*

"And when that he to chamber is come,

He hath into his council nome

This man of Tyre, and let him see
This letter, and all the privity
The which his daughter to him sent.
And he his knee to ground bent,
And thanketh him and her also;
And ere they went then a twob,

With good heart, and with good courage,

Of full love and full marriage

The king and he ben whole accorded.

And after, when it was recorded

Unto the daughter how it stood,

The gift of all the world's good

Ne should have made her half so blithe." b A two-apart.

a Nome-taken.

"THEY axen when the ship is come?
From Tyre, anon answered some.
And over this they saiden more,
The cause why they come for
Was for to seek, and for to find,
Appollinus, which is of kind
Their liege lord; and he appeareth,
And of the tale which he heareth
He was right glad; for him they told
That for vengeance, as God it would,

Antiochus, as men may wete",

With thunder and lightning is sore smeteb. His daughter hath the same chance,

So be they both in oc balance."

Was take, which was a nourrice,
To wend with this young wife,
To whom was shape a woeful life.
Within a time as it betid,
When they were in the sea amid,
Out of the north they saw a cloud:
The storm arose, the winds loud
They blewen many a dreadful blast,
The welkin was all overcast.
The dark night the sun hath under,
There was a great tempest of thunder.
The moon and eke the stars both,
In black clouds they them clothe,
Whereof their bright look they hid.
This young lady wept and cried,
To whom no comfort might avail:
Of child she began travail,
Where she lay in a cabin close.
Her woeful lord from her arose,
And that was long ere any morrow,
So that in anguish and in sorrow
She was deliver'd all by night,
And dead in every man's sight.
But nathless for all this woe
A maid child was bore tho."d

ACT III.

"I am, quoth he, but one alone;
So would I not for my person
There fell such adversity,
But when it may no better be,
Do then thus upon my word:
Let make a coffer strong of board,
That it be firm with lead and pitch.
Anon was made a coffer such
Already brought unto his hand;
And when he saw, and ready found
This coffer made, and well enclowed,
The dead body was besowed
In cloth of gold, and laid therein."
*
*

*

*

"They laid her on a couch soft,
And with a sheet warmed oft,
Her cold breast began to heat,
Her heart also to flack and beat.
This master hath her every joint
With certain oil and balm anoint,
And put a liquor in her mouth,
Which is to few clerks couth,
So that she 'covereth at the last.
And first her eyen up she cast;

And when she more of strength caught,
Her arms both forth she straught,
Held up her hand, and piteously
She spake, and said, Ah! where am I?
Flack-flutter.
b Couth-known.

• Straught-stretched.

"The treason and the time is shape,
So fell it that this churlish knape
Hath led this maiden where he would
Upon the strand, and what she should
She was a drad; and he out braid
A rusty sword, and to her said,

Thou shalt be dead: alas, quoth she,
Why shall I so? So thus, quoth he,
My lady Dionise hath bade

Thou shalt be murder'd in this stede.
This maid then for fear shrihte ",
And for the love of God all-might
She pray'th, that for a little stounde
She might kneel upon the ground
Toward the heaven, for to crave
Her woeful soul that she may save.
And with this noise and with this cry
Out of a barge fast by,

Which hid was there on scomerfare,
Men start out, and weren ware

Of this felon: and he to go,
And she began to cry thod,

• Braid-started, drew.

• Stound-moment.

b Shrihte-shrieked. d Tho-then.

Ha, mercy, help, for God's sake!
Into the barge they her take,

As thieves should, and forth they went."

"If so be that thy master would
That I his gold increase should,
It may not fall by this way;
But suffer me to go my way
Out of this house, where I am in,
And I shall make him for to win
In some place else of the town,
Be so it be of religion,

Where that honest women dwell.
And thus thou might thy master tell,
That when I have a chamber there,
Let him do cry ay wide-where
What lord that hath his daughter dear,
And is in will that she shall lere
Of such a school as is true;

I shall her teach of things new,
Which that none other woman can
In all this land."

692

She goeth her down, there as he lay,
Where that she harpeth many a lay,
And like an angel sang withal.
But he no more than the wall
Took heed of anything he heard.

And when she saw that he so ferde",
She falleth with him into words,
And telleth him of sundry bordes.
And asketh him demands strange,
Whereof she made his heart change;
And to her speech his ear he laid,
And hath marvel of that she said.
For in proverb and in problem
She spake, and bade he should deme
In many a subtile question;
But he for no suggestion

Which toward him she could stered,
He would not oe word answer,
But as a madman at the last,
His head weeping away he cast,
And half in wroth he bade her go:
But yet she would nought do so;
And in the dark forth she goeth

Till she him toucheth, and he wrothef.
And after her with his hand

He smote: and thus when she him found
Diseased, courteously she said,-
Avoys, my lord, I am a maid;
And if ye wist what I am,

And out of what lineage I came,

Ye would not be so salvage.

With that he sober'th his courage,
And put away his heavy cheer.

But of them two a man may lere
What is to be so sibbeh of blood:
None wist of other how it stood,
And yet the father at last
His heart upon this maid cast,
That he her loveth kindly;
And yet he wist never why,

But all was known ere that they went ;
For God, which wot their whole intent,
Their hearts both he discloseth.
This king unto this maid opposeth,
And asketh first, what is her name,
And where she learned all this game,
And of what kin that she was come?
And she, that hath his words nome i,
Answereth, and saith, My name is Thaise,
That was some time well at ease.
In Tharse I was forth draw and fed,
There learned I till I was sped,
Of that I can: my father eke,

I not where that I should him seek:
He was a king men told me.
My mother drown'd was in the sea.
From point to point all she him told
That she hath long in heart hold,

"With worthy knights environed, The king himself hath abandoned Into the temple in good intent. The door is up, and in he went, Where as, with great devotion Of holy contemplation

Within his heart, he made his shrift,
And after that a rich gift

He off 'reth with great reverence;
And there in open audience

Of them that stooden all about
He told them, and declareth out
His hap, such as him is befall:
There was no thing forget of all.
His wife, as it was God's grace,
Which was professed in the place
As she that was abbess there,
Unto his tale hath laid her ear.
She knew the voice, and the visage:
For pure joy, as in a rage,

She stretch'd unto him all at once,
And fell a swoon upon the stones
Whereof the temple-floor was paved.
She was anon with water laved,
Till she came to herself again,
And then she began to seyn-

Ah, blessed be the high soonde, That I may see mine husband, Which whilom he and I were one." *

*

"Attaint they weren by the law,

And doomed for to hang, and draw,
And brent, and with the wind to blow,
That all the world it might know.
And upon this condition,

The doom in execution

Was put anon without fail.

And every man hath great marvel Which heard tellen of this chance, And thanketh God's purveyance, Which doth mercy forth with justice. Slain is the murd'rer, and murd'ress, Through very truth of righteousness; And through mercy safe is simplesse d Of her, whom mercy preserveth,

Thus hath he well, that well deserveth."