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

                                
                                     [6-text p 335] 
                                  
                                  Vp-on this nombre / diffynycioun
                                
                                  Men may dyuyne / and glosen vp & doun
                                
                                  But wel I woot expres / with-outen lye
                                
                                  God bad vs / for to wexe and multiplye
                                  Line 28 
                                
                                  That gentil text kan I wel vnderstonde
                                
                                  ¶ Eek wel I woot he seyde þat myn housbonde
                                
                                  Sholde lete / fader and moder/ and take to me
                                
                                  But of no nombre / mencion made he
                                  Line 32 
                                
                                  Of Bigamye / or of Octogamye
                                
                                  Why sholde men thanne / speke of it vileynye
                                
                                  ¶ Lo here / the wise kyng Dann Salomon
                                
                                  I trowe / he hadde wyues many oon
                                  Line 36 
                                
                                  As wolde god / it leueful were to me [folio 58b] 
                                
                                  To be refresshed / half so ofte as he
                                
                                  Which yifte of god hadde he / for alle hise wyuys
                                
                                  No man hath swich / that in this world alyue is
                                  Line 40 
                                
                                  God woot this noble kyng as to my wit
                                
                                  The firste nyght hadde many a murye fit
                                
                                  With ech of hem / so wel was hym on lyue
                                
                                  Blessed be god / that I haue wedded fyue
                                  Line 44 
                                
                                  Wel come the sixte / whan þat euere he shal
                                
                                  ffor sith I wol nat kepe me / chaast in al
                                
                                  Whan myn housbonde / is fro the world agon
                                
                                  Som cristen man / shal wedde me anon
                                  Line 48 
                                
                                  ffor thanne thapostle seith / þat I am free
                                
                                  To wedde a goddes half / where it liketh me
                                
                                  He seith / that to be wedded is no synne
                                
                                  Bet is to be wedded / than to brynne
                                  Line 52 
                                
                                  What rekketh me / theigh folk / seye vileynye
                                
                                  Of shrewed Lameth / and his bigamye
                                
                                  I woot wel / Abraham was an holy man
                                
                                  And Iacob eek as fer as euere I kan
                                  Line 56 
                                
                                  And ech of hem / hadde wyues mo than two
                                
                                  And many another / holy man also
                                
                                  ¶ Where kan ye seye / in any maner age
                                
                                  That heighe god / defended mariage

                                  Line 60

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Title: The Hengwrt ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas: Page 130
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/agz8233.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8233.0001.001/156:4

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Full citation: "The Hengwrt 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/agz8233.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 17, 2025.

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

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