Stanzas CXVI–CXXIX

CXVI
Item, henceforth young Merle shall still
Manage my change (for evermo'
God wot, it is against my will
With change I intermeddle) so
Full change he give to high and low,.
Three crowns six half-crowns, and two small
Angels one great one ; for, you know,
A lover should be liberal.

CXVII
Item, I've seen with my own eyes
That my poor orphans, all the three,
Are grown in age, and wit likewise.
No sheepsheads are they, I can see ;
From here to Salins none there be
That better bear them at the schools :
Now, by the Confraternity,
Lads of this fashion are no fools.

CXVIII
I will that they to college go :
Whither ? To Master Pierre Richer.
Donatus is too hard, I trow :
Thereat I will not have them stay.
I'd rather they should learn to say
An Ave Mary and there stand,
Without more letters ; for alway
Scholars have not the upper hand.

CXIX
Let them learn this and there leave off;
I do forbid them to proceed :
Meseems it is too hard and tough
For boys to understand the Creed.
I halve my long gray tabard wede
And will one half thereof to sell
And buy them pancakes : for indeed
Children did ever love cates well.

CXX
I will that they well grounded be
In manners, though it cost them dear :
Close hoods shall they wear, all the three,
And go with thumbs in girdle-gear,
Humble to all that come them near,
Saying, ' Eh, what ? . . . Don't mention it ! '
So folk shall say, when they appear,
' These lads are gently bred,' to wit.

CXXI
Item, unto my clerklings lean, —
To whom my titles and degree
(Seeing them fair and well beseen
And straight as reeds) I gave in fee,
And also, without price and free,
I did my rent and charge assign,
To levy on the pillory,
As safe and sure as if 'twere mine :

CXXII
(Though they be young and of good cheer,
In that they nothing me displease :
Come twenty, thirty, forty year,
They will be other, so God please.
Ill doth he that maltreateth these,
Since fair they are and in their prime :
Fools only will them beat and pheeze ;
For younglings grow to men in time,) —

CXXIII
The purses of the Clerks Eighteen
They'll have, although my back I break :
They're not like dormice, that grow lean
With three months' sleep before they wake.
Ill fares he that his sleep doth take
In youth, when rise and work should he,
So that he needs must watch and wake
In age, when he should sleeping be.

CXXIV
Thereof unto the Almoner
Letters to like effect I write.
If they to pray for me demur,
Let pull their ears for such despite.
Folk often marvel all their might
Why by these twain such store set I ;
But, fast or feast days, honour bright,
I never came their mothers nigh.

CXXV
To Michault Culdou I bespeak,
As also to Chariot Taranne,
One hundred sols. Let neither seek
Whence ; 'twill be manna to each man :
Also my boots of leather tan,
Both soles and uppers, sundry pair;
So they forgather not with Jehanne
Nor any other like to her.

CXXVI
Unto the Seigneur de Grigny,
To whom I left Bicetre of yore,
I give the castle of Billy ;
Provided window, gate and door
He 'stablish as they were before,
That so in good repair it be.
Let him make money evermore ;
For coin I lack and none has he.

CXXVII
To Thibault de la Garde, no less, . . .
(Thibault ? I lie : his name is John)
What can I spare, without distress ?
I've lost enough this year bygone :
May God provide him ! . . . and so on.
What if I left him the Canteen ?
No : Genevoys's the elder one
And has more nose to dip therein.

CXXVIII
Item, I give to Basanier,
The judge's clerk and notary,
A frail of cloves, which levied may
On Master Jehan de Rueil be :
Mautainct and Rosnel the like fee
Shall have, which them I trust will stir
To serve with courage brisk and free
The Lord who serves Saint Christopher;

CXXIX
On whom the Ballad following
For his fair lady I bestow : . . .
If love to us no such prize fling,
I marvel not ; for, whiles ago,
He bore her off from high and low,
At that tourney King René made :
Hector or Troilus ne'er, I trow,
So much performed, so little said.