Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/70

Whose worth deserveth laud and praise.
Chiefest among their devious ways1070
Is this—with false viled tongue to speak
’Fore men on whom they long to wreak
Their vengeance, but their poisonous clacks
Sound loudly when they turn their backs,
For noblest men would they abase,
To miscreants giving power and place.
Disloyal, they all loyalty
Treat with contempt and acorn, but vie
In persecuting good men, while
They laud the vilest of the vile,1080
And many an upright man one sees
Forth driven from courts by perfidies,
But may these envious flatterers be
By God brought down to misery.
Alas! that e’er such folk were born!
Their ways and works all good men scorn.

A purple robe did Richesse wear,
Than which, ’fore heaven and earth I swear,
Fearless to be convict of lie,
None e’er was wrought more daintily;1090
The purple broidered with great store
Of orfreys, rich with golden ore.
With forms of mighty men it shone
Renowned in ages past and gone,
Great dukes and kings, and such as be
Writ large in ancient history.
The golden band around her neck
Did many an orlèd shield bedeck,
Silver, on ruddy gold annealed,
Illumined each bright quartered shield;1100