The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Introduction to the House of Fame
• Introduction to the Legend of Good Women.
• Introduction to a Treatise On the Astrolabe.
• Description of the Plates.
• The Hous of Fame.
• Book I.
• Book II.
• Book III.
• The Legend of Good Women.
• The Prologe of .ix. Goode Wimmen.
• I.: The Legend of Cleopatra.
• II.: The Legend of Thisbe of Babylon.
• III.: The Legend of Dido, Queen of Carthage.
• IV.: The Legend of Hypsipyle and Medea.
• V.: The Legend of Lucretia.
• VI.: The Legend of Ariadne.
• VII.: The Legend of Philomela.
• VIII.: The Legend of Phyllis.
• IX.: The Legend of Hypermnestra.
• A Treatise On the Astrolabe.
• Prologue.
• Part I.
• Part Ii
• Supplementary Propositions.
• Critical Notes
• Notes to the House of Fame.
• Notes to the Legend of Good Women.
• Sources of the Canterbury Tales.

CRITICAL NOTES.

As, in the preceding pages which contain the text, the lower portion of each page is occupied with a running commentary, such Critical Notes upon the text as seem to be most necessary are here subjoined.

Title. Tractatus, &c.; adopted from the colophon. MS. F has ‘tractatus astrolabii.’ A second title, ‘Bred and mylk for childeren,’ is in MSS. B. and E.

[The MSS. are as follows:—A. Cambridge Univ. Lib. Dd. 3. 53.—B. Bodley, E Museo 54.—C. Rawlinson 1370.—D. Ashmole 391.—E. Bodley 619.—F. Corpus 424.—G. Trin. Coll. Cam. R. 15. 18.—H. Sloane 314.—I. Sloane 261.—K. Rawlinson Misc. 3.—L. Addit. 23002. (B. M.)—M. St. John’s Coll. Cam.—N. Digby 72.—O. Ashmole 360.—P. Camb. Univ. Lib. Dd. 12. 51.—Q. Ashmole 393.—R. Egerton 2622 (B. M.).—S. Addit. 29250 (B. M.) See the descriptions of them in the Introduction.]

NOTES TO THE HOUSE OF FAME.

BOOK I.

Written in three Books; but I number the lines consecutively throughout, for convenience; at the same time giving the separate numbering (of Books II. and III.) within marks of parenthesis. The title of the poem is expressly given at l. 663. The author gives his name as Geffrey; l. 729.

Lydgate’s Temple of Glass is partly imitated from the House of Fame; Warton, Hist. E. Poetry, 1871, iii. 61. The same is true of the Palice of Honour, by Gawain Douglas. For further remarks, see the Introduction.

As the poem is not quite easy to follow, I here subjoin a brief Argument of its contents.

Book I. A discussion on dreams. I will tell you my dream on the 10th of December. But first let me invoke Morpheus. May those who gladly hear me have joy; but may those who dislike my words have as evil a fate as Crœsus, King of Lydia! (1-110).

I slept, and dreamt I was in a temple of glass, dedicated to Venus. On a table of brass I found the opening words of Vergil’s Æneid; after which I saw the destruction of Troy, the death of Priam, the flight of Æneas, the loss of Creusa, the voyage of Æneas to Italy, the storm at sea sent by Juno, the arrival of Æneas at Carthage, how kindly Dido received him, and how Æneas betrayed and left her, causing Dido’s lament and suicide. Similar falsehood was seen in Demophon, Achilles, Paris, Jason, Hercules, and Theseus. Next, Æneas sailed to Italy, and lost Palinurus; he visited the lower regions, where he saw Anchises, Palinurus, Dido, and Deiphobus. Afterwards he warred in Italy, slew Turnus, and won Lavinia (111-467).

After this I went out of the temple, and found a large plain. Looking up, I saw an eagle above me, of enormous size and having golden feathers (468-508).

Book II. Such a strange vision as mine never appeared to Scipio, Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, or Turnus. O Venus and Muses, help me to tell it! The great eagle swooped down upon me, seized me, and bore me aloft, and told me (in a man’s voice) not to be afraid. I thought I was being borne up to the stars, like Enoch or Ganymede. The eagle then addressed me, and told me some events of my own life, and said that he would bear me to the House of Fame, where I should hear many wonderful things (509-710).

The House stood in the midst, between heaven, earth, and sea; and all sounds travelled thither, ‘Geoffrey,’ said he, ‘you know how all things tend to seek their own proper place; a stone sinks down, while smoke flies up. Sound is merely broken air, and if you would know how all sounds come to Fame’s House, observe how, when a stone is thrown into water, the rings made by the ripples extend from the spot where it fell till they reach the shore. Just so all earthly sounds travel till they reach Fame’s House.’ He then bade me look below me, and asked what I saw. I saw fields, hills, rivers, towns, and sea; but soon he had soared so high that the earth dwindled to a point. I was higher up (I said) than ever was Alexander, Scipio, or Dædalus. He then bade me look upward; I saw the zodiac, the milky way, and clouds, snows, and rain beneath me. Then I thought of the descriptions of heaven in Boethius and Marcian. The eagle would have taught me the names of the stars; I refused to learn. He then asked if I could now hear the sounds that murmured in the House of Fame. I said they sounded like the beating of the sea on rocks (711-1045).

Then he set me down upon my feet in a way that led to the House, and bade me go forward; observing that I should find that the words that flew about in Fame’s House assumed the outward forms of the men upon earth who uttered them (1046-90).

Book III. Apollo, aid me to write this last book! My rime is artless; I aim at expressing my thoughts only (1091-1109).

The House of Fame stood high upon a lofty rock, which I climbed laboriously. The rock was formed of ice. On the southern side it was covered with names, many of the letters of which were melted away. On the northern side, it was likewise covered with names, which remained unmelted and legible. On the top of the mountain I found a beautiful House, which I cannot describe though I remember it. It was all of beryl, and full of windows. In niches round about were harpers and minstrels, such as Orpheus, Arion, Chiron, and Glasgerion. Far from these, by themselves, was a vast crowd of musicians. There were Marsyas, Misenus, Joab, and others. In other seats were jugglers, sorcerers, and magicians; Medea, Circe, Hermes, and Coll Tregetour. I next beheld the golden gates. Then I heard the cries of those that were heralds to the goddess Fame. How shall I describe the great hall, that was plated with gold, and set with gems? High on a throne of ruby sat the goddess, who at first seemed but a dwarf, but presently grew so that she reached from earth to heaven. Her hair was golden, and she was covered with innumerable ears and tongues. Her shoulders sustained the names of famous men, such as Alexander and Hercules. On either side of the hall were huge pillars of metal. On the first of these, composed of lead and iron, was the Jew Josephus; the iron was the metal of Mercury, and the lead of Saturn. Next, on an iron pillar, was Statius; and on other iron pillars were Homer, Dares, Dictys, Guido, and the English Geoffrey, who upbore the fame of Troy. On a pillar of iron, but covered over with tin, was Vergil; and beside him Ovid and Lucan. On a pillar of sulphur stood Claudian (1110-1512).

Next I saw a vast company, all worshipping Fame. These she rejected, but would say of them neither good nor bad. She then sent a messenger to fetch Æolus, the god of wind, who should bring with him two trumpets, namely of Praise and Slander. Æolus, with his man Triton, came to Fame. And when many undeserving suppliants approached her, she bade Æolus blow his black trump of Slander. He did so, and from it there issued a stinking smoke; and so this second company got renown, but it was evil. A third company sued to her, and she bade Æolus blow his golden trump of Praise. Straightway he did so, and the blast had a perfume like that of balm and roses. A fourth company, a very small one, asked for no fame at all, and their request was granted. A fifth company modestly asked for no fame, though they had done great things; but Fame bade Æolus blow his golden trumpet, till their praise resounded everywhere. A sixth company of idle men, who had done no good, asked for fame; and their request was granted. A seventh company made the same request; but Fame reviled them; Æolus blew his black trump, and all men laughed at them. An eighth company, of wicked men, prayed for good fame; but their request was refused. A ninth company, also of wicked men, prayed for a famous but evil name, and their request was granted. Among them was the wretch who set on fire the temple at Athens (1513-1867).

Then some man perceived me, and began to question me. I explained that I had come to learn strange things, and not to gain fame. He led me out of the castle and into a valley, where stood the house of Dædalus (i. e. the house of Rumour). This strange house was made of basket-work, and was full of holes, and all the doors stood wide open. All sorts of rumours entered there, and it was sixty miles long. On a rock beside it I saw my eagle perched, who again seized me, and bore me into it through a window. It swarmed with people, all of whom were engaged in telling news; and often their stories would fly out of a window. Sometimes a truth and a lie would try to fly out together, and became commingled before they could get away. Every piece of news then flew to Fame, who did as she pleased with each. The house of Dædalus was thronged with pilgrims, pardoners, couriers, and messengers, and I heard strange things. In one corner men were telling stories about love, and there was a crush of men running to hear them. At last I saw a man whom I knew not; but he seemed to be one who had great authority—(here the poem ends, being incomplete; ll. 1868-2158).

The general idea of the poem was plainly suggested by the description of Fame in Vergil, the house of Fame as described near the beginning of the twelfth book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and various hints in Dante’s Divina Commedia. For a close and searching comparison between the House of Fame and Dante’s great poem, see the article by A. Rambeau in Engl. Studien, iii. 209.

BOOK II.

BOOK III.

NOTES TO THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN.

NOTES TO THE PROLOGUE.

*∗* N.B. The references are to the B-text, except where special mention of the A-text is made. The latter is denoted by the letter ‘A,’ preceded by a short line.

I.

THE LEGEND OF CLEOPATRA.

It is not clear what account Chaucer followed; see the Introduction. The chief sources for the history are Plutarch, Appian, Dion Cassius, and Orosius (bk. vi. c. 19). I shall refer to the Life of M. Antonius in my edition of Shakespeare’s Plutarch (denoted below by Sh. Plut.). Bech points out that one of Chaucer’s sources was Florus; see note to l. 655.

II.

THE LEGEND OF THISBE.

Chaucer follows Ovid, Metamorph. iv. 55-166; and frequently very closely. The reader should compare the Latin text throughout. For example, Ovid begins thus:—

• ‘Pyramus et Thisbe, iuuenum pulcherrimus alter,
• altera, quas Oriens habuit, praelata puellis,
• contiguas habuere domos, ubi dicitur altam
• coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem.’

In Golding’s translation, fol. 43, back, thus:—

• ‘Within the town (of whose huge walles so monstrous high and thicke,
• The fame is giuen Semiramis for making them of bricke)
• Dwelt hard together two young folke in houses ioynde so nere,
• That vnder all one roofe well nie both twaine conuayed were.
• The name of him was Pyramus, and Thisbe call’d was she;
• So faire a man in all the East was none aliue as he.
• Nor nere a woman, mayde, nor wife in beautie like to her.’

This at once explains the allusion to Semiramis, the celebrated but mythical queen who was said to have surrounded Babylon with walls of fabulous strength, having a deep ditch outside them. See Orosius, as translated by King Alfred, in Sweet’s A. S. Reader, fourth ed. pp. 28, 29. Gower tells the same story, and likewise follows Ovid; C. A. i. 324.

III.

THE LEGEND OF DIDO.

This Legend purports to be taken from Vergil and Ovid; see l. 928. There is very little of it from Ovid, viz. only the last 16 lines, which depend on Ovid’s Heroides, vii. 1-8, and ll. 1312-6, which owe something to the same epistle.

The rest is from the Æneid, bks. i-iv, as will be pointed out.

Note that Chaucer had already given the story of Dido at some length in his Hous of Fame, 151-382, which should be compared. He mentions Ovid there also; l. 379.

IV. (Part I.)

THE LEGEND OF HYPSIPYLE.

The chief sources of this fourth Legend are Guido delle Colonne’s Historia Troiana, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, bk. vii, and Heroides, letters vi. and xii. The story of Hypsipyle is also in Statius’ Thebaid, bk. v, and in l. 1437 (see note) there is a reference to the Argonauticon of Valerius Flaccus. See further in the Preface; and see the notes to ll. 1396, 1467.

Part II.

THE LEGEND OF MEDEA.

V.

THE LEGEND OF LUCRETIA.

Chaucer cites Ovid and Livy, and in l. 1873 again appeals to Livy as the authority. The story is in Livy, bk. j. c. 57-59; and in Ovid, Fasti, ii. 721-852. Chaucer doubtless appeals to Livy as being a professed historian, but the reader will find that, as a matter of fact, he follows mainly the account in Ovid from beginning to end, and sometimes almost word for word. Livy and Ovid were contemporary; the former was born 59, and died ad 17; the latter was born 43, and died ad 18. Gower also tells this story, and likewise follows Ovid and (near the end) Livy; C. A. iii. 251.

VI.

THE LEGEND OF ARIADNE.

For a remark upon the title, see note to l. 1966.

It is difficult to say whence Chaucer derived all of this Legend. The beginning is from Ovid, Metam. vii. 456-8, viii. 6-176; the main part of the story is like Plutarch’s Life of Theseus, or some similar source; and the conclusion from Ovid’s Heroides, epist. x. Further, ll. 2222-4 refer to Met. viii. 176-182. See also Hyginus, Fabulae, capp. xli-xliii; Æneid, vi. 20-30; and cf. Gower, C. A. ii. 302-311.

VII.

THE LEGEND OF PHILOMELA.

Chaucer’s Prologue ends at l. 2243. The tale is from Ovid, Met. vi. 424-605, with some omissions, and ends at l. 2382. Gower has the same story; C. A. bk. v. ed. Pauli, ii. 313.

VIII.

THE LEGEND OF PHYLLIS.

Gower tells the same story in his Confessio Amantis, bk. iv. (ed. Pauli, ii. 26); and it is likely that he and Chaucer derived it from the same source, whatever that may have been. A portion of the latter part, from l. 2496, is taken from Ovid, Heroides, Ep. ii. And see note to l. 2423.

IX.

THE LEGEND OF HYPERMNESTRA.

The story is told in Ovid, Her. xiv. But Chaucer has taken some of the details from Boccaccio, De Genealogia Deorum, lib. ii. c. 22 Cf. Hyginus, Fab. 168. See the Introduction.

NOTES TO THE TREATISE ON THE ASTROLABE.

The title ‘Tractatus de Conclusionibus Astrolabii’ is suggested by the wording of the colophon on p. 223. But a better title is, simply, ‘Tractatus de Astrolabio,’ or ‘Treatise on the Astrolabe,’ as the ‘Conclusiones’ only occupy the Second Part of the work; see p. 188. Indeed MS. F. has ‘Tractatus Astrolabii’; see p. 233. MSS. B. and E. have the singular title—‘Bred and mylk for childeren.’

THE CANTERBURY TALES.

SOURCES OF THE CANTERBURY TALES.

ACCOUNT OF THE SOURCES OF THE CANTERBURY TALES.

The Nine Groups.

Group H.

P. 395.—In a small book by Professor G. Stephens, entitled Förteckning öfver de fornämsta Brittiska och Fransyska Handskrifterna i Stockholm (Stockholm, 1847), at p. 20, is a description of a MS. which contains a copy of Palamon and Arcite in French verse, and was written early in the fifteenth century. It is remarkable that the metre is the same as that of the Knightes Tale; from which, perhaps, it was borrowed.

In Anglia, XVI. 261, L. Fränkel, of Munich, reprints a Latin fable by Casparus Cropacius, which first appeared in 1581, in illustration of the Milleres Tale. This fable follows Chaucer closely in the principal details, but omits the humour of the original. I fail to see any merit in this form of the story, and therefore refrain from reproducing it.

P. 423. See Dr. Jessopp’s article on ‘William of Norwich’ in The Nineteenth Century, May, 1893.

[1701. ]werk] all werkes (werkys); see 1666, 1720, 1.

[1702. ]B. clew; F. clywe; Cx. Th. P. torned, turned.

[1707. ]Cx. P. To hyde; Th. To hyden; F. B. And hidden.

[1709. ]P. Cx. fame; rest no fame. P. Cx. Th. ne (om. for); F. B. for (om. ne).

[1717. ]F. B. Th. lyen (for lyuen); P. be; Cx. om.

[1720. ]werk] all werkes (werkys); but see hit in 1721.

[1725. ]F. B. Th. Al so; rest And so; read So.

[1726. ]So F. B.; Cx. Th. That theyr fame was blowe a lofte.

[1735. ]Cx. P. so good a; Th. as good a; F. B. as good.

[1742. ]Th. Cx. P. in her herte; F. in hem; B. in her.

[1744. ]Th. on; rest upon.

[1745. ]F. B. om. the.

[1748, 1749. ]F. a; rest as.

[1750. ]P. Cx. To; rest The.

[1765. ]F. B. now let se (I omit now); rest quod she.

[1775. ]I supply ye.

[1779. ]P. wher; Cx. Th. where; F. B. or.

[1781. ]F. B. neuer ye; rest om. ye.

[1782. ]F. B. om. to-.

[1783. ]F. swynt; B sweynte; Cx. Th. P. slepy.

[1786. ]Cx. P. on; the rest to.

[1787. ]Cx. Th. P. on; F. B. to.

[1792. ]F. B. om. thee.

[1793. ]F. B. om. they.

[1801. ]P. blak; F. B. blake.

[1804. ]I supply the.

[1805. ]al is not in the MSS.; but P. has as (=al so).

[1813. ]All grete, gret; read gretest (Willert).

[1816. ]MSS. doon (don, do) hem.

[1818. ]F. B. in a; P. Cx. Th. in.

[1821. ]B. liste; rest list, short for listeth. F. B. P. om. to; Cx. Th. insert it.

[1822. ]P. not; which F. B. Cx. Th. omit.

[1824. ]F. choppen; B. choppyn; Th. clappen; Cx. P. clappe.

[1828. ]B. P. folk; rest folkes.

[1834. ]P. vice; Cx. Th. vyce; F. B. vices.

[1836. ]F. B. suche be; Cx. Th. P. be suche.

[1843. ]Here P. ends.

[1853. ]F. Th. be noght for; Cx. B. be for; read be but for (Koch).

[1862. ]Cx. Th. they; F. B. this folke.

[1880. ]F. selfe; read selven.

[1883. ]Th. than; Cx. thenne; F. B. om.

[1887. ]All thing, thinge; read thinges. Cf. l. 1889.

[1891. ]All come.

[1897. ]All wote (for wiste); see l. 1901.

[1898. ]All had.

[1902. ]All dwelled or dwellyth.

[1903. ]F. And; rest Ne.

[1906. ]B. the; F. om. B. hidyr; Th. hyder; Cx. hether; F. thidder.

[1907. ]B. Whi then; rest Why than; Koch suggests Which than; read Which-e. Ll. 1907-9 are probably corrupt; see note.

[1908. ]I supply thus.

[1926. ]Th. it stil; rest stil hyt.

[1931. ]Th. B. that I; F. I haue; Cx. I had.

[1938. ]F. B. Whiche; Cx. Th. Suche.

[1940. ]F. Cx. B. hattes; Th. hutches. Read hottes.

[1941. ]F. twynges (!); B. twigys.

[1944. ]Corrupt. From Cx. Th.; B. omits the line; F. has only As ful this lo.

[1946. ]Cx. Th. as; F. of; B. as of. Th. on; F. B. in; Cx. of.

[1948. ]Cx. roof; Th. rofe; F. B. roue.

[1952. ]Cx. Th. open; F. opened; B. I-opened.

[1955. ]Cx. out (for in).

[1957. ]F. silde; B. fylde; Cx. Th. fylled.

[1961. ]All werres (pl.); read werre.

[1962. ]All restes (pl.). Cx. of labour; F. Th. B. and of labour.

[1967. ]All insert and eek before of; see l. 1968.

[1975. ]All write mis governement as one word.

[1976. ]All and of; omit and

[1984. ]F. B. and of; Cx. Th. om. of.

[1997. ]Th. paraunter.

[2009. ]I substitute swiche for these.

[2010. ]Th. syghtes; rest syght.

[2017. ]F. The frot; B. The foot; Cx. Th. The swote. Read The fruit (Koch).

[2018. ]Cx. Th. Languysshe; F. B. Laugh.

[2020. ]Th. B. the (for thee); Cx. the an; F. than (perhaps = the an).

[2021. ]All insert in after yaf.

[2026. ]F. B. insert anoon (anon) after here, which Cx. Th. omit. For here anoon read anoon heer.

[2028. ]F. B. omit this line.

[2036. ]F. B. omit this line; it is probably corrupt. Read Many a thousand in a route (Koch).

[2042. ]Cx. one; F. Th. B. a.

[2044. ]F. Rovned in; B. Rownyd yn; Cx. Th. Rowned euerych in.

[2048. ]F. has only—That ys betydde; B. That is betyd late or now; Cx. Th. That ys betyd lo ryght now.

[2049. ]All he; read the other (Willert).

[2053. ]All insert And (twice) before thus; but compare the next line.

[2059. ]All wonder most (moste).

[2061. ]F. B. forth ryght to; Cx. forth vnto; Th. streyght to.

[2063. ]Cx. to; rest om.

[2066. ]F. Tho; rest To.

[2069. ]F. B. That he; Cx. Th. Tho. F. thoo; B. tho; Cx. Th. that.

[2076. ]F. B. Went every mouthe; Cx. Th. Wente euery tydyng.

[2081. ]Cx. Th. vp spronge.

[2083. ]All and (for 2nd hit).

[2087. ]F. flygh; B. fligh; Cx. Th. flewe.

[2088. ]F. om. I.

[2090. ]Cx. Th. drawe; F. B. thrawe.

[2091. ]Cx. Th. at; F. B. to.

[2093. ]F. B. a cheked; Cx. Th. a chekked.

[2095-2158. ]Cx. omits.

[2099. ]B. om. the.

[2103. ]Th. he; F. B. they.

[2104. ]F. han on two (sic); B. haue that oon (om. of two); Th. haue one two. I supply that from B.; and also of.

[2106. ]Th. amorowe; F. B. morwe.

[2112. ]All yeue.

[2115. ]Th. wane; F. B. wynne (!).

[2123. ]Th. scrippes; F. B. shrippes.

[2129. ]F. boystes; Th. boxes; B. bowgys.

[2150. ]Th. gonne; B. bigonne; F. begunne.

[2151, 3. ]F. other; B. othir; read othere (oth’re), plural.

[2152. ]F. noyse an highen (!); Th. noyse on hyghen (!); B. nose and yen; read on hye (Koch).

[2153. ]F. B. other; Th. others.

[2154. ]F. B. stampen; Th. stampe.

[2156. ]I supply nevene.

[2158. ]Here F. B. end; Cx. Th. add 12 spurious lines.

[563. ]F. home. F. west: Tn. weste.

[564. ]F. thise; rest this.

[565. ]F. fressh; Th. fresshe; A. fresche.

[566. ]F. wole.

[567. ]F. forthe. C. Tn. shalt; F. shal.

[569. ]F. stronge.

[571. ]F. Tn. A. swich; T. Th. P. suche. F. Tn. dide; T. dedyn; P. deden; Add. diden.

[573. ]B. Suffyceth; F. Suffich (!).

[574. ]A. lyf; F. lyfe.

[575. ]A. listen trete; Tn. the lasse to trete (!); Add. the lesse to trete (!); rest listen for to trete (badly; omit for).

[576. ]F. storye.

[578. ]A. word; F. worde.

[579. ]F. legende.

[1702.]The word turned, which is dissyllabic, has evidently been substituted here in the printed editions and in MS. P. for the older and rare word clew, which does not occur elsewhere in Chaucer. The line means—‘With that (therupon) I rubbed my head all round’; which is a rustic way of expressing perplexity. The verb clawen, to scratch, stroke, is not uncommon, but the usual pt. t. is clawed. We find, however, at least one other example of the strong form of the past tense in the Seven Sages, ed. Weber, l. 925—‘He clew the bor on the rigge,’ he stroked the boar on the back, and made him go to sleep; cf. ‘thi maister the clawes,’ i. e. your master strokes you, to flatter you, in l. 937 of the same. Chaucer has, ‘to clawen [rub] him on his hele’ [heel], Troil. iv. 728; ‘he clawed him on the bak,’ he stroked him on the back, to encourage him, Cook’s Prol., A 4326 (where clew would suit the line better). See claw in Jamieson’s Scot. Dict.

[1708.]‘They would not give a leek.’ Cf. ‘dere ynough a leek’; Can. Yeom. Tale, Group G, 795.

[1740.]‘Although no brooch or ring was ever sent us.’

[1742-4.]‘Nor was it once intended in their heart to make us even friendly cheer, but they might (i. e. were ready to) bring us to our bier’; i. e. so far from caring to please us, they would be satisfied to see us dead.

The M. E. temen, to produce, to bring, is the same word as mod. E. teem, to produce. To temen on bere is parallel to the old phrase to bringen on bere; cf. Gaw. Douglas, tr. of Æneid, bk. x. ch. 10, l. 138 (ed. Small, iii. 326), where brocht on beyr means ‘brought to their grave.’ See Bier in the New Eng. Dictionary.

[1747.]For wood, as (if) mad, ‘like mad.’ The same phrase recurs in Leg. Good Women, Phyllis, l. 27; cf. as it were wood, Kn. Tale, A 2950; and for pure wood, Rom. Rose, 276.

[1759-62.]Cf. Rom. de la Rose, 9887-90:—

• ‘Si se sunt maint vanté de maintes,
• Par paroles fauces et faintes,
• Dont les cors avoir ne pooient,
• Lor non à grant tort diffamoient.’

[1761.]The name, the name of it, the credit of it.

[1777.]Masty (miswritten maisty in F., but masty in the rest) means fat, fattened up, and hence unwieldy, sluggish. Bell alters it to maisly, and Moxon’s edition to nastie; both being wrong. Palsgrave has: ‘Masty, fatte, as swyne be, gras.’ The Promp. Parv. has: ‘Mast-hog or swyne, [or] mastid swyne, Maialis’; and ‘Mastyn beestys, sagino, impinguo.’ Way rightly explains masty as ‘glutted with acorns or berries’; cf. ‘Acorne, mast for swyne, gland,’ in Palsgrave. See The Former Age, l. 37.

[1779.]Wher, whether, ‘is it the case that?’

[1782.]As the word oughte is never followed by to with a following gerund, it is certain that to-hangen is all one word, the prefix to- being intensive. MSS. F. and B. omit to, but the rest have it, and the syllable is wanted. I know of no other example of to-hangen, to hang thoroughly, but this is of little moment. The prefix to- was freely added to all sorts of verbs expressing strong action; Stratmann gives more than a hundred examples. Cf. note to l. 1598.

[1783.]We must read sweynte, the form preserved in MS. B, where the final e is added to the pp. sweynt, as if it were an adjective used in the definite form. The reading swynt is false, being an error for sweynte. The reading slepy is a mere gloss upon this rare word, but fairly expresses the meaning. Bell’s Chaucer has swynt, which the editor supposes to be put for swinkt=swinked, pp. of swinken, to toil, as in Milton’s ‘swinkd hedger’; Comus, 293. He is, however, entirely wrong, for Milton’s swink’d is quite a late form; in Chaucer’s time the verb swinken was strong, and the pp. was swunken! Chaucer has queynt as the pp. of quenchen, Kn. Tale, A 2321; and dreynt as the pp. of drenchen, Non. Prest. Tale, B 4272. Similarly sweynt is the pp. of swenchen, to cause to toil, to fatigue, tire out, the causal verb formed from the aforesaid strong intransitive verb swinken, to toil. For examples, see swenchen in Stratmann; I may instance, ‘Euwer feond eou ne scal . . swenchen,’ your enemies shall not harass you, Old Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, i. 13; and ‘hi swencten swiðe heom-seolfe,’ they sore afflicted themselves, id. 101. Hence, ‘the sweynte cat’ means the over-toiled or tired-out cat; or, secondarily, a cat that will take no trouble, a slothful or sleepy cat, as the gloss says. Compare Gower, Conf. Amant. ed. Pauli, ii. 39, where the same cat is brought forward as an example of the deadly sin of Sloth:—

• ‘For he [a knight] ne wol no travail take
• To ride for his ladies sake,
• But liveth al upon his wisshes,
• And—as a cat wolde ete fisshes
• Withoute weting of his clees—
• So wolde he do, but netheles
• He faileth ofte of that he wolde.’

The ‘adage’ is referred to in Macbeth, i. 7. 45. It occurs in MS. Harl. 2321, fol. 146, printed in Reliq. Antiquæ, i. 207, in the form: ‘The cat doth love the fishe, but she will not wett her foote.’ In Heywood’s Proverbs, 1562 (p. 28, ed. Spenser Soc.): ‘The cat would eate fyshe, and would not wet her feete.’ So also in Camden’s Remains, 1614, p. 312. Hazlitt gives a rimed version:—

• ‘Fain would the cat fish eat,
• But she’s loth to wet her feet.’

In Piers the Plowman’s Crede, 405, is the allusion:—

‘Thou woldest not weten thy fote, and woldest fich cacchen.’ In a medieval Latin verse, it appears as: ‘Catus amat piscem, sed non vult tingere plantam’; see Proverbialia Dicteria . . per A. Gartnerum, 1574, 8vo. Ray quotes the French: ‘Le chat aime le poisson, mais il n’aime pas à mouiller la patte.’ The German form is—‘Die Katze hätt’ der Fische gern; aber sie will die Füsse nit nass machen’; N. and Q. 4 S. ix. 266.

[1794.]Noskinnes; miswritten no skynnes in MSS. F. and B.; Th. and Cx. no kyns. Nos-kinnes is short for noneskinnes, of no kind; noskinnes labour is ‘work of no kind’; in mod. E. ‘no kind of work.’ It also occurs without the former s; as in no kyne catel, property of no kind, P. Plowm. C. xi. 250; none kynnes riche, rich men of no kind, id. B. xi. 185. Cf. also of foure kunne thinges, of things of four kinds, of four kinds of things, where one MS. has of foure skynnes thinges; P. Plowm. A. x. 2. And see note to l. 1530 above.

[1796.]Bele Isaude, Isaude (or Isoude, or Isolde) the fair; here a type of a high form of female beauty. See Parl. Foules, 290; and the note.

[1798.]‘She that grinds at a hand-mill’; a poor slave.

[1810.]Hir (their) refers to the ‘seventh company.’ ‘Such amusement they found in their hoods’; a phrase meaning ‘so much did they laugh at them’; see Troil. ii. 1110. Cf. the phrase ‘to put an ape in a man’s hood,’ i. e. to make him look like an ape, or look foolish; see note to C. T., Group B, 1630.

[1823.]‘Then a company came running in.’

[1824.]Choppen, strike downwards. They began hitting people on the head, regardless of consequences. The same expression occurs in Richard the Redeless, iii. 230—‘And ich man i-charchid to schoppe at his croune’; where i-charchid=i-charged, i. e. was charged, was commanded, and schoppe=choppe.

[1840.]Pale, a perpendicular stripe; chiefly used as an heraldic term. The object of the conspicuous stripe upon the hose was to draw men’s attention to him; for the same reason, he wore a bell on his tippet, and, in fact, his dress resembled that of the professional fool. Paled or striped hose were sometimes worn for display.

• ‘Buskins he wore of costliest cordwayne,
• Pinckt upon gold, and paled part per part,
• As then the guize was for each gentle swayne.’
• Spenser, F. Q. vi. 2. 6.

I. e. his buskins were adorned with golden dots or eyelets, and regularly intersected with stripes arranged perpendicularly.

[1844.]Isidis, Isis; Isidis being a form of the genitive case. Chaucer doubtless refers to Herostratus, the wretch who set fire to the temple of Diana at Ephesus, in order to immortalise his name. Why Diana here appears as Isis, and Ephesus as Athens, I cannot explain. Perhaps it was due to a defect of memory; we are apt to forget how very largely medieval authors had to trust to their memories for names and facts. It is almost impossible for us moderns, with our facilities for reference, to imagine what were the difficulties of learned men in the olden time. Perhaps Chaucer was thinking of Ovid’s line (ex Ponto, i. 1. 51)—‘Uidi ego linigerae numen uiolasse fatentem Isidis.’ The story is in Solinus, Polyhistor, cap. xl. § 3.

• ‘See, Erostratus the second
• Fires again Diana’s fane.’
• Rejected Addresses; Drury’s Dirge, st. 5.

[1853.]Thynne prints—‘(Though it be naught) for shreudness’; but this is very forced. MS. B. and Caxton both omit noght, rightly.

[1857.]‘And, in order to get (some) of the meed of fame.’

[1880.]An allusion to the old proverb—‘As I brew, so must I needs drink’; in Camden’s Remains. Gower has it, Conf. Amant. bk. iii, ed. Pauli, ii. 334:—

• ‘And who so wicked ale breweth,
• Ful ofte he mot the werse drinke.’

[1908.]The form bringes, for bringest, though (strictly speaking) a Northern form, is not uncommon in East Midland. It occurs frequently, for example, in Havelok the Dane. But, as there is no other clear example in Chaucer, Koch thinks the passage is corrupt, and proposes to read:—

• ‘Which than be, lo! thise tydinges,
• That bringe thee hider, and thise thinges
• That thou wilt here’; &c.

[1920.]Here that means ‘that very.’ The description of ‘the house of Dædalus’ is in Ovid, Met. viii. 159; and the word labyrinthus, used with reference to it, is in Vergil, Æn. v. 588. Chaucer again refers to it in the Leg. of Good Women (Ariadne), 2010; and it is mentioned in his translation of Boethius, bk. iii. pr. 12. 118 (vol. ii. p. 89). And see Gower, Conf. Amant. ed. Pauli, ii. 304.

[1926.]This somewhat resembles Dante, Inf. iii. 53, which Cary translates:—

• ‘Which whirling ran about so rapidly
• That it no pause obtain’d.’

[1928.]Oise, a river which flows into the Seine, from the north, not far below Paris. Chaucer says the sound might have been heard from there to Rome. From this vague statement, Warton would wish us to infer that the whole poem was founded on some foreign production now (and probably always) unknown. There is no need to draw any such conclusion. The English were fairly familiar with the north of France in days when a good deal of French soil belonged more or less to the king of England. The Oise, being a northern affluent of the Seine, must have been a well-known river. I think the allusion proves just nothing at all.

[1933.]This is an excellent and picturesque allusion, but in these days can no longer be appreciated. Compare Barbour’s Bruce, xvii. 681:—

• ‘The engynour than deliuerly
• Gert bend the gyne in full gret hy,
• And the stane smertly swappit out.
• It flaw out, quhedirand, with a rout.’

[1940.]Though the authorities read hattes (Th. hutches), I alter this word to hottes without hesitation. We do not make hats with twigs or osiers. Chaucer says that some of the twigs were white, such as men use to make cages with, or panniers (i. e. baskets), or hottes, or dossers. Now Cotgrave explains F. Panier by ‘a Pannier, or Dosser; also, a Pedlers Pack; also, a fashion of trunke made of wicker’; and he explains F. Hotte by ‘a Scuttle, Dosser, Basket to carry on the back; the right hotte is wide at the top, and narrow at the bottom.’ Dr. Murray kindly refers me to Cursor Mundi, l. 5524:—

• ‘Apon þer neckes sal þai bere
• Hott wit stan and wit morter.’

He also tells me that in Caxton’s Golden Legend (1483), fol. cix. col. 2, is the sentence—‘And bare on hys sholdres vij. hottis or baskettis fulle of erthe.’ In a Glossary of North of England Words, printed as Gloss. B. 1, by the Eng. Dial. Society, I find: ‘Hots, s. pl. a sort of panniers to carry turf or slate in’; and Halliwell gives it as a Cumberland word. Dickenson’s Cumberland Glossary has: ‘Muck-hots, panniers for conveying manure on horseback.’ Brockett’s Gloss. of Northern Words has: ‘Hot, a sort of square basket, formerly used for taking manure into fields of steep ascent; the bottom opened by two wooden pins to let out the contents.’ Thus the existence of the word in English is fully proved; and the fitness of it is evident.

[1943.]‘Al ful of chirking was that sory place’; Kn. Tale, A 2004.

[1946.]Again from Ovid, Met. xii. 44-47.

[1970.]Read—‘Of estáts and éek of regióuns.’ The e in estat was very light; hence mod. E. state.

[1975.]Mis is here an adjective, meaning ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’; cf. ‘But to correcten that is mis I mente’; Can. Yeom. Tale, G 999.

[1980.]‘Although the timber,’ &c.

[1982.]‘As long as it pleases Chance, who is the mother of news, just as the sea (is mother) of wells and springs.’

[1997.]Paráventure; also spelt paraunter, shewing how rapidly the third syllable could be slurred over.

[2000.]Peter! by St Peter; see note to l. 1034.

[2004.]Cunne ginne, know how to begin. (Gin, a contrivance, is monosyllabic).

[2009.]I substitute the dissyllabic swich-e for the monosyllabic these, to preserve the melody.

[2011.]‘To drive away thy heaviness with.’

[2017.]MS. F. has frot, which has no meaning, but may but a misspelling of froit, which is another form of fruit. As Koch says, we must read The fruit, remembering that Chaucer uses fruit in the peculiar sense of ‘upshot’ or ‘result.’

‘And for it is no fruit but los of tyme’; Squi. Ta., F 74.

‘The fruyt of this matere is that I telle’; Man of Lawes Ta., B 411.

In the present case, it would be used in a double sense; (1) of result, (2) of a fruit that withers and is ready to burst open. As to the spelling froit, we find froyte in the Petworth MS. in the latter of the above quotations, where other MSS. have fruyt or fruite. The swote (Cx. Th.) means ‘the sweetness.’

[2019.]That, in this line, goes back to Sith that in l. 2007.

[2021.]I suppress in after yaf, because it is not wanted for the sense, and spoils the metre.

[2034-40.]Suggested by Dante, Inf. iii. 55-57, just as ll. 1924-6 above are by the two preceding lines in Dante; see note to l. 1926. Cary has:—

• ‘and following came
• Such a long train of spirits, I should ne’er
• Have thought that death so many had despoil’d.’

In l. 2038, left means ‘left alive.’

[2044.]I substitute ech for euerych (in Caxton). The two MSS. (F. and B.) have merely Rouned in others ere, which is of course defective.

[2048.]I here follow B. (except that it wrongly omits lo).

[2059.]Wondermost; superl. of wonder, which is very common as an adjective.

[2076.]As the reading of the MSS. is obviously wrong (the word mouth being repeated three times), whilst the reading of the printed editions (Wente every tydyng) cannot be right on account of the scansion, I put word for the first of the three mouths. This gives the right sense, and probably Chaucer actually wrote it.

[2089.]Again from Ovid, Met. xii. 54, 55. A sad soth-sawe, a sober truth.

[2099.]With the nones, on the condition; see Leg. of Good Women, 1540; and the note. So also in the Tale of Gamelyn, 206.

[2101.]See Kn. Tale, 273, 274 (A 1131).

[2105.]Beside, without; without asking his leave.

[2119.]Cf. Cant. Tales, D 1695—‘Twenty thousand freres on a route, where Tyrwhitt prints A twenty. But the MSS. (at least the sever best ones) all omit the A. Just as the present line wants its first syllable, and is to be scanned—‘Twénty thoúsand ín a roúte’; so the line in the Cant. Tales wants its first syllable, and is to be scanned—Twénty thoúsand fréres ón a roúte. For having called attention to this fact, my name (misspelt) obtained a mention in Lowell’s My Study Windows, in his (otherwise excellent) article on Chaucer. ‘His (Chaucer’s) ear would never have tolerated the verses of nine1 syllables with a strong accent on the first, attributed to him by Mr. Skeate and Mr. Morris. Such verses seem to me simply impossible in the pentameter iambic as Chaucer wrote it.’ Surely this is assumption, not proof. I have only to say that the examples are rather numerous, and nine-syllable lines are not impossible to a poet with a good ear; for there are twelve consecutive lines of this character in Tennyson’s Vision of Sin. It may suffice to quote one of them:—

‘Pánted hánd in hánd with fáces pále.’ I will merely add here, that similar lines abound in Lydgate’s ‘Sege of Thebes,’ and that there are 25 clear examples of such lines in the Legend of Good Women, as I shew in my Introduction to that Poem.

[2123.]Cf. P. Plowman; B. prol. 46-52. Bretful, brim-ful, occurs in P. Pl. C. i. 42; also in Chaucer, Prol. 687; Kn. Tale, 1306 (A 2164).

[2130.]Lyes; F. lies, E. lees. ‘Lie, f. the lees, dregs, grounds’; Cotgrave.

[2140.]Sooner or later, every sheaf in the barn has to come out to be thrashed.

[2152.]‘And cast up their noses on high.’ I adopt this reading out of deference to Dr. Koch, who insists upon its correctness. Otherwise, I should prefer the graphic reading in MS. B.—‘And up the nose and yën caste.’ Each man is trying to peer beyond the rest.

[2154.]‘And stamp, as a man would stamp on a live eel, to try to secure it.’ Already in Plautus, Pseudolus, 2. 4. 56, we have the proverb anguilla est, elabitur, he is an eel, he slips away from you; said of a sly or slippery fellow. In the Rom. de la Rose, 9941, we are told that it is as hard to be sure of a woman’s constancy as it is to hold a live eel by the tail. ‘To have an eel by the tail’ was an old English proverb; see Eel in Nares’ Glossary, ed. Halliwell and Wright.

[2158.]The poem ends here, in the middle of a sentence. It seems as if Chaucer did not quite know how to conclude, and put off finishing the poem till that more ‘convenient season’ which never comes. Practically, nothing is lost.

The copy printed by Caxton broke off still earlier, viz. at l. 2094. In order to make a sort of ending to it, Caxton added twelve lines of his own, with his name—Caxton—at the side of the first of them; and subjoined a note in prose, as follows:—

• And wyth the noyse of them [t]wo1
• I Sodeynly awoke anon tho2
• And remembryd what I had seen
• And how hye and ferre I had been
• In my ghoost / and had grete wonder
• Of that [that?] the god of thonder
• Had lete me knowen / and began to wryte3
• Lyke as ye haue herd me endyte
• Wherfor to studye and rede alway4
• I purpose to doo day by day
• Thus in dremyng and in game
• Endeth thys lytyl book of Fame.

I fynde nomore of this werke to-fore sayd. For as fer as I can vnderstonde / This noble man Gefferey Chaucer fynysshed at the sayd conclusion of the metyng of lesyng and sothsawe / where as yet they ben chekked and may nat departe / whyche werke as me semeth is craftyly made’; &c. (The rest is in praise of Chaucer). But, although Caxton’s copy ended at l. 2094, lines 2095-2158 appear in the two MSS., and are obviously genuine. Thynne also printed them, and must have found them in the MS. which he followed. After l. 2158, Thynne subjoins Caxton’s ending, with an alteration in the first three lines, as unsuitable to follow l. 2158. Hence Thynne prints them as follows:—

• And therwithal I abrayde
• Out of my slepe halfe a frayde
• Remembri[n]g wel what I had sene.

We thus see that it was never pretended that the lines following l. 2158 were Chaucer’s. They are admittedly Caxton’s and Thynne’s. Even if we had not been told this, we could easily have detected it by the sudden inferiority in the style. Caxton’s second line will not scan at all comfortably; neither will the third, nor the fourth. (The seventh can be improved by altering began to gan). And Thynne’s lines are but little better.

[574.]The grete, the substance; as in Book of the Duch. 1242; Parl. Foules, 35.

[575.]‘According as these old authors are pleased to treat (them).’

[576.]Shal telle, has to narrate.

[1 ]1385 is also the date of the latest allusion in the Canterbury Tales; see note to B 3589.

[1 ]King John of France travelled from Canterbury to Dover (16 miles) on Sunday, July 5, 1360; but he heard mass in the cathedral before starting.—Temporary Pref. to the Six-text Edition, p. 131.

[2 ]Tyrwhitt says ‘at least one Tale’; but see Prol. 792. The fact is that Chaucer himself tacitly modified his plan afterwards, and altered the two tales to one; see the Parson’s Prologue, I 16-29.

[3 ]Warton wrongly adds, or the Host. But the Host was the umpire, not a tale-teller himself.

[1 ]The term ‘link,’ and such terms as ‘head-link,’ ‘end-link,’ and the like, are to be found in the Six-text edition published by the Chaucer Society, whence I have copied them.

[2 ]In 1749, the coach from Edinburgh to Glasgow, forty-four miles, took two days for the journey. Twenty miles a day was fast. We may allow the pilgrims about fifteen miles a day. See Chambers’ Book of Days, ii. 228. Once more, it is absurd to suppose Chaucer capable of proposing to crowd about sixty tales or so into a single day! A day of ten hours would, with interruptions, leave each speaker less than ten minutes apiece. See also Temporary Pref. to the Six-text, p. 119, shewing that Queen Isabella, in 1358, arrived at Canterbury from London in three or four days; stopping at Dartford, Rochester, and Ospringe. From the same, p. 129, we find that King John of France went from London to Eltham, June 30, 1360 (Tuesday); to Dartford (Wednesday); to Rochester (Thursday); to Ospringe (Friday); and to Canterbury (Saturday). Cf. Notes and Queries, 8th S. i. 474, 522.

[1 ]By ‘B 5’ I mean Group B, l. 5, as numbered in the Chaucer Society’s Six-text edition; the arrangement of which I have adopted throughout.

[2 ]See note to l. 8 of the Prologue.

[1 ]Except as regards convenience of reference. It was Dr. Furnivall who placed C more forward; nothing is gained by it, and it complicates references. I heartily wish this had never been done.

[1 ]Tyrwhitt suggests the same thing, in a note to his Introductory Discourse.

[1 ]In the Proem, the Nun calls herself an ‘unworthy son of Eve’; G 62.

[1 ]See the extracts from Chaucer’s Book of the Duchess as compared with some from Machault’s Remède de Fortune in Furnivall’s Trial Forewords, p. 47, where he quotes from Étude sur G. Chaucer, by M. Sandras, p. 290. Or consult the Notes, in vol. i., to the Book of the Duchesse, ll. 155, 250, 634, 779, 805, 919, 950, 1037.

[2 ]Observe particularly this rime of complain with plein. This shews whence Chaucer derived such rimes as seke, seke; Prol. 17, 18. There is a poem of 92 lines called Le Dit de la Harpe, printed in Bartsch’s Crestomathie Française, p. 408, in which more than half the rimes are of this character.

[1 ]It is none too clear who are meant by ‘the parson and his companion.’ Perhaps it means the Parson and the Ploughman (his brother).

[1 ]Observe this substitution of one Tale for two, tacitly accepted by Chancer’s readers as better suiting the circumstances.

[2 ]This statement, that the Frere was ‘a grey frere,’ is of some interest.

[1 ]See Morley’s English Writers, vi. 115-8, where an analysis of the Tale is given.

[2 ]I. e. thorpe, village; I quote from the edition of 1561. Broughton is an error for Boughton.

[3 ]Ed. ‘as ye’; which gives no sense.

[1 ]For a good account of the Tabard Inn and a discussion of the pilgrims, see Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, by J. Saunders, ed. 1889.

[2 ]Compare the articles by Koch and Kölbing, in Englische Studien, i. 249, ii. 528, and in Essays on Chaucer, p. 357.

[1 ]‘In describing the commencement of this amour, which is to be the subject of the remainder of the poem, Chaucer has entirely departed from his author in three principal circumstances, and, I think, in each with very good reason. (1) By supposing Emilia to be seen first by Palamon, he gives him an advantage over his rival which makes the catastrophe more consonant to poetical justice. (2) The picture which Boccaccio has exhibited of two young princes violently enamoured of the same object, without jealousy or rivalship, if not absolutely unnatural, is certainly very insipid and unpoetical. (3) As no consequence is to follow from their being seen by Emilia at this time, it is better, I think, to suppose, as Chaucer has done, that they are not seen by her.’—Tyrwhitt.

[1 ]The same story has been imitated in the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, and in the Berceau of Lafontaine (Morley).

[2 ]I.e. Abington, seven miles to the S.E. of Cambridge, and nearly as far from Trumpington. In one way, it suits better; Trumpington is too near Cambridge for the clerks to have been benighted there.

[1 ]For an analysis of the Tale, see Morley, Eng. Writers, v. 321.

[1 ]Se-ïnt seems to have been occasionally dissyllabic, as in Chaucer’s Prologue, A 697.

[1 ]This may be true of some of the traditions embodied in the story; but as we have it, the date is much later.

[2 ]Or of the fourteenth century; they did not much vary.

[3 ]Reprinted in Chalmers’ English Poets, i. 607 (1810).

[1 ]The objection is made that all people ‘speak in prose’; but I think Chaucer refers to something more rhetorical than ordinary conversation.

[1 ]All adapted from his early work, Of the Wretched Engendring of Mankinde; see p. 407. The four stanzas are: B 421-7, 771-7, 925-31, and 1135-41.

[2 ]Chaucer is, in fact, alluding to Trivet.

[3 ]In Anglia, xiv. 77-122, 147-185.

[4 ]I sometimes copy Mr. Brock’s very words.

[1 ]The Dominican friars were also called Friars Preachers.

[1 ]Reprinted for the Early Eng. Text Soc., ed. S. J. Herrtage, 1879; see pp. 311, 493 of this edition.

[2 ]Warton gives the reference, viz. to his Speculum Historiale, lib. vii. c. 90, fol. 86 a.

[1 ]I.e. it is the sole authority for placing both the Shipman’s Prologue and his Tale precisely here. At the same time, at least seventeen other MSS. make the Shipman’s Prologue follow the Man of Law’s Tale; only they turn it into a Prologue for the Sompnour or Squire.

[1 ]1. Now] Sl. How.

[2. ]H. L. I. om. the.

[4. ]Roy. B. H. told; rest tolde(!).

[5. ]of] H. of his; I. his.

[6. ]good] Sl. H. M. goode; B. right goode.

[7. ]B. riatoures; H. M. R. Sl. riatours; L. ryotours; Pt. retourues(!).

[8. ]Roy. H. M. R. B. L. hertly; I. nowe hertely; Sl. om. Pt. preye; rest pray (prey).

[9. ]Pt. Roy. R. I. good; rest gode (goode).

[12. ]And] R. om.

[1 ]The Monk’s cell is mentioned in the Prologue, l. 172; Chaucer’s was his ‘celle fantastyk’; Kn. Ta. 518 (A 1376).

[2 ]I put (e), not (b), in order to show the chronological order, which is that of the letters, a, b, c, d, e, f.

[3 ]The group (f) has nothing to do with (e): as will appear.

[1 ]I say ‘recollections’ advisedly; see note to B 3293. The mistake of confusing ‘Busirus’ with Diomedes, king of Thrace, suggests that Chaucer had not as yet written out his translation of Boethius, but had read it hastily. In other words, part of the Monkes Tale must be earlier than 1380.

[1 ]Printed ‘Chauncer’ in the old edition which I here follow.

[1 ]Ed. 1532, alther; Edd. 1550, 1561, all ther; Morris corrects to a lither.

[1 ]Compare C 1.

[2 ]C 164.

[3 ]C 165-170; 178-189.

[4 ]C 154.

[5 ]C 142.

[6 ]C. 192-9.

[7 ]C 203-206.

[1 ]C 254-276.

[1 ]A remarkable coincidence with the language of St. Paul in 1 Tim. vi. 10.

[1 ]But this passage still more resembles Jerome against Jovinian; see note to the line.

[1 ]Cf. Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, ii. 292.

[1 ]I. e. the first edition of Gower’s poem certainly preceded the Wife’s Tale, though the second edition did not appear till 1393.

[2 ]Lat. ‘nepos’; but later on, Claudius is called his eme, i. e. uncle.

[1 ]To which it is not unusual to object, by insisting that it was not Chaucer himself who met Petrarch, but the Clerk, who tells the tale. I doubt if this amounts to more than a quibble. There is nothing out of place in Chaucer’s reference to an incident in his own life, inasmuch as he was a clerk himself, in the sense of being a student. Otherwise, we have to explain how the poor clerk raised the money to pay for this long journey; how it came to pass that he met Petrarch, and when; and how he acquired a copy of Petrarch’s tale.

[2 ]See E 27, 40.

[3 ]See E 1147—‘Petrark wryteth.’ And yet Warton could imagine that Chaucer did not use a copy of Petrarch’s version, but only wrote from recollection of what he had heard! If we enquire, how did Chaucer obtain this version, no answer is so likely as the supposition that Petrarch gave it him at parting. It is difficult to see how he could have got it otherwise.

[1 ]The words ‘He is now deed,’ in E 29, suggest that Petrarch was still living when Chaucer first wrote the Tale.

[1 ]

• ‘There was also Grisildis innocence,
• And al hir mekenes and hir pacience.’
• Lydgate, Temple of Glas, ed. Schick, l. 75.

[1 ]It occurs also in the black-letter editions, and in MSS. Harl. 1758 and 7333, Barlow 20, and Royal 18 C. ii; as well as in E., Hn., Cm., and Dd. Several MSS. follow it up by various scraps, taken from E. 2419-40 and F 1-8, with the false substitution of Sire Frankeleyn for Squier in F 1, which makes the line too long. See Part 1 of the Six-text edition, pp. xvii*-xx*.

[2 ]Chaucer und Albertanus Brixiensis; in Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen; vol. 86, p. 29.

[1 ]To which are appended fables by Avian (leaf 106); by Alfonce (leaf 120, back); and by Poge the Florentyn (leaf 134).

[1 ]The ‘reasons’ are not recondite; for fifteen MSS., at the least, have this arrangement.

[1 ]Tyrwhitt is quite right; he is alluding to the true Shipman’s Prologue; B 1163-90.

[2 ]Only a few hours after writing this sentence, I found that Mr. Keightley, in his Tales and Popular Fictions, published in 1834, at p. 76, distinctly derives Chaucer’s Tale from the travels of Marco Polo. I let the sentence stand, however, as an example of undesigned coincidence.

[1 ]So in Mr. Hazlitt’s edition; Warton originally wrote—‘to believe this story to be one of the many fables which the Arabians imported into Europe.’

[1 ]‘All things can be known by Perspective, because all operations of things take place according to the multiplication of forms and forces, by means of this world’s agents, upon yielding materials.’—Opus Minus (see Warton).

[1 ]‘That sword, wrought with such art, that it cuts through enchantment and every charm.’ I correct the errors in these quotations.

[2 ]‘Enchantment avails not, where it inflicts a cut.’

[1 ]‘O splendid falsehood, when is truth so beautiful that one can prefer her to thee?’ In Warton’s book, the Italian quotations abound in misprints, not all of which are removed in Hazlitt’s edition. I cannot construe ‘al vero,’ as there printed.

[1 ]I would ask the reader to observe that the seven best MSS. all have the spelling Cambynskan or Kambynskan. The form Cambuscan (in Milton, Il Pens. 110) is found in the old black-letter editions. It is strange that Milton should accent the wrong syllable. Cambynskan arose from reading Camiuscan as Caminskan.

[1 ]I find that Mr. Keightley has already suggested this.

[1 ]Evidently Shangtu, Coleridge’s Xanadu. See his well-known lines—‘In Xanadu did Kubla Khan,’ &c.

[2 ]This is Chaucer’s ‘Sarra’; see note to F 9.

[1 ]Mr. Keightley shews, in his Tales and Popular Fictions, p. 75, that Cervantes has confused two stories, (1) that of a prince carrying off a princess on a wooden horse; and (2) that of Peter of Provence running away with the fair Magalona.

[2 ]See Arber’s reprint, p. 85, where ‘the hors of tree’ [i. e. wood], ridden by ‘Cleomedes the kynges sone,’ is expressly mentioned, and is said to be ‘torned’ by ‘a pynne that stode on his brest.’

[1 ]This magic ring is likewise referred to in chap. 32 of Caxton’s Reynard the Fox. It had ‘thre hebrews names therin,’ and it contained ‘a stone of thre maner colours.’ The same chapter mentions the magic mirror.

[1 ]A friend of Milton’s father; see Masson, Life of Milton, i. 42.

[1 ]Printed at Brussels, 1865; ed. A. van Hasselt.

[1 ]I take the liberty of abridging the story by omitting several details.

[1 ]It had previously appeared in the fifth book of his Philocopo, a juvenile work.

[1 ]But Dr. Köppel argues that the date must be several years later. See his article in Anglia, xiv. 227; and observe Chaucer’s use of Dante, Par. xxxiii. 1-21, in ll. 36-56, which may, however, be due to the insertion of ll. 36-56 at a later time. His argument that the Lyf of Seint Cecyle was written after Troilus, because it contains neither forthy nor forwhy, seems to me entirely valueless. The whole Tale only contains 553 lines, whereas we find in Troilus 777 consecutive lines in which neither word occurs, viz. in V. 351-1127.

[1 ]In l. 32, we have ‘Thou comfort of us wrecches,’ and in l. 58, ‘Me flemed wrecche.’ I suspect that these lines were, in the original draught, not far apart. L. 57 would follow l. 35 very suitably.

[1 ]Compare the section in the Acta Sanctorum, April 14, p. 209, headed: ‘Nova corporum inventio sub Clemente VIII, ad mdxcix.’

[1 ]See my note to l. 134 of the Tale.

[1 ]Tyrwhitt further explains that a poem in Ashmole’s volume, called Hermes Bird, and by him attributed to Raymund Lully, is really a poem of Lydgate’s, printed by Caxton with the title The Chorle and the Bird.

[2 ]It is a totally different work from the Latin collection of alchemical works, also called Theatrum Chemicum, so often cited in my notes.

[1 ]At p. 470, Ashmole gives a brief account of Chaucer, made up from Speght, Bale, Pits, and others, of no particular value. At p. 226, he gives an engraving of the marble monument erected to Chaucer’s memory in Westminster Abbey, by Nicholas Brigham, ad 1556.

[1 ]This is somewhat amusing. Charnock describes his numerous misadventures, and it is not clear that he preserved his faith in alchemy unshaken.

[1 ]Thomson’s Hist. Chemistry, i. 25.

[2 ]‘Sir To. What shall we do else? Were we not born under Taurus? Sir And. Taurus! that’s sides and heart. Sir To. No, sir; it’s legs and thighs.’ Both are wrong, of course, as Shakespeare knew. Chaucer says—‘Aries hath thin heved [head], and Taurus thy nekke and thy throte;’ Astrolabe, pt. i. sec. 21. l. 52.

[1 ]See Browning’s drama entitled ‘Paracelsus.’

[2 ]It is useless to try and discover an etymology for this word. It was invented wittingly. The most that can be said was that Van Helmont may have been thinking of the Dutch geest, a spirit; E. ghost.

[1 ]This seems to us a strange selection; red, green, and violet would have been better. But this scale of colours is due to Aristotle, De Sensn, ii.; cf. Bartholomeus, De Proprietatibus Rerum, bk. xix. c. 7.

[1 ]The Indian god Siva was actually worshipped under the form of quicksilver. Professor Cowell refers me to Marco Polo, ed. Yule, ii. 300, and to his own edition of Colebrooke’s Essays, i. 433; also to the semi-mythic life of Sankara Áchárya, the great reformer of the eighth century.

[1 ]This explains why the alchemists, in seeking gold, sometimes supposed that they had obtained silver.

[1 ]Archiv fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen, ed. L. Herrig; vol. 86, p. 44.

[1 ]MS. Douce 162 has a copy of the treatise in Provençal.

[2 ]Urry, the worst of editors, originated it.

[1 ]Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, ed. L. Herrig, vol. 87, p. 33.

[2119.]Cf. Cant. Tales, D 1695—‘Twenty thousand freres on a route, where Tyrwhitt prints A twenty. But the MSS. (at least the sever best ones) all omit the A. Just as the present line wants its first syllable, and is to be scanned—‘Twénty thoúsand ín a roúte’; so the line in the Cant. Tales wants its first syllable, and is to be scanned—Twénty thoúsand fréres ón a roúte. For having called attention to this fact, my name (misspelt) obtained a mention in Lowell’s My Study Windows, in his (otherwise excellent) article on Chaucer. ‘His (Chaucer’s) ear would never have tolerated the verses of nine1 syllables with a strong accent on the first, attributed to him by Mr. Skeate and Mr. Morris. Such verses seem to me simply impossible in the pentameter iambic as Chaucer wrote it.’ Surely this is assumption, not proof. I have only to say that the examples are rather numerous, and nine-syllable lines are not impossible to a poet with a good ear; for there are twelve consecutive lines of this character in Tennyson’s Vision of Sin. It may suffice to quote one of them:—

‘Pánted hánd in hánd with fáces pále.’ I will merely add here, that similar lines abound in Lydgate’s ‘Sege of Thebes,’ and that there are 25 clear examples of such lines in the Legend of Good Women, as I shew in my Introduction to that Poem.

[2158.]The poem ends here, in the middle of a sentence. It seems as if Chaucer did not quite know how to conclude, and put off finishing the poem till that more ‘convenient season’ which never comes. Practically, nothing is lost.

The copy printed by Caxton broke off still earlier, viz. at l. 2094. In order to make a sort of ending to it, Caxton added twelve lines of his own, with his name—Caxton—at the side of the first of them; and subjoined a note in prose, as follows:—

• And wyth the noyse of them [t]wo1
• I Sodeynly awoke anon tho2
• And remembryd what I had seen
• And how hye and ferre I had been
• In my ghoost / and had grete wonder
• Of that [that?] the god of thonder
• Had lete me knowen / and began to wryte3
• Lyke as ye haue herd me endyte
• Wherfor to studye and rede alway4
• I purpose to doo day by day
• Thus in dremyng and in game
• Endeth thys lytyl book of Fame.

I fynde nomore of this werke to-fore sayd. For as fer as I can vnderstonde / This noble man Gefferey Chaucer fynysshed at the sayd conclusion of the metyng of lesyng and sothsawe / where as yet they ben chekked and may nat departe / whyche werke as me semeth is craftyly made’; &c. (The rest is in praise of Chaucer). But, although Caxton’s copy ended at l. 2094, lines 2095-2158 appear in the two MSS., and are obviously genuine. Thynne also printed them, and must have found them in the MS. which he followed. After l. 2158, Thynne subjoins Caxton’s ending, with an alteration in the first three lines, as unsuitable to follow l. 2158. Hence Thynne prints them as follows:—

• And therwithal I abrayde
• Out of my slepe halfe a frayde
• Remembri[n]g wel what I had sene.

We thus see that it was never pretended that the lines following l. 2158 were Chaucer’s. They are admittedly Caxton’s and Thynne’s. Even if we had not been told this, we could easily have detected it by the sudden inferiority in the style. Caxton’s second line will not scan at all comfortably; neither will the third, nor the fourth. (The seventh can be improved by altering began to gan). And Thynne’s lines are but little better.

[1 ]Really ten; for rout-e is dissyllabic.

[1 ]Misprinted wo; cf. two, l. 2093.

[2 ]Imitated from Parl. of Foules, 693.

[3 ]Cf. Book Duch. 1332.

[4 ]From Parl. of Foules, 696.