LXI
Herein the God of Love retains
False-Seeming as his man, and gains
Applause thereby, the host doth ring
With shouts to crown him Ribalds’ King.
False-Seeming accepted
’Tis thus agreed, False-Seeming then,
That thou should’st join my loyal men,
To give our friends thy powerful aid,
And guard them lest they be betrayed.11420
’Tis thine, so far as in thee lies,
To help them, and their enemies
To grieve and injure, thou shall be
The King of Ribalds under me;
’Tis thus our chapter hath decreed.
Most surely thou in thought and deed
Art but a rogue, a common thief,
A villain almost past belief,
A hundred thousand times forsworn,
Held of all honest men in scorn;11430
Speak out I charge thee, have no fear,
Make all thy ways and doings clear,
And let the assembly know amain
Where they may find thee, since they fain
Would learn thy woning: say also
What sign there is by which to know
Where thou may’st commonly be found.
False-Seeming.
False-Seeming’s declaration
In truth, great lord, I shift my ground
So often that ’tis hard to say
Where ’tis I dwell from day to day,
And should I all my mansions name,
Alack! it would but bring me shame,
For if my vile companions knew
That I had told this thing to you,
Good lord! on my devoted head
A thousand cruelties were sped.
Their wickedness I know too well,
And how they’d treat me should I tell
The truth, which hate they of all things;
And grievous pains and sufferings11450
Were put upon me, dared I say
One word about their evil way
Of life, or had the hardihood
To speak of them aught else but good,
For that ’tis wounds them to the quick,
Excites their anger, and doth prick
Them on to vengeance.
False-Seeming’s fears
If they heard
Their condemnation through the word
Of holy Scripture, I’ll engage
’Twould rouse them into furious rage.11460
For mad are they in their despite,
With bitter wrath and venom dight.
And well I ken that should I bring
Before you the most trifling thing,
How close soe’er your court may be,
These men would know it presently.
But among good men none would take
To heart whatever words I spake
As touching them; for if one took
My words in evil part, ’twould look11470
As though his life must mingled be
With Falsehood and Hypocrisy,
Who gave me life and nourriture.
Love.
A fair performance to be sure.
Cried Love, their work was on a level
With that of nurturing the devil.
But howsoe’er that be, straightway
’Tis needful thou before us lay.
Without a lie, where thou dost dwell,
And also thou at full may’st tell
Thy way of life with nimble tongue;
The mischief wrought since thou wert young
Discover, nor thy evil work,
Now thou art with us, seek to shirk.
And if perchance it comes about
That thou receivest cuff and clout
To recompense thy deeds accurst,
I doubt they scarce will be the first.
False-Seeming.
Great lord, if ’twere your pleasure I
Should shortly be condemned to die,11490
I’d calmly lay my head upon
The block and cry: ’Tis rightly done.
The Author.
False-Seeming then delayed no more,
But, standing forth, thus spake before
The great assembly:
False-Seeming.
False-Seeming’s confession
All and each
Of ye, O barons, list my speech:
Whoso False-Seeming would behold,
Must seek him in the cloistered fold
As much as in the open street,
And trow I ye will scarcely meet11500
With me elsewhere, but far above
The world the convent hath my love.
In short, I much prefer to be
Where I may work most secretly;
And ’neath a simple vesture find
That I most readily may blind
Men’s eyes, more secret is the way
Of holy cloister folk than lay.
But think ye not I would defame
Religion, or its votaries blame,
For nought it matters what they wear
By way of habit, I will spare
All faithful ones, but fain confess
I do not love them ne’ertheless.
Monks good and bad
I speak of worthless monks and nuns,
Felonious and malicious ones,
Who care alone for holy dress,
And clothe their hearts with wickedness.
Good cloisterers are with pity fraught
And kindliness, and harbour nought11520
Of evil, far from them is pride,
And love they humbly to abide
In peace. If I with these should stay,
My cue it were false cards to play.
Their habits well could I assume,
But ’neath them should but fret and fume,
And sooner hang would than forego
My ends, whate’er my outward show.
I live with rascals puffed with pride,
From out whose hearts, ’twould seem, hath died11530
All virtue; schemers, whose desire
Before all else is to acquire
Honour and wrath, and therefore set
Themselves to plot how they may get
Great folks’ acquaintance; men who make
Themselves bare paupers for the sake
Of Christ, and yet good meat and drink
Will pasture on, and love the chink
Of gold, and, preaching that they wish
For poverty alone, still fish11540
With trammel-net and wide-spread seine,
In hope great worldly wealth to gain.
Religious pretenders
Religious are they not, nor good,
Yet have the shameless hardihood,
Whene’er they preach, to boldly say,
That wearing holy habits they
Must needs be holy. By my life
Their claim’s not worth a wooden knife;
That “not by robe the monk is made,”
None but a fool hath e’er gainsaid.11550
And none to this can make reply
Although his head were shaven high
By hand of Fraud, who cuts thirteen
Thereto had given with razor keen.
But hereof dare no man discuss,
To speak one word is perilous,
For truth they turn the nether way.
And therefore in their nests I lay
My eggs, as often may be seen
By those who closely look therein.11560
Know ye that wheresoe’er I go.
And whatso sort of face I show,
I purpose some ill deed, and that,
Even as Master Tybert cat
Of nought else dreams but rats and mice,
So do I find my paradise
In lying, robbery, and wrong.
And though but few among the throng
Of men detect me through my dress,
Nor pierce beneath my gentleness11570
Of speech, they by my works may see
My heart, unless they blinded be.
For those who do not as they say
Deceive you howsoever they
Array them, or whatever state
Of life they keep, or small or great,
Cleric or layman, squire or dame,
Lady or quean, ’tis aye the same.
The Author.
When thus far had Fair-Seeming spoken
His pattering by the God was broken,11580
Who cried aloud: (to stay his speech,
Which seemed but vice and fraud to teach)
The God of Love.
Where dwells religion?
Who art thou, shameless imp of hell ?
How dar’st thou of such miscreants tell?
Deem’st thou religion we may find
Where vows no monks nor friars bind?
False-Seeming.
Most surely, sire! it needeth not
A man with sin his life should blot,
And lose his soul in hell-fire’s flare
Because he mundane clothes doth wear;11590
That were a sentence hard indeed.
Well may, beneath gay-tinted weed,
Holy religion thrive. We’ve seen
A troop of holy saints, I ween,
Saints among lay folk
Women and men alike, who ne’er
Aught else but worldly garments ware,
Yet none the less were canonized ;
Nay, ’twere the other way devised,
For many a saint to whom we pray,
Within the church or by the way,11600
Fair virgins chaste, or matrons mild,
Mothers of many an angel child,
Through life in worldly clothes did hide
Their bodies and within them died,
Yet saints were they, and aye shall be.
Was not that blessèd company
Of virgins who now tapers hold
Before the throne of God (all told
Eleven thousand) habited
In lay folks’ robes? yet honourèd11610
Are they in every church no less
Because they lacked of convent dress.
In holy heart wakes holy thought,
Through vesture ’tis nor marred nor wrought,
And worthy thought gives birth to deed
Of worth, for ’tis thereof the seed.
Thus of religion have I given
The pith, as ’tis ordained by heaven.
If in the fleece of Bellin ram
Sir Isegrym had made a sham11620
To clothe him, and had gone to feed
Among the sheep in that false weed,
Suppose you he would therefore keep
From greedy ravin of the sheep?
I trow not, but beneath the skin
He wore he’d suck their life-blood in
By no means with less appetite
Or less enjoyment and delight
That he’d deceived them, and that they
Still followed where he chose to stray.11630
Believe me, wolves no meagre few
There are ’mong these apostles new:
The Church in peril
Ah! holy Church, thou wilt be sacked
If thus thy city be attacked
By soldiers of thine own domain.
Alas! thy power is on the wane,
For those but seek to spoil thee who
Thou hast thy safety trusted to.
Who is there that will guarantee
Thee ’gainst them? Thou wilt taken be,11640
Although no stroke of trepeget
Or mangonel thou feel’st, nor yet
Set’st banner to the wind. If thou
No help afford, O then, I trow,
Nought else there is but let them be.
Though now they subject stand to thee,
Ere long must thou before them bend
As tributary, and descend
To make thy peace in such a way
As they demand, who straight will lay11650
Great burdens on thee, if forsooth
The traitors, all devoid of ruth,
Master thee not. With craft will they
Lull thee to sleep, and while by day
They haste to man thy walls, by night
Deep mines their treacherous hands will dight.
Bethink thee otherwhere to root
The grafts to which thou look’st for
fruit.
Delay thou not, but act amain—
I’ve said—my mouth will I refrain11660
From further speech thereon, lest some
My words with weariness o’ercome.
Fraud all-powerful
My promise readily I give
From henceforth with your friends to live
In peaceful wise, if they agree
Thereto, or else I warrant me
They’ll meet grim death.
They must receive
My leman too would they achieve
Their end. I am with justice named
A traitor, and have been proclaimed11670
By Love as common thief. Forsworn
Am I, but till mine end is worn
No man perceives it. Oft my blow
Is dealt, yet nought thereof men know;
And should one be of it aware,
Unless he too seeks death, will spare
Resentment. Treachery is so strong,
That all the world condones its wrong.
Proteus himself, who changed his shape
Whene’er he pleased, for guile or jape,11680
Was less adept at fraud than I.
So great is my dexterity,
That though within some town I’ve been
A thousand times, but little ween
The folk who meet me unaware
That oft before I’ve entered there.