[35] Orig. reads _of_.
[36] The orig. _saw_.
[37] Orig. _hard_, i.e. _heard_.
[38] There is perhaps an allusion here to the _Interlude of the Four
Elements_, supposed to have been printed about 1510 by John Rastell.
+ _Of the woman that poured the potage in the iudges male._ xviii.
+ There was a iustyce but late in the reame of England callyd master
Vavesour,[40] a uery homely man and rude of condycyons, and louyd neuer
to spend mych money. Thys master Vauysour rode on a tyme in hys
cyrcuyte in the northe contrey, where he had agreed wyth the sheryf for
a certain some of money for hys charges thorowe the shyre, so that at
euery inne and lodgynge this master Vauysour payd for hys owne costys.
It fortunyd so, that when he cam to a certayn lodgyng he comaunded one
Turpyn hys seruant to se that he used good husbondry[41] and to saue
suche thynges as were left and to cary it wyth hym to serue hym at the
nexte baytynge. Thys Turpyn, doyng hys maystres commandement, toke the
broken bred, broken mete and all such thyng that was left, and put it in
hys maysters cloth sak. The wyfe of the hous, perceyuing that he toke
all suche fragmentys and vytayle wyth hym that was left, and put it in
the cloth sake, she brought vp the podage that was left in the pot; and
when Turpyn had torned hys bake a lytyl asyde, she pouryd the podage in
to the cloth sake, whych ran vpon hys robe of skarlet and other of hys
garmentys and rayed[42] them very euyll, that they were mych hurt
therwyth. Thys Turpyn, sodeynly turnyng[43] hym and seeing[44] it,
reuyled the wyfe therfore, and ran to hys mayster and told hym what she
had don: wherfore master Vauesour incontinent callyd the wyf and seyd to
her thus: thou drab, quod he, what hast thow don? why hast thou pourd
the podage in my cloth sake and marrd my rayment and gere? O, syr, quod
the wyfe, I know wel ye ar a iudge of the realme, and I perceyue by you
your mind is to do ryght and to haue that is your owen; and your mynd is
to haue all thyng wyth you that ye haue payd for, both broken mete and
other thynges that is left, and so it is reson that ye haue; and
therfore be cause your seruant hath taken the broken mete and put it in
your cloth sak, I haue therin put the potage that be left, because ye
haue wel and truly payed for them. Yf I shoulde kepe ony thynge from you
that ye haue payed for, paraduenture ye wold troble me in the law a
nother tyme.
Here ye may se, that he that playth the nygarde to mych, som tyme it
torneth him to hys owne losse.