And somtyme they prouoke Bothe Gyll and Jacke at Noke Their dewtyes to withdrawe, That they ought by the lawe Theyr curates to[1247] content 860 In open tyme and in Lent:[1248] God wot, they take great payne To flatter and to fayne; But[1249] it[1250] is an[1251] olde sayd sawe, That nede hath[1252] no lawe. Some walke aboute in melottes,[1253] In gray russet and heery cotes; Some wyl[1254] neyther golde ne grotes;[1255] Some plucke a partrych in remotes, And by the barres of[1256] her tayle 870 Wyll knowe a rauen from[1257] a rayle, A quayle, the raile, and the olde rauen:[1258] _Sed libera nos a malo_! _Amen._ And by _Dudum_, theyr Clementine,[1259] Agaynst curates they[1260] repyne; And say propreli they ar[1261] _sacerdotes_, To shryue, assoyle, and reles[1262] Dame Margeries[1263] soule out of hell: But when the freare fell[1264] in the well, He coud not syng himselfe therout[1265] 880 But by the helpe of Christyan Clout. Another Clementyne also,[1266] How frere Fabian, with other mo, _Exivit de Paradiso_; Whan they agayn theder shal come, _De hoc petimus consilium_: And through all the world they go With[1267] _Dirige_ and _Placebo_. But nowe my mynd ye vnderstand, For they[1268] must take in hande 890 To prech, and to[1269] withstande Al maner of abiections;[1270] For bysshops haue protections, They say, to do corrections, But they haue no affections[1271] To take the sayd[1272] dyrections; In such maner of cases,[1273] Men say, they bere no faces To occupye suche places, To sowe the sede of graces:[1274] 900 Theyr hertes are so faynted, And they be so attaynted With coueytous and ambycyon,[1275] And other superstycyon, That they be[1276] deef and dum, And play scylens and glum,[1277] Can say nothynge but mum. They occupye them so With syngyng _Placebo_, They wyll no farther go: 910 They had leuer to please, And take their worldly ease, Than to take on hande Worsshepfully[1278] to withstande Such temporall warre and bate, As nowe is made of late Agaynst holy Churche[1279] estate, Or to maynteyne good[1280] quarelles. The lay men call them barrelles Full of glotony 920 And of hypocrysy, That counterfaytes[1281] and payntes As they were very sayntes: In matters that them lyke[1282] They shewe them polytyke, Pretendyng grauyte And sygnyoryte, With all solempnyte, For theyr indempnyte; For they wyll haue no losse[1283] 930 Of a peny nor of a crosse[1284] Of theyr predyall landes, That cometh to theyr handes, And[1285] as farre as they dare set, All is fysshe that cometh to net:[1286]