To grounde I was, withouté brethe;
And ever I wisshéd after dethe,
Whan I out of my peine awoke,
And caste up many a pitous loke
Unto the heven and saidé thus:
'O thou Cupíde, O thou Venús,
Thou god of love and thou god-
desse,

Where is pité? where is mekenésse?
Now doth me1 pleinly live or die,
For certés suche a maladie

As I now have, and longe have had,
It mighté make a wise man mad,
If that it shuldé longe endure.
O Venus, quene of lovés cure,
Thou life, thou lust, thou mannés

hele,

Beholde my cause and my quarele
And yef me some part of thy grace,
So that I may finde in this place,
If thou be gracious or none!'
And with that worde I sawe anone
The Kinge of Love and Quené bothe.
But he, that king, with eyen wrothe
His chere aweiward fro me caste
And forthe he passéd atté laste
But nethéles er he forth wente

| A firy dart me thought he hente 2 And threwe it through min herté rote.3

In him fonde I none other bote,4 Forlenger list him nought to dwelle. But she, whiche is the source and welle

Of wele or wo that shal betide To hem that loven, at that tide Abode, but for to tellen here She cast on me no goodly chere, Thus nethéles to me she saide : 'What art thou, sonne?' And I abraide 5

Right as a man doth out of slepe, And therof toke she right good kepe 1

And bad me nothing be adradde,
But for all that I was nought gladde,
For I ne sawe no causé why.
And eft2 she asketh, what was I?[
I saide: 'A caitif that lyth here. {
What wolde ye my lady dere?
Shall I be hole or ellés die?'
She saidé: 'Telle thy maladie. |
What is thy sore of which thou
pleinest,

Ne hide it nought, for if thou feignest
I can do thee no medicíne.'
'Madame, I am a man of thine
That in thy Court have longé served
And axé that I have deserved,
Some wele after my longé wo.'
And she began to louré tho
And saidé: 'There be many of you
Faitours,3 and so may be that thou
Art right suche one, and by faintise
Saist, that thou hast me do service.'
And nethéles she wisté wele
My word stood on an other whele
Withouten any faiterie.

But algate of my maladie

She bad me tell and say her trouthe. 'Madame, if ye wolde havé routhe,' Quod I, 'than wolde I tellé you.' 'Say forth,' quod she, 'and telle me how,

Shewe me thy sikenesse every dele.'\ 'Madamé, that can I do wele, Be so my life therto wol laste.'

With that her loke on me she caste And saide: 'In aunter if thou live My wille is first, that thou be shrive;

And nethéles how that it is
I wot my selfe, but for all this
Unto my Prest which cometh anone
I wol thou telle it one and one,
Both al thy thought and al thy werke.
O Genius, min owné clerke,
Come forth, and here this mannés
shrifte,'

Quod Venus tho. And I uplifte Min hede with that, and gan beholde

The selfe Prest, whiche as she wolde

Was redy there and fet him doune To heré my Confession.

This worthy prest, this holy man To me spekend thus began And saidé: "Benedicite My sone, of the felicité

Of Love and eke of all the wo Thou shalt be shrive of bothé two. What thou er1 this for lovés sake Hast felt, let nothing be forsake; /Tel pleinly as it is befalle."

And with that worde I gan down falle

On knees, and with devoción
And with full great contrición
I saidé thanné! "Dominus
Min holy fader Genius,
So as thou haste experience
Of Lové, for whose reverence
Thou shalt me shriven at this time,
I pray thee let me nought mistime
My shrifté, for I am destourbed
In all min herte and so contourbed,
That I ne may my wittes gete;
So shal I moche thing foryete."
But if thou wolt my shrifte oppose 3
Fro point to pointe, than I suppose
There shall nothing be left behinde.
But now my wittés be so blinde,
2 Foryete, forget.
3 Oppose, test by argument.

1 Er, ere.

That I ne can my selfé teche."
Tho1 he beganne anon to preche,
And with his wordés debonaire
He saidé to me softe and faire :
"My sone, I am assignéd here
Thy shrifté to oppose and here
By Venus the goddésse above,
Whose prest I am touchend of love.

"But nethéles for certain skill 2
I mote algate3 and nedés will
Nought only maké my spekinges
Of Lové, but of other thinges
That touchen to the cause of Vice!
For that belongeth to thoffice
Of Prest, whose ordre that I bere :
So that I wol nothing forbere
That I the Vices one and one
Ne shall thee shewen everichone,
Wherof thou might take evidence
To reulé with thy conscience.
But of conclusiön fináll
Conclude I wolde in speciáll
For Lové, whose servaúnt I am
And why the cause is that I cam.
So thenke I to do bothé two,—
First that min ordre longeth to
The Vices for to telle a rewe; 5
But nexte, above all other, shewe
Of Love I wol the propretés,
How that they stondé by degres
After the disposicion

Of Venus, whose condicion
I must folwe as I am holde,
For I with Love am al witholde,
So that the lasse I am to wite,7
Though I ne conné but a lite 8
Of other thingés that bene wise;
I am nought taught in suche a wise.

1 Tho, then; from an indeclinable tha. When it means 'those,' it is from tha, plural of 'that.'

2 Skill, discrimination.

3 Mote algate, must always.

4 That which belongs to my calling.

A rewe, in row, in their order.

6 Witholde, retained.

7 To wite, to blame. 8 Know but a little.

For it is nought my comun use
To speke of vices and vertúse,
But all of Love and of his lore,
For Venus bokés of no more
Me techen, nouther text ne glose.
But for als moche as I suppose
It sit a Prest to be wel thewed1
And shame it is if he be lewed,
Of my presthode after the forme
I wol thy shrifté so enforme,
That at the lasté thou shalt here
The Vices, and to thy matere
Of Love I shal hem so remeve
That thou shalt knowé what they

meve.

For what a man shall axe or saine Touchend of shrifte, it mot be pleine ;3

It nedeth nought to make it queinte, For Trouth his wordés wol nought peinte.

That I wol axe of thee forthý,
My sone, it shal be so pleinly
That thou shalt knowe and under-
stonde

The pointes of Shrift how that they stonde."

[The Senses: Sight and Hearing.]

Betwene the life and death I
herde

This Prestés tale er I answérde;
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 wise
And bad me, that I sholdé shrive
As touchende of my wittés five,
And shape that they were amended
Of that I haddé hem mispended.

Well thewed, of good manners.

Lewed, unlearned as the common people. 3 Pleine, plain.

4 Queinte, ingeniously elaborated.

For tho1 be properly the gates, Through which as to the hert algates 2

Cometh all thing unto the feire Which may the mannes foule empeire.3

And now this matter is brought in, "My sone, I thenké first beginne To wit how that thin eye hath stonde,

The whiche is as I understonde The mosté principál of alle Through whom that peril may befalle.

And for to speke in Lovés kinde,
Full many suche a man may finde
Whiche ever caste aboute here eye
To loke if that they might aspie
Ful ofté thing which hem ne touch-
eth,

But only that here herte soucheth 5
In hindringe of an other wight.
And thus ful many a worthy knight
And many a lusty lady bothe
Have be full ofté sithés wrothe;
So that an eye is as a thefe
To Love, and doth ful great mes-
chéfe;

And also for his owné part

Ful ofté thilké firy dart

Of love, which that ever brenneth, Through him into the herté renneth.

And thus a mannés eyé ferst
Him selfé greveth altherwerst,"
And many a timé that he knoweth
Unto his owné harme it groweth.
My soné, herken now forthý
A talé, to be ware therby

Thin eye for to kepe and warde,
So that it passé nought his warde.
“Ovidé telleth in his boke
Ensample touchend of misloke
And saith, how whilom ther was one
A worthy lord, whiche Acteon
Was hote, and he was cousin nigh
To him that Thebés first on high
Upsetté, which king Cadmé hight.
This Acteón, as he wel might,
Above all other cast his chere,3
And used it from yere to yere
With houndés and with greté hornes
Among the wodés and the thornes
To make his hunting and his chace;
Where him best thought, in every
place,

5

To findé gamen in his way,
There rode he for to hunte and play.
So him befelle upon a tide
On his hunting as he gan ride
In a foréste alone he was;
He sigh upon the grené gras
The fairé fresshé flourés springe;
He herd among the levés singe
The throstel with the nightingale.
Thus, er he wist, into a dale
He came, wher was a litel pleine
All rounde abouté wel beseine
With busshes grene and cedres
high,-

And there within he caste his eye.
Amid the plaine he saw a welle
So fairé there might no man telle,
In which Diana naked stood,
To bathe and play her in the flood,
With many a nimphé which her
serveth.

But he his eye awey ne swerveth
Fro here, which was naked all.
And she was wonder wroth withall,

1 Hote, called.

2 Upsette, set up.

3 Cast his chere, lifted his face. 4 Upon a tide, upon a time.

And him, as she which was goddésse,

Forshope1anone, and the likenesse She made him him taken of an herte, Which was tofore his houndés sterte, That ronné besilich aboute

With many an horne and many a route,

That maden mochel noise and crie : And atté laste unhappilie

This hert his owné houndes slough And him for vengeaunce all todrough.3

"Lo now, my soné, what it is A man to caste his eye amis, Which Acteón hath dere abought ; Beware forthý3 and do it nought. For ofté, who that hedé toke, Better is to winké than to loke. 'And for to proven it is so Ovidé the poete also

A talé, whiche to this matere Accordeth, saith, as thou shalt here.

In Methamor it telleth thus, How that a lord whiche Phorceus Was hoté, haddé doughters thre. But upon their nativité

Such was the constellaciön,
That out of mannés nacion
For kindé they be so miswent,
That to the likenésse of a serpént
They were bothe, and so that one
Of hem was clepéd Stellibone,
That other suster Suriale,
The thrid, as telleth in the tale,
Medusa hight; and nethéles
Of comun namé Gorgonés
In every contre there about,
As monstres whiché that men
doute,

1 Forshope, transformed.

2 All to drough, pulled to pieces.

3 Forthy, therefore.

4 Methamor, (Ovid's) Metamorphoses. 5 Ilas hote, was called.

Sigh, saw.

6 Doute, fear.

That thou be tornéd into stone.
For so wise man was never none
But if he woll his eyé kepe
And take of foul delite no kepe,1
That he with lusté nis 2 ofte nome
Through strengthe of love, and over-

come.

Of mislokinge how it hath ferde,
As I have told, now hast thou herde.

"My godé soné, take good hede,
And over this yet I thee rede,3
That thou beware of thin hering,
Which to the herté the tiding
Of many a vanité hath brought
To tarie with a mannés thought.
And nethéles good is to here
Such thing, wherof a man may lerc
That to vertue is accordaúnt ;
And toward all the remenaúnt
Good is to torne his eré fro,
For elles but a man do so
Him may ful ofté misbefalle.
I rede ensample amongés alle,
Wherof to kepé wel an ere
It oughté put a man in fere.

"A serpent, which that aspidis Is clepéd, of his kinde hath this, That he the stone noblést of alle The which that men carbuncle calle Berethin his heed above on heighte For which whan that a man by sleighte,

The stone to winne and him to daunte With his carecte him wolde enchaunte,

6