‘Ful wrongfully bigonne thou,’ quod he,
‘And yet in wrong is thy perseveraunce;
Wostow nat how our mighty princes free
Han thus comanded and maad ordinaunce, 445
That every cristen wight shal han penaunce
But-if that he his cristendom withseye,
And goon al quit, if he wol it reneye?’
‘Your princes erren, as your nobley dooth,’
Quod tho Cecile, ‘and with a wood sentence 450
Ye make us gilty, and it is nat sooth;
For ye, that knowen wel our innocence,
For as muche as we doon a reverence
To Crist, and for we bere a cristen name,
Ye putte on us a cryme, and eek a blame. 455