blesse wyth oute good maners/ and
with out suche thinges as noblesse may be mayntenyd/ ought better be
callid folye than noblesse. And shamefull pouerte is the more greuous
whan hit cometh by nature of an hyhe and noble burth or hous. For noman
gladly wole repreue a poure man of the comyn peple/ But euery man hath
in despite a noble man that is poure yf he haue not in hym good maners
and vertuous/ by whiche his pouerte is forgoten/ and truly a royame with
oute haboundance of goodes by whiche hit may be gouerned and prospere/
may better be callyd a latrocynye or a nest of theeuys than a royame/
Alas what haboundance was some tymes in the royames. And what prosite/
In whiche was Iustice/ And euery man in his office contente/ how stood
the cytees that tyme in worship and renome/ how was renomed the noble
royame of Englond Alle the world dredde hit And spack worship of hit/
how hit now standeth and in what haboundance I reporte me to them that
knowe hit yf ther ben theeuis wyth in the royame or on the see/ they
knowe that laboure in the royame And sayle on the see I wote well the
fame is grete therof I pray god saue that noble royame And sende good
true and politicque counceyllours to the gouernours of the same &c./ And
noblesse of lignage wyth oute puyssance and might is but vanyte and
despite. And hit is so as we haue sayd to fore that theschequer whiche
the philosopher ordeyned represented and figured the sayd cyte of
Babilone And in lyke wyse may hit figure a royame and signefye alle the
world And yf men regarde and take heed vnto the poyntes vnto the middes
of euery quadrante and so to double euery quadrant to other the myles of
this cyte all way doublinge vnto the nombre of .lxiiii. The nombre of
the same shulde surmounte alle the world/ And not only the world but
many worldes by the doublinge of mylis/ whiche doublinge so as a fore is
sayd shuld surmounte alle thynges/ And thus endeth the first chapitre of
the fourth booke.

[Illustration]

_The seconde chaitre of the fourth tractate tretheth of the draught of
the kynge/ And how he meuyth hym in the chequer._

We ought to knowe that in this world/ the kynges seygnourye and regne
eche in his royame. And in this playe we ought to knowe by the nature of
hit how the kynge meueth hym and yssueth oute of his place/ For y'e shall
vnderstande that he is sette in the fourth quadrante or poynt of
theschequer. And whan he is black/ he standeth in the white/ and the