Lord leige and Lordis have in remembraunce
Lord of all is the blissfull Trinite,
Of whofe vertue the mightie habundaunce
You herten and strengthen in faithfull unite.
Eight goodly Questions with their Answers *.
SOMETIME in Grece, that noble region,
There were eight clerkis of full grete science,
Philofophers of notable difcrecion,
Of whom was asked, to provin their prudence,
Eight Questions of derke intelligence,
To which they answered after their entent,
As here doth appere plaine and evident.
The first question was, What erthly thing
Is beft and unto God moft commendable?
The first clerke anfwered without tarying,
A mann'is foule ever firme and ftable
In right, [and] from the trouth not variable;
But now alas! full fore may we wepe,
For covetife hath broughte trouth asleepe.
The fecond, What thing is most odious?
A double mari, fayed the philofopher,
With virgine face and a taile venomous,
With a fair view and a falfe profer,
A corrupt carien in a golden tree.
* Septem Sapientum Sententiæ apud Aufon.
Bias Prieneus.
Quænam fumma boni? Mens quæ fibi confcia recti.
Pernicies homini quæ maxima? Solus homo alter.
Quis dives? Qui nil cupiat. Quis pauper? Avarus.
Quæ dos matronæ pulcherrima? Vita pudica.
Quæ cafta eft? De qua mentiri fama veretur.
Quod prudentis opus? Quem poffit, nolle nocere,
Qiud fulti proprium? Non poffe, et velle nocere.
It is a monster in natures linage
One man to havin a double vitage.
The third, [question] What is the beste dower
'That may be to a wife appropriate?
A clene life, was the clerkis answer,
Without finne, all chafte, and inviolate,
From all deceits and fpeches inornate,
Or countenaunce which fhall be to difpife:
No fire make, and then no fmoke woll arife.
The fourth question, [was] What maiden may
Be called clene in chastitie?
The fourthe clerke anfwered, Which alway
Every creature is afhamde on to lie,
Of whom men reporten great honeftie.
Good maidens kepe youre chastitie forth,
And remember that good name is gold worth."
[The fifth] Who' is a pore man ever full of wo?
A covetous man which is a nigon,
He that in his herte can never fay ho;
The more gode the leffe diftribution;
'The richer the worfe of condition:
Men in this coaft clepen him a niggard,
[And] Sir Guy the bribour is his steward.
[The fixth] Which is a rich man without fraud?
He that canne to his gode fuffife;
Whatever he hath he yeveth God the laud,
And kepeth him clene from all covetife;
He defires nothing in ungodly wife;
His body is here, his mind is above;
Who is a foole? is the feventh demand;
He that wolde hurt and hath no powere;
Might he mickell much wolde he command;
His malice grete, his might nought were;
He threteth full faft, full little may he dere:
He thinketh not how men have fayed beforne
God fendeth a fhreude cowe a short horne.
Who is a wife man? is the eight question;
He that might uoye and doth no annoiance,
Might punith and leaveth puniffion;
A man mercifull without vengeaunce:
A wife man puttith in rememberaunce
[This] faying, Had I venged all mine harme
My cloke had not been furrid halfe fo warme.
Chaucer's Prophecie*.
WHEN faith faylith in priest'is fawes,
And lordis heftes are holde for lawes,
And robberie is holde purchace,
And lecherie is holde folace,
Then fhall the lond of Albion
Be brought to great confufion.
Ir falleth for a gentleman
To fay the beft that he can
Alwaies in mann'is abfence,
And the footh in his prefence.
It commeth by kind of gentil blood
To caft away all hevineffe
And gather togither wordis good;
The werke of wifdome beareth witneffe.
So this flanza is entitled in a book in the Athmolean mu
feum, NO 6986, 791, p. 162.
The Reader to Geffrey Chaucer, prefixed to Speght's edit. of 1602.
WHERE haft thou dwelt, good Geffrey, all this while Unknown to us, fave only by thy bookes?
́CH. In haulks and hearnes, God wot! and in exile, Where none vouchfaft to yeeld me words or lookes, 'Till one which faw me there, and knew my friends, Did bring me forth: fuch grace fometime God fends. 6 READ. But who is he that hath thy bookes repair'd, And added moe, whereby thou art more graced?
CH. The felfe fame man who hath no labor spar'd To helpe what time and writers had defaced, And made old words, which were unknown of many, So plaine that now they may be known of any.
READ. Well fare his heart: I love him for thy fake, Who for thy fake hath taken all this pains. CH.Would God I knew fome means amends to make, That for his toile he might receive fome gains. But wot ye what? I know his kindnelle fuch That for my good he thinks no pains too much.
Upon the picture of Chaucer, prefixed to Speght's edit. of
WHAT Pallas' citie owes the heav'nly mind
Of prudent Socrates, wife Grecce's gloric,
What fame Arpinas fpreadingly doth find
By Tullie's eloquense and oratorie,
What lafting praife fharpe witted Italie
By Taffo's and by Petrarke's penne obtained,
What fame Bartas unto proud France hath gained,
By Seven Daies world poetically strained;
What high renoune is purchas'd unto Spaine,
Which fresh Dianaés verfes do diftilt,
What praise our neighbour Scotland doth retaine
By Gawine Douglas in his Virgill quill,
Or other motions by fweet poets skill,
The fame, and more, faire England challenge may By that rare wit and art thou doeft difplay In verse, which doth Apollocs Mufe bewray: (Then Chaucer live, for ftill thy verse shall live 'T" unborne poets, which life and light will give. 18
See Teftimonies of learned men concerning Chaucer and his Works, vol. xiii.
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