66

"His death saw I by revelatioún,"
Said this friar, at home in our dortour.1
I dare well say, that less than half an hour
After his death, I saw him borne to bliss
In minë vision, so God me wiss.2
So did our sexton, and our fermerere,3
That have been truë friars fifty year,—
They may now, God be thanked of his love,
Make their jubilee, and walk above.4
And up I rose, and all our convent eke,
With many a tearë trilling on my cheek,
Withoutë noise or clattering of bells,
Te Deum was our song, and nothing else,
Save that to Christ I bade an orison,
Thanking him of my revelatión.

For, Sir and Damë, trustë me right well,
Our orisons be more effectuel,

And more we see of Christë's secret things,
Than borel folk,5 although that they be kings.
We live in povert', and in abstinence,
And borel folk in riches and dispence

Of meat and drink, and in their foul delight.
We have this worlde's lust 6 all in despight.7
Lazar and Dives lived diversely,

And diverse guerdon hadde they thereby.
Whoso will pray, he must fast and be clean,
And fat his soul, and keep his body lean.
We fare as saith th' apostle; cloth and food
Suffice us, although they be not full good.
The cleanness and the fasting of us freres
Maketh that Christ accepteth our prayéres.
Lo, Moses forty days and forty night
Fasted, ere that the high God full of might
Spake with him in the mountain of Sinái:
With empty womb of fasting many a day
Received he the lawë, that was writ
With Godde's finger; and Eli, well ye wit,10
In Mount Horeb, ere he had any speech
With highë God, that is our lives' leech,11
He fasted long, and was in contemplánce.
Aaron, that had the temple in governance,
And eke the other priestës every one,
Into the temple when they shouldë gon
To prayë for the people, and do service,
They woulde drinken in no manner wise

No drinkë, which that might them drunken make,

But there in abstinencë pray and wake,12
Lest that they died: take heed what I say-
But 13 they be sober that for the people pray-
Ware that, I say-
-no more: for it sufficeth.
Our Lord Jesus, as Holy Writ deviseth,14
Gave us example of fasting and prayéres :

1 Dormitory; French, "dortoir."
2 Direct.

3 Infirmary-keeper. 4 The rules of St Benedict granted peculiar honours and immunities to monks who had lived fifty yearsthe jubilee period-in the order. The usual reading of the words ending the two lines is "loan" or "lone," and "alone;" but to walk alone does not seem to have been any peculiar privilege of a friar, while the idea of precedence, or higher place at table and in'processions, is suggested by the reading in the text.

5 Laymen, people who are not learned; "borel" was a kind of coarse cloth.

8 Clothing. 10 Know.

Therefore we mendicants, we sely 15 freres,
Be wedded to povert' and continence,
To charity, humbless, and abstinence,
To persecution for righteousness,

To weeping, misericorde,16 and to cleanness.
And therefore may ye see that our prayéres
(I speak of us, we mendicants, we freres),
Be to the highë God more acceptable
Than yourës, with your feastës at your table.
From Paradise first, if I shall not lie,
Was man out chased for his gluttony,
And chaste was man in Paradise certáin.
But hark now, Thomas, what I shall thee sayn;

I have no text of it, as I suppose,
But I shall find it in a manner glose ;17
That specially our sweet Lord Jesus
Spake this of friars, when he saidë thus,
'Blessed be they that poor in spirit be.'
And so forth all the gospel may ye see,
Whether it be liker our professión,
Or theirs that swimmen in possessión;
Fy on their pomp, and on their gluttony,
And on their lewedness! I them defy.
Me thinketh they be like Jovinian, 18
Fat as a whale, and walking as a swan;
All vinolent as bottle in the spence; 19
Their prayer is of full great reverence;
When they for soules say the Psalm of David,
Lo, 'Buf' they say, Cor meum eructavit.20
Who follow Christë's gospel and his lore 21
But we, that humble be, and chaste, and pore, 2
Workers of Goddë's word, not auditoúrs?23
Therefore right as a hawk upon a sours?
Up springs into the air, right so prayéres
Of charitable and chaste busy freres
Make their sours to Goddë's earës two.
Thomas, Thomas, so may I ride or go,
And by that lord that called is Saint Ive,
N'ere thou our brother, shouldest thou not
thrive ; 25

24

22

16 Compassion." 17 A kind of comment. 18 An emperor Jovinian was famous in the mediæval legends for his pride and luxury. 19 Store-room. 20 Literally, My heart has belched forth;" in our translation," " My heart is inditing a goodly matter." (Ps. xlv. 1.) "Buf" is meant to represent the sound of an eructation, and to show the "great reverence with which "those in possession," the monks of the rich monasteries, performed divine service. 21 Doctrine. 23 Poor. 23 Hearers.

24 Upon the "soar," or rise. 25 If thou wert not of our brotherhood, thou shouldst have no hope of recovery.

26 Soon to be able to move thy body freely.

27 Friars of various sorts.

12 Watch.

13 Unless.

15 Simple, lowly.

29 Spent.

30 Gone.

28 Better.

31 Seek, beseech.

To seeken other leeches in the town?
Your inconstance is your confusioún.
Hold ye then me, or ellës our convént,
To prayë for you insufficiént?
Thomas, that jape 1 it is not worth a mite;
Your malady is for we have too lite.2
Ah, give that convent half a quarter oats;
And give that convent four and twenty groats;
And give that friar a penny, and let him go!
Nay, nay, Thomas, it may no thing be so.
What is a farthing worth parted on twelve?
Lo, each thing that is oned 3 in himselve
Is more strong than when it is y-scatter'd.
Thomas, of me thou shalt not be y-flatter'd,
Thou wouldest have our labour all for nought.
The highë God, that all this world hath wrought,
Saith, that the workman worthy is his hire.
Thomas, nought of your treasure I desire
As for myself, but that all our convént
To pray for you is aye so diligent:

And for to buildë Christë's owen church.
Thomas, if ye will learnë for to wirch,4
Of building up of churches may ye find
If it be good, in Thomas' life of Ind.
Ye lie here full of anger and of ire,
With which the devil sets your heart on fire,
And chidë here this holy innocent
Your wife, that is so meek and patient.
And therefore trow5 me, Thomas, if thee lest,"
Ne strive not with thy wife, as for the best.
And bear this word away now, by thy faith,
Touching such thing, lo, what the wise man
saith:

"Within thy house be thou no lión;
To thy subjects do none oppressión;
Nor make thou thine acquaintance for to flee.'
And yet, Thomas, eftsoonës? charge I thee,
Beware from ire that in thy bosom sleeps,
Ware from the serpent, that so slily creeps
Under the grass, and stingeth subtilly.
Beware, my son, and hearken patiently,
That twenty thousand men have lost their lives
For striving with their lemans and their wives.
Now since ye have so holy and meek a wife,
What needeth you, Thomas, to make strife?
There is, y-wis, no serpent so cruel,

When men tread on his tail, nor half so fell,10
As woman is, when she hath caught an ire;
Very 11 vengeance is then all her desire.
Ire is a sin, one of the greate seven,12
Abominable to the God of heaven,
And to himself it is destructión.
This every lewed 13 vicar and parsón
Can say, how ire engenders homicide;
Ire is in sooth th' executor 14 of pride.
I could of ire you say so muchë sorrow,
My tale shouldë last until to-morrow.
And therefore pray I God both day and night,
An irous 15 man God send him little might.

It is great harm, and certes great pity
To set an irous man in high degree.

"Whilom 16 there was an irous potestatë,17
As saith Senec, that during his estate 18
Upon a day out rodë knightës two;
And, as fortunë would that it were so,
The one of them came home, the other not.
Anon the knight before the judge is brought,
That saidë thus; Thou hast thy fellow slain,
For which I doom thee to the death certáin.'
And to another knight commanded he;
'Go, lead him to the death, I charge thee.'
And happened, as they went by the way
Toward the place where as he should dey,19
The knight came, which men weened 20 had been
dead.

Then thoughtë they it was the beste rede 21
To lead them both unto the judge again.
They saidë, 'Lord, the knight hath not y-slain
His fellow; here he standeth whole alive.'
'Ye shall be dead,' quoth he, 'so may I thrive,
That is to say, both one, and two, and three.'
And to the firstë knight right thus spake he:
'I damned thee, thou must algate be dead:
And thou also must needës lose thine head,
For thou the cause art why thy fellow dieth.'
And to the thirdë knight right thus he sayeth,
"Thou hast not done that I commanded thee.'
And thus he did do slay them 23 alle three.
Irous Cambyses was eke dronkelew,24
And aye delighted him to be a shrew. 25
And so befell, a lord of his meinie, 26
That loved virtuous morality,

Said on a day betwixt them two right thus:
'A lord is lost, if he be vicious.
[An irous man is like a frantic beast,
In which there is of wisdom none arrest 27];
And drunkenness is eke a foul record
Of any man, and namely 28 of a lord.
There is full many an eye and many an ear
Awaiting on 29 a lord, he knows not where.!
For Godde's love, drink more attemperly: 30
Wine maketh man to lose wretchedly
His mind, and eke his limbës every one.'
The reverse shalt thou see,' quoth he, 'anon,
And prove it by thine own experience,
That winë doth to folk no such offence.
There is no wine bereaveth me my might
Of hand, nor foot, nor of mine eyen sight.'
And for despite he drankë much more
A hundred part 31 than he had done before,
And right anon this cursed irous wretch
This knightë's sonë let $2 before him fetch,
Commanding him he should before him stand:
And suddenly he took his bow in hand,
And up the string he pulled to his ear,

And with an arrow slew the child right there.
'Now whether have I a sicker 33 hand or non?'34
Quoth he; 'Is all my might and mind agone?

Italian, "podesta." Seneca relates the story of Cornelius Piso; "De Ira," i. 16. 18 Term of office, 20 Thought. 21 Counsel.

19 Die.

22 At all events.

24 A drunkard,

23 Caused them to be slain, 25 Vicious, ill-tempered. 28 Especially.

26 Suite. 27 No decree, control.

29 Watching. 32 Caused.

30 Temperately.

33 Sure.

31 Times.

34 Not.

He had the firstë smell of fartës three;

And so would all his brethren hardily; He beareth him so fair and holily."

Illumin'd all Itále of poetry, As Linian 8 did of philosophy,

Or law, or other art particulére:

frere,

Saide, that Jankin spake in this mattére

As well as Euclid, or as Ptolemy.

Touching the churl, they said that subtilty

And high wit made him speaken as he spake ;
He is no fool, nor no demoniac.

And Jankin hath y-won a newë gown;
My tale is done, we are almost at town.

THE CLERK'S TALE.

THE PROLOGUE.

"SIR Clerk of Oxenford," our Hostë said,
"Ye ride as still and coy, as doth a maid
That were new spoused, sitting at the board:
This day I heard not of your tongue a word.
I trow ye study about some sophime:1
But Solomon saith, every thing hath time.
For Godde's sakë, be of better cheer,2
It is no time for to study here.
Tell us some merry talë, by your fay ;3
For what man that is entered in a play,
He needës must unto that play assent.
But preachë not, as friars do in Lent,
To make us for our oldë sinnës weep,
Nor that thy talë make us not to sleep.
Tell us some merry thing of áventures.
Your terms, your colourës, and your figúres,
Keep them in store, till so be ye indite
High style, as when that men to kingës write.
Speakë so plain at this time, I you pray,
That we may understandë what ye say."

This worthy Clerk benignëly answér'd;
"Hostë," quoth he, "I am under your yerd,
Ye have of us as now the governance,
And therefore would I do you obeisance,
As far as reason asketh, hardily: 5
I will you tell a tale, which that I
Learn'd at Padova of a worthy clerk,
As proved by his wordes and his werk.
He is now dead, and nailed in his chest,
I pray to God to give his soul good rest.
Francis Petrarc', the laureate poét,"
Hightě7 this clerk, whose rhetoric so sweet
2 Livelier mien.

1 Sophism.
3 Faith.
4 Rod; as the emblem of government or direction.
5 Boldly, truly.

6 Francesco Petrarca, born 1304, died 1374; for his Latin epic poem on the career of Scipio, called "Africa," he was solemnly crowned with the poetic laurel in the Capitol of Rome, on Easter-day of 1341.

7 Was called.

8 An eminent jurist and philosopher, now almost forgotten, who died four or five years after Petrarch. 9 Saluzzo, a district of Savoy; its marquises were celebrated during the Middle Ages.

10 The region called Emilia, across which ran the Via Emilia-made by M. Æmilius Lepidus, who was consul at Rome B.C. 187. It continued the Flaminian Way from Ariminum (Rimini) across the Po at Placentia to Mediolanum (Milan), traversing Cisalpine Gaul 11 Narrate. 12 Irrelevant.

But as it were a twinkling of an eye,

Them both hath slain, and allë we shall die. "But forth to tellen of this worthy man, That taughtë me this tale, as I began,

I say that first he with high style inditeth
(Ere he the body of his tale writeth)
A proem, in the which describeth he
Piedmont, and of Saluces the country,
And speaketh of the Pennine hillës high,
That be the bounds of all West Lombardy:
And of Mount Vesulus in special,
Where as the Po out of a wellë small
Taketh his firstë springing and his source,
That eastward aye increaseth in his course
T' Emilia-ward,10 to Ferrare, and Venice,
The which a long thing were to devise.11
And truely, as to my judgement,
Me thinketh it a thing impertinent, 12
Save that he would conveyë his mattére :
But this is the tale, which that ye shall hear."

There is, right at the west side of Itále,
Down at the root of Vesulus 14 the cold,
A lusty 15 plain, abundant of vitáille;
There many a town and tow'r thou may'st
behold,

That founded were in time of fathers old,
And many another délectáble sight;
And Saluces this noble country hight.

A marquis whilom lord was of that land,
As were his worthy elders 16 him before,
And obedient, aye ready to his hand,
Were all his lieges, bothë less and more:
Thus in delight he liv'd, and had done yore,17
Belov'd and drad, 18 through favour of fortune,
Both of his lordës and of his commúne.19

Therewith he was, to speak of lineage,
The gentilest y-born of Lombardy,

A fair persón, and strong, and young of age,
And full of honour and of courtesy:
Discreet enough his country for to gie,20
Saving in some things that he was to blame;
And Walter was this youngë lordë's name.

I blame him thus, that he consider'd not

13 Petrarch, in his Latin romance, "De obedientiâ et fide uxoriâ Mythologia," translated the charming story of "the patient Grizel" from the Italian of Boccaccio's "Decameron;" and Chaucer has closely followed Petrarch's translation, made in 1373, the year before that in which he died. The fact that the embassy to Genoa, on which Chaucer was sent, took place in 1372-73, has lent countenance to the opinion that the English poet did actually visit the Italian bard at Padua, and hear the story from his own lips. This, however, is only a probability; for it is a moot point whether the two poets ever met.

14 Monte Viso, a lofty peak at the junction of the Maritime and Cottian Alps; from two springs on its east side rises the Po. 15 Pleasant. 17 Long. 19 Commonalty.

16 Ancestors.

18 Held in reverence. 20 Guide, rule.