The.xiiii. chapyter

BUt for as mych as the touchynge of y• boke is here not my prīcipal purpose / I wil therfore not peruse it ouer & touch euery poīt therof. whyche yf I wolde, I coulde I thynke well made men se, y• very fewe partes therof had eyther such cherite or such indifferēcye […]herin, as not onely the new naughty bretherhed bosteth, but some good folke also take yt at a superfycyall redynge.

And yet bycause y• bretherns boste hath made yt an incydēt vnto my mater / and that some thynges therin are suche, as yt is more then necessary that men be well aduysed of them, and well fore se what they do in them / and leste a better opypynyon of the boke then the mater may bere (yf yt be pondered ryght) may be occasyon to moue mē in some great thynges to do no lytle wrōge / & to then[…]nt also that ye may se y• in all that I haue sayde, I bylye hym not: I shall for a sample of handlynge, touch by the waye one or two places of hys.

And le[…]te folke shold thynke that I pyke oute here & there two or thre lynes of y• wurst: I wyll take his fyrst chapiter whole. In whyche though all be not noughte, nor all false (For a very fole were he that wold putforth a boke & make all nought and all false, euyn in y• very fore fronte that shall come fyrste to hande) yet yf yt be consydered & aduysed wel / there will I wene euyn in the very fyrste chapyter appere, lesse good and lesse treuth to, then men at a sodayne shyft in the fyrst redyng ouer, do thorowly perceyue. Lo thus yt begynneth.

Who maye remember the […]tate of thy[…] realme now in these dayes, wythout gret heuyne[…] and sorow of herte: For there as in tymes pas[…]e hath […]eygned charyte, mekene[…], concord, and peace, reygneth n[…]w enuye, pryde, […]yuysyon, and […]ry[…]e: and that not onely betwene lay men and laye men, but also betwene r[…]lygyons and relygyons, and als[…] […]etwene pre[…]es and religyon[…], & that is yet more to be lamēted, also betwene prefi[…] and pre[…]es.

Some say y• a man myght here a lytle lament this mannys wyt, that weneth yt lesse to be lamented, that debate & strife shold be bytwene prestes and religyouse persons, or bytwene those that are both the partyes relygyouse folke, thē bytwene those y• are both the partyes prestes. For some say that many relygyouse folke be prestes. And they y• so say / do say also that as many prestes be relygyouse folke. And some say therfore, that except this man meane here by relygyouse folke eyther womē or chyldren, wyth whose varyaunce the temporalty is not very greatly cūbred / or ellys the laye bretherne that are in some places of religyō, which are neyther so many nor so myche estemed, that euer the temporalty was myche troubled wyth theyre stryfe: ellys bysyde these there falleth no variaūce lyghtly betwene religyouse & relygyouse, wherwith the temporalty haue ben offended / but yt falleth of necessyte betwene prestes and prestes / and thē the varyaūce, namely suche a varyaunce as thys boke speketh of, that is so notable that the temporalty so mych marketh it, and hath so great cause to lament yt, when yt falleth betwene relygyouse and relygyouse, ys a thynge no lesse lamentable then yf yt fell betwene as many prestes when them selfe be both prestes.

And then yf he meane here by prestes, those that are seculare prestes, as by his other wordes he semeth to do / and so taketh yt for a thyng more to be lamented, yf varyaunce fall betwene seculare prestes then betwene those prestes y• are in relygyō: then say some men that he sayth somwhat worse. And then they y• so say, seme to me to say trew. For al be it gret pitye yt is to se stryfe and variaūce fal betwene any seculare prestes: yet is it more pitye to se it fal betwene those prestes that haue also vowed and professed farther, somwhat a more strayght renouncyng of all such maner thyng, as mater of debate and stryfe do comenly sprynge vppon. And therfore this maner of encreace and growing of this mannys oracyon, is but a coū terfeted fygure of rethoryque as some men say.

And in good fayth as for my selfe I se not the reason that moued hym. For it were […] very colde skuse to a man lerned that wyll way the hole periodus togyther, if he wold hereafter say that he ment by these wordes bytwene prestes and prestes, the prestes that are in relygyon. For bysyde that a man maye by dyuers[…] thynges well perceyue the cō trary / he had yf he so hadde mente, lefte than no lamentacyon for any stryfe that happeth bytwene seculare prestes amonge them selfe. I can not therfore ī good fayth diuyne, what he sholde mene by that increase endynge in prestes after all the relygyouse, but yf he mente to sygnyfye that the state of prestes pofessyng relygyon, were a state of lesse perfeccyon by reason of the professyon, then is the state of those seculare prestes y• haue temporall landes of theyr own purchace or enheritaūce, or that ellys serue some chaū tery or lyue vppon tr[…]ntallys abrode.

And surely yf the man thus ment in dede / bysydes that he sholde haue sette out hys sentence more playnely: his menynge wyl[…] but yf he declare it the better, mysselyke better men and better lerned to, thā I & he be bothe. And sauynge for that poynte whyche is no small mater / ellys as for his rules of rethoryke or grammatycall congruyte eyther, or ouersight in reasonyng, as thynges of no gret weyght & wolde not myche vouchsaue to towche. For they be suche offences as a man maye fall in, and yet be a saued soule, as well as though he neuer wrote any wurke at all