[Publications]

TRIAL-FOREWORDS

0f

CHAUCEE SOCIETY,

(WITH A TRY TO SET CHAUCER'S WORKS IN THEIR
RIGHT ORDER OF TIME,)

FREDERICK J. FURNIVALL.

[Reprinted 1880.]

PUBLISHT FOR THE CHAUCER SOCIETY

BY K TRTJBNER & CO., 57 & 59, LUDGATE HILL.

LONDON.
1871.

CLAY ANT) TAYLOR, THE CHAUCEH PRESS, BTJNOAY.

DEDICATED

(THOUGH WITHOUT LEAVE)
TO

$amts $«ssell fofotll,

OF HARVARD COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, IK THB
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

AUTHOR OF TWO ESSAYS ON CHAUCER, —

i. IN "CONVERSATIONS ON THE OLD POETS" 1845,
ii. IN "MY STUDY WINDOWS" 1871, —

AND MANY OTHER WORKS THAT MAKE

THE STATES AND ENGLAND

PROTTD OF HIM.

CONTENTS OF PAHT I,

PAGE

Eeasons for these " Forewords " ... ... ... 5

Interest in watching Chaucer's progress ... ... 5

Prof. Ten Brink's and Mr Bradshaw's work 6

The Romaunt of the Rose ... ... ... ... 7

The Blaunche, and Chaucer's latest poems ... ... 7

1386 A.D. the centre of Chaucer's life ... ... 9

Chaucer's own list of his early works ... ... 10

His Compleynte to Pite his earliest original work ... 12

His A B C, p. 12 ; and (?) Lydgate's account of it ... 13

Chronological List of Chaucer's Works 15

dates in Chaucer's Life 17

DETAILED EXAMINATION OF EACH OF
CHAUCER'S MINOR POEMS.

I. POEMS OF THE FIEST PERIOD, TO 1373 A.D.

(The AB C perhaps Chaucer's first poem.)

1. The Compleynte to Pite, 1366-8 A.D 29

2. The Dethe of Blaunche the Duchesse, 1369 A.D. ... 33

II. POEMS OF THE SECOND PERIOD, FROM 1373

TO 1385 A.D.

3. The Parlament of Foules, U 374 A.D 53

(The Saturday-Review bubble burst, p. 69-74.)

4. The Compleynt of Mars 78

(The Hero and Heroine of it, p. 80-4.)

[to be continued.]

Conclusion to Part 1 91

HINDWORDS 93

NOTES ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 108

APPENDIX. 1. Translation of the Lease to Chaucer in 1375
A.D. of a house in Algate from the Corporation of London
(from Riley}, p. i. 2. The name " Chaucer " in connection
with the City of London (from Riley), p. ii. 3. The Duke
of Lancaster's Grant of £10 a year to Chaucer, p. iv.

TRIAL -FOREWORDS.

ILL-PREPARED as I am to -write a comment on Chaucer's
Minor Poems, and tentative as the results I have got-to,
must necessarily .be, I yet do not like to send out Part I
of my Parallel-Text Edition of the Minor Poems for the
Society, without saying something about the contents of it,
and the notions I have formed — mainly from Prof. Ten
Brink — as to the sequence of Chaucer's works. So little has
been yet printed in England on the subject, that I think
it better to state the results of a short study of Chaucer's
Minor Poems, in order to induce more capable men than
myself to work at them, and upset (or confirm) these re
sults, than wait for the revision of Part I, or the comple
tion, of Professor Ten Brink's valuable work, or the
possible appearance of Mr Bradshaw's.

When men have a scheme of some kind before them,
it is so much more likely to provoke criticism of itself and
study of its materials, than when the materials only lie
before readers. There is also a happy tendency in students
to give schemes a good sound shaking, and rattle the
badly-fitting bits out of their wrong places into their
right ones ; so that I think it well to set up my scheme
(altered from Prof. Ten Brink's, and filled-up by me) to
undergo this process, in the hope that the structure may
stand firm at the last.

The chief interest of the investigation has been to me

6 PROFESSOR TEN BRINK'S CHAUCER " STUDIEN."

the watching of the growth of the Poet's mind and power
from his earliest effort to the greatest triumphs of his
genius ; and then its decline — in accordance with Nature's
law — to its poorest, the begging Balade of the autumn be
fore the Poet's death. Till the appearance of Prof. Bern-
hard Ten Brink's valuable Studien on Chaucer, I had
never read with any care many of the poet's minor works,
and their chronology seemed a muddle j but the Professor's
division of Chaucer's works into three Periods — I. those
before his Italian travels, which he set-out-on in December
1372 j II. those containing translations of, or allusions to,
Italian authors, and therefore almost certainly composed
after November 1373 (when he got-back to England from
Italy), up to and including 1384, the probable date of his
House of Fame; III. those of his greatest period from
1385 to his death in 1400 J— let a flood of light in on the
matter, and enabled one to see one's way. The Professor's
independent rejection, too, of nearly all the poems which
Mr Bradshawhad declared spurious2 (with the notable ex
ception of the Romaunt of the Rose), rendered one's path
clearer. For, though this agreement of these two distant
critics did not surprise one, since they workt mainly with
the same test,3 — the non-ryming of -ye -y (curteisye,
generaly) by Chaucer, — yet their concurrence justified one
in at least setting aside a number of poems like that " Yl,e
of Ladies" (1. 71), called Chaucer's Dreme (which one
could swear, after reading it, was not Chaucer's : the thing
is impossible :), till some one had shown cause for looking-
on them as our poet's work. Among these poems I had

1 I should like to add a IVth Period of Decline from, say, 1390
to 1400.

2 See my "Temporary Preface to the Six- Text Edition of
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales" Part I, p. 107-8.

3 Mr Bradshaw had also workt the Manuscript test : that is, he
put together the poems assigned to Chaucer by MSS in one class,
and those not so assigned in another class ; then tried them hy
the -ye -y test, and found that the poems in the latter class all
proved spurious under the test, while those in the former class
proved genuine.

THE "ROSE". POEMS OF CHAUCER'S OLD AGE. 7

reluctantly to put the Romaunt of the Rose, because,
though I hoped I had strengthened Prof. Ten Brink's posi
tion l that the Romaunt's ryming of -ye -y might be due
to its being the first work of Chaucer, who might have
given himself more license in his early englishing of such
a long poem than he did in later original work, yet after-
consideration inclined me to think that the best early
parts of the Romaunt were perhaps too good to be Chau
cer's earliest work, and if so, this rendered it almost
impossible that he should not have allowed the -ye -y
ryme in his earliest works, then have allowed it in one of
his later books, and again disallowed it in all his most
important poems. Still, I don't yet look on the spurious-
ness of this poem as finally settled, though my friend Pro
fessor F. J. Child is also against its genuineness, and Prof.
Ten Brink is now inclined to give it up. (Can't some one
find a MS of Chaucer's version, with his name to it and
his power in it, and so decide the question for us ?)

Dealing then with the other poems, I accepted as a
starting-point — without fit examination, as I see now — the
Dethe of Blaunche as Chaucer's first poem, and the year of
her death, 1369, as its date. Then the poems that most
easily dated themselves were those of his old age ; the
latest, his Compleynt to his Purse, written, as the Envoy
shows, to Henry IV, who (doubtless in return for it,) with
in four days after he came to the throne, namely, on Oct.
3, 1399, granted Chaucer fourty marks yearly for life, in
addition to the annuity of £20 which Eichard II had
given him (Nicolas, in Morris's Chaucer, i. 40). Next,
probably in 1398, — when Chaucer got protection against
enemies suing him, no doubt creditors,2 — the "Fortune"

1 This was by showing that three of the latest of Chaucer's
predecessors — Eobert Manning of Brunne, William of Shoreham,
and Eobert Minot — rymed -ye -y.

2 1394 is also a year when Chaucer must have been very badly
off, as shown by the small loans he got from the Exchequer, on the
pension of £20 granted to him by Rich. II in February of that
year.

8 POEMS FROM 1397 TO 1386.

or "Balade de Visage1 sauns Peynture" (Chaucer in dis
tress, yet having his ' best frend alyve,' 1. 48) ; — then the
Lack of Stedfastness — evidently written in the later years
of Richard II's reign, and probably in 1397, when the
king had his uncle the Duke of Gloucester seized and mur
dered, also seized the Earls of Warwick and Arundel, and
got his Parliament (who doubtless hoped he'd mend his
ways) to do all he wisht ; — then perhaps the Envoy to
Scogan, when Chaucer was ' hoor and round of shape,' and
a 'deluge of pestilence' was falling, 1. 14, — perhaps in 1393,2
as Mr Bradshaw and Prof. Ten Brink have both independ
ently suggested to me \ — and about that time the Marriage
or Envoy to Bukton, after Chaucer had written ' The wyfe
of Bathe ' (1. 29), and feared to fall into the dotage of
(? second) marriage; then perhaps The Compleynt of Venus
from the French of GRAUNSON, when

. elde, that in my spirit dulleth me, 76

Hath of endyting al the subtilite
Welnyghe bereft out of my remembraunce. 78

Further, it seemed that Chaucer's beautiful Balade
Truth, or " Flee fro the presse," with his religious poem,
the * Moder of God3 ' (from the Latin), would fall naturally
either to the time of his first losses in December 1386 —
when, after sitting as Knight of the Shire (or Member of
Parliament) for Kent in the Parliament which sat from

1 Not 'Village,' says Mr Bradshaw: cp. Chaucer's Soethius,
bk. ii. " This ilke Fortune hath departed and uncovered to thee
both the certeyn visages, and eke the doutous visages of thyne
felawes." The poem is mainly from Boethius. See Notes at the
end.

2 Chaucer must have been very poor before he got his grant of
£20 for life on Febr. 28, 1394, as, after the first receipt of it on 10
Dec. 1394, he had to get advances from the Exchequer (Nicolas,
in Morris's Chaucer, i. 37).

3 I don't feel at all certain about the date of Chaucer's two re
ligious poems. The latter of them, a translation of the Latin
hymn " 0 intemerata." is attributed to Chaucer in the Advocate's-
Library MS of John of Ireland's " System of Theology," composed
1490 A.D. : "And sene, haly virgin, I will, on the end of this, buk,
writ ane orisoune that Galfryde Chauceir maid and prayit to this,
lady."—/. Notes and Queries, xii. 140 (25 Aug. 1855).

DATE OP "THE CANTERBURY TALES." 9

Oct. 1 to Nov. 1, 1386, he was dismist from his two offices
of Comptroller of the Customs and Subsidies (to which
Edw. Ill had appointed him in 1374), and Comptroller
of the Petty Customs in the Port of London (appointment
dated 8 May 1382), — or to the time of his probable greater
distress in 1388, when on May 1 he assigned his two
annuities to John Scalby. Chaucer's dismissal from his
offices in the Customs was no doubt due really to some
vote of his in Parliament, though ostensibly he may have
been punisht by the Commission which issued in Nov.
1386 'for inquiring, among other things, into the state
of the Subsidies and Customs.' The Truth Balade shows
such confidence that Truth will deliver the poet, — clear
him from his enemies' aspersions — that I must believe that
it refers to this time, while his ' Suffise bin owen bing,
J?ei it be smal ' — looks like his still having his annuities.
The Truth is in Chaucer's very best style.

"Working thus backwards, one had got to the date of 1 386
which would well fit the best Tales into the brightest and
likeliest part of Chaucer's life, — the poorer Tales having
been written (as some assuredly were) earlier, and others
later, including the Parson's Tale at the end of the poet's
life. 1387 exactly suits the revised Knight's Tale,1 and
Mr A. E. Brae2 has shown cause for fixing on the 18th of
April 1388 as the date for the Prologue or head-link of the

1 See Mr Skeat's letter in my Temporary Preface, p. 104.
We know that the third of the four "modern instances" of
" tregedis " inserted into the ancient ones in the Monkes Tale can
not have been written till after 1385. In May 1378, Chaucer was
sent with Sir Edward Berkeley to Lombardy, to treat with Bernardo
Visconti, Lord of Milan, and the celebrated Sir John Hawkwood
•'pro certis negociis expeditionem guerree Regis tangentibus "
(Issue Roll, Easter, 1 Ric. II ; Nicolas, i. 24, 98). Bernardo was
afterwards deposed by his nephew, and thrown into prison, where
he died in 1385,- and Chaucer embalmed his memory in an 8-line
stanza of a tragedie. " Tragedie is to seyne, a dite of a prosperite
for a tyme, f>at endij? in wrechednesse," JBoethiiis, p. 35, ed. Morris.
The 5-line definition of the word in the Monkes Prologue, that is,
Melibe's End-Link, is expanded from this.

2 In the Appendix to his edition of Chaucer's Astrolabe, p. 68
—78.

10 A FRESH LOST-WORK OP CHAUCER'S.

Persones Tale, and therefore of the other, or many of the
other, links, and the General Prologue. The 17th of
April1 suits best the Man-of-Law's Prologue or head-link
(Brae, p. 72). The General Prologue and Links must
have been written after most of the Tales.

(After the revised Knight's Tale, Prof. Ten Brink — for
reasons of the goodness of which he is very certain — puts
the Anelida and Arcite, and assigns to it the date of 1394
or 1395. I cannot accept the Professor's late date for the
Canterbury Tales ; and though the Anelida is poor enough
for Chaucer's decline, yet I put it soon after the Mars, of
which the t Compleynt ' is not first-rate.)

Going a little further back, we get to the Legende of
Good Women, the Prologue of which is in Chaucer's hap
piest manner, and must fall not far from 1386. Some lines
in it name Chaucer's earlier works :

Fairfax MS 16 (as printed MS Gg. 4. 27, University
by Dr Richard Morris, Library, Cambridge (as
Chaucer, v. 286, 289). printed byMrBradshaw).

. . in pleyne text, withouten For in pleyn tixt, it nedyth

nede of glose, nat to glose, 256

Thou hast [translated] the Thow hast translatid the ro-

Romaunce of the Rose. 329 mauns of the rose . .
And of Creseyde thou hast Hast thow not made in englys
seyde as the liste 332 ek the bok 263

How that Crisseyde Troylis
forsok

He made the book that hight He made the bok that highte

the Hous of Fame 417 the hous of fame, 405
AndokekheDeethofBlaunche And ek the deth of Blaunche

the Duchesse, the duchesse,

And the Parlament of Foules, And the parlament of foulis,

as I gesse, as I gesse,

And al the love of Palamon And al the love of Palamon

and Arcite 2 420 and Arcite

1 I appeal to this as confirming ray notion of the Pilgrims' jour
ney being of more than one day, though Mi- Brae disputes it.
" 3 The first cast of the Knight's Tale.

POEMS OF CHAUCER'S MIDDLE TIME. 11

Of Thebes, thogh the storye Of thebes, thow the storye is

ys know en lyte \ knowe lite ; 409

And many an ynipne for your And many an ympne for

haly daiyes, thour halydayis,

That highten Balades, Eoun- That hightyn baladis, roun
dels, Virelayes. delys, and vyrelayes.
And for to speke of other And for to speke of other

holynesse, besynesse,

He hath in prose translated He hath in prose ' translatid

JBoece, Boece, 413

, And of the wrechede engen-

. . . . • . drynge of marikynde,
[no break m the text.] As man may in pope inno
cent I-fynde^-
And made the Lyfe also of And made the lyf also of

Seynt Cecile.2 seynt Cecile.

He made also, goon ys a grete He made also, gon is a gret

while, while, 417

Origenes upon the Maude- Oryggenes vp-on the maude-

leyne? leyne :

Hym oughte now to have the Hym ou^te now to haue the

lesse peyne lesse peyne ;

He hath made many a lay, He hath mad manye a lay and

and many a thynge. 430 manye a thyng4 . . 420

Next, then, the Hous of Fame dates itself by its com
plaint about the drudgery of the poet's office work, so that
this poem, which must be well after 1373 in date, must also
be before the 17th of February, 1384-5, when Chaucer was
allowed to name a permanent deputy to exercise his office
of Comptroller of the Subsidies (Mcolas, 1, 28, 33, of Mor
ris's Chaucer). The Parlament of Foules and the Troylus
both give themselves an upward limit of date : the former
by its translation from the 7th book of Boccaccio's Teseide,
and the latter by its translation of some parts, and adapta
tion of others, of Boccaccio's Filostrato. They must be
after the year 1373, and are, no doubt, before 1384. Into
this decade Prof. Ten Brink puts Chaucer's Troilus, and
his translation of Boethius de Consolatione, — rightly, I have

1 This translation by Chaucer of Pope Innocent's work is not
now known.

2 The Second Nun's Tale. 3 Not known now.

4 From Mr Bradshaw's print of the Prologue, dated 30 June,
18f,4.

no question ; — and with the prose work may go the beauti
ful l versification of the 5th metre of its 2nd book (p. 50,
ed. Morris), The former Age, — found in two Cambridge-
University MSS (li 3. 26; Hh 4. 12) by Mr Bradshaw,
and first made public by Dr Richard Morris (Chaucer, vi.
300, Boethius, p. 180) — and the Lines to Adam Scrivener,

Adam Scrivener, if ever it thee befalle,
Boece or Troilus for to write newe, &c.

The only poems thus remaining for us to date are the Gen-
tilnesse (a Balade without its Envoy, quoted in, and
known to us only from, Scogan's poem to Henry IV's
sons2), the Compleynt of Mars, the Compleynte to Pite,
and the ABC. The Gentilnesse is certainly not of Chau
cer's best time ; its praise of ' this firste stoke ' might put
it with The Former Age, but as the words mean any, or
some special, father, and the tone of the poem is (to me)
that of Chaucer's old age, I date it late, after 1390. The
Compleynt of Mars links itself on, by its opening lines, to
The Parlament of Foules, and follows rather than precedes
it. This "Mars," Shirley — Chaucer's contemporary, who
was 30 when the poet died— states in MS B. 3. 20, Trin.
Coll. Cambr., that some men said was written about Isabel,
Duchess of York, (a daughter of Peter the Cruel of Spain,
a Jooseish Southern dame who was married in 1372, and
died in 1394,) and the Earl of Huntingdon, afterwards
Duke of Exeter. The Compleynte to Pite — the awkwardest
of all Chaucer's Poems to deal with3 — is his earliest work
that is not a translation, if my judgment can be trusted,
contains the key of his life, explains allusions in both the
Dethe of Blaunche and the Parlament of Foules, and shows
us why he liked to write his other ' Complaints ', and
Troilus, and Tales of troubled love.

1 It's probably later, and nearer Chaucer's best time.

2 See Thynne's Chaucer, 1532, leaf 380, back, col. 1, and other
black-letter editions; also Urry's Chaucer, p. 547, col. 1.

3 A friend challenged me to construe it, and ' place ' it : I've
done both.

CH ACER'S "A B c" 13

With the A B C I do not yet know how to deal, as I
haven't seen its MSS. It is an early work, with many
lines in halting metre, that I hope collation will remove.
Speght, who first printed the poem in his edition of
Chaucer's Workes, in 1602, Fol. 347, entitles it :

" Ghaucers A. B. C. called La Priere de nostre Dame.

" Chaucers A. B. C. called La Priere de nostre Dame :
made, as some say, at the request of Blanch, Duchesse of
Lancaster, as a praier for her priuat vse, being a woman in
her religion very deuout."

' If this be true ' as Tyrwhitt says, the poem must be
put before the DetJie of Blaunche, and probably before the
Pity. At present I can't feel sure that Speght's heading
was copied from his MS. It looks like a bit of Shirley ;
but the poem's spelling is not Shirley's. The A B C is
a translation from the French of DeGuileville's first Pele-
rinage, is inserted into the prose translation of that work
edited by Mr "W. Aldis Wright for the Roxburghe Club in
1869 without any notice of its being Chaucer's,1 and was
evidently meant to be inserted in the verse translation of
DeGuileville's poem, attributed to Lydgate, of which we
have one copy in a fine imperfect Cotton MS. Lydgate, or
the unknown author or scribe of the poem, has unluckily
left a blank for, and not written in, Chaucer's lines, but he
prefaced them by the following pretty excuse for borrowing
them : —

1 cap. Iv. [p. 164, Wright.'] And Jeanne of £>e clowde a scripture
she [Grace Dieu] kaste me , and seide me )ms: "Loo heere how f?ow
shuldest preye hire . bo)?e at Jns neede : and alwey whan J?ou shalt
haue semblable neede , and whan in swiche olde hondes j^ou shalt
bee. Now rede it anoon apertliche. and biseeche hire deuowtliche.
and with verrey herte bihoote hire : ^at J?ou wolt be good pil-
grime . and }>at J?ou wolt neu^re go bi wey : J?ere j?ou weenest to
fynde shrewede paas ."

cap. Ivi. [p. 164.] Now j telle yow J?e scripture j vndide . and
vnplytede it . and [p. 1 65] redde it, and maade at alle poyntes my
preyeere . in j?e .foorme and in J>e maneere J?at £e same scripture
conteenede . and as grace dieu hadde seyd it . j?e foorme of j?e
scripture ye shule heere. If A. b. c. wel ye kunne : wite it ye mown
lightliche . for to sey it if it be neede . (MS Ff. v. 30, Canib.
Univ. IMr., p. 112.) See the French original of this at p. 103 below.

14

LTDGATE ON CHAUCER AND HIS "A B C."

A dove
[leaf 255, back]

brought me a
billet.

I unfolded it,

and saw that
Grace-Dieu
bad me

pray to the
Virgin Mary

a prayer in
the form

of an A B C.

This prayer
was translated

by our noble
poet CHAUCER
from the French,

In honour of
the Virgin.

[leaf 256]

And I pray her
to bring his soul
to Christ,

[MS Cot Vitel. C. xiii, leaf 255.]
And whyl I lay thus corapleynynge,
And knewh non helpe nor respyt,
A-noon ther kam A dowe whyht
Towardys me, by goddys wylle,
And brouhte me a lytel bylle,
And vndyde yt in my syht ;
[And a]ffte[r tha]t she took hyr [flyht],
And fro me [she] gan passe away.
And I, witA-oute mor delay,
Gan the bylle to vnfolde ;
And ther-in I gan beholde1
How Grace dieu, to myii avayl,
In that bylle gaff me coimsayl
« That I sholde, ful hurablely
Knelynge on knes, deuoutly
Salue with fful good avys
The blyssede quen off paradys,
"Wych bar for Our savac/on
The ffrut off Our redempczon :
And the ffourme off thys pray ere
Ys ywrete, as ye shal here,
In Ordre pleynly — who kan se —
By maner off An .A. b. c. ;
And ye may knowe yt sone, and rede,
And seyn yt whan that ye ha nede.

[End of the Translation: See Hiudwords, p. 100.]

And touchy nge the translaciouw

Off thys noble Orysou??,

Whylom (yiff I shal nat feyne)

The noble poete off Breteyne,

My mayster Chaucer, in hys tyme,

Affter the ffrenchs he dyde yt ryme,

Word by word, as in substaurcce,

Ryght as yt ys ymad in frauwce,

fful devoutly in sentence,

In worshepe and in reuerewce

Off that noble hevenly quene,

Bothe moder and a mayde clene.

And sythe he dyde yt vndertake,

ffor to translate yt ffor hyr sake,

I pray thys [Quene] that ys the beste,

ffor to brynge hys soule at reste,

That he may — thorgh [hyr] pfrjayere—

Aboue the sterrys bryht and [clere],

Off hyr mercy and hyr grace

Apere afforn hyr sonys fface,

Wyth seyntys euere, for A memorye,

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF CHAUCER' 8 POEMS. 15

Eternally to regne l in glorye. to reign for ever

And ffor memoyre off that poete, £ memory

Wyth al hys rethorykes swete, of CHAUCBB,

That was the ffyrste in any age
That amendede our langage,
Therfore, as I am boiwde off dette,
In thys book I wyl hym sette, rn set his

And ympen thys Oryson2

Affter hys translac/on, translation here,

My purpos to determyne,

That yt shal enlwmyne to illumine

Thys lytyl book, End off makyng, aok'

Wyth som clause off hys wrytyng.3

And as he made thys Oryson

Off ful devout entenczon,

And by maner off a prayere,

Ryht so I wyl yt settyn here,

That men may knowe and pleynly se that men m&f

,-% ,« r\ i j It, A i know Our

Off Our lady the .A. b. c. Lady's ABC.

[The remainder of this leaf 256 of the MS is left blank,
the scribe never having copied-in Chaucer's poemJ]

Till I can get copies of, and see, all the MSS of the
poem, I must put the ABC down as an early poem of
Chaucer's, and possibly the first of his works that have
come-down to us. If not written for the Duchess Blanche,
it may have been englisht. by Chaucer to comfort him in
his own hopeless love.

We have thus workt-out the following scheme : —

First Period.

early ABC (freely translated from DeGuileville, omitting
the last 2 stanzas of the French. See No. V in
our One-Text Print of Chaucer's Minor Poems, and
the Hindivords, p. 100, below.)

1366-8 Compleynte to Pite (perhaps with the Roundel to
a Pitiless Mistress, " So hath your beauty fro your
herte chased Pitee," ed. Morris, vi. 304).

1369 Dethe of Blaunche the Duchesse.

1 MS regrne. 2 or Orysouw.

3 Compare Scogan's quoting Chaucer's Balade of Gentilnesse,
though without its Envoy, in his Poem to his pupils, Henry IV's
sons. Thynne's Chaucer, 1532> leaf 380, back, col. 1 ; TJrry's, p.
547, col. 1.

16 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF CHAUCER'S POEMS.

Second Period.

1373 Lyfe of Seynt Cecile1. (Second Nun's Tale.)
1374? Parlament of Foules.
Compleynt of Mars.

Anelida and Arcite (? before Boece, tho' not men
tioned in the ' Legende ').

Boece ; and The former Age, "A blisful lyfe," vi. 300.
Troylus and Creseyde.

Lines to Adam Scrivener, ed. Morris, vi. 307.
1384? Hous of Fame.

Third Period.

Legende of Good Women.

1386? Canterbury Tales : this the central time of a work
whose parts occupied him, off and on, from his
manhood to his death.

1 J. M. B. says in I. Notes and Queries, vii. 517 (28 May 1853),
" Chaucer evidently had the following lines of the Paradise in
view when writing the invocation to the Virgin in The Second
Nonnes Talc :
Vergine Madre, figlia del tuo " Thou maide and mother, dough-

Figlio, ter of thy Son,

Umile e alta piu che creatura, Thou well of mercy, sinful soules

cure,
Termine fisso d' eterno consiglio, In whom that God of bountee

chees to won ;
Tu se' colei, che 1'umana Natura, Thou humble and high over

every creature,
JVobilitasti si, che il suo Fattore Thou nobledest so fer forth our

nature,
Non disdegno di farsi sua fattura. That no desdaine the maker had

of kinde
Paradiso xxxiii. 1. His Son in blood and flesh to

clothe and winde."
The Second Nonnes Tale, 15,504
(stanza 5 of the Prologue or
Proem).

Longfellow englishes the above passage, Canto 33, stanza 1 :
" Thou Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son,

Humble and high beyond all other creature,
The limit fixed of the eternal counsel,
Thou art the only one who such nobility

To human nature gave, that its Creator
Did not disdain to make himself its creature." p. 600.
Professor Ten Brink has, in his Studien, tried to show that the
Cecile was not written before 1373 or after the 8th of June 1374.

DATES OF CHAUCER'S POEMS AND LIFE. 17

1386-7 Truth, "Fie fro the presse," vi. 295.
Moder of God ; 1 and Proverbs.1

Fourth Period.

(1391 ? Astrolabie, which contains the date 1391.)

1392? Compleynt of Venus (written when Chaucer had
been long out of practice in verse-writing : see the
Envoy, p. 8).

1393? Envoy to Skogan, vi. 297.

Marriage, or Envoy to Bukton, vi. 299.

Gentilnesse (or Virtues not hereditary), " The firste
fadir," vi. 296.

1397? Lack of Stedfastness, "Somtyme the World," vi. 292.

1398? Fortune. " Balade de Visage sauns Peynture," vi.
289.

1399, Sept. Chaucer's Compleynt to his Purse (to Henry
IV), vi. 294.

Into this scheme we may perhaps usefully insert the
known or highly-probable dates of Chaucer's Life (from Sir
Harris Nicolas's memoir, and Notes and Queries), though
the number of the dates confuses somewhat the view of the
succession of the poems, and forces one to give each poem
a year instead of a period : —

1340? Chaucer born. (In Oct. 1386, he deposed that he
was of the age of xl.2 (fourty) and upwards, and
had been armed xxvij (twenty-seven) years.)

1357-59 Geoffrey Chaucer's name (probably as that of a
page) occurs three times in the Household-Book
of Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster, wife of Prince
Lionel, third son of Edward III. (She was
married in 1352, and died in 1363, and her
husband, Prince Lionel, died in 1369.)

1 The second Answer in the Proverbs is from the Tale of
Melibe : " ffor the prouerbe seith, he that to muche embraceth,
distreineth [grasps] litel." Ellesmere MS, leaf 162 ; Tyrwhitt, ii.
267. Chaucer may have applied the Proverb to his own circum
stances after 1386.

2 I don't think it worth while to discuss Mr Thoms's proposal
to change the places of these letters, and make the number Ix,
sixty. It would just make a mess of everything.

TRIAL-FOREWORDS. 2

18 DATES OF EVENTS IN CHAUCER'S LIFE.

1359 (autumn) Chaucer (perhaps in Prince Lionel's

retinue) joins Edward Ill's army of invasion of
France, and is taken prisoner.

1360 Is no doubt set free at the Peace of Chartres in

May, which ends Edw. Ill's invasion.

(1361) (I make him in love with the pitiless Lady of the
Compleynte of Pity, as he says in The Dethe of
Blaunclte, A.D. 1369, that he had suffered his
' sicknes . . this eight yere.')

? when. In Edward Ill's service.

1366-8 The Compleynte to Pite (Chaucer being probably
26 in 1366). But probably written in 1367 or -8.

„ Sept. 12. A Philippa Chaucer, one of the Ladies of
the chamber of Queen Philippa, is granted a pen
sion of 10 marks yearly for life (Nicolas, i. 46).
(Was this damsel, then, Chaucer's cousin, name
sake,1 or wife ? She may have been any of these.
All that we know is, that Chaucer had a wife
Philippa on June 13, 1374, who had served the
Duke of Lancaster, his Consort, and his Mother
the Queen (Nicolas, i. 19) ; and that in May 1376,
and on the 24th of May 1381, as well as on other
occasions2, this Philippa (formerly one of Queen
Philippa's damsels) received part of her 10-marks
pension by the hands of Geoffrey, her husband
(Nicolas, i. 20, 50, 109).)

1 Thynne says he had found " a record of the Pellis Exitus in
the time of Edward the Third, of a yearly stipend to Elizabeths
Chaw cere, domicelle Eegine Philippa", whom he conjectures to
have been the Poet's sister or kinswoman, and to have afterwards
taken the veil at St Helen's, London, "according," as Speght had
"touched one of that profession in primo of King Richard the II."
The King provided for her by nominating her a Nun in the Priory
of St Helen's. For another Elizabeth Chaucy the Duke of Lan
caster paid £51 8s. 2d. on May 12, 1381, the expenses of making
her a noviciate in the Abbey of Berking in Essex.

2 " Philippa Chaucer's pension was confirmed by Richard II ;
and she apparently received it (except between 1370 and 1373, in
1378 and 1385, the reason of which omissions does not appear)
from 1366 until the 18th of June 1387 (Issue Rolls passim, and
the Roll for Easter, 10 Ric. IT). The money was usually paid to
her through her husband ; but in November 1374 by the hands of
John de Hermesthorpe (Issue Roll, Mich. 44 Edw. Ill, translated
by Fredk Devon, 8vo. 1835), and in June 1377 (the Poet being
then on his mission to France) by Sir Roger de Trumpington
(Issue Roll, faster 51, Edw. Ill}, whose wife, Lady Blanch de
Trumpington, was, like herself, in the service of the Duchess of
Lancaster." — Nicolas, \. 50, ed. Morris.

DATES OP EVENTS IN CHAUCER'S LIFE. 19

1367 June 20. He is ' dilectus Valettus noster' of Edw.

Ill, a Yalet of the King's Chamber or Household
(' Nicolas, i. 6), and gets a yearly salary of 20
marks for life, for his former and future services.

„ JSTov. 6. Gets, by his own hand, £6 13s. 4d.,
part of his pension.

„ ? The A B G written.

1368 Feb. 19. Philippa Chaucer is paid 66s. Sd. on

account of the pension lately granted her by Edw.
Ill for services to his Queen Philippa.

„ May 25. He gets £6 135. 4d. as part of his pension.

„ Dec. 25. Robes are ordered to be given to Philippa
Chaucer, among others of the Queen's household.

1369 Oct. He gets £6 13s. id. as part of his pension.

„ TJie Dethe of Blaunclie the Duchesse. (She died
Sept. 12, 1369.) Chaucer's hopeless 8 years' love
" is done," 1. 37, 1. 40.

( ,, March 10. Robes ordered by Edw. Ill to be given
to Philippa Chaucer.)

1370 Is abroad on the King's service.

„ April. His pension is paid to Walter Walshe for
him.

„ June 20. He, while abroad, gets the usual letters of
protection, to be in force till Michaelmas.

„ Oct. 8. He receives his pension himself.

1371 He receives his pension himself.

1372 He receives his pension himself.

„ Aug. Before this date the Duke of Lancaster has
given Philippa Chaucer a pension of £10 a year2,
which 'seems to have been commuted in June
1374, for an annuity of the same amount to her
and her husband ' (Nicolas, i. 48) : Of course on
or just after the marriage of the cousins or name
sakes, I say. See below.

„ Nov. 12. He (then a Scutifer, or Esquire, of the
King) is "joined in a Commission with James
Pronam and John de Mari, citizens of Genoa, to
treat with the Duke, Citizens, and Merchants, of
Genoa, for the purpose of choosing some port in

1 In Morris's Aldine ed. of CTiaucer's Poetical Works.
8 Unluckily Nicolas gives no proof or document in support of
this statement ; but he cannot have written it 'without book.'

20 DATES OF EVENTS IN CHAUCER'S LIFE.

England where the Genoese might form a com
mercial establishment."

1372 Dec. 1. He gets an advance, paid to himself, of

£66 13s. 4:d. for his expenses, leaves England,
and goes to Florence and Genoa on the King's
business,

1373 Probably meets Petrarch at Padua (Prologue to

Clerlces Tale).

„ Nov. 22. Is back in England, and himself receives
his pension.

? „ The Lyfe of Seynt Cecile written.

1374 Eebr. 4. Himself receives £25 6s. Sd. for his journey,

on the King's affairs, "versus partes Jannue et
.Florence."

? „ The Parlament of Foules written.

„ April 23. By a writ dated at Windsor, — where on
this day, the annual celebration of the Eeast of
St George took place — a pitcher of wine daily for
life was granted, ' dilecto Armigero nostro, Galfri-
do Chaucer.'

„ June 8. He is appointed Comptroller of the Customs
and Subsidy of Wools, Skins, and tanned Hides
in the Port of London. . . He is to write the rolls
of his Office with his own hand, to be continually
present, and to perform his duties personally, and
not by Deputy.

„ June 13. Chaucer is granted a Pension of £10 for
life for the good service rendered by him and his
wife Philippa (? as spinster,1 or wife, or both) to
the said Duke, to his Consort, and to his mother
the Queen (Nicolas, i. 19). See the entry < 1372,
Aug.' above.

„ He receives his pension of £6 13s. 4d. himself as
one of the King's valets.

1375 He receives his pension of £6 13s. 4d. himself as

one of the King's valets.

„ ? Compleynt of Mars written

1 If as spinster, and this grant is made on or just after Chaucer's
marriage with his namesake or cousin, it would suit well the in
ternal evidence of the DetJie of Blaunche and Parlament of
Foules. Surely, if Philippa Chaucer had been Geoffrey's wife be
fore August 1372, her pension would have been given to her and
her husband, as on June 13, 1374.

DATES OF EVENTS IN CHAUCER'S LIFE. 21

1375 Nov. 8. He (Scutifer Eegis) gets a grant of the

custody of the lands and person of Edmond
Staplegate of Kent, aged 18, who (in 13781?) pays
Chaucer £104 for his wardship and marriage.

„ Dec. 28. He gets a second grant of the custody of
the 5 solidates of rent and the marriage of an in
fant heir aged 1 year, William de Solys, of Solys
in Kent.
1 1375-6 lAnelida and Arcite written.

1376 May 31. He receives his own (£6 13s. 4d.) and his

wife's (66s. Sd.) pensions at the Exchequer.
(Notes and Queries, 3rd Ser. viii. 63, col. 1.)

„ July 12. Edw. Ill grants him (dilecto Armigero
nostro) £71 4s. Qd.t the price of some wool for
feited at the Customs for not having paid the
duty.

„ Oct. 1 He gets an advance from the Exchequer of
50s. on account of his Pension.

„ Oct. 18. He receives his annuity from the Duke of
Lancaster.

? „ Dec. Is twice paid 40s. by the Keeper of the King's
Wardrobe for his half-yearly Robes as one of the
King's Esquires.

? „ IBoecv englisht, and The Former Age written; tho'
the latter is most probably later.

„ Dec. 23. Having been in Sir John Burley's retinue
on some secret service, Chaucer gets £6 13s. 4d.
as wages.

1377 Feb. 12.1 Letters of Protection (till Michaelmas)

granted him, to go abroad with Sir Thomas Percy,
on a secret mission to Flanders.

„ Feb. 17. Gets an advance of £10 for his ex
penses.

„ April 11. Has returned to England, and gets £20
from Edw. Ill, for divers oversea journeys on the
King's business.

1 Froissart says that in Feb. 1377 Chaucer was joined with Sir
Guichard d'Angle (afterwards Earl of Huntingdon, not the hero of
the Complaint of Mars) and Sir Kichard Sturry, to negotiate a second
treaty for the marriage of Kichard, Prince of Wales, with Mary,
daughter of the King of France. But Nicolas has shown this to be
a mistake, though Froissart may have referred to the embassy of
Sir G. d'Angle and others for this purpose on Jan. 16, 1378.
Wcolas, i. 22, 23.

22 DATES OF EVENTS IN CHAUCER' S LIFE.

1377 April 20. Letters of Protection again granted him,
to last till Aug. 1, he heing in the King's service
abroad.

„ April 30. He receives himself £26 12s. 4cZ. for his
wages for a mission on secret business of the King
' versus partes Francie.' (This was to ' Moustrell
et Parys,' (probably with the King's Ambassadors)
to negotiate a Peace with the French King.
Chaucer got £22 for this and a subsequent
journey, on March 6, 1381.)

„ June 12. He receives his annuity from the Duke
of Lancaster.

„ He is paid (?when) £7 2s. §\d. for his allowance of
a pitcher of wine daily from 26 Oct. 1376 to 21
June 1377 (Nicolas, i. 21).

„ (June 21. Edw. Ill dies; Eich. II, aged 11, suc
ceeds him, and his advisers are favourable to
Chaucer.)

(1378 Jan. 16. Chaucer perhaps goes with the Embassy to
France, to negotiate a marriage with the French
King's daughter Mary. The marriage, if arranged,
is put off. The Parlament of Foules can hardly
apply to this.)

,, March 23. Chaucer's annuity of 20 marks from Edw.
Ill is confirmed by letters patent.

„ April 18. He gets 20 marks a year instead of his
old pitcher of wine daily.

„ May 10. He gets Letters of Protection, to last till
Christmas, being sent with Sir Edward Berkeley
to Lombardy, on a mission, as well to Bernardo
Yisconti, Lord of Milan (whose imprisonment and
death Chaucer tells in his Monkes Tale : see p.
9 above), as to the celebrated Sir John Hawkwood,
on certain matters touching Eich. IFs expedition
of war (Nicolas, i. 24, 99).

„ May 14. £20 for the arrears of his pension are
paid ' per assignationem sibi factam ' ; and 26s.
8d. to himself in advance for the current half-
year.

„ May 21. He, being about to go oversea by the
King's license, gets letters of general attorney to
JOHN GOWER and Eichard Forrester, to act for
him.

DATES OF EVENTS IN CHAUCER'S LIFE. 23

1378 May 28. He gets £66 13s. 4d for his wages and

expenses during his Lombard journey (Nicolas, i.
24, 99).

1379 Feb. 3. He is back in England again, and receives

himself £12 13s. &d. on account of his Pension.

„ May 24. On account of Rich. II's pension to him,
26s. Sd. are paid, and on account of his Pitcher-of-
wine Pension, £13 6s. Sd. are paid, both 'per
assignationem. sibi factam isto die.'

„ !N~ov. Philippa Chaucer receives her pension from
the Duke of Lancaster (Nicolas, i. 48).

„ Dec. 9. Chaucer himself receives two sums of £6
13s. 4:d. for his two Pensions of 20 marks each.

1380 Jan. 1. Philippa Chaucer (Philippe Chaucy) gets a

silver-gilt cup and cover from the Duke of Lan
caster.

„ July 3. His Pensions of £13 6s. Sd. are paid 'per
assignationem sibi factam ' (? isto die). Nicolas, p.
101.

„ Nov. 28. He himself receives £14, "the balance of
his wages and expenses due to him, ' by the ac
count made by himself 1 to the Exchequer (scac-
carium),' and two sums of £6 13s. Sd., and £6
1 3s. 4:d. for his two Pensions.

1381 Jan. 1. Philippa Chaucer (Philippe Chaucy) gets a

silver-gilt cup and cover from the Duke of Lan
caster.

„ March 6. He himself receives £22, "per manus
proprios per assignationem sibi factam isto die 2 ",
for his wages and expenses, as well for his journey
to Moustrell and Paris in Edw. Ill's time (see
1377, April 30), about the treaty of peace, " quam
tempore domini regis nunc, causa locutionis habito
de maritagio inter ipsum dominum regem nunc, et
filiam ejusdem adversarii sui Francie " ; which may
have been Sir Guichard d' Angle's embassy on
Jan. 16, 1378, or may not3.

1 Where is this, Mr Keeper of Exchequer-accounts ?

2 Nicolas translates assignationem by assignment, and draws a
distinction between it and 'per manus proprios.'' Yet here the
two go together, and require assignatio to mean < appointment ' ?

3 The writer in Notes and Queries, 3rd Series, viii. 63, did not
know of the earlier embassy.

24 DATES OF EVENTS IN CHAUCER'S LIFE.

1381 Nov. 16. Payment of £6 13s. 4d., and also 65. 8d.

to Geoffrey Chaucer (Issue Eoll, Michs. 5 Kich.

ii)'.

„ Nov. 28. To Nicholas Brembre and John Philipot,
Collectors of Customs, and Subsidies of the King
in the port of London, and GEOFFREY CHAUCER,
Comptroller of the same in the aforesaid port, &c.,
£46 135. 4d. (Issue Eoll, Michs. 5 Eich. II)1.

„ Dec. 21. Payments to Geoffrey and Philippa
Chaucer1.

1382 Jan. 1. Philippa Chaucer (Philippe Chaucy) gets a

silver-gilt cup and cover from the Duke of Lan
caster.

? „ ? Troylus finisht.

„ May 8. Appointed Comptroller of the Petty
Customs in the Port of London. May execute his
office by deputy.

„ July 22. Payments to Geoffrey and Philippa
Chaucer2 (of their Pensions).

,, Nov. 11. Payments to Geoffrey and Philippa
Chaucer2 (of their Pensions).

„ Dec. 10. Payment to Geoffrey Chaucer, Comptroller
of the Customs2.

? 1383 Lines to Adam Scrivener written.

„ Feb. 27. To Geoffrey Chaucer Esquire 65. 8d2.
„ May 5. Gets his own and his wife's Pensions3.
„ Oct. 24. Gets £6 13s. 4d. for his Pensions3.

„ Nov. 23. To Nicholas Brembre and John Phillipot,
Collectors of Customs, and Geoffrey Chaucer,
Comptroller; money delivered to them this day
in regard of the assiduity, labour, and diligence
brought to bear by them on the duties of their
office, for the year late elapsed, £46 13s. 4<14

1384 April 30. Gets his own and his Wife's Pen
sions5.

? ,, 1 Hous of Fame written.

Nov. 25. Is allowed to absent himself for a month

1 Notes and Queries, 3rd Series, viii. 367.

2 Issue Koll, Easter, 5 Kich. II, N. $ Q., 3rd Ser. viii. 367

3 Issue Eoll, Easter, 6 Rich. II, ib.

4 Issue Roll, Michs. 6 Rich. II, ib.

5 Issue Roll, Easter, 7 Rich. II, ib. 368.

DATES OF EVENTS IN CHAUCER'S LIFE. 25

from his old Comptrollership of Customs and Sub
sidies.

(1384 Dec. 9. l Philip Chaucer, Comptroller of Customs.)

1385 Feb. 17. Is allowed to nominate a permanent de
puty for his old Comptrollership of the Customs
and Subsidies.

„ April 24. Gets his own Pensions (two sums of £6
135. 4d.), and his wife's, 665. Sd. (Issue Eoll,
Easter, 8 Rich. II, ///. Notes $ Queries, viii. 367.)

1 „ Prologue to Legende of Good Women written. The
rest probably at various times.

138G Gets his own and his wife's Pensions half-yearly.

? „ Central period of the Canterbury Tales: the best
Tales written near this time, the dull ones being
earlier or later.

„ Oct. 1 to Nov. 1. Chaucer sits in Parliament at
Westminster as one of the Knights of the Shire
for Kent. The Duke of Gloucester and his Coun
cil succeed the Duke of Lancaster (Chaucer's
patron) in the Government.

„ Oct. 15. Chaucer is examined as a witness for
Richard Lord Scrope ; is 'of the age of forty
years and upwards, armed for seven years,' saw Sir
Richard Scrope ' armed in France before the town
of Retters ' ("? the village of Retiers near Rennes in
Brittany) and ' during the whole expedition until
the said Geoffrey was taken.'

( „ Nov. A Commission issues for inquiring into the
state of the Subsidies and Customs.)

,, Dec. 4. Chaucer has lost his Comptrollership of Cus
toms and Subsidies, and Adam Yerdely is ap
pointed to it.

„ Dec. 14. Chaucer has also lost his Comptrollership
of Petty Customs, and Henry Gisors is appointed
to it.

„ Truth, or " Flee fro the presse," written.
1387 Gets his own and his wife's Pensions half-yearly.

„ June. After this time no payment of the pension
of Philippa Chaucer, Geoffrey's wife, is made, and
she is therefore presumed to have died by or before
Dec. 1387.

1 Notes and Qiwries.

26 DATES OP EVENTS IN CHAUCER'S LIFE.

1 1387-8 1 Moder of God written.

1388 Chaucer receives his Pensions.

„ 1 Prologue to the Canterbury Tales written.

„ May 1. The grants of his two Pensions of 20 marks
each are cancelled at his request, and assigned to
John Scalby.

1389 July 12. Chaucer appointed Clerk of the King's

Works at "Westminster, &c., at 2s. a day (with
perquisites, no doubt), and power to appoint a
deputy.

„ July 22. A payment to C. as Clerk of the Works.

1390 July. Is ordered to procure workmen and materials

for the repair of St George's Chapel, Windsor.

1391 Jan. 22. Eich. II confirms Chaucer's appointment

of John Elmhurst as Chaucer's deputy for doing
repairs to the Palace of Westminster arid Tower
of London.

„ Astrolabie written (1391 is mentioned in it).

,, Sept. 16. Chaucer has lost his Clerkship of the
Works, as a John Gediiey holds the office.

„ Dec. 16. Chaucer receives payment as late Clerk of
the Works.

1392 March 4 and July 13. Chaucer receives payment as

late Clerk of the Works.

1393 Chaucer receives payment as late Clerk of the Works.
1392-3 1 Complaint of Venus written.

1393 1, Envoy to Scogan written.

1394 Feb. 28.1 Eich. II grants Chaucer £20 a year for

life payable half-yearly at Easter and Michaelmas.

,, Dec. 10. Chaucer receives the first payment of his
new Pension.

11 394-5 Marriage, or Envoy to Bukton ; and Gentilnesse
(in Scogan's poem) written.

1 Patent Boll, 17 Eich. II, Pt 2, No. 340, skin 35. Pro Gal-
fmlo Chaucer / Kea?. Omnibus ad quos &c, salwtein. Sciatis
quod de gratia, nosti-a, spec tali, & pro bono s<?micio quod dilectfus
Armiger noster Galfri^us Chaucer nobis impendit & impendet in
futurww, concessions eidem Galfrido viginti libras percipiendas
singulis annis ad scaccarium •nostrum, ad terminos Pasche & sancti
MichaeZis per equales porciowes ad totam vitam suam. In cuius
&c. leste ~B,ege apud Westmonasterium xxviij die ffebruarii

p0>- birre de priuato sigillo

DATES OF EVENTS IN CHAUCER'S LIFE. 27

1395 April 1. Chaucer gets £10 as a loan from the Ex
chequer on account of his Pension, and pays it on
May 28.

„ June 25. Chaucer again gets a loan of £10 from the
Exchequer.

„ Sept. 9. Chaucer again gets a loan of £1 6s. 8d.
from the Exchequer.

„ Nov. 27. Chaucer again gets a loan of £8 6s. 8d.
from the Exchequer.

1395 or -6. Chaucer is one of the attornies of Gregory

Ballard to receive seisin of a manor and lands in
Kent.

1396 Dec. 25. Chaucer gets £10 on account of his

Pension.

U397 ILack of Stedfastness, or 'Balade sent to King
Richard,' written.

„ March 1. Chaucer gets £1 13s. 4d., the balance of
his Pension over the advance on Nov. 27.

„ July 2. Chaucer gets £5 on account of his Pension.
„ Aug. 9. Chaucer gets £5 on account of his Pension.

„ Oct. 26. Chaucer gets £10 on account of his Pension,
by the hands of John "Walden.

1398 May 4. Chaucer gets Letters of Protection against

enemies suing him, from Rich. II.

„ 1 Fortune, or * Balade de Visage sauns Peynture,'
written.

„ June 3. Chaucer gets £10, his Pension, by the
hands of Wm Waxcombe.

„ July 24 and 31. Chaucer borrows 6s. Sd. each day
from the Exchequer.

„ Aug. 23. Chaucer gets £5 6s. 8d. on account of his
Pension.

„ Oct. 15. Chaucer gets a grant of a ton of wine
(? = £5) yearly from 1 Dec. 1397.

„ Oct. 28. Chaucer gets £10 on account of his Pension.

1399 Sept. Compleint to Ms Purse written to Henry IV.

„ Oct. 3. Henry IV grants Chaucer 40 marks yearly
in addition to his former £20 from Rich. II.

„ Oct. 13. New copies of his 2 grants of pensions are
given to Chaucer, the old ones of 28 Feb. 1394
and 3 Oct. 1399 being lost.

28 PROF. LOWELL AND MR WILLIAM MORRIS.

1399 Dec. 24. Chaucer gets a Lease of a tenement in the

Garden of St Mary's Chapel, Westminster, for 53
years, or less if he dies sooner.

1400 Feb. 21. Chaucer gets his Rich.-II Pension of £10.

„ June 5. £5, part of £8 13s. M. due on March 1,
for Chaucer's Henry-IY Pension, is received by
Henry Somere for him.

,, 1 Parson's Tale finisht.

„ Oct. 25. Chaucer dies, as his tombstone says.

If this scheme is at all right, it shows a late spring for
Chaucer's poetical powers, then a steady advance to the
full summer of his genius, followed by a slow autumn of
decay, and ended by the chill of death.

I would not willingly add to the gammon and guess
that has been mixt-up with Chaucer's Life and "Works, but
I can't help stating the impressions that are strong on me ;
and no one will be more glad than myself to see any of
the lines in the schemes above shifted to its true place by
any such change as that of Mr Bradshaw's lift, in the Can
terbury Tales, of the Shipman's Tale and those linkt to it,
up to the Man of Law's End-Link,1 which every one with
a head must see is right. I only hope Mr Bradshaw has
some such strokes in store for us with regard to the Minor
Poems. What otherwise we want especially for Chaucer
is, a careful study of the growth of his works by a poet
well-read in Early-English, and another study by a man
well-read in the history of his time. For the former of
these ends we must all beg Professor Lowell and Mr
William Morris to work. No happier criticism on Chaucer
has, so far as I know, been made, than is made in those
parts of the poet-professor's Essay (in his charming Study
Windows of 1871) that deal with Chaucer himself. — Who,
indeed, can understand the humourful bright soul, if the
author of the Biglow Papers cannot 1 — And, certainly, no
such consummate story-telling as Mr Morris's has been

1 Temporary Preface to the Six -Text, p. 22.

i. CHAUCER'S " COMPLE YNTE TO PITE", 1 1366-8 A.D. 29

heard in English verse since Chaucer's time, though it is
not relieved by the old man's humour and fun.

I go on to examine each of Chaucer's Minor Poems in
detail, setting aside for the present the A B C, for the
reasons stated on pages 13 and 15.

1. The Compleynte to Pile. In seventeen 7-line
stanzas : 1 of * Proem,' 7 of < Story,' and 9 of ' Complaint'
arranged in three Terns1 of Stanzas ; first printed by
Thynne in 1532, at leaf 285 of Chaucer's Workes. The
Marquis of Bath's MS at Longleat is the only MS copy
known to me that I have not printed for the Society. I
hope to print it this year. The poem looks not easy to
construe • but it is clearly a Complaint to Pity, as 5 MSS
read, and not of Pity, as Shirley reads in Harl. 78. This
Pity once lived in the heart of the loved-one of the poet 2
(or the man in whose person he writes). But in his mis
tress's heart dwells also Pity's rival, Cruelty; and when
the poet after waiting many years3 seeks to declare his
love j even before he can do so, he finds that Pity for him
is dead in his mistress's heart, Cruelty has prevailed, and
deprived him of her. There she stands, with all the gifts
of Nature and Culture on her — bounty, fresh beauty, plea
sure and jollity, assured-manner, youth, and good-report,
wisdom, estate, 'Drede and Governance'4 (1. 41), — but no

1 I take the word ' Tern ' and not ' Balade ' for these Threes-of-
Stanzas, because M. Paul Meyer insists that ' Balade ' is a ' term of
art ' for a poem of three stanzas and an envoy ; and that if any one
now, like Shirley or any other scribe of old, calls a three-stanzad
poem a Balade, he doesn't know his business. Don't perpetuate
confusion, stop it. A Balade without an Envoy is no Balade.
' Trio ' has become so monopolized by music, that I thought it
better to take ' Tern '.

41 My own belief, nay, certainty, is that Chaucer writes of him
self, and most likely to some lady of higher birth.
I hold it be a sickenes
That I haue suffred this eight yere ... 37

but that is done. 40

This is from the Dethe of Slaunehe, A.D. 1369. So let us suppose
that Chaucer waited six or seven years to declare himself.

4 ? Eeverenced by others, and ruling them ; or timid, tho' with
self-command. (Cp. the uses of ' governaunce ' in Beryn.}

30 i. CHAUCER'S " COMPLEYNTE TO PITE", ? 1366-8 A.D.

Pity for her humble lover in her heart. He swoons, then
mourns, and, though he sees Pity's corpse, will still believe
that it must live, or will revive, in so fair a soul. Then,
identifying his Loved-one with Pity, he complains to this
Pity, that it is the attribute and crown of Beauty, and
must not let Cruelty banish it from its place (Tern I.). If
Cruelty is to rule, all lovers will be driven to despair.
Despair ! Yes, out of the depths of it comes the anguisht
lover's last passionate appeal 1 to his Love and Pity in one :

(St. 14) (Tern II. at. 3)

Haue mercy on me / thow he[v]enus quene

That yow haue sought / so tendirly and yore

Let som?fte streme of [your] lyghf / on me be sene

That loue and drede yow / euer lenger the more 95

For sothely for to seyne / I bere so soore

And though I be not kurmynge / for to pleyne

For goddis loue / haue mercy on) my peyne 98

And then the lover tells his * peyne ' : What he desires,
that he has not, though his heart is on fire for it. What
he desires not, what may increase his woe ; that he has,
unsought, everywhere.2 He lacks alone his death. He
knows his appeal to his Love will be fruitless ; but still
he will be true to her even unto death, meanwhile lament
ing that Pity has gone from her heart.

Chaucer's Complaints (Pity, Mars, Anelida and Arcite,
Yenus) are all, more or less, obscure, involved, changeful,
and of set form. Rightly so, as it seems to me ; for lovers
are like people with bad belly-aches 3 ; they groan and
moan, mutter incoherent nonsense, turn restlessly from
side to side. We could not expect Chaucer to say how

1 Pope was not a man to understand the quiet tenderness of
Chaucer, where you almost seem to hear the hot tears falling, and
the simple, choking words sobbed out. I know no author so tender
as he, not even Shakspere. There is no declamation in his grief.
Dante is scarcely more downright and plain. — JAMES RUSSELL
LOWELL. Conversations on some of the old Poets, p. 16 (Clarke,
1845).

2 See lines 90-1 of the Parlament of Foules, page 57 below.

3 Unfeeling and disgusting simile. (Sentimentalist.)

i. CHAUCER'S " COMPLEYNTE TO PITS", ? 1366-8 A.D. 31

bad he (or his friend) was, in his easy couplets of later life.
Being bound in the strait bonds of unreturned love him
self, he naturally preferred a tied-up form of stanza and of
poem to express the thoughts his ropes squeezed out of
him. He chose the 7-line stanza and the triple Tern ; 7
and 3, mystic numbers both. Short nights of song are
often used for strong feelings, whether of pain or joy :
witness Shakspere's Sonnets, Tennyson's In Memoriam
(no sustained effort till the bitterness of death is past), and
Mrs Barrett Browning's glorious sonnets to her husband, &c.
As to date : the Pity is, I have now no question, the
earliest original work1 of Chaucer, say 1366-8, the first2
in date of his four linkt-together early works, — the Pity,
JBlaunche, Par lament, and Mars. It explains to us (as
will be shown more fully by-and-bye) lines 35-40 of the
Blaunche, and lines 90-1, 160-1 of the Parlament, to
which latter poem the Mars is linkt by its opening lines.
And if any one does not believe with me that the Pity
speaks Chaucer's real feelings, that these are inconsistent
with his marriage with Philippa Chaucer3 before Septem
ber 1366 (who was before not his namesake or cousin, as I
assume that she was), I must still ask such reader to allow

1 The Englisht A B C may be earlier. See p. 13-15.

2 " So you intend to put the Death of Pite before the Death of
Blaunche? Don't you think the poem is too good for that,
especially in style and verse ? As for your reasons, no doubt the}-
are weighty ones ; but still I think them not unanswerable. In
Love, as well as in every other kind of disease, there may be a
relapse ; and the man who wrote lines 40-2 of the Death of
Blaunche does not seem to have been completely cured." — Bern-
hard Ten Brink.

3 Poets are curious cattle about love and marriage. They can
have a love or many loves quite independent of their wives : as
indeed can and do many other men. If Chaucer's wife was not a
bit of a tartar, and most of his chaff of women meant for her, I
have read him wrongly. I think the evidence of the Dethe of
Blaunche conclusive as to Chaucer's not being married at its date,
1369 A.D. I doubt whether he was married when he wrote the
Parlament of Foules ; and I take June 13, 1374, to be near the
date of his marriage to his namesake Philippa Chaucer. See p.
18, 19, 20, above. Any reader who believes in Chaucer's marriage
in 1366, may date the Pity in or before that year, if he likes.

32 i. CHAUCER'S " COMPLEYNTE TO PITE," ? 1366-8 A.D.

that Chaucer wisht the reader of his first three original
poems to suppose that the writer of them had the feelings
exprest in these works. For my present purpose it matters
not whether Chaucer had this hopeless love for eight long
years, or feigned to have it : assuredly he linkt his first
three original poems together by the expression of the fact
or the fiction. [See the HindwordsJ]

With the Pity, I should like much to class the Roundel
printed on p. 304 of Dr Morris's Aldine edition of Chaucer,
as one of the poet's genuine works, though it is not assigned
to him (so far as I know) by any MS of authority. It ex
actly suits the Compleynte of Pite ; there is nothing in it
(so far as I can see) to make it not Chaucer's,1 and it is of
the same form as his Roundel in the Parlament of Foules,
which is quoted on the next page ; for it rymes alb, ab
(with the burden abb repeated), abb (with abb again re
peated).

Roundel.

I. Burden.

So hath youre beauty fro your herte chased
Pit fie, that me navaileth not to pleyne ;
For daunger^ halt your mercy in his cheyne.

II.

Giltles my deth thus have ye purchased,

I sey yow soth, me nedeth not to fayne ;
So hath your beaute fro your herte chased, $c.

III.

Alas, that Nature hath in yow compassed
So grete beaute, that no man may atteyne
To mercy, though he stewe3 for the peyne.

So hath your beaute, tyc.

I wrongly put the Compleynte to Pite second, instead
of first, in the "Parallel-Text Edition." Bat I didn't
find-out its firstness — subject to the ABC being before it
— till I began to work-out these Forewords.

1 That's a very different thing, though, from its being Chaucer's.
8 Dominion, power. 3 ? sterve.

2. CH AUGERS

M. Sandras (Etude, p. 107) says, " La Complainte de la
Pitie se rattache completement an genre de G. de Lorris,"
but puts forward no proof of his statement : because he
couldn't, I suppose.

2. TJie Dethe of Blaunclie the Duchesse. 1334 lines
of the old 4-accent lines, or 1333, according as the reader
admits the genuineness or spuriousness of Thynne's line
480, " And thus in sorrow left me alone ", or some substi
tute for it, in the Lay of the Duke, lines 475-486. I have
no doubt that Chaucer did write a line (though not
Thynne's) to make his first stanza aab, ccb, complete, like
his second, for he says himself expressly in lines 463-4,
that the sorrowing knight

"... made of ryme tenne vers or twelfe,
Of a compleynt unto hymself,"

which can hardly mean a Lay of 1 1 lines ; but the line in
Thynne lessens the force that dede in the last line of the
1st stanza, and Dethe in the 1st line of the 2nd stanza,
have when they are closer together. Mr Skeat says rightly
that the missing line, if any, is the third of the Lay.

(I)

I have of sorwe so grete wone,

That joy[e] get I never none,

[and never bliss ; but ever mone 1]
Now that I see my lady bryght,
Which I have loved with al my myght,

Is fro me dede, and ys agoon.

(2)

Alias ! Dethe ! what ayleth thee,
That thou noldest have taken me

Whan that thou toke my lady swete, 483

That was so faire, so fresh, so fre,
So good, that men may [alle] wel se,

Of al goodnesse sche had no mete.? 486

1 'moan' was in English long before 1369: see the Prisoner's
Prayer, ed. Ellis, and will ryme with 'agone' or 'agoon.' Who
will write a better line ?

2 Thynne prints this line (486) next to 1. 483, so as to make
the second stanza aa, bb, aa, like his first. But this is ruination
to the sense.

TRIAL-FOREWORDS. 3

34 2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D.

The mere fact of the additional line being in Thynne,
and not in any of the three MSS of the poem1 that we
have, is not of itself conclusive, because Thynne is our
only authority for 65 undoubted lines of Chaucer's (lines
31-95) which are not in any of our three MSS of Blaunche.

The Proem of the Dethe of Blaunche takes-up 290
lines, and is mainly occupied (lines 62-216) with the
story of the drowned king Seys, whose wife Alcyone2 sor
rows so for him that Juno sends Morpheus to pick-up
Seys's corpse, take it to his wife, and let it tell her that
it's dead. All which is done, and kills Alcyone within
three days.3

But before this Tale come a few lines that have con-
vince,d me that I was wrong in following prior critics iix
making the Dethe of Blaunche Chaucer's first work, and so
heading the ' Parallel-Text Edition ' with it. I now feel
certain that the Compleynte to Pite was written before the
Dethe of Blaunche. In the former we have Chaucer tell
ing his hopeless love and his despair, his resolve to serve
his pitiless mistress till his death. After he

1 One of those MSS, Bodley 638, is copied from the Fairfax 16,
and the Tanner was probably copied from the same original as
Fairfax 16.

2 " Alcyone or Halcyone. 2. A daughter of Aeolus and Enarete
or Aegiale. She was married to Cey'x, and lived so happy with
him, that they were presumptuous enough to call each other Zeus
and Hera, for which Zeus metamorphosed them into birds, alkuon
(a kingfisher) and keuks (' a greedy sea-bird ', Liddell and Scott ;
a kind of sea-gull ; Appollod. i. 7, § 3, &c. ; Hygin. Fab. 65 ; [also
Ovid, Met. xi. 272].) Hyginus relates that Cey'x perished in a ship
wreck, that Alcyone for grief threw herself into the sea, and that
the gods, out of compassion, changed the two into birds. It was
fabled, that during the seven days before, and as many after, the
shortest day of the year, while the bird alkuon was breeding, there
always prevailed calms at sea. An embellished form of the same
story is given by Ovid (Met, xi, 410, &c. ; comp. Virg. Georg. i.
399). " — Smith's Diet.

3 "A parallel is thus silently produced between the untimely
fate of Cej'x who was shipwrecked, and of Blanche who died in
the flower of her life, being under thirty years of age ; as well as
between the exemplary conjugal affection and sorrow of Alcyone,
and the anguish excited in the breast of John of Gaunt for the
loss of his duchess." — Godwin's Life of Chaucer, ch. xxix, vol. i,
p. 79, ed. 1803.

2. CHAUQEB'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D. 35

be lengthe of certeyne yeres 8

Had, evere in oon, [yjsoghte a tyme to speke 9

he spoke and was rejected, lie lacked but his deth and then
his bere (105). But a man with his nature could not re
main a mope, tho' he thought he could. And in his
Dethe of Blaunclie he tells us what helpt most to cure him
— books, birds, horn and hound, and the healing hand of
Nature, — how long he suffered from his love — eight years,
— how it was now all over, and how he had wisely resolved
to let bygones be bygones, and not cry for the moon. All
this1 comes out in answer to the question why he can't
sleep o' nights :

. . trewly as I gesse,
I hold it be a sickenes
That I have sufifred this eight yere ;
And yet my boote is never the nere ;
For there is phis-ic-ien but one

That may me heale 2. But that is done. 40

Passe we over untille efte ;
That wil not be, mote nedes be lefte.

Can anything be plainer1? Assuming then that all
students are right in taking The Dethe of Blaunche 3 to have
been written for the death of Blanche, Duchess of Lan
caster, John of Gaunt's first wife, on the 12th of Septr.
1369, when Chaucer would be about 29, we find that his
first bad love-affair began when he was 21, kept him
miserable for eight years, — and during this time stopt,
rather than called-out the poetry in him, — but then left
him free to work, and later, to enjoy his life.

1 Except the books, &c., which we get afterwards iu the

2 Surely this means ttyat Chaucer wasn't married when he
wrote it. " From the tenour of the poem entitled the Book of the
Duchess I think we may OTwSfiide with certainty that Chaucer was
unmarried when he wrote it." — Godwin's Life of Chaucer, ii. 91,
ed. 1803.

3 He made the hok that highte " The Hous of Fame ",
And ek " The Deth of Blaunche the Duchesse"

Prol. to The Legende of Good Women, ]. 405-6, MS Gg 4. 27 Univ.
Libr., Cambr.

36 2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D.

The object of the Detlie of Blaunche being to tell
another man's loss and sorrow, not Chaucer's own, there
was no need of the involvement, the restless changes, the
set form, of the Pite. So Chaucer j unapt on the well-
trained hack of the 4-accent line, and cantered away easily
through two parks of Tale and Dream, and Bird's Song
and Emperor's Hunt, to the hard road of the Duke's love
and loss and grief, and thence straight to the end, though
he got rather tired of his ride at last, and pulled-up his old
nag short at the finish. Let any one set the Blaunche and
Pity side by side, and see which Chaucer felt. He spoke
for himself in the Pity, and for some one else in the
Blaunche.1 Indeed, I think it quite possible that the
first 442 lines of the Blaunche were written for another
ending, and then used for the piece of deathwork ordered
by John of Gaunt.

Well ; Chaucer read this Tale of Seys and Alcyone in
a book, a < romaunce ' (1. 48), and thinking over it, fell
asleep, and dreamt a dream that could not be interpreted
by Joseph, or the author whom Chaucer used in his third
(or fourth) poem, the Parlament of Foules : —

NQ nat skarsly Macrobeus, — 284

He that wrote al thavysyon

That he mette of kynge Scipion,

The noble man, the Affrikan —

(Suche merveyles fortuned than,) 288

I trowe arede my dremes even.2

1 I admit that Chaucer used-up some of his old experiences in
describing the Duke's love and grief in the latter part of his poem.

2 Macrobius the grammarian lived about the beginning of the
fifth century. He was not a Roman, but probably a Greek. He
flourished in the age of Honorius and Theodosius, and had a son
named Eustathius. His works that have descended to us are, I.
Saturnalwrum Convimorum Libri VII, consisting of a series of
curious and valuable dissertations on history, mythology, criticism,
and various points of antiquarian research ; II. Commentaries ex
Cicerone in Somnium Scipionis, a tract which was greatly admired
and extensively studied during the middle ages. The Dream of
Scipio, contained in the sixth book of Cicero de Republica, is taken
as a text, which suggests a succession of discourses on the physical
constitution of the universe, according to the views of the New

2 CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D. 37

With this dream < The Story ' of the Poem begins. It
opens with the song of birds, of which Chaucer was to
make so much in his Parlament — possibly now planned,
if not partly written, — passes on to a gay scene of the
Emperor Octavian's hunting, and then to a sad one : a
handsome young knight of four-and-twenty,1 saying to him
self the Lay or Compleynt quoted above, p. 33. Him,
Chaucer greets. At first he gives no answer; but, after
Chaucer has sympathized with him, he describes his sor
rows, how death has stript him of all bliss, how he hates
his life and longs to die, for false Fortune has played at
chess with him, taken his Queen, and mated him 2. No-

Platonists, together with notices of some of their peculiar tenets on
mind as well as matter. III. De Differentiis et Societatilus
Graeci Latiniqiie Verbi, a treatise purely grammatical. We do
not possess the original work as it proceeded from the hand of
Macrobius, but merely an abridgement by a certain Joannes.
Smith's Diet.

Before 1822 the seven books of Cicero De Republica, though
known to have been in existence during the tenth century, were
believed to have been irrecoverably lost with the exception of
about a twelfth part, the episode of the Somnium Scipionis, ex
tracted entire from the sixth book by Macrobius, and sundry
fragments quoted by grammarians and ecclesiastics, especially by
Lactantius and St Augustin. But in the year 1822 Angelo Mai de
tected among the Palimpsests in the Vatican about a fourth of
the work, which had been partially obliterated to make way for a
commentary of St Augustin on the Psalms, and the portions re
covered were printed at Eorne in 1822, but they contain none of
the sixth book. However, the Somnium Scipionis preserved by
Macrobius tells how Scipio relates that he saw in a dream, when
in early youth he visited Masinissa, in Africa, the form of the first
Africanus, which dimly revealed to him his future destiny, and
urged him to press steadily forward in the path of virtue and of
true renown, by announcing the reward prepared in a future state
for those who have served their country in this life with good
faith. Smith's Diet.

1 John of Gaunt was born in or about 1340, and must have
been twenty-nine in 1369. 'Now 29 was often written xxviiij, and
if the v were dropped by accident, it would read xxiiij.' (E. Brock.)

2 There are several passages in this poem upon the death of the
duchess, which mark in no common degree the crudeness of taste
of the time in which Chaucer wrote. It is scarcely worth while
again, as we did in examining the Troilus and Creseide, to quote
single lines which are trite, vulgar, and impotent ; such as where
Chaucer makes his hero say, exclaiming upon fortune,

for she is nothing stable,
Nowe by the f.vre, nowe at the table. ver. 645

38 2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D.

thing is left him "but to die soon. Chaucer dissuades him
from suicide, and he then agrees to tell Chaucer his story.

The present poem has much more considerable deformities.
Nothing can be poorer or more contemptible taste, than where the
author, after having worked up the imagination of his readers with
a picture of the inconsolable distress of the knight, goes on to
make him describe his mischance under the allegory of having
played at chess with fortune, and having lost the game. [Too
true : but C. was perhaps misled by a Frenchman, p. 47, whom he
humbly thought his better.] It may however be a still more in
tolerable absurdity, that his hero proceeds to excuse the conqueror,
alleging,

e ^Q .g ^ ^^ ^ blame,

My self e I wolde have do the same,

Before God, had I ben as she . . .

For al so wise God give me reste,

I dare wel swere she toke the beste. ver.^76

In answer to all this, Chaucer frigidly undertakes to console
him by the examples of Medea, Phyllis and Dido, from Ovid's
Epistles. These ladies, he observes, destroyed themselves, and are
justly censured for their desperation. They indeed were driven
upon their fate by the perfidious inconstancy of the men they

But there is no man alive here

Wolde for ther feres make this wo. ver. 74

It is in a similar style of insufferable trifling that, further on
in the poem, where John of Gaunt is introduced speaking of the
verses he wrote in praise of his mistress, Chaucer makes him
digress into an impertinent discussion whether Pythagoras, or
Jubal the son of Lamech, were the first discoverer of the art of
music : and this in a discourse, delivered on an occasion of the
utmost distress, interrupted with groans, and accompanied with all
the tokens of the deepest affliction. Such are some of the faults
of Chaucer's epicedium. — Godwin, i, 83, ed. 1808.

M. II. Gomont's opinion on Chaucer's telling of the Duke's
story is,

" Enfin, arrive le recit de la perte qui le rend inconsolable. Ce
dernier morceau, point capital du poeme, est, sous le rapport
litteraire, fort inferieur a ceux dont nous avons essaye de donner
une idee par nos citations. On y trouve cependant plusieurs de ces
traits de nature qui placent Chaucer si haut dans 1'opinion de
Walter Scott. Mais ce sont des traits fugitifs qu'absorbe, pour
ainsi dire, le fatras de mauvais gout au milieu duquel ils se rencon-
trent. En somme, la narration du chevalier est loin d'offrir cette
justesse de sentiment a laquelle 1'auteur s'eleva dans ses ouvrages,
fruits d'un age plus avance. Evidemment, lors de la composition
du poeme dont nous terminons 1'analyse, il n'avait pas encore at-
teint un de ses plus beaux merites, la force et la verite du pathe-
tique." — Geoffrey Chaucer, Poete Anglais du XIV siecle. Ana
lyses et Fragments, par H. Gomont. Paris, 1847, p. 54. This
little book is a set of sketches of Chaucer's principal poems, to
make him and them known to Frenchmen.

I was glad to see, after my proofs had come in. that M. Gomont

2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D. 39

(More than half the poem, is thus over before we get to its
real subject at line 759. Still, as centres should be in the
middle of circles, we mustn't complain.) On a day in his
idle youth, the knight came on a company of the fairest
ladies that ever man saw with eye, and among these was
one above the rest like the summer's sun above any other
planet in heaven. She, with most sweet eyes, soft speech,
and fairest neck, is charmingly described,1 " and goode faire
White she hete," or was named.

[P.S. Just now, after returning my proof, I open a
volume of Prof. Lowell's lent me yesterday by a clever
good-looking assistant of Messrs Keeves and Turner in the
Strand, and to my delight come on the following passage
about Chaucer's picture of Blanche, and how in it he
thought of his early love : Yes, her of stanza 6 of the Pity,
1 all the gifts of Nature and Culture on her' (p. 29), as she
lookt on those she loved : —

" In The Boole of the Duchess, there is one of the most

had put Chaucer's Compleynte to Pite first in the list of his Minor
Poems. I hope he did it because he was convinced that that was
its right place ; but he can hardly have seen its meaning, as he
makes no comment on it.

1 Compare her body with Cryseyde's : —

Hyr throte . . . Troylus and Cryseyde, bk iii,

Semedaroundetoureofyvoyre§.. st. 172, 1. 1198-1201 : —
Ryght faire shuldres, and body Hire armes smale*, hire streghte"

longef bak$ and softe,

She had ; and armes every lyth Hersydeslongef,flesshly, srnothe,
Fattyssh, flesshy, nat grete ther- and white,

with * ; He gan to stroke ; and good

Ryght white handes, and nayles thrifte bad ful ofte

rede, Hire suowissh throte§,hire brestes

Rounde brestes || ; and of good rounde || and lite :

brede Thus in this hevene he gan hym

Hyr hippes were ; a streight flat to delite.

bakkej

Mr Bradshaw says too : Compare the scene of Chaucer first
greeting and arguing with the Duke, 1. 500, &c., of the Blaunclie
with the Pandarus-and-Troilus scene in the latter half of Bk I. of
the Troilns. The former is probably the germ of the latter, where
Chaucer has gone so very far from his original. Again : Compare
the Duke's complaint for the loss of Blanche, 1. 662, &c., of
Blawwlie, with Cryseyde's complaint on hearing of her having to
leave Troy, in the Troylus, Bk IV.

40 2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D.

beautiful portraits of a woman that was ever drawn. Full
of life it is, and of graceful health, with no romantic hectic
or sentimental languish. It is such a figure as you would
never look for in a ball-room, but might expect to meet in
the dewy woods, just after sunrise, when you were hunting

for late violets (p. 95) [After the description of

Blaunche, speaks JOHN.] It is like sunshine. It awakens
all the dearest and sweetest recollections of the heart . . .
the passages I love in the poets give me back an hour of
childhood, and are like a mother's voice to me. They are
as solemn as the rustle of the Bible leaves in the old
family-prayers. The noisy ocean of life hushes, and slides
up his beach with a soothing and slumberous ripple. The
earth becomes secluded and private to me as in childhood,
when it seemed but a little meadow-green guarded all
round with trees, for me to pick flowers in ; a play-room,
whose sole proprietor and manager I was. When Chaucer
wrote this poem, he must have been musing of his early love.
How could critic ever grow so leathern-hearted as to speak
sneeringly of love verses 1 " l — JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
Conversations on some of the Old Poets, p. 98 (ed H G
Clarke, 1845).]

As good she was as Hester in the Bible, and never —
like some of her selfish vain contemporaries evidently —
riskt her admirers' lives by sending them to fight in foreign
lands,2 or go on dangerous fool's-errands,

Goo hoodeles into the drye se,
And come home by the Carrenare 3

1 Quite right, most dear Professor, to whom every lover of
Chaucer is grateful : but there are love-verses and love-verses ; and
one must chaff the nonsense and attitudinizing in some of them.

2 Compare the Walakye, Pruse, Tartarye, Alysaundre, Turkye,
here, with the Pruce, Lettowe, Euse, Gernade, Belmarie, Lieys,
Satalie, Tramassene, Palatye, and Turkye, of the Knight in the
Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. (Mr Brae noted this before
me, I see.)

3 ' Now my interpretation of the Carenare is, that it is the gulf
of the Carnaro in the Adriatic : il Carnaro, the charnel-hole : so
called because of its reputed destructiveness of human life. Chau
cer's residence in Italy would make him well acquainted with the
character of this gulf (now called II Quarnero) : and if it is true
that he visited Padua [in 1373], he would have been [but not be
fore 1369 A.D., when the Blaunche was written] in the very place
to hear of it. It is, indeed, from a Paduan writer, Palladio Negro,
that the Abbe Fortis quotes: — "E regione Istrias, sinu Palatico,
quern nautas carnarium vocitant," &c., showing by this translation
of the name into the Latin equivalent carnarium, that Carnaro

2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE," 1369 A.D. 41

that she might speak honourably1 of them ere they came
"back to her. On this sweet maid was all the Knight's
love laid. Tor long he durst not tell his love, but at
last he tremblingly stammered it out, " seyde 'Mercy!'
and no more." Then his heart came to him again, and
he told all his tale. But faire White utterly refused
him, to his great misery. Another year, however, he
tried again, and his lady gave him l all wholly the noble
gift of her mercy/ and they lived their married life full

was not merely a name, but a nickname expressive of its fatal re
putation. But the most conclusive description is by Vergier,
Bishop .of Capo d'Istria, as quoted by Sebastian Munster in his
" Cosmographie," page 1044 (Basle edition) : —

" Par de9a le gouffre enrage lequel on appelle vulgairement
Carnarie, d'autantque le plus souvent on le voit agite de tempestes
horribles ; et la s'engloutissent beaucoup de navires et se perdent
plusieurs hommes."

' If it be objected that carnaro is not carrenare, it is an objection
that might be shown in many ways to be of no moment. The
shortest answer is perhaps this, — that if Palladio Negro might
translate the epithet into Latin, so might Chaucer into English
from his own "careyn" [corpse, carrion] — careynare — to rhyme
with ware in the line following. It may be that Chaucer [if he
knew Dante by 1369] was reminded of the fatal character of the
Carnaro by Dante's allusion to it in the Inferno (ix. 112) :

" a Pola presso del carnaro

Fanno i sepolcri il luogo varo — "
[Even as at Pola, near to the Quamaro
That shuts in Italy and bathes its borders,
The sepulchres make all the place uneven . .

Longfellow, p. 30.]

which at all events shows that it was at that time a byword of
danger and destruction.' (Brae's ed. of Chaucer's Astrolabe, p.
103-4.)

Of the 'drie sea' Mr Brae suggests 2 explanations : 1. that it
may be the large ' lake near the city of Labac, adjoining the plain
of Zircknitz ' described by Munster, which was then, and is now
(see the Student of Sept. 1869), full of water and fish in winter,
but dries up, and is ploughed, in summer ; and 2. that it may be
any frozen sea ; as " from a passage in Warton's History of Eng
lish Poetry, vol. I, page 461, it seems that to encounter severe
cold Jiocdless was a feat in amatory chivalry. ' It was a crime to
wear fur on a day of the most piercing cold, or to appear with a
hood, cloak, gloves, or muff'. " — ib, p. 105.

A writer in The Saturday Review of 30 July 1870 suggests that
Carremare means the Mountains of the Moon; and that the 'drie
sea ' is the great desert of Sahara. See the Notes at the end.

1 " That I may of yow here seyn worshyppe " : ? not That I
may hear men speak honour of you.

42 2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUXCHE," 1369 A.D.

many a year, one in heart, in bliss and woe ; their joy was
ever new. Most pretty work all this is, quite worthy of
Chaucer1.

But then comes a sudden and (to me) clumsy wind-up
of the poem. Notwithstanding the plain declaration of
the Knight in his Lay or Compleynt, that his love is dead,
Chaucer now asks where she is :

Knight. "Sheysded!"

Chaucer. "Nay?"

Knight. " Yis, be my trouthe ! "

Chau. " Is that your losse ? Be God ! hyt ys routhe ! "

'And with that worde' Octavian's hunting is over, his
castle-bell strikes twelve, Chaucer wakes in bed, with the
romance of Seys and Alcyone in his hand, and resolves to
put his dream into ryme. i Now hit ys doon.

I hope Chaucer felt ashamed of himself for this most
lame and impotent conclusion to the Detlie of Blaunche
every time he read it : he ought to have been caned for it.
Still, the Poem is full of beauties, and is very interesting
in its comical roundaboutness of construction as contrasted
with the directness of some of his later tales ; in its long
long enumeration of the charms and qualities of Blanche
when set beside the few masterly lines with which he
pictures in after-life an Emelye or a Carpenter's-wife ; in
its first bringing-out to us Chaucer's love of books, of birds,
of out-door life, of flowers and trees ; in its eye for all the
points 2 of a woman — no man knew 'em like Chaucer ; —
and yet in its insisting to a stranger, even in the face of
death, on the bodily beauties of the Duchess, — a character-

1 " Tandem pervenimus ad GaJfredum Ckaucerum, omnium
illius aetatis poetarum principem, patrem poesis anglicae, ut saepis-
sime appellattis est. Et sane ita appelletur ! Primus ille totam
linguae anglicae ubertatem et elegantiain manifestavit, asperitatem
ejus temperans, versusque arte metrica excolens ; primus carmini-
bus suis linguae anglicae vigorem et stabilitatem cledit, poetisque
sequentibus exempla, quae dui in litteris anglicis insuperata man-
serunt." — A. T. Closen's Diss. Acad. De Galfredo Chaucero, 3
Dec. 1851. Helsingfors.

2 Points of spirit, soul, and body

2. CHAUCER'S u DETHE OF SLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D. 43

istic which gave us later the Miller's and Eeeve's Tales,
and the Wife of Bath ; — in its easy swing of verse, which
grew afterwards to be the best story-telling ever heard in
English. I see no humour in the Poem : none would have
been in place there : but of tenderness and pathos we have
plenty. The date is 1369.

On the originality and merit of the Blaunche, M. San-
dras concludes : —

" Ce poeme qui, dans son ensemble et souvent dans ses
details, n'offre qu'une imitation servile de Machault, est
certainement une des plus faibles productions de Chaucer."
(Etude, p. 95.)

We have now, therefore, to inquire whether the first
part of this statement is gammon or fact, and we will take
M. Sandras's proofs or assertions one by one.

1. He says, p. 294, note, 'the history of Ceyx and
Alcyone is borrowed from the Dit de la Fontaine Amour-
euse, as is proved by certain details which are not found in
Ovid's Metamorphoses.' I had better therefore translate
that part of the Dit which tells the story of Ceyx and
Alcyone, that every reader may be able to compare it with
Ovid's version, and Chaucer's : —

" When Fortune made King Ceyx perish, it behoved
him to die in the sea. But Alchione, who was. queen,
could not so seek, or so do to diviner or diviness, that she
could know the truth of it [her husband's death], and so
she did nothing but search for him on the coast (marine1) :
for, without lying, she loved him more than anything, with
pure love ; she tore-out her hair, and beat her breast, and
for his love could never sleep on a bed or under a curtain.
Alchione had her heart too saddened for the grief she had
for her husband who perished, through Fortune, in the
sea ; so that she said, weeping, several times to Juno : ' I
pray you, rich Goddess, hear my sorrowful prayer (de-pry) ! '
Many a sacrifice and many a gift she offered her [Juno] for
her loved-one ; and, to know where he was, why and when
he was killed [or died], she went too much desiring it ; so
that the Goddess Juno had so great pity of her, that she
sent her to sleep, and Alchione, while sleeping, saw Ceis :

1 ' Su la marina dove '1 Po discende.' — Dante.

44 2. CHAUCER'S "LETHE OF BLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D.

— now I'll tell you how : — Juno who saw and heard the
prayer of her who was of heart devout, humble and whole
[single, not double], said to Yris, her loyal messenger :
1 Hearken to me ! I know well that thou art full nimble and
fleet ; go off to the God who hates noise and light, who
loves all kind of sleep, and hates affray. Thou shalt tell
him (1) that I send thee to him, and (2) the mishap
(mechief) and trouble of Alcbioine. Tell him (3) that he
[is to] show her, Ceys the king, and the way in which he
was killed, where, how, and why.' Yris answers, ' My
lady ! I understand (voy) you well : this message I will do,
by my faith, with a glad countenance.' Yris at once, pre
pared for her journey (?), takes her wings, flies off in the
air, covered and shrouded with a cloud. She labours so at
it, that she comes to a great valley surrounded by two
great mountains, and a brook which rumbles and murmurs
(grosseille) through the country. There, is a house which
is wonderfully beautiful ; there, is the God who sleeps and
slumbers so that nothing exists which will in reason wake
him. Yris enters the mansion, but very greatly wonders
that there is in it neither woman nor man on the watch ;
she herself makes ready to sleep, so greatly is she awed.
"Within the chamber where the God of Sleep lies, was a
very rich bed, and a couch, whereon he lay like a log, in
such fashion that his chin lay on his breast, that he moved
nor foot, nor hand, nor mouth ; and one heard there
neither cock nor hen that cluckt, nor bay of hound. No
leech or phisician, henbane, poppy, or other means, was
needed for sleeping well, for in the place was nothing that
cought or snote. l Yris said to him : * Sleeping God, I come
to thee from Juno, goddess of all good ' — In short, she
gave her message very Avell and irreproachably. Yris did
not wait till day came (ria pas attendu qn'il adjourne), but
departs, and turns without leave-taking, for she would not
willingly stay there. It was the place that kept her dull,
sleepy, and sad ; she has no wish to return (?) to the God,
so she flees from him, and turns away. But the gentle
God, who had near him a thousand daughters and a thou
sand sons, too much vanities and dreams such and such
(Hex et quiex), of good, of ill, of joys and of griefs (diex),
gets back into his bed. But the gentle sire opens, a tiny
little bit, one of his eyes, and turns to do, as best he can,
that which Iris wants.

The thousand sons who were around him, and the
daughters too, changed their shapes at will, for they took

1 Mouchcr, To snyte, blow, wipe, or make cleane the nose. —
Cotgrave.

2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D. 45

the forms of creatures, so that they appeared to sleeping
folk, like dreams. For this, folk dreamt diversely, and in
dreaming saw many things sweet and sour: some are
poignant, others hard ; some are clear, others dark. They
knew how to talk the languages and murmurings of all
countries. They took the shapes of water, of fire, of all
adventures, of iron, of wood ; other trade they had not, nor
other cares; they went everywhere. The God of Sleep
calls one of his sons, Morpheus, and tells him the news
that Yris told him from Juno the fair, which is, that the
husband (drus) of Alchioine lies dead on the gravel (sea-
shingle) : ' Go and show her how ; that she may see Ceys
dead, and his boat.' Then Morpheus took the shape that
Ceys had, naked ; and very soakt and wet indeed he was ;
his hair was more twisted and divided (? lotus1) than a little
rope. Within the room of Alchione he comes, discoloured,
pale, and forlorn2; and reveals to her all the perils into
which he has fallen. The God of Sleep had, by his power,
made Alchioine sleep in her bed. Morpheus is before her,
and says to her : ' Dear companion, see here Ceys, for
whom thou hast so lost joy and delight that nothing
pleases thee (fabellif). See how I have no colour, joy, or
spirit that accompanies me. Look on me, and call me to
thy mind. Think not, fair one, that I complain in vain :
look at my hair, look at my grizzled beard ; look at my
dress, which shows true signs of my death.' She wakes,
that she may clasp him ; but alas ! he has no power to re
turn longer. He vanishes.

Thus then the fair one saw clearly King Ceys, and
knew surely the manner of his death. 3 But he was lamented
by her, regretted and wept-for long, by great sighs poured-
forth from the depths (profondement), so that Juno
wrought in such manner, that for her lamentations she
changed their two human bodies into two birds, which flit
over the sea, evening arid morning. Halcyons (Alchioines)
have many called them, for truly the mariners who have
' entred farre into the sea '4, when they see these birds near
them, often make themselves certain to have (good) fortune
or tempest." (From the French, in Ten Brink's Studien,
p. 198-203.)

The reader will see at once how very different the

1 The only word I can find like lotus is lotir, separer, partager.

2 esperduz : foiiorne, lost, fore-gone, farre-gone, in a desperate
or miserable taking. — Cotgrave.

3 Mais de li plains fu regretes et ploures longuement. Can li be
for la, her, and plains be a participle ?

4 Cotgrave, for ' Empoint en raer '

46 2. CHAUCER'S " DETHK OF BLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D.

story of the Dit is from Chaucer's. If he compares both
with Ovid (Metam. xi), he will see how much more closely
the Dit keeps to Ovid than Chaucer does ; and he will see
also that the only two touches in which Chaucer agrees
with the Dit rather than Ovid — he differs widely in de
tails from both — is in making the God of Sleep's valley
stand between two rocks (instead of being a cave under a
rock), and in cutting-short Iris's report of Juno's speech to
the God, instead of enlarging it, as Ovid does ; which cut
ting-down was necessary to Chaucer, because he had before
given Juno's speech at great length. Of the English and
French versions of the story, Chaucer's is far more inde
pendent of the Dit than the Dit is of Ovid. It is clear
also that Chaucer's lines 62-107 are not due to the Dit ;
for 'it telles' (1. 73) nothing of the details of Ceys's loss,
and too little of Alcyone's sorrow for Chaucer to ' rede '
and make him pity. I do not believe that Chaucer ever
saw the Dit ; and I have no hesitation in appealing to my
readers to decide with me that M. Sandras's assertion that
Chaucer borrowed his story from the Dit, is gammon.

M. Sandras's second point is somewhat better made,
though it is much exaggerated. He says of the passages
that Chaucer has translated or imitated, ' it is enough to
set them face to face with the English text, to show that
the Book of the Duchesse is a series of reminiscences
drawn from the Roman de la Rose, and two poems of
Machault's, the Fontaine Amoureuse, and the Remede de
Fortune ' 1. Erom the Roman de la Rose, a poem of 22,818
lines, which Chaucer translated, he has put 5 lines into his
Blaunche. Jean de Meung, having told how Charlemagne
killed the King of Cicily with his sword, in his first battle
with him, adds,

1 I don't know where a copy of this poem is to be found in
England. (P.S. M. Paul Meyer has kindly undertaken to get the
best Paris MSS of both poems copied for us ; and we will then
print them, he editing.)

2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D. 47

(Rose, ed. Michel, i. 220) Chaucer's Blaunche.

Eschecetmatlialadire,7387 Therwith Fortune seyde

Desus son destrier auferrant ' chek ! ' here !

(iron-grey), And 'mate' in the -myd

Du trait d'un paonnet errant poynt of the chekkere

Ou milieu de son eschiquier. With a poune errante, alias !

7390 Ful craftier to pley she was

Car ainsinc le dist Athalus, Than Athalus, that made the

Qui des eschez controva 1'us. game. 662
(ed. Michel, i. 222, 1. 7427).

Mais partout oil elle s'embat,
De ses gieus tellement s'esbat,
Qu'en vainquant dit eschec et mat

De fiere vois.
G. de Machault, Remede de Fortune, Sandras, p. 290.

D'un ceil rit, de 1'autre lerme ; She [Fortune] ys fals ; and
C'est 1'orgueilleuse humilite, ever lawghynge

C'est 1'envieuse charite . . . With one yghe, and that
La peinture d'une vipere other wepynge ... 632

Qu'est mortable ; I lykne her to the scorpioun.

En riens a li ne se compere. She ys thenvyouse Charite
G-. de Machault, Remede de 641

Fortune.

Tant qu'il avint, qu'en une l Hit happed that I came on
compagnie a day

Into a place, ther that I say

Trewly the fayrest companye

Ou. il avait mainte dame jolie Off ladyes, that evere man

with ye

Juene, gentil, joieuse et en- Had seen togedres in oo place,
voisie, IShal I clepe hyt happe, or

grace,

Vis, par Fortune That broght me there 1 nay,

(Qui de mentir a tous est but Fortune,

trop commune,) That ys to lyen ful commune.

Entre les autres Tune, Among these ladyes thus

echoon,

Sooth to seyn, I sawgh oon . .
Qui, tout aussi com li solaus as the somerys sonne bryghte

[Compare: Ys fairer> clerer> and hath

micat inter omnes more lyghte

Julium sidus, velut inter ignes Than any other planete in

Luna minores] hevene,

la lune The moone, or the sterres

sevene,
1 This is perhaps a translated, or adapted, passage.

48 2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCEE" 1369 A.D.

Veint de clarte, For al the worlde, so had she

Avait-elle les autres sormonte Surmountede hem al of

beaute,

Of maner and of comelynesse,
Of stature, and of sette glad-
De pris, d'onneur, de grace, nesse,

de biaute, &c. Of goodelyhede . . .

Fontaine Amoureuse. Dethe of Blaunche, 1. 803-
827.

Et sa gracieuse parole And which a goodely, softe,

Qui n'estoit diverse ne folle, speche l

Etrange, ne mal ordenee, Had that swete, my lyves

Hautaine, mes bien affrenee leche !

Cueillie a point et de saisou, So frendely, and so wel

ygrounded,

Fondee sur toute raison, Up al resoun so wel y 'founded,

Tant plaisant et douce a oir And so tretable to al goode,
Quechasumfaisoitresjoir,&c. That I dar swere wel by the
Remede de Fortune. roode,

Of eloquence was never

founde ; •
Ne trewer tonged, ne skorned

Ne bet coude hele . . .

Ne lasse flaterynge in hir

worde . . .
Dethe of Blaunclie, 1. 917-

931.

Car c'est mes cuers, c'est ma Eor, certes, she was that

cr^ance, swete wife,

C'est mes desirs, c'est m'es- My suffisaunce, my luste, my
perance, lyfe,

C'est ma sante Myn happe, myn hele, and al

C'est toute ma bonne eurte, my Uysse,
C'est ce qui me soustient en My worldes welfare, and my
vie, &c. goddesse ;

Remede de Fortune. And I hooly hires, and every

del.
Dethe of Blaunche, 1. 1033-9.

Fors tant qne tousdis en-

clinoie
Mon ceur et toute ma peiise'e

1 Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice ; for
sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. — Song of Solo
mon, ii. 14.

2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D. 49

Vers ma Dame, qui est And good faire " White " she

clamee hete . . 946

De tons, sur toutes belle et She was bothe faire and

bonne, bryghte

Chascun por droit ce nom li She had not hir name

donne. wronge. 949

Remede de Fortune. Dethe of Blaunche, 1. 946-9.

" Chaucer," says M. Sandras, p. 294, " borrows all his
comparisons from G-. de Machault," — who, as is well
known, was the author of the phrase tabula rasa —

Car le droit estat d'innocence Paraunter I was thereto most

Eessemblent proprement la able,

table As a white wall, or a table,

Blanche, polie, qui est able For it is ready to catch and

A recevoir, sans nul contraire, take

Ce qu'on y veut peindre ou Al that men will therein

portraire. make.

Remede de Fortune. Dethe of Blaunche, 1. 777-
780. '

" I could multiply these nearnesses (rapprochemens) "
(Sandras, p. 294, note). No doubt. There is nothing
new under the sun : and if one man describes his mistress,
says she's like the sun above the stars, speaks most sweetly,
is his life and bliss, is rightly called Lily, Rose, or what
not ; why, of course he copies it all from a Frenchman !
What can one do but admire the delightful modesty of M.
Sandras, and recommend him to write an Etude on our
' divine Williams ' in the same strain 1 Meantime we may
safely conclude that the assertion that Chaucer's Dethe
of Blaunche is only ' a series of reminiscences ' from
French poets, is mere gammon.

Another point which has amused me much, is M. San-
dras's suggestion that Chaucer has gone to a French author
for his description of the hunt in his Blaunche. To a
modern Englishman, the notion of going to a Frenchman
to learn the way over a hurdle or a hedge is, of course,
supremely ludicrous ; but admitting to the fullest extent
the debt of our old sportsmen to France for all the show-

TRIAL-FOREWORDS. 4

50 2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE," 1369 A.D.

off of our old way of hunting, the terms of art, &c., — it
surely was not necessary for Chaucer at the age of 29 or so,
after his life in court and camp, to go anywhere except to
his own eyes and ears to know what hunting was, and to
his own pen to describe it. If he couldn't describe a
lovely woman when he saw her, except in French phrases
(as M. Sandras imagines), he surely could, in English
words, a bit of our greenwood life. Hang it ! Who that
has ever been across a hunter, or followed a hound,
couldn't? M. Sandras even gets stirred-up by Chaucer's
lines : —

"In the descriptive part of the Book of the Duchesse,
Chaucer wants neither taste nor even originality. It is
the story (narration) that is badly managed. The first
scenes of the dream are full of eclat, of movement, or of
grace. What richness of colouring when the poet describes
the magnificent castle to which he believes himself trans
ported, as the rising sun pours floods of light across the
windows whereon is painted the Geste of Troy, and on the
walls is seen entire the Romance of the Rose. Soon re
sounds, with the blast of the horn, a noise of men and
horses, and the bay of hounds. The verse becomes imita
tive, the rhythm quickens, and expresses happily the move
ment of the chase, and the fascination which forces the
spectator to join in the cortege.

Some details of this description may have been fur-
nisht, either by the Dit of the Chace dou Cerf (Collection
Mouchet, vol. i, p. 166), or by the poem which Gace de la
Bigne had published (written) in 1360; but [no 'if so',]
Chaucer HAS appropriated them with talent (se les est
appropries avec talent)."

However, by the time that M. Sandras gets to his
Appendix, he has come to a right conclusion about this
question of the hunt-borrowing ; the only pity is that he
hasn't extended his statement to three-fourths of his
other assertions about Chaucer's borrowing from French
authors : —

"The resemblances [rapprochemens] which follow, are
of 110 importance. It is nowise proved that Chaucer had
read the two French poems : besides, the borrowing would
be insignificant."

2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE" 1369 A.D. 51

The inayster hunte, anoon, Et puis Juppe ou corne uu

fote hote, lone mot,

With a grete home blewe Chascuns en a joie qui Tot . .

thre mote, Et puis si corneras apel

At the uncouplynge of hys .iii. Ions mots pour les chiens

houndys.

Dethe of Blaunche, 1. 375.

And I herde goynge, bothe

uppe and doune,
Men, hors, houndes, and

other thynge,
And alle men speke of hunt-

How they wolde slee the hert

with strengthe,
.And how the hert had upon

lengthe
So much embosed : Y not

now what.
Dethe of Blaunche, 1. 348-

353, vol. v. p, 165, ed.

Morris.

avoir, &c.
Coll. Mouchet, t. 1, fol. 166.

Le cerf suit par une valee,
En la haute forest ramee . . .
Et tout liomme qui la estoit
Saiches que pas ne se faignoit
De corner, crier, et huer,
Et vaux et mons de resonner.
Et les arbres qui la estoient,
Etqui double chassefaisoient,
II sembloit a tous qu'ils par-

loient :

Si ouyssiez la tel deduit ;
Car riens il n'y avoit de vuid.
Le cri estoit contmuel
Des gens et des chiens autre-

tel;

Par quoi la playsance y estoit
Plus grande a qui la chassait.
Coll. Mouchet, t. ii, fol. 106.

However, if Chaucer did borrow a few things from the
French, one of them borrowed one thing from him, as we
learn from M. Sandras's pages 90, 295 :

Chaucer, A.D. 1369. Froissart, A.D. 1384.

I have grete wonder, be this Je sui de moi en grant mer-

lyghte, veille

How that I lyve ; for day ne Comment je vifs, quant tant

nyghte je veille,

I may nat slepe welnygh Et on ne porrait en veillant

noght,

I have so many an ydel Trouver de moi plus travail-

thoght lant :

Purely for defaulte of slepe Car bien sacies que pour

veiller

That, &c.

Me viennent souvent travail-

JBlaunche, 1. 1-5, vol. v. p. 155, ler

Morris.

Pensees et melancolies, etc.
Froissart. Paradis d'amour,

B. I. MSS Fr., No. 7214,

fol. 1.

52 2. CHAUCER'S " DETHE OF BLAUNCHE," 1369 A.D.

" Chaucer and Froissart are the only authors in whom
I have found the name of Endimpostair, given to one of
the sons of Sleep. One would seek in vain for this name
in the Glossaries." 1

There these goddys lay and Mais la deesse noble et chiere,

slepe, Tramist puis sa messagiere

Morpheus and Eclympas- Pour moi au noble dieu dor-

teyre, mant.

That was the god of slepes Et le doulc dieu fit son com-

eyre. mant ;

Dethe of Blaunche, 1. 166-8, Car il envoy a parmi 1'air

v. 160, ed. Morris. ~L'undeses&lsEnclimpostair.

(Froissart, loc. cit.)

On the question of Chaucer's originality, I do trust
that all our members will read pages 173-4, 210, of Prof.
Lowell's essay on Chaucer in his charming My Study Win
dows, a book which all we Chaucer-men ought to buy, and
lend or give-away by the dozen — (it's only I8d., or 2s. in
cloth, S. Low & Co.). He says on the one hand, p. 174 :

" Chaucer, like Shakspere, invented almost nothing.
Wherever he found anything directed to Geoffrey Chaucer,
he took it, and made the most of it. It was not the sub
ject treated, but himself, that was the new thing. ' Cela
vriappartient de drojitj Moliere is reported to have said,
when accused of plagiarism. Chaucer pays that 4 usurious
interest which genius,' as Coleridge says, ' always pays in ,
borrowing '. The characteristic touch is his own."

And on the other hand, p. 210 (London edition) :

" Chaucer seems to me one of the most purely original
of poets ; as much so in respect of the world that is about
us as Dante in respect of that which is within us. There
had been nothing like him before ; there has been nothing
since. He is original, not in the sense that he thinks and
says what nobody ever thought and said before, and what
nobody can ever think and say again, but because he is
always natural ; because, if not always absolutely new, he
is always delightfully fresh ; because he sets before us the
world as it honestly appeared to Geoffrey Chaucer, and not
a world as it seemed proper to certain people that it ought
to appear."

1 According to me, here is the etymology : Engle (angel) im-
posteur, — Sandras. Sporting, this*

3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT OF FOULES" 1 1374 A.D. 53

One cannot say too strongly that Chaucer's originality
is a fact, whatever his borrowings may be or not be. I
came to the question, accepting M. Sandras's statements,
caring nothing whether they proved well-founded or ill,
but just desiring to get at the facts. That's the one ques
tion for all of us. And I do say that there is much more
gammon than fact in what M. Sandras has written about
Chaucer's borrowings from French poets, with regard to
his first four poems.

3. The Parlament of Foules. In ninety-eight 7-line \
stanzas (lines of 5-accents), with a Eoundel of eight lines
inserted between the 97th and 98th stanzas. (This
Roundel should not be numbered as a 98th stanza.)
The Proem takes-up 17 stanzas, its last one being an
' Invocation,' samples of which will occur again. The rest
of the poem is all ' Story.' The Parlament was first printed
by Caxton in 1477-8: a copy of this edition is in the
Univ. Libr., Cambridge, and is reprinted in our Parallel-
Text. The only MS copies known to, but not printed
by, me, are in the Fairfax MS 16 (Bodleian Library), and
Bodley 638, copied from the Fairfax. In order to give all
the imprinted MSS except Bodley 638, I have considered
Dr Eichard Morris's text of the Parlament in his Aldine
edition as sufficient, especially as he has rightly italicized
the words and letters of the MS which he has altered.
The MSS fall into two main groups : I. those in the
Parallel-Text: Gg 4. 27; R. 3. 19, Trin. Coll., Camb. ;
the unknown original of Caxton's Text; Shirley's Harl.
7333 ; LYII, St John's Coll., Oxford ; and Ff 1. 6, Cambr.
Univ. Libr.1 Also (more or less) Seld. B. 24, the North-
ernized or Scottified MS — which some confounded man

1 On my date (1460-70) for the Cambr. Univ. MS Ff 1. 6, Mr
Bradshaw says : " You put Ff 1. 6 far too late. The list of Kings
goes down to Henry VI, and when the man makes his calculation
as to how long it is from the Creation, he brings it to 20 Henry
VI, that is, 1441-2 A.D."

54 3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT OF FOULES," ? 1374 A.B.

has had the impudence to write a new conclusion to,1 from
1. 601 of stanza 86, leaving out the Eoundel ; and he has
also altered the words in many other lines of the poem.
The fragments -in Hh 4. 12, Camb. Univ. Libr. (365 lines),
and Laud 416 in the Bodleian Library (142 lines)2, are also
of the Gg type. II. The three Bodleian MSS, Fairfax 16,
and (in the Supplementary Parallel-Texts) Tanner 346, and
Digby 181. The Cambr. Univ. MS Ff 1. 6 was written by
two copiers, the first of whom followed the Gg type of MS,
while the second, W. Calverley, followed the Fairfax. This
was clearly shown by Mr Bradshaw's collation (for the Ox
ford Chaucer when first proposed) of Ff 1. 6 with Mr Bell's
print of Speght's text. But the most interesting structural
point about the poem, to a manuscript man, is the Eoundel3
(after stanza 97), which Chaucer seems to have written
after copies of the poem had been made and circulated.
This Eoundel is only complete, and in proper form, in one
MS, the best vellum one of the Minor Poems, Gg 4. 27,
Cambr. Univ. Libr., and it is there written by a later
15th-century scribe, into the 'olank space of a stanza left
for it by the earlier copier of the rest of the poem and the
great bulk of the MS. The later scribe evidently thought
that there would not be room in this blank space for the
Eoundel, and so he began copying it close up to the last
line of stanza 97, without leaving the usual line's space
after that stanza.

[Roundel: in a later 15-century hand: no gaps
between the stanzas.]

(I-)

Now welcome senior* with [thy] sonne softe

That1 hast1 thes wintres wedres ovire shake

And dreuyne a-way the large4 nyghtes blake 682

1 It's too bad to be Chaucer's. Scotchmen are terrible fellows
at 'improving' ballads, &c.

2 These two fragments are printed in the " Odd Texts of Chau
cer's Minor Poems", Part I, issued with these Forewords.

3 Mr Bradshaw first called my attention to this, and all the
other structural points of Chaucer's poems.

4 read longe.

3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT OF FOULES" ? 1374 A.D. 55

(II,)

Sayntt volantyne1 that erf ful hye o lofte
Thus syngen smalfe] foules for* thy sake 684

[Now welcome somor, &c.] 2

(in.)

Wele han they cause forto gladen ofte
Sethe ech of hem recouerede hathe hys make
Ful blisseful mowe they ben when they [a]wake 687
[Now welcome somor, &c.] 2

These three verses the other MSS deal with in this
wise : the St John's gives the two last only ; the Digby
mashes all three (of 8 lines) into a kind of stanza of 7 lines,
shifting line 3 of the burden to line 4 of the stanza, and
leaving out line 6 of the Roundel3; — Shirley's Harleian
MS 7333 leaves it out altogether (with the following stanza
too 4) } Tanner and Ff 1. 6 leave it out too, and the rest of
the MSS (R. 3. 194, Caxton's original, Fairfax 16, and
Bodley 638) have the French sentence — the first line
of a French rondeau, — ' Qui bien ayme, tarde oublie,' in
varied spelling. The spurious ending of the Selden MS
has nothing in place of the Roundel.

Of the rondeau of which the first line, " Qui bien
ayme, a tarde oublie," is cited in the Fairfax MS, Caxton's
edition, &c., M. Sandras found the music and the words in
a MS of Machault in the National Library, No. 7612, leaf

1 Some songyn on the braunchis clere,
Of love . . that loye It was to here,

In worschepe and in preysyng of hire make,

And of the newe blysful somerys sake, 130

That sungyn " btyssede be seynt Volentyn I

At his [own] day I ches ^ow to be myn

With-oute repentynge, myn herte swete ; "

And therwithal here bekys gunne mete . . 134

Legende of Goode Women, MS Gg 4. 27, Cambr. Univ. Libr.

Compare lines 139-148 of the usual version.

2 These two bits of burden in italics are inserted by me. We
much want another MS of this Koundel found — but not by a
modern Chatterton.

3 Thynne's edition of 1532 gives all the 8 lines of the Koundel,
but, like the Digby MS, shifts line 3 of the burden to 1. 4 of the
stanza.

4 These MSS have a spurious Epilogue.

56 3. CHAUCER'S "PARLAMENT OF FOULES" 1 1374 A.D.

187. The verses form the opening of one of two pieces
entitled Le Lay de plour :

" Qui bien aime a tart oublie ;
Et cuers, qui oublie a tart,
Eessemble le feu qui art,
Qui de lesgier n'estaint mie.
Quar plaisance si me lie
Que jamais I'amoureux dart
N'iert hors trait, na tiers na quart,
De mon cuers, quoi qu'ilz en die."

(M. Sandras also says (Etude, p. 72) that Eustache
Deschamps composed, on this burden slightly modified, a
pretty ballad, inedited till M. Sandras printed it at p. 287
of his Etude ; and that a long time before Machault,
Moniot de Paris began, by this same line, a hymn to the
Virgin that one can read in the Arsenal Library at Paris,
in the copy of a Vatican MS, B. L. no. 63, fol. 283 : —

" Ki bien aime a tart oublie ;
Mais ne le puis oublier,
La douce vierge Marie.")

As to the Parlament : between it and its two fore-runners
there is a considerable stride. The Parlament is Chaucer's
first real Poem ; in it his humour1 and fun first appear, and
his love of nature is much developt. The causes of the
difference are not far to seek : he is not only out of French
leading-strings, and has toucht Italian soil, — has read the
words of Dante and Boccaccio, perchance talkt with
Petrarch ; has seen the glorious land of nature and art, —
but has also grown in power, and has, for the first time, a
subject suited to his own bright soul. Still, he can't get

1 Humour is always a main ingredient in highly poetical
natures. It is almost always the superficial indication of a rich
vein of patlws, nay of tragic feeling, below. ... In Chaucer's
poetry, the humour is playing all the time round the horizon, like
heat-lightning. It is unexpected and unpredictable ; but as soon
as you turn away from watching it, behold it flashes again as inno
cently and softly as ever. It mingles even with his pathos, some
times. The laughing eyes of Thalia gleam through the tragic mask
she holds before her face. — J. KUSSELL LOWELL, Conversations
on some of the Old Poets. H. G. Clarke's reprint, 1845, p. 39.

3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT OF FOULES" 1 1374 A.D. 57

clear of his old form in the Dethe of Blaunche, of intro
ducing his subject by book-reading and a dream1, though
he can write such lines as the following, which are
englisht from Boccaccio's Italian : —

The sparow ; Venus son, the nyghtyngale,

That depeth forth thefresshe leves newu. 352

On euery bowgh the briddes herde I synge 190

With voys of aungel in her armony,

That besied hem her briddes forthe to bringe.

On instrumentes of strynges in acorde 197

Herde I so pley a ravysshinge swetnesse,
That God, that maker ys of al, and Lorde,
Ne herde never bettir, as I gesse : 200

Therewith a wynde, unnethe hyt myghte lesse,
Made in the leves grene a noyse softe
Accordant to the foulys songe on lofte 203

(ed. Morris, iv. 57-8.)

This is a plain advance beyond the Pity and the
Blaunche. Moreover I see in the Parlament two allusions
to the Pity, which confirm my belief that that Poem spoke
Chaucer's own feelings. Compare the ParlamenVs lines
90, 91 :

(And to my bedde y gan me for to dresse,
Fulfilled of thought & besy hevynesse ;)
For both I hadde thinge that I nolde, 90

And eke I n'hadde thinge that I wolde, 91

with the Pity's lines 99-100, 102-4.

My peyne is this, that what so I desire, 99

That have I not, ne nothing lyke therto ... 1 00

Eke on that other syde, wherso I goo,
That have I redy — unsoghte, every where —
What maner thinge that may encrese my woo.

Also look at Aufrikan's words to Chaucer in the Par-
lament, lines 160-1 :

For thou of love hast lost thy taste, y gesse,
As seke man hath of swete and bitternesse : —

1 Dreams evidently had a very strong hold on Chaucer's mind.
See his Nonnes Preestes Tale of Chauntecleer, &c.

58 3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT oP FOULES," ?1374 A.D.

these apply to a man like the author of the Pity, who has
gone through the heart-sickness of disappointed love.1
This sickness is the same that Chaucer speaks of in the
lines quoted above from the Dethe of Blaunche, when he
is answering the question why he cannot sleep :

but trewly, as I gesse, 35

I hold it be a sickenesse
That I have suffred this eight yere ;
And yet my boote is never the nere :
For there is phis-ic-ien but one

That may me heale. But that is done. 40

Passe we over untille efte :
That wil not be, mote nedes be lefte.

This is the true way to take disappointments. It is no
good crying after spilt milk ; and assuredly in this spirit
Chaucer wrote of the beauty of the world in May, of the
song of birds, and ' somer sonne shene ' in the Parlament,
and brought up that comical old Goose to cackle out his
commonsense judgment on the tercel's suit to the formel,
" But she wol love hym, lat hym love another," 1. 577,
which the Duck backs-up by the pertinent quack :

" Wei bourded,"2 quod the duk [tho], " by my hatte !
That men shulde alwey loven causeles !
Who kan a resoun fynde, or wytte in that 1
Daimceth he murye that ys murtheles 1 592

Who shulde rechche of that ys rechcheles 1
Ye ! quek yet," quod the duk ful wel and faire,
" There ben moo sterres, God woot, than a paire ! "

(Works, ed. Morris, iv. 71.)

Certainly, Mr Duck, there are as good fish in the sea
as ever came out of it. This scene is true Chaucer.
Another touch of Chaucer is in the allusion to the wrest
ling, lines 164-6 : compare the Miller in the Prologue to
the Canterbury Tales, 1. 548.

1 I take the above lines, that come out undesignedly, to be
real, and the lines 8, 9,

* For al be that I knowe not Love in dede
Ne wote how that he quyteth folk her hire,'
to be a blind.

2 A good joke, indeed !

3. CHAUCER'S "PARLAMENT OF FOULES" 1 1374 A.D. 59

The story of the Parlament is this : — Chaucer, pro
fessing to know nothing of Love in fact, but only to have
read about it in books, says he was reading not long
ago an old book (the 6th of Cicero's De Republicd 1), de
scribing the Dream of Scipio, and how his ancestor Aufri-
kan told him of the future world, this earth, and the way
to immortality. Chaucer then fell asleep, and dreamt that
Aufrikan took him to a park-gate, of which one half led to
bliss and ' al good aventure,' while the other half led to
danger and death2, the sorrowful weir where fish lay caged
and dry. The poet hesitated to enter, but Aufrikan
1 shoofe ' or shoved him in at the gates, and there he saw
some glorious trees with everlasting leaves of ' coloure
fressh and grene as emeraude, that joy was for to sene,' 1.
175. He also saw a garden, the description of which he
englishes freely, or adapts, from stanzas 51-66 of the
seventh book of Boccaccio's Teseide3, of which stanzas a
literal translation by our good friend Mr William Michael
E-ossetti follows : —

1 In Macrobius's Commentaries in Somnium Scipionis. See
p. 36, above, note 2.

2 Compare, says M. Sandras, Dante's inscription over the gate
of Hell, Inferno, Canto iii. 1-3 :

Per ine si va nella citta dolente, Through me the way is to the

city dolent ;
Per me si va nelP eterno dolore, Through me the way is to eternal

dole;
Per me si va tra la perduta gente. Through me the way among the

people lost. — Longfellow, p. 9.

3 M. Sandras, Etude, p. 69-70, says that Boccaccio took the
leading features of his sketch from the old-French Vergier de
Deduit. His comparisons do not bear out his statement. He
contrasts

Di Citerea il tempio e la stazione De haus pins

Infra altissimi pini alquanto om- Refu tous pueples li jardins.
brosa. — Teseide, VII, st. 50. Vergier, v. 1360.

and the other lines quoted in the notes on pages 60-3 below. As
between Boccaccio and Chaucer, M. Sandraa unduly depreciates
Chaucer (p. 70-1), but as he cites no instances in proof of his
statements, I leave the question of taste to the reader's judgment.

60 BOCCACCIO'S TESEIDE. BOOK vn.

Boccaccio's Teseide. Canto 7.

(51)

With whom going forward, she saw that [i. e. Mount

Cithaeron]

In every view suave and charming ;
In guise of a garden bosky and beautiful,
And greenest full of plants,
Of fresh grass, and every new flower ;
And therein rose fountains living and clear2;
And, among the other plants it abounded in,
Myrtle seemed to her more than other.

(52)

Here she heard amid the branches sweetly3

Birds singing of almost all kinds :

Upon which [branches] also in like wise

She saw them with delight making their nests.

Next among the fresh shadows quickly

She saw rabbits go hither and thither,

And timid deer and fawns,

And many other dearest little beasts.

(53)

In like wise here every instrument

She seemed to hear, and delightful chaunt :

Wherefore passing with pace not slow,

And looking about, somewhat within herself suspended

At the lofty place and beautiful adornment,

She saw it replete in almost every corner

With spiritlings which, flying here and there,

Went to their bourne. Which she looking at,

1 i. e. the prayer of Palemo. "Whom" (so worded in this
stanza) is " Vaghezza" = grace, allurement.

3 L'iaue est tousdis fresche et novele,

Qui nuit et jor sourt a grans ondes
Par deux doiz creuses et parfondes.
Tout entour point 1'erbe menue,
Qui vient por 1'iaue espesse et drue.

Vergier, v. 1537 (Sandras, 69).
* Ces oyseaux que je vous devise

Chantans en moult diverse guyse.

Vergier, v. 676, ed. 1735.

3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT OF FOULES" ? 1374 A.D. 61

MS Gg 4. 27, Cambr. Univ. lAbr.

(27)

A gardyn saw I, ful of blosmy1 bowys,

Yp-on a reuer in a grene mede,

There as ther swetnesse eueremore I-now is,

"With flouris white, blewe, & ^elwe, & rede 186

And colde welle stremys no thyng dede,

That swemyw ful of smale fischis lite,

With fywnys rede, & skalis syluyr bry^te. 189

(28)

On euery bow the bryddis herde I sywge

With voys of auwgel In here armonye ;

So besyede hew here bryddis forth to bryrcge.

The litele conyes to here pley gu?zne hye; 193

And ferthere al aboute I gaw aspye

The dredful ro, the buk, & hert, & hywde,

Squyrelis, & bestis smale of gentil kynde. 196

(29)

Of Instreumentis of strengis in a-cord

Herde I so pleye with2 rauyshyng swetnesse,

That god that makere is of al, & lord,

IsTe herde neuere betyr, as I gesse. 200

Therwith a wynd — onethe it myght be lesse —

Made in the leuys grene a noyse softe,

Acordaunt to the bryddis song a lofte. 203

(30)

The erthe of that place so attempre was,

That neuere was greuaurcce of hot ne cold ;

There wex ek euery holsuw spice & gras,3

No man may waxe there sek ne old. 207

3it was there loye more a thousent fold

Than man can telle ; ne neuere wolde it nyghte,

But ay cler day, to ony manys syghte. 210

1 MS blospemy. » MS &. ' MS gres.

62 BOCCACCIO'S TESEIDE. BOOK vn.

(54)

Among the bushes beside a fountain

Saw Cupid forging arrows —

He having the bow set down by his feet ;

Which [arrows] selected his daughter Yoluptas

Tempered in the waves. And settled down

With them was Ease [Ozio, Otium] ; whom she saw

That he, with Memory, steeled his darts

With the steel that she first tempered.

(55)

And then she saw in that pass Grace [Leggiadria],

With Adorning [Adornezza] and Affability,

And the wholly estrayed Courtesy ;

And she saw the Arts that have power

To make others perforce do folly,

In their aspect much disfigured.

The Vain Delight of our form l

She saw standing alone with Gentilesse.

(56)

Then she saw Beauty pass her by2,

Without any ornament, gazing on herself;

And with her she saw Attraction (Piacevolezza) go, —

She [the prayer] commending to herself both one and other.

With them she saw standing Youth3,

Lively and adorned, making great feast :

And on the other side she saw madcap Audacity

Going along with Glozings and Pimps.

(57)

In mid the place, on lofty columns,

She saw a temple of copper ; round which

She saw youths dancing and women 4 —

This one of them beautiful, and that one in fine raiment,

Ungirdled, barefoot, only in their hair and gowns,

Who spent the day in this alone.

Then over the temple she saw doves hover

And settle and coo.

1 This seems to be the sense of the line as it stands printed —
meaning apparently "Vain Delight which mankind takes in
Human Beauty." I suspect some misprint. Or possibly the sense
is — "Vain Delight, in [i. e. wearing, presenting] our form." — W.
M. R.

2 Icele Dame ot non Biautes . . .
Ne fu fardee ne guignie . . .

Vergier, v. 1008 (Sandras, p. 70).

3. CHAUCERS

(31)

Vndyr a tre be-syde a welle I say
Cupide, oure lord, hise arwis forge & file,
And at his fet his bowe al redy lay ;

And wel his doughtyr temperede al this whyle 214

The heuedis in the welle, & "with hire wile
She couchede hem aftyr they shulde serve,
Some for to sle, & some to wotwde & kerve. 217

(32)

Tho was I war of 5Plesaimce a-no?a ryght,
And of Aray, and Lust, & Curteysie,
And of the Craft1 that can & hath the myght
To don be-fore a wight to don folye, — • 221

Disfigurat was she, I nyl nat lye ; —
And by hem self vndyr an ok, I gesse,
Saw I Delyt that stod with Gentilesse. 224

(33)

I saw Beute with-outyn ony a-tyr,
And 3outhe ful of game & jolyte,
Fool-hardynesse, & Flaterye, & Desyr
Messagerye, & Meede & ofyer thre — 228

Here namys shul not here be told for me ; —
And vp on pileris greete of jasper longe
I saw a temple of bras i-founded stronge. 231

(34)

Aboute that temple daunsedyw alwej
"Wenien i-nowe ; of whiche some ther weere
Fayre of he?7i self, & some of hem were gay ;
In kertelis al discheuele wente they there ; 235

That was here offys alwey 3er be ^eere
And on the temple, of dowis white & fayre
Saw I syttywge manye an hunderede peyre. 238

3 Jeunesse au visaige riant,

Car moult estoit joyeuse et gaie.

Vergier, v. 1259, ed. 1735.

* Ceste gent dont je vous parole,
S'estoient pris a la carole.

Vergier, v. 730 (Sandras, p. 70).

* I put capitals to proper names; small letters to common
nouns, and make I, i, occasionally.

64 BOCCACCIO'S TESEIDE. BOOK vn.

(58)

And near to the entry of the temple
She saw that there sat quietly
My lady Peace, who a curtain
Moved lightly before the door.
Next her, very subdued in aspect,
Sat Patience discreetly,
Pallid in look ; and on all sides
Around her she saw artful Promises.

(59)

Then, entering the temple, of Sighs

She felt there an earthquake, which whirled

All fiery with hot desires.

This lit up all the altars

With new flames born of pangs ;

Each of which dripped with tears

Produced by a woman cruel and fell

Whom she there saw, called Jealousy.

(60)

And in that [temple] she saw Priapus hold
The highest place — in habit just such as
Whoever would at night see him
Could, when braying the animal
Dullest of all awoke Vesta, who to his mind
Was not a little — towards whom he in like guise
Went : and likewise throughout the great temple
She saw many garlands of diverse flowers.

Here many bows of the Chorus of Diana

She saw bung up and broken ; among which was

That of Callisto, become the Arctic

Bear. The apples were there of haughty

Atalanta, who was sovereign in racing ;

And also the arms of that other proud one

Who brought forth Parthenopseus,

Grandson to the Calydonian King (Eneus.

1 In comparing the succeeding stanzas of Boccaccio with those
of Chaucer, note the transpositions which the latter has introduced
in the sequence of stanzas. — W. M. R.

3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT OF FOULES," ? 1374 A.D. 65

(35)

By-fore the temple dore / ful sobyrly

Dame Pes sat with / a cwrtyn in hire hond ;

And by hire syde / wondyr discretly

Dame Pacience / syttyrcge there I fond, 242

With face pale / vp-on an hil of sond •

And aldirnex / with-inne & ek with-oute

Byheste & art / & of here folk a route. 245

(36)

With-inne the temple / of sykys hoote as.fuyr [fea/484, back-]

I herde a swow / that gan a-boute renne ;

Whiche sikis were engenderede with desyr,

That madyw euery auter for to brenne 249

Of newe flaume ', & wel espyed I thenne

That1 alle the cause of sorwe that they drye,

Cam of the bittere goddesse lelosye / 252

(37)

The god Pn'apus saw I as I wente
With-inne the temple / in souereyn place storcde
In swich aray as wharc2 the asse hym shente
With cri be nyghte, & with septure in3 howde : 256

Ful besyly men guwne asaye & fonde
Yp-on his hed to sette, of sundery hewe
Garlondis ful of noz/rrys frosche & newe. 259

[Chaucer s order is altered now : see p. 67.]
(41)

That. In dispit of Dyane the chaste, oa/485]

Ful manye a bowe i-broke hyng on the wal,

Of maydenys, swiche as gu?me here tymys waste

In hyre seruyse. I-peyntede were oueral 284

Ful manye a story of whiche I touche shal

A fewe / as of Calyxte4, & Athalante,

And manye a mayde of whiche the name I wawte 287

1 That altered. * MS waw, s scratcU out.

» MS In his. 4 MS Calyote.

TRIAL-FOREWORDS. 6

66 BOCCACCIO'S TESEIDE. BOOK vu.

(62)

She saw there histories painted all about ;
Among which with finer work

Of the spouse of Mnus she there [berry-tree

Saw all the doings distinguished ; and at foot of the mul-
Pyramus and Thisbe, and the mulberries already distained ;
And she saw among these the great Hercules
In the lap of lole, and woeful Biblis
Going piteous, soliciting Caunus.

(63)

But, as she saw not Venus, it was told her
(Nor knew she by whom) — " In secreter
Part of the temple stays she delighting.
If thou wantest her, through that door quietly
Enter." Wherefore she, without further demur,
Meek of manner as she was,
Approached thither to enter within,
And do the embassy to her committed.

(64)

But there she, at her first coming,
t Found Riches guarding the portal1 —
Who seemed to her much to be reverenced :
And, being by her allowed to enter there,
The place was dark to her at first going.
But afterwards, by staying, a little light
She gained there ; and saw her lying naked
On a great bed very fair to see.

(65).

But she had hair of gold, and shining
Hound her head without any tress.
Her face was such that most people
Have in comparison no beauty at all.
The arms, breast, and outstanding apples,
Were all seen ; and every other part with a
Texture so thin was covered
That it showed forth almost as naked.

(66)

The neck was fragrant with full a thousand odours.
At one of her sides Bacchus was seated,
At the other Ceres with her savours.
And she in her hands held the apple,
Delighting herself, which, to her sisters
Preferred, she won in the Idean vale.

And, having seen all this, she [the prayer] made her re-
Which was conceded without denial. [quest,

1 Pres de Biaute se tint Kichece,
Une dame de grant hautece. — Vergier, v, 1020 (Sandras, p. 70).

3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT OF FOULES," 11374 A.D. 67

(42)

Semyramws, Candace, & Hercules,
Biblis, Dido, Thisbe, & Piramus,
Tristram, Isaude, Paris, & Achilles,

Elyne, Cliopatre, & Troylus1, 291

Silla, & ek the modyr of Romulus : —
Alle these were peyntid on that othir syde,
And al here loue, & in what plyt they deyde. 294

(38)

And In a2 pn'ue corner / In desport
Fond I Venus3

& hire porter Richesse,
That was ful noble & haurctayn of hyre port.
Derk was that place, but aftyrward, lightnesse 263

I saw a lyte — vnnethe it my^te be lesse ; —
And on a bed of gold sche lay to reste,
Tyl that the hote sunne gan to weste. 266

(39)

Hyre gilte heris with a goldene thred
I-bounden were, vntrussede as sche lay ;
And nakyd from the brest vp to the hed
Men my3the hyre sen / &, sothly for to say, 270

The remenaunt was wel keuerede, to myn pay,
Rygh[t] with a subtyl couercheif / of valence ;
Ther nas no thikkere cloth / of no defense. 273

(40)

The place }af a thousent sauowris sote ;
And Bacus, god of wyn, sat hire be syde ;
And Sereis4 next, that doth of huwgir boote;
And as I seyide, a-myddis lay Cupide,5 277

To wham on kneis two ^onge folk there cryede
To ben here helpe / but thus I let hem lye,
And ferthere in the temple I gan espie. 280

1 Troylis. 2 a altered from n. 3 MS febi (febtt.-?).

4 ei altered. * MS Cypride.

08 3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT OF FOULES" ? 1374 A.D.

In this garden, on a hill of flowers, sits Queen Nature,
and round her, on branches, are birds of every kind,1
come, as of wont, to choose their mates on this, St Valen
tine's, day. On Nature's hand is a beautiful female
eagle, the prize of the flock ; and for her, three tercel (or
male) eagles — one a royal bird, the other two of lower de
gree, — prefer their claims at great length, till sunset, but
cannot settle which is to have her. The rest of the birds
grumble at this 'cursed pledyng,' and the Goose and
Cuckoo propose to give their verdict on the case, and settle
it. But Nature says that one bird of each flock shall be
chosen to give judgment in the name of the whole. So the
Tercelet of the Falcon, for the birds of ravine, says that,
though the three tercels might fight for the formel, yet she
ought to have 'the worthiest of knighthood, who had
longest practist it, the one most of estate, and gentlest
of blood': and which that is, it is easy to know, — the
royal Tercel. Then the Goose, for the water-fowl, says
' Peace now ! Give heed to me ! my wit is sharp. If she
won't love him, let him love another.' For this the Spar-
hawk calls the sensible Goose a fool ; and the Turtle-Dove,
for the seed-fowl, declares that the Tercel must never
change, but love his love till he dies, however distant she
is to him. This, the Duck thinks a good joke (see the
quotation, p. 58 above). * Love, when no love's given you !
Gammon ! Change ! and love where you're loved. There
are more stars than one pair.' This 'dunghille' senti
ment the Tercelet rebukes ; and the Cuckoo, for worm-
eating birds, then advises that both Tercel and Formel
shall live single all their lives. (It's what I do, thinks the
Cuckoo.) This advice is savagely scouted by the Merlin;

1 They are described, with more or less happiness of epithet.
On ' the storke, wreker of avowterie,' see the story in K. Bell's
notes from Bp. Stanley's History of Hirds, 6th edit. p. 322, of how
a stork at Smyrna, with his brother-storks, peckt his wife-stork to
bits, because she had, during his absence, hatcht some hen's eggs
put under her, (clear adultery,) her OAvn having been stolen.

3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT OF FOULES" ? 1374 A.D. 69

and then Nature bids the Formel take her choice, but ad
vises her to choose the Royal Tercel. The formel, however,
declines, and asks for a year's respite, which Nature grants
her, exhorting the three Tercels to serve her for this short
time, and see what then will come. The cause being thus
put-off for judgment, Nature gives the other birds leave
to go.

And, Lord ! the blysse and joy[e] that they make !
For eche of hem gon other in his wynges take,
And with her nekkes eche gan other wynde,
Thankyng alwey the noble goddesse of kynde.

A pretty picture, isn't it Well, the birds sing the
glad Roundel given above, p. 54-5, whose note was made
in France, and fly away. Chaucer wakes, and his poem of
greenery, sun, and birds' sweet song, is done.

(The text sadly wants editing by a man with a good
ear.)

It must be evident to every reader that Chaucer wasn't
thinking of birds only when he wrote of the heroine and
leading characters of his Parlament. The question then is,
can a Lady be found in the latter part of the 14th century
— after November 1373, when Chaucer came back from
Italy, or, at least, after he is likely to have read Boccaccio's
Teseide — who was 'of shape the gentileste, the most benigne
and eke the goodlyeste,' who was sued by one royal, and
two noble and gentle, lovers on a St Valentine's day, and
who askt for a year's respite J 1 One writer in a weekly
journal known for its assumption of superior knowledge and
accuracy, has not hesitated to say Yes to the main points
of the question above, and with the usual cocksureness of

1 Godwin makes this poem refer to the courtship of Blanche
by John of Gaunt, whom she put-off for a year (see The Dethe of
JBlaunche, p. 41, above). Godwin therefore dates the poem 1358,
and says that the first eagle 'is plainty the earl of Richmond.' —
Life of Chaucer, i. 444. This date for the poem is absurd ; and as
Chaucer had in the Blaunclie given John of Gaunt's own account
of his courtship of Blaunche, the poet would not have given another
out of his own head in the Parlament, differing wholly from the
widower's.

70 3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT OF FOULES" 1 1374 A.D.

a Saturday-Reviewer, has named the date and leading
personages of Chaucer's Parlameni of Foules • —

"But although the date of 1328 [as the supposed date
of Chaucer's birth] will not give a probable conjecture, it
is otherwise with the true date of 1345.1 When Chaucer
was eighteen or nineteen years of age, King John of France
returned to London, and on his road from Dover, in Feb
ruary 1364, was met by the King and Queen of England.
Froissart, then in the service of Queen Philippa,2 tells how
the royal guest was entertained in the palace of Eltham,
and how young Enguerrand, the seventh Lord de Couci,
danced and sang and was the delight of all eyes, English
as well as French. He was a stranger here, a hostage by
the Treaty of Bretigny.3 He was allied to the Royal
Houses of France and Scotland ; claimed Alsace in right
of his mother, Catherine, daughter of Leopold, Duke of
Austria ; and had already distinguished himself as a knight
worthy of all honour, by the relief of distressed damsels
from the fury of the Jacquerie. In the hall of Eltham he
won the heart of Isabel Plahtagenet, to whom he was
married after a year's respite. The desire of Edward III.
to draw to him the great lords of France would lead
Chaucer, who was of the King's household at the latest
within three years from this time, to make so welcome an
alliance the subject of his verse. It was in the month of
February that De Couci was so favourably regarded at
Eltham. The plan of the poem accords with the second
title, the Book of St. Valentine's Day. The heroine is
wooed and half won on the 14th of February." — Saturday
Review, April 15, 1871, p. 468, col. 2.

The positiveness of this assertion took me in at first ; 4
and the year's respite, and " the 14th of February" came
so pat ; but recollecting the parody of Punch's counsel,
" To persons about to trust the Saturday Review — Don't,"
I turned to Froissart, and then to Barnes's History of
Edward III, to see what they said on the matter : and

with this result : —

•

1 This takes Chaucer's ' .xl. (f ourty) years and upwards ' in
1386 to mean 41, that he was then 41 years old. With Mr E. A.
Bond, I take it to mean more, say 46.

3 Froissart, i. 308, ed. 1842 (Johnes). F.

3 8 May 1360. Frois. i. 291. F.

4 I hadn't the poem, or my notes, to refer to.

3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT OF FOULES" 1 1374 A.D. 71

Johnes's Froissart, ed. 1842, i. 308.

" The third day he [King John of France] set out [from
Canterbury], taking the road to London, and rode on
until he came to Eltham, where the king of England was,
with a number of lords ready to receive him. It was on a
Sunday in the afternoon, that he arrived : there were,
therefore, between this time and supper, many grand
dances and carols. The young lord de Coucy was there,
who took pains to shine in his dancing and singing when
ever it was his turn. He was in great favour with both
the French and English ; for whatever he chose to do he
did well and with grace.

" I can never relate how very honourably and magnifi
cently the king and queen of England received king John.
On leaving Eltham, he went to London ; and, as he came
near, he was met by the citizens dressed out in their proper
companies, who greeted and welcomed him with much
reverence, and attended him with large bands of minstrels,
unto the palace of the Savoy, which had been prepared for
them."

Barnes's Hist, of K. Edward III, p. 635, An. Dom. 1364,
An. Eegni Anglise xxxviii. [? Froissart toucht-up.]

" On Sunday after Dinner, King John came thither
[to Eltham], where he was highly caressed and embraced
by the King and Queen of England, and between that and
Supper-time there was nothing but Princely Diversions, of
Dancing, Singing, and Carolling. But especially the
young Lord Ingelram of Coucy set himself forth to enter
tain the two Kings, and daunced so pleasantly, and sang
so sweetly, that he extreamly satisfied the whole Presence,
and wan the Commendations both of the French and
English Nobility, who were all delighted to behold and
hear him \ for all that ever he did, became him wonder
fully. At this time the Lady Isabella, Eldest Daughter to
King Edward, began to cast her Affections upon that
Gallant Lord,1 and became so serious therein, that shortly
we shall find it a Match. Soon after, the Court removed
from Eltham toward London, but in the way the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen, with an Honourable Eetinue, met
the two Kings on Black-Heath, and so conducted them
over the Bridge thro' the City with Sounding of Trum
pets." . . .

1 Mr Barnes, where did you get this from ? The Saturday-Re
viewer afterwards assured me he had not seen Barnes.

72 3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT OF FOULES," ?1374 A.D.

Barnes's History of K. Edward III, p. 667. Chap. xii.
A.D. 1365, An. E. A. xxxiv.

* § IX. At this time King Edward1 gave his Daughter
the Lady Isabella in Marriage to the Young Lord Ingelram
de Guisnes ; the Kites being performed with Great Pomp
and Splendor at the Famous Castle of Windsor. The said
Lord was by Birth a Baron both of England and of
France."

(Barnes's Hist, of K. Edward III, p. 670, A.D. 1366.

K. Edward makes the Lord of Coucy Earl of Bed
ford? and gives him a grant of 1000 Marks a year, as also
30 marks more out of the Issues of the County of Bed
ford.3

Lit. Dom. D. Vid. MS. Eot. Parl. p. 99, § 13, and Sir
Bob., Cotton's Abridgment, p. 103, § 13.)

These extracts left me no nearer to the desired 14th of
February ; and so there was nothing for it but an after
noon at the Record-Office, to see the Patent-Rolls for Febru
ary 1364, which, being copies of the letters-patent issued and
sealed for the King by the Chancellor who was always in
attendance on the sovereign, show day by day where the
Court was. As might have been expected perhaps, these Rolls
showed that the King was not at Eltham, but at West
minster, on the 14th of February 1363-4, and so the
Saturday bubble was burst. Moreover, we have seen that
Froissart says it was on a Sunday that Edw. Ill enter
tained John of France at Eltham. Now Mr Skeat informs
me that the 14th of February 1364 was on a Wednesday ;
so that here again is the bubble burst. Once more : the

1 Pat. 39, ed. 3, p. 2, m. 8, &c. Ashmole, p. 669, and Sandford,
p. 178, and Dugdale, p. 761, and Mill's Catal. Hon. p. 440, and
Knighton, p. 2628, n. 40, &c.

2 Dugd. 1 vol. Baron, p. 761, b.

3 Bedford. II. 1366. Ingelram de Coucy, son-in-law of King
Edw. Ill, created Earl of Bedford by charter, 11 May 1366, to him
and the heirs male of his body by the Lady Isabel ; K. GL ; after
the death of his father-in-law he resigned to King Eichard II, in
1377, all he held from him in faith and homage, surrendered the
insignia of the Garter, and discontinued the title of Bedford ;
taken prisoner at the battle of Nicopolis, and died at Bursa in
Natolia, 18 Feb. 1396-7, S. P. M., when the title became extinct.

's Historic Peerage, ed. Court-hope.

3. CHAUCER'S " PABLAMENT OF FOULES" ? 1374 A.D. 73

context in Froissart leaves no doubt that January, and not
February, was the month of King John's visit to England.
And as the Sundays in January 1363-4 were, Jan. 7, 14,
21, and 28, and a further search in the prior Patent-Eoll
of Edward III showed that Jan. 14 was the only one of
these Sundays on which Edw. Ill was at Eltham — though
he may have been there on Jan. 7- — we may safely con
clude that the Eltham entertainment took place on either
Jan. 14 or 7, 1364. Here is (the January list from the
Patent-Eoll :—

1 Jan, 1363-4.

17 Jan. 1363-4.

2 „ „ Westminster.

18 »

Westminster.

3 „ „ Westminster.

19 „

4 » »

20 „

Westminster.

5 „

,

21 „

Westminster.

6 „

t

22 „

Westminster.

7 „

, Shene and W.

23 „

W. & Eltham.

8 „

W. and Shene

24 „ „

W. & Eltham.

9 „ „ Shene.

25 „

10 „ „ W.& Windsor.

26 „

Vestminster.

11 „ , Eltham.

27 „

W. & Eltham.

12 „

,

28 „

Westminster.

13 „

, Eltham.

29 „

Westminster.

14 „ t

, Eltham.

30 „

Westminster.2

15 „

, Westminster.

31 „

16 „

,

The Saturday people may perhaps think it mean for
one thus to colensoize one of their good-looking articles at
£3 10s., meant to sell the paper. But if imaginative
writers will give dates, they must expect to be brought to
book. (I add here the list of places where the Court was
on every day in February for which I found an entry, as

1 For the days left blank I found no entry.

2 I add the March entries that I took-down, in a note : —

1 March 1363-4 W. & Eltham. 12 March 1363-4. Westminster.

2 „ „ (not found) 13 „ „ (not found)

3 „ „ Westminster. 14 „ „ Westminster.

4 „ „ Westminster. 16 „ „ Westminster.
6 „ „ (not found) 17 „ „ Westminster.

6 „ „ (not found) 18, 19 „ (not found)

7 „ „ Eltham & W. 20 „ „ Westminster.

8 „ „ Westminster. 21 „ „ (not found)

9 „ „ (not found) 22 „ „ „ „

10 „ „ Westminster. 23 „ „ Eltham.

11 Westminster. 24 Eltham.

74 3. CHAUCER'S " PARLAMENT OF FOULES," 1 1374 A.D.

such lists are sure to come in handy for some one some

day :—

1 Feb. 1363-4 Westminster.

2 „ „ (no entry found)

3 „ „ Westminster.

4 „ „ Eltham & West.

5 „ „ Westminster.

6 „ „ Westminster.

7 „ „ Westminster.

8 „ „ Westminster.

9 „ „ Westminster.

10 „ „ (no entry found)

11 „ „ Westminster.

12 „ „ Westminster
and Shene(l letter at Shene,
to many at Westminster).

13 „ „ Westminster.

14 „ „ Westminster
(4 Patents sealed : some are
pardons to John Atte Wode,

Jn. de Stopeham, &c., and

outlaws.)

15 Feb. 1363-4 Westminster.
16

(not found)

(not found)

Westminster.

(not found)

Westminster.

W. and Shene.

Eltham & W.

(not found)

Westminster.

Westminster.

Westminster.

Westminster.

Westminster.

Westminster.)

Having thus disposed of "the 14th of February in
1364," we may hold to our belief that the Parlament of
Foules was not written till after November 1373, when
Chaucer probably brought back with him from Italy a MS
of Boccaccio's Teseide ; though if the advocates of an earlier
date believe in a MS of the Teseide (which was written in
1341) having reacht Chaucer's hands in England before
that time, we may suggest to them that he probably knew
Italian in 1372 (and before), — as he was in that year (Nov.
12) joined in commission with two Genoese citizens, — and
that his ' langagez,' as Laneham has it, were, no doubt, the
cause of his being sent by Edw. Ill to Italy in 1372-3.

Be that as it may, we may conclude that the heroine
and hero of the Parlament of Foules are still to seek.
What historical man will give us a good guess at them 1

As to the originality of the Parlament, M. Sandras,
Etude, p. 65, says that the poem is probably original, and
that Warton's conjecture that the first idea of it was bor
rowed from the Roman des Oiseaux rymed by Gace de la
Bigne, is baseless : there is no resemblance between the
two works. But, says M. Sandras, it is not in nature, in

3. CHAUCER'S " PAELAM ENT OF FOULES" ? 1374 A.D. 75

the drama of human life, that Chaucer sought his inspira
tions ; he got them from books j and has laid under con
tribution Cicero, Statins, Dante, Guillaume de Lorris,
Boccaccio, Alanus de Insuia1, G. de Machault, and perhaps
sjome writer on Birds (Etude, p. 66). No doubt Chaucer
has woven his dear old books into his poem ; but any one
who can't hear the birds, feel the breeze, and scent the
fragrance, of Nature in it, is a noodle, be he a distinguisht
French critic or not.

On Chaucer's much-praised line, " Nature, the vicar of
the almightie god," 1. 379, M. Sandras says, p. 71, that 'it
is in the Roman de la Rose, v. 16980-3.' Well, it is
there in a fashion ; but not in Chaucer's fashion ; it is
quite swampt by the 'chamber-maid2' element. Eead
this, from Michel's edition, ii. 195-6, 1. 17706—

Cis Diex3 meismes, par sa grace,
Quant il i ot, par ses devises4,
Ses autres creatures mises,
Tant m'enora5, tant me tint chiere
Qu'il m'establi sa chamberiere2.;
Servir m'i laisse et laissera
Tant cum sa volente sera ;
Nul autre droit ge n'i reclame,
Ains le merci quant il tant m'ame,6
Que si tres-povre damoisele
A si grant maison et si bele.
II, si grant sire, tant me prise,
Qu'il m'a por chamberiere prise.
Por chamberiere ! certes vaire,
Por conestaMe et por vicaire,
Dont ge ne fusse mie digne,
Fors 7 par sa volente benigne.

1 Alanus de Insult (Parlament, 1. 316), says M. Sandras, 'is the
author of a moral tale, in which he feigns that Nature appeared to
him in a dream to complain of the wickedness of men.

2 ' Chambriere : f. A chamber-maid, or maid-seruant, (most
commonly) one of the meanest ranke, and of basest imployment ;
or one that serues as a drudge, or kitchin- wench in a house.

' En Moissons, Dames chambrieres sont : Prov. Ladies are but
drudges, or wait on thernselues, as long as Haruest lasts.' — Cotgrave.

3 Ce Dieu. 4 volontes. 5 m'honora.

6 Mais je le remercie de ce qu'il tant m'aime.

7 Si ce n'est.

76 3. CHAUCER'S "PARLAMENT OF FOULES" 1 1374 A.D.

So Chaucer's epithet is in the ' Rose ' : a jewel in a
slop-pail1, and Chaucer has pickt it out, and set it in pure
gold.

J. M. B. of Tunbridge Wells, in /. Notes and Queries,
vii. 519, col. 2 (28 May 1853), says :

'Traces of Chaucer's proficiency in Italian are dis
coverable in almost all his poems ; but I shall conclude
with two citations from The Assembly of Foules :

" The day gan failen, and the darke night
(That reveth beastes from hir businesse)
Berafte me my booke for lacke of light." 1. 85.

" Lo giorno se ri andava, e Taer bruno
Toglieva gli animai die sono in terra
Dalle fatiche low." — Dante's Inferno, ii. 1.

" With that my hand in his he toke anon ;
Of which I comfort caught, and went in fast."

The Assembly of Foules, 1. 169.

" E poiche la sua mono alia mia pose
Con lieto volto, ond1 io mi confortai"

Inferno, iii. 19.

'By the way, Chaucer commences The Assembly of
Foules with part of the first aphorism of Hippocrates,
" 'O (3toe ftpa-^vg, 1] %e re%vr) paKprj' (but this, I suppose,
had been noticed before) :

" The lyfe so short, the craft so long to lerne." '

On the question of Chaucer's borrowings or imitations
from the Italian in this and other poems of his Second
Period, Professor Ten Brink has been kind enough to send
me the following list compiled from his Studien, of which
the translation will be printed as soon as the Professor can
find time to revise it, and rewrite the chapter on The
Romaunt of the Rose : —

Chaucer's Obligations to Italian Poets.

Boole of the duchesse, none.

Lyf of seynt Cecile, stanz. 6, 7, 8, Dante, Paradiso,
XXXIII, 1—6, 7—8, 19—21, and 16—18 (cf. Ten
Brink's Studien, p. 131, sq.).

1 I don't of course apply this term to the whole of the ' Rose/

CHAUCER'S BORROWINGS FROM THE ITALIAN. 77

Assemble of Foules, 1. 85, sq. Inferno II, 1, sqq.1 ;
general resemblance between the African and Virgilio ; 1.
109 sqq. Inferno I, 83, sq.2 ; 1. 169, sq. Inferno II, 19 sqq.1
Dante's influence is visible in Chaucer's style, especially
where the latter is pathetic, ex. gr. 1. 113, sqq. (cf.
Studien, p. 125, sq.), 1. 127, sqq., 134, sqq., Inferno III,
1, sqq.3 (cf. SandraS) p. 62, sq.). Description of the
temple of Venus, 1. 183—287, taken from Boccaccio's
Teseide, VII. st. 50, sqq.4 (cf. Tyrwhitt, Canterbury Talcs,
note to 1. 1920.)

(Palamon and Arcite) Knightes Tale, imitated from the
Teseide, 1. 1665, sqq. (group A, 1. 1663, sqq.), Dante,
Inferno, VII, 77, sqq. (cf. Studien, p. 41, sqq.)

Troylus imitated from Boccaccio's Filostrato. — Chau
cer's definition of a tragedy taken from Dante, Opere minori,
ed. Fraticelli, 111, 516, cf. De vulgari Eloquentia, II, c. 4.
(cf. Studien, p. 77, sq.) Troylus has 5 books, whereas
Filostrato has 10 cantos.

Troylus. Filostrato.

I. I, II, st. 1—33.

II. II, st. 34—67. Ill, IV, st. 1—23.

III. IV, st. 24—85.

IV. IV, st. 86. V, VI.
V. VII, VIII, IX, X.

The first part of Troylus may be called a comedy, the
latter a tragedy. The third book contains the end of the
comedy and the beginning of the tragedy. This explains
the poems being divided into 5 books, as the Divina Corn-
media has 3 cantiche (cf. Studien, p. 79, sq.). Chaucer's
proemia written after the rules laid down by Dante in his
letter to Can. Grande (Opere Minori, III, 520, 522). Troy
lus, II, st. 1, Purgatorio, I, 1, sqq. (cf. Studien, p. 80) ;
Troylus III, proem, st. 1—6, Filostrato IV, st. 67 — 72
(Studien, p. 81) ; Troylus, IV, st. 29, Inferno, III, 112, sqq.
(Studien, p. 82); Troylus, V, st. 222, Inferno, VII, 73, sqq.,
especially 80, 82 (cf. Studien, p. 74) ; Troylus, V, st.
260—266, Teseide, XI, st. 1 — 3 (cf. Tyrwhitt, and Studim,
p. 58, sqq.).

Hous of Fame : general plot imitated from the Divina
Commedia (Studien, p. 89, sq.); resemblance between the

1 Quoted above.

2 But thus seyd he : ' Thou hast 0, of the other poets honour and

the so wel borne light !

in lokyng of myn olde booke al Avail me the long study and

to-torne ... 110 great love

That somdel of thy labour wolde That have impelled me to explore

I quyte. thy volume ! — Longfellow, p. 6.

3 Quoted above, p. 35, note. 4 Quoted above, p. 36-43.

78 4. CHAUCEK'S " COMPLAYNT OF MARS"

eagle and Yirgilio. House of Fame, I, 499, sqq., and II,
26, sqq. Purgatorio, IX, 19, sqq. (cf. Sandras, p. 119,
sq.); House of Fame, II, 12 — 20, Inferno, II, 7, sqq.;
House of Fame, II, 80, sqq. Inferno, II, 32 ; House of
Fame, II, 92 — 96, Inferno, II, 49, sq. (Studien, pp. 90, 91).
House of Fame, III, 1, sqq., Paradiso, 1, 13 — 27 ; House of
Fame, III, 375, sq., 396, sq., 406, sq., Inferno, IV, 88 —
90 ; House of Fame, 370, sqq., Purgatorio, XXI, 88, sqq.
(Sandras, p. 123, sqq.). House of Fame, III, 830, sqq.,
944, sqq., Inferno, III, 52, sqq., 55, sqq. (cf. Studien,
p. 94).

Anelida and AT cite : st. 1, Teseide I, st. 3; Anelida,
st. 2, Teseide I, st. 2 ; Anelida, st. 3, Tes. I, st. 1 ; Ane
lida, st. 6 (Finely e), Teseide II, st. 22 ; Anelida, st. 8, 9,
Teseide II, st. 10, 11 ; Anelida, st. 10, Teseide II, st. 12
(Creon) ; cf. Studien, p. 49—53.

4. The Complaynt of Mars. Twenty-two 7-line
stanzas — four being Proem, and eighteen Story, — and then
the Gompleynt of sixteen 9-line stanzas, one being Proem,
and the other fifteen, five Terns, or threes-of-stanzas. All
the poem is in 5-accent lines. The 9-line stanzas ryme
dab, aab, bcc, as against the ab ab bcc of the ordinary
7-line stanza. The Marquis of Bath's MS at Longleat is
the only one I know not printed in our Parallel-Text. In
the British-Museum Additional MS 12,254, only the
heading of the Mars is given, the poem being lost. The
first printed edition remaining to us is that by Julian
Notary (he printed from 1499 to 1501), of which a unique
copy * is in the Library at Britwell, belonging to Mr S.

1 It is an octavo, A and B in eights, and contains, besides the
Mars,

on B i
" ^ The compleynt of Venus for Mars.

B iii
•f Here foloweth the cotmceyll of Chaucer

touchyng Maryag &c. whiche was sen-
te te Bucketon &c. (4 stanzas of 8 lines each)

B iiii [Lydgate]
^[ The fyrst fynders of the vii. scyences artyficyall (7 st. of 7 1.)

B 5

•ft Thauctours of vii scyences (1 st. of 8 lines)
^[ The seuen scyences lyberall (1 st. of 8 lines)
^f The disposicyon of the vii planetes (1 st. of 8 lines)

4. CHAUCER'S " COMPLAYNT OF MARS" 79

Christie-Miller, and he has kindly allowed me to print it.
It came to his hands from his predecessor, the founder of
the Library, and was formerly in the libraries of Sir M.
M. Sykes, Mr Heber, and the Duke of Eoxburghe. It is
so carelessly printed that I think it must be a reprint of
an earlier edition; but it rightly reads "fowles" in the
first line — with the Selden MS — and not " louers " with
the Fairfax and Tanner MSS, or " floures " or " fooles "
(perhaps = fowles) with Shirley's paper MS, E. 3. 20, in
Trin. CoU. Cambr., or " floures " with Shirley's vellum MS,
Harl. 7333. The contrast is clearly between the birds
and flowers, glad and fresh, of lines 1 and 3, and the
lovers suffering many a dread, of 1. 5.

The poem professes to be all sung by a bird, except
two lines and a half, 1. 13-15; and its Story is all as
tronomy and mythology, though the rest of the poem
shows us that it must have been occasioned by the loves
of some warrior and his mistress ; for the " Compleynt " of
the Mars is that of a human lover, and it is certain that
John of Gaunt (Ghent, where he was born) — at whose
commandment, Shirley says, Chaucer wrote the poem —
must have cared more for amours than astronomy. Luckily,
this blessed old copier Shirley, who enjoyed so heartily
his contemporaries' poems, copied them so diligently,1 and
tried now and then to imitate them, has left us the names

B 5 back
*jf The disposicyon of the xii sygnes (3 st. of 7 lines)

B6
^[ The desposicyon of the iiii complexions (3 st. of 8 lines)

B 6 back

^[ The disposicyon of the iiii elementes (" The world soo wyde,
the ayre soo remeuable " altered) (4 st. of 7 1. and 1 of 8 1.)

B 7

^f The disposicyon of the four seasons of the yere (4 st. of 7
lines.) B 8

^[ The dispo[si]cyon of the world. (5 at. of 8 lines)

AMEN
^f Thys in pryntyde in westmoster inkyng.

strete. For me lulianus Notarii
1 Who will compile us a monograph on Shirley ?

80 4. CHAUCER'S " COMPLA YNT OF MARS."

of the hero and heroine of the Mars, in his tag, or colo
phon, to his copy of the poem in the Trinity MS at Cam
bridge : —

IT J}us eondebe here . bis complaint whiche . some men
sayne / was made . by 1 iny lady of1 york* doughter to be
kyng1 of1 / Spaygne / and? my lord4 of1 huntyngdon . some
tyme Due of1 Excestre /

Now this is somewhat unpleasant, seeing that the
Duchess of York was John of Gaunt's sister-in-law ; that
he got Chaucer to celebrate her adultery with Lord Hunt
ingdon; and then married his own daughter — Elizabeth,
one of his daughters2 by his first wife Blanche, whose
Dethe Chaucer wrote — to the adulterer. But people were
not of old so particular in love-matters as we are now, and
we must not judge Chaucer by our modern standard for
glorifying the adultery of his patron's sister-in-law with
even more power than the memory of that patron's peerless
wife.3 That the Compleynt of Mars was written at John
of Gaunt's request, Shirley tells us in his exordium to the
poem in his MS in Trinity College, Cambridge, E. 3. 20,
page 128:—

^F Loo yee louers gladej?e and' comfortej)e you . of1 ballyance
etrayted' bytwene / Ipe hardy and* furyous Mars . be god?
of1 armes and' Venus be double goddesse of1 loue made
by .Geffrey Chaucier. at be comandement of* be renomed*
and' excellent prynce my lord' J?e Due lohn of1 Lancastre

That the Duchess Isabel and the Earl of Huntingdon
also bore to John of Gaunt the relationships I have at
tributed to them, we know from our old Chroniclers. First
as to Isabel : Walsingham says under 1372 :

"Eodem anno, dux Lancastrise, & comes Cantebrigiae
frater suus, cum duobus sororibus, filiabus domini Perronis,

1 About. Compare

Herd i neuere bi no leuedi
Bote hendinesse and curteysi.
quoted in Lowell's My Study Windows, p. 367.

2 The other daughter, Philippa, married the King of Portugal.

3 In the face of the gammon talkt about ' good old times ', one
must insist on their real characteristics.

4. CHAUCER'S " COMPLAYNT OF MARS" 81

quondam regis Hispanise, de Wasconia in Angliam redie-
runt, quas postea in coniuges acceperunt. Dux quidem
seniorem vocatam Constantiam,1 & comes iuniorem Isabel-
lam appellatam." — Camden's Anglica, p. 186, 1. 25-8.

As to her character, "Walsingham says under 1394 A.D. :

"Eodem anno obiit domina Isabella, ducissa Eborac.
eoror vterina ducissae LaTicastriae, muliermollis & delicata2,
sed in fine (vt fertur) satis poenitens & conuersa. Hsec
sepulta est, iussu regis, apud Langley suum manerium,
inter fratres." — Camden's Anglica, p. 350, 1. 45-8.

"It is said,3 that this great Lady, having been some
what wanton in her younger years, at length became an
hearty penitent; and, departing3 this life in 1394 (17 E.
2), was buried3 in the Friers Preachers at Langele [King's
Langley in Hertfordshire]." — Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 154-5.

With regard to her husband, we learn from Dugdale
that,

Edmund, the 5th son of King Edward III, was born
A.D. 1341 (15 Ed. Ill), created Earl of Cambridge, 13
Novr. 1362, 36 Ed. Ill; in 1364 (38 E. Ill) should have
married Margaret, heir to the Earl of Flanders, but was
stopt by the Pope, and Charles Y of France, whose brother,
the Duke of Burgundy, she then married. Having fought
in Edward's wars in France in 1369 — 1372, late in 1372, he
returned,4 with John, Duke of Lancaster (his Brother) : at
which time, they brought4 with them the two daughters of
Don Pedro, King of Castile, viz. Constance and Isabell :
which Isabell shortly became his wife. [As Constance did
John of Gaunt's.] In 48 Ed. Ill (1374) he invaded Brit
tany. In 1 E. II, and 2 E. II (June 22 1377 to June 21
1379) he was in the King's Fleet at sea.

In 4 Eic. II (1381) the Earl of Cambridge was in the
army that invaded Portugal.

In 9 E. 2 (A.D. 1386), he was, for many great ser
vices, 'advanced5 to the dignity and title of Duke of York,'
his Charter bearing date 6 Aug.

1 Her daughter Catherine married the King of Spain. After
Constance's death, John of Gaunt married his concubine, Catherine
Swinford, Sir Payne Eoet's daughter, but not Chaucer's sister-in-
law.

2 This euphemism means more than our 'delicate' : delicate-
ment, wantonly. — Cotgrave.

3 T. Wals., 385, n. 40.

4 T. Wals., 181, n. 40.

5 Pat. 9 R. II, pt 1, m. 10. T. Wals., p. 349. Cart. 9 and 10
JR. II, n. 26.

T7UAL-FOREWORD9. 6

82 4. CHAUCERS " COMPLAYNT OF MARS."

He died 1 Aug. 3 Hen. IV (A.D. 1401), having by
his Testament dated 25 Nov. 1400 (Arundel, vol. 3?, 194&),
* bequeath'd his body to be buried at Langele (in Hertford
shire) near to the grave of Isabell his first wife.' *

During the Duke's life, his wife Isabell, by his
License, declared her Testament,2 6 Dec. 1382 (6 Eic. II),
leaving legacies, (to the Duke of Lancaster a Tablet of
Jasper which the King of Armonie gave her,) and made
Rich. II her residuary legatee,3 on trust to allow Eichard,
her younger son, 500 marks a year for his life. Eic. II
gave this son an annuity of £233 6s. Sd. for his life, till
he should settle on him 500 marks a year in lands or rents.

Edward, Earl of Eutland,4 was her eldest son ; Con
stance le Despencer her daughter. — Stated from Dugdale's
Baronage, II 154-5.

Perhaps the above sketch and dates may lead some
reader to suggest a time for the adultery commemorated by
Chaucer. If Pliebus's disturbance of the lovers of the
Compleynt of Mars is meant for a husband's interference,
then the Earl (afterwards Duke of York) must have been
in England at the time. If Phebus is meant for a friend,
then the Earl's absence in Brittany in 1374 would suit the
possible date of the poem. Or it might be as late as his
absence at sea in 1377-8 and 1378-9. One must look into
the age of coprolites as well as other fossils.

Secondly. As to the adulterer, the hero of the Mars,
and his relationship to John of Ghent, we learn from Dug-
dale and Knyghton that

John Holande5 (Earl of Huntingdon and Duke of
Exeter) was the 3rd son of Thomas, Earl of Kent, by
Joane his wife, daughter and heir to Edmund of Wodstoke,
Earl of Kent.

In 29 Ed. Ill (1355) he was in the expedition into
Scotland, and of the retinue with Eoger de Mortimer, Earl
of March.

1 His second wife was Joane, daughter of Thomas, and sister
and coheir to Edmund Holand, Earl of Kent. She survived the
Duke of York, and married in succession Lord Willoughby of
Eresby, Lord Scrope, and Lord Vesci.

2 Kous f. 49. a. 3 Pat. 16 K. II, p. 3, m. 24.

4 Created 25 Febr. 13 R. 2 (A.D. 1390).

5 Frater uterinus Ricardi Regis ex parte materna.

4. CHAUCER'S " COMPLA YNT OF MARS.'* 83

He stabbed Ralph, heir to the Earl of Stafford, in 7
Ric. II (June 1383-4), and was in disgrace till John of
Gaunt got him pardon. He was constable of John of
Gaunt's host in Castile in 9 R. II (June 1385-6), when
the Duke invaded Castile. Of the Duke's suite then,
Knyghton says (Twysden's Script Angl. 2677, col. 1) :

"Habuit autem idem piu's dux in comitatu suo uxorem
suam Constanciam, filiam regis Petri Hispaniarum, &
Katerinarn filiam ejus, quam genuerat de eadem Con-
stancia. Duas eciam alias filias quas genuerat de domina
Blanchia, priore uxore sua, filia & liaerede Heririci Ducis
Lancastriae, scilicet, dominam Philippam non conjugatam,
& dominam Elizabet, Comitissam de Penbrok, dimisso
viro suo juvene in Anglia. Qui Comes, post recessum
uxoris SU86, fecit divorcium, & desponsavit sororem Comitis
de Marchia. Dominus vero lohannes de Holande primo
dictam Elizabet desponsavit sibi in uxorem. Domina
Philippa maritate est Regi de Portingallia. Katerinam
filiam suam maritavit filio regis Hispanise, & sic concordati
sunt dux Laricastriae & rex Hispanise ; et rediit dux Lan-
castriae in Angliam mense Novembris anno Domini mil-
lesimo CCC. octogesimo nono sequenti [1389] cum immensa
summa auri et thesaurorum."

He was made Earl of Huntingdon in June of 1 1 Ric. II
(22 June, 1387, to 21 June, 1388).—'(Dugdale's Baronage,
ii. 78, col. 2.)

In turning over the Patent Roll of 17 Richard II, I
came on the following two entries relating to this Earl, 1.
his appointment as Chamberlain of England, 2. Letters of
Protection during his absence abroad : —

Patent Moll 339, 17 Rich. Ill, A.D. 1393.
" De officio Cameran'e Angh'e concesso.

. Omnibus ad quos &c. salwtem. Sciatis, q«od de
gra/^'a nosfra spec/ali concessimus carissimo fiatri nostio
Tcihanni de Holand?, Comiti Huntyngdon, omcium Cam^rarii
Angh'e, Habendum pro termino vite sue, cum feodis,
vadiis, regardis, & proficiis quibuscumq?/e ad dictum om
cium qualitercumqi^ pertinentibw.?, adeo plene & modo
quo Comites Oxonze in eodem oincio ante hec tempora
consueuerunt. In cuius &c Teste Rege appud Abbaifiam
de Bello Loco1, quarto die Septembm.

per breve de priuato sigillo.

1 Beaulieu Abbey in the New Forest,

84 -4. CHAUCER'S " COMPLAYNT OF MARS."

Patent Roll 339, 17 Rich. II, A.D. 1393, 3rd skin.

" Pro Comite Huntyngdon. / ~Rex. Omnibus ad quos &c
salwtem. Sciatis, quod dedimus licenciam carissimo fiatri
nosfao lohanni de Holand, Comiti Huntyngdon, quod ipse
xegimm nostrum Angh'e versus partes transmaiinas tran-
sire, & ibidem per duos annos prox/me futuros morari pos-
sit. ISTolentes quod, ipse occasions absencie sue extra
dictum regnum nostium durante tempore predicto, per nos,
vel heredes nostios, seu Ministros nostios quoscunqwe,
inquietet?^r, molestetw, in aliquo, seu grauetwr. In cui?/s
&c. Teste l&ege apud "Westmon aster ium xviij die Januam

per breve de priuato sigillo "

This is probably enough relating to the personages of
the Compleynt of Mars. More dates as to Lord Hunting
don's absences from England may be found in Dugdale,
&c. We now turn to the Story, and the mixt mythology
and astronomy, of the Poem.

Like the Parlament of Foules, which it naturally
follows, the Com.pleynt of Mars is a Valentine's-Day poem,
and it is sung by a bird. In the gray morning ere sunrise,
the Proem calls on birds and flowers to rejoice, but on
lovers to flee, for the Sun, the candle of Jealousy, is near.
With 'blue' tears — tears having the livid or ashy1 colour
seen at their edges — lovers are to part, but yet take com
fort that their sorrows shall soon cease in their meeting
again j besides, the past glad night is worth a sad morn
ing. But it's Valentine's Day ; so, lovers, awake ! Ye
who have not chosen your mates, choose them at once ;
and ye who have chosen, confirm your choice ! I in my
bird's way, to honour this high feast, will sing you the
Complaint that Mars made at parting from Yenus in the
morning, when the Sun frights lovers.

Then comes " The Story," partly mythological, partly
astronomical.2 The amours of Mars and Venus, says Lem-

1 bio, bloo lividns, Prompt. Parv. ; bloo askes, Vis. of Piers
Plowman, 1. 1554, ed. Wright [B. text, iii. 97, ed. Skeat] ; as bio
as led, Miracle-Plays, ed. Marriott, l^.—Stratmann.

2 E. says in I Notes and Queries, iii. 132, col. 2, when com
menting on TJie KnigUes Tale: "The mixture of astrological

•L CHAUCER'S " COMPLAYNT OF MARS." 85

priere, " are greatly celebrated. The god of war gained the
affections of Venus, and obtained the gratification of his
desires ; but Apollo, conscious of their familiarities, in
formed Vulcan of his wife's infidelity, and awakened his
suspicions. Vulcan secretly laid a net around the bed, and
the two lovers were exposed in each other's arms, to the
ridicule and satire of all the gods, till Neptune prevailed
on the husband to set them at liberty. This unfortunate
discovery so provoked Mars, that he changed into a cock
his favourite youth Alectryo, whom he had stationed at
the door to watch against the approach of the Sun, but who
had gone to sleep at his post. Still mindful of his neglect,
the cock announces early the approach of the Sun (Lucian
in Alect.)" Venus had 3 children by Mars, namely Anteros,
Cupid, and Hermione. By Mercury she had Hermaphro-
ditus ; by Bacchus, Priapus ; and by Neptune, Eryx.
(Lempriere.)

Chaucer's ' thrid heuenes lord ' of line 24 is, says Mr
Skeat, ' the third lord of heaven,' Mars, and not ' the lord
of the third heaven,' because Mars is the lord of the fifth
heaven. Taking the Earth as the centre, we have 1. the
orbit of the Moon, 2. the orbit of Mercury, 3. the orbit of
Venus, 4. the orbit of the Sun, 5. the orbit of Mars, 6. the
orbit of Jupiter, 7. the orbit of Saturn. But as Luna and
Venus are not lords, Mars, the lord of the fifth heaven, is
rightly called ' the third lord of heaven.' He, as planet
and lover, has won Venus his love ; she has him in sub
jection, forbids him jealousy and cruelty, and rules him
merely with her eye. Each is in bliss ; he binds himself
to obey her for ever, and she herself to love him for ever,
unless he trespasses against her. As certain fixed distances,
like trine (120 degrees, or a third of a circle) were con-
notions with mythology is curious : * the pale Saturnus the colde '
is once more a dweller on Olympus, and interposes to reconcile
Mars and Venus. By his influence Arcite is made to perish, after
having obtained from Mars the fulfilment of his prayer — 'Yeve
me the victorie, I axe thee no more.' "

86 4. CHAUCER'S " COMPLAYNT OF MARS."

sidered fortunate, so these planets Mars and Venus have a
favourable aspect as regards each other, says Mr Skeat ;
they 'reign by looking,' 1. 50-1. They agree to come into
actual conjunction ; they set a time for Mars to enter into
Yenus's next palace (1. 54) or mansion, wherein is her
chamber painted with white Bulls, (1. 86) that is, into
Taurus, which is a mansion of Yenus. As Mr Brae says
on p. 86 of his edition of Chaucer's Astrolabe from Walter
Stevins's MS, written and prepared for press about 1555

" Again, in Chaucer's Poem, c the Complaynt of Mars
and Yenus ' he allegorically describes a conjunction of the
Sun with Yenus and Mars, in Taurus. Yenus had made
an assignation with Mars in her ' nexte paleys,' i. e. the
sign Taurus, as mentioned above. Her chamber ' depeynted
was with white boles grete' — emblematic of Taurus — in
which, as in the old fable, the Sun surprises her with
Mars, by entering into Taurus — thys ticelve1 dayes of Apr tile
— a date that of itself is sufficient to prove that it is the
sign Taurus which is alluded to. The adjoining sign to
Taurus is Gemini, and Gemini is a mansion of Mercury,
just as Taurus is of Yenus. It is needless to say that
Mercury is Cyllenius? and when Phoebus so rudely bursts
into Yenus' chamber she escapes into Mercury's : —

1 ' twelfth ' is the right reading.

9 " The sign Gemini is also ' Domus Mercurii,' so that when
Venus fled into the tour of Cyllenius, she simply slipped into the
next door to her own house of Taurus, leaving poor Mars behind to
halt after her as he best might." A. E. Brae, in I Notes and
Queries, iii. 235 ; 29 March, 1851. " When Venus first enters Mer
cury's 'palais', she 'ne found ne sey no maner wight'. This
signifies the absence from home of Cyllenius, who was abroad upon
his chivache [ride, course,] in attendance upon the sun ; and here
again is an instance of the nice astronomical accuracy of Chaucer.
It was impossible that the planet Mercury could be in the sign
Gemini, because his greatest elongation, or apparent distance from
the sun, does not exceed 20 degrees ; so that the sun having but
just entered Taurus, Mercury could not be in Gemini." ib. p. 258.
I cannot take-to Mr Brae's explanation and alteration of 1. 145,
making 'Valaunses, valance, valauns, balawnce, balance' (twice,)
Valens, that is, Mercury, and altering 'Fro Venus Valaunse [or
balaunce] myght his paleis see' {or be), to 'Venus might Valens
in this palais see ', though I, with him and every other reader of
the poem, must see that Chaucer mixt the mythological and astro
nomical characters of the God and Goddess together. See above, p.
53, 57, and Sandras's ' L' astronomic, suivant la coutume du moyen-
&?e, s'y mele a la mythologie.' — Etude, p. 109.

4. CHAUCER'S " COMPLA YNT OF MARS" 87

Now fleeth Venus into Cyllenius tour
With voide cours, for fere of Phebus lyght."
But before the lovers meet, Mars makes Venus a most
pretty speech, in stanza 9, as to his longing for her. She,
in mercy for his solitude, and having so much less an orbit
than he to travel, speeds almost as fast in one day as he
does in two (1. 69-70); the lovers meet, and 'unto bed
they go.' There in joy and bliss, the poet leaves them,
till the flaming Sun comes to burn them with his heat in
Venus's mansion Taurus. She weeps and says, ' Alas ! I
die ! ' (1. 90) Mars's eyes flash fire, and rain hot tears ; he
arms, but may not keep her company, he is too slow (1. 92-
104). He bids her flee; and she does, to Cyllenius's,1
or Mercury's tower — that is, mansion Gemini — and falls
into a cave (1. 119).2 This cave Mr Skeat thinks may
mean that Venus becomes dim, owing to the near approach
of the sun. In her cave, Venus moans, till Mercury
coming in his course into Venus's balance3 — her man-

1 Hermes (Mercury) was a son of Zeus and Maia, the daughter of
Atlas, and was born in a cave of Mount Cyllene in Arcadia (Homer's
Od. viii. 335, xiv. 435, xxiv. 1 ; Hymn, in Merc. i. &c. ; Ovid's
Met. i. 682, xiv. 291) ; whence (VirgiVs Aen. viii. 139, &c.,) he is
called Atlantiades or Cyllenius ; but Philostratus {Icon. i. 26)
places his birth in Olympus. Hermes had a temple on Mount
Cyllene.— Smith's Diet. All the MSS read ' Cyllenius' with varied
spellings. 'Cyclinius' is found in some, if not all, printed texts.
Mr Brae corrected it to Cyllenius (= Mercury) in 1851 on astrono
mical grounds.

2 Mr Skeat says ; compare Gawain Douglas.

The Prolong of the oaii buk of Eneados.

Dyonea, nyc/tt-hyrd, and wach of day,

The starnys chasyt of the hevyn away,

Dame Cynthia dovn rollyng in the see,

And venus lost the bewte of hir E,

Fleand eschamyt within Cylenyus cave. 5

3 Aries is the mansion of Mars, and the exaltation of Venus.
Taurus „ Venus, „ the Moon.

Gemini „ Mercury, „ the Dragon's Head.

Cancer „ the Moon, „ Jupiter.

Leo „ the Sun, „ (none).

Virgo „ Mercury, „ Mercury.

Libra „ Venus, „ Saturn.

Scorpio „ Mars, „ (none).

Sagittarius „ Jupiter, „ the Dragon's tail.

Capricorn „ Saturn, „ Mars.

Aquarius „ Saturn, ., (none).

Pisces „ Jupiter, „ Venus.

88 4. CHAUCER'S " COMPLAYNT OF MARS."

sion, Libra, — sees her with a friendly aspect, in his
palace or mansion, Gemini, and receives her as his
friend (st. 21). We must now go back to Mars. In stanza
16, Chaucer, or his bird, sympathizes with the deserted
lover 1, who, furious, would have slain himself because he
could not accompany his mistress (1. 123-6). Yet he still
follows her, though so slowly that he passes only one star
in two days. Then he mourns his lady Yenus, saying that
on * the twelfth day of April ' the Sun wrought him his sad
fate (1. 139-140). This right reading of ' the twelfth day '
has been obscured by the scribes of the Fairfax and Tanner
MSS — both probably copied from the same original — forget
ting that .xij. can stand for ' twelfth ' as well as ' twelve,'
and so reading it 'twelve,' and altering 'day' into 'dayes.'
Mr Brae and Skeat say that according to the Astrolabe
of Chaucer's time, the 12th of April is the day on which
the Sun enters Taurus, and therefore the day on which
Mars was surprised with Venus in her chamber Taurus by
the Sun's coming (see lines 82, 91). Well, poor lonely Mars
complains ever his love's departure ; and on this lusty

The Dragon's Head and Tail are two stars in the Constellation
Draco.

The above list is compiled from Raphael's Manual of Astrology,
London, 1828. It appears to agree with the usages of the early
astrologers. — W. W. SKEAT. Mr Brae altogether dissents from,
Mr Skeat's explanation, and holds to his own.

1 The ancient only cares to see, but the modern helps out his
eyesight with anatomy. The ancient will with the most lively and
human verisimilitude recount for us outward sayings and doings
which he has seen, dreamt, or heard tell of ; but he will not go far
in probing the springs of the things said or done. Take Homer ;
he has a few simple surface formulas — " then the mind of the hero
swayed this way and that," or "now waxed his dear heart wroth with
in him " — to cover every variety of mental and emotional process.
Take Chaucer; what he does is to act in some sort the part of
chorus, or of the attendant figures in a devotional picture ; giving
by his attitude a keynote to our sympathies, making ejaculations,
constantly of a turn most exquisite and touching, of pity or dis
may over the events of his story ; but without consciously cutting
down upon the fibres of character, and laying bare the very feeling
itself as well as its manifestation. And it is this that Mr. Morris
in the work before us has done, with a skill of analysis scarcely
less fluent and simple than is his skill of description. — Pall Mall
Gazette on Wm Morris (date lost).

4. CHAUCER'S " COMPLAYNT OF MARS." 89

Valentine's-morning I'll sing you his ' Cornpleynt/ and then
take my leave. (Before going on to this, wherein the alle
gory is dropt, let us stop a minute to admire the happiness
and grace of Chaucer's working-out of his allegory, the in
tense humanness of it, and the pathos of the scenes after
the lovers' joy is broken-in on.) We turn to the Compleynt,
and with it the easy flow of the story-telling ceases ; we
enter the strait banks of the Tern. Five of them we have,
with change of metre ; in each, change of subject, restless
ness ; though the strong current of woe speeds onward to
its end. The Proem of the Compleynt is very poor. It
was right to have one, as Mars is now to speak to the
reader in his own person. JSTo change of this kind was
made in the Pity, and therefore Chaucer gave us no Proem
to his Complaint there. Mars, then, says he will show
cause for his troubles or (' other') men might think him a
fool. He seeks not redress, that is hopeless ; but only to
declare his heaviness. Then come the five Terns express
ing 1. his Love's beauty and his resolve to be faithful to
her to the death. 2. his despair, with a digression in st. 2
on the woes of true lovers : his Love is in distress ; to
whom can he complain 1 3. his reproaches of Jupiter, for
putting all the world under the rule of Love who is so
fickle. The lover, like a fish, seizes the longed-for hook,
gets his desire, and his death. 4. Yet Mars's troubles are
not due to his Lady, but to her maker, and her lover's own
desire (st. 35) : as was the case with the Brooch of Thebes
(st. 33, 34). ! 5. Mars appeals to all brave knights and true
ladies, with all lovers, to complain with him for his Love.
Still praising her, he ends his lay.

Can we reckon the " Compleynt" of the Mars among
Chaucer's best pieces'? I think not. The first and last
Terns are better than the others ; in them especially there

1 The description of this brooch in the Thebais of Statius, ii.
265, is quoted in Robert Bell's edition, vol. vi, p. 37, note. He
says it will remind the reader of the witches' caldron in Macbeth.

90 4. CHAUCER'S " COMPLAYNT OF MARS."

is, I dare say, a looking-back to his own old hopeless love
of The Compleynte of Pite, though he had no "glad
nyght " to console his " hevy morowe ". Stanza 25 (Tern
I. 2) with its ' beaut^ lust, fredam, and gentilnesse ' re
calls somewhat the ' fresshe beaute", lust, and jolyte ' of st.
6 of the Pity ; but there is no copying ; the variations of
the Mars on the theme of the Pite are thoroughly fresh
and original. The great interest of the poem is its
evidence of Chaucer's knowledge of Astronomy. The
lovelorn man has watcht the stars, and woven them into
the tale of a love like his own. True that he liked to
chaff his knowledge of the stars in his later Hous of
Fame :

With that this Egle gan to crye :
E. " Lat be," quod he, " thy fantasye. 484

Wilt thou lerne of sterres aught 1 "
CJi. " Nay, certenly," quod I, " ryght naught."
E. "And Why"?

Ch. " For I am now to olde ".

E. " Elles I wolde the have tolde," 488

Quod he, " the sterres names, lo,

And al the hevenes sygnes ther-to,

And which they ben."

Ch. " No fors," quod I, &c., &c.

Works, ed Morris, v. 239.

But then it pleased the dear old fellow to say occasion
ally that he couldn't write poetry : and if he thought so,
we don't share his opinion.

M. Sandras, who accepts the amalgamation of the Mars
and the Venus into one poem, is yet good enough to say
that Chaucer's declaration that he followed Gransson, is
only to be understood to apply to the two Complaints, as
the exposition which precedes them is too learned to have
come from the French poet (Etude, p. 109). We can now
assure the French critic that the Mars Complaint is not
from Gransson ; though, as many French poets must have
mentioned Mars and Venus together, and complained
about love M. Sandras's reasoning on the hunt in th(

4. CHAUCER'S " COMPLA YNT OF MARS.' 91

Dethe of Blaunclie,1 would bring the Mars too into his
wide drag-net of French imitations. Scratch a Eussian,
and you find a Tartar, said Voltaire (?) : Scratch Chaucer,
and you find a Frenchman, says M. Sandras. Well,
well, it pleases him, and doesn't hurt us or our bright old
English soul.

Here for the present I must break off, as I haven't
time to study further the rest of the poems just now, and
have been for six weeks, and am still, away from almost all
my books and literary friends, among bluebells, honey
suckles, laburnums, cuckoos, and nightingales ; Chaucer's
daisies under my feet, his heavenly harmony of birds
about me, and his bright old England all around. Wasn't
he at Windsor Castle that we see so well from Cooper's
Hill ? Didn't he see and love ' the river winding at its
own sweet will', and rejoice in all the sights arid sounds of
spring and early summer2 — chill and late though they were,

1 See above, p. 50.

2 Prof. Lowell says in his Conversations on some of the Old
Poets, p. 25 :

" But we must come back to Chaucer. There is in him the
exuberant freshness and greenness of spring. Everything he
touches, leaps into full blossom. His gladness and humour and
pathos are irrepressible as a fountain. Dam them with a prosaic
subject, and they overleap it in a sparkling cascade that turns even
a hindrance to a beauty. Choke them with a tedious theological
disquisition, and they bubble up forthwith, all around it, with a
delighted gurgle. There is no cabalistic Undine-stone or seal of
Solomon that can shut them up for ever. Beading him is like
brushing through the dewy grass at sunrise. Everything is new
and sparkling and fragrant. He is of kin to Belphasbe, whose
'Birth was of the womb of morning dew.
And her conception of the joyous prime.'

I speak now of what was truly Chaucer. . . His first merit, the
chief one in all art, is sincerity. He does not strive to body forth
something which shall have a meaning ; but, having a clear mean
ing in his heart, he gives it as clear a shape. Sir Philip Sidney
was of his mind when he bade poets look into their own hearts and
write. He is the most unconventional of poets, and the frankest.
If his story be dull, he rids his hearers of all uncomfortable qualms
by being himself the first to yawn. He would have fared but ill
in our day, when the naked feelings are made liable to the penalties
of an act for indecent exposure. Very little care had he for the
mere decencies of life. . . . Chaucer's . . innocent sejf-forgetful-
ness gives us the truest glimpses into his own nature, and, at the

92 4. CHAUCER'S " COMPLAYNT OF MARS."

like ours this year ! Truly he did ; and loved the sweet
English girls around him — not only girls, but women all.
His early hopeless love didn't harden, but opened his
heart. And one ought to work for the sake of him. But
he'd have given us all a holiday, I'm sure : so, reader, let
me put off Part II of these Trial-Forewords for a time ; and
join with me in thanking Professor Ten Brink, who first
gave Englishmen a real outline of their great poet's works ;
Mr Henry Bradshaw, from whom I have learnt all in this
Tract that is true or valuable on the structure of Chaucer's
poems x ; Mr Brae and Mr Skeat, whose explanations of the
astronomy of the Mars I have copied; Mr W. Aldis
Wright, who has kindly superintended the copying of all
the Trinity (Cambridge) MSS, and read two of the revises
of them with the MSS ; and Mr George Parker of the Bod
leian, for his accurate copies of the Oxford MSS, and his
reading the proofs or revises of some of them — (I've read
either proof or revise of all but the Tanner Mars myself 2,
and both proof and revise of most of the poems.)

Walnut-Tree Cottage, Egham,
13 June, 1871;

same time, makes his pictures of outward objects wonderfully clear
and vivid. Though many of his poems are written in the first
person, yet there is not a shade of egotism in them. It is but the
simple art of the story-teller to give more reality to what he tells."

1 My obligations to Mr Bradshaw are too numerous to specify ;
but I should have tried to state more of them had not I already
unwittingly attributed to him in print (in the Atlienceuni) the
absurdity that he considered the spurious Testament of Love a
translation from the French ; and I don't want to hook-on to him
any more like slips of my bad memory. If I have said here any
thing that he hereafter says, I desire that he be considered the
original author of it.

2 The Eadcliffe, where the MS was, was shut on my Whit
Tuesday visit there.

93

HEADWORDS TO PAET I.

I HAVE left out of the foregoing pages some points
which I wisht to notice.

1. Chaucer's Portrait. This is photographed by Mr
Stephen Thompson of 15 Edith Villas, North End, Ken
sington, from Occleve's 'lyknesse' in body-colour of his
master, on leaf 91 of the MS of his own De Regimine Prin-
cipum, now the Harleian MS 4866 in the British Museum.
None of the engravings or woodcuts of this ' lyknesse ' do
it justice ; the present photograph does, so far as the sun
can render colour.

The face is wise and tender, full of a sweet and kindly
sadness at first sight, but with much bonhommie in it on
a further look, and with deepset, farlooking, grey eyes.
Not the face of a very old man, a totterer, but of one with
work in him yet, looking kindly, though seriously, out
on the world before him. Unluckily, the parted grey
moustache, and the vermilion above and below the lips,
render it difficult to catch the expression of the mouth ;
but the lips seem parted, as if to speak. Two tufts of
white beard are on the chin ; and a fringe of white hair
shows from under the black hood. One feels one would
like to go to such a man when one was in trouble, and
hear his wise and gentle speech.

The green background (framed with a brown border)
has turned dark in the photograph. The dress is black ;
the knife- or pen-case hangs by a red string, and the black

94 CHAUCER'S PORTRAIT. FORMALITY OF HIS SHORT POEMS.

beads in the left hand are also threaded on a red string.1
Occleve's lines by the side of the portrait follow these :

IT The firste fyndere of our faire langage
Hath seyde in. caas semblable, & othir moo,
So hyly wel, \>ai it is my dotage
ffor to expresse or touche any of thoo.
Alasse ! my fadir fro be worlde is goo !
My worthi maister Chaucer ! hym I mene :
Be bou aduoket for hym, heuenes quene I

1F As bou wel knowest, o blissid virgyne,
With louyng* hert and hye deuocion),
In byne honour he wroot ful many a lyne.
0 now, bine helpe & bi promocion)
To god, bi sone, make amocion)
How he b1 seruaunt was, mayden marie; [leaf 91 or 88]
And lat his loue floure and fructifie !

Other lines by Occleve in praise of Chaucer are quoted by
Sir H. Nicolas in his Life of Chaucer, p. 76-9, ed. Morris,
from Mr T. Wright's edition of the De Regimine Principum,
Eoxb. Club, 1860.

2. The Formality of the Structure of Chaucer's short
Poems. This was a characteristic quite unexpected by me,
till Mr Bradshaw pointed it out. Of Chaucer's later poems,
The Former Age consists of 3 Terns, II. 3 being lost, and
the last line of III. 2 too ; Truth is a Balade (that is, a
Tern with an Envoy) ; the Moder of God is 7 Terns, IV. 2
being lost ; Lenvoy to Skogan is 2 Terns and an Envoy ;
Marriage is a Balade ; Gentilnesse a Tern (a Balade that
lias no doubt lost its Envoy) ; the Lack of Stedfastness is
a Balade ; the Fortune is 3 Terns with an Envoy ; the
Purse is a Balade. Lastly, the Anelida and Arcite consists
of a Proem of 3 stanzas, a Story of 27 stanzas, (all 7-line.) and
a Compleynt in 9-line stanzas, having a Proem of one stanza,
and a Conclusion of one, while between are two Movements,
as Mr Bradshaw calls them, each having six stanzas : first

1 Any one who would like to get for a guinea a copy of this
portrait of Occleve's. carefully coloured after the original, should
apply to Mr Frank Nowlan, artist, 17 Soho Square. W., or to Mr
W. H. Hooper, 8 Thanet Place, Strand, London, W.C.

OUR * SUPPLEMENTARY/ ' ODD ' TEXTS, AND ' ONE-TEXT.' 95

four of 9 lines each, then a 16-line one, ryming aaab, aaab;
bbba, bbba; of which the first aaa, arm, are 4-accent
lines, the first b, b} 5-accent ones, while the second bib, bbb
are 4-accent lines, and the second a, a, 5-accent ones (Two
very interesting bits of work). (The continuing stanza
' Whan that Annelyda this woful quene,' &c., is not in
Harl. MS 372, Shirley's Harl. 7333, and Addit. 16,165;
though it is in Ff i. 6. Camb. Univ. Libr., and Thynne's
printed text.) The A B C 's alphabeticalness doubtless had
some attraction for Chaucer, independent of its subject.

3. TJie Supplementary Parallel-Texts of Chaucer's
Poems are to contain such texts as I can get, above the
six that the Parallel-Text Edition, when open, will show.
An Editor wants all his texts under his eye at once.
When, as in the Parlament of Foules, there are 9 texts
and 2 fragments (besides Dr Morris's print of the Fairfax
MS), the best way to get any passage in them all under an
Editor's eye on his table, is to put 6 texts in the Parallel-
Text, 3 in the Supplementary, and the 2 fragments in the
Odd-Texts.

The Editor can then take in his left hand the One-
Text Print of the poems — which is meant for him to enter
his collations in, or otherwise prepare for press as he
pleases — and run it along our eleven texts, and Dr
Morris's one, all together on his table under his eye. (No
Member need groan at texts being multiplied, and he
sacrificed, to suit future Editors, because every Member
who uses the Society's books must have already often
found the separate prints of the MSS of our Six-Text
Canterbury Tales very handy to him.)

4. The Continuation of the Compleynte to Pite in
Shirley's hand on four leaves inserted into the Harleian
MS 78,1 first printed by Stowe in 1569, leaf 339 (for 345).
Shirley writes the lines as part of Chaucer's poem, which

1 The Pity follows the Doctrina et Consilium Galicnis just
printed in my Jyl of Breyntford, ftc.

THE SPURIOUS " BALADE OF PYTEE.

their subject suits. The restlessness of the metre, the in
complete stanzas, also suit the unhappy lover's ' unrest of
woe.' But it is too poor for our poet, too formless ; and
we must conclude that Shirley either mistook its author
ship, or wrote it himself in the hope that posterity would
mistake it for his master's : but this trick I do not believe
in his playing. The lines are therefore put as one of the
' Poems attributed to Chaucer' in the Appendix to our ' Odd
Texts of Chaucer 's Minor Poems.1 This " Balade of Pytee "
contains two stanzas of the ordinary 7-line sort, ryming ab,
abb, cc ; then come 3 stanzas in the MS, which are, in fact,
a set of triplets in Dante's form (terza rima), each catching
a ryme from the triplet before it, though five lines seem to
be wanting1 ; to the last triplet is added an extra ryme, as
at the end of a canto of Dante. Lastly come 8 stanzas of

1 Mr Skeat has kindly drawn-out this scheme of the triplets :

fulfille

place

grace

remedye

f[. . . . ye]

5 lines gone< [. . . . ye]

ede]
wommanhede

^ . . . .
[[....

drede

aventure

dure

creature

parte

darte

art

134

136
hert -I

[2 echo to
1. 133]

smert Il39

astert j

[. . . erse] 1

[. . . erse]

145

reherse
prydelesse "

148

routhelesse

"\

151

giltlesse ,
fdelle 1

154

welle
whelle

57

160

163

pair : & pull
up.

THE SPURIOUS " CRONYCLE MADE BY CHAUCIER." 97

ten lines each, ryming aab, aab, cddc ; and the poem
breaks off, the rest of the MS being gone. Many of the
lines, as 161-4, echo Chaucer's in his Pity, as 100-6.

5. ])e Cronycle made by Chancier, being the second
of the Poems attributed to him in our Appendix to the
Odd Texts. This consists of nine 7-line stanzas on the
nine Ladies in Chaucer's Legende of Goode Women, save
that Alceste is turned into Alchyone, whose story Chaucer
told in his Detlie of Blaunche (p. 43 above) ; but the
Oc?7M/c?e-writer tells the tale differently to Chaucer. The
Cronycle makes no mention of the other ten Goode Women
whom Chaucer meant to celebrate : — •

" Behynde this God of Love upon the grene
I saugh comyng of ladyes nientene
In real habite, a ful esy paas." (Legende, 1. 282-4.)

The Cronycle is perhaps by Lydgate, Shirley, or some
like versifier, and cannot possibly be Chaucer's.

6. The Former Age, p. 12. Chaucer's bad opinion of
his own time should be noticed in this poem : —

" Alas ! Alas ! now may men wepe and crye,
For in owre days is not but covetyse,
Doublenesse, treson, and envye,
Poysonne, manslawtyr, mordre in sondri wyse." 64

The passage is much altered from the Latin, which he
translates, " I wolde that our tymes sholde turne a^eyne to
fe oolde maneres. IF But J?e anguissous loue of hauyng
brennej) in folke moore cruely fan J?e fijr of J>e Mou?itaigne
of Ethna, J?at euer brenne]?." — Boethius, p. 51, ed. Morris.

Chaucer's Balade on The Lack of Stedfastness (ed.
Morris, vi. 292) also gives a very dark picture of his times.

7. The Canterbury Tales, p. 9, 16. Why I insist on
1386, or some such year, as the central period of the Tales,
is the strong conviction I have that the thorough larkiness
of many of them cannot be an old man's work, and that it
is absurd to suppose these contemporary with the Envoy
to Scogan or Bukton, &c. Just see how they bubble over

TRIAL-FOREWORDS. 7

98 CHAUCER'S MIDDLE AND MERRY TIME.

with fun. Read the description of the Carpenter's Wife in
the Miller's Tale, followed by that

" "Now sir, and eft sir, so bifel the cas,"

showing that Chaucer enjoyed the story like any young
spark ; see how the Reeves Tale is workt up, — with its six
lines of summary too — the Wife of Bath's Prologue, the
Shipman's Tale, and the Summoner's ; and then ask yourself
' was this work done in the decline of life, or when young
blood was still in the veins 1 ' If any reader hasn't backbone
enough to judge for himself, then let him take the verdict,
not of a foreigner, however learned — he cannot appreciate
the value of the evidence, — but of an English or English-
speaking man with poetic insight like Prof. Lowell, Mr
William Morris, or the like, if any such there be. Should
the verdict be against me, I should desire my judgment to
be set aside by all in whom it does not call up an echo
that it's right.

Against the notion of the Tales being written succes
sively (or nearly so) to fit into the framework of the Pro
logue and Links, in the way that a boat-builder would lay
down his keel, fix his ribs, and then nail up his streaks or
planks to them,1 I urge that we've three Tales — Doctor's,
Wife's, Second Nan's — without Head-Links, but no End-
Links without Tales, except in the somewhat doubtful case
of the Nun's Priest's End-Link, " Sire Nonnes Freest, our
hoste sayde anon," which seems to be repeated from some

1 In light boats the ribs go in last, solid shapes guiding the
lines of the boat. Old times come back to me. Mr Beesley of St
John's will recollect our spending the leisure of a Long Vacation
at Cambridge — was it 1845 or 1844? — in building a pair of out
riggers apiece, first separately, and then together in the yard opposite
Magdalen. It wasn't all waste time, though, for we lent our boats
(the first really narrow ones ever built) to Newell and Combes who
were coaching eights, and practising for Newell's match with Clasper
or some other Tyneside man. Newell askt for my boat to row his
match in, as he said she was the lightest and fastest he'd ever been
in, 'goes off my hands like nothing, Sir'; but the London trade
wouldn't hear of it, built him a new narrow boat, of our sixe, so
that he could just sit in her ; he won his match, and thenceforth
narrow boats were establisht on the London and Cambridge waters.

CHAUCER'S DECLINE. HAZLITT'S ED. OF WARTON. 99

lines in his Prologue, or, if written before that, then given-
up — for it's in very few MSS — and workt into the Pro
logue.

8. Why I make a Fourth Period, of Decline (p. 1 7), in
Chaucer's Works, is both because of the manifest worseness
of most of his late poems, and because the impression made
on me by his Envoy to The Compleynt of Venus, is that of
a man taking up his poetizing again after a considerable
rest, and rinding it awfully hard ; as he says,

..." hit is a grete penaunce —
Syth ryme in Englissh hath such skarsete —
To folowe worde by worde the curiosite
Of Graunson, floure of them that make1 in Fraunce."

Accustomed as Chaucer is, to run-down his own
powers2, this Envoy seems to me to bear fairly the mean
ing I put on it, and to be dead against the view that the
poem — which is certainly late in Chaucer's life, though
not at the end of it — was written with a power that went
On growing up to his death. There comes a time when the
cunning of the deftest hand begins to fail.

9. On the last page of vol. ii of Mr W. C. Hazlitt's new
edition of Warton's History of English Poetry I have given
other places to Chaucer's ABC and Pity than those assigned
to them in these Forewords, p. 12 — 15, &c. The latter
ones are the result of second thoughts, and right, I hope.
(I am the ' friend ' alluded-to on p. ix of this Wart on, vol.
i, but, not having time to do the MS work there recom
mended, I was obliged to content myself with drawing up

1 write poetry.

8 " But for to tellen yow al hir beaute, [Canace's]

It lith not on my tonge ne my connyng,

I dar nought undertake so heigh a thing ;

Myn English eek is insufficient;

It moste be a rethor excellent

That couth his colours longyng for that art,

If he schold hir diacryve in eny part :

I am non such ; I mot speke as I can."

Canterbury Tales, Group F, § 2, 1. 33-41 (Squire's Tale).
See too F, § 4, 1. 8-20, the Proem to the $tranhel<wne8 Tale,

100 DE DEQUILEVILLE'S FRENCH ORIGINAL OF CHAUCER'S A B c.

the list of poems after 1 300 in vol. ii, and getting Mr H.
Sweet, Dr Richard Morris, Mr W. Aldis Wright, Mr
Skeat, Mr D. Donaldson, Mr Hales, Mr J. Shelly, and Mr
E. Brock, to correct and supplement the early part of the
book. I am also responsible for the chief transpositions of
Warton's text in vol. ii, to get the work more nearly
chronological. Though Mr H. Sweet's name is not on the
title-page of the new Warton, his sketch of Anglo-Saxon
poetry in it is decidedly as valuable as — not to say, worth
much more than — the work of any of the rest of us whose
names are there. Acknowledgment of Mr John Shelly's
interesting account of the Early English Charlemagne
romances was unluckily forgotten in the Preface.)

10. De Deguileville 's original of Chaucer's ABC.
This Prayer to the Virgin that Grace-Dieu gave the
Pilgrim, is printed opposite Chaucer's free englishing of it
in our One-Text Print of Chaucer s Minor Poems, No. V.
M. Paul Meyer, of the Archives, &c., the learned editor
of Flamenca, &c. &c., has most kindly copied for us the
French text of De Deguileville's ABC from the MS that
he considers the best in the National Library, Paris, and
has also collated this with three other MSS. His letter on
the subject, which all our members will read with pleasure
and gratitude, is as follows : —

" Passy — Paris, 13 August, 1871.

" I enclose yon the copy of De Deguilleville's (that's the
proper form of the name) Prayer. I suppose you will
prefix an introduction to Chaucer's ABC, and, at the same
time, say something about De Deguilleville. But as I did
not know what your plan was — and, besides that, as the
weather is fearfully warm in Paris, I considered the best
way would be for me to send you the text with a few in
troductory remarks which you could use at your own will.

" First, I must confess that I am not aware of the
existence of any study on De Deguilleville's poems, since
1745, when the learned Abbe* Goujet wrote about that poet,
a short, but for the time, very satisfactory, notice in the
Bibliotheque Frangoise, vol. ix., p. 71 — 92.

"From the abbot's researches, it appears that De
Deguilleville was born about 1295, and that his first poem,

DE DEGUILEVILLE'S FRENCH ORIGINAL OF CHAUCER'S A EC, 101

the Pelerinage de la vie liumaine^ was composed about A.D.
1330. I do not even know who found out that De
Deguilleville's Prayer was the original of Chaucer's ABC1.
Certainly not Sandras : see his book, p. 106.

" ThePelcrinages were very successful ; perhaps more so
in the 15th than in the 14th century; MSS of the 14th being
rather scarce. But however great may be, as we say, the
'abondance de richesses,' it might be called ' surabondanee,'
as you will see ; and on the whole, the future editor of De
Deguilleville will find the work harder than one might
suppose it. MSS differ much more than we could an
ticipate in poems of the 14th century. It is so, perhaps,
because De Deguilleville's language, being rather 'recherche/
was the more subjected to alteration by the scribes ;
but it is so chiefly for a peculiar fact, which is this : the
poems are in octosyllabic verses ; but De Deguilleville's
octosyllabic verses differ from the general rule in one very
important point, viz. that the feminine verses are just
equal in the number of syllables to the masculine verses ; —
that is to say (if you depend upon the pronunciation, not
upon the spelling), are one syllable shorter than the
masculine, these latter having the accent on the 8th syll.,
and the feminine on the 7th syll. (you know that in any
octosyllabic poem you may come across the accent is always
on the 8th syllable, feminine verses having one syllable
more after the accent).

" This system of versification was certainly not invented
for the first time by De Deguilleville, as the same is to be
found throughout the Breviari damor of Matfre Ermen-
gaud de Beziers, a proven^al poem written at the end of the
13th cent., and in many songs of the troubadours ; but I
don't recollect any French instance of it.

" However this may be, it seems that the copyists were
greatly shocked by such a novelty; and several of our
oldest MSS of the PeUrinages have attempted with more
or less accuracy and continuity to alter the feminine verses
into the ordinary octosyllabic by corrections of different
kinds, the most frequent consisting merely in the addition
of some senseless monosyllabic word. You can form an
idea of this curious kind of alteration, from which none of
the MSS that I have seen is entirely free, by looking at
the foot-readings of MS A for stanzas 1, 2 : — after these
stanzas the text, so far as the versification is concerned,
is tolerably correct. — But to make the thing clearer, I will

1 Mr Bradshaw, I believe, when examining the MS of the
Pilgrim in the Camb. Univ. Libr. (from De Deguileville's French)
that Mr W. Aldis Wright afterwards edited for the Roxburghe Club.
— F. J. F.

102 DE DEGUILEVILLE'S FRENCH ORIGINAL OP CHAUCER'S ABC.

write here the feminine verses of stanzas 1 and 4 as they
stand in MSS Fonds fran?ais, 823, 1139, 1647 :

823 (written A.D. 1393). 1617 (written A.D. 1403). 1139 (15th cent.)

8 Tout confus je ne puis miex faire sic Tout contus ne puis

mieulx fere *

6 Vaincu m'a monfel adversairo mon mat Car vaineu m'a mon ad-

versaire

7 Puia que en toy ont tous repaire tic sic

8 Je me doy bien vers toy retraire tic Bien me doy dont ...
10 N'est mie luite neccessaire sic N'est pas tel livre (!)
12 A moy se tu tres debonnaire Se tu m'es A moy se tu com , . .
87 Dame es de misericorde2 sic sic

38 Par qui li vraix Diex bien recorde sic Par qui Dieu tres bien

se ...

40 Par toy viiit la paix et concorde sic Par toy vint et paix . . .

41 Et fu pour oster la discorde fie Et gi fu pour oster d.
45 Pour ce qu'ostas la roide corde Pour ce que ostas la (as MS 1647).

corde
48 Compare" 1'eust ma vie orde sic sic

11 MS 1647 seems to be very like MS 823. I have no
doubt that a careful classification of the MSS would show
that the systematic alterations of the feminine verses might
be traced up to a very few correcting copyists ; but that
would require looking at all De Deguilleville's MSS, which
is more than I can afford time for at present.

" You know that the Pelerinage de la vie liumaine was
to a certain extent recast arid increased by the author. To
this second redaction, which has retained the A B C Prayer,
belongs the MS 377 (our D), formerly 69882, on which
see Paulin Paris, Manuscrits franpois, III. 243.

" The form of the Prayer is the acib aal) — bba bba —
stanza, so frequent in the French poetry of the 13th and
14th centuries, and of which I have mentioned many in
stances in my Salut d' Amour (Paris, 1867), p. 10."

Chaucer has not — so far as our present MSS show —
englisht the last two stanzas of the French, beginning with
the signs of contraction for et and con ; though at least
one other English writer has included the et in his ABC
poem : see that on the Passion of Christ at the end of my
Political, Religious, and Love Poems, E. E. Text Soc., 1866.

There is no MS of Deguileville's Pelerinages in the
British Museum, but Mr Henry Huth has one, and, during
his holiday in Austria, one of his sons kindly let me copy
the A B C from it ; but as M. Meyer's version proved the
best, the other was set aside.

1 This verse has not been corrected. The same observation
applies to v. 45, in 1647 as well as in 1139.

2 This verse has been allowed to pass unaltered, because the cor
rectors considered that the e of Dame could be pronounced as a sylla
ble, notwithstanding the following vowel. So in v. 48, with we.

DE DEGUILEVILLE'S FRENCH ORIGINAL OF CHAUCER'S ABC. 103

Mr Henry Huth's MS contains, besides fly-leaves, 557
pages folio, written, in 2 cols., early in the 15th century.
Inside the 3rd fly-leaf is written

" Le Romant des trois Pelerinages
Le premier pelerinage est de rhomme durant qu'il est
encore viuant, pag. 1.

Le deuxiesme pelerinage est de TAme, separee de son
corps, pag. 231.

Le troisieme pelerinage est de nostre Seigneur Jesus
Christ, depuis sa Natiuite iusques a ce qu'il enuoya le saint
Esprit aux Apostres ; en forme de monotessaron, c'est a
sauoir les quatre Euangelistes mis en vn, pag. 407."

(in another hand)
" II y a cent quarante deux Images "

The stanzas of the French ABC are in 12 lines, or
two sixes, the first ryming aab, aab, the second ryming
bba, bba. The A B C is preceded by the following lines,
and a drawing of a tonsured man (the Pilgrim) kneeling
and praying to the Virgin, who is crowned, and sits on a
throne, with the child Jesus in her arms (p. 185, col. 2).

A done de la nue vn escripf o<v IBS, &>i. i]
Me getta, efr ainsi me dit,
" Vois comment prier tu la dois,
A ce besoing, et toutesfoiz
Que semblable besoing auras
Et quesmaine des vieilles seins ;
Or le ly tost appartement,
Et la requier deuotement,
En lui promettant de cuer fin
Que tu seras bon Pelerin,
Que Jamais par chemin nuas
Ou crudes trouuer mauuais pas."

o R vous dy que 1'escript ouury

Je le desploiay, et le vy,
Et fis de tons poins ma priere,
En la forme et en la manere
Que contenoit le dit escript.
Et si com grace 1'auoit dit,
La forme de 1'escript orrez,
Se vostre .a. b. C. sauez,
Sauoir le pourrez delegier,
Pour dire le, s'il est mestier.

[drawing described above]

104 TWO VERSIONS OF THE PBOLOGUE TO THE "LEGENDS."

11. The Prologue to the Legende of Good Women. —
The variation of the Cambr.-Univ.-Libr. MS Gg 4. 27.
from the standard version of all the other MSS known to
us *, is the most interesting bit of Chaucer-text intelligence
that the Society's work has brought-out. I say ' brought-
out ', for though Mr Bradshaw printed the Gg Prologue as
far back as June 30, 1864, I believe that he admitted no
Englishman to his Holy-of-Holies till after I had given the
order to have the Gg Legende copied, and then I was
allowed to see the mystery that only Prof. Child and Prof.
Ten Brink had (as I believe) been allowed to gaze-on before.
March 27, 1871, was the red-letter day in my Chaucer-
Minor existence ; and, being one of ' the profane vulgar ', I
soon after told my brother vulgarians of the secret in Tlie
Athenaeum. Now that I have a chance of printing the
whole of the Gg version, though out of its order, I can't
find it in my conscience to keep it back any longer. Mr
Denis Hall of the Cambr. Univ. Library has accordingly
read the former print, and the proof of it, with the MS for
us, and our Members will find the two versions in our
Odd-Texts, set opposite each other so as to show some of
the differences between the texts, while double line-
numbers show their correspondences, stars, * *, mark in
each text the lines that are not in the other one, and '§,§,'
mark the lines of one version that are altered in the other.
Mr G. Parker of the Bodleian has read the Fairfax proof
with the MS.

The chief gains of the Gg Prologue are its making-
known to us (1) a new work of Chaucer's, now lost, his
prose translation ' of the wrechede engendrynge of man-
kynde, as men may in Pope Innocent ifynde' (see p. 11,
above) ; and (2) that Chaucer had in his chest sixty books
of divers lands and tongues telling the good deeds and

1 The British-Museum Additional MS 12,524 has no Prologue
(it begins at 1. 273 of Medea), and Addit. 28,617 (once Mr Taylor's
MS) begins at 1. 513 of the Prologue, Fairfax type.

TWO VERSIONS OF THE PROLOGUE TO THE " LEGENDS." 105

lives of women of old, whose memories and whose success
ors he loved so well. One feels grateful to the scribe of
the Gg MS for having preserved us such a treasure as this
Prologue ; and one is ready, for the sake of it, to forgive
him straight-off all his offences of ' swallowing eZs and fees '
and writing 'hese' (Temporary Preface, p. 52) that one
groaned over, and hated him for in former days (Temp.
Pref., p. 6). I offer humble apologies to the good soul's
memory, and will count him worthy henceforth.

But besides these two points of interest, the Gg Pro
logue shows us large transpositions and omissions, and
gives as much new matter, involving a change of the
action of the story. Both versions open alike, with Chau
cer's praise of his dear old books — from which the May
flowers alone can draw him — and his praise of the Daisy ;
but in this praise the Fairfax version has above thirty
fresh lines, and Gg has the Flower-and-Leaf bit as its lines
73-80, while the standard version (which I shall call F
after the Fairfax MS) has them as 1. 189-196. In lines
101-8, F (the later version) gives us an interesting allusion
to Chaucer's age1, when thinking of his dawntide visits to
the daisy in his youth, he says,

That in myft herte / I feele yet the fire
That made me to ryse / er yt wer day,

and also a change in the date of the poem from the Gg
1 Whan passed was almost the monyth of may ', to the F
' And was now / the firste morwe of May '. With this
change is connected the first great alteration of the incidents
of the story ; for whereas Gg only makes Chaucer roam
through his green meadow one day to gaze on the daisy,
and then dream that he was roaming there again with the
same purpose, when a lark told him the God of Love was
coming, F makes Chaucer go to the meadow before sunrise,

1 See the Gg allusion in lines 261-2.

Wei wot I ther-by / thow begynnyst dote
As olde folis whan here sp[y]ryt faylyth

106 TWO VERSIONS OF THE PROLOGUE TO THE "LEGENDS."

to see the daisy unclose, kneel down beside it, greet it at its
opening, give above 20 lines about the loves of his favourite
birds, and then think he'll lie on his side all day, looking
at the daisies (1. 175 — 187) : at length he sleeps, as in Gg,
in his arbour, but dreams that he lies in the meadow — not
roams about it, — and sees the God of Love, without any
lark telling him of the God's coming. Well; with the
God comes his Queen, — whose name, Alceste, Gg alone
gives — and then comes a wise transposition by F, for
whereas Gg wrongly puts between the description of the
Queen, and the balade sung in her praise, an account of
the Nineteen Good Women and their true-loving sister
hood, F rightly keeps the Queen's balade (that is, Tern,
for it has no Envoy) close to the description of her, and
shifts the Nineteen Good Women to the end of the Tern.
Gg also makes the women kneel to the daisy and sing the
Queen's Tern round it, but F shifts the kneeling till after
the Tern, and then makes the Good Women sing a new
song of 3 lines and a half in honour of the Daisy. F also
alters the 'Alceste' of the Gg burden of the Tern into
'My lady1', and introduces six fresh lines (263-8) and
alters the two next them, in praise of ' my lady free ', ' my
lady', 'my lady sovereyne', with evident intent to praise
some special lady, unconnected at first with the Prologue,
and whom I can't help thinking is this * lady sovereyne ',
' the Queue ' to whom the book is to be given (as F alone
says) on Chaucer's behalf, ' at Eltham or at Sheene ', 1.
496-7. If there had but been a Court Circular at the
time, and we had a copy of it, I fully believe we should
find that on a certain day when Her Majesty was drest in
green, she had spoken to, or been seen by, Geoffrey Chaucer
Esquire.

Next comes the long piece, lines 258 — 312 of Gg,
which one can't help regretting that Chaucer left out of
his revised version, F, about the blame of him for ' schew-

1 Thja alteration is made too in F, 1. 341, from 0gt 1. 317.

TWO VERSIONS OF THE PROLOGUE TO THE " LEGENDS." 107

ynge how that wemen han don mis,' his having sixty
' bokys olde & newe . . ful of storyis grete . . of sundery
wemen, which e lyf that they ledde, and euere an hun-
derede goode ageyn on badde ', and who ' kepte so here
name . . that men schal nat fynde a man that coude be so
trowe & kynde '. This is the greatest of the gains of the
Gg version to us. After it the two texts run nearly to
gether, till the end, though Gg mentions the new (and now
lost) work of Chaucer's, his prose translation of Pope In
nocent's ' wrechede engendrynge of mankynde' (1. 414-15),
F .introduces the reference to Eichard the Second's Queen,
Anne of Bohemia (1. 496), and inserts two expansions of
the God of Love's speech to Chaucer, about the 20,000
good women of whom he knows nothing (1. 552-562), about
the God's departure (1. 563-6), and the praise of Cleopatra
(1. 568-577). And so the Prologue ends.

(If any reader of these Trial-Forewords can pick any
hole in them, or strengthen any part of them, or give me
any notes or hints for the rest of Chaucer's Minor Poems,
I hope he will write to me at 3, St George's Square,
Primrose Hill, London, 1ST.W.)

108

NOTES TO TRIAL-FOREWORDS.

p. 6. The -ye -y test. Prof. Ten Brink writes, " I beg
leave to say that with regard to most of the poems I have
worked with other tests besides the -y -ye test." Mr Joseph
Payne writes, " The more I look into that -y -ye matter, the
more I am struck with the ludicrousness — don't be offended —
of making an unknown scribe's spelling a test of whether a
given poem is the work of a great author. I won't however
now go into the matter, except to say that it has never been
proved — and cannot be — that curteysie was a word of four
syllables ; and therefore, until this is proved, there is not the
smallest reason why -y and -ye should not ryme together."
Not having gone-into this -y -ye question for myself, I have
no right to give an opinion upon it. But if not one unknown
scribe, but all the best of them who copied Chaucer's works,
make him avoid the ryme -y -ye1, there must be some reason
for it. But the settling of the genuineness of Chaucer's
poems, and the spuriousness of those attributed to him by
editors old and modern, is quite independent of the -y -ye
test. For all his genuine poems we have manuscript author
ity within from 10 to 50 years after his death2, and all these
poems are worthy of him, except perhaps two or three that
must have been written in his old age. If any one wants us
to accept any other poems as Chaucer's, let him bring forward
his external and internal evidence for their being our poet's
work ; but let him take notice that we don't admit old
printers' attributings of authorship as good external evidence.
On the other hand, we admit that our MS external evidence
may be, and is, sometimes at fault : it is so, twice at least, in
Shirley's case.

p. 8. Prof. Ten Brink says, " Why do you call it evident
that the * Lack of Stedfastness ' was written in the later years

1 -ye for which there is etymological ground.
2 The Moder of God MS authority is later.

NOTES. BARN ABO VISCONTl's DEATH. 109

of Richard II. 's reign?" 1, Because it's so awfully bad;
more like Lydgate than Chaucer. 2, Because it reflects the
utter failure of the kingly hand to do its duty, — to pick-out
and smite wrong-doers, — that continued so long in Richard
II.'s reign. (Compare Shakspere's play with this Balade of
Chaucer's.)

p. 8, note. Fortune, or ' Balade de Visage sauns Peyntnre.'
Mr Brock says, " this poem, or at least Fortune's part of it, is
a versification of Boethius, bk. ii, prose 2, and part of Prose
1. If you will look through pp. 30-5 of Dr R. Morris's cd. of
Boethius, you will find the greater part of Chaucer's Fortune
matter in prose. This fact will account for the presence of
the poem in the Cambridge MS of Boethius, Ii 3. 21, along
with the Former Age."

p. 9, note. Barnabo Visconti, Lord of Milan. From the
following extracts it appears that Bernabo Visconti was one
of the lords of Milan from 1354 to 1385, — being lord jointly
with his two brothers Matthew and Galeazzo from 1354 to
1355, with his one brother Galeazzo from 1355 to 1378, and
with his nephew John Galeazzo from 1378 to 1385. " Jean
Visconti, archeveque et seigneur de Milan, mourut inopine-

ment, le 5 octobre 1354 II laissoit, pour lui succe-

der, trois neveux, fils de son frere, Etienne Visconti : c'est
entre eux que se partagea son heritage. Comme ils e'toient
entoures des soldats que 1'archeveque avoit rassembles pour
combattre la ligue, ils n'eurent pas de peine a se faire pro-
clarner seigneurs par toutes les viljes de leur domination. Cette
ceremonie, qui rappeloit encore des droits que le peuple
n'exer9oit plus, se fit a Milan, le 12 octobre 1354. Les trois
freres partagerent ensuite et leurs etats et leurs pouvoirs, de
maniere que chacun d'eux eut un apanage en propre, et que
la souverainete ne fut cependant pas divisee. La ville de
Milan, centre du gouvernement, resta commune aux freres
Visconti,1 de meme que celle de Genes." — SISMONDI, Histoire
des Republiques italiennes du Hoy en Age, torn. vi. chap, xliii.
p. 211 (ed. 1826).

On the cause and manner of Barnabo's death, Sismondi
says : —

" Jean Galeaz, qui prenoit le titre de comte de Vertus,
avoit succe"de, en 1378, a son pere Galeaz, dans le gouverne
ment de la moitie de la Lombardie. II residoit a Pavie,
tandis que son oncle Bernabos demeuroit a Milan. Ce dernier
avoit partage entre ses nombreux enfans les villes qui de*-
pendoient de lui ; il auroit desire accroitre leur portion en y
joignant 1'heritage de son neveu, et il avoit donne les mains
a plusieurs complots contre la personne ou les provinces de

1 The eldest brother, Matthew, was poisoned in 1355. Sismondi,
vi. chap, xliii. p. 261.

110 NOTES. BARNABO VISCONTl's DEATH. BUKTON.

Jean Gale*az. Le comte de Vertus s'etoit derobe* a ces in
trigues, sans laisser conrioitre qu'il les eut decouvertes. Tout-i
con p il s'etoit jete dans la devotion ; on ne le voyoit plus eri-
toure" que de religieux et de pretres ; un rosaire a la main, il
visitoit les eglises?, et il y demeuroit en prieres devant les
images des saints. Bernabos attribuoit ce changement a la
pusillanimity de son neveu, et il etoit confirm e* dans son juge-
meut par les precautions qu'il voyoit prendre & Jean Galeaz
pour sa surete : car ce prince avoit double se gardes ; il en
e"toit sans cesse entoure, et il temoignoit son effroi au moindre
mouvement imprevu. Entin, au commencement de mai 1385,
le comte de Vertus [Jean Galeaz] annon9a qu'il vouloit aller
en pe*lerinage au temple de la sainte Vierge, au-dessus de
Varese, pres du lac Majeur ; et il se mit en route avec urie
garde nombreuse qui ne s'ecartoit pas de lui. Cornme il appro-
choit de Milan, le 6 mai au matin, Bernabos vint k sa ren
contre avec ses deux fils aines. Jean Galeaz, apres avoir em-
brasse son oncle avec tendresse, se retourna vers deux
capitaines qui devinrent farneux a son service, Jacques del
Verme et Antonio Porro, et il leur donna en langue alle-
mande, qui etoit alors la langue militaire de toute 1'Europe,
1'ordre d'arreter Bernabos. Aussitot les soldats arracherent
a ce seigneur la bride de sa mule ; ils couperent le cein-
turon de son epe"e, et 1'entrainerent loin des siens, tandis que
Bernabos appeloit vainement son neveu a son aide, et le sup-
plioit de n'etre pas traitre a son propre sang. La ville de
Milan ouvrit aussitot ses portes a Jean Galeaz ; et ce fut dans un
de ses chateaux que son seigneur depose fut retenu prissonier
avec ses deux fils. A trois reprises il fut empoisonne pendant
les sept rnois que dura sa detention. II mourut enfin le 18
decembre 1385. Ses cruautes et ses exactions 1'avoient rendu
si odieux aux peuples, qu'aucun de ses sujets n'essaya de le
defendre. Ses allies 1'abandonnerent avec la meme indiffer
ence, et Jean Galeaz, senl maitre de la Lombardie, deposa le
masque religieux qu'il avoit porte lorigternps, et tourna centre
ses voisins les forces qu'il avoit enlevees a son oncle." — Sis-
mondi, torn. vii. chap. Hi. pp. 254 — 256.

It was perhaps to Bernabo's tyranny that Chaucer alluded
in the Prologue to his Legende of Good Women.

MS Gg. 4. 27, Cambr. Univ. Libr. Fairfax MS 16, Bodleian.

And not ben lyk tyrauntis of

lumbar dye
That vsyn wilfulhed & tyran-

uye

And nat be lyke tirauutez / of

lumbardye
That han no reward / but at

tyrannye

p. 8, 17. Bukton. This is probably the Robert Bucton
named in the Patent Roll, 17 Rio. II, Pt. 1, skin 17: "Pro

NOTES. LATE TALES. LEGENDS. Ill

imus Kiieras patentes carissime Consortis rwstre Anne Regine
Anglic facias in hec verba : 'Anne, par la grace de dieu,
Royne dengleterre & de ffrance, & Dame Dirland?, A touz ceuz
qui cestes le/ires verront ou orrorit : saluz. Sacliez nous auoir,
de noire grace espec/ale, donez & grantez a noire bien arne
Esquier, Robert Bucton, certain qtiantite de pasture & bois ap-
pelle Gosewoldf, dedeinz noire seignourie de Eye. A auoir del
feste de seint Michel darrein passe, iusqes la terme de no/re vie,
s'il a tant soil viuant, pur ent faire son profit & volunte sanz
wast1, sanz rieri ent nous rendre. Done par tesmoignance de
noire seel a Westim'ttsire le primer iour de Decembre, Ian del
regne de noire tresredote seigneur le Roy, quinzim.' Nos autem
concessioner! predi'ciam, ac omnia & singula in d/ciis h'ieris
contenta rata haoentes, & grata, ea pro nob/s & heredibws
nosiris, quantum in nobas est, acceptamws, approbanrms, ratifi-
camws, & confirmamws prout Kiere predivte rai/onabi liter tes-
tantwr. Et vlterius de gratia, nosira special} dedinms & con-
cessimws eidem Roberto d^cios boscurn & pasturarn, curn
pertinentibus, \\abendum & tonendum sibi & heredibws suis, de
nobzs & heredibws no.siris, vt de horiore de Eye, per seruiciti/w
vnius rose, ad festum Natiuitatis sancti Johawnis Bapii'sie an
nuatim reddendwm p7'0 onmibws serniciis imperpeitmrn. In
cuius &c. Teste Rege apud W estmonasterhim, vj die Octobrw.

per breue de priuato sigillo."

p. 9, 16. Canterbury Tales. The prosy bit of moralizing at
the end of the Manciple's Tale of the Crow must have been
written in Chaucer's late time. In the early Secorid-Nuri's-
Tale, the two following lines strike me as the weakest. I have
read in Chaucer, specially when one finds they are part of
St Cecile's profession of her willingness to suffer martyrdom :
" I reche nat what wrong / that thou me profre,

For I can suffre it / as a Philosophre."
They come near the Flower- c&- Leaf lines,

" The savour eke rejoice would any wight

That had be sicke or rnelancolius

It was so very good and vertuous." 315

p. 10. The Legende. " I have attempted to show in my
Sludieji, p. 147, &c., that the Prologue was written during the
spring of 1385, and the Hous of Fame in 1384. As for
Troylus, it must have been written immediately before the
Hous of Fame, because Troylus, the Hous of Fame, and the
Prologue to the Legende, are inseparably linked together,
though, from another point of view, the Legende Prologue
begins a new period in- Chaucer's development." — B. TEN
BKINK.

p. 10, 16. Legende of Good Women. That the (probably)
revised version of the Prologue to this Poem is after 14 Jan.

112 NOTES. PHILIPPA CHAUCER'S PENSION. GAMMON.

1382, when Richard II married his first Queen, Anne of
Bohemia, we know from lines 496-7,

" And whan this boke ys made, yive it the quene
On my byhalfe, at Eltham, or at Sheene."

As these lines are not in the different version of the Pro
logue in MS Gg. 4. 27, Cambr. Univ. Libr., we must conclude
that either this version was written before 1382, or at some
later time when Chaucer had lost favour at Court. Anne
died on June 7, 1394.

p. 18. Chaucer s early love. In the first version of his
Prologue to the Legende, Cambr. Univ. MS Gg. 4. 27, lines
400-1 (and which are only in this MS), Alceste, speaking of
Chaucer, says to Love,

" Whil he was $ong, he kepte youre estat ;
I not where he be now a renegat."

p. 19. Philippa Chaucer's first Pension of £10 from the
Duke of Lancaster. For this, Mr Ponsonby A. Lyons has at
present searcht in vain. He says, " I have since looked for
the grant of £10 a year to Philippa Chaucer. It is not in the
Calendar, and I doubt very much if it exists. You see that
it is not mentioned in the grant to Chaucer ; and in the
Compotus of the Receiver-General of the Duchy for 50 Edw.
Ill & 1 Ric. II it is not mentioned, nor Philippa's name,
though there are two payments to Chaucer of his pension, for
one of which he gave his acquittance, and the roll mentions
the date of the warrant under which he was paid, Savoy 12
Jun. Anno li. I have at least ascertained that it would re
quire a good deal of time and labour probably to find the
grant, and a good deal certainly to prove that it does not
exist. Are you aware that Katharine de Swynford was in the
service of the Duchess Blanche ? I have clear proof."

p. 20. Gammon and guess mixt-up with Chaucer's Life.
Outsiders, even in a man's own time, can't help putting
meanings into his work that he did not think of. Turner's
wonder at some of Mr Ruskin's interpretations of his pictures
has been recorded for us. Years ago, soon after Mr Millais
had painted his Proscribed Royalist, I said to him, " Well,
you've told us the story of the lovers' future pretty plainly."
He answered, " No, I haven't ; for I don't know it myself.
What do you mean ? " " Why," said I, " don't you see ? You've-
put all the bright, green spots in the landscape (their past
life) behind 'em, and scattered nothing but dead brown leaves
in the foreground, their future, before them, over which they
are both looking. Of course they're both to be miserable.
How could you have told us so more plainly ? " " All very
fine," said he, " but I never meant anything of the kind. The
place that I painted had dead leaves in front of it, and I
painted what I saw."

NOTES. THE PARSONS TALE. 113

p. 25. The rest of the Legende was written, I suppose,
in 1385 and 1386. The fact that Chaucer lost his Com-p-
trollership of Customs, &c., at the end of 1386, and that he
lost his wife in 1387, may account for the Legende of Good
Women not having been finished." — B. TEN BRINK. I believe
that Chaucer found praising good women rather dull work, —
the Legende falls off much towards its end, — and took to the
Wife of Bath, &c., for a change.

p. 28. Canterbury Tales : the Parson's Tale. I believe
in the genuineness of this Tale, and its Retractation. The
way in which the writer walks into the people who wear
those horrible disordinate scant clothes, and says 'the but-
tokes of hem faren / as it were the hyndre part of a she Ape
in the fulle of the Mone ' (Ellesmere MS, If 219 ; Tyrwliitt, iv.
184) seems to me Chaucerian. When the original De Peni-
tentia of the Tale is found, I hope the above bit will not be
found in it. I trust, too, that the noble bits in which the
thralls are stuck-up for, and ' thise harde lordships ' condemned
(Tyrwhilt, iv. 229), will prove to be Chaucer's own1 ; but I see
nothing specially characteristic of him in them, though it is
true that " Tho that thou clepest thy thralles, ben Goddes
peple ; for humble folk ben Cristes frendes " ; a text that
wanted a good many sermons preacht on it in early England
as it still does in modern.

p. 30. " ' Then, identifying his Loved-one with PityJ &c.
Where does Chaucer identify them? His Compleynteis addressed
to that Pity which should dwell in his mistress's breast, aiid
he nowhere falls from the allegory." — B. TEN BRINK. If the
name ' allegory ' is the right one, the above question answers
itself, for in ' allegory ' the thing signified, and the thing
signifying, are one2 : " I am the Vine, ye are the branches."
If 'personification' (of the Pity) is the right name, why
should Chaucer dread this Pity, st. 14, Tern. II, 3, 1. 95 ?
Wasn't his living Mistress in his eyes and heart when he
wrote stanzas 6, 14, 16 ? — nay, the whole poem ? A man gets
out of ' figures of spee.cn ' when he's writing his heart in a
poem like this.

" The Cambr. Univ. Libr. MS Ff. 1. 6 in your Parallel-

1 Chaucer's sneer at ' Jak Strawe and his mayne,' in the Nun's
Priest's Tale of Chanticleere, Group B, § 14, 1. 4584-6, shows that he
hadn't much sympathy with that 'working-man's movement.' I
wonder when and where he got the impressions that made him
allude to — and warm, about their young charges — the old dames or
governesses who lookt after lords' daughters in his day : —

. . ^e Maistresses in ^oure olde liff

J?at lordes doubters han in gouernaunoe.

Doctor's Tale, Group C, § 1, 1. 72-3, Petwortb MS.

2 See R. C. Trench in his Parables.
TRIAL-FOREWORDS. 8

114 NOTES. ROUNDELS. BLAUNCHE.

Text print of the Compleynte to Pity is of no value, being
copied from the Tanner MS ; but as the poem is very short,
it may be interesting to readers to convince themselves of the
fact with their own eyes." — B. TEN BRINK.

p. 32. Mr Skeat urges that the Eoundel I have quoted
cannot be separated from the other two Roundels that go
before and after it in Dr Morris's edition, vi. 304-5 : ' they all
hang together, and tell parts of one story, 1. a man's falling
in love ; 2. his being refused ; 3. his giving-up his love.'
This is right ; and unless all three Roundels are Chaucer's,
I must give up the second as his.

p. 33. The missing line in the Duke's Lay, in the
Blaunche. Mr A. J. Ellis says,

" The insertion of the line you propose will not give a
first stanza like the second. It will give the following rhyme
Ry8tem :— won thee

non me

mon swete

bryghte fre

myghe se

ago on mete

For recollect that wone none are scribe- writing for won non
or woon noon, and will rhyme with agoon, do what you like.

" The insertion is not wanted for the sense. It is, in fact,
a wholly superfluous and weak addition. The insertion is
not wanted for the rhyme system, for it only introduces a
new irregularity. Two similar stanzas are not wanted for the
character of the song, described as

— a maner songe
Withoute noote, withoute songe,

and hence perfectly and designedly irregular.

" It seems as if Thynne's insertion had led you to suppose
that one line was wanted. I don't feel the want, and would
leave the lines as they are, unless there is some MS authority
for a change."

p. 35, 1. 40. " But that is done." Compare with this the
Conclusion of the Anelyda and Arcite, which I take to express
Chaucer's own feelings about his own love : —

(st. 44)

" Then ende I thus : sith I may do no more,
I gif hit up for now and evermore ;

For I shal never efte put in balaunce 347

My sekernes, ne lerne of love the lore ;
But as the swan — I have herd seyd ful yore —

Ayeins his dethe shal singen his penaunce, 350
So singe I here the destany or chaunce,

NOTES. CHAUCER'S OBLIGATIONS TO MACHAULT. 115

How that Arcite, Analida so sore

Hath thirled with the poynt of remembraunce." 353

p. 41, note. The drye, se, and the Carrenare.

"Leonardo Dati (A.D. 1470), speaking of Africa, mentions
a chain of mountains in continuation of the Atlas, three
hundred miles long, ' commonly called Charenal.' In the fine
chart of Africa by Juan de la Coxa (1500), this chain is made
to stretch as far as Egypt, and bears the name of Carena.
La Salle, who was born in 1398, and composed his map early
in the fifteenth century, lays down the same chain, which
corresponds, says Santarem (Histoire de la Cosmographie, iii.
456), to the Kap^i/r/ of Ptolemy. These allusions place it be
yond doubt [?] that the ' drie see ' of Chaucer was the Great
Sahara, the return from whence homewards would be by the
chain of the Atlas or Carena." — Saturday Review, July 30,
1870, p. 143, col. 1.

p. 43. Chaucer's obligations to Machault. " I have treated
this subject at length in my Studien, p. 7-12. I am sure that
Chaucer had read the Dit de la Fontaine Amoureuse: he would
have written a quite different poem if he had not. In the
story of Ceyx and Alcyone, it is true, he borrowed but little,
if anything, from Machault, but he was indebted to him for
the idea of inserting this story into his plot, for the invocation
to Morpheus, which is linked to it, &c." — B. TEN BRINK.
When we get the Dit in print we can judge on this point.
Meantime I think that Chaucer's

" In youthe he made of Ceys and Alcioun" (B, § 1, 1. 57)

in his Man-of-Law's Head-Link, favours my notion of the
Ceyx and Alcione having been once a separate work, though
Prof. Ten Brink does not allow it : " The Man of Law is
speaking only of Stories written by Chaucer, and not of other
poetry. He does not even mention his greater epic poem,
Troylus, but only his shorter tales. Therefore h£ could not
mention the Dethe of Blaunche as a whole, but only the tale
of Ceys and Alcyoun."

p. 43, 1. 3 from foot. " ' she went too much desiring it ' :
why not, ' she desired it too much ' ? Or is the construction
' to go doing a thing ', English, as well as early French and
Italian ? die cantando vai, for che canti" — B. TEN BRINK.
My ignorance. — F.

p. 45, 1. 22. " alellir =. venir a gre, plaire, please, cf.
Arnaut Daniel in Dante's Purgatorio : ' Tan in' abelit vuestre
cortes deman.'" — B. TEN BRINK.

p. 46. Le Heme.de de Fortune. M. Paul Meyer, who
has now examined this poem carefully, says (Aug. 6), "I
think it has nothing to do with your favourite author,"
Chaucer.

116 NOTES.

p. 49. The simile of the Table. Mr E. Brock supposes that
this was suggested by a passage in Boethius's De Consolatione,
bk. v, metre 4, which Chaucer reproduces as " jjilke stoicieris
wenden jjat J?e soule hadde ben naked of it self, as a mirour
or a clene parchemyn, so Jjat alle fygures mosten [fyrst]
comen fro thinges fro wi]?-oute into soules, and ben inprentid
in-to soules. Textus. Ry^t as we ben wont some tyme by a
swift poyntel to ficchen lettres emprentid in |?e smojjenesse
or in jje plainesse of Jje table of WCX, or in parchemyn ]>at
ne hajj no figure [ne] note in it." — p. 166-7, ed. Morris.

p. 52. Eclympasteyre. " I hold this to be a name of
Chaucer's own invention. In Ovid occurs a son of Morpheus
who has two different names : ' Hunc Icelon superi, mortale
Phobetora vulgus Nominat.' Phobetora may have been altered
into Pastora : Icelonpastora (the two names linked together)
would give Eclympasteyre. (Studien, p. 11, 12.) " — B. TEN
BRINK.

p, 53. MS R. 3. 19, Trin. Coll Cambr. This MS con
tains the Mossie Quince and other poems which Stowe pitch-
forkt into his edition of Chaucer's Works. Notes in Stowe's
hand are in the MS, and there can be no doubt that it was
the original from which he printed, though it does not attri
bute the Quince, &c., to Chaucer.

p. 53. Caxton's edition of the " Parlament of Foules" Mr
Bradshaw's description of the volume is —

The Caxton volume in the University Library, Cam
bridge, containing Chaucer's Parlo.ment of Foulis, is imper
fect, as is also the copy in the British Museum ; and un
fortunately these, which are the only two copies known, both
break off at leaf 24, or the end of the third quire. The con
tents of leaves 1 — 24 are as follows : —

1. Ninety-eight 7-line stanzas.1
Beginning (leaf 1 «) :

The lyf so short the craft so lo/ige to lerne.
End (leaf 17 a) :

The better/ and thus to rede I wil not spare.

Explicit the temple of bras.

*^* After stanza 97 is the line Que bicn ayme / tarde
oublie, but no roundel as in the printed Parlament of Foules.

2. Twenty-one 8-line stanzas, with three 7-line stanzas
quoted from Chaucer after the eighth.

Beginning (leaf 17 «) :

Here next foloweth a tretyse, whiche lofrn Gkogan Sente
vnto the lordes and gentil men of the kynges hows / exort-
yng1 them to lose no tyme in theyr yougthe / but to vse
vertues.
1 Chaucer's Parlament of Ponies, printed in our Parallel- Text.

NOTES. CAXTON'S MINOR POEMS OF CHAUCER. 117

My noble sones / and also my lordes deer.
End (leaf 21 Z>) :

So that thurgh necligence, no thing ye lese.
Thus endeth the traytye wiche lorln Skogan sent to the
lordes and! estates of the kynges hous,

*#* The 3 stanzas with refrain, quoted from Chaucer, are
those which begin with the line,

The first stok / fader of gentilnesse,
and end with

Al were he crowue mytor or diademe.

3. One 7-line stanza.
Beginning (leaf 21 5) :

Wyth empty honcle men may no hawkes lure.
End- (leaf 21 b) :

And wene thy self be noght / & be a wrecche.

4. Three 7-line stanzas with refrain.
Beginning (leaf 21 b) :

The good! counceyl of chawcer.
Fie ye fro J)e prees & dwelle with sothfastnes.
End (leaf 22 a) :

And trouthe the shal delyuer, it is no drede.

5. Three terns of 8-line stanzas, ench tern with its own
refrain, the whole followed by a 6-line Envoy.

Beginning (leaf 22 b) :

Balade of the vilage without peyntyng1 .

Playntyf to fortune.
This wrecchid? worldes transmutacon.
End (leaf 24 a) :

That to som better estate, he may atteyne.
*3e* The first tern has the refrain ' For fynally fortune I
clefFye '. The second tern is headed ' Thanswer of fortune to
the pleintyf,' and has the refrain, * And eke thou hast thy
best frend? a lyue '. The third tern has the refrain, * In general
this rule may not fayle,' and its three stanzas are headed, 1.
Thanswer to fortune ; 2. Fortune ; 3. The pleyntyf. The
6-line envoy is headed ' Thenuoye of fortune.'

6. The first three 7-line stanzas of a poem. The rest
wanting.

Beginning (leaf 24 a) :

Thenuoye of chaucer to skegan

To broken ben the statutes hye in heuen.
Breaks off (leaf 24 b) :

Was neuer erst scogan blamed for his towge.

118 NOTES. CAXTON'S MINOR POEMS OF CHAUCER.

Unfortunately both copies break off at this point, so that
it is impossible to say what more was in the volume.

There is only one other small quarto volume here printed
by Caxton, and containing anything by Chaucer. It is 10
leaves only, and forms one quire, of which only the \&&i page
is blank. The contents are as follows :

1. Thirty 7-line stanzas.1
Beginning (leaf 1 a) :

t hou fiers god of armes/ mars the rede.
End (leaf 5 6) :

And sende it to her theban knyght arcyte.

2. Twelve stanzas.
Beginning (leaf 6 a) :

Here foloweth the compleynt of anelida quene of hermenye
vpon false arcyte of Thebes.

So thirleth with the point of remembrance.
End (leaf 9 a) :

Hath thirled? with the peynt of remembrance.

Thus endeth the compleynt of anelida.
*^* There is no stanza continuing the story.

3. Three 7-lirie stanzas with refrain, and 5-line Envoy.
Beginning (leaf 9 a) :

The compleint of chaucer vnto his empty purse.

To you my purs / and to none other wight.
End (leaf 9 6) :

Haue mynde vpon my supplicacion.

Explicit. •.•

%* The refrain is ' Be heuy agayn / or ellis mote I dye',
and the Envoy is headed ' Thenuoye of chaucer vnto the
kynge.' ^

4. Six couplets.
Beginning (leaf 10 a) :

Whan feyth failleth in prestes sawes.
End (leaf 10 a) :

Be brought to grete confusion.

5. Two couplets.
Beginning (leaf 10 a) :

Hit falleth for euery gentilman.
End (leaf 10 a) :

And? the sotR in his presence.

6. Two couplets.
Beginning (leaf 10 a) :

Hit cometh by kynde of gentil blode.
1 The Proem and Story of Chaucer's Anelida and Arcite.

NOTES. CHAUCER'S EARLY LOVE. 119

End (leaf 10 a) :

The werk of wisedom beritrl witnes.

Et sic est finis. •.•

p. 84. The Sun, the betrayer of lovers : Mars, I. 7, 27-8.
91 . Compare its coming to Troilus and Creseide after their
first night, bk. II, st. cci, 1. 1401, &c.
" 0 cruwel Day ! accusour of the joie

That nyght and love han stole, and faste ywrien !
Acorsed be thi comynge into Troie !

For every boure hath oon of thi bryght even :
Envyous Day ! what liste the so to spyen ?

What hastow loste ? why sekestow this place ?
Ther God thy light so quenche, for his grace ! "
p. 90. No ' glad nyght ' for Chaucer. Compare his aside
in Troilus and Creseide, bk. Ill, st. clxxxii, 1. 1270-1, when
speaking of the lovers' first night together :

" 0 blisful nyght, of hem so longe isoughte,
How blithe unto hem bothe two thow were !
Why nade I swich oon with my soule ibought ?
Ye, or the leste joie that was there?"

Isn't this the old sad longing strain of melody again ? (I
never thought of this passage when writing the line on p. 90,
and was very pleased to hit on it afterwards. It was an
' undesigned coincidence ' strong as direct proof that rny in
terpretation of the Pity was right.)

The same air I catch again in the third book of the Hous
of Fame, lines 421-8, —

" But sithe that lovys, of his grace,
As I have seyde, wol the solace,
Fynally with thise thinges,
Unkouthe syghtes and tydynges,
To passe with thyn hevynesse, — 921

Such routh hath he of thy distrcsse, — •
{That thou suffrest debonairly,
And wost thy -self en outtirly,
Disesperat of alle blys,
Syth that fortune hath made amys
The frot of al thyn hertes reste
Languish, and eke in poynt to breste,
That he, thrugh hys myghty merite,
Wol do than ese, al be hyt lyte." — 930

notwithstanding that I believe Chaucer refers to his own
wife in the poem, —

" And for I sholde the bet abreyde,
Me mette ' Awake ! ' to me he seyde,
JRyght in the same vois and stevene
That useth oon I Icoude neuene" — 54

120 NOTES. SHIRLEY'S ATTRIBUTIONS TO OHAUCER.

and that he seems to introduce again here the blind that he
put into lines 8-9 of the Parlament of Foules. Seems, I say,
but the following passage may only mean that Chaucer had
never succeeded in his real love, though he had married : —

" And neverthelesse hast set thy witte 112

(Although in thy hede ful lytel is,)
To make songes, dytees and bookys
In ryme, or elles in cadence,

As thou best canst in reverence 116

Of Love, and of hys servantes eke,
That have hys servyse soght, and seke ;
And peynest thee to preyse his arte,
Although thou haddest never parte; 120

Wherfore — also God me blesse —
loves halt hyt grete humblesse,
And vertu eke, that thou wolt make
A nyghte ful ofte thyn hede to ake, 124

In thy studye so thou writest,
And evermo of love enditest,
In honour of hym, and preysyriges,
And in his folkes furtherynges, 128

And in hir matere al devisest.
And noght hym nor his folke dispisest,
Although thou maiste goo in the daunce
Of hem that hym lyst not avaunce." 132

p. 80. by meaning about. Compare Chaucer's use of the
word in line 271 of the Legende, where by — of, about.

" This balade may ful wel ysongen be,
As I have seyde erst, by my lady fre."

p. 80. Shirley's naming of the folk in the " Complaynt of
Mars" Speght quoted this, I find. Those persons whose
moral sense is hurt by this, and by Shirley's attributing to
Chaucer the Swiving or Maidenhead-taking ' Balade ' l (that is,
part of one ;) or both of them, are reminded that Shirley (like
other people) makes mistakes, and has certainly set-down as
Chaucer's at least two spurious poems, the continuation of
the Pity, and ' J?e Cronycle ' in the Appendix to our Odd
Texts. Moreover, Shirley only says of the Mars that " some
men sayn " it was made about the Duchess of York and my
Lord of Huntingdon. For myself, I accept Shirley's authority
till he is proved wrong. He was a man of station, a true
lover of poets and poetry, and, I feel sure, set-down naught
in malice.

p. 86, 87. Venus' 's motion : Mars the 3rd Lord of Heaven.

1 In Jyl of Breyntford, &c., ed. F. J. F., sent to Members of
the Ballad Society in 1871.

NOTES. MR BRAE ON VENUS AND MARS. 121

Mr Brae, who was the first to point out the obvious astro
nomical allusions in this poem, writes to me, "that in the
Mars, Chaucer plainly adopts the periods anciently ascribed
to the planets as reported by Macrobius in the ' In Somn.
Scipionis] of which Chaucer was a great reader. Venus, Mer
cury, and the Sun had each a period of one year, while that of
Mars was two years : hence,

1. The motion of Venus being double that of Mars —

' She spedded as fast in her way
Almost in one day as he did in tway.

2. The motion of Mars being one degree in two days —

' He passeth but a sterre in dayes two.'

And the mention of dayes two is so specific that it cannot but
have a special meaning. Wherefore either sterre is a metonym
for degree ; or, which is more probable, Chaucer's word was
originally steppe, gradust and was miscopied sterre by the
early scribes.

3. The order of the spheres begins with Saturn (in reverse
order), ' Saturni sphmra quce est prima de septemj Cap. XIX.
Therefore, that of Mars being third, he is called by Chaucer
* the three heaven's lorde above ' — three for third, as twelve
for twelfth."

p. 87, note. Mr Brae has also suggested a possible con
nection between Valaunce and the Latin vallum ; but I can't
get-on with that either. He now suggests that balance or
valance is a corruption of paleis. This would suit the astro
nomical necessities of the case ; but would make paleis come
twice in the same line.

On these points in The Complaint of Mars, —

1. 30. the thridde hevenes lord above.

1. 53. into her nexte paleys.

1. 69-70. Wherfore she sped as fast in her wey,
Almost in oon day, as he dyd in twey.
(and 1. 103, 112.)

1. 113. Now fleeth Venus into Cy 11 emus toure.

1. 145. Cyllenius ryding in his chevache',

Fro Venus balance myght his paleys se . . .
And her receyueth as his f rende ful dere.
— I ought to have referred before to The Shepheards Kalen-
dar, the great Middle- Age manual of Astronomy, &c. &c.
(See my ed. of Captain Cox, p. Ixxviii-lxxxv.)

" Of Mars

" The planet of Mars is called the God of battel and of
war, and he is the third planet, for he raigneth next vnder the
gentle planet of lupiter. [" Saturne is the highest planet of
al the .seuen (sign. M.). . . Next after the planet of colde

9

122 NOTES. THE COMPLAINT OF MARS.

Saturne is the noble planet of lupiter."] This planet Mars is
the worst of all other, for he is hot & dry, and stirreth a man
to be very wilful and hasty at once, and to vnhapines : one of
his signes is Aries, and the other is Scorpio, and most he is in
these twoo Signes. . . . And Mars mounteth into the crabbe,
and goeth about the twelue signes in two yeare, and thus run
neth his course." . . . (sign. H. 2. Then, after 'Of the noble
Planet Sol ', comes, on sign. M. 3)

" Of the gentle planet Venus.

"Next after the sun raigneth the gentle planet Venus,
and it is a planet feminine, and she is lady ouer all louers :
this planet is moist and colde of nature, and her two signes is
Taurus and Libra, and in them she hath all her ioy and
pleasance. . . . This planet Venus runneth in twelue months
ouer the xii. signes.

" Of the faire planet Mercury.

" Next vnder Venus is the faire planet Mercury, and it is
masculine next aboue the Moone, and there is no planet lower
than Mercury, sauing onely the rnoone. This Mercury is
very ful and dry of nature, and his principall signes be these,
Gemini is the first1 that raignes in the armes and hands of
man or woman, and the other signe is Virgo"2 that gouerneth
the nauill and stomacke of man. This planet is Lord of
speech, in likewise as the sun is Lord of light. This planet
Mercury passeth and circuiteth the xii. Signes in CCC xxx
viii. dayes." (sign. M. 3 back, printed by T. Elde. 1604.)

But though Libra is a sign of Venus, it does not clear-up
the difficulty in Chaucer's Mars ; for Mercury in Libra, the
6th sign from Taurus, couldn't receive Venus in Gemini, the
next sign to Taurus, except by deputy. If we may take va
lance3 as a skirt or fringe of Venus — compare a 'bed- valance'
— that will suit the position better.

1 next to Taurus. 2 next to Libra.

3 P.S. Mr Brae writes, "You ask me if anything can be made
out of Venus's valance = skirt, fringe. I should say, decidedly
not, unless it can be stretched into the 0w£skirts or border of
Taurus; as I intimated in 1851 by reading vallum = rampart =
frontier. But I then thought, and still think, the suggestion
scarcely trustworthy. Nevertheless, there being an astronomical
necessity for the planet Mercury being either in Taurus or Aries
when the sun enters Taurus, I think the best solution is, thsit palais
is the true word, altered by the scribes into valens. The change is
not very violent if you regard the run of the letters ; and with
palais the sense is excellent :

Cyllenius

palais

Fro Venus — r — might his palais see
valens

NOTES. SIR OTO DE GRAUNSON. MOVEMENTS. 123

p. 91. Gh'ansson. This is perhaps the Oto de Graunsone
mentioned in the Patent Rolls, 17 Rich. II, p. 1, No. 339,
sixth skin. [ Pro Otone de Graunsone1 / ~Rex. Ommbws ad quos
&c. salwtem. Sciatis, quod de gratia, uostra spea'ali, & pro bono
seruicio quod dilecrfus & fidelis uoster Oto de Graunson) nob/s
impendit & impendet in futurum, Ac eciam consideraczonem
ha&entes, tarn de eo qwod ipsrnn penes nos ad terminuw vite
sue retinuimws moraturwm quam de homagio quod ipse nob/s
fecit in forma subsequenti, videlicet, " Je dejieigne votre howme
lige de vie et de membre ; & terrien honwr & foi & loiautee
vous porteray encontre touz genz que pourront viure ou morir,
sauue encontre le Conte de Sauueye, mon souerain seigneur ;
& en cas que mesme celui Conte, hors de son paiis soit armez
contre vous, que adonqes ie serra ouesque vous encontre lui
& touz autres " / de assensu consilii nostri concessimws pre-
d/cto'Otoni, Centum viginti & sex libras, tresdecim solidos, &
quatuor denarios, percipienda annuatim pro termino vite sue
ad scaccarium nostrum, ad terminos Pasche & sancti Michaels,
per equales porches. In cuiws &c. Teste Eege apud West-
monasterium xviij. die Nouembri

per breve de priuato sigillo.

There is in the Roll the Grant of an Annuity of 1261. 13s.
4d. to Sir Otes de Graunsone on 17 Nov. 1393, and also to Oto
Grauntson a payment of QQl. 13s. 4c£. in Michs. term 1372, and
other payments of 46/., and 63Z. 6s. 8d.

p. 100. Movements. Compare in 'A new Collection of
Songs and Poems. By Thomas D'urfey, Gent. London ; Printed
for Joseph Hindmarsh, at the Black Bull in Cornhill ; 1683 ',
p. 13, ' A Song to a very Beautiful, but very Proud Lady, set
by Mr Farmer in two Movements' ; and on p. 50, the ' Second
Movement* of ' The Storm ; a Song in Sir Barnaby Whigg.'

The planet Mercury might well be in Taurus, i. e. Venus's palais,
with the sun in Taurus ; but to place him in Libra, 5 signs off, is
an astronomical blunder = a libel on Chaucer ; and, to explain the
darkness of the cave by the diminution of Venus's phase, is, if
possible, worse."

1 — ' In the margin.

APPENDIX.

(From Kiley's Memorials of London and London Life.
A.D. 1276—1419, p. 377-8, ed. 1868.)

I. Lease to Geoffrey Chaucer of the dwelling-house at Algate.
[10 May,] 48 Edward III, A.D. 1374, Letter-Book G.
fol. cccxxi (Latin).

To all persons to whom this present writing indented
shall come, Adam de Bury, Mayor, the Aldermen, and the
Commonalty of the City of London, greeting. Know ye
that we, with unanimous will and assent, have granted and
released by these presents unto Geoffrey Chaucer the whole
of the dwelling-house above the Gate of Algate, with the
rooms built over, and a certain cellar beneath, the same
gate, on the South side of that gate, and the appurtenances
thereof ; to have and to hold the whole of the house afore
said, and the rooms thereof, unto the aforesaid Geoffrey, for
the whole life of him the same Geoffrey. And the said
Geoffrey shall maintain and repair the whole of the house
aforesaid, and the rooms thereof, so often as shall be re
quisite, in all things necessary thereto, competently and
sufficiently, at the expense of the same Geoffrey, through
out the whole life of him the same Geoffrey. And it shall
be lawful for the Chamberlain of the Guildhall of London,
for the time being, so often as he shall see fit, to enter the
house and rooms aforesaid, with their appurtenances, to see
that the same are well, and competently, and sufficiently,
maintained and repaired, as aforesaid. And if the said
Geoffrey shall not have maintained or repaired the afore
said house and rooms competently and sufficiently, as is
before stated, within forty days after the time when by the
same Chamberlain he shall have been required so to do, it

ii CHAUCER'S ALGATE LEASE. HIS NAME IN LONDON.

shall be lawful for the said Chamberlain wholly to oust the
beforenamed Geoffrey therefrom, and to re-seise and re
sume the same house, rooms, and cellar, with their appur
tenances, into the hand of the City, to the use of the
Commonalty aforesaid ; and to hold the same in their
former state to the use of the same Commonalty, without
any gainsaying whatsoever thereof. And it shall not be
lawful for the said Geoffrey to let the house, rooms, and
cellar,, aforesaid, or any part thereof, or his interest therein,
to any person whatsoever. And we, the Mayor, Aldermen,
and Commonalty aforesaid, will not cause any gaol to be
made thereof, for the safe-keeping of prisoners therein,
during the life of the said Geoffrey ; but we and our suc
cessors will warrant the same house, rooms, and cellar,
with their appurtenances, unto the before-named Geoffrey,
for the whole life of him, the same Geoffrey, in form afore
said : this however excepted, that in time of defence of the
city aforesaid, so often as it shall be necessary, it shall be
lawful for us and our successors to enter the said house
and rooms, and to order and dispose of the same, for such
time, and in such manner, as shall then seem to us to be
most expedient. And after the decease of the same
Geoffrey, the house, rooms, and cellar aforesaid, with their
appurtenances, shall wholly revert unto us and our succes
sors. In witness whereof, as well the Common Seal of the
City aforesaid, as the seal of the said Geoffrey, have been
to these present indentures interchangeably appended.
Given in the Chamber of the Guildhall of the city afore
said, the 10th day of May, in the 48th year of the reign of
King Edward, after the Conquest the Third.

II. On the name " CHAUCER" as connected with the City of
London.

Mr Riley in the Introduction to his Memorials of
London and London Life, A.D. 1276 — 1419, says at p.
xxxiii. :

The name " Chaucer " frequently occurs in the early
Letter-Books, but as it was the then French term, com
monly in use, for " shoe-maker," it is doubtful in some in
stances whether it is employed strictly as a surname in
herited from a father or more remote ancestor, or merely
as a designation of its owner's trade. Apart from the two

THE NAME " CHAUCER " IN LONDON. ill

instances to be found by reference to the Index,1 the name
" Chaucer " has also been met with in the following
cases : — Stephen le Chaucer, surety for William de Clay,
1281 (B 1); Baldwin le Chaucer acknowledges a debt,
1303 (B 55, 60); dwells in Cordewanerstrete, 1307 (B
81, 83, 84); 2Elyas le Chaucer, mentioned in 1307 (B
84, C 129); John le Chaucer (evidently a man of sub
stance, as being one of the three or four Commoners
named as summoned with the Aldermen to the Guildhall),
1298 (B 94) ; Baldwin le Chaucer, again mentioned in 1311,
1312 (B 112, xix) ; Stephen le Chaucer, dwelling in Brade-
strete (Broad Street) "Ward, 1298 (B xxxvii) ; Philip le
Chaucer, a debtor to William de Leyre, Alderman, 1308 (B
xxxviii) ; Philip le Chaucer again named in 1312 (I) 68) ;
Robert le Chaucer, 1310 (D 105) ; Richard le Chaucer, one
of the Vintners sworn at St Martin's Vintry, to make proper
scrutiny of wines 1320 (E 94); Richard le Chaucer,
assessed in 1340, to lend 10 pounds towards the expenses
of the French war, the largest sum assessed upon any
3person being 400Z. (F 33) ; conveyance of a shop in the
Parish of St Mary Aldermaricherche, next to 4that of

1 On the 1st of August 1342, John Chaucer, a vintner, is pre
sent, and consenting with other vintners, at a congregation of the
Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty, when an Ordinance is made
that no taverner shall mix putrid \vdne with good wine, or forbid
any one of a company drinking in his tavern to go into the cellar
and see that the vessels into which the wine is poured are empty
and clean, and whence it comes. — Riley, p. 214.

On 11 June 1371, Henry Chaucer, vyntner, is one of the main-
pernors of Alan Grygge who is accused by Nicholas Mollere of
having spread the false news that aliens might trade in the City
of London as freely as freemen, &c. Afterwards, Alan being
judged guiltless, Nicholas is, for his lies, adjudged to be put in the
pillory for an hour, ' and to have the whetstone hung from his neck,
for such liars — according to the custom of the City — provided.'
Riley, p. 353. « Sir N. Harris Nicolas (Life of Chaucer) has shown
that John Chaucer was son of Richard below mentioned.' — R.

2 In the List of Lay Subsidies, 12 Edward II, Elias le Chaucer
is named as being assessed at 20 shillings in the Ward of Corde-
wanerestrete. This name, and those of Richard and John Chaucer
(father and son) are the only ones in this list that are mentioned
by Sir N. H. Nicolas in his inquiries into the parentage of
Chaucer. — R.

3 William de Caustone ; see note to page 210. Thomas de
Cavendisshe was assessed to contribute £80. — R.

4 It seems rather doubtful whether this implies that Richard le
Chaucer kept this shop, or only that the shop belonged to him. If
the former, the locality (adjoining Cordwainers' Street) considered,
he might possibly have been a Shoemaker, and in such case he
would be merely owner of the tavern in the Reole (mentioned in
the sequel) and not a Vintner himself. — R.

iv CHAUCER'S NAME. GRANT TO CHAUCER.

Richard Chaucer, situate apparently in Watling Street, he
being a witness to the deed, 1345 (F 111); Richard
Chaucer is assessed at 6 pounds and one mark towards the
30007. given to the King, 1346 (F 121, 125); Henry
Chaucer, ' a man-at-arms among those provided by Corde-
wanerestrete Ward for the King's service, 1350 (F 187) ;
Nicholas Chaucer, grocer, 1351 (F 206); John Chaucer,
1352 (F 216); Nicholas Chaucer, of Cordewanerestrete,
1356 (G 46) ; Nicholas Chaucer of Soperelane, Warden of
the trade of Grocers, Pepperers, and Apothecaries, 1365
(G 173) ; 2 Thomas Chaucer, chief Butler of Henry IV, and
Coroner ex officio, 1403 (I 24).

Upon an examination of the above names, the evidence
[of which there is none whatever] seems to preponderate
in favour of the view that Richard le Chaucer, mentioned
more than once in the list, and who was apparently a
Yintner, was the father of Geoffrey Chaucer, our early
Poet. Stow unqualifiedly asserts that such was the
fact .

III. 13 June 1374. Grant by John of Gaunt, Duke of
Lancaster, to Geoffrey Chaucer of £10 a year for life,
for his own and his wife's services.

" Johan, &c." [that is, 'Johan, par la grace de dieu,
Roy de Castille et de Leon, due de Lancastre,' as on leaves
9, 15 back, &c.] "faisons savoir que nous, de nostre grace
especial, et pur la bone &c [that is, 'la bone et agreable
service'] que nostre bien ame Geffray Chaucer nous ad
fait, et auxint pur la bon service que nostre bien ame
Philippe, sa femme, ad fait a nostre treshonure dame et
Mere, la Royne, (que dieu pardoigne), et a nostre tres-ame
compaigne la Royne p his own Duchess], avons grante au
dit Geffray x livres par an, a terme de sa vie, apprendre
annuelment le course de sa vie durant, a nostre Manoir de
la Sauvoye prese Loundres, par les mayns de nostre Re-

1 Sent to Sandwich, in the ship of Andrew Turke. — Riley.

2 One of the two sous of Geoffrey Chaucer, the Poet. — Riley.
(This is one of the bits of traditional gammon about Chaucer.

Because there was a Thomas Chaucer, therefore he was Geoffrey's
son. Because Thomas quartered the arms of Roet with his own,
therefore Geoffrey's wife was a Roet, and sister to John of Gaunt's
concubine- wife, &c. Mr Bradshaw will prick this bubble some day.)

DUKE OF LANCASTER a GRANT TO CHAUCER. V

ceyvour general, qore est, ou qi pur le temps serra, as termes
de Saint Michel et de Pasques, par ouelles porcions. En
tesmoignance &c. Done &c a Sauvoye prese Loundres le
xiii jour de Juyn, Ian xlviii" [13th. of June, 49 Edw. Ill,
1374]. Register of John, Duke of Lancaster, In the Reign
of Edward III, leaf 90.

Chaucer was then, and had long before been, in the
King's service, and Mr Ponsonby A. Lyons, who first
printed the above document (and that which follows) in,
The Athenceum, No. 2280, July 8, 1871, p. 49, col. 2,
rightly says that it " shows that at this time [1374] Chau
cer had left the Duke's service; otherwise the pension
would have been given for the service ' que nous ad fait,
et ferra per le temps avenir ' as in the three grants which
precede Chaucer's, and in the one which follows, as well
as in very many others in this volume which contain these
or similar words."

20 Jan. 1375. Extract from the Duke of Lancaster's
Warrant to John de Yerdeburgh, Clerk of his Great
Wardrobe, to pay Chaucer's Pension (and others].

" Johan etc. a nostre tres ame Clerc Sire Johan, ut
supra [Sire Johan de Yerdeburgh, Clerc de nostre grant
Garderobe] saluz. Pource que nous voulons que certainz
gentz de-souz nomez, soient paiez de les sommes souz
escripts, en et par la manere quensuit, vos mandons que
des issues de nostre Eeceit, paiez et deliverez a .... Gef
frey Chacy x li. par an, as termes de Saint Michel et de
Pasques par ouelles porcions, commenceant le primer paie-
ment a le Fest de seint Michel derrein passe . . . Done al
Manoir de la Savoye le xx jour de Januer, Ian xlviii [20
Jan. 1375]. Register, leaf 224; — ib. p. 49, col. 3.

129

TRIAL-FOREWORDS TO MINOR POEMS.

FURTHER ADDITIONS AND COERECTIONS.

(20 Dec., 1873.)

FRESH CHAUCER NOTICES,1 for p. 17—28.

Geoffrey Chaucer the Poet, and Philippa his wife.

GEOFFREY CHAUCER is the son of JOHN CHAUCER, vintner,
of Thames Street, London, and (no doubt) Agnes his wife
(see p. 131, ' 1380, June 19 '; p. 135, ' 1354, April 3 ').
Geoffrey is also the grandson of RICHARD CHAUCER, vintner
(see p/134, '1349, Easter Day').

Public Record Office.
1360, March 1. Wardrobe Book *£-, leaf 70. £16 paid, by

Edward Ill's order, toward C.'s ransom. [No trace yet

found of Chaucer between 1360 and 1366. He is not men

tioned in the Duchy of Lancaster books during this period.2]
? 1366. Exch. Q. R. Wardrobe •£$. Schedule of Edw. Ill's

Household for Christmas gifts. C. an esquire, and Philippa

C. a damoiselle.
1369. Exch. L. T. R. Wardrobe 43 Ed. 3. Box A No. 8.

Advance of £10 to C. by Henry de Wakefeld, while in the

war in France.
1369, 1 Septr. Exch. Q. R. Wardrobe V- Geffrey C. (squire

of less estate) and Philippa C. have mourning for the Queen.
1369. Exch. Q. R. Wardrobe V, leaf 16, back. C. to have

20s. for summer clothes.

1372. Exch. Q. R. Wardrobe V- (a™*o 3.) C. to have 40s.
for winter and summer clothes.

1373. Exch. Q. R. Wardrobe *?-. (anno 4.) C. to have 40s.
for winter and summer clothes.

1373. Pipe Moll, 47 Ed. 3. C. owes the King £10, which

the King allows to Medford.
1372, Aug. 30. 46 Ed. 3. The Duke of Lancaster grants

1 Mr Selby of the Public Record Office has been good enough
to revise and verify the P. R. 0. references for me.

2 Chaucer's name does not occur in the long list of Squires in
the "Nomina Militww et Scutiferwwa " in the 'Register of the
reign of K. Richard the second ', folio 6, but the names of ' ~M.onsieur
Odes Granson ' (no. 18), ' Monsiewr Johan Dabrygecourte ', and

Johan Skogan ' (no. 23, leaf 6, back, col. 2) do occur, though the
latter is crosst through, but with no letters beside, of ' Chr ' or
1 morty to shew that he was knighted or dead.

TRIAL-FOREWORDS. 10

130 FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

Philippa C. a pension of £10. Duchy of Lane. Registers.

Div. 11, No. 13, fo. 159, d.
1374. Exch. Q. K. Memoranda, 48 Ed. 3, Michs. Writ to

Exchequer to pay C. for his journeys to Genoa and Florence.
1374 or 3. Exch. L. T. R. Foreign Accounts, 47 Ed. 3, Roll 3.

C.'s accounts for his journeys to Genoa and Florence, from

1 Dec. 1372 to 23 May 1373.

Customs Bolls, 1374 to 1386.

1374. Exch. Q. R. Memoranda, 48 Ed. 3, Trinity. C. made

Controller of Great and Petti/1 Customs.
1374, 26 Feb. to 29 Sept. Exch. L. T. R. Customs Roll.

(1) Collectors, Berues and Brembre. Controllers, Legh

and Chaucer successively.

1374, 29 Sept. to 26 July 1375. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (2) Collectors, Bernes and Brembre. Controller, C.

1375, 27 July to 15 Nov. Exch. L. T. R. Customs Roll.
(3) Collectors, Brembre and Walworth. Controller, C.

1375, 29 Sept. to 16 Oct. 1376. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (4) Collectors, Warde and Girdelere. Controller, C.

1376, 16 Oct. to 24 Aug. 1377. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (5) Collectors, Warde and Northbury. Controller, C.

1377, 24 Aug. to 29 Sept. 1378. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (6) Collectors, Brembre and Philippot. Controller, C.

1378, 29 Sept. to 29 Sept. 1379. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (7) Collectors, Brembre and Philippot. Controller, C.

1379, 29 Sept. to 29 Sept. 1380. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (8) Collectors, Brembre and Philippot. Controller, C.

1380, 29 Sept. to 29 Sept. 1381. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (9) Collectors, Brembre and Philippot. Controller, C.

1381, 29 Sept. to 29 Sept. 1382. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (10) Collectors, Brembre and Philippot. Controller, C.

1381, 29 Sept. to 29 Sept. 1382. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (1) Collectors, Organ and Sibill. Hyde and Chaucer
successively Controllers of Petty Customs.

1382, 29 Sept. to 29 Sept. 1383. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (11) Collectors, Brembre and Philippot. Controller, C.

1382, 29 Sept. to 5 Dec. 1382. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (2) Collectors, Organ and Sibill. Controller, C.
Petty Customs, 1

1382, 5 Dec. to 29 Sept. 1383. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (3) Collectors, Organ and Rauf. Controller, C.
Petty Customs.

1383, 29 Sept. to 1 July 1384. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (12) Collectors, Brembre and Philippot. Controller, C.

1 A mistake of the scribe. Chaucer was not appointed Con
troller of Petty Customs till May 8, 1382. See, further on, the
entry under « 1381, Sept. 29 to 24 Sept. 1382'.

FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. 131

1383, 29 Sept. to 3 July 1384. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll (4) Collectors, Organ and Rauf. Controller, C.
Petty Customs.

1384, 1 July to 29 Sept. 1384. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll (13) Collectors, Brembre and Organ. Controller, C.

1384, 3 July to 29 Sept. 1385. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (5) Collectors, More and Rauf. Controller, C. Petty
Customs.

1384, 29 Sept. to 29 Sept. 1385. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (14) Collectors, Brembre and Organ. Controller, C.

1385, 29 Sept. to 29 Sept. 1386. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (15) Collectors, Brembre and Organ. Controller, C.

1385, 29 Sept. to 29 Sept. 1386. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (6) Collectors, More and Rauf. Controller, C.
Petty Customs.

1386, 29 Sept. to 4 Dec. 1386. Exch. L. T. R. Customs
Roll. (16) Collectors, Brembre and Organ. Controller, C.

1386, 29 Sept. to 13 Dec. 1386. Exch. L. T. R. Customs Roll.
(7) Collectors, More and Rauf. Controller, C. Petty Customs.

1379-80. Exch. L. T. R. Foreign Accounts, Roll 4, 3 Ric. II.
Accounts for C.'s journeys to (a) Paris and Monstrell, from
17 Feb. to 25 March 1377 ; (b) to Flanders (or France, in
one enrolment) from 30 April to 26 June 1377.

1379-80. Exch. L. T. R. Foreign Accounts, Roll 4, 3 Ric. II.
Accounts for C.'s Lombardy (Milan) journey, from 28 May
to 19 Sept. 1378.

1380, May 1. Close Roll, 3 Ric. II. membr. 9, back. Cecilia
Chaumpaigne releases C. " de raptu meo."1

1380, June 19. City Hustings Roll, 110, 5 Ric. II, mem
brane 2. Geffrey Chaucer, son of John Chaucer,2 vintner,
releases to Henry Herbury all his (G. C.'s) right to his
father's former house in Thames St. [Geoffrey's mother is
no doubt Agnes, John's wife : see below.]

1 Perhaps for carrying off an heiress or woman of full age, to
marry to a friend. As rape was a felony then, it could not legally
be compromised ; and if it had been, the compromise would not
have been witnesst by deed enrolld. See more on this point on
p. 136—144.

2 This John Chaucer is known as the son of Richard Chaucer,
vintner, by the fact that, though Eichard does not mention his
own son John in his will, he does mention his wife's son Thomas
Heyroun. This Thomas Heyroun leaves his property to be sold
by his brother John Chaucer ; and in the two Deeds by which John
Chaucer sells and conveys Heyroun's lands, he describes himself as
executor of the will of his brother Thomas Heyroun. See the
Appendix to Nicolas's Life, and the entries below, p. 132. John
Chaucer is witness, in 1363, to a Deed of Grant by Thomas Fynch ;
see the Hustings Boll, 91.

132 FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

Clerk-of-the-Works Writs, and Accounts, &c.
1389 to 1391. Cleric of Works, *&. (C. appointed July 12,

1389.) File of 16 writs, &c. 1st not to C., possibly one

other bit not. All others to or concerning him.
1389, Sept. 27. King's Writ to C. directing him to pay the

arrears of Henry de Yevele's salary of 12d. a day, as former

Clerk of the Works.

1389, Nov. 10. An Inventory, — partly eaten away, and ink
very faint, — of dead stock, tools, &c., about the King's
Palaces, Castles, &c., seemingly delivered to Chaucer.

1390, Feb. 16. King's Writ to C. directing him to pay the
arrears of wages due to William Hannay, Controller of the
King's Works (to check Chaucer), at 12d a day.

[1390, July 12. C. is appointed Clerk of the Works at St
George's Chapel, Windsor, which is threatened with ruin,
and on the point of falling to the ground. See p. 133.]

1390, Sept. 30. Receipt to C. from Henry Yevele, the King's
Chief Cein enter, for 70s. due to him for wages in 1388, and
25s., the balance of a year's wages (£18 5s.) from 29 Sept.
1389 to 29 Sept. 1390, at 12d a day.

?1390. Bit of a Writ of Rich. II. about the 'procheines
ioustes' (see p. 133), mentioning William Hannay, Con
troller of the Works.

1391, Jan. 12. Receipt of William Hannay, Controller, to
Chaucer, for £28 Os. 8d., for wages at 12d. a day, from
12 July 1389 to 31 Jan. 1391.

1391, Feb. 14. King's Writ to C. directing him to pay the

arrears of wages, at 12e?. a day, due to Richard Swift,

Master of the King's Carpenters.
1391, Feb. 15. Receipt accordingly of this Richard Swift to

C. for £18 5s., a year's wages at Is. a day, from 12 July

1389 to 11 July 1390.
1391, June 17. King's Writ to C., telling him that John

Gedney has been appointed his successor as Clerk of the

Works at the Palace of Westminster, Tower of London, &c.
1391, July 8. King's Writ to C. not to interfere with John

Gedney, his successor as Clerk of the Works at St George's

Chapel, Windsor, which Chapel was still threatened with

ruin, and on the point of falling to the ground
? 1391, July. Bit of a Release to C., late Clerk of the Works

[? from his successor, John Gedney], for dead stock, tools,

&c. [? handed over by Chaucer to Gedney].
1391, July 12. Receipt of John Gedney to C. for loads of

Stapleton and Reigate stone (bought by C. for the repair

of St George's Chapel).
1391, Oct. 1. Receipt to C. from William Hannay, Controller

of the King's Works, for £6 18s., 138 days' wages at 12d.

a day, from 31 Jan. to 18 June 1391.

FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. 133

1391, Oct. 11. Receipt to C. from Henry Yevele, the King's
Chief Cementer, for 18s. 5%d., the balance of his wages, and
his allowance of 25s. a year.

One faint document not yet made out.

1389-91. Exch. L. T. R. Foreign Accounts, 12 Ric. II. C.'s
accounts as Clerk of Works, 12 July 1389 to 17 June 1391.
This enrolment recites the appointment of C. as Clerk of
the Works at Westminster, the Tower, &c. &c. (but not at
St George's Chapel, Windsor), on July 12, 1389, and that
of his successor John Gedney, on June 17, 1391. It then
gives the sums that C. received from the Treasury during
that time, £1209 9s. 9d altogether. Then his outlay, for
materials, wages (including his own at 2s. a day : £70 12s.),
the cost (£8 12s. 6^.) of making scaffolds in May and
October, 1390, for the King and Queen and other ladies to

. see the jousts in Smithfield from, and the £20 of which
C. was robbd (see the entry, ' 1390 Sept. 3 ' below) ; alto
gether £1130 8s. n±d. The balance (£79 18s. IJd.) he ac
counts for in his St. George's Chapel account of £100 17s. 4c?.,
so that £20 19s. 2d is due to Chaucer. Then follow the
accounts of dead stock — tools, materials, &c. — at the King's
palaces, &c., received by Chaucer on his taking office ; of
such stock given out by him during his clerkship ; and of
the rest delivered by him to his successor John Gedney.

Lastly, C.'s appointment, on July 12, 1390, as Clerk of
the Works at St George's Chapel, Windsor (which is then
threatened with ruin, and on the point of falling to the
ground ; and to repair which he has power to impress
workmen), and the appointment of John Gedney to succeed
him, on July 8, 1391. And an account for 101 baskets (?)
(doliatcR) of Stapleton stone, and 200 loads of Reigate stone,
which C. bought (by his agent John Paule) for the repair
of the Chapel, but didn't use, and therefore gave over to
his successor, John Gedney. The stone, its carriage, &c.,
and the wages of three labourers for 16 days, loading and
unloading the stone, cost £101 17s. 4d Receipt of John
Gedney to C. for this stone.

1390, March 13. Originalia, 13 Ric. 2, m. 30. C. on Thames-
Bank-repair Commission.

1390, July 1. Exch. Q. R. Memoranda, Hilary, Brevia, Roll
19, bk. Writ to the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer,
to allow Chaucer the costs of putting up scaffolds in Smith-
field for the King and Queen to see the jousts in May 1390.

1390, Siept. 3, Chaucer is robbd, near the ' fowle Ok[e]', of
£20 of the King's money, his horse, and other moveables,
by certain notorious thieves, as is fully confesst by the
mouth of one of them in gaol at Westminster. See the

134 FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

King's Writ (6 Jan. 14 Ric. II, 1391) forgiving C. this £20,
in Exch. Q. Rememb. Memoranda, Hilary, Brevia, Roll 20,
14 Ric. II. (See the separate account by Mr Selby, of this
Robbery, and perhaps two others, which will be issued soon
to our Members.)

Geoffrey's Grandfather ; Uncle of the half-blood ;
and Father, John Chaucer.1

1339, Friday before May 1. Hustings Roll, 66. Conveyance
by THOMAS HEROUN, Citizen and Vintner of London, to
RICHARD CHAUCER, Citizen and Vintner (Geoffrey's grand
father), of a tenement in the parish of St Michael's, Pater-
nosterchnrch, in the Vintry Ward. (This Thomas Heroun
was no doubt Richard C.'s stepson.) JOHN CHAUCER —
Richard's son, and Geoffrey's father, — was one of the wit
nesses to this deed.

1339, July 7. Hustings Roll, 66. Release to the said
RICHARD CHAUCER, by Mrs Joanna Bercote, widow, of all
her right of dower in the tenement he bought of the said
Thomas Heyron, Citizen and Vintner.

1344, first Saturday in April. Hustings Roll, 71. Conveyance
to the said RICHARD CHAUCER by John Fort, of a tenement
in the Corner near London Bridge, at a place called the
Bars.

1344, first Monday in April. Hustings Roll, 71. Release to
RICHARD CHAUCER by John Fort, of the same tenement.

1348, March 6. Hustings Roll, 75. Release by John Box
to RICHARD CHAUCER of two marks of quit-rent payable out
of RICHARD CHAUCER'S newly built house at the corner of
kirounlane (Crown Lane), in the parish of St Michael's
Paternosterchurch (in the Vintry Ward).

2 1349, Easter Day. Hustings Roll, 77. Will of RICHARD
CHAUCER (Geoffrey's grandfather), Citizen and Vintner,
names Maria his wife, and Thomas Heyroun her son.

2 1349, April 7. Hustings Roll, 76. Will of THOMAS HEY-

1 In the Life of Geoffrey Chaucer by William Thomas, — from
collections by Dart, — prefixt to Urry's edition of Chaucer, the fed-
lowing Letters of Protection, dated June 12, 1338, are given, show
ing that Chaucer's father John was in attendance on Edw III and
Queen Philippa in their expedition to Flanders and Cologne :
"Johannes Chaucer qui cum Rege in obsequium Regis, per pra>
ceptum Kegis ad partes transmarinas profecturus est, habet Literas
Eegis de protections, cum clausula 'Volumus', usque ad festum
Natalis Domini proximo futurum duraturas. Teste Eege apud
Walton, duodecimo die Junii 1338. Aleman. 12 Edw. 3, p. 1, m. 8.
Rymer's Feed, vol. v, p. 51."

2 known before. 1349 was the year of the great Plague. The
extraordinarily long list of Wills enrolled in the City Hustings Roll
of this year is very striking.

FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. 135

ROUN1, Citizen and Vintner (Geoffrey's step-uncle), leaves
his land to be sold ' per manus JOKANNIS CHAUCER, Fratris
mei.' (Geoffrey's Father.)

2 1349, day before Peter and Paul's Feast. Hustings Roll, 77.
Sale of part of T. Heyroun's land to Andrew Aubrey, by
' JOHANNKS CHAUCER, Ciuis & vinetariws Londome, executor
testamenti Thome Hayroun, fratris mei.'

1349, Monday after the feast of the Translation of St Thomas
the Martyr. Like sale by JOHN CHAUCER to Andrew
Aubrey of other part of T. Heyroun's lands.

1349, Nov. 11. Hustings Roll, 77. Release to JOHN CHAUCER,
Citizen and Vintner, of all Nigellus de Hakeneye's claim
in certain lands.

1354, April 3. Hustings Roll, 82. Conveyance, by JOHN
CHAUCER and AGNES his wife,3 to Dr Simon Plaghe,4 of some
of the property which she took as heiress of her uncle,
Ilamo de Copton, money er.

1366, January 16. Hustings Roll, 93. Conveyance, by JOHN
CHAUCER and AGNES his wife, of other part of her land
inherited from her uncle, Hamo de Copton, moneyer.

Nicholas Chaucer, pepperer.

1368, January 13. City Hustings Roll 43 Edw. Ill, 1369.
No. 97, membr. 2. Will of NICHOLAS CHAUCER, Pepperer
(contains no allusion to the Poet or his family).

Henry Chaucer, vintner.

(1321, Dec. 11. On the Hustings Roll of 15 Edw. II is en
rolled a conveyance, of this date, of a tenement in the
parish of St Lawrence, Jewry, in the City of London, next
the tenement of John le Botoner, by Philip le Chaucer,
Citizen of London, and Heloise his wife, to John de Borham,
Citizen of London. As this John the Buttoner was pos
sibly the father of Juliana, wife of Henry Chaucer, so this
Philip le Chaucer may possibly have been the father of
Henry Chaucer.)

1372, June 14. City Hustings Roll, 100. Conveyance by
HENRY CHAUCER [Vintner], and Juliana his wife, of part of
their Garden, near the stream ' Walbrok.'

1373, April 4. Hustings Roll, 101. Conveyance by Henry

1 John Heyroun's will in 1325, and a much earlier one, Alexander
Heyroun's will, throw no light on the state of the Heyroun family.
There are several Deeds by William Heyroun, Vintner, in 1366. &c.

3 We know from other records that she was his wife as early
as 1349, at least. 2 See note 2, p. 134.

4 The Doctor sold it again to William Fourner, citizen and
butcher, on Jan. 12, 1357 (Hustings Roll, 84).

136 FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

Chaucer, Vintner, and Juliana his wife, of her late father,
John the Buttoner's lands in Soperslane, &c.
1373, May 20. Further Release by Henry and Juliana
Chaucer of the same lands.

Thomas Chaucer, esquire and vintner. (? 1 man, or 2.)

1399-1400. Duchy of Lancaster. Ministers' Accounts. Div. 29,
Bundle 144. Payment of £20 to THOMAS CHAUCER for his two
Annuities, due at Easter and Michaelmas, with £10 arrears.

1406, March 12. City Hustings Roll, 133. THOMAS CHAUSERS :
Deed of entail on him of City lands, near St Paul's, by his
' consanguineus,' William Chaumbre, cleric.1

1416, February 3. Hustings Roll, 145. Release to THOMAS
CHAUCER of the interest of Thomas Hoo and Agnes his wife
in these entaild lands.

1413, June 7. Conveyance by Geoffrey Dallyng, Citizen and
Vintner, and Matilda his wife, to THOMAS CHAUCER, esquire,
and 4 other men, of a reversion in some City houses and
land (no doubt as Trustees for some City Corporation).

1426, December 7. Hustings Roll, 155. Conveyance by
William Manby, cleric, to THOMAS CH.AUCERS and Richard
Wyot, esquires, and 4 others, clerics, of land in the parish
of St Margaret's, Lothbury, in the City of London, seem
ingly as Trustees for some ecclesiastical Corporation.

1428, May 20. Hustings Roll, 156. Conveyance by William
atte Watir, barber, and John Cole, junior, Citizen and
Vintner, of a tenement in Fleet Street to THOMAS CHAWSERE
and 12 other men — all 13 being described in one part of
the Deed as Citizens and Vintners, evidently as Trustees
for the Vintners' Company.

1428, June 11. Release to THOMAS CHAWSERE and his 12
co-trustees — Thomas Chawsere and another (Lewis John),
being called esquires, the rest Citizens and Vintners — of
the estate of Thomas Crofton, as mortgagee in possession,
in the said tenement in Fleet Street.

Chaucer's raptus of Cecilia Chaumpaigne.

As several friends have askt me to print Cecilia Chaum-
paigne's Deed of Release to Chaucer, with some comments on
the law of Rape, I do so.

Cecilia Chaumpaigne's Deed of Release (dated 1 May 1380,
enrolled 4 May 1380) to Geoffrey Chaucer from all Ac
tions on account of her raptus?

1 There are many purchase-deeds of John de la Chaumbre, cleric,
in the Index to the Hustings Rolls, from 4 Edw II. (A.D. 1310-11)
downwards.

2 Raptus was used for the abduction of an heir, of a man's wife
and goods, &c.. as well as for the rape of a virgin, &c.

FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. 137

Close Roll, 3 Ric. II (22 June 1379 to 21 June 1380).
De scripto Nouerint vniuersi, me Ceciliam Chaumpaigne,
irrotulato filiam quondam Willelmi Chaumpaigne & Agnetis
vxon's eiws, remisisse, relaxasse, & omwino pro me
& heredibws meis imperpetuum quietum clamasse,
Galfrido Chaucer, armigero, ommmodas acetones,
tarn de raptu rneo, tain de aliqua alia re vel causa,
cuiuscumqwe condicwms fuerint, quas vnqwarn
ha&ui, ha&eo, seu ha&ere potero, a principle mundi
\sque in diem confecciowis presencium. In cuius
rei testimoniwm, presentibws sigillum meum apposui.
Hiis testibws, domino WilleZmo de Beauchamp', tune
Camerario dowuni Regis ; domino Johawie de Clane-
bowe, dommo WilleZmo de Neuylle, Militibws ; Jo-
hanne Philippott1 & Ricardo Morel. Datwm. Lon-
donie primo die Maij, Anno regni Regis Ricardi
secundi post conquestww tercio.

Et memorandum qwod p?'ed^c^a Cecilia venit in
Cancellan'a Regis apud Westmonasterium, quarto
die Maij, Anno presenti, & recognouit scriptum
wm, & omma contenta in eodem, in forma

On this document, Mr Floyd, who kindly referrd me to
it, gave me the following note, on 28 Nov. 1873 :

" 1. It was essential to maintain a charge of rape, that
the woman on whom it was committed should at the earliest
opportunity raise hue and cry. Thus justice, I assume, be
came seized of the charge, and he who was accused could only
be purged by the acquittal of a jury, or a pardon by the
Crown.

" Had Chaucer been acquitted by a jury, no compromise
with the woman would have been needed.

" The Calendar of the Patent Rolls makes mention of no
pardon from the Crown ; and though it is very defective, yet
it is, I think, to be trusted ; for whoever made it was cog
nizant of the interest attached to Chaucer, as it refers to his
appointment to offices, which if granted to other persons
would have been passed over.

" As to the appeal for rape, that could only arise after an
acquittal by a jury, or a pardon by the Crown ; one or other
of these ought first to be shown, before that is admitted to be
the affair compromised.

"2. In the quit-claim the woman states her parentage,
which might be desirable or even necessary in a civil suit,
but was perfectly superfluous in arranging a criminal charge.

" 3. Three of the witnesses to the quit-claim are Beauchamp,

1 One of the Collectors of Customs (and afterwards Mayor of
London) under whom Chaucer was Controller.

10*

138 FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

Clanowe1, and Philpott, men who, though they were Chaucer's
inferiors in genius, were socially his superiors. Now any
one, I fancy, compromising a criminal charge, would rather
have his inferiors than his superiors cognizant of it.

" 4. There was a family of the name of Charnpaigne, hold
ing considerable property in Pembrokeshire, and Win. de Beau-
champ was before, in, and after 1380, Gustos of the Honor of
Pembroke. This may only be a fortuitous coincidence, be
cause I am unable to connect the Alice or her parents with
the Pembrokeshire family ; but Wm. de Beauchamp being a
witness renders it probable that she was.

" Note. Pembroke was a Lordship Marcher ; its lord pos
sessed in it nearly the same prerogatives as the King in
England ; for instance, he could pardon persons convicted of
capital offences. The Gustos appointed by the Crown, whilst
the Lordship was in its hands, possessed the same power as
the Lord. (Not being a lawyer, what I say must be taken as
only a layman's opinion.)"

The young Earl of Pembroke was a minor in 1380, and Sir
William Beauchamp was Committee or guardian of his estates,
if not guardian of his person. Sir William Beauchamp would
therefore act as Lord in protecting Alice Chaumpaigne.

There was a William Champeyn at Donington in Leices
tershire, where the Earl of Pembroke had property, in 1 Henry
IV (1399-1400), who may possibly have been a brother or
other relative of Alice Chaumpaigne's : —

Duchy' of Lancaster. Ministers' Accounts. Div. 29, Bundle 144.

Receptor Hon- Compotus Simonis Bache, Receptoris Ho-

Qi'is Leycestn'e noris Leycestne & alibi, A Festo sancti Mich-

aelis Anno regni regis Eicardi secundi xxiijcio,

vsqwe idem festum MichaeZis Anno regni regis

Heririci quarti post conquestum primo, per

vnum Annum integrum

Castrww de De Willelmo Chaumpeyn2 & Johanne

Donynton Spynk1, collecton'&ws reddituum de Donyngton,

per indentwraw .xxix. li.

De eisdem predictis WilleZmo Chaumpeyn2
fe Johanne Spynk*, collectoribus reddituum &
firmarum ibidem hoc anno de exitibus ofQ.cii
sui in ij parcellis .x.li. ij. d. ob. qa.

1 In the Calendar of the Inquisitiones post Mortem, vol. ii. p.
91, No. 39, this name is spelt Philip de ; Clannowe ' ; and Sir H.
Nicholas, in the Proceedings of the Privy Council, vol. i, spells it
John Clanevow. This John (as is evident from the proceedings)
was, as well as Wm. de Neville — another of the witnesses to Cecilia's
charter, — a member of the Privy Council of Richard II. — W. Floyd.

2 Mr Selby pointed out these entries to me.

FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

139

At the time of Chaucer's raptus of Cecilia Chaumpaigne,
the law of rape, which proved ineffectual to stop the growing
practice of it, was fixt by the Stat. Westm. sec., cap. 34, 13
Edw. I, which enacts :

" Purveu est, que si homme
ravist femme espouse, damoi-
sel e, ou autre femme desoremes,
par la ou ele ne se est assentue
ne avaunt ne apres, eit juge-
ment de vie e de membre1;
e ensement par la ou home
ravist femme, dame espouse,
damoisele, ou autre femme a
force, tut seit ke ele se assente
apres, eit tel jugemerit come
avaunt est dit, si il seit ateint

a la suite le Rei, e
Rei sa suite."

It is Provided, That if a
Man from henceforth do ravish
a Woman, married, Maid, or
other, where she did not con
sent, neither before nor after,
he shall have Judgement of
Life1 and of Member. And
likewise where a Man ravish-
eth a Woman, married Lady,
Damosel, or other, with Force,
although she consent after, he
shall have such Judgement as
la eit le before is said, if he be attainted
at the King's Suit, and there
the King shall have the Suit.
Statutes, Record Office edition, i. 87.
As Cecilia Chaumpaigne herself executes the Release to

Chaucer, it is clear that she was of age, and that hers was not

a case of abduction of a ward —

"De Pueris, sive masculis Concerning Children, Males

sive femelh's, quorum, rnarita- or Females, whose Marriage

belongeth to another, taken
and carried away, if the Rav-
isher have no Right in the
Marriage, though after he re
store the Child unmarried, or
else pay for the Marriage, he
shall nevertheless be punished
for his Offence bv Two Years

gium ad aliquern pe?-tineat,
raptis & abductis, si ille qui
rapuerit, non ha&ens jus in
maritagium, licet postmodum
restituat puerurn non marita-
tum, vel de maritagio satis-
fecerit, puniatwr tamen pro
transgressione per pmonam
duorwm annorww." Imprisonment.

13° Edw. I, Stat. Westm. sec., c. 35. Record Off. edition, i. 88.

1 Felony was punisht, or punishable, with death. Compare
Robert of Brunne's statement in his Handtyng Synne, p. 70, lines
2173-82 : — Or ^yf J?ou swyche foly begun,

To rauysshe any womman,

Jmt ys to seye, any wedded wyfe,

\>Q more ys ^y syne, and perel of lyfe.

^yf J?ou rauysshe any mayden clene —

A^ens here wyl,. f>at ys to mene, —

Hyt ys seyde, }?urghe lawe wrete,

J?at J?yn hede shulde be of smete :

Lawe make)? f?at commaundement

Wyf?-outyn any iuggement ;

Jjat mayst J?ou fynde al and sum,

In code ' de raptu virginum '.
For the continuation of these lines, see below, p. 142.

140 FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

In such a case, the Lord of the Ward, and not the Ward,
would have been the person to release Chaucer; and this person
would then possibly have been Sir William Beauchamp, the
King's Chamberlain, one of the witnesses to the Deed, as
guardian of the fatherless Cecilia Chaumpaigne. See Mr
Floyd's note above, that the Champaignes held lands under
the Beauchamps.

The next Act about Rape was in 6 Ric. II, Stat. 1 (A.D. 1382
and 1382-3), cap. 6 : —

I!TEM. Against the Offenders and Ravishers [malefactores
& raptores] of Ladies, and the Daughters of Noblemen,
and other Women, in every Part of the said Realm, in these
Days offending more violently, and much more than they were
wont; It is ordained and stablished, That wheresoever and
whensoever such Ladies, Daughters, and other Women afore
said be ravished [rapiantwr], and after such Rape do consent
to such Ravishers, that as well the Ravishers [Raptores], as
they that be ravished [Rapientes], and every of them, be from
thenceforth disabled, and by the same Deed be unable to have
or challenge all Inheritance, Dower, or Joint Feoffment after
the Death of their Husbands and Ancestors ; and that incon
tinently in this Case the next of the Blood of those Ravishers,
or of them that be ravished [Rapiencium & raptarum], to
whom such Inheritance, Dower, or Joint Feoffment ought to
revert, remain or fall after the Death of the Ravisher, or of
her that is so ravished, shall have Title immediately, that is
to say, after the Rape, to enter upon the Ravisher, or her that
is ravished, and their Assigns, and Land-Tenants in the
same Inheritance, Dower, or Joint-Feoffment, and the same to
hold in State of Inheritance; and that the Husbands of such
Women, if they have Husbands, or if they have no Husbands
in Life, that then the Fathers or other next of their Blood,
have from henceforth the Suit to pursue, and may sue against
the same Offenders and Ravishers [malefactores & raptores]
in this behalf, and to have them thereof convict of Life and
of Member, although the same Women, after such Rape, do
consent to the said Ravishers. And further it is accorded,
That the Defendant in this Case shall not be received to wage
Battel, but that the Truth of the Matter be thereof tried by
Inquisition of the Country. Saving always to our Lord the
King, and to other Lords of the said Realm, all their Escheats
of the said Ravishers [de raptoribws illis], if peradventure
they be thereof convict.

Statutes, Record Office edition, ii. 27.

There can be little question that rape was at one time a
1 I give only the translation, as the chapter is so long.

FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. 141

common practise of English gentlemen ; as seduction is, or
was lately, among certain bad sets in the army, at College,
&c. Robert of Brunne, writing A.D. 1303 — and not here trans
lating and enlarging William of Waddington (of about 1260 ?)

— says i

Also do Jjese lordynges,

]?e[y] trespas moche yn twey Jjynges ;

j?ey rauys a may den a^ens here wyl,

And mennys wyuys J?ey lede awey Jjertyl :

A grete vylanye parto he dous,

^yf he make Jjerof his rous (glosst boste) ;

]?e dede ys confusyun,

And more ys |je dyffamacyun

Handling Synne, p. 231, 1. 7420-7.

That the clergy of all ranks indulgd in the practise, there
can be little doubt, as well from the nature of the case, as the
continual complaints of them throughout early literature, and
recorded instances, of which a couple may be given here : —

Agarde's Abstract of the ' Placita Coram Rege temp. Ric. II,'
leaf 38.

Placita coraw domino Rege apud Westmonasterium de Ter-
mino Sancti Hillarij Anno Regni Regis Tticardi Secundi a
conquestu Vndecimo.

Gloutf. 27. Quater presentatwr contra Henncwra Wakefeld
lEipiscopum Wigornensem pro Raptu mulierum, &c.
Qui venit et reddidit se prisone rnarescalae. Et
per marescaWwwi ductus et arenatus, profert par-
donaciorcem Regis, vna cum brevi clause, per quern
ipse deliberatwr.

Coram Rege 1 Ric. II. Trinity. Roll x. Heryng.

Gzutalrigia. Robertus Spryng1, per attornatum suum, oppo-
nit se iiijto die versus Johannem Hed', Clmcum,
de placito quare, vi & armis, Katmnam, vxorem
ipsius Robert^, apud Haselyngfeld rapuit, & earn,
cum bonis & catallis eiusdem Roberti, abduxit, 8c
ea ei ad hue detinet, & alia enorina, &c. ad dainp-
DUTO, &c. 8z; contra pacem nosfram, ac contra
formam statuti in huiusmodi casu prouisi, &c.
Et ipse non vem'J. Et preceptzm fuit \icecomiti
quod attach^e^ eum. Et vicecomes retornat quod
predicts Robertus non inuenit plegia de pro-
Bequendo. Et modo iste eodem termiuo venit
predictus Robertus in Curia Reg/s corain domino
Rege, & inuenit pleg^a de prosequendo, videlicet,
per Wille/mwrn Cryour & Robertwm Twynge.
Idea sicut alms preceptum est \\cecomiti quod

142 FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

attachiet predictum Johawwem Hed. Ita quod
ha&eat corpus eius coram domino Rege in Octabis
tsancti Michaels vbicunqwe, &c. Et vnde octabis
Tnmtatis.

While then, I think it certain that Chaucer committed no
felony in his ' raptus ' of Cecilia Chaumpaigne, yet there must
remain the possibility that he lay with her, and compensated
her — according to the quotations below — possibly on Sir Wm.
Beauchamp's demand. The opinion given on the Carpenter's
Wife in the Miller's Tale may have been Chaucer's own, con
cerning every pretty girl : —

She was a prymerole / a piggesnye
For any lord / to leggen in his bedde
Or yet/ for any good yeman to wedde

A. 3268-70, Ellesmere MS, p. 94.

And as Robert of Brunne says of a maiden and her seducer,
And J>oghe she to hym consente,
He ys holde to here auaunsement1 ;
For ^yf she ^yue here to folye,
She kan nat leue tyl she deye.

p. 230, 1. 7396-9.

Or again, if the maiden ravisht were poor, the law seems
to have allowd a compensation to be made, or to have winkt
at it ; the daughter or wife of a villein, for instance — who
was sold with the estate she lived on, like a young tree — and
was not separately valued like a heifer would probably have
been — cannot practically have been always regarded as having
the rights of a free woman. Robert of Brunne's lines follow
ing those already quoted on p. 139 above, — which show the
penalty of rape to have been death — are these : —
^yf ])ou rauysshe a mayden powre,
J?ou art holdyn to here socoure l ;
And J?at shal be at here wylle,
For, as she wyl, Jjou shalt fulfylle
For Jjou hast do here tresun,
j?ou hast stole here warysun ;
Hyt may j?e brynge to more cumbryng
]jan Jioghe j^ou haddest stole moche oujjer J>yng.

Handlyng Synne, p. 70-1, 1. 2185-92.

[There is no French original for this passage, so that it
is Robert of Brunne's own statement, in 1303, of the custom
of his time. This confirms my interpretation (Temporary
Preface, p. 118) of Chaucer's ironical lines in his Prologue to
the Canterbury Tales on the Friar : —

He hadde maad / ful many a mariage
Of yonge wownnen / at his owene cost1
As witnesst by the Prior of Maiden Bradley's boast that he

FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. 143

had ' never medelet with marytt women, but all with madens,
the faireste cowlde be gotyu, and always marede them ryglit
well,-' that is, marrid them to other men, giving them a small
dowry, 'advancing' them.]

While I wish this record about Cecilia Chaumpaigne had
not been on the Close Roll, yet, as it was there, I feel much
obliged to Mr Floyd for pointing it out ; as, if we take the
worst possible view of it — violent rape not being possible —
it only shows that a thing happend, which any one. from
certain of Chaucer's Tales, must have known might well have
happend, and which was hardly considerd a fault in the
gentleman of his day.

[The following case does not seem one of ravishment.]
Agarde, temp. Edw. III. Trinity Term, A* x, leaf 89, back.

Rex.

Line1. 10. Juratores diuersorum hundredorum presentant
quod Hugo de Frenes, miles, cum multzs alijs igno-
tis, venit ad Castrum de Bolingbroke, et petierunt
a Janitore quod possent intrare, qui invitus appmiit
Januas per Johcwmem de Lascy mil item, qui fuit ex
cowuiua et assensu predictorum Hugonis et aliorum.
Et tune venerunt in Aula, et ceperunt Alesias?., Co-
mitissam Linco/me, asserewtes ipsam debere alibi
esse in custodia, et earn posuerunt super equum sel-
latum, de quo cecidit. Et postea ipsam levauerunt,
et posuerunt quendara garc/owem post illara, vt
illaw teneret super equu/tt, et sic ipsam duxerunt ad
Castrum de Sernerton, et ipsam rapueruut contra
voluntatem, suam. Ipse vem£, et per Juratores uon
est culpabilis &c.

Agarde notices elsewhere : —

Michaels, A° xix [Edw. Ill], leaf 159.

London 41. In placito pro Raptu continetur hec Raptus
verba Et illara de Puellagio suo felo-
nice rapuit, et totaliter deflorauit.

Trinita^'s, A^o xxj°, leaf 169, back.

Oxon. 24. Riccmfus de Wymbourn per Juratores Raptus
recuperavit dampnu^ xlh. versus Thomam vxoris
de Okereswell pro raptu et detencione vx
oris sue, cum bonis suis, &c.

Mr Floyd has shown me in the ' Excerpta e Rotulis Flnium
. . . Henrico tertio Rege, A.D. 1216-1272', vol. ii. p. 17, an
entry in which Hugh Pecche and Ida his wife (formerly a
widow) are both enterd as liable to the King for £500, be-

144 FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

cause Hugh carrid off and marrid the widow Ida without
paying the King for leave to wed. The entry begins thus :

pro Hugone Pecche > HUGO PECCH.E & IDA vxor eiws, que

& Ida de Segrave ) fuit uxor STEPH^M DE SEGTJAVE, finem

fecerunt cum Rege per qwingentas libras

pro transgressiowe quam idem Hugo fecit rapiendo predicta,m
Idam, de quibws reddent C. marcas ad festum Sancti Edwardi
quod erit in qwindena Sancti MichaeZis anno &c. xxxj., & L.
libras ad Pascha anno &c. xxxij, & L libras ad festwm Sancti
MichaeZis anno eodera, & Sic de anno in annum C. libras ad
eosdew tmramos, donee dicte qwingengte [s£c] libre fuerint
persolute.

[The names of the sureties follow ; and directions to
Elye lo Latimer and the Sheriff of Bedford, who had respect
ively seizd the lands of Pecche and his wife, on account of
their misdeeds, to give the lands up to them ; and that the
Sheriffs of Suffolk and Essex are not to proclaim Hugh Pecche
an outlaw (ad utlagandww decetero interrogari now faciaut).]

p. 41, 1. 9. John of Gaunt 's Marriage to Blanche of Lan
caster, daughter and heiress of Henry, the late Duke of Lan
caster. Here is a chance notice of it, soon after its happening,
in an undersheriffs' account : —

1366 A.D. Exch. Q. R. Memoranda 40 Edw. III. Hilary.
'Precepta' on the account of Robert de Twyford, under-
sheriff, and Simon de Leek, late sheriff, of Nottingham
and Derby.

Et restant ei allocande x. li. quas dicit se soluisse Johanrci,
Duci Lancastne, qui Blanchiam, filiam & heredem Henn'ci
nuper Ducis Lanca.s^n'e, duxit in vxorem, pro terrnmo Pasche
vltimo preter^o, de illis viginti libratis redditws quas Rex
nuper concessit prefato Heniico, sub nomine Cornitis Derbye
percipiendes sibi & heredibus suis siwgulis1 annis de exitibus
eiusdem Comitis Derbye ad festa sancti Michaels & Pasche
equaliter per manus \\cecomitum qui pro tempore fueririt, &c.
de quarwm solucione dicit se habere liter&s acquietanci'e pre-
dictorum Ducis & Blanchie in partibus suis . . .

p. 112, 1. 15 from foot. On my words, "Turner's wonder
at some of Mr Buskin's interpretations of his pictures has been
recorded for us," Prof. Ruskin writes :

"MY DEAR FURN1VALL,

" After being greatly delighted and instructed by
your Forewords, thorough, I am put into a violent passion by
finding you insert a rechauffe — exaggerated in terms — of
1 MS. sigmlis

FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. 145

that entirely dull after Academy-dinner tradition, of Turner's
' wonder at my interpretations,' &c.

" — Please to observe therefore,

" 1. Turner never ' wondered ' at anything.

" 2. So far from finding me put meanings into his pic
tures, which he had not, he tried for a quarter of an hour, on
two several occasions, to make me guess a meaning which he
had ; arid was greatly vexed and angry because I could not.

" 3. I never ' interpreted ' any of his pictures till six years
after his death. My endeavour to do so, when they were
exhibited at Marlborough House, made me so bitterly feel my
ignorance both of Greek Mythology and of Turner's higher
modes of expression, that I began a course of Greek reading,
which, carried on steadily for ten years, enabled me at last to
write my Queen of the Air ; and in some degree qualified me
for the position I now hold at Oxford. So that, practically,
up to this hour, Turner has been my tutor, — not I his inter
preter.

" Ever faithfully yours,

" J. R."

p. 126, note on p. 38, 1. 1. But though John of Gaunt
did marry again, and then again, he didn't forget his Duchess
Blaunche, as the following entries of payments for her tomb,
and services at it, show : — •

Duchy of Lancaster. Class 28, Bundle 3, No. 1.

Michaelmas 1377-8. Compotus dom'ni Wille/mi de Bugh-
brugg, generak's Receptoris Johawwis Regis Castelh'e &
Legionis1, Dads Lancastrie, de omnibus receptis suis, so-
lucionibua & expenses, A festo sawed Michaels Anno regni
regis Edward! tercij post couquestum AngHe quinquagesimo
usque idem festum Anno regni regis Ricardi secwwdi post
couquestum pn'mo per vnum Annum integrwm.

Custws H In denam's solutis Magistro Henrico Yeuele,

Tumbe & Thome Wreke, Cementario Londome, in partem

Domine soluciowis maioris su/rame eis debite pro factwra

Blanched vniws Tumbe infra eccleriam sawcti Pauli Londonze,

supra corpws dominQ Blanchie, quondam Ducisse

LancasHe, vt patet per indenturam de cowuenciowi-

bus factam, receptis denam's per manws dicti Henrici,

videlicet, pro termims sawed MichaeZis Anno regni

1 Lancaster, second Duke. John Plantagenet, surnamed "of
Gaunt", Earl of Richmond, fourth son of Edward III, created
Duke of Lancaster 13 Nov. 1362, and Duke of Aquitaine for life
(in Parliament) 2 Mar. 1389, K.G., King of Castile and Leon;
died 23 Feb. 1399.— Nicolas.

146 FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

regis Edwardi .L.mo, & Pasche Anno quinquagesimo
primo, per duas Utoraa doraini de Warrcmfo, Quarwm
vna data Apud Sauuoye xxiiij. die Nouembm Anno
L.mo & altera data ibidem .xx. die Aprilis, Anno
Lj.mo Ac eciam duas indenturas ipsorum Henrici &
Thome super huwc compotum liberatum cviij. li.

(Then follows a payment of Chaucer's annuity from the Duke.
Annuitates Galfrido Chaacer) pro Annuitate sua pro
de term i no eodem termmo, per liferas dowini de warrant
Pasche Anno datas apud Sauuoye xij. die Junii Anno lj.mo,
lj.mo & acquietanciam ipsius Galfridi super huwc com-
potum liberatam c. s.)

(Blanche.)

Stipendium In denariis solutis dominis Dauid Estradev

Capettanorum & Dauid Morf, Capellanis celebrantifozs diuina
in ecclesia sancti Pauli, London/e, pro ammo,
Domine Blanchie, nuper ducisse Lancastrie: pro
stipend/us suis a Crastino sancti Micliael'is Anno
regni regis ^dwardi l.mo vsque idem ternpus
Anno regni regis Ricardi pn'mo, videlicet, vtri-
qwe eorum x. li. & sic de anno in annum dum
in illo seruicio steterint, per UVeras domini de
vfarranto currente datas apud Sauuoye .x.mo die
Decernbrzs, Anno .L.mo, & iiij. Acquietancias
ipsorum Dauid & Dauid super huwc compo^ww

liberatas xx. li.

Soluciones per In diuem's soluc/owibws 8c expenses factis
Warmwto circa Anniuersaiiw??i domine Blanchie, nuper

ducisse Lancas/rie, tentwm London/e Mense Sep-
tembres, Anno regni regis Rica-rc?i secundi post
conqwes^rn Angh'e prime, vt patet per parti cu-
las inde factas, 8z; super huwc compotam libera
tas, necuow per easdem literas domini, 8tc.

xxvij. li .xiiij s. viij. d?.

(Horses, a Minstrel, Auditors, &c.)

(Among the horses paid for is " Edwardo Ferowr pro vno
trotted bay, per ipswm empto ad opus domini, per easdem
literas .vij.li .vj. s .x.d?." ; otlier payments are 'pro vno equo
nigro trotter* . . pro vno malere . . .xij. li.'. ' Roulekyn
Shalurnser, vni Ministrallo domini . . .xl.s.' The Auditors
are paid 4s. a day. One of them, Philip Melreth, rides from
Tuttebury to London in Feb., 51 Edw. III. ' per .iiij.or dies',
and stays there during April, May, and June, and July in
1 Ric. II." on the Duke's business, 73 days, making 77 days
altogether, for which he gets .xiij.li. viij.s.)

FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

147

Here is the Duke's yearly allowance (Michaelmas 1377-8)
for his daughters by his dead wife Blaunche (see p. 80,
above), while they were under Katherine Swynford's care : —

In denarius solutis domine Katerine de
Swynfordf, Magistresse dominarum Philippe
& Elizabethe de Laucas/ria, pro expenses
Garderobe & Camerarie dictarum dommarum
Philippe & Elizabethe / per dominum con-
cessis, videlicet, pro iermino Michaels Anno
.L.mo per literas domim de vtarranto datas
apud Sauuoye xiiij. die Octobris Anno ,L.mo
& indenturaw. ipsius Katerine super hunc
compofam liberatam

[£83] jgj. iij.li. vj.s. viii.d?.
H Eidem Katerine pro tot denaras as-
iguatis diesis domiuabus Philippe & Eliza-
Filia- bethe pro expenses Garderobe & Camerarie
rum - suarwm / vltra aliqwam Annuitatem per
Domini dommum eis pn'us cowcessaw, per h'^eras
domni de warranto datqs Apud Sauuoye
xvj. die Februaru', Anno VLj.mo & iudenturam
ipsius Katerine super huwo compoto^ liber-
atam .xvj.li. xiij.s. iiij.d?.

If Eidem domine Katerine, in denaru's
assigna^'s eisdem Philippe & Elizabethe pro
consi?ftilibws expenses, videlicet, pro terniiwo
Pasche, Anno .Lj.mo per Mteras domim dp
Warranfo datas apud Sauuoye, quarto die
Maij, Anno lj.° & indenturam ipsius domint
Katerine super hunc compotum liberatawi

.C.li.
1T Summa . . . CC.li.

Follows, John of Gaunt's yearly allowance for
his only son by Blanche, Henry (of Bolingbroke)
afterwards King Henry IV of England : —

IT In denam's solutz's Hugowi Waterton,
in partem solucio?iis .L. li. assignatarwm
isto Anno presenti pro Camera TLenrici fih'i
domini, per h'ieras eiusdern domini de War
ranto datas apud Sauuoye xiiij. die Decem-
bn's, Anno .L.rao & indenti*ram ipsius Hugo-
nis super huwc compo^ww liberataw .xxv. li.
1T In denarws solutis domino Hugoni

Henrici Herle, Capellawo eiusdem Henrici Comitis
Derbey, super certis expenses Garderooe sue

Domini | faciendis per literas domini de Warranto

Custws
Came-
rarie

148 FURTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

datas apud Sauuoye xvij. die Juim Anno
Lj.mo, & indenturam ipsius domini Hugoms
super huwc comipotum liberatam .x. li.

5F Eidem domno Hugoni Herle, pro vno
Missale per ipsum empto ad opus dicti Hen-
rici .vj.li. xiij s. iiij <J. ; pro duobws equis
emptis ad opus eiusdem .xij. li. ; & super
expenses Camere sue .viij. li. per literas do-
mini de Warranto datas apud Sauuoye .vij.mo
die Jnlii Anno pn'mo, & indenturam ipsius
domini Hugonfc super himc compo^wm liber-
atam xxvj.li. xiij.s. iiij.d?.

Then come, among other payments, one to Chaucer, and
another to Oto Graunson, of their Annuities from the Duke
of Lancaster : —

Michaels Anno In denam's solutis Galfrido Chaucer pro

quinquageswio Annuitate sua sibi debita, pro tmnino Michae/is

Anno quinquagesimo c. s.

p. 90, p. 123. /^wnsson. This Oto de Gransson is men
tioned on the Duchy of Lancaster Roll in 1377-8 : —

Armuitates ^T Domino Otes Graunson, Militi, pro An-

Pasche Anno nuitate sua pro eodein termmo, per literas

.Lj.mo domini de Warranto datas apud Sauuoye .xij

die May, Anno .Lj.mo & superius in titwlo de

Custubws Manera de la Sauuoye annotatas, ac

acquietanciam ipsius Otes super huwc compotum

liberatam xxxiij.li. vj.s. viij.d?.

PR Chaucer Society, London
1901 cPubli ca tions 3

A3
ser. 2

CIRCULATE AS MONOGRAPH

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY