Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	worship_n	worship_v	worthy_a	35	3	6.6890	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32749	The works of our ancient, learned, & excellent English poet, Jeffrey Chaucer as they have lately been compar'd with the best manuscripts, and several things added, never before in print : to which is adjoyn'd The story of the siege of Thebes, by John Lidgate ... : together with The life of Chaucer, shewing his countrey, parentage, education, marriage, children, revenues, service, reward, friends, books, death : also a table, wherein the old and obscure words in Chaucer are explained, and such words ... that either are, by nature or derivation, Arabick, Greek, Latine, Italian, French, Dutch, or Saxon, mark'd with particular notes for the better understanding of their original.; Works. 1687	Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.; Speght, Thomas, fl. 1600.; Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451? Siege of Thebes.	1687 (1687)	Wing C3736; ESTC R3920	1,295,535	731

Moone nothing in kind shew their shining as they should For the Sunne made no brenning heat in loue but fresed enuy in mens hearts for feeblenes of shining heat and the Moone was about vnder an old cloud the liuings by waters to destroy Lady qd I it is supposed they had shined as they should Ye qd she but now it is prooued at the full their beauty in kindly shining failed wherefore dignity of himseluen hath no beauty in fairenesse ne driueth not away vices but encreaseth and so be they no cause of the knot Now see in good truth hold ye not such sonnes woorthy of no reuerence and dignities woorthy of no worship that maketh men to do the more harms I not qd I. No qd she and thou see a wise good man for his goodnesse and wisenesse wolt thou not do him worship Thereof he is worthy That is good skill qd I it is due to such both reuerence and worship to haue Then qd she a shrew for his shreudnesse altho he be put forth toforne other for ferde yet is he worthy for shreudnesse to be vnworshipped of reuerence no part is he worthy to haue to contrarious doing belongeth and that is good skill For right as he besmiteth the dignities thilk same thing ayenward him smiteth or els should smite And ouer this thou wost well qd she that fire in euery place heateth where it be and water maketh wet Why For kindly werking is so yput in hem to do such things for euery kindly in werking sheweth his kind But though a wight had been Maior of your city many Winter together come in a strange place there he were not known he should for his dignity haue no reuerence Then neither worship ne reuerence is kindly proper in no dignity sithen they shoulden done their kind in such doing if any were And if reuerence ne worship kindly be not sette in dignities and they more therein been shewed than goodnesse for that in dignity is shewed but it prooueth that goodnesse kindly in hem is not grounded Iwis neither worship ne reuerence ne goodnesse in dignity done none office of kind for they haue none such property in nature of doing but by false opinion of the people Lo how sometime thilk that in your City wern in dignity noble if thou list hem nempne they been now ouertourned both in worship in name and in reuerence wherefore such dignities haue no kindely ●er●hing of worship and of reuerence he that hath no worthynesse on it self Now it riseth and now it vanisheth after the variaunt opinion in false heartes of vnstable people Wherfore if thou desire y● knot of this jewel or els if thou wouldest suppose she should set the knot on thee for such manner of dignity then thou wenest beauty or goodnesse of the ilk somewhat encreaseth the goodnesse or vertue in the body but dignity of hemself ben not good ne yeuen reuerence ne worship by their own kind how should they then yeue to any other a thing that by no way mowe they haue hemself It is seen in dignity of the Emperor and of many mo other that they mowe not of hemselue keep their worship ne their reuerence that in a little while it is now vp and now down by vnstedfast hearts of the people What bounty mow they yeue that with cloud lightly leaueth his shining Certes to the occupier is mokell apeired sithen such doing doth villany to him that may it not maintain wherefore thilk way to the knot is crooked and if any desire to come to the knot he must leaue this way on his left side or els shall he neuer come there AVaileth aught qd she power of might in maintenaunce of woorthy to come to this knot Parde qd I ye for herts ben rauished from such manner things Certes qd she though a fooles hearte is with thing rauished yet therefore is no generall cause of the powers ne of a siker parfite heart to be looked after Was not Nero the most shrew one of thilk that men rede and yet had he power to make Senators Iustices and Princes of many lands Was not that great power Yes certes qd I. Well qd she yet might he not help himself out of disease when he gan fall How many ensamples canst thou remember of kings great and noble and huge power holden and yet they might not keep hemselue from wretchednesse How wretched was king Henry Curtmantill ere he died He had not so much as to couer with his members and yet was he one of the greatest kings of all the Normands offspring and most possession had O a noble thing and clear is power that is not founden mighty to keep himself Now truly a great fool is he that for such thing would set the knot in thine heart Also power of realms is not thilk greatest power amongs the worldly powers reckened And if such powers han wretchednesse in hemself it followeth other powers of feebler condition to been wretched and then that wretchednesse should ben cause of such a knot But euery wight that hath reason wote well that wretchednesse by no way may been cause of none such knot wherefore such power is no cause That powers haue wretchednesse in hemself may right lightly been preued If power lacke on any side on that side is no power but no power is wretchednesse for all be it so y● power of emperors or kings or els of their realms which is the power of the Prince stretchen wide broad yet besides is there mokel folke of which he hath no commandement ne lordship and there as lacketh his power his nonpower entreth where vnder springeth y● maketh hem wretches No power is wretchednesse and nothing els but in this maner hath kings more portion of wretchednesse than of power Truly such powers been vnmighty foreuer they ben in drede how thilke power from lesing may be keeped of sorrow so drede sorrily pricks euer in their herts Little is that power whych careth and feardeth it selfe to maintaine Vnmighty is y● wretchednesse which is entered by y● feardfull wening of the wretch himself and knot ymaked by wretchednesse is betweene wretches wretches all thynge bewaylen wherefore the knotte should be bewayled and there is no such parfite blisse that we supposed at the ginning Ergo power in nothyng should cause such knottes Wretchednesse is a kyndely property in such power as by way of drede which they mowe not eschew ne by no way liue in sikernesse For thou wost well qd she hee is nought mightye that woulde done that hee may not done ne perfourme Therefore qd I these kings and lords that han suffisaunte at the full of men and other things mowen well ben holden nughty their commaundements been done it is neuer more denied Fool qd she or he wot himself mighty or wote it not * For he is nought mighty that is blind of his might wote it not That is footh qd I Then if he wote it he must

his owne authoritee * For loue is blind all day and may not see And when that he was in his bed ybrought He puttreid in his heart and in his thought Her fresh beauty and her age so tender Her middle small her armes long slender Her wise gouernance and her gentlenesse Her womanly bearing and her sadnesse And when he was on her condiscended Him thouȝt his choise might not ben amended For when that he himself concluded had Him thought ech other mens wit so bad That impossible it were to replie Ayenst his choice this was his fantasie His friends sent he to at his instaunce And prayeth hem to done him that pleasaunce That hastily they would to him come He would bredgen her labour all and some Needeth no more for him to go ne ride He was appointed there he would abide Placebo came and eke his friends soone And alder first he bad hem all a boone That none of hem none arguments make Ayenst his purpose that he hath ytake Which purpose was pleasant to God said he And very ground of his prosperite He said there was a maiden in the toune Which for her beautie hath great renoune All were it so she were of small degre Sufficeth him her youth and her beautie Which maid he said he would haue to wife To liuen in ease and holinesse of life And thanked God that he might hauen her all And that no wight his blisse parten shall And praieth hem to labour in this need And shapeth that he faile not to speed For then he saied his spirit was at ease Then is qd he nothing may me displease Saue o thing pricketh in my conscience The which I woll rehearse in your presence * I haue qd he heard say full yore ago There may no man haue perfite blisses two This is to say in yearth and eke in heauen For though he kept him fro the sinnes seuen And eke from euery braunch of thilke tree Yet is there so perfit prosperitee And so great ease and lust in mariage That euer I am agast now in mine age That I shall lead now so mery a life So delicate without wo or strife That I shall haue mine heauen in earth here For sithen very heauen is bought so deere With tribulation and great penaunce How should I then liuing in such pleasaunce As all wedded men doen with there wiues Come to that blisse ther Christ eterne on liue is This is my drede and ye my brethren tweie Assoileth me this question I you preie Iustinus which that hated his folly Answerd anon right in his yaperie And for he would his long tale abrege He would non authoritie allege But saied sir so there he non obstacle Other than this God of his hie miracle And of his mercy may so for you werch That er ye han your rights of holy cherch Ye may repent of a wedded mans life In which ye sain is neither wo ne strife * And els God forbid but if he sent A wedded man grace him to repent Well after rather than a single man And therefore sir the best rede that I can Despeireth you not but haue in memory * Parauenture she may be your purgatory She may be Gods meane and Gods whip Then shall your soule vp to heauen skip Swifter than doth an arrow out of a bow I hope to God hereafter ye shall know That there nis none so great felicite In mariage ne neuer none shall be That you shall let of your saluation So that ye vse as skil is and reason The lusts of your wife attemperatly And that ye please her nat too amorously And that ye keep you eke from other sin My tale is done for my wit is thin Beth not agast hereof my deare brother But wade we fro this matter to another The wife of Bathe if ye vnderstand Of mariage which ye now haue in hand Declareth full well in a litle space Fareth now well God haue you in his grace And with this word Iustine his brother Han take her leaue and ech of them of other For whan they saw that it must needs be They wrought so by wise and slie treate That she this faire maide which May did hight As hastily as euer that she might Shall wedded be to this Ianuary I trow it were too long to you to tary If I you told of euery escrite and bond By which she was feossed in his lond Or for to herken of her rich aray But finally icomen is the day That to the cherch both tway ben they went For to receiue the holy Sacrament Forth cometh the priest with stole about his necke And bad her be like Sara and Rebeck In wisedome and truth of marriage And saied his orisons as is the vsage And crouched hem bad God shuld hem bles And made all seker inow with holines Thus been they wedded with solemnitie And at feast sitteth both he and she With other worthy folke vpon the deies All full of joy and blisse is the palaies And full of instruments and of vittaile And that the most deintiest of all Itaile Beforne him stood instruments of such soun That Orpheus ne of Thebes Amphion Ne made neuer such a melodie At euery course came loude ministralcie That neuer Ioab tromped for to here Neither Theodomas yet halfe so clere At Thebes whan the city was in dout Bacchus the wine hem skinketh all about And Venus laugheth on euery wight For Ianuarie was become her knight And would now both assain his corage In liberte and eke in mariage And with her firebrond in her hond about Daunceth before the bride all the rout And certainly I dare well say right this Emenius that God of wedding is Saw neuer so mery a wedded man Hold thou thy peace thou poet Marcian That writest vs that ilke wedding mery Of Philologie and him Mercurie And of the songs that the Muses song Too small is both thy pen eke thy tongue For to discriuen of this marriage Whan tender youth hath wedded stooping age There is such mirth it may not be written Assaieth your self than may ye witten If that I lie or non in this matere May she sit with so benigne a chere That her to behold it seemed a feire Queen Hester looked neuer with such an eie On Assuere so meeke a looke hath she I may you not deuise all her beautie But thus much of her beautie tell I may That she was like the bright morow of May Fulfilde of all beautie and of plesaunce This Ianuarie is rauished in a traunce And at euery time he looked in her face But in his heart he gan her to manace That he that night in his arms would her strein Harder than euer Paris did Helein But natheles yet had he great pittie That thilke night offenden her must he And thought alas O tender creature Now would God ye might well endure All my corage it is so sharpe and kene I am agast ye

for me L'amant. Ones must it be assayed that is no nay With such as be of reputation And of true love the right honour to pay Of free harts gotten by due raunsome For free will holdeth this opinion That it is great dutesse and discomfort To keepe a hert in so strait a prison That hath but one body for his disport La dame I know so many causes marvelous That I must need of reason thinke certaine That such aventure is wonder perillous And yet well more y● comming back againe Good or worship thereof is seldome seene Where I ne will make any such array * As for to find a pleasaunce but barraine When it shall cost so dere the first assay L'amant. Ye have no cause to doubt of this matter Nor you to meue with no such fantasie To put me farre all out as a straunger For your goodnesse can thinke well advise That I have made aprise in every wise By which my truth sheweth open evidence My long abiding and my true service May well be knowen by plaine experience La dame Of very right he may be called true And so must he be take in every place That can discerne and let as he ne knew And keepe the good if he it may purchase * For who y● prayeth or swereth in any cace Right well ye wote in y● no trouth is preved Soch hath there ben are that getten grace And lese it sone when they have it acheved L'amant. If truthe me cause by vertue soverain To shewe good love and alway find contrary And cherish y● which steeth me with the pain This is to me a lovely adversary When that pity which long on sleep doth ●ary Hath set the fine of all my hevinesse Yet her comfort to me most necessary Shall set my will more sure in stablenesse La dame The wofull wight with may he think or say The contrary of all joy gladnesse A sicke body his thought is alway From him that felen no sore nor sicknesse Thus hurtes been of divers businesse Which love hath put to great hindraunce And truth also put in forgetfulnesse When they full sore begin to sigh askaunce L'amant. Now God defend but he be harmelesse Of all worship or good that may befall That to werst tourneth by his leudnesse A gift of grace or any thing at all That his Lady vouchsafe vpon him call Or cherisheth him in honourable wise In that defaute what ever he be that fall Deserveth more than death to suffre twise La dame There is no judge yset on soch trespace By which of right love may recovered be One curseth fast another doth manace Yet dyeth none as farre as I can see But kepe her course alway in one degree And ever more her labour doth encrease To bring Ladies by their great subteltee For others gilte in sorow and disease L'amant. All be it so one doth so great offence And is not dedde nor put to no justice Right well I wote him gayneth no defence But he must end in full mischevous wise And all ever said God will him dispise For falshed is full of cursednesse That his worship may never have enterprise Where it reigneth and hath the wilfulnesse La dame Of that have they no great fere now adaise Soch as will say and maintain it thereto That stedfast truth is nothing for to praise In hem that kepe it long in wele or wo Their busie herts passen to and fro They be so well reclaimed to the lure So well learned hem to withhold also And al to chaunge when love should best endure L'amant. When one hath set his hert in stable wise In such a place as is both good and true He should not flit but doe forth his service Alway withouten chaunge of any newe As soone as love beginneth to remewe All pleasaunce gothe anone in little space As for my party that shall I eschue While the soule abideth in his place La dame To love truely there as it ought of right Ye may not be mistaken doubtlesse But ye be foule disceived in your sight By light vnderstanding as I gesse Yet may ye well repele your businesse And to reason have some attendaunce Moch better than to abide by folie simplenesse The feble soccour of disperaunce L'amant. Reason counsaile wisedome good advise Been vnder love arested everichone To which I can accorde in every wise For they been not rebell but still as a stone Their will and mine be medled all in one And therwith bounden with so strong a chain That as in hem departing shall be none But pity breake the mighty bonde atwaine La dame Ye love not your selfe what ever ye bee That in love stand subject in every place And of your wo if ye have no pitee Others pitee bileve you not to purchace But be fully assured as in this cace I am alway vnder one ordinaunce To have better trust not after grace And all that leveth take to your pleasaunce L'amant. I have my hope so sure and so stedfast That such a Lady should not lacke pity But now alas it is shyt vp so fast That daunger sheweth on me his cruelty And if she see the vertue fayle in me Of true service though she doe faile also No wonder were but this is my surete I must suffre which way that ever it go La dame Leave this purpose I rede you for y● best For the lenger ye kepe it is in vaine The lesse ye get as of your hertes rest And to rejoyce it shall you never attaine When ye abide good hope to make you faine Ye shall be found asotted in dotage And in the end ye shall know for certaine Hope shall pay the wretches for her wage L'amant. Ye say as falleth most for your pleasaunce And your power is great all this I see But hope shall never out of my remembraunce By which I fele so great adversitee * For when nature hath set in you plentee Of all goodnesse by vertue and by grace He never assembled hem as seemed mee To put pity out of his dwellyng place La dame Pity of right ought to be reasonable And to no wight do no great disavauntage There as is nede it should be profitable And to the pitous shewing no domage * If a Lady will doe so great outrage To shew pity and cause her owne debate Of soch pity commeth dispitous rage And of soch love also right deadly hate L'amant. To comfort hem that live all comfortlesse That is no harm but comfort to your name But ye that have a hert of soch duresse And a faire Lady I must affirme the same If I durst say ye winne all this defame By cruelty which sitteth you full ill But if pity which may all this attain In your high herte may rest and tary still La dame What ever he be that saith he loveth me And paraventure I leve well it be so Ought he be wrothe or should I blamed be Though I did

mokell werking vertues enpight as me seemeth in none other creature that euer saw I with mine eyen My disciple qd she me wondereth of thy words and on thee that for a little disease hast foryetten my name Wost thou not well that I am Loue that first thee brought to thy seruice O good Lady qd I is this worship to thee or to thyne excellence for to come into so foule a place Parde sometime tho I was in prosperitie and with forraine goods enuolued I had mokell to doen to drawe thee to mine hostell and yet many wernings thou madest ere thou lift fully to graunt thine home to make at my dwelling place and now thou commest goodly by thine owne vise to comfort me with wordes and so there through I ginne remember on passed gladnesse Truly lady I ne wote whether I shall say welcome or none sithen thy comming woll as much do mee tene and sorrow as gladnesse and mirth see why For that me comforteth to thinke on passed gladnesse that me anoyeth eft to be in doing thus thy comming both gladdeth and teneth and that is cause of much sorrow lo lady howe then I am comforted by your comming and with that I gan in tears is distill and tenderly weepe Now certes qd Loue I see well and that me overthinketh that wit in thee fayleth and art in point to dote Truly qd I that have ye maked and that ever will I rue Wotest thou not wel qd she that every sheepheard ought by reason to seeke his sperkeland sheepe that arne ron into wildernesse among bushes and perils and hem to their pasture ayen bryng and take of hem privie busie cure and keepping And tho the unconning Sheep scattered would been lost renning to wildernesse and to deserts draw or els woulden put himself to the swallowing Wolfe yet shall the shepheard by businesse and trauaile so put him forth that he shall not let him be lost by no way * A good sheepheard putteth rather his life to be lost for his sheepe But for thou shalt not wene me being of werse condicion truly for everiche of my folk and for all tho that to me ward be knit in any condicion I woll rather die than suffer hem through errour to been spilt For me list and it me liketh of all mine a Shepheardesse to be cleaped Wost thou not well I failed never wight but he me refused and would negligently go with unkindnesse And yet parde have I many such holpe and releved and they have oft me beguiled but ever at the end it discended in their own necks Hast thou not radde how kind I was to Paris Priamus son of Troy How Iason me falsed for all his fals behest How Sesars sonke I left it for no tene till he was troned in my blisse for his service What qd she most of all maked I not a love day betweene God and mankinde and chese a maid to be nompere to put the quarell at end Lo how I have travailed to haue thanke on all sides and yet list me not to rest and I might find on whom I should werche But truly mine own disciple because I have thee found at all assayes in thy will to be ready mine hestes to have followed and hast ben true to that Margarite Pearle that ones I thee shewed and she alway ayenward hath made but daungerous chear I am come in proper persone to put thee out of errours and make thee glad by wayes of reason so that sorrow ne disease shall no more hereafter thee amaistrie Wherethrough I hope thou shalt lightly come to the grace that thou long hast desired of thilke Iewel Hast thou not heard many ensamples how I have comforted and releeved the schollers of my lore Who hath worthied Kings in the field Who hath honoured Ladies in houre by a perpetuall mirror of their truth in my service Who hath caused worthy folke to void vice and shame Who hath hold cities and realms in prosperity If thee lift cleape ayen thine olde remembraunce thou coudest every poynt of this declare in especiall and say that I thy maistres have be cause causing these things and many mo other Now iwis madame qd I all these thyngs I know well my selfe and that thyne excellence passeth the understanding of us beasts and that no mannes wit yearthly may comprehend thy vertues Well then qd she for I see thee in disease and sorrow I wote well thou art one of mine nories I may not suffer thee so to make sorrow thine owne selfe to shend but I my self come to be thy fere thine heavy charge to make to seem the lesse for wo is him that is alone * And to the sorry to been moned by a sorrowful wight it is great gladnesse Right so with my sick friendes I am sick and with sorry I cannot els but sorrow make till when I have hem releeved in such wise that gladnesse in a maner of counterpaising shall restore as mokell in joy as the passed heavinesse beforn did in tene And also qd she when any of my servaunts been alone in solitary place I have yet ever busied me to be with hem in comfort of their hearts and taught hem to make songs of plaint and of blisse and to enditen letters of Rhethorike in queint understandings and to bethinke hem in what wise they might best their Ladies in good service please and also to learn maner in countenaunce in words and in bearing and to ben meek and lowly to every wight his name and fame to encrease and to yeue great yefts and large that his renome may springen but thee thereof have I excused for thy losse and great costages wherethrough thou art needy arne nothing to me unknowen but I hope to God somtime it shall been amended as thus as I saied In norture have I taught all mine and in courtesie made hem expert their Ladies hearts to winne and if any would endeynous or proud or be envious or of wretches acquaintaunce hasteliche have such voided out of my schoole for all vices truly I hate vertues and worthinesse in all my power I auaunce Ah worthy creature qd I and by juste cause the name of goddesse dignely ye mowe beat in thee lithe the grace through which any creature in this worlde hath any goodnesse truly all manner of blisse and preciousnesse in vertue out of thee springen and wellen as brookes and rivers procceden from their springs and like as all waters by kind drawen to the sea so all kindly thinges threst●● by full appetite of desire to drawe after thy steppes and to thy presence approch as to their kindely perfection howe dare then beasts in this world aught forfete ayenst thy Divine purueighaunce Also lady ye knowen all the privy thoughtes in heartes no counsayle may been hidde from your knowynge Wherefore I wate well Lady that ye knowe your selfe that I in my conscience am and have been willyng to your service all coud I never doe as I

and yet no man should wite who that were And thus it seemeth that the most part of freers bin or should be liars in this point and they should answere thereto If you say that another order of the freers is better than thine or as good why tooke ye not rather thereto as to the better when thou mightst haue chose at the beginning And eke why shouldst thou be an apostata to leaue thine order and take thee to that is better and so why goest thou not from thine order into that Freer is there any perfecter rule of religion than Christ Godds sonne gaue in his gospel to his brethren Or than that religion that S. Iames in his epistle maketh mention of If you say yes then puttest thou on Christ that is the wisedome of God the father vnkunning vnpower or euill will for then he could not make his rule so good as an other did his And so he had be vnkunning that he might not so make his rule so good as an other man might and so were he vnmighty and not God as he would not make his rule so perfect as an other did his and so he had bin euill willed namely to himselfe For if he might and could and would haue made a rule perfect without default and did not he was not Gods sonne almighty For if any other rule be perfecter than Christes then must Christes rule lacke of that perfection by as much as the other weren more perfecter and so were default and Christ had failed in making of his rule but to put any default or failing in God is blasphemie If thou say that Christes rule and that religion which S. Iames maketh mention of is perfectest why holdest thou not thilke rule without more And why clepest thou the rather of S. Francis or S. Dominiks rule or religion or order than of Christes rule or Christes order Freer canst thou any default or assigne in Christes rule of the gospell with the which he taught all men likerly to be saued if they kept it to her ending If thou say it was too hard then saiest thou Christ lied for he said of his rule My yoke is soft and my burden light If thou say Christes rule was too light that may be assigned for no default for the better it may be kept If thou saist that there is no default in Christes rule of the Gospell sith Christ himself saith it is light and easie what need was it to patrons of freers to adde more thereto and so to make an harder religion to saue freers than was the religion of Christes apostles and his disciples helden and were saued by But if they woulden that her freers saten aboue the apostles in heauen for the harder religion that they keepen here so would they sitten in heauen aboue Christ himselfe for their more and strict obseruations then so should they be better than Christ himself with mischance Go now foorth and fraine your clerks and ground ye you in Gods law and gif Iacke an answer and when ye han assoiled me that I haue said sadly in truth I shall soile thee of thine orders and saue thee to heauen If freers kun not or mow not excuse hem of these questions asked of hem it seemeth that they be horrible gilty against God and hir euen christian for which gilts and defaults it were worthy that the order that they call their order were fordone And it is woonder that men susteine hem or suffer hir liue in such maner For holy write biddeth that thou do well to the meeke and giue not to the wicked but forbed to giue hem bread least they be made thereby mightier through you Chaucer's Words unto his own Scrivener ADam Scriuener if euer it thee befall Boece or Troiles for to write new Vnder thy long locks thou maist haue the scall But after my making thou write more trew So oft a day I mote thy werke renew It to correct and eke to rubbe and scrape And all is thorow thy negligence and rape Et sic est finis Thus Endeth the Works of Geffrey Chaucer THE Story of THEBES Compiled by John Lidgate Monk of Bury The Prologue to the Story of THEBES WHen bright Phebus passed was the Ram Midde of Aprill and into the Bull came And Saturne old with his frosty face In Virgine taken had his place Melancolike and slough of motion And was also in the opposition Of Lucina the Moone moist and pale That many shoure fro heauen made auaile When Aurora was in the morrow redde And Iupiter in the Crabs hedde Hath take his paleis and his mansion The lusty time and joly fresh season When that Flora the noble mighty queene The so●le hath clad in new tender greene With her floures craftely meint Braunch bough with red white depeint Fleeting the Baume on hils and on vales The time in sooth when Canterbury tales Complet and told at many a sundry stage Of estates in the pilgrimage Eueriche man like to his degree Some of disport some of moralitie Some of knighthood loue and gentillesse And some also of parfite holinesse And some also in sooth of ribaudry To make laughter in the company Ech admitted for none would other greue Like as the Cooke the Miller and the Reue Aquite hemselfe shortly to conclude Boistously in her tearmes rude When they hadden well dronken of the boll And eke also with his pilled noll The Pardoner beardlesse all his chin Glasie eyes and face of Cherubin Telling a tale to anger with the Frere As openly the story can you lere Word by word with euery circumstance Echone ywrit and put in remembrance By him that was if I shall not faine Floure of Poetes throughout all Bretaine Which soothly had most of excellence In Rhetorike and in eloquence Rede his making who list the trouth find Which neuer shall appallen in my mind But alway fresh been in mine memory To whom be youe prise honour and glory Of well seeing first in our language Cheef Registrer in this pilgrimage All that was told foryeting nought at all Feined tales nor thing historiall With many Prouerbes diuers and vncouth By rehearsaile of his sugred mouth Of ech thing keeping in substaunce The sentence hole without variaunce Voiding the chaffe soothly for to saine Enlumining the true piked greine By crafty writing of his sawes swete Fro the time that they did mete First the Pilgrimes soothly euerychone At Tabarde assembled one by one And fro Southwerke soothly for to sey To Canterbury riding on her wey Telling a tale as I rehearse can Liche as the host assigned euery man None so hardy his bidding disobey And thus while that the pilgrimes ley At Canterbury well lodged one and all I not in sooth what I may it call Hap or Fortune in conclusioun That me befell to enter into the toun The holy saint plainely to visite After my sickenesse vowes to acquite In a Cope of blacke and not of grene On a palfray