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Dame, quod this Pluto, be no lenger wroth, 10185 I yeve it up: but fin I swore min oth

That I wold graunten him his fight again,

My word fhal stand, that werne I you certain :

I am a king, it fit me not to lie.

And I, quod fhe, am Quere of Faerie.

Hire anfwere she shal han I undertake;
Let us no more wordes of it make.
Forfoth, quod he, I wol you not contrary.

Now let us turn again to January,
That in the gardin with his faire May
Singeth wel merier than the popingay;
You love I beft, and shal, and other non.
So long about the alleyes is he gon,
Til he was comen again to thilke pery
Wher as this Damian fitteth ful mery
On high, among the freshe leves grene.

This freshe May, that is fo bright and shene,

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Gan for to fike, and said, Alas, my fide!

Now, Sire, quod fhe, for ought that may betide

I mofle have of the peres that I fee

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Or I mofte die, fo fore longeth me

To eten of the fmale peres grene;

Help for hire love that is of heven quene.
I tell you wel a woman in my plit
May have to fruit fo gret an appetit

That she may dien but she of it have.

Alas! quod he, that I n'adde here a knave

10210

That coude climbe: alas! alas! (quod he)

For I am blinde. Ye, Sire, no force, quod fhe;

But wold ye vouchefauf, for Goddes fake,

10215

The pery in with your armes for to take,
(For well wot that ye mistrusten me)
Than wold I climben wel ynough, (quod fhe)
So I my fote might fetten on your back.

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Certes, faid he, therin fhal be no lack,
Might I you helpen with min herte blood.
He ftoupeth doun, and on his back she stood,

And caught hire by a twist;

and

up

fhe goth.

(Ladies, I pray you that ye be not wroth;

I can nat glofe; I am a rude man:)
And fodenly anon this Damian

Gan pullen up the smock, and in he throng.
And whan that Pluto faw this grete wrong
To January he yaf again his fight,

And made him fee as wel as ever he might;

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.10227. Gan pullen] After this verse the editt. (except Ca. 2, and Pynf. 1, 2,) have eight others of the loweft and moft fuperfluous ribaldry that can well be conceived. It would be a mere lofs of time to argue from the lines themfelves that they were not written by Chaucer, as we have this thort and decifive reafon for rejecting them, that they are not found in any one mf. of authority. They are not found in mff. A. C. 1, Ask. 1,2. HA. B. C. D. G. Bod. a. C. y. §. e. (. C. 2. T. N. Ch. In mff. E. H. I. W. either the whole Tale or that part where they might be looked for is wanting. The only tolerable mf. in which I have seen them is F. and there they have been added in the margin by a later hand, perhaps not older than Caxton's first edition.

And whan he thus had caught his fight again
Ne was ther never man of thing so fain :
But on his wif his thought was ever mo.

Up to the tree he caft his eyen two,
And faw how Damian his wife had dreffed
In fwiche manere it may not ben expressed,
But if I wolde fpeke uncurteily;

And up he yaf a roring and a cry,

As doth the mother whan the child fhal dic:
Out! helpe! alas! harow! he gan to cry;
Oftronge lady flore, what doest thou?
And the answered, Sire, what aileth you?
Have patience and refon in your minde,
I have you holpen on both
your eyen blinde.
Up peril of my foule, I fhal nat lien,

As me was taught to helpen with your eyen

Was nothing better for to make you fee

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Than ftrogle with a man upon a tree :
God wot I did it in ful good entent.

Strogle! quod he; ye, algate in it went.

Gode yeve you both on fhames deth to dien;

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. 10240. Out! belpe!] Two lines which follow this in the common editt. are omitted for the reafons ftated in the note upon ver. 10227; and I fhall take the fame liberty, upon exactly the fame grounds, with four more which have been inferted in thofe editt. after ver. 10250.

10241. Oftronge lady ftore] As all the best mf. support this reading I have not departed from it, for fear store thould have fone fignification that i am not aware of. Some mff. have foure, mf. G. boure, edit. Ca. 2, bore; bóra, meretrix, Iland,

He fwived thee, I faw it with min eyen,
And elles be I honged by the halfe.

Than is, quod fhe, my medicine al false; For certainly if that ye mighten fee

10255

Ye wold not fay thise wordes unto me.
Ye have fom glimfing, and no parfit fight.
I fee, quod he, as wel as ever I might
(Thanked be God) with both min eyen two,

And by my feith me thought he did thee fo. 10260
Ye mafe, ye mafen, good Sire, quod fhe;

This thank have I for I have made you fee:
Alas! quod fhe, that ever I was fo kind.

Now Dame, quod he, let al paffe out of mind:
Come doun, my lefe, and if I have miffaid
God helpe me fo as I am evil appaid:
But by my fadres foule I wende have fein
How that this Damian had by thee lein,

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And that thy fmock had lein upon his breft.

Ye, Sire, quod fhe, ye may wene as you left: 10270

But, Sire, a man that waketh of his flepe

He may not fodenly wel taken kepe
Upon a thing, ne feen it parfitly,
Til that he be adawed veraily:

Right fo a man that long hath blind ybe

He may not fodenly fo wel yfee,

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V. 10261. re mafe, ye mafen] The final has been added without authority, and unnecellarily. This line is very oddly written in mff. Ask. 1, 2;

Ya may ya may ya quod fhe,

Volume 111.

R

First whan his fight is newe comen agein,
As he that hath a day or two yfein.
Til that your fight yfateled be a while
Ther may ful many a fighte you begile.
Beware, I pray you, for by heven King
Ful many a man weneth to see a thing,
And it is all another than it femeth:

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He which that misconceiveth oft misdemeth.
And with that word fhe lep doun fro the tree. 10285
This January who is glad but he?

He kiffeth hire and clippeth hire ful oft,
And on hire wombe he stroketh hire ful soft,
And to his paleis home he hath hire lad.

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Now, goode men, I pray you to be glad.
Thus endeth here my Tale of Januarie;
God bleffe us, and his moder Seinte Marie! 10292

THE SQUIERES PROLOGUE.

By Goddes mercy, fayde oure Hofte tho,
Now fwiche a wif I preie God kepe me fro.
Lo, fwiche fleightes and fubtilitees

In women ben; for ay as befy as bees

IC 295

v. 10293.] It has been faid in the Difcourfe, &c. §. 23. that this new Prologue has been prefixed to The Squieres Tale upon the authority of the befl mf. They are as follows; 4. C. 1, Afk. 1, 2, HA. D. Bod. a. y. S. The concurrence of the first five mfl. would alone have been more than fufficient to cutweigh the authorities in favour of the otherPrologue. Ed. Ca. 2, (though it has not this Prologue) agrees with thefe mff. in placing The Squieres Tale after The Marchantes.

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