[The Courte of Vertu :: :: University of Virginia Library

And praise hir on this wise.
wisdom is a much better thing,
Then strengthe or force to fyght:
a wyse man is more worth also,
Then strong men of much might.

This wysdome O ye myghtie kynges
Se that ye conne and learne,
To you sith iudgement on this earth
Is geuen to decerne.
Geue eare to hyr I saye all you,
That rule the multytude,
Whiche in much people haue delight,
And all thynges should conclude.

The god that gaue you powre & strēgth
That lorde I saye most hye,
Shall serch out all that ye inuente,
And your workes truly trye.

Howe that ye beyng officers
Under his kyngly throne,
Ye did not iudgement execute
As vnto hym is knowne.

And if ye haue not kept the lawe
Of ryghtiusnes I saye,
Nor haue not done his blessed wyll
By walkyng in his waye:
Full horribly and that ryght sone
To you he shall apere,
And right hard iudgement shal they haue
By powre that gouerne here.

His mercy sure he wyll extende
Unto the innocent,
But suche as beare authoritie,
Shall haue sore punyshment,
For god whiche is the lorde of all,
By iudgement iust and ryght
Shall stande in awe of no mans powre,
Though he be of great myght.

For he made both the great and small,
And cares for them alyke:
But they that be of greatest powre
The more he wyll them stryke.
Ye kynges eche one take hede therfore,
Se that ye ponder this,
And guyde your fete by wisdoms scole
That ye goe not amysse.

All suche as obserue ryghteousnes,
Shall iudged be therby,

[13]

Suche ryghteousnes who so wyll learne
Shall answere readily.
On wisdomes lore I saye therfore
Set all your loue and luste:
To nourture so ye shall atayne,
In season due and iuste.

For wysdome is a noble thyng,
Whiche wyll not flete nor moue,
And wyll be sene full easily
Of all that doe hyr loue:
Suche as vnfaynedly hir seke,
She wyll preuent them so,
That they shall haue hyr in their syghte,
In eche place where they goe.

Who so wyll wake to hir betyme
Shall haue no great traueyle,
For at his dore he shall hir finde,
She wyll him neuer fayle.
Ryght perfectly they vnderstand
That doe thinke hir vpon,
And they that watche for hir shalbe
Ryght safe and that anon.

For she alwayse doth goe about
And seketh euerywhere,
For suche as for hir schole be mete,
And doe god loue and feare:
Before their eyes ryght chierfully
Hyr selfe she doth forth showe,
And meteth them dilygently,
Because they should hir knowe.

The faythfull and the iust desire
Of reformation,
Is the beginning and the grounde
That wysdome buildeth on.
The busye care for wysdoms lore
Is loue and pure prudence,
And loue doth also kepe the lawes,
And that with dilygence.

To kepe the lawes is perfectnes,
And rightly doth accorde.
An vncorrupt lyfe maketh man
Familiar with the lorde.
Se that your ioye in royall seates
And scepters be not sette,
Ye kynges that doe the people rule,
By myghty powre and great.

But set on wysdom your delyght,
All folysh thinges abhorre:
That ye may reigne in glory great
With god for euer more.
O loue the lyght, all ye that rule
The congregation:
And I wyll make of wisdom nowe
A declaration.

What wisdome is, howe she came vp,
I will you tell this tyde,
The misteries of god the lorde.
From you I wyll not hyde:
But I wyll seke hir out in dede,
That all men shall it se

[14]

Ye from the first oryginall
Of hyr natiuitie.

And bryng the knowledge of hyr lyght,
And shewe you all the grounde.
And as for keping backe the truthe,
In me shall not be founde:
Ne yet wyll I haue ought to doe
With enuy nor disdayne.
For why suche men in no wyse may
To wysdome aperteyne.

Where many wyse men haue abode
The worlde may ioyfull be:
And where as kynges by wysdome rule,
Their realmes haue equitie.
O aprehende hir nurtour then,
Let wysdom be your foode:
And at my wordes your councell take
For it shall doe you good.

I am a mortall man my selfe
After the common trade,
And am of that same very kynde,
With hym that first was made:
And formed in my mothers wombe
In fleshe there was I wrought,
And tenne moneths had my nutryment
Of bloud that there was brought.

Where through the fruitfull seede of man
I had my substance thus,
In whiche the apetite of sleape,
Is moste commodious.

When I was borne I tooke lyke ayre,
As doe all others lo:
I fell on earth whyche was my kynde
In wepyng and in wo

I wraped was in swadlyng clothes,
And brought vp with great care:
For why no kyng can in their byrth
Haue other kynde of fare.
For all men in this wretched worlde
As well the kyng as slaue,
In entrance, and in goyng forth,
No kinde of difference haue.

Considryng in my mynde howe that
The most rude multitude
dyd nothyng differ from my byrth,
Nor death whiche doth conclude.
I me bethought therfore howe I
Myght in my beyng here,
Aboue the kynde of common men
Ryght excellent apere.

For wysdom pure to vnderstande
Therfore was my desyre,
The spirite of wysdom came to me
As my harte dyd requyre,
By whom I set more pryce and ioye
Then by great kyngdoms fayre:
The royall seates or ryches great
With hyr shall not compare.

[15]

And precious stones I neuer did
Compare to hir I saie,
For gould is grauell in hyr sight,
And syluer is but claye.
Wealth and beautie I wayed not,
But toke hyr for my light:
The beames of wysdome none can quēch
That shyneth aye so bryghte.

By hir all thinges I did possesse,
All good thinges came to me,
The ryches without number is
That in hir handes styll be.
But yet in childyshe ignorance
I could not make dyscourse,
Of all good thinges howe wysdome is
The mother and the nource.

But nowe sithe I vnfeynedly
Haue learned what she is,
Partakers other men to make
Of hyr I will not mys.
Hyr ryches and hir treasure great
From you I wyll not hide:
Whiche passeth all infinitly
That is in this worlde wyde.

Which who so vse, they ioye with god
In friendship and great loue:
And in his syght excepted are,
Through wysdomes giftes aboue.
God hath me graunted wisdomes talke
In forme conuenient,

To handle all whiche he to me
Hath graciously lent.

For he it is that to wysdome
Doth leade and introduce,
And teacheth howe that in hir kynde
Men shall hir ryghtly vse.
In hym are we, and all our wordes,
Our wysdome, and our skyll:
Our knowledge, and our science all,
Our workes, and all our wyll.

For vnto me he geuen hath,
The knowledge and the trade
Of all those thynges, so that I knowe
Howe that the worlde was made:
And by his wisdome hath me taught
Astronomy to knowe,
The elementes, with all their powrs,
And wonders whiche they showe.

Howe tymes doe both begin and ende,
The mydste of tymes I see:
Howe tymes alter and doe succede
Eche one in his degree.
I knowe the order and the ende
And course of euery yere,
The dispositions of the starres
To me doe well appere.

In naturall philosophie
I haue the perfect arte,
I knowe the nature of eche beaste
One from other aparte:

[16]

Howe some be gentill in their kynde,
Howe some in fury rage:
I knowe the cause, and howe one may
By wysdome them aswage.

I knowe the wyndes of euery coaste,
Theyr natures hotte or colde:
And by that arte send shyps with sayles
To Ophir for muche goulde,
What mans imagination is
Some wyse some fonde and vayne:
By Adams lyne, and wysdoms lore,
The difference sheweth playne.

I knowe the natures and degrees
Of eche plante in his kynde,
All herbes, & rootes that growe on earth
Their vertue I can fynde.
And howe they differ in degre
In qualitie and powre:
All secrete and vnsought knowledge,
Doth spryng in wysdoms flowre.

Whiche he hath geuen vnto me
That all this worlde hath made,
He taught me howe to vse this flowre
That dures and doth not fade.
In hyr is spirite to vnderstande
In holy exercyse,
In knowledge great she doth abounde,
And all thynges that are wyse.

I saye that with almyghty God
All only she is one,

Subtyll and full of gentylnes,
And gracious alone.
She is courteous and discrete
Quycke, vndefilde, and playne:
Swete, and doth loue all that is good,
Reiectyng that is vayne.

She is sharpe, yet forbideth not
To doe ryghtly and well:
Kynde, sure, and free, and to be briefe
In vertue doth excell.
In althynges she is circumspecte
Wherof she taketh cure:
All knowyng spirites she doth receyue,
That are both cleane and pure.

For wysdom doth in nymblenes
All other thynges excell,
And therby through all thynges to pas
She doth atayne full well.
For of the lyuyng god she is
The breath of powre doubtlesse,
The cleanes of almyghty god
Therby she doth expresse.

Therfore can no defyled thyng
Come once within hyr syght,
For she the very bryghtnes is
Of euerlastyng lyght.
She is the myrror vndefylde
Wherin all good men see,
The Image of almyghty god
In his great maiestie.

[17]

And for so muche as she is one,
All thynges are hyrs as due:
And beyng stedfast in hyr selfe,
She doth all thinges renewe.
Among the multitude of folke
She doth hir selfe conuaye,
And entreth into holy soules
In them to byde and staye.

She maketh god prophetes and frends,
The truthe to preache and tell:
For god doth loue none but suche men,
With whom wysdome doth dwell.
The sonne and starres may not compare
With hir in lyght I saye:
For why hyr lyght doth farre excede
The brightnes of the daye.

For be the daye neuer so bryght,
Yet night approcheth faste,
To quenche the beautie of the same
And pattes it out in haste:
But wisdome can not be subdude
I saye by wickednes,
Nor in hir sight to blemyshe hyr,
Can byde no folyshnes.