Youre wif at home, the same gold agein Grete wel oure dame, myn owen nece swete, This somme of gold, and took of hem his bond," And up he goth, and maketh it ful tough. 1 The Lombard merchants were the great money-lenders and bankers of the middle ages; hence the three golden balls, the arms of Lombardy, are the sign of a money-lender's office; hence also the name of Lombardstreet, where the merchants used to meet. 2 The Harl. MS. reads hond, which makes the passage unintelligible. The reading in the text is from Speght and Tyrwhitt, and means, 'He received back the bond which he had given for the payment of the money.' That he yow had an hundred frankes payd If go, eny dettour hath in myn absence I-payed the, lest in thy necgligence I may him axe a thing that he hath payed.' This wyf was not affered ne affrayed, But boldely sche sayde, and that anoon: 'Mary! I diffy that false monk, dan Johan! I kepe not of his tokenes never a del; He took me a certeyn gold, that wot I wel. What? evel thedom on his monkes snowte! For, God it wot! I wende withoute doute, That he had geve it me, bycause of yow, To do therwith myn honour and my prow, For cosynage, and eek for bele cheer That he hath had ful ofte tyme heer. But synnes that I stonde in this disjoynt, I wol answer yow schortly to the poynt. Ye han mo slakke dettours than am I; For I wol pay yow wel and redily Fro day to day, and if so be I faile, I am your wif, score it upon my taile, And I schal paye it as soone as I may. For by my trouthe, I have on myn array, And nought on wast, bistowed it every del. And for I have bistowed it so wel For youre honour, for Goddes sake I say, As beth nought wroth, but let us laugh and play; Ye schul my joly body have to wedde;1 By God, I wol not pay yow but on bedde; 1 In pledge; but perhaps there is a further allusion. Forgeve it me, myn owne spouse deere; Sith that the thing may not amendid be. THE PRIORESSES PROLOGE. 'WEL sayd, by corpus boones!' quod oure Host, 'Now longe mot thou sayle by the cost, Sir gentil maister, gentil mariner! God give the monk a thousand last1 quade yer, Now wol ye vouche sauf, my lady deere?' Gladly,' quod sche, and sayd in this manere. 1 Last, a German word, signifying burden, is still used on the coast of East Anglia for the measure by which herrings are counted, and means ten thousand. Quead is Anglo-Saxon for bad. The Host, therefore, says, May God send the monk a thousand times ten thousand bad years.' The transition from his boisterous comment on the Schipmannes Tale to the softness and gallantry of his address to the Prioresse is admirably managed. THE PRIORESSES TALE. [THIS beautiful legend has been modernized by Wordsworth, with a closer adherence to the text than has been attained in any similar instance. The story is one of many, circulated probably as a pretext for plundering the Jews; but whether intended for this purpose or not, these legends appear to have produced the effect. For, in the fortieth year of Henry III., i.e., 1256, a commission was held for the trial of some Jews, accused of the murder of a child at Lincoln; and in the same year a warrant was issued for the sale of the goods of those who had been executed for it. This is probably the Hugh of Lincoln mentioned at the end of this tale, the scene of which is laid in Asia, indicating, as Tyrwhitt observes, that it was the original of the numerous martyrdoms of th same class mentioned in the Acta Sanctorum of Bolandus, among which is that of Willielmus Norvicensis,' said to have suffered on the 10th of March, 1144. In Percy's Relics is a ballad on the same subject, entitled The Jewes Doughter. But those who wish to investigate this curious tradition will find everything relating to it collected in M. Francisque Michel's Hugues de Lincoln, Recueil de Ballades Anglo-Normandes et Ecossoisses relatives au Meurtre de cet Enfant. Paris, 1834. A legend of a similar kind is preserved amongst the traditions of the Rhine. The tale, which illustrates several curious medieval customs, is peculiarly characteristic of the Prioresse, and is related with Chaucer's usual elegance, simplicity, and pathos.] 6 LORD, oure Lord, thy name how merveylous For nought oonly thy laude precious 'The Prioresse begins her tale with the first verse of Psalm viii. Wherfore in laude, as I best can or may, Of bounte, next hir Sone, and soules boote. Thurgh thin humblesse, the gost that in the alight;" My connyng is so weyk, o blisful queene, 6 1 The burning bush in which the Angel of the Lord, supposed by St. Austin and all subsequent theologians to have been the second person of the ever-blessed Trinity, appeared to Moses, was believed to be a type of the blessed Virgin. 2 Luke i. 35. 3 The meaning is, By the power of Him who was placed in thy heart, the Wisdom of the Father was conceived.' 4 See ante, p. 8, note 3. 5 The Harl. MS. reads Endeth. 6 Asia, meaning probably Asia Minor, as in the Acts of the Apostles. 7 In medieval towns there was always a quarter assigned to the |