| | For he hadde gote hym yet no benefice | |
| | Ne was not wordly to haue an office | |
| 295 | For hym was leuyr to haue at his beddis hed | |
| | Twenty bokys I clad in whit and reed | |
| | Of Aristotle and of philosophie | |
| | Thanne Robis riche or fidil or sawtrie | |
| | But al be that he was a philosophre | |
| 300 | Yet hadde he but litil gold in cofre | |
| | But al that he mighte of his frendis haue help | |
| | On bokis and on lernynge he it spent | |
| | And besely gan for the soulis praye | |
| | Of hem that yaf hym wherwith to scolaye | |
| 305 | Of study took he most cure and hede | |
| | Not o word spak he more than nede | |
| | Short and quyk and high of sentence | |
| | Sownyng moral vertu was his prudence | |
| 310 | And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche | |
| | And ther with ful softe was his speche | |
| | A | Sergeante of lawe waar and wise | |
| | Was there that ofte hadde be at the peruyse | |
| | That was also riche of excellence | |
| | Discrete he was and of gret reuerence | |
| 315 | He semyd suche his wordis were so wise | |
| | Iustice he was ful ofte in assise | |
| | By patent and be playn commission | |
| | For his science and his high renoun | |
| | Of fees and Robis hadde he many on | |
| 320 | So gret a purchasour was ther nowher non | |
| | Al was fee symple to hym in effect | |
