That syn that God Adam hadde made of erthe,
The thridde part of mankynde, or the ferthe,
Ne wende I nat by possibilite,

Had ever in this wide worlde ybe,

And trewe of love, thise women were echon.
Now whether was that a wonder thing or non,
That ryght anoon, as that they gonne espye
This flour, which that I clepe the daysie,
Full sodeynly they stynten al attones,

And knelede doune, as it were for the nones,
And songen with o vois,' Heel and honour
To trouthe of womanhede, and to this flour,
That bereth our alder pris in figurynge,'
Hire white corowne beryth the witnessynge?
And with that word, a-compas enviroun,
They setten hem ful softely adoun.

First sat the God of Love, and syth his quene
With the white coroune, clad in grene;
And sithen al the remenaunt by and by,
As they were of estaat, ful curteysly,
Ne nat a worde was spoken in the place,
The mountaunce of a furlong wey of space.

I, knelyng by this floure, in good entente
Aboode, to knowen what this peple mente,
As stille as any stone; til at the last

This God of Love on me hise eyen caste,
And seyde, 'Who kneleth there?' and I answerde
Unto his askynge, whan that I it herde,

And seyde, 'It am I,' and come him nere,

And salwed him. Quod he, 'What dostow here,
So nygh myn owne floure, so boldely?

Yt were better worthy trewely

A worme to neghen ner my floure than thow.'
'And why, sire,' quod I, and yt lyke yow?
For thow,' quod he, 'art therto nothing able.
Yt is my relyke, digne and delytable,

1 That is, 'That in shape bears the prize from us all.'

And thow my foo, and al my folke werreyest,
And of myn olde servauntes thow mysseyest,
And hynderest hem, with thy translacion,
And lettest folke from hire devocion
To serve me, and holdest it folye1

To serven Love. Thou mayst it nat denye,
For in pleyne text, withouten nede of glose,
Thou hast translated the Romaunce of the Rose,*
That is an heresye ayeins my lawe,

And makest wise folke fro me withdrawe;
And of Cresyde3 thou hast seyde as the lyste,
That maketh men to wommen lasse trist,
That ben as trewe as ever was any stele.
Of thyn answere avise thee ryght wele,
For though thou reneyed hast my lay,
As other wrecches han doon many a day,
By seynte Venus, that my moder ys,
If that thou lyve, thou shalt repenten this
So cruelly, that it shal wele be sene.'

Thoo spak this lady, clothed al in greene,
And seyde, 'God, ryght of youre curtesye,
Ye moten herken yf he can replye

Ayenst al this that ye have to him meved;
A God ne sholde nat be thus agreved,
But of hys deitee he shal be stable,
And therto gracious and merciable.
And yf ye nere a God that knowen alle,
Thanne myght yt be as I yow

tellen shalle;

1 The words me and holdest it folie are omitted in the Fairfax MS. They are supplied from MS. Arch. Seld. B. 24.

2 The fact that Chaucer was blamed for translating The Romaunt of the Rose as being a heresy against the law of Love, suggests the proba. bility that he translated the whole of it, including the part so obnoxious to ladies. See Introd. vol. iv. p. 12. For in the version [not by Chaucer] which we have, there is certainly nothing very unfavourable to the fair

sex.

3 See vol. iii. p. 8.

4 To keep up the analogy between the heathen mythology and the Christian religion, which is implied in the name of the poem, the God swears by Venus as a saint.

This man to yow may falsly ben accused,
Ther as by right him oughte ben excused;
For in youre courte ys many a losengeour,
And many a queinte totolere accusour,
That tabouren in youre eres many a soun,
Right after hire ymagynacioun,

To have youre daliaunce, and for envie.
Thise ben the causes, and I shal nat lye,
Envie ys lavendere1 of the court alway;
For she ne parteth neither nyght ne day,
Out of the house of Cesar, thus saith Daunte;
Who so that gooth, algate she wol nat wante."
'And eke, parauntere, for this man ys nyce,
He myght doon yt gessyng no malice;
For he useth thynges for to make,

Him rekketh noght of what matere he take;
Or him was boden maken thilke tweye*

Of somme persone, and durste yt nat withseye;
Or him repenteth outrely of this.

He ne hath nat doon so grevously amys,
To translaten that olde clerkes writen,

As thogh that he of malice wolde enditen,

Despite of Love, and had himselfe yt wroghte.

This shoolde a ryghtwis lord have in his thoughte,

1 Lavendere, or laundere, means, primarily, a gutter, or channel for conveying water. Here it is the translation of meretrice. The passage

alluded to is in the Inferno, canto xiii. :

La meretrice, che mai dall' ospizio

Di Cesare non torse gli occhi putti,
Morte commune e delle corto vizio
Infiammò contra me gli animi tutti,

E gl' infiammati infiammar si Augusto,
Che i lieti onor tornaro in tristi lutti.

Chaucer seems to have been no less conversant with the works of
Dante than with those of Petrarch and Boccaccio. He quotes from
Dante in four separate instances.-See vol. ii. p. 469. note 3.

2 That is,

3 That

Whosoever goes [falls], she will not be in want.' 'Because he is accustomed to write poetry.'

4 That is, Either he was bidden to write those two poems, scil., The Romaunt of the Rose, and The Troylus and Cryseyde.

And nat be lyke tirauntes of Lumbardye,'
That han no reward but at tyrannye.
For he that kynge or lorde ys naturel,
Hym oughte nat be tiraunt ne crewel,
As is a fermour, to doon the harme he kan;
He moste thinke yt is his leege man,
And is his tresour, and his gold in cofre.2
This is the sentence of the philosophre:
A kyng to kepe hise leeges in justice,
Withouten doute that is his office.

Al wol he kepe hise lordes in hire degree,
As it ys ryght and skilful that they bee
Enhaunsed and honoured, and most dere,
For they ben half goddys in this world here,
Yit mote he doon bothe right to poore and ryche,
Al be that hire estaate be nat yliche;
And han of poore folke compassyon.
For loo, the gentil kynde of the lyon!
For whan a flye offendeth him or biteth,
He with his tayle awey the flye smyteth
Al esely; for of his gentrye

Hym deyneth nat to wreke hym on a flie,
As dooth a curre, or elles another beste.
In noble corage oughte ben areste,

8

And weyen every thing by equytee,

And ever have rewarde unto his owen degree.
For, syr, yt is no maistrye for a lorde

To dampne a man, without answere of worde,
And for a lorde, that is ful foule to use.*
And it so be, he may hym nat excuse,

1 The allusion is to the several successful adventurers, like the Visconti, who in the 13th and 14th centuries succeeded in seizing upon the governments of Milan, and other free cities of Lombardy.

་་

2 That is, A liege-lord ought not to oppress his own vassals, who are his most precious possessions, in the same way as one who merely farms the revenues of a kingdom.'

3 In a noble disposition the passions ought to be restrained.

4 This, and many other passages of Chaucer's poems, breathe a noble spirit of moderation and political wisdom. Compare the sentiments of Theseus in The Knightes Tale, vol, i. p. 145.

But asketh mercy with a dredeful herte,
And profereth him, ryght in his bare sherte,
To ben ryght at your owen jugement,
Than oght a God, by short avysement,
Consydre his owen honour, and hys trespas;
For syth no cause of dethe lyeth in this caas,
Yow oghte to ben the lyghter merciable;
Leteth youre ire, and beth sumwhat tretable!
The man hath served you of his konnynge,
And forthred wel youre law in his makynge.
Al be hit that he kan nat wel endite,
Yet hath he made lewde folke delyte
To serve you, in preysinge of your name.

He made the boke that hight the Hous of Fame,' And eke the Deeth of Blaunche the Duchesse, And the Parlement of Foules, as I

gesse,

And al the Love of Palamon and Arcite
Of Thebes,* thogh the storye ys knowen lyte;
And many an ympne for your haly dayes,
That highten Balades, Roundels, Virelayes."
And for to speke of other holynesse,

6

He hath in prose translated Boece,
And made the Lyfe also of Seynte Cecile."
He made also, goon ys a grete while,

1 See vol. ii. p. 454.

2 See vol. ii. p. 397.

3 This poem is also called The Assembly of Foules.-See vol. ii. p. 355. 4 The poem here alluded to is probably The Knightes Tale, or one version of it.-See vol. i. p. 11I.

5 Among the Balades here mentioned would probably have been included Ballade de Visage sauns peynture, and other short poems of this description. Of the Roundel and Virelaye we have specimens amongst the minor poems.

6 The work of Boëthius, De Consolatione Philosophia, was one of the most popular works on philosophy in the middle ages. It was translated into Anglo-Saxon by King Alfred, into French by John of Meung, and into English by Chaucer.

7 The Second Nonnes Tale, in The Canterbury Tales, is on this subject, and is probably the poem here alluded to.-See vol. ii. P. 5.