The language I have learnt these forty years,
My native English, now I must forgo;
And now read more

The language I have learnt these forty years,
My native English, now I must forgo;
And now my tongue's use is to me no more
Than an unstringed viol or a harp,
Or like a cunning instrument cased up
Or, being open, put into his hands
That knows no touch to tune the harmony.

Marry, you are the wiser man; for many a man's tongue shakes out
his master's undoing.

Marry, you are the wiser man; for many a man's tongue shakes out
his master's undoing.

The windy satisfaction of the tongue.

The windy satisfaction of the tongue.

The first vertue, sone, if thou wilt lerne,
Is to restreyne and kepen wel thy tonge.

The first vertue, sone, if thou wilt lerne,
Is to restreyne and kepen wel thy tonge.

My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which
I have made touching the king: read more

My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which
I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready
writer.

You play the spaniel,
And think with wagging of your tongue to win me.

You play the spaniel,
And think with wagging of your tongue to win me.

Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

So on the tip of his subduing tongue
All kinds of arguments and question deep,
All replication read more

So on the tip of his subduing tongue
All kinds of arguments and question deep,
All replication prompt and reason strong,
For his advantage still did wake and sleep.
To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep,
He had the dialect and different skill,
Catching all passions in his craft of will; . . .

I cannot, nor I will not hold me still;
My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will.

I cannot, nor I will not hold me still;
My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will.