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. 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; 7185 Yeve me twelf pens, I may no lenger tarie. 7190 This wide world though that I shuld it winne, For dette which thou oweft me of old 7196 I paied at home for thy correction. 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, Now brother, quod the devil, be not wroth; And with that word the foule fend him hent Body and foule: he with the devil went 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; 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. Ꮐ 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 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, 7280 This frere, whan he loked had his fill Upon the turments of this fory place, His fpirit God restored of his grace you God fave alle fave this curfed Frere; THE SOMPNOURES TALE. And so befell that on a day this frere 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. |