Belap

There was redy in a wode / Two hundurde knyghtys, þat were gode. / Owte of the wode þey came anon / And belapped vs euerychon.

For the lytell vertue & strength of that nature the which remayneth / there is as who sayth a lytell sparke of fyre wrapped and hyd in asshes / This is the naturall reason of man belapped with great darkenes / yet hauing dyscrecion of good & yll / of truthe & falsenesse, though it be vnable to fulfyll all that he approueth, nor may nat vse yet the full lyghte of truth / nor his affeccyons helthfully

The wofull pule, with wattir wnluflly, / Withhaldis thaim so at thai may nocht go by; / And Stix, the flude, bylappis thaim about / Nyne tymis, sa close at thai sall neuer wyn out.

Ouer this the foresayd laye / Reporte howe the pope may / A holy anker call / Out of the stony wall / And hym a bysshop make / It he on hym dare take / To kepe so harde a rule / To ryde vpon a mule / With golde all betrapped / In purple and paule be lapped

[T]here be many things that pertaine to a Chriſtian man, and yet al thoſe things are conteined in this one thing, that is, loue: be lappeth vp al things in loue.

And it may be, if thou knewest not which were perfect meekness, thou wouldst imagine, when thou hadst a little knowledge and feeling of this, that I call imperfect meekenss, that thou hadst almost gotten perfect meekness; and so wouldst deceive thyself, weening that thou wert full meek, when thou wert indeed all belapped in foul stinking pride.

Following the traditions of my elders and much of the advice which is generally so freely offered to young mothers, I fashioned skirts with bands so wide and cumbersome, so much belapped and pinned, as to reduce the unfortunate babe to semblance of a small mummy.