The Harleian ms. 7334 of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

                                
                                     [6-text p 448] 
                                  
                                  Sche schal not passe · sixtene ȝer certayn
                                
                                  Old fleisch and ȝong fleisch þat wold I haue ful fayn
                                
                                  Bet is quod he a pyk þan a pikerell
                                
                                  And bet þan olde boef is tendre vel
                                  Line 1420 
                                
                                  I wil no womman twenty ȝer of age
                                
                                  It nys but bene straw and gret forage
                                
                                  And eek þese olde wydewes god it woot
                                
                                  Thay can so moche craft of wades boot
                                  Line 1424 
                                
                                  So moche broken harm whan þat hem list
                                
                                  That wiþ hem schuld I neuer lyuen in rest
                                
                                  For sondry scolis maken subtil clerkes
                                
                                  womman of many a skile half a clerk is [folio 135b] 
                                  Line 1428 
                                
                                  But certeyn a ȝong þing may men gye
                                
                                  Right as men may warm wax with hondes plye
                                
                                  wher for I say ȝow plenerly in a clause
                                
                                  I wil noon old wyf han right for þat cause
                                  Line 1432 
                                
                                  For if so were I hadde so meschaunce
                                
                                  Þat I in hir couþe haue no plesaunce
                                
                                  Than schuld I lede my lyf in aduoutrie
                                
                                  And go streight to þe deuel whan I dye.
                                  Line 1436 
                                
                                  Ne children schuld I noon vpon hir geten
                                
                                  Ȝet were me leuer houndes had me eten
                                
                                  Þan þat myn heritage schulde falle
                                
                                  In straunge hond and þus I telle ȝow alle
                                  Line 1440 
                                
                                  I doute not. I wot þe cause why
                                
                                  Men scholde wedde. and forþermor woot I
                                
                                  Ther spekith many man of mariage
                                
                                  That wot nomore of it þan wot my page
                                  Line 1444 
                                
                                  For whiche causes. man schuld take a wyf
                                
                                  If he ne may not chast be by his lif
                                
                                  Take him a wif with gret deuocioun
                                
                                  By cause of lawful procreacioun
                                  Line 1448 
                                
                                  Of children to þonour of god aboue
                                
                                  And not oonly for paramour and for loue.
                                
                                  And for þay schulde leccherye eschiewe
                                
                                  And ȝeld oure dettes whan þat it is due

                                  Line 1452

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Title: The Harleian ms. 7334 of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas: Page 307
Publication: London,: Pub. for the Chaucer society by N. Trübner & co.,; 1885.

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8246.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8246.0001.001/319:6

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Full citation: "The Harleian ms. 7334 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/agz8246.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 11, 2025.

The Harleian ms. 7334 of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

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