A trewè swinker, and a good was he,
Living in pees, and parfite charitee.
God loved he bestè with alle his herte
At alle timès, were it gain as smerte,
And than his neighèbour right as himselve.
He wolde thresh, and therto dike, and delve,
For Cristès sake, for every pourè wight,
Withouten hire, if it lay in his might.

His tithès paied he ful fayre and wel
Bothe of his propre swinke, and his catel.
In a tabard he rode upon a mere.

There was also a reve, and a millere,
A sompnour", and a pardonere also,
A manciples, and myself, ther ne'ere no mo.

The Miller was a stout carl for the nones,
Ful bigge he was of braun, and eke of bones;
That proved wel, for over all ther he came,
At wrastling he wold bere away the rams.
He was short shuldered brode, a thikke gnarre,h
Ther n'as no dore, that he n'olde heve of barre,
Or breke it at a renning with his hede.
His berd as any sowe or fox was rede,
And therto brode, as though it were a spade.
Upon the cop right of his nose he hade
A wert, and theron stode a tufte of heres,
Rede as the bristles of a sowès eres.
His nose-thirlèsk blacke were and wide.
A swerd and bokeler bare he by his side.
His mouth as widè was as a forneis.
He was a jangler', and a goliardeism,
And that was most of sinne, and harlotries.
Wel coude he stelen corne, and tollen thries.
And yet he had a thomb" of gold pardeo,
A white cote and a blew hode wered he.
A baggépipe wel coude he blowe and soune,
And therwithall he brought us out of toune.

A gentil Mancipler was ther of a temple,
Of which achatours mighten take ensemple
For to ben wise in bying of vitaille.
For whether that he paide, or toke by taille,
Algate he waited so in his achater,
That he was ay before in good estate.
Now is not that of God a ful fayre grace,
That swiche a lewèd mannès wit shal pace
The wisdom of an hepe of lered men?

Of maisters had he mo than thriès ten,
That were of lawe expert and curious:
Of which ther was a dosein in that hous,
Worthy to ben stewardes of rent and lond
Of any lord that is in Englelond,

c Pain.

b Peace. d A sompnour, an officer employed to summon delinquents in ecclesiastical courts, now called an apparitor. -Tyrwhitt.

e A pardoner, a seller of pardons or indulgences. f A manciple, an officer who has the care of furnishing victuals for an inn of court.

The prize. h A hard knot in a tree. i A running. i Top. k Nostrils. 1 Prater m Buffoon. no He was as honest as other millers, though he had, according to the proverb, like every miller, a thumb of gold. P Vide note f above.

q Purchasers.

• Purchase.

To makn him live by his propre good,
In honour detteless, but if he were wo
Or live as scarsly, as him list desire;
And able for to helpen all a shire
In any cas that mighte fallen or happ
And yet this manciple sette hir aller c

The Revè was a slendre colerike ma
His berd was shave as neighe as ever!
His here was by his erès round yshorr
His top was docked like a preest befor
Ful longè were his legges, and ful lene
Ylike a staff, ther was no calf ysene.
Wel coude he kepe a garner and a bin
Ther was non auditour coude on him v
Wel wiste he by the drought, and by t
The yelding" of his seed, and of his gra
His lordès shepe, his nete", and his dei:
His swine, his hors, his store, and his Į
Were holly in his reves governing,
And by his covenant yave he rekening,
Sin that his lord was twenty yere of ag
Ther coude no man bring him in arera
Ther n'as baillif, ne herde, ne other hi
That he ne knew his sleight and his co
They were adradde of him, as of the de
His wonning was ful fayre upon an het
With grene trees yshadewed was his pl:
He coude better than his lord pourchac
Ful ryche he was ystored privily.
His lord wel coude he plesen subtilly,
To yeve and lene him of his owen good,
And have a thank, and yet a cote and h
In youthe he lerned hadde a good miste
He was a wel good wright, a carpentere
This reve sat upon a right good stot",
That was all pomelee grey, and highte

long surcote of perse upon he hade, And by his side he bare a rusty blade. Of Norfolk was this reve, of which I tel Beside a toun, men clepen Baldeswell. Tucked he was, as is a frere, aboute, And ever he rode the hindrest of the ro

A Sompnour was ther with us in that That had a fire-red cherubinnes face, For sauseflemes he was, with eyen nar As hote he was, and likerous as a sparv With scalled browes blake, and pilled b Of his visage children were sore aferd. Ther n'as quicksilver, litarge, ne brims Boras, ceruse, ne oile of tartre non, Ne oinément that wolde clense or bite, That him might helpen of his whelkese Ne of the knobbes sitting on his chekes Wel loved he garlike, onions, and lekes And for to drinke strong win as rede as Than wolde he speke, and crie as he w s Free from debt.

12

And whan that he wel dronken had the win,
Than wold he speken no word but Latin.
A fewè termès coude he, two or three,
That he had lerned out of som decree;
No wonder is, he herd it all the day.
And eke ye knowen wel, how that a jay
Can clepen watte, as wel as can the pope.
But who so wolde in other thing him grope,
Than hadde he spent all his philosophie,
Ay, Questio quid juris, wolde he crie.

He was a gentil harlot and a kind;
A better felaw shulde a man not find.
He wolde suffre for a quart of wine,
A good felàw to have his concubine
A twelve month, and excuse him at the full.
Ful prively a finch eke coude he pull.
And if he found owhere a good felàwe,
He wolde techen him to have non awe
In swiche a cas of the archedekenes curse;
But if a mannès soule were in his purse;
For in his purse he shulde ypunished be.
Purse is the archedekens helle, said he.
But wel I wote, he lied right in dede :
Of cursing ought eche gilty man him drede.
For curse wol sle right as assoiling saveth,
And also ware him of a significavit.

In danger hadde he at his owen gise
The yonge girles of the diocise,
And knew hir conseil, and was of hir redes.
A gerlond hadde he sette upon his hede,
As gret as it were for an alestakeh :

A bokeler hadde he made him of a cake.
With him ther rode a gentil Pardonerei
Of Rouncevall, his frend and his compere,

That streit was comen from the court of Rome.
Ful loude he sang, Come hither, love, to me.
This sompnour bare to him a stiff burdounk,
Was never trompe of half so gret a soun.
This pardoner had here as yelwel as wax,
But smoth it heng, as doth a strike of flax :
By unces heng his lokkes that he hadde,
And therwith he his shulders overspradde.
Ful thinne it lay, by culpons" on and on,
But hode, for jolite, ne wered he non,
For it was trussed up in his wallet.
Him thought he rode al of the newè get,
Dishevele, sauf his cappe, he rode all bare.
Swiche glaring eyen hadde he, as an hare.
A vernicle hadde he sewed upon his cappe.
His wallet lay beforne him in his lappe,
Bret-ful of pardon come from Rome al hote.
A vois he hadde, as smale as hath a gote.
No berd hadde he, ne never non shulde have,
As smothe it was as it were newe shave;
I trowe he were a gelding or a mare.

But of his craft, fro Berwike unto Ware,
Ne was ther swiche an other pardonere.
For in his maler he hadde a pilwebere,
Which, as he saide, was Our Ladies veil :
He saide, he hadde a gobbet of the seyls
Thatte seint Peter had, whan that he went
Upon the see, till Jesu Crist him hent'.
He had a crois of laton" ful of stones,
And in a glas he hadde pigges bones.
But with these relikes, whanne that he fond
A poure persone dwelling up on lond,
Upon a day he gat him more moneie

Than that the persone gat in monethes tweie.
And thus with fained flattering and japes",
He made the persone, and the peple, his apes".

But trewely to tellen atte last,
He was in chirche a noble ecclesiast.
Wel coude he rede a lesson or a storie,
But alderbest he sang an offertorie" :
For wel he wiste, whan that song was songe,
He muste preche, and wel afile2 his tonge,
To winne silver, as he right wel coude :
Therefore he sang the merrier and loude.

His effigies in the church of St. Mary Overies is often inaccurately described as having a garland of ivy and roses on the head. It is, in fact, a chaplet of roses, such as, Thynne says, was anciently worn by knights; a circumstance which is favourable to the suspicion, that has been suggested, of his having been of the rank of knighthood. If Thynne's assertion, respecting the time of the lawyers first entering the Temple, be correct, it will be difficult to reconcile it with the tradition of Gower's having been a student there in his youth.

By Chaucer's manner of addressing Gower, the latter appears to have been the elder. He was attached to Thomas of Woodstock, as Chaucer was to John of Gaunt. The two poets appear to have been at one time cordial friends, but ultimately to have quarrelled. Gower tells us himself that he was blind in his old age.

From his will it appears that he wa 1408. His bequests to several ch hospitals, and his legacy to his wife all his valuable goods, and of the r from his manors of Southwell in the Nottingham, and of Multon in the Suffolk, undeniably prove that he was

One of his three great works, the Meditantis, a poem in French, is described by Mr. Godwin and others of conjugal fidelity. In an account of in a MS. in Trinity College, Cambrid told that its principal subject is the of a sinner. The Vox Clamantis, in La to the insurrection of the commons, in of Richard II. The. Confessio A English, is a dialogue between a love confessor, who is a priest of Venus. explains, by apposite stories, and ph illustrations all the evil affections of which impede, or counteract the pro success of the tender passion.

His writings exhibit all the crude and science of his age; a knowledge su have been the fuel of genius, if Gowe sessed its fire.

In a cronique thus I rede :
Aboute a king, as must nede,
Ther was of knyghtès and squiers
Gret route, and eke of officers:
Some of long time him hadden served,
And thoughten that they haue deserved,
Avancement, and gon withoute :
And some also ben of the route,
That comen but a while agon,
And they avanced were anon.

These oldè men upon this thing,
So as they durst, ageyne the king
Among hemself compleignen ofte :
But there is nothing said so softe,
That it ne comith out at laste:
The king it wiste, and als so faste,
As he which was of high prudènce :
He shope therefore an evidence
Of hem that pleignen in the cas
To knowe in whose defalte it was:

a In Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer by the Rev. J. H. Todd.

Themselves.

e Them.

And all within his owne entent, That non ma wistè what it ment. Anon he let two cofres make, Of one semblance, and of one make, So lich, that no lif thilke throwe, That one may fro that other knowe : They were into his chamber brought. But no man wot why they be wrough And natheles the king hath bede That they be set in privy stede, As he that was of wisdom slih ; Whan he therto his time sih, All privěly that none it wiste, His ownè hondes that one chiste Of fin gold, and of fin perie', The which out of his tresorie Was take, anon he fild full; That other cofre of straw and mulls With stones meynd he fild also: Thus be they full bothè two.

d Like.

e Saw. g Rubbish.

f Jewels, or precio h Mingled.

So that erliche upon a day
He had within, where he lay,
Ther should be tofore his bed
A bord up set and fairè spred :
And than he let the cofres fettej
Upon the bord, and did hem sette.
He knewe the names well of tho,
The whiche agein him grutched so,
Both of his chambre, and of his halle,
Anon and sent for hem alle;
And seide to hem in this wise.

There shall no man his hap despise :
I wot well ye have longe served,
And god wot what ye have deserved;
But if it is along on me

Of that ye unavanced be,

Or elles if it belong on yow,

The sothè shall be proved now:

To stoppè with your evil word,
Lo! here two cofres on the bord;
Chese which you list of bothè two;
And witeth well that one of tho
Is with tresor so full begon,
That if he happè therupon

Ye shall be richè men for ever:
Now chese1 and take which you is lever,
But be well ware ere that ye take,
For of that one I undertake
Ther is no maner good therein,
Wherof ye mighten profit winne.
Now goth together of one assent,
And taketh your avisement;
For but I you this day avance,
It stant upon your ownè chance,
Al only in defalte of grace;
So shall be shewed in this place
Upon you all well afyn",

That no defaltè shal be myn.

•

They knelen all, and with one vois The king they thonken of this chois: And after that they up arise, And gon aside and hem avise, And at laste they accorde (Wherof her tale to recorde To what issue they be falle) A knyght shall spekè for hem alle : He kneleth doun unto the king, And seith that they upon this thing, Or for to winne, or for to lese P, Ben all avised for to chese.

Tho toke this knyght a yerd' on honde,

And goth there as the cofres stonde,
And with assent of everychone
He leith his yerde upon one,
And seith the king how thilke same
They chese in reguerdon" by name,
And preith him that they might it have.
The king, which wolde his honor save,

RIGHT as mine eye with his loke
Is to myn herte a lusty cooke
Of loves foodè delicate;
Right so myn eare in his estate,
Wher as myn èyè may nought serve,
Can wel myn hertès thonk deserve;
And feden him, fro day to day,
With such deynties as he may.

For thus it is that, over all
Wher as I come in speciall,
I may heare of my lady price:
I heare one say that she is wise;
Another saith that she is good;
And, some men sain, of worthy blood
That she is come; and is also
So fair that no wher is none so:

And some men praise hir goodly chere.
Thus every thing that I may heare,
Which souneth to my lady goode,
Is to myn eare a lusty foode.
And eke myn eare hath, over this,
A deyntie feste whan so is
That I may heare hirselvè speke;
For than anon my fast I breke
On suchè wordes as she saith,
That ful of trouth and ful of faith
They ben, and of so good disport,
That to myn earè great comfort
They don, as they that ben delices
For all the meates, and all the spices,
That any Lombard couthè make,
Ne be so lusty for to take,

▾ Seen. w Therefore. y i. e. that which. z Thank.

x Blame.

a Praise.