25

to ben citezein of thilke citee. So that I sey, that the [face] of this

place ne moveth me nat so mochel as thyne owne face. Ne I

axe nat rather the walles of thy librarie, aparayled and wrought

with yvory and with glas, than after the sete of thy thought. In

whiche I putte nat whylom bokes, but I putte that that maketh

30

bokes worthy of prys or precious, that is to seyn, the sentence of

my bokes. And certeinly of thy desertes, bistowed [in comune]

[good], thou hast seid sooth, but after the multitude of thy gode