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And if it hap a man be in disease,
She doth her business and her full pain
With all her might him to comfort and please,
If fro his disease him she might restrain:
In word ne deed, I wis, she woll not faine;
With all her might she doth her business
To bringen him out of his heaviness.

Lo, here what gentleness these women have,
If we could know it for our rudeness!
How busye they be us to keep and save
Both in hele and also in sickness,
And alway right sorry for our distress!
In every manère thus shew they ruth,5
That in them is all goodness and all truth.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE FLOWER AND THE LEAF."

WHEN that Phoebus his chair" of gold so high
Had whirled up the starry sky aloft,

And in the Bulls was entered certainly;
When showers sweet of rain descended soft,
Causing the ground, felé timís and oft,
Up for to give many an unwholesome air,
And every plainé was yclothed fair

With newé green, and maketh1o smallé flowers
To springen, here and there, in field and mead;
So very good and wholesome bell the showers,
That they renewen that12 was old and dead
In winter time; and out of every seed
Springeth the herbé, so that every wight13
Of this season waxeth right glad and light.

1 Exerts.

2 Endeavour.

Our rudeness being an obstacle to our knowing it. For the etymology and applications of for, see Tooke and the dictionaries.

Health; the cognates are hail, hale, whole.

Compassion; from rue, (Ang. Sax. Ireowan, to lament); the same analogy exists in true, truth. Rue, the herb, said to be from Puuv (rucin), to deliver; “quia, ut Dicscorides docet, valetudinem conservat."—(Vossius.)

The Sun-god. The names of the Greek deities are said to be of uncertain etymology. Phabus is traced both to aw (phao), I shine; and Ooßs (phobeo), I terrify. The name Apollo is said to be from arodvμ (apollumi), I destroy.

This is a frequent image in the elder poetry; so Ben Johnson, in the Hymn to Cyn"Seated in thy silver chair,

thia;

State in wonted manner keep."—(Cynthia's Revels.)
9 Many. (German vicl.)

The second sign of the zodiac.

10 There seems a confusion of nominatives here between Phabus, showers, and plain. 11 Be was formerly used indicatively; we employ it now only in the subjunctive or conditional sense.

12 Supply the relative which.

13 A person; from Ang. Sax. witan, to know; hence wight is a being that knows and feels. It is an appellation of warriors in Scottish poetry,- Wallace wight." It is often used as an epithet of contempt or ridicule.

INTRODUCTION TO THE FLOWER AND THE LEAF.

15

And so I, gladé of the season sweet

Was happid1 thus; upon a certain night
As I lay in my bed, sleep full unmeet
Was unto me; but why that I ne might
Rest I ne wist, for there n' 'as earthly wight,
As I suppose, had more of hertís ease
Than I, for I n' 'ad3 sickness nor disease.

Wherefore I marvell'd greatly of myself
That I so long withouten sleepé lay,
And up I rose three hours after twelve,
About the springing of the gladsome day.
And on I put my gear and mine array,
And to a pleasant grove I 'gan to pass,
Long or the bright sunné uprisen was;

In which were oakés great, straight as a line,
Under the which the grass so fresh of hue
Was newly sprung, and an eight foot or nine
Every tree well from his fellow grew
With branches broad, laden with leaves new,
That springen out against the sonné sheen,
Some very red, and some a light glad green,

Which, as me thought, was a right pleasant sight;
And eke the burdís songís for to hear,
Would have rejoiced any earthly wight,
And I, that couth not yet in no manère
Hearen the nightingale of all the year,
Full busily hearkened with heart and ear
If I her voice perceive could any where.

And at the last a path of little brede
I found, that greatly had not uséd be,

For it forgrowén10 was with grass and weed,
That well unneathis11 a wight might it see.

Thought I," this path some whider goth, pardé !"12

Situated by fortune.

2 Was not.

3 Had not.

The dawn is called the " day-spring." Job xxxviii. 12.; Luke i. 78. The indefinite article is often in plural expressions used in a collective sense; —" a thousand things," "a few names," "a many thousand warlike French."-Shakesp.; and the collective word seems to have a tendency to assume the singular shape; as, ten fish, thirty horse, eight foot.

At a convenient distance; well is often used as an adverb of extent or degree: good is taken in the same sense; bien is used similarly in French.

During; at any time selected from all the year. Cognates; Gothic, af; Lat. ab; Greek, asro, ap.

This is beautiful and natural.

• Breadth.

10 For, (prefix, German, ver); for, as a prefix, is sometimes privative, sometimes intensive; it is often used in the latter sense in Scotch, ," forfeuchten."-Burns.

"And the heavy ploughman snores

All with weary task fordone."-Shakesp. Midsummer's Night's Dream. 12 Fr. par-dieu.

11 Bencath; the Scotch form is aneath.

And so I followed it till it me brought

To a right pleasant herbir1 well ywrought,

Which that benchéd was, and with turvés3 new
Freshly turvéd, whereof the greené grass
So small, so thick, so soft, so fresh of hue,
That most like to green wool, wot I, it was;
The hedge also that yedén in compass,5
And closed in allé the green herbère
With sycamore was set and eglatere

Within, in feres so well and cunningly,
That every branch and leaf grew by measure
Plain as a board, of an height by and by ;9
I seelo never a thing, I you ensure,

So well ydone; for he that took the cure11
It for to make, I trow,12 did all his pain,13
To make it pass all tho11 that men have seen.

1 Arbour.

3 Plural of turf.

THE HOUSE OF FAME.

AND eke this house hath of entreès
As many as leaves ben16 on trees

In summer, when that they ben green;
And on the roof yet men may sene17
A thousand bolis, 18 and well mo,
To letten the sound out ygo.
And by day, in every tide,19
Ben all the doorés open wide;

15

2 This double relative is still used in the vulgar dialect.
This is marked with the minuteness of Shakespeare's eye.

$ Went round; surrounded: yede, part. yode, to go.

6 Applied to the great maple tree, though there is little resemblance between it and the oriental sycamore.

7 Eglantine. "Skinner and Junius both say rosa sylvestris, (wild rose.) Warton asserts the eglantine and the sweet-briar to be the same plant; and that by "twisted eglantine," Milton therefore meant the "honey-suckle."-Richardson.

Together; in company: fere signifies also a companion, an associate, a lover. "Here's my hand, my trusty fere."-Burns. "Fresh feres will dry the bright blue eyes." -Byron. Chaucer uses the word in both these senses. The alleged etymology in Ang. Sax. is faran, to go. It might seem to have some connection with friend.

All along. 10 Have seen. This expression is retained in the vulgar dialect. 11 Care, (Lat. cura.) 12 (From Ang. Sax. treowa, faithful); hence true, truth. 13 Exerted his endeavour.

14 Surpass all those. 15 The sequel of this imagery and pictures. 16 Are; plur. of be. ii. Sc. 3.

Tho' is also an adverb meaning then.

description is very beautiful. The whole poem is full of delightful It seems to have suggested Edwin's vision in Beattie's" Minstrel." "With every thing that pretty bin."-Shakesp. Cymbeline, Act 17 See infinitive.

18 Holes; apertures; retained in this sense in Scotch. Bole is also the trunk of a tree; Armenian bole; a species of earth.

19 A specific time, as noontide; eventide; (German zeit): applied to the periods of the ocean's ebb and flow. "Alike to him was time or tide,”-Scott; i. e. duration or specific period.

i. c. epochs of duration. rivatives.

"Thou art the ruins of the noblest man

That ever lived in the tides of time.”

Shakesp. Jul. Cas. Act iii. Sc. 2. The common reading is "tide of times." Tidy, betide, are de

And by night each one is unshette ;1
Ne porter is there none to let,2
Ne manere tidings in to pace;8
Ne never rest is in that place,
That it n' is filled full of tidings,
Either loud, or of whisperings.
And, ever, all the House's angles
Is full of rownings1 and of jangles;
Of wars, of peace, of marriages,
Of rests, of labour, of viàges,"
Of abode, of death, of life,
Of love, of hate, accord, of strife;
Of loss, of lore, and of winnings,
Of health, of sickness, or lesìngs;7
Of fairé weather, and tempèstis,
Of qualm, of folké, and of beastis;
Of divers transmutations
Of estates and of regions;
Of trust, of dread, of jealousy,
Of wit, of winning, of folly;
Of plenty, and of great famine;
Of cheap, of dearth, and of ruìne;
Of good, or of misgovernment,

8

Of fire, and divers accident."

MERCY.

BUT, sith 'tis so there is a trespass done,
Unto Mercy let yield the trespassour.
It is her office to redress it soon;
For Trespass is to Mercy a mirròur.
And like as the sweet hath the price by sour,
So by Trespass, Mercy hath all her might:
Without Trespass, Mercy hath lack of light.

What should Physic do but if Sickness were?
What needeth salve but if10 there were a sore?
What needeth drink where thirst hath no power?

1 Unshut.

2 Hinder. (Arg. Sax. lettan); let, to permit, (Ang. Sax. laetan); let, applied to leasing of property, is used in the same sense as the Latin, locare. 3 Go.

Rown, roune, or round, to whisper: alleged etymology, "to mutter like a Runic enchanter." Jamieson. 5 Journeys. (Fr. voyage. Lat. via.)

Boding; prognostication; "Nay, such abodes ben not worth an haw."-Chauc. Troilus and Cressida. (Ang. Sax. bodian.)

Lies. Lose was anciently written lese: "For lesing of richesse and liberty."-Chauc. Monk's Tale; lose is substantially the same word with loose. Lesing is also lying; retained in the law phrase "leasing-making."

Cheapness; plenty. (Ang. Sax. cyppan, to traffic; German, kauffen ;)-coft, bought, (Scotch.)" Formerly good-chcap, and bad-cheap, i. e. well or ill bought, were the modes of expression. The modern fashion uses the word only for good-cheap."-Tooke. Cheap, a market, as Eastchcap, Cheapside;-to chaffer, to bargain;-chapman, a purchaser. Compare the French phrase, à bon marché.

"This passage is an example of Chaucer's nervous simplicity of style; of the facility with which his imagination crowds objects into his pictures; and of his usual unskilfulness in grouping and arrangement. The original of the House of Fame" is Ovid, Metamph. xii. 39. See also Pope's "Temple of Fame," fouuded on Chaucer's poem.

10 Unless or without.

B

What should Mercy do, but1 Trespass go afore?
But1 Trespass, Mercy woll be little store;2
Without Trespass near execution,3
May Mercy have ne chief perfection.

JOHN GOWER.
(Died 1402.)

GOWER was a gentleman of property, a contemporary of Chaucer, but several years his junior. The "grave and sententious turn" of his poetry earned for him, from Chaucer and others, the appellation of the Moral Ġower. His "capital work" is in three parts; Speculum Meditantis, (in French rhyme ;) Vox Clamantis, (in Latin Elegiacs); and Confessio Amantis, (in English, Octo-syllabics.) He was a man of varied learning; but far inferior to Chaucer in the natural qualities of a true poet. "By a cultivation of his native language," says Warton, "he laboured to reform its irregularities, and to establish an English style. In these respects he resembled his friend and contemporary Chaucer; but he participated no considerable portion of Chaucer's spirit, imagination, and elegance. His language is tolerably perspicuous, and his versification often harmonious." The following extract from the Confessio Amantis, Warton terms "no bad specimen of Gower's most poetical manner." It appears, he says, to be an imitation of Chaucer's Flower and Leaf, vid. supra, p. 14.

ROSIPHELE'S VISION OF LADIES.
WHEN come was the month of May,
She would walk upon a day,
And that was ere the sun arist,
Of women but a few it wist.
And forth she went privily
Unto a park was fast by,
All softe walkend" on the grass,
Till she came there the land was
Through which ran a great rivère.
It thought her7 fair, and said, "Here
"Will I abide, under the shaw;"
And bade her women to withdraw.
And there she stood alone still,
To think what was in her will.
She saw the sweet flowers spring;
She heard (the) glad fowls sing;

1 Unless or without. 2 In little estimation. 3 About to be punished.
Only a few of her women knew.
5 Walking.
Supple, where the omission of the relative has been noticed above.
It appeared to her. See note 15, p. 6.

Supple she. but the nominative is understood in the preceding her.
Shade, (Ang. Sax. Scua; Greek σnia, skia.)

Whither ridest thou under this groon shaw."-(Chaucer.)

This form of the word is familiar in Scotch.

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