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But me was told, not longe time agon is,
That fithen Crift ne went never but onis
To wedding in the Cane of Galilee,
That by that ilke enfample taught he me
That I ne fhulde wedded be but ones.

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Locherke eke, which a fharp word for the nones, Befide a welle Jefu God and man

Spake in reprete of the Samaritan;

Thou haft yhadde five hufbonds, fayde he,

And thilke man that now hath wedded thee 5600
Is not thyn hufbond. Thus faid he certain,
What that he ment therby I can not fain ;
But that I afke why that the fifthe man
Was non hufbond to the Samaritan?
How many might fhe have in mariage?
Yet herd I never tellen in min age

Upon this noumbre diffinitioun ;

Men may devine and glofen up and doun.
But wel I wot expreffe withouten lie

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God had us for to wex and multiplie;

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That gentil text can I wel understond:

Eke wel I wot he fayd that min husbond

Shuld leve fader and moder and take to me;
But of no noumbré mention made he

Of bigamie or of odlogamie;

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Why fhuld men than fpeke of it vilanie?
Lo here the wife King, Dan Salomon

I trow he hadde wives mo than on,

(As wolde God it leful were to me

To be refreshed half fo oft as he)

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Which a gift of God had he for alle his wives?

No man hath swiche that in this world on live is.
God wot this noble king, as to my witte,

The firfte night had many a mery fitte

With eche of hem, fo wel was him on live.

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Bleffed be God that I have wedded five;

Welcome the fixthe whan that ever he shall;

For fith I wol not kepe me chafte in all,

Whan min hufbond is fro the world ygone
Som Criften man fhal wedden me anon;

For than the apostle faith that I am fre

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To wedde a' Goddes half wher it liketh me;
He faith that 'to be wedded is no finne;

Better is to be wedded than to brinne.

What rekketh me though folk fay vilanie. 5635 Offhrewed Lamech and his bigamie?

.5626. I have wedded five] After this verfe the fix following are in mif. C. 1, HA. C. 2, and in edit. Ca. 2;

Of whiche I have pyked out the befte

Bothe of here nether purs and of here chefte.
Diverfe fcoles maken parfyt clerkes,

And diverse prachyk in many fondry werkes
Maken the werkman parfyt fekirly:

Of five hubondes fcoleryng am I;
Welcome the fixthe, &c.

If these lines are not Chaucer's they are certainly more in his manner than the generality of the imitations of him. Perhaps he wrote them, and afterwards blotted them out. They come in but awkwardly here, and he has ufed the principal idea in another place, March. T. ver. 9301.

I wot wel Abraham was an holy man,

And Jacob eke, as fer as ever I can,

And eche of hem had wives mo than two,

And many another holy man alfo.

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Wher can ye feen in any maner age

That highe God defended mariage

By expreffe word? I pray you telleth me,

Or wher commanded he virginitee?

I wot as wel as ye, it is no drede,

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The apoftle, whan he spake of maidenhede,

He faid that precept therof had he non;
Men may confeille a woman to ben on,
But confeilling is no commandement;
He put it in our owen jugement.

For hadde God commanded maidenhede,
Than had he dampned wedding out of drede;
And certes if ther were no fede yfowe
Virginitee than wherof fhuld it growe?

Poule dorfte not commanden at the left
A thing of which his maister yaf non hest.
The dart is fette up for virginitee,
Catch who fo may, who renneth best let fee.
But this word is not take of every wight,
But ther as God wol yeve it of his might.
I wot wel that the apostle was a maid,
But natheles, though that he wrote and said
He wold that every wight were swiche as he,
All n'is but confeil to virginitee.

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And for to ben a wif he yaf me leve,
Of indulgence, fo n'is it non repreve

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To wedden me, if that my make die,

Withoute exception of bigamie;

All were it good no woman for to touche,

(He ment as in his bed or in his couche)

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For peril is both fire and tow to assemble;
Ye know what this enfample may refemble.
This is all and fom, he held virginitee
More parfit than wedding in freeltee:
(Freeltee clepe I, but if that he and she

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Wold lede hir lives all in chastitee)

I graunt it wel, I have of non envie

Who maidenhed preferre to bigamie;

It liketh hem to be clene in body and gost:
Of min eftat I wol not maken bost, '

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For wel ye know a lord in his houfhold
Ne hath nat every veffell all of gold:
Som ben of tree, and don hir lord service.
God clepeth folk to him in fondry wife,

.5677. Igraunt it wel, I have non envie-Though maidenbel preferre bigamie] So these two verfes ftand, without any material difference, in all the mff. If they are right we muft understand preferre to fignify the fame as be preferred to. Knowing no example of fuch a conftruction I have ventured at an alteration of the text. It might have been as well, perhaps, to have left the first line untouched, and to have con rected the fecond only thus;

Though maidenhed be preferr'd to bigamie.

.5681. a lord in bis boufboldj See 2 Tim. ii. 20.

And everich hath of God a propre gift,

Som this, fom that, as that him liketh shift.
Virginitee is gret perfection,

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And continence eke with devotion;
But Crift, that of perfection is welle,

Ne bade not every wight he shuld go felle
All that he had and yeve it to the poure,
And in fwiche wife follow him and his lore:
He fpake to hem that wold live parfitly,
And, Lordings, (by your leve) that am nat I:
I wol bestow the flour of all myn age

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In th' actes and the fruit of mariage.

Tell me alfo to what conclufion

Were membres made of generation,

And of fo parfit wife a wight ywrought?

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Trusteth me wel they were nat made for nought.

Glofe who fo wol, and fay bothe up and doun,
That they were made for purgatioun

Of urine, and of other thinges fmale,

And eke to know a female from a male:
And for non other caufe? fay ye no?
The experience wot wel it is not fo.
So that the clerkes be not with me wroth
I say this, that they maked ben for both,
This is to fayn, for office and for efe
Of engendrure, ther we not God difplefe.
Why fhuld men elles in hir bookes fette
That man fhal yelden to his wif hire dette?

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