[
{"content": "Here begins the book called The Example of Virtue.\n\nPrologue.\nHow Youth met Discretion in a meadow in his dream and was reformed by her proverbs\n\nca. i.\n\nHow Youth, with Discretion, sailed over the dangerous passage of vain glory and arrived at a fair Isle longing for four ladies named Hardiness, Sapience, Fortune, and Nature.\n\nca. ii.\n\nOf the marvelous palaces of Fortune\n\nca. iii.\n\nOf the triumphant estate of Hardiness.\n\nca. iv.\n\nOf the glorified tower of Sapience.\n\nca. v.\n\nOf the strong operations of Nature\n\nca. vi.\n\nHow these four ladies pleaded at the bar before Justice, who of them was most profitable unto mankind, and of the Judgment of Justice.\n\nca. vii.\n\nHow after the Judgment of Justice, Sapience commanded Discretion to lead Youth to marry Chastity, the king of Love's daughter.\n\nca. viii.\n\nHow Youth, by the way, met Lechery riding on a hart and Pride mounted on an onion-headed back in a fair castle, and how, by the aid of\n\n(Note: The text appears to be incomplete at this point.)\nChapter IX.\nHow Sapience and Discretion led youth over the narrow bridge of vanity in the world to the palaces of the king of love and his marvelous apparatus.\n\nChapter X.\nHow Sapience presented youth to the king of love to marry Clennes his daughter, and how he, before the marriage, fought and defeated the dragon with three heads.\n\nChapter XI.\nHow, after the defeat of the said dragon, he, who had grown old, was received with a fair company of ladies and was named Virtue, and with great joy brought to the palaces of the king of love.\n\nChapter XII.\nOf the marriage of Virtue and Clennes and of the celestial feast, how after the marriage an angel showed them hell and of the divisions of hell.\n\nChapter XIII.\nThis book, called the Example of Virtue, was made and compiled by Stephen Hawys, one of the grooms of the most honorable chamber of our sovereign lord King Henry VII, in the nineteenth year of his most noble reign. Chapter XIV.\n\nWhen I reflect in my memory\nThe famous compositions of eloquent poets\nWhich their minds well enhanced\nBooks to create that were expedient\nTo be remembered without impediment\nFor the profit of humanity\n\nI now simple and most rude,\nAnd naked in unadorned eloquence,\nFor dull rhetoric does exclude,\nTherefore in making I lack intelligence,\nAlso considering my great negligence.\nI. In September, as the leaf falls,\nWhen Phoebus made his declination,\nAnd all the wheat was gathered in the sheaf,\nBy radiant heat and labor,\nWhen the virgin had full dominion,\nAnd Diana entered was one degree,\nInto the sign of Virgo,\nWhen the clear stars were golden,\nIn the pure firmament, unobstructed,\nAs Jupiter and Mars, celestial,\nWith Saturn and Mercury, supernal.\nI was in a slumber, weighed down by sloth, as I lay in my naked bed, thinking all night to take my rest. Morpheus came to me and broke through, and in my dream, I thought he said, \"Come walk with me in a meadow amorous, adorned with delightful flowers.\" I walked with him into a place where many a fair flower grew, filled with joy and full of solace, and the trees were fragrant with lilac. It was sweeter than the April shower. I stayed there for a long time until I saw before my face a right fair lady of middling stature, endowed with great virtue. Her apparel was set with pearls, whose beauty always renewed itself. She said to me, \"And you will extirpate all wildness, I will be your guide, so that you will not slip into frailty.\"\n\nTo her I answered, \"Lady glorious, I pray you tell me what is your name, for you seem precious to me, and I am young and sore to blame for vices full and in virtue lame.\"\nI will now be ruled by your pleasure, so that your orders are measured by me. I am called Discretion, and if you will be ruled by me, you shall have joy without reproach, and never fall into fragility. Youth lacking me is a great pity, for in whatever place I am exiled, they are often defiled by sin. It belongs to my property for youth to give courage to learn. I will not meddle with deceit, but I will discern faithfulness and bring your soul to eternal blessings through wise example and moral doctrine. For having you with me is a good sign. Forsake also all evil company and be found true in word and deed. Remember that this world is transitory, and after your desert, your reward will be given. Love God always and fear him, and for no man's pleasure be your own fool. Give them fair words and let them go, be to your king ever true subject, as you should be by right and reason. Let your heart humbly be set on him without any spot of evil treason, and be obedient at every season.\nUnto your grace, without rebellion,\nMay we be companions in truth.\nLove never unloved is in pain,\nWhile you live, beware of this:\nLove as you see the loved again,\nOr else it will turn you to care.\nBe never taken in that fast snare,\nProve or you love that is most sure,\nAnd then you in doubt shall not endure.\nBeware believe no flattering tongue,\nFor flatterers are most deceivable.\nThough they may company with the long,\nYet at the end they will be variable.\nFor they, by reason, are not favorable,\nBut evermore false and double,\nAnd with their tongues cause of great trouble,\nThis brief world is ever full of bitternes,\nAlways turning like to a ball,\nNo man in it can have any certainty,\nFor when he climbs, he has a fall,\nO wavering shadow, bitter as gall,\nO fatal wealth, full soon at end,\nThough you rightly do often send,\nWhen she to me had made relation,\nOf all these proverbs by good conclusion,\nShe gave to me an instruction,\nFor to deprive all ill usage,\nAnd to consider the great derision.\nWhichever is in youth that may not see\nNothing appropriate to his prosperity\nBut we went to an haven side\nWhere was a ship lying at rode\nTarrying after the wind and tide\nAnd with much spice right well loaded\nUpon it looking we long abode\nTill Columbus with blasts began to roar\nThen we boarded him with great pain\nThis water was called vain glory\nEver with jeopardy and tempestuous\nAnd the ship called was truly\nThe vessel of the passage dangerous\nThe ways were high and greatly troublous\nThe captain called was good comfort\nAnd the steersman fair passage\nLong were we driven with wind and weather\nUntil we arrived on a fair isle\nWhere was a boat tied with a tether\nOf marvelous wood as I understood\nPrecious stones lay upon the sand\nAnd pointing diamonds grew on the rocks\nAnd coral also by righteous stocks\nAmazed I was to behold\nThe precious stones under my feet\nAnd the earth glistening with gold\nWith flowers fair of sweet odor\nDame Discrection I did then great.\nPraying to me to make relation,\nShe who of this Isle has dominion,\nShe said four ladies in virtue excellent,\nOf which the eldest is Dame Nature,\nWho daily forms after her intent,\nEvery beast and living creature,\nBoth foul and fair and also pure,\nAll that depending in her ordinance,\nWhere she favors there is great pleasure,\nThe second is called Dame Fortune,\nAgainst whom can be no resistance,\nFor she sets the strings in tune,\nOf every person by her magnification,\nWhen they sound best by good experience,\nShe will them loose and let them sleep,\nCausing them to fall by her turning tryant,\nThe third called is Dame Hardiness,\nWho often rules by her chivalry,\nShe is right stout and of great power,\nAnd the captain of a lusty company,\nShe rules them ever full harshly,\nAnd to gain honor and worldly treasure,\nShe puts herself often in adventure,\nThe fourth is Lady Wisdom,\nWho is my mistress as you shall see,\nWhom I love with all my might,\nFor she inclines ever to be gracious.\nAnd they do not meddle with fraud or subtly, but make many noble clerks and rule them in all their works. They dwell all in a fair castle beside a river much deep and clear, and are expert in feats manual that to them can be no peer of earthly person who lives here, for they are so fair and wonderful that it is a solace to see them.\n\nThey have long greatly troubled in the law, which of them should have the preeminence, and none of them withdraws their case until they know the sentence from Dame Justice. They argue often and make defense each to other without remedy. I will no longer speak of them.\n\nCome, fair youth, and go with me\nTo that place which is delightful,\nBuilt with towers of curiosity,\nAnd yet, though you be lamentable,\nWhen you are there you will be comfortable,\nTo see the marvels that are wrought there.\nNo man can conceive it in his thought.\n\nWe found a path greatly used,\nWherein we went until at the last,\nA castle I saw, which I pondered,\nNot fully from me a stone's cast.\nTo see the towers, I was astonished\nSet in a valley strongly fortified,\nSo gently compassed and well defended,\nThe towers were high of adamant stones,\nWith fans waning in the wind,\nOf right fine gold made for the noon,\nAnd roebucks ran under the lindens,\nAnd hunters came for them behind,\nIt was a joy such a sight I never saw before,\n\"Abyde,\" she said, \"you shall see a better.\"\nShe led me to the castle ward,\nWhere we were let in by humility,\nAnd so she led me forward,\nUntil I saw a royal tree,\nWith buds blossoming of great beauty,\nAnd then we went into the hall,\nThat was truly glassed with crystal,\nAnd hung with clothes of Aras,\nMade of fine gold with a noble story,\nNow at some time raining was\nIn the region of high Italy,\nA valiant emperor and mighty,\nWho had the name for so the Tiberius,\nWhich inquired of prudent Iosethus,\n\"Why he kept his officers so long?\"\nHe answered a good cause why,\nSome time I saw a man who slept,\nWho was wounded most pitifully.\nAnd on his wounds, many a fly sucked I,\nThen, for pity's sake, they flew away.\nHe woke and to me did say,\n\"Where you thought to bring me comfort,\nYou've now caused me double grief.\nAway with the flies that kept returning,\nTo me, being full of bloody sustenance.\nBy this, you may have good persistence,\nFor now will come the flies most hungry,\nThat will bite me ten times more grievously.\n\nThe roof was wrought with marvelous geometry,\nColored with azure gold and gaudily,\nWith knots carved skillfully and rightly,\nAnd set also with wanton fowls,\nSuch as peacocks, pies, jays, and owls.\nAnd as I looked on my right side,\nA lady I saw of marvelous pride,\nSitting in a chair at the upper end\nOf all the hall, as a lady and princes\nAmong many kings that did attend,\nTo be obedient to her high nobility.\nHer apparel was made of much fair riches,\nSet with rubies most pure and ruby-red,\nEmbroidered with pearls and many a diamond.\nBesides her sat the worthies nine,\nAnd she among them turning a wheel.\nFull love to her they did then incline,\nShe sometime laughing and sometime lowering,\nHer condition was to be displeasing,\nAnd many exalted upon her wheel,\nGiving them great falls that they did feel,\nThen said discretion behold and see,\nThat in Dame Fortune is no stability,\nThis world also is but a vanity,\nA dream, a pomp, nothing in steadfastness,\nFor fortune is false and full of duplicity,\nWhen she most flatters she is not sure,\nAs thou mayst see daily in verse,\nThen we went unto the habitation\nOf Dame Hardiness most pure and fair,\nAbove all places a right fair spectacle,\nStrewed with flowers that gave good eye,\nOf virtuous turkeys there was a cheer,\nWherein she sat in her coat armor,\nBearing a shield the field of azure,\nWherein was set a rampant lion\nOf fine gold right large and great,\nAnswered she had of marvelous fashion,\nAs though a thousand she should slay,\nNo man the victory of her might get,\nA noble virgin there did her serve,\nThat first made harness called Minerva,\nThe chamber where she held her consistency.\nThe delightful aroma of fragrant flowers, full of delight,\nOft enticed the ears and released their scent.\nThere was a carbuncle that enlightened the chamber, both day and night.\nMy thought was that you were a heavenly sight.\nNine queens I saw seated by,\nAll adorned with great fortitude.\nIn many a tower they waged war,\nAnd were endowed with resounding pulchritude.\nFor waging war was their custom.\nThey often conquered many a region,\nAnd also vanquished many a noble man.\nNext to her sat the powerful queen Azia.\nBeside her sat the queen of Sheba,\nWho was triumphant in great riches.\nAnd also Ipolyta, in arms valiant,\nSat beside queen Hecuba.\nAnd yet also the queen Europa was present.\nThere was the witch queen Juno,\nAnd queen Proserpina with fair queen Helen.\nAnd yet I saw by her another,\nThe noble virgin young Polyxena,\nWho was destroyed at the last ruin\nOf Troy, the great city, by cruel Pyrrhus,\nThe son of Achilles, who was so renowned.\nAs I looked, I had commandment\nOf Lady Discretion to remember\nThese noble ladies so pure and excellent,\nBrave in heart of old age tender,\nYet not yielding death did surrender,\nAnd all their strength and lusty courage,\nFor he spares neither youth nor age,\nThen we walked to the dwelling place\nOf Lady Wisdom, so full of bliss,\nReplete with joy, virtue, and grace,\nNothing was lacking that is possible,\nMan could find comfort without misery,\nThough he were dark in worldly folly,\nHe should be enlightened shortly,\nHer tower was made of curious works,\nI can say nothing of the goodliness\nOf her palaces, so good and glorious,\nBuilt in the place south of falseness,\nWith outward taste of worldly bitterness,\nNo person can extol the sovereignty\nOf her worthy and royal dignity,\nShe should rule each estate,\nAs they are to govern or repent,\nFor it is better to have good provision\nAt the beginning, as is expedient,\nThan to wish for things misspent\nThat might be saved long before.\nAnd in her chamber, kept a store for wit,\nHer chamber was glassed with bright clarity,\nPainted with colors of delight,\nA place of pleasure, so heavenly adorned,\nIn virtue, health, life, and salvation,\nWithout any stormy tribulation,\nThat might annoy the heavenly health,\nBut always comfort to the soul's wealth,\nThere sat Dame Prudence, virtue magnified,\nImpossible to show her goodness,\nShe was so fair and clearly purified,\nAnd so discreet and full of womanhood,\nThat I believe virtue would return,\nIt should revive yet in her again,\nShe was so gentle and without disdain,\nGreat comfort to my heart,\nTo behold that heavenly sight,\nDiscreetly said, \"I should not approach,\nUntil I had spoken with her sister bright.\"\nForthwith she led me with all her might,\nTo that prince and royal sovereign,\nTherefore, my labor was not in vain,\nThen spoke Dame Prudence with meek confront,\n\"Welcome, Discretion, my dear sister,\"\n\"Where have you been for a long continuance?\n\"With youth,\" she said, \"and for my sake I require you.\"\nWelcome into your service you shall come,\nFor my sister's sake and for your own,\nIn my service I will take you,\nSince your wildness is overcome,\nThe seed of virtue in you shall be sown,\nTo deprive by his good authority,\nSubdue all ill iniquity,\nBe not bold with other men's words,\nAnd of their promises make no request,\nAnd if here an evil tale is told,\nGive no judgment but speak the best,\nSo shall you live forever in rest,\nHe who little meddles is best at ease,\nFor well he who can please all,\nBeware keep yourself from great offense,\nLest you be condemned by righteousness,\nWhen she gives her mortal sentence,\nWithout peace or mercy grant release,\nHer judgment of mortal heavens,\nThe best friend to the will be,\nTo succor in great necessity,\nBut yet in them have no affiance,\nFirst to sin thinking that they,\nAt the end to the will be deliverance,\nNay, righteousness will drive them away,\nFor of all sins without delay.\n\"Consider sins in hope, it is the most [for] it is the sin of the holy ghost, Now I admit you into your room In which you shall apply yourself Of my own chamber you shall be made welcome Look you be diligent and do not vary From my commandments never specifically For and if you will them well observe A much better room you will deserve The first commandment that I give thee Consider the end or begin For you can truly know the certainty That death is fine for every sin Be never taken in the devil's engine But that repentance may loose the son Of that great sin that you have done Trust not too much in fortune's grace Though she laugh at you a while For she can suddenly turn her face When she lists to beguile Wealth and joy can soon defile And plunge you into the pit of poverty Wherein have you no security Presume no further than is necessary For it will turn you to great shame Whoever removes himself from his room He is often greatly to blame\"\nAnd meddle with others in their lameness as nothing conveying or expert, they may call you sir malapert, or remind you of what matter your word signifies. Look that it does not cause grief to anyone. Though it be spoken merely, yet many one will take it grievously. Which might cause wrath and debate while you live, beware of that. For a thing, look that you never be in pensiveness. Thank God, let wisdom rather be to your comfort. That which is in your brain is he, for ever right wise is he who can be patient in adversity. Prove your friend, or you have need, then you shall see whether he is for to socor in your necessity. By proof you may, for proof before necessity requires. Dispel doubt ever in yourself. Be you never so blind in will, yet look you be reformed by reason. Then shall you fulfill my mind and abandon yourself to it. Strive not with reason for no reason's sake. For where she lacks, there is great outrage, and without her, she cannot assuage. Eschew also the sin of pride.\n\"The more and the frequent role of all sins at every time, Why do you trade her under foot? With help of virtue so sweet and soothing Which is the best salvation to heal your sore And to restore your health the faster, Woe worth sin without repentance, Woe worth bondage without release, Woe worth man without good government, Woe worth infinite pain and distress, Woe worth vice put far in press, Woe worth sovereignty having disdain, And woe worth pity that delays, Woe worth right that may not be heard, Woe worth friendship without steadfastness, Woe worth true sentence that is deferred, Woe worth the man full of deceit, Woe worth him without benevolence, Woe worth liberty without peace, And woe worth cruelty that may not cease, Woe worth knowing that is abused, Woe worth promises without payment, Woe worth virtue that is refused, Woe worth trouble without extinction, Woe worth folly on message sent, Woe worth reason that is exiled, And woe worth truth that is defiled, Woe worth trust without assurance.\"\nWo worth justice keeping at a distance,\nWo worth wealth replete with envy,\nWo worth battle without victory,\nWo worth beginning without a good end,\nAnd wo worth wrong that defends,\nThese commands I commit to memory,\nThey for my diligence to keep doing,\nWith Dame Sapience I long tarried,\nWho taught me with parting influence,\nOf her delicate and sweet complacence,\nThen Discrection spoke to me,\nIn the presence of her sister's majesty,\nThou art beholding to my sister reverently,\nThat which is retained hath become her servant,\nWherefore be thou to her obedient,\nAnd at every hour to her attendant,\nAnd riotous company do not haunt,\nFor that will harm and ill thy name,\nWherefore of virtuous mirth let be thy game,\nDiscrection further leads me,\nUnto the solemn and royal manor,\nOf Dame Nature in human estate,\nRight pleasant was her habitation,\nOf marvelous work and situation,\nAnd she herself held her estate,\nIn a glorious chamber without checkmate,\nHer tower was gilded full of sunbeams.\nAnd within it hung a cloth of aras.\nThe roof was painted with golden streams.\nIt seemed crystal pure was\nEvery window about with glass.\nWhere she sat as a fair goddess,\nAll things creating by her hands.\nI thought she was of marvelous beauty\nUntil Discretion led me aside.\nWhere I saw all the privacy\nOf her work and human kind.\nAnd at her back I found\nAn image of cruel death.\nThat all her beauty persuaded.\nHer operation was most wonderful\nIn every kind, in right degree.\nWithout rest or recreation.\nI will not meddle with her secret.\nFor it is not a thing within my ability.\nBut I will express something\nOf her great power and worthiness.\nBut in my book I will proceed further.\nDame Discretion brought me further.\nInto a fair chamber as you read.\nOf fine geometry well wrought.\nTo comfort man there was nothing lacking.\nBut I thought there was no company\nSave only Dame Discretion and I.\nWe had been but a little while there.\nBut that we saw a clear lady.\nRightly appointed in sad gear,\nMild in her behavior discreet in cheer,\nShe came to us by and very near,\nAscending up into her high seat,\nAdorned with pearls and gold beaded,\nThen said Discrection, \"This is Dame Justice.\nPure of conscience without corruption,\nNever spotted with the sin of covetousness,\nBut true as a steel in the intention,\nOf right evermore without destruction,\nGiving judgment always fair,\nObey thou youth this lady reverent,\nA judge filled with the sin of avarice,\nOr with favor of kin made blind,\nMust necessarily do wrong by great pride,\nFor favor should not conscience bind.\nRight to dissymil as I now find,\nIn problems written of antiquity,\nMade by philosophers of authority,\nAs we stood talking thus to gather,\nUp came Dame Fortune so gayly adorned,\nImpossible it is for me to discover,\nNow gorged she was and greatly magnified,\nFull like a goddess that had been deified,\nClothed with gold set with rubies,\nAnd tinsel with emeralds & many a turquoise,\nAnd next to her there ensued.\nDame Hardines, the noble lady,\nFollowed by none but Dame Sapyence,\nWho did not tarry,\nCame Dame Nature, royally appareled,\nAnd all the others in gold clad,\nSet with diamonds, manyfold,\nThey lowered all unto the ground,\nBefore Dame Iustyce, seated whole and sound,\nWithout any discontinuance,\nGiving God ere unto the assembly,\nOf these four ladyships pleading at bar,\nWith all their causes did well engage,\nFirst Dame Hardines began to plead,\nSaying she was most profitable to man,\nFor she had fed the hearts of conquerors,\nAs it was convenient,\nAnd by my courage had made them able,\nRegions to win their enemies to subdue,\nAnd if I were not, it would have been to their ruin,\nAnd if a man be never so wise,\nWithout me he gets none other victory,\nWherefore his wisdom may not suffice,\nAlone without my allegiance,\nFor I, by right, must enhance,\nA low-born man to a high degree,\nIf he will be ruled by me,\nHave I not caused many a noble warrior,\nTo win the battle by my great might.\nWithout me, no conquered was ever made,\nNor man courageous in battle,\nNo man could defend his right,\nI might be weaker for being absent,\nBut without me, he would be lost.\nDid I not cause the noble Hercules\nTo win the victory through my power\nOver the sturdy and strong Philotes,\nAs recorded in books of memory.\nFor without me, there can be no chivalry,\nAnd under the wing of my protection,\nAll rebels are brought to submission,\nA realm is upheld by three things,\nThe first and chief is the sword,\nWhich keeps it in good security,\nAnd other realms fear it,\nBy which usurpers are distinguished\nFrom their treason,\nAnd by me, they are slain for their false fight.\nThe second is law, which always serves,\nBut only within the realm,\nFor other nations, our law holds no fear,\nBut they fear our sword specifically.\nFor if they rise against us proudly,\nAs they have often done in past times,\nYet with our sword, they should be overcome.\nThe third are merchants who multiply,\nWealth and prosperity in this realm.\nFor every thing they frequently occupy,\nEvery man like unto his faculty,\nFor without merchants can no realm\nBe held in wealth and pleasure,\nIt is a special treasure to us,\nAlso Hercules, the mighty giant,\nSlew the monster before Troy the great,\nAnd with his strokes he made him daunt,\nThey were so peaceably set upon him,\nThat he the victory obtained,\nHad I not been comfort to his heart,\nSuch victory would have been laid apart,\nDid he not conquer in the forest of Nemee,\nThe three mortal lions through his great boldness,\nAnd tore their jaws as was to see,\nBetween his hands by Chiron's prowess,\nAnd yet by arms and knightly excess,\nIn Egypt he slew the tyrant Busiris,\nAnd burned him after in a great fire,\nAlso he slew the tyrant Cacus,\nFor his tyranny and great mischief,\nBecause his deeds were so odious,\nFor he did murder and was a thief,\nWhose death was a relief to many.\nWho will report more of his acts?\nTo the Trojan story let him resort,\nAlso the worthy and noble Hector.\nThat was the Trojan champion,\nAnd of all knights the finest in his time,\nReyning and renowned, whose noble deeds\nSpread by every strange habitation,\nThose who related his feats.\nBy his power and hardy courage,\nHe put the Greeks to flight and beat them down,\nInflicting great outrage,\nHe was the one who could save them,\nHe often brought them to the brink,\nHis deeds were pure, without magic or corruption,\nDid I not cause also King David,\nA lion, Iabnes, to rend and tear,\nThat devoured his sheep in the fold,\nAs he kept them there,\nThe lion's cruelty could not frighten him,\nAnd in his youth, he was so bold,\nThat he slew the giant Goliath,\nDid I not cause the noble Julius,\nEmperor of Rome, to be elected,\nBecause he was so strong and noble,\nWhen in arms he knew the affection,\nHe overcame all his enemies,\nAnd by the support of my chief succor,\nHe governed himself like a noble emperor.\nKing Arthur of Britain and all the knights of the Round Table never sought certain adventures, and I would not have been able to join them if they had. They would not have been able to fight if those who lacked courage were not present. Shame is their reward. King Charles of France, with his dissipators Roland and Oliver, and all the remaining members of his army, who were so noble in arms, broke many spears against God's enemies, causing them to flee to their great dismay. Hardiness was the reason for their victory. O worthy Hardiness, shining star, always a comfort to mankind's heart when it is time for war. To which party you resort, they win the battle by your support. Where you let your banners dissolve, they often ascend to honor. Then Dame Hardiness spoke to the judge, \"I pray you that I may rightfully have, since I am the chief refuge for him who desires me, I make him courageous and save his worship.\" Therefore, I owe the preeminence.\nBy right reason and good experience, I deny, Dame Sapience, from whom you have your order of pleading. For you can have no intelligence but by my instructing. I am always your mind teaching, and without me your tale would be but a fable. For you, without wit, should always babble. I will prove this by my opinion that I am the source of the arts seven and of all good works in community. For no man can go to heaven without me. My deeds are marvelous for man to know when they are wrought in their degree. Whoever will learn them, he has the liberty of my deeds' books to record. The which clerks put into remembrance for an example without discord. Of heavenly way by virtuous governance, without me man can have no pleasure nor yet rule in any manner. A man without wit is to be despised. Courage without prudence may not avail. Though a man be never so sturdy, a wise man feeble may win the battle. Of him that is right strong and mighty, it is better to be right witty.\nIn the defense of his good save guard,\nThan often to strike and to run forward,\nThat thing which hardiness may not win,\nCan be obtained by my high sovereign,\nAnd with the help of subtle engine,\nIt may be brought to the extremity,\nWhere that it might not by possibly,\nOf hardiness long before he won,\nYet by great wisdom it may be done,\nTo diverse cases I take exception,\nOf dame Hardiness which are no law,\nTo the first under your correction,\nShe said and she her power did withdraw,\nNo rebellion should stand in awe,\nAnd she is the chief as I well know,\nThat causes him to be rebellious,\nBy her folly and follysome hardiness,\nShe causes men to rise against their lord,\nShe is the cause of mortal woes,\nWhen she does break the good accord,\nWherefore I think by one accord,\nTo exile her it is now the best,\nThan man should live in peace and rest,\nAnd where she said that she exalted,\nIulius Caesar by her great exaltation,\nIn that case she clearly varied,\nFor it was I by my great diligence.\nThat never left his presence, but ruled him and made him worthy to be chosen emperor of all Italy. He was chosen by the common assent for his great wisdom. With a great voice and wholehearted intent, there was none like him. He alone was able to occupy an emperor's dignity of his promotion. From me, he might thank his promotion. I, Sapience, am endowed with grace, and the lodestar of heavenly doctrine. The spring of comfort, joy, and solace. Whoever desires to draw near to me shall know things that are divine, and at the end, behold the delight that is one God in three persons. It pleased the omnipotent Father that his Son be incarnate. Of the virgin Mary, the most excellent star, maiden and mother, yet not violated. Like a vessel chosen and made ornate, only for God's mother. And he himself became man's brother. But a struggle arose between God and man when man consented to commit deadly sin. By that, the discord first began when he, the Son of God, was on high.\nThat is his brother again will crucify him, if he had the power of him that is offended. Therefore, let us go to our brother, named Jesus Christ, and ask him for mercy, with a good intent and heart also. There is no other remedy for us, except that tongue truly can specify. He will take it as a correction, and of all vengeance, quench the affection. That we may have forgiveness from him for our great sin with reformulation. Of peace between the Father's heavens and us in suspension. Therefore, if you fear the amnesty of his righteousness, look that you flee right to his merciful pity. His mercy is more than all our misery, and above his works all. As David shows in his prophecy, saying his mercy is over all. To whom I pray ever in especial, to give me grace, well my pen to lead, that quakes always for fear. Dame Sapience said, \"I proceed,\" of the strength of the holy ghost, that is and shall be matter in deed. God and Lord of might's most, whose infinite power was never lost.\nAnd yet she never had a beginning\nBut always strong without ending\nWhere her great courage in pleading\nMade herself necessary to knights\nBy the means of her power showing\nI now rightly deny, for in that case she varied\nFor six there are who are more profitable\nOf whom the least is better than she\nThe first is prudence, which is the chief\nThat rules him and is his guide\nAnd keeps him from great reproof\nAnd causes his worship to abide\nSo every Christian man should provide\nBy his wit to withstand the devil\nThat he does not consent to do evil\nThe second is that he should be true\nTo his sovereign lord who reigns over him\nAnd shun all treason forever\nIn which great shame often remains\nAnd by which he distains his kin\nSo a Christian man should be true forever\nTo Jesus Christ, who was his redeemer\nThe third is that he should be liberal\nAmong his commons without let\nThat is the cause ever in general\nThat he gets the love of them.\nA true Christian man should be:\n1. Set his hearts on him.\n2. Intended to God with liberality.\n3. Strong, defending his right and never doing wrong.\n4. Directing and amending wrongs as far as his power extends.\n5. Merciful in all his actions, without anger, and keeping himself out of error.\n6. A mirror of mercy to others.\n7. Provide for the poor in their great need, feeding them with alms and helping them better than themselves.\nI am Wisdom, part of the king's council,\nClothed in purple, a sign of grace and beauty without fail.\nOf great virtues that shine in him,\nHe never inclines to vices.\nHaving in his head a royal crown fair,\nThat shows his dignity to be regal.\nThis is the chief glory for his people,\nThrough whom his subjects are directed\nAnd made obedient to him certainly,\nAt every hour by right true effect.\nMoreover, by good aspect,\nHe bears a ball in his left hand,\nWhich signifies, as I understand,\nA king to be a good administrator\nUnto his subjects in every place,\nAnd to be for them a good provider,\nAs reason requires in every case.\nWisdom rules his noble grace,\nIn his right hand he holds a scepter,\nThat signifies by right his rule,\nTo punish ill men for their offense\nBy his righteousness, whom the love\nOf virtue shining in experience\nDoes not extol nor yet remove.\nA lamp hangs his head above,\nAlways bright and clearly burning,\nWhich signifies the mercy of a king.\nThe old philosophers, through their prudence,\nDiscovered the seven liberal sciences,\nAnd through their exercise and great diligence.\nThey made their deeds memorial\nAnd also poets who were fatal\nCraftily colored with cloudy figures\nThe true sentence of all their scripts\nO Justice, lady and sovereign goddess,\nGrant you a true sentence now upon me,\nAs you are surpassing in virtue and nobleness,\nLet me, Lady Wisdom, have sovereignty,\nAs is fitting to my royal dignity,\nFor I am most profitable to man\nAnd have always been since the world began,\nSaid Lady Fortune, you are incomplete,\nWithout me, be it so,\nFor all your courage and prudence complete,\nYou must be well exuberant\nAnd with your works ever concordant,\nWhere they have good comfort\nIn all their deeds by my sweet resort,\nI, Fortune, am the rule and steer,\nOf every person like to my will,\nWho in this world now lives here,\nWhen I wish to fulfill,\nMy mind right away I can distill,\nThe dew of comfort, wealth, and riches,\nTo man exalting him to nobleness,\nThough a man were never so hardy,\nWithout me, he might not attain.\nAnd though a man be never so witty,\nAnd I withhold my power from him in vain,\nAll his labor is lost in vain.\nSo boldness and prudence in no way\nCan suffice without good fortune.\nThough a man be but a fool,\nIf I allow him to be fortunate,\nHe need not make a great dole,\nFor I will maintain his estate,\nAnd elevate him with riches and worldly treasure,\nSo that he lacks no kind of pleasure.\nWhere dame Fortune would affirm,\nBy her cases that are so uncertain,\nShe confirms the knights of victory to be sure,\nWhen she takes their hearts in care.\nIf fortune be a way she may not avail,\nFor they, by reason, must lose the battle.\nYet furthermore, as I well consider,\nHow dame Fortune expressed herself,\nSince the time that I came hither,\nShe promoted those worthy of worthiness,\nHector, David, and the noble Hercules,\nWith many others, whom she fails to mention.\nFor it was fortune, as she well knows,\nThat in old time the noble warriors.\nFor to eschew ever my great danger\nIn which time they were idolaters,\nThan they to put him out of fear,\nTo idols went those whose gods were,\nFor to have answer if they should win,\nThe battle or they did begin,\nWhat need I plead by long continuance?\nAs Dame Sapience did in matters high,\nIt were of time but discontinuance,\nBut O Dame Justice the gentle lady,\nLook that you judge my matter right wisely,\nThat I of hardiness may be the principal,\nAnd of Dame Prudence & Nature with all,\nThen said Dame Nature, that may not be,\nAs I can prove by right and reason,\nFor I am most comfort to humanity,\nAs man well knows at every occasion,\nAnd cannot be forborne for none season,\nFor where I lack without any delay,\nMan is but dead and turned to clay,\nThat Nature gives by her power,\nWisdom nor hardiness may not defeat,\nFor I to man am the chief doer,\nDuring his life without retreat,\nAlso Dame Fortune may not well let,\nMe of my course though she it thought,\nIn other ways my deeds are so wrought,\nThough that a man were infortunable.\nAnd though he were never so foolish\nAnd a great coward, unable to fight,\nYet he should live and never perish,\nUntil my power over him is finished.\nThis failure is mine, and was given to me by right,\nI am the originator of man's creation,\nAnd by me alone the world is multiplied,\nIn wealth, pleasure, and delight,\nAs I shall now demonstrate in this part,\nMy deeds are subtle and craftily wrought,\nWhat would the world be if I were not,\nIt would soon be as I well know,\nThe law of nature binds man,\nBoth beast and fish also,\nIn their degree to do their kind,\nBlame them not if they do so,\nFor it is hard ever to surpass,\nThe kind of nature in its degree,\nFor every thing must show its property,\nWho of their properties desires to read,\nLet him look in the book of Bartholomew,\nAnd take good heed to his scripture,\nThat nobly of them he may show,\nWith all their acts being not a few,\nBut wonderful, many by alteration,\nFor like has like in its operation,\nNurture nourishes me by my affliction.\n\"Man's human parties are essential and the source of his complexion, the foundation of his vain inferior parts. I am most dear and special to him, even if he is hardy and wise, he cannot do without me, nor does fortune help him without me. Therefore, Lady Justice, be impartial. Consider that I am most dear and alive to every man who is eligible, and above all medicines to him most chief. And by my strength, I relieve him in his disease. Therefore, as you think, I ought, in reason, to have sovereignty over him. Then Lady Justice spoke with meek composure, \"I will now resolve all your controversies. For I have good persistence for your reasons and, after your cases, both more and less. Therefore, I, Lady Justice, by righteousness, give you a final judgment. That you four agree by a whole consent, Man to please at every hour, without disagreement or contradiction, and in his need to support him with loving heart and true affection. He shall be in your good jurisdiction, and you of him shall be copartners.\"\nBoth of his life and manners agreed, said Dame Hardiness. I agree as well, said Dame Sapience. Agreed also Dame Fortune. I agree with Dame Justice's sentence. And I, Dame Nature, will do my duty. Like you do man in his disease, and please and strengthen him. With that, Dame Justice rose and bid farewell to the ladies. She went into her chamber. I called upon Conscience, where she dwelt, as Dame Discretion had told me. Then Hardiness and Fortune went down the stair. Dame Sapience tarried a little while. Behind the others, she began to laugh and smile. Asking me how I stood in condition, she replied in good perfection. But it is best that he marries, she said, to avoid all ill sensuality. I know of a lady of marvelous beauty, springing from high and noble lineage, replete with virtue and full of bounty. A good marriage for him would be with her, for she comes from royal lineage. But listen, it will be difficult to gain her love.\nI. Without youth's frailty do severely reprove,\nI knelt down then before Dame Sapience, with humble cheer,\nBeseeching her of me to have pity,\nAnd also Discretion her sister dear.\nII. Then Dame Sapience came me near,\nSaying, \"Youth, will you have a wife,\nAnd love her throughout your life?\nYou, madam, whom I would fain,\nIf she be both fair and bright,\nI will love her evermore certain,\nAnd please her always with all my might.\nIII. Of such a person would I have a sight,\nWith all my heart now at this hour,\nWould to God I had so fair a flower.\nIV. Then said Discretion, \"There is a king,\nDwelling far hence in a fair castle,\nOf whom I have often heard great talking,\nWho has a daughter as you tell,\nI believe that youth will like her well,\nShe is both good, fair, and pure,\nAs I report to Dame Nature.\nV. But if youth should seek her out,\nYou, sister, must then prepare him well,\nWith your great power, so good and meek,\nThat he may entirely escape,\nFor by the way it will often pursue,\nHim by flattery and great temptation.\nThat shall bring him in tribulation,\nAs for that she said, he shall not care,\nFor he shall soon overcome them,\nAnd beware of their flattery rightly,\nFor I to him will give great wisdom,\nTheir deeds to withstand and make them doom,\nTherefore, dear sister, as I pray you,\nLead him now on the way,\nLook that you send me in his necessity,\nBy swift messenger full soon a letter,\nBy which that I may know the certainty,\nThat I may come to aid him better,\nSo that frailty may not hinder him,\nAnd though I be not always visible,\nWith him my power he has ingrained,\nSaid Dame Sapience to despair,\nFarewell, dear sister, I may not tarry,\nLook you of youth have the opportunity,\nThat he fall not into vanity,\nAnd that you pursue for him shortly,\nThat he may wed the fair dame Clennes,\nWho for her love has been in distress,\nWith that Dame Sapience went down,\nInto her place that was the doctrinal,\nOf famous clerks in knowing shining,\nA mirror of learning that was divine,\nWith all the crafts artistic.\nBefore Fortune went to her manor,\nAnd hardiness to her dwelling,\nDiscrection and I went forth,\nOut of the castle into a green,\nWhere birds sang with great melody,\nThe fair queen danced as well,\nBeside a river named Ephesus,\nOver which we went to the other side,\nThat was a meadow, both long and wide,\nWe wandered there till at last,\nWe came upon a great wilderness,\nBy that time Phoebus was past,\nWherefore we walked in great darkness,\nWhich to me was a great heaviness,\nFor Lucina also hid herself,\nUnder a black and misty cloud,\nFor she was horned and nothing clear,\nAnd entered into the sign of Capricorn,\nRight near Phoebus' radiant spear,\nAnd not against him the crown had worn,\nI went up and down till on the morrow,\nThat Phoebus spread his golden rays,\nThen Discrection led me further,\nAmong thorns sharp and beasts wild,\nThere was the lion, the wolf, and the bear,\nBut I could meet neither man nor child,\nBut many serpents that made me fear.\nAnd I knew a panther by a sweet smell. I continued on for a long time until I saw a pleasant herb. I took my way there. I saw a lady excellent, riding on a good horse in fresh array, right young of age and lusty in intent, praying me to assent to fulfill the fleshly pleasure which she desired beyond measure. I said no to discretion that may not be. I said no in no way. To her request I will now agree, but I forever despise this foul lust. I advise myself to keep chaste so that I may marry. Fair dame Clennes, that noble lady. I went walking further. I met an old and amiable lady, sitting in a castle that was both fresh and gay, on an elephant's back, strong and stable. It was able to bear her. She had in her hand a golden cup set with many pearls. She said she was the lady of riches, the queen of wealth and worldly glory, praying me to join her nobility. She then promised to promote me shortly.\nTo innumerable riches and make me worthy,\nWhere I am poor and set by naught,\nUnto her I should be brought\nUnto her I answered I would not so,\nAs for to hunt in the park of pride,\nThe which to Clennes is mortal foe,\nBut with Discretion I will abide,\nWhich doth a wife for me provide,\nBy whom I shall have the possession\nOf heavenly kingdom and great renown,\nSo forth I went and had great travel,\nWithout the comfort of any person,\nSave Discretion, who did me counsel,\nAs she went walking with me alone,\nUnto her I made full great moan,\nAnd likened the wildernes by moral sense,\nUnto worldly trouble by good experience,\nShe said the first lady that I did meet,\nWas called Sensuality,\nWhich can well flatter with words sweet,\nCausing a man to fall into fragility,\nAnd for to haunt the carnal freedom,\nWhich unto clennes is abominable,\nFor they in work are greatly variable,\nThe second was pride endued with covetousness,\nA lady of right fruitless meditation,\nDelighting greatly in the sin of avarice.\nThe which is the cause of her damnation,\nFor she, by her false support,\nBlinds many a man's conscience\nAnd drives right often for in absence,\nSo farther I went till at the last,\nI was in a maze going in and out,\nThere was none other way I was agast,\nBut forth I walked in great doubt,\nNow here now there and so round about,\nThen said unto me Dame Discretion,\nYou are in the busies of worldly fasting,\nTherein I traveled by long space,\nTill that I met a lady glorious,\nIndued with virtue and great grace,\nTo whom I said, O lady precious,\nAs you seem to be good and virtuous,\nI you beseech now without delay,\nUnto Dame Clennes to teach me the way,\nI Wisdom now will shew to thee,\nThe right way unto fair Clennes,\nAnd if thou wilt be ruled by me,\nThou shalt marry that noble prince.\nYes that will I said then doubtless,\nDiscretion said she would be my surety,\nWisdom said none better might be,\nThan said Discretion to Dame Wisdom,\nWelcome to us, my sister dear,\nAnd I to her did humble reverence,\nSaying who had gone to find you here.\nYes, she said I have been near, you often times since my departing, and have been the cause of your good fortune. Come on your way, walk at a pace, for you long to have a sight of Lady Clennes, so clear a face, so beautifully of body in brightness, that there cannot be so fair a sight. So forth we walked to a river side, that ebbed and flowed at every tide. Then I saw a castle, a royal pale, built with marble black as the jet, with glass windows as clear as crystal, which on the other side was set. No man might get to the castle but over the water on a little bridge. Not half so broad as a house ridge. But as I cast my eye then aside, I saw a lady, wonderfully fair, demure in demeanor without pride, who went herself to repair, by the water side to take the air. Behold and see, said Dame Sapience. Yonder is Lady Clennes, the star of excellence. Full glad was I then in my mind, to see that flower of complacence. The sight of her did my heart bind, ever her to love with persuasive influence.\nUnto her I said, \"Of continence you are renowned. I would willingly go to you, not leaving this water's edge. To me she replied again, saying, \"This world without my presence is but a vanity, nothing certain. In the same way, this water is to you. You cannot come to me now, but by that bridge that goes over this stormy, turbulent, and wavy water. Sage wisdom will not let him pass. Clennes, be his guide, and discretion also be set. To keep him from sliding in the water. So, they led me to the bridge. I quaked then for fear and dread. I saw written there this literal sense: \"No man may cross this bridge, but he be pure without negligence and steadfast in God's belief also. If he is ignorant and does not do so, he must necessarily fall into this water over his head and be drowned with all. They led me over this perilous bridge until I came to a secluded place. There were written with glorious letters: \"This is the kingdom of great grace. No man beyond this mark may trace.\"\nBut if he is brought in by wise guidance,\nWelcome he is, if such is the case.\nFurthermore, we went on,\nInto a hall that was tranquil,\nMade of precious stones, resplendent,\nA sight to behold was its beauty,\nSo abundant were the stones,\nThat the pavement was for the nones,\nWith none other adornment but precious stones.\nThere was Dame Clennes, the lady,\nAnd her father, the king of love.\nHe sat in a chair clear and excellent,\nAt the upper end of the hall above,\nHe sat still and did not stir,\nGirded with willows and could not see,\nNo manner of thing in his sight,\nHe had two large and great wings,\nAnd his body also was naked,\nA dart was set in his right hand,\nAnd a torch burned in his left hand,\nA bottle hung about his neck,\nOne leg was armed and the other was naked,\nA wonder it was to see him.\nWisdom bade me marvel at nothing,\nFor she would show me the significance,\nWhy he thus sat, according to a prophecy.\nFirst, let us relate the story.\nLove should be girded fast with steadfastness\nWithout which love can have no certainty\nLove may not see but is always blind\nAnd wisdom thinks no man can have perseverance\nWhere he loves by natural kind\nBut he shows himself by words of courtesies\nTruth he reveals himself by countenance\nFor hard it will be love so to conceal\nBut that some man shall it perceive\nAlso his nakedness signifies\nThat true love desires nothing else\nBut the very person and body\nThat he so well and fervently loves\nHis wings also well betoken his mind\nThat flies unto the person he loves so well alone\nAnd also love is struck with a sharp dart\nThat makes a man complain\nWhen it has wounded sore his heart\nIt burns hot like certain fire\nThen love's purpose would fain attain\nAnd is evermore both hot and dry\nUntil his lady gives him drink of mercy\nHis one leg is armed to defend\nThe right that longs for amity\nAnd wrong love for to amend\nHis naked leg signifies charity.\nThat is the joy of great felicity. Right charity, love, and good concord reign in this mighty lord. Then led me on, good Lady Wisdom, before this mighty lord's presence. Come on, she said, put yourself in her presence. So that you may see, in your mind, the beauty of this lady, who was not as fair as Queen Helena, or Ipolyta, or young Polyxena. This lady is clean without corruption. She wore three crowns for her virginity. Due is for the people of perfect religion. Another for maidens keeping chastity. The third for true widows, as you may see. I will now present her to her father. If she consents to marry, I will present this virtuous knight to you. Then said Lady Wisdom, O noble emperor, O sovereign lord and royal potestate, O victorious prince and famous conqueror, O king of love and seizer of debate, to no creature may one say checkmate. I present to you now this virtuous knight to marry Clennes, your daughter, bright and fair. He said, \"I thank you for your good will. But he who marries Clennes must be.\"\nHe must first fulfill my command\nTo comfort the dragon with three heads,\nA serpent of great cunning,\nWhich well signifies, as we find,\nThe world, the flesh, and the devil by nature.\nWisdom said I should not fail\nTo carry out his command for Clennes' sake,\nTo slay the dragon in battle,\nWhich lay in a marsh in a great lake,\nWhich was very foul and black.\nWisdom bade me not be afraid,\nFor she would give me a shield and sword,\nAnd arm me also with fair armor,\nTo conquer that fierce and great dragon.\nShe said it would be so good and sure,\nThat I would suffer no harm from him,\nThough he set his teeth on me.\nYet I should slay him for all his might,\nBy my great strokes when I fought.\nFirst, she set harnesses on my legs,\nAnd after, my plate of great riches.\nShe armed herself alone,\nAnd laced my helmet with her gentleness.\nI thanked her for her great kindness,\nAnd gave me my sword and shield also,\nSaying, \"Let us go to the dragon.\"\nThis is the armor for the soul.\nThat in his epistle wrote Saint Paul:\nGood hope thy legions have the habilitations of righteousness girded with chastity.\nThy pennon of busyness with braunches of alms-deeds.\nThy shield of belief and meekness for the head.\nThy sword shall be to defend\nThe word of God the devil to blind.\nDame Sapience and I did take our leave\nOf the king of love in virtue purified\nAnd of his daughter shining in excellence\nWho to me said with assured words:\nO virtuous knight, you have endured for me\nIngrate woe and pain, but think you truly\nTo scoff at that dragon with wisdom shortly\nThan we went forth to that serpent\nIn marvelous travail of sorrow and distress\nBy that time the day right fair was spent\nAnd Phoebus his course began to wane\nBut at the last we came into a dale\nWhere we felt the savour of a dungeon\nOf the foul and stinking dragon\nNear to that dragon there was a way\nThat men used upon a fair hill\nUnto high heaven so fresh and gay\nBut that dragon let them their will\nAnd by the way he did them kill.\nBringing them there, I called the place of great disgrace. I had not been there for half an hour,\nBut this dragon approached me,\nAs though it would devour me. It fiercely charged towards me.\nThe battle between us lasted long.\nBut it had me quickly overcome,\nIf not for the help of Lady Wisdom.\nI struck at him fiercely with my sword,\nAnd with my shield, I defended myself.\nLady Wisdom urged me not to be afraid,\nBut my stroke, meant to avenge,\nReached as far as my might allowed.\nSo, by her words, I gathered my courage,\nAnd faced the dragon.\nBut he caught me then in his claws,\nAnd so we wrestled for a long time.\nBut he held me tightly in his paws,\nUntil Lady Wisdom considered my weakness.\nBehold, she said, Lady Purity yonder,\nThen, as if in response, I cast all my sight.\nI saw that lady so pure and bright.\nMy strength then doubled a hundredfold.\nAnd I, with my virtuous powers,\nBroke free from him.\nMy heart was warm, which before was cold,\nWith the comforting sight of fair Lady Purity.\nThen I gave him excessive strokes.\nAnd with my sharp sword I cut off two of his heads, leaving him but one. These two heads, by good moral sense, signify to the world and the heavenly glory the first as transitory, lying between man and heavenly glory, often letting it hinder its passage if it can gain advantage. The second is the fleshly desire that troubles a man right sore within, setting his courage upon a fire, causing him to incline to deadly sin. His flesh, the battle of him, often brings him into damnation. Repentance were not his salvation. Repentance always requires mercy, and penance to God is a satisfaction. For God desires truly an humble heart full of contrition, and the world desires restoration of goods that have been taken wrongfully to be restored to the rightful party. When I had won the victory over these two heads, I was right glad. But his third head marched sharply against me. But I had my sword in my hand, striking at him with sad strokes.\nAnd I could not draw his blood,\nFor he had neither flesh nor bone,\nBut at last I vanquished him,\nDriving him home to his dark region\nOf infernal pain that shall not end,\nFor hell is called his proper manion\nAnd of all others who forsake\nThe precepts of God and take to wicked works,\nGod, by his righteousness, made a law\nBy which man is condemned for mortal sin,\nIf God's vengeance does not withdraw,\nIn eternal pain he should be imprisoned,\nBut if man requires mercy of him,\nWith a penitent heart he should have it,\nAnd with his mercy, he will save man.\n\nWhen I had subdued this venomous serpent,\nWisdom gently said to me,\nBlessed be God, you are so gracious,\nThat you shall marry Clorinda the maid,\nBut yet why were you afraid,\nYou said to me, and sweetly, right sore,\nUntil new strength restored me.\n\nThis battle was great and long-lasting,\nWhich caused me to be very weary,\nBut Wisdom with her words comforted me,\nMaking me merry with walls of comfort.\nCome on, she said, and walk lightly\nTo the castle that we come from\nI answered to her I would do so\nThen forth we went at a great pace\nUntil we came to the castle side\nThere met us ladies with great solace\nAnd welcomed us at the same time\nSo fair a sort in the world so wide\nMay not be found by any reason\nAs I saw there at the same season\nThe first lady who greeted us\nI called her Dame Perseverance\nWho to me said with sweet words\nBlessed be God of your good governance\nThat has kept you from the inconvenience\nOf the serpent with the three heads\nAnd caused you victor over him to be\nThen came Dame Faith, the glorious lady\nWelcome, she said with amiable words\nI am right glad you are so victorious\nOver that foul dragon so abominable\nShe said that I was evermore stable\nIn her in deed, also in word and thought\nOr else my labor had been to naught\nThen spoke the fair Dame Charity\nWelcome, virtue, the noble veteran\nSince you always have loved me\nFrom the first season that you began.\nBoth in your youth and since you were men,\nYou have held me in humble reverence,\nAnd have been ruled by my preeminence,\nThen prayed to me in my presence.\nYou never cast me in oblivion,\nBy any sloth or worldly negligence,\nBut have kept me in great remembrance,\nWhich has been to me very pleasant.\nWelcome virtue, my dear,\nTo this castle that you see here.\nThen came quickly to me, Lady Lowlyness,\nClinging to me with loving cheer,\nBidding me welcome with great gladness,\nAs her countenance clearly showed.\nCome on, she said, and walk near,\nSo then among these fair ladies all,\nI went into the great castle hall,\nAnd there met me Lady Cleanliness,\nAnd Lady Grace held up her train,\nWhose every attribute was affirming,\nFrom whom Lady Cleanliness could not be restrained,\nThen she said to me, \"I am right glad,\nThat you have come to this place,\nWhere you shall wed me in short time.\"\nUpon my knee I knelt down, saying,\n\"O star of eternal bliss,\nO well of virtue and great renown,\nO divine comfort most sempiternal.\"\nWhen I see your beauty so clearly discern,\nYou set my heart on a burning fire,\nWith fervent love to come to my desire,\nTo me she answered in this way,\nO my dear heart, my pure spouse,\nWhy do you not rise from your feet,\nYou of my true love shall be sure,\nFor you my heart have now in care.\nLet us go now to our father reverently,\nSo forth unto him then we went,\nWhen we came before his fair face,\nDame Clennes made curtly to the ground,\nSaying of the king of great grace,\nThis knight is now bound to love you,\nAnd so am I, for I have often found\nGreat kindness on him both night and day,\nFor he has loved me right well always.\nWelcome, noble knight, he said,\nHow have you fared since your departing?\nHave you been comforted with your might,\nThe marvelous dragon so greatly stinking?\nI said to him with the power shining,\nOf my lady, good Dame Sapience,\nI conquered him by her experience.\nWhere is Dame Sapience then, he said,\nAnd also her sister Dame Discretion?\nSir I said, they have come with me,\nAnd they have had me in jurisdiction.\nSynes my departing without destruction,\nThen spoke Dame Sapience, through her faculty,\nTo that mighty lord's majesty:\nSaying, \"This knight, then called Virtue,\nHas loved your daughter by long continuance,\nWith steadfast love so faithful and true,\nAnd for her sake, has put to rout\nThe three-headed dragon by wise providence.\nWherefore, I think he ought to marry\nYour daughter Clennes, that noble lady.\nThe king said, \"I think the same,\nIf that your daughter will agree,\nAnd she does not, she much is to blame,\nConsidering his wisdom and great beauty.\nCome hither, he said, my daughter free,\nTo be wife to Virtue, will you consent?\nYou father, she said, with whole intent,\nThen he called unto his presence,\nPerseverance, Charity, and Friendship,\nWith lowly prayer and intelligence,\nShowing unto them the certainty,\nHow Clennes, his daughter, wedded shall be,\nTo me now Virtue, in all godly haste,\nBy fore that three days be rightfully past,\nHe called me then to his magnanimity,\nBidding me go to bed and to rest,\nIn the chamber of pure conscience.\nI.: In thinking it best, I believed Phebus had turned to the west, and Sapience and I went to bed, for my head was oppressed by a lack of rest. A small wolf in this chamber was awake and barked continually, preventing anyone from passing who wished to avoid a fight. I slept there until it was day, then rose and prepared myself. Calling upon Lady Sapience briefly, I said to her: \"O lady and mistress, a comfortable salutation to every sorrow, O fountain of wealth and carbuncle of cleanness, without your help I am lost. Therefore, I present you with fair Lady Clennes before you. I shall endure in mortal heavens without her. Thus said she: 'Fear not, for you shall marry her here right away. By me, your mother, you shall be well provided for, and it shall be done on the same day, about the true hour of noon. And there shall be charity, faith, penance, and prayer at your good dinner.' Lady Sapience led me into a garden, where Clennes was among sweet-smelling flowers. She allowed me to repair to her without delay.\nAs she approached me, she brought me a flower called Margaret. This sweet and precious flower, endowed with beauty and much virtue, I kissed often, placing it near my heart. Dame Clennes looked upon me lovingly, saying I should not depart until she had shown me a great covering. So, without delay, I went with her. By this time, Phoebus had begun his ascending course in great brightness, extinguishing the fierce frosty coldness and banishing the noxious darkness. Serenus had distilled his fragrant breath upon every leaf. To her I said, \"Behold this weather so clear and fair, a royal place of pleasure for you to enjoy, among the sweet-smelling flowers in the air.\" She had another, as she told me, brighter than a thousand Phoebuses. This is a place of recreation, a means for my mind to find comfort after study, in wealth, pleasure, and delight.\nFor if I should apply myself\nEver to pray to God on high,\nWithout this place I may not be sure,\nAnother time in prayer to endure,\nBut the other garden is celestial,\nThat belongs to us by inheritance,\nAnd is entitled to us in general,\nFor our clean life and virtuous governance,\nWho loves us without doubt,\nWith us shall go to eternal glory,\nEither in a short space or else to purgatory,\nThen forth we went to her father royal,\nWho welcomed us with great humility,\nSaying, \"My daughter dear and special,\nYou shall this day be wedded to virtue with benevolence.\nWe knelt down and thanked his grace,\nAnd then forth we went to another place,\nInto a chapel gayly adorned,\nAnd also hung with cloth of tissue,\nA place it was truly divine,\nThe roof was set with stones of virtue,\nAs with rubies and emeralds bright in hue,\nThe rood loft was very garnished with gold,\nSet with diamonds right manyfold,\nThere I did see the ark of God,\nWith many saints that suffered martyrdom.\nI saw there Moses' rod and St. Austin, who brought Christianity into England through his great wisdom, and the twelve apostles who began to write our belief and also ended it there. There was St. Peter, the noble pope, who stood on the right side of the high altar in a rich cope. Dame Clennes and I were there. And then, at that time, came Dame Prayer with her sister Charity, and Dame Penance with humility. Then came Dame Faith immediately to us with righteousness, peace, and mercy. With Dame Contrition came joy and glory, who did not tarry long after them. And then came Bede and St. Gregory, with St. Ambrose, the noble doctor, who was a good protector of our faith. Then came the king of fervent love, led by Argos in a goodly way. Without him, he could not remove himself from his seat by right prudence. He who loves Argos will not deceive, nor begin any manner of thing without in his mind these good endings. Also, St. Jerome, the noble cardinal, came up to us in humble reverence.\nWhichever was a good doctrinal teaching for us,\nPreaching to us with virtuous influence and divine complacence,\nFour bishops in great dignity,\nRightly recognizing him on his way,\nWaited by great diligence and never forsook his company,\nBut he obeyed by good experience and from his commandment did not vary,\nBut in the chapel they did tarry,\nAnd then St. Jerome went to the king,\nOf fervent love unto him saying,\nO amiable king, savior of debate,\nO joiner of virtue and well of unity,\nO royal emperor, sovereign estate,\nO messenger of fervent amity,\nO fervent dart of cordial privacy,\nHere is your daughter, fair dame Clennes,\nWho must be married with good righteousness,\nTo virtue, the lovely knight,\nWho has won the battle now,\nBy Lady Wisdom's help and my might,\nAgainst the foul three-headed dragon.\nThis marriage by me shall be done.\nGo now straight into your tabernacle,\nWhich is to you most proper habitation,\nThan the sovereign king called thee,\nDame Faith, discretion, and Lady Wisdom.\nWith dignity and charity, and also mercy and penance, they came to me, saying that my dear daughter would be married today to Virtue, whom you see here. After them came Peace and Grace, who embraced me, saying that I was a great source of comfort to her. She gave me a silver gown as a grand adornment. She gave another of the same to Dame Cleanness, placing it on her back without blame. After which, Cleanness went alone to her father. I remained with Saint Jerome. We stayed there to marry Dame Cleanness, the noble lady. All the ladies stood quietly beside the closet of Cleanness' father, without resistance. The hanging was decorated with blue velvet and richly set with pearls and rubies. Then, Cleanness appeared with two angels leading her. They spread their golden wings. Dame Grace raised her train, and fifteen ladies followed her.\nFirst went Dame Humility, then followed Dame Faith in stable truth,\nLeading with her the fair Peace,\nWhose wealth and riches well increase,\nThen came Dame Reason with persistence,\nAnd Dame Mercy with contrition,\nAnd Dame Exercise with remembrance,\nAfter whom came Dame Restitution,\nWith Dame Prayer and Dame Confession,\nAnd Dame Charity with obedience,\nAnd after them came Fair Dame Abstinence.\nSaint Jerome made their conjunction\nIn matrimony of Dame Clennes and me,\nWith heavenly words and virtuous fasting,\nAnd angels came down from heaven high,\nAs Saint Michael with Gabriel and the archangels,\nTo help Saint Peter sing the mass,\nThe organs rang and the bellies resounded,\nMy pen for feebleness cannot now write,\nNor my tongue for dominion cannot express,\nNor my mind for negligence cannot endite,\nOf the angelic joy and sweet gladness\nThat I saw there without heaviness,\nAnd when this holy wedding was finished,\nThe angels then to heaven vanished.\nI. Down I went into the hall, where a most celestial dinner was ordered by great solemnity. My wife came in, led on one side by good authority, with Saint Edmond the noble king and martyr, who brought her down. On the other side, she was led by Saint Edward the king and confessor. Between them went the bride. All the ladies made great honor for her, as they always served her without error. A little while afterward, Ergos brought down her noble father. The king of love then sat down at the table for that time to eat. He caused Dame Clennes to be seated on his one side because of her renown, and I on the other side without any hindrance. Beside me were wisdom and discretion. Dame Contrition then sat beside Saint Edward with virginity. Saint Edmond and Dame Charity were seated, and Dame Prayer with Dame Abstinence. Dame Faith shone in excellence with Saints Jerome and Austin.\nAnd Saint Gregory, without disdain,\nTwo angels held the tablecloth at each end,\nKneeling down humbly and steadfast,\nWhose service no man could amend.\nOthers were there who intended\nTo serve us with their great diligence,\nIn whom could be found no negligence.\nSaint Peter, by great holiness,\nServed us of our sweet Lord's body.\nFirst he served the Father of purity,\nAnd afterward, him shortly,\nWith charity, faith, and divine mercy.\nAnd I, with discretion and divine wisdom,\nOf Saint Peter was served with great indulgence,\nSo humble obedience with contrition,\nWith Saint Edward and virginity,\nIn like manner were served without corruption,\nAnd Saint Edmond with divine charity,\nAnd Saint Jerome with divine humility,\nWith Saint Augustine and Saint Gregory,\nWhat need I longer of them specify?\nThis was a feast most sweet and precious,\nTo feed the soul with divine comfort,\nThis was a meal most dear and gloryous,\nThat causes all mankind to resort\nTo eternal life and comfort.\nThan Saint Ambrose being divine, after our meal gave us good wine. By this time I was sixty years old, and desired to live in peace. For I began to grow twofold, and my weaknesses did sore increase. Nature then her strength could no longer sustain. Wherefore after this ghostly feast, I thought with my wife to abide in rest. And I to her said with loving cheer, \"O my sweet spouse, most fair and beautiful, to me ever right life and dear, where is your land that is solaceous? You showed me of your garden glorious. Unto which now willingly would I go, there to dwell and you also. Sir, she said, the angel Raphael shall bring you thither with these martyrs and noble confessors. Where you shall see all your progeny with many saints and glorious authors. This land is heaven that longeth to us, as our evidence the gospel tells us. Then came my father in law to us, saying, \"By right I did bind Clarence my daughter to virtue precious, and you must I love by natural kind. For on you now is all my mind.\"\nBefore I kiss my wife most sweetly,\nFor we loved to gather hot and truly,\nThen came my good angel to me,\nCausing me with him to go,\nWith chastity my wife where I did see,\nThe pains of hell full of great woe,\nThere was the dragon that I did slay,\nBound with chains in fire eternal,\nWith the seven deadly sins in general,\nThen my good angel to me said,\n\"If you had loved sensuality,\nWhich with you did make a brazen image,\nYou had been damned by right and equity,\nInto this pit full of all iniquity,\nTherefore thank God that sent you wisdom,\nSuch deadly perils to overcome.\nAlso the lady with the golden cup\nIs here condemned for her great pride,\nIn endless pain both hot and cold,\nWhere for sin she shall abide.\nThis is a dungeon long and wide,\nMade for them that do sin mortally,\nAnd of Christ Jesus will ask no mercy,\nThis is a place full of all darkness,\nWhere are serpents foul and odious.\nThis is a place of mortal pains,\nWhere I saw devils black and tedious.\nDamped souls tormented with rough hooks\nThis is the uppermost part of hell\nIn which damned souls do dwell\nFor as much as they lacked instruction\nTo be leave in God omnipotent\nThey have deserved the lesser correction\nYet their pain has none extinction\nFor they are damned by true sentiment\nFor their unbelief and false idolatry\nThat made their gods of Mars and Mercury\nThen we went down to another vault\nWhere Jews lay in great pains strong\nWhom devils tormented by great assault\nDrawing them with hooks long\nFor their opinion so false and wrong\nWhich believed not in the nativity\nOf Jesus Christ and the virgin Mary\nNor yet that he did suffer passion\nBoth for them and all mankind\nNor yet of his resurrection\nIn their unbelief they are so blind\nYet, as in books written we do find\nThat they have been taught many a time\nTo forsake their own false crime\nThen we went down to a deeper vale\nWhere Christian souls wept and cried\nIn great sorrow, pain, and woe\nBurning in fire most hot and dry\nAnd some in ice right deep did lie\nIt is impossible to express\nThe pains they are so horrible\nThese Christian men know God's law\nAnd every day had information\nFrom devilish works they drew away\nThat they should not fall in damnation\nYet will they not make sequestration\nOf God's commandment but until dead\nTherefore here are they damned rightly\nAnd thou hadst set thy delight\nIn fleshly pleasure and vain glory\nThou hadst been here without salvation\nWithout thee of God had asked mercy\nWhoever asks it shall truly have it\nIf he is contrite and does repent\nThat he his life in evil has spent\nThis place since it is most heavy\nMost dark and most far from light\nAs philosophers affirm by astronomy\nIs in the midst of the earth doubtless\nThat is a place of dismal darkness\nWherefore by reason it must needs be set\nIn the midst of the earth both long and great\nMy good angel by his great virtue\nShowed me all this in a short space.\nAnd after him I did then pursue\nWith my wife unto the fair place\nWhere we came from, full of all solace\nWhere was my father in the company\nOf many saints that tarried there\nMy wife and I then to bring\nTo the place of eternal glory\nWith heavenly tens singing sweetly\nThat they might hear it was great melody\nMore than any tongue can specify\nThis was their song so sweet and glorious\nThat they sang with voice so virtuous\nO celestial king, one, two and three\nAll people praise the god and Lord\nWho art in heaven, noble Trinity\nWhose royal power and mercy\nConfirmed is by Thy high accord\nOn us with truth for to endure\nWithout end as we are sure\nGlory be to the Father almighty\nAnd to the Son and to the Holy Ghost\nThree persons and one God truly\nWhose power never can be lost\nFor He is Lord of might's most\nAnd so has been without beginning\nAnd ever shall be without ending\nWhen we were in the air of assurance\nThere met us the noble Hierarchy\nAs Cherubim and Seraphim so pure\nWith other angels in their company,\nWho declared and sang aloud on high,\nWith voice inexpressibly melodious,\nTo God above, Sanctus sanctus sanctus.\nI saw the planets seven move in order,\nBy alteration, to my great wonder,\nFor they seemed not to notice their operation.\nSome ascended, some descended,\nEntering their houses of the twelve signs,\nSome indirectly and some directly,\nTo heaven we stayed, a place most glorious,\nWhere we beheld the delight,\nWith insatiable longing, most eager and true,\nThe more we gazed upon his sovereign beauty,\nThe more our desire increased.\nThis is a joy that shall not cease,\nThis is a region most full of sweetness,\nThis is a realm of delectation,\nThis is a land of infinite gladness,\nWithout any stormy tribulation,\nThis place is of eternal salvation,\nWhere angels and saints for their solace,\nLook upon God's face forevermore.\nWhat should I write of divinity,\nOr describe of such lofty matters?\nSince it is no thing that belongs to my ability.\nTherefore, I will not delay any longer,\nFor fear that I should vary,\nAnd because truth shall be my measure,\nI will now leave and take myself to my creed,\nSo virtue and cleanness, by right,\nTruly in marriage joined must be,\nFor they love to gather with all their might,\nWithout discord or deceit,\nAnd they both are always in unity,\nTo whom heaven, by a memorial deed,\nIs entitled by a general tale,\nNow are they united to go to heaven,\nTherefore, to dwell in eternal joy,\nWhere there is the heavenly throne\nOf our savior Jesus, dear and special,\nWhoever loves him truly above all,\nLeading his life with virtue and cleanness,\nShall come to the glory endless,\nBut in the ending of my matter,\nTo God the maker of all things,\nDevoutly now I make my prayer,\nTo save king Henry our rightful king,\nFrom all treason and dolorous mourning,\nAnd for the maintenance of the great honor\nOf this sweet red rose so fair a color,\nThis flower was kept right long in close,\nAmong the leaves wholesome and sweet,\nAnd regally sprang and arose.\nOut of the noble stock and root,\nOf the red rose, three to be our boat,\nAfter our bail sent by great grace,\nTo reign by right, long space,\nO Lord God, what joy was this,\nTo his mother so good and gracious,\nWhen she saw her son, victorious,\nIt caused her great joy, no wonder why,\nFor he was long from her truly,\nA joyful meeting between,\nThe mother and the son so dear,\nA day of gladness bright and shining,\nFresher than Phoebus midday spear,\nWhen her son appeared to us,\nHe lit up our world with his pure beams,\nQuenching Mars' fierce lemurs,\nO heavenly king, eternal emperor,\nThree persons and one God equal,\nI pray thee to keep from all sorrow,\nThis mother with her son in special,\nAnd all their noble buds in general,\nPraise be to him who did enhance,\nHim to his right and proper heir,\nThe white rose, once troubled by tempests,\nAlso blown aside,\nThe red rose fortified and made delightful.\nIt pleased God for him so to provide,\nThat his redolent buds shall not slide,\nBut ever increase and be victorious,\nOf fatal brethren which he contrary,\nThus God, by grace, did well combine,\nThe red rose and the white in marriage,\nBeing one right clear doth shine,\nIn all cleanness and virtuous courage,\nOf whose right and royal lineage,\nPrince Henry is sprung our king to be,\nAfter his father by right good equity,\nO noble Prince Henry, our second treasure,\nSurmounting in virtue & mirror of beauty,\nO gem of gentleness & lantern of pleasure,\nO ruby-colored blossom and star of humility,\nO famous bud full of benevolence,\nI pray to God well for to increase,\nYour high estate in rest and peace,\nO thoughtful heart for lack of knowing,\nNow laid to sleep this long winter's night,\nRise up again look on the shining,\nOf fair Lucyna clear and bright,\nBehold also Mercury with his fair light,\nCasting down his streams merry,\nIt may well glad thy empire.\nO go, fountain most aromatic,\nI the now lack for to depart.\nMy roughness with your lusty rhetoric, and I am sure I must please my master Chaucer, as he was expert in eloquent, subtle, and covered terms. Where now lies Lydgate, flourishing in sentence, who should stir my mind to endite (compose poetry) after the terms of famous eloquence and strengthen my pen well for writing with matters fresh of pure delight. They cannot help me; there is no remedy. But I must pray to God almighty to still the dew of influence upon my dull and rude brain and to enlighten me with his wisdom. That I may exclude my roughness and in my matter conclude, to your pleasure and to the readers all. I excuse myself in general. Explicit example of virtue.\n\nHere begins a little treatise on how every man and woman ought to fast and abstain from flesh on Wednesdays.", "creation_year": 1504, "creation_year_earliest": 1504, "creation_year_latest": 1504, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "King Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, France, and Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy, Sussex, and others, greetings. We strictly command you, as soon as you receive these present letters in each of your bailiwicks, both within and outside your liberties, where you deem it necessary, to cause the following public proclamations to be made:\n\nThe sovereign lord our king, at his last parliament held at Westminster, ordained and enacted for the common welfare of this his realm in averting the clipping and destruction of his coinage, and for the preservation of good money to be current within the same. That all manner of English coinage, and the coinage of other lands than current within his said realm for groats or for four pence being silver and not clipped, though cracked or worn, should go and be current throughout this his realm for the same for which they were coined.\nAnd all English groats, as well as coins of other lands clipped, should not go or be current in any way within his said realm. Since it has come to the perfect knowledge of his highness that many and great number of his subjects make themselves ignorant in knowledge of English groats and double farthings, whether they are clipped or not, by means of which great trouble and vexation daily befalls his true and well-meaning subjects in making and receiving their payments. Therefore, and in order to avoid such vexation of his said subjects, the king's highness, by good deliberation and advice of the Lords, has commanded that all English groats or marks, as expressed hereafter, not be clipped but have currency and not be refused.\nEvery English groat bearing three points of the cross hole on one side and the most scripture hole on the other, this proclamation is only extended to such groats that were coined before the making of the said act. And every double plate of silver which has its scripture appearing on one side or the other, shall go therefore. The king's highness wills and strictly commands that all English groats and double plates having the marks or limits above mentioned shall be taken by his receivers as well as all other marks or limits. The king moreover desires and commands that such money as is above said, reputed for clipped money, shall be taken in payment or in exchange for three.\nAnd the half quarter of the clipped money after the rate of the same, not less, to be given for the uncoinage the half uncoinage and the half quarter accordingly, according to the rate of such money, after this proclamation is made in every shire by any person upon pain of forfeiture by the receiver of the same money, so received, and upon pain of imprisonment and fine to be made at the king's will.\n\nAnd all and every such person and every present and sight of him that shall receive such money from the taker and receiver thereof shall cut or cause to be cut in sunder all the said clipped money so received and taken, and to have imprisonment and make fine and render account at the king's\n\nAnd the king further\n\nAnd also the mayors, bailiffs, constables, and all other head officers of cities, towns, boroughs, or villages are to see the premises duly executed to the best of their abilities, and approved to be true, lest they be executed this the king's proclamation.\n[proclamation and high commandment\n\u00b6 This under the imminent peril you in no way omit, I testify before God at Westminster on the fifth day of July in the nineteenth year of our reign. Royal Printer. Within the shrine of St. Elen, William.\ndepiction of English coins]\n\nProclamation and high commandment, under the imminent peril, I testify before God at Westminster on the fifth day of July in the nineteenth year of our reign. Royal Printer. Depiction of English coins.", "creation_year": 1504, "creation_year_earliest": 1504, "creation_year_latest": 1504, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "Henry by the grace of God, King of England and France and Lord of Ireland. Vicomte de Norfolk, Suffolk. Greetings. We strictly command you that as soon as you have received the proclamations in each place within your bailiwicks, under the seal of the sheriff, you shall cause them to be read out in these words.\n\nThe king our sovereign lord commands his remembrance that it was ordained and enacted at Westminster for the common wealth of this his realm, to have the clipping and destruction of his coin, and for the preservation of good money to be current within the same. That all manner of English coin, and the coin of other lands which is current within his said realm for groats or for four pence being silver and not clipped, though it be cracked or worn, shall go and be current in all this his realm for the same that they were coined for.\nAnd also all foreign coins, as English coins and coins of other lands that were clipped, should not go or be current in any way within his said realm. For it has come to the perfection of your knowledge, my lord, that many and great numbers of your subjects make themselves ignorant in knowledge of English coins and double farthings, whether they are clipped or not clipped, by which means great trouble and vexation are daily had to his true and willing subjects in making and receiving their payments. Therefore, and in avoiding such vexation of his said subjects.\nThe kings' highness, by good deliberation and advice of the Speller and Temporell and other councillors, upon the sight of the same English grotes and double plates, declare, decree, and adjudge that all English grotes and double plates having the limitations or marks as expressed below are not to be clipped but to have course and to be current and not to be refused. That is to say, every English grotes being silver and having three points of the cross on one side, and the most part of the scripture hole on the other side to go and be current and in no way to be refused though the same is not perfectly pritted and coined.\nProvided always that this proclamation applies only to such groats coined before the making of the said act of Parliament, and not to new groats coined since the making of the said act, which new groats shall not be current unless they have their full print on both sides according to the said act.\n\nAnd also that every silver double plate bearing scripture on one side or the other shall go and be current and not be refused.\n\nWherefore the king's highness wills and strictly commands that all English groats and double plates bearing the marks or limits aforementioned shall be taken by his receivers as well as all other persons in this his realm, and not to be refused on pain of imprisonment and to make fine at his pleasure; and all English groats and plates of silver not bearing the marks or limits aforementioned are to be reputed clipped money and not to go or be current as coin.\nAnd the king grants, for greater ease and quiet among his aforesaid subjects in this matter, that such money as is aforementioned, called clipped money, shall be taken as payment or in exchange for three shillings and two pence, and likewise the half unce, the quarter, and the half quarter of the said clipped money, at the least, shall be given for the same rate.\nvnce you pay half, vnce you pay a quarter and half a quarter, in accordance with the said rate, after receiving such money; and upon pain of imprisonment and fine at the king's will:\n\nAnd furthermore, the king's highness strictly commands that no subject presume to use weights made of stick ends, commonly called \"pound weights\" in olden times,\n\nAnd also the king's highness commands that all mayors, bailiffs, constables, and all other officers of cities, towns, boroughs, or villages, ensure that the foregoing are duly executed to the best of their powers, upon pain of imprisonment, and to make a fine at the king's will and pleasure upon complaint to him, or to his council, or to any justice of the peace thereof, and approved to be true, that they do not execute this the king's proclamation and high command.\n\nThis you shall not omit, under pain of forfeiture. Witness me, at Westminster, the fifth day of July, in the nineteenth year of our reign.", "creation_year": 1504, "creation_year_earliest": 1504, "creation_year_latest": 1504, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase1"},
{"content": "Here begin the Accidence diligently corrected and pointed. How many parts of reason are there, eight? Which eight? Now: pronoun: adverb: participle: conjunction. Preposition. And interjection. How many are declined, and how many are undeclined? Four are declined, and four are undeclined. Which four are declined.\nNowe is a verb and its participle. Which four are declined? Adverb, conjunction, preposition, and interjection. How many are declined with case, and how many without? Three are declined with case, and one without. Which three are declined with case? Nowe, pronoun and participle are declined with case, and a verb only appears without case. How do you know a nowe? For any manner of things, what a man may see, feel, hear, or understand: that which is the name of a thing is a nowe. How many kinds of nouns are there? Two: I, a nominative, and a noun adjective. How do you know a noun substantive? For it may stand by itself without the help of another word, and is declined in Latin with one article or two at most in one case, as hic magister, hic et hec sacerdos.\nHow do you identify an adjective? An adjective cannot stand alone without the help of another word and is declined in Latin with three articles or three different endings in one case, such as noitioui hic et hic et hoc felix, bonus bona bonum.\n\nHow many things belong to an adjective? Six. Which six? Quality, comparison, number, figure, and case. What is quality in an adjective? A property by which an adjective agrees with only one thing, such as Adam or many others.\n\nHow do you identify a quality in an adjective? It is a property: by which one thing is likened to another, such as fair, white, black.\n\nHow many degrees of comparison are there? Three, which are the pository, comparative, and superlative.\n\nHow do you identify the pository degree? It is the ground of all other degrees of comparison without making more or less, such as fair, white, black.\n\nHow do you identify the comparative degree? It passes its pository with the comparative abbreviation more and its English ending in r, such as more wise.\nAmbo/duo make the third declension similar.\nHow do you know the third declension? For the genitive case singular ends in is/the dative in I/the accusative in em or im/the vocative shall be like the nominative/the ablative in e or i/the nominative/accusative and the vocative plural ends in es/the genitive plural in um or ium/the dative & the ablative in bus.\nHow do you know the fourth declension? For the genitive singular, the nominative, accusative, and vocative plural end in us: the dative in ui. the accusative in um. the vocative shall be like the nominative. the ablative in u. the genitive plural in um, the dative and the ablative in bus. Also, all these nouns: that are contained in these verses, have u before bus in the dative and the ablative case plural. All other keep still i short before bus.\n\nVerse.\nBefore bus, we find servants: three arches, acuses.\nArms: with trees. ports. parts(and) quces.\nAnd specus. and quercus. here he here this here this here we find.\nHow do you know the fifth declension? For the genitive and dative case singular ends in i. The accusative in em. The vocative shall be like the nominative. The ablative in e/ the nominative. The nominative, accusative, and the vocative plural end in es. The genitive in erum. The dative and the ablative in ebus. All nouns of the fifth declension lack the genitive, the dative, and the ablative plural: take these out in the following verses.\n\nLacking plural genitives: either datives or fifth declension.\nSixth and fifth: except for res, species, dies.\nProgenies and maneries: similarly, materies.\nAdd ac and faces to the aforementioned.\nAs Brito testifies: hopes are associated with them.\n\nHow do you know a progenitor? He is a part of reason\nDeclined with case: and is\n\nHow many pronouns are there? They demonstrate I/you/he/he.\nEnjoying the relative case is he/it/self.\nThey show/refer ille/ipse to you.\nHow do you know a pronoun? It reveals something.\nHow do you know a pronoun's meaning? It reveals something: as stated before.\nWhich pronouns have the vocative case, and which lack it? Four have it, and all others lack it.\nQuattuor exceptis pronouns nulla vocabis.\nThou, meus, and nosetas (que) are the only ones called these.\nHow many things belong to a pronoun? Six. Which six? Quality, gender, number, figure, person, and case.\nHow many persons are there? Three. Which three? The first, the second, the third.\nHow do you know the first person? For he speaks of himself as we.\nHow do you know the second person? For he speaks to another: as you or ye.\nHow do you know the third person? For he speaks of another as he or they, and every now and then: pronoun, and Participle is the third person, except for ego and nos, tu.", "creation_year": 1504, "creation_year_earliest": 1504, "creation_year_latest": 1504, "source_dataset": "EEBO", "source_dataset_detailed": "EEBO_Phase2"}
]