nte hath eaten thereof. And so to th' ende
I wold be blameles, I lay the faute on theyr mysdiettynge.

Nat longe after, the same seruaunte toke on hym to practise physike,
whyche in lyke maner blamed his pacientes, and sayde, that they kepte
nat the diete that he gaue them; and he bare them on hande that they
yete some what, wherof he sawe the scrappes in the flore. On a tyme he
cam to a poure man of the countre, and promysed to make him hole, if he
wolde be gouerned after him, and sa gaue him to drinke I wote nat what,
and went his waye tyll on[221] the morowe. Whan he came agayne, he
founde the man sicker than euer he was. The rude fole, nat knowinge the
cause, behelde here and there aboute, and whan he coude se no skrappes
nor parynges, he was sore troubled in his mynde. So at the last he
espied a saddel vnder the bed. Than said he all a loude, that he hadde
at length parceyued, howe the sicke man enpayred: he hath so excessiuely
passed diete (quod he), that I wonder he is nat deed. How so, quod they?
Marye, quod he, ye haue made him to eate an holle asse! Lo, where the
saddell lyethe yet vnder the bedde. For he thoughte the saddell had be
lefte of the asse, as bones are of fleshe. For which folysshnes he was
well laughed to skorne and mocked.

Thus as a good faythfull phisitian is worthy of greate honour: for
truely of hym dependethe the greattest parte of mans helthe, so lyke
wyse a folysshe and an vnlerned, that thynkethe to cure with wordes,
that he ought to do with herbes, is nat onely worthy to be deryded and
mocked, but also punysshed: for nothynge is more perillous.

FOOTNOTES:

[217] Orig. reads _all to_. We take the true meaning to be _alto_, as
above, _i.e._ in a loud key.

[218] Delude him with the false notion. _To bear on hande_, I presume to
be synonymous with _To bear in hande_ of the use of which among old
authors several examples are furnished by Nares (edit. 1859).

[219] Shells.

[220] Conjecture.

[221] Orig. and Singer read _an_.

+ _Of the inholders[222] wyfe and her ii louers._ li.

+ Nere vnto Florence dwelled an inholder, whos wyfe was nat very
dangerous[223] of her tayle. Vpon a nyghte as she was a bed with one of
her louers, there came a nother to haue lyen with her. Whan she herde
him come vp the ladder, she met him, and bade hym go thence, for she
hadde no tyme than to fulfylle his pleasure. But for all her wordes he
wolde nat go a waye, but stylle preaced[224] to com