That al was fals that sayde his adversarie,
This cursed juge wold no lenger tarye,
Ne heere a word more of Virginius,
But gaf his jugement, and saide thus;

2

'I deme anoon this clerk his servaunt have.
Thou schalt no lengur in thin hous hir save.'
Go bringe hir forth, and put hir in oure warde.
This clerk schal have his thral; thus I awarde.'
And whan this worthy knight Virginius,
Thurgh thassent of this juge Apius,
Moste by force his deere doughter given
Unto the juge, in lecchery to lyven,

He goth him hom, and sette him in his halle,
And leet anoon his deere doughter calle;
And with a face deed as aisshen colde,
Upon hir humble face he gan byholde,
With fadres pite stiking thorugh his herte,
Al wolde he from his purpos not converte.
'Doughter,' quod he, Virginia by name,
Ther ben tuo weyes, eyther deth or schame,
That thou most suffre, allas that I was bore!
For never thou deservedest wherfore

To deyen with a swerd or with a knyf.

O deere doughter, ender of my lyf,

Which I have fostred up with such plesaunce,
That thou nere never oute of my remembraunce;
O doughter, which that art my
laste wo,
And in this lif my laste joye also,
O gemme of chastite, in pacience

Tak thou thy deth, for this is my sentence;
For love and not for hate thou must be deed,
My pitous hond mot smyten of thin heed.
Allas that ever Apius the say!
Thus hath he falsly jugged the to day.'
And told hir al the caas, as ye bifore
Han herd, it needeth nought to telle it more.

1 The Harl. MS. reads have. Save is from the Lansd. MS.

'Mercy, deere fader,' quod this mayde.
And with that word sche bothe hir armes layde
Aboute his nekke, as sche was want to doo,
(The teeres brast out of hir eyghen tuo),
And sayde: Goode fader, schal I dye?
Is ther no grace? is ther no remedye?'
'No, certeyn, deere doughter myn,' quod he.
" Than geve me leve, fader myn,' quod sche,
'My deth for to compleyne a litel space;
For pardy Jepte1 gaf his doughter grace
For to compleyne, er he hir slough, allas!
And God it woot, no thing was hir trespas,
But that sche ran hir fader first to se,
To welcome him with gret solempnite.'
And with that word aswoun sche fel anoon,
And after, whan hir swownyng was agoon,
Sche riseth up, and to hir fader sayde;
'Blessed be God, that I schal deye a mayde.
Geve me my deth, er that I have a schame.
Do with your child your wille, a goddes name!'
And with that word sche prayed him ful ofte,
That with his swerd he schulde smyte hir softe
And with that word on swoune doun sche fel.
Hir fader, with ful sorwful hert and fel,
Hir heed of smoot, and by the top it hente,
And to the juge bigan it to presente,
As he sat in his doom in consistory.
And whan the juge it say, as saith the story,
He bad to take him, and honge him faste.
But right anoon alle the poeple' in thraste
To save the knight, for routhe and for pite,
For knowen was the fals iniquite.

1 Judges xi. 38. An allusion to the Bible in the mouth of Virginia is of course an anachronism.

2 [The correct reading is al the people, not alle (plural). But the Ellesmere MS. has a much smoother line:

'But right anoon a thousand people in thraste.-W. W. S.] VOL. II.

F

The poeple anoon had suspect in this thing,
By maner of this clerkes chalengyng,
That it was by thassent of Apius;

They1 wiste wel that he was leccherous.
For which unto this Apius thay goon,
And casten him in prisoun right anoon,
Wher as he slough him self; and Claudius,
That servaunt was unto this Apius,
Was demed for to honge upon a tree;
But Virginius of his gret pite

Prayde for him, that he was exiled,
And elles certes he had ben bigiled.

The remenaunt were anhanged, more and lesse,
That were consented to this cursednesse.

Her may men se how synne hath his merite;
Be war, for no man woot how God wol smyte
In no degre, ne in which maner wise
The worm of conscience wol agrise
Of wicked lyf, though it so pryve be,
That no man woot of it but God and he;
Whether that he be lewed man or lered,
He not how soone that he may be afered.
Therfore I rede yow this counseil take,
Forsakith synne, er synne yow forsake.

THE PROLOGE OF THE PARDONER.
WRE Ost gan swere as he were wood;

This was a cursed thef, a fals justice.
As schendful deth as herte can devise

by blood!

1 The reading of the Harl. MS., that, which is destitute of meaning, has been corrected from Tyrwhitt.

2 The nails with which our Lord was fastened to the cross were among what were called 'the instruments of the passion,' and were supposed to have been preserved as relics, like the true cross. They were objects of devotion, and subjects of oaths.

So falle upon his body and his boones!
The devel I bykenne him al at oones!
Allas! to deere boughte sche hir beaute.
Wherfore I say, that alle men may se,
That giftes of fortune or of nature
Ben cause of deth of many a creature.
Hir beaute was hir deth, I dar wel sayn;
Allas! so pitously as sche was slayn?
Of bothe giftes, that I speke of now,"
Men han ful often more for harm than prow.
'But trewely, myn owne maister deere,
This was a pitous tale for to heere;
But natheles, pas over, this is no fors.

I

pray to God to save thi gentil corps,

And eek thyn urinals, and thy jordanes,
Thyn Ypocras, and eek thy Galianes,*
And every boist ful of thi letuarie,
God blesse hem and oure lady seinte Marie!
So mot I then, thou art a propre man,
And y-lik a prelat, by seint Runyan.
Sayde I not wel?* can I not speke in terme?
But wel I woot, thou dost myn herte erme,
I have almost y-caught a cardiacle;
By corpus boones, but I have triacle,

Other elles a draught of moyst and corny ale,
Other but I hiere anoon a mery tale,

1 This and the succeeding line are not found in the Harl. MS., and are given from Tyrwhitt. The argument is that of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal.

2 The Harl. MS. omits this characteristic couplet. The reader will recollect an example of the use of these vessels in the medical diagnosis of the middle ages in Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV., sc. 2. the names see vol. i. p. 95, note 3.

For

3 The Doctour of Phisik, like most members of the learned professions in the middle ages, was probably in orders, otherwise the poet's declaration of his fitness to be a prelate would have no application. This brings out the point of the sarcasm in the general prologue

'His reading was ful litel on the bible.'

+ Tyrwhitt observes, that Shakespeare appears to have had the Host of the Tabard in his eye, when he depicted him of the Garter,' in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Myn hert is brost for pite of that mayde.
Thow, pardoner, thou, belamy,' he sayde,
'Tel us a tale, for thou canst many oon.'

'It schal be doon,' quod he, and that anoon.
But first,' quod he, 'her at this ale-stake1
I wil both drynke and byten on a cake.'
But right anoon the gentils gan to crie,

6

Nay, let him tellen us no ribaudye."

Tel us som moral thing, that we may leere.'

Gladly,' quod he, and sayde as ye schal heere. 'But in the cuppe wil I me bethinke

Upon some honest tale, whil I drinke.'

Lordyngs,' quod he, 'in chirche whan I preche,

I peyne me to have an hauteyn speche,
And ryng it out, as lowd as doth a belle,
For I can al by rote that I telle.

My teeme is alway oon, and ever was;
Radix omnium malorum est cupiditas.

'First I pronounce whennes that I come,
And thanne my bulles* schewe I alle and some;
Oure liege lordes seal upon my patent,

5

That schewe I first my body to warent,

1 Speght interprets ale-stake, a maypole; Tyrwhitt, a stake set up before an ale-house for a sign, which seems to be the sense in this place. The stake was probably surmounted by a 'bush.' [An ale-stake was not a maypole, but a pole projecting horizontally from the ale-house, and the 'bush' was suspended from it.-W. W. S.]

2 This gives a frightful idea of the corruption to which the sale of indulgences was conducive; the company are actually afraid that the Pardoner, an ecclesiastic who was permitted to preach in the church, will offend their ears with some ribald tale. 3 1 Tim. vi. IO.

4 The Pope's bull, by which an indulgence, or exemption from the temporal punishment of offences against the canons, was granted to those who should perform an act of faith or devotion, by kissing the relics, and contributing money to some pious work. The theory of pardons or indulgences was that no one could obtain or profit by them who was not in a state of grace, that is, unless he had faith and sincerely repented of his sins; but, it is scarcely necessary to add, that this theory was not very strictly observed in practice.

5 Scil., the Pope's. The system pursued in issuing these indulgences was this:-The court of Rome granted the privilege of distributing them to some religious order, for which that order paid a certain sum, and then made the most of their bargain.