The firste stock-father of gentleness, <br />What man desireth gentle for to be, <br />Must follow his trace, and all his wittes dress, <br />Virtue to love, and vices for to flee; <br />For unto virtue longeth dignity, <br />And not the reverse, safely dare I deem, <br />All wear he mitre, crown, or diademe. <br /> <br />This firste stock was full of righteousness, <br />True of his word, sober, pious, and free, <br />Clean of his ghost, and loved business, <br />Against the vice of sloth, in honesty; <br />And, but his heir love virtue as did he, <br />He is not gentle, though he riche seem, <br />All wear he mitre, crown, or diademe. <br /> <br />Vice may well be heir to old richess, <br />But there may no man, as men may well see, <br />Bequeath his heir his virtuous nobless; <br />That is appropried to no degree, <br />But to the first Father in majesty, <br />Which makes his heire him that doth him queme, <br />All wear he mitre, crown, or diademe.<br /><br />Geoffrey Chaucer<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-ballad-of-gentleness/
