The Canterbury Tales

classification of wine, according to its effects on a man, given in the old “Calendrier des Bergiers,” The man of choleric temperament has “wine of lion;” the sanguine, “wine of ape;” the phlegmatic, “wine of sheep;” the melancholic, “wine of sow.” There is a Rabbinical tradition that, when Noah was planting vines, Satan slaughtered beside them the four animals named; hence the effect of wine in making those who drink it display in turn the characteristics of all the four. ↩

Wroth. ↩

Cavalry expedition. ↩

Stupidly. ↩

New. See note 159. ↩

A defluxion or rheum which stops the nose and obstructs the voice. ↩

Horse. ↩

Again. ↩

I take no account. ↩

Foolish. ↩

A phrase in hawking⁠—to recall a hawk to the fist; the meaning here is, that the Cook may one day bring the Manciple to account, or pay him off, for the rebuke of his drunkenness. ↩

Take exception to, pick flaws in. ↩

Proof, test. ↩

Rather. ↩

Provoke. ↩

Jest. ↩

Trick. ↩

Blown into his horn; a metaphor for belching. ↩

Trouble, annoyance. ↩

“The fable of ‘The Crow,’ ” says Tyrwhitt, “which is the subject of the ‘Manciple’s Tale,’ has been related by so many authors, from Ovid down to Gower, that it is impossible to say whom Chaucer principally followed. His skill in new dressing an old story was never, perhaps, more successfully exerted.” ↩

Pleasant. ↩

Generosity. ↩

Part. ↩

Tricked, deceived. ↩

Observation, espionage. ↩

A contrarious or ill-disposed woman. ↩

Sheer folly. ↩

Lose. ↩

Succeed in constraining. ↩

All that thy heart prompts. ↩

Rather. ↩

See the parallel to this passage in the “Squire’s Tale,” and note 3192. ↩

Forsaketh. ↩

Nature. ↩

Drives out. ↩

Nature. ↩

She desires. ↩

Mate. ↩

With reference to. ↩

Gentle, mild. ↩

Ill luck to it. ↩

Is consonant to, accords with. ↩

Unlawful lover. ↩

Rough-spoken, downright. ↩

Because. ↩

Usurper. ↩

Wandering. ↩

Followers, people. ↩

Level. ↩

Well stored with texts or citations. ↩

Whit. ↩

Light or rash pleasure. ↩

Watching. ↩

Thou art befooled or betrayed. ↩

Value. ↩

Grave, trustworthy. ↩

To turn aside. ↩

Arrow; Anglo-Saxon, fla. ↩

Guitar. ↩

Created. ↩

Was not. ↩

Pleasantness. ↩

Steadfast. ↩

Certainly. ↩

Rash, hasty. ↩

So foully wrong. ↩

Distrust⁠—want of trust; so wanhope, despair⁠—want of hope. ↩

Rashness. ↩

Believe. ↩

Know. ↩

Consider. ↩

Surely. ↩

Take any action upon your anger. ↩

Slay. ↩

Once on a time. ↩

Lose. ↩

Revenged. ↩

Black. ↩

Before, in warning of. ↩

Sprang. ↩

To whom I commend him. ↩

Heed. ↩

Defend by crossing themselves. ↩

Because. ↩

Consider. ↩

Destroyed. ↩

Ruined. ↩

Except. ↩

Makest thy best effort. ↩

Learn. ↩

This is quoted in the French “Romance of the Rose,” from Cato De Moribus, l. I, dist. 3: “Virtutem primam esse puta compescere linguam.” ↩

Knowest. ↩

Hasty. ↩

Prating man. ↩

Beckon, make gestures. ↩

Feign to be. ↩

It please thee. ↩

Thou hast no need to fear. ↩

“Semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum.”

—⁠Horace, Epist. I, 18, 71.

↩

Slave. ↩

Which he now regrets. ↩

This caution is also from Cato De Moribus, l. I, dist. 12: “Rumoris fuge ne incipias novus auctor haberi.” ↩

Rising. ↩

In the middle of. ↩

Village’s. ↩

Govern. ↩

From each class or rank in the company. ↩

Vicar. ↩

Faith. ↩

Interrupt. ↩

Wallet. ↩

Forsake truth. ↩

Chaff, refuse. ↩

Relate stories. ↩

A contemptuous reference to the alliterative poetry which was at that time very popular, in preference even, it would seem, to rhyme, in the northern parts of the country, where the language was much more barbarous and unpolished than in the south. ↩

Mince matters,