“And therefore to al you that ben vertuous : gentyll : and free borne I wryte & make this symple treatyse folowynge : by whyche ye may haue the full crafte of anglynge to dysport you at your luste : to the entent that your aege maye the more floure and the more lenger to endure.”
M. G. W.
Alamon in his parablys sayth that a good spyryte makyth a flourynge aege / that is a fayre aege & a longe. And syth it is soo : I aske this questyon / . whi | che ben the meanes & the causes that enduce a man in to a mery spyryte. : Truly to my beste dyscrecōn it semeth good dysportes & honest gamys in whom a man Ioy | eth wythout ony repentannce after. Thenne folowyth it yt gode dysportes & honest games ben cause of mannys fayr aege & longe life. And therfore now woll I chose of foure good dispor | tes & honeste gamys / that is to wyte : of huntynge : hawkynge : fysshynge : & foulynge. The beste to my symple dyscrecōn why | che is fysshynge : callyd Anglynge wyth a rodde : and a lyne {2} and an hoke / And therof to treate as my symple wytte may suffyce : both for the sayd reason of Salamon and also for the reason that phisyk makyth in this wyse (¶ Si tibi deficiant medici medici tibi fiant : hec tria mens leta labor & moderata dieta.
¶ Ye shall vnderstonde that this is for to saye / Yf a man lacke leche or medicyne he shall make thre thynges his leche & medycyne : and he shall nede neuer no moo. The fyrste of theym is a mery thought. The seconde is labour not outrageo
. The thyr | de is dyete mesurable. Fyrste that yf a man wyll euer more be in mery thoughtes and haue a gladde spyryte : he must eschewe all contraryous company & all places of debate where he myghte haue ony occasyons of malencoly. And yf he woll haue a labour not outrageous he must thenne ordeyne him to his her | tys ease and pleasaunce wythout studye pensyfnesse or trauey | le a mery occupacyon whyche maye reioyce his herte : & in why | che his spyrytes may haue a mery delyte. And yf he woll be dy | etyd mesurably he must eschewe all places of ryotte whyche is cause of surfette and of syknesse / And he must drawe him to pla | ces of swete ayre and hungry : And ete nourishable meetes and dyffyable also.
