1211 The silly tonguë well may ring and chime Of wretchedness, that passed is full yore: 1212 With oldë folk, save dotage, is no more.” 1213

When that our Host had heard this sermoning, He gan to speak as lordly as a king, And said; “To what amounteth all this wit? What? shall we speak all day of holy writ? The devil made a Reevë for to preach, As of a souter 1214 a shipman, or a leach. 1215 Say forth thy tale, and tarry not the time: Lo here is Deptford, and ’tis half past prime: 1216 Lo Greenwich, where many a shrew is in. It were high time thy talë to begin.”