From the Cuckow and the Nightingale.

But now I woll you tell a wonder thing,
As long as I lay in that swouning,
Me thought I wist what the briddes ment,
And what thei said and what was hir intent,
And of hir speech I had good knowing.

There heard I the nightingale say,
"Now good cuckow go somewhere away,
And let us that can singen dwellen here,
For every wight escheweth thee to here,
Thy songs be so elenge,1 in good fay."
"What," quod she, "may thee alen now?
It thinketh me, I sing as wel as thou,
For my song is both true and plaine,
And though I cannot crakell so in vaine,
As thou dost in thy throte, I wot never how,
Every wight may understande me."

From the Vision of PIERS PLOUGHMAN.

And loked on the waters,
I slombred into a slepyng,
It sweyed so murye.10
Than gan I metan 11

A marvellous swevene,12
That I was in a wildernesse,
Wiste 13 I never where,
And as I beheeld into the eest
An heigh to the sonne,
I seigh a tour on a toft 15

Trieliche 16 y-mated,

A depe dale bynethe,

A dongeon therinne,

With depe diches and derke
And dredfulle of sighte.
A fair feeld ful of folk
Fond I ther betwene,

Of alle manere of men,

The meene and the riche,

1

Werchyinge and wandrynge

As the world asketh.

Sestow 10 this peple

How bisie thei ben

Alle aboute the maze?

The mooste partie of this peple

Some putten hem 2 to the plough, That passeth on this erthe,

Pleiden ful selde

In settynge and sowynge
Swonken ful harde,

And wonnen that wastours
With glotonye destruyeth.

Have thei worship in this world,

Thei wilne no bettre.

Of oother hevene than here
Holde thei no tale."

*

*

What this mountaigne bymeneth,"
And the merke dale,

And the feld ful of folk,
I shal yow faire shewe.

A lovely lady of leere,
In lynnen y-clothed,
Cam down from a castel
And called me faire,

And seide, "Sone, slepestow? 9

"The tour on the toft," quod she,
"Truthe is therinne;

And wolde that ye wroughte

As his word techeth!

For he is fader of feith,
And formed yow alle

Bothe with fel" and with face,
And yaf1 yow fyve wittes,
For to worshipe him therewith
While that ye ben heere."

The dreamer (Piers Plowman) then asks Holy Church to teach him how to know the false, to which the lady replies:

7

BARBOUR.

AN APOSTROPHE TO FREEDOM.
A fredome is a nobill thing!
Fredome mayse man to haiff liking!
Fredome al solace to man giffs:
He levys at ese that frely levys!
A nobil hart may haff nane ese,
Na elles nocht that may him plese,
Gyff fredome failythe: for fre liking
Is yearnyt our all othir thing,
Na he, that ay has levyt fre,
May nocht knaw weill the propyrte,
The angyr, na the wretchyt dome,
That is cowplyt to foule thyrldome.
But gyff he had assayit it,

Then all perquer he suld it wyt;

And suld think fredome more to pryse

Than all the gold in warld that is.--Bruce.

WYCLIFFE.

From Translation of the New Testament.

MATTHEW, CHAPTER VIII.

Forsothe when Jhesus hadde comen down fro the hil, many cumpanyes folewiden hym. And loo! a leprouse man cummynge worshipide him, sayinge; Lord gif thou wolt, thou maist make me clene. And Jhesus holdynge forthe the honde, touchide hym, sayinge, I wole; be thou maad clene. And anoon the lepre of hym was clensid. And Jhesus saith to hym; See, say thou to no man; but go shewe thee to prestis, and offre that gifte that Moyses comaundide, into witnessing to hem.

Sothely when he hadde entride in to Capharnaum, centurio neigide to hym preyinge hym, and said, Lord my child lyeth in the hous sike on the palsie, and is yuel tourmentid. And Jhesus saith to hym, I shal cume, and shal hele hym. And centurio answerynge saith to hym, Lord, I am not worthi, that thou entre vndre my roof; but oonly say bi word, and my child shall be helid. For whi and I am a man ordeynd vndre power, hauynge vndir me knightis; and I say to this, Go, and he goth; and to another, Come thou, and he cometh; and to my seruaunt, Do thou this thing, and he doth. Sothely Jhesus, heerynge these thingis, wondride, and said to men suynge hym: Trewly I saye to you, I fond not so grete feith in Ysrael.

SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE.

OF THE CONTRES AND YLES THAT BEN BEYONDE THE LOND

OF CATHEY.

In passynge be the Lond of Cathaye, toward the highe Ynde, and toward Bacharye, men passen be a Kyngdom, that men clepen Caldilhe, that is a fulle fair Contrie. And there growithe a manere of Fruyt, as though it weren Gourdes; and whan thei ben rype, men kutten hem a to, and men fynden with-inne a lytylle Best, in Flessche in Bon, and Blode, as though it were a lytylle Lomb with outen Wolle. And men eten bothe the Frut and the Best; and that is a gret Marveylle. Of that Frute I have eten; alle thoughe it were wondirfulle: but that I knowe wel, that God is marveyllous in his Werkes. And natheles I tolde hem, of als gret a Marveylle to hem that is amonges us: and that was of the Bernakes.* For I told hem that in oure Contrie weren Trees that beren a Fruyt, that becomen Briddes fleeynge; and thei that fellen into the Water lyven; and thei that fallen on the Erthe, dyen anon : and thei ben right gode to Mannes mete. And here of had thei als gret marvaylle, that sume of hem trowed it were an impossible thing to be.

From thet Lond, in returnynge be 10 jorneys thorge out the Lond of the grete Chane, is another gode Yle, and a gret Kyngdom, where the King is ful riche and myghte. And amonges the riche men of his Contree is a passynge riche man, that is no Prynce, ne Duke, ne Erl. He hathe every day, 50 fair Damyseles, alle Maydenes, that serven him everemore at his Mete. And whan he is at the Table, thei bryngen him hys Mete at every tyme, 5 and 5 to gedre. And in bryngynge hire Servyse, thei syngen a Song. And aftre that, thei kutten his Mete, and putten it in his Mouthe: for he touchethe no thing ne handlethe nought, but holdethe evere more his Hondes before him, upon the Table. For he hathe so longe Nayles, that he may take no thing, ne handle no thing. For the Noblesse of that Contree is to have longe Nayles, and to make hem growen alle weys to ben as longe as men may. And there ben manye in that Contree, that han hire nayles so longe that they envyronne alle the Hond; and that is a gret Noblesse. And the Noblesse of the Women is for to haven smale Feet and litille: and therefore anon as thei ben born, they leet bynde hire Feet so streyte that thei may not growen half as nature wolde. And alle ways theise Damyselles, that I

* Barnacles, the name of a species of sea fowl, anciently supposed to grow out of the barnacles attached to wood in the sea.

spak of beforn, syngen alle the tyme that this riche man etethe: and when that he eteth no more of his firste Cours, than other 5 and 5 of faire Damyseles bryngen him his seconde Cours, alle weys syngynge, as thei dide beforn. And so thei don contynuelly every day, to the ende of his Mete. And in this manere he ledeth his Lif. And so dide thei before him, that weren his Auncestres; and so schulle thei that comen aftir him.

SYLLABUS.

Early Modern English dates from the middle of the fourteenth century. In 1362 Edward III. passed a law enforcing the use of English in judicial pleadings.

Wycliffe's doctrines influenced the age.

The fourteenth century was a period of intellectual regeneration through. out Europe.

Dante, an Italian, was the first modern poet.

Chaucer was born in London, 1328, seven years after Dante's death.
He received the favor of Court.

Chaucer and John of Gaunt favored the opinions of Wycliffe.

Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales after he was sixty years of age.
He died in 1400, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

His life is best seen in his writings.

The Canterbury Tales present a true picture of the times.

The earliest poems of Chaucer are copied after the poetry of Southern France.

Most of his allegorical poetry is in the form of dreams.

Chaucer's love of Nature is evident in all his writings.

"The Vision of Piers Plowman," by William Langlande, is an allegorical poem satirizing the abuses of the Church.

The "Creed of Piers Plowman," published later, is the work of an unknown author.

Gower was a contemporary and friend of Chaucer. His chief work is the Confessio Amantis.

"Gesta Romanorum" was a compilation of old stories.

Barbour was a Scotch poet of the time.

"Bruce" was his principal poem.

Wycliffe was the most important prose writer.

He was the first to translate the whole Bible.

After Wycliffe there was no translation of the Bible for a century and a half.

Sir John Mandeville was a traveller. He wrote a history of his Voiage and Travaile.