Trust þer-to as trewe as steel,
Þis was a warnyng to be ware.
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(5)
And also, whon þis eorþe qwok,
Was mon [non.—Wright.] so proud, he nas a-gast,
And al his Iolite for-sok,
And þouȝt on god whil þat hit last;
Line 36
And alsone as hit was ouer past,
Men wox as vuel as þei dude are!
Vche mon in his herte may cast,
Þis was a warnyng to be ware.
Line 40
(6)
ffor soþe, þis was a lord to drede,
So sodeynly mad Mon agast!
Of gold & seluer þei tok non hede,
But out of her houses ful sone þei past.
Line 44
Chaumbres, Chimeneys al to-barst,
Chirches & Castels foule gon fare,
Pinacles, Steples to grounde hit cast;
And al was warnyng to be ware.
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(7)
Þe Meuyng of þis eorþe I-wis,
Þat schulde bi cuynde be ferm & stabele,
A pure verrey toknyng hit is,
Þat Mennes hertes ben chaungable,
Line 52
And þat to falsed þei ben most Abul;
ffor wiþ good feiþ wol we not fare:
Leef hit wel wiþ-outen fabel;
Þis was a warnyng to be ware.
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(8)
Þe Rysing of þe comuynes in londe,
Þe pestilens, [Possibly the 5th plague,—the Black Death of 1348-9 being the First, the plague of 1361 the Second, that of 1368-9 the Third, and that of 1375 the Fourth, while that of 1390-1 was the Fifth.—Creighton, i. 206-219. But a less Plague was in 1382.] and þe eorþe-quake,
Þeose þreo þinges, I vnderstonde,
Beo-tokenes [Beoth tokenes.—Wright.] þe grete vengaunce & wrake
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