The Merchant's Tale
Folio 113v
23 of 26 folios
Bothe in repreue of hir / and othere mo
1020
¶ Ye shal quod Proserpyne / wol ye so ;
Now by my moodres sires soule I swere
That I shal yeuen hir suffisant answere
And alle wommen after / for hir sake
That thougħ they be / in any gilt ytake
1025
With face boold / they shulle hem self excuse
And bere hem doun / that wolden hem accuse
For lakke of answer / noon of hem shal dyen
Al hadde man seyn a thyng wt bothe hise eyen
Yit shul we wōmen / visage it hardily
1030
And wepe / and swere / and visage it subtilly
So þt ye men / shul been / as lewed as gees
What rekketh me / of youre Auctoritees
¶ I woot wel / that this Iew / this Salomon
Foond of vs wōmen / fooles many oon
1035
But thougħ þt he ne foond / no good wōman
Yet hath ther founde / many another man
Wōmen ful trewe / ful goode and vertuous
Witnesse on hem / þt dwelle in Cristes hous
With martirdom / they preued hir constance
1040
The Romayn geestes / eek / maken remembrance
Of many a verray / trewe wyf also
But sire ne be nat wrooth / al be it so
Thougħ þt he seyde / he foond no good wōman
I prey yow / take the sentence of the man
1045
He mente thus / that in souereyn bontee
Nis noon / but god þt sit in Trinitee
¶ Ey for verray god / that nys but oon
What make ye / so muche of Salomon
What though he made a temple goddes hous
1050
What thougħ he were / riche and glorious
So made he eek / a temple of false goddis
How myghte he do a thyng þt moore forbode is
Pardee / as faire / as ye his name emplastre
He was a Lecchour / and an ydolastre
1055
And in his elde / he verray god forsook
And if god ne hadde / as seith the book
Yspared for his fadres sake / he sholde
Haue lost his regne / rather than he wolde
I sette rigħt nogħt of al the vileynye
1060
That ye of wōmen write / a Boterflye
I am a wōman / nedes moot I speke
Or elles swelle / til myn herte breke
For sithen he seyde / that we been Iangleresses
As euere hool / I moote brouke my tresses
1065
I shal nat spare / for no curteisye
To speke hym harm / þt wolde vs vileynye