'What nedeth,' quod I, 'to reherse that any more? I wot wel every wight, by kyndely reson, shrewes in knitting wol eschewe.' 'Than,' quod she, 'the good ought thilke knotte to have.' 20 'How els?' quod I. 'It were greet harm,' quod she, 'that the good were weyved and put out of espoire of the knotte, if he it desyred.' 'O,' quod I, 'alas! On suche thing to thinke, I wene that heven wepeth to see suche wronges here ben suffred on erthe; the 25 good ought it to have, and no wight els.' 'The goodnesse,' quod she, 'of a person may not ben knowe outforth but by renomè of the knowers; wherfore he must be renomed of goodnesse, to come to the knot.' 'So must it be,' quod I, 'or els al lost that we carpen.' 30 'Sothly,' quod she, 'that were greet harm, but-if a good man might have his desyres in service of thilke knot, and a shrewe to be +weyved, and they ben not knowen in general but by lacking and praysing, and in renomè; and so by the consequence it foloweth, a shrewe to ben praysed and knit; and a good to be 35 forsake and unknit.' 'Ah,' quod I tho, 'have ye, lady, ben here abouten; yet wolde I see, by grace of our argumentes better declared, how good and bad do acorden by lacking and praysing; me thinketh it ayenst kynde.' 40 'Nay,' quod she, 'and that shalt thou see as yerne; these elementes han contrarious qualitees in kynde, by whiche they mowe not acorde no more than good and badde; and in [some] qualitees they acorde, so that contraries by qualitè acorden by qualitè. Is not erthe drye; and water, that is next and bitwene 45 th'erthe, is wete? Drye and wete ben contrarie, and mowen not acorde, and yet this discordaunce is bounde to acorde by cloudes; for bothe elementes ben colde. Right so the eyre, that is next the water, is wete; and eke it is hot. This eyre by his hete contrarieth water that is cold; but thilke contrarioustè is oned +by 50 moysture; for bothe be they moyst. Also the fyr, that is next the +eyre and it encloseth al about, is drye, wherthrough it contrarieth +eyre, that is wete; and in hete they acorde; for bothe they ben hote. Thus by these acordaunces discordantes ben joyned, and in a maner of acordaunce they acorden by 55 conneccion, that is, knitting togither; of that accorde cometh a maner of melodye that is right noble. Right so good and bad arn contrarie in doinges, by lacking and praysing; good is bothe lacked and praysed of some; and badde is bothe lacked and praysed of some; wherfore their contrarioustee acorde bothe by 60 lacking and praysing. Than foloweth it, though good be never so mokel praysed, [it] oweth more to ben knit than the badde; or els bad, for the renomè that he hath, must be taken as wel as the good; and that oweth not.'