56

ftandeth nexte him, fhall haue a payre of falfe dife,
and call them out vpon the bourde, the honeft man
mail take them and cafl them, as he did the other, the
thirde mall efpye them to be falfe dife, and fhall crye
oute, harde, with all the othes vnder God, that he hath
falfelye wonne theyr moneye, and than there is
nothynge but houlde thy throte from my dagger, than
euery man layeth hande on the fimple man, and
taketh all theyr moneye from him, and his owne also,
thinking himfelfe wel, that he fcapeth with his lyfe.

Curfed fwerying, blaffhemie of Cfoifle.) Thefe halfe
verfes Chaucer in an other place, more at large doth
well fet out, and verye liuely expreffe, fayinge.

Ey by goddes precious kert and his nayles
And by the blood of Chnfte, that is in Hales>
Seutn is my chaunce, and thine is ftnke and treye,
By goddes armes, if thou falfly playe^
This daggerJhall thorough thine herte go
Thisfrute commeth of the beched boones twoo
Forfweringe, Ire, falfnes and Homicide. &*c.

Thoughe thefe verfes be very ernefllie wrytten, yet
they do not halfe fo grifely fette out the horyblenes of
blafphemy, which fuche gamners vfe, as it is in dede,
and as I haue hearde my felfe. For no man can wryte
a thing fo earneftlye, as whan it is fpoken wyth iefture,
as learned men you knowe do faye. Howe will you
thinke that fuche furioufenes wyth woode countenaun-
ces, and brenning eyes, with flaringe and bragging,
with heart redie to leape out of the belly for fwelling,
can be expreffed ye tenth part, to the vttermofl.
Two men I herd my felfe, whofe fayinges be far more
grifely, than Chaucers verfes. One, whan he had lofl
his moneye, fware me God, from top to toe with, one
breath, that he had lofl al his money for lacke of
fweringe; The other, lofyng his money, and heaping
othes upon othes, one in a nothers necke, moofl
horrible and not fpekeable, was rebuked of an honefl
man whiche flode, by for fo doynge, he by and by
ftarynge him in the face, and clappyng his fifle with all