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Ran Colle our dogge, and Talbot, and Garlond,
And Malkyn, with a distaf in hire hond;
Ran cow and calf, and eek the verray hogges
So were they fered1 for berkyng of the dogges
And schowting of the men and wymmen eke,
Thay ronne 3 so hem thoughte here hertë breke.1
They gelleden as feendës doon 5 in helle;
The dokes criden as men wolde hem quelle ;
The gees for ferë 9 flowen 10 over 11 the trees;
Out of the hyvës cam the swarm of bees;
So hidous was the noyse, a benedicite!
Certes he Jakkë Straw, and his meyné,12
Ne maden never schoutës half so schrille,
Whan that thay wolden eny Flemyng kille,
As thilke day was maad upon the fox.

12

565

570

575

Of bras thay broughten beemës,13 and of box,

Of horn, of boon,14 in which thay blewe and powpede

And therwithal thay schrykede and thay howpede; 15
It semede as that heven schulde falle.

580

THE TABLES TURNED.

Now, goodë men, I praye zou herkneth alle;

Lo, how fortunë torneth sodeinly

The hope and pride eek of hire enemy!

This cok that lay upon this foxes bak,

In al his drede, unto the fox he spak,

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And saide: Sire, if that I were as ze,

3et schulde I sayn (as wis 16 God helpë me),

585

Turneth azein, ze proudë cherles 17 alle!

A verray pestilens upon 30w falle!

Now I am come unto this woodës syde,

590

Maugre 18 50ure heed, the cok schal heer abyde;
I wol him ete in faith, and that anoon.'

The fox answerde, 'In faith, it schal be doon.'

And as he spak that word, al sodeinly

This cok brak from his mouth delyverly,19
And heigh upon a tree he fleigh anoon.

595

And whan the fox seigh 20 that he was i-goon, 21

1 Feared, frightened. 2 By, because of. 3 Ran. So (that) them thought (to them seemed) their heart to break. 5 Do. 6 Ducks. 7 Man, one, people.. Quell, kill. Fear. 10 Flew. 11 Pronounce o'er. 12 Many, multitude, followers. Trumpets. 14 Bone. 15 Whooped. 16 Truly. 17 Churls, fellows. 19 In spite of 19 Quickly. 20 Saw. 21 Gone.

'Allas!' quod he, O Chaunteclere, allas!

I have to 30w,' quod he, 'y-don1 trespás,
In-as-moche as I makede 30w aferd,2

Whan I 30w hente, and brouzte out of the zerd;
But, sire, I dede 4 it in no wikke entente; 5
Com doun, and I schal telle 30w what I mente.
I schal zou seyë soth," God help me so.'

600

3

'Nay than,' quod he, 'I schrewe7 us bothe tuo,

605

And first I schrewe myself, bothe blood and boones,

If thou bigile me any ofter than oones.

Thou schalt no morë, thurgh thy flaterye,

Do me to synge and wynkë with myn eye.

For he that wynketh, whan he scholde see,

610

Al wilfully, God let him never the ! '9

'Nay,' quod the fox, 'but God give him meschaunce, That is so undiscret of governaunce,

That jangleth 10 whan he scholde holde his pees.'

Lo, such it is for to be recheles,11

And necgligent, and truste on flaterie.

615

1 Done. 2 Afeard, afraid.

3 Yard, inclosure.

4 Did.

5 With no wicked 8 Cause, induce.

intent. 6(To) you say sooth (truth). 7 Beshrew, curse. 9 Thrive. 10 Prateth, talks. 11 Reckless, heedless.

NOTES.

462. Anon, or anoon, anon: lit. in one (instant).

473. Boece, Boethius (470-524 A.D.), a famous Roman statesman and author. See Gibbon (below). He enjoyed great fame as a philosopher down to the 14th century. His celebrated work De Consolatione Philosophia was turned into English by King Alfred, and also by Chaucer. Chaucer's poetry shews that his mind was saturated with it, and, when near death, he thanked 'our Lord Jesus Christ, and his mother, and all the saints in heaven,' for his translation of it. It is in alternate verse and prose. Boethius also wrote on Music. 502. Tresoun, treason. O. Fr. traison (mod. Fr. trahison), Lat. traditionem, from trado (deliver up). 512. For the noones, for the nonce, for

the one (particular occasion). The n beginning 'noones,' 'nonce,' belongs to the def. article; the proper form would be for then oones,' 'for the(n) once.' Older English gives for than (or then) anes,' which shews the genitive inflection, now obscured in 'nonce.' Older still is the dat. form, 'for tham anum.' The n was transferred from the article by the end of the 12th century. Cf. noumpere (= an umpire), Langley, Piers the Plowman, Passus V., 181, note; also newt (= an ewt), and nuncle (Shak., K. Lear). 513. Daun, Dan, Lord, Master: a title prefixed to names of persons, especially of monks and poets. Lat. Dominus. Cf. Span. Don.-Russel. The fox is so called from his russet or reddish-brown colour.

516. Sewed, followed, pursued. The
simple verb 'sue' is now of less
general application; cf. suit, suite.
O. Fr. sewir, Lat. sequi (follow).
519. The night before, Chanticleer
dreamed a very ugly dream, and in
the morning he was somewhat down-
hearted about it: he 'gan gronen in
his throte.' His wife, Madame
Pertelote' (Dame Partlet), rated him
soundly for his cowardice, and ex-
pressed herself very contemptuously
about the prophetic character of
dreams (lines 88... 98-102):

""Away!" quod sche, "fy on
3ow, herteles !

How dorste 3e sayn for schame

unto your love,

That any thing mighte make 3ow
aferd?

Han se no mannes herte, and

han a berd?

Allas! and konne 3e ben agast of

swevenys (dreams)?
Nothing, God wot, but vanité,
in sweven is."

And she went on confidently to
assign a purely physical explanation.
534-5. Ory. lamentacioun... of
ladies. See Vergil, Æneid, ii. 486-8,
535. Ilioun, Ilion, Ilium, Troy; a town
of Asia Minor, taken by the Greeks
(through the stratagem of the Wooden
Horse), after a famous siege of ten
years. This Trojan war supplies
the incidents of Homer's Iliad.
536. Pirrus, Pyrrhus or Neoptolemus.

He was the son of Achilles, the bravest of the Greeks before Troy, and the chief hero of the Iliad. See Verg. Æn. ii. 491, and following.

-Streite, drawn; Lat. strictus.
For the modification, compare Lat.
factum, Fr. fait, Eng. feat; Lat.
biscoctus, Fr. and Eng. biscuit;
Lat. fructus, Fr. and Eng. fruit.
537. Hent kyng Priam, &c. See Verg.
Æn. ii. 552-3. Priam was king of
Ilium or Troy.

559. Harrow! Wayleway!
distress.

Cries of

573. Jack Straw, a priest, led the insurgents of Essex in the peasant revolt headed by Wat Tyler in 1381. 575. Flemyng. The insurgents killed many Flemings, who were settled in London and dealt in cloth.

591. Maugre, Fr. malgré, against the will of, in spite of: from mal (ill) and gré (will, pleasure); Lat. malum, gratum.

599. Trespas, trespass, wrong: from O. Fr. trespasser (go beyond due bounds), from Lat. trans (beyond) and passus (step).

612. Meschaunce, mischance. From O. Fr. negative prefix mes (from Lat. minus), and O. Fr. chéance, Fr. chance, from Lat. cadentia, from cado (fall): lit. what falls out ill. 'Mes' is now assimilated in form to the native prefix 'mis,' but they must not be confounded. So misadventure, mischief, miscreant, misnomer, misprision, &c.

JOHN FORTESCUE.-1395-1485.

Sir JOHN FORTESCUE was Chief Justice of the King's Bench under Henry VI. (1442-1461). After the battle of Towton (1461), he went into exile with Henry, who appointed him tutor to the Prince of Wales, and made him (nominally) Lord Chancellor. He was taken prisoner at Tewkesbury (1471), and pardoned by Edward IV., whose praises he sings in his book on 'Monarchy' (Chap. XIX.). He wrote a Latin treatise De Laudibus Legum Angliæ (On the Excellencies of the Laws of England) in the reign of Henry VI.; and a work in English, The Difference between an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy, as it more

particularly regards the English Constitution, in the reign of Edward IV. In matter, the two books are often very like each other. Fortescue delights to glorify the English law and the English people, and he makes the French figure very wretchedly in contrast.

OF ABSOLUTE AND LIMITED MONARCHY.

CHAP. III,

Hereafter be schewyd, the Frutes of Jus Regale,1 and the
Frutes of Jus Politicum & Regale.2

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And hou so be it, that the French Kyng reynith upon his People Dominio Regali;3 Yet Saynt Lewes sumtyme Kyng ther, ne any of his Progenytors set never Talys1 or other Impositions, upon the People of that Lond, without the Assent of the three Astatts, which whan thay be assemblid ar like to the Court of Parlement in Englond. And this order kept many of his Successours until late days, that Englishmen made such a War in Fraunce, that the three Estats durst not come to geders. And than for that Cause and for grete Necessite which the French Kyng had of goods, for the defence of that Lond, he took upon hym to set Talys and other Impositions upon the Commons, without the Assent of the three Estats; but yet he would not set any such chargs, nor hath set upon the Nobles, for feare of rebellion. And because the Commons, though they have grutchid,' have not rebellid or be hardy to rebell, the French Kyngs have yearly sythen, sett such chargs upon them, and so augmented the same chargis, as the same Commons be so impoverishid and distroyyd, that they may unneth9 lyve. Thay drynke Water, thay eate Apples, with Bred right brown made of Rye. Thay eate no Flesche, but if1o it be selden," a litill Larde, or of the Entrails, or Heds of Bests sclayne 12 for the Nobles, and Merchaunts of the Lond. They weryn no Wollyn,13 but if it be a pore Cote11 under their uttermost Garment, made of grete 15 Canvas, and cal it a Frok. Their Hosyn be of like Canvas, and passen not their Knee; wherfor they be gartrid and their Thyghs bare. Their Wifs and Children gone bare fote; they may in non otherwyse lyve. For sum of them, that was wonte to pay to his Lord for his Tenement, which he hyrith by the Yere, a Scute,16

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1 Law Royal. 2 Law Politic and Royal. 3 By Lordship royal. 4 Tailles, tallage, taxes. 5 Estates. Together. 7 Grumbled, grudged. Since. 9 Scarcely. 10 But if = except, unless. 11 Seldom. 12 Slain. 13 Woollen (noun). 14 Poor 15 Great, coarse. 16 Crown.

coat.

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payyth now to the Kyng, over1 that Scute, fyve Skuts. Wher thrugh2 they be artyd3 by necessite, so to watch, labour, and grub in the Ground, for their Sustenaunce, that their nature is much wastid, and the Kynd of them brought to nowght. They gone crokyd, and ar feble, not able to fyght, nor to defend the Realme; nor they have wepon, nor monye to buy them wepon withal; but verely thay lyvyn in the most extreme Povertie and Myserye, and yet thay dwellyn, in one, the most fertile Realme of the World: wher thrugh the French Kyng hath not Men of his owne Realme, able to defend it, except his Nobles, which beryn non such Impositions; and therfor thay ar ryght likely of their Bodys, by which cause the said Kyng is compellid to make his Armys, and Retennys for the defence of his Land, of Straungars, as Scotts, Spaniards, Arragonars, Men of Almayn,5 and of other Nacions, els al his Ennymys might overrenne hym. For he hath no Diffence of his own, excepte his Castells, and Fortrasis. Loo this the frute of hys Jus Regale. Yf the Realme of Englond, which is an Ile, and therefor may not lightly get Socoures? of other Londs, were rulid under such a Lawe, and under such a Prince, it would be than a Pray to all other Nacions that would conquere, robbe, and devouer yt; which was well prouvyd in the tyme of the Brytons, whan the Scotts and the Pyctes, so bette and oppressyd this Lond, that the People thereof sought helpe of the Romayns, to whom they had byn Trybutorye. And whan thay could not be defendyd by them, they sought helpe of the Duke of Brytayne, than callid Litil Brytayne, and grauntyd therfor, to make his Brother Constantine their Kyng. And so he was made Kyng heere, and raynyd many Yers, and his Children after hym, off which grete Arthure, was one of their Yssue. But blessid be God, this Lond ys rulid under a better Lawe, and therfor the People therof be not in such penurye, nor therby hurt in their Persons, but thay be wealthye and have al thyngs necessarye, to the sustenaunce of Nature. Wherfor thay be myghty, and able to resyste 10 the Adversariis of the Realme, and to bett other Realmes, that do or will do them wrong. Loo this is the Frute of Jus Politicum & Regale, under which we lyve. Sumwhat now I have schewyd you of the Frutys of both Lawys, Ut ex fructibus eorum cognoscatis eos, &c.11

1 Besides, in addition to. 2 Wherethrough, whereby. 3 Pressed, forced. 4 Go crooked, walk bent. 5 Germany. Overrun. 7 Succours. 8 From. 9 Proved. 10 Resist. 11 So that by their fruits ye may know them, &c.

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