_n_ werkis preyse hym & magnefie
I dar not preyse / for fere lest I offende
My la_n_gage / shold rather apeyre than amende 399

[58]

[Sidenote: Leaf 10 b.]

Loo my child_e_ / these faders auncyente
Repen the feldes fresshe of fulsomnes
[Sidenote: These fathers reaped the fields,]
The flours fresh they gadred vp & hente 402
[Sidenote: and gathered the flowers.]
Of siluer langage / the grete riches
Who wil it haue my lityl childe doutles
Muste of hem begge / ther is no more to saye
[Sidenote: He who wants silver words must beg of them.]
For of our tunge / they were both lok & kaye 406

[59]

Ther can noma[=n] now her werkis disteyne
The enbamed tunge / and aureate sentence
Men gete it now / by cantelmele & gleyne 409
[Sidenote: Now we only glean,]
Here and there by besy diligence
And fayne wold reche / her craft of eloque_n_ce
And by the gleyne / it is ful oft sene
In whos felde / the gleyners haue bene 413
[Sidenote: and by the gleaning one sees in whose fields the
gleaners have been.]

* * * * *

THE ORIEL TEXT.

[60]

As vnto me Age hath bede good morowe,
I am not able clenly for to gleyne,
Nature is feyne of crafte here eien to borowe, 416
Me fayleth clerenesse of myn eien tweyne;
Begge I may, I can no gleyn certeyn,
Ther-for that werke I wolle playnly remytte
To folke yong, more p_er_saunt clere of wytte. 420

[61]

And syke also, and in case ye fynde
Suche gleynes fresch as hath some apparence
Of fayre langage, yet take them and vnbynde, 423
And preueth what they beth in existence,
Coloured in langage, savory in sentence,
And dou[te]th not, my childe, wythoute drede,
Hit woll profite such thyng to se and rede. 427

[62]

Yit eft-sonnys, my child_e_, let us resorte
To the intente of our_e_ fyrst matier_e_
Digresside, somwhat fulle we wolld reporte, 430
And reuyue the lawde of them that were
Founders of our_e_ langage, thilke fadyrs dere,
Who-is soulis god [aboue] in b[l]esse inhaunce
That lusten so our_e_ langage to Avaunce. 434

[Sidenote: _Hill's Text._]

P) And unto my age bot good morowe
I am not able clerly for to gleyne,
Nature ys fayn_e_ of crafte her eyen to borow;