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And if perchance it comes about

That thou receivest cuff and clout

To recompense thy deeds accurst,

I doubt they scarce will be the first.

Great lord, if ’twere your pleasure I

Should shortly be condemned to die,

I’d calmly lay my head upon

The block and cry: ’Tis rightly done.

False-Seeming then delayed no more,

But, standing forth, thus spake before

The great assembly:

All and each

Of ye, O barons, list my speech:

Whoso False-Seeming would behold,

Must seek him in the cloistered fold

As much as in the open street,

And trow I ye will scarcely meet

With me elsewhere, but far above

The world the convent hath my love.

In short, I much prefer to be

Where I may work most secretly;

And ’neath a simple vesture find

That I most readily may blind

Men’s eyes, more secret is the way

Of holy cloister folk than lay.

VOL. II.