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The Pilgrimage of the Life of Man

Englisht by John Lydgate, A.D. 1426, from the French of Guillaume De Deguileville, A.D. 1330, 1355. The Text Edited by F. J. Furnivall ... With Introduction, Notes, Glossary and Indexes by Katharine B. Locock

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Sapyence speketh:

‘ffor-soth,’ quod she, ‘thow seyst ryht wel,
And ther-in erryst neueradel.
But yt behoueth (yf thow kanst se,)
That yt mot nedyes gretter be
Than al the world ys off gretnesse;
And than mot folwen in sothnesse,
(Vnderstond, & herkne me,)
That yiff that thyng sholde closyd be
With-Inne the world, (yt ys no drede,)
On som party yt muste excede,
(I dar ryht wel the trouth expresse,)
Or overgon yt for gretnesse.’