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

                                
                                     [6-text p 367] 
                                  
                                  To don of gentilesce þe fair office
                                
                                  Thay might nought doon no vileny or vice
                                
                                  Tak fuyr and ber it in þe derkest hous
                                
                                  Bitwixe þis . and þe mount Cankasous
                                  Line 1140 
                                
                                  And let men schit . þe dores and go þenne
                                
                                  Ȝit wol þe fuyr as fair and lighte brenne
                                
                                  As twenty þousand men might it biholde
                                
                                  his office naturel ay wol it holde
                                  Line 1144 
                                
                                  vp peril on my lif til þat it dye
                                
                                  her / may ȝe se wel how þat genterye
                                
                                  Is nought annexid to possessioun
                                
                                  Sithins folk ne doon her operacioun
                                  Line 1148 
                                
                                  Alway as doth þe fuyr lo in his kynde
                                
                                  For god it wot men may ful often fynde
                                
                                  A lordes sone do schame and vilonye
                                
                                  And he þat wol haue pris of his gentrie
                                  Line 1152 
                                
                                  For he was boren of a gentil hous
                                
                                  And had his eldres noble and vertuous
                                
                                  And nyl himselue . doo no gentil dedis
                                
                                  Ne folw his gentil aunceter þat deed is
                                  Line 1156 
                                
                                  he is nought gentil be he duk or erl .
                                
                                  For vileyn synful deedes makeþ a cherl .
                                
                                  For gentilnesse nys but renome
                                
                                  Of þin auncestres for her heigh bounte
                                  Line 1160 
                                
                                  which is a straunge þing to þy persone [folio 101b] 
                                
                                  Thy gentilesce comeþ fro god alloone
                                
                                  Than comþ oure verray gentilesse of grace
                                
                                  It was no þing biquethe vs wiþ oure place
                                  Line 1164 
                                
                                  Thinkeþ how nobil as saith valerius
                                
                                  was þilke tullius hostilius
                                
                                  That out of pouert / ros to high noblesse
                                
                                  Redith Senek/. and redith eek/ Boece .
                                  Line 1168 
                                
                                  Ther schuln ȝe se expresse þat no dred is
                                
                                  Þat he is gentil þat doþ gentil dedis
                                
                                  And þerfor lieue housbond I conclude
                                
                                  Al were it that myn auncetres wer rude

                                  Line 1172

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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 227
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/agz8246.0001.001/239:5

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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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