¶ Radix omnium malorum est Cupiditas; Ad Thymotheum .6o. [on leaf 142]
¶ The Perdoners owyn Prologe [folio 142b]
Lordynges quod he / in chirches whan I preche
Line 329
I peyne me to haue / an hauteyn speche
And rynge out / as round / as gooth a belle
ffor I can al by rote / that I telle
Line 332
ffirst I pronounce / whennes that I come
Line 335
And thanne myne Bulles shewe I / alle and some
Line 336
Oure liege lordes seel / on my patente
I shewe first / my body to warente
That no man be so bold / ne preest ne Clerk
Me to distourbe / of Cristes holy werk
Line 340
And after that / than telle I forth my tales
Bulles of Popes / and of Cardynales
Of Patriarkes / and of Busshopes I shewe
And in latyn speke I / wordes fewe
Line 344
To Saffron with / my predicacioun
In euery village / and in euery toun
Line 346
This is my Teme / and shal / and euere was
Line 333
Radix malorum / est Cupiditas
Line 334
Thanne shewe I forth / my longe cristal stones
Line 347
I-crammed ful of cloutes / and of bones
Line 348
Relikes ben they / as wenen they ichon
Thanne haue I in a loton / a shulder bon
Which that was / of an holy Iewes sheep
Goode men I seye / take of my wordes keep
Line 352
If that this bon / be wasshe in any welle
If Cow or Calf or Oxe / or sheep swelle
That any worm hath ete / or worm I-stonge
Take water of that welle / and wasshe his tonge
Line 356
