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

                                
                                     [6-text p 583] 
                                  
                                  Hir lemman? certes this is a knauyssh speche
                                  Line 205 
                                
                                  fforyeueth it me / and that I yow biseche
                                
                                  ¶ The wise Plato seith / as ye may rede
                                
                                  The word / moot nede accorde with the dede
                                  Line 208 
                                
                                  If men shal telle proprely a thyng
                                
                                  The word / moot cosyn be to the werkyng
                                
                                  I am a boystous man / right thus seye I
                                
                                  Ther nys no difference trewely
                                  Line 212 
                                
                                  Bitwixe a wyf/ þat is of heigh degree
                                
                                  If of hire body / dishoneste she bee
                                
                                  And a poure wenche /? oother than this
                                
                                  If it so be / they werke bothe amys
                                  Line 216 
                                
                                  But þat the gentile / in hire estaat aboue
                                
                                  She shal be cleped / his lady as in loue
                                
                                  And for that oother / is a poure womman [folio 208b] 
                                
                                  She shal be cleped / his wenche / or his lemman
                                  Line 220 
                                
                                  And god it woot myn owene deere brother
                                
                                  Men leyn þat oon / as lowe as lith þat oother
                                
                                  ¶ Right so / bitwixe a titlelees tirant/
                                
                                  And an Outlawe / or a theef errant
                                  Line 224 
                                
                                  The same I seye / ther is no difference
                                
                                  To Alisaundre / was toold this sentence
                                
                                  That for the tirant is of gretter myght
                                
                                  By force of meynee / for to sleen doun right
                                  Line 228 
                                
                                  And brennen hous and hoom / and make al playn
                                
                                  Lo / therfore / is he cleped a Capitayn
                                
                                  And for the Outlawe / hath but smal meynee
                                
                                  And may nat doon / so greet an harm as he
                                  Line 232 
                                
                                  Ne brynge a contree / to so greet mescheef/
                                
                                  Men clepen hym / an Outlawe / or a theef /
                                
                                  But for I am a man / noght textueel
                                
                                  I wol noght telle / of textes neuer a deel
                                  Line 236 
                                
                                  I wol go / to my tale / as I bigan
                                
                                  Whan Phebus wyf / had sent for hir lemman
                                
                                  Anon they wroghten / al hire lust volage
                                
                                  ¶ The white crowe / they heeng ay in the Cage

                                  Line 240

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About this Item

Title: The Ellesmere ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas: Page 579
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/agz8232.0001.001/609

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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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