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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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8235.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8235.0001.001/274:6

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Full citation: "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.

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

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