d full
sheen, On which was written first a crowned A." It is with the brooch
that we are concerned, for when asked to give a puzzle she showed this
jewel to the company and said: "A learned man from Normandy did once give
me this brooch as a charm, saying strange and mystic things anent it, how
that it hath an affinity for the square, and such other wise words that
were too subtle for me. But the good Abbot of Chertsey did once tell me
that the cross may be so cunningly cut into four pieces that they will
join and make a perfect square; though on my faith I know not the manner
of doing it."

It is recorded that "the pilgrims did find no answer to the riddle, and
the Clerk of Oxenford thought that the Prioress had been deceived in the
matter thereof; whereupon the lady was sore vexed, though the gentle
knight did flout and gibe at the poor clerk because of his lack of
understanding over other of the riddles, which did fill him with shame
and make merry the company."

[Illustration]

20.--_The Puzzle of the Doctor of Physic._

This Doctor, learned though he was, for "In all this world to him there
was none like To speak of physic and of surgery," and "He knew the cause
of every malady," yet was he not indifferent to the more material side of
life. "Gold in physic is a cordial; Therefore he loved gold in special."
The problem that the Doctor propounded to the assembled pilgrims was
this. He produced two spherical phials, as shown in our illustration, and
pointed out that one phial was exactly a foot in circumference, and the
other two feet in circumference.

"I do wish," said the Doctor, addressing the company, "to have the exact
measures of two other phials, of a like shape but different in size, that
may together contain just as much liquid as is contained by these two."
To find exact dimensions in the smallest possible numbers is one of the
toughest nuts I have attempted. Of course the thickness of the glass, and
the neck and base, are to be ignored.

[Illustration]

21.--_The Ploughman's Puzzle._

[Illustration]

The Ploughman--of whom Chaucer remarked, "A worker true and very good was
he, Living in perfect peace and charity"--protested that riddles were not
for simple minds like his, but he would show the good pilgrims, if they
willed it, one that he had frequently heard certain clever folk in his
own neighbourhood discuss. "The lord of the manor in the part of Sussex
whence I come hath a plant