host, nor[1] shewed hym his house.[2] Forsoth the same Citee
hasted from thendis, but the vertu and strength of theym was but a
fewe daies. That exul or exiled man shewid to his felaw triewly[3]
of the eveen partis of al the lucre and wynnynges. Whan also that
pees was made and don in the Citee, sumtyme he allone walkyng bi
the stretis[4] biholdyng gold and silver made and hostriches and hors
of bataile from anhigh, of the wif of his felaw was seen and most
brennyngly of hir loved, and is required as that same nyght he come
to hir bi the message of hir footemaide. He cam and went ageyn
with grete weight of gold and many precious stones awey bare.
Whan that this lucre he departed to his felawe, whor[5] that he had
it shewed and told, advertisyng he and his wif to be corrupt and
his money to be mynnised.[6]
To that he the lord of the house symuled and feyned hymsilf
to go fer of, vnavisede to be. Vnder the barel in whiche the habergeoun[7]
was wont to be torned happened thadvoutrer ther was hidde
and (f. 136b) busily sought and nat founde. Whan the lord was
wery, he and the wif laughed that he hield so long and knocked on
the barel next whom he stoode; neither it perced[8] nor opened and
the felaw a litel felt. After that the grutche ended and he gon, with
more charge left the knyght the secunde tyme than at the first. The
lucre eveene patid, [thei] arraied theym eftsones with sawtis
and watches to go ageyn and hid was bihynde the chambre dore and
nat founde. And so parted the lucre. The thridde tyme watches
and sawtis arraied, he was cast in an huche ful of clothis chaungeable.[9] Whan that he wolde seeke with a constant chiere and a
stidefast face to his entent, she consented. Saide only hymsilf that
he wolde entre as to knowe to drawe, wrappe, and folde the clothis
and also to shape and olde clothis and fumous[10] to breke and so by
space of tyme covered, protect and defended the advoutrier. The
whiche nat[11] founde sorowyng he departed. The knyght [is sent
- ↑ Ms. 'nat.'
- ↑ Lat. I, 69, ll. 7-8. Nolens ei communicare uxorem suam in separatum duxit hospicium, domo sua nequaquam ei ostensa.
- ↑ H. & S. 'traewly.'
- ↑ H. & S. 'strietis.'
- ↑ H. & S. 'whar,' Ms. clearly 'whor.' Lat. (I, 69, l. 21) unde haberet indicavit.
- ↑ Ms. might be 'mynused' or 'mynnised'. English omits Cumque nocte proxima ilium rediturum ex verbis illius percepisset, struit insidias.
- ↑ H. & S. 'habergeam.'
- ↑ Ms. abbreviated form should be read 'perced' not 'parted,' as H. & S.; Lat. ut eo perforato eciam socium parum sauciaret.
- ↑ H. & S. 'changeable.'
- ↑ H. & S. read 'furnons,' but the Ms. form looks more like 'fumous' or 'fumons;' the corresponding Ms. reading in the Latin (I, 69, l. 42) is uestita instita uestis frunona, amended by H. & S. to read, vestita astuta vestis furnonae.
- ↑ H. & S. 'not.'
