| Hoost quod he depar dien Ie assent | |
40 | To breke forward is not myn entent | |
| Beheste his dette and I wolde fayn | |
| Plese yow / and therto wole I do my payne | |
| For suche lawe as men yeueth another wight | |
| He sholde hym self vse it be right | |
45 | Thus wol our text but natheles certeyn | |
| I can right now no thrifty tale seyn | |
| That Chauser they he can but lewdly | |
| On metris and on rymynge craftely | |
| Hath sayd hem in suche english as he can | |
50 | Of olde tyme as knoweth meny a man | |
| And yf he hath not sayd hem leue brother | |
| In o book he hath sayd hem in anothir | |
| For he hath told of louers vp an doun | |
| Mo than Ouyde made of mencion | |
55 | In his Epistelis that ben olde | |
| What sholde he telle hem sith they be told | |
| In yonthe he made of Certes of alkyon | |
| And sith he hath spoken of euerichon | |
| These nobil wyuys and thyse nobil louers eek | |
60 | Who that wol his large volum seke | |
| Clepyd the sayntis lyuys of cupyde | |
| There may he see the large woundis wyde | |
| Of lucrece and of babylone tisbe | |
| The swerd of dido for the fals Enee | |
65 | The swerd of philles for here demophon | |
| The playnte of dyanere and of armyon | |
| Of adryane and eke of Isiphyle | |