That may assoyle you bothe more and lasse,
Whan that the soule schal fro the body passe
I rede that oure hoste schal bygynne,
For he is most envoliped in synne.
Com forth, sire ost, and offer first anoon,
And thou schalt kisse the reliquis everichoon,
Ye, for a grote; unbocle anon thi purs.'

'Nay, nay,' quod he,' than have I Cristes curs!
Let be,' quod he, 'it schal not be, so theech.
Thou woldest make me kisse thin olde breech,
And swere it were a relik of a seynt,

Though it were with thy foundement depeynt.
But by the cros, which that seynt Heleyn1 fond,
I wold I had thy coylons in myn hond,

In stede of reliks, or of seintuary.

Let cut hem of, I wol help hem to cary;
Thay schul be schryned in an hogges tord.'
This Pardoner answerde nat o word;

So wroth he was, he wolde no word say.

'Now,' quod oure Host, I wol no lenger play

1 Saint Helen, the mother of Constantine, took a great interest in verifying the situations of the various places in Palestine, which are mentioned in Scripture as the scenes of our Lord's life and passion. In this very natural and laudable pursuit she appears to have been the dupe of gross impositions, of which the incident here alluded to is an example. The Emperor Adrian, as is well known, endeavoured to rebuild Jerusalem, in order to show the falsehood of the prophecies regarding its utter desolation; and erected temples and altars to the idols of Rome on its site, that it might be an abomination to the Jews. On Golgotha, it is said, he erected a temple to Venus, which Helen destroyed; and three crosses having been discovered under the foundations, she at once concluded that they were those upon which our Lord and the two thieves had suffered. In order to discover which was that of our Lord, the dead body of a youth, which happened to be passing on its way to the grave, was applied first to one, but without effect; then to another, with the same result; but when it touched the third, the young man was restored to life; and the cross, by means of which the miracle had been performed, was venerated as the true cross,' and fragments were scattered all over Europe, and valued as precious memorials of the atonement. See the Legende Dorée De Invention Saincte Croix. This incident is commemorated in the calendar prefixed to the Book of Common Prayer on the 3rd of May, under the name of the 'Invention,' i. e., finding, ' of the Cross.'

With the, ne with noon other angry man.'
But right anoon the worthy Knight bygan,
(Whan that he saugh that al the peple lough)
No more of this, for it is right y-nough.
Sir pardoner, be glad and mery of cheere;
And ye, sir host, that ben to me so deere,
I pray yow that ye
kisse' the pardoner;
And pardoner, I pray yow draweth yow ner,
And as we dede, let us laugh and play.'
Anon thay kisse, and riden forth her way.

THE SCHIPMANNES PROLOGE.*

OUR Hoste upon his stirrops stode anon,

6

And saide, Good men, herkeneth everichon, This was a thrifty tale for the nones.

Sire parish preest,' quod he, 'for Goddes bones,
Tell us a tale, as was thy forward yore;

I see wel that ye lerned men in lore
Can mochel good, by Goddes dignitee.'

The Person him answerd: 'Benedicite!

What eileth the man, so sinfully to swere?'

Our Hoste answerd: 'O Jankin, be ye there? Now, good men,' quod our Hoste, 'herkneth to me. I smell a loller3 in the wind,' quod he,

'Abideth for Goddes digne passion,

For we schul han a predication;

This loller here wol prechen us somwhat.'

'Nay by my fathers soule! that schal he nat,'

In the early and middle ages kissing was the common form of salutation, and the osculum pacis was a sign of reconciliation and charity. Examples will occur to every reader of Scripture and the classics.

2 In all editions previous to Tyrwhitt this prologue was prefixed to The Squyeres Tale; but Tyrwhitt, perceiving the impropriety of assigning the expressions occurring in it to the courteys squyer,' adopted the arrangement which has been here followed on the authority of the Harl. MS.

3 See note 1, following page.

Sayde the Schipman; 'here schal he nat preche,
He schal no gospel glosen here ne teche.
We leven al in the gret God,' quod he.
'He wolden sowen som difficultee,
Or springen cockle1 in our clene corne.
And therfore, hoste, I warne thee beforne,
My joly body schal a tale telle,

And I schal clinken you so mery a belle,
That I schal waken al this compagnie;
But it schal not ben of philosophie,
Ne of physike, ne termes queinte of lawe;
Ther is but litel Latin in my mawe.'

THE SCHIPMANNES TALE.

[SPEGHT supposes that the original of this tale is the first of the eighth day of the Decameron; but it is much more probable, as Tyrwhitt suggests, that both Chaucer and Boccaccio derived the outline of their versions from some early fabliau. Its grossness is much to be regretted, for it is in Chaucer's best comic style, displaying all his powers of humour and picturesque description, and supplying invaluable illustrations of the domestic manners and ecclesiastical customs of the middle ages.]

A

MARCHAUNT whilom dwelled at Seint Denys,'
That riche was, for which men hild him wys.

1 In allusion to the derivation of the word lollard from lolium, (German lolch,) the word by which the original SiŠávia, Matt. xiii. 25, is rendered in the Vulgate. The early English versions translate it cockle, and the parable was understood from the earliest times to refer to heresies.-Euseb. Eccles. Hist., iv. 24. Du Cange, in v. Lollardus, supposes it to be a word of German original, signifying mussitator, a mumbler of prayers. The modern German word, however, is lallen, and means to stammer.-See also Kilian in v. Others think that the name was given to this sect by Walter Lolhard, who was put to death at Cologne in 1315, and whose dogmas were said to resemble those of Wickliffe. They spread so rapidly in England, that Knighton, a contemporary, declares, You could not meet two people in the way but one of them was a lollard.'

2 A suburb of l'aris where was situated the celebrated abbey of that

name.

A wyf he had of excellent beaute,

And companable, and reverent was sche;
Which is a thing that causeth more despence,
Than worth is al the cher and reverence

That men doon hem at festes or at daunces.
Such salutaciouns and continaunces

1

Passeth, as doth the schadow on a wal;
But wo is him that paye moot for al.
The sely housbond algat moste pay,
He most us2 clothe in ful good array
Al for his oughne worschip richely;
In which array we daunce jolily.
And if that he may not, paraventure,
Or elles wil not such dispens endure,
But thynketh it is wasted and i-lost,
Than moot another paye for oure cost,
Or lene us gold, that is perilous.

This worthy marchaunt huld a noble hous,
For which he hadde alday gret repair
For his largesce, and for his wyf was fair.
What wonder is? but herkneth to my tale.
Amonges al these gestes gret and smale,
Ther was a monk, a fair man and a bold,
I trowe, thritty wynter he was old,
That ever in oon was drawyng to that place.
This yonge monk, that was so fair of face,
Aqueynted was so with the goode man,
Sith that her firste knowleche bygan,
That in his hous as familier was he
As it possibil is a frend to be.

And for as mochil as this goode man

And eek this monk, of which that I bygan,

Were bothe tuo i-born in oon village,
The monk him claymeth, as for cosynage;

Passeth is the old Saxon plural form of the present tense.

2 Tyrwhitt supposes from this expression that the tale was originally intended to be recited by a woman; but this, from internal evidence, is scarcely credible, and it is quite in the style of Chaucer's playful humour to make the Schipman assume, for the nonce, the character of a gay wife.

And he agein him saith nat oones nay,
But was as glad therof, as foul of day,'
For to his hert it was a gret plesaunce.
Thus ben thay knyt with eterne alliaunce,
And ilk of hem gan other to assure
Of brotherhed, whil that her lif may dure.
Fre was daun Johan,' and manly of despence
As in that hous, and ful of diligence
To do plesaunce, and also gret costage;
He nought forgat to geve the leste page.
In al that hous; but, after her degre,
He gaf the lord, and siththen his meyne,
Whan that he com, som maner honest thing;
For which thay were as glad of his comyng
As foul is fayn, whan that the sonne upriseth.
No mor of this as now, for it suffiseth.

3

But so bifel, this marchaunt on a day
Schop him to make redy his array
Toward the toun of Bruges for to fare,
To byen ther a porcioun of ware;
For which he hath to Paris sent anoon
A messenger, and prayed hath dan Johan

1 As a bird is of the dawning of day.

2 Johan is throughout pronounced John.

3 Bruges, as Mr. Wright observes, was, in its palmy days, the centre of commerce in Western Europe. Its noble Hôtel de Ville, and lofty mansions, with their spacious greniers in the roof, answering the double purpose of the entrepot and the counting-house, as indicated in this tale, and their lower stories, the residence of the merchant and his family, still remain as memorials of its former greatness. Our modern manufacturing towns present a striking contrast to the beauty and splendour of the old. Steam power has supplanted hands and looms; the tall chimney and the unsightly factory have displaced the picturesque buildings which in former times housed both workers and employers; and the seats of industry have become exclusively the workshops of the operatives, while the opulent masters, glad to escape from the din and smoke, establish themselves in the healthier air of the suburbs. The change is, no doubt, one of the inevitable conditions of progress, and is productive of important material advantages; but it is not unattended by some drawbacks, of which the more marked separation of classes is, perhaps, the most to be regretted.