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1. The General Prologue
2. The Knight's Tale
3. The Miller's Prologue
4. The Miller's Tale
5. The Reeve's Prologue
6. The Reeve's Tale
7. The Cook's Prologue
8. The Cook's Tale
9. Introduction to the Man of Law's Tale
10. The Man of Law's Tale
11. The Wife of Bath's Prologue
12. The Wife of Bath's Tale
13. The Friar's Prologue
14. The Friar's Tale
15. The Summoner's Prologue
16. The Summoner's Tale
17. The Clerk's Tale
18. Lenvoye de Chaucer
19. Words of the Host
20. The Merchant's Prologue
21. The Merchant's Tale
22. Epilogue to the Merchant's Tale
23. The Squire's Tale
24. The Franklin's Tale
25. The Physician's Tale
26. Introduction to the Pardoner's Tale
27. The Pardoner's Prologue & Tale
28. The Shipman's Tale
29. The Prioress' Tale
30. The Tale of Sir Thopas
31. Here the Host 'stynteth' Chaucer's Tale of Sir Thopas
32. The Tale of Melibeus
33. The Monk's Prologue
34. The Monk's Tale
35. The Nun's Priest's Prologue
36. The Nun's Priest's Tale
37. Epilogue to the Nun's Priest's Tale
38. The Second Nun's Tale
39. The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue
40. The Canon's Yeoman's Tale
The General Prologue Folio 6v 2 of 9 folios
Twenty bokes clad / in blak and in rede
A nota on the left margin, it looks like the same ink as the text.ODR
Of Aristotle / and his philosophie
Than riche robes / or fethil or sautrie
But al be it though / he were a Philosophre
300
Ȝet had he but litel / gold in his coffre
But al þ at he / from his frendis hent
On bokes and on lernyng / he it spent
And bisily gan / for the Soules pray
Soules : The s is a long s; the stem is made by a forking assender from the feet to the head into two strokes. Probably indication of capital letter as all the capital in this hand have otious strokes in loops ODR
Of hem / þ t ȝaf hī / wherwith to scoley
305
Of stody tok he / most cure and hede
Nouȝt a word spak he / more than was nede
And þ t was seide / in for me and reuer ence
And short and quyk / & ful of heigh sentence
Sownyng in moral ver tue / was his speche
310
And gladly wold he lerne / and gladly teche
A Sergeaū t of lawe / there was / war & wys ¶ A Sergeant of Lawe
That ful often had ben / at Parvys
That was ful riche / of excellence
Discrete he was / and of gret reuer ence
315
He semed swicħ / his wordes were so wyse
Iustice had he be / ful often in assise
Bothe by patent / and pleyn comissioū
For his science / and his heigh renoū
Of fees and robes / had he many on
320
So grete a purchasor / was nowher non
Al was fee simple / to hī in effect
His pr chasyng / myght nat ben / in suspect
Nowher so besy aman . as he there nas
And ȝet he semed / besiere than he was
325
In ter mes had he cas / and domes alle
That fro þ e tyme / of kyng wiƚƚ / weren falle
Ther to he coude endyte / and make a thyng
There coude noman pynche / at his writyng
And euer y statut coude he / pleynly by rote
330
He rod but homely / in a Medlee Cote
Medlee : The M is traced as a cursive m with the minims attached not traced separately, this seems to be a scribal preference for writing capital letters.ODR
Girt wt a seynt of silk / wt barres smale
Of his array / telle I / no lengere tale
A Frankeleyn þ er e was / in this compaignye ¶ A Frankeleyn;
Whyt was his berd / as is the daysye
335
Of his complexion / he was sangweyn
Wel loued he by the morwe / a soppe in wyn
To lyue in delyt / was euer e his wō ne