CHAPTER VIII.

Verily it is proved that richesse, dignitè, and power ben not trewe way to the knotte, but as rathe by suche thinges the knotte to be unbounde; wherfore on these thinges I rede no wight truste to gette any good knotte. But what shul we saye of renomè in the peoples mouthes? Shulde that ben any cause? 5 What supposest thou in thyn herte?'

'Certes,' quod I, 'yes, I trowe; for your slye resons I dare not safely it saye.'

'Than,' quod she, 'wol I preve that shrewes as rathe shul ben in the knotte as the good; and that were ayenst kynde.' 10

'Fayn,' quod I, 'wolde I that here; me thinketh wonder how renomè shuld as wel knitte a shrewe as a good person; renomè in every degree hath avaunced; yet wist I never the contrarye. Shulde than renomè accorde with a shrewe? It may not sinke in my stomake til I here more.' 15

'Now,' quod she, 'have I not sayd alwayes, that shrewes shul not have the knotte?'

'What nedeth,' quod I, 'to reherse that any more? I wot wel every wight, by kyndely reson, shrewes in knitting wol eschewe.'

'Than,' quod she, 'the good ought thilke knotte to have.' 20

'How els?' quod I.

'It were greet harm,' quod she, 'that the good were weyved and put out of espoire of the knotte, if he it desyred.'

'O,' quod I, 'alas! On suche thing to thinke, I wene that heven wepeth to see suche wronges here ben suffred on erthe; the 25 good ought it to have, and no wight els.'

'The goodnesse,' quod she, 'of a person may not ben knowe outforth but by renomè of the knowers; wherfore he must be renomed of goodnesse, to come to the knot.'

'So must it be,' quod I, 'or els al lost that we carpen.' 30

'Sothly,' quod she, 'that were greet harm, but-if a good man might have his desyres in service of thilke knot, and a shrewe to be +weyved, and they ben not knowen in general but by lacking and praysing, and in renomè; and so by the consequence it foloweth, a shrewe to ben praysed and knit; and a good to be 35 forsake and unknit.'

'Ah,' quod I tho, 'have ye, lady, ben here abouten; yet wolde I see, by grace of our argumentes better declared, how good and bad do acorden by lacking and praysing; me thinketh it ayenst kynde.' 40

'Nay,' quod she, 'and that shalt thou see as yerne; these elementes han contrarious qualitees in kynde, by whiche they mowe not acorde no more than good and badde; and in [some] qualitees they acorde, so that contraries by qualitè acorden by qualitè. Is not erthe drye; and water, that is next and bitwene 45 th'erthe, is wete? Drye and wete ben contrarie, and mowen not acorde, and yet this discordaunce is bounde to acorde by cloudes; for bothe elementes ben colde. Right so the eyre, that is next the water, is wete; and eke it is hot. This eyre by his hete contrarieth water that is cold; but thilke contrarioustè is oned +by 50 moysture; for bothe be they moyst. Also the fyr, that is next the +eyre and it encloseth al about, is drye, wherthrough it contrarieth +eyre, that is wete; and in hete they acorde; for bothe they ben hote. Thus by these acordaunces discordantes ben joyned, and in a maner of acordaunce they acorden by 55 conneccion, that is, knitting togither; of that accorde cometh a maner of melodye that is right noble. Right so good and bad arn contrarie in doinges, by lacking and praysing; good is bothe lacked and praysed of some; and badde is bothe lacked and praysed of some; wherfore their contrarioustee acorde bothe by 60 lacking and praysing. Than foloweth it, though good be never so mokel praysed, [it] oweth more to ben knit than the badde; or els bad, for the renomè that he hath, must be taken as wel as the good; and that oweth not.'

'No, forsothe,' quod I. 65

'Wel,' quod she, 'than is renomè no way to the knot. Lo, foole,' quod she, 'how clerkes wryten of suche glorie of renomè:--"O glorie, glorie, thou art non other thing to thousandes of folke but a greet sweller of eeres!" Many oon hath had ful greet renomè by false opinion of variaunt people. And what is fouler than 70 folk wrongfully to ben praysed, or by malice of the people giltlesse lacked? Nedes shame foloweth therof to hem that with wrong prayseth, and also to the desertes praysed; and vilanye and reproof of him that disclaundreth.

Good child (quod she) what echeth suche renomè to the 75 conscience of a wyse man, that loketh and mesureth his goodnesse, not by slevelesse wordes of the people, but by sothfastnesse of conscience? By god, nothing. And if it be fayr, a mans name be eched by moche folkes praysing, and fouler thing that mo folk not praysen? I sayd to thee a litel here-beforn, that no folk in 80 straunge countreyes nought praysen; suche renomè may not comen to their eeres, bycause of unknowing and other obstacles, as I sayde: wherfore more folk not praysen, and that is right foul to him that renomè desyreth, to wete, lesse folk praisen than renomè enhaunce. I trowe, the thank of a people is naught 85 worth in remembraunce to take; ne it procedeth of no wyse jugement; never is it stedfast pardurable. It is veyne and fleing; with winde wasteth and encreseth. Trewly, suche glorie ought to be hated. If gentillesse be a cleer thing, renomè and glorie to enhaunce, as in reckening of thy linage, than is gentilesse of thy 90 kinne; for-why it semeth that gentilesse of thy kinne is but praysing and renomè that come of thyne auncestres desertes: and if so be that praysing and renomè of their desertes make their clere gentillesse, than mote they nedes ben gentil for their gentil dedes, and not thou; for of thy-selfe cometh not such 95 maner gentilesse, praysinge of thy desertes. Than gentillesse of thyne auncesters, that forayne is to thee, maketh thee not gentil, but ungentil and reproved, and-if thou continuest not their gentilesse. And therfore a wyse man ones sayde: "Better is it thy kinne to ben by thee gentyled, than thou to glorifye of thy 100 kinnes gentilesse, and hast no desert therof thy-selfe."

How passinge is the beautee of flesshly bodyes, more flittinge than movable floures of sommer! And if thyne eyen weren as good as the lynx, that may seen thorow many stone walles, bothe fayre and foule, in their entrayles, of no maner hewe shulde apere to 105 thy sight; that were a foule sight. Than is fayrnesse by feblesse of eyen, but of no kynde; wherfore thilke shulde be no way to the knot; whan thilke is went, the knotte wendeth after. Lo, now, at al proves, none of al these thinges mowe parfitly ben in understanding, to ben way to the during blisse of the knotte. 110 But now, to conclusion of these maters, herkeneth these wordes. Very sommer is knowe from the winter: in shorter cours draweth the dayes of Decembre than in the moneth of June; the springes of Maye faden and +falowen in Octobre. These thinges ben not unbounden from their olde kynde; they have not lost her werke 115 of their propre estat. Men, of voluntarious wil, withsitte that hevens governeth. Other thinges suffren thinges paciently to werche; man, in what estat he be, yet wolde he ben chaunged. Thus by queynt thinges blisse is desyred; and the fruit that cometh of these springes nis but anguis and bitter; al-though it 120 be a whyle swete, it may not be with-holde; hastely they departe; thus al-day fayleth thinges that fooles wende. Right thus hast thou fayled in thy first wening. He that thinketh to sayle, and drawe after the course of the sterre _de polo antartico_, shal he never come northward to the contrarye sterre of _polus articus_; of whiche 125 thinges if thou take kepe, thy first out-waye-going "prison" and "exile" may be cleped. The ground falsed underneth, and so hast thou fayled. No wight, I wene, blameth him that stinteth in misgoing, and secheth redy way of his blisse. Now me thinketh (quod she) that it suffyseth in my shewing; the wayes 130 by dignetè, richesse, renomè, and power, if thou loke clerely, arn no wayes to the knotte.'

CH. VIII. 2. waye. 11. Fayne. howe. 14. maye. 16. Nowe. 18. wotte. 19. reason. 21. Howe. 22. great harme. 25. se.

31. great harme. 33. veyned; _read_ weyued. 38. se. howe. 41. se. 42. qualyties. 43. _I supply_ some. 46. therthe. 49. hotte. 50. colde. co_n_trariousty. my; _read_ by. 51. fyre. 52. erthe; _read_ eyre (_twice_). 56. connection. 58. arne. 60. contraryoustie. 62. _I supply_ it. 66. waye. 67. howe.

68. arte none. thynge. 69. great. one. great. 71. folke. 74. reprofe. 75. chylde. 76. measureth. 78. fayre. 79. folke. 80. the. beforne. folke. 83. folke. foule. 84. folke. 85. thanke. 86. worthe. 88. encreaseth. 89. clear thynge. 97-100. the (_thrice_). 101. haste. deserte. 102. Howe. beautie. 104. maye sene thorowe.

106. fayrenesse. 109-111. nowe (_twice_). 110. waye. 111. nowe. 114. folowen; _read_ falowen. 115. loste. 116. estate. 119. fruite. 121. maye. 122. al-daye. haste. 125. northwarde. 127. grounde. 129. Nowe. 132. ways.