And he was cladde in cote and hode of grene;
A fhefe of peacock arwes bright and kene
Under his belt he bare ful thriftily:
Wel coude he dreffe his takel yemanly:
His arwes drouped not with fetheres lowe,
And in his hond he bare a mighty bowe.

A not-hed hadde he with a broune vifage:
Of wood-craft coude he wel alle the usage:
Upon his arme he bare a gaie bracer,
And by his fide a swerd and a bokeler,
And on that other fide a gaie daggere,
Harneifed wel, and fharpe as point of spere:
A Criftofre on his breft of filver fhene.

An horne he bare, the baudrik was of grene:

105

110

115

So the Miller, ver. 3947, is careful" To faven his eftat of Ye"manrie." The appropriation of the word to fignify a fmall landholder is more modern I apprehend.

V. 104. peacock arwes] Arrows with peacock feathers. See Mr. Warton's illuftration of this paffage, Hift. of Eng. Poetry, p. 450. There is a patent in Rymer, 15 R. II. " de arte fagit"tandi per Valettos Regis exercendâ." The Yeomen, and all other fervants of the royal household, of whatever itate or of fice, under the degree of Yeomen, are ordered to carry bows and arrows with them whenever they ride, &c. in the king's train.

. io9. A not-bed] A head like a nut, from the hair probably being cut short. It has since been called a round-head for the fame reason.

. 115. A Criftofre] I do not fee the meaning of this ornament. By the ftat. 37 Edw. III. yomen are forbidden to wear any ornaments of gold or filver.

Volume 11.

B

A forfter was he fothely as I geffe.

Ther was alfo a Nonne, a Prioreffe,
That of hire fmiling was ful fimple and coy,
Hire greteft othe n'as but by Seint Eloy,
And she was cleped Madam Eglentine;
Ful wel fhe fange the service devine,
Entuned in hire nofe ful fwetely;

And Frenche fhe fpake ful fayre and fetifly,
After the fcole of Stratford atte Bowe,
For Frenche of Paris was to hire unknowe:
At mete was he wel ytaughte withalle,
She lette no morfel from hire lippes falle,

120

125

V. 120. Seint Fley] In Latin San&us Eligius. I have no authority but that of edit. Urr. for printing this faint's name at length. In all the mf. which I have feen it is abbreviated St. Loy, both in this place and in ver. 7146. The metre will be fafe if othe be pronounced as a diffyllable.

.124. And trenche se spake] It has been mentioned before [Flay, Sc. n. 55,] that Chaucer thought but meanly of the English-French spoken in his time. It was proper however that the Prioreffe thould speak fome fort of French not only as a woman of fathion, (a character which the is represented to affe&, ver. 139, 140,) but as a religious perfon. The inftructions from the Abbot of St. Albans to the nuns of Sopewell, in 1338, were in the French language. See Au&. Add. M. Paris, p. 1171.

V. 127. At mete] 'The following circumftances of behaviour at table are copied from Rom. de la R. 14178—14199 ;

Et bien fe garde qu'elle ne moeille

Ses doys au brouet jufqu' es jointes, Sc.

Si fagement port fa bouchee,

Que fur fon pied goutte n'en chee

De fouppe, ne de faulfe noise

Et doit fi bien fa beucbe terdre
Tant qu'el n'y laiffe greffe aherdre
Au moins en la levre deffeure.

Ne wette hire fingres in hire fauce depe;
Wel coude the carie a morfel and wel kepe,
Thatte no drope ne fell upon hire brest:
In curtefie was fette ful moche hire left:
Hire over lippe wiped she fo clene

That in hire cuppe was no ferthing sene

130

Of grefe whan fhe dronken hadde hire draught; 135
Full femely after hire mete fhe raught:

And fikerly she was of grete difport,
And ful pleasant and amiable of port,'
And peined hire to contrefeten chere
Of court and ben eftatelich of manere,
And to ben holden digne of reverence.

But for to fpeken of hire confcience,
She was fo charitable and fo pitous
She wolde wepe if that she saw a mous
Caughte in a trappe if it were ded or bledde.
Of fmale houndes hadde fhe that she fedde
With rofted fiefh, and milk, and wastel brede,
But fore wept fhe if on of hem were dede,
Or if men fmote it with a yerde smert;
And all was confcience and tendre herte.
Ful femely hire wimple ypinched was,
Hire nofe tretis, hire eyen grey as glas;
Hire mouth ful smale, and therto soft and red;
But fikerly she hadde a fayre forehed:
It was almoft a spanne brode ! trowe,

140

145

150

155

For hardily fhe was not undergrowe.

Ful fetife was hire cloke, as I was ware.
Of fmale corall aboute hire arm the bare
A pair of bedes gauded all with grene,
And thereon heng a broche of gold ful thene
On whiche was first ywritten a crouned A,
And after Amor vinc:t omnia..

Another Nonne alfo with hire hadde fhe.. That was hire chapelleine, and Preeffes thre. A Monk ther was, a fayre for the maistrie, An out-rider, that loved veneric;

160

165

. 159. gauded all with grene] Having the gawdies green i fome were of filver gilt, Monafe. v. iii. p. 1747 “Tria paria. "precularium del corall cum le gaudeys argenti deaurata." So in Gower, Conf. Am. f. 190;

A paire of bedes blacke as fable

She toke and hynge my necke about.
Upon the gaudees all without

Was wryte of gold, pur repofer.

. 163. Another Nonne, &c.] See Difcourse, Sé, p. 180. 165. a fayre for the maiftrie] We thould fay'a fair one ; but in Chaucer's time fuch tautology was not, I fuppote, cle gant; fo below, ver. 189;

Therfore he was a prickafour a right.

As to the phrafe for the maifric, I take it to be derived from the French pour la maitrie, which I find in an old book of phyfick applied to fuch medicines as we ufually call Sovereign, excellent above all others. MJ. Bod. 761, Secreta h. Samp, de Clorburnel, fol. 17, b.." Ciroigne bone pur là maistrie a brifer "et a meurer apoftemes, &c. Medicine magiftrel pur fe "ftre, &c. Medicine pur la maiftrie pur feftre," &c. And in another treatise in the fame mf Medulla Cirurgiæ Rolandi, fimilar phrafes are used in Latin, fol. 77, "Pocio bona pro ma"gifterio ad vulnera fanarda." &c. fol. 79, "Contra. Ju pum, c. medicamen magiftrale." In the fame fente the Monk is faid to be fair for the matrie above all others. The phrafe is ufed by R. of Gloucester, p. 553; “An ftede he gan

A manly man to ben an abbot able;

Ful many a deinte hors hadde he in ftable,

And whan he rode men mighte his bridel here
Gingeling in a whistling wind as clere

170

And eke as loude as doth the chapell belle

Ther as this lord was keper of the celle.

The reule of Seint Maure and of Seint Beneit, Because that it was olde and fomdele ftreit,

This ilke monk lette olde thinges pace,

175

And held after the newe world the trace.

He yave not of the text a pulled hen

That faith that hunters ben not holy men,

"prikie wel vor the maiftrie." The feveral chymical preparations known by the name of magisterium of lead, bifmuth, c. I conceive to have originally acquired that name from their being confidered at firft as masterly operations.

V. 166. loved venerie] i. e. hunting; if the word in Chaucer's time had born any other sense he would hardly have put it into the mouth of Emilia in ver. 2310. The monks of that age are reprefented as fond of field-fports. See below, ver. 189 -192, and P. P. fol. L. a. Knighton says that an abbot of Leicefter, who died in 1377,"in venatione leporum inter omnes "regni dominos famofiflimus et nominatiffimus habebatur.” X Scriptor. p. 2631. He adds indeed that the abbot was used to affert, what perhaps may have been partly true, "ie non "delectaffe in hujufmodi frivolis venationibus, nifi folum pro "obfequiis dominis regni præftandis, et affabilitate eorum cap"tandâ, et gratia in suis negotiis adipifcenda.”

. 169. bis bridel---Gingeling] See this fathion of hanging bells on bridles, &c. illuftrated by Mr. Warton, Hifi.of Erg. Po. p. 164. See alfo below, ver. 14800,1.

. 177. a pulled hen] See below, ver. 6694;

Swiche arrogance u'is not worth an hen.

I do not see much force in the epithet pulled. Ca. 1, reads pullet.