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

                                
                                  Assemble al þe folke of ȝoure kinrede
                                
                                  And Maake a werre so scharpe on þis Cite
                                
                                  That be som auenture or sum trete
                                  Line 1288 
                                
                                  Thou maiste haue to lady and to wife
                                
                                  ffor whome þat .I. most nedes lese my life
                                
                                  ffor as be weie of Possibilite
                                
                                  Sethe þou art att þi large of prison fre
                                  Line 1292 
                                
                                  An art a lorde grete is þine avantage
                                
                                  More þan is myne þat sterueþe here in a cage
                                
                                  ¶ ffor .I. mote wepe and waile wil þat .I. leue
                                
                                  With al þe wo þat prison maie me ȝeue
                                  Line 1296 
                                
                                  Ande eke wiþe peine þat loue me ȝeueth also
                                
                                  That dowbleþ al my turment and my wo
                                
                                  Thare-wiþe þe fire of Ielousie vp sterte
                                
                                  With-inne his breste and hente him be þe herte
                                  Line 1300 
                                
                                  So woodly þat he like was to be-holde
                                
                                  The box tree or þe asshen dede or colde.
                                
                                  ¶ Than seide he O cruel goddes þat gouern
                                
                                  This werlde wiþ byndeinge of ȝowre worde eterne
                                  Line 1304 
                                
                                  And wreten in þe table of Atthamaunt [folio 17b] 
                                
                                  Ȝowre parlement and ȝowre eterne graunt
                                
                                  What is Mankinde More vn-to ȝo holde
                                
                                  Than is þe schepe þat rowkeþ in þe folde
                                  Line 1308 
                                
                                  ffor sleine is man riht as anoþere beste
                                
                                  And duelleþe eke in prison and in areste
                                
                                  And haþe sekenesse and grete aduersite
                                
                                  And ofte time giltles parde
                                  Line 1312 
                                
                                  ¶ What gouernance is in þis prescience
                                
                                  That giltles tormenteþ Innocence
                                
                                  And encreseþ þus al my penaunce
                                
                                  That man is bounde to his obseruaunce
                                  Line 1316 
                                
                                  ffor goddes saake to letten of his will
                                
                                  þere as a beste maie al his lust fulfill
                                
                                  And whan a beste is dede it haþe no peine
                                
                                  Bot after his deþe man moste wepe and pleyne.
                                  Line 1320 
                                
                                  Thouhe in þis werlde he haue care and woo

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Title: The Lansdowne ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas: Page 38
Publication: London :: Published for the Chaucer Society by N. Trübner,; 1867-1879.

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8236.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8236.0001.001/66:3

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Full citation: "The Lansdowne 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/agz8236.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 29, 2025.

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

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