tee and honour,
Out of this foule prison of this lif?
Why grutchen here his cosin and his wif
Of his welfare, that loven him so wel?
Can he hem thank? Nay, God wot, never a del,
That both his soule, and eke himself offend,
And yet they mow hir lustres not amend.

What may I conclude of this longe serie,
But after sorwe I rede us to be merie,
And thanken Jupiter of all his grace,
And er that we departen from this place,
I rede that we make of sorwes two
O parfit joye lasting evermo;
And loketh now wher most sorwe is herein,
Ther wol I firste amenden and begin.

Sister (quod he) this is my full assent,
With all the avis here of my parlement,
That gentil Palamon, your owen knight,
That serveth you with will, and herte and might,
And ever hath done, sin ye first him knew,
That ye shall of your grace upon him vew,
And taken him for husbond and for lord:
Lene me your hand, for this is oure accord.

Let see now of your womanly pitee.
He is a kinge's brother's sone pardee,
And though he were a poure bachelere,
Sin he hath served you so many a yere,
And had for you so gret adversitie,
It moste ben considered, leveth me.
For gentil mercy oweth to passen right.

Then sayd he thus to Palamon the knight:
I trow ther nedeth little sermoning
To maken you assenten to this thing.
Cometh ner, and take your lady by the hond.

Betwixen hem was maked anon the bond,
That highte matrimoine or mariage,
By all the conseil of the baronage.
And thus with alle blisse and melodie
Hath Palamon ywedded Emilie.
And God, that all this wide world hath wrought,
Send him his love, that hath it dere ybought.
For now is Palamon in alle wele,
Living in blisse, in richisse, and in hele,
And Emelie him loveth so tendrely,
And he hire serveth all so gentilly,
That never was ther no word hem betwene
Of jalousie, ne of non other tene.

Thus endeth Palamon and Emilie
And God save all this fayre compagnie.

The whole oration is rendered by Dryden with zealous diligence in
bringing out the sense into further effect, and with a magnificent sweep
of composition. If there is in the fine original any thing felt as a
little too stiffly formal, this impression is wholly obliterated or lost
in the streaming poetry of the translator. Dryden may not, on his own
s