GROUP D. FRAGMENT V.
§ 1. WIFE OF BATH'S PREAMBLE. CAMBRIDGE MS. [Sloane MS 1685, leaf 103.] ¶ The Prologe ¶ Of þ Wyf of Bathe [[headline]]
Experyment/ þough none auctoryte
Were in þis worlde is riȝt/ ynouȝe for me
To speke of woo þat ys in mariage
ffor lordynges siþen I twelfe yere was of age
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Thanked by god þat ys eterne on lyue
Housbondes atte Chirche dore haue I hade fyue
Yf I so ofte myȝt haue wedded be
But alle were worþi men in her degre
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But me was tolde certayne not longe a-gone ys
þat sithen cryste ne went nevere but onys
To weddynge in þe Cane of Galile
þat be þilke ensample tauȝt he me
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þat I ne shulde wedded be but onys
Herke with a sharpe worde with þe nonys
By syde a welle Ihesu god & man
Spake in reprefe of þe Samarytan
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Thou haste y-hade .v. husbondes quod he
And þat ilke man þat nowe hathe the
Ys not þine husbonde þus sayde he certayne
What he mente þerby I can not sayne
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Well but I axe why þe fyfte man
Was none housbonde to þe Samarytan
And herde telle in myne age
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howe many myȝt she haue in mariage
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