Part 2 / Book 3 — BOOK III.

1091-1109. Imitated from Dante, Parad. i. 13-27. Compare ll. 1106, 1107, with Cary's translation—

And compare l. 1109 with—'Entra nel petto mio.'

1098. This shews that Chaucer occasionally, and intentionally, gives a syllable too little to the verse. In fact, he does so just below, in l. 1106; where Thou forms the first foot of the verse, instead of So thou, or And thou. This failure of the first syllable is common throughout the poem.

1099. And that, i.e. And though that; see l. 1098.

1109. Entreth is the imperative plural; see note to A. B. C. 17.

1114. MSS. cite, cyte (F. citee!); but site in Astrol. pt. ii. 17. 25 (p. 201).

1116. 'Fama tenet, summaque domum sibi legit in arce'; Ovid, Met. xii. 43. Cf. Dante, Purg. iii. 46-48; also Ovid, Met. ii. 1-5.

1131. 'And swoor hir ooth by Seint Thomas of Kent'; C. T., A 3291. It alludes to the celebrated shrine of Beket at Canterbury.

1136. Half, side; al the half, all the side of the hill which he was ascending, which we find was the south side (l. 1152).

1152. This suggests that Chaucer, in his travels, had observed a snow-clad mountain; the snow lies much lower on the north side than on the south side; see ll. 1160 (which means that it, i.e. the writing, was preserved by the shade of a castle), 1163, 1164.

1159. What hit made, what caused it, what was the cause of it.

1167-80. This passage somewhat resembles one in Dante, Par. i. 4-12.

1177. Craft, art; cast, plan. Craft, in the MSS., has slipt into l. 1178.

1183. Gyle, Giles; St. Ægidius. His day is Sept. 1; see note to Can. Yem. Tale, G 1185, where the phrase by seint Gyle recurs.

1189. Babewinnes is certainly meant; it is the pl. of babewin (O. Fr. babuin, Low Lat. babewynus, F. babouin), now spelt baboon. It was particularly used of a grotesque figure employed in architectural decoration, as in Early Eng. Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 1411, where the pl. form is spelt baboynes, and in Lydgate, Chron. Troy, II. xi; both passages are given in Murray's Dict., s.v. Baboon. 'Babewyn, or babewen, detippus, ipos, figmentum, chimera'; Prompt. Parv. 'Babwyne, beest, baboyn'; Palsgrave. In Shak. Macb. iv. 1. 37—'Coole it with a báboones blood'—the accent on the a is preserved. The other spellings are inferior or false.

1192. Falle, pres. pl., fall; (or perhaps fallen, the past participle).

1194. Habitacles, niches; such as those which hold images of saints on the buttresses and pinnacles of our cathedrals. They are described as being al withoute, all on the outside.

1196. Ful the castel, the castle (being) full, on all sides. This line is parenthetical.

1197. Understand Somme, some, as nom. to stoden. 'In which stood ... (some) of every kind of minstrels.' So in l. 1239. As to minstrels, &c., see note to Sir Topas (B 2035).

1203. Orpheus, the celebrated minstrel, whose story is in Ovid, Met. x. 1-85; xi. 1-66. Chaucer again mentions him in C. T., E 1716; and in Troil. iv. 791.

1205. Orion; so in all the copies; put for Arion. His story is in Ovid, Fasti, ii. 79-118.

Spelt Arione in Gower, Conf. Amant. (end of prologue), ed. Pauli, i. 39. We might read Arion here; see l. 1005.

1206. Chiron; called Chiro in Gower, C. A. ii. 67 (bk. iv). Chiron, the centaur, was the tutor of Achilles; and Achilles, being the grandson of Æacus, was called Æacides; Ovid, Met. xii. 82; Fasti, v. 390. Hence Eacides is here in the genitive case; and Eacides Chiron means 'Achilles' Chiron,' i.e. Chiron, tutor of Achilles. In fact, the phrase is copied from Ovid's Æacidæ Chiron, Art of Love, i. 17. Another name for Chiron is Phillyrides; Ovid, Art of Love, i. 11; or Philyrides; Verg. Georg. iii. 550; cf. Ovid, Fasti, v. 391. In a similar way, Chaucer calls the paladin Oliver, friend of Charles the Great, by the name of Charles Olyuer; Monkes Tale, B 3577.

1208. Bret, Briton, one of the British. This form is quite correct, being the A.S. Bret, a Briton (see A.S. Chronicle, an. 491), commonly used in the pl. Brettas. This correct spelling occurs in MS. B. only; MS. P. turns it into Bretur, Th. and Cx. read Briton, whilst MS. F. turns Bret into gret, by altering the first letter. The forms gret and Bretur are clearly corruptions, whilst Briton spoils the scansion.

Glascurion; the same as Glasgerion, concerning whom see the Ballad in the Percy Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall, i. 246. Of this 'a traditional version, under the name of Glenkindie, a various form of Glasgerion, is given in Jamieson's Popular Songs and Ballads, and in Alex. Laing's Thistle of Scotland (1823).' G. Douglas associates 'Glaskeriane' with Orpheus in his Palice of Honour, bk. i. (ed. Small, i. 21); this poem is a palpable imitation of Chaucer's House of Fame. The name is Celtic, as the epithet Bret implies. Cf. Irish and Welsh glas, pale.

1213. 'Or as art imitates nature.' Imitated from Le Rom. de la Rose, where Art asks Nature to teach her; l. 16233 is—

1218. There is a similar list of musical instruments in Le Rom. de la Rose, 21285-21308:—

And in Le Remède de Fortune, by G. de Machault, 1849, p. 87, is a similar long list:—

And a few lines below there is mention of the muse de blez (see note to l. 1224). Warton, Hist. E. Poet., ed. Hazlitt, iii. 177. quotes a similar passage from Lydgate's poem entitled Reason and Sensualite, ending with—

Cf. also Spenser, F. Q. vi. 9, 5; Shep. Kal. Feb. 35-40. In the latter passage, the imitation of ll. 1224-6 is obvious. Cornemuse is a bagpipe; shalmye is a shawm, which was a wind-instrument, being derived from Lat. calamus, a reed; Chaucer classes both instruments under pipe. Willert (on the House of Fame, p. 36) suggests (and, I think, correctly) that doucet and rede are both adjectival. Thus doucet would refer to pipe; cf. 'Doucet, dulcet, pretty and sweet, or, a little sweet'; Cotgrave. Rede would also refer to pipe, and would mean 'made with a reed.' A reed-instrument is one 'in which the sound was produced by the vibration of a reed, as in the clarionet or hautboys'; note in Bell's Chaucer. There is no instrument properly called a doucet in Old French, but only dousainne (see above) and doucine (Godefroy).

1222. Brede, roast meat; A.S. brǽde, glossed by 'assura, vel assatura' in Ælfric's Glossary, ed. Wülcker, col. 127, l. 17. Cf. G. Braten. Not elsewhere in Chaucer, but found in other authors.

In the allit. Morte Arthure, it occurs no less than five times. Also in Havelok, l. 98, where the interpretation 'bread' is wrong. Also in Altenglische Dichtungen, ed. Böddeker, p. 146, l. 47—'Cud as Cradoc in court that carf the brede,' i.e. carved the roast meat; but the glossary does not explain it. The scribe of MS. F. turns brede into bride, regardless of the rime. I cannot agree with the wholly groundless conjecture of Willert, who reads rude in l. 1221, in order to force brude into the text. For minstrelsy at feasts, see C. T., A 2197.

1223. Cf. G. Douglas, tr. of Vergil, Æn. vii. 513, 4:—'And in ane bowand horne, at hir awyne will, A feindlych hellis voce scho lyltis schyll.'

1224. Alluding to the simple pipes fashioned by rustics. The glossary to Machault's Works (1849) has: 'Muse de blez, chalumeau fait avec des brins de paille.' The O.F. estive, in the quotation in the note to l. 1218, has a like sense. Godefroy has: 'estive, espèce de flûte, de flageolet ou pipeau rustique, qui venait, ce semble, de Cornouaille.' Cf. the term corne-pipe, in the Complaint of Scotland, ed. Murray, p. 65, l. 22; also my note to R. Rose, 4250 (vol. i. p. 436).

1227-8. Nothing is known as to Atiteris (or Cytherus); nor as to Pseustis (or Proserus). The forms are doubtless corrupt; famous musicians or poets seem to have been intended. I shall venture, however, to record my guess, that Atiteris represents Tyrtaeus, and that Pseustis is meant for Thespis. Both are mentioned by Horace (Ars Poet. 276, 402); and Thespis was a native of Attica, whose plays were acted at Athens. Another guess is that Atiteris means Vergil's Tityrus; Athenæum, Apr. 13, 1889. Willert suggests that there is here an allusion to the so-called Ecloga Theoduli, a Latin poem of the seventh or eighth century, wherein the shepherd Pseustis and the shepherdess Alithia [who represent Falsehood and Truth] contend about heathendom and Christianity; and Pseustis adduces various myths and tales, from Ovid, Vergil, and Statius. He refers us to H. Dunger, Die Sage v. troj. Kriege in den Bearbeitungen des Mittelalters: Dresden, 1869, p. 76; cf. Leyser, Hist. Poet. Medii Aevi, p. 295. This only accounts for Pseustis; Atiteris can hardly be Alithia.

1229. This is a curious example of how names are corrupted. Marcia is Dante's Marsia, mentioned in the very passage which Chaucer partly imitates in ll. 1091-1109 above. Dante addresses Apollo in the words—

As Chaucer had here nothing to guide him to the gender of Marsia, he guessed the name to be feminine, from its termination; and Dante actually has Marzia (Inf. iv. 128), with reference to Marcia, wife of Cato. But Dante's Marsia represents the accus. case of Marsyas, or else the Lat. nom. Marsya, which also occurs. Ovid, Met. vi. 400, has 'Marsya nomen habet,' and tells the story. Apollo defeated the satyr Marsyas in a trial of musical skill, and afterwards flayed him alive; so that he 'lost his skin.'

1231. Envyën (accent on y), vie with, challenge (at a sport). So strong is the accent on the y, that the word has been reduced in E. to the clipped form 'vie; see Vie in my Etym. Dict. It represents Lat. inuitare, to challenge; and has nothing to do with E. envy. Florio's Ital. Dict. has: 'Inuito, a vie at play, a vie at any game; also an inuiting.'

1234. 'Pipers of every Dutch (German) tongue.'

1236. Reyes, round dances, dances in a ring. The term is Dutch. Hexham's Du. Dict. (1658), has: een Rey, or een Reye, a Daunce, or a round Daunce'; and 'reyen, to Daunce, or to lead a Daunce.' Cf. G. Reihen, a dance, Reihentanz, a circular dance; M.H.G. reie, reige; which does not seem to be connected, as might be thought, with G. Reihe, a row; see Kluge and Weigand. Perhaps the Du. word was borrowed from O.F. rei, roi, order, whence also the syllable -ray in E. ar-ray; and the G. word may have been borrowed from the Dutch; but this is a guess. 'I can daunce the raye'; Barclay's First Egloge, sig. A ii. ed. 1570; quoted in Dyce's Skelton, ii. 194.

1239. Understand Somme, some; see note to l. 1197. The expression blody soun recurs in Kn. Tale, A 2512, in connection with trumpe and clarioun. Our author explains his meaning here; ll. 1241-2.

1243. Missenus, Misenus, son of Æolus, trumpeter to Hector, and subsequently to Æneas; Verg. Æn. iii. 239; vi. 162-170.

1245. Joab and Theodomas are again mentioned together in a like passage in the Merch. Tale (C. T., E 1719). 'Joab blew a trumpet'; 2 Sam. ii. 28; xviii. 16; xx. 22. Theodomas is said by Chaucer (Merch. Tale) to have blown a trumpet 'At Thebes, when the citee was in doute.' He was therefore a trumpeter mentioned in some legendary history of Thebes. With this hint, it is easy to identify him with Thiodamas, mentioned in books viii. and x. of the Thebaid of Statius. He succeeded Amphiaraus as augur, and furiously excited the besiegers to attack Thebes. His invocation was succeeded by a great sound of trumpets (Theb. viii. 343), to which Chaucer here refers. But Statius does not expressly say that Thiodamas blew a trumpet himself.

1248. Cataloigne and Aragon, Catalonia and Arragon, in Spain, immediately to the S. of the Pyrenees. Warton remarks: 'The martial musicians of English tournaments, so celebrated in story, were a more natural and obvious allusion for an English poet'; Hist. E. P. ii. 331. The remark is, I think, entirely out of place. Chaucer is purposely taking a wide range; and, after mentioning even the pipers of the Dutch tongue, as well as Joab of Judæa and Thiodamas of Thebes, is quite consistent in mentioning the musicians of Spain.

1257. Repeated, at greater length, in C. T., Group B, ll. 19-28; see note to that passage.

1259. Iogelours, jugglers. See Squi. Tale, F 219.

1260. Tregetours; see C. T., F 1141, on which Tyrwhitt has a long note. A jogelour was one who amused people, either by playing, singing, dancing, or tricks requiring sleight of hand; a tregetour was one who brought about elaborate illusions, by the help of machinery or mechanical contrivance. Thus Chaucer tells us (in the Frank. Tale, as above) that tregetoures even caused to appear, in a dining-hall, a barge floating in water, or what seemed like a lion, or a vine with grapes upon it, or a castle built of lime and stone; which vanished at their pleasure. Sir John Maundeville, in his Travels, ch. 22, declares that the 'enchanters' of the Grand Khan could turn day into night, or cause visions of damsels dancing or carrying cups of gold, or of knights justing; 'and many other thinges thei don, be craft of hire Enchauntementes; that it is marveyle for to see.' See note to l. 1277 below. Gawain Douglas imitates this passage in his Palice of Honour; see his Works, ed. Small, i. 65.

1261. Phitonesses, pythonesses. The witch of Endor is called a phitonesse in the Freres Tale, C. T., D 1510; and in Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. iv, ed. Pauli, ii. 66; in Barbour's Bruce, ed. Skeat, iv. 753; and in Skelton's Phyllyp Sparowe, 1345. The Vulgate version has mulier pythonem habens, 1 Sam. xxviii. 7 (cf. Acts xvi. 16); but also the very word pythonissam in 1 Chron. x. 13, where the witch of Endor is again referred to. Ducange notices phitonissa as another spelling of pythonissa.

1266. Cf. Chaucer's Prologue, 417-420. There is a parallel passage in Dante, Inf. xx. 116-123, where the word imago occurs in the sense of 'waxen image.' This of course refers to the practice of sticking needles into a waxen image, with the supposed effect of injuring the person represented. See Ovid, Heroid. vi. 91, and Ben Jonson's Masque of Queens (3rd Charm). But this is only a particular case of a much more general principle. Images of men or animals (or even of the things representing the zodiacal signs) could be made of various substances, according to the effect intended; and by proper treatment were supposed to cause good or evil to the patient, as required. Much could be done, it was supposed, by choosing the right time for making them, or for subjecting them to celestial influences. To know the right time, it was necessary to observe the ascendent (see note to l. 1268). See much jargon on this subject in Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta Philosophia, lib. ii. capp. 35-47.

1268. The ascendent is that point of the zodiacal circle which is seen to be just ascending above the horizon at a given moment. Chaucer defines it in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, and adds that astrologers, in calculating horoscopes, were in the habit of giving it a wider meaning; they further reckoned in 5 degrees of the zodiac above the horizon, and 25 degrees below the ascending point, so as to make the whole ascendent occupy 30 degrees, which was the length of a 'sign.' In calculating nativities, great importance was attached to this ascendent, the astrological concomitants of which determined the horoscope. The phrase to be 'in the ascendant' is still in use. Thus in certeyn ascendentes is equivalent to 'in certain positions of the heavens, at a given time,' such as the time of one's birth, or the time for making an image (see last note). See p. 191 (above).

1271. Medea, the famous wife of Jason, who restored her father Æson to youth by her magical art; Ovid, Met. vii. 162. Gower tells the whole story, C. A. bk. v. ed. Pauli, ii. 259.

1272. Circes, Circe, the enchantress; Homer's Odyssey, bk. x; Ovid, Met. xiv. Ovid frequently has the form Circes, in the gen. case; Met. xiv. 10, 69, 71, 247, 294. Cf. Chaucer's Boethius, b. iv. met. 3. 24.

Calipsa, Calypso, the nymph who detained Ulysses in an island; Odyssey, bk. i; Ovid, ex Ponto, iv. 10. 13.

1273. Hermes is mentioned in the Can. Yeom. Tale, C. T., Group G, 1434, where the reference is to Hermes Trismegistus, fabled to have been the founder of alchemy, though none of the works ascribed to him are really his. The name Balenus occurs, in company with the names of Medea and Circe, in the following passage of the Rom. de la Rose, l. 14599:—

(Charroie is the dance of witches on their sabbath.) Hermes Ballenus is really a compound name, the true significance of which was pointed out to me by Prof. Cowell, and explained in my letter to The Academy, Apr. 27, 1889, p. 287. Ballenus is 'the sage Belinous,' who discovered, beneath a statue of Hermes, a book containing all the secrets of the universe. Hence Hermes' Ballenus (where Hermes is an epithet) means 'Belinous, who adopted the philosophy of Hermes.' For an explanation of the whole matter, see the fourth volume of the Notices et Mémoires des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque du Roi, p. 107. In this there is an article by De Sacy, describing MS. Arabe de la Bibl. du Roi, no. 959, the title of which is 'Le Livre du Secret de la Creature, par le sage Belinous.' Belinous possessed the art of talismans, which he professed to have learnt from Hermes. There is some reason for identifying him with Apollonius of Tyana.

1274. Lymote, according to Warton, is Limotheus; but he omits to tell us where he found such a name; and the suggestion seems no better than his mistake of supposing Calipsa (l. 1272) to mean the muse Calliope! Considering that he is mentioned in company with Simon Magus, or Simon the magician (Acts viii. 9), the suggestion of Prof. Hales seems probable, viz. that Lymote or Lymete (as in F.) means Elymas the sorcerer (Acts xiii. 8).

1275. 'I saw, and knew by name, those that,' &c.

1277. Colle tregetour, Colle the juggler; see l. 1260. Colle is here a proper name, and distinct from the prefix col- in col-fox, Non. Pr. Tale, B 4405. Colle is the name of a dog; Non. Pr. Tale, B 4573. Colyn and Colle are names of grooms; Polit. Songs, p. 237. Tyrwhitt quotes a passage from The Testament of Love, bk. ii:—'Buserus [Busiris] slew his gestes, and he was slayne of Hercules his gest. Hugest betraished many menne, and of Collo was he betraied'; ed. 1561, fol. 301, col. 2. With regard to tregetour, see the account of the performances of Eastern jugglers in Yule's edition of Marco Polo; vol. i. p. 342, and note 9 to Bk. i. c. 61. Col. Yule cites the O.F. forms tregiteor and entregetour; also Ital. tragettatore, a juggler, and Prov. trasjitar, trajitar, to juggle. Bartsch, in his Chrestomathie Française, has examples of trasgeter, to mould, form, tresgeteïs, a work of mechanical art; and, in his Chrestomathie Provençale, col. 82, has the lines—

i.e. thou know'st not how to dance, nor how to juggle, after the manner of a Gascon juggler. A comparison of the forms leaves no doubt as to the etymology. The Prov. trasgitar answers to a Low Lat. form trans-iectare = tra-iectare, frequentative of Lat. trans-icere, tra-icere, to throw across, transfer, cause to pass. Thus, the orig. sense of tregetour was one who causes rapid changes, by help of some mechanical contrivance. The F. trajecter, to ferry, transport, in Cotgrave, is the same word as the Prov. trasgitar, in a different (but allied) sense.

1292. 'As is the usual way with reports.'

1295. Accent Which and so.

1297. 'And yet it was wrought by haphazard quite as often as by heed.'

1300. To longe, too long; not 'to dwell long.' The barbarous practice of inserting an adverb between to and an infinitive, as in 'to ungrammatically talk,' is of later date, though less modern than we might perhaps imagine. Cf. l. 1354.

1302. Elide the former Ne; read N'of.

1303. Read—Ne hów they hátt' in másonéries; i.e. nor how they are named in masonry, as, for example, corbets full of imageries. They hatte, i.e. they are called, was turned into hakking, and the sense lost.

1304. Corbets, corbels. Florio's Ital. Dict. has, 'Corbella, Corbetta, a little basket'; shewing the equivalence of such forms. The E. corbel is the same word as O.F. corbel (F. corbeau), apparently from the Lat. coruus. The spelling with z (= ts) in MSS. F. and B. shews that the form is really corbetts or corbets, not corbelles. Spenser has the simple form corb; F. Q. iv. 10. 6:—

'A Corbel, Corbet, or Corbill in masonrie, is a iutting out like a bragget [bracket] as carpenters call it, or shouldering-peece in timber-work'; Minsheu's Dict. ed. 1627. Tyrwhitt explains corbets by 'niches for statues'; but 'imageries' are not necessarily statues or images, but rather specimens of carved work.

1309. 'A bounty! a bounty! hold up (your hands) well (to catch it).' Sir W. Scott explains largesse as 'the cry with which heralds and pursuivants were wont to acknowledge the bounty received from the knights'; note to Marmion, canto i. St. 11. The word is still in use amongst gleaners in East Anglia; see my note to P. Plowman, C. viii. 109.

1311. In Anglia, xiv. 236, Dr. Köppell points out some resemblances between the present poem and Boccaccio's Amorosa Visione. He compares this line with the A. V. vi. 75:—'Io son la Gloria del popol mondano.'

1316, 7. Kinges, i.e. kings-at-arms; losenges, lozenges (with g as j).

1326. Cote-armure, surcoat; see Way's note in Prompt. Parv.

1329-35. Imitated from Rom. Rose, 6762-4.

1330. Been aboute, used like the old phrase go about.

1342-6. Cf. Boccaccio, Amorosa Visione, iv. 9:—'Ed in una gran sala ci trovammo; Chiara era e bella e risplendente d'oro.'

1346. Wikke, poor, much alloyed.

1352. Lapidaire, 'a treatise on precious stones, so entitled; probably a French translation of the Latin poem of Marbodus De Gemmis, which is frequently cited by the name of Lapidarius; Fabricius, Bibl. Med. Æt., in v. Marbodus'; Tyrwhitt's Glossary. The Lapidarium of Abbot Marbodus (Marbœuf), composed about 1070-80, is chiefly taken from Pliny and Solinus. A translation in English verse is given in King's Antique Gems. See note to l. 1363 below. There is some account of several precious stones in Philip de Thaun's Bestiary, printed in Wright's Popular Treatises on Science; at p. 127 he refers to the Lapidaire. Vincent of Beauvais refers to it repeatedly, in book viii. of his Speculum Naturale. There is a note about this in Warton, Hist. E. P. ed. 1871, ii. 324. And see note to l. 1363.

1360. Dees, daïs; see the note to Prol. 370, in vol. v. Lines 1360-7 may be compared with various passages in Boccaccio's Amorosa Visione, which describe a lady in a rich vesture, seated on a royal throne:—

See Am. Vis. vi. 49, 58, 43, 48. See note to l. 1311 above.

1361. The reading Sit would mean 'sitteth' or 'sits'; the reading Sat would mean 'sat.' Both are wrong; the construction is sitte I saugh = I saugh sitte, I saw sit; so that sitte is the infin. mood.

1363. Carbuncle. Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Nat bk. viii. c. 51, has: 'Carbunculus, qui et Græcè anthrax dicitur, vulgariter rubith.' An account of the Carbunculus is given in King's Natural History of Precious Stones and Gems. He remarks that the ruby 'must also be included among the numerous species of the carbunculus described by Pliny, although he gives the first rank to the Carbunculi amethystizontes, our Almandines or Garnets of Siam.' See also his Antique Gems, where he translates sect. 23 of the Lapidarium of Marbodus thus:—

1368-76. Cf. Boethius, in Chaucer's translation; bk. i. pr. 1, ll. 8-13 (vol. ii. p. 2).

1376. Sterres sevene, the seven planets.

1380. Tolde, counted; observe this sense.

1383. Bestes foure, four beasts; Rev. iv. 6. Cf. Dante, Purg. xxix. 92.

1386. Thynne remarks that oundy, i.e. wavy, is a term in heraldry; cf. E. ab-ound, red-ound, surr-ound (for sur-ound); all from Lat. unda. Cf. Chaucer's use of ounded in Troilus, iv. 736, and Le Roman de la Rose, 21399, 21400:—

1390. 'And tongues, as (there are) hairs on animals.' 'Her feet are furnished with partridge-wings to denote swiftness, as the partridge is remarkable for running with great swiftness with outstretched wings. This description is taken almost literally from the description of Fame in the Æneid [iv. 176-183], except the allusion to the Apocalypse and the partridge-wings'; note in Bell's Chaucer. But it is to be feared that Chaucer simply blundered, and mistook Vergil's pernicibus as having the sense of perdicibus; cf. 'pedibus celerem et pernicibus alis'; Aen. iv. 180.

1400. Caliopee, Calliope the muse; her eight sisters are the other Muses. With ll. 1395-1405 cf. Dante, Par. xxiii. 97-111.

1411. Read—Bóth-e th'ármes. Armes, i.e. coats of arms. Name, name engraved on a plate or written on a scroll.

1413. Alexander; see Monkes Tale, in C. T., B 3821. Hercules; see the same; the story of the shirt is given in B 3309-3324. In Le Roman de la Rose, l. 9238, it is called 'la venimeuse chemise.' Cf. Dante, Inf. xii. 68.

1431. Lede, lead, the metal of Saturn; yren, iron, the metal of Mars. See note to Can. Yeom. Tale, G 820, and ll. 827, 828 of the same; also ll. 1446, 1448 below.

1433. Read—Th'Ebráyk Jósephús. In a note on Gower's Conf. Amantis, Warton remarks—'Josephus, on account of his subject, had long been placed almost on a level with the Bible. He is seated on the first pillar in Chaucer's House of Fame. His Jewish History, translated into Latin by Rufinus in the fourth century, had given rise to many old poems and romances; and his Maccabaics, or History of the seven Maccabees, martyred with their father Eleazar under the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, a separate work translated also by Rufinus, produced the Judas Maccabee of Belleperche in the year 1240, and at length enrolled the Maccabees among the most illustrious heroes of romance.'—ed. Hazlitt, iii. 26.

1436. Iewerye, kingdom of the Jews; cf. Prior. Tale, B 1679.

1437. Who the other seven are, we can but guess; the reference seems to be to Jewish historians. Perhaps we may include Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Isaiah, Daniel, Nehemiah; and, in any case, Ezra. The number seven was probably taken at random. With l. 1447 cf. Troil. ii. 630.

1450. Wheel, orbit. The orbit of Saturn is the largest of the (old) seven planets; see Kn. Tale, 1596 (A 2454). The reason why Josephus is placed upon Saturn's metal, is because history records so many unhappy casualties, such as Saturn's influence was supposed to cause. All this is fully explained in the Kn. Tale, 1597-1611 (A 2455-69).

1457. Yren, the metal of Mars; see note to l. 1431.

1459. This allusion to 'tiger's blood' is curious; but is fully accounted for by the account of the two tigers in bk. vii. of the Thebaid. A peace had nearly been made up between the Thebans and the other Greeks, when two tigers, sacred to Bacchus, broke loose, and killed three men. They were soon wounded by Aconteus, whereupon 'They fly, and flying, draw upon the plain A bloody line'; according to Lewis's translation. They fall and die, but are avenged; and so the whole war was renewed. Lydgate reduces the two tigers to one; see his chapter 'Of a tame Tigre dwelling in Thebes'; in part 3 of his Sege of Thebes.

1460. Stace (as in Troil. bk. v, near the end, and Kn. Tale, A 2294) is Publius Papinius Statius, who died A.D. 96, author of the Thebais and Achilleis (see l. 1463), the latter being left incomplete. Tholosan means Toulousan, or inhabitant of Toulouse; and he is here so called because by some (including Dante, whom Chaucer follows) he was incorrectly supposed to have been a native of Toulouse. He was born at Naples, A.D. 61. Dante calls him Tolosano in Purg. xxi. 89, on which Cary remarks:—'Dante, as many others have done, confounds Statius the poet, who was a Neapolitan, with a rhetorican of the same name, who was of Tolosa or Thoulouse. Thus Chaucer; and Boccaccio, as cited by Lombardi: "E Stazio di Tolosa ancora caro"; Amorosa Vis. cant. 5.'

Dr. Köppell quotes the last passage, from Boccaccio, Am. Vis. v. 34, in Anglia, xiv. 237, and shews that other passages in the same resemble other lines in the Hous of Fame. See notes to ll. 1311, 1342, 1360, 1483, 1487, and 1499.

1463. 'Cantai di Tebe, e poi del grande Achille'; Dante, Purg. xxi. 92.

1466. Omeer, Homer; see ll. 1477-1480 below.

1467. In Chaucer's Troil. i. 146, is the line—'In Omer, or in Dares, or in Dyte.' Dares means Dares Phrygius; and Tytus is doubtless intended for the same person as Dyte, i.e. Dictys Cretensis. See the account in Warton, Hist. E. Poet., ed. Hazlitt, ii. 127, beginning:—'But the Trojan story was still kept alive in two Latin pieces, which passed under the names of Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis,' &c.; and further in vol. iii. p. 81. The chief source of the romantic histories of Troy in the middle ages is the Roman de Troie by Benoit de Sainte-Maure, which appeared between 1175 and 1185, and has lately been edited by M. Joly. This was copied by Guido delle Colonne (see note to l. 1469 below), who pretended, nevertheless, to follow Dares and Dictys. Chaucer cites Dares and Dictys at second-hand, from Guido.

1468. Lollius; evidently supposed by Chaucer to be a writer on the Trojan war. See Tyrwhitt's note on the words the boke of Troilus, as occurring at the end of the Persones Tale. Chaucer twice quotes Lollius in Troilus, viz. in bk. i. 394 and bk. v. 1653. At the beginning of sect. xiv of his Hist. of Eng. Poetry, Warton shews that there was a Lollius Urbicus among the Historici Latini profani of the third century; 'but this could not be Chaucer's Lollius; ... none of his works remain.' The difficulty has never been wholly cleared up; we know, however, that the Troilus is chiefly taken from Boccaccio's Filostrato, just as his Knight's Tale is chiefly taken from Boccaccio's Teseide. My idea of the matter is that, in the usual mode of appealing to old authorities, Chaucer refers us (not to Boccaccio, whom he does not mention, but) to the authorities whom he supposed Boccaccio must have followed. Accordingly, in his Troilus, he mentions Homer, Dares, Dictys, and Lollius, though he probably knew next to nothing of any one of these authors. On this account, the suggestion made by Dr. Latham (Athenæum, Oct. 3, 1868, p. 433) seems quite reasonable, viz. that he got the idea that Lollius wrote on the Trojan war by misunderstanding the lines of Horace, Epist. i. 2:—

See Ten Brink, Studien, p. 87. This supposition becomes almost a certainty when we observe how often medieval writers obtained their information from MSS. containing short extracts. Chaucer clearly never read Horace at all; he merely stumbled on a very few extracts from him in notebooks. In this way, he may easily have met with the first line above, apart from its context. Cf. vol. ii. pp. lii, liii.

1469. Guido delle Colonne, or Guido de Columnis (not da Colonna), finished his translation or version of Benoit de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie in the year 1287. His work is called Historia Troiana. The 'Geste Hystoriale' of the Destruction of Troy, edited by Panton and Donaldson for the Early English Text Society, is a translation of Guido's Historia into Middle English alliterative verse. See Warton, Hist. E. P., ed. Hazlitt, iii. 81; and Introd. to vol. ii. pp. liv-lxv.

1470. Gaufride, Geoffrey, viz. Geoffrey of Monmouth, who died A.D. 1154, and wrote a History of the Britons in Latin, full of extravagant but lively fictions, which was completed in 1147; see Morley's Hist. E. Writers, i. 496. He is rightly mentioned among the writers who 'bore up Troy,' because he makes the Britons the descendants of Æneas. See note below.

1477. Oon seyde, one (of them) said. Guido was one of those who said this; this appears from the Gest Hystoriale above mentioned, which was translated from Guido; see ll. 41-47, and 10312-10329 of Panton and Donaldson's edition. Guido asserts, for example, that Achilles slew Hector by treachery, and not, as Homer says, in fair fight; and Chaucer asserts the same, Troil. v. 1560. The fact is, that the Latin races declined to accept an account which did not sufficiently praise the Trojans, whom they regarded as their ancestors. Geoffrey of Monmouth ingeniously followed up this notion, by making the Trojans also the ancestors of the ancient Britons. Hence English writers followed on the same side; Lydgate, as well as Chaucer, exclaims against Homer. See Warton, ed. Hazlitt, iii. 82. But Dante exalts Homer above Horace, Ovid, and Lucan: Inf. iv. 88.

1482. 'Homer's iron is admirably represented as having been by Virgil covered over with tin'; note in Bell's Chaucer.

1483. There is a similar mention of Vergil in Boccaccio, Amorosa Visione, v. 7. See note to l. 1460.

1487. Ovide, Ovid; from whom perhaps Chaucer borrows more than from any other Latin writer. He stands on a pillar of copper, the metal sacred to Venus. See note to l. 820 of Can. Yeom. Tale. And cf. Boccaccio, Amorosa Visione, v. 25: 'Eravi Ovidio, lo quale poetando Iscrisse tanti versi per amore.'

1494. High the (as in F.) is an error for highthe, height; Cx. Th. have heyght. Read highte, as in l. 744.

1499. Lucan; alluding to Lucan's Pharsalia, which narrates the war between Cæsar and Pompey. See Man of Lawes Tale, B 401; Monkes Tale, De Caesare, B 3909 (and note), and a fourth mention of him in Troilus, v. 1792. There is an English translation by Rowe. Cf. Boccaccio, Amorosa Visione, v. 19: 'A' quai Lucan seguitava, ne' cui Atti parea ch'ancora la battaglia Di Cesare narrasse, e di colui Magno Pompeo chiamato.'

1509. Claudius Claudianus, in the fourth century, wrote a poem De Raptu Proserpinæ, alluded to here and in the Merchant's Tale (C. T., E 2232), and several other pieces. See note to Parl. Foules, 99.

1512. Imitated from Dante, Inf. ix. 44: 'Della regina dell' eterno pianto.'

1519. Write, wrote; pt. t. pl. Highte, were named.

1521. Perhaps from Dante, Inf. xvi. 1, which Cary translates:—

1527. Cf. Ovid, Met. xii. 53: 'Atria turba tenent; ueniunt leue uulgus, euntque.'

1530. Alles-kinnes is in the gen. sing., and Of governs condiciouns; thus the line is equivalent to—'Of conditions of every kind'; whereas modern English uses—'Of every kind of condition.' This peculiar idiom was formerly common; and precisely similar to it is the phrase noskinnes, for which see note to l. 1794. Observe that the phrase is oddly written alle skynnes in MS. F., by a misdivision of the words. So in Piers Plowman, A. ii. 175, we have the phrase for eny kunnes yiftus, for gifts of any kind, where one MS. has any skynes. In my note to P. Plowman, C. xi. 128, I give numerous examples, with references, of phrases such as none kynnes riche, many kynnes maneres, summes kunnes wise, what kyns schape, &c.

1550. 'Those that did pray her for her favour.'

1564. 'Because it does not please me.'

1570. I here alter Vpon peyne to Vp peyne, as the former will not scan, and the latter is the usual idiom. See up peyne in Kn. Tale, A 1707, 2543; Man of Lawes Tale, B 795, 884. Cf. vp the toft, upon the toft, P. Plowman, B. i. 12; vp erthe, upon earth, id. B. ix. 99.

1571. Cf. Rom. Rose, 18206—'Car Eolus, li diex des vens.' From Vergil, Æn. i. 52; cf. Ovid, Met. xiv. 223, where Æolus is said to reign over the Tuscan sea. The connection of Æolus with Thrace is not obvious; cf. l. 1585. Ovid, however, has 'Threicio Borea'; Art. Am. ii. 431. And see Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, ii. 382.

1596. Took to, delivered to. Triton, Triton; imitated from Ovid, Met. i. 333, where Neptune calls Triton, and bids him sound his 'shell,' the sound of which resounded everywhere.

1598. We rarely find to used after leet; the usual formula is leet go. But cf. leet to glyde in Cant. Ta., F 1415. Or read to-go, to-glyde.

1618. Wite is badly spelt wete or wote in the MS. copies; but the very phrase wite ye what occurs in C. T., E 2431. However, Ch. certainly uses the phrase ye woot instead of ye wite, more than once.

1640. Overthrowe, be overthrown; as in the Tale of Gamelin, 512. Cf. Melibeus, B 2755.

1643. A pelet was a stone ball, such as used to be fired from the earliest kind of cannon, of which this is a very early mention. See my glossary to P. Plowman (Clar. Press).

1670. Lat goon, let go, lay aside.

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:—

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, 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:—

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.

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 be 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.'

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:—

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 seven 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 nine^[63] 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:—

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:—

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.