The Monk's Tale Folio 183r 2 of 18 folios
Shal on hire hed now / were a vitrymyte
375
And she þ t bar the Ceptre / ful of floures
Shal bere a distaf / hire cost for to quyte
As any fend / þ t litħ ful lowe a douñ
Ȝet he / as telletħ vs / Swetoneus
380
This wilde world / had in subieccoū
Bothe Est and West / Nortħ & semptrioū
Of Rubies Saphires / & of Perles white
Were alle hise clothes breided / vp & douñ
For he in gē mes / gretly gan delite
385
More proud / was neuer e Emper or / than he
That ilke clotħ / þ t he had wered oo day
After þ t tyme / he nolde it neuer e see
Nettes of gold thred / had he gret plentee
390
To fisshe in Tybre / whan hī liste pleye
Hise lustes were as lawe / in his degree
For fortune as his frend / hī wolde obeye
The Senatours he slew / vp on a day
395
To here how þ t men / wolde wepe & crye
His Moder mad he / in pitous array
For he hire wombe slitte / to be holde
Where he conceyued was / so weylaway
400
That he so litel / of his moder tolde
Ne com / but seide / a fair wō man was she
Gret wonder is / how þ t he coude or mygħ te
Be domesman / of hire dede beaute
405
The wyn to bryngen hī / comaunded he
Whan mygħ t is ioyned / vn to crueltee ¶ Nota
There is a Nota beside the paragraph mark in the left margin.
Allas to depe / wol the venym wade
410
To teche hī lettrure / and curteisie
For of moralitee / he was the flour
As in his tyme / but if bookes lye
He maked hi so konnynge / & so souple
415
That longe tyme it was / þ t or tyrā nye
Or any vice durste / in hī vncouple