The myroure of Oure Ladye, containing a devotional treatise on divine service, with a translation of the offices used by the sisters of the Brigittine monastery of Sion, at Isleworth, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Edited from the original black-letter text of 1530 A.D., by John Henry Blunt.

Yt is not lyght for euery man to drawe eny longe [Difficulty of translating from Latin into English.] thyng from latyn into oure Englyshe tongue. For there ys many wordes in Latyn that we haue no propre englyssh accordynge therto. And then suche wordes muste be turnyd as the sentence may beste be vnderstondyd. And therfore though I laboure to kepe bothe the wordes and the sentence in this boke as farre as oure language wyll well assente: yet some [Sometimes obliged to follow the sense rather than the exact words.] tyme I folowe the sentence and not the wordes as the mater asketh. There is also many wordes that haue dyverse vnderstondynges, & some tyme they ar taken in one wyse, some tyme in an other, and som tyme they may be taken in dyuerse wyse in one reson or clause. Dyuerse wordes also in dyuerse scryptures: [Latin words vary in sense.] ar set & vnderstonde some tyme other wyse then auctoures of gramer tell or speke of. Oure language is

also so dyuerse [leaf A 6] in yt selfe, that the commen maner of spekyng in Englysshe of some contre can skante be [The English language itself varies in different districts.] vnderstonded in some other contre of the same londe. ¶ And for these causes and suche other, yf any persones there be that holde them selfe connyng as some do, that whan they can onely a lytell gramer, or a lytel latyn [People who know a little etymology are often hyper∣critical.] and scarcely that wel; they ar more bolde to catche at a mannes saynge, or at hys wrytynge, then wolde many wyse clerkes that be. Therfore yf eny suche parsone happen to se this boke or eny other of oure drawyng and fynde eny thynge therin not drawen to hys entente, and therfore is redy to blame yt, and to say yt is wronge; I counsell you that in symplenes seke your soulles fode; and to take lytell hede at hys saynges. wyttynge well that the wyser that eny man ys; the [But the wiser a man the less will he blame other men's study; and the less well he knows the more he will find fault.] better wyll he be aduysed, or he blame an other mannes studdy. And the lesse good that he can: the more presumptuous wyll he be to fynde defaulte and to depraue, ye often tymes tho thynges that he vnder∣stondyth not. And therfore they that holde them selfe so wyse, may be contente wyth theyr owne wysdome for I began thys werke nothynge for them, but for the edyfycacyon of you that fele symplely in your owne wyttes, & loue to be enformyd. I am not wyser then was seint Hierome that in the drawying of holy scripture from other langage in to latyn, sayth [In prologo primo super Iob.] how he was compellyd at eche boke to answere to the bakbytinge of them that depraued hys laboure. ¶ But for that I knowe myne owne feoblenes, as well in connyng as in verteu; therefore I will neyther seke [The author has done his best, and submits himself and all his writings to the Church.] defaulte in other, ne maynteyne myne owne; but lowely I submyt me and all oure wrytynges, and other werkes to the correccyon of oure mother holy chyrche, & of the prelates and fathers therof, and of all that are wyser and can fele better. Besechynge you all way mooste dere and deuoute systres to praye that bothe [Asks the prayers of the sisters that his book may be overruled for good.]

thys, and all other dedes be euer rewlyd to oure lordes worshyp. Amen.

¶ Here endyth the seconde prologue.