Foreknow ye, then, by necromantic might
Was rais’d this paradise of all delight:
A good knight own’d it first; he, bow’d with age,
Died, and his son possess’d the heritage:
But the lewd stripling, all to riot bent
(His chattles quickly wasted and forespent),
Was driven to see this patrimony sold
To the base carle of whom I lately told.
Ye wot right well there only need be sought
One spendthrift heir, to bring great wealth to nought.