Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/45

ANONYMOUS

Prey we to here with gret honour,
She that bar the blyssid flowr,
She be our helpe and our socour
    And schyld us fro the fyndes bond.

ROBERT MANNYNG OF BRUNNE

1288–1338

NO thyng is to man so dere
As wommanys love in gode manere.
A gode womman is mannys blys,
There here love right and stedfast is.
There is no solas under hevene,
Of alle that a man may nevene,^[1]
That shuld a man do so moche glew^[2]
As a gode womman that loveth trew.
Ne derer is none in Goddys hurde^[3]
Than a chaste womman with lovely worde.

WILLIAM LANGLAND

?1332–?1400

FOR trewthe telleth that loue • is triacle^[4] of hevene;
May no synne be on him sene • that useth that spise,
And alle his werkes he wrouȝte • with loue as him liste;^[5]
And lered^[6] it Moises for the levest^[7] thing • and moste like to heuene,

 

1. nevene] name.
2. glew] gladness.
3. hurde] flock.
4. triacle] sovereign remedy.
5. as him liste] as seemed good to him (Christ).
6. lered] taught.
7. levest] most pleasing.

13