Note 1 — Introduction

Spenser thought that the latter Part or Parts of the “Squire’s Tale” had actually been written but been lost—been “quite devoured” by “cursed eld,” and “brought to nought by little bits,” as he quaintly expresses it. But it may be taken as certain Chaucer left the tale as we have it, that is, “half told.” The closing lines of what we have are clearly unrevised. For some reason or another—trouble or sickness, or his growing infirmity—what would have been one of the most brilliant works of the Middle Ages was never completed, and, like “Christabel” and “Hyperion,” remains only a glorious fragment.