Hire fillet brode of filk, and fet full hye;
And fikerly fhe had a likerous eye:

Ful fmal ypulled were hire browes two,

3245

And they were bent, and black as any flo:

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 purfe of lether Taffeled with filk and perled with latoun.

3250

In all this world to feken up and doun

Ther n'is no man fo wife that coude thenche

So gay a popelot or swiche a wenche.

Ful brighter was the fhining of hire hewe
Than in the Tour the noble yforged newe;
But of hire fong, it was as loud and yerne
As any fwalow fitting on a berne.
Therto the coude fkip and make a game

As any kid or calf folowing his dame.

3255

3860

. 3247. Ulisful for to fee] The better mif. read-on to fee --which I believe is right. See Lydg. Troy. b. iii. ch. xxii.;

His brother Troylus, fo goodly on to fee

and Gorver, Conf. Amant. fol. 17, b.;

Tho was the fouler unto [r. on, to] fe.

V. 3248. the nerve perienete tree] Some of the mff. read perjonette, as if the word were derived from the Ital. pero giovanetto, rather than from the Fr. poire or pere jeunette. In cither cafe it fignifies a young pear.

.3251. perled with latoun] That is, I believe, ornamented with latoun in the fhape of pearls. It is probable that fome very elegant purfes were embroidered with real pearls.

V. 3254. So gay a popelot] This word may either be confidered as a diminutive from poupée, a puppet, or as a corrup tion of papillot, a young butterfly.

Hire mouth was fwete as braket or the meth,
Or hord of apples laid in hay or heth.
Winfing she was as is a joly colt,
Long as a mast, and upright as a bolt.
A broche fhe bare upon hire low colere,
As brode as is the boffe of a bokelere.

Hire fhoon were laced on hire legges hie;

She was a primerole, a piggefnie,

For any lord to liggen in his bedde,

Or yet for any good yeman to wedde.

3265

3270

Now fire, and eft fire, fo befell the cas,

That on a day this Hendy Nicholas

Fel with this yonge wif to rage and pleye,
While that hire hufbond was at Ofeney,
As clerkes ben ful fubtil and ful queint,
And prively he caught hire by the queint,
And fayde, Ywis but if I have my will
For derne love of thee, lemman, I spill ;
And helde hire fafte by the hanche bones,
And fayde, Lemman, love me wel at ones,
Or I wol dien, al fo God me fave.

And the fprong as a colt doth in the trave;

3275

3280

.3268. a primerole] Old Fr. for a primrose. It is used by Gower, Conf. Amant. fol. 148. --Apiggefnie. The Romans ufed oculus as a term of endearment, and perhaps piggefnic, in vulgar language, only means ocellus, the eyes of that animal being remarkably fall. 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 the writhed faste away,
And fayde, I wol not kiffe thee by my fay.
Why, let be, (quod fhe) let be, Nicholas,
Or I wol crie out Harow and Alas!
Do way your hondes for your curtefie.
This Nicholas gan mercy for to crie,

And fpake fo faire, and profered him so fast,

3285

That the hire love him granted at the laft,

3290

And swore hire oth by Seint Thomas of Kent,

That the wold ben at his commandement

Whan that he may hire leifer wel efpie.

Myn hufbond is fo ful of jaloufie

That but ye waiten wel and be prive

3295

I wot right wel I n'am but ded, quod she :

Ye moften be ful derne as in this cas.

Nay, therof care you not, quod Nicholas :
A clerk hath litherly befet his while
But if he coude a carpenter begile.
And thus they were accorded and yfworne
To waite a time, as I have faid beforne.

3300

V. 3286. Harow] It would much exceed the limits of these Notes to recite the feveral opinions concerning the original of this word. The curious reader may confult Du Cange, in v. and Hickes, Gr. Fr. Theot. p. 96, I rather believe it to have been derived from bar, aitus, and op, clamor, two Iflandick words, which were probably once common to all the Scandinavian nations. See Gudmund. Andr. Lex. Ifland. by Refenius. Hafn. 1683. In fupport of this opinion it may be obferved that the very word bareop or harap,was used by some of the inhabitants of the Low countries in the fame fenfe in which Harou was by the Normans. Du Cange, in v. Harcep,

Whan Nicholas had don thus every del,
And thacked hire about the lendes wel,
He kiffed hire fwete, and taketh his fautrie,
And plaieth fast, and maketh melodie.

Than fell it thus, that to the parish cherche
(Of Criftes owen werkes for to werche)
This good wif went upon a holy day;
Hire forehed fhone as bright as any day,
So was it wafhen whan fhe lete hire werk.
Now was ther of that chirche a parish clerk

The which that was ycleped Abfolon.
Crulle was his here, and as the gold it fhon,
And trouted as a fanne large and brode;

3305

3310

3315

Ful freight and even lay his joly fhode:

His rode was red, his eyen grey as goos,

With Poules windowes corven on his fhoos:

3320

In hofen red he went ful fetifly:

Yclad he was ful fmal and proprely

All in a kirtel of a light waget;

Ful faire and thicke ben the pointes fet;

3308. Of Criftes] Of is added from conjecture only. .3318. With Poules windowves] Perhaps this means that his fhoes were cut in fquares, like panes of glafs. Bayle mentions feneratos calceps as making part of the habit of the Francifcans. Cent. iv. 27 and 91. They alfo occur in the Ciftercian ftatutes an. 1529, and the monks are forbidden to wear them. Du Cange, in v. Calcei Fenerati.

.3321. of a light wager] Or watchet. Skinner explains watchet to mean a colour a whitith blue; but in this place it feems rather to mean fome kind of cloth, denominated pets.

And therupon he had a gay furplife,

As white as is the blofme upon the rife.
A mery child he was, fo God me fave;
Wel coud he leten blod, and clippe and shave,
And make a chartre of lond and a quitance:
In twenty manere coud he trip and dance,
(After the fcole of Oxenforde tho)

And with his legges caften to and fro;
And playen fonges on a fmal ribible;..
Therto he fong femtime a loud quinible:
And as wel coud he play on a giterne:
In all the toun n'as brewhous ne taverne
That he ne vifited with his folas,
Ther as that any gaillard tapflere was;
But foth to fay he was fomdel fquaimous
Of farting, and of speche dangerous.

This Abfolon, that joly was and gay,

3325

3330

3335

Goth with a cenfer on the holy day,

3340

haps from the town of Watchet in Somerset hire. Inftead of light fome mff. read fin, and mf. A.whit. This laft epithet would be quite inconfiftent with Skinner's explanation.

.3329. the fcole of Oxenforde] The fchool of Oxford feems to have been in much the fame eftimation for its dancing as that of Stratford for its French: fee before, ver. 125. Oxenforde is a quadrifyllable; Oxnaforda, Sax.

v. 3336. tapftere] A female keeper of a tap or tavern. See B. on ver. 2019, and the Prol. to the Continuation of the C. T. ed. Urr. p. 594

3337.quaimous] Squeamish; but I know not how to make that fenfe agree with what follows. Robert of Brunne [in his tranflation of Manuel des Pechecs, mf. Bod. 2078, fol. 46,] writes this word efquaimous, which is nearer to its origi nal, exquamiare, a corruption of excambiare.