot or cold, sweet or sour, colored or sunny, except that they are hot in virtue. They can make heat beneath by their light, moving, and influences, and are improperly hard, as the parties of the stars are. In which no star or other party can be adjusted and put to, nor can any be diminished or taken away, and they cannot increase or decrease, nor be of other figure than round, nor change, dim, or grow old, nor be corrupted or altered, but only in light, as in the time of solar and lunar eclipses. Nor can they rest and stand still, nor turn otherwise, later or sooner, in part or in all, nor behave otherwise than according to their common course, but by divine miracle. Therefore, the stars and sky are of another nature.\nthan the elementes and the thyng{is} in them co\u0304posed / the whiche ben trans\u2223mutable and corruptyble. The element{is} and all thynges of them composed / ben enclosed\n with the firste skye / as the yelke of an egge is enclosed within the whyte / and the first skye is enclosed of the seconde / and the seconde in the thyrde / and the thyrde in the fourth / and so of other. The firste skye next the elementes is the skye of the Moone. And next it is the skye of Mercury. And next it the skye of Venus. Than is the skye of the Sonne. And nexte that the skye of Mars. Than is next the skye of Iupiter. And than nexte after that is the skye of Saturne. And thus ben the skyes of the planett{is} after theyr ordre. The eyght skye is of sterres fyxed / and they ben called so / for that they moue more regulerly and after one guyse than the planettes do. And than aboue that is the first mobyle / in the whiche no thyn\u00a6ge apperyth that Astrologyens may se. The\u2223re ben some Astrologyens say that aboue the\u2223se .ix. skyes is one\nThe immobile one is called the first crystal sphere, above which is the imperial sky, in which is the throne of God. Astronomers should not speak of anything beyond the first crystal sphere, but only of the world it contains. They marvel greatly at one thing: how God has distributed the stars, putting none in the ninth sphere and many in the eighth, so that they cannot be numbered, and in each of the other six only one, as is evident later. Some movements of the skies and planets exceed the understanding of astronomers, such as the movement of the firmament, in which the stars are against the first crystal sphere, advancing one degree in a hundred years, and the movement of planets in their epicycles. Astronomers are aware of these, but they do not mention them here, as it is sufficient for their purposes.\nOnly one of two movements is from the orient into the occident above the earth, and from occident into the orient beneath it, which is called the diurnal motion. That is, it makes twenty-four hours, by which diurnal motion the first moon, that is the first moon, draws after and makes the other moons turn that are under it. The other movement is of the seven planets, and is from occident to orient above the earth, and from orient to occident beneath it, and is contrary to the first, and these are the two movements that astrologers know. And yet they move continually and are possible, as is shown by example. If a ship on the sea came from the orient to occident, and that he, of his own motion, went in the ship softly towards the orient, this man would make a double motion, one of which should be of the ship and of himself together, and the other should be of his own motion that he makes softly towards the orient.\nThe planets are transported with their skies from east to west not only by the daily motion of the first mobile one, but also in a different way than the fixed stars, as each planet has its own contrary motion to the stars' motion. The moon makes a lesser course around the earth in a month than a fixed star, and the sun a lesser course in a year, and the other planets in certain times according to their motion. Thus, it appears that the planets move with two motions. Ptolemy says, by imagination, that all the skies once ceased to move in their daily motion; the moon would make a course from west to east in the time that lasts now 27 days and 8 hours; and Mercury, Venus, and the sun would make similar courses in the space of a year; and Mars in two years; and Saturn in about 30 years. Now they make their courses and accomplish their proper motions in this time.\nThe proper motion of planets is not directly from western to eastern, but it is oblique. Astrologers perceive this, for when they see the moon before a star one night, the second or third night, it is not directly towards the east but will be drawn towards the south at one time and towards the midday point at another. This is due to the latitude or size of the zodiac, in which are the twelve signs under which plants reign.\n\nAs in the concave of the first mobile, Ptolemy and other astrologers begin with two circles. They are royal, the one as small as a little thread, and it is called equinoxial, and the other large in the manner of a girdle or as a garland of flowers, which they call the zodiac. These two circles divide one from the other equally but not strictly, for the zodiac crosses obliquely. The places where it crosses obliquely are called equinoxes. To understand this further,\nEquinoccial/ We senseably all the sky turn from orient in occident, and it is called the daily moving or diurnal moving. Imagine a straight line that passes through the middle of the earth coming from one end of the sky to the other around which line is made this moving. The two ends are the two poles in the sky that do not move, and are called the poles of the world. Of the which poles, one is over us by the star of the north, which always shows itself and appears to us, and is the northern or septentrional pole. The other is under the earth always hidden, called the pole antarctic or pole austral. In the midst of these poles, in the first mobile, is the circular equinoxial, equally before in the party that is toward the other of the said poles. After this circle is made and measured, the daily moving of 24 hours, that is a natural day, is called equinoxial. For when the sun is in it, that day and night.\nThe zodiac is evenly distributed throughout the world. The large zodiac, as said, is in the first mobile/and also shaped and set with subtle and well-composed images of signs entwined, and set with fixed stars, such as shining Carbuncles or pi in Libra in the month of September. And the other is called the equinox of Primitive/that the sun enters Aries in the month of March. The four parts divide each into three equal parts/and make twelve parts, called signs, as Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, & Pisces. Aquarius begins in the equinox and crosses the zodiac/and when the sun is there, it begins to decline (that is to say), approaching the September equinox/and extending to the orient. Then is Taurus second, Gemini third, and so on.\n\nEvery sign is divided into 30 degrees: and in the zodiac, it is 120 degrees long/and every degree is 1/12th of a sign.\nDeduced by every minute in 60 seconds, every second in 60 thirds, and this partition and division is sufficient for understanding by astronomers. The astronomers know of a very subtle variation in the sky, and this is because the stars are not under the same degrees of the zodiac that were created due to the moving firmament. The which mutation causes the sun to have other regard for a star and other significations than it had in the past, and also when books were made, for the star has changed its degree or sign under which it was. And this often causes those who make predictions and judgments to fail. All the circles of the sky are narrow and small, except the zodiac, which is large, containing in length 330 degrees and a breadth of 12 degrees, of which breadth the middle is subtracted by 6 degrees on that one sign.\nThe division is made by a line named the ecliptic; this is the sun's path; the sun never departs beneath this line, and it is always in the middle of the zodiac. The other planets, however, are always on one side or the other of this line, except when they are in the head or tail of the dragon. The moon passes twice in a month, and if it happens to renew at this time, it is a solar eclipse; if it happens in the full moon and is directly under the sun's nadir, it is a general eclipse, and if it is only a part, it is not visible. When there is a solar eclipse, it is not total over all climates but only in some, but when it is a lunar eclipse, it is total over all.\n\nMeridian is a great circle imagined in the sky; this circle passes by the poles of the world, and by the point of the sky directly overhead, which is called the zenith. When the sun comes over from the equator to this circle, it is meridian.\nMy day, and therefore it is called midday; and the half of the circle is above the earth, and the other beneath it, passing by the point of midnight directly opposite to Zenith. When the sun touches that part of the circle, it is midnight. If a man goes to the east or west, he has a new midday; and therefore, it is sooner midday for those who are to the east than for others. If a man stands still, his midday is the same: or if he goes towards midday or September, but if he sails, he has other Zeniths, and these two circles cross each other directly. Osyron is a great circle that divides the part of the sky that we see from what we do not see: and Ptolemy says that if a man were in a plain country, he would see just half of the sky, which is called the Empyrean (that is to say, the upper half). Osyron is joining near the earth; of which Osyron, the center is the middle, and is the place where we are. Each is always in the middle of his Osyron.\nZenych is the pole, and as a man transports himself from one place to another, he is in other places against the sky, and has other Zenych and other azimuths. All azimuths are right or oblique. They have right azimuths that lie under the equinoxial, and have their Zenych in the equinoxial, for their azimuths intersect and divide the equinoxial evenly by the two poles of the world, so that none of the poles of the world is raised above their azimuths, nor sunk beneath them, but those who dwell elsewhere have their azimuths oblique, for they follow and divide the equinoxial sideways and not right. And there always appears to them one of the poles of the world raised above their azimuths, and the other hidden, so that they see them not, more or less, according to diverse habitations, and after they have been far from the equinoxial, and the more that one pole is raised, the more oblique is their azimuth.\nAnd the other pole is deprived, and it is to note that there is as much distance from the azimuth to the pole: as it is from the zenith to the equinoxial. Zenith is the fourth part of Meridian or the middle of the bow daily, of which the two ends are on the azimuth. And also that of the pole to the equinoxial is the fourth part of all the roundness of the skies, and also of the Meridian circle, since it passes by the poles and crosses the equinoxial directly.\n\nExample of the azimuth of Paris after the opening of Ptolemy and other astronomers, over which azimuth they say the pole is raised 49 degrees: therefore they also say that from the zenith of Paris to the equinoxial there are 49 degrees, and that from the azimuth to the zenith, which is the fourth part of the Meridian cycle, are 72 degrees, and from the pole to the summer solstice, 57 degrees, and from the solstice to the equinoxial, 33 degrees.\n\nThere are from the [missing text]\nThe fourth part of the sky, from the equinox to the winter solstice, is 33.3 degrees. The equinox is then passed over the Tropic of Capricorn by 41 degrees, and the summer solstice is 135.8 degrees. In this solstice, the sun is at the hour of noon, marking the longest day of summer. It then enters the sign of Cancer and is closest to our habitable territories. When the sun is in the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year at noon, it enters the sign of Capricorn. The said solstice is not raised over the Ozyron of Paris but only 8 degrees. These climates and risings can be found clearly, so that one knowing one can determine them in every region in a similar manner, depending on the situation.\n\nOn the sky are two great circles named colors, which divide the sky into four equal parts and intersect directly with each other.\nand the one passes by the poles of the world and by the two solstices, and the other by the poles also, & by the two equinoxes. The first small circle is called the northern circle because of the pole star around the northern pole, and its likeness is to its opposite, named the southern circle. The other two are named tropics; the one of summer and the other of winter. The tropical summer solstice is the cause of the summer solstice beginning the sign of Cancer: and the tropical winter solstice is the beginning of the sign of Capricorn. [Here ought to be noted that] the distances of the northern pole to the northern circle, and the distance of the tropical summer solstice to the equinoxes, & that of the equinoxes to the tropical winter solstice: and from the southern circle to the southern pole are equally distant each about 23.5 degrees.\nCircle around the pole make together, 47.7 degrees. The which take away of the quarter between the pole and the equator, where as ben 90 degrees, save that there abides 43. That be the distance between the tropic of winter and the circle antarctic, and these circles be said little for they be not so great as the others. Ozyron, an empyrean, differed: for Ozyron is the circle that divides the part of the sky, that we see, from the under the earth that we see not. Also Ozyron is the circle that moves not, but as we move from one place to another; but empyrean turns continually; for one party rises and mounts over Ozyron, and the other part descends and enters under it; thus Ozyron rises not nor descends, but that which comes above rises and that which goes under descends. Meridian also rises not nor sets. Equinoxial is the diurnal circle that rises and sets.\nresconseth reguler: as moche in one houre as in another / and all in .xxiiii: houres: zodyake the large cyrcle and oblyke / wheron the sygnes ben reyseth and resconseth all on a day naturall / but nat reguler: for it ryseth mo\u00a6re in one houre than in another / for that oure ozyron is oblyke and deuydeth the zodyake in\n two partyes: wherof one is euer ouer our ozy\u00a6ron / and the other vnderneth. Thus halfe of the sygnes ryseth ouer our ozyron euery daye artyfyciall / be it shorte or longe / and the other halfe by nyghte / wherfore it behoueth that in the dayes that ben shorter than the nyghte the sygnes ryseth soner / and in longe dayes more at leyser / and thus the zodyake ryseth nat re\u2223gulerly in these partyes as the equynocciall / But there is dowble varyacion for halfe of the zodyake that is from the firste begyn\u0304ynge of Aries vnto the laste ende of Virgo / all to\u00a6gyther taketh equally as moche tyme in risyn\u00a6ge / as halfe of the equynocciall the whiche re\u2223mayneth by it / and they do begyn to ryse in a\nThe zodiac rises unequally: the western half rises sooner in the beginning, and the equinoxes less so, which is called their obliquity. Conversely, the other half of the zodiac, from Libra to Pisces, and the corresponding half of the equinoxes, rise equally together, but the equinoxes in the beginning rise sooner, and the zodiac more slowly, which is called rising directly. For instance, the movements of the two examples given earlier: if two men traveled from London to Windsor and departed together, and one went fast while the other went slowly, the one who went faster would be sooner in the midway than the other. However, if the faster one went slowly in the midway, and the other went faster, they would both arrive at Windsor at the same time.\nHalf of the zodiac: from the beginning of Cancer to the end of Sagittarius in rising bears more than half the equinoctial, so that this half rises right, and the other half of the zodiac rises contrarywise or crooked. Before we speak of the stars and knowledge that Ptolemy and other astronomers had, we will speak of the division of the earth and of its parts, according to their opinion. It is to be noted that the earth is round, and therefore, as a man goes from one country to another, he has other azimuths than he had; and there appears another part of the sky. If a man went from the northern hemisphere, that is the northern parties, towards midday, the southern pole would be less raised for him; that is, it would be closer approaching to the earth. And if he went contrarywise, it would be more raised, that is, appearing higher. Therefore, if he went towards midday under Meridian while the southern pole were less raised over his head.\nIn the third part of one of the six parts of the Ark, Osyon should pass through half of the earth's circuit; the pole should be less raised by one degree, or conversely, raised by one degree more than he should pass one degree of the earth's circuit, which together comprises 324 degrees. One degree of the earth contains about 44.5 leagues. Every league is two miles. The sphere of the sky is divided by the four lesser circles in the five parts called zones. Similarly, the earth is divided into five regions.\n\nThe first is between the polar region and the Arctic circle. The second is between the Arctic circle and the Tropic of Cancer. The third is between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The fourth is between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic circle. The fifth is between the Antarctic circle and the polar region. Of these regions of the earth, some astronomers say:\nThe first and fifth are uninhabitable due to their extreme coldness, as they are far from the sun. The third, located in the middle, is not habitable due to excessive heat. The second and fourth parties are neither too near nor too far from the sun and are moderate in heat and cold. If there are no other hindrances, and assuming this is true, it is not possible to pass through the region under the sun's way called the zone, turned to go from the second to the fourth, for some astronomers would have shown this if it were possible. Therefore, they say that there is no inhabited region other than the second, where we and all others dwell.\n\nPtolemy and other astronomers say that if the earth were inhabited all around and positioned:\n\nFirstly, those who inhabit under the equinoxes have day and night alike.\nThe Egyptians, having the two poles of the world at the two corners of their ecliptic, can see all the stars when they see the two poles. The sun thus passes twice in a year over them, when it passes by the equinoxes. Therefore, the sun is to them the northern half of the year toward the northern pole, and the other half toward the southern pole, and hence they have two winters in a year, one being when we have winter, and the other when we have summer. Similarly, they have two summers, one in March when we have primavera, and the other in September when we have harvest, and by this they have four solstices: two high when the sun passes by their zenith, and two low when it declines one way or another. And thus they have four shadows in a year, for when the sun is in the equinoxes twice in one year in the morning, their shadows are in the occident: and at night in the orient, and then at noon they have no shadows, but when the sun is in the signs.\nSeptemtrial lands, and similarly those between the equator and the tropic of summer, have two summers and two winters, and four shadows in a year. The only difference is that they have longer days in summer and shorter ones in winter, as the length of the equinoxal day is similar to that of summer. The first climate is in Araby, where Ethiopia is located. Thirdly, those under the tropic of summer have the sun overhead and the solstice day of summer at noon, their shadows are smaller than ours, and there is a part of Ethiopia. Fourthly, those between the tropic of summer and the Arctic circle have longer days in summer than the aforementioned, as they are farther from the equinoxial, and shorter in winter, and they never have the sun overhead or towards the south pole, and that part of the earth we do not inhabit.\nThose who dwell beneath the circular articule have the ecliptic of the zodiac as their azimuth, and when the sun is in the solstice of summer, it does not set: and thus they have no night but natural days of 24 hours. It seems that when the sun is in the solstice of winter, it is natural day when they have continuous night, and the sun rises not to them. Sixthly, those who are between the circular articule and the pole articule have in summer various natural days that are one artificial day to them without night. And also in winter, there are many natural days: which natural days are to them always night, and the more that it approaches or draws near the pole, the longer is the artificial day of summer, and it lasts in some places a week, in some a month, in some two months, in some three, and in some more. Proportionally, the night is greater, for some of the signs are always on their meridian, and some always under, and as long as the sun is in the signs around it, it is day.\nday and night are reversed under the pole. Seventhly, those who dwell under the pole have half of the year on their axis and experience continuous day, while the other half of the year is continuous night. The equinox is their axis that separates the signs .vi. above and .vi. below. Therefore, when the sun is in the signs that are high and toward them, they have continuous day. Conversely, when it is in the signs toward midday, they have continuous night, and thus in a year they have but one day and one night. And as it is said of the northern hemisphere, a man can understand the opposite and the hemisphere towards the south pole.\n\nPtolemy and others divided the habitable earth into seven climates: the torrid zones, the arid zones, the temperate zones, the equatorial zones, the frigid zones, the arctic zones, and the antarctic zones. Each of which has its determined longitude.\nThe latitude of places is longer and larger the closer they are to the equator. The first climate, as defined by some astronomers, is approximately half the circumference of the earth, which is about 2,000,000 miles in length and 1,000,000 miles in breadth. The second climate, and so on, becomes smaller as the earth approaches the southern hemisphere. To understand what a climate is, according to astronomers, a climate is an equally large area, where the length is from east to west, and the breadth is increasing from the equator towards the poles, drawing towards the south, as much as a clock changes. In habitable areas, clocks change seven times in the breadth of the climates. It is necessary to note that they are seven in number and where the variation of clocks occurs.\nIs there is the duty of climates, howbeit it is proper to take such variation in the middles of the climates, not at the beginning nor at the end. One climate always has a day artificial of some summer, shorter or longer, than another climate, and this day shows the difference in the middles of every climate, better than in the middles and at the end. It is to be noted that under the equinoxes, the days and nights in all times are equal, each of twelve hours; but coming towards the north, the summer days lengthen, and the winter days shorten, and the more one approaches the north, the more the days increase in such a way that at the end of the last climate, the summer days in summer are longer by three hours and a half than they are at the beginning of the first. And the pole is more.\nThe longest day of summer has a length of 12 hours and 45 minutes, and the pole is raised on the azimuth 12 degrees and 45 minutes. In the middle of the first climate, the longest day has a length of 13 hours, and the pole is raised 16 degrees. The latitude lasts until the longest day of summer, which is 13 hours and 15 minutes long, and the pole is raised 20 degrees and a half, covering a distance of 4,410 miles of earth. The second climate begins at the end of the first, and in its middle, the day has a length of 13 hours and a half, and the pole is raised 24 degrees and 15 minutes over the azimuth. The latitude lasts until the longest day has a length of 13 hours and 45 minutes, and the pole is raised 27 degrees and a half, covering a distance of 4,000 miles of earth. The third climate begins at the end of the second, and in its middle, the day has a length of 13 hours. The pole is raised 27 degrees and a half over the azimuth.\nthe pole is raised .xxx degrees / .xlv minutes / and the latitude extends to there as the longest day has IV hours / and XV minutes / and the pole is raised .xxiii degrees / and XL minutes / the latitude lasts until there as the longest day has III hours / and XLV minutes / and the pole is raised .xxx degrees / and the length of the earth contains CCC miles / The V climate begins at the end of the third: and the middle is there as the longest day has IV hours and a half / and the pole is raised XXVI degrees / and XX minutes / the latitude lasts until there as the longest day has XIII hours / and XLV minutes / and the pole is raised XXX degrees / and the length of the earth contains CC.lii miles / The VI climate begins at the end of the fifth / and the middle is there as the longest day has XV hours / and XLI degrees / and XX minutes / and the latitude lasts until there as the longest day has XV hours / and XV minutes / and the pole is raised XLIV degrees and a half.\nThe longest day has 15 hours and half / and the pole is raised over the equator 45 degrees 23 minutes / of which the length lasts until the longest day has 15 hours 45 minutes. This length contains 201.2 miles of earth. The seventh climate begins at the end of the sixth, and the middle is where the longest day has 16 hours: and the pole is raised 48 degrees 40 minutes. The latitude extends to where the longest day has 16 hours 15 minutes, and the pole is raised 1 degree and a half. The size of the earth contains 1278.6 miles.\n\nAfter the length of the climates, if one could go around the earth from east to west, some astronomers say that this passage can almost be made. They say that if a man went this passage in 12 natural days, going regularly to the west, and began now at noon, he would pass\nEvery day, naturally, a twelfth part of the earth's circle, which is thirty degrees, requires the sun to make a course around the earth and thirty degrees further, or the man would return on the morrow at meridian of the said man. Therefore, it follows necessarily that in twelve natural days, the said man should only have but eleven days and eleven nights, and somewhat less, and that the sun should light him but eleven times: and respond eleven times for eleven days and eleven nights, every day and night of twenty-four hours making twelve natural days, every day of twenty-four hours. By similar consideration, it is necessary that another man who should make this course going towards the orient have his day and night shorter than a natural day by two hours, and his day and night be of twelve hours. Then, if he made this course:\nIn this twelve-day span, that is, slightly longer, consider the case where John sailed toward the west and Peter toward the east, with Robert remaining in the place they departed from, meeting them both together. Peter would claim he had two days and two nights more than John, while Robert had rested a day less than Peter and a day more than John. Regardless of whether they made this course in twelve natural days or three or ten years, it is all the same. This is an enjoyable consideration among astronomers regarding how John and Peter arrive on the same day \u2013 suppose it was on a Sunday. John would say it is Saturday. Peter would say it is Monday. Robert would say it is Sunday.\n\nNow, let us discuss certain stars in more detail. Firstly, among those stars that Ptolemy and other astronomers call the Pole Star or the star of the north, we must understand that we see it by reason of its position.\nThe sky turns from orient to occident by the daily motion, which is made on two points opposing each other, those being the poles of the sky. Of these two points, we see one visibly, and it is the northern pole, and the other we do not see, which is the southern pole or the pole antarctic, which is always hidden beneath the earth. By the northern pole that we see is the star most approached, which astronomers call the pole star. They say that it is the highest and most distant from us, and by which they have knowledge of other stars and parts of the sky. The stars that are by the said pole never go under the earth, of which are the stars that make the chariot and divers others, but those that are far from it sometimes go under the earth as the sun, the moon, and other planets. Under this pole directly is the angle of the earth, in the place where, against the sun, is at the hour of midday.\nAries is a hot and dry sign that governs the head and face of man, and the regions of Babylon, Perseus, and Arabel. It symbolizes small trees, and at the 16th degree rises a fixed star called Andromeda: which astronomers figure as a maiden on the sea's brink, set to be devoured by the monsters of the sea. But Perseus, son of Jupiter, fought against the said monster with his sword, and then the said Andromeda was delivered. Those born under her constellation are in danger of prison or death in prison, but if a good planet takes notice, they do not die or go to prison. Aries is the exaltation of the sun at the 19th degree, and Aries is the house of Mars with Scorpio, where he is most exalted. Taurus has trees, plants, and ivy, and governs the neck and throat bulge of man, the regions of Ethiopia, Egypt, and the surrounding country. And under the 22nd degree rises a star of the first magnitude.\nAstronomers call Perseus a son of Jupiter, who beheaded Medusa, causing all who beheld her to die and whom no one could escape. Ptolemy and other astronomers state that when Mars is conjunct with this star, those born under its constellation will have their heads struck if God does not intervene; and sometimes they call this star the lord of the sword, depicting it as a man naked with a sword in one hand and Medusa's head in the other, not looking at it. This sign is Taurus, the exaltation of the moon in the third degree.\n\nGemini signifies large, good courage, wit, beauty, clergy, and governs the shoulders, arms, and hands of man, as well as the regions Inde, Armony, and Cartage, and has the small trees. Under the 18th degree rises a fixed star called Ophiuchus, along with 36 other stars, and is figured as a man armed in military attire and a sword girdle around him, signifying great captains. Those born under it.\nthe co\u0304\u00a6stellacion ben in daunger to be slayne by trea\u00a6son / if good fortune be nat with them. Gemi\u00a6ni and Virgo ben the houses of Mercury / but Virgo is it / in the whiche he ioyeth most / and Gemini in the .iii. degree is the exaltacyon of the dragons hede.\nCAncer gouerneth the longe & the egall trees / and of the body of man the breste the herte / the stomacke / the syde / the ly\u2223ghtes\n/ and the lunges / the regyons Armonye the lytell / and the regyon of oryent. And there ryseth vnder it in the .viii. degree a sterre fyx\u00a6ed that Astronomyers calle Alhabor (that is to saye) of the great dogge / and they saye that they whiche ben borne vnder the constellacy\u2223on: and that ben in the ascendynge or the myd\u00a6des\n of the skye it sygnyfyeth good fortune / & if the moone be with it / and the partye of for\u2223tune / he that in it shall be borne / shall nat be very ryche / and Cancer the sygne so called / is the house of the moone / and is the exaltacy\u00a6on of Iupiter in the .xv. degree.\nLEo hath the great trees (that is to\nHe is lord over them and signifies a hasty man full of anger and anguish, and of the body of man. It is fitting for the heart, the back, and the sides. And in the region of Tartary, to the end of the earth, lies a fixed star called the Lion's Heart. Those born under this constellation, as astronomers say, will be mounted in high offices or great signories, and afterwards will be deprived or put down, and be in danger of their lives. But if some good planet beholds the said star, they may not be harmed. Leo is the house of the sun, and Aries is the exaltation of the sun, as it is said by Ptolemy and others.\n\nVirgo governs all that is sown on earth and signifies a man of good courage, a philosopher plentiful and of all manner of sciences, and keeps the belly and the entrails. The region Algerita, Assyria, that is a region by Jerusalem, Euphrates, and the Isle of Spain. Under the longitude.\nThe fifth degree rises a fixed star named Nebuluse, or the Lion's tail, in the septemtrional latitude of the Virgo sign. Under which sign rises another fixed star, which astronomers call the Golden Cup, in the 13th degree towards the meridional party. This star is of the nature of Venus and Mercury: and signifies that those born under the said constellation know worthy, good, and holy things.\n\nLibra, which dominates the great trees, signifies Justice and governs the reigns, the nether part of the belly, and the countries of Rome and Greece. Under the 18th degree rises a fixed star called Porke espyke. Those born under the constellation are well shaped and honest, and do things that amaze people and rejoice, and signify riches through honest and precious merchandise, and are commonly loved by lords and ladies. Libra.\nVenus has two houses: Taurus and I, the latter being the one she rejoices most in. The exaltation of Saturn is in Libra, as the weather begins to grow cold in September. Saturn is the planet and lord of coldness, and he is exalted at great height when entering the sign of Libra.\n\nScorpio, which dominates long and large trees, signifies falseness and governs the secret parts and regions of the liver. The field of Araby, in the second degree, rises a star that astronomers call the septemtrional crown. When this star is in the ascendant in the middle of the sky, it brings honor and exaltation to those born under its constellation, especially when it is well aspected by the Sun.\n\nScorpio is one of Mars' houses, in which he rejoices most. Aries is the other, and it is the sign where Mars begins to descend or fall from his exaltation.\n\nSagittarius signifies the man.\ningeny\u00a6ous & wyse / and gouerneth the thy\u2223ghes of man / And regyons Ethyope Maharobem / and Aenyche. Vnder his firste degree ryseth a sterre fxyed of the first magny\u00a6tude / the which Astronomyers call the Scor\u00a6pyons herte / whiche whan it is well behol\u2223den of Iupiter or Venus / it reyseth them that ben borne vnder his constellacion to great ho\u00a6noure and rychesse / but whan it is euyl behol\u00a6den of Saturne or of Mars / it putteth them that ben borne vnder it to pouerte / the Scor\u2223pyon is the house of Iupiter / in the whiche he reioyseth moste / and Pisces is the other house: and so is he sayde Sagittary / the exaltacion of the dragons tayse.\nCApricornus sygnyfieth a man of good and perfyte lyfe / wyse\n/ yrefull / and of great thought: and gouerneth the knees of man / and the regyons Ethyopye / Araby / Behamen / and to the two sees / and vnder\n his .xxviii. degree ryseth a sterre / that Astro\u2223nomyers call the flyinge Egle / that sygnyfy\u00a6eth the souerayne or myghty Emperoures / or kynges. They that ben borne vnder\nThis constitution / when well aspected by the sun from the house of Jupiter mounts in great splendor and is loved by kings and princes. Capricorn and Aquarius are the houses of Saturn, but he rejoices most in Aquarius. The sign of the aforementioned Capricorn is the exaltation of Mars.\nAquarius, which holds the shanks unto the ankles of the man's feet, and the regions: Hazenoth, Asempha, and part of Alphege's land, & part of Egypt. The 21st degree rises a star, which astrologers call the Fish meridian. Those born under this constellation are happy in fishing in the southern sea and under the 9th degree of the same sign rises the Dolphin, which signifies lordship on the sea, ponds, and rivers. Aquarius is the house of Saturn in which he rejoices.\nPisces governs the feet of man and signifies a man cunning, wise, and of diverse colors, and has regions Trapesen, Iurgen, and all the habitable party.\nseptemtryon and part of Romanny, as well as under the 15th degree of the same sign, rises a star called Pegasus - the Horse of Honor. Those born under this constellation will be honored among great captains and lords, when Venus is with it. They will be loved by great ladies if the said star is in the middle of the sky during its descent, and Pisces is one of Jupiter's houses, and Sagittarius the other, in which he rejoices most. The 27th degree of Pisces is the exaltation of Venus.\n\nIt is to understand that the Heavens and the earth are divided into four parts by two circles. These circles cross, directly over the two poles, and cross the equinoctial line twice. Each of the four parts divided into three equal parts is in all twelve equal parts, as in the sky as on the earth, which Ptolemy and others call houses, and there are twelve of which six are always above the earth.\nUnder it: these houses move not but have always been each in its place, and the signs and planets pass by them always one in every twenty-four hours. Three of these houses are from orient to midnight going under the earth: The first, the second, and the third, of which the first begins under the earth in the east, named the house of life. The second is named substance and riches. The third that finishes at midnight is the house of fraternity. The fourth that begins at midnight coming from the west is named the house of patrimony. The fifth is the house of sons. The sixth finishes in the west under the earth is the house of sickness. The seventh begins in the west on the earth and stretches toward midday is the house of marriage. The eighth is the house of death. The nineteenth finishes at midday is named the house of faith, of religion, and pilgrimage that finishes in the east on the earth is called the house of charity. However, this matter is difficult.\nAstronomers knowing the nature and properties of each of the twelve houses, and distinguishing them lightly. He who wishes to know which planet reigns every hour of the day and night, and which is good and which is bad, must first know the planet of the day. To find this out, the first temporal hour of the sun's rising belongs to that planet. The second hour is for the next planet, and the third for the following one, in order, and it is necessary to go from the sun to Venus, Mercury, and the Moon, then return to Saturn up to the twelfth hour, which is the hour before the sun goes down. In the continuous night after the sun has gone down, the first hour of the night belongs to the eighth planet, and the second hour to the fourteenth, and so on up to the twelfth hours of the night, which is the next hour before the sun rises, and falls directly upon the twenty-fourth planet.\nday folowyn\u00a6ge. And thus the day hath .xii. houres / and the nyght .xii. also / the whiche ben temporall hou\u00a6res / dyfferent to the houres of the clockes / the whiche ben artyfycyalles. Ptholomeus and other Astronomers say that Saturne & Mars ben euyll planettes / Iupiter & Venus good / Sol and Luna halfe good / and halfe euyll. The partie to warde the good planet is good and the partye to warde the euyll planette is nought. Mercury conioyned with a good pla\u00a6net is good / and with an euyll planette he is nought / and they vnderstande this as the in\u2223fluenc{is} good or euyll / that ben of the sayd pla\u00a6nettes here folowynge. \u00b6 The houres of the planettes ben dyfferent to them of clockes: for the houres of clockes ben egall at all tymes / eche of .lx. mynutes / but they of the planettes whan the dayes & the nyghtes ben egall that the sonne is in one of the equynocces they ben egall / But as soone as the dayes longeth or shorteth / so dothe the naturall houres / by this it is conuenyent alwaye for the daye to haue\nIn December, the days have but eight hours artificial from clocks, and they have twelve temporal hours. Let the eight artificial hours be divided into twelve equal parts, and it shall be twelve times. Forty minutes, and each part shall be a temporal hour of forty minutes and no more. Thus, in December, the temporal hours of the day have but forty minutes, but the hours of the night have eighty. For in that time, the night has sixteen artificial hours, which divided into twelve parts, are:\nThe text describes the length of hours in different months and the zodiac signs associated with each planet. Here's the cleaned text:\n\nFor every temporal hour, there are 60 minutes. Thus, the night hours in December have 80 minutes, and for an hour of the day, there are 120 minutes in two temporal hours, as many as in two artificial hours, each of which is 40 minutes in June. In March and September, all hours are equal, as the days are in other months by equal proportion.\n\nWith every planet named before, there are the signs which are the houses of the said planets, as before said. Capricornus and Aquarius are the houses of Saturn. Sagittarius and Pisces are of Jupiter. Scorpio and Aries are of Mars. Leo is of the Sun. Taurus and Libra are of Venus. Gemini is of Mercury. And Cancer is of the Moon, with other significations that would be long to recount.\n\nSaturn is the highest planet of all the seven. He is mighty of himself: he gives all the great coldnesses and waters. Yet he is dry and cold of nature. He comes into Cancer. His chief signs are Aquarius and Capricornus. He compasses all.\nFor Saturn is next under the first mobile that is beneath the crystall sky / the which mobile moves marvelously / for some astronomers say / that he causes by his moving all other planets to move / and moves the mobile above. Saturn is so high that astronomers cannot well measure it. For so high a reason has power and no further / and therefore it is more than thirty years or he may run his course. When he reigns, there is much theft used / and little charity / much lying / and much lawsuits one against another / and great swearing. And much plenty of corn / and also much plenty of hogs / and great toil on the earth / and old folk shall be very sickly: and many diseases shall reign among the people / and specifically in the chief hours of Saturn. And therefore this planet is likened unto age / hard, hungry, suspicious, and covetous / that seldom is content with anything / for Saturn is enemy to all.\nThe thing that grows and bears life by nature is that which endures the cold and stormy seasons of its time. A man born under Saturn will be false, envious, full of debate, and full of law. He will be cunning in the cornering of leather and a great eater of bread and flesh. He will have a stinking breath, and be heavy, thoughtful, and malicious, a robber, a fighter, and full of covetousness. Yet he will keep good counsel and be wise in counseling, and he will love to sin willfully. He will be a great speaker of tales, justices, and chronicles. He will have little joy, black hair, great lips, broad shoulders, and will look downward. He will not love sermons nor go to church, and beware of his hands. He beholds the milk, and above his nerves the planet reigns. And the children of the aforementioned Saturn will be great angels and cherubs, black and lean in the face, thin-bearded, evil-tongued, full of law and vengeance.\nThe planet Saturn will never forgive until they are avenged of their quarrel. Like Saturn, the planet that is born under it is cold in charity and unmerciful and merciless, but vengeful, and will never be appeased. They will be great cursers, bearing malice for a long time and not forgiving it. They desire to be obeyed and have great reverence, and they commonly praise themselves and take to themselves, laughing at their own conceit. All evil will grow in them, and above all, they will love black color best. The planet Saturn governs the melancholic humor in a man, and above the nerves, as previously stated. This planet is the cause of hasty death because it is dry and cold in nature. It is likened to melancholy. The said Saturn reigns in Aquarius, Capricorn, and Cancer, but specifically in Aquarius and Capricorn. Jupiter, the noble planet, is very pure and clear.\nnatura and nature is very hot, but he is all virtuous. And there is fixed in Jupiter two noble signs of love: the one is Pisces, and the other is Sagittarius: signs of no evil nor of no unhappiness. This planet may not do any evil, he is best of all the others, he keeps the liver of man: and may maintain it joyfully, and evermore this planet does only good and no evil, and within twelve years or thereabout, he passes through all the twelve signs. He who is born under him will love cleanliness of body, and will not use to speak of ribaldry and harlotry, he shall ever love religion and virtuous living, he shall be pleasing to the eye, he shall be perfect in all manner of measures, both large and long, he shall be white in the face, mixed with a little redness, large brows, a fair speaker, and good-natured behind the person, he shall love green color and gray, he shall be happy in merchandise, and have plenty of gold and silver.\nshall love to sing and be honestly merry. And of the man he governs, the stomach and the arms. Mars is called the god of battle and war, and he is the third planet; for he reigns next under the gentle planet of Jupiter. This planet Mars is the worst of all others, for it is hot and dry, and stirs a man to be very willful and stubborn, and to unhappiness. One of its signs is Aries, and the other is Scorpio. He causes all wars and battles. This planet stirs men to bear weapons, as murderers, daggers, swords, bills, or bows, or some other weapon of death, and would ever hear of fighting. Therefore let every man beware of Mars' days, and in his chief hours that no man fight, for without doubt, if God help him not, he shall be maimed or slain. Also in the hours of Mars is perilous meeting with thieves, for fear of the slaying of true men. And Saturn enters into the Crab, and goes about the twelve signs in two years.\nHe who is born under this planet of Mars,\nis expert in all unhappiness. He is a nourisher of great beasts. He is full of malice, and ever doing wrong. Under Mars is born thieves and robbers who keep ways, and do harm to true men, night walkers, quarrel pickers, bosters, mockers, and skoffers. These men of Mars cause war and murder, and they will be gladly smiths or workers in iron, light-fingered, and liars and great swearers in vegetable form. A great surmiser and crafty, he is red and angry with black hair, and little eyes, he shall be a great walker, and a maker of swords and knives, a shedder of men's blood, a fornicator, and a speaker of ribaldry, red-bearded, round-faced, and good to be a butcher and a bloodletter, and to draw teeth, and is perilous of his hands, and he will be rich with other men's goods. And of the body of man, Mars keeps the gall and the reins.\n\nAs for Sol is a Planet of\nThe great renowned and king of all the planets, is Sol. The planet of Saturn is contrary to him, for it is ever cold, and the noble planet of the Sun is hot and gives all light. When it is above the earth it is day, and when the earth shadows the Sun it is night. Both man and woman should praise God for this noble planet, for it comforts both man and beast, fish, and all birds that fly in the air. All things are glad for the Sun, after it goes into the west, the fair flowers close themselves. The king of all the planets is Sol. All men and women born under this planet of Sol will be very fair, amiable of face, and their skin will be right white and tender, with a little redness in the visage. They will take pleasure in their own beauty, and will show their lives as good and holy.\nSecrets if they give them to religion, they shall be fortunate and receive great promotions. They shall be clean and good of faith, and governors of other people. If they are never so poor, yet they will love hawking and hunting with hounds and hawks. And the children born under the Sun shall desire honor and science, and they shall sing very pleasantly, and they shall be full of courage, good and diligent, and shall desire lordship above other people. They shall give wise judgment. Their words shall sound sweetly, and if he bears any office, he shall be liberal. He shall be subtle in deeds of war, and many shall seek him for counsel. He shall have profit by women, and shall be in service with lords, and by them shall have augmentation for his wisdom. His sign shall be in the face. He shall be small of stature, with a hooked nose and bald on the head. He will be seldom angry, and of all the members in a man's body.\nThe Sun keeps the heart as the most powerful planet among all the other planets.\nVenus, the gentle planet, reigns next after the Sun and is a feminine planet, a lady over all lovers. This planet is moist and cold in nature. Its signs are Taurus and Libra, and in them it finds all its joy and pleasure. It brings joy, especially among young people, for it greatly reigns over them and over all men who are jealous, as well as women. For jealousy is but an inordinate love. When a man or woman loves more intensely than they should, they never leave the sight of their lovers. For if they suspect them, they fear being deceived. No man loves a woman by carnal affection but by the influence of Venus, and few men can escape from its danger. This planet Venus reigns over twelve months in the twelve signs.\nAll those men and women born under Venus will be very gay lovers, pleasurable.\nand they shall have delicate complexions, most commonly with black eyes and little brows, red lips and cheeks, smiling faces. They will love the noise of trumpets, clarions, and other musical instruments. They will be pleasant singers with sweet voices, full of wanton toys, plays, and jests, and will greatly delight in dancing and casting of gambodes, leaping and springing. They will enjoy playing at chess, cards, and tables, and often desire coming from lust and love. They will frequently crave sweet foods and drinks, such as wine, and will often be drunk, desiring lechery and the beholding of fair women. Women will also delight them in the same way. They will use the deed of fleshly lust often. They will desire fair clothes of gay colors and fine fabrics, with rings of vanity, and all vain pleasures of the world, with pearls and precious stones. They will love flowers with sweet smells. Yet they will be of good faith. They will love others as well as themselves.\nIf someone is born under Mercury, they will be very witty and a devout person to God. They will have good conscience and be very crafty in many sciences. With their wisdom and labor, they will gain many friends and lovers. They will always follow and resort to those of good manners. Mercury, the fair planet, is next under Venus and is masculine above the Moon. This Mercury is very full and dry in nature, and its two principal signs are Gemini, which reigns in the arms and hands of man or woman, and Virgo, which governs the intestines and stomach. This planet is the lord of speech, just as the Sun is the lord of light. Mercury passes and circles the twelve signs in 323 days.\nA man who sails the sea will be fortunate and follow the course of merchandise. He will be very gracious. He will suffer harm from women. When he marries, men will not hold him in the same esteem as before. He will have great love for ladies and gentlewomen, but they will not be his masters. He will be a very good churchman or a religious man and will not enjoy going to war. He will hate thieves and swearers. He will amass great riches through his wisdom. If he is a man of the world, he will be proficient in some handicraft. He will love preaching and speaking fair rhetorical language. He will love philosophy and geometry. He will love writing and reading in foreign books. He will be skilled at accounting with large numbers. He will be a great maker of ballads, songs, metres, and rhythms. He will be proficient in the art of music and love it. He will love measuring and meting. He will be a great cloth maker. He will serve some great lord.\nEllis is a receiver of his money. He shall have a high forehead, a long visage, black eyes, and a thin beard. He will be a great pleader in the law and will meddle with other men's deeds, and they do not well and say nothing against it. Mercury governs the thighs, the belly, and the flanks.\n\nIt is known and understood that the lowest planet of the seven is named Luna, which we call the moon. This planet is called feminine or female among astronomers and is called the Lady of the night among us, for the chief light and clarity that is by night comes from the presence of the moon. The moon is much nearer to us than any other, and therefore she gives us much more light than the stars do. The moon is the lady of moisture and rules the sea by ebb and flow. The moon takes her light from the sun 22 times a year. The moon is cold and moist in nature, and her color is fairer than silver, and her chief house is\nCancer is the only planet that is both low and has a small circuit, and it descends into Scorpio. It goes around the twelve signs in twenty-six days and then changes and recalculates new ones. This is the course of the Moon, according to Ptolemy.\n\nPeople and women born under the Moon are humble and servile. If it's a maiden child, she will be shamefast and womanly. Both men and women will be well-favored, with full and round faces. They will be patient people who will suffer much before seeking revenge. They will be soft-spoken and very courteous. They will live honestly with those whom God sends them and will associate with virtuous company. They will be well-formed in body and have merry looks and love honestly to be happy. They will live chastely and love greatly the virtue of cleanliness, both in word and deed. They hate lecherous talkers and ribaldry.\nTheir color shall be mixed but with little redness; they will gladly put on many colored clothes and soon be sweet in the forefront. They will have great desire to be masters and mistresses over great streams, rivers, and floods, and will devise many proper engines for taking fish and deceiving them. Whatever they say will be true and steadfast, and they will be very honest and good walkers on foot. They will comfort sick persons. He will love sometimes to talk of marvels; he will not keep hatred long in his mind, and he will appease the people with communications. As well as others should do with silver. He will love honest women and will hate harlots and brothels, and will nurse children up in virtue and good manners. And the lights and brains of man are under the governance of Luna, that is the moon.\n\nTo know under what planet a man or woman is born, it is necessary to know that there are seven planets in the sky.\nThe seven planets are named after the seven days of the week. Each day takes its name from the reigning planet at its beginning. The ancient philosophers say that Sol dominates Sunday (the reason being that the Sun, among other planets, is the most worthy), hence it takes the worthiest day, which is Sunday. Luna dominates the first hour of Monday. Mars, the first hour of Tuesday. Mercury, for Wednesday. Jupiter, for Thursday. Venus, for Friday. And Saturn, for Saturday. The day has twenty-four hours, and each hour is ruled by a planet.\n\nIt is to be noted that when a man begins to reckon on a Sunday, he must reckon as follows: Sol, Venus, Mercury, Luna, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars. And when the number is failed, he must begin at the hour that he would know what planet reigns. Monday he ought to begin at Luna. Tuesday, at Mars. Wednesday, at Mercury. Thursday, at Jupiter.\nI. The Friday for Venus. The Saturday for Saturn. And whenever the names of the planets fail, he must begin in the order previously stated. Note that the Greeks begin their day in the morning, the Jews at noon, and Christian men at midnight, and we ought to begin reckoning from one of these times. For at one clock on Sunday in the morning rules the Sun, at two Venus, at three Mercury, at four the Moon, at five Saturn, at six Jupiter, at seven Mars, and at eight begin again with Sol, at four Venus, at five Mercury, at six the Moon, and at seven Saturn, and so in every hour.\n\nWhen a child is born, it is to be known at what hour, and if it be at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end. If it be at the beginning, he shall hold of the same planet and the one before. If it be in the middle, it shall hold of that only. If it be born at the end, it shall hold of the same and the one following.\nAfter born under a planet does not rule others, and the one of the day is above, a child holds various planets and has diverse conditions. He who is born under the Sun is prudent and wise, a great speaker, and holds virtuous in himself. Whoever is born under Venus is loved by all, good to God's ward and regular. He born under Mercury is well-behaved, subtle, mild, and not most prudent. He born under the Moon has a high forehead, ruddy, merry, shy, and religious. He born under Saturn is harsh, courteous in living, and not avaricious. He born under Jupiter is hardy, fair, ruddy, chaste, and vagabond. He born under Mars is a great speaker, a liar, a thief, a deceiver, big, and of red color. Those who wish to know this more exactly should refer to the properties of the seven planets.\nBefore rehearsing. I consider the course of celestial bodies, and the power of the high god omnipotent, which has made the sun to shine upon the good and evil, and governs all things contained in the firmament. And on earth, I have taken upon me to entitle this little treatise, to instruct and enlighten the unlettered. Firstly, to know God, their maker. Secondly, to govern their bodies and eschew infirmities. And thirdly, to know the course of the firmament and of the celestial bodies contained therein, with the dispositions of the seven planets. But he who will know his properties ought firstly to know the month that he was born in, and the sign that the sun was in on that day. I will not say that such things shall be, but that the signs have such properties as it is the will of God. After poets and astronomers, Aries is the first sign that shows the fortunes of men and women, as Ptolemy says.\n\nHere is to be known that he [referring to the person born in Aries]\nA person born under the sign of Aries: from mid-March to mid-April will be wise and neither rich nor poor. They will have dominance over their neighbors. They will have power over the goods of others. They will be quick-tempered and quickly appeased. They will have various fortunes and discords. They will desire doctrine and associate with eloquent people. They will be expert in many fields. They will be a liar and unsteady in courage. They will take revenge on their enemies. They will be better disposed in youth than in old age, up to the age of 33. They will be a fornicator and will be married at the age of 25. If he is not, he will not be chaste. He will be a mediator for some of his friends and will gladly be busy in the needs of others. He will be waited upon to be harmed. He will have a sign in the shoulder, in his head, and in his body. Yet he will be rich by the death of others. His firstborn son will not live long. He will be in danger of four-footed beasts.\nA woman born in this time will be wary and suffer great wrongs from day to day. She will gladly make false claims and lose her husband, only to recover a better one. She will be sick at age 5 and in great danger of death at age 25. If she survives, she will be in doubt till age 43 and will suffer great pain in the head. The days of the Sun and Mars will be good for them, and the days of Jupiter will be contrary. Both man and woman may resemble the sheep that every year loses its flesh and within a short time regains it.\n\nA man born in the sign of Taurus, from mid-April to mid-May, will be strong, hardy, and full of strife. Delicious, he will possess goods given to him by others that he would have taken. In his youth, he will be unwilling to forgo what he desires and will force himself to finish it.\nEvery person/and shall be wary/he shall go on pilgrimages and will leave his friends & live among strangers\nhe shall be put in offices/and shall exercise them well/& shall be rich by women/he shall be thankless and come to good estate/he will take revenge/on his enemies/he shall be bitten by a dog/and shall experience many pains by women/and shall be in peril at 33 years/he shall be in peril of water/and shall be plagued with sicknesses and poison at 23 years: and at 30 years he shall be abundant in riches/and shall rise to great dignity/& shall live 85 years and 3 months after nature: and shall see his fortune sorrowful.\n\nThe woman born in this time shall be effective/laboring/and a great liar/and shall suffer much shame/she shall rejoice in the goods of her friends the which she conceives in her mind shall come to effect/and shall have the best party/she shall have many husbands/& many children/she shall be in:\nA woman's best estate at 16 years and she shall have a sign in the midst of her body / she shall be sickly / and if she survives, she shall live 76 years after nature. She ought to wear rings and precious stones around her. The days of Jupiter and Moon are good for them / & the days of Mars are unfavorable / both man and woman can be likened to the gull that labors the land, and when the seed is sown, he has but the straw for his part / they shall keep well their own / and it shall not profit them nor others / and shall be considered unkind.\n\nHe who is born in the sign of Gemini, from mid-May to mid-June, shall have many wounds / & he shall be fair and merciful /\nhe shall lead an open and reasonable life / he shall receive much money / he will go to unknown places / &\ndo many pilgrimages / he will praise himself and will not abide in the place of his nativity / he shall be wise and neat in his works / he shall come to riches at 26 years / his first wife shall not live.\nHe shall marry strange women. He will be late married. He will be bitten by a dog. And he will have a mark of iron or fire. He will be tortured in water and will cross the sea. He will live for 100 years and 10 months after nature.\n\nThe woman who is born shall come to honor and be advanced with the goods of others. She shall be a grief of a false crime. She ought to be married at 14 years old, if she shall be chaste and avoid all peril, and shall live 70 years after nature, and shall honor God. The days of Mercury and Sun are good for them; the days of Luna and Venus are contrary to them. Both the man and the woman shall increase and assemble the goods of their successors, but they shall scarcely use their own goods. They will be very avaricious.\n\nHe who is born under the sign of Cancer, from mid-June to mid-July, will be very avaricious and of equal stature. He will love women. He will be merry, humble, good, and well renowned.\nHe shall suffer damage from envy. He shall have money from others in his guise. He shall be a conduit for others' things. He shall have strife and discord among neighbors. He will avenge himself on his enemy through his stateliness. Many shall mock him. He shall have frequent fear on the water. He will keep his courage secretly within himself. He shall suffer dolor of the womb. He shall find hidden money. He shall labor sore for his wife. He shall see peril in a certain year. Which shall be known to God. His goods shall decrease at the age of 33. He shall cross the sea. And he shall live 70 years after nature. Fortune shall be agreeable to him.\n\nThe woman who will be born in this time shall be furious,\nincontinent, angry and soon appeased,\nnimble, servable, wise, merry:\nand she shall suffer many perils.\nIf any person does her any service, she will repay them well:\nshe shall be laboring and take great pain until the age of 30,\nand then shall have rest.\nA person will have many sons. She must be married at four honors and gifts will follow her. She will have wounds and recover from them. She will be in danger from water and will be hurt in a secret place. She will be bitten by a dog and will live for 70 years. The days of Jupiter, Venus, and Luna are good. The days of Mars are evil, and both man and woman will have good fortune and victory over their enemies.\n\nA certain person born under the sign of Leo, from mid-July to mid-August, will be fair and hardy. He will speak openly and be merciful. He will weep with the weepers and be stately in words. He will have danger at a certain time, but at 30 years he will be avoided to be married, but he will escape that danger. His benefits will be unkind. He will be honored by good people and will obtain his enterprise. He will have goods by temporal services. He will be unkind to thieves.\nThe person who is to be born will be great and powerful, taking charge and gaining as much as he loses. He will come to dignity and be amiable. He will take the fortunes of three wives. He will go on pilgrimages often and suffer pain of the sight. He will fall from high and be fearful of water. He will find hidden money at the age of eight. He will be sick. He will be in peril and doubt of some great Lord. At the age of thirty-six, he will be bitten by a dog and live in great pain for eighty-four years.\n\nThe woman born in this time will be a great liar, fair, well-spoken, merciful, pleasant, and unable to endure Northmen weeping. She will be meek. Her first husband will not live long. She will have pain in her stomach. She will be avoided by her neighbors at the age of seventeen. She will live to great riches. She will have children by three men. She will be amiable and have the bloody flyxe. She will be bitten by a dog. She will fall from high.\nThe person born 77 years after nature, during the days of Mercury, Sol, and Mars, will be healthy. The days of Saturn are unfavorable, and both the man and woman will be robust and quarrelsome, yet merciful.\n\nRegarding the sign of Virgo, I found that a person born from mid-August to mid-September will gladly marry his wife. He will be a great householder, ingenious, solicitous to his work, shamefast, and of great courage. He will understand all that he sets his mind to, become angry quickly, and overcome his enemies. He will not stay long with his first wife, will be fortunate at age 31, will not hide his possessions, and will be in peril of water. He will receive a wound with iron and live for 80 years.\n\nShe, born at that time, will be shamefast, ingenious, and willing to take pains. She should be married at 12 years old and will not stay long with her first husband. Her second husband will be of long life and will have:\nA woman will be in great trouble by another woman. Her life will be in peril and she will die shortly. She will suffer pain for ten years if she survives that. Afterward, she will live twenty years according to nature. She will bring forth virtuous fruit, and everything will favor her. She will rejoice in various fortunes. The days of Mercury and the sun will be good for them, and the days of Mars will be contrary. Both the man and the woman will suffer many temptations, and they must resist them with great pain. They will delight in living chastely, but they will suffer much where that is concerned. Among the planets, Libra should be remembered. A person born from mid-September to mid-October will be greatly praised and honored in the service of captains. He will go to unknown places and will gain strange lands. He will keep his own if he does not make a revolution by drink; he will not keep his promise if he does. He will be envied by silver and other.\nA man will be good, will marry and leave his wife. He will speak quickly and cause no harm among neighbors. He will have the goods of deceased people under his control, and will have a sign in his body. Oxen, horses, and other beasts will be given to him. He will have damage and injury. He will be enriched by men and will experience evil fortunes. Many will seek counsel from him. He will live for 70 years after nature.\n\nA woman born at this time will be amiable and of great courage. She will announce the death of her enemies and go to unknown places. She will be debonair and merry, and will rejoice by her husband. If she is not married by 13, she will not be chaste and will have no sons by her first husband. She will go on many pilgrimages. After 30 years, she will prosper and have great honor and praise. Later, she will be seriously ill and will be burned in the feet before the age of 12. She will live for 60 years after nature.\nThe dayes of Venue and of Luna for them ben right good and the dayes of Mercucy contrary. And as well the man as the woman shall be in dou\u2223bte vnto theyr dethe.\nHE whiche is borne i\u0304 the sygne of Scor\u00a6pius / from myd Octobre to myd No\u2223uembre shal haue good fortune: he shal be a great fornycatour. The firste wyfe that\n he shall haue in maryage shall become relygy\u00a6ous / he wyll serue gladly to ymages / he shall suffer payne in his pryue membres at the age of .xv. yere / he shall be hardy as a Lyon / and amyable of forme many facultes shal be gy\u2223uen hym / he shal be a great goer in vysitynge dyuers countres for to knowe the customes & statutes of Cyties / & shall haue victory ouer all his enemyes / they may nat hynder hym in no maner wyse / he shall haue money by his wyfe / and shall suffer dyuers doloures of the stomacke: he shal be mery & loue the company of mery folke. In his ryght sholder shall be a sygne / by swete wordes & adulacions he shal be deceyued / he wyll often saye one & do ano\u2223ther / he shall haue\nA person will have a wound with an iron; he will be bitten by a dog or some other beast; he will be in doubt and have various enemies at the age of 33. If he survives, he shall live 84 years afterwards.\n\nA woman born in this time will be amiable and fair; she will not stay long with her first husband; and afterwards, she will enjoy herself with another through her good and true service. She will have honor and victory over her enemies. She will suffer pain in the stomach. She will be wise and have wounds in her shoulders. She should fear her latter days, which will be doubtful through venom. She will live 60 years after nature.\n\nThe days of Mars and Saturn agree with them, and the days of Jupiter are contrary. They will be sweet of words and pricking with their tails; and they will murmur, detracting others, and say otherwise than they would be said.\n\nIt is known that he who is born under Sagittarius from mid-November to mid-December shall have:\nA man who obtains mercy from every man he encounters will travel to distant, unknown, and dangerous places, and return with great wealth. His fortune will increase day by day. He will not hide what he has. He will have signs in his hands or feet. He will be fearful. At the age of 22, he will face great peril. He will cross the sea for his profit and live 77 years and 8 months.\n\nA woman born at this time will enjoy labor. She will have various thoughts for strange struggles and will not be able to see one weep. She will have victory over her enemies. She will spend much silver on evil company. She will suffer many evils. She will take great pains to obtain the goods of her kin. She should marry at 13, and will have pain in her eyes at 24, envy at 18, and suffering at an unknown age.\nby Enuye: He shall be separated from joy and live 72 years after nature. The days of Venus and Luna are good, and the days of Mars and Saturn are evil. Both man and woman will be inconstant and unstable in deeds, of good conscience and merciful, better to strangers than to themselves, and they will love God.\n\nHe who is born under Capricorn from mid-December to mid-January will be irascible, a fraud, a liar, and will always be laboring, norished with strange things, having many crimes and noises, a governor of beasts with four feet, will not be long with his wife, will suffer much sorrow and heaviness in his youth, will leave many goods and riches, will have great peril at age 16, will be of great courage, will associate with honest people, and will be rich by women, a conductor of maidens. His children will make diverse observances upon him, and he will live 80.\nAS for a woman born in this time, she will be honest and fearful; she will overcome her enemies and have children by three men. She will go on many pilgrimages in her youth and have great wit. She will have great riches and will have great pain in her eyes. She will be in her best estate at thirty years and will live for sixty years and four months. The days of Saturn and Mars are good for them, and the days of Sol are contrary. Both the man and the woman will be reasonable, yet envious.\n\nHe who is born under the sign of Aquarius from mid-January to mid-February will be loving and cheerful. He will not believe in vain things. He will have silver at twenty-four years old, will be established in his estate, will win where he goes, or will be sore sick. He will have fear on the water and, afterward, will have good fortune, and will go to various countries.\n\nThe woman that is\nA person born in this time will be delightful and have music for her children. She will be in great danger at the age of 24. At the age of 44, she will be in felicity. She will suffer harm from beasts with four feet. She will live 77 years after nature. The days of Venus and Luna are good for them. The days of Mars and Saturn are contrary. Both the man and the woman will be reasonable and will not be excessively rich.\n\nA man born under the sign of Pisces, from mid-February to mid-March, will be a great goat, a fornicator, a mocker, and covetous. He will say one thing and do another. He will find money. He will trust in his sagacity and have good fortune. He will be a defender of Orphelines and widows. He will be fearful on the water and will soon pass all his adversaries. He will live 73 years and 5 months after nature.\n\nA woman born in this time will be delightful, family-oriented in her gestures, pleasant of courage, fiery, and will have sicknesses.\nin her it shall be sorrowful by shame. Her husband will leave her, and she shall have much pain with strangers. She shall not have her own, and she shall have pain in her stomach. She shall live 77 years after nature. The days of Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus are right good for them, and the days of Mars and Saturn are contrary to them. Both the man and the woman shall live faithfully.\n\nAs Pholomeus says, Phytonomy, which has been spoken of before, is a science that astrologers have to know the natural inclination of man and woman, good or evil, by various signs on them in beholding them only. We ought to follow this inclination if it is good. But if it is evil, by the virtue and strength of understanding, we ought to eschew and avoid it, and as touching their manners, all other things than their signs demonstrate. Astrologers use this science in no other way. The prudent, virtuous, and wise may be concerning their manners, all other things than their signs demonstrate.\nA man's wisdom and understanding do not prevent him from being influenced by the evil influences of celestial bodies, even though the signs and demonstrations of these influences are not naturally under his control. For these reasons, astronomers claim that most men and women follow their natural inclinations towards vice or virtue, as the majority are not wise and prudent as they should be, and they do not use their own minds to practice virtue but follow their sensuality. The celestial influences, which are revealed through such signs, are the basis of the science of astrology.\nFor the purpose of understanding, the year is divided into four parts, as it has been said before: prime time, some, summer, and winter, compared to the four elements. Prime time to the air. Summer to the fire. Autumn to the earth. And winter to the water. Every man and woman is formed and made from these four elements, and without which none can live. The fire is hot and dry. The air is hot and moist. The water is moist and cold. The earth is cold and dry. A person ruled by fire is called choleric in complexion (that is, hot and dry). He ruled by air is sanguine in complexion (that is, hot and moist). He ruled by water is phlegmatic in complexion (that is, moist and cold). He ruled by earth is melancholic in complexion (that is, cold and dry). These complexions are known and deserve one from the other.\n\nCleaned Text: For the purpose of understanding, the year is divided into four parts: prime time, some, summer, and winter, compared to the four elements. Prime time to the air. Summer to the fire. Autumn to the earth. And winter to the water. Every man and woman is formed and made from these four elements, and without which none can live. The fire is hot and dry. The air is hot and moist. The water is moist and cold. The earth is cold and dry. A person ruled by fire is called choleric in complexion (that is, hot and dry). He ruled by air is sanguine in complexion (that is, hot and moist). He ruled by water is phlegmatic in complexion (that is, moist and cold). He ruled by earth is melancholic in complexion (that is, cold and dry). These complexions are known and deserve one from the other.\nColeryke has a nature of fire, hot and dry, naturally lean and slim, covetous, irascible, brainless, follysh, malicious, deceitful, and subtle where he bestows his wit. He has the wine of the Lion (that is to say, when he is drunk he quarrels and fights, and commonly he likes to be clad in black, russet, and gray).\n\nThe Sanguine has a nature of air, hot and moist, and is large, plentiful, tempered, amiable, abundant in nature, merry, singing, laughing, rosy and graceful. He has his wine of the Ape; the more he drinks, the merrier he is, and he draws to women, naturally loving high-colored cloth.\n\nThe Phlegmatic has a nature of water, cold and moist, he is heavy, slow, sleepy, ingratiating, commonly spits when moved, and has his wine of the Sheep; for when he is drunk he considers himself the wisest and loves most of all colors the color of green cloth.\n\nThe Melancholic has a nature of earth, cold and dry, he is...\nHeuy, or covetous, malicious, and slow. His wine is of the hog, for when he is drunk he desires sleep and to lie down and have his rest, and he loves the color of black beasts.\n\nFor coming to our purpose of speaking of visible signs, we will begin to speak of the signs of the head. First, we warn you that you ought to beware of all persons who lack naturally formed members, such as feet, hands, or other members, and though he may be a cripple, and especially of a man who has no beard, for such are incline to various vices and evils, and one ought to eschew his company as his mortal enemy. Also Ptolemy says that a more and plain signifies a person pitiful and debonair. Those who have read here are commonly yriful and lack wit, and are of little truth. Black here, good visage, and good color, signify very love of Justice. Hard here signifies that the person loves peace and concord: and is of good and subtle wit. A man\nA person with a black and red beard signifies a lecherous, unjust, and boastful individual, whom one should not trust. A yellow beard and crisp complexion signify a laughing, merry, lecherous, and deceitful person. A black beard and crisp complexion signify melancholic, secretive, evil-thinking, and generous individuals. Hanging hair signifies wit with malice. A woman with an abundance of hair signifies boisterousness and covetousness. A person with large eyes is slothful, shameless, disobedient, and believes they know much but when the eyes are full, they mean to build nor to diminish, and that they should not be black nor green, such a man is of great understanding, courteous, faithful, and trustworthy. A person with bleared, googly, and squinting eyes signifies malice, vengeance, caution, and treason. Those who have great wide eyes and long hair on their brows and eyelids signify folly, hard of understanding, and are evil by nature. The persons who have their eyes:\nmoving quickly from one side to another and have sharp, quick-sight are signs of fraud and theft, and are of little trust. The eyes that are clear and shining signify wit and discretion, and such a person is worthy of love: for they are full of truth and good conditions. The eyes that are bold and sparkling signify a strong heart, force, and courage. The eyes that are watery and fleshly signify a person inclined to vice, lechery, and full of fraud. Astronomers say that when a person often beholds another shamefaced and fearful, and it seems that he sings, and he has small drops appearing in his eyes, then it is certain that such persons love and desire the wealth of those they behold. But when anyone looks casting his eyes aside, as in wantonness, such persons are deceitful and seek to harm him, and they will dishonor women.\nought to be taken heed of / for such looks are false, lecherous, and deceitful. Those with small, sharp eyes discern a person as melancholic, hardy, an evil speaker, and cruel. If a little space appears between the eye and the nose of a woman, it signifies virginity, and in a man, subtle understanding. If it appears great and black, it signifies corruption, heat, and melancholy in a woman, and rudeness and deficiency of wit in a man, but this does not always appear. Yellow eyes with no hairs on the brow signify merriness and evil disposition of body. Great and long hairs signify rudeness, hard wit, and lechery. Betel nut brows signify malice, cruelty, lechery, and envy. When the brows are thin, it signifies subtle engineering, wit, and faithfulness. Hollow eyes and hanging brows signify a person full of evil speaking and evil thoughts, a great drinker, and one whose mind is commonly set to.\nA small face, a short neck, and a little narrow nose signify a person of great heart, hastiness, and quickness. A long nose and high by nature signify prowess and hardiness. A short, upturned nose signifies hastiness, lechery, hardiness, and an undertaker. A hooked nose that bows to the upper lip signifies meanness, deceit, untruth, and lechery. A large nose and high in the middle signifies a wise man and well-spoken. A large nose with a wide tip signifies gluttony and anger. A red face and short signify a person full of riot, debate, and unfaithfulness. A face neither too short nor too long, and not overweight with a good color signifies a man very capable, amiable, wise, witty, servable, and debonair. A man who speaks hastily to be set by. A great voice in a woman is an evil sign. A soft voice signifies a person full of envy, suspicion, and lies.\nA small voice signifies great heart and folly. A great voice signifies haste and anger. A man who always stirs when he speaks and changes his voice is envious, nice, drunk, and ill-conditioned. A person who speaks hesitantly without moving is of perfect understanding, good condition, and good counsel. A man with a brownish face, sunken eyes, and yellow teeth is little truth a traitor and has stinking breath. A person with a long thin neck is cruel, without pity, hasty, and brainless. A person with a short neck is full of fraud, strife, deceit, and malice. A person who has a very long thick neck signifies gluttony, force, and great lechery. A manly woman who is great and roughly built is by nature melancholic, varied, and lecherous. A person who has a great belly and large feet signifies good understanding, good counsel, and truth.\nSignifies prowess, hardiness, hastiness, truth, and wit. Sharp and long garments signify treachery, untruth, stirring, and unnatural behavior. When the arms can reach to the joint of the knee, it is a sign of prowess, liberality, truth, honor, good wit, and understanding. When the arms are short, it is a sign of ignorance, evil nature, and a person who loves debate. Long hands and slender fingers signify subtlety and a person who desires to know various things. Small hands and short, thick fingers signify folly and lightness of courage. Thick, large, and big hands signify force, hastiness, hardiness, and wit. Clear and shining nails of good color signify wit and increase of honor. Nails full of white spots and revealed signify a person avaricious, lecherous, proud, of heart, full of wit and malice. The foot thick and full of flesh signifies a person outragyous, vigorous, and of little wit.\nA small feat and light signifies hardiness of understanding and little truth. A flat and short feat signifies an anxious, unwise and uncourageous person. A person who goes a great pace is great-hearted and disdainful, and signifies well for prospering in all things. A person who makes small steps and is thick is suspicious, full of envy, and evil-willed. A person who has a small flat foot and casts as a child signifies hardiness and wit, but the said person has diverse thoughts. A person who has soft flesh not to cold nor hot signifies a well-disposed person of good understanding and subtle wit, full of truth and increasing of honor. A person who laughs gladly and has green eyes is debonair of good wit, true, wise, and lecherous. A person who laughs faintly is slothful, melancholic, suspicious, malicious, and subtle. Astronomers say that there are various signs in a man and woman, and that they are sometimes contrary one to another.\nA person ought to judge most commonly by the signs in the face. And firstly, to the eyes, for they are most true and provable. It is also said that God formed no creature to inhabit the world wiser than man, for there is no condition or manner in a beast: but that it is founded comprehended in man. Naturally, a man is hardy as a lion. Pure and worthy as an ox. Large and liberal as a cock. Avaricious as a dog. Hard and swift as a hart. Debonair and true as a turtle dove. Malicious as a leopard. Prudent and tame as a dove. Dolorous and crafty as a fox. Simple and mild as the lame. Cunning as an ape. Light as a horse. Soft and pitiable as a bear. Dear and precious as an elephant. Good and wholesome as a unicorn. Vile and slothful as an ass. Fair and proud as a peacock. Gluttonous as a wolf. Envious as a bitch. Rebellious and disobedient as a nightingale. Humble as a pegion. Fell and foolish as a fool.\n\"He is profitable as the Porcupine. Dissolute and vagabond as the Goat. Spiteful as the Fox. Soft and meek as the Hedgehog. Moving and varying as the Fish. Lecherous as the Boar. Strong and pious as the Camel. Tricky as the Tourist. Adulterated as the Mouse. Reasonable as an Angel. Therefore he is called the little world, or else he is called all creatures, for he takes part of all.\"\n\nFinis.\n\nThus ends the Composition of Ptolemy, Prince of Astronomy.\n\nprinter's device of Robert Wyer.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"},
{"content": "[Prognostication of Master John Thibault, the Astrologer, to the Emperor's Majesty and to my Lady. The year of our Lord God, 1430. Calculated upon the horizon of the town of Antwerp, counting the four parts of the year, and the influences of the new Moon, with their quarters, first and last, and of peas, W]\n\nPrognostication of Master John Thibault, to the Emperor's Majesty and to my Lady. The year of our Lord God, 1430. Calculated upon the horizon of Antwerp, and considering the four parts of the year, as well as the influences of the new moon and its quarters, first and last, and of peas (W).\nFor a proper understanding of this year, MCCCCC. and XXX, it is essential to consider much the revolution of the entering of the Sun in the sign of Aries, and the two eclipses that follow, that is, the Sun and Moon, where they show their influence. There are many who, by strong opinion, hold this belief (because Ptolemy writes in this manner): one eclipse gives the effect of its influence after the point past the eclipse. This is no less than a thing contrary to natural reason. Dei gratia. An eclipse is to be compared to two men coming face to face: threatening and looking one at the other with evil and angry looks. This hanging there, they come one against the other, and all those who see them are not afraid of their looks, until the time they are parted.\n\nThe prime time of this year shall be active.\nThe summer of this year shall be fortunate.\nThe time for harvest this year will be met\nIn January comes the month,\nIn February comes the first quarter meridian.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"},
{"content": "The commandment of the Abbot of Evil Professions, depicting a cleric:\n\nTO ALL AND EVERY OUR SUBJECTS OF OUR INCREDIBLE AND CURSED NATION, UNLUCKY, LOUSY, UNFORTUNATE, UNWISE, BANDY BEGGARS, HEDGE CREEPERS, FORGERS OF LETTERS AND SEALS, COUNTERFEITERS OF SALTS, COINERS OF MONEY, LIARS, MOCKERS, STAFF TRAINERS, STEALING PARDONERS, PURSE PICKERS, PYKE LOCKS, BEARERS OF FALSE RELIQUES & SEALS, HEIRS, CHARMOURS, SORCERERS, AND OTHER SUCH LIKE KEEPERS OF FAMILIAR SPIRITS, THIEVES, MURDERERS, EMPOISONERS, CUT-PURSES, CHURCH THEFTS, MAINTAINERS OF TIDINGS AND LIES, TELLERS OF TALES, PIKERS OF MALES, FLATTERERS.\ndraw latches, and other such order: as towers, tryclours, leches, gluttons, swearers, scalders, scabbed heads / stinking knaves, bawds, ruffians, hazarders, horemongers, horse corsets, carders, dyers, priests' whores, blasphemers, for swearers, usurers, traitors, & other such like / as false flattering friars / loud lusy liars / fools, fantastiques, and furious people, merchants, monks, canons, scolers in vain, hangmen, fleers of horses, gallows-clappers, vagabonds, betters of father and mother, gluttons and gluttons, and to all other such our unnoble subjects and liege men inhabiting within this our noble realm & Isle of Knighthood, & to all other our subjects inhabiting within corners, cotages, bawdy stinking lanes & alleys, & other such like, being unfortunate to be hanged, scourged, burned, or drowned, and to each of them according to their merit or degree, Be it known to your weak wit and understanding, that after the dispossession of the heir.\nand the judgment pronounced by our misguided Astrologers, so wise and experienced that at times they don't know what day it is when they rise or what hour it is when they go to bed, and after the constellation of one of the seven planets, which is unknown which of them it may be: have said and affirmed upon pain of their cursed and dishonorable lives (which perhaps will be brief for them), that about the beginning of May, around midnight, will be upon us an eclipse of the sun. By this occasion, in the following summer, many and great multitudes of various small and little beasts and livestock may breed, increase among us, whose names among us and you are not unknown: these beasts so named shall breed and increase.\n\nThe beasts named as such, as we have been advised, are Lyce,\n Fleas, and night creatures.\nand grow among you in great numbers and multitude, and also with them shall breed and increase other beasts and worms, but not so near enjoying us as flies, flying harvesters, hornets, beetles, psyms, and other such little worms or beasts, which little beasts or worms shall bear no danger of venom.\n\nAlso with these little beasts, after the constellation before specified, shall increase another sort or manner of beasts which shall and will be prejudicial and harmful to you, if strong defense is not had to the contrary. Wasps, lizards, toads, serpents, adders, and snakes, and other like venomous beasts.\n\nTherefore, seeing and considering these occasions before pronounced: we strictly command upon pain of the punishment of the beasts aforenamed, each of you our said subjects, both men and women, that you may provide abundance and not overmeasure. We find by the wise instruction of our unexperienced Astrologians and Prognosticators aforenamed.\nThat by occasion of this constellation above, may be withdrawn from you our natural subjects and people, all health and good natural dispositions. For if you continue still as one finds you, so shall he leave you, never to prosper. Furthermore, our unwise Astrologers and Prognosticators above referred to, openly do say and affirm, that if these little worms and beasts mentioned, as lice, fleas, and nights, be and may inhabit, increase, and breed among you and in your array, as doublets, shirts, hosen, and such other your garments, and therein well fed, lodged, and kept, in great multitude and quantity innumerable, that will be to you as good as if you took every day a purgation or letting of blood. They will eat and withdraw all your good blood from you.\nand none shall remain but the bad, which might cause great inconvenience in various ways, such as rough skin, small scratches and scrapes, scalds, scorches, and scabbed heads, and other similar afflictions, as stinking odors, impostumes, and other sores, cankers, and carnelles, and all such other and like occurrences, as much now as hereafter, as we hope will soon befall you due to the constellation aforementioned.\nTherefore, seeing and considering these occasions, of which we perceive you have no concern, as for your honor, health, and other conveniences: we will and command, upon the pain aforementioned, that each of you, whether men or women, behave themselves to provide in the way and manner aforementioned, or else the week shall beat the strong.\nAnd it is also provided that if by chance you could not inhabit and lodge all these little beasts before specified within all your garments, such as hose, shirts, doublets, heads, and coats.\nWe effectively order, establish, and enact (and this upon our great displeasure), that you harbor and inhabit them (the vermin) in manner of grenadiers within your beds, houses, and all other dwelling places, in such great multitude and plenty, that they may put out your eyes. Regarding the other beasts named before, as serpents, adders, toads, lizards, and others being prejudicial in this case, we will and command that you do, according to your fanciful folly and will, that is to say, to take them or leave them as it pleases you.\n\nFurthermore, we command again upon the aforementioned pains inflicted upon you, our subjects specified, and to all others to whom this dignity belongs, that during this time, you are not so bold to pare or cut your nails as you have used to do in times past.\n\nAnd we by our disordered council of fools, idiots, lunatics, fantastics, and melancholics.\nWe have enacted these contempts stated beforehand to the contrary, not withstanding. Therefore, we command upon the pains recalled, to all our head officers, as common beggars, vagabonds, strolling pardoners, drawers of false seals, outlaws, jesters in hedges, and all and every our natural officers so loitering and running over and in our lands, lordships, and countries, that this present commandment general be clearly cried and with high voice published and declared to man and woman, dog and cat, with great solemnity, in such purpose and effect that may come easily at their ears and run quickly out of their asses, which by luckilyhood may well be, and no man to the contrary withstanding, for it pleases us so, and so is our will to be done.\n\nIn presence and witness of the Lord and Captain of Misorder, the Provost of Evil Preference, the Esquire Sniveler, Gautier the scabbed, Philip the halter, and many others, as Roger outlaw, Thomas Pillory.\n[SUCH other officers of our noble Court testified. Finished in our Palace and enclosed with all mischief, the 11th day of August, in our reign. M.\nNewly printed at London in Southwark by me, Peter Treveris.]", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"},
{"content": "The Dialogues of Creatures Moralized: Applicable and Edifying for Every Merry and Jocund Matter Recently Translated from Latin into Our English Tongue, Profitable for the Governance of Man. For sale at Powl's churchyard.\n\nAccording to Isidore's first book, De Summo Bono (Book II), almighty God reveals to us through examples and consideration of circumscribed things and things we know by evident knowledge of apparent things. Part of such things that are circumscribed and cannot be plainly understood or known, we may more readily comprehend the inward meaning that outwardly does not clearly show. By the same path that man strays from God, he may be reduced and return to Him again, and as he was ensnared by his own concupiscence and inordinate love of the creature, from the great love of his Lord and maker. Through observation of the beauty of creatures, we are inclined to be reformed and to give law and worship to the incomparable Creator.\ncreator & maker of al thinge / & thowghe it be so that as this booke faynith / these creaturis spe\u2223ke not to vs with mouth and voyce fourmyd neuerthe\u00a6lesse by inclynacyon / & propirte of naturall institucyon they sece not to teche vs to corecte owr maners and a\u2223mende our lyuynge / the which the gloryows lyghte of all doctowris saint Augustin wytnessith for he saith in his wrytinge. O lorde God saith he / all thy Creaturis which thou haste made / crye to me and sece not that I owe to loue the my lorde god and maker aboue all othir thinge / & therfore the autor & compositor of this Boke for our holsome erudicyon & lernynge to auoyde slouth and sluggysshnesse and to inbuce the myndes of the he\u2223rers to quyknesse & deuocyon / hath compylyd this tre\u2223tys that the more esyly we mowe vnderstonde the mo\u2223rall sense includyd in the same.\nOF the Sonne and the Moone.\ndia .i\nOf Saturn and the clowde.\nDia .ii\nOf a sterre callyd Transmowntayn. \nDialogo .iii.\nOf the Euyn sterre / and the morowe Sterre.\nDialogo .iiii\nOf the\nDialogo I\nOf heaven and earth.\nDialogo VI\nOf the air and the wind\nDialogo VII\nOf the sea banks and the sea\nDialogo VIII\nOf fire and water\nDialogo IX\nOf water and fire\nDialogo X\nOf the flood and the sea\nDialogo XI\nOf the hill and the vale\nDialogo XII\nOf gems and precious stones\nDialogo XIII\nOf the emerald and the ring\nDialogo XIV\nOf the sapphire and the goldsmith\nDialogo XV\nOf precious topaz\nDialogo XVI\nOf the carbuncle and the glass\nDialogo XVII\nOf a precious stone called achate and a serpent called Cerastes\nDialogo XVIII\nOf gold and lead\nDialogo XIX\nOf gold and silver\nDialogo XX\nOf silver and iron\nDialogo XXI\nOf tin and brass\nDialogo XXII\nOf the lock and the key\nDialogo XXIII\nOf the cauldron and the chain\nDialogo XXIV\nOf rosemary and the field\nDialogo XXV\nOf rejoicing and venomous beasts\nDialogo XXVI\nOf Isopo and a man called Marcurius\nDialogo XXVII\nOf a tree called abrotanum and of the hare.\nerbe callyd Planteyne and of the Ape.\ndi .xxix\nOf Veruayne and the wolf\nDialogo .xxx\nof the Mandrake and the desyrows woman.\ndia .xxxi\nof the Rosyar and the partrych\nDialogo .xxxii\nof a thorny tre callyd rampnus and the wylde Goote. \nDialogo xxxiii\nof a tre callyd myrtus / and of the syke woman.\nxxxiiii\nof the hyghe Cedretre\nDialogo .xxxv\nof tway dyuerse treys\nDialogo .xxxvi\nof the Dolphyn and the Ele\nDialogo .xxxvii\nof the Marmayde and the lechowre.\ndialogo .xxxviii\nof a Glotonows fissh or beaste callyd venter marinus. \nDialogo xxxix\nof a Fissher and .v. fisshes\nDialogo .xl\nof a se wolf callyd Lucyus / and a serpente callyd Basy\u2223liscus.\nDialogo .xli\nof a fyssh or a beaste callyd sturgyon\nDialogo .xlii\nof a Lampurn and a watirbeaste callyd cocodylus.\nxliii\nof a luce and a Tenche\nDialogo .xliiii\nof a scaly Fissh callyd Regina / and a watirserpent cal\u2223lyd Idrus\nDialogo .xlv\nof a fissh callyd a carpe / and a fissh / callyd Tymallus. \nDialogo xlvi\nof a Frogge and a Crabbe\nDialogo .xlvii\nof a Fissher and a lytell\nfissh\nDialogo .xlviii\nof the Egle and other byrdes / and of the Lyon and othir beastis\nDialogo .xlix\nof the Egle that cyted all maner of byrdes to chapitle. \nDialogo l\nof a byrde callyd Herodius and of the kyte.\ndial. li\nof the crane that wold flye vp to the Sonne\nDia. lii\nOf a byrde callyd Sterla that toke an hare\ndialo. liii\nof a byrde callyd strucio / & of the cireurgyn\nDialo. liiii\nOf the fawlcon & the Cok.\nDialogo. lv\nof a byrde callyd Astur whiche sente for an other byrde callyd Caridrius\nDialogo. lvi\nOftway hawkys and a Quayle\nDialogo. lvii\nof a byrde callyd Carflanchus that wolde goo to rely\u2223gyon\nDialogo. lviii\nOf the Lapwynge and Popyniaye\nDialogo. lix\nof an Henne and a Culuir\nDialogo. lx\nOf a Cok and a Capon\nDialogo. lxi\nof a Fesawnte and a Pecok\nDialogo. lxii\nOf a Rauyn and a byrde callyd Fycedula\ndialo. lxiii\nof the nightcrowe and the Larke\nDialogo. lxiiii\nOf the Wagtayle and the Fesaunte\nDialogo. lxv\nof the nightingale and the Crowe / amonge other byr\u2223des\nDialogo. lxvi\nOf Cyconya and the\nDialogue. lxvii Of a bird called Pigardus and a great bird called Alietus\nDialogue. lxviii Of a bird called Onocrotalus and the Ass\nDialogue. lxix Of the Swan and the Crow\nDialogue. lxx Of the Woodhen and other hens\nDialogue. lxxi Of the Quail and the Lark\nDialogue. lxxii Of a bird called Ison\nDialogue. lxxiii Of a Dove called Jupiter\nDialogue. lxxiv Of a Carduel in his Cage\nDialogue. lxxv Of an unclean bird called Iuis and the Apothecary\nDialogue. lxxvi Of the Solitary Pellican\nDialogue. lxxvii Of the Chaste Turtle\nDialogue. lxxviii Of the Theban Partridge\nDialogue. lxxix Of the Pie and other birds\nDialogue. lxxx Of the kite that stole the woodhen's chicks\nDialogue. lxxxi Of the Owl that wanted lordship over all birds\nDialogue. lxxxii Of the birds of the Land and waterfowl\nDialogue. lxxxiii Of a Servant and his Bees\nDialogue. lxxxiv Of a Lion and beasts / that fought with an Eagle and birds.\nDialogue. lxxxv Of a Lion that wedded two of his cubs\nDialogue. lxxxvi Of the Tyrant Griffon\nDialogue. lxxxvii Of a Leopard and an Unicorn / that fought with a ...\nDragon. \nDialogo lxxxviii\nOf the Elefa\u0304te yt bowith not his kneys\nDi. lxxxix\nof a beaste Satirus which weddyd a wyf\nDialo .xc\nOf the Dromedary\nDialogo .xci\nof the Lyon yt bylded an Abbaye\nDialogo .xcii\nOf Onocentaurus that bylded a Palace\ndialogo .xciii\nof a beste Rinoceron / which despisyd Agyd folke / \nxciiii\nOf a beste Callyd Orix / that was longe withowt sik\u00a6nes\nDialogo .xcv\nof a comyn Laborer\nDialogo .xcvi\nOf an Ape yt wrote\nDialogo .xcvii\nof a beste callyd Cameleopardus\nDialogo .xcviii\nOf a beaste or a byrde callyd Laurus / whiche occupyed shippemannys crafte\nDialogo .xcix\nof the Lyon how he huntyd\nDialogo. C\nOf a beste Tragelaphus which was a false byldar of howsis\nDialogo .ci\nof Bubalus which made shoone\nDialogo .cii\nof the Steere / which was a good Cooke\ndialogo .ciii\nof Capreolus which vsyd to iogle\ndialogo .ciiii\nHow the watte was A lawyer\nDialogo .cv\nof a Dogge & many wolfis.\ndialogo .cvi\nof the wolf and the Asse\ndialogo .cvii\nof the Bere and the wolf\nDialogo .cviii\nOf the wylde goote and the\nDialogue of a little discolored beast called Various and the Squirrel.\nDialogue of an Horse and a Fool.\nDialogue of an Ox and an Ass.\nDialogue of a Goat and a Ram.\nDialogue of the Panther and the Hog.\nDialogue of the Wild Ass and the Wild Boar.\nDialogue of the Cricket and the Hare.\nDialogue of the Brock and the Ape.\nDialogue of the Mice and the Cat.\nDialogue of Five Lambs and the Wolf.\nDialogue of many diverse worms and beasts.\nDialogue of man and woman.\nDialogue of life and death.\n\nThus ends the Table.\n\nChrist, according to the philosopher's saying, is the eye of the world, the gladness and joyfulness of the day, the beauty of heaven, the measure of times, the true and original source of all things growing, the lord of all planets, the leader and perfector of all planets and stars.\n\nThe Moon also, as Ambrose says in Hexameron, is the beauty of the night, mother and minister of all humors,\nMeasurer of all times, guide of the sea, changer of the air, follower of the sun, and because she is most like the sun, she began to detract and defame the sun. The sun perceiving this spoke to the moon and said, \"Why do you turn away from me and blaspheme against me? I have always given you light and gone before you to your profit. You hate me and maliciously malign me. Go from me,\" said the moon, \"for I do not love you. For your great brightness causes me to be set little store by in the world. If you were not, I should be in great dignity. The sun answered and said, \"O thou ungrateful creature, be content with your degree. For as I shine in daytime and bear rule, so you without impediment occupy all the night at your own pleasure. Let us therefore humbly obey our maker, and exalt not yourself by pride, but suffer me patiently to do as I am ordained, and do you your duty. The moon, considering no reason, in great anger departed and gathered.\"\nTogether all the stars / and began to battle / and shot arrows against the Sun / and intended utterly with javelins and arrows to strike him and destroy him. The Sun, being above and at a disadvantage, seeing all this cruelty, drew out his sword and struck the Moon aside. And threw down the stars and said, \"As often as you are round, I shall depart.\" For this cause, as reports the fables / the Moon conceives not town / and stars often fall down. And so the Moon was confused and said,\n\nLess hurt is to the ruler /\nTo be divided in two /\nThan to be all lost / and brought to naught.\n\nSo likewise, much people being inflated and blown up with pride and elation / would be like the Sun / and have dominion above all others / and by their wills would it none be above them / nor like them / as the gloss says. Pride is a burning elevation in the mind. despising them that are beneath / and would be equal with those that are above / for why, as Chrysostom says, the desire of exaltation / is great sin / and\nAbsolutely despised and endured is worshipful and commendable. It is written and said that proud people are lifted up high because their fall should be the more grievous. For he who falls but low may soon arise, as the poet says. But he who falls from a great height may not so easily be restored to health. Branches of a tree growing alone are conveyed from tears, as Crisostom writes. But those who are high are often broken and in great jeopardy. Quintus Curcius says that a certain person told King Alexander that a tree of great height may be more easily uprooted. And though a lion may be mighty and proud, yet small birds feed on its flesh. A philosopher came to the tomb of Alexander and said, \"Yesterday, this man was not satisfied with the whole world. Now he is satisfied with a space of seven feet long. Therefore, pride is to be repudiated.\" Philosophers write that there are seven planets. That is, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus.\n\"Mercury and Venus. But there is great distance between planet and planet. As Moses, the greatest philosopher, reports and says, and it is written in the golden legend, every orbit of every planet has a thickness of about 50,000 years. That is to mean, as much space as a man may journey and walk in 50,000 years, and every mile being a world, at my will. Since I am under other planets and can do so much, if I were exalted higher, I might do more. And thus this cloud proudly ascended upward until I am to Saturn. Saturn seeing this cloud presumptuously applying to go above him, was sore displeased and said to her, \"What art thou that darest to aspire to rise there where no man has come before? I shall ascend above thee and overthrow thee.\" Hearing Saturn and being provoked, she ordered armies and weapons, and stopped the way and threw down the cloud and destroyed it, saying.\"\n\nHe who dares to be above\nNabugodonosor, despite his desire to be above all other kings and princes, and to be called king of kings and lord of lords, was brought low. Pride, disregarding that almighty God has dominion over all earthly lordships as Daniel 4:17 specifies, lifted up the heart of Nabugodonosor, leading to his deposition. It was said to him, \"The dwelling of the shall be among wild beasts, and God shall take you away from mankind, and cast you out from their presence. And you shall eat grass like an ox, and seven times shall be changed over you.\" According to scholastic history, Nabugodonosor was not changed into an unreasonable beast by bodily transformation and change, but by mental and rational transformation, and also the eloquence of his speech was taken from him. He saw himself in his former bodily form to be like an ox or a bull, and in his latter days he thought himself to be like a lion.\nDanyell prayed earnestly for him throughout his alienation for seven years, which he changed into seven months. In these seven months, he suffered greatly from illness for forty days. Forty more days within the seven months, he regained his mind and prayed fervently, causing his eyes to turn red and appear like raw flesh. Many came to see him, but seven months were required for this to be fully completed. He was recalled and restored to his former estate, but he did not regain it immediately. Seven judges were ordered, and he continued in abstinence and penance until the end of seven years, neither eating bread nor flesh nor drinking wine during that entire period.\n\nA star called Trasmotana remains fixed in the northern part of the sky and never declines or labors as other stars do. It is like a marker or a path of the heavens.\nsee to the stars that give great attention. All other stars gathered together and came to this star and said Thou sittest always still and hast ease and rest, and we go about and labor without rest and be thy servants. Arise thou a while and let another be sovereign and occupy thy throne. To whom this star Trasmonteyn answered and said, you do not know what you want, for your desire is not fitting nor to your advantage. For I have great labor and great fatigue to rule you. And if I did not wisely conserve you in your places and motions, you would greatly err for lack of a good guide. Wherefore I counsel you to be content and in peace. But the other stars would not be pleased, but rather more willful to have their petition, and said all at once. We pray thee to suffer us to choose another guide. Trasmonteyn, beholding their forward willfulness, departed from them and went and complained to his lord and maker. The stars that were speaking made great exultation and gladness and applied themselves to make an election.\nThe new gyde cannot agree, but fell to variance and fought each other. Sheep lacking a shepherd, they erred and fell out of good rule. At last, when they considered the felicity they once had under their sovereign's policy and good guidance, and the great misery it had brought them for his lack, they repented and came to their first gyde, praying him to take them to grace and rule them as he had before. They confirmed him in his worship and all spoke with one voice.\n\nThe gyde that guides, with virtue and grace,\nShould never be changed, lest a worse takes his place.\n\nEven so, it is convenient for us to do when we have a good ruler who rightfully rules and guides us, we are bound to love him, honor and worship him, and not lightly to change him, but cherish him after our power for the great labor he has to guide us for our well-being. The degree of governance is called great worship, but it is a great charge, as Bernard says.\nWho is worship or power but a great burden and misery? Or what is sublimity or dignity of the world but a perilous and doubtful tempest? Who may be in worship or prelacy without pain or tribulation? Or who is in dignity without vanity, as Valery tells us. In the seventh book of a King, it is related of a king who was of such great wit and great counsel that when the crown was delivered to him, he held it long between his hands or set it not upon his head, and considering it well, he said: \"O noble and fortunate land, how full of business and perilous to be told. For, as Augustine says, there is no thing more laborious, harder, nor more perilous than to have great dominion or lordship. And therefore Valerius shows us in the seventh book of Cornelius Scipio that when Spain fell to him, he answered and said he would not go thither, and she showed the cause why: for he could not do equity and right wisdom. For he thought himself not coming nor sufficient to such great worship.\nVesperus is called the night star, and Lucifer the day star, which appear together. These two stars, along with all others, went with one consent to the creator and maker of all stars and made unto Him their application, saying: \"Gracious Lord, thou art a good maker, and we therefore thank thee for having ordained and bestowed upon us in the best way. But for this cause we fear that our beauty and brightness are not always shown. Therefore, Lord, we humbly beseech thee to take the light from those clouds, for they are necessary, though you may think otherwise. For they with their rain moist the earth, and if no rain should fall, the earth could not be fruitful. With this answer, He put the stars from their desire and said thus:\n\nThat petition may justly be denied\nWhich at no time to Reason is applied.\nA man, by this example, it appears, must ask for things that are rightful in his prayers or supplications.\nSaint Austin says that it is honest and reasonable to be granted what you ask for when you ask for things that God lauds and promises. Isidore agrees. Not all men are heard in their asking, for God grants them better and more than they desire. Seneca says in the second book of benefits that one should only ask for what makes him give. Almighty God does not grant our petition because he often wants to enhance it with a better and more profitable reward. Isidore also says that sometimes God does not hear many people to their pleasure, but rather graciously hears them for their profit and health. After the first flood appeared in the clouds, having two colors, watery and fiery, this bow appeared, signifying judgment. This bow appeared by the space of forty years after the building of the Ark, as it is said in Scholastic History. Cancer is one of the signs of heaven.\nAnd this word cancer is Equinocium, and has many significations. But nevertheless, here it signifies the sign of Heaven. And so this sign Cancer went unto the Rainbow in great anger and said, Thou art too bold; for all heaven is little enough for thee. In so much that thou dost hinder me from my course, and other stars that should occupy there. Wherefore I advise thee to be removed lightly, or else thou shalt be surely corned by me and my company. The bow answered and said, Brother, thou speakest not well; for I am not about to let thee of thy way; for I show myself but in daytime, and thou in the night roamiest where it pleases thee. Wherefore, if thou intendest to fight with me, thou art ill advised for this cause; for thou mayst gather great company of stars to hold with thee. And I have friends yonder, both clouds and also great thunders, to fight against thee for all thy strength. And so there may grow great mischief. But I will counsel thee for the best; that is, the presence of the (unclear)\nIuge/ and they showed him their mother/ The Iuge spoke then and said, \"Thou wicked Cancer, it is against the law and reason for all the precedence you ask and desire of the bow. If you have your will and walking in the night time, and the bow only in the day time, how can it be credible that he lets your way? Therefore this is my sentence against you. I will and charge you never to appear in day time. I condemn you in all expenses and costs of the court. Cancer, hearing this sentence, was greatly ashamed and said, \"A busy man, full of questions. Causeth himself, often, great confusion. Many one in like manner, against Law and Reason sometimes strive and fall out without occasion, and be full of questions. Wherefore they are taken for vagabonds and evil people, and often times they are judged to the worst. Of such it is written, Proverbs xvi. A wayward man causes strife. And a man full of words overcomes princes. The evil may ever.\"\nA debate rages. The evil and cruel one is sent against him. Truly, through questions and strife, many are brought to nothing. As Isidore says, \"love and harmony are always by aligning, while strife and debate are forever destructive.\" Bede says, \"by discord, the greatest things may be destroyed.\"\n\nThere was once an honest man who had three sons. When he should die, he called them before him and said, \"Bring me a great many of wards bound together, and so they did. And when they were brought, he said to his children, 'Fold them and break them.' But they could not. To whom the father said again, 'Pull out one of them and break all the others.' And they attempted to do so. And they could bend them, but they could not break them.\n\nThe third time the father spoke and said to them, \"Children, thus it shall fall to you: If you do continue together in love and harmony.\"\nThe earth is the middle part of the world, the conserver of fruits, the coverer of hell, the nourisher of all quick things, the mother of all growing things, the dry earth. When she was angry and greatly displeased, she called the air to her and said, \"Brother air, I pray thee do not come between heaven and me. For my intent is utterly fixed to overcome him, for he has done great wrong and injury to me, that I hope to be avenged upon him with such ways as I can find.\" To whom the air answered and said, \"Do not so, sister, but let your wrath pass. For though it be so that heaven has grieved you now, another time you shall be friends and make merry together.\" The earth, being blind and overcome with anger, would not cease.\nBut he ran and caught Harneys, and began to fight with Heyn. This sight raised up great darkness and brought forth great clouds, causing such thickness that the earth could not discern where Heyn was. It continued thus until the wrath and madness had completely passed. Then, after that, the air sent out winds and purged the land, driving away the mists and darknesses, and made all clear and said:\n\nOf anger and malice, to quench the flame,\nWe are all bound, and not unmindful of the same.\nEvery man ought to do this when he sees his friends and neighbors in a rage together. For, as Cato says, anger and wrath cloud the mind, preventing it from discerning truth. For a man who is angry is beyond his mind, and therefore he is to be temperately guided and restrained by his friends until he is removed from that madness, and until wrath in him is ended. For Seneca says, \"The beginning of wisdom is to moderate anger and wrath. He who overcomes wrath overcomes his greatest enemy, as Valerius tells us when...\"\nArchitas Tarencius spoke to his servant. O unfortunate creature, I wish I could correct you if I were not currently angry with you. This shows that anger and malice must be expelled from the mind. As it is said in the Book of Proverbs, chapter 27, \"Anger rests not.\" Therefore, a judge ought never to render a sentence while angry. This is recorded in the Histories of the Romans about Theodosius the Emperor. But there was a wise man who gave him counsel: whenever he felt himself provoked or angry, or whenever he was about to render judgment, he should repeat softly within himself the letters ABC twenty-three times, so that his mind might be refreshed, and he might more readily see and know what righteous judgment should be given with good discretion and deliberation.\n\nAccording to the philosopher, air is the breath of all living things without which all things perish.\nchoked and died that is living. The wind also is the drier of the earth / the mover of waters / and troubler of the Air. And because he is troubler of the air / the air caused him to be Cited before the high Judge and maker of all things & said, \"O mighty Lord and maker of all things, Look upon me I beseech thee and have mercy upon me. Thou hast ordained me sufficiently / and endowed me with great privilege. Wherefore I give thee thanks and praise. For thou hast made me to be life of all things / But for this cause. I am greatly troubled and vexed with the wind / For he ever makes me cold and causes me to be untemperate. Therefore I say to him, if ever henceforth he presumes to blow upon me / I will choke him & put him from his life.\n\nTo whom the maker answered and said, \"Air thou speakest not well / Though the wind makes thee cold and beats thee with his blast / Nevertheless he yields the purged and tempered / If it were so that the wind blew not on thee / thou shouldest be sick.\"\nEvery creature ought to love those who correct us and show us our faults, and endeavor to reduce us to goodness and to the way of truth. For truly, the sick man who denies to drink the bitter drink that his doctor gives him will not allow himself to be cured, and so he will never be delivered from his sickness. And he who hates his corrector shall not be well-directed. A man does not hate his doctor when he does not suffer him to rebuke him for his good. But it is true that Chrysostom says, \"He will have hatred for the one who reproves the sinful.\" And Seneca says, \"He seeks blame for himself who reproves the wicked.\" Such are not wise men but rather fools, as Ecclesiastes says. A wise man loves to be rebuked, but a fool is angry if he is corrected. Therefore correct a wise man and he will be pleased.\nloue the. Prouerb .ix. Hitte is wryttyn in the lyfe of saynte Ambrose / that whan Theodosius the Emperowr had punyshed dyuers and dwellers of that contrey withowte delyberation and iugement. Ambro\u2223se the Archebisshope of mylene expulsyd hym owte of ye chirche / although he was a very Christen Emperowr And whan the Emperowre knewe itte / he sayd to Am\u2223brose. Dauid comyttyd both adulterye and manslaugh\u00a6ter. And Ambrose answerde. If thow hast folowyd hym in his errowre / folowe also the penaunce of hym. The Emperowre that herynge / was verye contryte inwar\u2223delye and dyd greate penaunce and sayde. I haue foun\u2223de a man of trowth Ambrose the Bysshope. And so the Emperowr ordeyned that nomanshulde be iugid to deth withowte .xl. days of respyghte / that Ire myght be swa\u00a6gyd and the mynde myght be the more clere that right\u2223wysnes myght be sene in geuynge of iugemente.\nTHe see is the halser of the worlde / the well of al showrys / and the lodginge place of all floodys as the Philosofre sayth. For as it is wryttyn\nEcclesia is the first. The floods part from the sea and do not return to it. And the floods turn back to the place from which they came, so that they may slow down again. This sea is great and large, as it is written in Psalm 102. And so the sea, by its magnificence and great power, goes to the banks and says, \"I marvel greatly at your hardness and your stiff heart. You are always contrary to me and obstruct me and prevent me from eating the earth and consuming it as I would. Therefore, I desire you to be removed from your place, so that I may prevail against the earth and put it underfoot or else. I shall not cease to wage war against you and put you to great trouble.\" To whom the bank replied and said, \"It is ill said, brother. For the maker of all things has ordained me thus, and I suffer great labor for your obedience to him. You come upon me often and put me to great grief. I bear you and suffer you patiently for the love of God, therefore you owe me nothing.\"\nUnkinder words against me, for I cannot change my place. This you have heard answered in great wrath, and you must suffer it, for I shall never let you be at peace. But I shall beat and punish you with all my power. The back part of obedience you spoke of, and said thus:\n\nGod's men may both chide and fight,\nAnd punish those who do not rightly.\nEvery prelate and ruler ought to be manly and resist the wicked, lest Gregory be right. As you see, every rebel and repugnant person rebels against the banks that restrain and keep them in check. Yet good shepherds need not fear the malicious threats of the wicked, but rather, like a watchful shepherd, keep their sheep from the wolf. When they flee, they are certainly still and dare not.\nSpeak before those who are mighty and powerful, and when they are timid and fearful, stand firm against those who are sinful and evil disposed. Therefore, Comforteth us and says, \"Let us intend to please God, and as for the threatening of man, we shall not need to care. Peter Comest or tells us of a king of Macedonia called Philip, and he said of the city, \"Deliver me ten orators such as I shall choose among you, and I shall be contented to dwell with you, and go my way.\" The most wise creature called Demosthenes answered the king and said, \"Wolves once spoke to shepherds and said, 'All the discord between you and us causes your dogs if you intend to be one with us, deliver us your dogs, and we shall be friends forever.' And when they had done so, the wolves at their own will devoured the sheep. By this example, it is apparent how great peril it is when preachers and curates forsake their flocks and are negligent.\"\nA soft dog is not good, but rather one should be cautious of its fierceness in necessary times. Discreet fierceness is commendable in him who has the cure and charge of souls. The fire is light. Pure. Subtle. Monetizable. Bright and warm. And because it is so precious, he conceives pride and sublimity within himself and says, \"I prevail on earth above all other things and consume all things. But if I might prevail in the water, then I should be exalted mightily above all things. Therefore, I call the water to me and say, 'Dearest sister, I know well that you are an element of God as I am. Wherefore, if I were dwelling with you and joined to you, I should appear greater and of more excellence. Wherefore, I pray, suffer me to dwell with you and to rejoice in you.' The water subtly began to make a response and said, 'Long have I desired to be at this.'\"\n\"Come to me and I will reveal better to my power. This hearing the fire was merry and joyfully entered into the water. The water said why you have the fire within you to those beside. This is my enemy and contrary to my kind. He has often consumed me and brought me to nothing. Now I may be avenged and destroy him if I wish. But after the counsel of the Apostle, I will not do one shrewd turn for another. And yet, I will abate his pride and make him lower. And thus saying, the water began to gather herself together and to urinate in the fire. And anon the fire began to speak fair and prayed the water not to destroy him utterly. The water was merciful to the fire and did not put him out completely. But conveyed him to the earth and said in this manner:\n\nGod's pleasure he does fulfill\nThat yields a good turn for an ill.\n\nNow it is so that many do the contrary\"\nAnd yet one shrewd person turns for another, and is willing to take revenge and will not forgive offenses done to them. Therefore Jerome says, \"As God has forgiven our sins in Christ, so we must forgive those who offend us.\" The following example of God reproaches and avenges the injury done to us, considering that Christ patiently suffered and forgave. We must be patient in adversity and meekly forgive our adversaries, as it is written in the histories of Alexander. Where it is shown that a certain person had so grievously offended Alexander that he would not forgive him. Aristotle, knowing this, went to Alexander and said, \"My lord, I desire that this day you be more victorious than you have ever been.\" Alexander answered, \"I will.\" Then Aristotle said, \"You have subdued all the kingdoms of the world, but today you are overcome. For if you do not rule yourself, then you are ruled. But if you rule yourself, then you are victorious, for he who overcomes himself has the greatest victory.\"\nSelf is strongest, as the philosopher says. Alexander hearing this saying of Aristotle. Removed the offense and was pleased. Therefore, it is written, Proverb 16: Better is a patient man than a strong one. He who has dominion over himself is greater than a conqueror of cities and so on. Both said the water to the Fire. Why are we always contrary and enemies? It is good for us to keep God's Commandments that say, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Matthew 22. For fulfilling the law is love, as the Apostle says to the Romans 13. To whom the Fire replied, saying, It pleases me well that you speak of the same Apostle, who also witnesses in the same chapter, that the love of neighbor is profitable and does never harm. Therefore, let us go and make our dwelling together. And when they were dwelling together, they could never agree, for the Fire made the water hot and consumed it. The water often quenched the fire, therefore they continued ever in contention and discord. For this cause they departed.\n\"It will not be at one word. One who is of good disposition should not dwell with one who is bad, for lightly he may lose his goodness and good name and all his good operation and work, for the sake of his evil company. Choose good and meek people that you may live and be good. It is written in Psalm 17: \"With a good man you shall be good, and with a wayward man you shall be like him.\" The apostle considered it dangerous to lead one's life with bad people and wrote to the Thessalonians, saying, \"Brothers and sisters, we show you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in an inordinate way. It is dangerous to lead our lives with those who are known to be bad and sinful, and it is doubtful to be associated with those who are of bad mind. A fable is told that heaven sent down fair water to\"\nThe earth was wetted, and when this water should have been lodged all night with a coal, she said to him, \"Brother, we may not dwell together, for all that I may cleanse and make clean in the long daytime, thou mayst spot it with blackness in an hour. Likewise, all that ever a wise man or a good man gets in long season, a sole or a bad man may destroy in an hour. As the philosopher says, the flood is a continual running, a refreshing of the sun and moisture of the earth, and at a time of opportunity, the floodwater spoke to him, who is called the sea in late Latin, and said to him, \"Thou art truly called sea, it bitterns, for thou continuest ever in great bitterness. Is not thy bitterness great, and thine unkindness much more, since thou continually drinkest of my sweetness and thou ever givest to me in return nothing but bitterness? The sea answered and said, \"I have no gold or silver. Such as I have of the best and of the inward part of my body, I give to thee as to my faithful one.\"\nFriends. Therefore, endure patiently my bitterness, and if you look and consider this well, you will find your greatest sweetness and incomparable goodness. The flood was pleased and said, \"Whoever desires the sweet, must taste bitterness; this is not new. Likewise, it behooves every man to endure the bitter scourge of tribulation, which desires to have us enjoy the sweetness of everlasting consolation, as Gregory says. Tribulation is the gateway to the kingdom of heaven. The Psalter testifies the same, Psalm 118:20, where it is written, \"This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous shall enter through it.\" It is also read in Acts 14:22. \"But many tribulations must be endured by us to enter the kingdom of heaven.\" But many are like an ape, which climbs into a thorny tree, and when she tastes the outer part that is bitter, she casts away all the remnants or turns back before reaching the corn, and therefore she tastes never of the sweetness of the night. So many.\nA valley, lying in a certain place, had joined with it a high mountain that kept the valley in subjection. But at last, this valley grew restless and was greatly troubled by impiety. It broke out and multiplied great words against the hill and said to it: \"Why do you torment me so long and never reveal yourself? Cease, treacherous wretch, and change your place, for you have kept me under long enough. If you will not, I shall be avenged on you.\" To which the hill replied and said, \"Your complaint cannot be refuted yet, for our Maker has erected me and set me above you. He has ordained you to be beneath and under me. Therefore, be patient and suffer until the last day of judgment. Then mountains and hills will be made law, as it is written in Isaiah 40.\" But the valley paid no heed to all this, but in great haste brought with it trees and herbs and began battle against the hill and wounded it sore.\nServants are to shoot arrows and darts. The hill seeing it begin to grow wood with the valley and said, \"Of your own deeds I judge thee, servant, for you are not ashamed to begin battle against your sovereign and your better. And thus saying, the multitude threw down stones and all to knock down the valley and block its ways so that she might not escape nor any of her company. And so the valley was humbly subdued and brought under correction and said, 'Servants are to be bound at all times to obey. To their sovereigns and not to say no. Many an impetuous one resists against their betters. Therefore, they owe to be held under the yoke of service. For it is written Ecclesiastes 24. Meted out correction and burden longs to an ass, and learns with labor to a servant. While he works with correction, he seeks rest. Receive him and he seeks liberty. To a willful servant longs correction and fear. Send him to his work lest he be idle, set him to tasks, for that becomes him best. A certain lord\"\nA wayward servant and Julwylterlyd, when he was idle, rebelled against his lord with his words. Therefore, his lord chastised him severely and kept him from delightful foods and drinks, and put him to hard labor. Through weariness and labor, he was overcome and willing to amend, and bridle his tongue from such uncivil language. Therefore, it is written. Proverb XXIX. He who diligately nurses his servant in his youth and brings him up, afterwards he shall find him rebellious against him; and therefore, correction is necessary.\n\nPrecious stones and gems came altogether and said, \"We are dearest and best loved by people above all other things. But if we are found easily in every place, we shall be base and little priced. Therefore, let us hide ourselves in faraway countries where we may not be found lightly, without great labor and cost. For that which is dear and bought with great price is much esteemed and surely kept.\" Therefore, we\nA servant of Christ who covets and desires to be filled with precious virtues must apply himself diligently to spiritual labor and be never idle. Idleness is harmful to the soul, as it is said in Vitis patra: \"There was but one fiend to tempt a monk who was idle, and another who was occupied.\" Therefore, Jerome says, \"Do good deeds continually so that the devil may find the occupied.\" A well-occupied man is like a castle that is securely closed, to which no enemy can cause harm. And Saint Augustine says, \"He is not easily deceived from the path that intently seeks good occupation.\" Therefore, fathers and mothers should encourage and urge their young children to occupation and labor, lest they fail.\nLiving by the means of sloth. Once upon a time, there was a wise farmer who planted a vine and before he died, he told his children that he had hidden great treasure in the vineyard, but he did not reveal its location. After his death, his children began to dig and search in the vineyard. And from that place, the vineyard was very fruitful and produced an abundance of fruit. So, the children understood well the meaning of their father's words. The treasure hidden in the vineyard no longer meant something tangible, but rather that the more they labored in the vineyard, the greater their profit would be. They did so and were constantly busy when they had the opportunity and leisure.\n\nThere was also a philosopher who taught his son and said, \"Son, look at the ant. She is not wiser than you, who toils in the summer and labors so diligently that she maintains herself throughout the long winter. Let not the cock be waker or stronger than you, who duly toils.\"\nObserve and keep his matutinal hours, and chastise yourself with binding and stirring other men by your good example to do the same. And who is so strong that has as many wills as the cock has, and keeps them all chaste and in obedience to him as he does? Smaragdus is a stone, as Brito says, to which there is nothing that can be compared in greenness. For why it transcends in greenness of color both herbs and trees, and fills the eye but does not satisfy it, as the papacy says. A ring of gold bore in him a precious Smaragdus for a long time, whose color was so pleasing that many came from far countries with great desire to behold it. On a day, the Ring spoke impudently to the Smaragdus and said, \"You have long continued, and dwelt in my station, and never paid me for your standing. Therefore deliver your dear one for your habitation, and go your way. Or I shall take from you all that you have, and...\"\nPut the outside of your lodging. To whom the Emerald said, \"If I have long continued and dwelt with you, it has rewarded you. For by me you have been taken in great reputation and worship. For I have caused you to be honorably exalted and put on the king's finger. And if you wish to expel me, make no delay but sell me, and from my great valuableness take your duty for my rent. For I cannot lack habitation. And when the ring had expelled this precious stone and discharged him from his house, the ring itself appeared bare and abject and was not taken in reputation by any man. And at last it repented itself sore and said,\n\nAn example is shown by the stone and the Ring.\nThat it is vile to be parted from a worthy thing.\nThe servant of Christ is worthy in likeness, as long as he keeps and retains precious virtues within him. And if he casts them from him, he is to be cast away, as Seneca says. A good man is to be provided for by his deeds, and so he provides for himself.\"\n\"When great Alexander called himself lord of the whole world, Diogenes the Cynic answered and said, \"You are not a lord, but a servant of one of my servants. Pride is your lady and my servant, for she rules you and I have conquered her. Fleshly lust, gluttony, and anger are your ladies and my servants, for they lead you and have mastered you. I have overcome them and put them under foot, and therefore truly you are but a servant of one of my servants. And when Alexander's servants heard this, they wanted to attack Diogenes and harm him. Alexander ordered, \"Do not be so bold, for he is true and good and reports the truth as it is.\" Gregory says, \"Man is made of great dignity and worth if he keeps himself as he is bound to do without vice, and that is a perfect sign of great manhood in him and of great virtue and courage.\" Ethymologiarum xvi says,\"\nIsidore / Sapphirus is a precious stone, like the firmament when it is clear, which gives a brilliant light when struck by the sun beams. There was once a craftsman, an excellent worker in the most honorable craft, who intended to set this precious sapphire in the emperor's diadem. The sapphire said to the craftsman, \"Master, do not enclose me. I am free and young and apt to the world. Therefore I will not be separated and parted from the joy of the world. But I will be merry for a while and see the compass of it.\" To whom this noble craftsman replied, \"Your inclusion shall be your holiness, and for your great advantage, for I shall set you in a secure place where you will live in safety without fear. I consider well your preciousness and your great value, and I fear that if you wander about the world, you will be lost, for it is written in the fifth book of John.\" All the world is set in place.\n\"Much danger exists in this world. There are so many perils that neither the tongue of man can express them nor yet the heart conceive them. For this reason, my own dear son, and for the great love and favor I owe to you, I will not allow you to depart from me or wander about the world. But I will put you in safe keeping and custody. After this, this revered workman and Goldsmith included the Saphyr respectfully in the king's diadem. Where he remained perpetually in great worship and said,\n\nIt is better to abide in a secure place than to wander about and be without a guide.\n\nSo it is certain that a religious man should continue and abide in his cloister and in his cell. For it is written in the Rule, \"Go into your cell, O man of religion, and it will teach you all things necessary for your well-being.\" For peace reigns in the cell, and without it is the absence of battle and strife. And therefore, as Jerome says, he who abides in the cell will learn all things necessary for his well-being.\"\nThat which desires the Cryst [seek nothing else in this world but let his cell be to him as a paradise filled with the sweetness of holy scripture, and use often for delight, and rejoice in the study of them. An abbot named Evagarius said to one who said to him, as it is read in Vitis Patrum: \"I cannot fast, nor labor, nor wait upon sick people. Go and eat, drink, and sleep, but keep still your cell and do not go out, for perseverance in the cell leads a monk to his order, and so little and little he returned again to the holy works of perfection.\n\nTopaz is a precious gem which in itself bears the colors of all precious stones. Isidore also says in his Libro xvi that it is a green stone shining with various colors, which was first found on an island of Arabia called Topaz and from it the stone is named Topazius. At one time, a precious topaz was conveyed and carried out of Arabia to Rome and reverently placed in the treasury.\nSet and consecrate in a cross in the Church of St. Peter of Rome, and there it was desireously beholden by many a creature. This Topasion was infected with bad counsel and seduction. What life is this to continue always in the Church and never to depart thence? Nor at any time to be familiar with the world. Wherefore I will, for a season, return to the world that I may have a little recreation in it. And in conclusion, this Topasian was broken and destroyed, and said with great lamentation and mourning.\n\nHe who departs from a holy place\nWithout a lawful cause shall sometime fail of grace\n\nTherefore religious folk beware to return to the world lest they prish with it. For truly concupiscence destroys religious folk. And therefore, the saying of God is the well of all virtue. So is the love of the world the well of all vice. Wherefore he who will have God in possession must forsake the world that God may be to him a blessed possession forever. Bernard also says, \"The perfect servant of Christ.\"\nA young man desired nothing but him. And if he loved anything else save him, he was not a true knight. Barnard also says, those made rich with spiritual goods owe not to be enticed by secular occupations. It is written in the writings of the fathers that a certain brother of Recluse asked an old man a question and said, \"What shall I do for my thought will not suffice me to abide one hour in my cell?\" And the old man answered and said, \"Turn again and sit still in this cell and labor with your hands and pray God earnestly, and cast up your thoughts to him, and beware that no man deceives you or causes you to depart from your cell. For I shall tell you a marvelous tale. There was once a young man who was secular and had a father living. And at a time of opportunity and ease, he prayed his father to grant him his good will that he might receive the holy order. But his father would not grant him. And afterward, this young man called upon his kindred and friends to make an intercession for him.\nA young man had great desire to please his father, but his father was not pleased. The young man then went directly to a monastery and became a monk. After receiving the holy habit of religion, he began to perform the monastery's duties with great perfection and used to fast for two or three days at a time, and once a week took sustenance. His abbot, seeing his perfection, allowed this brother to follow him and look around. He saw three palm trees, a well of fair water, and a cave in the earth and said, \"This is the place that God has ordained for me.\" He went in and stayed there for six years, seeing no creature during that time. One day, the devil came to him there.\nAn old abbot, with a fearsome countenance, saw this monk and was frightened. The monk, upon seeing him, lay prostrate in prayer and rose again. The devil spoke, saying, \"Brother, let us pray more.\" When they rose, the devil said to him, \"How long have you been here? The monk replied, \"Six years.\" The devil then said, \"Brother, three miles beyond is a monastery. There is a priest, and by my counsel, we will go there on Sunday next or within this fortnight at the latest. We will receive our Lord and maker, and then return to our Celestial home.\" The monk thought this counsel of the devil was good. When the day came that they had fixed, the devil appeared and said, \"Let us go, for it is time.\" They went together to the monastery where the priest was, and they entered the church.\nThere and took them to their prayers. And at last this monk rose up and looked about, and could not find him who had brought him there and said to himself, \"Where has he gone?\" I suppose he went to the place of common necessity. And after he had waited a long time and the other monk did not come, the monk went out and sought him. And when he could not find him, he inquired about him from the brethren of that monastery and said to them, \"Where is that old abbot who came with me into your church? Did you not see him recently?\" And they answered him and said, \"We saw none but you alone.\" Then this monk knew well that it was his adversary, the devil, who had deceived him and said, \"Now I consider well that you, devil, with your cunning, have brought me from my cell, but it does not occur to me that I came for a good intent, to receive the holy sacrament of Christ's flesh and blood, and then to go again to my cell.\" And when mass was done, the father and abbot of that monastery would not allow it.\nThe devil came towards him, appearing as a young man in secular clothing. He intensely beheld this monk from head to foot and said repeatedly, \"I am he. It is not I. At last, this monk said, \"I think you know me. But how can it be? I have not been seen for many years.\" The devil replied, \"I am your father's neighbor, the son of such a man, and this is your father's name. Your mother is named thus, and you are named thus. And these are not your servants' names. Your mother and sustenance have been dead for three years. Your father has recently died and has left his estate to whom? But to my own son, who is so virtuous and good and has forsaken the world to follow God's steps.\" Now, if there is any good man who fears God.\nAnd he told me where he is / let him come and take my goods to distribute them to the people for the welfare of my soul and his. And many have gone to seek him and could not find him. And as my fortune was for another reason, I came this way and happened to see him. Therefore, do not delay my counsel but come and sell all things and perform your father's will. The monk answered and said, It is not expedient for me to return to the world. The devil answered again and said, If you do not come, your father's goodwill shall be lost, and you will be accountable for it in the sight of God. What harm is that to me? But I show you his will, and I desire you to come and distribute his goods as a good minister to those who are indigent and needy, so that it is not consumed nor wasted, but spent on the consolation and relief of those who are worthy and in poverty. Or what great burden will it be to you to come and do for your father's soul, with his?\nA monk owned goodss as his singular trust was in it and then torn again to thy cell. The devil previously instigated him, and so this monk went with him to the city and left him there. When this monk was alone, he went toward his father's house, intending to find him dead. And his father was coming out of the durdle, being alive, and did not know his son, but asked what he was. And he was wonderfully troubled and could give no answer. And his father asked him various times and many what he was and when he came. And at last he said to his father, \"I am thy son.\" Then said his father, \"Why art thou come again?\" And he was ashamed to tell the circumstances of the matter. But at last he said to his father, \"The love of the [thing/her/him] I desired to see has caused me to come here.\" Then he continued to stay and, after a short time, committed formation and other great enormities.\nA monk should never leave his cell for bad counsel, because a man named Synnes, despite being vexed by various temptations, did not amend his living or take repentance, but continued in the world and ended his life sinfully. Therefore, I say that a monk should never depart from his cell for any bad counsel.\n\nCarbunculus is a precious stone, as Brito says, and is so named because it shines brightly like a coal fire in the night. Its brightness shines so greatly in darkness that the flames of it strike the eye. A mirror once went to this Carbuncle and said, \"Among all other precious stones, you are very precious and splendid, and I also bear a bright color, so that in me all things are clearly seen and considered. Therefore, as I think, if we were one, we would be of greater excellence and seven times more valuable than we are.\" To this Carbuncle answered and said, \"I will not consent to your motion.\"\nFor I consydre wele that thowe comyste of a frayle stocke / that is to saye of brotyll Glasse / & myn orygynall growith of precy{us} ge\u0304\u2223mis. Therfore owre coniunctyon is not conuenyent / for Isidore sayth. The Chylde is oftyntymes lyke vnto ye moder. And for thow art not equyualent vnto my sub\u2223staunce / goo fro me. For I wyll notte be assocyate nor I wyll not be conioynyde vnto the. And moreouer he sayde.\nThis is at all tymes conuenyent and goode.\nGentyls to be gydyd aftyr their bloode.\nSO a Crystyn man / which is of the most noble kyn\u00a6de / that is to saye of Cryste / for of Cryste is sayde a Chrysten man / owithe notte to here / nor owith notte\nto gyue credence to the perswasyon of the fende. For he is worste of all thinges / wherof it is wryttyn in the bo\u2223ke of Clement. He that wylfully subduyth hym self to the deuyls wyll / shall notte haue peace with God / nor with man. And saynt Augustyn sayth. The deuyl may disceyue no man / but if he wyll frely assent vnto hym. Wherfore Ierome saythe. Power of the\nFear not for the fear and boast of him is ever in the will of man. For the flesh does nothing but the soul consents first. It is written in the writings of the fathers that one hermit was led by an angel to a certain place where there was a great congregation of holy monks. He saw the places around them filled with an innumerable multitude of demons flying, as if they were flies. And when the angel and the hermit came together to a great city where a fair was kept, this hermit saw but one demon standing up upon the gates, and he was idle and not half occupied. The hermit asked what it meant. The angel answered and said, \"All that ever were in the city were capable of performing the demons' will, and therefore one demon was sufficient there. But in the abbey it was contrary, for they resisted manfully and therefore many demons gathered against them to tempt them with various temptations.\n\nAccording to Papias, there is a stone called Achates, which is\nA very precious gem having black sercies and whites, and of various colors. According to Brito and Isidore in Etymologiarum (XVI), it is a stone first found in Sicily, named after a flood of the same name. Afterward, it has been found in various places, as Hugucio states. The gem is said to make a man favorable. Cerastes is a serpent so called, as written in Isidore's Etymologiarum (XII), because he bore eight horns on his head, like those of a ram. The horns of this serpent were often set upon rich men's tables to ward off venom. Knives or hastis were made from his horns, which were wonderfully laid before kings and emperors. The sweetness of them should be shown if any food set forth was infected with poison. This serpent considered himself hateful and odious to every man and forsaken by them. Therefore, he went to the Achate and said, \"O precious gem, come to me and set yourself between my horns, and I shall bear you between us.\"\nthem worshipfully. For I understand well that thou hast great virtue to cause thy bearer to be gracious. And moreover, I promise thee that if thou causest me to be in favor / and beloved, I shall be a partner and have half my winnings. To whom this precious stone answered and said, \"Thy speech pleases me not. For the Apostle says, 'Not only the doers of sin, but also those who send them are worthy of eternal damnation.' And it is also a common saying. As great fault has he who holds it as he who flees or yields. Therefore depart from me, for thy disposition is not good, and thus this precious Gem departed from the Serpent and said,\n\nContrary to sin we owe to be.\nAnd not consent to it perish.\n\nThus did David when he said Psalm 51. I have hated sinners though it were my father or mother, sister or brother, friend or bishop or any manner of degree that wilfully would offend, and so utterly I would flee his company.\n\"Felships that I would never think upon him. Therefore, it is written in Policratus, Libro nono, that St. Jerome excluded three clerks from his board. For they were unmannerly, and he said it was unbe becoming for a worshipful man or a man of authority to keep any evil-disposed person in his company.\n\nIn great haste, Leed went to gold and said, \"Why art thou so proud against me? Am I not of the substance of metals as thou art? Wherefore dost thou disdain me and think that I should be as precious as thou? Come near to me and prove me in fire, and thou shalt see the great virtue that is in me.\" To whom gold answered and said, \"I well know that our Creator has made thee as he has made me, and so I continue as I was ordained by him. Therefore, I do no injury to thee. Wherefore take that which is thine and strive not with me, for it behooves us to be proved in all things as the holy Apostle writes in Thessalonians 5:21 and says, 'Prove all things.'\" \"\nKeep that which is good. Go to the fire, and then shall your virtue and victory appear. And when they were about to be refined in the fire, the lead consumed and vanished away. The gold was purified and came forth fair and bright, and said:\n\nWords of boast, of pomp, and of pride,\nAre but in vain, though they be blown wide.\nMany proud people are in that same case, thinking they have virtue, which is not in them. And therefore, if they have a little blast of temptation, they are soon overcome and brought to nothing, as lead in the fire. Therefore, and if you intend to be precious in the sight of God, study and apply yourself to be meek and humble in your own mind. Therefore, Isidore says: Be thou humble in thine own sight, that thou mayest be great in the sight of God. Furthermore, the more precious thou art in God's sight, the more thou humble thyself in thy own conscience. And he who is vile to his own mind, is great to God. Gregory says: Consider the more glorious thou art in thine own mind.\nIn Rome, there was a lady of great humility and reverence who believed herself unworthy to come near the water and hold the blessed body of our Lord. One time, when the people were pushing and honoring her for her meekness, she did not come forward to receive it. Through the operation of all-mighty God, a dove came and took the host from the water and gave it to her with great worship. Humility and meekness are to be commended and continually observed.\n\nOnce, Gold spoke to Silver and said, \"Be merry, brother, for we two bear the price among all other metals. If we were joined together, we would be of great sublimity and worship.\" To this, Silver replied, \"Brother, you speak charitably. But I consider well that your color is red and mine is not.\"\nWhyte. I remember that you are of great reputation and incomparable value. Therefore, I truly believe that, just as we are divided and contrary in price and in value, so shall we be divided in our wills. It is therefore better for us not to begin conjunction but rather to make separation and to withdraw from the thing that has begun, and Silver said these words.\n\nNo wisdom it is for any man to apply.\nTo compare himself with his better, nor to step up.\nAs it is written in Ecclesiastes xiii, he charges himself with an intolerable burden that binds him to his better, and it is also written in that same place. Be thou no fellow to him who is richer than thou. Therefore, the philosopher says, \"The poor man perishes when he begins to strive with the rich man,\" as Isopo shows in a fable and says that the gate, the sheep, and the ass on a time made a confederacy with the lion and went hunting together as fellows and neighbors.\nA man should take a heart. But when they were to divide it, the lion spoke and said, \"I shall be part of the first portion. For I am greatest in worship here, and the first choice shall yield me the second portion, and the greatest labor shall give me the third part. And if I have the fourth part, I shall break the agreement of concord, and with these words he began to grin with his teeth and struck the ground with his tail so hard that they all fled in fear and left the entire heart to the lion. This shows that a man should be careful not to associate himself with his betters, for he will always be put to the worse part, as is said in a common proverb. I advise servants not to eat cherries with their betters. For they will have the pits and leave them the hard ones, & therefore says Isope. By this example, it is shown that it is not good for the weak to be joined to the mighty, for he will not be faithful to him at all times. Silver uncurtously in a season.\n\"Vndiscreetly spoke to Iryn and said, \"O unhappy creature. Cursed be thy generation. For of thee are made swords/shafts/darts/breastplates/helmets and all manner of weapons and armor, to punish and to kill man. By the same battles and struggles that happen in the world, if thou hadst not been made, the world would have been in great tranquility and peace. Iryn, hearing this with great reason, excused herself and said, \"Howgh, brother, thou speakest not truly, for I do no wrong to thee. For if I am a malefactor as thou reportest, thine own consideration shall prove it, if thou takest heed. For without me no work can be done. By me also are castles occupied and the earth tilled, men also work by me and drive me in length and breadth, and forge from me what pleases them, & I say not nay, but obey as my maker has ordained me. If they make of me otherwise, it is their blame and not mine. For I do as I should do. But I marvel at\".\"\nThe one who constantly sees a little fault in others and does not consider a great beam in himself. For if all truth were truly declared, you are the originator of all mischief. By the same token, truth and righteousness perish, and rape, usury, and many other crimes come to be. Therefore, it would have been better for you to have held your peace and not spoken so inordinately. A fool cannot keep silent who cannot be still, and therefore it is said in a proverb.\n\nOr ever the word be forth, I brought it.\nConsider before what you have wrought.\nFor St. Augustine says, \"Let your word first come to your mind, and afterward to your tongue.\" What a philosopher was in the company of many people and spoke but few words, he was asked the reason, and he said, \"It has repented me of my speech.\" But never of silence. Cato says, \"It harms no one to be still.\"\nA good thrifty man once had three cockerels and a servant in his household who lived an immoral life. One of the cockerels sang in this way and said, \"Such deeds that servant does, which will not please our master.\" Hearing this, the servant said, \"This cock shall not live long and immediately called for him to be killed.\" On another day, the second cockerel lifted up his voice and sang, \"For speaking the truth, my fellow is dead, and straightaway this servant put him to death.\" The third cockerel was wise and thought he would save himself and sang in this manner and said, \"Here, see, and hold your peace if you intend to live in peace, and therefore he spared his life and continued in great wealth and prosperity.\n\nTin and brass conspired together to envy Gold. Therefore, they devised a pot full of fair copper and brought it to the market.\nA certain chapman bought this copy, affirming that it was gold. When he sought to perfect its authenticity, he found it to be a counterfeit. Indignant, he summoned Gold before a judge, claiming Gold had deceived him. Gold made his true excuse, explaining he had never sold the pot, nor defaced it, nor was it of his lineage or kin. In great haste, the judge summoned the vendors before him and punished them severely. Compelled, they confessed their envy and revealed their intent was to slander Gold, tarnishing his name and preventing him from being so precious in the world. The judge wisely corrected them accordingly and commended Gold, who said,\n\n\"He who is both good and precious.\"\nAnd may everyone sleep soundly and surely. Many intend to defame their betters in the same way, and he who bears false witnesses shall not go unpunished, as it is written in Proverbs 19. A false witness shall not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies shall not escape; that is to say, the judgment of God. And it is written in the same place: A false witness shall perish, as it is written in the Collations of the Fathers. Once there was an abbot named Pafunce, when he was young and gracious, and sat in his cell. One of his brethren envied him and, to slander him, went and hid his book in Pafunce's bed. And when mass was finished and all the monks were gathered together, this unfaithful brother reported and said that his book had been stolen. Therefore, three brothers were assigned to search in every cell, and they found the book in Pafunce's bed. Thus, he was falsely accused before all his brethren and assigned to do great penance for the theft, which he had not committed.\n\"Although he endured it meekly, the false monk continued in penance for a certain time. This false monk was troubled by a demon and publicly confessed his offense with loud clamor, declaring that he had hidden the book and did it out of envy, to defame the holy man, and earnestly asked to be brought to him to be delivered from the demon's possession by his holy prayers. When he was brought before him, he was immediately healed and delivered from the demon's possession. Therefore, St. Gregory speaks of false witnesses and says, \"He who bears false witness is culpable to three persons. First, to God, whose penalty he forsakes. Second, to the judge, whom he deceives by his lies. Third, to the innocent whom he harms by his false witness. And therefore, the false witness is bound to make restitution of all such goods as he caused his neighbor to lose by his false testimony.\"\"\nThere was some time. Which was very good and pleasantly opened her lock and made it fast, in so much that the patron and owner thereof rejoiced greatly in it. Upon a time this Lock fell into a contrary mind and grumbled against the key, saying: \"O wicked creature, why pursue me thus continually, daily thou enterest into my belly and churn my stomach up and down. Cease from thy grief and trouble me no more, or else I shall cast thee away or make thee crooked.\" To whom the key answered and said: \"Sustainer, thou speakest evil. By me thou art conserved in prosperity and defended from thine enemies. If thou wilt be separate and departed from me, thou shalt be destroyed and broken and cast away.\" But this notwithstanding, the lock was not pleased but suddenly stopped the hole fast and would not suffer the key to enter in, and so the owner could not open the door. Therefore he was angry and in a sudden heat he struck off the lock and broke it because it would not open.\nWherefore the key scorned the lock and said in this wise: \"With your friend who maintains the discord, never in any degree. Beware therefore to strive or vary with him whom you live with familially. For Seneca says, 'Nothing is more foul than to be at strife and variation with him whom you love and have been conversant with.' Nonetheless, those who desire to live peaceably with their neighbors should help to support them and bear part of their charges, as the Apostle writes in Galatians 6: \"Every one of you bear ye one another's burdens.\" Tully also says, \"There is nothing that can be sufficient for him who perfectly loves his neighbor,\" as it is read in the Scholastic History. That Antipater Iduceus, who was the father of Herod the Great, was sore wounded in battle with many diverse great wounds in the emperor's service, which he gladly suffered for his sake. Nevertheless, in the end, he was falsely accused to the emperor. And when he was brought before him, he spoke to the emperor.\nAnd said I. My Lord, I will not show you fair words for my excuse. But these great wounds which I have suffered for your love / let them speak for me / and express also the great love and very true heart that I have ever owed you. And immediately the Emperor received him with grace / and showed him great favor. It is also written in the first book of Iapis of the Philosophers / about Julius Caesar, how there was an old man who was likely to perish in a fight on a certain day / and when he came before the judges, he prayed the emperor to come and help him. The Emperor assigned one to help him. To whom he answered and said, \"O Emperor, remember that I fought myself in the battle of Asia / and made no procedure / and displayed my wounds which I had there. Therefore, I went myself personally and attended to my affairs / and was sore ashamed in myself to be reputed not only bold, but also uncourteous and unloving.\" It is written that he who was a soldier in the army of the Romans, and had once saved the life of the Emperor, came to him when he was in great need, and begged for his help. But the Emperor, who was then engaged in some important business, could not attend to him immediately. The soldier, therefore, grew impatient, and, drawing his sword, threatened to kill himself before the Emperor's eyes, unless he granted his request. The Emperor, moved with compassion, at once consented to grant his request, and the soldier, having received what he asked for, departed, greatly rejoicing.\nThe same Emperor says, \"Labor not. Do not eat. He himself labors not to be loving to his knights. He cannot be favorable to them, as it is said of the same Emperor, that he never on the side of saying. Go thou, but go we, for he was ever a partaker of their labor. The cauldron spoke to the pot on a time and said, 'Thou art greatly ungrateful, for I bring thee to the fire, and thou daily seest many a good morsel and givest me no part to eat with thee. Thy gluttony is great. For thou consumest all and leave me hungry. The pot answered and said, 'Thou servest me to my harm. And therefore thou art not worthy to be rewarded, but rather to be punished, for thou keptst me upon the fire against my will and caused my sides to be burned and consumed. And therefore, if my power would extend thereto, I would gladly destroy thee. But if thou wilt be willing to do me acceptable service. Order to me things profitable and necessary, and not contrary.'\"\nService that is good and pleasurable is loved by all men and acceptable. Therefore, if you desire to serve others for their pleasure, so that they may thank you. Or else, you will lose your reward. Seneca says, \"He who cannot give a reward unrightfully asks for it; that is, he who cannot give a profitable reward desires it unrightfully. Small beasts teach us to yield kindness. As it is said that the mice went upon the lion while he slept, and the lion caught him and wanted to eat him. But the mice spoke softly to the lion and said, \"Be patient with me and have mercy on me, and I will yield it to you when I may.\" The lion began to smile and laugh, thinking that the mice's ability was weak and insignificant to help him. But shortly after, it happened that the lion was caught in a net. Knowing this, the mice gnawed the cords and delivered the lion from danger. But an evil disposition is not easily changed in lords and mighty men are given to gifts.\"\nA young man in the winter season saw a serpent nearly dead from the fierce cold. He took it up and put it in his sleeve. But when he was warm, it stung him and destroyed him. Therefore Seneca says, \"A serpent in the winter is not to be handled carelessly, for though it lies still, it does not intend to strike and shed its venom.\"\n\nRegarding the virtue of herbs, rosemary in particular has this property. If planted in a field or vineyard and kept clean and worshipfully, the vines will bear fruit abundantly and rejoice greatly, and the corn will multiply and increase significantly. For this reason, a certain field that continually bore no fruit went to rosemary with humility and devotion and prayed, \"O gracious shepherd and good keeper, come to me and defend me.\"\nAnd I shall set the scene and quietly, and I shall serve thee. I alone desire thee to sit still and rest in me, that rather may be thy goodness, I may bring forth wholesome and kindly fruit. The rosemary was moved with pity, and overcome with the fair supplication of the field, and went forth with him and set himself in the midst of it. Who ruling and defending the field recovered and grew green, and multiplied and brought forth fruit three score fold and a hundredfold with great habitude and gladness, and said in this way:\n\nFor God's sake, be often considered and kept out of woe.\nThus ought the people to do when they have no guide.\nTo choose a provident man, rightful and wise,\nWhose policy and wisdom may govern them wisely and defend them.\nVerily and truly, a wise king is a sure stabilization of the people, as it is written, Wisdom 6:6.\nO ye kings, if you delight in your royal seats. Love wisdom. Love the light of it.\nA wise ruler is preferred to rule the people (Ecclesiastes). A wise prince will be stable. It is written in the same place. A foolish king will abandon his people, and the cities will be inhabited by the reasons of wise men. Therefore, Solomon desired of God a teachable heart, that he might teach the people of God and discern between good and evil. Also, Vigilantius says in de re militari, No man knows more or better everything than the prince and ruler. Whose doctrine should be most profitable to all his subjects. For truly, young men are not often chosen as rulers, for it is not most expedient, as it is said in the third book of ethics. And Plato also says, \"Then the large world was prosperous and happy when wise men ruled, and kings inwardly conceived good governance,\" as Valery and Boethius in his first book of consolation say. Therefore, it was called the golden age.\nThe reign of wise men continued, and Seneca writes in Libro Politicorum iiii that while prosperity among the Romans endured and increased, emperors and rulers were conging and well instructed in learning. Seneca wonders how it happens that the virtue of congeing lingers and is abated among princes and rulers. Therefore, it is no wonder that their state appears to prosper without wisdom, as holy write makes clear. Proverb VIII says that a king's reign is decreed by Almighty God. Therefore, the king of Rome exhorted the king of France to cause his sons to be imbued and learned in all sciences, saying, \"An unlearned king is like an ass crowned.\" Socrates reports in his last book and says that among a certain people, that is, on an island in Campania, nobility of birth does not prevail in election of the king, but the voices of all the people. They make election and choose one who is ornate and clothed with good conditions.\nAnd mannerly in righteousness and mercy, and also sad of age with no children. If he is proud of his people to continue in any great sin, he shall die and be destroyed.\n\nIn the book of virtues of herbs, it is written: Reve, among all others, has this in particular. If she is taken in drink or in food, she marvelously prevails against venom and again against various poisonous creatures or stings if she is bruised or crushed with like salt and not with it. For this great virtue against venom, all poisonous creatures came together to her and said: Depart from our company and meddle not between us and mankind. For we intend in all our minds to sow our poison among men and to destroy them, for which cause they pursue us and kill us.\n\nTo whom Reve answered and said: Your words are wicked and my shame. It is written of you in the Psalter, Psalm xiii: The poison of asps is under their tongues. You.\n\"Cursed serpent, why are you about to destroy Ma\u0304, whom God created and made lord of all things? And since you say that I have grace and courage against you, and against your wickedness from this time forth, the grace of God shall not be void in me. But His grace shall ever dwell in me, for I will always apply myself to be contrary to you and to your evil disposition, and resist you so that you shall not fulfill your evil intent. And she said these words:\n\nGod's people ever prevail\nAgainst sinful ones who would assail.\nEven so, rulers should do, and wisely resist bad people and say \"No\" to them and punish them. For Seneca says, \"I dislike good people who spare the bad.\" A judge ought not to spare malefactors, for a judge correcting the sinful commits sin himself, as Seneca says. Therefore, Ambrose says, \"Indulgence and favor shown to the unworthy provoke many others to sin thereby,\" as Valery relates in his writings.\"\nBrutus was the first consul of Romam, who commanded his own sons to be brought before him, seated in judgment, to be scourged and then beheaded. This was because they intended to restore the lordship of Tarquin, which he had expelled. He had been without children before, and therefore lacked an heir to carry out vengeance. A similar example is given by St. Augustine in De Civitate Dei. A certain Emperor of Rome commanded that no man should fight against his enemies, and his own son, who was often provoked by them, once fought manfully and defended the camp, putting them to the worse. However, despite this, his father commanded him to death for breaking his commandment. Therefore, righteousness must always be kept and observed.\n\nBrutus says there is an herb named Isopo, apt and good for purging the lungs. Another author says that Isopo with oxymel destroys the worm, that is, the poison.\nFor which cause Marcury, named a god by Gentiles, but he was a false, covetous man and harsh. A witch full of wickedness and an interpreter of speeches. And while he had health, many vices regarded him, therefore he was rightfully struck by God with various infirmities, and was made both lung-sick and rheumatic, so that he could not occupy his accustomed sins. Wherefore he went to Isis and said, \"The power of God is in thee to heal sick people. For in thy words and stones is great power. Therefore, I pray, show thy power upon me and cure my lungs and destroy the pestilence that is in me. And I promise God and to thee, that thou shalt be a partner of all such goods as shall grow to me through Rabane and theft.\" To whom Isis answered and said, \"It is evident that in your health, you have done innumerable crimes, and I truly believe that if you should now be restored to health again, you would do worse.\" But the power of God that you say is in me, shall not.\n\"You must maintain distance from sin. Go therefore, for you will never be helped by me, and he sent him away with great confusion, saying in this way:\n\n\"Sinful people, when they have health,\nBe ever the worse, and in their most wealth.\n\n\"When God corrects and scourges the sinful with various infirmities, that they may not sin, and they are not amended thereby, it is certainly a great sign of perpetual damnation. For in this loose present, every stroke of God's other purgation of sin or else the beginning of pain following, is for the chastisement of some people, which begins here in this world and lasts eternally. Of various men it is often said: God gives not judgment twice for one thing. Nevertheless, that sentence does not attend that which is written. God, all-mighty, delivering his people out of the land of Egypt, destroyed those who did not believe in him afterward. And although one fault is not corrected twice, nevertheless, if it is twice punished, the first correction\"\nPunishment begins here and continues there eternally, as it is exemplified in those persons who do not correct themselves in this present life. To whom the stroke of God and of His punishment here is a beginning of everlasting torment. It is written in the Psalm Psalm CVIII: \"Cover them with their confusion as with a garment.\" Diploma is called a double garment, which they put on at one time. Abrotanum, as Oracyus says, is a tree that draws out all things that are fixed with the help of another thing called anxungial. Therefore, an hare that came to him meekly, which had a sharp thorn smitten in its foot, and said, \"O thou helper both of body and soul, have mercy on me and heal me,\" and thus saying, he lifted his foot and showed it to him. Abrotanum was moved with compassion and laid himself upon his wound and brought out the thorn and healed him. And truly green and fresh, he said, \"To our benefactors who do us good, let us do likewise.\"\nService with a glad mode. But cursed people and uncourteous ones do not, but rather soon forget the benefits done to them. Therefore, when Salomon was asked what thing should not easily be forgotten, he said, \"Benefits and kindness.\" And therefore Caton says, \"Be thou remember of benefits done to the before time.\" And also he says, \"A small gift that your powerful friends give, receive it gladly and remember to yield full thanking. You owe to yield the benefits to your friend. With increase if your power extends to it, or else to have it often in your remembrance, that your friend has shown to you, so that you may give him thanking at least, for his goodness. For Seneca says, \"It is a sufficient and large reward for a good deed, to be had often in remembrance.\" And also the same cleric says, \"He is uncourteous that renders a good turn without surety and increase.\" It is read in Ecclesiastical History that there was a lioness that had a den near the cell of a holy man.\nThis holy man was called Macharye. A lioness brought her blind cubs before him and his feast. Understanding that her supply was for her cubs, Macharye prayed and caused them to see. The lioness, unwilling to be regarded as ungrateful and unkind, often brought the hides of all the beasts she took to the cell door of this good man and left them as a reward. Another beast came to Saint Macharye's cell with its blind offspring, seeking help. Macharye, knowing this, prayed for the cub and it regained its sight. The beast thanked him in its way and went away with its child. Shortly thereafter, it returned with all its cubs carried in sheepskins and offered them to the holy man as a gift in recompense for his kindness. It made obeisance to him and went away, giving him worship.\nPlantain is a profitable herb against the Fevers quartan, for an ape that had a son afflicted with this disease, which could find no remedy for him after spending great sums on physic and medicines. Therefore she went to Macrum and said, \"I have searched heaven and earth and traversed the land, and found no rest for my son but now at last I have found the greatest remedy. A learned leech who can save us. We must seek health for our souls and search for a priest and a confessor who is sufficiently learned, both able and willing to bind and unbind. Thus, a Christian man or woman knows how to find the ways to save their soul. For Isidore says, \"Every sinner receives healing for their wound through penance. But the medicine is to be taken according to the greatness of the wound, and according to the depth and profundity of the wound, the remedy is to be sought.\"\nand they in the sea made a vow if they might escape, they would confess. After their escape, they made a confession to a hermit. The hermit instructed him, due to his great offenses and enormities, to go to the Pope to be absolved. So he killed the hermit and went to the second confessor, and also killed him. And so he went to the third confessor. When he had shown him his confession, he entreated him courteously, and when he perceived that he could not soften his heart nor withdraw him from his wickedness, like a very faithless man, Macer says that when you visit the sick, if you bear varnish upon you and ask the patient how he is, if he says well, he will escape and be healed. But if he answers and says it is ill with me, there is no hope of amendment. A wolf, who was a leper greatly named, had a sick person in his care and daily gave him good hope of amendment. The fox, knowing this, killed the leper.\nA man from Varuayne, intending to deceive the wolf, visited the patient and brought with him a branch of varuayne. He asked the sick man how he was doing. The sick man replied, \"I am very sick and nearly dead.\" The fox, certain that the man would die, left the patient and went to the wolf who was caring for him, asking how the sick man was doing. The wolf replied, \"He will soon be cured and healed of his disease. I consider this by the movement of his pulse and also by his urine.\" The fox sneered and said, \"You are being deceived, and you do not know the craft of medicine. He cannot escape by any means, for the sentence of death has been given to him.\" The wolf contradicted him, and they argued and struggled in the presence of many people, making great bets and wagers on the outcome of the truth of the matter. However, in brief, the man died and departed.\nWithin the space of eleven days, and the wolf was confused and lost all his ways and all his goods, remaining in great poverty, and he said, \"Ways to lay aside things unknown is no wisdom, but madness I believe. Therefore beware and do not bind yourself to these things that you do not know. Nor speak unless you are sure of that which you are not deceived. For Socrates says, there was one who asked how he might speak truth. And he answered and said, 'If you say nothing but what you know for certain.' Thus, you will not lie. And as the philosopher says, if you fear to speak that you will repent, it is better to be silent. But many will defend their sayings, whether good or evil, to their power and fall into strife and debate with every person and never be at rest. There is a tale of a woman, accustomed and used to quarrel, who walked by the field with her husband. And he said, 'The field is more down.' She said, 'It is shorn.' And so they multiplied their disputes.\nma\u2223ny wordis that at the laste her husbonde all to coryed her. But she wold not be styll / but sayd it was clyppid with sherys. Werfore in a greate angir he cut owte her tonge. And whan she myght no more speke. She made sygnes with her fyngers lyke sherys meaninge the fil\u00a6de was Clypped. A lyke tale is tolde of an othyr wo\u2223man thewich stryuynge with her husbonde sayd that he was lowsye. And he was mouyd and greuyd withe her for her sayng / and bete her greuously / but she wold not amend her. But came before all her neybowris and callyd hym so to his rebuke. Wherfore he was replete with ire and threwe herin to a water and trade on her and drownyd her. And whan she myght not speke / she lyft vppe her hondes and made tokyns with her them bys as thoughe she kyllyd lyce. Wherfore it is wryt\u2223tyn Ecelesiast .xxviii. Many haue fall by the stroke of sworde / but not lyke to them that haue be destroyd by the meanys of theyre tongis / and therfore bad speche\nis to be refraynyd.\nAS sayth saynt Augustyn super Ge\u2223nesim\nMaudragora is of the kind of an apple. And of this Apple kind, he says some men have doubted if it is received in food or drink. It causes secondarity and fruitfulness to those who bear it. And for this great virtue which it has, Venus, the goddess of adultery, who exercised her lechery with various persons, went to the mandrake and made her prayer humbly and said, \"O thou most fruitful one. Look upon me and despise not my prayers, but grant me of thy goodness to be a partaker of that which I may conceive children of them that are my lovers. For truly I am barren and without thee I may not conceive.\"\n\nWherefore I pray thee to hear my petition and ask of me what thou wilt. To whom the mandrake replied, \"O thou most unclean of all creatures. For both the earth and the air are corrupted and defiled by thy stinking lechery. But much more should it be infected, if thou couldst bring forth lecherous children that might behold the multiplied and living delightfully. Go thou from me.\"\nFor I am weary and disgusted. The mandrake drove her away in confusion and said, \"Put away your trumpets, for speaking of them will harm your good name. It is written in Ecclesiastes: The speech of an unclean woman is like a burning fire. He who hates chastity and does not keep himself clean should not speak much with women nor give them attention, but put them off and give them no credence. It is dangerous for the soul. As St. Jerome tells of a martyr who, having overcome all manner of torments, was laid in a bed strewn with flowers. A beautiful trumpet lay beside him, which touched his flesh and moved him to sin. And he, having a special love for chastity and cleanliness, with his own tongue he spit in her face with blood and all, in confusion of her corruption and maintenance of his own.\nA queen, also of France, upon seeing M. Perotte, a wise man with passing fair hands, called him to her and said, \"O how worthy are these fair fingers to touch and feel the queen's secret parts.\" This hearing, he drew his hands towards her and said, \"Nay, lady, it shall not be so. For if my fingers should touch you in such a manner, and if I should keep them afterwards, I would think them unclean of that touching and would abhor putting them to my mouth ever again while I lived.\"\n\nIn a certain rose garden, there grew a beautiful rose, filled with sweet roses. It happened that a passing party, seeing the roses, desired greatly to have some and said, \"O thou beautiful flower of all flowers, grant me of thy roses; for I desire to refresh myself for a while in these sweet-smelling odors.\" To whom the rose answered and said, \"Come to me, most beloved and take to yourself pleasure of the best and of the fairest roses.\"\n\nThe roses are both sweet and soft.\nbe sharp and prick me often. The rose signifies the world. Roses among thorns represent worldly riches, which our savior remembers in the Gospel of Luke, and St. Gregory says in the explanation of the same. Who would believe me if I were to interpret thorns as assembled riches, and especially for pricking and riches are delightful, yet they are thorns. For by the pricking of their inordinate love they wound the mind of man, and when they lead it to sin it is like a freshly opened wound. And Bernard says, \"Your riches are in vain.\" For they promise lordship and cause servitude. They promise security and bring fear. As it is written and verified in both. He willfully threw from him the gold and said, \"O vain riches, go from me, and may you be far from me.\" Therefore, covetousness is always to be despised.\n\nPapyrus says, Rampion is a white thorn or a thorny tree. St. Augustine says in the Gloss on the Psalter that\nRampus is a kind of thorny bush, whose earthly part is fair and soft when young. But in the process, it becomes thorny and full of spines. The wild goat went to this tree while it was in the earth, both young and tender, and fed herself on it quietly and sweetly. After a while, this wild goat remembered the sweet relief of this tree. She returned willing to eat of it as she had done before. But this tree was then filled with thorns, which were hardened and harsh. When this goat tasted and felt them, they were fixed and stuck fast in her throat and in the palate of her mouth, causing her great pain and torment. This beast, for the anguish and great pain and for the torments she suffered, cursed this tree and said in this way:\n\nCursed wretch, your beginning was good.\nNow you are changed into a wicked mood.\nSo many make a good beginning but bring it to no good ending. Wherefore they incur malediction upon themselves, as Jerome says. In a Christian man, a good beginning.\nEnding is commended more than a good beginning. For Paul began ill and ended well, while the beginning is lorded over and the ending is damned, as Isidore says. The end is always to be sought in the life of man. For God beholds not what we have been, but in our last ending what we are. And Cyprian says, After his last end every man shall be saved or damned. There was a time when a knight was willing to enter religion, attending to the great offenses and likewise those he had committed with his tongue. Therefore, he sent his servant to the abbot to show him his purpose and also to tell him that he was mute and ready to be obedient in every thing. He was received there, and they believed that he could not speak. And when he had continued there and greatly profited, the abbot led him to another knight who was laboring in extremities. And when this knight saw him greatly troubled in his departing from the world, he wept hugely. And when they were departed from the knight, there came an [unknown figure].\nA knight made a promise to an abbot that as soon as he had the opportunity, he would enter religion. The knight went ahead of them. As he went over a bridge, he slipped and fell in and was drowned. The other knight, going with the abbot, saw the drowned knight's soul rise up to heaven, in the likeness of an angel. The knight laughed and rejoiced greatly. The abbot asked him why he laughed and commanded him, in the name of obedience, to explain. The knight replied, \"You have compelled me to speak against my will.\" He then told the abbot exactly what he had seen. Upon hearing his words, the abbot fell prostrate before the knight and took him courteously, praying him to accept him so that he might observe and keep his purpose.\n\nAccording to Isidore of Seville, in his \"Etymologies,\" book XVII, there is a tree named \"Mirtus.\" It is so named because it grows abundantly on the seashore. Therefore.\nof leches in books of leechcraft they are called myrtle, and this tree is apt for women in many necessities, as they write. Once upon a time, there was a sick woman who had spent and consumed all her goods on leeches and medicines, and could find no remedy. In desperation, she went to the sea and found this Myrtle on the sea banks. To it she made her prayers and said, \"O thou fair tree, have mercy on me, and grant to this unfortunate creature one of thy branches that I may be cured and be rid of my infirmity.\" To which the Myrtle replied, \"If I give to thee a part of myself, what reward shall I have?\" The woman replied, \"Gold and silver I have none, for I have consumed all my goods in this disease. But this I promise to God and to thee, that in my prayers I shall ever have thee in remembrance, and of such goods as God shall send me afterwards I shall depart with thee.\" Quoth the Myrtle, \"thou hast promised me a great reward if thou wilt pray for me to Almighty God. Therefore come to me and take.\"\nWhat the Lykith/ and give me nothing other good/ but only keep your promise/ and also he said.\nTo give them and help them who for us will pray,\nWe are all bound and not to say Nay.\nIn the same way, we owe to do the same to the servants of Almighty God/ that they may pray for us to him. For holy prayers may obtain what they will of our Lord, as the gloss says. Orysons and prayers defend us from the wrath of God as a bookcover defends the body from strokes. And Origen says One good man prevails more in praying than many sinners in fighting, as is exemplified. Exodus xvii. When Moses was in the desert with the children of Israel, a king called Amalek fought against him. And when Moses saw his adversary prevailing/ and he would have been overcome, he made recourse to his prayers/ and lifted up his hands to heaven and prayed/ and then his people had the better. And what he saw and laid down his hands/ his enemies had the better. Moses' hands were heavy/ and weak/ and he could not.\nlong hold them up. Therefore, as it is written, two men, Aaron and Ur, and one of them went to the right arm, another to the left arm of Moses, and sustained them, keeping them erect until their enemies fled and dared not stay. This shows that prayer brings victory in battle, physically apparent. It is recorded in transmarine histories. When Godfrey of Bouillon and his lords were besieging Antioch, and Carabas, Prince of Cavalry of the king of Perce, with a great multitude of Turks and Saracens, had them surrounded. They were so afflicted by hunger and thirst that they had nothing to eat, and their horses ate the bark of trees, and whoever had prayed to God, they came out against the Turks, ready to engage in battle, and God sent upon them and upon their horses a celestial dew. By the sweetness of which both they and their horses were fortified and refreshed for three days.\novercame the Saracens and put them to flight, taking many of them and their goods. Wherefore it appears how prevalent prayer is, what it is offered with devotion and sweetness.\n\nA cedar tree, high and apparent, was planted on a mountain which she showed above all others pleasantly. In so much that many went up to see it, and of that sight they were greatly cheered. And she commanded it with great commendation. Wherefore this\n\nCedar magnified herself inwardly and said within herself, \"I am greatly spoken of and lauded by every man for my laudable beauty which is worthy to be lauded. But I think that if the small plants and trees that grow round about me were cut down or uprooted, I should appear most beautiful and large without comparison. Therefore, I think it most sure to myself to make them myself, or fell them down by times, or they ascend to height, that they take not away my worship nor appear it.\" And thus saying, she commanded all the young plants and trees that grew about her to be cut down.\ndown and plucked up by the root. Therefore she appeared naked and bare, and within a few days a great wind blew from the mountains, and the proud Cedar was curved and overthrown, and plucked up by the root. And then she spoke and said with great heaviness:\n\nThey that be rulers can accomplish nothing.\nIf those that are under their care fail them,\nBut many will not believe that, but rather covet to appear worshipful themselves and to destroy those that are under. As it is exemplified, how the olive and the great ruler joined together, and the olive said to the ruler: Thou art but an unprofitable wretch, but I am fruitful, for I minister oil to the help of man. To whom the rich one answered and said: Thou shalt soon see what profit I am, and suddenly she was blown by a great wind from one side to another, and as the wind changed, she bent and suffered no harm. And then she said to the olive: More weakness with humility is more useful than strength with pride. A child when he is but a little one.\nBorn Guyth is an example of humility, for he is born crying and full of sorrow, as David says. He is compared to beasts in their senselessness and resembles them, and he is born weeping and not laughing, as written in Sapience VII. The first voice I have shown is in weeping. Saint Augustine says in his book De Civitate Dei, \"A child when he is born begins with weeping. He does not know what hurt he shall suffer. Zoroaster alone laughed when he was born, and yet his laughter profited him little. For he was the first inventor and beginner of art magic and witchcraft, and he was a king called King of Bactrians, but notwithstanding, he was killed by the king of Assyria called Ninus. Saint John also says that our Lord wept when he raised Lazarus, and the chief cause of his weeping was because he was in a manner constrained to call up his most tenderly beloved friend to this troublous and sorrowful life.\"\nA custom has continued among certain people that when a child is born, the father and mother make great lamentation and mourn. And when it dies, it is brought to the grave with great mirth and gladness. Two trees grew together on one side. Of which one was fair and goodly in appearance, and freshly leaved and fruitful. The other was old and ugly to behold. These two trees attracted much attention from the crowd, who said it was right and just to cut down the foul tree that so greatly defaced and disfigured the beauty of the other. When they were about to cut it down, the tree spoke to them and said, \"O ye wise men, it is written in the law, Leviticus 19:18. Judge righteously between man and his neighbor.\" For when our Lord, by his power, went again to Sodom to judge the wicked men and sinners of that place, he said to Abraham, Genesis 18:22. The clamor.\nThe stories of Sodom are greatly multiplied. I shall go and see if they have fulfilled in deed the clamor that has come to me. As one says, \"Give not always credence to wicked tales or ever you be assured of the profit.\" A judge may not punish sin, but only that which is openly known. It is written in John 8:\n\nOur Lord said to the woman who was accused of adultery, \"No one has condemned the woman, and she answered and said, 'Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.' Therefore, do not condemn me unless you have proved me guilty. For our Savior says, 'By their fruits you shall know them.' The people stood still listening to this, and they tasted of the fruit and found no good reception in its fruit. They despised both the tree and its fruit and made a profit of the foul tree's fruit. And they found it sweetly savored and delightfully received. And all of them together gave praise to God.\nIsidore says, \"It is truly a duty and a saying, 'Commend the fruit and say so.' Science and wisdom it is. To make a new proof or for the sentence to proceed, Isidore says. Condemn no man before he is judged. First prove and then judge, for you are bound to know the truth or you give sentence. And Gregory says, 'He who condemns a just man slays the man living. And he who intends to save the wicked man begets himself to quicken the death. A judge should never propose any sentence in anger nor without great examination. For it is written in Proverbs 27, 'Anger has no mercy,' of which Valery tells in his sixteenth book. Cap. II. King Philip, when he was intoxicated and full of wine, gave a wrong sentence to a widow, and she came to him and said, 'I appeal from Philip the unjust to Philip the just.' And when he had digested that wine, he revoked his sentence. A similar tale is told of a sinful woman, who was cruelly judged by Tholomew, king of Egypt. And she, without fear or dread, appealed to the benignity of\"\nThe same king. After considering his sentence, he replied that the benevolence and meekness of him were fitting to overcome all his judgments that proceeded from cruelty.\n\nDelphinus is a fish, of which Isidore writes in Ethimologiar, book XII, where he says that dolphins have this custom: they follow the voice of man or the noise of a symphony, and they will easily come together. Nothing in the sea is swifter. They often overtake ships sailing and overtake them. When they play in the waters and leap and make great labor in the waves of the sea, they signify great tempests. These are called properly symptoms. It is also the dolphin's kind with sharp pricks in its back to slay crocodiles, ripping their soft bellies. There was a certain dolphin in the sea that found an elephant among the floods and stopped her passage and pursued her. And when he had taken her several times, he could not keep her, she was so sleepy.\nThe dolphin was sorry. The elephant mocking the dolphin and trying to escape spoke softly to him, saying, \"O thou marvelous Dolphin, I sorrow greatly for thee. Thy labor is great to swim after me, and thy heart is not merry. But thou laborest in vain, for thou shalt never take me. But come with me into the mud and into the dry ground, and thou shalt have me at thy will.\" This dolphin was foolish and had lost his wits from anger and greed, and he swam after the elephant at a great pace, intending to destroy her. The elephant brought the dolphin into shallow waters and plunged into the middle, saying to the dolphin, \"Come to me for the roots of the earth will let my passage, and thou mayest satisfy thy appetite with me.\" The dolphin made a great leap to catch the elephant. But she hid under the mud, and the dolphin got stuck in the mire. And soon a fisherman came and struck the dolphin, saying,\n\n\"He who has caught...\"\nAffection with his enemies to go\nHis hurt is to be doubtful of his mortal foe. Beware and despise therefore not thy enemy, though he be not mighty, but mistrust him and beware lest he deceive you; for Seneca says, \"A week's enemy it is wisdom to fear. It is told in the moral lore of philosophers that Xerxes, king of Media, ordered a great battle against the Greeks and gathered an innumerable host. One of his men said to him, \"The Greeks shall never endure the tyranny of your great host; they will turn their backs as soon as ever they hear of your coming.\" Another of his servants said to him, \"It is to be feared that you shall find cities and towns deserted and void of inhabitants, and therefore you shall not be able to display the great strength of your people. The third also said to thee, king, \"The sea is too narrow for the ships. The castles too little for the knights. The fields not large enough for the foot soldiers. The sky very scant for the arrows of the innumerable host.\"\nmultitude of the medonys. And whyll that they steryd the kyng in this wyse / and fortifyed hym with greate wordis and estymacyon of inuincyble power / and despisyd ther enymyes Dama\u2223chus the philosofre sayde to the kynge. This greate multitude of people that pleasith the. Is to be dredde of the. For it is very trewe / that a greate multitude of people can neuer be well rulyd. And that thinge which cannot be well rulyd maye not continewe / and therfore ther is nothing so grete but it perissheth. And euyn so it happyd as thys Philosofre Damachus had before sayde. For that greate puyssawnce of people / thin\u2223kinge them self in suuetye / for lakke of gydynge / and prouidence was scomfight and ouerthrowe / of but a fewe of ware personys / and wyselye ordird by greate polycye and wysdome.\nSIren is a monstre of the see / and in owr tong it is callyd a Marmayde. For fro the nauyl vpwarde it is a fayre mayde. And fro thens downwarde it is al fissh. This monstre sin\u00a6geth so swetely oftyntymes that for the gre\u00a6te\nA man forgets himself and his ship often, leading them to be unguided and fall asleep at sea, resulting in many perishing. A certain man, with an unclean mind and lecherous disposition, saw this Siren most fair and desired her, steering his ship towards her. This monster sang merrily and made noise the longer the sweeter, and prepared herself to deceive this lecherous man and said to him: \"Considering your desire for me is great, if you will have your desire of me, descend and come to me in the waters, and my body shall be ready.\" This man was so consumed by lecherous desire that he completely disregarded his own well-being and took no care of himself, but madly leapt into the sea and destroyed himself. She swam forth into the sea as was her wont and said: \"A man who gives his trust to a woman,\nOrders a snare for himself to be laid.\"\nTherefore, unclean men must beware.\nThey do not perish because of a woman's beauty, for it has caused many to perish, as it is written in Ecclesiastes 9. Therefore, the wise man gives sound counsel and says in the same place, \"Beware of a young woman, lest you be ensnared by her beauty.\" For the holy man Job said, \"I have made a covenant with my eyes that I shall not look upon a maiden.\" Therefore, Bernard says, \"A woman's beauty is like a poisoned arrow that wounds the soul and puts it in peril.\" When Parras had taken Elayne as his wife, various philosophers came to see her, and when they saw her great beauty, they covered their eyes and said, \"Flee, flee.\" For truly it grieves more to the soul to hold a fair woman than a foul one. As one relates and tells, a philosopher named Democritus put out his own eye. And these other philosophers show that he did it for three reasons. The first reason was that his sight distracted him from his inward good meditations.\nThe second reason was his impatience to see wretches and sinners flourish in great prosperity. The third reason was that he could not look upon women without outward concupiscence and inordinate desire. Therefore, the sight of the Jen was to be kept clean, that the soul may be preserved from sinful affection and corruption.\n\nEnter Marinus. He is a believer of the sea, who seeks his food both in the water and on the land, and drowns himself in the ways of the sea like a fish, and goes on dry land like a beast. Once, upon a time, when he had found food in the water, he ate it on the land because water beasts should not eat with him. At another time, when he had taken food on the land, he ate it in the water so that it should not be taken from him by the beasts of the land. And thus he continued and never departed from himself to any who asked for a share, but like an insatiable glutton kept all to himself. Therefore, he was odious and hateful to all other beasts and fish. The time of age.\nAnd of affliction came upon him, and he was both old and impotent, so that he could not swim nor labor by the sea nor go on land. Therefore he was very needy and hungry and constrained by great poverty to ask for alms. But since he never gave of his own when he had plenty, no one would depart from him in his need. And so he made great sorrow and said:\n\nSeek help bitterly, he shall seldom succeed.\nThat to no one else will help at their need.\nMany such there are, who will give nothing for covetousness and greed, fearing that they shall lack sustenance and temporal goods. But as St. Gregory says, worldly substance is multiplied and increased when given to the poor. And also he says, he who gives alms receives more than he gives. And it is written in Proverbs, \"He who gives to the needy shall not be needy.\" And he who despises the asker shall be ungenerous.\n\nWhen a certain person had.\nprechid the Gospell vppon a tyme at saynte Vyctowris. The monkys of the same place askyd of hym why they were powrer in goodis / and more greuously indettyd / than they were wonde to be / and notwithstondynge they lt was goon with his felow callyd date. But & if thei wol\u00a6de kepe theyre customable hospytalyte / as they hadde before vsyd. He shulde retourne agayne and brynge\nwith him greate had oundance and plente / saynge owr Lorde Iesu / Geue ye and it shall be geuyn vnto yowe. Luce sexto.\nFIsshes .v .callyd dentales / yong fal and lustye swam in the see floodes. But a Fissher comynge bye and se\u2223ynge them cast his nettis and ordey\u00a6ned to them. These fisshes seynge that sayd. Gode it is that we stron\u00a6glye swym togider / and breke the nettis / that they neuer shall dysceyue fyssh more / for we be stronge and we may vyolently perfourme owre in\u2223tent / by the Reason of owre great myght and strength In the depnesse of the watyr laye an olde fissh and a wi\u00a6se callyd a stourgyn. And whan he had harde all this / \nhe\nrose up and went to those young fishes and said, \"Children, your thought is folly. If you love your health, eschew the nets, or else you shall make great mourning and heaviness when you are taken in them and be in danger and not escape. These Fish, which were young and trusting to themselves and despising the sound counsel of their elders, joined their strengths together and swam into the nets, trusting to disrupt and break them. But the nets softened themselves so that the stroke of them might not prevail, and so they were taken. Afterwards, they wept and made great lamentation and said, \"It is good to heed counsel. Of such as are wise, that from parables may save. Therefore, I advise every man to attend to the counsel of those who are sad and wise, and not to the counsel of young men and fools. For fools love folly and all their counsel tends to the same, young men have no true reason, and they love things that pertain to youth.\"\nThey are applicable to them, as Job says in Job 12: \"In an assembly of the wise there is wisdom, and in length of time there is great prudence.\" Therefore, it is commanded in Ecclesiastes that the narration of seniors should not pass. For they have learned from their fathers beforehand, as Tully says, \"Old age teaches great things, not by strength or swiftness or fieriness of the body, but by counsel, maturity, and discernment.\" Wise counselors do more than others, for they are like governors in a ship. Therefore, philosophers primarily prevail in great battles through their great counsel, rather than princes with all their armies and strength, as it is said in the proverb 24: \"Battle is begun with preordainment and disposing.\" Therefore, Alexander obtained victory because he guided his army by counsel, as Pompey Trogus says, \"Not only knights but masters of knights were accounted among his servants, and none went with him under the age of sixty years. Contrary to this,\"\nof the Ostia of Darius, and therefore Alexander was victorious, and Darius was defeated and overcome. And it appears that good counsel greatly prevails. The sea wolf, called Lucious, has in his right check a spine or a bone like a cross. If you seek diligently, you shall find it. Take it and wrap it in a linen cloth, and bear it with you, and you shall not be taken by your enemies. And if you are taken, they shall not be taken by your enemies. And if you are taken, they shall not keep it for long, and it is said that this has often been proven. There is a serpent called Basiliscus, according to the Greek language. In Latin it is called Regulus, forasmuch as it is king of all serpents, as Isidore writes. And in English some people call it a Cockatrice. All serpents fear him and flee from him, for with his smell he kills them. With his breath also, and with his look, he destroys all things that bear life. For the sight of him harms no bird that escapes.\nAnd thoughe she be farre frome hym / she is deuowrid and brent with his mowth. Not\u2223withstandinge a wesyll ouercomith him. Therfor men bere these wesyls vnto the cauys where as these serpen\u00a6tis lurkyth / for almyghty God left nothinge without remedye. This serpent Basylyscus seynge the wesyll fleyth / whome Mustela callyd in Englyssh a wesyll / purswith and kyllyth. And this Mustela is but a ly\u2223tell beste of half a fote longe and spottyd withe whyte spottis. These serpentis Reguly be scorpyons hauyng ther beynge there drynesse is. And whan they come to watyr they brede. Idrophodos and Lymphaticos / for they Intoxicate and poyson the watyrs and cawse the\u0304 to be dedly noyhable to man. This regul{us} also is callyd sibilis of many folk / for with his hyssing somtym & oftin he sleith or euir he bite or styng. th{us} hiderto writith of hi\u0304 Isidor. lib .xii .ca .iiii. but Plini{us}. lib .viii .ca .xxii. sayth,\nEmo\u0304ge the hespery Ethiopis is a well. Which is sup\u2223posyd to be the hede of Nyle / nygh vnto the which is a\nA wild beast or serpent named Cacoblephas, of little body and slow in all its limbs, bears a grievous head that constantly looks downward to the earth. Alternatively, it signifies destruction of all mankind. Anyone who beholds its eye will die. The serpent of Basilisk or Cockatrice is equally strong and is born in a province called Coronea. Its body is twelve fingers long and it goes with a white spot on its head and a crown or comb on its head. With its hissing it puts all serpents to flight and does not coil its body but is erect and high in going. It dries up fruit trees and burns and destroys herbs not only by touching but also with its breath and hissing it corrupts and destroys all things lying around it. It is also of such great venomosity and perniciousness that it destroys and kills those who touch it, with pole or shaft, however great.\nA long time without delay, the weasel destroys this serpent and overcomes him. For it pleases God to order all things with a remedy, and every creature to have its equal. The death of this serpent, caused by the worm, is also the death of the worm, and that causes the great stench of the serpent. And this is very true, but if this little weasel is not defended by fury and rubbing of reeds, and fed the same herb, which marvelously defends from poisonous savors, as Aristotle and Avicenna say. First, therefore, this little worm eats of this herb, reed though it be better. And so, by the virtue of the use of this bitter herb, she goes boldly against her enemy and overcomes him. And though this serpent basilisk is poisonous without remedy while it is living, nonetheless, when it is burned into ashes, it loses the malice of its venom, and the ashes of it are thought useful in alchemical operations and especially in transmutations.\nThis serpent, in the guise of a monk, went to the sea side / and called out to him, saying, \"See wolf or luce,\" and said, \"O brother, since thou art marked with the sign of the cross, I am assured that thou art a perfect Christian man. Therefore come to me, for I desire to be taught the Christian faith. And to be baptized, that I may escape the dreadful judgment of God, and to have fruition of everlasting joy.\" This Lucius, beholding the serpent and recognizing him, spoke to him and said, \"O thou false hypocrite. A cowl makes not a monk. Nor do clothes of religion make a religious man, but virtue and religious conversation. Thy words are wicked and double, for thou intendest not to be baptized by me, but rather thou thinkest to deceive me and to poison me. Therefore I will not listen to thee.\" And this serpent, with confusion and said, \"A false hypocrite, full of pomp and pride. Is ever subtlety all laid aside?\" Of all such.\nOur Savior commands us to beware of those who come bearing the name of Isidore, for hypocrites are extremely bad inwardly and in secret. They appear to be very good and righteous in outward appearances, as it is said in Matthew 7:15. But woe to you, false hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men's bones. And you, in the same way, appear outwardly to men as good and righteous, but within you are filled with greed and wickedness. It is written that when Saint Hilary went to dispute against heretics, the Devil followed him in the form of a servant. He brought his cloak after him and was very servile to him in many other things. And, out of compassion, he asked Saint Hilary to mix little water with his wine for the sake of his labor, and he agreed. After that, he asked him to drink pure wine without adulteration.\nA holy man, experiencing a delay in receiving water, complied and instead ate flesh. Afterward, when they arrived at a town, a religious woman desired to speak with him. Following their conversation, the holy man was tempted by concupiscence and saw a means to follow his fleshly appetite. However, it was revealed to him by the Revelation of God and Saint Martin that it was the work of the Devil. Saint Martin appeared and expelled the Devil, revealing him as he was. In this way, Almighty God delivered Hillary from temptation through the great merits of Saint Martin.\n\nA famous and great Sturgeon lay in a flood in Lombardy, which was venerated and feared by all the fish of that place for his great excellence and strength. He lifted himself up within himself and said, \"What is it valuable or worthy of worship to me to be associated with fish of such low degree? For though they reverence me as their lord, and\"\nHe was of no reputation. Better it is for me to go to the great sea, which is so large and spacious, where there are fish without number and great belugas, and other creatures. And among these I shall be magnified for my worthiness, and I shall be very famous among them. And thus saying, he departed from the floods and swam to the sea. While he was there and beheld the great and fierce fish, he repented sore for the fearful sight of them. He coveted greatly to turn around; not knowing what was best to do for the great furiousness of the beasts, as well as other creatures which came and looked upon this sturgeon and said to him, \"Why art thou not fast to go among them that are so great above thee, without their license?\" Certainly thou shalt not go unpunished, & with the same word he went to him and destroyed him and said, \"Every man chastise himself and amend.\" By example of him who vainly would.\nWhen someone is great and sufficiently honored in any place, they should not strive to be greater. Nor should they converse among lords and the powerful, nor associate themselves with them. For Seneca says, \"A small thing cannot long endure with a great one.\" And he also says, \"A ship is great in appearance, being in the flood. But in the great sea, it seems but little. The thing that makes a ship great to some is small to others. There is a fable that when the frog saw a great, fat ox lying in the pasture, she desired to be as great as he. And when this frog had inflated and blown herself up as nearly as her skin would allow, she asked her children if she were not as great as the ox. And they said, \"No.\" The frog blew her skin larger than it was before. Intending to be as great as the ox, and so her skin was stretched and burst, and she died. Therefore, it is not good for any man to erect or lift himself up more than becomes him, lest he perish as did the frog.\nFor Isidore says, \"All pride lies low. How much he desires to be high. For what reason? An angel, because of pride, was made a devil. A soul also, for the same reason, was made a Mermaid, as Brito says. This Mermaid, in English called a Lamia, once found the children of a beast called Crocodile. Which is like a lizard. And when she had beheld them, she killed them and went her way. This beast Crocodile, when he came again and saw his children dead, was bitterly grieved and made sorrow more than can be told. And with all his might and power, he disposed himself to avenge the death of his children. Therefore he went daily in armor and weapons and lay in wait to kill the Mermaid. And upon a time he found a cruel serpent and a venomous one and believed it to be a Mermaid and went against it and said, \"Thou cursed wretch. Now shalt thou not escape. For thou cruelly slewest my children without cause.\" Therefore\nNow I shall sleep and destroy thee. To whom this serpent answered and said, \"Be thou ware and well advised by my counsel, for I am no Lamplight but a poisonous serpent. And if thou presume to come to me, I shall infect thee with my venom.\" Then said the Crocodile, \"Thou canst not discern me nor hide from me. For thou art no serpent, but thou art a Lamplight and thou art made like her in every point. And therefore I shall destroy thee. And while this crocodile in great haste and with great fury ran to slay him, the serpent fortified himself and poisoned him and said,\n\nWith him it is unknown to chide or to fight\nNo man with one who intends to do right.\nAnd therefore no man presume to fight with him who knows not, though he be but of small power. For virtue does not always reside in the great stature of the person, but rather in the heart and in the wisdom of the fighter. For Goliath despised David and yet was he slain by him. (1 Samuel 17:42) Be thou.\nA man should also be wary of falling into battle for revenge or courting conflict. For he who is angry believes he can do more than others and therefore his power is less, as Seneca says. Moreover, the wrathful man thinks he can do more than he can. And he also says, The wrathful man is often forgetful of the law. Therefore, the philosopher says, The law holds the wrathful man in his anger. But he in his anger does not say the law. Therefore, anger should be parted from the soul, for it is said in Proverbs, Anger has no mercy. And therefore, a judge should never deliver any sentence while he is angry.\n\nOnce upon a time, there was a Fisher who fished and hid his hooks carefully. He showed the fish the delightful bait, a lumen and a tench holding the pleasant bait, desiring it greatly. But the lumen was witty and said to the tench, This food seems very good and delightful, but nevertheless, I believe it is put here to deceive fish. Therefore, let us forsake it.\n\"be not lost by the foul appetite of gluttony. Trinchas spoke and said, \"It is but folly to forsake such a good morsel and so delicious for a little vain fear. Rather, I myself shall taste it first and dine with great pleasure and sweetness. And you stay and behold my chance. And while she swallowed in the food, she felt the hooks that were hidden. And she would have wished to return backward. But the Fisher pulled her up to him, and the Light fled swiftly and said, \"Of other men's sorrow, we should take correction. Every one who departs from us can escape freely. So we owe it to be wary by correction and harm of others, as Cato says. The hurt of their bore may chastise them. And Seneca says, \"It is good to see what is to be left behind by the punishment of others.\" And also he says, \"A wise man amends his own fault by consideration of another man's fault.\" And the same cleric says, \"He is wise who can dispose well of his business and beware of harm to himself by example.\"\"\nA Lion, as Isopo relates in his Fabulas, was sick and faint and lay in his den. To this sick Lion came various beasts to inquire about his infirmity. When he saw an advantage and they were near him, he caught them and ate them lastly. The Fox came to him due to visitation and stood outside, before the mouth of the den, and would not enter because he feared coming near the Lion. To whom the Lion said, \"Come here, my dear sister, that we may pleasantly and lovingly converse together.\" The Fox answered and said to the Lion, \"Indeed, I see well the footprints of various beasts going inward. But I see no coming outward, and therefore pardon me. I will come no nearer.\"\n\nThere is a Fish called Regina, and it is a scaly fish taken from the waters. And she is called Regina from a verb. Rego means \"to rule\" or \"to govern\" in English. For she governs herself very well. A water serpent named Idrus, having many heads, came upon a [something].\n\"You are the fairest fish to me above all others, and most dear to me inwardly. Therefore, I will be bound to you and consecrated by holy matrimony. And for that reason, at this time I have come to you. To whom Regina answered and said, \"That may not be. For it is not convenient. It is written Ecclesiastes 13:11. Every beast loves its own kind, and so does every man his neighbor. Every thing that bears life desires to join with its kind, and every man shall be joined to his own likeness. Therefore, and forasmuch as thou art not of my kin nor of my kind, thou shalt never be joined to me. This serpent Idrus, seeing that he was deceived and thwarted in his purpose, returned homeward again with confusion and said, \"I am utterly confounded and plainly forsake. My joy is ever gone, my mirth shall I never make. Every Christian man should answer thus to the devil when he tempts him, for he is a liar.\"\"\nThe old serpent is more subtle than anything living under heaven, as it is written in Genesis third. Therefore, every creature should say to him, Go from me, for thou art not of my kind. Nor art thou one of those who shall be saved. And if thou do this, he cannot abide. It is written in James iv, Resist the devil and he will flee from you. The Apostle says, Be strong in battle and fight with the old serpent. Therefore, we must fight against him and we shall have victory. For he is weak against them who will stand firm against him, as Isidore says. The devil is dreadful in the sight of those who are worldly and fleshly disposed. But in the sight of the elect and godly, the fear of him is vile and not feared. This is shown by an example in Vitis pat. Once there was a brother of Religion who returned to the world and there he spotted himself with lechery and with other vices, and became a servant to all manner of sins.\nIn a long time, he was sorry and repentant, and lived straitly in a sepulcher or charnel house. There he chastised himself in various ways with great penance for a long time. And demons tempted him often, promising him riches and bodily pleasure. But at last they beat him until he was near death, and when the demons saw him steadfastly continuing in prayer and weeping, they cried out and said, \"Thou hast overcome us, monk, thou hast overcome us,\" and they all fled away. And the goodman remembered the malice and wickedness of them in his mind rather than to obey the demons. And so he was changed from sin and made like an angel in appearance, to be a good example for many people.\n\nIt happened during a great solemn feast. Fish of the flood walked together in great tranquility and peace, to take their recreation and rest. But the carp began to trouble the feast, stirring it up.\nI am worthy to be lord above all others, for my flesh is delicate and sweet more than it can be told. I have not been nourished in ditches nor stone dwelling places nor ponds, but I have been brought up in the flood of the great court. Therefore, I ought to be prince and regent among you. There is a fish called Tymasus, having its name from a flower, for Timus is called a flower. And this Tymasus is a fish of the sea, as Isidore of Ethimologiarum xii. states. And although he is pleasant to look at and detectable in taste, yet his fishy nature smells sweeter than a flower and gives a pleasant odor. This fish Tymasus, hearing this saying of the Carp, had great scorn for him and stirred forth and said: It is not as you say. For I shine more brightly than you and exceed you in odor and receive. Who can be compared to me? He who holds me has a great treasure. If you have your dwelling only in the water of the court, I have [sic]\n\nCleaned Text: I am worthy to be lord above all others for my flesh is delicate and sweet more than it can be told. I have not been nourished in ditches, stone dwelling places nor ponds but have been brought up in the flood of the great court. Therefore, I ought to be prince and regent among you. There's a fish called Tymasus, named after a flower, as Isidore of Ethimologiarum xii states. Although it's pleasant to look at and detectable in taste, its fishy nature smells sweeter than a flower and gives a pleasant odor. This fish Tymasus, hearing the Carp's saying, had great scorn and said: It is not as you say. For I shine more brightly than you and exceed you in odor and receive. Who can be compared to me? He who holds me has a great treasure. If you have your dwelling only in the water of the court, I have.\nmy abiding in many large floods. And so among them were great struggles and contention. Therefore the feast was turned into great turmoil, for some factions of one party and some of the other, so that it was likely that heads would have grown great strife among them. For each of them began to snarl at one another and would have torn each other into small pieces. There were many others called Triton, always moving to stir up strife. And so this troubled one, as she was agitated and well-learned, spoke and said:\n\n\"Brethren, it is not good to strive and fight for vain lawdatories and prayers. For I do not commend myself, though some persons think me worthy of commendation; it is written. The praise of another man should commend you and not your own. For all commendation and pride of oneself is foul in the mouth of the speaker. Therefore it is better that those who praise themselves go together to the sea judge, that is the Dolphin, which is a just judge and a rightful and dreading God. He shall\"\nThese two determined this matter. This council pleased them well and afterward they went together to the Dolphin and showed him all their minds, committing themselves to his power. The dolphin said, \"Children, I have never seen you speak thus before, for you have always been hidden in the floods, and I am sailing in the great ways of the sea. Therefore, I cannot give a rightful sentence between you, but if I first try and taste you.\" Saying this, he gave a spring and swallowed them both, declaring, \"No one else is with me to commend. Above all others, last he offended.\" And some people praised and commended themselves and their own deeds, desiring to exalt themselves above all others. But the humble people despised themselves. Gregory says, \"Our works grow and increase by right when they are least set in our own minds. It is written in Job 31, 'If I kiss my hand with my own mouth, that is a great wickedness.' He kissed his hand.\"\nowne honde that praysith his owne de\u2223dys. Therfore Verite and Trowthe / hym self techyth\nvs saynge. Luce .xvii. Whan ye haue perfourmyd all thinge that is commaundyd yowe / saye ye. We haue doone as we owght to do and yitte be we vnprofitable seruauntis. It is in Fables that byrdes fownde a neste Ornate of Rooses and Flowres / and the Egle Kynge of all byrdes sayde that the neste shulde be geuyn to the moost noble byrde. And he cawsyd all the byrdes of he\u2223uyn to be callyd togider / and askyd of all them whiche was the mooste fayre byrde. And the Cuckowe answer\u00a6de and sayde. The Cuckowe. And the Egle demaun\u2223did which was the strengest byrde / and the Cuckowe sayde I. And the Egle was greuyd and sayde. Thow vnhappy Cuckowe thow euyr praysist thy self and ne\u00a6uerthelesse thow arte not fayrest / dor swyftest. Nor stre\u0304\u00a6gest. Nor thy songe is not very swete. But thowe euyr cryest oone crye. And therfore I gyue this sentence of da\u0304\u2223pnacyon agaynst the / that thou \nTHe Frogge vppon a tyme whan she sawe the Crabbe\nSwimming by the water's side spoke and said, \"What is this creature, so foul and uncouth, daring to disturb my water? As I am mighty and strong both in water and land, I shall go and drive him away. After saying this, she made a leap as if she would have oppressed the crab and said, \"O wretch, why art thou not swift to enter into my resting place. Art not thou\nConfused\nHe who is compelled to go to battle, let him fight manfully with his mortal foe. Every creature, as far as it can or may, to the uttermost of its power, flee from battle and strife. But if he cannot escape by any means, or if he should suffer himself to die or to be slain, he may, to his power, fight and withstand his enemies. David, the composer of Psalms, desired to be delivered and said, \"Psalm lvii. O good Lord, deliver thou me from such persons. And also he prayed, 'Psalm lxii. Destroy those people who love\"\nBut we do not only fight for our own cause. We also fight for the difference of our friends, and especially for our father and mother, and for the common profit. Valery shows this in book V, chapter IV, that when King Darius entered the coasts of the Scythians, the people of the same country sent to him and said that they could endure the destruction of both their vines and corn. But if they touched their friends' sepulchers, then they would feel the power of the Scythians and their strength. For their sake, and for the common good, they were ready to die. We ought to love our friends and country so much that in times of need we should be willing to sacrifice our lives. Valery also tells in book V, chapter VII, that when King Codrus of Athens was urged by his enemies to battle, he received an answer from Apollo that he would have victory if he was willing to be slain by his enemies.\nEnemies knew that no man should touch the king. Then he changed his clothing and went again among his enemies and met a knight and struck him with his weapon. The knight fell upon him and killed him. When the body of the king was seen to be dead, and the enemies knew, they fled and left all their goods behind them. Remember, it was previously said that they should be destroyed.\n\nA fisherman, as he fished, caught a little fish. And when he would have killed it, he spoke and said, \"Oh gentle fisher, have mercy on me. For if you kill me, you will have but little profit from me. But if you will suffer me to go free and deliver me from this danger and captivity, I promise to God and to you that I shall cause you to have great winnings. For I shall return daily with a great multitude of fish and I shall lead them into your nets.\"\n\nTo whom the fisherman said, \"How shall I know you among so many fish?\" Then said the fish, \"Cut off a little of my tail that you may know me.\"\nAmong other things, the fisher believed the words of this ungrateful fish and cut off its tail, letting it go. This little fish was always ungrateful; for contrary to its promise, it allowed the fisher to fish as often as he would, and drew the fish away from him, saying, \"Fathers and worshipful seniors, beware of this deceitful one. He deceived me and cut off my tail, and so shall he serve you if you are not careful.\" And if you do not believe me, believe his works that appear upon me. And thus saying, the fish showed its tail, which was cut. Therefore, the fish despised the fisher and fled from him in all possible haste. The fisher used no more fishing. However, it happened long after that the same fish was caught by the fisher among others. And when he recognized him, he killed him cruelly and said,\n\n\"He who has a good turn but is ungrateful,\nIt is very rightful that he be therefore slain.\nTruly, many are so unkind that they always yield evil for good. To whom it is said\"\nProverbs xvii. He who yields badness for goodness, malice and cursedness shall never depart from him. For that is a great unkindness and an unworthy reward for good deeds. Barnard speaks of this and says, \"Unkindness is an enemy to the soul, destruction of good deeds. Ingratitude is an enemy of the soul, a bringing wind drying the well of all pity, the dew of all mercy, the floods of all grace. Again, unkind men may be reported as the example of the poor Townsman who daily went to the wood with his ass. He also found a dragon-fox, which brought the dragon back there he was first and saved both the man and the ass. Another example is Gerard Tenebrini, who was in manner a fool and had nothing in substance of goods. But he had a son. And when he saw much people going to the Emperor bearing him great gifts, he said within himself, \"I also will go to the Emperor and present him with gifts such as shall please him.\" And the first that he presented to the Emperor pleased him.\nA Centaur was found, a beast with the lower part as a horse and the upper part like a man. Swift in running as a horse, it took a thief and was given. St. Augustine says, \"The things that God gave to those who loved Him, He took away from those who were unkind.\"\n\nOnce, the Eagle was accompanied and strengthened by all manner of birds and took their standings and pierced their fields and fought against the Lion and all manner of beasts. And daily, the number of both parties increased, and they went fiercely to battle against each other. While these battles continued, the Fox called the Swallow to him and said, \"Now is the present time that we may redeem ourselves out of captivity and danger. For we may see the signs of our princes who have dominion and rule over us; let us act wisely, and we may devise a plan that they fight each other, and every one shall kill the other.\"\nThe swallow consented and flew to the eagle, magnifying her greatly and said, \"Thou art Queen of all birds and Empress, and if thou wilt heed my counsel, thou shalt be princess and lady of all beasts. The eagle consented and promised to keep secret this matter. The swallow returned again to the fox and made such arrangement with her and with others that the eagle should fight with the lion, and none but they two should engage in battle. And which of them might overcome and be victorious should be prince and ruler of both birds and beasts. And when they were stirring in their battle, the eagle spoke and said, \"O Noble Leonine, if thou heedest, we are deceived by false counselors. For they hope to be delivered of our dominion and lordship, and for that cause they mean and stir us to battle. But certainly it is better that each of us have dominion and rule over his own kind, than that we shamefully slay each other by deceit and cunning.\"\nA prince should believe the sayings of the Eagle, for they understood each other truly and were friends for a common purpose. Wicked seducers they are. They give false counsel and princes therefore should beware of such, lest they be easily moved in themselves by words or tales, though they be subtly told. Seneca says, \"Be moved at the deed doing, and not at the hearing of the word.\" Every creature should keep itself wisely and beware lest it be deceived by false counselors. From Proverbs XXVII, \"Keep your soul from a bad counselor.\" A prince should have understanding of parallel matters around him, and especially of seduction and the deceit of flatterers. There are many flatterers like Marmaries who deceive many by their sweet voices. Of whom it behooves especially to beware, and to understand their deceitfulness. Therefore, a prince should:\nPhilosophically called Sensippus, Plato's kinsman, spoke to one who flattered him. Thou flatterer, be thou still. For thou profitest not. I know thy adulation in the best way. And therefore thou canst not deceive me.\n\nThe Egret called together all manner of birds and wild fowl to assemble. And while they were gathering and correcting offenses, suddenly hunters and bird-catchers appeared and stretched out their nets and prepared their snares to catch the birds. The Egret, beholding this and knowing the great danger, openly cried out that all wild fowl and birds should follow her banner and fly together if they desired to escape and be out of danger. And so those who were obedient and flew forth with the Egret escaped and were out of peril. But there were some who were gluttonous and disobedient, and they looked at the food and coveted it. And so they flew into the nets where they were quickly ensnared.\nAnd then they cried wretchedly and said, \"He who meekly will not obey shall perish wickedly. It is no nay. Therefore, the vice of disobedience is to be eschewed. For disobedience causes death and curse in this present life, and perpetual pain in the coming time. Therefore it was said to Adam, Genesis iii, 'For as thou hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee not to eat, cursed be the earth in thy work, and it shall bring forth thorns and briers for thee.' It was also said to King Solomon, as it is written in 1 Kings xv, 'Because thou hast cast away the word of God and not been obedient to his commandment, he hath cast thee away, thou shalt no longer be a king.' Therefore, Bernard also says, 'The vice of disobedience is very great, for Angels hate it. Adam's paradise. Solomon lost the love of God, and Valery says in his second book, putting an example, how fathers before time punished their children for not keeping knightly.\"\nAurelius caused his son to be punished among foot soldiers, for he did not keep his commandment. This correction in those days was the greatest humiliation that could be. It is also recorded in Roman chronicles that when Julius Caesar had passed the span of five years in subduing enemies, though he had often been victorious. Nevertheless, the due honor which he was accustomed to having was denied him at his coming home, and he was not allowed to enter the city because he had tarried so long after the span of three years that had been allotted to him.\n\nHerodius is a bird of all birds, flying most cruelly and most rapaciously and larger than any bird. This Herodius occupied the air flying about. But the hawk began to whistle after him and said, \"Wait a while, you wicked captive. I shall make you bald. For you desire dominion over all birds, but I myself shall be the ruler.\"\nThis Royal bird, Herodius, in the air took no heed of the lewd words of the kite. But he could not be still, but began to repeat the words again. Therefore, this Herodius was grieved and would no longer suffer it, but swiftly descended upon the kite and with his claws plucked out its guts and killed it, and said:\n\nHe who will fight and strive with the strong\nPerishes many times & seeks his death among\nTherefore we may well consider that it is no small parallel to be unreasonably wordy against those who are mighty, or to vex them too much, as it is written in Ecclesiastes.\n\nStrive not with a mighty man, lest you fall into his hands,\nWhom Isopus tells a fable about. On a certain occasion, a wolf drank from a river, and a lamb also drank from the same river, in another place. And the wolf lifted up his voice and spoke to the lamb, and said:\n\nThou art false to my water.\nTo which the lamb answered and said:\nMy Lord, I do not lie.\nIt is wrong to trouble the water. The wolf said. Three times throw me the lamb spoke and said. I have not lived so long. Then the wolf cried loud and said. Thou art so foolish and straight fall upon him and devour him. So do the mighty men of the world to those that are under them, for without occasion they devour them and destroy them. Therefore it is often said. There lacks never occasion to a lord or to a man of great power.\n\nI am as fair and as great as an eagle said the proud crane, when he saw the eagle flee to the sun, to behold the brightness of it. Therefore I will fly up to the sun and behold it without irreverence for my eyes, as the eagle does. And after that, I shall be magnified as she is. And when she had exalted herself to the stars, she began to grow weary and was past her strength, yet she came not to the sun. Nor also for pride she would not descend, but exceeding.\nHer power she laid low before ward. Therefore she was greatly grieved and unable to guide herself or fly to the Sun, and thus she fell without remedy and said:\n\nWhoever may tend upward next.\nAgainst his own will shall descend downward.\nLikewise, many who are full of elation and pride, desiring to be above all others. And for this reason, pride will have a fall against it; they shall be humiliated. For he who will exalt himself shall be made low. Luke xiv. Wherefore Bernarde says, He who exalts himself as much as he may, shall be subdued as much as God may. And Saint Augustine says, If you exalt and lift up yourself, God shall throw down. If you make yourself low, God shall exalt you. For it is the sentence of God himself, which cannot be made more or less. He who exalts himself shall be humbled. Leo the Pope also refers to this, saying, \"You may see a great miracle. God is most excellent and high. If you lift up yourself, He is.\"\nIf you make yourself humble and come down to him, he descends and comes to you. Orosius relates in his fifth book that Valerian, the eighth emperor after Nero, undertook persecution of Christians throughout the world due to his pride and infidelity. In his corrupt mind, he sought to destroy the faith of Christ and bring it under his control. Therefore, when he was to fight with Sapor, king of Persia, he was overcome and taken with all his host, and God delivered him into the hands of Sapor for his great pride, making him a servant under him as long as he lived. And whenever the said Sapores's army came upon this star-like fortress called Sterla, which had a great bill and was perilous, this bird took a hare with its bill. Yet, though it was hungry, it would not eat the prey it had taken for itself, but said within its own mind, \"I will show myself worthy to others in diverse ways.\"\n\"Have spent and excelled in a game that I have taken, so that I may be admired by those who shall see it. And when she had brought it to the notice of the birds, the largest and strongest ones coveted it and took it away, leaving none for her who had caught it. Therefore Sterla continued hungry, with great pain and sorrow, and said in this way:\n\nHe who will boast and show that he has,\nShall have no advantage but sometimes great harm.\nSo many there are who are vainglorious and will show their goods to other people to be the more collaborative and worshipped. But Gregory says, he desires to be robbed who openly bears his treasure in the way. There are also many others who covet to show all their good works to every person about them, to the point that they should be known. To whom Saint Augustine speaks and says, Hide your good works as much as you can. And if you cannot hide them all, let some be hidden within you if you can.\"\nSo be done openly, that the good intent may be hidden secretly. It is written. He is oppressed by the beast that he has slain, who rejoices openly in the good deeds that he has done. Isope tells in her family that on a time the wolf caught a tender and fat kid. The kid spoke to the wolf and said, \"Be merry and rejoice with great joy. That thou hast such a good kid in thy keeping.\" But ere thou eat me, I pray thee to sing a merry song, and I shall dance while thou singest. And forthwith the wolf sang pleasantly, and the kid leapt about and danced lightly. And so, by that noise, all the dogs that were near came together and made a great assault upon the wolf, and followed him and compelled him to leave the kid behind him. And so the kid was saved. This example moves and counsels every man to possess his goods without boast and in a secret way.\n\nThe stork is a great bird and strong, and well-fed, and winged.\nAnd yet she could not fly high due to weakness of her wings. There was once a Stork sufficiently fair and beautiful, which had strong and closely joined wings. But in the same wings there were two contrary feathers standing and hindering her flight. Often she was not merry. And to have remedy, she went to a Surgeon and said, \"I am sufficiently worshipful and goodly, but I have two contrary feathers turned backward. I will that thou smite them off. They do me no good.\" This Surgeon struck off the two contrary feathers and anointed the wings with such an ointment that all the other feathers fell away. Therefore she was impotent and could never fly again. This Stork was sorry and made great mourning and wept till she died, saying, \"As God has ordained us in every point, let us continue and not be disunited. So some persons that are curious and vain. Though they be made by their maker sufficiently, they do not refer to him due.\"\nHonour and thank you for your response. But rather if they have any fault or blemish in their body, they study and devise how they may amend it. Not taking such care of the blemishes of their souls, how they should heal them. But as Saint Augustine says, \"The spouse that is invisible desires not the outward beauty of the body, but the inward beauty of the soul.\" Therefore it is written, Proverb 21. \"Grace is deceitful, and beauty is but vain, that is to say, worldly grace and beauty.\" Of such beauty Saint Augustine says, \"Behold all things about man, and it is beautiful and fair, except man himself, who is truly foul.\" It is told that there was once a king who made a great feast for his lords and estates, and there was no corner left in the house but it was covered with purple and other precious cloths. And there was a philosopher present. And when he wished to spit, and found no bare place, he spit in the king's face. And when the king's servants wished to lead him away, he said, \"I spit on the foul one, not on you.\"\nThe king would not allow the man to be hanged for that deed, but asked the philosopher why he did so. The philosopher replied, \"I saw every place filled with gold and silver, with purple and precious stones. Therefore, I spat in the king's face, which I thought was not a more unclean place than this.\" When the king heard the philosopher's words, he was greatly contrite and humiliated within himself. For those who adorn themselves with gold and other ornaments are soon rewarded for their beauty if they lack their garments, as Isopo showed in his tales. Once upon a time, a crow that was black and uncomely suddenly went to a wedding. But before she entered the bridal chamber, she took a feather from every bird and made herself gay. And she was very beautiful not by nature but by artifice. And when she should go into the house where the wedding was being held, all the other birds marveled at the beauty of the crow. And at last, all the birds came to her from whom she had taken the feathers.\nA knight once had a royal falcon which he greatly rejoiced in, bearing it daily upon his glove. One time this knight released the hawk into the air, intending to recall it and bring it back to his hand. After some time, the knight whistled for it to return, but it refused. A proud cock was living there and began to exalt himself, saying, \"What have I ever been here for, seeking a wretched falcon, and with great labor in the dunghill and in the mire? Am I not a fair bird, and as large as a falcon? Certainly, I shall be.\"\nA knight mounted his gloved fist and fed his falcon, rejoicing in his thoughtfulness for the bird. When the falcon was on the glove, the knight caught a cock and killed it lightly. He showed a leg to the falcon and called it, and the falcon, seeing the delicate flesh and desiring it, descended joyfully to it and said, \"It is no use, elevation is futile. For one who is well, let him remain in the same state. Truly, every man should do the same, that is, contain himself in his degree, and not lift himself up to that which is not fitting to his state. Therefore it is written in Ecclesiastes, 'Order your way according to your wisdom, seek not things that are beyond your degree, nor labor excessively, and this whelp does nothing but follow my master with its feet and lick him with its tongue, and it is greatly beloved.\"\nWherfor I will attempt and if I can do so as he does. And this ass came suddenly before his master and lifted up both his forfeit and set them upon his master's shoulders, singing in his uncouth and strange manner. The Lord was greatly afraid of him and cried out, and his servants came at once with clubs and staves to beat the foolish ass. And then he remembered himself and said, \"It had been better for me to have left my sport and remained still than to have done as I did. For I have gained nothing thereby except great strokes.\" Wherefore we are taught by this example that a man should never attempt to do that thing which he cannot perform in kind, as an author says. No man should attempt to do that which cannot be done kindly, for a fool displeases when he thinks to please.\n\nIn the air, the Crane was pursued by a bird called Astur, and at last Astur overthrew him. But nevertheless, this Crane with his long bill struck Astur and gave him a mortal wound. Astur this.\nA bird named Caridrius severely wounded himself and sent messages and great gifts to him. O thou healer and helper of souls and bodies, come to me and heal my wounds, and I will reward you as you please. Caridrius, as Papias says, is a bird all white, whose belly parts are visible before the eyes, and the property of this bird is that if a man leaves him, he will draw near, and if he dies, he will fly away from him. Therefore, he knew well that this Astur would die soon and for that reason would not go to him but said as follows:\n\nOf those who are perishing, I will take no care,\nBut of those who will be healthy, & you are most sure,\nMany such are nowadays if they were well sought.\nFor they are friends in times of prosperity and happiness,\nAnd then they visit their friends.\nBut in times of trouble and last end,\nThere was once a man who asked his son if he had any faithful friend to trust,\nAnd he answered and said that he had three.\n\"Every friend. Then his father said a brother and a friend is proven in tribulation. Go therefore and test them. And so forth he went and took a hog and struck off its head and feet, and put it in a sack, and sent it to each of them three, and said, 'Here is a man whom I have killed by misfortune. I desire you to bear him secretly, that I am not taken with the fault. But none of all them three would receive it. And for this cause his father advised him to test his friends. Also he told him another example of two lovers who were companions. Of which one granted the other a wife, whom he had deeply loved. And immediately he that had granted this grant went out to sea to visit his friends. And lost all his goods in the sea. And when he was returned again, he dared not for shame show himself nor go\"\nA doubt not the constance and stability of his friend's mind. And so, in the same hour that was assigned to him, he came and failed not. The tyrant marveled greatly, and of the steadfast minds of them, and of that faithful friendship, and forgave his malice and remitted the pain, and prayed them to receive him into the third degree of love and good friendship. If one man will do so much for another who is but mortal, what more could he do for God, who is immortal, and who suffered himself to die for the love of man? As it is written in Ecclesiastes 19: Forget not the grace of your Creator and helper, for he gave his life for the love of man and other things.\n\nAn hawk called Osmerillus, and a goshawk were confederates together to go hawking. And whatever game they took together, it should be divided between them. It fortunately happened at one time that they two together took a quail, being from her nest. A quail is a bird that has her name from the sound she makes, or else from the noise she creates. For she makes a certain cooing sound.\n\"When these two had taken the quail, they said to her, \"Choose which one of us shall eat it alone.\" Quarells if thou wilt lead us to thine own, we shall eat it and thy children together.\" To whom the Quail replied, \"Anguish and trouble are on every side for me, and I don't know what is best. But it seems less hurtful to me to die and fall into your hands, myself alone, rather than to be killed and all my children with me.\" And so they caught her, but before they ever killed her, she spoke and said, \"It is less hurtful to him, you may not otherwise choose. Let him suffer alone, then many more to lose. In like manner, by the Quail's example, we owe to do, when we may not escape from peril. Always let us choose that which causes the least harm, according to the counsel of the wise man, it says.\" Of two harms, the lesser is to be endured. We are bound to choose rather to die for a common profit, than to live for a single quail, as Saint \"\nAugustin writes in The City of God, Book I. He relates that when Marcellus of Rome held many young and lusty Carthaginians as prisoners, the Carthaginian king was sent back to Rome for an exchange. But before he left Carthage, he was sworn that if the Romans did not release the Carthaginian prisoners, he would return. When he arrived in Rome, he advised the Romans not to grant their request, as he was an old man and unlikely to live long. The young prisoners, on the other hand, were likely to cause great harm to the Romans in the future. The Romans begged him not to return to Carthage but to stay with them in Rome. However, he would not be dissuaded and went back to Carthage. Upon his arrival, he was cruelly put to death. It would have been beneficial for him to have stayed in Rome, but for his oath it was not honorable. Similarly, for the profit of the Romans, it was not worth it.\nA bird named Carflanchus, resembling a falcon in strength and might, was once disposed to go to Relygion and live in perfection. But out of fear of the Rule's sharpness, he hesitated and said, \"I truly believe and I assume, that I cannot fast. Nor rise to Matines. Nor keep chastity. Nor forsake my own will. And because of this, I will not begin any good deed.\n\nFor fear of punishment, he never reached the heart of it, but rather ended his life in a lewd manner, saying, \"He who out of fear will not use virtue shall perish wretchedly, and grace shall refuse him.\"\n\nMany desire and covet to fly to the grace of God. But they fear to lack the pleasure of the world. For certainly, the love of Christ provokes and stirs them to virtue. But covetousness and worldly affection draw them back. And of such, it often happens that they say, \"I would gladly serve God. I would gladly go into religion. But I fear I would not be able to maintain the sharpness of it.\"\nFolks take no heed to the saying of the apostle Paul, in Philippians 4:13: \"I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.\" Bernard says, \"God is to those who trust in him. Riches in poverty. Joy in sorrow. Worship in contempt, a shadow in difference. A teller of fables says that once, a seagull took a catch and threw him under his foot. With one of his feet, he struck him and said, \"You are unfortunate. For you are as great and strong as I, and yet you defend not yourself from me, who tread on you and will rip out your bowels.\" The seagull answered and said, \"You speak the truth. I am greater and stronger than you, and I have a dangerous bill, but my heart lacks, and so it often happens that many can do many good things, but the heart fails. Steadfast mind is a way. There was one who fell into water and could not swim. Therefore he cried out, \"Saint George!\"\nSaint George said to him, \"Help yourself, move your hands and feet, and you shall be saved. He who helps himself is helped by God. One should not only ask for forgiveness from God with his mouth but also labor and do his utmost to rise out of sin. Augustine says in his Epistle to Jerome that when a certain person falls into a vice at a certain time, Vpupa, a bird as Isidore says in Ethimol. xii, is a laying-on of hands in English, and the Greeks call her Vpupa because she beholds and considers the filthy deeds of man. She is an unclean bird. She has three crests of feeders standing on her head, and she dwells in pits and filth. With the blood of this bird, if a man anoints himself when he goes to sleep, he will see demons around to destroy him. The bird is fair and pleasantly crested and fed.\nWith diverse colors, she began to lift herself, beholding the Puppet dwelling with the king in a Cage of gold. The which was fed carefully with the king's meat. And thus she said, \"I am as pleasant as a puppet. Nevertheless, I seek my living with great labor. This puppet dwells worshipfully and he labors not, nor sweats, and he is served to his pleasure. Wherefore I purpose to go to the king and to offer him my service, and to sing in a cage as does the puppet, and to fare well if I may, and to make merry with the king.\" And so she flew to the king. And when he had her, he put her in a cage and kept her there. And when she had been there a while, she took great thought and was very sorry that she was in captivity and feared sometimes to be free and at liberty. And therefore, for thought and heaviness, she stayed but a while. And said or she departed from the world.\n\nTo make a comparison with freedom and liberty.\n\nThere is no truly, all other things to.\nSO many speak of the Reliquians men and say, \"These brethren are well possessed. They are well fed. They sing and live without great labor, but when they will prove it and are included in a monastery and are under Rule and under the power of their sovereign, they repent that they have lost their liberty.\" A philosopher says, \"Liberty is not gladly sold of this world for all the gold.\" Valerius tells lib. vi. that Leonides, the noble duke of Sparta, with 300 men fought against Xerxes, king of Persia. And with a comfortable army he exhorted his men to fight and said, \"My true servants and soldiers, dine and make yourselves strong, as though you shall never eat more.\" And they did so, and were not afraid of his saying. And when there was no hope to escape, he heartened them so that they were glad to suffer death rather than to lose their liberty and to be servants unto the Persians. Also Orosius tells libro vi. that Demetrius, king of Pontus and Armenia, when his own son.\nHe begged them off and would not cease. He was sorry therefore and came down to the lower parts of his house. He gave wine to all his wives, his daughters, and his concubines. He himself drank from the same for thought and despair. And yet, when he saw that he could not die lightly.\n\nHe offered himself to be slain to one of his enemies who entered through a wall. Rather than he would be subdued to his enemies and lose his liberty and free will. Also, Orosius tells that some men were besieged by the Romans and considered well that, and if they were taken, they might not resist the Romans. For this reason, the said Romans should not rejoice in their goods. They fastened the gates of their city and burned it, along with all their goods, rather than they would yield themselves to their enemies. It is also read in Ecclesiastical history that in the time of Abraha, a king of Babylon named Belus entered in a part of Syria and died briefly.\nAfter him, his wife Semiramis was called queen, and to secure her reign, she married her own son, named Ninus. Ninus later took Syria and built a great city, a three-day journey in length, which he named Nineveh, after his own name. He had a child by his own mother, and the child was named Babylas, and he expanded Babylon.\n\nHenna and Colyr lived together in the same house, but they often quarreled because one sang too soon and the other too late. The Henna often saw Colyr's children hanged, and she rejoiced and sang. Colyr was deeply grieved and said to Henna, \"You should not mourn with me when you say my children are destroyed.\" Henna answered, \"You will not sing with me when I bring forth an egg from my belly and am delivered from great pain.\" And so they fell out.\nAt great variance and spoke uncertain words to one another. And at last they together went to the Egle and said, \"Give judgment between us, O rightful Queen, if it is convenient for us two to dwell together or not.\" The eagle gave sentence in open audience and said, \"Let those who are glad have their dwelling alone, and those who are sad live together and make their money.\" For it is not convenient for those who are merry and joyful to walk with those who are in heaviness. Nor for such as are sad and sorrowful to dwell with those who are joyful and merry. But as the apostle says in Romans 12, \"Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.\" But take heed that great joy sometimes may cause sudden death. For with it the heart grows great, and the natural heat goes to the exterior parts, and then the heart fails and death enters. Whereof Valery tells, \"There was once news brought to a woman that her son was dead, when he was absent, and it was not\"\nso / but it sprange of errowre of some symple persone Neuerthelesse she beleuyd hit and mournyd and made greate heuynesse. and as she sate wepyng and sorowi\u0304g Sodeynly in came her sonne / and whan she sawe hym she ranne to him and kyste him / and sodeynlye feldoun dede. Tristice and heuynes sleyth not so soone. For in heuynesse the naturall hete Is drawyn firste to the in\u2223warde partyes / and suche steringe of the hete geuy the nourrisshinge in the membris / & so cawsith consumpci\u2223on in them / and so by processe of tyme folowithe Etica / as it is wrytten Prouerbio .xv. An heuy spirite drieth vp the bonys / Wherfore it may be prouyd that world\u2223lye ioye is lyke pure wyne / which sone turnith / and soo doth it / but if it be moderate with holsome sadnesse / as it is wrytten Ecclesiast .vii. Bettyr it is to goo to an hows of wepinge and sadnesse / then to an hows of fe\u2223stis and myrth. Tully tellythe that whan any consull of Rome had bene at batell and wonne the victory and was come home. He shulde haue thre dyuerse\nworship\u00a6pes / doone to him. First all the people shuld come agay\u00a6ne him with greate gladnesse. The secownde all ye pry\u00a6soners that he had takyn shulde folow his chare with ther hondes faste manaclyd. The thryd was that the same victowr was indute with the cotearmure of iouis and sate in a chare and was conueyd withe .iiii. white stedys / vnto the capitoly. And for that he shulde not to\nmoche exalte him self / aboue him self. They mytyga\u2223te this honowre in the threfolde wise. For first a man of seruyle condicyon / shuld sit with him in the chare / that hope shulde be geuyn to euery person / to come to suche worshippe / if his manhode deseruyd it. The secounde ye same seruaunte syttinge with him shulde Bobbe him and saye to him. Knowe thi self. The thryd it was lau\u00a6full to euery man that same daye / to bringe agayn him all the rebukys that they wold. Therfor yf paynymes and hethen men thus wisely cowde myxte ther vayne gladnesse. Moche more we that be Crysten men / owe to represse such vanyteys. For as saynt\nGregory says: Perpetual lamentation and sorrow follow those who love worldly joys most. Saint Augustine says: The joy of the world is vanity. It is believed to come with long waiting, and when it comes, it does not last long.\n\nIn a courtyard, the Cock and Capon lived together. But the Cock ruled over the Hens. The Capon ate his food peacefully among them. Unfortunately, the Fox came and caught the Cock and ate him. But the Fox did not touch the Comb on his head. Instead, he led it to the Capon and said: \"Dear Capon, your follower has departed from this world, and out of great love for him, I have brought you a good Comb, which he always wore on his head. Therefore, descend and come down to me, and I will crown you, and after that, you will be prince and regent of the Hens, as he was.\"\n\nThe Capon, hearing this and hoping to rule over the hens, descended from the roost and went to the Fox.\nThe Fox was glad and started / and caught the Capon lightly and killed him, saying to every word, \"Give no credence to this. Be wary of false men who would deceive me. Such as come to you in the guise of sheep. For they are inwardly like cruel wolves. As Isopo tells of a crow that had a piece of flesh in its mouth, perched on a tree. When the Fox had seen him, she thought in her mind, \"If I could beguile this crow and have the flesh that he holds in his mouth, I would be merry.\" And therefore she spoke and said, \"Brother Crow, behold what I say. Your beauty surpasses the beauty of all birds, and your strength exceeds the strength of all others. But I am sorry that you have no voice or coming to sing.\" And forthwith the Crow began to sing, and the flesh fell from its mouth. Which the Fox caught and ate, and went her way. It often happens to a man when he\nHereth he presided and commended. Therefore it is written in Jeremiah IX, \"Every man keep himself from his neighbor, who is full of flattery.\" And put not too much trust in his own brother. And Cato says, \"Believe not another man of yourself more than yourself.\"\n\nElijah made the birds in a division, and they chose the raven and the peacock. And they flew for Elijah, and fell at great words, and spent great goods. Therefore the birds went together to the eagle and said, \"We have made Elijah. But thou, as a judge, give confirmation that our elections may be confirmed.\" The eagle cited the elect to examine the election. But the raven, which is a bird that came first out of Greece, and his flesh is very sweet to eat, magnified himself greatly, saying, \"O righteous judge, as thou knowest well. I am very delicate. Fair also, and diversely colored. My flesh is redolent and sweet, above all others. Wherefore the principal one becomes me best.\" The peacock defended himself.\n\"Vtermost power and said, Madame, it is not so, as the Peacock has said. For I myself am fairer than he and greater and prouder. And also, my tail yields to me the sovereign worship. And with these words he lifted up his Tail and spread it broad and rejoiced greatly therein. The Egret considered this wisely, first speaking to the Peacock. Thou Peacock, thou hast greatly reproached thyself in lifting up thy tail. For thou hast shown us a pair of foolish feet. Therefore thou art not worthy to rule. At last she spoke also to the Feathered One and said, Thou hast running Ien and thou art but weak and thou canst not sing. And therefore, for the impediments that thou hast and other causes, I deprive thee of worship. And so they both were put from promotion and continued without worship during their lives and said,\n\nHe is not worthy to guide.\nGreat quarrel will arise from each word.\nThis vice reigns in them.\"\nThat be elect. For questioning the Election, many men's faults were reckoned up. Therefore, they were diverse times rebuked and diffamed. Wherefore it is not good to strive for preeminence of worship. For Gregory says, Desire for prelacy is generated from pride / of the heart / and whoever desires sovereignty in earth shall find confusion in heaven. This desire to have governance is perilous, and to be avoided by our powers. For as Gregory says, The higher the ruler is in worship, the more is he in peril. Wherefore princes in the old time would not suffer their children to be preferred without they might profit, as Helmandus historiographus of Helio Adriano tells. Then when he was from a senator created an Emperor, and the Senate desired him to name his son that same time Augustus Caesar, he answered them and said, Truly it is not fitting that I unwillingly reign when I have not deserved it. For princedom and rule do not belong to blood, but to good merits and good guidance.\nHe is not beneficial to the realm who is born a king. For without a doubt, he cannot love his friends who destroy his children with excessive charge. This means to destroy his children when he does not promote them for their merits. They ought to be nourished and exercised in virtue, and when they have continued in it, it should be provided that they should go before in virtues, which should be first preferred to worship. And so they actually fulfill what is commanded in Ecclesiastes 7:17. Intend not to labor to be a judge. But if you may, let your virtue destroy sin and wickedness. Whereof it is written in Politicarius 6, that Octavian, when his children were worthy to be promoted to great worship, would not promote them, but if they might defend themselves and others sufficiently. Therefore he commanded that they should be exercised in running, leaping, swimming, throwing stones with the hand, or with a sling.\nA man should have sons and daughters for knighthood and service. His daughters he ordered to be clothiers. And if fortune had driven them to the extremity of poverty, they would have their sustenance and living by reason of their conying, for spinning and weaving and cloth making, they had not only conying but also daily exercise. And it is commanded in Ecclesiastes 7:11, \"If thou hast a man child, teach him; and if thou hast a daughter, keep her from corruption and sin.\"\n\nCornix in our tongue is called a raven, and it is a bird that lives up to the age of a half-million years as Papyrus writes. This bird at one time labored greatly and made her nest. Wherefore her parents fell away, and she was lean, but notwithstanding she nourished her eggs and brought them forth. That very time Ficedula, which in Latin is also called papafigo, went to her and reprimanded her greatly and would not allow her to remain.\nA peaceful Cornix, out of love for her eggs, endured all things patiently. Yet her mind was greatly troubled, but she kept it hidden within herself. Afterward, when her children were born, this Cornix began to ponder and renewed herself. However, the aforementioned mocking sparrow returned and repeated contemptuous words, causing her great distress. In her great anger, she seized this mocking sparrow and said,\n\n\"Whoever often varies and causes strife,\nSeeketh his own death in truth it is no lie.\n\n\"When many see another depressed or sick, they are glad to rebuke him and do him wrong. But when you see a man in misfortune, you should not rebuke him. For the philosopher says, 'To be rebuked in wretchedness is more grievous than wretchedness itself. It is a great wrong not to be compassionate towards those in trouble.' Princes and lords in ancient times were pitiful and compassionate.\"\nTo wretches and to seafaring folk in their misery. Valery tells us in book five that when Caesar looked upon the head of Pompey, who had been struck down, he wept sore and let fall many tears of great pity. He also tells us there that when Marcus Marcellus had taken the Syracusans and was in a tower of that rich city, and when he remembered and inwardly beheld the misfortune and affliction of the same noble city, he could not restrain himself from weeping. He also tells us there of the buxomness of Pompey displayed to the king of Armenia, who at other times had made great war against the Romans. But despite this, when he was taken and overcome, he would not suffer long to kneel before him but comforted him with courteous words and commanded the crown to be set upon his head, which he himself had laid away, and restored him to his first degree and worship. He said it was as great a deed to restore a king to his worship as to subdue him and put him from his worship. And a like thing.\nA tale is told of a counselor named Paul, who once, when a king was being taken before him, went to meet him. The king wished to kneel for mercy, but this noble counselor would not allow it. Instead, he lifted him up and seated him on his right side, comforting him greatly and ordering him to sit next to him in counsel and at his table. For although it is laudable to have victory and overcome enemies, it is equally honorable to be merciful to those in misery.\n\nNicticorax is a nightcrow in English. It is derived from Nictos, which means night, and Corax, which is a crow. As they say, a nightcrow is so named because it flies in the night or because it awakens all night. Isidore of Ethymolus (xii). Nicticorax is Noctua, the owl that loves darkness. The lark addressed this bird and said, \"Most dear sister, I earnestly pray that you will be with me tomorrow, for a lover of mine desires to see me in the clear light of day. And if we two were to be together,\"\nI shall seem fairer. The nightcrow promised to fulfill her desire, for she was ashamed to say no in such a small matter. But when the day appeared and Phoebus shone pleasantly and clear, the lark looked for her to fulfill her promise. But she did not come. For she dared not be shown in the bright sun and also could see nothing in the daylight. Therefore the lark was sorry and greatly troubled and abhorred her and urged her ever after and to this day. And therefore you Owl dare not fly in daytime for fear of the lark, and so she flies all in the night and seeks her food with great penury and hunger, saying in this way.\n\nNo one should promise for love or for doubt.\nPromise that thing which he cannot bring about.\nTherefore we ought to beware of making promises of things impossible to perform, lest we be proved untrue. If it happened that your friend desired you to do such things as please you not, be not ashamed to say no, rather than to promise.\nFor the philosopher says, beware of shamefastness that causes you to deny yourself the necessity of lying. For he is not deceived who is lightly denied. Nevertheless, many, out of liberality and free heart, are shamefaced to say no to things desired of them, as it is written in the Gestes Romanorum of the liberality of Titus the Emperor. For he ordered that no one should ask of him without hope of having it, and he let them go if they did not. And his friends asked him why he granted more than he could give. And he answered and said that for cause no man should depart from him in a bad mood after speaking with him. Also it is read in the Gestes Romanorum of Traian that when his friends reproved him that he was too familiar with every man, more than they thought was convenient to his dignity, that is, in condescending to their petitions. This Traian answered and said that he would be to every creature as gracious and courteous as they could think or desire to have him, and so he continued everafter. A tale does a wag tell.\ncontinually wags her tail in disdain, and therefore she is so named. On one occasion, she went to the Faun and said, \"Why don't you wash your eyes, Faun? They are always full of water, and the stench causes it to be abominable to all men. The Faun was angry and answered, \"Art not thou ashamed, mad wretch, thou art so vile and so small, and thou hast a wagging tail full of palsy, and thou art busy noting my vices. But go forth and amend thy own faults first, and then thou shalt be whole. The wagtail, hearing this, was ashamed and, with confusion, turned home again and said,\n\nFirst purge thyself from all manner of sin\nOr thou again others any injury begin\n\nSo some people took no heed to their own faults. But they are ready to rebuke others and forget themselves. To such our Savior speaks in Luke 6:41-42 and Matthew 7:3-5. Why canst thou see a little mote in thy neighbor's eye and consider not a great beam in thine own? Or how canst thou for shame say to thy brother, 'Allow me to remove the speck from thine eye,' when thou thyself seest not?\"\nTake the mote out of your own eye, and not seeing so great a beam in your own eye. You hypocrite, first take the great beam out of your own eye, and then you will be able to help your brother's eye. It is written in the Vitis Patrum that a religious man, speaking of one of his brothers, blamed and detracted him before the congregation. The abbot of the same place was present and said nothing. And at a certain time, when he bore behind him a sack full of gravel, and had placed a little of the same gravel before him, one asked him what he bore. He said, \"a sack full of gravel.\" But he said while they were behind him, he cared not for theirs. But the small hand-full of gravel that lay before him, he said, \"these are my brother's sins which I have detracted.\" And moreover, he added these words and said, \"brothers, it should not be so. but my own sins ought ever to be in my mind. And so is every creature. And his brothers said, 'Truly, this is the way.'\"\nUpon a high solemn day, the Eagle had summoned all other birds to dinner, and when they had dined and flown away, the Eagle called the Nightingale and said, \"Daughter, go and break your voice, and sing as you have been taught, and show your skill to cheer our hearts.\" The Nightingale was obedient and glad to please, and began to sing so pleasantly that all manner of birds listened desirously. Among others, a crow came by and, considering that he said to himself, \"I, too, will sing with the Nightingale. For I have a great voice, and I shall be heard far off.\" And he began to croak in a full, coarse manner. The Nightingale was still and could no longer sing. And all the other birds were sore troubled and abhorred the Crow, for he despised the feast. Therefore, the Eagle commanded him to go his way or be still. The crow answered and said that he would solemnize the feast with other birds, and he intended not otherwise.\nThe second time Egle charged him to depart, for no one rejoiced to hear him. But the crow would not be still, but began to quarrel and cajole more and more. Therefore Egle commanded him to be killed without further delay and said, \"Sing or speak, it is in vain to those who lift not their heads. It is folly to speak where the listeners are dull to heed. Ecclesiastes XXXIII says, 'Do not show your sermon where there is no audience.' Furthermore, he says, 'Do not presume to speak in the company of great men.' And where there are senators, speak not like the crow sings but lewdly.\" A legate of Athens answered simply before King Philip. Seneca relates this in Libro Tertio de Ira. Where he shows that when the legates of Athens were before King Philip and heard the legacy, the king answered courteously and said, \"Like what you think I may do to please the Athenians.\"\nAnd you shall find me reasonable. One of the same legates, named Democritus, answered the king in response. To hang yourself. And when those who stood around were indignant and wanted to avenge themselves, the king commanded them to let him go unpunished. And he said to the other legates, Show the Athenian that they are much prouder who speak such words, than those who patiently endure them when they are spoken impudently.\n\nCyprus, at a time, made her nest in a high tower without a top. And the swallow built within. But the swallow made great noise frequently and rejoiced in bringing forth her young. Wherewith this Cyprus was greatly troubled. For when she wanted to take rest with her children, she could not because of the chattering of the swallow. Therefore, in the absence of the swallow, Cyprus destroyed her nest and killed her young. And when the swallow returned home again to her nest, she made right dolorous sorrow for her children. But forasmuch as she could not express her sorrow in the absence of the swallow, Cyprus destroyed her nest and killed her young.\nThe swalowe knew not who had harmed her, she avenged not the deed. Shortly after, she returned and built a new nest and hatched her young, greatly rejoicing in them and keeping quiet. Cycnus was grieved as before, and spoke softly, saying, \"Indeed, if you remain, I will throw down your nest and your young ones with it, as I did once before, for you inquire of me and make such a disturbance that I cannot rest with my children.\" Hearing this, the swalowe, knowing that Cycnus had mourned her young, with all her mind she thought of a way to avenge herself. And so, at a time when Cycnus was sleeping with her young, the swalowe came privately and set fire to her nest and burned her and all her young ones, saying, \"He who speaks ill of his enemies, his quarrel is broken. Of much thought and heaviness, his heart is unlocked. By this example, it appears that it is not good to vex or wrong those who are.\"\nFor doubting that they will be avenged, either openly or privately, a man often receives from others what he deserves beforehand. Seneca says, \"Look that you have from another as you have done to another.\" And the Apostle Paul says to the Colossians, \"He who does injury and wrong shall have his reward according to his deserving.\" As Isopo tells us, the eagle flew into a high hill and found the foxes' children there, which she took out of their den and carried them with her to her nest, so that she and her brood might eat them for supper. And when Fox was come home to his logging and found not his children, he went down to the wood and cried for them, and at last he heard them weep and mourn in the eagle's nest. The Fox spoke to the eagle many sweet words and with great reverence prayed her to deliver the children. But utterly the eagle would not grant nor give audience to her petition. Therefore the Fox was angry and impetuous and went.\nAnd Gerard storks pecked at dry and withered boughs of vines, bringing a branch in its mouth and creating great smoke under the tree, which frightened the eagles nearby. When the eagle considered all things, she was willing to submit and came down, delivering the young ones by force. Of the two harms, the lesser was the one to fear. A certain author says, \"No one should approach to harm one who is weak and powerless. For the weak and powerless one may sometimes harm the one above him.\"\n\nPigardue is a bird, as written in Vulgate, and is but a little bird numbered among those that are edible and able to sustain man, as it is written in Deuteronomy xiv. And at one time, when this little bird was severely pursued in the air by another raven's bird and stood in great jeopardy of its life, it sought protection and defense.\nShe fled to the alien and said, \"Thou art great and mighty, and merciful. Therefore I come to thee, who am but little and powerless, and know no refuge, and in me is no resistance. Be thou my protection I beseech thee, and defend me from my cruel enemy under the cover of thy merciful wings.\" This Alietus, who, as Papye says, is like a bird like an eagle but larger, was moved with pity and answered the little bird, saying, \"Since thou art a little bird and humble, weak and powerless, and desirest my protection, sit down and rest with me and walk with me when I walk and fear nothing.\" And thus he said to the little bird and comforted him, and said, \"Merciness and poverty shall ever be defended, and where it is contrary, God will soon amend it. In this example, it appears that the powerless should be defended and helped by the mighty. For it is great meekness and mercy. For meekness and mercy, as Bernard says, is proved the greater.\"\nShe is shown in the great and the clear, and Seneca also says that he who can support himself should perish and consoles the sons of Trajan with his horse. He killed a widow's son with his horse. The widow showed it to his father with great weeping and mourning, and he gave his own son to the same widow forever, with great abundance of other riches.\n\nThere is a bird, as Brito says, which is called Onocrotalus or Onocrotalon. Its companion is Onos, an ass. For she has a face like an ass, and her body is like a swan. This bird made her nest in a great wilderness and laid her eggs and brought forth her young. But when she could no longer find sustenance in the desert for herself and her children, she went to the city and called the ass to her friendly, and said, \"O brother, I am like you, as you well say, for I have an ass's face as you have. Therefore, you should trust me better than another.\"\npraye the come with me and dowte not The Asse was innocente and credidle seynge his owne similitude / and symply went with her. and Onocrota\u2223lus ledde the asse forth right to the markette / and ther boughte dyuers metys and bestowyd moch money and lodid the asse sufficyently and sayd. Go with me brodir and let vs carey this vytayle to owre children and I\nshall rewarde the to thy pleasure. The Asse went with this Onocrotalon through the deserte a greate whyle but at the laste with greate labowre he came to the ne\u00a6ste and layde down his burdon and toke his rewarde & turnyd him homewarde. But for cawse that he was in deserte and in a fowle myrye contray and knewe not the perfite waye / He cowde not goo home / and so he pe\u2223risshed euyn there in the wildernesse and sayde.\nNoman to go farre owith to be fayne\nBut he be assuryd howe to come agayne.\nWHerby it aperith that noman shulde goo to far\u00a6re contrays that he knowith not for dyuers pa\u00a6rellys that dayly happe throwe the worlde. For it is wrytten primo Iohannis\nSecondly, the world is in great turmoil. As one says, \"Wherever a man be, he is ever in great peril.\" And therefore, the apostle complains to the Corinthians in 11th chapter, about divers parallels in land, in water, and especially among false Christian people. Therefore, as Gregory says, \"We must always fear, for we are ever in parallel,\" as it is read in the collection of the Fathers.\n\nOnce upon a time, there was a solitary man living in the most perfect way and serving God. The finders daily waited to bring him to destruction through great cunning. Therefore, on one occasion, he transformed himself into the likeness of a merchant's horse, having bags on his back full of gold and silver and precious stones. He entered suddenly into the cell of this holy man and stood there. And seeing the horse marveling greatly, he began to touch him and undo the bags. In which he found an abundant supply of temporal goods and innumerable money. And\nHe was overcome with temptation and clothed himself in the freshest of ways, took the horse and rode to a great city with all his retinue. He took up an hostage and ate and drank of the best. And when the goodman who hosted him saw and considered his great riches, he gave him his daughter to wife, and he dwelt still in that same house. The devil came within a short space after and appeared to the goodman of the same house in the likeness of a man, and said, \"What have you done? To whom have you given your daughter? He is a clerk and an apostate, and by the law she may not be his wife.\" And when this man heard this, he was saddened for his daughter and searched his head and found it to be so, and privately killed himself. Therefore it is said, Ecclesiastes 9:12. A man knows not his end. But as a fish is taken with a hook and a bird with a snare, so is a sinful man taken in his sin, and in many other ways.\nIn the great sea of Marcyle, scarcely one escapes from the perils, and of those who pass through the pearls of this world, few do. This is written in Vitispatrum. The Abbot Theodorus gave an answer to a monk who said to him, \"A brother of ours has returned to the world, merciless one, do not be troubled by it.\" But if you can here and understand that any man has previously and espied an escape from the hands of his spiritual enemies, then you may well marvel and thank God.\n\nA swan is a bird all white. And a raven is all black. And therefore the raven envied the swan for his whiteness and cleanliness. Therefore, the crow with great study and busy labor sought the means to defile the swan and to make him black as he is. But because he could not bring his plan about while the swan was awake, he labored to do it while he was sleeping. Therefore, upon a night, sleeping swan, the cursed crow came to his nest in secretive and cunning ways and defiled him all.\nblacke. And wha\u0304 the daye was spr\nwho that desireth blessyd to be.\nMuste euyr be clene in his degre.\nTHe crowe signifieth the Deuyll / which maye not see nor beholde the clene lyfe of the seruauntys of God. wherfore with all his power and might he is besy to pollute and defile them. But forasmoche as he cannot preuayle agayne them wakynge / he labow\u2223rith to deceyue them slepinge / wherfore man owith to wake. For saynte Augustyn saith. Thyn enymye wa\u2223kyth and thow sleapiste. And it is wrytten primo Pe\u2223tri vltimo. Dere frendes be ye sobre and wake in deuou\u00a6te prayers / for yowre aduersarye the Deuyll goyth a\u2223bowte lyke a lyon rorynge / and sekynge whom he may deuowre. To whom resiste ye stronge in yowr fayth. And Isidore sayth. Suche folke as be stable in fayth / whan wyckyd spirites see they cannot ouercome them wakynge / they trowble them sore sleapinge / wherfore it is redde in vitis patrum. That fendis deludyd a Re\u2223lygyows man in somoche that whan he with his bre\u2223dryn shulde haue bene how silde / while he\nAperned to him were the semblances of women and they appeased him, asking for counsel from his seniors regarding what was best to do. They inquired about his diet and lifestyle and found that it was not due to an excess of food and drink. Therefore, they concluded that it was an illusion of the devil and advised him not to abstain from the holy communion for that reason. Afterward, the devil no longer deceived him and revealed that he had done so to withdraw the holy man from that holy mystery.\n\nAt one time, Ornix the woodhen kept Chekyns and brought them forth. They were greatly beloved by the rich man. He set a high price on this hen and fed her delicately so that she would better care for her birds. But Ornix was unkind to the other hens of that place. For she was bold towards her master due to favoritism of the chicks and would not allow them to peck with her, but rather beat them and drive them away. The hens were bitterly afflicted by this.\n\"Grude and said nothing, but hoped to see a time to be avenged. And when these creatures were growing up, they forsook this woodhen and turned to their own kind. The rich man took not then so great heed of this woodhen as he had done, but suffered her to scrape for her living among other hens. And they were freshly reminded of the old persecution of this woodhen and thought they would be avenged, and therefore would not suffer her to peck with them. And when she recalled in her mind the old felicity and wealth that she had been in, and the misery that she had come to, she wept and said, 'Alas, alas, I have nurtured children and brought them up, and they have forsaken me. But the hens would show no mercy to her. Instead, they laid on and all to peck her and said, \"He who prospers and has the world at his will, Oweth not to be cruel, all others for to spill.\" This should every wise man remember when he is in office or in prosperity, and not despise them who are not.\"' \"\nFor the time, things run continually, and there is much change as it is written in Ecclesiastes III. Everything under heaven is subject to change. There is a time of prosperity and a time of adversity. Time runs like a wheel; in it some ascend and some descend. But those going up should not despise those coming down. For it is said in Ecclesiastes VII, \"Scorn not the poor man in his poverty, for God is the one who makes both high and low.\" And also in Ecclesiastes XI, \"In the days of your prosperity, be not forgetful of adversity, and especially of change of times and also of offices. For as Isidore says, 'Temporal power is feeble and frail and transient. Who can say and tell where the kings and princes or the emperors are? Where are the rich men, where are the mighty men of the world? Xerxes, the king of Persia and Media, most proud and mighty, who overthrew hills and covered the seas, once stood here.' \"\nplace and beheld an infinite and innumerable multitude of people, who wept sore. Remembering that within a C. years space after that, a third of them should be lying. And when he again saw the Greeks with thoughts and thoughtful men of armies and with a M. and CC. of ships seeing before him such a host, and remembering the changeability of time and the brevity of life and to where all things should return, he was humbled and made low in his own mind and said, \"Men call me a king, that am but a man of such power and strength to bring such a multitude together. But truly I say, that I am but dust and ashes. Also, when the Duke of Lothering lay in extremities and was departing from the world, he looked upon his houses and castles and said, \"O good Lord, what avails these temporal goods? For I that have so many castles and palaces, and have had the power to give logging to so many men, know not now whether to\"\nThe Quayle thought and said, \"The Goshawk is a great pursuer of my kindred. But if I could be at peace with him and have his friendship and favor, then we would be in great security and at great heart's ease. Therefore, I call upon the Lark and speak fair to her and say, 'Thou art worthy to be lady, for thou art called Alauda for thy wisdom. Therefore, I send thee to the Goshawk for me, and get his benevolence. Tell him, 'The Quayle recommends herself to thee obediently as thy subject, and she heartily desires to be knitted with thee in friendship and favor, and to have sure and stable peace with thee forever. For this cause, I send me to thee that I may give a favorable answer.' The Lark went meekly and reported these words to the Goshawk. The Goshawk was troubled greatly by this message and said to the Lark, 'This is a hard matter and grievous to hear. Nevertheless, I will it that she herself come with thee to me.'\"\nThe Larke heard her words and repeated them joyfully to the Quayle. The Quayle was pleased and went with the Larke to the Goshawk to confirm peace and love between them. As soon as the Goshawk saw them together, he fell into desire and caught them both and ate them, saying, \"No man should follow the powerful. Be with the great but keep your own state. And he who has enemies that are mighty and strong may not provoke them to be friendly to him, but at their own pleasure, lest he be ensnared by them.\" It is written in Ecclesiastes, \"Be far from a man who has the power of death. For if you are with him, you will fall into his traps, as a fable tells of an ass that once, for the sake of companionship, walked in a wood and met a boar and boldly greeted him, saying, 'Hail, my own brother.' The boar, enraged and thinking to teach a lesson, gored him.\"\nThe text shows that a fool should not make jokes and deride one who is wicked. Nor should the lowly and poor be too familiar with the mighty and rich. For the poor and those in low degree may fear and dread the rich and mighty, who do not fear punishment. Therefore, the Cock answered the Goshawk, who asked this question, and said, \"What is the cause that you fear so much with whom you are brought up and daily nourished, and we are familiar and come willingly to their hands?\" The Cock asked, \"Have you ever seen twenty Goshawks in one house? And because we are so familiar with them, we are punished severely, and that is why we fear them and fly from them in fear.\" ISis, as Brito says, is a bird of the kind of a griffin. But she is white and less than a griffin, and most ravens. This bird in her youth did great mischief.\nShe stole chickens and threatened both men and birds. At last, in her old age, she repented and was penitent, willing to restore what she had mistakenly taken and to do penance, and to exercise deeds of mercy and live righteously. But since she had spent her youth in vice and was not accustomed to virtue, she could not overcome her age, and therefore she lamented and said:\n\nHe who is young and applies not himself to virtue,\nIn age denies himself the opportunity to amend his bad habits.\nTherefore it appears that it is expedient to gather virtues and good deeds in youth, so that they may be found in old age. For Ecclesiastes says, \"In youth you gather no goodness, and how should you find any in old age?\" (Ecclesiastes 11:9). \"In your youth, tempt your own mind, and if you find it wicked, give it no power.\" A certain poet also says, \"He who in youth shows no virtue, in old age both virtue is lost.\"\nAnd grace him refuse it. And that causes bad custom. For, as the philosopher says, custom is another kind. For the strength of custom is so great that a man shall sometimes sleep as he has used to wake, and that he has used to look, he does blindly fill. Wherefore it is told of a leech to whom there was owing .xiii. lib. payable in three years, and when he lay dying in extremis and was moved to confession and to receive the holy Sacrament, there could no word be had of him but .xiii. lib. in three years, and with such words he died. For bad custom and use false judgments and call things by other names. And on a time when the Sacrament was brought to a sick man and offered to him to receive, he said, \"Let it be judged first whether I am worthy to receive it or not.\" And those who stood by said in this manner, \"Your judgment is not it.\"\napproved. For you have not sufficient power of justice to judge me by any cause rightfully. Another, who was laboring towards his ending, was also warned by his friends to receive the holy sacrament. He desired more time, but they would not grant it. They saw well that death was coming fast, and he, for the custom of apologies that he had used before, apologized at that time from the open grief of that same infirmity. But his apology brought him no relief.\nMergus, as Brito says, is called a drowning bird, for it is a bird that seeks its food in the water and is always dying, and therefore some people call it a Diedopper or a doppikh. Mergus grew unwilling and negligent and said in his own mind, \"What do I, wretch, among all birds, seek my food with such great labor? For all day long I drown myself in the pits and waters to have my living. And perhaps at last I shall perish and be destroyed. It is better for me to go.\"\nTo other birds that are my companions, and to seek my food with them, and then shall I not be in such hardship, nor eat my bread in labor and sorrow as I do. But I shall fare much better with less labor. And when he was flown to the field and saw his food with other birds, he could find no morsel that satisfied him in his mouth, and so he was passing lean and hungry daily. And notwithstanding for all that poverty and hunger, he would not return to his natural occupation nor plunge himself in the water for very sloth and unlustiness, but died in great neediness and said,\n\nHe is not worthy of food or drink.\nTherefore will neither sweeten nor swine.\n\nLikewise, many a negligent person full of sloth and unlustiness, will not labor, but rather live in great poverty. Wherefore it is written, Job 5: \"Man is born to labor. And if he denies to labor, he does not that thing which he was ordained to do. And therefore he shall not come to that reward which he was created to have.\"\nInfinite good means something infinite. The Apostle wrote to the Corinthians (9:14). \"He who toils will eat.\" Therefore, as Isidore says, seek a profitable occupation by which your mind may be engaged. It is very merry and wholesome, both for the body and soul, to have moderate labor. There was a widow who refused to be buried in a shroud given to her and said, \"I will be buried in that which I have made with my own hands and not others.\" It is recorded in the writings of the Fathers. Regarding Abbot Arsenius, in his beginning he was greatly magnified in the emperor's palace. But later, he became a hermit most perfect. When certain people asked him where his trust was most, he answered and said, \"In this that I have renounced riches and company, and have spoken little. But most principally, I am glad and rejoice that I have labored with my own hands and put no one to charge for my cause.\"\n\nThere is a bird named Carduelis, which is a singing bird and was enclosed in a cage in a garden.\nA rich man lived there and welcomed his son with great pleasure, as the worthy man took great delight in hearing his song. For this reason, he was generously served daily with food and drink and carried nothing for those in need. However, within a short time, there was a great famine and many poor birds were severely afflicted by hunger and cold, as it happened during the severe winter season. They went to this Carduel and asked for his alms, but he gave them only the leftovers and scraps from his table, and such things that he would not eat himself. The pitiful birds gladly accepted what was given to them and ate it joyfully, saying,\n\n\"This food is not comparable to Elysium and Conygar.\nIt will serve well those who have hunger.\"\n\nSome such people there are, who give nothing good to the poor, but that it is vile and nothing. And the Almighty God abhorred the oblation of Caym, for he gave of the worst, and he accepted the gifts of Abel, for he offered of the best.\nWherfore Iacob sayde to his children. Bring ye of the beste frutes of the erthe. and it is wrytten pro\u00a6uerb .iiii. worshyppe thow God of thy substaunce / and geue thow to the pouer of the first increce of thi frutes / and also it is wrytten in the same place. Offre thou no small gyfte / for God refusith that is offirde of yt worste It is a greate vnkyndenesse to geue of the beste to man and offre to Godde of the worste / Mastir Alaynered at mownte pessulane / and the knyghtes that dwellyd bye harde tell of his greate clergye / and that he wolde answer to euery questyon. And therfore with a comune consent / they came to him and askyd of him what was the grettest curtesye that cowde be. To whom he sayd To gyue and to be lyberall. And whan they vndersto\u2223de his answere. They affermyd hit / and Consentyd\ntherto. And he bad them take ther cownsell togidir and tell hym which was the grettest chorlysshnes that cow\u00a6de be amonge all other. And they layde ther hedis togi\u00a6der and cowde not accorde. And whan he sawe that /\nhe rebuked them and said, \"I myself have set you on the way by which you might have known the plain solution to my question. For just as giving is the greatest courtesy. So is taking away most harshly, for it is contrary to giving. Therefore you who continually take away the goods of the poor and give to God, who is nothing or of little worth, are most harsh and most unkind, as it is said, it is more gracious to give than to take. In the Gestes Romanorum it is written of the liberality of Cytes the Emperor. That on a time as he sat at supper, he remembered that he had given nothing that day. Wherefore he wept and said, \"O friends, this day I have lost, for I have given nothing this day.\"\n\nAs Papyrus says, the Ibis is a bird of Egypt, and after the law it is the most unclean bird that is. For she is fed with dead carrion, near the river banks or floods, and she purges herself with her bill, and also she eats the eggs of serpents. The apothecary took this unclean bird and wanted to.\nShe was purified so that she could be lawfully given to me. He took her to his apothecary shop, intending for her to smell sweet and be bathed in medicines. But nothing saved her while she was there; instead, she longed for foul smells. Therefore, she would not stay but went away. Her appetite was not for such savory things as I desire. Of apothecary spices, I will never ask.\n\nMany are unclean, both in body and mind, and they habitually practice the foul sins of lechery and covetousness. They desire nothing else, and if they are only briefly withdrawn from such carnal and worldly delights, they quickly return to their sins again, like a dog to its vomit. Therefore, St. Jerome says, \"Woe to him who dies in lechery, and woe to him who makes an end of his stinking lechery in his last moments.\" A fable is told about a whore who, at one time, came out of a dung hill and flew into the air.\nand was all day among the almsdishes of lilies and roses, and at night when he came home he found his lover in the bedchamber. Therefore, with great joy and affection, he leapt in and said, \"The sweet savors and precious flowers of the field are nothing in comparison to this delightful place, and so he ended his life in stinking lechery and corruption, where he had most delight.\"\n\nPelicanus, as Papyrus says, is no great bird, and he delights to dwell in wildernesses. On a certain occasion, a Duke and his men prepared a grand feast to which they invited all manner of tame birds. And, moreover, to honor the feast, they went into the wilderness and brought the Pelican to the same feast. When the feast was over, all the tame birds prayed to the Pelican to dwell among them and no longer to dwell in the desert in the vast wilderness, like a pilgrim. Nor to suffer such great hardships and poverty. The Pelican was conquered and overcome by their fair words.\nThe desires of the birds kept me with them for a certain season, and I received royal welcome and treated them delicately every day. But when I should pray and be in contemplation and read holy scripture, I could not be quiet. The noise and chattering of the birds prevented me, and I could no longer live soberly as I had done before, due to excessive consumption of food and drink. Therefore, I recalled the health of my soul within me, and as soon as I had the opportunity, I returned to wilderness and to a secret place where I labored in godly labor and performed a manly battle against my spiritual enemies. I ended my course and observed my faith and devotion in great quietness, and said:\n\nHe who will pray and be contemplative,\nFlee far from noise and all worldly strife,\nAnd likewise, you who desire to serve God,\nMoreover, when the time requires, be leisurely,\nAnd be solitary,\nSo that your mind may be occupied in holy meditations,\nIn prayers and contemplations.\nthy soul may delight in the company of almighty God. And hear what Barnard says: O thou holy soul, be thou alone, who mayst keep thyself to thy Lord God, whom thou hast chosen before all others. Flee from the love of created things if thou desirest to be loved by him who is the creator and maker of all things. Flee the world if thou wilt be clean; for Augustine says, \"If thou art clean, thou delightest not in worldly things.\" Abbot Arsenius, as it is read in the Vitis Patrum, prayed and said, \"Lord, lead me in the way of health everlasting. And a voice came to him and said, Flee from bad company; be still and occupy no vain speech; and rest in solitude, and thou shalt be saved. He that sits in solitude and rests is delivered from the threefold parcel, that is to say, from hearing, sight, and speech. A solitary person went into the wilderness clad in a linen sack, and had no more clothes. And when he had walked by the space of three days, he went up on a great rock.\nAnd he found beneath it great abundance of green herbs, and a man feeding like a beast. He went down privately and made a fearful sign, and he, being naked, fled in shame, for he was reluctant to face the sight of man. But he scarcely managed to escape, and the other followed him, crying out, \"Tarry and wait for me, for I follow you for the love of God.\" The other replied, \"And I flee for his love.\" Then he who was clothed threw away his clothes and followed him. When the other saw this, he stopped him and said, \"Now you have cast off your worldly clothing. I have waited for you.\" To whom he said, \"Father, tell me some good word whereby I may be saved.\" And he answered, \"Flee from worldly people and be still in speech, and you shall be saved. For where there are people, there is much trouble. Therefore Seneca says, 'As often as I have been in great company, I have been troubled or have departed.' And it is said, 'Trenorum teritio.' Blessed be that which saves us from trouble.\"\nA man who sits alone and is still, lifting himself above himself. The turtle is the cleanest and most chaste bird among all others. While she dwells with her husband, she loves none other. And if he dies, she never takes another husband or mates. After his death, she ever drinks troubled water and sits never after upon green tree or bow. There was once a turtle who was a widow because her husband was deceased. Therefore she was greatly heavy and would never walk abroad nor take comfort. But in great marvel and lamentation she continued and led a very clean and chaste life. And all other birds were compassionate towards her, considering that she was likely to perish for the great and continuous heaviness that she made. Wherefore they flew together to her and said, \"Sister, why do you consume yourself thus with heaviness and sorrow? Come and be merry with us a while, for we in the most glad wisdom that we can intend to cherish you and lodge you and do you good.\"\nComforted was the Turtle, and the Turtle knowing her good will was partly comforted and went charitably with them. And all the birds received her friendly and brought her to their nests, and gave her a part of all such victuals as they had. This Turtle was armed with the zeal of chastity, and when she understood the great fornications that were occurring there, she could in no way endure the stench of their lechery. Therefore she fled and abhorred the place and would not abide there. And whenever she had done so often, at last she utterly forsook that lecherous company forever and returned unto the cleanness of chastity and said:\n\nI will be chaste both in body and thought.\nTo fleshly corruption will I never be brought.\nSo ought they to do who are bound to keep chastity.\nFor they should not only flee from lecherous persons,\nBut also from their houses,\nFor the abomination and stench of lechery is nothing more stinking and hateful than the stench of lechery.\nFleshly lust is accompanied by pollutions, and therefore Bernarde says. The appetite of lechery is full of thoughts added of abomination and uncleanness. The end is shame and great heaviness. Ambrose tells a tale in the book Tercyo de virginitate. Of a mother and her daughters who kissed each other and danced together like a dance, they all leapt together into a great water and drowned themselves for the cause they would not be rebuked of their nefariousness of their violation. And St. Augustine tells a like tale in his book De Civitate Dei, of Lucrece who, when she was violently oppressed by the king's son Tarquinus, induced her friends to take revenge. And afterward she was sick and impassioned with the same sin that was committed with her, and killed herself. Though she should not have done so, as St. Augustine says. For truly no creature owes it to itself to kill itself to avoid the lechery of another. For it cannot be defiled by the fault of any other person, persevering in a chaste purpose though it be violently.\nThe body is sanctified or corrupt according to the intent of the mind. Therefore, the hatred of sin and love of honesty, along with perseverance in spiritual strength, should be commended in those who hate sin in their minds, even if they are compelled to do so physically. Regarding the continence of a chaste woman, it is told in the third book of the Nugae Philosophorum. A certain person once rebuked her husband and said that he had a foul stinking breath. He asked his wife why she had not warned him of this so that he might have found a remedy. She answered him in this manner. I would have done so, but I truly believed that every man's mouth smelled similarly. Therefore, it is likely that she had never kissed any man's mouth except for that of her husband. And so, she had thought that all men's mouths were similar to his. Perdix is her name. Ambrose and Isidore say that it is a subtle bird and a frivolous one in such a way that.\nShe will steal the eggs of other birds and nestle them and bring them forth. But her ruse is not provable. For when the chicks that she had hatched here abandoned her and returned to their own mother that gave them birth. And this Partridge makes her nest among thick bushes and thorns and lays her eggs in the bare dust. And when any man comes by where her nest is, the hens of them come out and show themselves as though they might not go or fly, and they go ever the longer the slower, and by this cunning they keep those they meet until they bring them far from their nests. Once upon a time there was a false partridge that stole another bird's eggs in her absence. And when she who had been absent was returned home to her own nest and found not her eggs, she made great sorrow and sought about with a full heavy heart for them.\nThe woman found both the eggs and the thief who stole them. She immediately showed the matter to the judge. The judge had suspicions and commanded both to be severely punished, and among their penances, examined the matter. The thief made an open confession not only of this deceitful act but also of many others he had committed before that time. Therefore, the judge commanded the thief to be hanged without delay and said,\n\n\"He who steals and also accuses,\nBy great cunning excuses himself.\nTherefore begin with yourself and revolve in your own mind,\nAnd think what you are, who accuse another,\nAnd whether you are not reproachable for that same word or deed.\nFor it is written in Romans, second:\nO man who judges,\nYou are not excused,\nFor in the same fault that you judge another,\nYou condemn yourself.\nFor you commit the same crimes that you judge.\"\n\nTherefore, he who accuses another, accuses himself.\nSelf. You steady and rebuke them. You do lechery and bid contrary, wherefore Caton says, Do not that thing which you are wond to blame. For it is reproachful to a doctor who does the same. Once upon a time, there was a tyrant who gave judgment that a thief should be hanged, and a philosopher who was present and heard it laugh. He was asked by the tyrant why he laughed. And he answered and said, \"For great lords judge small matters.\" Saint Augustine in City of God, Book I, Chapter 4, brings in an example of Alexander and Dionysius, a pirate. When he was taken, Alexander asked him why he enforced the sea. He answered and said, \"By free presumption, as you do all the world. But for the cause that I occupy a small navy, I am called a thief. And you named an emperor, for you occupy with a great power. If Alexander were taken alone, he would be a thief. If many people were attending to my request, Dionysius should be named an emperor.\"\nLack of goods causes my bad name. And in pride and insatiable covetousness, you make me the thief. If fortune changed, I might fortune be thy better, and thou, who art now more fortunate, mightest happen to be worse than I am. Alexander marveled greatly at the constancy and steadfastness of this Dionysus and said to him, \"I shall make a profit if you will do better in the future. For I shall change your fortune, and henceforth your manhood shall be allowed with your good manners. And I commanded him to be enrolled among his knights, so that he might lawfully do knightly service and live there ever after during all his life.\n\nThere is a bird named Pica, the most subtle one, as Pliny says, and varied in colors of black and white. There was once a cunning pigeon that lived with a bird and could speak both English and Latin. Therefore, the falconer cherished her well and maintained her greatly. And the Pigeon was not forgotten of the benefits of her.\nThe piper flew to other birds and sat with them, speaking in human language. These birds were glad and rejoiced greatly to hear her. They had great affection to learn to angle and speak as she did. Therefore they called the piper to them and said with one voice, \"We pray and beseech you to teach us to speak as you do, and we shall reward you with pleasure.\" To whom the piper answered and said, \"I can give you no full answer until the time that I have spoken with my master who taught me. Nevertheless, if it pleases you to fly with me to him, he will receive you courteously and teach you as I have been taught.\" The birds were credible and flew together with the piper. And when the piper came home to her master's house, she showed him all her mind and said, \"Go make ready your nets and I shall fly in to them with these birds.\" And the birds heard well the speech of the Piper, but they did not understand her. And therefore they...\nThe merry Pi went forth and rode not. Immediately, the fowler appeared and stretched his nets. And the Pi went forth to the birds and said, \"Do not fear, brethren; fly boldly with me. For I have spoken clearly to my master on your behalf, and he will receive you willingly.\" And when they had all entered the nets, the fowler wrapped them in the nets and took them, and sold them, and became rich. He said, \"To those who cannot understand.\" Give no credence to sea nor land. And so we must be wary of giving credence to those who speak to us subtly, for it is said in Proverbs XXIX, \"A man who speaks to his friend with flattery and feigned words stretches out a net before his feet to ensnare him.\" And in the same place it is also said, \"A false flatterer is like a snake to the innocent.\" Once, a rider said to his fellows when he saw a poor man carrying a lamb to market, \"Will you have the lamb that he carries to market?\"\nSayde you with good will, and he ordered his fellows to stand in diverse places as the porter should come, and every one should ask if he would sell the dog that he bore. And when the first had asked him, he answered and said, \"It is not a dog, but a lamb.\" And when they had met with him all and asked so, the simple man believed that the lamb was a dog and let them have it for little or nothing. And in like manner, many believe every thing that is told them, which is great paradox. Therefore it is said in Ecclesiastes xix, \"Believe not every word.\" But in every deed, the possibility and the end, is to be doubted, as it is told in a fable. That upon a time a mouse made a council, and there it was concluded that they would order a bell and it should be hung about the cat's neck, so that the mouse might hear when she came and flee and hide themselves. There was among them a mouse that was very witty, and said, \"I put case that the bell be made, who shall hang it about the cat's neck?\"\nThere was not one who dared take it up upon him. And so they abandoned their purpose because they could not perform it.\nA milkmaid / as Isidore says / is a bird nearly as great as an eagle / and has a kite put him to flight, though he is double its size. This kite cruelly caught the chickens of a woodhen and ate them. Wherefore Ornix, its mother, was deeply grieved and burned with impatience inside, and would never spare the kite afterwards, but continually envied her and sought to be avenged with all her power. And afterwards the kite repented and was contrite, and asked for forgiveness both from himself and by messengers of the great multitude that he had wronged. But this Ornix was unyielding in malice / and would not be merciful or grant him forgiveness / and said,\n\"I shall never forgive you and grant you full rest\nWhile you have life. Nor when you lie in your chest.\"\n\nSo many are unyielding and none will forgive those who ask for forgiveness. Again, our Savior says in Matthew 6: \"If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.\"\nForgive not men their sins. Your heavenly Father shall not remit yours, and St. Augustine says that every creature shall receive such forgiveness from God as he gives to his neighbor. Therefore, it is written in Ecclesiastes XXVIII: Forgive your neighbor the injury he has done you, and then pray, and your sins will be forgiven. For St. Augustine says that a wise man not only forgets injuries and wrongs but also suffers none. And Seneca says in his book De Quattuor Virtutibus, inquiring about the constancy of a wise man: \"If a wise man is struck, what shall he do? He answered and said, 'What did Cato do when he was struck on the mouth? He granted not, nor did he avenge himself, and not only did he forgive, but he said he had no hurt, thinking it the most honorable saying he could.'\" Seneca says in the same book, speaking of anger, and tells of Socrates that as he went by the city and was struck with a great buffet, he said nothing else but that it was a heavy case.\nThat men didn't know when to put on helmets on their heads, and when they shouldn't. In the same book, it is told of Diogenes the Philosopher that when he had spoken with a man named Lentulus, and this Lentulus was provoked with anger, he spat in the face of the philosopher. Diogenes endured it patiently and wiped his face, saying to him, \"O Lentulus, I will bear witness that all those who say you have no mouth are deceived.\" Seneca also relates that Crates had two wives. These wives were extremely jealous and contentious. On one occasion, they made a sauce for him and threw him to the ground. On another occasion, when one of them had severely provoked him, he went outside and said, \"I fear we shall have great thunder after this quarrelsome pair.\" He sat himself down by a wall and she caught a pitcher-full of vinegar and poured it on his head. But Socrates kept his patience and said, \"When I have wiped myself off, I know well that after great thunder there will follow rain.\"\nWhen his friends had advised him to dismiss them, he replied and said, \"I learn at home what I shall be in the market. That is to mean. I learn patience at home that I may show it openly. When a man once asked the most meek and patient Emperor, how he could endure the great injuries and wrongs done to his own person, and how he might bear the reproachful words of his enemies and not avenge himself, he answered and said, \"We do this for the cause that we would fain bring dead men to life. That is to say, wicked men to amend. For it is but a small deed to kill those who are living. The smallest creatures, bees and spiders, can do it, and also venomous serpents can soon kill a man. But it is a great thing and possible only to God to raise those who are dead.\"\n\nAs Isidore says, an owl is called so from the sound of its voice, and it is called an owl according to our English tongue. It is a passing cruel death and greatly lamented.\nWith feathers slow and weak to fly. And there is an owl that speaks of her and says, \"The owl sopped up the eggs of Egis and hurt and caught myce, and she lurks in Churches and drinks the oil of the lamp and defiles it with her dung. And when she is impugned by other birds that love daylight, she sits and defends herself with her claws. And by night, she wanders and flies about, and in the daytime, she hides herself in hollows of walls, with this bird many. Other birds are taken that fly about her, and rob her of her food. For all they hate her and are enemies unto her, and therefore these birds take all manner of birds with the owl. Pliny says that the talon comes first from the egg. This owl is a night bird most foul and hateful among all others, & there are verses of difference between Bubo and bouis, for an Owl, and hic bufo, bufonis. Anodyne bird is bubo the owl. But bufo is a beast most foul.\"\nUpon a time when all birds had made a great convening, and after supper they went all to rest. And it was decreed that they should be drawn through the city and hanged. And also that the owl and all her kindred should have perpetual persecution, and be taken as enemies to all other birds, and banished from their company for ever. And for this cause, after the figments of fables, all other birds pursued the Owl and cried \"owl\" upon her. Wherefore in daytime she dared in no way appear among them, but flew away all by night and sought her food with great heaviness and penury, saying in this way:\n\nHe who laughs in ill-will shall have a fall,\nAnd he who betrays at last perishes.\n\nAnd so in many a great city there is made means by proud people and ill-disposed to destroy those who are above, that they might have the rule. Therefore let such people beware lest they be punished as was the owl, for it is written Ecclesiastes 7: Do none evil and no evil shall come to thee, and offend not.\nNot in great multitude in the city. Nor should one be too busy among the people. It is written in Proverbs 24:16: \"He who thinks to do evil will be called a fool. But he who walks humbly, walks surely. They who are great and mighty are content with their worship, and not to usurp lordship and rule violently. For of all lordships, the time is short, as it is said in Ecclesiastes 10:1, and he who will not understand this brevity of time in this present life will feel great pain after this life. And it is written in Wisdom 5:15-16: What has our pride profited us? Or what has the boost of our riches availed us? All this is fled and passed like a shadow. And Valery tells us in Book VIII that when Anaxarchus, an earl, reported to Alexander that there were innumerable worlds, as Democritus had shown him beforehand, \"Alas,\" said Alexander, \"I am but a wretch. For up to this time, I have not obtained one whole world.\" Despite this, within a short while after, he was included and...\nA certain soldier, noble among all other kings of Agarenes, laid in a space of five feet. Quintus Curcius relates that one said to Alexander, \"Beware, when you come to the height of worship, lest you be taken and overthrown by the bows, that is, by the pearls that extend to worship.\n\nAfter he remembered that he must die, he caused his winding sheet to be taken and put upon a spear like a banner, and it was proclaimed and cried aloud in the city that of all his realm and riches and treasures, he would carry nothing with him at the time of his death but only that same sheet to wrap his body in. Therefore, all transitory and worldly worship is of little worth.\n\nThe birds of the land, beholding Waterfowles taking their food both in the water and on the land, were greatly troubled and came together and said, \"We are daily robbed and plundered of these Waterfowles. For they are saturated in the waters.\"\nafter they have well eaten, they come to the land and take away our pleasure by refreshing you in the waters, and yet you cannot be satisfied. But after your sufficient saturation, you come to the land and devour our leftovers. Do no more of this from this time onward. For if you do, we shall drive you from the land or else make some of you regret your lives. To whom the water-birds answered and said, \"Sir, you speak unkindly to us, reprimanding us for our meal. But we earnestly pray that you will swear to eat with us of our delicacies, for our hearts will be the merrier for your company.\" And these land-birds, hearing the words of the other birds, and desiring water-meat for their gluttony, flew together with them into the waters. But because they could not swim, they were in great peril and in danger of their lives among the floods and waves. Therefore they cried for help and support. The water-birds were merciful and full of compassion and would not abandon them.\nYou shall yield a shrew in exchange for another, but took them up on their backs and conducted them to land. Therefore they were licensed for each of them to feed both in water and on land at their own pleasure, saying:\n\nSome people endure much longer than others.\nMeek people live merrier than those who are in want.\nSo many a sorry one is sorry when he sees others eat, thinking that he shall never have enough and that he shall lack what is necessary. But God is a good Lord who made the world and all things that are in it, as it is written in Acts xvii. God has given life and inspiration to all things, and He has ordered all other things. Therefore, Chrysostom says, God grants carnal benefits to the worthy and also to the unworthy. Therefore, we owe to be content with what God sends us. For, as Bernard says, the most ravenous bird is content with the air. The wolf with the land, the luminary with the water. But a covetous man would rob the earth, the air, and the water, and heaven also, if he could.\nIncessable desire. But princes in the old time were not of that condition; for in them was great continuance and restraint of gluttony, as Vigecius states in his book \"De miliitis liber,\" where he speaks of the princes' continence and first mentions Alexander. He relates that while walking in his journey with his agitated servants, Alexander often ate bread alone without any other sustenance. The same is recorded of Scipio Africanus and Cato. It is read that Cato was content to drink such wine as his rowdy sailors drank. And also of Hannibal it is said that he did not rest before night and in the nighttime he rose and in the twilight he went to supper. In the same place, it is told of the marvelous abstinence of the host under the mark Satyre, that when an apple tree laden with apples was in an orchard adjoining their castles, it was left untouched the next day, not a single apple taken. It is also read in the \"Gesta Romanorum,\".\nAugustus Caesar was a man of modest means. He was content with bread and small fish, cheese, and green figs. He took his food in every place and only when his stomach desired it. This great restraint from gluttony was not only in men but also in women, as Jerome says. The belly that is filled with wine soon boils and spills into lechery and desire.\n\nThere was a time when there was a porter who entertained many guests in high numbers, by whom he gained great wealth. But nevertheless, he had many painful torments from them when he extracted the combs. It happened at one time that he had a grievous sting from a bee, which caused him great pain. Therefore, he was very angry and threatened the bees, saying, \"I promise you by God Almighty, that if you sting me more,...\"\nI shall overthrow you and drive you away. The bees replied, \"Thou Charleston art glad to gather and receive the prophetical sweetness that comes from us, but thou art loath to suffer any pain. Take patiently the bitterness, if thou wilt enjoy the sweetness, or else we will abandon it and thou shalt never have more profit from us again. This Charleston, within a short space after, came again to his hives and took out the honeycombs. And forth came a bee and stung him sore and thirsted in his spear and gave him a great wound. Wherefore he was wroth, and in great anger he overthrew all the hives and destroyed them and the bees, seeing the great fury of the Charleston. They forsook him all at once and came no more there. And so the Charleston was brought to great poverty, who was once used to live prosperously.\" And when he remembered the great avail and profit that he had received before the season of the bees, and the poverty that he had fallen into, he bemoaned his miserable state.\nHe must suffer both disease and pain. But now in these days there are many who desire to live easily and to be merry and to have worldly joy, and afterwards to reign with Christ in eternal bliss. Some seek Christ in delights and pleasure. But as it is written in Job XXVIII, he is not found among those who intend to live deliciously, and after bodily pleasure. Therefore Jerome says, he who will leave according to the doctrine of Christ and the gospel, his whole life shall be painful and seem like martyrdom. For Almighty God excluded man out of paradise, not to the intent that he should have another paradise here, as Bernard says. It is read in the writings of the Fathers that a brother of religion asked his abbot, \"Why am I so slothful sitting in my cell?\" To whom he replied, \"For you have never seen the great rest that we hope to come to, nor the great pains of hell that we fear. For if you would\"\nbeholde them dylygently / and if thy cell were replete with woormys vp to thy necke thou wol\u00a6dist gladlye and wylfullye abyde amonge them with\u2223owte any slowth. Also it is redde in vitis patrum that sertayne bredren of relygyon prayde and desyred an ol\u00a6de man that he shulde take his reste / and labowre not so sore. To whom he answerde and sayde. Bredren be\u2223leue me truly. For Abraham shall repente hym whan he shall see the greate gyftes and rewardis of Godde that he hath no more labowrid and trauaylyd in goost\u00a6ly trauayle. Also ther were an other tyme dyuers per\u2223sonys that sayde to a man of greate perfeccyon. Howe arte thow contente in thy mynde here to suffre so gre\u2223te labowre / and he answerde and sayde / all the tyme of\nmy labowre that I suffre here / is not sufficient to be comparyd to one daye of the tourmentis whiche be or\u2223deynyd to synners in tyme comynge.\nVPpon a tyme Leo the kynge of wylde beastis fawghte greuously with the Egle kynge of all byrdes. The Lyon hauynge on his syde all maner of bea\u2223stis /\nand they stood on the ground ready and their fields parted the Eagle truly with other birds took advantage, both on the ground and in trees, and with daring and sharp arrows they fought with the beasts. A bird called a Griffon coming by, and beholding this chaos was very sorry, and went up to a hill and remained there, refusing to meddle among them. The lion seeing it was sore afraid and said within himself, and if this Griffon takes part against me, I shall be overcome. The Eagle also thought in her mind. This Griffon has a tail and feet like a beast. Wherefore I doubt it, and if he fortifies the beasts, I shall not dare. Therefore, both the lion and the Eagle sent forth embassadors to the Griffon, to understand what he was and why he sat there. To whom the Griffon said, I am a bird and a beast, but neither. H. nor. k Here I sit for love and peace. For I love no particularity nor rumor. And when he had given this answer, he was graciously received by all beasts and birds.\nA Grifon walked among them, free from suspicion by both parties. When he saw an opportunity, he initiated peace talks. Since neither party suspected him, they freely committed the matter to his care. He decreed that they should depart from the field as quickly as possible and cease the war, dwelling in peace forever. He who desires to make peace must be impartial and take no side. And so every man should do among themselves, making it impossible for them to set disputes at rest, so that they may be called children of God. Matthew 5: \"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.\" Isaiah lii: \"How godly is the dwelling of those who walk in peace! And so the dwelling of those who bring discord is cursed.\" Ecclesiastes xxviii: \"The double-tongued man and maker of strife is cursed, for he has disturbed many who would have kept peace.\" It is written in Revelation, that at one time there was great strife between an he.\nThe thin and crystalline Saint Apollonye was joined with his kin and friends, ready to fight. But in the morning, his friends came to bury his body, and they found it torn and devoured by grapes and other wild beasts. It happened at one point that the lion married two of his sons, and he gave each of them a great wood as a wedding gift. But before he sent them away, he warned them of three things and said, \"Children, keep my commandments, and especially observe these three things, and you will prosper and live happily. First, ensure that you are at peace with those around you. Second, carefully keep this wood that I have given you, so that beasts and cattle may multiply and increase within it. And third, never fight with the human race.\" The eldest son kept his father's commandments and increased in great wealth and riches. The younger one troubled his servants and never had peace in his household. Therefore, he ran away.\nin the woods with great fury and cruelly killed all the beasts that were there, and shortly to tell, he robbed the entire wood. And later, he went to see his brother. When he beheld him in wealth and having great abundance of riches, he said, \"I am unhappy, for I live in great poverty and trouble, and you are the joyous young lion to the elder. Say, do you not see that yonder little man labors and intends to destroy us? The elder lion said, \"Do you not know that our father commanded us not to fight with man in any way? The younger said, \"Fie on the wretch, will you lessen your leonine nobility for vain fables? I myself shall go and pick him up on small pieces. And as he ran in great haste toward man and took no heed of the nets, he fell among them and was quickly masked and taken and destroyed. The elder lion turned home again and said with a full sad mind, \"He who observes the father's precepts, in great security, himself preserves.\" Therefore, it appears clearly.\nThat it is a sure thing to keep the commandments of father and mother and to be obedient to them in all things lawful, as the Apostle says to the Colossians. Children, be obedient to your parents in the Lord, for this is right. It is told in fables that a lion was bothered and lay in his den still and could not rise due to age. But a cub of his, which was very strong, young, and lusty, came to visit him in his sickness. His father said to him, \"Rejoice, my son, and be merry, for all other beasts fear him, save one thing I warn you. Do not fight with man, for he is strongest of all beasts.\" This young lion was greatly tempted against man and saw him to fight with him. And as he went, he found two oxen yoked together under a yoke, and he asked them and said, \"Are you men?\" They said, \"No.\" But we are subject to man. This whelp was ever the more fierce the longer, and he found a horse fast chained with iron and a saddle on its back, and to it he said, \"Are you man whom I must fight?\"\nSeeked and he answered, \"I will not, but he has made me fast.\" The lion mercilessly appeared and ran forth. At last, he found a husbandman clearing a tree. To whom he said, \"Make it ready, for I will fight with you.\" And the man replied, \"Let us cleave this tree first and afterward we shall have less to fight. With these words, the man made a large cleft in the tree with his axe, and taught the lion to put in its claws into the cleft, so that it would soon be pulled apart. And when he had put them in, the man pulled out his axe, and the lion's claws were fast in the tree. The man cried out for help from his neighbors. To whose call, all the men of the town rose up and ran out, some with swords, some with clubs, and some with staves, to kill the lion. Seeing himself in great peril for haste, he left his claws in the tree and barely escaped with a pair of bloody feet. And so, with great confusion, he turned home again to his Father.\nComfermyd offers his counsel, for he had provided it through experience. According to Isidore, Ethymologiarum xxii, a griffon is a feathered bird with four feet. The kinds of these birds are born in Eperboran mountains, which are in Scythia. It is like an eagle in head and wings, and in all other parts of its body. It is similar to a lion, and it destroys both men and horses. It puts a smaragdine stone in its nest against venomous beasts of the mountain.\n\nThis griffon ruled over a great province. But due to his tyranny and covetousness, he commanded three things. First, no man should be received there, neither to buy nor sell. Second, no creature should come from other countries. The third, none of his people should be so bold to go to other countries. And these three commands were observed by his subjects, and he lived in delights and pleasures and gathered great riches, no wonder.\nFor what so euer that cam to his possession he partyd with noman therof. But kepte it straytlye to his owne pro\u2223pre vse. And vppon a tyme by the rightfull iugemente of God. Thondris lyghtninges & tempestis destroyed all the contraye. The dwellers and comprouincy allys of that contrey ran all togider to the gryfon crying and saynge. Go we hens / that we dye not through honger\nAnd he sent forth legates to other nacyons that were nexte adioynaunte to him that thei shuld sende of ther goodes and graynes vnto him / and sell them at ther owne pryce. To whom they answerde and sayde. thow woldist neuer sell to vs noon of thi goodes. Nor now in thi nede we will noon sell to the. He sent agayne other messangers desyringe them to come with marchaundi\u2223se and to haue fre passage at ther pleasure. and thei an\u2223swerde. Thow woldist neuer receyue vs before this ty\u00a6me / nor nowe thou shalt not. The thrid tyme he sent to them and prayde them to receyue him and his people / & not to forsake them in mysery and penurite. And they\nSayde you. Though you have never come to us before, and therefore we shall not receive you, but rather drive you away. And so, forsaking all people in great wretchedness, he died with all his nation and said:\n\nHe who will not serve nor help in any need,\nShall often be indigent and beg and not prosper.\nTherefore it is good to be courteous and to receive foreigners and strangers, and to engage in merchandise with other nations, and to part with worldly goods with others, and let them run to common use, for our salvation says Matthew 7:12: \"Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.\" And Basil says, \"Be to others as you desire to be treated by them.\" It is read that when Alexander went by the way with his host, and both he and all they were near lost through thirst, one gave him a cup of fair water as a great gift. He commanded it to be powdered. For he would not drink it himself.\nIn the old time, such covetous men should not be preferred over the common weal as Valery tells in libro sexto. When two consuls of Rome were sent to Spain, the Romans took counsel and deliberation upon it. One Scipion said, \"Neither of them pleases me. For one has nothing, and the other does not suffice. I judge equality of poverty and avarice in malicious people.\" Also Valery tells that Tiberius the Emperor changed the judges of the provinces seldom, for the new ones were very ready and intent to receive. An example is shown of a man who was wounded, and a great swarm of flies covered him. One came by and drove them away. To whom he said, \"You have done.\"\nEvil to me, for these were full and replete. Now others will come who are hungry, and cause me more grief. And likewise, when they are needy or covetous, they are greedy to catch and desire to have. It is read in the fables of poets that a king desired of Apollo whatever he touched might be turned to gold, and it was granted to him. And so whenever he touched food or drink with his hands or lips toward his mouth, it was turned to gold. And he was often hungry and perished for lack of sustenance. And so abundance of riches makes a covetous man hungry and destroys him, as it is read in Chronicles. That Tarryce a queen, when she had taken the king of Persia, she caused his head to be struck off and put it in a bottle full of blood, and said, \"Thou hast ever thrusted out blood. Now drink blood thy fill. So shall it come to covetous tyrants, the which desire the blood of the poor people. That is to say, their goods and sore labors.\nCouetows men in hell shall drink molten gold. According to a philosopher, Nero the Emperor was seen in hell bathing himself in setting gold. And when he saw a great many coming by, he said to them, \"Come here, you people who sell your neighbor's goods and be with me, for I have reserved the best part for you.\"\n\nThere is a beast which is generated from a lion and a panther, as Solinus relates, and is named leopard. And the females of them are bolder and stronger than males. Pliny also says. He who will not yield to the rage of the leopard must rub his hands together and, without delay, the leopard departs, for he cannot endure the smell of human hands. And the leopard bears a cowardly snuffling sound, and he is full of black spots, and these beasts are much smaller than lions, and if it happens to eat any poison, it seeks for the touch of a man and eats it and is healed. Ambrose says. These leopards are most cruel by nature, unable to be tamed.\nForget their cruelty. And yet they are tamed and taught to hunt. When they see their prey, they are let loose. If he cannot catch it at the fourth or fifth leap, he is even mad, and whatever comes before him, in that madness, he rushes upon it, be it man or beast. But if the hunter prevails and gives it to him immediately, for it is impossible to please him but with blood. This leopard once fought with a dragon, but he did not prevail. So he went to the unicorn and humbly begged for help, saying, \"You are beautifully and virtuous, and learned to fight. Therefore, I implore you earnestly to defend me from the fury of this dragon.\" The unicorn began to exalt himself, hearing this challenge. The dragon fought against them both, and spat fire out of his mouth with great stench. And when the dragon saw, the unicorn ran as fast as he could, willing to thrust him through the throat. But\nthe dragon moved his head, and the unicorn struck his horn in the ground firmly and could not pull it out, and there he died and said, \"He who gladly fights for others. Is often confused, though he has great might. So it is foolish for any man to trust too much in his manhood or to fight for that which does not concern him. Ecclesiastes 11:1 'Fight not for that which is not harmful to thee.' Therefore, search within yourself what you are and what you will do, and whether that deed concerns you. At least do not interfere in another man's affairs unless you are a party to it. Do not fight for another, nor increase discord among those who vary, but do as Seneca says, 'Let discord begin from another, and reconciliation from you.' Once, various men in armor prepared themselves for battle, and another man came and saw them and ran to help the man against his enemies. And they fought together.\nSay unto him. \"We promise we do not wrong. Take thou that which is thine and go thy way, for we desire to avenge ourselves on our enemy and not on thee. He would not be ruled but made himself ready and fought against them with all his power.\nElephas, as Brito says, comes from Elephas in Greece, which is a hill in Latin, and he is so called for the greatness of his body. And these beasts are very apt for battle. For the warriors of Persia and Media use to fight in chariots of timber set upon the old history tells that the Elephant is taken in this manner. Two maidens, who are true virgins, their fathers being bare and the upper parts of their bodies also displayed, go together where these Elephants abide. One of them bears a pot. The other bears a sword. These maidens, with a low voice, sing the Elephant's herald and it comes near. And by his natural instinct, he knows the innocence of the virginal.\nA flesh and guise worship the chastity of them. And as he looks at the breasts and papas of them, he is marvelously delighted and falls asleep. Without tarrying the maiden with the sword, he strikes himself into the soft belly and sheds his blood, and he falls down, and the other maiden receives the blood in the pot. With this blood is dyed a purple color that lasts only for a king to wear. This beast is very famous and greatly revered among all other beasts, and despite this, he cannot kneel, for he has no knees.\n\nOnce, the Lion walked by the wood among all other beasts and looked at them, and all made great courtesies and knelt down before him as to their sovereign lord and king. But the Elephant did not kneel, for he could not. The other wild beasts were envious and went together to the Lion, and they defamed the Elephant. The Lion came to him and said, \"Why are you so proud and so hard-hearted that you do not bow your knees before me, as other beasts do?\"\nI refer to you, my lord, in honor and worship, as my duty requires. I cannot kneel, for I have no knees. You said, \"If you refuse not to worship me in your heart, your salutation is acceptable. For he worships his lord sufficiently, laboring at it with all his capabilities. Therefore, you condemned the accusers who accused you of being an elephant, and promoted him to great worship, and said, \"No man wrongfully ought to be punished with punishment. But his fault should be provided for, for the judge may save him. In like manner, judges should attend to give rightful judgment, and not after defamation, but after the truth of everything. For he is not always false who is accused, but he who is proven as Isidore says. And also he says, 'First prove, and then give judgment.' Valery tells of one called Naulius Torquatus. When his son was accused to him of a trespass and convicted of the same, he gave sentence on him and said, 'When I have counseled my son to observe my commandments and it is,'\nProvided to me is the information that he received money from his fellows against my orders. I therefore release him from my jurisdiction and sentence him to be punished and to suffer death. Thus, the judge should do the same, for he should not act contrary to right for love nor for hatred. For Bernard says, love and hatred do not know the judgment of truth. Therefore, Valery tells us in book six that when Caloricus governed the common wealth within a city, he made himself, who was defended by full holy and just laws among all others, a constitution that whoever was taken and proved in the cry of adultery should lose both his lands and his son, when his own son was taken in the same fault, and all the city came together and prayed for him that the punishment might be remitted. He resisted for a while, but in the end was overcome by the supplication of the people. However, he put out one of his own lands first and then one of his son's.\nIen and so he gave a marvelous temperament to equity. For he reserved to each of them both use of seeing and executed due justice, and showed himself both righteous and merciful. Valery also tells of one called Carandius Tirus, who made a law that whoever entered among any company of people with a sword or a dagger about him should die. And not long after, when he had come home from far-off countries, he came into his own house with his sword about him. And when he was warned of one who stood by him for breaking the law, even straightway he pulled out his sword and killed himself. For he would not defend his error or dissimulation, but rather suffer pain than break the law. Also Valery tells in the sixth book that when a judge had given false judgment at a time, King Cambyses caused him to be flayed, and his skin to be set fast upon the judicial seat, and caused his son to sit and give judgments in the same seat after the death of his father.\nordeyned by this newe payne that no iuge aftyrwarde durst bre\u00a6ke the lawe / nor be corupte peruertynge rightwysnes. For so commawndith the lawe of God / as it is wryt\u2223ten Deutero .xvi. Ordeyne two iugis and rulers in e\u2223uery place / to iuge the people rightfully / and se yt they varye not from equite in to noon other waye / for loue nor for drede / but do rightfully and indifferentlye at al tymes to euery persone.\nAS it is sayde in Catholycon Saty\u2223rus comyth of satur saturi penulti\u2223ma corepta. These Satiri be callyd homuncyones ab vncis naribus / & they haue hornys in ther forhedys / & in ther fete they be lyke vnto gootes and such oone saynte Antony saw in wyldernesse / and askyd what he was and he answerd and sayde. I am mortall and an occupier of this wilder\u00a6nesse. And ther be also dyuers other whiche gentyles worshippe deludyd with dyuers errowre. And they cal them. Fawnos and Satyros. And this Satyrus is a monstruows beste berynge in the vpper partis the ly\u2223kenesse of a man. and in the netherpartys he is\nlyke a goote / and he is callyd the God of wyldernes and wo\u2223dys. This monstre weddyd a wife the dowghter of hip\u00a6pocentauri / which is a man myxte stronge and mygh\u2223tye. And whan he shulde goo to bedde and lodge with\nhis wyfe. First he warnyd her of thre thinges / and say\u00a6de / Make neuer no lesynges to me. Rebuke me not. Nor vyolate notte my bedde. If thowe kepe these thre / thow shalt continewe with me in greate reste and pea\u2223ce. Within a shorte space aftir this Satyrus thowgh\u2223te to proue his wyfe if she were obedyent and sayde. O wyf tell me the namys of thy progenytowrs. To who\u0304 she sayde. I had neuer noon. And Satirus sayde with sadnes and mowrninge. Thow hast sone forgotyn my techinge. and she beynge bolde of her kynrede and fren\u00a6des began to blaspheme her husbonde / Wherfor he for soke her and departyd her from his bedde. And not lon\u00a6ge aftyr she suffirde an Asse to defyle her. And whan her husbonde Satyrus knewe that he iugyd her to be done to deth with all that longid to her / and in her dyin\u00a6ge she made\nA man once had a shrewish and disobedient wife. Ecclesiastes says, \"If a woman has the superiority, she is contrary to her husband, and he also says, it is better to dwell in a desert country than with a quarrelsome and angry woman.\" One time, this man had a wife who was disobedient and he chastised her. He pretended to go to the market and said to his wife, \"In any way, I forbid you to put your finger in that hole.\" He hid nearby and his wife, thinking she could be more disobedient than him, rushed to the hole and thrust her whole hand in. However, the hole was filled with sharp nails and her fingers were torn apart, causing her great pain. She cried out loudly, and her husband heard her and came running.\nsayde. Why wylt not thow obey my commaunde\u2223mentis / and so he seruyd her dyuers tymes in that and othir thinge / tell she was fayne to obeye. In a greate tempeste & horryble wedder in the see the shipmen cry\u2223ed and commaundid to caste owte the heuyest thinges in the see. And ther was a man in the shippe hauinge his wife with him / which was the grettest shrewe of her tonge yt cowde be. Wherfor her husbonde brought her to the shipman and sayde that in al the shippe was not so greuows a thinge / and heuy as her tonge. Wher\u00a6fore Seneca sayth. As nothinge is more commendable then a good wyfe. Soo is nothinge more cruell than a trowblows woman. And the Philosofre sayth. A wyf is other perpetuall ioye / or an endlesse payne. If she be badde she cawsith moche trowble / and moche gladnes yf she be goode. For goode wyuys be obedyent euer to ther husbondes / and loue them aboue all erthly things Ierome in his boke that he wrytteth agayne Iouyny\u2223an puttyth an Exemple of thre Matronys of Rome. The which whan they had\nThe first was named Marcella Cathonis. When asked why she wouldn't take another husband, she replied that she couldn't find anyone who would love her for herself rather than her possessions. She wasn't beautiful but was rich. The second was called Valeria. When inquired about why she didn't take the second husband, she said she couldn't. Her first husband was lingering in her daily remembrance, and he would always be dominating her life. The third was named Anna. She was urged by her friends to marry the second husband due to her youth and wealth. However, she refused and said she couldn't. She had had a good man before and if she took another, she said honestly, he would either be good or bad. If he was good, she would always fear losing him. If he was bad, she would always be in sorrow that after a good man she had had.\nSped and found one. Dromedarius, as Rome's beast is named,/ Who in one day goes as far as a horse in three. The lion called this beast to him and said,/ Among all beasts, to me you are most obedient. For you can run and leap well. Therefore, go to the east and inquire about a person/ Of the quality and company of the Griffon, who will fight me, as I understand. Bring me word lightly, so that I may prepare/ And you shall be rewarded afterwards with goods and worship. The Dromedary began to exalt himself when he heard himself praised thus,/ And took on his journey, trusting to get more honor. He ran and labored beyond measure,/ And, hoping for reward, he ran and leaped so fast that he destroyed himself. Therefore, he fell and gave up his ghost and said,\n\nSuch labor as we know, let us fulfill.\nThat we not exceed ourselves we should not spill.\nAnd so we.\nA philosopher with his son was in a tower, standing alone in the sea. His son prayed to his father to grant him means to go there and be delivered from captivity. The father found many birds of various kinds and put them together with pitch and feathers. He made a pair of wings for himself and another for his son, so that they could fly with their wings.\nCome out and among other things, the father said to his son, \"Beware that you do not fly too high or descend too low, but keep a mean if you desire to be blessed. For arrows and blessed people keep a middle way, and the father did so and escaped out of prison the right way and was safe. Then his son, understanding that he might fly, was very glad and always ascended upward, and the son's heat dissolved the glue and burned the father and consumed them, and so he fell and died. Therefore Bernard says, keep the middle way if you do not want to lose manner.\n\nAn excellent abbey was built by the lion for the redemption of his own soul and of his friends, in which he ordained many beasts to be under rule, and gave them a rule and a form of living, and made election of a prior and he was the Fawn, which is the son of the heart, as the Pope says, and he is diverse in color, and the Lion believed that he would be a good and religious cloisterer. His brothers armed them.\nWilling to fight for their quarrel. But a sad old and wise palfray spoke and said, \"Cece Brethren, it is not good to strive or fight. It is better to avoid this wicked provocation and install another who is peaceful. These words pleased the brethren, and all with one consent put him down and said, \"Concord and love is ever to be held. Among brethren especially, those who share one faith. By this it appears that concord is an acceptable virtue among brethren, as it is written in Ecclesiastes. In three things there is great pleasure to my mind, which is approvable before God and man. Concord of brethren, love of neighbors, and man and wife agreeing together. For as St. Augustine says, 'He in his madness may have concord with Christ or with himself, but he will have discord with a Christian man.' But there are some who cannot live while they are at peace. As there was a fisherman who troubled the water, and they who stood by rebuked him, and he\"\nIf this water is not trustworthy, I cannot live. There is nothing more profitable to a city than concord, as one says. Therefore, it is good to desire concord and amity. Valery tells of concord in his quarto that when Hanibal besieged a city, the people of the city suffered such great need that they endured various monstrosities. Among all others, there is an Onocentaurus, which is named for it bears the likeness of a man in half its body and in the other half has the shape of an ass, as Hugucyo says.\n\nThis beast causes a royal pastime for its own pleasure, but man himself soon destroys it. Which beast, to no avail, applies its mind to no doctrine. But many one will not give credence to the counsel of wise men. But look not always to your own conscience. Nor trust always to your own wit. Nor always follow your own will, but do all things with counsel and by the advice of prudent men.\nDiscrete and be thou applyable to follow their doctrine, lest thou err from the way of truth. For it is said in Wisdom 31: Do nothing without counsel, and thou shalt not repent after the deed. For the wise man says in Proverbs 13: He who is aware does all things by counsel, and they that so do are guided wisely. And this is the difference between fools and wise men. For a fool beholds only the beginning of his works, but a wise man takes heed to the end and to such things as pertain thereto. It is read of a philosopher who, sitting in the marketplace in the most open place, said he would sell wisdom. And when diverse came to him to buy it, he wrote in a scroll these words, saying, \"In all things that thou intendest to do, evermore think what may follow therefrom.\" And many people derided the sentence and would have cast away the scroll. But he advised them to keep it and bear it with them to their lords, affirming that it was worth much good.\nWhen the prince of the land had received it, he caused it to be written with letters of gold upon the doors and gates of his place. A long time after it, it fortunately happened that the princes enemies contrived to destroy him through the means of his barber. As this barber entered by the gate and read this scripture and understood it, he began suddenly to quake and grow pale with fear, for seeing the prince had caused him to be taken and threatened and tortured him, he was compelled to confess the truth. But all the first instigators of this treason he caused to be killed and put to death. Wherefore a philosopher says, \"Whatever you do, do wisely, and consider the end.\" Brito writes, \"Rhinoceros is interpreted in Latin as 'Horn in the Nose.' The same is Rhinoceros, which is an unicorn, for the cause that he bears one horn in the middle of his forehead of four. A fair maiden is ordered and presented to him. Which opens her bosom to him. In her, he puts his hide and\"\nForges his wildness and falls asleep, and so he is taken like a man without armor. As Isidore of Ethym says in Book XII, the rhinoceros also has a horn in its nose. And he also says that the rhinoceros is a wild beast of indomitable kind in some, such that though it is taken, it cannot be kept by violence. This beast, for its strength and lusty ingenuity, could not behold or look on aggravated people. For whenever that he beheld any aggravated people, he scorned them, seeing them crooked and impotent. In contempt, he showed them his feet and cleans. And when his time was wasted and he himself was grown old, young men despised him, and he patiently suffered and said in this manner:\n\nHe who desires the old,\nMay not despise age in no manner of greatness.\nBy this it appears that old men should not be despised by young men but rather worshipped. We have a commandment in Leviticus XIX: Before an hoarded one remove yourself and arise. And worship the person of an old man. And\nPetri quinto: Iones, you are subjected to the whims of men, and Caton says, \"Give Rome to your better.\" According to Valery in libro quinto, Capite secundo, Alexander, who deserved the most principal honor and love from all his knights, is described. Valery relates in the same place that on one occasion, when Alexander beheld a knight named Macedon being oppressed by a snowstorm, he descended lightly from his seat and brought him up to his own seat by the fire. Valery also relates in libro quinto that when the birds called Ciconia grow old, they bear their young to their nests and lie around them, feed and nourish them, and keep them warm. Rather, they do this with men who are reasonable. Furthermore, Valery states in libro quinto that when a noblewoman was committed to ward for a great offense and was in danger of perishing through hunger, her own daughter, who was married, saved her.\nThe judge visited her daily, but first she was searched with great diligence to ensure she brought no food. Yet she daily nursed her mother with her own milk. At last, the judge, moved with great pity, gave the mother to the daughter. A similar tale is told of an aged man who was sustained by his daughter. Vultures, otherwise called grypes in English, are unkind. They allow their parents to die of need, and they will not succor them. Many are unkind to their own fathers and mothers and other good friends, and the charge is growing.\n\nAs Brito and other authors testify, Orix is a beast in the wilderness, like a goat, of whom the following is reflected and turns backward against the kind of all other beasts. Some say that it is a watermole, and when it is taken, it is cast out in paths and ways. Others have an opposing opinion that it is a beast like a mole that we call Glires in English.\nlateyn as saith Isidore. And this Orix is a cle\u00a6ne beaste as towchinge to mete / but not to sacrifice. This beaste Orix / leuinge longe in moste helth of bo\u2223dye .in somoche that he was neuir syke / and therfore he scornyd and derided syke folke whan they gronyd / and thus he sayde. These people faynyth to shewe greate sufferance of payne / to haue ease bodylye. And to esche we trew labour. & thus saynge he was neuer seruice a\u2223ble to them yt were syke / & in langowre. and at the laste he was smyten with a feuyr & became very syke. wher\u00a6fore he began to wepe and wayle saynge. Alas what shal I do. I haue not mynystirde to syke solke but dif\u00a6famyd them to my power. but now yt I am thus casti\u2223gate with sykenes. I promise to god / yt & if he discharge me of this grete disease / I shal euir gladly serue to syke folke & vnweldy. & whan god had sent him helth & he was recoueryd in ye most glad wise he seruyd to sike fol\u00a6ke and sayde.\nGod visitith vs here dayly with sykenesse & disease\nFor owr owne profite that we shuld\nHere we can clearly know that infirmity is sent to us from God for our well-being and spiritual strength of our souls, as the apostle Second Corinthians 12:7-9 states. When I am sick, that is to say, bodily. Then I am stronger and mightier spiritually. For virtue is performed in sickness. And Gregory says, \"Bodily sickness keeps all virtue, and it is read in the writings of the Fathers that a certain person desired of John the Hermit to be made whole of the fever tertian. And he answered, 'You desire to be delivered from a thing necessary for you.' For just as bodies are cured by medicines, so spiritual longings are purified by sicknesses and afflictions. By his holy prayers, he might be delivered from a great disease that he had, and he told him further that he was more virtuously disposed and more devout in sickness than in health. The holy man answered and said in this manner, 'I pray God keep you in the same state, that you may please God most and be most meek.'\"\nA laborer once had a field he intended to sow. But the oxen plowed poorly, balking with all their power. The plowman beat them and pricked them sore. The oxen cried out against him and said, \"Why do you curse us, who have always been your servants? To whom he replied, \"I desire to plow up this field to maintain both me and you, and you refuse to labor.\" The oxen answered, \"We will not plow this field; the pasture is good and sustains us delightfully. Therefore, we will resist our strength.\" But since they were fast yoked together and could not depart, the husbandman punished them with pricking and severe strokes, and they were forced to obey humbly and said, \"It is better for love, good service to render, than for fear, thankless one compelled thereto. And we, who are creatures endowed with reason, should serve charitably when we owe it.\"\nA servant shall not serve willfully and unwillingly. For compulsory service displeases God. Therefore, Saint Augustine says, \"A man cannot do well even if it is good that he does, if he is compelled.\" Crispus: The good will causes the deed to be commendable, and without good intention the deed is not allowed. Isidore says, \"Your deed shall be regarded as your preceding intent have been.\" As it is read of a juggler who could well taboo. And he was seen in his cell, bowing and doing worship to God. And around him were seen four angels with four tapirs standing and assisting him, for his good mind towards the honor of almighty God.\n\nAn ape dwelt in a good city who wrote very Fairly and made diverse books. But he never gave his mind to such things as he wrote, but talked with other people or listened to what was said of them. For this reason, he falsified his books often. Writing in them the words that he spoke himself or that he heard.\nHe spoke harshly of others and refused to amend or correct his faults. Therefore, no one set him to work, and he fell into great poverty, saying, \"The writer who writes all day long deserves no reward if his mind is away. So, too, when we intend to sing or pray, we owe it to impress our prayers and song in our minds. The apostle says in Ephesians 5:20, \"Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts.\" Not only with your voice but also in your hearts to God, whom you have received in yourselves, as it is written, \"Sing and make melody in your heart to the Lord.\" I Corinthians 14:15 says, \"I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind.\" Seneca says, \"I sing and speak wherever I am.\" The philosophers intended to show and find prudence in this. Therefore, it is in vain to write about it, for great studies and labors appear through their wise teachings and doctrines. Valery tells us in Carneades, an old and busy man, who had passed ninety years, had spent his life so marvelously.\nThis time, in study for conjuring it various times as he sat at the table due to refecio, he forgot to place his hand on the table. His mind was so quickly occupied in recalling conjuring. Valerius tells of Archimedes, the philosopher from Syracuse, who was taken captive. Marcellus commanded that he should not be slain, and he stood with his heel fixed in the ground and made various figures, formulas, and to a knight coming to him and holding a sharp sword over his head and asking what he was, for the great appetite and desire for conjuring that was in him he gave no answer nor told him his name. But when he had made many formulas and figures in the dust, he said to the knight, \"I pray you trouble not this circle nor harm it.\" And they took him for a contemptor of the Empire and negligent, and so they killed him cruelly with the sword of the knight who was victor.\n\nCameliopardus is a beast of Ethiopia, as Isidore says in the twelfth book and Pliny in the eighth book, the nineteenth chapter.\nThis beast has a head like a camel and a neck like a horse, and its thighs and feet are like an ox. This Chameleopard is covered with white spots dividing the other fresh colors it possesses. It has wrought vengeance in a strange way, for the stroke returns upon itself. There are so many of them, bitter and hard-hearted, who never forgive injuries and wrongs done to them, but always seek revenge. Therefore, it is said in Ecclesiastes XXVIII: \"He who will take revenge will find vengeance from God.\" And, therefore, Seneca says, \"We should forgive and forget injuries.\" A great remedy for wrongs is sorrow. Princes in olden times were very generous and gentle in rewarding those who deserved them and in pardoning offenses to their enemies. Valerius tells in book VI of a consul of Rome called Camillus, who at one time besieged Faliscos. The master of the game led all the most noble.\nThe children of the Faliscans were led into the castles of the Romans. It was disgraceful that they should be willing to surrender themselves to the Emperor, but Camillus was not pleased with the treason. Instead, he commanded that the said children should lead their father, firmly bound and chained, and severely beaten, back to their friends to dispose of him at their pleasure. With these great acts of kindness, the minds of the Faliscans were mollified, and they opened the gates to the Romans. Ambrose also relates in some deeds of the Romans that when a physician of Perseus, king of Epirus, had come to found the besieged city called Tarentum of the said king, the aforementioned physician told Fabricius that he would give the king a potion to make him die, and through this means Fabricius would be victorious. But he, upon hearing this, abhorred the treason and commanded him not to do it.\nThe man was quickly bound and taken to be punished before his kin. Ambrose says, \"Indeed, his behavior and clarity should be controlled. For he who has undertaken a battle of knightly courage and virtue, in a strange way, obtained a treacherous victory. King Pirrus, under the command of Fabricius, said, \"This is the Fabricius, so noble, who is harder to remove from righteousness than the sun to change its course. And so the king came to terms with him, granting him his pleasure. Valery tells in book V, chapter I, that when the legates of Carthage came to the city of Rome to redeem their prisoners held captive there, they were immediately delivered to the young men who were prisoners to no one, not even MCCC. XL. All of them were delivered without money or tribute. Great marvel may be conceived to see so great a number of enemies delivered freely, so great goods forsaken, and mercy shown to so many in injuries.\"\nValery also related how a prince was taken by the Romans, and many of his people were killed and imprisoned. There was no refuge for them except through supplication. A question was asked of the prince about the punishment they had deserved. He answered, \"Such punishment as they deserve is worthy of having liberty. And what was demanded of him besides, if the Romans remitted their offense and allowed him and his people to depart unpunished, he said, 'If you give us good peace, you shall have peace forever. If you give us bad peace, you shall not long have peace.' By this answer, he obtained not only relaxation but also a great benefit was granted to him and his in the city of Rome. They were made and admitted citizens of the same city of Rome.\n\nIn water as well as on land there is a bird, and it is named Laurus. It flies like an eagle and swims like a fish, as the gloss Deuteronomy xiv says.\nA little bird and black, fat. It dwells every near waters, and he may not fly far. Therefore, often men who are swiftly run after them catch them. And of this bird it is written in Aurora: Laurus is a dweller of the waters and inhabitant of the lands. This Laurus was the greatest shipman that could be. But he overcharged his ship, trusting to his cousin. And many times his friends rebuked him for this, but nevertheless he amended not, but continued so still for the sake of greed. And upon a time he loaded his ship excessively with diverse merchandise in such a way that he could not guide it for the great burden and the tumultuous waves, and therefore the ship sank to the bottom and was burned. And so this Laurus was utterly undone and said in this manner:\n\nHe who covets suddenly great riches to have,\nMay fortune lose much and scant him save.\nMerchants should take heed of this, and not be desirous of hasty gains.\nA man should not suddenly become rich with great parcels, but should increase his goods with moderation. Bernarde says, \"I will not suddenly become greatest, but I will profit and increase moderately from little to more.\" There was a servant who had a hen that laid an egg every day and he gathered many and sold them, increasing his wealth. And when he thought if this hen were killed and opened, he would have many eggs. But because he was inordinately covetous and wanted great profit at once, he ordered the hen to be killed, departed in two parts, and found no eggs in her, but lost both the hen and the eggs, following the common proverb that says, \"He who covets all often loses much.\" Merchants and traders should beware of obtaining anything unjustly. For the goods of unjust men will soon be destroyed, as the philosophy says. Riches easily obtained may not last long. Also, Proverbs 20:21.\nA merchant once poured wine hastyly into a barrel in the beginning, and if such a merchant lacks blessing in the ending. One merchant at sea, at a certain time, had sold his wine, which was mixed half with water, for as much money as if it had been pure wine. When he opened the bag to put in the money he had received for the mixed wine, an ape in the ship saw it and in secret stole the bag with the money and fled to the anchor and sitting there opened the bag and threw one penny into the sea, another into the ship, and so she continued until the merchant had no advantage by his deception.\n\nA lion there was who was a famous hunter. And ever this was his customary usage. When he hunted, he would sadly observe all the beasts before him and mark surely one of the best, and pursue it with all his might. But the beast, being in good distance and remote from the lion, fled in haste.\nThe lion, lacking his purpose and failing to obtain what he had hoped for, then tried to have the other beasts he had first forsaken. But he could not prevail. They were good and fled, hiding in their coverts. The lion was so bitterly angry that he would never again hunt, but said with great weariness, \"It is a great madness to forsake what is certain and take the contrary. Many people, when they have what is sufficient for them, take no heed of that and covet having better. Therefore they are often deceived and cannot come into possession of such things as they could have had in the past. Then they would take what they may not come by and recover what is lost and unrecoverable. But they prefer this seldom. Therefore they mourn and are in great sadness. Again, David speaks, 'Why is he dead?' Why do I fast if I may call her back? I will rather go to her. For he shall\"\nNever return to me. It is also told in fables that the Nightingale taught a young maiden who had taken her to mourn not to mourn too greatly for a thing lost that could not be recovered, as it is read in Balaam. It is but madness and folly to forsake a thing sure and certain for another thing uncertain. Ishpeming gives this example: there was a dog that went over a bridge and carried a piece of flesh in its mouth. When it espied the shadow in the water, it forsook the flesh that it had in its mouth to catch the flesh that appeared in the water. And therefore he lost it. So do many who, for the sake of getting, forsake their sure possession to obtain that which they have not, nor ever can have. Ishpeming says, \"Things certain ought not to be forsaken for vanities. For it is as mad to trust too much in certainty as it is to hope too much of vanities. For all earthly things are fleeting to men, as the Psalm says.\" It is told in fables that a lady upon a certain day...\na tyme delyuered to her mayden a Galon of mylke to sell at a cite / and by the waye as she sate and restid her by a dyche syde / she began to thinke yt with ye money of the mylke she wolde bye an henne / the which shulde bringe forth chekyns / and whan they were gra\u00a6wyn to hennys she wolde sell them and by piggis / and eschaunge them in to shepe / and the shepe in to oxen / & so whan she was come to richesse she sholde be maried right worshipfully vnto some worthy man / and thus she reioycid. And whan she was thus meruelously co\u0304\u2223fortid and rauisshed inwardely in her secrete solace thin\u00a6kynge with howe greate ioye she shuld be ledde towar\u00a6de the chirche / with her husbond on horsebacke / she say\u00a6de to her self. Goo we / goo we / sodaynlye she smote the grounde with her fote / myndynge to spurre the horse / but her fote slypped and she fell in the dyche / and there laye all her mylke / and so she was farre from her pur\u2223pose / and neuer had that she hopid to haue.\nTRagelaphus that is a beaste of a gote and a\nharte, as Brito says, and it is a compound of tragedies. That is, a good man and Laphe, who was building a house, should soon fall, and to himself he would say, \"It will not happen to me though it falls.\" For I shall have the greater advantage in the construction of such works, and thus his bad counsel was robbery to every one who mixed with him. Among all others in that country, there was a mighty tyrant desiring to build a marvelous palace for himself. To have it performed, he sent for this master builder and delivered to him money innumerable for the construction of the palace. This chief workmaster laid a bad foundation, like as he had done before, so that when the work was finished, the walls departed and Clue sank in the middle, and the whole work began to sink. The master mason, seeing this, was greatly displeased and reproached the architect, saying, \"Why have you deceived me, you cursed wretch?\" To whom he answered and said, \"I was deceived in my counsel giving.\"\nMany one lies and is in heavy mood. Therefore be thou ware to give false counsel and wicked. For many times it happens that they who give false counsel fall into great trouble and mischief, as it is written Ecclesiastes XXVII. To the giver of wicked counsel all mischief shall happen, and he shall not know how it comes to him. As Orosius testifies, that when a tyrant once had condemned many innocents, a goldsmith named Pimus, willing to please the said tyrant, made a great brass bull having a durdle in one of its sides by which those who were condemned might be put into the said brass beast, and he gave it to the said tyrant, intending that he should include all whom he loved not and put fire under, and so in great pains they should cry and make great noise like oxen or other beasts. But this tyrant abhorred so cruel a deed and said to him that he himself first should enter, so that by him he might have experience what noise he could make.\nA beast resembling an ox or a cow is called a Bubalus. It is so tamed that it will not bear a yoke in its neck. Africa nourishes and produces these beasts. In Germany, wild oxen have horns of such great length that they are set on the kings table for their great capacity, as Isidore states. It is a beast of great strength, which cannot be tamed unless an iron ring is fastened in its nose, by which it can be led. It is black or yellow in color and has few hairs or none. It has also a forehead of horn, desensitized with two mighty horns. The flesh of it is useful not only for food but also for medicine, as Pliny states in book XXVIII, chapter X. This Bubalus was a shoemaker, renowned for his skill, whose craft had been consumed beforehand.\nwastyd and he was fallen into great poverty, and made great heaves and said, \"It is better in small crises wisely to prevail. Then to change simply, and of leaving to fail. Every man therefore beware and consider his own state, and lightly not change. For the Apostle says, \"Prima and Corinthians VII, in such vocation as you are called, continue in the same.\" For Seneca says, \"A young tree or plant may not grow that is often uprooted.\" Perseverance is called a stable and perpetual mansion, ordained well in reason. And as Cicero writes in the first book of rhetoric, \"The nobility of a man should dwell in this perseverance. That is to say, not to be broken with adversities, nor to be exalted with prosperities. Nor to be frightened with common threats and intimidations. Nor also to be inclined or bowed from virtue by promises or flattery. For Seneca also says in the third book of natural questions, and the expositor on Boethius' consolation says, that the philosophers laid or couched two tons of wine in.\"\nThe entry of the house of Iouys, and after the declaration of the said expositor. The house signifies this world, the two tonnies prosperity and advantage. Every creature ought to taste entering into this world. Alexander could not overcome the constance and perseverance of Diogenes. For when he came to him once sitting in the sun and asked him what he would, and according to reason he should have it, this Diogenes answered with great steadfastness and said, \"I would, besides all other things, that thou keep not the sun from me; that is to mean, that thou stand not between me and the sun.\" And from this came a proverb. That Alexander attempted to have put Diogenes from his degree of stability, but it was easier for him to deprive King Darius from his royal seat by the force of arms. And therefore Seneca in libro quinto de beneficiis says that Diogenes was much stronger and richer than Alexander, having all the world. For it was more his to be freely.\nRefused [he] rather than any other [could give or take]. Therefore, that day Alexander was defeated, for he found such a man to whom he could give nothing or take away. The old philosophers despised all temporal things and regarded them as vile and of no value. Therefore, a philosopher wept, for he saw men laboring and striving with great diligence about their bodily afflictions, vines, and honey as though in them were perpetual bliss. Another philosopher ever laughed at deluded men and scorned men of the world because they found felicity in continuous fleshly delight and love of transitory things of this mortal life. Therefore, it is written in Ecclesiastes: Every man is a fool in his own conceit, and every man is confused by his own wisdom. Wisdom is called that thing which a man loves best and sets most value on in this world.\n\nIVuencus is a young ox, when he is no longer a calf, and he is then called a steer, when he begins to be useful to the profit of man.\neringe ye erth. This iuuencus was a speciall go\u00a6de Coke / for he cowde make dyuers go\u00a6de dysshes and delicate. But his connynge was moche the lesse alowyd for he ouersaltyd his mete / & destroyd it. Wherfore his lorde callyd him before him and sayde Why destroyest thow my mete that is so sumptuous / and delicate / with vnmesurable salte. And this Co\u2223ke answerde and sayde. I salte it well for it sauowrith & relecith ye bettyr in my mouth. Seynge his mastir yt he wolde not amende for his greate glotonye he all to bete him and put him owte of his seruyce / and soo he was expulsyd fro manye goode seruyce / and atte the laste for his insaciable glotonye / and inordinate apety\u00a6te of vnmesurable sauowre he was kyllyd / and wret\u2223chydly dyed and sayde.\nMany moo people / be glotonye is slayne.\nThen in batell or in fight or with othir payne.\nIN lykewyse many glotowns will nothing but that pleasith to them self and suche as they de\u2223sire. And they that folowe ther owne gloto\u2223nows apetyte / be lyke vnclene beastis. Wherfore\nSeeneca says: Obedient people to belief have the likeness of unclean beasts, and not of rational creatures, but as the gloss says. Not the mind but the carnal appetite causes sin. It is greatly culpable for a chastened man to worship his belly as a god, and for concupiscence and appetite of gluttony to expel and destroy the virtues of the soul. For Galen says: Concupiscence of the senses harms the soul and causes spiritual faintness. For truly, the more anyone is filled bodily with food, the more spiritually they are impoverished in virtues. And Hippocrates says: The more you feed your corruptible body, the more you harm it. In France, there was once an abbot who was daily served delicately and ate of the best, but he lacked riches. However, he was always sick and could not be restored with medicines. In desperation of his life, he took upon himself the order of Cistercian monks, in which, for pity and scarcity of food, he amended and was restored.\nA certain people called Bragmanes told Alexander, \"It is unfitting for us to have our bellies strayed with metals, and therefore we are without sickness and live long. We are very healthy and have never needed your decree. They desired nothing from Alexander except immortality, which he could not give them. In our days, there was an agitated man who lived many years. When asked why he had such great health and lived so long, he answered and said, \"I have never risen from the table so full that my belly was displeased. Nor have I ever bled. Nor have I known woman carnally. For these three reasons, I have had health, and continuance of life.\"\n\nCapreolus was a certain beast at one time that could most skillfully hook. He could also sing very well and dance also.\nAnd please speak pleasantly. Nevertheless, he was more avoided by all people for his excessive behavior. And therefore he lived poorly. On a certain occasion, he went to the king and said, \"My lord, most gracious sir, you know well that I am a clever jester and surpass all others in your realm. But for all that, I am not gladly heard in your realm. Nor am I rewarded according to my jestering. But few or none can jester as I can, and yet they are taken away and largely rewarded. Tell me the cause.\" To whom the king answered, \"As you say, you can jester well, but this is your fault. You do everything excessively, both in doing and in speaking. Whereof the hearers are weary and fastidious. But if you will be gladly heard, restrain yourself in speaking and jester temperately. Capreolus did this after counsel, and was truly well amended in his behavior in a short time afterward and lived merrily every day and said,\n\nPlays and pastimes are acceptable and good.\nTemperately used, and in moderation.\nWe ought to do things we know and can do with temperance, so as not to cause weariness to onlookers, as Isidore says. Anything that is excessive and without measure causes weariness, and a certain versifier says. The words of those who speak without measure are not acceptable. For the steadfast ordering of a border makes merry song, and yet the simple birds are bound by it. A child asked an old man a question and said, \"Father, is it better to speak or to be still?\" The old man replied, \"If the words are unprofitable, leave them. If they are good, do not delay to speak them. It is written in Ecclesiastes XXXII, 'A young man should make little speech in his own cause.' If you are asked twice and ask a question, have your answer ready in your mind or speak it. Do not be a show-off among people and cast out your speech among them. A woman asked an old man, \"How long shall I keep...\"\nSpence. To whom spoke he? Tell thou be spoken to. In every place if thou art still, thou shalt have rest and keep silence until a convenient time. Temestides, a philosopher, said to a servant who sat with him, \"For thou speak not.\" Therefore Isidore says, \"When time requires, speak thou, and in time be still, and speak not unless thou art spoken to first. And also here thou shouldst remain patiently or speak, and the question of another more should ever precede and cause thee to give a reasonable answer.\"\n\nThe hare Lepus went to Paris to school and was in the process of becoming a good lawyer. Therefore he went to the lion and said, \"My lord, I have spent and consumed my goods in study and schooling for knowledge and science. Wherefore I pray you that I may be maintained and supported, and live worshipfully under the protection and shadow of your wings.\"\n\nTo whom the lion answered, \"I will first test your wisdom and learning or I grant you your desire. Go with me to see various things that I may prove your learning.\"\nThey went by a woodside. A hunter appearing with a bow and arrows intended to shoot at the bear and the fox. But the fox was cunning. And when she saw the bow and arrow, she leapt aside and escaped from the stroke. The bear was proud and trusted in his own strength and came hastily against the man, willing to tear him into pieces. But the hunter lost his arrow and struck the bear, killing it. This seeing, the lion said to the hare, \"Make me a proverb from this, that I may know your wisdom. If you desire to be admitted to my service.\" The hare wrote immediately in his book and said, \"Against death, it prevails much more among. To have wisdom, rather than to be strong.\" The lion commended this proverb and led the hare with him to a city, where they found a lord rebuking his servants. One servant took the rebukes of his master patiently. The other was impatient and not endurable, full of scowling answers. Therefore, the Lord in his anger beat him all.\nand spolied him and expelled him from service, and kept the patient and promoted him to great worship. And of this matter you have written to the lion, saying as follows:\n\nIt is much better many times to be still\nThan to speak shrewdly and have ill will\n\nThe lion also magnified this proverb greatly and led the hare into a town. In which they found a laborer yoking his oxen and assigned them to their journey to work .xii. acres of land and delivered for the feeding of each of them a bottle of hay. One of these beasts went forth and bore his bottle of hay without grumbling, and another began to speak boldly and proudly and said, \"What should it suffice us to carry hay with us? He shall not feed us so. And thus saying, he would not carry hay to feed himself with it. And when they came to their labor, and had plowed evenly, he that had the bottle of hay refused himself. The other was weary and having nothing wherewith to be comforted for great hunger he died.\nWherof the hare wrote to the lion saying: It is a little thing indeed to have. Rather than utterly nothing that might save a life. The lion considering this said to the hare: Truly, son, you have studied well and wasted no time in vain. For you can answer wisely to every question. Wherefore he gave him great wages and promoted him, and said: He who desires honor to have a chair, And with it knowledge and wisdom. Students should take heed of this, and continually apply themselves to have knowledge, That they may be promoted. For the mind of man rejoices and is fed with knowledge, and therefore it is fitting to have no end, as Seneca says. Be not faint in learning, for life and learning should end at once, and another says. If my foot were in my grave, yet would I gladly learn knowledge. For knowledge and science are desirable both for themselves and for many things, as the expositor says on the first of the Ethics.\nthat man is blessed who has found wisdom and is abundant in prudence. Proverbs 3. Therefore, old princes had masters, such as Trajan had Plautarchus. Nero had Seneca, and Alexander had Aristotle. When Alexander was born, Philippe, his father, wrote an Epistle to Aristotle, saying:\n\nPhilippe to Aristotle sends greetings. Know that a son is born to me, of whom I greatly rejoice in my realm. And it is to be noted that a prince of a realm ought to be wise not only in disposing of temporal and worldly things, but also in divine things and the laws of God, as it is written in Deuteronomy 17. After a king has possession and is seated on the throne of his soul, he should bring forth good fruit. Papias says that academia, a town often shaken by earthquakes, was once a mile from Athens. Philosophers, that is, Plato and all his followers, chose to dwell there, fearing that fear would cause them to be continent and dutiful, and to eschew.\nother vices and applied their learning, calling themselves Academics of that town. A dog which was a great barker and an enemy against them was kept in a great city, and he was so fierce that in no way he would allow them to enter the city. The wolves hated the dog and lay daily waiting to destroy him. And for that same intent they came together into the fields and sent forth two of the eldest among them as messengers to the dog, saying to him, \"Thou art mighty and goodly strong and virtuous. And therefore we are all assembled together in the fields to crown thee our king. Come with us peaceably and receive thy dignity, that thou mayst be honorably put in possession.\" This dog was made joyful when he heard himself so lauded and thought he should be exalted and depart from the courtesies in which he had long abided and went forth with his enemies to his coronation. The wolves conveyed the dog secretly to their own company, and when they espied him, they fortified themselves.\nA man who desires to be bold and courageous should always dwell in a strong hold. Albertanus says, do not fear empty words, but rather great blows. The philosopher says, he who wisely dissimulates sooner prevails against his enemy. Isopo, wishing to show that a man should prudently consider why and for what cause anything is promised or given to him, tells a fable. Once upon a time, a thief came to a man in the same hour, barking loudly. But the thief was cunning and cleverly took bread from the man's bosom and gave it to the dog to keep him quiet. The dog refused the bread and said to the thief, \"By your gifts, you labor to make me stay; you may rob and plunder my master. If I were to take your bread, you would first take from me; I would lose all my possessions.\"\nLiving it not. But I will not forsake my continual and daily sustenance for your false pleasure. Therefore I advise you to depart from here willingly, or else I shall cry out against you and show your theft. And all the while you dog remained, and when he barked, they departed and dared not tarry. Therefore an old saying goes, \"when anything is given, remember why and to whom you give your gifts, have an I.\"\n\nThe wolf once saw an ass, but the ass labored truly above. The wolf was malicious and drew the occasion to devour the ass. Therefore he made a quarrel against him and said, \"Why do you throw dust into my eyes?\" The ass answered and said, \"I do not so to you, but I gather the savory herbs perfectly after my wit and understanding.\" If you want to see above, I am pleased, and I shall labor beneath truly. To whom the wolf said, \"I cannot.\" But if you throw any more dust in my eyes, I shall put out both yours and mine. They thus\nThe wolf howled with all his might, willing the dust to fly into the eyes of his fellow, but the timber prevented it and caused the dust to fall into the eyes of the wolf instead. He was severely pained and threatened to overthrow the gates and bearers. But the timber fell suddenly by the right judgment of God and pressed the wolf, killing him. The ass leapt and saved itself and said,\n\n\"Anyone who thinks his enemy is not to kill\nIs slain with that same sword sore against his will\nThus do malicious people who lay traps to deceive their enemies and take them. But as it is written in Ecclesiastes XXVII, he who sets a pit for his enemy shall fall into it himself. I suppose this introduces a fable and shows that he who labors to deceive others, God will allow him to be beguiled and punished. And he brings forth an example and says,\n\n\"Once upon a time a mouse came to a great waterside and dared not swim over, and a frog saw him and thought to deceive him, and...\"\nYou are welcome, brother and friend. It is said that friendship is forged in necessity. Come with me, for I can swim well. The mouse trusted and allowed itself to be bound to the frog's foot, and as they swam, the frog descended into the water and drowned the mouse and killed her. And in the end, there came a hawk flying overhead and saw the mouse and caught her and the frog as well and ate them both. Therefore, Isepo says, \"So may they perish / it will speak fair and deceive / for it is worthy that punishment return to him who causes it.\n\nAt one time, the bear called the wolf to him and said, \"We two have had great reputation and a great name among all other wild beasts. But if we take our lodging together and lie in one mansion nightly, we shall be more loved and feared than we are. These words pleased the wolf, and they made companionship and dwelt together. The bear gave instruction to the wolf and said, \"I will continue\"\nGladly, in the summer, I will feed you with such victuals as you may obtain through hunting. I will cherish you in my cell, for I am well provided in the winter. I will not have you without in the winter, in the frost and the cold. But rather come and dine with me in my cave and make good cheer. The wolf believed well, and with all his diligence, he went hunting to feed himself and his pack. The pack lived merrily without labor. And when the wolf came to his den, the pack brought him to his cave. But there he found nothing. Therefore, he was greatly sorry and very hungry. The pack laughed at itself and was well refreshed, taking no heed of the wolf. Wherefore, the wolf spoke and said, \"What is there here to eat? Why have you deceived me thus?\" The pack said, \"Sit down and like yourself if you lift, or go wherever you will.\" The wolf was deceived and, with great mourning, returned again to the wood and said,\n\n\"More wisely, let us make a prose or we to...\"\nA person should sell nothing to anyone. We should prove our friends, or we give credence to them, for no wise man should reveal the secretes of his mind to a friend unless he is assured of him and has proved him before, as it is written in Ecclesiastes 11:1: \"Bring not every one into thine house, but thou shalt select him: but take the wise more carefully than the foolish.\" In your mind, by hasty credence giving, the world is replete with great subtlety. And it is also written in the same place: \"If thou hast a friend, prove him in thy trouble, and be assured of him, or show him all thy mind. For a prudent and discreet man should not hastily give credence to his friend, but after he has proved him and found him faithful, he may commit trust to him more largely.\" Therefore, Valery writes in book three, chapter eight, of Alexander the king of Macedon: When Philippe the Physician came to Alexander and his perfectly proven friend, letters were sent to Alexander containing that the said friend had been taken prisoner.\nPhilippe was corrupt with King Daryus' money and had put venom in the medicine. When Alexander had read these letters, he drank the medicine first and afterward immediately delivered the letters to Philippe to read, having in him such great confidence that in truth he could not trust him. Therefore, we should avoid being bound to any person in favor and friendship before a few trials. For the Philosopher says, \"Beware of unproven friends,\" and Seneca says, \"Consider your friend, but first consider yourself; for not every fellow is good or faithful.\" Therefore, discretion must distinguish the good from the bad. It is told that on one occasion two fellows traveled together. Suddenly, a bear met them and made a great attack. One of them called out a tree for help. The other lay flat on the ground, feigning death. The bear went to the one who lay like dead and pretended he was dead, and then departed from him and went his way. His fellow descended when the bear was gone.\nA man asked his fellow what the bear had said to him, and he replied, \"The bear advised me to be wary of such a fellow who has forsaken me in such a cruel way. And it is to be noted that enemies who offend each other to the utmost cannot have sure and continuous peace together. An example is given of a man who had only one son. One day he allowed him to go to a place and play, and a serpent bit him and killed him. He was buried, and a sign was set upon his grave. The said man lay in wait and thought how he might kill the serpent. At last, he found him and, in great anger, struck at him willing to kill him. But the serpent fled into a hole, and he struck off its tail. And an inextinguishable hatred grew between the man and the serpent. The man eventually spoke of peace, but the serpent answered and said, 'It may not be that you speak of.' For as long as you live, \"\nSeest the grave of this one, and as often as I behold my tail cut off, there shall never be between us by perfect peace or concord.\n\nOrmula, as Papia says, is a female goat of the wilderness. This goat gave birth on a night with a charcoal burner, and as she went homeward from her pasture, the wolf came to her and said, \"Now shall I fill my belly with you, for you may not escape.\" This Damula knelt down before the wolf and said, \"I pray you, for the love of God, let me go to the fold, for my kid did not suckle this day. Let him perish with hunger instead. And truly I promise you that when I have fed him, I shall return to you.\" The wolf thought surely to have them both saying this. \"Go to thy fold and bring thy kid with thee, for I desire greatly to see him, and I shall be favorable to you both, but without him, he shall have no grace.\" This female goat swore to fulfill all this, and forth she went. But when she came home, she kept her vows and brought up her kid and never returned.\nThe wolf lamented greatly for many long days after [he lost his prey and said,]. He who possesses gold and holds it in hand is not wise to relinquish it for empty promises or land. Many have sufficient means yet are consumed by concupiscence and avarice, desiring to swallow up all things like the insatiable wolf. A covetous man is like a bottomless vessel, never filled, as it is written in Ecclesiastes fifth. The covetous man shall never be filled with money, and old princes hated avarice and abandoned it. They desired not to gather money for themselves but for worship and conservation of the common wealth. Valery tells us in book III, when Scipio was accused of avarice before the Senate, he answered in this manner. When I recently subdued Africa to your power, I reserved nothing for myself but my name. For I was named ever after Scipio Africanus.\nSubdued Africa. Valery also tells of Manteas, the most learned master of courtesies in Rome and a spectacle of strength. When the legates of the Sanctities came to him and he had received them into his presence, they beheld him sitting by the fire eating soup from a plate of tree wood. They offered him a great sum of gold and with sweet words they prayed him to use the gold for his worship and to eat nothing in tree wood. He laughed and said, \"Your labor is in vain to bring gold to me. But go and tell the Sanctities that Manteas, the master of the Mantean courtesies, desires rather to rule those who possess gold than to have the gold himself. Also tell them that the said Manteas will not be corrupted by any money nor by fear of any enemies.\" It is also told in the same place that when the legates sent from the Sanctities came to Rome, they found Fabricius, the founder of the Roman race, sitting and singing. To whom, when they had offered a great sum of money, they found him unwilling to accept it.\nGold for their liberty, he not beholding his own well-being but rather the common profit, gave this answer to them and said, \"Go from me and take your gold with you. Romans have more affection to have dominion over goldkeepers than over the gold itself. And St. Augustine tells the City of God that Lucius Valerius, who died when he was consul of Rome, was so poor that no money was found in his house when he should die. Therefore he requested the people to order his burial. In that time, the princes who ruled the commonwealth were the most rich in their own houses. However, in their houses they were very poor. Therefore St. Augustine says in the same place, \"One of them was twice consul, and he was utterly expelled from the Senate, because ten pounds of money were found in his house. Valerius says, \"Every man labored to increase the common wealth, and not his own, and desired rather to be poor in a rich realm than rich in a poor realm. He gives examples of the following:\nconsulted those who were so poor when they died that they had no goods to bestow on their daughters for marriages. But notwithstanding the necessity of worthy men was relieved by the senate. And they customarily bestowed the daughters of the poor on worthy marriages. And St. Augustine, Epistle five. He who wisely advises and attends says that it was more to be lamented that the wanton poverty of Rome was forsaken, than when riches were lacking. For in poverty, the integrity of all good manners was preserved. Riches corrupt the mind of man more than any other enemy. Whereof it is read that the host of Alexander was enriched out of nothing when Darius was defeated, and shortly after, when they should fight again, the host of Alexander was overcome. When Alexander understood this, he immediately commanded all the goods to be burned that his host had acquired by plunder and said, \"As long as my people had no possession of goods, there was none who could resist them. But now\"\nThat they be called Varius, a small beast, larger than a weasel, and variably colored. The belly is white, and the back is colored like itself. So remarkably is he painted with colors, and he is of the kind of porcupine, and he dwells much in trees and brings forth his offspring. And various men greatly rejoice in diverse garments furred with skins of these beasts. But nevertheless, this pretty beast rejoices little in its own fur, and although it is but little in bodily size, yet, after consideration of its noble fur, it is a most excellent beast, and so is the seal also. These two spoke together: We two are honorable and of great price among all people for the great value of our skins. And because we are so noble by our natural kind, let us pursue such beasts as are vile and despised. It fortunately happened that they found a Toad.\ncreeping and they grieved him sore, putting him to great vexation. To whom the toad spoke and said, \"God made us all and not ourselves. If you are more beautiful, take your mate. These beasts were angry with the toad and put out both his eyes saying, \"Dare you speak again to us, you ugly creature.\" Afterward, they found an owl making her nest in a tree. They made a great show and noise after her and put her to flight, destroying both her nest and her eggs. The owl fled with great heaviness and said, \"Brothers, you have done evil to me. For I am a creature of God's creation as you are. But though I cannot avenge myself, another shall be avenged upon you for your extortion.\" At last, they found an ape jumping and howling on a tree. To whom they said, \"Why are you not ashamed, you worst of all beasts? For you have no tail, and you show us your rear.\" The ape was angry and came down from the tree, killing them both and plucking out their guts, saying, \"You shall pay for this.\"\nIn this manner, as follows:\n\nNoble people naturally are courteous and good. Mockers and scorners are far from gentle blood. Therefore, noble people and mighty ones should not grieve those who are poor and lowly. Nobility does not reside in the dignity of parents but rather in the composition of good manners, as the philosopher says. Noblesse is that thing which garnishes the soul with good manners, and it is commonly said. He is a villain who vilifies things, not he who was born in villey. It is read that a lion did great harm in his youth, for he had been sore wounded with his claws by a boar, a bull, and an ass. And in process, he was old and in the winter season, he fell into a great snow, and he was so cold that he could not rise by himself. That seeing and remembering his old wounds, he smote himself severely with his teeth. And the bull, also, goaded him in the belly with his horns. The ass with its heels laid at him freely and hit him on.\nThe foredeer struck him with many a great stroke. The lion could not fly but spoke with great sorrow and said, \"All things that I have overcome overcome me now. My worship is now a sleep, and help of my hour is past. Behold, he who has noyed me now no longer spares me, and as I have done to others before this time, now it falls to me.\"\n\nOnce, an horse had pleaded so long with a Boar that by long continuance the horse became so weak that he was unable to maintain his plea for lack of money or goods, for all his substance was spent and gone. He sought his friends, then went to the Mule and prayed him with great lamentation to lend him 10 pounds in gold. The Mule did so out of pity with a good will. With this, the horse won his plea and recovered all his costs and damages with an abundance of great goods. Thus, when all his care was past and he was again in his prosperity, the Mule came to him and required his lent money. The horse, with a mocking manner, replied,\nThe man, filled with anger and deceit, called for the camel and the ass. They all mounted the mule and went before the judge. The judge, knowing this, gave the following sentence: that all the money should be restored to the mule as soon as possible, and for their violence and injuries inflicted upon him, they were to pay him one hundred markers. The camel, having no intention of paying, left the city and was banished. The ass was imprisoned and chained, living wretchedly. The horse was compelled by great distress to pay his debts and damages and remained in great poverty, utterly ruined and spoiled. He who is called and will never pay,\nshall often lose and his good shall depart.\nThere are many who are ungrateful and do not know the benefits done to them, nor return thanks to their benefactors. Against such people Caton says,\nremember the benefits you have received. And he also says, give a little gift to your poor friend.\nReceive thou gladly and remember fully to give thanks. But many one nowadays not only give no thanks, but rather speak falsely against good doers. As it is read that a certain king had highly exalted one whom he especially loved above all others. This man thought and said to himself: The king has so greatly advanced me that I shall never requite him nor be free. Wherefore he contrived the king's death. The king, knowing this, cited him before his own presence, and the truth being known, he judged him to be drawn through the city. The king asked his servants: How did you behave yourself in his passing? They said: We bore it patiently. But he made great lamentation for one stroke that was given him. The king inquired of him: And what was the cause? He said: For I loved him most fiercely that it struck me, and trusted solely in his mercy. The king said: By your own mouth I judge you a bad servant. For you have most falsely and without cause conspired against me. And the king commanded that he should be drawn through the city.\nA lion should be hanged according to his des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des des\nA knight followed him obediently like a tame beast and never abandoned him. For the knight's love, the lion fought against his enemies. When the knight was dead and buried, the lion, out of love, lay on his grave and died.\n\nAn ox and an ass lived together with a peasant man who fed them generously. But many times he prodded them and compelled them to work. One day this man beat his ass, and it was angry and said to the ox, \"What shall we do? This fellow beats us sore and makes us weary. Let us leave him and cast off our yokes. For we are still young and can be merry for a long time and out of danger.\" And so they went. As they walked, they were very glad, and at last night came and it was very dark. They complained to each other and said, \"How shall we sleep? Ox, haven't we enough as we were surprised to have?\" Indeed, it would have been better for us to maintain true labor than this.\nThey departed, and as they lay on the ground intending to sleep, the wolf came crying and vexed them so sore that all night long they were without sleep, and they said, \"It is not good for us to abide here, but rather with small beasts, for then we shall be defended by shepherds and dogs. And when they came to the flocks, desiring to be with them and tarry all night, the shepherds expelled them and beat them, and they wept and made amends to dwell with a laborer who punished them sorely and fed them scantily. Therefore they were greatly contrite and returned to their first state, and said, \"It is better for us to abide in safety at home, rather than to wander through the world and be without guide. In this we may note what hardship it is to go into strange countries and from place to place, and to be lodged from house to house. Ecclesiastes xxix. It is a wicked life to be lodged from booth to booth. And it is also better and more profitable to suffer other small griefs.\"\nThen, to suffer a greater grief. And when a man shall do anything ever he ought wisely to consider what may follow, as the wise man says. Whatsoever you do, do it wisely and behold the end. And also he says, I will patiently endure small hurts in avoiding greater. This is told of a kite that once grieved a dowry very fore and stole away their checks, and other times the dowries defended themselves to their power and struck him with their wings and drew him away. At last they met the field mice, and there he was worthy received of the mice of the city, and he made great cheer, and commended the large expense of the city greatly, and brought him to the bishop's cellar, and gave him delicate meat. At last came the butler, and the kite rattled, and in came he. The house mice fled into their hole. The field mice ran again against the walls and scarcely escaped with their lives. At last they met together, and the field mice said, I had rather gnaw.\nHarde I have always preferred to be in this secluded place. Take to the delightful creatures that bring great pleasure, for I love peace with poverty and quietness delights me more than the preciosities or delicacies feeding.\nDivers beasts in a great Flock were gathered together at one time and fed them in their pastures. The Ram among all others called the Good one from the Flock and said, \"Let us depart from the Flock.\" To what end do we abide with these sheep so shamefully? And when they had departed from the Flock and had forsaken their companionship, the ravens, wolves that lurked in the woods, came out upon them and devoured them. It is better to be in company, for there is safety in fear. By this example, it appears that he who forsakes good company forsakes great security. For it is written Ecclesiastes II: 16, \"Woe to the solitary man, for if he falls, he has no helper to lift him up. There was a woodhen that had many chicks which she nurtured lovingly. Then came a stranger.\nA kite daily awaits to kill the chickens. But this woodhen gathered her chickens together to defend them from the Raven's bird. And all who came to her were protected and defended. Nevertheless, one of them would always pick alone and paid no heed to his companions. Therefore, the cruel kite caught him and carried him away, eating him without mercy.\n\nPanther is a beast of diverse colors, very fair and sweet-smelling. So says that it is a beast very peculiar, varied with colors, full of small circles. So that he shines from the yellow circles that are hidden, and his colored body is distinct in yellow and white. And it is in his manner a meek beast, and he has the dragon only as his enemy. And when he has eaten and is sufficiently filled with various foods, he hides himself and sleeps in his den, as Physiologus says. And after three days, he rises from sleep, and makes great noise. All other beasts, when they hear his voice, gather together and follow him.\nThe sweetness of the sow that comes out of its mouth. The dragon only hears his voice, filled with fear, and hides himself in his cave. Once upon a time, this Pantera was greatly tempted to eat a hog. But since he was accustomed to eating clean food, he abhorred it being unclean. He raised a hog for himself and provided it with a most clean lodging, and called it often to be washed, and would not allow it to be rolled in the mud. This unclean sow was angry and had a natural appetite to roll in the mud rather than be kept clean. And at last, this sow stole out of the pen, and defied herself with other swine of her own kind. Therefore, the aforementioned sweetest Pantera hated the hog and put it away from him forever and said, \"From nature and kind, anything to change is painful and often strange. Thus do unclean people and sinful ones who cannot arise out of the mire of concupiscence.\"\nand lechery is for theyr bad custom, for the philosopher says. Custom is an other kind, and therefore it stands in the beginning. Temptation in its beginning is like a young plant, which easily may be plucked up or ever grow to a tree by age, but as you say, customary sin is like an old sickness, which is hard to be healed. Whereof it is written, \"Ieros the thirteenth,\" If Ethiopians may change their skin, and a parrot his variation of color, then may you do well after your continual sin. As who says, it is like an impossibility. It is read of Vespasian when he was covetous and had continued to age, and a certain person had reproved him and said, \"A fox may change its skin, but not its conditions; he answered and said. At such men we may smile and take it to our own correction.\n\nAs Papyrus writes, Onager is a wild ass, and ape is a boar or a wild hog. These two beasts found their master walking in the field, and they said to him, \"Help us, master, we pray.\"\nYou said to whom you spoke. What should I do to you? The ass answered. My lord has deceived me, for he has a little whelp that eats of his food and sleeps on his own bed, and my lord cherishes him and plays with him daily, and he never touches me. Nor shows to me such merry countenance, you to his master said. If your desire is to be often seen and touched, you must be clean and not defiled. The little whelp is acceptable and pleasing to his lord, for he is continually clean and waits upon him. You also said. My lord keeps a nightingale in a golden cage. And when she sings, he rejoices greatly and is very merry. And when I draw forth my song, it is nothing to his pleasure, nor when my fellow sings. Therefore we pray the order to handle this matter in due form. To these petitions master answered and said. You do not know what you should ask. If you desire to be harsh and unyielding.\ntake heed. You must have delightful and sweet songs. And voices timely and not contrary. The nightingale is ioyously heard for she speaks and sings pleasantly, and so should you. And they were confused with these words and said:\n\nThat is not seemly, we shall never ask\nNor in unknown tongues let our tongues be loose.\nTHEREFORE, if we desire to be seen and touched, let us strive to be clean and not defiled. And moreover, if we will be hard and attentive, let us speak pleasantly and virtuously. Not vile words of ribaldry dry and of corruption. Some persons there are whose throats are like a grave that stinks when it is opened, as it is written in Psalm 5: A grave opening is the throat of them. That is to say, of sinful men who ever speak stinking words. Of whom also it is written in that same book: God destroy all wicked lips and tongues that speak large. That is to me again, against God and his neighbor. They that speak such words of contumely and injury owe not to be heard.\nSeneca says, \"The evil should be kept at bay. Diogenes the philosopher told a servant person who told him a bad tale, 'It is doubtful to me whether my friend spoke thus about me. But it is certainly true that you speak shrewdly of me.' Antisthenes answered one who reported that another would speak shrewdly about him, 'He does not speak of me but of him who knows himself to have such faults within him.' Seneca answered one who cursed him, 'As you are lord of your tongue, so am I lord of my passions. I can close them at my pleasure.' He also gave an answer to another who reported that a certain person cursed him and spoke falsely of him. I care not. For hearing should be stronger than the tongue. To every creature belongs but one tongue and two ears. His rebuke he endured patiently. And once, when an aggressive woman despised his originality and began to call him 'breadmaker' and 'baker,' he endured it with a smile.\"\nIn the same place, it is told of Caesar Augustus that when one spoke to him and said, \"O you tyrant,\" he answered, \"If I were so, would you not call me that?\" In the same place, it is also told of Scipio Africanus that when one called him from fighting and rebuked him, he said, \"My mother gave me birth as an emperor, not as a warrior.\" It is also told in Caesar Augustus' third book of Iapis of the philosophers that when Tiberius complained to him that many spoke evil of him, he answered, \"It is sufficient for us if we have the fortune that no person can prevail against us to do us harm. Therefore, do not be disturbed if any person speaks rudely of us, for we can endure it.\" Seneca relates in his third book De Ira that when Antigoni had heard diverse persons speaking evil of him, not knowing this, and had listened and quietly heard every word, since between him and them there was only a thin wall, he softly knocked.\nThe man spoke as if he were another. Go your way, he told them, lest the king hear you. Seneca relates in his fourth book of Antigonus that on one occasion, when he heard several of his knights speaking ill of the king, he went to the one who had spoken most and said, \"Now that you have cursed your king with your counsel and spoken of him so disrespectfully, cease your speech and be reconciled with him, for he loves you nonetheless.\" What a marvelous humility of a king, who did not disdain to condescend to those who labored most against him, and a wonderful patience that he was not indignant nor cruel to give judgment to those who cursed him.\n\nThe Salamander is of the kind of a lizard or a starling, a pestilent beast and highly venomous. For, as Pliny says in his Natural History 29.4.iv, it infects the fruits of trees and corrupts the waters. Whoever ever eats or drinks it is immediately dead. And if you touch its spittle.\nA man's foot is poisoned and destroys him, even if it remains in the Salamander and is taken as food by some beasts. The Salamander, and no other creature, lives only in the fire, as Pliny states, and extinguishes both the fire and the flame. The Salamander's kind is rough and covered in curly hairs, resembling a sea calf. From its skin, kings' girdles are sometimes made. They have been worn for a long time and then cast into the fire; they will not burn but, after lying long in the fire, they are clean and newly drawn out, appearing as if repurposed. From the same skin, macchis are made for lamps that will not waste for any burning. The Hydra is a poisonous serpent that lives in the waters, with many heads. The two serpents fought together, but when the Salamander was overcome by the Hydra, it leapt into the fire to escape. When the hydra had the worse and was almost defeated, the Salamander's leap into the fire caused the hydra's heads to be burned off, allowing the Salamander to emerge victorious.\n\"He who returns to his own natural place shall be protected and find great solace. When we are emptied of our spiritual enemies, of the burning fire of concupiscence and lechery, we should resist manfully and cast ourselves into the waters of chastity and cleanliness. When we are assailed by the waters of covetousness and avarice, we should leap into the fire of charity and generosity. As it is written in the property of birds that there are some goshawks which take no birds but only in the air, and some which take none but only in the land. And naturally the downe knows this. Therefore she flies from the goshawk that catches her in the air and descends into the land, if she is wary of the hawk that ravages on the land, she continues and abides still in the air. We should have such reason against them.\"\nThe Goshawk of hell, which has many ways to harm, should be defended with as many diverse weapons as he ordains subtly. And therefore, when my enemy, having so many deceits, is with me, I must, by God's grace, order diverse ways to withstand him. It is told that a demoniac was brought to a holy man, who commanded the fiend to come forth and tell him his name. He answered and said, \"We are three fiends that dwell in this man. I am called the closer of the heart. My second brother is called the closer of the mouth. And the third is called closer of the purse. My office is to harden the sinner's heart so that he may have no contrition, and if he is contrite, my brother labors to keep him from confession. And though he is confessed, my third brother will suffer him to do no satisfaction.\" And thus, my third brother is named, closer of the purse. And by these means we prevail against him.\nThis beast is called Taxus and is harsh and rough, about the size of a fox. Pliny speaks of it in his Natural History, Book 39, Chapter 8, and says that when dogs follow him, he retracts and keeps his breath and hides, and he beats his skin to make it billow and stretch. By doing this, he defends himself against the biting of dogs and feels no harm from the blows of men. This beast hates foxes and has a custom of fighting against them. But the cunning fox, seeing that it could not harm this creature because of its hard hide, pretended to be defeated and retreated. While Taxus, this creature or gray beast, was out hunting for his prey, the false fox entered his den and shamefully defiled the lodging of this gray beast with piss and other filthy things. In some cases, he abhorred returning home and utterly forsook it, choosing another small den for his ease at a great distance. If he lacked food in the winter,\nThe beast will sleep after dinner, for it lies much in sleep. To this bridge came an ape and said, \"Brother, lend me a few marks.\" I have affection to go beyond the sea for merchandise, and I shall truly divide the profits between you and me. The bridge answered, \"I will gladly grant that.\" For all my desire is to live easily. Therefore, you shall have your desire if you can find me sufficient security and make me an instrument by the hands of a notary.\n\nThe ape found security from the bull and the bugle and left the obligation in the keeping of the horse and went forth on his journey, and never came home again. Taxus, this bridge seeing that he was thus deceived by the ape, asked his good from the securities. They scorned him and despised him greatly. Therefore, this beast complained to the judge and showed him his obligation. The judge immediately cited the securities and gave sentence that they should restore the goods according to their bond.\nHe was greatly angry and pursued the brook and wounded him severely in the end. And when he was so wounded, he said with great lamentation and mourning.\n\nHe who can avoid him that would borrow\nIs ever out of strife and kept from much sorrow.\n\nOfttimes it happens that a man leaves his friends when he asks for his own goods that he has lent. Nevertheless, the Prophet says, \"Psalm Cxi. He is a joyful man that gives with mercy and lends.\" But Caton says, \"Look to whom you give. That means there should be discretion in the giver and lender. It is told in fables that a doe, being great with fawn, came to another doe that had a house, and with sweet words, fair prayers, and lamentation she asked lodging and desired how long Rome would permit her to stay and deliver the house to the owner when she had fawned. The other was merciful and departed and suffered her to stay.\nThe owner had the Rome. After a long season when the winter was past, the owner returned and reclaimed his reward. The other locked fast the doors and closed their eyes, and would not deliver what they had promised. But spoke cruelly and said, \"I fear not your long teeth. For the teeth of my children shall all rent you.\" Therefore, by this fable, a man is taught that he should not always give himself. The wolf answered and said, \"Thou unhappy creature, you do not live by my gift; I might with one bite have bitten a hole in you without your neck. Therefore take your life, for my reward. For any other reward shall you have from me.\" And so many are ungrateful to their benefactors.\n\nOnce upon a time, the mice came to the cat and humbly saluted him and said, \"O master of greatest excellence, I intend ever to do true service. Alone, I beseech you for your protection against the woodland perils.\" The cat received him into protection and led the mouse about with him and would not suffer him to be deserted.\nThe Wesyl was angered by the dealing of the cat and envied him greatly. On one occasion, the mouse offended the cat, and the cat took revenge. With this, the mouse was injured and went to the Wesyl, saying, \"When I have done due penance.\" My offenses are great, and I am most worthy to be punished. For I have been under the protection of the cat. And thus subtly he sowed discord between the cat and the Wesyl when he was justly punished by either of them. At last they brought it to the point that each intended to kill the other. And as they were going promptly to battle, the Wesyl spoke and said, \"O dear sister, what does this mean? Why should one of us kill the other through the falsehood of the mouse? It is better and less harmful for us to kill him than to kill ourselves.\" These words pleased the cat, and they both together killed the mouse and ate him merrily between them and said,\n\n\"They who make Rancor, discord, or debate\nShall not be unpunished early or late.\"\n\nThus do they.\nFlaterers and malicious people exist between princes and lords who are at rest and peace. Why they are hateful to God, for it is written in Proverbs 6: \"There are six things that the Lord hates, and seven that are detestable to him: a haughty look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked thoughts, feet that are swift to run to evil, lying speakers, and false witnesses. A flaterer and a double-tongued man is accursed, for he has deceived many a man who dwells in peace. Old fathers loathed such glossers and double-tongued folk, for in them was magnificence and strength to speak the truth in all their speech, as Valery tells in Libro sexto. That when all the people hoped upon the death of the tyrant Dionysus, for his exceeding bitter cruelty, a woman of the greatest age prayed to the gods that it might continue long.\nIn life without sickness or disease, and when the said Tyrrante knew it, he marvely stood and was washed with words. O Deion, if you had pleased it, you would not have needed to do this; truly you said, if you would have done so, you would not have had to flatter the said Tyrrante. For this philosopher had much rather been fed and maintained with a mess of words and say truth than be fed with the king's delicacies and flatter him or say to him other than truth.\n\nFive lambs there were in number, who were forsaken both by father and mother and left like orphans and wards. Upon a time the wolf called one of these lambs secretly to him and said, \"I think to be compassionate unto you. Considering your great friend and father is dead. Therefore, I will deliver to you my letters of protection, so that you may go safely.\" Nevertheless, first go to your brethren and bid them come to me with you.\nThis innocent lam rejoiced with great gladness and went to his brethren, showing them all this matter. They replied, \"This pleases us greatly, but let us first go to our friends and advisors and seek their counsel.\" When they came to them, their advisors answered and said, \"Beware for God's sake of such a master. For if you go and return to him, he will destroy you and kill you.\" But they did not heed the wise counsel of their seniors and went forth to the wolf. The cruel wolf,\n\nHe walks evil and often offends.\nThat sad counsel never attends.\nTherefore, we must give credence to the counsel of our seniors. For it is written in Job xxv, \"In the multitude of the counselors there is wisdom and prudence.\" We should do after counsel, and especially of our friends. For it is said in Proverbs iii, \"Keep the law and good counsel, and life shall be given unto thy soul and grace unto thy cheeks.\" It is said that a husbandman labored his land and sowed it with hemp. Flex.\nA Swallow that was old and wise called all other birds together and said, \"This feeld and this seed is threatening us sore. For in time coming, hereof shall be made many a combrook's net. Therefore, let us all go together and spurn it a brood or ever it grow or come up. But all other birds would not consent, but reproved the swallow and said, she was full of foolish fear. Up grew this erbe, and the swallow warned them again that great parell approached and drew near. The birds derided the swallow and said, \"This swallow pleases men and flatters them with his song. This hemp was full grown and many nettis were made of it and caught many a bird. Then all the birds knew their fault and repented when there was no remedy. Therefore, he that despises profitable counsel often takes unfruitful, and he that thinks himself secure falls often into snares. And many times the counsel of a vile person is very harmful.\"\nA good bird profits more from wisdom than strength. For instance, it is written that the eagle flying in the air and seeing the snake putting out his horns. She descended and caught her and held her still in her claws. And the snake shrank into the shell, so that the eagle in no way could eat her. A crow said to the eagle, \"Though you may be mighty and king of all birds, you do not know all things. Therefore, heed what I say and do according to my counsel, for in the shell is very good and delicious meat. Lift the shell up high and let it fall and break, and she did so, and found great sweetness.\" The creeping beasts and worms on the earth took their pleasure again in the sun. But the most venomous beast of all and most perilous serpent, Basiliscus, mentioned in the dialogue .xli., leapt among all others and said with a low voice, \"Who is so bold that dares to fight with me? Let him come and I shall fight with him.\" The snake in his.\nThe serpent, Cotearmure, came among all others, ready to fight against this serpent. As they fought, this Serpent labored to bite and poison her. But she wisely drew in her head and feet into the shell, preventing the serpent from touching her. Afterward, when she saw advantage, she put out her horns and claws and pricked the serpent. This caused her great shame. A little time passed, and this aforementioned serpent Basiliscus fortified himself and thought to excuse himself for being shamefully overcome. He said, \"If there is anyone among you who is bold enough to fight, I will gladly make him turn his back and flee.\" The Irchyn, full of thorns, came forth in his armor towards Bathell. And when this aforementioned Serpent saw him, with great malice he came again. This Irchyn was hearty and made sharp her pricks and smote them into the serpent, wounding him unto the effusion of his blood. Basiliscus was faint from anger and confusion.\nAmong all other things, a frog holding this in thought beheld the serpent and he,\nHe fights but faintly, this is not arranged,\nAnd he who has no armor may ever be afraid.\nBy this we bet agree that when we see our great enemies somewhat overthrown, we do not suddenly fall upon them, but to refrain, & to see the end. For Seneca says, It is properly the condition of a wise man to fear his enemy, though he be weak. And therefore no man should rejoice in the death of his enemy, for fear of himself. For it is written in Proverbs 23: When thine enemy hath had a fall, be not glad thereof. Nor be thou merry on the death of thine enemy, lest his fall be like a stone upon thee. He that greatly rejoices on the loss or hurt of his enemy shall fall often into loss and hurts. It is read that an Emperor had two servants, one a tavern-keeper, and the other a barber. The tavern-keeper hated the barber, for the emperor favored him more.\nThe man accused him to the Emperor that he defamed him and couldn't endure the stench of his breath when he saw him. The Emperor was greatly angered and commanded him to be thrown into the sea in a sack. As the said Emperor pointed to the sailors the place where they should cast him, his signet of gold fell from his finger into the sea. This beggar bribed the sailors with money and was conveyed to far-off countries and strange nations. There, he prospered, and on a certain day, he bought a fish and found the Emperor's ring in its belly. With this ring, he went to the Emperor and gave it back to him, excusing himself for the crime committed against him. In the end, he requested that the torturer who had enjoyed his death be cast into the same place of torment that he was, and he escaped. His enemy, whom he had intended to destroy, was instead destroyed.\nA man's mind is often provoked by experience to behave towards others as he intends to be treated. Seneca says, \"Look daily at the things you want to see: for what you frequently encounter casts out what you do not want.\" A man, after the saying of the philosopher, is a mind incarnate. A fantasy of time. A beholder of life. A master of death. A walker going. A dweller of a place. A laborious mind. An inhabitacle of short time. A woman, as the philosopher says, is the confusion of man. An insatiable beast. A continual busyness. A battle never ended. Man's master and to a continent man destruction. As it happened once, a man who was clean and chaste desired to have familiarity and speech with a woman. By this he fell to delight and was caught in the nets of sin, and lightly lost the seal of chastity and committed deadly sin. For what he attended to the sweetness of her speech and beheld the beauty of her face, he was overcome and destroyed, and said:\n\n\"Many men's minds for women are broken and wounded more severely than with other strokes.\" An author speaks and says, \"A woman is the: \"\nThe form of sin and its condition, Herionie says. The gate of the Fende, The way of wickedness. The stroke of the Serpent, A noyable kind is the woman. That same doctor says, The beauty of woman is like a burning sword. Remember, it is written in Ecclesiastes xxv, The original of sin began with a woman, And all men suffer death, By her means. Wherefore these old Fathers and philosophers were very continent, As Tellith Vigecius libri secundi. Of the continence of Alexander, That a maiden of most excellent beauty was brought to him, Which was married to another prince, He spared her, And utterly abstained from her, In so much that he would not see her, But sent her again to her husband, And what she was so remitted and sent again, it pleased.\nValery in the quarto libra third of Scipione relates a similar tale. Scipion, having taken the city, called for the friends of the most beautiful maiden among the Carthaginians besieged, as well as her husband, and delivered her to him as a pure maiden. All the gold brought to him for her ransom, he gave for her marriage. Therefore, their hearts were ever afterward turned towards him due to his great chastity and bountiful generosity. Valery also tells in the same chapter of the remarkable chastity of Zenocrates the philosopher. At Athens, a company of young men promised a great sum of money to a wanton woman if she could corrupt the mind of the philosopher Zenocrates and incline him towards lechery. The woman, in the nighttime, went and lay down beside him. However, she could not prevail.\nShe answered that she had not gone to any living maid, but rather to a statue or dead image. She called the philosopher a statue. For the great and unmovable continence that reigns in him.\n\nAs the Philosopher says, death is a perpetual sleep, fear of rich men, desire of power men. An incurable plague, the thief of man, the chase of life. Resolution of man. The life of good men is gladness. Of wretches, sadness. A young man once, in his prime, both handsome of person, rich, strong, and whole, went to death and said: O inescapable fate, have mercy upon me and be appeasable to me and suffer me never to be punished with the pain I daily look after beyond. For I will give to you whatever you will have, that is to say. Gold, silver, precious stones, servants, horses, lands, livestock, palaces, possessions, all only the touch, not me. To whom death.\nanswered and said. Brother, you ask for impossible things. Nothing should be desired of God but the honest and possible. And therefore you do not speak wisely. For it is said to man, \"Death abides for every one. And if you are wise, you will endure it in every place. For it is written in Psalm 88, 'Who is that man that lives and shall not see death, as one says.' No one. Therefore receive me patiently, for I come to do no novelty. For Seneca says, \"No man is so unwise but he knows he shall die. Nevertheless, when death draws near, he fears and weeps.\" Why do you weep, man? Why do you mourn for the cause of death? To that you were ordained and born, what new thing is done to you? This law applies to all. It happened to your father, to your mother, to your betters also, and generally to all who have been before, and it shall not fail to come to all who shall be. For life is not given to any creature except for death. There is a law universal, which ordains to be born and to die.\n\"dye all that bears life. And also he says, we must endure that which we cannot escape. An example of David who said when his child was dead, Now that he is dead, why do I fast? Shall I rather go to him, for he will not return to me. When it was shown to a philosopher that his son was dead, he answered and said, When I had him, I knew he would die. Valery tells us that Anaxagoras, hearing the death of his son, said to the messenger, Thou bringest me no new tidings. Nor should I mourn. I knew him mortal, as soon as I knew him born. For from the law of nature I have learned that life is taken and left. And no man can die but he who has lived. Nor can any man live but he shall die naturally. In the same place it is mentioned, Zenophon, hearing the death of his eldest son who was killed in battle, was contented. Alone he put the crown from his head, for he was performing solemn sacrifices. And afterward.\"\ninqueryd how his sonne dyed / and it was shewyd him that he was slayne moost manly fighting and he sware by his goddis to whom he dyd sacrifice yt he conceyuyd more gladnesse therof / then henynesse of his deth. Sainte Ierome tellyth that an holy woman / and mooste noble / whan her husbonde was dede who\u0304 she especyally louyd and mournyd and his body lay vn\u00a6buryed in the same daye of his buryinge she loste tway sonnes which she hadde and no moo. I am to tell a thin\u00a6ge incredyble saith saynt Ierome / but God by wytnes\u2223se not false. Who wold not haue trowyd / that she my\u2223ghte a goone pluckynge her brestis / her clothis teryng her herys downe hangynge / certaynly from her fel not a droope of terys. She stoode immoueable / and fallynge downe to the feete of cryste / she helde them and sayde / I am spedde good lorde and redy to thy seruyce / for thou hast dischargyd me of so greate a burdon. It is redde al\u00a6so in the cronycles of Emperowrs / that the wyse of Oc\u00a6tauyan buryed her sonne namyd druse. And though she were\nA payne, nevertheless, by the great natural sense that was in her, she put from her all the tokens of mourning and heaviness that were in her and said, \"What profit is there in fearing that cannot be revoked? Therefore Seneca says, 'A wise man is not affected by the loss of his children or friends. For in such a way, he can endure their death, as he daily does his own.' And truly, the remembrance of death is like a bridle restraining a man from excess and lechery. The meditation of death is the greatest philosopher, as Plato says. Therefore, it is told in the life of St. John the Amputee, that in the olden time, after an emperor was crowned by the election of his lords, immediately masons and tomb makers went to him and said, 'Emperor, of what stone or metal will you command your grave to be made? They showed this to him so that he should know and remember that he was transitory and corruptible.'\nThat he should think on the welfare of his soul and govern wisely and virtuously, according to the saying of Scripture, Ecclesiastes VI: Remember your last things, and thou shalt never sin. Alfonso relates in his treatise on Prudence that when Alexander was dead and a golden sepulcher was made for him, many philosophers came together. One of them said that Alexander had made his treasure of gold, and now gold had made a treasure of him. Another said that yesterday Alexander ruled people, and now people could soon rule him. Another said that yesterday he might have delivered many from death. This day he could not escape from the darts of death cast upon him. Another said that yesterday Alexander led a great host, and this day they led him to his grave. Another said that yesterday many feared Alexander, and this day they despise him. Another said that yesterday he had many friends.\nday is equal to him. Another yesterday was not sufficient for the world / this day he is content with a grave of .vii. feet long. He who inwardly would often consider this should be restrained from the foul appetite of sin. It is said of a living man that he will be destroyed at last and written like a downhill. Job XX. Therefore it is commanded Ecclesiastes VII: Remember the end. For it is better to go to a house of lamentation and weeping than to a house of welfare and gladness. For there is mourning, the last end of every creature is remembered. And a man thinks what shall fall to him, that is to say, that he shall come to such an end. Therefore attend and consider well that in the death of every creature, the noose becomes cold, the teeth black. The face becomes pale, the veins and sinews of the body break. The heart, as it is said, divides separately for great pains. All the limbs and members become dry and stiff like timber and stones. Nothing remains in all this.\nThe world is as abhorrent and loathsome as a dead body. It is not cast into waters on account of infection. It is not hung in the air for corruption. But like poison, it is cast into a pit no more to be seen, and the earth is lightly cast upon it. Behold the joy of the world how it ends. It is closed in a most stinking ditch. Where the heart consumes. The eyes fall from the head. The noose rots from the face. The tongue stinks in the mouth. The heart putrefies in the body. But alas, alas, good Lord, what should these eyes delight in seeing fair things? The ears hear vain things. The noose smells sweet things. The tongue speaks foul and unprofitable things. The mouth tastes sweet things. The heart thinks vain and vile things. Why are you proud, you ass and dust? The conception of this is sin. Your birth is misery. Your life is pain, and death is great anguish. As this figure shows.\n\nNot only of simple sin.\npowers wretches, both emperors and knights, who must change this transitory life and follow the dance of death, are heavy-hearted. Their heads ache, their spirits are vexed, their breath stinks, their faces are yellow, their hair falls away, their teeth stink, they lessen their strength. Now they are glad, now they are sad, now they are sick. O miserable and wretched condition. Why do you behold not the misery of this mortal life? Consider where by your ancestors and predecessors, who were here before you, occupied it. Bernard says, \"Tell me where are the lovers of this world, who were here with us in a short time? Nothing remains of them but only ashes. And therefore I pray you, tell me where are the barons? Where are the princes and rulers? Certainly they have passed like a shadow and come to nothing. Also Saint Augustine says, \"Thus ends the text.\"\nDialogus of Creatures Moralized. Applicably and edifyingly / to every merry and jocund matter / of late translated out of Latin into our English tongue. Right profitable to the governance of man. And they are to sell / at Powly's church yard.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"},
{"content": "This is a true copy of the ordinance made in the time of King Henry VI for observation by the officers and clerks of the Eschequier in taking fees of the king's accounts in the same court.\n\nTudor coat of arms\nFirst, for the entrance of a customer's view or accounts in the ports of Bridgewater / Chichester / Newcastle / Plymouth. Fowy. Pole. & Berwick - 3s 4d\nItem for the entrance of a customer's view or account of every other port - 6s 8d\nItem to the secondary clerk of the said port - 20s\nItem for the entrance of processes or pleas of accounts containing half a roll - 3s 4d\nAnd if it contains a full roll - 6s 8d\nAnd so on for the following if it contains more.\nItem for the entrance of letters patent granted or other records containing less than half a roll - 2s\nAnd if it contains half a roll - 3s 4d\nAnd so on for the following.\nItem for entry of days and continuance of accountants. 20d.\nItem for making of writs of privilege 2s.\nItem for collectors and accountants of the 15th penny. Nil.\nItem for the entry of writs under the great or private Seal, directly to the treasurer & barons for accountants, if it contains half a roll 2s.\nAnd if it contains half a side of a roll. 12d.\nAnd if it contains more than half a roll afterwards.\nItem to the Clerkes for their petitions if they cost half a skin of parchment. 2s.\nItem to the clerks for the entry of foreign accounts of Scottish money 20s.\nItem to the clerks for the entry of warrants of attorney. 3d.\nItem to the clerks for making of Sistas in Auxilium constat de Nisi prius and commissions of Nisi prius at the consent of the party concerned, less than half a roll of parchment. 2s.\nAnd so afterwards if it contains more.\nFirst, to the master for making proving, casting, discharging, and allowance of the views of the shires of Cornwall, Worcester, Gloucester, and Westmoreland. Three shires, 3s 4d. And of other double and great shires, 6s 8d.\nItem to the clerks laboring writing and charging of the said views, except the said cities and boroughs made shires of each which the clerks above said shall take for the said views, only. 20d.\nItem to the master for labor of reading, ending, signing, and trying of petitions & fines for contempts, if any be of the sheriffs of London and Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex, Somerset, Wiltshire, Warwick, Leicester, Oxford, and Buckingham, Essex, and Hereford, Norfolk, and Lincoln, their richness of the sheriffs, 10s.\nAnd of the shires: Kent, Hampshire, Wilts, Gloucester, Nottingham, Hereford, Salop, Cumberland, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshires, Dorset, Staffordshire, Northumberland, Warwickshire, and Rutland. Each of the sheriffs is to pay \u00a36.12.\n\nAnd of the sheriffs of Westmoreland and of each other city and borough, three shires are to be made, \u00a33.16.\n\nItem to the master for the treasurer of Petty Conions of customers, escheators and other foreign accounts containing half a roll, \u00a33.16.\nAnd if it contains more or less after that.\n\nItem to the master for the treasurer of sheriffs' day escheators and other accounts, except dismes and quinzimes, 20s.\n\nItem to the master for the treasurer of claims of franchises of issues fines and mercies, containing half a roll, \u00a33.16.\nAnd if it costs more or less after that.\n\nItem to the master for making writs of privilege, 2s.\n\nItem to the master for making proving and discharging of every view of bailiffs of franchises, 20s.\nItem to the clerks for writing and transcribing of every such view: 12d\nItem to the collectors of taxes and quinzimes: nothing\nItem to the clerks for making of the tenure of the record and writing of every Nisi, prior containing less than half a roll: 2s.\nAnd for more afterwards.\nItem to the clerks for the commission of the same: 2s.\nItem to the clerks for the verification of every such Nisi prior returned: 2s.\nItem to the clerks for making of sistas in auxilium, constatsupersedias of land and v: \nItem to the clerks for Fieri facias on tails & other writs: 6d\nItem to the clerks for entry of warrants of attorney and mails: 3s. 4d\nFirst to the master for his fee for making of Alouance and discharge of the sheriffs of Cornwall, Worcester: Rote land and westme\nItem to the master for Cites and broughes made shires of each of them: 3s. 6d\nAnd of every double shire and each other great shire: 10s.\nItem to the clerks for allowance of tails in the said double and great shires. 2s.\nItem to the clerks for tottes, perelles and discharge and allowance of the said double and great shires. 6s.8d.\nItem to the clerks in the shires of Cornwall, Worcester, Rotland, and Westmoreland for allowance of cails 20d.\nItem to the clerks for tottes, perelles, discharge and allowance of the same 3s.4d.\nItem to the clerks of cities and boroughs made shires for allowance of tails 12d.\nItem to the clerks for tottes and perelles discharges and allowance of the same 2s.\nItem to the master for allowance and discharges of bailiffs of franchises. 20d.\nItem to the master of every Eschequire of the shires of London, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Herefordshire, 3s.4d.\nItem to the master of every other Eschequire if he has any petitions. 5s.\nAnd if he has no petition only 3s.4d\nItem from Cities and Boroughs made shires. Nothing.\nItem to the clerks for allowance of tails of every escheator of London. Stafford, Worcester, Shrewsbury/ and cities and boroughs made Shires 12d.\nItem to the clerks for simple allowances of every other escheator 20d.\nItem to the clerks for allowance of tails of bailiffs of franchises 12d.\nItem to the clerks for discharge of bailiffs of franchises 8d.\nItem to the master of every customer in the port of Bridgewater, Chichester, Newcastle, Plymouth, Fowey, Plymouth, Pole and Barwick 3s.4d.\nItem to the said clerks of the said port for allowance of tails 12d.\nAnd for discharge of them 20d.\nItem to the master of every customer in other ports 6s.8d.\nItem to the clerks in the same other ports for allowance of tails 20d.\nAnd for discharge of them 3s.4d.\nItem for collectors of quinzimes Nothing.\nItem to them for grossing of great accounts with set hand, that is to say, of the Treasurer of the king's household 26s.8d.\nOf the kynges warderobe. xxvi.s.viii. d\nOf the Treasourer of Caless. xxvi.s.viii. d\nOf the vytayller of Caleis xiii.s.iiii. d\nOf the clerke of the kynges werkes xiii.s.iiii. d\nAnd of the duchy of Cornewal xx.s\nAnd these su\u0304mes of the sayd great accomptau\u0304tis to be denyded betwyxte the sayd mayster & the cler\u00a6kes that is to saye two partes to the mayster and the thyrde to the clerkes\nItem of other small accomptauntis that conteyne halse a rolle of parchemyne of the Pype to the Clerkes that come late in to the sayd offyce except of Sheryffes and benefyces not taxed wherof no thynge shall be taken. ii.s.\n\u00b6 Fyrste to the mayster for his fee and rewarde od\n\u00b6 Item of cities and broughes made sheryffes of eche of them. Nichil.\nItem to the maister of euery double shyre and eche other great shyre vi.s.viii. d.\n\u00b6 In primis pro br\u0304i originali adsectam alicuius computantis in Sc\u0304cio predicto prosecut{er} versus a liquam aliam personam. ii.s\nItem pro br\u0304i iudiciali. &c vi.s.\nItem: For introduction declaration, made in a roll. ii.s.\nItem: For introduction regarding nothing, no fact stated against any calculator. &c. ii.s.\nItem: For introduction of judgment rendered. &c. ii.s.\nItem: For brief concerning confirmation to a sect of some calculator. ii.s.\nItem: For commission made for some calculator, whose names are iii.s.iv.\nIte: For irrotulation of the aforementioned commission. xii. d.\nItem: For brief to be stayed by some assignment made to some calculator or any other person regarding commission. &c. ii.s.\nBut separately, pay vi. d. tm.\nItem: For brief regarding knowing regarding allocation made in the codex Sciro. &c. ii.s.\nItem: For introductions, pleas or responses, for some calculator. &c. ii.s.\nItem: For introduction made in a roll concerning an invocation of a tally lost by some calculator. ii.s.\nItem: From the amplification of the record made for some calculator. &c. vi.s.iv. d.\n\u00b6 Item for making and writing of every view of an escheator. v.s.\nItem for examining, making, and writing of accounts of escheats for every priest of the assize of the pipe, written on both sides. 6s.8d.\nAnd if it be less than a priest, then less afterwards.\nItem for examining, preparing, casting, and writing of every account of customers in the ports of London of the great custom: Savage Gardens/Southwark/Boston and Ippswich, if there be shipping of wool and no retainers or licenses of every such account for a year or more, 26s.8d.\nAnd if it be less than a year after the payment of 26s.8d. by the year.\nItem if there be retainers or licenses for every such account for a year or more, 40s.\nAnd if it be less than a year after the payment of 11s. by the year.\nItem for every account of the said customers in the said ports if there be no shipping of wool for a year and more, 13s.4d.\nAnd if it be less than a year after the payment of 13s.4d. by the year.\nItem for food.\nAnd if it is less than a year after the affrant of XXVI.s.VIII.d by the year,\nItem for every account of the customs in the ports of Plymouth, Dartmouth, Exeter, Newcastle, Lynn, and Newcastle: for every such account of a year or more, 13s. IV.d\nAnd if it is less than a year after the affrant of XIII.s.VIII.d by the year,\nItem for every account of the customers in the ports of Chepstow and Bridgwater for a year or more, 10s.\nAnd if it is less than a year after the affrant of 10s. by the year,\nAnd for every view of customers in the said ports of London, Sandwich, Southampton, Hull, Boston, and Ipswich, if there be no shipping of wool: 10s.\nItem if there be no shipping of wool for every such view, 6s. VIII.d\nItem for every view of customers of tonnage and poundage and petty custom of London and Bristol, 10s.\nItem for every view of customers in the ports of Plymouth, Exeter, Dartmouth, Yarmouth, and Lynn, 6s. VIII.d\nItem for every view of customers in Portes of Chichester, Newcastell and Bryggewater. vs\nItem for the examinacyon purchasing casting and making of account of the treasurer of household. 40s.\nItem for the king's wardrobe 26s.8d\nItem for the clerk of the works 26s.8d\nItem for the treasurer of Calais 40s\nItem for the vittailer of Calais, xxxiiiis.ivd\nItem for the Duchy of Cornwall. 40s\nItem for the accounts of the constable of the Castle of Windsor 26s.8d\nItem for the accounts of the treasurer of Ireland. 20s\nItem for the accounts of the constable of the castle of Burdeaux. 46s.8d\nItem for the accounts of the Chamberlain of Berwick. 20s\nItem for the accounts of the chamberlain of Southwalls. 26s.8d\nItem for the accounts of the chamberlain of Northwalls. 26s.8d\nItem for the accounts of the chamberlain of Chester. 26s.8d\nItem for the accounts of the clerk of the Hanaper. 20s.\nItem for the comptes of the Bayliffe of Sandwich - x.s.\nItem for the comptes of the master of the king's horses - xiii.s.iv. d.\nItem for every account of every farmer of the subsidy of Alyes Serchours and gaoliers in the ports - iii.s.iv. d.\nItem for every foreign account of Sheriffs and collectors - xii. d\nItem if it be a New sexton - ii.s.\nItem for every account of priests or any other foreign account, so it contains the length of a whole priest within four feet - iii.s.iv. d.\n\u00b6 Item for every view of collectors of benefices\nnot taxed - 20. d\nItem for that compt thereof - iii.s.iv. d.\n\u00b6 Item for every account of the Resumption on in the last Parliament, granted if it were to any extent - x. s.\nItem for Nihil inde venit Nihil\nFurthermore, the said auditors shall take nothing from the collectors of quinzimes for any view or account making.\nThe first Sheriff of London and Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex, Somerset, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cantabria, Huntingdon, Essex, Hertford, Norfolk, and Suffolk, Nottingham, Derby, Kent, and Hampshire were each required to appoint six sergeants and eight horsemen. And his clerks, 40 shillings.\n\nItem for bills of allowance of Justices of the peace of each of the said sheriffs, 3 shillings and 4 pence.\n\nItem for bailiffs of franchises for their claims within the said shires, 20 shillings.\n\nItem for the Sheriff of the ride of Norwich City of York, the city of Lincoln, Kinsale upon Hull, Herford, Worcester, Salop, Stafford, Rutland, Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland, Newcastle, Conisbrough, and each of these sheriffs, the four officers and others, 3 shillings and 4 pence.\nAnd his clerk, 20 shillings.\n\nItem for bills of allowance of the justices of peace of each of the said sheriffs, 20 shillings.\nItem of the bailiffs of Francyses in these Shires for their claims. 12d.\n\u00b6 First, of every Sheriff of the Shires of Surrey, Sussex, Somerset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, and Warwickshire, for joining of tails of every one of the said sheriffs, 3s. IV d.\nItem for joining of tails of every escheator in the same shires, except Mydd, 20d.\n\u00b6 Item to the sheriffs of Kent, Southwark, Wiltshire, Gloucester, Norfolk, Hereford, Salop, Canterbury, and Cumberland, for joining of tails of every one of the said sheriffs, 2s.\nItem for joining of tails of every escheator in the same shires, except Kent and Cumberland, 20d.\nItem of the sheriffs of Devonshire, Cornwall, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, and of each other city and brought made shires, for joining of tails of each of the said sheriffs, 20d.\nItem for joining of tails of every eschequire of the said shires, except Devon, Cornwall. Northumberland and Westmorland. 12d\nItem for every eschequire of the shires of Kent and Middlesex, Devon, Cornwall, and Westmorland, for joining of tails. 2s.\nItem from every bailiff for joining of tails of the sum of 20s, or above 12d.\nItem from every bailiff of Fraunces for joining of tails beneath. 24s. 4d\nItem from the customers of every portal of London, Sandwich, Southwark, Hull, Boston and Ipswich for joining of tails 5s\nItem from the customers of the portals of Pole, Exeter, Dartmouth, Plymouth, Fowey, Yarmouth Lyme and Newcastle. 3s. 4d\nItem from the customers of every portal of Chester and Bridgewater. 20d.\nItem of every farmer or tenant not accounted for joining of every tail to be allowed to the said farmer or tenant and not allowed to any sheriff or bailiff, if the said tails be under. XX.li.iiii. d\nAnd if the said tails be of .xx.li. or more under xl. pound, vi. d.\nItem if the said tail be of .xl.li. or above, xii. d.\nItem of every collected.\nItem of the collectors of quinzimes, Nothing.\nIn the office of the clerk of the exchequer. Extract.\nOnly his fees and rewards of the king.\n\u00b6 Finis.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"},
{"content": "Considering the misery and infelicity of this most perilous time, how the flood of sin has overwhelmed the world so that charity and peace are almost extinct, faith dispersed, hope dissolved, virtue and pity outlawed, sanctity annulled, priesthood distained, and religion decayed. In manner, no constancy in the people, no fidelity between neighbor and neighbor, neither in living nor selling, nor any other contract. One scarcely may trust another.\n\nThe greatest comfort in all temptation.\nIs the remembrance of Christ's passion.\n\n\"St. Bridget of Sweden\" (identified by F.C. Francis in \"Three Unrecorded English Books of the Sixteenth Century,\" The Library, vol. s4-XVII, issue 2 [Sept. 1936]: 191)\n\nMonk kneeling to left of cross, praying to Jesus, who stands to right of cross (\"Christ as man of sorrows being adored by a Carthusian\"--British Library description)\n\nDn\u0304e peto mi\u0304am et non iudicium:\nFili fuge vince tace quiesce\n\nThe prayer: Do not ask for judgment of me, son; flee, conquer, be silent, and be still.\nAnd now such is the excess of gluttony, and so the people nourish their bodies: abstinence is banned, and lechery is exalted. Virgins have lost their diamond of shamefastness and have found the rail of boldness, which is the nurse of wantonness. Marriage is turned into adultery. Would that it were not turned into fornication. Where upon our most holy father in heaven, who was wont with his sweet rod to correct us, is now sore agreed and displeased with us. He makes his terrible sword of justice over us. Yes, daily with the same he beats us with famine, death, and pestilence. With sudden death and strange sickness in our bodies. And all this is for the sin of our bodies. And over all these with innumerable woes, what discord is among the princes and heads of the church, I report to you. I fear me to the great hurt and oppression of the people.\nI am very assured that it does great harm and loss to grace, and many a soul, when a child of God sees his father so displeased, and his mother, the Catholic Church, so decayed. He would be sorry, tremble, and quake, and always seek remedy to be reconciled to his father and help to heal his mother, who is so wounded and disfigured, from head to foot. I do not know in what degree or state of Christ's Church I may say that there is the life, health, and conversation it should be and has been in Christianity. Our Lord Jesus, remedy it and help it. For only the work of His infinite mercy it must necessarily be. For from a human perspective, I see no remedy, but penance and prayer. And now, the hearts of the people are so dead and converted to the allurements of this world, and so deeply engrossed in its study and business, that they cannot pray.\nBut while their mothers pray, their hearts are full of worldly thoughts and distractions of the mind. They often, against their wills (to the great loss of the fruit of their prayer), which if it were pure, nothing could resist it, would ascend to the throne of God, as scripture says. And from thence it would not depart while it had opened the petition. For as Saint Augustine says, \"It is impossible that the prayer of many not be heard, specifically of those whose prayer proceeds from pure and meek hearts. The gospel of Christ shows us the importunate pray-er with continual perseverance, although the thing seems impossible for us to ask of God, it will at last in time touch the ear of God's mercy and obtain comfort, as he showed in the parable of the three loves. And notwithstanding that we are not his friends: but wretches and sinners: and therefore, by reason of our sin, he sees in us no cause to have pity on us.\"\nYet continuous prayer will vanquish him, and incline his mercy and charity to relieve our necessities and grant our requests. Luke 18:1-5 as he showed himself in the similitude of the widow and the unrighteous judge, who was compelled and forced to give sentence with her. clamor So God will do, for so he promised to his people. With whatever sin, temptation, sickness, loss of goods, or other adversity of the world we are afflicted, call and pray perseverantly, and we shall have comfort. Luke 18:1-5. But he commands us to pray and not cease. Alas, for sorrow it seems that prayer is in a manner gone. I mean the continual affection, mind, and desire towards God and godly things, without abundance of deeds of pity and alms, according to their ability. For who has these continually does this treatise following more largely declare. And it shows also what prayer is and how we should order our prayer.\nAnd in the time of prayer, and how we should make our petitions with many other great comforts and benefits which come by prayer, specifically remedies against wandering minds and vain cogitations in the time of prayer, which considerings, and seeing how charity of the people is now very cold, Ecclesiastes XXIX. And alms which had in the bosom of the poor was wont to pray instantly, but now has ceased, for little is given in that respect as it has been. Therefore I was very glad that this treatise fortunately came into my hands, since I found it both good, devout, fruitful, and catholic. Thinking how many hearts of the people should be greatly comforted by it, I caused it to be printed. And so much more rather because the drawer and author of it is one of the devout fathers of the Carthusian Monastery of Shene. Whose virtue and learning is well approved. Therefore, devout reader, I counsel you to buy this sweet treatise, and exercise yourself accordingly.\nAnd I doubt not but thou shalt do much honor to God / show respect to all Christian people / and to thyself much profit and edification. Which almighty God grant to all the readers thereof.\n\nAMEN.\n\nThe prologue of the treatise following.\nThe preface.\nThe dignity of prayer. Chapter 1.\nThat we should often use prayer. Chapter 2.\nOf the profit that comes by prayer. Chapter 3.\nOf three things necessary to be considered before beginning prayer. Chapter 4.\nHow there are two manners of prayer: of which one is called vocal, & the other mental. Chapter 5.\nOf two things necessarily required for prayer. Chapter 6.\nOf certain things that will give a man occasion for prayer. Chapter 7.\nHow in time of prayer sometimes the mind is more distracted by worldly concerns. And remedies for the same. Chapter 8.\nOf other kinds of distractions. And the causes and remedies of the same. Chapter 9.\nHow a man may order himself in time of prayer. Chapter 10.\nHow after prayer temptations of vanity will follow.\n And how they may be eschewed & auoyded by dyuers remedyes. Ca. xi.\n\u00b6Howe the fynall intente of our prayers sholde be ye laude & prayse of good. And how we may lawfully desyre in prayer all other thynges necessary / refer\u00a6rynge them to this ende. Ca. xij.\n\u00b6For whome we sholde pray. Ca. xiij.\n\u00b6How he yt wyll haue his prayer asce\u0304de to god must make it .ij. wynges. Ca. xiiij.\n\u00b6Thus endeth this present table.\n\"Salvator mundi\" (identified by F.C. Francis in \"Three Unrecorded English Books of the Sixteenth Century,\" The Library, vol. s4-XVII, issue 2 [Sept. 1936]: 191): Christ blessing with right hand and holding orb surmounted by cross in left hand; top left, God the Father (?); top right, a dove representing the Holy Ghost (?)\n\"Christ with the instruments of the Passion\" (identified by F.C. Francis in \"Three Unrecorded English Books of the Sixteenth Century,\" The Library, vol. s4-XVII, issue 2 [Sept. 1936]: 191)\n\u00b6The pardon for .v. pater nr\u0304. v. aues & a crede wt pyteous beholdynge of these armes is .xxxii. M. & \nIn this treatise, I intend to show, with the grace of God, how a man should order himself in times of prayer and what the final intent should be, as well as what I believe it most expedient to pray for. I will first declare, according to the definition of St. Augustine, what prayer is, in the first chapter. In the second chapter, I will discuss the frequency with which one should pray. In the third chapter, I will speak of the profit that comes from it. In the fourth chapter, I will discuss the three things that should be considered before beginning prayer. Afterward, I will speak of two kinds of prayer: mental prayer and vocal prayer. St. Bonaventure divides vocal prayer into two parts: pure vocal prayer and mixed vocal prayer. I will explain the difference between the two in their respective places.\nMy primary intent and meaning is mostly about the mixed prayer. For this (as I suppose), is most necessary for those persons for whom I write this treatise to use. But perhaps some men will wonder why I did not write this matter in Latin style (for then it might have been understood by many: as well of aliens as of this land), but in English. The reason is this. I desired both the learned and the unlearned to read this treatise. Not for the learned (for they understand scripture and know this matter better than I), but for the unlearned who lack knowledge of holy scripture, to instruct them in the order of prayer.\nThat is to say, I show them for whom or what things it is most expedient to pray, and what should move them to pray devoutly, giving them occasion to perceive this, along with other things contained in the following treatise. I have answered such points that can be objected by quick-witted persons. I beseech the devout Christians for whom I have taken this labor and written this matter at their desire, to the honor of God, and to the profit of their souls and mine, to consider it substantially. And not be content with reading it once over, but keep it continually, using it often to read over, until they are very proficient in it. I trust that after they have read it repeatedly, they will like it better.\nAnd just as a Pomander, when it is heated and warmed in a man's hand, gives a fragrant and sweet smell, so I trust this Pomander of prayer (for so I will name this treatise), if it is often looked at and read with good purpose to practice the things contained within it, will give a fragrant smell of spiritual conversation and living to the devout readers of it. Which, if it does so, I pray they give praise and thanks to God therefore. And contrarywise, where anything is amiss, I pray they ascribe it (I pray they) to my insufficiency and ignorance, which lack both learning and eloquence.\n\nFinally, I beseech all those particularly who shall profit by this poor treatise, to pray for me, a wretch, who have bestowed this labor on the honor of God and their edification. And I shall pray for them by the grace of God, who ever be with them.\n\nOF late tyme I haue ben instauntly desy\u2223red of certayne spyrytuall fre\u0304des to wry\u2223te some treatyse that myght be inducty\u2223ue and also demonstratyue (to suche de\u2223uout persones as lacke lernyng and knowlege of ho\u2223ly scrypture) howe & vnder what maner they myght order them selfe in prayer. To the performacyon of this charytable desyre and request I knowe my selfe vnworthy and vnable / bothe for lacke of speculacy\u2223on and practyse therof. Not withstandynge I wyll desyre my solycytares in this matter to call with me to our sauyour Iesu Cryst / saynge as one of this dys\u2223cyples dyde. Domine doce nos orare.Luce. xi. That is to say Lorde or mayster teche vs to pray. This done I shall study with dylygence / some thynge to satysfye theyr desyre / as it shall please our foresayd mayster Iesu to gyue me grace.\nFIrst I thynke it very expedient to shewe you ye dyffynicion of prayer that ye may ye better knowe what it is. Saynt Austyn sayth\nWhat is estoration: but an ascent of the soul from terrestrial things to celestial, a investigation of subterranean things, the desire for the invisible? As who should say. Prayer is nothing else but an ascent of the soul from earthly things to heavenly things that are above, and a desire of things invisible. We may take this distinction that when we pray, we should not willfully allow the affections of our minds to rest on worldly creatures, but we should have our desires elevated to God omnipotent in heaven. And this appears well in the beginning of the prayer which Christ taught to his disciples: where we say, \"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.\" This word \"in heaven\" (as the ordinary gloss says) is put there because in the time of prayer, our minds should be elevated to the spiritual heavens, where the Father omnipotent most excels in his glory.\nWe should order ourselves in prayer so that we might truly say with the apostle Saint Paul, \"Our conversation is in heaven.\" In many and various places of holy scripture, we are exhorted and urged to the frequentation of prayer. It is written, \"Ad Colossians iii. Be instant in prayer, being not unfruitful in it.\" Use you to pray instantly, not sleeplily nor slothfully, but quickly and devoutly, giving thanks and praises to God. It is also written, \"Submissus esto Domino: et ora eum.\" Psalm xxxv. Subdue yourself to your Lord God, and make your prayers to him. Also, \"Non impediaris orare semper.\" Ecclesiastes xvii. Let nothing impede you, but that you may be ever in prayer. Also, our Savior Christ in the Gospel of Luke, \"Oportet semper orare et ne deficere.\" Luke xviii. You should ever be praying and never cease. And the apostle Paul, \"Sine intercessione orate.\" To the Thessalonians, \"That is, pray without ceasing.\" And to Timothy, \"Volo ergo viris orare in omni loco,\" which means, \"I exhort therefore that men pray in every place.\"\nI will that men be praying in every place. However, these words may seem very strict if we take them literally. For it is very hard, and almost impossible for any man ever to continue in actual prayer. A certain holy doctor explains, Beda, Suppl. xvii. Nuquam de sinit orare nisi qui desinit bene facere. As long as a man is doing any good deeds: so long he is praying. And except he ceases from doing good deeds: he ceases not to pray. This explanation makes the words before said easy, and comforts the readers or hearers of this. Nevertheless, I will exhort every devout Christian to give themselves to vocal prayer as much as they can conveniently and expediently. For certainly there will come great profit and manifold fruits, of which by the grace of God I shall briefly and shortly touch upon.\n\nThe holy doctor Saint John Chrysostom says, Magnuvere boni carissimi, oro.\nThis doctor Chrisostom says: Prayer is a great thing of virtue and goodness. For if you take great profit by communication with a man who is approved and singular in virtues, how much more (he says) will a person have it in his prayer speaking to God, who is the Lord and giver of all virtues? Saint Augustine says that prayer calls the grace of the Holy Spirit to a man's soul; it removes all hardness of heart that makes fasting and abstinence sweet and delightful to a man's soul.\nAnd like a man cannot make a perfect refund or meal without drink, so fasting without prayer cannot perfectly nourish the soul. Prayer causes a person who is in deadly sin and in the state of damnation to rise from his sin and to be made the child of salvation. Prayer (as says Ludolph the Carthusian in a certain sermon) is an inestimable virtue and of sufficient efficacy to petition and obtain all things that are good and to repel and withstand all things that are not good. By prayer we obtain patience in all sicknesses, diseases, and adversities. By prayer we may subdue all evil affections. By prayer we may perceive the subtleties and deceits of our spiritual enemies and be able to resist and avoid them. By prayer we may gladly suffer and strongly bear without tediousness all penitential labors and afflictions. By prayer we may be able to profit in the sweet exercises of spiritual living. By prayer we may refrain from the bestial and carnal appetites of our bodies.\nBy prayer we may eschew the delusion of vain thoughts. By prayer we may stabilize our hearts in constant purpose and spiritual strength for the pleasure of God. Prayer is much profitable at every necessity; for by it we may remove and expel all wicked spirits, and call for help and consolation from the glorious angels of heaven. For as Saint Bede says: Like a thief who flees at the clamor or noise of his resistances, so does our unseen enemy, the devil, at the clamor of prayer. And like their neighbors come to help them in danger, so do good angels of God come to help us against our enemies when we call upon them by prayer. The manifold afflictions of King Pharaoh by the prayer of Moses were ever withdrawn and taken away.\nChildren of Israel murmured against God in the desert; He punished them with fire, burning serpents, and other means, which is too long to speak about now. But whenever Moses prayed for them, the Lord withdrew His sword of destruction from them. King David was delivered from the persecutions of Saul and Absalom by prayer. Helias obtained from God that it did not rain for three years and six months, and then he prayed again for rain, and God sent sufficient rain for the production of fruits and other necessities. Helias raised the son of the Sunamite, with whom he had hospitality, from death to life. It would take a long time to speak of all the miracles and other things that the prophets and other good men of the old law, and the apostles and other true Christians of the new law, obtained from God through the power of prayer.\n\"Therefore I will let these few points pass, which I have briefly touched upon. For a brief conclusion of this matter, I will bring one authority from the Gospel that sufficiently expresses the profit that comes from prayer, even if there were no other such passages in all sacred scripture. Our master Christ in the Gospel of Mark says, \"When you pray, believe that you will receive, and it will be given to you. So whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Therefore, since prayer is of such great dignity and is so acceptable to God, let us not forget to pray, but let us occupy ourselves with it as much as we can conveniently. However, some men of the world may say,\"\nPrayer is ordered for contemplative and religious persons: for they have nothing else to be occupied with, therefore let them pray. But we that are men of the world have other business to do, and therefore we may not always be rushing to the church to make our prayers. It shall be sufficient for us to pray on the holy days. I fear that there are many of this disposition nowadays, more is the pity. And I think it is due to the blindness of the heart caused by the custom of sin. Our mother holy church prays for us, saying: \"Deliver us, Lord, from the bondage of the heart.\" I know not what it avails to exhort such persons to prayer, except they would first purge their souls from this blindness by contrition, confession, and satisfaction. Yet, notwithstanding if they would fall to prayer, by the virtue thereof they might obtain grace to rise more quickly from their sinful living.\nBut my purpose now is to write specifically to such devout persons, whom I trust will not let their knowledge rest in dead sin. I trust there are right many of such dispositions. Whose number I beseech our Lord to multiply and increase. These devout souls I will counsel often to use prayer, and not to make such excuses as the other persons beforehand do. For, as Saint John Chrysostom says in his homily, it is no sufficient excuse to say they may not be ever at the church to pray. A man who is well disposed may pray in any place wherever he is. It is neither the place nor the time that is an impediment to prayer. If a man neither lifts up his hands towards heaven nor kneels on his knees nor makes a bow on his breast, yet he will make a perfect prayer if he renders to God only a fervent and devout mind.\nA man of noble birth and noble lineage may freely attend church and other secret places for his devotion. Therefore, he can more quietly give himself to vocal prayer. Not only what he is secretly, but also what he is in company, he may use to pray, though his prayers be shorter. For instance, when he sits at dinner or supper, or at other honest recreations: he may lift up his heart to God in his mind, saying inwardly, \"Iesu have mercy on me and forgive me all my sins. Iesu give me grace to be thy true and faithful servant. Iesu make me to love thee with all my heart and soul.\" With such other prayers as it pleases God to put in his mind, he may sometimes say one and sometimes another. And if it pleases him to speak with his mouth, he may sometimes say, \"Aue benigne Iesu,\" and sometimes, \"Aue Maria.\"\nIn such short prayers as come to his remembrance, which Saint Augustine calls Oratories, that is, prayers at hand. They are very profitable and expedient for obtaining grace. A man of worship may thus occupy himself in prayer. Other men, regardless of their social status, whether merchants, yeomen, craftsmen, or of what kind, cannot be excused. But they may use much prayer if they wish. If they are riding or going on a journey, they have enough time for it. If they are at home with their occupations or selling their wares, they may use such short prayers as I have mentioned before in their shops or other places where they are. God regards more the heart and mind in prayer than the place. The prophet Jeremiah, being in the foul prison and standing in clay and dirt, made his prayers to God. Daniel also prayed to God in the den of lions.\nIonas, being in the belief of a great fish, did not forget to pray. The thief hanging on the cross at the right hand of Christ made his prayer in a few words. Job sitting on the doughhill offered up his prayers to God. And all they, by the merits of their prayers, were heard of God, and they obtained their desires to their great consolation and comfort. Here you see it: God accepts the doubtful prayer of man in whatever place it is said. Therefore, my most dear friends: let us exercise ourselves in prayer as much as we can, never deferring it for the time nor for the place. For every time, and every place, is apt and convenient for prayer. For if we give ourselves thus to prayer, I trust in the goodness of God we shall taste of the wholesome and sweet fruits that come thereof, of which part I have briefly touched upon here before.\nAfter the mind of the merciful doctor Saint Bernarde in his book of Sentences: it is necessary for every person to consider three things before the beginning of their prayer. First, what thing they intend to ask in prayer. Secondly, from whom they ask. Thirdly, themselves who ask.\n\nRegarding the first party, I say: it is necessary to consider before their prayer what thing they intend to ask, lest perhaps they should ask for that thing which should be contrary to charity, as the death of their enemies, damage of their neighbors, or other such things. He who prays for such things deserves not to be heard by God.\n\nFor he, in the Gospel of Saint Luke, the sixth chapter, does exhort us to love our evil-wishers or enemies and to be beneficial to them who do hate us and to pray for those who wrongfully persecute us.\nBut if we pray for the remission of our sins, for the grace of the Holy Ghost, for virtue, for spiritual wisdom, for faith, for truth, for justice, for meekness, for patience, and for such other things, almighty God, of his infinite goodness, will quickly hear us and grant our desire. For those who in prayer ask such things, God, speaking through his prophet Isaiah, says in Chapter 65, \"What they ask of me, that will I give them.\" We ought to have before our eyes as the only grantor and giver of our petition. That is to say, God omnipotent. And in him we must consider two things: his infinite goodness, by which he will freely grant us our desire, and his supreme majesty, by which he may grant and give whatsoever it pleases him. This shall cause us to have great confidence and trust in him. His majesty, by which he may grant and give whatever he pleases, shall cause us to give honor and reverence to him, as becomes the creature to the Creator.\nThirdly, we must consider ourselves, who and what we are, that ask anything of God through prayer; that is, we are wretches of the world and grievous sinners, deserving to obtain nothing that we pray for, but only by the great mercy and goodness of God. This will cause us to humble and make ourselves in the sight of God, and then we may be sure that He will not despise our prayers. Ps. C.i. For the prophet says, \"Our Lord has looked upon meek men: and He has not despised their prayer.\"\n\nWe read by a holy doctor of two kinds of prayers: of which one is called vocal prayer, and the other is called mental prayer. Vocal prayer is that which is spoken with the moving of the tongue and lips, and by the pronouncing of the soul. Of this prayer speaks the prophet in the third Psalm, saying, \"Voice my prayer to the Lord, and he will hear me from his holy hill.\" And also in the seventeenth Psalm.\nIn my tribulation I invoked the Lord; I cried to my God. And He heard me from His holy temple. In the mind of St. Bonaventure in his third question on the 12 distinctions, in the fourth book of the Master of Sentences: vocal prayer may be divided into two parts; it is called pure vocal prayer and mixed vocal prayer. Pure vocal prayer is when a man speaks the words with his mouth without any affection or devotion of the mind pertaining to it.\nAnd this is of small merit and little effect if there is no intention actual or virtual going before it, but if it has an intention going before it, that is, if a man at the beginning of his prayer lifts up his mind to God with good purpose to pray devoutly, then this prayer is meritorious. Though his mind afterward may not be more thereon due to frailty, it is sufficient to excuse a man from his duty.\n\nMixed vocal prayer is that which is spoken with the mouth and proceeds from the heart with ardent devotion and fervent affection of the mind. This manner of prayer is very good and profitable, and greatly accepted in the sight of Almighty God. And to such persons, you perceive their devotion increasing by speaking of the sweet words in prayer. This mixed prayer is commonly the best, and this I think fortunes most often in good devout people of the world (for whom I specifically write this treatise).\nBut yet they have not experienced the delightful spiritual life, nor have they tasted the sweet delicious wines of the contemplative life, which God has reserved for such persons as if they were sequestered from the world and its affections, and through the mortification of sensuality are made much spiritual by the grace of God.\n\nThe mental prayer (which I intend to speak of, as it pleases my master Jesus to give me grace) I think is the best, if used soberly and discreetly. For otherwise, it is so laborious and violent that within a short space it will bring a man unto such debilitation and weakness of brain that it will cast him in great danger of sickness, or some other great inconvenience.\nMental prayer is that which is offered to almighty God with perfect fervor of spirit and devotion of the mind, without any sound of words spoken by the mouth. This prayer is of great effect and profitable if it is used discretely, as I said before. In some cases, you might mix vocal prayer with this. But if we speak simply and without any such respect, I think mental prayer is the best. For vocal prayer, both pure and mixed, may be spoken and said when your mind is occupied with vain cogitations of things in the world that pertain to nothing in their prayer. But this mental prayer is of such noble and so pure a nature that it will not admit any other thought that should be impeding or limiting to it at that time. For when a man prays mentally, his mind is only thereupon, or upon due circumstances pertaining to it. And if any other thought happens to occupy his mind for that time, he ceases to pray mentally.\nThis prayer is of great excellency and dignity, and is the very true and faithful ambassador between God and man's soul. For there can none adversely hinder him but he will go the right way to the celestial palaces, where the King of all kings and Lord of all lords continually tarries, and there effectually receives with due honor and reverence the causes of his coming. Indeed, this heavenly messenger orders himself so wisely and amiably that the most high and almighty King and Emperor will not lightly deny him any manner of thing that he desires. But whatever he charitably asks, this most heavenly King graciously grants. In this manner prayed Anna, the wife of Helcanas, as it is expressly manifested by the Bible in the first book of Kings. When Eli the priest beheld her face largely perfused with tears of devotion.\nShe prayed to God because she had been all her life without any fruit of procreation by the seed of man, hoping that it would please His mercy and goodness to grant her a servant who was truly His. As she prayed in this manner, Helly seeing her lips move and hearing no voice thought she had been inebriated with too much wine. It may well be that she was drunk, not of this material wine made of grapes by human craft, but she was drunk with spiritual wine of devotion which came from the winecellar of heaven. Whereof the Holy Ghost, the third person in Trinity, is the tapster or vintner. Of how blessed is he, or she, that may be inebriated with this wine? I beseech you all, my spiritual friends, to pray for me, a wretch, that I may have grace to order myself so that I may deserve something to cast off this wine, to the praise and prayer of Him who is both wine and vintner. I mean of this devout and sweet metaphorical prayer, of which to speak a little more I hold it expedient.\nI will exhort those who can and may practice it with discretion to use mental prayer. If they perceive themselves strong in nature and able to do so frequently but not for long periods, they should use it sparingly. If they perceive themselves weak or feeble in mind, it is good for them to use it only a little. Mental prayer is a beautiful art, and there are few who are skilled in it. This art belongs most specifically to contemplative persons and other devout secular persons who have sufficient knowledge of scripture and spiritual things.\n\nTo unlearned persons, it is most profitable to use vocal prayer, giving it the devotion of the mind as much as they can. And this, as Saint Thomas says, is expedient for every person to exercise and use, whether it be mental or vocal, in whichever they find the greatest sweetness and increase of devotion.\nIf the prayer of a man is to be pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God, it must have two properties: that is, devotion and continuance. First, I say that our prayers must be offered to God with devotion, and with inward affection of heart and mind; otherwise, it is of no consequence if we are not heard by Him to whom we pray. For if a man should make his supplication to a great prince of this world in any necessary cause, either for himself or for his friend, and did not speak effectively or heartily in the said cause, but sluggishly and as it were sleepily pronounce his words, so that the prince might well and evidently perceive that his heart did nothing agree with his words, it is to be supposed that he would deny his petition or supplication.\nSo likewise, when the excellent prince of heaven, who knows the heart and thought of every person, perceives that in the time of prayer our hearts are not in harmony with our words: it is no wonder if he regards not our petitions or prayers. Therefore, it is very expedient if our prayers are accepted by God that we ever continue to pray with fervor and devotion. Of certain things that will give us occasion for devotion in the time of prayer, I will show you later, by the grace of Jesus. But first, I intend to speak of the continuance that we should have in prayer. Our savior Christ, in the gospel of Matthew, incites us not only to prayer, saying, \"Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you.\" That is, \"Ask and you shall have; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you.\" In these words we may have great confidence and trust to obtain whatever we wisely desire through prayer. For he who bade us ask will not deny.\nIf he would have denied, he would not have bidden us ask. And therefore, Saint Augustine (Sermon on the words of the Lord in the Gospel according to Matthew) says that he who counsels thus to ask, will he deny? As who would say, no. But sometimes he will not grant our petitions immediately but defers it to another time. And for various reasons? If I should now recite them, they would ask a long time. Therefore, I will let them pass, except one that is most for my purpose.\n\nAt times, almighty God defers granting the petitions of his supplicants and servants because he wants them to continue and persevere in prayer. For perseverance in prayer and in every good deed is worthy of a great reward, and therefore it is written: Whoever perseveres in goodness unto the end shall be saved. And also concerning the perseverance in prayer, it is written:\n\nEcclesiastes.\nThe end of prayer is better than the beginning. Ca. iii. Our master Christ says, Luke xviii, \"It is necessary to pray and not give up.\" Our savior Jesus, speaking in holy scripture, exhorts us to the continuance and perseverance in prayer. He not only counsels us with his sweet and comforting words, but also provokes us by familiar examples, one of which we read in the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. There was a judge in a certain city who did not fear God nor man. To this judge came a certain widow from the same city, desiring that she might have justice from her adversary. He put it off and would not listen to her words for a long time. But at last, because of her importunity, he remembered himself and said, \"Someone ought to give her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.\"\nThough I fear neither God nor man, yet because of her persistent request and desire, I will ensure that her adversary does her no harm, lest in the end, through her importunity, she becomes a great nuisance to me. This parable spoke our Savior Jesus Christ to provoke us to the continuance of prayer. And just as the judge delayed for a long time but eventually granted the request of the widow because of her persistent pleading, so the most glorious one in heaven will sometimes delay in granting such things as we desire of Him through prayer. But if we persevere and call upon Him continually, at the last He will grant our petitions because of our importunity. We have another parable on this matter in the Gospel of Luke, where our Savior Christ says, \"Which one of you, having a friend, will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'?\"\nloves of bread / For I have a stranger come to me / And I have no bread to set on the table before him. And he being within says, answering in this manner, \"I pray you do not distress me; for my doors are shut / And I and my servants are all in bed. I cannot now rise and lend it to you.\" Yet he is not satisfied with this answer / but tarries still continually knocking and calling / and will not return to his house until he has accomplished his purpose. I tell you truly (says our master Christ), if he will not rise because he is his friend / yet for his impertinence or his importunity / at the last he will rise and lend him as much bread as is necessary.\n\n\u00b6See here, my spiritual friends, how our loving Lord and master Jesus Christ shows us this parable to provoke us to the perception of prayer / whose counsel and provocation, if we follow it undoubtedly, as this man did his friend, will surely cause him to rise at midnight and lend him bread.\nSo God Almighty (though He may delay for a time) will give us all things necessary if we continue and perform the act of prayer. I promise beforehand that I will show you such things that will give you occasion for devotion during prayer. Therefore, by the grace of Jesus Christ, I now shall do my diligent duty to perform that promise. It is a special help to devotion before your prayers to make a proper preparation. Therefore it is written: \"Ante ororem prepara animam tuam.\" Before your prayer, prepare your mind or soul for it. Ecclesiastes 18:1. But some men are ignorant and do not know how to prepare themselves; therefore, I shall show them, according to my simple reason, the manner of doing so. First, when you intend to pray, before the beginning of your prayer, call to mind some of the many and great benefits that God in His goodness has bestowed upon you. As the benefits of your creation: how He created and made your soul in His own likeness.\nOf your redemption, how it pleased the second person in Trinity to come from the glory in heaven to this valley of misery, and here to suffer great penalty and pains all the time of his life, and at last most bitter passion and death on the cross for your redemption and that of all mankind. Of your service, how that God, in his singular graciousness, has preserved you from the first day of your nativity to this present time, giving you meat, drink, and clothes and all other things necessary and expedient for you to have. And besides these, he has delivered you from the jeopardy of corporal death. Whereas if you had been dead at that time, perhaps your soul should have been in great danger of damnation, by the reason of deadly sin, in which perhaps at such a time you were culpable.\nOf your proposed gloryification, how God, in his charitable benevolence, has predestined you to be perpetual inheritors of the kingdom of heaven, where you shall have the fruition and clear sight of his delight, which shall be more joy to you than my pen can write, heart can think, or mouth can speak. Remembering these things, along with such other things as it may please God at that time to put in your mind, give praises and thanks to him not only for them, but also generally for all his other blessings, which are innumerable.\nWhen you have completed this, remember how ungrateful and unkind you have been to him who never gave you due thanks for all his great benefits, but most ungratefully forgetting them have often offended his majesty due to innumerable sins. I beseech his grace for mercy and forgiveness, knowing yourself to be a wretched sinner and of such great fear that you are neither able to pray devoutly nor to do any acceptable good deed. Humbly and lovingly ask him to direct your prayer, so that it may be acceptable to him and profitable to you and all other necessary things to be prayed for, saying with the prophet David: \"Direct, Lord, my prayer; in your presence is my plea.\" Lord, I humbly beseech you that my prayer may be directed and ascend in your sight, like the sweet odor of incense.\nThus ordering yourself as I have now said, I trust in the mercy of God that you shall make a convenient preparation going before your prayer. And this take you for your first thing that shall give you occasion of devotion: The second thing it shall cause you to pray devoutly is to remember first what need and necessity you have of prayer, concerning your own person. Secondly, what need generally the whole world has. And thirdly, what need souls have it to be in the pains of purgatory.\n\nFirst, I say it shall move you to pray devoutly if you intently consider what need you have of prayer concerning your own person. For if you examine your conscience deeply, considering discretely how your frailty is much inclined to pride, wrath, envy, sloth, gluttony, avarice, lechery, and the vices and branches of them. And on the contrary part, how slow you are to visit the sick, to comfort those who are desolate and lack consolation, to give alms to the poor people, &c.\nAnd it is tedious for you to hear the word of God priced / to hear your mass and other divine service. And how soporific and slept you had great need of prayer for your own persons / this will move you to pray devoutly. Secondarily, I think that it will cause you to pray devoutly if you consider what need the whole world has of prayer. For as St. John the apostle says in his Revelation 1:7, \"That is to say, the whole world is in the power of evil.\" Not to be understood that every person in the world is so disposed. But that many, and it is to be feared that the most part are much set to follow the concupiscence of vice and sin.\nWe know daily from experience that in the people of the world and among kinsfolk and neighbors, the sin of the flesh was ever more used. Was the time when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed not one in which there was greater swearing and blasphemy than now? It is taken lightly to swear by the precious wounds and body of our Savior Jesus Christ, and by the mass, and by the glorious sacrament of the altar. Alas, for pity, it would ask too long a time if I should recount every great notable vice commonly and daily used in the world. But you, my spiritual friends who are more conversant in the face of the world than I, may see and perceive more abuse. But if I shall speak anything concerning the ministers of Christ's church, it should be adorned with grace and virtues as an example to others. I fear among some of them there is also much abuse.\nWho has heard of more simony? Who has heard of more selling of benefices under the pretext of pensions? Who has heard of more avarice reigning among secular priests than in these days? Speaking of those who are regular, who have seen religion more remorsely kept? Who have seen so many apostates who have forsaken their religion and now live in secular habit? And for a conclusion, speaking generally of persons of every faculty. Who has heard of more heresy openly and suspected than in these days? Take heed, diligent reader, and consider whether the words of St. John before cited may now be verified or not, where he says, \"The whole world is in evil condition.\" The world is all set on sin. I think there is no man who profoundly and effectually considers this general misery that prevails throughout most of the world but it will give him occasion to pray devoutly for amendment thereof. And this for the second part.\nThirdly, consider how great the need is for souls in purgatory to have prayers and the submission of plentiful and audacious material for devotion. For there they are without consolation or comfort, in great darkness and misery, enduring intolerable pains and continually calling and crying for mercy, and seeking relief with devout prayers and other charitable deeds of the good Christians still living in this world. Oh, what heart is so hard that it will not be softened by compassion for those poor souls who are in intolerable pains. It surpasses the capacity of all men living to express the greatness of the pains they suffer. According to some doctors, their pains are equal in comparison to the pains of hell. Except that the pains of hell are perpetual, and the pains of purgatory are temporal. There they are sometimes in extreme coldness, and sometimes in inextinguishable heat.\nThat hotness after the appearance of some Catholic men exceeds the hotness of this elementary and material fire as the hotness of this fire passes the hotness of the figurative fire painted on a wall. If such a comparison may be made, I will speak no more of this matter, for I cannot express, neither in general nor in particular, what horrible pains the souls that are there suffer, and will do to such a time as they have made fitting satisfaction for their transgressions and not sufficiently punished in this life. Except they be released by the devout prayers (as I said before) and by other good deeds of charitable Christians living yet in this world. Therefore every devout person before the beginning of his prayer should call to mind the ineffable pains that these souls suffer, thinking if he were there with them how glad he would be to be released by the mercies of suffrages and prayers.\nThis doing I suppose there is no man so cold nor so dull / but he would stir himself to the warmth and fervor of devotion.\nNow have I shown you after my poor manner, certain means: which, well considering before you begin prayer, will excite and move your hearts to the fervent sweetness of devotion. Yet I intend, by the help of Jesus, briefly to add and put one thing more / and so make an end of this matter. But perhaps some men will think that I am superfluous in this point. For it would be very long and tedious to remember so many things ever before beginning of prayer. As to this objection I make this answer. If a man should consider every thing at large as it is written, it would require a long space. But the effect of these, with a quick memory, may be so succinctly comprehended that they shall not be tedious / nor anything grievous to any such whom it shall please to put them in practice.\nBut yet for more completeness, I will not have all remembered at once / and some one thing at a time / and some another thing / and so I think they will be tedious to no man.\n\nAnother means that will give you occasion for devout prayer is to think before beginning that it either be accomplished before your prayer or as soon as you have made an end of it that you shall depart from this world and be presented to the righteous judge there to make a strict account and reckoning of all the time of your life past. But beware some may say, why should I think so? For I trust to live many years longer. As to that I say not nay, but it may so happen. Notwithstanding you being alive at the beginning of prayer, if it pleases God, you may depart before you have finished it. And if I would affirm this part to be true, there is no man living that may truly affirm the contrary. Therefore I hold it profitable thus to think.\nAnd so doing I trust it will give you great occasion for devotion. Like every heavy thing that is self-contained or burdened with anything that presses down the bearer, it descends down the hill more quickly and easily than it ascends up the mountain. Prayer is an ascent of the mind to God, as Damascene says in Book IV, Chapter XXIII, Psalm XII. According to the words of the prophet in his psalm, saying, \"I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains.\" That is to say, I have made my prayer to the holy saints in heaven as a means to God, from whom I trust help and succor. For my help and succor are from God, who made heaven and earth. Therefore, every thing that is heavy to the soul depresses the spirit and hinders perfect devotion, and causes much and frequent distraction of the mind during prayer. According to the saying of Wisdom, \"The body, which is corrupt, grieves and oppresses the soul, and the senses depress him whose mind is occupied with many things. \"\nFor uncertain in time of prayer, there is much inclination; whereabout in other times it is most occupied. If great study, busyness, and care do occupy the mind, as to gain temporal riches & honors worldly promotions, or other such pleasures: no marvel if the soul cannot be fixed on one thing specifically, if it is inwardly spiritual. But prayer, since it is one of the parts of contemplation, if it is pure, it has respect only or principally unto one thing, which is God almighty. To whom prayer bears the petition of the heart, & makes supplication for help. But the hearts of those occupied in many things cannot long be fixed on one thing, wherefore their prayer cannot long be pure without distraction of mind. Martha was occupied about many things: Luke 10 & therefore she was troubled in her mind. But Mary was occupied about one thing, and chose the better part. And therefore she was quiet in spirit, & all together contemplative.\nOf which example we may learn that both these women, being holy and much favored in the sight of God, that the labors of those who are prelates and take care of others, and are content for the love of God to leave their contemplation and take on spiritual or temporal labors for their subjects, are much meritorious. For although they have distractions in their prayer and sometimes do not feel such sweetness and flame of devotion as they were wont to have before they took office, yet let them be sure: since their labors are for God and the help of souls, their merits before God are so much the richer.\nHouseholders, who discretely and truly occupy the world for the maintenance of their household, although they commonly have distractions of mind during prayer, yet they do not desire such evasions of mind. If they often call their mind to the remembrance of God, they shall not lose their merit. For St. Thomas says, \"Holy men have ample time for recollection of mind during prayer, and he adds that the person who prays in spirit and truth is moved by the instance of the Holy Ghost to pray. However, despite weaknesses of spirit, the mind may afterward wander and be distracted. For when the mind, which prays to Him, ascends to God through contemplation, it falls into evasive and wandering minds. But holy minds often call in their spirit to remember what they pray, and they continue their devotion.\nAnd this is one remedy, and as a daily medicine continually to be used by every person against distracted minds, to concentrate their attention, devotion, and merit in prayer. Another remedy is often times, with genuine intent (as frailty will allow), to do their works and worldly business to the honor of God, actually referring them to His glory. As St. Paul says, \"Why, therefore, do you eat or drink, or do anything else, but to the glory of God?\" This exercise of the mind used in other prayers shall increase the love of God in their hearts, whereby their spirits shall be stronger in devotion to avoid great distractions of the mind during prayer.\nAnd it should be noted of every Christian man that besides the natural love which he has for his wife, children, and servants, except in true Catholic faith of the church he engages himself by his good example of life to edify them in virtue, to the honor of God and profit of their souls, he shall do little more for his household than the pagan or Turk for their family. For they daily labor and provide for their household, and naturally love the same. But the faithful servant of God and true Christian must do more.\n\nAnother remedy against distractions is this: It is necessary for all such honest worldly livings who are much troubled with scattering minds in prayer to apply themselves to some ordered exercise, specifically in the church of God. After they have taken holy water, kneel down in some place where they intend to rest and pray.\nAnd all worldly concerns set aside, I have put aside all grudges against neighbor, injuries and offenses. I ask God for mercy for their unkindness and negligence, since the last time they were here, and for all undiscreet behavior and impatience towards His household and neighbors. I thank God for His preservation of Him and all Christian people. And for all the benefits of God, specifically for your creation, redemption, and glorification, which we all trust to have through the means of His blessed Son's passion. Which then let us humbly and meekly thank the Father in heaven for His ineffable mercy, love, and charity, that He would send His eternal and only beloved Son to suffer a painful and ignominious death to redeem mankind from the bondage of the devil. And also, with all our hearts, we thank our said Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for His like mercy, love, and charity.\nTo whom, as St. Paul says in Hebrews 12:2, would bear the cross and endure the most painful death for our salvation. If we would order ourselves in the church, distractions would have little place in prayer. But if the person is unsettled and much encumbered with wandering thoughts of their heart, it is expedient for such to have before their eyes some devout reminder or object, such as a picture of the passion of Christ or some other saint, to whom they have the most devotion. While senses are stayed and fixed on that sensible devout image, their spirit may more freely ascend to God or to the saint to whom they pray. And for this consideration, images of saints are set up in churches as books for the illiterate. They, reading in them, may be stirred to devotion, and for honoring God in his holy saints.\nSome books with little pictures, contained in them are set against such distractions. In these books are depicted the articles of the life and passion of our Lord Jesus. And turning over their leaves do we worship our Lord, saying for every article a \"Father,\" an \"Ave,\" and a \"Creed.\" This exercise is good for those who are unlearned. I counsel those who cannot have such books to remember the aforementioned articles by the feasts of the year. Beginning with the nativity of our Lord God, his circumcision, epiphany, presentation in the temple, fast and temptation, death and bitter passion, resurrection, and ascension, with other solemn feasts in the year. And for each, say the prayer above rehearsed. And this done, serve our Lady likewise, beginning with her conception, nativity, salutation, visitation, purification, and assumption.\nAnd after this, the apostles and other holy saints, as their feasts are called to remember, or as they appear and are represented before us in their images set up in churches, should call to mind our thoughts from worldly business (thereby distraction is avoided). This order shall kindle devotion and increase the merit and fruit of prayer.\n\nThere are other distractions of the mind during prayer. The cause of which is sin. For just as in bodily sickness he is in great jeopardy and abhors all foods, casting out and vomiting whatever he receives, so likewise he is most far from devotion whose soul is most wounded with many and diverse mortal sins. For prayer and all spiritual things are very tedious and unsavory to such a person. If at any time he begins to pray, he has done so, for he is so weak in soul that he cannot continue. He cannot taste or digest spiritual things, because in himself he is all sinful and bestial.\nNo marvel if a person is distracted in prayer, whose heart is sore wounded and turned away from God and the life of grace: I counsel him to seek a remedy in good time. Go to the laver of health and with contrite heart make a clean and whole confession. Take with him so much more humble contrition and penitent sorrow. How much more by his sin he has deserved damnation, and has provoked the wrath, ire, and indignation of the high God omnipotent. Let him never presume, but think himself unworthy to come into the church and to appear in the presence of God with an unrepentant heart. But rather, with the publican for his sin, let him judge himself unworthy to look up to heaven, and beat his breast and heart with his fist which has so grievously offended, and cry with the publican. Mercy, Lord God, mercy, mercy. A more sure remedy or more wholesome plaster for his sores can he have none.\nFor like as it is a noble pastime or medicine that heals not only the wound but also takes away the scar, which commonly remains in the flesh; so contrition is a noble medicine for the soul. For it may be so great and perfect that it not only cures the sin but makes the sin in such detestation that it does away with prints, fantasies, fancies, vices, and other unclean motions to the soul, or at least so minimizes them that they do not trouble the spirit. For although the contrition of some is sufficient for the remission of their sins, yet it is not always so perfect to take these aforesaid pains and effects away and that it causes or is the occasion of fantasies during prayer. For when they would be most devout and pray most heartily\n\"yeas, sometimes during Mass, the fantasies of their sins are so vivid in their eyes and imaginations that they have no devotion to prayer. And sometimes they abandon their prayer, and are so weary of such thoughts that they fear their sins will not be forgiven or that God has forsaken them and is greatly displeased with them. But it is not so. For as St. Gregory says, \"Sins are remitted and past when they are brought to memory; they never harm the soul except when they please themselves. But if such people would consider themselves well, they never took such pain and penance nor had such profound contrition and sorrow for their sins that it was able to eliminate all such fantasies. They should see that it is justly expedient for them to have such temptations.\"\"\nFor where they have wilfully abused God's will in such sins, it is the great goodness of God that will suffer them to endure pain against their wills, to be tossed and vexed with the fantasies of the same sins. To their merit and crown in heaven, confusion to their spiritual enemy who has no further power over them than to exercise and trouble them only with fantasies, which are commonly called the temptations of holy men. And therefore let them never leave their prayer or place for them. So holy scripture admonishes, saying, \"If the spirit of him who has power ascends upon thee, as the gloss says (Ecclesiastes 10:1): 'If a mighty temptation assails thee and thou dost not leave thy place for it.' For the cure and health which comes thereby in the soul shall put away and make cease the greatest sins.\"\nFor uncertain God suffers you to be tempted with such fantasies for the mortification of your senses: purgation of your eyes and due and perfect satisfaction of the same. \u00b6Remedies against such fantasies. For the aforementioned considerations, it is expedient for such persons never to leave their prayer but go forth always speaking holy words. For although they feel no sweetness in their words: yet the spiritual enemy feels great pain, confusion, and shame. And if they perceive themselves sore altered in their bodies by such thoughts, arm themselves with the sight of the cross and make continual invocation to the passion of our Lord for succor, saying, \"Lord, your bitter passion be between me and this temptation.\"\nSome who fixed their hearts in the woods of our Lord have cried and named the holy name of Jesus continually, and have found remedy, and their temptation has ceased. For just as every thing is cured by its contrary, and experience shows that taking sticks from the fire will soon be extinguished and quenched. So take away the causes and use the contrary virtues of these temptations, and all other distractions in prayer, and they shall cease. The causes of distractions in prayer are not only the great enmities such as heresy, homicide, usury, and the like, but also a great multitude of venial sins and generally all mortal sins are occasions and causes of distraction. Cor. iii. For although venial sins do not take grace away from the soul, yet where they are in custom and great habituation, the soul cannot without great labor attend to feel the sweetness of devotion.\nAmong all mortal sins, I note six that particularly dispose to distractions: pride, envy, anger, gluttony, lechery, and covetousness. Pride inclines to vain glory and hypocrisy, and to thoughts of elation of oneself. For proud persons, the mind is so absorbed that wherever they go or abide, stand or sit, they speak to themselves. Therefore, they can do nothing otherwise in prayer but while their tongue speaks one word, their heart thinks another, and often imagine that it never was or never will be.\n\nRemedy for these we may have, if in the time of prayer we will take good heed and custody of our heart, and despise all vain glory and praise of creatures. Abhor hypocrisy, and make ourselves meek to God. Prepare our hearts particularly in the beginning of prayer.\nFor lack of due preparation in the beginning and for our negligence in ordering our hearts to prayer causes us to have little devotion in our hearts or sweetness in our prayer. Contrarily, good order in the beginning expels distractions and induces the fervor of the spirit. We have an example in the holy woman Judith. As scripture shows, when she determined what she should pray to God, she did cast away all her gay attire and clothed herself with sackcloth. Judith ix. She cast dust upon her head, fasted, and watched in great penance.\n\nOf Queen Esther we read that not only did she do these things with great weeping and wailing, as it is openly stated in the book of Esther, but also she filed her head with dust and went to every place where she had previously pleased God with her pride and mirth. There she tore her hair in detestation of her sin. Omeli. xxiv.\nMary Magdalene, when she went to hear the holy word of the Lord (as St. Gregory says), took with her such great devotion that she offered every part of her body in sacrifice to God, with which she had served Him. If she had had this preparation of heart when the Lord died and spoke to her, she would have been worthy, as doctors say, of those who come in His presence and speak to Him. Therefore, all malice and impiety should be far from us, which causes distractions of mind in prayer. Nothing more. For Mary, for the love she had for God and her neighbor, was worthy to hear these words of the Lord. The great multitude of her sins should be forgiven because she loved much. Let us ever remember the words of our Savior: \"Except you forgive each other, your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.\" (Luke 7:47)\nLet us turn to the holy women described in God's sacred scriptures as examples and guidance for us. When we pray with Mary Magdalene, let us weep and mourn our sins. Let us recall with Queen Esther the times, places, persons, and body parts where we have sinned against the almighty God. We must be truly sorry for our words, deeds, and thoughts that have offended Him, and detest them. We should be displeased with ourselves for unkindly transgressing against our most loving and merciful Father in heaven. I praise greatly the humble and contrite heart that speaks to God in the mother tongue, praying His holy name or seeking mercy for our sins. Nothing should be more before our eyes or occupy our hearts than heaven, which we have sadly lost through sin. And hell, to which we have willingly consigned ourselves through sin, and which we will continue to inhabit unless we amend our ways.\nLet us therefore clothe ourselves with sackcloth, as Judith did. That is, let us make ourselves humble in our hearts and always remember how unworthy we are to come into the presence of God and speak to Him. In the example of this holy woman, we may learn\nand perceive how little it pleases God or promotes prayer and devotion for us to come to church in gay apparel or clothing, except we use ourselves wisely in it. For nothing more distracts the mind and harms prayer and devotion than inordinate and curious affections and thoughts of such vanities. I will not say but it is becoming on a holy day for our minds not to be alienated from God thereby. Let us also remember what Queen Esther did cast dust and ashes upon our heads. That is, not only to remember how we are mortal, dust, and earth, and to return thither, but also to cast down upon our heads the knowledge of our most vile and unkind sin which lies within us.\nIf you look straight before your eyes and judge not your neighbor, for it is not lawful for you. And I suppose that you may think so of yourself, whom only in your heart you know and no other. Many because their conscience murmers not, they think themselves secure; but it is a false security. For as St. Paul says, \"I know no sin in my conscience, but yet I am not justified.\" But the day of our Lord shall show and declare what each man is, who our miserable soul shall be brought before the tribunal of the high and almighty Judge, there to abide the most terrible sentence of God's justice. Either to everlasting life or endless pain. If we would daily exercise ourselves in this manner of preparation for our prayer, not only would we avoid great distractions of mind but also we would do due fruit of penance for our sins.\nSome are very distracted in prayer due to fantasies and various thoughts and cogitations, yet they are not deeply involved nor tainted with mortal sin. The cause of their distraction is supposed to be great habituation to venial sins. For nowadays many are given to sports/games & idle mirth, and especially to delightful feeding of meats & drinks & meaningless speech. All of which is poison to devotion and much hinders prayer & occasion for fancies. Avoid this case and devotion will follow in prayer. Delight in such vanities & not only will you drown devotion, but also make yourself a vessel for every temptation. Many are clean and uncorrupted in body.\nbut for the lack of control over their heart from you for said vices, they have fallen into great temptation of the body, and so have been severely troubled with impure thoughts, especially during prayer. And all this is suffered of God, for to suppress their pride nourished by such feeding and dissolution. For the great cleric says God suffers the proud person because he will not see himself fall into temptation of lechery, which is so manifest that he can sensibly see his own bestiality, and so there are some who are both virtuous and holy, and yet are sore troubled with such impure thoughts and stirrings of the body which trouble them, and especially during prayer. Cor xii. And this is suffered of God to keep them humble. So had St. Paul the stimulation of his flesh and was severely troubled by it, and all was to keep him humble, lest the great habituation of grace and revelations should make him proud.\nWherefore such fancies and unclean thoughts work no harm, where there is no consent to them; more profit is the custody and preservation of meek ones with the exercise of temptation to the meek person than is harm to have some distraction. Some are so dull in spirit that although their conscience does not greatly reprove them of sin, yet they are very slow to exercise themselves in virtue. And such commonly are sleepy and sluggish in their prayer. And the cause thereof I suppose is not only heaviness of complexion, but also because of the keenness of conscience they think themselves sure without sin. And so they do not put themselves to pain to labor for the increase of grace and devotion, which they might have above others if they would apply their diligence to it, for they have fewer impediments, and that causes some to think in their hearts how they need not to fast, nor pray much, nor watch, for they have few great sins.\nBut all such who are neither cold nor hot, but rather begin to be loathsome to the Lord, as scripture says, I would advise them to mark this point well. It is better, after many fines, to remit and forgive strongly and fight for the love of God and for one's own salvation, than in a few signs weakly to desire heaven. Apoc. ii. \u00b6In all these distractions and in such otherlike that come by reason of sickness or inordinate thought, remove the cause and you shall find remedy. But those persons who are dull in spirit, I would counsel to use often deeply some article or point of Christ's passion. Such as most sensibly may move them to devotion.\nExample, whoever considers the unspeakable pain which the Son of God endured for our sins on the cross. He neither stood on carts nor sat on cushions, but hanging with all the blessed weight of his body on rough iron nails, which rent and tore his hands and feet, in which were most sinews, veins, and bones, to his excruciating pain. And who can truly contemplate this but it will stir and move him to love and devotion, and to take pains for their own salvation? For as the flame comes from the fire, so does devotion come from love and charity. Therefore, holy persons should be much inward and attentive during prayer. For when the flame of devotion is tender, sometimes the least distraction of sight or alienation of any other sense may extinguish it and put it out.\nNotwithstanding the fire of charity remaining in their souls: which, if they will labor and blow well by the exercise of this aforementioned holy point of our Lord's passion or any such other, they may kindle and recover the flame of devotion again to their comfort. This flame, if they cannot recover, making their prayer in charity, albeit they feel less sweetness in prayer, yet so continuing they shall not lose their merit. (IV. Sentences, XII. as Saint Thomas and other doctors more say.)\n\nBefore this, in simple learning, I have spoken of certain means: which were used before the beginning of prayer to excite and greatly dispose the mind to the fervor of devotion in the following prayers. But it is often seen that some men, at the beginning of prayer, are well and devoutly disposed. And afterward, as they proceed, their affection decays, and their devotion begins to grow cold.\nThe cause of this, as I suppose, is the multitude of fancies and vain thoughts which, by the suggestion of our spiritual enemy, will endeavor to have possession and dominion in the soul of man, and so to exclude the fervor of devotion and spiritual affection. Therefore, how to avoid such unprofitable contemplations, I shall show you a remedy which I think is very expedient for use. This remedy I have read in a book of revelations, where it pleases God to show it to a certain holy Carthusian father. He says he saw in his contemplation the soul of a Carthusian assumed into heaven, clothed in a great company of glorious angels and fainting. Whereas it was magnificently glorified, for the manyfold virtuous deeds it had used in the time of its past life. But in particular, it had one great accidental reward because, in the time of saying its service for every verse it said, it remembered one of the blessed words of our Savior Jesus Christ most devoutly, as hanging on the cross.\nThis is the remedy I would have my spiritual friends use against the vain and unprofitable thoughts that intrude during prayer. According to the counsel of the holy apostle Peter in the fourth chapter of his first epistle, he says, \"Christ therefore passed in flesh: and you, armed with the same thought.\" That is, since Christ suffered passion in his bodily form, remember this blessed passion as strong armor or defense. The remembrance of this blessed passion may rightly be called strong armor. For it is so strong and effective that none of our mortal enemies - that is, neither the world, nor the flesh, nor the devil - can prevail or have victory against it. But whenever we are most troubled by them, if we call this to mind, they will immediately vanish away, as does the smoke of fire in the air.\n\nThere is no temptations: no tribulations. nor any other adversities that can be better or more powerful than this.\nAnd therefore St. Augustine speaks of himself in this manner: In all temptations and tribulations, and adversities, I have never found such an effective and reliable remedy as in the blessed wounds of our Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore, devout Christians, I exhort and advise you in all tribulations: whether they be spiritual or corporal, arm yourselves with this impregnable armor of the passion of Christ. That is, with the memory of His blessed wounds. And not only in times of adversity, but also in prosperity. And most specifically, as now for my purpose I will counsel you to use this meditation or remembrance in times of prayer. For it is very hard, and almost impossible for any man who does not at least understand the literal sense of his prayer, to keep his mind continually elevated and lifted up to Almighty God in devotion, and upon the due circumstances thereof.\nEvery man should eschew and put away unfruitful and unprofitable thoughts at all times, but most specifically during prayer. However, it is necessary that willing and compelling him to admit some other cognitions and thoughts beside the sense of the prayer. But there is none more spiritual or more fruitful than the meditation of the words of Christ. Therefore, I counsel you not to be unlearned and to perceive not the literal sense of your prayer. It is also profitable for you to be learned in the time thereof to let your mind be occupied with the remembrance of these precious words. If you do this, you shall exclude the vain and unprofitable thoughts of worldly things. Then shall you be much quiet in your souls from temptations of your ghostly enemies. Then shall you be far from temptation in devotion.\nAnd then shall you offer up to God your prayer more odoriferous, more sweet, and more acceptable to Him than is the fragrant smoke of incense. Shortly after this manner of devout prayer, or in the time thereof, your ghostly enemy will be busy tempting you to the vice of vanity, and if he can, cause you not only to lose the merit of your devout prayer but also to greatly offend God by the reason of this detestable sin. Therefore, it is necessary to be cautious, and what you perceive yourself to be assailed with such temptations, meekly submit yourself to God, understanding that if you have prayed devoutly, it is your duty to do so. And yet, you are not able to do anything good in and of yourself; as Saint Paul says, \"We are not sufficient in ourselves.\" (2 Corinthians 3:5) We are not sufficient as of ourselves to think any good thought, but all our sufficiency is of God.\nThat all things that are good come from the grace of God, as the same apostle makes clear in another place where he says that he took more labor in preaching this word of God than all the other apostles. But then he quickly adds these words: I did not: it was the grace of God with me. My friends, whoever you are, who are called to vanity, either for saying your prayers devoutly or for doing any other good deed, quickly answer your spiritual enemy, saying what Paul says. It was not I who did this good deed, but it was the grace of God with me. And by this means, keeping yourselves in humility, it is to say truly, knowing that no goodness comes from ourselves but it comes from the mercy of God, you shall not only have the merit of your devout prayer, but also deserve a crown in heaven for the victory over your spiritual enemy, by resisting his temptations.\nBut it often happens that one who has resisted one temptation of the said vainglory, the devil will be ready to cast himself into the mind of the resistant, thinking he has done a noble act and is worthy of great reward from God, with such flattering temptations which are more dangerous than the first. And after these, if they are resisted, he will multiply more, troubling the devout man so much that he shall be unable to know what is best for him to do. But I advise every sweet soul to be of good comfort and strong in God, taking importunate temptations as a scourge or flagellation for his past sins, in which he has greatly offended almighty God.\nAnd though he be sore troubled therewith, yet let him ever have a constant purpose to resist, as much as lies in him, making the sign of the cross on his forehead and calling to remembrance the blessed wounds of our savior Jesus Christ. Then call to him, saying as did his disciples. Matthew 8:25. When they were troubled with tempests on the water, Lord, save us: we perish. He that will do this, let him trust surely to have remedy. And truly he shall not fail thereof, but quickly he shall be delivered from the perilous tempest of temptation. Or else have grace, strength, and patiently to suffer them. And after this life, glorified in the kingdom of heaven. For he says by the mouth of his prophet. Psalm 78:2. Because he trusted in me, I will deliver him. I will defend him because he did know my name. He cried on me and I shall graciously hear him.\nI am with him in his tribulation, from whom I shall take him and glorify him. Also, the apostle Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, speaks to the consolation of those troubled by temptations, saying, \"Hide God in you, and so on.\" Almighty God is faithful, who will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. But in the time of temptation, he will give you grace to resist, and also turn it to your great spiritual profit. Also, Saint Bernard says in his fifth sermon during Lent, \"Under your own authority is your appetite. And so, O man, sayeth he: thy appetite is under thine own governance, and thou art the lord of it. Thy enemy may move thee to temptations, but it is in thy liberty whyther thou wilt consent or not. When he tempts thee with pride, vanity, gluttony, or any such other, look thou do not consent. And as often as thou resists, so often thou shalt be crowned with crowns of glory.\"\nTo the one to whom we bring ourselves, being those for whom one was crucified and died. Amen. It pleased Almighty God, in His infinite goodness, to create and make man in His image and likeness, that we might fill the vacant places in heaven, from whence Lucifer and his adherents fell for their pride. For the end that they may perpetually give praises and prayers to their maker with the glorious angels in heaven. Therefore, my devout friends, we should refer our prayers, and all other good deeds that we shall have grace for to do, finally, to this end. Notwithstanding, we may lawfully desire in our prayers all things necessary and expedient, both for our souls and also for our bodies. Having ever in purpose the final intent of what I spoke before. After the mind of the sweet and melodious Doctor, Saint Bernard, in his sermon before said: All things that we need to desire in prayer may be concluded in three petitions. Of which one pertains to the body, another to the soul, the third.\nIn the first petition, it pertains to the body of man that we may lawfully desire from God all things necessary for it, such as food, drink, and clothes, and other things by which we may be better sustained in holy service. In the second petition, we may desire in prayer all things necessary for our souls: for grace and virtues. For these we should pray often, devoutly, and fervently. In the third petition, we should desire with all affection and love to have the life eternal. For the end (as I said before), that we may uncasingly laud and praise the magnificent Lord who did create and make us to His likeness. However, in these three petitions, it is necessary to observe three things. For in the first, many times there is superfluity; in the second, impurity; and in the third, elation or pride. For often times we desire to have superfluity and more than is necessary of temporal things.\nAnd sometimes we desire to have virtues to adorn ourselves in. And sometimes we seek how to obtain eternal life. Not with humility and meekness but with a false confidence in our own merits or deservings. Therefore we must take heed when we pray for temporal things that we desire nothing more than what necessity requires. When we pray for virtues that we may be free from impurity, that is, we desire not virtues to make ostentation and boasting of them. And when we pray for eternal life, we should presume nothing of our own merits or deservings: but only on the great mercy and goodness of God.\n\nTo my purpose, it appears well by the words of St. Augustine in his X homilies where he says that no true Christian should desire to have all temporal and transitory things.\nBut all the effect of his intention and prayer should be eternal beatitude, where he may laud and praise his creator and maker perpetually with all glorious saints. And when it pleases God to give us temporal goods according to our prayers, we should give him due thanks for them. And when it pleases him to take them from us: yet nevertheless we should thank him. In this part, let us be indifferent to being contented when it shall please him to take them from us. But let us pray devoutly, heartily, instantly, that he never takes himself or his grace from us.\n\nIt is a laudable custom in the Church of Christ to pray for three states or degrees: in which are contained such persons for whom it is necessary to pray. That is to say, the spiritual, the temporal, and the souls in purgatory. The Church does not command us to pray for those in heaven, for they have no need of it. Nor for those in the pains of hell, for prayer cannot profit them.\nBut we should pray for those living in this world and for souls in purgatory. First, we should pray for the spiritual, for our holy father the pope and all his subjects: ministers of the church, and specifically for our bishop, our diocesan, and those under him who have care of our souls. Secondarily, we should pray for the temporal, and specifically for the king and all those under him who rule and govern the realm. Each man, if he is of the temporal, ought principally to pray for himself, and if he is of the spiritual likewise, to do so in this regard, and then for his parents, kindred, benefactors, and generally for all other Christians, both good and bad (as Saint Augustine says in the beginning of his third sermon on the twelfth Sunday after Trinity). For the good, that they may profit and increase in goodness. For the bad, that they may have grace to amend.\nAlso well done is it to pray for heretics and infidels: that they may have grace to forsake their errors and infidelity, and be reconciled and brought to the very faith of Christianity. Besides, our Savior Christ commands us to pray for our enemies who persecute and trouble us. And indeed we have great cause. For if we take their persecutions patiently for the love of God, they will greatly increase and enhance our crowns and rewards in heaven. Now to make a short conclusion in this part, we should pray generally for all things necessary to be prayed for.\n\nThirdly, we should pray for the souls in purgatory, and therefore it is written, \"Maccabees 1:9: A holy and wholesome thought it is to pray for the souls of the dead, that they may be delivered from the painful punishment of their sins.\" And Saint Augustine says in his 42nd sermon to the brethren in Heremo, \"Pray therefore for the souls of those who are departed.\"\nAnd they who come to eternal life will not forget to pray for you. But in these days, there are many heretics who say and affirm that there is no purgatory, in which the souls of those who departed from this life are purged from the filthiness of sin. But as soon as they depart, they go either to heaven or to hell. I could bring in various authorities of holy scripture to confute this false opinion, but since, on account of late Catholic and great famous clerks in their books, this opinion has been confuted much more strongly than my simple learning is able to do, and since it was my purpose in the beginning to write this poor treatise as an education in prayer for those who have but small or no standing in holy scripture, and not as a confutation of heretics.\nBut I will beseech you all, my spiritual friends, for whom I have taken this labor, in the blessed wounds of our Savior Jesus Christ, if you hear any person speak either of this or of any such other false and erroneous opinions: give them no credence, nor argue with them in the cause if they are learned and the unlearned, lest perhaps they might seduce your intelligence by subtle arguments, appearing to your natural reason as if they were true, but rather withdraw your presence from their company, discussing nothing in your mind that exceeds your learning, but meekly and steadfastly believe as the Church of Christ instructs you, and as holy doctors and saints inspired by the Holy Ghost have left behind for our instruction on this earth.\nI will speak no more of this matter now, but turn again to my purpose. I earnestly request you, in your devout prayers, to remember the souls in purgatory, and especially the souls of your parents, kinsfolk, and friends, and benefactors. And on behalf of those souls whom I, your poor servant and beadman, am most bound to pray for. And generally for all the souls in purgatory, may it please Almighty God, of His infinite mercy, to release them from their pains and take them to His great glory and joy, the same God, omnipotent, granting us all immediate entry into that state when we depart from this life. Amen.\n\nSaint Augustine says that whoever wishes to have his prayer heard or ascend to God must prepare for it with two wings: that is, fasting and alms-giving. And Saint Bernard, in his fourth sermon on the Epiphany of our Lord, affirms the same, calling these two wings the affliction of the flesh and the detachment or disdain of the world. And though these two wings,\n\n(Note: The text appears to be written in Old English, but it is still largely readable. No major cleaning is required.)\nDoctors differ in words, yet they agree in meaning. Fasting is an affliction or penance of the flesh, and giving alms is a disdaining of the world. Few men with great affection and love for worldly goods will use much to give alms. The less affection a man has for worldly goods, the more generous he will be in giving alms. These doctors say that when a devout prayer has these two wings, it will swiftly fly into heaven and, without doubt, graciously be heard. Therefore, I will exhort every devout person discretely to use fasting and giving of alms. However, some may say to me, \"I am aged or greatly afflicted with infirmities and sickness, so that I may not fast. Also, I am so poor that I am not able to give alms; how then should I prepare these two things?\"\nYou are asking for the cleaned version of the following text:\n\n\"wings for my prayer? As to the first I make this answer, saying / the abstinence and fasting were not ordered for such as are of great age / nor for such as are much troubled with infirmities. But it was ordered for such as are lusty and strong to subdue and chastise the superfluities of the flesh / so that the sensual appetites may be the better subjected to reason. Wherefore if you it be aged or troubled with infirmities, have a good mind to fast if you were able thereto. I doubt not but almighty God will accept your good will / as if you did perform the thing in deed. This I speak of corporal abstinence or bodily fasting. But there is another called spiritual abstinence: / it is to abstain from vices and sins / in which a man has been accustomed for a long time. He that is old or sick may keep this abstinence / as well or better than he that is lusty and strong. And this every true Christian man is bound to keep as well the old as the young / the sick as the whole.\"\n\nHere is the cleaned version of the text:\n\nThe answer to your question about prayer: The abstinence and fasting were not intended for the elderly or those troubled by infirmities. Instead, they were meant for the lusty and strong to subdue the flesh's superfluities and subject the sensual appetites to reason. If you are aged or infirm and unable to fast, have a good intention to do so if you could. I have faith that Almighty God will accept your good will as if you had carried it out in deed. I am referring to bodily abstinence or fasting. However, there is another form of abstinence called spiritual: abstaining from vices and sins, which a man accustomed to for a long time can maintain, even if he is old or sick. Every true Christian man is obligated to practice this abstinence, regardless of age or health.\nThe other reason is that corporal abstinence is ordered as a means or help for this. The former is good and profitable for those who can keep it. However, the latter is better and more perfect, and it should be observed by every person. Therefore, if the old and weak persons keep this abstinence in deed and the other in will, it is to be said that they would be glad to keep it if they were able. It is not to be feared but they sufficiently prepare this one wing of prayer. And if the other persons, who are lusty and strong in their bodies, wisely and discretely observe both corporal and spiritual abstinence, they also prepare this one wing of prayer on their part.\n\nAs to the second reason where the sick man says he is so poor that he is not able to give alms, I make this answer, saying that (according to St. Augustine's mind) there are two kinds of alms. One is material, which can be given with money, and the other is spiritual, which is given when a man forgives and loves his enemy, and to this he should devote himself.\nA person should forgive the one who has offended you, or, as St. Gregory suggests, give instruction in virtues to those who are ignorant, counsel to those in need of it, consolation to the comfortless, and so forth. This manner of alms a person in poverty (for temporal goods) may give as generously as one with great riches and worldly substance. The other alms that St. Augustine speaks of are for the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, and so on. To give this alms follows our Lord speaking through His prophet, as He says, \"Give bread to the hungry,\" and \"Give hospitality to the poor people traveling,\" and when you see a man who is naked, \"Give him clothes.\" It is especially fitting for the rich person to give this alms, but not only to him.\n For the poore man yt hath but lytell sub\u00a6stau\u0304ce / yf he gyue parte of that wt a good wyll he shal haue as grete a rewarde of god / as the ryche man yt gyueth grete & large almes. And this appereth well by ye wordes of our sauiour Cryst in ye gospell of Luke where he sayeth / yt the poore woman yt offred but .ij. mynutes: the whiche be a ferthyng / offred more tha\u0304 all the ryche men dyde. And yet euery one of them by large gyftes dyde offer. And yf a man be so poore yt he hath nothyng / yet yf he haue onely a good mynde / & wolde be glad for the loue of god to gyue almes yf he had worldly substaunce / his mynde wyll be accepted for ye dede. Now than it appereth will that euery ma\u0304\n bothe poore and ryche may gyue almes both spiritu\u00a6ally and corporally as I haue beforesayd. wherfore my deuout frendes I wyll exhorte you to folowe the cou\u0304cell of the holy man Choby / where he sayth.ca. iiii. Ex substantia tua fac elemosina\u0304. &c\nOf your substance, give alms as you do, and do not turn away your face from any poor man who asks you, and the Lord will not turn His face from you. Have mercy and pity on the poor, and give them alms according to your ability. If you boast and have great substance, give generously. If you have little, yet give part of it as you may. If you have nothing, at least look that you have a good mind. Doing this, you shall prepare for yourself a great reward in the day of necessity. For alms will deliver from all sin, and from death that should follow upon it. And it will not allow this soul to come into darkness, but it will give it great hope and trust of salvation, when you shall appear before the face of God omnipotent. Also, our Master Christ exhorts us in the eleventh chapter of Luke, saying, \"Give alms, and behold, all things are clean to you. Give alms, and all things are cleansed for you.\" It is written.\nAlms resist vice and sin. Eccleiastes iii. Alms do resist vice and sin, therefore it is written in the seventh chapter, Elemosinam facere ne despicias. Caesarius xxxi. Do not despise alms, but as it is written: Conclude elemosinam in sinu pauperis. &c. Privately put thy alms in the bosom of the poor man, and it will pray for thee to God. For, as it is in the third chapter of the same book, Sicut aqua extinct ignem. Like as water quenches fire, so alms quench the pain ordained for sin. Therefore, my dearly beloved friends, I advise you to use often to give alms as I have said before. And thus you shall faithfully make the second wing of prayer.\nThe prayer, with the other wing of abstinence and this wing of alms, will ascend and fly quickly to the celestial country, and there prepare for you a mansion or dwelling place, in which you shall rest perpetually, with all blessed angels and saints giving reverence and honor, land and praise, uncasingly, to the most glorious Trinity. Cui sit honor et gloria per infinita secula seculorum. Amen.\n\nThus ends the treatise called the Pomander of Prayer.\n\nPrinted at London, at the sign of the Rose Garland, by Robert Copland. The year of our Lord MCCCCXXX, the 31st day of October.\n\nprinter's device of Robert Copland (McKerrow 77)", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"},
{"content": "All the presented text is in Latin, and it appears to be a record of payments or receipts made to William, the Bishop of Norwich, in the diocese of Norwich. The text mentions that he received certain titles or rents from the church's possessions and emoluments within the city and diocese of Norwich, and also mentions a payment for a subsidy on the feast day due.\n\nCleaned Text:\nNouerint universi [per presentes me] Willhelmo permissione divina Norwicensi Episcopo, cuiusdam annualium reddituum sive pensionis decime partes omnium possessionum et emolumentorum ecclesiasticorum infra Civitatem et diocesim Norwicensium sufficienter et legitime deputatum recepisse et habuisse de diece.\n\nDat vicesimo die mensis Octobris Anno Regni Regis Henrici Octavi XXXo quarto. Item pro subsidio eiusdem in dieco festo debito.\n\nTranslation:\nAll should know that I, William, with divine permission, have received and held the titles or pensions of the tenth part of all the ecclesiastical possessions and emoluments within the city and diocese of Norwich, which have been lawfully and sufficiently appointed for me.\n\nGiven on the twentieth day of the month of October in the thirty-fourth year of the reign of King Henry VIII. Also for the subsidy due on the feast day.", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"},
{"content": "A metrical declaration of the twenty-first petitions of the Lord's Prayer.\n\nLuce. XI. When you pray, say: Our Father, which art in heaven. &c.\nThough I be willing and fervent of desire,\nyet for unknowing I dare not presume\nOf the heavenly mysteries, though you require\nOf the Lord's Prayer to declare in substance,\nRecorded in scripture; if you call to mind,\nThis prayer excites Christ's heart with devout matters,\nOnly in Christ Jesus to find all sufficiency,\nAs therein is taught by the seven prayers.\n\nGrounded and brief, also comprehended,\nWhile he was here, of truth it is thus:\nTaught his disciples, which may not be amended,\nFor it transcends other prayers altogether,\nMost authoritative, when we for succor call,\nMost celestial and most dignified,\nCrowned among prayers in the heavenly stall,\nIf it be said in perfect charity.\n\nI have no mouth, plainly to devise,\nFirst to remember, the great dignity,\nFearful to take on me so high enterprise,\nMost celestial, most angelic in degree.\nFor the high mighty Trinity,\nLord of most power, called one, two, and three,\nAll one in substance and in virtue,\nThis word \"Father\" reveals in substance,\nHis might is greatest of excellence,\nOf heaven and earth, has all the ordinance,\nCalled the well of grace, mirror of sapience,\nWhich to His children, of fatherly providence,\nHas given a franchise, above franchises all,\nThat we may boldly, with devout reverence,\nAgainst all mischief, call for help,\nFirst this word \"Father,\" sets us in assurance,\nAnd this word \"ours,\" gives us humbleness,\nOf Him to require with devout obedience,\nRemedy, against all worldly distress,\nSo that charity with her sister meekness,\nFaith, trust, and hope, be with them present,\nThen when we pray and say in faithfulness,\n\"Our Father,\" we shall have our intent,\nIn this word \"Father,\" stands all our confidence,\nOur whole belief, when we say \"Who art,\"\nOur steadfast faith, and fully our credence.\nIn heaven dwelling, as sovereign Lord of peace,\nWhere three jurisdictions, day and night cease,\nTo cry in celestial chorus with harmonious melody,\nCherubim and seraphim, neither sloth nor recklessness,\nSing \"Osanna\" with fervent harmony.\nWhose glorious name, to magnify,\nMouth and tongue, are mute in their language,\nBut the Holy Ghost, by grace, urges us to inspire,\nAs spiritual children, born of high lineage,\nNever to Thine highness, be no mortal offense,\nIn this dreadful perilous pilgrimage,\nUntil clear contrition, our guilt recompenses,\nWe were renewed, nearly to Thine own,\nBy the Holy Ghost's gracious influence,\nFirst, by baptism, to begin at that part,\nNext, confirmed, by Thy majesty,\nTo be accepted, to Thy benevolence,\nAs chosen children, to Thine inheritance,\nThat we may say, with devout reverence,\nLord, have mercy, on all our old outrage,\nThese seven petitions, of virtue most,\nAre only to God, of whole heart applied,\nTo the seven virtues, of the Holy Ghost.\nFirst, when we say this name is sanctified,\nName of all names, hallowed and glorified,\nAs the gospel plainly commands,\nBut here my simplicity, with Argus unclear-eyed,\nI put this question, asking this demand:\nHow might in us be kindled such desire,\nBoldly to say, conceived our feebleness,\nThough charity burned in us as flame of fire,\nLike as in Seraphim, burns all perfection,\nI answer thus, a ground take of meekness,\nVirtue of virtues, doctors say the same,\nUnder the support, of his paternal goodness,\nTo say or think, hallowed be thy name,\nWithout addition, to set our heart at rest,\nThat therewithal we have this sentence,\nFor our party, to conclude for our best,\nIn our inward, ghostly intelligence,\nFirst, that his name, name of most excellence,\nWithin him, self, every hour and space,\nBe sanctified so, that by his providence,\nIt may in us, be sanctified by his grace.\nAveni tibi regnum tuum.\nThy kingdom, Lord, illumined with thy face,\nWhere is full gladness, of all spiritual light.\nMay come to us at the time and place\nwhen thou assignest, by thy eternal might,\nOf thy presence, that we may have a sight,\nO gracious Lord, our time, so provident,\nClaimed with meekness, of mercy more than right,\nBe mindful of thy passion, that we may abide there,\nThy kingdom, Lord, first in this present life,\nCome to us, to rule and govern,\nAgainst the assaults and the treble strife\nOf our three enemies, Lord, hold so the lantern,\nBy thy grace, which is eternal,\nReign in us, of reason hold so our bridge,\nBetween good and evil, we may so discern,\nAgainst thy pleasure, to do nothing in vain,\nLo, by thy mercy, reign in us so here,\nOf all vices, that we may have victory,\nTo claim a title, above the starry clear,\nThy passion chief, set first in memory,\nWith thee to reign, in thine eternal glory,\nAlso by thy will, written, with thy precious blood,\nShedden from thy body for our careful misery,\nOn high upon the mount, at Calvary on the rood,\nFiat voluntas tua.\nSo as your will is fulfilled in heaven,\nRight so on earth it must be fulfilled.\nLike the court above the seven stars,\nOf nine orders and three hierarchies,\nSinging sanctus three times before the Trinity,\nMake us Lord, with devout observance.\nDay and night, kneeling on our knees,\nMay we keep your death and passion in remembrance.\nFirst, your precepts and ten commandments,\nWe may fulfill between hope and fear,\nAnd forsake with all our whole intentions,\nAll that should displease you in deed.\nSince to a pilgrim, you desire for us to be,\nWith this commandment, do all that you command.\nSuffer your mercy to be spread upon us.\nPart to receive that you give at your hand,\nTo your disciples for a memorial,\nFor a perpetual commemoration,\nOf your flesh and your blood, take in particular,\nOf a pure maid, your incarnation,\nYour meek suffering, for our redemption,\nWith mind also, you desire for us to be dead,\nThat we may claim for our salvation.\nReceive your body among us in the form of bread.\nGive us this day our daily bread.\nThat we dare say with all humility\nUnder the wings of thy protection\nGive us this day our daily bread\nKnown before Pilate / baked in thy passion\nOur daily bread our restoration\nOur food our manna / against foes' violence\nStrong with Helias / the Bible makes mention\nMount Oreb / to have there residence\n\nThis bread of life gives us strength and might\nA spiritual enemy assails us\nHealth of the soul our body strong in fight\nWith infernal spirits to hold a baton\nSatan abides not for all his apparition\nWhere this bread is sacred with Christ's mouth\nClearly received / the fiend may not prevail\nSo great virtue / this bread has east and south\n\nThis bread of angels / bread celestial\nBread that excels / reason and nature\nCalled bread of life / and repast eternal\nGives life everlasting / and shall endure\nMost commended by prophets in scripture\nBoth to soul and body / bread of most comfort\nPeople in sickness / this bread does recover\nTo poor pilgrims restorative and support,\nForgive us our debts and so forth.\nIn this petition, Lord, have mercy on us,\nFirst considering our fragility,\nForgive our debts as we forgive our debtors,\nAbove all things, to love and fear thee,\nNext, our neighbor, in perfect charity,\nFirst, judge myself worst of any man,\nEmpty of presumption, bowing my knee,\nAnd to remember upon the publican,\nHe dared not lift his eyes up to heaven,\nFearful to look on the sun's stream,\nAnd I am stained with the seven sins,\nThat in my eyes cannot see a large beam,\nThough it spread all abroad this realm,\nYet I can see well motes in other men's sight,\nA small spark that casts out no beam,\nBlended in fairs, though torches were clear light,\nThis to say, I can be vengeful,\nWhen my neighbor does a small trespass,\nThough I am guilty and horribly culpable,\nCan find ways easily to pass,\nAnd against my brother, great sins compass,\nI myself also excuse and put upon him the wrake.\nWith a false assembly, show a fair face,\nIn myself there was no lack.\nAnd he who will have no mercy,\nAt his most need he shall be merciless.\nAnd he who is busy depriving his neighbor,\nBy false report, escapes harmless.\nMurder at the back and language reckless,\nHypocrisy, fraud, compassions guile,\nSimulation and flattery put in press,\nThis sort will out though they endure a while.\nBut if thou standest in perfect charity,\nTo love thy friend and also thine enemy,\nWithout feigning or duplicity,\nThat there be no fault covered,\nTo show one outwardly and another inwardly,\nIn such a way, thy prayer is not good.\nI dare affirm and write truly,\nGod loved never two faces in one hood.\nAnd lead us not into temptation.\nO Lord Jesus, of merciful pity,\nUnder the banner of thy passion,\nAgainst our deadly, dreadful foes three,\nLet us fall, in no temptation.\nThe flesh and the devil, by false collusion,\nThe old serpent, with many thousand tears,\nWithout blood, shed for our redemption.\nWe may not well recite this prayer,\nRemembered is the Gospel of Matthew,\nOf a servant whose master was against him,\nBecause his lord was again him unfaithful,\nHe was seized and signed to prison,\nIn sign who will do no pardon,\nAt such a strength his servant prays to save us,\nDismiss us from this prayer,\nWho does no mercy, he shall have no mercy,\nBut free us from evil.\n\nOf thy benign, merciful pity,\nLord, in this perilous, dreadful pilgrimage,\nSave us from danger and all adversity,\nAnd deliver us from all foreign damage,\nFrom peril passed without present passage,\nDreadful carriages, sirens' mortal rage,\nAnd transmutation of all worldly goods.\n\nOur Father, this prayer is virtuous,\nIf it is said with due reverence,\nOf all prayers is most victorious,\nAgainst our three enemies, to stand at defense,\nSo that Mary may show her presence,\nAnd fervent charity be captain of the field,\nFie on all infernal violence.\nSo crist's passion be portrayed on our shield,\nLike a gleam upon a large land,\nAmong shocks plentiful of authors,\nThough I were busy to gather with my hand,\nLike mine desire to have found some flowers,\nThe green was opened, russet were the colors,\nI found no sugar, in my small library,\nSoil dried up of Cullius's syrups hours,\nFearful and dull, there longer to tarry,\nIn this process, any more to say,\nGood will abide in my inward intent,\nThe golden liqueur was in my study's dray,\nOf Calypso and all her favor spent,\nFound there no causes but scowls all to rent,\nNothing else enlightened with gold asure nor red,\nWhich shall be joined with my testament,\nLaid on my breast, the hour when I shall be dead,\nThough I was dull in my devotions,\nDuring my life, with cordial reverence,\nDaily to say these seven petitions,\nHeart and mouth agreeing in sentence,\nWith circumstances of intelligence,\nTo please the lord with whole affection,\nVain thoughts, void flouth and negligence.\nMore than a thousand without devotion,\nTo all my masters kneeling on my knee,\nWho shall read this compilation,\nI pray them humbly, of their benevolence,\nFirst, due examination,\nAnd following after, just correction,\nWhen they have leisure and convenient space,\nThat I may find support,\nBy God's favor, to correct of their grace.\nMan lifts up thine heart to the Father in heaven,\nAnd pray to Him, who is eternal,\nThat sits so far above the seven stars,\nIn His palaces most imperial,\nTo grant us grace in this life mortal,\nContrition of sin, afore our departing,\nAnd before we pass, remission final,\nTowards that life, where joy ever lasts. Amen.\nIn the beginning, God created heaven and earth:", "creation_year": 1530, "creation_year_earliest": 1530, "creation_year_latest": 1530, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"}
]