By his faders affignement

To make a wer in Orient

And great power with him he ladde,
So that the higher hond he hadde
And victoire of his enemies

And torneth homward with his prise,
In fuche a contre which was drie

A mifchefe fell

upon the wey,

As he rode with his compaigny
Nigh to the ftrondes of Lubie,
There mighte they no drinke finde
Of water, ne of other kinde,

So that him felf and all his hofte
Were for default of drinke almofte
Diftruied, and than Bachus praid
To Jupiter and thus he said:
O highe fader, that seest all,
To whom is refon, that I fhall
Befeche and pray in every nede,
Behold, my fader, and take hede
This wofull thurft, that we be inne,
To ftaunche and graunt us for to winne
And faufe unto the contre fare,
Where that our lufty loves are
Waitend upon our home coming.
And with the vois of his praieng,
Which herd was to the goddes high,
He figh anone to-fore his eye

A wether, which the grounde hath sporned,
And where he hath it overtorned,

et narrat in exemplum, quod cum Bachus de quodam bello ab Oriente repatrians in quibufdam Lubie partibus alicuius generis potum non invenit, fufis ad Jovem precibus, apparuit ei aries, qui terra pede percuffit, ftatimque fons emanavit, et fic potum petenti peticio prevaluit.

There sprang a welle fressh and clere,
Wherof his owne botelere

After the luftes of his will

Was every man to drinke his fill.
And for this ilke grete grace
Bachus upon the fame place
A riche temple let arere,

Which ever shulde ftonde there
To thursty men in remembraunce.
Forthy my fone, after this chaunce

It fit the well to taken hede

So for to pray upon thy nede,
As Bachus praide for the well.

And thenke, as thou haft herd me tell,
How grace he gradde and grace
he had,
He was no fool, that first so rad.
For felden get a domb man londe,
Take that proverbe and understonde,
That wordes ben of vertue gret.
Forthy to speke thou ne let

And axe and pray erely and late

Thy thurst to quenche and thenke algate,
The boteler, which bereth the key,

Is blinde, as thou haft herd me say.
And if it mighte so betide,

That he upon the blinde fide

Parcas the fwete tonne araught,

Than fhalt thou have a lufty draught

And waxe of lovedrunke fobre.

And thus I rede thou affobre

Thin herte in hope of fuche a grace,
For dronkeship in every place

To whether fide that it torne

Doth harme and maketh a man to sporne
And ofte falle in fuche a wife,

Where he parcas may nought arise.

And for to loke in evidence
Upon the fothe experience,
So as it hath befall er this,
In every mannes mouth it is,
How Triftram was of love drunke
With Bele Ifolde, whan they drunke

The drink, which Brangweine hem betok,
Er that king Mark his eme her toke
To wife, as it was after knowe.
And eke, my fone, if thou wolt knowe
As it hath fallen over more

In loves cause, and what is more
Of dronkeshippe for to drede,
As it whilom befell in dede,

Wherof thou might the better escheue
Of drunke men that thou ne fue
The compaigny in no manere,
A great enfample thou shalt here.

This finde I write in poefy

Of thilke faire Ypotafy,

Of whofe beaute there as she was

Spake every man.

And fell

par cas,

That Pirothous fo him fpedde,

That he to wife her fhulde wedde,

Hic de amoris ebrietate ponit exemplum, qualiter Triftrans ob potum, quem Brangweine in navi ei porrexit, de amore Bele Ifolde inebriatus extitit.

Hic de periculis ebrietatis caufa in amore contingentibus narrat, quod cum Pirothous illam pulcherrimam Ypotafiam in uxorem duceret,quofdam, qui Centauri vocabantur, inter alios vicinos ad nupcias invitavit, qui vi

formofitatem afpici

no imbuti, nove nupte Wherof that he great joie made. entes, duplici ebrie- And for he wolde his love glade, quod ipfi fubito fali- Ayein the day of mariage

tate infanierunt, ita

entes a menfa Ypota- By mouthe bothe and by meffage

fiam a Pirothoo ma

rito fuo in impetu His frendes to the fest he praid

rapuerunt.

With great worship, and as men said
He hath this yonge lady spoused.

And whan that they were alle housed
And fet and ferved ate mete,

There was no wine, which may begete,
That there ne was plenty inough.
But Bachus thilke tonne drough,
Wherof by way of dronkeship
The greatest of the felafhip
Were out of refon overtake,
And Venus, which hath alfo take
The cause most in speciall,

Hath yive him drinke forth with all
Of thilke cuppe, whiche exciteth
The luft, wherin a man deliteth.
And thus by double weie drunke
Of luft that ilke firy funke

Hath made hem as who faith half wode,

That they no refon understode

Ne to none other thing they seen
But her, which to-fore her eyen
Was wedded thilke fame day,
That fresshe wife, that lufty may,
Of her it was all that they thoughten
And fo ferforth her luftes foughten,

A

That they, the whiche named were
Centauri, at the feste there

Of one affent, of one accorde
This yonge wife malgre her lorde
In fuche a rage away forth ladden,
As they, which none insight hadden,
But only to her drunke fare,

Which many a man hath made misfare
In love als wel as other wey.
Wherof, if I fhall more fay
Upon the nature of this vice,
Of cuftume and of exercise
The mannes grace, how it fordoth,
A tale, which was whilom foth
Of fooles, that fo drunken were,
I shall rehercen unto thin ere.

I rede in a cronique thus
Of Galba and of Vitellus,
The which of Spaine bothe were
The greatest of all other there,
And bothe of o condition

After the difpofition

Of glotony and dronkeship,

That was a fory felafhip.

For this thou might wel understonde,

Hic loquitur fpecialiter contra vicium illorum, qui nimia potacione quafi ex confuetudine ebriofi efficiuntur, et narrat exemplum de Galba et Vitello, qui potentes in Hifpania principes fuerunt, fed ipfi cotidiane ebrietatis potibus affueti, tanta vicinis intulerunt enormia, quod tandem toto conclamante populo, pena fententie

That man may nought well longe ftonde, capitalis in eos judi

Which is wine drunke of comun use,
For he hath lore the vertues,
Wherof refon fhuld him clothe,
And that was fen upon hem bothe.

cialiter diffinita eft, qui priufquam morerentur ut penam mortis alleviarent, fpontanea vim ebrietate fopiti, quafi porci femimortui gladio interierunt.