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

THE FRIAR'S TALE. gS5
"Ah," quoth this Sompnour, "benedicite! Sometimes we feign, and sometimes we arise
what say y'? With deade bodies, in full sundry wise,
I weenedl ye were a yeoman truly. And speak as reas'nably, and fair, and well,
Ye have a manni's shape as well as I. As to the Pythoness 10 did Samuel:
Have ye then a figfre determinate And yet will some men say it was not he.
In helle, where ye be in your estate?" 2 I do no force of 11 your divinity.
"Nay, certainly," quoth he, "there have we But one thing warn I thee, I will not jape,12
none, Thou wilt algatis 13 weet 14 how we be shape:
But when us liketh we can take us one. Thou shalt hereafterward, my brother dear,
Or ellis make you seem3 that we be shape Come, where thee needeth not of me to lear.15
Sometime like a man, or like an ape; For thou shalt by thine own experience
Or like an angel can I ride or go; Conne in a chair to rede of this sentence,'
It is no wondrous thing though it be so, Better than Virgil, while he was alive,
A lousy juggler can deceive thee, Or Dante also.17 Now let us ride blive,ls
And, pardie, yet can 4 I more craft 5 than he." For I will holde company with thee,
"Why," quoth the Sompnour, " ride ye then Till it be so that thou forsake me."
or gon "Nay," quoth this Sompnour, "that shall
In sundry shapes, and not always in one?~" ne'er betide.
"For we," quoth he, "will us in such form I am a yeoman, that is known full wide;
make, My trothe will I hold, as in this case;
As most is able our prey for to take." For though thou wert the devil Satanas,
" What maketh you to have all this labour?" My trothi will I hold to thee, my brother,
"Full many a cause, levi Sir Sompnofir," As I have sworn, and each of us to other,
Saide this fiend. " But all thing hath a time; For to be trui brethren in this case,
The day is short, and it is passed prime, And both we go abouten our purchase.19
And yet have I won nothing in this day; Take thou thy part, what that men will thee
I will intend 6 to winning, if I may, give,
And not intend our thinges to declare: And I shall mine, thus may we bothi live.
For, brother mine, thy wit is all too bare And if that any of us have more than other,
To understand, although I told them thee. Let him be true, and part it with his brother."
But for7 thou askest, why labofir we: "I grantS," quoth the devil, " by my fay."
For sometimes we be Godde's instruments And with that word they rode forth their
And meanes to do his commandements, way,
When that him list, upon his creatures, And right at th' ent'ring of the towne's end,
In divers acts andin div6rs figfres: To which this Sompnour shope20 him for to
Withouts him we have no might, certain, wend,21
If that him list to stands thereagain.8 They saw a cart, that charged was with hay,
And sometimes, at our prayer, have we leave Which that a carter drove forth on his way.
Only the body, not the soul, to grieve: Deep was the way, for which the carte stood:
Witness on Job, whom that we did full woe. The carter smote, and cried as he were wood, 22
And sometimes have we might on both the " Heit Scot! heit Brok! what, spare ye for the
two,- stones?
This is to say, on soul and body eke. The fiend (quoth he) you fetch body and bones,
And sometimes be we suffer'd for to seek As farforthly 23 as ever ye were foal'd,
Upon a man, and do his soul unrest So muche woe as I have with you tholed.24
And not his body, and all is for the best. The devil have all, horses, and cart, and hay."
When he withstandeth our temptation, The Sompnour said, "Here shall we have a
It is a cause of his salvation, prey; "
Albeit that it was not our intent And near the fiend he drew, as nought ne
He should be safe, but that we would him were,25
hent.9 Full privily, and rowned 26 in his ear:
And sometimes be we servants unto man, " Hearken, my brother, hearken, by thy faith,
As to the archibishop Saint^Dunstan, Hearest thou not, how that the carter saith?
And to th' apostle servant eke was I." Hent27 it anon, for he hath giv'n it thee,
"Yet tell me," quoth this Sompnour, "faith- Both hay and cart, and eke his capels 28 three."
fully, "Nay," quoth the devil, "God wot, never a
Make ye you newi bodies thus alway deal,29
Of th' elements?" The fiend answered, " Nay: It is not his intent, trust thou me well;
1 Thought. 2 At home; in your natural state. 16 Learn to understand what I have said.
3 Make it seem to you. 4 Know. 17 Both poets who had in fancy visited hell.
5 Skill, cunning. 6 Apply myself. 18 Briskly. 19 Seeking what we may pick up.
7 Because. 8 Against it. 9 Catch.:20 Shaped, resolved. 21 Go.
10 The witch, or woman, possessed with a prophesy- 22 Mad. 23 As sure.
ing spirit; from the Greek, TIv0a. Chaucer of course 24 Suffered, endured; "thole" is still used in Scotrefers to the raising of Samuel's spirit by the Witch of land in the same sense.
Endor. 11 Set no value upon. 12 Jest. 25 As if nothing were the matter. 26 Whispered.
1s Assuredly. 14 Know. 15 Learn. 27 Seize. 28 Horses. 29 Whit.