Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

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

[6-text p 670] honestee. and been attempree of hire array /. I woot wel/ that they sholde setten hire entente to plesen hir hous|bondes but nat by hire queyntise of array [933] ¶ Seint [¶ Nota secun|dum sanctum Ieronimum] Ierome seith / that wyues / that been apparailled in silk/ and in precious purpre. ne mowe nat clothen hem in Ihesu Crist. / What seith seint Iohn eek / in thys matere?‖ [934] Seint Gregorie eek seith. that no wight seketh [¶ Sanctus Gregorius] precious array. but oonly for veyne glorie / to been honoured the moore / biforn the peple ‖. [935] It is a greet folye /. a womman to haue a fair array outward / and in hir self / foul inward [936] ¶ A wyf / sholde eek be [¶ How a wyf sholde be mesur|able in lookynge & in berynge &cetera] mesurable in lookynge and in berynge and in lawghynge / and discreet in alle hire wordes / and hire dedes. [937] and abouen alle worldly thyng she sholde louen hire housbonde with al hire herte. and to hym / be trewe of hir body [938] ¶ so sholde an housbonde eek be to his wyf /. ffor sith that/ al the body / is the housbondes. so sholde hire herte been. or elles / ther is bitwixe hem two. as in that no parfit mariage [939] Thanne shal men vnder|stonde. [¶ How a man & his wyf/ mowen assemblen flesshely for .iij. thynges] that for thre thynges / a man and his wyf flesshly mowen assemble ‖ ¶ The firste. is in entente of engen drure of children. to the seruice of god. ffor certes / that is the cause final of matrimoyne [940] ¶ Another cause is. to yelden euerich of hem to oother / the dette of hire bodies. ffor neither of hem / hath power ouer his owene body / ¶ The thridde is. for to eschewe leccherye and vileynye ¶ The ferthe / is for sothe deedly synne [941] As to the [folio 233a] firste / it is meritorie /. the seconde also / for as seith the decree. that she hath [merite of chastitee] þat yeldeth to [¶ In decreto] hire housbonde the dette of hir body. ye though it be agayn hir likynge and the lust of hire herte [942] ¶ The thridde manere is venyal synne. and trewely scarsly may ther any [of] thise be with-oute venial synne / for the corrupcion and for the delit / [943] ¶ The fourthe manere is for to vnderstonde. if they assemble oonly for amorous loue / and for noon of the foreseyde causes. but
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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 666
Publication
London :: Published for the Chaucer Society by N. Trübner,
1868-1879.

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https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8232.0001.001
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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8232.0001.001/700:12

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"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 1, 2025.
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