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Lo Grenewich, ther many a fhrew is inne :

3995

It were al time thy Tale to beginne,

Now, fires, quod this Ofewold the Reve,
I pray you alle that ye not you greve
Though I answere, and fomdel fet his howve,
For leful is with force force off to fhowve.
This dronken Miller hath ytold us here
How that begiled was a carpentere,
Paraventure in fcorne, for I am on;
And by your leve I shal him quite anon:
Right in his cherles termes wol Ispeke ;
I pray to God his necke mote to-breke.
He can wel in min eye seen a stalk,
But in his owen he cannot feen a balk.

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3915

I have supposed that this means half-way past prime, about half hour after feven A. M. the half way between prime and terce. In the fictitious Mɔdus tenendi Parliamentum (a book not much older than Chancer) "Hora mediæ primæ" feems to be used in the fame sense, c..“ de diebus et horis Parliamenti.” Ms. Cot, ton, Nero, D. vi. On common days " Parliamentum debet in"choari hora mediæ primæ in diebus feftivis horâ primâ 86 propter divinum fervitium." In a contemporary French translation of this treatise, mf. Harl. 305,“ hora mediæ primæ❞ is rendered "a la my heure le prime;" in an old English ver fion, mf. Harl.930, the oure of myd pryme ; and in another, ms. Harl. 1 309, midde prime time. Our Author ufes prime large, ver. 10674, to fignify that prime was confiderably past.

.3909. Let his bowve] His hood: fo in Tr. b. iii. 775, au bowve above a caul fignifies a hood over a cap. And in P. P. fol. 4, Serjeants at law are defcribed in howves of filk; but in fol. 16, it is faid,

Shal no Sergeant for his fervice were no filke høde. Both words feem to be derived from the Teut. hoofd, a head. -Hood and cap being equally coverings for the head, to set a man's bowve is the fame as to fet his cap. See n. on vcr. 58

THE REVES TALE.
AT Trompington, not fer fro Cantebrigge,
Ther goth a brook, and over that a brigge,
Upon the whiche brook ther ftont a melle;
And this is veray fothe that I you telle.
A miller was ther dwelling many a day,
As any peacock he was proude and gay :
Pipen he coude, and fifhe, and nettes bete,

3920

3925

And turnen cuppes, and wraftlen wel and shete.

Ay by his belt he bare a long pavade,

And of afwerd ful trenchant was the blade:'

A joly popper bare he in his pouche;

Ther n'as no man for peril dorft him touche. 3930 A Shefeld thwitel bare he in his hofe :

Round was his face, and camufe was his nofe:

The Reves Tale] Denyfe Simkin, the miller of Trompington, deceiveth two clarkes of Soller's-hall in Cambridge in ftealing their corn, but they fo manage their matters that they revenge the wrong to the full. This Tale is imitated from Boccace, Novel the 6th, Day the 9th.---This you may pafs over if you please. Urry.

.3927. a long pavade] It appears from ver. 3958 that the pavade was a weapon of offence; of what fort I cannot tell, as I do not remember to have met with the word any where elfe. Pavois, Fr. in thofe times fignified a long thield.

.3929. A joly popper] A bodkin, according to Sp. and sk. who however produce no authority for fuch an interpretation. The name seems to be fitter for a piftol, though I am not prepared to prove that piftols were carried in the pocket in Chaus cer's time.

As pilled as an ape was his skull:

He was a market-beter at the full.

Ther dorite no wight hond upon him legge, 3935
That he ne swore he shuld anon abegge.

A thefe he was forfoth of corn and mele,
And that a flie, and ufant for to tele:
His name was hoten Deinous Simekin.
A wif he hadde comen of noble kin:
The perfon of the toun hire father was :
With hire he yaf ful many a panne of bras

3940

.3934, a market-beter] One that makes quarrels in markets, fays the Gloff. but according to Mr. Upton [Pref. to Ob ferv. on Shakesp. p. 20,]" A market-beter is one who raifes the "price of the market. ----To beat the fire Chaucer uses in The "Knight's Tale [ver. 2255, 2294,] for---to roufe, to ftir up." Though this explanation of Mr. Upton's be not quite fatisfactory, I think it far preferable to the other. See the Gloff. and Supp. in v. Market-beter. In a more modern author to beat the market feems to fignify merely to go up and down the market. Promos and Caffand, by Whetstone, act iv. fc. 6, a fervant lays, Wilde foule, Sc. are fo deare

That this houre I have the market bett

To drive a bargayne to my most profytt,

.3939. Deinous Simekin] His name was Simon, [ver. 4020, 4024, of which Simekin is the diminutive, and from his dif dainful infolent manners he had acquired the furname of Deinous, juft as Nicholas, in the former Tale, ver. 3199, was cleped Hendy from the very opposite behaviour. A great number of our furnames have been derived from qualities of the mind, and it is reasonable to fuppofe that at the beginning they were merely perfonal, like what we call nicknames. It is probable that the use of hereditary turnames was not even in Chaucer's Lime fully established among the lower claffes of people.

For that Simkin fhuld in his blood allie:

She was yfoftered in a nonnerie;

For Simkin wolde no wif, as he fayde,

3945

But she were wel ynourished and a mayde,

To faven his eftat of yemanrie:

And she was proud and pert as is a pie.

A ful faire fight was it upon hem two.

On holy dayes beforne hire wold he go

3950

With his tipet ybounde about his hed,

And the came after in a gite of red,

And Simkin hadde hofen of the fame.

Ther dorfte no wight clepen her but Dame:

Was non fo hardy, that went by the way,

3955

That with hire dorfte rage or ones play,
But if he wold be flain of Simekin
With pavade, or with knif or bodekin;
(For jalous folk ben perilous evermo,
Algate they wold hir wives wenden fo.)
And eke, for fhe was fomdel fmoterlich,
She was as digne as water in a dich,
And al fo ful of hoker and of bifmare,
Hire thoughte that a ladie fhuld hire fpare,
What for hire kinrede and hire nortelrie
That fhe had lerned in the nonnerie.

A doughter hadden they betwix hem two
Of twenty yere, withouten any mo,
Saving a child that was of half yere age;
In cradle it lay, and was a propre page.

3960

3965

3970

3975

This wenche thicke and wel ygrowen was,
With camufe nofe and eyen grey as glas;
With buttokes brode, and breftes round and hie,
But right faire was hir here, I wol nat lie.
The person of the toun, for he was faire,
In purpos was to maken hire his haire
Both of his catel and of his mefuage,
And strange he made it of hire mariage.
His purpos was for to bestow hire hie
Into fome worthy blood of ancestrie,
For holy chirches good mote ben defpended
On holy chirches blood that is descended;
Therfore he wolde his holy blood honoure
Though that he holy chirche fhuld devoure.

Gret foken hath this miller out of doute
With whete and malt of all the land aboute,
And namely ther was a gret college
Men clep the Soler hall at Cantebrege,

3980

3985

V. 3988. the Soler ball] This is the true reading; it means the ball with the foler. Before the students in our universities were incorporated they lived in lodging-houses called inns, halls, and hostels, which were often diftinguished by names taken from fome peculiarity in their conftruction: One at Cambridge was called Tyled Oftle, [Parker's Scel. Cantab. ap. Lel. Colle. t. v. p. 189.] And at Oxford Oriel-College probably derives its name from a large meffuage vulgarly known by the name of Le Oricle, upon the fite of which it flands, Ayliffe's Hil. v. i. p. 287. An oriel or oriol was a porch, [Du Cange, in v.Oriolum, as afoler feems originally to have fignified an open gallery or balcony at the top of the houfe, though latterly it has been used for any upper room, loft, or garret. [Idem, in v. Solarium. Watts, Glog. ad Mat. Par.] Froiffart, v. i. c. 234,

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