The Ellesmere ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.

[6-text p 547]

¶ The prologe / of the Chanons yemannes tale . [on leaf 196]

Whan toold was al the lyf /. of seinte Cecile Er we hadde riden / fully fyue Mile At Boghton vnder Blee / vs gan atake A man / that clothed was / in clothes blake Line 557 And vnder-nethe / he wered a surplys His hakeney / which þat was al pomely grys So swatte / that it wonder was to see It semed / as he had priked Miles three Line 561 The hakeney eek / þat his yeman rood vpon So swatte / that vnnethe myghte it gon . . . . . . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] Line 565 A Male tweyfoold / vp on his croper lay [folio 196b] It semed / that he caried lite array Al light for Somer / rood this worthy man And in myn herte / to wondren I bigan Line 569 What þat he was / til that I vnderstood How that his cloke / was sowed to his hood ffor which / whan I hadde longe auysed me I demed hym / som Chanon for to be Line 573 His hat heeng / at his bak / doun by a laas ffor he hadde riden / moore than trot or paas He hadde ay priked/ lik as he were wood A Clote leef / he hadde vnder his hood Line 577 ffor swoot and for to kepe his heed from heete But it was ioye / for to seen hym swete His forheed dropped / as a stillatorie Were ful of Plantayne / and of Paritorie Line 581

[6-text p 548] Line 581 And whan that he was come / he gan to crye Line 582 God saue quod he / this ioly compaignye ffaste haue I priked quod he / for youre sake By cause / that I wolde yow atake Line 585 To riden / in som myrie compaignye His yeman eek was ful of curteisye And seyde sires / now in the morwe tyde Out of youre hostelrie / I saugh you ryde Line 589 And warned heer / my lord and my souerayn Which / to ryden with yow / is ful fayn ffor his desport he loueth daliance ¶ ffreend / for thy warnyng god yeue thee chance Line 593 Thanne seyde oure hoost. for certein / it wolde seme Thy lord were wys / and so I may wel deme He is ful iocunde also / dar I leye Can he oght telle / a myrie tale or tweye Line 597 With which / he glade may this compaignye? ¶ Who sire / my lord? ye / ye with-outen lye He kan of murthe / and eek of Iolitee Nat but ynough / also sire trusteth me Line 601 And ye hym knewe / as wel as do I Ye wolde wondre / how wel and craftily He koude werke / and that in sondry wise He hath take on hym /. many a greet emprise Line 605 Which were ful hard / for any that is heere To brynge aboute / but they of hym it leere As hoomely / as he rit amonges yow If ye hym knewe / it wolde be for youre prow Line 609 Ye wolde nat forgoon his Aqueyntaunce ffor muchel good / I dar leye in balaunce Al that I haue / in my possessioun He is a man / of heigh discrecioun Line 613 I warne yow wel / he is a passyng man [folio 197a] ¶ Wel quod oure hoost. I pray thee tel me than Is he a clerk / or noon? telle what he is ¶ Nay / he is gretter than a clerk ywis Line 617

[6-text p 549] Line 617 Seyde this yeman / and in wordes fewe Line 618 Hoost of his craft som what I wol yow shewe ¶ I seye / my lord / kan swich subtilitee But al his craft /. ye may nat wite for me Line 621 And som what helpe I yet to his wirkyng That al this ground / on which we been ridyng Til that we come / to Caunterbury toun He koude al clene / turne it vp so doun Line 625 And paue it / al of siluer / and of gold ¶ And whan this yeman / hadde this tale ytold Vn-to oure hoost/ he seyde benedicitee This thyng is wonder merueillous to me Line 629 Syn that thy lord / is of so heigh prudence By cause of which / men sholde hym reuerence That of his worshipe / rekketh he so lite His ouerslope / nys nat worth a myte Line 633 As in effect to hym / so moot I go It is al baudy / and to-tore also Why is thy lord so sluttissh I the preye And is of power/ bettre clooth to beye Line 637 If that his dede / accorde with thy speche Telle me that . and that I thee biseche ¶ Why quod this yeman? wherto axe ye me? God help me so / for he shal neuere thee Line 641 But I wol nat auowe that I seye And therfore / keepe it secree I yow preye He is to wys / in feith / as I bileeue That that is ouerdoon / it wol nat preeue [¶ Omne quod est nimium &cetera] Aright?/ as clerkes seyn / it is a vice Wherfore in that I holde hym lewed and nyce ffor whan a man / hath ouer greet a wit fful oft hym happeth / to mysusen it Line 649 So dooth my lord / and that me greueth soore God it amende / I kan sey yow namoore ¶ Ther-of no fors / good yeman / quod oure hoost Syn of the konnyng of thy lord thow woost Line 653

[6-text p 550] Line 653 Telle how he dooth / I pray thee hertely Line 654 Syn that he is / so crafty and so sly Where dwelle ye / if it to telle be? ¶ In the suburbes / of a toun quod he Line 657 Lurkynge in hernes / and in lanes blynde Where as thise robbours / and thise theues by kynde Holden / hir pryuee fereful residence As they / that dar nat shewen hir presence Line 661 So faren we / if I shal seye the sothe [folio 197b] ¶ Now quod oure hoost /. lat me telle to the Why artow / so discoloured of thy face? ¶ Peter quod he / god yeue it harde grace Line 665 I am so vsed / in the fyr to blowe That it hath chaunged my colour I trowe I am nat wont/ in no Mirour to prie But swynke soore / and lerne multiplie Line 669 We blondren euere / and pouren in the fir And for al that / we faille of oure desir ffor euere we lakke / of oure conclusion To muchel folk / we doon illusion Line 673 And borwe gold / be it a pound or two Or ten / or twelue / or manye sommes mo And make hem / wenen at the leeste weye That of a pound / we koude make tweye Line 677 Yet is it fals / but ay we han good hope It for to doon / and after it we grope But that science / is so fer vs biforn We mowen nat al though we hadden sworn Line 681 It ouer-take / it slit awey so faste It wole / vs maken beggers atte laste ¶ Whil this yeman / was thus in his talkyng This Chanon drough hym neer / and herde al thyng Line 685 Which this yeman spak / for suspecion Of mennes speche / euere hadde this Chanon ffor Caton seith / that he that gilty is [¶ Cato.] Demeth alle thyng. be spoke of hym ywis Line 689

[6-text p 551] Line 689 That was the cause / he gan so ny/ hym drawe Line 690 To his yeman / to herknen al his sawe And thus he seyde / vn-to his yeman tho Hoold thou thy pees / and spek no wordes mo Line 693 ffor if thou do / /thou shalt it deere abye Thou sclaundrest me / heere in this compaignye And eek discouerest that thou sholdest hyde ¶ Ye quod our hoost / telle on what so bityde Line 697 Of al his thretyng rekke nat a myte ¶ In feith quod he / namoore I do but lyte ¶ And whan this Chanon / saugh it wolde nat be But his yeman / wolde telle his pryuetee Line 701 He fledde awey / for verray sorwe and shame ¶ A quod the yeman / heere shal arise game Al that I kan / anon now wol I telle Syn he is goon / the foule feend hym quelle Line 705 ffor neuere heer / wol I with hym meete ffor peny ne for pound / I yow biheete He that me broghte first vn-to that game Er that he dye / sorwe haue he and shame Line 709 ffor it is / ernest to me by my feith [folio 198a] That feele I wel / what that any man seith And yet for al my smert and al my grief ffor al my sorwe / labour / and meschief Line 713 I koude neuere leue it / in no wise Now wolde god / my wit myghte suffise To tellen / al that longeth / to that Art And naþelees / yow wol I tellen part Line 717 Syn that my lord is goon / I wol nat spare Swich thyng as that I knowe / I wol declare

¶ Heere endeþ þe prologe of the Chanons yemannes tale .