Ne be thi winpil nevere so jelu ne so stroutende, Ne thi faire tail so long ne so trailende, That tu ne schalt at evin al kuttid bilevin, And tou schalt to bedde gon so nakid as tou were [borin]. _MS. Cotton. Cleop. C._ VI, fol. 22, r^o. In the Roman de la Violette, the old nurse expresses her astonishment that her young mistress should retain her chemise when she goes to bed:-- Et quant elle son lit fait a, Sa dame apiele, si se couche Nue en chemise en la couche; C'onques en trestoute sa vie La biele, blonde, l'escavie, Ne volt demostrer sa char nue. La vielle en est au lit venue, Puis li a dit: 'Dame, j'esgart Une chose, se Dex me gart, Dont je sui molt esmervillie C'onques ne vous vi despoillie, Et si vous ai vij. ans gardée; Molt vous ai souvent esgardée Que vo chemise ne sachiés!' _Rom. de la Viol._ l. 577. The lady explains her conduct by stating that she has a mark on the breast which she had promised that no one should ever see. 8906. Luke xiv, 20. 8950. _noon heraud ne harpour._ Robes and other garments were among the most usual gifts bestowed upon minstrels and heralds by the princes and great barons. See before, ll. 8480, 8481. 8970. Matth. vi, 25, 26. 8999. John xiv, 13; xv, 16. Matth. iv, 4. 9037. Psalm cxliv, 16. 9039. _fourty wynter._ During the forty years that the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, they did not apply themselves to agriculture. 9049. _Sevene slepe._ The legend of the seven sleepers was remarkably popular during the middle ages. 9101. Psalm xxxi. 1. 9176. Psalm lxxv, 6. 9178. Psalm lxxii, 20. Whitaker's _Passus sextus de Dowel_ ends with this quotation. 9317. Both in the Vision of Piers Ploughman, and in the Creed, there are frequent expressions of indignation at the extravagant expenditure in painting the windows of the abbeys and churches. It must not be forgotten that a little later the same feeling as that exhibited in these satires led to the destruction of many of the noblest monuments of medieval art. 9344. Mat. xix, 23, 24. 9347. Apocal. xiv, 13. 9352. Matth. v, 3. 9452. Compare the defence of poverty in Chaucer (Cant. T. 6774):-- Juvenal saith of poverte merily: The poore man, whan he goth by the way, Beforn the theves he may sing and play. _Poverte is hateful good_; and, as I gesse, A ful gret _bringer out of besinesse_; A _gret amender_ eke _of sapience_, To him that taketh it in patience. Poverte is this although it seme elenge, _Possession that no wight wol challenge._ Poverte ful often, whan a man is low, Maketh his God and eke himself to know: Poverte a spectakel is, as thinketh me, Thurgh which he may his veray frendes see. And therfore, sire, sin that I you not greve, Of my poverte no more me repreve.