This boke is compyled by Dan Iohn Lydgate monke of Burye, at the excitacion [and] styrynge of the noble and victorious prynce, Kynge Henry the fyfthe, i[n] the honoure glorie [and] reuerence of the byrthe of our moste blessed Lady, mayde, wyfe, [and] mother of our lorde Iesu Christe, chapitred as foloweth by this table

¶ Howe Ioseph figured the Byrthe of Christe. Capitulo. xlviii. (Book 48)

ALso this day of Ioseph the canele Amyd the felde / that dothe vertue floure Was gadered vp by clennes euery dele Whome all that other / gan worshippe & honoure For in chastite / clene chosen bowre Of may denhede / this canell grewe by kynde That whan the bretherne of Ioseph dyd bynde.

¶ Eueriche his shefe / the Byble gan deuyse Howe it stode vp / amonge hem euerichone And all the other / gan attones ryse And worshipped it mekely one and one

For this Ioseph sawe this day alone Sonne and Mone / and Sterres eke eleuen To hym obeye / vpon the hygh heuen.

¶ And the sothfast garnet of the holy grayne As sayth Guydo was a mayde swete In whome was shytte sothely for to sayne The sacred store / and eke the halowed whete Of the seuen yere / that dyd in plente flete For on this parfyte rote vertuous. The seuen eres of grayne so plenteuous.

¶ This day be growen / to full perfeccion To saue Egipte in his greate nede And for to be to hym saluation In crafte / whan he hath ende For this is the grayne / that fostre and fede With full repaste / woman chylde and man And all his bretherne / dwellinge in Canaan.

¶ This yonge Ioseph / this Ioseph the seconde Shall by his wytte / helpe and releue And Iacob made in plente to abounde With fulsum fode / at moro we and eke at cue That the honger / on no syde ne greue Of the seuene yere / vnto his lignage And lyke as Ioseph / in his tender age.

¶ Thought he sawe / hygh vp in heuen Sonne and Mone / in his auysion And therwithall / Sterres eke elleuen

Honoure hym with greate deuocion Of this Ioseph excellinge of renowne This newe Ioseph / Christe Iesu hymselue Of the Sterres / and the signes twelue.

¶ Honoured was with lowe subiection Though he laye lowe in a Oxes stall For bothe crony and domina••ion And hole the courte / aboue celestiall This hygh feste / for a memoriall The laudes songe / in the heuen quere Lyke as Dauid had in the Saultere.

¶ Prayseth the lorde of the hygh empyre And with one wyse / his byrthe gloresyeth That hath with loue brent and set a tyre Seraphyne / wherfore hym magnefyeth Betwene two beastes / though he in erthe lyeth Full humbly / through his humilit•• And nowe this feste of the Natiuite.

¶ The hygh Angels / and vertues all Praysen hym as they be wonte to done And let the swetens / of theyr notes all Downe to the erthe / where goddes owne sone This day hath chose / with vs for to wone And lyeth nowe wrapped in his mothers barm•• Whome well softely with her holy arme.

¶ And with the fayrnes of his fyngers whyte Full softely she doth hym enbrace

And in so moche / in herte dothe delyte His tenderlymmes / to welde and compace And to beholde / the goodliste face That euer was forgede by nature For it was he / I dare well assure.

¶ Whome she behelde / with her eyen meke That from eterne / was in his fathers thought And one with hym / who can take kepe His owne worde / that all made of nought Whome a may de hath to mankynde brought Thorowe her mekenes of heuen / & erthe quene The lynyall stocke of Iuda to sustene.

¶ Whome that Iacob on his fatall daye Whan Antropos sholde his threde vntwyne Whiche Cloto had put in delaye And Lachesis / or they wolde it fyue Gan to blesse / & thus to hem deuine Whan all his bretherne stode enuyron This olde graye / with a full softe sown.

¶ O Iuda Iuda / thy bretherne euerichone Shall prayse & worshyp the greate renoun•• Of thyne estate / whiche shalt of all thy fone The pryde oppresse / and make hem lowte downe That shall be cleped / the whelpe of the Lyon The ryall beaste / whiche Maugri who sayth nay Shall mighty be to catche / and take his praye.

¶ And prowdly bere it home / vnto his caue

My sone Iuda / in thy dredefull ten•• For through thy might / thou shalt victory haue Maugre echone / that the reuers mene For who shall moue / withstande or sustene Thy kyngly power / to make resistence Agayne thy manhode / and thy magnificence.

¶ That shall in the / so clerey shewe and shyne Without ••lipsinge / of any maner clowde The sep••e•• of whome / in soth shall neuer fyne To be famous / by reporte of lawe lowde He neuer cese / ne in couert shrowde Tyll a Duke aryse of the kynrede Whome all the worlde / shall obeye and drede.

¶ The whiche in soth / is for to be sent Out of the sede by succession Lyke a Kynge / to holde his parlement With his lieges and his region And he shall be to euery nacion Sothfast abidynge / & socour in her nede And he shall bynde his mighty sterne stede.

¶ Of very force / at the holsome vyne And ••ye his Asse / vnder the grapes rede And he his stole / that lyke to god doth shyne And his palle / by might of his manhede Shall wesshe in Grapes / that shall blede The reed blode / deper than scarlet hewe And thus arayed / in his vesture newe.

¶ Ofloke he shall be sterner to beholde Than the stremes of the light sterre And of eyen fayre many folde Than wyne fyned shyninge through a verr•• And lyke Iuore / that cometh fro so terre His tethe shall be euen / smothe and whyte And lyke in soth as Ioseph liste endyte.

¶ The sonne of Iacob / in his testament Wherto his chyldren / he maketh mencion To fore his deth / with full entente His presence as they knelin downe To hem rehercinge / the greate ••uision Whiche he had in Egipte goone full yore In the Foreste / amonge the holtes hore.

¶ Howe that he sawe twelue hertes whyte Full lustely go in her pasture And after that Lyncolne liste to wryte He sawe of Iuda borne a creature Of thought & dede / a veray mayde pure And in his dreme / he thought he dyd sene Of her brought forth / without spotte all clene.

¶ A lambe moste fayre to his inspeccion That euer he same / vnto his plesaunce On whose lifte hande stode a fierce Lyon And beastes all by one alyaunce That were in erthe / through cruell resemblaunce Aforcinge hem by sheltron in batayle By fell malyce / this fayre lambe to assayle.

¶ But or they a•• ••yle might in fight The lambes power / made hem for the deye And hem vanisshed through his humble might That man & Angell / whan they this cōquest say•• They fyllen downe / and the lambe dyd obeye Sent of god this meke werriour Whiche was borne to be our sauiour.

¶ Unto mankynde and proteccion To slee the Lyon / that he may nat endure And accordinge with his auysion This lambe of god / clade in our armure This day was borne of a mayde pure And lorde of all here / in a litell cage By kyn descended out of lignage.

¶ Of the worthy and mighty bretherne two And as burion out of a stocke growynge Right so this chylde from Leuy / and also Fro mighty Iuda / grewe out succedinge Borne of the blode / to be preest and Kynge So entremed lyde by succession Of bothe these two was the generacion.

¶ Tyll the braunches be ronne / and so ferre gone By ly••••all course / de••••endinge as a steyre Tyll the kynredes were bothe growen in to one In to a braunche / to haue repeyre That was preued playnly to ben eyre The right of Leui / in preesthode to succede And by Iuste title / who so liste to hede.

¶ For to be kynge / and bere the Diademe After his father / and by successoure To worthy Iuda / of Israhel to queme To be her prynce / and mighty gouernoure And fro Iacob / this burion and this floure Fyrste gan sprynge / to Iesse tyll it raught And so forth downe / tyll the buddes caught.