Down at the root of Vesulus2436 the cold,
A lusty2437 plain, abundant of vitáille;
There many a town and tow’r thou may’st behold,
That founded were in time of fathers old,
And many another délectáble sight;
And Saluces this noble country hight.
A marquis whilom lord was of that land,
As were his worthy elders2438 him before,
And obedient, aye ready to his hand,
Were all his lieges, bothë less and more:
Thus in delight he liv’d, and had done yore,2439
Belov’d and drad,2440 through favour of fortúne,
Both of his lordës and of his commúne.2441
Therewith he was, to speak of lineage,
The gentilest y-born of Lombardy,
A fair persón, and strong, and young of age,
And full of honour and of courtesy:
Discreet enough his country for to gie,2442
Saving in some things that he was to blame;
And Walter was this youngë lordë’s name.
I blame him thus, that he consider’d not
In timë coming what might him betide,
But on his present lust2443 was all his thought,
And for to hawk and hunt on every side;
Well nigh all other carës let he slide,
And eke he would (that was the worst of all)
Weddë no wife for aught that might befall.
Only that point his people bare so sore,
That flockmel2444 on a day to him they went,
And one of them, that wisest was of lore
(Or ellës that the lord would best assent
That he should tell him what the people meant,
Or ellës could he well shew such mattére),
He to the marquis said as ye shall hear.
“O noble Marquis! your humanity
Assureth us and gives us hardiness,
As oft as time is of necessity,
That we to you may tell our heaviness:
Acceptë, Lord, now of your gentleness,
What we with piteous heart unto you plain,2445
And let your ears my voicë not disdain.
“All2446 have I nought to do in this mattére
More than another man hath in this place,
Yet forasmuch as ye, my Lord so dear,
Have always shewed me favour and grace,
I dare the better ask of you a space
Of audience, to shewen our request,
And ye, my Lord, to do right as you lest.2447
“For certes, Lord, so well us likë you
And all your work, and ev’r have done, that we
Ne couldë not ourselves devisë how
We mightë live in more felicity:
Save one thing, Lord, if that your will it be,
That for to be a wedded man you lest;
Then were your people in sovereign heart’s rest.2448
“Bowë your neck under the blissful yoke
Of sovereignty, and not of servíce,
Which that men call espousal or wedlóck:
And thinkë, Lord, among your thoughtës wise,
How that our dayës pass in sundry wise;
For though we sleep, or wake, or roam, or ride,
Aye fleeth time, it will no man abide.
“And though your greenë youthë flow’r as yet,
In creepeth age always as still as stone,
And death menaceth every age, and smit2449
In each estate, for there escapeth none:
And all so certain as we know each one
That we shall die, as uncertáin we all
Be of that day when death shall on us fall.
“Acceptë then of us the true intent,2450
That never yet refused yourë hest,2451
And we will, Lord, if that ye will assent,
Choose you a wife, in short time at the lest,2452
Born of the gentilest and of the best
Of all this land, so that it ought to seem
Honour to God and you, as we can deem.
“Deliver us out of all this busy dread,2453
And take a wife, for highë Goddë’s sake:
For if it so befell, as God forbid,
That through your death your lineage should slake,2454
And that a strange successor shouldë take
Your heritage, oh! woe were us on live:2455
Wherefore we pray you hastily to wive.”
Their meekë prayer and their piteous cheer
Made the marquis for to have pitý.
“Ye will,” quoth he, “mine owen people dear,
To that I ne’er ere2456 thought constrainë me.
I me rejoiced of my liberty,
That seldom time is found in marriáge;
Where I was free, I must be in serváge!2457
“But natheless I see your true intent,
And trust upon your wit, and have done aye:
Wherefore of my free will I will assent
To weddë me, as soon as e’er I may.
But whereas ye have proffer’d me to-day
To choosë me a wife, I you release
That choice, and pray you of that proffer cease.
“For God it wot, that children often been
Unlike their worthy elders them before,
Bounté2458 comes all of God, not of the strene2459
Of which they be engender’d and y-bore:
I trust in Goddë’s bounté, and therefore
My marriage, and mine estate and rest,
I him betake;2460 he may do as him lest.
“Let me alone in choosing of my wife;
That charge upon my back I will endure:
But I you pray, and charge upon your life,
That what wife that I take, ye me assure
To worship2461 her, while that her life may dure,
In word and work both here and ellëswhere,
As she an emperorë’s daughter were.
“And farthermore this shall ye swear, that ye
Against my choice shall never grudge2462 nor strive.
For since I shall forego my liberty
At your request, as ever may I thrive,
Where as mine heart is set, there will I wive
And but2463 ye will assent in such mannére,
I pray you speak no more of this mattére.”
With heartly will they sworen and assent’
To all this thing, there said not one wight nay:
Beseeching him of grace, ere that they went,
That he would grantë them a certain day
Of his espousal, soon as e’er he may,
For yet always the people somewhat dread2464
Lest that the marquis wouldë no wife wed.
He granted them a day, such as him lest,
On which he would be wedded sickerly,2465
And said he did all this at their request;
And they with humble heart full buxomly,2466
Kneeling upon their knees full reverently,
Him thanked all; and thus they have an end
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