Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/40

Answer their scoffs with courtesy,
leave them in their fat to fry.
Believe me, never autumn cheese
Was made more speedily than these7920
Good folk will bite their nails. Right soon
They’ll come to seek some gift or boon,
And merrily your plot will go;
You’ll gather, though you cease to sow.

Rude churlish hearts are often filled
With arrogance, and though one spilled
Buckets of tears thereon, the more
Their gentle kindness you implore.
The harder will they grow; but leave
Them all alone, nor seem to grieve7930
One jot, and suddenly their pride
And insolence is cast aside,
For nought doth more such hearts impress,
Than proud and studied scornfulness.

Devices should be varied The mariner who steers his bark
Through unknown seas, when night falls dark
Regardeth not one only star
To guide his course, nor would he far
Entrust his ship with one poor sail,
But try what others might avail7940
’Mid storm and tempest. Even so
He that with Love would hunting go
Must follow, not a single track,
But now pursue, and now fall back,
If Love’s full joyance he would taste.
I warrant me I need not waste