University of Virginia Library

Spudeus.
Euer playing Gelasmie:
Lorde, when wyll you be wise & sad.
In scholers shoulde be modestie:
But you playe euer the wanton lad.

Gelasimus.
Is this your first salutation?
You appeare some quarrels to picke,
In few wordes make relation
Wherfore with me you are so quicke?

Spudeus
I must in few wordes shew my mynde
Whersoeuer I chaunce to come,
Idle and vayne I doo you fynde
Lo, here I haue tolde you the some:
And I knowe well that your parentes
To learne vertew, putte you to schole:
You defraude them of their ententes
For daily you playe the wanton foole.
Also sittyng at schole amonge vs
What doo you els but playe and toye
So that of you, all scholers saye thus:
Gelasimus is a wanton boye.
Tu leuior foliis, tunc cum sine pondere succi,
To you I may this verse apply
You are lighter then leaues without sap
For good exercise you let go by
And your owne selfe in Idlenesse wrap.

Gelasimus.
Of you God sende your frendes moch ioy,
I thynke you wyll proue a sage Solon
O God saue you and sweete saynt Loy
You are lyke to be a wyse man anon,
Se you not lo, a good body
When dyd my frendes to you complayne?
Medle you with your owne study
I doo not your maners disdayne.
Multa facere est, vbique putridum:
About many thynges busy to be
In euery place (qd he) doth stynke.
Curiouse you are in checkyng me
But of your selfe you doo not thynke.
Now syr, because you doo thus reporte.
When dyd you me so Idely fynde?

Spudeus.
Euery houre full of play and sporte
And as light as fethers in the wynde.

Gelasimus.
If I play, I am not Idle in deede
As you your selfe haue testified:

Spudeus.
Idle as he, as sayth saynt Beede
Which is neuer well occupied.

Gelasimus.
Interpone tuis, interdum gaudia curis:
Somtyme, sayth the wyse man Cato:
Interlace myrth amonge thy cares.
Wherfore doo sobre men vnto playes go
But to ease their myndes in great affayres
What sayth the wyse man Tully?
Gamnyng and pastyme we may vse
As sleepe and other rest truly
Which no honest persone wyll accuse.
Dum fata sinunt, viuite læti.
Dooth not Seneca this verse write,
While fortune suffereth, be mery.
And so wyll I for all your spyte
Play and syng, hay dery dery.
Sera nimis vita est crastina, viue hodie,
Yesterdayes life is very late,
Liue to day. Asmoch to say:
Be mery and play with thy mate,
Yea forsoth and that euery day.

Spudeus.
As your memory I doo commende
In that you can Authours reherse
So I must needes you reprehende
Because you abuse a good verse,
I meane the verse of wyse Cato
Which you dyd english competently
But the sentence of Cicero
You passed ouer negligently.
We may right well vse play and game
As we vse sleepe and other rest
But for what cause may we do the same?
In that place, it is manyfest.
Than (saieth hee) whan we haue satisfied
Other maters both weightie and graue
Also whan we haue rectified
Euylles, wont publique weales to depraue
For hee sayeth in his offices
That nature hath not brought vs forthe
To vse playes, games and fantasies
Whiche are maters nothinge worthe.
But rather to seueritie
And to more weighty studies
Meete for men in authoritie
And health for soules and bodies.

Gelasimus.
What speake you of senators
In whose handes cōmon weales did depende
They were great learned orators
Whose wisdome we can not comprehende
Quod medicorum est,
Promittunt medici, tractant fabrilia fabri
That longeth to Phisicians
Thereof they promise and talke largely
Carpenters for their furtherans
Talke and treate of Carpentry:
We are laddes, Scholers and Studentes
Let vs talke, as to laddes is semely:
So shall we please God and our parentes
And men shall iudge well of vs truly.

Spudeus.
Well, of Idlenesse we beganne to speake
Wherto you are moche geuen I doo see
From that I coueyte you to breake
That more studeouse you might be
A fewe sentences you haue caught
Which plainly you doo moche abuse
You apply them not as the Authours taught
But your owne Idlenesse to excuse.

Gelasimus.
You talke here lyke a great deuine
And altogither of Idlenesse
I pray you vouchsafe the same to define
Because it is so great wickednesse.

Spudeus.
In the Tusculane questions
Of Idlenesse, thus sayth Tully,
As touchyng all honest actions
Idlenesse is an ignary vncomly
Also an ircksomnesse of the mynde
When any good matier is begonne.
And therfore seeketh some other kynde
Wherabout vainly it may ronne
As thus you are set to schole now
To learne both vertew and science
This is a good thyng begonne in you
Godly is parentes wyll and pretence
But a none ircksomnesse of harte
And lothsomnesse of well dooyng
Cause you to take another parte
And to geue yourselfe to plaiyng.

Gelasimus.
A certayne wyse man geueth warnyng
Not ouer moche in study to stande
For to some body Arte and learnyng
Are as a sworde in a mad mans hande
Doctrina scelesti, est gladio insani similis.

Spudeus.
Truthe, a wicked persone without dout
To whom no honest thyng is good
Mischeuously vttereth learnyng out
As one dooth a weapon that is wood:
But I woulde haue you to note two thynges
First: The goodly sequels of studentes
Some haue ben counsellours to Kynges
Yea, though thei haue come of poore parentes
What were the cheife counsels of Rome
I meane when vertew flourished,
Learned and graue in iudgement and dome
Who their Comunaltie most nourished.
A thousande I coulde reherse by name
Of whom I reade in diuers stories
Which through learnyng haue come to fame,
And attayned vnto high glories.
Qui probus atque idem doctus diademate talem
Quis dignum neget? hic aliis precellit vt aurum
Est oricalcho nobilius vitroque pyropus.
He that is good and learned withall
Who wyll denie suchone worthy
To enioy an honour royall
Which we call a diademe truly
For suchone dooth other excell
As farre as golde dooth the copper passe
And as precious stone or Birrall
Excelleth counterfaites or glasse
Yet must learned men come of poore lignage
Example of Marke Tully by name
Uertue is a most sure heritage
For that enhaunceth to honour and fame.

Gelasimus.
Truly your wordes make me to smile
You speake not of the endes of the same
Either they were driuen to exile
Or els suffred death with shame.

Spudeus.
Impute that to ingratitude
Marke this: Suche is euer the rewarde
Of the ignoraunt multitude
Whiche dyd neuer vertue regarde
Suffred with shame say you? forsoth no:
Happy are they which for vertues sake
Suffre death, or into exile go
So that paciently they doo it take
Also I wyll tell you as I thynke
He that is endued with doctrine
Shall neuer want mony, meate nor drinke
So that to vertue he doo incline
But the fallible chaunces of fate
He shalbe hable to withstande
And if he be deposed from his state
Learnyng preserueth him in any lande.
Ipse tamen vidi nunquam, & vix credere possum
Vel perijsse fame, vel mendicasse disertum,
I dyd yet neuer see, the poete dooth say,
And scarsely beleue it I can
That for honger any shall decay
That is in deede a learned man.

Gelasimus.
Frende Spudeus I wyll be playne
To obtayne glory, I bende not my hope
They that coueyte honour to attayne
At noone dayes for the way doo grope.
Ergo honor & fama, & mortalis gloria lausque
Somnia sunt prorsus nil conducentia,
Honor, fame worldly, glory and prayse
Are but dreames, for nothyng profitable
Therfore I am bent nothyng that wayes
For I looke not to be honourable.

Spudeus,
Lo this is your commune fascion
To truncate and destroy the verse
Styll for your owne excusacion
And wyll not the whole sentence reherse.
Somnia sunt prorsus nil conducentia, quando
Serte magis quam virtute acquiruntur,
They are dreames nothyng profitable
But whan? whan by chaūce thei are acquired
Rather than by vertue honourable.
Who so dooth not desyre honour
The same dooth no vertue regarde
For honour in good men euer more
For vertue is a iust rewarde.

Gelasimus,
Ha ha ha, to laugh you compell me
In the faute wherin you dyd me charge
Most euedently in you I see
As I shall declare more at large.
Turpe est doctori cum culpa redarguit ipsum.
It is a foule thyng to a teacher
When the same faute in him is fownde
Whiche he rebuketh in other
Himselfe first to teache he is bownde
I dyd truncate a verse you say
Your later verse now doo you scande
And whether I say true, proue you may,
Or whether as a verse it may stande.

Spudeus,
Sorte magis quam virtute acquiruntur, at esto?

Gelasimus,
At esto? Haue you founde, at esto?
In your first rehersall that dyd lacke
You talke so moche do honesto
That you cast rectum at your backe.

Spudeus.
That (at esto) beginneth a new sentence,
Which had ben prolixe to reherse.

Gelasimus.
I perceyue your cautelouse pretence
That sentence woulde your wordes requite
Because you woulde appeare fautlesse
Takyng vpon you other to blame
What foloweth I wyll expresse
Earnestly without mocke or game:
At esto,
Quod tantum dignis tribuantur, dic mihi nunquid
Corporibus prosint? certe nil. Animisne?
Tantundem: hos inflant potius tumidosque leuesque,
Nec non solicitos reddunt: se subdere multis,
Et seruire solet multis, Ambire præcari,
Munera largiri quisquis sectatur honores.
My formour wordes I must agayne reherse:
For honour (I say) I doo not moche care
Hereto tendeth my formour verse
Now these in english I wyll declare.
Be it so, that honour and fame
Are geuen only to the worthy
What profite haue men by the same?
They profite nothyng their body
What commoditie are they to the myndes
Euen asmoch: they fyll them full of pride
And make them as light as the wyndes
And fill them with care on euery syde
Many must one serue and many flatter
Pray, speake fayre, and mony pay
Stoutly he must beare out the matter
That wyll haue honour at this day.
Lo, who so hunteth for honour
This disquietnesse he shall fynde
To the body a longe dolour
And a continuall sore to the mynde.
O bona paupertas, o non dum cognita diuum
Munera, virtutum custos & amica pudori.
O Good pouertie, o Gods good gifte,
Unknowne is thy cōmoditie
Keper of vertue throughe thy shyft
And a very frende to honestie.
A meane state is surest of all
Daungerouse it is highe to clyme
The mightye Okes haue greatest fall
Whan the lowe shrubbes grow out their time

Spudeus.
Your wordes be good, but you digresse
And declyne muche fro my purpose

Gelasimus.
Go to hardely: your minde expresse
Spare not your learnyng to disclose

Spudeus.
I counsailed you lightnes to leaue
And to giue your selfe to study
To vertue I wolde haue you to cleaue
Commodiouse to soule and body.
By examples auncient and olde
Stearyng vp your hope as I thought
But with sentences stoute and bolde
You haue sett my counsell at nought.
As I coulde haue tolde you by name
Of suche as study in youth haue loued
Whiche haue attayned honour and fame
And worthy men haue bene proued.
Likewyse of innumerable
I can tell you also by name
Whiche of byrth haue bene honourable
And yet their endes haue bene shame.
Wherfore? this is the cause for a truth
Their tyme full Idely they dyd spende
And would not study in their youthe
Therfore shame & dishonour was their ende.
Let all youth of Idlenes beware
For it is the steppedame of vertue
If you be caught ones in her snare
All myschefes besyde wyll soone ensue.
Otia enim fomes vitiorum est otia mentem
Ad mala multa trahunt, oti comes ipsa libido est.
It is the prouoking of wickednes
To many myschefes it draweth the mynde
Unclennes accompanyeth Idelnes
No greater enemy to mankinde.

Gelasimus.
You may perceiue well by my wordes
That I haue not bene ydle alway
Though somtime I set pytfalles for byrdes
I am not ydle, as perceiue you may.

Spudeus.
Your goodly wyt I do commende
And to prayse god you haue great cause
But I haue sene that doth mee offende
As I sayed in my former clause.
Emollit otium Vires sicut rubigo ferrum.
Idlenesse weakeneth the strength
Like as rust dooth the yrone freate
Quicke wyttes it dulled at lengthe
And bredeth infirmities great
Haue you not hearde men of grauitie
Wishe that they had learned in youthe
And haue bewayled their vanitie
Cursyng themselfes with their owne mouth
Vidi iam iuuenem præmeret, cum serior ætas
Mœrentem tardos præterijsse dies.
I haue sene (sayth Ouid) a yonge man
When with more age pressed he was
Mournyng in himselfe now and than
That idely he dyd let the dayes passe.
Idlenesse bryngeth in voluptuousnesse
Whom good sayntes call the deuils bayte
In voluptuousnes is all wickednesse
Wherin youth to catche, the deuyll doth wayt

Gelasimus.
An olde prouerbe: Yonge saint olde deuyll
Whiche to you I may well apply.

Spudeus.
Thus rather he that in youth is a dreuyll
Is most like a deuyll to dye
He that in youthe no vertue wyll vse
As the commune prouerbe dooth say
In age all goodnesse wyll him refuse:
Whiche to hell is the pathe waye
As no fruite is founde in that tree
Wheron no flowre dyd before appeare
So in age he can come to no degree
Whiche in youthe wyll vse no vertue cleare.
Iuuenis existens multa bona disce:
While thou arte yonge, sayth Menander,
Many good thynges study and learne.
About foly let not your mynde wander
Geue eare to wyse men which doo you warne
Well may you be named Gelasimus
Whiche scornfull dooth signify
For whatsoeuer good men discusse
You tourne it to a scorne vtterly.

Gelasimus.
And Spudeus may well be your name
Whiche signifieth studious
You study to gette honour and fame
So that you wyll be come furious.

Spudeus,
Not so, I trust there is a meane,
I haue learned to vse modestie
Not so wyll I to study leane
That I shall forgette honestie.
I study not vertue to acquire
Fame and honour therby to attayne
Uertue for her owne sake I desyre
In whom alone honour dooth remayne.
Propter se virtus petitur non propter honorem.

Gelasimus.
I pray you let all this reasonyng passe
And tell me this: may I not somtyme play?

Spudeus.
You remembre what our talke was?
As sleepe and other rest Tully dooth say.

Gelasimus.
I am glad of that by this light
I wish that my maister so wolde say.
Men vse to rest and sleepe euery night
Than so might I play euery day.

Spudeus.
Whether you may or no, you doo
Yea truly, and that without measure
And suche wantonnesse you adde therto
That none other in your play haue pleasure.

Gelasimus.
In good fayth I play not other to please
I vse to play for myne owne solace.

Spudeus.
But in your play you doo other disease
And in so dooyng you doo trespace:
Est modus in rebus sunt certi denique fines
Quos vltra citraque nequit consistere rectum.
There is a comly meane in all thynges
Therbe also certayne limites pyght
Beyonde the which if you passe the strynges,
Nothyng that you doo, can be doone right
In your play, and in all your affayres
Learne you honest maners to vse
Let not idlenesse catche you in her snares
And euyll company doo you refuse
Corrumpunt etiam Sanctos commercia praua.
Euyll company dooth corrupte alway
Euen those that be well disposed
Conceale no falshed night nor day
But of you let it be disclosed
Serue God daily before any thyng
Feare him, beware his lawes to offende
Honour, loue, and truly serue the kyng
And where fautes be, learne to amende:
Your Father, Mother and Maister
Loue, feare, serue, and gentely obay:
Of their goodes be ye no waster
With truthe helpe to gette that you may.
Of tonge and hande be you euer true,
[OMITTED] pathes to sweare,
[OMITTED] doo you rewe:
[OMITTED] beare.
[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
And you shall neuer go out of the way.

Gelasimus,
I haue not so litle wyt, good frynde,
But that I perceyue your intent
I thanke you both with hearte and mynde
Your counsell is honest and prudent
This one thyng of you I woulde desyre
Daily that we may togither talke
At suche a tyme as you shall requyre
When you are best disposed to walke.

Spudeus.
I shalbe content, with all my harte:
Fare ye well, God haue you in his kepyng.

Gelasimus.
Seyng that you wyll hence departe
God preserue you wakyng and slepyng.

Here after [OMITTED] the Dialogue concernyng [OMITTED] liuyng of [OMITTED] which [OMITTED]

Eda.
God for me this day (I trust) hath wrought
For yonder cōmeth she, whō I haue sought
I am glad that I haue mette with you Agna.

Agna.
And I as glad to see you mery Eda
It is a straunge thinge to see you here alone.

Eda.
My syster is but euen now fro me gone
And in dede we should haue gone togyther
But that I did see you comming hyther
To speake with you is my tarying here
I thought to salute you since you were so nere.

Agna.
I thanke you gentle Eda for your good will
Tell me dwell you with your Father still.

Eda.
Yea I thanke god, and stil I purpose to doo
For I haue none so good a frende to go too
I see wherto this wretched worlde is bent
Therfore I minde not other houses to frequent
In our last talke you did to me disclose
A goodly sentence of holy saint Ambrose
Whiche while I lyue I shall beare in minde
For great vertue forsothe therin I fynde.

Agna.
Good lord do you those wordes so long remembre

Eda.
If I should forget them, my wyt were slender.

Agna.
As I dyd recyte them, can you say them again?

Eda.
To here me say them, wyl you take the payne

Agna.
Yea truly that I wyll, yeuen with all my harte
And helpe you, yf you mysse in any parte.

Eda.
That virgin whiche for Christ doth enquire
To be amonge rude people, ought not to desyre.
Seldom sene without cause in the market place
Neuer alone in the streetes to shewe her face.
It is not virgin like to be high in voyce
Neither in vyle wordes or songes to reioyce
Mayden like without nycenes in her pace
No token of wantonnes in her eies or face.
Lo Sister Agna these be the wordes I suppose
Whiche you taught me out of Saint Ambrose.

Agna.
Saint Ambrose wrote this of the virgin Mary
From whose sentence you do not muche vary
Let her humilitie and fourme of vertue
Be examples for you all your life to ensue.
Who so doth the rewarde of Mary requyre
Must folowe Maries vertue, with humble desire
Howe meke, how pure how holy she was in dede
You know, so yt more to declare we shal not nede.
To know good thinges is right commendable
But to folowe them is most profitable.
I prayse greatly your goodly memory
Yet I must warne you to beware of vaynglory
That is a vice of so craftie a vilany
That it seketh euen vertue to accompany.
Therfore a certaine Doctor doth monishe
All persons whiche in vertue do floryshe
Of vainglory aboue all thinges to beware
For he calleth it a crafty gynne or snare
Wherby Satan wayteth to catche the vertuose
And to frustrate them of their godly purpose.

Eda.
I thanke you truly, for your godly councell
Your wordes I finde as true as the Gospell
God to wytnesse, I haue a purpose sure
To kepe both body and minde cleane and pure
So that neither consent worde nor countenance
Shall appere vayne, by goddes help & gouernance
Yet I haue had a delight to be commended
And therin I wotte well, I haue offended
For though I do thinges neuer so commendable
Yet am I but a seruaunt vnprofytable.
I do but that whiche is commended to mee
Neither all that, as in the Gospell I do see.

Agna.
Because you remēbre so well Christes doctrine
I wyl teach you a lesson of holy saynt Austine:
Uainglory of this worlde is great vanitie
And not els but a fallible suauitie
An vnfruitfull labour, a perpetuall feare
A sublimitie perelesse for any to beare
A beginnyng without good prouidence
And an ende with vnprofitable penitence.
Lo good Eda, this is a vertuouse lesson
Ponder it with earnest discrecion
And with your chaste mynde and puritie
Pray to God to geue you humilitie
For somoche the more to God you are preciouse
How moch in your own eyes, you ar contemtuos

Eda.
I trust in God also this lesson to beare away,
And to folow it, I wyll do that I may:
But gentle Agna, doo you not yet departe
For to you I wolde shew the secretes of my hart

Agna.
Your request standeth with so good reason
That I must nedes tary with you a season.

Eda.
Truly one thyng maketh me moch to lament
And that is, somtime for myne owne document
I wold keepe company with Maides very fayne
And I fynde the most of them raumpysh & vaine
And like as many of them are past all shame
So feare they not God, neithrr honour his name.
If I chaunce with any of them to walke,
Of beauty, or of gay raiment is their talke
Elles of mariage, or of yonge bachelers
To speake shortly: they are vayne claterers.
Speake to them of God, and of obedience
They fare as persons without intelligence
So that in their company kepyng in deede
Of .ii. perilles, it is expedient to take heede:
One is, (if I be not like to them) obloquie,
The other is (if I be lyke the company)
Lewde condition, by talke vncomly:
Whiche thynges are a great greefe to me truly.

Agna.
Children and seruauntes are representations
Of their parentes and maisters abhominations
Like as many parents ar without the fere of god
So from their maners the children be seldome od
My coūsell is suche Maydes company to forsake,
What they talke of you, no mater it dooth make
So that a pure conscience beareth you recorde
That faithfully you serue Iesus christ our lorde
Neuer be you without some vertuous booke
Wheron at voyde times you mai diligently looke
In good bookes truly is all my solace
For in them I learne thynges wysely to compace
First how I shal feare god our lorde omnipotent
To my Prince and parentes to be obedient
To loue my familiers, to honour my betters
To pitye the needye, and to forgeue my detters.

Agna.
As I wyll you to vse bokes well, if you haue any
So I counsell you not to vse very many
For so many heades, so many wyttes they say
Amonge the whiche all take not the right way.
For some haue written asmoche for affection
As for any good zeale or instruction
And as virginitie is nothyng without humilitie
So neither of thē is ought worth without veritie
Uertuous in good persons are so lynked togither
That one can not auayle without the other:
What is virginitie worth, ioyned with errour
Nothyng but payne takyng for infernal terrour.
That mynde can neuer be scincere and pure
Which in the fayth of Christ standeth not sure.
In Christes Testament be stable eruditions
Therafter frame your lyfe and conditions.
Saynt Ambrose wrote the lyfe of saynt Cecily
Wherin are notable examples verely.

Eda.
Sauyng your tale, I haue read the same story
Wher I find many thīgs sounding to gods glory
And cheefly this I noted in saynt Cecily
That the Gospell she bare in her hert secretly
And as a Bee busely goeth from flame to flame,
So she in all thynges serued God day and houre,
And whē other dyd syng & with instrumēts play
Unto our Lorde in her mynde she dyd thus pray
O Lorde let my hart be pure and immaculate
That I be not confounded with the reprobate
She was no vayne babler of the holy Gospell
But framed her lyfe accordyng to Christes coūsel

Agna.
O well noted good syster Eda in deede,
God graūt you in knowledge forward to procede
As you say, bablers there are to many
The floures they haue, but thei tast not the hony
Saynt Cecily kepte the Gospell in her brest
But in the mouthe nowe only it dooth rest.

Eda.
Better it had ben neuer it to haue knowne
Then so vily in the stretes to haue it throwne.
Sayntes in tyme past studyed the Gospell
To thentent that in good lyfe they myght excell,
As it is to see very well in theyr lyues,
Yea both of men & women, maydes and wyues.

Agna.
Haue you red the lyfe of saynt Agnes?

Eda.
I readde it ones in Englysh doutlesse
If it be truly translated as it was
All other Uirgins of that age she dyd passe
Thirtene yeres of age, lytle past infancye
Marterdome she suffred with great constancye.

Agna.
Saynt Ambrose, as it is thought by the stile
Dyd her lyfe in latine eligantly compile
At .xiii. yeares of age (saith he) death she lost
And founde eternall lyfe, though her lyfe it cost,
Full well loued she the floure of Uirginitie
That woulde die rather then spotte her integrite

Eda.
What I am hable to doo, I doo not fynde
But without doute I am of the same mynde
Uirginitie? oh can there be any greater pleasure,
Into this world we brought none other treasure

Agna.
It is euen so: whan into this world we came,
Moch misery we brought as the childrē of Adam
Yet with vs we brought this commoditie
In thought, worde and deede, pure virginitie.
Nothyng in mankynde God loueth more
Nothyng so moche aduaunceth his honour
Therfore scripture compareth virginitie to Bisse
The finest lynnen cloth that euer was or is,
Wryters therof whiche do the nature knowe
Say that it is a cloath as white as snowe
As Bysse doth all one lynen passe in puritie
So aboue all vertues god loueth virginitie
It ouer passeth mans nature Doctors do say
And make men like vnto Aungels alway
Greater (saye they) is virgyns victory
Than the triumphe of Aungels in glory.

Eda.
Where as you speake of that kinde of vesture
Bysse is a precious cloth, that is most sure.
But yere it come vnto the perfection
It requireth great labour and correction
For before to the whytenes they can it bring
They vse to beate it oft, and oft it to wryng.

Agna.
You say truthe, yeuen so virginitie
Must eftsones be beate with humilitie
It must be wronge with abstinence and prayer
Before it be perfight, pure, cleane and fayer
It must be rubbed with the soape of penaunce
And bleached in the hote sunne of sufferaunce
Here to must we adde perseuerance to the ende
Whiche is our lyfe in defence therof to spende
Thus shall we make a fayer garment of Bysse
And therwith entre, before the kynge of blysse.

Eda.
Lord why haue not the christen maids this talke
When they meete, or togither doo walke

Agna.
I told you before that the parentes negligence
Causeth most this, and like inconuenience
The filthy perswations of suche as be olde
Kyndle moche euyll and make maides euer bold.
Agayne, the bringyng vp of them in idlenes
Is thoccasion of moche vnthriftenes
They haue no respecte also vnto the company
Which to virginitie is a great vilany
Whosoeuer toucheth pitche shalbe defiled
So by euyll company many one is begiled.

Eda.
Where as you talke of suche as be aged
I knowe that some haue to filthely raged
Hauyng no respecte theyr vile mouthes to open
Shewyng therwith many an vnchast token
Yea forsothe, & that before yonge girles & boyes,
Wherby they learne to practise wicked toyes.
Auncient women & wyues assemblyng togither.
Many times do not their talke honestly consider,
Neither what thei speke, where, nor before whom
No truly lytle wisdome without, & lesse at home.

Agna.
O lytle regarde they the terrible sentences
Of Christ our Lord for suche great offences.
Better were it for suche a corrupte persone
Aboute his necke to haue hanged a mylstone
And so in the myddest of the sea drowned to be
Than to offend any lytle one that beleueth in me
Also for euery ydle worde spoken in vayne
They shall render a strayte compte agayne
For they doo not only themselues condempne
But they cause other Gods lawe to contempne.

Eda.
Uerely syster Agna, my mynde doth me geue
That the worde of God suche men do not beleue,
I wolde they heard what God speaketh by Esay
A boye of an hundreth yere olde shall dye
Namely whē he laketh maners to age corespōdēt
That is grauitie, discretion, and a mynde sapient
Understande me not here in any wyse
That I go about aged persons to dispyse.

Agna.
No I dare saye, for you are taught otherwyse
Before the honorable and aged, dooe thou aryse
The order of nature where as is intelligence
Teacheth vs age in all men to reuerence
But where as euyll maners in aged men be
As from the face of a serpent we ought to flie
Thre thynges saith Syrach my soule dooth hate
Wherwith I am greued and at great debate:
A poore man proude, a ryche man a lyer
An olde man a foole, and full of fleshly desyer.

Eda.
I flee the company bothe of olde and yonge
Whyche be not honest in gesture dede and tonge
With the holy, thou shalt learne to be holy
Amonge fooles we shall learne but foly
Wherfore yf I see any bent to inhumanytie.
I auoyde his foly and lewde vanitie.
Wyth non do I vse to common or dispute
But wyth such, by whom I may haue sum fruit.

Agna.
For so doyng God be thanked for his grace
A token that you intende vertue to enbrace.
I redde in a booke of virginitie lately
Where one compareth it vnto a Lyly.
Whiche if it be towched, as he doth expresse
Anone it wyl lose all the fayre whytenes.
So yf virginitie be touched a lytle
Eyther with vncleane thoughtes or wordes ydle
It wyll lose the purytie therof anone
Yea and the sauour pleasing god wyl be gone.
Wherfore hedge we in our garden with faith sure
That our Lily from touching may be kept pure.

Eda.
I haue redde in a sermon of good authorytie
That abstynence is a frende to virgynitie
Contrary wyse, a full bely is an enemye
Unto all maydes that wyl lyue honestly
I haue hearde my father talke of that mater
He sayd that maides wold fast with bred & water
And dyd labour asmoch, & toke paynes as great
As any day that they eate their meales and meat
But as fastyng is tourned into surfaityng
So is worke tourned into idle leuteryng.
This I see in all states now for a surety
The most parte are geuen to fleshly libertye
As sum withold ye truth of god in vnrightousnes
So of his word thei make a cloke of maliciousnes
Yea yong & olde, maydes, widowes men & wiues
As it doth appeare to playnly by their lyues.
To the good towne they must go to drinke wyne
Though they come agayne as dronke as swyne.

Agna.
Amōg the Romayns no greater offēce ther was
Then for womē at Tauernes their tymes to pas
A lawe ther was, that they might no wine drinke
Whiche was no euyl truly I do thynke.
But whan yonge gyrles wyll be wyne bybbars
It foloweth, that they intende to be euyl lyuers
Wine sayeth Hierom, youth and lustines
Is a doble kyndeling vnto voluptuousnes.
Madnes it is to adde oyle vnto a fyre
But more madnes to giue youth their desyre.
There is better pathe to lyfe euerlasting
Than (is being in the fayth) prayer and fasting.

Eda.
May you tary no longer here trowe you?

Agna.
The time draweth nere that I must depart now.

Eda.
Let vs talke .iii. or .iiii. sentences mo
And than in goddes name you shall go.
Me thinke that there is a great falte in parentes
Concernyng their doughters attyre & garmentes

Agna.
As all things are cleane to them that be cleane
So in all thynges there is an honest meane
I doo not moche passe of the outwarde vesture
So the mynde be inorned with christen ornature
As moche mekenes may be vnder a veluet gowne
As in one that wereth the worst coat in the toune
& asmoch pride in him that wereth a patched coat
As in him that weareth golde about his throate,
Superfluous disguisyng is very euyll
But paintyng of the hearre cometh of the deuyll.
o womā saith Ambrose, yu blottestout gods pictur
When thou with paintyng alterest nature.
I can not prayse these new founde disguisynges
Through pride they were of Satans dyuysinges
A holy man sayeth, that externall superfluitie
Is a sygne of an internall vanytie
Whersoeuer sayeth hee, nyce garmentes ye finde
You may be sure ther to haue the nicenes of mind
Wolde to god in garmentes there were more modestie
I alow clenlines in apparel wt honestie.

Eda.
As of vertuouse maters here we do talke
So in our lyuyng, God gyue vs grace to walke.
Howe say you by singing and dauncing
To synne I iudge them a great aduauncing
My father wil haue me to play at the Lute
Also at the Uirginalles wherin is small fruite.

Agna.
As in godly maters you are very wyse
So in thinges indifferent be not to nyce.
The best giftes of God may bee abused
The giftes therfore maye not be accused,
But they whiche abuse goddes good giftes
As all they do whiche are carnall vnthriftes
To can singe truly is right commendable
Yf the cyrcumstances be a lowable.
As the songe to be good, sunge with good intent
The persone the time the place honest and decent.
In like maner at instrumentes to playe
A goodly gift of God it is truly I saye.
But abused, they may be through vaine pride
And whan better thinges for them are laide aside
In holy scripture we finde that yonge damsels
Sang Psalmes, songes, & played at Tymbrels
Suche Instrumentes as they vsed than
Whiche haue not ben rebuked of any wise man.
But those thinges were euer done in time
To the honour of god, wherin was no crime.
I tell you in this thing my poore aduisement
But leaue you to a wyse bodies Iudgement.
Nowe as for dauncing, I wot not what to say
Holy men haue spoken against it til this day.
And though kyng Dauid daūced before the Arke
I wot not what to say for I am no clarke.
But this is the sentence of some that be wyse
Dauncing can be scacely vsed without vice
For by their owne iudgement you cau not daunce finely
Without a great pride and secrete enuy.

Eda.
God saue me then from learnyng that arte
Herodias doughter played a wicked parte
For through her daūsyng, most holy saynt Ihon
By Herodes commaundment was beheded anon
Pride and enuy are synnes which I detest,
To avoyde thoccasion of them I thynke it best
When I see that any vertue therby dooth chaūce
Then diligently wyll I learne to daunce,
God graunt me grace to learne him to please
To my minde that shalbe the greatest ease.

Agna.
I must byd you fare well tyl to morowe
Thā to talke wt you more, a time I wil I borow

Eda.
I thanke you hartely for your great payne
I shal thinke longe tyl I speake with you again.
I desyre you, this night in your meditation
Deuise in your minde against our next cōmunication
How I may serue god as he doth require
Let this be our next talke I do you desyre.

Agna
With a good wyl you shal knowe my harte
God haue you in his keping I must departe.

Eda.
God be with vs in farewel and greeting
And send vs againe a mery meeting.

Here after foloweth A Dialogue concernyng wysdom and Wyll. Who reason togither thus.

Wylle.
Somwhat of Wyll here by your pacience
I must saye accordyng to learnyng
And as you haue praysed sapience
So of Wyll, let me say my meanyng.

Wisdome.
Wyll playeth the wanton boy now and than.
Whan Wyll without wyt, reuelleth alone
He vndoeth many a wylfull man
Who wolde repent whan the time is gone

Wyll.
Wyll is an appetite gyuen to goodnes
According to prudent Aristotles mynde
In the fyrst boke of Rethorickes he doth expresse
The same sentence, or moche of that kynde
And the same Poete which you dyd reherse
(A Poete? no forsoth, rather a Deuine)
Ryght nobly speaketh of Wylle in a verse
As though Wylle, doth not to euyll encline.
Suntque voluntatis bona plura & quatuor horum
Præcipua existunt, prudencia iustitia atque
Grandia quæ aggreditur fortis discrimina virtus,
Net non quæ frenis nos temperat atque modestos,
Efficit. & c.
There be many good thynges longyng to Wylle
And cheefly .iiii. Prudence, and Iustice,
Strength, that noble vertue gret thīges to fulfyl
Temperance, who restrayneth sensuall vice.
These .iiii. be called vertues Cardinall:
For of them all other vertues depende
Of the which vertues, Wylle is thoriginall
Wherfore, Wylle I may iustly commende.

Wisdome.
I say styll, that Witte is a crafty boye,
Fayne he wolde his wilfull foly excuse,
He hathe played euen nowe a subtle toye.
For a learned sentence he dyd abuse
Aristotle in the place of you aledged
Where as you say, he dooth Wylle define,
Is of you triuicated and abredged
Contrary to the Philosophers doctrine,
Wyll is an appetite of goodnes sayeth he
Coniuncte or rather subiecte to reason
I saye whan Wyll to reason doth agree
Than all thinges be done well, and in season
But I speake onely of that sturdy Wyll
Whiche to obay reason doth proudly disdayne
Than both it selfe, it doth destroy and spyll
And putteth many another to payne.
In that Wyll, whyche to reason doth consent
Is all kynde of good vertues conteyned
Than it doth nothing wherof it should repent
For all vyces therby are restreyned.

Wyll.
Me thynke you make lytle difference
Betwyxt Wyll and sensualytie
Wyll is equall with sapience
Yea and hygher in authorytie.
For what could sapience or reason do
Or any other power of the minde
Except Wyll, wolde consent therto
Who hath power both to loase and to bynde.
Only in Wyll is free lybertie
Whan Wysdom and reason haue deuysed
Wyll hath this power for a suertie
To let all that they haue practysed.
Example. Reason and Wisdom do teache
Performe this they can not whiche they preache
Except Wyll therto shall lybertie gyue.

Wisdome.
The pride of this stoborne Wyll, breaketh out
And by lytle and lytle dooth theselfe declare
Wyll is proude, Wyll is sturdy and stout
And yet miserable, beyng lefte bare
Euery mā through Wyl alone is made a wretche
But the more wretched as Austen dooth publish
When the same Wyll dooth it selfe stretche,
So farre that he may his desyre accomplish
And also it foloweth, that through euyll Wyll
Not euery man a wretche is made
But also the more wretched when he may fulfyll
That euyll wherto euyll wyll doth perswade,
Thus he meaneth, the more power Wyll hathe
To doo euyll, the more wretched it is,
The more power Wyll hathe reason to scathe,
The more bonde, and the more dooth a mis.

Wyll.
You haue talked of euyll wyll a long season
I praye you what doo you call the same euyll wil

Wysdome.
That Wyll which is not subiecte to reason
But seketh his sensuall rage to fulfyll
Now to make answere to your comparison.
Where you preferre Wyll before reason,
In dede, Wyll, and his wylfull garison
Compare with God from whō all goodnes come
But in this poynt, wisdome doth wyll excell
Wisdome is alway good, and Wyll somtime euyl
Wisdome obaieth God, Wyll somtime doth rebel
Wisdom, of God is led, Wyl somtime of the deuyl
And let not wyll reioyce in his wicked power
For the more power he hath to commit euyll
The more seruile, the more vile day and hower,
And the more draweth he vnto the deuyll.

Wylle.
To your sentence I can not moche disagre
In few words you haue shewed ye bōdage of wyl
Now I praye you declare how it may be free
And I wyll humbly harke vnto your skyll.

Wysdome.
Whan Wyll to Wisdome wyllyngly doth encline
(Now what Wysdome is I declared before)
Than Wyll, not of merytes, but of grace diuyne
Is enfrenchesed, and made free euermore
Recte igitur quidam, liber solus sapiens est
Dixere, Hic etenim solus ratione Magistra
Castigat motus animi sensumque rebellem.
Certayne learned men forsoth sayed ryghtly
A wyse man onely hath a free wyll
For a wyse man through lady reason aptely
Chastiseth euyl lustes, & the flesshe rebelling stil.
Reke this ordre. And than the wyll is free
With Salomon aske of God his sapience
Than to reasons rule alway agree
And holde sensualitie in obedience
He that can obserue purely these .iiii. lynes
Not only a vertuouse man I do hym call
But also I compare hym to a diuines
And to the highest learned of them all.

Wyll.
I haue Ministred communication
Sumwhat contrary to verytie
That by your wyttie declaration
I might be brought out of ambyguitie.
For by reasonyng and argument
Maters of contrauersy and in doubt
Are opened, made playne and euydent
And the veritie searched and boulted out.
Now to God humble thankes let vs rendre
For his wonderful worke in mankynde
Who our misery so greatly dyd tender
That he sent his sonne his lost shepe to fynde.

Wysdome.
Say this before dyner or supper:
Glory, honour and prayse to God the father
For all his benefites geuen vnto vs
Who by his spirite vouchsafe vs to gather
Into the true fayth of his sonne Christ Iesus,
We beseche that one God in Trinitie
To blesse his creatures for vs prepared,
Rendre we thankes with all humilitie
For his kyndnesse to vs in all thynges declared
He graunte vs his giftes so meanly to take
That our bodyes may be in subiection
Wherwith, suche a lyuely sacrifice we may make
As before him may be in acception.

Wyll.
He keepe our tongues from talke of vanitie
From backbityng, sclaunderyng or liyng
At our table let there be suche humanitie
As becometh his people bothe liuyng and diyng.
In Gods name now take your refection
We haue ended our talke for this season
After your meale I must make an obiection
Concernyng the highest parte called Reason.
After dyner or supper say this

Wisdome.
Approche my frynde I pray you & come neare
Go to nowe, propugne your obiection
And in the truth, shewe you a direction.

Will.
You sayed before that Wyll is than free
Whan it is subiecte to reason and sapience
This sentence to reason doth not agree
There is no fredom where as is obedience.

Wisdom.
If Wyll hath any lybertie at all
The most is reason and Wysdome to obay
The freedom of Wyll, of it selfe is but small.
Whan it refuseth reason to be his stay.
To haue lycence to do euyll is no lybertie
But the most vyle bondage that euer was
Now reason through grace hath this propertie
To cause Wyll in the way of truth to passe.
He that doth synne, is seruaunt vnto synne
O what seruitude is lyke vnto this
Non other aduauntage therby do they wynne
But hell, where Satan the Deuyll dampned is.
Contrary wyse, there is no lybertie
Lyke the subiection vnto vertue
For that erecteth the soule into felycitie
Yf vnto the ende we do it ensue.
Beholde, here obedience is lybertye
And lybertie (yf I may it so name)
Is vyle bondage and vtter seruylitie
Whiche bringeth many a man to shame.

Wyll.
You haue well satisfyed my mynde
But where as you talked sumwhat of reason
I wolde knowe what reason is in kynde
Whom you saye, Wyll must obay in season.

Wysdome.
Est autem ratio lumen quoddam atque animi Vis
Qua curuum a recto secernimus, atque ab honesto
Turpe. Oculusque solet mentis quandoque vocari.
Reasson is a certayn lyght & strength of the mind
Wherby we discerne the croked from the right
The fylthy from the honest therby we do fynde
Therfore of the mynde it is named the light.
Lo here is this great Clearkes dyffinition
Wherby what reason is you may learne
Also reason is a perfecte erudition
By the Whyche good from euyll we discerne.
Now reason, as the phylosopher sayeth
Euer more approcheth vnto the beest
A directry of lyfe an handmayd of fayeth
Whiche loueth vertue, and doth vice detest.

Wyll.
Than I see yf Wyll foloweth reason
It shall consent to all that is honest
But sensualytie worketh moche treason
And doth both reason and Wyll greatly molest
But where as in your diffinicion aforesayd
Of the mynde also you made mencion
This terme (mynde) ought to be wayed
Therin let vs also knowe your intencion.

Wysdome.
Mens igitur sol est animæ, sunt sidera sensus.
The mynde to the soule is a sunne bryght
Whiche illumineth the same with her clere shine
By the minde the soule seeth to go right
And nedeth not out of the way to declyne.
As for the senses are as the dyuine starres
Whiche giue a shyne, but not to worke by
Yea against reason they be obstacles and barres
The motions of reason to stoppe or denie.
Senses alonely do the brute beastes beutyfie
But reason and senses both do enorne mankinde
Yet reason excelleth senses verely
As a man a lyue excelleth a man dead and blind.
Reason is the more noble parte in dede
For to heauenly thinges the minde it doth cary
Senses holde man downe, on the earth to feede
And therby man from beastes do not much vary.

Wylle.
You put me in memory of a sentence
Whiche the great clarke Lactantius doth write
Wolde to God I had the wyt and science
As he ment it, the same purely to recyte.
That high artyficer God our parent dere
Hath giuen to man, sense, reason and sapience
That man to be made of him it might appere
For God is sense, reason, Wisdom & intelligence
Of all the creatures that euer God did make
In man he shewed most his omnipotencye
Alas why dyd Adam his precept forsake
For through synne he lost his innocencye
Wysdom, Wyll, reason, mynde be here declared
If you wyll speake a worde or .ii. of sence
Whiche God in man hathe also prepared
I wyll no more trouble you, but depart hence.

Wisdome.
Sum learned men call sense a powre passyue
That is suffering obiectes variable
Sensualytie is an appetite sensityue
To the outwarde felyng very delectable.
But senses are deuyded of phylosophers
Into senses externall and internall
Auicenna, Thomas, and their folowers
Speake also of senses Intellectuall.
Touching the senses externall ther be fyue
That is, seyng, hearyng, smellyng, tasting, feling
Bothe men and beastes as many as be a lyue
Haue these fyue commonly, without differyng
These are as wyndowes to intelligence
For by them all things enter into vnderstanding
Of the whiche thinges, reason and sapience
Apoynt an ordre after their determining.
We myght minister hereof more mater
Than to the auditors should be profitable
Of many thinges to vtter muche clater
Is losse of tyme, and nothing laudable.

Wyll.
There is not a worde spoken this season
But therof some fruite I haue gathered.
The knowledge I haue not farther to reason
Whiche I trust is right well considered.
To God yf it wyll please you thankes to giue
Whiche wyth hys benefytes doth vs feede
We shall do but our deutye, and I beleue
That in all our actes, the better we shal speede.

Wysdome.
Thankes to the o father our creator
Thankes to the Iesus Christ the way & veritie
Thankes to the o spirite our consolator
Thankes to the one blessed God in Trynitie.