3079. The tale of _Melibee_ (as told above) is about a certain Melibeus and
his wife Prudence, who had a daughter called Sophie. One day, while
Melibeus is absent, three of his enemies break into his house, beat his
wife, and wound his daughter. On returning, he takes counsel as to what
must be done. He is for planning a method of revenge, but his wife advises
him to forgive the injuries, and in the end her counsels prevail.
3082. _corpus Madrian_, body of Madrian: which has been interpreted in two
ways. Urry guessed it to refer to St. Materne, bishop of Treves, variously
commemorated on the 14th, 19th, or 25th of September, the days of his
translations being July 18 and October 23. Mr. Steevens suggested, in a
note printed in Tyrwhitt's Glossary, that the 'precious body' was that of
St. Mathurin, priest and confessor, commemorated on Nov. 1 or Nov. 9. The
latter is more likely, since in his story in the Golden Legende, edit.
1527, leaf 151 back, the expressions 'the precious body' and 'the holy
body' occur, and the story explains that his body would not stay in the
earth till it was carried back to France, where he had given directions
that it should be buried.
3083. 'Rather than have a barrel of ale, would I that my dear good wife had
heard this story.' Cf. _morsel breed_, B. 3624.
_lief_ is not a proper name, as has been suggested, I believe, by some one
ignorant of early English idiom. Cf. 'Dear my lord,' Jul. Caesar, ii. 1.
255; and other instances in Abbott's Shakesp. Grammar, sect. 13.
3101. 'Who is willing (_or_ who suffers himself) to be overborne by
everybody.'
3108. _neighëbor_, three syllables; _thannè_, two syllables.
3112. Observe the curious use of _seith_ for _misseith_.
3114. _Monk._ See him described in the Prologue, A. 165.
3116. _Rouchester._ The MSS. have _Rouchester_, (Hl. _Rowchestre_), [225]
shewing that _Lo_ stands alone in the first foot of the line. Tyrwhitt
changed _stant_ into _stondeth_, but all our seven MSS. have _stant_.
According to the arrangement of the tales in Tyrwhitt's edition, the
pilgrims reach Rochester _after_ coming to Sittingborne (mentioned in the
Wife of Bath's Prologue), though the latter is some eleven miles nearer
Canterbury. The present arrangement of the Groups remedies this. See note
to B. 1165, at p. 165.
3117. _Ryd forth_, ride forward, draw near us.
3119. _Wher_, whether. _dan_, for Dominus, a title of respect commonly used
in addressing monks. But Chaucer even uses it of Arcite, in the Knightes
Tale, and of Cupid, Ho. Fame, 137.
3120. The monk's name was _Piers_. See B. 3982, and the note.
3124. Cf. 'He was not pale as a for-pyned goost'; Prol. A. 205. Jean de
Meun says, in his Testament, l. 1073, that the friars have good pastures
(il ont bonnes pastures).
3127. _as to my doom_, in my judgment.
3130. Scan the line--Bút a góvernoúr wylý and wýs. The Petworth MS. inserts
'boþ' before 'wyly': but this requires the very unlikely accentuation
'govérnour' and an emphasis on a. The line would scan better if we might
insert _art_, or _lyk_, after _But_, but there is no authority for this.
3132. Read--_A wél-faríng persónë_, after which comes the pause, as marked
in E. and Hn.
3139. The monk's _semi-cope_, which seems to have been an ample one, is
mentioned in the Prologue, A. 262. In Jack Upland, § 4, a friar is asked
what is signified by his 'wide cope.'
3142. 'Shaven very high on his crown'; alluding to the tonsure.
3144. _the corn_, i. e. the chief part or share.
3145. _borel men_, lay-men. _Borel_ means 'rude, unlearned, ignorant,' and
seems to have arisen from a peculiar use of _borel_ or _burel_, sb., a
coarse cloth; so that its original sense, as an adj., was 'in coarse
clothing,' or 'rudely clad.' See _borrel_ and _burel_ in the New Eng.
Dictionary.
_shrimpes_, diminutive or poor creatures.
3146. _wrecched impes_, poor grafts, weakly shoots. Cf. A. S. _impian_, to
graft, _imp_, a graft; borrowed from Low Lat. _impotus_, a graft, from Gk.
[Greek: emphutos], engrafted.
3152. _lussheburghes_, light coins. In P. Plowman, B. xv. 342, we are told
that 'in Lussheborwes is a lyther alay (bad alloy), and yet loketh he lyke
a sterlynge.' They were spurious coins imported into England from
Luxembourg, whence the name. See Liber Albus, ed. Riley, 1841, p. 495; and
Blount's Nomolexicon. Luxembourg is called _Lusscheburghe_ in the Allit.
Morte Arthure, l. 2388. The importation of this false money was frequently
forbidden, viz. in 1347, 1348, and 1351.
3157. _souneth into_, tends to, is consistent with; see Prol. A. 307, and
Sq. Ta., F. 517. The following extracts from Palsgrave's French Dictionary
are to the point. 'I sownde, I appartayne or belong, _Ie tens_. [226] Thys
thyng sowndeth to a good purpose, _Ceste chose tent a bonne fin_.' Also, 'I
sownde, as a tale or a report sowndeth to ones honesty or dyshonesty, _Ie
redonde_. I promise you that this matter sowndeth moche to your dishonoure,
_Ie vous promets que ceste matyere redonde fort a votre deshonneur_.'
3160. _Seint Edward._ There are two of the name, viz. Edward, king and
martyr, commemorated on March 16, 18, or 19, and the second King Edward,
best known as Edward the Confessor, commemorated on Jan. 5. In Piers the
Plowman, B. xv. 217, we have--
'Edmonde and Edwarde · eyther were kynges,
And seyntes ysette · tyl charite hem folwed.'
But Edward the Confessor is certainly meant; and there is a remarkable
story about him that he was 'warned of hys death certain dayes before hee
dyed, by a ring that was brought to him by certain pilgrims coming from
Hierusalem, which ring hee hadde secretly given to a poore man that askyd
hys charitie in the name of God and sainte Johan the Evangelist.' See Mr.
Wright's description of Ludlow Church, where are some remains of a stained
glass window representing this story, in the eastern wall of the chapel of
St. John. See also Chambers, Book of Days, i. 53, 54, where we read--'The
sculptures upon the frieze of the present shrine (in Westminster Abbey)
represent _fourteen scenes in the life_ of Edward the Confessor.... He was
canonized by Pope Alexander about a century after his death.... He was
esteemed the _patron-saint of England_ until superseded in the thirteenth
century by St. George.' These fourteen scenes are fully described in
Brayley's Hist. of Westminster Abbey, in an account which is chiefly taken
from a life of St. Edward written by Ailred of Rievaulx in 1163. Three
'Lives of Edward the Confessor' were edited, for the Master of the Rolls,
by Mr. Luard in 1858. See Morley's Eng. Writers, 1888, ii. 375.
3162. _celle_, cell. The monk calls it _his_ cell because he was 'the
keper' of it; Prol. 172.
3163. _Tragédie_; the final _ie_ might be slurred over before _is_, in
which case we might read _for to_ for _to_ (see footnote); but it is
needless. The definition of 'tragedy' here given is repeated from Chaucer's
own translation of Boethius, which contains the remark--'_Glose._ Tragedie
is to seyn, a ditee [_ditty_] of a prosperitee for a tyme, that endeth in
wrecchednesse'; bk. ii. pr. 2. 51. This remark is Chaucer's _own_, as the
word _Glose_ marks his addition to, or _gloss_ upon, his original. His
remark refers to a passage in Boethius immediately preceding, viz. 'Quid
_tragoediarum_ clamor aliud deflet, nisi indiscreto ictu fortunam felicia
regna uertentem?' De Consolatione Philosophiae, lib. ii. prosa 2. See also
the last stanza of 'Cresus' in the Monkes Tale (vol. i. p. 268).
3169. _exametron_, hexameter. Chaucer is speaking of Latin, not of English
verse; and refers to the common Latin hexameter used in heroic verse; he
would especially be thinking of the Thebaid of Statius, [227] the
Metamorphoseon Liber of Ovid, the Aeneid of Vergil, and Lucan's Pharsalia.
This we could easily have guessed, but Chaucer has himself told us what was
in his thoughts. For near the conclusion of his Troilus and Criseyde, which
he calls a _tragedie_, he says--
'And kis the steppes wheras thou seest pace
_Virgile_, _Ovyde_, Omer, _Lucan_, and _Stace_.'
Lucan is expressly cited in B. 401, 3909.
3170. _In prose._ For example, Boccaccio's De Casibus Virorum and De Claris
Mulieribus contain 'tragedies' in Latin prose. Cf. ll. 3655, 3910.
3171. _in metre._ For example, the tragedies of Seneca are in various
metres, chiefly iambic. See also note to l. 3285.
3177. _After hir ages_, according to their periods; in chronological order.
The probable allusion is to Boccaccio's De Casibus Virorum, which begins
with Adam and Nimrod, and keeps tolerably to the right order. For further
remarks on this, shewing how Chaucer altered the order of these Tragedies
in the course of revision, see vol. iii. p. 428.