A BOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE •The THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO A BOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE SELECTED AND EDITED BY FRANKLYN BLISS SNYDER, Ph. D. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY AND ROBERT GRANT MARTIN, Ph. D. ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY •N>m fork THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1916 All rights reserved ej 17 sns- Copyright, 1916, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published February, 1916. PREFACE In preparing this volume, primarily intended for college courses in the development of English literature, the editors have tried to give to the most important men a repre- sentation more adequate than they have been accorded in previous volumes of the kind, and so comprehensive that whoever uses the book will find a considerable range of possible selection. In addition, the editors have included enough work by men of secondary importance to fill the gaps between the larger figures, and to make this text adequate for any survey of English literature from Chaucer to Meredith, save in the fields of drama and fiction. Fiction has been omitted for obvious reasons. The drama would have been excluded entirely, had it not been felt that some teachers would be glad of a specimen miracle play. An appendix containing brief biographies of the chief men represented, and bibliographical suggestions, may be of assistance to those who desire to use the volume without an accompanying history. In certain respects the texts here presented have been standardized. Punctuation has been modernized; the spelling -or instead of -our for words such as honor, labor, etc., has been adopted; except in a few obvious instances, the full form of the weak past participle in -ed has been used throughout the volume. The thanks of the editors are due to Professor R. E. Neil Dodge, of the University of Wisconsin, and Houghton Mifflin Company, for permission to use the Cambridge text of Spenser. Stevenson's Aes Triplex is taken from the Thistle edition, published by Charles Scribner's Sons, the authorized publishers of Stevenson's works. The debt of the editors to such standard works as Skeat's Oxford Chaucer, Child's Ballads, and Lucas's Lamb, will be recognized by all who use the book. 395743 CONTENTS THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES Geoffrey Chaucer page The Prologue i The Nun's Priest's Tale n The Pardoner's Tale 19 Balade de Bon Conseyl 25 Chaucer's Complaint to His Purse 25 Anonymous Piers the Plowman 26 Anonymous The Chester Miracle Play of Noah's Flood 27 English and Scottish Popular Ballads Edward 32 Kemp Owyne $3 Sir Patrick Spens 34 The Wife of Usher's Well "34 Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne 35 Robin Hood's Death and Burial 38 The Hunting of the Cheviot 39 Bonnie George Campbell 43 Sir Thomas Malory Le Morte Darthur: Caxton's Preface 44 Book XXI '45 THE ELIZABETHAN AGE Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene: Letter to Raleigh 49 Book I, Cantc/i 51 Canto hi 56 Canto xi 57 66 Prothalamion . Elizabethan Sonneteers Sir Thomas Wyatt The Lover Compareth His State 69 Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey Description of Spring 69 Sir Philip Sidney Astrophel and Stella: Nos. 1, 31, 39, 41 69 Edmund Spenser Amoretti: Nos. 24, 34, 63, 70, 75, 79 71 Samuel Daniel Care-Charmer Sleep \ ■ \ 72 Michael Drayton Since There's no Help '- 72 William Shakespeare \ Sonnets: Nos. iS, 29, 30)33, 64, 65, 66, 71, 73, 98, 106, 116, 146 .... 72 vii CONTENTS Tv Elizabethan Song Writers Anonymous page Back and Side, Go Bare, Go Bare , 75 Sir Edward Dyer My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is 76 Sir Philip Sidney Love Is Dead 76 John Lyly Cupid and Campaspe 77 Spring's Welcome 77 George Peele Cupid's Curse 77 Robert Greene Sweet Are the Thoughts 77 Sephestia's Song to Her Child 78 Thomas Lodge Rosalind's Madrigal 78 Christopher Marlowe The Passionate Shepherd to His Love 78 Thomas Nash Litany in Time of Plague 79 Sir Walter Raleigh His Pilgrimage 79 The Conclusion 80 Robert Southwell The Burning Babe 80 William Shakespeare Songs from Plays When Icicles Hang by the Wall 80 ' Who Is Silvia? 81 Over Hill, Over Dale 81 Tell Me Where Is Fancy Bred 81 Under the Greenwood Tree 81 Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind 81 It Was a Lover and His Lass 82 O Mistress Mine, Where Are You Roaming? 82 Take, O Take Those Lips Away 82 Come, Thou Monarch of the Vine 82 Hark, Hark! the Lark 82 Fear no More the Heat o' the Sun 82 Come unto These Yellow Sands 82 Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies 83 Where the Bee Sucks 83 Anonymous Hey Nonny No ! 83 ^•Edmund Campion Of Corinna's Singing 83 When Thou Must Home 83 Come, Cheerful Day 83 Now Winter Nights Enlarge 84 Cherry-Ripe 84 Chance and Change 84 Thomas Dekker O Sweet Content 84 CONTENTS PAGE Lullaby gc Michael Drayton Agincourt gr Ben Jonson Hymn to Diana g6 Song to Celia g6 The Triumph of Charis gy To the Memory of Shakespeare gy A Pindaric Ode gg An Epitaph on Salathiel Pavy gg John Donne Go and Catch a Falling Star gg Love's Deity go Sweetest Love, I Do not Go gg Death, Be not Proud go Francis Beaumont Even Such Is Man go On the Tombs in Westminster Abbey go John Fletcher Sweetest Melancholy go Care-Charming Sleep gi: Song to Bacchus gi John Webster A Dirge 9I Hark, Now Everything Is Still gi William Browne On the Countess Dowager of Pembroke gi Elizabethan Prose Sir Thomas North The Death of Caesar gj John Lyly Queen Elizabeth gy Sir Philip Sidney The Defence of Poesy ioo Sir Walter Raleigh The Last Fight of the Revenge 103 Francis Bacon Essays: Of Truth 107 Of Adversity 108 Of Marriage and Single Life iog Of Great Place iog Of Wisdom for a Man's Self in Of Youth and Age 112 Of Gardens 112 Of Studies 114 PURITANS AND CAVALIERS Caroline Song Writers George Wither Shall I, Wasting in Despair 115 CONTENTS Thomas Carew page Ask Me no More Where Jove Bestows 115 He That Loves a Rosy Cheek Sir John Suckling Constancy . Why so Pale and Wan, Fond Lover? Richard Lovelace To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars To Althea, from Prison James Shirley A Dirge Robert Herrick The Argument of His Book Upon the Loss of His Mistresses Corinna's Going A-Maying To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time How Roses Came Red To Daffodils Night Piece, to Julia Upon Julia's Clothes An Ode for Ben Jonson Grace for a Child To Keep a True Lent George Herbert Virtue The Collar The Quip The Pulley Richard Crashaw In the Holy Nativity of Our Lord God Henry Vaughan The Retreat Peace The World Edmund Waller On a Girdle Go, Lovely Rose! Andrew Marvell An Horatian Ode Abraham Cowley The Change The Wish The Swallow The Thief Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset Song: To All You Ladies now at Land Caroline Prose Sir Thomas Browne Hydriotaphia, or Urn-Burial Thomas Fuller The Good Schoolmaster The Life of Queen Elizabeth Izaak Walton The Complete Angler 137 CONTENTS xi Jeremy Taylor page Holy Dying 142 John Milton y L'Allegro 145 J II Penseroso 147 Lycidas 148 On His Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty-Three 151 On Shakespeare 152 To the Lord General Cromwell 152 /The Tale of a Tub 226 A Modest Proposal 231 The Journal to Stella 236 Joseph Addison The Campaign 239 The Spacious Firmament on High 240 Joseph Addison and Richard Steele The Tatler Prospectus 240 Duelling 241 Ned Softly 242 CONTENTS PAGE Frozen Words • 244 The Spectator Mr. Spectator 246 The Club . . . 248 Westminster Abbey 251 Sir Roger at Church 253 Sir Roger at the Assizes 254 The Vision of Mirza 256 A Coquette's Heart 258 Alexander Pope Windsor Forest 260 An Essay on Criticism 262 / The Rape of the Lock 264 An Essay on Man 276 Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot 278 The Universal Prayer 279 Oliver Goldsmith The Deserted Village 279 The Retaliation . . 286 The Citizen of the World Beau Tibbs at Home 287 A Visit to a Silk-Merchant 289 Samuel Johnson The Rambler, No. 121 290 Letter to the Earl of Chesterfield 293 Letter to James Macpherson 294 Lives of the English Poets Milton 294 Dryden 297 Addison 298 Pope 299 Gray 300 James Boswell The Life of Samuel Johnson: The Year 1763 301 Edmund Burke Address to the Electors of Bristol 322 The Impeachment of Warren Hastings 326 Reflections on the Revolution in France 329 The Precursors of Romanticism Allan Ramsay Peggy . m 332 The Lass with a Lump of Land 332 James Thomson The Seasons 333 The Castle of Indolence 335 Rule, Britannia 336 Edward Young Night Thoughts 336 Robert Blair The Grave 337 William Collins A Song from Cymbeline 339 CONTENTS xiii PAGE How Sleep the Brave 339 Ode to Evening 339 The Passions 340 Thomas Gray Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College 342 Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard 343 The Progress of Poesy 345 The Bard 347 The Fatal Sisters 349 Sketch of His Own Character 350 Letters 350 James Macpherson Cath-Loda 352 The Songs of Selma 353 Carthon 353 Robert Fergusson The Daft Days 353 Thomas Chatterton Bristowe Tragedie 354 Song from ^Ella 359 William Cowper Walking with God 360 The Loss of the Royal George 360 The Task 361 On the Receipt of My Mother's Picture . 362 Sonnet to Mrs. Unwin 364 To Mary 364 The Castaway 365 Robert Burns Lines to John Lapraik 366 The Holy Fair 366 To a Mouse 369 To a Daisy 369 The Cotter's Saturday Night 370 Address to the Unco Guid 373 Tarn O'Shanter 374 Scots Wha Hae 377 Songs Mary Morison 377 Green Grow the Rashes 377 Auld Lang Syne 378 Of A' the Airts 37S Tarn Glen 378 My Heart's in the Highlands 379 Go Fetch to Me a Pint of Wine 379 John Anderson 379 Willie Brewed a Peck o' Maut 379 Sweet Afton 380 Bonie Doon 380 Ae Fond Kiss 380 Highland Mary . . . . 3S1 Duncan Gray 381 See, the Smoking Bowl before Us 382 xiv CONTENTS PAGE Contented wi' Little 3 82 A Man's a Man for A' That 3 82 0, Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast . . 3 8 3 William Blake Songs of Innocence Introduction 383 The Lamb 383 Cradle Song 384 The Little Black Boy 384 Songs of Experience The Clod and the Pebble 384 The Sick Rose 385 The Tiger 385 The Sunflower 385 Auguries of Innocence 385 Milton 385 George Crabbe The Village 385 The Borough 387 William Lisle Bowles Time 387 Hope 388 To the River Tweed 388 Bamborough Castle ... 388 Written at Tynemouth after a Tempestuous Voyage 388 THE AGE OF ROMANTICISM William Wordsworth Preface to the Lyrical Ballads 389 Lines Written in Early Spring 392 Expostulation and Reply 392 The Tables Turned , . . . 392 J Tintern Abbey 393 Lucy Gray 395 She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways 396 Three Years She Grew . . ' 396 A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal ^-396 The Prelude 396 Michael 399 My Heart Leaps Up 406 Resolution and Independence 406 Yew Trees 408 At the Grave of Burns 409 The Solitary Reaper 409 To the Cuckoo 410 She Was a Phantom of Delight 410 I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud 411 Ode to Duty 411 / Character of the Happy Warrior 411 * Ode: Intimations of Immortality 413 To a Sky-Lark 415 CONTENTS PAGE On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic 415 London, 1802 416 Westminster Bridge 416 On the Sea-Shore near Calais 416 The World Is too Much with Us 416 To Toussaint L'Ouverture 417 Samuel Taylor Coleridge France: An Ode 417 J Kubla Khan l .. « vjk>v 4 X 9 yThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner a^W^^ ' ^ Frost at Midnight 430 Hymn before Sunrise in the Vale of Chamouni 431 Dejection: An Ode 433 Youth and Age 435 Work without Hope 436 Biographia Literaria . 436 Robert Southey The Inchcape Rock 440 My Days among the Dead Are Passed 441 Sir Walter Scott Lochinvar 441 Soldier, Rest! 442 Boat Song 442 Coronach 443 Harp of the North 443 Jock of Hazeldean 444 Brignall Banks 444 County Guy 445 Bonny Dundee 445 George Gordon, Lord Byron When We Two Parted 446 Know Ye the Land 446 She Walks in Beauty 447 The Destruction of Sennacherib . 447 Stanzas for Music 447 So We'll Go no More A-Roving 448 My Boat Is on the Shore 448 Sonnet on Chillon . L^^-^ZZZ/ f * ■£- ( 44-8 The Prisoner of Chillon i^^C^^ . A *T U 448 Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: Canto III 452 Canto IV 456 Don Juan: Dedication 460 Canto III 460 Canto IV 463 Percy Bysshe Shelley Hymn to Intellectual Beauty 471 Ozymandias 472 y Ode to the West Wind 472 The Indian Serenade 474 ^The Cloud 474 vTo a Skylark 475 To (Music, When Soft Voices Die) 476 Stanzas Written in Dejection 476 xvi CONTENTS PAGE The World's Wanderers 477 Time 477 y To Night 477 To (One Word Is Too Often Profaned) 47 8 Lyrics from Prometheus Unbound 478 /Adonais 479 Final Chorus from Hellas - 488 When the Lamp Is Shattered 488 With a Guitar, to Jane 489 John Keats Sleep and Poetry 49° Endymion • • 49° La Belle Dame sans Merci 491 7 Ode to a Nightingale 492 y Ode on a Grecian Urn 493 /Ode on Melancholy 494 -/To Autumn 494 Lines on the Mermaid Tavern 495 Robin Hood 495 The Eve of St. Agnes 496 Hyperion: Book I 502 On First Looking into Chapman's Homer 507 When I Have Fears 507 Bright Star 508 Thomas Campbell Ye Mariners of England 508 Thomas Moore The Time I've Lost in Wooing 508 Oft in the Stilly Night 509 The Harp That Once through Tara's Halls 509 Oh, Breathe not His Name 509 Charles Wolfe The Burial of Sir John Moore 509 Thomas Hood The Bridge of Sighs 510 The Song of the Shirt 511 Charles Lamb Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago 512 Dream Children 519 The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers 521 A Dissertation upon Roast Pig 525 The Superannuated Man 529 William Hazlitt The Fight 533 On Going a Journey 542 On Familiar Style 548 Thomas de Quincy Confessions of an Opium-Eater 551 On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth 559 y Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow 561 CONTENTS THE VICTORIAN AGE Walter Savage Landor page RoseAylmer 566 The Death of Artemidora 566 Sappho to Hesperus 566 One Year Ago 5 66 To Robert Browning 566 On the Hellenics 567 Iphigeneia and Agamemnon 567 To Youth 568 To Age 56S On His Seventy-Fifth Birthday 56S To My Ninth Decade 56S Alfred, Lord Tennyson The Lady of Shalott 5 6S CEnone 57° v/ The Lotos-Eaters 574 A Dream of Fair Women 575 You Ask Me Why 579 Morte D' Arthur 579 >/ Ulysses 583 Locksley Hall 584 Break, Break, Break 589 Songs from the Princess: Bugle Song 589 Tears, Idle Tears 589 Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead . . 590 In Memoriam 590 The Eagle - 59 2 Maud 592 The Charge of the Light Brigade 594 The Northern Farmer — Old Style 594 The Higher Pantheism 596 Flower in the Crannied Wail 596 The Revenge 597 Rizpah 599 By an Evolutionist . 601 Merlin and the Gleam 601 Crossing the Bar 603 Robert Browning Song from Pippa Passes 603 Cavalier Tunes 603 The Lost Leader 604 How They Brought the Good News 605 Meeting at Night 606 Parting at Morning 606 Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister 606 Home-Thoughts, from Abroad 607 Home-Thoughts, from the Sea 607 Saul 607 Love among the Ruins 614 Memorabilia 615 J My Last Duchess 615 CONTENTS PAGE In a Gondola 616 A Grammarian's Funeral 619 The Bishop Orders His Tomb 621 y Andrea Del Sarto 623 Prospice 627 Abt Vogler 627 Rabbi Ben Ezra 629 Epilogue to Asolando 632 Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnets from the Portuguese 632 The Cry of the Children 633 A Musical Instrument 636 Edward Fitzgerald Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam 636 Thomas Carlyle Sartor Resartus 644 Past and Present 648 Cromwell's Letters and Speeches 655 John Ruskin Modern Painters: Sunrise and Sunset in the Alps 657 The Two Boyhoods 658 The Stones of Venice: St. Mark's 664 Time and Tide : Letter xv 669 The Relation of Art to Morals 671 Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay Oliver Goldsmith 675 Arthur Hugh Clough Qua Cursum Ventus 683 Where Lies the Land 684 All Is Well 684 Life Is Struggle 684 Ite Domum Saturae 684 Say not the Struggle Nought Availeth 685 Matthew Arnold • Shakespeare , 685 The Forsaken Merman 686 Philomela 687 Requiescat 688 The Scholar-Gipsy 688 Sohrab and Rustum 692 The Austerity of Poetry 706 Rugby Chapel 706 Dover Beach 709 The Last Word 709 Literature and Science 709 Thomas Henry Huxley On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge ...... 720 John Henry, Cardinal Newman The Idea of a University 728 Apologia pro Vita Sua 739 Dante Gabriel Rossetti The Blessed Damozel 740 Sister Helen 741 : CONTENTS xix PAGE y/ The House of Life: The Sonnet 745 Lovesight 745 Silent Noon . . ... 745 A Superscription 745 William Morris The Earthly Paradise: An Apology 746 Prologue 746 Atalanta's Race 747 The Haystack in the Floods 758 Walter Horatio Pater Style . 760 Wordsworth 772 Robert Louis Stevenson ^s Triplex 780 Algernon Charles Swinburne y The Garden of Proserpine 784 Atalanta in Calydon: Choruses 785 A Match 787 To Walt Whitman in America 787 After Sunset . 7 8 9 On the Deaths of Thomas Carlyle and George Eliot 789 Christopher Marlowe 789 Ben Jonson • 790 George Meredith Love in the Valley 79° Juggling Jerry 794 Lucifer in Starlight 795 A BOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE A BOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1340 1400) THE PROLOGUE Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth 5 Inspired hath in every holt 1 and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne, And smale fowles maken melodye, That slepen al the night with open ye, 10 (So priketh hem nature in hir corages 2 ): Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages (And palmers for to seken straunge strondes) To feme 3 halwes, 4 couthe 5 in sondry 4on- des; And specially, from every shires ende 15 Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, The holy blisful martir for to seke, That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke. Bifel that, in that seson on a day, In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay 20 Redy to wenden on my pilgrimage To Caunterbury with ful devout corage, At night was come in-to that hostelrye Wei nyne and twenty in a companye, Of sondry folk, by aventure 6 y-falle 7 25 In felawshipe, and pilgrims were they alle, That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde ; The chambres and the stables weren wyde, And wel we weren esed atte beste. 8 And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste, So hadde I spoken with hem everichon, 31 That I was of hir felawshipe anon, And made forward 9 erly for to ryse, To take our wey, ther as I yow devyse. But natheles, whyl I have tyme and space, 35 1 wood. 2 hearts. 3 distant. 4 shrines. 6 known. 6 chance, 'fallen. 8 "entertained in the best manner." 9 agreement. Er that I ferther in this tale pace, Me thinketh it acordaunt to resoun, To telle yow al the condicioun Of ech of hem, so as it semed me, And whiche they weren, and of what degree; 40 And eek in what array that they were inne: And at a knight than wol I first biginne. A Knight ther was, and that a worthy man, That fro the tyme that he first bigan To ryden out, he loved chivalrye, 45 Trouthe and honour, fredom and cur- teisye. Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre, 10 And therto hadde he riden (no man ferre 11 ) As wel in Cristendom as hethenesse, And ever honoured for his worthinesse. 50 At Alisaundre he was, whan it was wonne; Ful ofte tyme he hadde the bord bi- gonne 12 Aboven alle naciouns in Pruce. In Lettow hadde he reysed 13 and in Ruce, No Cristen man so ofte of his degree. 55 In Gernade at the sege eek hadde he be Of Algezir, and riden in Belmarye. At Lyeys was he, and at Satalye, Whan they were wonne; and in the Grete See At many a noble ary ve 14 hadde he be. 60 At mortal batailles hadde he been fiftene, And foughten for our feith at Tramissene In listes thryes, and ay slayn his foo. This ilke worthy knight hadde been also Somtyme with the lord of Palatye, 65 Ageyn another hethen in Turkye: And evermore he hadde a sovereyn prys. 15 And though that he were worthy, he was wys. And of his port as meke as is a mayde. He never yet no vileinye ne sayde 70 In al his lyf, un-to no maner wight. 16 He was a verray parfit gentil knight. 10 war. " farther. 12 "he had been placed at the head of the table." 13 gone on an expedition. 14 disembarkation. 15 reputation. 16 no sort of person. TEE. END OF THE MIDDLE AGES But for to tellen yow of his array, His hors 1 were goode, but he was nat gay. Of fustian he wered a gipoun 2 75 Al bismotered 3 with his habergeoun; 4 For he was late y-come from his viage, 5 And wente for to doon his pilgrimage. With him ther was his sone, a yong Squyer, A lovyere, and a lusty bacheler, 80 With lokkes crulle, 6 as they were leyd in presse. Of twenty yeer of age he was, I gesse. Of his stature he was of evene lengthe, 7 And wonderly deliver, 8 and greet of strengthe. And he had been somtyme in chivachye, 9 In Flaundres, in Artoys, and Picardye, 86 And born him wel, as of so litel space, 10 In hope to stonden in his lady 11 grace. Embrouded 12 was he, as it were a mede 13 Al ful of fresshe floures, whyte and rede. 90 Singinge he was, or floytinge, 14 al the day; He was as fresh as is the month of May. Short was his goune, with sieves longe and wyde. Wel coude he sitte on hors, and faire ryde. He coude songes make and wel endyte, 95 Iuste 15 and eek daunce, and wel purtreye 16 and wryte. So hote 17 he lovede, that by nightertale 18 He sleep namore than dooth a nightin- gale. Curteys he was, lowly, and servisable, And carf biforn his fader at the table. 100 A Yeman hadde he, and servaunts namo At that tyme, for him liste 19 ryde so; And he was clad in cote and hood of grene ; A sheef of pecock-arwes brighte and kene Under his belt he bar ful thriftily, 105 (Wel coude he dresse his takel 20 yemanly: His arwes drouped noght with fetheres lowe) , And in his hand he bar a mighty bowe. A not-heed 21 hadde he, with a broun visage. Of wode-craft wel coude he al the usage.no Upon his arm he bar a gay bracer, 22 And by his syde a swerd and a bokeler, And on that other syde a gay daggere, I horses (plural). " doublet. . 3 spotted. 4 coat of mail. 5 voyage. 6 curly. 7 ordinary height. "active. » military expedition. "■"considering the short time he had served." II lady's. I2 adorned. 13 meadow. ll fluting. 16 joust. "draw. "hotly. 1S in the night-time. 19 it pleased him. 20 take care of his weapons. *' cropped head. 22 guard. Harneised 23 wel, and sharp as point of spere ; A Cristofre 24 on his brest of silver shene.115 An horn he bar, the bawdrik 25 was of grene; A forster 26 was he, soothly, as I gesse. Ther was also a Nonne, a Prioresse, That of hir smyling was ful simple and coy; 119 Hir gretteste ooth was but by seynt Loy, And she was cleped 27 madame Eglentyne. Ful wel she song the service divyne, Entuned in hir nose ful semely; And Frensh she spak ful faire and fetisly, 28 After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe, 125 For Frensh of Paris was to hir unknowe. At mete wel y-taught was she with-alle; She leet no morsel from hir lippes falle, Ne wette hir fingres in hir sauce depe. Wel coude she carie a morsel, and wel kepe, 130 That no drope ne fille up-on hir brest. In curteisye was set ful moche hir lest. 29 Hir over lippe wyped she so clene, That in hir coppe was no ferthing sene Of grece, whan she dronken hadde hir draughte. 135 Ful semely after hir mete she raughte, 30 And sikerly 31 she was of greet disport, 32 And full plesaunt, and amiable of port, 33 And peyned hir 34 to countrefete chere 35 Of court, and been estatlich 36 of manere,i4o And to ben holden digne 37 of reverence. But, for to speken of hir conscience, 38 She was so charitable and so pitous, She wolde wepe, if that she sawe a mous Caught in a trappe, if it were deed or bledde. 145 Of smale houndes had she, that she fedde With rosted flesh, or milk and wastel breed. 39 But sore weep she if oon of hem were deed, Or if men smoot it with a yerde smerte: And al was conscience and tendre herte.150 Ful semely hir wimpel pinched 40 was; Hir nose tretys; 41 hir eyen greye as glas; Hir mouth ful smal, and ther- to softe and reed; But sikerly she hadde a fair forheed; It was almost a spanne brood, I trowe; 155 23 equipped. 24 " figure of St. Christopher used as a brooch." 26 belt. 26 forester. 27 named. 2S elegantly. 29 pleasure. 30 reached. 31 truly. 32 fond of pleasure. 33 behavior. 31 tried hard. 36 deportment. 36 dignified. 37 worthy. 38 tenderness of heart. 39 fine bread. 40 pleated. ll well proportioned. CHA UCER For, hardily, she was nat undergrowe. Ful fetis 1 was hir cloke, as I was war. Of smal coral aboute hir arm she bar A peire 2 of bedes, gauded al with grene; And ther-on heng a broche of gold ful shene, 160 On which ther was first write a crowned A, And after, Amor vincit omnia. Another Nonne with hir hadde she, That was hir chapeleyne, and Preestes thre. A Monk ther was, a fair for the mais- trye, 3 165 An out-rydere, that lovede venerye; 4 A manly man, to been an abbot able. Ful many a deyntee hors hadde he in stable: And, whan he rood, men mighte his brydel here Ginglen in a whistling wind as clere, 1 70 And eek as loude as dooth the chapel-belle, Ther as this lord was keper of the celle. The reule of seint Maure or of seint Beneit, By-cause that it was old and som-del streit, 5 174 This ilke 6 monk leet olde thinges pace, 7 And held after the newe world the space. He yaf 8 nat of that text a pulled hen, That seith, that hunters been nat holy men; Ne that a monk, whan he is cloisterlees, Is lykned til a fish that is waterlees; 180 This is to seyn, a monk out of his cloistre. But thilke text held he nat worth an oistre. And I seyde, his opinioun was good. What sholde he studie, and make him- selven wood, 9 Upon a book in cloistre alwey to poure, 185 Or swinken 10 with his handes, and laboure, As Austin bit? How shal the world be served? Lat Austin have his swink to him reserved. Therfore he was a pricasour 11 aright; Grehoundes he hadde, as swifte as fowel in flight; 190 Of priking 12 and of hunting for the hare Was al his lust, for no cost wolde he spare. I seigh his sieves purfiled 13 at the hond With grys, 14 and that the fyneste of a lond; And, for to festne his hood under his chin, 1 handsome. 2 string. 3 a superior sort of fellow. 4 hunting. 5 somewhat strict. 6 same. ' go. s cared. 'mad. I0 work. " hard rider. 12 riding. > 3 trimmed. lt gray fur. He hadde of gold y-wroght a curious pin: A love-knotte in the gretter ende ther was. His heed was balled, that shoon as any glas, 198 And eek his face, as he had been anoint. He was a lord ful fat and in good point; 15 His eyen stepe, 16 and rollinge in his heed, That stemed 17 as a forneys of a leed; 18 His botes souple, his hors in greet estat. Now certeinly he was a fair prelat ; He was nat pale as a for-pyned 19 goost. 205 A fat swan loved he best of any roost. His palfrey was as broun as is a berye. A Frere there was, a wantown and a merye, A limitour, 20 a ful solempne 21 man. In alle the ordres foure is noon that can 22 So moche of daliaunce and fair langage.211 He hadde maad ful many a mariage Of yonge wommen, at his owne cost. Un-to his ordre he was a noble post. Ful wel biloved and famulier was he 215 With frankeleyns 23 over-al in his contree, And eek with worthy wommen of the toun: For he had power of confessioun, As seyde him-self, more than a curat, For of his ordre he was licentiat. 24 220 Ful swetely herde he confessioun, And plesaunt was his absolucioun ; He was an esy man to yeve 25 penaunce Ther-as he wiste to han a good pitaunce; For unto a povre order for to yive 225 Is signe that a man is wel y-shrive. For if he yaf, he dorste make avaunt, 26 He wiste that a man was repentaunt. For many a man so hard is of his herte, He may nat wepe al-thogh him sore smerte. 230 Therfore, in stede of weping and preyeres, Men moot yeve silver to the povre freres. His tipet was ay farsed 27 full of knyves And pinnes, for to yeven faire wyves. And certeinly he hadde a mery note; 235 Wel coude he synge and pleyen on a rote. 28 Of yeddinges 29 he bar utterly the prys. His nekke whyt was as the flour-de-lys; Ther-to he strong was as a champioun. He knew the tavernes well in every toun, 240 '" in good condition. 18 fire under a cauldron. 20 licensed beggar. 23 country gentlemen. 5 give — give. 28 a sort of fiddle 16 glittering. "glowed. 19 wasted away. 21 important. 22 knows. 24 licensed to hear confessions. 26 boast. " stuffed. 29 songs. THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES And everich hostiler and tappestere 1 Bet 2 than a lazar 3 or a beggestere; 4 For unto swich a worthy man as he Acorded nat, as by his facultee, 5 To have with seke lazars aqueyntaunce.245 It is nat honest, it may nat avaunce 6 For to delen with no swich poraille, 7 But al with riche and sellers of vitaille. And over-al, ther as profit sholde aryse, Curteys he was, and lowly of servyse. 250 Ther nas 8 no man nowher so vertuous. He was the beste beggere in his hous; For thogh a widwe hadde noght a sho, So plesaunt was his In principio, 9 Yet wolde he have a ferthing, er he wente. His purchas 10 was wel bettre than his rente. 11 256 And rage he coude as it were right a whelpe. In love-dayes ther coude he mochel helpe. For ther he was nat lyk a cloisterer, With a thredbar cope, as is a povre scoler, But he was lyk a maister or a pope. 261 Of double worsted was his semi-cope, That rounded as a belle out of the presse. Somwhat he lipsed, for his wantownesse, To make his English swete up-on his tonge; 265 And in his harping, whan that he had songe, His eyen twinkled in his heed aright, As doon the sterres in the frosty night. This worthy limitour was cleped Huberd. A Marchant was ther with a forked berd, 270 In mottelee, and hye on horse he sat, Up-on his heed a Flaundrish bever hat; His botes clasped faire and fetisly. His resons he spak ful solempnely, Souninge 12 alway thencrees of his winning. He wolde the see were kept 13 for any thing 276 Bitwixe Middlelburgh and Orewelle. Wel coude he in eschaunge sheeldes 14 selle. This worthy man ful wel his wit bisette; 15 Ther wiste no wight that he was in dette, So estatly was he of his governaunce, 16 281 With his bargaynes, and with his chev- lsaunce 17^ 1 barmaid. - better. 3 leper. ' beggar woman. » considering his ability. "profit. ' poor people. " was not. » the beginning of the Latin Gospel of St. John. 10 proceeds of his begging. " regular income. 12 tending towards. u guarded. H shields, French coins. ' ■ rnipluvc-d. 16 management. > 7 dealings. For sothe he was a worthy man with-alle, But sooth to seyn, I noot 18 how men him calle. A Clerk ther was of Oxenford also, 285 That un-to logik hadde longe y-go. As lene was his hors as is a rake, And he nas nat right fat, I undertake ; But loked hoi we, and ther- to soberly. Ful thredbar was his overest courtepy; 19 2c>o For he had geten him yet no benefyce, Ne was so worldly for to have offyce. For him was lever have at his beddes heed Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed, Of Aristotle and his philosophye, 295 Than robes riche, or fithele, 20 or gay sau- trye. 21 But al be that he was a philosophre, Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre; But al that he mighte of his freendes hente, 22 On bokes and on lerninge he it spente, 300 And bisily gan for the soules preye Of hem that yaf him wher-with to scoleye. Of studie took he most cure and most hede. Noght o word spak he more than was nede, And that was seyd in forme and rever- ence, 23 3 o S And short and quik, and ful of hy sen- tence. 24 Souninge 25 in moral vertu was his speche, And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche. A Sergeant of the La we, war 26 and wys, That often hadde been at the parvys, 27 310 Ther was also, ful riche of excellence. Discreet he was, and of greet reverence: He semed swich, his wordes weren so wyse. Iustyce he was ful often in assyse, By paten te, and by pleyn commissioun;3i5 For 28 his science, and for his heigh renoun , Of fees and robes hadde he many oon. So greet a purchasour 29 was nowher noon. Al was fee simple to him in effect, His purchasing mighte nat been infect. 320 Nowher so bisy a man as he ther nas, And yet he semed bisier than he was. In termes hadde he caas 30 and domes 31 alle, That from the tyme of king William were falle. 18 know not. "outer coat. 20 fiddle. 21 psaltery. 22 get. 23 "with propriety and modesty." 24 meaning. 26 conducing to. 26 cautious. 57 church-porch. 28 because of. 29 conveyancer. 30 cases. 31 judgments. CHA UCER Therto he coude endyte, and make a thing, Ther coude no wight pinche 1 at his wryting; 326 And every statut coude he pleyn by rote. He rood but hoomly in a medlee 2 cote Girt with a ceint 3 of silk, with barres smale; Of his array telle I no lenger tale. 330 A Frankeleyn was in his companye; Whyt was his berd, as is the dayesye. Of his complexioun he was sangwyn. 4 Wei loved he by the morwe 5 a sop 6 in wyn. 6 To liven in delyt was ever his wone, 7 335 For he was Epicurus owne sone, That heeld opinioun that pleyn delyt 8 Was verraily felicitee parfyt. An housholdere, and that a greet, was he; Seynt Iulian he was in his contree. 340 His breed, his ale, was alwey after oon; 9 A bettre envyned 10 man was no-wher noon. With-oute bake mete was never his hous, Of fish and flesh, and that so plentevous, It snewed in his hous of mete and drinke, Of alle deyntees that men coude thinke.346 After the sondry sesons of the yeer, So chaunged he his mete and his soper. Ful many a fat partrich hadde he in mewe, 11 And many a breem 12 and many a luce 13 in stewe. 14 350 Wo was his cook, but-if his sauce were Poynaunt and sharp, and redy al his gere. His table dormant 15 in his halle alway Stood redy covered al the longe day. At sessiouns ther was he lord and sire. 355 Ful ofte tyme he was knight of the shire. An anlas 16 and a gipser 17 al of silk Heng at his girdel, whyt as morne milk. A shirreve hadde he been, and a countour; 18 Was no-wher such a worthy vavasour. 19 360 An Haberdassher and a Carpenter, A Webbe, 20 a Dyere, and a Tapicer, 21 Were with us eek, clothed in o 22 liveree, Of a solempne and greet fraternitee. Ful fresh and newe hir gere apyked 23 was; Hir knyves were y-chaped 24 noght with bras, 366 1 find fault with. 2 of mixed colors. 3 girdle. 4 ruddy. 6 in the morning. 6 wine with bread in it. 7 custom. 8 joy. 9 of one quality. 10 stored with wine, "coop. I2 a sort of fish. 13 pike. 14 fish-pond. l5 permanent side table. ,6 short dagger. 17 purse. 1S auditor. 19 landed gentleman. 20 weaver. 21 upholsterer. — one. 23 trimmed. 24 capped. But al with silver, wroght ful clene and weel, Hir girdles and hir pouches every-deel. Wei semed ech of hem a fair burgeys, To sitten in a yeldhalle 25 on a deys. 370 Everich, for the wisdom that he can, Was shaply for to been an alderman. For catel 26 hadde they y-nogh and rente, And eek hir wy ves wolde it wel assente ; And elles certein were they to blame. 375 It is ful fair to been y-clept "ma dame", And goon to vigilyes al bifore, And have a mantel royalliche y-bore. A Cook they hadde with hem for the nones, 27 To boille the chiknes with the mary-bones, And poudre-marchant tart, 28 and galin- gale. 381 Wel coude he knowe a draughte of London ale. He coude roste, and sethe, 30 and broille, and frye, Maken mortreux, 31 and wel bake a pye. But greet harm was it, as it thoughte me, 385 That on his shine a mormal 32 hadde he; For blankmanger, 33 that made he with the beste. A Shipman was ther, woning fer by weste: For aught I woot, he was of Dertemouthe. He rood up-on a rouncy, 34 as he couthe, 35 In a gowne of falding 36 to the knee. 391 A daggere hanging on a laas 3 ' hadde he Aboute his nekke under his arm adoun. The hote somer had maad his hewe al broun ; And, certeinly, he was a good felawe. 395 Ful many a draughte of wyn had he y-drawe From Burdeux-ward, whyl that the chap- man 38 sleep. Of nyce conscience took he no keep. 39 If that he faught, and hadde the hyer hond, By water 40 he sente hem hoom 40 to every lond. 400 But of his craft 41 to rekene wel his tydes, His stremes 42 and his daungers him bisydes, 25 guild-hall. 26 property. 27 for the occasion. 28 a sharp sort of flavoring. 29 sweet cyperus. 30 boil. 3I pottages. 32 sore. 33 a sort of chicken compote. 34 hackney. 35 as well as he could. 36 coarse cloth. 37 string. 38 super-cargo. 39 cared nothing at all. 40 he made the losers "walk the plank." " skill. 42 currents. THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES His herberwe 1 and his mone, 2 his lode- menage, 3 Ther nas noon swich from Hulle to Cartage. Hardy he was, and wys to undertake ; 405 With many a tempest hadde his berd been shake. He knew wel alle the havenes, as they were, From Gootlond to the cape of Finistere, And every cryke in Britayne and in Spayne ; 409 His barge y-cleped was the Maudelayne. With us ther was a Doctour of Phisyk, In al this world ne was ther noon him lyk To speke of phisik and of surgerye ; For he was grounded in astronomye. He kepte 4 his pacient a ful greet del 415 In houres, 4 by his magik naturel. Wel coude he fortunen 5 the ascendent Of his images for his pacient. He knew the cause of everich maladye, Were it of hoot or cold, or moiste, or drye, 420 And where engendred, and of what hu- mour; He was a verrey parfit practisour. The cause y-knowe, and of his harm the rote, 6 Anon he yaf the seke man his bote. 7 Ful redy hadde he his apothecaries, 425 To sende him drogges, and his letuaries, 8 For ech of hem made other for to winne; Hir frendschipe nas nat newe to biginne. Wel knew he the olde Esculapius, And Deiscorides, and eek Rufus; 430 Old Ypocras, Haly, and Galien; Serapion, Razis, and Avicen; Averrois, Damascien, and Constantyn; Bernard, and Gatesden, and Gilbertyn. Of his diete mesurable 9 was he, 435 For it was of no superfluitee, But of greet norissing and digestible. His studie was but litel on the Bible. In sangwin 10 and in pers 11 he clad was al, Lyned with taffata and with sendal, 12 440 And yet he was but esy of dispence; 13 He kepte that he wan in pestilence. For gold in phisik is a cordial, Therfore he lovede gold in special. 1 harbor. 2 position of the moon. 3 pilotage. * watched for his patient's favorable star. 'On the five following lines consult the notes. ' root, origin. 'remedy. "remedies, 'temperate. 10 red cloth. "blue cloth. n thin silk, "expenditure. A good Wyf was ther of bisyde Bathe, But she was som-del deef, and that was scathe. 14 446 Of clooth-making she hadde swiche an haunt, 15 She passed hem of Ypres and of Gaunt. In al the parisshe wyf ne was ther noon That to the off ring bifore hir sholde goon; And if ther dide, certeyn, so wrooth was she, 451 That she was out of alle charitee. Hir coverchiefs 16 ful fyne were of ground ; 17 I dorste swere they weyeden ten pound That on a Sonday were upon hir heed. 455 Hir hosen weren of fyn scarlet reed, Ful streite y-teyd, and shoes ful moiste 18 and newe. Bold was hir face, and fair, and reed of hewe. She was a worthy womman al hir ly ve ; Housbondes at chirche-dore she hadde fyve, 460 Withouten other companye in you the; But therof nedeth nat to speke as nouthe. 19 And thryes hadde she been at Ierusalem; She hadde passed many a straunge streem ; At Rome she hadde been, and at Boloigne, In Galice at seint lame, and at Coloigne. She coude muche of wandring by the weye. 467 Gat-tothed 20 was she, soothly for to seye. Up-on an amblere esily she sat, Y- wimpled 21 wel, and on hir heed an hat 470 As brood as is a bokeler or a targe ; A foot-mantel 22 aboute hir hipes large, And on hir feet a paire of spores sharpe. In felaweschip wel coude she laughe and carpe. 23 474 Of remedies of love she knew per-chaunce, For she coude of that art the olde daunce. A good man was ther of religioun, And was a povre Persoun 24 of a toun; But riche he was of holy thoght and werk. He was also a lerned man, a clerk, 480 That Cristes gospel trewely wolde preche; His parisshens devoutly wolde he teche. Benigne he was, and wonder diligent, And in adversitee ful pacient ; 484 And swich he was y-preved 25 ofte sythes. 26 Ful looth were him to cursen for his tythes, 14 a pity. " skill. I6 head-dresses. 17 texture. 18 supple. " at present. M with teeth far apart. 21 her head well covered with a wimple. 22 cloth to protect the skirt. *> talk. 24 parish priest. 26 proved. 26 many a time. CHA UCER But rather wolde he yeven, out of doute, Un-to his povre parisshens aboute Of his offring, and eek of his substaunce. He coude in litel thing han suffisaunce. 490 Wyd was his parisshe, and houses fer a-sonder, But he ne lafte 1 nat for reyn ne thonder, In siknes nor in meschief to visyte The ferreste in his parisshe, muche 2 and lyte, 3 Up-on his feet, and in his hand a staf . 495 This noble ensample to his sheep he yaf, That first he wroghte, and afterward he taughte; Out of the gospel he tho wordes caughte; And this figure he added eek ther-to, That if gold ruste, what shal iren do? 500 For if a preest be foul, on whom we truste, No wonder is a lewed 4 man to ruste; And shame it is, if a preest take keep, 5 A [spotted] shepherde and a clene sheep. Wei oghte a preest ensample for to yive,so5 By his clennesse, how that his sheep shold live. He sette nat his benefice to hyre, And leet his sheep encombred in the my re, And ran to London, un-to seynt Poules, To seken him a chaunterie for soules, 510 Or with a bretherhed to been withholde; 6 But dwelte at hoom, and kepte wel his folde, So that the wolf ne made it nat miscarie; He was a shepherde and no mercenarie. And though he holy were, and vertuous,5is He was to sinful man nat despitous, 7 Ne of his speche daungerous 8 ne digne, 9 But in his teching discreet and benigne. To drawen folk to heven by fairnesse By good ensample, this was his bisinesse: But it were any persone obstinat, 521 What so he were, of heigh or lowe estat, Him wolde he snibben 10 sharply for the nones. A bettre preest I trowe that nowher noon is. He way ted after no pompe and reverence, Ne maked him a spyced 11 conscience, 526 But Cristes lore, and his apostles twelve, He taughte, and first he folwed it him- selve. 1 ceased not. 2 high. 3 low. 1 ignorant. 5 pay attention to it. 8 confined 7 merciless. 8 disdainful. ' scornful 10 reprove. 11 over-scrupulous. With him ther was a Plowman, was his brother, That hadde y-lad 12 of dong ful many a fother; 13 530 A trewe swinkere 14 and a good was he, Livinge in pees and parfit charitee. God loved he best with al his hole herte At alle tymes, thogh him gamed 15 or smerte, 16 And thanne his neighebour right as him- selve. 535 He wolde thresshe, and ther-to dyke 17 and delve, For Cristes sake, for every povre wight, Withouten hyre, if it lay in his might. His tythes payed he ful faire and wel, Bothe of his propre swink 18 and his catel. 19 In a tabard 20 he rood upon a mere. 541 Ther was also a Reve 21 and a Millere, A Somnour 22 and a Pardoner also, A Maunciple, 23 and my-self; ther were namo. The Miller was a stout carl, for the nones, 545 Ful big he was of braun, and eek of bones; That proved wel, for over-al ther he cam, At wrastling he wolde have alwey the ram. 24 He was short-sholdred, brood, a thikke knarre, 25 Ther nas no dore that he nolde 26 heve of harre, 26 550 Or breke it, at a renning, with his heed. His berd as any sowe or fox was reed, And ther-to brood, as though it were a spade. Up-on the cop 27 right of his nose he hade A werte, and ther-on stood a tuft of heres, Reed as the bristles of a sowes eres ; 556 His nose-thirles 28 blake were and wyde. A swerd and bokeler bar he by his syde; His mouth as greet was as a greet forneys. He was a Ianglere 29 and a goliardeys, 30 560 And that was most of sinne and harlotryes. Wel coude he stelen corn, and tollen thryes ; And yet he hadde a thombe of gold, pardee. A whyt cote and a blew hood wered he. 12 carried in a cart. 13 load. M laborer. 15 it pleased. 16 pained. " dig. 18 labor. 19 property. M loose coat. 21 bailiff. - 2 summoner for an ecclesiastical court. 23 steward of a college. 21 win the prize, a ram. 25 a sturdy fellow. * could not lift off its hinges. "top. » nostrils. 29 talker. *> buffoon. 8 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES A baggepype wel coude he blowe and sowne, 565 And therwithal he broghte us out of towne. A gentil Maunciple was ther of a tem- ple ' Of which achatours 1 mighte take exemple For to be wyse in bying of vitaille. For whether that he payde, or took by taille, 2 570 Algate 3 he wayted 4 so in his achat, That he was ay biforn and in good stat. Now is nat that of God a ful fair grace, That swich a lewed 6 mannes wit shal pace The wisdom of an heep of lerned men? 575 Of maistres hadde he mo than thryes ten, That were of lawe expert and curious; Of which ther were a doseyn in that hous, Worthy to been stiwardes of rente and lond Of any lord that is in Engelond, 580 To make him live by his propre good, In honour dettelees, 7 but he were wood, 8 Or live as scarsly as him list desire; And able for to helpen al a shire In any cas that mighte falle or happe ; 585 And yit this maunciple sette 9 hir aller cappe. 9 The Reve was a sclendre colerik man, His berd was shave as ny as ever he can. His heer was by his eres round y-shorn. His top was dokked lyk a preest biforn.590 Ful longe were his legges, and ful lene, Y-lyk a staf, ther was no calf y-sene. Wel coude he kepe a gerner 10 and a binne ; Ther was noon auditour coude on him winne. Wel wiste he, by the droghte, and by the reyn, 59S The yelding of his seed, and of his greyn. His lordes sheep, his neet, 11 his dayerye, His swyn, his hors, his stoor, 12 and his pultrye, Was hoolly in this reves governing, And by his covenaunt yaf the rekening,6oo Sin that his lord was twenty yeer of age; Ther coude no man bringe him in arrerage. Ther nas baillif, ne herde, ne other hyne, 13 That he ne knew his sleighte 11 and his covyne ; 604 ■caterers. 2 on credit, 'always. * took precautions. 'buying, "ignorant. 7 free from debt. "mad. • over-reached them all. w granary. 11 cattle. n stock, "servant, "trickery, "deceit. They were adrad of him, as of the deeth. His woning 16 was ful fair up-on an heeth, With grene trees shadwed was his place. He coude bettre than his lord purchace. Ful riche he was astored prively, His lord wel coude he plesen subtilly, 610 To yeve and lene 17 him of his owne good, And have a thank, and yet a cote and hood. In youthe he lerned hadde a good mister; 18 He was a wel good wrighte, a carpenter. This reve sat up-on a ful good stot, 19 615 That was al pomely 20 grey, and highte Scot. A long surcote of pers 21 up-on he hade, And by his syde he bar a rusty blade. Of Northfolk was this reve, of which I telle, Bisyde a toun men clepen Baldeswelle.620 Tukked 22 he was, as is a frere, aboute, And evere he rood the hindreste of our route. A Somnour was ther with us in that place, That hadde a fyr-reed cherubinnes face, ****** Wel loved he garleek, oynons, and eek lekes, And for to drynken 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 speke no word but Latyn. A fewe termes hadde he, two or three, That he had lerned out of som decree ; 640 No wonder is, he herde it al the day ; And eek ye knowen wel, how that a lay Can clepen "Watte," 23 as well as can the pope. But who-so coude in other thing him grope, 24 Thanne hadde he spent al his philosophye ; Ay "Questio quid iuris" wolde he crye. 646 He was a gentil harlot 25 and a kynde ; A bettre felawe sholde men noght fynde. He wolde suff re for a quart of wyn A good felawe to have his [wikked sin] 650 A twelf-month, and excuse him atte fulle: And prively a finch eek coude he pulle. And if he fond owher 26 a good felawe, He wolde techen him to have non awe, 16 house. "lend. > 8 trade. 19 horse. 20 dappled. 21 blue cloth. — tucked. '-'■' jay can cry "Wat." 21 "test him in any other point." 25 rogue. 26 anywhere. CHA UCER In swich cas, of the erchedeknes curs, 655 But-if 1 a mannes soule were in his purs; For in his purs he sholde y-punisshed be, "Purs is the erchedeknes helle," seyde he. But wel I woot he lyed right in dede; Of cursing oghte ech gilty man him drede — For curs wol slee, right as assoilling 2 saveth — 661 And also war him 3 of a significavit. In daunger 4 hadde he at his owne gyse 5 The yonge girles 6 of the diocyse, And knew hir counseil, and was al hir reed. 7 665 A gerland hadde he set up-on his heed, As greet as it were for an ale-stake; A bokeler hadde he maad him of a cake. With him ther rood a gentil Pardoner Of Rouncival, his freend and his compeer, That streight was comen fro the court of Rome. 671 . Ful loude he song, "Com hider, love, to me." This somnour bar to him a stif burdoun, Was never trompe of half so greet a soun. This pardoner hadde heer as yelow as wex, But smothe it heng, as doth a strike 8 of flex; 676 By ounces 9 henge his lokkes that he hadde, And ther-with he his shuldres over- spradde ; But thinne it lay, by colpons 10 oon and oon; But hood, for Iolitee, ne wered he noon, 680 For it was trussed up in his walet. Him thoughte, 11 he rood al of the newe let; 12 Dischevele, save his cappe, he rood al bare. Swiche glaringe eyen hadde he as an hare. A vernicle hadde he sowed on his cappe. 685 His walet lay biforn him in his lappe, Bret-ful 13 of pardoun come from Rome al hoot. A voys he hadde as smal as hath a goot. No berd hadde he, ne never sholde have, As smothe it was as it were late y-shave; 690 But of his craft, fro Berwik into Ware, Ne was ther swich another pardoner. For in his male 14 he hadde a pilwe-beer, 15 1 unless. 2 absolution. 3 let him beware of. 4 in his jurisdiction. 5 way. ' 6 people. 7 adviser. 8 hank of flax. 9 small portions. 10 shreds. " it seemed to him. 12 fashion. 13 brim-full. u wallet. 15 pillow-case. Which that, he seyde, was our lady veyl: 16 He seyde, he hadde a gobet 17 of the seyl 696 That seynt Peter hadde, whan that he wente Up-on the see, til Iesu Crist him hente. 18 He hadde a croys of latoun, 19 ful of stones, And in a glas he hadde pigges bones. 700 But with thise relikes, whan that he fond A povre person dwelling up-on lond, 20 Up-on a day he gat him more moneye Than that the person got in monthes tweye. And thus with feyned flaterye and Iapes, 21 He made the person and the peple his apes. But trewely to tellen, atte laste, 707 He was in chirche a noble ecclesiaste. Wel coude he rede a lessoun or a storie, But alderbest 22 he song an off ertorie ; 710 For wel he wiste, whan that song was songe, He moste preche, and wel affyle 23 his tonge, To winne silver, as he ful wel coude; Therefore he song so meriely and loude. Now have I told you shortly, in a clause, Thestat, 24 tharray, the nombre, and eek the cause 716 Why that assembled was this companye In Southwerk, at this gentil hostelrye, That highte the Tabard, faste by the Belle. But now is tyme to yow for to telle 720 How that we baren us that ilke night, Whan we were in that hostelrye alight. And after wol I telle of our viage, And al the remenaunt of our pilgrimage. But first I pray yow, of your curteisye, 725 That ye narette 20 it nat my vileinye, 25 Thogh that I pleynly speke in this matere, To telle yow hir wordes and hir chere, 26 Ne thogh I speke hir wordes properly. 27 For this ye knowen al-so wel as I, 730 Who-so shal telle a tale after a man, He moot reherce, as ny as ever he can, Everich a 28 word, if it be in his charge, Al speke he 29 never so rudeliche and large ; 30 Or elles he moot telle his tale untrewe, 735 Or feyne thing, or fynde wordes newe. He may nat spare, al-thogh he were his brother; He moot as wel seye o word as another. 16 the Virgin Mary's veil. " piece. 18 took. 19 brass. 20 in the country. 21 tricks. 22 best of all. 23 sharpen. 2 * the estate. 25 "ascribe it not to my ill breeding." 26 behavior. 27 literally. M every. 29 although he speak. w freely. THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES Crist spak him-self ful brode in holy writ, And wel ye woot, no vileinye is it. 740 Eek Plato seith, who-so that can him rede, The wordes mote be cosin to the dede. Also I prey yow to foryeve it me, Al have I nat set folk in hir degree 1 Here in this tale, as that they sholde stonde ; 745 My wit is short, ye may wel understonde. Greet chere made our hoste us everichon, And to the soper sette he us anon ; And served us with vitaille at the beste. Strong was the wyn, and wel to drinke us leste. 2 750 A semely man our hoste was with-alle For to han been a marshal in an halle; A large man he was with eyen stepe, 3 A fairer burgeys is ther noon in Chepe: Bold of his speche, and wys, and wel y- taught, _ 755 And of manhod him lakkede right naught. Eek therto he was right a mery man, And after soper pleyen 4 he bigan, And spak of mirthe amonges othere thinges, 759 Whan that we hadde maad our rekeninges; And seyde thus: "Now, lordinges, trewely Ye been to me right welcome hertely: For by my trouthe, if that I shal nat lye, I ne saugh 5 this yeer so mery a companye At ones 6 in this herberwe 7 as is now. 765 Fayn wolde I doon yow mirthe, wiste I how. And of a mirthe, I am right now bithoght, To doon yow ese, 8 and it shal coste noght. Ye goon to Caunterbury; God yow spede, The blisful martir quyte yow your mede. 9 And wel I woot, as ye goon by the weye,77i Ye shapen yow to talen 10 and to pleye; For trewely, confort ne mirthe is noon To ryde by the weye doumb as a stoon; And therfore wol I maken yow disport, 775 As I seyde erst, and doon yow som confort. And if yow lyketh alle, by oon assent, Now for to stonden at my Iugement, And for to werken as I shal yow seye, To-morwe, whan ye ryden by the weye, 780 Now, by my fader soule, that is deed, But ye be merye, I wol yeve yow myn heed. 1 proper rank. 4 make merry. 7 inn. • rcwartl you duly. 2 it pleased us. 6 have not seen. 8 entertain you. 10 plan to talk. 8 glittering. 6 one time. Hold up your hond, withoute more speche." Our counseil was nat longe for to seche; Us thoughte it was noght worth to make it wys, 11 785 And graunted him with-outen more avys, 12 And bad him seye his verdit, as him leste. "Lordinges," quod he, "now herkneth for the beste; But tak it not, I prey yow, in desdeyn; This is the poynt, to speken short and pleyn, _ 790 That ech of yow, to shorte with your weye. In this viage, shal telle tales tweye, To Caunterbury- ward, I mene it so, And hom-ward he shal tellen othere two, Of aventures that whylom 14 han bifalle.795 And which of yow that bereth him best of alle, That is to seyn, that telleth in this cas Tales of best sentence 15 and most solas, 16 Shal han a soper at our aller cost 17 Here in this place, sitting by this post, 800 Whan that we come agayn fro Caunter- bury. And for to make yow the more mery, I wol my-selven gladly with yow ryde, Right at myn owne cost, and be your gyde. And who-so wol my Iugement withseye 805 Shal paye al that we spenden by the weye. And if ye vouche-sauf that it be so, Tel me anon, with-outen wordes mo, And I wol erly shape me 18 therfore." This thing was graunted, and our othes swore 810 With ful glad herte, and preyden him also That he wold vouche-sauf for to do so, And that he wolde been our governour, And of our tales luge and reportour, And sette a soper at a certeyn prys; 815 And we wold reuled been at his devys, 19 In heigh and lowe; and thus, by oon assent, We been acorded to his Iugement. And ther-up-on the wyn was fet 20 anon; We dronken, and to reste wente echon, 820 With-outen any lenger taryinge. A-morwe, whan that day bigan to springe, Up roos our host, and was our aller cok, 21 And gadrede us togidre, alle in a flok, 1 deliberate about it. 3 make the journey short. 6 meaning. 7 the expense of us all. 9 according to his decision. 21 cock of us all. 12 consideration. 14 formerly. 16 amusement. 18 get myself ready. 20 brought. CHA UCER And forth we riden, a litel mdre than pas, 1 825 Un-to the watering of seint Thomas. And there our host bigan his hors areste, 2 And seyde; "Lordinges, herkneth if yow leste. Ye woot your forward, 3 and I it yow re- corded If even-song and morwe-song acorde, 830 Lat se now who shal telle the firste tale. As ever mote I drinke wyn or ale, Who-so be rebel to my Iugement Shal paye for al that by the weye is spent. Now draweth cut, er that we ferrer 5 twinne; 6 835 He which that hath the shortest shal be- ginne. Sire knight," quod he, "my maister and my lord, Now draweth cut, for that is myn acord. 7 Cometh neer," quod he, "my lady prior- esse; And ye, sir clerk, lat be your shamfast- nesse, 8 840 Ne studieth noght; ley hond to, every man." Anon to drawen every wight bigan, And shortly for to tellen, as it was, Were it by aventure, 9 or sort, 10 or cas, 11 The sothe 12 is this, the cut fil to the knight, Of which ful blythe and glad was every wight; 846 And telle he moste his tale, as was resoun, By forward and by composicioun, 13 As ye han herd; what nedeth wordes mo? And whan this goode man saugh it was so, As he that wys was and obedient 851 To kepe his forward by his free assent, He seyde: "Sin 14 I shal beginne the game, What, welcome be the cut, a 15 Goddes name! Now lat us ryde, and herkneth what I seye." 855 And with that word we riden forth our weye; And he bigan with right a mery chere 16 His tale anon, and seyde in this manere. 1 a little faster than a walk. 2 stop. 3 agreement. 4 remind you of it. 6 farther. 6 depart. 7 judgment. 8 modesty. 9 accident. 10 destiny. 11 chance. 12 truth. 13 compact. 14 since. 16 in. 16 countenance. THE NUN'S PRIEST'S TALE Here biginneth the Nonne Preestes Tale of the Cok and Hen, Chauntecleer and Pertelote. A povre widwe somdel stope 17 in age, Was whylom dwelling in a narwe cotage, Bisyde a grove, stondyng in a dale. This widwe, of which I telle yow my tale, Sin thilke 18 day that she was last a wyf, 5 In pacience ladde a ful simple lyf, For litel was hir catel 19 and hir rente; 20 By housbondrye, of such as God hir sente, She fond 21 hir-self, and eek hir doghtren two. Three large sowes hadde she, and namo, 10 Three kyn, and eek a sheep that highte Malle. Ful sooty was hir bour, 22 and eek hir halle, In which she eet ful many a sclendre meel. Of poynaunt sauce hir neded never a deel. No deyntee morsel passed thurgh hir throte; 15 Hir dyete was accordant to 23 hir cote. Repleccioun 24 ne made hir never syk; Attempree 25 dyete was al hir phisyk, And exercyse, and hertes suffisaunce. 26 The goute lette 27 hir no-thing for to daunce, 20 Napoplexye 28 shente 29 nat hir heed ; No wyn ne drank she, neither whyt ne reed; Hir bord was served most with whyt and blak, Milk and broun breed, in which she fond no lak, Seynd 30 bacoun, and somtyme an ey 31 or tweye, 25 For she was as it were a maner deye. 32 A yerd she hadde, enclosed al aboute With stikkes, and a drye dich with-oute, In which she hadde a cok, hight Chaunte- cleer, In al the land of crowing nas 33 his peer. 30 His vois was merier than the mery orgon On messe-dayes that in the chirche gon; Wei sikerer 34 was his crowing in his logge, 35 Than is a clokke, or an abbey orlogge. 36 By nature knew he ech ascensioun 35 Of equinoxial in thilke toun; 17 advanced. 1S that. 19 chattels. 2" income 21 provided for. 22 bed-chamber. 23 in keeping with 24 over-eating. M a temperate. 27 hindered. M nor apoplexy 30 broiled. 31 egg. 33 was not. 54 more certain. 26 contentment. 29 injured. 32 sort of dairywoman. 36 lodge. » clock. THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES For whan degrees fiftene were ascended, Thanne crew he, that it mighte nat ben amended. 1 His comb was redder than the fyn coral, And batailed, 2 as it were a castel-wal. 40 His bile 3 was blak, and as the Ieet 4 it shoon ; Lyk asur were his legges, and his toon; 5 His nayles whytter than the lilie flour, And lyk the burned gold was his colour. This gentil cok hadde in his governaunce 45 Sevene hennes, for to doon al his plesaunce, Whiche were his sustres and his para- mours, And wonder lyk to him, as of colours. Of whiche the faireste hewed on hir throte Was cleped 6 faire damoysele Pertelote. 50 Curteys she was, discreet, and debonaire, And compaignable, and bar hirself so faire, Syn thilke day that she was seven night old, That trewely she hath the herte in hold 7 Of Chauntecleer loken 8 in every lith ; 9 55 He loved hir so, that wel was him ther- with. But such a Ioye was it to here hem singe, Whan that the brighte sonne gan to springe, In swete accord, "My lief is faren 10 in londe." For thilke tyme, as I have understonde, 60 Bestes and briddes coude speke and singe. And so bifel, that in a daweninge, 11 As Chauntecleer among his wyves alle Sat on his perche, that was in the halle, And next him sat this faire Pertelote, 65 This Chauntecleer gan gronen in his throte, As man that in his dreem is drecched 12 sore. And whan that Pertelote thus herde him rore, She was agast, and seyde, "O herte dere, What eyleth yow, to grone in this manere? Ye been a verray 13 sleper, fy for shame! "71 And he answerde and seyde thus, "ma- dame, I pray yow, that ye take it nat agrief : By god, me mette 14 1 was in swich mes- chief 1 improved. 2 indented. 6 toes. • named. 8 locked. 9 limb. 12 troubled. 13 true. • bill. 4 jet. 7 possession, safe-keeping. 111 gone. n dawn. 14 I dreamed. Right now, that yet myn herte is sore afright. 75 Now god," quod he, "my sweven 15 rede 16 aright, And keep my body out of foul prisoun ! Me mette, how that I romed up and doun Withinne our yerde, wher as I saugh a beste, Was lyk an hound, and wolde han maad areste 80 Upon my body, and wolde han had me deed. His colour was bitwixe yelwe and reed; And tipped was his tail, and bothe his eres, With blak, unlyk the remenant of his heres; His snowte smal, with glowinge eyen tweye. 85 Yet of his look for fere almost I deye; This caused me my groning, doutelees." "Avoy!" quod she, "fy on yow, hert- elees ! Alias! " quod she, "for, by that god above, Now han ye lost myn herte and al my love; I can nat love a coward, by my feith. 91 For certes, what so any womman seith, We alle desyren, if it mighte be, To han housbondes hardy, wyse, and free, 17 And secree, and no nigard, ne no fool, 95 Ne him that is agast of every tool, 18 Ne noon avauntour, 19 by that god above! How dorste ye seyn for shame unto your love, That any thing mighte make yow aferd? Have ye no mannes herte, and han a berd? Alias! and conne ye been agast of swevenis? No-thing, god wot, but vanitee, in sweven is. 102 Swevenes engendren of 20 replecciouns, And ofte of fume, 21 and of complecciouns, 22 Whan humours been to habundant in a wight. 105 Certes this dreem, which ye han met to- night, Cometh of the grete superfluitee Of youre rede 23 colera, u pardee, Which causeth folk to dreden in here dremes Of arwes, 25 and of fyr with rede lemes, 26 no Of grete bestes, that they wol hem byte, Of contek, 27 and of whelpes grete and lyte; 16 dream. 16 explain. 19 boaster. 22 temperaments. 26 arrows. 17 generous. 20 are caused by. 23 red. 26 flames. 18 weapon. 21 vapor. 24 choler. 27 strife. CHA UCER 13 Right as the humour of malencolye Causeth ful many a man, in sleep, to crye, For fere of blake beres, 1 or boles 2 blake, Or elles, blake develes wole hem take. 116 Of othere humours coude I telle also, That werken many a man in sleep ful wo; But I wol passe as lightly as I can. Lo Catoun, which that was so wys a man, 120 Seyde he nat thus, ne do no fors of 3 dremes? Now, sire," quod she, "whan we flee fro the bemes, For Goddes love, as tak som laxatyf ; Up peril of my soule, 4 and of my lyf, I counseille yow the beste, I wol nat lye, 125 That both of colere, and of malencolye Ye purge yow; and for ye shul nat tarie, Though in this toun is noon apotecarie, I shal my-self to herbes techen yow, That shul ben for your hele, 5 and for your prow; 6 130 And in our yerd tho herbes shal I finde, The whiche han of here propretee, by kinde, 7 To purgen yow binethe, and eek above. Forget not this, for goddes owene love! Ye been ful colerik of compleccioun. 135 Ware 8 the sonne in his ascencioun Ne fynde yow nat repleet of humours hote; And if it do, I dar wel leye a grote, That ye shul have a fevere terciane, Or an agu, that may be youre bane. 9 140 A day or two ye shul have digestyves Of wormes, er ye take your laxatyves, Of lauriol, centaure, and fumetere, Or elles of ellebor, that groweth there. Of catapuce, or of gaytres beryis, 10 145 Of erbe yve, 11 growing in our yerd, that mery is; Pekke hem up right as they growe, and ete hem in. Be mery, housbond, for your fader kin! Dredeth no dreem ; I can say yow namore." 'Madame," quod he, " graunt mercy of your lore. 150 But natheles, as touching daun 12 Catoun, That hath of wisdom such a greet renoun, 1 bears. 2 bulls. 4 by my soul. 5 healing. 7 nature. 8 take care lest. 10 berries of the gay-tree. 12 dominus, lord. 3 pay no attention to. 6 profit. 9 death. 11 ground ivy. Though that he bad no dremes for to drede, By god, men may in olde bokes rede Of many a man, more of auctoritee 155 Than ever Catoun was, so moot I thee, 13 That al the revers seyn of his sentence, And han wel founden by experience, That dremes ben significaciouns, As wel of Ioye as tribulaciouns 160 That folk enduren in this lyf present. Ther nedeth make of this noon argument; The verray preve 14 sheweth it in dede. Oon of the grettest auctours that men rede Seith thus, that whylom two felawes 15 wente 165 On pilgrimage, in a full good intente; And happed so, they come into a toun, Wher as ther was swich congregacioun Of peple, and eek so streit 16 of herber- gage, 17 169 That they ne founde as muche as o 18 cotage, In which they bothe mighte y-logged be. Wherfor thay mosten, of necessitee, As for that night, departen compaignye; And ech of hem goth to his hostelrye, And took his logging as it wolde falle. 175 That oon of hem was logged in a stalle, Fer in a yerd, with oxen of the plough ; That other man was logged wel y-nough, As was his aventure, 19 or his fortune, That us governeth alle as in commune. 20 180 And so bifel, that, long er it were day, This man mette 21 in his bed, ther-as he lay, How that his felawe gan up-on him calle, And seyde, 'alias ! for in an oxes stalle This night I shal be mordred ther 22 I lye. Now help me, dere brother, er I dye; 186 In alle haste com to me,' he sayde. This man out of his sleep for fere abrayde ; 23 But whan that he was wakned of his sleep, He turned him, and took of this no keep; 24 Him thoughte his dreem nas but a vanitee. Thus twyes in his sleping dremed he. 192 And atte thridde tyme yet his felawe Cam, as him thoughte, and seide T am now slawe; 25 Bihold my blody woundes, depe and wyde! 195 Arys up erly in the morwe-tyde, 13 may I prosper. 17 lodging. 20 commonly. 23 started. 14 proof. 15 companions. 16 little. 18 one. 19 chance. 21 dreamed. • 22 where. 24 thought, care. 2S slain. 14 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES And at the west gate of the toun,' quod he, ' A carte ful of donge ther shaltow 1 see, In which my body is hid ful prively; Do thilke carte aresten boldely. 200 My gold caused my mordre, sooth to sayn ; ' And tolde hym every poynt how he was slayn, With a ful pitous face, pale of hewe. And truste wel, his dreem he fond ful trewe; For on the morwe, as sone as it was day,2o5 To his f elawes in 2 he took the way ; And whan that he cam to this oxes stalle, After his felawe he bigan to calle. The hostiler answered hym anon, And seyde, 'sire, your felawe is agon, 210 As sone as day he wente out of the toun.' This man gan fallen in suspecioun, Remembring on his dremes that he mette, And forth he goth, no lenger wolde he lette, 3 Unto the west gate of the toun, and fond A dong-carte, as it were to donge lond, 216 That was arrayed in that same wyse As ye han herd the dede man devyse; And with an hardy herte he gan to crye Vengeaunce and Iustice of this felonye:— 'My felawe mordred is this same night, 221 And in this carte he lyth gapinge upright. 4 I crye out on the ministres,' quod he, 'That sholden kepe and reulen this citee; Harrow ! alias ! her lyth my felawe slayn ! ' What sholde I more unto this tale sayn?226 The peple out-sterte, and cast the cart to grounde, And in the middel of the dong they founde The dede man that mordred was al newe. blisful god, that art so lust and trewe! Lo, how that thou biwreyest 5 mordre alway! 231 Mordre wol out, that se we day by day. Mordre is so wlatsom 6 and abhominable To god, that is so lust and resonable, That he ne wol nat suffre it heled 7 be; 235 Though it abyde a yeer, or two, or three, Mordre wol out, this 8 my conclusioun. And right anoon, ministres of that toun Han hent the carter, and so sore him pyned, 9 And eek the hostiler so sore engyned, 10 240 1 shalt thou. 2 inn. 3 delay. * on his back 6 revealest. 6 heinous. 7 concealed. 8 this is. * tortured. 10 racked. That thay biknewe 11 hir wikkednesse anoon, And were an-hanged by the nekke-boon. Here may men seen that dremes been to drede. And certes, in the same book I rede, Right in the nexte chapitre after this, 245 (I gabbe 12 nat, so have I Ioye or blis), Two men that wolde han passed over see, For certeyn cause, in-to a fer contree, If that the wind ne hadde been contrarie, That made hem in a citee for to tarie, 250 That stood ful mery upon an haven-syde. But on a day, agayn 13 the even-tyde, The wind gan chaunge, and blew right as hem leste. Iolif and glad they wente un-to hir reste, And casten hem 14 ful erly for to saille; 255 But to that oo 15 man fel a greet mer- vaille. That oon of hem, in sleping as he lay, Him mette a wonder dreem, agayn the day; Him thoughte a man stood by his beddes syde, And him comaunded, that he sholde abyde, 260 And seyde him thus, 'if thou to-morwe wende, Thou shalt be dreynt; 16 my tale is at an ende.' He wook, and tolde his felawe what he mette, And preyde him his viage for to lette; 17 As for that day, he preyde him to abyde. His felawe, that lay by his beddes syde, 266 Gan for to laughe, and scorned him ful faste. 'No dreem,' quod he, 'may so myn herte agaste, 18 That I wol lette for to do my thinges. 19 I sette not a straw by thy dreminges, 270 For swevenes been but vanitees and Iapes. 20 Men dreme al-day of owles or of apes, And eke of many a mase 21 therwithal; Men dreme of thing that nevere was ne shal. But sith 22 1 see that thou wolt heer abyde, And thus for-sleuthen 23 wilfully thy tyde, 11 acknowledged. 12 lie. 16 one. 16 drowned. 18 terrify. " business. 21 bewilderment. " since. 13 towards. 14 planned. 17 delay. 20 jests. 23 waste. CHA UCER i5 God wot it reweth me; 1 and have good day.' 277 And thus he took his leve, and wente his way. But er that he hadde halfe his cours y-seyled, Noot I nat why, ne what mischaunce it eyled, 280 But casuelly 2 the shippes botme rente, And ship and man under the water wente In sighte of othere shippes it byside, That with hem seyled at the same tyde. And therfor, faire Pertelote so dere, 285 By swiche ensamples olde maistow 3 lere 4 That no man sholde been to recchelees 5 Of dremes, for I sey thee, doutelees, That many a dreem ful sore is for to drede. Lo, in the lyf of seint Kenelm, I rede, 290 That was Kenulphus sone, the noble king Of Mercenrike, 6 how Kenelm mette a thing; A lyte 7 er he was mordred, on a day, His mordre in his avisioun he say. 8 His norice 9 him expouned every del 295 His sweven, and bad him for to kepe him wel For 10 traisoun; but he nas but seven yeer old, And therfore litel tale 11 hath he told 12 Of any dreem, so holy was his herte. By god, I hadde lever 13 than my sherte 300 That ye had rad his legende, as have I. Dame Pertelote, I sey yow trewely, Macrobeus, that writ the avisioun In Affrike of the worthy Cipioun, Affermeth dremes, and seith that they been 305 Warning of thinges that men after seen. And forther-more, I pray yow loketh wel In the olde testament, of Daniel, If he held dremes any vanitee. Reed eek of Ioseph, and ther shul ye see 310 Wher 14 dremes ben somtyme (I sey nat alle) Warning of thinges that shul after falle. Loke of Egipt the king, daun Pharao, His bakere and his boteler also, 314 Wher they ne felte noon effect in dremes. Who so wol seken actes 15 of sondry remes 16 May rede of dremes many a wonder thing. 1 1 am sorry. 4 learn. ' little. 10 for fear of. 13 rather. 15 records. 2 accidentally. 6 careless. 8 saw. 11 importance. 3 mayest thou. 6 Mercia. 9 nurse. 12 placed. 14 whether. 16 realms. Lo Cresus, which that was of Lyde 17 king, Mette he nat that he sat upon a tree, Which signified he sholde anhanged be?32o Lo heer Andromacha, Ectores wyf , That day that Ector sholde lese 18 his lyf. She dremed on the same night biforn, How that the lyf of Ector sholde be lorn, 19 If thilke day he wente in-to bataille ; 325 She warned him, but it mighte nat availle ; He wente for to fighte nathelees, But he was slayn anoon of Achilles. But thilke tale is al to long to telle, And eek it is ny 20 day, I may nat dwelle. 330 Shortly I seye, as for conclusioun, That I shal han of this avisioun Adversitee ; and I seye forther-more, That I ne telle of laxatyves no store, 21 For they ben venimous, I woot it wel ; 335 I hem defye, I love hem never a del. 22 Now let us speke of mirthe, and stinte 23 al this; Madame Pertelote, so have I blis, 24 Of o thing God hath sent me large grace; 25 For whan I see the beautee of your face,34o Ye ben so scarlet-reed about your yen, 26 It maketh al my drede for to dyen ; For, also siker 27 as In principio, Mulier est hominis confusio; Madame, the sentence 28 of this Latin is — Womman is mannes Ioye and al his blis 5346 I am so ful of Ioye and of solas 350 That I defye bothe sweven and dreem." And with that word he fley 29 doun fro the beem, For it was day, and eek his hennes alle; And with a chuk he gan hem for to calle, For he had founde a corn, lay in the yerd. Royal he was, he wasnamoreaferd; 356 He loketh as it were a grim leoun ; And on his toos he rometh up and doun,36o Him deyned not- to sette his foot to grounde. He chukketh, whan he hath a corn y- founde, And to him rennen thanne his wyves alle. Thus royal, as a prince is in his halle, » Lydia. « lose. 19 lost. 20 almost. 21 take no faith in. 22 never a bit. 23 cease. 24 as I hope for heaven. 26 favor. 26 eyes. 27 as surely as. 28 meaning. 29 flew. i6 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES Leve I this Chauntecleer in his pasture 5365 And after wol I telle his aventure. Whan that the month in which the world bigan, That highte March, whan god first maked man, Was complet, and y-passed were also, Sin March bigan, thritty dayes and two, Bifel that Chauntecleer, in al his pryde,37i His seven wyves walking by his syde, Caste up his eyen to the brighte sonne, That in the signe of Taurus hadde y-ronne Twenty degrees and oon, and somwhat more; 375 And knew by kynde, 1 and by noon other lore, 2 That it was pryme, 3 and crew with blisful stevene. 4 "The sonne," he sayde, "is clomben up on hevene Fourty degrees and oon, and more, y-wis. 5 Madame Pertelote, my worldes blis, 380 Herkneth thise blisful briddes how they singe, And see the fresshe floures how they springe; Ful is myn hert of revel and solas." But sodeinly him fil a sorweful cas; 6 For ever the latter ende of Ioye is wo. 385 God woot that worldly Ioye is sone ago; 7 And if a rethor 8 coude faire endyte, He in a chronique saufly 9 mighte it write, As for a sovereyn notabilitee. 10 Now every wys man, lat him herkne me; This storie is al-so trewe, I undertake, 391 As is the book of Launcelot de Lake, That wommen holde in ful gret reverence. Now wol I torne agayn to my sentence. A col-fox, 11 ful of sly iniquitee, 395 That in the grove hadde woned 12 yeres three, By heigh imaginacioun forn-cast, 13 The same night thurgh-out the hegges 14 brast 15 Into the yerd, ther Chauntecleer the faire Was wont, and eek his wyves, to repaire; And in a bed of wortes 16 stille he lay, 401 Til it was passed undern 17 of the day, Wayting his tyme on Chauntecleer to falle, As gladly doon thise homicydes alle, 1 nature. 2 teaching. * voice. 6 certainly. 7 gone. 8 rhetorician. 11 Mack fox. 12 lived. 16 burst. " herbs. 3 nine o'clock A.M. e a sa«l accident befell him. 9 safely. 10 wonder. 13 premeditated. H hedges. 17 the middle of the forenoon. That in awayt liggen 18 to mordre men. 405 O false mordrer, lurking in thy den! O newe Scariot, newe Genilon ! False dissimilour, 19 O Greek Sinon, That broghtest Troye al outrely 20 to sorwe! Chauntecleer, acursed be that morwe,4io That thou into that yerd flough fro the bemes! Thou were ful wel y- warned by thy dremes, That thilke day was perilous to thee. But what that god forwot 21 mot nedes 22 be, After the opinioun of certeyn clerkis. 415 Witnesse on him 23 that any perfit clerk is, That in scole is gret altercacioun In this matere, and greet disputisoun, And hath ben of an hundred thousand men. But I ne can not bulte it to the bren, 24 420 As can the holy doctour Augustyn, Or Boece, or the bishop Bradwardyn, Whether that goddes worthy forwiting Streyneth 25 me nedely 26 for to doon a thing, (Nedely clepe I simple necessitee) ; 425 Or elles, if free choys be graunted me To do that same thing, or do it noght, Though god forwot it, er that it was wroght ; Or if his witing streyneth nevere a del But by necessitee condicionel. 430 1 wol not han to do of swich matere ; My tale is of a cok, as ye may here, That took his counseil of his wyf, with sorwe, To walken in the yerd upon that morwe That he had met the dreem, that I yow tolde. 435 Wommennes counseils been ful ofte colde; 27 Wommannes counseil broghte us first to wo, And made Adam fro paradys to go, Ther as he was ful mery, and wel at ese. But for I noot, to whom it mighte displese, If I counseil of wommen wolde blame, 441 Passe over, for I seyde it in my game. 28 Rede auctours, 29 wher they trete of swich matere, And what thay seyn of wommen ye may here. 18 lie. 19 dissembler. -° absolutely. 21 foresees. 22 necessarily. 23 let him witness it. 24 sift the matter. 20 constrains. 26 necessarily. 27 baneful. <2S in sport. 29 authors. CHA UCER 17 Thise been the cokkes wordes, and nat myne; 445 I can noon harm of no womman divyne. 1 Faire in the sond, 2 to bathe hir merily, Lyth Pertelote, and alle hir sustres by, Agayn the sonne; and Chauntecleer so free Song merier than the mermayde in the see; For Phisiologus seith sikerly, 451 How that they singen wel and merily. And so bifel, that as he caste his ye, Among the wortes, 3 on a boterflye, He was war of this fox that lay ful lowe.455 No-thing ne liste him thanne for to crowe, But cryde anon, "cok, cok," and up he sterte, As man that was affrayed in his herte. For naturelly a beest desyreth flee Fro his contrarie, if he may it see, 460 Though he never erst 4 had seyn it with his ye- This Chauntecleer, whan he gan him espye, He wolde han fled, but that the fox anon Seyde, "Gen til sire, alias! wher wol ye gon? Be ye affrayed of me that am your freend? Now certes, I were worse than a feend, 466 If I to yow wolde harm or vileinye. I am nat come your counseil 5 for tespye; 6 But trewely, the cause of my cominge Was only for to herkne how that ye singe. For trewely ye have as mery a stevene, 7 471 As eny aungel hath, that is in hevene; Therwith ye han in musik more felinge Than hadde Boece, or any that can singe. My lord your fader (god his soule blesse!) And eek your moder, of hir gentilesse, 476 Han in myn hous y-been, to my gret ese, 8 And certes, sire, ful fayn wolde I yow plese. But for men speke of singing, I wol saye, So mote I brouke 9 wel myn eyen 10 tweye,48o Save yow, I herde never man so singe, As dide your fader in the morweninge ; Certes, it was of herte, al that he song. And for to make his voys the more strong, He wolde so peyne him, 11 that with both his yen 10 485 He moste 12 winke, so loude he wolde cry en, I declare. 2 sand. 3 herbs. * before. 5 secrets. s to spy out. 7 voice. 8 pleasure. 9 have the use of. "> eyes. II take such pains. > 2 needed to. And stonden on his tiptoon 13 therwithal. And strecche forth his nekke long and smal. And eek he was of swich discrecioun, That ther nas no man in no regioun 490 That him in song or wisdom mighte passe. I have weel rad in daun Burnel the Asse, Among his vers, how that ther was a cok, For that a preestes sone yaf him a knok Upon his leg, whyl he was yong and nyce, He made him for to lese 14 his benefyce. 496 But certeyn, ther nis no comparisoun Bitwix the wisdom and discrecioun Of youre fader, and of his subtiltee. Now singeth, sire, for seinte 15 charitee, 500 Let see, conne ye your fader countre- fete?" 16 This Chauntecleer his winges gan to bete, 17 As man that coude his tresoun nat espye, So was he ravisshed with his flaterye. Alias! ye lordes, many a fals flatour 18 5o5 Is in your courtes, and many a losen- geour, 19 That plesen yow wel more, by my feith, Than he that soothfastnesse 20 unto yow seith. Redeth Ecclesiaste of flaterye; Beth 21 war, 22 ye lordes, of hir trecherye.510 This Chauntecleer stood hye up-on his toos, Strecching his nekke, and heeld his eyen cloos, And gan to crowe loude for the nones; And daun Russel the fox sterte up at ones, 23 And by the gargat 24 hente 25 Chauntecleer, And on his bak toward the wode him beer, 26 516 For yet ne was ther no man that him sewed. 27 O destinee, that mayst nat ben eschewed! 28 Alias, that Chauntecleer fleigh fro the bemes! Alias, his wyf ne roghte 29 nat of dremes! 520 And on a Friday fil al this meschaunce. O Venus, that art goddesse of plesaunce, 30 Sin that thy servant was this Chauntecleer, And in thy service dide al his poweer, More for delyt, than world to multiplye, Why woldestow 31 suffre him on thy day to dye? 526 13 tip-toes. M lose. ' 18 flatterer. 19 deceiver. 22 wary. 23 at once. * bore. « followed. 29 cared. 3 « delight. holy. 16 imitate. " flap. 29 truth. 2l be. 24 throat. 26 seized. 28 avoided. 31 wouldst thou. THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES O Gaufred, dere mayster soverayn, That, whan thy worthy king Richard was slayn With shot, compleynedest his deth so sore, Why ne hadde I 1 now thy sentence 2 and thy lore, 3 53° The Friday for to chide, as diden ye? (For on a Friday soothly slayn was he.) Than wolde I shewe yow how that I coude pleyne 4 For Chauntecleres drede, 5 and for his peyne. 6 Certes, swich 7 cry ne lamentacioun 535 Was never of ladies maad, whan Ilioun Was wonne, and Pirrus with his streite 8 swerd, Whan he hadde hent 9 king Priam by the berd, And slayn him (as saith us Eneydos), As maden alle the hennes in the clos, 10 540 Whan they had seyn of Chauntecleer the sighte. But sovereynly dame Pertelote shrighte, Ful louder than dide Hasdrubales wyf, Whan that hir housbond hadde lost his lyf, And that the Romayns hadde brend 11 Cartage. 545 She was so ful of torment and of rage, That wilfully into the fyr she sterte, 12 And brende hir-selven with a stedfast herte. woful hennes, right so cryden ye, As, whan that Nero brende the citee 550 Of Rome, cryden senatoures wyves, For that hir housbondes losten alle hir lyves; Withouten gilt this Nero hath hem slayn. Now wol I torne to my tale agayn. This sely 13 widwe, and eek hir doghtres two, _ 555 Herden thise hennes crye and maken wo, And out at dores sterten thay anoon, And syen 14 the fox toward the grove goon, And bar upon his bak the cok away; 559 And cryden, " Out! harrow! and weylaway ! Ha, ha, the fox!" and after him they ran, And eek with staves many another man; Ran Colle our dogge, and Talbot, and Gerland, And Malkin, with a distaf in hir hand; 1 had I not. 2 learning. 3 knowledge 4 lament. 6 fear. 6 grief. 7 such. 8 drawn. 9 seized. 10 enclosure. 11 burned. 12 leaped. 13 simple. 11 saw. Ran cow and calf, and eek the verray hogges, _ 565 So were they fered for 15 berking of the dogges And shouting of the men and wimmen eke, They ronne so, hem thoughte hir herte breke. They yelleden as feendes doon 16 in helle; The dokes cryden as 17 men wolde hem quelle; 18 570 The gees for fere flowen over the trees; Out of the hyve cam the swarm of bees; So hidous was the noyse, a! benedicite! Certes, he Iakke Straw, and his meynee, 19 Ne maden 20 never shoutes half so shrille, Whan that they wolden any Fleming kille, As thilke day was maad upon the fox. 577 Of bras thay broghten bemes, 21 and of box, 22 Of horn, of boon, in whiche they blewe and pouped, 23 And therwithal they shryked and they houped; 24 580 It semed as that heven sholde falle. Now, gode men, I pray yow herkneth alle! Lo, how fortune turneth sodeinly The hope and pryde eek of hir enemy! This cok, that lay upon the foxes bak, 585 In al his drede, un-to the fox he spak, And seyde, " sire, if that I were as ye, Yet sholde I seyn (as wis 25 god helpe me) , ' Turneth agayn, ye proude cherles alle! A verray pestilence up-on yow falle ! 590 Now am I come un-to this wodes syde, Maugree your heed, 26 the cok shal heer abyde; I wol him ete in feith, and that anon.' " The fox answerde, "in feith, it shal be don,"— And as he spak that word, al sodeinly 595 This cok brak 27 from his mouth deliverly, 28 And heighe 29 up-on a tree he fleigh anon. And whan the fox saugh that he was y-gon, "Alias!" quod he, "O Chauntecleer, alias! I have to yow," quod he, "y-doon trespas, In-as-muche as I maked yow aferd, 601 Whan I yow hente, and broghte out of the yerd; 15 frightened by. I6 do. " as if. 1S kill. >' company. 20 did not make. 21 trumpets. 22 box-wood. 23 puffed. 2< whooped. " surely. 26 in spite of your head; in spite of all you can do. 27 broke. m nimbly. 29 high. CHA UCER 19 But, sire, I dide it in no wikke 1 entente; Com doun, and I shal telle yow what I mente. I shal seye sooth to yow, god help me so." "Nay than," quod he, " I shrewe 2 us bothe two, 606 And first I shrewe my-self, bothe blood and bones, If thou bigyle me ofter than ones. Thou shalt namore, thurgh thy flaterye Do me to 3 singe and winke with myn ye. 610 For he that winketh, whan he sholde see, Al wilfully, god lat him never thee!" 4 "Nay," quod the fox, "but god yeve 5 him meschaunce, 6 That is so undiscreet of governaunce, 7 That iangleth 8 whan he sholde holde his pees." 615 Lo, swich it is for to be recchelees, 9 And necligent, and truste on flaterye. But ye that hoi den this tale a folye, 10 As of a fox, or of a cok and hen, Taketh the moralitee, good men. 620 For seint Paul seith, that al that writen is, To 11 our doctryne 12 it is y-write, y-wis. Taketh the fruyt, and lat the chaf be still e. Now, gode god, if that it be thy wille, As seith my lord, so make us alle good men; And bringe us to his heighe blisse. Amen. LE Vi Heere bigynneth the Pardoners Tale In Flaundres whylom was a companye Of yonge folk, that haunteden 13 folye, 136 As ryot, hasard, 14 stewes, 15 and tavernes, Wher-as, with harpes, lutes, and giternes, 16 They daunce and pleye at dees bothe day and night, And ete also and drinken over hir might, Thurgh which they doon the devel sacrifyse 141 With-in that develes temple, in cursed wyse, By superfluitee abhominable; Hir othes been so gret and so dampnable, That it is grisly for to here hem swere ; 145 Our blissed lordes body they to-tere; 17 1 wicked. 5 give. 9 careless. 12 teaching. 15 brothels. 2 curse. 6 bad luck. i° silly thing. 13 practised. 16 guitars. 3 make me. A prosper. 7 self-control. 8 prattles. « for. 14 gambling. 17 tear in pieces Hem thoughte 18 Iewes rente him noght ynough; And ech of hem at otheres sinne lough. And right anon than comen tombesteres 19 Fetys 20 and smale, and yonge fruytesteres, 21 Singers with harpes [eek, and] wafereres, 22 Whiche been the verray develes officeres To kindle and blowe the fyr of [luxurye], That is annexed un-to glotonye; The holy writ take I to my witnesse, 155 That luxurie is in wyn and dronkenesse. Herodes (who so wel the stories soughte ) Whan he of wyn was replet at his feste, 161 Ryght at his owene table he yaf his heste 23 To sleen the Baptist John ful giltelees. Senek 24 seith eek a good word doutelees; He seith, he can no difference finde 165 Bitwix a man that is out of his minde And a man which that is dronkelewe, 25 But that woodnesse, 26 yfallen in a shrewe, 27 Persevereth lenger than doth dronken- esse. O glotonye, ful of cursednesse, 1 70 O cause first of our confusioun, O original of our dampnacioun, Til Crist had boght us with his blood agayn! Lo, how dere, shortly for to sayn, Aboght 28 was thilke cursed vileinye; 175 Corrupt was al this world for glotonye! Adam our fader, and his wyf also, Fro Paradys to labour and to wo Were driven for that vyce, it is no drede; 29 For whyl that Adam fasted, as I rede, 180 He was in Paradys ; and whan that he Eet of the fruyt defended 30 on the tree, Anon he was out-cast to wo and peyne. O glotonye, on thee wel oghte us pleyne! 31 O, wiste a man how many maladyes 185 Folwen of excesse and of glotonyes, He wolde been the more mesurable 32 Of his diete, sittinge at his table. Alias! the shorte throte, the tendre mouth, Maketh that, Est and West, and North and South, 190 In erthe, in eir, in water men to-swinke 33 To gete a glotoun deyntee mete and drinke ! 13 it seemed to them. 21 fruit sellers. 24 Seneca. 27 wretch. a bought. 31 complain. 19 dancing girls. 20 graceful. 22 confectioners. 23 command. 25 a drunkard. - >6 madness. 29 without doubt. 30 forbidden. 32 temperate. 33 labor hard. THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES Of this matere, Paul, wel canstow trete, "Mete un-to wombe, 1 and wombe eek un-to mete, Shal god destroyen bothe," as Paulus seith. 195 Alias! a foul thing is it, by my feith, To seye this word, and fouler is the dede, Whan man so drinketh of the whyte and rede, That of his throte he maketh his privee, Thurgh thilke cursed superfluitee. 200 The apostel weping seith ful pitously, "Ther walken many of whiche yow told have I, I seye it now weping with pitous voys, That they been enemys of Cristes croys, 2 Of whiche the ende is deeth, wombe 1 is her god." 205 How gret labour and cost is thee to fynde! 3 Thise cokes, how they stampe, and streyne, 4 and grinde, 210 And turnen substaunce in-to accident, To fulfil le al thy likerous 5 talent! 6 Out of the harde bones knokke they The mary, 7 for they caste noght a-wey That may go thurgh the golet softe and swote; 8 215 Of spicerye, of leef, and bark, and rote 9 Shal been his sauce ymaked by delyt, To make him yet a newer appetyt. But certes, he that haunteth swich delyces 10 Is deed, whyl that he liveth in tho vyces. A [cursed] thing is wyn, and dronken- esse 221 Is ful of stryving 11 and of wrecchednesse. O dronke man, disfigured is thy face, Sour is thy breeth, foul artow to embrace, And thurgh thy dronke nose semeth the soun 12 225 As though thou seydest ay "Sampsoun, Sampsoun," And yet, god wot, Sampsoun drank never no wyn. Thou fallest, as it were a stiked swyn; Thy tonge is lost, and al thyn honest cure; 13 For dronkenesse is verray sepulture 230 1 belly. 2 cross. 3 maintain. * labor. 6 dainty. 'appetite. 'marrow. 'sweetly. 9 root. ,0 pleasures. "strife. n sound. 13 care for honorable reputation. Of mannes wit and his discrecioun. In whom that drinke hath dominacioun, He can no conseil kepe, it is no drede. Now kepe yow fro the whyte and fro the rede, And namely fro the whyte wyn of Lepers That is to selle in Fishstrete or in Chepe. This wyn of Spayne crepeth subtilly In othere wynes, growing faste by, Of which ther ryseth swich fumositee, 14 That whan a man hath dronken draughtes three, 240 And weneth 15 that he be at hoom in Chepe, He is in Spayne, right at the toune of Lepe, Nat at the Rochel, ne at Burdeux toun; And thanne wol he seye, "Sampsoun, Sampsoun." But herkneth, lordings, o word, I yow preye, 245 That alle the sovereyn actes, dar I seye, Of victories in the olde testament, Thurgh verray 16 god, that is omnipotent, Were doon in abstinence and in preyere; Loketh the Bible, and ther ye may it lere. Loke, Attila, the grete conquerour, 251 Deyde 17 in his sleep, with shame and dis- honour, Bledinge ay at his nose in dronkenesse; A capitayn shoulde live in sobernesse. And over al this, avyseth yow 18 right wel 255 What was comaunded un-to Lamuel — Nat Samuel, but Lamuel, seye I — Redeth the Bible, and finde it expresly Of wyn-yeving 19 to hem that han Iustyse; Namore of this, for it may wel suffyse. 260 And now that I have spoke of glotonye, Now wol I yow defenden 20 hasardrye. 21 Hasard is verray moder of lesinges, 22 And of deceite, and cursed forsweringes, 23 Blaspheme of Crist, manslaughtre, and wast 24 also 265 Of catel 25 and of tyme; and forthermo, It is repreve 26 and contrarie of honour For to ben holde 27 a commune hasardour. And ever the hyer he is of estaat, The more is he holden desolaat. 28 270 If that a prince useth hasardrye, In alle governaunce and policye He is, as by commune opinoun, Yholde the lasse in reputacioun. 11 confusing fumes. 15 thinks, "died. "consider. ,9 giving. 21 gambling. 22 lies. 23 perjury. 26 wealth. 26 a reproach. 27 known as. 16 the true. 20 forbid. 2J waste. - n shunned. CHA UCER 21 Stilbon, that was a wys embassadour,275 Was sent to Corinthe, in ful greet honour, Fro Lacidomie, to make hir alliaunce. And whan he cam, him happede, par chaunce, That alle the grettest that were of that lond, Pleyinge atte hasard he hem fond. 280 For which, as sone as it mighte be, He stal 1 him hoom 1 agayn to his contree, And seyde, "Ther wol I nat lese 2 my name; Ne I wol nat take on me so greet defame, 3 Yow for to allye un-to none hasardours. 285 Sendeth othere wyse embassadours; For, by my trouthe, me were lever 4 dye, Than I yow sholde to hasardours allye. For ye that been so glorious in honours Shul nat allyen yow with hasardours 290 As by my wil, ne as by my tretee." This wyse philosophre thus seyde he. Loke eek that to the king Demetrius The king of Parthes, as the book seith us, Sente him a paire of dees 5 of gold in scorn, For he hadde used hasard ther-biforn ; 296 For which he heeld his glorie or his renoun At no value or reputacioun. Lordes may fynden other maner pley Honeste ynough to dry ve the day awey. 300 Now wol I speke of othes false and grete A word or two, as olde bokes trete. Gret swering is a thing abhominable, And fals swering is yet more reprevable. The heighe god forbad swering at al, 305 Witnesse on Mathew; but in special Of swering seith the holy Ieremye, "Thou shalt seye sooth 6 thyn othes, and nat lye, And swere in dome, 7 and eek in right- wisnesse;" But ydel swering is a cursednesse. 310 Bihold and see, that in the firste table Of heighe goddes hestes 8 honurable, How that the seconde heste of him is this— " Tak nat my name in ydel 9 or amis." Lo, rather he forbedeth swich swering 315 Than homicyde or many a cursed thing; I seye that, as by ordre, thus it stondeth; This knowen, that 10 his hestes under- stondeth, 1 returned. 2 lose. 3 dishonor. 4 1 would rather. s dice. 6 truthfully. 7 judgment. 8 commandments. • in vain. 10 those who. How that the second heste of god is that. And forther over, I wol thee telle al plat, 11 That vengeance shal nat parten 12 from his hous, 321 That of his othes is to outrageous. "By goddes precious herte, and by his navies, And by the blode of Crist, that it is in Hayles, Seven is my chaunce, and thyn is cmk? 3 and treye; 14 325 By goddes armes, if thou falsly pleye, This dagger shal thurgh-out thyn herte go"- This fruyt cometh of the bicched 15 bones two, Forswering, ire, falsnesse, homicyde. Now, for the love of Crist that for us dyde, Leveth your othes, bothe grete and smale; But, sirs, now wol I telle forth my tale. 332 Thise ryotoures three, of whiche I telle, Longe erst er pryme 16 rong of any belle, Were set hem in a taverne for to drinke; 335 And as they satte, they herde a belle clinke Biforn a cors, was caried to his grave; That oon of hem gan callen to his knave, " Go bet," 17 quod he, " and axe redily, What cors is this that passeth heer forby; And look that thou reporte his name wel." 341 "Sir," quod this boy, "it nedeth neveradel. 18 It was me told, er ye cam heer, two houres; He was, pardee, an old felawe 19 of youres; And sodeynly he was yslayn to-night, 345 For-dronke, 20 as he sat on his bench upright; Ther cam a privee theef, men clepeth 21 Deeth, That in this contree al the peple sleeth, And with his spere he smoot his herte atwo, 349 And wente his wey with-outen wordes mo. He hath a thousand slayn this pestilence: And, maister, er ye come in his presence, Me thinketh that it were necessarie For to be war of swich an adversarie : Beth redy for to mete him evermore. 355 Thus taughte me my dame, I sey namore." " By seinte Marie," seyde this taverner, "The child seith sooth, 22 for he hath slayn this yeer, 11 plainly. l2 depart. I3 five. M three. I5 cursed. 16 nine o'clock A. M. n quickly. I8 there is no need of it. 19 companion. 2° dead drunk. 21 name. — truth. 22 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES Henne 1 over a myle, with-in a greet village, Both man and womman, child and hyne, 2 and page. 360 I trowe his habitacioun be there; To been avysed 3 greet wisdom it were, Er that he dide a man a dishonour." y Ye, goddes armes," quod this ryotour, " Is it swich peril with him for to mete? 365 I shal him seke by wey and eek by strete, I make avow to goddes digne 4 bones ! Herkneth, felawes, we three been al ones; 5 Lat ech of us holde up his hond til other, And ech of us bicomen otheres brother, 370 And we wol sleen this false tray tour Deeth; He shal be slayn, which that so many sleeth, By goddes dignitee, er it be night." Togidres han thise three her trouthes plight, To live and dyen ech of hem for other, 375 As though he were his owene yboren 6 brother. And up they sterte al dronken, in this rage, Arid forth they goon towardes that village, Of which the taverner had spoke biforn, And many a grisly ooth than han they sworn, 380 And Cristes blessed body they to-rente — "Deeth shal be deed, if that they may him hente." 7 Whan they han goon nat fully half a myle, Right as they wolde han troden over a style, An old man and a povre with hem mette. This olde man ful mekely hem grette, 386 And seyde thus, "now, lordes, god yow see!" 8 The proudest of thise ryotoures three Answerde agayn, "what? carl, 9 with sory grace, 10 Why artow 11 al forwrapped 12 save thy face? Why lyvestow so longe in so greet age? "391 This olde man gan loke 13 in his visage, And seyde thus, "for I ne can nat finde A man, though that I walked in- to Inde, Neither in citee nor in no village, 395 That wolde chaunge his youthe for myn age; And therfore moot 14 I han myn age stille, As longe time as it is goddes wille. 1 hence. 2 servant. 3 forewarned. 4 honorable. 6 of one mind. " born. 7 seize, 'protect. » churl. 10 bad luck to you. 11 art thou. ,2 wrapped up. 13 looked. H must. Ne deeth, alias! ne wol nat han my lyf; Thus walke I, lyk a restelees caityf , 400 And on the ground, which is my modres gate, I knokke with my staf, bothe erly and late, And seye, 'leve 15 moder, leet me in! Lo, how I vanish, flesh, and blood, and skin! Alias! whan shul my bones been at reste? Moder, with yow wolde I chaunge my cheste, 406 That in my chambre longe tyme hath be, Ye! for an heyre clowt 16 to wrappe me!' But yet to me she wol nat do that grace, For which ful pale and welked 17 is my face. 410 But, sirs, to yow it is no curteisye To speken to an old man vileinye, But 18 he trespasse in worde, or elles in dede. In holy writ ye may your-self wel rede, 414 'Agayns 19 an old man, hoor upon his heed, Ye sholde aryse,' wherfor I yeve yow reed, 20 Ne dooth un-to an old man noon harm now, Namore than ye wolde men dide to yow In age, if that ye so longe abyde; And god be with yow, wher 21 ye go 22 or ryde. 420 I moot go thider as I have to go." "Nay, olde cherl, by god, thou shalt nat so," Seyde this other hasardour anon, "Thou partest nat so lightly, by seint Iohn! Thou spak right now of thilke traitour Deeth, 425 That in this contree alle our frendes sleeth. Have heer my trouthe, as thou art his aspye, 23 Tel wher he is, or thou shalt it abye, 24 By god, and by the holy sacrament! For soothly thou art oon of his assent, 25 430 To sleen us yonge folk, thou false theef!" "Now, sirs," quod he, "if that yow be so leef 26 To finde Deeth, turne up this croked wey, For in that grove I lafte him, by my fey, Under a tree, and ther he wol abyde; 435 Nat for 27 your boost 28 he wol him no-thing hyde. 15 dear. 1B hair cloth. 19 before. m advice. 17 withered. 21 whether. 18 unless 22 walk. 23 spy. - 4 rue. 27 on account of. 26 conspiracy. 28 boasting. 26 eager. V \v V^vV^ rs» Ir-^ CHA UCER 23 £ See ye that 00k? right ther ye shul him finde. God save yow, that boghte agayn man- kinde, And yow amende!" — thus seyde this olde man. And everich of thise ryotoures ran, 440 Til he cam to that tree, and ther they founde Of florins fyne of golde ycoyned rounde Wei ny an eighte 1 busshels, as hem thoughte. No lenger thanne after Deeth they soughte, But ech of hem so glad was of that sighte, For that the florins been so faire and brighte, 446 That doun they sette hem by this precious hord. The worste of hem he spak the firste word. "Brethren," quod he, "tak kepe 2 what I seye; My wit is greet, though that I bourde 3 and pleye. 450 This tresor hath fortune un-to us yiven, In mirthe and Iolitee our lyf to liven, And lightly as it comth, so wol we spende. Ey! goddes precious dignitee! who wende 4 To-day, that we sholde han so faire a grace? 455 But mighte this gold be caried fro this place Hoom to myn hous, or elles un-to youres — For wel ye woot that al this gold is oures — Than were we in heigh felicitee. But trewely, by daye it may nat be; 460 Men wolde seyn that we were theves stronge, And for our owene tresor doon us honge. This tresor moste ycaried be by nighte As wysly and as slyly as it mighte. 464 Wherfore I rede that cut among us alle Be drawe, and lat se wher the cut wol f alle ; And he that hath the cut with herte blythe Shal renne to the toune, and that ful swythe, 6 And bringe us breed and wyn ful prively. And two of us shul kepen subtilly 470 This tresor wel; and, if he wol nat tarie, Whan it is night, we wol this tresor carie By oon assent, wher-as us thinketh 7 best." That oon of hem the cut broughte in his fest, 8 And bad hem drawe, and loke wher it wol falle; 475 And it fil on the youngest of hem alle; And forth toward the toun he wente anon. And al-so sone as that he was gon, That oon of hem spak thus un-to that other: "Thou knowest wel thou art my sworne brother, 480 Thy profit wol I telle thee anon. Thou woost wel that our felawe is agon; And heer is gold, and that ful greet plentee, That shal departed been among us three. But natheles, if I can shape it so 485 That it departed were among us two, Hadde I nat doon a frendes torn to thee? " That other answerde, "I noot 9 how that may be; He woot 10 how that the gold is with us tweye; What shal we doon, what shal we to him seyer 490 1 eight. ' have us hanged. 2 note of. 6 quickly. 1 jest. * thought. it seems best. 8 fist. "Shal it be conseil?" 11 seyde the firste shrewe, 12 "And I shal tellen thee, in wordes fewe, What we shal doon, and bringe it wel aboute." "I graunte," quod that other, "out of doute, That, by my trouthe, I wol thee nat biwreye." 13 495 "Now," quod the firste, "thou woost wel we be tweye, And two of us shul strenger be than oon. Look whan that he is set, and right anoon Arys, as though thou woldest with him pleye; And I shal ryve him thurgh the sydes tweye 500 Whyl that thou strogelest with him as in game, And with thy dagger look thou do the same; , And than shal al this gold departed be, My dere freend, bitwixen me and thee; Than may we bothe our lustes al fulfille,505 And pleye at dees right at our owene wille." And thus acorded 14 been thise shrewes tweye To sleen the thridde, as ye han herd me seye. 9 know not. 12 scoundrel. 10 knows 13 betray. " a secret. 14 agreed. 24 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES This yongest, which that wente un-to the toun, Ful ofte in herte he rolleth up and doun 510 The beautee of thise florins newe and brighte. "O lord!" quod he, "if so were that I mighte Have al this tresor to my-self allone, Ther is no man that liveth under the trone 1 Of god, that sholde live so mery as I! " 515 And atte laste the feend, our enemy, Putte in his thought that he shold poyson beye, 2 With which he mighte sleen his felawes tweye; For why 3 the feend fond him in swich lyvinge, That he had leve 4 him to sorwe bringe, 520 For this was outrely 5 his ful entente To sleen hem bothe, and never to repente. And forth he gooth, no lenger wolde he tarie, Into the toun, un-to a pothecarie, And preyed him, that he him wolde selle 525 Som poyson, that he mighte his rattes quelle; 6 And eek ther was a polcat in his hawe, 7 That, as he seyde, his capouns hadde yslawe. And fayn he wolde wreke 8 him, if he mighte, On vermin, that destroyed him by nighte. The pothecarie answerde, "and thou shalt have ^ j K~r++-' 531 A thing that, a f-SQ god my soule save, In al this world ther nis no creature, That ete or dronke hath of this confiture 9 Noght but the mountance 10 of a corn of whete, 535 That he ne shal his lyf anon forlete; 11 Ye, sterve 12 he shal, and that ui lasse whyle Than thou wolt goon a paas 13 nat but a myle; This poyson is so strong and violent." This cursed man hath in his hond yhent 14 540 This poyson in a box, and sith he ran In-to the nexte strete, un-to a man, And borwed of him large hotels three; And in the two his poyson poured he; 1 throne, •kill. 11 lose. 2 buy. 7 yard. ' 2 die.- • because " avenge. 13 al a foot pace permission. » mixture. 5 entirely. 10 amount. M seized. The thridde he kepte clene for his drinke. For all the night he shoop him 15 for to swinke 16 546 In caryirige of the gold °>&J^thjitpkce^ And whan this ryotour, iaaJtS_so^gjace / , Had filled with wyn his grete hotels three, To his felawes agayn repaireth he. 550 What nedeth it to sermone 17 of it more? For right as they had cast his deeth bifore, Right so they han him slayn, and that anon. And whan that this was doon, thus spak that oon, "Now lat us sitte and drinke, and make us merie, 555 And afterward we wol his body berie." And with that word it happed him, par cas, 18 To take the botel ther the poyson was, And drank, and yaf his felawe drinke also, For which anon they storven 19 bothe two. But, certes, I suppose that Avicen 561 Wroot never in no canon, 20 ne in no fen, 20 Mo 21 wonder 22 signes of empoisoning Than hadde thise wrecches two, er hir ending. Thus ended been thise homicydes two, 565 And eek the false empoysoner also. O cursed sinne, ful of cursednesse! O tray tours homicyde, o wikkednesse! O glotonye, luxurie, and hasardrye! Thou blasphemour of Crist with vileinye And othes grete, of usage 23 and of pryde 1571 Alias ! mankynde, how may it bityde, That to thy creatour which that thee wroghte, And with his precious herte -blood thee boghte, u/^YVjWvM. Thou art so fals and sojunkincle, alias ! 575 Now, goode men, god forgeve yow your trespas, And ware yow 24 fro the sinne of avaryce. Myn holy pardoun may yow alle waryce, 25 So that ye offre nobles or sterlinges, Or elles silver broches, sponesj ringes. 580 Boweth your heed under this holy bulle! Cometh up, ye wyves, offreth of your wolle! 26 Your name I entre heer in my rolle anon; In-to the blisse of hevene shulje^on; 15 planned. 19 died. M habit. ,6 labor. 20 See notes. 24 keep you. 17 speak. 21 more. 26 cure. 18 by chance. 22 wonderful. 26 wool. CHA UCER 25 I yow assoile, by myn heigh power, 585 Yow that wol offre, as clene and eek as cleer As ye were born; and, lo, sirs, thus I „ preche. ^U^^t^^.. ,, And Iesu Crist, that is our soules lecHe^. ' So graunte_yow his pardon to receyve; >^Fbr that is best; I wol yow nat deeeyve.590 , But sirs, o word forgat I in my tale; /l have reliks and pardon in my male, 1 J As faire as any man in Engelond, , Whiche were me yeven by the popes $ hond - 1 If any of yow wol, of devocioun, 595 Offren, and han myn absolucioun, Cometh forth anon, and kneleth heer adoun, And mekely receyveth my pardoun : Or elles, taketh pardon as ye wende, Al newe and fresh, at every tqunes ende, So that ye offren alwey newe and newe 601 Nobles and pens, which, that be gode'and trew'e.' It is an honour to everich that is heer, That ye raowe have a suf&sant pardoneer Tassoille 2 -yow, .in contree as ye ryde, 605 For a ventures which that may bityde. Peraventure ther may falle oon or two Doun of his hors, and breke his nekke atwo. Look which a seuretee is it to yow alle That I am in your felaweship yfalle, 610 That may assoille yow, both more 3 and lasse, 4 Whan that the soule shal fro the body passe. I rede 5 that our host heer shal biginne, ' For he is most envoluped in sinne. 614 Com forth, sir hoste, and offre first anon. And thou shaltrkisse the reliks everichon, 6 Ye, for a grote! unbokel anon thy purs. BALADE DE BON CONSEYL Fie fro the prees, 7 and dwelle with soth- f astnesse ; 8 Suffyce unto thy good, though hit be smal; For hord hath hate, and clymbing tikel- nesse, 9 Prees hath envye, and wele 10 blent 11 overal; Savour 12 no more than thee bihove shal ; s 1 wallet. 2 to absolve. 6 advise. 6 each one. 9 uncertainty. 10 wealth. 3 high. 4 low. 7 the crowd. 8 truth. 11 blinds. '- have relish for. Werk wel thy-self, that other folk canst rede; 13 And trouthe shal delivere, hit is no drede. Tempest thee noght al croked to redresse, In trust of hir that turneth as a bal; Gret reste 14 stant 15 in litel besinesse, 10 And eek be war to sporne 16 ageyn an al; Stryve noght, as doth the crokke with the wal. Daunte 17 thyself, that dauntest otheres dede; And trouthe shal delivere, hit is no drede. That thee is sent, receyve in buxumnesse,i5 The wrastling for this world axeth 18 a fal. Her nis non horn, her nis but wildernesse; Forth, pilgrim, forth! Forth, beste, out of thy stal! Know thy countree; lok up, thank God of al; Hold the hye-way, and lat thy gost 19 thee lede! 20 And trouthe shal delivere, hit is no drede. Envoy Therefore, thou Vache, leve 20 thyn old wrecchednesse ; Unto the world leve now to be thral; Crye Him mercy that of His hy goodnesse Made thee of noght, and in especial 25 Draw unto Him, and pray in general For thee, and eek for other, hevenlich mede; 21 And trouthe shal delivere, hit is no drede. THE COMPLAINT OF CHAUCER TO HIS EMPTY PURSE To you, my purse, and to non other wight 22 Compleyne I, for ye be my lady dere! I am so sory, now that ye be light ; For certes, but 23 ye make me hevy chere, 24 Me were as leef be leyd up-on my bere ; 5 For whiche un-to your mercy thus I crye : Beth 25 hevy ageyn, or elles mot I dye! Now voucheth sauf this day, or 26 hit be night, That I of you the blisful soun may here, Or see your colour lyk the sonne bright, 10 13 advise. 17 subdue. 21 reward. 25 be. 14 peace. 18 asks. 22 person. 15 resides, "spirit. 23 unless. is kick. 20 cease. 21 appearance. 25 before. 26 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES That of yelownesse hadde never pere. Ye be my lyf , ye be myn hertes stere, 1 Quene of comfort and of good companye: Beth hevy ageyn, or elles mot I dye! Now purs, that be to me my lyves light, 15 And saveour, as doun 2 in this worlde here, Out of this toune help me through your might, Sin that ye wole nat been my tresorere; For I am shave as nye 3 as any frere. 4 But yit I pray un-to your curtesye: 20 Beth hevy ageyn, or elles mot I dye! Lenvoy de Chaucer conquerour of Brutes Albioun! Which that by lyne and free eleccioun Ben 5 verray king, this song to you I sende; And ye, that mowen 6 al myn harm amende, 25 Have mynde up-on my supplicacioun ! ANONYMOUS PIERS THE PLOWMAN From the Prologue In a somer sesun ' whon softe was the sonne, 1 schop 7 me in-to a schroud 8 ' a scheep 9 as I were; In habite of an hermite ' unholy of werkes, Wende 10 I wyde in this world ' wondres to here. Bote on a May mornynge ' on Malverne hulles 11 5 Mebi-fel 12 a ferly 13 'of fairy, 14 me thoughte. I was wery, forwandred, 15 ' and went me to reste Under a brod banke ' bi a bourne 16 syde, And as I lay and leonede 17 ' and lokede on the watres, I slumberde in a slepyng ' hit sownede 18 so murie. 19 10 Thenne gon 20 I meeten 21 ' a mervelous swevene, 22 That I was in a wildernesse ' wuste 23 I never where; And as I beheold into the est ' an heigh 21 to the sonne, 1 guide. - down. :| close. 4 friar. 6 at n have power to. 7 clothed. 8 garment. 9 shepherd. 10 went. "hills. 12 happened. " wonder. l * enchantment. '" tired with wandering. Ifi brook. 17 leaned. 18 sounded. 18 merry. m did. 21 dream. 22 dream. 23 knew. 24 on high. toft 2 trielich 27 I sauh" a tour ymaked; 28 A deop dale bineothe ' a dongeon ther-inne, With deop dich and derk " and dredful of siht. 29 16 A feir feld ful of folk " fond I ther bitwene, Of alle maner of men ' the mene 30 and the riche, Worchinge 31 and wandringe ' as the world asketh. 32 Summe putten hem 33 to the plow " and pleiden 34 ful selde; 35 20 In settyng 36 and in sowyng ' swonken 37 ful harde, And wonnen that theos 38 wasturs 39 ' in glotonye distruen. 40 And summe putten hem to pruide 41 " ap- parayld 42 hem ther-after, In continaunce 43 of clothinge ' comen dis- gised. To preyere 44 and to penaunce ■ putten hem monye, 45 25 For love of ur 46 lorde ' lyveden 47 ful streite, In hope for to have ' hevenriche 48 blisse; As ancres 49 and hermytes ' that holdeth hem 50 in heore 51 celles, Coveyte not in cuntre 52 ' to cairen 53 aboute, For non likerous 54 lyflode 55 * heore licam 56 to plese. 30 And summe chosen chaffare 57 ' to cheeven 58 the bettre, As hit semeth to owre siht " that suche men thryveth; And summe murthes 59 to maken ' as mun- strals cunne, 60 And get gold with here gle 61 ' giltles I trowe. Bote japers 62 and jangelers, 63 " Iudas chil- dren, Founden 64 hem fantasyes 65 hem maaden, And habbeth wit at heor worchen 67 gif hem luste ; That 68 Poul precheth of hem preoven 69 heere; 25 saw. 26 cleared space. 2 ' choicely. 28 made. 29 sight. 30 poor. 31 working. 32 requires. 33 gave themselves. 31 played. 35 seldom. 36 planting. 37 labored. 38 these. 39 wasters. 40 destroy. 41 pride. 42 clothed. 43 outward appearance. 44 prayer. 4S many. 46 our. *' lived. 48 happiness of the kingdom of heaven. 49 nuns. 50 keep themselves. " their. f > 2 country. 63 wander. M luxurious. 66 diet. 56 body. 67 trade. 68 prosper. 69 amusements. 61 glee. 62 fools. and wille 6 35 fooles to I dar not 110 know how. M buffoons. 64 feigned. 86 at command. 68 what. "■ giee. »• ioois. 66 tricks. 67 work if it pleased them. 69 prove, explain. PIERS THE PLOWMAN 27 Qui loquitur turpiloquium ' is Luciferes hyne. Bidders 1 and beggers ' faste aboute eoden, 2 Til heor bagges and heor belies " weren bretful ycrammed; 3 41 Feyneden hem 4 for heore foode ' foughten atte 5 ale; In glotonye, God wot, ' gon heo 6 to bedde, And ryseth up with ribaudye 7 " this rober- des 8 knaves; Sleep and sleuthe ' suweth 9 hem evere. 45 Pilgrimes and palmers " plihten 10 hem togederes For to seche 11 Seint Jame * and seintes at Roome; Wenten forth in heore wey * with mony wyse tales, And hadden leve to lyen ' al heore lyf aftir. I fond there freres ' all the foure ordres, 55 Prechinge the peple ' for profyt of heore wombes, 12 Glosynge 13 the Gospel * as hem 14 good liketh, 14 For covetyse 15 of copes " construeth 16 hit ille; For monye 17 of this maistres ' mowen 18 clothen hem at lyking, 19 For moneye 20 and heore marchaundie 21 * meeten oft togedere. 60 Ther prechede a pardoner * as 22 he a prest were, 65 And brought forthe a bulle * with bis- schopes seles, And seide that himself mighte ' asoylen 23 hem alle Of falsnesse and fastinge ' and of vowes y-broken. The lewede 24 men leved 23 him wel " and lyked his wordes, And comen up knelynge ' and cusseden 26 his bulle; 70 He bonchede 27 hem with his brevet 28 ' and blered heore eiyen, 29 1 beggars. - went. 5 at the. 6 they. 8 these robber. 11 seek. 12 bellies. 14 as it pleased them. 17 many. 18 may. »• as tney . 20 money. 21 merchandise. 22 as if 24 ignorant. 25 believed. 27 banged. 28 letter of indulgence. 3 crammed. 7 ribaldry. 'follow. 13 interpreting. 15 covetousness. ,9 as they please. 4 shammed. 10 plighted. 16 construe. 23 shrive. 26 kissed. 29 eyes. And rauhte 30 with his ragemon 31 ' ringes and broches. Thus ye giveth oure 32 gold " glotonye to helpen, And leveth hit to losels 33 ' that lecherie haunten. 34 Weore the bisschop y-blessed ' and worth bothe his eres, 35 75 His seel shulde not be sent ' to deceyve the peple. Ac 37 hit is not bi 36 the bisschop " that the boye precheth; Bote 37 the parisch prest and he ' parten the selver That the poraille 38 of the parisch ' schold have yif thei nere. 39 ANONYMOUS NOAH'S FLOOD THE WATERLEADERS AND DRAWERS OF DEE First God, sitting in some high place, or in clouds, if it can be done, speaks to Noah, standing with all his family outside the ark. God. I, God, that all the world have wrought, Heaven and earth, and all of nought, I see my people in deed and thought Are foully set in sin. My spirit shall not remain in any man 5 That through fleshly liking is my fone, 40 But till six score years be gone, To look if they will blynne. 41 Man that I made I will destroy, Beast, man, and fowl that fly, 10 For on earth they do me annoy, The folk that are thereon ; It harms me so hurtfully, The malice now that does multiply, That sore it grieveth me inwardly 15 That ever I made man. Therefore, Noah, my servant free, That righteous man art, as I see, A ship soon thou shalt make thee Of trees dry and light ; 20 30 reached, got. 33 rascals. 3 6 all the fault of. 38 poor people. 40 foe. 31 bull. 32 your. 34 practise. 36 ears. 37 but. 39 if it were not for them. 41 cease. 28 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES } Little chambers therein do thou make, And binding pitch also do thou take : Within and without do thou not slake 1 To annoint it with all thy might. Three hundred cubits it shall be long, 25 And fifty of breadth, to make it strong, Of height fifty, the measure do thou fonge: 2 Thus measure it about. One window work by thy wit, One cubit of length and breadth make it; 30 Upon the side a door shall sit, For to come in and out. Eating places do thou make also, Three roofed chambers, one or two, For with water I think to flow 3 35 Man that I did make; Destroyed all the world shall be, Save thou, thy wife, thy sons three, And all their wives also with thee, Shall saved be for their sake. 40 Noah. Ah, Lord, I thank thee loud and still, That to me art in such will, And sparest me and my house to spill, 4 As now I soothly find; Thy bidding, Lord, I shall fulfil, 45 And never more thee grieve nor grill, 5 That such grace hast sent me till, Among all mankind. Have done, you men and women all ! Help, for aught that may befall, To make this ship, chamber and hall, As God hath bidden us do. Shem. Father, lam already bowne: 6 An axe I have, by my crown, As sharp as any in all this town, For to go thereto. Ham. I have a hatchet wonder keen To bite well, as may be seen; A better ground, as I ween, Is not in all this town. Japhet. And I can well make a pin, And with this hammer knock it in; Go and work without more din, And I am ready bowne. 5° 55 Noah's Wife. And we shall bring timber too, 65 For we may nothing else do: Women be weak to undergo Any great travail. Shem's Wife. Here is a good hackstock, 7 On this you may hew and knock ; 70 Shall none be idle in this flock, Nor now may no man fail. Ham's Wife. And I will go to gather slich 8 The ship for to clean and pitch: Annointed it must be every stitch, 9 75 Board, tree and pin. Japhet's Wife. And I will gather chips here To make a fire for you in fere, 10 And for to dight 11 your dinner Against you come in. 80 Then they make signs as though they were working with various implements. Noah. Now in the name of God I will begin To make the ship that we shall go in, That we be ready for to swim At the coming of the flood : These boards I join here together 85 To keep us safe from the weather, That we may row both hither and thither, And safe be from this flood. 1 be not slack. * destroy. 2 take. 3 flood. 6 prepared. Of this tree will I make the mast, Tied with cables that will last, With a sailyard for each blast, And each thing in their kind; With topcastle and bowsprit, With cords and ropes I have all meet To sail forth at the next weete: 12 This ship is at an end. 90 95 Then Noah and all his family again make signs of working with various imple- ments. Wife, in this castle we shall be kept; My children and thou I would in leapt. Noah's Wife. In faith, Noah, I had as lief thou slept. For all thy frankish fare, 100 choppin^-block. 10 all together. ! pitch, prepare. 9 stick. 12 wet weather. NOAH'S FLOOD 29 I will not do after thy rede. 1 Noah. Good wife, do now as I thee bid. Noah's Wife. By Christ! not ere I see more need, Though thou stand all the day and stare. Noah. Lord, that women be crabbed aye, And never are meek, that dare I say; 106 This is well seen by me today In witness of you each one. Good wife, let be all this bere 2 That thou makest in this place here, no For all they ween thou art master — And so thou art, by St. John ! God. Noah, take thou thy company, And in the ship hie that you be, For none so righteous man to me 115 Is now on earth living. Of clean beasts do thou with thee take Seven and seven, ere thou slake, He and she, make to make, 3 Quickly in do thou bring. 1 20 Of beasts unclean, two and two, Male and female, without mo; 4 Of clean fowls seven also, The he and she together; Of fowls unclean, two and no more, 125 As I of beasts said before, That shall be saved through my lore, Against I send the weather. Of all meats that must be eaten Into the ship look there be getten, For that no way may be forgetten, And do all this bydene, 5 To sustain man and beast therein, Aye till this water cease and blynne. This world is filled full of sin, And that is now well seen. 130 135 Seven days be yet coming, ; You shall have space them in to bring ; After that is my liking Mankind for to annoy : 140 : Forty days and forty nights Rain shall fall for their unrights, I And what I have made through my mights, Now think I to destroy. 1 counsel. 1 more. 2 noise. 3 mate. 6 quickly. Noah. Lord, at your bidding I am bayne; 6 Since none other your grace will gain, 146 It will I fulfil fain, For gracious I thee find. A hundred winters and twenty This ship making tarried have I, 150 If through amendment any mercy Would fall unto mankind. Have done, you men and women all! Hie you, lest this water fall. That each beast were in his stall, 155 And into the ship brought! Of clean beasts seven shall be, Of unclean two, this God bade me. This flood is nigh, well may we see; Therefore tarry you not. 160 Then Noah shall enter the ark, and his family shall exhibit and name all the animals depicted on sheets of parch- ment, and after each one has spoken his part, he shall go into the ark, except Noah's wife. The animals depicted ought to correspond to the descriptions; ami thus let the first son begin. Shem. Sir, here are lions, leopards in, Horses, mares, oxen, and swine, Goats, calves, sheep, and kine, Here sitting thou mayst see. Ham. Camels, asses, men may find, 165 Buck, doe, hart, and hind, And beasts of all manner of kind Here be, as thinks me. Japhet. Take here cats, and dogs too, Otter, fox, fulmart 7 also, 1 70 Hares hopping gaily can go, Have cowle here for to eat. Noah's Wife. And here are bears, wolves set, Apes, owls, marmoset, Weasels, squirrels, and ferret; 175 Here they eat their meat. Shem's Wife. Yet more beasts are in this house : Here cats make it full crowse, 8 Here a rat, here a mouse, They stand nigh together. 180 6 ready. ' skunk. 8 jolly. 3° THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES Ham's Wife. And here are fowls, less and more: Herons, cranes, and bittour, 1 Swans, peacocks; and them before Meat for this weather. Japhet's Wife. Here are cocks, kites, crows, 1 85 Rooks, ravens, many rows; Ducks, curlews: whoever knows Each one in his kind? And here are doves, ducks, drakes, Redshanks, running through the lakes; 190 And each fowl that language makes In this ship men may find. Noah. Wife, come in! why standest thou here? Thou art ever froward, that dare I swear. Come in, on God's half! 2 time it were, 195 For fear lest that we drown. Noah's Wife. Yea, sir, set up your sail, And row forth with evil hail! For without any fail I will not out of this town. 200 Unless I have my gossips every one One foot further I will not gone; 3 They shall not drown, by St. John! If I may save their life! They loved me full well, by Christ! 205 Unless thou wilt let them in thy chest, Row forth, Noah, whither thou list, And get thee a new wife. Noah. Shem, son, lo! thy mother is wraw : 4 Forsooth, such another I do not know! 210 Shem. Father, I shall fetch her in, I trow, Without any fail. Mother, my father after thee sent, And bids thee into yonder ship wend. Look up and see the wind, 215 For we be ready to sail. Noah's Wife. Son, go again to him and say I will not come therein today. Noah. Come in, wife, in twenty devils' way Or else stand there without. 1 bittern. * go — an infinitive. 2 for God's sake. 1 angry. Ham. Shall we all fetch her in? Noah. Yea, sons, in Christ's blessing and mine! I would you hied you betime, For of this flood I am in doubt. 5 The Good Gossips. [They sing.} The flood comes in full fleeting fast, On every side it spreadeth full far; For fear of drowning I am aghast, Good gossip, let us draw near. And let us drink ere we depart, For oftentimes we have done so; For at a draught thou drink'st a quart, And so will I do, ere I go. 225 230 Japhet. Mother, we pray you altogether, For we are here, your own children, Come into the ship for fear of the weather, For his love that you bought. 236 Noah's Wife. That will I not for all your call, Unless I have my gossips all. Shem. In faith, mother, yet you shall, Whether you will or not! 240 [Then she will go.] Noah. Welcome, wife, into this boat! Noah's Wife. And have thou that for thy mote! 6 [She deals Noah a blow.] Noah. Aha, marry, this is hot! It is good to be still. Ah, children, methinks my boat removes! Our tarrying here hugely me grieves; 246 Over the land the water spreads — God do as he will! Ah, great God that art so good, He that works not thy will is wood 7 . Now all this world is in a flood, As I see well in sight; This window I will shut anon, And into my chamber will I gone, Till this water, so great one, Be slaked through thy might. 250 255 Then let Noah shut the window of the ark, and let them, remaining within for a short lime, sing the psalm "Save me, O God;" then let Noah open the win- dow and look around. : 5 fear. 8 chatter. 7 mad. NOAH'S FLOOD 3i Now forty days are fully gone. Send a raven I will anon, To see if anywhere, earth, tree, or stone, Be dry in any place; 260 And if this fowl come not again, It is a sign, sooth to sayne, 1 That dry it is on hill or plain, And God hath done some grace. Then let him send out the raven, and taking a dove in his hands, let him speak. Ah, Lord, wherever this raven be, 265 Somewhere is dry, well I see. But yet a dove, by my loyalty, After I will send. Thou wilt turn again to me, * * * * * * For of all fowls that may fly, 270 Thou art most meek and hend. 2 Then he shall put forth the dove, and there shall be on the ship another dove bearing an olive branch in her mouth, which someone shall let down from the mast by a cord into Noah's hand, and afterwards let Noah speak. Ah, Lord, blessed be thou aye, That me hast comforted thus today! By this sight I may well say This flood begins to cease: 275 My sweet dove to me brought has A branch of olive from some place; This betokeneth God has done us some grace, And is a sign of peace. Ah, Lord, honored may thou be! 280 All earth dries now, I see, But yet till thou commandest me, Hence will I not hie. All this water is away; Therefore as soon as I may, 285 Sacrifice I shall do in fay 3 1 To thee devoutly. iOD. Noah, take thy wife anon, ind thy children every one; )ut of the ship thou shalt gone And they all with thee; 290 1 say. 2 gentle. 3 faith. Beasts and all that can fly Out anon they shall hie, On earth to grow and multiply; I will that it so be. 295 Noah. Lord, I thank thee, through thy might, Thy bidding shall be done in hight, 4 And as fast as I may dight I will do thee honor, And to thee offer sacrifice. 300 Therefore comes in all wise, For of these beasts that be his Offer I will this store. Then coming out of the ark with all his family Noah shall take his animals and fowls and make an offering, and sacrifice. Lord God in majesty, That such grace hast granted me 305 Where all was lost, safe to be, Therefore now I am bowne, My wife, my children, my company, With sacrifice to honor thee, With beasts, fowls, as thou mayst see, 310 Which I offer here right soon. God. Noah, to me thou art full able, 5 And thy sacrifice acceptable, For I have found thee true and stable; On thee must I now mind. 6 Curse earth will I no more For man's sin that grieves me sore, For of youth man full yore Has been inclined to sin. You shall now grow and multiply, 320 And earth again you shall edify; Each beast and fowl that may fly Shall be afraid of you; And fish in sea that may flytte 7 Shall sustain you, I you behite; 8 325 To eat of them do not let, 9 That clean be you may know. Whereas you have eaten before Grass and roots since you were born, Of clean beasts, less and more, 330 I give you leave to eat; 315 1 haste. ' swim. 1 pleasing. '• promise. 6 think. 9 hesitate. i 32 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES Save blood and flesh both in fere 1 Of wrong dead carrion that is here : Eat not of that in no manner, For that aye shall you let. 2 335 Manslaughter also you shall flee, For that is not pleasant to me. That sheds blood, he or she, Anywhere amongst mankind, That blood foully shed shall be, 340 And vengeance have that men shall see. Therefore beware now all ye, You fall not in that sin. A foreword 3 now with thee I make, And all thy seed for thy sake, 345 From such vengeance for to slake, For now I have my will ; Here I promise thee a hest: 4 That man, woman, fowl nor beast With water, while the world shall last, 350 I will no more spill. 5 My bow between you and me In the firmament shall be, For very token that you may see That such vengeance shall cease; 355 That man nor woman shall never more Be wasted by water, as before; But for sin, that grieveth me sore, Therefore this vengeance was. Where clouds in the welkin been 6 360 That same bow shall be seen, In token that my wrath and teen 7 Shall never thus wreaked be; The string is turned toward you, And toward me is bent the bow, 365 That such weather shall never show, And this promise I thee. My blessing now I give thee here, To thee, Noah, my servant dear, For vengeance shall no more appear. 370 And now, farewell, my darling dear. THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH POPULAR BALLADS EDWARD 1. "Why dois your brand sae drap wi bluid, Edward, Edward. 1 together. 4 assurance. 2 leave alone. 6 destroy. e be. 3 covenant. 7 anger. Why dois your brand sae drap wi bluid, And why sae sad gang yee O? " "01 hae killed my hauke sae guid, Mither, mither, O I hae killed my hauke sae guid, And I had nae mair bot 8 hee O." 2. "Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid, Edward, Edward, Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid, My deir son I tell thee O." "O I hae killed my reid-roan steid, Mither, mither, O I hae killed my reid-roan steid, That erst was sae fair and frie O." 3. "Your steid was auld, and ye hae got mair, Edward, Edward, Your steid was auld, and ye hae got mair, Sum other dule 9 ye drie 10 O." "01 hae killed my fadir deir, Mither, mither, O I hae killed my fadir deir, Alas, and wae is mee O ! " 4. "And whatten penance wul ye drie for that, Edward, Edward, And whatten penance will ye drie for that? My deir son, now tell me O." "He set my feit in yonder boat, Mither, mither, He set my feit in yonder boat, And He fare ovir the sea O." 5. "And what wul ye doe wi your towirs and your ha, Edward, Edward? And what wul ye doe wi your towirs and your ha, That were sae fair to see O? " "He let thame stand tul they doun fa. Mither, mither, He let thame stand tul they down fa, For here nevir mair maun 11 1 bee O." J 6. "And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife, Edward, Edward? 8 but. 'grief. 10 suffer. "must- THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH POPULAR BALLADS 33 And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife, Whan ye gang ovir the sea O? " "The warldis room, late them beg thrae 1 life, Mither, mither, The warldis room, late them beg thrae life, For thame nevir mair wul I see O." 7. "And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir, Edward, Edward? And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir? My deir son, now tell me O." "The curse of hell frae me sail ye beir, Mither, mither, The curse of hell frae me sail ye beir, Sic counseils ye gave to me O." KEMP OWYNE 1. Her mother died when she was young, Which gave her cause to make great moan; Her father married the warst woman That ever lived in Christendom. 2. She served her with foot and hand, In every thing that she could dee, 2 Till once, in an unlucky time, She threw her in ower Craigy's sea. 3. Says, "Lie you there, dove Isabel, And all my sorrows lie with thee; Till Kemp Owyne come ower the sea, And borrow 3 you with kisses three Let all the warld do what they will, Oh borrowed shall you never be!" 4. Her breath grew Strang, her hair grew lang, _ And twisted thrice about the tree, And all the people, far and near, Thought that a savage beast was she. 5. These news did come to Kemp Owyne, Where he lived, far beyond the sea; He hasted him to Craigy's sea, And on the savage beast lookd he. 1 through. J do. 6. Her breath was Strang, her hair was lang, _ And twisted was about the tree, And with a swing she came about: "Come to Craigy's sea, and kiss with me. 7. " Here is a royal belt," she cried, "That I have found in the green sea; And while your body it is on, Drawn shall your blood never be; But if you touch me, tail or fin, I vow my belt your death shall be." 8. He stepped in, gave her a kiss, The royal belt he brought him wi; Her breath was Strang, her hair was lang, And twisted twice about the tree, And with a swing she came about: "Come to Craigy's sea, and kiss with me. 9. " Here is a royal ring," she said, " That I have found in the green sea; And while your finger it is on, Drawn shall your blood never be; But if you touch me, tail or fin, I swear my ring your death shall be." 10. He stepped in, gave her a kiss, The royal ring he brought him wi; Her breath was Strang, her hair was lang, And twisted ance about the tree, And with a swing she came about: "Come to Craigy's sea, and kiss with me. 1 1. " Here is a royal brand," she said, "That I have found in the green sea ; And while your body it is on, Drawn shall your blood never be; But if you touch me, tail or fin, I swear my brand your death shall be." 12. He stepped in, gave her a kiss, The royal brand he brought him wi ; Her breath was sweet, her hair grew short, And twisted nane about the tree, And smilingly she came about, As fair a woman as fair could be. 34 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES SIR PATRICK SPENS 1. The king sits in Dumferling toune, Drinking the blude-reid wine: " O whar will I get guid sailor, To sail this schip of mine?" 2. Up and spak an eldern knicht, Sat at the kings richt kne: "Sir Patrick Spence is the best sailor, That sails upon the se." 3. The king has written a braid letter, And signd it wi his hand, , And sent it to Sir Patrick Spence, Was walking on the sand. 4. The first line that Sir Patrick red, A loud lauch lauched he; The next line that Sir Patrick red, The teir blinded his ee. 5. "O wha is this has don this deid, This ill deid don to me, To send me out this time o' the yeir, To sail upon the se! 6. " Mak hast, mak haste, my mirry men all, Our guid schip sails the morne:" "O say na sae, my master deir, For I feir a deadlie storme. 7. "Late, late yestreen I saw the new moone, Wi the auld moone in hir arme, And I feir, I feir, my deir master, That we will cum to harme." 8. O our Scots nobles wer richt laith To weet their cork-heild schoone; Bot lang owre a' the play wer playd, Thair hats they swam aboone. 1 9. lang, lang may their ladies sit, Wi thair fans into their hand, Or eir 2 they se Sir Patrick Spence Cum sailing to the land. to. O lang, lang may the ladies stand, Wi thair gold kerns in their hair, Waiting for thair ain deir lords, For they'll se thame na mair. 1 above. '-' before. Haf owre, haf owre to Aberdour, It's fiftie fadom deip, And thair lies guid Sir Patrick Spence, Wi the Scots lords at his feit. THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL 1. There lived a wife at Usher's Well, And a wealthy wife was she; She had three stout and stalwart sons, And sent them oer the sea. 2. They hadna been a week from her, A week but barely ane, When word came to the carline 3 wife That her three sons were gane. 3. They hadna been a week from her, A week but barely three, When word came to the carlin wife That her sons she'd never see. 4. "I wish the wind may never cease, Nor fashes 4 in the flood, Till my three sons come hame to me, In earthly flesh and blood." 5. It fell about the Martinmass, When nights are lang and mirk, 5 The carlin wife's three sons came hame. And their hats were o the birk. 6 6. It neither grew in syke 7 nor ditch, Nor yet in ony sheugh, 8 But at the gates o Paradise, That birk grew fair eneugh. ****** 7. "Blow up the fire, my maidens, Bring water from the well; For a' my house shall feast this night. Since my three sons are well." 8. And she has made to them a bed, She's made it large and wide, And she's taen her mantle her about Sat down at the bed-side. ****** 9. Up then crew the red, red cock, And up and crew the gray; The eldest to the youngest said, " 'Tis time we were away." 3 peasant. * storms. 6 dark. 6 birch. 7 trench. s furrow. THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH POPULAR BALLADS 35 10. The cock he hadna craw'd but once, And clappd his wings at a', When the youngest to the eldest said, "Brother, we must awa. n. "The cock doth craw, the day doth daw, The channerin 1 worm doth chide; Gin 2 we be mist out o our place, A sair pain we maun bide. 12. "Fare ye weel, my mother dear! Fareweel to barn and byre! 3 And fare ye weel, the bonny lass That kindles my mother's fire!" ROBIN HOOD AND GUY OF GIS- BORNE i. When shawes 4 beene sheene, 5 and shradds 6 full fayre, And leeves both large and longe, Itt is merry, walking in the fayre fforrest, To heare the small birds songe. 2. The woodweele 7 sang, and wold not cease, Amongst the leaves a lyne: 8 And it is by two wight 9 yeomen, By deare God, that I meane. ****** 3. "Me thought they did mee beate and binde, And tooke my bowe mee froe; If I bee Robin alive in this lande, I'le be wrocken 10 on both them towe." 4. "Sweavens 11 are swift, master," quoth John, "As the wind that blowes ore a hill; Ffor if itt be never soe lowde this night, To-morrow it may be still." 5. "Buske 12 yee, bowne 13 yee, my merry men all, Ffor John shall goe with mee ; For I'le goe seeke yond wight yeomen In greenwood where the 14 bee." 1 impatient. 2 if 3 stable. 4 thickets. s beautiful. s copses. 7 woodlark. 8 of Linn ("a stock ballad locality"), 'sturdy. 10 avenged. "dreams. 12 make ready. 13 dress yourselves. 14 they. 6. The cast on their gowne of greene, A shooting gone are they, Untill they came to the merry green- wood, Where they had gladdest bee; There were they ware of [a] wight yeoman, His body leaned to a tree. 7. A sword and a dagger he wore by his side, Had beene many a man's bane, And he was cladd in his capull-hyde, 15 Topp, and tayle, and mayne. 8. "Stand you still, master," quoth Litle John, "Under this trusty tree, And I will goe to yond wight yeoman, To know his meaning truly e." 9. "A, John, by me thou setts noe store, And that's a ffarley 16 thinge; How offt send I my men beffore, And tarry my-selfe behinde? 10. "It is noe cunning a knave to ken, And a man but heare him speake; And itt were not for bursting of my bowe, John, I wold thy head breake." 11. But often words they breeden bale; 17 That parted Robin and John ; John is gone to Barn[e]sdale, The gates 18 he knowes eche one. 12. And when hee came to Barnesdale, Great heavinesse there hee hadd ; He ffound two of his fellowes Were slaine both in a slade, 19 13. And Scarlett a- ffoote flyinge was, Over stockes and stone, For the sheriffe with seven score men Fast after him is gone. 14. "Yett one shoote I'le shoote," sayes Litle John, "With Crist his might and mayne; I'le make yond fellow that flyes soe fast To be both glad and ffaine." 15 horse-hide. 16 wonderful. " evil. > 8 ways. 19 valley. 36 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES 15. John bent up a good veiwe 1 bow, And ffetteled 2 him to shoote; The bow was made of a tender boughe, And fell downe to his foote. 16. " Woe worth thee, wicked wood," sayd Litle John, "That ere thou grew on a tree! Ffor this day thou art my bale, My boote 3 when thou shold bee! " 17. This shoote it was but looselye shott, The arrowe flew in vaine, And it mett one of the sheriff es men; Good William a Trent was slaine. 18. It had beene better for William a Trent To hange upon a gallowe Then for to lye in the greenwoode, There slaine with an arrowe. 19. And it is sayd, when men be mett, Six can doe more then three: And they have tane Litle John, And bound him ffast to a tree. 20. "Thou shalt be drawen by dale and downe," quoth the sheriff e, " And hanged hye on a hill ; " "But thou may ffayle," quoth Litle John, " If itt be Christ's owne will." 21. Let us leave talking of Litle John, For hee is bound fast to a tree, And talke of Guy and Robin Hood In the green woode where they bee. 22. How these two yeomen together they mett, Under the leaves of lyne, To see what marchandise 4 they made Even at that same time. 23. "Good morrow, good fellow," quoth Sir Guy; "Good morrow, good ffellow," quoth hee; "Methinkes by this bow thou beares in thy hand, A good archer thou seems to bee." 1 yew. 2 made ready. 3 help. * dealing. 24. "I am wilfull of my way," quoth Sir Guye, "And of my morning tyde: " "I'le lead thee through the wood," quoth Robin, "Good ffellow, I'le be thy guide." 25. "I seeke an outlaw," quoth Sir Guye, "Men call him Robin Hood; I had rather meet with him upon a day Than forty pound of golde." 26. "If you tow mett, itt wold be seene whether were better Afore yee did part awaye; Let us some other pastime find, Good ffellow, I thee pray. 27. "Let us some other masteryes make, And wee will walke in the woods even; Wee may chance mee[t] with Robin Hoode Att some unsett steven." 8 28. They cutt them downe the summer shroggs 6 Which grew both under a bryar, And sett them three score rood in twinn, 7 To shoote the prickes full neare. 29. "Leade on, good ffellow," sayd Sir Guye, "Lead on, I doe bidd thee:" "Nay, by my faith," quoth Robin Hood, "The leader thou shalt bee." 30. The first good shoot that Robin ledd, Did not shoote an inch the pricke ffroe; Guy was an archer good enoughe, But he cold neere shoote soe. 31. The second shoote Sir Guy shott, He shott within the garlande; But Robin Hoode shott it better than hee, For he clove the good pricke- wande. 6 time not fixed. 8 rods. ' apart. THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH POPULAR BALLADS 37 32. "Gods blessing on thy heart!" sayes Guye, "Goode ffellow, thy shooting is goode; For an thy hart be as good as thy hands, Thou were better than Robin Hood. 33. "Tell me thy name, good ffellow," quoth Guy, " Under the leaves of lyne: " "Nay, by my faith," quoth good Robin, " Till thou have told me thine." 34. "I dwell by dale and downe," quoth Guye, "And I have done many a curst turne ; And he that calles me by my right name, Calles me Guye of good Gysborne." 35. "My dwelling is in the wood," sayes Robin; "By thee I set right nought; My name is Robin Hood of Barnes-* dale, A ffellow thou has long sought." 36. He that had neither beene a kithe nor kin Might have seene a full fayre sight, To see how together these yeomen went, With blades both browne and bright; 37. To have seene how these yeomen to- gether foug[ht] Two howers of a summer's day; Itt was neither Guy nor Robin Hood That ffettled 1 them to flye away. 38. Robin was reacheles on 2 a roote, And stumbled at that tyde, And Guy was quicke and nimble with-all, And hitt him ore the left side. 39. "Ah, deere Lady!" sayd Robin Hoode, "Thou art both mother and may! 3 I thinke it was never mans destinye To dye before his day." 1 prepared. 2 careless of. 3 maid. 40. Robin thought on Our Lady deere, And soone leapt up againe, And thus he came with an awkwarde 4 stroke ; Good Sir Guy hee has slayne. 41. He tooke Sir Guys head by the hay re, And sticked itt on his bowes end: "Thou hast beene tray tor all thy liffe, Which thing must have an ende." 42. Robin pulled forth an Irish kniffe, And nicked Sir Guy in the fface, That hee was never on a woman borne Cold tell who Sir Guye was. 43. Saies, "Lye there, lye there, good Sir Guye, And with me be not wrothe; If thou have had the worse stroakes at my hand, Thou shalt have the better cloathe." 44. Robin did off his gowne of greene, Sir Guye hee did it throwe; And hee put on that capull-hyde That cladd him topp to toe. 45. "The bowe, the arrowes, and litle home, And with me now Fie beare ; For now I will goe to Barne[s]dale, To see how my men doe ffare." 46. Robin sette Guyes home to his mouth, A lowd blast in it he did blow; That beheard the sheriffe of Notting- ham, As he leaned under a lowe. 5 47. " Hearken ! hearken ! ' ' sayd the sheriffe , " I heard noe ty dings but good; For yonder I heare Sir Guyes home blowe, For he hath slaine Robin Hoode. 48. "For yonder I heare Sir Guyes home blow, Itt blowes soe well in tyde, For yonder comes that wighty yeo- man, Cladd in his capull-hyde. * backhanded. * hill. 3« THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES 49. "Come hither, thou good Sir Guy, Aske of mee what thou wilt have:" 'Tie none of thy gold," sayes Robin Hood, "Nor I'le none of itt have. 5°- Si- "But now I have slaine the master," he sayd, "Let me goe strike the knave; This is all the reward I aske, Nor noe other will I have." "Thou art a madman," said the shiriffe, "Thou sholdest have had a knights See; Seeing thy asking [hath] beene soe badd, Well granted it shall be." 52. But Litle John heard his master speake, Well he knew that was his Steven; 1 "Now shall I be loset," quoth Litle John, "With Christ's might in heaven." 53. But Robin hee hyed him towards Litle John, Hee thought hee wold loose him belive ; 2 The sheriffe and all his companye Fast after him did drive. 54. "Stand abacke! stand abacke!" sayd Robin; " Why draw you mee soe neere? Itt was never the use in our countrye One's shrift another shold heere." 55. But Robin pulled forth an Irysh kniffe, And losed John hand and ffoote, And gave him Sir Guyes bow in his hand, And bade it be his boote.'* 56. But John tooke Guyes bow in his hand — His arrowes were rawstye 4 by the roote; The sherriffe saw Litle John draw a bow And ffettle him to shoote. . 'voice. • 'niickly. 3 help. 'soiled. 57. Towards his house in Nottingam He riled ful fast away, And soe did all his companye, Not one behind did stay. 58. But he cold neither soe fast goe, Nor away soe fast runn, But Litle John, with an arrow broade, Did cleave his heart in twinn. ROBIN HOOD'S DEATH AND BURIAL 1. When Robin Hood and Little John Down a down a down a down Went oer yon bank of broom Said Robin Hood bold to Little John, "We have shot for many a pound." Hey, etc. 2. "But I am not able to shoot one shot more, My broad arrows will not flee; But I have a cousin lives down below, Please God, she will bleed me." 3. Now Robin he is to fair Kirkly gone, As fast as he can win; But before he came there, as we do hear, He was taken very ill. 4. And when he came to fair Kirkly-hall, He knockd all at the ring, But none was so ready as his cousin herself For to let bold Robin in. 5. "Will you please to sit down, cousin Robin," she said, "And drink some beer with me?" "No, I will neither eat nor drink, Till I am blooded by thee." 6. "Well, I have a room, cousin Robin," she said, " Which you did never see, And if you please to walk therein, You blooded by me shall be." 7. She took him by the lily-white hand, And led him to a private room, And there she blooded bold Robin Hood, While one drop of blood would run down. THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH POPULAR BALLADS 3Q 8. She blooded him in a vein of the arm, And locked him up in the room; Then did he bleed all the live-long day, Until the next day at noon. 9. He then bethought him of a casement there, Thinking for to get down; But was so weak he could not leap, He could not get him down. 10. He then bethought him of his bugle- horn, Which hung low down to his knee; He set his horn unto his mouth, And blew out weak blasts three. 11. Then Little John, when hearing him, As he sat under a tree, "I fear my master is now near dead, He blows so wearily." 12. Then Little John to fair Kirkly is gone, As fast as he can dree; But when he came to Kirkly-hall, He broke locks two or three: 1 13- 14. 15- 16. 17. Until he came bold Robin to see, Then he fell on his knee; "A boon, a boon," cries Little John, "Master, I beg of thee." "What is that boon," said Robin Hood, "Little John, [thou] begs of me?" "It is to burn fair Kirkly-hall, And all their nunnery." "Now nay, now nay," quoth Robin Hood, "That boon I'll not grant thee; I never hurt woman in all my life, Nor men in woman's company. "I never hurt fair maid in all my time, Nor at mine end shall it be; But give me my bent bow in my hand, And a broad arrow I'll let flee, And where this arrow is taken up, There shall my grave digged be. "Lay me a green sod under my head, And another at my feet; And lay my bent bow by my side, Which was my music sweet; And make my grave of gravel and green, Which is most right and meet. 18. "Let me have length and breadth enough, With a green sod under my head ; That they may say, when I am dead, Here lies bold Robin Hood." 19. These words they readily granted him, Which did bold Robin please: And there they buried bold Robin Hood, Within the fair Kirkleys. THE HUNTING OF THE CHEVIOT 1. The Perse owt off Northombarlonde, and avowe to God mayd he That he would hunte in the mown- tayns off Chyviat within days thre, In the magger of 1 doughte Dogles, and all that ever with him be. 2. The fattiste hartes in all Cheviat he sayd he wold kyll, and cary them away: "Be my feth," sayd the dougheti Doglas agayn, "I wyll let 2 that hontyng yf that I may." 3. Then the Perse owt off Banborowe cam, with him a myghtee meany, 3 With fifteen hondrith archares bold off blood and bone; the 4 wear chosen owt of shyars thre. 4. This begane on a Monday at morn, in Cheviat the hillys so he; 5 The chylde may rue that ys unborn, it wos the more pitte. 5. The dryvars thorowe the woodes went, for to reas the dear; Bomen byckarte 6 uppone the bent 7 with ther browd aros cleare. despite. 1 high. 2 hinder. 6 hunted. 3 crowd. ' field. * they. 40 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES 6. Then the wyld 1 thorowe the woodes went, on every syde shear; 2 Greahondes thorowe the grevis 3 glent, 4 for to kyll thear dear. 7. This begane in Chyviat the hyls abone, 5 yerly on a Monnyn-day; Be that 6 it drewe to the oware off none, 7 a hondrith fat hartes ded ther lay. 8. The 8 blewe a mort 9 uppone the bent, the semblyde 10 on sydis 11 shear; To the quyrry then the Perse went, to se the bryttlynge 12 off the deare. 9. He sayd, "It was the Duglas promys, this day to met me hear; But I wyste he wolde fay lie, vera- ment;" a great oth the Perse swear. 10. At the laste a squyar off Northomber- londe lokyde at his hand full ny; He was war a the doughetie Doglas commynge, with him a myghtte meany. n. Both with spear, bylle, and brande, yt was a myghtti sight to se; Hardyar men, both off hart nor hande, wear not in Cristiante. 12. The wear twenti hondrith spear-men good, withoute any feale; The wear borne along be the watter a Twyde, yth 13 bowndes of Tividale. 13. "Leave of the brytlyng of the dear," he sayd, "and to your boys 14 lock ye tayk good hede; For never sithe ye wear on your mothars borne had ye never so mickle nede." 1 deer. 2 several 6 by the time that 10 met 3 proves. 'darted. 7 hour of noon. 6 above, they. y the time that. ' hour 01 noon. 8 they. blast of the horn announcing the deer's death. let. "hillsides. u butchering. 13 in the. "bows 14. The dougheti Dogglas on a stede, he rode alle his men beforne; His armor glytteryde as dyd a glede; 15 a boldar barne 16 was never born. 15. "Tell me whos men ye ar," he says, "or whos men that ye be: Who gave youe leave to hunte in this Chyviat chays, in the spyt of myn and of me." 16. The first mane that ever him an answear mayd, yt was the good lord Perse: "We wyll not tell the whoys men we ar," he says, "nor whos men that we be; But we wyll hounte hear in this chays, in the spyt of thyne and of the. 17. "The fattiste hartes in all Chyviat we have kyld, and cast to carry them away." "Be my troth," sayd the doughete Dogglas agay[n], "therfor the ton 17 of us shall de this day." 18. Then sayd the doughte Doglas unto the lord Perse: "To kyll alle thes giltles men, alas, it wear great pitte! 19. " But, Perse, thowe art a lord of lande, I am a yerle callyd within my contre; Let all our men uppone a parti stande, and do the battell off the and of me." 20. "Nowe Cristes cors on his crowne," sayd the lord Perse, " who-so-ever ther- to says nay! Be my troth, doughtte Doglas," he says, " thow shalt never se that day, 21. "Nethar in Ynglonde, Skottlonde, nar France, nor for no man of a woman born, But, and fortune be my chance, I dar met him, on man for on." 11 coal of fire. 16 man. 17 one. THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH POPULAR BALLADS 4i 22. Then bespayke a squyar off Northom- barlonde, Richard Wytharyngton was his nam: "It shall never be told in Sothe- Ynglonde," he says, "to Kyng Herry the Fourth for sham. 23. "I wat youe byn great lordes twaw, I am a poor squyar of lande : I wylle never se my captayne fyght on a fylde, and stande my selffe and loocke on, But why lie I may my weppone welde, I wylle not [fayle] both hart and hande." 24. That day, that day, that dredfull day! the first fit 1 here I fynde; And youe wyll here any mor a the hountyng a the Chyviat, yet ys ther mor behynde. 25. The Yngglyshe men hade ther bowys yebent, ther hartes wer good yenoughe; The first off arros that the shote off, seven shore spear-men the sloughe. 2 26. Yet byddys the yerle Doglas uppon the bent, a captayne good yenoughe, And that was sene verament, for he wrought horn both woo and wouche. 3 27. The Dogglas partyd his ost in thre, lyk a cheffe chef ten off pryde; With suar 4 spears off myghtte tre, the cum in on every syde: 28. Thrughe our Yngglyshe archery gave many a wounde fulle wyde; many a doughete the garde 5 to dy, which ganyde them no pryde. 29. The Ynglyshe men let ther boys be, and pulde owt brandes that wer brighte; It was a hevy syght to se bryght swordes on basnites 6 lyght. , ' division of the story, chapter. 4 trusty. 2 slew. 5 made. 3 harm. 6 helmets. 30. Thorowe ryche male and myneyeple, 7 many sterne 8 the strocke done 9 streght ; Many a freyke 10 that was fulle fre, ther undar foot dyd lyght. 31. At last the Duglas and the Perse met, lyk to captayns of myght and of mayne; The swapte 11 togethar tylle the both swat, 12 with swordes that wear of fyn myllan. 13 32. Thes worthe freckys for to fyght, ther-to the wear fulle fayne, Tylle the bloode owte off thear basnetes sprente as ever dyd heal 14 or ra[y]n. 33. " Yelde the, Perse," sayde the Doglas, "and i feth I shalle the brynge Wher thowe shalte have a yerls wagis of Jamy our Skottish kynge. 34. "Thou shalte have thy ransom fre, I hight 15 the hear this thinge; For the manfullyste man yet art thowe that ever I conqueryd in filde fighttynge." 35. "Nay," sayd the lord Perse, "I tolde it the beforne, That I wolde never yeldyde be to no man of a woman born." 36. With that ther cam an arrowe hastely, forthe off a myghtte wane; 16 Hit hathe strekene the yerle Duglas in at the brest-bane. 37. Thorowe lyvar 17 and longes bathe 1 the sharpe arrowe ys gane, That never after in all his lyffe-days he spayke mo wordes but ane : That was, "Fyghte ye, my myrry men, whyllys ye may, for my lyff-days ben gan." 38. The Perse leanyde on his brande, and sawe the Duglas de; He tooke the dede mane by the hande, and sayd, " Wo ys me for the! 7 gauntlet. 8 stern men. 11 smote. 12 sweated. 15 bid. 16 number. 9 down. ,0 bold man. 13 Milan steel. u hail. 17 liver. ls both. 42 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES 39. "To have savyde thy lyffe, I wolde have partyde with my landes for years thre, For a better man, of hart nare of hande, was nat in all the north contre." 40. Off all that se a Skottishe knyght, was callyd Ser Hewe the Monggom- byrry; He sawe the Duglas to the deth was dyght, he spendyd 1 a spear, a trusti tre. 41. He rod uppone a corsiare throughe a hondrith archery: He never stynttyde, 2 nar never blane, 3 tylle he cam to the good lord Perse. 42. He set uppone the lorde Perse a dynte that was full soare; With a suar spear of a myghtte tre clean thorow the body he the Perse ber, 43. A the tothar syde that a man myght se a large cloth-yard and mare: Towe bettar captayns wear nat in Cristiante then that day slan wear ther. 44. An archar off Northomberlonde say 4 slean was the lord Perse; He bar a bende bowe in his hand, was made off trusti tre. 45. An arow, that a cloth-yarde was lang, to the harde stele halyde 5 he; A dynt that was both sad and soar he sat 6 on Ser Hewe the Monggom- byrry. 46. The dynt yt was both sad and sar, that he of Monggomberry sete; The swane-fethars that his arrowe bar with his hart-blood the wear wete. 47. Ther was never a freake wone 7 foot wolde fie, but still in stour 8 dyd stand, Heawyng on yche othar, whylle the myghte dre, 9 with many a balfull brande. 1 placed in rest. 2 stopped. 3 hesitated 4 saw. 6 drew. 6 shot. 7 one. 8 fight. » hold out. 48. This battell begane in Chyviat an owar befor the none, And when even-songe bell was rang, the battell was nat half done. 49. The tocke ... on ethar hande 10 be the lyght off the mone; Many hade no strenght for to stande, in Chyviat the hillys abon. 50. Of fifteen hondrith archars of Yng- londe went away but seventi and thre; Of twenti hondrith spear-men of Skotlonde, but even five and fifti. 51. But all wear slayne Cheviat within; the hade no streng[th]e to stand on hy; The chylde may rue that ys unborne, it was the mor pitte. 52. Thear was slayne, withe the lord Perse, Sir Johan of Agerstone, Ser Rogar, the hinde 11 Hartly, Ser Wyllyam, the bolde Hearone. 53. Ser Jorg, the worthe Loumle, a knyghte of great renowen, Ser Raff, the ryche Rugbe, with dyntes wear beaten dowene. 54. For Wetharryngton my harte was wo, that ever he slayne shulde be; For when both his leggis wear hewyne in to, 12 yet he knyled and fought on hys ' kny. 55. Ther was slayne, with the dougheti Duglas, Ser Hewe the Monggombyrry, Ser Davy Lwdale, that worthe* was, his sistars son was he. 56. Ser Charls a Murre in that place, that never a foot wolde fle; Ser Hewe Maxwelle, a lorde he was, with the Doglas dyd he dey. 10 The line is unintelligible. " courteous. 12 two. THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH POPULAR BALLADS 43 57. So on the morrowe the mayde them byears off birch and hasell so g[r]ay; Many wedous, with wepyng tears, cam to fache ther makys 1 away. 58. Tivydale may carpe 2 off care, Northombarlond may mayk great mon, For towe such captayns as slayne wear thear, on the March-parti 3 shall never be non. 59. Word ys commen to Eddenburrowe, to Jamy the Skottische kynge, That dougheti Duglas, lyff-tenant of the Marches, he lay slean Chyviot within. 60. His handdes dyd he weal 4 and wryng, he sayd, "Alas, and woe ys me! Such an othar captayn Skotland within," he sayd, "ye-feth shuld never be." 61. Worde ys commyn to lovly Londone, till the fourth Harry our kynge, That lord Perse, leyff-tenante of the Marchis, he lay slayne Chyviat within. 62. "God have merci on his solle," sayde Kyng Harry, "good Lord, yf thy will it be! I have a hondrith captayns in Yng- londe," he sayd, "as good as ever was he: But, Perse, and I brook my lyffe, thy deth well quyte shall be." 63. As our noble kynge mayd his avowe, lyke a noble prince of renowen, For the deth of the lord Perse he dyde the battell of Hombyll- down; 64. Wher syx and thritte Skottishe knyghtes on a day wear beaten down : Glendale glytteryde on ther armor bryght, over castille, towar, and town. 2 talk. 1 mates, husbands 4 clench. 3 the border-lands. 5 enjoy. 65. This was the hontynge off the Cheviat, that tear begane this spurn, 6 Old men that knowen the grownde well yenoughe call it the battell of Otterburn. 66. At Otterburn begane this spurne uppone a Monnynday; Ther was the dough te Doglas slean, the Perse never went away. 67. Ther was never a tym on the Marche- partes sen the Doglas and the Perse met, But yt ys mervele and the rede blude ronne not, as the reane 7 doys in the stret. 68. Jhesue Crist our balys 8 bete! 9 and to the blys us brynge! Thus was the hountynge of the Chiv- yat: God sent us alle good endying! BONNIE GEORGE CAMPBELL Hie upon Hielands And low upon Tay Bonnie George Campbell Rade out on a day. Saddled and bridled And gallant rade he; Hame came his gude horse, But never cam he! Out cam his auld mither Greeting fu' sair, 10 And out cam his bonnie bride Rivin' 11 her hair. Saddled and bridled And booted rade he; Toom 12 hame cam the saddle. But never cam he! IS "My meadow lies green, And my corn is unshorn; My barn is to big, 13 And my babie's unborn." Saddled and bridled And booted rade he; Toom hame cam the saddle, But never cam he! 8 This line is unintelligible. 9 relieve. 11 tearing. 12 empty. 7 rain. s misfortunes. 10 weeping sorely. " to be built. 44 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES SIR THOMAS MALORY (1400?-1470) From LE MORTE DARTHUR PREFACE OF WILLIAM CAXTON After that I had accomplished and fin- ished divers histories, as well of contem- plation as of other historial and worldly- acts of great conquerors and princes, and also certain books of ensamples and doc- trine, many noble and divers gentlemen of this realm of England came and demanded me many and ofttimes, wherefore that I have not do made and imprint the noble history of the Saint Greal and of the [10 most renowned Christian king, first and chief of the three best Christian, and worthy, king Arthur, which ought most to be remembered among us Englishmen to fore all other Christian kings; for it is notoriously known through the universal world that there be nine worthy and the best that ever were, that is to wit three Paynims, three Jews, and three Christian men. As for the Paynims they were [20 tofore the Incarnation of Christ, which were named, the first Hector of Troy, of whom the history is come, both in ballad and in prose; the second Alexander the Great, and the third Julius -Caesar, Em- peror of Rome, of whom the histories be well known and had. And as for the three Jews, which also were tofore the incar- nation of our Lord, of whom the first was duke Joshua which brought the chil- [30 dren of Israel into the land of behest, the second David king of Jerusalem, and the third Judas Maccabaeus. Of these three the Bible rehearseth all their noble his- tories and acts. And since the said incar- nation have been three noble Christian men stalled and admitted through the uni- versal world into the number of the nine best and worthy. Of whom was first the noble Arthur, whose noble acts I pur- [40 pose to write in this present book here fol- lowing. The second was Charlemain, or Charles the Great, of whom the history is had in many places, both in French and in English. And the third and last was Godfrey of Boloine, of whose acts and life I made a book unto the excellent prince and king of noble memory, king Edward the Fourth. The said noble gentlemen in- stantly required me to imprint the his- [50 tory of the said noble king and conqueror king Arthur, and of his knights, with the history of the Saint Greal, and of the death and ending of the said Arthur; af- firming that I ought rather to imprint his acts and noble feats, than of Godfrey of Boloine, or any of the other eight, con- sidering that he was a man born within this realm, and king and emperor of the same; and that there be in French divers and [60 many noble volumes of his acts, and also of his knights. To whom I answered, that divers men hold opinion that there was no such Arthur, and that all such books as been made of him be feigned and fables, because that some chronicles make of him no mention, nor remember him nothing, nor of his knights. Whereto they an- swered, and one in special said, that in him that should say or think that there [70 was never such a king called Arthur, might well be aretted great folly and blindness. For he said that there were many evidences of the contrary. First ye may see his sepulchre in the monastery of Glastingbury. And also in Polichroni- con, in the fifth book the sixth chapter, and in the seventh book the twenty-third chapter, where his body was buried, and after found, and translated into the [80 said monastery. Ye shall see also in the history of Bochas in his book De Casu Principum part of his noble acts, and also of his fall. Also Galfridus in his British book recounteth his life; and in divers places of England many remembrances be yet of him and shall remain perpetually, and also of his knights. First in the abbey of Westminster, at Saint Edward's shrine, remaineth the print of his seal in red [90 wax closed in beryl, in which is written Patricius Arthurus. Britannie, Gallie, Ger- manie, Dacie, Imperator. Item in the castle of Dover ye may see Gawaine's skull and Cradok's mantle: at Winchester the Round Table: in other places Launce- lot's sword and many other things. Then all these things considered, there can no man reasonably gainsay but that there was a king of this land named Arthur. [100 For in all places, Christian and heathen, he is reputed and taken for one of the MALORY 45 nine worthy, and the first of the three Christian men. And also he is more spoken of beyond the sea, more books made of his noble acts, than there be in England, as well in Dutch, Italian, Spanish, and Greekish, as in French. And yet of record remain in witness of him in Wales, in the town of Camelot, the great stones [no and the marvelous works of iron lying under the ground, and royal vaults, which divers now living have seen. Wherefore it is a marvel why he is no more renowned in his own country, save only it accordeth to the Word of God, which saith that no man is accepted for a prophet in his own country. Then all these things aforesaid alleged, I could not well deny but that there [120 was such a noble king named Arthur, and reputed one of the nine worthy, and first and chief of the Christian men. And many noble volumes be made of him and of his noble knights in French, which I have seen and read beyond the sea, which be not had in our maternal tongue. But in Welsh be many and also in French, and some in English, but nowhere nigh all. Wherefore, such as have late been [130 drawn out briefly into English I have after the simple conning that God hath sent to me, under the favor and correction of all noble lords and gentlemen, enprised to im- print a book of the noble histories of the said king Arthur, and of certain of his knights, after a copy unto me delivered, which copy Sir Thomas Malorye did take out of certain books of French, and re- duced it into English. And I, accord- [140 ing to my copy, have done set it in print, to the intent that noble men may see and learn the noble acts of chivalry, the gentle and virtuous deeds that some knights used in those days, by which they came to honor, and how they that were vicious were punished and oft put to shame and rebuke; humbly beseeching all noble lords and ladies, with all other estates of what estate or degree they been of, that [150 shall see and read in this said book and work, that they take the good and honest acts in their remembrance, and to follow the same. Wherein they shall find many joyous and pleasant histories, and noble and renowned acts of humanity, gentle- ness, and chivalry. For herein may be seen noble chivalry, courtesy, humanity, friendliness, hardiness, love, friendship, cowardice, murder, hate, virtue, and [160 sin. Do after the good and leave the evil, and it shall bring you to good fame and renown. And for to pass the time this book shall be pleasant to read in; but for to give faith and belief that all is true that is contained herein, ye be at your liberty; but all is written for our doctrine, and for to beware that we fall not to vice nor sin, but to exercise and follow virtue, by the which we may come and at- [170 tain to good fame and renown in this life, and after this short and transitory life to come unto everlasting bliss in heaven; the which He grant us that reigneth in heaven, the blessed Trinity. Amen. BOOK XXI Chapter IV HOW BY MISADVENTURE OF AN ADDER THE BATTLE BEGAN, WHERE MORDRED WAS SLAIN, AND ARTHUR HURT TO THE DEATH Then were they condescended that king Arthur and Sir Mordred should meet be- twixt both their hosts, and every each of them should bring fourteen persons. And they came with this word unto Arthur. Then said he, I am glad that this is done. And so he went into the field. And when Arthur should depart, he warned all his host that and they see any sword drawn, Look ye come on fiercely, and slay [10 that traitor, Sir Mordred, for I in no wise trust him. In like wise Sir Mordred warned his host that, And ye see any sword drawn, look that ye come on fiercely, and so slay all that ever before you stand- eth: for in no wise I will not trust for this treaty, for I know well my father will be avenged upon me. And so they met as their pointment was, and so they were agreed and accorded thoroughly; and [20 wine was fetched, and they drank. Right so came an adder out of a little heath bush, and it stung a knight on the foot. And when the knight felt him stungen, he looked down and saw the adder, and then he drew his sword to slay the adder, and thought of none other harm. And 46 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES when the host on both parties saw that sword drawn, then they blew beames, trumpets, and horns, and shouted [30 grimly. And so both hosts dressed them together. And king Arthur took his horse, and said, Alas, this unhappy day, and so rode to his party; and Sir Mordred in like wise. And never was there seen a more dolefuller battle in no Christian land. For there was but rushing and riding, foining and striking, and many a grim word was there spoken either to other, and many a deadly stroke. But ever king Arthur [40 rode throughout the battle of Sir Mordred many times, and did full nobly as a noble king should, and at all times he fainted never. And Sir Mordred that day put him in devoir, and in great peril. And thus they fought all the long day, and never stinted, till the noble knights were laid to the cold ground, and ever they fought still, till it was near night, and by that time was there an hundred thousand laid [50 dead upon the down. Then was Arthur wroth out of measure, when he saw his people so slain from him. Then the king looked about him, and then was he ware of all his host, and of all his good knights, were left no more on live but two knights, that was Sir Lucan the Butler, and his brother Sir Bedivere, and they were full sore wounded. Jesu mercy, said the king, where are all my [60 noble knights becomen? Alas, that ever I should see this doleful day. For now, said Arthur, I am come to mine end. But would to God that I wist where were that traitor Sir Mordred, that hath caused all this mischief. Then was king Arthur ware where Sir Mordred leaned upon his sword among a great heap of dead men. Now give me my spear, said Arthur unto Sir Lucan, for yonder I have espied the [70 traitor that all this woe hath wrought. Sir, let him be, said Sir Lucan, for he is unhappy; and if ye pass this unhappy day, ye shall be right well revenged upon him. Good lord, remember ye of your night's dream, and what the spirit of Sir Gawaine told you this night, yet God of his great goodness hath preserved you hitherto. Therefore, for God's sake, my lord, leave off by this. For, blessed be God, ye [80 have won the field, for here we be three on live, and with Sir Mordred is none on live. And if ye leave off now, this wicked day of destiny is past. Tide me death, betide me life, saith the king, now I see him yonder alone, he shall never escape mine hands, for at a better avail shall I never have him. God speed you well, said Sir Bedivere. Then the king gat his spear in both [90 his hands, and ran toward Sir Mordred, crying, Traitor, now is thy death-day come. And when Sir Mordred heard Sir Arthur, he ran until him with his sword drawn in his hand. And then king Arthur smote Sir Mordred under the shield, with a foin of his spear throughout the body more than a fathom. And when Sir Mordred felt that he had his death's wound, he thrust himself, with the [100 might that he had, up to the bur of king Arthur's spear. And right so he smote his father Arthur with his sword holden in both his hands, on the side of the head, that the sword pierced the helmet and the brain-pan, and therewithal Sir Mordred fell stark dead to the earth. And the noble Arthur fell in a swoon to the earth, and there he swooned oft-times. And Sir Lucan the Butler, and Sir Bedivere, [no oft-times heaved him up, and so weakly they led him betwixt them both, to a little chapel not far from the sea side. And when the king was there, he thought him well eased. Then heard they people cry in the field. Now go, thou, Sir Lucan, said the king, and do me to wit what betokens that noise in the field. So Sir Lucan departed, for he was grievously wounded in [120 many places. And so as he went, he saw and hearkened by the moonlight, how the pillers and robbers were come into the field to pill and to rob many a full noble knight of brooches and beads, of many a good ring, and of many a rich jewel ; and who that were not dead all out, there they slew them for their harness and their riches. When Sir Lucan understood this work, he came to the king as soon as [130 he might, and told him all what he had heard and seen. Therefore by mine ad- vice, said Sir Lucan, it is best that we bring you to some town. I would it were so, said the king. MALORY 47 Chapter V HOW KING ARTHUR COMMANDED TO CAST HIS SWORD EXCALIBUR INTO THE WATER, AND HOW HE WAS DELIVERED TO LADIES IN A BARGE But I may not stand, mine head works so. Ah, Sir Launcelot, said king Arthur, this day have I sore missed thee. Alas, that ever I was against thee, for now have I my death, whereof Sir Gawaine me warned in my dream. Then Sir Lucan took up the king the one part, and Sir Bedivere the other part, and in the lifting the king swooned, and Sir Lucan fell in a swoon with the lift, that the part of [10 his bowels fell out of his body, and there- with the noble knight's heart brast. And when king Arthur came to himself again, he beheld Sir Lucan, how he lay foaming at the mouth, and part of his bowels lay at his feet. Alas, said the king, this is unto me a full heavy sight, to see this noble duke so die for my sake, for he would have holpen me that had more need of help than I. Alas, he would not com- [20 plain him, his heart was so set to help me. Now Jesu have mercy upon his soul. Then Sir Bedivere wept for the death of his brother. Leave this mourning and weep- ing, said the king, for all this will not avail me; for, wit thou well, and I might live myself the death of Sir Lucan would grieve me evermore; but my time hieth fast, said the king. Therefore, said Arthur, take thou Excalibur, my good [30 sword, and go with it to yonder water side, and when thou comest there, I charge thee throw my sword in that water, and come again, and tell me what thou there seest. My lord, said Bedivere, your commandment shall be done, and lightly bring you word again. So Sir Bedivere departed, and by the way he beheld that noble sword, that the pommel and the haft were all of pre- [40 cious stones; and then he said to himself, If I throw this rich sword in the water, thereof shall never come good, but harm and loss. And then Sir Bedivere hid Excalibur under a tree. And as soon as he might he came again unto the king, and said he had been at the water, and had thrown the sword into the water. What sawest thou there? said the king. Sir, he said, I saw nothing but waves [50 and winds. That is untruly said of thee, said the king; therefore go thou lightly again, and do my command, as thou art to me lief and dear, spare not, but throw it in. Then Sir Bedivere returned again, and took the sword in his hand; and then him thought sin and shame to throw away that noble sword; and so eft he hid the sword, and returned again, and told to the king that he had been at the [60 water, and done his commandment. What saw thou there? said the king. Sir, he said, I saw nothing but the waters wap and the waves wan. Ah traitor, untrue, said king Arthur, now hast thou betrayed me twice. Who would have wend that thou that hast been to me so lief and dear, and thou art named a noble knight, and would betray me for the rich- ness of the sword. But now go again [70 lightly, for thy long tarrying putteth me in great jeopardy of my life, for I have taken cold. And but if thou do now as I bid thee, if ever I may see thee, I shall slay thee with mine own hands, for thou wouldest for my rich sword see me dead. Then Sir Bedivere departed, and went to the sword, and lightly took it up, and went to the water side; and there he bound the girdle about the hilts, and [80 then he threw the sword as far into the water as he might ; and there came an arm and an hand above the water, and met it, and caught it, and so shook it thrice and brandished, and then vanished away the hand with the sword in the water. So Sir Bedivere came again to the king, and told him what he saw. Alas, said the king, help me hence, for I dread me I have tarried over long. Then Sir Bedivere [90 took the king upon his back, and so went with him to that water side. And when they were at the water side, even fast by the bank hoved a little barge, with many fair ladies in it, and among them all was a queen, and all they had black hoods, and all they wept and shrieked when they saw king Arthur. Now put me into the barge, said the king; and so he did softly. And there received him three queens with [100 great mourning, and so they set him down, and in one of their laps king Arthur 4 8 THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES laid his head. And then that queen said, Ah, dear brother, why have ye tarried so long from me? Alas, this wound on your head hath caught over-much cold. And so then they rowed from the land, and Sir Bedivere beheld all those ladies go from him. Then Sir Bedivere cried, Ah, my lord Arthur, what shall become of [no me, now ye go from me, and leave me here alone among mine enemies? Com- fort thyself, said the king, and do as well as thou niayest, for in me is no trust for to trust in. For I will into the vale of Avilion to heal me of my grievous wound. And if thou hear never more of me, pray for my soul. But ever the queens and the ladies wept and shrieked, that it was pity to hear. And as soon as Sir Bedi- [120 vere had lost the sight of the barge, he wept and wailed, and so took the forest, and so he went all that night, and in the morning he was ware betwixt two holts hoar, of a chapel and an hermitage. Chapter VI HOW SIR BEDIVERE FOUND HIM ON THE MORROW DEAD IN AN HERMITAGE, AND HOW HE ABODE THERE WITH THE HER- MIT Then was Sir Bedivere glad, and thither he went; and when he came into the chapel, he saw where lay an hermit grovel- ing on all four, there fast by a tomb was new graven. When the hermit saw Sir Bedivere he knew him well, for he was but little before bishop of Canterbury, that Sir Mordred banished. Sir, said Sir Bedivere, what man is there interred that ye pray so fast for? Fair son, [10 said the hermit, I wot not verily, but by deeming. But this night, at midnight, here came a number of ladies, and brought hither a dead corpse, and prayed me to bury him; and here they offered an hundred tapers, and gave me an hundred besants. Alas, said Sir Bedivere, that was' my lord king Arthur, that here lieth buried in this chapel. Then Sir Bedivere swooned, and when he awoke he prayed [20 the hermit he might abide with him still there, to live with fasting and prayers. For from hence will I never go, said Sir Bedivere, by my will, but all the days of my life here to pray for my lord Arthur. Ye are welcome to me, said the hermit, for I know ye better than ye ween that I do. Ye are the bold Bedivere, and the full noble duke Sir Lucan the Butler was your brother. Then Sir Bedivere told [30 the hermit all as ye have heard tofore. So there bode Sir Bedivere with the hermit that was tofore bishop of Canterbury, and there Sir Bedivere put upon him poor clothes, and served the hermit full lowly in fasting and in prayers. Thus of Arthur I find never more writ- ten in books that be authorized, nor more of the certainty of his death heard I never tell. [40 Chapter VII OF THE OPINION OF SOME MEN OF THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR; AND HOW r QUEEN GUENEVER MADE HER A NUN IN ALMESBURY Yet some men say in many parts of England that king Arthur is not dead, but had by the will of our Lord Jesu in an- other place. And men say that he shall come again, and he shall win the holy cross. I will not say it shall be so, but rather I will say, here in this world he changed his life. But many men say that there is written upon his tomb this verse: Hie jacet Arthurus, Rex quondam, Rex- [10 que juturiis. Thus leave I here Sir Bedi- vere with the hermit, that dwelled that time in a chapel beside Glastonbury, and there was his hermitage. And so they lived in their prayers and fastings, and great abstinence. And when queen Guenever understood that king Arthur was slain, and all the noble knights, Sir Mordred and all the remnant, then the queen stole away, [20 and five ladies with her, and so she went to Almesbury, and there she let make her- self a nun, and wore white clothes and black, and great penance she took, as ever did sinful lady in this land, and never creature could make her merry, but lived in fasting, prayers, and alms-deeds, that all manner of people marveled how vir- tuously she was changed. THE ELIZABETHAN AGE EDMUND SPENSER (1652?-1599) THE FAERIE QUEENE A Letter of the Authors, Expounding his whole intention in the course of this worke: which, for that it giveth great light to the reader, for the better understanding is hereunto an- nexed. To the Right Noble and Valorous Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight; Lord Wardein of the Stanneryes, and Her Maiesties Liefetenaunt of the County of Cornewayll. Sir, knowing how doubtfully all alle- gories may be construed, and this booke of mine, which I have entituled the Faery Queene, being a continued allegory, or darke conceit, I haue thought good, as well for avoyding of gealous opinions and misconstructions, as also for your better light in reading thereof, (being so by you commanded,) to discover unto you the general intention and meaning, which [10 in the whole course thereof I have fash- ioned, without expressing of any particular purposes, or by accidents therein occa- sioned. The generall end therefore of all the booke is to fashion a gentleman or noble person in vertuous and gentle dis- cipline: which for that I conceived shoulde be most plausible and pleasing, being coloured with an historicall fiction, the which the most part of men delight to [20 read, rather for variety of matter then for profite of the ensample, I chose the his- torye of King Arthure, as most fitte for the excellency of his person, being made famous by many men's former workes, and also furthest from the daunger of envy, and suspition of present time. In which I have followed all the antique Poets historicall: first Homere, who in the Persons of Agamemnon and Ulys- [30 ses hath ensampled a good governour and a vertuous man, the one in his Ilias, the other in his Odysseis; then Virgil, whose like intention was to doe in the person of Aeneas; after him Ariosto comprised them both in his Orlando: and lately Tasso dis- severed them againe, and formed both parts in two persons, namely that part which they in Philosophy call Ethice, or vertues of a private man, coloured in [40 his Rinaldo; the other named Politice in his Godfredo. By ensample of which ex- cellente poets, I labour to pourtraict in Arthure, before he was king, the image of a brave knight, perfected in the twelve private morall vertues, as Aristotle hath devised; the which is the purpose of these first twelve bookes: which if I finde to be well accepted, I may be perhaps encoraged to frame the other part of polliticke [50 vertues in his person, after that hee came to be king. To some, I know, this methode will seeme displeasaunt, which had rather have good discipline delivered plainly in way of precepts, or sermoned at large, as they use, then thus clowdily enwrapped in Allegoricall devises. But such, me seeme, should be satisfide with the use of these dayes, seeing all things accounted by [60 their showes, and nothing esteemed of, that is not delightfull and pleasing to commune sence. For this cause is Xeno- phon preferred before Plato, for that the one, in the exquisite depth of his judge- ment, formed a commune welth, such as it should be; but the other in the person of Cyrus, and the Persians, fashioned a governement, such as might best be: so much more profitable and gratious is [70 doctrine by ensample, then by rule. So haue I laboured to doe in the person of Arthure: whome I conceive, after his long education by Timon, to whom he was by Merlin delivered to be brought up, so soone as he was borne of the Lady Igrayne, to have seene in a dream or vision the Faery Queene, with whose 49 5° THE ELIZABETH AX AGE excellent beauty ravished, he awaking resolved to seeke her out; and so being [80 by Merlin armed, and by Timon throughly instructed, he went to seeke her forth in Faerye land. In that Faery Queene I meane glory in my generall intention, but in my particular I conceive the most excellent and glorious person of our sover- aine the Queene, and her kingdome in Faery land. And yet, in some places els, I doe otherwise shadow her. For con- sidering she beareth two persons, the [90 one of a most royall Queene or Empresse, the other of a most vertuous and beautifull Lady, this latter part in some places I doe expresse in Belphoebe, fashioning her name according to your owne excellent conceipt of Cynthia, (Phcebe and Cynthia being both names of Diana.) So in the person of Prince Arthure I sette forth magnificence in particular, which vertue, for that (according to Artistotle and [100 the rest) it is the perfection of all the rest, and conteineth in it them all, therefore in the whole course I mention the deedes of Arthure applyable to that vertue, which I write of in that booke. But of the xii. other vertues, I make xii. other knights the patrones, for the more variety of the history: of which these three bookes contayn three. The first of the knight of the Redcrosse, in whome I expresse [no holynes: The seconde of Sir Guyon, in whome I sette forth temperaunce: The third of Britomartis, a lady knight, in whome I picture chastity. But, because the beginning of the whole worke seemeth abrupte, and as depending upon other antecedents, it needs that ye know the occasion of these three knights' seuerall adventures. For the methode of a poet historical is not such, as of an his- [120 toriographer. For an historiographer dis- courseth of affayres orderly as they were donne, accounting as well the times as the actions; but a poet thrusteth into the middest, even where it most concerneth him, and there recoursing to the thinges forepaste, and divining of thinges to come, maketh a pleasing analysis of all. The beginning therefore of my history, if it were to be told by an historiog- [130 rapher, should be the twelfth booke, which is the last; where I devise that the Faery Queene kept her annuall feaste xii. dayes; uppon which xii. severall dayes, the occa- sions of the xii. severall adventures hapned, which, being undertaken by xii. severall knights, are in these xii. books severally handled and discoursed. The first was this. In the beginning of the feast, there presented him selfe a tall clownishe [140 younge man, who, falling before the Queene of Faeries, desired a boone (as the manner then was) which during that feast she might not refuse: which was that hee might have the atchievement of any ad- venture, which during that feaste should happen: that being graunted, he rested him on the floore, unfitte through his rus- ticity for a better place. Soone after entred a faire ladye in mourning [150 weedes, riding on a white asse, with a dwarfe behind her leading a warlike steed, that bore the armes of a knight, and his speare in the dwarfes hand. Shee, falling before the Queene of Faeries, complayned that her father and mother, an ancient king and queene, had bene by an huge dragon many years shut up in a brasen castle, who thence suffred them not to yssew; and therefore besought the [160 Faery Queene to assygne her some one of her knights to take on him that exployt. Presently that clownish person, upstart- ing, desired that adventure: whereat the Queene much wondering, and the lady much gainesaying, yet he earnestly im- portuned his desire. In the end the lady told him, that unlesse that armour which she brought, would serve him (that is, the armour of a Christian man speci- [1 70 fied by Saint Paul, vi. Ephes.) that he could not succeed in that enterprise : which being forthwith put upon him, with dewe furnitures thereunto, he seemed the good- liest man in al that company, and was well liked of the lady. And eftesoones taking on him knighthood, and mounting on that straunge courser, he went forth with her on that adventure: where be- ginneth the first booke, viz. [180 A gentle knight was pricking on the playne, etc. The second day there came in a palmer, bearing an infant with bloody hands, whose parents he complained to have SPENSER bene slayn by an enchaunteresse called Acrasia; and therefore craved of the Faery Queene, to appoint him some knight to performe that adventure; which being assigned to Sir Guy on, he presently went forth with that same palmer: [190 which is the beginning of the second booke, and the whole subject thereof. The third day there came in a groome, who com- plained before the Faery Queene, that a vile enchaunter, called Busirane, had in hand a most faire lady, called Amoretta, whom he kept in most grievous torment, because she would not yield him the pleasure of her body. Whereupon Sir Scudamour, the lover of that lady, [200 presently tooke on him that adventure. But being unable to performe it by reason of the hard enchauntments, after long sorrow, in the end met with Britomartis, who succoured him, and reskewed his loue. But by occasion hereof many other adventures are intermedled; but rather as accidents then intendments: as the love of Britomart, the overthrow of Marinell, [210 the misery of Florimell, the vertuousness of Belphcebe, the lasciviousnes of Hellenora, and many the like. Thus much, Sir, I have briefly overronne, to direct your understanding to the wel- : head of the history, that from thence gath- ering the whole intention of the conceit ye may, as in a handfull, gripe al the dis- course, which otherwise may happily seeme tedious and confused. So, humbly [220 craving the continuance of your honor- able favour towards me, and th' eternall establishment of your happines, I humbly take leave. 23. January, 1589. Yours most humbly affectionate, Ed. Spenser. From Book I, Canto I The patrone of true Holinesse Foule Errour doth defeate: Hypocrisie, him to entrappe, Doth to his home entreate. A gentle knight was pricking 1 on the plaine, Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielded 1 spurring, riding. Wherein old dints of deepe woundes did remaine, ^ The cruell markes of many a bloody fielde ; Yet armes till that time did he never wield: ■— ^ His angry steede did chide his foming bitt, t- 6 As much disdayning to the curbe to yield :-&— Full jolly 2 knight he seemd, and faire did §itt,