Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

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

[6-text p 670] honeste and ben attempre of hir array / I wot wel þat þay schulde sette here entent to please her house|bondes but nought by here queyntise of array [933] ¶ Seint Ierom saith þat wyues þat ben arrayed in silk and in purpre ne mowe nouȝt cloþe hem in ihū crist ¶ loke what saith saint Iohn eek in þe same matier [934] ¶ Seint gregori saith eek þat no wight sekith precious cloþing ne array but oonly for veyn glorie to ben honoured þe more biforn þe poeple [935] ¶ It is a gret foly a womman to haue fair array outward and hirsilf to ben foul inward [936] ¶ A wyf schulde eek be mesurable in lokyng and in beryng and in laugheing and discrete in alle hir wordes. [937] and aboue alle worldly þinges sche schulde loue hir housebonde/ with al hire herte and to him to be trewe of hir body. [938] so scholde an housebonde eeke ben to his wif. For sith þat al þe body is þe housebondes. so schulde here herte ben. or ellis þer is bitwixe hem tuo as in þat no parfyt mariage [939] ¶ Thanne schal men vnder|stonde; þat for þre þinges a man and his wyf mowe fleischly assemble ¶ The firste is in entent/ of engen|drure of children to the seruice of god. for certis þat is þe cause fynal of matrimoyne [940] ¶ The secounde cause is to ȝelden euerych of hem his dette vn [folio 281a] to oþer of his body ¶ For euerych of hem haþ power of his oughne body ¶ The þridde is for to eschiewe leccherie and vilenye. þe ferþe forsoþe is dedly synne. [941] as to þe firste it/ is meritory. The secounde also for as saiþ þe decre þat sche haþ merit of chastite þat ȝeldith to hir housebonde þe dette of hir body. ȝe þough it/ be agayn hir likyng and þe lust of hir hert [942] ¶ The þridde maner is venial synne. and trewly scarsly may eny of þese be wiþoute venial synne for þe corrupcioun and for þe delit. [943] The ferþe maner is for to vnderstonde as if þay assemble oonly for amorous loue and for noon of þe forsayde causes. but
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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 676
Publication
London,: Pub. for the Chaucer society by N. Trübner & co.,
1885.

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https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8246.0001.001
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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8246.0001.001/688:12

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"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 14, 2025.
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