At my beginnyng first I you beseche
Haveth me excused of my rude speche,
I lerned never rethorik certeine;
Thinge that I speke, it most be bare and pleine;
I slept never on the mount of Parnaso,
Ne lerned Marcus, Tullius, ne Cithero.'
Colours ne know I non, withouten drede,
But suche colours as growen in the mede,
Or elles suche as men deye with or peinte;
Colours of rethorik ben to me queynte;
My spirit feleth' nought of suche matiere.
But if you luste my tale schal ye here.'
THE FRANKELEYNES TALE.
[THE Breton lay, from which the Frankeleyne professes t have derived his story, is not known to exist. The subject, however, seems to have survived in a popular fubliau, which Boccaccio has drawn upon in the Decameron, and also introduced into his Philocopo. The reader will observe the difference between the spirit of the Teutonic and of the Breton fable, characteristic of the marked distinction between the Saxon and British races. The former is familiar with traits of daring and heroic virtue, and sometimes of violence and crime; the latter is tinged with a certain soft and refined licentiousness which confuses the moral perception, and indicates the presence of the Italian element introduced by the Roman colonists, but happily expelled from the national character by our Saxon forefathers. In this tale there are passages which equal, and perhaps exceed, in beauty any that Chaucer ever wrote; and indeed nothing but his
This blundering about Cicero's name is probably designed as an affectation by which the country gentleman shows his contempt for all such learning.
2 A most expressive phrase to denote the inability of an uncultivated mind to appreciate the beauties of style; answering to the French gorder.
judicious and elegant treatment could have redeemed so unpleasing a story.]
N Armorik, that clepid is Bretaigne,
Ther was a knyght, that loved and dede his peyne To serveu a lady in his beste wise;
And many a labour, many a grete emprise
He for his lady wrouht, or sche were wonne;
For sche was on the fairest under sonne,
And cke therto com of so hihe kinrede,
That wele unnethes dorst this kuyht for drede
Tel hir his woo, his peine, and his distresse.
But at the last, sche for his worthinesse,
And namely for his meke obeissance,
Hath suche a pite caught of his penance,
That prively sche fel of his accorde
To take him for hir husbonde and hir lorde,
(Of suche lordschip as men han over hire wyves);
And, for to lede the more in blisse her lyves,
Of his fre wil he swore hire as a knyht,
That never in his wil be day ne nyht
Ne scholde he upon him take no maistrie
Ageines hir wille, ne kythe hire jelousye,
But hire obeie, and folowe hire wille in al,
As any lover to his lady schal;
Save that the name of sovereignete
That wolde he have for schame of his degre
Sche thonketh him, and with ful grete humblesse
Sche seide; 'Sir, seththe of youre gentillesse
Ye profer me to have als large a reyne,
Ne, wold nevere God betwix us tweyne,
As in my gulte, were eyther werre or strif.
Sir, I wil be youre humble trewe wif,
2 The Lansd MS. reads nolde, which completely destroys the mean
3 Nor, would to God, that there should ever be strife between us two on account of any guilt of mine.
Have here my trouthe, til that myn herte bruste.'
Thus ben they bothe in quiete and in ruste.
For o thinge, sires, saufly dar I seie,
That frendes everyche other motte obeie,
If thei wil longe holde compaigne.
Love wil nouht ben constreyned by maistre.
Whan maistre commeth, the god of love anon
Beteth his winges, and fare wel, he is gon.'
Love is a thinge, as any spirit, fre.
Wommen of kinde desiren liberte,
And noult to be constreined as a thral;
And so doth men, if I the sothe saie schal.
Loke who that is most pacient in love,
He is at his avantage al above.1
Paciens is an hihe vertue certein,
For it venquisheth, as this clerkes sein,
Thinges that rigour never sholde atteine.
For every worde men may nouht chide ne pleine.
Lerneth to suffer, or elles, so most I gon,
Ye schul it lerne whether ye wol or non.
For in this world certein no wight ther is,
That he ne doth or seyth som time amis.
Ire, or sikenesse, or constellacioun,
Wyn, wo, or chaunginge of complexioun,
Causeth ful oft to don amys or speken.
On every wronge men maye nouht be wreken;
After the time most be temperance
To every wight that can of governance.
And therfor hath this worthy wise knight
To liven in ese suffrance hir behight;
And sche to him ful wisely gan to swere,
That nevere schold ther be defaute in hire.
Here may men seen an humble wise accorde;
Thus hath sche take hire servant and hir lorde,
The reader will remark the elegant simplicity and practical wisdom of this passage, so characteristic of Chaucer's genius.
That is, He who asserts the least authority in matters of lovs, possesses in reality the most.
Servant in love, and lorde in mariage.
Than was he bothe in lordeschipe and servage!
Servage? nay, but in lordeschip al above,
Sethen he hath bothe his lady and his love;
His lady certes, and his wif also,
The which that law of love accordeth to.
And whan he was in this prosperite,
Home with his wif he goth to his contre,
Nouht fer fro Penmarke;' ther his dwellinge was,
Wher as he leveth in blisse and in solas.
Who couthe telle, but he had wedded be,
The joy, the ese, and the prosperite,
That is betwix an housbond and his wif?
A yere and more lasteth this blisful lif,
Til that this knight, of which I spak of thus,
That of Cairrud was cleped Arviragus,
Schope him to gon and dwelle a yere or tweyne
In Engelond, that cleped eke was Bretayne,
To seke in armes worschipe and honour,
(For al his lust he set in suche labour);
And dwelleth there tuo yere; the boke seith thus.
Now wil I stint of this Arviragus,
And speken I wil of Dorigen his wif,
That loveth hire husbond as hire hertes lif.
For his absence wepeth sche and siketh,
As don this noble wives whan hem liketh;
Sche morneth, waketh, waileth, fasteth, pleyneth;
Desire of his presence hir so distreineth,
That al this wide world sche set at nouht.
Hire frendes, which that knewe hir hevy thouht,
1 Penmark is to be found in the modern maps of Brittany, between Brest and Port l'Orient. All the names in this poem are Breton, and many will be recognized by any one who has been in Wales. Penmark is from Pen, caput, and mark, limes, regio; the first element of the word enters into many Welsh names, as Penman Mawr, the great headland. Cairrud means the red city; Cair, a city, is found in Carnarvon, Carlisle, and Carhaix in Brittany. Droguen or Dorquen was the name of the wife of Alain I. Aurelius is a Breton name derived from the Roman colonists. Arviragus is apparently a Breton name latinized, as Caractacus from Caradoc, and is found in Juvenal, Sat, iv. 147.
Comforten hire in al that ever thei may;
Thei prechen hire, thei tellen hire nyht and day,
That causeles sche sleth hir self, alas!
And every comfort possible in this cas
They don to hire, with al here businesse,
And al to make hire leve hire hevynesse.
By proces, as ye knowen everychone,
Men mowe so longe graven in a stone,
Til som figure therinne emprinted be;
So longe have thei comforted hire, that sche
Receyved hath, by hope and by resoun,
The emprintinge of hire consolacioun.
Thorugh which hire grete sorwe gan assuage;
Sche may not alway duren in suche rage.
And eke Arviragus, in al this care,
Hath sent his lettres home of his welfare,
And that he wolde come hastily ageyn,
Or elles had this sorwe hire herte sleyn.
Hire frendes sauh hire sorwe gan to slake,
And preiden hire on knees, for Goddes sake,
To come and romen in here companye,
Away to driven hire derke fantasie;
And finally sche graunted that request,
For wel sche sauh that it was for the best.
Now stode hir castel faste by the see,
And often with hire frendes walked sche,
Hir to disporten on the bank an hihe,
Wher as sche many a schip and barge sihe,
Sailinge her cours, wher as hem liste to go.
But yit was that a parcel of hir wo,
For to hir selve ful oft, alas!' seid sche,
Is ther no schip, of so many as I se,
Wil bringen home my lorde? than were myu herts
Al warisshed of this bitter peine smerte.'
Another time wold sche sitte and thinke; And kast hir eye dounward fro the brinke; But whan sche sawh the grisly rokkes blake, For verray fere so wolde hire herte qwake,
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