PAL. Sicker,1 now I see thou speakest of

spite,

All for thou lackest somdele2 their delight.
I (as I am) had rather be envied,
All were it of my foe, than fonly3 pitied;

And yet, if need were, pitied would be,
Rather than other should scorn at me;
For pitied is mishap that n'as remedy,
But scorned be deeds of fond5 foolery.
What shoulden shepherds other things tend,
Than, sith their God his good does them send,
Reapen the fruit thereof, that is pleasure,
The while they here liven at ease and leisure?
For, when they be dead, their good is ygoe,
They sleepen in rest, well as other moe:7
Then with them wends what they spent in cost,
But what they left behind them is lost.
Good is no good, but if it be spend;

God giveth good for none other end.

PIERS. Ah! Palinode, thou art a world's child:

Who touches pitch, must needs be defil'd;

But shepherds (as Algrind* used to say)
Must not live alike as men of the lay.10
With them it sits 11 to care for their heir,
Enaunter 12 their heritage do impair:
They must provide for means of maintenance,
And to continue their wont countenance:
But shepherd must walk another way,
Sike13 worldly sovenance 14 he must for-say.15
The son of his loins why should he regard
To leave enriched with that he hath spar'd?
Should not thilk 16 God, that gave him that good,
Eke cherish his child, if in his ways he stood?
*'Algrind:' Archbishop Grindall.

For if he mislive in lewdness and lust,
Little boots all the wealth, and the trust,
That his father left by inheritance;

All will be soon wasted with misgovernance:
Unbelief. But through this, and other their miscreance,1
2 Bargain. They maken many a wrong chevisance,2
Heaping up waves of wealth and woe,
The floods whereof shall them overflow.
Sike men's folly I cannot compare
Better than to the ape's foolish care,
That is so enamoured of her young one,
(And yet, God wot, such cause had she none,)
That with her hard hold, and strait embracing,
She stoppeth the breath of her youngling.
So oftentimes, whenas good is meant,
Evil ensueth of wrong intent.

3 Truly.

The time was once, and may again retorn,
(For aught may happen, that hath been beforn,)
When shepherds had none inheritance,

Ne of land nor fee in sufferance,

But what might arise of the bare sheep,
(Were it more or less) which they did keep.
Well ywis3 was it with shepherds then:
Naught having, naught fear'd they to forgo;
For Pan himself was their inheritance,
And little them servéd for their maintenance.
The shepherds' God so well them guided,
That of naught they were unprovided;
Butter enough, honey, milk, and whey,
And their flocks' fleeces them to array:
But tract of time, and long prosperity,
(That nurse of vice, this of insolency,)
Lulled the shepherds in such security,

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That, not content with loyal obeisance,

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Some gan to gape for greedy governance,
And match them self with mighty potentates,
Lovers of lordship, and troublers of states:
Then gan shepherds' swains to look aloft,
And leave to live hard, and learn to ligg1 soft:
Then, under colour of shepherds, somewhile
There crept in wolves, full of fraud and guile,
That often devouréd their own sheep,
And often the shepherds that did them keep:
This was the first source of shepherds' sorrow,
That now nill2 be quit with bail nor borrow.3

PAL. Three things to bear be very burdenous,
But the fourth to forbear is outrageous:
Women, that of love's longing once lust,
Hardly forbearen, but have it they must:
So when choler is inflamed with rage,
Wanting revenge, is hard to assuage:
And who can counsel a thirsty soul,
With patience to forbear the offer'd bowl?
But of all burdens, that a man can bear,
Most is, a fool's talk to bear and to hear.
I ween the giant has not such a weight,
That bears on his shoulders the heaven's height.
Thou findest fault where n'is5 to be found,
And buildest strong work upon a weak ground:
Thou railest on right withouten reason,
And blamest them much for small encheason.
How shoulden shepherds live, if not so?
What? should they pinen in pain and woe?
Nay, say I thereto, by my dear borrow,7
If I may rest, I nills live in sorrow.

Sorrow ne need to be hasten'd on,
For he will come, without calling, anon,
While times enduren of tranquillity,

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1 Lie.

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2 Will not. 3 Pledge.

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• Atlas.

5 Is not.

6 Occasion.

1507 Surety, Saviour. 8 Will not

1 Violences.

2 Is unseemly. 3 Such.

• Blame.

That which.

6 Rather.

Usen we freely our felicity;

For, when approachen the stormy stowres,1
We must with our shoulders bear off the sharp
show'rs;

And, sooth to sayn, naught seemeth2 sike3 strife,
That shepherds so witen each other's life,
And layen their faults the worlds beforn,
The while their foes do each of them scorn.
Let none mislike of that may not be mended;
So contest soon by concord might be ended.

PIERS. Shepherd, I list no accordance make
With shepherd, that does the right way forsake;
And of the twain, if choice were to me,
Had lever my foe than my friend he be;
For what concord have light and dark sam?7
Or what peace has the lion with the lamb?
Traitors. Such faitours, when their false hearts be hid,
Will do as did the Fox by the Kid.*

7 To

gether.

9 This.

10 Went.

PAL. Now, Piers, of fellowship, tell us that

saying;

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For the lad can keep both our flocks from straying.
PIERS. Thilk same Kid (as I can well devise)

Was too very foolish and unwise;

For on a time, in summer season,
The Goat her dam, that had good reason,
Yode 10 forth abroad unto the green wood,

To brouze, or play, or what she thought good:
But, for she had a motherly care

Of her young son, and wit to beware,

She set her youngling before her knee,

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'Fox,' 'Kid :' 'By the Kid may be understood the simple sort of the faithful and true Christians; by his dam, Christ, that hath already with careful watchwords (as here doth the Goat) warned her little ones to be ware of such doubling deceit; by the Fox, the false and faithless Papists, to whom is no credit to be given, nor fellowship to be used.'-E. K.

That was both fresh and lovely to see,
And full of favour as kid might be.
His velvet head began to shoot out,

And his wreathéd horns gan newly sprout;
The blossoms of lust to bud did begin,
And spring forth rankly under his chin.
My son,' (quoth she, and with that gan weep;
For careful thoughts in her heart did creep ;)
'God bless thee, poor orphan! as he might me,
And send thee joy of thy jollity.

Thy father,' (that word she spake with pain,
For a sigh had nigh rent her heart in twain,)
Thy father, had he lived this day,
To see the branch of his body display,
How would he have joy'd at this sweet sight?
But ah! false Fortune such joy did him spite,
And cut off his days with untimely woe,
Betraying him into the trains of his foe.
Now I, a wailful widow behight,2
Of my old age have this one delight,
To see thee succeed in thy father's stead,
And flourish in flowers of lustihead;
For even so thy father his head upheld,
And so his haughty horns did he weld.'3
Then marking him with melting eyes,
A thrilling throb from her heart did arise,
And interrupted all her other speech

With some old sorrow that made a new breach; 210
Seeméd she saw in her youngling's face
The old lineaments of his father's grace.

3 Wield, bear.

At last her sullen silence she broke,
And gan his new-budded beard to stroke.

Kiddie,' (quoth she,) thou kenst5 the great care I have of thy health and thy welfare,

4 Sad.

5 Knowest