Vain to contradict lies
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 reprobate8250
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 profound8260
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.
The Lover.
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!8270
