Ire is a thing that high God hath defended, 2293 And thereof will I speak a word or two.” “Now, master,” quoth the wife, “ere that I go, What will ye dine? I will go thereabout.” “Now, Damë,” quoth he, “ je vous dis sans doute , Had I not of a capon but the liver, And of your whitë bread not but a shiver, 2294 And after that a roasted piggë’s head, (But I would that for me no beast were dead,) Then had I with you homely suffisánce. I am a man of little sustenánce. My spirit hath its fost’ring in the Bible. My body is aye so ready and penible 2295 To wakë, 2296 that my stomach is destroy’d. I pray you, Dame, that ye be not annoy’d, Though I so friendly you my counsel shew; By God, I would have told it but to few.”