Ac whiche be the braunches
That bryngeth me to sleuthe,
Ys wanne a man mourneth nat
For hus mysdedes;
The penaunce that the prest enjoyneth
Parfourmeth uvele;
Doth non almys-dedes,
And drat nat of synne:
Lyveth ayens the byleyve,
And no lawe kepeth;
And hath no lykynge to lerne,
Ne of houre Lord hure,
Bote harlotrie other horedom,
Other elles of som wynnyng.
Wan men carpen of Crist
Other of clennesse of soule,
He wext wroth, and wol not huyre
Bote wordes of murthe,
Penaunce and povre men,
The passion of seyntes,
He hateth to huyre therof
And alle that therof carpen.
Thuse beth the braunches, be war,
That bryngeth man to wanhope.
Ye lordes and ladyes,
And legates of holy churche,
That feden fool sages,
Flaterers and lyers,
And han lykynge to lythen hem,
In hope to do yow lawe--
_Væ! vobis qui ridetis, etc._
And geveth suche mede an mete,
And povre men refusen;
In youre deth deynge,
Ich drede me sore
Lest tho maner men
To moche sorwe yow brynge.
_Consensientes et agentes pari pæna punientur._
Patriarkes and prophetes,
Prechours of Godes wordes,
Saven thorgh here sermons
Mannes soule fro helle:
Ryght so flaterers and foles
Aren the fendes procuratores,
Entysen men thorgh here tales
To synne and to harlotrie.
Clerkus that knowen this,
Sholde kennen lordes
What David seide of suche men,
As the Sauter telleth:
_Non habitabit in medio domus meæ qui
facit superbiam, qui loquitur
iniquum._
Sholde non harlot have audience
In halle ne in chaumbre,
Ther that wys men were.
Whitnesse of Godes wordes;
Nother a mys-prout man
Among lordes alouwed.
Clerkus and knyghtes
Wolcometh kynges mynstrales,
For love of here lordes
Lithen hem at festes:
Muche more, me thenketh,
Riche men auhte
Have beggers byfore hem,
Wiche beth Godes mynstreles,
As he seith hymself,
Seynt Johan berith whittnesse:
_Qui vos spernit, me etiam spernit._
Therfor ich rede yow, riche,
Reveles when ye maken,
For to solace youre soules,
Suche mynstrales to have,
The povre for a foul sage
Syttynge at thy table,
Whith a lered man to lere the
What oure Lord suffrede,
For to savy thy saule
Fram Satan thyn enemye,
And fitayle the withoute flateryng
Of Good Friday the feste:
And a blynde man for a bordiour,
Other a bed-reden womman
To crye a largesse byfor oure Lord,
Youre good loos to shewe.
Thuse thre manere mynstrales
Maken a man to lauhe;
In hus deth deyng
Thei don hym gret comfort,
That by hus lyfe loveth hem,
And loveth hem to huyre.
Thuse solaceth the soule,
Til hymself be falle
In a wele good hope, for he wroghte so,
Among worthy seyntes,
Ther flaterers and foles
Whith here foule wordes
Leden tho that lithen hem
To Luciferes feste,
With _Turpiloquio_, a lay of sorwe,
And Lucifers fitele,
To perpetual peyne
Other purgatorye as wykke,
For he litheth and loveth
That Godes lawe despiteth.
_Qui histrionibus dat, dæmonibus sacrificat._
3466. _qui manet, &c._ Epist. Joan. iv, 16.
3477. Epist. Paul, ad Ephes. iv, 8.
3484. Isai. ix, 2.
3496. Matt. ix, 13.
3502. John i, 14.
3520. Psalm xxxv, 8.
3545. _Signes of Synay, | and shelles of Galice ... keyes of Rome._ It is
perhaps hardly necessary to remark that the articles mentioned here were
borne by the pilgrim to indicate the particular holy sites which he had
visited. The reader will readily call to mind the lines of a modern poet:--
The summon'd Palmer came in place,
His sable cowl o'erhung his face;
In his black mantle was he clad,
With _Peter's keys_ in cloth of red
On his broad shoulders wrought;
The _scallop shell_ his cap did deck;
The crucifix around his neck
Was from Loretto brought.
3622. _Seint Thomas shryne._ St. Thomas of Canterbury. It may not perhaps
be generally known that an interesting description of this shrine, when in
its glory, is given by Erasmus, Colloq. _Peregrinatio Religionis ergo._
3713. _eten apples un-rosted._ One of the many specimens of the burlesque
manner in which scripture was frequently quoted in these times. A very
singular passage (but in a tract professedly burlesque) occurs in the
Reliquiæ Antiquæ, vol. i, p. 83:--"Peter askud Adam a full greyt dowtfull
question, and seyd, 'Adam, Adam, why ete thu the appull unpard?' 'For
sothe,' quod he, 'for y had no wardyns fryde.'"
3826. _leven_, should be _lenen_.
3890. Luke xiv, 10.
3944, 3948. Psalm lxviii, 29.
3997. _the rode of Lukes._ The second Trin. Col. MS. has _be the rode of
Chestre._ There was a famous cross at Lucca, but whether a part of the real
cross, I have not ascertained. Calvin, in his most able and entertaining
_Admonitio de Reliquiis_, declines undertaking a list of all the places
where pieces of the real cross were shown. "Denique si congesta in acervum
essent omnia quæ reperiri possent, integrum navis onus efficerent: cum
tamen evangelium testificetur ab unico homine ferri potuisse. Quantæ igitur
audaciæ fuit, ligneis frustis sic totum implere orbem, quibus ferendis ne
trecenti quidem homines sufficiant?" _Calvini_, _Opusc._ p. 277. There was
also at Lucca one of the impressions of our Saviour's face on the
handkerchief of Veronica. The peculiar oath of William Rufus was by the
holy face at Lucca.
4027. _with hey trolly lolly._ MS. Trin. Col. 2.