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

                                
                                  The ferreste in his parisshe / muche and lyte
                                
                                  Vp on his feet and in his hond a staf
                                
                                  This noble ensample / to his sheep he yaf
                                  Line 496 
                                
                                  That first he wroghte / and afterward he taughte
                                
                                  Out of the gospel / he tho wordes caughte
                                
                                  And this figure / he added eek ther to
                                
                                  That if gold ruste / what sholde Iren do
                                  Line 500 
                                
                                  ffor if a preest be foul / in whom we truste
                                
                                  No wonder is / a lewed man to ruste
                                
                                  And shame it is / if a preest take keepe
                                
                                  A shiten shepherde / and a clene sheepe
                                  Line 504 
                                
                                  Wel oghte a preest ensample for to yiue
                                
                                  By his clennesse / how þat his sheep sholde lyue
                                
                                  He sette noght. his benefice to hyre
                                
                                  And leet his sheep / encombred in the Myre
                                  Line 508 
                                
                                  And ran to London / vn to Seint Poules
                                
                                  To seeken hym / a Chauntrye for soules
                                
                                  Or with a breetherede / to been withhoolde [folio 8b] 
                                
                                  But dwelte at hoom / and kepte wel his foolde
                                  Line 512 
                                
                                  So þat the wolf ne maade it noght myscarye
                                
                                  He was a sheepherde / and noght a Mercenarye
                                
                                  And thogh he hooly weere / and vertuous
                                
                                  He was noght to synful men despitous
                                  Line 516 
                                
                                  Ne of his speche / daungerous / ne digne
                                
                                  But in his techyng discreet and benygne
                                
                                  To drawen folk to heuene / with fairnesse
                                
                                  By good ensample / this was his bisynesse
                                  Line 520 
                                
                                  But it weere / any persone obstynaat
                                
                                  What so he weere / of heigh / or lowe estaat
                                
                                  Hym wolde he snybben / sharply for the nonys
                                
                                  A bettre preest I trowe ther nowher noon ys
                                  Line 524 
                                
                                  He wayted / after no pompe / and reuerence
                                
                                  Ne maked hym / a spyced conscience
                                
                                  But Cristes loore / and hise Apostles twelue
                                
                                  He taughte / but first he folwed it hym selue
                                  Line 528 
                                
                                  ¶ With hym ther was a Plowman / was his broother [Plowman.]

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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 15
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/agz8233.0001.001/41:3

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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 9, 2025.

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

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