On shelves couched at his beddes hed,
His preffe ycovered with a falding red;
And all above ther lay a gay fautrie,
On which he made on nightes melodie
So swerely, that all the chambre rong, 3215
And Angelus ad Virginem he fong;
And after that he fong the kinges note:
Ful often blefied was his mery throte,
And thus this fwete clerk his time spent
After his frendes finding and his rent. 3220

This carpenter had wedded new a wif
Which that he loved more than his lif:
Of eighrene yere ihe was I geffe of age.
Jalous he was, and held hire narwe in cage,
For she was wild and yonge, and he was old, 3225
And demed himself belike a cokewold.
He lunew not Caton, for his wit was rude,
That bade a man fhulde wedde his similitude;

were the pebbles or counters which were anciently used in numcration.

9.3217. th: kinges yote] What this note or tune was I must leave to be explained by tlie musical antiquaries, Angelus ad Virginem, I suppose, was Ave Maria, &'c.

W.3223. Oj eightine j'ere] The words-130--are not in the mil. Mi. A. reads fizientene, which perhaps may be right, if /eventene he pronounced as of four fyllables. Afk. I and 2 would remove a!l ditculties, by reading of eightene j'ere this woman was of age.

V. 3227. He kneru not Caron] The calling of this author ca. 101 thews that he was more ftudiсd in French than in Latin.

3230

Men shulden wedden afrcr hir eftate,
For youthe and eide is often at debate;
But fithen he was fallen in the fnare
He most endure (as other folk) his care.

Fayre was this yonge wif, and therwithal
As any wesel hire body gent and smal.
A seint she wered, barred all of filk,
A barme-cloch eke as white as morwe milk
Upon hire lendes, ful of many a gore;
White was hire fmok, and brouded all before
And eke behind on hire colere aboute
Of cole-black silk within and eke withoute:
The tapes of hire white volupere
Were of the same suit of hire colere;

3235

3240

See below, ver. 9251, 14946, 16155. Who lie was or of what age is uncertain; but his autliority four or five hundred years ago seems to liave been as great as if he had really been the famous Censor of Rome. However, the maxim lierc alluded to is not properly one of Cato's; but I find it in a kind of Supplement to The Moral Distichis entitled Facetus, int. Auctores octo morales. Lugd. 1538, cap. iii.;

Duc tibi prole parem fponfam moresque venufam.

Si cum pace velis vitam deducere juflain. The fame treatise, or at leait one with the same bepinning, and on the same subject, is mentioned in the Cat.my. Coil. Trin. Dublin, A. 275, under the title of Urbanus. It is there attributed to Daniel Ecclesienfis (Churche) who lived about the year 1180. See Bayle, Cent, iji. 17, and Fabric. Bib. Med. Fl. in v.

$. 32 37. many a gore) This word is used again in ver. 13719. I do not understand it is either place.

Volume 11.

Hire fillet brode of silk, and fet full hye ;
And sikerly ihe had a likerous eye :
Ful smal ypulled were hire browes two, 3245
And they were bent, and black as any llo:
She was wel more blisful for to fee
Than is the newe perienete tree,
And fofter than the wolle is of a wether.

And by hire girdel heng a purse of lether 3250
Tailcled with silk and perled with latoun.
In all this world to seken up and doun
Ther n'is no man so wise that coude thenche
So gay a popelot or swiche a wenche.
Fulbrighter was the shining of hire hewe 3253
Than in the Tour the noble yforged newe;
But of hire fong, it was as loud and yerne
As any swalow fitting on a berne.
Therto she coude skip and make a game
As

any kid or calf solowing his dame. зебо 1. 3247. Ili sful for to fee] The better mfl. read-on to fee --which I believe is right. See Lydg. Troy. b. iii. ch. xxii.;

His brother Trojlus, so goodly on to see and Gover, Conf. Amant. fol. 17, b.;

Tho was the fouler unto (r. on, to je. t. 3248. Il ne perienete tree] Some of the msl. read per. jonette, as if the word tere derived froin the Ital. pero ginta110110, rather than from the Fr. poire or pere jeunetie. In either cale it fignifies a young pear.

W. 3257. porled coish laroun] That is, I believe, ornamented with latoun in the thape of pearls. It is probable that some very elegant purses were embroidered with real pearls.

V. 3254. So gry a forclot] This word may either be confidered as a diminutive ficm poupće, a puppet, or as a corruption of pojillot, a young butterfly.

Hire mouth was swete as braket or the meth,
Or hord of apples laid in hay or heth.
Winsing she was as is a joly colt,
Long as a mast, and upright as a bolt.
A broche she bare upon hire low colere, 3265
As brode as is the bofse of a bokelere.
Hire fhoon were laced on hire legges hie';
She was a primerole, a piggesnie,
For any lord to liggen in his bedde,
Or yet for any good yeman to wedde. 3270

Now fire, and eft fire, so befell the cas,
That on a day this Hendy Nicholas
Fel with this yonge wif to rage and pleye,
While that hire husbond was at Ofeney,
As clerkes ben ful subtil and ful queint, 3275
And prively he caught hire by the queint,
And sayde, Ywis but if I have my will
For derne love of thee, lemman, I spill ;
And helde hire faite by the hanche bones,
And sayde, Lemman, love me wel at ones,

3280 Or I wol dien, al so God me save.

And she sprong as a colt doch in the trave ;

V. 3258. a primerole] Old Fr. for a priinrose. It is used by Gower, Conf. Amant. fol. 148.-- A pizzejnie. The Romans uied oculus as a term of endearment, and perhaps piggesnic, in vulgarlanguage, only means ocellus, the eyes of that animal being remarkably finall. The word occurs again in The Remedie of Love, ver. 257, though I do not believe that to be a work of Chaucer.

And with hire hed she writhed faste away,
And sayde, I wol not kifle thee by my fay.
Why, let be, (quod she) let be, Nicholas, 3285
Or I wol crie out Harow and Alas!
Do way your hondes fur your curtefie.

This Nicholas gan inercy for to crie,
And spake, fo faire, and profered him fo faft,
That she hire love him granted at the last, 3290
And swore hire oth by Seint Thomas of Kent,
That the wold ben at his commandement
Whan that she may hire leiser wel espie.
Myn husbond is so ful of jalousie
That but ye waiten wel and be prive

3295
I wot right wel I n'am but ded, quod fhe:
Ye moften be ful derne as in this cas.

Nay, therof care you not, quod Nicholas:
A clerk hath litherly beset his while
But if he coude 2 carpenter begile.

3300
And thus they were accorded and ysworne
Towaite a time, as I have said beforne.

$. 3296. Harow] It would mucii exceed the limits of these Notes to recite the several opinions concerning the original of this word. The curious reader inay confult Du Cange, in v. and Hickes, Gr. Fr. Theot. p. 96, I ratber believe it to bave been derived trom bar, altus, and or, clamor, two Illandick words, which were probably once common to all the Scandinavian nations. See Gudmund. Andr. Lex. INant. by Refenius. Hafn. 1693. In support of this opinion it may be observed that the very word vareop or barop, was used by some of the inhabitants of the Low.countries in the same femte in which Harou was by the Normans. Du Cange, in y, Hurgep.

1