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

82 TIHE CANTERBURY TALES.
For gentleness is but the renomee 1 Now there ye say that I am foul and old,
Of thine ancestors, for their high bount6,2 Then dread ye not to be a cok6wold.21
Which is a strange thing to thy pers6n: For filth, and eld, all so may I th,22
Thy gentleness-cometh from God alone. Be greate wardens upon chastity.
Then comes our very 3 gentleness of grace; But natheless, since I know your delight,
It was no thing bequeath'd us with our place. I shall fulfil your worldly appetite.
Think how noble, as saith Valerius, Choose now," quoth she, " one of these thinges
Was thilke 4 Tullius Hostilius, tway,
That out of povert' rose to high nobless. To have me foul and old till that I dey,23
Read in Senec, and read eke in Boece,'And be to you a true humble wife,
There shall ye see express, that it no drede 5 is, And never you displease in all my life:
That he is gentle that doth gentle deedes. Or elles will ye have me young and fair,
And therefore, leve 6 husband, I conclude, And take your iventure of the repair 24
Albeit that mine ancestors were rude, That shall be to your house because of me,Yet may the highe God,-and so hope I,- Or in some other place, it may well be?
Grant me His grace to live virtuously: Now choose yourselfe whether that you liketh."
Then am I gentle, when that I begin This knight adviseth25 him, and sore he siketh,'6
To live virtuously, and waive 7 sin. But at the last he said in this mannere;
"And whereas ye of povert' me repreve,8 "My lady and my love, and wife so dear,
The highe God, on whom that we believe, I put me in your wise governance,
In wilful povert' chose to lead his life: Choose for yourself which may be most pleasance
And certes, every man, maiden, or wife And most honour to you and me also;
May understand that Jesus, heaven's king, I do no force 27 the whether of the two:
Ne would not choose a vicious living. For as you liketh, it sufficeth me."
Glad povert'9 is an honest thing, certain; " Then have I got the mastery," quoth she,
This will Senec and other clerkis 10 sayn. "Since I may choose and govern as me lest."28
Whoso that holds him paid of 1 his povert', "Yea, certes, wife," quoth he, " I hold it best."
I hold him rich, though he had not a shirt. "Kiss me," quoth she, "we are no longer
He that cov6teth is a poore wight, wroth, 29
For he would have what is not in his might. For by my troth I will be to you both;
But he that nought hath, nor cov6teth t' have, This is to say, yea, bothe fair and good.
Is rich, although ye hold him but a knave.l I pray to God that I may sterve wood, 30
Very povert' is sinne, properly.l3 But31 I to you be all so good and true,
Juvenal saith of povert' merrily: As ever was wife, since the world was new;
The poore man, when he goes by the way, And but 31 I be to-morrow as fair to seen,
Before the thieves he may sing and play.14 As any lady, emperess, or queen,
Povert' is hateful good;15 and, as I guess, That is betwixt the East and eke the West,
A full great bringer out of business;16 Do with my life and death right as you lest.28
A great amender eke of sapience Cast up the curtain, and look how it is."
To him that taketh it in patience. And when the knight saw verily all this,
Povert' is this, although it seem elenge,l7 That she so fair was, and so young thereto,
Possessi6n that no wight will challenge. For joy he hent 32 her in his armes two:
Povert' full often, when a man is low, His hearte bathed in a bath of bliss,
Makes him his God and eke himself to know: A thousand times on row 33 he gan her kiss:
Povert' a spectacle is,18 as thinketh me, And she obeyed him in every thing
Through which he may his very 3 friendis see. That mighte do him pleasance or liking.
And, therefore, Sir, since that I you not grieve, And thus they live unto their lives' end
Of my poVert' no more me repreve. In perfect joy; and Jesus Christ us send
" Now, Sir, of elde 1 ye repreve me: Husbandes meek and young, and fresh in bed,
And certes, Sir, though none authority 20 And grace to overlive them that we wed.
Were in no book, ye gentles of honour And eke I pray Jesus to short their lives,
Say, that men should an olde wight honofr, That will not be governed by their wives.
And call him father, for your gentleness; And old and angry niggards of dispence,34
And authors shall I fiden, as I guess. God send them soon a very pestilence!
i French, "renommee," renown, here paraphrases: —"Quid est Paupertas? Odibile
2 Goodness, worth, 3 True. 4 That. bonum; sanitatis mater; remotio curarum; sapientise
5 Doubt. 6 Dear. 7 Forsake. repertrix; negotium sine damno; possessio absque
8 Reproach. calumnia; sine sollicitudine felicitas."
9 Poverty endured with contentment. 16 Deliverer from care and trouble.
10 Scholars. 17 Strange; from French, " eloigner," to remove.
11 Holds himself satisfied with, is content with. 18 Is a spying-glass, pair of spectacles.
12 A slave, abject wretch. 19 Age. 20 Text, dictum. 21 Cuckold.
13 Properly, the only true poverty is sin. 22 Thrive. 23 Die. 24 Resort.
14 Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator."-"Sa. 25 Considered. 26 Sighed.]
tires," x. 22. 27 Set no value, care not. 28 Pleases.
lb In a fabulous conference between the Emperor 29 At variance. 30 Die mad. 31 Unless.
Adrian and the philosopher Secundus, reported by 32 Took. 33 In succession.
Vincent of Beauvais, occurs the passage which Chaucer 34 Grudgers of expense.