The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems Part 30

For, G.o.d it wot, men may full often find A lorde's son do shame and villainy.

And he that will have price* of his gent'ry, *esteem, honour For* he was boren of a gentle house, *because And had his elders n.o.ble and virtuous, And will himselfe do no gentle deedes, Nor follow his gentle ancestry, that dead is, He is not gentle, be he duke or earl; For villain sinful deedes make a churl.

For gentleness is but the renomee* *renown Of thine ancestors, for their high bounte,* *goodness, worth Which is a strange thing to thy person: Thy gentleness cometh from G.o.d alone.

Then comes our very* gentleness of grace; *true It was no thing bequeath'd us with our place.

Think how n.o.ble, as saith Valerius, Was thilke* Tullius Hostilius, *that That out of povert' rose to high Read in Senec, and read eke in Boece, There shall ye see express, that it no drede* is, *doubt That he is gentle that doth gentle deedes.

And therefore, leve* husband, I conclude, *dear Albeit that mine ancestors were rude, Yet may the highe G.o.d, -- and so hope I, -- Grant me His grace to live virtuously: Then am I gentle when that I begin To live virtuously, and waive* sin. *forsake

"And whereas ye of povert' me repreve,* *reproach The highe G.o.d, on whom that we believe, In wilful povert' chose to lead his life: And certes, every man, maiden, or wife May understand that Jesus, heaven's king, Ne would not choose a virtuous living.

*Glad povert'* is an honest thing, certain; *poverty cheerfully This will Senec and other clerkes sayn endured*

Whoso that *holds him paid of* his povert', *is satisfied with*

I hold him rich though he hath not a shirt.

He that coveteth is a poore wight For he would have what is not in his might But he that nought hath, nor coveteth to have, Is rich, although ye hold him but a knave.* *slave, abject wretch *Very povert' is sinne,* properly. *the only true poverty is sin*

Juvenal saith of povert' merrily: The poore man, when he goes by the way Before the thieves he may sing and play <13> Povert' is hateful good,<14> and, as I guess, A full great *bringer out of business;* *deliver from trouble*

A great amender eke of sapience To him that taketh it in patience.

Povert' is this, although it seem elenge* *strange <15> Possession that no wight will challenge Povert' full often, when a man is low, Makes him his G.o.d and eke himself to know Povert' a spectacle* is, as thinketh me *a pair of spectacles Through which he may his very* friendes see. *true And, therefore, Sir, since that I you not grieve, Of my povert' no more me repreve.* *reproach "Now, Sir, of elde* ye repreve me: *age And certes, Sir, though none authority* *text, dictum Were in no book, ye gentles of honour Say, that men should an olde wight honour, And call him father, for your gentleness; And authors shall I finden, as I guess.

Now there ye say that I am foul and old, Then dread ye not to be a c.o.kewold.* *cuckold For filth, and elde, all so may I the,* *thrive Be greate wardens upon chast.i.ty.

But natheless, since I know your delight, I shall fulfil your wordly appet.i.te.

Choose now," quoth she, "one of these thinges tway, To have me foul and old till that I dey,* *die And be to you a true humble wife, And never you displease in all my life: Or elles will ye have me young and fair, And take your aventure of the repair* *resort That shall be to your house because of me, -- Or in some other place, it may well be?

Now choose yourselfe whether that you liketh.

This knight adviseth* him and sore he siketh,** *considered **sighed But at the last he said in this mannere; "My lady and my love, and wife so dear, I put me in your wise governance, Choose for yourself which may be most pleasance And most honour to you and me also; I *do no force* the whether of the two: *care not For as you liketh, it sufficeth me."

"Then have I got the mastery," quoth she, "Since I may choose and govern as me lest."* *pleases "Yea, certes wife," quoth he, "I hold it best."

"Kiss me," quoth she, "we are no longer wroth,* *at variance For by my troth I will be to you both; This is to say, yea, bothe fair and good.

I pray to G.o.d that I may *sterve wood,* *die mad*

But* I to you be all so good and true, *unless As ever was wife since the world was new; And but* I be to-morrow as fair to seen, *unless As any lady, emperess or queen, That is betwixt the East and eke the West Do with my life and death right as you lest.* *please Cast up the curtain, and look how it is."

And when the knight saw verily all this, That she so fair was, and so young thereto, For joy he hent* her in his armes two: *took His hearte bathed in a bath of bliss, A thousand times *on row* he gan her kiss: *in succession*

And she obeyed him in every thing That mighte do him pleasance or liking.

And thus they live unto their lives' end In perfect joy; and Jesus Christ us send Husbandes meek and young, and fresh in bed, And grace to overlive them that we wed.

And eke I pray Jesus to short their lives, That will not be governed by their wives.

And old and angry n.i.g.g.ards of dispence,* *expense G.o.d send them soon a very pestilence!

Notes to the Wife of Bath's Tale

1. It is not clear whence Chaucer derived this tale. Tyrwhitt thinks it was taken from the story of Florent, in the first book of Gower's "Confessio Amantis;" or perhaps from an older narrative from which Gower himself borrowed. Chaucer has condensed and otherwise improved the fable, especially by laying the scene, not in Sicily, but at the court of our own King Arthur.

2. Limitours: begging friars. See note 18 to the prologue to the Tales.

3. Thorpes: villages. Compare German, "Dorf,"; Dutch, "Dorp."

4. Undermeles: evening-tides, afternoons; "undern" signifies the evening; and "mele," corresponds to the German "Mal" or "Mahl," time.

5. Incubus: an evil spirit supposed to do violence to women; a nightmare.

6. Where he had been hawking after waterfowl. Froissart says that any one engaged in this sport "alloit en riviere."

7. Nice: foolish; French, "niais."

8. Claw us on the gall: Scratch us on the sore place. Compare, "Let the galled jade wince." Hamlet iii. 2.

9. Hele: hide; from Anglo-Saxon, "helan," to hide, conceal.

10. Yern: eagerly; German, "gern."

11. Wiss: instruct; German, "weisen," to show or counsel.

12. Dante, "Purgatorio", vii. 121.

13. "Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator" -- "Satires," x. 22.

14. In a fabulous conference between the Emperor Adrian and the philosopher Secundus, reported by Vincent of Beauvais, occurs the pa.s.sage which Chaucer here paraphrases: -- "Quid est Paupertas? Odibile bonum; sanitas mater; remotio Curarum; sapientae repertrix; negotium sine d.a.m.no; possessio absque calumnia; sine sollicitudinae felicitas." (What is Poverty? A hateful good; a mother of health; a putting away of cares; a discoverer of wisdom; business without injury; ownership without calumny; happiness without anxiety)

15. Elenge: strange; from French "eloigner," to remove.

THE FRIAR'S TALE.

THE PROLOGUE.<1>

This worthy limitour, this n.o.ble Frere, He made always a manner louring cheer* *countenance Upon the Sompnour; but for honesty* *courtesy No villain word as yet to him spake he: But at the last he said unto the Wife: "Dame," quoth he, "G.o.d give you right good life, Ye have here touched, all so may I the,* *thrive In school matter a greate difficulty.

Ye have said muche thing right well, I say; But, Dame, here as we ride by the way, Us needeth not but for to speak of game, And leave authorities, in G.o.dde's name, To preaching, and to school eke of clergy.

But if it like unto this company, I will you of a Sompnour tell a game; Pardie, ye may well knowe by the name, That of a Sompnour may no good be said; I pray that none of you be *evil paid;* *dissatisfied*

A Sompnour is a runner up and down With mandements* for fornicatioun, *mandates, summonses*

And is y-beat at every towne's end."

Then spake our Host; "Ah, sir, ye should be hend* *civil, gentle And courteous, as a man of your estate; In company we will have no debate: Tell us your tale, and let the Sompnour be."

"Nay," quoth the Sompnour, "let him say by me What so him list; when it comes to my lot, By G.o.d, I shall him quiten* every groat! *pay him off I shall him telle what a great honour It is to be a flattering limitour And his office I shall him tell y-wis".

Our Host answered, "Peace, no more of this."

And afterward he said unto the frere, "Tell forth your tale, mine owen master dear."

Notes to the Prologue to the Friar's tale

1. On the Tale of the Friar, and that of the Sompnour which follows, Tyrwhitt has remarked that they "are well engrafted upon that of the Wife of Bath. The ill-humour which shows itself between these two characters is quite natural, as no two professions at that time were at more constant variance. The regular clergy, and particularly the mendicant friars, affected a total exemption from all ecclesiastical jurisdiction, except that of the Pope, which made them exceedingly obnoxious to the bishops and of course to all the inferior officers of the national hierarchy." Both tales, whatever their origin, are bitter satires on the greed and worldliness of the Romish clergy.

THE TALE.

Whilom* there was dwelling in my country *once on a time An archdeacon, a man of high degree, That boldely did execution, In punishing of fornication, Of witchecraft, and eke of bawdery, Of defamation, and adultery, Of churche-reeves,* and of testaments, *churchwardens Of contracts, and of lack of sacraments, And eke of many another manner* crime, *sort of Which needeth not rehea.r.s.en at this time, Of usury, and simony also; But, certes, lechours did he greatest woe; They shoulde singen, if that they were hent;* *caught And smale t.i.thers<1> were foul y-shent,* *troubled, put to shame If any person would on them complain; There might astert them no pecunial pain.<2> For smalle t.i.thes, and small offering, He made the people piteously to sing; For ere the bishop caught them with his crook, They weren in the archedeacon's book; Then had he, through his jurisdiction, Power to do on them correction.

He had a Sompnour ready to his hand, A slier boy was none in Engleland; For subtlely he had his espiaille,* *espionage That taught him well where it might aught avail.

He coulde spare of lechours one or two, To teache him to four and twenty mo'.

For, -- though this Sompnour wood* be as a hare, -- *furious, mad To tell his harlotry I will not spare, For we be out of their correction, They have of us no jurisdiction, Ne never shall have, term of all their lives.