The Clerk's Tale
Folio 175v
5 of 35 folios
xxx meke prayere / and hir pitous cheere
xade the Markys herte / han pitee
Ye wol quod he / myn owene peple deere
To that I neuere erst thoghte / streyne me
145
I me reioysed / of my libertee
That selde tyme / is founde in mariage
Ther I was free / I moot ben in seruage
¶ But nathelees / I se your trewe entente
And truste vp on youre wit and haue doon ay
150
Wher fore / of my free wyl / I wol assente
To wedde me / as soone as euere I may
But ther as ye / han profred me to day
To chese me a wyf I yow relesse
That choys / and pray yow of that profre cesse
155
¶ For god it woot þt children ofte ben
Vnlyk hir worthy eldres hem bifore
Bountee comth al of god / nat of the stren
Of which / they been engendred and ybore
I triste in goddes boūtee / and therfore
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My mariage / and myn estat and reste
I hym bitake / he may doon as hym leste
¶ Lat me allone / in chesyng of my wyf
That charge vp on my bak I wol endure
But I pray yow / and charge vp on your lyf
165
That what wyf þt I take / ye me assure
To worshipe hire / whil þt hir lyf may dure
In word and werk / bothe here and euerywhere
As she / an Emperours doghter were
¶ And ferther moore / this shal ye swere / þt ye
170
Agayn my choys / shal neither grucche ne stryue
For sith / I shal forgoon my libertee
At your requeste / as euere mote I thryue
Ther as myn herte is set ther wol I wyue
And but ye wol assente / in swich manere
175
I pray yow / speketh namoore of this matere