| sig: A2 | |
| AMyddes Nouember that moneth mysty | |
| Whan the sonne full lowe his course dyd ron | |
| As I suspecte in the sygne of Sagyttary | |
| Without plesaunce to man / or confortacyon | |
| 5 | Scantly that his bemes apered at none |
| The sely byrdes also without noyse makynge | |
| On the bare bowes set / as halfe in sowne | |
| For fere of blasty wynter so roughly delynge. | |
| In fantasyes merueylous my mynde was pyght | |
| 10 | For a fox-whelpe that lacked alate |
| Though his maners wolde other / Curribus he hyght | |
| Full pleasaunte in pastyme / pretendynge no debate | |
| To no person lyuyng / but a cruell fate | |
| Enuy hathe hym banyshed / I wote not whyther | |
| 15 | I fere me of dethe / but god forbyd that |
| That suche myschaunce shulde vs deceyuer. | |
| O good god nowe haue I lost my best | |
| In his pastyme / whan he was set | |
| Famylyerly obeyenge most and lest | |
| 20 | His countenaunce full well dyd counterfet |
| Dyssemblers all / and his meet for to get | |
| Full hyghe wolde he lepe his belles ryngynge | |
| On a playne wall / where his meet was set | |
| Twelue fote and more / so lustely was the sprynge | |
| 25 | Forwarde and backwarde / ouer a staffe to lepe |
| Or in at an hope / brefly to dyscusse | |
| Worthe as many apes / as may go or crepe | |
| Marmosetes or Catynes that be in felde or house | |
| And as craftely he wolde take a mouse | |
| sig: [A2v] | |
| 30 | No catte more merueylous / nor craftyer to watche |
| His season lyke a fox / thou was my Curribus | |
| That neuer dyd murther / by taste nor by smatche. | |
| Thou neuer deuoured / pygge / gose / nor capon | |
| I thynke thy nature was chaunged to humylyte | |
| 35 | Usage dothe merueylous thynges / loke well theron |
| Thefte nor murther / none was founde in the | |
| Yet a comune prouerbe is in euery countre | |
| Usage by no crafte may chaunge natures course | |
| And to vsage is gyuen a specyall propryte | |
| 40 | Tho it amendeth not / yet shall it not be worse. |
| Let no man muse tho my fox was gentle | |
| Contrary to his nature / for that dayly is sene | |
| Some turne fro good to yll / and so do the people | |
| And he is counted crafty / that can conuey clene | |
| 45 | And he be taken tarde / all is not worthe a bene |
| Than shall he solfe full lowe / but my fox dothe not so | |
| Kepe close and so wyll I / somwhat do I mene | |
| Mystrust not the innocent / in what place that ye go. | |
| Thus the day passed / and styll I was musynge | |
| 50 | On my poore fox / but tythynges myght I none haue |
| Ofte my eres dynned / as I herde the belles rynge | |
| But fox sawe I none / alas what myght I craue | |
| My sorowe to aslake / fortune I dyd depraue | |
| That so turneth the dyes / and varyeth oure chaunce | |
| 55 | Yet on the goddes I called / my poore fox to saue |
| Fro myschaunce and murther and other mysgouernaunce | |
| Thus as the nyght approched / I wente to my chamber | |
| sig: A3 | |
| Purposynge by rest / to refresshe my brayne | |
| But yet the fox in my mynde was euer | |
| 60 | Many perelles castynge / I coude not refrayne |
| But yet aboute myd_nyght / though it was with payne | |
| I fell in a slombre / and sodeynly as me-thought | |
| A mayden apered / of whome I was fayne | |
| Her merueylous aparell / was wonderly wrought. | |
| 65 | In her vtter garment / were coloures full many |
| As me-thought thousandes / and that varyable | |
| Some reed some grene / some yelowe and motly | |
| Me-thought that her chere was very amyable | |
| The coloures to my syght / many and chaungeable Lege ouidium .li. ij. | |
| 70 | Suche one I had not sene afore to apere |
| Excepte it were yris that Ouyde in his fable | |
| Counteth vnto Iono / his mayden and his messangere. | |
| But what that she was / me-thought at that season | |
| She toke me by the hande / and bade me to aryse | |
| 75 | So forthe we wente / to a straunge regyon |
| In a parte of Asia / where-as dwell C[h]ym[e]ryse Chymeryse] Cymyryse 1530 | |
| Nexte to Amazonia / who coude it well deuyse | |
| Where was a mountayne merueylous hye to sygh[t] syght] syghe 1530 | |
| Within that a caue of straunge edyfyse | |
| 80 | Wherin she sayd / I shulde rest me that nyght. |
| The wonderfull habytacle that we founde there | |
| It passeth my reason to declare playnly | |
| Excepte of the poete I borowe in this manere | |
| Than may I shewe it / thus was it truly | |
| 85 | The slug[g]y house of slepe / that resteth full surely sluggy] slugy 1530 |
| Where-as no sone shone / nor beme dothe apere | |
| sig: [A3v] | |
| But in maner as the owle-lyght is contynually | |
| Cocke nor dogge to trouble may be founde there. | |
| Without blastynge or blowynge of wynde troublous | |
| 90 | Or ony noyse els / that myght be thought of man |
| But of a small water / of nature merueylous | |
| Lethes it is called / out of a stone it ranne Lethes obliuio. | |
| Pyrlynge on the grauell / and as I sawe than | |
| The house without gates or dore it was also | |
| 95 | No occasyon of troub[l]e of beest ne of man trouble] troube 1530 |
| The way was full of papy / in as I dyd go. | |
| And many herbes also / to slepe full necessary. | |
| Whiche thynges be mynystred / acordynge to season | |
| The braynes to refresshe / with labours that be wery | |
| 100 | And ferther as I behelde in this mansyon |
| A bedstyd and a bed of merueylous facyon | |
| In the myddes of the hall there sawe I standynge | |
| In it lay and slepte / the kynge of that regyon | |
| The bedstyd was of heben / most worthy to a kynge. Heben is a tymbre that is black naturalli | |
| 105 | Aboute hym lay dremes / I am sure without nombre |
| As be the leues thycke vpon the tre | |
| Or strawes in the haruest / or myddes of somer | |
| Merueylous fourmes shewynge without possybylyte | |
| But as we entred yris of her propryte Iris the rayne-bowe. | |
| 110 | Lyghted all the house / and so wente to the kynge |
| She put of his dremes / and waked hym properly | |
| Scantly myght he se / as to my thynkynge. | |
| So slogyshe he was / that downe agayne he laye | |
| As noyse had me made none at that season | |
| sig: [A4] | |
| 115 | She shoke hym by the chynne / and fayre dyd praye |
| So he awaked / his heed enclyned downe | |
| Full well he knewe her / and enquyre dyd he soone | |
| What she ment / and what she dyd in that place | |
| Fro Iuno my lady / her wyll loke it be done | |
| 120 | As you wyll be contynued in her grace. |
| O god of slepe / the refressher of nature | |
| By quyet rest / auoydynge care and thought yris doth speke. | |
| There is nothynge lyuynge / but it is sure | |
| Somtyme of rest / for this I haue the sought | |
| 125 | The goddes Iuno wylleth / that thou do els nought |
| But to this person / thou make relacyon | |
| Of this cruelty / that nowe alate is wrought | |
| The murdre of this fox / and great exclamacyon. | |
| Scantly these wordes that she had fully ended | |
| 130 | Acordynge to the sentence that ye herde afore |
| Fro whens she came / she quyckly than ascended | |
| Alone she lefte me / I was sory therfore | |
| He called vnto hym Morpheus andPhobotore Morpheus Phobotor Phantasos be .iij. goddes of dremes morpheus sheweth onely the symylytude of resonable creatures. Phobotor somtyme sheweth serpentes / byrdes / and such vnresonable. Phantasos onely stones / houses / the se and such thynge without lyfe. | |
| Phantasos also / that merueylous were of personage | |
| 135 | These thre ymonge all other / lay slepynge on the flore |
| Of natures dyuers / brothers of one age. | |
| Morpheus sayd he / acordynge to kynde | |
| Shewe thou this man after his petycyon | |
| And Phobotor also let nought be lefte behynde | |
| 140 | Phantasos be not slowe to make relacyon |
| Of suche thynge as longeth by propre inclynacyon | |
| To thy nature / and than downe agayne | |
| He layde hym to slepe as he was wont to done | |
| sig: [A4v] | |
| I thought hym heuy-heded / or els of feble brayne. | |
| 145 | Morpheus me-thought began his kynde anone |
| To shewe me the symylytude of many a man | |
| Theyr crafty subtylte in ordre to set soone | |
| Phobotor my fox in a chayne had than | |
| My herte was lyght / and to hym than I ran | |
| 150 | I groped for the fox / but none founde I there |
| Phantasos with a stafe loked fersly / and whan | |
| I profered to come / he bade me come no nere. | |
| Than sayd Morpheus / ones whan the fox escaped | |
| And pleasure toke to renne ouer the strete | |
| 155 | The curres hym bayed / and that a sowter wayted |
| Taken vp he was / and kepte without mete | |
| O renarde ye fasted / bycause ye coude not gete | |
| Your vytayle I am sure / or was it deuocyone | |
| But how scaped ye Curribus that ye were not bete | |
| 160 | Often for the maysters sake / cruelte is done. |
| Than was the fox by subtylte remoued | |
| To a fortresse of enuy / the surer to be kepte | |
| And thretened to dethe / pryuely was he houed | |
| In an olde house / so lustely yet he lepte | |
| 165 | By his belles men knewe whyther he was crepte |
| Delyuered than he was / as knowen it is | |
| And he had so dyed / his dethe shulde haue be wepte | |
| For nought myght be sayd that he had done amys. | |
| But nexte whan he escaped / it was not to his ease | |
| 170 | God knoweth in the towne fewe frendes dyd he fynde |
| Theyr pryue workynge / gate them small prayse | |
| sig: B1 | |
| How and what maner they dyd / as can come to mynde | |
| I shall declare sayd Morpheus in that that cometh behynde | |
| The passyon of the fox well it may be named | |
| 175 | Pyte it is to shewe / that people so vnkynde |
| Shulde hym so murther / that never yet was blamed. | |
|
¶Exclamatio inuidorum. |
|
| NOw to dysclose | |
| How he brake lose | |
| Ye may suppose | |
| 180 | Great noyse was made |
| Now kyll now slaye | |
| That he awaye | |
| Scape not this daye | |
| They watched lane and slade | |
| 185 | With staffe clubbe and flayle |
| They wolde assayle | |
| The[y] sayd saunsfayle They] The 1530 | |
| That Curribus | |
| The chauntry ape | |
| 190 | Shulde not them scape |
| It is no iape | |
| To trouble vs | |
| That brybre that thefe | |
| With euyll prefe | |
| 195 | Shall lose his lyfe |
| For his maysters sake | |
| Be it ryght or wronge | |
| Seynge vs ymonge | |
| He is out_spronge | |
| 200 | An ende shall we make |
| sig: [B1v] | |
| Some cryed hange hym | |
| Some sayd saue hym | |
| Some wolde haue slayne hym | |
| To haue his skynne | |
| 205 | One aloude cryde |
| Gyue me his hyde | |
| What-soeuer betyde | |
| It shall be myne | |
| Who wyll me controll | |
| 210 | To stoppe a hole |
| By cockes soul | |
| In myne owne tayle | |
| The wynde to alaye | |
| That blast that waye | |
| 215 | No man say naye |
| The fox to assayle | |
| Gyue me his belles | |
| I aske nought elles | |
| An-other melles | |
| 220 | To haue his chayne |
| Some without fayle | |
| Called for his tayle | |
| For his auayle | |
| He wolde take peyne | |
| 225 | Suche was the murmure |
| Done with suche rygoure | |
| That to this houre | |
| Ye dyd neuer here | |
| Men that shulde haue wytte | |
| 230 | Make suche a fytte |
| In playne despyte | |
| And neuer the nere | |
| sig: B2 | |
| The poore fox-whelpe | |
| As lackynge helpe | |
| 235 | Couched lowe and slepte |
| To theyr thynkynge | |
| For fere of dethe | |
| Scantly toke brethe | |
| Yet vndernethe | |
| 240 | He loked slyrynge slyrynge: poss. an error for flyrynge=fleering, but see OED, sleer and cf. slyrynge at B3v |
| Full lyke a spye | |
| He cast his eye | |
| Ryght lothe to dye | |
| Chryst wot he was | |
| 245 | He stode in fere |
| That so many were | |
| Crepte to that cornere | |
| To haue his case | |
| Forthe stepte a dame | |
| 250 | God gyue her shame |
| Nameles for blame | |
| Yet shall she be | |
| Without pyte | |
| She cryede on hye | |
| 255 | Soone let hym dye |
| Wheron muse ye | |
| Alecto of hell Thre furyes infernalles Alecto. Megera. thesipho. | |
| I may call her well | |
| And there wyll she dwell | |
| 260 | Without goddes grace |
| With fylthy Thesypho | |
| And Megera also | |
| The forthe I trowe | |
| She shalbe in shorte space | |
| sig: [B2v] | |
| 265 | So in that hete |
| A staffe full great | |
| One of the strete | |
| Toke than full soone | |
| Enuy out on the | |
| 270 | For thou without pyte |
| Hast made hym to dye | |
| And now is he gone. | |
| ¶My body for fere was colder than yse | |
| For the dethe of my fox / Morpheus made relacyon | |
| 275 | The dolour intrynsecate vexte me ones or twyse |
| So sore that my wyttes were brought to confusyon | |
| And to here also the rude exclamacyon | |
| Made by enuy / vpon a beest gyltles | |
| Alas my herte mourneth for pyte and compassyon | |
| 280 | That reasonable people shulde be mercyles. |
| Now often it is sene the gyltles is blamed | |
| And those that be gylty be taken with the best | |
| Wronge maketh ryght oftentymes ashamed | |
| And the greatest at pleasure deuoureth the lest | |
| 285 | Ueryte is glad to kepe hym in his nest |
| And he out of his nest apere / he shal haue many a box | |
| Who is stronger than wronge that suffereth none at rest | |
| Chryst knoweth all this apereth in my fox. | |
| Thus I dyd complayne on fortunes gouernaunce | |
| 290 | That so vnstably had tourned a_waye her face |
| Morpheus / phobotor and phantasos by chaunce | |
| A roll they vnrolled in whiche moche wrytynge was | |
| They bade me rede it / so standynge in that place | |
| sig: B3 | |
| Me-thought it shulde be the foxes testament | |
| 295 | The letter was straunge that I myght it scace |
| Rede it or vnderstande it / but this was the intent. | |
|
¶The testament. |
|
| THe fyftene kalendes of Nouember mysty | |
| In the name of the kyte / crowe / and py | |
| I Curribus of Mere dyoceses of Sarum | |
| 300 | Of subtyll mynde and wyl condo testamentum |
| Bycause that my bones may be at rest | |
| No iniury pretende to man woman nor beest | |
| The flesshe of my carcas bycause it is fayre | |
| I byquethe frely to byrdes of the ayre | |
| 305 | That they conuey it aboue the cloudes blake |
| My bones as ryght is let the erthe take | |
| My maysters of the chauntry shall haue my skyne | |
| Gray amyses to make whan they prebendes wynne | |
| Myne eyes bryght I wolde blynde men had | |
| 310 | Myne eres to the defe to make them glad |
| My tongue to those whose tongue is nought | |
| Tho it be longe it neuer lye wrought | |
| The longe heres of my berde to the glasyer | |
| My tethe to burnysshe to the boke-bynder | |
| 315 | My nose to the vnwyse that can not make a ly |
| My fete to ordre spyces to the potycary | |
| My lyuer and my longes are medycynable | |
| Take them who wyll I am agreable | |
| My besom-tayle I wolde some fole had | |
| 320 | That thynketh hymselfe manly or sad |
| My coler so propre decked with belles | |
| The most fole of the towne shall haue and no man els | |
| sig: [B3v] | |
| My chayne to small it is ywys | |
| To serue for theues that do amys | |
| 325 | These longed to my carkas naturall |
| Yet other there be that passeth them all | |
| My name ywys tho it be rude | |
| I byquethe certes to ingratytude | |
| My slyrynge chere to euery dyssembler | |
| 330 | My grynynge and laughynge to them shalbe propre |
| My slyes and wyles vnto the weuer | |
| My flaterynge also to the bruer | |
| My obedyens to euery good-wyfe | |
| My fast holdynge to hym that wyll make stryfe | |
| 335 | My lepes and skyppes of great quycknes |
| I gyue to seruauntes in theyr busynes | |
| More is to say but my dethe is to nye | |
| Ouer me standeth the staffe without mercy. | |
| ¶Thus as I behelde my face waxed pale | |
| 340 | To thynke on vnkyndnes it greued me sore |
| Than began Morpheus to shewe a newe tale | |
| And bade me retourne fro whens I came before | |
| Than forsoke me Phantasos and Phobatore | |
| Thus alone was I in merueylous musynge | |
| 345 | I knewe not whiche way to go out of the doore |
| I layde me to rest full nye to theyr kynge. | |
| Untyll the mornynge the cocke began to synge | |
| Full ferre of it was / but I folowed the sowne | |
| Tyll I came to a gate all whyte shynynge | |
| 350 | Of yuery were the postes / and there sate I downe |
| I began to rowse / to stretche / and to frowne | |
| Me-thought (the nyght past) I called to mynde | |
| sig: [B4] | |
| My vysyons merueylous / the vnkyndenes of the towne | |
| Alas than thought I / how shulde I my fox fynde. | |
| 355 | I mused on my dremes whyther they were trewe |
| The tales and tokens I had well in mynde | |
| Yet thought I them but vanytes and tryfles newe | |
| I counted no person that a man shulde fynde | |
| Without cause gyuynge that wolde be so vnkynde | |
| 360 | So at that season I set it at lytell pryce |
| I went to the churche / my conscyence to vnbynde | |
| My duty to be doone / there sayd I my seruyce. | |
| Than fro the churche returnynge agayne | |
| To me were brought tydynges full merueylous | |
| 365 | How that in the towne Curribus was slayne |
| His belles away taken / and layde before the house | |
| Alas sayd I than these people e[nu]youse enuyouse] euryouse 1530 | |
| Hathe hym slayne / as Morpheus shewed afore | |
| Ha enuy enuy this dethe dolorouse | |
| 370 | Is comen of the / cursed be thou therfore. |
| My lust was no lenger this talkynge to here | |
| But caused a chylde to brynge hym in | |
| Than renewed my dolour / so grysely was his chere | |
| His lyppes shrunken / out of his mouthe hangynge | |
| 375 | Full longe dyd his tongue / alacke a pyteous thynge |
| So sodenly chaunged fro myrthe and iolyte | |
| Fro pleasure to dysplesure / I thynke no man lyuynge | |
| Coude not but wepe / recordynge the cruelte. | |
| O enuy enuy / to longe hast thou regned | |
| 380 | For in the serpent haddest thou begynynge |
| sig: [B4v] | |
| Agaynst Eue thou began / in Adam thou optayned | |
| Thou caused them to lose Paradyse with crafty delynge | |
| And Cayn thou induced to meschefe and brawlynge | |
| So slewe he Abell his brother full dere | |
| 385 | And yet thou arte busy thy vnthryfty sede sowynge |
| Bytwene man and man moche myschefe thou dose here. | |
| Who caused Jacobs sones Joseph to sell | |
| To the Ismelytes / but thy prouocacyon | |
| Who betrayed chryste / how saythe the gospell | |
| 390 | None but thou enuy / cursed be thy season |
| Innumerable myschefe by the is doone | |
| Who that in bokes wyll rede / shall fynde it playnly | |
| That thou hast destroyed cytee / borowe / and towne | |
| Thou hast peruerted good men vnto thy foly. | |
| 395 | Than I conclude / of the all this dothe sprynge |
| God it amende / god send vs suche grace | |
| Enuy to exyle / and all that with hym holdeth | |
| Charyte god sende vs / in this and euery place | |
| Plenty / myrthe / and equyte / that they may come in place | |
| 400 | The cloudy mystes of wronge shall perysshe then |
| Sapiencia patris / all malyce shall deface | |
| Now that it may so be / saye we all Amen. | |
| ¶Thus is ended the fantasy of the passyon of the fox / lately of the towne of Myre / a lytell be_syde Shaftesbury in the dyoceses of Salysbury. Imprynted by me Wynkyn_de_worde the .xvi. day of February. The yere of our lorde M.v.C.xxx. |