Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/182

154

My mother drove him forth, forsooth,

Most foully, for that he the truth

Upheld, and showed, all bald and bare,

Hypocrisy, with subtle care

Within his latest book, and said,

’Twere well that I no longer sped

My life by begging, but should set

My hands to labour, would I get

My livelihood.

He surely had

Deemed me for either drunk or mad,

For labour pleases me no whit,

Nor have I any need for it.

I find a more congenial way

Of life, to patter beads and pray,

And all my ribaldry to hide

Beneath my mother’s mantle wide.

Thou devil! dar’st thou then display

Thy vileness thus in light of day?

What mean you ?

Scoundrel, hast thou got

No fear of God?

Most surely not.

No man to greatness can attain

In these days if he count not vain