The Shipman's Tale
Folio 144r
2 of 10 folios
¶ Free was daun Ioħn / and namely of dispence
As in that hous / and ful of diligence
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To doon plesaūce / and also greet costage
He noght forgat to yeue the leeste page
In al the hous / but after hir degree
He yaf the lord / and sitthe al his meynee
Whan that he cam / som manere honest thyng
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For which / they were as glad of his comyng
As fowel is fayn / whan þt the sonne vp riseth
Namoore of this as now / for it suffiseth
But so bifel / this Marchant on a day
Shoope hym / to make redy his array
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Toward / the toun of Brugges for to fare
To byen there / a porcioū of ware
For which / he hath to Parys sent anon
A Messager / and preyed hath daun Ioħn
That he sholde come / to Seint Denys to pleye
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With hym and wt his wyf / a day or tweye
Er he to Brugges wente / in alle wise
¶ This noble Monk of which I yow deuyse
Hath of his Abbot as hym list licence
By cause / he was a man / of heigħ prudence
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And eek an Officer / out for to ryde
To seen hir graunges / and hir bernes wyde
And vn to Seint Denys / he comth anon
Who was so welcome / as my lord Daun Ioħn
Oure deere cosyn / ful of curteisye
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With hym broghte he a Iubbe of Maluesye
And eek another ful of fyn vernage
And volatyl / as ay was his vsage
And thus / I lete hem drynke and pleye
This Marchant and this Monk a day or tweye
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¶ The thridde day / this Marchant vp ariseth
And on hise nedes / sadly hym auyseth
And vp / in to his Countour hous gooth he
To rekene wt hym self / wel may be
Of thilke yeer / how þt it with hym stood
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And how þt he / despended hadde his good
And if þt he / encressed were or noon
Hise bookes / and his bagges many oon
He leith biforn hym / on his countyng bord
Ful riche / was his tresor and his hord
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For which ful faste / his Countour dore he shette
And eek he nolde / þt no man sholde hym lette
Of hise acountes / for the meene tyme
And thus he sit til it was passed pryme
¶ Daun Ioħn was rysen / in the morwe also
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And in the gardyn / walketh to and fro