Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/207

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So hard could friendship find fit place?

The miser knows how void of grace

He lives, and loving none, must die,

Unloved of all men, shamefully.

Dame Fortune next beneath our ken

Appears; and how she deals with men

Shall be set forth. My tongue shall tell

Strange tales of her, past parallel.

Thou doubt’st my word? I marvel not,

Yet thou in my discourse no blot

Of falsity shalt find. We see

That Fortune falleth, so that she

Oft-times brings richer blessings down

On men who live beneath her frown,

Than those on whom she smiles. And though

This seems a paradox, yet so

It many a time hath proved, that when

Fortune doth sweetly smile on men

She lies, and gives good cause to weep,

Yet lulls them into gentle sleep,

As nursing mother lulls her child,

And oft hath she man’s heart beguiled

With favours, honours, and richesse,

And dignity, and prosperousness,

And promise given these things shall last

For aye, though soon all overpast

Is worldly might. When Fortune’s wheel

Men mount upon, exalt they feel,

Assured of safety, and are raised

So high, their better wit is dazed.

And when she setteth them on high

She will provide them royally