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The god of love, a! benedicite!
How mighty and how great a lord is he!
For he can make of lowė heartės hye,
And of hye low, and like for to dye,
And harde heartės he can maken free.
And he can make, within a little stoundė1
Of sekė2 folk full whole, fresh and soundė,
And of the whole, he can makė seke;
And he can binden and unbinden eke
What he will have bounden or unboundė.

To tell his might my wit may not suffysė;
For he may do all that he will devyse

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For he can make of wise folk full nice, And eke in lyther3 folk destroyen vice; And proudė heartés he can make agrysė. Shortly, all that e'er he wills he may; Ageinės him there dare no wight say nay. For he can glad and grieve whom him liketh; And whom he will, he laugheth or he syketh;" And most his might he showeth ever in May. 20 For every trewe gentle heartė free That with him is, or thinketh for to be,

Ageinės May now shall have some stirring, Either to joy, or alles to mourning,

In no sesóun so great, as thinketh me.

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To whom be yeve3 praise, honour, and gloriė.
Of well saying firstė in our language;
Chief Registrer in this our pilgrimage,
All that he told, forgetting naught at all,
Not feigned tales, nor thing historical,
With many proverbs, diverse and uncouth,
By the rehearsing of his sugared mouth.
Of eachė thingė keeping in substance
The sentence whole withoutė variánce,
Voiding the chaff, soothly for to sain,"
Illumining the true picked grain,

By crafty writing of his sawes sweet.

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THE TESTAMENT OF JOHN LYDGATE

(From Testamentum Johannis Lydgate) Midst of a cloister, painted on a wall,

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I saw a crucifix with wounds not small, With this word VIDE, written there beside,"Behold my meekness, Child, and learn thy

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Tarry no longer towards thine heritage:
Haste on thy way and be of right good cheer;
Go each day onward on thy pilgrimage,
Think how short time thou shalt abide here!
Thy place is built above the starrès clear,
No earthly palace wrought in stately wise. 895
Come on, my friend, my brother most entere,1
For thee I shed my blood in sacrifice."

Thomas Hoccleve or Occleve

c. 1370-c. 1450

THOMAS HOCCLEVE'S COMPLAINT
THE PROLOGUE

After that Harvest gathered had his sheaves,
And that the brown sesóun of Michaelmessé1
Was come, and gan the trees rob of their leaves
That green had been and in lustý freshnessė,
3 Given.
Say. * Sayings.

4 Unfamiliar.

1 Entire, complete.

1 The feast of St. Michael and All Angels, or Michaelmas, which falls on Sept. 29th.

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Through God's just doom and through His judgement,

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And for my beste now I take and deem, Gave that good Lord to me my punishment; 395 In wealth I took of Him no heed or yeme," Him for to please and Him honóur and queme,7

And me He gave a bone3 on which to gnaw,
Me to correct and of Him to have awe.

He gave me wit, and wit He took away
When that He saw that I it sore misspent,
And gave again, when it was His to pay
And granted me my guiltės to repent,
And then henceforth to set all mine intent
Unto His Deity to do pleasaunce,
And to amend my sinful governaunce.

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Laud and honour and thanks unto Thee be,
Lord God that salve art to all my heaviness!
Thanks for my wealth and mine adversitie,
Thanks for mine age and for my sickėness,
And thanks be to Thine infinite goodnéss 411
For all Thy gifts and benefices all,
And to Thy mercy and Thy grace I call.

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A LAMENT FOR CHAUCER (From The Regimen of Princes,1 c. 1412) But welaway! so is my heartė woe That the honour of English tongue is deed,2 Of whom I used to have counsel and rede." O master dear, and father reverent! My master Chaucer, flower of eloquence, Mirror of fructuous entendement,

O, universal father in sciénce!

Alas! that thou thine excellent prudénce 1965
On thy bed mortal mightest not bequeathe!
What ailed death? alas! why would he slay
thee?

O death! thou didest not harm singular 5
In slaying him, but all this land it smarteth;
But ne'ertheless, thou hast not any power

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His name to slay; his high virtúe upstarteth Unslain by thee, which aye us lively hearteth

With bookes of his ornate índiting,

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That are to all this land illumining. Simple my spirit, scarce my letterure 7 Unto your excelléncy for to write Mine inward love, and yet, in aventure I put myself, although I can but lyte.8 My deare master-(God his soul requite!) And father, Chaucer, fain would have me taught;

But I was dull, and little learned or naught. • Care. 7 Appease.

8 Possibly an allusion to the proverb: "He that gives thee a bone would not have thee die."

A long didactic poem dedicated to Prince Henry, the future Henry V. The Prologue contains many autobiographical confessions, as well as the familiar passage on Chaucer, given above. 2 Dead.

3 Instruction.

A single injury.

• Security.

7 Learning.

+ Understanding.

• Hearteneth i. e. cheers.

8 Know but little.

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Of his persón, I have here his likenéss19 4995 Essayed, to this end in truthfulness,

That they who have of him least thought and mind,

By this portrayal may again him find.

SCOTTISH POETS AFTER CHAUCER

King James the First of Scotland

1394-1437

A BALLAD OF GOOD COUNSEL Since through virtúe increases dignity, And virtue, flower and root, is of noblay,' Of any weal or what estate thou be,

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His steps ensue and dread thou no affray; Exile all vice, and follow truth alway; Luve most thy God, who first thy luve began, And for each inch He will thee quit a span. Be not o'er proud in thy prosperity,

For as it comes, so will it pass away; Thy time to count is short, thou may'st well see,

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For of green grass soon cometh withered hay. Labour in truth while there is light of day. Trust most in God, for He best guide thee can, And for an inch He will thee quit a span.

Since word is thrall, and only thought is free, 15 Tame thou thy tongue, that power has and may,

Shut thou thine eyes on worldly vanity;
Refrain thy lust and hearken what I say;
Seize lest thou slide, and creep forth on the
way;

Keep thy behest unto thy God and man,
And for each inch He will thee quit a span.

Robert Henryson

c. 1425-c. 1500

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Quoth she: "Sister, let be your heavy cheer;
Do my counsel, and I shall find the way
Withouten horse, brig, boat, or yet gallay,
To bring you o'er safely-be not afeard-
Nor even wet the tip of your long beard."

"I haf great wonder," quoth the silly Mouse, "How thou can'st float without feather or fin!

This river is sa deep and dangerous,

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Methinks that thou would drowned be therein.

Tell me, therefore, what facultie or gin,7 Thou hast to bring thee o'er this water?" Than

Thus to declare, the Paddock soon began: 35

"With my twa feet," quoth she, "webbed and braid,'

Instead of oars, I row the stream full still; And though the flood be perilous to wade,

Baith to and fra I row at my ain will.

I may not drown,-for why?-my open gill 40 Devoidis 10 aye the water I resaif,"1 Therefore to droun, forsooth, na dreid I haif." 12

The Mouse looked hard upon her fronsit13 face,

Her wrinkled cheekes, and her lippes wide; Her hanging browės, and her voice sa hace; 14 45 Her sprawling legges, and her harsky 15 hide. She ran aback, and to the Paddock cried: "If I have ony skill in phisnomie, 16 Thou hast some part of falsehood and envíe.

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The blue-berries, though they be sad of hue,

Are gathered when the primrose is forsaken. The face may fail to be the heart's true takin, 19 Therefore I find this Scripture all in place: Thou should not judge a man after his face.

"Though I unwholesome be to luik upon,

I have na cause why I should blamed be; Were I as fair as jolie Absalom,

I am na causer of that great beautie. This difference in form and qualitie Almighty God hath caused Dame Natúre To print, and set in every creature.

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"Of some the face may be full flourishing; Of silken tongue and cheer richt amorous; With mind inconstant, false, and varying, With tricky ways, and full of sly deceit." "Leave preaching," quoth the Mouse, who longed to eat,

"And by what craft, now mak me understand, You mean to bear me unto yonder land!"

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Then up she gazed, and to the heavens gan cry: "O Jupiter! of Nature, god and king,

I mak an aith truly to thee, that I

This little Mouse shall o'er this water bring." This aith was made. The Mouse not pérceiving

The false device of this foul trickster Taid,24 97 Tuik threid, and bound her leg, as she her bade.

Then foot for foot they leapt baith in the brim; But in their minds they were quite different: The Mouse thought of na thing but for to swim, The Paddock for to drown25 set her intent. When they had gained mid-stream, as on they went,

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With all her force the Paddock pressed down, And thought the Mouse without mercíe to drown.

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23 Apparently an oath by which a person solemnly binds himself not to murder or injure another, or deceive him to his hurt.

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Perceiving this, the Mouse on her gan cry:

"Traitor to God, and man-sworn unto me, Thou swore the murther-aith right now, that I Sans force or harm should ferried be and free!"

And when she saw there was but do or dee, 110 With all her micht she forced her to swim And struggled on the Paddock's back to clim.26

The dread of death then made her strength increase;

Forced her to save herself with micht and main.

The Mouse upward, the Paddock down gan preis;27

Now to, now fra, now duck, now up again. 116 This silly Mouse thus plunged in great pain, So fought as lang as breath was in her breist, Till at the last she cryed for a priest.

As thus she sighed, a Gled28 perched on a bough,

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And to this wretched battle tuik guid heid,29 And with a whisk, ere either one knew how, He clutched his claw between them in the threid;

Then to the land he bore them with guid speed,

Glad of his prize, which shrieked for fear of skaith,

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Then loosed he them, and ruthless slew them baith.

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THE DANCE OF THE SEVEN DEADLY
SINS

Of Februar the fifteenth nicht,
Full lang before the dayės licht,

I lay in-till a trance;

And then I saw baith Heaven and Hell;
Methocht, amang the fiendės fell,

Mahoun' gan cry ane dance

Of sinners that were never shriven,
Against the feast of Fastern's even,
To mak their observánce.

4 Short time.

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The sense is, For (i. e. because) the world's trash, refuse (wrack), without ("but") spiritual well-being (welfare) avails nothing. 5 Have. • Care. 7 The passage is thus paraphrased by Hailes:"What riches give us, let us then explore; Meat, drink, and clothes; what else? a sight of more." 8 Scroll.

1 Mahomet, here the devil. In the Middle Ages, Mahomet and other false prophets were confused or identified with Satan.

2 Fastens or fastings even, Shrove Tuesday, the evening preceding the fast of Lent. It was a season of riotous festivity.

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