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But take it nat, I pray you,

in difdain:

This is the point, to speke it plat and plain,
That eche of you to fhorten with youre way
In this viage fhal tellen Tales tway,

791

To Canterbury ward I mene it fo,

And homeward he shall tellen other two,

795

Of aventures that whilom han befalle.

And which of you that bereth him best of alle,

That is to sayn, that telleth in this cas

Tales of beft fentence and moft folas,

800

Shal have a fouper at youre aller coft
Here in this place fitting by this post,

Whan that ye comen agen from Canterbury.

the more

mery

And for to maken you
I wol my felven gladly with you ride,
Right at min owen coft, and be your gide.
And who that wol my jugement withfay
Shal pay for alle we fpenden by the way.
And if ye vouchefauf that it be fo

805

Telle me anon withouten wordes mo,

810

And I wol erly fhapen me therfore.

This thing was granted, and our othes fwore

.792. This is the point] See the Difcourfe, c. § 7.

.812. and our othes fwore] i. e. and we fwore our othes, -and praied him, &c. It is too frequent a practice with our Author to omit the governing pronoun before his verbs. See below, ver. 1757, And fawe-for-and they fawe; ver. 5042, and fayn---for--and they fayn; ver. 5054, and yet lith----for and yet he lith; ver. 6123, and blamed him felf-for---and

With ful glad herte, and praiden him alfo
That he wold vouchefauf for to don fo,
And that he wolde ben our governour,

And of our Tales juge and reportour,
And fette a fouper at a certain pris,"
And we wol reuled ben at his devise

In highe and lowe: and thus by on affent
We ben accorded to his jugement;
And therupon the win was fette anon:
We dronken, and to refte wenten eche on
Withouten any lenger tarying.

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A morwe whan the day began to fpring
Up rofe our Hofte, and was our aller cok,
And gaderd us togeder in a flok,
And forth we riden a litel more than pas
Unto the watering of Seint Thomas, i
And ther our Hofte began his hors arcft,
And faide, Lordes, herkeneth if you left:
Ye wete your forword, and I it record:
If even fong and morwe fong accord,

815

T

820

825

830

he blamed himfelf; ver. 6398, and made him----for---- and I made him.

V.819. In bigbe and love] In, or, De alto et basso, barb. Lat. Haut et bas, Fr. were expreflions of entire fubmiffion on one fide and fovereignty on the other. So P. L. p. 283, fpeaking of the Pope, fays-" He falle at his dome fet it lowe and bie." See Du Cange in v.

.827. a litel more than pas] A pas, with Chaucer, means always, I believe, a foot-pace. See ver. 2899, And riden forth a pas-and ver. 12800, Than thou wolt gou a fas not but a mile. See alfo ver. 16043-more than trot or pas.

Let fe now who fhal telle the first Tale:

As ever mote I drinken win or ale

Who fo is rebel to my jugement

835

Shal pay for alle that by the way is spent.

Now draweth cutte or that ye forther twinne;

He which that hath the shortest shal beginne.

Sire Knight, (quod he) my maifter and my lord,

Now draweth cutte, for that is min accord.

840

Cometh nere (quod he) my Lady Prioresse,
And ye fire Clerk; let be your fhamefaftneffe,
Ne ftudieth nought: lay hand to every man.
Anon to drawen every wight began,

And shortly for tellen as it was,

Were it by aventure, or sort, or cas,

The fothe is this, the cutte felle on the Knight,
Of which ful blith and glad was every wight;
And tell he muft his Tale as was refon,

845

By forword and by compofition,

850

As ye han herd; what nedeth wordes mo?

And whan this good man saw that it was so,
As he that wife was and obedient

To kepe his forword by his free affent,
He faide; Sithen I fhal begin this game,

855

What, welcome be the cutte a Goddes name.

.837. Now draweth cutte] Draweth is the fecond perfon plural of the imperative mode. See the Essay, &c. n. 32. The ceremony of drawing cutte occurs again ver. 12727, feq. Frois fart calls it tirer à la longue paille, V. i. c. 294.

Now let us ride, and herkeneth what I say.

And with that word we riden forth our way;
And he began with a right mery chere
His Tale anon, and faide as ye fhul here.

860

865

THE KNIGHTES TALE.

WHILOM, as olde stories tellen us,
Ther was a duk that highte Thefeus;
Of Athenes he was lord and governour,
And in his time fwiche a conquerour,

That greter was ther non under the fonne;
Ful many a riche contree had he wonne.
What with his wifdom and his chevalrie
He conquerd all the regne of Feminie,
That whilom was ycleped Scythia,
And wedded the fresfhe quene Ipolita,

And brought hire home with him to his contree
With mochel glorie and great folempnitee,

879

And eke hire yonge fufter Emelie.

And thus with victorie and with melodie

875

Let I this worthy duk to Athenes ride,

And all his host in armes him befide.

.868. the regne of Feminie] The kingdom of the Amazons. So Penthefilea is called by Gower the Queen of Feminee, Conf. Amat. fol. 75, a. 97, b.

And certes, if it n'ere to long to here,
I wolde have told you fully the manere
How wonnen was the regne of Feminic
By Thefeus and by his chevalrie,
And of the grete bataille for the nones
Betwix Athenes and the Amafones,
And how affeged was Ipolita,

880

The faire hardy quene of Scythia,

And of the fefte that was at hire wedding,

885

And of the temple at hire home coming;

But all this thing I mofte as now forbere:

I have, God wot, a large feld to ere,

And weke ben the oxen in my plow:
The remenent of my Tále is long ynow.

890

I wil not letten eke non of this route;

Let every felaw telle his Tale aboute,

And let fe now who fhal the fouper winne.
Ther as I left I wil agen beginne.

This duk, of whom I made mentioun,

895

Whan he was comen almoft to the toun,
In all his wele and in his mofte pride,

He was ware, as he caft his eye afide,

Wher that ther kneled in the highe wey

A compagnie of ladies twey and twey,

9CQ

.886. And of the temple] The editions, and all the mff. except two, read tempeft. But The Thefeida fays nothing of any tempeft; on the contrary it says that the paffage

Tofto fornito fu et fenza pene.

I have therefore preferred the reading of mf. C. i, and HA. as

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