The Merchant's Tale
Folio 142r
9 of 30 folios
To han his wyf allone / trusteth me
Ye shul nat plesen hir / fully yeres thre
This is to seyn / to doon hir ful plesance
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A wyf axeth / ful many an obseruance
I pray yow / þt ye be nat yuele apayd
¶ Wel quod this Ianuarie / and hastow ysayd
Straw for thy Senec and for thy prouerbes
I counte nat a panyer ful of herbes
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Of scole termes / wiser man than thow
As thow hast herd / assenteden right now
To my purpos / Placebo what sey ye
¶ I seye ./ it is a cursed man quod he
That letteth matrymoigne sikerly
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And with that word / they risen sodeynly
And been assented fully / that he sholde
Be wedded whan hym liste / and wher he wolde
¶ Heigh fantasie / and curious bisynesse
Fro day to day / gan in the soule impresse
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Of Ianuarie / aboute his mariage
Many fair shape / and many a fair visage
Ther passeth thurgh his herte / nyght by nyght
As who so tooke a Mirour / polisshed bright
And sette it in a cōmune Market place
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Thanne sholde he se / ful many a figure pace
By his Mirour and in the same wise
Gan Ianuarie / in with his thoght deuyse
Of maydens / whiche þt dwelten hym bisyde
He wiste nat wher þt he myghte abyde
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For if þt oon / haue beautee in hir face
Another stant so / in the peples gace
For hir sadnesse / and hir benygnytee
That of the peple / grettest voys hath she
And sōme were riche / and hadden badde name
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But nathelees / bitwene ernest and game
He atte laste / apoynted hym on oon
And leet alle othere / from his herte goon
And chees hir / of his owene auctoritee
For loue is blynd alday / and may nat see
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And whan that he / was in his bed ybroght
He purtreyde / in his herte / and in his thoght