The Wife of Bath's Tale
Folio 79v
8 of 10 folios
Now sire qd she / I coude amende al this
1080
If that me list / er it were dayes three
So wel ȝe mygħt bere ȝow / vn to me
¶ But for
ȝe speken
/ of swic
ħ gentilnesse
¶ Nota causas generositatis
As is descendid / out of olde richesse
That therfore ȝe shulden / ben gentilmen
1085
Swic
ħ arrogance
/ is nat wort
ħ an hen
¶ arrogance , is pride
Loke who that is most / vertuous al wey
Preue and apert
and most entendet
ħ ay
¶ Nota verissimam causam generositatis
To do the gentil dedis / that he can
Take h
ī for the grettest
/ gentil man
- These lines are bracketed together.Est
1090
Crist wol we clayme of hī / oure gentilnesse
Nougħt of oure eldres / for here old richesse
For thougħ they ȝeue vs / al here heritage
For whicħ we cleyme / to be of hey parage
Ȝet may they nat be quethe / for no thyng
1095
To noon of vs / here vertuous leuyng
That mad hē gentil men / called to be
And bad vs folwen hem / in swicħ degree
Wel can the wys poete / of Florence
That higħt Dant / speken of this sentence
1100
Lo in swicħ maner ryme / is Dantes tale
Ful selde vp risetħ / by his braunches smale
Prowesse of man / for god of his goodnes
Wol / that of hī we clayme / oure gentilnes
For of oure auncestres / mow we no thyng clayme
1105
But temporal thyng / that man may hurt & mayme
Euery wygħt wot this / as wel as I
If gentilnesse were plaunted / naturelly
Vn to a certeyn lynage / doun the lyne
Pryue and apert / than wold they neuere fyne
1110
To don of gentilnesse / the fair office
They mygħt do / no velanye or vice
Tak fir
& bere it
/ in the derkest hous
¶ exemplum
Be twix this / and the Mount of Caukasous
And lete men shette the dores / & go thenne
1115
Ȝet wol the fyr / as faire lye and brenne
As twenty thousand men / mygħt it byholde
His office naturel / ay wol it holde
Vp peril of my lyf / til that it deye
Here may ȝe se wel / how that gentrie
1120
Is nat annexed / to possessione
Sitħ folk ne doon / here operacione
Alwey as dotħ the fir / lo in his kynde
For god it wot / men moun wel often fynde
A lordes sone do shame / and velanye
1125
And he that wol han / prys of his gentrye
For he was born / of a gentil hous
And had hise auncestres / noble and vertuous