"Do-well and Do-bet and Do-best the third," quoth he, 66 Are three fair virtues and be not far to find.

Whoso is true of his tongue and of his two handes,

And through his labour or through his land his lifelode1 winneth,

And is trusty of his taling, taketh but his owne,

And is not drunkenlew ne dedeignous, Do-well him followeth.
Do-bet doth right thus, but he doth much more;
He is as low as a lamb, and lovely of speech,
And helpeth all men after that2 them needeth.
Do-best is above both, and beareth a bishop's cross,
Is hooked on that one end, to hale men fro helle."

I thanked Thought then, that he me thus taught: "But yet savoureth me nought thy saying; I covet to learn How Do-well, Do-bet, and Do-best done amongst the people." "But Wit can wiss thee," quoth Thought, "where tho three dwell;

Else wot I none that can that now is alive."

Thought and I thus three days we geden
Disputing upon Do-well day after other ;6
And, ere we were aware, with Wit gan we meet.
He was long and lean, like to none other;
Was no pride on his apparel, ne poverty neither;
Sad of his semblaunt and of soft cheere.7

I durst move no matter to make him to jangle,
But as I bade Thought then be mean betweene,
And put forth some purpose to proven his wittes...
Then Thought in that time saide these wordes :-
"Where Do-well, Do-bet, and Do-best been in londe, 9
Here is Will10 would y-wit,11 if Wit couthe teach him;

And whether he be man or no man, this man fain would

aspye,

12

And worken as they three would; this is his intent."

JEWS ARE MORE CHARITABLE TO ONE ANOTHER THAN

CHRISTIANS.

Should no Christian creature crien at the gate,

Ne fail pain1 ne potage, and prelates did as they shoulden. A Jew would not see a Jew go jangling for defaute2

For all the meubles on this mould,3 and he amend it mighte.
Alas, that a Christian creature shall be unkind till another,
Sithen Jews, that we judge Judas' fellows,

Either of them helpeth other of that that him needeth.
Why ne will we Christian of Christ's good be as kind
As Jews that been our lores-men! Shame to us alle!
The commune for their unkindness, I dreads me, shall abye;"
Bishops shall be blamed for beggars' sake.

He is worse than Judas that giveth a japer1o silver,
And biddeth the beggar go for his broke clothes.

Passus IX.

THE TRUEST CHARITY IS FOUND AMONG THE POOR.

But mirth and minstrelsy amongst men is noughte: Lecherie, losengerie, and loseles tales,11

Gluttony and great oathes, this mirth they loveth;

And, if they carpen of Christ, these clerks12 and these lewed,13 Atte meat in their mirthes when minstrels been stille,

Then telleth they of the Trinity a tale other 14 twain,

And bringeth forth a bald reason and taken Bernard 15 to witness,

And putten forth a presumption to prove the sothe.16
Thus they drivel at their dais the Deity to know,
And gnawen God with the gorge when their gut is full.
And the careful 17 may cry and carpen at the gate,
Both a-hungred and a-thirst, and for chill quake.
Is 18 none to nimmen 19 him near, his annoy to amend;
But howlen on him as an hound and hoten him go hence.
Little loveth he that Lord that lent him all that bliss
That thus parteth 20 with the poor a parcel 21 when him needeth.
Ne were mercy in mean men more than in riche,
Mendicants meatless might go to bed.

9 Suffer penalty.

12 Learned or churchmen. 15 St. Bernard.

22

3 Goods, or moveables,
6 Instructors.
10 Jester.

on his ground (Fr. meubles). 7 The people. 8 Fear. 11 Rascally stories. 14 Or. 17 Full of care, i.e. the poor.

13 Unlearned men or laity.

16 Truth.

In kirtle and in courtepy,1 and a knife by his side;
Of a friar's frock were the fore-sleeves.

And as a leek had y-lain long in the sunne,

So looked he with lean cheeks, louring foule.

His body was to-bolle2 for wrath, that he bit his lippes; And wringing he gede3 with the fist; to wreak himself he thoughte,

With works or with words when he seigh his time.
Each a word that he warpe was of an adder's tongue;
Of chiding and of challenging was his chief lifelode,
With back-biting and bismer7 and bearing of false witness :
This was all his courtesy where that ever he shewed him.
"I would be y-shrive," quoth this shrew,8 " and I for shame
durst.

I would9 ben gladder, by God, that Gib had mischance
Than though I had this week y-won a weigh of Essex cheese.
I have a neighbour nigh me, I have envied him ofte,
And lowen10 on him to lordes to don11 him lose his silver,
And made his friends be his foen12 through my false tongue :
His grace and his good happes13 grieveth me full sore.
Between many and many I make debate ofte,
That both life and limb is lost through my speech.
And, when I meet him in market that I most hate,
I halse11 him hendeliche,15 as I his friend were ;
For he is doughtier than I; I dare do none other.
But, had I maistrie and mighte, God wot my wille !

And, when I come to the kirk, and should kneel to the Rode,1o
And pray for the people as the priest teacheth,

For pilgrims and for palmers, for all the people after,
Then I cry on my knees that Christ give them sorrow
That baren away my bowl and my broke sheete.17
Away from the altar then turn I mine eyen,
And behold how Eleyne hath a new coate;
I wish then it were mine, and all the web18 after.
And of men's losing I laugh; that liketh my hearte;
And for their winning I weep, and wail the time;
And deem that they done ill where I do well worse.
Whoso undernymeth me19 hereof, I hate him deadly after.
I would that every wight were my knave,20

For whoso hath more than I, that angreth me sore.
And thus I live loveless, like a luther21 dog."

12 Foes.

Passus V.

4 Saw,
8 Sinner.
13 Fortune,

5 Uttered. 9 Should be. 14 Embrace.

1 Shirt and jacket. 2 Swollen. 3 Go-ed, went.
6 Sustenance. 7 Calumny, besmearing.
10 Told lies. 11 Do, make.
15 Courteously. 16 Cross.

17 My torn garment. 18 Piece of cloth.

GLUTTONY.

Now beginneth Gluttoun for to go to shrifte,
And carries him to-kirk-ward his coupe1 to showe;
But Beton, the brewster,2 bade him good morrow,
And axed of him, with that, whitherward he wolde?
"To holy church," quoth he, "for to hear masse,
And sithen3 I will be shriven and sin no more."

“I have good ale, gossip,” quoth she; “Gluttoun, wilt thou
assay?"

"Hast thou in thy purse any hot spices?"

"I have pepper and pæonies," quoth she, "and a pound of garlicke,

A farthing's-worth of fennel-seed for fasting-dayes.”

Then goeth Gluttoun in, and great oaths after.

Cess the souteress5 sat on the benche;

Wat the warner,6 and his wife bothe;

Tim the tinker, and twain of his prentis ;7

8

Hick the hackney-man, and Hugh the needler;
Clarice of Cocks-lane, and the Clerk of the churche;
Daw the dyker, and a dozen other;

11

13

14

Sir Piers of Pridie, and Peronell of Flanders;
A ribibour, a ratoner,10 a raker of Chepe;
A roper, a redinking,12 and Rose the disheress;
Godfrey of Garlickhithe, and Griffin the Welshe,'
And upholders 15
an heap, early by the morrow ;
Given Gluttoun with glad cheer good ale to hansel.17 . .
There was laughing and louring, and "let go the cuppe;"
And seten so till evensong and songen umwhile,18

Till Gluttoun had y-globbèd a gallon and a gill.

16

He might neither step ne stond ere he his staff hadde ;
And then gan he go like a gleeman's bitch,

Some time aside and some time areare,

As who-so layeth lines for to latch19 fowles.

And when he drew to the doore then dimmed his eyen
He stumbled on the threshold and threw to the earthe;
Clement the cobbler caught him by the middle,
For to lift him aloft, and laid him on his knees;
But Gluttoun was a great churl, and grim in the lifting.
With all the woe of this world his wife and his wench20

3 After that.

1 Fault.
2 Woman-brewer.
4 Bag.
5 Woman-shoemaker. 6 Keeper of a warren. 7 Two of his apprentices.
8 Maker of needles. 9 Player on the ribibe or rebeck, a kind of fiddle.
10 Rat-catcher. 11 A street-sweeper of Cheapside. 12 A horse-soldier.
13 Maker or retailer of metal dishes.
14 Griffith the Welshman.
16 Morning.
19 Catch birds. 20 Daughter.

15 Old clothes, or second-hand goods, man.
17 In gift or on trial. 18 For a while.

Baren him home to his bed, and brought him therein.
And after all this excess he had an accidie,1

That he slept Saturday and Sunday till sun gede2 to reste :
Then waked he of his winking, and wiped his eyen ;

The first word that he warpe3 was, "Where is the bowl?" Passus V.

PIERS AND HIS LABOURERS.

Now is Perkin1 and his pilgrims to the plough faren ;5
To erie this half-acre holpen him many.
Dikers and delvers digged up the balkes ;9
Therewith was Perkin apayed1o and praised them faste.
Other workmen there were that wroughten full yearne ;11
Each man in his manner made himself to done ;12
And some, to please Perkyn, picked up the weedes.

At high prime Piers let the plough stonde,
To overseen them himself; and whoso best wroughte,
He should be hired thereafter when harvest-time come.
And then seten13 some and songen atten ale,14

.11

And holpen erie his half-acre with "how! trolli-lolli!"
"Now, by the peril of my soul !" quoth Piers, all in pure
15
teene,1

"But16 ye arise the rather17 and rape18 you to worke,
Shall no grain that groweth glad you at neede ;
And, though ye die for dole,19 the devil have that recketh!"
Then were faitoures20 afeared,21 and feigned them blinde :
Some laid their legs aliri,22 as such loseles23 conneth,24
And made their moan to Piers and prayed him for grace.
"For we have no limbs to labour with, Lord y-graced be ye!
But we pray for you, Piers, and for your plough bothe,
That God of his grace your grain multiply,

And yield you of your almesse that ye give us here;
For we may nought swink ne sweat, such sickness us aileth."
"If it be soth,"25 quoth Piers, "that ye sayn, I shall it

soon aspye!

Ye been wasters, I wot well, and Truth wot the sothe!

And then gan a waster to wrath him, and wold have y-fought, And to Piers the Plowman he proffered his glove;

A Britoner,26 a bragger, a-bosted27 Piers also.

1 A fit of drowsiness. 5 Gone.

6 Plough.

2 Went. 7 Help.

9 Ridges separating ploughed lands. 12 Set himself to work.

17 Earlier.

3 Uttered.
8 Ditchers and
10 Pleased.

13 Sat. 14 Sang at the ale.
18 Hasten. 19 Grief.

16 Except.
21 Frightened. 22 Crooked. 23 Rascals.

4 Piers. diggers. II Eagerly.

15 Anger. 20 Lying beggars. 24 Know how. 25 True.