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

                                
                                  Assemblen / alle the folk / of oure kynrede
                                
                                  And make a werre / so sharpe on this Citee
                                
                                  That by som auenture / or som tretee
                                  Line 1288 
                                
                                  Thow mayst haue hire to lady and to wyf
                                
                                  ffor whom / þat I moste nedes lese my lyf
                                
                                  ffor / as by wey of possibilitee
                                
                                  Sith thou art at thy large / of prison free
                                  Line 1292 
                                
                                  And art a lord / greet is thyn auauntage
                                
                                  Moore than is myn / þat sterue here in a cage
                                
                                  ffor I moot wepe / and wayle whil I lyue
                                
                                  With al the wo / þat prison may me yeue
                                  Line 1296 
                                
                                  And eek with peyne / þat loue me yeueth also
                                
                                  That doubleth / al my torment / and my wo
                                
                                  Ther with / the fyr of Ialousie vp sterte
                                
                                  With Inne his brest and hente him by the herte
                                  Line 1300 
                                
                                  So woodly / that he lyk was to biholde
                                
                                  The Boxtree / or the Asshen dede and colde
                                
                                  ¶ Thanne seyde he / o crueel gooddes þat gouerne
                                
                                  This world / with byndyng of youre word eterne
                                  Line 1304 
                                
                                  And writen in the table of Atthamaunt
                                
                                  Youre parlement and youre eterne graunt
                                
                                  What is mankynde / moore vn to you holde
                                
                                  Than is the sheepe / þat rouketh in the folde
                                  Line 1308 
                                
                                  ffor slayn is man / right as another beest
                                
                                  And dwelleth eek / in prison and arreest
                                
                                  And hath siknesse / and greet aduersitee
                                
                                  And ofte tymes / gilt[e]lees pardee
                                  Line 1312 
                                
                                  ¶ What gouernance / is in this prescience
                                
                                  That gilt[e]lees / tormenteth Innocence
                                
                                  And yet encresseth this / al my penaunce
                                
                                  That man is bounden / to his observaunce
                                  Line 1316 
                                
                                  ffor goddes sake / to letten of his wille
                                
                                  Ther as a beest / may al his lust fulfille
                                
                                  And whan a beest is deed / he hath no peyne
                                
                                  But after his deeth / man moot wepe and pleyne
                                  Line 1320 
                                
                                  Though in this world / he haue care and wo

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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 38
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/agz8232.0001.001/68:3

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DPLA Rights Statement: No Copyright - United States

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Manifest: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/api/manifest/cme:agz8232.0001.001

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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 16, 2025.

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

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