Frettid with rynges,
Of the pureste perreighe
That prince werde evere,
In red scarlet robid
And ribande with gold.
Ther nis no quen queyntere
That quyk is o-lyve,
'What is this womman,' quod I.
934. Matth. vii, 17. _bonus_ (for _bona_) is the reading of the MS. Perhaps
it was thought allowable to use the masculine thus before a fem. noun
beginning with _a_, for the sake of euphony, as the French still write _mon
amie_, instead of _ma amie_, and the like. Whitaker's text has here--
_Talis pater, talis filius._
For shal never brere bere
Beries as a vyne,
No on crokyd kene thorne
Kynde fygys wexe.
_Bona arbor bonum fructum facit._
The lines which follow differ considerably in the two texts.