Two Dyaloges (c. 1549) | Page 2

and that Cannius his companyõ espyed and sayd to hî
as fo- loweth.
* * * * *
[C]The parsons names are Cannius and Poliphemus.
Cannius. what hunt Polipheme for here? Poliphemus. Aske ye what I
hunt for here, and yet ye se me haue neyther dogges, dart, Jauelyn, nor
huntyng staffe. Cannius. Paraduenture ye hunt after some praty nymphe
of the couert. Poliphemus. By my trouth and well coniectured, be holde
what a goodly pursenet, or a hay I haue here in my hande. Cannius.
Benedicite, what a straunge syght is this, me thinke I se Bachus in a
lyons skin, Poliphemus with a boke in his hande. This is a dogge in a
doblet, a sowe with a sadle, of all that euer I se it is a non decet.
Poliphe. I haue not onely paynted and garnyshed my boke with saffron,
but also I haue lymmed it withe Sinople, asaphetida, redleed, vermilõ,
and byse. Can. It is a warlyke boke, for it is furnished with knottes,
tassils ||plates, claspes, and brasen bullyons. Poliphe. Take the boke in
your hand and loke within it. Canni. I se it wery well. Truly it is a praty
boke, but me thynkes ye haue not yet trymmed it sufficiently for all
your cost ye have bestowed upon it. Poliphe. Why what lackes it?
Canni. Thou shuldest haue set thyne armes upon it. Poliphemus. what
armes I beseche the? Cãnius. Mary the heed of Silenus, an olde iolthed
drunkard totynge out of a hoggeshed or a tunne, but in good ernest,
wherof dothe your boke dyspose or intreate? dothe it teache the art and

crafte to drynke a duetaunt? Poli. Take hede in goddes name what ye
say lest ye bolt out a blasphemie before ye be ware. Cãnius. why bydde
ye me take hede what I saye? is there any holy matter in the boke? Poli.
what mã it is the gospell boke, I trow there is nothynge can be more
holye. Cannius. God for thy grace what hathe Poliphemus to do withe
the gospell? ||Poli. Nay why do ye not aske what a chrysten man hathe
to do with christe? Cannius. I can not tell but me thynkes a rousty byll
or a halbard wold become such a great lubber or a slouyn as thou arte a
great deale better, for yf it were my chaûce to mete such one and knewe
him not upon seeborde, and he loked so lyke a knaue and a ruffyã as
thou dost I wolde take hym for a pirate or a rouer upon the see/ and if I
met such one in the wood for an arrante thefe, and a man murderer. Poli.
yea good syr but the gospell teache vs this same lesson, that we shuld
not iudge any person by his loke or by his externall & outwarde
apparaunce. For lyke wyse as many tymes vnder a graye freers coote a
tyrannous mynde lyeth secretly hyd, eue so a polled heed, a crispe or a
twyrled berde, a frowninge, a ferse, or a dogged loke, a cappe, or a hat
with an oystrich fether, a soldyers cassocke, a payre of hoose all to cut
and manglyd, may co||uer an euangelycall mynde. Cannius. why not,
mary God forbyd elles, yea & many tymes a symple shepe lyeth hyd in
a wolfes skynne, and yf a man maye credite and beleue the fables of
Aesope, an asse maye lye secretely unknowen by cause he is in a lyons
skynne. Poliphe. Naye I knowe hym whiche bereth a shepe vpon his
heed, and a sore in his brest, to whome I wold wysshe with al my hart
that he had as whyte and as fauorable frendes as he hathe blacke eyes.
And I wolde wisshe also that he were as well guylt ouer and ouer as he
hathe a colour mete to take guyltynge. Canni. Yf ye take hym to were a
shepe vpon his heed, that weareth a cappe of woll, howe greuously than
art thou lodyn, or what an excedynge heuy burdê bearest thou then I
praye the whiche bearest a hoole shepe and an ostryche to vpon thy
heed? But what saye ye to hî doth not he more folyssly which beareth a
byrd vpon his heed, and an asse in his ||brest. Poliphemus. There ye
nypped & taunted me in dede. Cannius. But I wolde saye this geere dyd
wonderous wel yf this gospel boke dyd so adourne the with vertue as
thou hast adourned lymmed, and gorgiously garnysshed it with many
gay goodly glystryng ornamentes. Mary syr thou hast set it forth in his
ryght colours in dede, wolde to god it might so adourne the with good

cõdiciõs that thou myghtest ones lerne to be an honest man. Poli. There