[Sidenote: The wicked are more unhappy when they have accomplished their evil designs than when they fail to do so.] ¶ For al be it so þ{a}t þis ne seme nat credible þing p{er}auent{ur}e to so{m}me folk ȝit mot it nedes be þat shrewes ben more wrecches {and} vnsely. 3532 whan þei may don {and} p{er}forme þat þei coueiten [than yif they myhte nat complyssen þ{a}t they coueyten]. [Sidenote: If it is a miserable thing to will evil, it is a greater unhappiness to have the power to execute it, without which power the wicked desires would languish without effect.] ¶ For yif so be þat it be wrecchednesse to wilne to don yuel[;] þan is it more wrecchednesse to mowen don yuel. 3536 wiþ oute whiche moeuyng þe wrecched wille sholde languisshe wiþ oute effecte. [Sidenote: Since, then, each of these three things (_i. e._ the will, the power, and the accomplishment of evil) hath its misery, therefore a threefold wretchedness afflicts those who both will, can, and do commit sin.] ¶ þan syn þat eueryche of þise þinges haþ hys wrecchednesse. þat is to seyne wil to done yuel. and moeuynge to done yuel. it mot nedes 3540 be. þat þei (shrewes) ben constreyned by þre vnselynesses þat wolen {and} mowen {and} p{er}formen felonyes {and} shrewednesses. [Sidenote: _B._ I grant it--but still I wish the vicious were without this misfortune.] ¶ I accorde me q{uo}d I. but I desire gretely þat shrewes losten sone þilke vnselynesses. 3544 þat is to seyne þat shrewes were despoyled of moeuyng to don yuel. [Sidenote: _P._ They shall be despoiled of it sooner than you wish perhaps, or than they themselves imagine.] ¶ so shulle{n} þei q{uo}d she. [Sidenote: [* fol. 28.]] sonnere p{er}auenture þen þ{o}u woldest *or sonnere þen þei hem self wenen to lakken mowynge to done yuel. [Sidenote: In the narrow limits of this life, nothing, however tardy it appears, can seem to an immortal soul to have a very long duration.] ¶ For 3548 þere nis no þing so late in so short bou{n}des of þis lijf þat is longe to abide. namelyche to a corage inmortel. [Sidenote: The great hopes, and the subtle machinations of the wicked, are often suddenly frustrated, by which an end is put to their wickedness.] Of whiche shrewes þe grete hope {and} þe heye co{m}passy{n}g{us} of shrewednesse is often destroyed by a 3552 sodeyne ende or þei ben war. {and} þat þing establiþ to shrewes þe ende of hir shrewednesse. [Sidenote: If vice renders men wretched, the longer they are vicious the longer must they be miserable.] ¶ For yif þat shrewednesse makiþe wrecches. þan mot he nedes be most wrecched þat lengest is a shrewe.