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For ther was he nat like a cloisterere,
With thredbare cope, as is a poure fcolere,
But he was like a maister or a pope:
Of double worsted was his femicope,
That round was as a belle out of the preffe.
Somwhat he lifped for his wantonneffe
To make his English fwete upon his tonge;
And in his harping, whan that he hadde fonge,
His eyen twinkeled in his hed aright

265

As don the sterres in a frosty night.

270

This worthy limitour was cleped Huberd.

A Marchant was ther with a forked berd;

In mottelee, and highe on hors he fat,

And on his hed a Flaundrish bever hat.

His bootes clapfed fayre and fetifly;

275

His refons fpake he ful folempnely,
Souning alway the encrefe of his winning:
He wold the fee were kept for any thing
Betwixen Middelburgh and Orewell.
Wel coud he in efchanges fheldes felle.
This worthy man ful wel his wit befette;
Ther wife no wight that he was in dette,
So fedefaftly didde he his governance

With his bargeines and with his chevifance.

280

.278. the fee were kept] i. e. guarded. The old fubfidy of tonnage and poundage was given to the king" pur¶a fauf"garde et cuftodie del mer," 12 Edw. IV. c. 3.

For fothe he was a worthy man withalle,

But foth to fayn I n'ot how men him calle.
A Clerk ther was of Oxenforde also,
That unto logike hadde long ygo.
As lene was his hors as is a rake,
And he was not right fat I undertake,
But loked holwe, and therto foberly.

Ful thredbare was his overest courtepy,
For he hadde geten him yet no benefice,
Ne was nought worldly to have an office;
For him was lever han at his beddes hed
Twenty bokes clothed in blake or red
Of Ariftotle and his philofophie
Then robes riche, or fidel or fautrie:
But all be that he was a philofophre

285

290

295

Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre,

3co

But all that he might of his frendes hente

On bokes and on lerning he it spente,

And befily gan for the foules praie

Of hem that yave him wherwith to scolaie.

V. 292. his overeft courtepy] His uppermoft fhort cloke of coarse cloth. See ver. 6964, and P. P. fol. 33, b. 1. ult.

And kyt her copes, and courtepies hem made.

It is a Teutonick word, from kort, curtus, and pije, penula coactiles, ex villis craffioribus. Kilian in vv.

. 300. Yet hadde he] Hadde is here to be pronounced as a diffyllable, the b in be being confidered as a confonant: fo below, ver. 388. See also ver. 9859,11784,11805,12532,12834, in all which inftances (and many others) the e feminine is to be pronounced before b.

. 304. to fcolaie] To attend fchool, from the old Fr. verb efcoloier. It is used in the fame fenfe by Lydgate, Traged. fol.

Of hudie toke he moste cure and hede;
Not a word fpake he more than was nede,
And that was faid in forme and reverence,

And fhort and quike, and full of high fentence:
Souning in morál vertue was his fpeche,
And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche.

A Sergeant of the Lawe ware and wife,
That often hadde yben at the paruis,
Ther was alfo, ful riche of excellence;

395

310

Difcrete he was, and of gret reverence;

He femed fwiche, his wordes were fo wife:

315

Juftice he was ful often in affife

By patent and by pleine commiffioun:

For his science and for his high renoun
Of fees and robes had he many on:

So grete a pourchafour was no wher non:

320

All was fee finiple to him in effect,

His pourchafing might not ben in fufpect:

99. So Chaucer ufes to werreie, ver. 10324, 14338, and to fefleye, ver. 10659, from guerroier and festoier.

. 307. in forme and reverence] With propriety and modefty. In the next line "ful of high fentence" means only, I ap prehend, full of high or excellent fenfe.Mr. Warton will excufe me for fuggesting these explanations of this paffage in lieu of those which he has given in his Hift. of Eng. Po. p. 451. The credit of good letters is concerned that Chaucer thould not be fuppofed to have made a pedantick formality and a precife fententious ftyle on all fubjects the characteristicks of a fcholar.

. 322. in fufpea] In fufpicion. See ver. 8781, 12197. Volume II.

No wher fo befy a man as he ther n'as,
And yet he femed befier than he was.

In termes hadde he cas and domes alle

325

That fro the time of King Will, weren falle;
Therto he coude endite and make a thing;
Ther coude no wight pinche at his writing;
And every ftatute coude he plaine by rote.
He rode but homely in a medlee cote
Girt with a feint of filk with barres fmale.
Of his array tell I no lenger tale.

A Frankelein was in this compagnie;
White was his berd as is the dayefie:

330

.331. a feint of filk with bärres fmale] It appears from our Author's tranflation of R. R. ver. 1103, that barres were called cloux in French, and were an ufual ornament of a girdle. See Mr. Warton's Hift. p. 377, 426. Clavus in Latin, from whence the Fr. cloux is derived, feems to have fignified not only an outward border, but also what we call a ftripe. Mountfaucon, t. iii. P. i. ch. vi. A bar in heraldry is a narrow ftripe or fafcia. Du Cange in v. Clavatus, quotes the Statut. Andegav. an. 1423, in which the clergy, and especially the regulars, are forbid to wear zonas auro clavatas.

.333. A Frankelein] Fortefcue [de L. L. Ang. c. 29,] defcribes a Franklain to be a Pater familias- -magnis ditatus Pfeffionibus. He is claffed with (but after) the miles and armiger, and is diftinguished from the libere tenentes and valedi, though as it thould feem the only real diftinction between him and other freeholders confifled in the largenefs of his eftate. Spelman, in v. Frankelein, quotes the following paffage from Trivet's Fr. Chronicle, [mj. Bibl. R. S. n. 56,] "Brotherton (filius Edwardi I. Marefchallus Angliæ) apres la mort fon pere etpofa la fille de un Francheleyn apelee Alice." The hiftorian did not think it worth his while even to mention the name of the Frankelein.

"Thomas de

Of his complexion he was fanguin;

Wel loved he by the morwe a fop in win:

To liven in delit was ever his wone,

For he was Epicures owen sone,

That held opinion that plein delic

335

Was veraily felicite parfite.

An houfholder and that a grete was he;
Seint Julian he was in his contree.
His brede, his ale, was alway after on;
A better envyned man was no wher non.
Withouten bake mete never was his hous
Of fish and flesh, and that fo plenteous
It fnewed in his hous of mete and drinke
Of alle deintees that men coud of thinke.
After the fondry fefons of the yere
So changed he his mete and his foupere.
Ful many a fat partrich hadde he in mewe,
And many a breme and many a luce in stewe.

340

345

350

. 342. Seint Julian] was eminent for providing his votaries with good lodgings and accomodations of all forts. In the title of his legende, [mf. Bod. 1596, f. 4,] he is called "St. Julian, "the gode herberjour :" it ends thus ;

Therfore yet to this day thei that over lond wende

Thei biddeth Seint Julian anon that gode herborw he hem fende,
And Seint Julianes pater nofter ofte feggeth alfo,

For his fader foule and his moderes, that he hem bring thereto. Of the virtue of St. Julian's pater-nofter fee The Decam. d. ii.

n. 2.

V. 344. envyned] Stored with wine. Cotgrave has preserved the Fr. word envine in the fame fenfe. This is the reading of m. Afk. 1, 2, and others. The common editions read viendid.

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