Nor longer than she shed her Horns they staid,

From thence with airy Flight to Foreign Lands convey'd.

Above the rest our Britain held they dear, More solemnly they kept their Sabbaths here,

And made more spacious Rings, andrevell'd half the Year.

I speak of ancient Times; for now the
Swain

Returning late may pass the Woods invain,
And never hope to see the nightly Train:
In vain the Dairy now with Mints is dress'd,
The Dairy-Maid expects no Fairy Guest, 20
To skim the Bowls and after pay the Feast.
She sighs, and shakes her empty Shoes in
vain,

No Silver Penny to reward her Pain:
For Priests with Pray'rs, and other godly
Geer,

Have made the merry Goblins disappear ; And where they plaid their merry Pranks before,

Have sprinkled Holy Water on the Floor : And Fry'rs that through the wealthy Regions run

Thick as the Motes, that twinkle in the Sun,

THE WIFE OF BATH'S TALE. Text from the original and only contemporary edition, 1700. 7 dance] Some editors wrongly give glance

Halls

30 And exorcise the Beds, and cross the Walls: This makes the Fairy Quires forsake the Place,

When once 'tis hallow'd with the Rites of Grace:

But in the Walks, where wicked Elves have been,

The Learning of the Parish now is seen, The Midnight Parson posting o'er the Green, With Gown tuck'd up to Wakes; for

Sunday next

There haunts not any Incubus, but He.
The Maids and Women need no Danger fear
To walk by Night, and Sanctity so near:
For by some Haycock or some shady Thorn
He bids his Beads both Even-song and Morn.
It so befel in this King Arthur's Reign,
A lusty Knight was pricking o'er the Plain;
A Bachelor he was,and of the courtly Train.
It happen'd as he rode, a Damsel gay
In Russet-Robes to Market took her way;
Soon on the Girl he cast an amorous Eye,
So strait she walk'd, and on her Pasterns
high:

49

If seeing her behind he lik'd her Pace,
Now turning short he better lik'd her Face.
He lights in hast, and, full of Youthful
Fire,

By Force accomplish'd his obscene Desire
This done away he rode, not unespy'd,
For swarming at his Back the Country
cry'd;

And once in view they never lost the Sight, But seiz'd, and pinion'd brought to Court the Knight.

60

Then Courts of Kings were held in high Renown,

E'er made the common Brothels of the Town;

There, Virgins honourable Vows receiv'd, But chast as Maids in Monasteries liv'd:

60 Court] court 1700,

Debate,

(Covering their Kindness with dissembled Hate ;)

80
If not to free him, to prolong his Fate.
At last agreed, they call'd him by consent
Before the Queen and Female Parliament.
And the fair Speaker, rising from her Chair
Did thus the Judgment of the House declare.
Sir Knight, tho' I have ask'd thy Life,
yet still

Thy Destiny depends upon my Will:
Nor hast thou other Surety than the Grace
Not due to thee from our offended Race.
But as our Kind is of a softer Mold,
And cannot Blood without a Sigh behold,
I grant thee Life; reserving still the
Pow'r

90

But, not to hold our Proffer [as] in Scorn, Good Sureties will we have for thy return; That at the time prefix'd thou shalt obey, And at thy Pledges Peril keep thy Day.

Woe was the Knight at this severe Command!

But well he knew 'twas bootless to with. stand:

The Terms accepted as the Fair ordain, 110
He put in Bail for his return again;
And promis'd Answer at the Day assign'd,
The best, with Heav'n's Assistance, he could
find.

His Leave thus taken, on his Way he went With heavy Heart, and full of Discontent, Misdoubting much, and fearfulof th' Event. 'Twas hard the Truth of such a Point to find, As was not yet agreed among the Kind. Thus on he went; still anxious more and more,

Ask'd all he met; and knock'd at ev'ry Door;

120

Enquir'd of Men; but made his chief Request

To learn from Women what they lov'd the best.

They answer'd each according to her Mind, To please her self, not all the Female Kind. One was for Wealth, another was for Place: Crones old and ugly, wish'd a better Face; The Widow's Wish was oftentimes to Wed; The wanton Maids were all for Sport a Bed. Some said the Sex were pleas'd with handsom Lies,

And some gross Flatt'ry lov'd without disguise:

130 Truth is, says one, he seldom fails to win Who Flatters well; for that's our darling Sin. But long Attendance, and a duteous Mind, Will work ev❜n with the wisest of the Kind. One thought the Sexes prime Felicity Was from the Bonds of Wedlock to be free;

104 Proffer [as] in Scorn] Proffer in Scorn 1700. A word has dropt out in the printing. Warton gives proffer'd turn in scorn and is followed by Scott and Saintsbury, but the conjecture has in scorn, a reading which Saintsbury justly little to recommend it. Christie gives proffer for stigmatises as meaningless. The conjecture in the text is mine. The added word makes no word, though no editor seems to have noticed the appreciable difference in the sense, and the same fact, has dropt out in 543 below.

(As Monarch's Vices must not be reveal'd), For fear the People have 'em in the Wind, Who long ago were neither Dumb nor Blind; Nor apt to think from Heav'n their Title springs,

Since Jove and Mars left off begetting Kings.
This Midas knew; and durst communicate
To none but to his Wife, his Ears of State;
One must be trusted, and he thought her fit,
As passing prudent; and a parlous Wit.
To this sagacious Confessor he went,
And told her what a Gift the Gods had sent;
But told it under Matrimonial Seal, 171
With strict Injunction never to reveal.
The Secret heard she plighted him her Troth,
(And sacred sure is every Woman's Oath)
The royal Malady should rest unknown
Both for her Husband's Honour and her

own:

But ne'ertheless she pin'd with Discontent; The Counsel rumbled till it found a vent.

The Thing she knew she was oblig'd to hide; By Int' rest and by Oath the Wife was ty'd; But if she told it not, the Woman dy'd. 181Loath to betray a Husband and a Prince, But she must burst, or blab; and no pretence

Of Honour ty'd her Tongue from Selfdefence.

A marshy Ground commodiously was near, Thither she ran, and held her Breath for fear,

Lest if a Word she spoke of any Thing,
That Word might be the Secret of the King.
Thus full of Counsel to the Fen she went,
Grip'd all the way, and longing for a vent:
Arriv'd, by pure Necessity compell'd, 191
On her majestick mary-bones she kneel'd:
Then to the Waters-brink she laid her Head,
And, as a Bittour bumps within a Reed,
To thee alone, O Lake, she said, I tell
(And as thy Queen command thee to con
ceal)

Beneath his Locks the King my Husband

wears

A goodly Royal pair of Asses Ears:
Now I have eas'd my Bosom of the Pain
Till the next longing Fit return again! 200
Thus through a Woman was the Secret
known;

Tell us, and in effect you tell the Town:
But to my Tale: The knight with heavy
Cheer,

Wandring in vain, had now consum'd the Year:

One Day was only left to solve the Doubt, Yet knew no more than when he first set

out.

But home he must: And as th' Award had been,

Yield up his Body Captive to the Queen.
In this despairing State he hap'd to ride,
As Fortune led him, by a Forest-side: 210
Lonely the Vale, and full of Horror stood,
Brown with the shade of a religious Wood:
When full before him at the Noon of night,
(The Moon was up, and shot a gleamy Light)
Ile saw a Quire of Ladies in a round,
That featly footing seem'd to skim the
Ground:

Thus dancing Hand in Hand, so light they

were,

He knew not where they trod, on Earth or

Air.

But faster than his Horse the Ladies flew, And in a trice were vanish'd out of view.

One only Hag remain'd: But fowler far Than Grandame Apes in Indian Forests are: Against a wither'd Oak she lean'd her weight,

Prop'd on her trusty Staff, not half upright, And drop'd an awkard Court'sy to the Knight.

Then said, What make you, Sir, so late abroad

Without a Guide, and this no beaten Road? Or want you aught that here you hope to find, 231

Or travel for some Trouble in your Mind? The last I guess; and, if I read aright, Those of our Sex are bound to serve a Knight:

Perhaps good Counsel may your Grief asswage,

Then tell your pain: For Wisdom is in Age. To this the Knight: Good Mother, wou'd you know

The secret Cause and Spring of all my Woe ?

My Life must with to Morrow's Light expire, Unless I tell, what Women most desire: 240 Now cou'd you help me at this hard Essay, Or for your inborn Goodness, or for Pay: Yours is my Life, redeem'd by your Advice, Ask what you please, and I will pay the Price:

The proudest Kerchief of the Court shall

More Words there needed not to move the Knight,

To take her Offer, and his Truth to plight. With that she spread her Mantle on the Ground,

And first enquiring whether he was bound, Bade him not fear, tho' long and rough the Way,

At Court he should arrive e'er break of Day His Horse should find the way without) a Guide.

She said: With Fury they began to ride, 260 IIe on the midst, the Beldam at his Side. The Horse, what Devil drove I cannot tell, But only this, they sped their Journey well: And all the way the Crone inform'd the Knight,

How he should answer the Demand aright. To Court they came: The News was

quickly spread

Of his returning to redeem his Head.
The Female Senate was assembled soon,
With all the Mob of Women in the Town:
The Queen sate Lord Chief Justice of the
Hall,
270

And bad the Cryer cite the Criminal.
The Knight appear'd; and Silence they
proclaim,

Then first the Culprit answer'd to his Name; And after Forms of Laws, was last requir'd To name the Thing that Women most desir'd.

Th' Offender, taught his Lesson by the way,

And by his Counsel order'd what to say, Thus bold began; My Lady Liege, said he, What all your Sex desire is Soveraignty. The Wife affects her Husband to command; All must be hers, both Mony, House, and Land.

281

The Maids are Mistresses ev'n in their Name;
And of their Servants full Dominion claim.
This, at the Peril of my Head, I say
A blunt plain Truth, the Sex aspires to

sway,

You to rule all; while we, like Slaves, obey.

There was not one, or Widow, Maid, or Wife,

But said the Knight had well deserv'd his Life.

256 whether] The form is Dryden's but the editors print whither