The Merchant's Tale
Folio 103r
2 of 26 folios
As doon thise fooles / that been seculeer
And whan that he / was passed sixty yeer
Were it for hoolynesse / or for dotage
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I kan nat seye / but swich a greet corage
Hadde this knygħt to been a wedded man
That day and nygħt / he dooth al that he kan
Tespien / where he mygħte wedded be
Preyinge oure lord / to graunten ħi þt he ;
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Migħte ones knowe / of thilke blisful lyf
That is bitwixe / an housbonde / and his wyf /
And for to lyue / vnder that hooly boond
With which þt first god / man and wōman bond
Noon oother lyf seyde he / is worth a bene
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For wedlok is so esy / and so clene
That in this world / it is a Paradys
Thus seyde this olde knygħt / þt was so wys
¶ And certeinly / as sootħ / as god is kyng
To take a wyf it is a glorious thyng
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And namely / whan a man / is oold and hoor
Thanne is a wyf the fruyt of his tresor
Thanne sholde he take / a yong wyf & a feir
On which / he myghte / engendren hym an heir
And lede his lyf in ioye and in solas
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Wher as thise bacheleris / synge allas
Whan that they fynden / any aduersitee
In loue / which nys / but childyssħ vanytee
And trewely / it sit wel to be so
That bacheleris / haue often peyne and wo
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On brotel ground they buylde / and brotelnesse
They fynde / whan they wene sikernesse
They lyue / but as a bryd / or as a beest /
In libertee / and vnder noon arreest
Ther as a wedded man / in his estaat
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Lyueth a lyf blisful and ordinaat
Vnder this yok of mariage ybounde
Wel may his herte / in ioye and blisse habounde
For who kan be / so buxom as a wyf
Who is so trewe / and eek so ententyf
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To kepe hym syk and hool / as is his make
For wele or wo / she wole hym nat forsake
She nys nat wery / hym to loue and serue
Thogħ þt he lye bedrede / til he sterue
And yet sōme clerkes seyn / it nys nat so
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Of whiche / he Theofraste is oon of tho
What force / thougħ Theofraste liste lye
Ne take no wyf quod he / for housbondrye
As for to spare / in houshold thy dispence
A trewe seruant dooth moore diligence