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

                                
                                     [6-text p 444] 
                                  
                                  And lede his lyf in ioye and in solas
                                
                                  Where as thise bacheleris / synge allas
                                
                                  Whan that they fynden / any aduersitee
                                
                                  In loue / which nys / but childyssh vanytee
                                  Line 1276 
                                
                                  And trewely / it sit wel to be so
                                
                                  That bacheleris / haue often peyne and wo
                                
                                  On brotel ground they buylde / and brotelnesse
                                
                                  They fynde / whan they wene sikernesse
                                  Line 1280 
                                
                                  They lyue / but as a bryd / or as a beest
                                
                                  In libertee / and vnder noon arreest
                                
                                  Ther as a wedded man / in his estaat
                                
                                  Lyueth a lyf blisful and ordinaat
                                  Line 1284 
                                
                                  Vnder this yok of mariage ybounde
                                
                                  Wel may his herte / in ioye and blisse habounde
                                
                                  ffor who kan be / so buxom as a wyf
                                
                                  Who is so trewe / and eek so ententyf
                                  Line 1288 
                                
                                  To kepe hym syk and hool / as is his make
                                
                                  ffor wele or wo / she wole hym nat forsake
                                
                                  She nys nat wery / hym to loue and serue
                                
                                  Thogh þat he lye bedrede / til he sterue
                                  Line 1292 
                                
                                  And yet somme clerkes seyn / it nys nat so
                                
                                  Of whiche / he Theofraste is oon of tho
                                
                                  What force / though Theofraste liste lye
                                
                                  Ne take no wyf quod he / for housbondrye
                                  Line 1296 
                                
                                  As for to spare / in houshold thy dispence
                                
                                  A trewe seruant dooth moore diligence
                                
                                  Thy good to kepe / than thyn owene wyf [folio 107b] 
                                
                                  ffor she wol clayme / half part al hir lyf
                                  Line 1300 
                                
                                  And if thou be syk so god me saue
                                
                                  Thy verray freendes / or a trewe knaue
                                
                                  Wol kepe thee bet than she þat waiteth ay
                                
                                  After thy good / and hath doon many a day
                                  Line 1304 
                                
                                  And if thou take a wyf / vn-to thyn hoold
                                
                                  fful lightly / maystow been a Cokewold
                                
                                  This sentence / and an hundred thynges worse
                                
                                  Writeth this man / ther god his bones corse

                                  Line 1308

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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 278
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/agz8232.0001.001/309

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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 19, 2025.

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

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