Part 12

O mortall folke! revolve in your mynde That worldly joye and frayle prosperitie What is it lyke, but a blast of wynde? For you therof can have no certaintie: It is nowe so full of mutabilitie; Set not your mynde upon worldly wealth, But evermore regarde your soules health.

When earth in earth hath tane his corrupt taste, Then to repent it is for you to late; When you save tyme, spende it nothing in waste; Tyme past with vertue must enter the gate Of joye and blysse, with myne hye estate, Without tyme for to be everlastyng, Whiche God graunt us at our last endyng.

Nowe, blessed lady of the health eternall, The quene of comfort and of heavenly glory, Praye to thy swete sonne whiche is infinall, To geve me grace to wynne the victory Of the devill, the worlde, and of my body, And that I may my selfe well apply Thy sonne and the to laude and magnifie.

_Here endeth the Pastime of Pleasure._

THE EXCUSATION OF THE AUCTOUR.

Unto all Poetes I do me excuse, If that I offende for lacke of science; This lyttle boke yet do ye not refuse, Though it be devoyde of famous eloquence; Adde or detra by your hye sapience; And pardon me of my hye enterpryse, Whiche of late this fable dyd fayne and devise.

Go, little boke! I praye God the save From misse metryng by wrong impression; And who that ever list the for to have, That he perceyve well thyne intencion, For to be grounded without presumption, As for to eschue the synne of ydlenes; To make suche bokes I apply my busines.

Besechyng God for to geve me grace Bokes to compyle of moral vertue; Of my maister Lidgate to folowe the trace, His noble fame for laude and renue, Whiche in his lyfe the slouthe did eschue; Makyng great bokes to be in memory, On whose soule I pray God have mercy.

FINIS.

¶ Imprinted at London in Fletestreate, at the signe of the Hande and Starre, by Rychard Tottell. Anno M.D.L.V.

Transcriber's Notes

--Provided an original book-cover image, free for use with this e-text.

--Preserved copyright notice in printed copy, although the e-text is public domain in the country of publication.

--Silently corrected one word ("re_n_enue" to "re_u_enue") based on the apparatus of a critical edition of the text

--Silently corrected "punishme_u_t" to "punishme_n_t" on page 101.

--Comparing Table of Contents with section headings, fixed inconsistencies by adding chapter headings XVII and XXVII in the approximate location.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Pastime of Pleasure, by Stephen Hawes