The Wife of Bath's Tale
Folio 75r
7 of 9 folios
1100
¶ Lo / in swich maner rym / is Dantes tale
Ful selde vp riseth / by his branches smale
Prowesse of man / for god of his goodnesse
Wole / that of hym / we clayme oure gentillesse
For of oure eldres / may we no thyng clayme
1105
But temporel thyng þt man may hurte & mayme
¶ Eek euery wigħt woot this as wel as I
If gentillesse / were planted natureelly
Vn to a certeyn lynage / doun the lyne
Pryuee nor apert thanne wolde they neuere fyne
1110
To doon of gentillesse / the faire office
They mygħte do / no vileynye or vice
¶ Taak fyr / and ber it in the derkeste hous
Bitwix this / and the mount of kaukasous
And lat men / shette the dores and go thenne
1115
Yet wole the fyr as faire lye and brenne
As twenty thousand men / myghte it biholde
His office natureel / ay wol it holde
Vp peril of my lyf / til that it dye
¶ Heere may ye se wel / how þt genterye
1120
Is nat annexed to possessioū
Sith folk ne doon hir operacioū
Alwey as dooth the fyr / lo in his kynde
For god it woot men may wel often fynde
A lordes sone / do shame and vileynye
1125
And he þt wole / han pris of his gentrye
For he was born / of a gentil hous
And hadde hise eldres noble and vertuous
And nel hym seluen / do no gentil dedis
Ne folwen his gentil Auncestre þt deed is
1130
He nys nat gentil / be he duc or Erl
For vileyns synful dedes / make a cherl
For gentillesse / nys but renomee
Of thyne auncestres / for hir heigħ boūtee
Which is a strange thyng to thy persone
1135
Thy gentillesse / cometh fro god allone
Thanne comth / oure verray gentillesse of gace
It was no thyng / biquethe vs with oure place
¶ Thenketh hou noble / as seith Valerius
Was thilke / Tullius hostillius
1140
That out of pouerte / roos to heigħ noblesse
Reed Senek / and redeth eek Boece
Ther shul ye seen expres / þt no drede is
That he is gentil / that dooth gentil dedis
And therfore leeue housbonde / I thus conclude
1145
Al were it / that myne Auncestres weren rude
Yet may the hye god / and so hope .I.
Grante me grace / to lyuen vertuously