of thee, and the white Lily-flower
Which did thee bear, and is a Maid for aye, 10
To tell a story I will use my power;
Not that I may increase her honour's dower,
For she herself is honour, and the root
Of goodness, next her Son, our soul's best boot.
Which did thee bear, and is a Maid for aye, 10
To tell a story I will use my power;
Not that I may increase her honour's dower,
For she herself is honour, and the root
Of goodness, next her Son, our soul's best boot.
William Wordsworth
W.
(1820).
The fierce bigotry of the Prioress forms a fine back ground for her
tender-hearted sympathies with the Mother and Child; and the mode in
which the story is told amply atones for the extravagance of the
miracle. --W. W. (added in 1827).
In the editions of 1820 and 1827 'The Prioress' Tale' followed 'The
White Doe of Rylstone'. In 1832 it followed the "Inscriptions"; and in
1836 it was included among the "Poems founded on the Affections. " In
1845 it found its appropriate place in the "Selections from Chaucer
modernised. "--Ed.
I "O Lord, our Lord! how wondrously," (quoth she)
"Thy name in this large world is spread abroad!
For not alone by men of dignity
Thy worship is performed and precious laud;
But by the mouths of children, gracious God! 5
Thy goodness is set forth; they when they lie
Upon the breast thy name do glorify.
II "Wherefore in praise, the worthiest that I may,
Jesu!
of thee, and the white Lily-flower
Which did thee bear, and is a Maid for aye, 10
To tell a story I will use my power;
Not that I may increase her honour's dower,
For she herself is honour, and the root
Of goodness, next her Son, our soul's best boot.
III "O Mother Maid! O Maid and Mother free! 15
O bush unburnt! burning in Moses' sight!
That down didst ravish from the Deity,
Through humbleness, the spirit that did alight
Upon thy heart, whence, through that glory's might,
Conceived was the Father's sapience, 20
Help me to tell it in thy reverence!
IV "Lady! thy goodness, thy magnificence,
Thy virtue, and thy great humility,
Surpass all science and all utterance;
For sometimes, Lady! ere men pray to thee 25
Thou goest before in thy benignity,
The light to us vouchsafing of thy prayer,
To be our guide unto thy Son so dear.
V "My knowledge is so weak, O blissful Queen!
To tell abroad thy mighty worthiness, 30
That I the weight of it may not sustain;
But as a child of twelvemonths old or less,
That laboureth his language to express,
Even so fare I; and therefore, I thee pray,
Guide thou my song which I of thee shall say. 35
VI "There was in Asia, in a mighty town,
'Mong Christian folk, a street where Jews might be,
Assigned to them and given them for their own
By a great Lord, for gain and usury,
Hateful to Christ and to his company; 40
And through this street who list might ride and wend;
Free was it, and unbarred at either end.
VII "A little school of Christian people stood
Down at the farther end, in which there were
A nest of children come of Christian blood, 45
That learned in that school from year to year
Such sort of doctrine as men used there,
That is to say, to sing and read also,
As little children in their childhood do.
VIII "Among these children was a Widow's son, 50
A little scholar, scarcely seven years old, [C]
Who day by day unto this school hath gone,
And eke, when he the image did behold
Of Jesu's Mother, as he had been told,
This Child was wont to kneel adown and say 55
_Ave Marie_, as he goeth by the way.
IX "This Widow thus her little Son hath taught
Our blissful Lady, Jesu's Mother dear,
To worship aye, and he forgat it not;
For simple infant hath a ready ear. 60
Sweet is the holiness of youth: and hence,
Calling to mind this matter when I may,
Saint Nicholas in my presence standeth aye,
For he so young to Christ did reverence.
The fierce bigotry of the Prioress forms a fine back ground for her
tender-hearted sympathies with the Mother and Child; and the mode in
which the story is told amply atones for the extravagance of the
miracle. --W. W. (added in 1827).
In the editions of 1820 and 1827 'The Prioress' Tale' followed 'The
White Doe of Rylstone'. In 1832 it followed the "Inscriptions"; and in
1836 it was included among the "Poems founded on the Affections. " In
1845 it found its appropriate place in the "Selections from Chaucer
modernised. "--Ed.
I "O Lord, our Lord! how wondrously," (quoth she)
"Thy name in this large world is spread abroad!
For not alone by men of dignity
Thy worship is performed and precious laud;
But by the mouths of children, gracious God! 5
Thy goodness is set forth; they when they lie
Upon the breast thy name do glorify.
II "Wherefore in praise, the worthiest that I may,
Jesu!
of thee, and the white Lily-flower
Which did thee bear, and is a Maid for aye, 10
To tell a story I will use my power;
Not that I may increase her honour's dower,
For she herself is honour, and the root
Of goodness, next her Son, our soul's best boot.
III "O Mother Maid! O Maid and Mother free! 15
O bush unburnt! burning in Moses' sight!
That down didst ravish from the Deity,
Through humbleness, the spirit that did alight
Upon thy heart, whence, through that glory's might,
Conceived was the Father's sapience, 20
Help me to tell it in thy reverence!
IV "Lady! thy goodness, thy magnificence,
Thy virtue, and thy great humility,
Surpass all science and all utterance;
For sometimes, Lady! ere men pray to thee 25
Thou goest before in thy benignity,
The light to us vouchsafing of thy prayer,
To be our guide unto thy Son so dear.
V "My knowledge is so weak, O blissful Queen!
To tell abroad thy mighty worthiness, 30
That I the weight of it may not sustain;
But as a child of twelvemonths old or less,
That laboureth his language to express,
Even so fare I; and therefore, I thee pray,
Guide thou my song which I of thee shall say. 35
VI "There was in Asia, in a mighty town,
'Mong Christian folk, a street where Jews might be,
Assigned to them and given them for their own
By a great Lord, for gain and usury,
Hateful to Christ and to his company; 40
And through this street who list might ride and wend;
Free was it, and unbarred at either end.
VII "A little school of Christian people stood
Down at the farther end, in which there were
A nest of children come of Christian blood, 45
That learned in that school from year to year
Such sort of doctrine as men used there,
That is to say, to sing and read also,
As little children in their childhood do.
VIII "Among these children was a Widow's son, 50
A little scholar, scarcely seven years old, [C]
Who day by day unto this school hath gone,
And eke, when he the image did behold
Of Jesu's Mother, as he had been told,
This Child was wont to kneel adown and say 55
_Ave Marie_, as he goeth by the way.
IX "This Widow thus her little Son hath taught
Our blissful Lady, Jesu's Mother dear,
To worship aye, and he forgat it not;
For simple infant hath a ready ear. 60
Sweet is the holiness of youth: and hence,
Calling to mind this matter when I may,
Saint Nicholas in my presence standeth aye,
For he so young to Christ did reverence.
