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

                                
                                     [6-text p 336] 
                                  
                                  By expres word / I pray you telleth me
                                
                                  Or where / comanded he virginitee
                                
                                  I woot as wel as ye / it is no drede
                                
                                  Whan thapostel / speketh of maydenhede
                                  Line 64 
                                
                                  He seyde / that precept ther-of hadde he noon
                                
                                  Men may conseille / a womman to been oon
                                
                                  But conseillyng is nat comandement
                                
                                  He putte it in oure owene Iuggement
                                  Line 68 
                                
                                  ffor hadde god / comanded maydenhede
                                
                                  Thanne hadde he dampned weddyng with the dede
                                
                                  And certein / if ther were / no seed y-sowe
                                
                                  Virginitee / wher-of thanne sholde it growe
                                  Line 72 
                                
                                  Poul / ne dorste nat / comanden atte leeste [¶ Paulus ‖ de virginibus / preceptum non habeo / consilium autem do &cetera] 
                                
                                  A thyng of which his maister yaf noon heeste
                                
                                  The dart is set vp / of virginitee
                                
                                  Cacche who so may / who renneth best lat see [¶ Inuitat ad cursum tenet in manu virginitatis brauium qui potest capere / capiat & cetera] 
                                  Line 76 
                                
                                  ¶ But this word / is nat taken of euery wight
                                
                                  But ther / as god lust gyue it of his myght
                                
                                  I woot wel / the Apostel was a mayde
                                
                                  But nathelees / thogh / that he wroot and sayde
                                  Line 80 
                                
                                  He wolde / þat euery wight / were swich as he [folio 68a]  [¶ Volo autem omnes homines esse sicut me ipsum] 
                                
                                  Al nys / but conseil to virginitee
                                
                                  And for to been a wyf / he yaf me leue
                                
                                  Of Indulgence / so it is no repreue
                                  Line 84 
                                
                                  To wedde me / if my make dye
                                
                                  With outen / excepcion of Bigamye
                                
                                  Al were it good / no womman for to touche [¶ Bonum est homini / mulierem non tangere] 
                                
                                  He mente / as in his bed / or in his couche
                                  Line 88 
                                
                                  ffor peril is / bothe fyr and tow tassemble
                                
                                  Ye knowe / what this ensample may resemble
                                
                                  This is al and som / that virginitee
                                
                                  Moore profiteth / than weddyng / in freletee
                                  Line 92 
                                
                                  ffreeltee clepe I / but if that he and she
                                
                                  Wolde lede / al hir lyf in chastitee
                                
                                  ¶ I graunte it wel / I haue noon envie
                                
                                  Thogh maydenhede preferre Bigamye

                                  Line 96

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Title: The Ellesmere ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas: Page 169
Publication: London :: Published for the Chaucer Society by N. Trübner,; 1868-1879.

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8232.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8232.0001.001/199

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Full citation: "The Ellesmere 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/agz8232.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 20, 2025.

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

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