To anfwere to the court of certain thinges.

Now Lord, quod fhe, Crift Jefu, King of kinges, So wifly helpe me as I ne may:

I have ben fike, and that ful many a day:

may not go fo fer (quod fhe) ne ride

But I be ded, fo priketh it in my fide.
May I not axe a libel, Sire Sompnout,
And answere ther by my procuratour
To swiche thing as men wold apposen me ?

7175

Yes, quod this Sompnour, pay anon, let fee, 7180 Twelf pens to me, and I wol thee acquite:

I fhal no profit han therby but lite;
My maifter hath the profit and not I.
Come of, and let me riden hastily;

7185

Yeve me twelf pens, I may no lenger tarie.
Twelf pens! quod fhe; now Lady Seint Marie
So willy helpe me out of care and finne,

7190

This wide world though that I shuld it winne,
Ne have I not twelf
pens within my hold.
Ye knowen wel that I am poure and old;
Kithe your almeffe upon me poure wretche.
Nay than, quod he, the foule fend me fetche
If I thee excufe, though thou fhuldest be spilt.
Alas! quod fhe, God wot I have no gilt.
Pay me, quod he, or by the fwete Seinte Anne
As I wol bere away thy newe panne

For dette which thou oweft me of old
Whan that thou madeft thyn husbond cokewold

7196

I paied at home for thy correction.
Thou lieft, quod fhe, by my falvation;
Ne was I never or now, widew ne wif,
Sompned unto your court in all my lif,
Ne never I n'as but of my body trewe.
Unto the devil rough and blake of hewe
Yeve I thy body and my panne alfo.

And whan the devil herd hire curfen fo

Upon hire knees, he fayd in this manere ;

Now Mabily, min moder dere,

Is this your will in ernest that ye sey?

7200

7205

The devil, quod fhe, fo fetche him or he dey, 7210 And panne and all, but he wol him repent.

Nay, olde ftot, that is not min entent,
Quod this Sompnour, for to repenten me
For any thing that I have had of thee:
I wold I had thy fmok and every cloth.

Now brother, quod the devil, be not wroth;
Thy body and this panne ben min by right:
Thou shalt with me to helle yet to-night,
Wher thou shalt knowen of our privetee
More than a maifter of divinitee.

And with that word the foule fend him hent

Body and foule: he with the devil went
Wher as thife Sompnours han hir heritage:
And God, that maked after his image
Mankinde, fave and gide us all and fome,
And lene this Sompnour good man to become.

7215

7220

7225

7230

Lordings, I coude have told you (quod this Frere) Had I had leifer for this Sompnour here, After the text of Crift, and Poule, and John, And of oure other doctours many on, Swiche peines that your hertes might agrife, Al be it so that no tonge may devise, Though that I might a thousand winter tell, The peines of thilke curfed hous of hell: But for to kepe us fro that curfed place Waketh and prayeth Jefu of his grace. So kepe us fro the temptour Sathanas. Herkneth this word, beware as in this cas; The leon fit in his awaite alway

To fle the innocent if that he may.

Difpofeth ay your hertes to withstond

7235

7240

The fend, that you wold maken thral and bond;
He may not tempten you over your might,
For Crift wol be your champion and your knight;
And prayeth that this Sompnour him repent
Of his misdedes or that the fend him hent.

7246

THE SOMPNOURES PROLOGUE. THIS Sompnour in his ftirops high he stood; Upon this Frere his herte was fo wood, That like an afpen leef he quoke for ire. Lordings, quod he, but o thing I defire; I you befeche that of your curtefie, Sin ye han herd this falfe Frere lie, Volume 111.

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7250

As fuffereth me I may my Tale telle.

This Frere bofteth that he knoweth helle, And God it wot that is but litel wonder; Freres and fendes ben but litel afonder.

For parde ye han often time herd telle How that a frere ravished was to helle In fpirit ones by a vifioun,

7255

And as an angel lad him up and doun,

7260

To fhewen him the peines that ther were,

In all the place faw he not a frere;

Of other folk he saw ynow in wo.

Unto this angel fpake the frere tho;

7270

Now Sire, quod he, han freres fwiche a grace 7265
That non of hem fhal comen in this place?
Yes, quod this angel, many a millioun;
And unto Sathanas he lad him doun.
(And now hath Sathanas, faith he, a tayl
Broder than of a carrike is the fayl)
Hold up thy tayl, thou Sathanas, quod he,
Shew forth thin ers, and let the frere fee
Wher is the neft of freres in this place.
And er than half a furlong way of space,
Right fo as bees out swarmen of an hive,
Out of the devils ers ther gonnen drive

A twenty thousand freres on a route,

And thurghout hell they swarmed al aboute,

7275

.7269. (And now hath Sathanas, faith he] So mff. C. 1, Ask. 1, 2. I have put these two lines in a parenthesis, as be re fers to the narrator, the Sompnour.

7277. A twenty thousand] I have added A for the fake of

And com agen, as fast as they may gon,
And in his ers they crepen everich on:
He clapt his tayl agen, and lay ful still.

7280

This frere, whan he loked had his fill Upon the turments of this fory place,

His fpirit God restored of his grace
Into his body agen, and he awoke;
But natheles for fere yet he quoke,
So was the devils ers ay in his mind,
That is his heritage of veray kind.

you

God fave alle fave this curfed Frere;
My Prologue wol I end in this manere.

THE SOMPNOURES TALE.
LORDINGS, there is in Yorkshire, as I geffe,
A mersh contree ycalled Holdernesse,
In which ther went a limitour aboute,
To preche and eke to beg it is no doute.

And so befell that on a day this frere
Had preched at a chirche in his manere,

And fpecially aboven every thing

Excited he the peple in his preching

7285

7290

7295

the verse. Chaucer frequently prefixes it to nouns of number. See ver. 10697;

And up they rifen, wel a ten or twelve.

The Sompnoures Tale] A begging friar coming to a farmer's house who lay fick, obtaineth of the fick man a certain legacy which must be equally divided among his convent. A requital to the friar, thewing their cozenage, loitering, impudent begging, and hypocritical praying.