And at þe [þat.] entre, ys none forsake
Þat ys weyl shryue, and haþ penaunce take;
And, þo þat vnshryuë be,
þere þey getë none entre.
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Allas, þat oure synne ys so grefe,
Þat leseþ [lesseþ.] þe ioye þat we are lefe!
God graunte vs alle swych shryfte to take,
Þat we, þe aungeles, ioye mow make!
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The seuenþe grace þat shryfte ȝyueþ.
The seuenþe ys, and þat weyl endyþ,
'Þat oure shryfte, þe deuyl blyndeþ.'
whan he made vs falle yn plyght,
He refte vs allë gostely syȝt;
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Fro synne to synne he made vs falle,
And oure fadres byfore vs alle.
Y rede we ȝelde hym þe countre paye,
And blyndë we hym fro hys praye.
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we put oute hys yȝe [ye.] gostly
whan we shryue vs opunly;
Certes he may nat knowe vs efte,
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For oure shryfte haþ hym þe syȝt refte.
þat may weyl y-shewed [y-shewede O, shewed H.] be
with [By.] a tale of an autoryte.
[A Tale of How to put the Devil's Eye out spiritually, or How by Shrift a Man made himself invisible to the Fiend who before used to lead him about chaind. [I have read many analogous stories in the religious writings of the Middle-Age, but the present one I have not found.—G. Paris, Hist. Litt. xxviii. 205.] ]
Þyr was onys an ermyte, [A tale.]
Þat was euer yn Gode parfyte; [folio 81a]
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So moche he hadde of Goddys grace,
