Thay can nought stinte, til no thing be laft.
And evermore, wher that ever they goon,
Men may hem knowe by smel of bremstoon;
For al the world thay stynken as a goot;
Her savour is so rammyssch and so hoot,
That though a man fro hem a myle be,
The savour wol infecte him, trusteth me.
Lo, thus by smellyng and by thred-bare array,
If that men list, this folk they knowe may.
And if a man wol aske hem prively,
Why thay ben clothed so unthriftily,
Right anoon thay wol rounen in his eere,
And say, if that thay espied were,

Men wold hem slee, bycause of here science:
Lo, thus this folk bytrayen innocence.

Passe over this, I go my tale unto.

Er than the pot be on the fuyr y-do
Of metals with a certeyn quantité,

My lord hem tempreth, and no man but he;
(Now he is goon, I dar say boldely)
For as men sayn, he can doon craftily;
Algate I wot wel he hath such a name,

And yet ful ofte he renneth in blame;
"And wite ye how? ful ofte it happeth so,
The pot to-breketh, and farwel al is goo.
These metals been of so gret violence,
Oure walles may not make hem resistence,
But if thay were wrought of lym and stoon:
Thay percen so, that thurgh the wal thay goon;
And some of hem synken into the grounde,

12820

12830

12840

(Thus have we lost by tymes many a pounde), And some are skatered al the floor aboute; Some lepe into the roof, withouten doute.

Though that the feend nought in oure sight him schewe,

I trowe that he with us be, that schrewe;

12850

In helle, wher that he is lord and sire, Nis ther no more woo, ne anger, ne ire. Whan that oure pot is broke, as I have sayd, Every man chyt, and halt him evel apayde. Som sayd it was long on the fuyr-makyng; Some sayde nay, it was on the blowyng; (Than was I ferd, for that was myn office). 'Straw!' quod the thridde, 'ye been lewed and nyce, It was nought tempred as it oughte be.'

6

'Nay,' quod the ferthe, stynt and herkne me;

Bycause oure fuyr was nought y-maad of beech,
That is the cause, and other noon, so theech.'
I can not telle wheron it was long,

But wel I woot gret stryf is us among.

"What?' quod my lord, 'ther is no more to doone, 12860 Of these periles I wol be war eftsoone.

I am right siker, that the pot was crased.
Be as be may, be ye no thing amased.

As usage is, let swoope the floor as swithe;

Pluk up your hertes and beth glad and blithe.'
The mullok on an heep i-swoped was,

And on the floor y-cast a canevas,
And al this mulloc in a syve i-throwe,

And sifted, and y-plukked many a throwe.

6

Pardé,' quod oon, somwhat of oure metal

12870

Yet is ther heer, though that we have nought al.
And though this thing myshapped hath as now,
Another tyme it may be wel y-now.

Us moste putte oure good in adventure.
A marchaunt, pardé, may not ay endure,
Trusteth me wel, in his prosperité ;

Som tyme his good is drowned in the see,

And som tyme cometh it sauf unto the londe.'

12880

'Pees!' quod my lord, the nexte tyme I wol fonde
To bringe oure craft al in another plyte,
And but I do, sires, let me have the wyte:
Ther was defaute in som what, wel I woot.'
Another sayde, the fuyr was over hoot.
But be it hoot or cold, I dar say this,
That we concluden evermor amys;

We faile of that which that we wolden have,
And in oure madnesse evermore we rave.
And whan we ben togideres everichon,
Everiche man semeth a Salamon.

But al thing which that schineth as the gold,
Is nought gold, as that I have herd told;
Ne every appel that is fair at ye,

Ne is not good, what so men clappe or crye.
Right so, lo, fareth it amonges us.

He that semeth the wisest, by Jesus!

Is most fool, whan it cometh to the preef;

12890

12890-as the gold. This proverb is taken directly from the Parabole

of Alanus de Insulis, who expresses it thus in two Leonines,

Non teneas aurum totum quod splendet ut aurum,

Nec pulchrum pomum quodlibet esse bonum.

Q

And he that semeth trewest, is a theef.

That schul ye knowe, er that I fro yow wende,

By that I of my tale have maad an ende.

"Ther is a chanoun of religioun
Amonges us, wold infecte al a toun,
Though it as gret were as was Ninive,
Rome, Alisaundre, Troye, or other thre.
His sleight and his infinite falsnesse
Ther couthe no man writen, as I gesse,
Though that he mighte lyven a thousand yeer;
Of al this world of falsheed nys his peer,
For in his termes he wol him so wynde,
And speke his wordes in so sleygh a kynde,
Whan he comune schal with eny wight,
That he wil make him dote anoon right,
But it a feend be, as him selven is.
Ful many a man hath he bygiled er this,
And wol, if that he lyve may a while :
And yet men ryde and goon ful many a myle
Him for to seeke, and have his aqueintaunce,
Nought knowyng of his false governaunce.

And if yow list to geve me audience,

I wol it telle here in youre presence.
But, worschipful chanouns religious,
Ne demeth not that I sclaundre youre hous,
Although my tale of a chanoun be.

Of every ordre som schrewe is, pardee:
And God forbede that al a companye
Schulde rewe a singuler mannes folye.
To sclaunder yow is no thing myn entent,

12900

12910

12920

But to correcten that is mys I ment.
This tale was not oonly told for yow,
But eek for other moo: ye woot wel how
That among Cristes apostles twelve

Ther was no traytour but Judas him selve;

Than why schulde the remenaunt have a blame,
That gulteles were? by yow I say the same.
Save oonly this, if ye wol herkene me,
If any Judas in youre covent be,
Remewe him by tyme, I yow rede,
If schame or los may causen eny drede.
And beth no thing displesed, I you pray,
But in this caas herkeneth what I say."

12930

THE CHANOUNES YEMANNES TALE.

IN Londoun was a prest, an annueler, That therin dwelled hadde many a yer, Which was so plesaunt and so servisable Unto the wyf, wher as he was at table,

12940

The Chanounes Yemannes Tale. In a preceding tale, Chaucer has touched upon the astrologers and practisers of "magike naturel"; this, and perhaps some temporary occurrences, led him now to satirize bitterly another class who infected society at this period, the alchemists. The Chanounes Yemannes Tale may describe an occurrence in Chaucer's time, for the "multipliers" seem to have been very busy deceiving people at the end of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth centuries; and Tyrwhitt has pointed out as a curious coincidence, that an act was passed soon after the poet's death, 5 H. IV, c. iv, making it felony " to multiplie gold or silver, or to use the art of multiplication."

12940-an annueler. "They were called annuelleres, not from their receiving a yearly stipend, as the Gloss. explains it, but from their being employed solely in singing annuals, or anniversary masses, for the dead, without any cure of souls. See the Stat. 36 Edw. III, c. viii, where the