Gladeth himself; thus fain men as I geffe:
Men loven of propre kind newefangelnesse,
As briddes don that men in cages fede;

10925

For though thou night and day take of hem hede,
And strew hir cage faire and foft as filke,
And give hem fugre, hony, bred, and milke,
Yet right anon as that his dore is up
He with his feet wol fpurnen doun his cup,
And to the wood he wol and wormes ete,
So newefangel ben they of hir mete,
And loven noveltees of propre kind; ›

10930

No gentilleffe of blood ne may hem bind.

So ferd this tercelet, alas the day!

10935

Though he were gentil borne, and fresh, and gay,

And goodly for to seen, and humble, and free.

He faw upon a time a kite flee,

And fodenly he loved this kite fo

That all his love is clene from me ago,
And hath his trouthe falfed in this wife.
Thus hath the kite my love in hire fervice,
And I am lorn withouten remedy.

And with that word this faucon gan to cry,
And swouneth eft in Canacees barme.

Gret was the forwe for that haukes harme

10940

10945

which our Author has thus tranflated; "All thynges feken

66

ayen to hir propre course, and all thynges rejoyfen on hir "retourninge agayne to hir nature." The comparison of the bird is taken from the fame place.

That Cañace and all hire women made;

They n'iften how they might the faucon glade:
But Canace home bereth hire in hire lap,

And foftely in plaftres gan hire wrap

10950

Ther as the with hire bek had hurt hirefelve.

Now cannot Canace but herbes delve
Out of the ground, and maken salves newe
Of herbes precious and fine of hewe
To helen with this hauk : fro day to night
She doth hire befineffe and all hire might.
And by hire beddes hed she made a mew,
And covered it with velouettes blew,
In figne of trouth that is in woman fene,
And all without the mew is peinted grene,
In which were peinted all thife false foules,
As ben thise tidifes, tercelettes, and owles,
And pies, on hem for to cry and chide,
Right for defpit were peinted hem befide.

10955

10960

V. 10958. velouettes blew] Velvets, from the Fr. velou, vElouette. See Du Cange, in v. Villofa, Velluetum.-I will juft add, that as blew was the colour of truth, [See C. L. 248,] fo green belonged to inconftancy: hence in a baliade upon an inconftant lady [among Stowe's additions to Chaucer's Works, p. 551, ed. Urr.] the burthen is

Inftede of blew thus may ye were al grene.

. 10962. thife tidifes] The tidife is mentioned as an inconftant bird in The Leg. of G. W. ver. 154;

As doth the tidif for newefangelncife.

Skinner fuppofes it to be the titmoufe; but he produces no authority for his fuppofition, nor have I any to oppose to it.

V. 10963, 4.] Are tranfpofed from the order in which they ftand in all the editt, and mff. that I have seen. Some of the beft

Thus lete I Canace hire hauk keping: I wol no more as now speke of hire ring, Til it come eft to purpos for to fain, How that this faucon gat hire love again Repentant, as the story telleth us,

By mediation of Camballus,

The kinges fone, of which that I you told;
But hennesforth I wol my proceffe hold
To speke of aventures and of batailles,
That yet was never herd fo gret mervailles.
First wol I tellen you of a Cambuscan,
That in his time many a citee wan;
And after wol I fpeke of Algarfif,

10965

10970

10975

How that he wan Theodora to his wif,
For whom ful oft in gret peril he was,

Ne had he ben holpen by the hors of bras;

10980

And after wol I fpeke of Camballo,

That fought in listes with the brethren two

mff. however read-And pies-which rather countenances the tranfpofition. My only excufe for fuch a liberty must be, that I cannot make any good fenfe of them in the common order. . 10977, 8.] Are also transposed, but upon the authority of mff. A. C. 1, and I believe fome others, though being fatisfied of the certainty of the emendation I have omitted to take a note of their concurrence. Ed. Ca. 2, agrees with thofe mff. According to the common arrangement old Cambuscan is to win Theodora to his wife, and we are not told what is to be the object of Algarfif's adventures.

. 10981. of Camballo] Mf. A. reads Cabalo: but that is not my only reason for suspecting a mistake in this name. It seems

For Canace, er that he might hire winne,
And ther I left I wol again beginne.

10984

clear from the context that the perfon here intended is (not a brother but) a lover of Canace;

Who fought in liftes with the brethren two
For Canace, or that he might hire winne.

The brethren two are obviously the two brethern of Canace, who have been mentioned above, Algarfif and Camballo. In mff. Ask. 1, 2, it is—bir brethren two, which would put the matter out of all doubt. Camballo could not fight with himfelf.- -Again, if this Camballo be supposed to be the brother of Canace, and to fight in defence of her with fome two brethren who might be fuitors to her, (according to Spenfer's fiction) he could not properly be faid to winne his fifter, when he only prevented others from winning her.-The outline therefore of the unfinished part of this Tale, according to my idea, is nearly this; the conclufion of the ftory of the faucon,

By mediation of Camballus,

with the help of the ring, the conquefts of Cambufcan, the winning of Theodora by Algarfif, with the affittance of the horfe of brass, and the marriage of Canace to fome knight, who was firft obliged to fight for her with her two brethren, a method of courtship very confonant to the spirit of ancient chivalry.

V. 10984. And ther I left] After this verfe, in mf. C. 1, and others, is the following note; "Here endeth The Squieres Tale "as meche as Chaucer made." The two lines which in the editt, and fome mil. are made to begin a third part are wanting in all the best mff.;

Apollo whirletb up his chare fo hie

Til that the god Mercurius house the lie.

They certainly have not the leaft appearance of belonging to this place. I thould guess that they were originally fcribbled by fome vacant reader in the blank space which is commonly left at the end of this Tale, and afterwards tranfcribed as Chaucer's by fome copift of more diligence than fagacity.