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

                                
                                     [6-text p 581] 
                                  
                                  Whit was this Crowe / as is a Snow whit Swan
                                  Line 133 
                                
                                  And contrefete / the speche of euery man
                                
                                  He kowde / whan he sholde telle a tale
                                
                                  Ther-with in al this world / no nyghtyngale
                                  Line 136 
                                
                                  Ne koude / by an hondred thousand deel
                                
                                  Syngen / so wonder myrily and weel
                                
                                  ¶ Now hadde this Phebus / in his hous a wyf/
                                
                                  Which þat he louede / moore than his lyf
                                  Line 140 
                                
                                  And nyght/ and day / dide euere his diligence
                                
                                  Hire for to plese / and doon hire reuerence
                                
                                  Saue oonly / that the sothe / if I shal sayn
                                
                                  Ialous he was / and wolde han kept hire fayn
                                  Line 144 
                                
                                  ffor hym were looth / byiaped for to be
                                
                                  And so is euery wight in swich degree
                                
                                  But al for naught/ for it auaileth noght [¶ Verum quid prodest/ diligens custodia cum vxor impudica seruari non possit pudica non debeat/ feda enim custod[ia] est castitatis necessitas / pulcra certe adamatur / feda facile concupiscit. Difficile custoditur quam plures amant.] 
                                
                                  A good wyf/ that is clene in werk and thoght
                                  Line 148 
                                
                                  Sholde nat be kept in noon awayt certayn
                                
                                  And trewely / the labour is in vayn
                                
                                  To kepe a shrewe / for it wol nat be
                                
                                  This holde I / for a verray nycetee
                                  Line 152 
                                
                                  To spille labour / for to kepe wyues
                                
                                  Thus writen olde clerkes in hir lyues
                                
                                  ¶ But now to purpos / as I first bigan
                                
                                  This worthy Phebus / dooth al that he kan
                                  Line 156 
                                
                                  To plesen hire / wenynge for swich plesance
                                
                                  And for his manhode / and his gouernance
                                
                                  That no man / sholde han put hym from hire grace
                                
                                  But god it woot ther may no man embrace
                                  Line 160 
                                
                                  As to destreyne a thyng which þat nature
                                
                                  Hath naturelly / set in a creature
                                
                                  ¶ Take any bryd / and put it in a Cage
                                
                                  And do al thyn entente / and thy corage
                                  Line 164 
                                
                                  [ [Rats.]  [folio 109b]  To] fostre it tendrely / with mete and drynke
                                
                                  Of alle deyntees / þat thow kanst bithynke
                                
                                  And kepe it al so clenly as thow may
                                
                                  Al though his Cage / of gold / be neuer so gay

                                  Line 168

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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 250
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/agz8233.0001.001/276:5

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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 April 30, 2025.

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

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