Marie Magdalene By mores levede and dewes; Love and leel byleyve Heeld lyf and soule togedere. Maria Egyptiaca Eet in thyrty wynter Bote thre lytel loves, And love was her souel. Ich can nat rekene hem ryght now, Ne reherce here names, That lyveden thus for oure Lordes love Meny longe yeres, Whitoute borwyng other beggyng, Other the boke lyeth; And woneden in wildernesse Among wilde bestes; Ac dorst no beste byten hem By daye ne by nyghte, Bote myldeliche whan thei metten Maden louh chere, And feyre byfore tho men Fauhnede whith the tayles. Ac bestes brouhte hem no mete, Bote onliche the fouweles; In tokenynge that trywe man Alle tymes sholde Fynde honeste men in holy men And other ryghtful peuple. For wolde never feithful goud That freres and monkes token Lyflode of luther wynnynges In al here lyf tyme; As wytnesseth holy writt Whot Thobie deyde To is wif, whan he was blynde, Herde a lambe blete,-- 'A! wyf, be war,' quath he, 'What ye have here ynne. Lord leyve,' quath the lede, 'No stole thyng be here!' _Videte ne furtum sit. Et alibi, Melius est mori quam male vivere._ This is no more to mene, Bote men of holy churche Sholde receyve ryght nauth Bot that ryght wolde, And refuse reverences And raveneres offrynges; Thenne wolde lordes and ladies Be loth to agulte, And to take of here tenaunts More than treuthe wolde; And marchauns merciable wolde be, And men of lawe bothe. Wold religeouse refuse Raveneres almesse, Then Grace sholde growe yut And grene-leved wexe, And Charité, that child is now, Sholde chaufen of hem self, And comfortye all crystene, Wold holy churche amende. Job the parfit patriarch This proverbe wrot and tauhte, To makye a man lovye mesure, That monkes beeth and freeres. _Nunquam dicit Job, rugiet onager, etc._ Throughout this part of the poem, Whitaker's text differs very much in words and phraseology from the one now printed, but it would take up too much space to point out all these variations. 10247. Job vi, 5. 10270. 2 Corinth, ix, 9. 10303. These sentences appear to be quotations from the fathers of the Latin Church. 10322. _lussheburwes._ A foreign coin, much adulterated, common in England in the middle of the fourteenth century. Chaucer (C. T. 15445) uses the word in a very expressive passage:-- This maketh that oure wyfes wol assaye Religious folk, for thay may bettre paye Of Venus payementes than may we: God woot! no _lusscheburghes_ paye ye.