[Sidenote: Take care.] Nowe thou husbande and huswyfe, that haue done your diligence and cure, accordynge to the fyrste artycle of the philosopher, that is to saye: _Adhibe curam_. And also haue well remembred the sayeng of wyse Salomon: 4 _Quod ociosus non gaudebit cum electis in cælo: sed lugebit in æternum cum reprobis in inferno_: Thanne ye must remembre, obserue, and kepe in mind, the seconde article of the sayinge of the philosopher, that is to saye, _Tene 8 [Sidenote: Keep measure.] mensuram_: That is to saye in englysshe, holde and kepe measure. And accordynge to that sayenge, I lerned two [Sidenote: Spendthrifts come to poverty.] verses at grammer-schole, and they be these, _Qui plus expendit, quam rerum copia rendit: Non admiretur, si paupertate 12 grauetur_: he that dothe more expende, thanne his goodes wyll extende, meruayle it shall not be, thoughe [Sidenote: [Fol. 64.]] he be greued with pouertee. And also accordynge to that sayenge speketh sayncte Paul and saythe, _Iuxta 16 facultates faciendi sunt sumptus, ne longi temporis victum, [Sidenote: Spend according to your income;] breuis hora consumat_: That is to saye, A[f]ter thy faculty or thy honoure, make thyne expences, leste thou spende in shorte space that thynge, that thou shouldest lyue 20 by longe. This texte toucheth euery manne, from the hyest degree to the loweste; wherfore it is necessary to euerye manne and womanne to remembre and take good hede there-vnto, for to obserue, kepe, and folowe the 24 same; but bycause this texte of sayncte Paule is in latyn, and husbandes commonely can but lyttell laten, I fere [Sidenote: or, in plain English,] leaste they can-not vnderstande it. And thoughe it were declared ones or twyse to theym, that they wolde 28 forgette it: Wherfore I shall shewe to theym a texte in englysshe, and that they maye well vnderstande, and [Sidenote: eat within your tether.] that is this, Eate within thy tedure.
Thou husbande and huswife, that intend to folowe the sayinge of the philosopher, that is to saye, kepe [Sidenote: Spare at the brink, not at the bottom.] measure, you muste spare at the brynke, and not at the [Sidenote: [Fol. 64_b_.]] bottom, that is to vnderstande, in the begynnynge of 4 the yere, sellynge of thy cornes, or spendynge in thy house, vnto the tyme that thou haue sowen agayne thy wynter-corne, and thy lente-corne, and than se what remayneth to serue thy house, and of the ouerplus thou 8 mayste sell and bye suche other necessaryes, as thou must [Sidenote: Do not spend much at the beginning of the year.] nedes occupie. And if thou spende it in the begynnynge of the yere, and shall want in the hynder ende, than thou doste not eate within thy tedure, and at the laste 12 thou shalte be punyshed, as I shal proue the by ensample. Take thy horse, and go tedure him vpon thyne owne lees, flytte hym as ofte as thou wylte, no manne wyll saye ‘wronge thou doste’; but make thy horse to longe 16 [Sidenote: Give not your horse too long a tether.] a tedure, than whan thou haste tyed hym vppon thyne owne lees, his tedure is so longe, that it recheth to the middes of an-other mans lees or corne: Nowe haste thou gyuen hym to moche lybertye, and that man, whose 20 corne or grasse thy horse hath eaten, wyll be greued at the, and wyll cause the to be amerced in the court, or elles to make hym amendes, or bothe. And if thy [Sidenote: If the horse break his tether,] horse breake his tedure, and go at large in euery mans 24 corne and grasse, than commeth the pynder, and taketh hym, and putteth hym in the pynfolde, and there shall [Sidenote: [Fol. 65.]] he stande in prison, without any meate, vnto the tyme thou hast payde his raunsome to the pynder, and also 28 [Sidenote: he will be impounded.] make amendes to thy neyghbours, for distroyenge of theyr corne. Ryght so, as long as thou eatest within [Sidenote: Wherefore, ‘eat within thy tether.’] thy tedure, that thou nedest not to begge nor borowe of noo man, soo longe shalte thou encrease and growe in 32 rychesse, and euery man wyll be content with the. And if thou make thy tedure to longe, that thyne owne porcyon wyll not serue the, but that thou shalte begge, borowe, or bye of other: that wyll not longe endure, 36 but thou shalte fall in-to pouertye. And if thou breake [Sidenote: Do not break your tether.] thy tedure, and ren ryot at large, and knowe not other mennes goodes frome thyne owne, than shall the pynder, that is to saye, the sheryffe and the bayly, areste the, 40 and putte the in the pynfolde, that is to say, in prison, there to abyde tyll the truth be knowen: and it is meruayle, if thou scape with thy lyfe, and therfore eate within thy tedure. 44