"Ac religiouse that riche ben, Sholde rather feeste beggeris 10300 Than burgeises that riche ben, As the book techeth. _Quia sacrilegium est res pauperum non pauperibus dare. Item: Peccatoribus dare, est dæmonibus immolare. Item: Monache, si indiges et accipis, potius das quam accipis; si autem non eges et accipis, rapis. Porro non indiget monachus, si 10310 habeat quod naturæ sufficit._ "For-thi I counseille alle cristene To conformen hem to charité, For charité withouten chalangynge Unchargeth the soule, And many a prison fram purgatorie {316} Thorugh his preieres he delivereth. Ac ther is a defaute in the folk That the feith kepeth; Wherfore folk is the febler, 10320 And noght ferm of bileve, As in lussheburwes is a luther alay, And yet loketh he lik a sterlyng; The merk of that monee is good, Ac the metal is feble. "And so it fareth by som folk now, Thei han a fair speche, Crowne and cristendom, The kynges mark of hevene; Ac the metal, that is mannes soule, 10330 With synne is foule alayed. Bothe lettred and lewed Beth alayed now with synne, That no lif loveth oother, Ne oure Lord, as it semeth. For thorugh werre and wikkede werkes, And wederes unresonable, Weder-wise shipmen, And witty clerkes also, Han no bileve to the lifte, 10340 Ne to the loore of philosofres. "Astronomiens al day In hir art faillen, That whilom warned bifore What sholde falle after. "Shipmen and shepherdes, That with ship and sheep wenten, Wisten by the walkne What sholde bitide, As of wedres and wyndes 10350 {317} Thei warned men ofte. "Tilieris, that tiled the erthe, Tolden hir maistres, By the seed that thei sewe, What thei selle myghte, And what to lene, and what to lyve by, The lond was so trewe. "Now faileth the folk of the flood, And of the lond bothe, Shepherdes and shipmen, 10360 And so do thise tilieris, Neither thei konneth ne knoweth Oon cours bifore another. "Astronomyens also Aren at hir wittes ende, Of that was calculed of the element The contrarie thei fynde; Grammer, the ground of al, Bigileth now children, For is noon of this newe clerkes, 10370 Who so nymeth hede, Naught oon among an hundred That an auctour kan construwe, Ne rede a lettre in any langage But in Latyn or in Englissh.