University of Virginia Library

Syth THE TYME ÞAT CRYST IHESU,
Thorough hys grace & vertu,
Was in þis world bore
Of a mayd withowt hore,
And þe world crystendom
Among mankynd first becom,
Many aduentures hath be wrouȝt
Þat all men knoweth nouȝt.
Therfore men shull herken blythe,
And it vndirstonde right swythe,
For they that were borne or wee
Fayre aduenturis hadden they;
For euere they louyd sothfastenesse,
Faith with trewthe and stedfastnesse.
Therfore schulde man with gladde chere
Lerne goodnesse, vndirstonde, and here:
Who myke it hereth and vndirstondeth it
By resoun he shulde bee wyse of witte;
And y it holde a fayre mastrye,
To occupye wisedome and leue folye.
For why as of an Erle j shall yow telle,
How of hym it beefelle;
And of hys stewarde, withoute lesynge,
And of the stewarde sone, a fayre yonge thynge,
That gentil was and fayre bee-seen,
And how he loued a mayden sheen,
The Erles doughter, that was so bryghte,
And how he spoused that swete wyghte,
And how that he reynbroun beegate—
All y kanne tell yow that—
And how he wente into wildernesse:
All y canne tell yow as it ys.
A wyseman it vnto vs seyd
That it wrote and in ryme it leyd.
I woll it not any longer concell,
But open the sentence as ye may fele.