His amerous notis, lo, how he twynyth smale!
Lo! how the trees grenyth, þat nakid wer, & nothing barel the trees' þis month afore; but now hir somer clothing [wear]! 688
Lo how nature makith for hem everichone!
692 the blossoms on the bushes, the primroses and flowers.
And, as many as ther' been, he forzetith noon!
Lo! howe the seson of þe yer, & auere shouris,
Doith the busshis burgyn out blosom[i]s, & flouris!
Lo! pe pryme-rosis, how fressh þey been to seen!
And many othir flouris a-mong the grasis grene,
Lo! howe they spryng', & sprede, & of diuers hewe!
Be-holdith & seith both rede, [and eke] white, & blewe,
That lusty been, & confortabiH for mannys site!
ffor I sey, for my selff, It makith my hert to lizte. [If 189, bk] "It makes my
Now, sith almy3ty sovereyn hath sent so feir/ a day,
Let se nowe, as covenaunt is, in shorting of þe way, 700 But who'll tell
Who shall be the first that shał vnlace his male,
In comfort of vs aH, & gyn som mery tale?
ffor, & wee shuld now be-gyn [for] to draw[en] lott,
Perauentur/ it my3t[e] fal ther' it ou3t[e] not,
On som vnlusty persone, þat wer nat wele a-wakid,
Or semybousy ouyr eve, & had I-song & crakid
Som what ovir much; howe shuld he pan do?
ffor who shuld teH a tale, he must have good will perto ;
And eke, som men fasting beth no thing iocounde,2
And som, hir/ tungis, fasting, beth glewid & I-bound
To pe Palet of the mowith, as offt[en] as they mete;
So yf the lott fel on such, no thonk shuld they gete; 712
And som in the mornyng, hir mouþis beth a-doun) :
Til þat they be charmyd, hir/ wordis wołł nat soun).
So pis is my conclusyioun, & my last[e] knot,
It werè gretè gentilnes to tell without[en] lott."
By þe rood of Bromholm)," quod the marchaunte tho,
"As fer as I have saylid, riden, & I-go,
Sawe I nevir man zit, to-fore pis ilch[e] day,
If we draw lots, perhaps it'll fall 704 on some sleepy
or half-bousy fellow.
709 Some men, too,
can't tell a Tale before breakfast.
Who'll tell a Tale without drawing 716 lots?"
2 Urry transposes the endings of lines 708, 709, and leaves out 1. 710-11.
The Merchant says that as he's never seen such a good Manager as the Host,
though he can't ornament it
properly.
So we coude rewle a company, as [can] our hoost, in fay.
His wordis been so comfortabiH, & comyth so in seson,
That my wit is ovir-com, to make[n] eny reson
Contrary to his counsaiH, at myne ymaginacioune ;
Wher/for I woH tel a tale to yeur' consolacioune ;
In ensaumpit to 3ewe; that when þat I have do,
Anothir be all redy pen[ne] for to tel; rizt so
To fulfil our hoostis wiH, & his ordinaunce.
Ther shall no fawte be found in me; good will shal be my
With pis I be excusid, of my rudines,
AH pouze I can nat peynt my tale, but teH [it] as it is ;
Lepyng ovir no centence, as ferforth as I may,
But telle zewe pe 30lke, & put pe white a-way.
[Here be]gynnyth the [March]ant his tale
[in the low left margin of leaf 189, back]
Hilom 3eris passid, in the old[e] dawis, [leaf 190] Once upon a time,
When riztfullich be reson governyd ware pe lawis,
And principally in the Cete of Room þat was
so rich,
And worthiest in his dayis, & noon to hym I-licħ
Of worshipp ne of wele, ne of governaunce;
ffor alle londis Cristened, perof had dotaunce,
And alle othir naciouns, of what feith they were.
Whils pe Emperour was hole, & in his paleyse pere
I-may[n]tenyd in honour, & in popis se,
Room was then obeyid of alle Cristiente.
(But it farith ther-by, as it doith by othir thingis :
ffor Burħ,1 nethir Cete, regioune ne kyngis,
736 was the most honoured in the world.
But it, like all other cities, has
744 gone down,
for all things get worse, and 748 man's life grows
752 So Rome has lost its honour,
Beth nat nowe so worthy, as were by old[e] tyme;
As wee fynde in Romauncis, in gestis & in Ryme.
ffor alle thing doith wast, & ekë mannys lyffe
Ys more shorter þen it was ; & our/ wittis fyve
Mow nat comprehende, nowe in our dietes,
As som tymè my3te, these olde wise poetes.
But sith pat terrene thingis been nat perdurabiH,
No mervel is, pouze Rome be som what variabił
ffro honour' & fro wele, sith his ffrendis passid;
As many a-nothir town) is payrid, & I-lassid
Within these fewe zeris, as wee mowe se at eye,
Lo, Sirs, here fast by Wynchelse & [eke riht so by] Ry.)
But zit pe name is evir oon of Room, as it was groundit
Aftir Romus & Romulus, pat first þat Cete foundit, 758
That brithern) weren both[e] to, as old[e] bookis writen ;
But of hir lyff & governaunce I wol nat nowe enditen;
But of othir mater, þat fallith to my mynde.
Wherfor, gentiH sirs, yee þat beth be-hynde,
755 just as we've seen Rye worsen.
Winchelsea and
After Romulus, Julius Cæsar ruled Rome,
and subdued all lands, including
the Douzepairs held sway.
in whose time lived the Seven Sages:
Drawith somwhat nere, thikker to a route,
That my wordis mowe soune, to ech man a-boute.
Afftir these too bretheryn, Romulus & Romus,
Iulius Cezar was Emperour, þat riztful was of domus :
This Cete he governed nobilich[e] wele,
And conquerd many a Regioune, as Cronicul doith vs tel.
ffor, shortly to conclude, al tho were aduersarijs
To Rome in his dayis, he made hem tributorijs:
So had he in subieccioune both[e] ffrende & foon;
Of wich, I teł 3ew trewly, Eng[e]lond was oon.
3et aftir Iulius Cezare, & sith that Criste was bore,
Room was governed as wele as it was to-fore,
And namelich in pat tyme, & in tho same zeris,
When it was governed by the Doseperis :
As semeth wele by reson, who so can entende,
That o mannys witt, ne wiH, may nat comprehende
The boncheff & the myscheff, as mowe many
Therfor hire operaciouns, hire domes, & hire deedis,
Were so egallich I-doon; for in al Cristen londis,
Was noon that they sparid for/ to mend[en] wrongis.
Then Constantyne pe pird, aftir þese dosiperis,
Was Emperour of Room, & regnyd many 3eris.
So, shortly to pas ovir, aftir Constantyns dayis,
Philippus Augustinus, as songen is in layis,
That Constantynys sone, & of plener age,
Was Emperour I-chose, as fil by heritage;
In whose tyme sikirlich, þe .vii. sagis were
✓ In Rome dwelling dessantly; And yf yee lust to lere,
Howe they were I-clepid, or I ferther goon,
I woH te zewe the names of hem euerychoon;
And declare zewe the cause why þey hir namys bere.
The first was I-clepid Sother legifeer';
This is thus much for to sey, as 'man bereing þe lawe;'
And so he did trewly; for levir he had be sclawe,
Then do or sey eny thing' pat sownyd out of reson,
So cleen was his conscience I-set in trowith & reson.
Marcus Stoycus pe second, so pepit hym hizte;
That is to mene in our consceit, 'a keper of pe rizte:' 800
And so he did ful trewe; for þe record & pe plees,
He wrote hem evir trewly; & took noon othir fees
But such as was ordeyned to take by pe 3ere.
Now, lord God! in Cristendon I wold it were so clere!
The pird, Crassus Asulus, among men clepid was;
'An hous of rest, & ese, & counsel in every case;'
ffor to vndirstond þat was his name ful rizte,
ffor evir-more the counsallis he helpid with all his my3te.
Antonyus Iudeus, the ferth was I-clepid,
That was as much to meen, as wele me my3t have clepid,
As eny thing purposid of al the longe zeer/,
That my3th have made hym sory, or chongit onys chere,
But evir-more reyoysing, what þat evir be-tid;
ffor his hert was evir mery, ryzt as þe somer bridd.
¶ Svmvs Philopater was the ffifft-is name:
That pouze men wold sclee hym, or do hym al the shame,
Angir, or disese, as eviH as men couthe,
815 5. Summus
Philopater.
3it wold he love hem nevir þe wers, in hert[e], ne in mowith. His wil was cleen vndir his foot, & no thing hym above; Therfor he was clepid, 'fadir of perfite love.'
The sixt & [eke] þe sevenyth of these .vij sagis, Was Stypio, & Sithero; As pes word 'Astrolages' Was surname to hem both, aftir hir' sciencis;
ffor of Astronomy, Sikerlich þe cours & al the fences 824 Both they knowe hit wele Inowze, & wer rizte sotil of art.
But nowe to othir purpose; for her I woH departe
As ligtly as I can, & drawe to my matere.
In that same tyme, pat these sages were
Dwellyng þus in Room, a litiH without the wales,
In the Subbarbis of pe town), of Chambris & of hallis,
And al othir howsing, pat to a lord belongid,
Was noon with-in the Cete, ne noon so wele be-hongit
With docers of hize pryse, ne wallid so A-boute,
6. Stypio
(Scipio).
7. Sithero
(Cicero).
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