THE PRIORESSE.

THER was also a Nonne,1 a PRIORESSE,
That of hire smiling was ful simple and coy;
Hire gretest othe3 n'as but by Seint Eloy,
And she was clepéd Madame Eglentine.
Ful wel she sangé the service devine,
Entunéd in hire nose ful swetély;

And French she spake ful fayre and fetisly,7
After the scole of Stratfords atté Bow,
For Frenche of Paris was to hire unknowe.9
At meté 10 was she wel ytaughte withalle;
She lette no morsel from her lippés falle,
Ne wette hire fingres in hire saucé depe.
Wel coude she carie a morsel, and wel kepe,
Thatté no drop ne fell upon hire brest.
In curtesie was sette ful moche hire lest.12
Hire over-lippé wipéd she so clene,

That in hire cuppé was no ferthing sene

Of gresé,13 whan she dronken hadde hire draught.
Ful semély 14 after hire mete she raught.15
And sikerly16 she was of grete disport,17
And ful plesant, and amiable of port,
And peinéd hire 18 to contrefeten chere 19
Of court, and ben estatelich of manère,
And to ben holden digne 20 of reverence.
But for to speken of hire consciènce,
She was so charitable and so pitoùs 21

She woldé wepe if that she saw a mous

(1) Nonne-Nun. (2) Hire-her. (3) Othe oath. (4) Nas but-was not but, was only; like the French n'était que. (5) Saint Eloy-Warton and Tyrwhitt both say this is Saint Louis, but the allusion is confessedly doubtful. (6) Cleped-called. (7) Fetisly-neatly, properly. (8) Stratford-At Stratford near Bow, Essex, there seems to have been anciently a Benedictine nunnery; the French taught at this fashionable seminary is above satirically distinguished from the French of Paris. (9) Unknowe-unknown. (10) Mete -dinner. (11) In curtesie, &c.-i. e. she prided herself on her gentility. (12) Lest-pleasure. (13) No ferthing of grese-not the smallest spot of grease: erthing-a farthing, any very small thing. (14) Semely-seemly, in a polite manner. (15) Raught-reached, bent forward to. (16) Sikerly certainly. (17) Disport-cheerfulness. (18) Peined hire-it peined (in the French sense) her-she took pains; not "it pained her," as interpreted in "Chaucer Modernized." (19) To contrefeten, &c.-To imitate or assume court manners, and to be stately in her carriage. (20) Digne-worthy. (21) Pitous-piteous.

8

Caught in a trappe, if it were ded or bledde.
Of smalé houndés1 hadde she, that she fedde
With rosted flesh, and milk, and wastel brede.2
But sore wept she if on3 of hem were dede,
Or if men smote it with a yerdé1 smert : 5
And all was consciènce and tendre herte.
Ful semély hire wimple ypinchéd was;
Hire nose tretìs, hire eyen grey as glas;
Hire mouth ful smale, and therto 10 soft and red,
But sikerly she hadde a fayre forehèd.
It was almost a spanné brode I trowe;
For hardily" she was not undergrowe.
Ful fetise 12 was hire cloke, as I was ware.
Of smale coràll aboute hire arm she bare
A pair of bedés, gauded 13 all with grene;
And thereon heng 14 a broche of gold ful shene,15
On which was first ywriten a crounéd A,16
And after, Amor vincit omnia.17

THE PERSONE.18

A GOOD man ther was of religiòun,
That was a pouré PERSONE 19 of a toun:
But riche he was of holy thought and werk.
He was also a lerned man, a Clerk,
That Cristés gospel trewely woldé preche.
His parishens 20 devoutly wolde he teche.

(1) Of smale houndes-some little dogs; of is here used in the partitive sense, like the French de. (2) Wastel brede-cake-bread, fine bread. The word "wastel" is connected in origin with the French gasteau-gâteau-a cake. (3) On-one. (4) Yerde-rod, stick. (5) Smert-smartly. (6) Wimple

a hood or veil, or, as others say, a covering for the neck. (7) Ypinchedcrimped up. (8) Tretis-straight and long. (9) Eyen-eyes; the old plural. (10) Therto-in addition to that, moreover. (11) Hardily, &c.-Certainly she was not of low stature. (12) Ful fetise, &c.-Very handsome was her cloak, I observed. (13) Gauded-ornamented. (14) Heng–hung. (15) Shene-sheen, bright. (16) A crouned A-for Amor, love, with a crown above it to symbolize the motto in the next line. (17) Amor vincit, &c.-" Love subdues all things;" to denote the religious service to which she was then dedicated.

(18) The above striking lines are the original of Dryden's "Good Priest " (see p. 360), and seem to have suggested the Village Clergyman of Goldsmith's "Leserted Village" (see p. 447). (19) Persone-Parson : "He is called," says Blackstone, " 'parson, persona, because by his person the Church, which is an invisible body, is represented." (20) Parishens-parishioners.

R

Benigne he was, and wonder1 diligent,
And in adversitee ful patient:

And swiche he was yprevéd often2 sithes.
Ful loth were him to cursen for his tithes,
But rather wolde he yeven,3 out of doute,
Unto his pouré parishens aboute,

Of his offrìng, and eke of his substànce.
He coude in litel thing have suffisance.*
Wide was his parish, and houses fer asonder,
But he ne left nought for no rain ne thonder,
In sikenesse and in mischief" to visìte
The ferrest in his parish, moche and lite,
Upon his fete, and in his hand a staf.
This noble ensample to his shepe he yaf,7
That first he wrought, and afterward he taught.
Out of the Gospel he the wordés caught,
And this figure he added yet therto,
That if gold rusté, what shuld iren do?
For if a preest be foule, on whom we trust,
No wonder is a lewed man to rust.
Wel ought a preest ensample for to yeve,
By his cleennessé, how his shepe shulde live.
He setté not his benefice to hire,

And lette 10 his shepe acombred" in the mire,
And ran unto Londòn, unto Seint Poules,
To seken him a chanterie 12 for soules,
Or with 13 a brotherhede to be withold;
But dwelt at home, and kepte wel his fold,
So that the wolf ne made it not miscarie.
He was a shepherd, and no mercenàrie.
And though he holy were, and vertuous,
He was to sinful men not dispitòus,14
Ne of his speché dangerous 15 ne digne,
But in his teching discrete and benigne.
To drawen folk to heven with fairéness,
By good ensample, was his besinesse :

(1) Wonder-wonderfully. (2) Ypreved often, &c.-Proved often since. (3) Yeven-give. (4) Suffisance-sufficiency. (5) Mischief-trouble. (6) Moche and lite-great and small. (7) Yaf-gave. (8) Foule-soiled, defiled. (9) Lewed-ignorant; connected with low. (10) Lette-left. (11) Acombredencumbered. (12) Chanterie-a singing for souls, an endowment for that purpose. (13) Or with, &c.-Or be kept from the world with a brotherhood of monks, or friars. (14) Dispitous-inexorable, angry to excess. (15) Dangerous-(16) Digne-proud, disdainful.

sparing.

But it were1 any persone obstinat,
What so he were of highe, or low estat,

Him wolde he snibben sharply for the nonés.3
A better preest I trowe that nowher non* is.
He waited after no pompe ne reverence,
Ne makéd him no spicéd consciènce,5
But Cristés lore, and his apostles twelve,
He taught, but first he folwed it himselve.

THE TALE OF THE ENCHANTED STEED.6

AT Sarra, in the lond of Tartarie,

Ther dwelt a king that werreièd Russie,
Thurgh which ther diéd many a doughty man :
This noble king was clepéd Cambuscàn,
Which in his time was of so gret renoun,
That ther n' as no wher in no regioùn
So excellent a lord in allé thing:
Him lacked nought that longeth' to a king,
As of the secte 10 of which that he was borne.
He kept his lay11 to which he was ysworne;
And, therto, he was hardy, wise, and riche,
And pitöus, and just; and alway yliche;

12

(1) But it were-But if there were. (2) Snibben-snub, reprove. (3) For the nones-for the occasion, implying that he did not generally reprove sharply. (4) Non-no one. (5) Spiced conscience—a conscience embalmed in sophistries. (6) This romantic story-usually called "the Squire's Tale "-seems to have been a favourite with Milton, who in the "Il Penseroso" characterizes Chaucer

as

"Him that left half-told

The story of Cambuscan bold,

Of Camball, and of Algarsife,

And who had Canace to wife,

That owned the virtuous ring and glass,

And of the wondrous horse of brass,

On which the Tartar king did ride."

"The imagination," says Warton ("History of English Poetry," § xv), story, consists in Arabian fiction, engrafted on Gothic chivalry."

"of this

The story, as above intimated, is in the original only "half told," but to fit it for this selection, the fragment has been somewhat abridged-the part left out however being a wearisome specimen of that "tediousness" which even Chaucer, sometimes" bestows" upon his readers.

(7) Werreied--made war against. (8) Thurgh-through.

belongeth.

(9) Longeth

(10) As of the secte, &c.-As suitable to the rank in life to which he (11) Lay-law, that which is laid down, as saw is that which is said. (12) Yliche-alike, the same.

was born.

Trewe of his word, benigne and honouràble;
Of his coràge as any centre, stable;

Yong, fresh, and strong; in armés desiroùs,
As any bacheler of all his hous.

A faire person he was, and fortunate,
And kept alway so well reàl1 estat,

That ther n' as no wher swiche another man.
This noble king, this Tartre Cambuscàn,
Haddé two sones by Elfeta his wif,
Of which the eldest sone highte2 Algarsif,
That other was yclepéd Camballo.

A daughter had this worthy king also,
That yongest was, and highté Canace :
But for to tellen you all hire beautee,
It lith3 not in my tonge, ne in my conning;
I dare not undertake so high a thing:
Min English, eke, is unsufficient;

It musté ben a rethor1 excellent,

That coude his colours longing for that art,
If he shuld hire descriven ony part:
I am not swiche; I mote7 speke as I can.
And so befell, that when this Cambuscàn
Hath twenty winter borne his diademe,
As he was wont fro yere to yere, I deme,
He let the festes of his nativitee,
Don crién, thurghout Sarra his citee,
The last Idus of March,9 after the yere.
Phebus the sonne ful jolif was and clere,

For he was nigh his exaltation

In Martés face, and in his mansion
In Aries, the colerike hote signe :

Ful lusty 10 was the wether, and benigne ;
For which the foules again" the sonné shene,
(What for the seson and the

yonge grene),

Ful loudé songen hir affections; 12

Hem semed 13 han gatten hem protections

(1) Real-royal, from the Latin regalis. (2) Highte-was called. lieth. (4) Rethor-rhetorician, one highly skilled in composition. knew. (6) Longing for, &c.-Belonging to that art. (7) Mote-must. the feste, &c.-Ordered the feast of his nativity to be proclaimed. of March-the 15th day, by the Roman computation. inspiriting. (11) Again-against, in front of. (13) Hem semed, &c.-i. e. they seemed to have got, &c.

(3) Lith(5) Coude

(8) Let (9) Idus

(10) Lusty-vigorous, (12) Affections--gratitude.