For gentilnesse nys but renomé
Of thin auncestres, for her heigh bounté
Which is a straunge thing to thy persone.
(_The Wyf of Bathes Tale_, vol. ii. p. 241.)
For if þe name of gentilesse be referred to renoun and clernesse
of linage. þan is gentil name but a foreine þing.
(_Chaucer’s Boethius_, p. 78.)
_Quæ_ [nobilitas], _si ad claritudinem refertur, aliena est._
(_Boethius_, lib. iii. pr. 6.)