O juge! confufe in thy nicetee,
Woldest thou that I reneye innocence?
To maken me a wicked wight (quod fhe)
Lo, he diffimuleth here in audience,

He ftareth and wodeth in his advertence.
To whom Almachius faid, Unfely wretch!

15935

Ne woft thou not how far my might may stretch?
Han not our mighty princes to me yeven
Ya bothe power and eke auctoritee.

To maken folk to dien or to liven?
Why fpekeft thou fo proudly than to me?
I ne fpeke nought but ftedfastly, quod fhe,
Not proudely, for I fay, as for my fide
We haten dedly thilke vice of pride.

And if thou drede not a foth for to here
Than wol I fhewe al openly by right
That thou haft made a ful gret lefing here.
Thou faift thy princes han thee yeven might
Both for to flee and for to quiken a wight.
Thou that ne maift but only lif bereve

Thou haft non other power ne no leve.

15940

15945

15950

But thou maist fayn thy princes han thee maked

Miniftre of Deth, for if thou fpeke of mo

Thou lieft, for thy power is ful naked.

Do way thy boldneffe, faid Almachius tho, 15955
And facrifice to our goddes er thou go.

I recke not what wrong that thou me proffre,
For I can fuffre it as a philofophre.

But thilke wronges may I not endure

That thou spekeft of our goddes here, quod he. 15960
Cecile answerd; O nice creature!

Thou faideft no word fin thou fpake to me
That I ne knew therwith thy nicetee,
And that thou were in every maner wife

A lewed officer, a vain justice.

Ther lacketh nothing to thin utter eyen

15965

That thou n'art blind; for thing that we seen alle,

That is a ston, that men may wel espien,

That ilke fton a god thou wolt it calle:
I rede thee let thin hond upon it falle,
And taft it wel, and fton thou shalt it find,
Sin that thou feeft not with thin eyen blind.
It is a shame that the peple shal
So fcornen thee, and laugh at thy folie,

15970

For comunly men wot it wel over al

15975

That mighty God is in his hevens hie;
And thise images, wel maist thou efpie,

To thee ne to hemfelf may not profite,

For in effect they be not worth a mite.

Thife and fwiche other wordes faide fhe,

15980

And he wex wroth, and bade men fhuld hire lede

Home til hire house, and in hire hous (quod he)
Brenne hire right in a bath with flames rede.
And as he bade right fo was don the dede,
For in a bathe they gonne hire fafte fhetten, 15985
And night and day gret fire they under betten.

.15966. thin utter eyen] Exterioribus oculis, marg. mf. C. 1.

15990

The longe night, and eke a day alfo,
For all the fire, and eke the bathes hete,
She fate al cold, and felt of it no wo;
It made hire not a drope for to fwete;
But in that bath hire lif she muste lete,
For he Almache with a ful wicke entent
To fleen hire in the bath his fonde fent.
Three ftrokes in the nekke he fmote hire tho
The turmentour, but for no maner chance
He mighte not fmite all hire nekke atwo:
And for ther was that time an ordinance
That no man fhulde don man fwiche
The fourthe ftroke to fmiten foft or fore,
This turmentour ne dorfte do no more;

penance

15995

But half ded, with hire nekke ycorven ther
He left hire lie, and on his way is went :
The Criften folk which that about hire were
With fhetes han the blood ful faire yhent:
Three dayes lived fhe in this turment,
And never cefed hem the faith to teche;
That she had foftred hem the gan to preche.
"And hem fhe yaf hire mebles and hire thing,
And to the Pope Urban betoke hem tho,

And faid, I axed this of heven King
To have refpit three dayes and no mo,
To recommend to you or that I go

Thise foules, lo, and that I might do werche
Here of min hous perpetuellich a cherche.

16000

16005

16010

Seint Urban with his dekenes prively
The body fette, and buried it by night
Among his other seintes honestly.

Hire hous The Cherche of Seint Cecile hight;
Seint Urban halowed it, as he wel might,
In which unto this day in noble wife
Men don to Crift and to his feinte fervise.

16015

16021

THE CHAN. YEMANNES PROL. WHAN that tolde was the lif of Seinte Cecile, Er we had ridden fully five mile,

. 16023. five mile] So all the mfl. except E. which reads half a mile. This latter reading must certainly be preferred, if we fuppofe that Chaucer meant to mark the interval between the conclufion of The Nonnes Tale and the arrival of the cha non; but it would be contrary to the general plan of our Author's work, and to his practice upon other occasions, that the Hofte thould fuffer the company

To riden by the way dombe as the fton

even for half a mile: I am therefore rather inclined to believe that five mile is the right reading, and that it was intended to mark the diftance from some place, which we are now unable to determine with certainty, for want of the Prologue to The Nonnes Tale.-I have fometimes fufpected that it was the intention of Chaucer to begin the journey from Canterbury with The Nonnes Tale : in that case five mile would mark very truly the diftance from Canterbury to Boughton-under-Blee. The circumftances too of the chanon's overtaking the pilgrims, and looking" as he had priked," or gallopped, "miles three," would agree better with this fuppofition. It is fcarce credible that he thould have ridden after them from Southwark to Boughton without overtaking them; and if he had, it muft have been a very inadequate reprefentation of his condition to fay that "it femed he had priked miles three." Befides, the words of the Yeman, [ver. 16056, 7,]

At Boughton-under-Blee us gan atake

A man that clothed was in clothes blake,
And undernethe he wered a white furplis.
His hakeney, which that was al pomelee gris,
So fwatte that it wonder was to fee;
It femed as he had priked miles three.
The horse eke that his Yeman rode upon
So fwatte that unnethes might he gon:
About the peytrel ftood the fome ful hie;
He was of fome as flecked as a pie.

A male tweifold on his croper lay,

16025

16030.

It femed that he caried litel array;

16035

Al light for fommer rode this worthy man.
And in my herte wondren I began

What that he was, til that I understode
How that his cloke was fowed to his hode,

now in the morwe tide

Out of your hoftelrie 1 faw you ride→→

feem to imply that they were overtaken in the fame morning in which they fet out,; but it must have been confiderably after noon before they reached Boughton from Southwark.---There is another way of folving these difficulties, by fuppofing that the pilgrims lay upon the road, and that The Nonnes Tale was the first of the fecond day's journey. It is most probable that a great part of the company (not to inention their horfes) would have had no objection to dividing the journey to Canterbury into two days, but if they lay only five miles on this fide of Boughton I do not fee how they could spend the whole fecond day till evening [fee ver. 17316] in travelling from thence to Canterbury.-I must take notice too, in oppofition to my first hypothefis, that the manner in which the Yeman expreffes himself in ver. 16091, 2, feems to thew that he was riding to Canterbury.