¶ A dyalogue bitwene the playntife and the Defendaunt.
Compyled by Wylliam Caluerley / whyles he was prisoner in the towre of London.
¶ To the kynges highnesse.
O Exellent prince of my lyfe chefe patron
Medicyn to sycke mē in their gret distresse
To all nedy: both shelde and protection
Refuge to wretches their dommage to redresse
Men that ar halfe deed / restoring to quickenesse
Sith your grace of god was chosē to be so good
O exellent prince forgyue my offencesse
In thonour of god that bought you wt his blode
¶ Blacke is my wede / of cōplaynte & mournīg
As a man cast from all felycite
Lyke one of a funerall / bedewed with wepynge
Clad in the mantell of frowarde aduersyte
Trymblyng and quakinge / of my lyfe no surete
But if I drinke of your most mercyfull flode
Than shall I neuer offende / by your soueraynte
But saue that which god bought wt his p̄ciouse blode
¶ O myrrour of lyght / suffre nat to perisshe
Thy poore subiecte: but to his prayer enclyne
Whiche herafter thy lawes shall cherisshe
And kepe them as most holly and diuyne
Sith your grace hath ben treacle & chef medicyn
To other offendours which in myschef stode
Pardon me Salomō / I wyll obey thy doctryne
And saue ye which god bouȝt wt his p̄cious blod
¶ And for my parte / of one hert abidyng
Voyde of chaunge / and all mutabilyte
I do present this boke / with hande shakyng
Of hole affection / knelyng on my kne
Desyring the lorde / whiche is persons thre
By whose magnifycence we receyue all fode
That by your grace I may haue lybertye
And saue ye which god bouȝt with his p̄ci▪ blode
¶ For all my purpose combyned in to one
Of whiche this boke shall make mencioun
Is to voyde yll wede / and to take the good corne
As reason hath taught me by discretioune
Puttyng no trust in the whele of fortune
But in this dialogue cōprehend that ꝑsons good
By grace and vertu may here contune
And saue ye which god bought wt his p̄cioꝰ blode
¶ Go forth lytle boke for fere tremblynge
Pray the prince to haue on the pytie
Voyde of all picture / or of any connynge
To compyle any curyouse ditie
Causynge thy prince to take on the mercy
Pray god graunt his grace that died on the rode
To preserue his hye noblenes and magnanimite
And to be partaker of Christes precious blode.
¶ Thus endeth the supplication
/ and here foloweth the Dialogue betwene the Playntyf and defendant.
❧ The Playntyfe
AS I sat musyng / callyng to remēbran̄ce
And consydered in myn owne fantasy
The vnsure trust of worldly varyaunce
Of men and women / the chaunge and the folly
Thought in my mynde to compyle some ditye
Lyke one troubled in herte with heuynesse
No socour fyndinge / me for to redresse.
¶ Blamyng fortune / why she stode nat certayne
But with her double whele brought mē in doute
Causynge me for to suffre moche payne
Reportynge howe she had cast me out
From her fauour / as she tourned about
Takīg a wrōge turne / where I thought me sure
By her double meanes / and my harde auenture
¶ Sayenge lady: thou settest by me no pryce
For by thy froward and furiouse vyolence
Thou hast tourned thy whele / & visage of malyce
Bringynge me clene from all credence
Hauynge nothynge to make resystence
Thus by the fortune / and thy mutabilyte
Sole adiect [...] / and cast in to pouerte
¶ What haue I offended thou art so cōtrarious
Whiche hath caused me in mischefe to fall
Thus to be tourmented in thy syege perilouse
My swete sugre is tempered with gall
Wherfore to the / I reply my hurtes all
But this as I wrote / I herde a voyce crye
Peace I saye / thou begynnest for to lye
¶ Deffendāt
SOthly I parceyue well thy condicion
Thou dost as vnthriftꝭ / almost euery chōe
Wyll them excuse / without exception
And blame fortune / as their chef fone
Sayenge / it is in her power alone
The to rule / as a lady of desteny
Whiche is a secte of playne Idolatry
¶ Nature hath taught the / y• wrōge is to excuse
Vnder a curtayne / your falshed to hyde
Lytell good corne amonges your chaf to vse
On your fautes you lyst nat to abyde
The gaule touched / all that you set a syde
Sowynge roses fresshe / the nettles you let passe
Vnder fortune to couer your trespasse
¶ And if you maye tell your owne tale
Howe that all came by fortunes whele
Lockinge your falsnesse faste in a male
Shewynge of your vyces but a small percele
Is brickle glasse / she weth brighter than stele
Though vpon fortune you wolde set your p̄tence
He is a fole that gyueth to you credence
¶ Playntyffe
THus was I pensyf / the water frō my eye
For fere spronge forth / & made pale my vi sage
Sore a basshed I beynge solytary
Shulde here a voyce / and se no ymage
It parted atwayne / both colour and courage
But by the voyce / I thought by nature
That it shulde be some mortall creature.
¶ I sat full styll and marked what it sayde
Ferefull of chere / sad in countenaunce
Thinkinge to answere / sone at abrayde
And to that sayenge gaue dilygent attendaunce
Thus than I sayde with good remembraunce
If thou wylt argue / agaynst fortunes strength
It wyl besene vpon the at the length
¶ Fortune hath lyfte many men alofte
To hye astate and worldely dignyte
Another sorte she hath gryped full vnsofte
And cast them downe in to great aduersyte
By other proued / nowe verifyed in me
Which is cast downe into stronge prison
There to abyde of the lawe correction
¶ Deffendant
GOod reason that / for lawes first was foūde
Insondry wyse and busy occupacyon
Vertu to cherisshe / vyces to confounde
Men chosen / of power and good entencyon
Which of offendours shulde se done executyon
So that the vertuouse shulde be reserued
And haue promosyons / such as they deserued.
¶ Dedalus was the fyrst that prisons wrought
Full of ingyns / called Laborinthus
All offenders thyder to be brought
A croked place / to gete forthe daungerous
For suche as to good lawes were contrarious
And Tarquinus / as I written fynde
Founde fyrst shaccles men for to bynde
¶ These were ordayned vertue to preferre
And to maintayne trewe labour and busynesse
Besydes that / to punisshe such as shulde erre
Whiche haue no ioye but vpon Idlenesse
And for other in their labours retchelesse
Purposynge to punisshe Sardanapall
Whiche of mischeues / may be reconed principall
¶ Playntyffe
OF Sardanapall I neuer had acqueyntesse
I euer loued to a voide his company
Knowynge him to be vicyouse Idlenesse
Which is distruction / to all maner of degre
Therfore thou offendest to atwyte me
With him whom I neuer yet loued
Nor yet them / which him in houshold cherisshed
¶ And where thou sayst that prisōs ordeyned be
Offendours to chastyce / to mayntayne the right
For the welfare of euery comynaltye
To preferre vertue to his clere lyght
That to denaye it were nat in my myght
But one thynge wolde I demaunde of the
Whether suche robbe nat a hole comynaltye
¶ That hath shepe in pastures goynge
Whiche groūde before this hath be put to tyllage
Hauyng thousādes / his poore neybour lackinge
He and his shepherdes alone in a vyllage
Thus getteth his goodes / by extortion & pyllage
If a man parte of his goodes withdrawe
Shal he make answere therfore by goddes lawe
¶ Deffendant
NAy nat so I say / it is all otherwyse
I may nat suffre you to go there amonge
Lest that you wolde perilouse thynges deuyse
Under a colour / to occupie you with wrong
What shuld I lenger drawe the mater a long
Of goddes lawes thou art nat executor
Nor of thy souerayns / no good reformator.
¶ God gaue a lawe / and with this a precept
That no man shuld his neyghbours good desyre
Thou hast nat the offyce them to corecte
But with god thou ronnest in great Ire.
But what thou meanest / now sone I can cōspire
Thou thynkest to make a cloke for the rayne.
It wyll nat be / for it is all in vayne.
¶ Of suche conspiracy began fyrst robbers
Theues by hye wayes / extorcion with violence
Murder / slaughter / and couert brybers
Discension / grudgyng / and disobedience
Now of thy tale to touche thy pretence
It is nat fortune that causeth their yll chaunce
But them / selues for lacke of good gouernaunce.
¶ Playntyffe
¶ Nat fortune? yes / and that shall well be sene
For by her euer / men do possesse treasures
Fallen hath to ruyn both kinge and quene
And raysed agayne by her onely socours
Exalted she hath / many great cōquerours
And to suche as she wolde natse
Hath cast them downe in great aduersyte
¶ Loke who she enbraseth & holdeth ī her chaine
Worldely people / and their goodes transitory
And ryche marchauntes vnder her demeane
To knighthod she gyueth conquest and victory
She gyueth to other worldely prosperyte
Loke who her fauour hath recured
In this lyfe / of welth they be assured.
¶ These bysshops which be of lowe birth borne
And spirituall prelates in Rome towne
She hath them exalted other beforne
But nowe a lyttell she hath brought them downe
Thus whā she lyst her selfe to frowne
She spareth niether manhod nor kynred
For of all persons she wyll be dred
¶ Deffendāt
SUche be wretches / and to god vnkynde
That putteth them vnder her subiection
From goddes preceptes makyng thē selfe blynde
Submittynge thē to fortune / aboue good reason
And as touching ye prelates y• ar brought downe
Fortune pulled them nat from that place
It is the scorge of god / for y• they lacked grace.
¶ The fall of one / shulde be a clere lyght
To teache the other what they shulde eschewe
It is god that punissheth with his myght
And tryeth out the false from the trewe
Who that is here punisshed for his offence dewe
Happy may be / if he say with good entent
Welcom from god / the scourge of chastysement
¶ O what vnkinde people shuld them betake
And put their wylles vnto fortunes cure
Of god aboue the power to forsake
And with fortune all thinge wyll assure
Thinking alwaye by her to endure
Lyke as she were of desteny a goddesse
That could bringe mā to welth or wretchednesse
¶ Playntyffe
THy wordes stronge I may nat wel debar
Thy name I desyre before that I do spek
I thinke thou hast ben some man of war
Thy wynde causeth my herte to breke
Out from my eyen the water doth out leke
Thinkige I haue begonne / agaynst one to reply
Which by his strength wyll haue the mastry
¶ For lyke as ron̄de droppes of the south rayne
Which that discende / and fall from a lofte
On stones harde / at the eye as it is sayne
Peerseth the hardnesse / with their fallynge ofte
Albert in toucheng / the water is but softe
The persyng causeth by force no puisaunce
But by fallyng / the longe contynuaunce
¶ So semblaby of right I dare reherce
Thy wordes marked with full and good entent
A hole in to my herte doth perce
For I fere lest that I might be shent
And by my excusyng ronne in a contempt
More worthy for that to be punissheable
Than by the faute I shulde haue ben culpable
¶ Deffendant
[Page]IN warres trewly there haue I ben ofte
But my nature is alwaye to make pease
Without me most thinges do proue nought
Howe so euer it be / by hardnesse or ease
Loke who that loueth me nat to please
Here he can nat longe be in tune
Although he thinke to mary with fortune
¶ I haue me so vsed / that thorow my noblenes
Clerkes in lerninge / which clerely can concerne
Doughter of god / lady / and princes
Reason they call me / good folke to gouerne
Atwene good and euyll / iustly to decerne
I haue departed playnly to conclude
The lyfe of man / from the lyfe of beestes rude.
¶ With me I conserue / both vertue and mesure
Consyderinge thinges / what shalbe fall
Taking no enterprice: but wt me descrecion sure
And vpon prudence / founde my workes all
Than to counsell / Attemperaunce I do call
Warely prouydinge / in my selfe within
The ende of thinges / before that I begynne.
¶ Playntyffe.
HElas / helas / to write in wordes fewe
Lenger to lyue / I haue no fantasye
For where shulde I my face out shewe
Syth agaynste reason / I haue helde champerty
Nowe dare I appere in to no company
For to my body / deth I haue prouyded
Leuīg reasō & vertu / which shuld me haue gided
¶ Nowe this mater troubleth my memory
Better to dye than to lyue in shame
For my offences thus stande I in ieoperdy
Fro my mortall body / gone is my name
Youth and fraylnesse was moche to blame
Wherfore better it were from this lyfe disceuer
Than with slaunderouse fame / for to lyue euer.
¶ Some tonges there be venemouse of nature
Whan they perceyue a man from state meued
With their wylles do their busy cure
By yll reporte / to make men more greued
There is no poyson so well expert and preued
Therfore now hert / why brekest thou nat asōder
Of this worlde to rydde the from this wonder.
¶ Deffendant
NAt so / for I can breke a castell down
And bylde it after more fresshe to ye syght
Exyle a man from dyuers region
And him reuoke whan I lyst by ryght
Thus may I do by my power and myght
So that thou wylt obeye to me reason
I shall the teche / this trouble to ouercom
¶ A thefe may robbe a man of his richesse
And by some meane make restitution
Another may by myght oppresse
The pore man from his possession
Yet after to him make satisfaction
Be it with lyfe or elles with deth.
Cor contritum et humiliatum deus non dispiciet.
¶ Thus I nowe begining / derked wt ignorāce
My wyt is dull this thynge to discerne
Quenched a [...] the torches of parceueraunce
Clene extincte the lyght of my lanterne
Lackynge lernynge my style to gouerne
Drede and vnconnynge maketh a batayle
With dulnesse of wyt / to hynder my trauayle
¶ Supporte haue I none my dulnes to guyde
Pouerte hath written my name in his boke
Dispere standeth also by my syde
Which paleth my chere / and astonyeth my loke
Thus I hotte / drye / and wery / fyndeth no bo [...]e
Howe I shulde to reason my promyse fulfyll
Standyng waueringe betwene good and yll
¶ Deffendant
DIspayre / I say nay / that is contrary
It is Idlenesse here in thys present lyfe
Which hath drawen many from their lybrary
And wyll nat suffre them to be contemplatyfe
For her condicion is to holde stryfe
With euery vertuouse occupacion
Which men shulde voyde / by wysedom & reason
¶ Remembre thy busynesse / loke thou take hede
Procede with thy worke thou hast take in hande
Grace shall crosse thy sayle with good spede
And kepe thy shyp from neglygēces sande
Good counsell shall brynge thy shyp to lande
And hope shall brynge vnto the socour
Trustyng some man shall acquyte thy labour
¶ I meane as thus / the shyppe of thy traueyle
Which hath passed the great dangerouse seuen
Cast nat anker / tyll thou hast good riuale
Let no tempest / thunder / nor leuyn
Nor no wyndes of the cloudy heuyn
Cause idlenesse to lay thy pyllow / euē nor morow
Voyde her / and let her go with sorowe
¶ Playntyffe
THis writyng my letter / I wrapped all in drede
In my right hāde / my penne begineth to quake
And for fere / my hert is lyke to blede
Yet must I forth / and this vndertake
For to Reason promyse dyd I make
The teres distillynge fro myne eyes brinke
At this begynnyng I tempre with my inke
But hope and trust putteth away dispayre
In to my mynde / of newe I gan redresse
To make the wether bright and fayre
Reasons promyse / with his boūtuous largenesse
Brought in to my herte so moche gladnesse
That without any maner of delay
As is this tenour / this fyrst I gan say.
CReatures all / in your fyrst prouydence
Be right well ware / any thyng to attame
Whiche vnto god shulde be offence
For if ye do the ende of it is shame
And in this worlde appalled is your name
But you repente / god of his iustyce
your vicious lyueng vnwarely wyll chastyce
¶ Except you folowe vertue with dilygence
Forsaking vice / the mother of Idlenesse
your ende you may se / by other experience
Which is nought / but misery and wretchednesse
Forsake wronge / and folowe rightwisenesse
Or elles of one thinge be you sure
God wyll nat suffre you longe to endure
¶ Vnto false prophetes gyue no credence
Folowyng mans lerninge / and their tradicion
But to goddes preceptes with all reuerence
Put thy mynde and hole entencyon
Forsake nat god for all their punission
For they be wolues wrapped in a lammes skinne
Honey without / and poyson within
¶ The wyly wolues that casteth to deuour
The sely lammes / which can no defence
Nor no helpe / them for to socoure
So feble they ar to make resystence
Whiche denyeth trewth / by false apparence
What wonder is it / the fraude nat conceyued
Though such lammes vnwarely be deceyued
¶ Lāmes they ar i she wyng / shadowed wt mekenesse
Cruell as tygers / who doth thē offence
Of great holynes pretendynge a lykenesse
But wo (alas) what harme doth apparence
What domage doth countrefayt innocence
Vnder a mantell of false simplicite
Very hipocrites full of crueltie
¶ Remēbre Rome / cal now vnto thy mynde
The dayes ar passed of thy felicyte
Thy great cōquestes are lefte behynde
To lyght is come all thy iniquite
Thy decrees sent forth in to euery countre
Suche as agreed nat with Christes scripture
Ar clene extyncke / no lenger may endure
¶ Frō Theest to ye Weest thy lybertꝭ dyd attayn
Aboue all power most excellent and royall
But now truth brought out / so euidēt and plain
Hath hyndred fore thy seate imperiall
In peoples hertes to remayne perpetuall
Your hye prydes are now defaced
Your bulles and pardons / almoste out raced.
¶ Kynges and princes were to the tryputary
Of all welth / so gret was your flode
Vntyll from god / so fare you dyd vary
That all creatures / knowynge yl from good
Perceyued you bare two faces in one hood
Than by good reason sone they prouyded
From your burdens / for to be deuyded
¶ O Rome / Rome / loke all thy olde abusion
Of thy Ceremonies / and false disgysynge
Laye them asyde / and now inconclusion
Cry god mercy / thy trespas repentyng
Trust he wyll nat at length refuse thy askyng
The to receyue to worke in his vyne
And to haue asmoche / as he that cam at prime.
Vnto the kyng with faythfull obeysaunce
Towardes his grace / shewe thy humilyte
Agaynst him nor his / holde no varyaunce
But fyght for him / in euery countre
Desyre to se him in ioye and felycite
Kepe his preceptes / as thy lorde and souerayne
Euer as pleasure / thinking them no payne.
¶ Thy obeysaunce playnly / at a worde
By god thou arte cōmaūded to owe in souerente
Vnto thy kynge / thy gouernour & thy lorde
In payne of dedly synne / so he cōmaundeth the
Both to him / and to such as he a gre
Of his people to take the gouernaunce
Them to folowe with their good ordinaunce
¶ Consyder thou / it is a hertely reioysinge
To serue a prince / that well doth aduertyse
Of his seruantes the faithfull iust meanynge
And wyll consyder to gwerdon their seruyce
Which at a nede wyll them nat despyce
But frō all danger that shulde thē noye or greue
Be euer redy to helpe them and releue.
¶ As in this lande / I dare affirme a thyng
Henry the eight / full myghty of puisaunce
Of England and Fraunce / our most noble king
Defensor of the faith / hauig Irelāde in gouernāce
To al his subiectes / greatest ioye & pleasāce
By whose noble polycie / and also discecyon
Conserued is this most noble regyon
¶ Duringe his tyme / longe by his prudence
Pease and quiete / he sustayneth by right
That nat withstanding his noble prouydence
In this worlde lyueth nat a better knight
Eyed as Argus / with reason and foresyth
And in good lerninge / I dare of him tell
Of his predecessours / the most he doth excell
¶ This with his prudence / and his manhede
Trewth he sustayneth / fauour settyng a syde
To Christes scripture / a mayntenour with dede
That in this lande / false ꝓphetes dare nat byde
A very supporter / vpholder / and also guyde
Of Christes churche defence / & noble champion
To chastyce all tho / that be Christes fone
¶ Obseruinge alwayes / the testament of Jesu
Studyenge euer to haue the trewe intellygence
Gyuenge his subiectes the lyght of vertue
I pocrisy excluding vnder false apparence
Thus of the trewth he hath experience
Knowing him selfe / in many sondry wyse
Where they trespace / their errour to chastyce
¶ Reuolue how our souerayne / a mirrour of liȝt
Trāscendeth all other / by vertuouse exellence
Eschewinge all visyons / sekinge the right
By his noble descrecyon / & naturall prouydence
Temperinge his nature / by mercy & clemence
Kepynge dangers from his subiectꝭ in all thīge
As appertayneth to a most noble kynge
¶ Thīges longe passed / he kepeth in remēbrāce
Conseruing all thinges / with honour in presence
For thinges to come / maketh good ordinaunce
Folowing the traces of vertuouse contynence
Agaynst rayned myracles makynge resistence
By the great vertue / and magnanimyte
Whiche is apropred to his roiall maiestie
¶ Also his manhode / sheweth him lyke a kyng
From other princes by maner of apparence
Of goodly stature as euer was raignyng
Spoken longe and farre of men / frō his presēce
I knowe nat whether with dew reuerence
The regiō shuld be happyer / yt hath such a gouernour
Or els by god chosyn / his grace to ye honor
¶ About him he hath for our great auayle
Dayly and hourly in his presence
Prudent and valyaunt to be of his counsayle
Suche of this worlde as hath most experience
Betwene good and euyll knowyng ye difference
Tha giuyng Res publica / to vs his subiectes
With reuerent fere & loue / obeyng his preceptes.
¶ What hert so indurate / shuld nat loue such one
Which so nobly conserueth his royall dygnite
Although he were made of the Adamant stone
Yet wolde it gyue / for he with prosperyte
Is nat gladder / nor for no aduersyte
Changeth no countinance / his courage to renew
Both to god and man / yeldyng that is dewe.
¶ Thus a man that perfyte is and stable
As scripture with good reason doth preue
Nothing there is so fayre nor agreable
Than fynally this viciouse lyfe to leaue
On very god rightfully to be leue
Him to loue and worship aboue all thynge
And next to him / thy most redouted kynge
¶ Olde examples of men that hath fall
If they with grace brought them to mynde
Myght be a myrrour to creatures all
Howe they in vertue shal remedies fynde
To eschew vyces / of suche as were made blynde
Fro sodayn fallynge them selues to preserue
Longe to contune / and thanke of god deserue
¶ But suche as lyst nat corrected to be
By example of other for vicyouse gouernaunce
Other of him shall the correction se
Bicause they shulde mende their misgouernance
Say nat that it is by fortunes variaunce
Colourynge such gyltes / which they do vse
Their demerytes by collour so to excuse
¶ Who foloweth vertu longest shall perceuer
Be it in riches or elles in pouerty
Lyght of trouth / his clerenes kepynge euer
Against the assautes of longe prosperite
Make youth and vertu togyther to agre
For whan a man from vertu doth declyne
Harde it is / if he make a good fyne
¶ Vertue conserueth all men in their glory
And here confirmeth their habitations
Where vyces putteth their price out of memory
For their trespases / and also transgressyons
Than are they taken and cast in prisons
Sone after / for their great punicyon
Brought to their ende / by iust executyon
¶ Lokinge about them / there shall they se
Their frendes / and other for dolour sobbynge
With their handes wringyng thy sore aduersyte
Some wondering / some be dewed wt wepyng
Of strangers a noyce / and a hidyouse cryenge
Thus is their ende / with shamfull rumure
Where vertue lacketh / nothing maye endure
¶ Loke / who in this worlde doth most desyre
By wronge tytle / his state to magnify
By an etyke of couetouse / hotter than fyre
Other mennes goodes / as his owne to occupy
As I haue red / and sene with myne eye
Though it hath lasted for a small tyme
The ende of it hath turned to ruyne
¶ Marke in your mynde / who euer hath vsed
To oppresse trewth: by power and tyranny
And rightwysenesse / by wyll hath refused
Supportynge him [...]elfe / by extortion & robbery
Auoydyng reason / folowinge sensualyte
Coniecter euer / if their fyne and prefe
Were nat alwaye / to dye. at a mischefe
¶ To this I knowe / no man can make descorde
For well it is proued / all such wyll come to nouȝt
Thousādes of exāples I coulde bring to recorde
And mo I knowe / if they were out sought
It shall nat nede / for all men in their thought
Knoweth ill gotten / worse euerspent
yet for their extortion / they shall be shent
¶ Besydes that / such as loueth idelnesse
Owinge to god / neither loue nor drede
Couetouse people / that men doth oppresse
And such as wyll do nothinge / but for mede
As desemblers cladde in double wede
Who sercheth well / nought is the ende
yet god suffreth longe / to haue them to amende
¶ From yll counsayle / fast loke thou flee
For that hath brought many to mischaunce
Shedynge honey first / stingyng after as the be
Though ye honey be swete / ye stinge is greuāce
So shall be the ende / who foloweth the chaunce
That he shall curse the tyme / and also repent
That euer with their hony / he toke any talent
¶ Suche maye be called / the deuyls taberers
With froward soundes / the eares to fulfyll
Or of Cures the perilous buttelers
Which gall with their honney / downe distyll
Whose drinkes be both amorous and yll
And all clerkes well deuyse conne
Worse than the drinke of Cerenes tonne
¶ Therfore put lyfe neuer in a venture
But for matters iust / and also trewe
Preue them by reason that they stande sure
Knowe well the grownde / of mater olde or newe
The best than take / and the worst eschew
After thy degre / make thy cost and spendynge
That in a meane / thou make a good endynge
¶ Whan Dedalus taught his sonne for to flye
He bad him first of hye discretyon
From Phebus hete / to kepe his wynges fre
And from Neptunus colde congelacion
Meanyng hereby / for shorte conclusyon
That who that lyst with ioye his state assure
In a good meane men shulde lengest endure
¶ With great plenty / men be nat best assured
After their lust alway to lyue in ease
And though ye men great treasure hath recured
With their riches they fele many a disease
Gret ꝑsonagꝭ hath nat alwai thingꝭ thē to please
Therfore as stories dyuers doth expresse
Hartely is ioye / at wene pouertie and richese
¶ In the erth here / the greatest felicite
For the hertes ease / and richest possessyon
Is with suffysaunce content for to be
Of worldly trouble to eschew the occasyon
Meuyng no quarelles / yt shulde cause discension
Nor desyre nothinge / harde to recure
For here is lyttell in this worlde sure.
¶ Morall Seneck / recordeth by writynge
Richest of thinges / is a meane from pouerte
Euer of one chere / voyde of all grudgynge
Both in ioye / and also aduersyte
Thorowe this worlde to haue their lyberte
And these Greke wordes which I written fynde
Alwayes remembre and bere them in thy mynde
¶ Diogynes was content in his lytell tunne
His conquest was more souerayne of degre
Than Alexander / for al his renowme
For he conquered his sensualyte
Makinge him subiecte to reason of dewtie
And clerke of his kechen he made attemperaunce
Which of his body had the hole gouernaunce
¶ Examples we haue ynough vs to suffyce
In bokes founde. xx. thousande and mo
To exemplyfy folke that ben wyse
How this worlde is a thorow fare full of wo
Tossed and tumbled with vanytes to and fro
Deth is annexed to vs by successyon
For Adams offence to vs conueyde downe
¶ O wordely folke aduertyce with good entent
What vengeaunce / and what punissyon
God shall take in his iugement
For our trespaces / and also transgressyon
Which breketh his preceptes against all reason
Forgettynge howe with his preciouse blode
Vs to saue / he dyed on the rode.
¶ Here for oure sakes / and oure redemption
Thorowe hande and fote nayled to a tre
Soffred payne / and cruell passyon
Nothinge asking of high nor lowe degre
Recompensed ayenwarde for to be
But that we shulde set / all hole our ententes
To fulfyll all his commaundementes.
¶ Thus endeth the Dialogue of the Playntyf and the defendaunte.
Printed at London by Thomas Godfray.
Cum priuilegio Regali.