The Ellesmere ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.

                                
                                     [6-text p 350] 
                                  
                                  Till trewely / we hadde swich daliance
                                
                                  This clerk and I / that of my purueiance
                                
                                  I spak to hym / and seyde hym / how þat he?
                                
                                  If I were wydwe / sholde wedde me
                                  Line 568 
                                
                                  ffor certeinly / I sey for no bobance
                                
                                  Yet was I neuere / with-outen purueiance
                                
                                  Of mariage / nof othere thynges eek
                                
                                  I holde a Mouses herte / nat worth a leek/
                                  Line 572 
                                
                                  That hath but oon hole / for to sterte to
                                
                                  And if þat faille / thanne is al ydo
                                
                                  ¶ I bar hym on honde / he hadde enchanted me
                                
                                  My dame taughte me that soutiltee
                                  Line 576 
                                
                                  And eek I seyde / I mette of hym al nyght
                                
                                  He wolde han slayn me / as I lay vp right
                                
                                  And al my bed / was ful of verray blood
                                
                                  But yet I hope / that he shal do me good
                                  Line 580 
                                
                                  ffor blood / bitokeneth gold / as me was taught
                                
                                  And al was fals / I dremed of it right naught
                                
                                  But I folwed ay / my dammes loore
                                
                                  As wel of this / as of othere thynges moore
                                  Line 584 
                                
                                  ¶ But now sire / lat me se / what I shal seyn
                                
                                  A / ha / by god / I haue my tale ageyn
                                
                                  ¶ Whan þat my fourthe housbonde / was on beere
                                
                                  I weepe algate / and made sory cheere
                                  Line 588 
                                
                                  As wyues mooten / for it is vsage
                                
                                  And with my couerchief / couered my visage
                                
                                  But for þat I / was purueyed of a make
                                
                                  I wepte but smal / and that I vndertake
                                  Line 592 
                                
                                  ¶ To chirche / was myn housbonde / born a morwe
                                
                                  With neighebores / that for hym maden sorwe
                                
                                  And Iankyn oure Clerk / was oon of tho
                                
                                  As help me god / whan þat I saugh hym go
                                  Line 596 
                                
                                  After the beere / me thoughte he hadde a paire?
                                
                                  Of legges / and of feet / so clene and faire
                                
                                  That al myn herte / I yaf vn-to his hoold
                                
                                  He was I trowe / a twenty wynter oold

                                  Line 600

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Title: The Ellesmere ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas: Page 183
Publication: London :: Published for the Chaucer Society by N. Trübner,; 1868-1879.

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8232.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8232.0001.001/213:5.1.1

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Full citation: "The Ellesmere ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8232.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 29, 2025.

The Ellesmere ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.

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