ABSTRACT
This chapter declares the cause why it is called the gentle craft: and also how the Proverb first grew. Conquering and most imperious Love, having seized on the heart of young Sir Hugh, all his wits were set on worke, how for to compasse the love of the fair Virgin Winifred, whose disdain was the chiefe cause of his care, having received many infinite sorrows for her sake. Thou art a Kings daughter, and a Princes sonne: staine not the glory of true Nobility with the foule sin of obstinacy but thou as kind, as thou art courtly, and gentle as thou art noble, and then shall our strife soon end. How fair Winifred was imprisoned, and condemned to die for her Religion: and how Sir Hugh became a Shoomaker, and afterward came to suffer death with his Love: showing also how the Shoomakers tools came to be called Saint Hughs bones, and the trade of Shoomaking, The Gentle Craft.
