That ["firste vertu is to kepe tonge."]
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43. And, nere it that I wilne as now tabregge
Diffusioun of speche, I coude almost
A thousand olde stories thee alegge
Of wommen lost, thorugh fals and foles bost;
[Proverbes canst thy-self] y-nowe, and wost,
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Ayeins that vyce, for to been a labbe,
Al seyde men sooth as often as they gabbe.