EconlibThe LibraryOther Sites |
Front Page  Titles (by Subject) SOURCES OF THE CANTERBURY TALES. - The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, vol. 3 (House of Fame, Legend of Good Women, Treatise on Astrolabe, Sources of Canterbury Tales)
Return to Title Page for The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, vol. 3 (House of Fame, Legend of Good Women, Treatise on Astrolabe, Sources of Canterbury Tales)The Online Library of LibertyA project of Liberty Fund, Inc.Search this Title:Also in the Library:
SOURCES OF THE CANTERBURY TALES. - 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. Copyright information:The text is in the public domain. Fair use statement:This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit.
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. [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:—
[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:—
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:—
In Piers the Plowman’s Crede, 405, is the allusion:— [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.
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.
[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:—
[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:—
[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:—
[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:—
[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:—
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.’ [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:—
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:— [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.
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:—
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 ]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:— [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.
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:—
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. |
