The Multitext Edition > Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales MS. Peniarth 392 D
The Parson's Tale
Folio 249r
2 of 30 folios
þt he considereth nat þt he is in synne / or rekketh nat þt he is
in synne / which is / the hardnesse of the deuel
x That other
spece of Enuye / is whan þt a man werreyeth trouthe / whan
he woot þt it is trouthe / & eek whan he werreyeth / the gace /
þt god hath yeue to his neighebore / & al this / is by enuye /
Certes / thanne is enuye / the worste synne þt is / for sooth-
ly / alle othere synnes / ben som tyme / agayns o special vertu /
415
but certes / enuye is agayns alle vertues / & agayns alle
goodnesses / for it is sory of alle the bountees of his neigh-
ebore / & in this manere / it is dyuers from alle othere syn-
nes /
for wel vnnethe / is ther any synne / þt it ne hath /
som delit in hym self / saue oonly enuye / þt euere hath in hym
self angwissħ & sorwe
¶ The speces of Enuye ben thise ~
¶ Ther is first sorwe of oother mennes goodnesse and of hir prosper-
itee / & prosperitee / is kyndely matere of Ioye / thanne is Enuye / a
synne agayns kynde
¶ The Seconde Spece of Enuye / is Ioye
of oother mannes harm / and that is proprely lyk to the deuel
that euere reioyseth hym of mannes harm
¶ Of thise .ij. speces
comth bakbitynge
/ and this synne of bakbitynge
/ or detracci-
on
/ hath certeyn speces
/ as thus
Som man preiseth his neighe-
bore
/ by a wikked entente
/
420
for he maketh alwey a wikked knotte
atte laste ende / alwey he maketh a .but. at the laste ende / þt
is digne of moore blame / than worth is al the preisynge
¶ The
Seconde Spece is / þt if a man be good / & dooth / or seith a thyng
to good entente / the bakbiter wol turne al thilke goodnesse
vp so down / to his shrewede entente
¶ The thridde / is to ame-
nuse / the bountee of his neighebore
¶ The ferthe Spece of bakbi-
tynge
/ is this
that if men speke goodnesse of a man
/ thanne
wol the bakbitere seyn
/ parfey
/ swich a man
/ is yet bet than he
in despreisynge
/ of hym
þt men preise
¶ The fifthe Spece is / for
to consente gladly / and herkne gladly / the harm þt men speke
of oother folk / this synne is ful greet & ay encreseth / after ~
the wikked entente of the bakbitere
425
¶ After bakbitynge comth
grucchynge or Murmuracioū / and som tyme / it spryngeth of
Inpacience agayns god / & som tyme agayns man
¶ Agayns
god is it whan a man gruccheth agayn the pyne of helle / or
agayns pouerte / or los of catel / or agayn reyn / or tempest or
ellis gruccheth / þt shrewes han prosperitee / or ellis / for þt goode
men han aduersitee /
and alle thise thynges / sholde men suffre
paciently / for they comen by the rightful Iugement & ordinaūce