Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

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

[6-text p 445] But tak no kepe / of al swich vanytee Diffye Theofraste / and herke me ¶ A wyf is goddes yifte verraily [¶ vxor est diligenda / quia donum dei est Ihesus filius Syrac; domus & diuicie dantur a parentibus / a domino autem proprie / vxor bona vel prudens.] Alle othere manere yiftes hardily 1312 As londes / rentes / pasture / or comune Or moebles / alle been yiftes of fortune That passen / as a shadwe vp on the wal But dreed nat if pleynly speke I shal 1316 A wyf wol laste / and in thyn hous endure Wel lenger than thee lyst perauenture ¶ Mariage / is a ful greet sacrament He / which þat hath no wyf I holde hym shent 1320 He lyueth helplees / and al desolat [folio 139a] I speke of folk/ in seculer estat ¶ And herke why / I sey nat this for noght That womman is / for mannes helpe ywroght 1324 The hye god / whan he hadde Adam maked And seigh hym allone / bely naked God of his grete goodnesse seyde than [¶ ffaciamus ei adiutorem / & ex[tracta costa de] corpore Ade fecit Euam / & dix[it pro vxore] relinquet homo patrem & matrem & [adherebit &c.] et erunt duo / in carne vna.] Lat vs now make an help / vn-to this man 1328 Lyk to hym self and thanne he made hym Eue Here may ye see / and here may ye preeue That wyf is mannes helpe / and his confort His Paradys terrestre / and his disport 1332 So buxom / and so vertuous is she They moste nedes lyue in vnytee O flessh they been / and o flessh as I gesse [nota] [Vna caro vnum Animum in omni Adversitate cogitat/.[, in a later hand.]] Hath but oon herte / in wele and in distresse [nota] ¶ A wyf / a Seinte Marie benedicitee How myghte a man / han any aduersitee That hath a wyf / certes I kan nat seye The blisse / which þat is bitwix hem tweye 1340 Ther may no tonge telle / or herte thynke If he be poure / she helpeth hym to swynke She kepeth his good / and wasteth neuer a del Al that hir housbonde lust hir liketh wel 1344
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About this Item

Title
The Hengwrt ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author
Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas
Page 318
Publication
London :: Published for the Chaucer Society by N. Trübner,
1868-1879.

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https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8233.0001.001
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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8233.0001.001/344:6

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"The Hengwrt 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/agz8233.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 12, 2025.
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