For therinne is noon disport ne game.
Wherfor, sir monk, damp Pieres by your name,
I pray yow hertly, tel us somwhat ellis;
For sicurly, ner gingling of the bellis1
That on your bridil hong on every syde,
By heven king, that for us alle dyde,
I schold er this han falle doun for sleep,
Although the slough had never ben so deep;
Than had your tale have be told in vayn.
For certeynly, as these clerkes sayn,
Wher as a man may have noon audience,
Nought helpith it to tellen his sentence.
And wel I wot the substance is in me,
If eny thing schal wel reported be.
Sir, say somwhat of huntyng," I yow pray.'
'Nay,' quod the Monk, 'I have no lust to play;
Now let another telle, as I have told."3

Then spak our Ost with rude speche and bold,
And said unto the nonnes prest anoon,
'Com ner, thou prest, com ner, thou sir Johan,*
Tel us such thing as may our hertes glade;
Be blithe, although thou ryde upon a jade.

1 See vol. i. p. 84, note 4.

2 See vol. i. p. 84, note 3.

3 The Monk's stiffness and unwillingness to enter into the spirit of the proceedings any further than is absolutely necessary is highly characteristic. He is throughout represented as belonging to that class of churchmen who base their title to respect upon the value of their benefices, the sumptuousness of their manner of living, and the decorum of their manners. He is, in short, what is called at the University a Don. His fellow-churchman, the Frere, on the contrary, is anxious to show his superiority in argument, and loses no opportunity of joining in the dialogue, even at the expense of some loss of dignity. The Knight, again, is dignified, but his dignity is of that kind which is not afraid to venture into any company, or to come into contact with the humours of any class of men, and which comes unscathed out of every ordeal.

4 Tyrwhitt observes that in all the modern languages John is a name of contempt. In this sense the Italians use Geani, whence Zany, the Spaniards Bobo Juan, the English Jack-fool, Jack-pudding, Jack-ass, cheap Jack, &c. He adds that sire was a title usually given to priests, both secular and regular; but this was probably on the assumption that they had taken the degree of B.A., just as every clergyman in France is called Monsieur l'Abbé, though few are really abbots.

What though thin hors be bothe foul and lene?1
If he wil serve the, rek not a bene;

Lok that thin hert be mery evermo.'

Yis, sire, yis, Hoste,' quod he, so mot I go,

But I be mery, I wis I wol be blamed.'

And right anoon he hath his tale tamyd;
And thus he sayd unto us everichoon,
This sweete prest, this goodly man sir Johan.

THE NONNE PREST HIS TALE.

[WHETHER Chaucer invented, or borrowed, this admirable fable, is open to conjecture. Dryden, whose version of it under the title of The Cock and the Fox has rendered the subject familiar to all readers, says that it is Chaucer's invention; Tyrwhitt supposes that it is derived from the fifty-first fable in the collection translated by Marie, the author of The Laies, from the Anglo-Saxon of King Alfred; and Mr. Wright thinks that it was taken from the fifth chapter of the celebrated Roman de Renart, entitled Si comme Renart Prist Chantecler le Coc (ed. Meon., tom. i. p. 49). The last supposition is, probably, correct; but, from whatever source Chaucer may have drawn the hint of the plot, there can be little doubt that the wit and ingenuity are exclusively his own, and that, if he had an original, he has gone far beyond it in the subtlety and humour of the treatment.]

A

PORE wydow, somdel stope in age,

Was whilom duellyng in a pore cotage,

Bisyde a grove, stondyng in a dale.

This wydowe, of which I telle yow my tale,
Syn thilke day that sche was last a wif,
In paciens ladde a ful symple lyf.
For litel was hir catel and hir rent;

For housbondry of such as God hir sent,

1 Chaucer is perfectly impartial in his satire upon the horses of the clergy, whether they are fat or lean. The Monk incurs his ridicule for riding a horse in great estaat, the Nun's Priest for riding a jade.

Sche fond hirself, and eek hir doughtres tuo.
Thre large sowes had sche, and no mo,
Thre kyn, and eek a scheep that highte Malle.
Ful sooty was hir bour, and eek hir halle,
In which she eet ful many a sclender meel.
Of poynaunt saws hir needid never a deel.
Noon deynteth morsel passid thorugh hir throte;
Hir dyete was accordant to hir cote.
Repleccioun ne made hir never sik;
Attempre dyete was al hir phisik,
And exercise, and hertes suffisaunce.
The goute lette hir nothing for to daunce,
Ne poplexie schente not hir heed;

No wyn ne drank sche, nother whit ne reed;
Hir bord was servyd most with whit and blak,
Milk and broun bred, in which sche fond no lak,
Saynd bacoun, and som tyme an ey or tweye;
For sche was as it were a maner deye.1

A yerd sche had, enclosed al aboute
With stikkes, and a drye dich withoute,
In which she had a cok, hight Chaunteclere,
In al the lond of crowyng was noon his peere.
His vois was merier than the mery orgon,*
On masse dayes that in the chirche goon;

2

1 Tyrwhitt supposes this word to have originally meant a day. labourer, like journeyman, and homme de journée in French, and to have been afterwards applied to the superintendent of a dayerie. But it would rather seem, both from this place and the statutes quoted by him, to mean the superintendent of the eggs, quasi, d'eye, from whence dairy, a place for keeping eggs, is itself derived, because both eggs and milk and butter were kept there. Thus, in stat. 37 Edward III., c. 14, 'Iten qe charetters, charciers, chaceours des carnes, bovers, vachers, berchers, porchers, deyes, et tous autres gardeins des betes;' where all the gardeins of domestic animals are enumerated, except those of the poultry, to which deyes should, therefore, probably be appropriated. As a further illustration, a hawk's nest is called an eyerie, i. e. the place where it lays its eggs; and a young hawk an eyass, because reared from the egg. [The origin of the word deye is rather to be assigned to the Icelandic deyja, a dairy-woman. It primarily signifies a breadmaker,' and contains the same root as the word dough.-W. W. S.]

2 Tyrwhitt observes that orgon is a plural noun for organs, from the

Wel sikerer was his crowyng in his logge,
Than is a clok, or an abbay orologge.
By nature knew he ech ascencioun
Of equinoxial in thilke toun;

For whan degrees fyftene were ascendid,
Thanne crewe he, it might not ben amendid.
His comb was redder than the fine coral,
And batayld, as it were a castel wal.
His bile was blak, and as the geet it schon;
Lik asur were his legges, and his ton;
His nayles whitter than the lily flour,
And lik the burnischt gold was his colour.
This gentil cok had in his governaunce
Seven hennes, for to do al his plesaunce,
Whiche were his sustres and his paramoures,
And wonder lik to him, as of coloures.
Of whiche the fairest hiewed on hir throte,
Was cleped fayre damysel Pertilote.
Curteys sche was, discret, and debonaire,
And companable, and bar hirself ful faire,
Syn thilke day that sche was seven night' old,
That sche hath trewely the hert in hold
Of Chaunteclere loken in every lith;"
He loved hir so, that wel him was therwith.
But such a joye was it to here him synge,
Whan that the brighte sonne gan to springe,
In swete accord, 'my liefe is faren on londe.'

Fro thilke tyme, as I have understonde,
Bestis and briddes cowde speke and synge.
And so byfel, that in a dawenynge,
As Chaunteclere among his wyves alle
Sat on his perche, that was in his halle,

93

Latin organa, and agrees, therefore, with the plural verb goon. It is thus used again

'And while that the organs maken melodee.'

A pair of organs, like a pair of stairs, is a common expression in mediæval writers.

1 The Harl. MS. reads yer, and is here corrected from the Lansd.

2 Locked in every limb.

8 Apparently the refrain of a popular song of the time.

Aud next him sat this faire Pertelote,
This Chauntecler gan gronen in his throte,
As man that in his dreem is drecched sore.
And whan that Pertelot thus herd him rore,
Sche was agast, and sayde, 'herte deere,
What eylith yow to grone in this manere?
Ye ben a verray sleper, fy for schame!'
And he answerd and sayde thus, 'Madame,
I pray yow, that ye take it nought agreef:
By God, me mette I was in such meschief
Right now, that yit myn hert is sore afright.
Now God,' quod he, 'my sweven rede aright,
And keep my body out of foul prisoun!
Me mette, how that I romed up and doun
Withinne oure yerd, wher as I saugh a beest,
Was lik an hound, and wold have maad arrest
Upon my body, and wold han had me deed.
His colour was bitwixe yolow and reed;
And tipped was his tail, and bothe his eeres
With blak, unlik the remenaunt of his heres.
His snowt was smal, with glowyng yen tweye;
Yet of his look for fer almost I deye;
This caused me my gronyng douteles.'
'Away!' quod sche, 'fy on yow, herteles!
Allas!' quod sche, 'for, by that God above!
Now have ye lost myn hert and al my love;
I can nought love a coward, by my feith.
For certis, what so eny womman seith,
We alle desiren, if it mighte be,

To have housbondes, hardy, riche, and fre,
And secre, and no nygard, ne no fool,
Ne him that is agast of every tool,

Ne noon avaunter, by that God above!

How dorst ye sayn for schame unto your love,
That any thing might make yow afferd?
Have ye no mannes hert, and han a berd?1·

1 Pertelote here speaks out of character; but this is apparently by