Unto the maistre temple of al the toune,
Ther Dido was in hir devocioun,
Ful prively his wey than hath he nome.
Whanne he was in the large temple come,
I kannat seye if that hit be possible,
But Venus hadde him maked invisible;
Thus seyth the booke, withouten any les.
And whanne this Eneas and Achates
Hadden in the temple ben over alle,
Thanne founde they depeynted on a walle,

1015

1020

How Troy and al the londe destruied was.

'Allas, that I was borne !' quod Eneas.

1025

'Thurghout the worlde our shame is kid so wide

Now it is peynted upon every side.

We that weren in prosperitee,

Be now disclaundred, and in swiche degre,

No lenger for to lyven I ne kepe.'

1030

And with that worde he braste out for to wepe

So tendirly that routhe yt was to seene.
This fresshe lady, of the citee queene,

1014. maistre temple, chief temple. So maister streete, the main or principal street. "Thurghout the cité, by the maister streete." C. T., 2904: maister tour, principal tour:

"And som of hem wondred on the mirrour,

That born was up into the maister tour."-C. T. 10540.

1015. ther, where.

1016. nome, past part. of nime, taken.

1020. les, leasing, lying;—withouten any les, without any lying, truly.

1026. kid, past part. of kithe, made known, spread abroad. 1030. kepe, care; more frequently used as a noun, with take:

"Of nyce conscience took he no keep."-C. T. 400.

i. e., he took no care, regarded not.

"What schuld I take keep hem for to please,

But it were for my profyt, or myn ease?"-C. T. 5795.

"Good men,' say I, 'tak of my wordes keep.'"-C. T. 13767.

i. e., take care of, give attention to, my words.

Stoode in the temple, in hire estat royalle,
So richely, and eke so faire withalle,

So yonge, so lusty, with hire eighen glade,
That yf that God that hevene and erthe made,
Wolde han a love, for beaute and goodenesse,
And womanhede, and trouthe, and semelynesse,
Whom sholde he loven but this lady swete?
There nys no woman to him halfe so mete.
Fortune, that hath the worlde in governance,
Hath sodeynly brought in so newe a chaunce,
That never was there yit so fremed a cas.
For all the companye of Eneas,

1035

1040

1045

Which that he wend han loren in the see,

Aryved ys noght fer fro that citee.

For which the grettist of his lordes, some

By aventure ben to the citee come

Unto that same temple for to seke

1050

The queene, and of hire socour hire beseke;

Swiche renowne was ther spronge of hir goodnesse.

And whanne they hadde tolde al hire distresse,

And al hir tempeste and hire harde cas,

1055

Unto the queene appered Eneas,
And openly beknew that it was he.

1041. mete, meet, fitting, suitable, proper.
1044. fremed, foreign, strange. Ger.fremd.

"A faukoun peregryn than semed sche

Of fremde loud.-C. T. 10743.

"And seyen he was a nygard

That no good myghte aspare

To frend ne to fremmed,

The fend have his soule !"-Piers Ploughman, 9900.

Here the word is used as a noun, meaning stranger.

The last occurrence perhaps of the word is in Spenser's Shepheard's Calender, April, v. 28:—

"So now his friend is chaunged for a frenne;"

where the poet plays upon the words friend and frenne.

1046. wend han loren, supposed to have been lost.

1056. beknew, past tense of beknowe, acknowledged, confessed.

Who had joye thanne, but his meinee,

That hadden founde hire lord, hire governour?

The queene sawgh they dide him swich honour, And had herde ofte of Eneas er thoo,

1060

And in hire herte hadde routhe and woo,

That ever swiche a noble man as hee

Shal ben disherited in swiche degree.

And sawgh the man, that he was lyke a knyghte,

And suffisaunt of persone and of myghte,

1065

And lyke to ben a verray gentilman.

And wel hys wordes he besette kan,

And hadde a noble visage for the noones,
And formed wel of brawnes and of boones;
And after Venus hadde swiche fairenesse,
That no man myghte be halfe so faire I gesse,
And wel a lord him semed for to bee.

1070

And for he was a straunger, somewhat shee
Lyked him the bette, as God do boote,

1075

To somme folke often newe thinge is swoote.
Anoon hire herte hath pitee of his woo,
And with pitee, love come alsoo;
And thus for pitee and for gentillesse,
Refresshed mote he ben of his distresse.
She seyde, certes, that she sory was,
That he hath had swiche peril and swiche cas;

1080

1057. meinee, spelled also meisne, meigne, meyne, meyny; attendants, followers; a company; sometimes an army; from the old French mesgnée or mesnie, a household, a family, whence the English menial. See. C. T. 4379, 7627, 7738, 10310, 10705, 14459, 14731, 15828, 16104, 16880, 17160, 17163. For Spenser's use of the word, which he spells many, see his Shepheard's Calender, May, v. 23, Daphnaida, 326, Faerie Queene, 1, 12, 9; 3, 9, 11; 3, 12, 23; 4, 12, 18; 5, 11, 3. Trench is certainly wrong in regarding our present word many as the same word, as he is in his explanation of many a. See his English Language, Past and Present. 1067. besette, employ.

1068. for the noones; see note on for the nones, v. 295. 1081. cas, misfortune, like the Lat. casus.

And in hire frendely speche, in this manere
She to him spak, and seyde as ye may here.
'Be ye nat Venus sonne and Anchises?
In good fayth, all the worshippe and encres
That I may goodly doon yow, ye shal have;
Youre shippes and your meyne shal I save.'
And many a gentil worde she spak him too,
And commaunded hire messageres goo
The same day, withouten any faylle,
Hys shippes for to seke and hem vitaylle.
Ful many a beeste she to the shippes sente,
And with the wyne she gan hem to presente,
And to hire royalle paleys she hire spedde,
And Eneas alwey with hire she ledde.
What nedeth yow the feste to discryve?
He never better at ese was his lyve.

1085

1090

1095

Ful was the feste of deyntees and richesse,

Of instrumentes, of songe, and of gladnesse,

And many an amorouse lokyng and devys.
This Eneas is comen to Paradys

1100

Out of the swolwe of helle; and thus in joye

Remembreth him of his estaat in Troye.

To dauncyng chambres ful of parements,

Of riche beddes, and of pavements,

1105

1087. meyne, company; see note on meinee, v. 1057. 1102. swolwe, whirlpool.

1105. parements, adornings; "chambre de parement is translated by Cotgrave, the presence-chamber; and Lit de Parement, a bed of state. Parements originally signified all sorts of ornamental furniture, or clothes, from parer, Fr. to adorn. . . . The Italians have the same expression. Ist. di Conc. Trident., lib. iii. Il Pontefice, ritornato alla camera de' paramenti co' Cardinali.”—Tyrwhitt. "Lordes in paramentes on her coursers."-C. T. 2503.

"Biforn him goth ful lowde menstralcye,

Til he cam to his chambre of parementz."-C. T. 10583.

i. e., presence chamber.

This Eneas is ladde after the meete.

And with the queene whanne that she hadde seete,
And spices parted, and the wyne agoon,
Unto hyse chambres was he lad anoon
To take his ese, and for to have his reste
With al his folke, to doon what so hem leste.
Ther nas coursere wel ybridled noon,
Ne stede for the justyng wel to goon,
Ne large palfrey, esye for the noones,
Ne juwel frette ful of riche stoones,
Ne sakkes ful of gold, of large wyght,
Ne rubee noon that shyneth by nyghte,
Ne gentil hawteyn faukone heroneer,

1110

1115

1110. and spices parted, and the wyne agoon: This is an allusion to the custom of serving wine to the guests immediately before going to bed. It was mixed with spices, and called in the French romances, vin du coucher, for which an officer, called Espicier, was appointed in the old royal household of France.

And therupon the wyn was fet anoon;
We dronken, and to reste wente echoon,
Withouten any lengere taryinge.-C. T., 821.

To wyn anone, and whan so that ye lyst,

Go we to slepe, I trow it is the best.

Troylus and Cryseyde, lib. iii. St. 96.

Froissart says, among the delights of his youth, that he was happy to taste "au couchier, pour mieulx dormir, especes, clairet, et rocelle." See note on pyment, in Warton's Hist. of Eng. Poetry, v. i., p. 178, ed. of 1840.

1111. what so hem leste, whatsoever pleaseth them, whatever they please; here leste is used, as it sometimes is, as a personal verb. 1112. nas, ne was, was not.

1114. for the noones, see note on for the nones, v. 295.

1115. frette, past part., fraught, filled.

1118. No gentil hawteyn faukone heroneer: The falcon is called hawteyn (high, haughty), from its lofty flight, and heroneer, from its being trained to fly only at the heron.

"A faukoun peregryn than semed sche

Of fremde lond."-C. T. 10742.

"This species of falcon is thus described in the Tresor de Brunet