Tongues I'll hang on every tree
That shall civil sayings show. . . .

Tongues I'll hang on every tree
That shall civil sayings show. . . .

The windy satisfaction of the tongue.

The windy satisfaction of the tongue.

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

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

All swol'n with chafing, down Adonis sits,
Banning his boist'rous and unruly beast;
And now the happy read more

All swol'n with chafing, down Adonis sits,
Banning his boist'rous and unruly beast;
And now the happy season once more fits
That lovesick Love by pleading may be blest;
For lovers say the heart hath treble wrong
When it is barred the aidance of the tongue.

Better the feet slip then the tongue.
[Better the feet slip than the tongue.]

Better the feet slip then the tongue.
[Better the feet slip than the tongue.]

Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under
his tongue;
Though he spare it, read more

Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under
his tongue;
Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within
his mouth:
Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps
within him.

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.

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.

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.