Chapter 12 12

"Now dame," quoth he, "Je vous dis sans doute,

Had I nought of a capon but the liver,

And of your white bread nought but a shiver,

And after that a roasted pigge's head

(But I ne wold for me no beast were dead),

Then had I with you homely sufferaunce."

CHAUCER, Summer's Tale.

IT was not without some secret misgivings that Caleb