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The Frere lough whan he had herd all this: Now, Dame, quod he, so have I joye and blis, This is a long preamble of a Tale.

And whan the Sompnour herd the Frere gale,
Lo (quod this Sompnour) Goddes armes two, 64151
A Frere wol enterméte him evermo:

Lo, goode men, a fiie and eke a Frere
Wol fall in every dish and eke matere.

What spekeft thou of preambulatióun?

What? amble or trot, or pees, or go fit doun: 6420)

Thou letteft our disport in this matere.

Ye, wolt thou fo, Sire Sompnour? quod the Frere; Now by my faith i fhal, er that I go, Tell of a Sompnour swiche a Tale or two,: That all the folk fhal laughen in this place.

Now elles, Frere, I wol befhrewe thy face, (Quod this Sompnour) and I befhrewe me But if I telle Tales two or three

Of Freres, or I come to Sidenborne,
That I fhal make thin herte for to morne,

For wel I wot thy patience is gone.

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Our Hofte cried, Pees, and that anon;

.6414. the Sompnour herd the Frere gale] The fame word occurs below, ver. 6918," and let the Sompnour gale.” In both places it feems to be used metaphorically. Gálan, Sax. fignifies canere. It is ufed literally in The Court of Love, ver. 1357, where the nightingale is faid-to crie and gale; hence its name nightegale or nightengale. In the Island. at gala is ululare, Galli more exclamare ; and Hana gal, Gallicinium. Gudm. And. Lex. land.

And fayde, Let the woman tell hire Tale;

Ye fare as folk that dronken ben of ale.

Do, Dame, tell forth your Tale, and that is beft. 6435 Alredy, Sire, quod fhe, right as you left,

If I have licence of this worthy Frere.

Yes, Dame, quod he, tell forth, and I wol here.

THE WIF OF BATHES TALE.
In olde dayes of the King Artour,

Of which that Bretons fpeken gret honour,
All was this lond fulfilled of Faerie;

The Elf quene with hire joly compagnie

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The Wif of Bathes Tale] A bacheler of King Arthur's court is enjoined by the Queen, upon pain of death, to tell what thing it is that women do moft defire. At length he is taught it by an old woman, whom he is enforced to marry. Urry.

.6439. King Artour] I hope that Chaucer, by placing his Elf-quene in the dayes of King Artour, did not mean to intimate that the two monarchies were equally fabulous and vifię onary. Master Wace has judged more candidly of the exploits of our British hero;

Ne tut menfonge, ne tut veir;
Ne tut folie, ne tut faveir.
Tant unt li conteor conte,
E li fableor tant fable,
Pur les contes enbelecer,

Ke tut unt fait fable fembler. Le Brut, mf. Cotton, Vitell. A. 7. .6441. Faerie] Féerie, Fr. from fee, the French name for thofe fantastical beings which in the Gothick languages are called Alfs or Elves. The correfponding names to fee in the other romance dialects are fata, Ital. and hada, Span.; fo that it is probable that all three are derived from the Lat. fatum, which in the barbarous ages was corrupted into fatus and fata. See Menage, in v. Fée. Du Cange, in v. Fadus.-- Our fyftem of Faerie would have been much more complete if all our ancient writ

Danced ful oft in many a grene mede.

This was the old opinion as I rede;

ers had taken the fame laudable pains to inform us upon that head that Gervafe of Tilbery has done, Ot. Imp. Dec. iii. c. 61,2. He mentions two species of dæmons in England which I do not recollect to have met with in any other author. The first are thofe " Quos Galli Neptunos, Angli Portuños, nominant.” Of the others he fays" Eft in Angliâ quoddam dæmonum genus, quod fuo idiomate Grant nominant adinftar pulli "equini anniculi, tibiis erectum, oculis fcintillantibus,"

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c.

This laft feems fo have been a dæmon fui generis, but the Portunus appears to have resembled the Gobelin, as des cribed by Orderic. Vital. 1. v. p. 556; speaking of the miracles of St. Taurinus at Evreux in Normandy he says-" Dæmon "enim, quem de Dianæ phano expulit, adhuc in eâdem urbe "degit, et in variis frequenter formis apparens neminen lædit. "Hunc vulgus Gobelinum appellat, et per merita Sanċli Tau"rini ab humanâ læfione coercitum ufque hodie affirmat."In the fame manner Gervafe fays of the Portuni, " Id illis in "fitum eft, ut obfequi poffint et obeffe non poffint." He adds indeed an exception; "Verum unicum quafi modulum no"cendi habent. Cum enim inter ambiguas noctis tenebras An❝ gli folitarii quandoque equitant, Portunus nonnunquam 'in"vifus equitanti fe fe copulat, et cum diutius comitatur cun"tem, tandem loris arreptis equum in lutum ad manum du"cit, in quo dum infixos volutatur, Portunus exiens cachin"num facit, et fic hujufcemodi ludibrio humanam fimplicita"tem deridet."-This is exactly such a prank as our Hob (or Hop) goblin was used to play. See the Midfum. Night's Dream, act ii. fc. 1, and Drayton's Nymphidia *.--It thould be obferved that the Portuni (according to Gervafe) were of the true Faery fize; "ftaturâ pufilli, dimidium pollicis non habentes." But

* I fhall here correct a mistake of my own in the Difc. &c. n. 23. I have supposed that Shakespeare might have followed Drayton in his Faery fyftem. I have unce obferved that Don Quixote (which was not published till 1605) is cited in The Nymphidia, whereas we have an édition of The Midfum. Night's Dream in 1600; fo that Drayton undoubtedly followed shakespeare:

I fpeke of many hundred yeres ago,

But now can no man fee non elves mo;
For now the grete charitee and prayeres
Of limitoures and other holy freres,

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That ferchen every land and every ftreme,

As thikke as motes in the fonne beme,

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Bliffing halles, chambres, kichenes, and boures,

Citees and burghes, caftles highe and toures,

Thropes and bernes, fhepenes and dairies,

This maketh that ther ben no Faeries:

For ther as wont to walken was an elf,

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Ther walketh now the limitour himself

In undermeles and in morweninges,

And fayth his matines and his holy thinges
As he goth in his limitatioun.

Women may now go safely up and doun,

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then indeed they were "fenili vultu, facie corrugatâ." In Dec. i. c. 18, he defcribes another fpecies of harmless dæmons called Folleti ; Esprits Follets, Fr. Folletti, Ital.----The Incubusy mentioned below,ver. 6462, was a Faery of not quite so harmless a nature. He fucceeded to the ancient Fauni, and like them was supposed to inflict that oppreffion which goes under the name of the ephialtes or nightmare. Pliny calls the ephialtes Faunorum in quiete ludibria, N. H. 1. 25. x. The Incubus how.. ever, as Chaucer infinuates, exerted his powers for love as well as for hate, Gervaf, Tilber. Dec. i. c. 17; “ Vidimus quof"dam Dæmones tanto Zelo mulieres amare quod ad inaudita prorumpunt ludibria, et cum ad concubitum earum acce"dunt mirâ mole eas opprimunt, nec ab aliis videntur."

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¥.6457. under meles] The undermele, i. e. undern-mele, was the dinner of our ancestors. See the n. on ver. 8136.

In every bush, and under every tree,
Ther is non other Incubus but he,

And he ne will don hem no difhonour.

And so befell it that this King Artour
Had in his hous a lufty bacheler,
That on a day came riding fro river:
And happed that, alone as she was borne,
He faw a maiden walking him beforne,
Of which maid he anon, maugre hire hed,
By veray force beraft hire maidenhed:
For which oppreffion was fwiche clamour,
And fwiche pursuite unto the King Artour,
That damned was this knight for to be ded
By cours of lawe, and fhuld have loft his hed,
(Paraventure fwiche was the ftatute tho)

But that the quene and other ladies mo
So longe praieden the king of grace,
Til he his lif him granted in the place,

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. 6466. came riding fro river] Or fro the river, as it is in fome mff.: it means from hawking at waterfowl, Froig. v i. c. 140; "Le Comte de Flandres eftoit tousjours en riviere-un "jour advint qu'il alla voller en la riviere-et getta fon Fau

connier un faucon apres le heron, et le Comte auffi un."---So in c. 210, he fays that Edw. III. had with him in his army.... "trente fauconniers à cheval, chargez d'oifeaux, et bien foi"xante couples de forts chiens et autant de levriers: dont il "alloit, chacun jour ou en chace ou en rivière, ainfi que il "luy plaifoit." Sire Thopas is defcribed as following this knightly sport, ver. 1 3665;

He coude huňte at the wilde dere,
And ride on hauking for the rivere
With grey gofhauk on honde,

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