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

                                
                                     [6-text p 460] 
                                  
                                  The slakke skyn / aboute his nekke shaketh
                                
                                  Whil þat he sang / so chaunteth he and craketh
                                
                                  But god woot what þat May thoughte in hir herte
                                
                                  Whan she hym saugh / vp sittynge in his sherte
                                  Line 1852 
                                
                                  In his nyght cappe / and with his nekke lene
                                
                                  She preyseth nat his pleyyng worth a bene
                                
                                  Thanne seide he thus / my reste wol I take
                                
                                  Now day is come / I may no lenger wake
                                  Line 1856 
                                
                                  And doun he leyde his heed / and sleepe til pryme
                                
                                  And afterward / whan þat he saugh his tyme
                                
                                  Vp ryseth Ianuarie / but fresshe May
                                
                                  Heeld hire chambre / vn-to the fourthe day
                                  Line 1860 
                                
                                  As vsage is / of wyues / for the beste
                                
                                  ffor euery labour/ som tyme moot han reste
                                
                                  Or elles / longe may he nat endure
                                
                                  This is to seyn / no lyues creature
                                  Line 1864 
                                
                                  Be it of fyssh / or bryd / or beest or man
                                
                                  Now wol I speke / of woful Damyan
                                
                                  That langwissheth for loue / as ye shul heere
                                
                                  Therfore / I speke to hym in this manere
                                  Line 1868 
                                
                                  ¶ I seye / o sely Damyan allas [¶ Auctor] 
                                
                                  Andswere to my demaunde / as in this cas
                                
                                  How shaltow / to thy lady fresshe May
                                
                                  Telle thy wo / she wole alwey seye nay
                                  Line 1872 
                                
                                  Eek if thou speke / she wol thy wo biwreye
                                
                                  God be thyn helpe / I kan no bettre seye
                                
                                  ¶ This sike Damyan / in Venus fyr
                                
                                  So brenneth / that he dyeth for desyr
                                  Line 1876 
                                
                                  ffor which / he putte his lyf in auenture
                                
                                  No lenger myghte he / in this wise endure
                                
                                  But priuely / a penner gan he borwe [folio 113b] 
                                
                                  And in a lettre / wroot he al his sorwe
                                  Line 1880 
                                
                                  In manere of a compleynt or a lay
                                
                                  Vn-to his faire / fresshe lady May
                                
                                  And in a purs of sylk/ heng on his sherte
                                
                                  He hath it put and leyde it at his herte

                                  Line 1884

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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 294
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/agz8232.0001.001/325

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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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