[CHAPTER I.]
The mirrour of the furst reding of these histories.
HIt is a noble and a faire thinge for a man or a woman̄ to see and beholde hem-self in the mirrour of auncient stories, the whicℏ hathe ben wretin bi oure Aunsetters forto shewe us good ensaumples that thei dede, to leue and to eschewe the eueƚƚ. And, doughtres, y saie this for y am olde, and haue leued longe, and see moche more of the world̛ thanne ye. And therfor a parti, after my science, whiche is not ["whiche is not" is repeated, by mistake, in the MS.] gret, y wiƚƚ shew you, for y haue gret desire that ye turne youre hertis and thoughtis to drede and to serue God; for he thanne wol sende you good and worship in this world̛, and in the other. For in certayne aƚƚ the verray good and worship honest of man and woman comithe of hym only, and of none other, And yeuithe longe lyff and stont in this terreyn and wordly [sic] thing like as hym lust, for aƚƚ liethe in his plesir and ordinaunce. And also [fol/col 2/2 ] he yeuithe and yeldithe, for the good seruice that is yeue and do to hym, the double an hundred tymes. And therfor, doughtres, it is good to serue suche a lorde that gardonetℏ his seruaunt in suche wise.