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

                                
                                     [6-text p 367] 
                                  
                                  To done of gentillesse þe faire ofice
                                
                                  Thei myhten do no velany nor vice
                                
                                  Tak fire and bere it in þe derkest house
                                
                                  Be-twex þis and þe mount of Caucasouse
                                  Line 1140 
                                
                                  And let men schette þe dore and go þeṇne
                                
                                  Ȝit wil þe fire ly as fair and brenne
                                
                                  As þouh a .M. men myht it be-holde
                                
                                  His office naturele ay wil it holde
                                  Line 1144 
                                
                                  Vp peril of lif til þat it deie
                                
                                  Here maie ȝe se wele howe þat genterye
                                
                                  Is nouht anexed to possession
                                
                                  Seþ folke doþ nouht her operacion
                                  Line 1148 
                                
                                  Alweie as doþe þe fire lo in his kinde
                                
                                  For god it wote men maie ful often finde
                                
                                  A lorde sone do schame and velanye
                                
                                  And he þat wil haue prise of his gentirye
                                  Line 1152 
                                
                                  For he was borne of a gentil hous
                                
                                  And hadde his heldres noble and vertuous
                                
                                  And nyl him-seluen do no gentil dedes
                                
                                  Ne folowe his gentill ancestre þat dedes
                                  Line 1156 
                                
                                  He is nouht gentil be he duc or Erle
                                
                                  For veleyns sinful dede mak a cherle
                                
                                  For gentillesse ne is bot reuente
                                
                                  Of þine Auncestres for hire bente
                                  Line 1160 
                                
                                  Whiche is a stronge þinge for þi persone
                                
                                  The gentilles comeþ fro god alone
                                
                                  Than comeþ oure verraie gentilles of grace
                                
                                  He was noþinge be-queþe vs wiþ oure place
                                  Line 1164 
                                
                                  Thinkeþ howe noble as seiþ valerius
                                
                                  Was þilke tullius hostilius.
                                
                                  That oute of pouert ros to hihe noblesse [folio 101a] 
                                
                                  Redeþ Senec and rede eke Boesse
                                  Line 1168 
                                
                                  There schold ȝe seen expresse þat it no drede is
                                
                                  That is gentil þat doþe gentil dedes
                                
                                  And þer-fore dere husbonde .I. þus conclude
                                
                                  Al were þat myne Ancestres were so rude

                                  Line 1172

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Title: The Lansdowne ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas: Page 246
Publication: London :: Published for the Chaucer Society by N. Trübner,; 1867-1879.

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8236.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8236.0001.001/274:6

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Full citation: "The Lansdowne 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/agz8236.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 1, 2025.

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

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