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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The seveneth povne. |
 | Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte |  |
The seveneth povne.
The seveneth povne, as ye may se,
Was by name callyd bounte,
A povne of grete worthynesse,
Of grete renoun and grete noblesse,
And in his sheelde, yif ye lyst here,
Hath enprented a pantere,
Myd of the felde to his socours,
A beste of many folde colours,
Hys brethe swettest of sauour
And most holsom of Odour
And passingly restoratyf;
And he hath a prerogatyf
That al[le] bestys specialy
Desire of kynde hys companye
And to be in hys presence.
Septimus pedinus [in] gallico vocabatur bounte que per panteram significatur cuius cutis est multis coloribus distincta et odor suauissimus et ideo omnia animalia ipsam libenter insecuntur / et est eciam animal mansuetum et ita mulier bona et virtuosa odorem suauissimum emittit per bonam famam et sic de alijs proprietatibus//
Was by name callyd bounte,
A povne of grete worthynesse,
Of grete renoun and grete noblesse,
And in his sheelde, yif ye lyst here,
Hath enprented a pantere,
169
A beste of many folde colours,
Hys brethe swettest of sauour
And most holsom of Odour
And passingly restoratyf;
And he hath a prerogatyf
That al[le] bestys specialy
Desire of kynde hys companye
And to be in hys presence.
And semblably, in sentence,
Bounte, which ys of fredam welle,
Al[le] vertues dooth excelle,
And ys preferred of renoun
In euery maner Region:
Gretly in erthe magnefied,
And in the hevene stellefyed
Amongys goddys celestial
As the vertu most Royal.
And thys vertu specialy
Ys apropred naturely
Of Iuste reson to womanhede
Oonly for ther goodlyhede.
For fredam, bounte, and largesse,
Worship, honour, and kyndenesse,
Norture, and al curtesye
Ben so nygh of hir allye
That fro the welle of her goodnesse
Springeth out all gentylesse.
They be Merours of al bounte,
So large of giftes and so fre;
Who axeth hem, they sey nat nay,
Her fredam maketh no delay,
They yive, but they wil nat take,
Her kynde ys pleynly to forsake,
Al[le] giftes to Refuse;
Al be somme folkys hem accuse
And apeche and seyn exprese:
They be wolfes of gredynese,
And ther with al more capcyus
Than is the Mawe of Tycyus,
More Rauenous in takyng
And of desire more fretyng
Than Tantalus, which ys in helle
And may never ete his felle,
The hunger fret on him so sore.
Yet somme folke seyn that wel more
Ys the hunger more vnstaunchable,
More gredy, and in-saturable
Of wommen, for to Acroche and take,
Ther leveth noght byhynde her rake;
Their Etike abydeth no respyte,
So fretyng ys her appetyte
That watir noon stauncheth the fire
Which that brenneth in her desire.
Thus somme folkis of malys,
I mene folys that be nat wys,
Delyten hem wommen to blame;
To seyn hem harme and to diffame:
This al her lust, bothe eve and morwe.
I prey god yive hem evel sorwe
And short her tongys with myschaunce,
Which ys y-whet with fals plesaunce
For to a-peche her Innocence,
Which kan nat stonden at diffence
But kepe hem Muet and sey ryght noght,
Devoyde of malys in her thoght.
Who so ever that hem dere
They ne kan no malys bere.
They be so good euery-choon
That I dar seye ther is neuere oon
But she ys good or ellys wolde
At the lest[e] so be-holde,
That the panter in hys kynde,
Which that is yfounde in ynde,
Hath on hys bak nat mo colours
Than Women han of vertu flours,
For of prudence and wyt also,
What euer thing that hem lyst do,
With-out[e] any long soiour
They kan fynde a colour
By short avys hem self to excuse,
For the which lat no man Muse
Of Malys nor of cursydnesse
Hem to apeche of doublenesse.
Bounte, which ys of fredam welle,
Al[le] vertues dooth excelle,
And ys preferred of renoun
In euery maner Region:
Gretly in erthe magnefied,
And in the hevene stellefyed
Amongys goddys celestial
As the vertu most Royal.
And thys vertu specialy
Ys apropred naturely
Of Iuste reson to womanhede
Oonly for ther goodlyhede.
For fredam, bounte, and largesse,
Worship, honour, and kyndenesse,
Norture, and al curtesye
Ben so nygh of hir allye
That fro the welle of her goodnesse
Springeth out all gentylesse.
They be Merours of al bounte,
So large of giftes and so fre;
Who axeth hem, they sey nat nay,
Her fredam maketh no delay,
They yive, but they wil nat take,
Her kynde ys pleynly to forsake,
Al[le] giftes to Refuse;
Al be somme folkys hem accuse
And apeche and seyn exprese:
They be wolfes of gredynese,
And ther with al more capcyus
Than is the Mawe of Tycyus,
170
And of desire more fretyng
Than Tantalus, which ys in helle
And may never ete his felle,
The hunger fret on him so sore.
Yet somme folke seyn that wel more
Ys the hunger more vnstaunchable,
More gredy, and in-saturable
Of wommen, for to Acroche and take,
Ther leveth noght byhynde her rake;
Their Etike abydeth no respyte,
So fretyng ys her appetyte
That watir noon stauncheth the fire
Which that brenneth in her desire.
Thus somme folkis of malys,
I mene folys that be nat wys,
Delyten hem wommen to blame;
To seyn hem harme and to diffame:
This al her lust, bothe eve and morwe.
I prey god yive hem evel sorwe
And short her tongys with myschaunce,
Which ys y-whet with fals plesaunce
For to a-peche her Innocence,
Which kan nat stonden at diffence
But kepe hem Muet and sey ryght noght,
Devoyde of malys in her thoght.
Who so ever that hem dere
They ne kan no malys bere.
They be so good euery-choon
That I dar seye ther is neuere oon
But she ys good or ellys wolde
At the lest[e] so be-holde,
That the panter in hys kynde,
Which that is yfounde in ynde,
Hath on hys bak nat mo colours
Than Women han of vertu flours,
For of prudence and wyt also,
What euer thing that hem lyst do,
With-out[e] any long soiour
They kan fynde a colour
171
For the which lat no man Muse
Of Malys nor of cursydnesse
Hem to apeche of doublenesse.
| Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte | |