Introduction to the Man of Law's Tale
Folio 75r
1 of 4 folios
Youre wifhode he comendeth wiþ þe beste
But certeinly no word ne writeþ he
Of þikke wicke ensample of Canace
That loued hir owne brother synfully
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Of suche cursed stories I sei fy
Or elles of Tyro Appoloneus
How þat þe cursed king Antiochus
Biraft his doughter of hir maydenhede
That is so horrible a tale for to rede
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Whan he hir þrew þorugh þe pament
And þerfore he of ful auisement
Nolde neuer write in none of his sermons
Of which vnkynde abhominacioūs
Ne I ne wil not reherce if þat I may
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But of my tale how schal I don þis day
Me were loþ be likned douteles
To muses þat men clepen pieriedes
Methamorphoseos wot what I mene
But naþeles I recche nought a bene
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Though I come after him with hawe bake
I speke in prose and lat him Rimes make /
And with þat word he with a sobre chere
Bigan his tale as ȝe schal after heere /