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

                                
                                     [6-text p 336] 
                                  
                                  By expres word / I pray yow telleth me
                                
                                  Or where comanded he virgynytee
                                
                                  I woot as wel as ye / it is no drede
                                
                                  Thapostle / whan he speketh of maydenhede
                                  Line 64 
                                
                                  He seyde / that precept ther-of / hadde he noon
                                
                                  Men may conseille a womman / to be oon
                                
                                  But conseillyng nys no comandement
                                
                                  He put it in oure owene Iuggement
                                  Line 68 
                                
                                  ffor hadde god / comanded maydenhede
                                
                                  Thanne hadde he dampned weddyng with the dede
                                
                                  And certes / if ther were no seed ysowe
                                
                                  Virgynytee thanne / wher-of sholde it growe
                                  Line 72 
                                
                                  Poul dorste nat comanden / at the leeste
                                
                                  A thyng of which / his mayster yaf noon heeste
                                
                                  The dart/ is set vp for virgynytee
                                
                                  Cacche who so may / who renneth best lat se
                                  Line 76 
                                
                                  But this word / is noght take of euery wight [folio 59a] 
                                
                                  But ther as god / list yeue it of his myght
                                
                                  I woot wel / that thapostle was a mayde
                                
                                  But nathelees / thogh þat he wroot or sayde
                                  Line 80 
                                
                                  He wolde / that euery wight were swich as he
                                
                                  Al nys but conseil / to virgynytee
                                
                                  And for to been a wyf / he yaf me leue
                                
                                  Of Indulgence / so nys it no repreue
                                  Line 84 
                                
                                  To wedde me / if that my make dye
                                
                                  With-outen excepcion of bigamye
                                
                                  Al were it good / no womman for to touche
                                
                                  He mente / as in his bed / or in his couche
                                  Line 88 
                                
                                  ffor peril is / bothe fyr and tow tassemble
                                
                                  Ye knowe / what this ensample may resemble
                                
                                  This al and som / he heeld virgynytee
                                
                                  Moore parfit than weddyng in freletee
                                  Line 92 
                                
                                  ffreletee clepe I / but if þat he and she
                                
                                  Wolde leden / al hir lyf in chastitee
                                
                                  I graunte it wel / I haue noon enuye
                                
                                  Thogh maydenhede / preferre bigamye

                                  Line 96

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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 131
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/agz8233.0001.001/157:4

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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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