The Merchant's Tale
Folio 141v
8 of 30 folios
xxx brother myn / be pacient I preye
xyn ye han seyd / and herkneth what I seye
Senec amonges othere wordes wise
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Seith / þt a man / oghte hym right wel auyse
To whom / he yeueth his lond / or his catel
And syn I oghte / auysen me right wel
To whom I yeeue my good / awey fro me
Wel muchel moore / I oghte auysed be
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To whom I yeeue my body / for alwey
I warne yow wel / it is no childes pley
To taken a wyf withouten auysement
Men moste enquere / this is myn assent
Wher she be wys and sobre / or dronkelewe
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Or proud / or ellis oother weys a shrewe
A chidester / or wastour of thy good
Or riche / or poure / or ellis mannyssħ wood
Al be it so / þt no man fynden shal
Noon in this world / that trotteth hool in al
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Ne man ne beest swich as men koude deuyse
But nathelees / it oghte ynogh suffise
With any wyf if so were þt she hadde
Mo goode thewes / than hir vices badde
And al this axeth leyser / for tenquere
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For god it woot I haue wept many a teere
Ful pryuely / syn þt I hadde a wyf
Preyse who so wole / a wedded mannes lyf
Certeyn I fynde in it but cost and care
And obseruances / of alle blisses bare
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And yet god woot my neghebores aboute
And namely / of wommen many a route
Seyn þt I haue / the mooste stedefast wyf
And eek the mekeste / that bereth lyf
But I woot best where wryngeth me my sho
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Ye mowe for me / right as yow liketh do
Auyseth yow / ye been a man of age
How þt ye entren / in to mariage
And namely / with a yong wyf and a feir
By hym þt made water / erthe and Eir
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The yongest man / þt is in al this route
Is bisy ynow / to bryngen it aboute