GROUP D. FRAGMENT V.
§ 1. WIFE OF BATH'S PREAMBLE.
CORPUS MS.
Prologus vxoris de Bathe. [headline] [folio 100a]
Experiment þough non auctorite [¶ Prologus vxoris de Bathe .Co.vijo.]
Were in þis world is right ynough for me
To speke of wo þat is in mariage
ffor lordynges syn I twelue ȝeer was of age /
Line 4
Thanked be god þat is eterne alyue
housbondes atte chirche dore I haue had fyue/
If I so often might haue wedded be
But alle were worþy men in here degre
Line 8
But me was told certein nought longe agones
[that criste ne wente / neuere but onys] [[MS Arch. Seld. B. 14.]]
To weddyng in þe Cane of Galile /
That by þilke ensample taught he me
Line 12
That I ne schulde wedded be but ones
herk eek lo which a scharpe worde for þe nones
Besyde a welle Ihesu god and man
Spak in repreef of þe Samaritan
Line 16
Thow hast y-hadde .v. housebondes quod he.
And þat ilke man þat now haþ þe
Is not þin housbonde þus sayde he certayne
What he mente þer-by I can nought sayne
Line 20
Wele But þat/ I axe why þe fyfte man
Was non housbonde to þe Samaritan
how many might sche han in mariage
Line 23
[[This line is by another hand, over an erasure.]] Ȝitt hardde I neuere telle in al myn age
