¶ The love and complaints between Mars and Venus.  

O Lad ye fowls/ of this morrow grey  
Lo Uenus is risen among you rows red  
And flowers fresh/ honour ye this May  
For when the son vpryst thenne will ye spread  
But ye lovers/ taht lie in any dread  
Fleeth/ lest wyckde tongues yond espy  
Loo yond the son/ the candle of jealousy   

with tears blewe/ and with a wounded heart  
Take ye your leave with saint Iohn to borrow  
Appease ye some what/ of your sorrows smart  
Time cometh oft/ the cessen shall your sorrow  
The glad night/ is worth an heavy morrow  
Saint valentyn a fowl/ thus heard I sing  
Upon thy day/ ere the son 'gan upspring   

yet song this foul/ I read you all awake  
Rnd ye that have not chosen in humble wise  
without repenting/ cheese ye your make  
And ye that have full chosen/ as I devise  
yef at lest/ renoucleth your service  
confirm ye it perpetully tendure  
And patiently/ take y your adventure   

And for the worship/ of this high feast  
yet well I in my birds wise sing  
The sentence of the complaint atte lest  
That woeful Mars/ made at departing  
Of fresh Venus'/ in a morning  
when phoebus/ with his fiery torches red  
Rausaketh had/ every lover in his dread   

whilom the third heavens lord above  
As well by heavenish revolucyos  
As by desert/ hath won Venus his love  
And she hath take him in subjection  
And as a master taught him his lession  
Commanding/ that never in her service  
He near so bold/ noe lover to despise   

For she forbade him jealousy at all  
And cruelt/ boast/ and tyranny  
She made him at her lust so humble and tall  
That when her deigned cast on him her eye  
He took in patience to live or die  
And thus she holdeth him in her manner  
with nothing but with scourging of her cheer   

who reigneth now in bliss but Venus  
That hath this worthy knight in governance  
who singeth now but Mars that serveth thus  
The fair Venus'/ causer of pleasance  
He bindeth him/ to perpetual obeisance  
And she bindeth her/ to love him for ever  
But so be that his trespass it dissever   

Thus been they knit/ and regning in heaven  
By looking most/ till it fill on a tide  
That by their both assent/ was set a steven  
That Mars shall enter/ as fast as he may glide  
In to her next palace/ and there abide  
walking his course/ till she had him atake  
And he prayeth her to haste for his sake   

then said he thus/ mine hearts lady sweet  
ye know well my mischief in that place  
For sekerlyetyll that I with you meet  
My life stand there in adventure and grace  
But when I see/ the beauty of your face  
There is no dread of death/ may do me smart  
For all your lust/ is ease to mine heart   

She hath so great compassion of her knight  
That dwelleth in solitude/ till she come  
For it stood so/ that tylke time no wight  
counciled him there ne said to him welcome  
That nigh her wit for woe was overcome  
wherefore she sped her as fast in her weigh  
All most in one day/ as he died in fifty   

The great joy that was between them two  
when they been met/ there may no tongue tell  
There is no more/ but unto bed the go  
And thus in joy and bliss/ I let 'em dwell  
This worthy Mars that was of knighthood well  
The flower of fairness/ lappeth in his arms  
And Venus kisseth Mars/ the god of arms   

So journed hath this Mars of which I read  
In chamber/ amye the palace privily  
A certain time/ till him fill a dread  
thorough phoebus/ that was common hastily  
within the palace yates sturdily  
with torch in hand of which the streams bright  
On Venus' chamber/ knockeden full light   

The chamber there as lay this fresh queen  
depainted was/ with white boles great  
And by the light/ she knew the shone so sheen  
That phoebus came/ to burn hem with his here  
This silly Venus nigh dreynt/ in teeris weete  
Embraceth Mars/ and said alas I die  
The torehe is come that all this world will wreye   

Up sterteth Mars/ he lusteth not to sleep  
when he his lady heard/ so complain  
But for his nature was not for to weep  
In stead of teeris/ from his eyen twain  
The fiery sparkys/ breaken out for pain  
And hent his hauberk/ that lay him beside  
Flee would he not/ ne he might hem self hide   

He throweth on his helm of huge wight  
And great him with his sword/ & in his hand  
His mighty spear/ as he was wont to fight  
He shaketh so/ that all most it to wonde  
Full heavy was he/ to walken over land  
He may not hold with Venus' company  
But bade her flee/ lest phoebus died her espy   

O woeful Mars/ what mayst thou say  
That in the palace of thy distourbaunce  
Art left behind/ in peril to be slain  
And yet thereto/ double is thy penance  
For she that hath/ thine heart in governance  
Is passed half the streams of thine eyen  
That you near swift/ well mayst you weep/ & cryen   

Now fleeth Venus unto Cylenius tour  
with void/ course for fere of phoebus light  
Alas and there/ hath she no succour  
For she ne fond/ ne saw no manner wight  
And eke as there/ she hath but little might  
wherefore herselven for to hide and save  
within the cave/ she fled in to a cave   

dark was the cave/ and smoketh as the hell  
Not but two/ paces within the gate it stood  
A natural day in dark I let her dwell  
Now will I speak/ of Mars suryous and wood  
For sorrow he would have seen his heart blood  
Synon that he might do her no company  
He ne wrought not mite for do die   

So feeble he wax for heat and for his woe  
That nigh he swelte/ he might not endure  
He passed but one steyre in days two  
But natheless for all his heavy armure  
He followed her that is his lives cure  
For whose departing/ he took greater Ire  
Than for all his brennyg in the fire   

After he walketh softly a pace  
Complaining that it pity was to here  
O lady bright/ Venus' alas  
That ever so wide a compass is my spear  
Alas when shall I meet you heart dear  
This twelfth day of Apryll/ I endure  
through jealous phoebus/ this misadventure   

Now god help/ Sely Venus' all alone  
But as god would/ it happened for to be  
That while that Venus made her moan  
Cylenius riding in his chyvache  
From Venus' balance/ might his palace see  
And Venus salueth and doth cheer  
And her receiveth/ as his friend full dear   

Mars dwellit forth in his adversity  
Complaining ever/ on her departing  
And what his complaint was/ remembreth me  
And therefore/ in this lusty morning  
As I best can/ I will it say and sing  
And after that/ I will my leave take  
And god give every wight/ joy of his make   

¶ The campleynt. of Mars.  

The order of compleyning/ requireth skilfully  
That if a wight/ shall plain piteously  
There must be cause/ whereof he plain  
Or men may dame/ he pleynyth foolily  
And causeless/ alas and that am not I  
wherefore the ground & cause of all my pain  
So as my troubled wit/ may it attain  
I will rehearse/ not for to have redress  
But for to declare my ground of heaviness   

The first time/ alas that I was wrought  
And for certain effects hither brought  
By him that lordeth each intelligence  
I gaf my true service/ and my thought  
For evermore/ how dear I have it bought  
To her that is of so great excellence  
That what wight/ that first showeth his presence  
when she is wroth/ & maketh of him no cure  
He may not long/ in joy of love endure   

This is no feigned matter/ that I tell  
My lady is the very sours and well  
Of beauty/ lust/ freedom/ and gentleness  
Of rich array/ how dear men it sell  
Of all disport/ in which men friendly dwell  
Of love and play/ and of benign humblesse  
Of swoon of instrumentis of all sweetness  
And thereto so well fortuned and thewed  
That through the world/ her goodness is showed   

what wonder is then/ though I beset  
My service on such one/ that may me knit  
To weal or woe/ sin it lieth in her might  
wherefore mine heart/ for ever I to her heat  
Ne truly for my death/ shall I not let  
To been her truest servant/ and her knight  
I flatter not that may know every wight  
For this day in her service shall I die  
But grace be/ I see her never with eye   

To whom shall I plain of my distress  
who may me help who may my harm redress  
Shall I complain unto my lady fire  
Nay certes for she hath such heaviness  
For fear and eke for woe/ as I guess  
In little time/ it will her bane be  
But were she safe/ it were no force of me  
Alas that ever lovers moat endure  
For love/ so many perilous adventure   

For thought so be/ that lovers be as true  
As any metal that is forged new  
In many a case/ hem tyden oft sorrow  
Sometime their lady/ will on hem not rue  
Sometime/ if that jealousy it knew  
They mighten lightly their heed to borrow  
Sometime envious folk/ with tongues horowe  
Depraven 'em/ alas whom may they please  
But he be falls/ no lover hath none ease   

But what availeth such a long a sermon  
Of adventures of love/ up and down  
I will return/ and speaken of mine pain  
The point is this of my destruction  
My right lady my salvation  
Is in affray/ and note to whom to plain  
Of heart sweet lady sovereign  
For your disease well ought I swoon & swelte  
Though I none other harm ne dread felt   

To what fyn made he that sit so high  
beneath him love/ or company  
And streynth folk/ to love maugre their heed  
And then her joy/ for ougha I can espy  
Ne lasteth not/ twinkling of an eye  
And some have never joy/ till they be deed  
what meaneth this/ what is this mystyhede  
whereto constraineth he/ his folk so fast  
Thing to desire but if it should last   

And though he made a lover/ love a thing  
And maketh it steadfast and during  
yet put he in it such misadventure  
That rest is there none his giving  
And that is wonder/ that so Just a king  
Doth such hardness/ to his creature  
Thus whether love break orellies dure  
Algates he that hath with love to done  
Hath ofter woe/ than changed is the moan   

It seemeth/ he hath to lovers enemyt  
And like a fisher/ as men alday see  
Bayteth his angle hook with some pleasance  
Till many a fish is wood/ till that he be  
seized therewith/ and then at erst hath he  
All his desire/ and therewith all mischance  
And though the line break/ he hath penance  
For with the hook/ he wornded is so sore  
That he his wages hath for evermore   

¶ Of the broche of Thebes  
The broche of thebes/ was of such a kind  
So full of rubies/ and of stones ynde  
That every wight/ that set on it an eye  
He wend anon to worth out of his mind  
So sore the beauty/ would his heart bind  
Till he it had/ him thought he must die  
And when it was his/ thnne he should dreye  
Such woe for dread/ ay while that he it had  
That welnyghe for the fear/ he should mad   

And when it was for his possession  
then had he double woe and passion  
For he/ so fair a treasure hath forego  
But yet this broche as in conclusion  
was not the cause of his confusion  
But he that wrought it/ Infortuned it so  
That every wight that had it should have woe  
And therefore in the worker was the vice  
And in the coveyter that was so nice   

So fareth it by lovers and by me  
For though my lady have so great beauty  
That I was mad/ till I had her grace  
She was not cause of mine adversity  
But he that wrought her/ also moat I thee  
And put such a beauty in her face  
That made me coveten and purchase  
Mine owen death/ him wite I that I die  
And mine unwytteth at ever I clomb so high   

But ye now hardy knights of renown  
Synon that ye be of my division  
All be it not worth/ to so great a name  
yet sayne these clerks/ I am your patron  
Therefore ye ought to have some compassion  
Of my disease/ and take it not a game  
The proudest of you/ may be made full tame  
wherefore I pray youw/ your gentleness  
That ye complain for mine heaviness   

And ye my ladies that been true and stable  
By way of kind/ ye owentobe able  
To have pity/ of folk that been in pine  
Now have ye cause/ to cloth you in sable  
Sin that your empress/ the honourable  
Is desolate/ well ought ye complain  
Now should your holy tears fall and rain  
Alas your honour/ and your emperyce  
Is nigh deed for dread/ ne can her not chevye   

Complain eke ye lovers all in fere  
For her that with unfeigned humble cheer  
was ever ready/ to do you succour  
Complain ye her/ that ever hath had you dear  
Complain ye beauty/ freedom/ and manner  
Complain ye her/ that needeth your labour  
Complain ye thilk sample of all honour  
That never died/ but all gentleness  
Lrythe ye therefore on her some kindness    

¶ The complaint of Venus for Mars.  

There nies so high comfort to my pleasance  
when that I am in any heaviness  
As for to have leisure of remembrance  
Upon the manhood and the worthiness  
Upon the truth/ and the steadfastness  
Of him/ whose I am/ all/ while I may dure  
There ought blame me no creature  
For every wight praiseth his gentylnessne   

In him eye bounty wisdom and governance  
well more/ than any manes wit can guess  
For grace hath would him so farforth tavaunce  
That of knighthood/ he is perfect richesse  
Honour honoverth him/ for his noblesse  
Thereto so well/ hath formed him nature  
That I am his for ever/ I him assure  
For every wight praiseth his gentilesse   

And not withstanding all his suffisance  
His gentle heart/ is of so great humblesse  
To me in work/ in word/ in countenance  
And me to serve is all his business  
That I am set in very sickerness  
Thus ought I well bliss mine aveture  
Sith that him list me serve in honure  
For every wight praiseth his gentilesse   

Now certes love/ it is right covenable  
That men full dear abye/ thy noble thing  
As wake a bed/ fasting at the cable  
weeping to laugh/ and sing in copleyneg  
And soon to cast visage and looking  
Often to change visage and countenance  
Pley in sleeping/ and dream at the dance  
All the reverse/ of my glad feeling   

jealousy be hanged with a cable  
She would all know/ thuegh her espyeg  
There doth no wight/ nothing so reasonable  
That all nies harm/ in her imagining  
Thus dear about/ is love in giving  
which oft he giveth/ without ordinance  
As sorrow enough/ and little pleasance  
All the reverse/ of my glad feeling   

A little time/ his yefet is agreeable  
But full encombrous/ is the using  
For subtle jalusye/ the deceivable  
Full oft time causeth destourbing  
Thus been we ever/ in dread and suffering  
In noncertayne we languishing in penance  
And have full oft many a hard mischance  
All the reverse of my glad feeling   

But certes love/ I say not in such wise  
That for to scape out of your laas I mente  
For I so long have been in your service  
That for to let of/ will I never assent  
Now force/ though jealousy me torment  
sufficeth me to see him when I may  
And therefore certe/ to mine ending day  
To love him best/ shall I never repent   

And certes love when I me well advise  
On every estate/ that men may represent  
Thenne have ye made me through your franchise  
Cheese the best/ the ever on earth went  
Now love well her/ & look thou never stente  
And let the jealous put it in assay  
That for no pain/ would I not say nay  
To love you best/ shall I never repent   

Hehrte to the it ought enough suffice  
That love to thee/ so byghe a grace hath sent  
To cheese the worthiest/ of all wise  
And most agreeable/ unto mine intent  
Seek no further/ neither weigh ne went  
Sin I have suffisance/ unto my pay  
Thus would I end/ this complaint or lay  
To love him best/ ne shall I never repent    

¶ Thenuoye.  

princes receive ye/ this complaint in gre  
Unto your excellent benignity  
Direct after my little suffisance  
For eld/ that in my spirit dulleth me  
Hath of inditing/ all the subtlety  
well nigh bereft out of my remembrance  
And eke to me it is a great penance  
Sith rhyme in englysse/ hath suhe scarcete  
To follow word by word the curiosity  
Of grauntson flower of him/ the make in france   
¶ Explicit the compleyces of Maris and Venus/ and of the broche of Thebes.    

¶ Here followeth the council of Chaucer touching Maryag etc. which was sent te Bucketon etc.  

My master bucketon/ when of cryst our king  
was asked/ what is troth or soothfastness  
He not one word answered to that asking  
As who saith/ no man is all true I guess  
And therefore/ though I hight you texpresse  
The sorrow and woe/ that is in marriage  
I dare not write of it no wickedness  
Lest I myself/ fall eft in such dotage   

I will not seyechow that is the cheyve  
Of sathanas/ on which he gnaweth for  
But I dare sayn/ were he out of his pain  
As by his will/ he would be bound never  
But thlke doted fool/ that oft hath liefer  
ychyned be/ than out of prison creep  
God late him never fro his woe dissever  
Ne noman him by wail though he weep   

But yet lest thou do worse take a wife  
Bet is to wed/ than bren in worse wise  
But you shalt have sorrow on thy flesh thy life  
And be thy wives trall/ as sayne the wise  
And if that holo writ/ may not suffice  
Experience shall the teach/ so may hap  
That the were liefer betake infryse  
Than oft fall of wedding in the trap   

This little writ/ proverbs/ or figure  
I send you/ take keep of it/ I read  
unwise is he/ that can no well endure  
If thou be sicker/ pua the not in dread  
The wife of bathe/ I pray you that ye read  
Of this matter/ that we have no hand  
God grant you/ your lyffrely tolede  
In fredum/ for full hard is to be bond   
 
¶ Explicit.   

¶ The first finders of the seven. sciences artyficyall.  

jubal was father and find first of song  
Of consonants/ and of harmony  
By swooning of the hamer as it rung  
From Tubal/ came first the melody  
Of sugared music/ and menystralcye  
So proceeding down/ fro man to man  
Practyk of concord/ as jave told began   

¶ Saturn.  
Saturn taught first tilth of land  
His douhter Ceres/ made men ere and sow  
The golden world/ he compaced with his hand  
Of seed and greyne/ the difference to know  
Of trees/ herbs/ growing high and low  
Summer season the bawyme above most swote  
And in cold winter the virtue in the rote   

¶ Mars.  
The mighty Mars/ called god of wars  
Prudent pallas/ fond first out armour  
This god & goddess/ sit among the stars  
Tubal cain/ of steel fond the temprure  
And forged plates/ long for tendure  
Thus these there/ by martial apparel  
Be called in books/ patron of battle   

Craft of wlles/ and of cloth weaving  
Fond minerve/ of spinning chief goddess  
And Delbora/ of linen cloth making  
The practic sought books beareth witness  
In all such craft was chief master  
But Semyramys/ as books specify  
Fond first breach/ mine author list not lie   

Loo here diane/ princess of venery  
In forest walking/ like an hunteresse  
Having her palace/ fer above the sky  
called Lucina there showing her brightness  
Of hunting/ hawking & fishing chief goddess  
Every month her course/ she doth renew  
Now full, now wane now bright now pale of hew   

Mercure called for man's great avail  
God of oloquence/ and of merchandise  
Argon fond first carft/ of sheppe and sail  
And Neptunus'/ the sailing can devise  
To pass the see/ in many sundry wise  
which to merchants is full necessary  
Their stuff & bales/ fro land to land to carry   

Phoebus' fond first a craft of medicine  
By touch of powns vain/ and inspections  
Esculapius taught forth the doctrine  
To know the qualities/ of iiii complexions  
Of lectuaryes/ drugs and potions  
And among all/ there is nothing more meet  
though health of man/ than a tempear diet    

¶ Thauctours'auctors of seven sciences.  

Auctor of gramarye/ was whilom Precyan  
Euclyde excelsed in craft of geometry  
Tullius in rhetoric/ was a famous man  
Hermogines father of philosophy  
Boece wrote of music and of melody  
Of metrephisyke wrote Aristotyles  
Albumazar also astronomy  
finders of scyencis/ and virtuous increases    

¶ The seven sciences liberal.  

Of seven sciences called liberal  
Grammar teacheth congruity and writing  
And philosophy in especial  
Telleth the natures of every manner thing  
Ars metryque/ craft of proporconning  
music concord/ and rhetoric eloquence  
Astrovomye by diurnal moving  
The world governeth/ by heavenly Influence    

¶ The disposition of the seven planets.  

Saturn disposeth a man to melancholy  
jupiter raiseth a man to great noblesse  
And sturdy Mars/ to strife war and envy  
Phoebus to wisdom/ and to high prowess  
Mercury/ to be changeable and doubleness  
The moan mutable. now glad. & now dryping  
And gnery Venus'/ full of newfauglenes  
Make men unstable here in her living    

¶ The disposition of the xii signs.  

Aries is hot and also choleric  
And in the heed/ keepeth his domination  
Taurus in the throat/ be man hole or sick  
That part hath he in supportation  
G minis eke/ by revolution  
Hath in th'arms his Influence and working  
How should a man than be steadfast of living   

Cancer hath the breast in his demesne  
Of the heart/ lordship hath the lion  
Uirgo the governance/ hath of twain  
Of navel and womb/ and Libra lower down  
The members of man/ guerneth the scorpion  
By this reason/ the philosopher's seeing  
Is that man can/ not be steadfast in living   

Of all the signs/ reckoned here tofore  
The thighs of man governeth sagittary  
And knees and lengges/ hath Capricorn  
Eke the calf downward pertaineth to aquary  
And the feet/ I will not long tarry  
Piss hath them in his keeping  
How should a man be steadfast of living    

¶ The disposition of the iiii complexions  

The sangweyn man/ of bllood hath hardiness  
wrought to be loving/ large of dispense  
The fleumatyk man/ sloth expssith with dullness  
white of visage/ rude of eloquence  
And sith there is to man suchedufference  
By complexions diversly working  
Answer hereto/ concluding this sentence  
How that a man might be steadfast of living   

The coleryk man/ subtle and deceivable  
Sklender leave/ and citrine of his colour  
wroth suddenly wooed and not treatable  
And full of envy/ malice and rancaur  
Drye thirsty/ and a great waster  
Disposed to many a sundry thing  
with pomp and boast/ hasty to do rigour  
Ben such men stable in her living   

melancholy/ of his complexion  
disposed by kind/ for to be fraudelent  
malicious froward/ and by disception  
Forging dyscordesr double of his intent  
which things poised by good advisement  
I dare conclude/ as to my feeling  
By confirmation/ as in sentent  
Few men been be here stable in her living    

¶ The disposition of the iiii elements.  

The world so wide the air so removable  
The cely man so little of stature  
The graf and ground of clothing so mutable  
The fire so hot/ and subtle of nature  
water never in one/ what creature  
Made of these four/ which been so flitting  
May stable be/ here in this living   

Man of th'earth hath sloth and heaviness  
Flux and reflux/ by water made unstable  
Lryndely of air/ he hath also sweetness  
By fire made hasty wood and not treatable  
To earth again/ by process comparable  
seld or never/ in one point abiding  
How should he thenne/ be stable in living   

Fire resolveth earth to be watyre  
And watery things/ fire turneth in air  
maketh hard things nesshe & fire naturally  
So changeth many things varyably  
Though hard he is that shone bright & fair  
which element hath in man great working  
How should he than/ be stable in living   

Air of kind/ giveth inspiration  
To man's heart/ thing most temperatyf  
And kindly heat/ giveth respiration  
Of subtle air/ and a great medicatyf  
To tempre the spirits/ by virtue vegitatyf  
And sith that air/ in man is thus moving  
How should he than/ be steadfast of living   

water some whle is congealed to crystal  
Cold and moist/ as of his nature  
Now ebbeth now floweth which inespecyall  
The might of the moan doth her course recure  
And sith this element/ by record of scripture  
Is one of the four/ compact of our making  
I would inquire/ what manner creature  
Made of these four/ were steadfast of living    

¶ The disposition of the four seasons of the year  

Man hath in summer dryenes and heat  
In thyr books as auctors list express  
And when phoebus entrith the Ariete  
Dygeste humours upward done 'em dress  
Poorys open/ that season of sweetness  
And exaltations/ diversely werwing  
How should man be stable in luing   

autumn to Ueer/ fcunden is contrary  
As Galyen saith/ in all his qualities  
disposing a man/ that season to vary  
To many uncouth strauge infirmities  
Of canyculer days/ taking the properties  
By revelation/ many fold changing  
How should men thenne be stable in living   

Man hath in winter/ in this pleasant life  
By disposition/ cold and humydyte  
which season/ is to phlegm nutrytyf  
Spoileth herb and tree of their fresh beauty  
Colsyth & constraineth the pooris men may 〈◊〉  
Causeth kindly heat/ inward to be werkyn  
How should man thenne/ be stable in living   

By Ueer man hath heat and eke moisture  
atween both/ a man of temperance  
In which twain/ great lust he doth recure  
If cold him put not in distemperance  
This meint with dread is mans governaun  
Ay in no certain/ by record of writing  
How should he thenne be gable in living    

¶ The dispocyon of the world.  

The monethis vary everich hath his sign  
And hard it is all wedrs for to know  
The time some while is gracious/ & benign  
And upon hyilles and valleys that benlowe  
The four winds/ contrarious do blow  
In every storm/ man is here abiding  
Some to relieve/ and some to overthrow  
How should man thenne/ be steadfast in living   

The worldly answer/ fortune transmutable  
Trust of lordship/ a faint sekernes  
Every season varieth/ friendship is unstable  
Now mirth now sorrow/ now he'll now sickness  
Now ebb of poverty now floods of riches  
And stont in change/ now loss/ now winning  
Tempest in see/ and winds sturdiness  
Make men unstable/ and fearful of living   

Titan somewhile freshly doth appear  
Thenne cometh a storm & doth his light deface  
The soil of summer/ with flouris glad of cheer  
winters razor doth them a way race  
all earthly things suddenly done pace  
which may here have no sicker abiding  
Eke all estates falls fortune doth menace  
How should a man/ be steafast of living   

Behold and see/ the transmutation  
How the season/ of green lusty age  
Force of juventus/ strong. hardy. as a lion  
Time of manhood/ wisdom lad of courage  
And how decrepitus/ turneth to dotage  
Cast all in a & alaunce/ and forget nothing  
And thou shalt see in this life a pilgrimage  
je which there is no stedeast abiding   

The 〈◊〉 ●yfte up thine eyen unto heaven  
And pray thy lord/ which is eternal  
That sit so far/ above the stars seven  
In his rial place/ most Imperall  
To grant the grace/ in this life mortal  
Contrition/ shrift/ housel/ at departing  
And ere thou part hens/ remssyon final  
To ward the life/ where joy is everlasting    
AMEN  

¶ This in pryntyde in westmoster inking. street. For me julianus Notarii.