The Harleian ms. 7334 of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

                                
                                     [6-text p 337] 
                                  
                                  It likeþ hem to be clene in body and gost
                                
                                  Of myn estate I nyl make no bost
                                
                                  For wel ȝe wot a lord in his houshold
                                
                                  He nath not euery vessel ful of gold
                                  Line 100 
                                
                                  Som ben of tre and don her lord seruise
                                
                                  God clepeth folk to him in sondry wise
                                
                                  And euery haþ of god a propre ȝifte
                                
                                  Som þis som þat as him likith to schifte
                                  Line 104 
                                
                                  Virginite is gret perfeccioun
                                
                                  And continens eek wiþ gret deuocioun
                                
                                  But crist þat of perfeccioun is welle [folio 88a] 
                                
                                  Bad nouȝt euery wight schuld go and selle
                                  Line 108 
                                
                                  Al þat he had and ȝiue it to þe pore
                                
                                  And in such wise folwe him and his fore /
                                
                                  he spak to hem þat wolde lyue parfytly
                                
                                  But lordyngs by ȝour leue þat am not I
                                  Line 112 
                                
                                  I wol bystowe þe flour of myn age /
                                
                                  In þe actes and in þe fruytes of mariage
                                
                                  Tel me also to what conclusioun
                                
                                  were membres maad of generacioun
                                  Line 116 
                                
                                  And in what wise was a wight y-wrouȝt
                                
                                  Trustith right wel þay were nouȝt maad for nouȝt
                                
                                  Glose who-so wol and say boþe vp and doun
                                
                                  þat þay were made for purgacioun
                                  Line 120 
                                
                                  Oure boþe vryn and þinges smale /
                                
                                  was eek to knowe a femel fro a male
                                
                                  And for non oþer cause say ȝe no
                                
                                  Thexperiens wot wel it is not so /
                                  Line 124 
                                
                                  So þat þese clerke ben not with me wroþe /
                                
                                  I say þis þat þay makid ben for boþe
                                
                                  Þat is to say for office and for ease
                                
                                  Of engendrure þer we god nouȝt displease
                                  Line 128 
                                
                                  why schuld men ellis in her bokes sette
                                
                                  That man schal ȝelde to his wif his dette
                                
                                  Now wher-wiþ schuld he paye his payement
                                
                                  If he ne vsed his sely instrument

                                  Line 132

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Title: The Harleian ms. 7334 of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas: Page 197
Publication: London,: Pub. for the Chaucer society by N. Trübner & co.,; 1885.

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8246.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8246.0001.001/209:5

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Full citation: "The Harleian ms. 7334 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/agz8246.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 7, 2025.

The Harleian ms. 7334 of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

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