Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/305

 a?id Sentiments. 285 A fair harbeth (arbour) hit cuerjprcdeth, yille his folas therinne he Icdeth, — Weber, iii. G9. In Chaucer's " Frankeleynes Tale," when the lady Dorigen was in want of amufement to make her forget the abfence of her hufband, her friends, finding that the fea-lhore was not futficiently gay, — Schope hem for to pleien Jomivhere elks. They leden hire by ri'vers and by luelles. And eke in other places delitables ; They dauncen, and they pley at ches and tables. So on a day, right in the niorive tide. Unto a gardeyn that ivas ther bejide, In ivhich that they had made her ordinance Of -vitaile, and of other pur-veance. They gon and plaie hem al the longe day : And this ivas on thefxte mortve of May, Which May had painted "with his fofte Jchoures This gardeyn ful of lenjcs and of flour es : And craft of mannes hondfo curioufly Arrayed had tliis gardeyn ofjuche pris As if it ivere the 'verray paradis. And after dinner gan thay to daunce And finge aljo ; fauf Dorigen alone. An important incident in the flory here occurs, after which — Tho (then) come hir other frendes many on. And in the alleyes romed up and down. And nothing iviji of this conclufloun. But fodeynly began to re-vel netve. Til that the bright e fonne had loji his heiue. It would be eafy to multiply fuch defcriptions as the foregoing, but we will only refer to the well-known one at the commencement of the " Romance of the Rose," where the carolling is defcribed with more minutenefs than ufual. There were employed minflrels, and "jogelours," and apparently even tumblers, which are thus defcribed in Chaucer's Englilh verfion : — Tho (then) myghtift thou karoles Jene, And folk daunce and mery bene. And made many a fair e tournyng Upon the grene gras fpringyng. There