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For it so high was, and so broad and long,
So well proportionèd for to be strong,
Right as it were a steed of Lombardy;
Therewith so horsely, and so quick of eye,
As it a gentle Poilais1 courser were;
For, certes, from his tail unto his ear,
Nature ne art ne could him not amend
In no degree, as all the people wend.2
But evermore their mostè wonder was
How that it couldè go and was of brass :
It was of faerie, as the people seemed.
Divers folk diversèly they deemed;

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As many heads as many wits there been ;3
They murmurden as doth a swarm of been,1
And maden skills after their fantasies,
Rehearsing of the olde poetries;
And saiden it was like the Pegasee,
The horse that haddè wingès for to flee;
Or else it was the Greekès horse, Sinon,
That broughtè Troyè to destruction,
As men may in these oldè gestès ® read.
"Mine heart," quoth one, "is evermore in dread ;
I trow some men-of-armès been therein,
That shapen them this city for to win:

It were right good that all such thing were know."8
Another rouned to his fellow low,

And said, "He lieth; for it is rather like
An apparance y-made by some magike,
As jugglers playen at these feastès great."
Of sundry doubtès thus they jangle and treat,
As lewèd 10 people deemen 11 commonly,
Of thingès that been made more subtilly
Than they can in their lewdness comprehend,
They deemen gladly to the badder end.12

FROM THE FRANKLIN'S TALE.

AN ABDICATION.

In Armorik that callèd is Bretaigne 13

There was a knight that loved, and did his pain

1 Apulian courser. 2 Conjectured. 6 Stories. 7 Prepare. 8 Known. 11 Judge.

3 Were.
9 Whispered.
12 Are glad to make the worst of it.

4 Bees.

5 Reasons. 10 Unlearned. 13 Brittany.

To serve a lady in his bestè wise;

And many a labour, many a great emprise,1
He for his lady wrought ere she were won.
For she was one the fairest under sun,
And eke thereto come of so high kindred
That well unnethès 2 durst this knight for dread
Tell her his woe, his pain, and his distress.
But at the last she, for his worthiness,
And namely 3 for his meek obeisance,
Had such a pity caught for his penance
That privily she fell of his accord

To take him for her husband and her lord,
Of such lordship as men have over their wives.
And, for to lead the more in bliss their lives,
Of his free will he swore her as a knight
That never in his will, by day ne night,
Ne should he upon him take no maistrie
Against her will, ne kithe1 her jealousie,
But her obey, and follow her will in all,
As any lover to his lady shall;

Save that the name of sovereignètee

That would he have for shame of his degree.
She thanked him; and with full great humblesse
She saidè, "Sir, sith of your gentilesse

Ye proffer me to have so great a reign,—

Ne woldè never God betwixt us twain

As in my guilt 5 were either war or strife!—
Sir, I will be your humble truè wife :

Have here my troth till that mine heartè brest."6
Thus be they both in quiet and in rest.

For one thing, sirès, safely dare I say,
That friendès ever each other must obey
If they will longè holden company.
Love will not be constrainèd by maistrie.
When maistrie comth, the god of love anon
Beateth his wings, and, farewell! he is gone.
Love is a thing as any spirit free:
Women of kind' desiren liberty,

And not to be constrainèd as a thrall;8

And so do men, if I the sooth9 say shall.

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FROM THE NUN'S PRIEST'S TALE.

THE POOR WIDOW AND HER COCK CHAUNTICLEER.

A poor widow, somedeal stoopen in age,
Was whilom1 dwelling in a narrow cottage,
Beside a grovè standing in a dale.

This widow of which I tellè you my tale,
Sithence thilk day that she was last a wife,
In patience led a full simple life.

For little was her cattle and her rent.
By husbandry of such as God her sent,
She found herself and eke her daughtren two.
Three large sowès had she, and no mo,
Three kine, and eke a sheep that hightè3 Mall.
Full sooty was her bower and eke her hall,
In which she ate full many a slender meal;
Of poignant sauce her needed never a deal.
No dainty morsel passèd through her throat;
Her diet was accordant to her coat.
Repletion ne made her never sick;
Attemper diet was all her physic,
And exercise and heartès suffisance.
The goutè let her nothing for to dance,
Ne apoplexy shentè not her head.

No wine ne drank she, neither white ne red;

Her board was servèd most with white and black,

Milk and brown bread, in which she found no lack,
Seind bacon, and sometime an ey or tway;9
For she was, as it were, a manner day.10

A yard she had, enclosed all about
With stickès, and a dryè ditch without,
In which she had a cock, hight Chaunticleer.
In all the land of 11 crowing n'as his peer;
His voice was merrier than the merry orgón,
On massè-dayes that in the churchè gon.
Well sikerer 12 was his crowing in his lodge
Than is a clock, or an abbèy orloge.
By nature he knew each ascensioun
Of equinoctial in thilkè town;

For, when degrees fifteenè were ascènded,
Then knew he that it might not be amended.

1 Once on a time.

2 Maintained.

3 Was called.

4 Superfluity. 5 Moderate. 6 Hindered. 7 Injured. 8 Singed. 9 An egg or two. 10 A kind of dairy-woman. 11 For. 12 More correct: North English, sicker, sure.

His comb was redder than the fine corall,
And battled as it were a castel wall;
His bill was black, and as the jet it shone ;
Like azure were his leggès and his toen,1
His nailès whiter than the lily flower;
And like the burnished gold was his colour.
This gentle cock had in his governaunce
Seven hennes for to done all his pleasaunce,
Which were his susters 2 and his paramours,
And wonder like to him as of colours;
Of which the fairest-huèd on her throat
Was clepèd fair damoiselle Pertelote.

THE PROLOGUE TO "SIR THOPAS."

1 Toes.

CHAUCER AMONG THE PILGRIMS.

When said was all this miracle,3 every man
As sober was, that wonder was to see:
Till that our Host to japen1 he began ;
And then, at erst," he looked upon me,
And saidè thus; "What man art thou?" quoth he:
"Thou lookest as thou wouldest find an hare;
For ever upon the ground I see thee stare.

"Approachè near, and look up merrily;

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Now ware you, sirs, and let this man have place.
He in the waist is shapen as well as I ;
This were a puppet in an arm to embrace
For any woman; small and fair of face;

He seemeth elvish by his countenance,
For unto no wight doth he dalliance.

Say now somewhat, since other folk have said;
Tell us a tale of mirth, and that anon."
"Hostè," quoth I, "ne be not evil apaid,
For other tale, certes, can I none,

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But of a Rhyme I learned long agone." "Yea, that is good," quoth he: now shall we hear Some dainty thing, methinketh, by his cheer."7

2 Sisters.

4 Jest.

7 Countenance.

3 This was the Prioress's Tale of the little Christian Martyr.

5 For the first time.

6 Ill satisfied.

WILLIAM LANGLAND.

(-1377-)

THE personal life of this poet can be but very dimly ascertained, and only by a close and patient scrutiny of his own writings. His name does not occur in the public records, nor in the works of his literary contemporaries. He appears

to have been born in the west of England, probably in Shropshire, and to have spent his life in the calling of a ❝clerk," or member of an inferior order of the clergy, partly in his native district, partly in London, and to have associated chiefly with the classes of the lay poor, whose characters and habits he has vividly described. He was the author of only one work, the old and full title of which was Liber de Petro Plowman, or Book concerning Piers the Plowman. This poem was a large undertaking, and required great literary industry. Of the forty-three manuscripts of the poem which are extant, Mr. Skeat ascribes three to the author's own hand. "It is certain," says Mr. Skeat, “that he altered, added to, and re-wrote the whole poem, not once only, but twice. It was the great work of his life, and may have occupied him, though not continuously, during nearly thirty years.” The oldest text is of the date 1362, and is, as compared with the others, but a first rough sketch. The poem, in its complete form, comprises in reality two sets of Visions, namely, 1st, that of Piers Plowman, and 2d, that of Do-wel, Do-bet, and Do-best, the former consisting of a Prologue and seven Passus, the latter of three Prologues and ten Passus. The usual custom in transcribing appears, however, to have been to arrange the whole of the parts consecutively, without distinction of the Visions, into one Prologue and twenty Passus. The metre and language of Langland's poem are uncouth and archaic. The dialect in which he wrote was a mixture of the midland and southern dialects, with many traces in it of western provincialisms and a few also of northern. This was probably a kind of English perfectly familiar to the uneducated and middle classes in London, and in the rural districts of western and southern

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