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

144 THE CANTERBURY TALES.
Keep better my good, this give I thef in charge." Through thy humbless, the ghost that in thee
Thus endeth now my tale; and God us send light; 13
Taling enough, unto our lives'-end! Of whose virtfe, when he thine hearte light,14
Conceived was the Father's sapience_
Help me to tell it to thy reverence.
Lady! thy bounty, thy magnificence,
Thy virtue, and thy great humility,
There may no tongue express in no science:
THE PRIORESS'S TALE. For sometimes, Lady! ere men pray to thee,
Thou go'st before, of thy benignity,
THE PROLOGUE. And gettest us the light, through thy praylre,
"WELL said, by corpus Donini," quoth our To guiden us unto thy son so dear.
Host; My conningl5 is so weak, O blissful queen,
" Now longi may'st thou saile by the coast, For to declare thy great worthiness,
Thou gentle Master, gentle Marinere. That I not may the weight of it sustene;
God give the monk a thousand last quad year I! But as a child of twelvemonth old, or less,
Aha! fellows, beware of such a jape.2 That can unnethes 16 any word express,
The monk put in the manne's hood an ape,3 Right so fare I; and therefore, I you pray,
And in his wife's eke, by Saint Austin. Guide my song that I shall 9f you say.
Drawe no monkes more into your inn. There was in Asia, in a great city
But now pass over, and let us seek about, Amonges Christian folk, a Jewery,17
Who shall now telle first of all this rout Sustained by a lord of that countr,
Another tale;" and with that word he said, For foul usure, and lucre of villainy,
As courteously as it had been a maid; Hateful to Christ, and to his company;'"My Lady Prioress6, by your leave, And through the street men mighte ride and
So that I wist I shoulde you not grieve,4 wend
I would5 deemS 5 that ye tellS should
A ta next,, if so were5 that ye whould. For it was free, and open at each end.
A tale next, if so were that ye would..
Now will ye voucsafe, my lady dear? A little school of Christian folk there stood
Now will ye vouchesafe, my lady dear?"
Down at the farther end, in which there were
"Gladly," quoth she; and said as ye shall hear. Down at the farther end, in which there were
Children an heap y-come of Christian blood,
That learned in that schoolS year by year
THE TALE.6 Such manner doctrine as men used there;
This is to say, to singen and to read,
O Lord our Lord! thy name how marvellous As smalls children do in their childhead.
Is in this large world y-spread! (quoth she) Among these children was a widow's son,
For not only thy lauds 8 precious A little clergion,l9 seven year of age,
Performed is by men of high degree, That day by day to scholay was his won20
But by the mouth of children thy bounte And eke also, whereso he saw th' image
Performed is, for on the breast sucking Of Christe's mother, had he in us6ae,
Sometimes showe they thy herying.9 As him was taught, to kneel adown, and say
Wherefore in laud, as I best can or may Ave Maria, as he went by the way.
Of thee, and of the white lily flow'r Thus had this widow her little son y-taught
Which that thee bare, and is a maid alway, Our blissful Lady, Christe's mother dear,
To tell a story I will do my labofr; To worship aye, and he forgot it not;
Not that I may increase her honofir, For sely 21 child will always soone lear.22
For she herselven is honour and root But aye when I remember on this mattere,
Of bount6e,l next her son, and soules' boot.l Saint Nicholas 23 stands ever in my presence;
0 mother maid, 0 maid and mother free! 12 For he so young to Christ did reverence.
O bush unburnt, burning in Moses' sight, This little child his little book learning,
That ravished'st down from the deity, As he sat in the school at his primere,
1 Ever so much evil. "Last" means a load, 9 Glory. "Out of the mouths of babes and suck.
quad," bad (see note 21, page 59); and literally we lings hast Thou ordained strength" (Ps. viii. 2).
may read "a thousand weight of bad years." The 10 Goodness. 11 Help. 12 Bounteous.
Italians use "mal anno" in the same sense. 13 The spirit that on thee alighted; the Holy Ghost
2 Trick. through whose power Christ was conceived.
3 To put an ape in one's hood, on one's head, is to 14 Lightened, gladdened.
befool or deceive him. 15 Skill, ability. 16 Scarcely.
4 Offend. 5 Judge, decide. 17 A quarter which the Jews were permitted to in6 Tales of the murder of children by Jews were fre- habit; the Old Jewry in London got its name in this
quent in the Middle Ages, being probably designed to way. 18 Go, walk. 19 A young clerk or scholar.
keep up the bitter feeling of the Christians against the 20 To study, go to school, was his wont.
Jews. Not a few children were canonised on this ac- 21 Simple, innocent. 22 Learn.
count; and the scene of the misdeeds was laid any- 23 Who, even in his swaddling clothes-so says the
where and everywhere, so that Chaucer could be at no "Breviarium Romanum "-gave promise of extraloss for material. ordinary virtue and holiness; for, though he sucked
7 Psalms viii. 1, " Domine, dominus noster, quam freely on other days, on Wednesdays and Fridays he
admirabile est nomen tuum in universe terra," applied to the breast only once, and that not until the
8 Praise. evening,