TO A.D. 1307.]

If then thy errand speed ne set

Then wilt thou curse him that thou met.

It is the ticement of the devil

To curse them that thought thee no evil.
Of hansel I can no skill1 also

It is nought to believe thereto,
Methinketh it is false every dele,2

I believe it not, ne ne'er shall wele.

3

For many have glad hansel at the morrow
And to them ere even com'th mochel sorrow,
And many one have in the day great noy
And yet ere even com'th to them mochel joy.
So may'st thou wit, if thou good can,
That hansel is no belief to man.
Believé not much in no dreams,

For many be naught but glittering gleams,
These clerks say that is vanity.

330

Such sensible counsel as this comes under the head of turning aside from God by making to oneself idols of the imagination, and putting trust in them. I add two of Robert of Brunne's illustrative tales. This is in illustration of the fourth Commandment :

THE FOND FATHER.

Of a man that some time was I shall you tell a little pas.

4

Of his son he was jealous
And gave him all his land and house,
And all his catel in town and field
That he should keep him well in his eld.
This young man wax fast and was jolife,
His counsel was to take a wife;
He wedded one and brought her home
With all the mirth that thereto come:
He baddé her first loud and still
To serve his father well at his 7 will.
Soon afterward, this yongé man
His heart, his thoughté, change began;
Tendrer he was of wife and child

This oldé man upon a day
Plained him that he coldé lay :-
"Son," he said, "for Goddés love
Wrie me with some clothe above."
The son that was the husband
To whom was given all the land,
Clepéd his son, and bade him take
A sack, of those that he did make,
And bade him turn it tweyfold
And lay it on his father 10 for cold.
The child, as he bade him do,
Took a sack and carve 't in two.

His father spaké to him yorn,"

"See! Why hast thou the sack shorn?" The child answered him in haste,

It was through the Holy Ghast,12—
"This deed have I done for thee.
Good example giv'st thou me
How I shall serve thee in thy eld,
When thou, thyself, may'st not weld.13
This half sack 14 shall lie thy father above :
And keep the tother part to thy behove.
Unkindly thou teachest me the good:
Of unkind cometh unkind blood."
This example were good to con,
Both to the father and eke to the son.
God is not payéd,15 here we find

That the son to the father is not kind.

1 I can no skill, I know no reason; for the belief in luck that comes with the first coin taken as hansel. A hansel is that which is given into the hand, from "hand" and First-English "syllan," to give. Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood says it does not mean the coin given, but the hand itself given in striking a bargain. This is the root of the name of the Hanse Towns, a confederation bound by agreement for common security of trade.

2 Dele, part; from "dæ'lan," to divide, deal out.

3 Noy, hurt. French "nuire," Latin "nocere."

Pas, a setting forth; from "pandere," to spread out, as when Eneas "ordine singula pandit." Each division of a long poem, as a spreading forth of a distinct section, was sometimes called a "Passus."

Jealous. The French text has "geluz." The word is of the root of " zeal," and used here in the same sense as in the phrase "jaloux de lui plaire," anxious to please him.

Catel, possessions, chattels.

7 At his, pronounced "at's." So line 6, in his, "in's." Wow, wall. The spelling in the original is "loghe" and "woghe.”

12 Ghast (First-English " gást "), spirit.

13 Weld, have power, rule. First-English "wealdan."

We have to 14 The verse often seems irregular where it is not so. remember the old ways of contraction and running together of iden tical letters, as here :

"This half sack sh'lllie thy fa'r above:

And keep the to'r part-t-thy behove."

15 Payed, "pacatus," pleased.

16 St. John the Almoner, to whom this story is ascribed, was a famous Patriarch of Alexandria. He was born at Amathonte in the island of Cyprus, and was made Patriarch A.D. 610 against his will, after the death of his wife and children. The zeal of his charity and love for the poor obtained for him the title of "The Almoner." Though his revenues were very great he lived poorly, and slept on a small pallet under a wretched blanket. A rich Alexandrian presented him with a good one. The saint slept under it one night, reproached himself for luxury, and sold it the next day. The rich man bought it, and presented it again; the saint sold it again. It was bought and given again, and sold again; the saint saying good-humouredly to his friend, "We shall see which of us first tires." His exertions for the poor during the famine of A.D. 615 and the plague that followed were the last famous incidents of the Almoner's life. He died at his birthplace in the year 616.

17 Okerer, usurer; from First-English "eácan," to eke or increase.

Greaté marvel had they all

That such a chance might him befal.

The thirdé day, thus writ it is,
Piers fell in a great sickness;

And as he lay in his bed

Him thoughté well that he was led
With one that after him was sent
To come unto his Judgément.
Before the Judgé was he brought,

To yield account how he had wrought.
Piers stood full sore adrade

And was abashéd as maid:

He saw a fiend on the to party 13
Bewraying 14 him full felonly;

All it was shewed him before

How he had lived since he was bore;

And namely 15 every wicked deed

Sin first he coudé himself lead,

Why he them did and for what chesun,16

Of all behoveth him yield a reason.
On the tother party stood men full bright
That would have saved him at their might,

But they mighté no good find

That might him save or unbind.
The fair men said, "What is to rede,17

Of him find we no good deed

That God is payed of-but of a loaf

The which Piers at the poor man drove.

Yet gave he it with no good will

But cast it after him with ill;

For Goddés love he gave it not

Ne for almsdeed he it had thought:
Nathéless the pooré man

Had the loaf of Piers than." 18

The fiend had laid in balance

Piers, if thy willé be!"

Piers stood and looked on him,

His wicked deeds and his mischance:

3 Aywhore, everywhere. First-English "æghwar." Hatren, clothes. First-English "hæter," clothing.

5 Barm (First-English "bearm"), lap.

6 Never a dele, never a bit.

7 Gat, road. Icelandic "gata."

8 Jangland, prating, chattering.

9 Grill, stern, cruel, hideous, causing fear.

50

Piers of his sleep gan blink

50

And greatly on his dream gan think, Sighing with a moaning cheer

As man that was in great were,22

How that he acoupéd 23 was

10 Bode the qued, waited for the shrewish or ill-disposed person. There was First-English "cwead," filth.

11 Hent it up belive, snatched it up quickly. First-English "hentan,"

to pursue, seize.

12 Ferly, wonderfully.

With fiendés fele 24 for his trespas,

And how they would have damned him there

If mercy of Jesus Christ ne were.

13 On the to party, on the one side. In line 77 are the angels

the tother party."

15 Namely, especially,

14 Bewraying, accusing.

100

"on

16 Chesun, motive. Norman-French.

19 Peise, weight, balance. French "peser," to weigh. 20 Thou leres, you learn, take the lesson home.

21 Till, prop up. The root "til" meaning fit or good in Teutonic languages, the verb from it means to make fit or good. To till the soil is to make it fit or good for fruit-bearing. To till the soul is to make it fit to stand in the day of trial. The same root yields a provincial use of the word "till" as “to prop up," make fit to stand; and that is the sense here.

150

Hastily he took his catél

And gave it to poor men each deal.

Piers called to him his clerk,

That was his notary and bade him hark,

"I shall thee show a privity,

A thing that thou shalt do to me,

I will that thou no man it tell.
My body I take thee here to sell

To some man as in bondage,
To live in povert and in servåge.

But thou do this, I will be wroth,
And thou and thine shall be me loth.3

If thou do it, I shall thee give
Ten pound of gold, well with to live.

Those ten pound I take thee here,

And me to sell in bond manere.

I ne recké unto whom,

But only he have the Christendom.
The ransom thou shalt for me take,
Therefore thou shalt sickerness make
For to give it blithely and well
To pooré men every deal,
And withhold thereof no thing
The mountenance of a farthing."
His clerk was woe to do that deed,
But only for menace and for dread,
For dread Piers made him it do,
And did him plight his troth thereto.
When his clerk had made his oath

He wex 17 so mild and so meek
A milder man thurt 18 no man seek,
For he meeked himself o'er skill 19
Pots and dishes for to swill;
To great penance he gan him take,
And muché for to fast and wake;
And much he loved tholmodness 20
To rich, to poor, to more, to less.
Of allé men he would have dout, 21
And to their bidding meekly lout; 22

260

And knew the clerk well by sight.

They spake of old acquaintance

Yolë, his lord, well understood

And Yole told him of his chance.

That all his grace and all his good

Therefore I shall make thee free:
I will that my fellów thou be."
Thereto Piers granted not
To be freeman as he besought,
He woldé be as he was ore,1
In that servage for evermore;
He thanked the lord mildély
For his greaté courtesy.

Sithen Jesu, through his might,
Shewed him to Piers sight,

For to be stalworth in his fonding

And to him to have longing:
"Be not sorrowful to do penance,
I am with thee in every chance;
Piers, I have mind of thee,--

Lo here the kirtle that thou gave for me:

Therefore grace I shall thee send,

In all goodness well to end."

Befel that serjeaunts and squiers

That were wont to servé Piers
Went in pilgrimage, as in case,3
To that country where Piers was.
Yole full fair gan them call

And prayed them home to his hall;
Piers was there, that eaché sele,*
And, every one, he knew them wele.
All he served them as a knave,
That was wont their service to have,
But Piers not yet they knew,
For penance changed was his hue.
Not forthé they beheld him fast 5

And often to him their eyes they cast,
And saidé," He that standeth here

Is like to Piers tollere."

He hid his visage all that he might
Out of knowledge of their sight;
Natheless they beheld him more

And knew him well, all that were thore,
And said, "Yole, is yon thy page?

A rich man is in thy serváge!
The Emperor, both far and near,
Hath do him seek 6 that we find here."

Piers listened and heard them speaking And that they had of him knowing; And privily away he name 7

Till he to the porter came.

The porter had his speeché lore, 8
And hearing also, since he was bore;
But through the grace of sweet Jesu
Was shewed for Piers fair virtú.
Piers said, "Let me forth go!"
The porter spake, and saidé, " Yo." 9
He that was deaf and dumb also
Spake, when Piers spake him to.
Piers out at the gaté went

And thither yede where God him sent.

310

320

330

7 Name, took himself. First-English "niman," to take. (See line

243.)

To rest withouten end to lede,

For his meekness and his good deed.

Robert of Brunnne, in one part of his poem, reproduced objections to the miracle plays, except when acted in church by the clergy at Easter and Christmas. But the taste for them was spreading, and in the fourteenth century they attained to a development in this country, strongly illustrative of the national desire to bring the Bible story and what were held to be the essentials of its teaching home to all. We have seen the early form of such plays in the "Raising of Lazarus." That was a single play, not one of a series, and was acted by the persons employed usually in the services of the Church. An early sequence of three plays from the Bible story, in a MS. of the twelfth century, was found in the Library of Tours. The first play set forth the Fall of Adam and Eve; after which, said the stage directions, "devils shall take them, and put them into hell, and they shall make a great smoke to rise in it, and cry aloud." The second play was of the death of Abel, after which, "devils coming, Cain is led to hell, being often struck, but they shall take Abel more mildly; then the Prophets shall be ready each in a convenient place of concealment." The third play consisted in their coming forward to prophesy of Christ, and when each had prophesied, devils took him also into hell. This sequence was evidently meant as a short summary from the Old Testament, showing man's need of Christ through the Fall, and the looking of the old world to his coming. The hell in such plays was always represented by the type of the whale's open jaws. A hell-mouth of painted