Come forthe Sire Abbot / with 3owre brode hatte
[B]e[e]th not abasshed / though 3e haue right
Grete is 3owre hede / 3owr beli large & fatte 3e mote come daunce / thow33e be nothing light
Leve[th] 3owre abbei / to somme other wight 3owre eire [is] of age / 3owre state to occupie
Who that is fattest / I haue hym be-hight
In his graue / shal sonnest putrefie.
Be not ashamed, though you should rightly be 3owre hede / 3owr beli: your head, your belly 3e mote: you must wight: person, man
eire: heir be-hight: promised
The abbot answereth
Of thi [th]retis / haue I noon envie
That I shal now leue al gouernaunce
But that I shal / as a cloistre[r] deie
This dothe to me / passynge grete greuaunce
Mi liberte nor my grete habundaunce
What mai a-vaile / in eny maner wyse 3itte axe I merci / with hertli repentaunce
Though yn diynge / to late men hem a-vise.
I have no desire of your threats
doeth: does
3itte axe: yet ask
diynge: dying, hem: them
Dethe to the Abbesse
And 3e my ladi / Jentel dame abbesse
With 3owre mantels furred large & wide 3owre veile 3owre wimple / passyng of grete richesse
And beddes softe / 3e mote now leyne a-side
For to this daunce / I shal be 3owre gide
Thowgh 3e be tender / & borne of Jentille blode
While that 3e lyve / for 3owre selfe prouyde
For after deth / no man hathe no gode.
The Abbesse answereth
Allas that dethe / hathe thus for me ordeyned
That yn no wise / I mai hit not declyne
Thowgh hit so be / ful ofte I haue constreyned
Breste & throte / my notes owte to twyne
Mi chekes rounde / vernysshed for to shyne
Ungirte ful ofte / to walke atte large
Thus cruel dethe / dothe al estates fyne
Who hath no Ship / mote rowe yn bote or barge.
hit: it
vernysshed: varnished, made bright
fyne: end mote: must
Dethe to the Baylly
Come forthe Sire Bailli / that knewe al the gise
Bi 3owre office of trewthe / & rightwisnesse 3e moste come / to a newe assise
Extorcions & wronges / to redresse 3e ben sommened / as lawe bitte expresse
To 3efe a-comptes / the Juge wille 3ow charge
Whiche hathe ordeyned / to exclude al falsnesse
That eueri man / schal bere his owne charge.
0 thou lorde god / this is an harde Journe
To whiche a-forne / I toke but litel hede
Mi chaun[c]e is turned / & that forthynketh me
Some-tyme with Juges / what me liste to spede
Lai yn my my3te / be favoure or for mede
But sitthen ther is / no rescuse be bataile
I holde hym wise / that coude see yn dede
A3en dethe / that noon appele mai vaile.
(1)account...:A factual report of one's life, works, duty, actions, & accomplishments;.
Compare with Romans 14,12: "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God"
and 1st Peter 4,5: "Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead".
Medieval dances of death
St. Paul's, London