and such collections as the "Gesta Romanorum show what a pitch of
ingenuity in unnatural interpretation they had reached. An appropriate
instance is furnished by it in the following quaint fashion of
moralizing the chess play:--

"Antonius was a wys emp_er_our regnyng in the cite of Rome, the which
vsid moche to pley with houndis; and aftir þat pley, all þe day
aftir he wolde vse þe chesse. So yn a day, as he pleide at þe
chesse, & byheld the kyng fette yn the pley, som tyme hy and som tyme
lowe, among aufyns and pownys, he thought þ_er_with þ_a_t hit
wold be so with hi_m_, for he shuld dey, and be hid vndir erth. And
þ_er_fore he devided his Reame in thre p_ar_ties; and he yaf oo
part to þe kyng of Ier_usa_l_e_m; þe secunde p_ar_t vnto
þe lordis of his Reame or his empire; and the thrid p_ar_tie vnto
the pore people; & yede him self vnto the holy londe, and ther he
endid his lyf in peas.

MORALITE.

Seth now, good sirs; this emp_er_our, þat lovith so wele play, may
be called eche worldly man þat occupieth him in vanytes of the
world; but he moste take kepe of the pley of the chesse, as did the
emp_er_oure. the chekir or þe chesse hath viij. poyntes in eche
p_ar_tie. In eu_er_y pley beth viij. kyndes of men, s_cil_.
man, woman, wedewer, wedowis, lewid men, clerk_es_, riche men, and
pou_er_e men. at this pley pleieth vj. men. the first man, þat
goth afore, hath not but oo poynt, but whenne he goth aside, he
takith anoþ_er_; so by a pou_er_e man; he hath not, but when he
comyth to þe deth with pacience, þen shall he be a kyng in
heuen, w_i_t_h_ þe kyng of pore men. But if he grucche ayenst his