the course of certayne thinges: why suffreth he suche
slydinge chaunges, that misturnen suche noble thinges as ben we
men, that arn a fayr parcel of the erthe, and holden the upperest
degree, under god, of benigne thinges, as ye sayden right now
your-selfe; shulde never man have ben set in so worthy a place
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but-if his degrè were ordayned noble. Alas! thou that knittest
the purveyaunce of al thinges, why lokest thou not to amenden
these defautes? I see shrewes that han wicked maners sitten in
chayres of domes, lambes to punisshen, there wolves shulden ben
punisshed. Lo! vertue, shynende naturelly, for povertee lurketh,
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and is hid under cloude; but the moone false, forsworn (as
I knowe my-selfe) for aver and yeftes, hath usurped to shyne by
day-light, with peynture of other mens praysinges; and trewly,
thilke forged light fouly shulde fade, were the trouth away of
colours feyned. Thus is night turned in-to day, and day in-to
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night; winter in-to sommer, and sommer in-to winter; not in
dede, but in misclepinge of foliche people.'
'Now,' quod she, 'what wenest thou of these thinges? How
felest thou in thyn hert, by what governaunce that this cometh
aboute?'
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'Certes,' quod I, 'that wot I never; but-if it be that Fortune
hath graunt from above, to lede the ende of man as her lyketh.'
'Ah! now I see,' quod she, 'th'entent of thy mening! Lo,
bycause thy worldly goodes ben fulliche dispent, thou beraft out
of dignitè of office, in whiche thou madest the †gaderinge of thilke
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goodes, and yet diddest in that office by counsaile of wyse [before
that] any thing were ended; and true were unto hem whos profit
thou shuldest loke; and seest now many that in thilke hervest
made of thee mokel, and now, for glosing of other, deyneth thee
nought to forther, but enhaunsen false shrewes by witnessinge of
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trouthe! These thinges greveth thyn herte, to sene thy-selfe thus
abated; and than, frayltè of mankynde ne setteth but litel by the
lesers of suche richesse, have he never so moche vertue; and so
thou wenest of thy jewel to renne in dispyt, and not ben accepted
in-to grace. Al this shal thee nothing hinder. Now (quod she)
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first thou wost wel, thou lostest nothing that ever mightest thou
chalenge for thyn owne. Whan nature brought thee forth, come
thou not naked out of thy †moders wombe? Thou haddest no
richesse; and whan thou shalt entre in-to the ende of every
flesshly body, what shalt thou have with thee than? So, every
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richesse thou hast in tyme of thy livinge, nis but lent; thou
might therin chalenge no propertee. And see now; every thing
that is a mannes own, he may do therwith what him lyketh, to
yeve or to kepe; bul richesse thou playnest from thee lost; if thy
might had strecched so ferforth, fayn thou woldest have hem kept,
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multiplyed with mo other; and so, ayenst thy wil, ben they departed
from thee; wherfore they were never thyn. And if thou laudest
and joyest any wight, for he is stuffed with suche maner richesse,
thou art in that beleve begyled; for thou wenest thilke joye to be
selinesse or els ese; and he that hath lost suche happes to ben
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unsely.'
'Ye, forsoth,' quod I.
'Wel,' quod she, 'than wol I prove that unsely in that wise is
to preise; and so the tother is, the contrary, to be lacked.'
'How so?' quod I.
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'For Unsely,' quod she, 'begyleth nat, but sheweth th'entent
of her working. Et e contra: Selinesse begyleth. For in prosperitè
she maketh a jape in blyndnesse; that is, she wyndeth him to
make sorowe whan she withdraweth. Wolt thou nat (quod she)
preise him better that sheweth to thee his herte, tho[ugh] it be
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with bytande wordes and dispitous, than him that gloseth and
thinketh in †his absence to do thee many harmes?'
'Certes,' quod I, 'the oon is to commende; and the other to
lacke and dispice.'
'A! ha!' quod she, 'right so Ese, while †she lasteth, gloseth
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and flatereth; and lightly voydeth whan she most plesauntly
sheweth; and ever, in hir absence, she is aboute to do thee tene
and sorowe in herte. But Unsely, al-be-it with bytande chere,
sheweth what she is, and so doth not that other; wherfore
Unsely
