For blanc manger that made he with the best.
A Shipman was ther woned fer by west;
For ought I wote he was of Dertemouth:
He rode upon a rouncie, as he couthe,
All in a goune of falding to the knee,
A dagger hanging by a las hadde hee

About his nekke under his arm adoun;

The hote fommer hadde made his hewe al broun:
And certainly he was a good felaw;

Ful many a draught of win he hadde draw

390

395

From Burdeux ward while that the chapmen flepe:, Of nice confcience toke he no kepe.

If that he faught and hadde the higher hand

By water he fent hem home to every

But of his craft to reken wel his tides,

land.

His ftremes and his ftrandes hint befides,
His herberwe, his mone, and his lodemanage,
Ther was non fwiche from Hull unto Cartage.

405,

morz, Fr. feems to have fignified a kind of dead pally, which took away entirely the ufe of the legs and feet. Du Cange in va Malum mortuum. Jonfon, in imitation of this paffage, has defcribed a cook with an- old mortmal on his thin." Sad

Shepherd, A. ii. S. 6.

V. 393. All in a goune of falding] I have added all for the fake of the verfe, but perhaps unheceffarily, as fome of the mff..

read

In a goune of falding unto the knee. The reader has been forewarned [Ey,'c. p. 165,] that Chau? cer is not always corre& in the difpofition of his accents.

409. Of nice confcience] H. Stephens informs us that nice

Hardy he was, and wife, I undertake;

With many a tempeft hadde his berd be fhake:

In all this world ne was ther non him like

415

To fpeke of phifike and of surgerie,
For he was grounded in aftronomie.
He kept his patient a ful-gret del
In houres by his magike naturel :

Wel coude he fortunen the afcendent

Of his images for his patient.

420

was the old French word for niais, one of the fynonymes of Sot. Apot. Herod. 1. i. c, 4. Our Author ufes it elsewhere in its original fenfe for foolish, ver. 6520;7

But fay that we ben wife, and nothing nice.

r. 405. His berberewe, his mone] In ver. 11347 he uses her berwe for the place of the fun, which perhaps it may fignify here. Lodemanage feems to be formed (as the gloff. obferves) by adding a French termination to the Sax. ladman, a guide or pilot. It would have been more English to have faid lodemanthip, as feamanthip, horfemanthip, &c. From the fame property of leading the north-ftar, in ver. 2061, is called the lodeSterre; and hence alfo our name of loaditone for the magnet.

. 418. by his magike naturel] The fame practices are allud ed to in H. F. iii. 175;

And clerkes eke, which conne wel
All this magyke naturel,

That craftely do her ententes
To maken in certayne accendentes
Ymages, lo! through which magyke
To maken a man ben hole or feke.

He knew the cause of every maladie, Were it of cold, or hote, or moift, or drie, And wher engendred, and of what humour : He was a veray parfite practifour.

425

The cause yknowe, and of his harm the rote,
Anon he gave to the fike man his bote.
Ful redy hadde he his apothecaries
To fend him dragges and his lettuaries,

For eche of hem made other for to winne:

For it was of no fuperfluitee,

But of gret nourishing, and digestible:
His ftudie was but litel on the Bible.

440

.433. Old Hippocras] Whoever is curious to know more of the phyficians mentioned in this catalogue may confult the Account of Authors, &c. in ed. Urr.Fabric. Bibl. Med. Æt. -and the Elench. Medicor. Vet. ap. eund. Bibl. Gr. t. xiii. I fhall only observe that the names of Hippocras or Ypocras, and Gallien,were used, even by the Latin writers of the middle ages, for Hippocrates and Galen. See the infcriptions in the library at St. Albans, Mona. t. i. p. 184;

Magnus eram medicus, Hypocras fum nomine dictus.
Alter et egregius vocitatus eram Galienus.

See below, ver. 12240.

In fanguin and in perfe he clad was alle.
Lined with taffata and with fendalle.
And yet he was but efy of difpence;
He kepte that he wan in the peftilence;
For gold in phifike is a cordial,
Therfore he loved gold in special.

445

A good Wif was ther of befide Bathe,

But fhe was fom del defe, and that was scathe.

450

Of cloth making fhe hadde fwiche an haunt
She paffed hem of Ipres and of Gaunt.
In all the parish wif ne was ther non
That to the offring before hire fhulde gon,
And if ther did, certain fo wroth was fhe
That he was out of alle charitee.
Hire coverchiefs weren ful fine of ground;
I dorfte fwere they weyeden a pound
That on the Sonday were upon hire hede:
Hire hofen weren of fine fcarlet rede,

455

Ful ftreite yteyed, and fhoon ful moist and newe :
Bold was hire face, and fayre and rede of hew. 460
She was a worthy woman all hire live;

Houfbondes at the chirche dore had she had five,
Withouten other compagnie in youthe,

But therof nedeth not to speke as nouthe;

. 549. Moist and newe] Moift ishere used in a peculiar sense, as derived from mußteus; for according to Nonius, 2, 518, “Mu"itum non folum vinum, verum etiam novellum quiquid eft, "recte dicitur." So in ver. 17009 moisty ale is opposed to old.

V. 464. as noutbe] The use of nouthe for now, in this place,

And thries hadde fhe ben at Jerufaleme;
She hadde paffed many a Arange ftreme:
At Rome she hadde ben, and at Boloine,
In Galice at Seint James, and at Coloine:
She coude moche of wandring by the way;
Gat-tothed was fhe, fothly for to say:

Upon an ambler esily she fat,

Ywimpled wel, and on hire hede an hat
As brode as is a bokeler or a targe,
A fote mantel about hire hippes large,
And on hire fete a pair of fporres sharpe.

465

470

475

In felawfhip wel coude fhe laughe and carpe

Of remedies of love the knew parchance,

For of that arte fhe coude the olde dance,
A good man ther was of religioun
That was a poure Perfone of a toun,

480

But riche he was of holy thought and werk;
He was also a lerned man, a Clerk,

That Criftes gofpel trewely wolde preche;
His parithens devoutly wolde he teche;
Benigne he was, and wonder diligent,

485

And in adverfite ful patient,

has fo much the appearance of a botch, that it may be proper to obferve that the word was in ufe before Chaucer's time. See R. G. p. 455, 8. In the latter inftance it is in the middle of the verse.

. 470. Gat-tothed] Whether we read thus, with the generality of the mff. or cat tothed, with mf. Afk. 1, 2, or gap-tothed, with ed. Urr. I confefs myfelf equally unable to explain what is meant by this circumstance of description. The Wife ufes the phrafe when speaking of herself in ver. 6185. D

Volume II.