 | [Three dialogues between Spudeus and Gelasimus, Eda and Agna, and Wisdome and Wylle] |  |
Here after [OMITTED] the Dialogue concernyng [OMITTED] liuyng of [OMITTED] which [OMITTED]
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
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
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.
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 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
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
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?
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,
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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
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
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.
Amen.
Finis.
| [Three dialogues between Spudeus and Gelasimus, Eda and Agna, and Wisdome and Wylle] | |