INFANS. I wot not, sir, withouten blame;
But oftime my mother in her game
Called me Dalliance.
MUNDUS. Dalliance, my sweet child,
It is a name that is right wild,[194]
For when thou waxest old,
It is a name of no substance,
But, my fair child, what wouldst thou have?
INFANS. Sir, of some comfort I you crave:
Meat and clothes my life to save,
And I your true servant shall be.
MUNDUS. Now, fair child, I grant thee thine asking:
I will thee find while thou art ying,[195]
So thou wilt be obedient to my bidding.
These garments gay I give to thee,
And also I give to thee a name,
And clepe thee Wanton in every game,
Till fourteen year be come and gone,
And then come again to me.
WANTON. Gramercy, world, for mine array;
For now I purpose me to play.
MUNDUS. Farewell, fair child, and have good day:
All recklessness is kind for thee.
WANTON. Ha, ha, Wanton is my name:
I can many a quaint game.
Lo, my top I drive in same,
See, it turneth round!
I can with my scourge-stick
My fellow upon the head hit,
And lightly[196] from him make a skip,
And blear on him my tongue.
If brother or sister do me chide,
I will scratch and also bite:
I can cry, and also kick,
And mock them all berew.[197]
If father or mother will me smite,
I will ring with my lip,
And lightly from him make a skip,
And call my dame shrew.
Aha, a new game have I found:
See this gin, it renneth round!
And here another have I found,
And yet mo can I find.
I can mow[198] on a man,
And make a lesing[199] well I can,
And maintain it right well then.
This cunning came me of kind,
Yea, sirs, I can well geld a snail,
And catch a cow by the tail:
This is a fair cunning,
I can dance and also skip,
I can play at the cherry-pit,[200]
And I can whistle you a fit,[201]
Sires, in a willow rine:
Yea, sirs, and every day,
When I to school shall take the way
Some good man's garden I will essay,
Pears and plums to pluck.
I can spy a sparrow's nest,
I will not go to school but when me lest,[202]
For there beginneth a sorry feast,
When the master should lift my dock.
But, sirs, when I was seven year of age,
I was sent to the world to take wage,[203]
And this seven year I have been his page,
And kept his commandment.
Now I will wend to the world the worthy emperor.
Hail! Lord of great honour,
This seven year I have served you in hall and in bow'r
With all my true intent.[204]
MUNDUS. Now welcome, Wanton, my darling dear.
A new name I shall give thee here:
Love-Lust, Liking, in fere;
These thy names they shall be,
All game and glee, and gladness,
All love-longing in lewdness.
This seven year forsake all sadness,
And then come again to me.
LUST AND LIKING. Ha, ha, now Lust and Liking is my name.
I am as fresh as flowers in May,
I am seemly-shapen in same,
And proudly apparelled in garments gay:
My looks been full lovely to a lady's eye,
And in love-longing my heart is sore set:
Might I find a fode[205] that were fair and free,
To lie in hell till doomsday for love I would not let.
My love for to win
All game and glee,
All mirth and melody,
All revel and riot,
And of boast will I never blin.
But, sirs, now I am nineteen winter old,
I-wis, I wax wonder bold:
Now I will go to the world
A higher science to assay:
For the World will me avance,
I will keep his governance,
His pleasing will I pray,
For he is a king in all substance.
All hail! master, full of might,
I have you served both day and night:
Now I comen, as I you benight.[206]
One and twenty winter is comen and gone.
MUNDUS. Now welcome, Love-Lust and Liking,
For thou hast been obedient to my bidding.
I increase thee in all thing,
And mightly[207] I make thee a man:
Manhood Mighty shall be thy name.
Bear thee prest[208] in every game,
And wait[209] well that thou suffer no shame,
Neither for land nor for rent:
If any man would wait thee with blame,
Withstand him with thy whole intent,
Full sharply thou beat him to shame
With doughtiness of deed:
For of one thing, Manhood, I warn thee,
I am most of bounty,
For seven kings sewen[210] me
Both by day and night.
One of them is the king of pride,
The king of envy doughty in deed,
The king of wrath that boldly will abide,
For mickle is his might:
The king of covetise is the fourth:
The fifth king he hight sloth,
The king of gluttony hath no jollity,
There[21l] poverty is pight:[212]
Lechery is the seventh king,
All men in him have great delighting,
Therefore worship him above all thing,
Manhood, with all thy might.