Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

[6-text p 628] neighbour / and al this is bi envie / [488] Certes than is envie the worste synne that is / ffor sothely alle other synnes ben sumtyme ayeines .o. special vertu / [489] but certes envie is ayeines alle special vertues / & ayeines al goodnesse / for it is sory of al the bountees of his neighbour / And in this manere it is diuerse from al other synnes / [490] ffor wel vnnethe is ther any other synne / that hit ne hath sum delite in him silff / saue only envie / that euer hath in him selff angvisshe & sorowe / [491] The spices of envie ben these / ther is first sorowe / of other mennes / goodnesse / & of here pros|perite / whiche is kindely matire of ioye / than is envie a synne ayeins kynde / [492] The secounde spice of envie / is ioye of other men-is harme / & that is properly like to the Deuel / that euer reioyseth him of man-is harme / [493] Of these two spices cometh bagbitynge / . . . . [no gap in the MS.] or detraccion hath twey spices / as thus / Somme man preisith his neighbour / bi a wikked entente / [494] for he makith alwey a wikked knotte at the laste ende / alwey he makith a butte at the laste ende / that is digne of more blame than worth is al the preisinge / [495] The secounde spice is / that if a man be good / & doth & seith al thing to good entente / The bagbiter wol turne al the goodnesse vp so doun / to his shrewede entente / [496] The thride is to amennse the bounte of his neigh|bour / [497] The ferthe spice of bagbityng is this / That if men speke goodnesse of a man / than wol the bakbiter seie perfay / suche a man is better than he / in dispreisinge of him that men preise / [498] The .v. spice is this / for to consente gladly & herken the harme that men speke of other folke / this is ful grete / & ay encreseth after the wikked entente of the bakbiter ‖ [499] Affter bakbityng cometh grucchinge or murmuracion / & somtyme it springeth [MS Arch. Seld. B. 14 folio 284a] of inpacience ayeines god / & somtyme ayeines man /
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Title
The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author
Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas
Page 640
Publication
London,: Pub. for the Chaucer society by N. Trübner & co.,
1868-[1869]

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"The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8235.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 22, 2025.
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