Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte Edited from the Fairfax MS. 16 (Bodleian) and the additional MS. 29,729 (Brit. Mus.) by Ernst Sieper |
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How nature charged him to goo the wey of vertu and of Reson. |
 | Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte |  |
How nature charged him to goo the wey of vertu and of Reson.
“Begynne the wey[e], ech seson,First at vertu and reson,
And fle ech thing that they dispreyse,
And vp to god thy hert[e] reyse,
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Nat declynyng fro hys biddyng!
And her with al take good hede
Both to love him and to drede
As thy lorde most souereyne;
And to forn thyn eyen tweyne
Most enterly lat him be set!
For thou, in soth, mayst do no bet,
And, lych to hys commaundement,
Set thy desire and thyn entent
To thinges that be celestiall,
And dispise ther with all
Erthely thinges transitorye,
And remembre in thy memorye
Al swich worldly vanyte!
Love ryghtwisnesse and pite,
And as ferforth as thou kan,
Do to eny maner man,
Bothe of high and lowh degre,
As thou woldest he did to the!
And do no man no maner wronge,
But make thy self myghty and stronge
With al thyn hool entencion
To holde the wey[e] of reson,
The which, in soth, yif thou take hede,
Doth a man to heven lede,
The verray trewe, ryghte way,
Fro when thou came, this is no nay,
And fynaly, yif thou take hede,
Thider ageyn thou must procede.
Be ryghtful eke at al[le] dawes
Especial vnto my lawes,
As reson wil of verray ryght,
And kepe the wel with al thy myght
Fro thilke wey that ledeth wrong!
And eke eschiwe and make the strong
Pleynly ageyn[e]s alle tho
That the wronge wey[e] go!
I mene swich, as thou shalt fynde,
That falsly wirke ageyn[e]s kynde;
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Oft[e] falle in the sentence
Of my prest called Genivs.
For, truly, thou shalt fynde hyt thus:
That his power is Auctorised
And throgh the world eke solemnysed,
To a-coursen alle tho
That ageyn my lawes do.
For whiche, by the rede of me,
Do, as reson techeth the,
And thy wittis hool enclyne
To rewle the by hir doctrine,
Whom that y love of hert entere
As myn ovne suster dere!
And she, in sooth, lyst nat discorde
For nought to which I me accorde.
We be so ful of oon acorde
That atwene vs ys no discorde,
And fully eke of oon assent,
As he that hath entendement
May vnderstonde of newe and olde.
And shortly thus I haue the tolde
The wey[e] which thou shalt eschewe,
And whiche of ryght thou shalt pursewe,
Lych as to forn I haue discryved,
Til tyme that thou be arived
Vp at the port of al solace.
And god the sende myght and grace,
That thou erre nat nor faylle,
But that my wordes may avaylle
To al that may profyte the!
In soth, thou gest no more of me,
The surplus haue in remembraunce,
And fynaly, as in substaunce,
Do as the lyst, lo, this the ende!
For now fro the y must wende.”
| Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte | |