And to read homilies on holy-days;
When that was done, he might attend his plays :
An easy life, and fit high God to please.
He, having over-looked their pass at ease,
'Gan at the length them to rebuke again,
That no good trade of life did entertain,
But lost their time in wandering loose abroad,-
Seeing the world, in which they bootless bode,
Had ways enow for all therein to live,
Such grace did God unto his creatures give.
"Said then the Fox, 'Who hath the world not tried
From the right way full eath may wander wide.
We are but novices new come abroad;
We have not yet the tract of any trod,
Nor on us taken any state of life,
But ready are of any to make prief.
Therefore might please you, which the world have proved,
Us to devise, which forth but lately moved,
Of some good course that we might undertake,
Ye shall for ever us your bondmen make.'
"The priest 'gan wex half proud to be so prayed,
And thereby willing to afford them aid.
'It seems' (said he) 'right well that ye be clerks,
Both by your witty words and by your works.
Is not that name enough to make a living
To him that hath a whit of Nature's giving?
How many honest men see ye arise
Daily thereby, and grow to goodly prize-
To deans, to archdeacons, to commissaries,
To lords, to principals, to prebendaries !
All jolly prelates, worthy rule to bear,
Whoever them envỳ; yet spite bites near.
Why should ye doubt then but that ye likewise
Might unto some of those in time arise?
In the meantime to live in good estate,
Loving that love, and hating those that hate,
Being some honest curate or some vicar,
Content with little in condition sicker.'
"Ah! but' (said the Ape) 'the charge is wondrous great
To feed men's souls, and hath an heavy threat.'
"To feed men's souls' (quoth he) is not in man,
For they must feed themselves, do what we can;
We are but charged to lay the meat before;
Eat they that list, we need to do no more.
But God it is that feeds them with his grace,
The bread of life poured down from heavenly place
Therefore said he that with the budding rod
Did rule the Jews, 'All shall be taught of God.'
That same hath Jesus Christ now to him raught,
By whom the flock is rightly fed and taught ;
He is the Shepherd, and the Priest is he;
We but his shepherd swains ordained to be.
Therefore herewith do not yourself dismay;
Ne is the pains so great but bear ye may;
For not so great as it was wont of yore
It's nowadays, ne half so strait and sore.
They whilom used duly every day
Their service and their holy things to say
At morn and even, besides their anthems sweet,
Their penny masses, and their complynes meet,
Their dirges, and their trentals, and their shrifts,
Their memories, their singings, and their gifts.
Now all these needless works are laid away;
Now once a week, upon the sabbath-day,
It is enough to do our small devotion,
And then to follow any merry motion.
Ne are we tied to fast but when we list,
Ne to wear garments base, of woollen twist,
But with the finest silks us to array,
That before God we may appear more gay,
Resembling Aaron's glory in his place.
For far unfit it is that persons base
Should with vile clothes approach God's majesty,
Whom no uncleanness may approachen nigh;-
Or that all men which any master serve
Good garments for their service should deserve;
But he that serves the Lord of Hosts most high,
And that in highest place to approach him nigh,
And all the people's prayers to present
Before his throne, as on ambàssage sent
Both to and fro, should not deserve to wear
A garment better than of wool or hair.
Beside, we may have lying by our sides
Our lovely lasses, or bright-shining brides:
We be not tied to wilful chastity,
But have the gospel of free liberty.'
'By that he ended had his ghostly sermon, The Fox was well induced to be a parson, And of the priest eftsoons 'gan to enquire How to a benefice he might aspire.
'Marry, there' (said the priest) 'is art indeed; Much good deep learning one thereout may rede: For that the groundwork is and end of all, How to obtain a beneficial.
First, therefore, when ye have in handsome wise
Yourselves attirèd, as you can devise,
Then to some noble man yourself apply,
Or other great one in the worlde's eye,
That hath a zealous disposition
To God, and so to his religion.
There must thou fashion eke a goodly zeal,
Such as no carpers may contrayr reveal,
For each thing feigned ought more wary be.
There thou must walk in sober gravity,
And seem as saint-like as Saint Radegund;
Fast much, pray oft, look lowly on the ground,
And unto every one do court'sy meek.
These looks (nought saying) do a benefice seek;
And be thou sure one not to lack ere long.
But if thee list unto the Court to throng,
And there to hunt after the hoped prey,
Then must thou thee dispose another way;
For there thou needs must learn to laugh, to lie,
To face, to forge, to scoff, to company,
To crouch, to please, to be a beetle-stock
Of thy great master's will, to scorn, to mock.
So mayst thou chance mock out a benefice,-
Unless thou canst one conjure by device,
Or cast a figure for a bishopric;
And, if one could, it were but a school-trick.
These be the ways by which without reward
Livings in courts be gotten, though full hard;
For nothing there is done without a fee.
The courtier needs must recompensed be
With a benevolence, or have in gage
The primitias of your parsonage:
Scarce can a bishopric forpass them by,
But that it must be gelt in privity.
Do not thou, therefore, seek a living there,
But of more private persons seek elsewhere
Whereas thou mayst compound a better penny;
Ne let thy learning questioned be of any :
For some good gentleman that hath the right
Unto his church for to present a wight
Will cope with thee in reasonable wise,
That if the living yearly do arise
To forty pound, that then his youngest son
Shall twenty have, and twenty thou hast won.
Thou hast it won, for it is of frank gift,
And he will care for all the rest to shift,
Both that the bishop may admit of thee,
And that therein thou mayst maintained be.
This is the way for one that is unlearned
Living to get, and not to be discerned.
But they that are great clerks have nearer ways,
For learning-sake to living them to raise :
Yet many eke of them (God wot) are driven
To accept a benefice in pieces riven.
How sayst thou, friend, have I not well discoursed
Upon this common-place, though plain, not worst?
Better a short tale than a bad long shriving;
Needs any more to learn to get a living?'
"Now sure, and by my hallidom,' (quoth he) 'Ye a great master are in your degree; Great thanks I yield you for your discipline,
And do not doubt but duly to incline
My wits thereto, as ye shall shortly hear.'
"The priest him wished good speed, and well to fare; So parted they as either's way them led.
But the Ape and Fox ere long so well them sped,
Through the priest's wholesome counsel lately taught,
And through their own fair handling wisely wrought,
That they a benefice 'twixt them obtained;
And crafty Reynold was a priest ordained,
And the Ape his Parish-Clerk procured to be.
Then made they revel-rout and goodly glee.
But, ere long time had passed, they so ill
Did order their affairs that the evil-will
Of all their parish'ners they had constrained;
Who to the Ordinary of them complained,
How foully they their offices abused,
And them of crimes and heresies accused,
That Pursuivants he often for them sent.
But they, neglecting his commandement,
So long persisted obstinate and bold,
Till at the length he published to hold
A Visitation, and them cited thether;
Then was high time their wits about to gether.
What did they then but made a composition
With their next neighbour priest for light condition?
To whom their living they resignèd quite
For a few pence, and ran away by night.
"So, passing through the country in disguise,
They fled far off, where none might them surprise ;
And after that long strayèd here and there,
Through every field and forest far and near,-
Yet never found occasion for their turn,
But, almost starved, did much lament and mourn.
At last they chanced to meet upon the way
The Mule all decked in goodly rich array,
With bells and bosses that full loudly rung,
And costly trappings that to ground down hung.
Lowly they him saluted in meek wise;
But he through pride and fatness 'gan despise
Their meanness, scarce vouchsafed them to requite :
Whereat the Fox, deep growling in his sprite,
Said: 'Ah! Sir Mule, now blessed be the day
That I see you so goodly and so gay
In your attires, and eke your silken hide
Filled with round flesh, that every bone doth hide.
Seems that in fruitful pastures ye do live,
Or Fortune doth you secret favour give.'
"Foolish Fox' (said the Mule) 'thy wretched need
Praises the thing that doth thy sorrow breed;
For well I ween thou canst not but envỳ
My wealth, compared to thine own misery,
That art so lean and meagre waxen late
That scarce thy legs uphold thy feeble gait.'
Ay me!' (said then the Fox) whom evil hap
Unworthy in such wretchedness doth wrap,
And makes the scorn of other beasts to be!
But rede, fair Sir, of grace, from whence come ye?
Or what of tidings you abroad do hear?
News may perhaps some good unweeting bear.'
"From royal court I lately came' (said he)
Where all the bravery that eye may see,
And all the happiness that heart desire,
Is to be found. He nothing can admire
That hath not seen that heaven's portraiture.
But tidings there is none, I you assure,
Save that which common is, and known to all,-
That courtiers, as the tide, do rise and fall.'
"But tell us' (said the Ape), we do you pray,
Who now in court doth bear the greatest sway.
That, if such fortune do to us befall,
We may seek favour of the best of all.'
"Marry' (said he) the highest now in grace
Be the wild beasts that swiftest are in chace ;
For in their speedy course and nimble flight
The Lion now doth take the most delight,
But chiefly joys on foot them to behold,
Enchased with chain and circulet of gold.
So wild a beast so tame ytaught to be,
And buxom to his bands, is joy to see;
So well his golden circlet him beseemeth.
But his late chain his liege unmeet esteemeth,
For so brave beasts he loveth best to see
In the wild forest ranging fresh and free.
Therefore, if fortune thee in court to live,
In case thou ever there wilt hope to thrive,
To some of these thou must thyself apply;
Else, as a thistle-down in the air doth fly,
So vainly shalt thou to and fro be tossed,
And lose thy labour and thy fruitless cost.
And yet full few that follow them, I see,
For virtue's bare regard advanced be;
But either for some gainful benefit,
Or that they may for their own turns be fit.
Nathless, perhaps, ye things may handle so
That ye may better thrive than thousands moe.'
|