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Rh

Sweet thanks, fair sir.

Forthwith to spin

Her tale doth Abstinence begin.

AIR sir, the first and best among

The Christian virtues is, one’s tongue

To curb from falseness, and refrain

From speech injurious, rude, and vain.

No other thing I trow on earth

So proves a man of wit and worth.

A hundred times ’tis better far

To practise silence than to mar

One’s mouth with evil words and those

Who listen to them, but disclose

Their baseness. ’Tis, fair sir, too true

That this vile crime disgraceth you

Sadly. You lately told a lie

Which did most grievous injury

Unto a loving youth who came

Hither some days past, laying blame

On him because you said that he

Desired and purposed wrongfully

Fair-Welcome to seduce: this I

Denounce in God’s name as a lie,