He knew nat Catoun, for his wit was rude,
That bad man schulde wedde his similitude.
Men schulde wedde aftir here astaat,
For eelde and youthe ben often at debaat.
But
syn that he was brought into the snare,
He moste endure, as othere doon, his care.
Fair was the yonge wyf, and therwithal
As eny wesil hir body gent and smal.
A seynt sche wered, barred al of silk;
A barm-cloth eek as whit as morne mylk
Upon hir lendes, ful of many a gore.
Whit was hir smok, and browdid al byfore
And eek byhynde on hir coler aboute
Of cole-blak silk, withinne and eek withoute.
The tapes of hir white voluper
Weren of the same sute of hire coler;
Hir filet brood of silk y-set ful heye.
And certeynly sche hadd a licorous eyghe :
Ful smal y-pulled weren hir browes two,
And tho were bent, as blak as a slo.
Sche was wel more blisful on to see
Than is the newe perjonette tree;
And softer than the wol is of a wethir.
And by hir gurdil hyng a purs of lethir,
3227.-Catoun. Chaucer alludes to the treatise of Cato de Moribus; but the sentiment is not taken from that book, but from a medieval poem of a similar character entitled Facetus, which contains the following lines: Duc tibi prole parem sponsam moresque venustam,
Si cum pace velis vitam deducere justam.
Tassid with silk, and perled with latoun.
In al this world to seken up and doun
Ther nys no man so wys, that couthe thenche
So gay a popillot, or such a wenche.
For brighter was the schynyng of hir hewe,
Than in the Tour the noble i-forged newe.
But of hir song, it was as lowde and yerne
As eny swalwe chiteryng on a berne.
Therto sche cowde skippe, and make game,
As eny kyde or calf folwyng his dame.
Hir mouth was sweete as bragat is or meth,
Or hoord of apples, layd in hay or heth.
Wynsyng sche was, as is a joly colt,
Long as a mast, and upright as a bolt.
A broch sche bar upon hir loue coleer,
As brod as is the bos of a bocleer.
Hir schos were laced on hir legges heyghe;
Sche was a primerole, a piggesneyghe,
For eny lord have liggyng in his bedde,
Or yet for eny good yeman to wedde.
Now sir, and eft sir, so bifel the cas,
That on a day this heende Nicholas
Fil with this yonge wyf to rage and pleye,
3255.-schynyng. The MS. Harl. reads smylyng, contrary to the other MSS. that I have examined.
3256.-noble. The gold noble of this period was a very beautiful coin. Specimens are engraved in Ruding's Annals of the Coinage. It was coined in the Tower of London, the place of the principal London mint.
Whil that hir housbond was at Oseneye,
As clerkes ben ful sotil and ful queynte.
And pryvely he caught hir by the queynte,
And seyde; "I-wis, but if I have my wille,
For derne love of the, lemman, I spille."
And heeld hir harde by the haunche boones,
And seyde, "Lemman, love me al at ones,
Or I wol dye, as wisly God me save."
And sche sprang out as doth a colt in trave:
And with hir heed sche wried fast awey,
And seyde, "I wol nat kisse the, by my fey!
Why let be," quod sche, "lat be thou, Nicholas,
Or I wol crye out harrow and allas!
Do wey your handes for your curtesye!"
This Nicholas gan mercy for to crye,
And spak so faire, and profred him so faste,
That sche hir love him graunted atte laste,
And swor hir oth by seynt Thomas of Kent,
That sche wol be at his comaundement,
Whan that sche may hir leysir wel aspye.
"Myn housbond is so ful of jelousie,
That but ye wayten wel, and be pryvė,
I woot right wel I am but deed," quod sche:
"Ye mosten be ful derne as in this caas."
"Therof ne care the nought," quod Nicholas :
"A clerk hath litherly byset his while,
The somewhat celebrated abbey of Oseney stood in
But if he cowde a carpenter bygyle."
And thus they ben acorded and i-sworn
To wayte a tyme, as I have told biforn.
Whan Nicholas had doon thus every del,
And thakked hire aboute the lendys wel,
He kist hir sweet, and taketh his sawtrye,
And pleyeth fast, and maketh melodye.
Than fyl it thus, that to the parisch chirche
Cristes owen werkes for to wirche,
This goode wyf went on an haly day:
Hir forheed schon as bright as eny day,
So was it waisschen, whan sche leet hir werk.
Now ther was of that chirche a parisch clerk,
The which that was i-cleped Absolon.
Crulle was his heer, and as the gold it schon,
And strowted as a fan right large and brood;
Ful streyt and evene lay his jolly schood.
His rode was reed, his eyghen gray as goos,
With Powles wyndowes corven on his schoos.
3318.-Powles wyndowes. from the paintings formerly existing on the walls of St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, represent shoes of Chaucer's time, which are cut in patterns not unlike the tracery of church win. dows. Mr. C. Roach Smith has in his interesting museum
some beautiful samples of shoes cut in this manner, more elaborate even than these cuts. It has been conjectured that the phrase Powles wyndowes, refers more especially to the rose window of old St. Paul's Ca
In hosen reed he went ful fetusly.
I-clad he was ful smal and propurly,
Al in a kirtel of a fyn wachet;
Schapen with goores in the newe get.
And therupon he had a gay surplys,
As whyt as is the blosme upon the rys.
mery child he was, so God me save;
Wel couthe he lete blood, and clippe and schave,
And make a chartre of lond and acqitaunce.
In twenty maners he coude skip and daunce,
After the scole of Oxenforde tho,
And with his legges casten to and fro ;
And pleyen songes on a small rubible;
Ther-to he sang som tyme a lowde quynyble.
And as wel coude he pleye on a giterne.
In al the toun nas brewhous ne taverne,
That he ne visited with his solas,
Ther as that any gaylard tapster was.
But soth to say he was somdel squaymous
Of fartyng, and of speche daungerous.
This Absolon, that joly was and gay,
thedral, which resembled the ornament in the cut to the right. Warton, Hist. E. P. ii, 194, says that calcei fenestrati occur in ancient injunc tions to the clergy. Chaucer, in the Romaunt of the Rose, speaks of Mirth as,
Shod, with grete maistrie,
With shone decopid and with lace.
It may be observed, however, that this is a literal translation from the French original, decoupé.
3322.-Instead of this line, Tyrwhitt reads,
Ful faire and thicke ben the pointes set.
|