Whiles thou hast as a coward ben agast.'
'Ye, false harlot,' quod this mellere, 'hast?
A! false traitour, false clerk!' quod he,
Thou schalt be deed, by Goddes dignité!
Who durste be so bold to disparage
My doughter, that is com of hih lynage?"
And by the throte-bolle he caught Aleyn,
And he hent him dispitously ageyn,

And on the nose he smot him with his fest
Doun ran the blody streem upon his brest;
And in the floor with nose and mouth to-broke
They walweden as pigges in a poke;

And up they goon, and doun they goon anon,
Till that the millner stumbled at a ston,
And doun he felle bakward on his wyf,
That wyste nothing of this nyce stryf;
For sche was falle asleepe a litel wight
With Jon the clerk, that waked al the night,
And with the falle right out of slepe sche brayde.
'Help, holy croys of Bromholme!'' sche sayde,
'In manus tuas," Lord, to the I calle!
Awake, Symond, the feend is in thin halle!
My hert is broken! help! I am but deed!
Ther lythe' upon my wombe and on myn heed

1 Mr. Wright says that a portion of the true cross was supposed to be preserved in a reliquary, in the form of a cross, belonging to the Priory of Bromholme, in Norfolk. It was brought to England, with great ceremony, in 1223, and thenceforward became an object of pil grimage. By the cross (or rood) of Bromholme,' was a common cath. 2. In manus tuas commendo spiritum meum.' were the last words of our Saviour on the cross, appropriately used in any sudden danger. In the notes to Marmion is an account of the death of a hermit. He exclaims, My soul longeth for the Lord, . . In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum, a vinculis enim mortis redemisti me, Domine veritatis. Amen. So he yielded up the ghost the eighth day of December, anno Domini 1159, whose soul God have mercy upon. The miller's wife, having been brought up in a convent, is supposed to have learned to say her prayers in Latin, these words forming one of the responses for compline.

Amen.'

The word one is supplied here by Speght and Tyrwhitt, but it spoils the metre, and is unnecessary. Ther lythe means something

Help, Symkyn! for this false clerkes fight."
This Johan stert up as fast as ever he might,
And grasped by the walles to and fro,
To fynde a staf; and sche sturt up also,
And knewe the estres bet than dede Jon,
And by the wal sche took a staf anon,
And sawh a litel glymeryng of a light;
For at an hool in schon the moone bright,
And by that light she saugh hem bothe two;
But sikirly sche wiste nat who was who,
But as sche saugh a whit thing in hir ye.
And whan sche gan this white thing aspye,
Sche wend the clerk had wered a volupeer;
And with a staf sche drough hir neer and neer,
And wend have hit this Aleyn atte fulle,
And smot this meller on the piled sculle,
That doun he goth, and cryeth, Harrow! I dye!"
This clerkes beeten him wel, and leet hym lye,
And greyth hem wel, and take her hors anon,
And eek here mele, and hoom anon they goon;
And at the millen dore they tok here cake
Of half a buisshel flour ful wel i bake.

Thus is the prowde miller wel i-bete,
And hath i-lost the gryndyng of the whete,
And payed for the soper every del

Of Aleyn and of Johan, that beten him wel;
His wyf is swyved, and his doughter als.
Lo such it is a miller to be fals.
And therto this proverbe is seyd ful soth,
He thar nat weene' wel that evyl doth.
A gylour schal himself bygiled be.
And God, that sitest in thy magesté,
Save al this compaignie, gret and smale,
Thus have I quyt the miller in his tale.

1 For weene Tyrwhitt substitutes winne, on his own authority. The meaning is, It behoves not him to win or acquire good, or (if we read woene) to expect good, who doeth evil."

235

THE COKES PROLOGE

THE Cook of Londone, whil the Reeve spak,
For joye he thought he clawed him on the bak;'
'Ha, ha!' quod he, 'for Cristes passioun,
This meller hath a scharp conclusioun
Upon his argument of herburgage.
Wel seyde Salomon in his langage,
Ne bryng nat every man into thyn hous,
For herburgage by night is perilous.
Wel aught a man avised for to be
Whom that he brought into his pryvyté.
pray to God so gyf my body care,

I

Gif ever, siththen I highte Hogge of Ware,
Herd I a better miller set a-werke;
He hadde a jape of malice in the derke.
But God forbede that we stynten heere,
And therfore if ye vouchesauf to heere
A tale of me that am a pover man,
I wol yow telle as wel as I kan

A litel jape that fel in oure cité.'

Oure Host answerde and seyde, 'I graunt it the. Now telle on, Roger, and loke it be good; For many a pastey hastow lete blood, And many a Jakk of Dover' hastow sold, That hath be twyes hoot and twyes cold. Of many a pylgrym hastow Cristes curs; For thy persly they faren yet the wors, That they have eten with the stubbil goos; For in thy schoppe is many a flye loos. Now tell on, gentil Roger by thy name, But yit I pray the be nought wroth for game;

For the joy he experienced in his mind, he could scarcely forbear clapping the reeve on the back.

2 Ecclus. xi. 31.

Tyrwhitt does not understand this line. [Jack of over was probably a sea-fish, familiar to Canterbury pilgrains, obviously eaten when hot.]

6

A man may seye ful sothe in game and pley."1
"Thow saist ful soth,' quod Roger, by my fey!
But soth play quad play, as the Flemyng saith ;'
And therfore, Herry Baillif, by thy faith,
Be thou nat wroth, or we departe her,
Though that my tale be of an hostyler.
But natheles I wol not telle it yit,
But or we departe it schal be quyt.'
And therwithal he lowh and made chere,
And seyde his tale, as ye schal after heere.

A

THE COKES TALE.

PRENTYS dwelled whilom in oure citee,
And of a craft of vitaillers was he;

Gaylard he was, as goldfynch in the schawe,
Broun as a bery, and a propre felawe,
With lokkes blak, and kempt ful fetously.
Dauncen he cowde wel and prately,
That he was cleped Perkyn Revellour."
He was as ful of love and paramour
As is the honycombe of hony swete;

Wel were the wenche that mighte him meete.
At every bridale wold he synge and hoppe;*
He loved bet the taverne than the schoppe.
For whan ther eny rydyng was in Cheepe,*
Out of the schoppe thider wolde he lepe,
And tyl he hadde al that sight i-seyn,
And daunced wel, he nold nat come ageyn;

This line, as well as the next but two, is omitted in MS. Harl., which reads by my faità .n the ensuing line, to make it rhyme with that which follows.-W.

2 Play in earnest is bad play. Tyrwhitt quotes Sir John Harrington to the same purpose- Soth bourde is no bourde.'

3 See ante, p. 220, note 2.

This and the following line are omitted in MS. Harl.-W.

5 There were sometimes justs in Cheapside.-Holingshed, vol. ii. p. 148. But perhaps any procession may be meant.-T

And gadred him a meyné of his sort,
To hoppe and synge, and make such disport.
And ther they setten stevene for to mecte,
To pleyen atte dys in such a stretc,
For in the toun ne was ther no prentys
That fairer cowde caste a peyre dys
Than Perkyn couthe, and therto he was free
Of his dispence, in place of pryvyté.
That fand his mayster wel in his chaffare,
For often tyme he fond his box ful bare
For such a joly prentys revelour,
That haunteth dys, revel, or paramour,
His maister schal it in his schoppe abye,
Al have he no part of the mynstralcye.
For thefte and ryot be convertyble,
Al can they pley on giterne or rubible.
Revel and trouthe, as in a lowe degré,
They ben ful wroth al day,' as ye may see.
This joly prentys with his mayster bood,
Til he was oute neygh of his prenty shood,
Al were he snybbyd bothe erly and late,
And som tyme lad with revel into Newgate.
But atte laste his mayster him by thought
Upon a day, whan he his papyr' sought,
Of a proverbe, that saith this same word,
Wel bette is roten appul out of hord,
Than that it rote al the remenaunt.
So fareth it by a ryotous servaunt;
It is ful lasse harm to late him pace,
Than he schend al the servauntes in the place.
Therfore his mayster gaf him acquitaunce,

And bad him go, with sorwe and with meschaunce.

1 The meaning is not obvious. It may be, theft and riot are convertible terms (always accompany one another), however pleasant and gay they may appear outwardly; while, on the other hand, revelry and truth (or honesty) are every day seen to be at enmity, particularly in persons of low degree, who have not the means of maintaining the expense.

His account books. 3 The MS Harl. reads acqueyntaunce.«W.