¶ The boke of Codrus and Mynalcas.
¶ The prologe of the fourthe Eglog of Alexander Barcley.
COdrus a shepherde / lusty gaye and stout
Sat w
t his wethers / at pasture roūde about
And poore Mynalcas / with ewes scarse fourtene
Sat sadly musyng / in shadowe on the grene
This lusty Codrus / was cloked for the rayne
And double decked / with hoodes one or twayne
[Page]He had a pautner / with purses manyfolde
And surely lyned / with syluer and with golde
Within his wallet / were meates good and fyne
Bothe store and plentie / had he of ale and wyne
Suche fulsome pasture / made hym a double chynne
His furred myttans / were of a curres skynne
Nothyng he wanted / longyng to clothe and fode
But by no meane / wolde he departe with gode
Somtyme this Codrus / dyde vnder shadowe lye
Wyde opyn pipyng / and gapyng on the skye
Somtyme he daunced / and hobbled lyke a beare
Somtyme he pried / howe he became his geare
He lept / he song / and ranne to proue his might
Whan purse is heuy / oftyme the hert is lyght
But though this Codrus / had store ynough of gode
He wanted wysdome / for nought he vnderstode
Saue worldely practice / his treasure for to store
Howe euer it came / small force made he therfore
On the other syde / the poore Mynalcas lay
With empty belly / and symple poore aray
yet coude he pype and fynger well a drone
But sour is m
[...]syke / whan men for hungre grone
Codrus had richesse / Mynalcas had cōnyng
For god nat gyueth / to one man euery thyng
At last this Codrus / espyed Mynalcas
And soone he knewe / what maner man he was
For olde aquayntance / bytwene them erst had ben
Long tyme before / they mette vpon the grene
And therfore Codrus / downe boldely by hym satte
And in this maner / with hym began to chatte.
¶ Finis prologe.
¶ Here begynneth the fourthe Eglogge / of the behauour of riche men anenst poetes / interlocutours / be Codrus and Mynalcas.
¶ Codrus first speketh.
ALhayle mynalcas / now be my fayth well met
Lorde Jesu mercy / what troubles dyd y
e let
[Page]That this long season / none coude the here espy
With vs was thou wont / to syng full merely
And to lye pipyng ofte tyme among the flouers
What tyme thy bestes / were fedyng among oures
In these colde valeys / we two were wont to bourde
And in these shadowes / talke many a mery worde
And ofte were we wont / to wrastell for a fall
But nowe thoudroupest / and hast for gotten all
Here was thou wont / swete balades to syng
Of song and dytie / as it were for a kyng
And of gay maters / to syng and to endyte
But nowe thy courage is gone / and thy delyte
Trust me Mynalcas / nowe playnly I espy
That thou arte wery / of shepherdes company
And that all pleasure / thou semest to dispyse
Lothyng our pasture / and feldes in lykewise
Thou fleest solace and euery mery fytte
Lesyng thy tyme / and sore hurtyng thy wytte
In slouthe thou slombrist / as buryed were thy song
Thy pype is broken / or som what els is wrong.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ What tyme the cocke crowes / fethers mout & fall
from sight she lurketh / her song is gone withall
Whan backe is bare / and purse of soyne is lyght
The wytte is dulled / and reason hath no might
A due endityng / whan gone is lyberte
Enuy to muses / is wretched pouerte
What tyme a knight / is subget to a knaue
To iust or tourney / small pleasure shall he haue.
¶ Codrus.
¶ What / no man the kepeth / here in captiuyte
And busy labour / subdueth pouerte
[Page]And ofte is it better / and moche surer also
Assubget to obey / than at frewyll to go
As by ensample / beholde a wanton colt
In ragyng youthe / lepeth ouer hyll and holt
But whyle he skippeth / at pleasure and at wyll
Oftyme dothe he fall / in daunger for to spyll
Somtyme on stubbes / his hofes sore he teares
Or falles in the mudde / bothe ouer heed and eares
Somtyme all the night / abrode in hayle or rayne
And ofte among breres / tangled by the mayne
And other peryls / he suffreth infynite
So mengled with sorowe lis pleasure and delyte
But if the same colte / be broken at the last
His sytter ruleth / and hym refrayneth fast
The spurre him pricketh / the bridell dothe him holde
That he can nat praūce at pleasure wher he wolde
The ryder hym ruleth / and saueth from dangere
By whiche example / Mynalcas it is clere
That frewyll is subget / to inconuenyence
Where by subgection / man voydeth great offence
For man of hymselfe / is very frayle certayne
But ofte a ruler / his folly dothe refrayne
But as for thy selfe / thou hast no cause parde
To walke at pleasure / is no captiuyte.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ Seest thou nat Codrus / the feldes rounde about
Compased with flodes / that none may in nor out
The muddy waters / nere choke me with the styuke
At euery tempest / they be as blacke as ynke
Pouerte to me / shulde be no disconfort
If other spepherde / were all of the same sort
But Codrus / I clawe ofte where it dothe nat ytche
[Page]To se ten beggers / and halfe a dosen ritche
Truely me thynketh / this wrong particion
And namely sithe all / ought to be after one
Whan I first beholde / these feldes from a farre
Me thought thē plesant / & voyde of stryfe or warre
But with my poore flocke / aprochyng nere and nere
Alway my pleasure / dyde lesse and lesse apere
And truely Codrus / sithe I came on this grounde
Ofte vnder floures / vyle snakes haue I founde
Adders and todes / and many vyle serpent
Enfect olde shepe / with venym violent
And ofte be the yong / infected of the olde
That vnto these fewe / now brought is all my folde
¶ Codrus.
¶ In some place / is nother venym nor serpent
And as for my selfe / I fele no greuous sent.
¶ Mynalcas.
It were great marueyle / wherso gret groūde is sene
yf no small medowe / were plesant swete and clene
As for the Codrus / I may beleue right wele
That thou no sauour / nor stynke of mud dust fele
For if a shepherde / hath styll remayned long
In a foule prison / or in a stynking gong
His poores with yll eyre / be stopped
[...]o echone
That of the eyre / he feleth small sent or none
And yet the dwellers / be badder than the place
The riche and sturdy / dothe threten and manace
The poore and symple / and suche as came but late
And who most knoweth / him most of all they hate
And all the burthen / is on the asses backe
But the strong caball / standeth at the racke
And suche be assigned / somtyme the flocke to kepe
[Page]Whiche scante haue so moche / of reason as a shepe
And euery shepherde / at other hath enuy
Scant be a couple / whiche loueth parfitely
Ilwyll so reigneth / that braulyng be thou sure
Constrayned me nere / to seke a newe pasture
Saue onely after / I hope of better rest
Forsmall occasyon / a byrde nat chaungeth nest
¶ Codrus.
¶ Wele ere thou graunted / that in a small grounde
Some plot of pleasure / and quyet may be founde
So where of herdes / assembled is great sorte
There some must be good / than to the best resorte
But leaue we all this / tourne to our poynt agayne
Of thy olde balades / some wolde I here full fayne
For often haue I had / great pleasure and delyte
To here recounted / suche as thou dyde endyte.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ ye other shepherdes / which haue ynough at home
Whan ye be mery / and stuffed is your wombe
Whiche haue great store / of butter / chese / and woll
your cowes vthers / of mylke replete and full
Payles of swete mylke / as full as they be able
Whan your fat disshes / smoke hote vpon yo
r table
Than laude ye songes / and balades magnify
If they be mery / or written craftely
ye clappe your handes / and to the makyng harke
And one say to other / lo here a proper warke
But whan ye haue said / nought gyue ye for o payne
Saue onely laudes / and plesaunt wordes vayne
All if these laudes / may wele be counted good
yet the pore shepherde / must haue some other fode.
¶ Codrus.
¶ Mayst thou nat somtyme / thy folde & shepe apply
And after at leysar / to lyue more quyetly
Dispose thy wyttes / to make or to endyte
Renoūsyng cures / for tyme whyle thou dost write
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ Nedes must a shepherde bestowe his hole labour
Intēdyng his flockes scant may he spare one hour
In goyng / comyng / and often them to tende
Full lightly the day / is brought vnto an ende
Somtyme the wolues / with dogges must he chace
Somtyme his foldes / must he newe compace
And oftyme them chaunge / and if he stormes dout
Of his shepe cote / daube the walles rounde about
Whan they be broken / oftymes them renewe
And hurtfull pastures / note wele and thē eschewe
Bye strawe and lytter / and hay for wynter colde
Oft greas the scabbes / as well of yong as olde
For drede of theues / ofte watche vp all the night
Besyde this labour / with all his mynde & might
For his poore hous holde for to prouyde vitayle
If by aduenture / his wolle or lambes fayle
In doyng all these / no respyte dothe remayne
But well to endyte / requyreth all the brayne
I tell the Codrus / a style of exellence
Must haue all labour / and all the dilygence
Bothe these two warkes / be great nere importable
To my small power / my strength is moche vnable
The one to entende / scant may I byde the payne
Than is it harder / for me to do bothe twayne
What tyme my wyttes / be clere for to endyte
My dayly charges / wyll graunt me no respyte
But if I folowe / endyting at my wyll
[Page]Echone disdayneth / my charges to fulfyll
Though in these feldes / eche other ought sustayne
Clene lost is that lawe / one may requyre in vayue
yf coyne cōmaunde / than men count them as bounde
Els fle they labour / than is my charge on groūde.
¶ Codrus.
¶ Cornix ofte counted / that man shulde fle no payne
His frendes burthen / to support and sustayne
Fede they thy flocke / while thou dost write and syng
Eche horse agreeth / nat well for euery thyng
Some for the charet / some for the cart or ploughe
And some for hackeneys / if they belyght & toughe
Eche felde agreeth nat wele for euery sede
Who hath moost labour / is worthy of best mede.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ After endityng / than gladly wolde I drinke
To reche me y
e cuppe / no man dothe care ne thike
And ofte some foles / voyde of discrecyon
Me and my maters / hath in derisyon
And marueyle is none / for who wolde sowe y
t felde
With costly sedes / whiche shall no frutes yelde
Some wanton body / ofte laugheth me to scorne
And sayth Mynalcas / se howe thy pyltche is torne
Thy hose and cokers / be broken at the kne
Thou canst nat stōble / for bothe thy shone may se
Thy berde lyke bristels / or lyke a porpos skyn
Thy clothyng sheweth / thy winnyng is but thyn
Suche mockyng tauntes / reneweth ofte my care
And nowe be wodes / of frute and leaues bare
And frosty wynter / hath made the feldes white
For wrathe and angre / my lyppe and tong I byte
For dolour I droupe / sore vexed with disdayne
[Page]My wōbe all wasteth wherfore I byde this payne
My woll and wethers / may scarsly fede my wombe
And other housholde / whiche I retayne at home
Leane be my lambes / that no man wyll them bye
And yet their dammes / they dayly souke so drie
That from their vthers / no lycour can we wring
Than without repast / who can endyte or syng
It me repenteth / if I haue any wytte
As for my scyence I wery am of it
And of my poore lyfe / I wery am Codrus
Sithe my harde fortune / for me disposeth thus
That of the starres / and plannettes echone
To poore Mynalcas / wele fortunate is none
Knowen is the trouthe / if it were clerely sought
That nowe to this tyme / I styll haue song for nought
For youthe is lusty / & of small thyng hath nede
That tyme to age / men gyue no force nor hede
Ages condycion / is greatly contrary
Whiche no we aprocheth / right styll and craftely
But what tyme age / dothe any man oppresse
yf he in youthe / haue gathered no richesse
Than passeth age / in care and pouerte
For nede is greuous / with olde infyrmite
And age is fettred / oftyme with care and nede
Whan strength is faded & man hath nought to fede
Whan strength is faded / than hope of gayne is gone
In youthes season / to make prouisyon
The lytell emet / is wyse and prouydent
In somer workyng / with labour dilygent
In her smalle caue / conueying corne and grayne
Her lyfe in wynter / to norisshe and sustayne
And with her small mouthe / is busy it cuttyng
[Page]Lest in her caue / the same might growe or spring
So man of reason / hym selfe reputyng sage
In youthe shulde puruey / to lyue theron in age.
¶ Codrus.
¶ Men say that clerkes / whiche knowe astronomy
Knowe certayne starres / whiche long to desteny
But all their sayeng / is nothyng veritable
yet here the mater / thought it be but a fable
They say that Mercury / dothe poetes fauour
Under Jupiter / be princes of honour
And men of richesse / of welthe or dignyte
And all suche other / as haue authorite
Mercury gyueth / to poetes laureate
Goodly cōueyaunce / speche plesaunt and ornate
Inuentyfe reason / to syng or play on harpe
In goodly dytie / or balade for to carpe
This is thy lotte / what sekest thou richesse
No man hath all / this thyng is true doutlesse
God all disposeth / as he parceyueth best
Take thou thy fortune / and holde the styll in rest
Take thou thy fortune / and holde thy selfe content
Lette vs haue richesse / and roumes exellent.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ Thou hast of richesse / and goodes habundaunce
And I haue dyties / and songes of plesaunce
To aske my connyng / to couytous thou art
Why is nat thy selfe / contented with thy part
Why dost thou enuade / my parte and porcion
Thou wantest Codrus / wytte and discrecyon.
¶ Codrus.
¶ Natso Mynalcas / forsothe thou art to blame
Of wrong enuasyon / to gyue to me the name
[Page]I wolde no dytie / nor balade take the fro
No harpe nor armes / whiche long to Appollo
But onely Mynalcas / I sore desyre and long
To gyue myne eares / to thy swete soūdyng song
It fedeth heryng and is to one plesant
To here good reason / and balade consonant.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ yf thou haue pleasure / to here my melody
I graunt the Codrus / to toye my armony
So I haue pleasure / and toye of thy richesse
So gyftes doubled / encreaseth loue doutlesse.
¶ Codrus.
¶ He of my richesse / hath ioye whiche loueth me
And who me hateth / nothyng content is he
Enuyous wretches / by malyce cōmenly
Take others fortune / and pleasure heuely.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ In lyke wise mayest thou / enioye of our scyence
And of our muses / thoughe thou be fro presence
And of our connyng / thou toyest semblably
yf ought prouoke the / by malyce and enuy
yf I fede thy eares / fede thou my mouthe agayne
I lothe were to spende / my gyftes all in vayue
Meate vnto the mouthe / is fode and susteynance
And songes fedeth / the eares with plesaunce
I haue the muses / if thou wylte haue of myne
Than right requyreth / that I haue parte of thyne
This longeth to loue / to norisshe charyte
This fedeth pyte / this dothe to right agre
This is the pleasure / and wyll of god aboue
Of hym disposed / for to engendre loue
All plesaunt gyftes / one man hath nat parde
[Page]That one of other / shulde haue necessite
No man of hym selfe / is sure sufficient
This is prouisyon / of god omnipotent
That one man shulde nede / anothers assystence
Wherby is ioyned / loue and beneuolence.
Englande hath clothe / Butdeux hath store of wyne
Cornwayle hath tynne / and Lymster wolles fyne.
London hath scarlot / and Bristo we plesaunt reed
Fenne lande hath fyss hes / in other place is leed.
This is of our lorde / disposed so my brother
Bycause all costes / shulde one haue nede of other.
So euery tre / hathe frute after his kynde
And dyuers natures / in beestes may we fynde.
Alway whan nature / of thyng is moost laudable
That thyng men coūteth / moost good & profitable
And euery person / in his owne gifte hath toye
The fole in his bable / hath pleasure for to toye.
The clerke in his boke / the marchaunt in richesse
The knyght in his horse / harnes and hardynesse.
But euery person / of his gyftes and arte
Whan nede requireth shulde gladly gyue someꝑte
Suche meane contoyneth / in bonde of loue certayne
Englande & Fraūce / Scotlāde Grece & Spayne.
So hast thou Codrus / of golde ynough in store
And I some cōnyng / though fewe mē care therfore
Thou art beholden / to Jupiter truely
And I beholden to plesaunt Mercury.
Joyne we our sterres / let me haue parte of thyne
Cōcorde to cheryss he / y
u shalte haue parte of myne
Make thou Jupiter / be frendely vnto me
And our Mercury / shalbe as good to the.
If thy Jupiter / gyue me but onely golde
[Page]Mercury shall gyue the / giftes manyfolde
His pylsion ceptre / his wynges / and his harpe
If thou haue all these / thou mayst grathly carpe
And ouer all these / gyue the shall Mercury
The knot of Hercules enlaced craftely.
¶ Codrus.
¶ Lorde god Mynalcas / why hast y
u all this payne
This wyse to forge / so many wordes in vayne.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ That vayne y
u coūtest / whiche may hurt or enlesse
Thy loued treasour / or mynisshe thy richesse
If thou wylte harken / or here my musessyng
Refress he my mynde with confort and lyking
Rydde me fro troubles and care of busynesse
Confort my corage / whiche nowe is confortlesse
A clerke a poete / combyned with a boy
To haunt the muses / hath but lytell ioye
The wytte and reason / is dull or of valour
Lyke as the body / is called to honour
Whau busy charges / causeth a man to grone
The wytte than slombreth / and muses all be gone
A dytie wyll haue / mynde quyet and respyte
And case of stomake / els can none wele endyte
I sighe / I slombre: care troubleth ofte my thought
Whan some by malyce / myne art setteth at nought
I heule as a kyte / for hunger and for colde
For thought and study / my youthe apaereth olde
My skynne hath wrincles and pomples all about
For colde and study / I drede me of the gout
Whan sickenesse cometh / than lyfe hath breuyte
By false vnkyndnesse / and wretched pouerte
If men were louyng / benigne / and charytable
[Page]Than were pouerte / bothe good and tollerable
But sithe charyte and pyte bothe be gone
What shulde pouerte remayne behynde alone
No man hath pyte / eche dayneth me to fede
I lost haue confort / but styll remayneth nede
I haue no wethers nor ewes in my folde
No syluer in purse / I knowe nat what is golde
Nor corne on the grounde / haue I wheron to fare
Than wolde thou haue me to lyue voyde of care
Nay nay frende Codrus / trust me I the assure
Suche maner salues / can nat my dolour cure
Make thou me ioconde / helpe me with clothe & fode
Clothe me for wynter / with pylt
[...]he / felte / & hode
Auoyde all charges / let me sytte in my sell
Let worldly wretches / with worldly maters mell
Socour my age / regarde my heeres gray
Than shake thou proue / & se what thyng I may
Than shalte thou fynde me / bothe apt to write & sing
Good wyll shall fulfyll / my scarsnesse of cōnyng
A plentyfull house out chaseth thought and care
Soiorne dothe socour there / wher althing is bare
The sellar couched with bere / ale / or wyne
And meates redy whan man hath lust to dyne
Great barnes full / fatte wethers in the folde
The purse well stuffed / bothe with syluer & golde
Fauour of frendes / and suche as loueth right
All these and other do make the full lyght
Than is it pleasure the yong maydens among
To watche by the fyre / the wynter nightes long
At their fonde tales / to laughe or whan they brall
Great fyre and candell / spendyng for labour small
And in the asshes / some playes for to make
[Page]To couer wardeyns / for faut of other warke
To tost white sheuers / and to make prophytrolles
And after talkyng / oftymes to fyll the bolles
Where welthe aboundeth / without rebuke or cryme
Thus do some herdes / for pleasure and pastyme
As fame reporteth / suche a shepherde there was
Whiche that tyme lyued vnder Mecenas
And Titerus I trowe / was this shepherdes name
I wele remembre / a lyue yet is his fame
He song of feldes / and tyllyng of the grounde
Of shepe / of oren / and batayle dyde he sounde
So shirle he sounded / in termes eloquent
I trowe his tunes / went to the firmament
The same Mecenas / to hym was fre and kynde
Whose large gyftes / gaue confort to his mynde
Also this Shepherde by heuenly influence
I trowe optayned his perelesse eloquence
We other shepherdes / be greatly dyfferent
Of commen sortes / leane / ragged and rent
Fed with rude frowyse / with quacham or w
t crudde
Or slymy kempes / yll smellyng of the mudde
Suche rusty meates enblyndeth so our brayne
That of our fauour / the Muses haue disdayne
And great Appollo / dispyseth that we write
For why? rude wyttes / but rudely dothe endyte.
¶ Codrus.
¶ I trust on fortune / if it be fauourable
My trust fulfylling / than shall I wele be able
Thy nede to socour / I hope after a thyng
And if fortune fall wele after my lyking
Trust me Mynalcas / I shall delyuer the
Out of this trouble / care / and calamyte.
¶ Mynalcas.
[Page]
¶ A Codrus Codrus / I wolde to god thy wyll
Were this tyme redy / thy promes to fulfyll
After the power / and might that thou hast nowe
Thou hast ynoughe for bothe man / god auowe
If thy good mynde / accordyng with thy might
At this tyme present / y
u shulde my hert wele light
I aske nat the store / of Cosmus or Capell
With sylken robes / I coueyt nat to mell
No kynges dysshes / I coueyt nor desyre
Nor riche mantels / or palles wrought in tyre
No clothe of golde / of Tyssue nor veluet
Damaske nor saten / nor orient Scarlet
I aske no value of Peters costely cope
Shelde of Mynerua / nor patyn of Esope
I aske no palays / nor lodgynge curyous
No bedde of state / of rayment sumptuous
For this I lerned of the deane of Poules
I tell the Codrus this man hath won some soules
I aske no treasour / nor store of worldely gode
But a quyet lyfe / and onely clothe and fode
With homely lodgyng / to kepe me warme and dry
Enduryng my lyfe / for sorthe no more aske I
If I were certayne this lyueng styll to haue
Auoyde of trouble / no more of god I craue.
¶ Codrus.
¶ This lyueng hast thou / what nedes the cōplayne?
Nothing y
u wantest / whiche may thy lyfe sustayne
What fele man parde / thy chekes be nat thynne
No lacke of vitayle / causeth a double chynne
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ Some beest is lusty / and fatte of his nature
Though he sore labour / and go in badde pasture
And some beest agayne / styll leane and poore is sene
Though it fatly fare / within a medowe grene
Though thou Codrus / styll argue tyll to morowe
I lycke no dysshes / whiche sauced is with sorowe
Better one smale dysshe / with ioye and hert lyking
Than dyuers denties with murmure & grutching
And men vnlerned / can neuer be content
Whan scolers common / and clerkes be present
As soone as clerkes / begyn to talke and chat
Some other gloumes / and hath enuy therat
It is a tourment a clerke to sytte at borde
Of his lernyng / nat for to talke one worde
Better were to be with clerkes with a crust
Than at suche tables / to fare at wyll and lust
Lette me haue the borde of olde Pytagoras
Whiche of temperaunce a very father was
Of philosophers the moderate rychesse
In youthe or age / I loued neuer excesse
Some bost and promes / and put men in confort
Of large gyftes / moost men be of this sort
With mouthe and promes for to be lyberall
Whan nede re
(qui)reth / than gyue they nought at all
All onely in the is fired all my trust
If thou fayle promes / than roule I in the dust
My hope is faded / than shall my song be dom
Lyke a nightyngale at the solsticium
If thou fayle promes my confort clene is lost
Than may I hang my pype vpon the post
Shytte thy shop wyndowes for lacke of marchādice
Or els for bycause / that easy is the price
¶ Codrus.
[Page]
¶ Mynalcas / if thou the court of Rome hast sene
With forked cappes / or els if thou hast bene
Or noble prelates by richesse exellent
Thou wele parceyuest / they be magnifycent
With them be clerkes / and plesaunt oratours
And many poetes promoted to honours
There is abundaunce of all that men desyre
There men haue honour / before they it requyre
In suche fayre feldes / without labour or payne
Bothe welth and richesse / y
u mayst lightly optayne
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ Thou art abused and thynkest wronge doutlesse
To thynke that I am desyrous of richesse
To fede on rawe flesshe / it is a wolues gyse
Wherfore he weneth all beestes do lyke wise
Bycause the blynde man / halteth and is lame
In mynde he thynketh / that all men do the same
So for that thy selfe / desyrest good in store
All men thou iugest / infected with lyke sore
Codrus / I coueyt nat to haue abundaunce
Small thyng me pleaseth I aske but suffisaunce
Graunt me a lyueng suffycient and small
And voyde of troubles / I aske no more at all
But with that lytell / I holde me selfe content
If sauce of sorowe my mynde nat tourment
Of the court of Rome / for sothe I haue herde tell
With forked cappes / it folly is to mell
Mycene and Morton / be deed and gone certayne
They nor their lyke shall neuer retourne agayne
O Codrus Codrus / Augustus and Edwarde
Be gone for euer / our fortune is more harde
[Page]The scarlet robes / in song hath smale delyte
What shulde I traueyle / in Rome is no profyte
It gyueth mockes and skornes many folde
Styll cratchyng coyne / and gapyng after golde
Fraunde and disceyt / dothe all the worlde fyll
And money reigneth / and dothe althyng at wyll
And for that people / wolde more entende to gyle
Uertue and trouthe / be driuen into exyle
We are cōmaunded to trust for tyme to come
Tyll care and sorowe / hath wasted our wysdome
Hope of rewarde / hath poetes them to fede
Nowe in the worlde / fayre wordes be their mede.
¶ Codrus.
¶ Than write of batayls / or actes of men bolde
Or mighty princes / they may the wele vpholde
These worthy rulers of fame and name royall
Of very reason ought to be lyberall
Some shalt thou fynde bitwene this place and Kent
Whiche for thy labour / shall the
[...]yghtwell cōtent.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ ye / some shall I fynde: whiche be so prodigall
That in vayne thyngꝭ spende / & clene wasteth all
But howe shulde that man / my pouertie sustayne
Whiche nought reserueth his honour to mētayne.
For auncyent blode / nor auncyent honour
In these our dayes / be nought without treasour
The coyne auaunceth / nede dothe the name deiect
And where is treasour / olde honour hath effect
But suche as be riche and in promocion
Shall haue my writyng but in derisyon
For in this season great men of exellence
Hath to poemys no greatter reuerence
[Page]Than to a brothell or els a brothelshous
Madde ignorance is so contagyous.
¶ Codrus.
¶ It is nat semyng / a poete thus to iest
In wrathfull speche / nor wordes dishonest.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ It is no iestyng be thou neuer so wrothe
In open langage to say nothyng but trouthe
If parauenture / thou wolde haue trouthe kept styll
Prouoke thou nat me / to angre at thy wyll
Whan wrathe is moued / than rayson hath no might
The tonge forgetteth discrecyon and right
¶ Codrus.
¶ To moue thy myndes / I truely were full lothe
To gyue good coūsaile is far from beyng wrothe.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ As touchyng counsaile my mynde is plentifull
But nede and troubles / make all my reason dull
If I had counsaile and golde in lyke plente
I tell the Codrus / I had no nede of the
Howe shulde a poete / poore / bare / and indygent
Indyte the actes / of princes exellent
Whyle scant is worthe / a knyfe his pype to mende
To rounde the holles / to clense or pyke the ende
Beholde my whittell / almost hath lost the blade
So long tyme past / is sithe the same was made
The hafte is brused / the blade nat worthe a strawe
Rusty and tothed / nat moche vnlyke a sawe
But touchyng this hurt / it is but lyght and small
But care and trouble / is greuous payne withall
Good counsaile helpeth / makyng the wyttes stable
Ill counsaile maketh / the myndes varyable
[Page]And breketh the brayne / deminysshing the strength
And all the reason / confoundeth at the length
Great men are shamed / to gyue thyng poore or small
And great they deny / thus gyue they nought at all
Besyde this Codrus / princes and men royall
In our enditynges / hath pleasure faynt and small
So moche power haue they / with men of might
As symple douues / whan eglys take their flyght
Or as great wyndes / careth for leaues dry
They lyue in pleasure / and welthe cōtinually
In lust their lyking is / and in ydlenesse
Fewe haue their myndes / from all vicyousnesse
Pleasure is thyng / wherto they must entende
That they most cheriss he / they wolde haue men cō cende
If poetes shulde / their maners magnify
They were supporters of blame and lechery
Than shulde their writyng / be nothyng cōmendable
Conteyning iestes / and dedes detestable
Of stynking Uenus / or loue inordynate
Of rybaude wordes / whiche fall nat for a state
Of right oppressed / and beestly glotony
Of vyce auaunced / of slouthe and iniury
And other dedes / in fame and worthy blame
Whiche were ouer long / here to recount or name
These to commende / Codrus do nat agre
To any poete / whiche loueth chastyte.
¶ Codrus.
What / yes Mynalcas / some haue ben strong & bolde
Whiche haue in batayle / done actes manyfolde
With mighty courage / hauyng them in fight
And boldely byding / for to maynteyne the right
To the coude I nowe / reherse welnere ascore
[Page]Of lust nor richesse / settyng no force ne store
Despisyng softe golde / swete fare / and beddes softe
Whiche in colde harnes / lye on the groūde full ofte
Closed in yron / whiche whan their woundes blede
Want breed and drinke / them to restore and fede
Whyle some hath pleasure / in softe golde orient
With colde harde yron / their mynde is well cōtent
Suche were the sonnes / of noble lorde Hawarde
Whose famous actes / may shame a faynt cowarde
What coude they more / but their swete lyues spende
Their princes quarell / and right for to defende
Alas that batayle / shulde be of that rigoure
Whan fame and honour / ryseth and is in floure
With sodayne furour / than all to quence agayne
But boldest hertes / be nerest dethe certayne.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ For certayne Codrus / I can nat that deny
But some in batayle / behaue them manfully
Suche as in batayle / do actes marcyall
Laude worthy poetes / and style heroycall
The plesaunt muses / whiche soundeth grauyte
Had helpe and fauour / whyle these were in degre
But sythe strong knightes / haue left their exercyse
And manly vertue / corrupted is with vyce
The famous poetes / whiche ornatly endyte
Haue founde no mater / wherof to syng or write
The wytte thus dyeth / of poetes auncyent
So dothe their writyng / and deties eloquent
For lacke of custome / thought / care / and penury
These be confounders / of plesaunt poesy
But if some prince / some kyng / or conquerour
Hath wonne in armes / or batayle great honour
[Page]Full lytell they force / for to delate their fame
That other realmes / may laude or praise their name
Of tyme for to come / they force nothyng at all
By fame and honour / to lyue as immortall
It them suffyseth / they count ynoughe truely
That their owne realmes / their names magnify
And that for their lyfe / they may haue laude & fame
After their dethe / than seke they for no name
And some be vntaught and lerned no seyence
Or els they disdayne / hye style of eloquence
Than standeth the poete / and his poeme arere
Whan princes disdayne for to rede or here
Or els some other / is drowned all in golde
By couetyse kept / in cures many folde
By flagrant ardour / inflamed in suche cas
As in tyme past the olde kyng Mydas was
Than of poemes / full small pleasure hath he
Couetyse and clergy / full leudly dothe agre
Besyde this Codrus / with princes cōmonly
Be vntaught courters / fulfylled with enuy
Juglers and pykers / bourders / and flatrers
Baudes and ianglers / and cursed auoutrers
And mo suche other / of lyueng vicyous
To whom is vertue / aduers and odyous
These do good poetes / forthe of all courtes chace
By thousande maners / of thretnyng and manace
Somtyme by fraudes / somtyme by yll report
And them assysteh / all other of their sort
Lyke as whan curres / lyght on a caryon
Or stinkyng rauyns / fedde with corrupcion
These two all other / away dothe bete and chace
Bycause they alone / wolde occupy the place
[Page]For vnto curres / is caryon moost mete
And also rauyns / thynke stynkyng thynges swete
Another thyng yet / is greatly more dampnable
Of rascolde poetes / yet is a shamefull rable
Whiche voyde of wysdome / presumeth to endyte
Though they haue scantly / the connyng of a snyte
And to what vyces / that princes moost intende
Those dare these foles / solemnyse and cōmende
Than is he decked / as poete laureate
Whan stinkyng Thays / made hym her graduate
Whan muses rested / she dyde her season note
And she with Bacchis / her camous dyde promote
Suche rascolde drames / promoted by Thays
Bacchis Lycoris / or yet by Testilys
Or by suche other / newe forged muses nyne
Thynke in their myndes / for to haue wyt diuyne
They laude their verses / they bost / they vaunt & get
Though all their connyng / be scantly worthe a pet
If they haue smelled / the artes trinycall
They count them poetes / hye and heroycall
Suche is their folly / so folisshely they dote
Thinkyng that none / can their playne errour note
yet be they folysshe / auoyde of honeste
Nothyng seasoned / with spice of grauyte
Auoyde of pleasure / auoyde of eloquence
With many wordes / and frutelesse of sentence
Unapt to lerne / disdayning to be tought
Their priuate pleasur / in snare so haue thē caught
And worst yet of all / they count them exellent
Thoughe they be frutelesse / rasshe & improuident
To suche ambages / who dothe their mynde enclyne
They counte all other / as priuate of doctryne
[Page]And that the fautes / whiche be in them alone
Also be cōmen / in other men echone
Thus byde good poetes / oftyme rebuke and blame
Bycause of other / whiche haue dispysed name
And thus for the badde / the good be clene abiect
Their arte and poeme / counted of none effect
Who wanteth reason / good to discryue from yll
Dothe worthy writers / enterprete at his wyll
So bothe the laudes / of good and nat laudable
For lacke of knowledge / become vituperable.
¶ Codrus.
¶ In faythe Mynalcas / I wele alowe thy wytte
yet wolde I gladly / here nowe some mery fytte
Of mayde Maryon / or els of Roby Hode
Or bentleys Ale whiche chaseth wele the blode
Of Pert of Norwyche / or sauce of Wylberton
Or buckysshe ioly / wele stuffed as a ton
Talke of the botell / let go the boke for nowe
Combrous is cōnyng / I make to god auowe
Speke of some mat / which may refreshe my brayne
Trust me Mynalcas / I shall rewarde thy payne
Els talke of stoutney / wher is more brayne than wyt
Place moost abused / that we haue spoke of yet.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ Of all these thynges / langage to multiply
Except I lyed / shulde be but villany
It is nat semyng / a poete one to blame
All if his honour / haue won dyffamed name
And thoughe suche beestes / pursue me with enuy
Malgre for malyce / that payment I defy
My maister techeth / so dothe reason and skyll
That man shulde restore / and rendre good for yll
¶ Codrus.
[Page]
¶ Than talke of somwhat / lo it is long to night
yet hath the sonne / more than one hour of lyght
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ yf I nought common / soundyng to grauyte
I feare to optayne / but smale rewarde of the
But if I common of vice or wantonnesse
Than of our lorde / shall my rewarde be lesse
Wherfore my balade / shall haue conclusyon
Of frutefull clauses / of noble Salomon.
¶ Codrus.
¶ Syng on Mynalcas / he may do lytell thyng
Whiche to a balade / disdayneth the heryng
But if thy dytie / accorde nat to my mynde
Than my rewarde / and promes is behynde
By mannes maners / it lightly dothe appere
What men desyreth / that loue they for to here
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ Thoughe in thy promes / I fynde no certente
yet of my connyng / shalte thou haue parte of me
I call no muses / to gyue to me doctryne
But ayde & confort / of strength & might diuyne
To clere my reason / with wysdome and prudence
To syng one balade / extract of sapyence.
AS medowes paynted / with floures redolent
The sight reioyseth / of suche as thē beholde
So man endewed / with vertue exellent
Fragrantly shyneth / with beames many folde
Uertue with wysdome / excedeth store of golde
If richesse habounde / set nat on them thy trust
Whan strength is sturdy / than man is perte & bolde
But wyt & wysdome soone leyeth hym in the dust.
Than man is beestly / whiche seweth carnall lust
Spende nat on women / thy richesse or substaūce
For lacke of vsyng / as steele or yron rust
So rusteth reason / by wylfull ignoraunce
In fraudefull beaute / set thou but small pleasaunce
A plesaunt apple / is ofte corrupt within
Grounde the in youthe / on goodly gouernaunce
It is good token / whan man dothe wele begyn.
Joye nat in malyce / that is a mortall synne
Man is parceyued / by langage and doctryne
Better is to lose / than wrongfully to wynne
He loueth wysdome / whiche loueth disciplyne
Rass he enterprises / ofte bringeth to ruyne
A man may contende / god gyueth victory
Set neuer thy mynde / on thyng whiche is nat thyne
Trust nat in honour all welthe is transitory.
Combyne thou thy tong / with reason and memory
Speke nat to hasty / without aduysement
So lyue in this lyfe / that thou mayst trust on glory
Whiche is nat caduke / but lastyng parmanent
There is no secrete / with people vyuolent
By beestly surfet / the lyfe is breuyate
Though some haue pleasure / in sumptuous garmēt
yet goodly maners / hym maketh more ornate.
¶ Codrus.
¶ Ho there Myaclas / of this haue we ynoughe
What shulde a plouman / go farther thā his plough
What shulde a shepherde / in wysdome wade so farre
Talke of his tankarde / or of his box of tarre
Tell somwhat els / wherin is more conforte
So shall the season / and tyme seme light & shorte
¶ Mynalcas.
[Page]
¶ For thou of Hawarde / nowe lately dyde recyte
I haue a dytie / whiche Cornir dyde endyte
His dethe complayning / but it is lamentable
To here a capitayne / so good and honourable
So soone withdrawen by dethes cruelte
Before his vertue / was at moost highe degre
If dethe for reason / had shewed hym fauour
To all his nacyon / he shulde haue ben honour
Alas / bolde hertes / be nerest dethe in warre
Whan out of daunger / cowardes stande a farre.
¶ Codrus.
¶ All if that ditye / be nener so lamentable
Refrayne my teares / I shall as I am able
Begyn Mynalcas / tell of the bolde Hawarde
If fortune fauour / hope after some rewarde.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ I pray the Codrus / my whey is weke and thyn
Len me thy botell / to drinke or I begyn.
¶ Codrus.
¶ If ought be tasted / the remnaunt shall pall
I may nat afore the / nowe for to spende out all
We sytte in shadowe / the sonne is nat feruent
Call for it after / than I shall be content.
¶ Mynalcas.
¶ Styll thou desyrest / the pleasure of my arte
But of thy botell / nought wylte thou yet departe
Though y
u be negarde / & nought wylt gyue of thyne
yet this one tyme / thou shalt haue parte of myne
Nowe herken Codrus / I tell myne elegy
But small is the pleasure / of dolefull armony.
¶ The discrypcion of the towre of Uertue and Honour / in to whiche the noble Hawarde contended to entre / by worthy actes of chiualry.
¶ Mynalcas speketh.
Hyghe on a moūtayne / of highnes marueylous
With pēdant clyffes / of stones harde as flent
Is made a castell / or toure moost curyous
Dredefull vnto sight / but inwarde exellent
Suche as wolde entre / fynde paynes-tourment
So harde is the way / vnto the same moūtayne
Streight / hye / and thorny / tournyng and dyfferent
That many labour / for to ascende in vayne.
Who dothe perseuer / and to this toure attayne
Shall haue great pleasure / to se the bylding olde
Joyned and graued / surmountyng mānes brayne
And all the walles within of fynest golde
With olde hystories / and pyctures manyfolde
Glystring as bright / as Phebus orient
With marbyll pyllers / the bylding to vpholde
About the turrettes / of shape moost exellent.
This toure is gotten / by labour dilygent
In it remayneth / suche as haue won honour
By holy lyueng / by strength or tournament
And moost by wisdome / attayne vnto this tour
Brefely all people / of godly behauour
By rightwyse batayle / iustyce and equyte
Or that in mercy / haue had a chefe pleasure
In it haue rowmes / eche after his degre
This goodly castell / thus shinyng in beaute
Is named castell / of vertue and honour
In it eight Henry / is in his mageste
Moost hye enhaunsed / as ought a conquerour
In it remayneth the worthy gouernour
A stocke and fountayne / of noble progeny
Moost noble Hawarde / the duke and protectour
Named of Northfolke / the floure of chiualry.
Here is the Talbot / manfull and hardy
With other princes / and men of dignyte
Whiche to wyn honour dothe all their might apply
Supportyng iustyce / concorde / and equyte
[Page]The manly Corson / within this toure I se
These haue we sene / echone in his estate
With many other / of hye and meane degre
For mercy all actes / with crownes laureate.
Of this stronge castell / is porter at the gate
Strong sturdy labour / moche lyke a champyon
But goodly vertue / a lady moost ornate
Within gouerneth / with great prouisyon
But of this castell / in the moost hyest trone
Is honour shinyng / in rowme imperyall
Whiche vnrewarded / of them leueth nat one
That come by labour / and vertue princypall.
Ferefull is labour / without fauour at all
Dredefull of vysage / a monster vntretable
Lyke Cerberus lyeng / at gates infernall
To some men his loke / is halfe intollerable
His shulders large / for burthen stronge and able
His body bristled / his necke mighty and styffe
By stourdy senewes / his ioyntes strong and stable
Lyke marbyll stones / his handes be as styffe.
Here must man vanquysshe / the dragon of Cadmus
Agayne the Chymer / here stoutly must he
[...]ight
Here must he vanquysshe / the ferefull Pegasus
For the golden flese / here must he shewe his might
If labour gainsay / he can nothyng be right
This monster labour / ofte chaungeth his fygure
Somtyme an ore / abore / or lyon wight
Plainly he semeth / thus chaungyng his nature.
[Page]Lyke as Protheus / ofte chaunged his stature
Mutable of fygure / oftymes in one hour
Whan Aristeus / in bondes had hymsure
To dyuers fygures lyke wise chaungeth labour
Under his browes he dredefully do the lour
With glystring eyen / and syde dependant berde
For thurst and hunger / alway his chere is sour
His horned forheed / dothe make faynt hertꝭ ferde.
Alway he drinketh / and yet alway is dry
The sweate distyllyng / worthe droppes habūdant
His brest and forheed / dothe humour multiply
By swetyng shoures / yet is this payne plesant
Of day and of night / his restyng tyme is scant
No day ouerpasseth / erempt of busyncsse
His sight enfourmeth / the rude and ignorant
Who dare parseuer / he gyueth them richesse.
None he auaunceth / but after stedfastnesse
Of lytell burthen / his bely is and small
His mighty thyes / his vigour dothe expresse
His shankes sturdy / and large fete withall
By wrathe he rageth / and styll dothe chyde & brall
Suche as wolde entre / repellyng with his cry
As well estates / as homely men rurall
At the first entre / he thretneth yrefully.
I trowe olde fathers / whom men nowe magnify
Called this monster / Mynerua stout and soure
For strength and senewes / of man moost comenly
Are tame and febled / by cures and laboure
[Page]Lyke as becometh / a knight to fortify
His princes quarell / with right and equite
So dyde this Hawarde / with corage valtantly
Tylldethe abated / his bolde audacyte.
O happy Sampson / more fortunate than he
Onely in strength / but nat in hye courage
O cruell fortune / why durst thy cruelte
This flour of knighthode / to slee in lusty age
Thou hast debated / the flour of his lynage
If thou had mercy / be wayle his dethe thou might
For cruell loyns / and mo beestes sauage
Long tyme nat cessed / sore to be wayle this knight
O dethe thou hast done / agaynst bothe lawe & right
To spare a cowarde / without danger or wounde
And thus soone to quenche / of chiualry the light
O dethe enuyous / moost enmy to our grounde
What moost aueyleth / thou sonest dost confounde
Why dyde nat vertue / assyst her champyon
Thou might haue ayded / for sothly thou was boūde
For duryng his lyfe / he loued the alone.
O god almighty / in thy eternall trone
To whom all vertue / is dere and acceptable
If reason suffred / to the our crye and mone
This dede might impute / and fortune lamentable
Thou might haue left vs / this knight most honourable
Our welthe & honour / to haue kept in degre
Alas why hath dethe / so false and disceyuable
Mankynde to tourment / this wyll and lyberte.
It quencheth vertue / sparyng iniquite
The best it stryketh / of badde hauyng disdayne
No helpe nor confort / hath our aduersyte
Dethe dayly striketh / though we dayly cōplayne
To treate a tyranne / it is but thyng in vayne
Mekenesse prouoketh / his wrathe & tyranny
So at our prayer / dethe hath the more disdayne
We do by mekenesse / his furour multiply.
If some fell tyranne / replete with villany
Shulde thus haue endyng / the dede were cōmendable
But a stout capitayne / disposed to mercy
So soone thus faded / the case lamentable
Was he nat humble / ioconde and companable
No man dispysing / and first in all labour
Rightwyse with mercy / debollaire and tretable
Mate and companyon / with euery soudyour.
Uyce he subdued / by goodly behauour
Lyke as a ryder / dothe a wylde stede subdue
His body subget / his soule was gouernour
From vice withdrawen / to goodnesse and vertue
Whan pride rebelled / mekenesse dyde eschue
Fre mynde and almes / subdued auaryce
Alway he noted / this sayeng iust and true
That noble myndes / dispyseth couetyse.
His dethe declareth / that slouthe he dyde espyse
By hardy courage / as first in ieopardy
Al way he vsed / some noble exercyse
Suche as belongeth / to noble chiualry
[Page]In hym was there founde / no sparcle of enuy
Alway he lauded / and praysed worthynesse
Suche as were doughty / rewardyng largely
Wrathe saue in season / he wisely coude represse.
Of wyne or Bacchus / despysed he excesse
For myndes kyndled to actes mercyall
Sekyng for honour / and name of doughtynesse
Despyseth surfet / and lyueng beestyall
In hym no power / had lust veneryall
For busy labour / and plesaunt abstynence
All corporall lust / soone causeth for to fall
No lust subdueth / where reigneth dilygence
He was a pyller / of sober contynence
His onely treasure / and iowell was good name
But O cursed dethe / thy wrathfull vyolnece
By stroke vnwarned / halfe blynded of his fame
Who may I accuse? who may I put in blame?
God for deth / or fortune / or impotent nature
God dothe his pleasure / & dethe wyll haue the same
Nature was mighty / long able to endure.
In fortune the faut is / holde nowe am I sure
I wolde if I durst / his tyranny accuse
O cursed fortune / if thou be creature
Who gaue the power / thus people to abuse
Thy mutable might / me causeth ofte to muse
Whan man is plunged / in dolour and distresse
Thy face thou chaungest / whiche dyde erst refuse
By sodayne chaunces / hym liftyng to richesse.
And suche as long tyme / haue lyued in nobles
Anone thou plungest / in payne and pouerte
Welthe / honoure / strength / right / iustyce / & goodnes
Misery / dolour / lowe roume / and iniquyte
These thou rewardest / lyke as it pleaseth the
To mannes meryte / without respect at all
One this day beyng / in great authorite
Agayne to morowe / thou causest for to fall.
Whan man is worthy / a roume imperyall
On hym thou gloumest / with frowarde coūtenāce
Weyke is thy promes / reuoluyng as a ball
Thou hast no fauour / to godly gouernance
No man by meryte / thou vsest to auance
O blynded fortune / oftyme infortunate
Whan man the trusteth / than falleth some myschance
Unwarely chaungyng / his fortune and estate.
Tell me frayle fortune / why dyde thou breuyate
The lyueng season / of suche a capitayne
That whan his actes ought to be laureate
Thy fauour tourned / hym suffring to be slayne
I blame the fortune / and the excuse agayne
For thoughe thy fauour / to hym was rigorous
Suche is thy custome / for to be vncertayne
And namely whan man / is hye and glorious.
But moost worthy duke / hye and vyctorious
Respyre to conforte / se the vncertaynte
Of other princes / whose fortune prosperous
Of tyme hath ended / in harde aduersyte
[Page]Rede of Pompeius / whose pereles dignyte
Agayne great Cesar / dyde welthe of Rome defēde
Whom after fortune / brought in captiuyte
That he in Egypt / was heeded at the ende.
In lykewise Cesar / whiche dyde with hym cōtende
Whan all the worlde / to hym was subyngate
From his hye honour / dyde sodaynly discende
Murdred in Rome / by chaunce infortunate
Cato an Seneke / with Tully Rewreate
These and mo lyke / for all their sapyence
Hath proued fortune / sore blynding their estate
By wrongfull sclaunders / and deedly violence.
To poore and riche / it hath no difference
Olde Polycraces / supposyng peryll past
With dethe dishonest / ended his exellence
Great Alexander by fortune / was downe cast
One draught of poyson hym fylled at the last
Whom all the worlde / erst coude nat sacyate
What is all honour / and power but a blast?
Whan fortune thretneth / the lyfe to breuyate
Beholde on Pyrrus / the kyng infortunate
With a small stone / deed prostrate on the grounde
Se Ualeryan brought downe from his estate
From his empyre / in Percy thrall and bounde
Of olde Priamus / it is in writyng founde
Howe he by▪ Pyrrus / was in his paleis slayne
Paris and Hector / receyued mortall wounde
To trust in fortune / it is a thyng in vayne.
The mighty Cyrus / a kyng of realmes twayne
Was slayne & his hoost / of Thomyrus the quene
Thus is no mater / of fortune to complayne
All that newe falleth / of olde tyme hath ben sene
This shalbe / this is / and this hath euer bene
That bolde hertes / be nerest ieopardy
To dye in batayle / is honour as men wene
To suche as haue ioye / in hauntyng chiualry.
Suche famous endyng / the name dothe magnify
Note worthy duke / no cause is to complayne
His lyfe nat ended / foule nor dishonestly
In bedde nor tauerne / his lustes to meyntayne
But lyke as besemed / a noble capitayne
In sturdy harnesse / he dyed for the right
From dethes danger / no man may flye certayne
But suche dethe is metest / vnto a noble knight.
But dethe it to call / me thynke it is vnright
Sithe his worthy name / shall last parpetuall
To all his nacion / example and clere light
But to his progeny / moost specially of all
His soule is in pleasure / of glory eternall
So duke moost doughty / ioy may that noble tree
Whose braunches honour / shall neuer fade ne fall
Whyle beest is in erthe / or fysshes in the see.
Lo Codrus / I here haue tolde the by and by
Of shepherde Cornir / the wofull elegy
Wherin he mourned / the greuous payne and harde
And last departyng / of noble lorde Hawarde