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.

3300

3310

3318.-Powles wyndowes. from the paiutings 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.
A 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,

3320

3330

thedral, which resembled the ornament in the cut to the right. Warton, Hist. E. P. ii, 194, says that calcei fenestrati occur in ancient injunctions 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.

Goth with a senser on the haly day,
Sensing the wyves of the parisch fast;
And many a lovely look on hem he cast,
And namely on this carpenteres wyf:
To loke on hire him thought a mery lyf,
Sche was so propre, sweete, and licorous.
I dar wel sayn, if sche had ben a mous,
And he a cat, he wold hir hent anoon.

This parisch clerk, this joly Absolon,
Hath in his herte such a love longyng,
That of no wyf ne took he noon offryng;
For curtesy, he seyde, he wolde noon.

The moone at night ful cleer and brighte schoon,
And Absolon his giterne hath i-take,

For paramours he seyde he wold awake.

And forth he goth, jolyf and amerous,

Til he cam to the carpenteres hous,
A litel after the cok had y-crowe,
And dressed him up by a schot wyndowe,
That was under the carpenteres wal.

He syngeth in his voys gentil and smal;
"Now deere lady, if thi wille be,

I

praye yow that ye wol rewe on me,"

3340

3350

3360

3358.-schot wyndowe. I am not satisfied with the explanations of this term hitherto given. It would seem rather to mean a window projecting from the wall, from which the inmates might shoot upon any one who attempted to force an entry into the house by the door, and from which therefore it would be easy for a person within to expose any part of his body in the manner expressed in the sequel of the story.

3361.-Tyrwhitt observes that this and the following line, comprising Absolon's song, appear to consist of four short lines, all rhyming together.

Ful wel acordyng to his gyternyng.

This carpenter awook, and herde him syng,

And spak unto his wyf, and sayde anoon,

What, Alisoun, herestow not Absolon,

That chaunteth thus under oure boure smal ?"

And sche answerd hir housbond therwithal; "Yis, God woot, Johan, I heere it every del."

This passeth forth; what wil ye bet than wel? 3370 Fro day to day this joly Absolon

So woweth hire, that him is wo-bigon.

He waketh al the night, and al the day,

To kembe his lokkes brode, and made him gay.
He woweth hire by mene, and by brocage,
And swor he wolde ben hir owne page.
He syngeth crowyng as a nightyngale;
And sent hire pyment, meth, and spiced ale,
And wafres pypyng hoot out of the gleede :
And for sche was of toune, he profred meede.
For som folk wol be wonne for richesse,

And som for strokes, som for gentillesse.

Som tyme, to schewe his lightnes and maistrye,
He pleyeth Herod on a scaffold hye.

3380

3367-smal. Tyrwhitt, with some MS8., reads boures wal. 3377.—crowyng. Some MSS., with Tyrwhitt, have brokking. 3378.-pyment. Piment was a kind of spiced wine. Tyrwhitt's reading, pinnes, is certainly much inferior to the one in the text

3384. pleyeth Herod. Herod was a favourite part in the religious plays, and was perhaps an object of competition among the performers, and a part in which the actor endeavoured to shew himself off with advantage. Every reader knows Shakespeare's phrase of outheroding Herod.

But what avayleth him as in this caas?
Sche so loveth this heende Nicholas,
That Absolon may blowe the bukkes horn :
He ne had for al his labour but a skorn.
And thus sche maketh Absolon hir ape,
And al his ernest torneth to a jape.

Ful soth is this proverbe, it is no lye;
Men seyn right thus alway, the ney slye
Maketh the ferre leef to be loth.
For though that Absolon be wood or wroth,
Bycause that he fer was from here sight,
This Nicholas hath stonden in his light.
Now bere the wel, thou heende Nicholas,
For Absolon may wayle and synge allas.

And so bifelle it on a Satyrday,
This carpenter was gon to Osenay,
And heende Nicholas and Alisoun
Acordid ben to this conclusioun,
That Nicholas schal schapen hem a wyle
This sely jelous housbond to begyle;
And if so were this game wente aright,
Sche schulde slepe in his arm al night,
For this was hire desir and his also.

3390

3400

3387.-blowe the bukkes horn. I presume this was a service that generally went unrewarded.

3391.-this proverbe. The same proverb is found in Gower (Conf. Amant. lib. iii, f. 58),—

An olde sawe is: who that is slygh

In place wher he may be nyghe,

He maketh the ferre leef loth.