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BOOK I. - Geoffrey Chaucer, The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, vol. 3 (House of Fame, Legend of Good Women, Treatise on Astrolabe, Sources of Canterbury Tales) [1899]

Edition used:

The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, edited from numerous manuscripts by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat (2nd ed.) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899). 7 vols.

Part of: The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, 7 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


BOOK I.

The authorities are F. (Fairfax 16); B. (Bodley 638); P. (Pepys 2006); Cx. (Caxton’s ed.); Th. (Thynne’s ed. 1532). I follow F. mainly, correcting the spelling.

  • GOD turne us every dreem to gode[ ] !
  • For hit is wonder, by the rode[ ] ,
  • To my wit, what causeth swevenes
  • Either on morwes, or on evenes;
  • And why the effect folweth of somme,5
  • And of somme hit shal never come;
  • Why that is an avisioun[ ] ,
  • And this a revelacioun;
  • Why this a dreem, why that a sweven ,
  • And nat to every man liche even ;10
  • Why this a fantom , these oracles,
  • I noot ; but who-so of these miracles
  • The causes knoweth bet than I,
  • Devyne he; for I certeinly
  • Ne can hem noght, ne never thinke15
  • To besily my wit to swinke,
  • To knowe of hir signifiaunce
  • The gendres , neither the distaunce
  • Of tymes of hem, ne the causes
  • For-why this more than that cause is[ ] ;20
  • As if folkes complexiouns[ ]
  • Make hem dreme of reflexiouns ;
  • Or elles thus, as other sayn,
  • For to greet feblenesseof brayn,
  • By abstinence, or by seeknesse,25
  • Prison, stewe , or greet distresse;
  • Or elles by disordinaunce
  • Of naturel acustomaunce,
  • That som man is to curious
  • In studie, or melancolious,30
  • Or thus, so inly ful of drede,
  • That no man may him bote bede;
  • Or elles, that devocioun
  • Of somme, and contemplacioun
  • Causeth swiche dremes ofte;35
  • Or that the cruel lyf unsofte
  • Which these ilke lovers leden
  • That hopen over muche or dreden,
  • That purely hir impressiouns
  • Causeth hem avisiouns;40
  • Or if that spirits have the might
  • To make folk to dreme a-night
  • Or if the soule, of propre kinde ,
  • Be so parfit, as men finde,
  • That hit forwot that is to come,45
  • And that hit warneth alle and somme
  • Of everiche of hir aventures
  • By avisiouns, or by figures,
  • But that our flesh ne hath no might
  • To understonden hit aright,50
  • For hit is warned to derkly;—
  • But why the cause is, noght wot I.
  • Wel worthe, of this thing, grete clerkes[ ] ,
  • That trete of this and other werkes;
  • For I of noon opinioun55
  • Nil as now make mencioun,
  • But only that the holy rode
  • Turne us every dreem to gode[ ] !
  • For never, sith that I was born,
  • Ne no man elles, me biforn,60
  • Mette, I trowe stedfastly,
  • So wonderful a dreem as I
  • The tenthe day [dide] of Decembre[ ] ,[ ]
  • The which, as I can now remembre[ ] ,
  • I wol yow tellen every del.65
  • The Invocation.
  • But at my ginning, trusteth wel,
  • I wol make invocacioun,
  • With special devocioun[ ] ,
  • Unto the god of slepe anoon[ ] ,
  • That dwelleth in a cave of stoon70
  • Upon a streem that comth fro Lete,
  • That is a flood of helle unswete;
  • Besyde a folk men clepeCimerie ,
  • Ther slepeth ay this god unmerie
  • With his slepy thousand sones[ ]75
  • That alway for to slepe hir wone is—
  • And to this god, that I of rede,
  • Preye I, that he wol me spede
  • My sweven for to telle aright,
  • If every dreem stonde in his might.80
  • And he, that mover is of al
  • That is and was, and ever shal,
  • So yive hem Ioye that hit here
  • Of alle that they dreme to-yere,
  • And for to stonden alle in grace85
  • Of hir loves, or in what place
  • That hem wer levest for to stonde,
  • And shelde hem fro povert and shonde[ ] ,
  • And fro unhappe and ech disese,
  • And sende hem al that may hem plese,90
  • That take hit wel, and scorne hit noght,
  • Ne hit misdemen in her thoght
  • Through malicious entencioun.
  • And who-so, through presumpcioun,
  • Or hate or scorne, or through envye,95
  • Dispyt, or Iape, or vilanye,
  • Misdeme hit, preye I Iesus god
  • That (dreme he barfoot, dreme he shod),
  • That every harm that any man
  • Hath had, sith [that] the world began,100
  • Befalle him therof, or he sterve,
  • And graunte he mote hit ful deserve,
  • Lo! with swich a conclusioun
  • As had of his avisioun
  • Cresus , that was king of Lyde,105
  • That high upon a gebet dyde!
  • This prayer shal he have of me;
  • I am no bet in charite!
  • Now herkneth, as I have you seyd[ ] ,
  • What that I mette, or I abreyd .110
  • The Dream.
    • Of Decembre the tenthe day[ ] ,
    • Whan hit was night, to slepe I lay
    • Right ther as I was wont to done,
    • And fil on slepe wonder sone,
    • As he that wery was for-go115
    • On pilgrimage myles two
    • To the corseyntLeonard ,
    • To make lythe of that was hard .
    • But as I sleep , me mette I was[ ]
    • Within a temple y-mad of glas[ ] ;120
    • In whiche ther were mo images
    • Of gold , stondinge in sondry stages,
    • And mo riche tabernacles,
    • And with perre mo pinacles,
    • And mo curious portreytures,125
    • And queynte maner of figures
    • Of olde werke, then I saw ever.
    • For certeynly, I niste never
    • Wher that I was, but wel wiste I,
    • Hit was of Venus redely,130
    • The temple; for, in portreyture,
    • I saw anoon-right hir figure
    • Naked fletinge in a see.
    • And also on hir heed , parde,
    • Hir rose-garlond whyt and reed,135
    • And hir comb to kembe hir heed,
    • Hir dowves , and daun Cupido,
    • Hir blinde sone, and Vulcano ,
    • That in his face was ful broun .
    • But as I romed up and doun ,140
    • I fond that on a wal ther was[ ]
    • Thus writen, on a table of bras:
    • ‘I wol now singe , if that I can[ ] ,
    • The armes, and al-so the man,
    • That first cam, through his destinee,145
    • Fugitif of Troye contree,
    • In Itaile, with ful moche pyne,
    • Unto the strondes of Lavyne .’
    • And tho began the story anoon,
    • As I shal telle yow echoon.150
    • First saw I the destruccioun
    • Of Troye , through the Greek Sinoun ,
    • [That ] with his false forsweringe,[ ]
    • And his chere and his lesinge
    • Made the hors broght into Troye,155
    • Thorgh which Troyens loste al hir Ioye.
    • And after this was grave, allas!
    • How Ilioun assailed was
    • And wonne, and king Priam y-slayn ,
    • And Polites his sone, certayn,160[ ]
    • Dispitously, of dan Pirrus.
    • And next that saw I how Venus,
    • Whan that she saw the castel brende ,
    • Doun fro the hevene gan descende,[ ]
    • And bad hir sone Eneas flee;165
    • And how he fledde, and how that he
    • Escaped was from al the pres,
    • And took his fader, Anchises,
    • And bar him on his bakke away,
    • Cryinge, ‘Allas, and welaway!’170
    • The whiche Anchises in his honde
    • Bar the goddes of the londe,
    • Thilke that unbrende were.
    • And I saw next, in alle this fere,[ ]
    • How Creusa, daun Eneas wyf,175
    • Which that he lovede as his lyf,
    • And hir yonge sone Iulo ,
    • And eek Ascanius also,
    • Fledden eek with drery chere,
    • That hit was pitee for to here;180
    • And in a forest, as they wente,
    • At a turninge of a wente ,
    • How Creusa was y-lost, allas!
    • That deed, [but] noot I how, she was;[ ]
    • How he hir soughte, and how hir gost185
    • Bad him to flee the Grekes ost,
    • And seyde, he moste unto Itaile,
    • As was his destinee , sauns faille;
    • That hit was pitee for to here,[ ]
    • Whan hir spirit gan appere,190
    • The wordes that she to him seyde,
    • And for to kepe hir sone him preyde.
    • Ther saw I graven eek how he,
    • His fader eek, and his meynee,
    • With his shippes gan to sayle195
    • Toward the contree of Itaile,
    • As streight as that they mighte go.
    • Ther saw I thee, cruel Iuno,[ ]
    • That art daun Iupiteres wyf,
    • That hast y-hated, al thy lyf,200
    • Al the Troyanisshe blood,
    • Renne and crye, as thou were wood,
    • On Eolus, the god of windes,
    • Toblowen out, of alle kindes,
    • So loude, that he shulde drenche205
    • Lord and lady, grome and wenche
    • Of al the Troyan nacioun,
    • Withoute any savacioun.
    • Ther saw I swich tempeste aryse,
    • That every herte mighte agryse,210
    • To see hit peynted on the walle.
    • Ther saw I graven eek withalle,
    • Venus, how ye, my lady dere,
    • Wepinge with ful woful chere,
    • Prayen Iupiter an hye215
    • To save and kepe that navye
    • Of the Troyan Eneas,
    • Sith that he hir sone was.
    • Ther saw I Ioves Venus kisse,[ ]
    • And graunted of the tempest lisse .220
    • Ther saw I how the tempest stente ,
    • And how with alle pyne he wente ,
    • And prevely took arrivage
    • In the contree of Cartage;
    • And on the morwe, how that he225
    • And a knight, hight Achatee ,
    • Metten with Venus that day,
    • Goinge in a queynt array,
    • As she had ben an hunteresse,
    • With wind blowinge upon hir tresse;230
    • How Eneas gan him to pleyne,
    • Whan that he knew hir, of his peyne;
    • And how his shippes dreynte were,
    • Or elles lost, he niste where;
    • How she gan him comforte tho,235
    • And bad him to Cartage go,
    • And ther he shuldë his folk finde,
    • That in the see were left behinde.
    • And, shortly of this thing to pace,[ ]
    • She made Eneas so in grace240
    • Of Dido, quene of that contree,
    • That, shortly for to tellen , she
    • Becam his love, and leet him do
    • That that wedding longeth to.
    • What shulde I speke more queynte,245
    • Or peyne me my wordes peynte,
    • To speke of love? hit wol not be;
    • I can not of that facultee.
    • And eek to telle the manere
    • How they aqueynteden in-fere,250
    • Hit were a long proces to telle,
    • And over long for yow to dwelle.
    • Ther saw I grave, how Eneas
    • Tolde Dido every cas,
    • That him was tid upon the see.255
    • And after grave was, how she
    • Made of him, shortly, at oo word ,
    • Hir lyf, hir love, hir lust, hir lord ;
    • And dide him al the reverence,
    • And leyde on him al the dispence,260
    • That any woman mighte do,
    • Weninge hit had al be so,
    • As he hir swoor; and her-by demed
    • That he was good, for he swich semed.
    • Allas! what harm doth apparence,265[ ]
    • Whan hit is fals in existence!
    • For he to hir a traitour was;
    • Wherfor she slow hir-self, allas!
    • Lo, how a woman doth amis,
    • To love him that unknowen is!270
    • For, by Crist, lo! thus hit fareth;
    • Hit is not al gold , that glareth.’
    • For , al-so brouke I wel myn heed,
    • Ther may be under goodliheed
    • Kevered many a shrewed vyce;275
    • Therfor be no wight so nyce,
    • To take a love only for chere,
    • For speche , or for frendly manere;
    • For this shal every woman finde
    • That som man, of his pure kinde,280[ ]
    • Wol shewen outward the faireste,
    • Til he have caught that what him leste;
    • And thanne wol he causes finde,
    • And swere how that she is unkinde,
    • Or fals, or prevy, or double was.285
    • Al this seye I by Eneas[ ]
    • And Dido, and hir nyce lest,
    • That lovede al to sone a gest ;
    • Therfor I wol seye a proverbe,
    • That ‘he that fully knoweth therbe[ ]290
    • May saufly leye hit to his yë’;
    • Withoute dreed, this is no lye.
    • But let us speke of Eneas,
    • How he betrayed hir, allas!
    • And lefte hir ful unkindely.295
    • So whan she saw al-utterly,
    • That he wolde hir of trouthe faile,
    • And wende fro hir to Itaile,
    • She gan to wringe hir hondes two.
    • ‘Allas!’ quod she, ‘what me is wo!300
    • Allas! is every man thus trewe,
    • That every yere wolde have a newe,
    • If hit so longe tyme dure,
    • Or elles three, peraventure?
    • As thus: of oon he wolde have fame305[ ]
    • In magnifying of his name;
    • Another for frendship, seith he;
    • And yet ther shal the thridde be,
    • That shal be taken for delyt ,
    • Lo, or for singular profyt .’310
    • In swiche wordes gan to pleyne
    • Dido of hir grete peyne,
    • As me mette redely;
    • Non other auctour alegge I.
    • ‘Allas!’ quod she , ‘my swete herte,315[ ]
    • Have pitee on my sorwes smerte,
    • And slee me not! go noght away!
    • O woful Dido, wel away!’
    • Quod she to hir-selve tho.
    • ‘O Eneas! what wil ye do?320
    • O, that your love, ne your bonde,
    • That ye han sworn with your right honde,
    • Ne my cruel deeth,’ quod she,
    • ‘May holde yow still heer with me!
    • O, haveth of my deeth pitee!325
    • Y-wis, my dere herte, ye
    • Knowen ful wel that never yit,
    • As fer-forth as I hadde wit,
    • Agilte [I ] yow in thoght ne deed.
    • O, have ye men swich goodliheed330
    • In speche, and never a deel of trouthe?
    • Allas, that ever hadde routhe
    • Any woman on any man!
    • Now see I wel, and telle can,
    • We wrecched wimmen conne non art;335
    • For certeyn, for the more part,
    • Thus we be served everichone.
    • How sore that ye men conne grone,
    • Anoon as we have yow receyved!
    • Certeinly we ben deceyved;[ ]340
    • For, though your love laste a sesoun,
    • Wayte upon the conclusioun,
    • And eek how that ye determynen,[ ]
    • And for the more part diffynen.
    • ‘O, welawey that I was born!345
    • For through yow is my name lorn,[ ]
    • And alle myn actes red and songe
    • Over al this lond, on every tonge.
    • O wikke Fame! for ther nis
    • Nothing so swift, lo, as she is!350[ ]
    • O, sooth is, every thing is wist,[ ]
    • Though hit be kevered with the mist.
    • Eek, thogh I mighte duren ever,
    • That I have doon, rekever I never,
    • That I ne shal be seyd , allas,355
    • Y-shamed be through Eneas,
    • And that I shal thus Iuged be—
    • “Lo, right as she hath doon , now she
    • Wol do eftsones , hardily;”
    • Thus seyth the peple prevely.’—360
    • But that is doon, nis not to done ;
    • Al hir compleynt ne al hir mone,
    • Certeyn , availeth hir not a stre.
    • And whan she wiste sothly he
    • Was forth unto his shippes goon,[ ]365
    • She in hir chambre wente anoon,[ ]
    • And called on hir suster Anne,[ ]
    • And gan hir to compleyne thanne;
    • And seyde, that she cause was
    • That she first lovede [Eneas ],370
    • And thus counseilled hir therto.
    • But what! when this was seyd and do,
    • She roof hir-selve to the herte,
    • And deyde through the wounde smerte.
    • But al the maner how she deyde,375
    • And al the wordes that she seyde,
    • Who-so to knowe hit hath purpos,
    • Reed Virgile in Eneidos
    • Or the Epistle of Ovyde,
    • What that she wroot or that she dyde;380
    • And nere hit to long to endyte ,[ ]
    • By god, I woldë hit here wryte.
    • But, welaway! the harm, the routhe,
    • That hath betid for swich untrouthe,
    • As men may ofte in bokes rede,385
    • And al day seen hit yet in dede,
    • That for to thenken hit, a tene is.
    • Lo, Demophon, duk of Athenis,[ ]
    • How he forswor him ful falsly,
    • And trayed Phillis wikkedly,390
    • That kinges doghter was of Trace,
    • And falsly gan his terme pace ;
    • And when she wiste that he was fals,
    • She heng hir-self right by the hals,
    • For he had do hir swich untrouthe;395
    • Lo! was not this a wo and routhe?
    • Eek lo! how fals and reccheles[ ]
    • Was to Briseida Achilles,
    • And Paris to Enone;
    • And Iason to Isiphile;400
    • And eft Iason to Medea;[ ]
    • And Ercules to Dyanira;[ ]
    • For he lefte hir for Iöle,
    • That made him cacche his deeth, parde.
    • How fals eek was he, Theseus;405[ ]
    • That, as the story telleth us,
    • How he betrayed Adriane;[ ]
    • The devel be his soules bane!
    • For had he laughed, had he loured,
    • He mostë have be al devoured,410
    • If Adriane ne had y-be!
    • And, for she had of him pitee,
    • She made him fro the dethe escape,
    • And he made hir a ful fals Iape;
    • For after this, within a whyle415
    • He lefte hir slepinge in an yle ,
    • Deserte alone, right in the see,
    • And stal away, and leet hir be;
    • And took hir suster Phedra tho
    • With him, and gan to shippe go.420
    • And yet he had y-sworn to here,
    • On al that ever he mighte swere,
    • That, so she saved him his lyf,
    • He wolde have take hir to his wyf;
    • For she desired nothing elles,425
    • In certein, as the book ustelles .
    • But to excusen Eneas
    • Fulliche of al his greet trespas,
    • The book seyth, Mercurie , sauns faile,
    • Bad him go into Itaile,430
    • And leve Auffrykes regioun,
    • And Dido and hir faire toun.
    • Tho saw I grave, how to Itaile
    • Daun Eneas is go to saile ;
    • And how the tempest al began,435
    • And how he loste his steresman,
    • Which that the stere, or he took keep,
    • Smot over-bord, lo! as he sleep.
    • And also saw I how Sibyle[ ]
    • And Eneas, besyde an yle,440
    • To helle wente, for to see
    • His fader, Anchises the free.
    • How he ther fond Palinurus,
    • And Dido, and eek Deiphebus;
    • And every tourment eek in helle445
    • Saw he, which is long to telle.
    • Which who-so willeth for to knowe,
    • He moste rede many a rowe
    • On Virgile or on Claudian ,
    • Or Daunte, that hit telle can.450
    • Tho saw I grave al tharivaile[ ]
    • That Eneas had in Itaile;
    • And with king Latine his tretee,
    • And alle the batailles that he
    • Was at him-self, and eek his knightes,455
    • Or he had al y-wonne his rightes;
    • And how he Turnus refte his lyf,
    • And wan Lavyna to his wyf;[ ]
    • And al the mervelous signals
    • Of the goddes celestials;460
    • How, maugre Iuno, Eneas,
    • For al hir sleighte and hir compas,
    • Acheved al his aventure;
    • For Iupiter took of him cure
    • At the prayere of Venus;465
    • The whiche I preye alway save us,
    • And us ay of our sorwes lighte!
    • Whan I had seyen al this sighte[ ]
    • In this noble temple thus,
    • ‘A, Lord!’ thoughte I, ‘that madest us,470
    • Yet saw I never swich noblesse
    • Of images, ne swich richesse,
    • As I saw graven in this chirche;
    • But not woot I who dide hem wirche,
    • Ne wher I am, nein what contree.475
    • But now wol I go out and see,
    • Right at the wiket, if I can
    • See o-wher stering any man,
    • That may me telle wher I am.’
    • When I out at the dores cam,480
    • I faste aboute me beheld.
    • Then saw I but a large feld,[ ]
    • As fer as that I mighte see,
    • Withouten toun, or hous, or tree,
    • Or bush, or gras, or ered lond;485
    • For al the feld nas but of sond
    • As smal as man may see yet lye
    • In the desert of Libye;
    • Ne I no maner creature,
    • That is y-formed by nature,490
    • Ne saw , me [for] to rede or wisse.
    • ‘O Crist,’ thoughte I, ‘that art in blisse,
    • Fro fantom and illusioun
    • Me save!’ and with devocioun
    • Myn yën to the heven I caste.495
    • Tho was I war, lo ! at the laste,
    • That faste by the sonne, as hyë
    • As kenne mighte I with myn yë,
    • Me thoughte I saw an egle sore,
    • But that hit semed moche more500
    • Then I had any egle seyn.
    • But this as sooth as deeth, certeyn,
    • Hit was of golde, and shoon so bright,
    • That never saw men such a sighte,[ ][ ]
    • But-if the heven hadde y-wonne505
    • Al newe of golde another sonne;
    • So shoon the egles fethres brighte,
    • And somwhat dounward gan hit lighte.

Explicit liber primus.

[1. ]P. drem; rest dreme.

[8. ]All have And why; I omit why.

[9, 10. ]F. swevene, evene; Cx. Th. sweuen, euen.

[11. ]Th. B. a fantome; P. a fauntom; Cx. a fanton; F. affaintome; after which, all needlessly insert why.

[12. ]F. Th. B. P. not; Cx. note (=noot). Elide o in so.

[20. ]All wrongly insert is before more.

[24. ]B. of the; rest of her; I omit the (her).

[26. ]F. B. stewe; P. stoe; Cx. stryf; Th. stryfe.

[35. ]P. sweche; rest suche, such.

[45. ]F. B. forwote; rest wote.

[50. ]F. vnderstonde, followed by a metrical mark, indicating a pause: I add n.

[58, 62. ]MSS. dreme (=dreem).

[63. ]See note.

[64. ]B. P. now; F. yow; rest om.

[71. ]P. strem; rest streme (=streem); so P. drem (rest dreme) in l. 80. MSS. cometh (=com’th).

[73. ]Cx. Th. clepe; F. clepeth.

[77. ]F. That; rest And.

[78. ]Th. wol; P. wul; Cx. wyl; F. B. wolde.

[85. ]F. B. stonde; Cx. Th. stande; P. stond. Cx. alle; F. Th. al (wrongly).

[88. ]All pouerte.

[89. ]B. ech; F. eche.

[100. ]I supply that.

[103. ]P. om. a.

[109, 110. ]Cx. seyd, abreyd; the rest seyde (sayde), abreyde (abrayde). Grammar requires seyd, abreyd; (abreyde also occurs).

[117, 118. ]Cx. P. leonard, hard; F. Th. B. leonarde, harde. P. om. of.

[119. ]MSS. slept, slepte; read sleep, as in l. 438.

[122. ]F. Th. golde; Cx. P. gold; B. goold.

[126. ]All queynt.

[127. ]F. B. olde; Th. golde; Cx. P. gold. F. sawgh.

[131. ]Th. This; rest The

[132. ]F. sawgh.

[134. ]Th. heed; B. hed; F. Cx. hede. Cx. Th. P. parde; F. B. partee (!).

[135. ]B. red; F. Th. rede; Cx. Rose garlondes smellynge as a mede.

[136. ]MSS. combe. B. hed; rest hede.

[139. ]Cx. P. brown; F. bronne.

[140. ]Cx. down; F. dovne.

[141. ]P. fond; F. Cx. B. fonde; Th. founde. Cx. Th. wal; B. wall; F. walle.

[143. ]F. B. say; rest synge. F. B. P. om. that.

[146. ]F. B. Troy.

[148. ]Cx. Th. P. Lauyne; F. B. Labyne.

[152. ]Cx. Th. P. Troye; F. B. Troy; see l. 155.

[153. ]All om. That. F. B. P. fals; Cx. fals vntrewe; Th. false vntrewe.

[159. ]Cx. Th. kyng; F. B. kynge. F. y-slayne; rest slayn.

[160. ]Th. Polytes; F. B. Polite. From this point I make no further note of obvious corrections in spelling.

[172. ]Cx. P. Th. goddes; F. B. goddesse (wrongly).

[173. ]F. B. -brende; rest -brenned.

[174. ]Cx. P. this; F. B. his.

[184. ]F. P. That dede not I how she was; B. That ded not I how she was; Cx. That rede note I how it was; Th. That rede nat I howe that it was. Read deed, and insert but.

[188. ]Cx. Th. destyne; F. destanye.

[193. ]Cx. Th. grauen; P. graven; F. grave; B. grane.

[196. ]F. B. Towardes.

[199. ]P. Iubiter; rest Iupiters; read Iupiteres.

[204. ]F. blowe; P. Cx. Th. blowen.

[210. ]Th. herte; rest hert.

[220. ]F. omits from lisse to tempest in next line; the rest art right.

[221, 222. ]F. B. stent, went; Cx. Th. stente, wente.

[227. ]P. Cx. Th. Metten; F. B. Mette.

[235. ]F. P. comfort; rest comforte.

[237. ]P. folk; rest folke; but shulde is here dissyllabic.

[242. ]F. tel; B. telle; P. Cx. Th. tellen.

[257, 8. ]All worde, lorde.

[260. ]Th. the; rest omit.

[270. ]F. vnknowe; rest vnknowen.

[278. ]Th. Or speche; rest Or (F. Of!)for speche; read For speche. Lines 280-2 3 are in Th. only, which reads some; fayrest; lest; than.

[285. ]Cx. Th. (3rd) or; F. B. P. om.

[290. ]F. B. therbe (=the herbe); P. Cx. Th. the herbe.

[305. ]Cx. Th. one; P. on; F. B. love.

[309, 310. ]All delyte, profyte.

[313. ]For mette, Cx. Th. have mette dremyng (!).

[314. ]F. auttour=anctour.

[315. ]F. he; the rest she.

[320. ]F. Th. wol; P. wille; Cx. wyl.

[322. ]F. ha; P. B. haue rest om.

[328. ]All had.

[329. ]I insert I; which all omit.

[332. ]P. hadde; rest had.

[334. ]Cx. telle; P. tellen; F. tel.

[340. ]F. omits this line; the rest have it.

[347. ]F. B. al youre; Cx. Th. P. myn (om. al).

[352. ]F. B. om. be.

[353. ]Th. duren; F. B. dure.

[358. ]Th. done; rest omit.

[362. ]All insert But before Al.

[363. ]Cx. Th. P. Certeyn; F. B. Certeynly.

[365. ]Cx. goon; P. gon; F. agoon; B. agon.

[366. ]in] All in to.

[370. ]All Allas (alas); read Eneas.

[371. ]F. B. As; rest And.

[375. ]Cx. Th. P. But; F. B. And.

[381. ]F. And nor hyt were to; Cx. And nere it were to; Th. And nere it to; B. P. And ner it were to. Th. B. to endyte; F. Cx. tendyte.

[387. ]P. thenken; F. B. thynke; Cx. Th. thynken.

[391. ]F. B. om. was.

[402. ]Cx. Th. P. And; F. B. omit.

[410. ]Th. al; Cx. all; P. alle; F. B. om.

[426. ]F. B. om. as and us.

[428. ]F. B. om. greet.

[429. ]B. Mercure; F. Mercure; rest om.

[433. ]F. B. how that; rest how.

[434. ]Cx. P. to saylle; Th. for to sayle; F. B. for to assayle.

[446. ]Th. longe is for; F. B. is longe. Cx. P. whyche no tonge can telle.

[451. ]For tharivaile, F. B. Th. have the aryvayle; Cx. the arryuaylle; P. the arevaille.

[458. ]F. labina; rest Lauyna.

[468. ]Cx. P. seyn; rest seen (sene).

[473. ]F. B. grave; rest grauen.

[475. ]F. B. omit in.

[478. ]Th. sterynge any; the rest any stiryng (sterynge).

[486. ]Cx. Th. P. was but of sonde (sande); F. B. nas but sonde.

[491. ]I insert for. Cx. Th. P. insert I after saw; but it is in l. 489.

[496. ]F. B. omit lo.

[504. ]F. B. omit lines 504-507.

[1.]For this method of commencing a poem with a dream, compare The Book of the Duchesse, Parl. of Foules, and The Romance of the Rose.

For discourses on dreams, compare the Nonne Preestes Tale, and the remarks of Pandarus in Troilus, v. 358-385. Chaucer here propounds several problems; first, what causes dreams (a question answered at some length in the Nonne Preestes Tale, B 4116); why some come true and some do not (discussed in the same, B 4161); and what are the various sorts of dreams (see note to l. 7 below).

There is another passage in Le Roman de la Rose, which bears some resemblance to the present passage. It begins at l. 18699:—

  • ‘Ne ne revoil dire des songes,
  • S’il sunt voirs, ou s’il sunt mençonges;
  • Se l’en les doit du tout eslire,
  • Ou s’il sunt du tout à despire:
  • Porquoi li uns sunt plus orribles,
  • Plus bel li autre et plus paisible,
  • Selonc lor apparicions
  • En diverses complexions,
  • Et selonc lors divers corages
  • Des meurs divers et des aages;
  • Ou se Diex par tex visions
  • Envoie revelacions,
  • Ou li malignes esperiz,
  • Por metre les gens en periz;
  • De tout ce ne m’entremetrai.’

[2.]This long sentence ends at line 52.

[7.]This opens up the question as to the divers sorts of dreams. Chaucer here evidently follows Macrobius, who, in his Commentary on the Somnium Scipionis, lib. i. c. 3, distinguishes five kinds of dreams, viz. somnium, visio, oraculum, insomnium, and visum. The fourth kind, insomnium, was also called fantasma; and this provided Chaucer with the word fantome in l. 11. In the same line, oracles answers to the Lat. oracula. Cf. Ten Brink, Studien, p. 101.

[18.]The gendres, the (various) kinds. This again refers to Macrobius, who subdivides the kind of dream which he calls somnium into five species, viz. proprium, alienum, commune, publicum, and generale, according to the things to which they relate. Distaunce of tymes, i. e. whether the thing dreamt of will happen soon, or a long time afterwards.

[20.]‘Why this is a greater (more efficient) cause than that.’

[21.]This alludes to the four chief complexions of men; cf. Nonne Preestes Tale, B 4114. The four complexions were the sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholy, and choleric; and each complexion was likely to have certain sorts of dreams. Thus, in the Nonne Preestes Tale, B 4120, the choleric man is said to dream of arrows, fire, fierce carnivorous beasts, strife, and dogs; whilst the melancholy man will dream of bulls and bears and black devils.

[22.]Reflexiouns, the reflections or thoughts to which each man is most addicted; see Parl. of Foules, 99-105.

[24.]‘Because of too great feebleness of their brain (caused) by abstinence,’ &c.

[43.]Of propre kynde, owing to its own nature.

[48.]The y in By is run on to the a into avísióuns.

[53.]‘As respects this matter, may good befall the great clerks that treat of it.’ Of these great clerks, Macrobius was one, and Jean de Meun another. Vincent of Beauvais has plenty to say about dreams in his Speculum Naturale, lib. xxvi.; and he refers us to Aristotle, Gregory (Moralia, lib. viii.), Johannes de Rupella, Priscianus (ad Cosdroe regem Persarum), Augustinus (in Libro de diuinatione dæmonum), Hieronimus (super Matheum, lib. ii.), Thomas de Aquino, Albertus, &c.

[58.]Repeated (nearly) from l. 1.

[63.]I here give the text as restored by Willert, who shows how the corruptions in ll. 62 and 63 arose. First of all dide was shifted into l. 62, giving as dide I; as in Caxton’s print. Next, an additional now was put in place of dide in l. 63; as in P., B., F., and Th., and dide was dropped alltogether. After this, F. turned the now of l. 64 into yow, and Cx. omitted it. See also note to l. 111.

[64.]‘Which, as I can (best) now remember.’

[68.]Pronounced fully:—With spé-ci-ál de-vó-ci-óun.

[69.]Morpheus; see Book of Duch. 137. From Ovid, Met. xi. 592-612; esp. ll. 602, 3:—

  • ‘Saxo tamen exit ab imo
  • Riuus aquae Lethes.’

[73.]‘Est prope Cimmerios,’ &c.; Met. xi. 592.

[75.]See Ovid, Met. xi. 613-5; 633.

[76.]That . . hir is equivalent to whose; cf. Kn. Tale, 1852.

[81.]Cf. ‘Colui, che tutto move,’ i. e. He who moves all; Parad. i. 1

[88.]Read povért; cf. Clerkes Tale, E 816.

[92.]MSS. misdeme; I read misdemen, to avoid an hiatus.

[93.]Read málicióus.

[98.]‘That, whether he dream when bare-footed or when shod’; whether in bed by night or in a chair by day; i. e. in every case. The that is idiomatically repeated in l. 99.

[105.]The dream of Crœsus, king of Lydia, and his death vpon a gallows, form the subject of the last story in the Monkes Tale. Chaucer got it from the Rom. de la Rose, which accounts for the form Lyde. The passage occurs at l. 6513:—

  • ‘Cresus . . .
  • Qui refu roi de toute Lyde, . . .
  • Qu’el vous vuet faire au gibet pendre.’

[109, 10.]The rime is correct, because abreyd is a strong verb. Chaucer does not rime a pp. with a weak pt. tense, which should have a final e. According to Mr. Cromie’s Rime-Index, there is just one exception, viz. in the Kn. Tale, A 1383, where the pt. t. seyde is rimed with the ‘pp. leyde.’ But Mr. Cromie happens to have overlooked the fact that leyde is here not the pp., but the past tense! Nevertheless, abreyd-e also appears in a weak form, by confusion with leyd-e, seyd-e, &c.; see C. T., B 4198, E 1061. Cf. Book of the Duchess, 192. In l. 109, he refers to l. 65.

[111.]Here again, as in l. 63, is a mention of Dec. 10. Ten Brink (Studien, p. 151) suggests that it may have been a Thursday; cf. the mention of Jupiter in ll. 608, 642, 661. If so, the year was 1383.

[115.]‘Like one that was weary with having overwalked himself by going two miles on pilgrimage.’ The difficulty was not in the walking two miles, but in doing so under difficulties, such as going barefoot for penance.

[117.]Corseynt; O.F. cors seint, lit. holy body; hence a saint or sainted person, or the shrine where a saint was laid. See Robert of Brunne, Handlyng Synne, 8739:—

  • ‘And hys ymage ful feyre depeynte,
  • RyȜt as he were a cors seynt.

See also P. Plowman, B. v. 539; Morte Arthure, 1164; and (the spurious) Chaucer’s Dream, 942.

[118.]‘To make that soft (or easy) which was formerly hard.’ The allusion is humorous enough; viz. to the bonds of matrimony. Here again Chaucer follows Jean de Meun, Rom. de la Rose, 8871:—

  • ‘Mariages est maus liens,
  • Ainsinc m’aïst saint Juliens
  • Qui pelerins errans herberge,
  • Et saint Lienart qui defferge
  • Les prisonniers bien repentans,
  • Quant les voit à soi démentans’;

i. e. ‘Marriage is an evil bond—so may St. Julian aid me, who harbours wandering pilgrims; and St. Leonard, who frees from their fetters (lit. un-irons) such prisoners as are very repentant, when he sees them giving themselves the lie (or recalling their word).’ The ‘prisoners’ are married people, who have repented, and would recall their plighted vow.

St. Leonard was the patron-saint of captives, and it was charitably hoped that he would extend his protection to the wretched people who had unadvisedly entered into wedlock, and soon prayed to get out of it again. They would thus exchange the hard bond for the soft condition of freedom. ‘St. Julian is the patron of pilgrims; St. Leonard and St. Barbara protect captives’; Brand, Pop. Antiquities, i. 359. And, at p. 363 of the same, Brand quotes from Barnabee Googe:—

  • ‘But Leonard of the prisoners doth the bandes asunder pull,
  • And breaks the prison-doores and chaines, wherewith his church is full.’

St. Leonard’s day is Nov. 6.

[119.]The MSS. have slept-e, which is dissyllabic. Read sleep, as in C. T. Prol. 397.

[120.]Hence the title of one of Lydgate’s poems, The Temple of Glass, which is an imitation of the present poem.

[130.]Cf. the description of Venus’ temple (Cant. Tales, A 1918), which is imitated from that in Boccaccio’s Teseide.

[133.]Cf. ‘naked fleting in the large see . . . And on hir heed, ful semely for to see, A rose garland, fresh and wel smellinge’; Cant. Tales, A 1956.

[137.]‘Hir dowves’; C. T., A 1962. ‘Cupido’; id. 1963.

[138.]Vulcano, Vulcan; note the Italian forms of these names. Boccaccio’s Teseide has Cupido (vii. 54), and Vulcano (vii. 43). His face was brown with working at the forge.

[141, 2.]Cf. Dante, Inf. iii. 10, 11.

[143.]A large portion of the rest of this First Book is taken up with a summary of the earlier part of Vergil’s Aeneid. We have here a translation of the well-known opening lines:—

  • ‘Arma uirumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
  • Italiam, fato profugus, Lauinia uenit
  • Littora.’

[147.]In, into, unto; see note to l. 366.

[152.]Synoun, Sinon; Aen. ii. 195.

[153.]I supply That, both for sense and metre.

[155.]Made the hors broght, caused the horse to be brought. On this idiom, see the note to Man of Lawes Tale, B 171.

[158.]Ilioun, Ilium. Ilium is only a poetical name for Troy; but the medieval writers often use it in the restricted sense of the citadel of Troy, where was the temple of Apollc and the palace of Priam. Thus, in the alliterative Troy-book, 11958, ylion certainly has this sense; and Caxton speaks of ‘the palays of ylyon’; see Spec. of English, ed. Skeat, p. 94. See also the parallel passage in the Nonne Preestes Tale, B 4546. Still more clearly, in the Leg. Good Women (Dido, 13), Chaucer says, of ‘the tour of Ilioun,’ that it ‘of the citee was the cheef dungeoun.’ In l. 163 below, it is called castel.

[160.]Polites, Polites; Aen. ii. 526. Also spelt Polite in Troil. iv. 53.

[163.]Brende, was on fire; used intransitively, as in l. 537.

[164-73.]See Aen. ii. 589-733.

[174.]Read this, rather than his. Cf. Aen. ii. 736.

[177.]Iulus and Ascanius were one and the same person; see Æn. i. 267. Perhaps Ch. was misled by the wording of Æn. iv. 274. (On the other hand, Brutus was not the same person as Cassius; see Monkes Tale, B 3887). Hence, Koch proposes to read That hight instead of And eek; but we have no authority for this. However, Chaucer has it right in his Legend of Good Women, 941; and in l. 192 below, we find sone, not sones; hence l. 178 may be merely parenthetical.

[182.]Wente, foot-path; Aen. ii. 737. Cf. Book Duch. 398.

[184.]‘So that she was dead, but I know not how.’ Vergil does not say how she died.

[185.]Gost, ghost; see Aen. ii. 772.

[189.]Repeated from l. 180.

[198.]Here Chaucer returns to the first book of the Æneid, which he follows down to l. 255.

[204.]‘To blow forth, (with winds) of all kinds’; cf. Æn. i. 85.

[219.]Ioves, Jove, Jupiter. This curious form occurs again, ll. 586, 597, 630; see note to l. 586. Boccaccio has Giove.

[226.]Achatee (trisyllabic), Achates, Æn. i. 312; where the abl. form Achate occurs.

[239.]The story of Dido is told at length in Le Rom. de la Rose, 13378; in The Legend of Good Women; and in Gower, Conf. Amantis, bk. iv., ed. Pauli, ii. 4. Chaucer now passes on to the fourth book of the Æneid, till he comes to l. 268 below.

[265.]‘Mès ja ne verrés d’aparence Conclurre bonne consequence’; Rom. Rose, 12343.

[272.]‘It is not all gold that glistens.’ A proverb which Chaucer took from Alanus de Insulis; see note to Can. Yem. Tale, G 962.

[273.]‘For, as sure as I hope to have good use of my head.’ Brouke is, practically, in the optative mood. Cf. ‘So mote I brouke wel myn eyen tweye’; Cant. Ta., B 4490; so also E 2308. The phrase occurs several times in the Tale of Gamelyn; see note to l. 334 of that poem.

[280-3.]These four lines occur in Thynne’s edition only, but are probably quite genuine. It is easy to see why they dropped out; viz. owing to the repetition of the word finde at the end of ll. 279 and 283. This is a very common cause of such omissions. See note to l. 504.

[286.]By, with reference to.

[288.]Gest, guest; Lat. aduena, Æn. iv. 591.

[290.]‘He that fully knows the herb may safely lay it to his eye.’ So in Cotgrave’s Dict., s. v. Herbe, we find; ‘L’herbe qu’on cognoist, on la doit lier à son doigt; Prov. Those, or that, which a man knowes best, he must use most.’

[305.]In the margin of MSS. F. and B. is here written:—‘Caute uos, innocentes mulieres.’

[315.]Swete herte; hence E. sweetheart; cf. l. 326.

[321.]Understand ne (i. e. neither) before your love. Cf. Æn. iv. 307, 8.

[329.]I have no hesitation in inserting I after Agilte, as it is absolutely required to complete the sense. Read—Agílt’ I yów, &c.

[343.]Pronounce déterminen (i as ee in beet).

[346.]Cf. Æn. iv. 321-3.

[350.]‘Fama, malum quo non aliud uelocius ullum,’ Æn. iv. 174; quoted in the margin of MSS. F. and B.

[351.]‘Nichil occultum quod non reueletur’; Matt. x. 26: quoted in the margin of MSS. F. and B.

[355.]Seyd y-shamed be, said to be put to shame.

[359.]Eft-sones, hereafter again. In the margin of MSS. F. and B. we here find:—‘Cras poterunt turpia fieri sicut heri.’ By reading fieri turpia, this becomes a pentameter; but it is not in Ovid, nor (I suppose) in classical Latin.

[361.]Doon, already done. To done, yet to be done. Cf. Book Duch. 708.

[366.]I read in for into (as in the MSS.). For similar instances, where the scribes write into for in, see Einenkel, Streifzüge durch die Mittelengl. Syntax, p. 145. Cf. l. 147.

[367.]In the margin of MSS. F. and B. is an incorrect quotation of Æn. iv. 548-9:—‘tu prima furentem His, germana, malis oneras.’

[378.]Eneidos; because the books are headed Æneidos liber primus, &c.

[379.]See Ovid, Heroides, Epist. vii—Dido Æneæ.

[380.]Or that, ere that, before.

[381.]Only Th. has the right reading, viz. And nere it to longe to endyte (where longe is an error for long). The expressions And nor hyt were and And nere it were are both ungrammatical. Nere=ne were, were it not.

[388.]In the margin of F. and B. we find:—‘Nota: of many vntrewe louers. Hospita, Demaphoon, tua te R[h]odopeia Phyllis Vltra promissum tempus abesse queror.’ These are the first two lines of Epistola ii. in Ovid’s Heroides, addressed by Phyllis to Demophoon. All the examples here given are taken from the same work. Epist. iii. is headed Briseis Achilli; Epist. v., Oenone Paridi; Epist. vi., Hypsipyle Iasoni; Epist. xii., Medea Iasoni; Epist. ix., Deianira Herculi; Epist. x., Ariadne Theseo. These names were evidently suggested by the reference above to the same work, l. 379. See the long note to Group B, l. 61, in vol. v.

Demophoon, son of Theseus; was the lover of Phyllis, daughter of king Sithon in Thrace; she was changed into an almond-tree.

[392.]His terme pace, pass beyond or stay behind his appointed time. He said he would return in a month, but did not do so. See the story in The Legend of Good Women. Gower (ed. Pauli, iii. 361) alludes to her story, in a passage much like the present one; and in Le Rom. de la Rose, 13417, we have the very phrase—‘Por le terme qu’il trespassa.

[397.]In the margin of F. and B.:—‘Ouidius. Quam legis a rapta Briseide litera venit’; Heroid. Ep. iii. 1.

[401.]In the same:—‘Ut [miswritten Vbi] tibi Colc[h]orum memini regina uacaui’; Heroid. Ep. xii. 1. For the accentuation of Medea, cf. Leg. of Good Women, 1629, 1663.

[402.]In the margin of F. and B.:—‘Gratulor Oechaliam’; Heroid. Ep. ix. 1; but Oechaliam is miswritten yotholia.

[405.]Gower also tells this story; ed. Pauli, ii. 306.

[407.]In F. and B. is quoted the first line of Ovid, Heroid. x. 1. Adriane, Ariadne; just as in Leg. Good Wom. 2171, &c., and in C. T., Group B, l. 67. Gower has Adriagne.

[409.]‘For, whether he had laughed, or whether he had frowned’; i. e. in any case. Cf. l. 98.

[411.]‘If it had not been for Ariadne.’ We have altered the form of this idiom.

[416.]Yle, isle of Naxos; see notes to Leg. Good Wom. 2163, and C. T., Group B, l. 68 (in vol. v.).

[426.]Telles is a Northern and West-Midland form, as in Book Duch. 73. Cf. falles, id. 257. A similar admixture of forms occurs in Havelok, Will. of Palerne, and other M. E. poems.

[429.]The book, i. e. Vergil; Æn. iv. 252.

[434.]Go, gone, set out; correctly used. Chaucer passes on to Æneid, bk. v. The tempest is that mentioned in Æn. v. 10; the steersman is Palinurus, who fell overboard; Æn. v. 860.

[439.]See Æn. bk. vi. The isle intended is Crete, Æn. vi. 14, 23; which was not at all near (or ‘besyde’) Cumæ, but a long way from it. Æneas then descends to hell, where he sees Anchises (vi. 679); Palinurus (337); Dido (450); Deiphobus, son of Priam (495); and the tormented souls (580).

[447.]Which refers to the various sights in hell.

[449.]Claudian, Claudius Claudianus, who wrote De raptu Proserpinae about ad 400. Daunte is Dante, with reference to his Inferno, ii. 13-27, and Paradiso, xv. 25-27.

[451.]Chaucer goes on to Æn. vii-xii, of which he says but little.

[458.]Lavyna is Lavinia; the form Lavina occurs in Dante, Purg. xvii. 37.

[468.]I put seyën for seyn, to improve the metre; cf. P. Pl. C. iv. 104.

[474.]‘But I do not know who caused them to be made.’

[475.]Read ne in as nin; as in Squi. Tale, F 35.

[482.]This waste space corresponds to Dante’s ‘gran diserto,’ Inf. i. 64; or, still better, to his ‘landa’ (Inf. xiv. 8), which was too sterile to support plants. So again, l. 486 corresponds to Dante’s ‘arena arida e spessa,’ which has reference to the desert of Libya; Inf. xiv. 13.

[487.]‘As fine [said of the sand] as one may see still lying.’ Jephson says yet must be a mistake, and would read yt. But it makes perfect sense. Cx. Th. read at eye (put for at yë) instead of yet lye, which is perhaps better. At yë means ‘as presented to the sight’; see Kn. Ta., A 3016.

[498.]Kenne, discern. The offing at sea has been called the kenning; and see Kenning in Halliwell.

[500.]More, greater. Imitated from Dante, Purgat. ix. 19, which Cary translates thus:—

  • ‘Then, in a vision, did I seem to view
  • A golden-feather’d eagle in the sky,
  • With open wings, and hovering for descent.’

Cf. also the descent of the angel in Purg. ii. 17-24.

[504-7.]The omission of these lines in F. and B. is simply due to the scribe slipping from bright in l. 503 to brighte in l. 507. Cf. note to l. 280.