The Wife of Bath's Tale
Folio 72r
4 of 11 folios
Eek euery wight woot this as wel I
If gentilesse / were planted naturelly
Vn to a certeyn lynage / doun the lyne
Pryuee and apert thanne wolde they neuere fyne
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To doon / of gentilesse / the faire office
They myghte do / no vileynye or vice
¶ Taak fyr / and bere it in the derkeste hous
Bitwix this / and the mount of kaukasous
And lat men shette the dores / and go thenne
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Yet wol the fyr / as faire lye and brenne
As twenty thousand men / myghte it biholde
His office naturel / ay wol it holde
Vp peril of my lyf til that it dye
Here may ye se wel / how þt genterye
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Is nat annexed / to possessiou
Sith folk ne doon hir operaciou
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 wol han prys / of his gentrye
For he was born / of a gentil hous
And hadde hise eldres / noble and vertuous
And nyl hym seluen / do no gentil dedis
Ne folwen his gentil Auncestre / that deed is
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He nys nat gentil / be he duc or Erl
For vileynes synful dedes / maken a cherl
For gentilesse / nys but renomee
Of thyne Auncestres / for hir hye boūtee
Which is straunge thyng for thy persone
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Thy gentilesse / cometh fro god allone
Thanne comth / oure verray gentilesse of gace
It was no thyng biquethe vs / with oure place
¶ Thenketh how noble / as seith Valerius
Was thilke / Tullius hostillius
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That out of pouerte / roos to heigh noblesse
Redeth Senek and redeth eek Boece
Ther shul ye seen expres / þt no drede is
That he is gentil / that dooth gentil dedis
And ther fore / leue housbonde / I thus conclude
1145
Al were it that myne Auncestres weren rude