Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/51

Rh All false. For whosoe’er doth try

To wipe out shame, or kill a lie

By Justice’ help, will find no jot

Hath he decreased foul Slander’s blot.

The man who hath an ill deed done,

I swear, ’fore God, is not the one

To purge it. To anticipate

Amends from one who’s reprobate

Were fond and foolish. E’en should he

Offer amends, ’twould wiser be

To grant free pardon.

If so rash

You were as join with him in clash

Of arms, by all the saints, I vow,

You’d shortly see Fair-Welcome bow

’Neath heavy manacles, and swung

Over a furnace, or else flung

Within a swirling tide and drowned,

Or in a dungeon’s depths profound

Buried from sight for evermore;

Then were your heart more sick and sore

Than Charlemagne’s when Roland died

At Roncesvalles through the pride

And treachery of Genelon,

Whom Satan had set seal upon.

Nay, nay, thereto I’ve no desire,

I wish the knave may feed hell-fire!

Good Lord! my wrath grows hot as pepper,

How gladly would I hang the leper!