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5.397: Ac neither of Oure Lord ne of Oure Lady the leeste that evere was<br />
maked.<br />
5.398: I have maad avowes fourty, and foryete hem on the morwe;<br />
5.399: I parfournede nevere penaunce as the preest me highte,<br />
5.400: Ne right sory for my synnes, yet [seye I] was I nevere.<br />
5.401: And if I bidde any bedes, but if it be in wrathe,<br />
5.402: That I telle with my tonge is two myle fro myn herte.<br />
5.403: I am ocupied eche day, halyday and oother,<br />
5.404: With ydel tales at the ale and outherwhile in chirches;<br />
5.405: Goddes peyne and his passion, [pure] selde thenke I on it;<br />
5.406: I visited nevere feble men ne fettred folk in puttes;<br />
5.407: I have levere here an harlotrye or a somer game of souters,<br />
5.408: Or lesynges to laughen of and bilye my neghebores,<br />
5.409: Than al that evere Marc made, Mathew, Johan and Lucas.<br />
5.410: And vigilies and fastyng dayes — alle thise late I passe,<br />
5.411: And ligge abedde in Lenten and my lemman in myne armes<br />
5.412: Til matyns and masse be do, and thanne moste to the Freres;<br />
5.413: Come I to <strong>It</strong>e, missa est I holde me yserved.<br />
5.414: I am noght shryven som tyme, but if siknesse it make,<br />
5.415: Noght twyes in two yer, and thanne [telle I up gesse].<br />
5.416: "I have be preest and person passynge thritty wynter,<br />
5.417: Yet kan I neyther solve ne synge ne seintes lyves rede,<br />
5.418: But I kan fynden in a feld or in a furlang an hare<br />
5.419: Bettre than in Beutus vir or in Beati omnes<br />
5.420: Construe clausemel[e] and kenne it to my parisshens,<br />
5.421: I kan holde lovedayes and here a reves rekenyng,<br />
5.422: Ac in Canoun nor in Decretals I kan noght rede a lyne.<br />
5.423: "If I bygge and borwe aught, but if it be ytailed,<br />
5.424: I foryete it as yerne, and yif men me it axe<br />
5.425: Sixe sithes or sevene, I forsake it with othes;<br />
5.426: And thus tene I trewe men ten hundred tymes.<br />
5.427: And my servaunts som tyme, hir salarie is bihynde:<br />
5.428: Ruthe is to here the rekenyng whan we shal rede acountes,<br />
5.429: So with wikked wil and wrathe my werkmen I paye!<br />
5.430: "If any man dooth me a bienfait or helpeth me at nede,<br />
5.431: I am unkynde ayeins his curteisie and kan nought understonden<br />
it;<br />
5.432: For I have and have had somdel haukes maneres —<br />
5.433: I am noght lured with love but ther ligge aught under the thombe.<br />
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