"WATLYNGE STRETE."

35

Se yonder, loo, the Galoxie,
Whiche men ciepeth the Melky Weye,
For hit ys white: and somme, parfeye
Kallen hyt Watlynge strete,1

430

That ones was ybrente wyth hete,
Whan the sonnes sonne, the rede,
That highte Pnetoun, wolde lede
Algate his fader carte, and gye.2
The carte hors gonne wel espye
That he ne koude no governaunce,
And ganne for to lepe and launce,
And beren hym now up, now doun,
Til that he sey the Scorpioun,

Whiche that in heven a synge 1 is yit.

And he for-ferde 5 lost hys wyt

440

Of that, and lat the reynes goon
Of his hors; and they anoon

Gonne up to mounten, and doun descende,
Til both the ayre and erthe brende;

Til Jubiter, loo, atte laste

Hym slowe, and fer fro the cart caste.
Loo, ys it not a mochil myschaunce,
To lat a foole han governaunce

Of thing that he can not demeyne?

And with this word, sothe for to seyne,

He gan upper alwey for to sore,

And gladded me ay more and more,

So feythfully to me spake he.

450

1 After the Roman road across South Britain. Guide. Rush

0.

Sign. Much frightened. Manage.

Tho gan I loken under me,
And behelde the ayerisshe bestes,
Cloudes, mystes, and tempestes,
Snowes, hayles, reynes, wyndes,
And thengendrynge in hir kyndes,
Alle the wey thrugh whiche I came ;
"O God," quod I, "that made Adame,
Moche is thy myght and thy noblesse."
And thoo thought I upon Boesse,1
That writ of "Thought may flee so hye,
With fetheres of Philosophye,
To passen everyche elemente ;
And whan he hath so fer ywente,
Than may be seen, behynde hys bak,
Cloude, and erthe," that I of spak.
I wexen in a were,2

Thoo gan
And seyde, "I wote wel I am here;
But wher in body or in gost

I not 3 ywys, but God, thou wost!

4

For more clere entendement 1

Nas me never yit ysent.

And than thought I on Marcian,5
And eke of Anteclaudian,

6

That sooth was her descripcioun

460

470

1 See Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiæ, book iv., met. i. In the version made by Chaucer, there is reference to Thought, clothed in the feathers of Philosophy, being made a knight of God and com ing to the knowledge of God by seeking pure truth. 2 An uncer tainty. 3 Know not. 4 Understanding. 5 Cf. Canterbury Tales, 1. 14,068. Martianus Mineus Felix Capella, author of the Nuptial. of Philology and Mercury, of which book viii. (857) gives a hint o the true system of astronomy. It is quoted by Copernicus. Cf Pariement of Foules, 1. 316. Anticlaudianus is the title of a poen by Alanus de Insulis.

Of alle hevenes regioun,

As fer as that I sey the preve; 1
Therfore I kan hem now beleve.

With that this egle began to crye: "Lat be," quod he, "thy fantasye; Wilt thou lere of sterres aught?"

66

Nay, certenly," quod I, "ryght naught." "And why? "For I am now to olde."

"Elles I wolde the have toide,"

Quod he, "the sterres names, lo,
And al the hevenes sygnes ther to,

And which they ben." "No fors," quod I.

"Yis, pardee," quod he, "wostow why? For whan thou redest poetrie,

How goddes gonne stellifye

Briddes, fisshe, best, or him, or here,
As the ravene or eyther bere,2
Or Arionis harp fyne,3

480

490

"No fors," quod I, "hyt is no nede.
I leve 6 as wele, so God me spede,
Hem that write of this matere,
Alle though I knew her places here;
And eke thy selven here so bryghte

1 Saw the proof. 2 Ursa Major or Ursa Minor. Arion and his cithara is found in O-id, Fasti, ii. 82. The Pleiades, daughters of Atlas 6 Believe.

8 The story of • The dolphin.

Hyt shulde shenden al my syghte,
To loke on hem." "That may wel be,"
Quod he. And so forthe bare he me
A while, and than he gan to crye,
That never herd I thing so hye,1
"Now up the hede; for alle ys wele;
Seynt Julyane,2 loo, bon hostele!
Se here the House of Fame, lo!
Maistow not heren that I do?"
"What?" qued I.
Quod he, "that rumbleth up and doun
In Fames House, ful of tydynges,
Bothe of feire speche and chidynges,
And of fals and that soth compouned.

"The grete soun,”

Herke wel; hyt is not rouned."

510

520

Herestow not the grete swogh?"

"Yis, perde,” quod I, "wel ynogh."

"And what soune is it lyke?" quod hee. "Peter! betynge of the see,"

Quod I, "agen the roches holowe,

Whan tempest doth the shippes swalowe,
And lat a man stonde, out of doute,
A myle thens, and here hyt route.*
Or elles lyke the last humblynge
After a clappe of oo thundringe.
When Joves hath the aire ybete;
But yt doth me for fere swete."

9 8

530

1 Loud. 2 St. Julian was the patron of lodging-places. Cf. Can terbury Taies, 1. 340. 3 Whispered. 4 Bellow. 5 Low, dead sound. For fear sweat. Lines 526-533 should be compared with Ovid's Metamorphoses, xii. 49.

IT WILL NOT BITE!

"Nay, drede the not therof," quod he,
"Hyt is nothinge wille biten the,
Thou shalt non harme have truly."

And with this word both he and I
As nygh the place arryved were
As men may casten with a spere.
I nyste how, but in a strete
He sette me faire on my fete,
And seyde, "Walke forth a pace,
And take thyn aventure or case,
That thou shalt fynde in Fames place."
Now," quod I, "while we han space

66

To speke, or that I goo fro the,

For the love of God, telle me,
In sooth, that wil I of the lere,2
Yf thys noyse that I here

Be, as I have herd the tellen,

1

Of folke that doun in erthe dwellen,
And cometh here in the same wyse
As I the herde, or this, devyse?
That there lives body nys

In al that hous that yonder ys,

That maketh al this loude fare?"

"Noo," quod he, "by Seynte Clare! And, also wis God rede me,

39

540

550