The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

[6-text p 367] To don of gentilesse þe faire office þey mighten do no vylanye ne vice Tak fyre and bere it in þe derkest hous Bitwixe þis and þe mount of Caucasous Line 1140 And lat men schette þe dores and go þenne ȝet wol þe fyr as faire lye and brenne [folio 105b] As þough a þousand men might it beholde his office naturel ay wol it holde / Line 1144 vp peril of lyf til þat it dye / here may ȝe se wel how þat genterie / Is not annexed to possession Siþþe folk do nat here operacion Line 1148 alwey as doþ þe fir lo in his kinde ffor god it wot men may ful often fynde A lordes sone do schame and vilanye And he þat wol haue pris of his gentrie Line 1152 ffor he was boren of a gentil hous And hadde his eldres noble and vertuous And nyl himseluen do no gentil dedes Ne folwe his gentil ancestre þat ded is Line 1156 he nys nat gentil be he duk or eerle ffor vyleyns synful dedes make a cheerle ffor gentilnesse nys but reneute Of þin ancestres for here beaute Line 1160 Which is a strong þing for þi persone The gentilesse comeþ fro god allone Thanne comeþ oure verray gentilesse of grace It was noþing byqueþe vs wiþ oure place / Line 1164 þinkeþ how noble as seiþ valerius Was þilke Tullius hostilius That out of pouert ros to heigh noblesse Redeþ Senec/ and redeþ eek Boesse / Line 1168 þer schulde ȝe seen expres þat it no dredis That he is gentil þat doþ gentil dedis And þerfore deere housebonde I þus conclude Al were it þat myn ancestres were rude Line 1172
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Title
The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author
Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas
Page 246
Publication
London,: Pub. for the Chaucer society by N. Trübner & co.,
1868-[1869]

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"The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8235.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 28, 2025.
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