by sharpnesse of their resons. Utterly these thinges be no

dremes ne japes, to throwe to hogges; it is lyflich mete for

children of trouthe; and as they me betiden, whan I pilgrimaged

out of my kith in winter; whan the †weder out of mesure was

boystous, and the wylde wind Boreas, as his kind asketh, with

125

dryinge coldes maked the wawes of the occian-see so to aryse

unkyndely over the commune bankes, that it was in poynte to

spille al the erthe.

Thus endeth the Prologue; and here-after foloweth the