Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/86

To reason, know that nought you gain
Of credit through behaviour vain
And frivolous, nor do you one bit
Better your looks, poor foolish chit.

Beauty needs not art And if some man should quote a throng
Of mouldy saws to prove me wrong,
And show the folly of my words,
Saying: Fine feathers make fine birds,9320
And that good garniture sits well
Alike on dame and damosel;
I should not trouble to reply
At length, but simply say: You lie.

For all the beauty of fair things,
Whether it be delightful spring’s
Sweet fleur-de-lis, as white as milk,
Roses, or violets, or silk.
Or other tissues fair (as I
Have read in many a book) doth lie9330
Within themselves, and not in those
Who wear them.
Happy she who knows
That all the choicest things ’neath heaven
Can ne’er improve, but oft may leaven
The beauty Nature gives.
The heart
In this same quality hath part.

To make my meaning stand out clear:
Suppose a dunghill disappear
From sight beneath a coverlet
Of silk, with fragrant flowers beset9340
Of brightest hues, ’twould still remain
A dunghill, and would stink amain