HOW EUERY GOOD WOMAN OUGHT WEL TO KEPE HER RENOMMEE. MY dere doughters, yf ve wyst and knewe the grete worshipwhiche cometh of good name and Renomme, ye shold peyne your self to gete and kepe it, as the good knyght whiche tendeth to come to worship & flee vylonye, payneth hym self and suffreth many grete trauaylles, as cold, hete, and hongre, and putte his body in to grete Ieopardy and aduenture to deye or lyue, for to gete worship and good Renommee , and maketh his body feble and wery by many vyages, also in many bataylles and assautes, and by many other grete peryls. And as he hath suffred payne and trauail ynough, he is put and enhaunced in to grete honour. And grete yeftes ben thenne gyuen to hym, and grete wonder and merueylle it is yf the grete worship and grete renommee that men beren vnto hym. Lyke wyse it is of the good lady and good woman, whiche in euery place is renommed in honoure and worship. This is the good woman that payneth her selfe to kepe her body clene and her worship also, the whiche also sette nought by her yongthe ne of the delytes and folysshe plesaunces of this world, wherof she myght receyue only blame, as I haue sayd before of the knyghtes, the whiche take and suffre such poynte and trauaylle for to be put in to the nombre of the other that ben renommed of grete worthynes and valyaunce. This oughte to doo euery good woman and euery good lady, and thynke how thus doynge she geteth the loue of god and of her lord, of theyr frendes and of the world, and the sauement of her sowle, wherof the world preyseth her and god also, for he calleth her the precious Margarite. It is a perle, whiche is whyte and round, bryght and wythoute macule or spotte. Here is a good ensample how god preyseth the good lady in the euangely, and thus ought to doo alle folke. For men ought to doo and bere as moche worship and honour to a good
Page:The booke of thenseygnementes and techynge that the Knyght of the Towre made to his doughters - 1902.pdf/176
