The Monk's Prologue
Folio 236r
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And if ȝou liste herkne hiderward
I wol ȝou seyn þe lyf of seint Edward
Or elles tregedys first wol I telle
Of whiche I haue an hundred in my selle
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Tregedye is for to telle a certein storye
As olde bookes maken memorie
Of hem þat stood in gret prosperite
And is y falle out of heigh degre
In to miserie and endeþ wrecchedly
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And þey ben vercefyed comenly
Of sixe foote whiche þat men clepen examytron
In proce eek ben endited many oon
And eek in metre in many a sondry wyse
Lo þis aughte ȝou ynougħ suffyse
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Now herkneþ if ȝou liste for to heere
But first I ȝou beseche in þis mateere /
Þough I by ordre telle nouȝt þese þinges
Be it of Popes Emperors or kynges
And after here ages as mē writen fynde
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But telle hem some bifore some behinde
As it comeþ now to my remembance
Haueþ me excused of myn ignorance
¶ Explic prologĂ« monachi