Bothe lame, and seke, and hole them among, And in many corners wher that we go,

Wherof I wondre greatly why they do so; But oftymes whan that they vs se,

They do rene a great deale faster than we.

¶ Porter. Suche folkes be they that we do abiect,
We are not bound to haue to them aspect;
Those be mychers that lyue in trewandyse;
Hospytalyte dooth them alway despyse.

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Copland. Syr, I pray you, who hath of your relefe?

¶ Porter. Forsoth they that be at suche myschefe,1 That for theyr lyuyng can do no labour,

And haue no frendes to do them socour;

As old people, seke and impotent;

Poore women in chyldbed haue here easement;
Weyke men sore wounded by great vyolence,
And sore men eaten with pockes and pestylence,
And honest folke fallen in great pouerte

By myschaunce or other infyrmyte;
Wayfaryng men and maymed souldyours

Haue thyr relyef in this poore hous of ours; And all other, which we seme good and playne, Haue here lodgyng for a nyght or twayne; Bedred2 folke, and suche as can not craue,

In these places moost relyef they haue; And yf they hap within our place to dye,

1 In such an unfortunate case.

2 Bedridden.

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Than are they buryed well and honestly; But not euery vnseke1 stoborne knaue,

For than we shold ouer many haue.

¶ Copland. How say you by these comyn beggers

that crye

Dayly on the worlde, and in the hye wayes lye At Westmynster and at Saynt Poules,

And in all stretes they syt as desolate soules? Methynke it a very well done dede

With deuocyon suche people to fede.

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¶ Porter. Where ony gyueth almesse with good entent, The rewarde can not be nowyse mysspent.

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Copland. Ye, but syr, I wyll not lye, by my soule, As I walked to the chyrche of Saynt Poule, There sate beggers, on eche syde the way two, As is seen dayly they be wont to do. Syr, one there was, a myghty stoburne slaue, That for the other began to beg and craue: "Now, mayster, in the way of your good spede, To vs all four behold where it is nede; And make this farthyng worth a halfpeny, For the fyue ioyes of our blyssed lady !5

1i. e. unsick, whole.

2 Common.

3 On is as often as not used in the sense of in in old books. It frequently occurs in the New Testament.

4 Old ed. has it, it.

5 The Five Joys of the Virgin were five short poems, or rather a poem in five stanzas. celebrating the beatific condition and

Now turne agayn for Saynt Erasmus sake!

And on my bare knees here a vowe I make, Ovr ladyes psalter thre tymes euen now

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manifold virtues of Our Lady. A specimen is subjoined from a copy printed in Reliquiæ Antiquæ :

"Seinte Marie, levedi brizt,

Moder thou art of muchel mişt,

Quene in hevene of feire ble;

Gabriel to the he lişte,

The he brouste al wid rizte

Then holi gost to listen in the.
Godes word ful wel thou cnewe;
Ful mildeliche therto thou bewe,

Ant saidest, "So it mote be!"
Thi thone was studevast ant trewe;
For the joye that to was newe,
Levedi, thou have merci of me!

Seinte Marie, moder milde,

Thi fader bicome to one childe,

Suc joye ne scal never eft be.
The stronge fend, that was so wilde,
Godes hondiwere he spilde,

For on appel of the tre.

Levedi, mon thou broutest bote,
The stronge fend an under fote,

Tho thi sone was boren of the:
For the joye that tho was swote,
Levedi, yemme grace that I mote

Wid al mine mişte lovien the!

Seinte Marie, quene in londe,
Godes moder ant Godes sonde,

That te sculde ben so wo;
Jewes heden thi sone an honde,

VOL. IV.

D

To' turne agayn, as God shall turne to you!
Now, mayster, do that no man dyd this day,

On yone poore wretch, that rotteth in the way,
Now, mayster, for hym that dyed on tre,
Lete vs not dye for lacke of charyte !
Thus he prated, as he full well can,
Tyll at last an honest seruyng man
Came by the way, and by compassyon
Of his wordes dyd his deuocyon.
Whan he was gone a lytell fro thens,

I sawe the begger pull out xi pens,

Sayeng to his felawes: Se, what here is ;

Many a knaue haue I called mayster for this. Lete vs go dyne, this is a symple2 day,

Judas soldin hem to honde,

On the rode heo gonnen him slo;

The thridde dai he ros to live:
Levedi, ofte were thou blive,

Ac never so thou were tho.

Levedi, for then ilke sive

That tou were of thi sone blive,

Al mi sunnes thou do me fro!"

1 Old ed. has now.

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2 Simple is here employed in the sense of poor, or unprofitable. It also formerly stood for humble or lowly. Thus Caxton, in some of his colophons, describes himself as "symple person, William Caxton," and Alexander Scot uses it in a similar way:

"Send be thy sempill servand SANDERIS SCOTT,
Greting grit God to grant thy grace gude zeir."

Poems, ed. 1821, p. 12.

But perhaps the stricter meaning of simple in early compositions was not gentle, i. e. " somebody, not by birth a gentleman," and

My mayster therwith shall I scantly pay.Come these folkes hyther, good mayster porter?

Porter. No, in sothe; this hous is of no1 such

supporter;

They haue houses, and kepe full yll gestyng,
And to the resorte all the hole offspryng
In the Berbycan and in Turnmyll strete,2
In Houndesdyche and behynd the Flete;
And in twenty places mo than there,

Where they make reuell and gaudy chere,
With fyll the pot fyll, and go fyll me the can,
Here is my peny, and I am a gentylman.
And there they byd and fyll as dooth a gull;

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there is a passage in Scot's Poems, already quoted, where the word appears to bear this precise construction :

"So tho my lyking wer a leddy,
And I no lord zit no the less
Scho suld my serwyce find als reddy
As duke to duches docht him dress;
Ffor as prowd princely luve express
Is to haif souerenitie ;

So serwice cumis of sympilness,
And leilest luve of law degrè."

1 i.e. of none such, as we now less correctly say.

2 The whole of this locality seems to have enjoyed at that time an unenviable reputation, and it was in no better odour a century later, as is to be collected from the satirical writings of the reign of James I. At the commencement of the 17th century, Turnbull, or Turnmill, Street, however, was celebrated rather for its houses of ill repute than for its beggars' haunts and thieves' kitchens. Taylor, in his "Flyting with Fenner," says to his opponent: