Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

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

[6-text p 239] þat spendeth ouer largely / [2792] and therfore seith Catoun ‖ Vse he seith thy richesses / þat thow hast ygeten / [2793] in swich a manere / þat men haue no matere ne cause / to calle thee / neither wrecche ne chynche / [2794] for it is greet shame to a man / to haue a poore herte and a riche purs ‖ [2795] He seith also / the goodes þat thow hast ygeten / vse hem by mesure / that is to seyn / spende mesurably / [2796] for they / þat folily wasten and despenden / the goodes þat they han; [2797] whan they han namoore propre of hir owene; they shapen hem / to take the goodes of another man ‖ [2798] I seye thanne / that ye shal fle Auarice / [2799] vsynge youre richesses in swich manere / þat men seye nat/ þat youre richesses been ybiryed / [2800] but þat ye haue hem in youre myght and in youre weldynge ‖ [2801] ffor a wys man / repreueth the Auaricious man & seith thus / in two vers ‖ [2802] Wher-to and why / biryeth a man his goodes by his grete Auarice / and knoweth wel / þat nedes moste he dye; [2803] for deeth / is the ende of euery man / as in this present lyf / [2804] And for what cause / or encheson ioyneth he hym / or knytteth he hym / so faste vn-to his goodes / [2805] þat alle hise wittes / mowen nat disseueren hym / or departen hym fro hise goodes / [2806] and knoweth wel / or oghte knowe / þat whan he is deed / he shal no thyng bere with hym out of this world ‖ [2807] And ther-fore / seith Seint Austyn ‖ That the Auaricious man / is likned vn-to helle / [2808] þat the moore it swolweth / the moore desir it hath to swolwe & deuoure / [2809] And as wel / as ye wolde eschewe to be called an Auaricious man or chynche; [2810] as wel sholde ye kepe yow & gouerne yow in swich a wise / þat men calle yow nat fool large ‖ [2811] Ther-fore seith Tullius ‖ The goodes he seith of thyn hous / sholde nat been hidde ne kept so cloos; but þat they myghte been opned by pitee & debonairetee / [2812] that is to seyn; [folio 230b] to yeue hem part þat han greet nede / [2813]
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About this Item

Title
The Hengwrt ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author
Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas
Page 541
Publication
London :: Published for the Chaucer Society by N. Trübner,
1868-1879.

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https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8233.0001.001
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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8233.0001.001/567:11

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"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 June 21, 2025.
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