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

                                
                                  But alderbest he soong an Offertorie
                                
                                  ffor wel he wiste / whan þat soong was songe
                                
                                  He moste preche / and wel affyle hys tonge
                                  Line 712 
                                
                                  To wynne siluer / as he ful wel koude [folio 11a] 
                                
                                  Ther fore he soong the muryerly and loude
                                
                                  ¶ Now haue I toold yow / soothly in a clause
                                
                                  Thestaat / tharray / the nombre / and eek the cause
                                  Line 716 
                                
                                  Why þat assembled was this compaignye
                                
                                  In Southwerk. at this gentil hostelrye
                                
                                  That highte the tabard / faste by the belle
                                
                                  But now is tyme / to yow for to telle
                                  Line 720 
                                
                                  How þat we baren vs / that ilke nyght
                                
                                  Whan we weere / in that hostelrye alyght
                                
                                  And after wol I telle / of oure viage
                                
                                  And al the remenant of oure pilgrymage
                                  Line 724 
                                
                                  ¶ But first I pray yow / of youre curteisye
                                
                                  That ye narette it / noght my vileynye
                                
                                  Though þat I pleynly speke / in this matere
                                
                                  To telle yow / hir wordes / and hir cheere
                                  Line 728 
                                
                                  Ne thogh I speke / hir wordes proprely
                                
                                  ffor this ye knowen / also wel as I
                                
                                  Who so shal telle a tale / after a man
                                
                                  He moot reherce / as neigh as euere he kan
                                  Line 732 
                                
                                  Euerich a word / if it be in his charge
                                
                                  Al speke he / neuer so rudeliche and large
                                
                                  Or ellis / he moot telle his tale vntrewe
                                
                                  Or feyne thyng or fynde wordes newe
                                  Line 736 
                                
                                  He may noght spare / althogh he weere his brother
                                
                                  He moot as wel / seye o word / as another
                                
                                  Crist spak hym self ful brode in holy writ
                                
                                  And wel ye woot no vileynye is it
                                  Line 740 
                                
                                  Ek Plato seith / who so kan hym rede
                                
                                  The wordes / mote be cosyn / to the dede
                                
                                  ¶ Also I pray yow / to foryeue it me
                                
                                  Al haue I nat set folk / in hir degree
                                  Line 744 
                                
                                  Here in this tale / as þat they sholde stonde

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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 21
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/agz8233.0001.001/47:3

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DPLA Rights Statement: No Copyright - United States

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Manifest: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/api/manifest/cme:agz8233.0001.001

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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 10, 2025.

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

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