class="x-ebookmaker-pageno" title="|" id="pgepubid00038"/> saye that it were chalke temperyd with the whyte of a egge.

Me. Ye, but do thay sette it forthe bare?

Ogy. No, lest so holy mylke shuld be defowlyd with the kyssynge of men.

Me. You say well. For I suppose y^t ther be many that kysse it, whiche be nother clene mouthyd, nor yet be pure virgynes.

Ogy. Whan y^e sexten sawe vs, he dyd runne to the aultre, & put apon hym his surplese, & his stole about his nekke, knelyd downe relygyously, and worshipyd it, and streghtforthe dyd offre the mylke to vs to kysse. And at the ende of the aultre we knelyd downe deuoutly, & the fyrste of all we salutyd Christe, & than after we callyd apon our lady with thys prayer, whiche we had mayd redy for the same purpose. O mother & mayde, whiche dyd gyue sukke with thy virgynes teates the lorde of heuen and yerthe, thy sone Iesus Christe, we beynge puryfyed thorowe hys precyous blode, do desyre that we may attayne, and come to that blessyd infancye of thy colombynes meknes, whiche is immaculate without malice, frawde, or diseyte, and with all affectyon of harte dothe couett and stody for the heuenly mylke of the euangelicall doctryne, to go forthe and encrease with it into a perfaycte man, into the mesure of the plentefulnes of Christe, of whose cõpany thou haste the fruycyon, togyther with the father, & the holy ghost for euermore, so be it.

Me. Uerely thys is a holy prayer. But what dyd she?

Ogygy. Thay bothe bekkyd at vs, excepte my eyes waggyd, and me thoght y^t the mylke daunsyd. In the meanseson the sexten came to vs, withowt any wordes, but he held out a table suche as the Germanes vse to gather tolle apon bridges.

Me. By my trothe I haue cursyd veryofte suche crauynge boxes, whan I dyd ryde thorowe Germany.

Ogy. We dyd gyue hym certayne monay whiche he offeryd to our lady. Thã I axyd by a certayne yonge man, yt was well learnyd, whiche dyd expownde and tell vs the saynge of ye Sextê, hys name (as fere as I remembre) was Robert alderisse, by what tokenes or argumêtes he dyd know that it was the mylke of owr lady. And that I very fayne, & for a good purpose desyred to knowe, y^t I myght stope the mowthes of certayne newfanglyd felowes, that be wotyd to haue suche holy relyques in derysyon and mokage. Fyrst of all the Sexten w^t a froward cowntenãce wold nat tell, but I desyryd the yong man to moue hym more instantly, but somwhat more gently he so courtesly behauyd hymselffe, y^t and he had prayd owr lady herselffe after y^t fashion, she wold nat haue be dysplesyd therwith. And thã this mystycall chapleyn, as and if he had be inspyryd with y^e holy ghoste, castynge at vs a frounynge loke, as & if he wold haue shote at vs y^e horryble thonderbolte of the greate curse, what nede you (saythe he) to moue suche questyones, whan yow see before your eyes so autentycall & old a table. And we were afrayd lest that he wold haue cast vs out of the churche for heretykes, but that oure monay dyd tempte hys greate furye.

Mene. What dyd you in the meaneseason?

Ogygyus. What suppose you? We were amasyd as and if a man had stryke vs with a clube, or we had be slayne with a thonderclape, and we very lowly axid pardon of oure folishe boldenes, and gote vs frome thens. For so must we entreate holy thynges. Frome thens we went in to y^e howse where owre lady dwellithe, and whan we came there, we sawe another Sexten whiche was but a noues, he lokyd famylarly as and if he had knowê vs, and whã we came a litle further in, we sawe another, y^t lokyd moch after suche a fashion, at the last came the thyrd.

Me. Perauenture thay desyryd to descrybe you.

Ogy. But I suspecte another mater.

Mene. What was it?

Ogygy. There was a certayne theffe y^t had stole almost all owr ladyes frontlet, and I supposyd y^t they had me in suspycyon thereof. And therfore whan I was within the chapell I mayd my prayers to our lady after thys fashiõ. Oh cheffe of all women Mary the mayd, most happy mother, moste pure virgyne, we vnclene, and synners, doo vysyte the pure & holy, and after our abylytye we haue offeryd vnto the, we pray thy that thy sone may grante this to vs, that we may folow thy holy lyffe, and that we may deserue thorow the grace of the holy ghoste, spirytually to cõceyue the lord Iesus Christ, & after that conceptyon neuer to be separat from hym, Amen. This done I kyssyd the aultre, and layd downe certayne grotes for myne offerynge and went my waye.

Me. What dyde our lady now, dyd nat she make one sygne, that you myght know that she had hard youre prayeres.

Ogy. The lyght (as I told you before) was but litle, and she stode at the ryght ende of the aultre in the derke corner, at the last the communicatyõ of the fyrst Sexten had so discoregyd me, that I durst not ones loke vpe with myne eyes.

Me. This pylgremage came but to smale effecte.

Ogy.. Yes, it had a very good & mery ende.

Me. You haue causyd me to take harte of grasse, for (as Homere saythe) my harte was almost in my hose.

Ogy. Whan dynar was done, we returnyd to y^e temple.

Me. Durste you goo & be susspecte of felonye?

Ogy. Perauenture so, but I had nat my selffe in suspiciõ, a gyltles mynde puttythe away feare. I was very desyrous to see that table whiche the holy Sexten dyd open to vs. At the last we fownde it, but it was hãgyd so hye that very fewe could rede it. My eyes be of that fashion, that I can nother be callyd Linceus ys a beaste so quike eyed y^t it wyll see thorow any wallLinceus, nother purre blynd. And therefore I instantly desyryd Alldryge to rede it, whose redynge I folowyd with myne owne eyes, because I wold skarsly truste hym in suche a mater.

Me. Well, now all doubtes be discussyd.

Ogy. I was ashamyd that I doubtyd so moche, y^e mater was so playne set forthe before oure eyes, bothe the name, the place, the thynge it selffe as it was done, to be breffe,there was nothynge lefte owte. There was a mane whos name was Wylyam whiche was borne in Parise, a man very deuoute in many thyngs but pryncypally excedynge relygyous in searchynge for the relyques of all sayntes thorowowt all the world. He after that he had vysytyd many places, contrayes, and regyones, at the laste came to Cõstantynenople. For Wylhelmes brother was there byshope, whiche dyd make hym pry to a certayne mayde, whiche had professyd chastyte, that hadde parte of oure ladyes mylke, which were an excedynge precyous relyque, if that other with prayer, or monaye, or by any crafte it myghte be gotte. For all the reliques that he hadde gotte before were but tryfles to so holy mylke. Wyllyam wold not rest there tyll that he had gotte halffe of that holy mylke, but whan he had it, he thoghte that he was richer than Croeseus.

Me. Why nat, but was it nat withowt any goodhope?

Ogy. He went thã streght home, but in hys iornay he fell