The Canterbury tales and Faerie queene &c., &c., &c., ed. for popular perusal with current illustrations and explanatory notes, by D. Laing Purves.

130 THE CANTERBURY TALES.
She thanked him upon her knees bare, And that she lever had lost that day her life;
And home unto her husband is she fare,' And that her troth she swore through innocence;
And told him all, as ye have hearde said; She ne'er erstl3 had heard speak of appar6nce; 14
And, truste me, he was so well apaid,2 That made me have of her so great pity,
That it were impossible me to write. And right as freely as he sent her to me,
Why should I longer of this case indite? As freely sent I her to him again:
Arviragus and Dorigen his wife This is all and some, there is no more to sayn.'
In sov'reign blisse leddi forth their life; The philos6pher answer'd; " LevB 1 brother,
Ne'er after was there anger them between; Evereach of you did gently to the other;
He cherish'd her as though she were a queen, Thou art a squier, and he is a knight,
And she was to him true for evermore; But God forbidd6, for his blissful might,
Of these two folk ye get of me no more. But if a clerk could do a gentle deed
Aurelius, that his cost had all forlorn,3 As well as any of you, it is no drede.16
Cursed the time that ever he was born. Sir, I release thee thy thousand pound,
"Alas! " quoth he, " alas that I behight 4 As thou right now were crept out of the ground,
Of pured 5 gold a thousand pound of weight Nor ever ere now haddest knowen me.
To this philosopher! how shall I do? For, Sir, I will not take a penny of thee
I see no more, but that I am folrdo.6 For all my craft, nor naught for my travail; 17
Mine heritage must I needes sell, Thou hast y-payed well for my vitaille;
And be a beggar; here I will not dwell, It is enough; and farewell, have good day."
And shamen all my kindred in this place, And took his horse, and forth he went his way.
But 7 I of him may gettd better grace. Lordings, this question would I aske now,
But natheless I will of him assay Which was the moste free,'8 as thinketh you?
At certain dayes year by year to pay, Now telle me, ere that ye farther wend.
And thank him of his greate courtesy. I can 19 no more, my tale is at an end.
My trothi will I keep, I will not lie."
With hearte sore he went unto his coffer,
And broughte gold unto this philos6pher,
The value of five hundred pound, I guess,
And him beseeched, of his gentleness, THE DOCTOR'S TALE.~
To grant him dayes of 8 the remenant;
And said; " Master, I dare well make avaunt, THE PROLOGUE.
I failed never of my truth as yet.
For sickerly my debte shall be quit [ YEA, let that passe," quoth our gost, "as
Towardes you, how so that e'er I fare now.
Tq go a-begging in my kirtle bare: Sir Doctor of Physik, I prayi you,
But would ye vouchisafe, upon surety, Tell us a tale of some honest matt6re."
Two year, or three, for to respite me, L" It shall be done, if that ye will it hear,"
Two year, or three, for to respite me, S thi D a^ i tl g a
Then were I well, for elles must I sell Said this Doctr; and his tale gan anon.
Mine heritage; there is no more to tell." Now, good men," quoth he, " hearken every
This philosopher soberly9 answer'd, ne."J
And saide thus, when he these wordes heard;
" Have I not holden covenant to thee?" THE ALE.
" Yes, certes, well and truely," quoth he.
" Hast thou not had thy lady as thee liked'? There was, as telleth Titus Livius,2
"No, no," quoth he, and sorrowfully siked.l0 A knight, that called was Virginius,
"What was the cause? tell me if thou can." Full filled of honoir and worthiness,
Aurelius his tale anon began, And strong of friendes, and of great rich6ss.
And told him all as ye have heard before, This knight one daughter hadde by his wife;
It needeth not to you rehearse it more. No children had he more in all his life.
He said, " Arviragus of gentleness Fair was this maid in excellent beauty
Had lever 1 die in sorrow and distress, Aboven ev'ry twight that man may see:
Than that his wife were of her trothe false." For nature had w{ih sov'reign diligence
The sorrow of Dorigen he told him als', Y-formed her in so great excellence,
How loth her was to be a wicked wife, As though she woulde say, " Lo, I, Nature,
1 Gone. 2 Satisfied. 3 Utterly lost. which it was the fashion to propose for debate in the
4 Promised. 5 Purified, refined. mediaeval "courts of love." 19 Know, can tell.
6 Ruined, undone. 7 Unless. 20 The authenticity of the prologue is questionable.
8 Time to pay up. 9 Gravely. 10 Sighed. It is found in one manuscript only; other manuscripts
11 Rather. 12 Also. 13 Before. give other prologues, more plainly not Chaucer's than
14 Such an ocular deception, or apparition-more pro- this; and some manuscripts have merely a colophon to
perly, disappearance-as the removal of the rocks. the effect that " Here endeth the Franklin's Tale and
15 Dear. 16 Doubt. beginneth the Physician's Tale without a prologue."
17 Labour, pains. The Tale itself is the well-known story of Virginia, with
18 Generous, liberal; the same question is stated at several departures from the text of Livy. Chaucer
the end of Boccaccio's version of the story in the probably followed the "Romance of the Rose" and
" Philocopo," where the queen determines in favour Gower's "Confessio Amantis," in both of which the
of Arviragus. The question is evidently one of those story is found. 21 Livy, Book iii. cap. 44, et seqq.