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

About this Item

Title

Author

Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.

Publication

London,: Pub. for the Chaucer society by N. Trübner & co.,

1868-1879.

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DPLA Rights Statement: No Copyright - United States

Link to this Item

http://name.umdl.umich.edu/ASH2689.0001.001

Cite this Item

"The Petworth ms. 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/ASH2689.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 7, 2024.

Pages

[THE PROEM.]

                  
                    Thise olde gentile bretoynes in her daies
                  
                    Of dyuers auentures maden laies
                  
                    Rymeden in her furst bretoyne tonge
                  
                    Which layes wiþ her instrumentes þei songe
                    Line 712 
                  
                    Oiþer ellis radden hem for her plesance [folio 178b] 
                  
                    And oon of hem haue I in remembrance
                  
                    Which I shal seie wiþ as good wille as I can/
                  
                    But sirs by cause þat I am but a burill man
                    Line 716 
                  
                    At my bygynnynge furst I ȝou biseche
                  
                    Haue me excused of my rwde speche
                  
                    I lered neuere rethorike certeyne
                  
                    þinge þat I speke it mot be bare and pleyne
                    Line 720 
                  
                    I slepte neuere on þe mounte of parnaso
                  
                    Ne I neuer lered . Marchus Tullius ne Cithero
                  
                    Colours of rethorike knewe I none with-out drede
                  
                    But such coloures as growen in þe mede
                    Line 724 
                  
                    Or ellis such as men dye or peynt
                  
                    Colours of rethorike bene to me queynt
                  
                    Mi spirit feleþ not of such matiere
                  
                    But if ȝou lust my tale shul ȝe here [[No break in the MS.]] 
                    Line 728