Repentant, as the storie telleth vs,

655

By mediacion of Cambalus,

The kinges sone, of which that1 I yow tolde.
But hennes forth I wol my proces holde
To speke of auentures and of batailles,

That neuer yet was herd so grete meruailles.
First wol I telle yow of Cambynskan,
That in his tyme many a citee wan;
And after wol I speke of Algarsyf,
How that he wan Theodora to his wyf,
For whom ful ofte in greet peril he was,

660

665

That faught in listes with the bretheren two

Ne hadde he ben holpen by the stede of bras;
And after wol I speke of Cambalo,

670

For Canacee, er that he myghte hir winne.
And ther I lefte I wol ageyn biginne.

Explicit secunda pars. Incipit pars tercia.

Appollo whirleth vp his char so hye,
Til that the god Mercurius hous the slye 2—

[SQUIRE-FRANKLIN LINK.]

Heere folwen the wordes of the Frankelyn to the Squier, and the wordes of the hoost to the Frankelyn.

In feith, Squyer, thou hast thee wel yquit

And gentilly I preise wel thy wit,'

1 Hl. that, which the rest omit; Hn. of which I to yow tolde.

Here the MSS. fail. Hl. omits ll. 671, 672, and Ln. has eight spurious lines in their place.

Quod the Frankeleyn, 'considering thy youthe,
So feelingly thou spekest, sir, I allow the!

As to my doom, ther is noon that is here
Of eloquence that shal be thy pere.

If that thou liue, god yiue thee good chaunce,
And in vertu sende thee continuaunce!
For of thy speche I haue greet deyntee.

675

680

I haue a sone, and, by the Trinitee,

I hadde leuer than twenty pound worth lond,
Though it ryght now were fallen in myn hond,
He were a man of swich discrecioun

685

As that ye ben! fy on possessioun

But if a man be vertuous with-al.

I haue my sone snibbed, and yet shal,
For he to vertu listeth1 nat entende;

But for to pleye at dees, and to dispende,
And lese al that he hath, is his vsage.
And he hath leuer talken with a page
Than to comune with any gentil wyght
Ther he myghte lerne gentillesse aryght.'
Straw for your gentillesse,' quod our host;
'What, frankeleyn? parde, sir, wel thou wost
That eche of yow mot tellen atte leste
A tale or two, or breken his biheste.'

That knowe I wel, sir,' quod the frankeleyn;

'I preye yow, haueth me nat in disdeyn

Though to this man I speke a word or two.'

Tel on thy tale with-outen wordes mo.'

'Gladly, sir host,' quod he, 'I wol obeye Vn-to your wil; now herkneth what I seye.

690

695

700

1 E. listneth; the rest listeth, lusteth.

I wol yow nat contrarien in no wyse
As fer as that my wittes wol suffyse;
I preye to god that it may plesen yow,
Than wot I wel that it is good ynow.'

Explicit.

705

708

[Here follows the Franklin's Tale, l. 709-1624 in the Six-Text edition; with which Group F ends. Group G contains the Second Nun's Tale and End-link, and the Canon's Yeoman's Tale. Group H contains the Manciple's Prologue and Tale. Group I contains the Parson's Prologue and Tale; and concludes the series.]

NOTES.

[I am indebted to Dr. Morris for numerous hints, and, in particular, for the notes marked 'M.']

INTRODUCTION TO THE MAN OF LAWES TALE (GROUP B).

1. 1. If, as Mr. Furnivall supposes, the time of the telling of the Canterbury Tales be supposed to be longer than one day, we may suppose the Man of Lawes Tale to begin the stories told on the second morning of the journey, April 18. Otherwise, we must suppose all the stories in Group A to precede it, which is not impossible, if we suppose the pilgrims to have started early in the morning.

Hoste. This is one of the words which are sometimes disyllabic, and sometimes monosyllabic; see the Preface. It is here a disyllable, as in l. 39. See note to 1. 1883 below.

Sey, i. e. saw. The forms of 'saw' vary in the MSS. In this line we find saugh, sauh, segh, sauhe, sawh, none of which are Chaucer's own, but due to the scribes. The true form is determined by the rime, as in the Clerkes Tale, E. 667, where most of the MSS. have say. A still better spelling is sey, which may be found in the Aldine edition of Troilus and Creseyde, vol. iv. p. 204, l. 1265, where it rimes with day and array. The A.S. form is seáh.

6

1. 2. The ark, &c. In Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe, pt. ii. ch. 7"(ed. Skeat), is the proposition headed-'To knowe the arch of the day, that some folk kallen the day artificial, from the sonne arisyng til hit go to rest.' Thus, while the day natural' is twenty-four hours, the day artificial' is the time during which the sun is above the horizon. The arc' of this day merely means the extent or duration of it, as reckoned along the circular rim of an astrolabe; or, when measured along the horizon (as here) it means the arc extending from the point of sunrise to that of sunset,

Ronne, run, performed, completed.

K