Me techen nouther text ne glofe.
But for als moche as I suppose
It fit a prest to be wel thewed
And shame it is if he be lewed,
Of my presthode after the forme
I wol thy fhrifte so enforme,
That at the lafte thou shalt here
The vices, and to thy matere
Of love I shal hem fo remeve,
That thou shalt knowe what they meve.
For what a man shall axe or faine
Touchend of fhrifte, it mot be pleine,
It nedeth nought to make it queinte,
For trouth his wordes wol nought peinte.
That I wol axe of the forthy,
My fone, it shal be fo pleinly,
That thou shalt knowe and understonde
The pointes of shrift how that they stonde.
Vifus et auditus fragiles funt oftia mentis,
Que viciofa manus claudere nulla poteft.
Eft ibi larga via, graditur qua cordis ad antrum
Hoftis et ingrediens foffa talenta rapit.
Hec mihi confeffor Genius primordia profert,
Dum fit in extremis vita remorfa malis.
Nunc tamen ut poterit femiviva loquela fateri,
Verba per os timide confcia mentis agam.
Betwene the life and dethe I herde
This preftes tale er I answerde,
And than I praid him for to say
His will and I it wolde obey
After the forme of his apprise.
Tho spake he to me in such a wise
Hic incipit confeffio amantis, cui de duobus precipue quinque fenfuum, hoc eft de vifu et auditu confeffor pre ceteris opponit.
And bad me, that I fholde fhrive
As touchende of my wittes five
And shape, that they were amended
Of that I hadde hem mispended.
For tho be properly the gates,
Through which as to the hert algates
Cometh all thing unto the feire,
Which may the mannes foule empeire.
And now this matter is brought in,
My fone, I thenke first beginne
To wit, how that thin eye
The whiche is as I understonde
The most principall of alle,
Through whom that peril may befalle.
And for to fpeke in loves kinde
Full many fuche a man may finde,
Whiche ever cafte aboute here eye
To loke, if that they might afpie
Ful oft thing, which hem ne toucheth,
But only that here herte foucheth
In hindringe of an other wight.
And thus ful many a worthy knight
And
many a lufty lady bothe
Have be full ofte fithes wrothe,
So that an eye is as a thefe
To love and doth ful great mefchefe,
And alfo for his owne part
Ful ofte thilke firy dart
Of love, which that ever brenneth,
Through him into the herte renneth.
And thus a mannes eye ferst
Him felfe greveth altherwerft,
And many a time that he knoweth
Unto his owne harme it groweth.
My fone, herken now forthy
A tale, to be ware therby
Thin eye for to kepe and warde,
So that it paffe nought his warde.
Ovide telleth in his boke
Enfample touchend of misloke
And faith, how whilom ther was one
A worthy lord, whiche Acteon
Was hote, and he was coufin nigh
To him, that Thebes first on high
Upfette, which king Cadme hight.
This Acteon, as he wel might,
Above all other caft his chere
And used it from yere to yere
With houndes and with
Among the wodes and the thornes
To make his hunting and his chace,
Where him beft thought in every place
in his way,
game
There rode he for to hunte and play.
So him befelle upon a tide
On his hunting as he cam ride
In a foreste alone he was,
He figh upon the grene gras
The faire fresshe floures fpringe,
He herd among the leves finge
Hic narrat confeffor
exemplum de visu ab
illicitis prefervando,
dicens, qualiter Ac-
teon Cadmi regis
Thebarum
dum in quadam fo-
refta venacionis caufa
fpaciarit, accidit, ut
ipfe quendam fontem
nemorofa arborum
pulchritudine
cir-
cumventum fuperve-
niens vidit ibi Dia-
nam cum fuis nim-
phis nudam in flumine
balneantem, quam di-
ligencius intuens ocu-
los fuos a muliebri
nuditate nullatenus
avertere volebat, un-
de indignata Diana
ipfum in cervi figu-
ram transformavit.
Quem canes proprii
apprehendentes mor-
tiferis dentibus peni-
tus dilaniarunt.
The throstel with the nightingale.
Thus er he wift into a dale
He came, wher was a litel pleine
All rounde aboute wel befeine
and cedres high,
grene
And there within he cafte his eye.
Amid the plaine he faw a welle
So faire there might no man telle,
In which Diana naked ftood
To bathe and play her in the flood
With
many a nimphe, which her serveth.
But he his eye awey ne fwerveth
Fro her, which was naked all.
And fhe was wonder wroth withall
And him, as she which was goddeffe,
Forfhope anone and the likeneffe
She made him take of an herte,
Which was tofore his houndes fterte,
That ronne befilich aboute
With many an horne and many a route,
That maden mochel noise and crie,
And ate laste unhappilie
This hert his owne houndes flough
And him for vengeaunce all to-drough.
Lo now, my fone, what it is
A man to cafte his eye amis,
Which Acteon hath dere abought,
Beware forthy and do it nought.
For ofte who that hede toke
Better is to winke than to loke.
And for to proven it is so
Ovide the poete alfo
A tale, whiche to this matere
Accordeth, faith, as thou fhalt here.
In Methamor it telleth thus,
How that a lord, whiche Phorceus
Was hote, hadde doughters thre.
their nativite
But
Such was the conftellacion,
That out of mannes nacion
Fro kinde they be fo mifwent,
That to the likeneffe of the ferpent
They were bothe, and fo that one
Of hem was cleped Stellibone,
That other fufter Suriale,
The thrid as telleth in the tale
Medusa hight, and netheles
Of comun name Gorgones,
every contre there about
As monftres, whiche that men doute,
Men clepen hem, and but one eye
Among hem thre in purpartie
They had, of which they mighte fe,
Now hathe it this, nowe hath it she.
After that cause and nede it ladde
By throwes eche of hem it hadde.
A wonder thing yet more amis
There was, wherof I telle al this,
What man on hem his chere caste
And hem behelde, he was als fafte
Hic ponit aliud exemplum de eodem, ubi dicit, quod quidam princeps nomine Phorcus tres progenuit filias Gorgones a vulgo nuncupatas, que uno partu exorte deformitatem monftrorum ferpentinam obtinuerunt, quibus, cum in etatem pervenerant, talis deftinata fuerat natura, quod quicumque in eas afpiceret in lapidem fubito mutabatur, et fic quamplures incaute refpicientes vifis illis perierunt, fed Perfeus miles clipeo Palladis gladioque Mercurii munitus eas extra montem Atlantis cohabitantes animo audaci abfque fui periculo interfecit.
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