Stanzas LXXXV–CXV

LXXXV
Item, a new bequest I will
To make to Master Jehan Cornu ;
Who in my need hath helped me still
And done me favours not a few ;
Wherefore the garden him unto
I give that Peter Bobignon
Leased me, so but he hang anew
The door and fix the gable on.

LXXXVI
I there did lose, for lack of door,
A hone and handle of a hoe :
Thenceforward, falcons half a score
Had not there caught a lark, I trow.
The hostel's safe, but keep it so.
I put a hook there in sign-stead :
God grant the robber nought but woe,
A bloody night and earthen bed !

LXXXVII
Item, considering that the wife
Of Master Peter St. Amant
(Yet if therein be blame or strife,
God grant her grace and benison)
Me as a beggar looks upon,
For the White Horse that will not stir,
A Mare, and for the Mule, anon,
A Brick-red Ass I give to her.

LXXXVIII
Item, I give unto Denis
(Elect of Paris) Hesselin,
Of wine of Aulnis, from Turgis
Taken at my peril, casks fourteen.
If he to drink too much begin,
That so his wit and sense decline,
Let them put water therewithin :
Many a good house is lost by wine.

LXXXIX
Item, upon my advocate,
Whose name is Guillaume Charriau, —
Though he's a chapman by estate,
My sword, (without the scabbard, though,)
And a gold royal I bestow,
In sous, to swell his purse's space,
Levied on those that come and go
Within the Temple cloister-place.

XC
Item, my proctor Fournier
Shall handfuls four — for all his pain
And travail for me night and day, —
Have from my purse ; for suits amain
He hath ywrought to gar me gain, —
Just ones, by Jesus be it said !
Even as the judgment did ordain :
The best of rights has need of aid.

XCI
Item, to Jamy Raguyer
The Muckle Mug in Greve give I,
Provided always that he pay
Four placks for livery of it ; ay,
Even though what covers calf and thigh
To make the money up sell he
And fare each morn bare-legged thereby
Unto the Fir-cone Hostelry.

XCII
Item, for Mairebeuf (I vow)
And Nicholas de Louviers,
I give them neither ox nor cow,
For drovers neither herds are they,
But folk that ride a-hawking may,
(Think not I'm making mock of you)
Partridge and plover night and day
To fake from Mother Maschicoue.

XCIII
Item, if Turgis come to me,
I'll pay him fairly for his wine :
But soft ; if where I lodge find he,
He'll have more wit than any-nine.
I leave to him that vote of mine,
As citizen of Paris see :
If sometimes I speak Poitevine,
Two Poitou ladies taught it me.

XCIV
Damsels they were, both fair and free,
Abiding at St. Generou,
Hard by St. Julian of Brittany
Or in the Marches of Poitou.
Natheless, I tell you not for true
Where all their days and nights they dwell ;
I am not fool enough, look you,
My loves to all the world to tell.

XCV
Item, Jehan Raguyer I give
(That's Sergeant, — of the Twelve, indeed)
Each day, so long as he shall live,
A ramakin, that he may feed
Thereon and stay his stomach's need ;
(From Bailly's table be it brought).
Let him not ask for wine or mead,
But at the fountain quench his drought.

XCVI
Item, I give the Prince of Fools
A master-fool, Michault du Four,
The jolliest jester in the Schools,
That sings so well ' Ma douce amour.'
With that of him I'll speak no more.
Brief, if he's but in vein some jot,
He's a right royal fool, be sure,
And still is witty, where he's not.

XCVII
Item, I give unto a pair
Of sergeants here whose names I've set —
For that they're honest folk and fair —
Denis Richer and Jehan Valletta,
A tippet each or bandelet,
To hang their hats of felt unto ;
I mean foot-sergeants, for as yet
Nought with the horse have I to do.

XCVIII
Item, to Pernet I remit
For that he is a cogging jack,
(The Bastard of La Barre, to wit,)
Three loaded dice or else a pack
Of cheating cards, marked on the back,
To arms, in lieu of bend. But what ?
If he be heard to fyst or crack,
The quartan ague catch the sot !

XCIX
Item, I order that Chollet
No longer hoop or saw or plane
Or head up barrels all the day.
Let him his tools change for a cane
(Or Lyons sword), so he retain
The cooper's mall ; for, sooth to tell,
Though noise and strife to hate he feign,
At heart he loves them but too well.

C
Item, I give to Jehan le Loup —
For that he's lean and lank and spent,
(Though good-cheap man and comrade true)
And Chollet too, is slow of scent,
A setter, young, but excellent,
(No chick he'll miss afield, I trow)
And a long cloak, 'gainst 'spial meant
To cover them from top to toe.

CI
Item, to Duboys, goldworker,
An hundred cloves, both head and tail,
Of Saracenic zinziber ;
Not cases therewithal to nail
* * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * *

CII
To Captain Riou, as a treat
For him and for his archers too,
I give six wolvis-heads (a meat
No swineherds' fare that is, look you)
Coursed with great dogs and set to stew
In tavern wine. In sooth, to feed
Upon these dainties rare and new,
One might do many an ill deed.

CIII
'Tis meat a trifle heavier
Than either feathers, cork or down :
For folk afield 'tis famous fare,
In camp or leaguer of a town.
But (failing dogs to hunting boun)
An if the beasts in trap be ta'en,
The skins, to fur his winter gown,
As a right tanner, I ordain.

CIV
Item, to Robinet Troussecaille
(Who's thriven rarely in his trade ;
He scorns to go afoot like quail,
But sits a fat roan stoutly made)
My platter, that he is afraid
To borrow, I on him bestow ;
So will he now be all arrayed :
He needed nothing else, I know.

CV
To Perrot Girard I will well
(That's barber sworn at Bourg la Reine)
Two basins and a fish-kettle,
Since he's so eager after gain.
Six years ago, the man was fain
For seven whole days (God have his soul!)
Me with fat porkers to sustain ;
Witness the Abbess of Shaven-poll.

CVI
Item, unto the Begging Freres,
The Devotees and the Beguines,
At Paris, Orleans and elsewhere,
Both Turpelins and Turpelines, —
Of stout meat soups with flawns beseen
I make oblation. * *
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* * * * *

CVII
Nay, 'tis not I that give them this ;
But from their loins all children spring
Through God that guerdons them ywis
For their much swink and travailing.
Each one of them must live, poor thing, —
E'en monks of Paris, if they go
Our cummers still a-pleasuring,
God wot, they love their husbands so.

CVIII
Whatever Master Jehan Poullieu
Missaid of them, et reliqua,
Constrained in public place thereto,
His words perforce he did unsay:
Meung of their fashion in his day
Made mock, and Matheolus too :
But honour unto that alway
Which God's Church honoureth is due.

CIX
So I submit me, for my part,
In all that I can do or say,
To honour them with all my heart
And yield them service, as I may.
Fools only will of them missay :
For or in pulpit or elsewhere
None needeth to be told if they
Are wont their enemies to spare.

CX
Item, I give to Brother Baude,
In the Mount Carmel Convent who
Good cheer doth make and his abode,
A morion and gisarms two,
Lest anything Decosta do
To steal from him his wench away.
He's old; unless he quit the stew,
There'll be the deuce and all to pay.

CXI
Item, for that the Chancellor
Hath chewed fly-droppings off and on
Full many a time, his seal yet more
( I give and grant ) be spat upon ;
And let him sprain his thumb anon,
( Him of the diocese, I mean,)
To put my wishes all in one :
God keep the others all from teen.

CXII
I give my Lords the Auditors
Wainscot to make their chamber fair ;
And each whose buttocks in the wars
Have been, a hollow-bottomed chair,
Provided that they do not spare
Macée of Orleans, who, God wot,
Had my virginity whilere,
For she's a thoroughly bad lot.

CXIII
To Master Francis (if he live),
Promoter de la Vacquerie,
A Scotchman's collaret I give,
Of hemp without embroidery ;
For, when he put on chivalry,
God and St. George he did blaspheme
And ne'er hears speak of them but he
Doth with mad laughter shout and scream.

CXIV
I give Jehan Laurens, whose poor eyes
Are still so red and weak, (I ween,
The fault o't with his parents lies,
Who drank withouten stint or mean),
My hose-linings, to wipe them clean
O' mornings, lest they waxen blear;
Had he of Bourges archbishop been,
He had had sendal ; but that's dear.

CXV
Item, to Master Jehan Cotard,
My Church-court proctor, since some groat
Or two for fees yet owing are,
(That had till now escaped my thought)
When action 'gainst me Denise brought,
Saying I had miscalled her, —
I have this Orison ywrought,
So God to heaven his soul prefer.