DE GUILLEVILLE'S PILGRIMAGE OF THE LIFE OF MAN (englisht by Lydgate in 1426, from the 2nd recension of De Guille|ville's Pèlerinage de vie humaine, A. D. 1355, pr. about 1500).
Prolog of the Translator, John Lydgate. [Cott. Vitel folio 2a]
q Vi peregrinatis, hunc per librum docearis [docearis. Stowe MS. 952. The Cott. MS. is burnt and torn at the top all thro; 1st page faint. The Stowe MS. was once in the possession of old John Stowe, the famous tailor and book-collector. Notes in his writing are on lvs. 1, 3, 4, 13, besides the long bit he copied from 303 bk. to the end, 379 bk.]
Que bona uel dubia s[it fugienda [[St.]] ] via.
[y] e worldly folk, avysë yow betymes
Wych in thys lyff [ne] ben [but as pylgrimes [[St.]] ],
Lyk straungerys [fferë fro youre Cuntre [[St.]] ]
[[St.]] Vnfraunchysed and [voyde off lyberte]; [[St.]]
Line 4
ffor schortly herë yovre poscessyon
ys yove to yow / but for a schort sesoun,
Nor the tresovrë [[tresoure St., tresour C.]] wych that ye possede
ys but thyng lent / ho so kan takë hede,
Line 8
ffor clerkys seyn / how [that] al [[alle St., al C.]] erthly thyng [St. ¶ Omnia terena per vic[es] sunt aliena. // Nescio sunt cuius nunc // cras huius & h . . . ]
Stowndëmel, and by vnwar chaungyng,
Whan folk lest wenë / & noon hede ne take,
Her mayster oldë [[olde St., old C.]] sodeynly for-sake.
Line 12
Thyng myn to-day / a-nother hath to-morwe;
That kam wyth Ioye / departeth ay wyth sorwe;
And thyng ywonne wyth Ioyë [[Ioye St., Ioy C.]] and gladnesse,
Ay dysseuereth wyth [[wyth with C.]] wo and hevynesse.
No tresour here, wyth O man wyl abyde;
Who strengest halt / ther rathest hyt wyl slyde;
ffortune ys lady / with hyr / double face,
Of every thyng / that sodeynly doth pace;
Line 20
Sche pryncesse ys / of al worldly glorye,
And off al Ioyë that ys transytórye;
Sche ys off chere [[chere St., che C.]] so varyaunt & dovble,
Hyr kalm ys euere meynt with wo & trovble,
Line 24
And hyr sugre [ys] vnder-spreynt wyth galle:
Thys hyr vsage vn-to estatys alle,
