HICKSCORNER.
In good faith, I will tarry no lenger space.
FREEWILL.
Beshrew him for me, that is last out of this place.
PITY.
Lo, Lords, they may curse the time they were born,
For the weeds that overgroweth the corn,
They troubled me guiltless, and wote not why,
For God's love yet will I suffer patiently:
We all may say well-a-way, for sin that is now-a-day.
Lo, virtue is vanished for ever and aye;
Worse was it never.[137]
We have plenty of great oaths,
And cloth enough in our clothes,
But charity many men loathes,
Worse was it never.
Alas, now is lechery called love indeed,
And murder named manhood in every need,
Extortion is called law, so God me speed;
Worse was it never.
Youth walketh by night with swords and knives,
And ever among true men leseth their lives,
Like heretics we occupy other men's wives,
Now-a-days in England:
Bawds be the destroyers of many young women,
And full lewd counsel they give unto them;
How you do marry, beware, you young men,
The wise never tarrieth too long;
There be many great scorners,
But for sin there be few mourners;
We have but few true lovers
In no place now-a-days;
There be many goodly-gilt knaves,
And I know, as many apparelled wives,
Yet many of them be unthrifty of their lives,
And all set in pride to go gay.
Mayors on sin doeth no correction,
While[138] gentle men beareth truth adown;
Avoutry[139] is suffered in every town,
Amendment is there none,
And God's commandments we break them all ten.
Devotion is gone many days sin.[140]
Let us amend us we true Christian men,
Ere death make you groan.
Courtiers go gay, and take little wages,
And many with harlots at the tavern haunts,
They be yeomen of the wreath that be shackled in gyves;
On themselves they have no pity:
God punisheth full sore with great sickness,
As pox, pestilence, purple, and axes,
Some dieth suddenly that death full perilous,
Yet was there never so great poverty.
There be some sermons made by noble doctors;
But truly the fiend doth stop men's ears,
For God nor good man some people not fears;
Worse was it never.
All truth is not best said,
And our preachers now-a-days be half afraid:
When we do amend, God would be well apaid;
Worse was it never.
CONTEMPLATION.
What, Master Pity, how is it with you?
PERSEVERANCE.
Sir, we be sorry to see you in this case now.
PITY.
Brethren, here were three perilous men,
Freewill, Hickscorner, and Imagination;
They said, I was a thief, and laid felony upon me,
And bound me in irons, as ye may see.
CONTEMPLATION.
Where be the traitors become now?
PITY.
In good faith, I cannot show you.
PERSEVERANCE.
Brother, let us unbind him of his bonds.
CONTEMPLATION.
Unloose the feet and the hands.
PITY.
I thank you for your great kindness,
That you two show in this distress;
For they were men without any mercy,
That delighteth all in mischief and tyranny.
PERSEVERANCE.
I think, they will come hither again,
Freewill and Imagination, both twain:
Them will I exhort to virtuous living,
And unto virtue them to bring,
By the help of you, Contemplation.
CONTEMPLATION.
Do my counsel, brother Pity;
Go you, and seek them through the country,
In village, town, borough, and city,
Throughout all the realm of England:
When you them meet, lightly them arrest,
And in prison put them fast,
Bind them sure in irons strong;
For they be so fast and subtle;
That they will you beguile,
And do true men wrong.
PERSEVERANCE.
Brother Pity, do as he hath said,
In every quarter look you espy,
And let good watch for them be laid,
In all the haste that thou can, and that privily;
For, and they come hither, they shall not scape,
For all the craft that they can make.
PITY.
Well, then will I hie me as fast as I may,
And travel through every country;
Good watch shall be laid in every way,
That they steal not into sanctuary.
Now farewell, brethren, and pray for me;
For I must go hence in deed.
PERSEVERANCE.
Now God be your good speed.
CONTEMPLATION.
And ever you defend, when you have need.
PITY.
Now, brethren both, I thank you.
FREEWILL.
Make you room for a gentleman, sirs, and peace;
"Dieu garde, seigneurs, tout le preasse,"[141]
And of your jangling if ye will cease,
I will tell you where I have been:
Sirs, I was at the tavern, and drank wine,
Methought I saw a piece that was like mine,
And, sir, all my fingers were arrayed[142] with lime,
So I conveyed a cup mannerly:
And yet, i-wis, I played all the fool,
For there was a scholar of mine own school;
And, sir, the whoreson espied me.
Then was I 'rested, and brought in prison;
For woe then I wist not what to have done,
And all because I lacked money,
But a friend in court is worth a penny in purse:[143]
For Imagination, mine own fellow, i-wis,
He did help me out full craftily.
Sirs, he walked through Holborn,
Three hours after the sun was down,
And walked up towards Saint Giles-in-the-Field:
He hoved still, and there beheld,
But there he could not speed of his prey,
And straight to Ludgate he took the way;
Ye wot well, that pothecaries walk very late,
He came to a door and privily spake
To a prentice for a penny-worth of euphorbium,[144]
And also for a halfpenny-worth of alum plumb;
This good servant served him shortly,
And said, is there ought else that you would buy?
Then he asked for a mouthful of quick brimstone;[145]
And down into the cellar, when the servant was gone,
Aside as he kest[146] his eye,
A great bag of money did he spy,
Therein was an hundred pound:
He trussed him to his feet, and yede his way round,
He was lodged at Newgate at the Swan,
And every man took him for a gentleman;
So on the morrow he delivered me
Out of Newgate by this policy:
And now will I dance and make royal cheer.
But I would Imagination were here,
For he is peerless at need;
Labour to him, sirs, if ye will your matters speed.
Now will I sing, and lustily spring;
But when my fetters on my legs did ring,
I was not glad, perde; but now Hey, troly, loly,
Let us see who can descant on this same;
To laugh and get money, it were a good game,
What, whom have we here?
A priest, a doctor, or else a frere.
What, Master Doctor Dotypoll?
Cannot you preach well in a black boll,
Or dispute any divinity?
If ye be cunning, I will put it in a prefe:[147]
Good sir, why do men eat mustard with beef?
By question can you assoil me?
PERSEVERANCE.
Peace, man, thou talkest lewdly,
And of thy living, I reed,[148] amend thee.
FREEWILL.
Avaunt, caitiff, dost thou thou me!
I am come of good kin, I tell thee!
My mother was a lady of the stews' blood born,
And (knight of the halter) my father ware an horn;
Therefore I take it in full great scorn,
That thou shouldest thus check me.
CONTEMPLATION.
Abide, fellow, thou hast little courtesy,
Thou shalt be charmed, ere thou hence pass,
For thou troubled Pity, and laid on him felony:
Where is Imagination, thy fellow that was?
FREEWILL.
I defy you both; will you arrest me?
PERSEVERANCE.
Nay, nay; thy great words may not help thee,
Fro us thou shalt not escape.
FREEWILL.
Make room, sirs, that I may break his pate;
I will not be taken for them both.
CONTEMPLATION.
Thou shalt abide, whether thou be lief or loth;
Therefore, good son, listen unto me,
And mark these words that I do tell thee:
Thou hast followed thine own will many a day,
And lived in sin without amendment;
Therefore in thy conceit essay
To axe God mercy, and keep His commandment,
Then on thee He wilt have pity,
And bring thee to heaven that joyful city.
FREEWILL.
What, whoreson? Will ye have me now a fool?
Nay, yet had I liever be captain of Calais;
For, and I should do after your school,
To learn to patter to make me peevish,
Yet had I liever look with a face full thievish:
And therefore, prate no lenger here,
Lest my knave's fist hit you under the ear.
What, ye daws, would ye reed me
For to lese my pleasure in youth and jollity,
To bass and kiss my sweet trully mully,
As Jane, Kate, Bess, and Sybil?
I would that hell were full of such prims,
Then would I renne thither on my pins,
As fast as I might go.
PERSEVERANCE.
Why, sir, wilt thou not love virtue,
And forsake thy sin for the love of God Almighty?
FREEWILL.
What God Almighty, by God's fast at Salisbury,
And I trow Easter-day fell on Whitsunday that year,
There were five score save an hundred in my company,
And at petty Judas we made royal cheer,
There had we good ale of Michaelmas brewing;
There heaven-high leaping and springing,
And thus did I
Leap out of Bordeaux unto Canterbury,
Almost ten mile between.
CONTEMPLATION.
Freewill, forsake all this world wilfully here,
And change by time; thou oughtest to stand in fear;
For fortune will turn her wheel so swift,
That clean fro thy wealth she will thee lift.
FREEWILL.
What, lift me, who? and Imagination were here now,
I-wis with his fist he would all-to clout you:
Hence, whoreson, tarry no lenger here;
For by Saint Pintle the apostle I swear,
That I will drive you both home,
And yet I was never wont to fight alone:
Alas, that I had not one to bold[149] me,
Then you should see me play the man shamefully;
Alas, it would do me good to fight;
How say you, lords, shall I smite?
Have among you, by this light:
Hence, whoresons, and home at once,
Or with my weapon I shall break your bones.
Avaunt, you knave: walk, by my counsel.
PERSEVERANCE.
Son, remember the great pains of hell,
They are so horrible that no tongue can tell;
Beware, lest thou thither do go.
FREEWILL.
Nay, by Saint Mary, I hope not so;
I will not go to the devil, while I have my liberty,
He shall take the labour to fet me, and he will have me;
For he that will go to hell by his will voluntarily,
The devil and the whirlwind go with him:
I will you never fro thence tidings bring;
Go you before, and show me the way,
And as to follow you I will not say nay:
For, by God's body, and you be in once,
By the mass, I will shit[150] the door at once,
And then ye be take in a pitfall.
CONTEMPLATION.
Now, Jesus, soon defend us from that hole,
For, "Qui est in inferno nulla est redemptio:"
Holy Job spake these words full long ago.
FREEWILL.
Nay, I have done; and you laid out Latin with scope,
But therewith can you clout me a pair of boots?[151]
By our lady, ye should have some work of me,
I would have them well underlaid and easily,
For I use alway to go on the one side;
And trow ye how? by God, in the stocks I sat till,
I trow a three weeks, and more a little stound,
And there I laboured sore day by day,
And so I tread my shone inward in good fay;
Lo, therefore methink you must sole them round.
If you have any new boots, a pair I would buy,
But I think your price be too high.
Sir, once at Newgate I bought a pair of stirrups,[152]
A mighty pair and a strong,
A whole year I ware them so long,
But they came not fully to my knee,
And to clout them it cost not me a penny:
Even now, and ye go thither, ye shall find a great heap,
And you speak in my name, ye shall have good cheap.
PERSEVERANCE.
Sir, we came never there, ne never shall do.
FREEWILL.
Marry, I was taken in a trap there, and tied by the toe,
That I halted a great while, and might not go.
I would ye both sat as fast there;
Then should ye dance as a bear,
And all by gangling of your chains.
CONTEMPLATION.
Why, sir, were ye there?
FREEWILL.
Yea, and that is seen by my brains;
For, ere I came there, I was as wise as a woodcock,
And, I thank God, as witty as a haddock.
Yet I trust to recover, as other does,
For, and I had once as much wit as a goose,
I should be merchant of the bank;
Of gold then I should have many a frank,
For if I might make three good voyages to Shooter's Hill,[153]
And have wind and weather at my will,
Then would I never travel the sea more:
But it is hard to keep the ship fro the shore,
And if it hap to rise a storm,
Then thrown in a raft, and so about borne
On rocks or brachs[154] for to run,
Else to strike aground at Tyburn,
That were a mischievous case,
For that rock of Tyburn is so perilous a place,
Young gallants dare not venture into Kent;
But when their money is gone and spent,
With their long boots they row on the bay,[155]
And any man of war[156] lie by the way,
They must take a boat and throw the helm ale;[157]
And full hard it is to scape that great jeopardy,
For, at Saint Thomas of Watering and they strike a sail,
Then must they ride in the haven of hemp without fail;
And were not these two jeopardous places indeed,
There is many a merchant that thither would speed:
But yet we have a sure channel at Westminster,
A thousand ships of thieves therein may ride sure;
For if they may have anchor-hold and great spending,
They may live as merry as any king.
PERSEVERANCE.
God wot, sir, there is a piteous living,
Then ye dread not the great Master above:
Son, forsake thy miss[158] for His love,
And then mayst thou come to the bliss also.
FREEWILL.
Why, what would you that I should do?
CONTEMPLATION.
For to go toward heaven.
FREEWILL.
Marry, and you will me thither bring,
I would do after you.[159]
PERSEVERANCE.
I pray you, remember my words now:
Freewill, bethink thee that thou shalt die,
And of the hour thou are uncertain,
Yet by thy life thou mayest find a remedy;
For, and thou die in sin, all labour is in vain,
Then shall thy soul be still in pain.
Lost and damned for evermore;
Help is past, though thou would fain,
Then thou wilt curse the time that thou were bore.
FREEWILL.
Sir, if ye will undertake that I saved shall be,
I will do all the penance that you will set me.
CONTEMPLATION.
If that thou for thy sins he sorry,
Our Lord will forgive thee them.
FREEWILL.
Now of all my sins I axe God mercy;
Here I forsake sin, and trust to amend:
I beseech Jesu that is most mighty
To forgive all that I have offend.
PERSEVERANCE.
Our Lord now will show thee His mercy,
A new name thou need none have;
For all that will to heaven high,
By his own freewill he must forsake folly,
Then is he sure and safe.
CONTEMPLATION.
Hold here a new garment,
And hereafter live devoutly,
And for thy sins do ever repent:
Sorrow for thy sins is very remedy:
And, Freewill, ever to virtue apply,
Also to sadness[160] give ye attendance,
Let him never out of remembrance.
FREEWILL.
I will never from you, sir Perseverance;
With you will I abide both day and night,
Of mind never to be variable,
And God's commandments to keep them right,
In deed and word, and ever full stable.
PERSEVERANCE.
Then heaven thou shalt have without fable,
But look that thou be steadfast,
And let thy mind with good will last.
IMAGINATION.
Huff, huff, huff! who sent after me?
I am Imagination, full of jollity,
Lord, that my heart is light,[161]
When shall I perish? I trow, never;
By Christ, I reck not a feather:
Even now I was dubbed a knight,
Where at Tyburn of the collar,
And of the stews I am made controller—
Of all the houses of lechery;
There shall no man play doccy[162] there,
At the Bell, Hartshorn, ne elsewhere,
Without they have leave of me.
But, sirs, wot ye why I am come hither?
By our lady, to gather good company together:
Saw ye not of my fellow Freewill?
I am afraid lest he be searching on a hill;
By God, then one of us is beguiled.
What fellow is this that in this coat is filed?
Cock's death, whom have we here?
What, Freewill, mine own fere?[163]
Art thou out of thy mind?
FREEWILL.
God grant the way to heaven that I may find;
For I forsake thy company.
IMAGINATION.
God's arms, my company? and why?
FREEWILL.
For thou livest too sinfully.
IMAGINATION.
Alas, tell me how it is with thee.
FREEWILL.
Forsake thy sin for the love of me.
IMAGINATION.
Cock's heart, art thou waxed mad?
FREEWILL.
When I think on my sin, it makes me full sad.
IMAGINATION.
God's wounds, who gave thee that counsel?
FREEWILL.
Perseverance and Contemplation, I thee tell.
IMAGINATION.
A vengeance on them, I would they were in hell.
FREEWILL.
Amend, Imagination, and mercy cry.
IMAGINATION.
By God's sides, I had liever be hanged on high;
Nay, that would I not do: I had liever die.
By God's passion, and I had a long knife,
I would bereave these two whoresons of their life:
How, how? twenty pounds for a dagger!
CONTEMPLATION.
Peace, peace, good son, and speak softer,
And amend, ere death draw his draught;
For on thee he will steal full soft,
He giveth never no man warning,
And ever to thee he is coming:
Therefore remember thee well.
IMAGINATION.
Ah, whoreson, if I were jailer of hell,
I-wis, some sorrow should thou feel;
For to the devil I would thee sell,
Then should ye have many a sorry meal,
I would never give you meat ne drink,
Ye should fast, whoresons, till ye did stink,
Even as a rotten dog; yea, by Saint Tyburn of Kent.
PERSEVERANCE.
Imagination, think what God did for thee;
On Good Friday He hanged on a tree,
And spent all His precious blood,
A spear did rive His heart asunder,
The gates He brake up with a clap of thunder,
And Adam and Eve there delivered He.
IMAGINATION.
What devil! what is that to me?
By God's fast, I was ten year in Newgate,
And many more fellows with me sat,
Yet he never came there to help me ne my company.
CONTEMPLATION.
Yes, he holp thee, or thou haddest not been here now.
IMAGINATION.
By the mass, I cannot show you,
For he and I never drank together,
Yet I know many an ale stake;[164]
Neither at the stews, i-wis, he never came thither:
Goeth he arrayed in white or in black?
For, and he out of prison had holp me,
I know well once I should him see,
What gown weareth he, I pray you?
PERSEVERANCE.
Sir, he halp you out by his might.
IMAGINATION.
I cannot tell you, by this light;
But methought that I lay there too long,
And the whoreson fetters were so strong,
That had almost brought my neck out of joint.
PERSEVERANCE.
Amend, son, and thou shall know him,
That delivered thee out of prison;
And if thou wilt forsake thy miss,
Surely thou shalt come to the bliss,
And be inheritor of heaven.
IMAGINATION.
What, sir, above the moon?
Nay, by the mass, then should I fall soon;
Yet I keep not to climb so high;
But to climb for a bird's nest,
There is none between east and west,
That dare thereto venter better than I:
But to venter to heaven—what, and my feet slip?
I know well then I should break my neck,
And, by God, then had I the worse side;
Yet had I liever be by the nose tied
In a wench's arse somewhere,
Rather than I would stand in that great fear,
For to go up to heaven—nay, I pray you, let be.
FREEWILL.
Imagination, wilt thou do by the counsel of me?
IMAGINATION.
Yea, sir, by my troth, whatsomever it be.
FREEWILL.
Amend yet for my sake,
It is better betime than too late;
How say you? will you God's hests fulfil?
IMAGINATION.
I will do, sir, even as you will;
But, I pray you, let me have a new coat,
When I have need, and in my purse a groat,
Then will I dwell with you still.
FREEWILL.
Beware, for when thou art buried in the ground,
Few friends for thee will be found,
Remember this still.
IMAGINATION.
No thing dread I so sore as death,
Therefore to amend I think it be time;
Sin have I used all the days of my breath,
With pleasure, lechery, and misusing,[165]
And spent amiss my five wits; therefore I am sorry:
Here of all my sins I axe God mercy.
PERSEVERANCE.
Hold, here is a better clothing for thee,
And look that thou forsake thy folly;
Be steadfast, look that thou fall never.
IMAGINATION.
Now here I forsake my sin for ever.
FREEWILL.
Sir, wait thou now on Perseverance,
For thy name shall be called Good Remembrance;
And I will dwell with Contemplation,
And follow him wherever he become.
CONTEMPLATION.
Well, are ye so both agreed?
IMAGINATION.
Yea, sir, so God me speed.
PERSEVERANCE.
Sir, ye shall wait on me soon,
And be God's servant day and night,
And in every place where ye become,
Give good counsel to every wight:
And men axe your name, tell you Remembrance,
That God's law keepeth truly every day;
And look that ye forget not repentance,
Then to heaven ye shall go the next[166] way,
Where ye shall see in the heavenly quere
The blessed company of saints so holy,
That lived devoutly while they were here:
Unto the which bliss I beseech God Almighty
To bring there your souls that here be present,
And unto virtuous living that ye may apply,
Truly for to keep His commandments;
Of all our mirths here we make an end,
Unto the bliss of heaven Jesus your souls bring.[167]