Page:Disciplina Clericalis (English translation) from the fifteenth century Worcester Cathedral Manuscript F. 172.djvu/16

will wel; lete vs go thyder." And as they were vnder the pere tree she sayd to her husband : "My frende, I praye the to lete me goo vpon the pere tre, and I shalle gader for vs bothe some fayre peres." "Wel my frend," sayd the blynd man, "I wylle wel and graunt therto." And when (f. 132^b) she was vpon the tree, the yong man begannn (sic) to shake the pere tree at one syde and the yonge woman at the other syde. And (Jacobs repeats 'and') as the blynd man herd thus hard shake the pere tree and the noyse whiche they made, he sayd to them : "Ha! a euylle woman, how be it that I see hit not, neuertheles I fele and vnderstande hit well. But I praye to the goddes that they vouchesauf to sende me my syght ageyne." And as soone as he had made his prayer, Iupiter rendryd to hym his syght ageyn. And whanne he sawe that pagent vpon the pere tree he sayd to his wyf: "Ha ! vnhappy woman, I shalle neuer haue no Ioye with the." And bycause that the yonge woman was redy in speche and malycious she ansuerd forthwith to her husbond: "My frend, thow arte wel beholden and bounden to me, for bycause and for the loue the gooddes haue restored to the thy syght; wherof I thanke alle the goddes and goddesses whiche haue enhaunced and herd my prayer. For I desyryng moche that thow myght see me cessed neuer day ne nyght to pray them that they (Jacobs 'theye') wold rendre to the thy syghte. Wherfore the goddesse Venus vysybly shewed herself to me and sayd that yf I wold doo (Jacobs omits) somme playsyr (Jacobs 'playsyre') to the sayd yonge man, she shold restore to the thy syght. And thus I am cause of it." And thenne the good man sayd to her: "My ryght dere wyf and good frende, I remercye and thanke yow gretely; for ryght ye haue and I grete wronge."

 

IV.

The Middle English version now first published as a whole^[1] is preserved in the Worc. Cath. Libr. Ms. F. 172,^[2] which probably originated in the latter half of the 15th century. The Disciplina Clericalis is number 15 in the order of the contents of the Ms. and is contained in ff. 118^b—138. The piece begins at the top of the page without any title or rubric, and there is nothing to indicate the end but the spacing and the beginning of the immedately following piece near the middle of the page (f. 138): 'Incipit Epistola Alex-
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1. One of the tales. No. xxix, was printed by the present writer as a contribution to the study of 'The Wager Cycle, in Mod. Lang. Notes', vol. xxiv pp. 218-222 (Nov. 1909). This tale and two others constituting the last three tales of the Worc. Cath. Libr. collection, all of which are apparently spurious later additions to the original, were also printed, along with their Latin originals, by Hilka and Söderhjelm (op. cit., I. Anhang II. pp. '68-73).
2. This Ms. has often been described in recent years, so that it will not be necessary to repeat the description here. Cf. Hulme, 'A Valuable Middle English Manuscript.' Mod. Philol. vol. iv, p. 67 ff. (July, 1906) ; Floyer and Hamilton, A Catalogue of Manuscripts Preserved in the Chapter library of Worcester. Oxford, 1906; Hulme, The Harrowing of Hell, etc., EETS (extra Ser.) 100, London 1907, Introduction, p. xlviii ff.; Hulmc, Richard Rolle of Hampole's Mending of Life, from, etc., Western Reserve Studies, vol. I, no. 4, 'Introduction,' pp. 5-11.