Ful wel sche sang the servise devyne, And Frensch sche spak ful faire and fetysly, Wel cowde sche carie a morsel, and wel keepe, In curtesie was sett al hire lest. Hire overlippe wypud sche so clene, That in hire cuppe was no ferthing sene Of grees, whan sche dronken hadde hire draught. And sikurly sche was of gret disport, 122 130 138 120.-St. Loy. Probably a corruption of St. Eloy, or St. Eligius. It is the reading of all the MSS., and Tyrwhitt ought not to have changed it. The same oath occurs in the Freres Tale, 1. 7143. 124. Frensch. The French taught in England was the debased form of the old Anglo-Norman, somewhat similar to that used at a later period in the courts of law; and it was this at which Chaucer, and some of his contemporaries, sneered. The writer of the Visions of Piers Ploughman speaks of French of Norfolk, 1. 2949. 127. At mete. These remarks agree, almost literally, with the direc tions contained in the different medieval tracts written for the purpose of teaching manners at table. Sche wolde weepe if that sche sawe a mous Hire mouth ful smal, and therto softe and reed; | Ful fetys was hire cloke, as I was waar. 144 152 160 149-men smot. The word men, used in this phrase, appears here construed with a singular verb, as though it had been man (on frappa). So again below, 1. 169, men might. So in a poem in my Political Songs, p. 330,"Where shal men nu finde." 152.-eyen grey. This appears to have been the favourite colour of ladies' eyes in the time of Chaucer. Tale, is described "With camoys nose, and eyghen gray as glas." 160. -a broch. In 1845 a brooch, of the form of an A, represented in the accompany. ing cut, was found in a field in Dorsetshire. It appears to be of the fourteenth century, and affords a curious illustration of this passage of Chaucer. The inscription on one side seems to be, "IO FAS AMER E DOZ DE AMER." On which was first i-writen a crowned A, Ful many a deynté hors hadde he in stable: 161 And whan he rood, men might his bridel heere The reule of seynt Maure or of seint Beneyt, 169 175 166.-loved venerye. The monks of the middle ages were extremely attached to hunting and field-sports, and this was a frequent subject of complaint with the more austere ecclesiastics, and of satire with the laity. 170.-gyngle. It was a universal practice among riders who wished to be thought fashionable, to have their horses' bridles hung with bells. The Templars were blamed for this vanity, in the thirteenth century. In the romance of Richard Cœur de Lion, the sultan of Damas has a trusty mare, of which we are told, 'Hys crouper heeng al ful of belles, And his peytrel, and his arsoun, Three myle myghte men hear the sown." Wycliffe, in his Triloge, inveighs against the priests of his time for their "fair hors, and joly and gay sadeles, and bridles ringing by the way." At a much later period, Spencer describes a lady's steed, Her wanton palfrey all was overspread With tinsel trappings, woven like a wave, Whose bridle rung with golden bells and bosses brave." 173.-The reule. The rules of St. Maure and St. Benet were the oldest forms of monastic discipline in the Romish church. 175.-olde thinges. This is the reading of most of the MSS., and I have adopted it instead of that of the MS. Harl., for by hem, which appears to give no clear sense. And helde aftur the newe world the space. That seith, that hunters been noon holy men; Is likned to a fissche that is watirles ; This is to seyn, a monk out of his cloystre. But thilke text hild he not worth an oystre. And I seide his opinioun was good. 176 What schulde he studie, and make himselven wood, Uppon a book in cloystre alway to powre, 185 Or swynke with his handes, and laboure, As Austyn byt? How schal the world be served? Lat Austyn have his swynk to him reserved. Therfore he was a pricasour aright: Greyhoundes he hadde as swifte as fowel in flight: Of prikyng and of huntyng for the hare Was al his lust, for no cost wolde he spare. I saugh his sleves purfiled atte hond 192 200 179.-cloysterles. This is also the reading of a Cambridge MS. The passage is a literal translation of one from the Decretal of Gratian, as cited by Tyrwhitt,-" Sicut piscis sine aqua caret vita, ita sine monasterio monachus." The other readings, rekkeles, recheles, &c., found in most of the MSS., present considerable difficulties; and Tyrwhitt's explanation seems hardly admissible. His eyen steep, and rollyng in his heed, His palfray was as broun as eny berye. 201 A FRERE ther was, a wantoun and a merye, A lymytour, a ful solempne man. 209 In alle the ordres foure is noon that can So moche of daliaunce and fair langage. And eek with worthi wommen of the toun : 217 For he hadde power of confessioun, As seyde himself, more than a curat, For of his ordre he was licenciat, He was an esy man to geve penance, 225 203.-souple. "This is part of the description of a smart abbot, by an anonymous writer of the thirteenth century:- Ocreas habebat in cruribus, quasi innatæ essent, sine plica porrectas.'-MS. Bodl., James, n. 6. p. 121."-Tyrwhitt. |