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Show LeN L 148r LEIA cometh to wretches often icleped! Alas, alas with how defe an ere deth cruell turneth awaie fr wretches, and naieth for to clofe wepyng eyen While fortune unfaithfull favoured me with ligh godes tha forowful houre tha is to faie th deth, bad almofte drente myne hedde: but no for fortune cloudie hath chaunged her decevabl chere to mewarde, myne unpitous life drawet along ungreable dwellynges. O ye my frendes what, or whereto avaunted ye m to ben welfull For he that bath fallin, ftode in no ftedfaft degre IGI A K with al her incommoditie and euyls, and forow hath commaunded and broughte me into the fam old age, that is to fay: that forowe caufeth me t be olde, before my time come of olde age hoer heare an m d grow reuiled fkynn vntimel tremblet vpo m Th heade my fleth, clean confumed and wafte with forowe Mannes deat is happy, that cometh not in youth, when a ma 1s luflye, and in pleafure or welth : but tn time o aduerfitie, when it is often defyred Alas Ala howe dull and deffe be the eares of cruel death vnta men in mifery that would fayne dye: and yet refufythe to come and fhutte vp theyr carcfull wepyng eyes \Whiles that falfe fortune favoryd m with her tranfitorye goodes, then the howre o deat had almoft ouercom me Tha is to fay deathe was redy to opprefle me when I was in profperitie Nowe for by caufe that fortune beyng turned, from profperitie into aduerfitie (as thecler day is darkyd with cloudes) and hath chaungyd he deceyuable countenaunce : my wretched life is ye prolonged, and doth continue in dolour O m frendes ad h velt ver erio ott ok haue you fo often bofted me, faying that I was happy when I had honour poffeffion riches, and authoritie whych be tranfitory thynges He that hath fallen was in no ftedefaft degre o hut ly wh I‘N the mene while, thatI fill record thefe thynge with my felf, and marked my wepelie complaint with office of poinctell: I faugh ftondyng above the hight of myn hed a woman of full grete reverence, by femblaunt Her eyen brennyng, an clere, feyng over the common might of menne with a lively colour, and with foche vigour an ftrength that it ne might not be nempned, all wer it fo, that fhe were full of fo grete age, that menn woulden not trowen in no manere that fhe were o our elde The ftature of her was of doutous Judgemente for fometyme fhe conftrained and thronke her felven like to the common mefure of menne: And fome -tyme it feemed that the touche the hight of her hedde hedde higher the heven wit And when fhe hove he fhe perced the felf heven, {o that th fight of menne lokyng was in ydell her clothe wer maked of right delie thredes, and fubtel craf of perdurable matter The whiche clothes fhe ha woven with her owne handes, as 1 knewe well afte by her felf declaryng, and fhewyng to me th beautie : The whiche clothes a darkneffe of a for leten and difpifed elde had dufked and darked, as i is wonte to darke by fmoked Images In the nethereft hemme and border of thef clothes menne redde iwoven therein a Grekithe A ;hat fignificth the life active, and above that letter An the hieft bordure, a Grekithe C. that fignifiet thcv'{ife Icontemplatifc. - And betwene thefe tw X WHYLES that I confiderydde pryuylye wit my felfe the thynges before fayd, and defcrybed my wofull complaynte after the mane and offyce of a wrytter, me thought I fawe a woman {tand ouer my head of a reuerend countenaunce hauyng quycke and glyfteryng clere eye, abou the common forte of men in lyuely and deleGabl coloure, and ful of ftrength, aithough fhe femed f olde that by no meanes fhe is thought to be one o ‘this oure tyme, her ftature is of douteful knowledge for now fhe fhewethe herfelfe at the com men length or ftatur of men, and other whiles th femeth fo high, as though fhe touched heuen wit the crown of her hed. And when fhe wold ftretc fourth her hed hygher, it alfo perced thoroug heauen, fo that mens fyghte coulde not attaine t behold her. Her veflures or cloths were perfyt o the finyite thredes, and fubtyll workemanthyp, an of fubftaunce permanent, whych veftures the ha wouen with her own hands as I perceyued after b her owne faiynge. The kynde or beawtye of th whyche veftures, a certayne darkenes or racher ignoraunce of oldenes forgotten hadde obfcuryd an darkened, as the {moke is wont to darken image that ftand nyghe the fmoke. 1In the lower parte o the faid veftures was read the Greke letter P. woue whych fignifyeth praltife or actyffe, and in th hygher parte of the veftures the Greke letter T whych eftandeth for theorica, that fignifyeth {pecuAnd betwene both th lacion or contemplation |