I

pray you

that

ye

take it not agrefe;

by God me mette I was in fwiche mischefe 149c0
Right now, that yet min herte is fore afright.
Now God (quod he) my fweven recche aright,
And kepe my body out of foule prifoun.

Me mette how that I romed up and doun
Within our yerde, wher as I faw a beste

Was like an hound, and wold han made arefte
Upon my body, and han had me ded:

His colour was betwix yelwe and red,

And tipped was his tail and both his eres

14905

With black, unlike the remenant of his heres: 14910
His fnout was fmal, with glowing eyen twey;
Yet for his loke almoft for fere I dey:
This caufed me my groning douteles.
Away, quod fhe; fy on you herteles !
Alas! quod fhe, for by that God above
Now han ye loft myn herte and all my love:
I cannot love a coward by my faith;

For certes, what fo any woman faith,

14915

. 14914. Away, quod fhe] I have here inadvertently followed the printed copies; but instead of Away the best mff. read Avoy, which is more likely to have been used by Chaucer. The word occurs frequently in the French Fabliaux, Fc. See t. ii. p. 243, 5. The vocabulary at the end of that volume renders Avoi belas; but it seems to fignify no more than our Away! The Italians ufe Via! in the fame manner. Roman de Troye, mf.;

Lors dit Thoas, Avioi, amei!
Sire Achilles, vous dites mal,

We all defiren, if it mighte be,

To have an hufbond hardy, wife, and free,
And fecree, and non niggard ne no fool,
Ne him that is agaft of every tool,

Ne non avantour by that God above.
How dorften ye for fhame fay to your love
That any thing might maken you aferde?
Han ye no mannes herte and han a herde?
Alas! and con ye ben agast of swevenis?
Nothing but vanitee, God wote, in fweven is.
Swevenes engendren of repletions,
And oft of fume, and of complexions,

Whan humours ben to habundant in a wight.
Certes this dreme which ye han met to-night
Cometh of the grete fuperfluitee

Of youre rede colera parde,

14920

14925

14930

Which caufeth folk to dreden in hir dremes 14935
Of arwes, and of fire with rede lemes,
Of rede bestes that they wol hem bite,
Of conteke, and of wafpes gret and lite,
Right as the humour of melancolie
Caufeth ful many a man in flepe to crie
For fere of bolles and of beres blake,
Or elles that blake devils wol hem take.
Of other humours coud I telle alfo,
That werken many a man in flepe moch wo;
But I wol paffe as lightly as I can.

Lo Caton, which that was fo wife a man,

14940

14945

V. 14946. Lo Caton] L. ii. dift. 32.; Somnia ne cures. I ob

5

Said he not thus? Ne do no force of dremes.

Now, Sire, quod the, whan we flee fro the bemes For Goddes love as take fom laxatif;"

Up peril of my foul and of:

my lif

I confeil you the best, I wol not lie,
That both of coler and of melancolie
Ye purge you; and for ye fhul not tarie,
Though in this toun be non apotecarie,
I fhal myself two herbes techen you

That fhal be for your hele and for your prow,
And in our yerde the herbes shall I finde,
The which han of hir propretee by kinde
To purgen you benethe and eke above.

Sire, forgete not this for Goddes love;
Ye ben ful colerike of complexion;

14950

14955

14960

Ware that the fonne in his afcention

Ne finde you not replete of humours ho e;
And if it do dare wel lay a grote

That ye fhul han a fever tertiane,

14965

Or elles an ague, that may be your bane.

A day or two ye fhul han digeftives
Of wormes or ye take your laxatives,'
Of laurcole centaurie, and fumetere,
Or elles of cllebor that groweth there,

14970

ferve, by the way, that this diftich is quoted by John of Salifbury, Polycrat, 1. ii, c. 16, as a precept viri fapientis. In another place, 1. vii. c. 9, he introduces his quotation of the firft verfe of dift. 20, 1. iii, in this manner; "Alt pel Cato, vel alius, nam autor incertus eft."

Volume V.

B

Of catapuce or of gaitre beries,

Or herbe ive growing in our yerd that mery is;
Picke hem right as they grow, and ete hem in.
Beth mery, hufbond; for your fader kin
Dredeth no dreme: I can fay you no more.

Madame, quod he, grand mercy of your lore;
But natheles as touching Dan Caton,
That hath of wifdome fwiche a gret renoun,
Though that he bade no dremes for to drede,
By God men moun in olde bookes rede
Of many a man more of auctoritee
'Than ever Caton was, fo mote I the,
That all the revers fayn of his fentence,
And han wel founden by experience
That dremes ben fignifications
As wel of joye as tribulations

That folk enduren in this lif present:

14975

14980

14985

Ther nedeth make of this non argument;

The veray preve fheweth it indede.

On of the greteft auctours that men rede Saith thus, that whilom twey felawes wente On pilgrimage in a ful good entente,

14990

14971. catapuce] Catapuzza, Ital. catapuce, Fr. a kind of fpurge.

.14990. On of the greteft auctours] Cicero [de Divin. 1. i. c. 27] relates this and the following story, but in a contrary order, and with fo many other differences that one might be led to fufpect that he was here quoted at second hand, if it were not ufual with Chaucer in these ftories of familiar life to throw in a number of natural circumftances not to be found in his ori ginal authors.

And happed fo they came into a toun
Wher ther was fwiche a congregatioun
Of peple, and eke so ftreit of herbergage,
That they ne founde as moche as a cotage
In which they bothe might ylogged be,
Wherfore they musten of neceffitee,
As for that night, departen compagnie,
And eche of hem goth to his hostelrie,
And toke his logging as it wolde falle.

That on of hem was logged in a stalle,

14995

15000

Fer in a yerd, with oxen of the plough,
That other man was logged wel ynough,
As was his aventure or his fortune,
That us governeth all, as in commune.

15005

And fo befell that long or it were day

This man met in his bed ther as he lay
How that his felaw gan upon him calle,
And faid, Alas! for in an oxes stalle
This night fhal I be mordred ther I lie;
Now help me, dere brother! or I die :
In alle hafte come to me, he faide.

This man out of his flepe for fere abraide;
But whan that he was waked of his flepe
He turned him, and toke of this no kepe;
Him thought his dreme was but a vanitee.
Thus twies in his fleping dremed he.

And at the thridde time yet his felaw
Came, as him thought, and said, I now am flaw;