Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/166

138

ISGUISES well I know to don,

Now this one off, now that one on,

Now knight am I, and now a monk,

A prelate, then to canon shrunk

Or simple clerk, or priest at mass,

And next as master do I pass,

Disciple, captain, forester,

In short, whatever I prefer;

Sometimes a prince, sometimes a page,

And every language I engage

To patter; sometimes old and grey.

At others sprightly, young and gay.

And now Robert and now Robin,

Now friar, now a jacobin.

I show me, company to keep

With her from whom I joyance reap,

(She hight Constrained-Abstinence)

’Neath many a guilement and pretence,

Her fickle fancies to fulfil,

And work her every wish and will.

Sometimes a woman’s robe I wear,

As matron staid or damsel fair,

And oft assume religious dress,

As anchorite or prioress,