His lordes shepe, his nete, and his deirie,

His fwine, his hors, his store, and his pultrie,
Were holly in this Reves governing,
And by his covenant yave he rekening,
Sin that his lord was twenty yere of age;
Ther coude no man bring him in arerage.

600

605

Ther n'as baillif, ne herde, ne other hine,
That he ne knew his fleight and his covine;
They were adradde of him as of the deth.
His wonning was ful fayre upon an heth;
With grene trees yfhadewed was his place;
He coude better than his lord pourchace :
Ful riche he was ystored privily:
His lord wel coude he plefen fubtilly
To yeve and lene him of his owen good,
And have a thank and yet a cote and hood.
In youthe he lerned hadde a good mistere;
He was a wel good wright, a carpentere.
This Reve fate upon a right good flot
That was all pomelee grey, and highte Scot:

610

615

.617. a right good flot] I take flot to be put here for fod, the Saxon word for a ftallion. A ftot fignified properly a bul lock, as it ftill does in the North. See the Percy Housh. Book, p. 2, and note. The paffage which Du Cange, in v. Stortus, has quoted from Maddox, Form. Angl. p. 427, to fhew that flottus fignifies equus admiffarius, proves rather that it fignifies a bullock. John de Nevill leaves to his eldest fon several specifick legacies; "et eciam cc vaccas pro flauro, cc flottos et flirkes, "mm bidentes," &c. Stirke is the Sax. name for a heifer, fo that there can be little doubt that cc flottos et flirkes thould be rendered cc bullocks and heifers.

A long furcate of perfe upon he hade,

And by his fide he bare a rufty blade.
Of Norfolk was this Reve of which I tell,
Befide a toun men clepen Baldefwell.
Tucked he was, as is a frere aboute,
And ever he rode the hindereft of the route.

A Sompnour was ther with us in that place
That hadde a fire-red cherubinnes face,
For faufefleme he was, with eyen narwe;
As hote he was and likerous as a sparwe,
With fcalled browes blake and pilled berd;
Of his vifage children were fore aferd.
Ther n'as quickfilver, litarge, ne brimston,
Boras, cerufe, ne oile of tartre non,
Ne oinement, that wolde clenfe or bite,
That him might helpen of his whelkes white,

620

625

630

.626. cherubinnes face] H. Stephens, Apol. Herod. 1. i. c. 30, quotes the fame thought from a French epigram;

Nos grands docteurs au cherubin vifage, &c.

.627. faufefleme] I find this word in an old Fr. book of phyfick, which I have quoted before in n. on ver. 165; "Oignement "magiftrel pur faufefleme et pur chefcune manere de roigne."

Roigne fignifies any fcorbutick eruption. So in the Thousand Notable Things, b. i. 70," A fawsfleame or red pimpled face "is helped with this medicine following."-Two of the ingredients are quickfilver and brimftone. In another place, b. ii. 20, oyle of tartar is faid "to take away cleane all fpots, "freckles, and filthy wheales." Thefe laft I fuppofe are what Chaucer calls whelkes.-The original of the word feems to be pointed out in the following paffage, Fit. R. ii, a Mon. Evesh, p. 169; "facies alba---interdum fanguinis feumate viciata."

Ne of the knobbes fitting on his chekes:
Wel loved he garlike, onions, and lekes,
And for to drinke ftrong win as rede as blood,
Than wolde he speke and crie as he were wood;
And whan that he wel dronken had the win,
Than wold he fpeken no word but Latin :
A fewe termes coude he, two or three,
That he had lerned out of fom decree;
No wonder is, he heard it all the day:
And eke ye knowen wel how that a jay
Can clepen watte as wel as can the pope:

635

640

645

But who fo wolde in other thing him grope

A good felaw to have his concubine

A twelve month, and excufe him at the full :
Ful prively a finch eke coude he pull;

. 648. Queftio quid juris] This kind of question occurs frequently in Ralph de Hengham. After having flated a cafe he adds, Quid juris? and then proceeds to give the answer to it. See Heng. Mag. c. xi. ; "Efto autem quod reus nullo modo ve"nerit ad hunc diem. quid juris ?" &c. See alío c. 12.

.649. a gentil harlot] The name of harlot was anciently given to men as well as women. See below, ver. 7336. Herlod, in Welsh, is faid to fignify fimply a young man, and herlodes a young woman. Richards, Welsh Dict. in v. ; with us it seems always to have been a difgraceful appellation. In R. R. ver. 6068, King of barlots is Chaucer's tranflat. of Roy des ribaulx,

And if he found o where a good felawe
He wolde techen him to have non awe
In fwiche a cas of the archedekenes curse,
But if a mannes toule were in his purse,

655

For in his purfe he fhulde ypunished be;

Purfe is the archedekens helle faid he,

660

But wel I wote he lied right in dede;

And knew hir confeil and was of hir rede.

A gerlond hadde he fette upon his hede

670

As gret as it were for an aleftake;

A bokeler hadde he made him of a cake.
With him ther rode a gentil Pardonere
Of Rouncevall, his frend and his compere,

v. 664. à fignificavit] The writ de excommunicato capiends, commonly called a fignificavit, from the begining of the writ, which is as follows; “Rex Vicecomiti L. falutem, Sgnificavit "nobis venerabilis pater H. L. Epifcopus," &c. Cad. Jur. Ecc. p. 1054.

v.665. In danger hadde he] i. e. within the reach or control of his office. See Hift. Abbat. Pipervell, ap. Monal. Angl. t. 1. p. 815; "Nec audebant Abbates eidem refiftere, quia aut pro de"nariis aut pro bladis femper fuerunt Abbates in dangerio dicti Officialis.- The yonge girls, in the next line, may fig nify either the young men or the young women, as girl was formerly an appellation common to both fexes.

.672. Of Rounce vall I can hardly think that Chaucer

'That ftreit was comen from the court of Rome;
Ful loude he fang Come hither love to me.
This Sompnour bare to him a stiff burdoun,
Was never trompe of half fo gret a foun.
This Pardoner had here as yelwe as wax,

But fmoth it heng as doth a strike of flax;

By unces heng his lokkes that he hadde,

And therwith he his fhulders overspradde:

675

680

meant to bring his Pardoner from Roncevaux in Navarre, and yet I cannot find any place of that name in England. An hofpital "Beatæ Mariæ de Rouncyvalle" in Charing, London, is mentioned in the Monaft. t. ii. p. 443; and there was a Runceval-Hall in Oxford, Stevens, v. ii. p. 262; fo that perhaps it was the name of fome fraternity.

.674. Come hither love to me] This, I fuppofe, was the beginuing or the burthen of fome known fong.-Love is here a dilfyllable, as in ver. 260;

In love days, ther cóud he mōchel helpe.

and in ver. 1627;

Tul foth is fayde, that love né lordship.

The double rhyme of to me answering to Rome, proves evidently that Rome in this place is to be pronounced as a diffy)lable; we need therefore have no fcruple, I think, of pronoun cing it in the fame manner wherever the metre requires two fyllables. See ver. 4562, 4576, 5388, 5568.—A like ufe may be made of other fimilar rhymes in Chaucer for establishing the pronunciation ofthe e feminine. In ver. 16673 by me rhymes to time, and in Troil. ii. 991, to time and prime; and accordIngly both time and prime are used in other places as diffylJables. See ver. 7884, 10827--10674, 12596.---In these cafes the final monofyllable me transfers its accent to the preceding fyllable, after the manner of the Greek encliticks, and the final of courfe becomes a mere e feminine.

675. bare-a ftiff burdoun] Sang the bafs. See ver. 4163 and Du Cange in v. Burdo.