should have
more craft than others, but rather that love should torment them amid
their many toils, and that so gentle a passion should lodge in hearts so
base."

"Madam," replied Saffredent, "you know what Master Jehan de Mehun has
said--

"Those clad in drugget love no less
Than those that wear a silken dress." (4)

3 In MS. No. 1520 this passage runs--"that simple and
humble people are," &c.--L.

4 This is a free rendering of lines 4925-6 of Meon's
edition of the _Roman de la Rose_:--

"Aussy bien sont amourettes
Soubz bureau que soubz brunettes."

_Bureau_, the same as _dure_, is a kind of drugget;
_brunette_ was a silken stuff very fashionable among the
French lords and ladies at the time of St. Louis. It was
doubtless of a brown hue.--B, J. and M.

Moreover, the love of which the tale speaks is not such as makes one
carry harness; for, while poor folk lack our possessions and honours,
on the other hand they have their natural advantages more at their
convenience than we. Their fare is not so dainty as ours, but their
appetites are keener, and they live better on coarse bread than we do on
delicacies. Their beds are not so handsome or so well appointed as ours,
but their sleep is sounder and their rest less broken. They have no
ladies pranked out and painted like those whom we idolise, but they take
their pleasure oftener than we, without fear of telltale tongues, save
those of the beasts and birds that see them. What we have they lack, and
what we lack they possess in abundance."

"I pray you," said Nomerfide, "let us now have done with this peasant
and his wife, and let us finish the day's entertainment before vespers.
'Tis Hircan shall bring it to an end."

"Truly," said he, "I have kept in reserve as strange and pitiful a tale
as ever you heard. And although it grieves me greatly to relate anything
to the discredit of a lady, knowing, as I do, that men are malicious
enough to blame the whole sex for the fault of one, yet the strangeness
of the story prompts me to lay aside my fear. Perhaps, also, the
discovery of one woman's ignorance will make others wiser. And so I will
fearlessly tell you the following tale."

[Illustration: 190.jpg Tailpiece]

[Illustration: 191a.jpg The Young Gentleman embracing his Mother]

[The Young Gentleman embracing his Mother]

[Illustration: 191.jpg Page Image]

_TALE XXX_.

_A young ge