As twenty thousand men might it behold; His office naturel ay wol it hold, Is not annexed to possession, For God it wot, men may full often find A lorde's son do shame and vilanie. And he that wol have prize of his genterie, For he was boren of a gentil house, And had his elders noble and virtuous, And n'ill himselven do no gentil dedes, Ne folwe his gentil auncestrie, that dead is, He n'is not gentil, be he duke or erl; |