University of Virginia Library

QUI SERERE INGENUUM. — Metrum 1

"Whoso wole sowe a feld plentevous, let hym first delyvren it of thornes, and kerve asondir with his hook the bussches and the feern, so that the corn may comen hevy of erys and of greynes. Hony is the more swete, if mouthes han first tasted savours that ben wykke. The sterres schynen more aggreablely whan the wynd Nothus leteth his plowngy blastes; and aftir that Lucifer, the day-sterre, hath chased awey the dirke nyght, the day the fairere ledeth the rosene hors (of the sonne). And ryght so thow, byhooldyng ferst the false goodes, bygyn to withdrawe thy nekke fro the yok (of erthely affeccions); and afterward the verray goodes schullen entren into thy corage."