The Canterbury Tales [328]
The selfe day, right ere that hour That I upon them gan to pore. But well I wiste what it made;* *meant It was conserved with the shade, All the writing which I sigh,* *saw Of a castle that stood on high; And stood eke on so cold a place, That heat might it not deface.* *injure, destroy
Then gan I on this hill to go'n, And found upon the cop* a won,** *summit <22> **house That all the men that be alive Have not the *cunning to descrive* *skill to describe* The beauty of that like place, Nor coulde *caste no compass* *find no contrivance* Such another for to make, That might of beauty be its make,* *match, equal Nor one so wondrously y-wrought, That it astonieth yet my thought, And maketh all my wit to swink,* *labour Upon this castle for to think; So that the greate beauty, Cast,* craft, and curiosity, *ingenuity Ne can I not to you devise;* *describe My witte may me not suffice. But natheless all the substance I have yet in my remembrance; For why, me thoughte, by Saint Gile, Alle was of stone of beryle, Bothe the castle and the tow'r, And eke the hall, and ev'ry bow'r,* *chamber Withoute pieces or joinings, But many subtile compassings,* *contrivances As barbicans* and pinnacles, *watch-towers Imageries and tabernacles, I saw; and eke full of windows, As flakes fall in greate snows. And eke in each of the pinnacles Were sundry habitacles,* *apartments or niches In which stooden, all without, Full the castle all about, Of all manner of minstrales And gestiours,<23> that telle tales Both of weeping and of game,* *mirth Of all that longeth unto Fame.
There heard I play upon a harp, That sounded bothe well and sharp, Him, Orpheus, full craftily; And on this side faste by Satte the harper Arion,<24> And eke Aeacides Chiron <25> And other harpers many a one, And the great Glasgerion; <26> And smalle harpers, with their glees,* *instruments Satten under them in sees,* *seats And gan on them upward to gape, And counterfeit them as an ape, Or as *craft counterfeiteth kind.* *art counterfeits nature* Then saw I standing them behind, Afar from them, all by themselve, Many thousand times twelve, That made loude minstrelsies In cornmuse and eke in shawmies, <27> And in many another pipe, That craftily began to pipe, Both in dulcet <28> and in reed, That be at feastes with the bride. And many a flute and lilting horn, And pipes made of greene corn, As have these little herde-grooms,* *shepherd-boys That keepe beastes in the brooms. There saw I then Dan Citherus, And of Athens Dan Pronomus, <29> And Marsyas <30> that lost his skin, Both in the face, body, and chin, For that he would envyen, lo! To pipe better than Apollo. There saw I famous, old and young, Pipers of alle Dutche tongue, <31> To learne love-dances and springs, Reyes, <32> and these strange things. Then saw I in another place, Standing in a large space, Of them that make bloody* soun', *martial In trumpet, beam,* and clarioun; *horn <33> For in fight and blood-sheddings Is used gladly clarionings. There heard I trumpe Messenus. <34> Of whom speaketh Virgilius. There heard I Joab trump also, <35> Theodamas, <36> and other mo', And all that used clarion In Catalogne and Aragon, That in their times famous were To learne, saw I trumpe there. There saw I sit in other sees, Playing upon sundry glees, Whiche that I cannot neven,* *name More than starres be in heaven; Of which I will not now rhyme, For ease of you, and loss of time: For time lost, this knowe ye, By no
Then gan I on this hill to go'n, And found upon the cop* a won,** *summit <22> **house That all the men that be alive Have not the *cunning to descrive* *skill to describe* The beauty of that like place, Nor coulde *caste no compass* *find no contrivance* Such another for to make, That might of beauty be its make,* *match, equal Nor one so wondrously y-wrought, That it astonieth yet my thought, And maketh all my wit to swink,* *labour Upon this castle for to think; So that the greate beauty, Cast,* craft, and curiosity, *ingenuity Ne can I not to you devise;* *describe My witte may me not suffice. But natheless all the substance I have yet in my remembrance; For why, me thoughte, by Saint Gile, Alle was of stone of beryle, Bothe the castle and the tow'r, And eke the hall, and ev'ry bow'r,* *chamber Withoute pieces or joinings, But many subtile compassings,* *contrivances As barbicans* and pinnacles, *watch-towers Imageries and tabernacles, I saw; and eke full of windows, As flakes fall in greate snows. And eke in each of the pinnacles Were sundry habitacles,* *apartments or niches In which stooden, all without, Full the castle all about, Of all manner of minstrales And gestiours,<23> that telle tales Both of weeping and of game,* *mirth Of all that longeth unto Fame.
There heard I play upon a harp, That sounded bothe well and sharp, Him, Orpheus, full craftily; And on this side faste by Satte the harper Arion,<24> And eke Aeacides Chiron <25> And other harpers many a one, And the great Glasgerion; <26> And smalle harpers, with their glees,* *instruments Satten under them in sees,* *seats And gan on them upward to gape, And counterfeit them as an ape, Or as *craft counterfeiteth kind.* *art counterfeits nature* Then saw I standing them behind, Afar from them, all by themselve, Many thousand times twelve, That made loude minstrelsies In cornmuse and eke in shawmies, <27> And in many another pipe, That craftily began to pipe, Both in dulcet <28> and in reed, That be at feastes with the bride. And many a flute and lilting horn, And pipes made of greene corn, As have these little herde-grooms,* *shepherd-boys That keepe beastes in the brooms. There saw I then Dan Citherus, And of Athens Dan Pronomus, <29> And Marsyas <30> that lost his skin, Both in the face, body, and chin, For that he would envyen, lo! To pipe better than Apollo. There saw I famous, old and young, Pipers of alle Dutche tongue, <31> To learne love-dances and springs, Reyes, <32> and these strange things. Then saw I in another place, Standing in a large space, Of them that make bloody* soun', *martial In trumpet, beam,* and clarioun; *horn <33> For in fight and blood-sheddings Is used gladly clarionings. There heard I trumpe Messenus. <34> Of whom speaketh Virgilius. There heard I Joab trump also, <35> Theodamas, <36> and other mo', And all that used clarion In Catalogne and Aragon, That in their times famous were To learne, saw I trumpe there. There saw I sit in other sees, Playing upon sundry glees, Whiche that I cannot neven,* *name More than starres be in heaven; Of which I will not now rhyme, For ease of you, and loss of time: For time lost, this knowe ye, By no