Of hem that yaf him wherwith to scolaye
Of studie took he moste cure and heede.

305

Not oo word spak he more than was neede;
And that was seyd in form and reverence,
And schort and quyk, and ful of heygh sentence.
Sownynge in moral vertu was his speche,

And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche.

310

13. THE SERGEANT OF LAWE.

A SERGEANT OF LAWE, war and wys,
That often hadde ben atte parvys,
Ther was also, ful riche of excellence.

Discret he was, and of gret reverence:

He semede such, his wordes were so wise,

315

Justice he was ful often in assise,

By patent, and by pleyn commissioun,

For his science and for his heih renoun.

auxiliary to form an imperfect tense. 'And busily did for the soules praye.'

304. wherwith, a pronoun-adverb. Cf. wherewithal.

306. Not oo. These two words when combined give none and no, but not one word is more emphatic than no word.

neede, an adj. = necessary or needful; needes is used as an adv. meaning necessarily or of necessity.

307. And that was seid in form and reverence, so the six MSS. The Harl. has

All that he spak it was of heye prudence.

308. heygh, so the six MSS.

309. vertu, so the six MSS.

312. atte

=

The Harl. has gret.

The Harl. has manere.

LINES 310-332.

at the, as in lines 125, 193, &c.

313. riche of excellence = rich as regards excellence.

Cf. thin of substance,' 'a valiant man of his hands.'

318. for his science, &c. These phrases may modify the sentence in line 316, or that in 319. The former is the more likely construction, hence the punctuation.

Of fees and robes had he many oon.

So gret a purchasour was nowher noon.

320

Al was fee symple to him in effecte,

His purchasyng ne mighte nought ben infect.

Nowher so besy a man as he ther nas,

And yit he semede besier than he was.
In termes hadde he caas and domes alle,
That fro the tyme of kyng Will were falle.
Therto he couthe endite, and make a thing,
Ther couthe no man pynche at his writyng.
And every statute couthe he pleyn by roote.
He rood but hoomly in a medled coote,
Gird with a seynt of silk, with barres smale;
Of his array telle I no lenger tale.

325

330

14. THE FRANKELEYN.

A FRANKELEYN ther was in his companye;
White was his berde, as is the dayesye.
Of his complexioun he was sangwyn.
Wel loved he by the morn a sop in
To lyven in delite was al his wone,

wyn.

335

319. many oon many one, now many a one.

322. So the six MSS. The Harl. has, 'His purchasyng mighte nought ben to him suspecte.'

323. Nowhere

line.

ther nas, double negative, as in preceding

325. caas and domes. Two nouns in the plural.

329. pleyn, adv. mod. couthe = fully.

331. gird, past part. = girded. or girt.

LINES 333-362.

335. Of as regards, as in line 313, &c.

=

336. a sop in wyn, so the six MSS. The Harl. has '

See the historical note.

a sop of wyn.'

For he was Epicurius owne sone,

That heeld opynyoun that pleyn delyt

Was verraily felicité perfyt.

340

An househaldere and that a gret, was he;

Seynt Julian he was in his countré.

His breed, his ale, was alway after oon;

A bettre envyned man was nowher noon.
Withoute bake mete was never his hous,
Of fleissch and fissch, and that so plentyvous,
It snewed in his hous of mete and drynke,
Of alle deyntees that men cowde thynke.
Aftur the sondry sesouns of the yeer,

So chaunged he his mete and his soper.
Ful many a fat partrich had he in mewe,

345

350

And many a brem and many a luce in stewe.

Woo was his cook, but-if his sauce were

Poynant and scharp, and redy al his gere.
His table dormant in his halle alway
Stood redy covered al the longe day.
At sessions ther was he lord and sire.

Ful ofte tyme he was knight of the schire.

355

338. Epicurius. Note the want of the termination for the genitive. In Anglo-Saxon as in modern English, many proper nouns ending in s had no termination for the genitive singular.

343. his breed, his ale, was, not were, because each is spoken of separately.

344. bettre, adv., A.S. See line 242.

350. So chaunged he his mete and his soper; the text of the six MSS. The Harl. has, 'He chaunged hem at mete and at soper.'

353. woo, nom. to was; cook, dative after woo, with verb to be.

but-if unless.

358. tyme is plural, and from A.S. tyma. The e is elided, because

after m and before he.

An anlas and a gipser al of silk

Heng at his gerdul, whit as morne mylk.
A schirreve hadde he ben, and a counter;
Was nowher such a worthi vavaser.

15, 16, 17, 18, & 19. THE HABURDASSHER,
CARPENTER, WEBBE, DEYER, AND TAPICER.

360

An HABURDASSHER and a CARPENTER,
A WEBBE, a DEYER, and a TAPICER,
Weren with us eeke, clothed in oo lyveré,
Of a solempne and gret fraternité.

365

Ful freissh and newe here gere piked was;
Here knyfes were i-chapud nat with bras,
But al with silver wrought ful clene and wel,
Here gurdles and here pouches every del.
Wel semed eche of hem a fair burgeys,
To sitten in a yeldehalle on the deys.
Every man for the wisdom that he can,

370

LINES 363-380.

364. webbe, from A.S. webba by changing a into e.

Ster is the

termination for the feminine; but the distinction between a webbe and a webster was not always attended to.

365. eeke or eke, sometimes eek or ek. See line 376.

365-6. lyveré and fraternité. Note that the accented final e of French nouns is preserved by Chaucer, and in modern English is represented by y. The accent has been supplied by the editors, however, and is not in the MS.

their, occurs four times.

370. every del = in every deal, or in every part. Cf. al, in preceding line.

371. eche, from A.S. alc, so that the word had lost its by Chaucer's time, but not gained its a as in each.

373. Every man, A.S. ælc man= each one.

everich.

The six MSS. have

Was schaply for to ben an aldurman.
For catel hadde they inough and rente,
And eek here wyfes wolde it wel assente;

And elles certeyn hadde thei ben to blame.

It is right fair for to be clept madame,

And for to go to vigilies al byfore,

And han a mantel rially i-bore.

20. THE COOK.

A Cook thei hadde with hem for the nones

To boyle chiknes and the mary bones,

And poudre marchaunt, tart, and galyngale.

Wel cowde he knowe a draught of Londone ale.
He cowde roste, sethe, broille, and frie,

Make mortreux, and wel bake a pye.

375

380

385

374. for to ben. Cf. with the infinitives in lines 378-9. 375. inough, A.S. ge-noh, i-noh, i-nowe.

376. assente it. Here assente is transitive.

blame. The rhyme with madame forms a guide to Chaucer's pronunciation of this word, and of the letter a. See note on line 161.

LINES 381-9.

381. for the nones is a corruption of the older form for then anes or for than anes = for the once; so that the n in nones belongs to the demonstrative. Cf. at the nale at the ale; and at the noke at the oak.

382. mary, from A.S. mearh, the h being changed into y and not into we as is more common. This spelling corresponds to

the vulgar pronunciation still.

384. wel coude he knowe. Cowde is 3rd sing. past ind. of can, to know, or to be able. Wel cowde he wel knew he; wel cowde he knowe = he was well able to know.

385. sethe, p. sod, pp. sodden. See Gen. xxv. 29.

386. mortreux, sometimes mortrewes.