s: "Send and have that mended to-morrow," Sophie whispered.


s: "Then it wouldn't be Friars Pardon," said Sophie. "Would it?"


s: "I see," said Sophie. "How did Mr. Sangres make his money?"


s: "Your people," said the clear voice of Lady Conant in her ear.


s: "Did you find out anything about the Lashmars?" he interrupted.


s: George mopped a brow already browned by outdoor exposures.


s: "That's one of 'em," said George calmly.


s: "To show us we mustn't shut up their rights of way."


s: "The whole community would fight if we did."


s: "But it's our land. We can do what we like."


s: "We shall make some bad breaks," he said at last.


s: "Together, though. You won't let anyone else in, will you?"


s: "But you might feel the want of some one," she insisted.


s: "Yes, that's my work," said Sophie. (Billy Beartup of Griffons,


s: a woodman by training and birth, a tenant farmer by misfortune of


s: "Are they roads yonder?" said Skim, sitting under the laurels.


s: "I didn't last time neither," Skim roared.


s: "Would they be gentry yonder now?" Skim asked.


s: "Lord! What's a hundred years?" said Whybarne, who had seen


s: "Aren't you overdoing it too? You look a little tired," he said.


s: "No more I did." Sophie sat bolt upright, and began to laugh.


s: "No--no. If I could only be sure of you."


s: She turned on the green drawing-room's couch (it was Empire, not


s: "It has changed everything, hasn't it?" she whispered.


s: "Oh, Lord, yes. But I still think if we went back to Baltimore--"


s: "Where did you lunch? With the Conants?"


s: "What concern is it of theirs, confound 'em!"


s: This was a bold, brazen little black-browed woman--a widow for


s: "You aren't going to bring her up again?" he asked anxiously.


s: "Go on," she twinkled, from the pillows.


s: P.S.--How quiet you've kept about it all!


s: "Don't swear," said Sophie. "Bad for the infant mind."


s: "Your great-grandmother's brother! She's traced the whole


s: "Are we so undesirable in ourselves?" George grunted.


s: "Yiss," Mrs. Cloke went on. "An' Cloke was only wonderin' this


s: afternoon--your pillow's slipped my dear, you mustn't lie that


s: "But Sir Walter doesn't want to sell, does he?"


s: "Here's the place," said his father at last among the water


s: "I don't know nothin' about that," said Cloke.


s: Till I fill their hearts with knowledge,


s: One night, a very long time ago, I drove to an Indian military


s: "Nonsense! That dog's worth more than most men, Stanley," I said.


s: She was admitted and flew to her pillow. When she was quieted I


s: "Garm," I said, "another time you will be washed with Vixen."


s: I explained the whole case, and wound up with:


s: "Hostage for what? I don't want hostages from Stanley."


s: "If you'll drive me home I think I can show you," I said.


s: "You here?" said the officer, turning away his head.


s: "What kind of animal is Bullen Sahib's dog? Look at him!"


s: Next evening who should turn up but Stanley. The officer had sent


s: But Garm cared for none of these things. His big eyes were on the


s: Once, and only once, did I see Garm at all contented with his


s: "He's dying of a broken heart," said the lady-doctor suddenly.


s: The best man-doctor in the place wrote a prescription, and the


s: "Garm," I said, "we are going back to Stanley at Kasauli.


s: Then he said he felt hungry, and thirsty, and happy.


s: There is sorrow enough in the natural way


s: But when we are certain of sorrow in store,


s: By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.


s: When the fourteen years which Nature permits


s: Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,


s: And the vet's unspoken prescription runs


s: Then you will find--it's your own affair


s: But... you've given your heart to a dog to tear.


s: When the body that lived at your single will


s: When the whimper of welcome is stilled (how still!)


s: When the spirit that answered your every mood


s: And will give your heart to a dog to tear!


s: When it comes to burying Christian clay.


s: Though it is not always the case, I believe,


s: That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:


s: For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,


s: Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?


s: The little grey Wax-moth, pressed close in a crack in the


s: "Don't call me 'Miss.' I'm a sister to all in affliction--just a


s: "You mustn't lay here," cried Melissa. "You aren't a Queen."


s: "I'm afraid I foul-brooded you just now," said a voice over her


s: shoulder. "I'd been on the Gate for three hours, and one would


s: foul-brood the Queen herself after that. No offence meant."


s: confidence. Our dear sister in grey says so."


s: "I see," she murmured, "that at heart you are one of Us."


s: "I work with the Hive," Melissa answered briefly.


s: "It's the same thing. We and the Hive are one."


s: "Then why are your feelers different from ours? Don't cuddle so."


s: "Don't be provincial, Carissima. You can't have all the world


s: "But why do you lay eggs?" Melissa insisted. "You lay 'em like a


s: "Yes; but it didn't defend the Gate," she replied.


s: "I wish she'd go!" Sacharissa lowered her voice. "She meets


s: these--er--oddities as they dry out, and cuddles 'em in corners."


s: "That is the truth," said the Queen's voice behind them. They had


s: "You hear?" said the Queen. "I know the Hive!"


s: When the caterpillars became moths, they made friends with the


s: ever-increasing Oddities--albinoes, mixed-leggers, single-eyed


s: composites, faceless drones, halfqueens and laying sisters; and


s: "Ye-es, but it won't be long at this rate," said Melissa.


s: preaching--and dirtying things in the dark."


s: "More than that," chanted the Oddities in the sunshine; "you have


s: He beat it on his knee like a tambourine, and it also crumbled to


s: "But it's tucked away among--What on earth has come to the little


s: As frame after frame followed it, the swarm beheld the upheaval,


s: "No, the mistake was entirely ours," said the Princess.


s: "Pardon me," said the Wax-moth. "When you think of the enormous


s: With fragrant herbs and branches spread.


s: Where The gravid mistress of their care?


s: Whose offspring, supping where they supt,


s: (Together with extracts from the magazine in which it appeared)


s: From the despatching-caisson I was conducted by a courteous and


s: wonderfully learned official Mr. L.L. Geary, Second Despatcher of


s: The eye detects no joint in her skin plating save the sweeping


s: "Four thousand. Aren't you coming up on the bridge?"


s: Then lights sink under the curve of the ocean.


s: thought--literally in full blast. The three engines are H.T.&T.


s: "What under the stars are you doing here, you sky-scraping


s: Then the stranger bellows: "Look at my propellers! There's been a


s: "Can't I fetch St. John's--not even with this breeze?" the voice


s: "Shunt the lift out of him with a spanner. Hurry!"


s: "But I can make St. John's if you'll stand by."


s: Captain Hodgson opens the underbody colloid, swings the heavy


s: We hurry into the heavy rubber suits--the engineers are already


s: packet's made of? Gummed silk? Tell her we're coming on straight,


s: laterals, Tim; she'll want some holding."


s: "I've got her," is the answer. "Come up, old woman."


s: "Look!" he said. "We must clear those refugees with a high lift."


s: "Now I hope she's satisfied," said Tim. "I'm glad I'm not a


s: "A Rimouski drogher on the look-out for a tow."


s: "Those droghers will go anywhere on a chance of salvage," George


s: A long-beaked, bright steel ninety-footer floated at ease for one


s: "So I noticed. Wasn't that quite a little draught?"


s: "The dawn-gust," says Tim. "It'll go on to meet the Sun. Look!


s: Then, while they sweated home the covering-plates:


s: And a dance with Ella Sweyn at Elsinore!


s: The clips parted with a gesture of indignant dismissal, as though


s: In ten seconds the coach with its clerks clashed down to the


s: No changes in English Inland lights for week ending Dec. 18th.


s: SNAEFELL JOKUL--White occulting light withdrawn for winter.


s: SABLE ISLAND--Green single barbette-tower freighter, number


s: MARVEL of PERU (racing plane), J. X. Peixoto owner, Rio de


s: finished, the road was seared, and blown, and pitted with unequal


s: VIGILANS--The Laws of Auroral Derangements are still imperfectly


s: INDIGNANT--On your own showing, you were not under control. That


s: be included, but the average courts are not, as a rule, swayed by


s: ALDEBARAN--(1) war, as a paying concern, ceased in 1987. (2) The


s: PULMONAR--(1) For the symptoms you describe, try the Gobi Desert


s: THE object of this volume is to place before the general reader


s: our two early poetic masterpieces -- The Canterbury Tales and


s: The Faerie Queen; to do so in a way that will render their


s: "popular perusal" easy in a time of little leisure and unbounded


s: temptations to intellectual languor; and, on the same conditions,


s: There is, it may be said at the outset, peculiar advantage and


s: propriety in placing the two poets side by side in the manner


s: now attempted for the first time.  Although two centuries divide


s: them, yet Spenser is the direct and really the immediate


s: successor to the poetical inheritance of Chaucer.  Those two


s: hundred years, eventful as they were, produced no poet at all


s: worthy to take up the mantle that fell from Chaucer's shoulders;


s: and Spenser does not need his affected archaisms, nor his


s: frequent and reverent appeals to "Dan Geffrey," to vindicate for


s: undefiled," Spenser is the broad and stately river that yet holds


s: The Canterbury Tales, so far as they are in verse, have been


s: printed without any abridgement or designed change in the


s: sense.  But the two Tales in prose -- Chaucer's Tale of


s: Meliboeus, and the Parson's long Sermon on Penitence -- have


s: been contracted, so as to exclude thirty pages of unattractive


s: prose, and to admit the same amount of interesting and


s: characteristic poetry.  The gaps thus made in the prose Tales,


s: however, are supplied by careful outlines of the omitted matter,


s: so that the reader need be at no loss to comprehend the whole


s: scope and sequence of the original.  With The Faerie Queen a


s: bolder course has been pursued. The great obstacle to the


s: popularity of Spencer's splendid work has lain less in its


s: language than in its length.  If we add together the three great


s: poems of antiquity -- the twenty-four books of the Iliad, the


s: twenty-four books of the Odyssey, and the twelve books of the


s: Aeneid -- we get at the dimensions of only one-half of The


s: Faerie Queen.  The six books, and the fragment of a seventh,


s: which alone exist of the author's contemplated twelve, number


s: about 35,000 verses; the sixty books of Homer and Virgil


s: number no more than 37,000. The mere bulk of the poem, then,


s: has opposed a formidable barrier to its popularity; to say


s: nothing of the distracting effect produced by the numberless


s: episodes, the tedious narrations, and the constant repetitions,


s: which have largely swelled that bulk.  In this volume the poem


s: is compressed into two-thirds of its original space, through the


s: expedient of representing the less interesting and more


s: mechanical passages by a condensed prose outline, in which it


s: has been sought as far as possible to preserve the very words of


s: the poet.  While deprecating a too critical judgement on the


s: bare and constrained precis standing in such trying


s: juxtaposition, it is hoped that the labour bestowed in saving the


s: for the enjoyment of Spencer's marvellous allegory, will not be


s: As regards the manner in which the text of the two great works,


s: especially of The Canterbury Tales, is presented, the Editor is


s: aware that some whose judgement is weighty will differ from


s: him.  This volume has been prepared "for popular perusal;" and


s: its very raison d'etre would have failed, if the ancient


s: orthography had been retained.  It has often been affirmed by


s: without any preliminary acquaintance with the English of his


s: day -- or of his copyists' days.  Despite this complacent


s: assurance, the obvious fact is, that Chaucer in the old forms has


s: there has been not the slightest attempt to "modernise"


s: Chaucer, in the wider meaning of the phrase; to replace his


s: words by words which he did not use; or, following the example


s: of some operators, to translate him into English of the modern


s: spirit as well as the modern forms.  So far from that, in every


s: case where the old spelling or form seemed essential to metre,


s: to rhyme, or meaning, no change has been attempted.  But,


s: wherever its preservation was not essential, the spelling of the


s: monkish transcribers -- for the most ardent purist must now


s: despair of getting at the spelling of Chaucer himself -- has been


s: compliment to the Father of English Poetry, to say that by such


s: treatment the bouquet and individuality of his works must be


s: lost.  If his masterpiece is valuable for one thing more than any


s: women of the fourteenth century are there painted, for the study


s: picture the screen of dust and cobwebs which, for the English


s: people in these days, the crude forms of the infant language


s: have practically become.  Shakespeare has not suffered by


s: similar changes; Spencer has not suffered; it would be surprising


s: comprehension and favour in his case are necessarily all the


s: greater for his remoteness from our day.  In a much smaller


s: degree -- since previous labours in the same direction had left


s: far less to do -- the same work has been performed for the


s: spelling of Spenser; and the whole endeavour in this department


s: of the Editor's task has been, to present a text plain and easily


s: both ends have been achieved together; but the laudatores


s: temporis acti - the students who may differ most from the plan


s: pursued in this volume -- will best appreciate the difficulty of


s: the enterprise, and most leniently regard any failure in the


s: With all the works of Chaucer, outside The Canterbury Tales, it


s: would have been absolutely impossible to deal within the scope


s: of this volume.  But nearly one hundred pages, have been


s: devoted to his minor poems; and, by dint of careful selection


s: and judicious abridgement -- a connecting outline of the story in


s: workmanship in all styles.  The preparation of this part of the


s: volume has been a laborious task; no similar attempt on the


s: same scale has been made; and, while here also the truth of the


s: text in matters essential has been in nowise sacrificed to mere


s: ease of perusal, the general reader will find opened up for him a


s: hundred pages, will melt away for ever the lingering tradition or


s: buffoon, who pandered to a base and licentious appetite by


s: painting and exaggerating the lowest vices of his time.  In these


s: the poet's credit from a wide range of poems in which hardly a


s: word is to his discredit -- we behold Chaucer as he was; a


s: courtier, a gallant, pure-hearted gentleman, a scholar, a


s: philosopher, a poet of gay and vivid fancy, playing around


s: themes of chivalric convention, of deep human interest, or


s: broad-sighted satire.  In The Canterbury Tales, we see, not


s: Chaucer, but Chaucer's times and neighbours; the artist has lost


s: himself in his work. To show him honestly and without disguise,


s: as he lived his own life and sung his own songs at the brilliant


s: Court of Edward III, is to do his memory a moral justice far


s: more material than any wrong that can ever come out of


s: spelling.  As to the minor poems of Spenser, which follow The


s: Faerie Queen, the choice has been governed by the desire to


s: give at once the most interesting, and the most characteristic of


s: the poems so selected are given entire. It is manifest that the


s: endeavours to adapt this volume for popular use, have been


s: already noticed, would imperfectly succeed without the aid of


s: notes and glossary, to explain allusions that have become


s: obsolete, or antiquated words which it was necessary to retain.


s: An endeavour has been made to render each page self-


s: explanatory, by placing on it all the glossarial and illustrative


s: information may be found.  The great advantage of such a plan


s: explanations or equivalents; it saves the distracting and time-


s: consuming reference to the end or the beginning of the book;


s: well as in the innumerable minute points of spelling,


s: accentuation, and rhythm, he must now and again be found


s: tripping; he can only ask any reader who may detect all that he


s: could himself point out as being amiss, to set off against


s: inevitable mistakes and misjudgements, the conscientious labour


s: bestowed on the book, and the broad consideration of its fitness


s: From books the Editor has derived valuable help; as from Mr


s: Cowden Clarke's revised modern text of The Canterbury Tales,


s: published in Mr Nimmo's Library Edition of the English Poets;


s: from Mr Wright's scholarly edition of the same work; from the


s: indispensable Tyrwhitt; from Mr Bell's edition of Chaucer's


s: Poem; from Professor Craik's "Spenser and his Poetry,"


s: published twenty-five years ago by Charles Knight; and from


s: many others. In the abridgement of the Faerie Queen,  the plan


s: may at first sight seem to be modelled on the lines of Mr Craik's


s: poems of Chaucer, have been prepared specially for this edition.


s: The Editor leaves his task with the hope that his attempt to


s: remove artificial obstacles to the popularity of  England's


s: earliest poets, will not altogether miscarry.


s: NOT in point of genius only, but even in point of time, Chaucer


s: may claim the proud designation of "first" English poet. He


s: wrote "The Court of Love" in 1345, and "The Romaunt of the


s: Rose," if not also "Troilus and Cressida," probably within the


s: next decade: the dates usually assigned to the poems of


s: Laurence Minot extend from 1335 to 1355, while "The Vision


s: of Piers Plowman" mentions events that occurred in 1360 and


s: Assembly of Fowls" and his "Dream." But, though they were


s: his contemporaries, neither Minot nor Langland (if Langland


s: was the author of the Vision) at all approached Chaucer in the


s: "Ormulum," are less English than Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-


s: Norman. Those poems reflected the perplexed struggle for


s: supremacy between the two grand elements of our language,


s: which marked the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; a struggle


s: intimately associated with the political relations between the


s: conquering Normans and the subjugated Anglo-Saxons.


s: Chaucer found two branches of the language; that spoken by


s: the people, Teutonic in its genius and its forms; that spoken by


s: the learned and the noble, based on the French  Yet each branch


s: had begun to borrow of the other -- just as nobles and people


s: had been taught to recognise that each needed the other in the


s: wars and the social tasks of the time; and Chaucer, a scholar, a


s: courtier, a man conversant with all orders of society, but


s: accustomed to speak, think, and write in the words of the


s: highest, by his comprehensive genius cast into the simmering


s: mould a magical amalgamant which made the two half-hostile


s: elements unite and interpenetrate each other. Before Chaucer


s: wrote, there were two tongues in England, keeping alive the


s: feuds and resentments of cruel centuries; when he laid down his


s: pen, there was practically but one speech -- there was, and ever


s: Geoffrey Chaucer, according to the most trustworthy traditions-


s: for authentic testimonies on the subject are wanting -- was born


s: in 1328; and London is generally believed to have been his


s: birth-place. It is true that Leland, the biographer of England's


s: first great poet who lived nearest to his time, not merely speaks


s: now assigned, but mentions Berkshire or Oxfordshire as the


s: scene of his birth. So great uncertainty have some felt on the


s: latter score, that elaborate parallels have been drawn between


s: Chaucer, and Homer -- for whose birthplace several cities


s: contended, and whose descent was traced to the demigods.


s: Leland may seem to have had fair opportunities of getting at the


s: truth about Chaucer's birth -- for Henry VIII had him, at the


s: suppression of the monasteries throughout England, to search


s: for records of public interest the archives of the religious


s: houses. But it may be questioned whether he was likely to find


s: many authentic particulars regarding the personal history of the


s: poet in the quarters which he explored; and Leland's testimony


s: seems to be set aside by Chaucer's own evidence as to his


s: birthplace, and by the contemporary references which make him


s: out an aged man for years preceding the accepted date of his


s: death. In one of his prose works, "The Testament of Love," the


s: poet speaks of himself in terms that strongly confirm the claim


s: of London to the honour of giving him birth; for he there


s: mentions "the city of London, that is to me so dear and sweet,


s: in which I was forth growen; and more kindly love," says he,


s: "have I to that place than to any other in earth; as every kindly


s: interval of time -- by the learned Camden; in his Annals of


s: Queen Elizabeth, he describes Spencer, who was certainly born


s: in London, as being a fellow-citizen of Chaucer's -- "Edmundus


s: Spenserus, patria Londinensis, Musis adeo arridentibus natus, ut


s: omnes Anglicos superioris aevi poetas, ne Chaucero quidem


s: concive excepto, superaret." <1> The records of the time notice


s: more than one person of the name of Chaucer, who held


s: honourable positions about the Court; and though we cannot


s: distinctly trace the poet's relationship with any of these


s: namesakes or antecessors, we find excellent ground for belief


s: that his family or friends stood well at Court, in the ease with


s: which Chaucer made his way there, and in his subsequent


s: Like his great successor, Spencer, it was the fortune of Chaucer


s: to live under a splendid, chivalrous, and high-spirited reign.


s: wars, French expeditions, and the strenuous and costly struggle


s: to hold England in a worthy place among the States of Europe,


s: there was sufficient bustle, bold achievement, and high ambition


s: in the period to inspire a poet who was prepared to catch the


s: spirit of the day. It was an age of elaborate courtesy, of high-


s: paced gallantry, of courageous venture, of noble disdain for


s: mean tranquillity; and Chaucer, on the whole a man of peaceful


s: avocations, was penetrated to the depth of his consciousness


s: remains to us; if we believe that at the age of eighteen he was a


s: name is Philogenet, "of Cambridge clerk;" while he had  already


s: told us that when he was stirred to seek the Court of Cupid he


s: was "at eighteen year of age." According to Leland, however,


s: he was educated at Oxford, proceeding thence to France and


s: the Netherlands, to finish his studies; but there remains no


s: certain evidence of his having belonged to either University. At


s: the same time, it is not doubted that his family was of good


s: condition; and, whether or not we accept the assertion that his


s: father held the rank of knighthood -- rejecting the hypotheses


s: that make him a merchant, or a vintner "at the corner of Kirton


s: Lane" -- it is plain, from Chaucer's whole career, that he had


s: introductions to public life, and recommendations to courtly


s: favour, wholly independent of his genius. We have the clearest


s: testimony that his mental training was of wide range and


s: thorough excellence, altogether rare for a mere courtier in those


s: divinity, the philosophy, and the scholarship of his time, and


s: show him to have had the sciences, as then developed and


s: taught, "at his fingers' ends." Another proof of Chaucer's good


s: birth and fortune would he found in the statement that, after his


s: - the expenses of which could be borne only by men of noble


s: and opulent families; but although there is a story that he was


s: devoted himself to the uncongenial study of the law. No special


s: display of knowledge on that subject appears in his works; yet


s: in the sketch of the Manciple, in the Prologue to the Canterbury


s: Tales, may be found indications of his familiarity with the


s: internal economy of the Inns of Court; while numerous legal


s: phrases and references hint that his comprehensive information


s: poet, a grave philosopher, an ingenious mathematician, and a


s: holy divine;" and by all accounts, when Geoffrey Chaucer


s: comes before us authentically for the first time, at the age of


s: thirty-one, he was possessed of knowledge and


s: accomplishments far beyond the common standard of his day.


s: Chaucer at this period possessed also other qualities fitted to


s: recommend him to favour in a Court like that of Edward III.


s: Urry describes him, on the authority of a portrait, as being then


s: continues the ardent biographer, -- "so that every ornament that


s: other, and his wit and gentle behaviour to converse with both,


s: conspired to make him a complete courtier."  If we believe that


s: his "Court of Love" had received such publicity as the literary


s: media of the time allowed in the somewhat narrow and select


s: literary world -- not to speak of "Troilus and Cressida," which,


s: as Lydgate mentions it first among Chaucer's works, some have


s: supposed to be a youthful production -- we find a third and not


s: less powerful recommendation to the favour of the great co-


s: operating with his learning and his gallant bearing. Elsewhere


s: Cressida" should not be assigned to a later period of Chaucer's


s: life; but very little is positively known about the dates and


s: sequence of his various works. In the year 1386, being called as


s: witness with regard to a contest on a point of heraldry between


s: Lord Scrope and Sir Robert Grosvenor, Chaucer deposed that


s: he entered on his military career in 1359. In that year Edward


s: embarkation of the knights in "Chaucer's Dream", the poet


s: gained some of the vividness and stir of his picture from his


s: recollections of the embarkation of the splendid and well-


s: appointed royal host at Sandwich, on board the eleven hundred


s: transports provided for the enterprise. In this expedition the


s: laurels of Poitiers were flung on the ground; after vainly


s: attempting Rheims and Paris, Edward was constrained, by cruel


s: weather and lack of provisions, to retreat toward his ships; the


s: fury of the elements made the retreat more disastrous than an


s: overthrow in pitched battle; horses and men perished by


s: thousands, or fell into the hands of the pursuing French.


s: Chaucer, who had been made prisoner at the siege of Retters,


s: was among the captives in the possession of France when the


s: treaty of Bretigny -- the "great peace" -- was concluded, in


s: May, 1360. Returning to England, as we may suppose, at the


s: peace, the poet, ere long, fell into another and a pleasanter


s: captivity; for his marriage is generally believed to have taken


s: place shortly after his release from foreign durance.  He had


s: already gained the personal friendship and favour of John of


s: Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the King's son; the Duke, while Earl


s: of Richmond, had courted, and won to wife after a certain


s: delay, Blanche, daughter and co-heiress of Henry Duke of


s: Lancaster; and Chaucer is by some believed to have written


s: "The Assembly of Fowls" to celebrate the wooing, as he wrote


s: "Chaucer's Dream" to celebrate the wedding, of his patron. The


s: marriage took place in 1359, the year of Chaucer's expedition to


s: France; and as, in "The Assembly of Fowls," the formel or


s: female eagle, who is supposed to represent the Lady Blanche,


s: and 1359 have been assigned as the respective dates of the two


s: poems already mentioned.  In the "Dream," Chaucer


s: prominently introduces his own lady-love, to whom, after the


s: happy union of his patron with the Lady Blanche, he is wedded


s: amid great rejoicing; and various expressions in the same poem


s: show that not only was the poet high in favour with the


s: Roet, a native of Hainault, who had, like many of his


s: countrymen, been attracted to England by the example and


s: patronage of Queen Philippa. The favourite attendant on the


s: Lady Blanche was her elder sister Katherine: subsequently


s: married to Sir Hugh Swynford, a gentleman of Lincolnshire;


s: and destined, after the death of Blanche, to be in succession


s: governess of her children, mistress of John of Gaunt, and


s: lawfully-wedded Duchess of Lancaster. It is quite sufficient


s: proof that Chaucer's position at Court was of no mean


s: consequence, to find that his wife, the sister of the future


s: Duchess of Lancaster, was one of the royal maids of honour,


s: and even, as Sir Harris Nicolas conjectures, a god-daughter of


s: the Queen -- for her name also was Philippa.


s: Between 1359, when the poet himself testifies that he was made


s: prisoner while bearing arms in France, and September 1366,


s: when Queen Philippa granted to her former maid of honour, by


s: the name of Philippa Chaucer, a yearly pension of ten marks, or


s: L6, 13s. 4d., we have no authentic mention of Chaucer, express


s: or indirect. It is plain from this grant that the poet's marriage


s: pension of twenty marks, "for the good service which our


s: beloved Valet -- 'dilectus Valettus noster' -- Geoffrey Chaucer


s: has rendered, and will render in time to come." Camden


s: explains 'Valettus hospitii' to signify a Gentleman of the Privy


s: Chamber; Selden says that the designation was bestowed "upon


s: young heirs designed to he knighted, or young gentlemen of


s: great descent and quality." Whatever the strict meaning of the


s: word, it is plain that the poet's position was honourable and


s: near to the King's person, and also that his worldly


s: times the sum in these.  It is believed that he found powerful


s: patronage, not merely from the Duke of Lancaster and his wife,


s: but from Margaret Countess of Pembroke, the King's daughter.


s: To her Chaucer is supposed to have addressed the "Goodly


s: Ballad", in which the lady is celebrated under the image of the


s: daisy; her he is by some understood to have represented under


s: the title of Queen Alcestis, in the "Court of Love" and the


s: Prologue to "The Legend of Good Women;" and in her praise


s: we may read his charming descriptions and eulogies of the daisy


s: -- French, "Marguerite," the name of his Royal patroness. To


s: this period of Chaucer's career we may probably attribute the


s: elegant and courtly, if somewhat conventional, poems of "The


s: "The Lady Margaret," says Urry, ". . . would frequently


s: compliment him upon his poems. But this is not to be meant of


s: sense and plain descriptions. In his love-pieces he was obliged


s: to have the strictest regard to modesty and decency; the ladies


s: at that time insisting so much upon the nicest punctilios of


s: translation of the French "Roman de la Rose," and by his


s: "Troilus and Cressida" -- assuming it to have been among his


s: less mature works; and to atone for those offences the Lady


s: Margaret (though other and older accounts say that it was the


s: first Queen of Richard II., Anne of Bohemia), prescribed to him


s: the task of writing "The Legend of Good Women" (see


s: introductory note to that poem). About this period, too, we


s: may place the composition of Chaucer's A. B. C., or The Prayer


s: of Our Lady, made at the request of the Duchess Blanche, a


s: lady of great devoutness in her private life. She died in 1369;


s: and Chaucer, as he had allegorised her wooing, celebrated her


s: marriage, and aided her devotions, now lamented her death, in a


s: poem entitled "The Book of the Duchess; or, the Death of


s: In 1370, Chaucer was employed on the King's service abroad;


s: and in November 1372, by the title of "Scutifer noster" -- our


s: Esquire or Shield-bearer -- he was associated with "Jacobus


s: Pronan," and "Johannes de Mari civis Januensis," in a royal


s: commission, bestowing full powers to treat with the Duke of


s: Genoa, his Council, and State.  The object of the embassy was


s: to negotiate upon the choice of an English port at which the


s: Genoese might form a commercial establishment; and Chaucer,


s: having quitted England in December, visited Genoa and


s: Florence, and returned to England before the end of November


s: in person. The most interesting point connected with this Italian


s: Padua. That he did, is unhesitatingly affirmed by the old


s: biographers; but the authentic notices of Chaucer during the


s: years 1372-1373, as shown by the researches of Sir Harris


s: the aid of what faint light the poet himself affords. We can


s: famous, did not embrace the chance of meeting a poet whose


s: works he evidently knew in their native tongue, and highly


s: esteemed.  With Mr Wright, we are strongly disinclined to


s: believe "that Chaucer did not profit by the opportunity . . . of


s: improving his acquaintance with the poetry, if not the poets, of


s: the country he thus visited, whose influence was now being felt


s: on the literature of most countries of Western Europe." That


s: Chaucer was familiar with the Italian language appears not


s: merely from his repeated selection as Envoy to Italian States,


s: but by many passages in his poetry, from "The Assembly of


s: Fowls" to "The Canterbury Tales." In the opening of the first


s: poem  there is a striking parallel to Dante's inscription on the


s: gate of Hell.  The first Song of Troilus, in "Troilus and


s: Cressida", is a nearly literal translation of Petrarch's 88th


s: there is a reference to Dante which can hardly have reached the


s: poet at second- hand. And in Chaucer's great work -- as in The


s: Wife of Bath's Tale, and The Monk's Tale  -- direct reference by


s: name is made to Dante, "the wise poet of Florence," "the great


s: poet of Italy," as the source whence the author has quoted.


s: When we consider the poet's high place in literature and at


s: Court, which could not fail to make him free of the hospitalities


s: tongue and the works of Italy's greatest bards, dead and living;


s: the reverential regard which he paid to the memory of great


s: poets, of which we have examples in "The House of Fame," and


s: at the close of "Troilus and Cressida" <4>; along with his own


s: testimony in the Prologue to The Clerk's Tale, we cannot fail to


s: construe that testimony as a declaration that the Tale was


s: actually told to Chaucer by the lips of Petrarch, in 1373, the


s: very year in which Petrarch translated it into Latin, from


s: Boccaccio's "Decameron."<5>   Mr Bell notes the objection to


s: objection, that the Clerk, being a purely imaginary personage,


s: could not have learned the story at Padua from Petrarch -- and


s: therefore that Chaucer must have departed from the dramatic


s: assumption maintained in the rest of the dialogue. Instances


s: could be adduced from Chaucer's writings to show that such a


s: sudden "departure from the dramatic assumption" would not be


s: unexampled: witness the "aside" in The Wife of Bath's


s: Prologue, where, after the jolly Dame has asserted that "half so


s: boldly there can no man swear and lie as a woman can", the


s: poet hastens to interpose, in his own person, these two lines:


s: And again, in the Prologue to the "Legend of Good Women,"


s: "She is the clearness and the very light,


s: That in this darke world me guides and leads,"


s: "The heart within my sorrowful heart you dreads


s: The mistress of my wit, and nothing I," &c.


s: When, therefore, the Clerk of Oxford is made to say that he will


s: He is now dead, and nailed in his chest,


s: I pray to God to give his soul good rest.


s: Highte this clerk, whose rhetoric so sweet


s: That taughte me this tale, as I began." . . .


s: we may without violent effort believe that Chaucer speaks in his


s: own person, though dramatically the words are on the Clerk's


s: lips.  And the belief is not impaired by the sorrowful way in


s: which the Clerk lingers on Petrarch's death -- which would be


s: Petrarch's death at Arqua in July 1374 to have closely followed


s: Chaucer to England, and to have cruelly and irresistibly mingled


s: manner in which the Clerk is made to distinguish between the


s: "body" of Petrarch's tale, and the fashion in which it was set


s: forth in writing, with a proem that seemed "a thing


s: impertinent", save that the poet had chosen in that way to


s: "convey his matter" -- told, or "taught," so much more directly


s: and simply by word of mouth. It is impossible to pronounce


s: positively on the subject; the question whether Chaucer saw


s: Petrarch in 1373 must remain a moot-point, so long as we have


s: only our present information; but fancy loves to dwell on the


s: thought of the two poets conversing under the vines at Arqua;


s: and we find in the history and the writings of Chaucer nothing


s: to contradict, a good deal to countenance, the belief that such a


s: Though we have no express record, we have indirect testimony,


s: that Chaucer's Genoese mission was discharged satisfactorily;


s: for on the 23d of April 1374, Edward III grants at Windsor to


s: "perceived" in the port of London; a grant which, on the


s: analogy of more modern usage, might he held equivalent to


s: Chaucer's appointment as Poet Laureate. When we find that


s: soon afterwards the grant was commuted for a money payment


s: of twenty marks per annum, we need not conclude that


s: Chaucer's circumstances were poor; for it may be easily


s: supposed that the daily "perception" of such an article of


s: income was attended with considerable prosaic inconvenience.


s: A permanent provision for Chaucer was made on the 8th of


s: June 1374, when he was appointed Controller of the Customs in


s: the Port of London, for the lucrative imports of wools, skins or


s: "wool-fells," and tanned hides -- on condition that he should


s: fulfil the duties of that office in person and not by deputy, and


s: what seems evidence of Chaucer's compliance with these terms


s: in "The House of Fame", where, in the mouth of the eagle, the


s: poet describes himself, when he has finished his labour and


s: made his reckonings, as not seeking rest and news in social


s: intercourse, but going home to his own house, and there, "all so


s: dazed; and again, in the record that in 1376 he received a grant


s: of L731, 4s. 6d., the amount of a fine levied on one John Kent,


s: whom Chaucer's vigilance had frustrated in the attempt to ship a


s: quantity of wool for Dordrecht without paying the duty. The


s: seemingly derogatory condition, that the Controller should


s: formal; no records in Chaucer's handwriting are known to exist


s: -- which could hardly be the case if, for the twelve years of his


s: condition; and during that period he was more than once


s: employed abroad, so that the condition was evidently regarded


s: as a formality even by those who had imposed it.  Also in 1374,


s: the Duke of Lancaster, whose ambitious views may well have


s: made him anxious to retain the adhesion of a man so capable


s: and accomplished as Chaucer, changed into a joint life-annuity


s: remaining to the survivor, and charged on the revenues of the


s: Savoy, a pension of L10 which two years before he settled on


s: the poet's wife -- whose sister was then the governess of the


s: Duke's two daughters, Philippa and Elizabeth, and the Duke's


s: own mistress.  Another proof of Chaucer's personal reputation


s: and high Court favour at this time, is his selection (1375) as


s: ward to the son of Sir Edmond Staplegate of Bilsynton, in Kent;


s: a charge on the surrender of which the guardian received no


s: We find Chaucer in 1376 again employed on a foreign mission.


s: In 1377, the last year of Edward III., he was sent to Flanders


s: with Sir Thomas Percy, afterwards Earl of Worcester, for the


s: purpose of obtaining a prolongation of the truce; and in January


s: Commissioners, to pursue certain negotiations for a marriage


s: between Princess Mary of France and the young King Richard


s: The negotiation, however, proved fruitless; and in May 1378,


s: Chaucer was selected to accompany Sir John Berkeley on a


s: mission to the Court of Bernardo Visconti, Duke of Milan, with


s: shown that he was not insensible to Chaucer's merit  -- or to the


s: Lancaster; for Richard II. confirmed to Chaucer his pension of


s: twenty marks, along with an equal annual sum, for which the


s: daily pitcher of wine granted in 1374 had been commuted.


s: Before his departure for Lombardy, Chaucer -- still holding his


s: post in the Customs -- selected two representatives or trustees,


s: which he was charged to enforce. One of these trustees was


s: called Richard Forrester; the other was John Gower, the poet,


s: the most famous English contemporary of Chaucer, with whom


s: he had for many years been on terms of admiring friendship --


s: although, from the strictures passed on certain productions of


s: Gower's in the Prologue to The Man of Law's Tale,<6> it has


s: been supposed that in the later years of Chaucer's life the


s: friendship suffered some diminution. To the "moral Gower" and


s: "the philosophical Strode," Chaucer "directed" or dedicated his


s: "Troilus and Cressida;" <7> while, in the "Confessio Amantis,"


s: Gower introduces a handsome compliment to his greater


s: contemporary, as the "disciple and the poet" of Venus, with


s: whose glad songs and ditties, made in her praise during the


s: flowers of his youth, the land was filled everywhere.  Gower,


s: however -- a monk and a Conservative -- held to the party of


s: the Duke of Gloucester, the rival of the Wycliffite and


s: innovating Duke of Lancaster, who was Chaucer's patron, and


s: whose cause was not a little aided by Chaucer's strictures on the


s: may have weakened the old bonds of personal friendship and


s: poetic esteem. Returning from Lombardy early in 1379,


s: Chaucer seems to have been again sent abroad; for the records


s: exhibit no trace of him between May and December of that


s: year. Whether by proxy or in person, however, he received his


s: pensions regularly until 1382, when his income was increased


s: by his appointment to the post of Controller of Petty Customs


s: in the port of London.  In November 1384, he obtained a


s: month's leave of absence on account of his private affairs, and a


s: next year he was permitted to appoint a permanent deputy --


s: Chaucer is next found occupying a post which has not often


s: been held by men gifted with his peculiar genius -- that of a


s: county member. The contest between the Dukes of Gloucester


s: and Lancaster, and their adherents, for the control of the


s: Government, was coming to a crisis; and when the recluse and


s: studious Chaucer was induced to offer himself to the electors of


s: Kent as one of the knights of their shire -- where presumably he


s: held property -- we may suppose that it was with the view of


s: supporting his patron's cause in the impending conflict. The


s: Parliament in which the poet sat assembled at Westminster on


s: the 1st of October, and was dissolved on the 1st of November,


s: dismissed from the woolsack, and impeached by the Commons;


s: and although Richard at first stood out courageously for the


s: commission was wrung from him, under protest, appointing


s: Gloucester, Arundel, and twelve other Peers and prelates, a


s: permanent council to inquire into the condition of all the public


s: absolute powers of redress and dismissal. We need not ascribe


s: to Chaucer's Parliamentary exertions in his patron's behalf, nor


s: to any malpractices in his official conduct, the fact that he was


s: London; but he retained his pensions, and drew them regularly


s: twice a year at the Exchequer until 1388. In 1387, Chaucer's


s: political reverses were aggravated by a severe domestic


s: calamity: his wife died, and with her died the pension which had


s: been settled on her by Queen Philippa in 1366, and confirmed to


s: her at Richard's accession in 1377.  The change made in


s: Chaucer's pecuniary position, by the loss of his offices and his


s: wife's pension, must have been very great. It would appear that


s: reverse; for, on the 1st of May 1388, less than a year and a half


s: assign his pensions, by surrender in Chancery, to one John


s: Scalby.  In May 1389, Richard II., now of age, abruptly


s: resumed the reins of government, which, for more than two


s: years, had been ably but cruelly managed by Gloucester. The


s: friends of Lancaster were once more supreme in the royal


s: councils, and Chaucer speedily profited by the change. On the


s: Palace of Westminster, the Tower, the royal manors of


s: Langley, and Feckenham, the castle of Berkhamstead, the royal


s: lodge of Hathenburgh in the New Forest, the lodges in the


s: parks of Clarendon, Childern Langley, and Feckenham, and the


s: mews for the King's falcons at Charing Cross; he received a


s: salary of two shillings per day, and was allowed to perform the


s: duties by deputy. For some reason unknown, Chaucer held this


s: lucrative office <10> little more than two years, quitting it


s: before the 16th of September 1391, at which date it had passed


s: into the hands of one John Gedney. The next two years and a


s: half are a blank, so far as authentic records are concerned;


s: Chaucer is supposed to have passed them in retirement,


s: probably devoting them principally to the composition of The


s: Canterbury Tales. In February 1394, the King conferred upon


s: him a grant of L20 a year for life; but he seems to have had no


s: other source of income, and to have become embarrassed by


s: debt, for frequent memoranda of small advances on his pension


s: show that his circumstances were, in comparison, greatly


s: reduced.  Things appear to have grown worse and worse with


s: the poet; for in May 1398 he was compelled to obtain from the


s: King letters of protection against arrest, extending over a term


s: of two years. Not for the first time, it is true -- for similar


s: documents had been issued at the beginning of Richard's reign;


s: but at that time Chaucer's missions abroad, and his responsible


s: duties in the port of London, may have furnished reasons for


s: securing him against annoyance or frivolous prosecution, which


s: were wholly wanting at the later date.  In 1398, fortune began


s: again to smile upon him; he received a royal grant of a tun of


s: wine annually, the value being about L4. Next year, Richard II


s: having been deposed by the son of John of Gaunt <11>  --


s: Henry of Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster -- the new King, four


s: days after hits accession, bestowed on Chaucer a grant of forty


s: marks (L26, 13s. 4d.) per annum, in addition to the pension of


s: L20 conferred by Richard II. in 1394.  But the poet, now


s: seventy-one years of age, and probably broken down by the


s: reverses of the past few years, was not destined long to enjoy


s: his renewed prosperity.  On Christmas Eve of 1399, he entered


s: on the possession of a house in the garden of the Chapel of the


s: Blessed Mary of Westminster -- near to the present site of


s: Henry VII.'s Chapel -- having obtained a lease from Robert


s: Hermodesworth, a monk of the adjacent convent, for fifty-three


s: years, at the annual rent of four marks (L2, 13s. 4d.) Until the


s: they were received for him by another hand; and on the 25th of


s: October, in the same year, he died, at the age of seventy-two.


s: The only lights thrown by his poems on his closing days are


s: furnished in the little ballad called "Good Counsel of Chaucer,"


s: -- which, though said to have been written when "upon his


s: "Retractation" at the end of The Canterbury Tales, which, if it


s: was not foisted in by monkish transcribers, may be supposed the


s: effect of Chaucer's regrets and self-reproaches on that solemn


s: review of his life-work which the close approach of death


s: compelled. The poet was buried in Westminster Abbey; <12>


s: and not many years after his death a slab was  placed on a pillar


s: eulogy made by Stephanus Surigonus of Milan, at the request of


s: "Galfridus Chaucer, vates, et fama poesis


s: Maternae, hoc sacra sum tumulatus humo." <13>


s: About 1555, Mr Nicholas Brigham, a gentleman of Oxford who


s: greatly admired the genius of Chaucer, erected the present


s: tomb, as near to the spot where the poet lay, "before the chapel


s: of St Benet," as was then possible by reason of the "cancelli,"


s: leave to remove, that room might be made for the tomb of


s: Dryden.  On the structure of Mr Brigham, besides a full-length


s: representation of Chaucer, taken from a portrait drawn by his


s: "scholar" Thomas Occleve, was -- or is, though now almost


s: illegible -- the following inscription:--


s: Concerning his personal appearance and habits, Chaucer has not


s: comparing shapes with him.<16>  His face was fleshy, his


s: features just and regular, his complexion fair, and somewhat


s: pale, his hair of a dusky yellow, short and thin; the hair of his


s: and smooth; his eyes inclining usually to the ground, which is


s: to his temper, he had a mixture of the gay, the modest, and the


s: grave. The sprightliness of his humour was more distinguished


s: by his writings than by his appearance; which gave occasion to


s: Margaret Countess of Pembroke often to rally him upon his


s: silent modesty in company, telling him, that his absence was


s: more agreeable to her than his conversation, since the first was


s: productive of agreeable pieces of wit in his writings, <17> but


s: the latter was filled with a modest deference, and a too distant


s: respect.  We see nothing merry or jocose in his behaviour with


s: him was this exercise, that he says he preferred it to all other


s: sports and diversions.<18>  He lived within himself, neither


s: desirous to hear nor busy to concern himself with the affairs of


s: his neighbours. His course of living was temperate and regular;


s: he went to rest with the sun, and rose before it; and by that


s: means enjoyed the pleasures of the better part of the day, his


s: morning walk and fresh contemplations.  This gave him the


s: advantage of describing the morning in so lively a manner as he


s: does everywhere in his works. The springing sun glows warm in


s: feathered choir, whenever we take a forest walk with him. The


s: landscapes. . . . His reading was deep and extensive, his


s: judgement sound and discerning. . . In one word, he was a great


s: scholar, a pleasant wit, a candid critic, a sociable companion, a


s: Chaucer's most important poems are "Troilus and Cressida,"


s: the first, containing 8246 lines, an abridgement, with a prose


s: which "The House of Fame" is written, it was found impossible


s: verses, and completed, in the last quarter of the thirteenth


s: century, by Jean de Meun, who added some 18,000 verses. It is


s: are advanced; and though, in making his translation, Chaucer


s: softened or eliminated much of the satire of the poem, still it


s: remained, in his verse, a caustic exposure of the abuses of the


s: time, especially those which discredited the Church.


s: The Canterbury Tales are presented in this edition with as near


s: an approach to completeness as regard for the popular character


s: of the volume permitted. The 17,385 verses, of which the


s: poetical Tales consist, have been given without abridgement or


s: purgation -- save in a single couplet; but, the main purpose of


s: the volume being to make the general reader acquainted with


s: the "poems" of Chaucer and Spenser, the Editor has ventured to


s: contract the two prose Tales -- Chaucer's Tale of Meliboeus,


s: and the Parson's Sermon or Treatise on Penitence -- so as to


s: save about thirty pages for the introduction of Chaucer's minor


s: pieces. At the same time, by giving prose outlines of the omitted


s: that he was losing anything essential, or even valuable. It is


s: almost needless to describe the plot, or point out the literary


s: place, of the Canterbury Tales. Perhaps in the entire range of


s: ancient and modern literature there is no work that so clearly


s: and freshly paints for future times the picture of the past;


s: certainly no Englishman has ever approached Chaucer in the


s: notably in the "Decameron" of Boccaccio -- although, there, the


s: circumstances under which the tales were told, with the terror


s: of the plague hanging over the merry company, lend a grim


s: grotesqueness to the narrative, unless we can look at it


s: abstracted from its setting.  Chaucer, on the other hand, strikes


s: "pilgrimage;" and at every stage of the connecting story we


s: bless the happy thought which gives us incessant incident,


s: movement, variety, and unclouded but never monotonous


s: The poet, the evening before he starts on a pilgrimage to the


s: shrine of St Thomas at Canterbury, lies at the Tabard Inn, in


s: Southwark, curious to know in what companionship he is


s: destined to fare forward on the morrow. Chance sends him


s: "nine and twenty in a company," representing all orders of


s: English society, lay and clerical, from the Knight and the Abbot


s: down to the Ploughman and the Sompnour. The jolly Host of


s: the Tabard, after supper, when tongues are loosened and hearts


s: are opened, declares that "not this year" has he seen such a


s: company at once under his roof-tree, and proposes that, when


s: they set out next morning, he should ride with them and make


s: them sport. All agree, and Harry Bailly unfolds his scheme: each


s: pilgrim, including the poet, shall tell two tales on the road to


s: Canterbury, and two on the way back to London; and he whom


s: the general voice pronounces to have told the best tale, shall be


s: mine Host's profit -- when the cavalcade returns from the saint's


s: on the morrow, in the gay spring sunshine, they ride forth,


s: listening to the heroic tale of the brave and gentle Knight, who


s: has been gracefully chosen by the Host to lead the spirited


s: To describe thus the nature of the plan, and to say that when


s: Chaucer conceived, or at least began to execute it, he was


s: between sixty and seventy years of age, is to proclaim that The


s: Canterbury Tales could never be more than a fragment. Thirty


s: pilgrims, each telling two tales on the way out, and two more


s: on the way back -- that makes 120 tales; to say nothing of the


s: prologue, the description of the journey, the occurrences at


s: Canterbury, "and all the remnant of their pilgrimage," which


s: journey we have not one, and nothing is said about the doings


s: of the pilgrims at Canterbury -- which would, if treated like the


s: some reserves, in stories which he had already composed in an


s: independent form, death cut short his labour ere he could even


s: complete the arrangement and connection of more than a very


s: few of the Tales. Incomplete as it is, however, the magnum


s: opus of Chaucer was in his own time received with immense


s: favour; manuscript copies are numerous even now -- no slight


s: proof of its popularity; and when the invention of printing was


s: introduced into England by William Caxton, The Canterbury


s: Tales issued from his press in the year after the first English-


s: printed book, "The Game of the Chesse," had been struck off.


s: Innumerable editions have since been published; and it may


s: fairly be affirmed, that few books have been so much in favour


s: with the reading public of every generation as this book, which


s: the lapse of every generation has been rendering more


s: Apart from "The Romaunt of the Rose," no really important


s: poetical work of Chaucer's is omitted from or unrepresented in


s: the present edition. Of "The Legend of Good Women," the


s: Prologue only is given -- but it is the most genuinely Chaucerian


s: here presented; of "The Assembly of Fowls," "The Cuckoo and


s: the Nightingale," "The Flower and the Leaf," all; of "Chaucer's


s: Dream," one-fourth; of "The House of Fame," two-thirds; and


s: of the minor poems such a selection as may give an idea of


s: Chaucer's power in the "occasional" department of verse.


s: Necessarily, no space whatever could be given to Chaucer's


s: prose works -- his translation of Boethius' Treatise on the


s: written for the use of his son Lewis; and his "Testament of


s: Love," composed in his later years, and reflecting the troubles


s: that then beset the poet. If, after studying in a simplified form


s: tempted to regret that he was not introduced to a wider


s: acquaintance with the author, the purpose of the Editor will


s: The plan of the volume does not demand an elaborate


s: examination into the state of our language when Chaucer wrote,


s: or the nice questions of grammatical and metrical structure


s: which conspire with the obsolete orthography to make his


s: poems a sealed book for the masses. The most important


s: element in the proper reading of Chaucer's verses -- whether


s: written in the decasyllabic or heroic metre, which he introduced


s: Moliere's. The terminal "e" played an important part in


s: grammar; in many cases it was the sign of the infinitive -- the


s: "n" being dropped from the end; at other times it pointed the


s: distinction between singular and plural, between adjective and


s: adverb. The pages that follow, however, being prepared from


s: the modern English point of view, necessarily no account is


s: taken of those distinctions; and the now silent "e" has been


s: retained in the text of Chaucer only when required by the


s: modern spelling, or by the exigencies of metre.


s: Before a word beginning with a vowel, or with the letter "h,"


s: the final "e" was almost without exception mute; and in such


s: cases, in the plural forms and infinitives of verbs, the terminal


s: who is acquainted with the French language will find it hard to


s: fall into Chaucer's accentuation; while, for such as are not, a


s: simple perusal of the text according to the rules of modern


s: of such power, that he was superior to all English poets of


s: preceding ages, not excepting his fellow-citizen Chaucer."


s: The poem, which is not included in the present edition, does


s: indeed, like many of Chaucer's smaller works, tell the story of a


s: by the poet mourning the loss of his lady; but the true "Dream


s: of Chaucer," in which he celebrates the marriage of his patron,


s: was published for the first time by Speght in 1597. John of


s: Gaunt, in the end of 1371, married his second wife, Constance,


s: daughter to Pedro the Cruel of Spain; so that "The Book of the


s: Duchess" must have been written between 1369 and 1371.


s: And kiss the steps, where as thou seest space,


s: opinion that this poem was really produced in Chaucer's mature


s: age. See the introductory notes to it and to the Legend of Good


s: to be autobiographic allusions in "The Testament of Love,"


s: assign to him between 1354 and 1389 a very different history


s: from that here given on the strength of authentic records


s: explored and quoted by Sir H. Nicolas. Chaucer is made to


s: espouse the cause of John of Northampton, the Wycliffite Lord


s: Mayor of London, whose re-election in 1384 was so


s: vehemently opposed by the clergy, and who was imprisoned in


s: which he spent in supporting companions in exile; then,


s: returning by stealth to England in quest of funds, he was


s: detected and sent to the Tower, where he languished for three


s: years, being released only on the humiliating condition of


s: informing against his associates in the plot. The public records


s: show, however, that, all the time of his alleged exile and


s: captivity, he was quietly living in London, regularly drawing his


s: duties in the Customs until his dismissal in 1386. It need not be


s: the ignorance, and vices of the clergy, he did so rather as a man


s: no evidence that he espoused the opinions of the zealous


s: Reformer, far less played the part of an extreme and self-


s: regardless partisan of his old friend and college-companion.


s: labours with examining the accounts of the officers employed in


s: the collection of the revenue; and the sequel affords a strong


s: presumption that the royal administration [under Lancaster and


s: his friends] had been foully calumniated. We hear not of any


s: frauds discovered, or of defaulters punished, or of grievances


s: redressed." Such is the testimony of Lingard (chap. iv., 1386),


s: all the more valuable for his aversion from the Wycliffite


s: leanings of John of Gaunt. Chaucer's department in the London


s: Customs was in those days one of the most important and


s: lucrative in the kingdom; and if mercenary abuse of his post


s: could have been proved, we may be sure that his and his


s: patron's enemies would not have been content with simple


s: dismissal, but would have heavily amerced or imprisoned him.


s: Judges was L40, of the Puisne Judges about L27. Probably the


s: Judges -- certainly the Clerk of the Works -- had fees or


s: of his son (then Duke of Hereford) in France. The Duchess


s: Constance had died in 1394; and the Duke had made reparation


s: to Katherine Swynford -- who had already borne him four


s: children -- by marrying her in 1396, with the approval of


s: Richard II., who legitimated the children, and made the eldest


s: son of the poet's sister-in-law Earl of Somerset. From this long-


s: surname of the Duke's children by Katherine, after the name of


s: the castle in Anjou (Belfort, or Beaufort) where they were born.


s: younger, Lewis, for whom he wrote the Treatise on the


s: Astrolabe, died young.  The elder, Thomas, married Maud, the


s: second daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Burghersh, brother


s: England. By this marriage Thomas Chaucer acquired great


s: estates in Oxfordshire and elsewhere; and he figured


s: prominently in the second rank of courtiers for many years. He


s: was Chief Butler to Richard II.; under Henry IV. he was


s: the queen of Henry IV. granted him the farm of several of her


s: manors, a grant subsequently confirmed to him for life by the


s: King, after the Queen's death. He sat in Parliament repeatedly


s: for Oxfordshire, was Speaker in 1414, and in the same year


s: went to France as commissioner to negotiate the marriage of


s: Henry V. with the Princess Katherine. He held, before he died


s: first Sir John Philip; and afterwards the Duke of Suffolk --


s: attainted and beheaded in 1450.  She had three children by the


s: Duke; and her eldest son married the Princess Elizabeth, sister


s: of Edward IV. The eldest son of this marriage, created Earl of


s: Lincoln, was declared by Richard III heir-apparent to the


s: throne, in case the Prince of Wales should die without issue; but


s: destroyed all prospect that the poet's descendants might


s: succeed to the crown of England; and his family is now believed


s: Chaucer, who in his time was the greatest poet of the English. If


s: tell you all. Death gave him rest from his toil, 25th of October


s: Women," and the poet's account of his habits in "The House of


s: Of which virtue engender'd is the flower;


s: When Zephyrus eke with his swoote breath


s: That sleepen all the night with open eye,


s: And palmers <2> for to seeke strange strands,


s: In Southwark at the Tabard <4> as I lay,


s: But natheless, while I have time and space,


s: And which they weren, and of what degree;


s: And eke in what array that they were in:


s: And at a Knight then will I first begin.


s: A KNIGHT there was, and that a worthy man,


s: At Alisandre <6> he was when it was won.


s: When they were won; and in the Greate Sea


s: And foughten for our faith at Tramissene.


s: In listes thries, and aye slain his foe.


s: His horse was good, but yet he was not gay.


s: With him there was his son, a younge SQUIRE,


s: All full of freshe flowers, white and red.


s: Short was his gown, with sleeves long and wide.


s: Well could he sit on horse, and faire ride.


s: Joust, and eke dance, and well pourtray and write.


s: Courteous he was, lowly, and serviceable,


s: And carv'd before his father at the table.<10>


s: A sheaf of peacock arrows<11> bright and keen


s: Well could he dress his tackle yeomanly:


s: His arrows drooped not with feathers low;


s: A nut-head <12> had he, with a brown visiage:


s: Harnessed well, and sharp as point of spear:


s: A Christopher on his breast of silver sheen.


s: An horn he bare, the baldric was of green:


s: That of her smiling was full simple and coy;


s: Her greatest oathe was but by Saint Loy;


s: Well could she carry a morsel, and well keep,


s: Caught in a trap, if it were dead or bled.


s: A pair of beades, gauded all with green;


s: And thereon hung a brooch of gold full sheen,


s: On which was first y-written a crown'd A,


s: Full many a dainty horse had he in stable:


s: And when he rode, men might his bridle hear


s: Jingeling <15> in a whistling wind as clear,


s: And eke as loud, as doth the chapel bell,


s: There as this lord was keeper of the cell.


s: The rule of Saint Maur and of Saint Benet, <16>


s: Because that it was old and somedeal strait


s: This is to say, a monk out of his cloister.


s: This ilke text held he not worth an oyster;


s: Let Austin have his swink to him reserved.


s: A love-knot in the greater end there was.


s: His head was bald, and shone as any glass,


s: And eke his face, as it had been anoint;


s: He was a lord full fat and in good point;


s: His bootes supple, his horse in great estate,


s: A FRIAR there was, a wanton and a merry,


s: He may not weep although him sore smart.


s: Therefore instead of weeping and prayeres,


s: Men must give silver to the poore freres.


s: And knew well the taverns in every town.


s: He was the beste beggar in all his house:


s: And gave a certain farme for the grant, <19>


s: None of his bretheren came in his haunt.


s: Yet would he have a farthing ere he went;


s: His purchase was well better than his rent.


s: And rage he could and play as any whelp,


s: With threadbare cope as is a poor scholer;


s: To make his English sweet upon his tongue;


s: And in his harping, when that he had sung,


s: This worthy limitour <18> was call'd Huberd.


s: A MERCHANT was there with a forked beard,


s: In motley, and high on his horse he sat,


s: Sounding alway th' increase of his winning.


s: He would the sea were kept <22> for any thing


s: Than robes rich, or fiddle, or psalt'ry.


s: Not one word spake he more than was need;


s: And that was said in form and reverence,


s: And short and quick, and full of high sentence.


s: Sounding in moral virtue was his speech,


s: And gladly would he learn, and gladly teach.


s: That often had y-been at the Parvis, <26>


s: There was also, full rich of excellence.


s: Discreet he was, and of great reverence:


s: He seemed such, his wordes were so wise,


s: Thereto he could indite, and make a thing


s: Well lov'd he in the morn a sop in wine.


s: An householder, and that a great, was he;


s: Of fish and flesh, and that so plenteous,


s: It snowed in his house of meat and drink,


s: A sheriff had he been, and a countour<30>


s: To sitten in a guild-hall, on the dais. <32>


s: And eke their wives would it well assent:


s: And elles certain they had been to blame.


s: Well could he know a draught of London ale.


s: He could roast, and stew, and broil, and fry,


s: But great harm was it, as it thoughte me,


s: The hot summer had made his hue all brown;


s: Full many a draught of wine he had y-draw


s: From Bourdeaux-ward, while that the chapmen sleep;


s: If that he fought, and had the higher hand,


s: With many a tempest had his beard been shake.


s: He knew well all the havens, as they were,


s: And every creek in Bretagne and in Spain:


s: In all this worlde was there none him like


s: Were it of cold, or hot, or moist, or dry,


s: And where engender'd, and of what humour.


s: But of great nourishing, and digestible.


s: Husbands at the church door had she had five,


s: And on her feet a pair of spurres sharp.


s: That Christe's gospel truly woulde preach.


s: Of his off'ring, and eke of his substance.


s: That if gold ruste, what should iron do?


s: For if a priest be foul, on whom we trust,


s: To see a shitten shepherd and clean sheep:


s: Well ought a priest ensample for to give,


s: By his own cleanness, how his sheep should live.


s: And left his sheep eucumber'd in the mire,


s: So that the wolf ne made it not miscarry.


s: To drawen folk to heaven, with fairness,


s: He taught, and first he follow'd it himselve.


s: With him there was a PLOUGHMAN, was his brother,


s: A Manciple, and myself, there were no mo'.


s: The MILLER was a stout carle for the nones,


s: Full big he was of brawn, and eke of bones;


s: Well could he steale corn, and tolle thrice


s: And yet he had a thumb of gold, pardie.<47>


s: A baggepipe well could he blow and soun',


s: And therewithal he brought us out of town.


s: A gentle MANCIPLE <48> was there of a temple,


s: Now is not that of God a full fair grace


s: Of which there was a dozen in that house,


s: The REEVE <49> was a slender choleric man


s: His beard was shav'd as nigh as ever he can.


s: His hair was by his eares round y-shorn;


s: Full longe were his legges, and full lean


s: Y-like a staff, there was no calf y-seen


s: Well wist he by the drought, and by the rain,


s: The yielding of his seed and of his grain


s: Since that his lord was twenty year of age;


s: There could no man bring him in arrearage


s: Of Norfolk was this Reeve, of which I tell,


s: There n'as quicksilver, litharge, nor brimstone,


s: Nor ointement that woulde cleanse or bite,


s: And for to drink strong wine as red as blood.


s: Then would he speak, and cry as he were wood;


s: And when that he well drunken had the wine,


s: Aye, Questio quid juris,<51> would he cry.


s: A twelvemonth, and excuse him at the full.


s: In such a case of the archdeacon's curse;


s: "Purse is the archedeacon's hell," said he.


s: Of cursing ought each guilty man to dread,


s: With him there rode a gentle PARDONERE <55>


s: Of Ronceval, his friend and his compere,


s: That straight was comen from the court of Rome.


s: Full loud he sang, "Come hither, love, to me"


s: This Pardoner had hair as yellow as wax,


s: And therewith he his shoulders oversprad.


s: No beard had he, nor ever one should have.


s: As smooth it was as it were new y-shave;


s: But of his craft, from Berwick unto Ware,


s: But with these relics, whenne that he fond


s: Than that the parson got in moneths tway;


s: Therefore he sang full merrily and loud.


s: Th' estate, th' array, the number, and eke the cause


s: That highte the Tabard, fast by the Bell.<59>


s: To tellen you their wordes and their cheer;


s: Not though I speak their wordes properly.


s: He must rehearse, as nigh as ever he can,


s: He may not spare, although he were his brother;


s: He must as well say one word as another.


s: Christ spake Himself full broad in Holy Writ,


s: Eke Plato saith, whoso that can him read,


s: My wit is short, ye may well understand.


s: Great cheere made our Host us every one,


s: Bold of his speech, and wise and well y-taught,


s: And of manhoode lacked him right naught.


s: And spake of mirth amonges other things,


s: For by my troth, if that I shall not lie,


s: As I said erst, and do you some comfort.


s: Lordings (quoth he), now hearken for the best;


s: But take it not, I pray you, in disdain;


s: In this voyage, shall tellen tales tway,


s: And which of you that bear'th him best of all,


s: That is to say, that telleth in this case


s: When that ye come again from Canterbury.


s: Right at mine owen cost, and be your guide.


s: Shall pay for all we spenden by the way.


s: This thing was granted, and our oath we swore


s: With full glad heart, and prayed him also,


s: In high and low: and thus by one assent,


s: And there our host began his horse arrest,


s: And saide; "Lordes, hearken if you lest.


s: Let see now who shall telle the first tale.


s: Shall pay for all that by the way is spent.


s: "Sir Knight (quoth he), my master and my lord,


s: Now draw the cut, for that is mine accord.


s: And ye, Sir Clerk, let be your shamefastness,


s: Of which full blithe and glad was every wight;


s: And tell he must his tale as was reason,


s: As ye have heard; what needeth wordes mo'?


s: And when this good man saw that it was so,


s: Now let us ride, and hearken what I say."


s: And with that word we ridden forth our way;


s: His tale anon, and said as ye shall hear.


s: "the Ram," which would place the time of  the pilgrimage in the


s: end of March; whereas, in the Prologue to the Man of Law's


s: Tale, the date is given as the "eight and  twenty day of April,


s: pilgrims: palmieri - palmers who go beyond  sea to the East,


s: and often bring back staves of palm-wood; peregrini, who go


s: the shrine of St Jago in Galicia; Romei, who go to Rome.   Sir


s: Walter Scott, however, says that palmers were in the habit of


s: immediately returning to their ordinary avocations. Chaucer


s: -- All-Saints -- day.  "Couth," past participle of "conne" to


s: worn by heralds.  The name of the inn was, some three


s: centuries after Chaucer, changed to the Talbot.


s: Lusignan, king of Cyprus, in 1365 but abandoned immediately


s: afterwards.  Thirteen years before, the same Prince had taken


s: Satalie, the ancient Attalia, in Anatolia, and in 1367 he won


s: Layas, in Armenia, both places named just below.


s: knights of all nations, in Prussia, whither warriors from all


s: countries were wont to repair, to aid the Teutonic Order in their


s: Belmarie is supposed to have been a Moorish state in Africa;


s: but "Palmyrie" has been suggested as the correct reading. The


s: Great Sea, or  the Greek sea, is the Eastern Mediterranean.


s: Tramissene, or Tremessen, is enumerated by Froissart among


s: the Moorish kingdoms in Africa. Palatie, or  Palathia, in


s: Anatolia, was a fief held by the Christian  knights after the


s: Turkish conquests -- the holders paying tribute to the infidel.


s: Our knight had fought with one of those lords against a heathen


s: that is, of the estate which bears the same name as its owner's


s: "sovereign" as we now apply it to a remedy.


s: much to re-establish the discipline of the Benedictines on a true


s: exercise other functions, within a certain district: as, "the


s: differences; the business was often followed by sports and


s: anything that the sea were guarded. "The old subsidy of


s: tonnage and poundage," says Tyrwhitt, "was given to the king


s: begging for money to maintain them and their studies.


s: supplying his votaries with good lodging and good cheer.


s: Catholic days, when much fish was eaten, no gentleman's


s: marquis, or earl, and ranking below a baron.


s: where sat at meat or in judgement those high in authority, rank


s: or honour; in our days the worthy craftsmen might have been


s: of the Church, or to festival meetings, to which it was the


s: fashion to carry rich cloaks or mantles against the home-


s: now unknown ingredient used in cookery; "galingale," sweet or


s: long rooted cyprus; "mortrewes", a rich soup made by stamping


s: flesh in a mortar; "Blanc manger", not what is now called


s: blancmange; one part of it was the brawn of a capon.


s: leader, guide, or pilot; hence "lodestar," "lodestone."


s: books of the middle ages. The names of Galen and Hippocrates


s: were then usually spelt "Gallien" and "Hypocras" or "Ypocras".


s: of the cloth-manufacture, as were Ypres and Ghent (Gaunt) in


s: bulky and heavy waddings on ladies' heads.


s: "mustum" signifies new wine; and elsewhere Chaucer speaks of


s: wantonness; or gap-toothed -- with gaps between her teeth.


s: pierce; hence the word "drill," to bore.


s: gold; probably Chaucer means that this one was as honest as his


s: - was an officer charged with the purchase of victuals for inns


s: sexes; it comes from the Anglo-Saxon verb to hire.


s: who gave the Saviour a napkin to wipe the sweat from  His face


s: as He bore the Cross, and received it back with an impression


s: mentions a "Bull" as being near the Tabard.


s: That greater was there none under the sun.


s: He conquer'd all the regne of Feminie,<3>


s: And brought her home with him to his country


s: And of the feast that was at her wedding


s: But all these things I must as now forbear.


s: In all his weal, and in his moste pride,


s: Where that there kneeled in the highe way


s: Each after other, clad in clothes black:


s: But such a cry and such a woe they make,


s: That in this world n'is creature living,


s: Of mine honour, that thus complain and cry?


s: And why that ye be clad thus all in black?"


s: Nought grieveth us your glory and your honour;


s: Some drop of pity, through thy gentleness,


s: For certes, lord, there is none of us all


s: That hath not been a duchess or a queen;


s: We have been waiting all this fortenight:


s: Now help us, lord, since it lies in thy might.


s: "I, wretched wight, that weep and waile thus,


s: We losten all our husbands at that town,


s: And with that word, withoute more respite


s: And let our sorrow sinken in thine heart."


s: This gentle Duke down from his courser start


s: With hearte piteous, when he heard them speak.


s: Him thoughte that his heart would all to-break,


s: And swore his oath, as he was true knight,


s: As he that had his death full well deserved.


s: To Thebes-ward, and all his, host beside:


s: But onward on his way that night he lay:


s: That all the fieldes glitter up and down:


s: Thus rit this Duke, thus rit this conqueror


s: Fair in a field, there as he thought to fight.


s: But shortly for to speaken of this thing,


s: With Creon, which that was of Thebes king,


s: He fought, and slew him manly as a knight


s: In plain bataille, and put his folk to flight:


s: And rent adown both wall, and spar, and rafter;


s: The bodies of their husbands that were slain,


s: Did to the ladies, when they from him went:


s: When that this worthy Duke, this Theseus,


s: Had Creon slain, and wonnen Thebes thus,


s: Still in the field he took all night his rest,


s: And so befell, that in the tas they found,


s: Through girt with many a grievous bloody wound,


s: And have them carried soft unto the tent


s: Term of his life; what needeth wordes mo'?


s: Thus passed year by year, and day by day,


s: And fresher than the May with flowers new


s: (For with the rose colour strove her hue;


s: And maketh him out of his sleep to start,


s: And saith, "Arise, and do thine observance."


s: The greate tower, that was so thick and strong,


s: Which of the castle was the chief dungeon<10>


s: (Where as these knightes weren in prison,


s: Bright was the sun, and clear that morrowning,


s: As was his wont, by leave of his gaoler,


s: Was ris'n, and roamed in a chamber on high,


s: Was in her walk, and roamed up and down.


s: That he was born, full oft he said, Alas!


s: And saide, "Cousin mine, what aileth thee,


s: Why cried'st thou? who hath thee done offence?


s: Hath giv'n us this, although we had it sworn,


s: So stood the heaven when that we were born,


s: We must endure; this is the short and plain.


s: But I was hurt right now thorough mine eye


s: Out of this prison help that we may scape.


s: And with that sight her beauty hurt him so,


s: Of her that roameth yonder in the place.


s: I am but dead; there is no more to say."


s: This Palamon, when he these wordes heard,


s: To me, that am thy cousin and thy brother


s: Y-sworn full deep, and each of us to other,


s: That never for to dien in the pain <12>,


s: Till that the death departen shall us twain,


s: In every case, as I should farther thee.


s: This was thine oath, and mine also certain;


s: I lov'd her first, and tolde thee my woe


s: For which thou art y-bounden as a knight


s: Or elles art thou false, I dare well sayn,"


s: For par amour I lov'd her first ere thou.


s: Therefore positive law, and such decree,


s: A man must needes love, maugre his head.


s: He may not flee it, though he should be dead,


s: We strive, as did the houndes for the bone;


s: They fought all day, and yet their part was none.


s: There came a kite, while that they were so wroth,


s: And bare away the bone betwixt them both.


s: And therefore at the kinge's court, my brother,


s: Each man for himselfe, there is no  other.


s: Love if thee list; for I love and aye shall


s: Great was the strife and long between these tway,


s: So well they lov'd, as olde bookes sayn,


s: That when that one was dead, soothly to sayn,


s: His fellow went and sought him down in hell:


s: And had him known at Thebes year by year:


s: That if so were, that Arcite were y-found


s: And he were caught, it was accorded thus,


s: That with a sword he shoulde lose his head;


s: How great a sorrow suff'reth now Arcite!


s: The death he feeleth through his hearte smite;


s: Then had I been in bliss, and not in woe.


s: Only the sight of her, whom that I serve,


s: Though that I never may her grace deserve,


s: Would have sufficed right enough for me.


s: Well hath fortune y-turned thee the dice,


s: That hast the sight of her, and I th' absence.


s: For possible is, since thou hast her presence,


s: That there n'is earthe, water, fire, nor air,


s: Well better than they can themselves devise?


s: That cause is of his murder or great sickness.


s: And some man would out of his prison fain,


s: We wot never what thing we pray for here.


s: A drunken man wot well he hath an house,


s: But he wot not which is the right way thither,


s: Then had I been in joy and perfect heal,


s: Much sorrow maketh, that the greate tower


s: Of all our strife, God wot, the fruit is thine.


s: Thou walkest now in Thebes at thy large,


s: Thou mayst have her to lady and to wife,


s: For whom that I must needes lose my life.


s: Since thou art at thy large, of prison free,


s: And art a lord, great is thine avantage,


s: More than is mine, that sterve here in a cage.


s: For I must weep and wail, while that I live,


s: With all the woe that prison may me give,


s: And eke with pain that love me gives also,


s: That doubles all my torment and my woe."


s: Then said; "O cruel goddess, that govern


s: And when a beast is dead, he hath no pain;


s: But man after his death must weep and plain,


s: Though in this worlde he have care and woe:


s: That many a true man hath done mischief,


s: Go at his large, and where him list may turn.


s: The summer passeth, and the nightes long


s: The other where him list may ride or go,


s: That is or shall be while the world may dure.


s: And wailing all the night, making his moan.


s: His speech, neither his voice, though men it heard.


s: Before his head in his cell fantastic.<20>


s: This cruel torment, and this pain and woe,


s: Him thought how that the winged god Mercury


s: Before him stood, and bade him to be merry.


s: "Now truely how sore that e'er me smart,"


s: Quoth he, "to Athens right now will I fare.


s: Nor for no dread of death shall I not spare


s: And saw that changed was all his colour,


s: And at the gate he proffer'd his service,


s: Well could he hewe wood, and water bear,


s: Page of the chamber of Emily the bright;


s: Ne was there never in court of his degree.


s: That throughout all the court was his renown.


s: Both of his deedes, and of his good tongue,


s: That of his chamber he hath made him squire,


s: And gave him gold to maintain his degree;


s: And eke men brought him out of his country


s: From year to year full privily his rent.


s: In darkness horrible, and strong prison,


s: It fell that in the seventh year, in May


s: By helping of a friend brake his prison,


s: Of a clary <25>, made of a certain wine,


s: And thus he fled as fast as ever he may.


s: That in the grove he would him hide all day,


s: And in the night then would he take his way


s: To Thebes-ward, his friendes for to pray


s: This is th' effect, and his intention plain.


s: That little wist how nighe was his care,


s: Till that Fortune had brought him in the snare.


s: That all the orient laugheth at the sight,


s: Out of the court, were it a mile or tway.


s: And to the grove, of which I have you told,


s: Right welcome be thou, faire freshe May,


s: I hope that I some green here getten may."


s: Was in a bush, that no man might him see,


s: When that Arcite had roamed all his fill,


s: Now shineth it, and now it raineth fast,


s: "Alas!" quoth he, "the day that I was bore!


s: Of Cadmus, which that was the firste man,


s: That Thebes built, or first the town began,


s: Now hight I Philostrate, not worth a mite.


s: That shapen was my death erst than my shert. <31>


s: And with that word he fell down in a trance


s: This Palamon, that thought thorough his heart


s: And art my blood, and to my counsel sworn,


s: As I full oft have told thee herebeforn,


s: I will be dead, or elles thou shalt die.


s: And though I have no weapon in this place,


s: Choose which thou wilt, for thou shalt not astart."


s: And saide thus; "By God that sitt'th above,


s: Thou should'st never out of this grove pace,


s: That thou ne shouldest dien of mine hand.


s: Which that thou sayest I have made to thee.


s: What? very fool, think well that love is free;


s: And meat and drinke this night will I bring


s: Enough for thee, and clothes for thy bedding.


s: Thou may'st well have thy lady as for me."


s: This Palamon answer'd, "I grant it thee."


s: And thus they be departed till the morrow,


s: And on the morrow, ere it were daylight,


s: He carrieth all this harness him beforn;


s: And in the grove, at time and place y-set,


s: Then change gan the colour of their face;


s: As friendly, as he were his owen brother.


s: And after that, with sharpe speares strong


s: And in this wise I let them fighting dwell,


s: Be it of war, or peace, or hate, or love,


s: That he n'is clad, and ready for to ride


s: With hunt and horn, and houndes him beside.


s: For in his hunting hath he such delight,


s: Clear was the day, as I have told ere this,


s: And to the grove, that stood there faste by,


s: In which there was an hart, as men him told,


s: Duke Theseus the straighte way doth hold,


s: And over a brook, and so forth on his way.


s: This Duke will have a course at him or tway


s: So hideously, that with the leaste stroke


s: No more, on pain of losing of your head.


s: That smiteth any stroke, that I may see!


s: As though it were in listes royally. <35>


s: And saide: "Sir, what needeth wordes mo'?


s: That from thy land is banisht on his head,


s: For since the day is come that I shall die


s: That I would die here present in her sight.


s: It needeth not to pain you with the cord;


s: Ye shall be dead, by mighty Mars the Red.<37>


s: Great pity was it as it thought them all,


s: For gentle men they were, of great estate,


s: And nothing but for love was this debate


s: They saw their bloody woundes wide and sore,


s: And cried all at once, both less and more,


s: And would have kissed his feet there as he stood,


s: The trespass of them both, and eke the cause:


s: And although that his ire their guilt accused


s: As thus; he thoughte well that every man


s: Will help himself in love if that he can,


s: And in his gentle heart he thought anon,


s: To them that be in repentance and dread,


s: Of every heart, as that him list devise.


s: Behold, for Godde's sake that sits above,


s: See how they bleed! be they not well array'd?


s: Thus hath their lord, the god of love, them paid


s: Their wages and their fees for their service;


s: That serve love, for aught that may befall.


s: Can them therefor as muchel thank as me.


s: And therefore since I know of love's pain,


s: At request of the queen that kneeleth here,


s: And he them granted grace, and thus he said:


s: Though that she were a queen or a princess,


s: For whom ye have this strife and jealousy,


s: All be ye never so jealous, nor so wroth.


s: That whether of you bothe that hath might,


s: May with his hundred, as I spake of now,


s: Slay his contrary, or out of listes drive,


s: To whom that fortune gives so fair a grace.


s: The listes shall I make here in this place.


s: Than one of you shalle be dead or taken.


s: And if you thinketh this is well y-said,


s: Who could it tell, or who could it indite,


s: They take their leave, and homeward gan they ride


s: To Thebes-ward, with his old walles wide.


s: Walled of stone, and ditched all without.


s: *Round was the shape, in manner of compass,


s: Was never on earth made in so little space,


s: For in the land there was no craftes-man,


s: Of Mars, he maked hath right such another,


s: The shape, the countenance of the figures


s: First in the temple of Venus may'st thou see


s: Wrought on the wall,  full piteous to behold,


s: That Love's servants in this life endure;


s: The oathes, that their covenants assure.


s: Feasts, instruments, and caroles and dances,


s: Lust and array, and all the circumstances


s: Of Love, which I reckon'd and reckon shall


s: For soothly all the mount of Citheron,<41>


s: Where Venus hath her principal dwelling,


s: Nor yet the greate strength of Hercules,


s: Beauty, nor sleight, nor strength, nor hardiness


s: With waves green, and bright as any glass.


s: A citole <44> in her right hand hadde she,


s: And on her head, full seemly for to see,


s: A rose garland fresh, and well smelling,


s: A bow he bare, and arrows bright and keen.


s: Why should I not as well eke tell you all


s: Within the temple of mighty Mars the Red?


s: In which there dwelled neither man nor beast,


s: Wrought all of burnish'd steel, of which th' entry


s: Was long and strait, and ghastly for to see.


s: The northern light in at the doore shone,


s: Through which men mighten any light discern.


s: The smiler with the knife under the cloak,


s: His hearte-blood had bathed all his hair:


s: The town destroy'd, that there was nothing left.


s: Saw I Conquest, sitting in great honour,


s: Painted the slaughter was of Julius<50>,


s: Although at that time they were yet unborn,


s: Yet was their death depainted there beforn,


s: Who shall be slain, or elles dead for love.


s: I may not reckon them all, though I wo'ld.


s: Of starres, that be cleped in scriptures,


s: That one Puella, that other Rubeus. <51>


s: A wolf there stood before him at his feet


s: With subtle pencil painted was this story,


s: There saw I Dane <53> turn'd into a tree,


s: But Peneus' daughter, which that hight Dane.


s: I saw how that his houndes have him caught,


s: For which Diana wrought them care and woe.


s: There saw I many another wondrous story,


s: Full piteously Lucina <54> gan she call,


s: And saide; "Help, for thou may'st best of all."


s: Well could he painte lifelike that it wrought;


s: With many a florin he the hues had bought.


s: That evereach an hundred knights should bring,


s: Hath ev'reach of them brought an hundred knights,


s: That loveth par amour, and hath his might


s: They would, their thankes, willen to be there,


s: Some have an axe, and some a mace of steel.


s: There may'st thou see coming with Palamon


s: Licurgus himself, the great king of Thrace:


s: Black was his beard, and manly was his face.


s: His shoulders broad, his armes round and long.


s: With yellow nails, and bright as any gold,


s: As any raven's feather it shone for black.


s: And follow'd him, with muzzle fast y-bound,


s: And that was yellow, glittering as the sun.


s: An hundred lordes had he with him there,


s: All armed, save their heads, in all their gear,


s: For trust ye well, that earles, dukes, and kings


s: Aboute prime<60>, and in the town alight.


s: This Theseus, this Duke, this worthy knight


s: The greate giftes to the most and least,


s: Nor who sate first or last upon the dais.<61>


s: Or which of them can carol best or sing,


s: But of th'effect; that thinketh me the best


s: The Sunday night, ere day began to spring,


s: Daughter to Jove, and spouse of Vulcanus,


s: Thou gladder of the mount of Citheron!<41>


s: For thilke love thou haddest to Adon <63>


s: And take mine humble prayer to thine heart.


s: Th'effecte, nor the torment of mine hell;


s: But mercy, lady bright, that knowest well


s: My thought, and seest what harm that I feel.


s: Nor renown in this case, nor vaine glory


s: Find thou the manner how, and in what wise.


s: For though so be that Mars is god of arms,


s: Your virtue is so great in heaven above,


s: That, if you list, I shall well have my love.


s: Then reck I not, when I have lost my life,


s: This is th' effect and end of my prayere, --


s: Give me my love, thou blissful lady dear."


s: Full piteously, with alle circumstances,


s: Yet wist he well that granted was his boon;


s: And with glad heart he went him home full soon.


s: The third hour unequal <64>  that Palamon


s: The hornes full of mead, as was the guise;


s: There lacked nought to do her sacrifice.


s: But how she did her rite I dare not tell;


s: Upon her head was set full fair and meet.


s: In Stace of Thebes <67>, and these bookes old.


s: When kindled was the fire, with piteous cheer


s: To whom both heav'n and earth and sea is seen,


s: Queen of the realm of Pluto dark and low,


s: Goddess of maidens, that mine heart hast know


s: And not to be a wife, and be with child.


s: Now help me, lady, since ye may and can,


s: For those three formes <68> that thou hast in thee.


s: As sende love and peace betwixt them two:


s: That all their hote love, and their desire,


s: And all their busy torment, and their fire,


s: That I shall needes have one of them two,


s: The bitter tears that on my cheekes fall.


s: Since thou art maid, and keeper of us all,


s: My maidenhead thou keep and well conserve,


s: And, while I live, a maid I will thee serve.


s: That she was well-nigh mad, and gan to cry,


s: With bow in hand, right as an hunteress,


s: Farewell, for here I may no longer dwell.


s: And forth she went, and made a vanishing,


s: And that my might be worthy for to serve


s: Thy godhead, that I may be one of thine,


s: Then help me, lord, to-morr'w in my bataille,


s: For thilke fire that whilom burned thee,


s: As well as this fire that now burneth me;


s: In thy pleasance and in thy craftes strong.


s: My beard, my hair that hangeth long adown,


s: Now, lord, have ruth upon my sorrows sore,


s: And eke the doores, clattered full fast,


s: That it gan all the temple for to light;


s: The statue of Mars began his hauberk ring;


s: And with that sound he heard a murmuring


s: Full low and dim, that saide thus,  "Victory."


s: For which he gave to Mars honour and glory.


s: And thus with joy, and hope well to fare,


s: And right anon such strife there is begun


s: Found in his old experience such an art,


s: That he full soon hath pleased every part.


s: "My deare daughter Venus," quoth Saturn,


s: That Palamon, that is thine owen knight,


s: Betwixte you there must sometime be peace:


s: The great effect, for which that I began.


s: Made every wight to be in such pleasance,


s: That all that Monday jousten they and dance,


s: And on the morrow, when the day gan spring,


s: Nailing the spears, and helmes buckeling,


s: With file and hammer pricking to and fro;


s: Some helden with him with the blacke beard,


s: Some with the bald, some with the thick-hair'd;


s: Some said he looked grim, and woulde fight:


s: The great Theseus that of his sleep is waked


s: With minstrelsy, and noise that was maked,


s: Held yet the chamber of his palace rich,


s: Array'd right as he were a god in throne:


s: The people presseth thitherward full soon


s: To gentle blood, to fighten in the guise


s: No man therefore, on pain of loss of life,


s: Nor short sword for to stick with point biting


s: No man shall draw, nor bear it by his side.


s: But one course, with a sharp y-grounden spear:


s: God speede you; go forth and lay on fast.


s: With long sword and with mace fight your fill.


s: Go now your way; this is the lordes will.


s: The voice of the people touched the heaven,


s: And other ladies in their degrees about,


s: And westward, through the gates under Mart,


s: Arcite, and eke the hundred of his part,


s: For there was none so wise that coulde say


s: "Do now your devoir, younge knights proud


s: There is no more to say, but east and west


s: There see me who can joust, and who can ride.


s: There shiver shaftes upon shieldes thick;


s: He feeleth through the hearte-spoon<79> the prick.


s: Up spring the speares twenty foot on height;


s: Out go the swordes as the silver bright.


s: Nor in Belmarie <83> there is no fell lion,


s: The jealous strokes upon their helmets bite;


s: Out runneth blood on both their sides red,


s: And made his sword deep in his flesh to bite,


s: Unyielding, and is drawn unto the stake.


s: The stronge king Licurgus is borne down:


s: Is borne out of his saddle a sword's length,


s: But all for nought; he was brought to the stake:


s: His hardy hearte might him helpe naught,


s: And when that Theseus had seen that sight


s: Unto the folk that foughte thus each one,


s: That by his fortune hath her fairly won."


s: For joy of this, so loud and high withal,


s: What saith she now? what doth this queen of love?


s: But weepeth so, for wanting of her will,


s: Saturnus saide: "Daughter, hold thy peace.


s: Mars hath his will, his knight hath all his boon,


s: And by mine head thou shalt be eased soon."