For ech of hem had other leef and deere. Save oon thing, sche wolde never assent And if sche were with child at thilke cast, Than wold sche suffre him to do the same. And wys, worthy, and large with mesure, Hir riche array, if it might be told, To have of sondry tonges ful knowing; 15770 15780 15790 Whan sche had leyser and might therto entent, How sche in vertu might hir lif despent. And schortly of this story for to trete, Of Rome, and with strong hond hulden hem fast; Ay while that Odenakes dayes last. Her batails, who so lust hem for to rede, Whan Odenake was deed, sche mightily 15800 15810 15810-beseged. This reading is adopted from the Lansd. MS., as best suited to the context. The Harl. MS. has deceyved. 15815-trewely. The MSS. I have examined agree in this word; Tyrwhitt reads cruelly. To ben in peese, and let hir ryde and play. The emperour of Rome, Claudius, No Surrien, ne noon Arrabiene, Withinne the feld that durste with hir fight, In kinges abyt went hir sones tuo, As heires of her fadres regnes alle; Here names were, and Parciens men hem calle. He made hir flee, and atte last hir hent, And feterid hir, and eek hir children tweye, Hir chaar, that was with gold wrought and perré, 15820 15830 15840 15832-and Parciens men hem calle. The Lansd. MS., and Tyrwhitt, read, as Persians hem calle. Hath with him lad, for that men schulde se. O noble Petro, the glori of Spayne, 15850 15860 15855-gaulith, yelleth, howleth, shouteth. Tyrwhitt follows other MSS. in reading gaureth, shouteth. 15857-bifore. Other MSS. read, by fors. 18558-wyntermyte. This word, the exact meaning of which seems not to be known, is given differently in the MSS. vitrymite, fitermyte, witermite, vitryte, and in the old printed editions, autremite; the latter of which is probably a mere error of the printers. 15860-hirself. Other MSS., followed by Tyrwhitt, read hir cost. 15861-0 noble Petro. Tyrwhitt has adopted a different arrangement from some of the manuscripts, so as to place the histories more nearly in chronological order, by inserting after Zenobia, Nero, Holofernes, Antiochus, Alexander, Cæsar, and Cresus, and the monk's tale is made to end with the story of Hugolin of Pise. I retain, however, the arrangement of the Harl. MS., not only because I think it the best authority, but because I think this to be the order in which Chaucer intended to place them. The conclusion of the monk's tale, as it here stands, seems to be the natural one. When Chaucer wrote his grand work, the eventful history of Pedro the Cruel of Aragon was fresh in people's memories, and possessed a special interest in this country, from the part taken in the events connected with him by the Black Prince; we can easily suppose the monk, who professes to disregard chronological order, wandering from the story of Zenobia, to some events of his own time, and then recalling other examples from antiquity. Tyrwhitt adopts from the Whom fortune held so heigh in magesté, And after at a sege by subtilté Thow were bytrayed, and lad to his tent, Wher as he with his oughne hond slough the, The feld of snow, with thegle of blak ther-inne, Caught with the leoun, reed coloured as is the gleede, 15870 He brewede the cursednesse and synne, The wikked nest werker of this neede. Nought Oliver, ne Charles that ay took heede O worthy Petro king of Cipres, also, reading of other MSS., O noble a worthy Petro, glorie of Spaine. It may be observed, that the cause of Pedro, though he was no better than a cruel and reckless tyrant, was popular in England from the very cir cumstance that Prince Edward had embarked in it. 15864-Other MSS. read for this line, Out of thy lond thy brother made the flee. 15868-lond. The Lansd. MS. reads regne, which is adopted by Tyrwhitt, and is perhaps the better reading. 15870-leoun, reed coloured. The Lansd. MS. reads, lime rodde colours, and Tyrwhitt has adopted limerod coloured. The armes here described are probably those of Duguesclin, who must be the person alluded to below as the Oliver of Armoryk, for it was notoriously Duguesclin who betrayed Pedro into his brother's tent, where he was slain. 15873-Nought Oliver, ne Charles. The Lansd. MS. reads, Charles and Olyver, and Tyrwhitt has Not Charles Oliver, which he explains, "Not the Oliver of Charles (Charlemagne), but an Oliver of Armorica, a second Guenelon." 15877-Petro king of Cypres. Pierre de Lusignan, king of Cyprus, who captured Alexandria in Egypt in 1365, an event before alluded to |