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

                                
                                  ffarwel / my lif / my lust and my gladnesse
                                
                                  ¶ Allas / why pleynen folk so in commune
                                
                                  Of puruieaunce of god / or of ffortune
                                  Line 1252 
                                
                                  That yeueth hem ful ofte / in many a gyse
                                
                                  Wel bettre / than they kan hem self deuyse
                                
                                  Som man desireth / for to han richesse
                                
                                  That cause is of his moerdre / or greet siknesse
                                  Line 1256 
                                
                                  And som man wolde / out of his prison fayn
                                
                                  That in his hous / is of his meynee slayn
                                
                                  Infinite harmes / been in this mateere
                                
                                  We witen nat what [thing] we preyen heere
                                  Line 1260 
                                
                                  We faren / as he that dronke is as a Mous
                                
                                  A dronke man woot wel / þat he hath an hous
                                
                                  But he noot which the righte wey is thider
                                
                                  And to a dronke man / the wey is slider
                                  Line 1264 
                                
                                  And certes / in this world so faren we
                                
                                  We seken faste / after felicitee
                                
                                  But we goon wrong ful often trewely
                                
                                  Thus may we seyn alle / and namely I
                                  Line 1268 
                                
                                  That wende / and hadde a greet opinion
                                
                                  That if I myghte / escapen from prison
                                
                                  Thanne hadde I been in ioye / and perfit heele
                                
                                  That now / I am exiled fro my wele
                                  Line 1272 
                                
                                  Syn þat I may nat seen you Emelye
                                
                                  I nam but deed / ther nys no remedye
                                
                                  ¶ Vp on that oother syde / Palamon
                                
                                  Whan þat he wiste / Arcite was agon
                                  Line 1276 
                                
                                  Swich sorwe he maketh / þat the grete tour
                                
                                  Resouned / of his youlyng and clamour
                                
                                  The pure fettres / on his shynes grete
                                
                                  Weren / of his bittre salte teeres wete
                                  Line 1280 
                                
                                  Allas quod he / Arcita cosyn myn
                                
                                  Of al oure strif / god woot the fruyt is thyn
                                
                                  Thow walkest now in Thebes at thy large [folio 18b] 
                                
                                  And of my wo / thow yeuest litel charge
                                  Line 1284 
                                
                                  Thou mayst / syn thou hast wysdom and manhede

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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 37
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/agz8232.0001.001/67:3

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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 June 12, 2025.

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

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