¶Here begynneth a lytell treatyse in Englysshe / called the Extripacion of ignorancy: and it treateth and speketh of the ignorance of people / shewyng them howe they are bounde to feare god / to loue god / and to honour their prince. Which treatise is lately compyled by sir Paule Busshe preest / and Bonhome of Edyndon: and dedicate vnto the yong and most hye renomed lady Mary / princes & doughter vnto the noble progenytour / our worthy souerayne kyng Henry the eight / kyng of Englāde and of Fraūce / & hye defēder of ye christenfaithe. &c.
[...]
Hystoris to rede / autentycall and trewe
Grace to augment / and ydelnesse to subdewe.
¶Wherfore gracious lady / sythe ye are so prone
By naturall instyncte / and humble humylite
Thus vertuously to be occupyed / no hour forgone
Of your mylde goodnesse / my dytties to ouerse
Wherin ye shall fynde / touched in breuyte
Hystoris autentycall / of the testament olde
And some presydēces of ye new / necessary to beholde
¶And though I lacke dropes / of ye lycour laureate
Whiche sprang of Chaucer / ye foūtayne of oratours
To adorne my style and my mater to consecrate
yet gracious princes / to repell the sharpeshours
Of synistrall reportes / among yuell detractours
Sōtyme at leysar / your other charges layde asyde
Where ye faute fynde / correcte or it be spyde.
¶Thus doyng / your grace shal me straitly bynde
With hert and seruyce / to do what lyeth in me
your magnifycēce to extoll / or els I were vnkynde
Accordyng to your merytes / to testify my fydelyte
Against you & your parētes / whose welth & dignite
Christ conserue / and also dayly augment
wt honor & worshyp / cōgrue / to your power exellēt.
¶The prologue generall of Paule Busshe / composytour of this lytell treatyse.
¶Deum timete / et regem honorificate. Prima Petri secundi.
¶In an orcharde as I walked / desolate of cōpany
In a pathe / from tre to tre / as my vsage was
Vnbrede with bowes pendaūt / in order plesauntly
In mynde I reuolued / howe I might brīg to passe
Some treatise to endyte / to the conforte and solace
Of people desyrous / vertuously to be occupyed
To se god lauded / and his hye name magnifyed.
¶And as I walked alone / in mynde thus musyng
I thought to endyte / what thyng were necessary
And by long delyberacion / I cōiectred most syttīg
Somwhat to write / of mans ingratytude & folly
And to ꝓsecute his demeaner / all croked & cōtrary
To god his maker / by lyueng nat cōmendable
Subdued by vyce / and suche maters semblable.
¶And no great marueyle / ne wonder certayne
Though suche incōuenyence / enshewe vs amonge
For wylfully is broken / the bridell and the rayne
Whiche shulde gouerne man in euery thronge
As first / drede is expulsed / by audacite stronge
And sensualyte ruleth / as gouernour principall
So that Christ is nat dradde / ne feared at all.
¶Also ꝑfyte loue / whiche shulde deuout myndes
Sette on fyre / in louyng god omnypotent
Is subpeditate / by enormytes of sondrie kyndes
Wherfore I thought it semyng / and most cōuenyēt
As touchyng my purpose / for this tyme present
Of these two maters / and their circūstaūce chefely
Somwhat to write / to mittygate suche folly.
¶And also to speke / I thought it expedient
Thirdly of ignorāce / which ledeth people froward
Shewyng them by auctorites / & reasons euydent
Howe they are oblygate / in especiall regarde
Their prince to honour / as capten of their forward
Whose magnanimyte / they ought to auaunce
With hertes and goodes / after their substaunce.
¶Of these maters thre / as god wyll dispose
I entende this volume / shall beare thimportaunce
And as breuely / as I can / in meter compose
I shall discribe as my wyttes can forge vttraunce
Their grades & distīctions / their proꝑtis & eligaū ce
Rebukyng in especiall / wylfull rashe audacite
& also blynde ingratitude / which man ought to fle.
¶That gostly champion / saint Peter the apostell
In his epistels / this sentence ofte dothe resight
Feare you god he saithe / this is his counsell
And loke ye honor your prīce / with power & might
In his iuste tytell / alway redy for to fyght
Thus shall you please god / & your soules decorate
Whan ye heed with the mēbres / togider be adunate.
¶What causeth mischefe? what causeth discēcion?
Discorde and debate: But onely disobedience
Thus olde hystores and scripture / maketh mēcion
For it is counted a lyfe brutall / euer saithe sapience
Whan that people lyueng / dothe nat their dilygēce
God chefly to worship / and their prince to honour
As the thyng speciall / of their corporall treasour.
¶What caused cyties and townes to fall to ruyne:
But onely the decayeng / of Christes hye honour
Whan ye people to vyce / them selfe dyd fully enclyne
Somtyme the Romayns / habounded in treasour
But whan christꝭ honor decayed / & they fell to error
Than their renome abated / vrged by violence
For their vnstable demeaner / to kepe true sylence.
Many folde presydētes / reduce we may to memory
Cotidially shewed of mannes vnstable dotage
Waueryng as the wynde / laboring right busely
For honour and worship / as one of hye lynage
Clyming so hye / that forgoten is their parentage
ye / god and his prince / and hymselfe also
Whiche after subuerteth his state / to sorowe & wo.
Well this set clene aside / I shall my wittes auaūce
My purpose to comprice / and therto my pen direct
No lengar to remayne / by goddes gouernaunce
In maters dependyng / nothyng to theffecte
Eschewing wordes suꝑflewe / which oft doth infect
The sentence clere / of hystores true & autentycall
Lefte for morall presydentes / to people vnyuersall.
But in mynde whan I pondre / this prouerbe olde
Who casteth lesse peryls / thā dothe bayarde blynde
It maketh my hande quake / and also my hert colde
And tosseth my wyttes / as a ship before the wynde
Lest some frowarde persons / peruert and vnkynde
Shulde by me reporte / wordes somwhat equalent
Sayeng / to entprice suche causes / he is insufficiēt.
Such sayīg may be verified ye dede maketh relaciō
Wherfore to my maisters / knowng the quiditice
Of scolasticall actes / by practyse and speculacion
I submyt my selfe / in most humble wyse
Their due correction / in no case to dispyce
But as a discyple / leanyng to doctryne
So vnto their tradicions / gladly I shall enclyne.
¶But the correction I refuce / and that in especiall
Of a wandring mynstrell / or of a rusty coke
Of a iester / a rayler: or of a barbaryke rurall
Or of any such other / knowyng no letter in boke
The trouthe to say / nat an A / from a fysshe hoke
And after myne opinyon / it is greatly vnsyttyng
That suche shulde haue / suche maters in hādlyng.
¶But yet though suche chatte / as dothe the Pye
And fynde many fautes / for lacke of intellection
yet that shall nat cause me to omyt my study
But to kepe ydelnesse / in bonde and subiection
Suche pastyme wyll I vse / vnder the protection
And the diuyne suffraūce / of god omnypotent
As to my state / is most syttyng and conuenyent.
¶Cōmendacion it is none / this I knowe certayne
A relygious man / to ydelnesse to be obedyent
Nor the laude is but small / vyle and mundayne
His tyme to cōtryue / in discribing workes insolent
For to suche thynges / if he do his mynde frequent
Wysemen shall say / deprauyng his fame
This man gothe about / to lese his good name.
¶Therefore my lordes and maisters in generall
Pondre the entent / of my enterprise rude
For the thyng y• ꝓuoked me / to this worke speciall
My study to apply / with dilygent solycitude
Was that slouthfull idelnesse / shulde nat me illude
And yt I maye accōplysshe / my purpose and entent
First shall I pray / as it is most expedient.
Nowe lorde / as thy sapience surmoūteth mās estimacion
In rulyng & gouernyng / by prouidēce incōparable
Heuyn / erthe / and hell / as doctors make relacion
So nowe rule my penne / and my wytte variable
That my worke be nat foūde / fauty ne yet culpable
But fartell of goodnesse / garnysshed with vertue
Vice vtterly to repell / & gostly fortitude to renue.
¶Also helpe me lorde / of thy goodnesse habūdaūt
Directly to procede / in this matter compendyous
My style to adorne / with sentence plesaunt
That to the reders / gredy and desyrous
It may be profytable / and also cōmodious
Their hertes to enflame / alwayes pondring
God to drede / and to honour their kyng.
¶Thus endeth the prologue of Paule Busshe / cō positour of this worke / and begynneth the first treatyse / whiche speketh of the drede & feare that euery man ought to haue to offēde almighty god.Venite filij audite me, timorem domini docebo uos. Psalmo. xxxiij
AS ornamentes freshe / plesaunt and comely
Garnisheth ye body / of man woman & childe
So is ye soule decorate / whan people labour busely
God specially to honor / by conuersacion vndefylde
Whose power inuīcible / chasteth & tameth ye wylde
As hunger dothe the faucon / all at large flyeng
Wherfore attende my wordes & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
¶He that purposeth / graciously to comprehende
The ioyes inestymable and with god to raigne
Must remembre pondre and well attende
That he haue sure in store / wynges twayne
The one must be drede / the other loue certayne
And these two well ordred / feare nat thy departing
Wherfore attende my wordes & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete / et diligite.
Dauyd the prophet / dothe pronostike this sentence
In his boke of psalmes / as plainly dothe appere
That the originall onely / of all wisedom & sapience
Is to drede god / and also his power to feare
For it is nat good / man hym selfe to endanger
With his trewe iustyce / & most rightuous dealyng
Wherfore attende my wordes & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
¶If Adam our first parent / being in paradice
Had humbly obeyed / the cōmaundement speciall
Of god his maker / the myrrour of all iustyce
And nat wylfully trāsgressed / by suggestiō mortall
But always haue feared / his displeasure prīcipall
Than chaūged had nat bē his state in welth flowīg
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
¶Whan the worlde also / was replete with synne
Almost euery creature / prone to vnthriftynesse
Was nat Noe preserued / and eight of his kynne
From dredefull drownyng / for his cōstant sadnesse
And lyfe ryght cōmendable: as beareth wytnesse
The history trewe: without colour of faynyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum timete.
Olde Abraham ye patriarke / hath made īmolacyon
Offryng his sonne ysaac / in sacrifice most redolent
Had he nat feared / goddes iust castygacion
No doutlesse / the history sheweth playne & euident
For it was alwayes / his mynde and entent
Goddes wyll to accōplysshe / as it is most syttyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum timete.
Was nat vertuous Iacob / had ī worthy reputacion
With almighty god / & endewed wt great substaūce
Ruling nere the worlde / as writīg maketh relacion
By his pruident dealyng / & polytike gouernaunce
And all this was prouided / by goddes ordynaunce
For his morall lyueng / and rightuous demeanyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum timete.
¶Also what abled Ioseph / to suche hye authorite
As to be lorde & gouernour / of Egipt that region
Was it nat his vertue / and sober grauyte
Dredyng the enfecte / his soule with the poyson
Of Venus flamyng lustes / fylthy as carion
Beholde well genesis / there appereth the writyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
¶What auaunced Moises / somtyme a shepherde
To honour and fame / as man of hye parentage
But onely that his lorde / he dradde and feared
Instructīg his people / cōmytted to his gouernage
With lāgage discrete / coūtinaūce / demure and sage
The fame speciall to enshewe / vice & syn auoyding
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
¶Why was Iosue electe / by god omnypotent
Moyses to succede / in offyce and dignyte
But that he feared god / & eschewed workes insolēt
As it becometh a captayne / sette in auctorite
For hye roumes / and dissolute maners / as we se
Full yll dothe acorde / as iugeth wisdome & cōnyng
Wherfore attende my wordes & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
Were nat ye childre of israll plōged in care & sorowe
In the tyme of Aioth / Delbora and Gedeon
As in captiuyte to day / and at lyberte to morowe
Nowe in nowe out / brought to great confusyon
And all for their iniquite / and vnstable cōuersacion
God nat dredyng / but all at pleasure wandring
Wherfore attende my wordes & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
¶O holy Ruth / a woman though thou were
And made of nature frayle / as all women be
yet example arte thou / as plainly dothe appere
To all men / for thy mekenesse and hye humylite
For in the raigned / no suche mutabylite
But vertue and goodnesse / god alwayes fearyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
¶If Ofnye and Phynes / the sonnes of Hely
Had feared god / and nat preuaricate his entent
Ne defrauded their father / and the people chefely
Whiche made oblacion / with myndes beniuolent
Than suffred they had nat / suche strait punyshmēt
As to be slayne bothe / the holy arke also lesyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
¶Howe garnysshed Samuell / his lyfe leuiticall
With workes meritorious / as a lampe & luminary
Rulyng all Israell / in causes iudiciall
With iustyce and equite / by his wytte and policy
Subduyng transgressours / myttigatyng folly
Feryng goddes punisshment / as I said at begīnīg
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
¶Dyde nat Dauid cōmyt a syn great & detestable
Whan that Vrye his seeuaūt / he caused to be slayne
For Barsabe his wyfe / whiche was so amyable
Cōmytting auoutry / as thistory sheweth playne
But immediatly / with dolefull hert & great payne
He dyde penaūce / goddes punysshment fearyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
O Salomon salomon / whyle yu dyddest p̄meditate
In thy hert inwardly / god to serue and feare
Than greatly was magnifyed / thy regall estate
For in wysedome and glorie / thou haddest no pere
But after for thy idolatry / and ingratitude clere
Ouerthrowen was thy state / in welth so standynge
wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Why was Eliseus ye prophet / endued wt such vertue
As to restore the deed to lyfe agayne
But that with dilygence / he dyde alwayes eschue
Vnclenly maners / whiche vtterly dothe distayne
The lyfe of man / and the soule reuolue in payne
For tyme perpetuall / in turment alwayes lyeng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
What caused Nabugodonosor / a kyng of gret fame
To fall from his regall state / to lede a lyfe brutall
Lyueng by hey & grasse / in wofull misery & shame
But onely his errogance / nat fearing god eternall
Whiche by his myght / subdueth such people frōtall
Wandring at pleasure as the wynde waueryng
Wherefore attende my wordes & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
Whan people be enflamed / with blinde ambiciosite
Couetyng hye gouernage / vnworthy and vnable
Than ruleth wyll / and brutall sensualyte
So that vertue to vice / must be seruysable
Whiche is nat comely / sytting / nor yet laudable
Thus saithe the theologe / playne in his writyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
¶What mencion maketh / that boke so exellent
Paralipomynon / whiche treateth seriously
Of kynges and princes / and of their regyment
Shewyng howe some were auaunced to glorie
For their lyues venerable / dispisyng pleasures trāsitorie
Dreding alwayes: the finall day of recuyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
¶Agayne some were throwen / in to bale & misery
Their lyues so to lede / brought to extreme ruyne
For their inornate lyueng / all vyle and beestly
God nat fearyng / dispisyng to enclyne
Their myndes and hertes / to his lore and doctryne
Whiche causeth them to lye / in paynes euerlastyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
¶Esdras the scribe / as his boke maketh mencion
Whiche gouerned his lyfe / by vertue most exellent
Reuolued well in mynde / suche maner abusyon
Whan to Ierusalem / by Artraxerxes he was sent
His busy study was to stable people maliuolent
In the drede of god / by coūsell & demure dealyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
¶O holy drede / howe surely thou were planted
In the hert of Toby / that gostly lyueng person
Whiche of ꝓfyte goodnesse / nothyng at all wanted
For all his cure was sette / in the mynistracion
Of workes of mercy / eschewyng the diffamacion
Of thefte and rapyne / the sequele therof dredyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum timete.
¶Lytell of this drede / wt his rass he audacite
Had blynde Olifernes / whan he thretned ye subuersion
Of Bethulia & Ierusalē / cyties of p̄emynent degre
But what became of hym / marke the conclusion
Dyde nat vertuous Iudith / by diuyne permission
His heed of stryke / dronken in his bedde lyeng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre mysayeng.
¶O Iudith Iudith / great was the iubilacion
Of Bethulia & Ierusalem / wt man woman & childe
Whan thou haddest vanquesshed / ye pride & elacion
Of the outrage assyrions / all furious and wylde
Whiche thought in their myndes / god to begyle
But suche can nat preueyle / thus brefely cōcludyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
¶O holy Hester lykewise great was thy businesse
To ꝑsuade kyng Assuerus / to pytie and cōpassion
Enflamed with yre / by thentysement doutlesse
Of cruell Aman / whiche for pride and indignacion
Wolde of the iewes / haue distroyed the hole nacion
But of suche dredeles whelpes / nought is thendīg
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
¶Suche encēsate villayns / may lerne god to fere
Of ꝑfite Iob / which lost his substaūce & childre also
But yet styll with pacience / he tempred his chere
Neuer moued / but sayd / nowe all is go:
So god be pleased / voyde is my hert of care & wo
Thought he none toke / but goddꝭ displeasure ferīg
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
¶What great feare toke yt woman so constaunt
Holy Susane / whiche cruell dethe to tollerate
Dyde frely chose / with mynde strōg and valyaunt
Rather than her body / to defyle and contamynate
With the vnchast officers / which foūde her desolate
And wolde her opprest / their lyues therfore lesyng
Wherfore attende my wordes & pondre my sayeng.
¶If Isaye / Heremye / Baruthe / and Ezechiell
Abacuthe / Osee / and perfite Amos also
Abdon and Ionas / and that prudent Danyell
Holy prophetes / with other of their felowes mo
Had lacked this feare / as their hystories dothe sho
Than nowe in heuyn / shulde nat be their abyding
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum timete.
What was ye origynall / yt caused the macabeis fyue
As valyaunt men / discended of stocke royall
In marciall busynesse / their lyues to contryue
Was it nat / that they as thyng most principall
Feared sore to breake / their lawes moisecall
Is doutlesse / thus saithe playne the writyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum timete.
¶Many thousandes mo / there be without dout
In the olde testament / as we rede / which deuoutly
Lyued vnder godly feare / who lyst to seke thē out
Whose names and actes / I purpose to omyt chefly
Bycause I entende to write nowe consequently
Of our newe patrons / the merites also praysing
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum timete.
¶First what caused the holy apostels all
This worlde to dispyce / caduke and transitory
Affectyng no honours / ne pleasurs corporall
Certayne it was / as the text dothe testify
For feare of lesyng / the euerlastyng glory
Of heuenly ioye souerayne / excellyng all thyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
¶O blesshed Paule / dyddest nat thou also
Feruently labour / with traueyle and great payne
To preche and teche / where euer thou dyddest go
And all bycause / that thou woldest optayne
The ioyes inestymable / and with god to raigne
yes surely: this was thy speciall recuyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum timete.
¶At first begynning / yu were enflamed greatly
With furious audacite / ꝓcuring onely to abate
Christes hye honor his disciples pursuing namely
But thy tyrānous corage / was sonne subpeditate
Whan thou laist nuslyng / on the grounde ꝓstrate
In the felde of Damasse / for mercy alwayes crieng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum timete.
What caused Steuen & Laurence / wt dyuers other
As vīcent albane / & thom̄s: these martyrs glorious
Also Cyrike the enfant with Iulyta his mother
Cōstantly to parseuer / in turmentes dolorous
Was it nat for feare of lesyng / the mācion glorious
yes doutlesse / or els in vayne was their traueyling
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum timete.
Howe many holy cōfessors / do we fynde in likewise
As we rede in legendes / lefte in perpetuall memory
Whiche dayly mortifyde / as plantes of paradyce
Their membres corporall / asswaging lustes filthy
Feryng the cōtamynate / the figure of endles glory
Of these we fynde thousādes / without any fayning
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
¶Also what is he / whiche truely can expresse
The nōbre of ꝑfyte virgyns / pure and immaculate
Whiche lyued here cōtynent / groūded in sobernesse
In whose honors nowe / our temples are dedycate
I knowe certayne / if I shulde dayly inuestigate
yet shulde I neuer bring them all to recuyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum timete.
¶This styll to replycate / hystores autentycall
Tyme it consumeth / wherfore to conclude
That I say to one / I say breuely to all
If ye wyll optayne / the euerlastyng beatytude
Beware of ignorance / and blynde ingratytude
And euermore among / as I sayd at begynning
Attende my frequent wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
¶Here endeth the first parte of this volume / whiche hath shewed howe man is bounde to feare god by manyfolde examples. And nowe immediately here foloweth the seconde parte / whiche shall speake of ye loue that man ought to haue to almighty god.
‘¶Diligamus nos deum / quoniam deus prior dilexit nos.’Prima Iohannis quarto.
¶Rede the last worde in the seconde lyne ouer the leafe / merytorious / for metorious.
Deum diligite.
BVt yet god thus to drede / and nothīg to loue
It were but labour tedious / & scant metorious
For he that a place wyll purchase aboue
Eternally to raigne / in state most prosperous
Must combyne drede / with loue ardent & amorou [...]
As two thynges necessary / to one belongyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum diligite.
¶This loue is so noble / so hye and so exellent
If it be pure voluntary / fre and spontayne
That to all vertues / it is a spectacle euydent
For nother drede / nor yet obedience certayne
May be acceptable vnto god / this is playne
Except loue be the origynall / and the well spring
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum diligite.
¶The loue that Christ shewed first for man
In his plasmacion / by giftes hye and excellent
Was for no qualyteis / that in hym raigned than
His ꝓduction was so baren / yet of his mynde ꝓuident
To magnify our nature / it was his entent
For of all his creatures / he made man lorde & kyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum diligite.
¶Wherof mounted this gifte of preemynence
But onely of his mere loue / as I sayd before
Nat in vayne to betaken / through our neglygence
But as a presydent / alwayes to be had in store
Loue to encrese & augmēt / specially again therfore
This may we vnderstande / by reason rulyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
The multitude of benefites / shulde engēdre amyte
Namely whan they be exibite / to people indigent
Wrapped in wretchednesse / and bondes of calamite
As is our nature / all lame and impotent
By necessite ineuitable / of it selfe nat sufficient
But that god mynistreth / vnto vs all thynge
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum diligite.
¶Suche is our necessyte / that no creature can say
Without the exellent gyftes / of god omnypotent
I am able to lyue / one naturall day
No doutlesse / to speke / and to be indifferent
Be he neuer so noble / nat the space of a moment
So feble & so sklender / is our substaūce wauering
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum diligite.
¶Let vs consydre / howe prone in tymes all
Christ is to sufflute / our impotence and debilyte
For our necessite / is nat so vrgent at all
But moche more prone / is his ayde and benignyte
All seasons helpyng / our care and aduersite
Gyueng vs lyfe / conseruyng our being
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum diligite.
¶This is euydent / experiēce dothe ye cause patify
That his conseruacion / may nat be sequestrate
From our substaunce caduke / vyle and transitory
For if it be / we all are but frustrate
Redacte to adnichilacion / from all thyng priuate
Of shape and forme / nothyng remayning
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
¶These consyderacions / ought to auaunce reason
With solicitude of mynde / concludyng finally
That man is most bounde / hauyng discrecion
God alwayes to laude / with seruage and study
Inuestigate who listeth / he fyndeth nat the cōtrary
For this yeldeth reason / without more recuyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum diligite.
¶Nowe / sithe man is bounde / aboue creatures all
To god omnypotent / for his benefites infynite
He ought to reuolue / in his mynde principall
What thyng may be / most acceptable in his sight
And the same to rendre / with hert and myght
Or els reason may reproue / his vnworthy dealyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum diligite.
¶What thyng may be / thynketh man in mynde
Vnto god his maker / more plesaunt or acceptable
Than to shewe him loue / as reason doth him binde
Doutlesse nothyng / so precious nor cōmendable
Nor to vs nothyng / so necessary nor profytable
If it be depured / from all erthely recuyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum diligite.
This loue must be pure tāgled wt no welth mūdain
But fixte on hym onely / which of nought made all
Or els inordinate is our lawe / this is playne
For whan loue is wrapped / with affection carnall
It is nat good nor godly / but beestly and brutall
And to people reasonable / greatly discordyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
¶What shulde man / hauyng the vse of discrecion
Fixe his mynde / on thynges vayne and transitory
Though nature gyue beautie / & fayre impression
Set nat thy mynde / on suche maters rasly
For it is but volage / and chaunged shalbe shortly
To all creaturrs: this chefe poynt is belongyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum diligite.
¶It is greatly vncomely / vnto vs people mortall
To set our hertes on that / whiche can nat remayne
For he that is prudent / to mynde ofte wyll call
That suche faynt follyes / shulde nat hym cōstraine
His maker to forget / for thynges abiecte & vayne
But labour he shulde busely / for his soule ꝓuiding
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum diligite.
¶What can the worlde promyse to the ꝑpetually
Sithe nothyng it hath / that is perdurable
But fraite with vanitees / cowarde vnder pall
Thy mynde to enuolue / with thoughtes damnable
And thy soule to put / to paynes intermynable
This euer eschewyng / thy lyfe mysgouernyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum diligite.
¶Such dolefull rewardes / amōg people prudent
Are vtterly dispysed / and set at nought
Reuoluyng in mynde / this ꝓuerbe ofte frequent
The childe is yll taught / and worse vp brought
Whiche in age / hath no mynde nor thought
His body to refrayne / from in ordynate lyueng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
¶God made nat man / as doctors make relacion
His wyttes fyue / to spende mordynate
But his parte were / his lyfe and conuersacion
So to gouerne & adorne / with no abusyon violate
That wt ioye & felycite / his soule might be decorate
In the stage glorious / all thyng surmountyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum diligite.
¶A hert with deuocion flamed / wyll couet alway
The thyng speciall / whiche is pure and cōstaunt
And that onely desyre: bothe night and day
Whiche is good and honest / and to god pleasaunt
Deformed with no enormyte / to his state repugnāt
His laude so hyndring / & his good name deprauīg
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum diligite.
¶Man ought to desyre / the thyng moost emynent
Sure and nat fadyng / whiche all tyme dothe ꝓfite
Drowned with no errour / voyde of all turment
As endlesse blysse / incomparable and perfyte
Whiche euery good man / dothe desyre and couyte
His carcas dispisyng / for suche treasour sekyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum diligite.
¶This endlesse blysse certayne / is of suche valour
That it is impreciable / no man can it bye
With golde ne syluer / richesse nor yet treasour
It excelleth so in honour / in beautie and glorie
And ordayned it is / no man can deny
For god and his angels / and man well lyueng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
¶The apostell Paule / in his epystles dothe say
That no hert can thynke / nor materiall eyese
No eare can here / nor tonge expresse may
The inestymable glorie / ioye and felycite
That is comprised / without fastidiosyte
In this realme of pleasure / in beautie shinyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum diligite.
In this court angely call / raigneth no mortalyte
No nede nor indigence / but plente and habūdaūce
No age decrepite / infecte with infyrmyte
But helth / welthe / and peace / without perturbaūce
No bonde ne seruytude / nor yet mysgouernaunce
May entre this trone / of Christes garnysshyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Deum diligite.
¶Salomans sapience / that surmounted so hye
Nor Absalons beautie / ye was praysed in especiall
Is nat to be compared / in laude and glorie
To the wisedome and beautie / whiche perpetuall
In this stage and trone / clerer than cristall
Gloriously adorned / thynges all excellyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Deum diligite.
The fortitude of Sāpson / nor the velocite of Asael
As scripture sheweth / in sentence most worthy
Nor yet the long lyfe / of the auncient Matusaell
Were but gyftes naturall / enuolued with misery
Nothyng to be resembled / to the goodnesse heuēly
whiche in this glorious habitacle is euer abydyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
¶And all this man / yu maist purchace and optayne
By vertuous lyueng / and by loue true & perfyght
Louyng thy maker / yt hath ordayned the to raigne
Thus for tyme ꝑpetuall / in his presence and sight
In his trone euerlastyng / neuer destitute of lyght
But garnisshed with beautie / in vertue shyning
wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
¶Here endeth the seconde ꝑte of this volume / whiche hath shewed / howe man is bounde to loue almighty god: [...] potestatibus sublimioribꝰ subdita sit, quia non est potestas [...]usi a deo. Ad [...]oma. [...] And nowe here after foloweth ye thirde parte / whiche shall speke of the honour that euery man is bounde to reuerente his prince and souerayne with all.
¶Nowe seyng that I / haue made demonstracion
In style homly / thy loue howe yu shuldest bestowe
To goddes pleasure man / & thy soules cōseruacion
Nowe breuely to reuert / I purpose to showe
Howe that thy prince / thou oughtest to knowe
That to god may be acceptable / thy lyueng
wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Regem honorificate.
¶By morall wysedome / first deuysed were
Officers and gouernours / of constant grauyte
This worlde namely to rule / and set in an ordere
With comely maners / eschewyng all enormyte
Adornyng their owne lyues / mortifyeng vanyte
To people rude / vertuous examples gyueng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Of these gouernours / whiche ruled thus lōg space
Some were patryarkes / ꝓphetes: & iuges tēꝑall
And sōe were prestes discrete / & as thistory do trace
Discended lyneally / of the styrpe & stocke leuiticall
And againe some were scribes / ingenious & morall
By polytike discrecion / their offices gouernyng
wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Prepositos honorificate.
Whan these worthy gouernors / armed wt prudence
Had gouerned thus the worlde / a long tyme & date
It was thought more cōuenyent / for ye cōmēs defēce
One heed and ruler / to gouerne and the principate
therfore as people discrete / in one mynde cōfederat
They chose thē a ruler / and named hym a kyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Regem honorificate.
¶This kyng our souerayne / we ought to honour
And haue in reputaciō / as the myrrour of chiualry
In whose magnanimite / resteth our trust & tresour
All tymes and seasons / to suffult our bale & misery
As a capten valeaunt / rulyng by wytte and policy
His subiectes transgressours / straitly punisshyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Regem honorificate.
¶Who maketh our enemyes to drede and feare
Insurrections to make / our welthe to molest
Who punissheth the felone / who correcteth murder
Who kepeth our noble realme in peace and rest
Who maketh ye prone lecher / to be good and honest
Dothe nat this our souerayne and worthy kyng
Wherfore attende my wordes & pondre my sayeng.
¶Who causeth iustyce / who causeth equite:
Duely to be mynistred / in cytie / borowe / & towne.
Who quencheth the flames / of rasshe lassyuite
Who exalteth iust lyuers / & the wicked putteth downe
All this doth our prince / beryng ye cepter & crowne
In whose hande resteth / our welth and gouernyng
Wherfore attende my wordes & pondre my sayeng.
Regem honorificate.
¶If our prince were nat / order were there none
For euery [...] wolde rule / and play the lorde
And than shulde ye poreman bothe grudge & grone
Kept vnder bondage / as dogge vnder borde
And nat so hardy / as ones to speke a worde
For drede of punisshment / & of his goodes lesyng
Wherfore attende my wordes & pondre my sayeng.
Regem honorificate.
¶Where is no heed / the body deformed is
Farre out of shappe / as we se by experyence
So in caselike / thou canst nat contrary this
Where is no soueraine / there reigneth incōuenyēce
As fraude / gyle / & extorciō / with many other offēce
So that all togiders / rōneth to the deuyll hedlyng
wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Regem honorificate.
¶Were it nat for feare / of our prīce and souerayne
I thynke surely / and dare boldely say
Verite nor yet equite / shulde be suffred to raigne
And than soone after / shulde our realme decay
So craftely wolde auarice / her maters conuey
Through subtylte / her hādmaydes helpe & socorīg
Wherfore attende my wordes & pondre my sayeng.
¶Al syses and sessyons / moche periury is vsed
Fals heed and power / be so nye of consanguinite
But thā our worthy prīce / which cā nat be deluded
By his lawe and iustyce / extirpeth suche ꝑcialyte
Thus it is doutlesse / or els thus it shulde be
In euery realme & region / where reigneth a kyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Regem honorificate.
Wolde our maisters trowe ye / bothe spūall & tēꝑall
Feare as they do: their lyues to contamynate
With maners vncomely / by suggestions infernall
Hyndring their honour / and hurtyng their estate
were it nat for their prīce / to whō they be subiugate
Doutlesse no: The more pytie without fayning
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Regem honorificate.
¶Reason wolde be so blinded / by ambicion verily
Were it nat for drede of our prince and souerayne
that by simony execrable / holy churches patrimoni
Shulde be bought & solde / as it is knowen playne
More cōmon than the oxe / vyle and mundayne
Whiche is solde in markettes / for great wynning
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Regem honorificate.
Here maist yu aduert man / what ꝓfites dothe ensue
To the realme and subiectes / of euery region
Where as valyaunt princes / do correct and subdue
Such frōtall enormytes / by their lawes correction
No state fauoring / if he worthy be punissyon
But euery man to rewarde / after his deseruyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
¶Whan prices be ꝑciall / and nat to all indifferent
It gyueth people occasion / to grudge & complayne
But whan they minister to all lyke punysshment
Than in their realmes / most cōmenly do raigne
Peace / vnyte / and concorde / without disdayne
So that euery man ioyeth / of others well lyueng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Regem honorificate.
¶O / what treasour it is / and synguler aueyle
Whan princes be gyuen / to vertue and goodnesse
Their owne fautes to beholde / & them to bewayle
Their soules to redeme / out of wretchednesse
This poynt most chefely / belōgeth doutlesse
To euery good prince / endles paynes reuoluyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Regem honorificate.
¶The next poynt also / that a prince valyaunt
Ought to bere in mynde / bothe ī welthe & distresse
Is to be alwayes lyberall / and in his dedes cōstaūt
His pore cōmens to loue / and thē neuer to oppresse
Except necessite do instant / his noble worthynesse
Ayde to requyre / for his iust tytles defendyng
Wherfore attende my wordes & pondre my sayeng.
Regem honorificate.
¶In suche causes man: thou arte boūde to socour
Thy prince and souerayne / with goodes & substāce
Wich thy body also / and with thy worldly treasour
His right to mentayne / and his honour to auaunce
Wherby thy welthe / with good perseueraunce
Shall prospere the better / for thy true dealyng
wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
¶To this chrisst gaue us / as we rede in the gospell
Example most euydent / whan he comaūded Peter
To the see to go / as Mathe we doth vs tell
Sayeng: in ye fisshes mouth / finde he shulde there
A pece of money / whiche duely he shulde delyuer
For their subsedy / to their emperour and kyng
Wherfore attende my wordes & pondre my sayeng.
Regem honorificate.
The same also affirmeth / the postell and doctour
Blessed saynt Paule / in his epistell whiche he sent
To the romayns / whiche he brought out of errour
Sayeng: loke yt to prices / shinyng ī power eminēt
ye be alwayes subiecte / meke / lowe / and obedyent
Redy them to ayde / at all tymes callyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Regem honorificate.
¶Lykewise saithe Peter / as the text lyeth playne
In his first epistell / and in the seconde chapitour
Loke that ye be dilygent / saithe he / redy and fayne
Lyke humble subiectes / your princes to honour
With faithfull hertes / with goodes and treasour
And so please you shall / our euerlastyng kyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Regem honorificate.
And all though saith he / that in lyueng & behauour
All princes and souerayns / be nat lyke of condicion
But some rigorous & vicyous / enuolued in errour
yet nat withstandyng / your purpose & chefe entēcion
Must be to obey / for your dewe correction
Such vnworthy rulers / sent for your mislyueng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
¶In many places els / inscripture I fynde
And in the lawe also / allegacions autentycall
Whiche dothe the cōmaunde man / & straitly bynde
Thy prince to honor / vnder statutes penall
Whiche if thou breke / thou doest surely fall
In the censours eccliasticall / & danger of the kyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Regem honorificate.
Nowe cōclude vpon this / and thy corage auaunce
And thynke that it is nat / the regall power onely
Whiche price haue ī gouernage / to speke ī substāce
That to suche obedience / byndeth the thus straitly
But it is certayne / as se thou maist playne
The state legall / of the churches first ordring
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Regem honorificate.
¶Beholde what incōueniēce / cōmenly dothe ensue
Where reigneth inobediente / debate and discēcion
Beholde also agayne / where people be vntrue
Howe their of springes / be put vnder subiection
To day a lorde / and a man of great possession
And to morowe scant worthe / a poore sely fardyng
Wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng
Regem honorificate.
¶Lykewise beholde / what vtterly distruction
Hath comen of rebellyon / and wylfull conspiracy
Is it nat plainly lefte in discription
Howe by suche meanes / monasteries right worthy
Hath ben distroyed / and contaminate vncomely
yet doutlesse: it appereth playne in writyng
wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
¶Also / howe many noble cyties / castels / & towres
Hath ben subuerted / and made wayes playne
By violent force / and marciall showres
The goodes dispoyled / the gouernours slayne
Their wyues and doughters / defloured certayne
This for rebellion / hath ben sene without fayning
wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Regem honorificate.
¶Suche lamentable conflictes / & mortall dolours
Are spectacles necessary / somtyme to beholde
To stable mennes myndes / auoyding dishonours
And to lyue in peace / whiche a thousande folde
Is treasour more precious / than syluer or golde
As man may iudge / by his owne wytte reuoluyng
wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Regem honorificate.
¶O noble Englande / O worthy realme of fame
Note well these presydentes / & beare thē in mynde
And be true to thy prīce / cōtynuing thy good name
For in cronycles / yet coude I neuer fynde
That to thy worthy souerayn / thou were vnkynde
Whiche to ye is great laude / & also to god praysinge
wherfore attende my wordes / & pondre my sayeng.
Regem honorificate.
¶Nowe thus to conclude / without more prolixite
I purpose by goddes grace / and no lengar to tary
Repeting these foresaid wordes / togider as they be
Feare you god / loue you god / and also finally:
Honour your prince / myrrour of all chiualry
And so shall ye purchace / ioye without endyng
The whiche god graunt vs all / at our departyng.
¶Here foloweth a brefe conclusyon of Paule Busshe / composytour of this worke / to the reders of the same.
¶Howe hast ye lytell boke / god be thy good spede
And loke that thy selfe / thou mekely present
Among my maisters all / requyring no mede
No laude / ne praysing / for that was nat thentent
Of thy compositour / as knoweth god omnypotent
But his purpose was / people chefely to excyte
In vertuous pastyme / to haue some delyte.
¶Some haue pleasure / in the feldes to walke
Of ye stillyng of therth / to take ye fragrant odours
Some delyteth agayne / to byde at home and talke
In redyng cronycles / of their aūcient ꝓgenytours
Howe worthely they optayned / glorie & honours
And some agayne there be / and they desyre chefely
Of musicall instrumentes / to here ye swete armony.
¶All these be pastymes / right honest & venerable
To reproue them greatly / we haue none occasyon
For all thyng that is done / after maner laudable
May be permytted / in the way of recreacyon
So that it be done / with demure conuersacyon
Hurtyng no man / alwayes obseruyng measure
Whiche is thyng cōmendable / in euery gesture.
¶But some villayns there be refraynīg no shame
Dispyce all pastymes / honest and morall
Vnclenly thoughtes / dothe them so enflame
[Page] That their hertes and myndes / beset in especiall
In redyng of bokes & balades / of actes veneryall
Thinkīg in their opiniōs / nothyng more laudable
Whiche is right vyle / full wretched and damnable.
¶Howe shulde I than / after this wyse and rate
Please and content / suche myndes vnstable
It were greatly vnsyttyng / vnto my order & state
If I shulde endyte / suche maters [...] cōmendable
This wysmen wyll say / though ye fole wt his bable
Thinke no workes good / except they in speciall
Smacke of Venus lustes / filthy and brutall.
¶But let suche thynke / and say what they please
To say that I wyll contryue / my tyme and study
About suche busynesse / almighty god to displease
Doutles I purpose nat / wherfore my self to occupy
In workes cōmendable / I dyde my mynde apply
This lytell brefe processe / thus rudely to endight
Some thynges therby / to bring to lyght.
¶Therfore my worthy lordes / & maister ingen̄all
Ouer rede this lytell volume / sōtyme at leysour
And if it be well / gyue laudes chefe and principall
To god omnypotent / our lorde and sauyour
And if it be otherwise / let me beare the dishonour
For well am I worthy / as I said at begynning
For entprisyng this cause / hauyng so lytell cōning.