Have ye than a figure determinat

In helle, ther ye ben in your eftat?

Nay certainly, quod he, ther have we non,
But whan us liketh we can take us on,

Or elles make you wene that we ben fhape
Somtime like a man, or like an ape,
Or like an angel can I ride or go;
It is no wonder thing though it be fo;
A loufy jogelour can deceiven thee,
And parde yet can I more craft than he.

7045

7050

Why, quod the Sompnour, ride ye than or gon

In fondry fhape, and not alway in on?

For we, quod he, wol us fwiche forme make As most is able our preye for to take.

What maketh you to han al this labour?
Ful many a caufe, leve Sire Sompnour,
Saide this fend. But alle thing hath time;
The day is fhort, and it is paffed prime,
And yet ne wan I nothing in this day;
I wol entend to winning if I may,
And not entend our thinges to declare;

7055

7060

For, brother min, thy wit is al to bare

To understand, although I told hem thee.
But for thou axeft why labouren we?
For fomtime we be Goddes inftruments,
And menes to don his commandements,
Whan that him lift, upon his creatures,
In divers actes and in divers figures:

7065

Withouten him we have no might certain,
If that him lift to stonden theragain.
And fom time at our praiere han we leve
Only the body and not the foule to greve;
Witneffe on Job, whom that we diden wo,
And fomtime han we might on bothe two,
This is to fain, on foule and body eke:
And fomtime be we suffered for to feke
Upon a man, and don his foule unreste

And not his body, and all is for the beste.
Whan he withstandeth our temptation

It is a cause of his falvation,

7070

7075

7080

Al be it that it was not our entente

He fhuld be fauf, but that we wold him hente.

And fomtime be we fervants unto man,

As to the Archebishop Seint Dunstan,
And to the apostle fervant eke was I.

Yet tell me, quod this Sompnour, faithfully,

Make ye you newe bodies thus alway
Of elements? The fend answered Nay.

7085

Somtime we feine, and fomtime we arise
With ded bodies, in ful fondry wife,
And speke as renably, and faire, and wel,
As to the Phitoneffe did Samuel;

7090

. 7092. As to the Phitoneffe did Samuel] So mf. A.; the editt. read,

As the Phitoneffe did to Samuel

which is certainly wrong. See I Sam. xxviii. Our Author uses Phitonese for Pythonesse, H. B. iii. 171; and so does Gower, Conf. Amant. fol. 140;

The Phitoneffe in Samary.

And yet wol fom nien fay it was not he:
I do no force of your divinitee.

But o thing warne I thee, I wol not jape,
Thou wolt algates wete how we be shape:
Thou shalt hereafterward, my brother dere,
Come wher thee nedeth not of me to lere,
For thou shalt by thin owen experience
Conne in a chaiere rede of this fentence
Bet than Virgile, while he was on live,

Or Dant alfo. Now let us riden blive,

7095

7100

For I wol holden compagnie with thee
Til it be fo that thou forfake me.

Nay, quod this Sompnour, that fhal never betide.

I am yeman knowen is ful wide;

7106

My trouthe wol I hold, as in this cas;

For though thou were the devil Sathanas

My trouthe wol I hold to thee, my brother,
As I have fworne, and eche of us to other,

7110

For to be trewe brethren in this cas,

And bothe we gon abouten our pourchas.

Take thou thy part, what that men wol thee yeve,

And I fhal min, thus may we bothe leve;

And if that any of us have more than other

7115

Let him be trewe, and part it with his brother.

I graunte, quod the devil, by my fay.
And with that word they riden forth hir way,
And right at entring of the tounes ende

To which this Sompnour fhope him for to wende

7121

They saw a cart that charged was with hay,
Which that a carter drove forth on his way.
Depe was the way, for which the carte ftood;
The carter fmote, and cried as he were wood,
Heit Scot, heit Brok; what, fpare ye for the ftones?
The fend (quod he) you fecche body and bones, 7126
As ferforthly as ever ye were foled,

So mochel wo as I have with you tholed.

The devil have al, bothe hors, and cart, and hay.

The Sompnour fayde, Here fhal we have a pray; And nere the fend he drow, as nought ne were, 7131 Ful prively, and rouned in his ere,

Herken my brother, herken, by thy faith;
Hereft thou not how that the carter faith?
Hent it anon, for he hath yeve it thee,
Both hay and cart, and eke his caples three.
Nay, quod the devil, God wot never a del;
It is not his entente, trust thou me wel:
Axe him thyself, if thou not trowest me,
Or elles ftint a while and thou shalt fee.

7135

7140

This carter thakketh his hors upon the croupe,
And they begonne to drawen and to floupe.
Heit now, quod he; ther, Jefu Crist you blesse,
And all his hondes werk bothe more and leffe!
That was wel twight, min owen Liard boy,
I pray God fave thy body and Seint Eloy.

7145

.7145. Liard] A common appellative for a horse, from its grey colour, as Bayard was from bay. [See before, ver. 4113,1 P. P. fol. 92;

He lyght downe of Liarde and ladde him in his hand.

Now is my cart out of the flough parde.

Lo, brother, quod the fend, what told I thee?
Here may ye feen, min owen dere brother,
The cherl fpake o thing but he thought another.
Let us go forth abouten our viage;

Here win I nothing upon this cariage.

7151

Whan that they comen fomwhat out of toun This Sompnour to his brother gan to roune; Brother, quod he, here woneth an old rebekke 7155 That had almoft as lefe to lefe hire nekke

As for to yeve a peny of hire good.

I wol have twelf pens though that flie.be wood,
Or I wol fomone hire to cur office,

7160

And yet, God wot, of hire know I no vice;
But for thou canst not as in this contree.:
Winnen thy coft, take here enfample of me.
This Sompnour clappeth at the widewes gate;
Come out, he fayd, thou olde very trate;

I trow thou haft fom frere or preeft with thee. 7165
Who clappeth? faid this wif, benedicite!

God fave you, Sire, what is your fwete will?

I have, quod he, of fomons here a bill:

Up peine of curfing loke that thou be
To-morwe before the archedekenes knee,

7170

Bishop Douglas, in his Virgil, ufually puts liart for albus, incanus, c.

V. 7164. thou olde very trate] So mfl. C. 1, Ask. 1, 2, and ed. Ca. 2. The later editt. read viritrate, in one word. We may fuppofe trate to be used for trot, a common term for an old woman. Keyfier [Antiq. Sept. p. 503,] refers it to the fame original with the German drud or drut, jaga.