The Wife of Bath's Tale
Folio 80r
9 of 10 folios
And nyl hī seluen / do no gentil dedes
Ne folwe his gentil auncetrye / that ded is
1130
He is nat gentil / be he Duke or Erl
For vyleyns synful dedes / maken a Cherl
For gentilnesse / nys but renounee
Of thyn Auncestres / for here heye bounte
Whicħ is a straunge thyng / to thy persone
1135
Thy gentilnesse cometħ / fro god allone
Thanne cometħ oonly / oure gentilnesse of grace
It was no thyng be quethed vs / wt oure place
Thynketħ how noble / as seitħ Valerius
Was thilke Tullius hostilius
1140
That out of pouerte roos / to heygħ noblesse
Redetħ Senek / and redetħ eke Boece
There shul ȝe sen expersse / that no dred is
That he is gentil / that dotħ gentil dedis
And therfore leue husbonde / I thus conclude
1145
Al were it / that myne Auncestres weren rude
Ȝet may the heye god / and so hope I
Graunte me grace / to lyuen vertuously
Than am I gentil / whan that I begynne
To lyuen vertuously / and weyven synne
1150
¶ And there as ȝe / of pouerte me repreeue
The heye god / on whom that we byleue
In wylful pouert / ches to leue his lyf
And certes euery man / Mayden or wyf
May vnderstonde / that Iħc heuene kyng
1155
Ne wolde nat chese / a vicious lyuyng
Glad pouerte / is an honest thyng certeyn
This wol Senek / and othere clerkes seyn
Who so that halt hī paid / of his pouertepouertpouerte
I hold hī riche / al had he nougħt a shert
1160
He that coueytetħ / is a pore wygħt
For he wold han / that is nougħt in his mygħt
But he that nougħt hatħ / ne coueytetħ to haue
Is riche / al thougħ heȝehȝe hold hī but a knaue
Verray synne issynne ispouerte / is synne is synne proprely
1165
Iuuenal speketħ / of pouerte merily
The pore man / whan he gotħ by the wey
Byfore the theues / he may synge & pley
Pouerte is hateful good / and as I gesse
A ful greet bryngere / out of besynesse
1170
A gret amendere eke / of sapience
To hī that taketħ it / in pacience
Pouerte is this / al thougħ it seme alenge
Possessioū / that no wygħt wol chalenge
Pouerte ful often / whan a man is lowe