Youre wif at home, the same gold agein
Upon your bench, sche wot it wel certeyn,
By certein toknes that I can hir telle.
Now by your leve, I may no lenger duelle;
Oure abbot wol out of this toun anoon,
And in his compaignye moot I goon.
Grete wel oure dame, myn owen nece swete,
And far wel, dere cosyn, til that we meete.'.
This marchaund, which that was bothe war and wys,
Creaunced hath, and payed eek in Parys
To certeyn Lombardes1 redy in hir hond
This somme of gold, and took of hem his bond,"
And hom he goth, as mery as a popinjay.
For wel he knew he stood in such array,
That needes most he wynne in that viage
A thousand frankes, above al his costage.
His wyf ful redy mette him at the gate,
As sche was wont of old usage algate;
And al that night in mirthe thay ben sette,
For he was riche, and clerly out of debt.
Whan it was day, this marchaund gan embrace
His wyf al newe, and kist hir on hir face,
And up he goth, and maketh it ful tough.

'No more,' quod sche, by God, ye have y-nough;'
And wantounly with him sche lay and playde,
Till atte laste thus this marchaund sayde:-
'By God,' quod he, 'I am a litel wroth
With yow, my wyf, although it be me loth;
And wite ye why? by God, as that I gesse,
Ye han i-maad a maner straungenesse
Bitwixe me and my cosyn dan Johan.
Ye schold have warned me, er I had goon,

1 The Lombard merchants were the great money-lenders and bankers of the middle ages; hence the three golden balls, the arms of Lombardy, are the sign of a money-lender's office; hence also the name of Lombardstreet, where the merchants used to meet.

2 The Harl. MS. reads hond, which makes the passage unintelligible. The reading in the text is from Speght and Tyrwhitt, and means, 'He received back the bond which he had given for the payment of the money.'

L

That he
yow had an hundred frankes payd
By redy tokne; and huld him evil appayd
For that I to him spak of chevysaunce,
(Me semed so as by his countenaunce);
But natheles, by God of heven king!
I thoughte nought to axe him no thing.
I pray the, wyf, do thou no more so.
Tel me alway, er that I fro the go,

If

eny dettour hath in myn absence I-payed the, lest in thy necgligence

I may him axe a thing that he hath payed.'
This wyf was not affered ne affrayed,
But boldely sche sayde, and that anoon:
'Mary! I diffy that false monk, dan Johan!
I kepe not of his tokenes never a del;
He took me a certeyn gold, that wot I wel.
What? evel thedom on his monkes snowte!
For, God it wot! I wende withoute doute,
That he had geve it me, bycause of yow,
To do therwith myn honour and my prow,
For cosynage, and eek for bele cheer
That he hath had ful ofte tyme heer.
But synnes that I stonde in this disjoynt,
I wol answer yow schortly to the poynt.
Ye han mo slakke dettours than am I;
For I wol pay yow wel and redily
Fro day to day, and if so be I faile,
I am your wif, score it upon my taile,
And I schal paye it as soone as I may.
For by my trouthe, I have on myn array,
And nought on wast, bistowed it every del.
And for I have bistowed it so wel

For youre honour, for Goddes sake I say,
As beth nought wroth, but let us laugh and play;
Ye schul my joly body have to wedde;'
By God, I wol not pay yow but on bedde;

1 In pledge; but perhaps there is a further allusion.

Forgeve it me, myn owne spouse deere;
Turne hider-ward and make better cheere.'
This marchaund saugh noon other remedy;
And for to chide, it nas but foly,

Sith that the thing may not amendid be.
Now, wif,' he sayde, 'and I forgive it the;
And by thi lif, ne be no more so large;
Keep better my good, this give I the in charge.'
Thus endeth now my tale, and God us sende
Talyng y-nough, unto our lyves ende!'

THE PRIORESSES PROLOGE.

WEL sayd, by corpus boones!' quod oure Host,

'Now longe mot thou sayle by the cost,

Sir gentil maister, gentil mariner!

God give the monk a thousand last1 quade yer,
Haha! felaws, be war for such a jape.
The monk put in the mannes hood an ape,
And in his wyves eek, by seint Austyn.
Draweth no monkes more unto your in.
But now pas over, and let us loke aboute,
Who schal now telle first of al this route
Another tale;' and with that word he sayde,
As curteisly as it had ben a mayde,
'My lady Prioresse, by your leve,

So that I wist I scholde yow not greve,
I wolde deme, that ye telle scholde

A tale next, if so were that

ye wolde.

Now wol ye vouche sauf, my lady deere?'
'Gladly,' quod sche, and sayd in this manere.

1 Last, a German word, signifying burden, is still used on the coast of East Anglia for the measure by which herrings are counted, and means ten thousand. Quead is Anglo-Saxon for bad. The Host, therefore, says, May God send the monk a thousand times ten thousand bad years.' The transition from his boisterous comment on the Schipmannes Tale to the softness and gallantry of his address to the Prioresse is admirably managed.

107

THE PRIORESSES TALE.

[THIS beautiful legend has been modernized by Wordsworth, with a closer adherence to the text than has been attained in any similar instance. The story is one of many, circulated probably as a pretext for plundering the Jews; but whether intended for this purpose or not, these legends appear to have produced the effect. For, in the fortieth year of Henry III., i.e., 1256, a commission was held for the trial of some Jews, accused of the murder of a child at Lincoln; and in the same year a warrant was issued for the sale of the goods of those who had been executed for it. This is probably the Hugh of Lincoln mentioned at the end of this tale, the scene of which is laid in Asia, indicating, as Tyrwhitt observes, that it was the original of the numerous martyrdoms of th same class mentioned in the Acta Sanctorum of Bolandus, among which is that of Willielmus Norvicensis,' said to have suffered on the 10th of March, 1144. In Percy's Relics is a ballad on the same subject, entitled The Jewes Doughter. But those who wish to investigate this curious tradition will find everything relating to it collected in M. Francisque Michel's Hugues de Lincoln, Recueil de Ballades Anglo-Normandes et Ecossoisses relatives au Meurtre de cet Enfant. Paris, 1834. A legend of a similar kind is preserved amongst the traditions of the Rhine. The tale, which illustrates several curious medieval customs, is peculiarly characteristic of the Prioresse, and is related with Chaucer's usual elegance, simplicity, and pathos.]

LORD, oure Lord, thy name how merveylous
Is in this large world i-sprad! (quod sche)

For nought oonly thy laude precious
Parformed is by men of heih degre,
But by mouthes of children thy bounte
Parformed is; on oure brest soukynge
Som tyme schewe thay thin heriynge.'

1

The Prioresse begins her tale with the first verse of Psalm viii.

Wherfore in laude, as I best can or may,
Of the and of thy white lily flour,

Which that the bar, and is a mayde alway,
To telle a story I wil do my labour;
Nought that I may encresce youre honour,
For sche hir silf is honour and roote

Of bounte, next hir Sone, and soules boote.
O moodir mayde, o mayde mooder fre!
O bussh unbrent, brennyng in Moises sight,'
That ravysshedest doun fro the deite,

Thurgh thin humblesse, the gost that in the alight;"
Of whos vertu, he in thin herte pight,
Conceyved was the Fadres sapience;3
Help me to telle it in thy reverence.

Lady, thi bounte, and thy magnificence,
Thy vertu and thi gret humilite,
Ther may no tonge expres in no science;
For som tyme, lady, er men pray to the,
Thow gost biforn of thy benignite,
And getist us the light, thurgh thy prayere
To gyden us the way to thy Son so deere.

My connyng is so weyk, o blisful queene,
For to declare thy grete worthinesse,
That I may not this in my wyt susteene;
But as a child of twelf month old or lesse,
That can unnethes eny word expresse,
Right so fare I, and therfor I you pray,
Gydeth3 my song, that I schal of yow say.
Ther was in Acy, in a greet citee,
Amonges Cristen folk a Jewerye,'
Susteyned by a lord of that contre,

6

1 The burning bush in which the Angel of the Lord, supposed by St. Austin and all subsequent theologians to have been the second person of the ever-blessed Trinity, appeared to Moses, was believed to be a type of the blessed Virgin. 2 Luke i. 35.

·

3 The meaning is, By the power of Him who was placed in thy heart, the Wisdom of the Father was conceived.'

4 See ante, p. 8, note 3.

5 The Harl. MS. reads Endeth.

6 Asia, meaning probably Asia Minor, as in the Acts of the Apostles. 7 In medieval towns there was always a quarter assigned to the