The Booke of Thenseygnementes and Techynge that the Knyght of the Towre made to his Doughters/Prologue
PROLOGUE.
N the yere of oure lord, a.M. three honderd LIII, as I was in a gardyn under a shadowe, as it were in thyssue of Aprylle, all moornyng and pensyf, but a lytel I reioysed me in the sowne and songe of the fowles sauuage, whiche songe in theyr langage, as the Merle, the Mauys, the thrustell, and the nyghtyngale, whiche were gay and lusty. This swete songe enlustyed me, and made myn herte all tenioye, so that thenne I went remembryng of the tyme passed in my youthe, how loue hadde holde me in that tyme in hys seruyce by grete distresse, in whiche I was many an houre gladde and ioyeful, and many another tyme sorowful, lyke as it doth to many a louer. But alle myn euylles haue rewarded me, sythe that the fayre and good hath gyuen to me, whiche hath knowleche of alle honoure, alle good and fayre mayntenyng. And of alle good she semed me the best and the floure, in whome I so moche me delyted. For in that tyme I made songes, layes, Roundels, balades, Vyrelayes, and newe songes in the mooste best wyse I coude. But the deth, whiche spareth none, hath taken her, for whom I have receyued many sorowes and heuynesses in such wyse that I haue passed my lyf more than twenty yere heuy and sorowfull. For the very herte of a trewe louer shall neuer in ony tyme ne day forgete good loue, but euermore shal remembre it. And thus in that tyme as I was in a grete pensyfnes and thought, I behelde in the way and sawe my doughters comyng, whom I hadde grete desyre that they shold torne to honour aboue alle other thyng, for they ben yong and litil, and dysgar^ nysshed of al wytte and reson, wherfor they ought at begynnyng to be taught and chastysed curtoisly by good ensamples and doctrynes, as dide a quene—I suppose she was quene of hongry—whiche fayre and swetely chastysed her daughters and them endoctryned as is conteyned in her book. And therfor, when I saw them come toward me, I remembryd me of the tyme when was yog and roode, with my felauship and companyes in poytou, and in other places. And I remembre me moche wel of the fayttes and fayenges that they told of suche thynges as they fond with the ladyes and damoyselles that they requyred and prayd of loue. And yf one wold not entende to theyr prayer, yet another wold requyre withoute abydyng. And though so were that they had good or euyll answers, of al that they rought not, for they had neyther drede ne shame, so moche were they endurate and acus' tomed, and were moche wel bespoken and had fayre langage. For many tymes they wold haue oueral deduyte, and thus they doo no thyng but deceyue good ladyes and damoysellys, and bere ouerall the tydynges, some trewe and somme lesynges, wherof there happed many tymes iniuryes and many vylaynous diffames withoute cause and withoute reason* And in alle the worlde is no gretter treson than for to deceyue gentyll wymmen, ne to encrece ony vylaynous blame, for many ben deceyued by the grete othes that they vse, wherof I debate me oftyme with them, and saye "Ye ouer false men, how may the goddes suffer yow to to them, lyue that soo oftymes ye periure and forswere youre self! For ye hold no feythe." But none putt hit in araye, by cause they be so moche and so f ul of disaraye. And by cause I sawe that tyme soo ledde and disposed, yet I doute me that somme ben suche in this tyme present. Therefore I concluded that wold doo make a lytel booke wherin I wold doo be wreton the good maners and good dedes of good ladyes and wymmen, and of theyr lyues, soo that for theyr vertues and bountees they ben honoured, and that after theyr dethe ben renommed and preysed, and shal be vnto the ende of the worlde, for to take of them good ensample and contenaunce. And also by the contrarye I shall doo wryte and set in a book the myshappe and vyces of euyile wymmen whiche have vsyed theyr lyf and now have blame, to the ende that the euylle maye bee eschewed, by whiche they myght erre whiche yet ben blamed, shamed, and dyffamed. And for this cause that I have here sayd, I haue thought on my wel bylouyd doughters, whome I see so lytel, to make to them a lítil book for to lerne to rede, to thende that they maye lerne and studye and vnderstonde the good and euylle that is passyd, for to kepe them fro hym whiche is yet to come. For suche ther be that lawgheth to fore yow, whiche after youre back goo mockyng and lyeng, wherfor it is an hard thyng to knowe the world that is now present. And for these resons as I haue fayd, I went oute of the gardyn and fond in my weye two preestes and two clerkes that I hadde, and tolde to them that I wolde make a book and an examplayre for my doughters to lerne to rede and vnderstonde how they ought to gouerne them self, and to kepe them from euylle. And thenne I made them to come and rede before me the book of the byble, the gestes of the kynges, the cronycles of fraunce and of Englond, and many other straunge historyes, and made them to rede every book, and dyde doo make of them this book, whiche I wold not fet in ryme, but al along in prose for to abredge and also for the better to be vnderstonden, and also for the grete loue that I haue to my doughters, whom I loue as a fader ought to loue them. And thenne myn herte shal have parfyte íoye, yf they torne to good and to honoure, that is, to serue and loue god, and to haue the loue and the grace of their neyghbours and of the world. And by cause every fader and moder after god and nature ought to teche and enforme their children and to distourne them fro the euyll waye, and to shewe to them the right weye and true pathe, as wel for the sauacion of theyr sowles as for thonoure of the body erthely, j have made two bookes, that one for my sonnes and that other for my doughters for to lerne to rede. And thus in lernynge hit shalle not be but they shalle reteyne somme good ensample or for to flee the euylle and reteyne the good. For it may not be but in somtyme they shal remembre somme good ensample, or som good lore, after that hit shalle falle and come to theyr mynde in spekyng vpon this matere.
THUS ENDETH THE PROLOGUE.