The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems
Right so a man, that long hath blind y-be,
He may not suddenly so well y-see,
First when his sight is newe come again,
As he that hath a day or two y-seen.
Till that your sight establish’d be a while,
There may full many a sighte you beguile.
Beware, I pray you, for, by heaven’s king,
Full many a man weeneth to see a thing,
And it is all another than it seemeth;
He which that misconceiveth oft misdeemeth.”
And with that word she leapt down from the tree.
This January, who is glad but he?
He kissed her, and clipped* her full oft, *embraced
And on her womb he stroked her full soft;
And to his palace home he hath her lad.* *led
Now, goode men, I pray you to be glad.
Thus endeth here my tale of January,
God bless us, and his mother, Sainte Mary.
Notes to The Merchant’s Tale
1. If, as is probable, this Tale was translated from the French,
the original is not now extant. Tyrwhitt remarks that the scene
“is laid in Italy, but none of the names, except Damian and
Justin, seem to be Italian, but rather made at pleasure; so that I
doubt whether the story be really of Italian growth. The
adventure of the pear-tree I find in a small collection of Latin
fables, written by one Adoiphus, in elegiac verses of his fashion,
in the year 1315. . . . Whatever was the real origin of the Tale,
the machinery of the fairies, which Chaucer has used so happily,
was probably added by himself; and, indeed, I cannot help
thinking that his Pluto and Proserpina were the true progenitors
of Oberon and Titania; or rather, that they themselves have,
once at least, deigned to revisit our poetical system under the
latter names.”
2. Seculeres: of the laity; but perhaps, since the word is of two-
fold meaning, Chaucer intends a hit at the secular clergy, who,
unlike the regular orders, did not live separate from the world,
but shared in all its interests and pleasures — all the more easily
and freely, that they had not the civil restraint of marriage.
3. This and the next eight lines are taken from the “Liber
aureolus Theophrasti de nuptiis,” (“Theophrastus’s Golden
Book of Marriage”) quoted by Hieronymus, “Contra
Jovinianum,” (“Against Jovinian”) and thence again by John of
Salisbury.
4. Mebles: movables, furniture, &c.; French, “meubles.”
5. “Wade’s boat” was called Guingelot; and in it, according to
the old romance, the owner underwent a long series of wild
adventures, and performed many strange exploits. The romance
is lost, and therefore the exact force of the phrase in the text is
uncertain; but Mr Wright seems to be warranted in supposing
that Wade’s adventures were cited as examples of craft and
cunning — that the hero, in fact, was a kind of Northern
Ulysses, It is possible that to the same source we may trace the
proverbial phrase, found in Chaucer’s “Remedy of Love,” to
“bear Wattis pack” signifying to be duped or beguiled.
6. Stopen: advanced; past participle of “step.” Elsewhere
“y-stept in age” is used by Chaucer.
7. They did not need to go in quest of a wife for him, as they
had promised.
8. Thilke tree: that tree of original sin, of which the special sins
are the branches.
9. Skinked: poured out; from Anglo-Saxon, “scencan.”
10. Marcianus Capella, who wrote a kind of philosophical
romance, “De Nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae” (Of the Marriage
of Mercury and Philology) . “Her” and “him,” two lines after,
like “he” applied to Theodomas, are prefixed to the proper
names for emphasis, according to the Anglo- Saxon usage.
11. Familiar: domestic; belonging to the “familia,” or household.
12. Hewe: domestic servant; from Anglo-Saxon, “hiwa.”
Tyrwhitt reads “false of holy hue;” but Mr Wright has properly
restored the reading adopted in the text.
13. Boren man: born; owing to January faith and loyalty
because born in his household.
14. Hippocras: spiced wine. Clarre: also a kind of spiced wine.
Vernage: a wine believed to have come from Crete, although its
name — Italian, “Vernaccia” — seems to be derived from
Verona.
15. Dan Constantine: a medical author who wrote about 1080;
his works were printed at Basle in 1536.
16. Full of jargon as a flecked pie: he chattered like a magpie
17. Nearly all the manuscripts read “in two of Taure;” but
Tyrwhitt has shown that, setting out from the second degree of
Taurus, the moon, which in the four complete days that Maius
spent in her chamber could not have advanced more than fifty-
three degrees, would only have been at the twenty-fifth degree
of Gemini — whereas, by reading “ten,” she is brought to the
third degree of Cancer.
18. Kid; or “kidde,” past participle of “kythe” or “kithe,” to
show or discover.
19. Precious: precise, over-nice; French, “precieux,” affected.
20. Proined: or “pruned;” carefully trimmed and dressed
himself. The word is used in falconry of a hawk when she picks
and trims her feathers.
21. A dogge for the bow: a dog attending a hunter with the
bow.
22 The Romance of the Rose: a very popular mediaeval
romance, the English version of which is partly by Chaucer. It
opens with a description of a beautiful garden.
23. Priapus: Son of Bacchus and Venus: he was regarded as
the promoter of fertility in all agricultural life, vegetable and
animal; while not only gardens, but fields, flocks, bees — and
even fisheries — were supposed to be under his protection.
24. Argus was employed by Juno to watch Io with his hundred
eyes but he was sent to sleep by the flute of Mercury, who then
cut off his head.
25. “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my
fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is
over and gone: The flowers appear on the earth, the time of the
singing of the birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard
in our land.”
— Song of Solomon, ii. 10-12.
26. “That fair field,
Of Enna, where Proserpine, gath’ring flowers,
Herself a fairer flow’r, by gloomy Dis
Was gather’d.”
— Milton, Paradise Lost, iv. 268
27. “Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one
by one, to find out the account:
Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man amongst a
thousand have I found, but a woman among all those I have not
found.
Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright.”
Ecclesiastes vii. 27-29.
28. Jesus, the son of Sirach, to whom is ascribed one of the
books of the Apochrypha — that called the “Wisdom of Jesus
the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus;” in which, especially in the
ninth and twenty-fifth chapters, severe cautions are given
against women.
29. Roman gestes: histories; such as those of Lucretia, Porcia,
&c.
30. May means January to believe that she is pregnant, and that
she has a craving for unripe pears.
31. At this point, and again some twenty lines below, several
verses of a very coarse character had been inserted in later
manuscripts; but they are evidently spurious, and are omitted in
the best editions.
32. “Store” is the general reading here, but its meaning is not
obvious. “Stowre” is found in several manuscripts; it signifies
“struggle” or “resist;” and both for its own appropriateness, and
for the force which it gives the word “stronge,” the reading in
the text seems the better.
THE SQUIRE’S TALE.
THE PROLOGUE.
“HEY! Godde’s mercy!” said our Hoste tho,* *then
“Now such a wife I pray God keep me fro’.
Lo, suche sleightes and subtilities
In women be; for aye as busy as bees
Are they us silly men for to deceive,
And from the soothe* will they ever weive,** *truth **swerve, depart
As this Merchante’s tale it proveth well.
But natheless, as true as any steel,
I have a wife, though that she poore be;
But of her tongue a labbing* shrew is she; *chattering
And yet* she hath a heap of vices mo’. *moreover
Thereof *no force;* let all such thinges go. *no matter*
But wit* ye what? in counsel** be it said, *know **secret, confidence
Me rueth sore I am unto her tied;
For, an’* I shoulde reckon every vice *if
Which that she hath, y-wis* I were too nice;** *certainly **foolish
And cause why, it should reported be
And told her by some of this company
(By whom, it needeth not for to declare,
Since women connen utter such chaffare <1>),
And eke my wit sufficeth not thereto
To tellen all; wherefore my tale is do.* *done
Squier, come near, if it your wille be,
And say somewhat of love, for certes ye
*Conne thereon* as much as any man.” *know about it*
“Nay, Sir,” quoth he; “but such thing as I can,
With hearty will, — for I will not rebel
Against your lust,* — a tale will I tell. *pleasure
Have me excused if I speak amiss;
My will is good; and lo, my tale is this.”
Notes to the Prologue to the Squire’s Tale
1. Women connen utter such chaffare: women are adepts at
giving circulation to such wares. The Host evidently means that
his wife would be sure to hear of his confessions from some
female member of the company.
THE TALE.<1>
*Pars Prima.* *First part*
At Sarra, in the land of Tartary,
There dwelt a king that warrayed* Russie, <2> *made war on
Through which there died many a doughty man;
This noble king was called Cambuscan,<3>
Which in his time was of so great renown,
That there was nowhere in no regioun
So excellent a lord in alle thing:
Him lacked nought that longeth to a king,
As of the sect of which that he was born.
He kept his law to which he was y-sworn,
And thereto* he was hardy, wise, and rich, *moreover, besides
And piteous and just, always y-lich;* *alike, even-tempered
True of his word, benign and honourable;
*Of his corage as any centre stable;* *firm, immovable of spirit*
Young, fresh, and strong, in armes desirous
As any bachelor of all his house.
A fair person he was, and fortunate,
And kept alway so well his royal estate,
That there was nowhere such another man.
This noble king, this Tartar Cambuscan,
Hadde two sons by Elfeta his wife,
Of which the eldest highte Algarsife,
The other was y-called Camballo.
A daughter had this worthy king also,
That youngest was, and highte Canace:
But for to telle you all her beauty,
It lies not in my tongue, nor my conning;* *skill
I dare not undertake so high a thing:
Mine English eke is insufficient,
It muste be a rhetor* excellent, *orator
*That couth his colours longing for that art,* * see <4>*
If he should her describen any part;
I am none such, I must speak as I can.
And so befell, that when this Cambuscan
Had twenty winters borne his diadem,
As he was wont from year to year, I deem,
He let *the feast of his nativity* *his birthday party*
*Do crye,* throughout Sarra his city, *be proclaimed*
The last Idus of March, after the year.
Phoebus the sun full jolly was and clear,
For he was nigh his exaltation
In Marte’s face, and in his mansion <5>
In Aries, the choleric hot sign:
Full lusty* was the weather and benign; *pleasant
For which the fowls against the sunne sheen,* *bright
What for the season and the younge green,
Full loude sange their affections:
Them seemed to have got protections
Against the sword of winter keen and cold.
This Cambuscan, of which I have you told,
In royal vesture, sat upon his dais,
With diadem, full high in his palace;
And held his feast so solemn and so rich,
That in this worlde was there none it lich.* *like
Of which if I should tell all the array,