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CANADA
NATIONAL LIBRARY
BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE
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'i
THE PROLOGUE
TO
The Canterbury Tales
OF
GEOFFREY OHi^^OER.
THE TEXT COLLATED WITH THE SEVEN OLDEST MSS., AND A LIFE OP
THE AUTHOR, INTRODUCTORY NOTICES, GRAMMAR, CRITICAL
AND EXPLANATORY NOTES, AND INDEX TO OBSOLETE
AND DIFFICULT WORDS.
-BY
E. F. WILLOUGHBY, M.D.
'%^
TORONTO :
W. J. GAGE & COMPANY,
1892.
' (
w5
i^H
Entered according to the Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year 1892
By W. J. Gage & Co.,
in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.
•ii ■•:
(j7^::^o^T^iZ^ C ^^"^^
'^ay^^.
CONTENTS.
Pbefaos, .• ••
The Abgument and Characters op the Prologue, .
Life op Chaucer,
EssAT ON the Language op Chaucer, ....
fAoa
3
5
11
15
Histobt op the English Language to the time of Chaucer, 18
The Prologue, with Notes, , 88
Glossary, ...••« .^ ••• 103
PREFACK
Except in the use of aome words which have since become obsolete,
and in the retention or partial retention of certain inflections, the
language of Chaucer is essentially the same as our own ; and were he
a prose writer, one might easiiv, all philological considerations apart,
make him intelligible to all by simply giving a glossary of such words
as have gone entirely out of use, and modernizing the spelling and
inflections of those which are common.
But Chaucer wrote with metre and rime, and all attempts to make
him more intelligible by reducing his quaint archaic English to the
diction of the nineteenth century, end in obliterating the rhythm, which,
whatever views one may hold as regards metre and rime, is essenLal
to all forms of poetry. Indeed the adapters of Chaucer have mostly
gone furth'^r, and being ignorant of the grammatical value of the
several inflections, have, by confusing different tenses, numbers, and
even parts of speech, turned his wit to nonsense.
The devotion with which the study ri the childhood and youth of
our mother tongue has within th 3 last score years been taken up by a
small band of earnest students, has not only brought to light several
very old MSS., but has enabled us to examine them critically, because
intelligently, and to make 'great progress towards the construction of
a text more correct than any single one extant.
The only way to understand Chaucer is to learn his language, and
the little labour given to the study will be well repaid by the enjoy-
ment ; by the discovery that his verse, instead of being the rude and
halting doggerel which "modernized " texts present, is almost as finished
and flowing as that of Pope, and incomparably more natural and musical.
It reflects the childhood, the springtide of our poetry; it is full of the
sights and sounds of the fields and woods, and of pictures of the life of
merry England in the olden days.
In the determination of the text I have made use of Mr. T. Wright's
revision of the Harleian MS., and Dr. Morris' text which he has con-
structed by collation with the six texts edited by Mr. Fumivall, and
I have myself compared it line by line with these, adopting whichever
reading seemed to me to give the best sense and sound, and occasionally
giving the more important variations if they seemed of equal merit or
probability. *
But I have introduced a new feature, viz., an attempt by the em-
plo^ent of different t^|>e to incUcat^ Xlk^ Qorr^t m^tre and pronunoift*
THE CANTERBURY TA..ES.
tion, 80 far at least as is essential to the scanning of the verse. Thia
qualification is necessary, for we have few means of knowing how the
individual vowels and consonants were sounded. We can, for example,
generally appreciate the poetry of the Elizabethan and seventeenth
century writers without sti'ictly following even what we know to have
been their own pronunciation. Wo must, indeed, occasionally read
Itoom for Rome in Shakespeare, when he plays on the words —
"Now it is Rome indeed and room enough."
—J\iliu8 Ccesar, act i. sc. 2, line 156 (Globe).
and in this poem, lines 670-1, where " Rome " rimes with '* to me," and
must plainly be pronounced like "roomy ;" or " achies in one's jintes"
in Butler; but it is not necessary to read of " resaving stcrvices of goold
and yallow chiney" or of "being obkeged to poonish a marohant,"
since these peculiarities do not affect the verso.
The signs I have employed are explained in the notice on the Versifi-
cation. I may, however, take this opportunity of justifying an idea of
my own with regard to Chaucer's verse, in which I fear all will not agree.
Rime and metre were not indigenous among the Teutonic nations, but
derived from the Romance languages, and I believe that before they were
completely naturalized among us they were adopted with the peculi-
arities of Fi'ench poetry, and that consequently when a line ended
with a syl-able containing a silent "e" that vowel was alnm/s
sounded, though not so full or decidedly as others. I mean, to take a
simple illustration, that though the word pil(/nmar/e occurring in the
middle of a line had but three syllables, yet when it ended a line it
was read as of four; not so strongly pronounced as in the plural
pilgrimages, but still it was pronounced. I had thought of using some
special mark, as a single dot over the letter, but I have foregone this
refinement, and written it, as I have other e's which I wish the reader
to sound, thus, 8.
For the Life of Chaucer and the Grammar of the Language in his time
I am greatly indebted to Dr. Morris' edition of the Prologue and
Knightes Tale in the Clarendon Press Series, from which I have also
borrowed freely in the notes; but I have had recourse to every historical
and philological authority within my reach , in the hope of rendering
this little work as perfect and useful as I could.
<
13
, TWE ARGUMENT.
6v
TilE ARGUMENT AND CHARACTERS
OF THE PROLOGUE.
Tke general plan of Chaucer's Canterhunj Tales seems to have been
suggested by the Decameron of Boccaccio, which had Jippeared soino
thirty years before. Each is a collection of stories more or leas
romantic, drawn from the French and Proven9al literature of the
Troubadours, and the older Italian writers ; some again being trace-
able through these to Arabian, or, though oddly metamorphosed in
transmission, to classic sources, the who] 3 strung together by the
simple artifice of being supposed to be told in turn by the members
of a company who, having no present employment, agree thus to pass
away their time.
But in the conception of their plots Boccaccio and Chaucer differ
as strongly as did their individual characters or those of their respec-
tive societies. The Italian imagines five elegant dilettanti nobles
with a like number of accomplished and youthful ladies retiring to
the beautiful gardens of a villa in the country in order to escape
the dangers and to avoid the horrors of the pestilence which in 1348
ravaged the city of jFlorence.
Gay, selfish, and callous to the sufferings of their poorer fellow-
citizens, they spend their time in a round of feasting and revelry, or
in walking amid the enchanting scenery of the Apennines, regard-
less of aught but their own enjoyment. Chaucer, on the contrary,
was full of human sympathy, and though familiar with the lan-
guages, literature, and society of France and Italy, intensely Eng-
lish. Sprung from the middle class, but thrown by his varied
avocations into contact with men and women of every rank, he had
ample opportunities for cultivating a natural insight into character,
he could appreciate whatever was good and true whether in
"gentil Knight" or "poure Persoun" and his "Plowman brother,"
and had a no less keen perception of the vices, the faults, and
the foibles of high and low. Yet his satire, though unsparing, is
rather of the nature of kindly ridicule than stern invective j he aims
rather at making its objects appear ludicrous, or at the worst con-
temptible, than as exciting hatred, indignation, or disgust; he laughs
them down, and we, if not they themselves, enjoy the laugh.
THE CAK*EftBURY TALlSS.
Extremely happy is the little incident which brings together a
motley crowd from every grade except the highest and the very
lowest. A mere accident, but one which 8er\ ds his purpose better
than the most elaborate plot, and so probable and natural that one
can scarcely believe it hac^ no foundation in fact.
One fine evening in April, while he is staying at the Tabard, an
old inn in Southwark, a company of pilgrims assemble, for the most
part strangers to one another, with no other common purpose than
that of mutual protection from the perils of the road, in their
journey to the shrine of St. Thomas h, Becket at Canterbury. At
supper their host, a jolly and sociable fellow, offers to accompany
them as their guide, having, he says, often conducted such parties in
that capacity ; and at the same time proposes that in order to enliven
the tedium of the journey each shall tell a couple of tales on the
way thither and the same number on their return. This advice is
promptly agreed to, the order in which they shall speak determined
by drawing lots, ana the poet, anticipating much enjoyment from
the study of characters so various and under circumstances so free
from restraint, resolves on joining the party himself, and on writing
an account of what he should see and hear.
The several personages are described with consummate skill. In
a few lines we are made acquainted with their features and dress,
their manners and characters ; they stand out before us in strong
individuality, not like portraits in a picture-gallery, but as men
and women living, acting, talking with us. Though Chaucer
never wrote a drama in the common acceptation of the word,
he evinces in this Prologue the possession of dramatic powers of
the highest order. He never aims at effect by contrast or
exaggeration, the most trivial features are consistent with the rest;
an under-current of fun pervades the whole, and the most telling
hits often appear as by or after thoughts, adding greatly to their
force.
First, we have the "verray perfight gentil Knight," a repre-
sentative of the old chivalry, then fast passing away, a veteran
warrior, but " of his port as meke as is a mayde," in short, the ideal
knight sans peur et sans reproche.
His son, a young " Squyer," as gay as he was brave, more accom-
plished than his father in the arts of peace, but having already
proved his prowess in the last French war, was followed by a single
attendant, an honest and trusty " yeman " from among his father'd
tenantry.
CHARACTERS OF THE PROLOGUE.
Next comes the Lady Prioresse, who makes no pretensions to
religfous au8terit3', but on the contrary, 8he
" Peyaeile hire to countrcf Cite chere
Of court, and ben cstatlich of manere."
A woman of fashion, her heart still clings to the world, she lavishes
her affections on her lap-dogs, unmindful of the sick and poor, and
her very brooch bears the significant motto of gallantry, ^^ Amor
vincit omniay In her suite are a nun and three priests.
Then we meet a type of which we Htill have a representative in
the fox-hunting country parson, a Monk proud of his horsemanship
and his hounds, richly attired and fond of good living rather than
of study, certain, as Chaucer slyly hints, of early promotion to an
abbacy, just one of those luxurious idle monks who roused the
indignant denunciations of Wycliff.
After him comes a Friar, who under the cloke of mendicancy
covers a deep-rooted love of money and selfish indulgence, being
" the bests beggere in his hous," who " knew the tavomes wel in
every toun," and by his power of confession and absolution exerted
unbound»;d influence over women old and young. Scarcely less
odious and more contemptible is the hypocritical Pardoner or
seller of indulgences, one of the class whose bare-faced impostures
first aroused the spirits of Luther and the German refoiiners. His
wallet is " bretful of pardouns come from Rome al hoot," and he has
an inexhaustible stock of reliques and bones, which the poet insinu-
ates are those of pigs, not saints.
His especial friend and companion is a Sompnour or Summoner,
an officer of the ecclesiastical courts, a low ignorant and dissolute
bully, who holds a terrible power over " the yonge gurles of his
diocese " in spite of his repulsive appearance and character.
Chancer was not at heart an irreligious man, and waged no war
with the clergy as ministers of religion, but he was a Protestant
in the sense that he wished to expose the vices, the hypocrisy, and
the worldliness of the ecclesiastical orders, universally abandoned
as they were to corruption and venality. These, from which the
prelates were in general selected, were recruited from the higher
ranks of society; the secular clergy, on the contrary, for the most
part drawn from the humbler classes, were often men of deep and
earnest piety, and, thanks to tiie foundations at the universities, of
far greater learning than the former.C Connected by ties of blood and
sympathy with the poor among whom they lftboured| and than
8
THE CANTERBURY TALES.
whom they were ioo often little richer, they used the influence
which their spiritual character gave them in their behalf; and to
their ministrations at the death-beds of the proud nobles we owe
more than to anything else the gradual emancipation of the English
peasantry from a state of absolute serfdom.
Chaucer was far too genei'ous to ignore such goodness, and he has
left us in the character of the " poure Persoun of a toun " a picturs
of simple, unselfish piety, such as has never been surpassed. Poor in
this world's goods, "but riche of holy thought and werk," brother
to a plowman, but " a lerned man, a clerk " {i.e., a university
man), " that Cristes gospel trewely wolde preche ; " liberal to the
poor, though poor himself ; self-denying and contented with his
lot, he did not seek preferment, but endeavoured hj gentleness and
sympathy, by well-judged remonstrance, and above all by his own
good example, "to drawe folk to heven," his character is beautifully
summed up in the last couplet,
" But Cristfis lore, and his apostles twelv6
He taughte, but flrut he folwede it himselvg."
To the same class we must refer the "Clerk of Oxenford," though
as yet he had not got a benefice. He lived apart from the world,
spending his little money on books, a poor but earnest scholar, grave
and thoughtful in speech.
After the clergy the other learned professions are represented by
one member of each. The " Doctour of Phisik " is a capital sketch
of the physician of the day. A learned ostentatious charlatan,
deeply versed in astrology, magic, and all the useless lore of the
dark ages, though
" His studie was but litel on tiiC Bibel."
.Gorgeously attired to command resprct, temperate in his habits, and
not wanting in worldly wisdom, for " ful redy hadde he his apote-
caries," and "ech of hem made other for to wynne;" a practice
which is not quite extinct in our own time, though repudiated by
every honourable practitioner.
The "Sergeant of Lawe" is a clever and favourable picture of the
shrewd and successful pleader, with every statute and precedent by
rote, and possessing that element of success, the art of appearing
even busier and wiser than he really was. With him there was a
wealthy FranKleyn or country gentleman, the prototype of the
port-wine-loving squire of a bygone genwfttionj a^ whose ampl^ ftad
^
CHARACTERS OP THE PROLOGUE.
9
hospitable board the lawyer had often sat when associated in the
work of the sessions. He was a county magistrate, and had sat in
parliament as knight of his shire.
Turning now to the middle classes we meet a '* Marchaunt,"
acute in his dealings, and if not always prosperous, able to impress
others with the belief that he is so. He can speak of little else
than his business, but is cautious not to say too much. Four well-
to-do Burgesses, whose dress bespeaks their wealth, and members
of their respective guilds, at a time \vhen the city companies were
really haberdashers, weavers, &c., as indicated by their names.
Like the traditional alderman, they are fond of good living, and
bring with th^m a professed cook.
The gentle upright " Maunciple," ever mindful of his employer a
interests; the not less able but utterly unscrupulous "Reeve" or
Bailiff, an " unjust steward," overbearing to his inferiors but serving
his master efficiently, though from motives purely selfish, and abusing
the confidence which his ability earned h\m. for the purpose of
lining his own nest; the coarse, vulgar, and brutal " Mellere;" and
the humble "Plowman," who in his narrower field exhibits the
same simple Christian life and example of charity as his clerical
brother; with the "Schipman" and the "Wyf of Buthe," complete
the motley company. ' ■
"The Schipman" is a genuine sailor, brave, hardy, and master of
his craft, more in his element in a storm in the Bay of Biscay than
on a horse. Not troubled with an over-nice conscience, he was
ready to combine the character of a freebooter with that of trader,
not unlike the Ealeighs and other privateer captains of a later aj;e.
The " Wyf of Bathe " is, besides the " Lady Pt irresse," and her
cittendant nun, of whom, however, we have no description — the only
female personage in the company. It seems strange that Chaucer,
who elsewhere shows his high estimation of womanly virtue, and
especially of good wives, should not have given some other female
characters, corresponding, for example, to the Manciple or the
Frankleyn. If not a caricature, and there is no reason to suppose
her to be such, she presents a dark picture of the morality of women
of hei" class. A weH-to-do cloth-worker from the west of Tingland,
trading on her own account, she belongs to the same grade of
society as the group of city liverymen. •?; Violent in temper, bold
and wanton in dress and manners, loud, coarse, and loose in her
language, and as loose in her n: jrals, she is a living satire on the mere
conventional observance of the externals of religion^ having visited
10
THE CANTERBtJRY TALES.
Borne and the Holy Sepulchre, as well as the chief shrines of the
Continent, and being regular in her attendance at the church in the
superstitious rites of Eelic Sunday, on which occasion she often
gave way to her proud and overbearing disposition.
Such are the dramatis personce of this matchless Prologue, which
in less than nine hundred lines brings before our eyes nearly the
whole of English society in the fourteenth century more vividly
than the most laborious history.
The tales which follow reflect the minds of the narrators, but
that part of the work Chaucer did not live to complete. The Pro-
logue is, however, the mjst valuable as the most original portion,
and from the light it throws on the manners and thoughts of our
countrymen of that generation, deserves the moat careful study.
LIFE OF CHAUCER.
w
LIFE OF CHAUCER
The father and grandfather of Geoffrey Chaucer were well-to>do
citizeos and vintners of the city of London. The guilds and city
companies were at that time what their names imply, associations of
men engaged in the same trade or industry, and, accordingly, we find
John Chaucer, the father of the poet, keeping a wine-shop and
hostelrie on the banks of the Thames, near the outfall of the Wall
Brook, probably where the Cannon Street Station now stands, and
here Geoffrey was bom and spent his early years.
What education he gave his son, and whether he intended hirj
for the professions of the law or the church, or for the less ambitiuua
career of a citizen, we do not know.
The author of the " Court of Love " represents himself as " of
Cambridge, clerk ; " but even if this could be proved to mean that
he was a student of that university, there are very strong grounds
for believing that the poem has been wrongly attributed to Chaucer.
Tliere is, in fact, not a shadow of evidence that Chaucer studied at
either Oxford or Cambridge, though Leland asserts that he had been
at each. u .
Young men designed for secular callings frequently finished their
education by attaching Uiemselves to the households or retinue of
some nobleman, with whom they enjoyed the advantages of intro-
duction to good society, and sometimes of foreign travel on political
or military enterprises.
John Chaucer attended Edward IIL and his Queen Philippa in
1338 in their expedition to Flanders, but in what capacity we have
no means of learning. In 1357 we find a Geoffrey Chaucer in the
household of Elizabeth, wif« of Lionel, third son of Edward, and if
he were our poet he doubtless owed his appointment to his father's
former connection with the court. In 1359 he served, still pro-
bably in attendance on Lionel, with the army of Edward in France,
and was, as he himself informs us, taken prisoner, but ransomed in
tibc following year pt the ignominious peace of Bretigny.
In 1367 and the following years we find entries in the Issue Rolls
of the Court of Exchequer and in the Tower BoUs of the paymeDt
to hip o^ a pension of tweo^ marks {or f onner and present servioeQ
12
THE CANTERBURY TALES.
as one of the valets of the king's chamber. While in attendance on
the members of the royal family he had formed an unretumed and
hopeless attachment to some lady of far higher social rank, which
inspired his first original poem, the "Compleynt to Fite;" and since,
in his elegy on the death of Blanche, the young -viie of John of
Gaunt, entitled " The Dethe of Blaunche the Duchesse," he con>
f esses that the "sickeness" that he "had suffred this eight yeere"
is now past, there can be little doubt that she was the object of his
affection. )
From 1370 to 1380 he was engaged in not less than seven diplo-
matic missions to Italy, France, and Flanders,' for which he received
various sums of money, as well as a valuable appointment in the
customs; in 1374 he obtained the lease oi the house above the
Aldgate from the corporation of London, and i^ this year the
Duke of Lancaster granted him a pension of £10 for services ren-
dered by himself and his wife Philippa. We hear of a Philippa
Chaucer as one of the Ladies of the Bedchamlier to the Queen
Philippa as early as 1366; but since in the "Compleynteto Pite" in
1367 he expresses % hope that his high-laom lady love may yet
accept hit love, it is probable that she. was k namesake or cousin of
Geoffrey, and thdt he did not marry her until the nuptials of the
Lady Blanche with the duke had extinguished his hopes of ever
making Imt his wife, perhaps, indeed, not until after her death.
in 187S-73 he remained in Italy for nearly a year on the king's
busineM^ where, if he did not make the acquaintance of Petrarch
and Bpooaccio, as is supposed by some, it is certain that the study of
the ItaliMi poetry and literature exerted a marked influence on his
own writings, as seen in the works composed during this middle
period of. his literary career, the "Lyfe of Seynte Cecile," " Parla-
ment d Foules," "Compleynt of Mars," "Anelide and Arcite,"
"Boec^* * Former Ag^" "Troylus and Cresseide," and the
"ftoiise'olFame."
At a, later period he wrote his "Truth," "Lfegende of Good
Womeiit** his " Moder of God," and began the "Canterbury
Tales.-- ;■•■;• '■■" ^^^ ■■ ;; '
In 1886 ke was elected a knight of the shire for the county of
Kent, and in this year we obtain the only authentic evidence of his
Age.] In a deposition i^ade by him ai Westirin^ter, where the
parliament was met, in the famous trial between Richard, tiord
Scrope, and Sir Bobert Grosvenor, tae coun(^ clerk eniiered him,
doubtless on his own tttatement, as forty years 'blcl and upwardS|
„ V
f:.v'/T U- .•*
J'l-P ••»
LIFE OF CHAUCEIU
IS
and SpS having borne arms for twenty-seven years. We may there*
fore conclude that he was bom in 1339, which would make him at
that time forty-seven years old, and the twenty-seven years would
count from his coming of age. He would thus have been eighteen
when he became page to the Princess Elizabeth, and twenty in the
French war.
His patron, John of Gaunt, was now abroad, and John's rival, the
Duke of Gloucester, in power. The commission appointed by the
parliament to inquire into the 4tdministration of the customs and
subsidies, dismissed him from his. two appointments in the customs,
and soon after even his pensions were revoked. He was thus
reduced from affluence to poverty, and his feelings are expressed in
his beautiful " Balade of Truth ; " to add to his troubles his wife
died next year (1389), yet amid grief and penury he went on with his
inerry " Canterbury Tales."
With the reassumpticn of the government by Richard II, in 1389
and the return of the Lancastrian party to power, fortune smiled
once more on the poor poet, but his income was at best small and
Uncertain, and his tenure of some petty offices short and precarious.
He wrote about this time his translation of a "Treatise on the
Astrolabe, for his son Lewis," his "Compleynt of Venus,"
"Envoy to Skogan," "Marriage," "Gentleness," "Lack of Stead-
fastness," "Fortune and his Compleynt to his Purse," be.sides
carrying on his greatest work, the " Tales," which was left unfinished
at his death. This ^vent occurred in 1400 at a house in the garden
of the Chapel of St. Mary, Westmi.<:'jter, the lease of which he had
taken in the previous year. > ." :^.
He was probably in his sixty-first or sixty-second year when he
died.
In the carefully executed portrait by Occleve, preserved among
the Harl. MSS., and the words which he puts into the mouth of
" mine host " of the Tabard, as well as from admissions no less than
deliberate expressions of feeling scattered through his works, ve can
form a pretty complete notion of his personal appearance, habits,
and character. .
Stout in body but small and fair of face, shy and reserved with
strangers, but fond — perhaps too fond — of "good fclaweschip,"of wine
and song; passionately given to study, often after his day's labours
at the customs sitting up half the night poring over old musty
MSS., French, Latin. Italian, or English, till his head ached, and
bis eyes were dull and dazed But his love of nature was as strong
14
TBB OANTERBURT TALES.
M his love of books. He is fond of dwelling on the beauties of tkt
^ring-time in the country.
" Herkneth these blisful briddSs how they synge,
And seth the f resschfi flourfii how they springe 1 "
he bids us on a bright April mom. And more fully describes his
own feelings in the " Legend of Grood Women."
" And as for me, though that I konne but lyte,
On bokfis for to rede I me delyte, . .-.,
^ And to hem give I feyth and ful credencS,
And in myn herte have hem in reverencd S.
So hertfily that there is gamfi noon v
That fro my bokfis maketh me to goon,
*"* . But yt be seldom on the holy day.
Save certeynly whan that the monethe of Maj
Is comen, and that I here the foulfis synge.
And that the flourSs gynnen for to sprynge,
- ' Faire wel my boke, and my devocioun 1 "
He was thoroughly English, one of the educated middle class, the
elass to which England owes so much ; he had by his connection
with court acquired the refinement and culture of the best French
and Italian society, without rising above or severing himself from
the people to whom he belonged. He could appreciate genuine
worth in squire or ploughman, purity and courtesy whether in knight
or in the poor country parson. All were his fellowmen, and he
sympathized with alL He had known every change of fortune, of
wealth and want, and his poetry often reflects his state for the time
being; but even in his old age, when poor, infirm, and alone, h's
irrepressible buoyancy of spirts did not desert him.
Freshness and simplicity of style, roguish humour, quaint fun,
hearty praise of what is good and true, kindly ridicule of weakness
and foibles, and earnest denunciation of injustioe and oppressioD, are
Mnong Ua most marked oharacteristioa,
ESSAY ON THE LAMGUAOE.
ill
ESSAY ON THE LANGUAGE OF CHAUCEB.
The age of Chaucer marks an epoch in the history of our language,
when what is called the New English arose from the complete
lusion of the Norman French with the speech of the common
people.
So long as our kings retained their continental possession^, and
our nobles ruled England as a conquered country, looking to
Normandy, Picardy, and Anjou as their fatherland, whence they
continually recruited their numbers, the union of the races was
impossible ; but with the final loss of Normandy by King John in
1204 the relations of the two countries were changed, and in the
reign of Edward I. and Edward III. the Norman barons were
compelled by circumstances to consider this their home, and France
a land to be reconquered by the arms of their English fellow-
citizens and subjects. The change of sentiment required, however,
time for its completion. For two or three generations the nobles felt
themselves a "uperior race and clung to their own language, dis-
daining to adopt one which they had been accustomed to look on
as fit only for " villans and burghers." Though they could not
abstain from intercourse with the common people, the separation of
language persisted, and served to mark the man of rank from thQ
plebeian.
In the metrical chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, which from
internal evidence must have been written later than A,D. 1280, and
is referred by Mr. K. Oliphant to about a.d. 1300, it is plainly
asserted, that to speak French was in his time considered a mark of
good breeding:
*' Vor bote a man couthc French me tolth of hym wel lute,
Ac lowe men holdeth to Eugliss, and to her owe speche yute;
Ich wane ther ne be man in world contveyes none
That ne holdeth to her kunde speche bote Engelond one ;
Ac wel me wot vor to conue bothe wel yt ys,
Yor the more that a man can the more worthe he is."
[For unless a man know French one thinks but little of him.
But low men hold to English, and to their own ■pe««b w«U S
1
m
5*1
m
16
THE CANTERBURY TALES.
I believe there are no men in tlie countries of the world
That do not hold to their native speech but England only;
But well 1 know that it is well to understand both,
For the more that a man knows the more worth (able) he is.]
la
The blending of the languages began with the fourteenth century. "*
The ballads of Lawrence Minot, composed probably at intervals
between 1330 and 1360, and the "Vision of Piers Plowman," which
seems to have been written soon after 1365, contain an infusion of
French words; but the effects of the complete coalescence of the
two peoples, and the impulse it gave to the development of th#
common language, are to be seen in the poems of Gower and his
frien(> Chaucer, which belong to the latter part of the fourteenth
centuryi The translation of the Bible into Er.j^iish by Wycliffe at
the same time served to raise the literary character and to fix the
grammatical forms of the language- 'vhich had been passing through
a period of rapid changes. ^
The old system of inflexions had been rnJergoing a process of
disintegration, the several endings in e, a, en, and an, by which
cases and numbers, moods and adverbs, had hitherto been distin-
guished, were fast being for the most part replaced by the single form
of e, partly as a result of a law in every language that words become
worn down by use, like pebbles in a water-course smoothed and
rounded by friction, — a change which proceeds most rapidly in the
absence of a written literature, and tends to convert synthetic or in-
flected into analytic or uninflected languages; and partly in obedience
to a law less general, only because its conditions are not universal, viz.
that when two races speaking different languages are merged into one,
they, though freely using one another's words, being unable to agree
as to their inflections, end by discarding such syllables altogether so .
far as can be done without loss of perspicuity.
To this law may be referred the triumph of the plural sign s or
es over en or an, since French and English found themselves here at
least at one, and the same may be said of the prefixes un and tn^
and the suffixes able and ible.
This detrition of inflexions, as we may call it, culminated in the
Elizabethan era in the almost total loss of the final e, before the
expedients for distinguishing infinitives from participles, adverbs
from adjectives, &c., had been reduced to rule. Its loss becomes a
stumbling-block to readers of Shakespeare and his contemporaries
scarcely less grievous than its retention does to those of Chaucer,
appearing in the guise of inexplicable anomalies, and of seeming
(59)
fiSSAY ON THE LANGUAGE.
17
violations of the most ordinary grammatical rules, which have been
laboriously cleared up by Dr. Abbott in his admirable Shakespearian
Orammar.
But though the new English had fairly established itself as a
national and literary language it was still in a state of rapid growth
and development, destined to undergo considerable changes in
grammar, and even more in orthography, ere it settled down into
the form which it has retained without any material alteration from
the tirae of the Stuarts to the present day. ^
When Chaucer wrote printing was not yet invented ; a number
of scribes, whose attainments did not perhaps go beyond the mere
mechanical art of writing, were accustomed to work together while
one read aloud the book to be copied, anu each spelling as he was in
the habit of pronouncing, and probably not seldom misapprehending
the meaning of the author, it was inevitable that countless variations
should arise in the text, some representing the sound of the spoken
word, others the changes which had taken place in the pronuncia-
tion between the dates of the original MS. and the particular copy,
and others still such clerical blunders as are even now familiar to
every one who has had to correct the proofs of any literary work.
After the sixteenth century, when our language had become
stereotyped as it. were in grammar and orthography, various
attempts were made to modernize the spelling of so popular a poet
as Chaucer so as to make him intelligible to ordinary readers, but
with the most unhappy results ; the men who undertook the task
being almost entirely ignorant of the essential features of the
language of the original work.
With a prose writer the consequences might not have been more
serious than the loss to posterity of an invaluable philological land-
mark; but where metre and rime were involved, the result has
been the entire destruction of all that constitutes the outward form
of poetry ; while by the subsequent attempts of editors to restore to
the mangled verses something like metrical rhythm, the language
itself has been wrested and corrupted to an extent which would
have rendered hopeless all idea of its restoration, were it not that in
the Harleian MS. 7334 v;e possess a copy executed by a com-
petent hand very shortly after the author's death, and though not
free from clerical errors, on the whole remarkably correct. The
late learned , antiquary Mr. Thomas Wright adopted it in his
edition, with a few emendations ; but since the publication by Mr.
F. T. Fumivall of his six-text edition of Chaucer we have the
(69) B
18
THE CANTERBURT TALES.
means of collating it with the EUesmere, Hengwrt, Corpus, Lam-
downe, Petworth, and Cambridge MSS. Dr. Morris has availed
himself of the first three in his edition of the "Prologue, the
Knightes and the Nonnes Tales" (Clarendon Press Series); but
though he has consulted the last three also in cases of difficulty, he
has found them of little real use.
Chaucer himself seems to have had forebodings of the mutilations
which were to befall his works, having already suffered from the
negligence of his amanuensis, for in the closing stanzas of his
" Troilus and Cressida," he says,
" Oo litel booke, go litel tragedie,
And for ther is so grete diversity
In Englisch and in writing of our tong.
So pray I Ood that non miswrit^ thee,
Ne thee mismetre for defant of tong.
And rede wherso thou be or eles song
That thou be underatond."
And in language more forcible than elegant he imprecates a curse
on this unlucky man —
" Adam Scrivener, if evere it thee bifal
Boece or Troilus for to write new,
Under thy long lokkes maist thou have the scall,
But after my making thou write more trew.
So ofte a day I mote thy werke renew.
It to correct and eke to rubbe and scrape,
And al is thorow thy negligence and rape."
HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TO THE
TIME OF CHAUCER.
The term Anglo-Saxon, which is currently used to designate the
language supposed to have been spoken by our forefathers before
the Norman Conquest, is an invention of modem times, and has not
even th advantage of convenience to recommend it.
It wbd not until the close of the thirteenth and beginning of the
fourteenth century, when the fusion of races was followed by the
rise of a truly national spirit and an outburst of literary activity,
that a national language had any existence. The greater part of
tl^ thirteenth century was a pekiod of dearth and degradation, a
niSTORT OF THE KNOLISII LANGUAOfi.
10
dark age to the student and lover of our glorious tongue. What
littiv^ wrxs written was in Latin or French, English being considered
not only by the proud nobles, but unhappily also by a pedantic
priesthood, as unworthy of cultivation, and consequently, being
relegated to the ignorant peasantry, it suffered the loss of thousands
of good old words. Hitherto the clergy had written in the
language of the people to whom they belonged, and had produced
many works of great literary merit. ITiese, however, may be easily
recognized as belonging to two great dialectic divisions — a north-
eastern and south-western, besides minor subdivisions. The great
sundering line may roughly be drawn from Shrewsbury through
Northampton and Bedford to Colchester, and represents the original
partition of the country between the Angles and the Saxons. On
the former fell the full force uf the Danish invasions, and as we go
further north we find the proportion of Scandinavian words and
forms to increase.
In the earliest times these languages were almost as distinct as
High German and Low German (Piatt Deutsch), and the so-called
Anglo-Saxon dictionaries confound and mingle the two without dis-
tinction. The infusion of Danish or Norse into the Anglian led natur-
ally to a clipping and paring down of inflections, a feature common to
all mixed languages; whereas the speech of Wessex, the kingdom of
Alfred, preserved much longer its rich inflectional character. Yet
even these south-western people seem to have called themselves
English rather than Saxons. At any rate King Alfred tells us
that his people called their speech English, and Robert of Gloucester
says of English, "The Saxones speche yt was, and thorw hem
yeome jrt ys." Be'^e, an Angle, calls them Saxons, but the word is
of rare occiurrence i.efore th<? thirteenth century. Frocopius in the
sixth century calls them Frisians.
It is, however, from the East Midland chiefly that the new English
arose, where the monks of Peterborough compiled the history of
England in English, in chronicles ^vhich were copied and scattered
throughout the land. Their dialect incorporating all that was good
from the others laid the foundation of that literary language which,
again taking up a large French element, was destined to become the
speech of the nation at large.
Early in the fourteenth century Robert of Brunne, called also
Robert Manning, living in Rutland, in the same linguistic province
as the monks of Peterborough, wrote The Handlyng Synne, which
loarks an era in the history of our language and literature. In |t
fi
10
THE CANTERnURY TALE8.
may be seen actually or foreshadowcHl every feature of language,
idiom, and grammar which distinguishes the English of to-day from
that of King Alfred and from the Teutonic lanj^uages of the Con-
tinent. His English is no longer inflectional but analytic, the
difference being one of kind not of decree merely, as was the case
in the Old Anglian when compared with the speech of the West
Saxons. Of the language of 21ie Handlyng Synne we may say as
Sir Philip Sidney did of the Elizabethan age, " English is void of
those cumbersome differences of cases, genders, moods, and tenses,
which I think was a piece of the Tower of Babylon's curse, that a
man should be put to schoole to learne his mother tongue ; but for
the uttering sweetly and properly the conceit of the minde, which is
the ende of speech, that it hath equally with any other tongue in
the world."
Of scarcely less value as marking another feature of our present
language ia the Ann en Jiiivle, written about 1220 bj' a learned
prelate, into which French and Latin words are imported wholesale.
Chaucer has been accused of corrupting our language; but if we
compare his works with the Ancren liiivle, written a century and a
half earlier, we shall find that the affectation of French words and
idioms by the author of the lihrle, an example which for nearly a
hundred years none had dared to follow, puts Chaucer rather in the
light of a restorer of our language, and justifies Spenser's description
of him as **a well of English undefiled." He did not affect a
retrograde course, but endeavoured to develop the new powers
which English had acquired from this "h?ppy marriage," the fruit
of which has been described by none in 7nore glowing terms than
by the profound German scholar Grimm. " None of the modem
languages has through the very loss and decay of all phonetic laws,
and through the dropping of nearly all inflections, acquired greater
force and vigour than the English, and from the fulness of those
vague and indefinite sounds which may be learned but can never
be taugl it has derived a power of expression such as has never been
at the command of any human tongue. Begotten by a surprising
union of the two noblest languages of Europe, the one Teutonic, the
other Homanic, it received that wonderfully happy temper and
thorough breeding, where the Teutonic supplied the material
strength, the Bomanic the suppleness and freedom of expression.
. . . In wealth, in wisdom, and strict economy, none of the
living languages can vie with it." Such being the character of the
language in which Chaucer "wrote, it is not necessary to give in
HlSTryRT OF THE ENGLISH LANOUAQE.
m
detail the grammatical forms aiud inflections of the older English
dialects.
It will be Bufficiunt to indicate such as were still in use, but have
been subsequently drop})i.'d or so worn down as to be no longer
easily recognized, and to show at the same time how these are
modified by the necessities of metrical composition, so as to be lost
to the ear though properly retained in the orthography, in accord-
ance with rules of prosody not unlike those familiar to readers of
Latin and French poetry, and which held their ground more or
less in English down to the time of Milton.
The use of the final e in the language of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries presents the greatest difficulty to all who are
unacquainted with the grammatical construction of the early and
middle English. It was not, as it now is, a merely conventional
sign for marking the long sound of the preceding vowel, as in the
modern words bar and hare, for which purpose it is indifferent
whether it is placed at the end of the syllable or immediately before
the vowel to be lengthei.ed, as in bare or bear, sere or seer : nor was
it, as in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, inserted or omitted
at the whim of the writer or convenience of the printer, when
we may often see the same word spelled with and without it in the
same or consecutive lines ; nor was it, as in the artificial would-be
antiquated diction of Spenser's Faerie Qucene, employed without
any certain rule either as " an aping of the ancients," as Ben
Jonson called it, or for lengthening out the line to the number of
syllables required by the peculiar metre borrowed from the Italian
poets, and to which the more rigid English tongue would otherwise
have refused to bend; but it was a real grammatical inflection,
marking case and number, distinguishing adverbs from the corre-
sponding adjectives, and in certain verbs of the "strong" form
representing, the -en of the older plural, e.g. he spah, thei spake, for
gpaken, like the Gennan er sprach, sie sprachcn; so that to write, as
the modernized texts have it, he spake, would be a blunder as gross
as the converse they speaks would be now, and to pronounce they
spake as we do is to rob the line of a syllable and the verse of its
rhythm and metre, and, if the word be at the end, it may be of its
rime, as for instance where the indirect objective cases timi and
Rom6 rime with hy me and to me.
The following summary of the peculiar features of Chaucer's
grammar is founded on the essay of Prof. Child, and Dr. Morris*
Introduction to his Chaucer's Frplo^e, &c., mentioned aboy9,
rM
THE CANTSRBURY TALES.
NOUNS.
Number. — 1. The plural is mostly formed by adding -?», pro-
nounced as a distinct syllable.
" And with his strem^s dryeth in the grev^
The silver drop^s hongyng on the levHs."
Knightes Tale, 11. 637-8.
•9, which has now almost entirely replaced the -?«, was as a rule
used only in wordt, cf more than one syllable and in those ending
with a liquid, as "palmers, pilgrims, naciouns, &c.
Such forms as bestis, othus, are probably the provincial or dialecti-
cal usages of the scribes employed.
2. Some nouns form their plurals in -en or -n (the -an of O.E.), as
asschm, been (bees), eyghen (eyes) [Scot, een], flon (arrows), schoon
(shoes), [Scot, shoon], and oxen; fon or foon (foes), and kyn, which
remained till the seventeenth century as kine.
3. Brethren, children, with the obsolete dowjhtren and sistren, are
formed by adding ~n to an older plural form in O.E. -e, A.S -u.
The O.E. childre, &c., i jrsists as childer, &c., in the provincial di '^ect
of the northern counties.
4. Deer, scheep, swin have never bar a plural termination; folk,
hors, night, thing, and yeer or yer have acquired such only in recent
times, the plural in the earlier ages of our language having had the
same form as the singular.
6. Feet, men, geese, teeth are plurals formed by a vowel change
only.
Case. — 1. The possessive case singular is formed by adding -lis
(now mostly -a).
" Ful worthi was he in bis lordis werre." Prol. 1. 47.
2. The possessive plural had the same form, fox^s tales, mennHs
wittes. But when the nominative ended in -en it was sometimes
unchanged, ^s "his eyghen sight."
3. In O.E. fader, brother, dovghter were uninflected in the posses-
sive case; thus "my fader soule," Prol. 781; "bt other sone,"
K. T. 2226.
4. Some old feminines of the Saxon 1st declension, which made
their possessives in -an, had dropped the termination ; thus we find
ladyS grace, sonni upriste (rising), hertS blood, widewS sone, and we
ilOl speak of Lady day and Lady bird.
5. The indirect objective (dative) occurs sometimes m A ^istioot
pAoe^ and ends in ^^ as kolU!, beddK, &c.
HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANOUAGE.
ADJECTIVES
Now nninflected had in early English two forms, the definite and
indefinite, the former used after demonstrative adjectives, of which
the so-called definite article is one, and possessive pronouns (thus
di^ering from the modem German usage), and the indefinite in all
other circumstances. In Saxon each was declined, but in Chaucer
the only inflection is found in the definite form which ends in -^, as
"the yong^ sonne," " his halfS cours." This -S is however generally
dropped in words of more than one syllable.
The vocative case of adjectives is distinguished by an -e, as
"leei'S brother," K. T. 326, "O strong^ God," except in words of
French origin, and therefore of recent introduction, as "gentU
Bire.
Degrees op Comparison. — The comparative is generally formed
as now by adding -cr to the positive. The O.E. tennination was
-re, which is retained in dene (dearer), ferre (farther), nene (nearer),
sorre (sorer).
Lenger, atrenger, and the extant elder are examples of inflection
together with vowel change.
Bet (bettre or better) and mo (for more) are contracted forms.
The superlative is made by adding -este or -est to adjectives and
-est to adverbs; hezt (highest), and next, extant (nighest), are con«
tractions.
The plural is formed by adding -?, not -€», "smaJ.^ fowlgs," Prol. 9 ;
but adjectives of more than one syllable, and all when used predi-
catively, drop the -e. Some French words form the plural in -€«, as
" places de2ito&2e»."
■ - Demonstratives.
In O.E. the so-called definite article the was in the plural tho,
a form occasionally, though very rarely, used by Chaucer. The
neuter singular was that, but except in the phrases " thai oon" and
" that other," contracted into toon and tother, Chaucer never uses
that otherwise than as we do now.
He frequently employs tho for those, as " tho wordfis," and " oon
of tho that," and he writes the plural of this as (hue, thes^ or these
indiscriminately.
Atti, a word of very frequent occurrence, is a corruption of the
Saxon at tham, the old objective, O.E. attan, atta^ masc. and neut^
aUer, fem., " att6 beste," " atti Bow."
u
THE CANTERBURY TALE8.
Tkil}c^ = the like (A.S. thyllic, thylc), "thim text," Prol. 182,
— that text. Sivich, Prol. 3, and sik8, Prol. 245 (A.S. sicylk = sioa
lyJc) = 80 like, our such.
That ilke = the same (A.S. ilk). Scotch, " Graham of that ilk," i.e.
of that same clan or place [must not be confounded with the Scotch
ilka, A.S. celc = each]. Same did not come into use till about the
year 1200.
Som . , . som = one , . . another.
• ' . ' ' ,'
" He moot ben deed, the kyng as schal a page ;
5o«i in his bed, «om in the deep6 see, .
iSom in the largg feeld, as men may se."
Knightes Tale, 2172-4.
PRONOUNS.
Singular.
iNom. I, Ich, Ik,
Poss. min (myn), mi (my),
Obj. me,
{ Nom. thou (thow),
< Poss. thin (thyn), thi (thy),
( Obj. the, thee.
Masc. Fern. Neut.
Nom. he, she, hit, it, yt,
Poss. his, hire, hir, his,
Obj. him, hire, hir, here, hit, it, yt.
Plurau
ye.
your, youre.
yow, you.
All Oenders.
thei, they,
here, her, hir.
hem.
Independent or predicative forms are min (pi. mine) ; oure, oures;
thin (pL thine); youre, youres ; hire,heres (hers); here, heres (theirs);
The forms otores and youres were borrowed from the Northern
dialect. . ,
Thou is often joined to its verb, as arhaltow, woldestow, Nonne
Prestes Tale, 525 ; crydestoto, Knightes Tale, 225.
The objective (dative) cases of pronouns are used after imper-
sonal verbs, as " me mette ; " " him thoughte ; " after some verbs of
motion, as "goth him;" "he rydeth him.;" and after such words as
weL, wo, loth, and leef.
WhoB {whose) and %vhom are the possessive and objective cases of
who.
Which is joined with thaz, thus, " Hem whiche that wepith ; "
"His love the which that he oweth." Alone it sometimes stands for
what or what sort of, as —
i-
HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
25
" Which a miracle ther befel anoon."
Knightes Tale, 1817. '
" Ani whiehe they yreren, and of ivhat degre."
Prol. 40. '• '\ ''■"
Whai is used for wAy like the Lat. quid,
" What schulde he studie and make himselven wood?"
Prol. 184.
That is ROTnctimes used with a personal pronoun along with it^
thus —
" A knight ther was, and that a worthi man,
That from ^he tymS that he first began
To ryden out, he lovede chivalrye."
Prol. 43-45.
**A1 were they Bor6 hurt, and namely oon.
That with a spere was thirled his brest boon."
Knightes Tale, 1851-2.
In the second instance, that his = whose.
Who and who so are used indefinitely in the same way as our
"one says," "As who seith," " Who so that can him rede," Prol.
741.
Men and the shortened form me, which must »ot be confounded
with the objective of I, were used from a very eafly period down to
the seventeenth century in the sense of "one," like the German
" man sagt," &c., and the French " on dit," &c. " Me tolth " in
the passage quoted from Eobert of Gloucester (see page 15) is
an instance, and one of the latest is to be found in Lodge's Wits
Miserie.
" And stop me (let one stop) his dice, you are a villaine."
VEEBS.
I. The so-called weak verbs, or those which form the past tense
by the addition of the suffix -ed, were thus declined : —
Present Tense. '"
PLURAL.
We lov-en or lovS.
SINGULAR.
1. Ilov6,
2. Thou lov-est,
3. He lov-eth,
1. I lov-ede,
2. Thou lov-edest,
3. He lov-ede,
Past Tense.
Ye lov-en or lov6.
They lov-en or lov6.
We lov-eden, lov-ede.
You lov-eden, lov-ede.
They lov-eden, lov-^dOt
26
THE CANTERBURY TALES.
The MSS. of Chaucer's poetical works frequently have loved,
those of his prose very rarely.
In some, as the Harl. MS., we find has for liast, doa for do8t, an
evidence of the influence of the Northumbrian, in which the 2nd
pers. sing, ended in -es, and we sometimes meet with the ter-
mination eth in the 3rd plur. pres., simulating the singular, owing to
the fact of that being the plural inflexion of all three persons in the
southern counties = -ath in A. Sax.
" And over his heed ther «c/iynetfc two figures."
Knightes Tale, 1185, HarL MS.
We often find -th for -eth, as speJdh for speketh.
Saxon verbs whose roots end in -d, -t, and rarely in -», are con-
tracted in the 3rd sing, pres., as ait for sitteth, writ for writeth,
halt for hoideth, fint for findetJt, atonf for stondeth (stands), and
rist for riseth.
II. Some verbs of the weak conjugation form the past tense by
adding -d8 or -t8 instead of -ede, as heren, herdS; hiden, hiddf,;
kepen, kept^; but if the root end ui d or t, preceded by another con-
sonant, -^ only is added instead of -dS and -t^, as wenden, wendi;
tterten, stertS; letten (to hinder), lett^.
III. In some verbs forming a link between the weak and strong
conjugations we have a change of the vowel root together with the
addition of the suffix -d<i or t^, as sellen, solde; tellen, tolde; seche
(to seek), soughte; and others in which modem English has aban-
doned the rowel change, as delen^ daltS (dealt); leden, laddJS -(led):
leven, laftS (left).
The Strong Verbs
Are those which form the past tense by merely changing the root
vowel, as sterven, to die, starf, and the past part, by the addition of
-en or ?, besides a vowel change which may or may not be the same
as in the past tense, as storven or storii (O.E. ystorven). Cf. Grer.
sterhen, starh, gestorben.
The 1st and 3rd persons singular of the past tense had no final e,
as printed in some modem editions ; the three persons plural ended
in -en or -?, and the 2nd person singular in -?, frequently dropped, or
occasionally in -est.
Some strong verbs had two forms for the past tense, one simple
t^ ^e 001^; taking the suffix of weak v^bi —
HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANQUAOB.
2t
Present Past. '
Weep, wep or weptft.
Cwep, crep or creptfi.
A number of the older verbs of this conjugation, in which the
root vowel of the past participle was not the same as that of the past
tense, employed it in the plural of the latter thus —
^ SterveTi, past sing, ttarf, p. plur. storven; p. part. {if)»torven,
JRiden, „ rood or rod, „ riden; „ (y)riden,
SmUenf „ smoot; „ smUen; „ (y)imiten,
^ This difference between the numbers was soon lost
Subjunctive.
The present singular ends in -e, the plural in -en; the past
singular in -ede, -de, or -fe, the plural in -eden, -<ien, or -fen, in all the
persons ; except in a few such forms as »pel^ we, go we.
Ihperative.
The only inflections are an -eth, or occasionally an -e in the
2nd pers. plural ; and in verbs conjugated lik ) tdkn and lauetit an
-e in tSie s&igular also.
The Infinitive.
Originally the infinitive ended in -en (the Saxon -an\ but the -n
was often dropped, leaving an -e only, a change which began in the
south.
The so-called gerund, really the objective (dative) case of the
infinitive, and known by being preceded by to, in the sense of " for
the purpose of," " in order to," &c., was formed from the former
by adding -e, and must not in its full or contracted forms be con-
founded with the infinitive.
Ex. to doon-e=zto don-ne. In Prol. 134, "no ferthing »ene"= /or
to senne. In 1. 720, "for to telle " is the gerund also, but the -n has
been discarded.
The present participle usually ends in -ynff, or -ynge when the
rime demands it. Originally the participle onded in -inde or -ind in
the south, -ande or -and (occasionally met with in Chaucer) in the
north, both forms being employed in the east midland.
yerbal nouns were formed by the termination -ung or later -tn^^
P
m
m
m
28
THE CANTERBURT TALES.
and then the participles were assimilated to them by changing -inde
and -ind into -ynffe, -yng^ or -ing, as in our present language.
The infinitive in -an or -en was also under certain circumstances
reduced to the same termination -ing, and. the several forms co-
existing in our language present much difficulty to students.
The past participle of wealr verbs ends in -cd or -d, or occasionally
in -et or -t ; of strong verbs in -en or -e, with change of the root vowel
in some, and they are all sometimes preceded by the old prefix y-f U
(A.S. ge-\ as i-ronne, i-falle, y-dept.
Anomalous Verbs.
Those whose inflexions cannot be brought under any rule, some of
which are defective, and others, as to go, whose wanting parts are
mad^i up by borrowing the corresponding members of others, are the
truly ivreg.dar verbs. This name has also been n^ct unhappily given
by grammarians trained in the schools of Greek and Latin to thosa
of the strong conjugation because they are the most removed from
the inflectional systems of those languages; whereas they are the
most characteristic of the Teutonic family, and in that sense the
more regular. Words taken from the Latin are thus instinctively
in every instance referred to the weak conjugation as the less
peculiarly Teutonic of the two.
1. Ben, been, to be; 1st sing. pres. ind. am; 2nd, art; 3rd, w;
plur. 6een, aren, are; past, was, icaat, was, and were; imp. sing, he,
pL heth; p. part, hen, heen.
. This, the " verb substantive," is in fact made up of portions of
three distinct verbs, which long coexisted in different dialects or
even in the same so late as the seventeenth century, as may be seen
in the A.V. of the Bible and in Milton, and to this day among the
peasantry.
2. Conne, to know or to be able; pres. ind., 1st, can; 2nd, can or
canst; 3rd, can; nl. conr^€n, conne; past, 1st and 3rd, couthe, cowthe,
cowde; p.p. couth, coud. The I m the modem word has been
inserted throtigh a false analogy with would and should.
3. Darren, dare; pres. ind., dar, davst, ddr; pi. dar, dorre ; "pa&tf
dorste, durste.
4. May; pres. ind. sing., 1st and 3rd, may, mow; 2nd, mayst or
mMist; pi. mowen, mowe; pres. subj. mowe; past tense, ist and 3rd,
mighte, moghte.
5. Met, must, may; ind. pres. sing., 1st and 3rd, mot, moot; 2nd
if^flfit^ moot; pi. m^tm, moote; past tense, moste^
HISTORT OP THE EKGLISH LANGUAGE.
Sd
6. Oiven, to owe (moral obligation); prea. oweth; past, ovghtef
aughte; pi. oughten, oughte.
7. Schal, shall (compulsion) ; pres. ind. sing., Ist and 3rd, schal;
2nd, schalt; pi. srhullen, achuln, s.hul; past, schulde, scholde.
8. Thar, need (Ger. durfen) ; pres. ind. sing, thar; past, thurte;
subj. 3rd, ther.
9. PTt^cn, to know ; pres. ind. sing., 1st and 3rd, wat, wot; 2nd,
wost; pi. witen, wite, woote; past, wiste.
10. WtZ, will; pres. ind. sing., 1st, mile, wil, wolle, wol; 2nd, wUtf
woltj 3rd, wile, wole, wol; pi. woln, willen, wilh; past, wolde.
It has the full meaning of the Latin volo, e.g. " Owre swete Lord
of heven, that no man wU perische^^ (i.e. neminem wit perdere),
Persones Tale. ^ , ...
Negative Verbs.
Nam — am not.
Nys = is not.
Na8 = was not.
Nere — were not.
Nath = hath not.
Nadde, node = had not.
Nylle, nyl =. will not.
Nolde = would riot.
Nat, not, noot = knows not.
Nost = knowest not.
Nyste, nysten = knew not.
ADVERBS.
1. Adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding -? to the latter,
as bright^, brightly ; deepS, deeply ; low<i, lowly. This is the explan-
ation of the seeming use of the adjective for the adverb in modem
English, and which is called by some grammarians the "flat
adverb."
2. Others are formed as now by adding -lyche or -ly, as s hortly,
rudelyche, pleynly.
3. And a few have e before the -ly, as boldly, trewUy, soft^ly.
4. Some end in -en or -e, as aboven, abor^; abouten, about^;
withouten, without^; Biththen, sithtM, since. Many have dropped the
-n, retaining the -e only, as asondre, behynd^^ bynetM, biyond^,
bytwen^, hennS (hence), thennS (thence), oftS in Chaucer, though
of ten 19 the more usual form at present, seldS (seldom), 8oon^.
5. Adverbs in -es : needes, needs ; ones, once ; twies or time, twice ;
thi'ies, thrie, thrice; unnefhes, scarcely; whiles, bysides, togideres;
hennes, hence; thennes, thence; whennes, whence; agaynes, ay ens,
against; amonges, among, amongst; amyddes, amidst.
6. Of-newi, anew, newly (cf. of yore, of late); as-noWf at present;
30
til£ cANtEltBttilt •TAtlfiA.
On tlepi, asleep (fell on aleq>, A.V. Acts xiiL 86) (cf. im kontinff^ %
hunting, &,c.).
7. There and </<€» occasionally stand for where and wAen.
6. As, used before in, to, for, by, = considering^ with respect to^
Bo far af. concerns.
•d " As in 80 lltel apace." Prol. 87.
iis is used before the imperative in supplicatory phrases —
" As keep me fro thi vengeaunce and thin yre." K. T. 1444.
" As sends love and pees betwixe hem two." K. T. 1468.
(Cf. use of que in French.)
9. BtU, only (be-out) takes a negative before it. "I nam hut
deed." K. T. 416. Cf. again the French, "Je ne suisque . . ."
10. Two or more negatives do not make an affirmative. This is
tho usage of the A.S., and still holds its ground among " uneducated"
persons. . ,
"He nevere yit no vileinye ne sayde
In al his lyf uuto no maner wight." Frol. 70, 71.
PREPOSITIONS.
Occasionally tU = to (cf. the German Ma), unto = until, up =
upon, and uppon = on.
CONJUNCTIONS.
Ne . . . ne = neither . . . nor; other . . . other = either ... or
(of. Ger. oder) ; what . . . and = both . . . and.
THE FINAL E.
The use and meaning of the final e in the several parts of speech
may be thus summed up.
In many nouns and adjectives it represents the Anglo-Saxon
terminations in -a, -e, or -u, and is then always sounded : assS and
cuppi = A.S. assa and cuppa; hertS and marS = A.S. heorte and
mare;. hcUS and wodS = A.S. healu and wudu; deri and dryS = A.S.
deore and dryge.
It is sounded when it stands as the sign of the objective indirect
(or dative) case, as rootiS, hreeth^, heethS (ProL 2, 6, 6), and in beddM
and briygi, from bed and brig.
It is sounded when it marks —
HISTORY OP THE ENGLISH LANGUAOE.
31
(a) The d^^f.nite form of the adjective, "the yongS Sonne."
Prol. 7.
(b) The plural of adjectives, " smalS fowles." Prol. 9.
(c) The vocative of adjectives, " O strongH god!" K. T. 1616.
In verbs it is sounded when it represents the older termination
•en or -an as a sign of —
(o) The infinitive, as to "seeJcg, teUV Prol. 17, 38.
(6) The "gerund," as "«cn^." Prol. 134.
(c) The past participle, as " i-rann^, i-falU." ProL 8, 26.
{d) And in the past tenses of weak verbs in -de or -<«, as wenVf%
cowd^, vjoldS, fedd^, wept^.
It is sounded in adverbs where it —
(a) Represents older vowel-endings, as aon^, twi^, thnS.
{h) Marks the adverb from the corresponding adjective, as fair^f
rights = fairly, rightly.
(c) When it stands for the O.E. -en, A.S. on: aloutil, abov^^
O.E. abouten, aboven, A.S. abutan^ abufan.
{d) When followed by -ly in the double adverbial ending -Hy^ as
hert^ly, lustily, sem^ly, trewUy,
It is silent in the past tenses of weak verbs in -ede^ — ed^SA lovede,
Prol. 97.
It is mostly silent in —
(a) The personal pronouns oure, youre, hire, here.
(6) And in many words of more than two syllables.
The final unaccented e in words of French origin is generally
silent, but often sounded as in French verse. The scanning of each
particular line must decide.
. VERSIFICATION.
The poetry of the Greeks and Romans was purely metrical. In
their languages the distinction between long and short vowels was
strongly marked, and the lines were composed of a definite number
of feet, the feet consisting of two or more syllables long or short
f oUo^v'ing one another in a regular order. Rimes when they occurred
accidentally were "looked on as faults. ^
In the later and debased age of the Latin language, when the
pronunciation became corrupted, the regular metres gave way to
verses composed of a fixed immber of syllables, (^ded by accent
rather than quantity, and with rimes in regular order.
32
THE CANTERBURY TALES.
This form of versification first appears in the later Latin hymns
of the Western Church, and waa adopted from the first in the poetry
of the Romance languages.
Quite different was the verse employed by the early Germanic
and Scandinavian poets, its distinctive feature being alliteration.
Two more or less emphatic words in the first, and one in the second
line of each couplet began with the same consonant.
In the north and west of England the alliterative verse held its
ground so late as the fifteenth century, but in the southern and
eastern shires the riming verse was employed in the thirteenth.
The Vision of Piers Plowman (a.d. 1362) is a good example of
alliterative verse.
" I was weori of wandringe,
And went me to reste
Under a brod banke
Bi a bourne syde.
And as I lay and leonede
And lokede on the watrea,
I slumberde in a slcpynge^
Hit aownede so nmrie."
In this extract the words in italics constitute the alliteration, the
others, as uaa in the first, Bi in the fourth, and so in the last, are
unemphatic, and contain the characteristic letter of each couplet
only by accident.
Chaucer, a man of general culture, living in the south-eastern
counties, and familif!.r with the poetry of Italy and France, naturally
chose the metrical and riming style of verse.
His Canterbury Tales (except those of Melibeus and the Persone,
which are in prose) are written in what is commonly called the
heroic couplet. The lines consist of ten syllables, of which the
second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and tenth are accented, or as the
classical scholar would express it, they consist of five iambs. Very
often, oftener indeed than is noticed by the ordinary reader, ther*? is
an eleventh and unaccented syllable at the end, the verse being then
identical with iambic trimeter catalectic of the Greek and Latin
poets ; and /ar more rarely there are but nine syllables, an un-
accented odd syllable beginning the line, and followed by four
iambs.
To take a few unequivocal examples from the Prologue. The
typical verse is seen in 11. 19, 20 —
i
Ul STORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 83
Byfel I that in | that ee | soun on | n day,
lu Suuth I werk at | the Tab | anl as | I luy.
The verfie of eleven syllables in 11. 11, 12 —
Bo prik I eth hem | nature j in lieio | corag | es,
, Tlianno long | en folk | to gon | on pil | griniag | es.
And that of nine in 1. 391 — •
In I a gowne | of fal | dyng to | the kne.
The opening couplet, though generally read as decasyllabic, is
i'eally composed of eleven, as will bo seen by a reference to the
grannuar of Chaucer —
Whan tliat | April | 16 with | his schow | res swoot | 3,
The drought | of Marche | hath per | ced to | tlie root | 6.
The word non^s, our nonce, must be read as a dissyllable in 1. 523,
or it would not rime with non is in that following, and in 11. 21, 22,
pihjrimag^ and corag^ are probably to be read as in French poetry,
the third syllable lightly sounded. So in the Parson's Prologue,
1. 17, 345, Wright's ed.—
" Do you I plesaun | c^Zc | ful as | I can."
Short unemphatic syllables are often slurred over, or two such
consecutive syllables pronounced almost as one. These contractions
may be arranged under several distinct heads.
1. That which has entered so largely into our spoken language,
by which icandering and wanderer are pronounced wandWing and
wanderer, earnest as cam^nt, &c.
2. The synalcepha of classic prosodists, or elision of a final vowel
before another word beginning with a vowel or a silent h. This
was far more fre(}uent in our early poetry than is generally known,
and often practised by Milton in his Paradise Lost.
3. A method of obliterating a short syllable which is of very
common occurrence in Chaucer, though, as it seems to me, inade-
quately explained even by Dr. Morris and other equally eminent
commentators. The final consonant of a word ending with a short
aylkiVe is in reading to be attached to the initial rowel of the next.
It will be observed that in the great majority of contractions the
following word begins with a vowel giving a clue to the proper
reading.
(69) C
34
TUB CANTEHDURY TALKS.
M
I
Exainplea of- the firnt are —
" Ami thinketh \ hero coweUi | my m<»r | tol en | emy." K. T. 785.
" Sclie gad | creth Hour | Os par | ty wlilto | ami jedu." K. T. 105.
" Schuln thu | doclar | en, ur | that thou | go hounu." K. T. 14D8.
Of the second or synalcLpha are — •
"Ami cer | tea lord | to ahi \ den your presence." K. T. 69.
•' What Bchulde | lie stud 1 ie mid make | himsel | ven wood." Trol. 184.
Besides countless elisions of the tonuinsd e which would have been
sounded had the next word begun witli a consonant.
Sytueresis, or the blending of two vowels in the middle of a word,
is seen in —
" Ne stud I ieth nat ; | ley hand | to ev [ cry man." Prol. 841.
Where every is also contracted after the first method into two
syllables.
It is scarcely possible to scan a dozen lines without meeting an
Instance of the third mode of contraction, but a few examples may
be given here —
" And forth | we ride | n a lit | el more | than pass." rrol. 819.
" And won I derly I de^yi^c I »" <»'«^ gret I of strengthe." Prol. 84.
" As an I y rav | emfethe | r it schon | for blak." K. T. 1286.
" A man | to light | a cande | I at his | lantcrne."
., Cant. Tales, 1. f.961, Wright's edition.
"And though | that 1 1 no wepe \ n have in | this place." K. T. 733.
Thou schul I dest neve \ re out of | this grov [ 6 pace." K. T. 744.
Whether is frequently sounded as a single syllable, and is some-
times written wher.
" I not I whether ache | be worn | man or | godesse.' X. T. 243.
'• Ne rec | cheth nev | ere wher I I synke | or fleete. ' K. T. 1539.
Words borroAved from the French ending in -le or -re are pro-
nounced as in that language, with the final e mute : table, temple,
miracle, noble, propre, chapitre, as tabl\ ternpV, mirdcV, nobV, propr\
chapUr'; and those of more than one syllable ending in -ance
{-aunce), -ence, -oun, -ie {-ige), -er, -ere, -age, -une, -ure, and -lie, are
generally accented on the last syllable (not counting the silent e), as
acqiieyntaimce, resoiin, manhre, avauntivje, &c.; but occasionally the
accent is thrown back as in modern English, e.g. bdltaUUt K. T.
HISTORY OF TlIK ENULiyil LiiNOUAOB.
35
21; mdner, Prol. 71; fdrlune, each of theHc wuiila being elsewhere
accented on the last syllable. Even some jmrely English words
exhibit the same variety, as hdnti/riy and huntyvr/. K. T. 821 and
1450.
The -cd of i)aHt participles and the -edc of past tenses are to bo
alike pronounced as a distinct syllable, -cd; thus perc?d, Prol. 1. 2, has
two syllables, entun^d, 1. 123, y-pinchSd, 1. 151, have three, but
lovcde, 1. 97, and similar forms, are to be sounded lov-Sd, &c., with
two, not three syllables.
The initipJ h in the several cases of the pronoun he, in the tenses
of the verb to finrc, and in the word how, is so lightly sounded as to
admit of the elision of a final -e before it.
" Wei cowde he dressc hia takel yemanly." Trol. 100.
Both e's would otherwise be sounded.
In all other words the initial h is too strongly aspirated to permit
of this.
Not only is the negative ne frequently shortened into an initial v-
before am, is, kadde, [vadde], wot, [not], &c., but we meet with such
contractions as thasa for the aaae, tahiden for to abiden, &c. This
may be merely due to the scribes. Cf. Prol. 450, where we have the
elision in reading though not in the text.
The metrical analysis of the first eighteen lines of the Prologue,
given in p. 37, will be found to illustrate most of the foregoing rules
of prosody, and will serve as a guide to the correct scanning of
Chaucer's verse, which when read as it should be will be found as
smooth and regular in its rhythm as any of the present day.
In order to mark the pronunciation without deviating from the
orthography of the best MSS. I have in this passage, as in the text
generally, adopted the following simple devices and signs. »
The final e when naturally silent, or when, as in the words he,
the, &c., there can be no doubt as to its pronunciation, is printed in
small romans ; when, on the other hand, it is to be sounded where it
is either silent or omit\<ed in modern English, it is distinguished
thus -8; and where an e which would be sounded under other
circumstances is elided before a word beginning with a vowel or
lightly aspirated h, it will be found in italics. '
Other vowels likewise when elided, whether by synaloepha or by
any of the contractions explained above, are marked by italics.
^ at the same time it be bof n^ in mind tba>t t))e ^nals -es^ -m^ an^
-I
Elf
ll
36
THE CANTERBURY TALES.
-ed, being Saxon inflections, are, unless the contrary be indicated as
above, to be .sounded as distinct syllables, and that the -ede of the
past tense is t(^ be pronou: "-^d -ed, and that, with the exception of
the few nine-syllabled verses, every line is either a perfect or a
catalcctic iambic, a little practice will enable the student to scan the
poetry of Chaucer witV ease.
A very few irregular contractions, either poetic licenses or
anticipation 3 of future pronunciations, may be fotmd, as in Prol. 4C3.
where *'<Ajis haddc" must be read as our '^Utrice had.^^
"And thries | hadde sche j ben at | Jcru | sr.lem."
'v.
i
I will conclude this section with a slightly altered transcription
of Dr. Morris' remarks on the pronunciation and scanning of the
passage on p. 37.
1. The final e in Aprille is sounded; but it is silent in the French
words veijne, rertue, and tuiturc, and in Marche, holte, and kouihCy
because followed here by a vowel or lightly aspirated h.
2. The final e in 8iuoote, smale, straimge, feme, and seeJce (in the
last line) is sounded, as the sign of the plural.
3. The final e in roote, breethe, heethe is sounded, as the sign of the
objective (indirect) case.
4. The final e in sivete, yovge, halfe is sounded, as the definite
form of the adjective.
5. The final e in sonne, ende is sounded, as representing older
terminations.
6. The final e in i-ronne is sounded, as representing the old and
fuller ending of the past participle -en {//-^'onnen).
7. The final e in wende is sounded, as representing the -en of the
plural.
8. And in sccJce (1. 17), as the -en of the older infinitive.
7a. The full forms of the plural are found in slcpcn, maken,
long en, and
8a. Of the infinitive in scel-en, in all of which it is of course
sounded,
9. The final -es in srhowrcs, croppes, fotnles, halwes, strondes,
londes, is sounded as the inflexion of the plural ; and
10. In schires as that of the possessive case.
11. VertuCj licour, nature, and corages are accented on the last
syllable of the root, as being French woids of comparatively recent
introduction into English. i
HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
37
10
15
Whan that | April | 16 with | his schow ; res swoot | 6
The drought | of Marche | hath per | ced to | the root | 6,
And bath | ed eve | ry veync 1 in swich | licour,
Of which I vertue I engen | dred is | the flour ;
Whan Ze | phirus | eke with | his swe | t6 breeth \6
Enspir | ed hath | in eve | ry holte | and heeth | 6
The ten | dre crop | pes, and | the yong | 6 sonn | 3
Hath in | the Ram | his hal | f6 cours | i-ron | nS,
And sraal | 6 fowl | es mak | en mel | odi-e
That sle \ pen al | the night | with o | pen eye,
So prik I eth Km | nature | in here i corag | es :—
Thanne long \ en folk | to gon | on pil | grimag | es.
And palm | ers for | to seek | en straung | 6 strond | es
To fer I ne hal | wes, kouthe | in son | dry lond | es ;
And spe | cially, | from eve | ry schi | res end 16
Of Eng I elond, \ to Caunv | erbury | they wend | 6,
The ho I ly Wis | ful mar | iJr for | to seek | 6,
That hem | hath hoi | pen whan | that they ( were seek | &
-5
4'^
THE OANTERBUKY TALE&
THE PEOLOGUE.
WiiAN that Aprillg with hia schowrSs swootS
The drou^t of Marchc hath perced to the rootfi,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertue engendred is the flour ; —
Whan Zephirus eek with his swetS breethS 6
Enspired hath in every holte and heethS
The tendre croppgs, and the yongg sonng
Hath in the Earn his halfS coiirs i-ronn8,
1. Swootc. — Swot and swet (line 5) are the old forms of sjceet; the
final e is here the sign of the plural, in line 5 of the definite.
2. Perced — pierced ; the pronunciation long outlasted the spelling.
Milton, L' Allegro, 137-8, makes pierce rime with verse.
3. Swich = such, from suu = so, and lie = like.
4. Vertue. — The Fr. equivalent of the Eng. might, power. Of, like the
Fr. de, means from or by. The sense is ** By which virtue or
power, viz. the sunshine and showers of spring, the flowers are
engendered or produced." Cf . old couplet :
" March winds and April showers
Bring forth May flowers."
Cf . : "Jesus knowing that virtiie had gone out of him," Mark
V. 30 nnd Luke vi. 19, Flour and flower are the same word ;
first the bloom of plants, next a product of sublimation (chemical
term), as flowers of sulphur, then any fine powder, as meal,
wheaten flour.
5. Eel: = also, Ger. anch. Sicete, see note, line 1.
6. Holte — Holt, a wood or plantation ; extant as a provincialism, and in
several local names, as Knockholt in Kent.
7. ronge sonne {yonge is the definite of yong). — Because he has as yet
run tlirough but one of the twelve signs of the zodiac.
8. Halfe cours. — " The Man of Lawes " in the prologue to his tale tells
us that it is the 18th of April : Chaucer in his Astrolabe always
refers to the signs, not the constellations, and in his first figure
places opposite the month of April the latter hatC of the Bam
I
PROLOGUE.
And smalS fowlgs maken melodie,
That slepen al the night with open eye,
So priketh hem nattire in here corkges : —
Thanne lougen folk to gon on pilgrimages,
And palmers for to seeken straungg strondCs,
To ferng halwes, kouthe in sondry lond& ;
10
9,10.
and the first half of the Bull. The former of these was now just
completed ; the sun had run that half of the Ram which falls in
April. I-ronne, i or y, the sign of the past, part., represents,
doubtless too in sound, the O.E. ge-, retained in German.
Maken and slejoen are plurals, so is smale.
11. Priketh = excites, urges, prompts.
11. Hem =■ them, obj, pi. ; here, poss. pi. = their; the fern. poss. now her,
is written by Chaucer Mr, hire (see descri^;ti#n of the Prioress,
p. 49). In A.S. hira = their (all genders), hire =: her.
11. Corage. — Heart, from Lat. cor, Fr. cceiir, heart. The meaning
courage is secondary to this.
12. To go)i — to goe)i = to go. Our perf. went is borrowed from another
verb, to wend (see line 16), obsolete except in the phrase "to wend
one's way." The Aryan root ga underlies nearly all the words
implying motion in Sanscrit, Teutonic, and even Greek. Some
derive the A.S. perf. e6de from the root i, found also in Latin
eo, ire, but this is doubtful, for in 0. H. German they seem to
pass into one another.
Palmers. — A pilgrim was one who made a single or occasional
journey to a shrine without any special conditions ; a palmer,
so called from the staff of a palm-tree which he carried as evidence
of his having visited the Holy Land, professed poverty, and must
'' pass his whole life in cerpetual pilgrimages. Another badge of
the palmer was some scallop-shells, as seen in the arms of families
of the name of Palmer, presumed to have been gathered by him
on the "straunge strondes" or foreign shores that he had
visited. "Foreign" was the original meaning of strange, as still
of the Fr. Stranger.
13. For to 8eei;eH.— The gerundial obj., not the infin. One must under-
stand longen after palnrn's and icendeu before to f erne halioes.
14. Feme habves, kouthe — distant saints known. Fern or ferren, from the
adv. far, must be distinguished from foreign, Fr. forain. Low
Lat. foranexis, from L. foras, out of doors, abroad. A g has
been interpolated from a false analogy with reign = regnum.
Others would explain this as meaning oldeiif ancient, A..S.Jym,
13.
•'■I
wm
I ^
40 THE CANTERBURY TALES.
And specially, from every schirSs endS
Of EiiL!;eloiul, to Canturb?<ry they wendS,
The holy blisful martir for to seekS,
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seekS.
Byfel that, in that sesoun on a day,
In South werk at the Tabard aa I lay,
Redy to wenden on my i)ilgrimagg
To Caiinterb?«y with ful devout coragg,
At nisxht was come into that hostelna
Wei nyne and twenty in a compainye,
Of sondry folk, by aventdre i-fallg
In felaweschipe, and pilgrynis were thei allS,
111
20
25
I
Halices = holy ones, saints. All Hallows' is All Saints' day.
Kouthe, pi. of Aouth or couth, part, of cunnan, to know. Uncouth
is unknown, strange, thence awkward. Outlandish, once foreign,
has undergone the same change of moaning.
17. Ifolj/ hluful martir. — Thomas h Becket, called also St. Thomas of
Canterbury.
18. t^Wh. — PI. of seek, A.S. 5eoc = sick; in the previous line it is the
verb to seek.
19. Bjifd. — Verb impers,, it befell or chanced.
20. Tabard.— De^uQiS. by Speght, in his Glossary to Chaucer, as a
sleeveless jacket or coat, formerly worn by nobles in war, but
now by heralds only. On it were emblazoned their arms, whence
the expression " coat of arms." It was the sign of a well-known
inn in Southwark, to which adjoined the house of the Abbot of
Hyde, near Winchester.
20. Lay = resided. "When the court lay at Windsor." — Mary Wives
of Windsor, ii. 2.
23. Was. — Collective singular. We should now say trere.
23. Hostelne. — O.Fr. hostel ferie, Mod. Fr. hStellene, lengthened from
hostel, hdtel, Eng. hotel. Our word host comes through tiie French
from L. hospes, a guest, a host. Ostler, now the man in charge
of the stables, is really ho.'.*ellier, or the keeper of the inn. Host,
an army, is from L. hostis, enemy ; and the host or consecrated
elements in the Roman Catholic Church from L. hostia, a sacrifice,
first for victory over an enemy, then any sacrifice.
25. AventHre. — Fr. ; in Mod. E. adventure. Chaucer accentuates French
words on the last syllable.
25. I-falle — i-fallen — fallen, i.e. by adventure or chance.
PROLOGUE.
Tliat towaid Caunterbury wolden ryd<5.
The chanibres and the stables weren wydS,
And wel we weren esed attfi bestS.
And schortly, whan the sonn6 was to restS,
So hadde I spoken with hem everychon,
That I was of here fehiweschipe anon,
And made forward erly for to rys6,
To take our wey ther a,^ I yow devys(5.
But natheles, whiles I have tyme and spacS,
Or that I forther in this talS pacS,
Me thinketli it acordaunt to resoun,
To telk ?/ow all6 the condicioun
Of eche of hem, so as it semede me,
And whiche they weren, and of what degr6;
And eek in what array that they were innS:
And at a knight than wol I first bygynnS.
41
:o
35
40
27. Wolden — would, past tense of trill, which liad not lost its primary
signification of to wish, L. vvlo.
28. Weren = were. A.S. wa-ivn.
29. Esed atte hestc = entertained in the best manner. Easement is still
used as a law term for accommodation.
30. To resfe — at rest. To is used in the western counties and in the
U. States for at, as zii, in German.
31. Everjichoii ~ ever each one, every one.
32. A noil — immediately, probably o)i an (instant).
34. Ther as I yow dr.vi/se = where I tell you of. Devise was to describe,
as advise to inform. Cf. trade term an advice. , ,
35. Nalheless. — Not the les.s, nevertheless.
35. Whiles, from ?('/it7e=:timt ; tvhilcs = tchilst, a gcnit.'vc form.
36. I forther in this tale pace — I pass further in this tale.
37. Afe thinketh. — Same as " It semede me," in line 39 : the vie is the
dative case after the impers. verb it thinketh. In A.S. and O.E.
thencan = to think, and thyncan — to seem. The Germans keep
up the distinction, ich denle, es diinl't mir.
Acordaunt — according. The Eng. ending -hu] had not yet
replaced the Fr. -ant.
41. huie, the adverb ; in, the prep.
42. Wol. — Not found in the oldest Eng. or A.S.; a qua^ regular
present suggested by the past wolde.
37.
it' *
mHc.
L---JUJUU
42 THE CANTERBURY TALES.
A Knight ther was, and that a worthy man,
That from the tymg that he first bigan
To ryden out, he lovede chyvalrye,
Troiithe and honotir, fredom and curteisie.
Fill worthi was he in his lordSs werrS,
And therto hadde he riden, noman ferrg,
As wel in Christendom as in hethenessfe,
And evere honoured for his worthiness^.
At Alisandre he was whan it was wonnS.
Ful oftS tyme he hadde the bord bygonnS
45
50
43. Kni<jld. — The primary idea conveyed Vy this word is that of a per-
sonal attendant of any kind. In A.S. a disciple is leorniuff vniht,
but in 0. H. Ger. of the 8th and 9th centuries kneht is used with-
out any qualifying words for servant, soldier, or disciple. Next
it became restricted to the armed and mounted attendants on a
king or noble, and those who before the rise of regular cavalry
had received from the king or prince the right to fight on horse-
back. The corresponding Fr. chevalier. It. cavaliero, Sp. cahallero,
and German rilter, all imply the act of riding. In German the
knecht in like manner at one time connoted horsemanship, but
has been degraded to mean a stableman, or colloquially a mean
fellow.
45. Chyvalrye. — Chivalry, the rules and duties of knighthood. Fr.
cheval. Low L. cahallus = a horsc.
40. Mr. Earlo considers these to be two pairs of synomyms, one Saxon
and one French, illustrating the fact that we often find a Saxon
ai;d a French word for the same thing existing side by side in
Middle English. This I doubt, for courtesio = the manners of
courts, can hardly be defined as " fredom."
47. Werre = wars.
48. Ferre = comp. offer = far. No man further.
40. Hethenesse = heathendom. He had, like many other knights of that
age, served, when his own country was at peace, under several
foreign princes as a volunteer or free-lance.
51. Alexandria was taken by Pierre de Lusignan, King of Cyprus, in
1365.
52. He hadde tlie lord hygonne. — An obscure expression. Cotgrave
says " Gaigner le hault bout" = to win the highest prize, also
to take the highest place at table, so that h<»'d may be board
= table; or it may be Low Ger. boort or M.H.G. buhuH — joust,
touinament.
TROLOOUE.
43
Abovei: allC naciouiis in Pruce.
In Lettowe hadde he reysed and in RucS,
No Glisten man so ofte of his de^jio. 65
In Gernade atte siege hadde he be
Of Algesir, and ridcn in Belmarie.
At Lieys was he, and at Satalie,
Wlian they were woune; and in the Greets see
At many a noble arive hadde he be. 60
At mortal batuilles hadde he ben fiftene,
And foughten for oure feith at Tramassene
|i
53,54. — Prvcc, Ldioiv, and A' »ce = Prussia, Lithuania ^Gor. Leftau),
and Russia. Our knight had served in these countries with the
Teutonic knights who were engaged in constant hostiUties witu
their Pagan and Mohammedan neighbours. They had compelled
the Pagan Slavs of Russia to embrace Christianity in the pre-
ceding century, but the Lithuanians were still heathen, and
though the Russian people had received Christianity at an early
period, their country was overrun by Tatars, and they were
struggling against the authority of the successors of Zinghis
^.f. Khan. "
64. Reysed. — A. S. rcesan, to rush or make inroads into a country. Cf.
our word race. The Germans use reisen = to travel.
56, kc. — Ahjeziras was taken from the Moorish King of Granada
(Gernade) by Alphonso XI. of Castile in 1342, though Granada
itself was not reduced till 1492. Lieys in Armenia and Satalie
( Attalia) were taken from the Turks by Pierre de Lusignan, King
' of Cyprus, in 1367 and 1352 respectively.
59. The Greete see. — The Great Sea, the name frequently used in the
0. T. for the Levant or eastern portion of the Mediterranean, to
distinguish it from the Red Sea and the lakes of Palestine.
It is used in the same sense by Sir J. Mandeville,
60. Arive = arrival or disembarkation.
61. Mortal = deadly. We still say mortal strife in poetiy or rhetorical
language. Cf. Parad. Lost, line 1, 2:
"The fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose 7norto2 taste
Brought death, &c.
Our present usage is a return to the classical meaning of tho
word.
■•SJ
m
44
THE CANTERBURY TALES,
In lystgs thrifts, and ay slayn his foo.
This ilkS worthi knight hadde ben also
SomtymcJ with tlie lord of Palatye,
Ageyn another hethen in Turkye :
And evermore he hadde a sovereyn prys.
And though that he was worthy he was wys,
And of his port as meke as is a maydS.
He never ^it no vileinye ne saydS
65
70
III
G3. Ljslcs. — Proiicrly tlio inclosure for tournaments, &c. , like our modei-n
ring ; then, as here, any single combat.
04. //yle = same; A.S. yh. Cf. Scot, "of that ilk;" as, "Sir James
Grant of that ilk," that is, of Grant.
C5. Palatye (Palathia) in Anatolia, a lordship held by the Christian
knights after the Turkish conquest.
66. Ageyn = against.
QQ. Uetken — any non-Christian, not necessarily an idolater. Heathen
from heath, and pagan from 2^<^ff^<'S, a village, were used to desig-
nate those who adhered to the ancient religions while Christianity
was as yet almost confined to the more intelligent inhabitants
of the town. The first instance of this use of the word payaii
occurs in an edict of the Emperor Valentinian, a.D. 368. The
earlier fathers employed Gentile in the same sense.
67. Sovereyn jyrys — highest renown. Sovereign, from Low Lat.
superamiSy from L. super, above; Sp. soverano, It. sovrano, O.Fr.
souveraiffn, Mod. Fr. sourerain. The g insinuated itself into
the older French word through a false analogy with rigne (L.
regmtm), a kingdom. Milton's familiarity with Italian led him
to write sovran, and why should not we drop the g as the French
have? Praise, prize, and price are all of the same origin, L.
preiitim, value.
68. Though that he was worthy, Woi'thy here means bold ; though bold,
he was prudent and gentle or unassuming.
70. Vileinye. — Any conduct unbecoming a gentleman. Villanu,% from
villa, a farm, was originally simply a serf, then by association of
ideas a rude, unniannerly, low-bred fellow, then a blackguard,
irrespectively of his social rank. Boor (Ger. hauer and Dutch
loer) has undergone the like change of meaning, and churl (A.S.
ceorl or carl)t a free tenant at will, a corresponding degrao
dfttion.
PROLOGUE.
45
In al his lyf, unto no maner wight.
He was a verray perfi^ gentil knight.
But for to tellg you of his aray,
His hors was good, but he ne was nou^ gay.
Of fustyan he wered a gepoun
Al bysraotergd with his haburgeoiin, ^
75
71. ^0 maner tciffkt =■ no manner of wight. This word (A.S. wiht), now
nearly obsolete, is a great loss to our language. It implied simply
. ; a human being, male or female. The Scotch have body as an equi-
valent ; we are compelled, except in the expressions any-, some-,
no-, and everybody, to substitute creature, person, individual,
or some other less appropriate Latin periphrase.
72. Veirajj perfight gentil knight. — Verray, O.F. vray, now wai = true,
truly. L. vems, true. (Ger. wahr. ) Perfight, now more correctly
perfect, L. perfccttis. In delight, L. delccto, we still retain the gh
from a false analogy with light. Gentile and gentle are each
derived from L. gens, a nation or family. The former, like the
Greek ta ethnea (the nations) was used to distinguish the nations of
the world from God's chosen people Israel, and later, heathens
from Christians. Hooker, Eccl. Pol. v. 2, speaks of "the false-
hood of oracles, whereupon all gentility was built." The latter
was applied in the age of chivalry to one whose family had been
noble or armigeri, i.e. entitled to bear certain devices o, their
arms, for several generations, four in England and Germany, three
in France, where the firet was annohli, the second noble, the third
tin gentilhomme, a title to which many a duke or marquis could
not lay claim. Our James I. told his n\irse that ho could make
- her son a lord but not a gentleman. Only gentlemen in this
sense were eligible for several knightly orders, as the Teutonic;
and the nile obtains still, in the case of some continental or at
least German orders. Next gentle, as in the text, implied the
possession of those moral and social qualities supposed to mark
a man of noble blood. It means far more than meek (line 69),
indeed it includes all that has been described in lines 68-71.
74. JVe. . . noxight. A double negation in O.E. does not constitute an
affinnative.
74. Gay refers to attire or dress, not to manners.
75. Ge'poffm.—r'Dim. of gipe, a short plaided coat.
76. Hahirgeoun. — Dim. of or synonymous with hatiberk, from O.G. hals,
neck or chest, and bergen, to cover ; a coat of chain-mail without
1 ■
46
THE CANTERBURY TALES.
For he was late yconie from his viagS,
And wentS for to doon his pilgrimagS.
With him ther was his sone, a ^ong Squyer,
A lovyere, and a lusty bacheler, 80
With lokkes crulle as they were leyd iu presaS.
Of twenty yeer he was of age I gessg.
Of his statiire he was of evene lengths,
And wondurly dely ver, and gret of strength^.
And he hadde ben soratyme in chivachie, 85
In Flaimdres, in Artoys, and Picardie,
sleeves, before the introduction of plate armour; it was long
enough to protect the abdomen and legs.
"Helm nor hauberks twisted mail. "—Gray's Bard.
76. Bysmotered. — Besmuttered or soiled with rust and blood.
77. Viage — voyage or travels. Voyage, as in French, was used of
travels by land as well as by sea down to the end of the seven-
teenth century. He had just come back from the wars, and had
vowed to go straight to the shrine to return thanks for his pre-
servation.
79. Squyer = esquire, O.F. escuyer, from Lat. scidiger, in classic Latin an
armour-bearer, in mediaeval language successively an armed
attendant on a prince or knight, a gentleman armed and mounted
at his own expense, and one entitled to armorial bearings. Es-
cuage was pecuniary composition for such personal service.
80. Lusty = merry.
80. Bacheler. — Few words have puzzled antiquarians and etymologists
more than this. Modern authorities derive the word ( Fr. hachelier,
0. Fr. bacheler) from Low L. baccalarius, the owner of a small
farm, a farm-servant. Knights Bachelors, the lowest and oldest of
the orders of knighthood ; and Bachelors in the universities are
the lowest order of graduates in the several faculties of arts, law,
medicine, divinity, &c. The academic term is always written
Baccalaureus, as if it had something to do with laurel wreaths.
Bachileria as an old law term signified freemen below the rank
of nobles. A bachelor is also an unmarried man.
81. Crulle = curled. Dutch krol, hrolle. The displacement of th' r is
common. E. bird in A.S. is h'id.
84. Delyver = lithesome, active. Fr. delivre, L. liber — free.
.85. Chivachie — Fr. chevauchie, a raid or expedition of cavalry {clieval, a
horse).
86. At Cressy, &c., under Edward IIL
PROLOGUE.
4?
And bom him wcl, as in so litel spacfi,
In hope to stonden in his lady gracS.
Embrowded was he, as it were a mede
Al ful of fressliC flourgs, white and reede. 90
Syngynge he was, or floytynge, al the day ;
He was as fressli as is the moneth of May.
Schort was his goiine, with sleevSs longe and wydS.
Wei cowde he sitte on hors "nd fairg rydS.
He cowdC songgs wel make and enditC, 95
Juste and eek daunce, and wel purtray and writS.
So hote he lovede, that by nightertale
He sleep nomore than dotli a nightyngale.
Curteys he was, lowly, and servysable,
And carf byforn his fader at the table. 100
A Yeman had he, and servauntz noMoo
At that tynig, for him lust ryd§ soo ;
87. Bom him wet. — Acquitted himself well.
88. Lady grace. — The old possessive fern, was e, not m; fady stands for
ladi/e. Cf. Lady Day.
89. Embrowded = embroidered, i.e. in his dress. •
91. Floytynge =■ fluting, or playing the flute.
95. Endite — recite or relate.
96. Juste and eek daunce = joust, or contend in a tournament, and also
dance.
96. Pttrtray = portray — draw or paint. He was as accomplished as he
was manly and strong.
97. Hote — hotly. E is the adverbial ending.
97. Nightertale = night-time. 2\ile has here its primary import of a
number or reckoning, viz. of the hours. So, too, to tell meant to
count. Cf. : " The tale of the bricks," Ex. v. 8 and 18. " We
spend our years as a tale that is told," Ps. xc. 9. " The shepherd
tells his tale," i.e. counts over his sheep. Milton, L' Allegro.
In modem Ger. zahl (number) and zdhlen (to number) retain
their original sense exclusively.
99. Servysable — willing to be of service, to make himself useful.
100. Carf= carved.
101. Yeman — a yeoman, an attendant above the rank of a menial
servant. It was used in a secondary sense of the middle class
of the rural population, and lastly to signify a small landholder
I
p
i
48 THE ca:^tbrbury tales.
And he was clad in coote and hood of giv lie.
A shef of pocok arwCs bright and kene
Under his belte he bar full thriftily. 105
Wei cowdc he dresse his takel yernanly ;
His arwCs drowpede nou^'t with fetheres lowe.
And in his bond he bar a mighty bowe.
A not-heed hadde he, with a broun visagS.
Of woode-craft cowde he wel al the usagC. 110
not a gentleman. Oivds, O.H.G., a young man or servant,
gwds ffijtoch, a strong brave man. Kremsier's Urteutache
Sprache.
102. Jii/de, for ryden = to ride. The inf. *' He had a yeoman, but no
more servants at that time, for it pleased him to ride so " (without
more escort).
103. He, i.e. tho yeoman.
104. Pocok arwes. — Arrows winged with peacock feathers. Ascham in
his Toxojihilns pronounces peacock feathers to be greatly inferior
to those of the goose for real use, thour a thought by some to be
more showy. Peacock is from Fr. 2^o,on, L. pavo, pavonis. It
has nothing to do with peas, any more than gooseberry, Fr.
gposeille, has with geese. These words illustrate the tendency
to press some meaning into the spelling of a foreign word.
105. Thriftily = carefully, sparingly. This good old word thrift is almost
obsolete, having been superseded by the cumbrous economy,
which really implies the whole of housekeeping. Cf. 'political
economy, of which retrenchment is but a small part.
106. Dresse = set in order, make straight, direct. Fr. dresser. It.
dirizzare, L. dirigere. The original idea of making straight is
retained in the military terms of " dressing the men," i.e. by
their heights, and *' dressing up " a rank or a part of it.
106. Takel. — Tackle, though now used only of ship's cordage and
pulleys, or of those of certain machines, originally meant any
implements whatever. Cf. gear, which, except in head-gear,
is almost exclusively a nautical term nowadays.
107. Nought = not. Ger. nicht.
109. Not-heed. — Cropped head. Cf. Roundheads. To not, according
to Bailey's Dictionary, 11th ed. 1745, was still used in Essmz
for to crop or shear.
110. Cowdet in its primary signification of he, knew.
i
PROLOQUa
4fl
Upon his arm he bar a gay bracer,
And by his side a sword and a bokcler,
And on tliat other sitle a gay dagg6ro,
Harneys^d wel, and scharp .as poynt of spere ;
A Cristofre on his brest of silver schcne.
An horn lie bar, the bawdrik was of grene;
A forster wfus he sothly, as I gessS.
Ther wiis also a Nonne, a Prioresse,
That of hire sniylyng was f ul symple and coy ;
Hire gi'etteste ooth ne was but by seynte Loy ;
And sche was cleped niadame Englentyne.
Fill wel sche sang the servisfi devyne,
Entun6d in hire nose ful semCly ;
And Frensch sche spak ful fairc and fetysly,
115
120
111. Bracer = a covering for the arm. Fr. t^-aa, the arm. Cf. bracelet,
dim. of same word. According to Ascham it was a sleeve of
leather without nails or buckles which with a shooting glove
formed a gauntlet, and served not only to protect the arm from
the bowstring, but presented a smooth surface for the string
to glide along.
112. Boleler. — Buckler. Fr. lonelier, akin to fmclle, a shield of leather
strengthened with an iron boss and plates.
114. Harney sed — harnessed = equipped, in reference here to the sheath
and belt.
115. Cnsiqfre. — A brooch with the effigy of St, Christopher, held as a
charm.
115. Schene — bright ; A.S. schu. Cf. shining. Ger. schmiy beautiful.
116. Bawdrik. — O.H.G. baldo-ich, deriv, of belt, a military belt, often
decked with jewels.
117. Forster. — Forester. Ger. forster,
117. Sothly = truly. Cf. forsooth, soothsayer, &c.
119. Coy = quiet. Fr. coi.
120. Zoy.— Probably Louis, a mild oath. See note on line 164.
123. Nose. — Speght would read voice, but nose is found in all the best
MSS.
123. Semely.—The three syllables to be distinctly sounded.
124. Fetysly, or fetously, \&ierfeatly. From O.Ft.faietu, neatly done,
prettily.
I
60
THE CANTERBURlf TALES.
After the scole of Stratford attS Bow6, 125
For Erensch of Parya was to hire uuknowS.
At mots wel i-taught was sche withall6 ;
Sche leet no morsel from hiie JippSs fallg,
Ne wette hire fyngres in hire sauc6 deepS.
Wel cowde sche can'e a morsel, and wel keepS, 130
That no dropg ne fil uppon liire brest.
In curtesie was set ful muclie hire lest.
Hire overlipp6 wyped sche so clenS,
That in hire capp6 was no ferthing senS
Of greecS, whan sche dronken hadde hire draughts. 135
Ful semSly after hire mete sche raughte.
And sikerly sche was of gret disjjort,
And ful plesaunt, and amyable of port,
And peyned hire to counterfetS cheere
Of court, and ben estatlich of manere, 140
125. Scole. — School (in sense of style) of Stratford, i.e. Norman French ;
not unhke the old Law French.
127. At mete. — At meals. These simple directions for behaviour at table
are to be found in Caxton's Book of Curtesye^ The Babies Book,
and other medieval mpnuals.
129- Sauce = a saucer, a deep plate. For saiu-e as a made dish, see
note on 1. 625. iing-ers had not yet been suj erseded by forks
and spoons.
131. No drope ne jil — no drop fall. Double negative, as in French
and A.S.
182. Lest. — Pleasure. She aifoctod to be a woman of fashion and good
breeding.
133. Ovevlippe. — Upper lip,
134. Ferthing. — Literally a fourfch part. Cf. fdrihiuri (of a penny).
Hence the smallest frs^.f^^jueiit.
136. Mete = food of any kind; butxjher'a meat was until the seventeenth
century always termed flesh, as in our Bible, where also the
meat-oSenniir means one consisting usually of the fruits of the
earth.
136. Raxighie. — ^The old past tense of reche, to reach. Like tcachy taught.
137. Sikei'ly.—^xxreiy. Gor. sic/ierlich.
137. Disjmi. — A noun ; ^ e now use it only m a verb.
180. Peyned hire = she laboured or studied; a verb reOective; pain* and
jpaiu^ul loDg reouned the meaning of effort without any thought
PROLOGUE.
61
And to ben holden digne of revereucfi.
But for to speken of hire consciencS,
Sche was so charitable and so pitous,
Sche woldg weepe if that sche sawe a mous
Caught in a trappc, if it were deed or bleddS. 145
Of smalS houndSs liadde sche, that sche feddS
With rosted fleissh or mylk and wastel breed. ,
But sore wepte sche if oon of hem were deed,
Or if men sniot it with a yerdS smertS :
And al was conscience and tendrS hertS. 150
of suffering. Hooker, Ecchs. Pol. v. 19, speaks of the "painful
travels" of Biblical translators, i.e. careful labours.
139. Cli£ere. — O.Fr. ckiere. Countenance, aspect. Cf. "Be of gooJ
cheer."
140. Fitatlich, —Stately. See note on 1. 132. .
HI. Digue = worthy ; L. digmia. - , .
145. Deed - dead. ' «
146. Houndes. — Probably dogs not necessarily for hunting.
147. Wastel. — A cake. Fr. gdteau; the O.Fr. was gastel, in Picardy
vuastd; Anglo-Norman tcastel; not the usual food of dogs, unless
ladies' pets. The finest flour called bolted (or sifted) was made
■ into manchet bread, O.Fr. micheite, miche, L. mica; the un-
• bolted into chete or coarse wheaten, i.e. brown bread; while the
middle classes and servants used mescelin, or viasl in, a mixture
of wheaten and rye flour, and the oor a still coarser though
most nutritious meal of rye, oatmea), and lentils. Fancy breads
were also made under the names of paynepvjffe, march, or masS'
pane, &c.
149. Men smot. — Men, or O.E. me, stands, like the Ger. man, or Fr. on,
O.Fr. om, i.e. homme, for one; if m^n pi. were meant the verb
would be smote.
149. Yerde. — Originally a rod or stick of any kind; secondarily, a
measure ; so pole is used in either sense. Yard retains its primary
meaning in a ship's yards ; and pertica, the source of our perch, is
simply a pole or long staff in Latin and Italian.
149. Smerte. — I'robably the adverb smxirtly.
150. The context shows thit consdence here and in line 142 means
rathar feeling, sensibiiity, than the high moral sense implied by
the word now, ,
/ .
i '1
w
{
..- *^J»I
1*^.
f»2 THE CANTERBURY TALES.
Ful semSly hire wympel i-pynchM waB ; ;,-■
Hire nose tretys; hire eyen greye as glas;
Hire mouth ful smal, and therto softe and reed;
But sikerly sche hadde a f .r forheed.
It was almost a spanng brood, I trow8 ; 155
For hardily sche was not undergrowg.
Ful fetys was hire cloke, as I was waar.
Of smal coral aboute hire arme sche biiar
A peire of bedgs gauded al with grene ;
And theron heng a broch of gold ful schene, IGO
On which was first i-writen a crowned A,
And after Amor vincit omnia.
151. Wympel. — ^Wimple, a plaited white linen covering for the neck and
shoulders, worn mostly by elderly women and nuns. I-pynched,
drawn close.
Tretys. — A.N., long and well proportioned, probably connected
with the Fr. trait^ drawn out.
Harl. MS. reads streight, but tretys Ellesm. suits the verse
better.
Reed = red. The proper name Reed or Reid is the same. .
Fair. — Fine, not fair complexioncd.
156. Hardily. — Same as s'ler^?/ in line 154.
157. Waar = aware.
159. Bedes, — The original meaning of beads was prayer, A.S. Mddan,
to pray, Ger. beten, then the " beads " used as aids in counting
the paternosters and ave-marias to be repeated consecutively.
The "bidding pi'ayer" in the Church of England service, in
which the minister calls on the people to pray for the whole state
of Christ's church militant here on earth, owes its name to the
pre-reformation practice of the priest befoi'e beginning his
sermon calling on the people to pray silently for the king, pope,
&c., and to say a paternoster, an avc-maria, &c., on their beads.
Gauded al with grene. — The lai-ger beads were called gaudies,
because gauded or ornamented with gold, silver, or colours.
(Palsgrave.)
160. Broch or brooch was used not for a clasp-pin, but for any such
jewel or ornament ; here it scen\s to have been a kind of locket.
In 1845 a brooch in the form of an A, with the Norman French
inscription, "Jo fas amer, o doz de amer," apparently of the
fourteenth century, was found in a ^eld in Dorset.
152.
153,
154
PROLOGUE.
53
Another Nonnb with hire haddg Bche,
That was hire chapeleyn, and Prestes thre.
A Monk ther was, a fair for the maistrie,
An out-rydere, that loved venerye;
1()5
168, 164. These lines, which have given rise to many conjectures, have
been fully cleared up by Mr. Fumivall in a letter to the Academy
(May, 1880), by an appeal to a lady who had herself held the office
of secretary and chaplain to the lady abbess of a convent of
Benedictine nuns in England. She says, inter alia, that one of
her duties was to hold the crozier when on the great festivals the
abbess intoned the hymns and read the fiapitulums, lessons, and
prayers, her hands being occupied with her book. On the Con-
tinent the chaplain held the book, for in an old French ceremonial
of the Abbey of Montmartre, dated 1669, there is mention not
only of the "Chapeline" but also of the "Porte-Crosse."
" Vno des soeurs sera choisie par la mfere abbesse pour estro sa
chapeline. Sa place au choeur sera du cost^ droit, proche du
si^ge de la m^re abbesse, qui lors qu'elle sera obligee de chanter
quelque chose, la chapeline viendra h. sa cost6 droit afin de luy
** tenir le livre ; ce qu'elle fera encore aux processions et autres
cdr^monies." Further on in the same chapter is the office of
•• Porte-Crosse," — " une sceur qui viendra au cost6 gauche de la
mbre abbesse lorsqu'il faudra se serv'ir de la crosse," &c.
As to the presence of priests in a female society Mr. Fumivall
had shown that the Abbey of St. Mary's, Winchester, when
broken up at the Reformation had no less than five priests ; and
' the same Benedictine nun explains why several priests were
necessary. In the Benedictine abbey (for nuns) at Rheims,
there were "chajJcls in the church, each of course with an alttir,
and some of these chapels were eack to have daih/ mass. Now
a priest can say but one mass daily, therefore v^'here more than
one daily mass was required, more priests must necessarily be
kept."
As to the eqtiivocal *' St. Loy," the lady naively observes, " I
can only believe that ' St. Loy ' was an expression, no real name,
and thus ( !) no real oath."
165. A fair for the maistrie — one who bid fair to excel in his profession.
166. Out-rydere. — One who could ride cross country.
Venerye = himting ; Fr. vSnerief from Lat. vetuwif to hunt,
whence also our word veniaon.
I
m
4,:i
54
TUB oAJSTnnDunY tales.
I '
A manly man, to ben an abbot able.
Full many a deynte hors hadde he in stable :
And whan he rood, men might his bridel heerS
Gynglyng in a whistlyng wynd as cleerS, 170
And eek as lowdtf as doth the chapel bell6.
, Ther as this lord was kepere of the sellS
167. A sly hit at the worldly habits of the monks. Chaucer's description
of the friar is satirical and suggestive enough, and both in strong
contrast with the worthy parson or parish priest, satisfactory
proof that many a truly Christian minister lived in those dark
days though history has failed to record their good deeds.
170. Oynglyng — jingling. Fashionable riders hung small bells to their
bridles and harness. Wycliflfe, a contemporary of Chaucer,
denounces the worldliness of the clergy, their "fair hors (pi.)
and joly and gay sadeles and bridels ringing by the way."
172-176. The meaning of this passage is "At the cell where this lord
was the superior the rules of SS. Benedict and Maur were
observed; but since these rules were old and somewhat strict
he let them be regarded as obsolete, and followed the newer
fashions." a
Ther as = where that.
Selle. — A cell, originally the private chamber of each single
monk, was afterwards used to designate a religious house which
was not incorporated or itself possessed of endowments, but in
connection with and dependent on some larger monastery. Of
such a house this lord, as he is ironically called, was the superior,
not having as yet attained the rank of abbot, though probably
destined to be one before long.
St. Benet or Benedict of Nursia in Italy, bom A.D. 480, founded
the order of Benedictines, whose mode of life was severely ascetic.
Their rules were revised by Benedict of Aniana in Languedoc,
A.D. 817. In the middle ages they were the greatest conservators
of learning, and the first English monks were of this order, which
from the twelfth century became the wealthiest and most influ-
ential in Christendom.
#St. Matir, or Mauritius, a disciple of St. Benedict.
Pace =Ipass by : for " olde thinges pace " the Harl. MS. reads
•' forby hem pace,"/or6y meaning away.
Space. — Lansd. MS. j5ace= steps.
Olde thinges. — This is the reading of mo^t of the MSS., and I
have adopted it instead of that of the MS. Harl. fwhy hem,
which appears to give no clear sense.
tROLOGtJE.
65
176
180
The reule of aeynt Maure or of seiut Beneyt,
Bycause that it was old and somdel streyt|
Til is ilke monk leet oldS thingSs pacS,
And helde after the uewS world the spacS.
He ^af nat of that text a pulled hen,
That seith, that hunters been noon holy men;
Ne that a monk, whan he is reccheles
Is likned to a fissche that is waterles;
This is to seyn, a monk out of his cloystre.
But thilkS text held he not worth .an oystre.
And I seide his opinioun was good.
What schulde he studie, and make himaelven wood,
Uppon a book in cloystre alway to powrg, 185
Or swynkS with his handgs, and labourg,
As Austyn byt? How schal the world be served?
Lat Austyn have his swynk to him reserved.
177. Pulled. — Probably 'pylled~\ia\A, scabby, or moulting (as \l jf^dcd).
Text, an authoritative quotation; so the term scHpiure was
applied to the writings of saints, &c., as well as to the Bible.
178. ^oon r= none.
179-181 jReccAc/e« = reckless, careless. A.S. reccan, to think, regard.
All the oldest MSS. read reccheles, though Mr. T. Wright, on
the authority of one at (^"^^ahridge, proposes cloysterles. The
*' text," he observes, is taken from a Decretal of Gratian — " Sicut
piscis sine aqtid caret vitd, ita sine monastei'io monachus," though
Chaucer more probably found it in the life of Louis IX. by le
i^ieur de Joinville, who says, *' The Scriptures (sic) do say that a
monk cannot live out of his cloister without falling into deadly
sins, any more than a fish can live out of water without dying."
Had Chaucer, however, written cloysterles the explanation in
1. 181 would have been superfluous and redundant. Prof. Ten
Brink suggests resetles, i.e. without shelter; but, unsatisfactory
as reccfieles may be, all authority supports it.
183. Seide = said.
184. Wood.— A.S. icod, from wedan, to rage or be mad. Cf. Mod.
Ger. wutlien, to rave. In this sentiment he shows his disregard
of the traditions of his order. Wttd = mad, is still used in
Scotland.
186. Snf^ynhe — to toil.
187. Byt — bids. St. Augustine of Canterbury enjoined on his oleigy
a life of the utmost stiiotness and simplicity.
'■■' * :
66
tHE CANTftRBURT TALSS.
Therfore he was a pricasour aright ;
Greyhoundes he hadde as swifte as fowds in flight; 190
Of prikyng and of huntyng for the hare
Was al his hist, for no cost wolde he spare.
I saugh his slevSs purfiled atte houdS
With grys, and that the fynest of a lond2.
And for to festne his hood under his chynne 195
He hadde of gold y -wrought a curious pynne :
A love-knotte in the grettere ende ther was.
His heed was balled, and schon as euy gins,
And eek his face as he hadde ben anoynt.
He was a lord ful fat and in good poynt ; 200
His eyea steepe, and roily ng in his heed,
That stemede as a forneys of a leed ;
His booths souple, his hors in gret estate;
Now certeinly he was a fair prelate ;
He was not pale as a for-pyn^d goost. 206
A fat swan loved e he best of eny roost.
189. PiicasoHv — a hard rider, one who piicks or spurs his hoifio.
191. Of, i.e. in.
192. Lust — pleasure. — At no cost would he give up such pursuits.
193. Purjiled. — Fr. pourjiler, to embroider ; here it means trimmed. L,
Jilum = a thread.
Atte honde = at the hand (or cuff).
194. Cry*. — A costly (gray ?) fur. Fr.gns,gr&y.
198. His head was bald.
200. In good poynt. — Rendering of Fr. eml^onpoint.
201. Steepe. — Not steep, deep, sunken, but an old word meaning bright.
'* His twa ehnen semden steappre thene sterren," his two eyes
seemed brighter than st<ars.
202. Stemede as a forneys of a leed. — Shone or glowed as the furnace of
or under a cauldron. The O.E. steme was not restricted to the
steam of water. The old dictionary called the Proraptorium
Parvulorum defines L. fiamma as the ** steme of fyre."
203. It was the fashion to wear high boots of soft leather fitting closely
to the leg.
204. A prelate is an ecclesiastic who is set over {prelatus) or has juris-
diction over others ; a bishop or abbot. Cf. note on line 172.
205. For-pyned. — Tormented or wasted. For is intensitive. To, pine
meant pruuarily to suffer; "pinede under Ponce Pilate," Old
Creed. Thence to waste a<i7ay through pain.
PROLOGUE. 57
His palfray was as broun as is a berye.
A Frere tlier was, a wantoiin and a merye,
A lymytour, a f ul solenipnS man. , / *
In alle the ordres foure is noon that can 210
So moche of daliaunce and fair langage. *
He hadde i-niad many a fair mariage
r
207. Palfray — a horse for the road. Fr. palefroi^ from Low L,
paraveredus, from prefix •para, and veredus, from Lat. re/<o, to
carry or draw, and rheda, a four-whv-.jled carriage.
208. Wantoun. — Literally untrained, then lively, wild, &c. Wan is an
O.E. negative prefix like un. We meet successively in Middle
English the forms uiutoweii, Wanifmven, untouu, and wanton.
Cf. to tow = to draw, and draw := train. Wanhope = rfcspair,
wantruat = distrust, &c.
Merye = pleasant. Merry weather = fine weather.
Bishop Burnet, Hist, of Reformation, bk. iii. (p. 189 of 1st folio
ed.), says of the friars, "They were not so idle and lazy as the
monks, but went about and preached and heard confessions and
carryed about indulgences and many other pretty little things,
Agnus Dei's, rosaries, and pebles, &c., and they had the esteem
of the people wholly engrossed io themselves. They were also
more formidable to princes than the monks, because they were
poorer, and by consequence more hardy and bold. . . . They
likewise . . . were great preachers, so that many things
concurred to raise their esteem with the people very high, yet
great complaints lay against them, for they went more abroad
than the monks did, and were beUeved guilty of corrupting
families."
There were four orders of mendicant friars. 1. The Dominicans
or preaching friars, who settled at Oxford in 1221, and were known
as Black friars. 2. The Franciscans or Gray friars, founded by
Francis of Assisi in 1209, and appearing in England in 1224. 3.
The Carmelites or White friars, who first came here in 1240 ; and
4. The Augustin or Austin friars, introduced by Adewold, con-
fessor to Henry I., whose vow included not only poverty and
chastity but silence. Their superior in England was ex-officio an
alderman of the city of London.
209. Lymytour.— OnQ who had a limit or district assigned to him within
which he might beg alms.
210. Can, = knows.
211. Da^tattnoe.— Small talk, entertaining conversation. Akin to tfJ«8
I''
m
tS . THE CANTERBURr TALES.
Of yong8 wymmen, at his owuS cost.
Unto his ordre he Wiis a uoblf post.
Fill wel biloved and faraulier was he
With fraukeleyns over-al in his cuntr^,
And eek with worthi wommen of the toim :
For he hadde power of confessijun,
As seydS himself, more than a curat,
For of his ordre he was licenciat.
Ful sweetSly herde he confessioun,
And p'lesaunt was his absolucioun ;
He was an esy man to ^eve penauncS
Ther as he wiste to han a good pitauncS;
For unto a poure ordrg for to ^evS
Is signg that a mean is wel i-schrevg.
For if he ^af, he dorstg make avaunt,
He wistC that a man was repentaunt.
215
220
225
in sense of stories. O.E. dalyyn (Promp. Parv.), taleiiy line 772,
Swiss dalen, talen. This is the source of our tale, a story, quite
distinct from tale (of bricks, &c.), which is akin to the Ger.
zahl — number.
To dally is to gossip, not to delay.
214. Post = a pillar or support. Cf. Gal. ii. 9.
219. Curat. — A clergyman having "cure of souls." Fr. curi, an in-
cumbent, not as now an assistant minister. So in the Church of
Engl md service prayer is offered " for all bishops and curates,"
including under these two terms the whole ministry of a Pro-
testant Episcopal Chxirch.
220. Licenttat.—He had the pope's license to give absolution for all sins
and in every place, whereas the " curate " must refer graver
cases to his bishop.
224, Wherever he knew that he should have a good pittance. Pitaunce,
originally the extra allowance of food served out to the inmates
of a religious house on the greater festivals; then any allowance
of food ; and, lastly, a small allowance of anything, money, &c.
It seems to be connected with piety. It. pieta and pietama.
225-232. A satire on the hypocrisy or at least the convenience of buying
absolution worthy of Wycliffe himself. May not wpe. — May is
used in the original sense of has not the power to. Although it
8ns4rtB him sorely.
PROLOGUE.
For many a man so liard is of his hej tC,
He may not wey.e altliongh him aorC araerlo.
Tlierfore m steile of wepyng anil i)rayeres,
Men moot r/ive silver to the [)ouid freres.
His typet wn^ ay farsed ful of knyfca
And jjynnes, for to ^ivc faire wyfSs.
And certaynli he hadde a mery noote.
Wei coiithe he synge and pleyen on a rote.
Of yeddynges he bar utterly the prys.
His nekke whit was as the Hour-de-lys.
Therto he strong was as a champioun.
He knew the tavernes wel in every toun,
And everich hostiler and ta])pestcre,
Bet than a lazer, or a beggestcre,
69
230
235
240
233. Ti/pet was ay farsed. — His hood was always stuffed. The quasi-
hood worn by clergymen not being graduates, to distinguish
them from choristers or other surpliced laymen, is called in the
LVIII. Canon and the Rubrics a tippet. It was used by the friars
as a pouch or bag for the trinkets which they sold, combining
the trade of pedlar with the practice of begging, and doubtless
finding it the more lucrative of the two. Farsed — stuffed, Lat.
farcio, Fr. farcir, to stuff, to cram, now used chiefly in cookery.
234. Ellesmere MS. reads yonge wyfes.
236. Rote. — Some kind of musical instrument. O.E. to rote = to hum
a tune, to say or learn by rote in an automatic sing-song manner,
a far more significant expression than learning by heart.
237. Yeddynges. — A.S. gydd — a song, gyddian, to sing. Norse gidda =
to shake, whence our giddy. Cf. quaver and quiver. Yeddings
were properly ballads.
Bar utterly the ^yrys. — Carried off unquestionably the prize.
See note on line 67.
239. Champioun. — This word, though found in French, is Teutonic.
O.H.G. champhy M.H.G. kamj)f, A.S. camp, a contest; champ
is used in some parts of England.
241. Tappestere = a bannaid; the masc. vvus tapper. Originally -cr
was the masc. and -ster the fem. affix of agency. Thus hrexoeVy
hrexoster; webber (weaver), webster; spinster, a young unmarried
woman as being still employed at the spindle. In the fourteenth
century the distinction of sex began to be lost, and maltster,
huckster, songster, and baxter (a baker) were used of men.
Songstreu is a double feminine, so is tempttress; teamcr and
tm\
60
THE CANTEIIBUIIY ''ALES.
For unto swieh a worthi man as he
Acordede not, as by liis faculte,
To liaiie with sikS la/ai-s a(iueyntauncS.
It is not honeHt, it may not avauncg,
For to delen with no awich poraillC,
But al with riche and 8ellci"8 of viUiillS.
And over al, ther as profyt ^-Ijulde arisS,
Curtcys he was, and lowC of servysS.
Ther nas no man nowher so vertuous.
Ho was the bestS beggere in his hous,
For though a widewe liaddS nogt oo schoo,
So plesaunt was his In priucipio,
245
250
seamater being the proper forms. In youngster , gamester, &c.,
it implies contempt.
242. Bet t/uin = better than; better and hetest or lest were regularly formed
from bet, but when thiswas superseded hy good, bet was occasionally
used for the adv. better.
Laze)'. — A leper, from the parable of Dives and Lazarus. Cf.
lazaretto. ' ' .
Beggestere. — S'jo note on line 241.
242-245. It did not suit so worthy a man in respect of his ecclesiastical
position to have acquaintance with such-like lepers.
246. Honest = respectable.
Matf not avaunce == is not calculated to advance his interests.
247. Poraille = poor people, rabble. • .
249. 0»cr tt^ = generally. Ger. iiberall.
Ther as profyt schulde. — Where profit might.
252. After this line, the two following are added in the Hengwrt MS.
only: —
And yaf a certeyne ferme for the graunt.
Noon of his bretheren cam ther in his haunt
They are an evident interpolation.
253. Oo schoo = one shoe.
254. In principio. — Tyndale, after speaking of the priest's superstitious
practice of crossing himself, says, " And if he leave it undone he
thinketh it no small sin, and that God is highly displeased with
him, and if any misfortune chance, thinketh it is therefore, which
is also idolatry, and not God's word. . . . Such is the
limiter's saying of ' In principio erat verbum ' (In the beginning
was the word), from house to house." Tyndale, pp. 61, 62, in
bis Answer to Sir T. Mpre's Dialogue. Parker Soo*
PROLOGUE,
Yet wolde he have a ferthing or he wentfi. 256
His purchas wjis wel better than his rentC.
And rage he couthe as it were right a whelpC,
In lovC-dayes ther couthe he mochil helpC.
For ther he was not lik a cloysterer,
With thredbare cope, as is a poure scoler, 260
But lie was lik a maister or a pope.
Of double worsted e was his seiny-cope,
That rounded was as a belle out of pressC.
Somwhat he lipsede, for his wantounesst;,
To make his Englissch swete upon his tungC; 2G5
And in his harpyng, whan that he hadde auiigC,
His eygen twynkeled in his heed aright,
As don the sterri^s in the frosty night.
This worthi lymytour was cleped Huberd. ,
265. Ji'erthing. — Not necessarily a coin. It may be a trifling gift of any
kind. See note line 134.
256. His receipts by these means were much greater than his regular in-
come. A proverb or sentiment quoted from the Romance of the Rose.
" Mieux vault men pourchas que ma rente."
257. As it were right. — Lansd. and Corpus MSS. right as it were; Har'i.
and pleyen. as a wheljje.
258. Love-dayes. — Days fixed for settling disputes by arbitration without
having recourse to the law. The author of Piers Plowman's
Vision condemns them as hindering justice, and as pervei-ted
to the enrichment of the clergy. I well remember when staying
with the Protestant pastor of Sachsenhausen in the principality
of Waldeck, twenty years ago, the Friedrgerichi or court of peace,
which the old man used to hold in his library once a week, where
he thus settled disputes, but without fee or reward.
259. For ther — further, moreover.
260. Co])€. — An ecclesiasiical vestment, originally a cloak worn out of
doors in processions, but afterwards during mass and at other
functions. It was semicircular in shape, without sleeves, but
provided with a hood and fastened in front by a brooch or clasp.
After a time it was richly embroidered or even jewelled.
262. Semy-cope — a shorter cloak or cape.
263. Belle out o/presse. — A bell fresh from the mould.
264. Lipsede. — Lisped. Mark the changed order of the p and i. So
asl was once axe, bird, brid, &c.
/.*,i
l*ll
i
69 THE CANTERBURY TALES.
A Marchaunt was ther with a forked berd, 270
In raotteleye, and high on Iiorse he sat,
Uppou liis heed a Fiauiidriscli bevere hat;
His botCs elapsed fairc and fetysly.
His resons he spak ful solempngly,
Sownynge alway thencres of his wynnyngS. 276
He wolde the see were kept for eny thingS
BetwixS Middelburgh and OrSwellS.
Wei couthe he in eschaunnS scheeldSs sellfi.
This worthi man ful wel his wit bisettS;
Ther wistS no wight that he was in dettS, 280
270. Forked herd. — The usual fashion amotijj franklins and burghers.
The Anglo-Saxons wore their beards cut thus, not so the Nor-
mans.
271. Motteleye. — Motley. A garb affected by would-be gallants.
272. Flaundrisck— From Flanders, Flemish.
273. elapsed. — See note on lino 264.
274. Solempnely = solemnly. This word, the L. sollennis, derived
from the old Oscan sollis — all, every, and atinns, year, meant
first an anniversary, was then applied to any religious festival,
and in modern languages to anything grave and serious though
not exactly religious.
275. Soimynge = sounding. So Harl. EUesm. Heng. and Camb. MSS.,
but Corpus, Petworth, and Lansdowne read schewynge.
Thencres = the increase.
276. Ho wished that the sea were protected from piratos. *
For eny thinge = for fear of anything. It was for this that the
traders paid the dues of tonnage and poundage to the king.
277. Middelburgh. — A seaport of Walcheren in Flanders.
Orewelle. — Now the Orwell, the port of Harwich.
278. He knew well the rates of exchange, and how to make a profit on
his coin ia the various money markets.
Scheeldes. — The French icus, so called from having on one
side the figure of a shield; the corresponding English coin was
for like reason called a croion.
279. His wit hisette. — Employed his skill or knowledge. Wit (A.S.
wiian = to know) long retained this meaning. In the A.V.
we read of "witty inventions," Prov. viii. 12, of the Divine
wisdom. Hooker, Eccles. Pol. v. 57, 59, uses loit and tcitty of
ingenious but certainly not humorous interpretations of Scrip-
ture in reference to the sacramentb.
PROLOatTB.
So estatly was he of governauncS,
With his bargayns, and witli his chevysauncfi.
For sothc he was a wortlii man withallS,
But soth to sayn, I uot what men him callfi.
A Clerk ther was of Oxenford also, 285
That unto logik haddg longc i-go.
Al len6 was his hors as is a rake, ^^
And he wiis not right fat, I undertake;
But lokede holwe, and therto soberly.
Fu\ thredbare was his overeste courtepy, 290
281. So steadily did ho conduct his business.
282. Cfievi/saunce. — Arrangements for borrowing or contracts. O.Fr.
c/ievir, to settle a bargain; the word survives in Fr. acheveVf to
finish a matter, and in our achieve.
*?83. Sothe = truly.
'.84. Soth to sayn = to tell the truth,
^.85. Clerk, — A university man or man of learning; L. clei'icus, a name
early given to those engaged in the ministry of the Christian
church; from Gr. kleros, (1) a lot; (2) an allotment as of con-
quered land, a portion or share of an inheritance, probably be-
cause ministers are specially set apart for sacred duties. Bengel,
Gnomon N.T., traces the appropriation of the name by ministers
thus: ** kliroSf a lot, thence a portion of the church which it
devolves on the presbyter to feed, thence the pastoral office,
thence the pastors, thence other learned men. What an
extension and yet a degradation of the idea." By another
degradation of meaning clerk has come to signify, from a
scholar, one who can write, and now one who lives by writing
in an office. But clergymen of the Church of England are
officially styled clerks or clerks in orders ; the title Reverend
being merely a modern term of courtesy, generally assumed only
since the early part of the last century, but previously applied
to judges and othera.
Oxenford.— Oxiord. The name has really nothing to do with
oxen, but contains the old Keltic word for water, seen in the river
names Uak, Esk, and Ouse, and in Whiske^f^ a corruption of
Usqvehaugh, i.e, strong water.
286. Had long addicted himself to the study.
289. jyo/we.— Hollow.
Therto. — Also.
290. Ovei'Mfo = uppennoBt.
)
I
-H
4\i
64
THE CANTERBURY TALES.
For Le hadde geten him yit no benefice,
Ne was so worldly for to have office.
For him was levere have at his beddes heede
Twenty bookSs, i-clad in blak and reede,
Of Aristotel, and his philosophie,
Then robes riche, or fithel or gay saw trie.
But al be that he were a philos6phrg,
^et haddg he but litel gold in cofrg;
But al that he mighte of his frendSs hentS,
On bookSs and on lernyng he it spentS,
And busily gan for the soulSs preye
Of hem that ^af him wherwith to scoley.
295
300
Comiepj/.—Yrom Dutch /oj-f, short, and pije, cloak, the latter
word s'' irviving in our pea-jacket.
292. Office — fiecular calling, in contrast to benefice in tbi preceding line.
The professions of medicine and law were almost monopolized by
the clergy in the middle ages, as were secretaryships and offices
requiring scholarship. Chancellors and high justiciaries as well
as physicians were generally clerjry, though they were forbidden
to plead in the secular courts by Henry III. Cardinal Wolscy,
lord high-chancellor, and Thomas Linacre, first president of
the College of Physicians under Henry VIII., were the last of
these secular ecclesiastics.
293. Levere = more to his liking. Ger. lieJyer; comp. ** I had as leef."
294. So the Canib. MS., others read clad, leaving the verse defective.
296. Filhel. — A fiddle. L. ficUs, Mid. h.fidula or vitula^ whence our
word fiddle, and the Italian viola, &c.
Sawtrie. —Psaltery. A sort of ha"p.
299. Mighte ofhisfrendes hente. — This is the reading of most of the MSS.,
and appears to be the right one. The MS. Harl. reads, tiiight gelt
and hufrendes sende.
Hente. — Get, obtain.
301. Gan preye — began to pray; the inf.
302. To scoley — to study. Poor students at the universities here and
on the Continent used to beg for their maintenance. In an old
MS. poem in the Lansdowne Collection ive husbandman, com-
plaining of the impositions of the clci-gy amd other burdens,
adds —
" Than commeth clerkys of Oxford, and make tiieir mone,
To her scole-hire they most have money."
Luther himself begged when a student.
Tfl
PROLOGUE. 65
Of studfe tookc he most cure and moat heediJ.
Not oo word spak he niorS than was iieedd ;
And that wns seid in forme and reverence, 305
And schort and quyk, and ful of heye senteucS.
Sownynge in moral veitu was his spechS,
And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly techS.
A Sergeant of the LawE, war and wys.
That often haddS ben attS parvys, 310
Ther was also, ful riche of excellence.
Discret he was, and of gret reverencg :
He semed such, his wordSs weren so wisS,
Justice he Avas ful often in assisS,
By patente, and by pleyn con)niissioun; 315
For his science, and for his heih renoun,
Of fees and robSs had he many oon.
So giet a i)urcha.sour was nowher noon.
303. Care =care.
306. Hejie sentence = lofty sentiment.
370. Soicnjiuyc in .— tendijijy to. A different word from tliat in line 275.
309. Senjeant of the Luwe. — From the old Latin term serviens ad le(/em,
serving the king at law. There was formerly one such officer of
the crown in each county.
]i^ar — yftiry, tho -wiwe ill bewai'e. -
309. Camb, M8. reads, hot/ie war, Harl. and Heng. omit the.
310, Atte parvi/s. -At the cinu'ch porch of Old St. Paul's, where lawyers
mot for consultation.
314. Under the Saxon kings justice was administered in the shire and
the hundred motes or courts as well as by single hlafords (lords
or justices), nnd the Witenagemot combined higher judicial with
legislative functions. Aftei the Conquest the local judicial system
was retained, tlws local Courts Barcn succeeding to those of the
Hlafords, and the Aula Regia or king's court to the Witenage-
mot, but to relieve th<j utra'r. on the king's court Hepry I.
began the practice (^ <!.v-j/'iting the powers of that court to
justices in itiuere or in eyre {<m circuit), who were sont into tha
provinces as delegates 'if the Aula Regia, and empowered not
merely as the judges now to try btit to decide cases. Their
appointmertis, at first j»o tempore , rjecame afterwards for life.
316. Science = knowledge.
318. Purchasour — prosecutor. Fr. fmwfhaMtf, It. p'occcciare, to
chase, hunt after.
66 THE CANTERBURY TALES.
Al wius fee symple to him in effects,
His purchasyn«^ mightS nought ben enfecti?.
Nowher so besy a man as he th»" naa,
And yit he semede besier tlian he was.
In termSs hadde he caas and domes alio,
That fro the tyme of kyng William were fallS.
Therto he couthe endite, and make a thing,
' - Ther couthe no wiglit pynche at his writyng.
And every statute couthe he i)leyn by roote.
He rood but lioondy in a niedle coote.
Girt with a seynt of silk, with barres smaiu;
Of his array telle 1 no longer tale.
320
325
330
319. Fee symple in effecte. — Fee simple is said of lands and tenements
held by perpetual right. Ho means that his success in prosecu-
tion was practically certain.
320. En/ecte. — Suspected of corruption, literally tainted, infected.
323. Caas and domes. — Cases and dooms, i.e. precedents and decisions.
324. Werefalle — that had occurred, i.e. been tried since the time of
the Conqueror.
325. He excelled alike in pleading and in the conduct of business or
drawing out of deeds. Thi.n.;/ had formerly a more presentivo
force than now. In line 276 Earle conaaders " for eny thinge " to
mean at any cost, price, or conditions. In German hedingiimj
means stipulation, contract; in Denmark, Norway, and Iceland,
ting and thing are used of judicial and deliberative assemblies.
The Norwegian parliament is star ting, or the great thing ; and
our hustings was originally a house for public political meetings,
or such a meeting held in a house. Compare with this line
of Chaucer's Ps. xlv. 1, "My heart is inditing a good matter:
I speak of the things iohich I have made touching the king."
326. Pynche at ~ find fault with, cavil with.
327. Pleyn by roote. — See note on line *23(). There we have the literal,
here the figurative expression of which our " say by rote " is the
representative.
328. MedU. — A coat of mixed stuff and colour.
329. OiH with a seynt. — Girt with a belt. Fr. ceinct, L. cinctus, our
a»c<«re. •
Barres. — Ornaments of a girdle originally in the form of trans-
verse bars with holes for the tongue of the buckle, but after*
w#r<^ of various fanciful designs, as lion's hea<l, &c.
J'ROLOGUE.
C7
A Frankeleyn was in his compaiiye;
Whit was his berde, as is the dayCsye.
Of liis complexiouii he was sangwyn.
Wei loved he by the morwe a sop in wyn.
To lyven in delite was al his wone, 335
For he was Epicurus owne sone, ; •
That heeld opynyoun that pleyn delyt
Was verraily felicite perfyt. • "
Au househaldere, and that a gret, was he ; ' -
Seynt Julian he was in his countr6. 340
His breed, his ale, was alway after con; • •
A l^ettre envyned man was nowher noon.
Wrthoutfi bakg mete was nevere his hous,
Of lleissch and fissch, and that so plentyuous, /
Hit snewdd in his hous of mete and drynkS, 345
Of alls deyntees that men cowdg thynk^, . -
After the son dry sesouns of the ^/eer, ■
So chaunged he his mete and his soper. " ' ■
331. Frankeleyn. — A freehold landed proprietor, a descendant of those
Saxon thanes who, acquiescing in the Conqnest, were left in
possession of their lands, though with new feudal obligations.
334. By the m(yrice = early in the morning. Cf. our to-morrow, on the
morrow, with the German morgen, noun and adverb.
835. Delite = luxury. O.Fr. dclit, deleit, from L. deledare, to delight.
Tho gh has no right to a place in deligld.
Wone — pi sure. Ger. iconne.
S37 . Pleyn delyt. — Fu. . jr the height, of luxury. :
340. Sei/nt Julian. — The patron of hospitality.
341. Breed = bread.
After 00)1 = of one qiiality, i.e., whether his guests were high
or low.
342. Envyned (O.Fr. envinS) = stored with wine. -^
343. BaJre for haken, the old pp. of hJce.
345. Hit snewed. — It aboundad, to sttive or mioe is still used in this
sense in some parts of the c untry.
347. After =■ according to. ;
348. Mete and mper = food and drink. Supper, akin to sonp, fop, and
fipf 80 callod becacoe that meal was composed chiefly' of Hquids,
n
68 THE CANTBRBURT. TALES.
Ful many a fat partrich had he in raewS,
And many a brem and many a hice in stewS. 350
Woo was his cook, but-if his saucg were
Poynaunt and scharp, and redy al his gere.
His table dormant in his halle alway
Stood redy covered al the longg day.
At sessiouns ther was he lord and sire. 355
Fill oftg tyme he was knight of the schire.
An anlas and a gipser al of silk
Heng at his gerdel, whit as mornS mylk.
A schirreve hadde he ben, and a countour;
Was nowher such a worthi vavasour. 360
An Haberdasshere and a Carpenter,
A WEBBiT, a Deyere, and a Tapicer,
;
349. Metce. — Originally a place where hawks were kept while moulting;
then a coop where fowls were fattened ; and lastly, any place of
confinement or concealment.
350. Luce — a pike. Fr. luce, Lat. Inn'us, a pike.
Stewe. — A fishpond, an imporuint appendage to a house in Roman
Catholic times, when religion required abstinence from other
animal food on so many days in the year. The moats of castles
were often well stored with fish.
351. Woo. — Adj. woeful , but-if, unless. '
352. Poynaunt. — Piquant.
353. Table dormant. — The ''arly tables were merely boards on trestles :
tables dormant or permanently fixed to their legs were introduced
about this time, and standing in the hall were looked on as
evidences of oj>©n hf»«pitality.
855. Sessiouns. — The county court*.
357. Anlas or anla^x, a knife ; an>i gipser, a pouch usbd in hawking or
worn by gentlemen in ci\il attire.
359. Schirreve — shire reve, Bh<ri iff.
Countour -O T'*! comptonr, audit/>r of accounts or treasurer.
880. VavoMmr. — A subvassal, one who held, as did most of the old
English freeholders, under a tenant of the kin- A middle class
of landholder*.
861. Haberdamthert. -kdaaXetm small articles, hats, buttonsjsilks, &c. &c.
Probably from O.Fr. haberd'acf-etz, avoir d'acketer, to keep on sale.
8^ W«66e.— Webber,now weaver. Ger.tre^'^. Properly u«6«^er is the f em.
Tapicer. — A deaimr in rugs, &o. Fr. tapisy » carpet, from Ii.
kupeU, a carpet, tapes* ' y.
1
PROLOOUB. 6d
And theywere clothSd alle iu 00 ly ver6,
Of a solempne and gret fraternity.
Ful freissh and newe here gere apikM was; 366
Here knyf6s were i-chap^d nat with bras,
But al with silver wrought ful clene and wel,
Here gurdles and here pouches every del.
Wel semed eche of hem a fair bu ;, ^s,
To sitten in a ^eldehalle on the deys. 370
363. Lyveri — livery. The dress worn by servants and members of
guilds. It means anything, whether clothing or food, delivered
by a superior to his dependants. A man-servant's livery is not
his own, but lent to him by his master ; a livery stable is one
where the fodder is served out from a common store. A baron
was said to have livery of his manors and feudal holdings, that
is, to have them formally delivered to him by the king on his
making proof of age, legitimacy, &c.
Distinctive badges, called liveries, in the form of hats, scarves,
hoods, and so on, were adopted not only by the retainers but by
the entire faction and supporters of the turbulent barons in their
private quarrels, a practice forbidden by several statutes in the
reigns of Edward III., Richard II., and Henry IV., which per-
mitted their use only by bond fide servants and the members of
trade guilds, to one of which these citizens belonged. **A
solempne (see note on line 274) and gret fratetniti."
365. Here gere apiked teas. — Their dress, or rather their accoutrements as
one might say, were cleaned and polished. " Purgatns =■ pykyd
or jnirgyd frofiilihe and other thynges grevows." Prompt. Parvul.
366. I-chaped. — With chapes or pla^^s of metal; theirs were not brass
but silver, they were therefore not petty tradesmen or artisans,
to whom the use of the precious metals and jewels was forbidden.
368. Del = part or portion, Cf. dole,
370. To sit on a dais in a guildhall. — ^The etymology of the French dais
or deis is doubtful. It seems originally to have meant a canopy
over a state seat or table, then the seat or table itself, and lastly
the raljed platform on which the taUe stood. Cotgrave defines
" dais or daiz^ a cloth of estate, canopy or heaven, over the heads
of princes' thrones ; also the whole state or seat of estate ; " and
Matthew Paris, De VU. Abbat. St. Albani, says that the newly
elected abbot dined alone in the refectory, the prior dining at
the great table which we commonly call the dai$.
i
70
f tifi CANTiJRBURt TALES.
Everych man for the wisdom that he can, ' ' •
Was schaply for to ben an alderman.
• For catel haddS they inough and rentS,
And eek here wyf Ss wolde it wel assentS ;
And ellSs certeyn hadde thei ben to blamg. 375
It is fill fair for to be clept madamS^
And for to gon to vigilies byforS,
*•• And han a mantel riallyche i-borS.
A Cook thei haddS with hem for the nonSs, .
To boyllS chikn6s with the mary bonSs, 380
And poudre-marchaunt tart, and galyngale.
Wel cowde he knowe a dran^t of Jiondone ale.
/ He cowdS rostS, sethS, broille, and frie,
Maken mortreiix, and wel bakg a pye.
371. 2V<a< /<e crtJi,— That he kno'vs.
372. Sclmpl}!. — Shapely, fit morally or materially.
373. Catel and rente. — Property and income qualifying them for the
office. Chattels and cattle are from the O.Fr. chatel or catel,
movable property, and this from the Mid. L. catallum, captale
or {negotiuvi) capitale, whence also our capital. The L, captale
was later used of cattle.
377. On the eves of festivals, or vigils, the people used to meet in the
churchyard for drinking and revelry, accompanied by their wives,
the richer women having their best mantles carried by servants
as well for show as for protection, if needed, against the weather.
378. Riall>/che=roya\\y.
379. For the nones. — For the nonce, for that once. The n belongs to
the def. pronoun, of which it is an old dative sign.
380. Mar}! hones. — MaiTow-bones.
381. Poudre-7narcha^'nt tart—sx tart or acid flavouring powder.
Galyngale. — 'The aromatic and astring'^nt root of the Cypervs
longns, a kind of sedge found, though now rarely, in the south of
England. Tlie genus is abundantly represented in warmer climates.
382. London ale was at that time held in high esteem, as Burton is now.
The earliest mention of the latter that I have met is in Ray and
Willoughby's Itinerary.
884. Mortreux, mortrewes or mortress. So called from being pounded
in a mortar. Mortreux de chare, a kind of thick soup of which
the chief ingredients were fowl, fresh pork, bread crumbs, eggs,
and saffron ; and mortrewes of fysshe, containing the roe or milt
of fish, bread, pepper, and ale.
PROLOGUE. :71
But gret harm was it, as it thoughts me, 386
That ou his schyue a mormal hacldtS he ;
For blankmanger that made lie with the bestS.
A ScHiPMAN was ther, wonyng fer by west6;
For ought I woot, he was of Dertfimouthe.
He rood upon a rouncy, as he couthe, ^ 390
In a gowne of faldyng to the kne.
A dagger hangyng on a laas hadde he
Aboute his nekke under his arm adouu.
The hotte somer had maad his hew al broun;
And certeinly he was a good felawe. 395
Ful many a draught of wyn had he y-drawe
385. It ihoiighte vie. — Methought, it seemed to me.
386. Schyne = shin or skin,
Moi'vial^zmoi't vial, a deadly disease, a cancer, or more pro-
bably an ulcerated leg.
887. Blankmanger = blanc mange, white food, a compound of minced
chioken, eggs, flour, sugar, and milk, that he could make with (or
against) the best (of his fellow-cooks).
388. Wonyng. — Living or dwelling. A.S. wunianf Ger. wohiien, to
dwell. A loss to our language.
By ueste. — In the west, westward.
889. Dertemoiitfie. —To be pronounced Dartymouth, bo Derby is Darby,
390. Rouncy.— Yt. roncin, a heavy road or cart horse. As he couthe.— Ab
well as he could. With fewer conveniences of travelling, riding
was a more general accomplishment than it is now among lands-
men, but Chaucer cannot resist a joke at the expense of the
sailor.
391. Faldyng. — A coarse rough napped cloth ir.ade in Northern Europe.
392. Laas. — O.Fr. laz or lacqs (L. laqiieus), a Ukc or strap. Cf. anlas^
line 357.
394. Perhaps an allusion to the unusually hot summer of 1351.
Hew, now hue, originally meant form but afterwards was
• limited to colour.
395. Ooodfelaioe. — A jovial companion.
396-400. Many a cask of wine had he stolen by night from Bordeaux,
though not always without meeting resistance.
Chapman. — ^The merchant (Ger. kaufmann) to whom the wine
belonged. O.H.G. chaufan, M.H.G. kaiifen, O.N. kaupan, A.S.
J . ceapian — to buy or barter; chaffer, to make a bargain; chopf in
<(
chop and change ; " and cheap, axe all from the same root.
^
72 THE CANTERBURY TALES.
From Burdeux-ward, whil that the chapman sleep.
Of nycS conscience took he no keep.
If that he foughte, and hadde the heiher hand,
By water he sente hem hoom to every land.
But of his craft to reknd wel his tydSs,
His stremSs and his daungers him bisidSs,
His herbergh and his mone, his lodemeii.*g-^,
Ther was non such from HuUS to Cartag&
Hardy he was, and wys to undei'takS ;
With many a tempest hadde his herd ben schakS.
He knew wel alle the havenes, as thei were, -
From Gootlond to the cape of Fynystere,
400
405
401. There was none of his craft besHes him between Hull and
Cartagena in Spain who could so well reckon on, or was so well
. acquainted with the details of seamanship. The ki» before tydes
seems to refer to craft, in other words to mean ita, ■ *
403. Herbergh. — Harbour. The primary idea contained in this word
is that of accommodation, and it is only in English that it is used
of a port or haven for ships. In every other language it means
a lodging or inn for travellers. The It. albergo, Sp. alberp^ie,
and the O.Tr. herlcrge are from the Low L. herebergium; but this
has no origin from the classic language, and was like many
' other words borrowed from the German mercenaries in Rome,
or the Gothic conquerors of the later empire. Her is an army,
bergen is to shelter or hide. In Dr. Kremsier's UHeutsche
Spracke, kerebirga is defined as heerlager = a camp, and herberga
or alberga as inquartirung, gastvng = quarters or inn. Our
English verb to Juirbour retains the original sense of to afford
lodging. The French havre, from the same root as our haven,
is a different word. Havan in O.H.G. = a pot or vessel of any
kind.
Mone. — ^The moons as affecting the tides.
Lodemenage. — Art of steering or piloting his ship into port;
lode = to lead or guide, as in lodest&r the pole-star, and ^orfestone
the magnet. Lode manage occurs in statute 8 Geo. I. o. xiii.,
by which courts of lode manage are to be held at Dover for the
appointment of the CHnque Port pilots. Menage or managet
through the French from L. manus, a hand = handling.
i06. Berd = beard.
i08. Qootlond.—-3\it\BXid (j pronounced as y), or Gothland in Sweden,
chiof town GottenbUrg.
PROLOaUB.
And every cryk in Bretayne and in SpaynS ;
His barge y-cleped was the Maude.layng.
Ther was with us a Doctour of Phisik,
In al this world ne was ther non him lyk
To speke of phisik and of sur^erye;
For lie was grounded in astroiiomye.
He kepte his pacient wonderly wel
In hourSs by his magik naturel.
Wel cowde he fortunen the ascendant
Of his ymh,ges for his pacient.
He knew the cause of every maladye.
Were it of cold, or hoot, or moyste, or drye,
73
410
415
420
409. Cri/i:- Creek, harbour.
410. Jjar</c.—Vie should now say barqne or harl: for a soa-going ship,
and har(/e for a river boat of burden or state. The words are
the same.
413. Phisik — From Gr. phi/sis, nature, means properly the study of
the laws of nature; and of late wliat was during the ascendency of
' the Baconian philosophy known as natural philosophy has been
more correctly styled physics. The name of plyndan, however,
is deserving of being retained, implying as it does that he should
be a student of nature, a man of science in the widest sense.
Surgerye. — Formerly chinirgie (from Gr. cheir, a hand, and
ergon, work), the manual and mechanical part of the healing art.
414. Astronomye. — Or rather astrology, which in the dark ages consti-
tuted an important part of the popular medicine.
416-418 Magik naturel. — Chaucer alludes to this practice in his ffoute
of Fame, XL 169-180:—
"Ther saiigh I pleyen jugelours
And clerkes eek, which konne wel
AUe this magike iiuturel,
That c*raftely doon her ententes
To makon in oerteyn ascendentes
Ymages, iot thmgh which magike
To make a man ben hool or gyka."
417. Fcciunen is here a verb. Ascendent =; the sign of the socSao
under which one was bom.
420. The four humours or states, to one or other ot whidi all
•wen referred.
i:
fi
TUB CANTERBURY TALES.
And where engendred, and of what humour;
He Wcos a verrey parfi^/t practisoui.
The cause i-knowe, and of hia harnj the rootS,
Anon he <7af the syke man his bootS.
Ful redy liadde he his apoteckiies,
To sende him diaggCs, and liis letuh,ries,
For eche of hem made other for to wynnS ;
Here friendschipe nas not newS to begyunS.
Wei knew he the olde Esculapiiis,
And Deiscorides, and eeke Ilufus;
Old Ypocras, Haly, and Galien ;
Serapyon, Razis, and Avycen;
Averrois, Damascien, and Constantyn ;
Bernard, and Gatesden, and Gilbertyn.
425
430
424. Boote. — Remedy. Cf. : " what boots it?" i.e. wlwit advantageth it?
425. Apotecanes. — Apothecary, from Gr. apot/iHe a store ise, is liter-
ally a storekeeper^ though by custom applied only to a retailer of
drugs, in classic Greek pkarmako poles.
426. Dragyes. — Now spelled drugs. Cotgrave explains the French
dragee as dragge, a warm digestive powder used by persons of
weak stomachs after food, and hence comfits or aromatic pre-
serves taken at the end of a meal. Though the word is found in
all Romance languages, and is unknown in German, H. Tooko
. , derives it from A.S., &c., drtigan, to dry, as if it meant dried
herbs, roots, or juices, and adduces the phrase " A drug ia the
market," understanding it to mean something dried up and
spoilt.
Letuanes. — It. httuario, electuary, commonly derived from
electuSy as if made of choice or selected in,<.>:redients. Since the word
is now at least applied to medicines made in the form of a paste or
jam, Holland would propose as the etymology, Gr. ekleigma,
something to bo licked, thus making it equivalent to our lindtcs,
a thick medicated syrup.
427. The doctor and the apothecaries mutually recommended and helped
one another, a practice now expressly forbidden to members of
tha London College of Physicians.
429-4S 4. — ^The writers here mentioned were the chief medical authorities
iii the middle ages, with the exception of ^sculapius, the reputfed
founder and patron divinity of the medical art, though, according
" " "to Hoimer, he was simply tire ** blameless physician," whose ions
Machaon and Podalirius practised with the Grecian ixrmy before
FROLOaUB.
Of his diets mcsurable was he,
For it waa of no superfluity,
But of floret noriachiug and digestible.
His studie was but litel on the Bible.
7B
435
Troy. His dc ootuhuits formed ti <!.(ste of jiricstly pliysirinns
under the n;inie of AscIoi»ui(lu;, wh • trunsinitted the secrets of
their art orally. Chaucer is in error in supposinj^ that any
works attributed to him wore extant.
DioKcorich's, a physician and botanist, bom at Anazarba in
Cilicia in the first century of the Christian era. Ho wrote on
mafrrui medica^ taking nearly all his remedies from the vegetable
kint^dom.
JiiifiUy a celebrated anatomist who lived at Ephesus in the
reijj;n of Trajan, who discovered the cerebral nerves, and wrote
on the structure of the eye and kidney.
Hippocrates (Ypocra.s as ho was called by mcdiojval writers),
the most eminent, and deservedly so, of Greek physicians, born
at Cos, and died at Lari.ssa in Thessnly, B.C. 3(51, in his ninety-
ninth year. His works which are still extiuit show extraordinary
powers of observation and good sense.
A I'iceiDia or Ebu Sina, an Arabian physician and commentator
on Aristotle, lived in the eleventh century, as did his countrymen
Ual;i (Alhazen) the astronomer, and Serajn'on.
Ouleit, whose reputation was second only to that of Hippocrates,
was l»orn in F^ergamus, A.D. 131. After stuilying in J4(yi»t ho
practised first in his native city and then in Rome, but being
drivoj' hence by the jealousy of his less successful rivals retiu'ned
to ■ anms until recalled by special mandate of the Emperor
Ai.. 'iUS, to whose son Commodus he was appointed medical
attendant. Five folio volumes of his works are preserved, but
even that is but a small portion of his writings.
Hhd^t's or Allubecar Mohammed, born at Khorassan about
A.u. S.'iO, was chief of the hospital at Bagdad, an i the first to
give a distinct account of the smallpox which appeared in Egypt
in the reign of the Caliph Omar.
AveiToes or Aven Rosh, an Arabian philosopher and physician
of the twelfth century, wrote among other works a paraphrase
of Plato's Jtepubfic. His talents led to his appointment as
governor of Morocco by the Caliph Jacob Almanzor, but he
■uffered much persecution on account of supposed heretical
opinions.
John of OiuldesiUn, physician to Eilward III., tho f;rct Ei^giish*
II
■ 11
f[ 1
I •
76 THE CANTERBURY TALES.
In saiigwin and in ))ei'8 ho chul was al,
Lyndd witli tatFata and with sendal. 440
And ?/it he was but csy of dirtpencd ;
He keptd that he wan in pestilencO.
For gold in pliisik is a cordial;
Therfore he lovede gold in special.
A good WiF wjis ther of bysidC Bathe, 445
But sche was sonidel deef, and that was skathe.
Of cloth-makyng sche haddS such a haunt,
Sche passed lieni of Ypres and of Gaunt.
mail who hold the jiosition of royal physiciun. Hia work on
incdieino, entitled liosa A lujlira, is full of ubsiinlities, and shows
how low the art had sunk since it foil into tho hands of tlio
clergy.
IkrnarcHus Gordoninn^ professor of medicine at Montiicllior,
was also Chaucer's contemporary.
Constantms Afer, a native of Carthago, and afterwards a monk
of Monte Cassino, was one of the founders of tho celebrated
school at Salerno, tho first regular medical college in Eurojw.
Johannes Damascemis was an Arabian physician of tho ninth (?)
century, and Gilbcrtyn is supposed by Warton to be the famous
Gilbertus Angliciis.
439. Sangicin and ptrs. —UXooii red and peach (blossom) colour. Peachy
Fr. f)Schery It. pesca, L. malum ■perdcxim — Persian apple. (Pliny,
N. //. xii. 9.) t
440. Taffata.—k thin silk.
Sendal. — A rich thin silk (or according to Palsgrave a fine
linen) used for lining.
441. Esy ofdiapence. — Modci-ato in his expenditure.
442. Acquired d^nng the late pestilence of 1348-49.
445 Wif^ like the Gor. iceib, means a married woman. The word is
used rather in opposition to a maid than as correlative of husband.
Byside = near.
413 Somdel. — Some deal, somewhat.
Skaffie = misfortune. A.S. sceatiian, Goth. BkatJijan, Ger.
schadSn, to injure. We retain the word in scathing and unscathed.
The Germans use schade as we do pity, in *' What a pity I"
447. The west of England was early celebrated for its cloth, and still
retains a high reputation for the excellence of its broad cloths.
Haunt here means skill, practice.
448. Tpres and QaurU (Ghent). — ^The great seats of the Flemiah cloth
. works. •-
FROLOUUB.
17
In al tho parisHhe wyf iie wius iher uoon
That to the offrynj^ byforii hire Hchiihle goon, 450
And if ther ditle, certeyn so wrotli wjih sche,
Tliat sche was thannej out of alle charit6.
Hire keverchefs ful fynC wercn of grounds ;
I durstS swere they weyyedeii ten jioinidS
That on the Sonday were upon hire heed. 456
Hire hosen weren of fyn scarlet reetl,
Ful streyte y-teyed, and Hchoos ful nioyste and new6.
Bold wjvs hir face, and fair, and reed of hewC.
•J
450. Whun tho pariHhiuners on Relic Sunday wont to tho altar to kiss
the relics.
Schulde. — Might prcsumG to.
453. Keverchefs; anivi'e chef. — Korchiof, covt ing for the head, like tho
Sp. mantilla, an essential part of fcnalo attiroj-ond on tho decor-
ation of which much care was bestowed. From some illuminations
of tho period the head-gear scorns to have b* 'ju padded. In a
satire on the follies of the ladies of the Elizabethan age, entitled
T/ie Anatomy of Alnises, 1585, we read "They have also other
omaniontes besides those to furnishe fortho their ingenious
hcades, to the endo, as I think, that the clothe of golde, clothe of
silver, or els tinsell (for that is the worst wherewith their heads
are attired withall underneath their caules) may the better
appear and shew itselfo in tho bravest manor, so that a man
that seeth them (their heades glister and shine in such sorte)
would thinke them to have golden heades. . . . ITien have
thoy petticoates of the beste clothe than can be made. And
sometimes they have clothe neither, for that is thought too
base, but of scarlet, grogroino, taffatie, silke, and such like,
fringed about the skiites, with silke fringe of changeable colour.
But which is more vayne, of whatsoever their petticoates be, yet
must they havo kirtles (for so they call them) either of silke,
velvott, grograine, tafifatie, satten or scarlet, bordered with
garde" . lace fringes, and I cannot tell what besides. Their nether-
stockes in like maner are either of silke, ieamsey, worsted,
crowell, or, at least, of as fine yearne thread or clothe as is possible
to be haddo ; yea they are not ashamed to weare hoase all kinds
. , of changeable colours as green, red, white, russet, tawny, and
elswhat."
457. Moyste = supple leather.
i
■r
78
THE CANTBRBUBT TALES.
Sche was a worthy wommaii al hire lyfe,
Housbondgs attS chirche dore hadde sche fyfe, 460
Withouten other companye in youthS ;
But therof needeth non^ to speke as nouthg.
And thries hadde sche ben at Jerusalem ;
Sche hadde passed many a straungg streem ;
At KomS sche hadde ben, and at Boloyne, ' 465
In Galice at seynt J ame, and at Coloyne.
Sche cowdg moche of wandryug by the wey8.
Gat-tothed was sche, sothly for to sey8.
Uppon an amblere esely sche sat,
Y-wympled wel, and on hire heed an hat 470
As brood as is a bocler or a targg ;
A foot-mantel aboute hire hipSs largf^,
469. W<yrthy does not imply moral worth, but means of a jovial easy
disposition.
4G0. Marriages were celebrated at the church porch, as baptisms are
properly now, whence the newly married couple proceeded to
the altar, to communicate at the mass.
Fiffe husbands; suggeated by the story of the woman of
Samaria.
462. As nouthe = at present, noiUlve = now then.
464. Strannge streem = foreign river.
465. Bolo)/ne = Bologna, where was a famous image of the Virgin.
466. In Galice at seynt Jame. — At the shrine of St. James of CoiUpostella
in Galicia, whither the body of the apostle was believed to have
been carried in a ship without a rudder.
Coloyne. — Cologne or Koln, where the bones of the three wise
men, or, as *'.ie Roman Church calls them, the three kings, Caspar,
Melchior, and Balthazar, who came from the East to see the
infant Jesus, are believed to be preserved.
468. Oat-totlied. — This word has been variously spelled and explained
as gap-, cat-, gat- (goat-) toothed, &c. , and as meaning with spaces
between the teeth, prominent toothed or with the lower jaw
projecting, also lascivious. At . ny rate it refers to something con-
spicuous and unsightly in the arrangement of the teeth.
469. Amblere, — A quiet-going horse.
470. Y-wympled. — Having a wimpel or covering for the neck. O.G.
mrnpelen, to cover, Fr. guimple. [Gu in French indicates deriv-
ation from a Teutonic w, as war, ffuoxre.']
472. Foot-mantel. — Probably a riding petticoat. . . i
PROLOQUB.
79
And on hire feet a paire of sporiis scharpS.
Ill felaweschipe wel cowde sche lawghe and carpS.
Of remedyes of love sche knew parchauncC, 475
For of that art sche couthe the oldC dauncS.
A good man was ther of religioun,
And was a pourS Pers'^ttn of a tonn ;
But riche he was of holy thought and werk.
He was also a lerned man, a clerk 480
That Cristea gospel truly wold6 preche;
His parischens devoutly wolde he techS.
Benigne he wjis, and wonder uiligent,
And in adversite ful pncient ;
And such he was i-proved oftS siih&. 485
Ful loth were him to cursS for his tytli^s;
But rather wolde he geven out of dowtd,
Unto his pourg parisschens aboutg,
473. Spores = spurs.
474. Carpe now means to find fault with, but in old writers to jest or
chaff. It comes from a monkish use of the L, corpere ; like the
double meaning of our word tease, to tease wool, and to tease a
person.
475. Itemedyes of love. — Drugs and charms supposed to have the i)owcrof
exciting or damping the passion. Ovid wrote a book on tlie subject.
476. The olde dannce. — Tlie old game.
477. So in French, persons, male or female, belonging to the clergy or
monastic orders are called "Religious."
478. Persouu of a touih — a parish priest. Parson — L. persona ccdesiai
(person of the church). " Ho is called pai'son [persona) because
by his person the church, which is an invisible body, is repre-
sented." — Blachstonc, Jmpersonare — to institute to a living.
480. See for clerk note on line 285.
482. Pi.nschens. — Parishioners. Paiish, Fr. paroisse, L. parochia, G.
paroikm (from para near, and oikos, house), the district around
the house of the minister,
483. Wonder = wonderly, wonderfully.
486. Cithes — since. A.S. sith = time, pi. sitMn. Cf. Ger. zeU, = time,
and seit ~ since.
486. Loth is an adjective. It was odious to him to excommunicate such
as failed to pay the tithes.
487. Ou< (/cfotc^ = doubtless. - *
^mmm
80 THB CANTERBURY TALES
Of his offiynge, and eek of his substauncS.
He cowdc in litel thing lian suftisancS. 490
Wyd was his paiisch, and houses fer asonder,
But he ue laftC not for leyne he thonder,
In siknesse nor in nieschief to visito
The feiTest in his parissche, moche and htC,
Uppou his feet, and in his hond a stjif. 495
This noble ensajiipl, to his scheep he //af,
That ferat hc^ wroug^ite, and afterward he taughtS,
Out of the gos»>el he tho wordSs caughtC,
And this figiire he addede eek therto,
That if gohl ruat(5, wliat schulde yren doo? 500
For if a prest be foid, on whom we trusts,
No wonder is a lewed man to rustS ;
And schame it is if that a jnest take kepe,
A. [foulG] schepperd and a clene schepe ;
Wei oughte a prest ensamjtle for to give, 505
By his clennesse, how that his scheep schulde lyve.
489. Off'ri/iiffe.— Tho voluntary contributions of his parishioners.
tSuhstauuce. — Tho income of his hving.
490. He found sufficient for his simple wants in a snuill cm lupctonce.
492. Ne iafte not. Did not leave thtm or neglect to visit them.
493. Mcscldff. — Misfortune. There was an old word boncliief, correlative
to this.
494. Moche and lite — great and small.
495. Uppon /us feet. — Unlike the monk.
502. Leiced man. — A layman. Leird = fnj/ (A.S. lanced, from a verb
meaning to weaken), as Ofwsed to denial or ecclesiastical
{clericus, see on line 285), had not the secondary meaning of
immoral which it has acquired, in precisely the same way that
villain has been depfradod. Tlie word lay, L. laicus, Gr. laos =
the people, though synonymous with Icmd in old, and having
superseded it iu modern English, is of a quite distinct origin,
and is used by the meml^ers of each learned profession of the
Iteople outside.
603. Take /e/jc. Guard or take care.
604. St. Chrysostom said, " It is a great shame for priests when laymen
be found faith fuller and more righteous than they." See Bacon'rf
hivective against iSweariiia.
PROLOGUE.
81
He settC not his lienefice to liyrS,
And leet his scheep enconibieil in the myr§,
And ran to LondoLe, unto scyntC Ponies, '
To seeken him a chaunterie for soulcs, 510
Or with a bretherhedu to ben witldiolde;
But dweltc at houni, and keptu wel his folded, .
So that the wolf ne niatle it not niyscarye.
He was a schep[)eid and no mercen.arie;
And though he holy were, and vertuous, 515
He was to sinful man nought desi)itou3,
Ne of liis spechc dauugerous ne digne,
liUt in his teehing dkcret and benignS.
To drawe folk to heven by fairnesse.
By goofl ensnmple, was his busynessS : 520
507. Did not Icivc his [uirish in charge of a deputy whiio he went in
search of more lucrative enjploynient.
510. Clumnierle for sanies. — An endowment in cathedral and great
churches by which a jiriest was paid for sin^injjf masses for souls
according to the will of the founder. There were thij*ty-five
such at St. Paul's Cathedral, served by lifty-four priests. —
Diujdale.
511. Withholde. — P. part., maintained.
516. Despifons. — Scornful, contemptuous.
517. Dannjcrons ne r^/V/yH^.— Domineering nor digniticd or haughty;
for dmuifjer, sec Earle's PldMoyn of the Euyluh T<t}hn(f,^ 337;
/ also note on line 6(53 of this poem. In the Prologue to Melibeus,
Chaucer says —
" I wot yon telle a little thing hi prose,
That oughte like you, as I suppose,
Or elles certes ye be to dawMfl'eroM-*."
In the Merchant of Venice, iv. 1 —
" You stand within his danger, do you not?"
plainly means, " You are in his power."
Dann<jer$ or dangers in old records and statutes are equivalent
to scigneurial nghts, and secondarily escheats and forfeitures.
It must be derived from Doniimt.'i, as Dan in Dan Chaucer, &c.
Earle compares the almost synonymotis phrases, ** to be in an-
other's power" or *' at his nmxy."
619. By fairnesse f i.e. by leading a fair or good life. One MS. has
clenenesm.
(69) F
i
THE CANTERBURY TALES.
But it were eny persoiie obstinat, •
What so he were, of high or lowe estat.
Him wolde he sriybbC scharply for the nonCs.
A btttre preest I trowe ther nowher non is.
He waytede after no pompe iie reverencSj 625
Ne maked him a spiced conscienc8,
But CristSs lore, and his apostles twelvS,
He taught, and ferst he folwed it himselvC.
With him ther wiis a Ploughman, was his brother,
That hadde i-lad of dong ful many a fother.
A trewS swynkere and a good was hee,
Ly vynge in pees and par%t charitee.
Goil loved he best with al his hoolS hertS
At alls tym(5s, though him gamede or smertd.
530
t i
'I- .
622. What so = whatsoever, whoever.
623. Snyhbe ■=■ snub. A Norse and Frisian word meaning to cut shoit.
Cf. siiuh nose, and Prov. Eng. snoup, a blow on the head.
For the nones (two syllables). — Promptly, on the spot.
525. Wai/tede after. — Sought or looked for.
626. Spiced conscience. — Over-scrupuloup, pharisaical as we should say.
In a tract dated 1594 we read, "under pretence of spiced
holiness ;" and in Beaumont and F\etchoA-'s Mud Lover, ill.,
when Cloanihe offers a purse, the priestess says—
"Fie I no corruption ....
die. Take it, it is yours ;
Be not so sjnccd; it is K"od gold ;
And goodness is no gall to the conscience."
627. Lore = teaching. A.S. Idr, Ger. lehre.
629. This line illustrates the humble social origin of the secular clergy,
which enabled them to act as mediators between the peas-
antry to whom they belonged by ties of blood, and the proud
nobles over whom they in their spiritual character possessed
more or less power
630. Fother. — A cart-load. A. Snx. fother. The term fodder, like Ger.
fuder, is still used for a vv'eight of lead ; lbs, 19J, 21^, or 22^ in
different parts of England.
531. Stcynkere. — Labourer. See line 188.
6?4. Though him gamede or smerte. —Whether it gave him pleasure or
pain, i.e. whether his piety conduced to or conflicted wit!i Jil^
worldly interests.
63a-635.-Cf. Mark xii. 33.
tROLOQUE.
83
And thanne his neighSbour right as hiniaelvfi, 035
He woldfi thresshc, and theito dyke and delvS,
For Cristas sake, with every pourS wight,
Withouten hyre, if it laye in his might.
His tythSs payede he ful faire and wel,
Bothe of his owng swyuk and his catel, 540
In a tabard he rood upon a mere.
Ther was also a Reeve ami a Mellere, ♦
A Sompnour and a Pardouev ulso,
A Maunciple, and my self, thti were no mo.
The Mellere was a stout carl for the nongs, 545
Ful big he was of braun, and eek of boonSs ;
636. A nd t/ierto dyke and delve — and also make dykes or ditches and dig.
Dike is now used only in a special sense, having been ordinarily
superseded by the softened form ditch. To dig, originally to make
a dike or ditch, has taken the place of the more general word delve,
' which has almost become obsolete ; the noun ditcher, however,
is retained for a man whose special work is to make ditches,
537. Wight.— ^QQ on line 71.
540. Stoynk and catel. — In labour or service rendered, and in kind or
produce. Catel. — See on line 373.
541. Tabard. — A smock or short jacket. See on lino 20. Mere = a mare.
542. Reeve. — Steward or bailiff. A.S. gerefa, whence shire-reeve = sheriff,
•port-reeve, Itorough-reeve. Of. Ger. hurggraf, &c. This reeve was,
as the account of him proves, merely the bailiff or steward of some
nobleman. The connection between the Eng. reve and the German
graf has been questioned, but the forms grave, grefe, gerefe, and
reve, all occur in Dr. Kremsier's Old High German Dictionary,
and are explained as begleiter, grcf, i^'-^ses. Mellere = a miller.
543. Somjmour. — A summoner in the ecclesiastical courts, now called
appantar. The explanation of p in this word, as in the French
compter, to count, is to be found in their Latin originals, suhvwneo
and computo. In solnnpne, solemn, and ncwi^me, name, it has
been introduced through false analogy.
Pardoner — a seller of i'ldulgences. Indulgences were invented
in the eleventh century by Pope Urban II., as rewards to those
who went in person to the Holy Land; but they were afterwards
. sold for money, and the irade reached such a pitch of extrava-
gance and scandal as to rouse the indignation of Luther, and
thereby cnntiibuted in no small degree - > hasten the Reformation,
■644, MavMciple. — Caterer to a college. L. maveps, a contractor.
646. Varl. — A.S. ceorl, Icel. karl, Ger. kerl, a countryman, then a strong
84
THE CANTERBURY TALES.
That prevede wel, for overal ther he cam,
At wrastlynge he wolde bare alvvey the ram.
He was schort schuldrod, broode, a thikk'> knarrS,
Ther iias no dore that he nolde heve of harrfi, 650
Or breke it with a rennviifr witli Ins heed.
His beid as ouy sowe or fox was reed,
And thereto brood, as though it were a spade. ^
*Upou the cop right of his nose he hade
A werte, and thereon stood a tuft of heres, 555
Beede as the berstles of a souwCs eerea.
His nosS-thurl6s blake were and wydS.
A swerd and bocler baar he by his sidg.
hardy fellow, lastly degraded into citvrl, like the corresponding
term villaui. The proper name Charles, Ger, Carl or Karl, is the
same word.
546. Braiui. — Ongiually, as hero, pimply muscle, but row used only of a
, particular dish of pork ; the adjective hrawuy, however, retains
the primary meaning.
547. That prevede wel. — Literally, proved well, i.e. served him well.
Cf. L. multum valere, Fr. beaucotip valoir.
Overal ther. — Wherever. Overal, like the Ger. ulmrall ~ every-
where, ther — where. Literally, everwhere where he came.
548. The ram. — The usual, prize at wrestling-matches.
549. Knarre. — A thick-set fellow. O.E. ijuarr, a knot, retained in the
expression (jnarled, said of an oak or other tree.
650. llarre. — O.E. herre, A.S. hear, a hinge.
Nolde. — Past tense of the verb nyllan, the negative of
u'illan, as L. nolle, to bo unwilling, of velle, to be willing;
it is now obsolete. J. Wesley is perhaps the latest writer who has
used the phrase, '* whether he will or nill." The meaning of the
line is, "There was no door that he would not heave off its hinges.
551. Ren)ujng. — Running, at a run.
554. Coy).— Tip or top. Cf. Ger. kopf, head. Cvh nuts are the best, or
as we might say colloquially, " tiptop nuts." Coping of a wall, rap
on the head, cobs or large pitcoals, are kindred words. Rich and
powerful men are called by Udall " the rich cobs of this world."
556. Berstles — bristles, by a common transposing of the letters. In
German a brush is burst e.
hf>l. Nose-thurles. — Now corrupted into nosfrils. A.S. thirllan, to drill
or pierce; thirel, f^holo. JJrill, thrill, through, and even door, ar«
all from the same root.
PROLOGUE.
85
His mouth aa wyde was as a great forueys.
He was a jaiiglere, and a golyardeys, 560
And that was most of synne and harlotries.
Wei cowde he stelC corn, and tollen thries ;
And yet he had a thombe of gold pard6.
A whit cote and a blew hood wered he.
A baggSpipe wel cowde he blowe and sownC, 565
And therwithal he brought iis out of JowiiC.
A gentil Maunciplj? wjis ther of a temple,
Of which achktours mighteu take exemple
559. Forneys. — Mr. Earlo remarks that to Chaucor as a Kcntisli man
furnaces were familiar objects, for the ironstone which abounds
in the weald of Kent and Sussex was largely smelted, until the
substitution of coal for wood as fuel transferred the industry to
the Black Country and to Wales.
560. Jamjlere ~ a talker, babbler. An Old French word.
Golyardei/s.—A buffoon at rich men's tables. Etymology
unknown, unless from Golias, the assumed author of the
Apocalypm Golice and other pieces in burlesque Latin rime.
The authorship has been attributed to one Walter Map. It
was a popular jest-book of the twelfth century.
That, viz. his talk and jokes.
Stele. — Steal or appropriate part of the com intrusted to him to
grind, a practice common in the trade.
Tollen thnes. — Demand payment over again.
—An immense amount of ingenuity has been expended in endeav-
ours at explaining the proverb, "Every honest miller has a golden
thumb;" but, "After all, is not the old proverb satirical, infer-
ring that all millers who have not yoldcn thumbs are rogues — argal,
« as Shakespeare says, that all millers are rogues?" (Notes and
Quenes, May, 1869, p. 407. Dr. Morris). If not, the most plau-
sible notion involves an allusion to the advantage derived from a
highly cultivated sense of touch in judging of the qtiality of meal
by rubbing it between the fore finger and thumb, which latter
becoming broad and flattened, has suggested the name of millcr's-
thumb for a well-known fish whose head has that peculiju" form.
Pardi. — Fr. par iJieu, by God. Vet may imply that in spite
of his roguery he was most prosporous.
565. JJii(jf/r/npe. — We are accustomed to look on this instrument as
peculiarly Scottish, only because it has been retained longer by
that people than by others. The earliest mention of the bagpipe
in Scotland is an item for the pay of "Inglis pyparis" in the
561
562
563.-
80
THE CANTERUURY TALES.
For to be wys in byynge of vitjiilltJ.
For whether tliat he payde, or took by taillS, 670
Algate lie waytede so in his achate,
That he was ay biforn and in good state.
Now is not that of God a ful fair gracS,
That such a lewCd niann(5s wit schal pac6
The wisdom of an heep of lernede men? 676
Of maysft'es hadde moo than thries ten,
That were of lawe expert and curious ;
Of which ther were a doseyn in that hous,
Hi <
court of James TV. On a Orcck sculpture now at Rome, and of
groat antiquity, is a representation of a man playing on a genuine
bagpipe, and instruments made on the same principle u^o still
used in Calabria and Transylvania.
iSojPTic.— Sound, a different word from somien, to tend or con-
duce to, occurring in line 307.
667. A temple. —The Inns of Court, so called, were anciently the residence
of the Knights Templars. At the suppression of that order their
buildings were purchased by the professors of common law, and
divided into the Inner and Middle Temples, in relation to Essex
House, which, though not appropriated by the lawyers, was
long known as the Outer Temple. By the expression "a temple,"
he would seem to moan simply any one of the Inns of Court.
508. Achatonr. — A jmrchaser or caterer. Fr. acheter = to buy.
570. Took by laille. — Bought on credit or by tall;/, originally an account
scored in notches on a piece of wood, from Fr. tailler to cut,
whence also our word tailor, as Ger. schvcidev, from sc/niei'den, tocut.
^71. A l<fate = always. Gaie and wai/ are from Scandinavian and
German sources respectively, (/ata in Swedish and Icelandic
is way, path, or street. Suayafe (i.e. &o wpys), thus, is found in
O.L. Our word yait is another form.
Waytedeso in Ids achate. —Watched or attended to his purcha.ses.
j672. Ay hi/oni.—Ev(ii before (others).
573. Cf. Janjos i. 17.
,574. Lewed. — See on I. 602. Wit. —See on 1. 279. Pace — pass or surpass.
570. The members of the j'emple.
,577. Curious. — Careful, studious, from ciira — care. Also inquiring, and
in a depreciatory sense prying, inquisitive. All these uses are
found in Latin authors, and in English before the eighteenth
century. Since that time the last only has been retained, though
even it is obsolescent ; and th(} word has most absurdly come to
^signify unusual, remarkable, quaint, or strange.
pROLoaufi. 8?
Worthi to ben stiwardes of rente and lond
• Of any lord that is in Engelond, 680
To inaken liini lyve by his proprC good,
In honour detteles, but-if he were wood,
Or lyve as scarsly as him list desire ;
And able for to helpen al a schire
In any caas that niightS falle or happS; 685
. And yit this maunciple sette here aller cappS
'" The llEEvii was a sklendre colerik man,
His berd was schave as neigh as e\ei'c he can.
His heer was by his eres ful round i-achorn.
His top was docked lyk a preest biforn. 690
Ful longS wern his legg6s, and ful leng,
Al like a staff', ther was no calf y-senC.
Wei cowde he kepe a gerner and a bynnC ;
Ther was non auditor.r cowde on him v/ynnd.
Wei wiste he by the droughte, and by tlie reyn, 595
The yeeldyng of his seed, and of his greyn.
679. Stiwardes. — A steimrd, or stcdcicard, is a keeper {;ward.er) of tho
stedti or establishmont of his lord.
581. To enable him to hvo on his own private (proper) means.
682. Ba(-if he were u'ood. — Unless he were mad. Our word hut — he-otU,
like ex-cep(, excluding such a thing or proposition; it is therefore
not convertible with the Fr. 7uais = L. mayis, preferably, commonly
though erroneously considered as its equivalent ; the two words
corresponding only in a certain number of instances.
Wood. A.S. u'od, mad, Wnd is still used in Scotland.
583. Co-ordinate with line 5S1, not with ^'■but-if he icere wood," which is
parenthetical. JIi:)i. refers to the steward: thus if the lord would
only live as spaiingly as it pleased his steward to desire or advise
him.
684. Al a = a whole.
685. Caas. — Event or misfortune.
686. Here aller cappe — the caps of them (tho lawyers) all. To set a
mail's cap meant to outwit, overreach, or surjtosa him. He out-
did them all.
687. Reeve — a bailiff.
690. Docked in front (1)efore), like tho tonsure of a priest.
694, Aiiditow' =: accountant.
Oil him Wynne, — Outmatch him.
I!
68 THE CANTKRnURY TALES.
His lordSs scheep, his nret, and his dayerie,
His swyn, his hors, his sioor, and his pultrie,
Was holly in this reev2a governynge,
And by his covenaunt </af tlie rekenynge, 600
Syn that his lord was twenti yeer of ag<5 ;
Ther couthe nonian bringe him in an'eragO.
Ther naa ballif, ne herde, ne other hyne,
That he ne knew his sleight an<l his covyne ;
They were adrad of him, as of the dethC. 606
His wonyng was ful fair ujjon an hethd,
With grenC trees i-schadwed w.as his placC.
He cowd«5 beftrfi than his lord purchacfi.
Ful riche he was i-storCd prively,
His lord wel couthe he plesC subtilly, 610
To ^eve and lene him of his ownC good,
And have a thank, a cote, and eek an hood.
In youthe he lerned hadde a good meater ;
He w.'is a wel good wrighte, a carpenter.
This reevC sat upon a fnl good stot, 615
597. Neet — cattle. Dayerie (Old E. deye, a female servant) = dairy, the
woman's department in the ff ,rm.
598. Stoor. — Farm stock. O.Fr. esfcr, Mid. L. iiaurum.^ store.
599. i/o% = wholly.
602. Atreragu — arrears.
603. i/errfe = herdsman. The m jdern sense of a flock is the original
one. Ihjne = hind, farm-Ial)ourer.
604. Sleujht — craft, astuteness, icovn. Icel. slcvgr — sly. Covyne — deceit.
O.Fr. covin t from L. convenire, to come between or together.
605. Adrad. — In dread. As afeard — in fear of.
606. Wonyng. — Dwelling. Ger. wohnung. See line 388.
609. I-stored. — From stooi', see line 598.
611. Lene, &c. — Lend to him of his own thrift.
613. Mestet' =. trade. Fr. mUHer. Had learned his business well.
614. Wngkfe. — Wright was originally a workman of any kind. Cf.
wheel wfjF/if, cttxiwrighif \t\a.y ^crigkt. Akin to the verbal form
wrought.
615. Stot. — A stallion, or sometimes a young horse {Bailey's Dlctionari/y
1735). In German, however, sltite is a mare.
616. Pomely (jwmwc).— Same as dappled {apple)^ patched with colour
like an apple.
PROLOaUB.
89
Tliai was a poiuely gray, and hightS Scot.
A long Hiircote of pere uppon he haddC,
And by his side he bar a rusty bhiddS.
Of Nortlifolk was this reeve of which L tcllC,
Byside a toun hien callen BaUlt'HwellC. 620
Tukkoil he was, as is a frere, aboutr
And ever he rood the hyndreste of tlie routC.
A SoMPNOUR was ther with us in that place,
Tliat ha(hle a fyr-reed cherubynCs face,
For sawcCfleni he was, with eyghen narw8. 625
As hoot he was, and leccherous, as a sparwO,
617. Pen. — See note on line 439.
Uppon Becms bore to l>o mn i\ m an adverb : overall, outside.
620. liymie — near ; not living in the town but in the country near it.
621. Tidied almite. — Dressed up, from A.S. tucian, to clothe; L.K. tuck,
Ger. tuch, cloth.
622. Ilyndreste — hindmost. Cf. orereste, 1. 290.
Route.- An O.Fr. word, Gor. rotte, a crowd; not the Mod. Fr.
route^ road or course.
623. Sovijmmir. — See lino 543.
G2i. Fip'-reed cheruhynes fiwe. H, Stephens, Ajiol. Herod, i. cap. 30,
quot<>8 the same expression from a French epigram : " Nos grands
doctours au cheinibin visa^'o." Com p. "His face waa red as any
cherubyn:" Thynne (ob. 1611 a.d. ), IKbate between Pride and
Lowlines. Properly the singtilar is dumb, the plural cherubim.
625. Sdieceflem (or 8aw.\fleum). — liKv'mg a red pimpled face. Tyrwhitt in
his Olossary fdvca a quotation from the Bodl. MS. 2463 which ex-
plains the etymology of the word. " Unguentum contra nalsiim
fiegma, scabiem," &c. , that is, on ointment against the salt phlegm,
scab, &c. So Galen in Hippocrat. De Aliment. Comment . iii.
p. 227, plainly points to a skin disease produced by the exces-
sive use of salt food, so general among our forefathers. In
the Prompt. Parv. we have ilew and Jlewme as equivalents of
ilegma. Tyrwhitt quotes the term from an old French physic
book, and also from the old work A Thousand Notable Things,
**a sovereign ointment for san.<tefleme, and all kind of scabies."
It may be well to remind the student that our word savce is
derived through the French from the It. salsa, L. salsus, and
means originally salted or pickled articles of food, and satuage is
from the same,
i^arwe = narrow.
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'^;<«^'V^
1
O'^
no THE CANTERBURY TALES.
With skallgd browSs blake and pilSd berd;
Of his visag8 children weren aferd.
Ther nas quyksilver, litarge, ne bremstoon,
Boras, ceruce, ne oille of tartrS noon, - 630
•■ ' Ne oyngment that woldg clens^ and bytS, f
That him might helpen of his whelkSs whitS,
Ne of the knobbSs sittyng on his cheek^s.
Wei loved he garleek, oyiiouns, aud ek leekes,
And for to drinkS strong wyn reed as blood. 635
Thanne wolde he speke, and crye as he were wood.
And whan that he wel dronken hadde the wyn,
Than wolde he spekg no word but Latyn.
A fewS termSs hadde he, tuo or thre,
That he hadde lernM out of som decree; 640
No wonder is, he herde it al the day, " ■ ,, ■
And eek i/e knowen wel, how that a jay ^ * ^
627. Skallei. — Having the scall or scales, scurfy. Cf. vulg. *' scald
heaa."
Piled. — Bald or bare in patches. Noraepila, to pluck, thence
the Fr. pillr, to pillage. Cf. line 177, and note.
629. Quyksilver. — Quicksilver or mercury = living silver, so called from
its mobility.
Litarge^ or oxide of lead, 6r. lithargyros {lithos, a stone, and
argyrosy silver), silver-stone, from the presence in the ore of a
certain amount of silver.
J5j'ewis<oon.— Brimstone; formerly brynstan, a Scandinavian
word meaning burning-stone.
630. Boras, — Borax, or biborate df soda. From an Arabic word bourach.
Ceruce. — L. cerussa. White-lead or carbonate of lead.
Oille of tartre. — Probably cream of tartar, bitartrate of potash.
Tartar, a fanciful name given by the alchemists to the dregs of
anything, especially, and afterwards solely, to the crystalline
deposit of impure bitartrate of potash which, under the name of
argal or argol, is collected from the hogsheads in which wine has
been long kept.
All the ahove-mentioned substances {^e or haye been used in
ointments or cosmetics,
632. Whelkes. — Blotches, scabs,
^. W?(Jd,— See on line 583,
KJBHRH
PROLOGUE.
Can clepen Watte, as wel as can the popS.
But who so woldc in other thing him gropg,
Thanne hadde he spent al his philosophic,
Ay, Questio quid juris, wolde he crye, ,
IJe was a gen til harlot a^ d a kyndS;
A bettre felawe schulde men nowher fyndS.
91
645
C43. Can say Watte or Walter, as a parrot says Poll.
C44. Him grope. — " If any one knew how to try or test (his knowledge
of Latin) in other things (than the phrases he had got by rote).
Orope is to feel with the hands, akin to grip, grab, &c.
646. Questio quid juris? — This kind of question occurs frequently in
Ralph de Hengham. After having stated a case, he adds, quid
jtiris ? and then proceeds to give the answer to it.
647. Harlot. — Two very different derivations have been proposed for this
word, which is used by our older writers without limitation to either
sex. Morris, Kington Oliphant, and several modern dictionary
makers, would derive it from a Welsh word herlawd, meaning a
young person. Much more probable seems to me the derivation
given by the older authorities, Henshaw, Skinner, and Home
Tooke, and approved by Richardson and Angus, that it is simply
horelet, a diminutive of tvhore (wrongly spelled with a w, being
itself but the same as hire, as meretrix a merendo), and there-
fore identical with hireling, one of either sex hired for any pur-
pose.
Assuming the identity of harlot with hireling, it would indicate
first a menial or paid servant ; then a person of low birth, habits,
or tastes; lastly r female hii-cd for immoral purpces. In this
sense harlootes. In Tyndal's Bible, 1534, tak'^ ^iiO place of
Wycliflfe's hooris, 1380, in the parable of the prodigal son, Luke
XV. 30. Hireling and mercenary have in like manner come to
imply want of conscientiousness and selfishness in the person
who serves for pay.
On the class of mediteval society variously designated as ribalds,
harlots, and golyardeys Earle in his Philology of the English
Tongm, § 54, says, " One of the ways, and almost the only way,
in which a man of low birth who had no inclination to the religious
life of the monastery could rise into some sort of importance and
consideration was by entering the service of some powerful baron.
He lived in coarse abundance at the castle of his patron, and was
c re^dy to ^rf orm anv serviQQ of whatever nature. He waa f^
92
THE CANTERBURY TALES.
He woldS suffrS for a quart of wyn
A good feiawe to hau liis concubyii
A twelve moneth, and excuse him attS fullS :
And prively a fynch eek covvde he pull8.
And if he fond owher a good feiawe,
He woldo techg I'.mi to have non awe ;
In such caas of tae archtdeknes curs;
But-if a manni^s soule were in his purs;
For in his purs he scholde y-punyssched be.
"Purs is the ercSdeknSs helle," quod he.
But wel I woot he lyede right in dede ;
Of cursyng oghte ech gulty man him drede;
For curs wol slee right as assoillyng saveth ;
And iiho ware him. oi a si(/)ii/lcavit.
650
655
660
rollicking sort of a bravo oc swashbuckler. He was his patron's
parasite, bulldog-, and tool."
■' Wycliffe translates the sciirrilitas of the Vulgate by ^ar/o^rie,
: and Shakespeare in the same sense speaks of harlotry players.
Gentil and kyude. — That is, though a ' ' harlot " he was nota bully,
but a genial, jovial sort of fellow. Kind has but recently acquired
the sense of tender-hearted. It meant originally natural, as in
the Litany, '* (he kindly fruits of the earth ;" and in Sir Thomas
More's Life of King Richard III. we are told how he murdered
his two nephews in order that he might be accounted a " kindly
king " [!J, that is, the legitimate sovereign, being in their absence
the next in succession to the throne, the natural heir.
648. A bcttre fellawe. — A jollier companion, in a somewhat disparaging
sense.
652, Pulle a fynch (pluck a finch or pigeon) was a proverbial expression
for cheating a novice.
653. Ov)hcr. — Anywhere.
656. But-if — unless. The meaning of the passage is, he would teach
his companions not to stand in awe of the archdeacon's curse or
excommunication, since if he were not too much set on his money,
he might purchase exemption.
659-662. Chaucer himself does not look on excommunication as a joke,
but considers that the spiritual injury inflicted by it is as real
p» the blessing conferred in absolution,
661. A fsoillyvn. — Fr. asKoiller, L. ahsohere, absolution.
062. Mi^we him. — Warn him, bid him beware of. Significavit,—X yrrii
6
MOLOGDE.
05
In daimger he hadde at liis o\vii(^ giae
The yoiigfi gurles of the diociae,
And knew here counseil, and was al here reed. 665
A garland had he set upon his heed,
As gret as it were for au alg-stake ;
A bokeler had he maad him of a cake.
With liim ther rood a gentil Pardoner
Of Kouncival, his frend and his comper, 670
That stray t was comen from the court ef RomS.
Ful lowdd he sang, Come hider, lovg, to me.
This sompnour bar to him a stif burdoun.
Was nevere tronipe of half so gret a soun.
This pardoner hadde heer as yelwe as wex, 675
But smothe it heng, as doth a strike of flex ;
"Z>c excomnmnlcaln capirndo," which usually began " Significavit
nobis venerabilis fratei'," &c.
063. In dauiiger. — In his jurisdiction, or here rather in his power. See
1. 517.
At his otcne gise. — After his own fashion. Guixe is the same as
n'ise in Wkewise, oiXxevicise.
665. Al here reed. — The adviser of them all. Cf. Ger. rath, gehehnrath.
666. 667. A garland. — Pi'obably of ivy. An ivy bush was affixed to the
signboard (the ah-stalce) of taverns, for a picture of which see
Hotten's Booh of Signhoards. The proverb " Goo(i wine needs
no bush " means, no sign to recommend or call attention to it.
668. A burlesque fancy in keeping with his roistering jovial character.
670. Tyrwhitt has this note : " I can hardly think that Chaucer meant to
bring his pardoner from Iloncevaux 'a Navarre, and yet I cannot
find («iy place of that name in England. An hospital Beatae
MaritB de Rouncyvalle, in Charing, London, is mentioned in the
Monaat. tom. ii. p. 443 ; and there was a Runceval Hall in Oxford
(Stevens, vol. ii. p. 262). So that it was perhaps the name of
some fraternity."
His frend and his comper. — A sly Ixit at the character of the
pardoner.
672. Com£ hider, &c. — Probably the burden of some song.
673. Sang to him or accompanied him in a deep bass. Fr. bourdon, the
name of a deep organ -stop.
674. There was never a trumpet of so deep a sound as the sompnour's
voice.
676. Strike or hank of flax, as if stroked or spread out.
*♦.:
wmmmmimmmmmM
94 THE CANTERBURY TALES.
By unces hynge his lokkgs that he haddS,
And therwith he his schuldres overspraddS.
Ful thinne it lay, by culpons on and oon,
But hood, for jolitee, ne werede he noon, 680
For it was trussM up in his wal^t.
Him thought he rood al of the newg get,
Dischevel6, sauf his cappe, he rood al bare.
' ' Suche glaryng ey^ren hadde he as an hare.
A vernicle hadde he sowSd on his cappS. 686
His walet lay byforn him in his lappS, »
Bret ful of pardouns come from Rome al hoot.
A voy s he hadde as smale as eny goot.
677. Unces. — Uncia, in Latin, is the twelfth part of anything; an ounce
= one twelfth of a pound, an inch one-twelfth of a foot. Then
' unce in English, as uncia in Latin, was used for a small quantity.
Here it means probably tufts. b
679. Culpcns. — Shreds, bimdles. Fr. coupon, from couper, 0. Fr.
colper, to cut.
682. Him thought. — The old impors., retained only in methiiiks; the
pronoun is in the dative, and the meaning is, it seea.ed to him,
not he thought.
He rood. — He rode.
A I of the newe get. — All in the newest fashion.
683. Dischevele — . Fr. dechevelS, with the hair {cheveux, L. capilla) hanging
loose. Savfhis cappe. — Saving or except his cap, for he woi-e no
hood, as was explained in line 680.
685. Vet-nicle. — A veronicle or miniature copy of the likeness of our
Lord on a relic known as St. Veronica's handkerchief, preserved
in St. Peter's at Rome. The legend is that she was a holy woman
who follov/ed our Lord to Calvary wiping the sweat from his
brow with a napkin, on which a picture of his features afterwards
miraculously appeared. Facsimiles or copies of relics were sold or
given to pilgrims, who kept them as evidences of the various shrines
they had visited. See Piers Plowman (ed. Skeat), A. p. 67 : —
" A boUe and a bagge he bar by his syde ;
An hundred of ampulles on his hat seten,
Signes of Synay, and slielles of Galice,
And many a crouche on his cloke, and Keyes of Rome,
And the vemicle bifore, for men sbolde kuowe
And se bi hiae signes, whom he sought hadde."
687. J^ret Jul of pardouns — brimful of indulgences. A Norse word :
Sw. hritddfull, A.S. brerd, brim.
PROLOaUB.
95
No berd hadde he, ne never schoIdS havg,
As smothe it was as it were late i-scbavg;
690
X
But of his craft, fro Berwyk into Ware,
Ne was ther such another pardoner.
For in his male he hadde a pilwebeer,
Which that he saide, was ourC lady veyl: 695
He seide, he hadde a gobet of the seyl
That seynt Peter haddS, whan that he wentS
Uppon the see, till Jhesu Crist him hentS.
He hadde a croys of latoun ful of stongs,
And in a glas he haddg piggSs bongs. VOO
But with thise reliques, whanng that he fond
A pourg persoun d welly ng uppon lond, , '
Upon a day he gat him more moneye
Than that the persoun gat in monthgs tweye.
And thus with feyn^d flaterie and japes, 706
He made the persoun and the people his apes.
But trewgly to tellen attg laste,
He was in churche a noble ecclesiaste.
Wei cowde he rede a lessoun or a storye,
But altherbest he sang an ofFertorie ; 710
For wel he wystS, whan that song was song8,
He mcstg preche, and wel afFyle his tongg.
692. Benvyh into Ware, — If this be really what CLaucer wrote it is not
easy to understand why he did not name some town further
south.
694. Male. — O.Fr., malle, Mod. Fr., a bag or large package. Cf. maiU
coach or train. It has in English become so associated with the
postal service that we use the repetition mailAya^, as if mail
meant letters.
Pibcebeer. — A pillow-case. Cf. Dan. vaar, a cover.
696. Oohet. — Dim. of gob, a piece.
698. Hente. — Seized or took hold of. A.S. hanten,
699. Croys of latoun. — A cross of brass. Fr. laiton, brass.
702. Persoun = parson, not person.
705. Japei. — Tricks, impostures.
709. Storye. — From the lives of the saints or such like legends.
712. 4/^fe.— File or poUsh. Fr. affiler.
96 THE CANTERBURY TALES.
To wynnS silver, as he right wel cowdS :
Therfore he sang fill meriely and lowdg.
Now have I told you schortly in a clause 715
Thestat, tharray, the nombre, and eek the cause
Why that assembled was this coEipanye
In Southwerk at this gentil ostelrie,
That highte the Tabbard, faatg by the Bells. . .
But now is tymS to yow for to .ellS 720
How that we bare us in that ilk6 night, '
Whan we were in that ostelrie alight ;
And after wol I telle of oure viagS,
And al the remenaunt of oure pilgrimagS.
But fer^t I pray ^^ou of your curtesie, 725
That ye ne rette it nat my vileinye, >
Though that I speke al pleyn in this mature,
To tell8 you here "vordSs and here cheere ;
* . Ne though I speke hero wordSs proprely.
For this ye knowen al so wel as I, . 730
Who so schal telle a tale after a man,
He moot reherce, as neigh as evere he can, >
Everych a word, if it be in his chargg, •
Al speke he nevere so mdelychS and largS ;
Or ellgs he moot telle his tale untrewS, 735
Or feyuS thing, or fyndg wordSs new8.
713. Wynne = gain. Cowde. — Knew how to.
716. Thestat, tharray. — The estate, the array, i.e. the social position,
and the dress, &c., of each.
719. The Belle. — Thomas Wright says that he can find no mention of
such an inn in that place, though Stowe speaks of one near the
Tabard with the sign of the Bull.
721. How wo conducted ourselves in that same night. A.S. ylc, Scot. ilk.
722. Were alight = had alighted at. A.S. alihtan, to descend.
726. Ne rette. — The Ellesm. MS. has " narrette ;" rette or arette means to
ascribe, deem, impute. Icel. retta, to set right (from rettr — right),
in A.S. areiaii. It has Uo connection with arrest, Fr. arriter
(from L. restare), which means to cause to stop, in O.E. arresten.
The sense of this line is, ** that you do not asf^ribe it to my ill-
breeding or coarseness " — vildnye, as we should say vulgarity.
728. Here cheere. — Their expression or behaviour.
734, .4W.-»-Here as in 1. 744 = although. Zar<^e,— Same as hroodct 1. 739.
PROLOGUE.
97
He may not spare, although he were his brother;
He moot as wel sey oo word as another.
Crist spake himself ful broode in holy writ,
And wel y% woot no vileinye is it. 740
Eke Plato seith, who so that can him redS,
The wordSs mot be cosyn to the dedS.
Also I pray you to for^eve it me,
Al have I nat set folk in here degr6
Here in this tale, as that thei schuldS stondS ; 745
My wit is schorte, ye may wel understondg.
Greet cheerg made oure host us everichon.
And to the souper sette he us anon ;
And servede us with vitaille attS bestS.
Strong was the wyn, and wel to drynke us lestS. 750
A semely man our boost he was withall8
For to ban been a marschal in an hallS ;
A largS man was he with ey^en stepe,
A fairer burgeys was ther noon in Chepg :
739. Broode. — We still speak of a "broad joke," meaning one rather
coarse or vulgar.
741. Chaucer drew this saying of Plato from Boethius de Cons. Phil.
lib. iii. par. 12.
742. Cosyn, —Kindred, i.e. the words must correspond to the things
described.
Chaucer's purpose in writing these tales being to depict the
manners, morals, and character of every class in the middle
grades of society, and at the same time to expose the vices and
hold up to ridicule the impostures of the religious orders, he felt
himself constrained to give a plain and unvarnished description
without reticence or disguise, although he might by so doing
unavoidably lay himself open to the charge of coarseness and
even of obscenity.
744, 745. He has not concerned himself with questions of precedence,
or at least has attempted only an approximate order,
750. Wel u^ leste. — It pleased (lusted) us well to, &c,
752. Marschal in an kalle. — Steward in a college or hall. Marshal = Fr.
marechal, from L.L. mariscalcus, and that from 0. Ger. marah,
a horse, and scale (Mod. Ger. schalk), an attendant, is one of those
titles which have undergone the most diverse changes of meaning.
764. The wealthiest bui^sses or citizens of London Uved in Cheapside.
^ (69) G
98 THE CANTERBURY TALES,
Bold of his speche, and wya and well i-taught, 765
And of nianhedi:^ him lakkede riglit naught.
Eke therto he was right a mery man,
And after aoper play en he bygan,
And apak of myrthe amongt5s othre thingCs,
Whan that we haddS maad oure rekenyngCs ; 760
And saydS thus; "Lo, lordynges, trew<5ly
ye ben to me right welcome hertily :
For by my trouthe, if that I schal not lye,
I saugh no^t this ^eer so mery a companye
At oonSs in this herbergh as is now. 765
Fayn wold I don yow mirthS, wiste 1 how.
And of a mirthe I am right now bythought.
To doon 1/0X1 eese, aiid it schal costS nought.
" Ye goon to Caunturbury ; God i/ou speedS, •
The blisful martir quytS you youre meedS ! 770
And wel I woot, as ye gon by the weyS,
Ye schapen yow to talen and to pleyS; ■ » .
For trewSly comfort ne merthe is noon,
To rydS by the weye domb as a stoon;
And therfore wol I maken you disport, 775
As I seyde erst, and do you som confort.
And if yow liketh alle by oon assent
Now for to standen at my juggSment ;
761. Lordynges. — A dim. of lords. Not an uncommon term of civility,
when we should now say gentlemen.
765. Herbergh. — Inn. See line 403, and note.
766. Fayn. — Gladly. A.S. fuegan, O.E. fawen, to be glad.
Don yow mirthe. — Entertain you. Don, inf. of do — do-en.
770. Quyte you youre meede — give you your reward. Blisful martir, see
line 17. Med, mede, or meede — reward, is akin to Ger. mietfie,
and is seen in midvfife, a woman paid (for a certain duty).
Quyte, in requite and acquit, and in the expression "to get or
be qtiit of," is the L. quietus, quiet, at rest, thence free of (all
claims).
771. Ye gon. — You go, pres. plural.
772. Ye schapen yow. — You will purpose or prepare yourselves. A.S.
scapan, to create or form. Oesceap, creation. Cf . Ger. schSpfung,
creation. To taUn = to tell ♦^^'»»
^ROLOat;^.
09
And for to werken as I schal you sey8,
To morwS, whan ye riden by the wey8, 780
Now by my fader soulS that is deed,
But yQ be merye, I wol yeve myn heed.
Hold up youre houd witlioutS morS spechS."
Oure counseil was not longS for to secliS ;
Us thoughte it nas nat worth to make it wys, 785
And graunted hira withoutg more avys,
And bad him seie his verdite, as him lestS.
"Lordynges," quoth he, "now herkneth for the bestS;
But taketh it not, I pray you, in disdayn ;
This is the poynt, to speken schort and j)layn, 790
That ech of ;/ow to schortS with oure weiS,
In this viage, schal tellS talSs tweyfi.
To Caunturburi-ward, I mene it so.
And hom-ward he schal tellen other tao,
Of aventilres that whilom han bifallS. 795
And which of yow that bereth him best of allS,
That is to seyn, that telleth in this caas
Tales of best sentence and of most solas,
782. J5jt^ = unless, if you be not. ^ .
Heed = head = my sense or advice, not caution, as in the phrase
•* to give or take heed," although that may be originally from tho
same word. Cf . lieed in this line with hond in the next.
782. / wol yeve. — Harl. MS. only reads smytcth of.
783. Hond, so Harl. Ellesmere, and Corpus ; all others read hondes,
784. Seche = seek. Ger. sucJien.
786. To make it wys = to make it a matter of wisdom or seiious delib-
eration.
786. Grmmted. — Assented or yielded.
Avys = advice, consideration. O.Fr. advis, It. awiso, from L.
ad, to, and video, visum, to see.
787. Verdite. — Verdict, opinion. L, vcrum dictum,
788. 789. Herkneth, tahth. — Second pers. plu. »
791. To schorte — shorten.
7db. Whilom. — A. S. hwilum, from A.S. hwile = time. The um or om is an
adverbial termination or old case-ending, seen in seldom, and
O.B. /errwm, from afar. Whilom means, therefore, "once on a
time."
798. Sentejux. — L. sententiaf judgment, good sense.
loo THB CANl-EnBURt TALES.
Schal hail a boper at oure alther cost V '
Here in tliia plac^ tiittynge by this post, 800
Whau tliat we comen ageyn from Canturbury.
And for to maken ^ou the morC mery,
I wol myselven gladly with ?/ou rydS,
Bight at myn owSn cost, and be youre gydS.
And who so wole my juggCment witliseiS 805
Schal paye for al we spendeu by the weyS.
And if ye voiichSsauf that it be so,
Telle me aiioon, withouten wordt^s moo,
And I wole erely schapS me therfore."
This thing was graunted, and oure othcs swore 810
With ful glad herte, and prayden him also
That he wolde vonchSsauf for to doon so,
And that he woldS ben oure goveruour,
And of oure talSs jugge and reportour, ■
And sette a souper at a certeyn prys ; 815
And we wolde rewind be at his devys.
In heygh and lowe ; and thus by oon assent
We been accorded to his juggSment.
And therupon the wyn was f et anoon ;
We dronken, and to rests wente echoon, • 820
799. Oure alther cost = at the cost of us all. Oure and alt/ier are genitives
plur.
805. Withseie. — The prefix is not our prep, with, but ^D^th (of which
vnther was a comparative form), the A.S. prefix meaning against^
as in witlistand, vrithdraio. Cf. gainsay.
807. Vowhesauf. — Vouchsafe, grant. O.Fr. vouclier is not simply to
vouch for or attest, but rather to cite a matter in a lawsuit, to
call to one's aid. Vouchsafe too meant originally to promise or
grant secure possession, and was written as two words. "The
king oou^loes it safe" (Rob. Brunne).
810. Oure othes sicore. — We swore our oaths.
816. Devys. — Decision, direction.
817. In heygh and lowe. — Law Latin in or de alto et hasso, Fr. de haut
en bos, were expressions of entire submission on one side and
sovereignty on the other.
SIQ. Fet=z {etched. A.S.fettan,
820. Echoon. — Each one.
PROLOOUB.
101
Withouten eny lengere taryingS.
A morwfi v;haii the day bigan to spryngS,
Up roos oure host, and was our alther cok,
And gadered us togidre &\\e in a ilok,
And forth we riden a litel more than paas, 825
Unto the waterynge of seint Thomas :
And there oure host bigan his hors arestS, <
And seydS ; " Lordea, herkneth if i/ow lestS.
Ye woot youre forward, and I it ?/ou records.
If even-song and morwS-song acordg, 830
Lat se now who schal tellS ferst a tale.
As evere I moote drinkS wyn or ale,
Who so be rebel to my juggCment *
Schal paye for al that by the weye is spent.
Now uraweth cut, er that we ferrer twynnS ; 835
He which that hath the schortest schal bygynnC."
"Sire knight," quoth he, "my maister and my lord,
Now draweth cut, for that is myn acord.
Cometh ner," quoth he, "my lady prioress^;
And ye, sir clerk, lat be your schamfastnessg, 840
Ne studieth nat; ley hand to, ev^ery man."
Anon to drawen e.very wight bigan, *
822. A viorwe. — On the morrow, the 18th of April.
823. Oure att/ier cok.— Cook for us all. See .lote on line 799.
825. At little more than a foot or walking pace.
826. The watering of St. Thomas was at the second milestone on the
old Canterbury road. It is frequently mentioned by the early
dramatists.
827. Areste. — To pull up, bring to rest.
829. Ye woot youre forward. — You know your promise. Forward:^
A.S. foreweard, a covenant or agreement made beforehand.
831. Lat se. — Let us see.
835. Draweth cut — Draw lots ; second pers. plur. Froissart says ** tirer a
lonffue paille," lots dravn by puUing the longest straw from a
stack ; so cuts mean the broken lengths of the straws.
835. Feri'er, so Ellesmere and Hcng., others read fei'ther.
Twynne. — To depart, literally to part in twain.
840. Sir was a common appellation of clergy, at least of the secular, who
were not Father or Brother.
Let be your modesty or shyness. Sham^'^if modest, i« like
102 THB OAKTBRBVET TALES.
And schortly for to tellen as it was,
Were it by aventtlre, or sort, or cas,
The soth is this, the cut fil to the knight, 845
Of which ful glad and blithe was every wight;
And telle he mocte his tale as was resoun.
By forward and by composicioun.
As ye han herd ; what needeth wordSs moo?
And whui this goode man seigh that it was so, 850
As he that wys was and obedient
To kepe his forward by his fre assent, . ;
He seydg; "Syn I £■ hal bygynne the game, • '
What, welcome be thou cut, a Goddes name !
Now lat us ryde, and herkneth what I seyS." 855
And with that word we riden forth oure weyS j
And he bigau with right a mer.'e chere
His tale anon, and seide in this manere. '
steadfast, and has been erroneously spelled shamefacedncss in
ITim. ii. 9.
842. Wight.— ^GQ on line 71.
844. Aventure, or sort, or cm. — Sort (L. sors), cas (L. casus), are almost
synonymous words, as luck and chance.
845. Soth. — The truth. Cf. sootka&yQr,
847. He must, as was reasonable.
848. Forward.— See line 829.
Composicioun. — Agreement or arrangement. This sensw is still
retained in speaking of bankruptcy : compounding or effecting a
composition with one's creditors.
850. Seigh — saw. The final w (as in saw) often points to a guttural
either in ^.^.S. or allied Teutonic languages.
853. Syn. — Since.
Schal bears here its original meaning of moral compulsion or
duty, as in German, where also tchuld is a debt or obligation.
854. A Ooddes name, — In God's name.
QLOSSARlf.
103
GLOSSARY.
A, on, In. A morwe, line 822. A
Ooddes naine, line 854.
Able, fit, capable, 167.
Acorde, agreement, 244, 830.
Achate, achatour, purchase,
purchaser, 671, 568.
Adrad, in dread, 605. ,
Aferd, afraid, 62a
Aflfyle, to polish, 712.
Al, although, 734. Al be, 297.
Ale-stake, sign of a tavern, 667.
Algate, always, 571.
Al so, as, 730.
Alther, aller, of all On con>posi-
tion), 586, 710, 799, 823.
Amblere, a nag, 469.
A morwe, to-morrow, or in the
morning, 822.
Anlas, a dagger, 357.
Anon, anoon, in one (in ' mt), 82.
Anoynt, anointed, 1P9.
Ape, ape, or metaphorically a fool,
a dupe, 708.
Apiked, trimmed, 365.
Areste, to stop (a horse), 827.
Arivo, disembarkation (of troops),
60.
Arrerage, arrears, 602.
Arwe, arrow, 104.
As nouthe, as now, at present, 462.
Assoillyng, absolution, 661.
Atte, at the, 29, 193, 651, 707, 749.
Avaunce, to be of advantage, to
profit, 246.
Avaunt, boast, 227.
Aventure, luck, chance, adven-
ture, 25, 795.
Avys, consideration, 783.
Ay, ever, 63.
Bacheler, an unmarried man, 80.
The other uses of the word are dis-
cussed in the note.
Bar, baar, bore, 158, 558, 618; con-
ducted, 106, 72L
Barres, ornaments of a girdle, 829.
Bawdrik, a "rossbelt, 116.
Bede, bead (prayer), 169.
Beggere, beggestere, a beggar
(lit. one who carries a bag), 242, 252.
{Beggestere, prop, a female beggar.)
Berd, beard, 270.
Bere, to bear, carry, conduct one's
self, 7r*{.
Berstles, bristlei , 666.
Besy, busy, 321.
Bet, better, 242.
Betwixe, betwixt, jetwocn, 277.
Bifalle, befallen. 795.
Bisette, to employ, use, 279.
Blak, black, 557.
Blankmanger, blancmange, a
compound, minced fowl, cream,
sugar, and flour, 387.
Bledde, bled 145.
Blisftil, blessed, 17, 770.
Bokeler, bocler, buckler, 112, 471,
668.
Boon, bone, 546.
Boot, boote, remedy, 424.
Boras, borax, 630.
Bord, joust, tournament, or table.
See note 52.
Bom, conducted, 87.
Botes, bootes, boots, 203, 273.
Bracer, armour for the arms. 111.
Braun, muscle, 646.
Breed, bred, bread, 147.
Breke, to break, 651.
Brem, a bream, 350.
Bremstoon, brimstone, 629.
BretL ,, breste, breast, 115.
Bret fill, brimful, 687.
Breth, breethe, breath, 6.
Bretherhede, brotherhood, 511.
Broch, broach, 160.
Brood, broode, brode, broad,
156, 471, 649.
Broode, broadly, plainly, 7391
Broun, brown, 109.
164
THE CANTERBURt TALES.
Burdoun, a musical accompani-
ment* 673.
Burgeys, burgess, 369.
Busynesse, care, anxiety, labour,
620.
But-if, unless, 361, 682.
Byfel, byfll, befell, 19.
Bjrfore, byfom, before, 377, 450.
Bygan, bigan, began, 44.
Bygonne, begun, 62.
Byfgyraie, to begin, 42.
Byrme, bin, chest. 693.
Byside, besiile, near, 445.
Bysmc^ered, oe^iin uttered, 76.
Byt, bids, 187.
Bythought, have called to mind,
767.
Bj^ynge, buying, 569.
Caas, cas, chance, 685, 844.
Caas, case in law, 323.
Cappe, oap, hood, 686.
Carf, carved, 100.
Carl, churl, 645.
Carpe, to talk, 474.
Catel, wealth, chattels, 373, 540.
Cemce, ceruse, white-lead, 630.
Chapeleyn, a chaplain, 164. See u.
Chapman, a merchant, 807.
Chaunge, change, 348.
Chaunterie. See note 510.
Cheere, appearance, manners, face,
cheer, 139, 728.
Chevysaunce, gain, profit, an
agreement foi borrowing money,
282. See note.
Chikne, chicken, 380.
Chivachie, a militai'y expedition,
raid, 86.
Chy^alrye, chivalry, exercises and
exploits of knighthood, 45.
elapsed, clasped, 273.
Cleere, clearly, 170.
Clene, cleanly, 133.
Clem asse, cleanness, purity of
life, >06.
Olenae, to cleanse, 631.
Clepen, to call, 121, 648.
Clopt. called, 876.
Clerk, a learned man, stadent at
the unlveraity, 286.
Cofre, coffer, chest, 298.
Comper, a close companion, 070.
Composicioun, bargain, agree*.
ment, 848.
Confort, comfort, 776.
Conscience, feeling, pity, 142, 150.
Coote, cote, coat, 103, 612.
Cop, top or tip of anything, 654.
Cope, cape, 260.
Corage, heart, 11 ; spirit, 22.
Cours, course, 8.
Courtepy, a short coav,, 290. See n.
Couthe, cowtbe, cowde, could,
236, 326; knew, 467; knew how to,
95, 106, 110.
Covjme, deceit, fraud, 604. See n.
Coy, quiet, 119.
Croys, cross, 699.
Crulle, curly, 81.
Cryk, creek, 409.
Culpons, shreds, bundles, 679.
Cuntre, country, 216.
Cuppe, cup, 134.
Curat, one who has "cure of souls,"
219. See note.
Cure, care, 303.
Curious, careful, 677. See note.
Curteys, courteous, 99, 260.
Cut, lot, 835. See note.
Daliaunce, gossip, small talk, 211.
Daunger, position of danger, hence
jurisdiction or power, 402. See n.
Daungerous, domineering, 517.
Dayerie, dairy, 597.
Dayesye, daisy, 332.
Dede, deed, 742.
Deed, dead, 145.
De6f, deaf, 446.
Degre, station in life, 40.
Delite, delyt, luxury, pleasure,
835 and note, 337.
Delve, to dig, 636.
Del3ryer, active, nimble, 84.
Despitous, cruel, merciless, 516
Dethe, death, 605.
Dette, debt, 280.
Detteles, free from debt, 682.
Devys, opinion, decision, 81&
Devyse, descilbe, 84.
Deyere, dyer, 862.
OLOSSAftY.
i05
Deys, table of state, 370. See note.
Dejrnte, dainty, valuable, 168.
Lit. toothsome.
Diete, diet, 435.
Dif?ne, worthy, 141; proud, dis-
dainful, 517.
Dischevele, with hair hanging
loose, 683.
Dispence, expenditure, 441.
Docked, cut short, 690.
Domb, dumb, 774.
Dome, decision, judgment, 323.
Don, doon, to do, cause, make, 78,
268, 768.
Dong, dung, 580.
Dore, door, 460.
Dorste, durst, dare, 227.
Dosejm, a dozen, 578.
DoTVte, doubt, fear, 487.
Dragges, drugs, 426. See note.
Drede, to dread, 660.
Dresse, to set in order, 106. See n.
Dronken, drunk, 135, 637.
Drope, a drop, 181.
Dyke, to make ditches, 536. See n.
Ecclesiaste, an ecclesiastic, 70&-
Ech, eche, each, 39, 869.
Echoon, each one, 820.
Eek, also, 6, 41.
Eeres, ears, 556.
Eese, pleasure (ease), 768.
Elles, else, 875.
Embrowded, embroidered, 89.
Encombred, troubled, in danger,
508.
Endite, to dictate, 95.
Enfecte, tainted (by bribery), 320.
Entuned, intoned, 123.
Envyned, stored with wine, 342.
Ercedekne, archdeacon, 658.
Eschaunge, exchange, 278.
Esed, accommodated, entertained,
29.
Estat, estate, state, condition, 203,
522.
Estatlich,estatly,stately,i40,28l.
Esy, easy, 223 ; moderate, 441.
Hverych, everich, every, 241;
each, 371.
Bveryoh a» each» every, 783.
Everychon, everichon, every-
one, 31, 747.
Eyen, eyghen, eyes, 162, 627.
Fader, father, 100, 781 (genitive).
Paire, neatly, gracefully, 94, 124, 273.
Falmesse. honesty of life, 519.
Paldyng", coarse cloth, 391. See
note,
Falle, befell 585.
Famulier, familiar, homely, 216.
Parsed, stuffed, 233. See note.
Fa3ni, gladly, 766.
Pedde, fed, 146.
Pelawe, fellow, companion, 660.
See note.
Pelaweschipe, company, 32.
Per, fai-, 388, 491. Ferrejerrer, far-
ther, 48, 835. Ferrest, farthest, 494.
Feme, either distant or ancient, 14.
See note.
Perthing, fourth part, hence a very
small portion of anything, 134, 255.
Pestne, to fasten, 195.
Pet, fetched, 819.
Petys, neat, well-made, 157. See n.
Petysly, neatly, properly, 124.
Feyne, to feign, 705.
Pil, fell, 131. 845.
Pithel, fiddle, 296. See note.
Flex, flax, 676.
Floyt3mge, playing on a flute, 91.
Poo, foe, 63.
For, because, 443 ; for fear of, 276.
Forgeve, forgive, 743.
Porheed, forehead, 154.
Forneys, furnace, 202.
Por-psmed, wasted away, torment-
ed, 205.
Forster, forester, 117.
Porther, further, 36.
Portunen, to make fortunate, 417.
Forward, compact, agreement, 83,
829.
Pother, a load, 530.
Poughten, fought (p. part), 62.
Powie, fowel, fowl, 9, 190.
Fredom, liberality, 46.
Prend, friend, 299.
Pro, from, 324.
F3n:-reed, fiery red, 62i.
m
*HE CANTfiRBlJRY TALES.
Oader, to gather, 824.
Qaf, gave, 177. ^
Galyngale, sweet cyperus, 381
Qamede, pleased, 534
Gat, got, 703, 704.
Oat-tothed. See note on 468.
Gauded, ornamented, 159.
Geldehalle, guildhall, 370. See n.
Gentil, noble, 72.
Gepoun, a short cassock, 75.
Gere, gear, 352.
Gerner, gamer, 593.
Gesse, to guess, suppose, 82, 117
Get, fashion, 682.
Gete, to get, 291.
Geve, give, 223, 225.
Gipser, a pouch, 357.
Gise, fashion, way, 663.
Gobet, morsel, piece, 696.
Golyardeys. See note on 560.
Goost, ghost, spirit, 205.
Goot, goat, 688.
Goune, gown, 93.
Govemaunce, management of
affairs, control, 281.
Govem3mge, control, 599.
Graunte, grant, consent to, 786.
Greece, grease, 135.
Gret, grreet, great (comp. grettcr,
sup. gretteste), 84, 120, 137, 197.
Greyn, grain, 596.
Grope, to try, test, 644.
Grys, a gray fur, 194.
Gulty, guilty, 6G0.
Gurles, young people of either sex,
664.
Gsmglyng, Jingling, 170.
Haberdasshere, a hatter (Gas-
coigne), 361. See note.
Haburgeoun, a small hauberk or
coat-of-mail, 76. See note.
Hade, had, 554.
Halwes, saints, 14. See note.
Happe, to happen, befall, 585.
Hardily, cert-xinly, 156.
Harlot, a young person of either
sex, or more probably a hireling,
647. See note.
Harlotries, ribaldries, 661.
Hameysed, equipped, ill
See
Harre, a hinge, 650.
Haue, to have, 245.
Haunt, practice, skill, 447.
Heed, head, 198, 455, 782.
Heeld, held, 337.
Heep, assembly, host, 576.
Heer, here, hair, 555, 589.
Heere, to hear, 169.
Heetbe, hethe, a heath, 6, 606.
Heih, &c., high, 316.
Heiher, upper, 399.
Helpen of, to get rid of, 632.
Heng, hanged, 160, 358.
Hente, get, take hold of, 299,
Herbergh, lodging, 403, 765.
note.
Herde, a herdsman, 603. See note.
Here, of them, their, 11, &c. Hem,
them, 18, &c.
Herkne, to hearken, 823.
Herte, heart, 150.
Hertily, heartily, 762.
Hethen, heathen, 66. See note.
Hethenesse, heathen lands, 49.
Heve, to heave, raise, 550.
Hider, hither, 672.
Higrhte, was called, 616, 719.
Hipes, hips, 472.
Hire, her, 120, &c.
Hit, it, 345, &c.
Holden, esteemed, held, 141.
Holly, wholly, 599.
Holte, wood, grove, 6.
Holwe, hollow, 289.
Hond, hand, 108.
Honest, creditable, respectable,
becoming, 246.
Hoole, whole, 533.
Hoom, home, 400.
Hoomly, homely, 328.
Hoost, host, 751.
Hote, hotly, 97.
Hors, horse, 74, (plur.) 698.
Hostelrie, an inn, 23.
Hostiler, innkeeper, 241.
Hotte, hot, 394.
HOUS, house, 343.
Househaldere, householder, 8881
Hsmdreste, hindmost, 622.
Hyne, servant, hind, 60S.
Hynge, hung, 677.^
GLOSSARY.
107
If a prefix denoting the past part
of verbs, and represented in other
Teutonic languages by y, ge, &c.
I-bore, borne, carried, 378.
I-chaped, having chapes or plates
of metal, 3(3G.
I-falle, fallen, 25.
I-gO, gone, 286.
I-knowe, known, 42a
I-lad, led, 530.
I-pynched, plaited, 151.
I-schadwed, shaded, 007.
I-schave, shaven, COO.
I-schom, shorn, 689.
I-schreve, shriven, 2Z0.
I-stored, stored, 609. ' *
I-\ aught, 127.
I-proved, 486.
I-write, 161.
See also Y.
nke, same, 64, 175.
Inne, in, 41.
Inough, enough, 373.
Jangler, a prater, babbler, 500.
Jape, trick, jest, 706.
Jolitee, joy, 680.
Jug-ge, judge, 814.
Juste, to joust or tilt, in tour-
nament, 96.
Keep, kepe, care, attention, heed,
398, 503.
Kene, keen, sharp, 104.
Kept, guarded, taken care of, 276.
Keverchef, kerchief, 453.
Knarre, a thick-set fellow, 549.
Knobbe, a pimple, 633.
Kouthe, known, renowned, 14.
Kynde, natural, genial, 6'*7.
Lafte, left (past, sing.), 492.
Larg-e, free, 734.
Lat, imperative of let, cease, 188.
Late, lately, recently, 77, 690.
Lazer, lazar, a leper, 242, 245.
Leed, a cauldron, 202.
Leet, let, 128, 508.
Lene, lean, poor, 287, 591.
Lenger, lengere, longer, 830, 821.
Leme, to letim, 308.
Lestes pleasure, 132.
Letuaries, electuaries, 428. See n.
Lewed, ignorant, lay, 502. See note.
Ley, to lay, 81, 841.
Licenciat. See note 220.
Llcour, liquor, 3.
Lipsede, lisped, 264.
List, Leste, it please, vb. impers.,
583, 750.
Litarge, litharge, 629. See note.
Lite, little, humble. 494.
Lodemenage, pilotage, 403. See n.
Lokkes, locks of hair, 81.
Lond, londe. land, 14, 194, 702.
Longen, to desire, long for, 12.
Lore,doctrine,precepts,learnjng,527.
Loth, unvyilling, 486.
Luce, a pike flsh, 35'". .
Lust, pleasure, 192.
Lust, pleased, 102.
Lusty, pleasant, merry, 80!.
Jjyf, life, 71.
Lyk, like, alike, 59a
Lymytour. See note 209.
Lystes, place of encounter at tour-
naments, 63. See note.
Lyvere. See note 363.
Maad, made, 394, 668.
Maister,iiiaystre,master,2Gl,576.
Maistrie, power, superiority, 165.
Male, a bag, 694. See note.
Maner, manere, manner, kind,
sort of, 71, 858.
Manhede, manliness, 756.
Many oon, many a one, 317.
Marschal, marshal, 752. See note.
Mary, marrow, 380.
Mat ere, matter, 727.
Maunciple, caterer of a college, 544.
Mede, a meadow. 89.
Mede, meed, meede, &c., reward,
770.
Medl^, of a mixed colour, medley,
828.
Meke, meek, 69.
Mellere, miller, 542.
Men, one (as "one calls it"), 149.
Mene, to mean, intend, 793.
Mere, mare, 541.
Merie, mery. merye, Ac, merry,
pleasant, 208, 767.
103
THE CANTERBURY TALES.
Meideiy-) pleasantly, 714.
Merthe, mirthe, pleasure,
amusement 766, 767, 773.
Mescheef, meschief, misfortune,
493.
Mester, trade, occupation, 613.
Mesurable, moderate, 435.
Mete, food, 136. See note.
Mewe, coop for fattening fowls, 349.
3VIo, moo, more, 544.
Moehe, mochil, much, great,
greatly, 132, 258, 467.
iMOne, moone, moon, 403.
Moneth, mouth, 92.
Moot, mot, must, may, ought, 232,
735, 742.
Mormal, an ulcer, 386. See note.
Mortreux, a kind of soup, 384.
See note.
Morwe, morning, morrow, 334, *<80.
Moate, must, 712.
Motteleye, motley, 271.
Naoioun, nation, 63.
Narwe, narrow, 625.
Kas, ne was, was not, 251.
Nat, not, 366, «&c.
Natheles, nevertheless, 35.
Ne, not, 70, <fec. Ne..., but, only, 120.
Neede, needful, 304.
Neet, neat (cattle), 697.
Neigh, near, 588.
Nekke, neck, 238.
Ner, nearer, 839.
New©, newly, recently, 365.
Nightertale, night time, 97.
Nogt, not, 253, Ac.
Nolde, ne wolde, would not, 560, &c.
Nombre, number, 716.
Noxaoo, no more, 101.
Non, noon, none, 178, &a
Nones, nonce, 379, 523.
Nonne, nun, 118.
Noot, not,ne wot, know not, 284,<S:c.
Noote, a musical note, 235.
Nose-thurles, nostrils, 557. See n.
Not-heed,aroundcropped head, 109.
Nongrt, not, 107.
Nouthe, ju.it now, 462.
pffertorie, the sentences of Scrip-
ture read during the offertory In
the church, 710.
Oflfryng, the alms collected at the
offertory, 450,
Ofte sithes, often times, 485.
Oghte, ought, 660.
On, OL, oon, one, 148, 253, 304, 738.
On and oon, one by one, 679.
Ony, any, 652.
Oones, once, 765,
Or, ere, before, .36.
Ostelrie, an inn, 722.
Oth, oath, 810.
Over-al, everywhere, 216.
Overeste, uppermost, 290.
Overlippe, upper lip, I3a
Overspradde, overspread, 678.
Owher, anywhere, 663.
Oynement, ointment, 631.
Cynouns, onions, 634.
Paas, pas, a foot pace, 825.
Pace, to pass on, 36 ; surpass, 674
Pacient, a patient, 484.
Palft'ay,a roadster horse,207. Seen.
Pardrj, Pardee, par dieu (an oath),
563.
Pardoner, a seller of indulgencea^
543.
Paidgrt, perfect, 422, 532.
Parischen, parishioner, 482.
Partrich, partridge, 3:9.
Parvys. See note on SiO.
Passe, to surpass, 448.
Peire, pair, 159.
Perce, pierce, 2.
Perflgft, perfyt, perfect, 72, 338.
Pers. a pale blue, 439.
Persoun, parson, parish priest, 478.
Peyne, peynen, to take pains,
endeavour, 139.
Piked. See Apiked.
Piled, bald, 627.
Pilwebeer, a pillow-case, 694. ,
Pitaonce. See note on 224.
Pitous, compassionate, 143. . ,
Playn, plain, 790.
Plentyuoiis, plentiful, 344.
Plese, to please, 610.
Pleye, pleyen, to play or enjoy
one's self, 236, 772. ...
GLOSSARY.
109
Pleyn, plain, full, 816, 327
Pocok, peacock, 104.
Pomely, dappled, 616.
Poradlle, the poor, 247.
Port, carriage, behavour, 69.
Post, pillar, support, 214.
Poure, pore, poor, 225, 478.
Poudre marchaunt, a mixture
of spices, 381.
Powre, to pore over, 185.
Poynaunt, pungent, 362.
Practisoiir, practitioner, 422.
Preche, to preach, 481
Preve, to put to proof,. 547.
Pricasour, a hard rider, 189.
Prike, to excite, spur on, 11.
Piikyngr, riding, 191.
Pris, prys, prize, 237; price, 815;
estimation, 67.
Prively, secretly, 652.
Propre, peculiar, own, 581.
Pulle, to pluck, 652. See note.
Pulled, moulting, 177.
Pultrie, poultry, 598.
Purchas, anything acquired (hon-
estly or not), proceeds of begging,
256.
Piirchasour, prosecutor, 318.
Purchasyng, prosecution, 320.
Purflled, embroidered, fringed, 193.
See note.
Purs, purse, 656.
Purtray, portray, draw, 96.
Pynche, find fault with, 326.
Quyte, free, 770.
■Raughte, reached, 136.
Beccheles, reckless, careless, 179.
Recorde, remind, 829.
Eede, reed, line of conduct, 605
(literally counsel).
Bede, to read, 709.
Redy, ready, 21, 352.
Reed, reede, red, 90, 153, 45&
Reeve, steward, bailiff, 542, 599.
See note.
Reherce, to rehearse, 732.
Rekenynge, reckoning, 600. .
Rekne, reckon, 401.
Bemenaunt, remnant, 724.
Kenn3nier> running, 551.
Rents, income, profits, 37?.
Repentaunt, penitent, 2?8.
Reportour, reporter, 814.
Resons, reasons, opinions, 274.
Rette, ascribe, impute, 726.
Reule, rule, 173,
Reverence, respect, 141.
Rewle, to rule, 816.
Reyn, reyne, to rain, 492, 595.
Reyse, to make a military expe-
dition, 54.
Rially, riallyche, royally, 378.
Riden, to ride, 780, 825.
Rood, rode, 109, &c.
Roos, rose, 828.
Roost, a roast, 206.
Roote, rote, 327. See note on 236,
Roste, to roast, 147, 383.
Rote, a guitar, or some stringed
instrument, 236.
Rouncy, a hack horse, 390.
Route, a company, 622.
Rudelyche, rudely, 734.
Sangwyn, blood-red colour, 333.
Sauce, saucer, deep plate, 129. •
Sauf, save, except, 083.
Saugh, saw, 193, 764.
Sawceflem, pimpled, 625. See n.
Sawtrie, a psaltery or harp, 296.
Sayn, to say, 284.
Scarsly, sparingly, 583.
Schamfastnesse, modesty, 840.
Schape, to plan, purpose, 772, 809.
Schaply, fit, likely, 372.
Schave, shaven, 588.
Scheeldes, crowns (a coin), 278.
Schene, bright, fair, 115.
Schipman, a seaman, sailor, 388.
Schire, shire, county, 15.
Schirreve, sheriff, or governor of a
snire, 359.
Scholde, sclLulde, should, 249,
506, &c.
Schon, shone, 198.
Schoo, shoe, 258.
Schorte, to shorten, 791.
Schuldre, shoulder, 678.
Schuldred, having (such) shoul*
ders, 649.
no
THE OANTERBURT TALES.
Schime, shin, leg, 886.
Scole, school, 125.
Scoler, scholar, 260.
Scoley,to attend school, study, 320.
Seche, seeke, to seek, 17, 784, &c.
Seek, seeke, sick, 18.
Seide, said, 183, «S;c.
Seie, seye, to say, 787.
Seigrh, saw, 85a
Seint, saint, 173.
Seith, saith, 17&
Selle, to give, sell, 278.
Selle, a cell or house, 172. See note.
Seinely,seenily,el6gant,123,130,751.
Sen, sene, seen, seene, to see or
be seen, 134, &c.
Sendal, a thin silk, 4i0. See note.
Sentence, sense, meaning, judg-
ment, 306, 798.
Serv3rsable, willing to be of
service, 09.
Sesoun, season, 19.
Sethe, to boil, 383.
Sey, seye, S33m, tosay, 181,468,738.
Seyl, sail, 696.
Sesmt, seynte, sain^ 173, 697.
Seynt, a girdle, 329.
Shef, sheaf, 104.
Sik, sick, 245. .
Sikerly, surely, certainly, 187.
Sith, sithe, sithes, time,times,486.
Skalled, scabby, 627.
Skathe, loss, misfortune, 446. See n.
Sklendre, slender, slim, 587.
Slee, sleen, slen, to slay, 661.
Sleight, contrivance, craft, 604.
Slepen, to sleep, 10.
Sieves, sleeves, 193.
Smal, smale, small, 9, 146, 153.
Smerte, smartly, 149.
Smerte, to pain, displease, hurt,
230, 534.
Smot, smoot, smote, 149.
Smothe, smooth, smoothly, 676.
Snewed, abounded (lit. snowed)345.
Snybbe, to snub, reprove, 623.
Soberly, sad, solemn, 289.
Solas, solaasr mirth, 798.
SolttXipne, festive, 209; Important,
864 See note.
Solempnely, pon^osly, 271
Som, some, 640, Ac
Somdel, somewhat, 174.
Somer, summer, 394.
Sompnour, apparitor, 543. See n.
Sondry, sundry, li
Sone, son, 79.
Songe, sung, 711.
Sonne, the sun, 7.
Soo, so, 102.
Soper, supper, 848.
Sore, sorely, 230.
Soth, sothe, sooth, true, truly,
845, &0.
Sothly, truly, 117, 468.
Soun, a sound, 674.
Souper, supper, 74&
Souple, supple, 203.
Sovere3m,supreme,high,67. See n.
Sowne, to sound, 275, 565.
Sown3mere in, tending to, 307.
Spak, spake, 124.
Spare, abstain, or refrain from, 19%
737.
Sparwe, sparrow, 626.
Sp6Cia\ in special, specially, 444.
Speede, to speed, succeed, 769.
Speken, to speak, 142.
Spiced, over-scrupulous, 526.
Spores, spurs, 473.
Squyer, squire, 79.
Stele, to steal, 562.
Stemede, shone, 202.
Stepe, steep, bright, glaring, 201.
Sterre, star, 268.
Stewe, a fish-pond, 850.
Stiward, steward, 579. See note.
Stonde, stonden, to stand, 88, 745.
Stoon, stone, 774.
Stoor, store, farm stock, 59&
Stbt, a stallion, 615.
Straunge, foreign,13. See note 464.
Stream, stream, river, 464.
Stre3rt, close, strict, 174.
Streyte, closely, 457.
Strike, a hank (of flax), 676.
Strond, strqnde, strand, shore, iH,
Sufflsance, sufficiency, 4S0.
Sur^pte, overcoat, 617.
Swerd, sword, 112.
Swere. to swear, 464.
Swet, Qweteswee^ 6, aobk
Swich
Swink
Swoot
Swyn,
Swynl
SwynJ
Syke.
Syn, 8i
Tabar
note.
Taffati
Taille,
Takel,
meat,
Talen,
Tapic(
Tappe
Targe
Teche
Thanr
Tharri
Thei, t
Thenc
Thar,
There
Thert(
Thesti
Thilkt
Think
impel
thouj
682, I
* Thise,
The, t
Thom
Thorn
Three
Thriei
To, at,
ToUei
Tong(
Top, t
Toun,
Trety
152.
Trew
531, 1
Trom
Trout
Trow
GLOSSARY.
Ill
Swich, such, 3, &c.
Swinke, swynke, to labour, 180.
Swoote, sweet, 1.
Swyn, swine, 598.
Swjmk, labour, 188, 540.
Swynkere, labourer, 531.
Syke, sick, 424.
Syn, since, COl, 853.
Tabard, a sleeveless frock, 541. See
note.
Taffata, taffeta, 440.
. Taille, a tally, h70. See note.
Takel, an arrow, literally any imple-
ment, 100. See note.
Talen, to tell tales, 772.
Tapicer, an upholsterer, 302, See n.
Tappestere, a barmaid, 241.
Targe, a target or shield, 471.
Techen, to teach, 308.
Thanne, then, 12.
Tharray, the array, 716.
Thei, they, 745, &c.
Thencres, the increase, 275.
Ther, there, where, 34, 43.
Ther as, where that, 172.
ThertO, besides, 153, 757.
Thestat, the estate or rank, 716.
Thilke, the like, that, 182, &c.
Thinke, tlijmke, to seem, vb.
impers., me thinketh, 37, it
thoughte me, 385, him thought,
682, us thoughte, 785.
♦ Thise, these (pL), 701.
Tho, those, 498, &c.
Thombe, thumb, 563.
Thonder, thunder, 492.
■ Thresshe, to thrash, 536.
Thries, thrice^ 63, 562.
To, at, 30. •
Tollen, to take toll or payment, 662.
. Tonge, tongue, 712.
Top, head, 590.
Toun, town, 478.
Tretys, long and well proportioned,
152. See note.
Trewe, trewely, true, truly, 481,
531, 707.
Trompe, a trumpet, 674.
Trouthe, truth, 46, 763.
Trowe, to believe, 155, 524.
Trussed up, packed up. Qui.
Tukked,coated,cl(jthed,G21. See n.
Tunge, tongue, 266.
TUO, two, 639.
Tweye, .tu., two, twain, 704, 792, &c.
Twynne, to depart, separate, 836.
Typet, tippet, 233.
Unce, a small portion, 677.
Undergrowe, undergrown, 156.
Undertake, to affirm, 288.
Unknowe, unknown, 126.
Vavasour. See note on 360.
Venerye, hunting, 160. See note.
Verdite, verdict, sentence, 787.
Vernicle. See note on 685.
Verray, vorrey, verraily, true,
truly, very, 72, 338, 422.
Viage, travels, 77, 723.
Vigilles, vigils, 377.
Vileinye, unbecoming conduct,
disgrace, 70, 726.
Vitaille, victuals, 569, 749.
Vouchesauf, vouchsafe, grant,
807, 812.
Walet, wallet, 681, 686.
Wantoun, wanton, 208. See note.
Wantounesse, wantonness, 264.
War, waar, wary, cautious, 309;
aware, 157.
Ware, to warn, 662.
Wastel breed, cake, 147. See n.
Waterles, out of the water, 180.
Wayte, to be on the look-out for,
525, 571.
Webbe, weaver, 362.
Wende, wenden, to go, lo, 21.
Wepe, wepen, to weep, 230.
Wered, wore, 75, 564,
Werre, war, 47.
Werte, wart, 555.
Wette, wetted, 129.
Wex, wax, 675.
Wey, weye, way, 34, 467,
Whan, whanne, when, 5, 18, 179.
What, as an interjection, 854.
What, why, wherefore, 184.
Whelkes, blotches, 632.
Whil, TVhiles, whilst, 35, 397.
I^
i i
112
THE CANTERBURY TALES.
Whit, white, 238.
Widewe, widow, 25S.
Wifirht, a person male or female, 71,
32G.
Wit, understanding, wi8dom,279, 746.
Wtthholde, maintained, 511.
Withouten, without, 538; besides,
461.
Wlthseie, to gainsay, 805.
Woo, woeful, sorrowful, 351.
Wol, wole, will, 42 ; pi. wolden, 27.
Wolde, would, 548, &c.
Wonder, wondurly, wonder-
fully, 84, 483.
Wone, custom, usage, 335.
Wone, to dwell, 388.
Wonyngr, dwelling, 606.
Wonne, won, conquered, 51.
Wood, WOde, mad, 184, 582.
Woot (Ist pers.), know, 389, 659.
Worthinesse, bravery, 50.
Worthy, worthi, brave, 47, 459.
Wrastlynge, wrestling, 548.
Wrigrhte, carpenter (literally a
workman), 614. See note.
Wyd, wide, 401.
W3rf, Wlf, woman, wife, 234, 446.
Wympel, neck haudkercliief, 151.
Wyn, wino, 384.
Wynnynges, gains, profits, 276
Wys, wis, wise, 68, 309, 669.
Y, a prefix of past parxiciples, arother
form of i (which see).
Y-Cleped, called, 410.
Y-come, come, 77.
Y-drawe, drawn, 396.
Y-sene, to be seen, 502.
Y-teyed, tied, 457.
Y-wympled, having a wiinpcl.
See noto 151.
Y-wroujarht, wrought, 196.
Yeddynges, songs, 2.37.
Yeeldyngr, return, produce, 596.
Yeer, year, yen.rs, 82, 347, 601.
Yeman, yeoman, 101. See notf .
Yerde, rod, 149.
Yit. yet, 70.
Yong, yonge, young, 7, 79, 218
Yow, you, 34, 38, &c.
THE END.
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