La Connaissance d'amours

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¶Here begynneth a lyttell treatyse cleped La conusaunce damours .

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¶The prologue of the author.

In tyme of May / whan Flora the fresshe quene

Through arte and crafte / of swete zephirus

Depeynted hath / feldes and medowes grene

With sondry colours / very delicious

White / redde / and crymoysyn amorous crymoysyn: =crimson

Tauny / youlowe / violet / and blewe

With ryght many a nother dyuers hewe

Forth gone the virgyns euerychone

Replet with ioye / and eke felicite

To gether floures. And some vnto one

Haue more fantasy / whan they it se

Than to all that in the medowes be

A nother shall in contrary wyse

Gether other after theyr deuyse.

So done clerkes / of great grauite

Chose maters / wheron they lyst to wryte

But I that am of small capacite

Toke on me this treatyse to endyte

T'auoyde ydelnesse / more than for delyte

And most parte therof / tolde was to me

As here-after / ye may rede and se.

Thus endeth the prologue.

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THe thyrde idus / in the moneth of Iuly

Phebus his beames / lustryng euery way

Gladdynge the hartes / of all our Hemyspery

And mouynge many / vnto sporte and playe

So dyd it me / the treuthe for to saye

To walke forth / I had great inclination

Per_chaunce some-where / to fynde recreation

And as I walked / euer I dyd beholde

Goodly yonge people / that them encouraged

In suche maner wyse / as though they wolde

Ryght gladly haue songe or daunsed

Or els some other gorgious thynge deuysed

Whose demeanynge / made me ryght ioyous

For to beholde / theyr dedes amorous.

To wryte all thynges of plesure / that I se

In euery place / where I passed by

In all a day rec[o]unted it can nat be recounted] recunted 1528

Who coude discryue the fresshe beauty

Of dames and pusels / attyred gorgiously

So swete of loke / so amiable of face

Smilyng doulcely / on suche as stande in grace

Certaynly theyr bounte / and curtesy

Ofte moueth me / for to do my payne

Some-thynge to wryte / them to magnifye

Aboue the sterres. But ay I may complayne

Ignoraunce / gouerneth so my brayne

That I ne dare / for nothynge presume

Out of my mouthe / to blowe suche a fume

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It is a laboure / great and hyedous hyedous: =hideous

Requirynge study / and moche experience

For my shulders / it is to ponderous

Whiche am priuate / of suche condigne science

It is for a man / of hygh eloquence

And worthynes / fame and memorie

So noble a thynge / to laude and magnifie.

But nowe to purpose / where I began

Walkyng abrode / wandryng to and fro

Beynge alone / with me was no man

Sodaynly / came in my mynde to go

Se. A faire pusell / and two or thre mo

Of her companions. This was myn entent

And by and by / forth thetherwarde I went.

Whan I came there / I founde at the dore

A dammusell / standyng all alone

Who I dyd salute / and ferthermore

Of her demaunded I / curtesly anone

Gentyll mayde where is your companion?

Syr she sayd (her hart on a mery pyn)

Ye be welcome. she is nat nowe within

But by her faire / and swete countenance

I perceyued lyghtly / what she ment

Dame daunger moued her to that daliaunce

But Desyre bad me go. and in I went

And sodaynly / by the hand me hent

This most curtes mayde / who I went to se

Sayenge welcome / most derely vnto me.

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And by the hande / than as she me had

In we went / talkynge ioyously

Into a goodly parler / she me lad

And caused me to sytte / curtesly

Than vnto vs / came shortly by and by

A nother / that me swetely dyd welcome

Bryngyng fresshe floures / and gaue me some.

Than we began / to talke and deuyse

Of one and other / of olde acqueyntaunce

For comonly / of maydens is the gyse

Somtyme to demaunde for pastaunce

If that a man be in loues daunce

Or stande in grace / of any dammusell

Under suche maner / in talkynge we fell

We spake of loue / yet none of vs all

Knoweth perfectly / what loue shulde be

The one affyrmed / people veneriall

Folowynge the course / of their natiuite

Endure great sorowe / and moche aduersite

And many suffre / suche peyne and turment

That as mad folke / them-selfe all to_rent

Thus sayd one / and vp-helde it styffely

That loue was of suche maner nature

That it myght rather be called a mad fury

Than any maner thynge of pleasure

To whiche wordes / th'other mayden demure

Replyed. Prayeng vs / to gyue her licence

In this matter / to shewe forth her sentence

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Gladly (we sayd[)] therto we assent

In this to here / your opinion

Forsoth (sayd she) ye shall nat be myscontent

All-though therin / I make obiection

Where-as nowe / ye haue made conclusion

Sayeng loue was a fury or a madnesse

Without all grauite / measure / or sadnesse

Nay surely / your reason is defectyue

For this ye knowe very perfectly

That they that loue / and hate for to stryue

Lyue a thousande tymes more quietly

Than they / that hate eche other mortally

For where-as is no loue / nor tranquillite

There is myschef / langour / and all aduersite.

Loue is the very true manocorde manocorde: =manichord, or perhaps an error for monochord.

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That euery wyght shulde harpe vpon

Louyng well eche other by very concorde

To this reason / byndeth vs euerychone

And this maner loue / is nat in vs alone

For bestes that haue / sence and vnderstandynge

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By companies go / to_gether right louynge

Whiche doyng I repute very perfect loue

Whan by no crafte / nor male engyn

From their amite / wyll nat remoue

The one to socour other shall neuer blyn

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Who can depart true louy[n]g folkes atwyn?

Father / children / and frendes of aliaunce /

And good neyghbours helpe other in eche chaunce.

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This maner frendshyp / very loue I call

Other than this / or lyke no man can fynde

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Abyde (sayd the other) I thynke ye shall

Here my reason / contrary to your mynde

I trowe none hence to the lande of Inde

Can be founde. Whiche hath nat tasted

Other loue / than ye haue nowe rehersed

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Harde you neuer tell / of yonge Pyramus /

And his swete loue / called fayre Thysby:

In all Babylon / the moost swete and gracious

Bothe shynyng / full of fresshe beauty

Dwellynge also / togyder very nye

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Wherby the more / as I haue herde tell

Fro day to day / in feruent loue they fell

They wold both / ryght fayne haue ben spoused

After suche lawe / as in that tyme they vse

But by theyr parentes / they were alway letted

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Who of theyr myschief / I may well accuse

Neuer wolde one / the other of them refuse

The strayter they were kept / and inclosed

The more feruently / in loue they burned

And whan they coude nat to_gyther speke

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They made signes / tokyn and lokynge

By suche meanes / theyr myndes wolde they breke

That one of other had perfect vnderstandynge

Nowe it happed / as loue is euer sekynge

To fynde remedye / what therof befall

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So at last they founde / a chenke in a wall

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At whiche place / oft these louers two

Mette and talked / of their wo and payne

Many tymes / theder wolde they go

And on the wall / piteously complayne

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That he stode / betwene them louers twayne

Nat openyng to them so moche space

To come to_geder / eche other to enbrace

These and like wordes / ofte wolde they say

O enuious wall certes thou doest amysse

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If thou wylt nat suffre / that we may

Ioyne our bodies / suffre vs to kysse

Agaynst the / we neuer dyd amysse

Wherfore be nat thou / to vs vnkynde

Opyn thy-selfe / and obey to our mynde.

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And whan they shulde part eche other fro

They toke leaue / and that ryght curtesly

Yet alway / before or they wolde go

On eche syde / they kyst the wall swetely

Syghyng a lytell / very amorously

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So wolde they stande / all many a longe nyght

Tyll Aurora / exild them with her lyght

And whan Phebus gan / his bemes downe spred

Dryeng vp the dewes / in the medowes grene

Than wolde they stele priuely to bed

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That they shulde / of no persone be sene

Where most of all / theyr sorowe sharpe and kene

At the hart / gan to prycke a_pace

That they ne coude / rest in any place.

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Nowe languysshe they / with syghes profounde

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Nowe sorowe they / nowe they turne and wynde

Nowe fresshely bledeth / their incurable wounde

Nowe cast they / right busely in mynde

Howe they may / some crafte and maner fynde

Theyr kepers to deceyue / by some wyle

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And to stele out / in the nyght by gyle.

After they had / fixed theyr myndes heron

They agreed / at theyr metyng-place

That they wolde / into the feldes gon

The next nyght / and mete at a certayn place

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And whiche of them two / were first per_case

Theder come / shulde no ferther go

Tyll the other / were ycome also.

Their metyng-place / I vnderstande shulde be

At the supulcure / or tombe of kyng Ninus

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(Kyng of Assiriens) vnder a goodly hye tre

Bearyng white aples / the tre cleped Morus Morus: =more, 'mulberry tree', as elsewhere in this text.

Growyng fast by / a fountayne delicious

In the sayd place / couenaunted to mete

Yonge Pyram / and gracious Thysby swete.

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Whan the longe day / was gone and past

And nyght come / euery-thynge at rest

The tendre mayde / hyed her ryght fast

To the dore she goth / redely and prest

And put therto / her doulce and softe brest

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Openynge it so / for feare lest it shulde crake

And therwith / some of her kepars wake.

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So out at the dore / gote preuely is she

And through the towne / alone is went

Into the fyldes / towarde the foresayd tre

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O swete Thysbe / howe true was your entent

Howe curtesly your hart dyd assent

For the loue of gentyll Pyramus

To enterprise / a thynge so perillous.

Myghty loues power / here may we beholde

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Proued on this goodly damosell

What but loue coude make her so bolde?

She feared nat / the sauage beestes fell

Wherto shulde I any longer dwell?

Upon her way she went styll apace

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Castyng euer / towarde the appointed place.

One myght demaunde / who was her gyde

Bycause it was in the quyet nyght

I answere none / but the hygh lorde Cupide

Whose souerayne puysaunce / and great myght

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Turneth obscure darkenesse / vnto lyght

He leadeth folkes / that way as he wyll

In great parilles / redy for to spyll.

So this lorde / of his myght and grace

Conduced Thysbe / in the wylde felde

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Tyll she came vnto the foresayd place

Where she sate downe / vnder Morus s[h]elde shelde] selde 1528; Morus may be a possessive form.

And as she sate / a_ferre-of she behelde

Towarde the wode / by lyght of the mone

A lyonesse / whiche towarde her dyd come.

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This lyones / in the wode had slayne

A beest before / and deuoured hym also

And came to drynke / at the sayd fountayne

Where Thysbe sate alone / with her no mo

For feare wherof / lyghtly she to go

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Into a denne / that was there-besyde

Swete Thysbe ran / her for to hyde.

(In moche perill / and great ieopardye

Thysbe was brought / by this sodayne fraye

For in that denne / wylde beestes vsed to lye)

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For hast she fell / her kerchefe by the way

Whiche the lyones (as I haue harde say)

Founde. And in her blody mouthe toke

Rent / tore / and out agayne it shoke.

Than forthwith she ran into the wode

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And as soone as euer she was gone

Pyram came / and founde the cloth all blode

His hart gan to be / as colde as any stone

Sayeng these wordes / with most pitous mone

O nyght thou losest / and art distruction

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Of two yonge louers of Babylon.

Of whiche two / she that most worthy was

For to haue lyued / is deed fyrst of all

I am the cause / swete Thysbe (hei alas)

That you ben slayne / of this beest truculentall

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If I had come fyrst / than had it nat befall

O wretche that I am / to suffre swete Thysbe

To come alone / and here for to dye.

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O ye moost cruell / and rabbysshe lions fell

Come nowe and teare / the corps of Pyramus

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Ye sauage beestes / that in these rockes dwell

If blode to you be so delicious

Come and gnawe / my wretched body dolorous

And on the kerchef / with face pale and tryst

He loked ofte / and it right swetely kyst.

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With deedly syghes / his swerde out he drewe

Under the vmbre / of the forsayd tre

Wherwith shortly / hym owne selfe he slewe

Sayeng / take drynke nowe the blode of me

With whiche stroke / the blode (as it had be

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Water spoutynge / out of a condite-heed)

Spouted vp / whan he fell downe deed.

And with the blode / in suche wyse sprynklyng

The frute of the tre / whiche that before

Was white. Turned as blacke as any-thynge

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And the blode / that sanke to the more more ='mulberry tree'

Depeinted it / a fayre purple colore

Whiche vnto this day / so remayne

But nowe to Thysby / turne I wyll agayne.

All-though her feare were neuer the las

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Yet bycause she wolde nat breke promesse

She came softly / towarde th'appoynted place

Bothe mynde and eye / lokyng without cesse

For yonge Pyram / the floure of gentylnesse

She loked euer / her swete-hart to se

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Tyll she approched / and came vnder the tre.

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Whan she behelde / the transformacion

Of the tre. She was right sore abasshed

And bycause it was in suche condicion

She thought it was nat / the place appoynted

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But at last / as she more nerer loked

She sawe a corps / vpon the grounde lye

Newly slayne / tremblyng and all blody.

Wherwith she gan / to be as pale as leed

And stepped backe / a lyttell sodaynly

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Incontinent she perceyued the corps deed

Was her owne swete-hart / the noble Pyramy

O how she gan moost piteously to crye

Her handes strayne / and her fyngers wrynge

Enragiously / her armes out-castynge. Enragiously ='passionately', cf. rageously; enragiously not recorded in OED.

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She rent and tore / her goodly youlowe heare

And toke the corps / in her armes twayne

Desperously / wepynge many a teare Desperously ='despairingly'; desperously not recorded in OED

Amonge the blode / of her louer slayne

Her bytter teares / lay as thycke as rayne

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And ofte she kyssed / his deedly colde visage

Styll cryeng / as though she wolde enrage.

O swete Pyram / who hath taken you me fro?

O curtesse Pyram / speke nowe vnto me

I am thyn owne Thysby / full of wo

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Here thy dere loue / that speketh vnto the

Lyfte ones vp thyn eyes Pyram me to se

And as she lay / this tomblyng on the grounde this: =thus

At longe her kerchefe / in the blode she founde

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Than she knewe / howe he deceyued was

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By the kerchefe / and the lyonesse

Agayne she cryed / o Pyram hei alas

For my loue / floure of gentylnesse

Haue slayne your-selfe / in peinfull distresse

O swete Pyram / syth it is for my sake

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Of my dolorous lyfe / suche ende shall I make.

Of ioye with you / parttaker haue I be

What tyme ye lyued / most curtes Pyramus

Shulde deth than departe you and me?

With you to dye / I am ryght desyrous

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O parentes parentes / of our deth reous reous ='guilty'; see OED s.v. reous

To you our bodyes / I bequeth and take

To bury togyther / for neuer we shall forsake.

O miserable tre / with thy bowes longe

Coueryng nowe / lyeng deed on the grounde

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The noble Pyram / that whilom was so strounge

Thou shalt anone / of suche another wounde

Couer my corps. And in a littell stounde

She pulled the swerde out of Pyramy

And therwith slewe herselfe pyteously.

Th'autor.

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Than the damosell / that the storie tolde

Syghe[d] softe / and loked me vpon Syghed] Sygheh 1528

Wherwith the teares / downe on her chekes rolde

She had of theyr deth / so great compassion

That she was stryken in cogitacion

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And stode a whyle / as one had ben dismayde

And these wordes / after to vs she sayd

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The damosell.

O curtes Pyram / and swete Thysbe also

Herde was your fortune and destanye

Your pitous deth / maketh myn hert wo

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Yet me-thynke / I se your bodies lye

The tre and fountayne / ryght sorowfully

Unto this day / wepe and complayne

The lamentable dethe / of you louers twayne.

Here was true loue / who can it deny?

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Here were the burnyng sparcles of Cupyde

Here were two hertes / closed in one truly

Here were two louers / nat swaruyng asyde

O cursed lyonesse / wo mote the betyde

Thou were the cause / that these louers twayne

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Were so soone / thus miserably slayne.

O ye parentes / of these louers two

Why suffred you them / so for to spyll?

Ye caused them / thether for to go

Wherof succeded / all their myschiefe and yll

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Ye myght haue had your goodly children styll

If ye had done / as reason doth require

To marry them / after theyr desyre.

These gentyls dyd / as christens nowe-a_day

Moost comonly / vse for to do

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Whiche no doubt is / a moche cursed way

And causer of many yuels also

They marry / without consent of the two

Whiche mariage is nat worth an hawe

Damnable / and eke ayenst the lawe.

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For to receyue this hygh sacrament

Is required moche solemnite

But one moost speciall / that is fre assent

Of both persones / of hye and lowe degre

Without whiche / mariage can nat be

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Perfectly allowed / before the glorious face

Of the hygh god / in the celestiall place.

Whan two maried / ayenst their myndes be

What is the very true consequens?

Contynuall discorde / moost comenly we se

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Braulyng / chidyng / and other inconuenience

And another / moost poysonfull pestilence

For therof right ofte / aduoutry doth succede

Murdre / and many a myscheuous dede.

We se oft-tymes / whan two to_gether come

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By great loue / and longe continuaunce

Yet of suche / there haue ben founde some

Whiche dayly haue ben at distaunce

To themselfe / and other great noyaunce

And coude by no meanes / togyther agre

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And by deuorse / departed haue they be.

Than moche sooner / suche as by compulsion

Ben spoused / agaynst theyr owne fre-wyll

Shulde nat do well. But to make relacion

Particlerly / of all and euery yll

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That cla[n]destinat mariage doth fulfyll clandestinat] clamdestinat 1528clandestinat ='clandestine'; clandestinat not recorded in OED

I shulde than / to longe tary you twayne

Where I was / turne I shall agayne

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Before this tyme / you bothe haue harde tell

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Of the troian knyght / called Troylus

And of Creseide / the goodly damosell

On whom he was so depely amorous

For whom he was / so heuy and dolorous

That had nat ben Pandare / his trusty frende

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Of his lyfe / he had lyghtly made an ende.

For one syght he had / of that fresshe may

As he walked within the temple wyde

He loked as his hart / had ben pulde away

And coude nat moche longer there abyde

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The fyrst dart / of the hygh lorde Cupyde

Had made in hym / so great and large a wounde

That lytell lacked / he fell nat to the grounde.

There was none so expert phisician

That coude cure or helpe his maladye

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To serche the wounde / myght no surgian

It was impossible / to come therby

None coude cure / saue the faire lady

Creseide. On whom he loked oft

Syghyng depe / and gronyng lowe and softe.

415

What shulde I herof / longer processe make

Theyr great loue is wrytten all at longe

And howe he dyed onely for her sake

Our ornate Chaucer / other bokes amonge

In his lyfe-dayes / dyd vnderfonge

420

To translate: and that most plesantly

Touchyng the mater / of the sayd story.

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Of Cannace / somwhat wyll I tell

And of her brother / cleped Machareus

Howe Aeolous / her father ryght cruell

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Made her dye a deth full pitous

But first she wrote / a pistoll dolorous

To her brother / of her wofull chaunce

These were her wordes to my remembraunce.

Cannace doughter / of Aeolous the kynge

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Greteth Machare / her owne brother dere

In [her] owne hande / a naked swerde holdynge her] 1528 omits

With the other writyng / as doth appere

In this epistoll that she sendeth here

Howe by naught els saue deth she can fynde

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To content her fathers cruell mynde.

O my father most innaturall

This swerde to me his daughter hath he sende

With whiche swerde / shortly anone I shall

Of my lyfe and sorowe make an ende

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To other pite / he wyll nat condiscende

Wherfore his fierce mynde to content

To slee my-selfe I must nedes assent.

Th'autor.

Than spake I / and wolde suffre her no more

Of this wofull mater / forther for to tell

445

Suche lamentable louers / greueth my hart sore

And also we coude nat moche longer dwell

Ryght glad was I / that it so happy fell

To here the hole of wofull Pyramus

Of her tolde / with gesture dolorous.

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450

She wolde haue tolde / of many other mo

The great loue / and fatall destenye

Howe Phillis desolate / ofte alone wolde go

By hylles and dales / mornyng tenderly

for Demophon / and howe she dyd dye

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But styll I prayed her to kepe silence

And leaue of her tragicall sentence.

A man that sweteth / and is very hote

Brought to the fyre / is nat well content

What I meane / euery man doth wote

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Yet for this / I wolde nothyng assent

That she had declared / appert and euydent

To our fyrst purpose / what loue shulde be

And wherupon / we gan to argue all thre.

The fyrst damosell / proued loue by reason

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The other spake all by auctorite

Declaryng olde stories / of antique season

But to neyther of them wolde I agre

Without experience / proued can nat be

What is the myghty power of Cupyde

470

Whiche regneth through the great worlde wyde

Experience (sayd they) we desyre to here

What therby to proue / you entende

Than loked I on them / with sad chere

Castyng howe for to make an ende

475

Of our argument / and nat offende

Nother of them / through my negligence

For one of them / was myn experience.

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Forsoth (I sayd) I nat howe it may be

But ones I behelde / with great affection

480

A fayre pusell / whiche happed yll for me

For neuer syth / by no compulsion

I coude nat put her in obliuion

Nor my mynde pulle from her away

Nor neuer shall / to myn endyng-day.

485

With her regarde / and swete countenaunce

She gaue me a great mortall wounde

Through whiche deth / dayly doth auaunce

Towarde me / onely to confounde

My wretched corps: whiche in the grounde

490

Must of foule wormes be eate and gnawe

So condemned / by cruell loues lawe.

This lorde Cupide / lyst of his cruelte

Without reason / my body to turment

To mount an hylle / he constrayneth me

495

With his arowes / sharpe and violent

And me burnyng / with his brande ardent

Yet vp the hyll / no way can be sought

To geat alone: so lowe am I brought.

O Hyppomenes / howe happy thou were?

500

What tyme thou wast so moche amorous

On Atalanta / that curtes damosell dere

For whose loue / ne had nat ben Uenus

Thou shuldest haue dyed a deth ryght greuous

But by .iii. balles (that she the gaue) of golde

505

Thou gotest thy loue of truthe / as it is tolde

sig: C3

Elas suche socour / no-where fynde I may

That me wyll helpe in myn heuynesse

And more encreaseth my sorowe day by day

Cruell thought on me doth neuer cesse

510

With feare and drede / my body to manesse

And with Dispeare / I haue so great stryfe

That gladly I wolde be reft of my lyfe

And than call I vnto the systers thre

To come out of their furious selle

515

And from my peyne to delyuer me

I care nat / though I with them shulde dwell

Or rauenyng wolues / hungry / fierse / and felle

My body gnawe / and to peces rent

To be losed / of my great turment.

520

O Pole wheron the great worlde rounde

Turneth about / by cours naturall

If a place may / vnder the be founde

I wolde gladly / therin that I shulde fall

O ye dogges / whiche to peces small

525

Tare Acteon / for Diana sake

I pray you of me an ende to make.

O crowes / rauons / and foules euerychone

What tyme my lyfe ended thus shalbe

Come than and take eche of you a bone

530

And do beare them into what countre

Pleaseth you / for all is one to me

So I be out of this greuous payne

For any longer / I can it nat sustayne.

sig: [C3v]

Wherwith dame Reason cometh vnto me

535

Uery swetely lokynge in my face

With whom cometh other two or thre

Good Esperaunce / and the lady Grace

And reason begynneth for to chace

The lordens away / whiche before

540

Turmented my wretched body sore

Fyrst Reason to Disperaunce doth speke

Hym banysshyng out of our company

On hym she wolde gladly her angre wreke

But lady pacience standyng by

545

Sayeth to her very curtesly

Ye must swetely shewe your-selfe vntyll

This pacient here redy for to spyll.

Than by the hande Reason doth me take

Sayeng / what though the gentyle Hypsiphyle

550

Distroyed her-selfe for prue Iasons sake

That ayenst his promes / dyd her begyle

Leape nat thou / tyll thou come to the style

For thou hast here nowe before thy face

(Whiche she lacked) the goodly lady Grace.

Reason.

555

Thou knowest after our hygh religion

Who that slee them-[s]elfe wylfully selfe] felfe 1528

By iuste sentence / of lastyng damnacion

Of helle. Be in great ieopardye

Wherfore I aduise the / loke theron wysely

560

Take nat example of Dido and Myrra.

Nor yet of Phillis / Scylla / and Phedra.

sig: [C4]

I say to the as I sayd before

They lacked Grace / ye and me also

Whiche thou hast / and shalt haue euer-more

565

In case that thou gladly woldest do

As we shall shewe the or that we go

Principally beware of Dispayre

In no wyse abyde that sower ayre.

A nother / thou shalt kepe moderacion

570

In all thynges / that thou gost about

Both in gladnesse / and lamentacion

Beware of thought / the villayn bolde and stout

Of heuynesse / with theyr cruell route

Feare / drede / discomfort / and mystrust

575

Incline the neuer after their peruers lust.

What foly is it for a womans sake

Nat knowyng your corage nor entent

Suche lamentacion / and sorowe for to make

Perauenture her swete hart wolde assent

580

In all honour be at your commaundement

Wherfore fyrst / ye shulde by my counsell

Knowe the pleasure of the damosell.

Th'autor.

To whiche counsell / accorden an[d] agre and] an 1528

Desyre / and curtes esperaunce

585

They two promesse / for to go with me

Dame Fauour sayth she wyll so auaunce

With the helpe of prudent Gouernaunce

To solicite my mater in best wyse

And dame Discrecion shall it deuyse.

sig: [C4v]

590

The good holsome lady Remembraunce

Sayth recorde / was nat worthy Theseus

The hye conquerour / delyuered from myschaunce

By socour of two ladyes gratious

For hym they were / so moche pitous

595

That they put them-selfe / in daunger of moche yll

Hym for to saue / that he shulde nat spyll.

For he had ben put to the Minataurus

Without prouise / of these ladies twayne

Within the mase / made by Dedalus

600

All-though he had / the hidous monstre slayne

Yet coude he neuer come out therof agayne

But by the ladies subtile inuencion

He slewe the beest / and came out anone.

Thou hast redde / ryght many an history

605

Of ladies and damosels great bounte

And howe soone they ben inclyned to mercy

As was the curtes lady / Hypermestre

For nothyng perswaded wolde she be

For all her father myght do or say

610

She conueyed her loue and lorde away.

And bycause this lady wolde nat do

Scelerously / as dyd her systers all

Afterwarde she suffred moche wo

But no punyishement / to her myght fall

615

That she ne thought the peyne very small

Suche ioye she had / of her spouse delyueraunce

That all her payne / to her was no greuaunce

sig: D[1]

Thus tender pite / in the hart feminall

Ronneth alway / vnto mannes defence

620

Theyr gentyll hertes / swete and liberall

Be lyghtly turned / with great diligence

To mannes socour / and beneuolence

They speke / they praye / they labour and they go

Ryght tenderly / mannes profite for to do.

Th'autor.

625

So these ladies / debated with me styll

In whose company I was ryght ioyous

And at last / they sayd me all vntyll

Be mery and glad thou louer dolorous

For thy loue is so moche gracious

630

That we thynke vnto thy desyre

She wyll obey / as thou wylt requyre.

Th'autor.

Than call I / vnto my remembraunce

The great promesses / that Paris of Troye

Made to Heleyn / yet scant it was his chaunce

635

Her loue to gette / or her to enioye

All that he sayd was of perfect foye

He was a prince / and a kynges son also

Yet longe it was / or she wolde with hym go.

Whan I mynde Echates / the woman beautious

640

All my sorowe begynneth to renewe

She and the fayre yonge man / called Hyrus

Betoken howe my loue shall neuer rewe

Nor pite me. yet as Acontius vntrue

To her wyll I vse neyther fraude ne wyle

645

Lyke as he dyd Cydippes begyle.

sig: [D1v]

Thus thought and feare / all the longe day

Turment me / tyll Phebus the hemyspery

Hath fully ronne / so that we may

Perceyue the blacke nyght aprochyng nye

650

To bedde I go / lasshe and eke wery lasshe ='relaxed'; see OED s.v. lash adj.

In hope some repose for to take

And by that meane / my payne for to slake.

Sone after / that I am downe layde

Morpheus / softely cometh to me

655

Who at the fyrst / maketh me afrayde

Tyll I knowe / what man he shulde be

He leadeth me where-as I may se

My swete loue / vnto whom I wolde

Desyrously / ryght oft my mynde haue tolde.

660

And whan I haue ben about to speke

Cruell drede / hath stepped me before

He and feare / alway my purpose breke

Yet her swete visage sheweth euermore

That of dame Pite / she knoweth well the lore

665

It can nat be / that her great beauty

Shulde be voyde / and without mercy.

Thus I stande debatyng a longe space

Than Morpheus / bryngeth me agayne

And whan I fynde me in the same place

670

Where I lay downe / with myn handes twayne

I graspe and fele / I sygh and complayne

And fynde it colde about me euery-where

And perceyue that she was nat there.

sig: D2

O howe thought taketh me by the hert

675

And heuynesse / falleth me vpon

Those two from me wyll neuer departe

Tyll they make my body as colde as stone

They say to me / remedy is none

In this behalfe ferther to pursewe

680

For on me / my loue shall neuer rewe.

Thought and heuynesse.

Thou mayst here lye / sygh / sorowe and wayle

And on thy miserable state complayne

For her beautye / frendes / and apparayle

Causeth her to haue the in disdayne

685

She forceth nat / of thy wo and payne

She is a fresshe yonge swete creature

Well bequeynted / with the lady pleasure. bequeynted ='acquainted'; bequeynt not recorded in OED

So stode the heuyns / whan thou were bore

And suche is thy fatall destenye

690

To loue one / whiche setteth lytell store

By the that art oppressed with mysery

What careth she / though thou for sorowe dye?

Or all thy lyfe / moane without a make

In wyldernesse / wandryng for her sake.

695

We haue tolde the ofte / and longe agone

That thy swete loue / fresshe and gorgious

Loketh to stande in grace of suche one

That may stipate / her port sumptuous stipate her port ='attend her train'?

To sayle forth / with fame glorious

700

Lackyng nothyng / that dame Uolunte

Wyll demaunde / longyng to Leberte.

sig: [D2v]

For all thy lorde / who thou seruest so true

Whiche is the very blynde god Cupyde

Bearyng his signe / a face pale of hewe

705

As any asshes / wherto thou doest abyde

Upholdyng it / with syghes large and wyde

Yet we two shall do so moche our payne

Of Atrapos / shortly thou shalt be slayne.

Th'autor.

Thus many a nyght / ofte I dryue away

710

Whiche me-thynke longer than a yere

And whan I se the spryngynge of the day

Yet somwhat gladed is my chere

For busynesse to me doth appere

Byddyng me to ryse and come lyghtly

715

Fye he sayth / vpon all sluggardy.

Than I ryse / and my clothes take

As preuely and soft as it may be

Wherwith diligence begynneth to awake

Whiche ones vp / a_newe wyll turment me

720

And whan I can no other way se

With them I go / where they wyll me leade

For as than / I can no better reade.

Where-euer I go / thought is neuer behynde

Nor heuynesse / they be alway present

725

To leaue them / I can no crafte fynde

For I beyng neuer so diligent

With busynesse / bothe mynde and eke entent

Yet those two euer styll apeace

Come on me / my body to disease.

sig: D3

730

These two ofte / handle me so harde

That I am made lyke vnto a stone

To busynesse / hauyng no regarde

I leaue hym / and forthwith anone

To some secrete place must I gone

735

A lytell whyle / my sorowe to complayne

From company / I do my-selfe restrayne.

Than I begyn in this maner wyse

Lowe and softe / that none shulde here me

O Uenus Uenus / is this your cruell gyse?

740

Styll to turment vnto the extremite

My pore body / whiche as you may se

Is brought into so great miserye

That for loue / shortly must I dye.

The burnyng fyre of loue / doth me assayle

745

In suche wyse / that remedy is none

To quenche it / no water can auayle

Nor yet versus of cantacion versus: =verses; cantacion ='incantation'

Of Pean / the artes euerychone

Nor of Mede / be nat worth a flye

750

I am condemned / and nedes must I dye.

Of all vnlucky / I most infortunate

Most sorowfull / most heuy and lamentable

What is my wretched body / lyfe / and state?

Nought els / but a thynge miserable

755

Replenisshed with paynes intollerable

To syghe / to sorowe / and morne tenderly

And by loue / condemned for to dye.

sig: [D3v]

Of all louers / none can be founde

Whose case may well compared be

760

Unto myn: [though] all the worlde rounde though] through 1528

Were out-sought / yet shulde ye nat se

But that they had some felicite

But nought haue I / but all miserye

And by loue / condemned to dye.

765

Troylous / of whom men so moche tell

That he so great a louer was

Unto hym / the case ryght happy fell

For in his armes ofte he dyd enbrace

His swete loue / and stode so in her grace

770

That nothyng to hym wolde she denye

But by loue / condemned I am to dye.

Many a nyght with his loue he lay

And in his armes / swetely can her holde

Of nothynge to hym sayd she nay

775

That he of her / aske or desyre wolde

His great ioy forsoth can nat be tolde

He had souerayne blysse / and I miserye

And by loue condemned for to dye.

What ioy had Paris with Heleyn the fresshe quene?

780

Deyanira / with fierce Hercules

Briseis / the lady bryght and shene

With her lorde / the hardy Achilles

And Penelope / with her spouse Ulixes

Great gladnesse they had / with som miserye

785

I haue no ioy: and am condemned to dye.

sig: [D4]

Many a nyght / the friscant Leander friscant ='lively', cf. frisk, frisky; friscant not recorded in OED.

Lay and slept with his loue Herus

To passe Hellespont / she was his lode-stere

And in all thynges to hym gracious

790

O these louers / fresshe and amorous

Ofte passed the tyme to_gether ioyously

But by loue / condemned I am to dye.

Fayre Phillis / and eke Demophon

Had togyther ryght great felicite

795

So had the lady Sapho with Phaon

So had Machare / with his syster Canace

Dido with Aene / what ioy had she?

Ryght longe hym reteynyng curtesly

No ioy haue I / and am condemned to dye.

800

Myrra that loued her owne father dere

Wyckedly / by loue abhominable

Dyd so moche / that they lay both in fere

All a_nyght. doyng the dede damnable

Se howe Cupyde was fauorable

805

To her stynkyng loue / and transgression

And wyll me slee / for loyall affeccion.

Wherby I se / it is predestinate

Unto me: most wretched creature

For to haue this miserable state

810

And infinite sorowe to endure

Or bate of all ioy / and eke pleasure

Full of luctuous syghes and misery luctuous ='mournful'

And vtterly condemned for to dye.

sig: [D4v]

Wherfore adieu / all wordly vanite

815

Adieu frayle pleasure / rollynge lyke a ball

Adieu brytell trustes / that in this worlde be

Adieu I say / disceytes great and small

Adieu slepernesse / styll redy for to fall

Lastly adieu / swete hert without mercye

820

For whose sake / I am condemned to dye.

Th'autor to the two damosels.

Lo nowe you two / haue herde to the ende

What is loue / by suche experience

As I haue had. And nowe I you commende

Unto god / for I must depart hence

825

I thanke you hertely of your pacience

Your curtesy / and eke your louyng chere

Of gentylnesse / that you haue made me here.

Your chere here (they sayd) is but small

We wolde it were moche better for your sake

830

Our ianglynge / that to vs nowe hath fall

Wolde suffre vs / no chere for to make

And so theyr leaue / swetely of me they take

At the port or gate / and in they go

And I went strayght to my home also.

¶Thus endeth la conusaunce damours . Imprinted by Rycharde_Pynson / printer to the kynges noble grace.

Cum priuilegio.